Section
Reporting, analysis and the latest stories from The Waterloo Journal.
The 44th Parliament
Explore Ontario’s current Legislature. Each tile represents one provincial riding; hover, tap or use the keyboard to identify its MPP.
Current as of August 5, 2026. Sources: official chamber seating plan and current MPP roster and party standings, Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
Local Affairs
Ontario is increasing funding for colleges and universities while converting much of its student assistance from grants into interest-bearing provincial loans—a policy choice that places the heaviest burden on students without family wealth.
Local Affairs August 14, 2026
Concerns about water, electricity and public costs are legitimate—but online debate has blurred together an existing Cambridge project, a potential Wilmot investment and a regional study that has not approved any new development
Local Affairs August 14, 2026
The latest arrest involves a 20-year-old Cambridge man. A separate Cambridge woman was arrested in Hong Kong in 2025, and another man was charged in Markham this June.
Local Affairs August 11, 2026
Navdeep Bains, Stephanie Bowman, Lee Fairclough, Eric Lombardi and Dylan Marando offered competing strategies in the first Ontario Liberal leadership debate—but reserved most of their attacks for Premier Doug Ford.
Local Affairs August 10, 2026
Ontario is increasing funding for colleges and universities while converting much of its student assistance from grants into interest-bearing provincial loans—a policy choice that places the heaviest burden on students without family wealth.
Local Affairs August 7, 2026
The former Kitchener Centre MP is one of two approved candidates seeking to replace Elizabeth May. His campaign combines climate policy with an increasingly populist message about housing, inequality and concentrated wealth—but his larger challenge is rebuilding a party reduced to one seat and 1.2 per cent of the national vote.
Local Affairs August 5, 2026
Voters in Scarborough Southwest, York–Simcoe and Hamilton East–Stoney Creek will choose new MPPs on Sept. 3. The results cannot threaten the Progressive Conservative majority, but each riding presents a different test of Ontario’s changing political landscape.
Local Affairs July 29, 2026
Kitchener’s three-term mayor is seeking another four years in office after a term dominated by rapid growth, housing construction and mounting pressure on municipal infrastructure.
Local Affairs July 24, 2026
Rogers is spending billions to consolidate its control of Canadian professional sports while raising streaming prices, closing local radio stations and eliminating hundreds of media jobs. The decisions are not directly connected—but their timing has intensified questions about the company’s priorities.
Local Affairs July 22, 2026
Thirty-two people face 235 charges after police allege high-value tools were stolen and resold online. But the charge sheet suggests a network with very different roles, while leaving major questions about its leadership, marketplace customers and true financial scale unanswered.
Local Affairs July 22, 2026
Police have recovered sensitive records taken from a Waterloo Region District School Board office and arrested two men. But neither the board nor police has publicly explained how the files were secured, whether they were copied or what safeguards have changed since the breach.
Local Affairs July 20, 2026
Ontario has not imposed a hard spending cap on fighting fires. But emergency top-ups, disputed staffing levels and questions from evacuated First Nations reveal a deeper preparedness problem.
Local Affairs July 17, 2026
WRPS is using Verkada cameras to record public spaces and read licence plates. Unused footage is scheduled for deletion after about 30 days, while material connected to an investigation can be retained much longer.
Local Affairs July 17, 2026
Thirty litres per second of capacity is being released for new development as municipalities decide which housing, employment and public-service projects should receive it first.