By MPP Toby Barrett On Thursday, April 8, 2021, Ontario issued a Provincial Emergency and Stay-at-Home order requiring everyone to remain at home except for essential purposes. This includes going to the grocery store or pharmacy, accessing health care services (including being vaccinated), outdoor exercise, or for work that cannot be done remotely. Recently, COVID … Continue reading “Ontario enacts Emergency and Stay-at-Home Order”
Category: Column Articles
By MPP Toby Barrett On Thursday, April 8, 2021, Ontario issued a Provincial Emergency and Stay-at-Home order requiring everyone to remain at home except for essential purposes. This includes going to the grocery store or pharmacy, accessing health care services (including being vaccinated), outdoor exercise, or for work that cannot be done remotely. Recently, COVID … Continue reading “Ontario enacts Emergency and Stay-at-Home Order”
By MPP Toby Barrett Protecting people’s health and the economy has been the Ontario government’s top priority since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is not just necessary to fight COVID-19 and save lives, it is also the most sensible economic and fiscal policy. After all, without healthy people, you cannot have a healthy … Continue reading “A budget for healthy people and a healthy economy”
By MPP Toby Barrett As the world continues to wade through a world health crisis, Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy released the 2021 Ontario Budget, Ontario’s Action Plan: Protecting People’s Health and Our Economy. It is our government’s plan to defeat COVID-19 and finish the job we started one year ago. Total projected spending is $186 billion, … Continue reading “A budget to protect health and bring back jobs”
By MPP Toby Barrett I have been going to farm meetings for as long as I can remember and this winter was no different, save Zoom calls replacing gatherings at great venues like the Kohler Hall, the Simcoe Hort Station, the Caledonia Fair Board Building or the Greens at Renton. January kicked off with meetings … Continue reading “Notes and jottings from this winter’s farm meetings”
By MPP Toby Barrett For years, I have been hearing from people in the riding – and I hear these complaints in my own home as well – about poor internet service. As we have seen in the past, it’s important the expansion of broadband must be affordable. The problem always remains that it can … Continue reading “Supporting broadband and internet expansion”
By MPP Toby Barrett Imperial Oil’s refinery at the Nanticoke Industrial Park is a key anchor in our Haldimand-Norfolk industrial economy. Since the early 1980s, our area’s refinery has provided around 300 full-time jobs in addition to a daily average of 200 contractor positions. Locally, Imperial Oil in Nanticoke has already gone through tough … Continue reading “Line 5 pipeline critical to Nanticoke Industrial Park”
By MPP Toby Barrett Haldimand-Norfolk returned to the Orange-Restrict on Tuesday, February 16 as Ontario faces the uncertainty of vaccine delivery and the arrival of new COVID-19 variants. The move was based on a general improvement in trends of key indicators, including lower transmission of the virus, improving hospital capacity and available public health capacity … Continue reading “The uncertainty of vaccine delivery and new variants”
By MPP Toby Barrett Many will look closely to this Spring’s Budget as our province begins its recovery from COVID-19. a I have travelled the province for many years during pre-budget consultations in my role as a member of the Ontario Legislative Finance Committee. Consultations looked much different over the past year; however, it gave … Continue reading “Budget 2021 to spring Ontario into recovery”
By MPP Toby Barrett Most Ontario elementary and secondary school students are back in class. Students in Haldimand-Norfolk returned to school February 8th based on input from the local medical officer of health and Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health. Thankfully, for the majority of secondary students, the return of in-person learning aligned with the start … Continue reading “Keep Ontario’s schools safe and open for in-person learning”