“We Do Not Have the Luxury of Time.”

Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report March 23, 2020

Quotation of the day

“We do not have the luxury of time.”

In a leaked email to his fellow regional medical officers of health, Dr. Shanker Nesathurai criticizes provincial efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 and urges further shutdown.

Today at Queen’s Park

On the schedule The house will reconvene Wednesday, March 25 at 4 p.m., to consider the pared-down spring fiscal outlook.

Premier watch At Queen's Park on Sunday, Premier Doug Ford sat down with Health Minister Christine Elliott and Finance Minister Rod Phillips to discuss ways to boost COVID-19 testing capability "so that we have the best information available."

Ontario has been relying on days-old data updates as officials work to increase lab capacity and reduce the turnaround for results. Some hospital-based labs have stepped up to alleviate the pressure, according to the Globe and Mail.

PCs give emergency powers to hospitals, launch online student learning during pandemic The Progressive Conservatives are using the emergency orders to empower hospitals to treat the growing coronavirus outbreak.

On Sunday, Solicitor General Sylvia Jones announced hospital managers can reassign staff and cancel vacations as they see fit, and hire extra part-time, temporary and volunteer staff to help cover the work performed by regular employees.

The move would also temporarily override certain collective agreement clauses to allow quicker staff transfers between hospitals or to a COVID-19 assessment centre, for example.

Jones said the decision was based on the advice of the chief medical officer of health and "clear and urgent requests" from front-line health providers. "The province is taking decisive action to ensure we can continue to be responsive and nimble as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases grows," she said.

As of Sunday evening Ontario had logged 425 COVID-19 cases, up 64 per cent from Thursday when there were 258 recorded. That includes at least 13 Toronto health care workers. Eight patients have been cleared, and five are deceased. The test backlog has ballooned to more than 8,300, from almost 4,000 before the weekend.

Meanwhile, the province is providing free emergency child care for essential workers, including doctors, nurses, police and correctional officers, by allowing certain daycares to operate beyond the emergency-ordered shutdown.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the emergency daycare centres must have a backup plan in place should a child, parent or staffer get exposed to the coronavirus, and will keep attendance "low." (Thresholds would be expected to comply with the ban on gatherings of more than 50).

The Ford government also launched an online learning program for students studying at home while their schools are closed during the coronavirus outbreak.

Lecce announced phase one of the Learn at Home program Friday, which includes online courses and guides for high school students such as math and literacy, "created by Ontario-certified educators." However, more than a dozen courses have yet to be uploaded.

For kindergartners to Grade 6 students, TVO will start pumping out more educational programs. The government has also posted curriculum guides and at-home activities designed by the Ontario College of Teachers for parents who want to try homeschooling.

Premier Doug Ford and Lecce wouldn't say whether the two-week school shutdown would be extended beyond April 5, but Ford told parents to prepare for "pretty well anything" and Lecce promised to scale up the Learn at Home program if necessary.

PC website seeks companies to manufacture medical supplies Premier Doug Ford launched a special online portal for businesses to respond to his call for help shoring up Ontario's medical equipment reserves.

Under the banner "Ontario Together," the new website asks organizations and companies to indicate if they can provide a range of equipment such as hand sanitizer, ventilators, test swabs, masks and hospital beds. (The federal government established a similar online portal Friday.)

Ford said manufacturing supplies in Ontario is necessary because some key medical items are no longer being shipped to Canada. For example, DuPont, a U.S.-based company that manufactures protective Tyvek suits, is currently only selling them to institutions south of the border, according to the premier.

Ford also said he was on a call with the president of General Electric Friday trying to order more ventilators.

“As a business person, I don’t like relying on other countries. They have their needs,” Ford said. “When you have a manufacturing base here in Ontario that can produce absolutely anything … we’re going to start that engine.”

The business community lauded the move, saying the new website will remove barriers and speed up the government's procurement process.

"All businesses across the province and country must shift their focus to the singular cause of slowing the pace of the transmission of the virus," Ontario Chamber of Commerce president Rocco Rossi said in a release.

The province also wants to glean feedback on virtual mental health services for vulnerable people and those living in remote communities, "supply chain resiliency monitoring," and online programs for businesses seeking advice on financial planning and relief programs.

Highlights from the 2019 Sunshine List Ontario Power Generation heads topped the province's Sunshine List for another year in a row.

According to the annual disclosure of civil servants earning over $100,000, released Friday, former OPG president and CEO Jeffrey Lyash came out on top, making $938,845 last year. Lyash has since been replaced by Ken Hartwick, who ranked second, pulling in $929,763.

The top ten highest earners include other OPG executives, heads of hospitals, outgoing OLG CEO Stephen Rigby, and Mark Fuller, who helms the Ontario Public Service Pension Board — but no women. The top-earning female public servant is Maureen Jensen, who is leaving her role as chair of the Ontario Securities Commission next month, where she earned $693,995 last year.

Premier Doug Ford's embattled former chief of staff Dean French earned $191,444 in the first six months of 2019 before his exit in June over a cronyism scandal. It's not unusual for some chiefs of staff to take home more than their ministerial bosses; Premier Ford earned $208,974 for all of last year.

While most Queen's Park-watchers are glued to coronavirus efforts, Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy — who is in self-isolation awaiting COVID-19 test results — said the government is committed to meeting transparency deadlines. By law, the Sunshine List has to be released by March 31.

"Our government's priority is the health and safety of all Ontarians and we are singularly focused on our response to the COVID-19 pandemic," Bethlenfalvy said in a statement. "However, our government has also made commitments to the people of Ontario on transparency, accountability and respecting their tax dollars."

Ontario started publishing its Sunshine List of public sector workers pulling in at least $100,000 in 1996. Some have argued for raising the ceiling for disclosure to align with inflation.

Today’s events

March 23 at 11 a.m. – Toronto NDP Leader Andrea Horwath will discuss her party's suggestions for the PC’s upcoming fiscal outlook in the Queen's Park media studio.

March 23 at 3 p.m. – Toronto Chief medical health officer Dr. David Williams and associate chief medical health officer Dr. Barbara Yaffe will give a daily briefing on the response to COVID-19 in the media studio.

Topics of conversation

● The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario reached a tentative collective agreement with the provincial government and school boards on Friday. ETFO president Sam Hammond thanked union members and the public for support during "a very prolonged and difficult bargaining process." ○ Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the deal, which still has to be ratified, keeps class sizes low, ensures special education funding continues to flow, protects full-day kindergarten and provides a "fair one-per-cent enhancement" in compensation. ○ Negotiations with French school board teachers are scheduled to resume today; talks with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation are expected to restart soon. The government reached a tentative agreement with the Catholic teachers' union earlier this month. ■ The unions have also been practicing social distancing at the bargaining table, according to CP.

● Health Minister Christine Elliott said the province is eyeing a 30-day cap on prescription refills after hearing from pharmacists dealing with an influx of requests in the face of COVID-19. ○ "People are asking for three, or even six-month refills. We want to make sure that everyone can have access to the medications that they need," Elliott told reporters Saturday.

● Premier Doug Ford said the end is nigh for time-of-use electricity pricing, with cabinet considering the rate adjustment Friday night and an announcement coming "over the next few days." Ford has said he wants to stop peak pricing to give people self-isolating and social distancing a break on their bills.

● Calls for a health and safety crackdown at construction sites have ramped up amid heightened pandemic fears. The Building and Construction Trades Council has asked Labour Minister Monte McNaughton to deploy ministry inspectors to make sure the sites are up to code.

● The Ontario Real Estate Association is asking realtors to postpone all open house events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

● Unifor president Jerry Dias criticized the Ford government for not reinstating paid sick leave as part of Bill 186, the emergency package of employment standards to protect jobs of workers who take unpaid time off because of COVID-19. ○ "This legislation falls far short of where we needed it to be in order to have a comprehensive response to this pandemic," Dias said in a release. He urged the PCs to give paid sick days to those directed to self-isolate or quarantine.

● In-car driving tests have been parked as of today following safety concerns from DriveTest employees.

● Ottawa clocked 500,000 EI applications last week.

News briefs

Province expanding temporary absence program at correctional facilities, allowing early releases ● Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said the PCs will amend the Ministry of Correctional Services Act to expand the use to the temporary absence program in Ontario’s correctional facilities, amid the COVID-19 crisis. This builds on an announcement from March 13 authorizing part-time inmates to stay home. Those inmates will now no longer have to show up for in-person meetings either.

○ Jones said the latest move will allow for early release of some inmates who are near the end of their sentence (but not those who have committed gun crimes). The parole board will also be able to hold online hearings. ○ The change comes as a correctional officer at Toronto South Detention centre was diagnosed with COVID-19 after returning from the U.K. ○ Before Thursday, corrections officers who had recently travelled were not being told to stay home from work for 14 days, according to the CBC.

Queen's Park Today is written by Sabrina Nanji, reporting from the Queen's Park press gallery.

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