REALITY CHECK: Ford’s Conservatives reward failure with millions while holding down wages for everyone else

QUEEN’S PARK – Earlier this week, Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster took the stage at Metrolinx offices to further delay an already long-delayed announcement and tell transit riders that he had no idea when the Eglinton Crosstown LRT would open.

Verster is the fifth highest paid public servant in the province and has enjoyed an absurdly high pay bump since starting his job as the CEO of Metrolinx. Following this week’s disastrous non-announcement, media reports revealed the Ford government extended Verster’s contract with a salary that could be over $1 million.

Today, Ford’s Conservatives are patting themselves on the back for raising the minimum wage to a paltry $16.55 an hour—well below the living wage.

Talk about out of touch. While people are working two, even three jobs just to make ends meet and relying on food banks in record numbers, Ford’s corrupt Conservatives are failing upwards and helping a select few get even richer.

Take the Honourable Caroline Mulroney, K.C., former Minister of Transportation, who Ford promoted to President of the Treasury Board after running the Eglinton LRT project completely off the rails. Who better to put in charge how the government spends money on programs and services than a Minister who drove the project half a billion over budget?

Ford’s incompetent friends get rewarded, while hardworking people can’t catch a break.