Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report October 16, 2019

Quotation of the day

“I am absolutely heartbroken for these families. Life is difficult enough for these parents and their high-needs children. It is time that our government starts working with them instead of against them.”

Canadian actor Eugene Levy, whose cousin Michael is on the high end of the spectrum, was ​ ​ ​ ​ at Queen’s Park on Tuesday to criticize the Ford government’s funding cuts to a group of young people with autism.

Today at Queen’s Park

On the schedule The house is on extended recess until Monday, October 28.

In the park PC MPPs flocked to the legislature Tuesday afternoon for a caucus meeting.

Deputy ministers get 14 per cent pay bump ’s top bureaucrats are getting more green under the Ford government.

According to an order-in-council dated September 26, the province’s 28 deputy ministers will ​ ​ bring in annual salaries ranging from $234,080 to $320,130. That’s up from the previous salary range, established in 2016, of $205,000 to $311,050 — a 14 per cent increase at the low end of the scale.

DMs are also eligible for a “pay-for-performance” bump beyond their base salary.

The OIC is retroactive to June 30, 2018.

Treasury Board President ’s office says it’s putting an end to automatic pay ​ ​ increases and tying compensation to performance.

“The pay-for-performance model ensures that compensation is only provided to leaders who successfully deliver outcomes that advance government priorities,” spokesperson Sebastian ​ Skamski said in an email. ​

No additional funding is being provided and costs will be managed within existing allocations, Skamski added. “This ensures that any compensation adjustments are more than offset by efficiencies and savings.”

As Queen’s Park Today first reported in August, there was a recent shakeup at the DM level. ​ ​ ​ ​ The secretary of cabinet, Ontario’s top civil servant, is also relatively fresh. On June 20, the same day as the PC’s cabinet shuffle, Steven Davidson permanently took up the mantle from ​ ​ Steve Orsini, who resigned amid the Ron Taverner controversy. ​ ​ ​

Davidson rakes in $406,375 annually, plus potential pay-for-performance compensation. As of 2017 his predecessor was earning a base salary of $368,594 with automatic five-per-cent increases scheduled for each year after that.

Premier ’s executive council ballooned to 28 ministers in June after a handful of ​ ​ portfolios were added. That’s up from the 21-large cabinet he introduced after taking office last year but still below ’s cabinet of 29. ​ ​

The move comes as the PCs work to hold the broader public sector to an average one per cent increase in annual compensation, via Bill 124, Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future ​ ​ Generations Act, which hasn’t cleared second reading yet. Finance Minister Rod Phillips has ​ ​ also said the government hopes teacher unions stick to the one-per-cent cap that CUPE education workers have already tentatively agreed to.

Weeks after taking office last summer, the PCs put a pause on hiring in the broader public service and froze executive salaries and capped performance pay. The change impacted bureaucrats earning over $100,000 at hospitals and school boards among others.

Ontario deploys new process for private infrastructure bids Wannabe infrastructure builders in the private sector can now make their project proposals directly to the province.

Infrastructure Minister Laurie Scott detailed the new framework for receiving and evaluating ​ ​ unsolicited proposals from the private sector at the Region Board of Trade on Tuesday.

Unsolicited bids can come from the private sector and from beyond the pool of designated government vendors of record and existing procurement.

The ministry and Infrastructure Ontario are seeking proposals for transit lines and station projects, new and expanding highways, housing, hospitals, emergency services and more.

Private companies could get some public funding, but it’s unclear if they will also be able to access revenue streams for their projects (ie. by pitching and building toll roads).

Scott stressed any approved project must be “for the people.” Would-be bidders will have to make a case that shows the “clear value or benefit” for Ontarians and aligns with the government’s priorities.

Projects must be “commercially, financially and technically viable,” and if companies want to dip into public cash, they must demonstrate value for money.

The move was lauded by Andy Manahan, executive director of the Residential and Civil ​ ​ Construction Alliance of Ontario, which has long called for an explicit provincial process for unsolicited bids.

“It’s a way to bring in outside funds to bring projects that may be unaffordable for a government to do on its own,” Manahan said in a phone interview.

While there may be more foreign competition to construct such projects, Manahan says typically they would still use Ontario-based subcontractors and the local skilled labour pool to deliver them.

“We have a market capacity issue if all these projects that are in the pipeline tend to hit at the same time — can we deal with it? That will still remain a challenge whether there’s foreign or Canadian-based general contractors that are coming forward,” he said.

OSSTF to hold strike votes, accuses province of bad-faith bargaining The union representing high school teachers says it has “no choice” but to hold strike votes across the province in the coming weeks after hitting a wall at the bargaining table with the government and school board trustees’ association.

Harvey Bischof, president of the Ontario School Secondary Teachers’ Federation, accused the ​ provincial government of “incessant stalling and delay tactics” for months.

“They delayed the start of bargaining by two months and have thrown procedural roadblocks in the way ever since,” Bischof said in a statement. “Now that we are finally at the table they are simply refusing to engage in meaningful discussions about the most important issues. Through five days of bargaining they’ve brought absolutely nothing of substance to the table.”

Starting October 22 (the day after federal E-Day), 66,000 high school and substitute teachers, educational assistants and more will decide whether to take possible job action. The vote wraps up November 15 and contract talks will continue during that time.

Bischof said the government is sending mixed signals because Finance Minister Rod Phillips ​ indicated the PCs want teachers to hold to the one-per-cent increase in annual compensation that was embedded in the tentative deal recently inked with CUPE education workers.

But behind closed doors Crown negotiators are saying the opposite. (The OSSTF has partly opened up those doors by posting regular bargaining updates online.)

“At the bargaining table we are being told that the content of other agreements has no impact on our discussions,” Bischof said.

OSSTF has said a one-per-cent hike is effectively a pay cut since it’s below the rate of inflation.

Education Minister reiterated he’s working in good faith to get a deal that ​ ​ ensures schools remain open.

“As families across our province know, strike action disproportionately hurts out kids, especially the most vulnerable in our classrooms. My message to our labour partners is to always put kids first, and continue to work with us in good faith to make sure kids remain in class each and every day,” he said in a statement.

Elementary teachers are in the middle of job action votes; the union has asked members for a strike mandate.

Today’s events

October 16 at 9:15 a.m. — Bowmanville ​ Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark, Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee ​ ​ ​ Fullerton and , MPP for Durham, will make an announcement at a greenhouse. ​ ​ ​

October 16 at 11 a.m. — Sarnia ​ , parliamentary assistant to the transportation minister, will make an ​ announcement alongside local MPP at the Heritage Park. ​ ​

October 16 at 11:45 a.m. — London ​ NDP Leader is on the hustings this week with a stop today at federal New ​ ​ Democrat candidate Lindsay Mathyssen’s campaign office in London—Fanshawe. Horwath ​ ​ met with volunteers in Essex Monday evening and will make two stops with Leader Jagmeet ​ Singh on Thursday. ​

October 16 at 12:30 p.m. — Newmarket ​ Health Minister will make an announcement at the Southlake Regional Health ​ ​ Centre.

October 16 at 1:15 p.m. — London ​ Horwath will meet with nurses and health workers at the local Ontario Nurses’ Association office to discuss cuts to services at London-area hospitals. Area NDP MPPs , ​ ​ and will be in tow. ​ ​ ​

October 16 at 4 p.m. — Kenora ​ Premier Doug Ford and Northern Development Minister will make an ​ ​ ​ ​ infrastructure announcement at Bowman Electric. Ford will also hold a media availability for the second time during the federal election campaign; the last time was at the plowing match in Verner in September.

Upcoming events

October 17 at 9:00 a.m. — Online ​ The Financial Accountability Office will release a commentary digging into why Ontario’s deficit doubled in 2018-19.

Topics of conversation

● If Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is elected prime minister next week, he says ​ ​ one of his first orders of business will be to meet with the premiers in Ottawa on January 6 to deal with barriers to interprovincial trade. Scheer’s news release name-checked Tory premiers Jason Kenney in Alberta and Brian Pallister in Manitoba, but left out ​ ​ ​ ​ Ontario’s Doug Ford as he is wont to do on the campaign trail. ​ ​

● At least three of the PC’s top cabinet ministers are endorsing the CPC’s Whitby candidate Todd McCarthy — partner in Flaherty McCarthy LLP, the law firm co-founded ​ ​ by Deputy Premier Christine Elliott and her late husband and Canada’s former finance ​ ​ minister, . ​ ​ ○ Elliott and ministers Rod Phillips and Peter Bethlenfalvy have all given ​ ​ ​ ​ McCarthy their stamp of approval. Ditto , chief government whip. ​ ​ ​ ​

● Sandra Pupatello may have breached election law by posting a photo of her completed ​ ​ ​ federal election ticket on social media, which is prohibited under the Canada Elections ​ Act because ballots are supposed to be kept secret. Pupatello, the former Ontario ​ Liberal cabinet minister and leadership contestant, is flying the federal Grit banner in Windsor West.

○ Canada’s election watchdog wouldn’t confirm if there will be an investigation.

● Ontario Cannabis Store president Cal Bricker wants to know how private sector ​ ​ companies can “increase their involvement” in the “storage and transportation of cannabis products to retail stores” and has launched consultations with pot producers ​ ​ and existing retail licence holders on the matter. ○ Currently, all of the province’s recreational cannabis is stored and distributed by the government, but, as BNN Bloomberg reported earlier this month, the OCS’s ​ ​ 100,000-square-foot warehouse in Oakville is running out of space, and the government would likely need to open another warehouse to handle the storage and distribution of edibles and other new products set to hit the market at the end of the year.

News briefs — governmental ​ ​ ​ Ministry of Health ● The province has approved funds for a new consumption and treatment services site in Kitchener. This is the first new site approved by the ministry since March, when it signed off on allowing 15 existing sites to keep running, and wound down a few others. ​ ​ ○ Health Minister Christine Elliott said she is committed to “working with ​ ​ communities to establish a network of programs and services in areas with the greatest need to save lives and connect Ontarians with life-saving treatment and rehabilitation services."

Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade ● The government’s trade mission to South Korea and Japan has churned out two new business agreements. ○ Finance Minister , who is leading the trade mission alongside ​ ​ Agriculture Minister and Seniors Minister , ​ ​ ​ ​ announced a $20-million venture billed as the “first-of-its-kind global health care fund” between Ontario and South Korea. ○ Seoul-based DAYLI Partners and Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners inked the deal that will support AI, digital health and medical science companies, per a release. ○ Fedeli also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Korean Importers Association that “seeks to leverage agreements like the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement with tangible action and metrics to provide Ontario exporters with a competitive advantage in this strategic market.”

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 © 2019 Queen’s Park Today. It is a violation of copyright to distribute this newsletter without permission.