Sergio

[Tina Yazdani @TinaYazdani]

NEW: we’re learning more about the cost of “Protect Ontario” ads to taxpayers.

FOI records show the cost for just one ministry to produce & run them last year was nearly $10 million.

The total the Ford government has spent across all ministries is expected to be much higher.

[Edward Row 𓃡 @edwardrow]

people rightfully trashed the government over their $30,000,000 private jet purchase - now, a personal friend of the premier could have just been paid as much as $500,000,000 by metrolinx as a ‘settlement’ over something they didn’t even own - people should be angry

[Toronto Star @TorontoStar]

#Exclusive: Assessment of Therme Ontario Place bid cited Aecon as 'construction partner,' but no partnership existed https://t.co/aljiP4HPrN

[Eric Lombardi (EricForOLP.ca) 🇨🇦🚀 @EricDLombardi]

Canada and Ontario are a democracy, but it often feels like we’ve lost *democratic culture*.

You can see it in the debates we’re having (and lack there of).

I’ll use the Toronto Island/Billy Bishop controversy as an example. 👇

First, what is the problem?

- The island airport lease was set to expire in 2033, but has been extended to 2045 to figure out next steps.

- The Q400 turboprop planes that fly out of the airport are no longer mass produced.

- While maintenance works for the next decade or two, the island airport really has 2 options: Extend the runway to allow jets or shut down the airport.

- - -

The democratic approach to solving this problem would look like the following.

1) Establish a working group to evaluate future options, should be governed by clear stakeholders from all participants (Feds, Province, City, TPA etc).

- Expand the airport
- Maintain the airport
- Shut the airport

It should also propose a transparent mechanism for determining a path forward. This doesn’t mean every stakeholder gets what they want, but people understand how the decision is made and accept it.

2) Present clear futures to the public for scrutiny and debate.

- Detailed proposals outlining cost/benefit/context/trade-offs/remediation.

- Context of other potential infrastructure investments and developments (eg, HSR, Ontario Place, Port Lands)

- Access and Local/regional transit upgrades to improve connections

- Impacts on airline competition in the region, and remedying options (eg, upgrading Hamilton Airport)

- The potential of working with De Havilland/Bombarier/Embraer on re-production of suitable planes for the existing or reduced runway expansion scope

- Business/investment potential

- Cultural and environmental impact

3) Period for public scrutiny. The reality is that reports and commissions get a lot wrong, because humans are fallible.

Public advocacy (not NIMBYism) often improves outcomes and clarifies preferences. The public and civil society have a role here.

4) Decision by arms-length mechanism suggested in (1) and a clear/written justification for the approach.

It should not be a partisan decision by the Ford government, which will be long gone before anything materializes. That’s how you ensure legitimacy going forward so a future gov doesn’t change course after spending billions of dollars.

Not everyone will be happy, but at least people will know that fair consideration actually occurred.

- - -

The problem with the ham-fisted approach being pursued by Ford, TPA and the Conservatives (and from the shameless silence of the Federal Government) is that the public has very little information to go by.

The city itself is completely in the dark.

And yet, there is a rush to use eminent domain over the entire islands.

It’s an authoritarian impulse to believe that opposition has no inherent legitimacy.

I love democracy, debate, and ideas.

Yet our leaders have been afraid to actually believe in it in their actions. Everyone is reacting pathologically.

So, do I support the island airport expansion? I can’t possibly know. We literally don’t have the information to judge. And that’s the core democratic failure.

All I can say is that we should demand better from @fordnation @PrabSarkaria @MarkJCarney cc @RunChiNguyenRun @WaterfrontAll @WaterfrontBIA @NoJetsTO

[P.b.Freire @Freire1Pb]

Was Tina Yazdani allegedly fired after FOI request revealed structural engineers didn't recommend closing Ontario Science Centre (OSC) & OSC repairs were less than $40 million vs Tumper Ford's Science Centre at Ontario Place costing taxpayers $1 billion.

[Diana Chan McNally @DianaCMcNally]

Your job is not foreign policy, nor do Ontarians give a rat's ass about your bizarre obsession with alcohol. They want to know what's on your cell phone. They want to know why you're ruining public education and healthcare. They want their groceries and rent to be affordable.

[Ciderismydrink🇨🇦🐶 @ciderismydrink]

WTF?

Why is OPG being sold to an AMERICAN private equity firm?? At a huge loss??

The only way the math maths is if Ford and his buddies are getting a huge slice of the pie.

This is insane.

How does this "Protect Ontario" @fordnation ? Seriously HOW DOES THIS PROTECT ON?

[Cheri DiNovo @CheriDiNovo]

Maybe if Ford hadn't wasted 7.8 BILLION on destroying Ontario Place, the Science Centre, alcohol everywhere, paltry checks in the mail...

We wouldn't be in the current fiscal state and we would have better schools and healthcare?

[Vicki Campbell🇨🇦 @merry123459]

And Doug Ford convinced you how bad Kathleen Wynne was with our money? Don’t you feel stupid now? I would if I was you.

[Frank Domenic @TheFrankDomenic]

Doug Fords Conservatives are transferring $4B to a private fund, managed by the private sector. That's $4B of your tax dollars during a $14B deficit, going to the wealthy elite, while education and healthcare funding is being cut. That's how we Protect Ontario. #ontario #onpoli

[David Doel @daviddoel]

This clown ran 8yrs ago on “balancing the budget”. All he’s done since is decimate health care, education, housing, and public services while giving handouts to his rich developer friends.

[Bev 🇨🇦 @Garnet_2203]

🚨Doug Ford didn’t “run out of money.”
He spent it just not on you.

Billions → bailing out developer buddies
$2.2 BILLION → luxury spa at Ontario Place
$1 BILLION → relocating the Science Centre
Billions → Highway 413 through the Greenbelt
$1.4 BILLION → booze in corner stores
Millions → ripping out bike lanes & government ads

But when it comes to healthcare?
Now patients may have to pay out of pocket for basic care.

That’s not a funding problem.
That’s a priority problem.

Enforce the Canada 🇨🇦 Health Act.
Public healthcare is a right not a user fee.

[ethical hater @DijahSB]

my homie made a website that highlights all of doug fords lies/underspending/overspending and wow bro. I knew it was bad but this guy is criminal https://t.co/0SOnmwdCh1

[Galen Naidoo Harris @GalenNHarris]

Kathleen Wynne did this a decade ago. The Ford Government paused it. You've been paying more for your tickets since 2018 because of Doug Ford.

[Gil Meslin @g_meslin]

I guess this means we need to close it and build a new one by the lake.

[Jake Landau (He/Him) 🇨🇦🇵🇸🇺🇦 @JakeLandauTO]

I support @JoshMatlow in his push for the city to take occupancy of the Science Centre, as Doug Ford and Olivia Chow agreed to in their grand bargain. It is clearly still fit for occupancy, and I support using city funds and donations to resume "science programming" per the deal.

[Save OSC 🇨🇦 @SaveOSC]

Sunday, January 25, 2026, 9:05 pm.

Built for winter. ❄️
Built for Canada. 🇨🇦

[Gil Meslin @g_meslin]

A reminder, after 50cm of snow has fallen, that the Ontario Science Centre’s closure was a manufactured crisis, not remotely a necessity, stealing a jewel from a generation of children so that it could be relocated to serve the needs of a waterpark operator.

[Alex Mason @CoinXndr]

Let’s be honest, without sarcasm or hyperbole: if Ontario wants better test scores, we can’t afford Conservative governments.

Every party clashes with education sometimes, but only Conservative policy consistently underfunds, undermines, & chips away at public education itself.

[TDot Resident @TDotResident]

THE ROOT CAUSE IS THE FORD GOVERNMENT