To: The Legislative Assembly of Ontario, The Office of the Integrity Commissioner, The Office of the Auditor General, and All Concerned Residents of Ontario

STATEMENT OF INTENT

We, the undersigned residents of Ontario, call for the immediate resignation of Premier Doug Ford. Over multiple years, and escalating into severe democratic, financial, and institutional abuses from October 27, 2025, through today, his administration has repeatedly violated public trust, weakened democratic institutions, and enacted policies that have harmed Ontario's economy, environment, and social fabric. The pattern is now undeniable: systemic governance failure that fundamentally violates both domestic mandates and international standards.

This is not a lingering consequence of the pandemic. This is an active, ongoing accountability crisis stemming from a failure to meet the core constitutional and ethical standards of a provincial Premier.

PART I. KEY VIOLATIONS AND GOVERNANCE FAILURES

1. Corruption, Cronyism, and Misuse of Public Power

• The 2025 Auditor General report found that $742 million in job-training funds were awarded to low-ranked applicants, bypassing fair review and raising deep concerns of political favoritism.
• The Greenbelt land removals benefited private developers with close ties to the Premier's inner circle, including the De Gasperis family.
  The Ontario Science Centre closure, paired with Ontario Line land transactions, appear to have disproportionately benefited private landholders positioned to profit from redevelopment.
• Public capital from the Skills Development Fund ($2.5B total) has continuously bypassed objective public reviews, routing hundreds of millions of dollars to low-ranked, private-sector applicants with close ties to the administration.

2. The October 27, 2025 Election Power Grab

On October 27, 2025, the government introduced sweeping, unconstitutional changes to provincial election laws without public consultation. These changes actively rig the democratic playing field:

•  Eliminate fixed election dates, enabling the Premier to call elections at will—potentially extending his term to 2030.
• Raise individual donation limits from $3,400 to $5,000, effectively tripling the cap since 2018.
• Make controversial per-vote subsidies permanent without review.
• Remove pre-election spending limits for third-party groups, enabling unchecked corporate lobbying.

 3. Legislative Absenteeism and Budget Diversion to Private Funds

• Premier Doug Ford has consistently displayed a profound disregard for parliamentary accountability by failing to maintain a basic physical presence during critical legislative assembly periods, leaving the province leaderless on the floor during severe economic strain.
• Defying public procurement standards and basic fiscal transparency, core components of the Ontario budget have been quietly shifted into private equity and investment pools rather than being injected into crumbling public infrastructure, school boards, or municipal health centers.

4. Healthcare Failures and Politicized Appointments

• Ontario remains critically short of $10/day childcare spaces—only 36,000 of the promised 86,000 have been delivered.
• Ford appointed personal ally Rueben Devlin as a healthcare advisor at $350,000/year, exceeding the Premier's own salary.
• Privatization and chronic underfunding have worsened access to care, causing unprecedented numbers of emergency room closures and severe staffing shortages in rural, northern, and marginalized communities.

5. Education System Undermined & The 2018 Transition Trust Fund

• The government used heavy-handed back-to-work legislation to end the York University strike, suppressing academic labour rights.
•  Curriculum rollbacks and funding cuts have weakened Ontario's global competitiveness.
• The intentional destabilization of Ontario's public education system traces back to a secret transition trust fund formed in 2018 during former Minister Stephen Lecce’s entry, throwing a long shadow of untransparent financial frameworks over classroom resource allocations.

6. The Weaponization of the Freedom of Information (FOI) System

• Through deliberate legislative manipulation, the administration has systematically disabled public accountability. The statutory response time for Freedom of Information (FOI) requests has been drastically pushed from 30 calendar days to 45 business days, paired with legal frameworks allowing government bodies to stall investigations by delivering data "in stages" or utilizing unchecked "second extensions." This creates an intentional wall of secrecy around insider land deals and private fund transfers.

7. Multi-Million Dollar Ad Propaganda Scandals vs. FAO Financial Alarms

• While independent Financial Accountability Office (FAO) reports flag severe economic stagnation, a 0.3% decline in Ontario’s real GDP, and the sharpest non-pandemic quarterly job loss since 2009, the government has redirected critical public cash to partisan marketing. Over $112 million has been squandered on taxpayer-funded promotional campaigns designed to buffer voter perception—spanning a $75 million World Series ad blunder that utilized unauthorized archival footage of Ronald Reagan and triggered international trade friction, down to relentless, ongoing audio ad campaigns on streaming platforms like Spotify.

8. Metrolinx Transit Delays vs. Crony Enrichment

• Commuters face historic transit bottlenecks and multi-year delays across major light rail and subway expansions managed by Metrolinx. Yet, public records and land allocations demonstrate that public transit funds and transit-adjacent real estate assets have been systemically
  leveraged to benefit corporate real estate allies and political insiders positioned directly around future infrastructure hubs.

9. Environmental Rollbacks and Climate Regression

• Bill 66 allowed municipalities to bypass foundational clean water protections.
• Cancellation of the Cap and Trade program reversed years of climate progress.
• Ontario is not on track to meet its 2030 climate commitments.

10. Intentional Neglect of Essential Institutional Staff & Correctional Services

• The human cost of this accountability failure extends deeply into the justice and correctional systems. Frontline provincial correctional officers are routinely denied the structural, dedicated mental health support required for high-risk environments. The Chief Coroner’s In the Light of Day report highlighted 34 correctional worker deaths by suicide, severe understaffing, and dangerous overcrowding reaching 113% to 127% capacity, further illustrating a complete disregard for workplace safety and basic labor standards.

11. Mismanagement of Trade Retaliation & Financial Cost to Public Revenues

• The decision to direct the LCBO to strip all American alcohol from shelves in response to U.S. tariffs resulted in over $965 million in market disruption, $80 million in stranded inventory, and over $135 million in lost public revenues ($75M LCBO profits + $60M tax revenue) that could have funded hospitals, schools, and transit infrastructure.

12. Housing Crisis, Democratic Erosion, and Human Rights Law Violations

•  Local Democracy Slashed: Bill 5 slashed Toronto City Council mid-election, disrupted Indigenous representation in land governance, and violated the constitutional Duty to Consult. This actively contravened the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action (#43 to implement UNDRIP and #45 to reaffirm nation-to-nation relationships).
• First Nations Exclusion: Ontario has generated record OLG revenues, yet First Nations report inequitable benefit and systematic exclusion from decision-making, threatening Indigenous economic independence.
• Housing Crisis as an Illegal Human Rights Violation: By favoring ultra-wealthy developers through backroom land transactions, the government has intentionally commodified shelter. By neglecting the construction of public, affordable housing, the province stands in direct violation of the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), a treaty binding on Canada which protects the fundamental human right to adequate housing.

PART II. INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE SCORECARD

To demonstrate the extent of this institutional decay, the following matrix scores Ontario's current governance performance against official international frameworks: the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the OECD Guidelines & Procurement Principles, and the Open Government Partnership (OGP).

OVERALL INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE RATING: FAILED (1.1 / 10)

PART III. CALLS TO ACTION

We demand that the Government of Ontario immediately execute the following steps to correct these institutional wrongs:

1. Immediate Resignation: Premier Doug Ford must step down immediately for failing to fulfill the basic constitutional, ethical, and legal mandates of his office.

2. Restore Democratic Integrity: Rescind Bill 5, restore local democratic representation with full Indigenous consultation, and reverse the October 27, 2025 election law overhauls to reinstate fixed dates, lower donor limits, and protect third-party spending rules. Implement UNDRIP across all provincial legislation.

3. Establish Indigenous Governance Mechanisms: Create a permanent Indigenous Civic Council to advise on urban planning, environment, and economic policy, ensuring equitable gaming revenue sharing and upholding free, prior, and informed consent.

4. Restore FOI Transparency: Reverse the 45-business-day extension rules, eliminate "staged disclosure" loopholes, and fully restore the 30-day statutory limit for public information requests.

5. Halt Taxpayer-Funded Partisan Advertising: Immediately terminate all self-promotional provincial ad campaigns across digital media, including Spotify and international sports broadcasts, and redirect those hundreds of millions of dollars into frontline public health and education.

6. Launch Independent Forensic Audits: Initiate fully independent public inquiries into the 2018 Lecce transition trust fund, the diversion of public budget funds into private equity, the Skills Development Fund allocations, and Metrolinx land handovers around transit corridors.

7. Uphold Labor and Human Rights Standards: Guarantee immediate, non-stigmatized structural mental health support for provincial correctional officers, and realign housing development strategies to meet binding UN human rights criteria.

Ontario deserves a government that answers to its citizens, not to its corporate cronies.

Sign this petition to protect our democratic institutions, save our social safety net, and restore foundational integrity to our province.