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 […]
Oct 27 2020 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Tue., Oct. 27, 2020timer3 min. read Premier Doug Ford is being accused of making “a backroom deal” to reward his controversial friend Charles McVety with the right to hand out university degrees at his evangelical college. “There’s no doubt that the fix is in,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Tuesday. “This is Taverner Two and […]
Oct 19 2020 — Robert Benzie — Niagara Falls Review — Former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne will not seek re-election in the next campaign. Wynne, who governed the province from 2013 until 2018, has informed her Don Valley West riding association that she will be not be a candidate in the 2022 provincial election. “I’m going to stay till 2022. To go early and to put […]
Oct 4 2020 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — As MPPs debate a Liberal motion designed to thwart the possibility of Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives calling a snap election, a new poll suggests most Ontarians do not want a campaign before the scheduled 2022 vote. The Campaign Research survey for the Toronto Star comes on the eve of Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter’s motion […]
Oct 1 2020 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are sticking it to their own controversial gas-pump decals that a court ruled were unconstitutional. Ford’s cabinet decided late Wednesday against appealing a Sept. 4 Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision that found the mandatory stickers violated business owners’ freedom of expression. Energy Minister Greg Rickford’s office confirmed the government […]
Sep 25 2020 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Premier Doug Ford is slamming the brakes on any snap election call even as his Progressive Conservative party is accelerating candidate nominations for incumbent MPPs. “We want to get our folks prepared for the election and have said before we aren’t going to be calling it in the spring. We’ll be calling it the regular […]
Sep 16 2020 — Robert Benzie — St. Catharines Standard — Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are set to officially nominate the party’s 72 sitting MPPs to run as candidates in the next election, the Star has learned. In a move that fuels speculation about a snap election call in the spring — more than one year before the scheduled 2022 vote — the Tories want […]
Aug 18 2020 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — The Progressive Conservative premier of Ontario is hailing the new federal Liberal finance minister. “I absolutely love Chrystia Freeland. She’s amazing. I’ll have her back, I’ll help her any way we can,” an elated Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday. As first revealed by the Star’s Susan Delacourt in April, the COVID-19 pandemic has forged a […]
Jun 29 2020 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — The Ontario Liberals are gearing up for an election two years away as the Progressive Conservatives celebrate two years in power. Premier Doug Ford marks his second anniversary of taking office Monday — ending almost 15 years of Liberal rule under Kathleen Wynne and Dalton McGuinty — at the same as the Grits are getting […]
Jun 11 2020 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Queen’s Park and Ottawa are teaming up with a new $57.6-million “Digital Main Street” program to help thousands of Ontario small businesses boost their online sales, the Star has learned. Ontario’s Associate Minister of Small Business Prabmeet Sarkaria and federal Economic Development Minister Mélanie Joly will announce the new initiative on a Zoom teleconference Thursday. […]
May 6 2020 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Premier Doug Ford’s government is further liberalizing Ontario’s liquor laws as a prescription for helping an ailing restaurant sector stricken by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has lowered the minimum price that restaurants and bars are allowed to sell gin, rum, tequila, vodka, and whiskey.
Jan 24 2020 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — More than half the Ontario Liberal members running for delegate positions so they can vote for the party’s next leader are committed to front-runner Steven Del Duca. Del Duca, a former cabinet minister, has 2,684 supporters running to be his delegates at the Liberal leadership convention in Mississauga on March 7.
Jan 15 2020 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — The Ontario Liberals have vaulted ahead of the governing Progressive Conservatives even though the party will not elect a new leader for another seven weeks, a new poll suggests. According to the Pollara Strategic Insights survey, the Liberals are at 33 per cent, the Tories at 29 per cent, the New Democrats at 27 per […]