
Provincial budget misses the mark: as the economy slows, Ontario needs investment in public services now more than ever
TORONTO, May 15, 2025 /CNW/ - Today, the Ford government unveiled a provincial budget for 2025-26 which yet again laid bare their agenda to put investors and developers first—rather than Ontario families and communities and the public services they rely on.
OPSEU/SEFPO, the union representing more than 200,000 workers in health care, education, social services, the LCBO, and the Ontario Public Service, says that in this moment, with tariff anxieties and day-to-day life getting harder and harder to afford, the key to economic sovereignty is strong and vibrant public services.
"In this moment, we needed a budget that reflected the interests of working people," said OPSEU/SEFPO President JP Hornick. "We did not get that today."
Right now, Ontario is facing massive funding shortfalls in education at all levels. It is consistently last in per-person health care spending among the provinces. Meanwhile, due to stagnant wages for workers throughout the public sector caused by chronic underfunding, community services and those who need them are struggling.
In recent weeks, Ontario has seen sweeping cuts across the college system, which trains the skilled workforce that drives Ontario's economy.
"The Ford government could have turned all of this around today. Instead, they're rolling out a budget that ignores the crises we're facing and takes us backwards," said Hornick. "Across the board, the program spending proposed in this budget will not even keep up with inflation and population growth."
"Ontario was in trouble long before Trump's re-election, and Ontarians can tell when a crisis is being used to distract from policy failures."
Ontario's unemployment rate has risen to 7.8 per cent - the second highest provincial unemployment rate in the country.
"This budget does nothing to 'protect Ontario'. By refusing to adequately invest in public services, Ford is instead barreling towards Trump-style cuts to our public institutions and environmental protections. We'll be footing the bill for these cuts and dealing with the community impacts for years to come," said Hornick.
"The interests of working people and their families should be our north star – because when you invest in people, you create wealth that comes back to all of us."
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Toronto Star
7 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
The Latest: Hegseth faces questioning from Congress amid immigration protests
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Cision Canada
24 minutes ago
- Cision Canada
QSC Receives Frost & Sullivan's 2025 Global Technology Innovation Leadership Award for Pioneering Innovation in AV Communications
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Frost & Sullivan commends Q-SYS for setting a high standard in competitive strategy, execution, and market responsiveness. The company's long-term vision, robust innovation, and focus on enhancing customer value by delivering scalable, user-friendly AV solutions are driving the next wave of digital workplace transformation. Access the Q-SYS landing page here: About Frost & Sullivan For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, megatrends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion. Contact: E: [email protected] About Q-SYS Q-SYS is a full stack, audio, video, and control platform built around a modern, standards-based IT architecture. Since 2009, Q-SYS has been focused on delivering personalized, connected, and engaging AV experiences. Our solutions span corporate, education, hospitality, venues and events, government, healthcare, and transportation. By uniting hardware and software partners, developers, and creators, we're redefining what's possible for live and virtual experiences. Q-SYS is part of Acuity Intelligent Spaces, a business segment of Acuity Inc. For more information, visit


Cision Canada
27 minutes ago
- Cision Canada
Olymel to build state-of-the-art integrated plant in Trois-Rivières Français
BOUCHERVILLE, QC, June 10, 2025 /CNW/ - Olymel, the Canadian leader in the production, processing and distribution of pork and poultry meats, today announced the construction of a major expansion of its La Fernandière plant in Trois-Rivières, a major investment of $142 million that will allow Olymel to better serve its customers in Canada and abroad. The work will begin in the next few days, with the start of operations scheduled for spring 2026. The project objectives Olymel is pursuing several objectives with this project and significant gains are expected in the first year of operation. The plant, which essentially manufactures sausages at the present time, will expand production to include a wider range of pork and poultry products. It will also be converted into an integrated facility where products can be fully processed and packaged on site, thus reducing the transport of raw materials, better aligning processes, and strengthening the company's productivity. Finally, this new plant will considerably increase Olymel's production capacity at a time when the organization is aiming to strengthen the positioning of its products across Canada. "We're very proud to announce this major expansion of our Trois-Rivières plant. It's a big step forward for Olymel. Having this state-of-the-art plant will create new possibilities for expansion and significantly improve our efficiency, which is central to our company's performance. The project is perfectly aligned with our strategy of capitalizing on the creation of value-added products made with meat of superior quality that's produced by local farmers," declared Yanick Gervais, CEO of Olymel. A technological trailblazer in Quebec's agri-food industry Innovation will be at the core of the project, with new systems optimized by artificial intelligence. The connectivity of all the equipment and components will be used to ensure optimized operations management. The technologies include a unique industrial battery system, a continuous cooking line, completely autonomous operations (slicing, packaging, boxing and palletizing), and autonomous vehicles, all of which are points of innovation for the Canadian agri-food sector. The modernization of operations will result in more consistent production, to better meet the needs of our customers here and abroad. State-of-the-art equipment will allow the plant to utilize the latest packaging technology, for increased flexibility that fosters the use of eco-friendly solutions. By allying these technologies with our workers' expertise, we will maximize our operational efficiency while placing a premium on the knowledge and experience of our teams. Finally, the plant will serve as an innovation hub for new artificial intelligence solutions that Olymel can deploy elsewhere in its network, with the goal of increasing its productivity and optimizing its operations. A comprehensive approach to sustainable development In terms of occupational health and safety, the new ergonomic equipment will reduce the number of physically demanding tasks for employees, improve employee comfort at operating stations, and free up workers so that they can focus on tasks requiring more precision. Everything in the project was designed to optimize energy consumption, with measures that include heat recovery, net–zero water-based cooking, and a heat exchanger to recover heat from wastewater. On-site industrial batteries will be used to store energy and better manage the plant's power consumption when the grid is at peak demand. The ham cooking systems will utilize closed-circuit water management, which saves much more energy and water. In addition, a primary and secondary water treatment plant will be built on site, along with the necessary retention pond, to manage stormwater runoff. Finally, reduced greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and the improved management of natural gas, refrigerants, electricity, and residual materials will all result in environmental gains. A project that drives prosperity in the Mauricie region Locally, the plant will generate new economic opportunities, including the creation of some 50 direct jobs—bringing the total number of employees up to 400—and many indirect jobs. To help power Quebec's economy, the vast majority of building materials chosen will be made in Quebec. The contractor chosen for the construction work, Construction Bertrand Dionne, is from Drummondville, and the palletizing and boxing services will be designed by Premier Tech, a company from Rivière-du-Loup. Parallel to this project, and with a view to optimizing its operations and capturing the full benefit of the new plant, Olymel will permanently close its Anjou facility (140 employees) and its Cap-de-la-Madeleine facility (150 employees) in spring 2026. All personnel will be offered positions in neighbouring Olymel plants, particularly the newly built facility, which will be located a dozen kilometres from the Cap-de-la-Madeleine plant. Olymel is Canada's leader in production, processing and distribution of pork and poultry meats. Its mission is to feed the world with passion and with products of the highest quality. The company has production and processing facilities in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, and employs over 12,000 people. It has annual sales of around $4.5 billion. The company markets its products mainly under the Olymel, Pinty's, La Fernandière, Lafleur and Flamingo brands.