Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report December 13, 2019 Quotation of the day “I wish Andrew Scheer all the best as he undertakes this ​ ​ new chapter in his life.” Doug Ford responds to the federal Conservative leader’s resignation. Ford’s office says the ​ premier isn’t interested in running to replace him and is “focused on Ontario.” Today at Queen’s Park On the schedule MPPs are heading back to their ridings for the winter recess. The house is adjourned until February 18, 2020. Thursday’s debates and proceedings Two bills and one motion were up for second reading during the afternoon’s private members’ ​ ​ debates: ● NDP Transportation critic Jessica Bell’s motion calling on the government to match ​ ​ municipal funding for public transit operations and maintenance failed (Ayes 35; Nays 59). (Motions are non-binding but have symbolic value.) ● NDP MPP Catherine Fife’s Bill 153, Till Death Do Us Part Act, which would enshrine ​ ​ ​ ​ the right for spouses to live together in a nursing home, was sent to the justice policy committee after clearing second-reading debate on a voice vote. ● Perhaps surprisingly, PC MPP Belinda Karahalios’s Bill 150, Ensuring Transparency ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ and Integrity in Political Party Elections Act, passed with support from all parties, including her own. The PCs previously indicated they may shoot it down. ○ Karahalios was emotional during the debate, tearing up when she told the chamber she wanted to be able to tell her young child that she made a difference and didn’t “waste” her time at Queen’s Park. ○ The bill, which would beef up reporting requirements and transparency around political party nomination contests and executive elections, is now off to the committee on general government. Green Leader Mike Schreiner is celebrating a legislative first for his party with the final passing ​ ​ of Bill 123, Reserved Parking for Electric Vehicle Charging Act, the bill he co-signed with PC ​ ​ MPP Lorne Coe to make it illegal and a fineable offence to block electric vehicle charging ​ ​ spaces with non-EVs. “I am proud that the first Green legislation was a collective effort to make a small, albeit substantive, difference for EVs, which are essential to combating the climate crisis,” Ontario’s first-ever Green MPP said in a statement. In another first, Ontario now has a poet laureate post, in memory of Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie, with the passage of NDP MPP Percy Hatfield’s Bill 6, Poet Laureate of Ontario ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Act. Hatfield introduced the bill in 2017, a couple months after Downie died from brain cancer. Downie’s family was in the house Thursday evening to hear the debate. Two private members’ bills were introduced on the last sitting day of the year. ● NDP MPP Tom Rakocevic’s Bill 169, Home Warranties to Protect Families Act, would ​ ​ ​ ​ tear down Tarion Home Warranty Corp and establish a new oversight system following ​ the auditor general’s damning report. ● Liberal Interim Leader John Fraser’s Bill 170, Protecting Passenger Safety Act, would ​ ​ ​ ​ tackle illegal taxi operations by hiking fines for drivers who pick up passengers for a fare without a proper permit. Lieutenant-Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell was also in the house to give royal assent to a ​ ​ fleet of bills, a typical end-of-session event. The government laid out its fall session accomplishments here. ​ ​ In the park Former premier Kathleen Wynne’s portrait is now up on the wall on the second floor outside ​ ​ Premier Doug Ford’s office following the unveiling earlier this week. ​ ​ Bethlenfalvy maintains Bill 124 will stand up to legal challenge The Ford government’s legislated one-per-cent cap on public salaries will be tested in court. Ontario’s four big teachers’ unions filed their constitutional challenges Thursday, saying Bill 124 ​ is a “direct attack” on their collective bargaining rights. The unions — representing elementary, secondary, Catholic and French teachers — are also in the middle of rocky contract negotiations with the province and school boards. Given the timing of the bill, which was tabled the day before the summer recess as negotiations were ramping up and is retroactive to June 5, the unions argue it targets teachers in particular and breaches the Crown’s duty to bargain in good faith. “It is clear that it targets teachers and education workers,” said Liz Stuart, president of the ​ ​ Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association. But Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy maintained the cap is “consistent with the ​ ​ Charter” and “doesn’t impede the collective bargaining process.” He said the government will defend the law in court. The government is aiming to rein in public sector compensation, a $72 billion annual hit to the provincial purse, as part of its effort to balance the books. As Queen’s Park Today previously reported, teachers are just one of many public-sector unions ​ ​ ​ signalling legal challenges to Bill 124. The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty ​ ​ Associations also said it “stands in solidarity” with teacher unions. Today’s events December 13 at 10:30 a.m. – Toronto ​ PC MPPs David Piccini and Vincent Ke will make an announcement at the Lambton College ​ ​ ​ ​ Cestar campus. December 13 at 10:30 a.m. – Sault Ste. Marie ​ Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark and Colleges and Universities Minister Ross Romano, ​ ​ ​ ​ the local MPP, will make an announcement at Sault College. (Romano may run into his predecessor, the former Liberal MPP for the riding David Orazietti, who is now a dean of ​ ​ aviation, trades and technology at the school. Orazietti resigned the seat in 2016, triggering the byelection that brought Romano to Queen’s Park.) December 13 at 11:05 a.m. – Ottawa ​ Heritage Minister Lisa MacLeod and PCs Jeremy Roberts and Goldie Ghamari will make an ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ announcement at the Tomlinson Family Foundation Clubhouse. December 13 at 1:30 p.m. – Sault Ste. Marie ​ Minister Clark will make an announcement at the Indian Friendship Centre. Topics of conversation ● Cue the speculation. After Andrew Scheer abruptly tendered his resignation Thursday, ​ ​ the Toronto Star reports Rod Phillips is mulling a bid for federal Conservative leader, ​ ​ ​ ​ based on unnamed sources. But Phillips’ press secretary Emily Hogeveen countered ​ ​ the rumours are “not true.” ​ ​ ○ Per the Globe, Caroline Mulroney, who has also been floated as a possible ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ contender, said she won’t be jumping into the fray because she is focused on getting the Ontario Line and French-language university off the ground. ○ The premier’s office confirmed Doug Ford is out, saying he remains “focused on ​ ​ ​ Ontario.” ● Meanwhile, a recent Leger poll suggests Ford is the last premier Canadians want to see ​ ​ enter the federal political arena. Ontario’s premier clocked 15 per cent support, bringing up the rear behind Quebec’s François Legault’s 20 per cent. ​ ​ ○ Ford fared slightly better in his home province, and scored even higher in the Prairies and Wild Rose Country. Seventeen per cent of those surveyed in Ontario would like to see him in Ottawa; ditto 21 per cent of those in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. ○ Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe came out on top with 41 per cent of respondents ​ ​ backing his hypothetical federal bid. ○ Two more public-opinion surveys were released Thursday: a poll from DART ​ suggests Ford’s approval rating has ticked up slightly to 28 per cent, compared to the previous quarter; another from Angus Reid has Ford at 35 per cent, two ​ ​ points lower than September. ● The government is lifting its cap on the number of legal weed stores in the province and eliminating pre-qualification requirements to make it easier for businesses to get a licence. Thus far, the province has issued at least 75 retail licences. ○ Producers will also get their wish and be authorized to sell cannabis in stores at their facilities in an effort to stimulate the cannabis tourism industry. The changes will come into effect in January 2020. ○ More than $216 million worth of cannabis was sold in Ontario during the first 11 months since legalization — the highest of any province — according to Statistics Canada data released this week. However, per capita Ontarians spent just $15 on cannabis products during that time, much less than their peers in other provinces. In Alberta, which had the second highest sales, residents spent an average of $45 each on pot. Ontarians also live further away from legal cannabis retailers than people in other provinces. As of July, most Ontarians lived 43 kilometres from a legal retailer, compared to 13 kilometres in Alberta. ○ The Ontario Cannabis Store, which had a monopoly on online pot sales and serves as the exclusive wholesaler for private stores, recorded a $42-million shortfall in fiscal 2018-19. ● Chiefs of Ontario is lauding Attorney General Doug Downey’s Bill 161 for including a ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ change that will give First Nations the authority to designate marriage officiants. ● The Star’s got the skinny on a delegation of U.S. governors heading to Ontario that ​ ​ ​ Premier Doug Ford mentioned in the house earlier this week. Maryland Governor Larry ​ ​ ​ Hogan (“They call him ‘Likeable Larry’,” Ford noted) and fellow state leaders will head to ​ Ontario in April; Ford is planning to attend the National Governors Association meeting stateside in February. Appointments and employments Patients Canada ● Francesca Grosso, who helped draft the PC’s health-care platform and previously ​ worked as a special adviser to an Ontario health minister, has been named chair of the board of Patients Canada. ○ Grosso currently heads up her namesake strategy firm Grosso McCarthy and is a registered provincial lobbyist. Question Period NDP lead-off Indigenous youth suicide ● NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa led the last question period of 2019 for the official Opposition, ​ ​ asking about Indigenous youth suicide and if the provincial government will support a coroner’s inquest in the death of Devon Freeman, a teenager from the Chippewas of ​ ​ Georgina Island First Nation who died by suicide while in the care of children’s aid.