BEER STORE BREAK UP
Ford broke the province’s contract with the Beer Store so booze can be sold in other stores. That cost $225 million, paid to the Beer Store. Ontario’s Financial Accountability Office also calculated the province’s overall loss will be around $1.4 billion. It could reach as high as $1.9 billion by 2030.
(Read more about it here)
GREENBELT GIVEAWAY
The rivers, swamps, forests and farmland surrounding Toronto are where much of the city’s food is grown, and the undeveloped land naturally cleans the water. In 2022, Ford removed environmental protections, opening some sections to developers. Land speculators close to Ford bought some of those lands just before the announcement. The housing minister was found to be in violation of ethics rules. The RCMP is investigating for corruption.
CRISIS IN LTC HOMES
For-profit long-term care (LTC) homes like Orchard Villa in Pickering turned into horrific sites of neglect and death early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. It got so bad the military was called in. Before the pandemic, Premier Ford promised he would enforce higher standards on for-profit LTC homes. But that never happened. Under-staffed, under-resourced facilities were caught unprepared.
(Read more about it here)
LRT DELAYED… AGAIN
Everyone who travels along Eglinton or Finch knows. Metrolinx, which is controlled by the province, is now many years past when they said the light rail train (LRT) lines would open. Former CEO Phil Vester was making over $850,000 a year but that didn’t speed things up.
(Read more about it here)
CLOSING SCIENCE CENTRE
The beloved Science Centre was closed by Doug Ford last year. Supposedly it’s closed forever. There was no warning and the only reason given was a problem with the roof cited in a rushed report. Individuals and companies offered to pay to repair the roof. But no dice. Built 55 years ago, it was an important Thorncliffe Park institution and was visited hundreds of thousands of times each year.
ONTARIO PLACE RUINS
Most of Ontario Place is now demolished and bulldozed. The once-thriving attraction on the waterfront will be replaced with a privately run mega spa. The province is giving direct and indirect subsidies of $1 billion to the Austrian company behind the spa, Therme.
(Read more about it here)
ONTARIO PROVINCIAL PALS
Doug Ford and Ron Taverner, a superintendent with the Toronto police, are long-time pals in Etobicoke. So it raised eyebrows when Taverner got the top job at the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in 2018. It came out that the required qualifications had been lowered before the selection process. Taverner didn’t meet the old qualifications, but he met the new ones. It all became enough of a scandal that Taverner stepped down from the OPP job.
TWO-TIER TROUBLE
First, Ford passed a law allowing for-profit clinics to do more surgeries previously done only in hospitals. Then CBC News found private clinics like Clearpoint were getting paid more for a surgery than the public hospitals were getting. And around the province people report being charged by clinics for services that should be covered by OHIP.
This article appeared in the 2025 Feb issue.