Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report February 20, 2019

Quotation of the day

“They should have their mouths washed out with soap.”

During a heated question period Premier fires back at student protesters in the public gallery, one of whom referred to him as a “f—ing cracker” — a pejorative for Caucasians.

Today at Queen’s Park

On the schedule The House sits at 9 a.m. The government could call any of the following pieces of business for debate:

● Bill 66, Restoring ’s Competitiveness Act; ​ ● Bill 68, Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act; or ​ ● The government’s motion amending the standing orders.

Green Party Leader is expected to introduce his party’s first-ever provincial ​ ​ private member’s bill, entitled Galt Moraine Conservation Act, which would protect the drinking water supply in his home riding of Guelph. The PMB comes after the PC government signalled its intent to pull part of Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, which ​ ​ Schreiner and others said would threaten clean drinking water supply.

Tuesday’s debates and proceedings MPPs unanimously voted to send Bill 48, Safe and Supportive Classrooms Act, to the Standing ​ ​ Committee on Social Policy after second-reading debate. There was some confusion as to whether Education Minister Lisa Thompson wanted to bypass the committee stage and move ​ ​ the bill straight to third reading, with the Speaker having to ask her repeatedly. The legislation would revoke teaching certificates from those disciplined by the Ontario College of Teachers for committing sexual abuse against a student or child. Bill 48 has all-party support and will likely ​ ​ breeze through committee (where the public and stakeholders weigh in and MPPs propose amendments).

Community Safety Minister introduced the aptly acronymed Bill 68, ​ ​ ​ Comprehensive OPS Act (more on this below).

Two PC backbench bills were tabled. PC MPP introduced Bill 69, Golden Girls ​ ​ ​ ​ Act, which would amend the Planning Act to clarify unrelated seniors over the age of 55 can occupy a single housing unit under municipal bylaws. The government says the idea is to encourage affordable housing options for seniors.

PC MPP tabled Bill 70, Registered Professional Planners Act, which would replace ​ ​ ​ ​ the Ontario Professional Planners Institute Act and make amendments to the industry’s professional regulatory body.

In the afternoon MPPs continued second reading of Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s ​ ​ Competitiveness Act.

In the park The Ontario Electrical League and Canadian Cancer Survivor Network are hosting breakfast receptions, the Canadian Propane Association will lobby MPPs over a luncheon, and the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario is holding an evening reception.

The youth group Fédération de la jeunesse franco-ontarienne will sit for a mock parliament.

‘There was no investigation that I know of:’ Jim Wilson returns Veteran Simcoe—Grey MPP Jim Wilson took his new seat among the cluster of Independent ​ ​ MPPs Tuesday for the first time since he was ejected from the PC cabinet and caucus following a sexual misconduct allegation.

Premier Doug Ford has said a third-party investigation was launched, and Government House ​ ​ Leader said Tuesday it was completed but offered scant details. ​ ​

However, Wilson — who sought treatment for alcohol addiction after getting the boot in November — suggested the investigation never happened.

“There was no investigation that I know of … I was never interviewed or anything like that,” he told City News reporter Jamie Tumelty before the day’s question period. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

“I think the complainant was happy that I undertook every measure I could to get my life back under control and make amends,” Wilson said of his time in rehab.

Smith refused to say which firm conducted the Wilson investigation and whether any conclusions were made. The minister also refused to answer whether Wilson deserved a chance to defend himself as part of the process, and whether he would be welcomed back on the Tory benches.

During the morning sitting, Ford crossed the aisle to shake hands with his former cabinet ​ ​ minister, and Smith confirmed the premier and Wilson have talked, but told reporters “don’t read anything too much into it.”

Wilson told City he isn’t considering joining his old caucus colleagues at this time. ​ ​

“I need more time to heal and to look after my condition, and I need time to reconnect with my constituents, so that’s what I’m going to do,” Wilson said, adding he felt “very optimistic” about returning to the legislature.

PCs introduce policing oversight revamp Community Safety Minister Sylvia Jones tabled Bill 68, or the COPS Act, the Ford ​ ​ ​ ​ government’s first bill of the year.

Under the new legislation, Attorney General said the Special Investigations ​ ​ Unit would get back to its original mandate of investigating when police are involved in serious injury or death, and face allegations of sexual assault.

That’s because, according to Jones, Liberal-era “anti-police” legislation saw every cop as a “potential criminal.” Mulroney said the arm’s-length SIU should only get deployed when there is a real risk an officer may be involved in criminal activity, and the investigations should conclude within 120 days.

Mulroney cited situations where the SIU investigates cops if an individual they interact with dies by suicide or after being administered naloxone (the temporary opioid-reversing drug) as contributing to delays in the oversight body’s operations.

The legislation will also introduce a single public complaints body called the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency, as the PCs are eliminating the Ontario Civilian Police Commission. The new agency is a rebranded version of the current Office of the Independent Police Review Director.

Jones said there won’t be any changes to carding rules and noted that the government does not support police street checks based on race.

Ex-Ontario attorney general and current head of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association Michael Bryant said the PC’s bill does nothing to ease tensions between community groups ​ and police, saying changes to the public complaints process are not a clear improvement.

“The pendulum was swinging towards greater transparency and accountability, and now this government has pushed the pendulum the other way,” Bryant told reporters at the legislature.

Today’s events

February 20 at 9 a.m. – Port Hope ​ ​ Government and Consumer Services Minister Bill Walker will make an announcement about ​ ​ home warranty protections.

February 20 at 9 a.m. – ​ ​ OPSEU’s Warren “Smokey” Thomas and Unifor’s Jerry Dias will hold a presser about ​ ​ ​ ​ teaming up for a provincial lobby week in support of jobs and public services.

Topics of conversation

● Community Safety Minister Sylvia Jones told reporters Tuesday she has been ​ ​ interviewed as part of the integrity watchdog’s investigation into alleged political interference in the hiring of Ford family friend and veteran Toronto cop Ron Taverner as ​ ​ OPP commissioner. The has the story. ​ ​ ​

● For the first time in nearly five years Ontario’s physicians and the provincial government have settled on a tentative contract agreement, decided by a three-man binding ​ arbitration board after months of rocky negotiations. The agreement is broad-ranging but addresses a key sticking point for docs: There won’t be any cap on government funding for health services. ○ The government’s negotiators had proposed funding the over $12-billion physician services budget plus an extra 1.9 per cent to account for growth, arguing doctors were billing more and working less. Doctors took issue with the cap and said the province should be responsible for the cost of delivering health care. ○ The four-year deal would see certain fee increases, averaging out at one per cent annually.

● Liberal MPP , the former minister in charge of the autism program, has ​ ​ written to Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake asking his office to look into threats the ​ ​ Ontario Association of Behavioural Analysis says Children and Youth Services Minister Lisa MacLeod made to get their endorsement for the government’s controversial ​ therapy funding policy. Coteau said the Member’s Integrity Act prohibits politicians from using their public office to influence decisions that would further their private interest, and requires members act in a way that promotes public confidence. ○ The Ontario Autism Coalition, a group of parents and advocates, plan to pack the public galleries during today’s question period, in protest of the changes. They say the government’s proposals are income-based, not needs-based, and

therefore some children on the spectrum won’t get the therapy they require — which can cost as much as $80,000 a year. ○ MacLeod has called the OAC a “professional protest organization.” Speaking to reporters about the ONTABA controversy, MacLeod acknowledged her “tone wasn’t probably the best,” saying she has apologized and wants to “move on.” ○ The OAC was led by MacLeod’s former staffer Bruce McIntosh, who resigned in ​ ​ frustration when the changes were announced, and is now run by his wife Laura ​ Kirby-McIntosh. ​

● Meanwhile, the Canadian Press reported that, under the PC government’s autism ​ ​ ​ ​ program, families with $55,000 or less annual income will receive the maximum funding allocation — $20,000 a year for children under six, and $5,000 a year after their sixth birthday.

● CTV News unearthed more of the government’s confidential health-care documents that ​ ​ ​ suggest work to create the so-called super agency would be well underway by the end of the month.

● Premier Doug Ford goes to Washington this week on a joint mission led by New ​ ​ Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs, and also including Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. ​ ​ ​ According to a news release, the group aims to build and enhance relationships with U.S. governors, in particular. Higgs and Moe, like fellow conservative Ford, oppose the federal government’s carbon pricing system. ○ The mission coincides with the National Governors Association winter meeting, to which Ford has already RSVP’ed.

● ’s Ambassador to the United States, David MacNaughton, is according to ​ ​ ​ Reuters, rumoured to be one of the potential contenders to replace , who ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ resigned as Prime Minister ’s principal secretary following the SNC ​ ​ Lavalin controversy. Butts has denied allegations of PMO interference in legal investigations into the Quebec-based construction firm. Butts and MacNaughton are Queen’s Park veterans — both were top staffers in former premier Dalton McGuinty’s ​ ​ office.

Appointments and employments ● OLP has scooped up ’s former executive assistant Jordan Chevalier to ​ ​ ​ ​ run their membership drives on a temporary basis. ​

Question period

NDP lead-off

Health care ● Official Opposition Leader kicked off the first question period of the ​ ​ year by asking about the PCs’ health care system overhaul. The NDP have charged the PCs are planning to privatize health care — claims based on leaked documents and draft legislation — but the Tories maintain they are not introducing a two-tiered system. ● Premier Doug Ford reiterated as much Tuesday, though he was forced to withdraw his ​ ​ claim of the Opposition that he’s “never met a group that spins more items.”

Autism therapy funding ● NDP MPP asked Children and Youth Services Minister Lisa MacLeod ​ ​ ​ if she would follow through on calls for her resignation after a group of behavioural analysts said she and her staff pressured them for an endorsement of the government’s proposed autism therapy funding changes. ● MacLeod shot back. “Let me be perfectly clear: This government believes in this plan, this government will implement this plan and I will be the minister that does this,” she said.

Tuition changes ● Student protesters broke out in chants of “tuition should be free” during an NDP question about controversial changes, including making certain tuition fees (such as student union and campus newspaper fees) non-essential. The demonstrators were ejected by legislative security, but not before yelling profanities at the premier. ● Ford responded in kind, suggesting “they should have their mouths washed out with soap.” ○ Students marched to Queen’s Park from Yonge-Dundas Square that afternoon to protest the PC’s tuition policies; drums could be heard inside the chamber.

Liberal questions Autism program ● Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser asked the government to release fiscal details of its ​ ​ autism program and to consider changes for concerned parents. ○ MacLeod responded not by answering the question, but by referring to the 23,000-kid-long waitlist left by the previous Liberal government.

Indigenous revenue sharing ● Liberal MPP asked about the PC government’s decision to ​ ​ postpone resource revenue sharing agreements with First Nations. ● Minister replied: “We’re working on a plan that will see resource revenue ​ ​ sharing for all of our northern communities — municipalities and Indigenous communities — capturing some of that wealth and keeping it in northern Ontario.”

PC friendly questions

Tory backbenchers asked their ministers about the TTC subway system upload and tuition changes.

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

What did you think of this Daily Report? What else would you like to see here? Email [email protected] and let us know. ​ ​

Copyright © 2018 Queen’s Park Today. It is a violation of copyright to distribute this newsletter without permission.