A leap of faith or a non-starter in Don Valley East?
Plus: Get to know a Green in MZO country, and the PCs lose a candidate up north
Good Wednesday morning. This is Queen’s Park Observer.
ABOVE THE FOLD
Lots of action on the nomination front — a mandatory byelection in Don Valley East is all-but-kaput, a PC candidate resigns over the move to cleave the Northern Ontario School of Medicine from Laurentian University, and I chat with an MZO-fighting Green contender in Dufferin—Caledon.
First up: A question for MICHAEL COTEAU — will the Liberal MPP for Don Valley East take a leap of faith before clinching the federal nomination and resign his seat in time to force Premier DOUG FORD to call a byelection?
Two sources tell me “there’s no way” the federal contest could take place before June 2, the date by which Ford would be legally obligated to call a provincial byelection to replace Coteau.
The short answer is no. While he’s feeling confident in his federal prospects, Coteau isn’t about to give up his provincial seat before he has to — that is, once he secures the as-yet-unscheduled nomination (after which he would have to resign because sitting MPPs aren’t allowed to be federal election candidates).
“I’m continuing to do my job — going into the legislature and working with constituents. I don’t know when the federal nomination is going to be, so I don’t have any valid information to base a decision on…but in regards to resigning my seat, at this point, I’m not considering it,” Coteau said. He’s also keeping busy as co-chair of the Ontario Liberal Party’s platform-building efforts for 2022.
While a post-June 2 resignation doesn’t preclude Ford from calling a byelection, he may decide to hold out until next year’s general election — especially in Covid times and because of the associated costs (though a byelection offers more opportunity to fundraise). That means, if Coteau wins the federal nomination, Don Valley East could go a year without a representative at Queen’s Park. Leaving the seat empty would also snatch any chance for Liberal Leader STEVEN DEL DUCA to gain a spot and show off his legislative chops before the 2022 vote.
Whenever the feds hold the race, Coteau will face off against another candidate: HAFEEZ LADHA, who works in global public health.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
That’s the message from MAUREEN COMUZZI as she resigned as the PC candidate in Thunder Bay—Atikokan, citing her frustration over the Ford government’s controversial move to sever the Northern Ontario School of Medicine from Laurentian University in the wake of its insolvency.
Comuzzi said the decision doesn’t make any sense, fiscally speaking, because it will pile on administrative costs to taxpayers, and impact how medical services are delivered in the north. Establishing the NOSM a standalone institution could also make it more difficult to lure students.
“I need to support my constituents, and that’s what I did today. I stood up for my community,” Comuzzi told me by phone Tuesday. “Hopefully my voice is heard, I wish there will be more consultations, thoughtful and respectful consultation, so that we can find a solution to this problem.”
The move is in Schedule 16 of Bill 276 — the latest red-tape reduction legislation from Associate Minister PRABMEET SARKARIA. It’s cleared second reading and is up for clause-by-clause consideration at committee on Friday — when it could potentially be amended. On the nomination side, PC Party spokesperson STEPHANIE BELLOTTO said they’ll follow the normal process to recruit another contender for 2022. “We wish Ms. Comuzzi the best in her future endeavours.”
Thunder Bay—Atikokan tends to be a battleground between the NDP and Liberals — it’s currently represented by NDPer JUDITH MONTEITH-FARRELL, and before that, BILL MAURO, the former Liberal minister who’s now Mayor of Thunder Bay.
Bowing out of 2022 was a “difficult” decision for Comuzzi — who works in real estate and was acclaimed earlier this year — and she didn’t take it lightly. “I’ve been Conservative all my life.” What’s next for her? “Sell some houses,” Comuzzi said, laughing.
LAURA CAMPBELL calls it “ironic” that years ago, one of her teachers at Mayfield Secondary School in Caledon was discussing the kind of urban sprawl that she’s now vying to fight at Queen’s Park as a candidate for the Green Party.
“Our teacher was talking about how much farmland has been paved over and how much we’ve lost. Now, we’re in a position where my own high school is surrounded by sprawl — it hasn’t stopped,” Campbell said in an interview.
In particular, the candidate for Dufferin—Caledon isn’t a fan of the Mayfield West site development or how it came to be: via a provincial Ministerial Zoning Order that Caledon councillors requested after Peel Region twice rejected the rezoning application for a new subdivision. The PCs have taken heat for their heavy-handed use of MZOs — which override local planning processes— and Campbell said the stakes have never been higher in her home riding.
“The Green Party is not anti-development, but we need to move in a direction that prioritizes affordable housing and proximity to transit networks,” Campbell said. “With MZOs, what we’re seeing is a pattern of governance with Doug Ford that blatantly pursues development at any cost. So democracy be damned, the environment be damned, local residents be damned.”
We also talked aggregates, being the underdog in a PC stronghold, and “forest school.” More highlights from our interview (edited for clarity and length):
Tell us more about yourself. I have a small business — I run a restaurant, I have two small kids, aged 5 and 7, and I am a PhD student (of history) at the University of Toronto, on sabbatical right now from my academic work.
Hot-button issues in the riding? Aggregates are a huge industry in Dufferin—Caledon, and unfortunately for the people who live here, it's really not a question of will the aggregate companies move into your neighbourhood, it’s a question of when. If they’re not digging around you, there’s probably some dumping of infill happening. It’s a huge problem — the industry has gone so unregulated. It’s a frustration for me as a small business owner because restaurants are very regulated. And so they should be. But I always liken it to this: how would my customers feel if we were allowed to conduct inspections on our own and say, ‘Yep, this is great, this is healthy, this is safe.’ There’s not enough evidence, on the whole, to show that the industry ensures there’s land rehabilitation happening, as they should be doing after a pit is decommissioned. There’s digging below the water table, there’s a huge mega quarry being proposed in the area of Belfountain. The Cataracts (Falls) are so important for the headwaters.
Why are you running for MPP? Personally, because of Covid, but also because of everything I’ve been seeing around me. Obviously, the Ford government has really inflicted a lot of damage on this province, in my view. But even before that, I felt the province was on a path that I didn't think was building a strong future for Ontario’s children or even, myself, and the kind of things that I would like to see as an aging millennial. I mean, I wasn’t seeing any of those things — I’m a huge climate activist, environmental activist, and have been for a long time. Beyond the damage we’ve been doing to our environment in Ontario over, you know, the course of recent history and beyond, it’s about education. It’s about health care, it’s about long-term care, all of these things where I would love to contribute a part of my energy and time to, to make a difference. I want to fight for this place and make sure that it’s protected and people are taken care of. Everybody in Ontario deserves representatives who feel that way.
You ran for the Greens in 2018, turning up roughly 12 per cent of the vote, and losing to now-Solicitor General SYLVIA JONES, who’s won the riding handily since 2007. What’s different this time around? The last time I ran, I felt really idealistic about clean energy and the possibilities available to us. So I was very enthusiastic to just spread the word about the Green Party of Ontario and how great their policies were. This time around, it feels pretty dire.
Go on. The nature of this riding is that it’s very Conservative. The long-standing story is that you could run like a dog in this riding, and if you put a Conservative pin on their chest, they’ll win. But I think that’s changing because people have really experienced what it’s like to have a sitting cabinet minister as our MPP and yet who still is not delivering the things that people in this riding need and want. The crisis of Covid has really highlighted, in my view, the lack of leadership and in some cases, just complete incompetence. And it’s scary, it’s costing people their lives.
Your bio mentions “forest school.” What is that? Full-time daycare was just out of the question for us, with our income and with our small business, so my kids have been attached to my hip from day one. When they were babies, they were at the restaurant, and when I thought about putting them in daycare I just couldn’t imagine them being inside all day. I’m happiest when I’m outside. So my friend and I made a pact that we would meet two or three times a week at a local trail system and we would get our kids outside. From there, it expanded and turned into a bit of a co-op, where we would pull our kids out of school — they’re still pretty young — and we would take them into the woods and play; sometimes it’s mountain biking, or it’s shelter building or basic wilderness skills like orienteering: where the sun is and what time of day it is.
It’s about taking the time to notice the shifts in the seasons, what birds are coming back and in what numbers, what are you noticing and what are you not hearing anymore — I think that’s why we need to connect kids with the environment, to notice and appreciate and understand how connected everything is.
HAPPENING TODAY
— At 8:30 a.m.: Financial Accountability Officer PETER WELTMAN will release a report on the Long-Term Care Ministry’s spending plan for 2021-22. Like the recent report on Health spending, this review will support the Standing Committee on Estimates’ study. Teaser from the FAO: “The report provides a financial overview of the ministry and identifies key financial issues, including the commitment to add and redevelop 30,000 long-term care beds and increase the average daily direct care hours provided to long-term care residents.”
— At 11:15 a.m. on Zoom: NDP Leader ANDREA HORWATH will unveil a funding plan to help small businesses “make it to their reopening day” and beyond. A handful of New Democrats will join in live on location from shops in their ridings.
— At noon: Associate Small Business Minister PRABMEET SARKARIA will take part in a launch event for the Ontario Chamber of Commerce’s report entitled, “Capital is Key: Financing Entrepreneurship in Ontario After COVID-19.”
— Remember JERRY LEVITAN, the Liberal nomination contestant who up until recently was running in Spadina—Fort York? He’s set to be acclaimed the 2022 candidate in Davenport at a virtual meeting tonight.
(SOON TO BE) ON THE ORDER PAPER
No chance of resurrection: The NDP wants to make sure CHARLES MCVETY’s Canada Christian College will never be given university status or empowered to grant arts and science degrees. Despite Friday’s decision from Colleges and Universities Minister ROSS ROMANO to follow through on PEQAB’s recommendation, NDP critics LAURA MAE LINDO and SUZE MORRISON plan to table a bill when the House reconvenes next week that would rescind the legislation that enabled such a move in the first place.
The fear for the Opposition is that Schedule 2 of Bill 213, the so-called “McVety law now sits on the books without being proclaimed — meaning any premier, current or future, can make it law with the stroke of a pen.”
Like most private members’ bills, it isn’t likely to be enshrined in law, but it could force the PCs to make another public stance on the fraught issue, with a vote.
AT COMMITTEE
— The Public Accounts committee turns an eye to Auditor General BONNIE LYSYK’s 2020 value-for-money audit on virtual care, namely the use of communication technologies for patient care. The committee will get an in-camera briefing from the AG this afternoon, then opens its doors to hear from a slew of bureaucrats from the health ministry and Ontario Health.
— At Estimates, MPPs will continue their post-budget study on the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry’s 2021-22 spending plan.
AROUND THE PRECINCT
FULL OF HOT AIR: Hallelujah — staff at the Legislature won’t feel the sweltering boiler-room vibes for much longer. Air conditioners will be installed next week.
MAKING HEADLINES
— Solicitor General SYLVIA JONES is asking people to “be a little patient” as the clamour for second doses of the Covid vaccine continues. Folks who received an AstraZeneca shot in March are now eligible to book their follow-ups, but many are struggling because they’re being distributed to fewer pharmacies.
— PANDEMIC TRACKER: The downside — Ontario recorded its first death related to the rare blood clotting disorder that’s been linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine: a man in his 40s who got the shot in April and died a few weeks later. The upside — an “incredibly encouraging” 1,093 new Covid infections were logged Tuesday, numbers not seen since March. While hospitalizations are declining, ICUs are still packed with patients — at least 692.
— Transportation Minister CAROLINE MULRONEY laid out plans to make passenger rail service in the north operational once again, with the release of the initial business case for a 13-stop route linking Toronto to Timmins or Cochrane. It could be in service by the mid-2020s. Green Leader MIKE SCHREINER welcomed the news — or as he put it, a “re-announcing” of what was already in the March budget — but said “people can’t wait half a decade.” He pointed out that Greyhound’s recent shutting down “exposed the huge gaps” in interregional transit that’s left many, particularly lower-income individuals in rural and remote areas without options.
— Clarity could soon be coming on schools. Chief medical officer Dr. DAVID WILLIAMS says he’d like to see in-person classes return before the rest of the province starts cracking open in mid-June — and he’s not ruling out a regional approach (Cabinet makes the final call).
SPOTTED:
— Ontario’s first-ever poet laureate RANDELL ADJEI’s inaugural poem, on the anniversary of GEORGE FLOYD’s death. Says Adjei: “I wrote the poem to help bridge the gap of understanding across our country. I thought this was a fitting moment in time to offer my first poem as Ontario’s Poet Laureate to inspire hope in the memory of a heinous event that touched many so deeply.”
— Tensions flared between police and protesters during a rally at Queen’s Park to commemorate the anniversary of REGIS KORCHINSKI-PAQUET’s death.
LOBBYING DISPATCH
Here are the new, renewed and amended registrations over the past 24 hours:
— Nicholas Pozhke, Loyalist Public Affairs: Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association
— Amir Remtulla, Amir Remtulla Inc.: 2686796 Ontario Ltd (Tien De Religion Canada)
— Alexandra Valcour, Hill+Knowlton Strategies: Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers
— Garry Keller and Conal Slobodin, StrategyCorp: Canadian Ophthalmological Society
— Stew Kiff, Solstice Public Affairs: Support Ontario Youth
— Alex Simakov, Sussex Strategy Group: Algoma Steel, NRStor
— Chris Benedetti, Sussex Strategy Group: Alectra
— Brian Zeiler-Kligman, Sussex Strategy Group: Canadian National Window Wall Association
— Kenneth Stewart, Capital Hill Group: G4S Canada
— Erin Iverson, Capital Hill Group: Tanium
— Samuel Duncan, Wellington Advocacy: Topper Linen Supply
IN-HOUSE ORGANIZATIONS: College of Nurses of Ontario — Evergreen — Innovative Medicines Canada — Trans Canada Trail — Ontario Nonprofit Network — Allagma Technologies — FPInnovations — IKEA Canada — Libro Credit Union — The Co-operators Group.
🥳 HAPPY BIRTHDAY: PATRICK BROWN, Mayor of Brampton and ex-captain of the PC Party…JOHN BAIRD, former provincial and federal Tory minister.
Are you running to be the next MPP in your riding? Frustrated with the lack of direction on schools? Got a birthday coming up? I want to hear from you! Reach out to sabrina@qpobserver.ca, or just reply to this email.