“It Would Be Easier for Me Professionally — for Us As a Group — If We Were Able to Speak Freely.”

Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report November 18, 2020

Quotation of the day

“It would be easier for me professionally — for us as a group — if we were able to speak freely.”

A member of the province's public health measures table tells the Globe it's crucial that Ontarians are shown clear criteria for future lockdowns.

Today at Queen’s Park

Written by Sabrina Nanji

On the schedule The house reconvenes at 9 a.m.

The NDP will put forward an Opposition Day motion calling on the Ford government to condemn "the extreme and hateful invective" of Charles McVety and to block any efforts (such as the government's own legislation) to give the Canada Christian College university status.

However, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath won't be in the house to debate her motion.

The NDP had asked for unanimous consent to swap out her motion for another date since Horwath has a foot surgery scheduled at the same time — but the government shot it down.

Later on, PC MPP Deepak Anand will move second reading of his private member's bill aimed at preventing "gas and dash" deaths by requiring customers to pre-pay before filling up at the gas pump. That's Bill 231, Protecting Ontarians by Enhancing Gas Station Safety to Prevent Gas and Dash Act.

The government could also call any of the following bills for morning and afternoon debate:

● Bill 229, Protect, Support and Recover from COVID-19 Act (the omnibus budget measures bill); and

● Bill 213, Better for People, Smarter for Business Act (the red-tape reduction legislation that also gives McVety's Canada Christian College expanded degree-granting powers).

Tuesday's debates and proceedings In the morning, Finance Minister Rod Phillips kicked off second-reading debate on his inaugural budget legislation, Bill 229.

In the afternoon, MPPs granted first reading on a backbench bill to revive ranked ballots and wrapped up second-reading debate on another bill to designate toll highways:

● Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter tabled Bill 232, Local Choice for Local Elections, which would allow municipalities to use ranked election ballots, as long as at least 50 per cent of voters support them.

● NDP MPP Jennifer French's Bill 43, Freeing Highways 412 and 418 Act, could be up for a second-reading vote after today’s question period.

Premier watch Premier Doug Ford was at Queen's Park Tuesday to detail a $37-million moneypot for mental health emergency support. That includes funding to expand mobile crisis teams, hire more mental health and addiction workers, create supportive housing units for recently released inmates, and establish peer support programs for correctional workers.

Meanwhile, stakeholder lobby days have gone virtual thanks to the pandemic. The Police Association of Ontario held its lobby day yesterday, featuring Ford and key cabinet ministers.

Deputy premier wins property sale dispute at Superior Court Health Minister Christine Elliott has won $1,014,990.96 in a legal case against a property developer who was a longtime friend and political donor, after a real estate deal fell through.

According to a Superior Court decision filed on November 9, developer Saverio Montemarano had agreed to purchase a property on Garden Street in Whitby from Elliott for $5 million in 2017.

He backed out when he realized it was zoned for a church, per a long-standing Whitby bylaw; Montemarano had planned to build a retirement home.

Elliott sold the property, which had been her personal residence, for $4.3 million about a year later, and the judge ruled Montemarano must pay her $700,000 in damages related to that discrepancy, as well as $242,950 for a real estate commission she had to pay on the property’s eventual sale (her deal with Montemarano didn’t involve realtors or commissions).

Per the ruling, Elliott is also owed $60,672 in interest she incurred on $3,378,727 in loans and mortgages related to the property and to a Toronto residence she purchased ahead of the Whitby sale’s aborted closing date. Elliott had intended to use the funds from the Whitby land sale to purchase the new property and pay off the loans, the judge wrote.

She was also awarded $10,287 in property carrying costs.

The judge didn't buy Montemaro's argument that Elliott should have revealed the zoning bylaw because they were pals. Montemaro was also friends with her late husband, former Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty, and supported both of their political careers, the decision said.

Montemaro donated $777 to Elliott's PC leadership bid in 2018 and $920 to the PC Party in 2016, according to Elections Ontario's disclosures.

"The defendant's argument that the plaintiff owed him a fiduciary duty to disclose the bylaw is based upon the long-standing friendship which he and the plaintiff had which he describes as one of trust and confidence, which included supporting her and her late husband's political career in the past, as well as family dinners … This is not sufficient to establish a fiduciary relationship," wrote Justice Eugenia Papageorgiou.

The judge also noted Montemaro is a “sophisticated land developer” and “knows how to check zoning.”

Elliott’s office declined to comment on the ruling when asked by Queen’s Park Today.

Today’s events

November 18 at 9 a.m. – Online Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk will release her office’s 2020 environmental reports.

November 18 at 1 p.m. – Toronto Premier Doug Ford will hold his daily press conference at Queen's Park.

Topics of conversation

● Ontario logged another 1,249 Covid cases and 12 more deaths on Tuesday. Testing dropped off majorly; about 26,000 tests were processed, compared to roughly 33,000 the day prior, marking a test positivity rate of 4.7 per cent. Hospitalizations continue to creep up, to 529 admissions, while two more people are in the ICU (127).

● School may be out for winter. Education Minister Stephen Lecce said he'll release a plan for the Christmas break "in the next week or two." Details are scant for now, but it seems likely the PCs will opt to extend the break into January 2021, instead of closing schools earlier in December. It also isn't clear if remote learning will continue while in-person classes may be cancelled over an extended break. Both the premier and education minister have said shuttering schools is a last resort.

● After critics accused her of shirking responsibility to shore up long-term care homes, LTC Minister Merrilee Fullerton was forced to clarify her comments Tuesday. A day earlier, she suggested local medical officers were better suited to take protective measures, because they can act faster than the province. Now, Fullerton says there is a "collaborative" effort with local docs. "Whether it's with infection and prevention control, making sure that the public health units are into our homes immediately … making sure that the integration with the hospitals is done in the most expedient way … looking at how visitors are able to come into the home … all of this is a very cooperative effort," the minister said.

● Jim Karahalios is firing back at Conservative insiders who were critical of his nascent New Blue Party on an episode of TVO's The Agenda.

● The Grits are all but convinced of a snap election in Ontario. In back-to-back fundraising emails this week, the Liberals warned there is "as little as seven months until the next election," which "could be as early as May 2021" — and asked supporters to cough up $10 a month.

Appointments and employments

Ex-CFL commissioner picks up top TVO gig ● Jeffrey Orridge has been named TVO's new CEO. Orridge is a former commissioner of the Canadian Football League, and the first Black chief executive of a major North American sports league. He replaces Lisa de Wilde, who ran the public broadcaster for

14 years until she stepped down in the fall of 2019; acting chief operating officer Jennifer Hinshelwood served in the role in the interim. ○ Education Minister Stephen Lecce said TVO is poised to become a "national leader in remote learning" and Orridge is the perfect fit to steer its mandate. "Mr. Orridge's proven track record as a change agent and leader, coupled with his vast experience in business, non-profit sectors and the media, make him the ideal person to fill this critical role," Lecce said.

Question period

NDP lead-off 'Muzzling' pandemic advisers ● Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath began the morning debate demanding to know the government's thresholds for a full-blown lockdown, should it come to that. ○ She suggested the PCs aren't doing enough to help businesses survive tougher measures, and asked the premier to sign on to her party's proposal for a "circuit breaker" system.

● In response, Premier Doug Ford rattled off business-friendly tax relief policies announced in the budget.

● Horwath followed up on the non-disclosure agreements Toronto Public Health staff had to sign in order to share advice with the provincial Covid command table. "If the premier wants us all to know what he knows, why is he muzzling people that are advising the government?" she said.

● Ford went on a spiel about recent job gains. Pressed by Horwath to rip up the NDAs, Ford said she was being "insulting" to Ontario's medical advisory team.

● Health Minister Christine Elliott chimed in to stress the importance of having a unified voice. "As to the suggestion that every single member of the pandemic table should be coming out with their views … that's not the way this thing works," Elliott said. "You don't have all the directors speaking; you have one representative speaking, and that representative is Dr. [David] Williams."

Massive surgery backlog at Sick Kids ● Health critic France Gélinas asked about delayed pediatric surgeries. Two-thirds of children on the waitlist for surgery at Sick Kids have now missed the window for when their procedures should have been performed. Pre-Covid, that figure was one-third of children. Gélinas blamed the government for "refusing to listen" to medical experts who warned of dwindling hospital capacity.

● Elliott said the situation is "particularly concerning" because it involves children and said the government is working to keep up with surgeries.

Lack of death tweets ● NDP MPP Ian Arthur wanted to know why Elliott's daily Twitter updates for the Covid numbers don't include the death toll.

Independent questions L'affaire McVety ● Liberal MPP John Fraser pounded the premier on the controversy swirling around his close ally Charles McVety, saying Muslim students in his riding are getting the message that their faith is a "threat," in light of McVety's past Islamaphobic comments.

● Ford said he's worked hard to support the Muslim community and mentioned his family took in a Muslim teenager when he was young.

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

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