NEW: Premier Doug Ford names 43 of his MPPs to be parliamentary assistants, which gives them each a $16,600 bump in pay above the standard MPP salary of $116,500.
Added to his 30-member cabinet, this means 73/83 PCs have extra duties & extra pay. #onpoli
By the way, salaries for all Ontario MPPs (whether backbenchers, parliamentary assistants, Leader of the Opposition or Premier) have been frozen since 2008. #onpoli cbc.ca/news/canada/to…
Also, there remain opportunities for the other 10 PC MPPs not on this list to get pay bumps as well: the Speaker, deputy speakers, caucus chair, whip & chairs of legislative committees all get pay hikes too. #onpoliontario.ca/laws/statute/9…
If you're wanting to compare Premier Doug Ford's count of 43 parliamentary assistants to previous governments, Kathleen Wynne named 29 parliamentary assistants after winning the 2014 election. #onpolinews.ontario.ca/en/backgrounde…
BREAKING: The Ford government’s plan to tackle the high cost of buying a home is coming today.
@CBCNews has learned that new legislation will aim to speed up municipal approvals of housing projects as “first part of long-term plan.” cbc.ca/news/canada/to…
The government will give reporters more detail on its housing plan at 12 noon during a technical briefing, then the legislation is to be tabled around 1pm, with a news conference to follow at 1:15. #onpoli cbc.ca/news/canada/to…
“The bill is really focused on making the planning process work better and smoother and faster,” said a senior government official.
What’s not clear: whether the measures will have any short-term impact on the price of buying a home in Ontario. #onpoli cbc.ca/news/canada/to…
Ontario’s @IPCinfoprivacy commissioner first ordered the mandate letters released back in 2019, under the provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. #onpoli ipc.on.ca/why-i-ordered-…
BREAKING: The Ford government is boosting Ontario's foreign buyers tax on residential real estate to 20%, and expanding it to apply province-wide.
(Currently it's 15% and only applicable on homes in a stretch of southern Ontario in & around GTA.) #onpoli news.ontario.ca/en/release/100…
This is big news. It's the first substantive thing the Ford government has done to address demand factors in the astonishingly rapid rise of the cost of buying a home in Ontario. Average home sale price has jumped 44% in two years. crea.ca/housing-market…
The Wynne government brought in Ontario's foreign buyers' tax in 2017, at a time when home prices were also skyrocketing. It had an almost immediate effect in bringing prices down. #onpoli cbc.ca/news/canada/to…
The deal commits the federal government to providing $10.2 B to Ontario over 5 years. That is the same amount that the Trudeau government offered to Ontario when talks on the child-care plan began last year. #onpoli#cdnpoli cbc.ca/news/canada/to…
Ontario is the last province to sign on to the child care deal. While it helps neutralize what could have become a big election issue, there will be questions about what the Ford government accomplished by taking so long to get here. cbc.ca/news/canada/to…
Premier Doug Ford, at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Ontario Line, says governments have talked about a new subway for Toronto for years. Then in an echo of his "Get It Done" re-election campaign slogan, says "We're the government that got it done." #onpoli
With the help of the federal government, Doug Ford's @OntarioPCParty govt is on a streak of saying they got stuff done. 1. Earlier this week: a $4.9B electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor. cbc.ca/news/canada/wi…
2. Nearly $1 billion in combined provincial & federal funding to help the ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel plant convert to low-carbon technology. #onpoli cbc.ca/news/canada/ha…
BREAKING: Not only did all board members of FH Health each donate max permitted amount to @OntarioPCParty within a few days of each other last fall, so did a bunch of their family members and colleagues, the @OntarioNDP has revealed. #onpoli
Ontario's Election Finances Act makes it illegal for a person to donate money that isn't theirs. (This is to prevent a company or union from funnelling money to political parties through people.)
Also, it's illegal for the parties to accept such donations. #onpoli