Five things to know about the Ontario government’s throne speech
Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government played up key campaign promises Thursday in its first throne speech, which also included more recent policy pledges but no new announcements. Here are some highlights:
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY: The Tories repeated their promise to order a line-by-line audit of all government spending as part of their efforts to find billions in efficiencies. They also renewed their pledge to call a commission meant to identify ways to boost financial transparency.
CAP AND TRADE: The government said it would move forward with its plan to scrap the cap-and-trade system, having already revoked the regulation that governs the program. It also vowed to end “unfair, unaffordable green energy contracts” it said were imposed on rural communities.
EDUCATION REFORM: The province said it would replace “failed ideological experiments in the classroom” with “tried-and-true methods” when it comes to math and sex ed. The government announced Wednesday that schools would temporarily revert to an older version of the sex-ed curriculum rather than the updated version brought in by the Liberals three years ago.