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Headlines

The Liberal government's revamped Ontario Autism Program will include a direct-funding option for families, The Canadian Press reports. This will make many of those families, who may want more flexibility, happy. And a decade-old study that was done for the government actually found that just giving people money for therapy was cheaper than providing the service. So it's a win-win?

Toronto Mayor John Tory has softened his stance, it appears, on the proposed subway relief line, the Toronto Star reports. The mayor dropped some hints earlier this month that he could slow down work on the Yonge North line until the province came to the table with money for the downtown relief line's construction. Now Tory's hanging out with York Region mayors and saying both projects need a hand from higher levels of government.

There were more than nine million opioid prescriptions filled in 2015-16, the most there's ever been, according to Health Quality Ontario.

PC Leader Patrick Brown has bid bon voyage to the $1 billion or so it cost to cancel and relocate those troublesome gas plants, the Toronto Sun reports. It's gone up in a cloud of fossil-fuel-smelling smoke.

Former Liberal MPP and Ontario Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur is facing an uphill climb to become Canada's next official languages commissioner, according to The Canadian Press. The opposition parties are — get this — opposing the appointment.

Lake Ontario's water levels were at a record-high on Monday, reports the Niagara Falls Review.

Our stories from Wednesday:

Well, the Premier is going to spend at least one day of her constituency week, next week, in Sudbury.

Netflix has you covered, cottagers.

Paging Queen's Park: Peterborough wants to hear from you.

The gravesite of Canada's second prime minister won't be neglected. So reports the Sarnia Observer.

In the opinion pages:

Don't count Jagmeet Singh out in Quebec, writes Chantal Hébert
Singh's candidacy will be a test for his party and the country, says Martin Regg Cohn
Luisa D'Amato hears from a teacher who's concerned about Ontario's "increasingly violent classrooms"

Bills

Third Reading of Bill 124, An Act to amend the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006.

Second Reading of Bill 132, An Act to enact the Ontario Fair Hydro Plan Act, 2017, and to make amendments to the Electricity Act, 1998, and the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998.

Third Reading of Bill 96, An Act to enact the Human Trafficking Awareness Day Act, 2017, and the Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking Act, 2017.

Second Reading of Bill 129, An Act to amend the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, with respect to medical assistance in dying.

Second Reading of Bill 135, An Act to establish a framework for the licensing of supportive living accommodation.

Second Reading of Bill 134, An Act to implement 2017 Budget measures.

Events

9:00 a.m.

Bill Mauro, Minister of Municipal Affairs, will make an announcement. Williams Landing, 120 Lynn Williams Street, Toronto.

9:15 a.m.

Press conference: "Ontario is unprepared for a nuclear emergency on the Great Lakes." Queen's Park.

9:45 a.m.

Press conference: "Ontario Doctors and Healthcare Providers United in Protection of Conscience Rights. Queen's Park.

2:00 p.m.

Michael Coteau, Minister of Children and Youth Services, will make an announcement at Monarch House in Oakville.

To contact the reporter on this story:
gzochodne@qpbriefing.com
416-212-5913
Twitter: @geoffzochodne

Your morning briefing