Days after the unveiling of its new 30-person cabinet, the Ontario premier doug ford has confirmed that 43 MPPs will be appointed to paid roles as parliamentary assistants.
New appointments mean 73 of Ford’s 83 people pc party The caucus is given a specific role within the government.
by province, parliamentary assistant “Assist ministers with legislative and committee matters, including special projects and assignments that require dedicated leadership.”
The role comes with an additional annual payout of just over $16,000.
The number of parliamentary assistants increased significantly under Ford’s PC government.
Feather June 29, 2018Ford unveiled 26 parliamentary assistants to work with in its first government. The next year, in June 2019, the number of assistants increased again – this time to 31.
Now, Ford has ratified 43 assistants to shape its government’s legislative agenda.
The number of parliamentary assistants appointed between Ford’s first cabinet and his most recent cabinet has increased by about 65 percent.
The Ontario NDP accused the premier of “packing dozens of MPPs into his gravy train”.
In an email to Global News, a spokesman for the Premier Office justified the number of appointments.
Ivana Yelich, Executive Director of Media, said: “Our government has an ambitious plan to build Ontario and we are empowering our team members from all walks of life and from every corner of the province to fulfill our promises to help fulfill it.” Ties to the Office of the Premier.
The newly announced crop of parliamentary assistants includes a maximum of two parliamentary assistants for cabinet ministers in some departments.
Sylvia Jones, the recently promoted health minister, will have two parliamentary assistants, as will the finance minister and the education minister.
When she was an opposition MPP, Jones criticized She was appointed as parliamentary assistant for infrastructure after former Liberal MPP Liz Sandle.
Jones said in 2018, “A role as a parliamentary assistant (PA) comes with a raise of $16,000, yet the government hasn’t added to his responsibilities.” “No mandate letter has been published yet.”
Jones did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Along with the Treasury Ministry there are also two subsidiaries for the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports.
Ontario Liberal Interim Leader John Fraser told Global News that it is common to have two assistants in some departments, including health and education. But he said that without public mandate letters, it is impossible to understand why the Ford government needs 43 parliamentary assistants.
The province has refused to disclose the mandate letters and has fought against publishing them in the Supreme Court.
“The numbers are higher than usual, there’s no question about it,” Fraser said. “When you hire 43, it’s totally different – you’re doing more than usual, but what are people really doing?”
A total of 14 departments have been given two assistants.
“It is shocking that Doug Ford is inviting the MPP to board his gravy train twice – doubling the parliamentary assistants on many departments and giving a huge pay bump to dozens of Conservatives,” said Ontario NDP interim leader Peter Tabens. he said.
Below is the complete list of appointments:
- Lorne Coe, Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier
- Andrea Khanzin, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
- Robin Martin, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health
- Don Gallagher Murphy, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health
- Stephen Crawford, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance
- Rick Byers, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance
- Mike Harris, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Legislative Affairs
- John Jordan, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Long Term Care
- Daisy Y., Senior Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Accessibility and
- Kevin Holland, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
- Brian Saunderson, Parliamentary Assistant to the Attorney General
- Natalie Pierre, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Colleges and Universities
- Andrew Dovey, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade
- Effie J. Triantafilopoulos, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade
- Billy Pang, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Citizenship and Multiculturalism
- Graham McGregor, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Citizenship and Multiculturalism
- Logan Knapathi, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Children, Communities and Social Services
- Nolan Quinn, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Children, Community and Social Services
- Sam Osterhoff, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Red Tape Reduction
- Christine Hogarth, Parliamentary Assistant to the Solicitor General
- Bob Bailey, Parliamentary Assistant to the Solicitor General
- Patrice Barnes, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education
- Mathew Rai, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education
- Laura Smith, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport
- Sheref Sabawi, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports
- Deepak Anand, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skill Development, with the responsibility of immigration
- David Smith (Scarborough Center), Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labor, Immigration, Training and Skills Development
- Hardeep Singh Grewal, Parliamentary Assistant to the Transport Minister
- Natalia Kusendova, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Francophone Affairs
- John Yakabusky, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Environment, Conservation and Gardens
- Rick Bracey, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry
- Anthony Lerdy, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Mines
- Brian Riedel, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery
- Vincent Kay, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery
- Dave Smith (Peterborough-Kawartha), Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Northern Development and Minister of Indigenous Affairs
- Rudy Cuzato, Parliamentary Assistant to the President of the Treasury Board
- Todd J. McCarthy, Parliamentary Assistant to the Chairman of the Treasury Board
- Stephen Sarrazin, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy
- Jess Dixon, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy
- Amarjot Sandhu, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure
- Vijay Thanigasalam, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure
- Rob Fleck, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
- Trevor Jones, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
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