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“No Surprises.” Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report January 21, 2020 Quotation of the day “No surprises.” Premier Doug Ford promises a predictable spring budget for municipalities. ​ ​ Today at Queen’s Park On the schedule The house is in winter recess until February 18, 2020. ROMA 2020: Premier assures municipalities ‘no surprises’ in budget Premier Doug Ford promised municipalities won’t be caught off guard by its upcoming fiscal ​ ​ plan, unlike with last year’s budget, which made retroactive funding cuts and prompted a wave of backlash from local politicians. In keeping with the new, more collaborative tone from his government, the premier went off-script in telling the mayors, councillors and reeves at the annual Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference that there will be “no surprises” in the PC’s second spring budget. “I’ve told my caucus and our ministers — no surprises. No surprises to municipalities. Just lay it on the line, get their input,” Ford said Monday at the Sheraton Centre Hotel in Toronto. “I walked a mile in your shoes, I was a municipal councillor. And nothing I hated more [was] when the province would come up and say, do this, do that,” he went on to say, stressing a desire for open dialogue with local leaders. The promise comes after the Ford government — under mounting pressure from local politicians — was forced to walk back retroactive cuts to municipal funding for public health, child care and paramedic services that were made in last April’s budget. Soon after changing course on the retroactive cuts that May, Ford also shook up his front bench, demoting budget architect Vic Fedeli from the finance to economic development file, ​ ​ and recruiting Rod Phillips to steer the province’s fiscal blueprint. ​ ​ At ROMA, Ford boasted about making it rain infrastructure cash and pumped up other rural-friendly policies, such as expanding broadband coverage and access to natural gas. “We’re giving a ton of money away. I feel like Santa Claus,” Ford said. The premier also repeated his line that rural Ontario didn’t have a voice at Queen’s Park until his government came to power, calling those constituents “the real people.” Caledon Mayor Allan Thompson, who chairs ROMA, lauded the PC government for its ​ ​ renewed approach to local governments. “We appreciate that the province has listened and reset its approach to our key priorities,” Thompson said in his opening remarks Sunday. But for Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, Ford’s latest pledge isn’t enough to offset ​ ​ past cuts, namely $100 million planned for the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund. “Ford is dumping more financial pressures onto municipalities, while cutting services, and it’s families who will end up paying the price,” Horwath told the crowd at the ROMA conference Monday. Phillips, Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman, Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark and ​ ​ ​ ​ Health Minister Christine Elliott also addressed the conference Monday. ​ ​ ​ ​ Phillips confirmed the $500-million Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund, the general grants that primarily support rural and northern communities, will hold steady in fiscal 2021. (That’s down from the $510-million earmarked for the program in 2018.) ROMA 2020: 21 questions from the ministerial ‘bear pit’ Here are some highlights from the ministers’ forum, otherwise known as the “bear pit,” where local politicians got the chance to grill the premier’s executive council on provincial policy. ● “Top of mind” for Health Minister Christine Elliott is to hear more ways to improve the ​ ​ hospital funding formula to better support smaller rural facilities that provide obstetric services. ○ Elliott also said she was open to hearing more about how the government could tackle concerns about the rising costs associated with private testing labs for non-civic well-water projects. ● Asked about shifting all Blue Box recycling responsibilities over to producers, Environment Minister Jeff Yurek maintained the government will establish strong targets ​ ​ and penalties for scofflaws. Yurek also disputed a Toronto Star report about diminished ​ ​ ​ oversight powers at the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority, insisting that “we ​ haven’t paused anything.” ● Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman suggested dozens of civic governments have ​ ​ passed resolutions backing the PC’s Bill 156, a popular proposal among the rural crowd. ​ ​ ○ The legislation would better shield farmers from trespassers, but animal rights groups have warned it will muzzle activists who want to blow the whistle on abuse. ● Pressed on property tax rebates to farmers, which one local politician noted disproportionately affects rural communities, Finance Minister Rod Phillips pointed to ​ ​ the government’s ongoing property tax review. ● Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark said he’s still paring down municipal reporting ​ ​ requirements to the province, on top of the previously announced 93 changes. Today’s events January 21 at 9:40 a.m. – Toronto ​ ​ NDP Leader Andrea Horwath will join Catholic teachers on the picket line outside Our Lady of ​ ​ Lourdes School on Sherbourne Street. January 21 at 11 a.m. – Windsor ​ ​ Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli will make an announcement at Precision Stamping ​ ​ Group. January 21 at 6 p.m. – Aurora ​ ​ Finance Minister Rod Phillips and area MPPs Christine Elliott and Michael Parsa will host a ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ pre-budget consultation at the Aurora Cultural Centre. ● Oops! Phillips’ parliamentary assistant Stan Cho held a consultation meeting in ​ ​ ​ Kingston last Friday, not yesterday, as erroneously noted in Monday’s issue. Topics of conversation ● All six candidates vying to lead the Ontario Liberals took to the debate stage in Ottawa Monday night, touching on a raft of issues including the non-profit sector, public and post-secondary education, French-language services and ways to better engage grassroots partisans, a top complaint following the Liberals’ historic election defeat in 2018. ○ Former MPP and current MP Marie France Lalonde moderated, and new Liberal ​ ​ MPP Amanda Simard was in tow. Simard, meanwhile, has faced resistance ​ ​ from within her new party at the riding level, the Toronto Star reports. The Liberal ​ ​ ​ ​ riding association in Glengarry—Prescott—Russell unanimously rejected the Simard’s appointment and demanded she face a contested nomination contest for the chance to fly the Grit banner in the next election. Incumbent MPPs are rarely challenged in nomination races. ○ The six candidates also got the political LEGO treatment. ​ ​ ○ OLP has three more formal debates scheduled in Sudbury, Markham and Toronto before the March 7 delegated convention in Mississauga. ● With all four teachers’ unions engaged in job action this week, including rotating strikes at elementary, secondary and Catholic schools, Education Minister Stephen Lecce told ​ ​ reporters he’s raring to get back to the bargaining table and reiterated his invitation to unions to enter private mediation, which is how the government locked down the deal with CUPE last year. ○ Lecce’s office said it had received 139,749 applications for the child care subsidy as of Monday afternoon. ○ However, some parents are vowing to donate the cash, up to $60 per day, to teachers, according to Global News. ​ ​ ○ Meanwhile the Toronto Star reports a “historic” number of teachers who were ​ ​ ​ ​ employed last year remain without a job, including more than 150 in Toronto and Halton school boards. ● Metrolinx’s P3 procurement model carries too much risk for companies bidding on the contract to carry out the largest phase of GO Transit’s $16.8-billion expansion plan, according to documents unearthed by the Toronto Star. ​ ​ ● Ontario’s most vulnerable youth are being “retraumatized” by the province’s child protection and justice systems, per a new research report from a justice court judge and ​ ​ a professor at Ryerson. ● Cannabis edibles are flying off shelves at the online Ontario Cannabis Store. As of Monday afternoon, there were zero edibles, beverages, baked goods or any other newly legalized products available. Since they were put up for sale a week ago, the OCS has been selling out of edibles within hours. ​ ​ ● Animal Justice called the PC’s proposal to make the spring black bear hunt permanent a “death warrant for innocent baby bear cubs” whose mothers could be gunned down by hunters as they emerge from hibernation. The Canadian Press has the story. ​ ​ ​ ● Liberal leadership contender Steve Del Duca’s campaign team says it’s raked in over ​ ​ $400,000. Del Duca also scored an endorsement from Murray Elston, a cabinet ​ ​ minister under David Peterson and the Ontario Liberal Party’s interim leader in 1991. ​ ​ ○ Fellow candidate Michael Coteau clocked two more high-profile supporters in ​ ​ recent days: ex-Liberal MPPs Linda LeBourdais and Steve Mahoney. ​ ​ ​ ​ ● Why can’t we have fire trucks with a “Baby Shark” siren and fire hoses that shoot sparkles? It was no ROMA-style “bear pit,” but Green Leader Mike Schreiner also faced ​ ​ ​ tough questions from grade school students in his Guelph riding last week. ​ Appointments and employments ● Environment Minister Jeff Yurek is losing his chief of staff Jan O’Driscoll to the private ​ ​ ​ ​ sector, Queen’s Park Today has confirmed. Sources tell QPT O’Driscoll is headed for ​ ​ ​ ​ Rubicon, the consulting firm run by longtime conservative strategist and key member of Doug Ford’s 2018 and 2022 election campaigns, Kory Teneycke. An official ​ ​ ​ announcement is expected next week. ○ One of the sources said Liam O’Brien is poised to take over as chief of staff to ​ ​ Minister Yurek. O’Brien is currently Yurek’s deputy chief of staff. ○ Public servants like O’Driscoll are subject to a one-year cooling off period before they can register to lobby the specific public offices at which they worked. 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.
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