The Ontario government is spending about $310,000 on a new space for press conferences, which opposition parties say duplicates a room that already exists at the legislature and will mean less access for the media.
The Progressive Conservative government used its new "communications centre" this week for the finance minister's budget press conference and a technical briefing for journalists.
But it now intends on using the room, in the basement of a legislative precinct building connected to the main legislature via a tunnel, for all on-site government press conferences, senior government officials told The Canadian Press.
That's despite there being a room that already exists for that purpose.
The media studio inside the main legislative building has for decades hosted press conferences by government ministers, opposition members and advocacy groups.
But that space is a neutral one operated by the Speaker of the Legislature on behalf of the press gallery, and journalists are not limited in the number of questions they can ask a minister.
Not so in the new government communications centre. Journalists there will be allowed to ask one question and one follow-up, the sources said, similar to the format of off-site press conferences with the premier or government ministers. (CP)
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