Doug Ford Scandals & Issues
Articles listing in no particular order
A list of policies and cuts the Doug Ford government has reversed
Wage-cap law: The province passed Bill 124 in 2019 that capped salary increases to one per cent per year for three years for broader public sector workers, which included teachers and nurses.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario found the law violated collective bargaining rights, and was therefore unconstitutional. The province could have sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, but chose not to. Ford said Tuesday he agreed to repeal the law due to the high cost of living. The Progressive Conservatives had enacted the law as a way to help the government eliminate a deficit.
Dissolution of Peel: Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra announced he will introduce legislation to undo a law the government passed in June to dissolve the region in 2025. As part of the same announcement, Calandra said he is revoking some Minister’s Zoning Orders and cancelling municipal audits – with the first phase already largely complete – that were started to determine the financial impacts of a provincial law on city coffers.
Official plans: Earlier this fall, Calandra reversed course on changes to some municipal official plans and urban and regional boundary expansions. Many regions and municipalities had spoken out over the changes, saying the extra land wasn’t needed to build more housing.
Greenbelt: The largest of the government’s policy reversals this year was a backtrack of its decision to open up parcels of the protected Greenbelt lands for housing development. Ford apologized for removing the lands in the first place, after both the auditor general and integrity commissioner found the process unfairly favoured certain developers. The RCMP is now investigating. Ford’s government passed a law earlier this month to cement his reversal and enshrine Greenbelt protections in law.
Notwithstanding clause: The government passed then later repealed a law in 2022 that imposed a contract on education workers and banned them from striking, using the notwithstanding clause to guard against constitutional challenges. The province passed the law in a bid to prevent 55,000 school support workers from the Canadian Union of Public Employees from striking, but they walked off the job anyway and Ford offered to withdraw the legislation if they returned to work.
Licence plates: Ford introduced new, blue licence plates as part of the 2019 budget, but the government quickly scrapped the rollout after a police officer in Kingston noted the plates were barely visible at night. The government is no longer issuing those plates, but as of last year there were still 170,000 in circulation and the province has not yet articulated a plan to get them off the roads.
Autism: In February of 2019, the government announced a revamp of the Ontario Autism Program. It was framed as a way to clear a massive waiting list for services, but would have given families a relatively small amount of money based on their income, not the needs of their child. It also would have effectively cut off thousands of kids currently in government-funded therapy. After a loud and sustained outcry, the government announced a reversal, saying it was going back to the drawing board on a needs-based program and would double the current budget. That new program is still subject to many issues in 2023.
Public health: Mayors across the province banded together to fight retroactive cuts to public health funding in 2019, and the government ultimately relented. The cuts, in the form of a new cost-sharing arrangement, were to mostly go ahead in 2020, but mid-year cuts that would have taken effect after municipalities had already passed their budgets were cancelled. The cuts were paused due to the onset of the pandemic and it wasn’t until 2023 that the government permanently reversed them.
E-learning and class sizes: The government angered teachers in the spring of 2019 when it announced it was increasing average high school class sizes from 22 to 28, and mandating that students take four online courses to graduate. In the context of difficult negotiations with the education unions, the education minister offered to walk that class size target back to 25, and announced that students would instead be required to take two online courses to graduate.
French university: As part of the government’s efforts to balance the books, it announced in 2018 that it was cancelling plans for a French-language university. The move sparked an outcry among Franco-Ontarians and prompted a Progressive Conservative caucus member to quit. Ontario and the federal government later announced they had reached an agreement on jointly funding a French-language university.
Legal aid: The 2019 provincial budget cut that year’s funding for Legal Aid Ontario by $133 million – or 30 per cent – and planned $31 million in further cuts over the next two years. Eight months later, the government announced it was cancelling those future cuts.
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Headlines about Doug Ford getting booed / publicly shamed
Thousands of People Booed Doug Ford at the Toronto Raptors’ NBA Championship Parade
Doug Ford has repeatedly made headlines for getting into fights with Ontarians, ignoring important problems and getting booed
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1. Premier Doug Ford booed by massive crowd celebrating Raptors Championship parade
2. Premier Doug Ford booed at Special Olympics ceremony
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Headlines about Doug Ford and democracy
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi had harsh words Friday for Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s plan to reduce the number of city councillors in Toronto from 47 to 25, calling it “tinpot dictator stuff.”
4. That is tinpot dictator stuff’: Calgary Mayor Nenshi blasts Ontario Premier Ford
5. Ford government trampled democracy with mid-election changes, Toronto tells top court
6. ‘Doug Ford will do anything to cling to power’: Premier invokes notwithstanding clause
7. PC Leader Doug Ford pressed on why he’s not taking more questions from the media
8. Toronto residents oppose Ford’s use of notwithstanding clause: Poll
9. Doug Ford shuts service that helps Ontario citizens fight wealthy developers
Headlines about Doug Ford and racism
Ontario Premier Doug Ford refuses to apologize for comments about immigrants and ‘the dole’
10. Doug Ford says he supports Stephen Lecce after apology for fraternity ‘slave auction’
11. Doug Ford’s comments on racism ignore history of black trauma in Canada, writer says
12. Facing criticism, Ontario Premier Doug Ford backpedals comments on racism in Canada
13. Premier Doug Ford backtracks on comment that there is no systemic racism in Canada
14. Ontario Premier Doug Ford refuses to apologize for comments about immigrants and ‘the dole’
15. Doug Ford won’t apologize for comments about immigrants
16. Doug Ford Under Fire Over ‘Reckless’ Personal Attack on Indigenous Relations Critic
17. Ford’s ‘catastrophic’ legal aid cuts target refugees and immigrants
Headlines about Doug Ford and women
From commenting on Kathleen Wynne’s smile to insulting female reporters, Ford’s sexist rhetoric is revealing.
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20. Ford government quietly stalls implementation of pay transparency law
21. How Doug Ford’s Government Reduces Abortion Access
22. Doug Ford’s Office Launches Vulgar, Sexually Demeaning Attack on Journalist
23. Ford cuts all provincial funding to Ontario College of Midwives
Headlines about Doug Ford and education
Three of Canada’s biggest newspapers are running expensive full-page ads paid for by a mysterious group using a ‘made-up name’ and a fake mother to attack Ontario teachers
24. Ontario Reverts to 1998 Sex-Ed Curriculum in a Win for ‘Trump-Like’ Premier Doug Ford
25. With strike date looming, Ontario Premier Doug Ford slams teachers’ union leaders
26. Sex-ed rollback, launch of snitch line, created ‘chill’ among teachers, court hears
29. Tens of thousands of high school students walk out en masse to protest out-of-date sex-ed curriculum
31. Fee opt-out a Doug Ford government attack on student unions, court hears
32. Ontario appeal court dismisses Ford government’s appeal over controversial Student Choice Initiative
33. Ontario court rejects government bid to defund student unions
34. Students struggling after Ford’s ‘upsetting’ OSAP cuts
35. OSAP trends on Twitter as student outrage grows over loan and grant estimates
36. Mysterious group uses ‘made-up name’ and fake mom to attack teachers in Canada’s biggest newspaper
Headlines about Doug Ford and health care
Nurses ‘abandoned’ by Ont. premier, nurses’ association CEO says
37. Nurses ‘abandoned’ by Ont. premier, nurses’ association CEO says
38. Ford government mandate empowers hospitals, long-term care homes to ‘deny’ healthworkers N95 masks
39. Nurses’ association displeased with Ford’s ‘lack of courage’ on vaccine mandate
40. Many Nurses in Ontario May Be Unable To Get Paid Sick Days Because of Doug Ford’s Bill 124
Headlines about Doug Ford and cuts to services
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44. Doug Ford’s Budget Includes a Hidden $1.3 Billion ‘Decrease’ in Education Funding
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46. Doug Ford announces that cuts to municipal public health and childcare programs will go ahead
Headlines about Doug Ford and the environment
Ontario ‘automatically’ okays permits that harm at-risk species
47. Doug Ford moving to permanently exempt logging industry from endangered species law
48. Ontario ‘automatically’ okays permits that harm at-risk species
49. Doug Ford declares open season on endangered species in Ontario
50. Money talks, and the Ontario government’s pre-election budget doesn’t spend much on climate
51. Doug Ford is clear-cutting Ontario’s environmental laws
52. Doug Ford’s latest plan to reduce carbon pollution is low on ambition — and detail
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54. Doug Ford government puts Ontario’s water up for grabs
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56. Ford government seeks to deprioritize green energy
57. Doug Ford’s government slashing programs designed to save energy in buildings
Headlines about Doug Ford and social assistance
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60. ODSP recipients urge Ford government to increase payments, say it’s impossible to live on
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Headlines about Doug Ford and labour issues
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70. Ford government fails to implement law to protect temp workers that was left dangling by Liberals
72. Ontario criticized for raising minimum wage by only 10 cents
73. Despite expert advice, Ontario refuses to budge on paid sick days
74. 30 Ontario inspectors laid off despite Doug Ford promise no one will lose jobs
75. Doug Ford asked Sask. to send health-care workers to Ontario: sources
76. Doug Ford to return $1.5 billion to 300,000 businesses from workers’ compensation fund
Headlines about Doug Ford and long-term care
80. Ford defends bill that critics say shields long-term care homes from lawsuits
81. Party of Profits: Ontario Tories and the profit motive in long-term care
Headlines about Doug Ford and COVID-19
Doug Ford says paid sick days during a pandemic is ‘not fiscally prudent’ and ‘totally irresponsible for any government to do that’
82. Doug Ford, In the Middle of a Deadly Pandemic, Calls Paid Sick Days a ‘Waste of Taxpayers Money’
86. Doug Ford scrambles to learn how to work from home after aide tests positive for COVID-19
87. ‘We made a mistake’: Emotional Premier Doug Ford apologizes for controversial COVID-19 restrictions
Headlines about Doug Ford and housing
89. Struggling Families At Risk of Losing Housing Thanks to Doug Ford’s Cuts, Toronto City Manager Warns
91. Residential eviction ban for Ontario tenants comes with some exceptions
93. Doug Ford Wants to Charge $25K to Record People Getting Evicted on Zoom
94. Ford government votes against year-long ban on residential evictions
95. Doug Ford has promised a second ban on evictions, but no one knows what that will look like
Headlines about Doug Ford and the Convoy occupation
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99. Premier Ford was in Muskoka area as Ottawa dealt with escalating convoy protests
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