Bad Weather Holds Off Long Enough To Celebrate Canada Day

By Goldie Ghamari, MPP for Carleton

Canada Day has come and gone, but it was a great day, and I was happy to see so many people at the various events around the Carleton riding, particularly during the Canada Day Parade in Osgoode. The weather was unusual and unpredictable.

But for the most part, the bad weather steered clear, and we had an enjoyable day celebrating everything Canada!

Ontario Helping More Students Become Paramedics

As part of Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care and its plan to hire more health care workers, the Ontario government is helping more students who want to become a paramedic in Ontario by adding more than 300 spaces in paramedic programs at provincial colleges across Ontario this year.

More student spaces in primary care paramedic programs at colleges across Ontario will make it easier for future paramedics to access education and training closer to home. Expanding the pipeline of talent for the future will also help bolster the paramedic workforce and make sure emergency services are available to respond to emergencies when and where Ontarians need them.

The province is making it easier for people and their families to connect to the care they need, when they need it, closer to home by helping those who want to train and work in Ontario and hiring more health care workers to help communities build up their own health workforces.

Quick Facts

• Colleges offered expanded enrolment in 2023-24 are Algonquin College, Cambrian College, Centennial College, Collège Boréal, Collège La Cité, Conestoga College, Confederation College, Durham College, Fanshawe College, Georgian College, Lambton College, Northern College, St. Clair College and St. Lawrence College.
• The newly expanded Ontario Learn and Stay Grant will provide students studying in the first year of a paramedic program in 2023-2024 at select postsecondary institutions with funding for free tuition, books, compulsory fees and other direct educational costs. After graduating, students will need to work in the same region they studied for a minimum of six months for every full year of study funded by the grant.
• As announced in the 2023 Ontario Budget, Dedicated Offload Nurses Program (DONP) funding is increasing by $51 million over the next three years to support municipalities in reducing ambulance offload delays, providing funding for dedicated nurses to offload patients in hospital emergency rooms. As of January 2022, funding eligibility has been expanded to paramedics, respiratory therapists, and physician assistants in addition to nurses.
• The province is also giving paramedics the flexibility to treat additional 9-1-1 patients – including those with diabetes and epilepsy – at home, on scene, or in appropriate community-based settings instead of in emergency departments. This innovative model of care is already in place for palliative as well as mental health and addictions patients.
• Ontario is expanding its community paramedicine program, which enables paramedics to use their training and expertise beyond their traditional emergency response role. Through this program, which works alongside home care, primary care, and home and community care, 55 communities are already benefiting from 24/7 non-emergency support. This is also helping people with chronic health conditions live independently at home, where they want to be.

Ontario Protecting Provincial Waterways

The Ontario government is prohibiting floating accommodations from docking overnight on provincial waterways. The regulatory change went into effect July 1, 2023, and will protect Ontario’s lakes and rivers by preserving access to public lands and ensuring fairness for recreational users. The regulation will not impact anyone exercising their right to navigate, including reasonable mooring, or anyone exercising Aboriginal or treaty rights.

Floating accommodations, such as rafts and barges, contain buildings or structures equipped for overnight accommodation, but unlike watercraft, they are not primarily designed for navigation.

The regulatory changes follow consultations with the public, boaters, cottagers, municipalities and Indigenous communities which expressed concerns that floating accommodations have a risk of damaging the environment. Concerns were expressed that floating accommodations could disturb local fish and wildlife by disrupting the natural environment and increase the risk of pollution from garbage, greywater disposal and spills.

These changes, which clarify the difference between floating accommodations and watercraft, only apply to public lands in Ontario managed under the Public Lands Act and will not address floating accommodations located on private water lots or on waterways under jurisdiction of other governments and ministries (e.g., portions of Trent Severn Waterway).

Office Notice:

My office is open Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4 pm. If you require assistance on any matter, please contact me at any time. My staff and I will be happy to assist. Even if it’s not a provincial issue, I’ll make sure to connect you with the proper office.

Goldie

Your voice at Queen’s Park