November 19, 2020

Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report November 19, 2020

Quotation of the day

“While many people are sitting in the comfort of their homes and going to grocery stores, it’s an Amazon worker, a trucker in Brampton, or someone in a food-processing plant that made sure they had their food.”

Mayor Patrick Brown says outbreaks in “industrial settings and essential workplaces” that serve many residents of the GTA are to blame for high Covid case numbers in Brampton.

Today at Queen’s Park

Written by Sabrina Nanji

On the schedule The house reconvenes at 9 a.m. The government could call any of the following bills for debate:

● Bill 229, Protect, Support and Recover from COVID-19 Act (the omnibus budget measures bill); and ● Bill 213, Better for People, Smarter for Business Act (the red-tape reduction legislation that also gives Charles McVety's Canada Christian College expanded degree-granting powers).

In the afternoon, NDP MPP Ian Arthur will move a motion calling on the Ford government to designate Kingston an "area of high physician need" and address the lack of access to doctors.

Wednesday's debates and proceedings MPPs continued second-reading debate on the budget bill in the morning and afternoon.

Two backbench bills are now headed to committee:

● PC MPP Deepak Anand's private member's Bill 231, Protecting Ontarians by Enhancing Gas Station Safety to Prevent Gas and Dash Act, will go under the microscope at the justice committee after passing second reading on a voice vote.

● NDP MPP Jennifer French's Bill 43, Freeing Highways 412 and 418 Act, will be studied by the finance committee after clearing a second-reading vote (Ayes 54; Nays 2).

Meanwhile, a special Opposition Day motion condemning Charles McVety and efforts to expand his Canada Christian College wasn't debated after all. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath withdrew her motion because she was scheduled to have foot surgery at the same time (the NDP tried to get unanimous consent to reschedule the debate, but the PCs shot it down).

Premier watch Speaking at Queen's Park Wednesday, Premier Doug Ford hinted at a possible lockdown for Toronto, Peel and York as Covid cases surge. Ford said he’s “done” with people socializing and his cabinet will consider new measures that could be announced on Friday, repeating his line that Ontario is "staring down the barrel of another lockdown." (Friday also happens to be Ford's 56th birthday.)

Don't hold your breath for specific lockdown criteria, per the Globe.

The silver lining: Ford also said the province has secured 98,000 rapid Covid tests from Ottawa. Tests will be deployed where they're needed most, in hotspots, long-term care homes and northern communities.

The premier used his afternoon presser to christen 13 new Ontario Health Teams.

5 things to know about the auditor general's environmental reports For the first time, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk released a series of environmental value-for-money audits and her annual review of the Environmental Bill of Rights Wednesday, alongside Jerry DeMarco, the environmental commissioner within the AG's office. DeMarco effectively replaced the standalone environmental watchdog that was axed by the PCs.

Here are the highlights from their reports:

Ontario flouting the rules under its own Environmental Bill of Rights Circa 1993, the EBR allows Ontarians to weigh in on environmental policies and hold the government to account on its decision-making. That has "worsened" under the Ford government, which has not been "transparent" and "risked undermining public confidence" in its environmentally significant decisions, the AG said.

Lysyk pointed to the government's move to suspend parts of the EBR amid Covid, which paused requirements for public consultation and appeals.

At the time, the PCs argued it was necessary to respond quickly to the pandemic, but the AG found that only nine out of 276 exempted proposals — or three per cent — "were urgent and related to COVID-19."

Citizens also lost their right to seek leave to appeal 197 of 263 proposals over the 10-week exemption period.

Those proposals that skated by public scrutiny included permits and approvals for activities such as "allowing industrial plants to pollute the air and water, and allowing companies to pump or remove water from the ground, lakes and rivers," the report states.

PCs on track to miss GHG reduction targets The Ford government "risks missing" its 2030 emission reduction targets, partly because it's not a "cross-government priority" — despite the PCs pledging otherwise.

Ontario is aiming to reduce emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Environment Minister Jeff Yurek maintained the government is still committed to that goal and teased an update to the "made-in-Ontario" environment plan in the coming weeks.

Buildings sector makes up third-largest source of emissions Hindering that 2030 target is the fact that the programs and actions needed to tamp down emissions are run by ministries and agencies that don't have a strong climate change mandate.

When it comes to energy efficiency in buildings — the third-largest source of emissions, after transportation and industry — the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, the Ministry of Energy and Mines, and the Ontario Energy Board don't focus on reducing GHG emissions in their decision-making.

"As such, this will make it a challenge to reduce emissions in the buildings sector to a degree that could support achievement of the 2030 target," the AG said.

Buildings emissions account for 40 megatonnes, or 24 per cent, of the provincial total. Of that, about 76 per cent is from natural gas, which is increasingly being used to heat buildings. While overall natural gas use in the province is up by four per cent since 2005, it shot up by 15 per cent in buildings.

Ontario doesn't actually know if it's conserving endangered species, protected lands The government isn't collecting enough data to know if it's doing enough to protect species at risk and their habitats. The environment ministry in particular "does not know enough about the

state of biodiversity within existing protected areas to demonstrate that it is compliant with its legislative responsibility to conserve biodiversity in these areas," the AG said.

The ministry also isn't collecting "sufficient information about species at risk" and "the extent and impact of invasive species," nor is it gathering enough info on how hunting, fishing and trapping may be harming native species.

Endangered species protections also took a hit under the EBR.

In 2019, the government didn't give the public "sufficient information and time" to weigh in on changes that effectively weakened legal protections for endangered species. It also failed to clearly explain the impact of six forestry-related proposals, which removed the requirement to protect species at risk from commercial logging operations on Crown land.

More action needed to protect parks In Covid times, more Ontarians are seeking out nature.

However, according to the AG, provincial parks, conservation reserves and wilderness areas cover just 10 per cent of the province, while folks in southwestern Ontario only get to enjoy 0.6 per cent of those spaces, "where biodiversity is most at risk."

At 763,000 hectares, Algonquin is one of Ontario's biggest provincial parks — but thanks to commercial logging, two-thirds of it cannot be protected.

While Algonquin park has been logged since before it was christened in 1893, it is the only provincial park where commercial forestry is allowed. "If all of Algonquin Provincial Park met the criteria for protected areas, it would increase the total provincial protected area coverage by about 0.5 per cent," the AG said.

Meanwhile, two wilderness areas were "inappropriately" open to commercial logging and another was open to claim staking in mining, though after the AG notified the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, it cancelled those plans.

Today’s events

November 19 at 9:45 a.m. – Zoom Environment Minister Jeff Yurek will release a white paper on hydrogen technology and deliver remarks at the Hydrogen Business Council's virtual conference.

November 19 at 1 p.m. – Toronto Premier Doug Ford will hold his daily press conference at Queen's Park.

November 19 at 3 p.m. – Toronto Chief medical officers of health will provide their regular COVID-19 update in the media studio.

Topics of conversation

● Ontario clocked another 1,417 Covid cases Wednesday. There were 32 more deaths, including 26 long-term care residents — numbers not seen since the first wave in spring.

● A day after floating a potential extended school winter break, Education Minister Stephen Lecce is taking it off the table, for now. "An extended winter holiday is not necessary at this time, given Ontario's strong safety protocols, low levels of transmission and safety within our schools," Lecce said in a statement Wednesday. He didn't rule out future changes to the school year, saying the government will "consider any option" and "take decisive action to keep schools open in January and beyond." ○ Some health and education experts have said they're worried about students and staff getting together with their families over Christmas and New Year's Eve, and then going back to classrooms days later. Extending the break by another week or two could help make sure schools stay open longer, they argue. ○ Premier Doug Ford said the decision was based on advice from the chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams, who said the safest place for kids is in schools.

● London may not have to foot the $51,000 bill to switch back to first-past-the-post for 2022, now that Bill 218, which eliminates ranked ballots in municipal elections, has cleared third reading (it still needs royal assent). Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark told reporters he is working "to get the figure for what it would cost to go back to traditional paper balloting," and he's "waiting on confirmation" from the provincial purse-string holders, so that the city won't be "out of pocket." ○ Meanwhile, the city spent $515,000 to make its original switch to ranked balloting in 2018, per committee testimony from local NDP MPP Peggy Sattler.

● A child and youth worker at a Toronto Catholic elementary school has died after contracting the coronavirus, Global News reports, marking the first known death of an education worker in the province, as far as Queen's Park Today can tell.

● Long-term care staff and caregivers will now have to test negative for the coronavirus once a week in Covid hot spots deemed code orange and up, LTC Minister Merrilee Fullerton announced Wednesday. The government has blamed increasing spread on workers and visitors coming into homes.

● Migrant worker groups say they weren't consulted on Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman's plan to rein in Covid outbreaks on farms ahead of next year's growing

season. The groups say the plan, developed alongside farmers, falls far short of what's needed to protect vulnerable workers, especially when it comes to enforcement. ○ Hardeman told the Canadian Press his ministry didn't consult any migrant workers before coming up with the strategy.

● "It's just a slap in the face." Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas is the latest municipal official vexed by the province’s heavy-handed use of Ministerial Zoning Orders, which bypass local planning authority and public consultation. Mrakas isn't happy about an MZO that rezoned a 10-acre parcel of provincially owned industrial land to allow for residential development.

Question period

NDP lead-off Gag orders ● Another day, another question about health officials speaking out about not being able to speak out about the Covid response. Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath asked about the latest: a member of the public health measures table who told the Globe and Mail they wished they could "speak freely." Why not, Horwath asked.

● "No one is forced to sign anything," Health Minister Christine Elliott insisted. "Members of the public health measures table have not signed, as the member calls them, 'gag orders,' or non-disclosure agreements. But there is a code of compliance that when you have a group of people who are making decisions like this, they have one representative who speaks for them."

● Horwath followed up with a throwback to Premier Doug Ford's promise that Ontarians will know what he knows. She ventured to ask if the PCs would release all the public health advice cabinet receives. ○ Elliott shot that down and maintained the government has been transparent.

2.4 million Covid vaccines on order ● Ontario expects to get a combined 2.4 million doses of the Covid vaccine between January and March, the health minister told the legislature. That's 1.6 million doses from Pfizer and 800,000 from Moderna.

● Getting the vaccines to Ontarians will be a "major logistical challenge" — not least because people have to take two doses 21 days apart and Pfizer's version has to be stored at minus 75 degrees celsius (Moderna's needs to be in minus 20 degrees).

● She was responding to a question from Liberal MPP Stephen Blais.

Independent questions Dominion Voting glitches ● Turfed Tory Belinda Karahalios asked about Dominion Voting, the Toronto-based company at the centre of U.S. President Donald Trump's baseless voter fraud allegations. Karahalios cited Elections Canada's tweet saying it doesn't use Dominion's voter machines — which Trump retweeted with a "this says it all" — and asked if Elections Ontario would continue using them.

● Lindsey Park, parliamentary assistant to the Attorney General, said any concerns about electoral integrity should be directed to Elections Ontario.

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

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