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 Post subject: Ontario budget today...
PostPosted: April 11th, 2019, 7:24 am 
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... with the reading from Queen's Park about 4 PM for anybody interested in where the spending cuts will be and how deep. PC Mike Harris' cuts during the nineties resulted in about a 6o% reduction in Ministry of the Environment budget and 20% to the Ministry of Natural Resources. MNR staff were reduced to about half.

Doug Ford's election campaign included some promises made to protect parks, waterways, and to ensure enforcement in a new "For The People" government. Spending cuts will be reflected in the actual numbers for each ministry... should be interesting.

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PostPosted: April 12th, 2019, 6:51 am 
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Yup... the firing of the Environmental Commissioner was an indication of where things are going... despite an overall spending increase of almost $5 billion more than the Liberal government spent, budgets of Environment, Conservation and Parks, Natural Resources and Forestry and Indigenous Affairs will have to deal with significant cuts. Exactly how the cuts will be made relative to services remains to be seen and details should be made available later. News reports state that jobs will be eliminated (in spite of the campaign promise that not as single job will be cut), as employees leave voluntarily or by "encouragement" by various means (buyouts), and as employment positions shift around from one type to another, with workers being redeployed to unrelated jobs.

Northern Ontario MPPs are concerned that there's little in the budget for their needs, since much of the cutting involved government initiatives and ministries critical to the area. Lowered education initiatives could mean longer-term problems.

The Ontario gas tax has been eliminated which should help lower prices at the pump.

Some critics have said that there should be a Ministry of Drinking created since alcohol was mentioned so many times. Drinking alcohol openly will be allowed in some parks, and more stores will be allowed to sell alcohol.

Analysts state that this is the first year of a five-year strategy to reduce spending, so more to come.

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PostPosted: April 14th, 2019, 8:32 am 
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A hidden piece of legislation in the budget bill will make it difficult to sue for damages, in the case of negligence or incompetence on the part of government. Maybe made in anticipation of fewer government staff and redeployments reducing capability. Simply amazing that Ontario residents voted this in. Must have been buck-a-beer.

Quote:
Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives are moving to make it harder to sue the Ontario government.

The PCs plan to repeal and replace the long-standing Ontario Proceedings Against the Crown Act — legislation that, among other things, outlines government liability in cases of misfeasance and negligence.

...

What it means is that the people who exercise power over you can exercise that power negligently and cause you damage and no one will have to pay... the province will not be liable for instances in which a person says there were harmed by the government exercising its authority.

...

"The bottom line here is that government is trying to escape liability for being sued, even when it does things that may be very, very wrong"



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ ... -1.5097205

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PostPosted: April 17th, 2019, 7:51 am 
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Something that could affect canoetripping in Northern Ontario is the news that firefighting budgets will be cut by two-thirds... difficult to understand with the fires going on last summer. Natural Resources and Forestry's budget will be cut by 20%.

Environment, Conservation and Parks will be cut by 35%, about half of that consists of eliminating climate change incentives. The remaining 17% cut will be done to ongoing operations and expenditures. Provincial environmental assessments may be done differently... the Ford administration doesn't like the way the federal EAs will be carried out.

Streams, rivers and wetlands will be redefined in some way which remains to be seen.

There will be a field day where children will be encouraged to clean up rivers and shorelines. This must be in keeping with campaign promises made to keep parks clean and protect waterways. I have my doubts that teachers will be participating in this since news reports state they've more or less declared war on the Ford administration and making noises like threatening to strike, what with the job losses and increased class sizes. There's always drinking after hours and early in the morning, mentioned in the budget many times.

More news coming, stay tuned... how bout that Alberta election...

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PostPosted: April 21st, 2019, 8:48 am 
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Budget estimates for each ministry should be available in early May. Northern Ontario MPPs have expressed some concerns that funding will be cut significantly for parks, along with education, indigenous initiatives, infrastructure issues and all the rest.

Here's the latest... Ontario municipalities and developers can now pay a fee to bypass the permitting and approval process that existed previously for environmental protection. Species and habitat protection can be suspended for three years if the minister feels that current protection measures aren't appropriate. And classification of a species listed as endangered or threatened may be reconsidered if the minister feels it's inappropriate.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ ... -1.5104278

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PostPosted: April 22nd, 2019, 9:19 am 
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The hiding of #'s and delaying the numbers from when the budget first came out and then forcing the individual Ministries make the announcements is an act of sheer cowardice!
There was so much hidden on so many levels.
I think we will have to do some tailgating fund raisers in school parking lots to fight this @#$@$
Jeff

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PostPosted: April 24th, 2019, 11:16 am 
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A report on global species losses that ties into the Ford administration's decision to eliminate legal protection for species at risk.

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/pro ... on_crisis/

Ontario has about 240 threatened or endangered species... none will have the protection that existed previously, once development proponents can ignore any harm being done on the ground and simply go ahead and pay into a research fund.

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