Stephen Lecce

Ontario's response to the escalating trade war with the United States will factor heavily in the first legislative sitting after Premier Doug Ford cruised to victory in the snap February election.

PC Leader Doug Ford is positioning affordable energy as a cornerstone of his mission of making Ontario an energy superpower. There's just one problem. The chosen approach doesn't make much sense, experts say.

A new analysis by the Independent Electricity System Operator looking at upcoming regulations around restrictions on emissions from electricity generation found that Ontario would have to add twice as much new generation as it is already planning, which is "not feasible" in that time frame.

Ontario insists it still needs gas-fired electricity as part of its future mix, despite incoming federal regulations to get Canada’s electricity grid to net-zero emissions by 2035. But some municipalities are refusing to take on additional gas generation because of concerns about climate change and health.

Stephen Lecce released a document Tuesday that outlines his vision for a clean, reliable and affordable grid, as well as how to integrate electricity planning with other aspects of the energy system.

Stephen Lecce took over the portfolio last week in a cabinet shuffle, when he was moved from the education file that he oversaw for five years.

Families Minister Jenna Sudds said they must now make it work comes amid growing pushback from daycares that say the program is going to make them go bankrupt. 

The Ontario government is revising its high school technology curriculum as part of an effort to prepare students for a changing workforce.

Ontario education workers approved a tentative deal with their employer, the union representing them said Monday, pledging to keep up the fight for more investment in schools after wrestling with the Ford government last month.

“We won. They backed down,” Sharron Flynn-Bennett, a union organizer and special education worker in the Toronto Catholic District School Board, said outside Queen’s Park on Monday. 

The Ontario government ordered the province’s lowest-paid education workers back to work Monday, setting up a legislative and operational standoff ahead of a planned Friday strike.

As students and staff navigate a new school year with rising costs of living and without COVID-19 public health restrictions, Ontario education unions are back at the bargaining table to negotiate new deals with Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative government.

The Ford government will give parents in Ontario cash for tutoring to help students recover from learning lost to more than two years of COVID-19 pandemic disruptions. Critics say they should adequately fund public education instead.

Ontario’s education minister says the province wants to help its students deal with two years of learning loss by keeping its classrooms open and offering all extracurriculars, insisting education workers awaiting a new contract provide the voluntary time required.

Ontario will require its school boards to keep an online learning option for the upcoming 2022-23 academic year and any student who needs tutoring help will receive it, the provincial government said as it laid out its school spending plan ahead of a summer election.