“Things Have Been Moving a Little Fast.”

Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report August 21, 2019

Quotation of the day

“Things have been moving a little fast.”

Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark tells the Association of Municipalities of Ontario the province is committed to maintaining a “strong relationship” with cities and towns.

Today at Queen’s Park

On the schedule The House is adjourned until Monday, October 28.

AMO 2019: Highlights from the ‘bear pit’ Q-and-A session with cabinet OTTAWA — Mayors, councillors, wardens, reeves and civic staff from Ontario’s 444 municipalities took part in the Association of Municipalities of Ontario’s traditional “bear pit” forum, where they grilled almost all of Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet in Ottawa on Tuesday.

Here are some highlights:

Changes to conservation authorities Environment Minister Jeff Yurek was asked about his recent letter directing Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities to cancel programs that aren’t related to their “core mandate,” a move Conservation Ontario said caught it by surprise. (More on this below.)

Yurek said he wants to make conservation authorities more “accountable,” and that he thought they have been treating municipal governments like “cash machines.”

The minister gave mostly talking points when asked by another politician what the province is doing to tackle climate change.

Budgeting for public health services Health Minister Christine Elliott said she’s finalizing a special adviser to lead a review of public health services after a rural politician from eastern Ontario pointed out municipalities are gearing up for their budget planning processes in early fall. Elliott didn’t name the person being vetted but said they will be an expert on municipal governance.

Elliott first announced the review Monday and said it will take place sometime this fall, in tandem with a review of emergency services. The government confirmed controversial changes to the funding formula will go ahead next year, with cities and towns covering 30 per cent of the cost of public health services.

Transparency for the regional government review Asked by a Brampton politician if the PCs will be transparent when it comes to the regional government review, Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark said he’s hoping to share more publicly in the fall.

Hazel McCallion — who turned down a position advising the premier and Clark but is still informally advising Ford (over breakfast at Perkins) — told CTV Toronto the results of the review, which could potentially come with amalgamations, is being punted to after the federal election scheduled for October 21.

Clark told the crowd the two-person panel leading the review is parsing more than 8,500 public submissions and he wants to take his time with the recommendations from special advisers Ken Seiling and Michael Fenn, which will go to cabinet and therefore be shielded from the public.

Clark wasn’t specific on a timeline, only saying he’s hoping to release the results this fall.

Brampton councillors want to remain in Peel region along with Caledon; Mississauga City Hall says it wants to leave the region.

Reviewing municipal share of gas tax revenue Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney promised a clear timeline for the review of the gas tax revenue funding is to come, when asked for an update.

The PCs cancelled the Liberals’ plan to double the municipal share of provincial gas tax revenue in the spring budget, opting to review it instead. (Then-premier Kathleen Wynne doubled the funding as part of a consolation prize to Toronto Mayor John Tory after she turned down the city’s request to toll two major highways.)

Opening up infrastructure funding Infrastructure Minister Laurie Scott took a handful of questions on infrastructure funding. She said she is working with municipal partners as part of a review of the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund, and that she talked to many local leaders about their priority projects during the AMO conference.

Scott also said intake for joint federal and provincial funding for “green” infrastructure, the last stream under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, will begin this fall. The premier said Monday the joint funding stream for community and recreation centres will open up to

municipal applicants September 3. (The federal government has blamed the Ford government for the slow trickling out of infrastructure cash.)

Mapping Ontario’s Indigenous communities Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney was asked if she will add First Nations territories to the province’s road maps, as part of the recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation report.

Mulroney said she was surprised to hear they aren’t already on the map and promised to look into the matter.

CCLA to challenge PC’s anti-carbon tax sticker law in court The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says it will launch a legal challenge against the Ford government’s mandatory anti-federal carbon tax sticker law when it comes into force August 30.

“The government can spread its message about the carbon tax, but forcing station owners to spread the message for it, on pain of significant fines, violates free expression,” Cara Zwibel, CCLA’s director of fundamental freedoms, said in an email to Queen’s Park Today.

The PC’s law requires Ontario gas stations to display the stickers to exact specifications, or face daily fines of up to $10,000.

The CCLA threatened legal action back in April after the legislation, tucked away in the omnibus budget bill, was introduced.

At the time, CCLA’s lawyers wrote to then-attorney general Caroline Mulroney and Energy Minister Greg Rickford, arguing the stickers constitute “compelled political speech” and are an “unreasonable” violation of Charter rights.

The PCs have defended the decals, saying people have the right to know how the federal carbon backstop will impact prices at the pumps.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Stewart, head of Canadian Independent Petroleum Marketers Association, told Maclean’s her organization, which represents over half of Canada’s gas stations, recommended the Ford government utilize a less politicized sticker — a pie chart breaking down all of the cost components that go into consumer grade gasoline — and make affixing it to pumps voluntary.

“We actually proposed an option to the government that disclosed everything that goes into the price of gas—the crude price, the wholesale price, the marketing margin, taxes, both provincial and federal, and, where applicable, how some municipalities impose their own gas tax,” Stewart told the magazine, adding the organization feels the current messaging is “a bit partisan.”

Conservation authorities told to wind down certain programs Conservation authorities were “stunned” by a letter Environment Minister Jeff Yurek sent last Friday recommending they start winding down programs that stray from their “core mandate.”

“This is confusing and extremely disappointing,” Kim Gavine, general manager of Conservation Ontario, which represents the province’s 36 conservation authorities, said in a press release Monday afternoon.

“We've been working for months in good faith with the government to make a number of planning and development approvals streamlining changes to support their agenda to eliminate the deficit and implement the housing strategy,” Gavine said of her dealings with the PC government. “It was a very pre-emptive move that disregards the process and relationship that conservation authorities and municipalities have together.”

Yurek put out a statement late Monday evening noting the government’s housing bill, the More Homes, More Choice Act, mentioned the plans to make conservation authorities “more accountable.”

“Over the years, conservation authorities have expanded past their core mandate into activities such as ziplining, maple syrup festivals and photography and wedding permits. We are giving municipalities greater control and the ability to enter into agreements with conservation authorities to fund any programs and services outside of the core mandate if they choose,” Yurek said.

One of the conservation authorities’ key functions is watershed management, including flood prevention programs and reducing pollution from flowing into the Great Lakes.

The minister said the changes will ensure conservation authorities focus on delivering services that protect communities from flooding and other natural hazards while ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent “efficiently and effectively.”

“Bringing conservation authorities back to their core mandate will allow municipalities to better manage conservation authority budgets and programs,” Yurek said. He added that he will review all related legislation and regulations

Ian Arthur, the NDP’s Environment critic, called the move part of Doug Ford’s “war on the environment” and warned the costs of forgoing flood prevention are “huge.”

Today’s events

August 21 at 8 a.m. — Toronto

Bureaucrats from the Ministry of Education will hold a media technical briefing at the legislature regarding an “upcoming news release.” Education Minister Stephen Lecce is expected to announce a new sex-ed curriculum.

Topics of conversation

● Ontario has quietly launched a new initiative to spur successful prosecutions of white-collar financial crimes, the Globe and Mail reports. In the Serious Fraud Office, prosecutors and investigators will link up to investigate money laundering, large-scale fraud and corruption. ○ OPP Superintendent Kari Dart, who is leading the office alongside Crown attorney John Corelli, said there is an “urgent need” for a dedicated force when crimes become too much for a single local police department to handle. ○ Canada has a notorious “prosecution gap” compared to the United States and other countries when it comes to white-collar crime. For example, Canada successfully made its first and only successful insider trading conviction in 2009. ○ Findings from a “dirty money” report commissioned by the British Columbia government released in May estimate $40 billion in criminal cash was laundered in Ontario from 2011 to 2015. Public reaction to the report, which was headed up by ex-RCMP deputy commissioner Peter German, led B.C. Premier John Horgan to launch a public inquiry into money laundering earlier this year.

● Up to 42 wannabe cannabis retailers could be getting the green light to open up shop from the Alcohol Gaming Commission of Ontario, which held a second lottery for store licence applications on Tuesday. The AGCO says it will post the results on its website within 24 hours of the draw. ○ Applicants had to meet stricter criteria in order to apply for the second round of store authorizations, including proof that they have the financial capacity and retail space ready to open up shop. ○ The PCs temporarily capped the first wave of bricks-and-mortar shops at 25, citing problems with the federal government’s supply. But less than half — just 10 — were ready to go by the April 1 deadline, while others faced steep financial penalties. ○ The 42 new retail pot shops will be divvied up by region. Seven will be allocated in Ontario’s east region, six in the GTA, 13 in Toronto and 11 in the west region, as well as five in the north — one each in Kenora, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Timmins. There will also be up to eight additional stores in First Nation communities, selected on a first-come, first-served basis, for would-be retailers that have already been approved by the Band Council.

● Rob Ford was trending on Twitter this week after the City of Toronto announced he could have an Etobicoke street named after him. The late former mayor and brother to

Premier Doug Ford is one of 10 names shortlisted for three new streets in Etobicoke as part of the city’s redevelopment of the Six Points intersection. ○ The public can weigh in online and a panel of officials will make a final recommendation for the new street names to the Etobicoke York Community Council, which will make the final decision. The names will be revealed in the fall. ○ It isn’t the first time the city has considered slapping the controversial politician’s namesake on something. In 2017, council rejected a proposal to rename the stadium at Centennial Park after Rob Ford.

Appointments and employments Office of the Premier ● The Toronto Star reports Mark Lawson has joined Premier Doug Ford’s office as deputy chief of staff in charge of policy. Lawson was most recently chief of staff to Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli. ○ Multiple sources have told Queen’s Park Today Lawson was in line to replace Greg Harrington. As reported earlier this month, sources said Harrington is leaving government. Harrington took over the executive director of policy role in the premier’s office following Mitch Davidson’s departure this summer. Prior to that he was a senior adviser to then-chief of staff Dean French, who exited in June amid a nepotism scandal. ○ The sources also said Rahul Bedi, who was the deputy chief of staff in charge of policy and the budget when Fedeli was finance minister, will take up the mantle for Lawson in Fedeli’s Economic Development office. ○ The premier’s office has not acknowledged repeated requests for comment on the matter.

Funding announcements Ministry of Finance ● Finance Minister Rod Phillips has allocated the final $10 million from the Ontario Cannabis Legalization Implementation Fund, a two-year, $40-million moneypot to help municipalities with the implementation costs of cannabis legalization. ○ Of the $10 million, $6.74 million will be divvied up by all municipalities who did not vote to opt out of allowing recreational cannabis stores within their borders. The finance ministry said each will receive at least $5,000. ○ The other $3.06 million will flow to OPP-led cannabis enforcement teams.

Ministry of Health ● Health Minister Christine Elliott was joined by her parliamentary assistant Robin Martin and ministers Caroline Mulroney and Laurie Scott in Orléans to celebrate the start of construction on a new health hub that will coordinate care between three local hospitals and four community care providers.

○ The province is funding the one-story facility to the tune of $75 million with the goal of ending hallway health care by providing integrated services under one roof, Elliott said in a news release. ○ Plans for the health hub — the first of its kind in Ontario — began in 2008 with a $100,000 capital planning grant doled out by then-health minister George Smitherman.

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

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