Pattern
Bill 5 cut Toronto council from 47 to 25 seats mid-election. When the court struck it down, Ford threatened the notwithstanding clause — the first time it was invoked in Ontario was later, for Bill 28 (CUPE). Strong mayor powers let mayors override council with one-third support. Conservation authorities were stripped of planning authority via Bill 229, then Bill 97 (2026) proposed consolidating all 36 into 9 provincial bodies. The French Language Commissioner was nearly eliminated. Bill 97 also exempted the Premier and ministers from FOI law, retroactive to 1988. Each move concentrates power at Queen's Park while weakening local and independent institutions.
Cumulative Documented Cost
Pattern Sequence
Bill 5 cuts Toronto council from 47 to 25, notwithstanding clause invoked (2018)
French Language Commissioner nearly eliminated in omnibus budget (2018)
Bill 229 strips Conservation Authorities of planning oversight (2020)
Strong mayor powers: mayors can override council with 1/3 support (2022)
Bill 97 consolidates 36 conservation authorities into 9 provincial bodies (2026)
Bill 97 exempts Premier and ministers from FOI law, retroactive to 1988 (2026)
Documentation
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On April 13, 2026, Education Minister Paul Calandra introduced the Putting Student Achievement First Act, which caps elected trustees at 12 per board (nearly halving TDSB's current count of 22), caps trustee honoraria at $10,000, replaces directors of education with ministry-appointed CEOs requiring business credentials, gives the Ministry of Education tie-breaking authority over board budgets and sole authority to terminate CEOs, and designates the Council of Ontario Directors of Education as the central bargaining agency for English public and Catholic boards. French-language boards are largely untouched. ETFO characterized the legislation as an "unprecedented rollback of local democracy."
On April 23, 2026, the Ford government passed Bill 97, rewriting Ontario's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to permanently exclude the Premier's Office, cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants, and all political staff from FOI requests. The changes are retroactive to 1988, nullify dozens of pending FOI cases, and override a court order directing Ford to release personal cellphone records. The Information and Privacy Commissioner said the law makes Ontario less transparent than any other Canadian jurisdiction. Democracy Watch is preparing a constitutional challenge. An Abacus Data poll found only 24% of Ontarians supported the policy (cited in Globe and Mail editorial, April 21, 2026).
Legislation stripped conservation authorities of their ability to block development, prioritizing construction over flood protection and environmental conservation.
The time the Ontario legislature spends sitting has been shrinking under the Ford government. Global News reported that in 2025 the legislature sat 51 days, taking a 19-week summer break and a 14-week winter break. On June 2, 2026 it rose again after a 30-day spring session and will not return until October 27, a 21-week break. Government House Leader Steve Clark said the timing avoids interfering with the fall municipal elections. Opposition leaders say the shrinking calendar reduces the chamber's ability to hold the government to account. This case tracks the pattern across sessions; each new break is logged as it happens.
Ontario's education budget is larger in nominal dollars than it was in 2017-18, but independent and union-backed inflation-adjusted estimates show a widening funding gap. The CCPA calculated a cumulative $6.3B shortfall through 2025-26. For 2026-27, the province projected a 1% Core Education Funding increase while cutting the Classroom Staffing Fund by $56.2M. Under provincial supervision, the TDSB approved major staff and service reductions as Ontario's five education unions entered bargaining for more than 255,000 workers.
From moratorium to full defunding: the Ford government froze new supervised consumption sites in 2023, legislated closures of 10 sites near schools via Bill 223 in 2024, then defunded all 7 remaining provincial sites in March 2026 — during an opioid crisis that killed 2,231 Ontarians in 2024 alone.
Government appointed partisan loyalists with no adjudication experience to the Landlord and Tenant Board, creating a 50,000+ case backlog.
In September 2023, Ford fired Janet Ecker — a veteran Progressive Conservative, former Harris-era Finance Minister, and chair of Metrolinx's Governance Committee — from the Metrolinx board after she published an article criticizing the government's "internal culture" following the Greenbelt scandal. The firing was widely viewed as retribution for dissent and a warning to other appointees.
Ontario's Court of Appeal cleared the province to proceed with removing 19 kilometres of Toronto bike lanes. On Sept. 1, 2026, the government issued an RFP for engineering design work to restore vehicle lanes on Bloor, Yonge, University, Queen's Park, and Avenue Road, and on Oct. 8 said removal on Bloor Street West would begin Oct. 13. Toronto says it spent $27M installing the lanes and estimates removal at $48M. A province-commissioned CIMA+ analysis projected that collisions involving all road users could rise by up to 54%.
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