The Rundown

What happens when a government wants to introduce a bill with a variety of unrelated items? It becomes what's called an ,omnibus bill., The current Ontario government introduced just such a bill last week, and we invite Peter Loewen, the director of the U of T's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, to give us an explainer on the meaning and intent of omnibus bills.

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Bob Runciman spent almost three decades in the Ontario legislature as an MPP and two-time interim leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. He then became a senator in the Stephen Harper federal government. Steve Paikin meets with Bob runciman at Queen's Park to talk about his political life as documented in his memoir, "From Mad Dog to Senator."

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You might think Donald Trump's arrival in 2016 marked a new era of populism in the world. But we've been here before in this province. And, boy, it was something. In the inaugural episode of Ontario Chronicle, Steve Paikin takes us back to 1934. This is the story of the boy premier, the populist firebrand, the rabble-rouser, the late-night carouser, Mitch Hepburn.

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This Friday is the deadline to set up a registered retirement savings plan, and most financial institutions offer loans to last-minute contributors. Financial planner Anthony Gordon breaks down how this works and whether you should borrow to invest.

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Ontario's government debt projection for 2023-2024 is forecast to be significantly higher with the launch of an Ontario Infrastructure Bank. Will a public bank solve Ontario's infrastructure deficit?

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Former lieutenant-governor of Ontario Lincoln Alexander saw something profound in the young, troubled Quentin VerCetty before anyone else did. Twenty years later that's who's been commissioned to create a sculpture of the late, great man.

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The Ontario government earmarked almost $5 billion in funding over four years to help long-term care homes hire and retain care staff. It's since added additional millions in incentives to attract thousands to become personal support workers over the next few years. For insight on whether those efforts can overcome the PSW shortages still projected by the province's fiscal watchdog, we welcome: Sharleen Stewart, president of SEIU Healthcare, a union representing more than 60 thousand frontline health-care workers; Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics, at Sinai Health; and Pat Armstrong, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of sociology at York University.

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Connie and Craig Cook have been living in their Earthship in southwestern Ontario for more than a decade. An Earthship is a type of sustainable home designed to be completely off the grid and in harmony with nature. Host Jeyan Jeganathan visits their home and explores the viability and interest in these terrestrial structures.

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Sheila White's parents met in Nova Scotia just after the Second World War. As she describes in her biographical novel, "The Letters: Postmark Prejudice in Black and White," it was a love story for the ages. With one caveat: Vivien was white, Billy was Black. How they forged their relationship against family and societal disapproval provides a snapshot into the fraught race relations of the time, and how two individuals worked to dispel narrow thoughts about who they were and what their life together would be based on their differences. She talks to Jeyan Jeganathan about hers and her parents' anti-racism advocacy and what she learned by delving into their story.

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Elizabeth Dowdeswell stepped down last year as the longest-serving Lieutenant-Governor in Ontario history. Steve Paikin talks to her about being the Queen's (and for a short time, the King's) representative in Ontario during a once-in-a-century pandemic, and dealing with a very different premier, at least for his first year.

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