Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report November 6, 2019

Quotation of the day

“A premier that sabotages climate solutions cannot be a good builder of national unity.”

Green Leader scoffs at Premier positioning himself as ​ ​ ​ ​ national unifier.

Today at Queen’s Park

On the schedule The house convenes at 9 a.m. The government could call any of the following pieces of ​ legislation for second reading debate in the morning and afternoon:

● Bill 116, Foundations for Promoting and Protecting Mental Health and Addictions ​ Services Act; ● Bill 132, Better for People, Smarter for Business Act; or ​ ● Bill 136, Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act. ​

Tuesday’s debates and proceedings Bill 116 was up for second reading in the morning; Bill 132 was debated in the afternoon. ​ ​ ​

NDP MPP tabled a private member’s bill that would replace and beef up ​ ​ provisions in the French Language Services Act. Bill 137, Franco-Ontarian Community Act, ​ ​ would require the legislative assembly, courts, tribunals, government agencies and public institutions to operate in both English and French; reinstate a standalone French-language services commissioner; and establish a fund to promote the Francophone community.

In the park Author and political satirist Terry Fallis will be signing copies of his new book Albatross at a ​ ​ ​ ​ lunchtime meet-and-greet hosted by Speaker . ​ ​

On today’s reception docket: the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers and Confederation of University Faculty Associations will lobby MPPs over breakfast; the Eczema Society of Canada and the Police Association of Ontario will hold evening receptions.

The Pink Palace is also observing take-your-kid-to-work day.

Top PC staffer indicted with nine counts of U.S. voter fraud when he was a university student, pled guilty to one charge Joshua Workman, chief of staff to Ontario’s Labour, Training and Skills Minister Monte ​ ​ McNaughton, pled guilty to a voter fraud charge in the United States in 2003. ​

Workman, who was raised in London, Ontario, enrolled in Lees-McRae College in North Carolina in 1997 when he was 17, and soon thereafter became active in the campus’ youth Republican group.

Court documents from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, obtained by Queen’s Park Today, reveal Workman was indicted on nine counts of “falsely and willfully” ​ ​ representing himself as a U.S. citizen in order to register to vote and cast a ballot in the May 2000 presidential primary race and the 2002 U.S. general election in Avery County, NC.

He was also charged with lying on his student visa form to gain reentry into the U.S. after being suspended from Lees-McRae. According to court filings, Workman knowingly attributed the name of a fictitious admissions director, Scott Stewart, to his immigration form. ​ ​

In a plea deal, Workman pled guilty one of the voting related charges — falsely claiming he was a U.S. citizen in order to vote in an election — as well as student visa fraud. He was given a $200 fine and sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation.

According to the signed plea agreement, also obtained by Queen’s Park Today, the grand jury ​ ​ charges carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

Since returning to Canada, Workman has had a 15-year-long career as a conservative staffer and campaign operative, but his current role as McNaughton’s chief of staff appears to be the first time he has worked for an elected government.

A spokesperson for Premier Doug Ford’s office told Queen’s Park Today that the Progressive ​ ​ ​ ​ Conservative Party of Ontario has been aware of Workman’s legal history for years.

“When I was a teenager, more than half a lifetime ago, I made some very well-documented mistakes. I was wrong. I admitted it and I’ve taken full responsibility for my actions,” Workman told QPT in a statement. ​ ​

McNaughton defended Workman in a 2007 article in the Sarnia Observer, touting his volunteer ​ ​ service and saying “Workman is a good guy, and as we all know, many teenagers make a mistake or two.”

However, sentencing documents identify Workman’s date of birth as August, 22 1980, making him 22 years old when he cast a ballot in the U.S. general election in November 2002.

The conservative operative is not coy about his foray into Republican politics — or his legal trouble south of the border.

Workman’s detailed Wikipedia page acknowledges the conviction, saying in 2003 he “pleaded ​ ​ guilty to minor charges of providing false information to a federal agency.” The page does not note that the false information he provided was related to voter fraud.

One of the top entries on Workman’s LinkedIn profile boasts that “at age 19, he was elected to ​ ​ attend the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, PA.”

According to the Republican Party of North Carolina’s rule book, only “citizens of North Carolina” ​ ​ can register as party members or be elected delegates. Workman did not respond to questions from Queen’s Park Today about how he achieved delegate status without U.S. citizenship. ​ ​

Under the U.S. electoral system, Republican and Democratic delegates are elected at the state level then travel to their party’s national convention to nominate a presidential candidate.

“If we nominate George W. Bush and he goes on to become one of the great presidents, then I ​ ​ can tell my kids I was there. I was part of the nominating process." Workman told the Associated ​ Press in 2000. ​

Workman’s attendance at the Republican National Convention was well-chronicled by the U.S. press.

In 2000, Indy Week profiled Workman’s wheeling and dealing during the convention in ​ ​ ​ ​ Philadelphia, where he was one of the youngest delegates.

“Hair spiked and gelled, sporting a pierced tongue and a nipple ring, he has been fielding so many party invitations that he has to run a spreadsheet program to keep track of his social calendar,” reporter Barry Yeoman wrote at the time, adding that Workman skied competitively, ​ ​ played lacrosse and was “already a veteran of numerous GOP campaigns.”

Workman told the reporter he had recently become a U.S. citizen.

Yeoman described Workman as representative of “the best and brightest” in a new generation of young Republicans, adding he “might be the most sought-after North Carolinian anywhere in the country.”

In 2000, Workman was also quoted in the Washington Post, warning Bush would harm the ​ ​ electoral future of the Republican Party if he selected a vice-presidential running mate who supported abortion, calling the potential move “insulting to the base.”

Indy Week, the Post and the Associated Press all describe Workman as a North Carolina ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Republican delegate.

Workman served as deputy campaign manager for ex-PC leader Patrick Brown (but stepped ​ ​ ​ aside soon after Brown was accused of sexual misconduct). According to Wikipedia, he also ​ assisted on campaigns for federal-level politicians, including former London-area Conservative MP Bev Shipley. ​ ​

At Queen’s Park, Workman was a staffer for a number of PC MPPs while they were on the Opposition bench beginning in 2004, including , John O’Toole, Ernie Hardeman ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ and McNaughton, according to LinkedIn.

McNaughton promoted Workman to chief of staff after the PCs won the election last summer. At the time, McNaughton was minister of infrastructure. He was shuffled to the labour file in June and was handed the additional skills and training portfolio in October.

The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing U.S. think tank that advocates against voter fraud, lists ​ Workman’s conviction among two dozen other criminal convictions related to ineligible voting or ​ duplicate voting in North Carolina over the past two decades.

Voter fraud is extremely rare in the United States and in Canada. However, south of the border, concern over the practice has led to the passage of voter ID laws that many consider discriminatory.

Lorraine Minnite, a professor of political science at Rutgers University who mentions ​ Workman’s case in her 2015 expert report on voter fraud, says his case is now being used as ​ ​ “propaganda” by organizations like the Heritage Foundation to push for more restrictive voting laws.

“The fact he’s a Canadian or was a young person probably doesn’t make any difference,” Minnite said, in an interview with Queen’s Park Today. “He’s part of the data of evidence of ​ ​ non-citizens registering and voting in the United States.”

Today’s events

November 6 at 9:30 a.m. – Toronto ​ NDP MPP Guy Bourgouin will be in the Queen’s Park media studio to promote his private ​ ​ member’s Bill 125, Making Northern Ontario Highways Safer Act, which would improve ​ ​ standards for winter road maintenance. His PMB is up for second reading tomorrow afternoon.

November 6 around 3:30 p.m. – Toronto ​ Finance Minister Rod Phillips will table the Fall Economic Statement and deliver a speech in ​ ​ the chamber.

Topics of conversation

● Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman gave props to Ottawa Tuesday after China agreed ​ ​ to bring back Canadian pork and beef imports to its borders, ending the suspension that began in June. Hardeman called it “great news for Ontario farmers” and thanked the federal government “for their leadership in resolving this issue.” ○ “While we’re going to continue working towards a resolution for Ontario canola and soybean farmers to have their restrictions removed, we’re grateful to be able to resume exporting our high-quality beef and pork products back into the Chinese market,” the minister said on Twitter.

● The Globe and Mail digs into the PC’s revival of the GTA West highway project and how ​ ​ ​ it may impact future driving patterns, emissions and sprawl.

● All Ontario’s post-secondary institutions complied with last summer’s directive from the Ford government to implement free speech policies, with only one university cancelling an event because of safety concerns in the eight months that followed, according to a fresh report from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. ​ ​

● Ontario’s former lieutenant governor David Onley is recovering following surgery at ​ ​ Sunnybrook to remove a benign brain tumour. Onley is in “good spirits and is grateful to all well-wishers,” said an update from the current LG’s office. ○ Premier Doug Ford offered thoughts and prayers on behalf of Queen’s Park. ​ ​ ​

Appointments and employments PC caucus services bureau ● Ford Nation may be seeing less of Lyndsey Vanstone on their screens. The host of the ​ ​ Ford government’s promo channel Ontario News Now and communications director at PC caucus services bureau has been promoted to executive director, replacing Jeff ​ Silverstein, according to CTV Toronto. ​ ​ ​ ○ Silverstein had been working for Premier Doug Ford since March 2018 when he ​ ​ took over as director of communications for the leader of the official Opposition soon after Ford won the PC leadership. He took on the director role at the caucus bureau last November following John Sinclair’s exit. ​ ​

Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries ● has been named parliamentary assistant to Minister Lisa MacLeod ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ following October’s mini cabinet rejig in which she picked up the Heritage file.

News briefs — governmental Fedeli launches Regional Development Program for businesses ● Economic Development Minister detailed the government’s Regional ​ ​ ​ ​ Development Program, a $100-million, four-year support and service shop for businesses in east and southwestern parts of the province.

Question period

NDP lead-off Long-term care beds ● Official Opposition Leader began question period in typical form by ​ ​ asking about long-term care beds and hospital overcrowding. The NDP have gone hard on the claim that only 21 new beds have been created since the Ford government took office, and that the nearly 8,000 beds the PCs claim have been allocated are just re-announcements of Liberal-era beds that were never built.

● Horwath fired a barrage of questions on hallway medicine, backed up by data obtained through Freedom of Information requests, that show several hospitals around the province are operating at over 100 per cent capacity.

● Health Minister blamed the previous Liberal government for the state of ​ ​ health and long-term care and touted the government’s plan to create 15,000 new beds.

Fundraising off national unity ● NDP Ethics critic asked about Premier Doug Ford’s PC Party ​ ​ ​ ​ fundraising email appeal calling for national unity after what he refers to as the most divisive federal election. “According to an email that he sent supporters, the fabric of the nation itself is at risk unless we send him a toonie,” Natyshak said. He called it a “crass” cash grab and asked if Ford would apologize and return any money raised.

● Premier Doug Ford didn’t take the bait. Instead he pumped up his invite to host his ​ ​ fellow first ministers at a federal election post-mortem in Toronto.

● Ford punted to House Leader on the follow-up, who made a jab about ​ ​ the federal NDP losing its seat in Natyshak’s riding of Essex in the October election.

Independent questions FES funding for social services ● The debate turned rowdy when Liberal MPP asked if today’s Fall ​ ​ Economic Statement will reverse a 1.5 per cent funding cut to social assistance. The Tory benches erupted when Hunter said the PCs inherited a strong economy from her previous Grit government; Hunter also had to withdraw an unparliamentary remark accusing the government of misleading the public about the deficit.

The NDP also asked about lead pipes and a People for Education report showing youth who aren’t employed, in education or training face poorer mental and physical health.

PC friendly questions In responding to a softball from backbencher about businesses in Hamilton, ​ ​ Premier Doug Ford again threw shade at the New Democrats. “Hamilton has been ignored. It ​ ​ has been run by the NDP, the socialists, who destroyed the city for years,” he said.

Ford previously called Skelly the only hardworking MPP in the Hammer, where the NDP otherwise represent entirely.

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

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