Rod Phillips

48 Articles

People wearing protective equipment check in at the international departures at Pearson International Airport during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Monday, December 14, 2020. File photo by The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

Traveller advisory from feds: Don't come to Canada with Covid-19

Anyone arriving in Canada starting Jan. 7 will need to have a negative COVID-19 test before boarding a flight, the federal government said on Thursday, December 31, 2020, as the Liberals urged vacationers abroad to prepare.

Coronavirus in Canada

By Maan Alhmidi | News, Politics | January 1st 2021

Air travellers will soon require negative COVID-19 test before entering Canada

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc says cabinet ministers decided Wednesday morning to quickly enact the new requirement.

By Maan Alhmidi | News | December 30th 2020

No plans for green recovery in Doug Ford’s 2020 budget

Ontario's Progressive Conservative government delivered a budget focused more on COVID-19 than the deep cuts it served up in 2019. But clean energy and green infrastructure were nowhere in sight, with recovery plans centred on tax cuts.

By Emma McIntosh | News, Politics | November 5th 2020

Why young people should care about Ontario’s 2020 budget

The province’s spending plan for the next three years has a focus on getting young people into the trades as Progressive Conservatives unveil their plan to “protect, support, recover” from the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Morgan Sharp | News, Politics, Next Gen Insider | November 5th 2020

Ontario NDP grill environment ministry officials over Ford's climate plan

Ontario’s opposition NDP challenged the top bureaucrats behind the Doug Ford government’s threadbare climate plan, but the civil servants — much like the political masters they serve — ducked and weaved and pointed mostly to policy actions yet to take effect when asked about Ford’s climate achievements.

By Morgan Sharp | News, Energy, Politics | March 12th 2020

EXCLUSIVE: Doug Ford didn’t tell you Ontario cancelled 227 clean energy projects

A government source assembled a full list of the cancelled projects and shared it exclusively with National Observer. The leaked list reveals a wide range of initiatives set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that lost their funding, including schools, hospitals, small businesses and several social housing providers.

Ontario: A Place to Cut

By Fatima Syed | News, Politics | July 9th 2019

Doug Ford is ‘sending in the bulldozers’

Four days after Doug Ford's government spelled out 20-pages of weakened protections for Ontario's endangered species in an omnibus housing bill, an 18,000-page report by over 450 scientists culminated in one shocking fact: over one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction.

By Fatima Syed | News, Politics | May 8th 2019

Forests Ontario explains how the 50 Million Tree Program helped the economy and environment

The ministry and Forests Ontario are now in consultation about how to shut the 50 Million Tree Program down with minimal disruption. The agency is a week away from starting tree-planting for the spring season. Commitments have been made to landowners by conservation authorities, stewardships, First Nations, municipalities and forestry consultants.

Canada's Clean Economy

By Fatima Syed | News, Politics | April 30th 2019

Ontario may let developers pay fee in lieu of ‘onerous’ Endangered Species Act protections

Ontario’s government wants to allow developers to pay a fee to avoid complying with environmental regulations that protect endangered species, while also making it harder for animals to make it onto that growing list.

By Fatima Syed | News, Politics | April 18th 2019

Ford government increasing energy bills and pollution, says watchdog in final report

The Ontario government is increasing energy bills, air pollution, health impacts and greenhouse gas commissions through policies that promote the use of fossil fuels, says the province's environmental commissioner, Dianne Saxe, in her final report released on March 27, 2019.

By Fatima Syed | News, Energy, Politics | March 27th 2019

Rod Phillips

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