Man Arrested – Hold and Secure

Kingston Police swarmed the area around Bayridge Secondary School and Bayridge Public School after a student received a threatening text message on Monday.

A man was arrested a short time after the incident was reported to police.

Both schools were placed in a hold and secure starting around 12:30 yesterday afternoon.  Nobody was allowed into or out of the buildings while police investigated the incident.

Apartment Fire

One person was treated for smoke inhalation after a fire in an apartment on Wright Crescent.

Firefighters found smoke in the halls coming from a fire in an apartment on the second story of the building next to the Kingston Family Y at around 2:00 p.m. on Monday.

Damage is estimated at $50,000.

A news release says the cause of the fire has not been determined.

Pharmacare – Budget

A Canada-wide pharmacare plan is in the works and the early details are expected in today’s federal budget.

Sources say the Trudeau governments’ budget will establish a national advisory group on pharmacare.

It will be led by now-former Ontario health minister Dr. Eric Hoskins.  Hoskins abruptly resigned both his cabinet post and his seat in the Ontario legislature yesterday, saying he was leaving — “continue building better health care for all Canadians.”

Military Marijuana

Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff is playing down suggestions the military will ban or prohibit the use of marijuana by military personnel when it becomes legal.

General Jonathan Vance told the Senate defence committee yesterday he’s going to use common sense to determine how the Armed Forces should treat the legalization of recreational marijuana.  Vance says the military will follow the laws of the land when it comes to handling legalization.

Ranked Ballot Roadshow

There’s a special information session in Kingston tonight on ranked ballot voting.

Kingston City Council has approved a referendum question that will be on the ballot for this falls municipal election.  It will ask if voters in Kingston want to switch to the ranked ballot system.

The session tonight at 7:00 at the Agnes Etherington Arts Centre includes presentations by Mayor Bryan Paterson, former Kingston Liberal MP Ted Hsu, former Conservative candidate Andy Brooke, City councillor and former NDP candidate Mary Rita Holland and Queen’s political science professor Jonathan Rose.  The keynote speaker is the Executive Director of FairVote Minnesota.

Filed under: apartment-fire, budget, hold-and-secure, man-arrested, military-marijuana, pharmacare, ranked-ballot-roadshow