Apr 18 2019 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Ontario taxpayers face footing the bill for hundred of millions of dollars in penalties if Premier Doug Ford forges ahead with his plan to allow convenience stores to sell beer. In its budget tabled last week, the Ford government reaffirmed its pledge laid out in its throne speech and promised by Ford during the election […]
Feb 26 2019 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Customizing a van for Premier Doug Ford — with items that included a reclining leather sofa and a mini-fridge — would have cost taxpayers more than $50,000, according to a document filed in Ontario Superior Court. An estimate for customizing the van was filed by lawyers for Ontario Provincial Police Deputy Commissioner Brad Blair as […]
Feb 26 2019 — Mike Crawley — CBC — The Ford government will create a central agency called Ontario Health to oversee the province’s $60-billion health-care system, CBC News has learned. The super-agency — to be unveiled Tuesday by Health Minister Christine Elliott — will be formed by dissolving the 14 Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and merging their duties with those of six […]
Feb 24 2019 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative Party is out-fundraising its main political rivals by a factor of 10 so far this year, racking up a war chest that is poised to grow even larger next week. The PCs have reported a total of $506,118 in political donations in 2019, according to current figures in the Elections Ontario […]
Jan 22 2019 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Ontario Premier Doug Ford is warning that the federal government’s carbon tax risks triggering a recession, but it’s hard to find economists eager to back up his claim. Ford used a speech to Economic Club of Canada to predict that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon pricing plan will hurt the economy .
Jan 17 2019 — Mike Crawley — CBC — In what would be its first major move to restructure Ontario’s health system, the Doug Ford government is considering a sharp cut to the bureaucracies that are supposed to co-ordinate health care services at the local level. CBC News has learned that the PCs are taking aim at the province’s 14 local health integration networks […]
Jan 9 2019 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Ontario Finance Minister Vic Fedeli has taken the first step in suing former PC leader Patrick Brown over statements in his recent book that a party staffer made a sexual misconduct complaint about Fedeli. In the book, entitled Takedown: The Attempted Political Assassination of Patrick Brown, published in November, Brown says a female staffer left […]
Dec 5 2018 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Ontario’s spending watchdog is expected to provide plenty of ammunition to Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives on Wednesday when she reveals her latest findings of government waste and inefficiency. At noon, auditor Bonnie Lysyk will release her annual report investigating whether taxpayers are getting value for money from 15 government programs or projects, including Metrolinx […]
Nov 27 2018 — Mike Crawley — CBC — The devastating closure of General Motors’ assembly plant in Oshawa provides stark evidence of just how hard it would be for any government — including Premier Doug Ford’s — to make good on promises to bring back the glory days of manufacturing in Ontario. The provincial government can’t offer the company anything that would persuade […]
Nov 26 2018 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Unlike his predecessors as premier of Ontario, Doug Ford is not providing the media with a daily itinerary of his public events. So CBC News sought and obtained Ford’s appointment schedule, using the province’s freedom of information laws. The documents provided by the cabinet office list Ford’s meetings both at Queen’s Park and elsewhere for […]
Nov 15 2018 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Vic Fedeli’s fall economic statement comes after sexual misconduct allegation revealed. Ontario’s Finance Minister Vic Fedeli is poised to eliminate at least two provincial watchdog positions on Thursday as the Ford government launches its cost-cutting drive, CBC News has learned. Fedeli is scheduled to deliver the fall economic statement, the first budget document under Premier […]
Nov 7 2018 — Mike Crawley — CBC — The first real scandal of Doug Ford’s new government broke with a terse news release that did not come close to revealing the full story. “The Honourable Jim Wilson has resigned as Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation, and Trade, effective immediately,” said a statement from Ford’s director of media relations, emailed after 6 p.m. […]
Oct 30 2018 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Ontario Premier Doug Ford will take another step in forging a national alliance against the federal Liberal carbon tax when he meets Tuesday with Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer. It will be the first time Ford and Scheer have met since August, when the premier was greeted with wild enthusiasm at the Conservative Party of Canada […]
Oct 18 2018 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Former Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown blew through more than $290,000 on office staff and expenses in the final weeks before the June provincial election, according to documents obtained by CBC News. A list of expenses for 21 MPPs who were not re-elected in June shows Brown spent $292,451 in the 2018-19 fiscal year. Since […]
Oct 11 2018 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Premier Doug Ford isn’t being humble in describing his first 100 days in office. He says his new government has taken “action the likes of which Canada has never seen before.” So, what will he do for an encore? It’s unlikely the Ford government can keep up the breakneck pace of its first 100 days, […]