December 10, 2018

Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report December 10, 2018

Quotation of the day

“They changed the goalposts. They changed the rules on the 11th hour of the game here.”

At his maiden first ministers’ meeting in Montreal, Premier Doug Ford sets the tone for Canada’s divisive fight over emissions-reductions targets.

Today at Queen’s Park

On the schedule The House is recessed until February 19, but this morning will be anything but quiet.

Queen’s Park is abuzz with anticipation over the release of budget watchdog Peter Weltman’s updated economic outlook. Weltman will update his budget analysis based on the PC’s latest fiscal update in the Fall Economic Statement, which forecasts a $14.5-billion deficit.

Committees this week On Tuesday the Select Committee on Financial Transparency will meet behind closed doors to draft its final report and recommendations on past Liberal government accounting practices and fiscal decisions. The report is expected to be released Thursday.

The special PC-dominated committee wraps up the government’s three-pronged probe into the former government’s books, which also included Ernst & Young’s line-by-line review of government spending and a report from an independent financial commission of inquiry.

Trudeau, Ford butt heads over climate goals at first ministers’ meeting

Tensions were high and solutions were low at Friday’s first ministers’ get together in Montreal. While the meeting went off without any major drama, Ontario and Ottawa got into a kerfuffle over carbon emissions reduction goals that took centre stage.

“All of a sudden, we have a little surprise in the room. The goalposts got changed,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters Friday.

Ford said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told him Ontario will have to cut greenhouse gas emissions beyond the national targets Ford has already committed to in order to make up for other provinces that don’t meet their targets.

“That sets uncertainty,” Ford said.

The Ontario PCs say their environmental plan will lower Ontario’s emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, without implementing a carbon tax. That matches up with the federal government’s goals but falls below the 37-per-cent mark pledged by the Liberals under Kathleen Wynne.

Trudeau flipped the script back on Ford.

“If anyone is moving the goalposts, it’s Premier Ford,” Trudeau said. “Canada’s targets are national targets, even though the premier may wish to play games with numbers.”

Not all premiers saw things the same way as Ford. When asked by reporters whether Trudeau said some provinces needed stricter targets, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said that was not what he heard.

McNeil said the prime minister did say “others will end up doing more, simply based on what’s happening in their jurisdiction.”

Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna also denied making any changes to climate targets.

The spat comes as Queen’s Park and the House of Commons continue to rail against the other’s climate policies, with Trudeau denouncing Ontario’s recently revealed environmental plan as a “step backwards” and Ford crusading against Ottawa’s “punishing” carbon tax.

Overall, Friday’s meeting got mostly positive reviews from the premiers and prime minister despite the rocky start after Ford threatened to boycott it.

Trudeau and all the premiers signed on to a final communiqué, which is light on details, but underscores commitments to work together to create jobs, grow the economy, knock down interprovincial trade barriers, and reduce carbon emissions (acknowledging each province differs on how to do that).

Quebec Premier François Legault told reporters he is optimistic Ottawa will fork out cash to help his province deal with costs associated with the growing number of irregular border crossers from the United States. Quebec has said Ottawa owes it $300 million; Ontario says its bill is $200 million. Trudeau said he will work with the provinces to ensure extra costs, such as housing, are addressed.

Advocates say Bill 66 could have deadly consequences

Environmental, child-care and labour advocates are warning the PC government’s new Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, could have dire consequences for citizens.

The legislation would make a slew of regulatory changes to child care law, environmental and employment standards, development planning, farming, and cellphone contracts.

The government says Bill 66 is aimed at “eliminating red tape and burdensome regulations so businesses can grow, create and protect good jobs.”

But critics say the potential costs are too steep.

Environmental Defence said the proposed changes “takes us back 40 years” by removing protections to Ontario’s drinking water supply.

“New developments would be exempt from drinking water source protection plans, and could be built regardless of their risk to water,” the advocacy group said in a statement, citing the Walkerton tragedy, the country’s worst-ever E.coli outbreak that resulted in seven deaths and thousands falling ill.

“To make sure it never happened again, we developed source water protections but this bill will give developers a pass on keeping drinking water safe.”

There are also concerns that the bill opens up protected Greenbelt lands to development, which Environmental Defence says will cause “rampant land speculation by developers, resulting in a loss of farmland and the disruption of farm communities” and “will undermine smart growth planning” and create more urban sprawl.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said Bill 66 is a “back door” to developing the protected green space.

“Reducing regulatory costs should not be an excuse to pave over farmland and remove protections for our water,” Schreiner said.

But Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark said the government “remains steadfast” in its campaign pledge to protect the Greenbelt.

“I was clear during the campaign. I listened to the people and we are not touching the Greenbelt. We will protect it and all its beauty,” Premier Doug Ford echoed on Twitter.

Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said her city will not be “compromising their safety or quality of life for speed” by implementing the “open-for-business” zoning bylaws enshrined in Bill 66 that would allow developers to bypass environmental protections.

The Canadian Environmental Law Association said Bill 66 is “the biggest and most significant environmental rollback to occur in a generation in Ontario” and called the changes “an unprecedented and unacceptable attack on legislative provisions which currently safeguard environmental quality and public health and safety.”

Meanwhile, the PCs further stripped the new environmental watchdog office’s powers. According to the Huffington Post, the commissioner (soon to be operating under the Auditor General’s office) will not be required to report on emissions or conservation, and those employees that land jobs at the new office will not be unionized.

Bill 66 also lifts the requirement that employers post employment standards information within the workplace and opens up construction projects at municipalities, hospitals, universities and schools to non-unionized employees, which the Ontario Federation of Labour says will put “worker safety at greater risk and [trample] collective bargaining agreements.”

Child welfare advocates are also raising alarm bells over provisions to allow daycare providers to take care of more infants and toddlers at a time, citing safety concerns.

Today’s events

December 10 – Toronto Premier Doug Ford will spend the better part of the day meeting one-on-one with Ontario mayors at the legislature. Beginning at 9:30 a.m., Ford will meet with London Mayor Ed Holder, Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson Watson, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, Kawartha Lakes Mayor Andy Letham and Oro-Medonte Mayor Harry Hughes. A certain Brampton mayor is not on the list.

December 10 at 10 a.m. – Toronto Financial Accountability Officer Peter Weltman will be in the Queen’s Park media studio to release the FAO’s budgetary and economic outlook for fall 2018.

December 10 at 10 a.m. – Toronto Infrastructure Minister Monte McNaughton and Tourism Minister Michael Tibollo will make an announcement about the Massey Hall revitalization project alongside the federal government at the Pantages Hotel.

December 10 at 10:15 a.m. – Toronto Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Renu Mandhane will release an interim report on her office’s investigation into racial profiling and discrimination by the Toronto Police Service and hold a news conference at their downtown office.

December 10 at 11:30 a.m. – Burlington Health Minister Christine Elliott will make an announcement at Carpenter Hospice.

Topics of conversation

● The Ford administration swiftly axed three government representatives on the Waterfront Toronto board that’s in charge of developing the Quayside smart-city plans, following a damning report from the auditor general about the board’s handling of the project with Google sister company Sidewalk Labs. ○ The Globe and Mail first reported Thursday night that the PC government informed chair Helen Burstyn, U of T president Meric Gertler and prominent investment executive Michael Nobrega that they would be removed from their roles. ○ Infrastructure Minister Monte McNaughton said in a statement the AG’s report “made it clear that oversight needs strengthening. Specifically, the report stated that Waterfront Toronto failed to properly consult with its overseers. This is unacceptable.” ○ All three levels of government can appoint four members to the Waterfront Toronto board; Ontario’s were appointed by the Liberals and the fourth seat has been vacant for over a year since high-profile developer Julie Di Lorenzo stepped down, citing concerns the deal was not in the country’s best interests. ○ This gives the PCs the opportunity to appoint four new representatives to work on the Sidewalks Labs project, which is racked by public opposition and data privacy concerns. ○ NDP MPP Peter Tabuns says he’s worried the premier will use it to “stack the leadership of Waterfront Toronto with his insider friends so he can fully control waterfront development.”

● Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna turned down Ontario Environment Minister Rod Phillips’ request to reallocate the $420 million earmarked for climate change programs the province lost when it cancelled the cap-and-trade system. ○ Despite the fact the Tory government has now introduced its own plan for reducing carbon emissions, McKenna said Ottawa’s Low Carbon Economy Fund will bypass Ontario and give the cash directly to municipalities and organizations, as announced in early November.

● Finance Minister Vic Fedeli is heading to Ottawa Monday to meet with his fellow fiscal ministers. Fedeli’s focus will be on support for workers impacted by GM Oshawa shutdown, federal health transfer payments, the carbon tax and recreational cannabis.

● Elon Musk may be in the market for shuttered GM plants, including Oshawa’s, based on his comments on CBS 60 Minutes. Musk also said his company Tesla isn’t sweating the competition of rival GM beefing up investments for electric vehicle technology.

● Former Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca penned his rebuttal to a scathing report from the Auditor General that says he influenced Metrolinx to inappropriately recommend building two GO stations, one of which is in the riding he represented at the time. Del Duca paints himself as someone who was standing up for constituents and argues that elected officials should take advice from agencies but it’s ultimately up to the government to decide how to invest public money. ○ “I accepted their advice to build 10 stations, and I advised them we would also be approving a station at Lawrence East in Scarborough and at Kirby in Vaughan … My reasoning was simple. I felt their original analysis didn't take into account the explosive population growth planned in Vaughan and Etobicoke, and also didn't reflect that Lawrence East was a key part of Toronto's badly-needed transit network for Scarborough,” Del Duca said. ○ However, the AG’s report noted Del Duca was well within the bounds of the Metrolinx Act to issue a directive telling the provincial transit agency to build the controversial Kirby and Lawrence East GO stations. The AG said doing so would have created more transparency and accountability in the decision-making process. Del Duca chose not to do so and instead got Metrolinx to alter its original recommendations.

● The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 has written to Premier Doug Ford asking him to take immediate action to ensure a smooth transition when the TTC phases out Metropasses for Presto cards at the end of December.

Funding announcements

Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines ● The Burk’s Falls area is getting a cash injection from the province to support an economic development strategy and boost tourism. The government says it’s giving $144,000 to help launch the Missing Link Adventure Tours and Santosha Farm, which “will offer retreat packages for cyclists, family winter activities like cross-country skiing, and meals made with fresh produce.” ○ The Village of Burk’s Falls will also receive $46,890 for the Almaguin Regional Economic Development Plan, with an eye to aligning with nearby municipalities to improve the local economy.

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