The Ford government is ending its spring session two days early and embarking on an extended 21-week break, saying it doesn’t want the legislature to be in session during municipal elections this fall.
Government House Leader Steve Clark confirmed politicians won’t return to Queen’s Park until Oct. 27, suggesting he was worried returning earlier could “interfere” with local mayoral races around the province.
“Members are going to be extremely busy,” he insisted.
“They’ve got two legislative conferences as well as (the Association of Municipalities of Ontario), so they’re going to be busy. You’re going to see MPPs both in their constituencies and in committee hearings all summer long.”
The 21-week summer break comes after just over seven weeks of legislative sittings and a 14-week winter break.
But Clark said he was just trying to avoid the perception of government getting involved in local elections.
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“We want to make sure that municipalities don’t have an interference with our house sitting,” he said. “It’s exactly what we did in 2022.”
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Premier Doug Ford said the government is more efficient when the legislature isn’t sitting.
“Committees still sit, government still runs, we still pass things through ministerial orders,” he told reporters. “Rather than sitting here and arguing with each other, we’re actually going to get out there and talk to the people.”
At the same time, Premier Doug Ford’s sporadic attendance at question period is also being scrutinized by the opposition, who argue Ford is actively evading accountability by shortening the sitting periods and skipping MPP queries.
The spring 2026 session of the legislature — which was scheduled to return just after Family Day — was delayed until late-March after Government House Leader Steve Clark argued the Progressive Conservatives needed to “consult our communities” before returning with new legislation.
Then, over the course of three months, MPPs were given three constituency breaks — once again after the government changed the legislative calendar.
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In total, MPPs have spent 30 days inside the Ontario legislature proposing, debating and passing legislation. While the house was set to rise on June 4, the government decided to wrap up business two days early.
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By contrast, the House of Commons has sat for 55 days and isn’t scheduled to rise for another three weeks.
“Less than a month and here’s what the premier had time for: buying a luxury private jet; hiding his phone records; cutting OSAP; making a mess of our books and throwing taxpayers to the wolves,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said during question period.
Finance Minister Peter Behtlenfalvy countered that the government has overseen $12 billion in tax cuts since it took office in 2019 and chided the opposition for not voting in favour of his record $244 billion budget.
Critics said the government was using the calendar to run away from accountability.
“The only reason we’re not here is Doug Ford can’t take the heat, they can’t take the heat, it’s got nothing to do with municipal elections,” Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser said.
“He doesn’t want to be accountable. It’s a government whose record is terrible. Not just a record on the luxury private jet, but their record on health care and education.”
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