“We Are Going to Have to Do Some Things That Might Be

Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report January 24, 2020

Quotation of the day

“We are going to have to do some things that might be out of the ordinary in order to get this transit built in the kind of expeditious way people expect us to do … We’re going to have to do a better job of getting these things done faster.”

At Toronto’s executive committee, Mayor John Tory considers as-yet unannounced provincial measures to speed up transit projects.

Today at Queen’s Park

On the schedule The house is in winter recess until February 18, 2020.

In the park The recurring Fridays for Future climate protest takes place on the south lawn this afternoon. Today’s protest is about “standing in solidarity” with those defending Wet'suwet'en territory in B.C., where Coastal Gaslink is proposing to build a 670-kilometre natural gas pipeline.

Today’s events

January 24 at 8:30 a.m. – Mississauga Premier Doug Ford, Solicitor General Sylvia Jones, Attorney General Doug Downey and local PC MPPs will make an announcement at Peel Regional Police’s Emil V. Kolb Centre.

Topics of conversation

● Teachers in French and elementary classrooms are gearing up for more job action next week amid rocky negotiations with the province and school boards.

○ AEFO, the union representing francophone teachers, is set to launch work-to-rule 2.0 on Tuesday, January 28, which will further restrict administrative duties. ○ “Despite the first phase of work-to-rule” launched this week, AEFO president Rémi Sabourin said “the government is showing no sign of rolling back its cuts affecting students’ learning conditions.” ○ AEFO and the province are scheduled to return to the bargaining table on January 29 and 30. ○ Unless a deal with the province is reached, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario will continue rotating one-day walkouts next week. Yesterday, ETFO gave the requisite five-day notice for strikes in the Kawartha Pine Ridge, Hastings-Prince Edward, Upper Grand, Moosoneee and Moose Factory Island boards next Tuesday.

● Queen’s Park Today has obtained an early tally of Liberal delegate candidates vying to represent their ridings at the March 7 leadership convention. Frontrunner Steven Del Duca blew the competition out of the water with 2,684 delegates. Michael Coteau remains highly competitive with 1,234, followed by Kate Graham, who turned up a slimmer bench of 623, Mitzie Hunter with 409, Alvin Tedjo with 137 and Brenda Hollingsworth with 66. ○ Each of the 124 ridings will elect 16 delegates, or 1,984 total. Card-carrying Grits will vote for their delegates on February 8 and 9. The successful delegates are then obligated to vote for the candidate that recruited them on the first ballot at the convention in Mississauga.

● Toronto city councillors have asked staff to advise on a possible legal challenge if the Ford government allows developers to hire their own building inspectors, saying it could risk public safety, the Toronto Star reports.

● The Ontario Securities Commission is sitting on a $100-million moneypot that could wind up on the government’s balance sheet, according to securities lawyer Joseph Groia. In an op-ed for the Globe and Mail, Groia also argues the provincial government has a lot of work to do to get the securities market regulator up to snuff when it comes to its oversight and transparency mechanisms — starting with a new MOU, which is six years behind schedule.

● The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada wants to see an up to 30-per-cent sin tax on vaping products in the upcoming spring budget in order to tackle youth vaping, the Canadian Press reports. ○ British Columbia began taxing vaping products at 25 per cent at the beginning of the year. Alberta is also reviewing plans for a levy.

● The NDP are back on the long-term care beat. Five members of the Opposition caucus were in Kitchener-Waterloo Thursday to tell the public not a single long-term care bed

has been built in the neighbouring cities since 2017, despite growing waitlists.

● And the Golden Scissors go to … Associate Small Business Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria and his civil service counterpart Deputy Minister Giles Gherson. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business awarded Premier Doug Ford the trophy last year. This week CFIB also gave Ontario an A- for red-tape reduction.

Appointments and employments

Hamilton transportation task force struck ● Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney announced the lineup for the special task force that will determine how to spend $1 billion on transportation in Hamilton after the PCs abruptly pulled the plug on the city’s LRT project, citing higher-than-expected cost estimates. The panel — which will make its recommendations in a report to the minister at the end of February — comprises: ○ Chair Tony Valeri, a former Liberal MP and federal transport minister, and current vice-president of corporate affairs at local steel firm ArcelorMittal Dofasco; ○ Richard Brennan, veteran Toronto Star reporter (whose tenacity at Queen’s Park earned him the nickname “Badger”); ○ Anthony Primerano, director of government relations for LIUNA (the union was on deck to build the LRT and has said the Ford government’s cancellation will cost 5,000 jobs); ○ Saiedeh Razavi, director of McMaster University’s Institute for Transportation and Logistics; and, ○ Janette Smith, Hamilton city manager.

Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger pulled no punches, calling the news bittersweet.

“In this instance, they have sought unelected individuals to advise the province on what the best investment would be for transit, transportation and future development of our city,” Eisenberger said in a statement.

“How this has unfolded is unusual and I will continue to object to the Premier’s inequitable treatment of Hamilton,” the mayor continued. “I remain disappointed by the Transportation Minister’s approach to informing the City of their cancellation of our LRT project but remain hopeful this task force will find the LRT is the best investment for the City of Hamilton.”

Financial Services Regulatory Authority ● The provincial regulator in charge of mortgage brokers, which the PC’s rebranded as the FSRA last year, unveiled a new “Consumer Advisory Panel” that will provide information

based on client perspectives and help “in becoming the voice of the consumer within the FSRA.”

Enterprise Canada ● Melissa Lantsman has joined Enterprise. Lantsman, a former Ford campaign war room vet, most recently worked at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, where she regularly lobbied the provincial government. ○ This week Democracy Watch’s Duff Conacher wrote to Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake urging him to rule on an earlier grievance about a possible conflict of interest regarding Lantsman’s lobbying activity.

Funding announcements

Crime Stoppers hotline will continue to bling ● Ontario marked “Crime Stoppers Month” by announcing a $450,000, two-year package that will allow the anonymous citizen-police hotline to continue operating 24 hours a day.

Lobbyist registrations

If you are looking for further information on any lobbying registry, it is all public and easily searchable here.

Consultants who registered as lobbyists from January 17 to 23

● Patrick Harris, Rubicon Strategy Inc. o Clients: DraftKings, Manulife, Ontario Hospital Association

● Omar Khan, Hill+Knowlton Strategies o Clients: TerrAscend

● Leith Coghlin, EnPointe Development Incorporated o Clients: Jem Farms

● Don Gracey, CG Management & Communications Inc. o Clients: Trout Creek Nursing Home formerly Lady Isabelle Nursing Home

● Mark Holmes, Marlyn Consulting o Clients: Schad Foundation

● Stephanie Gawur, Jaskiran Shoker, Brad Lavigne and Bob Lopinski, Counsel Public Affairs Inc. o Clients: Emergent BioSolutions Canada Inc.

● Richard Mullin, Impact Public Affairs o Clients: Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, Toronto Insurance Council

● Thomas Gendron, Impact Public Affairs o Clients: Partnership of Registered Psychotherapist Associations, Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario, National Elevator and Escalator Association, Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science

● Richard Mullin and Thomas Gendron, Impact Public Affairs o Clients: Ontario Federation of All Terrain Vehicle Clubs

● Monika Bujalska, Sutherland Corporation Ltd. o Clients: Royalton Homes Inc.

● Kevin Gaudet, BrightPoint Strategy o Clients: Power Workers' Union

● Danielle Peters, Magnet Strategy Group o Clients: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

● Suzanne van Bommel, Suzanne van Bommel Enterprises Inc. o Clients: Gail Ellen Geller

● Ashton Arsenault, Crestview Strategy o Clients: True North Gaming

● Nick Koolsbergen, Wellington Advocacy Inc. o Clients: Samba Safety Inc.

● Vanessa Pfaff, [Individual] o Clients: Sidewalk Labs LLC

● Dina Graser, [Individual] o Clients: Sidewalk Labs LLC

● Ramiro Mora, CWell Consulting Inc. o Clients: Sidewalk Labs LLC

● Kenzie McKeegan, Jill Wilson, Dan Mader and Jared Burke, Loyalist Public Affairs o Clients: Sidewalk Labs LLC

● Kelly Harris, Harris Public Affairs o Clients: Concentra Bank

● Howard Brown, Brown & Cohen Communications & Public Affairs Inc. o Clients: The Ontario Association of Landscape Architects

● Frank Klees, Klees & Associates Ltd. o Clients: ASI Technologies Inc.

● Steven Mahoney, Mahoney International Inc. o Clients: Bluedrop Performance Learning

● Sarah Domino, Leonard Domino & Associates Inc. o Clients: Ontario Association of Medical Radiation Sciences, Ontario Association of Psychological Associates

● Kenneth Stewart, The Capital Hill Group Inc. o Clients: Oracle Canada, SAS Institute (Canada) Inc.

● Alanna Sokic, Global Public Affairs Inc. o Clients: PAX Labs, Inc.

● Lauren McDonald, Proof Inc. o Clients: eBay Canada, StubHub

● Maddy Stieva, The Capital Hill Group o Clients: S2E Technologies

● Philip Dewan, Devan Sommerville and Stephanie Gawur, Counsel Public Affairs Inc. o Clients: Parkbridge Lifestyle Communities Inc.

● Jharna Bajaj, Enterprise Canada o Clients: Chicken Farmers of Ontario, Ontario Genomics, STELCO, Walker Industries Holdings Limited, Addictions and Mental Health Ontario

● Gordon Greenwood, Maclaren Corlett LLP o Clients: Allied Beauty Association

● Daniel McIntyre, Grosso McCarthy Inc. o Clients: Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Canada) Inc.

Organizations that registered in-house lobbyists from January 17 to 23

● Canadian Solar Industries Association ● AdvantAge Ontario ● Police Association of Ontario ● Phoenix Rising Center ● Canadian Medical Association ● Private Career Education Council (Ontario) ● CropLife Canada ● Canadian Propane Association ● Ontario Chamber of Commerce ● United Way Greater Toronto ● Retail Council of Canada

● College of Veterinarians of Ontario ● Quality Continuous Improvement Centre for Community Education and Training ● YMCA-YWCA of Guelph ● Trans Canada Trail ● Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation ● Canadian Beverage Association ● Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board ● Canadian Pacific ● Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada ● Conduent, Inc. and its Affiliates ● KPMG LLP ● COLDMAX EMC ● Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Canada) Inc. ● Abbott Laboratories, Limited. ● Janssen Inc. ● AstraZeneca Canada Inc. ● Meridian Credit Union ● Borale Canada ● First Gulf Corporation

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

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