Ontario's Premier Accountability Dashboard · Queen's Park Watch
Steve Pinsonneault
Government of Ontario
PC MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex. Pinsonneault won the May 2024 byelection with 56.85% of the vote having campaigned explicitly against the York1 Dresden landfill expansion. After the Ford government buried Schedule 3 in Bill 5 cancelling the promised environmental assessment, Pinsonneault publicly stated he was "disappointed" and reiterated his opposition — making him one of the few PC MPPs to publicly criticize his own government's handling of an environmental file. His position was overruled by his caucus and the Ford government proceeded with the exemption.
Connected Scandals
The Ford government promised a comprehensive environmental assessment for a proposed landfill directly upstream from Canada's only population of the salamander mussel — then buried the reversal inside omnibus Bill 5 after winning a byelection on the promise, exempting a company whose owners donated $200,000 to the PCs from all provincial environmental review, leaving 33 species at risk in one of Canada's most biodiverse rivers with no provincial protection.
Won the 2024 Lambton-Kent-Middlesex byelection campaigning against the York1 landfill; publicly stated he was "disappointed" when his own government cancelled the promised environmental assessment through Bill 5 Schedule 3. His constituency is directly affected by the proposed 6,000 tonnes/day expansion.