The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

After Ontario Premier Doug Ford promised “one of the best” paid sick day programs in North America, the provincial government is announcing workers who have been impacted by COVID-19 will be able to access three paid sick days.

Called the Ontario COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Program, the provincial government billed the initiative as the “most generous pandemic paid leave in the country.”

The program will be administered by the WSIB and the provincial government will reimburse employers 100 per cent of the employee’s wage for up to $200 a day. The program is set to expire in September.

GUEST: Monte McNaughton, Ontario’s Labour Minister

GUEST: Andrew McDougall, Professor of Political Science with the University of Toronto

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Ontario's auditor general says the province's nursing homes were woefully unprepared for the onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic due to years of neglect.

Bonnie Lysyk cited overcrowding, poor ministry oversight, and a severe staffing shortage that existed before the pandemic struck.

Her report says both the provincial government and nursing-home sector had failed to heed lessons learned from the SARS epidemic, while concerns raised repeatedly for years went unaddressed.

GUEST: Dr. James Tiessen, Director, Master of Health Administration & Community Care and Associate Professor with Ryerson University

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Publicly funded antidepressant prescriptions for youth have more than doubled over the past decade in the country’s six largest provinces, an ongoing investigation by the Toronto Star and the Investigative Journalism Bureau has found.

There was a 240-per-cent increase in antidepressant prescriptions for people under 18 paid for by public drug plans in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Quebec between 2009 and 2019.

In Ontario, the story is more complicated.

Publicly funded benefit claims for youth antidepressants rose by 224 per cent in the first eight years of the decade, in line with the overall national portrait. Then, in 2018 and 2019, the newly adopted OHIP+ covered all prescriptions for Ontarians under the age of 25, making it tougher to assess increases after this point.

Like many Canadian doctors, Toronto pediatrician Dr. Michael Peer said he is writing far more prescriptions today than he did 15 or 20 years ago — reluctantly.

GUEST: Dr. Mina Tadrous, Pharmacoepidemiologist, Scientist at the Women’s College Research Institute and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto

After Ontario Premier Doug Ford promised “one of the best” paid sick day programs in North America, the provincial government is announcing workers who have been impacted by COVID-19 will be able to access three paid sick days.

Called the Ontario COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Program, the provincial government billed the initiative as the “most generous pandemic paid leave in the country.”

The program will be administered by the WSIB and the provincial government will reimburse employers 100 per cent of the employee’s wage for up to $200 a day. The program is set to expire in September.

GUEST: Monte McNaughton, Ontario’s Labour Minister

Canada’s 2021 tax deadline is still April 30. Despite renewed school and business shut-downs in parts of the country due to the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ottawa did not prolong the tax season this year.

April 30 is the cutoff for turning in your individual income tax return and paying any taxes owed. As usual, if you’re self-employed, you and your spouse or common-law partner have until June 15 to hand your tax paperwork over to the Canada Revenue Agency. But you still need to pay any tax balances by the end of April.

Filing and paying taxes by the deadline is always a good idea but may be even more important this year if you’re receiving COVID-19 benefits.

GUEST: Don Fox, Principal at IG Wealth Management Fox Group

The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

Paid sick days have been quite the hot topic in Ontario as the public weathers yet another full shutdown amid consistently high COVID-19 case numbers. 

Late last week, Doug Ford promised the best paid sick day policy. Yesterday, we learned that the province was asking the federal government to double sick day payments from 500 to 1000 dollars and Ontario would be on the hook for that increase.

But Ottawa is rejecting Ontario's offer to top up the federal paid sick leave program. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ontario should work directly with employers to bring in a paid sick-leave program. He said Ottawa was in talks with Ontario but suggested the province work with the businesses it regulates to implement its own program, as his government did with federally regulated workplaces.

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

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Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunizations (NACI) says the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine can now be offered to people 30 years old and up depending on the region. But despite this recommendation, many provinces say they don’t have enough vaccines for this age group.

Experts argue Canada may not have enough vaccines for people age 40 and up, let alone 30. The last shipment of the vaccine was in early April and the next batch may not come until the end of June.

ALSO: Some Ontario pharmacies could administer Pfizer vaccine as part of pilot project

GUEST: Justin Bates, CEO of the Ontario Pharmacist Association

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Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) trustees have voted against flying the Pride flag at its schools, after a lengthy discussion that was weighed down by procedural wrangling and numerous attempted amendments,

The debate started after Burlington Trustee Brenda Agnew moved a motion to direct Board staff to ensure the flag was flown during Pride month in June at all schools and the Board’s headquarters. It also sought to encourage the creation of events that promoted equity and inclusion as well as the posting of a safe space poster in each classroom.

However, the motion sparked debate among several trustees who raised issues such as ensuring all groups would have access to flying flags, the need to erect secondary flag poles and how chaplains and other staff can provide better support than the flag.

GUEST: Patrick Murphy, Chair of the Halton Catholic District School Board