Russia-Ukraine conflict escalates
Russian military forces continue their slow advance in several parts of Ukraine today, with the western city of Lviv coming under attack.
The city, which has avoided most of the damage that’s been seen in the east of the country, was the subject of bombing strikes on its airport and a facility that repairs Ukrainian military aircraft.
Russian officials also report their troops have moved into the centre of the port city of Mariupol (MAH-ree-uh-pol), which has been under siege for two weeks.
However, the Ukrainian military says its forces are still resisting strongly.
Predicting the course of COVID
Ontario’s Science Advisory Table is predicting that the removal of many COVID-19 restrictions, including the end to the face mask mandate on Monday, will cause a surge in infections and hospitalizations.
But it adds it will not be anywhere near as serious as what we’ve seen in past waves.
The experts say we can expect hospitalizations to more than double to 800 by May, and ICU admissions to jump by one-third, to 300, over that period.
But they note that’s far below the numbers we saw in January.
The group adds that a lack of testing makes their predictions rather uncertain.
It says the number of people in hospital will largely depend on how individual Ontarians continue to protect themselves.
College strike called off
OPSEU’s college faculty bargaining team and the College Employer Council (CEC) have reached an agreement to enter binding interest arbitration.
The two parties issued a joint statement saying the strike that was scheduled to start at 12:01 am on Friday, March 18 is called off.
All work-to-rule strike activities have also ended.
OPSEU represents about 16,000 faculty at Ontario’s 24 colleges, including Cambrian.
Earlier this week the union set the strike date, calling for binding interest arbitration, which involves both parties asking a neutral arbitrator to create a compromise from both sides’ proposals.
The faculty rejected a final offer from the CEC last month.
NDP dump one of their veteran MPPs
Ontario’s New Democrats say a veteran MPP has been dumped from caucus, and will not be allowed to run for the party in this year’s provincial election.
Party leader Andrea Horwath says new information uncovered about Hamilton-area MPP Paul Miller makes it impossible for him to continue.
She won’t detail what the information is and neither will Miller, but he says it’s false, and he plans to consult a lawyer.
Miller admits that any legal action won’t be concluded before the election is held.
Need flood insurance?
Federal and provincial ministers responsible for emergency preparedness will be proposing a national program of flood insurance, to help those living in regions that are becoming increasingly vulnerable due to climate change.
Details are expected to be released when the ministers’ working group issues its report this spring.
The federal government isn’t detailing its involvement in the program but says it’s expected to reduce the immediate need for disaster relief programs.
It adds there will have to be a “more thoughtful” approach to building in high-risk flood zones.
