Queen’s Park Today – Daily Report March 27, 2019 Quotation of the day “You can’t hog-tie me and gag me and then complain that I’m not a team player.” Randy Hillier speaks to reporters at Queen’s Park for the first time since he was turfed from the ​ PC caucus, which the longtime MPP claims was orchestrated by backroom operatives. Today at Queen’s Park On the schedule The House sits at 9 a.m. The government could call any of the following pieces of business: ● The time allocation motion on Bill 74, People’s Health Care Act; ​ ​ ● Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act; or ​ ● Bill 48, Safe and Supportive Classrooms Act. ​ Tuesday’s debates and proceedings Health Minister Christine Elliott put forward the time allocation motion on Bill 74, which was ​ ​ ​ ​ debated before question period. Bill 68, Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act, cleared third reading (Ayes 70; Nays 31). ​ The legislation narrows the scope of the SIU’s mandate, sets a 120-day deadline to complete investigations and eases penalties for those that don’t comply with the police watchdog’s orders. Third reading of Bill 66 continued into the evening. ​ ​ In the park Speaker Ted Arnott is hosting a craft beer tasting at the pink palace this evening. The annual ​ ​ event is used to determine which brews are served in the Legislative Dining Room. On Tuesday, the Ontario Craft Cider Association held a lunchtime reception. The Ontario Convenience Stores Association is slated to lobby MPPs over breakfast; the Sickle Cell Awareness Group of Ontario is planning a luncheon lobby; and the Ontario Waterpower Association has scheduled an evening reception. Hillier takes unregistered lobbying complaint to integrity watchdog Former Progressive Conservative turned Independent MPP Randy Hillier says he’s talked to ​ ​ the integrity commissioner about alleged unregistered lobbying by the premier’s staff and advisers — and there are further talks in the works. Hillier, who was at Queen’s Park for the first time since Premier Doug Ford permanently booted ​ ​ him from caucus nearly two weeks ago, did not provide any new evidence to back up his renewed accusations. He said he had proof to bolster his claims, including transcripts of conversations, text messages and emails, but would not elaborate for fear of muddling a possible investigation. Hillier said he raised his concerns with his former party, to no avail, and then went to the commissioner after he was suspended in February. Hillier claimed Ford’s chief of staff Dean French acted as a chair at cabinet’s planning and ​ ​ priorities committee as recently as December. He said he was “astonished” that an unelected official led the committee. He called French the “most significant presence” at caucus meetings. He also said backbench MPPs aren’t able to fully participate when it comes to private members’ business and committee work, and that the Ford government operates under a culture of “fear” and “intimidation.” For instance, Hillier claimed backbenchers need the green light from the premier’s office to table petitions and aren’t included on the House speaking rotation if they appear to be out of favour with the premier’s office. (Ex-PC Amanda Simard aired similar complaints about being blocked ​ ​ during debate on French-language services over which she defected.) “This is not the government people expected; it is certainly not the government I expected,” Hillier told reporters in his office. Government House Leader Todd Smith dismissed his allegations and noted that when Hillier ​ ​ filed a complaint last year about Patrick Brown he provided evidence to back it up. ​ ​ ​ ​ “Where is the proof?” Smith said. He acknowledged there is a process for caucus meetings and French attends and participates, but denied Hillier’s claim about French’s control. Smith reiterated Hillier was expelled for not being a team player, such as missing votes and meetings. Select committee finds Liberals put re-election over public interest, but NDP dissent from weak recommendations The previous Liberal government put their re-election efforts ahead of taxpayers, according to the special PC-dominated committee probing their accounting standards — but the NDP say concerns about fiscal transparency remain. “Many questions were answered, but many more were not,” reads the dissenting report from the New Democrats. It’s tacked on to the Select Committee on Financial Transparency’s final 25-page report (excluding appendices) that was quietly tabled Tuesday afternoon, in contrast to the fanfare surrounding its announcement last fall. At the time, Premier Doug Ford said the committee would probe past Liberal “waste and ​ ​ scandal.” It zeroed in on accounting practices for jointly sponsored pension assets and the so-called Fair Hydro Plan (FHP). Opposition critics called it a “show trial” as it dealt with matters that had already been publicly reported on by the legislature’s watchdogs. The final report reiterates as much. “Despite the objections and concerns that were raised throughout the planning and implementation of the FHP, including: the cost of borrowing, the legal risk of a constitutional challenge and the liability exposure of participants, the market risks and feasibility of the plan, the former government proceeded with the FHP,” the report states. “The former government bears the brunt of responsibility for out of control electricity prices and failed to address them with the FHP.” It further concludes “political decision making leading into the 2018 general election appears to have played a role in the development of the Fair Hydro Plan.” Topping the list of recommendations is to establish “transparency for the taxpayer and general public as the top priority” in preparing the budget and public accounts. But the NDP’s dissenting report says the select committee “was not needed to reach this conclusion.” The NDP members on the committee complained the PCs blocked certain witnesses, including former comptroller Cindy Veinot, who resigned in September because she disagreed with the ​ ​ ​ ​ PC government’s accounting and higher-than-expected deficit. “New Democrats had hoped that this committee process could inform future government action. However, beyond scoring political points against the previous government, it is not clear if any lessons were learned,” the NDP went on to say. The final report recommends the government work with the comptroller and auditor general to “restore respectful dialogue” between those offices. During hearings, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk testified meetings with the controller’s office ​ ​ were intense and she sometimes felt her message wasn’t getting across to the Treasury Board. The committee also recommends mending the relationship between government and the AG and repeats the Tories’ previous agreement on the accounting standard for jointly sponsored pension assets with OPSEU and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan on a provisional basis. The report also re-ups a review of the Fiscal Transparency and Accountability Act, which the government signalled in the Fall Economic Statement based on recommendations from the EY line-by-line review. Queen’s Park Today’s sources have said the FTAA changes will be rolled ​ ​ into the budget on April 11. The NDP listed their recommendations that didn’t make it into the final report, including beefing up transparency in fiscal reporting and having the independent officers of the legislature, such as the auditor general and financial accountability officer, inform the review of the Fiscal Transparency Act to avoid “a narrow partisan agenda of the government of the day.” Today’s events March 27 at 9 a.m. – Kingston ​ ​ The Ontario College of Teachers will make an announcement about student mental health. March 27 at 9:30 a.m. – Toronto ​ ​ Toronto City Council will meet to discuss working with the province on the upload of the TTC’s subway system. According to the Toronto Star, Michael Lindsay, the province’s special advisor ​ ​ ​ ​ on the transit upload, wrote to the city with plans to alter four of the province’s pre-planned ​ ​ subway projects: the Scarborough subway, the downtown relief line, the Eglinton LRT and Yonge Line extension to Richmond Hill. March 27 at 9:15 a.m. – Toronto ​ ​ NDP MPP Chris Glover will be up in the media studio to discuss his forthcoming motion to ​ ​ convert student loans to grants. March 27 at 10 a.m. – Toronto ​ ​ Environmental Commissioner Dianne Saxe releases the 2019 progress report on Ontario’s ​ ​ energy conservation. Topics of conversation ● Children Services Minister Lisa MacLeod has said the autism therapy redux announced ​ ​ last week after weeks of protests could see funding for the program double to more than $600 million, the Toronto Star reports. ​ ​ ​ ​ ● Angus Reid is the latest pollster to rain on Premier Doug Ford’s parade. According to ​ ​ ​ ​ fresh public opinion data, Ford, and Liberal Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil, are ​ ​ the only Canadian first ministers to see their popularity dip since December. Ford’s approval rating dropped four percentage points to 38 per cent and ranks third-last among all the premiers. ● New studies suggest nearly 90 per cent of staff in Ontario’s long-term care facilities say ​ they experience physical violence on the job. ​ News releases - governmental Ministry of the Attorney General ● Ontario announced $16.4 million in additional funding to help combat guns and gang ​ ​ violence. It includes the creation of a Provincial Gun and Gang Support Unit and Specialized Investigations Fund to support investigations and prosecutions. Justice centres would also be set up in Kenora, London and Toronto neighbourhoods “to coordinate law enforcement and criminal justice responses with health and social services by moving justice out of the traditional courtroom and into a community setting,” according to a release. Question period NDP lead-off Health care ● Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath kicked off question period asking about ​ ​ for-profit health-care providers expressing interesting in taking part in the PC’s revamped health-care system.