Geoff Knight

Someone had to say it. I've been seeing a lot of this today.

Ontario’s fall economic statement just landed — and the Canadian Taxpayer Federation says it’s bad news for taxpayers. @WesternStandard spoke with Ontario Director @noahrjarvis at Queen’s Park: The update ratchets up spending $3.1B above the budget plan, means more debt on the backs of taxpayers, and continues the "borrowing binge."

John Fraser points to a $150,000 career-college industry dinner held after an Auditor General’s report and accuses the government of operating on a “show me the money” basis. “Look at career colleges and the $150,000 industry dinner that the minister had, the Winter Riding Association right after the Auditor General’s report… This has been going on for the duration of this government. They’ve been saying to people, you want something? Well, come over here. Show me the money.”

Marit Stiles said she will ask the Integrity Commissioner to investigate PC MPP Lori Scott over text messages with a lobbyist, and claims the party expects government members to meet donation quotas. “I will be pursuing that with regard to MPP Scott. Given what emerged, certainly, in the text between her and the illegal lobbyist, Mr. Martin… it’s clear to me from those e-mails that the party is expecting MPs and their government to meet some kind of quota of donations. It’s outrageous.”

NDP Leader Marit Stiles questions the push to burn more garbage: “Ontarians want to know... that in fact our children will have clean air to breathe. They won’t be breathing something toxic… people in Hamilton saw black soot all over their playgrounds.”

A career college student and single mother described having her funding cut off two weeks ago, saying she and her classmates now face debt with no completed program and no clear path to work.

Environment Minister Todd McCarthy says municipalities won’t be forced to take a new landfill or incinerator under the government’s waste bill. “There is no never going to be the imposition of a landfill on any municipality that doesn’t want it.”

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles on the OSAP private-college scandal: “You have to ask yourself, is this just gross incompetence by this government, or is there something more sinister going on?”

Education Minister Nolan Quinn on the OSAP private-college freeze: “Once we realized that the tips were becoming a little bit more widespread, that’s why we brought in a third party auditor… We’ve investigated over 3,200 different complaints since 2020. These are serious criminal allegations. These are bad actors and we have to act to protect taxpayer dollars.”

Ontario Liberal Critic for Training, Colleges and Universities Tyler Watt spoke about a woman he met who is living in her car who just had her OSAP frozen. He said it is the Ford government's fault.

Premier Doug Ford on the private career college scandal: “There’s a bunch of criminals… I hope these crooks go to jail because they’re nothing but a bunch of fraudsters.”

Stan Cho on the hotel rooms he charged while living in midtown Toronto: “I made a mistake. I made a decision that was for my famiy. I have a young baby at home, I was just having a hip replacement… But that doesn’t excuse the fact that I made a very low judgment."

Queens Park is back in session and I’m here covering it for @WesternStandard

The Ford government has spent $3.4 billion on its Primary Care Action Plan and says it has attached more than half a million people. A reporter pointed out that the overall attachment rate is still sitting at 88.7% — basically unchanged from 2024. Here is how Dr Jane Philpott responded

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says Cleveland-Cliffs broke the job and tariff promises it made when it bought Stelco. She has sent a formal demand letter and listed forced sale of the Canadian assets as one option on the table.