Conflicts and Cronyism - Piccini takes a political pounding over Skills Development Fund and the Greenbelt

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On The Ledge - your Ontario politics podcast

Story Studio Network, Dave Trafford and iContact Productions

328 episodes

6 days ago

The Ledge, n: slang for the legislature. Mostly used by members of the legislative press gallery.
On the Ledge posts weekly when the Ontario Legislature is sitting. But there have been times when we've had to "recall" the Ledge for an emergency session to address pressing matters of Ontario politics when Queen's Park isn't sitting!

Our OTL team includes former Ontario Premier, Kathleen Wynne, former Progressive Conservative Leader, (and Wynne's erstwhile parliamentary sparring partner), Tim Hudak, Queen's Park broadcast commentator Keith Leslie, John Wright, our veteran pollster and co-founding host, and Dave Trafford, Chief Executive Producer at Story Studio Network.

All content for On The Ledge - your Ontario politics podcast is the property of Story Studio Network, Dave Trafford and iContact Productions and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Politics

News,

News Commentary

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Conflicts and Cronyism - Piccini takes a political pounding over Skills Development Fund and the Greenbelt

On The Ledge - your Ontario politics podcast

53 minutes

1 week ago

Conflicts and Cronyism - Piccini takes a political pounding over Skills Development Fund and the Greenbelt

ON THE LEDGE – YOUR ONTARIO POLITICS PODCAST

Host: Dave Trafford
Guests: Keith Leslie (CH Television), Tim Hudak (Partner, Counsel Public Affairs; former Ontario PC leader), John Wright (CEO, Canada Pulse Insights)

Dave Trafford is joined by Keith Leslie, Tim Hudak, and John Wright for a lively roundtable that begins with the soaring cost of World Series tickets and quickly pivots into a sharp political discussion about Doug Ford’s government.

Hudak shares his perspective as a former Consumer Minister on the futility of policing ticket resellers, while Wright and Leslie explore how technology, bots, and lax regulation have transformed ticket scalping into a billion-dollar business.

The panel then dissects fresh polling data revealing Ford’s surprising strength in Toronto and the GTA—numbers showing nearly half of Torontonians approving of his performance, particularly on populist issues such as speed cameras and school trustees.

The conversation deepens with the week’s political firestorm: the Auditor General’s revelations about the Skills Development Fund, questions surrounding Labour Minister David Piccini, and fresh allegations from “Mr. X” in the ongoing Greenbelt saga. Jessica Smith Cross of The Trillium joins the episode with her reporting, laying out the connections between political insiders, lobbying, and taxpayer dollars.

The crew debates whether these controversies expose a deeper issue of cronyism and complacency within the Ford government, or simply the growing pains of a long-serving administration.
The episode closes with reflections on accountability, transparency, and the political costs of loyalty—ending with a consensus that the Ford government’s biggest risk now isn’t its policies, but its optics.

Chapters
00:00 – Introduction & World Series Ticket Shock
06:00 – Polling the GTA: Ford’s Populist Edge
14:00 – The Speed Camera Debate: Cash Grab or Safety Tool?
31:00 – The Skills Development Fund Scandal & Mr. X Allegations
46:00 – Cronyism, Transparency, and Political Fallout
52:00 – Closing Thoughts