Expelled PC MPP voices concern with provincial budget

Months after his departure from the Progressive Conservative caucus, MPP for Lanark-Frontenac and Kingston Randy Hillier is voicing his concerns with Doug Ford’s budget and how the premier runs his staff.

“What we’ve seen is a government who has expectations and mandates of its members and it is not that of a watchdog or ensuring accountability, but to demonstrate never-ending admiration to the party leader, and that’s not what democracy is about,” Randy Hillier in his Perth Ont., office.

As for the provincial budget released on April 11, Hillier says the PCs put the cart before the horse on how they plan to handle public education and e-learning. He believes Ford is not providing the proper tools to educators when it comes to increasing class sizes.

E-learning, which will be required for high school students starting in 2020-21, is a tool Hillier says can be utilized in large communities such as Kingston, Ottawa and Toronto, but does very little for many people living in rural Ontario.

“This government has to facilitated e-learning for people in rural areas. Many of them do not have access to affordable and reliable internet, and for Ford to mandate this, when we do not have the infrastructure, it can be detrimental to their educational success,” said Hillier.

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Hillier says he asked that the Ford government address these issues at Queen’s Park several times, and he hopes something can be done. When asked if he had spoken to Ford about these issues directly, Hillier began to chuckle before saying that the last time the premier suggested he was going to give me him a call, it never happened. He believes Ford is not inclined to enter into a conversation with him on these issues any time soon.