Ontario News

ALGONQUIN PARK, Ont. — Ontario Parks says that reservations for its campsites have nearly doubled since the same time last year. The provincial government agency says that bookings made between Jan. 1 and Feb. 5 have increased almost 100 per cent.

Hamilton police say they have arrested a man and woman after finding the body of a dead baby. Police say they were called early Wednesday morning with a tip about "suspicious circumstances" at a home.

A popular insecticide used on farms across Canada has been shown to have dire effects on ground-nesting bees, according to new research from the University of Guelph.

The top doctor for the Thunder Bay, Ont., area is recommending all schools move classes online for the next two weeks due to rising COVID-19 cases. Dr. Janet DeMille made the recommendation in a Thursday memo to school boards in the region.

TORONTO — Ontario's explanation that ongoing tests are delaying the launch of its vaccine-booking web portal doesn't carry water for experts, who said Thursday that the province should have begun those trials months ago.

MONTREAL — As Quebec began booking appointments Thursday for its expanded COVID-19 vaccination campaign, the province's health minister said he's in favour of vaccine passports for those who have been fully inoculated.

TORONTO — Proposed changes to Ontario's election laws introduced Thursday by the Progressive Conservatives were slammed by the Opposition as an attempt to silence critics amid mounting failures in the province's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

TORONTO — More infectious COVID-19 variants will likely make up 40 per cent of new cases in Ontario by mid-March, an expert group said Thursday, calling it a "minefield" the province will need to navigate very carefully.

TORONTO — Eight schools in Toronto now have at least one case of a more contagious COVID-19 variant. In a letter to parents, Toronto Public Health says the discovery is not unexpected as the variants are known to be spreading across Ontario.

TORONTO — Ontario had no updated plan for dealing with a pandemic when COVID-19 began cutting a deadly swath through the province last spring, a public commission was told.