The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

The Ontario government says parents will only be notified of a potential COVID-19 outbreak when approximately 30 per cent of staff and students in the school are absent but data on absentee rates will be available to the public before that threshold is met.

Students in Ontario will return to in-person classes on Jan. 17 following nearly two weeks of remote learning due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.

When student and staff absenteeism in an individual school reaches approximately 30 per cent from its baseline, it will trigger the principal to notify local health officials, the government said Wednesday.

ALSO: students, staff to each get 2 rapid COVID tests when schools restart in person

GUEST: Mike Schreiner, Leader of the Ontario Green Party and MPP for Guelph

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Should we let people govern themselves and just ‘open up’ like our neighbors in the U.S?

GUEST: Dr. Kerry Bowman, Bioethicist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine with the University of Toronto

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As the semiconductor shortage drags on, manufacturers are opting to deliver cars without some of the features that those chips power. It’s things they figure you won’t miss or care about, which of course makes me ask why they had them in there to start with. When power windows started popping up in the “fancy” cars of my youth, my father had only one thing to say. “One more damned thing to break,” he growled, and my father was not wrong.

Read the full article HERE

ALSO: Parallel parking temporarily removed from G-class licence to clear backlog

GUEST: Lorraine Summerfield, Author and Auto Columnist with The Spec and Driving.Ca

GUEST: Dr. Robert Huish, Associate Professor with the Department of International Development Studies at Dalhousie University

The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

The results of a national survey released today by Maru Public Opinion finds that a majority (60%) of Canadians support some type of fine that could amount to a healthcare surcharge for those who choose to remain unvaccinated. The release of the results arrived as Quebec Premier François Legault announced that the province would be imposing a health tax on Quebecers who refuse to get their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks. 

ALSO:  Maru Public Opinion finds four-in-ten (38%) Canadians who admit to knowing someone in their family or circle of friends who have contracted the COVID-19 virus in the last ten days.

GUEST: John Wright, Executive Vice President of Maru Public Opinion

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In early December, emergency room staff at Bluewater Health in Sarnia, Ont., began seeing a troubling change in patients coming to the hospital with serious COVID-19 symptoms. Unlike during earlier waves, multiple people were showing up at once. Sometimes entire families came in, all sick, likely with the newly identified Omicron variant of the virus.

Now, the hospital’s intensive-care unit is at capacity, with 70 per cent of patients there as a result of COVID-19 infections. About 90 per cent of the COVID-19 patients in the ICU are unvaccinated, chief of staff Michel Haddad said in an interview this week. Among the hospital’s entire population of COVID-19 patients, both inside and outside the ICU, two-thirds are unvaccinated.

In the past two weeks, the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to Bluewater has quadrupled. Meanwhile, a significant chunk of the staff – nearly five times the typical number – is on sick leave, in many cases because of Omicron. This has forced others to work double shifts and postpone holidays.

GUEST: Carly Weeks, Health Reporter for the Globe and Mail

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On January 11th, Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole said the Canada-U.S. relationship is at its lowest point in decades — a development that threatens to stall Canada's growth and derail some sectors of the economy.

Speaking at a virtual event with Nova Scotia chambers of commerce, O'Toole said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has done little to stop the U.S. from pursuing punitive policies. O'Toole pointed to a list of grievances, including recent hikes to softwood lumber tariffs and an ongoing dispute over P.E.I. potatoes.

What is the state of CAN/US relations?

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