When I worked the line at the Simcoe Street Diner for $33,000 a year, I knew the score. Five days a week, forty-nine weeks a year, three weeks of vacation if the schedule allowed. That is what normal Ontarians do to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. If I'm lucky, my work at The Provincial Times brings in about $600 annually. It is not a salary that sustains a life, but it keeps me connected to the realities most people in my community face every single day.
At Queen's Park, my local member, Todd McCarthy, collects $213,940 a year. McCarthy is expected to work four days a week for roughly thirteen weeks out of the year. That comes to about fifty-two days in the legislature. The rest of us grind through full schedules without the option to declare the job done early.
Apparently the people's business at Queen's Park follows its own relaxed rules.
This week the Ford PC's confirmed the House will rise for approximately twenty-one weeks following a short spring session, not returning until late October. Six months. While families across this province are one paycheque away from the possibility of being unhoused and hungry, the legislature that is supposed to do something about it is packing up. I desperately need the Ford PCs to explain why they believe this schedule is fair or appropriate for the people they were elected to serve.
Scandal after scandal has already damaged trust in this government. They have done very little to make the average citizen's life better amid rising costs and mounting pressures. Yet instead of remaining in session to debate and pass laws that might actually deliver relief, they are leaving early. How many pieces of legislation that could improve life for working families, nurses, and teachers could be moved forward in those extra months? How many opportunities to prove they are serious about the struggles of ordinary Ontarians are being thrown away?
Todd McCarthy represents the people of Durham. I expect him to take this fight into caucus, to urge the government to sit longer, and to demand that Queen's Park prove to Ontarians and to the residents of this riding that these salaries are not a waste of taxpayer money that could otherwise be spent on nurses and teachers. Right now the numbers do not add up.
A part-time legislature funded at six figures while the cost of living crushes the people who actually keep this province running is not a good look. Normal Ontarians do not get to work a fraction of the year and still draw a full executive salary while everything else gets harder. The Ford PCs campaigned on respect for taxpayers and getting the job done. A truncated session followed by a half-year recess does not match that promise. It looks like entitlement.
The people of Durham and across Ontario are not stupid. We see the disconnect. We want a legislature that shows up fully and consistently. We want our MPPs to earn every dollar by treating public service as the full-time responsibility it is supposed to be. It is time for Queen's Park to get back to work. It is time for Todd McCarthy and every member of this government to justify their paycheques by delivering for the people who pay them. Anything less is an insult to every worker who cannot afford to clock out for six months.
This piece was written by an individual contributor and reflects the editorial position of The Provincial Times. Read our Content Policy here.
