The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

More than 300 Ontario schools reported staff and student absences of more than 30 per cent by the end of last week, after students returned for in-person learning following the latest pandemic-related shutdown.

But the data includes all absences, not just those that might be related to COVID-19, making it tough to gauge the impact of the Omicron variant on Ontario’s school system now that the province is no longer publicly reporting cases in schools.

ALSO: Hamilton’s six schools with highest absenteeism rates

GUEST:  Dawn Danko, Chair of the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford met Sunday with leaders of rural, remote and northern communities to discuss their housing challenges as issues of rapid price growth and lack of supply are felt far beyond urban borders.

The talks came after the premier and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark hosted a virtual housing summit recently with big-city mayors. Clark said Sunday’s meeting was an “opportunity to collaborate and co-ordinate” with smaller, rural, northern and remote municipalities on how the government can address the housing supply crisis.

GUEST: Robin Jones, Mayor of the village of Westport in eastern Ontario and Chair of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet is weighing whether to ship small weapons like firearms and ammunition to Ukraine at the three-day virtual retreat underway now, sources tell Global News.

ALSO: Non-essential Canadians advised to leave Ukraine amid growing tensions with Russia

GUEST: Amanda Connolly, Journalist for Global News

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The ECHL acted swiftly on Sunday, suspending defenceman Jacob Panetta indefinitely pending a hearing, for an apparent racist gesture toward opponent and fellow Canadian Jordan Subban of the South Carolina Stingrays during Saturday night's game.

ALSO: A new survey by the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) on hazing & abuse in major-junior hockey shows 41% of CHL families believe there is discrimination within the CHL but only 16% of team GMs believe this is true. 

GUEST: Dr. Richard Norman, Postdoctoral Fellow with the Future of Sport Research Lab at Ryerson University

The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

Canada’s immigration system for high-skilled workers is severely backlogged and even amidst a labour shortage, the government is pausing new invitations because the department simply can’t process them quickly enough, according to a briefing document.

Immigration lawyer Steven Meurrens obtained the document through access to information and provided it to the National Post. In the memo, department officials outline that “an estimated 76,000” applicants are in the inventory for federal high-skilled worker applications, which is more than what the government needs to meet targets all the way out to 2023.

GUEST: Leah Nord, Senior Director of Workforce Strategies and Inclusive Growth for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce

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After a week of diplomacy fails between Russia and the U.S amid mass build-up of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine, where does Canada stand?

ALSO: Conservatives defy Erin O’Toole by siding with critical senator

GUEST: Dr. Lori Turnbull, Director of the School of Public Administration with Dalhousie University

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Much has been made of late on social media and in the mainstream media, about trucker protests that are in the works. Truckers are rightfully upset about a vaccine mandate that was clumsily applied to cross-border essential workers, including the professional drivers who’ve been keeping us supplied throughout the pandemic.

But such protests rarely deliver results, aside from angering the motoring public and casting shade on our industry. We will report on significant events that disrupt our industry and your businesses, but do nothing to support this form of protest.

One disturbing trend is the amount of money being thrown at recent attempts to bring commerce to a halt. One initiative raised more than $900,000 via GoFundMe in less than a week.

Read the full article HERE.

GUEST: James Menzies, Editor of Today's Trucking and TruckNews.CA

It's time for Tech Talk with Adam Oldfield!

Topics include: Apple airtags, iRobot vacuum Roomba  update, online surveillance advertising, Smart goggles and more!