“I've Never Seen More Like-Minded Premiers Sitting

Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report July 11, 2019

Quotation of the day

“I’ve never seen more like-minded premiers sitting around a table than I did last night at dinner. Everyone’s working together. It’s not about being right or being left or being centre.”

Premier Doug Ford reflects on the ongoing Council of the Federation meeting, where he says job creation and boosting the economy were top of the docket.

Today at Queen’s Park

On the schedule The summer recess is on until Monday, October 28.

Ottawa, Ontario point fingers over Bombardier job losses Parliament Hill and Queen’s Park are playing the blame game — this time over the looming 550 job losses at Bombardier’s Thunder Bay rail-car plant.

In a statement Wednesday, federal Labour Minister Patty Hajdu passed the buck to the Ontario PC government, arguing the province has been too slow to parlay federal cash into transit infrastructure investments.

“Doug Ford sat on his hands and made empty promises. His government let these critical investments lapse. In fact, they took over a year to open up the funding stream that could help Bombardier workers in Thunder Bay. Instead of acting with federal support to save these jobs, they decided to play partisan games with workers’ livelihoods,” said the minister, who hails from Thunder Bay.

Premier Ford fired back that the feds are the ones playing partisan.

“They want to play politics. I’m not here to play politics with the federal government. I’m here to protect the workers in Thunder Bay and I think we’ve proved that,” Ford told reporters in Saskatchewan, ahead of a Council of the Federation meeting with Québec Premier François Legault.

Ford said he bumped up a $130-million contract for 36 new Metrolinx cars in an effort to help keep jobs and suggested Bombardier could win a bid to help build his government’s $28.5-billion GTA transit plan.

He also said Bombardier executives told him the “Buy America policy in the United States is absolutely killing us right now … this is killing our trade.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath chided both governments for the “bickering.”

“Workers in Thunder Bay are worried about how they’re going to keep putting food on their table. Instead of trying to score political points, Ford needs to go to bat for them,” she said.

Meanwhile, Unifor president Jerry Dias called on both Ottawa and Ontario to “step up and make adequate investments in transit.”

Bombardier confirmed it’s set to lay off half of its 1,100 workforce in Thunder Bay as of November 4.

“Today's announcement is not an easy one. However, we remain hopeful that we can secure new work to ensure the commercial viability of the important presence of a northern manufacturing plant," Bombardier head of public relations Eric Prud’Homme said in a statement.

The layoffs are due to the “cyclical nature” of the business as well as the winding down of major contracts for TTC streetcars and Metrolinx’s GO Transit fleet, Prud’Homme said, adding the company has been in discussions with the federal and provincial governments about the future of the Thunder Bay operation since fall 2018.

He also said talks for the potential 36 new Metrolinx cars are still ongoing, despite Ford suggesting a deal had already been inked.

Interprovincial trade, immigration rule the roost at Council of the Federation Ontario Premier Doug Ford sat down with Québec Premier François Legault on day one of the Council of the Federation meeting in Saskatoon Wednesday. The political allies discussed some of Ford’s favourite policies, such as strengthening the economy, cutting red tape and job growth.

The premiers agreed on the need for more economic immigration, calling on Ottawa to set a minimum 65 per cent annual admissions target for immigration candidates who meet labour needs, such as “skilled workers, business people and entrepreneurs.”

They also agree Ottawa needs to step in to compensate the provinces for the fiscal impact of the “influx of irregular border crossers.”

Liberal leadership hopefuls Steve Del Duca and Michael Coteau used the occasion of the Québec-Ontario meeting to call on Ford to take a clear public stance on the Legault government’s “reprehensible” Bill 21, which bans public servants from wearing religious symbols at their places of employment — but the issue was not mentioned in the premiers’ release.

When it comes to internal trade, the two provinces will collaborate on aligning regulations in the transportation sector and reviewing business registration charges.

Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced he is axing half of his province’s exemptions to the Canada Free Trade Agreement, a move that will open up bidding for procurement projects launched by the Alberta Legislative Assembly, Alberta Energy Regulator and Alberta Utilities Commission, among others, to companies from all provinces. Kenney said the change will save money for Alberta taxpayers and encouraged other provinces to do the same.

Ford welcomed the move, saying it will spur job creation and economic growth, but did not commit to taking up Kenney’s challenge.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who is hosting this year’s conference, said interprovincial trade was top priority for the 13 first ministers. Moe said the group also talked about the economy, job growth, and health and mental health care.

Ford touched down in Saskatoon Tuesday with his wife Karla after an unofficial meeting with a smaller contingent of conservative-minded premiers at the Calgary Stampede. He missed out on the traditional meeting with Indigenous chiefs, as he was still en route.

Today’s events

July 11 – Saskatoon The Council of the Federation meeting wraps up today with an afternoon premiers’ presser.

July 11 at 9:30 a.m. – Toronto Liberal MPP Michael Coteau will be in the Queen’s Park media studio to discuss education cuts.

July 11 at 10:15 a.m. – Toronto Green Leader Mike Schreiner will speak to reports in the media studio after wrapping up his 15-city “clean and caring economy” tour.

July 11 at 11 a.m. – Toronto The Toronto chapter of ACORN has a protest scheduled on the Queen’s Park lawn to ask Education Minister Stephen Lecce to roll back cuts. The group contends that under the Ford government, “good education is going to end up being only for rich families.”

July 11 at 11:30 a.m. – Toronto NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care will be in the media studio to share information on the impact of provincial funding cuts on Toronto families.

July 11 at 1 p.m. – Toronto The Disability Channel will hold a media studio presser to discuss employment opportunities for people with disabilities in the digital media industry.

Topics of conversation

● An Ontario judge has shot down a publication ban on a victim impact statement from Minister Lisa MacLeod. Crown prosecutors had asked for the publication ban in the criminal harassment trial of Rebecca Reid, the mother of a child on the autism spectrum who sent MacLeod over 100 emails and many voicemails regarding the controversial autism policy back when she was the minister in charge. ○ Both Reid’s lawyer and Postmedia argued against imposing a publication ban. However, even without the ban, it is unlikely the public will hear from MacLeod on this: The Crown lawyer on the case said the minister would only be willing to provide a victim impact statement “if she can be assured its contents will not be published or broadcast.” ○ Reid has pled guilty to harassment charges.

● Former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Helena Jaczek is jumping into federal politics and making a bid for the Liberal nomination in Markham-Stouffville. Jaczek will face off against current MP Jane Philpott, a fellow doctor, who is running as an Independent after defecting from the Liberals over the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

● The LCBO’s implementation of a new warehouse management system has led to delivery delays and nearly empty shelves at a number of its stores.

● The province has passed a regulation to shut down wpd Canada’s White Pines wind project. The PCs used their first piece of government legislation after taking office last summer to cancel the controversial Liberal-era wind turbine project in Prince Edward County.

○ At the time, then-government house leader Todd Smith, who represents the riding where construction on the project was already in progress, said it was “not welcome in that community, never has been.” ○ The White Pines Termination Act, part of Bill 2, forced wpd Canada to decommission the project and clean up the land, and revoked its right to sue the government or the IESO for breaking the contract, but it also left the company eligible to receive compensation. ○ A spokesperson for Energy Minister Greg Rickford said compensation is still being determined. The Canadian Press reported last summer nixing the project could leave Ontario on the hook for over $100 million.

● Environmental advocates are lauding Jerry DeMarco’s appointment as environmental commissioner within Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk’s office, which took up some of the duties of the standalone watchdog office when the PCs nixed it. ○ DeMarco is an environmental and policy law expert who has headed up the Environmental and Land Tribunal as well as the Conservation Review Board and Environmental Review Tribunal.

News briefs — governmental Ministry of Children and Youth Services ● The ministry has designated Dnaagdawenmag Binnoojiiyag Child & Family Services as an official Indigenous Children's Aid Society. The facility is located in Hiawatha, 20 kilometres south of Peterborough, and will be tasked with improving “outcomes and opportunities” for Indigenous children and youth in Durham, Highland Shores, Kawartha-Haliburton, Simcoe Muskoka and York Region.

Oops! Tuesday’s edition of Queen’s Park Today incorrectly reported that Québec will intervene in Saskatchewan’s Supreme Court case against the federal carbon backstop by siding with Ottawa. In fact, Québec is intervening on Saskatchewan’s behalf alongside Alberta and Ontario.

The province says its motive is to protect provincial autonomy, however some politics watchers speculate the francophone province is concerned its cap-and-trade system will soon no longer meet the standards of the federal government’s carbon program, should the price of carbon credits in its joint carbon market with California slip.

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

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