Ont. minimum wage rising to $15/hour
TORONTO — Ontario will increase minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next 18 months as part of sweeping changes to labour laws, the province’s Liberal government announced Tuesday, satisfying a long-standing demand of leftleaning voters one year away from an election.
The minimum wage increase was the centrepiece of a slew of reforms Premier Kathleen Wynne revealed in a campaign-style setting, including ensuring equal pay for part-time workers, increasing vacation entitlements and expanding personal emergency leave.
Wynne, whose party has been faring poorly in recent polls, said the changes, along with a number of her government’s recent announcements, are her plan for a fair society.
Sunscreen blamed for burned babies
TORONTO — Health Canada says it’s looking into three recent complaints of babies allegedly being burned by Banana Boat sunscreen products.
Spokeswoman Renelle Briand says the three reports were all made within the past month and came from multiple locations in Canada.
The most recent report involves a Montreal mother alleging her son developed blisters on his face after she applied a Banana Boat product.
Briand says the other complaints, originating in Newfoundland and an unknown location, are similar in nature.
Briand says Health Canada has reached out to Banana Boat products maker Edgewell Personal Care for more information, but has not taken any action against the products yet.
Man charged in turkey pot pie theft
INGERSOLL, Ont. — Police in southwestern Ontario say they’ve arrested an alleged pie thief, but 200 pies are still missing.
Last week, police said they were investigating after frozen turkey pot pies were reported stolen from a church in Ingersoll, Ont.
They say the individual serving pies were taken from the church freezer between May 15 and May 21.
OPP say they’ve charged a 33year-old Ingersoll man with possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000.
Sexual misconduct report accepted
OTTAWA — Canada’s top soldier accepted an internal report Tuesday that condemned the military for failing a former master corporal whose case spawned a crackdown on sexual misconduct in the military.
But Stephanie Raymond, the woman at the centre of the inquiry, called the chief of defence staff’s response to the findings “absurd.”
In ordering full acceptance of the internal inquiry’s findings, Gen. Jonathan Vance thanked Stephanie Raymond “for having the courage and tenacity to identify a series of failures by her chain of command” after she reported that she had been sexually assaulted.
Raymond said she was satisfied with the board of inquiry’s findings, but disappointed with a letter she received from Vance, which she said outlined the general’s own determinations about her case.
“He says there is no link between my lodging a complaint and the retaliation (I endured),” Raymond said of Vance’s letter.
“Gen. Vance’s letter is absurd.”
Lyme disease research funded
OTTAWA — The federal government is hoping a new research framework will help doctors better diagnose and treat the ballooning number of Lyme disease cases across Canada.
Health Minister Jane Philpott introduced the framework Tuesday in the House of Commons, and also announced a $4-million investment to get the research network up and running.
“The aim of the Lyme disease research network will be to generate new evidence and data about Lyme disease, about how to improve diagnosis and treatment and to help us better understand its causes and its transmission,” Philpott said.
“We aim to help health professionals with diagnoses and best practices, and we aim to increase Canadians’ awareness so that they can take measures to reduce the possibility of getting Lyme disease.”
Input from federal, provincial and territorial ministries, as well as patient groups and researchers, were considered as Ottawa looked to develop the framework, said Philpott.