The Rundown

There are 124 members of the Ontario legislature, all of whom have duties and privileges when it comes to representing Ontarians. One of the privileges they have is that they can propose new laws on pretty much anything they want. Those are called private members' bills and there are dozens of them under consideration by the legislature right now. What exactly are private members' bills and do they ever really accomplish anything? TVO Today's John Michael McGrath explains.

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One of the good things to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic is the notion that people would like, and can successfully achieve, more flexible work arrangements. One idea getting increasing consideration is the four-day work week. Bhutila Karpoche, the NDP member for Parkdale-High Park, tells us more.

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After weeks of speculation, the Ontario government finally announced the plan to expand private health-care delivery in the province. Will this be the solution for long wait times and understaffed, overcrowded hospitals? Or is it a threat to the province's public health-care system? We take a closer look at this change and what it means for Ontarians.

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How can high rent prices in Ontario be mitigated? Then, does Canada need to provide more funding for science innovations? Are cyberattacks the new norm? And, why does the ChatGPT have so much buzz and should we fear its capabilities?

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The cost of living in Ontario right now is affecting everything from what we put on the table for dinner to how much we pay to buy or rent a home. TVO Today's affordability journalist Kat Eschner has been looking into how people are coping, which is what brought her to Sudbury late last year to report on how people and businesses there are coping while still trying to maintain a sense of community. Her focus was Kathleen Street, in the city's Donavan neighbourhood where people are being affected not only by inflation, but also gentrification.

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What was once seen as a safe industry at the beginning of the pandemic is now in upheaval as tech companies around the world lay off workers. Big tech companies have made headlines with tens of thousands of layoffs since last year. Has the bubble burst? Experts weigh in on what the sector is experiencing and what to expect in the future.

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With a wave of recent cyberattacks on hospitals and other infrastructure, will these disruptions become a regular occurrence? Cybersecurity experts discuss what's happening, whether the attacks will be more frequent, and what we can do to adapt.

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During the COVID 19 vaccine rollout Canadians learned the hard way that they're at the mercy of other countries to get the shot. In the past, Canada manufactured vaccines but that was decades ago. Can Canadian innovations in science rest on the laurels of the discovery of insulin and its long-ago foray into vaccines? Or should it strive to become a global leader in scientific discoveries? We ask physician scientist Stephen Archer; Support Our Science co-organizer Sarah Laframboise; and Globe and Mail science reporter Ivan Semeniuk.

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In 2010 an estimated 3,500 Canadians left to study medicine abroad. Ninety per cent of them wanted to return to Canada to be practicing doctors. That study was over a dozen years ago and from there, the numbers keep going up, while here at home we have a chronic physician shortage. Might foreign trained Canadian doctors be the talent pool solution to doctor shortages around this province and the country? We delve into this issue with
Globe and Mail investigative reporter Greg Mercer: ER doctors Rohit Gandhi, Glen Bandiera, and Lisa Salamon.

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To spur housing development, the Ontario government's housing bill cut the fees developers must pay to build some types of homes. These fees, called development charges, are used to build the infrastructure associated with the newcomers into the community. Are these changes fair? And what will it do to municipal budgets, which cannot have deficits?

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