Another two weeks
Plus: Cash-strapped for surgical backlog, Badger makes a comeback, and an F-bomb
In this edition: Cabinet is poised to consider a likely extension of the stay-at-home order, the budget watchdog says it will take three-and-a-half years and $1.3 billion to catch up on the pandemic-fuelled surgical backlog, the “Badger” makes a comeback, and an MPP drops an F-bomb in the House.
Good Tuesday morning. This is Queen’s Park Observer — where my profanities are never picked up by Hansard.
ABOVE THE FOLD
Two big stories out of Queen’s Park yesterday.
FIRST — Premier DOUG FORD’s cabinet is set to decide whether to extend the soon-to-be-expired stay-at-home order until at least June 2, which is expected. What’s less clear is how long the province may need to keep it going.
The advice from the province’s medical experts is “stay the course right now,” Health Minister CHRISTINE ELLIOTT told reporters at Queen’s Park. She pointed to a bright spot: While hospitals are still overloaded — relying on patient transfers and a rollback of non-urgent surgeries (more on this below) — there were fewer people in ICUs Monday, at 828, and fewer daily infections: 2,716.
“But we really need to see a pretty significant drop in the number of cases…It’s certainly better than it was, but it’s still too high.”
Ontario will have to rein in daily Covid counts to “well below 1,000” before the stay-at-home order is lifted, according to top doc DAVID WILLIAMS — numbers not seen since mid-March.
The government teed up a possible extension and passed a key legislative checkpoint last week, when it prolonged the state of emergency to June 2.
“Predictability” on what comes next is key for GTHA mayors.
NEXT — Upshot from the budget watchdog’s health spending report: There’s an estimated $700-million hole in the Ford government’s spring budget to address the backlog of pandemic-postponed surgeries, which is projected to balloon to 419,200 by the end of September.
Financial Accountability Officer PETER WELTMAN’s report says clearing the backlog will take 3.5 years and $1.3 billion, noting the PCs earmarked $610 million to deal with it. That timeline also assumes hospitals operate at 11 per cent above pre-pandemic volumes.
Elliott said the province is pumping millions into the system to broaden hospital operating hours so that more surgeries can be performed on evenings and weekends.
“We also have a regional waitlist now, which we haven’t had before, which means that we can now use every possible time and space in operating rooms to advance surgeries, whether cardiac [or] cancer surgeries or cataract surgeries. Those are the ones that are most in demand right now,” the minister said.
Pointing to the 300,000-plus women facing breast cancer screening delays, NDP Leader ANDREA HORWATH said the government “needs to get its act together and start putting the resources necessary to clear those backlogs.”
HAPPENING TODAY
NDP MPP JILL ANDREW is holding a Zoom presser at 9:30 a.m. to call on the PCs to pass her motion — up for debate this evening — that would ban Above Guideline Increases to residential rent prices for as long as Covid is still around. (Motions are non-binding but have symbolic weight.)
Post-Question Period scrums will go down in the Media Studio around 11:30 a.m., followed by Labour Minister MONTE MCNAUGHTON and Economic Development Minister VIC FEDELI at 1:30 p.m., for an announcement about workplace inspections and rapid antigen testing.
ON THE ORDER PAPER
McNaughton’s Bill 288 — which would speed up the apprenticeship process and replace the Ontario College of Trades with a new Crown agency called Skilled Trades Ontario — continues to zip through second reading this week. The legislation is slated for debate this morning and afternoon.
No “fuddle duddle” here: In a relatively endearing moment during Monday afternoon’s otherwise uneventful debate on Bill 288, NDP Workplace Health and Safety Critic WAYNE GATES blurted out the F-word after he seemed to fumble his words. “You have trade organizations out there that are trying to navigate this on their own and have been for years. They want standard — standardization — fuck — and safety measures in their trades. This bill does nothing to address that long-standing problem and leaves these trades with as little information as before. I hope that wasn’t picked up by Hansard,” Gates said sheepishly, to titters from the floor.
A rare recorded PMB vote after hitting the clerk’s table: Liberal JOHN FRASER says he forced an on-the-record vote for his own private member’s Bill 290, which would enshrine a recommendation from the Long-Term Care Commission’s report for the government to publicly table progress reports on the implementation of the other recommendations. “Almost one year ago the premier said an investigation was launched into the horrific findings in the Canadian military’s report on the five homes that they were in. We learned last week that that investigation never happened. So that’s why I introduced the bill today. That’s why I forced a vote on first reading…It’s something we should all be able to agree on.” No one voted “nay.”
More PMBs: New Democrat BHUTILA KARPOCHE introduced Bill 289, to proclaim every May 10 the provincial Day of Action on Anti-Asian Racism, which is on the rise amid the pandemic. Her benchmate SOL MAMAKWA’s Bill 286 — to enshrine the right to expect clean drinking water for people living and working on reserves — was sent to the committee stage after clearing a second reading vote with unanimous support. Ditto PC DAVE SMITH’s Bill 281, which would allow public access to the sex offender registry. May 10 will be recognized as Lupus Awareness Day in Ontario now that PC BILLY PANG’s Bill 112 is off for Royal Assent.
AT COMMITTEE
This morning, Health Minister CHRISTINE ELLIOTT will be front and centre at the Estimates committee, which is scrutinizing her ministry’s 2021-22 spending plan (the aforementioned FAO report was done at the behest of one of the MPPs on the committee to support that work). The witness roster is jam-packed with top bureaucrats including HELEN ANGUS, deputy minister of health, ALISON BLAIR, associate deputy minister of pandemic response and recovery, and DR. WILLIAMS.
Two incoming government appointees will be vetted by committee this morning: former PC MPP for Niagara Falls BART MAVES, who’s up for a position on the Niagara Parks Commission, and Barrie-based lawyer AMANDA CHAPMAN, who’s headed for the Landlord and Tenant Board. (MPPs on the committee can only ask questions for the public record, it doesn’t have the power to veto appointments.)
PANDEMIC TRACKER
With vaccines flowing, Ontario is expanding eligibility this week. That includes all folks aged 40 and up as of Thursday and people with at-risk health conditions and essential workers as of Tuesday. By the end of the week, frontline health-care workers, dialysis patients and all Indigenous people will be able to get their second dose earlier than the four-month interval.
MIX AND MATCH: Elliott said that could likely be the case for AstraZeneca doses as it’s not clear when more will arrive. All eyes are on a U.K. study that may soon be able to shed light on mixing first and second shots.
MAKING HEADLINES
— “I sincerely sympathize with all those who have experienced the loss of a loved one during this pandemic.” Replying to a request from NDP Leader ANDREA HORWATH, OPP Commissioner THOMAS CARRIQUE said he’s determining whether a criminal investigation is warranted into alleged deaths by neglect in long-term care homes.
— “An arm of the provincial government representing the two children of late Toronto mayor ROB FORD has raised objections to Premier DOUG FORD’s handling of his brothers estate,” reports the Toronto Star’s Kevin Donovan.
— Also from the Star: Retiring MP “PETER KENT is pretty sure he knows why the Conservatives failed to win GTA seats in the 2019 election. Two words: Doug Ford.”
— Sudbury.com’s Heidi Ulrichsen delves into LU decision: “Although presenting the court with a ‘dilemma,’ two Ontario Superior Court judges say they allowed Laurentian University to sever ties with the federated universities operating on campus because the alternative was allowing LU to go bankrupt.”
— Meanwhile, via CBC’s Kate Rutherford: “A four-year program to train radiation therapists in Sudbury will end because of cuts to Laurentian University’s physics department, said the department’s outgoing chair. The move could have an impact on the future of cancer care in Ontario.”
SPOTTED:
— Premier DOUG FORD with a special shout-out for his PC predecessor, Brampton Mayor PATRICK BROWN, after he echoed the provincial call for the feds to tighten up restrictions at the airport.
— A fiery tweet from the Ontario Nurses’ Association to LTC Minister MERRILEE FULLERTON: “You can make this Nursing Week a little better by resigning and accepting responsibility.”
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
— Who’s afraid of RICHARD BRENNAN? If you’re ex-premier KATHLEEN WYNNE, or anyone who’s ever held public office, you probably should be. Nicknamed “Badger” for his tough-but-fair approach to political journalism over a span of four decades, Brennan may be making a fresh comeback. Strategic communications firm Enterprise put out a teaser about recruiting someone to help with media training, featuring a mysterious masked man whose stature strongly resembles the well-respected former journalist. In the clip, Wynne is asked who’s the “toughest” reporter she’s ever had to deal with at Queen’s Park, who’s “a real dog with a bone?” The official answer is expected today.
QUESTION PERIOD
With Premier DOUG FORD and Long-Term Care Minister MERRILEE FULLERTON absent from the chamber, it fell to House Leader PAUL CALANDRA to answer lead questions from Opposition NDP Leader ANDREA HORWATH — who hammered the PCs on the Globe’s bombshell report revealing dozens of residents in hard-hit nursing homes died from neglect and dehydration, not the coronavirus.
(Ford’s office said he was in meetings all day. Don’t expect to see Fullerton in the House before May 20 because she isn’t part of the current cohort of PCs — despite previously being included in both cohorts, but no further explanation was provided. MPPs are doing House duty in shifts as a Covid-safety precaution.)
HIGHLIGHTS: “They died when all they needed was water and a wipe down” — Clearing the surgical backlog — Sarkaria in hot water over vax efficacy — Dear Justin, tighten up the borders — Fixing “half-rate, bargain sick leave” — Keeping legislative tabs on LTC progress — An “ideological antipathy toward child care” — “Cruel joke” on the North vs. “Minister of Thought Control” — Heckling over “xenophobic” attack ads — Inoculations in York South—Weston moving like molasses — Throwback to last Spring Break, when Ford OK’ed vacations abroad — 905’s sky-high auto insurance.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT HERE.
LOBBYING DISPATCH
Wondering who’s behind the numbered company longtime Ford strategist MICHAEL DIAMOND of Upstream Strategy Group is lobbying for? That’s FRED DOMINELLI, developer and erstwhile interim Toronto councillor, according to the corporate filings. Per the registration, Diamond, on behalf of Dominelli, signed up to lobby Transportation Minister CAROLINE MULRONEY and Associate Minister KINGA SURMA for “approval of digital signage and promotion of digital billboards.” Dominelli has some history with controversial billboards, according to Torontoist.
Here are the new, renewed and amended registrations over the last 24 hours:
— Jonathan Telch, Cumberland Strategies: Lahava Magazine (Moosengoose Publications Inc.)
— Simon Jefferies, Jenni Byrne + Associates: King Towing, Westerkirk Neyagawa Inc.
— Harvey Nightingale, Hill+Knowlton Strategies: Metropolitan Plumbing and Heating Contractors Association
— Laura Greer and Lauren Rettinger, Hill+Knowlton Strategies: Maple Corporation
— Kelly Mitchell, KW Mitchell Consulting Services: Association of Independent Assessment Centres, The Association of Condominium Managers of Ontario
— Trisha Rinneard, Wellington Advocacy: Dairy Farmers of Ontario
— Christopher Chapin, Upstream Strategy Group: Top Aggregate Producing Municipalities of Ontario
— Natasha Morano, NHM Connect: Startup Canada
— Diana Levy, Santis Health: Medline Industries Inc.
— Christian von Donat, Impact Public Affairs: National Elevator and Escalator Association
— Patrick Lavelle-Tuns, Endgame Strategies: Charity Gaming Federation of Ontario
— Anton Sestritsyn, Earnscliffe Strategy Group: CognisantMD
IN-HOUSE ORGANIZATIONS: Innovate Cities — Appraisal Institute of Canada — Canadian Council of Independent Laboratories — Alzheimer Society of Ontario —Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association — AdvantAge Ontario — Honda Canada — Abbott Laboratories — Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan.
Are you a Tory who just wants to hit the links? Frontline nurse itching for your second jab? Celebrating a birthday? I want to hear from you. Reach out to sabrina@qpobserver.ca, or just reply to this email.