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In cities and towns across Ontario — and at Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill — our journalists work for you. Their mission is to dig for answers and tell you what they find.

This new feature — ‘Closer Look’ — is a chance to hear directly from those dedicated reporters and editors.

Every night, Village Media’s Scott Sexsmith sits down with one of our journalists to explore an important story they are covering. These in-depth conversations go beyond the headlines, helping viewers better understand how we gather the details that land in your local news feed.

On tonight’s episode of ‘Closer Look’: Mapping out Ontario's doctor shortage.

Eliot Frymire is part of a research group that investigates and analyzes primary care in Ontario. Using OHIP billing information, the researchers painstakingly drill down into postal code-based data to find out how many people have a regular source of primary care, what type of care they're getting, and where they're getting it.

His takeaway: "We have a crisis everywhere."

Using that data, The Trillium team at Queen's Park created a map that reveals just how widespread the problem has become.

SEE: Here's where the primary care crisis is hitting Ontario hardest

Some examples? In 2022, the year of the most recent data available on a geographic basis, nearly half of all residents in Sioux Lookout weren't getting regular primary care. Near both Toronto's and Ottawa's city halls, it's about one in three. The same goes for Petawawa in eastern Ontario and a portion of Mississauga near the Pearson International Airport.

Reporter Jack Hauen of The Trillium joins us to break down the data. You can read his previous coverage HERE.

Stay tuned for more episodes of ‘Closer Look’ every weeknight at 7 p.m. ​You can find all our previous segments HERE.

Want to see more video features from Village Media? Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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Send us a text

In cities and towns across Ontario — and at Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill — our journalists work for you. Their mission is to dig for answers and tell you what they find.

This new feature — ‘Closer Look’ — is a chance to hear directly from those dedicated reporters and editors.

Every weeknight, Village Media’s Scott Sexsmith sits down with one of our journalists to explore an important story they are covering. These in-depth conversations go beyond the headlines, helping viewers better understand how we gather the details that land in your local news feed.

On tonight’s episode of ‘Closer Look’: A police shooting that could have been prevented.
More than three years after Mathias Bunyan was shot and killed inside his Fergus, Ont. apartment, a coroner's inquest has completed its review of the fatal encounter, which was captured on video by body cameras worn by OPP officers at the scene.

One of the jury's key recommendations is that the body-cam footage — which shows Bunyan being pepper-sprayed, tasered and eventually shot multiple times in the chest — be used to help inform how future police officers are trained on conflict prevention and de-escalation when dealing with a person in a mental health crisis.

Keegan Kozolanka, a reporter at EloraFergusToday, has been covering this story since the shooting occurred. He joins us tonight.

Send us a text

In cities and towns across Ontario — and at Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill — our journalists work for you. Their mission is to dig for answers and tell you what they find.

This new feature — ‘Closer Look’ — is a chance to hear directly from those dedicated reporters and editors.

Every weeknight, Village Media’s Scott Sexsmith sits down with one of our journalists to explore an important story they are covering. These in-depth conversations go beyond the headlines, helping viewers better understand how we gather the details that land in your local news feed.

On tonight’s episode of ‘Closer Look’: Pedalling toward a day in court.
Last month, the Ford government passed legislation that allows the province to block municipalities from creating new bike lanes that would overtake a vehicle lane. Bill 212 also gives Queen's Park the power to rip out existing bike lanes — including three in Toronto.

The Conservative government is adamant that bike lanes increase traffic congestion, but a draft of a briefing document prepared for Ontario cabinet ministers — and obtained by The Trillium — warns that the opposite is true.
Work to remove the Toronto bike lanes will not begin until at least March. In the meantime, the charity Toronto Cycle has filed a Charter challenge of the new law, arguing it violates cyclists' right to life, liberty and security of the person.
If the lanes are removed, they argue, “many thousands of Toronto cyclists will be forced to cycle in lanes shared with motor vehicle traffic” resulting in “heightened risk of injury and death."

TorontoToday reporter Aidan Chamandy and Jack Hauen of The Trillium have been leading our coverage of the ongoing story. Chamandy joins us tonight to bring you up to speed on the latest details.