Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report May 1, 2019 Quotation of the day “Come on up to Toronto, Ontario, and we’ll put you to work.” In a television appearance on Fox Business in NYC Premier Doug Ford tells host Stuart ​ ​ ​ Varney he welcomes Americans to fill jobs in the province. ​ Today at Queen’s Park On the schedule The House sits at 9 a.m. The government could call any of the following pieces of business in the morning and afternoon: ● The time-allocation motion on Bill 100, Protecting What Matters Most Act (Budget ​ ​ Measures); ● A second-reading vote on Bill 100; ​ ​ ● A vote on the budget confidence motion; or ● Third reading of Bill 87, Fixing the Hydro Mess Act. ​ ​ Tuesday’s debates and proceedings MPPs debated the time-allocation motion on the budget implementation bill in the morning. NDP House Leader Gilles Bisson chided the Tories for speeding the omnibus bill through two days ​ ​ of committee hearings. “You have to come to Toronto to be heard,” Bisson said of the localized public hearings. “You would think that the people of Ontario would have fair access to their government, but yet this government has decided yet again not to travel the bill and give it the amount of time that it needs.” PC MPP Vijay Thanigasalam tabled Bill 104, Tamil Genocide Education Week Act, which ​ ​ ​ ​ would proclaim an awareness week in May. The budget confidence motion was debated in the afternoon. In the park The Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, Canadian Society for Yad Vashem, Drinks Ontario and Spirits Canada, and the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs are on today’s lobbyist reception docket. Thousands of protesters flocked to Queen’s Park Tuesday to rally for public health care. “Take your health-care cuts and shove them where there’s no sedation,” one cheeky placard read. ​ ​ Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell had a reception for the Speaking of Democracy ​ ​ ​ exhibition put on by her office. It features 28 quotations about the roots of, threats to, and promise of democracy and is co-produced by the Samara Centre for Democracy. Premier watch Premier Doug Ford and Finance Minister Vic Fedeli made the media rounds to wrap up a ​ ​ ​ ​ two-day business mission to New York City. On Fox Business, Ford shrugged off comparisons to President Donald Trump, invited ​ ​ ​ ​ Americans to fill positions in Ontario's booming job market, trumpeted his open-for-business policies, took a shot at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the carbon tax, and concluded by ​ ​ telling host Stuart Varney, “let’s get Fox up to Canada.” ​ ​ The taxpayer-funded Ontario News Now crew was also in Manhattan to shoot promotional videos of Ford. Ontario’s 28 big-city mayors say PCs ‘downloading by stealth’ Big-city mayors from across Ontario accused the provincial government of “downloading by stealth” and called for a hold on changes to municipal-provincial cost-sharing structures. “This amounts to millions of dollars per year in funding reductions to vital, front-line services including public health, policing, library services, child care, tourism, and flood management,” Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie, chair of the Large Urban Mayor’s Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO), ​ ​ said in a statement on behalf of 28 mayors Tuesday. ​ Coupled with a cap on municipalities’ share of gas tax revenue and changes to paramedic services, the Ford government is “effectively forcing municipalities to consider tax increases or service cuts,” despite the fact the provincial budget boasted no tax hikes, Guthrie said. Cities and towns are learning about the potential changes in “piecemeal fashion” without consultation and after civic budgets have already been approved, he added. The mayors called on the province “to be transparent about its intentions and engage with cities before downloading more services.” They also asked the PCs to postpone implementation to at least 2020 to give municipalities time to consider the changes and consult citizens, and invited Premier Doug Ford and Municipal ​ ​ Affairs Minister Steve Clark to LUMCO’s next meeting. ​ ​ Health Minister Christine Elliott said the government “has every expectation” public health ​ ​ units will still be properly funded as Ontario shifts a larger chunk of the cost-sharing model to municipalities, from the province’s current 75 per cent share of the funding to 60 per cent, and 50-50 in Toronto. “Public health units that don’t benefit from the population size or annual budget that would help effectively respond to this year’s shift in the cost-sharing funding model will be protected from major cost increases. This would include almost all of the public health units that service LUMCO municipalities, as well as those that support rural and northern communities,” Elliott said in a statement. Meanwhile Ford sent a letter to Toronto Mayor John Tory saying he is using “misleading ​ ​ numbers that falsely raise the threat” of certain health cutbacks. It followed Tory’s letter to ​ Toronto-area MPPs on Monday calling out the impact of the changes. ​ Education minister fires opening salvo in teacher contract talks Teachers’ unions are “acting irresponsibly” and “causing fear and anxiety for parents” by not starting the collective bargaining process early, Education Minister Lisa Thompson said on the ​ ​ morning after the earliest possible start date for negotiations. The PCs made a regulatory change to move up the start date as early as Monday; the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation was the only union to take up the offer and filed a notice to kick off negotiations. As for the other unions, Thompson said, “They continue to prioritize their own agenda at the ​ ​ cost of student success and sow seeds of division and doubt.” Contracts expire at the end of August; the deadline to file notice would be 90 days prior, around the beginning of June. But Liz Stuart, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, said there is ​ ​ ​ ​ crucial information outstanding from the government, such as the technical papers that typically come with the Grants for Student Needs funding allocation information. Stuart said those details are needed to determine how the $1.6 billion package for attrition protection will roll out and whether it will impact teacher positions. “We believe we require further information before we do that,” Stuart said in a phone interview. She also took issue with the minister’s remarks. “Whenever you want to invite people to a table, you don’t usually insult them first.” Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said the unions ​ ​ ​ have until the previous contract expires to give notice to begin bargaining. “Consequently, the remarks made by the Minister about the timing of negotiations are unhelpful and, for those who might be unfamiliar with education sector bargaining legislation, likely confusing,” Hammond said in a statement. Thompson also confirmed Premier Doug Ford’s earlier suggestion that future contracts won’t ​ ​ expire on August 31, in an effort to head off possible strike action and disruption just as students go back to class. Today’s events May 1 at 8 a.m. – Toronto ​ ​ Transportation Minister Jeff Yurek will address the Toronto Region Board of Trade and tease ​ ​ upcoming legislation. May 1 at 9 a.m. – Toronto ​ ​ Ken Harrower, a disabled man, will speak to reporters about his human rights challenge ​ against the province and police over the Ontario Cannabis Store, which he argues is discriminatory against people with limited abilities and financial means. May 1 at 11:30 a.m. – Toronto ​ ​ Yasir Naqvi, former Liberal cabinet minister and current CEO of the Institute for Canadian ​ Citizenship, will address the Economic Club of Canada and launch a campaign challenging employers to make their organizations more inclusive for new citizens. May 1 at 7 p.m. – Toronto ​ ​ The government’s first telephone town hall on needs-based autism services takes place this evening. The PCs launched the consultations and backtracked on the controversial changes to ​ ​ the autism program after weeks of public backlash. Topics of conversation ● Carmine Nigro, the real estate developer who landed a patronage appointment as ​ LCBO chair this month, is soliciting would-be donors for a $1,000-a-head fundraising event for Finance Minister Vic Fedeli’s PC Nippissing riding association, according to an ​ ​ email invite obtained by the Globe and Mail. ​ ​ ​ ● The Retail Council of Canada, a powerful lobby group, released a report Tuesday that ​ ​ suggests the Ford government’s plan to expand alcohol sales to convenience and big-box stores could create 9,100 potential new jobs and generate $3.5 billion annually to the provincial economy. ○ Several news outlets have reported that breaking up with the Beer Store could leave Ontarians on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars, and potentially over $1 billion. ○ The report was well circulated by the Tory caucus on social media. ○ Beer Store president Ted Moroz called the Retail Council’s report “wishful ​ ​ drinking,” noting that overall beer sales have dropped since the product was introduced into grocery stores and warning that 7,000 Beer Store employees could lose their jobs if the government pushes ahead with its “needless” and “costly” alcohol sales expansion. ● The Globe digs into the connection between Ontario Proud and federal Conservative ​ ​ ​ Party campaign director Hamish Marshall’s media firm, One Persuades. In last spring’s ​ ​ provincial election Ontario Proud paid $30,510 to One Persuades for two election ads. Ontario Proud founder Jeff Ballingall has also launched Canada Proud, which has set ​ ​ its sights on Liberal PM Justin Trudeau and is actively soliciting contributions from the ​ ​ oil industry, per the Globe. ​ ○ Queen’s Park Today noted Ontario Proud commissioned two TV ads from One ​ ​ ​ Persuades in December. The anti-Kathleen Wynne group (which began ​ ​ targeting the NDP as the June 2018 vote closed in) was largely funded by real ​ ​ estate developers, according to Elections Ontario.