Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report May 31, 2019 Quotation of the day “Something big is coming.” Premier Doug Ford teased online followers with a vague tweet and a #ForThePeople hashtag ​ ​ ​ Thursday afternoon. Today at Queen’s Park On the schedule The House is adjourned but could be back in session this weekend for a rare Sunday sitting. The countdown to summer is on — there is only one sitting week before MPPs are scheduled to rise on Thursday, June 6. The Standing Committee on Justice Policy meets Friday to hear from a fleet of witnesses on Bill ​ 108, More Homes, More Choice Act. ​ ​ Thursday’s debates and proceedings Two private members’ bills passed and a motion was killed during Thursday afternoon’s private members’ business debates: ● NDP accessibility critic Joel Harden’s motion calling on the government to release a ​ ​ plan of action on meeting accessibility goals under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act was defeated (Ayes 27; Nays 52). ● PC MPP Doug Downey’s Bill 88, Planning Amendment Act, will go under the ​ ​ ​ ​ microscope at the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, following a voice vote at second reading. ○ Downey’s bill proposes a slew of changes to planning rules. ● NDP MPP Sandy Shaw’s Bill 114, Nancy Rose Act, is now off to be studied by the ​ ​ ​ ​ finance committee after an emotional debate and support from all sides of the aisle. ○ The bill, which is named for Shaw’s younger sister who passed away from ​ leukemia as a child, would require the government to develop a provincewide ​ pediatric palliative care strategy. Finance Minister Vic Fedeli kicked off second-reading debate on Bill 115, Bringing Choice and ​ ​ ​ ​ Fairness to the People Act, which would rip up the contract with the Beer Store and expand alcohol sales in big-box, corner and more grocery stores. Second reading was delayed earlier this week because Independent MPP Randy Hillier had tacked on a reasoned amendment. ​ ​ The government is also poised to time-allocate Bill 115 and Bill 117, Ontario Society for the ​ ​ ​ ​ Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. (The latter would enable OSPCA-affiliates to continue to enforce animal welfare laws while the government comes up with a new system.) Bill 117 was ​ ​ debated at second reading Thursday. Per the time-allocation motion, both bills would skip committee stage and receive only one hour of debate at third reading. MPPs were scheduled to sit until midnight Thursday. The government had several motions on the order paper to authorize evening sittings, including one slated for Sunday, June 2 from 6 p.m. to midnight, in order to get priority bills passed before rising for the summer next Thursday. Today’s events May 31 at 10 a.m. – Toronto ​ ​ ​ ​ Toronto councillors Josh Matlow, Kristyn Wong-Tam and Gord Perks and environmental ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ advocates will be in the Queen’s Park media studio to discuss concerns about Bill 108, More ​ ​ Homes, More Choice Act (which overhauls planning laws and brings back the old Ontario Municipal Board). May 31 at 11:30 a.m. – Courtice ​ ​ ​ ​ Premier Doug Ford and Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Merrilee Fullerton will ​ ​ ​ ​ make an announcement about skilled trades and apprenticeships at the Darlington Nuclear centre. Topics of conversation ● Finance Minister Vic Fedeli confirmed the government has “no interest” in reopening the ​ ​ controversial Highway 407 lease, after earlier being cagey on the matter. Speaking to ​ ​ reporters Thursday about Fitch’s upgrading Ontario’s credit rating outlook from negative to stable, Fedeli would not at first rule out legislation to end the deal, a la Bill 115, which ​ ​ ​ kills the contract with the Beer Store. ○ “I can tell you that we are absolutely consumed at this moment with this legislation and others that we need to pass,” Fedeli said when asked if he would revisit the Highway 407 deal. ○ Fedeli also addressed businesses’ concerns that the government of the day could legislate away potential contracts on a whim. “If you are an international company, you certainly understand ... the parliamentary system that we have in Canada and here in Ontario, that if there is a bad deal in place by a previous government, the future government can certainly reverse a bad deal,” he said. ○ Premier Doug Ford recently expressed his disdain for the Mike Harris PC ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ government’s privatization of Highway 407 in 1999. ● Ontario is slashing funding to no less than nine programs aimed at combating the spread of invasive species, to much concern from the organizers, the Toronto Star reports. The ​ ​ ​ ​ Ontario Federation of Hunters and Anglers, which administers invasive species programs, said it was “blindsided” by the cuts. ○ The move was also panned by opposition critics at Queen’s Park. In Thursday’s question period, NDP environment critic Ian Arthur charged the PC government ​ ​ “does not care about the harm that invasive species do to landowners, farmers, gardeners and nature lovers.” ○ Green Leader Mike Schreiner said the Tories have “got it all backwards” when it ​ ​ comes to managing natural resources. “We’re harming endangered species who need protection from us, but laying out the welcome mat for invasive species that we need protection from,” Schreiner said. ○ Responding to Arthur’s question period question, Infrastructure Minister Monte ​ McNaughton defended the cuts by noting the PCs are working to trim the ​ multi-billion-dollar deficit and touting a recently announced $850,000 investment for the Invasive Species Centre in Sault Ste. Marie. ● Fighting wildfires last summer cost about twice as much as each of the last five years. According to the CBC, battling forest fires ran $142 million over budget, clocking in at ​ ​ $212 million. ● Tobacco control experts say the Ford government has cancelled the only provincewide stop-smoking program geared toward young adults. The “Leave the Pack Behind” program had been funded by the health ministry after launching on college and university campuses in 2000. ○ “The program’s cancellation means that more young adults, including many students, will either start smoking, or will continue to smoke, than would have been the case if [the program] was still in business,” Michael Perley, director of ​ ​ the Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco, said in a statement Thursday. ● Infrastructure Ontario is open for foreign expertise now that the budget bill has passed. Infrastructure Ontario president and CEO Ehren Cory detailed the PC government’s ​ ​ plans to try to sell the agency’s infrastructure consulting services beyond provincial borders at a Canadian Club Toronto speech this week, the Financial Post reports. ​ ​ ​ ​ ● It’s official: former Liberal MPP Yvan Baker won the federal Liberal nomination to run for ​ ​ ​ MP in Etobicoke Centre in October’s federal election. ● The province released a new, high-impact ad warning Ontario’s youth about the dangers ​ ​ of concussion in sport. ● TVO’s Steve Paikin takes a look back as the Ford government approaches its first ​ ​ ​ ​ anniversary in office, and observes that the premier’s recent about-face on retroactive cuts to municipal public-health budgets “could be the harbinger of calmer times.” ○ “The more bombastic and aggressive Ford still shows up at question period, and I wouldn’t pretend to suggest that this leopard is changing his spots,” writes Paikin. “But Ford is now keenly and clearly aware that public-opinion polls show his (and his party’s) popularity dropping like a stone. And there is a great debate in the premier’s office right now as to whether he needs to transform his ‘scorched earth’ approach to politics into a more pragmatic and basic governing style.” ○ Meanwhile, the National Post’s Matt Gurney, in a column reviewing a series of ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ policy reversals by the Ford government, writes that a PC Party insider told him “the bosses should look at the public opinion polling they’re commissioning on all these issues before they publicly stake out a position, instead of after, when they’re already three weeks into a backlash.” ○ Ford’s Progressive Conservatives placed third in a Mainstreet Poll released ​ ​ Thursday, which found the Liberals had the support of 39.9 per cent of decided and leaning voters, followed by the New Democrats at 24.2 per cent. The PCs had 22.4 per cent support, a drop of ten points since April, while the Greens had 12 per cent support. Appointments and employments Ministry of Energy/Navigator ● Brayden Akers, most recently communications director for Greg Rickford, Minister of ​ ​ ​ Energy, Northern Development and Mines and Indigenous Affairs, has taken on a senior ​ consultant role at PR firm Navigator. ​ Global Public Affairs ● Rick Roth, former chief of staff to Environment Minister Rod Phillips, has landed the ​ ​ ​ vice president, Ontario gig at strategy firm Global Public Affairs. ​ Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services ● Children Services Minister Lisa MacLeod on Thursday unveiled the advisory panel that ​ ​ will help inform the province’s new needs-based approach to autism treatment funding. The panel was announced earlier this year as part of a new round of consultations the PCs launched amid public outrage over its previous changes to the autism program. Many of those critics were named to the expert advisory panel, which includes: ○ Co-chairs Marie Bountrogianni (a former Ontario Grit cabinet minister and the ​ ​ province’s only democratic renewal minister) and Margaret Spoelstra (executive ​ ​ ​ ​ director at Autism Ontario); ○ Laura Kirby-McIntosh (VP of the parent-led Ontario Autism Coalition and wife of ​ Bruce McIntosh, who worked for MacLeod’s parliamentary assistant Amy Fee ​ ​ before quitting in February in protest of the controversial autism policy changes); ○ Dr. Julie Koudys (a behavioural analyst and assistant professor at Brock ​ University’s applied disability studies); ○ Christie Brenchley; ​ ○ Gina Brennan; ​ ○ Dr. Jessica Brian; ​ ○ Dr. Robert Cushman; ​ ○ Matthew Jason Dever; ​ ○ Alex Echakowitz; ​ ○ Cindy Harrison; ​ ○ Anne Huot; ​ ○ Sheri Ketchabaw; ​ ○ Marie Lemaire; ​ ○ Christine Levesque; ​ ○ Dr.