Fun with Doug and Jane
A busy first day back
Presented by the Ontario Professional Planners Institute
ABOVE THE FOLD
OCTOBER SURPRISE — Political insiders are dishing on JANE PHILPOTT’s appointment leading DOUG FORD’s new primary care action team.
The good: The former federal Liberal minister is a respected health professional on all sides of the aisle, and with the Ontario Medical Association at Queen’s Park yesterday to warn about the 2.5 million Ontarians and counting who are without a doctor, Philpott’s appointment could help address the matter. Not to mention relieve the Ford government of some of the criticism they’re facing. The Globe got the jump.
Philpott had mused about re-entering the political arena around the time of the Liberal convention, where she was a guest speaker. Naturally, that fuelled speculation that she could run again under BONNIE CROMBIE’s banner. Team Crombie reportedly picked Philpott and the rest of the AGM lineup to distance themselves from JUSTIN TRUDEAU, who’s tanking in the polls.
But: The PCs have effectively knocked a potential star Liberal candidate out of the running — Philpott’s new gig means no political bid for now.
Crombie reacts: The Liberal captain told reporters that while she has “a lot of respect” for Philpott, who “is an authority on primary care teams,” she doesn’t think much will come of her appointment. “Yet again, we see this government appointing an expert or a panel of experts only to write a report which they will ignore.”
The bad: One Liberal insider called that “nonsense.”
“You can’t actively court her to run for you, invite her to speak at your AGM as a health expert, and then when she’s appointed to a health panel, respond by saying she’s writing a pointless report that won’t lead to action. It comes off as bitter.”
The ugly: Others noted Philpott’s history with Trudeau, pointing to when she resigned over the SNC-Lavalin affair. “Jane Philpott knifes a second Liberal leader. Who could have predicted this,” said one operative, tongue-in-cheek.
Another suggested Crombie should have known better. “Bonnie’s campaign team flew way too close to the sun courting someone with a history of not being loyal to party leaders. They thought they could score some cheap points and distance themselves from Trudeau only to get burned the same way.”
A senior Tory operative chimed in: “She [Philpott] wants to improve outcomes. We want to improve outcomes. Bonnie should be happy, but she never is these days.”
A message from the Ontario Professional Planners Institute:
OPPI’s diverse membership of Registered Professional Planners (RPPs) are eager to partner with the province to further improve the planning system and tackle Ontario’s housing crisis.
Good planning leads to more equitable and sustainable communities with the infrastructure that Ontario’s growing population needs. RPPs are the experts who plan complete communities, connecting homes, parks, transit, schools, and other services while meeting long-term goals like addressing the housing shortage, preparing for climate change, and improving overall health and wellbeing.
Let’s work together to further improve the planning system and create the communities Ontarians deserve. Learn more about OPPI and RPPs here.
CANDIDATE TRACKER
BATTLE FOR BURLINGTON — PC NATALIE PIERRE won’t run again. The MPP for Burlington, who was first elected in 2022, says “the time is right to step aside” and she’ll be sticking around until the writ. But the PCs won’t be wasting any time searching for her replacement candidate.
Lighting a fire under them, perhaps, are the Liberals, who have what appears to be their first contested nomination race in the riding, which I told you about here. OLIVER PARKER, a PhD student and self-described YIMBY, and ANDREA GREBNEC, former Halton District School Board trustee, both want the nod to run.
Pierre’s exit makes the race much more competitive, since there won’t be an incumbent advantage. Burlington has picked a Liberal in the past: ELEANOR McMAHON, from 2014 to 2018.
BATTLE FOR BRANTFORD-BRANT — In NDP world, the first contested nomination goes down tonight: HARVEY BISCHOF, former head of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation and the NDP’s 2022 candidate, will square off with MIKE GATOPOULOS, who runs the local Seventh Coffee Company.
Recall: The riding is currently held by PC WILL BOUMA, who won handily in 2022 with 44 per cent of the vote versus Bischof’s 28 per cent. But 2018 was much closer — Bouma won by just 635 votes over the NDP runner-up.
Also returning to the ticket: PC STEVE CLARK (Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes)…FAISAL HASSAN, the former NDPer for York South-Weston. And the rest.
HAPPENING TODAY
9 a.m.: Energy Minister STEPHEN LECCE and Associate Minister of Energy-Intensive Industries SAM OOSTERHOFF are making another announcement in Toronto.
New legislation incoming: Yesterday, Lecce teased a new bill aimed at reducing the cost of new lines to connect to the energy grid. Backgrounder.
9:30 a.m.: Liberal KAREN McCRIMMON is in the Media Studio to talk about her private member’s Bill 201, the Residential to Commercial Conversion Act, which would amend Environmental Protection laws so that exemptions cannot be made based on building height. It’s up for second reading in the afternoon.
6 p.m.: Sun columnist BRIAN LILLEY headlining an event put on by the Nickel Belt PCs in Sudbury, in support of the local food bank.
FUNDRAISING WATCH — 5:30 p.m.: A $1,000-a-plate fundraiser in Mississauga featuring, well, no one officially, but unofficially, that means DOUG FORD could show. Invite.
Save the date: Lieutenant Governor EDITH DUMONT will award the Order of Ontario on October 28. RSVP.
ON THE ORDER PAPER
First up: Bill 194, Minister TODD McCARTHY’s legislation to beef up cybersecurity in schools, continues to chug through second-reading debate. It’s slated for the afternoon sitting too.
Later on, Liberal KAREN McCRIMMON will move second reading of her aforementioned Bill 201.
The late show: NDPer CHANDRA PASMA will lead a special debate on student bussing problems after being unsatisfied with the minister’s response in QP.
MONDAY’S RUNDOWN:
Tabled: Bill 212, Transportation Minister PRABMEET SARKARIA’s much-teased omnibus package, dubbed the Reducing You Gridlock and Saving You Time Act. It lays out the fine print for the bike-lane ban (and a review of existing lanes, on the province’s dime), higher speed limits, fast-tracked highway construction and more. Dig in, via the Star.
ON THE COMMITTEE CIRCUIT
9 a.m.: Bill 190, the government’s fifth Working for Workers Act, is up for a possible makeover during clause-by-clause consideration at Finance and Economic Affairs.
Procedure and House Affairs is dealing with committee business and report writing.
Killed: Remember NDPer CATHERINE FIFE’s attempt to get the Public Accounts to look into the Wilmot farmland appropriation situation? The PCs on the committee shot her down.
COCKTAIL CHATTER
The Ontario Association of Architects and the Alzheimer Society of Ontario are each hosting evening receptions.
CLIPPINGS
— HOME CARE CRISIS: “Ontario is wrestling with delays and shortages of supplies needed for home and palliative care, with dying people unable to get sedatives and patients going to hospital because their supplies have run out, the province’s doctors say. Health Minister SYLVIA JONES said Monday that she and her ministry are working hard to rectify the ‘frustrating’ situation.” CP reports.
— DIE-IN: “Activists staged a die-in at Queen’s Park on Monday in protest of the provincial government’s plan to shutter 10 safe injection sites across Ontario, which some say will be a ‘death sentence.’” More from the Star.
— PROTEST PROGRESS: Education Minister JILL DUNLOP says the report on the infamous TDSB field trip to the Grassy Narrows protest will land on her desk in December.
— OMG ODSP: “Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE says he wants provinces to overhaul their disability assistance programs so that disabled Canadians don’t see working income clawed back from provincial benefits, and he could put billions in federal transfers at stake to make it happen.” The Star reports.
— BIG CUTS ON CAMPUS: “Federal limits on the number of international students permitted to study in Canada could cost Ontario schools close to $1 billion in lost revenue, the Council of Ontario Universities says.” CTV has more.
A message from the Ontario Retirement Communities Association:
A group of health care, senior living, and real estate organizations are calling on the Ontario government to enhance its current Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit to help more seniors receive the right care in the right place. With Ontario’s 80+ population set to double between 2030 and 2040, enhancing the credit will ensure that the seniors of today and tomorrow live and receive care in their homes and communities longer and give them choice — saving long-term care homes and hospitals for Ontarians who need them most. To learn more and view the supporting research visit: seniorstaxcredit.ca
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
BEYOND THE BUBBLE I — MARK LAWSON is exiting his role as VP of communications and external relations at Therme. Lawson said on LinkedIn that he decided to leave in December “as the project enters a new phase.” Before Therme, Lawson was a top staffer in the Ford government. And no, it’s not related to the timing of the NDP’s ethics complaint about Therme’s deal at Ontario Place.
BEYOND THE BUBBLE II — IAN ROBERTSON, former campaign manager and chief of staff to then-PC leader TIM HUDAK and prominent Bay Streeter, has launched a new leadership advisory firm, the Jefferson Hawthorne Group. The Globe has more.
QUESTION PERIOD
It’s been a hot minute since the debate, which was even hotter. Oppo NDP Leader MARIT STILES led off with a ban, about the RCMP’s Greenbelt investigation. She wanted to know who in Ford’s office has been interviewed by the Mounties and about those mysterious ties to a European bank account.
DOUG FORD did what he tends to do during Stiles’s lead questions and punted to another MPP, in this case PC backbencher WILL BOUMA, who is also the Premier’s Parliamentary Assistant. In post-QP scrumes, House Leader STEVE CLARK told us he thought it made sense for Bouma to answer questions given his role as PA (Clark also said he hasn’t yet been contacted by the RCMP).
Ford wasn’t roused to respond until Green Leader MIKE SCHREINER’s question re: legalizing as-of-right fourplexes provincewide.
THE HIGHLIGHTS: “We know at least eight people in the Premier’s inner circle have been interviewed by the RCMP. Can the Premier tell us who those individuals are and how many still work in his office?” — “Which struggling Ontario family told this Premier the answer to their problems was a luxury spa in downtown Toronto?” — “How much longer will vulnerable (home care) patients have to wait for medical supplies?” — “The Wilmot land assembly is this government’s next Greenbelt scandal” — “Stop doubling down on failure and fire Mr. PHIL VERSTER, the CEO of Metrolinx?” — “Does the Premier really think that the last-minute appointment of a former Liberal health minister justifies his five-month vacation while 2.5 million Ontarians don’t have a family doctor?” — “We are eight weeks into the school year and families in Renfrew county still do not have school buses” — “Legalizing more types of homes across the province to bring down costs for housing” — “Speaker, why is this Premier forcing family members to become home care providers instead of fixing the broken home care system?” — “There is corruption in driver training and driver testing, and there are only 28 people to staff inspection stations across all of northern Ontario.”
New Democrats also tried, unsuccessfully, to get unanimous consent to recognize intimate partner violence as an epidemic. From this reporter’s perch in the press gallery, the “no” came from the PC benches.
Spotted:
PC TYLER ALLSOPP (Bay of Quinte) officially swearing the oath and taking his seat in the House (about time, critics might say)…Associate Minister MICHAEL TIBOLLO shouted-out for getting his PhD in clinical psychology…PC MATT RAE booming about the federal carbon tax…A sweet moment with Education Minister JILL DUNLOP…
REGULATORY ROUNDUP
Every Tuesday, we sum up the government’s latest proposals on the Regulatory Registry — where the nitty-gritty of policymaking is hammered out.
Fine print for Bill 212…BIKE-LANE BAN — The proposal: Corresponding regulations for Transportation Minister PRABMEET SARKARIA’s new omnibus package, specifically on bike lanes. Deadline for public feedback: November 20.
ZOOM ZOOM — There are also regulations for the part of the Bill 212 that speeds up highway construction for the 413 and beyond. Deadline: November 20.
FRESH DIRT — Proposal: Changes to the rules for soil management, such as removing certain waste Environmental Compliance Approvals, “providing some flexibility related to meeting applicable excess soil quality standards in respect of asphalt-related contaminants,” and pushing “the in-effect date of the restriction on landfilling certain types of excess soil” to 2027. The government says that will “make it easier and more affordable for businesses in the construction industry and municipalities to reuse more excess soil locally.” Deadline for public feedback: November 21.
THAT’S A BIG 10-4 — Proposal: The Ford government is bringing in a pilot program for automated commercial trucks over 4,500 kg. It would require amendments to the Highway Traffic Act. Deadline: November 14.
POST-COVID — Proposal: Time flies? 2022’s post-pandemic reopening legislation, the Keeping Ontario Open for Business Act, is up for review. Deadline: November 28.
BROADBAND WARS — Proposal: Allowing the Minister of Infrastructure of the day to expropriate an easement on private property for provincial broadband projects “in an expedited manner to avoid delays.” The idea is that individual property owners wouldn’t be able to prevent other members of the public from having access to high-speed internet. Deadline: November 20.
What do you think DOUG FORD should dress up as for Halloween? How about MARIT STILES, BONNIE CROMBIE, MIKE SCHREINER, or your favourite minister? Send me your costume ideas for Ontario’s political class and I’ll include the best ones in the newsletter.
🍽️ LUNCH SPECIAL: Beef brisket with potatoes and vegetables.
⏳ COUNTDOWN: T-minus 8 days until the Fall Economic Statement…51 days until the winter recess.