October 2, 2019

Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report October 2, 2019

Quotation of the day

“That is the exact same platform as Kathleen Wynne, but with canoes.”

Ontario premiers past and present continue to be used against their partisan allies on the federal campaign trail — this time, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer goes after the Liberal platform.

Today at Queen’s Park

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

Summer shakeup at Ontario’s cannabis Crown corp. The Ford government may be on the hunt for as many as four new board members for the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC).

Darrell Bricker decided to step down August 28, roughly three months after he was first appointed, in order to avoid a possible conflict or the appearance of a conflict because his twin brother, former OLG executive Cal Bricker, took over as interim president and CEO of the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) last month.

Bricker is standing in for Patrick Ford — who resigned about a year into the role after getting the OCS off the ground for legalization — while the agency searches for a permanent replacement.

The OCRC is a Crown corp that operates as the OCS, the government’s online recreational pot dealer, and is the sole wholesale supplier of cannabis to private retailers.

Robin Kovitz, who runs gift delivery company Baskits and was appointed as a part-time member of the OCRC board at the same time as Bricker on May 2, tendered her resignation less than two months after on June 25, according to an order-in-council dated September 13. Kovitz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Board members get paid up to $200 a day, with vice-chairs and chairs raking in as much as $250 and $350 per day, respectively. The board is set to meet 12 times during the year with additional meetings scheduled as needed.

The three current members are acting chair Hanoz Kapadia, an accountant; Connie Dejak, president and CEO of the Runnymede Healthcare Centre — appointed earlier this summer — and Michael Smoskowitz, a real estate developer appointed in November. The OCRC board is made up of at least three people and no more than seven. Liberal-era appointments were previously revoked.

Last year, Smoskowitz told the legislative committee tasked with interviewing planned public appointees that he got the gig after being approached by a mutual acquaintance who introduced him to Premier Doug Ford’s then-chief of staff Dean French. “I had a brief chat with Dean, and then he asked me to go online and do all of the applications online.”

Meanwhile, Ontario is considering pulling out of the wholesale pot distribution business and eyeing a Saskatchewan-esque model where licensed producers ship directly to retailers. That’s according to a report from BNN Bloomberg.

The business outlet reports the province is running out of space in its 100,000-square-foot warehouse in Oakville and would likely need to open another warehouse to handle the storage and distribution of edibles and other new products set to hit the market at the end of the year.

The government-run warehouse currently employs around 200 workers. OPSEU head Warren “Smokey” Thomas outed the location of the previously secret warehouse in January during a push to unionize staff.

The province’s online cannabis store would continue to operate even if changes are made to wholesale retail, according to BNN Bloomberg.

OCRC lost $42 million in the last fiscal year according to the recently released public accounts.

TVO CEO Lisa de Wilde stepping down The head of the provincial public broadcaster is moving on to the “next challenge” after 14 years on the job.

TVO CEO Lisa de Wilde announced her departure Tuesday, saying it was an “incredible honour” to lead TVO through a “massive transformation.”

“We have transformed TVO from an analog-based public broadcaster to a borderless, multi-platform digital publisher … But for me, it’s time. Time to allow the next leadership group to step up and lead TVO into the next 20 years,” de Wilde said in a statement posted to Twitter.

Former Tory premier Bill Davis, who established TVO when he was education minister in 1970, lauded de Wilde’s “pivotal” work to bring the broadcaster up to modern times.

“Her leadership has transformed TVO into a modern digital, online and on-demand leader in learning and current affairs. She will be missed,” Davis said in a statement.

De Wilde says she’ll stay on until the end of October when a new CEO will be appointed.

Today’s events

October 2 at 10 a.m. — Toronto CUPE’s Laura Walton will provide an update on ongoing education job action in the Queen’s Park media studio.

Upcoming events

October 15 at 6 p.m. — Toronto Brace for fireworks: Ex-premier Kathleen Wynne and the head of the third-party group often credited with helping her electoral demise, Ontario Proud’s Jeff Ballingall, will be on a panel alongside Independent MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes and Innovative Research’s Greg Lyle to discuss voting trends ahead of federal election day. The event is hosted by U of T’s political science alumni association.

Topics of conversation

● The Ministry of the Attorney General was in appeal court Monday to defend the constitutionality of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA). In January, a lower court ruled the OSPCA, a private charity, was operating like a police force, but without the same transparency and accountability provisions as the cops. The province is appealing the ruling, which granted it one year to redraft its 100-year-old animal cruelty law. ○ The Attorney General of Canada was scheduled to intervene alongside the province, but other groups, including the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario and the Ontario Landowners Association (which launched the initial challenge), were on deck to defend the lower court’s ruling. A lawyer for the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s office told Canadian Press bodies with law enforcement powers should be subject to freedom of information requests. ○ Solicitor General Sylvia Jones passed legislation in June with temporary measures to ensure animal cruelty laws are enforced while the government comes up with a new system, which is expected in the fall.

● “Arts are not efficiencies,” NDP culture critic Jill Andrew said Tuesday at a news conference in which she warned cultural voices stand to be silenced because of the Ford government’s nearly $10-million cut to the Ontario Arts Council. The council has had to make up for the budget hole by scrapping a grant for magazine and book publishers, making it harder for smaller outlets to compensate contributors and stay afloat. ○ Andrew said the move will hurt the industry, put jobs at risk and be a bigger hit to the economy in the long run. “At a time when we need to nurture made-in-Ontario cultural voices, Doug Ford has made reckless cuts that put culture and culture sector jobs at risk.”

● A day after reports Doug Ford is “getting sick of the cheap shots” coming from Justin Trudeau on the campaign trail, the federal Liberal leader once again took aim at the Ontario premier amid educational labour unrest. “I am a parent with kids in the Ontario public system, and I really wish that Doug Ford would spend as much time focusing on my kids,” Trudeau told reporters.

● Feed Ontario, the province’s association of food banks, released a new report entitled The Cost of Poverty in Ontario, which concludes poverty costs the province between $27 and $33 billion per year in lost tax revenues and increased health and justice system costs. The biggest chunk comes from opportunity costs, which account for up to $25 billion in lost wages and up to $3 billion in lost tax revenue. ○ Feed Ontario is calling on the province to reform social assistance, build more affordable housing and create secure, well-paid employment opportunities. ○ Green Leader Mike Schreiner chimed in to renew his call for a universal basic income, “which brings people into the economic fold instead of leaving them out in the cold.” ○ Premier Doug Ford cancelled the Liberal-era basic income pilot last summer midway through its mandate, despite saying during the campaign he would keep it in place.

● Sam Oosterhoff, Ontario’s youngest MPP and the representative for Niagara’s wine country, says he’s “not going to get distracted by a Twitter war” after some craft breweries distanced themselves from his social conservative views following a photo-op at a stakeholder meeting. The Toronto Star has the latest.

News briefs — governmental Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs ● Mystery meat panel: Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman launched a “Meat Industry Engagement Panel” that will “provide a forum for industry representatives to engage with Ministry leadership and staff” on policy — but he isn’t naming who’s on it. ○ A government backgrounder says the new group is meant to build on the province’s relationship with Meat and Poultry Ontario, an industry-led

organization. “Membership is representative of the diversity of Ontario's provincially licensed meat plants, including abattoirs, freestanding meat plants, red meat, white meat, Meat & Poultry Ontario members and non-members.” ○ Hardeman kicked off the panel’s inaugural meeting Tuesday, per a release. ○ The minister’s office could not immediately provide details of the membership. Queen’s Park Today will put out an update when we receive more information.

Ministry of Long-Term Care ● The PCs are more than halfway to fulfilling their commitment to funding 15,000 new long-term care beds over five years, according to a statement from Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton. The province has allocated 7,889 new beds and put out a call to existing non-profit, for-profit, and municipal operators, as well as organizations new to the long-term care sector, to pitch plans to develop the remaining beds. Applications are open until mid-January.

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

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