TORONTO — Ontario could be the first province in Canada to force MPPs to earn their keep by picking up garbage along highways and cleaning graffiti from city walls if the Progressive Conservatives take the reins of power.
Opposition Leader Tim Hudak has vowed to make MPPs work for their perks if he becomes Ontario’s next premier.
In what’s being billed as a Canadian first, MPPs would be forced to perform 40 hours of manual labour a week — such as raking leaves and cutting grass — to earn rewards like coffee and gym time, he said.
“MPPs can watch TV, they can play cards, they can play poker at the same time we do — after a good day’s work,” Hudak said.
“By putting MPPs to work, the taxpayers dollars that used to be spent for that work would be spent on law-abiding citizens and benefits that matter to all of us, like health care,” he said. “I’m not asking MPPs to do anything more than what hard-working Ontario families do each and every day — and that is, go to work.”