Jack Hauen
LightNews LightNews
banner
jackhauen.bsky.social
Jack Hauen
@jackhauen.bsky.social
4.9K followers 270 following 59 posts
Queen’s Park reporter for The Trillium.
Sleek, vigilant puma.
Posts Replies Media Videos
jackhauen.bsky.social
New: Ontario's labour minister said he was personally involved in picking “lower-scoring” Skills Development Fund recipients.

He held up one whose lobbyist's wedding he attended as an example of a lower-ranked applicant with sizeable impact.

#onpoli

www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...
Labour Minister David Piccini said he was personally involved in picking “lower-scoring” recipients of a $2.5-billion training fund that the province's auditor general recently labelled "not fair, transparent or accountable." The auditor general found that less than half of the recipients of the Ministry of Labour's Skills Development Fund (SDF) were given "high" scores on their proposals by non-partisan civil servants who evaluated them, while the majority — 54 per cent — were ranked as having “lower” quality proposals. Piccini defended the fund in a Newstalk 1010 radio interview on Wednesday. "I mean, there were projects that were lower-scoring that we did select — and that's a conversation I have with our officials here — that align with government priorities,” he said. “I mean, Peel Police — we supported (a) lower-scoring project. It supports mental health. Our first responders are more likely than the general population to commit suicide. That's a real reality,” Piccini added. The minister was referring to a project by Keel Digital Solutions — the company represented by the lobbyist whose Parisian wedding Piccini attended this past weekend.
October 9, 2025 at 12:43 AM
jackhauen.bsky.social
Cycling advocates have won.

The Ford government's plan to remove three major bike lanes in Toronto violates the Charter, Ontario's Superior Court rules.

Story to come.

#onpoli #topoli
July 30, 2025 at 4:55 PM
jackhauen.bsky.social
New: Ontario could make up to $800,000/day from a U.S. electricity surcharge, according to internal estimates.

#onpoli

www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...
July 25, 2025 at 7:39 PM
jackhauen.bsky.social
The Ontario NDP is calling for "urgent action" after an increase in overdoses after CTS site closures.

During the recent campaign, I repeatedly pressed Marit Stiles on whether she would reinstate CTS sites. She was noncommittal.

thetrillium.ca/insider-news/s…
July 17, 2025 at 5:53 PM
jackhauen.bsky.social
In which a Toronto cop gives $325 tickets to cyclists who slow-roll a changing red light, but two videos beforehand, ignores a driver who slow-rolls a stop sign because he’s a “fair and reasonable person.”
July 17, 2025 at 1:42 PM
jackhauen.bsky.social
Journalists like @johnlorinc.bsky.social and @dgrdon.bsky.social have noted that “commercial activity” will be allowed on 30% of the public area. Therme says that's only so free arts events can set up food trucks etc.

All events will be free to enter, Therme said.

thetrillium.ca/news/municip...
Journalists have noted that under Therme’s lease agreement with the province, the company has the right to “conduct commercial activity” on 30 per cent of the public area. Vaughan said that will only be to support free arts events. “For example, if they need food service, or if they need headphones to rent for a light show, or whatever it is, that gives us the ability to do it, but only with permission from Infrastructure Ontario,” Vaughan said. “It's not for us to set up a kiosk here and start selling hot dogs. It's more to accommodate the cultural festivals that operate.” Despite the hot dog comment, if a free event wants to have a food truck on standby, the commercial portion of the lease will also allow for that, he said. Therme won’t use the 30 per cent commercial allowance to set up exclusive, ticketed zones, Vaughan said. “It’s explicit in the lease that the park must be maintained as an open, publicly accessible, free park,” he said.
July 8, 2025 at 11:57 AM
jackhauen.bsky.social
With Ontario still building far too few homes, I asked Premier Doug Ford if he had any regrets about how he’s handled the file over the past seven years.

He said he “wouldn’t do anything differently.”

#onpoli

thetrillium.ca/trillium-ins...
June 25, 2025 at 1:22 PM
jackhauen.bsky.social
"Go on the secondary roads that run parallel ... a few feet away from the existing roads," Ford said.

Asked to name alternatives to the Bloor bike lane, Transportation Min. Prabmeet Sarkaria did not.

#onpoli #topoli

www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...
November 22, 2024 at 9:37 PM
jackhauen.bsky.social
New from Ontario's planners: "OPPI does not support the removal of bike lanes in the City of Toronto or in any other municipal jurisdiction within the province of Ontario."

ontarioplanners.ca/OPPIAssets/D...
November 19, 2024 at 9:28 PM