By Pepper Parr
February 20th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Queen’s Park, a building that was first opened in 1893, is reported to need tens of millions to totally gut and rebuild a structure this is reported to be unsafe.
Tuesday morning the Ontario government will assemble in the Legislature for a new session
The Cabinet is made up of 30 people; 73 out of 83 MPPs in the Progressive Conservative caucus have been given additional roles in the government and a $16,600 annual salary bump which is added to the $116,500 salary for a total of $133,100.
Natalie Pierre is the Progressive Conservative member for Burlington. She is the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Colleges and Universities.
MPPs also get a monthly rental allowance for space in Toronto, which applies to all legislators who live at least 50 kilometres from the seat of government in Toronto. It rose from $1,910 to $2,300 per month, a jump of just over 20 per cent.
Add to that is the cost of the constituency office and the staff of at least three people.
Marit Stiles will stand up in the Legislature on Tuesday as Leader of the Opposition. She will have all kinds of questions as to what the Premier has been up to.
When the Legislature meets Tuesday morning the New Democrats will have a new leader who will, undoubtedly ask questions about the ticket prices for the Stag & Doe event that took place recently. Stag & Doe events are traditionally used to raise funds to pay for a wedding.
An interesting angle on the wedding itself – the wedding reception took place at Burlington’s Pearle Hotel and Spa. A premiere wedding location.
The Stag and Doe and the wedding reception are now the subject of a lot of questions. Lobbyists and developers are reported to have been invited to both events at which cash gifts are reported to have been given.
Burlington MPP Natalie Pierre
One local media podcast likened the event to a mob wedding where envelopes stuffed with cash are given to the first person in the reining line.
It’s all getting very messy and is no doubt going to be part of the legislative session that starts tomorrow.
It might be getting a little awkward for back benchers to have to explain their Premiers’ behaviour.
Some pundits think it could be serious enough to actually bring down the Ford government.
There are two investigations taking place about the way land that has, up until recently, been protected from development have been opened up to developers.
Premier Doug Ford – heading into a very heavy week.
Having just gone through a week during which the Mayor of Toronto fessed up to an inappropriate relationship with a much younger staff member that brought about his resignation the public might have stomach enough for yet another change in government leadership.
We are hearing the phrase “there is blood in the water” which in the world of politics signals that it is serious.
How very apt that the infamous Ford family wedding with invited developers bearing gifts took place here in downtown Burlington, surrounded by all the new towers, the signs announcing the coming new towers and the continued demolition of old lovely buildings and cutting down of trees to make way for the next set of towers. Yuck. (Could someone explain why Mattamy (or was it the City?) was allowed to remove an entire forest at James and Martha, including inside the creek where surely their new building won’t be sitting?)
There was a time, not long ago, when a story like this would certainly have caused the downfall of the Premier, as it should now, in my opinion. Do Ford supporters actually think any of this is ok? Natalie Pierre, you’re good with this?
How low can our politicians go is a game the rest of us don’t want to keep playing.