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Decentralized Democracy

Marit Stiles

  • MPP
  • Member of Provincial Parliament
  • Davenport
  • New Democratic Party of Ontario
  • Ontario
  • 1199 Bloor St. W Toronto, ON M6H 1N4 MStiles-CO@ndp.on.ca
  • tel: 416-535-3158
  • fax: 416-535-6587
  • MStiles-QP@ndp.on.ca

  • Government Page
  • May/29/24 10:50:00 a.m.

Well, Speaker, I’ll tell you what—and back to the Premier again: This is business as usual for this government. They will do anything to avoid accountability.

I’m going to give you another example. Global News has obtained through a twin freedom-of-information request a bunch of texts that were sent between Mr. Sackville and Metrolinx million-dollar-man Phil Verster.

So, Speaker, I want to see the texts. Ontarians want to see those texts. Where are the texts?

Deleted emails, contradictory testimony—

Interjections.

Does the Premier think he and his staff are above the law?

For months now—months—there has been a flood of evidence that shows deleted emails, missing texts, inaccurate testimonies, hidden text messages, a flagrant disregard for the law by this government.

I want to ask the Premier again: If Mr. Sackville doesn’t have the integrity to resign, will this Premier have the guts to fire him?

Interjections.

While this government is flip-flopping, hiding texts, losing ministers, deleting emails to enrich their land speculator friends, housing starts—which I will remind the Speaker and the government was what this was all supposed to be about, by the way—are 37% lower than they were last year. To catch up on that lagging goal—I think they had said they were going to build 1.5 million homes by 2031—the province needs to build at least 125,000 homes this year. Based on the government’s own plans and their own budget, we are nowhere near where we need to be.

So my question to the Premier is, where are the new, deeply affordable homes that this government promised Ontarians?

But again, housing starts are 37% lower right now than they were a year ago. I’ve got to tell you, Speaker, that doesn’t shout success to me. That shouts failure, after six long years of this government, after ministers resigning, deleted texts, emails gone missing.

It’s just another example of how this government refuses to treat the housing crisis with the urgency that it deserves. They promised 20,000 new homes by now. Six years into the affordable housing agreement with the federal government—

Interjection.

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  • Sep/27/23 10:40:00 a.m.

Just to be clear: The Premier is using his personal phone to conduct government business—on the record.

Speaker, we may not know what the Premier was texting or who he was calling at that time, because he won’t share that. But we do know that Mr. Amato was busy texting. On September 23, Mr. Amato sent a message to a fellow staffer: “I will call you in a bit. I have some clear direction ... On everything greenbelt and official plans bill. Just had an hour chat with Pat.” And then he continued—“timelines aren’t helpful but clear direction.”

Can the Premier tell us which Pat this was and what clear direction he gave to Mr. Amato?

To the Integrity Commissioner, the Pat in question was Patrick Sackville, the Premier’s chief of staff. So we’ve got the Minister of Municipal Affairs’ chief of staff seemingly relaying a conversation to the Premier’s chief of staff where he received clear direction on everything greenbelt just a week after receiving an envelope at a speculator dinner.

We know civil servants had proposed a criteria-based approach for removing these lands.

Back to the Premier: Who made the call to give these speculators preferential treatment instead?

Interjections.

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  • Jun/6/23 11:10:00 a.m.

Instead of building transit, what this government is building is a legacy of public money wasted on private companies botching a transit system that doesn’t work. If riders don’t have confidence that a bus is going to arrive on schedule to get them to their destination on time, they will not take transit. Confidence in the transit system depends on the Minister of Transportation.

My question is to the Premier, who is sitting right there, and I hope he takes this question. Does the Premier still have confidence in this minister?

Interjections.

94 words
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