Queen's Park Today – Daily Report September 17
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Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report September 17, 2018 Today at Queen’s Park .............................................................................................. 1 Topics of conversation .............................................................................................. 4 Todays events ........................................................................................................... 5 Appointments and employments ............................................................................... 5 Quotation of the day “There’s a can of worms that’s been opened up, there’s no question about that.” During an overnight sitting of the House, Government House Leader Todd Smith speaks in support of Bill 31 during a rare midnight sitting. Today at Queen’s Park On the schedule After about seven hours of overnight debate, MPPs will reconvene at 10:30 a.m. for question period. The House is likely to adjourn after question period so members can head to Chatham for the International Plowing Match. Tories call midnight sitting to push through Toronto council-cutting legislation MPPs sat at 12:01 a.m. last night to begin second reading debate on Bill 31, Efficient Local Government Act, the PC’s revised legislation reducing the number of Toronto wards from 47 to 25 and invoking the Charter of Rights and Freedom’s notwithstanding clause. The bill received the requisite 6.5 hours of debate on that stage and can now subject to a time allocation motion. It was a wild all-nighter. Hundreds of protesters could be heard chanting and banging on the walls of the legislative building from inside the chamber. “Let us in!” and “Whose house? Our house!” and “Notwithstanding, we’re here standing!” they shouted all night as half a dozen police officers blocked the entrance to the legislature. Less than two hours into the midnight sitting the one public gallery that had been in use was cleared out by security after rowdy, sometimes profane heckling that forced the Speaker to call a 10-minute recess. 2 September 14, 2018 Government House Leader Todd Smith acknowledged at one point that a “can of worms” had been opened up and said invoking Section 33 of the Charter was a “rare response.” Premier Doug Ford spoke in the House at 6:15 a.m. During debate, the government and official opposition mostly stuck to their key hits. The PCs maintained cutting Toronto council nearly in half would streamline the decision- making process and save taxpayers $25 million over four years, and invoking the notwithstanding clause is a “tool in the toolbox” to do that. The New Democrats called the notwithstanding clause a “nuclear option” and a “slippery slope” and contended the premier’s obsession over Toronto council is “dividing our city.” Around 2:30 a.m. NDP MPP Peter Tabuns moved to adjourn, triggering a 30-minute bell and vote as a way to delay debate. It failed, 67-24. The New Democrats request that the Speaker find Bill 31 in violation of the standing orders was also shot down. On Saturday, NDP House Leader Gilles Bisson argued Bill 31 is a “mirror copy” of Bill 5 — the government’s first council-cutting legislation that Justice Edward Belobaba ruled unconstitutional last Monday — and therefore cannot be re-tabled in the same legislative session. Speaker Ted Arnott sided with the government and said the revamped legislation was “sufficiently different” from its predecessor and the debate could go on. An order-in-council for the overnight sitting was signed Saturday after a rare 45-minute sitting. Premier Ford is attempting to push through the cuts to Toronto council as the October 22 municipal election draws near. Toronto’s city clerk Ulli Watkiss has said it’s becoming “virtually impossible” for her office to carry out a fair election under the tight timeline and uncertainty about the number of wards to prepare for. Smith unsuccessfully tried to get unanimous consent to pass Bill 31 Saturday — with the opposition parties loudly shutting down his motion. There was not enough time to pass an order-in-council to bring the House back Sunday, so MPPs sat from just after midnight Monday until around 7 a.m. Bill 31 could also become obsolete Tuesday when a panel of provincial appeal court judges will decide whether to accept Attorney General Caroline Mulroney’s request for a stay against Belobaba’s ruling on Bill 5. If the appeals court rules in Mulroney’s favour, there would no be a need for the Tories to invoke the notwithstanding clause and Toronto’s election would be carried out with 25 wards. Demonstrators also rallied Saturday. Writer and activist Desmond Cole organized a picnic and soccer game on the south lawn. Former NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo (Parkdale—High Park) interrupted Smith’s press conference, telling the minister “you’re better than this.” DiNovo was also booted from the visitors gallery Monday for heckling MPPs. Copyright © 2018 Queen’s Park Today queensparktoday.ca 3 September 14, 2018 Environment minister outlines legal arguments against Ottawa’s carbon tax plan Ontario will argue in court that the federal government’s carbon pricing plan is unconstitutional, according to documents filed in court Friday. Environment Minister Rod Phillips has filed a reference case with the Ontario Court of Appeal arguing Ottawa is overstepping its jurisdiction by putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions because “provinces are capable of regulating greenhouse gas emissions themselves.” “Greenhouse gases are caused by a wide range of activity and are not the kind of single, indivisible matter that the federal government can regulate as a ‘national concern,’” states a government backgrounder. The province also claims Ottawa’s plan imposes “unconstitutional, disguised taxes” because “the act does not require the funds to be used for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.” Ottawa’s carbon price backstop would return the revenues it generates back to the provinces that collect them — but does not require that they use the funds to fight climate change. According to the Tories’ legal argument, this violates Section 53 of the Constitution Act because “there is not a sufficient link between the charges and the stated regulatory purpose.” Greenpeace Canada filed a legal challenge against the province over the cancellation of cap-and-trade last Tuesday. Later that day, the government committed to holding public consultations on the matter until Oct. 11. Ontario opposes proposal to ban certain embedded mutual fund fees The PCs shot down a proposal that investment regulators say would make certain fees consumers pay for mutual funds more “transparent.” Finance Minister Vic Fedeli claims the proposal from the Canadian Securities Administrators and Ontario Securities Commission “will discontinue a payment option for purchasing mutual funds that has enabled Ontario families and investors to save towards retirement and other financial goals.” Regulators had consulted on the elimination of deferral sales charges, which charge investors if they sell a mutual fund fewer than seven years after buying it, for six years before issuing the proposal Fedeli opposes last Thursday. “Our government does not agree with this proposal as currently drafted,” Fedeli said in a news release last week, adding the government is willing to explore alternatives with the investment community. Copyright © 2018 Queen’s Park Today queensparktoday.ca 4 September 14, 2018 Topics of conversation • In an interview with Global News host Mercedes Stephenson, Premier Doug Ford said he is going to make sure all of Ontario’s municipalities are held accountable for their spending. o “We’re going to hold governments accountable in over 460 towns in this province to make sure they maximize their budgets in the best way they can to respect the taxpayers,” Ford said. o There are 444 municipalities in Ontario. • Labour Minister Laurie Scott penned an op-ed in Friday’s Financial Post to re-up the premier’s pledge to freeze Ontario’s minimum wage at $14 an hour. Scott said the former Liberal government’s promise to roll out a $15 minimum wage was “crassly political” and “designed to foster division and buy votes.” o Ontario Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Rocco Rossi lauded Scott’s piece in a statement, calling it an “excellent first step towards alleviating the burden felt by Ontario businesses.” o The next day the Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign held rallies in more than a dozen cities across the province in support of a higher base wage. “The majority of Ontarians — including people who voted for Ford — expect the government to stand with workers they don’t want the new government to cave in to pressure from corporate elites who clearly don’t have community interests at heart,” president of the Ontario Federation of Labour Chris Buckley said in a joint statement. • The architects of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms joined the chorus of those decrying the Ford government’s use of the notwithstanding clause, arguing that it was only intended to be used in “exceptional situations” with “careful consideration. o Former prime minister Jean Chrétien, former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry and ex-Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow issued a scathing statement Friday and urged the Tory caucus to take a stand. o “History will judge them by their silence,” the former politicians said. • The NDP held a caucus retreat Friday and provincial council meeting Saturday. Leader Andrea Horwath told fellow New Democrats in a speech the party would stand up to the Ford government’s “anti-democratic” “grudge match” against Toronto council, and focus on “real” problems like health-care wait times, school repairs and job losses. • Ontario Greens still like having Mike Schreiner at their helm. The Green Party of Ontario captain got near unanimous approval — 99.2 per cent — during a post- election leadership review at the party’s convention in Barrie this weekend. You can watch Schreiner’s keynote address here. • More than 400 legal experts have signed an open letter calling on Attorney General Caroline Mulroney not to back the use of the notwithstanding clause.