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Great Backyard Bird Count in High Park
Dates & Times: February 13-16, 10AM-12PM
Starts at: High Park Forest School, 375 Colborne Lodge Drive
Price: Pay What You Can (FREE, $5, $8, $10)
Recommended Ages: 8+ years
Celebrate Family Day weekend with High Park Nature Centre by taking part in one or all four days of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) community science event! Participants in this beginner‑ and family‑friendly birding walk will explore High Park while identifying, learning about, and counting the birds encountered along the way.
Observations collected during the walks will be submitted to eBird, contributing directly to the global GBBC database, and helping researchers track and analyze bird populations around the world.
Pre-registration is required to participate. For more information and to register today, please visit the Nature Centre's website: https://highparknaturecentre.com/event/wi26-great-backyard-bird-count-1/
Events & Volunteer Opportunities
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VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
In the coming weeks, I'll be holding a series of lobby meetings to hear from tenants across the riding about the housing issues that matter to them. Our team is looking for volunteers to help us get the word out! Can you pitch in for a 2-hour shift to help us flyer the buildings? Sign up using the form below!
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|
Together, we can help tenants connect, share information and resources, and ensure their voices are heard and brought back to Queen's Park in March!
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News from Queen's Park & Beyond
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CONSERVATIVE CUTS TO EDUCATION ARE ENDANGERING OUR KIDS--and violating their right to an education.
Last spring, Community Living Ontario (CLO) released a harrowing report showing how chronic underfunding of Ontario's public schools is putting students with disabilities in harm's way. At my very first press conference after being elected MPP, I stood with representatives from CLO and the Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC) to urge the Ford government to invest in the staffing and resources necessary to keep students safe and supported.
Our demands were met with inaction. And now, tragedy has struck. On December 11, 7 year old Max Simao was hit and killed by a bus after leaving school at lunchtime. Max should have been at school that afternoon, but like thousands of Ontario kids with special needs he had been placed on a "modified schedule"--sent home early--for over a month because his school didn't have an educational assistant to support him.
This is unconscionable. Max's death was preventable, and it happened because this government failed to act while students with disabilities were pushed out of classrooms through chronic underfunding and forced exclusions. I joined Max's parents, NDP Leader Marit Stiles, and OAC representatives at Queen's Park to call on the Premier to fully fund our public schools and stop these forced exclusions. Because every child has a right to an education.
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 |
NEW RECYCLING PROGRAM OFF TO A MESSY START
As I'm sure you are aware, the recycling you put out is no longer picked up by the City of Toronto. The whole system, not just the blue-box pick-up, has changed. The companies that sell products which generate waste, like packaging, are now required to pay for the collection and recycling. Details here. Across Ontario that reduces costs for cities by around $200 million. The trade off is that the companies get to choose who picks up the recycling. As many of you have shared with me, so far they have not been off to a good start.
The bottom line is that the Ford government, who set this system up, are responsible for seeing that it works. If you have a complaint about the service (or lack there of) please do two things:
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MORE SDF CORRUPTION REVEALED
The Ford government's Skills Development Fund (SDF) scandal just keeps getting worse. The Trillium recently dropped a blockbuster report showing that 80% of for-profit SDF funding went to Conservative donors.
Watch me break it down here:
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|
Meanwhile, the Ontario Provincial Police has launched investigations into two recipients of SDF funds: Keele Digital Solutions, a software company that provides a platform for mental health care, and Jake's House for Autistic Children, an autism charity that offers mentoring, among other services.
Ontarians deserve a government that is fair, transparent and accountable. My colleagues and I in the Ontario NDP are calling on Labour Minister David Piccini to resign, and we won't stop digging until we get to the bottom of the corruption.
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SUPREME COURT OF CANADA TO HEAR ONTARIO PLACE APPEAL
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Canada granted an appeal to Ontario Place Protectors. The appeal questions the constitutionality of the Ontario government’s Rebuilding Ontario Place Act that allows the province to break any provincial or municipal laws – including dumping sewage without informing the public – in order to redevelop Ontario Place. This is a small win for our democracy. I’ll keep you updated on this.
|
PROVINCE LOOKS AT BANNING CAT DECLAWING AND OTHER UNNECESSARY PROCEDURES FOR PETS
Ontario has proposed a regulation that would ban medically unnecessary procedures on cats and dogs, including declawing, debarking, and ear cropping. Ontario is currently the only province without restrictions on these procedures.
These regulations are long overdue, and animals have suffered unnecessarily as a result. NDP Leader Marit Stiles introduced a private member’s bill in 2020 known as Teddy’s Law to ban the declawing of cats in Ontario. Although it received support from animal welfare organizations, the bill did not pass into law at that time.
Share your comments on the proposal here.
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NOW MORE THAN EVER, PUBLIC HEALTH CARE NEEDS PROTECTING
For years, Ontario has had the lowest per capita hospital spending in Canada--and it's taking a major toll. The Ontario Hospital Association recently reported that our hospital sector is facing a $1 billion structural deficit. It's causing serious capacity issues: as of 2022, we had 5 percent fewer hospital beds per 100,000 people than in 2009.
The Ford government's solution is privatization. As Andrew Longhurst from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reports, Conservatives poured $154 million into public funding to for-profit surgical facilities between 2019-20 and 2023-24, and this December, they announced $125 million investments over 2 years for four new private orthopedic surgery facilities.
The result? Higher wait times for nine out of 11 priority procedures, including all priority cancer surgeries. (Read more here.)
It's of a piece with what I hear from families, seniors and frontline workers across our riding: our public system is stretched thin, staff are burnt out, and people are waiting too long for care they deserve. This week, I joined NDP Leader Marit Stiles and the Ontario Health Coalition at the Health Action Assembly for important conversations about defending and strengthening our public health care system in Ontario. With the 2026 budget coming up, now is the time to reinvest in our public health system--because you should get health care based on need, not the size of your wallet.
📢SIGN MY PETITION and ✏️EMAIL PREMIER FORD to say NO to selling off our health care.
|
NDP CALLS FOR URGENT INVESTMENTS IN HIGHWAY SAFETY
This January's record snowfall makes it very clear: the Ontario government must make highway safety a priority. Our Northern Ontario NDP MPPs have been urgently calling on Ford Conservatives to restore Ministry oversight of winter highway maintenance to guarantee safer travel conditions. It's time the Ontario government recognizes that safe roads strengthen our economy, connect communities and create good jobs across the province, making us stronger in the face of the tariff threat:
|
Parkdale—High Park Happenings
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|
Urban wildfires aren’t a distant threat anymore—they’re a real risk in cities like Toronto. If you want to dig deeper into what this means, I encourage you to watch the full panel discussion featuring Dr. Anabela Bonado, journalist John Vaillant, and MPP Peter Tabuns. It was a pleasure to moderate this panel sponsored by the Parkdale–High Park, Beaches–East York, Etobicoke–Lakeshore, Spadina–Fort York, and Toronto–Danforth NDP. Many thanks to all who were able to attend!
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|
I was proud to attend the announcement of Dunn House Phase 2 in Parkdale. Projects like this show what’s possible when the city, province, and federal government work together to deliver housing with wraparound health and social supports that helps keep people housed.
I have always been a staunch advocate for deeply affordable supportive housing and social medicine, which go hand in hand. Dunn House Phase 2, with its 54 new units of housing, is a great step in the right direction for all levels of government.
|
|
It was an honour to meet with Sherap Therchin, Executive Director of the Canada Tibet Committee (CTC), and learn about CTC’s decades long advocacy for the Tibetan freedom movement in Canada.
We also discussed about Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to China, and Sherap offered an important reminder that any Canada–China trade engagement must be grounded in clear and enforceable commitments to human rights, environmental protection, and the self-determination of the Tibetan people. I stand with him and with the Tibetan community in these calls.
|
|
Such a delight to host another meeting of Girls Government with students from Holy Family Catholic School and Dr. Rita Cox - Kina Minagok Public School.
Girls Government is an initiative started in our riding to get Grade 8 girls excited about civic engagement, and I love watching them build confidence in their advocacy, especially around their chosen issue of affordable housing. This month, we practiced letter writing as an important way young people can use their voices to create change.
|
|
I was grateful to visit Kerry’s Place group home in our community, tour the space, meet residents, and spend time with the incredible staff who make this home what it is. The workers here are innovative, deeply committed, and doing extraordinary work every day. All of this is thanks to their hard work doing what they love while, of course, navigating chronic underfunding and rising costs.
But helping our community can't be done on passion alone. Ontario must invest in more inclusive, affordable and supportive housing across the province.
|
|
The Ontario Arts Council's full list of funding opportunities and application deadlines for 2026 is now available here: https://www.arts.on.ca/grants/general-granting-information/grant-program-deadlines-and-important-dates
The OAC's mission is to help artists and arts organizations to realize their creative visions, build careers and audiences, and bring arts activity to communities of all sizes across Ontario — including here in Parkdale—High Park.
|
|
Great Backyard Bird Count in High Park
Dates & Times: February 13-16, 10AM-12PM
Starts at: High Park Forest School, 375 Colborne Lodge Drive
Price: Pay What You Can (FREE, $5, $8, $10)
Recommended Ages: 8+ years
Celebrate Family Day weekend with High Park Nature Centre by taking part in one or all four days of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) community science event! Participants in this beginner‑ and family‑friendly birding walk will explore High Park while identifying, learning about, and counting the birds encountered along the way.
Observations collected during the walks will be submitted to eBird, contributing directly to the global GBBC database, and helping researchers track and analyze bird populations around the world.
Pre-registration is required to participate. For more information and to register today, please visit the Nature Centre's website: https://highparknaturecentre.com/event/wi26-great-backyard-bird-count-1/
Events & Volunteer Opportunities
|
|
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
In the coming weeks, I'll be holding a series of lobby meetings to hear from tenants across the riding about the housing issues that matter to them. Our team is looking for volunteers to help us get the word out! Can you pitch in for a 2-hour shift to help us flyer the buildings? Sign up using the form below!
|
|
Together, we can help tenants connect, share information and resources, and ensure their voices are heard and brought back to Queen's Park in March!
|
News from Queen's Park & Beyond
|
CONSERVATIVE CUTS TO EDUCATION ARE ENDANGERING OUR KIDS--and violating their right to an education.
Last spring, Community Living Ontario (CLO) released a harrowing report showing how chronic underfunding of Ontario's public schools is putting students with disabilities in harm's way. At my very first press conference after being elected MPP, I stood with representatives from CLO and the Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC) to urge the Ford government to invest in the staffing and resources necessary to keep students safe and supported.
Our demands were met with inaction. And now, tragedy has struck. On December 11, 7 year old Max Simao was hit and killed by a bus after leaving school at lunchtime. Max should have been at school that afternoon, but like thousands of Ontario kids with special needs he had been placed on a "modified schedule"--sent home early--for over a month because his school didn't have an educational assistant to support him.
This is unconscionable. Max's death was preventable, and it happened because this government failed to act while students with disabilities were pushed out of classrooms through chronic underfunding and forced exclusions. I joined Max's parents, NDP Leader Marit Stiles, and OAC representatives at Queen's Park to call on the Premier to fully fund our public schools and stop these forced exclusions. Because every child has a right to an education.
|
|
NEW RECYCLING PROGRAM OFF TO A MESSY START
As I'm sure you are aware, the recycling you put out is no longer picked up by the City of Toronto. The whole system, not just the blue-box pick-up, has changed. The companies that sell products which generate waste, like packaging, are now required to pay for the collection and recycling. Details here. Across Ontario that reduces costs for cities by around $200 million. The trade off is that the companies get to choose who picks up the recycling. As many of you have shared with me, so far they have not been off to a good start.
The bottom line is that the Ford government, who set this system up, are responsible for seeing that it works. If you have a complaint about the service (or lack there of) please do two things:
|
MORE SDF CORRUPTION REVEALED
The Ford government's Skills Development Fund (SDF) scandal just keeps getting worse. The Trillium recently dropped a blockbuster report showing that 80% of for-profit SDF funding went to Conservative donors.
Watch me break it down here:
|
|
Meanwhile, the Ontario Provincial Police has launched investigations into two recipients of SDF funds: Keele Digital Solutions, a software company that provides a platform for mental health care, and Jake's House for Autistic Children, an autism charity that offers mentoring, among other services.
Ontarians deserve a government that is fair, transparent and accountable. My colleagues and I in the Ontario NDP are calling on Labour Minister David Piccini to resign, and we won't stop digging until we get to the bottom of the corruption.
|
SUPREME COURT OF CANADA TO HEAR ONTARIO PLACE APPEAL
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Canada granted an appeal to Ontario Place Protectors. The appeal questions the constitutionality of the Ontario government’s Rebuilding Ontario Place Act that allows the province to break any provincial or municipal laws – including dumping sewage without informing the public – in order to redevelop Ontario Place. This is a small win for our democracy. I’ll keep you updated on this.
|
PROVINCE LOOKS AT BANNING CAT DECLAWING AND OTHER UNNECESSARY PROCEDURES FOR PETS
Ontario has proposed a regulation that would ban medically unnecessary procedures on cats and dogs, including declawing, debarking, and ear cropping. Ontario is currently the only province without restrictions on these procedures.
These regulations are long overdue, and animals have suffered unnecessarily as a result. NDP Leader Marit Stiles introduced a private member’s bill in 2020 known as Teddy’s Law to ban the declawing of cats in Ontario. Although it received support from animal welfare organizations, the bill did not pass into law at that time.
Share your comments on the proposal here.
|
NOW MORE THAN EVER, PUBLIC HEALTH CARE NEEDS PROTECTING
For years, Ontario has had the lowest per capita hospital spending in Canada--and it's taking a major toll. The Ontario Hospital Association recently reported that our hospital sector is facing a $1 billion structural deficit. It's causing serious capacity issues: as of 2022, we had 5 percent fewer hospital beds per 100,000 people than in 2009.
The Ford government's solution is privatization. As Andrew Longhurst from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reports, Conservatives poured $154 million into public funding to for-profit surgical facilities between 2019-20 and 2023-24, and this December, they announced $125 million investments over 2 years for four new private orthopedic surgery facilities.
The result? Higher wait times for nine out of 11 priority procedures, including all priority cancer surgeries. (Read more here.)
It's of a piece with what I hear from families, seniors and frontline workers across our riding: our public system is stretched thin, staff are burnt out, and people are waiting too long for care they deserve. This week, I joined NDP Leader Marit Stiles and the Ontario Health Coalition at the Health Action Assembly for important conversations about defending and strengthening our public health care system in Ontario. With the 2026 budget coming up, now is the time to reinvest in our public health system--because you should get health care based on need, not the size of your wallet.
📢SIGN MY PETITION and ✏️EMAIL PREMIER FORD to say NO to selling off our health care.
|
NDP CALLS FOR URGENT INVESTMENTS IN HIGHWAY SAFETY
This January's record snowfall makes it very clear: the Ontario government must make highway safety a priority. Our Northern Ontario NDP MPPs have been urgently calling on Ford Conservatives to restore Ministry oversight of winter highway maintenance to guarantee safer travel conditions. It's time the Ontario government recognizes that safe roads strengthen our economy, connect communities and create good jobs across the province, making us stronger in the face of the tariff threat:
|
Parkdale—High Park Happenings
|
|
Urban wildfires aren’t a distant threat anymore—they’re a real risk in cities like Toronto. If you want to dig deeper into what this means, I encourage you to watch the full panel discussion featuring Dr. Anabela Bonado, journalist John Vaillant, and MPP Peter Tabuns. It was a pleasure to moderate this panel sponsored by the Parkdale–High Park, Beaches–East York, Etobicoke–Lakeshore, Spadina–Fort York, and Toronto–Danforth NDP. Many thanks to all who were able to attend!
|
|
I was proud to attend the announcement of Dunn House Phase 2 in Parkdale. Projects like this show what’s possible when the city, province, and federal government work together to deliver housing with wraparound health and social supports that helps keep people housed.
I have always been a staunch advocate for deeply affordable supportive housing and social medicine, which go hand in hand. Dunn House Phase 2, with its 54 new units of housing, is a great step in the right direction for all levels of government.
|
|
It was an honour to meet with Sherap Therchin, Executive Director of the Canada Tibet Committee (CTC), and learn about CTC’s decades long advocacy for the Tibetan freedom movement in Canada.
We also discussed about Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to China, and Sherap offered an important reminder that any Canada–China trade engagement must be grounded in clear and enforceable commitments to human rights, environmental protection, and the self-determination of the Tibetan people. I stand with him and with the Tibetan community in these calls.
|
|
Such a delight to host another meeting of Girls Government with students from Holy Family Catholic School and Dr. Rita Cox - Kina Minagok Public School.
Girls Government is an initiative started in our riding to get Grade 8 girls excited about civic engagement, and I love watching them build confidence in their advocacy, especially around their chosen issue of affordable housing. This month, we practiced letter writing as an important way young people can use their voices to create change.
|
|
I was grateful to visit Kerry’s Place group home in our community, tour the space, meet residents, and spend time with the incredible staff who make this home what it is. The workers here are innovative, deeply committed, and doing extraordinary work every day. All of this is thanks to their hard work doing what they love while, of course, navigating chronic underfunding and rising costs.
But helping our community can't be done on passion alone. Ontario must invest in more inclusive, affordable and supportive housing across the province.
|
|
The Ontario Arts Council's full list of funding opportunities and application deadlines for 2026 is now available here: https://www.arts.on.ca/grants/general-granting-information/grant-program-deadlines-and-important-dates
The OAC's mission is to help artists and arts organizations to realize their creative visions, build careers and audiences, and bring arts activity to communities of all sizes across Ontario — including here in Parkdale—High Park.
|
|
Great Backyard Bird Count in High Park
Dates & Times: February 13-16, 10AM-12PM
Starts at: High Park Forest School, 375 Colborne Lodge Drive
Price: Pay What You Can (FREE, $5, $8, $10)
Recommended Ages: 8+ years
Celebrate Family Day weekend with High Park Nature Centre by taking part in one or all four days of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) community science event! Participants in this beginner‑ and family‑friendly birding walk will explore High Park while identifying, learning about, and counting the birds encountered along the way.
Observations collected during the walks will be submitted to eBird, contributing directly to the global GBBC database, and helping researchers track and analyze bird populations around the world.
Pre-registration is required to participate. For more information and to register today, please visit the Nature Centre's website: https://highparknaturecentre.com/event/wi26-great-backyard-bird-count-1/
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