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Paid sick leave has been cited as a factor that’s been proven to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Star's Queen’s Park bureau chief @robertbenzie talks to #ThisMatters host @adrianwkcheung about the political fight over paid sick leave in Ontario. thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
The Ontario government has said for months it has no plans to create a paid sick leave program of its own after repealing paid sick leave days in 2018. thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
The federal government has spent $1.1 billion on the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit but it faces criticism for its barriers to access and details on who can apply for it. thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
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A community in Stratford successfully lobbied against the development of a controversial glass factory that benefited from Ministerial Zoning Orders.

Reporter @njaved chats with host @rajumudhar on #ThisMatters about how they may have set the standard. thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
Backstory: In October, a deal confirmed Xinyi Canada Glass Ltd. would build its first float glass manufacturing facility in North America, despite the fact the project faced massive opposition from the public in Guelph-Eramosa Township in 2018. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
Ministerial Zoning Orders — known as MZOs — are orders that can completely upend the planning process. Previously used sparingly, the current Ontario government has been using them much more frequently to expedite new development. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
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Air travel has come under scrutiny and starting next week, arrivals into Canada will have to head to a quarantine hotel as they await testing.

On this episode of #ThisMatters, @JacquesGallant chats with host @rajumudhar and explains the new travel rules. thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
It was announced back on Jan. 22 that the federal government was considering a requirement that people returning to Canada quarantine in a hotel at their own expense for 14 days to limit the spread of COVID-19. thestar.com/politics/feder…
After weeks of calls from premiers and experts for the federal government to get tougher in controlling the spread of COVID-19 variants, new measures were introduced such as mandatory testing at airports of arriving international travellers. thestar.com/politics/feder…
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The GTA’s tow truck turf wars are once again in the news.

The Star’s Peter Edwards joins @adrianwkcheung on #ThisMatters with an update on the cops, corruption and the crime wave.
thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
As Peter Edwards reported today, a GTA tow truck operator has been hit with a $2.45 million negligence lawsuit after a student working as a security guard was fatally shot in the head with an unregistered handgun while guarding a lot for vehicles thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
In June 2020, York Regional Police announced investigators have seized 11 tow trucks, assorted weapons, drugs and cash in a joint-forces operation called Project Platinum. thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
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It has been a topsy turvy year in real estate, and to make sense of it, #ThisMatters is joined by @TessKalinowski who has been on the real estate beat for the Star for four years. torstar.co/yGQB50CRtqB
From houses, condos and commercial, to apartment rentals and affordable housing, 2020 was a wild ride for real estate when many markets in the GTA managed to defy the pandemic’s ability to crush anything in its path. torstar.co/yGQB50CRtqB
When COVID-19 hit and shut down much of North America in March, housing numbers took a dip due to the lockdown but then came roaring back. The new era was a consideration for buying decisions, with many deciding to eye new residential real estate markets. torstar.co/yGQB50CRtqB
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#ThisMatters: How do you save an elephant? You need several animal rights organizations, a court order...and CHER. The BBC’s @SecKermani has the story of what happened when the world’s loneliest elephant, met a world famous pop star. @cher @ftwglobal

thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
Kaavan the elephant ended up in Pakistan on the whims of a little girl whose dad was a military dictator, languished for 35 years, lost his best friend Saheli, 8 years ago, and was very lonely and sad. And then he made an unexpected ally. Cher.
.@cher first learned about Kaavan in 2016. She and her animal welfare organization @ftwglobal along with @fourpawsint have been trying for years to win his freedom from terrible conditions at the Islamabad zoo. Their fight for other animals there is not over.
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In a crisis like a pandemic, crime tends to find new opportunities: slim resources, weakened enemies, business failures and sloppy security.

Experts agree #COVID19 crisis has hit facets of underworld life at varying degrees of intensity. Here’s how:

thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
Immediately after the pandemic hit last March, illegal drugs became the toilet paper of the underworld — meaning cocaine, heroin and other narcotics were the target of panic buying and hoarding. thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
After shutdowns and schedule shrinking hit many major sports leagues, gamblers showed they were eager to drop bets on virtually anything, including chess. thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
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Internet conspiracies take decades-old tactics for radicalization and cult recruitment and turn them to the masses online.

We are seeing them in response to the U.S. presidential election result: thestar.com/news/canada/20…
A poll shows 21 per cent of respondents do not believe Biden won the election

Underlying that resistance is a mysterious character of Q, an anonymous internet poster or posters, claiming to have access to classified government information. thestar.com/news/canada/20…
Disputing Q’s misinformation is an almost entirely futile affair, a Star #contributor says. Here’s what may actually work — and some of what almost certainly won’t. thestar.com/news/canada/20…
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#ThisMatters: It's the eve of #ElectionDay We're diving into history to talk about how the 'myth' of American exceptionalism has become doctrine in US politics

American history explained, with author & political analyst @JYSexton on today's podcast thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
As Jared discusses, American exceptionalism has been used to justify violence against people for generations: against BIPOC people, in colonialism, in slavery

To critique it, meant to question whether America is what its founding fathers claimed it to be
“[The US] was founded by a white supremacist, aristocratic movement...they created a society based on the idea that white men, with a lot of wealth, a lot of power were the safest repositories of liberty” - Jared Yates Sexton
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There is a "lobster war" on the East Coast, where Indigenous people have a right to fish year-round for a moderate livelihood. Non-Indigenous fishing boats have been trying to stop Indigenous fishing boats - a conflict rooted over 20 years ago. thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
The conflict is about more than lobster stock and access to fishing in the rich maritime waters. Actions against the Indigenous fishers are systemic violence and a demonstration of racial injustice. thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
The crisis stems from a 1999 Supreme Court decision. When the Sipekne’katik launched a fishery last month, fishers reported lines being cut as soon as traps were laid and their lobster traps being hauled out of the water. thestar.com/news/canada/20…
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The Star's @maywarren11 was relieved to learn she had been exposed to #COVID19. Why? She believed she had the virus in March but didn't qualify then for a swab test to confirm. An antibody test confirmed she had indeed been hit with the virus thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
There has been a lot of interest in antibody tests. Not everyone who believed they were sick were tested for #COVID19. Also antibodies typically fight reinfection and hold clues about immunity. Could #COVID19 be a one time deal like chicken pox? thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
Health Canada-approved antibody tests are available — for a price, at private clinics in Ontario. But experts told @maywarren11: don’t assume you’re protected. You are not immune to #COVID19 after having it once. thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
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China has denied Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have been “arbitrarily“ detained in response to Canada’s arrest of an executive of technology giant Huawei. torstar.co/jsom50BQh2c
The state of relations between Canada and China are likely more fraught than they have ever been. A number of issues stem from the Canadian arrest of Meng Wanzhou and the subsequent detaining of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor #ThisMatters #podcast thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
How does a mild-mannered middle power like Canada push back against an aggressive superpower like China? @reggcohn thestar.com/politics/polit…
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Epic Games Inc. has failed again to force Apple Inc. to put #Fortnite back in its App Store while the game developer pursues its antitrust claims against the iPhone maker. thestar.com/business/2020/…
Why were they in court? Epic added a new way for iOS players to pay the company directly for #Fortnite in-game currency, which are called V-Bucks. This violated Apple’s iOS App Stores policies #ThisMatters #podcast thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
Apple booted #Fortnite from its digital storefront as a result. Since then, tech companies are choosing sides and a group has started a new non-profit called the Coalition for App Fairness. #ThisMatters #podcast thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
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The #COVID19 pandemic changed the way we buy food. On today's #ThisMatters, @rajumudhar and @karonliu discuss trends in food buying habits and how the industry is adapting. (1/5) thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
When #COVID19 hit Canada, supermarkets looked apocalyptic: empty shelves, lines snaking around the parking lot, shoppers with carts full of toilet paper and dried beans (2/5) thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
The very act of how we grocery shop - from big box stores, to markets, to shopping online changed almost overnight. Even how we keep and store food started to change (3/5) thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
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It’s been compared to the space race. Nations around the world are in fierce competition toward a singular goal: a #COVID19 vaccine.
thestar.com/news/canada/20…
In an unprecedented bid to assure the public that the safety of any #COVID19 vaccine won’t be compromised, the heads of no fewer than nine biopharmaceutical companies have banded together to make a public pledge. thestar.com/news/canada/20…
.@alex_n_boyd has in-depth reporting on #TheRoadtoAVaccine. One of the pillars of the global effort to find a COVID-19 vaccine will be human testing. thestar.com/news/canada/20…
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Today on #ThisMatters, I spoke with @sabaeitizaz about what some people are calling the “She-Cession”: the fact that women, especially women of colour, have felt a greater economic impact due to COVID-19 than men have. thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
When the pandemic began, data shows women lost almost twice as many jobs or hours as men. As the economy began to pick back up, men recovered those jobs at a higher rate than women. The disparity is even higher for marginalized women, such as racialized women or women of colour.
One reason for this is that women, especially racialized women, are over-represented in the industries hit hardest by the pandemic, like hospitality or care.

But women are also being pulled back by the responsibilities of the home — undoing decades of progress in the workplace.
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THREAD: Here are the ABC’s (algorithms, big tech and cops) of predictive policing and surveillance. Today’s #ThisMatters #podcast explores what we need to know and what it means for your rights. @rajumudhar (1/7) thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
As an example, in 2019, The Star reported Toronto police acquired controversial surveillance technology that sweeps up data on bystanders’ cellphones as well as that of criminal targets (2/7) thestar.com/news/gta/2019/…
Use of the technology was not new. @katecallen and @wendygillis reported Toronto police had been using facial recognition technology for more than a year (3/7) thestar.com/news/gta/2019/…
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Just how safe is it to return to the classroom in the age of COVID-19?

We asked experts — from people who do pandemic modelling to doctors — for their science-based perspectives about measures school boards are taking to keep the spread of COVID-19 at bay.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
There was disagreement over whether it was realistic for parents to keep their kids home for 2 weeks at the slightest symptom of illness. And not all believe we will be able to make it through a full school year in classrooms.

Here's our panel of experts: thestar.com/news/gta/2020/… Image
Q: Some schools are allowing students to work closely together as long as they’re wearing masks. Do you think that is safe or should elementary class size be reduced?

See answers from all experts: thestar.com/news/gta/2020/… Image
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Toronto Police Const. Heather McWilliam was sexually harassed for years by her supervisors, including a sexual assault in the form of a forced kiss. She took her story to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, who ruled in her favour. #ThisMatters #podcast: thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
The Star first reported McWilliam’s complaint in 2016. She said she was sexually harassed and humiliated for years by her supervising officers and that she was punished for speaking out. thestar.com/news/gta/2016/…
At the time, @RDiManno wrote this was nothing new. She had reported on sexual harassment within the Toronto Police Service before. thestar.com/news/gta/2016/…
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Despite a detailed report on Regis Korchinski-Paquet’s death and the involvement of Toronto Police at the scene, the @SIUOntario can’t shake public criticism. Why? A perception remains the SIU is not a true independent oversight body. #thread 1/5
thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
Released Wednesday, the SIU report released an unusually detailed summary of its investigative efforts and the evidence collected in the case. 2/5
thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
‘It’s not right — it’s unjust, and we’re not OK with it’: Family of Regis Korchinski-Paquet were ‘disgusted’ by the result of the SIU report 3/5
thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
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"I'm in my 30s and don't understand #TikTok."

But I have been writing about Canada-China issues for a while now, so I'm glad for this opportunity to discuss a number of big stories on @TorontoStar's great podcast #ThisMatters thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
With the Dec. 2018 arrest of Meng Wanzhou and China's subsequent "hostage diplomacy" imprisonment of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, this has coloured all interactions between the countries since, I discussed with @rajumudhar: thestar.com/news/canada/20…
Add to that, geopolitical tensions have now been exacerbated by recent developments like the draconian national security law in Hong Kong and Trump's executive orders to ban #WeChat and #TikTok. We review where Canada-China relations now stand. thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
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#ThisMatters: Should the Canada/US border stay closed, as COVID cases continue to surge south of the border?

Most Cdns say: keep it locked down. But how long will it last? Washington bureau chief @thekeenanwire and I talk for today's episode thestar.com/podcasts/thism…
Canada & the US's curves are going in opposite directions. Our closest ally has one of the worst records in the world...and it's getting worse
- 3 million confirmed cases
- Avg'ing 50,000 new cases/day
- 130,000+ deaths

Does Canada want to open itself up to that?
American passports aren't welcome in the EU or in Canada at the moment. As @thekeenanwire mentions in the podcast -- that's actually part of a larger Trump admin policy of isolation
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Thread: I’ve been pretty quiet the last few weeks. It’s because I had #COVID19. I’ve been off social media focusing on getting healthy. But I wanted to write something now that I’m feeling better thestar.com/news/gta/2020/…
I got infected through community transmission on Friday
March 13 (yes I’m aware), before it was even announced that was happening in Toronto. It was a dinner with six ppl. No one had any symptoms or had travelled recently.
I was never able to be tested, which is interesting in itself. I’m one of 170 “probable cases” of #COVID19 in Toronto that I was happy to see are now being counted in the official local total.
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