May 24 2022 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Doug Ford leads in the June 2 election campaign, but the Liberals have surged ahead of the NDP and could stop a Progressive Conservative majority, according to internal Grit polling obtained by the Star. A confidential three-page memo to Liberal campaign director Christine McMillan from pollster Dan Arnold concludes that “the PCs are tenuously in […]
May 2 2022 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — A loonie idea or a way to make public transit more affordable? Steven Del Duca is promising $1 fares on all transit lines in Ontario if his Liberals defeat Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives on June 2. That would mean significant saving for commuters. On the TTC, fares are $3.25, while on GO Transit, it […]
Apr 23 2022 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Premier Doug Ford’s campaign manager is recovering at home after crashing his vintage Ferrari near Ottawa, the Star has learned. Kory Teneycke, who recently purchased the red 1988 Ferrari 328 GTS, suffered minor injuries in the midday accident on April 13 when he was hit by a new Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck.
Apr 19 2022 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — A provincial Liberal government would take aim at handguns if elected June 2. In a campaign-style announcement in Scarborough, Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca said if he topples Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford, handguns would be banned within a year. “I’ve had it with Doug Ford’s open for business policy for guns,” Del Duca said […]
Feb 15 2022 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Solicitor General Sylvia Jones’s director of communications is out of a job after donating $100 earlier this month to the the convoy protests that have blockaded border crossings and occupied Ottawa, sources told the Star. Marion Isabeau-Ringuette parted ways with Premier Doug Ford’s government on Tuesday afternoon, 10 days after she donated money to the […]
Jan 25 2022 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — No Progressive Conservative majority, no more Premier Doug Ford. With an election 18 weeks away, that was the message from Ontario’s three opposition party leaders at a Ryerson University Democracy Forum event Tuesday moderated by the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca, and Green Leader Mike Schreiner emphasized […]
Jan 24 2022 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Steven Del Duca is putting the old band back together in hopes of striking a chord with Ontario voters on June 2. The Liberal leader has assembled a campaign team brimming with veterans from the Grits’ successful 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2014 elections won by former premiers Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne. In a weekend […]
Jun 8 2021 — Robert Benzie — Peterborough Examiner — An Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled Premier Doug Ford’s election finance changes that limited labour unions’ campaign spending are unconstitutional. In a setback for Ford’s Progressive Conservatives less than a year from the next Ontario vote, Justice Ed Morgan ruled the Charter rights of Working Families, a coalition of unions, were “infringed” by curbs […]
May 31 2021 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Premier Doug Ford is considering a major revamp of his cabinet as the one-year countdown begins to the June 2, 2022 election, the Star has learned. After the legislature rises Thursday for the summer, high-ranking Progressive Conservative sources say the premier will turn his eye toward a significant shuffle of ministers. While some advisers have […]
May 25 2021 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — The next Ontario election is still one year away, but Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are accelerating their political fundraising as the pandemic begins to subside. On the Friday before the Victoria Day long weekend, Ford sent out an email blast to supporters touting his new reopening blueprint for the economy that will take effect […]
Mar 31 2021 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — It’s official — Liberal MPP Michael Coteau is making the leap to national politics. After weeks of speculation, Coteau confirmed Wednesday he will seek the federal Liberal nomination in Don Valley East, a riding he has represented provincially for a decade. “I would like to be the first person who grew up in Flemingdon Park […]
Mar 18 2021 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Ousted former Progressive Conservative MPP Roman Baber is suing the province over Premier Doug Ford’s COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, the Star has learned. Baber (York Centre) has launched a lawsuit to strike down some regulations in Ford’s Reopening Ontario Act as unconstitutional. “I am suing the attorney general of Ontario for our right to protest, pray […]
Feb 15 2021 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — As Ontario MPPs return to Queen’s Park after the winter break, they can expect a subdued session — at least at first. Government house leader Paul Calandra, who met last week with his counterparts in the opposition parties, said the proceedings that begin Tuesday after a two-month recess should be low-key and methodical due to […]
Nov 23 2020 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — The former head of the Canadian military will lead Ontario’s charge to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine, the Star has learned. Retired Gen. Rick Hillier has been enlisted to chair the province’s new task force on the vaccine. Hillier, who was chief of the defence staff of the Canadian Armed Forces from 2005 to 2008, was […]
Nov 19 2020 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Pressure is mounting on Progressive Conservatives to distance themselves from Premier Doug Ford’s controversial evangelist friend Charles McVety. McVety — who has been accused of intolerance toward gays, lesbians, transgender people and Muslims — is currently trying to get the provincial government to upgrade his Canada Christian College to a university. “Each day brings more […]