Elections are often dominated by flashy announcements about new subway lines, but the immediate future of public transit depends on something else: keeping buses running. Yet ridership on many Ontario transit systems continues to lag. Without major investments in transit improvements, like more frequent service to win back previous riders and encourage new ones, we risk a car-led recovery.

The housing policies being pursued by Ford’s government signal the continuation of his war on tenants. While the Liberal and NDP platforms share some features in common with Ford, they also differ in important ways. Of the major parties, the NDP stands alone in its commitments to affordable and non-market housing, but it is fair to question how much of an impact they could make in resolving an out of control crisis.

As the writ was dropped for the June 2 provincial election, the Ontario Health Coalition warned against unprecedented health care privatization and called for it to be a key election issue. We cannot go back to the same patterns inadequate care that existed before the pandemic. We must safeguard our principles and rebuild a health care system in the public interest to serve Ontarians for the next generation.

The 55-year-long fight for Palestinian freedom is no less just, no less worthy of our support. But Palestinians are occupied by our Israeli ally. They are not white. Most are not Christian, although Abu Akleh was Christian. The Palestinians doggedly refuse to give up. This makes them as heroic, maybe more heroic, than Ukrainian fighters. We are on the wrong side of history in Israel. Abu Akleh’s blood is on our hands.

In 2017, Dr. David Kattenburg filed a complaint against two wines made in the Israeli, West Bank settlements of Psagot and Shiloh. Dr. Kattenburg argued that, because those settlements are situated on Occupied Palestinian Territory in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the wines produced in those settlements were falsely labelled as “Product of Israel.”

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) calls for an independent and international investigation into the killing of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot in the head today by Israeli snipers while covering an Israeli raid in the Palestinian city of Jenin. Canada must respond to violence against journalists by suspending all military trade with Israel.

The recent leak of a draft decision by the US Supreme Court that overrules the iconic abortion rights case Roe v. Wade has reignited the abortion conversation, casting an ominous shadow here in Canada. It is vital for us to focus on the legal, political and societal differences between our two countries and be vigilant to not only preserve but enhance access to reproductive services.

Canada cannot even begin the process of reconciliation until it addresses the ongoing genocide which includes the sexualized violence of Indigenous women and girls by the federal police. The question remains: will the federal government act urgently to ensure not another woman in Canada is violently raped or assaulted by the RCMP? That remains to be seen.

Knowing the strength of Ontario’s financial situation, one would hope Health Minister Christine Elliott was experiencing cognitive dissonance when she announced February 1 that the provincial government intends to bring in independent health facilities to operate private hospitals in Ontario. This is the first step to privatizing public health care services across Ontario.

Instead of implementing much-needed improvements to address the crises in continuing care, the UCP government’s Continuing Care Act focuses on a series of bureaucratic and governance changes that will have little impact on the day-to-day lives of residents and workers. Rather than any type of minimum care standards, it creates a single system for licensing continuing care providers.