Hamilton city council’s decision to order a judicial inquiry into safety concerns involving the Red Hill Valley Parkway (RHVP) is costing local taxpayers a lot more than originally expected.

A report presented to the general issues committee Wednesday says $6.6 million has already been spent on legal fees, data collection and other expenses.

A date for the start of the public inquiry still hasn’t been set, but Eli Lederman, the city’s external consultant, says the total cost is now expected to soar as high as $12 million.

When Hamilton city council voted to request the judicial inquiry in 2019, Ferguson had supported an investigation by the auditor general at a projected cost of about $350,000.

GUEST: Larry Di Ianni,  Former Mayor of Hamilton

The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is isolating in Toronto after a member of his staff who was in close contact with him tested positive for COVID-19

ALSO: The Ontario government is preparing to flip-flop on Paid Sick Days.

GUEST: Laura Babcock, President of PowerGroup

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The COVID-19 pandemic is again wreaking havoc with the CFL’s plans, but commissioner Randy Ambrosie remains bullish the league will return to the field this year.

The CFL announced Wednesday it’s delaying the start of the ’21 season to Aug. 5 and reducing the number of games played to 14 per team. The league had originally planned to start June 10 with a full 18-game schedule after cancelling the ’20 season due to the global pandemic.

GUEST: Scott Mitchell, President and CEO of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats

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Scrolling through social media for COVID-19 updates has become a precarious activity for some Canadians, with news of the worsening pandemic becoming harder to escape.

More than a year into the COVID-19 crisis, many are wondering: How much more bad news can we take?

While public health and infectious disease experts need to keep people informed, they say there’s a fine line between sharing pertinent information and perpetuating anxieties that have been stewing for months.

GUEST: Steve Joordens, Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto

The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

Ontario's Science Advisory Table has had enough of being ignored by the Ford government so it's publicly making another urgent plea for further action to curb the third wave of the pandemic.

They say the province’s hospitals are “buckling” and Ontario is now facing the most challenging health crisis of our time.

The group says the way forward is to pay essential workers to stay home when sick, exposed or need time off to get vaccinated. Accelerating vaccination to essential workers, hotspot neighbourhoods and the vulnerable population and closing more non-essential workplaces.

GUEST: Dr. Brian Schwartz, Co-Chair of the Ontario Science Advisory Table and Chief of Communicable Diseases, Emergency Preparedness and Response with Public Health Ontario

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Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer, has been found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest on May 25, 2020.

The verdict comes on just the second day of jury deliberations.

What’s next now that Derek Chauvin is convicted?

GUEST: Andrew Furgiuele, Lecturer with the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto

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The Ontario Hockey League has officially cancelled the 2020-21 season, quashing any hopes it could at least salvage a shortened season.

The league informed teams Tuesday morning before making the announcement official later the same day, saying that the current stay-at-home order would make a season impossible.

The OHL, which has 17 teams based in Ontario and three others that play out of the USA, has been shelved since mid-March of last year, when it canceled the remaining 56 games of the 2019-20 regular season due to the pandemic.

GUEST: Michael Andlauer, Owner of the Hamilton Bulldogs