Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government will force an end to a lengthy strike at York University, scratch a cap-and-trade law from the books and cancel an industrial wind turbine project in Prince Edward County as MPPs are recalled for a rare summer session.All are matters that require “urgent attenion,” Government House Leader Todd Smith told a news conference Tuesday, estimating the legislature will sit for “at least a couple of weeks” after a speaker is elected Wednesday and a throne speech delivered Thursday to set out Premier Doug Ford’s agenda. “These three priorities send a clear and serious message about what you can expect from a Doug Ford PC government. We’re going to keep our promises, we’re prepared to act, and we will always put the best interests of the people first.”The strike by contract professors and teaching assistants at York began in early March and the previous Liberal government’s attempt to legislate them back to work failed when introduced just before the June 7 election campaign began, with Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats strongly opposed.“Our students are not bargaining chips. Their futures should not be held for ransom,” said Smith, whose Bay of Quinte riding includes the White Pines wind turbine project on the pristine Lake Ontario shoreline of Prince Edward County, south of Belleville.Long a rallying point for local environmental activists concerned about sensitive Little Brown Bat and Blanding’s Turtle populations, the project got the go-ahead from Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator just days into the campaign.That was “before the government had a chance to make any decisions on the project for the benefit of the people of Prince Edward County,” Smith said, pledging the PCs will make sure “local communities are better protected from having these kinds of projects imposed on them against their wil ...
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