Trillium Talk: Doctors not working as hard as they used to, Ford government says

Trillium Talk - A weekly briefing from the Ontario Legislature from the team at The Trillium

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Every Sunday, Scott Sexsmith sits down with one of our staffers at The Trillium to talk about the week that was at Queen's Park — and the week ahead.
Joining us today is reporter Charlie Pinkerton, part of The Trillium team of journalists recently nominated for a CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism for their in-depth reporting on the influence of land developers in Ontario politics.

Pinkerton walks us through a wild three days in the municipality of Brighton, where councillors openly admitted they were hiring a well-connected lobbying firm to "work the backroom" of the Ford government in the hopes of landing some badly needed infrastructure funding.

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra later weighed in on the controversy, saying Ontario cities and towns thinking of hiring lobbyists are "wasting" their money.

We also talk about the ongoing arbitration between Ontario physicians and the provincial government. Simply put, the health ministry is arguing that there's no shortage of doctors — they just aren't working as hard as they used to.