Achi news desk-
The Ontario government is spending about $310,000 on a new space for press conferences, which the opposition says duplicates an existing room in the legislature and will mean less access to the media.
The Progressive Conservative government used its new “communications centre” this week for the finance minister’s budget press conference and a technical briefing for journalists.
But it now plans to use the room, in the basement of a legislative precinct building connected to the main legislature by a tunnel, for all on-site government press conferences, senior government officials told The Canadian Press.
That is despite the fact that a room already exists for that purpose.
The media studio inside the main legislative building has for decades hosted press conferences by government ministers, members of the opposition and advocacy groups.
But that space is a neutral one operated by the Speaker of the legislature on behalf of the press gallery, and journalists are not limited in terms of the number of questions they can ask a minister.
Not so in the new government communications centre. Journalists there will be allowed to ask one question and one follow-up, the sources said, similar to the format of off-site press conferences with the prime minister or government ministers.
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The government needed a place for press conferences that already has the technology in place and is available at short notice, one source said, explaining the rationale for the new location. The current media studio does not operate on the weekends and sometimes another group already books it, the source noted.
The government rarely holds press conferences on weekends.
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said the new space appeared to be a way for the government to avoid accountability.
“We know he has always had complete disrespect for journalists and the important role they play in Ontario,” she wrote in a statement, referring to Premier Doug Ford.
“Their new $310,000 media studio is a complete waste of our hard earned tax dollars.”
The cost for the new space includes about $240,000 for construction, $37,000 for technology such as audio-visual requirements, $25,000 for a backdrop with black panels, and $8,000 in miscellaneous costs, government sources said.
The Leader of the National Development Plan, Marit Stiles, said that it was an irresponsible use of public money and that it will limit the access of the media – and therefore the public.
“It is extremely upsetting to learn that Conservatives think it is okay to spend over $300,000 on their private press conferences,” he wrote in a statement.
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said it was important to use a space operated independently of the government for press conferences.
“This certainly seems like an attempt to limit journalistic freedom and public accountability, which is completely undemocratic,” he wrote in a statement.
& copy 2024 The Canadian Press
