In this episode of On the Ledge - your Ontario politics podcast,

The Ford government was patting itself on the back this week after announcing a Ring of Fire agreement with two First Nations on next steps to build a road into the environmentally sensitive, mineral rich region of Northern Ontario. 

The announcement was long on self-congratulations but short on any commitment to ensure the project doesn't poison the air. The Ring of Fire is located on peatlands that cover an area the size of Germany. The peatlands naturally store carbon extracted from the atmosphere. Disrupting the peat bogs means releasing carbon or - worse - methane into the atmosphere.

It's estimated, the peatland around the mine claims stores about 2 gigatons of carbon. Releasing that into the atmosphere would make the site the largest carbon emitter in Canada - three times the emissions coughed up by fossil fuel ignition.


Also:

Pollster John Wright, veteran Queen's Park watcher Keith Leslie and Dave Trafford, Chief Executive Producer at Story Studio Network debate whether the Ford government deliberately poked the bear when the Premier insists he wants to appoint "like-minded" provincial judges. 

AND:

• There are loose canons, then there's newly elected FEDERAL Conservative Party Durham MP Jamil Jivani. He used his victory speech to tear a strip off the Stephen Lecce led provincial education ministry.
• Does a leader's "likeability" matter when it comes to politics?