Doug Ford is in hot water again over another alleged sketchy backroom deal

Premier Doug Ford is yet again under fire this week after the discovery of another major deal that some residents of Ontario are regarding as just a bit shady.

The deal, which took place a few years back but is only coming to light this week, was for the creation of a new digital system for the province's Landlord Tenant Board. Rather than selecting a software company for the job, the premier chose professional services firm PwC in a sole-sourced contract.

Residents are now questioning the choice, which was kept under wraps and ended up costing the province a whopping $26 million — somehow more than 26 times initial estimates of less than $1 million.

It notably non-competitive agreements, which also include the recent contract awarded to Staples for new ServiceOntario outposts, something that many politicians and residents have criticized.

$26 M for another sole sourced deal.

Our schools, colleges, universities & hospitals are being bankrupted by Ford's Conservatives while he shovels our tax dollars to private for-profit corporations. #ONpoli https://t.co/uHvULztjhQ

— Chris Glover (@chrisgloverndp) February 28, 2024

Ontario Liberal Party reached out to the province's Financial Accountability Officer about that deal last month, calling for an "analysis of the government's decision to award contracts without a competitive bidding process...  to privatize parts of Service Ontario."

In sole-source procurement, no other companies are given the chance to present a case for what they could produce for the province and why they would be the best choice.

Yet another "sole source" contract. Price-Waterhouse-Coopers is well respected HOWEVER public funds should not be doled out for contracted work without a proper RFP process in place (which a government SHOULD have - but clearly this one doesn't. . . )

— David Chang-Sang (@David_ChangSang) February 28, 2024

Of course, the soaring price tag of the PwC tech that somehow ballooned to so much more than it was supposed to be has taxpayers also asking questions, along with why we're only finding out about this now.

Inside sources told CityNews Wednesday that though PwC does have experience creating a similar, though much smaller project for the Province of B.C., multiple timelines have been missed as the cost has risen.

The fact that the Landlord Tenant Board has racked up a backlog of 53,000 outstanding cases as of March 2023 does not help those advocating that the new system may have helped anything, either.

Other questionable Ford deals that people are still demanding answers about include the whole Ontario Place Therme controversy, details of his attempted Green Belt land swap, and his quiet transfer of the Ontario Science Centre to Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma last week after deciding seemingly at random that the institution should be relocated.