Ivana Yelich's love-hate affair with politics
Plus: Baber gets his day in court
In this edition: An exclusive interview with IVANA YELICH, anti-lockdown MPP ROMAN BABER gets his day in court, AstraZeneca is on hold, and Question Period turns rowdy.
Good Wednesday morning. This is Queen’s Park Observer — still accepting your nominations for best heckler in the House.
ABOVE THE FOLD
When IVANA YELICH turned 17, her mom, then a junior minister in the Harper government, rose in the House of Commons to wish her daughter a “happy birthday” — only to have it used against her by a political rival to suggest the Saskatchewan MP would rather be cutting cake at home in small-town Kenaston almost 3,000 kilometres away than doing her job in Ottawa.
That birthday was tinged with grief for Yelich, who had days earlier lost one of her favourite teachers to cancer.
“This is not the only special occasion in her life I would rather have been there more,” LYNNE YELICH told the House in 2006.
It backfired.
“People can be mean,” Lynne now tells me by phone. “This woman who ran against me as a Liberal, she put in her brochure: ‘Lynne Yelich doesn’t want to be in Parliament.’ She took part of that quote and made it about why I shouldn’t be running, because I must be tired of it.”
Fast forward 15 years, a couple months before Yelich — now Director of Media Relations to Premier DOUG FORD — turns 32, and her personal life is again under scrutiny in the political realm.
This time, her relationship with live-in boyfriend BRIAN LILLEY, who writes about the Ford government for the Toronto Sun, is splashed across Canadaland. The story broke after my initial interview with Yelich, and she later declined a follow-up to talk about it.
Others were more willing to spill ink on the affair: “What we must do to maintain the public’s trust is try our best to err on the side of too much disclosure rather than not enough. Only Lilley and Yelich know whether they’ve adequately followed that advice,” wrote STEVE PAIKIN, who anchors The Agenda on TVO.
I can already guess what Yelich’s script might be, given she skated over the subject with characteristic finesse when I asked her if she were comfortable discussing their relationship.
“I’d prefer if we kept that out,” she said on our first call. “We’re obviously very open about it but do try to keep it private as well.”
True to communications staffer form, Yelich has a way of being just forthcoming enough to scratch the surface, but not enough to feel like you’re getting to know her on a deeper, genuine level.
Up until this point in our conversation, Yelich has been polite but cold, keeping me at arm’s length. When she flicks her camera on, she’s leaned back in a fittingly sterile whitewashed office in Whitney Block, across the street from the Legislature. We make small talk about our lack of Zoom skills.
“I try to FaceTime when I can,” she says, deadpan.
Her self-deprecating tone might be charming to anyone who isn’t a political reporter, but I’m used to this dance. Our professional interactions can feel strained at times, like pulling teeth. Yelich is the PC government’s main point-person for tough but fair questions from the media, and she isn’t always willing or able to give adequate answers.
But she’s playing a role in a game she both hates and fuels.
“That was my first real wake-up call in terms of how personal politics can get,” Yelich says of her mom’s birthday shout-out.
She hasn’t been afraid to make jabs herself.
“You look at some of the people in the Premier’s Office (PO), whether it’s CODY WELTON or TRAVIS KANN or Ivana Yelich, and they all have these very sharp-elbowed personas on Twitter, where they fight with the leader of the Official Opposition, or they fight with the leader of the Liberal Party, or they fight with journalists. They try to win this public war,” said CTV News Toronto’s Queen’s Park bureau chief COLIN D’MELLO, speaking in his capacity as president of the legislative press gallery.
The friends, family and colleagues of Yelich’s I spoke with all offered some version of the same thing: Yelich is misunderstood, she isn’t who she, or radiations of her, seem to be.
“When you actually talk to her in person, it’s very much a softer approach. She’ll push back, but she’s not fighting with you in the same way, with the same sharp words that you would see on Twitter,” D’Mello said.
Yelich has taken a lot of public flak since our initial conversation. She was reamed out on social media in March for her response to a reporter asking why a former Conservative candidate was allowed to ask a partisan, much-coveted question at one of Ford’s increasingly less frequent pressers.
“These weren’t even cleverly disguised planted questions,” NDP Ethics critic TARAS NATYSHAK charged of the premier and his comms team at the time. “Doug Ford is up to his old tricks again — controlling press conferences, and demanding applause and praise on command.”
Months prior, as Covid is raging, Yelich was also called out for tweeting, then deleting, from Saskatchewan around the holidays, despite public health recommendations against travel.
She isn’t keen to talk at length about any of this. But when I prod her about Chloe — the French bulldog-pug mix she adopted during the pandemic that also featured heavily in the Canadaland story because she’s made cameos on both Yelich and Lilley’s social media pages — she livens up, leaning into the screen.
“My goodness, are you ready? Because, like, I talk a lot about my dog,” Yelich says.
Chloe is a great stress reliever for all of PO, especially during pandemic times. One colleague noted Yelich was “very concerned” about the impact the Canadaland story would have on the dog.
Yelich said Chloe has been an escape from the pressures of the job, and helps the controversial staffer stay grounded in the face of Twitter trolls. Maybe Chloe’s calming presence explains why Yelich is the last original woman communications staffer standing in Ford’s office.
Yelich hails from Kenaston, Saskatchewan, a rural town with a population of roughly 300, where she was raised on her father MATT’s grain farm. “My dad grew wheat, barley, canola. The farm is very classic prairie farm,” Yelich says, adding that she’s “a prairie girl at heart.”
“I miss those wide open spaces. Sometimes, when I’m travelling up north in Ontario with all the trees, I get very claustrophobic. It’s very different from what I’m used to.”
From a young age, she didn’t take to farming, but the work ethic of early mornings and late nights stuck.
“One time Matt took her picking rock,” Lynne recalled. “She had a little pail, she must have been ahead of him for some reason, and he came over the hill and there she was sitting on her pail. She had turned it upside down — she was supposed to be filling it with rocks.
“I came from a big family and I had to always scrub floors, so I would never make my kids work like my mum made me work. Well, Matt is the opposite, he thinks they should, so that all happened when I was gone. He taught them good discipline, like washing dishes can be done, you don’t have to put the dishwasher on.”
Today, Yelich cleans up different messes. Before she was producing the premier’s press conferences, she was producing JOHN GORMLEY’s talk radio show. Ever the producer and press secretary, she even makes sure to keep her mother’s Christmas gifting concise. “I’m trying to tell her sister ELAINA, this is why I got the gift for you, blah blah blah, and she’ll say, you over-explain,” Lynne said, laughing.
Yelich and her mother share a deep political cord. She describes Lynne’s losses as her own.
“Every election my mom ran, every nomination she ran, I felt what she was feeling. I wear a lot of those experiences with my mom. I drove around in the car with her when she was getting signatures for nomination papers. And so I think a lot of the ups and downs of my mom’s career, I felt them with her,” Yelich says. “Like from her very first nomination, I can remember sitting in the bathroom just kind of thinking about what she was up against, because she was up against a lot of men.”
One of the men she was battling it out with: KORY TENEYCKE, a lobbyist who’s now in charge of the PC Party’s 2022 re-election campaign and a key architect of its 2018 victory. But there’s no hard feelings. “We kind of laugh about it now,” Yelich says.
“There was a lot of expectation that he might win. My mother has a high school education, she ended up marrying my father very young and was more or less a farm wife for most of her life. So she started getting into politics, worked for an MP and then felt like she could take it to the next level without any help, like, no resources, not really any money either. She was able to accomplish what she did,” Yelich said.
Out on the stump together, Lynne said she was the more “friendlier” of the pair, whereas Ivana “is shyer. But she’s also got an opinion and she’s quite stubborn actually.”
Yelich isn’t ruling out following in her mother’s footsteps — she graduated from Carleton University with a political science degree and interned on Parliament Hill, including for then-ministers JASON KENNEY and LEONA AGLUKKAQ — but as a daughter of a female MP, she is acutely tuned into what it means to be a woman in the political arena.
Yelich believes Lynne got to experience the “best” years of politics because she held office before social media permeated. That’s not to say she wasn’t a lightning-rod for comments about her appearance or attire.
“I also can’t imagine that [birthday] comment ever being directed at a man,” Yelich said. “My mother is very good about not letting those things get to her. She tries to stay above that, and that’s what I’ve tried to do.”
While she may want to present as a sweet prairie girl — Yelich is really a keen shot looking for a target. To feel in control in the midst of the combative drama she plays a hand in, she goes shooting at the Hamilton Gun Club. Yelich owns several .22 long rifles, but her favourite has a pink camouflage pattern.
“I love going to the gun range — it’s usually all men, and I love being the only woman there. I feel very empowered by it.”
HAPPENING TODAY
Health Minister CHRISTINE ELLIOTT and Solicitor General SYLVIA JONES will provide an update on the vaccination plan and take questions from reporters at 12 p.m.
Liberal Leader STEVEN DEL DUCA is back on the child-care circuit. He’ll be virtually touting his party’s campaign-style pledge for $10-a-day licensed child care alongside 2022 candidates EMILIE LENEVEU (Bay of Quinte) at 10 a.m., and TED HSU (Kingston and the Islands) at 11 a.m.
Via Zoom at 11 a.m.: Transportation Minister CAROLINE MULRONEY and federal Infrastructure Minister CATHERINE MCKENNA are teaming up for an announcement about transit in Toronto. Also in tow will be Northern Development Minister GREG RICKFORD; Thunder Bay—Rainy River MP MARCUS POWLOWSKI; Thunder Bay—Superior North MP and Health Minister PATTY HAJDU; Toronto Mayor JOHN TORY and TTC chair JAYE ROBINSON; Thunder Bay Mayor BILL MAURO; Unifor president JERRY DIAS; Metrolinx CEO PHIL VERSTER; and Alstom Canada president SOUHEIL ABIHANNA.
ON THE ORDER PAPER
MPPs will pick up where they left off debating Bill 288 at second reading this morning. That’s Labour Minister MONTE MCNAUGHTON’s bill to speed up the apprenticeship process and create a new Crown agency called Skilled Trades Ontario.
Later on, NDP MPP TARAS NATYSHAK will move second reading of his private member’s Bill 272, which would require the Assistive Devices Program to include flash and continuous glucose monitoring devices. There’s also a deferred vote after Question Period on NDP MPP JILL ANDREW’s motion to ban above-guideline rent increases until after the pandemic ends.
Duelling anti-Asian racism PMBs: A day after the New Democrats tabled a bill to proclaim a Day of Action against anti-Asian racism, Liberal MPPs MICHAEL COTEAU and LUCILLE COLLARD tabled Bill 291, which would specifically include anti-Asian racism alongside other forms under the Anti-Racism Act.
AT COMMITTEE
Solicitor General SYLVIA JONES and Associate Women and Children’s Issues Minister JILL DUNLOP will be the opening act ahead of public hearings for Bill 251, the PCs anti-human trafficking bill at the Justice Policy committee. Several advocacy groups on the witness roster — including the Butterfly Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network and HIV Legal Network — will be arguing against the proposed legislation, which they say will put already-marginalized sex workers in harm’s way by broadening police powers and opening the door to more targeting of poor and racialized people.
Auditor General BONNIE LYSYK will provide a closed-door briefing at the Public Accounts committee, while the Estimates committee continues its study of the Health Ministry’s 2021-22 spending plan this afternoon, featuring Minister CHRISTINE ELLIOTT and a slew of top bureaucrats. A handful of private bills will also go under the microscope at the Regulations committee.
PANDEMIC TRACKER
Ontario will stop offering first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, citing an observed increase in a rare but serious blood clot condition linked to the shots.
Shots for tots: Waterloo Region was the first out of the gate to open up vaccine pre-registration for youth 12 and up, after Health Canada gave the all-clear for Pfizer.
Meanwhile, new Covid cases dropped to 2,073 and ICU admissions are down to 802. Fifteen more deaths were put on the books.
MAKING HEADLINES
— Mark your calendar: Ousted Tory MPP ROMAN BABER’s constitutional challenge aimed at striking down the government’s measures restricting outdoor gatherings under the Reopening Ontario Act will be heard Friday. A source familiar with the proceedings tells me both sides — Baber and the Attorney General’s office, representing the province — have already been in court and had their evidence cross-examined. Per the source: the government’s case notes evidence that outdoor Covid transmission is “greater than zero,” while Baber’s camp is relying heavily on constitutional arguments for allowing outdoor prayer.
— Those who pray together, litigate together — at least in the case of a trio of churches that are also challenging the gathering rules on religious grounds. All three will share their day in court on September 27.
— The Ford government’s ambitious $28.5-billion GTA transit expansion plan is one step closer to reality thanks to a $12-billion injection from Ottawa, which includes $1.7 billion to help get the Hamilton LRT back on track. More from the Toronto Star’s Ben Spurr: Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU “said the Liberals ‘pushed hard’ to add conditions to the funding agreement to improve the transit projects, including guarantees around community and environmental impacts, affordable housing near transit lines, and engagement with affected residents.”
— Hill+Knowlton’s political strategist WILL STEWART on DOUG FORD losing cool points: “His numbers have dropped significantly, and those numbers do make you sit up and notice. On the flip side, Ford’s popularity was riding way higher during the pandemic than it was pre-pandemic for a time as well.”
— Dr. PETER JUNI, science table adviser, on safely reopening outdoor recreational spaces even if the stay-at-home order is extended next week: “It’s absolutely doable.” Solicitor General SYLVIA JONES isn’t so convinced, at least when it comes to golf courses, telling reporters Tuesday that the shutdown was aimed at limiting mobility.
— “The Ontario Human Rights Commission is sounding the alarm about crowding in provincial custody, saying capacity in correctional facilities has at times come close to pre-pandemic levels even as the third wave maintains its grip on the province,” reports CP’s Paola Loriggio.
SPOTTED (OR NOT):
— Ontario’s annual litter cleanup day derailed by Covid. Environment Minister JEFF YUREK and his Parliamentary Assistant ANDREA KHANJIN’s tradition of going out to pick up trash for the Day of Action (and a photo-op) was cancelled in favour of an awareness campaign on social media.
— A Green Party email blast to supporters: “Doug Ford needs to stop carving up the Greenbelt with highways.” Specifically the 413 and Holland Marsh a.k.a. the Bradford Bypass.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
For the first time in 40 years, there’s a new executive director in charge at the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres: GERTIE MAI MUISE, a member of Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation of Newfoundland who has worked with the federation since the late 1990s. Muise takes up the mantle from SYLVIA MARACLE, who held the post for more than 40 years.
QUESTION PERIOD
Also MIA: Premier DOUG FORD from QP (he was in meetings and briefings all day, as per his office). So House Leader PAUL CALANDRA again took the lead for the Tories in what turned out to be a rather raucous debate — with much desk-banging and heckling over second-dose uncertainty. The scene got rowdy: Minister JOHN YAKABUSKI and Independent MPP ROMAN BABER were warned by Speaker TED ARNOTT (if they kept it up, they would’ve been “named” and booted from the chamber for the rest of the day).
HIGHLIGHTS: Memo to self, “Military plan needed” — Second-dose anxiety — Brampton’s essential workers need more paid sick days — Softball on accelerated inoculations — Hinting at new support for biz, but details are scant — “Lack of focus on one of the fastest-growing forms of hate” — PCs stick to theme of border control: “It’s not about race” — “Perfect storm” of bad policy in Beaches-East York — Greens want small biz grants tripled — Major tenant Covid outbreak in Hamilton — Human cost of cancelled surgeries — Housing affordability drops off a cliff in Niagara — All aboard the child-care bandwagon — Fact check: second shot not guaranteed.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT HERE.
LOBBYING DISPATCH
Here are the new, renewed and amended registrations over the past 24 hours:
— Olivia Lahaie, StrategyCorp: GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas LLC
— Kyle Sholes, StrategyCorp: Canadian Independent Booksellers Association and Indigo Books and Music
— Sandy Annunziata, Para Pro Forma Consulting: Creative Media Development Inc.
— David Tarrant, Enterprise Canada: Purolator
— Jared Burke, Loyalist Public Affairs: Accenture Inc.
— Bill Anderson, Crestview Strategy: Northeastern University
— Adria Minsky, Cumberland Strategies: Signature Communities
— Carys Baker, Cumberland Strategies: Lahava Magazine (Moosengoose Publications)
IN-HOUSE ORGANIZATIONS: Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada — Association of Ontario Chicken Processors — Futurpreneur Canada — Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.
🥳 HAPPY BIRTHDAY: PC MPP DEEPAK ANAND (Mississauga—Malton).
Were you at Monday’s cabinet meeting? Privy to Ford’s briefings? I want to hear from you, and I’ll keep you anonymous. Reach out to sabrina@qpobserver.ca, or just reply to this email.