{"id":806031,"date":"2026-07-16T16:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T16:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/806031\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T16:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T16:43:10","slug":"fords-office-freezes-hiring-eliminates-positions-to-cut-costs-memo-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/806031\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford\u2019s office freezes hiring, eliminates positions to cut costs, memo shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Ontario Premier Doug Ford addresses media in May. The Premier’s office says it has frozen hiring and cut 10 positions to save costs.Chris Young\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Ontario Premier Doug Ford\u2019s office is undergoing a hiring freeze and its top staffer says it has eliminated 10 positions for an annual savings of more than a million dollars, according to an internal memo obtained by The Globe and Mail.<\/p>\n

The memo was sent to all Premier\u2019s office staff and government chiefs of staff Thursday from Mr. Ford\u2019s chief of staff, Travis Kann, who took over the top post in March. <\/p>\n

The government has been under scrutiny over accusations of entitlement, when it was revealed this week that Toronto-area Progressive Conservative MPPs billed tens of thousands for hotel stays in recent years. In response, the government said it was moving to change the rules to prevent such expenses from being approved, and that expenses that did not meet the \u201cintent of the rules\u201d will be paid back.<\/p>\n

The Premier\u2019s Office has also faced criticisms from the opposition for a jump in staff and salaries in recent years, with the number of staff members earning more than $100,000 more than doubling since Mr. Ford took office in 2018.<\/p>\n

The memo says the government \u201ctakes very seriously our responsibility to treat taxpayers with respect,\u201d and that it has \u201cprudently managed the size of the Ontario Public Service.\u201d The government has also instituted a hiring freeze in the public service on non-essential positions and required employees to return to the office five days a week, a decision that has faced opposition from unions who argue flexibility improves productivity.<\/p>\n

According to the memo, the Premier\u2019s office headcount has been reduced by 10 with annual savings totalling $1,074,500, Mr. Kann wrote.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kann said the government has also looked to improve productivity and lower the cost of operations \u201cwithout compromising our ability to advance the premier\u2019s ambitious agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has included re-locating personnel within our office or across government to more productive areas, as well as saying goodbye to colleagues. I want to thank them for their contributions to our government and province,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo maintain this rigour and discipline, I will be putting in place a hiring freeze for Premier\u2019s Office.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said new hires will require approval by the chief of staff or deputy chief of staff for human resource administration after a review by the human resources committee. Promotions and pay increases will continue to be considered \u201cbased on merit and contribution,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

Mr. Kann added that he will be working with certain ministries \u201cto encourage comparable savings\u201d and that chiefs are encouraged \u201cto put their hand up if they believe they can achieve savings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Ontario Premier Doug Ford addresses media in May. The Premier’s office says it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-806031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}