April 15, 2019
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Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report April 15, 2019 Quotation of the day “It’s one of the best days ever in politics … We’re turning the corner here in Ontario.” Premier Doug Ford reflects on his government’s “responsible, thoughtful” budget in an interview with the PCs’ government-funded promotional arm, Ontario News Now. Today at Queen’s Park On the schedule The House convenes at 10:30 a.m. for question period. In the afternoon, official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath will be given the opportunity to respond to the budget motion. Eight hours of debate is required before the budget motion — which is a confidence motion — can be put to a vote. The government could also call Bill 74, People’s Health Care Act, or Bill 100, Protecting What Matters Most Act (Budget Measures), for afternoon debate. (That said, the opposition, which unsuccessfully opposed first reading of the budget bill, could put forward a reasoned amendment that would delay second reading on the legislation for two days.) Committees this week Bill 87, Fixing the Hydro Mess Act, goes for public hearings at the Standing Committee on General Government on Monday. The witness roster includes key players in mining and energy. Ray Kindiak and John Ecker will be interviewed about their pending appointments to the Ontario Securities Commission and Ontario Heritage Trust, respectively, on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the public accounts committee will hold a closed session briefing with Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk, as it considers her report on the Liberals’ Fair Hydro Plan. The committee will then hold an open session with health, energy, environment, finance and treasury board ministry bureaucrats and executives from the IESO and OPG. In the park For the first time, a baby was on the floor of the legislature to see a budget tabled. PC MPP Christina Mitas brought her daughter, Cressida, born January 28, to hear the finance minister’s budget speech last Thursday. More highlights from Budget 2019 Finance Minister Vic Fedeli delivered the Ford government’s first budget and tabled the corresponding legislation Thursday. Here are some more highlights and reactions: Lawyers decry 29-per-cent cut to legal aid funding Legal Aid Ontario funding would be reduced by $164 million in 2021-22, and $133 million less than the $456 million it had anticipated this fiscal year. That means funding for immigration and refugee law services would be eliminated. The Ontario Bar Association slammed the “drastic cuts” and said it “will continue to push for protection of the most vulnerable and a recognition of the value of lawyer services.” Legal Aid Ontario CEO David Field said the organization would have to rely on federal funding for refugee services — about $16 million dollars — which doesn’t cover their nearly $45 million in annual costs. The Law Society of Ontario’s treasurer, Malcolm Mercer, said in a statement, “this major reduction in such a short period of time will cause increased court delays and threatens to seriously disrupt the administration of justice.” The agency provides support to low-income Ontarians under a certain threshold. Despite the cut, the 2019 budget says the government is “streamlining the delivery of legal aid.” Indigenous budget Federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett accused the province of deep cuts to the Indigenous ministry budget, saying she was “extraordinarily disappointed” with the “real setback.” The Ministry of Indigenous Affairs funding was $146 million last year, and base funding was reduced this year to $74.4 million, down from $81 million. There is also no allotment for one-time funding, such as land settlement claims, yet. The government previously said that funding would be booked on the ministry’s bottom line if those claims were settled this year. Energy Minister Greg Rickford said Bennett “has chosen to ignore the facts and distort the truth.” First Nations chiefs said the PC’s budget is lacking specifics for Indigenous communities. “We are concerned with the funding reduction for the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs and the impact that it will have on the delivery of programs and services to our First Nations,” Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said in a statement. Fiddler said he will be looking to hear more from the PCs on funding cuts to the children and social services department, investments in mental health and addictions services, and reviewing the Far North Act with an eye to improving northern transportation access to remote communities. Fiddler also said he wants clarity on how existing resource revenue sharing agreements will be implemented. Crown harder to sue The budget bill also includes amendments to the Ontario Proceedings Against the Crown Act, which would make it harder to pursue legal action against the government when it comes to misfeasance and negligence, civil lawsuits and class action lawsuits, among other things. The CBC spoke to experts who say it would be next to impossible to sue the government under the proposed changes. Opposition critics slam fines for anti-carbon-tax sticker scofflaws The PC’s plan to slap as much as $10,000-a-day fine on gas stations that don’t post government-mandated anti-federal-carbon-tax stickers is a “new low,” the opposition says. The Tories’ budget bill would see individuals fined $500 a day on a first offence, and $1,000 for each day after that it still doesn’t display the stickers at gas pumps. Corporations would initially face a $5,000 daily penalty and $10,000 a day after that. “It’s bad enough that he’s wasting public money on partisan promotion, but now he’s threatening private business owners with massive fines for failing to post [a] Conservative Party advertisement. So much for free speech,” NDP energy and climate change critic Peter Tabuns said in a statement. Green Leader Mike Schreiner accused the government of abusing legal tools to give his federal Conservative cousins a leg-up in the October election. “The Premier should be ashamed that he is using excessive fines to force businesses into spreading his anti-climate message. This has nothing to do with transparency and everything to do with helping his federal cousins win the election,” Schreiner said in a release. Today’s events April 15 at 7 a.m. – Maple Finance Minister Vic Fedeli will attend a post-budget breakfast event at the Eagles Nest Golf Club. April 15 at 9 a.m. – Toronto Federal Small Business Minister Mary Ng will make an announcement about women entrepreneurs and participate in a panel discussion at Ryerson University. April 15 at 9:30 a.m. – Mississauga Government and Consumer Services Minister Bill Walker, Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy, Transportation Minister Jeff Yurek and Mississauga East—Cooksville MPP Kaleed Rasheed will make an announcement at a Toyota dealership. April 15 at 3 p.m. – Toronto The Ordre de la Pléiade awards ceremony takes place in the Lieutenant Governor’s Suite. Topics of conversation ● Premier Ford’s chief of staff Dean French has served a notice of libel and slander against Independent MPP Randy Hillier. The notice concerns Twitter posts where Hillier, who was booted from the PC caucus this year, alleged French destroyed ballots during the party’s leadership race last year and was associated with a fraudulent voting scheme during Alberta’s United Conservative Party’s 2017 leadership race. According to the Toronto Star, French’s lawyer Gavin Tighe (who has also served as counsel to the premier and was given a patronage appointment to the public accountants council last fall) wrote to Hillier asking he take down the “unfair, irresponsible, reckless and malicious” tweets and associated comments. ○ Hillier apologized for and deleted one of the “erroneous” tweets Friday. “I linked to a story that alleged an email server named mail.deanfrench.ca had been implicated in a voter fraud scheme in Alberta, and I stated that server was owned by Dean French,” Hillier said in a Twitter post. “This attribution was incorrect, and I apologize for the error. While the email domain mail.deanfrench.com was/is owned by Dean French, (I have received email from him at that domain extension), the ownership of the domain deanfrench.ca cannot be determined, as the information was redacted for privacy reasons.” ○ A government official told the Star French is still pursuing legal action. ● Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé released further details about his office’s takeover of child protection oversight and French language services, which is scheduled to take effect by May 1 as decreed in the PC’s Bill 57. ○ The Board of Internal Economy granted Dubé’s office an annual budget increase of $8.9 million on top of its current $20.4 million annual spending allotment so it can take on 43 new staff to handle the new workload. Despite that, 49 jobs from the Child Advocate’s office are being eliminated, as well as three from the French Language Services Commissioner’s office. The ombudsman’s office will also receive $3.3 million in cash for transition costs. ○ The ombudsman’s office projects its plan will save $3.5 million this fiscal year compared to last year’s estimated costs for the French commissioner and Child Advocate’s office combined. ○ Dubé’s office put out an updated organizational chart with its expanded mandate. ● Toronto Mayor John Tory said he’s “incredibly disappointed” the province’s budget backtracked on a campaign pledge to keep the planned doubling of funding for the municipal gas tax program, the Toronto Star reports. ○ The Liberals had promised to increase gas tax funding to eligible cities and towns with public transit systems by 2022, as part of the consolation prize for Tory after then-premier Kathleen Wynne backtracked on allowing the city to toll its highways.