Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report July 24, 2020 Quotation of the day “This weekend it reminds me it's six months since our first positive case … Everyone's made big sacrifices, but we're only coming down out of the first wave." Ontario top doc David Williams takes stock. ​ ​ Today at Queen’s Park On the schedule The house is adjourned until Monday, September 14. Premier watch Premier Doug Ford's summer tour touched down in Brampton Thursday, where he highlighted ​ ​ a $500-million envelope for school infrastructure this year, which will bankroll 30 new schools and expand 15 existing ones. Ford made the announcement alongside Mayor Patrick Brown. ​ ​ But that funding doesn't exactly address what school boards are in dire need of: millions of ​ dollars in unbudgeted funding to cover the costs of keeping students safe in the fall, including ​ daily bus rides to school and back. Critics, including the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, pointed out the $500 million was actually a re-announcement of previously allocated long-term investment capital. Frustrated parents and boards will finally get details on back-to-school plans and funding next week, just five weeks out from the start of the academic year, Education Minister Stephen ​ Lecce said. ​ "We're finalizing the health protocols, working very closely with the chief medical officer, some of the best pediatric minds in the nation that are informing the plan," the minister told reporters, adding it will include “additional supports and resources” for boards. That said, boards were given until August 4 to hand in three-pronged plans for a fully remote, in-person or hybrid model. Lecce initially directed boards to focus on a hybrid, but Ford has since said the goal is to have students, especially elementary tots, in class five days a week. Meanwhile, Newstalk debunked Ford's claim that daycares are back to 91 per cent of pre-Covid ​ ​ levels. In fact, less than half — 2,265 of Ontario's 5,523 child care centres — have reopened. The crew shot hoops after the announcement, which was held in a school gym (Amarjot ​ Sandhu was the only MPP who made a basket while the video feed was on). The premier's ​ caravan then travelled to a cupcakery that creates equal employment opportunities for people with Down syndrome and autism, and to a manufacturer that retooled to make ventilators. Independent caucus not so far-fetched After MPP Belinda Karahalios's ouster from the PC benches, some Queen's Park watchers are ​ ​ musing about the possibility of a 12-member Independent caucus — and it's not as wild a parliamentary fantasy as you might think. One Independent source said they planned to discuss the mechanisms of forming an official caucus with the clerk's office. However, there haven't been any formal discussions among the Independent club yet. The Independent ex-Tories, Liberals and Green already function like a quasi caucus when it comes to legislative participation. They work together to determine the order of their questions in question period and to divvy up house speaking time. And while they may be diametrically opposed on policy matters, their common ground for forming a recognized party could arguably be to better hold the government accountable. Liberal house leader John Fraser told Queen's Park Today he has reached out to Karahalios ​ ​ ​ ​ offering his support. "It's like leaving your family," he said. Fraser isn't saying whether he wants Karahalios to join his party ranks just yet, but he didn't rule her out, adding that he doesn't want to "put the cart before the horse" as the smoke from her ejection hasn't cleared. Fraser is also worried the PCs might move to block any collaborative efforts. The threshold for recognized party status is 12 members; the PCs raised the ceiling from eight around the time Amanda Simard defected to the Liberals over francophone service cuts. ​ Ousted Tory MPP Randy Hillier said Karahalios would fit right in to their motley crew and that ​ ​ he's had plenty of "good conversations" with his fellow Independents, even if they are often at odds over policy. That includes Liberal Kathleen Wynne, he said, and laughed. ​ ​ Green Leader Mike Schreiner said he "didn't want to speculate" before chatting with his fellow ​ ​ Independents. Being part of a recognized party comes with legislative perks, such as more questions in question period and speaking time during debates on bills. One Liberal insider said teaming up is "worth exploring." Recognized MPPs also get to dip into hefty caucus bureau budgets and obtain extra resources for staff and research. The party’s leader, house leader and whip would also get raises. Party status is spelled out in legislation, but the Speaker would ultimately rule on whether to recognize a caucus as such. Speaker Ted Arnott has already agreed to recognize the Liberals ​ ​ as a "group" in the house, but that doesn't come with any tangible bonuses. Karahalios was turfed moments after voting against third reading of Bill 195, which extends the ​ ​ emergency-order powers for up to two years — and has been roundly criticized as an unnecessary overreach of power and a muzzle on elected MPPs. Bill 195 will come into force ​ ​ today, to coincide with the expiration of the state of emergency declaration. Today’s events July 24 at 10:30 a.m – Brampton ​ NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and her Brampton caucus will be in town to meet with hard-hit ​ ​ businesses and the local Board of Trade. July 24 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. – Whitby, Elmira ​ Nurses will hold a protest outside the constituency offices of Lorne Coe and Mike Harris Jr. ​ ​ ​ ​ Nurses have been rallying outside PC MPP’s offices all week to call on the government to scrap Bill 124, which capped wage increases at one per cent annually, and Bill 195, which allows the ​ ​ ​ province to override collective agreements and redeploy health-care workers for up to two years. July 24 at 1 p.m. – Peel Region ​ Premier Doug Ford is expected to tour the 905 today. ​ ​ Topics of conversation ● A collective sigh of relief went up when Thursday's Covid case count posted at 10:30 a.m. There were 103 new cases reported yesterday, well below what the health minister called a "concerning" 203 on Tuesday. No new deaths were clocked. ○ Less encouraging is the spike in hospitalizations: the number of Covid patients in hospital jumped by 26 in the latest 24-hour report, from 128 to 154. Two more people are using a ventilator to breathe, while two fewer people are in the ICU. ● The chorus of experts and advocates calling for Ontario's top doc David Williams to ​ ​ resign before a second Covid wave is getting louder. Doris Grinspun, head of the ​ ​ Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, put it this way to the Toronto Sun: "In a ​ ​ ​ pandemic, you need someone who can get everyone together. Who can listen and respond to concerns. Who can lead people." ○ For Grinspun's part, reopening bars was the final straw. ○ Meanwhile, Global looks at how mixed messaging on what is and isn't allowed as ​ ​ the province creaks back to life may also be fuelling an uptick in cases among young folks. ● The Canadian Digital Service is beta testing the made-in-Ontario contact tracing app that Premier Doug Ford says he expects to drop today. Rookie Liberal MPP Lucille Collard ​ ​ ​ gave it a whirl. The app was originally expected by July 2. ​ ​ ● Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk told the NDP she'll be looking into the Switch Health ​ ​ contract for mobile migrant farm testing in Windsor as part of her value-for-money audit on COVID-19, which the AG previously told Queen's Park Today is expected out before ​ ​ her annual report in December. ○ As first reported by QPT, NDP MPP Taras Natyshak requested the probe in light ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ of the fact Switch Health was enlisted to do testing he believes the public system should be doing, and because ex-PC caucus bureau chief Jeff Silverstein ​ lobbied on the company's behalf. ● Protesters descended on a waterfront groundbreaking ceremony, demanding Toronto ​ ​ Mayor John Tory do something about Ontario's Bill 184, which they warn could speed ​ ​ ​ ​ up pandemic-related evictions and make them easier for landlords to push through. ○ Tory said the city has no legal power to ban evictions, but the city solicitor will advise council on the possibility of legally challenging the provisions in Bill 184 ​ that undermine tenants’ rights to a fair hearing, which the bill watered down. ● APTN News finally got its hands on data showing the deaths of 11 Indigenous kids ​ ​ ​ connected to the child welfare system over the last four months. Of those 11, three were in provincial care at the time of their deaths. The information comes from child welfare agencies as the government stonewalled the news outlet. ○ NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa, who also tried to get the government to release the ​ ​ information, called on Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé to launch an emergency ​ ​ investigation into the 11 deaths and urged chief coroner Dr. Dirk Huyer to ​ ​ expedite inquests for each. "We need answers from the Ford government on how it failed to protect these children," Mamakwa said Thursday. ● There will be at least one curveball in tonight's Jays opener against the Tampa Bay Rays: SEIU, CUPE and Unifor, which represent long-term care workers, have teamed up on a chilling 60-second ad spot slamming profit-making homes where Covid outbreaks ​ ​ led to more deaths and devastation than their non-profit and municipally run counterparts.