Jama drama thickens
Also: Ford's cash-grab anniversary, staff moves in PO and beyond, deregulated docs, House wraps, RIP TikTok, Biden's budget surprise
ABOVE THE FOLD
JAMA DRAMA — Drip, drip, drip — SARAH JAMA’s now-deleted tweets continue to be unearthed as the byelection in Hamilton Centre inches closer.
The great excavation comes amid allegations of antisemitism and calls on the NDP to pull her candidacy for a seat she’s expected to win handily.
The latest salvo: Documenting Antisemitism — the social media account that uncovered JOEL HARDEN’s questionable remarks that he later apologized for — called out Jama for tweeting about cancelling a keynote for ReachAbility, a non-profit that supports folks with disabilities. Jama claimed CEO TOVA SHERMAN was “defending the Israeli occupation.”
That didn’t sit well with the antisemitism watchdog. “Is it Ontario NDP policy that Canadian Jews who don’t hold the ‘correct’ political beliefs should be boycotted?” the group tweeted.
Other politicos I spoke with didn’t see an issue with Jama’s tweet, calling it criticism of Israel as a state. The NDP has said it’s standing by Jama.
Ever the political hot-potato, the situation is nuanced. Catch up on Jama’s defence and the plot to derail a heated debate night in the Hammer here.
RIP TIKTOK — The PCs are swiping left on TikTok. We warned government TikTokers about the ban last month, and now, it’s official.
A “precautionary” tale: Treasury Board prez PRABMEET SARKARIA gave the order, noting there’s been no data breaches so far. “Effective immediately, the Ontario government has started the removal of the social media application TikTok from all Ontario government-issued devices. Also effective immediately, all Ontario PC party caucus members will begin the removal of the application from all personal mobile devices. As part of this ban, government advertising campaigns will also be removed from TikTok.”
TikTok has long been criticized for its use of personal information and ties to the Chinese government. Ontario’s ban comes amid reports of Chinese election interference — and soon after Ottawa and the European Commission announced similar app bans.
It’s bad news for MPPs who we know were on the app, including MONTE MCNAUGHTON, JILL DUNLOP and GOLDIE GHAMARI — whose prolific use of the app netted her more than 282K followers.
OMG OHC — The Ontario Health Coalition and NDP critic FRANCE GÉLINAS are sounding the alarm over the fine print of Bill 60 — the Ford government’s hotly contested move to expand private delivery of OHIP-funded services.
They’re worried that allowing staff to “work outside of their regular responsibilities” will “deregulate” doctors and nurses across the province and enable less-trained workers to take on their duties instead.
But but but: The Ford government has already moved to expand scopes of practice across the health workforce, including allowing pharmacists to prescribe meds for 13 common ailments.
(In case you missed it, we had the scoop on those changes in our Regulatory Roundup segment that comes out every Tuesday.)
Still, Gélinas warned: “A physician working in a for-profit surgical suite could hire his mother-in-law hairdresser, bring her into his office and call her a nurse, and that hairdresser…could start your IV, could put in a catheter and could give you narcotics.”
HAPPENING TODAY
9:15 a.m.: NDP Leader MARIT STILES and local MPP JOEL HARDEN will set up shop outside the Ottawa Hospital’s Riverside Campus to talk about the elusive for-profit orthopedic surgery clinic that runs on weekends.
10:30 a.m.: Agriculture Minister LISA THOMPSON is in London for an announcement. Also in tow: her parliamentary assistant ROB FLACK.
11 a.m.: An announcement from Education Minister STEPHEN LECCE in Mississauga. Also on hand: Associate Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity Minister CHARMAINE WILLIAMS and PA MATT RAE.
THE HOUSE IS OUT — MPPs are headed back to their ridings for the March Break constituency week. They’ll be back at it Monday, March 20.
THURSDAY’S RUNDOWN — Mines bill goes under the microscope, a backbench bill died, routine supply motions cleared a hurdle and a couple of new bills hit the Clerk’s table.
Plowing ahead: Bill 71, the government’s move to speed up mining permits, is now off to be studied by the Standing Committee on the Interior after passing a second-reading vote.
Killed: Independent BOBBI ANN BRADY’s private member’s Bill 62, to protect farmland from development, which was shot down sans PC support.
Tabled I: Bill 77, the Supply Act from Treasury Board President PRABMEET SARKARIA — routine legislation that authorizes already-approved legislative spending.
Tabled II: Bill 78, the Group of Seven Day Act from PC TODD McCARTHY, which would honour the Canadians artists every July 7.
Passed: A bunch of routine supply motions — which also authorize already-approved ministry spending.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
First in Queen’s Park Observer — PROMOTION IN PO — WAYD MILLER is DOUG FORD’s new director of operations. Miller has worked in the Premier’s Office since 2020. Before that, he was then-MPP (now VP at Upstream Strategy) CHRISTINA MITAS’s constit assistant in Scarborough Centre.
TRANSITION — Solicitor General MICHAEL KERZNER is poaching a longtime staffer from House Leader PAUL CALANDRA: ROLANDO ONG JR., whose last day as Calandra’s issues adviser was yesterday.
STAFFING UP — CATHERINE RUTLEDGE has signed on to Northern Development Minister GREG RICKFORD’s office as operations assistant and executive assistant to his chief of staff, EMILY VASSOS. Rutledge was previously a bar waitress and guest services manager in cottage country.
INFRASTRUCTURE ONTARIO — JEFF PARKER is taking on an expanded role at the agency, as senior vice-president of strategy and insights. As first scooped in this newsletter, Parker joined IO in 2021 after serving as chief of staff to Finance Minister PETER BETHLENFALVY. The pair go way back — Parker held various senior roles in Bethlenfalvy’s office since he became Treasury Board president in 2018. Before that, Parker was a senior policy manager at the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
A little bird tells us: If you’re hankering for some procedural war stories, ask Parker how he cut his teeth at the Pink Palace. He’ll probably spill about his first gig as a Legislative Research officer — who led that side of the gas-plants inquiry and oversaw the first-ever policy handbook for MPPs.
BIDEN’S BUDGET SURPRISE — U.S. President JOE BIDEN’s long-awaited two-day Canada visit coincides with Ontario Budget Day on March 23.
SPOTTED:
Energy Minister TODD SMITH lunching with former Texas governor RICK PERRY…Women MPPs pose for an IWD class photo…
QUESTION PERIOD
With DOUG FORD and MARIT STILES away, it was a relatively chill debate for the final QP before constit week.
THE HIGHLIGHTS: “Uphold the law, follow Treaty 9 obligations and obtain consent of all First Nations (including Neskantaga) impacted by the northern road link” — “Cover this $21.3-billion shortfall in health care. Your plan is designed to fail. You can course-correct” — “Children cannot access the Ontario Autism Program without an assessment and a diagnosis” — “Why did the Conservatives vote down an NDP motion to set up a Condo Authority Tribunal?” — “When will this government act like we are living in a climate emergency?” — “Spend the money the government said they would” on health care — Now that controversial third-party campaign finance law has been struck down, “apologize to the people of Ontario for robbing us of our democratic right to a fair election” — “Hamilton is losing two critical mental health agencies due to chronic underfunding by these Conservatives” — “What is this government doing to attract experienced nurses back to our public health care system?”
LOBBYING DISPATCH
Here are the new, renewed and amended registrations over the past 24 hours:
Felix Wong, PAA Advisory|Conseils: IGPC Ethanol Inc.
Kenzie McKeegan, Loyalist Public Affairs: The College of Veterinarians of Ontario
David Morgado, ONpoint Strategy Group: FH Health
Johanna Chevalier, Counsel Public Affairs: Ontario Chiropractic Association
Adwet Sharma, Edelman Global Advisory: Pure Storage
Caroline Jageman, Jageman Law: RGC Energy Inc.
Chris Holz, Campbell Strategies: Plug'n Drive
Troy Ross, TRM Public Affairs: Delta Bingo & Gaming
Matt Conley, StrategyCorp: Woodbine Entertainment Group
Kelly Baker, Kyle Sholes, Danya Vered and Alex Armanious, StrategyCorp: A Way Home Canada
Fraser Macdonald, Lisa Samson, Saad Baig, Garry Keller, Alex Bernst, Matthew Segal and Roxanne D'Onofrio, StrategyCorp: Generation PGM
In-house organizations: Canadian Cancer Society — Institute for Advancements in Mental Health — March of Dimes Canada — The Society of United Professionals — Honda Canada — Eli Lily Canada — Canada Fortescue Future Industries — Bombardier.
🥳 HAPPY BIRTHDAY: ON SATURDAY — Labour Minister MONTE MCNAUGHTON…HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: DOUG FORD, who became leader of the PCs on this day in 2018…
CASH GRAB: The PCs are fundraising off of the occasion. The latest email blast from party fundraiser-in-chief TONY MIELE:
Subject line: “Half a decade!”
“It will be 5 prosperous years since Doug Ford became Leader of the Ontario PC Party. In that time, he led our Ontario PC Party to two majority government victories…Sign his anniversary card here,” it says, then links to a page to donate.
⌛ COUNTDOWN: T-minus 6 days until the byelection in Hamilton Centre…13 days until the budget drops…108 days until Toronto’s mayoral byelection.