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We're looking for a reporter to fill a 12 to 18-month contract at Queen's Park, starting this spring. Message me with any questions.
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NEW: A company that got $2M from the Skills Development Fund is run by a dentist who boasts about having the Ford family among his patients.
Ford says he had nothing to do with it getting a grant: “I don't believe in micromanaging.”
www.thetrillium.ca/news/the-tri...
A few months ago @thelocal.to got a promising pitch from a writer with bylines in whole bunch of reputable publications—The Cut, The Guardian, Dwell, Architectural Digest, etc. Then I started investigating. Here's a story about fabulists in journalism's AI slop era. thelocal.to/investigatin...
In the course of our investigation into the Skills Development Fund, we've filed a lot of FOI requests. We recently got some high cost estimates for records and decided to ask the public for help.
Read all about our crowdfunding campaign here.
www.thetrillium.ca/news/the-tri...
NEW: ‘Mr. X’ claims Minister David Piccini tipped him off about Greenbelt removals
John Mutton made the claim in an interview with the integrity commissioner and then on a podcast. The minister denied it through a spokesperson.
www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic...
NEW: A non-profit with ties to Drake got $3.3 million from Ontario’s Skills Development Fund — but has since shut down, and the province claims the group owes it money.
It matches an example from the AG report of a low-ranked group picked by the MO.
www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic...
NEW: Clients of lobby firms connected to the premier and his nephew were given tens of millions from the Skills Development Fund.
Clients of Rubicon — a lobbying firm owned by the premier’s campaign manager — got more than $100M, records show.
www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic...
NEW: The feds are going to be in touch with the province on the AG's Skills Development Fund report, and they don't sound happy.
They want to ensure their funds were spent “effectively and transparently," and are seeking "due diligence" and "mitigation measures."🔒
www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...
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
www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic...
New Skills Development Fund story from @charliepinkerton.bsky.social
A company that specializes in helping dentists sell their practices was given $2 million to train workers when its CEO worked closely with the wife of the then-cabinet minister responsible for the funding program.
Update to this story on a group that trains people to work in clubs run by Zlatko Starkovski, a longtime Ford Nation figure: Ontario's public accounts show the group got an additional $3.3M in grants from the Skills Development Fund last year, for a total of more than $9.8M.
More on the Skills Development Fund from me.
Group training workers for ‘Rob Ford’s favourite nightclub owner’ got $6.5M in provincial skills development funding
Main voting closed at Ontario Liberal convention, Bonnie Crombie awaits her fate
VIDEO: Bonnie voyage? Liberals decide this weekend if Crombie stays or goes
Father of boy with autism charged with threatening to kill Doug Ford
Minister’s office insisted restaurateurs be granted millions despite ‘late’ and ‘low’ scoring application: emails
Ford friend's company seeking $500M from Metrolinx in expropriation dispute
Doug Ford's PCs spent six figures on 'Canada Is Not For Sale' hats in election campaign
Meet the bagman: the Ontario PC fundraising chief and his developer ties
Ontario reveals five-storey Ontario Place parking garage; Science Centre still TBD
NEW: How Metrolinx’s plan to deliver European-style train service went off the rails
@jackhauen.bsky.social got excruciating detail on MX's split with Deutsche Bahn on the GO expansion, and the scope reduction for all-day, two-way GO
www.thetrillium.ca/news/the-tri...
New: The Ford government has announced a plan to use its proposed "special economic zones" bill to create "Indigenous-led economic zones," after consulting with Indigenous partners over the summer.
It comes after increasing pressure from Indigenous communities.
www.thetrillium.ca/news/indigen...
So,👆seems aimed at forcing the government members to swallow having to vote down preventing the powers from being used in those ways — a fear of labour groups — or amending the bill so they actually can’t be.
The NDP also got amendments in — they would prevent the special economic zone powers from being used to exempt any proponents or projects from the Labour Relations Act, Employment Standards Act, or Human Rights Code.
The NDP also recommend voting against that schedule altogether.
The government has put forward some amendments to Bill 5 but I’m told there are more coming. These initial ones are mostly technical tweaks, plus the promised preamble change to reflect Indigenous rights.
www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...
