January 16, 2019
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Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report January 16, 2019 Quotation of the day “Ford has already tabled a scheme to Swiss cheese the Greenbelt … and now it looks like he’s unilaterally pursuing amalgamation.” Jeff Burch, shadow minister for municipal affairs, says the province’s two-man panel reviewing regional governments is a harbinger of forced amalgamations. Today at Queen’s Park On the schedule The House is recessed until February 19. Multiple government sources tell Queen’s Park Today that the Progressive Conservative caucus is scheduled to meet at 8 a.m. this Thursday. The premier’s office has ignored repeated requests for confirmation. Tories float changes to Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan, citing need to increase housing supply The Ford government is re-drafting the Greater Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan with an eye to spurring much-needed real estate builds — while also protecting the precious Greenbelt from development. Housing Minister Steve Clark laid out the proposed changes for the 45-day public comment period on Tuesday. That includes lowering density targets in order to unlock certain land for housing development. Under the old plan, any new housing built on undeveloped land would have to support at least 80 people and jobs combined per hectare. The Tories want to drop that ratio in certain areas, as follows: ● Allowing future developments in Hamilton and the regions of Peel, Waterloo and York to accomodate 60 people and jobs per hectare; ● Allowing 50 people and jobs per hectare in Barrie, Brantford, Guelph, Orillia and Durham, Halton and Niagara regions; and ● Allowing 40 people and jobs in the more rural Simcoe and Dufferin counties. The changes come after the PC government tabled Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, in December, which opens up environmentally protected Greenbelt land for industrial development, contrary to a promise now-Premier Doug Ford made on the stump. But the PCs maintain they’re sticking to their pledge and protecting the Greenbelt. The new growth plan states “this approach protects the Greenbelt and will ensure a cleaner environment is passed on to future generations.” Another amendment to the growth plan would remove the phrases “a clean and health environment” and “social equity” and replace them with “an approach that puts people first.” NDP Housing critic Suze Morrison accused the government of “paving the way for more sprawl” in the GTHA to “set the stage for [Ford’s] developer friends.” Environmental Defence, an advocacy group, echoed her concerns, saying the plan on offer purports to boost housing supply and favours sprawling subdivisions “on farmland, forests and the source of our drinking water.” On the flip side, the Ontario Real Estate Association President David Reid praised the proposal and said it would allow cities and towns to build the “missing middle” of housing (think: mid-rises, townhouses) to create more affordable options for wannabe home-buyers. Today’s events January 16 at 8 a.m. – Pickering Finance Minister Vic Fedeli, Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy, Environment Minister Rod Phillips and PC MPPs Lorne Coe and Lindsey Park will host a pre-budget consultation at the local legion. January 16 at 12:30 p.m. – Toronto The Ontario PC Youth Association will get a glimpse of the pink palace through rookie PC MPP Stan Cho’s eyes on a lunchtime tour. January 16 at 7 p.m. – Barrie Fedeli takes his pre-budget consultation tour to Barrie’s legion hall alongside local PC MPPs Jill Dunlop and Andrea Khanjin and parliamentary assistant Doug Downey. Upcoming events January 27 to 29 – Toronto The Rural Ontario Municipalities Association (ROMA) Conference kicks off at the Sheraton Centre Hotel in Toronto. The premier has been invited, and mayors, councillors and reeves will get a chance to grill his executive council during the ministers’ forum — otherwise known by its fun moniker the “bear pit.” Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Ernie Hardeman and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark are scheduled to speak Monday morning, and opposition party leaders will attend on Tuesday. February 5 at 4:30 p.m. – Toronto Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell and her predecessor, former LG David Onley, will give the Crown’s perspective on “sustainable democracy” in a discussion moderated by Martin Regg Cohn, Toronto Star columnist, at Ryerson University. ● One fun question might be the implications of a provision tucked away in the PC government’s Bill 57, Restoring Trust, Transparency and Accountability Act, the omnibus bill to implement the Fall Economic Statement — removing the LG’s powers to appoint Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer. June 7 to 9 – Mississauga Ontario Grits will gather at the International Centre for their annual general meeting on the anniversary of their brutal election defeat. The party is expected to set a date for the race to pick their next captain. Topics of conversation ● College and university students are poised to score a 10-per-cent reduction in tuition fees on Thursday when the government is expected to announce a revamped tuition fee framework. The news broke on social media Tuesday afternoon with scant details thus far. According to the Canadian Press, a typical university student could save about $660 and an average college kid would get to keep $340 under the Tories revamped rubric. ○ Tuition would decrease by 10 per cent in 2019-20 and hold steady for the year after that. The Liberal-era framework expires at the end of this school year. ● Premier Doug Ford met with GM president Mark Reuss in Detroit Tuesday morning — but was unable to convince the automaker to keep the lights on at its Oshawa plant. Prior to the meeting, Ford eased up on his earlier position that the automaker’s decision to close its Oshawa plant was a done deal (which he believes was made a year ago), and told Automotive News he’d prefer to see the plant stay open through the end of its contract with Unifor in 2020. ○ “Following a meeting with Unifor, I promised to press General Motors executives to extend operations at the Oshawa plant in order to give the affected workers more time to deal with the impacts of the closure,” Ford said in a statement Tuesday. “Despite raising this on repeated instances, I was disappointed to hear that General Motors’ position has not changed.” ○ GM said it will continue to be a major manufacturer in Ontario and trumpeted its Ingersoll and St Catharines plants as well as its growing research initiatives. ○ Unifor continues to protest the Oshawa closure and put pressure on the provincial and federal governments to take action to reverse GM’s decision. ○ Federal Minister Navdeep Bains also expressed disappointment in GM reaffirming the shutdown after a separate meeting with CEO Mary Barra Monday, where all federal options were reportedly on the table. ● Some MPPs on the opposition benches are experiencing deja vu when it comes to getting big money out of politics. NDP MPP Catherine Fife and Green Leader Mike Schreiner say next month’s PC Party Leader’s Dinner fundraiser, where supporters have to cough up $1,250 apiece to rub elbows with the premier and his caucus, is a return to Ontario’s old cash-for-access scheme. ○ “At $1,250 per plate to buy the ear of the premier, this is not a government for the people,” Schreiner said in a statement. ○ Fife called out Tory MPPs — then on the opposition benches — who spoke out against the formerly governing Grits’ so-called pay-to-play fundraisers with the hashtag “not so much for the people.” ○ The Liberals got the ball rolling on campaign finance law reform back in 2016 following negative news headlines and public outrage over cash-for-access, including a secret $10,000-a-plate dinner for ministers and their direct stakeholders. Union and corporate donations were outlawed, and political parties were required to publicly disclose the events. ○ The Tories are shaking up the rules again for 2019 by lifting a ban on politicians and staff attending fundraisers and by doing away with a certification that donors were previously required to sign declaring their donation came out of their own pocket — not from an employer or union. ● Environmental Defence has officially joined the carbon-tax melee. The advocacy group says it’s been granted intervenor status in Ontario’s legal fight against Ottawa’s carbon backstop, and will argue that governments have the right to pass anti-pollution legislation and measures. The provincial government claims the opposite. ○ Ontario’s hearing is expected in April; Saskatchewan’s carbon-tax legal challenge (which Ontario is intervening in) is slated for February. ● The New Democrats unearthed another clandestine meeting between the premier and his old family friend and future OPP commissioner Ron Taverner via a freedom-of-information request for Ford’s schedule. According to the NDP, the pair dined at Wally’s Grill on October 9, roughly a month-and-a-half before the Tories announced the veteran Toronto beat cop would be the next provincial police captain. ○ ICYMI the Globe and Mail detailed a handful of Ford-Taverner hangouts in the months leading up to his controversial appointment in November. ○ The premier took a different tack in defending the recruiting process this week. Whereas Ford previously said he had “zero influence” in the process, he now frames Taverner’s gig as a “political appointment.” ○ The Ford administration has faced mounting criticism about possible political interference in Taverner’s hiring. Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake is probing for an alleged violation of conflict-of-interest rules by the premier. ● David Livingston, ex-chief of staff to then-premier Dalton McGuinty, has withdrawn an appeal of his conviction.