Queen's Park Today – Daily Report September 26, 2018

Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report September 26, 2018

Today at Queen’s Park ...... 1 Topics of conversation ...... 4 Today’s events ...... 5 Appointments and employments ...... 5 Question period ...... 5

Quotation of the day

“I totally denounce — I repeat, denounce, denounce, denounce — anyone who wants to talk hate speech.”

Premier Doug Ford responds to the NDP’s demand that he denounce Faith Goldy by name after posing for a photo with the ex-Rebel Media commentator and far-right Toronto mayoral candidate.

Today at Queen’s Park

On the schedule MPPs will reconvene at 9 a.m. for question period.

During morning and afternoon debate, the government could call any one of the following pieces of business: • Bill 4, Cap and Trade Cancellation Act; • Bill 32, Access to Natural Gas Act; • Bill 34, Green Energy Repeal Act; • The government’s standing orders motion; or • The government’s Financial Transparency committee motion.

The House will sit for one extra hour on Wednesday afternoon, thanks to a motion from PC MPP Stephen Lecce. MPPs will return to the Chamber in the afternoon at 2 p.m. rather than 3 p.m.

Tuesday’s debates and proceedings

Finance Minister Vic Fedeli put forward a government motion to strike a Select Committee on Financial Transparency that will look into the accounting and decision- making processes behind the Liberal government’s “fair hydro plan” and other fiscal “schemes.”

2 September 26, 2018

NDP House Leader Gilles Bisson put forward an amendment that would allow the committee to also probe decisions made by “the current government to date” as part of its investigation, and to allow any member on the committee to call witnesses. The motion was debated in the morning and the afternoon.

There was a special “late show” debate at 6 p.m. in regards to the premier’s response to NDP questions about him denouncing Faith Goldy. Premier Doug Ford’s parliamentary assistant Stephen Lecce responded to the NDP on Ford’s behalf.

In the park

In the morning, the Share the Road Cycling Commission will hold an MPP breakfast. In the evening, NBCUniversal will hold a reception for MPPs. Life Sciences Ontario has a lobby day scheduled, which includes a morning reception.

PC’s climate-change plan ‘much too weak,’ environmental commissioner says

The progress Ontario has made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the past decade could be reversed under the PC government’s policies, warns Environmental Commissioner Dianne Saxe.

In a scathing report tabled Tuesday, Saxe blasted the current government’s move to dismantle Ontario’s cap-and-trade system with no effective replacement in site.

“Most of the cap and trade money was funding energy efficiency programs in Ontario communities — in schools, public housing, transit and hospitals for example — that would have reduced GHGs and saved millions of dollars in energy costs,” Saxe said at a news conference.

She added Bill 4, the Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, is “much too weak” because it lacks effective climate-change provisions for emissions targets.

Environment Minister Rod Phillips disagreed, stressing the Ford government was voted into office because Ontarians wanted an end to carbon pricing.

“As I said to [the commissioner] directly when we met, respectfully, we do not take well to folks telling us that we should not live up to the promises that we made,” Phillips told reporters after question period.

He said Bill 4 specifies there will be emissions targets and reiterated a climate-change plan will be released in the fall.

“And I guess she will judge us based on that plan,” he said.

NDP critic Peter Tabuns said cancelling Ontario’s climate change plans without an alternative creates uncertainty and allows polluters off the hook.

“Big polluters should pay for pollution, and be incentivized to green their operations. But instead of ensuring that happens, [Premier] Doug Ford ripped up contracts, cancelled environmental programs, and took Ontario out of the carbon pricing market,” Tabuns said in a statement.

On the election campaign trail this spring, now-Premier Ford vowed to scrap the former Liberal government’s cap-and-trade market and to fight Ottawa’s carbon-pricing plan for provinces that don’t have one.

‘Line-by-line review’ shows health care, education top spending; recommends selling off assets to grow provincial purse

Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy says a “line-by-line review” of government spending over the 15-year Liberal reign found the province’s operating expenses increased by 55 per cent.

The increase outpaced Ontario's population growth by 1.9 per cent, according to the review conducted by Ernst & Young Canada.

The growth in spending is owed almost entirely — 99.8 per cent — to transfer payments to the broader public sector, with health care, education and economic development topping the list. That includes transfers to hospitals and universities.

The report recommends changing how the province funds those institutions.

“The opportunity for Ontario is to engage in a comprehensive review of its various funding models and to introduce the notion of an ‘efficient price’ for services in as many cases as possible,” it states.

The report also suggests selling off all or parts of certain provincial assets including Crown lands and “government business enterprises” — such as the LCBO, Ontario Power Generation and Ontario Lottery and Gaming — “to generate a one-time cash payout.” The report, which is wide-reaching in its recommendations, suggests “means- testing” services, changing rules for public service overtime pay and making more services “digital-first.”

Bethlenfalvy did not commit to or rule out any of the recommendations in the report, and he reiterated it was not a “blueprint for cuts.”

Ernst & Young’s report comes on the heels of the finance minister’s commission of inquiry into past Liberal government spending, which revised this year’s deficit to $15 billion.

Opposition critics raised concerns that work will pave the way for cuts to the public service, calling it “political theatre.”

Topics of conversation

• Ontario Chief Coroner Dirk Huyer released a report calling on the need for changes to the child welfare system after investigating the deaths of 12 children, 8 of whom are Indigenous, while in state care.

• First Nations leaders in northern Ontario are renewing the call for a national youth suicide prevention strategy after NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa told the legislature about Karlena Kamenawatamin, a 13-year-old girl in Bearskin Lake First Nation who died by suicide last week.

• According to a new Angus Reid poll, Ontarians are the least confident in their provincial government’s preparedness for cannabis legalization. Only 36 per cent of respondents think the Ontario government will be ready to facilitate recreational cannabis sales by the October 17 deadline.

• Ontario midwives won a Ontario Human Rights Tribunal decision Monday, which officially recognized midwifery as a profession subject to unfair pay discrimination.

• Humans of Basic Income, a portrait series, opened Tuesday night at Black Cat Artspace in downtown Toronto. The exhibition features “the stories of people whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by [Premier] Doug Ford.”

• Gavin Tighe, a long-time Ford family lawyer who represented late former Toronto mayor Rob Ford in lawsuits he faced while in office, was approved as member and chair of the Public Accountants Council of Ontario after being interviewed by both PC and NDP MPPs on the Standing Committee on Government Agencies Tuesday. o The committee, on which the PCs have a majority, can only express support or lack of support for appointments in a report that’s tabled in the House. The Public Appointments Secretariat has the final say.

• Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath was in the Ottawa area Tuesday to survey damage caused by last week’s tornado. Horwath thanked first responders, medical staff, Red Cross volunteers, aid workers and hydro crews. o “I saw first-hand the incredible destruction caused by the tornadoes, and also was inspired to see neighbours helping neighbours — providing food, shelter and a helping hand to families that lost so much,” Horwath said in a statement. o Premier Ford visited the region Sunday and said he would “spare no expense” to aid in disaster relief. o The province also activated an assistance program to help residents deal with the cost of damages.

September 26 at 9 a.m. – Toronto

Liberal MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers will discuss her private member’s bill about the human rights code in the Queen’s Park media studio.

September 26 at 9:30 a.m. – Toronto

OPSEU president Warren “Smokey” Thomas will respond to the “line-by-line review” of government spending in the Queen’s Park media studio.

September 26 at 10 a.m. – Toronto, Macdonald Block, Ontario Room

Labour Minister Laurie Scott will make an announcement.

September 26 at 3:30 p.m. – Toronto, Ryerson University

Toronto Star columnist Martin Regg Cohn will host a panel on “How the Ontario Election was Won” featuring campaign heavyweights: the PC’s Kory Teneycke, NDP’s Michael Balagus, the OLP’’s David Herle and the Green Party’s Becky Smit.

Appointments and employments

Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care • Melanie Fraser is the Ministry of Health’s new Associate Deputy Minister, Delivery and Implementation. Fraser has previously held positions at the Chief Coroner’s Office, Treasury Board Secretariat and Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. o She replaces Nancy Naylor.

Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services • Deputy Minister Matt Torigian is leaving the public service for a position at the Munk School’s Global Justice Lab. He will lead an international initiative on global policing. His last day at the ministry is October 26.

Question period

NDP lead-off Pension accounting • The Official Opposition asked if the premier will stick to the auditor general’s treatment of pension plan surpluses, which revises the projected deficit to $15 billion from $6.7 billion under the former Liberal’s accounting. The finance minister’s commission of inquiry into the province’s books recommended the government adopt the AG’s standard on a “provisional” basis until an agreement is reached.

o Premier Doug Ford called it “a lob ball question” but was not clear in his response. o “Unlike the Liberals, we respect the auditor general. We respect working with the auditor general. For the first time in recent memory, everyone’s numbers line up,” he said.

Denouncing mayoral candidate • For the second day in a row, Ford was asked to denounce Faith Goldy by name after posing for a photo with the ex-Rebel Media commentator, now- far-right Toronto mayoral candidate at Ford Fest last weekend. o Ford did not mention Goldy’s name but said repeatedly there is “zero tolerance” for “all hate speech … I totally denounce — I repeat denounce, denounce, denounce — anyone who wants to talk hate speech.”

• NDP MPP John Vanthof fired back, “You need to say her name … People need to hear from your mouth that you do not endorse Faith Goldy.” o The NDP have been calling the photo a “de facto endorsement” and called on Ford to apologize.

The NDP also asked about potential cuts to the education sector to offset the $15-billion deficit; community safety and gun violence; funding for the Huron Central Railway in northern Ontario; the twinning of Highway 3 in the Windsor area; and the Elizabeth Wettlaufer inquiry.

Liberal question French services • To mark Franco-Ontarian Day, Liberal MPP Marie-France Lalonde asked about access to French language services.

PC friendly questions The PCs also asked themselves questions about access to french language services; the external line-by-line review of past Liberal government spending; the death of the Green Energy Act; and natural gas expansion.