Excerpts
Shortly after taking office in 2018, Ontario Premier Doug Ford gave his ministers strict marching orders meant to marry the policy positions of the Progressive Conservative party, the 2018 election platform and the Premier’s wishes for Ontario.
The letters, written in bullet point form by political staff at the senior-most levels, laid out the priorities that the government intended to pursue during the party’s first term in office.
“It’s not secret,” Ford said when asked about the mandate letters in 2022. “Everyone knows where we stand.”
Ford’s comments, however, ran counter to the governments actions.
Since 2018, the Ford government has been fighting CBC News in court to keep the mandate letters a secret – racking up more than 1,600 hours of legal work to argue against the letters’ release, the public broadcaster reported.
In early September, Global News was given access to all 24 mandate letters from a source not authorized to release them. The Global News Queen’s Park Bureau then independently verified the veracity of the documents from those with direct knowledge of the letters contents.
...
Here in full are Premier Doug Ford’s mandate letters.
...
Dear Minister ___ :
...
Before you take any action, be sure to ask yourself a simple question “is this good for the people?” and only pursue courses of action that, directly or indirectly, will make a positive difference for the kind of people who cannot afford expensive lobbyists or a career in full-time activism. These people will only have one voice in government — and that voice will be you.
...
We will create good jobs by sending the message that ‘Ontario is open for business’ and by bringing quality jobs back to Ontario by lowering taxes, stabilizing hydro bills and cutting job-killing red tape.
...
Mandated: Minister of Education
...
- Repeal Ontario’s current inappropriate sex education curriculum and replace it with the previous curriculum until you properly consult with parents and families across the province about a new age appropriate curriculum.
...
- Work with the Minister of Finance to repurpose the Child Care Expense Deduction and implement our refundable child care tax credit proposal. As part of a new approach to child care, re-evaluate the changes by the previous government through Bill 10 that limited the role of independent child care facilities, and pursue reforms that enhance parental choice while promoting high standards of care.
- Continue to increase access to child care spaces, including building new child care spaces where needed and ensuring every new school that is built has child care spaces in it from the beginning. Consult closely with the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services when evaluating future reforms to child care in Ontario.
Mandated: Minister of Children, Community and Social Services
- Provide additional resources to the Ontario Autism Program and consult with families and stakeholders to ensure it helps as many families with children with autism as possible.
...
- Stand up for Ontario in the face of an ever-changing immigration landscape while asserting respect for legal immigration channels in the face of emerging immigration issues.
...
- Work with the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services and the Attorney General to fight human trafficking in Ontario and increase awareness of the issue with the ultimate goal of protecting our children.