[Monarch Butterfly]

So it's not being torn down but added to.

Keeping the "footprint".

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

...we all knew that the foundation had crack issues.

 

[PL1]

...we all knew that the foundation had crack issues.

Winner!

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Ontario MPPs to get raises after 16-year freeze; bill to establish new pension plan​

From https://www.thestar.com/politics/ontario-mpps-to-get-raises-after-16-year-freeze-bill-to-establish-new-pension-plan/article_1b8c3add-c8e3-5683-92ca-2300be53f16d.html

Ontario members of provincial parliament are set to get big raises and access to a pension plan, under legislation introduced by Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy.
The government says this comes with the support of all parties in the legislature.

The base pay for Ontario’s elected officials has been frozen since 2009 at $116,550, and the changes would boost the salary to $157,350, which is 75 per cent of what federal MPs make.

Premier Doug Ford’s salary would rise from about $209,000 to about $282,000 and cabinet ministers would see their pay increase from about $166,000 to about $224,000.

The bill would also resurrect a pension plan for the members of provincial parliament, 30 years after the previous one was abolished by former premier Mike Harris’ government.

The new plan would see members enrolled in the existing Public Service Pension Plan, and they would then be entitled to supplemental benefits for MPPs who serve at least six years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2025.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

• The new pension plan for MPPs would be integrated with the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP). MPPs would join the PSPP on the same terms as other members, plus receive an additional supplementary pension benefit. This new arrangement would replace the current retirement savings plan, which provides a contribution of 10 per cent of salary.

• The new pension plan would take effect on January 1, 2026, and would include a supplemental benefit for MPPs who serve at least six years.

 

[christiesplits]

Ontario MPPs to get raises after 16-year freeze; bill to establish new pension plan​

From https://www.thestar.com/politics/ontario-mpps-to-get-raises-after-16-year-freeze-bill-to-establish-new-pension-plan/article_1b8c3add-c8e3-5683-92ca-2300be53f16d.html

I'm fine with both a salary increase and pension plan, although the salary increase was a bit steeper than I was expecting.

I wouldn't be surprised if this leads to higher retention of MPPs, and fewer members jumping ship to federal politics to secure higher wages and pensions.

Funny enough, all four of the MPPs who left the last legislature to run federally - three NDP and one PC - lost in their bid for a federal seat.

 

[DSCToronto]

I'm fine with both a salary increase and pension plan, although the salary increase was a bit steeper than I was expecting.

I wouldn't be surprised if this leads to higher retention of MPPs, and fewer members jumping ship to federal politics to secure higher wages and pensions.

Funny enough, all four of the MPPs who left the last legislature to run federally - three NDP and one PC - lost in their bid for a federal seat.

I too have no problem paying our politicians better but if/when we do we need to be sure they do not continue to take 'second jobs'.

 

[just east of the creek]

Re The Province of Ontarios proposed ‘Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025’

Anyone reading this act? Perhaps we should be. As noted elsewhere, Ford is floating the idea or contemplating making his favourite Hwy 401 Tunnelling project such a special economic zone.

No mention, that I can find, of similarity advancing GO 2.0 to such a status. Or perhaps running a tunnel from the Red Hill Expressway along the QEW to the east side of the Don River….equally as deserving.

All kidding aside, this would ,be another way of handing over the Greenbelt to developers or building a modular nuclear plant in the Portlands to serve Toronto’s expanding need for power.

So a pice of legislation well worth reviewing..

See link: https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-44/session-1/bill-5

The local Media is beginning to talk and write about the more (all?) controversial parts of this bill. Special Economic Zones etc.

Courtesy of The Narwhal:

Premier Doug Ford’s third term has begun with yet another attempt to build lots of things quickly in Ontario. As has become the pattern, one of the Progressive Conservatives’ first moves after winning the 2025 election was to introduce sweeping omnibus legislation: Bill 5, or the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act.

Introduced in April, on the eve of the Easter long weekend, the bill proposes to overhaul a number of regulations to accelerate energy and infrastructure development, as well as mineral extraction projects the government says are of strategic importance to the province. The bill waters down rules that protect endangered species and natural heritage sites, maintain oversight of mining activities, require respect for constitutionally guaranteed Indigenous Rights and mandate environmental assessments and protections.

Taken together, Bill 5 blunts the regulations that ensure construction and extraction don’t cause undue harm to land, water, wildlife and human health. It also empowers cabinet to create special economic zones where the laws that do remain can be circumvented to facilitate Developement.

 

[txlseries4]

Re The Province of Ontarios proposed ‘Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025’

Anyone reading this act? Perhaps we should be. As noted elsewhere, Ford is floating the idea or contemplating making his favourite Hwy 401 Tunnelling project such a special economic zone.

No mention, that I can find, of similarity advancing GO 2.0 to such a status. Or perhaps running a tunnel from the Red Hill Expressway along the QEW to the east side of the Don River….equally as deserving.

All kidding aside, this would ,be another way of handing over the Greenbelt to developers or building a modular nuclear plant in the Portlands to serve Toronto’s expanding need for power.

So a pice of legislation well worth reviewing..

See link: https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-44/session-1/bill-5

The local Media is beginning to talk and write about the more (all?) controversial parts of this bill. Special Economic Zones etc.

Courtesy of The Narwhal:

Premier Doug Ford’s third term has begun with yet another attempt to build lots of things quickly in Ontario. As has become the pattern, one of the Progressive Conservatives’ first moves after winning the 2025 election was to introduce sweeping omnibus legislation: Bill 5, or the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act.

Introduced in April, on the eve of the Easter long weekend, the bill proposes to overhaul a number of regulations to accelerate energy and infrastructure development, as well as mineral extraction projects the government says are of strategic importance to the province. The bill waters down rules that protect endangered species and natural heritage sites, maintain oversight of mining activities, require respect for constitutionally guaranteed Indigenous Rights and mandate environmental assessments and protections.

Taken together, Bill 5 blunts the regulations that ensure construction and extraction don’t cause undue harm to land, water, wildlife and human health. It also empowers cabinet to create special economic zones where the laws that do remain can be circumvented to facilitate Developement.

Short (23 min) Front Burner episode about some of it, fairly high level: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podca...laws-apply-in-ontarios-special-economic-zones

 

[evandyk]

There's a name for this... Henry VIII Clause. A law that permits the cabinet to annul existing laws passed by the legislature, without getting the legislature itself to repeal the law. The courts have mostly allowed them in Canada, but they do raise important constitutional questions.

The Constitutionality of Henry VIII Clauses in Canada: Administrative Law Matter (No. 1) in the References re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, 2021 SCC 11

Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision in the References re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, 2021 SCC 11. I am going to post three pieces on the decision: this one, on constitutional limits on delegation in Canada; a second on review of regulations made under the Act...

www.administrativelawmatters.com

 

[Northern Light]

The Star reporting that the Ford gov't is fulfilling its promise to make it easier for American licensed physicians to practice here, by allowing them to be hired/work immediately, subject to a valid, clean, U.S. license to practice and having the requisite Federal immigration permissions.

They will still have to go through the regulatory process w/the College of Physicians and Surgeons and/or the College of Nurses but that can now wait for up to six months.

U.S. health workers will soon be able to work immediately in Ontario

U.S. doctors and nurses who relocate to Ontario will be able to start working immediately, amid a jump in interest from American physicians to practice here.

www.thestar.com

Interest from U.S. physicians in moving north does seem to be increasing.....with Ontario pacing about 50% above last year's levels.......or a pace of around 100 doctors moving north per quarter.

Still low, but a solid gain, which hopefully this will further accelerate.

 

[Coolibop]

The Star reporting that the Ford gov't is fulfilling its promise to make it easier for American licensed physicians to practice here, by allowing them to be hired/work immediately, subject to a valid, clean, U.S. license to practice and having the requisite Federal immigration permissions.

They will still have to go through the regulatory process w/the College of Physicians and Surgeons and/or the College of Nurses but that can now wait for up to six months.

U.S. health workers will soon be able to work immediately in Ontario

U.S. doctors and nurses who relocate to Ontario will be able to start working immediately, amid a jump in interest from American physicians to practice here.

www.thestar.com

Interest from U.S. physicians in moving north does seem to be increasing.....with Ontario pacing about 50% above last year's levels.......or a pace of around 100 doctors moving north per quarter.

Still low, but a solid gain, which hopefully this will further accelerate.

Something I've messaged our premier and health minster about...

What I would like to see further is equivalency (of US docs) with Canadian medical & residency grads. Currently, those who came up from the US can practice independently, but are still restricted in Ontario (e.g. by region or by what they can do). There are doctors who have been here for years and still have these restrictions simply because they haven't done the Canadian equivalency exams...even though they did all their examinations in the US. There are even awards (read pay) that are not given to non-Canadian docs for the same reasons.

If they are practicing and doing the same work as their Canadian counterparts, we should move to have them compensated equally and have their licenses unrestricted - perhaps after a set period of time.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Ontario has underfunded schools by $6.3 billion since 2018​

Per-student funding remains below 2018-19 levels, pushing boards deeper into the red

From https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/ontario-has-underfunded-schools-by-6-3-billion-since-2018/

The 2025 Ontario budget has lots of big numbers, but fails to address funding shortfalls in core program areas. CCPA’s same-day budget analysis examined the broad trend, and in an article for The Toronto Star, we discussed postsecondary funding.

Now, let’s look at school funding.

In the budget document, the Education sector line item includes child care. In 2024-25, child care accounted for 14 per cent of the funding in that envelope, compared to seven per cent in 2019-20. This increase is almost entirely due to federal transfers for the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. This new child care spending has considerably increased the education envelope—which is good news, but it has also made it harder to keep track of school funding.

School board operating funding accounts for about 75 per cent of education sector funding. The provincial government provides the breakdown for this funding separately, in the Core Education Funding documents (previously known as Grants for Student Needs), which it released today.

First, the big picture.

As it stands, school boards are receiving $260 less per student this year than they did in the 2018-19 school year, on average, once we adjust the numbers for inflation and enrolment.

The gap is much smaller than last year’s. This is due mainly to the fact that the government transferred almost all of the $1.4 billion in unallocated funds (planning provision) in last year’s Core Education Funding document to school boards over the year. Planning provision dropped to $63 million in the projected 2025-26 allocations.

The $260 funding gap per student per year continues to be significant, representing a funding gap of $561.7 million for the 2025-26 school year, compared to what boards received in 2018-19. The cumulative funding gap—that is, the total amount that Ontario’s school boards have lost compared to what they would have received if their funding kept up with enrolment and inflation—over the past seven years amounts to an astonishing $6.35 billion.

Then there is the local picture.

The Ontario government is launching investigations into the financing of three school boards “after they failed to address ongoing financial deficit and spending concerns.” We compared the projected allocation for these boards for the 2025-26 school year with the past allocations, assessing whether funding has kept pace with inflation and enrolment growth. It hasn’t.

Toronto District School Board – TDSB​

TDSB funding has decreased by $400 per student for the 2025-26 school year compared to what the board received in 2018-19, adjusted for inflation. The budget gap for the upcoming school year is $106.7 million, compared to what the board would have received had 2018-19 funding kept pace with inflation and enrolment. The cumulative funding gap over the past seven years is $898.2 million.

Toronto Catholic District School Board – TCDSB ​

TCDSB funding has decreased by $370 per student for the 2025-26 school year compared to what the board received in 2018-19, adjusted for inflation. The funding gap for the upcoming school year is $37.8 million, compared to what the board would have received had 2018-19 funding kept pace with inflation and enrolment. The cumulative funding gap over the past seven years is $288.7 million.

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board – OCDSB ​

OCDSB funding has decreased by $560 per student for the 2025-26 school year compared to what the board received in 2018-19, adjusted for inflation. The funding gap for the upcoming school year is $42.8 million, compared to what the board would have received had 2018-19 funding kept pace with inflation and enrolment. The cumulative funding gap over the past seven years is $338.4 million.

The provincial government’s persistent underfunding and cumulative funding gaps highlighted in the charts above are likely the main cause of deficits in these and other boards. This financial crisis is not a sudden problem—it has been years in the making, and relates to structural flaws in the funding formula for special education and other areas, which the CCPA has long documented.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1932622916354507180

 

[PinkLucy]

it says Canada -- was this Ontario?

And there is always more to the story than we see with these -- how urgently did he need the MRI? Anyone I know (yes, anecdotal evidence here) who has needed one urgently has got one. There are private clinics in the GTA or he could have gone to the US as well.