The new chair of the Ford government’s Greenbelt Council was Ontario’s environment minister leading up to the Walkerton tragedy, an E. coli outbreak that killed seven people two decades ago.

Norm Sterling ⁠— who oversaw cuts to the environment ministry’s budget that were later found to have contributed to what happened in Walkerton ⁠— was a Progressive Conservative environment minister under the Mike Harris government. As an MPP in 2005, he voted against the creation of the Greenbelt.

Sterling replaces former chair David Crombie, who resigned along with six others late last year in protest of the Ford government’s move to limit the powers of conservation authorities.

GUEST: Muhammad Ali, Senior Consultant for Crestview Strategies

Ontario is anticipating that all people age 18 and over will be eligible to book a COVID-19 immunization through the provincial booking system as early as the week of May 24 as vaccine supply is scheduled to increase in the coming weeks.

The province also said those who are age 30-plus are expected to be eligible to schedule an immunization through its online booking system by the week of May 17.

Beginning 8 a.m. on April 30, people age 55 and over will also be eligible to book a COVID-19 vaccine through Ontario’s online appointment portal.

GUEST: Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier & Minister of Health

Doctors and other front-line professionals, backed by Canadian celebrities, have banded together to get accurate vaccine information to those most at risk of contracting COVID-19.

The This Is Our Shot campaign launched Wednesday was driven largely by groups that have been reaching out to and advocating for racialized communities bearing the brunt of the pandemic.

The goal is to dispel myths and to answer questions in more than two dozen languages.

Celebrities, including actor Ryan Reynolds, crooner Michael Buble and Olympic hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser, are pushing the campaign by posting photos of themselves on social media wearing This Is Our Shot T-shirts.

GUEST: Elissa Freeman, PR and Pop Culture Expert

The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

New modelling data released by the province suggests the third wave is now finally "cresting" but the current situation remains very "precarious."

Experts with Ontario's COVID-19 science advisory table presented the new data during a news conference on Thursday, as infection numbers in the province dropped below the 4,000 mark for several days.

Brown said the third wave cresting is due to lower mobility rates. He said that while retail, recreation and transit mobility has fallen significantly, workplace mobility, which refers to essential workers travelling to job sites, remains high.

The science table is now calling for even stronger measures to curb case growth.

Projections released on Thursday show that without stronger measures, daily cases would remain above 2,000 in June.

ALSO: A weekly breakdown of when people in Ontario will have access to COVID vaccines

GUEST: Dr. Zain Chagla, an Infectious Disease Specialist with St. Joseph’s Hospital and an Associate Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Department of Medicine with McMaster University

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Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan is launching an independent, external review into sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces led by former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour.

The review will centre around providing recommendations to set up an independent reporting system so that military members can share allegations of sexual misconduct outside of the military chain of command — a key request by victims and survivors who say they have for too long faced reprisals for coming forward.

GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, Associate Professor of International Affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affair at Carleton University, Former National Security Analyst for CSIS

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In 1993’s Groundhog Day, the character played by actor Bill Murray relives the same day over and over again.

Fast forward to 2021 and you couldn’t blame Ontario’s 400,000 retail and small business owners for feeling the same way.

With the third lockdown in full swing, Ontario retailers have had to hire and fire staff, buy and markdown inventory, and open and close stores in a never-ending merry-go-round of financial and emotional pain and uncertainty. Stuck in a holding pattern and frustrated with governments that appear to move in slow motion, these entrepreneurs have had to innovate just to tread water in an industry at the forefront of COVID-19’s wrath.

With non-essential retailers closed and essential retailers capped at 25% capacity, there is limited cash flow to help pay never-ending bills. And don’t forget about the debt that small businesses have incurred during the pandemic. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) estimates that on average, each small business owes $170,000.

GUEST: Bruce Winder, Retail analyst and author

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Doctors and other front-line professionals, backed by Canadian celebrities, have banded together to get accurate vaccine information to those most at risk of contracting COVID-19.

The This Is Our Shot campaign launched Wednesday was driven largely by groups that have been reaching out to and advocating for racialized communities bearing the brunt of the pandemic.

The goal is to dispel myths and to answer questions in more than two dozen languages.

Celebrities, including actor Ryan Reynolds, crooner Michael Buble and Olympic hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser, are pushing the campaign by posting photos of themselves on social media wearing This Is Our Shot T-shirts.

GUEST: Elissa Freeman, PR and Pop Culture Expert