Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report February 13, 2019

Quotation of the day

“The City’s participation in this exercise is the best way to protect our TTC system.”

Mayor reiterates it’s important for to be part of subway upload talks ​ ​ as it signs on to terms of reference with the province.

Today at Queen’s Park

On the schedule MPPs are in their ridings for the last scheduled week of the winter recess. The House is due back after the Family Day long weekend on Tuesday, February 19.

In the park Government workers are emptying out of the four-tower Macdonald Block offices to make way for renovations as part of a multi-million dollar, eight-year retrofit announced in 2016. ​ ​ ​ ​

Mac Block is the nucleus of the provincial government, housing 15 ministries, 12 cabinet ministers and about 3,600 public servants across the street from the legislature.

The complex is on track to clear out by April, and bureaucrats will work out of temporary offices at either 777 Bay Street, 315 Front Street West or 438 University Avenue, according to an update from Infrastructure , which is running the project. Staff would be back at their old digs by 2024, with the bulk of construction taking place from 2019 to 2023.

Legislative staff made the rare decision to close the legislative precinct yesterday afternoon on account of “inclement weather.”

Ontario, Toronto sign on to terms for TTC subway upload talks Talks are gearing up over Ontario’s controversial plan to take charge of Toronto’s subway lines now that the province and city have signed terms of reference for the discussion. ​ ​

The framework, signed by city manager Chris Murray and Ontario special adviser Michael ​ ​ ​ Lindsay, lays out a range of scenarios, including a partial upload or none at all. ​

One scenario would see Queen’s Park assume full ownership and maintenance of the subway system itself while the city and TTC would continue to control day-to-day operations and staffing matters.

The other options could see the province take ownership of only new subway infrastructure, or a situation where the city remains in charge of the existing network and the province takes over responsibility for the delivery of future projects.

Both parties want to assess the value of the subway assets and repair and maintenance backlog, and the rubric promises “meaningful public consultation,” something Toronto councillors called for in December. Legislation for the potential upload is expected in spring.

Many at City Hall have raised concerns about consultation and participation in the upload as well as information-sharing with the province. Toronto Mayor John Tory reiterated the city’s ​ ​ participation in the discussion is “the best way to protect our TTC system.”

Premier said “it’s time to take action and speed things up” when it comes to new ​ ​ subway construction, which he says has been “stuck in red tape, for years.”

Today’s events

February 13 at 10 a.m. – Toronto ​ Finance Minister and Treasury Board President will speak to ​ ​ ​ ​ reporters about Ontario’s third-quarter finances in Macdonald Block.

Upcoming events

March 7 at 11:45 a.m. – Toronto ​ The PC Women in Politics group and the Albany Club will co-host an International Women’s Day Luncheon featuring ministers Lisa MacLeod, Lisa Thompson and Peter Bethlenfalvy. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Topics of conversation

● On the eve of the Saskatchewan reference case hearing over the constitutionality of the federal carbon tax, Environment Minister Rod Phillips re-upped Ontario’s opposition, ​ ​ saying the province is prepared to go all the way to the country’s top court. “Ontario's

government will work for the people to use all tools at our disposal to fight the federal carbon tax, whether it's in Saskatchewan, Ontario, or the Supreme Court of Canada,” Phillips said in a statement. ○ The Regina Leader-Post has an in-depth primer on the back-to-back hearings ​ ​ ​ ​ today and tomorrow in Saskatchewan. ○ Ontario is one of 16 interveners in that case and has asked its own court of appeal to weigh in on the constitutionality of the carbon backstop in a twin reference case that’s set to be heard April 15 to 18.

● Meanwhile, the government proposed its polluter-pay program for industrial GHG ​ ​ ​ polluters, known as the Emissions Performance Standard, for a 45-day public comment period Tuesday. Among other things the PCs are proposing incentives for emitters that meet the standard and making those that don’t pay by purchasing “compliance units” from the government. Compliance reports would be required annually and payments collected through the program could go into a “fund focused on supporting industry in greenhouse gas emission reductions.” ○ The government aims to have a “made-in-Ontario” emissions program in place by the summer that would be retroactive to January 1.

● The PC’s new autism therapy funding policy could put pressure on the public school system as some children getting less time for therapy will be forced into classrooms unequipped to accommodate them before they’ve developed the necessary skills, according to parents and advocates. The Canadian Press has the story. ​ ​ ​

● Anti-sex-ed crusaders are calling for Education Minister Lisa Thompson to resign for ​ ​ what they see as a failure to make good on the premier’s promise to repeal and replace the health and phys ed curriculum. “We cannot allow parental rights to be eroded. Lisa Thompson must resign,” former PC candidate and president of Parents As First Educators Tanya Granic Allen said at a news conference Tuesday. PAFE is one of the ​ ​ ​ ​ groups under the Canadian Families Association, which is planning a demonstration at Queen’s Park February 20. ○ Granic Allen said the recent court and human rights tribunal hearings challenging the PC government’s repeal suggest “Wynne sex-ed is still being taught to our children” as government lawyers have argued teachers are able to use their professional judgement when developing lesson plans with a duty to teach in an inclusive manner. They also said teachers can use the 2015 curriculum as a resource. Granic Allen called that a “betrayal to Ontario parents.” ○ The CTA includes Campaign Life Coalition, led by Jack Fonseca and Queenie ​ ​ ​ Yu’s Stop the New Sex-Ed Agenda Party. Fonseca charged Thompson has “put ​ Premier Ford in the embarrassing situation of looking like he broke his promise … Ford said he’d repeal it. Thompson is instead repeating it.” ○ The Tories have undertaken what they call the biggest ever public education consultation to help inform a new curriculum.

● The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says 87 per cent of its small-business membership in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick — the four provinces that will be subject to the federal carbon backstop when it comes into force in April — oppose ’s imposed price on pollution. ​ ​ ○ “With consumers receiving 90 per cent of the ‘Climate Action Incentive’ payments and many large emitters receiving carbon tax exemptions, small businesses are left holding the bag,” CFIB president Dan Kelly said in a release. ​ ​

● There’s another buck-a-beer on the wall, for the Family Day long weekend at least. Loblaw Companies debuted an Ontario-brewed, “Canadian-style lager” under its no name label Tuesday, a six-pack of which will cost $6.80 from Friday to Sunday, then regularly retail at $10.45. A company spokesman said participating in the PC government’s buck-a-beer challenge was “an easy decision” after “record-breaking sales” for its President’s Choice-brand beer, which sold for $1 for just one week. ○ Cool Beer and Barley Days were the only other brewers offering buck-a-beer but recently hiked their prices. ● Former Liberal cabinet minister turned Cambridge Mayor Kathryn McGarry says she ​ ​ told the special advisers conducting the Tories’ regional government review that she’s ​ staunchly opposed to potential amalgamation of the Waterloo Region. ​

● Liberal MPP is demanding the government release the results of a ​ ​ provincewide campus survey on sexual violence that she developed back when she was post-secondary minister in 2017. At the time, Hunter said the results would be shared with post-secondary institutions and a redacted version would be made public last fall. But months later, the new-ish PC government has yet to release the data, citing privacy concerns. Hunter called that an “excuse” that lacks credibility. ○ “What’s concerning is that universities and colleges won’t have money to take action on this report once it’s released,” Hunter said, referring to the PC’s 10-per-cent across-the-board tuition cut. “Universities and colleges are facing multi-million dollar shortfalls — there will be limited money at best to combat sexual violence on campus.” ○ Stephanie Rea, a spokesperson for Colleges and Universities Minister Merrilee ​ ​ ​ Fullerton, said the company that conducted the survey is still “compiling the data ​ in a way that protects participant privacy” and that “initial projections underestimated the time this work would take.” Rea said they will release the report “when we are satisfied the data fully protects participant privacy.”

● The NDP are backing up mental health advocate Noah Irvine’s call for a standalone ​ ​ mental health and addictions ministry and secretariat Tuesday. Irvine, who lost both his parents to mental illness, made headlines a couple of years ago when he wrote to all 338 federal MPs calling for mental health and addictions support. He’s even expressed his concerns on a phone call with the prime minister.

○ The NDP promised to create a standalone ministry of mental health ahead of the last election campaign. ○ NDP MPP said the current lay of the land is “patchwork” and ​ ​ “makes mental health care a side-project.” ○ A statement from Health Minister did not address whether the ​ ​ government likes the idea of a standalone mental health ministry, but touted plans for “building a comprehensive and connected mental health and addictions system in Ontario.” Elliott also says she’s holding “engagement sessions” to glean insight from stakeholders, experts and service providers and people with lived experience. ● Here’s some apropos cocktail chatter for #onpoli watchers from south of the border: The New York Times explores whether health-care mergers actually improve health ​ ​ outcomes, as purported by the industry; meanwhile, The Economist weighs mounting ​ ​ ​ concerns over climate change with a growing demand for oil.

Appointments and employments

Treasury Board Secretariat ● Charles-Antoine St-Jean has been appointed chair of the Treasury Board’s corporate ​ audit committee, which works to ensure “fiscal vulnerabilities are being appropriately addressed through a strong governance, risk, control and compliance framework, appropriate stewardship and an adequate and effective internal audit function.” ○ St-Jean will earn $2,500 per diem in the role, according to Bethlenfalvy’s office, which also noted the committee is expected to meet about eight times a year. ○ St-Jean currently serves as chair of the Public Sector Accounting Board of Canada and did a stint as Canada’s comptroller general from 2004 to 2007. Until last year he was a managing partner at EY Canada, the firm the government contracted for a line-by-line review of government spending last fall. ○ Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy said in a release “that under his ​ ​ guidance the corporate audit committee will underpin [the government’s] critical mission of improving accountability and oversight in government spending.” ○ Late last year Bethlenfalvy christened a new Audit and Accountability Committee to “embed the work of the auditor general” in government processes and to ensure the auditor general’s recommendations are acted upon by ministries and agencies in a timely manner. ○ The corporate audit committee will support that work.

Ontario Liberal Party ● The has two new volunteer recruits on its executive council. Justin ​ Falconer has been appointed regional vice-president of the southwestern region, and ​ Ferd Longo was picked as regional VP for the GTA East, according to a release. ​

○ The party’s VP of policy Damien O’Brien teased a few grassroots policymaking ​ ​ standards that will be rolled out when Grit partisans convene at their annual general meeting set for June 9 in . ○ These include policy working groups, regular membership surveys to glean policy initiatives and “creating more opportunities for in-person engagement through member-driven [OLP] policy forums — so people can have their say in their communities and those discussions can inform our priorities,” per O’Brien’s Twitter account. ​

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

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