Gauging Ontarians at Covid's two-year mark: Poll

Plus: Big health pushback, electrical safety school and broadband regs, MPPs hit the pavement, Brown attack, more candidates join the 2022 ticket

ABOVE THE FOLD

POLL WATCH — Two years on, Ontarians’ mental health is in the dumps.

That’s the upshot from a new Maru Public Opinion poll that suggests 41 per cent of Ontarians view their mental health as worse off than before the pandemic hit two years ago. Compared to the rest of the country at 35 per cent, Ontarians were most likely to say their mental health has deteriorated.

Forty-nine per cent are worried about family mental health, 43 per cent say they’re “worried sick about the future” and 43 per cent say they know a child or youth going through such tough times. Twenty-two per cent in the province feel like they’re at a “breaking point.”

— Why it matters: Expect mental health to feature heavily in political party platforms. The Greens have already promised a big package, acknowledging pandemic mental health, and say they’ll reverse the PCs removal of licence plate sticker fees and instead use that $1-billion to fund their mental health proposal.

HAPPENING TODAY

— 9:30 a.m.…