Dear neighbours, 

I hope this newsletter finds you safe and well. It has been a tough week watching case numbers continue to rise to new levels, and I know that has caused a lot of anxiety for everyone.

People have been stuck in hours-long lines for testing, workers are facing increased uncertainty about their jobs again and small businesses are under serious pressure as the troubled rent-relief program has ended without a replacement.

This week also saw an outbreak, with 29 infected and one death, at the Fairview Retirement Home, here in Davenport - there are now 31 active outbreaks in long-term homes. My thoughts are with the families, residents and staff at Fairview. This highlights the risk posed to some of our most vulnerable community members as the virus rapidly spreads among all age groups.

Regrettably, instead of getting out in front of this second wave and taking action, many of us have been frustrated that  the Ford government has been scrambling to react to new developments. 

There are a number of tighter measures that those of us in the Official Opposition have called for the government to take right now, to avoid us going any further backwards:

• Hire thousands more staff in long-term care, and keep temporary staff from moving from home-to-home.

• Make pay increases for PSWs permanent and help make other jobs in long-term care permanent and full-time.

• Make new investments in hospital capacity

• Massively improve capacity in public health testing, lab capacity and contract tracing

• Follow the advice of experts and local public health leaders, who request things like masks in all workplaces

• Bring in a 15-student cap on class sizes, and a cap on school bus capacity at 50 per cent of the bus’s seats

We have also called for specific measures to help people get through the second wave we’re now experiencing, including direct financial support for people and small businesses, who could be impacted by moving back to more restrictions, and paid sick days for all Ontarians so they don’t miss income if they’re unwell, and don’t go to work sick and potentially spread the virus. I’m particularly concerned about the many people with disabilities in our community who struggle with the ODSP system in ‘normal’ times and are facing extraordinary obstacles now.

On a personal note, I had to leave the legislature part way through this week after receiving a COVID-alert on my phone telling me I had been in contact with someone who tested positive. I do not have symptoms but I went for a test on Wednesday and have been in isolation awaiting my results. I shared a bit of my experience on twitter if you’d like to take a read, and I encourage everyone to download the COVID app if you have not already. 

As a reminder, you can find links to all of the latest public health information and directions on my website at www.maritstiles.ca/coronavirus.

Stay safe,

Marit Stiles, MPP
Davenport

COVID-19: The latest

• The Ontario government is updating its COVID-19 school and child care screening guidance with two sets of questions about symptoms and information meant to help parents make informed decisions about whether their children should attend school or child care, need to consult a health care provider, or get tested for COVID-19. The guidance can be found here: COVID-19 Screening Tool for Children in School and Child Care, and the refreshed online tool will launch for download today.
  
  For parents in our community this will come as a surprise as many students have been sent home with these symptoms and asked to test before returning. In my role as Education Critic, I responded to this announcement and highlighted the frustrations I’ve heard from parents with all of the contradictory instructions from the Ford government.
  
  The first set of questions asks about symptoms such as fever or cough. Students and children with any of these symptoms will still be advised to stay home until they are able to consult with a health care provider and receive an alternative diagnosis or a negative COVID-19 test. The second set of questions asks about other symptoms that are commonly associated with other illnesses, such as a runny nose or headache: Students and children with only one of these symptoms will be advised to stay home for 24 hours, after which they can return to school or child care if their symptoms are improving; Students and children with two or more of these symptoms will be advised to stay home until they are able to consult with a health care provider and receive an alternative diagnosis or a negative COVID-19 test. In addition, based on the latest public health guidance the symptom list for children in school and child care no longer includes abdominal pain or conjunctivitis (pink eye).

• On Wednesday, the government  released updated COVID-19 modelling, which includes projections showing 1,000 cases per day in the first two weeks of October. You can download the slides here – see slide 8 for the trajectory of the second wave and slide 9 for the three scenarios displaying the potential impact on ICU bed occupancy. Read Opposition leader Andrea Horwath’s statement on the modelling here.

• The Ontario government is temporarily enhancing wages for personal support workers (PSWs) and direct support workers in the home and community care, long-term care, public hospitals, and social services sectors, effective October 1, 2020. The move will give either a $2 or $3 an hour increase to about 147,000 workers who deliver publicly funded personal support services. 
  
  New Democrats are calling on the government to make this increase permanent and to extend it to other frontline workers in long-term care who have been excluded. 
   
• The government also announced it is unveiling plans to build what they call “a more responsive, efficient and person-centred social assistance system. As part of the first phase of the social assistance recovery and renewal plan, the province will be focusing on improved access to employment and training services, developing new digital tools and modern service options, and ways to process financial assistance faster.

In the Legislature

A plan for small business: Save Main Street

Metrolinx hikes CEO pay by 35%

After Metrolinx canceled $4 million in public art funding for the Davenport Diamond and scrapped a promised community centre in Jane/Finch, I was disappointed to see that they have chosen to spend significantly on executive pay with a 35% increase in the CEO’s salary.

As my colleague, NDP Transit Critic Jessica Bell said, "Ontarians are struggling to pay their bills right now, and for many, the cost of transit in our city has been expensive long before the pandemic.

Doug Ford should be lowering fares and improving service, not increasing the salary of a wealthy CEO by 35 per cent.