No honeymoon for Ford
Plus: Ethics watchdog puts lobbyists on notice and calls for MPP salary raise, campaign ad case goes back to court, privacy commish lays out cost of transparency
ABOVE THE FOLD
POLL WATCH — He may have won a resounding 83-seat re-election majority, but Premier DOUG FORD isn’t exactly enjoying a honeymoon phase with Ontarians.
That’s the upshot from fresh Angus Reid polling that suggests Ford will have to settle for a paltry two-point bump in approval ratings — which is within the survey’s margin of error, suggesting his support is virtually unchanged. At 45 per cent, Ford ranks fourth among Canada’s premiers, behind Nova Scotia’s TIM HOUSTON, Saskatchewan’s SCOTT MOE and B.C.’s JOHN HORGAN.
“Ford begins another term much like he started his first one, with approval of slightly more than two-in-five Ontarians,” the pollster says. “The middling approval is at odds with the election results — a stronger majority than Ford and the PCPO won in 2018. That said, most voters didn’t bother voting; turnout was the lowest in the province’s history.”
WATCHDOGS REPORT: RAISE MPP PAY, LOBBYING MAKEOVER, MORE FOIs
ON ETHICS: Integrity Commissioner J. DAVID WAKE dropped his annual report, summing up a complaint-heavy year covering the ethical conduct of MPPs and their staff. Here are the highlights:
— MPPs bemoan static paycheques: “During my meetings with MPPs to review their financial disclosure, as required by the [Members’ Integrity Act], some MPPs mention their concern over the continuing static nature of their income. Continuing to tie the lifting of the freeze to achieving a balanced budget is problematic for all MPPs,” Wake says in the report.
His recommendation: “After the next election, I respectfully suggest that the government consider lifting the freeze or re-establishing an independent arm’s-length process to review MPP salaries.”
Base pay for MPPs is $116,550. That doesn’t include wage bumps for holding certain roles, such as a member of committee or cabinet. “Had the freeze not been imposed, MPP salaries would have risen by now to $139,350, which is 75% of an MP’s current salary.”
— Lobbyists on notice: “I anticipated that a legislative review, as required by the Lobbyists Registration Act, would take place this past year. Unfortunately, this did not come to pass. A committee was struck for the purpose of the review, but there was insufficient time for it to begin — let alone complete — its work before the election. I trust the review will be renewed this year. With the growing number of persons engaged in lobbying, it is important that the existing weaknesses in the LRA be addressed and corrected so that we can have a transparent and effective lobbying regime.”
That includes: Tightening up the yearly 50-hour threshold for registration of in-house lobbyists, cracking down on unpaid volunteers who lobby, and bringing in monetary penalties for scofflaws.
Catch up on our scoop about the possible makeover for lobbying rules here.
— Complaints on the rise: “Since I became Integrity Commissioner in 2016, I have issued 21 reports…or three per year on average,” Wake says. “Considering this, in the past fiscal year, the activity under sections 30 and 31 has been extraordinary. I have issued seven reports…At year end, three more reports were waiting to be completed.”
The big beef: “The parliamentary convention prohibiting the use of legislative or constituency office resources for partisan purposes, particularly by members’ staff.”
Bootcamp for rookie MPPs and staff: “It led me to recommend that each political party’s caucus services branch develop a detailed training program for MPP staff concerning this and other parliamentary conventions,” Wake explained. “After the election, there will be a significant number of new members and their staff who will be coming to Queen’s Park for the first time. It is important for them to become familiar with the parliamentary conventions that have an impact on their work.”
ON PRIVACY: Meanwhile, Information and Privacy commish PATRICIA KOSSEIM re-upped her calls for a private-sector privacy law and to beef up the current access regime. Highlights from Kosseim’s annual report include:
— By the numbers: “There were 55,578 freedom of information (FOI) requests filed across Ontario in 2021, an increase of more than 26 per cent from 2020, when 44,167 requests were filed.” That includes 24,753 provincial requests and 30,825 municipal requests. Overall, 10,582 requests were fulfilled completely, while information for 22,508 other requests was only partially disclosed.
The cost of transparency: Provincial FOIs clocked in at an average of $36.26 for general records and $6.37 for personal info. The province collected $440,543.09 in fees from truth-seekers.
— Made-in-Ontario private sector privacy law: “The government's consultations on a made-in-Ontario private sector privacy law last year were promising but remain incomplete. It’s now up to the new government to pick up the mantle and actively pursue these efforts by leveraging the momentum toward stronger and more integrated privacy protection for all Ontarians,” Kosseim says.
— PHIPA penalties: “Significant amendments to [the Personal Health Information Protection Act] were introduced in 2020, but have yet to take effect, pending the adoption of regulations. One of those amendments sets out the IPC’s power to impose administrative monetary penalties for serious breaches of Ontario’s health privacy law. We urge the government to set forth the details of the administrative penalty scheme in regulations without further delay. Ontarians urgently need the assurance of knowing there will be real consequences imposed on the few bad actors who undermine the confidence of our province’s health care system.”
— Schooled on digital literacy: “It is essential to equip children and youth with the skills they need to navigate the digital environment safely and ethically. This includes a solid understanding of their privacy rights, taught as part of the Ontario primary and secondary school curricula.”
CAMPAIGN AD LAW BACK IN COURT
HAPPENING TODAY — Working Families — the union-backed group that’s been challenging the Ford government’s law restricting third-party campaign advertising — is back in court today and tomorrow. Livestream.
A primer: The new law — for which the PCs invoked the notwithstanding clause after an earlier challenge — means third parties like unions, PACs and advocacy groups have to stretch $637,200 over 12 months instead of six for pre-campaign election ads. There’s also more onerous reporting requirements.
To wit: Working Families, along with other labour groups and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, claimed that the law breached the Charter right to freedom of expression. A lower court agreed, striking it down as unconstitutional — but the PCs revived it with the Charter-overriding notwithstanding clause.
This week, they’re battling it out again at the Court of Appeal, with a slightly different argument that the law also impacted the Charter right to vote, which cannot be bypassed by the notwithstanding clause. That challenge was shot down at the Superior court.
The argument, per the CCLA is that “the scope of the right to vote should be understood broadly and that the inability of the notwithstanding clause to override the right to vote further enhances this interpretation.”
More: “Our argument also focused on how government’s can unfortunately be motivated by partisan self-interest when making reforms to the electoral system, calling for greater judicial scrutiny of the law when its constitutionality is challenged.”
In case you missed it: Unions were the biggest spenders during the 2022 election. Catch up on our scoop here.
I also spoke with the CCLA, ex-PC leader and Working Families target TIM HUDAK, and prolific advertiser Ontario Autism Coalition about how the new rules impacted the election. Get the full story at TVO.org.
MAKING HEADLINES
— LRT WOES: “There was no way the City of Ottawa wanted to stray from its $2.1-billion budget for the first phase of the LRT system, according to an Infrastructure Ontario executive who helped advise the city.” More from the Ottawa Citizen: “ROB PATTINSON, a senior vice-president with the provincial agency, which was the city’s main procurement advisor for Stage 1 LRT, told the inquiry commissioner on Tuesday that the city didn’t want to budge from its project budget, even though he raised it as a ‘red flag that you might have a failed procurement. What was expressed to me was, the budget was not up for debate,’ Pattison testified.”
— THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM FOR MIDWIVES: Story from the Star: “The Court of Appeal upheld a 2018 ruling that will bring about pay equity for midwives and remedy what is still a more than 45 per cent wage gap with similar workers, dismissing the Ontario government’s appeal.”
SPOTTED:
Education workers rallying across the province as collective bargaining gears up…Premier DOUG FORD’s youngest daughter KYLA engaged.
LOBBYING DISPATCH
Here are the new, renewed and amended registrations over the past 24 hours:
— Christine Simundson, Rubicon Strategy Inc.: Teranet
— Jan O'Driscoll, Rubicon Strategy: Cadillac Fairview, Canadian Niagara Hotels Inc., The Ontario Pipe Trades Council
— Danielle Peters, Magnet Strategy Group: Safehaven Project for Community Living
In-house organizations: Rogers Communications — Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association — NOVA Chemicals Corporation.
🥳 HAPPY BIRTHDAY: PC MPP-elect KALEED RASHEED (Mississauga—East Cooksville)…(BELATED) DAVID HERLE, podcaster, pollster and top Liberal campaign strategist.