Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report November 2, 2018 Quotation of the day “On November 15, Ontario will know help is on the way.” Finance Minister Vic Fedeli announces the release date of the Ford administration’s first fall economic statement. Today at Queen’s Park On the schedule The House is adjourned until Monday, November 12. Next week is a constituency week. Thursday’s debates and proceedings In the morning, House Leader Todd Smith put forward a time allocation motion on Bill 47, ​ ​ ​ ​ Making Ontario Open for Business Act. The motion requires the labour reform legislation be reported back to the House by November 20, after which it will receive two hours of third-reading debate and a vote. MPPs debated Smith’s motion later in the afternoon. Liberal MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers introduced a private member’s bill entitled Bill 52, Juries ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Statute Law Amendment Act (Juror Eligibility). Des Rosiers’ legislation aims to ensure juries are more representative of Indigenous communities and other groups that are overly represented in the criminal justice system. Bill 52 would amend the Juries Act so that people convicted of ​ ​ minor criminal offences are allowed to serve as jurors, which is currently prohibited. Des Rosiers’ proposal is based on former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci’s 2013 report on ​ ​ gaps in Indigenous representation on jury and inquest benches. The Select Committee on Financial Transparency tabled a scanty interim report Thursday, which is just a list of witnesses it has heard from thus far. This week, the committee summoned more witnesses, including Kathleen Wynne’s former business adviser Ed Clark, and released ​ ​ ​ ​ an estimated one million documents on the financing of the Liberals’ “Fair Hydro Plan” and ​ ​ accounting of pension assets. A final report is due December 13. Two NDP private member’s bills died on the order paper and one was sent to committee after ​ ​ second-reading debate: ● NDP MPP Gurratan Singh’s Bill 44, Ending Automobile Insurance Discrimination in the ​ ​ ​ ​ Greater Toronto Area Ac, was debated but failed to pass. But drivers, and particularly those in Brampton who pay the highest auto insurance rates in Ontario, may still get a break. The majority-enjoying Tories support PC MPP Parm Gill’s private member’s Bill ​ ​ ​ 42, Ending Discrimination in Automobile Insurance Act, which also aims to halt the ​ practice of setting insurance premiums based on a driver’s postal code. ● NDP MPP Jennifer French’s Bill 10, Brunt and Kendall Act (Ensuring Safe Firefighter ​ ​ ​ ​ and Trainee Rescue Training), passed second reading and was was referred to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy. French’s legislation, which she also introduced during the last parliament, aims to make it safer for firefighters to train for their jobs. ● NDP MPP Doly Begum’s Bill 45, the Child Care and Early Years Amendment Act ​ ​ ​ ​ (Not-for-Profit Corporations), was killed on a recorded vote. The bill was the NDP’s second stab at ensuring only non-profit organizations receive provincial funding for child-care services. In the park ICYMI former Florida governor Jeb Bush was at Queen’s Park this week. The former Florida ​ ​ ​ governor met with Trade Minister Jim Wilson and Treasury Board President Peter ​ ​ ​ Bethlenfalvy to discuss the new USMCA trade agreement. ​ Fall economic statement to drop in two weeks Ontario’s hotly anticipated fall economic statement will hit the clerk’s table on Thursday, November 15, which is the legal deadline. “The fall economic statement will turn the page on 15 long years of tax-and-spend Liberal policies,” Finance Minister Vic Fedeli said in response to a friendly question during Thursday ​ ​ morning’s question period. “The days of attempting to balance budgets through one-time revenue are over. Hidden deficits are a thing of the past. As our first fiscal update, it will lay the groundwork for the continued relief we are bringing to families and businesses across Ontario,” the finance minister said. The mid-year review serves as a mini-budget; in past years it has contained changes to taxation measures. Since coming to power in spring the Progressive Conservative government has made Ontario’s deficit a priority, reporting a higher-than-expected $15 billion shortfall following a commission of inquiry and line-by-line review. However, it is unclear if the PCs will report that figure on November 15. That’s because the ​ ​ inquiry advised the government accept the Auditor General’s accounting of two jointly sponsored pension plans on a “provisional basis,” and because the Tories are not committed to the planned $5.7 billion in spending for Liberal-era programs. Fedeli also took to the Toronto Sun’s opinion pages to tease the upcoming review. ​ ​ ​ Today’s events November 2 at 11:30 a.m. – Toronto ​ NDP jobs and employment critic Catherine Fife will be in the Queen’s Park media studio to ​ ​ respond to Statistics Canada’s September jobs data. November 2 at 7 p.m. – Toronto ​ Newzapalooza, the annual battle of the media bands, goes down at the Opera House. Topics of conversation ● As Ontario Premier Doug Ford teams up with conservative leaders in the Prairies to ​ ​ fight the federal carbon tax, a new poll from Angus Reid suggests public support for the ​ ​ tax is on the up — particularly after Ottawa unveiled its rebate plan. ○ In Ontario, more people now approve of the tax than oppose it. In July, 43 per cent of respondents said they supported it. ○ Following the prime minister’s announcement that the average household will fork out $244 in carbon-tax costs and get back $300 in 2019, the popularity of Ottawa’s carbon backstop shot up 11 points to 54 per cent. ○ Ontarians are now evenly split over the question of jurisdiction. According to the survey, 50 per cent of people support Ottawa’s authority to impose carbon pricing, while 50 per cent back the province. “This is a stark change from July, when 64 per cent said the provinces should chart their own course,” said the pollster. ○ The provincial and federal governments have made arguments in court over the matter of jurisdiction. Ontario argues Ottawa is overstepping its bounds with the tax, but Ottawa believes there is legal precedent for it to tax provinces as it sees fit. ○ The online poll surveyed 1,500 Canadian adults from October 24 to October 29. Angus Reid says such a sample is accurate within 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. ● Government House Leader Todd Smith told reporters Thursday the province’s chief ​ ​ medical officer’s cameo in a partisan Ontario News Now video promoting the government’s free flu shot campaign is above-board. “I don’t believe there is any kind of issue with the chief medical officer of health going on this video,” Smith said. ○ As first reported by the CBC, the NDP lodged a complaint with Ontario Integrity ​ ​ ​ ​ Commissioner J. David Wake after the chief medical officer appeared in the flu ​ ​ shot video. The integrity commissioner has not yet announced an investigation. ● An 83-year-old Catholic priest who was charged under Ontario’s “bubble zone” law, which protects abortion clinics, says he will launch a constitutional challenge on the basis that the law violates the right to free speech. In an interview on LifeSite, Father Anthony Van Hee said he would rather go to jail than pay a fine under the still-new Safe ​ Access to Abortion Services Act, and if he is jailed, will start a hunger strike. ○ This will be the first challenge to the former Liberal government’s abortion clinic “bubble zone” law. Social conservatives have encouraged the Ford administration to scrap it. ● Community Safety and Corrections Minister Michael Tibollo says the multiple lawsuits ​ ​ he’s facing are to be expected after decades practicing law. The Globe and Mail first ​ ​ ​ ​ reported Tibollo is embroiled in litigation related to professional misconduct by his law firm and failure to pay debts. None of the allegations have been proven in court. Tibollo said at least one of the lawsuits will be settled before the end of the year. ○ In question period, NDP community safety critic Kevin Yarde made another ​ ​ attempt to ask about the case. The peaker ruled the question out of order Wednesday because it wasn’t related to government policy. On Thursday, Yarde was able to ask Premier Doug Ford if he was “aware of this history when he ​ ​ appointed this minister and put him in charge of overseeing police services?” ○ Ford fired back, “that’s nothing but a smear campaign.” ○ He said Tibollo “is the most credible minister down here. He has integrity, he has transparency and he’s an absolute champion. I’ll stand beside him any day, 365 days a year.” Question period NDP lead-off Flu shots ● NDP Deputy Leader Sara Singh kicked off the debate with a question about access for ​ ​ flu shots, citing concerns from senior citizen constituents about shortages. “Of the 20 clinics we called around the province, 12 said they haven’t been able to obtain any vaccines, or they were already out,” Singh said. ○ Health Minister Christine Elliott said her ministry has not been informed of any ​ ​ significant concerns over access. “There may be from one location to another, but there are many locations where one can go to receive the vaccine and I would encourage people to continue looking, calling around to make sure that that actual location has the vaccine in quantities that are necessary.” Cannabis complaints ● Singh also asked about the more than 1,000 complaints made to the provincial ombudsman about the Ontario Cannabis Store, related to delivery delays, poor customer service and billing problems.