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New: Metrolinx's plan to run more frequent, shorter GO trains is now “unlikely to materialize” after it fired the European partners who planned to make it happen, according to a draft of the agency's internal fleet strategy. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/news/municip...

Shorter, more frequent GO train plan ‘unlikely to materialize’: leaked document

Metrolinx locked into agreements for trains it no longer needs, draft fleet strategy says

thetrillium.ca

New: Ontarians could be waiting another decade or more before they can hop on an electric GO train. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/news/municip...

Metrolinx could run first electric GO trains in 2036: leaked document

Electrification to start with Lakeshore lines; no word on other routes in agency's internal fleet strategy draft

thetrillium.ca

New: Metrolinx’s GO train fleet is in "poor" condition and assets could "begin to fail" this year, according to an internal draft report. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/news/municip...

GO trains in ‘poor’ condition; assets could ‘begin to fail’ this year: leaked document

Metrolinx still trying to replace expertise lost after ending Deutsche Bahn contract, according to internal fleet strategy draft

thetrillium.ca

New: The Ford government secretly reduced Canadian content requirements for two of its biggest transit projects, and when confronted, said no policies had changed. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/news/municip...

Ford government hid decision to lower Canadian content requirement for new trains: emails

Metrolinx learned about Cancon exemption years after decision was made, internal notes say

thetrillium.ca

Jack Hauen @jackhauen.bsky.social · 6mo ago

New: How Ontario Place almost became a Universal Studios-style amusement park #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...

New: The OPP's anti-rackets branch is investigating Jake's House, another group given millions by the Ford government, including through the Skills Development Fund. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/news/the-tri...

OPP investigating another group given millions by Ford government

Ontario cut funding to Jake’s House after ‘years’ of managing ‘issues and risks,’ including related to the disability charity’s ‘governance … and fiscal responsibility’

thetrillium.ca

A thread of recent @thetrillium.bsky.social reporting on the Skills Development Fund. #onpoli

ICYMI: Months before he was labour minister, David Piccini was in Leafs glass seats with a director of a company he later granted $7.5M to. Piccini attended the Parisian wedding of the company’s lobbyist. From me and @charliepinkerton.bsky.social. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic...

Labour minister was in Leafs glass seats with director of company he granted funding to

The ‘lower-scoring’ company got $7.5M of tax dollars through David Piccini’s office and is a client of the lobbyist whose Parisian wedding the minister recently attended

thetrillium.ca

New: Ontario's labour minister said he was personally involved in picking “lower-scoring” Skills Development Fund recipients. He held up one whose lobbyist's wedding he attended as an example of a lower-ranked applicant with sizeable impact. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...

Labour Minister David Piccini said he was personally involved in picking “lower-scoring” recipients of a $2.5-billion training fund that the province's auditor general recently labelled "not fair, transparent or accountable."

The auditor general found that less than half of the recipients of the Ministry of Labour's Skills Development Fund (SDF) were given "high" scores on their proposals by non-partisan civil servants who evaluated them, while the majority — 54 per cent — were ranked as having “lower” quality proposals.

Piccini defended the fund in a Newstalk 1010 radio interview on Wednesday.

"I mean, there were projects that were lower-scoring that we did select — and that's a conversation I have with our officials here — that align with government priorities,” he said.

“I mean, Peel Police — we supported (a) lower-scoring project. It supports mental health. Our first responders are more likely than the general population to commit suicide. That's a real reality,” Piccini added.

The minister was referring to a project by Keel Digital Solutions — the company represented by the lobbyist whose Parisian wedding Piccini attended this past weekend.

NEW: David Piccini, the minister whose office picks Skills Development Fund recipients, was in Paris this weekend at the wedding of a lobbyist whose clients received millions from that fund. From me and @charliepinkerton.bsky.social. www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic...

Ontario labour minister attended lobbyist’s wedding after granting his clients millions in training funds

Two clients of lobbyist Michael Rudderham have received more than $8.5 million in Skills Development Fund grants, records show

thetrillium.ca

New: Clients of lobbying firms with close connections to Premier Doug Ford and his nephew have been hugely successful in applying to the province’s Skills Development Fund. Full analysis: www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic... #onpoli

Clients of lobby firms connected to premier, his nephew given tens of millions in training funds

Groups represented by a lobbying firm owned by the premier’s campaign manager got more than $100 million in grant money, a Trillium analysis has found

thetrillium.ca

NEW: The organization that’s supposed to be making sure the people building your home aren’t cheats, liars or swindlers is asleep at the wheel, Ontario’s auditor general has found. From me and Steve Cornwell. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...

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BREAKING: The Ford govt has given groups hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars against the advice of civil servants who’d evaluated their applications, per Ontario’s auditor general. @thetrillium.bsky.social has been covering this story in depth. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic...

BREAKING: Ford government skills training funding ‘not fair, transparent or accountable’: auditor general

Ford government labour ministers overruled civil servants to fund skills training by groups with lobbyists, according to a scathing new report

thetrillium.ca

Facing pressure from above, Ontario's psychologist regulator has voted to cut training requirements and allow unlimited exam attempts. It's a fascinating debate. What's more important: the highest bar for mental health docs — or more of them? #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/news/health/...

College looks to cut psychologist training requirements, citing Ford government changes

National association warns proposal a ‘serious threat to public safety’

thetrillium.ca

Jack Hauen @jackhauen.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Premier Doug Ford says speed cameras don't slow people down. They do. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/news/municip...

Ontario to ban speed cameras, fund other road-calming measures instead

Ford makes series of false claims in announcement

thetrillium.ca

Ontario's highest court will now decide whether Doug Ford's government can have its way with three major Toronto bike lanes. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/news/municip...

Ford government appeals decision blocking its bike lane removals

Lower court 'exceeded its jurisdiction' and 'made multiple errors of law', Ontario argues

thetrillium.ca

Jack Hauen @jackhauen.bsky.social · 12mo ago

The premier thanked Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown for following his lead on RTO, and called on everyone else to follow suit. Not all municipalities are into the idea. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...

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Jack Hauen @jackhauen.bsky.social · 12mo ago

New: Doug Ford is leaving open the possibility of invoking the notwithstanding clause to remove three Toronto bike lanes. “Let's see what happens at the Court of Appeal, and then we'll go from there." #onpoli #topoli www.thetrillium.ca/news/municip...

Ford floats use of notwithstanding clause in Toronto bike lanes case

‘Let’s see what happens at the Court of Appeal,’ Premier Doug Ford told reporters

thetrillium.ca

Cycling advocates have won. The Ford government's plan to remove three major bike lanes in Toronto violates the Charter, Ontario's Superior Court rules. Story to come. #onpoli #topoli

New: Ontario could make up to $800,000/day from a U.S. electricity surcharge, according to internal estimates. #onpoli www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...

Metrolinx facing $8.2 billion in legal claims www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...

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The Ontario NDP is calling for "urgent action" after an increase in overdoses after CTS site closures. During the recent campaign, I repeatedly pressed Marit Stiles on whether she would reinstate CTS sites. She was noncommittal. thetrillium.ca/insider-news/s…