Oct 17 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Ontario’s financial watchdog is sounding the alarm over the Liberal government’s 25-per-cent cut in residential electricity rates. Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk estimates the scheme, unveiled last May, could cost Ontarians an additional $4 billion in interest charges over the next 30 years. In Lysyk’s latest salvo against the provincial government over a continuing accounting dispute, […]
Oct 16 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Kathleen Wynne is putting her best face forward in the Liberals’ first campaign ad for the June election. Despite polls showing Wynne’s personal approval rating lower than that of NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown, the premier plays a starring role in the new TV commercial. The 30-second spot, which began […]
Oct 7 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — PC leader Patrick Brown has brought many Stephen Harper Tories into the fold. Former prime minister Stephen Harper never made Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown a cabinet minister. But some of Harper’s aides could make Brown the premier of Ontario.
Sep 30 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Half of Ontarians believe recreational marijuana should be regulated like alcohol, a new poll suggests. Forum Research found 50 per cent of respondents want the government to treat cannabis like alcohol. That’s encouraging news to Premier Kathleen Wynne’s administration, which will restrict the sale of legalized weed to 150 standalone LCBO-run stores
Sep 15 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Premier Kathleen Wynne is giving Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown six weeks to retract his false statement that she is on “trial” in the Sudbury byelection bribery case. Wynne, who had threatened to serve Brown with a libel suit if he had not apologized by 5 p.m. Thursday, has extended that deadline until Oct. 24. […]
Sep 15 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Ontarians appear to be high on the sale of recreational marijuana being restricted to a provincial government monopoly, a new poll suggests. Campaign Research found 51 per cent of those surveyed back Premier Kathleen Wynne’s new plan to have cannabis sold solely through standalone LCBO-operated stores and a website.
Sep 8 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Premier Kathleen Wynne is cornering the recreational marijuana market by restricting sales to 150 LCBO-run stores, sources say. The standalone cannabis outlets – physically separate from existing provincial-owned liquor stores – and a government-controlled website will be the only place weed can lawfully be sold after Ottawa legalizes it on July 1. Read more: Wynne […]
Sep 8 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — One of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s best players is hanging up his skates. Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid will not run for re-election in the June 7, 2018 campaign. Duguid, 55, has represented Scarborough Centre since 2003 and was a city councillor for nine years before that. He has been Wynne’s point man on economic growth, […]
Sep 7 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — It’s not quite Mayweather-McGregor, but the stakes are high in the accounting slugfest between the provincial government and the auditor general. Finance Minister Charles Sousa and Treasury Board President Liz Sandals — and the bureaucrats in their ministries — say Ontario’s deficit last year was $991 million, while auditor general Bonnie Lysyk maintained it was […]
Aug 29 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Premier Kathleen Wynne is making a song and dance about increasing arts funding — just in time for next year’s election. In campaign-style announcement at Toronto’s Berkeley Street Theatre, Wynne said annual funding to the Ontario Arts Council will increase by $50 million over the next four years.
Aug 21 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Under pressure from the Ontario Liberal Party, Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown has distanced himself from the controversial far-right website The Rebel. “I deplore intolerance of any kind and in any place, including Rebel. That’s why they thoroughly detest me!” Brown tweeted, with a link to a Rebel video critical of his party’s troubled nomination […]
Aug 4 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — The next Ontario election is 44 weeks away, but political games are already at a fever pitch. This week, the Liberals filed a formal complaint with Elections Ontario claiming both the Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats have broken the province’s tough new fundraising law. But the governing party’s allegations against their main rivals do […]
Jul 31 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Premier Kathleen Wynne has done a minor shuffling of her cabinet, promoting Etobicoke-Lakeshore MPP Peter Milczyn after Glen Murray’s resignation. As first disclosed by the Star, Murray is stepping down as minister of environment and climate change immediately. In a statement, he said he would resign as Toronto-Centre MPP on Sept. 1.
Jul 31 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — Premier Kathleen Wynne is suffering the loss of a key member of her cabinet with the surprise departure of Environment and Climate Change Minister Glen Murray, the Star has learned. Murray, 59, who has been out of the country and was unavailable for comment, will announce Monday at Queen’s Park that he is set to […]
Jul 27 2017 — Robert Benzie — Toronto Star — A Liberal MPP has been forced to apologize for and delete a tweet that said an Ottawa police officer “murdered” a man last year. The Twitter account belonging to Nathalie Des Rosiers (Ottawa-Vanier) boasted a series of tweets Wednesday in English and in French about the shooting of Abdirahman Abdi. “My thoughts are with Abdi’s […]