TORONTO – Government and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are at loggerheads. The countdown has begun and in the event of no agreement, non-teaching staff who have been members of the union Friday could go on strike. Just yesterday the CUPE gave five days‘ notice in view of a possible complete abstention from work. “We believe that the next 3 days of mediation – November 1, 2 and 3 – are an opportunity for this government to come to the table to negotiate a contract that recognizes the education workers and vital services we provide to students, families and our communities,” CUPE tweeted.
TORONTO – Covid-19 in Ontario, a new record broken: the province today recorded 10,436 new cases (and 3 deaths), surpassing the previous record-count of December 25 (10,412). But the actual infections in Ontario could be more than double: the laboratories have in fact processed 59,259 samples and 74,535 remain in the research phase. Not only that: simply booking a molecular test appointment in the Toronto area is now a real challenge, so many people with symptoms can’t even get tested. →
MAZARA DEL VALLO (Trapani) – Tomorrow, Tuesday 26 October, Denise Pipitone would turn 21. She would, because no one knows what happened to that little girl who disappeared on 1 September 2004 from Mazara del Vallo, a town in the province of Trapani, in Sicily. Since then, investigations, trials, appeals, searches, all without the desired results: to find Denise or, at least, to know the truth about what happened that day in the small Sicilian village where everyone knows each other. →
TORONTO – I feel sorry for Trudeau. Nothing in his campaign seems to resonate with the general public. Every step his campaign designs instead appears counter-intuitive and “testy”. In fact, fewer and fewer people are willing to “cut him any slack”. It seems only yesterday that the easy solution to the country’s ills was a simple selfie of the Liberal leader. Today, polls are laying bare some acrimonious discontent. Some of it merciless. From Surrey to Cambridge to New Brunswick to Bolton to London, disparate crowds hound the Liberal Leader, hurling their profanities, their churlish rudeness and stones. Many among the protesters are women, giving a newer meaning to the term the “gentler sex”. →
Improving public health indicators and increasing rates of vaccination mean Ontario is ready to ease more restrictions. It also means more people are able to return to work and head back to the office. But, could there be change in store for the standard 5-day work week? →