Short, intense session set for Queen’s Park after 137-day break

Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy gestures to the house as Premier Doug Ford looks on, while delivering the budget, at the Queen's Park Legislature in Toronto, on Thursday, May 15, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO — Premier Doug Ford’s government returns to Queen’s Park Monday for what promises to be a short but intense seven-week sitting that opposition parties say they fear is becoming a new and undemocratic norm.

A lingering trade war with the United States, a consequential downturn in the economy with about 700,000 Ontarians looking for work, increasing inflation and a crashing housing market will hang over the Ontario legislature as politicians gather en masse for the first time in 137 days.

The Progressive Conservative government is set to ban speed cameras through legislation this week, but Ford’s promise to ban research testing on dogs and cats will not be landing this fall.

On Monday, the province will introduce a bill focused on streamlining red tape, including labour mobility legislation that is part of the deals Ontario signed in the spring and summer with the majority of other provinces and territories to recognize each other’s credentials for doctors, nurses and other health-care workers.

“In the face of so much economic uncertainty, our government is taking a hard look at the challenges that are holding us back and putting forward big and bold ideas to build an economy that is more competitive, resilient, while supporting workers, families and businesses across the province,” said Hannah Jensen, a spokeswoman for Ford.

“To support the sectors President Trump is threatening, our government will champion our nuclear and critical mineral advantage, mandate Ontario-made products (in procurement), and find more ways to lower fees, costs and taxes. We’re eliminating red tape, strengthening internal trade and opening labour mobility across Canada while speeding up the building of infrastructure, transit, and factories that create new jobs and the conditions that businesses need to invest in Ontario.”

Several crises hang over the government at the moment, including a growing scandal in the province’s skills development fund, which has seen $2.5 billion awarded to several hundred companies to train workers. Ontario’s auditor general recently found the government was “not fair, transparent or accountable” in how it doled out that money.

Auditor General Shelley Spence discovered that more than half of the applications chosen by the Ministry of Labour to receive money were ranked poor, low or medium against the program’s goals and criteria. She also found more than 60 of the lower-scoring applicants were approved after they hired a lobbyist.

The spotlight in the early days will be on Labour Minister David Piccini. He has admitted to being involved in the skills fund selection process but has defended the fund, saying it is much needed to train workers in new fields.

A whale crisis at Marineland, which has threatened to kill 30 belugas unless it gets taxpayer dollars to keep feeding them until it can sell its massive property in Niagara Falls, Ont., will also dog the government. Solicitor General Michael Kerzner, who is responsible for the welfare of all animals in the province, has said nothing about the threat to euthanize otherwise healthy belugas, which are Canada’s last remaining captive whales.

Meanwhile, Mining and Energy Minister Stephen Lecce has just launched the province’s “one permit, one process” initiative to help mining companies get government permits quicker.

It was one of the non-controversial parts of Bill 5, an omnibus bill the province introduced and passed in the spring session with the goal to get large projects, especially mines, up and running much sooner.

The other parts of that bill sparked furor among most First Nations in the province who took issue with the “special economic zone” provision. That part of the law allows the province to designate areas of economic interest where it can suspend any provincial or municipal law it sees fit.

The province intends to designate the mineral-rich Ring of Fire in northern Ontario as the first such zone, but intense protests from First Nations has forced the government to slow down a bit.

The province moved Bill 5 and several others – including one that increased fines against homeless people who sleep in parks – through the legislative process quickly by shrinking debate time and, in some cases, skipping the committee stage altogether.

That sitting also lasted only seven weeks after Ford called – and won – a snap election in February. By the end of the year, the provincial parliament will have sat for 14 out of 52 weeks.

It’s a loss for democracy, said New Democrat and official Opposition Leader Marit Stiles.

“We lose public participation, we lose actual debate, we lose transparency,” Stiles said.

“As we’ve seen with legislation that was shoved through in the last session that the government doesn’t want that transparency and accountability. They shut down opportunities for public input into the legislation and that doesn’t serve Ontarians well.”

The short sessions leave Ontarians shortchanged, said Liberal parliamentary leader John Fraser.

“(The government is) going back into playing this game where some things don’t go to committee, or committee’s very limited, debate’s very limited and they’re going to rush bills through,” he said.

“And that’s not good governance. That’s bad governance. There’s supposed be some transparency and accountability. It doesn’t matter, actually, whether you’re doing legislation, you know, or you’re building a house, you don’t rush through it. You do it right the first time.”

There will be some other changes when politicians return to Queen’s Park.

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, who said she would resign following a tepid leadership vote result in September, is not expected to be around Queen’s Park, where Fraser will continue with the heavy lifting in the interim. The Liberals have not yet announced when the party will launch a leadership race.

The conservatives will be a man down after the party booted Chris Scott from caucus following domestic violence charges in which police allege he used a high chair as a weapon against his wife.

The representative for Sault Ste. Marie said he has confidence in the justice system, but has not said more about the charges. He took a leave of absence in October. The NDP has called for his resignation in a riding they nearly won.

And Speaker Donna Skelly has given the legislature a refresh. Painters have put a fresh coat on the walls and the artwork has been rearranged.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2025.

Liam Casey and Allison Jones, The Canadian Press