News Release – New Parliamentary Assistant gets $16,000 raise with no Job Description

(Orangeville) – Today, Sylvia Jones reacted to the news of M.P.P. Liz Sandals appointment as the new Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure. A senior member of caucus, Liz Sandals had been removed from Cabinet on January 17^th due to her impending retirement.

“A role as Parliamentary Assistant (P.A.) comes with a $16,000 raise, yet the government has not released what her responsibilities include. No mandate letter has yet been published. Given that the Assistant has already said she will retire in 4 months, I am concerned that the Premier has given this individual an appointment with no public accountability with her role and responsibility,” said Jones.

“With less than four months for MPP Sandals to make a difference in her new role as a Parliamentary Assistant, I want to take an opportunity to direct her towards some key infrastructure issues,” said Jones

“I hope she will address the government’s lack of action on the issue of sewage bypasses: when partially treated or raw sewage is bypassed into local waterways. So far, the government has refused to let Ontarians know when sewage bypasses occur, which means they have no way to know how safe their waterways are and how the condition of their sewage infrastructure is impacting their health and safety,” said Jones.

“I would also encourage MPP Sandals to fix the delays in the rollout of the government’s promised infrastructure dollars. According to a Public Accounts report in 2016 the government failed to spend nearly $3.2 billion for promised infrastructure projects. Almost 20% of the money promised to communities was not delivered,” said Jones

“I also hope that the P.A. will address the list of broken infrastructure promises from All-Day Two-Way Go on the Kitchener line to developing the Ring of Fire, to name just two,” said Jones.