The magic number for official party status in Ontario is eight seats and the Liberals finished this election with seven, one seat shy of holding official party status.
As it stands now, Liberals will not receive a portion of the funds distributed among official parties for research, staff salaries and other perks.
Liberal MPPs will essentially operate as independents and will be excluded from debates in the legislature where time is divided evenly between recognized parties.
The eight-seat rule isn’t hard and fast though, and in the past some Premiers have changed them, others have not. The usual suspects are pestering Premier-elect Ford to turn a blind eye to the rules and give Liberals official party status.
Watch as I give a reminder of how past Premiers have dealt with this issue and explain why Premier Ford should resist the Liberal grovelling.
As it stands, Ford says he’ll discuss the issue with his team in the days ahead but based on precedent alone, he should tell Wynne and company to hold a bake sale if they need to raise funds.
Source: TheRebel.media