On the stump with MPPs: Davenport
Beyond the platforms, this election is about access and barriers for constituents
ABOVE THE FOLD
MARIT STILES can’t take the heat on the campaign trail.
It’s a sweltering 30 degrees — feeling closer to 40 with the humidity — and we’re camped out on the porch of a home on Earlscourt Avenue in Davenport — a competitive riding that federal candidate ALEJANDRA BRAVO is vying to flip for the NDP on September 20.
No one answered the door when Stiles knocked, campaign flyers in hand. That happens a lot — or at least it did on the Saturday Stiles and Bravo let me tag along for a good old-fashioned Covid-era canvass.
Showing up to a voter’s doorstep is an effective way to get them to the polls. However, with the virus flaring up, a snap election call and pandemic restrictions, it’s just one of the basic building blocks of politics that’s been lost during this hot election summer.
But for that moment, the empty house made for a decent respite from the scorching temperatures. Feeling faint, Stiles slumped into a patio chair.
“Let’s take a break here,” the rookie MPP for Davenport said, turning to the elderly couple next door and a big red lawn sign plastered with the name JULIE DZEROWICZ — the incumbent Liberal.
“We already know what we’re doing,” the woman informed us in a thick Portuguese accent, raising her pink knitting needles to gesture at our motley crew. That includes a mother-daughter volunteer duo armed with clipboards stacked with the names and addresses of people who may vote NDP, based on the party’s research.
This was not the woman’s first rodeo — she knows a canvasser when she sees one. In non-Covid times, door-knockers might’ve signalled for reinforcements from Bravo — who can speak Portuguese, Spanish and some Italian, reflecting communities that dominate in the downtown Toronto riding — but physical distancing has made that trickier. And the vibe among those who actually opened their doors was a tad uneasy — most were masked and kept their distance, while canvassers wore buttons declaring “I’m vaccinated.”
Undeterred by the language barrier, Stiles mustered a conversation about one of the most-talked about issues at the doors: affordable housing. That’s not a shocker for the 416, and especially in a riding filled with younger progressives. Indigenous reconciliation and climate change were also top of mind.
Beyond the platforms, this election is about access and barriers for constituents.
PETER MANCINI, a resident receiving home care, asked door-knockers if they could help him cast his ballot — which isn’t as straightforward in Davenport.
“If you’re a senior worried about exposure, you probably want to do a mail-in ballot, which can be complicated,” Bravo explained.
People need to apply for the special ballot online or at an Elections Canada office, which means trekking to a neighbouring riding. “It’s a Covid thing,” said Bravo, who’s also a director at the Broadbent Institute. “They couldn’t find a location [for Davenport], they were looking, but then the snap election happened suddenly — so that means that if you live on the east side, your returning office is in York South—Weston.”
Another hurdle: Schools are no longer the go-to polling locations. Most stations have been decided already, and the lack of schools “is going to cause a lot of confusion.”
“It’s a real pain, this whole thing is a mess,” Stiles said. “There’s only so many community centres in this riding, and if you want to negotiate, for example, a polling station in a condo building or something like that, that takes time.”
The stakes are high for the federal NDP, which is gunning for Davenport — a riding they lost by a slim margin of about 1,400 votes in 2019. It’s been held by the Liberals for decades — save for 2011 when ANDREW CASH flipped it for the NDP, then failed to hang on to the seat.
Provincially, it’s a different story.
Stiles trounced the Liberal incumbent CRISTINA MARTINS in 2018 and has been on the come-up ever since, serving as a high-profile Education critic and someone who’s often floated as a potential successor to longtime NDP Leader ANDREA HORWATH. So stumping on her home turf could give a boost to Bravo (a seasoned electoral contender herself).
“It’s pretty clear that this was one of the Liberal Toronto ridings that the NDP had in their target, and so far it seems to be working,” said STÉPHANIE CHOUINARD — an assistant professor with the department of political science at the Royal Military College of Canada and at Queen’s University — who pointed to recent polling.
“It also doesn’t hurt that, provincially, this is a part of downtown Toronto that has a pretty strong NDP representation with Marit Stiles being one of the stars of Andrea Horwath’s caucus — so it’s not so surprising that this would be one area where the federal NDP would would aim to make headway,” Chouinard said.
A tougher swing may be the Conservative-to-NDP voter — and there just happened to be one on Stiles’s canvassing list.
As with the elderly couple with the Liberal lawn sign, Stiles plowed ahead, past the anti-lockdown sign and Conservative Party flag, to leave an Orange flyer in the mailbox. “You never know, might be another voter.”
PROROGUED!
SUMMER LIVES ON AT THE LEG: The House is out — and will be for longer than scheduled, until after Canadians have had their say at the polls. MPPs will now be back at it October 4, instead of September 13. House Leader PAUL CALANDRA blamed it on the federal election, saying Friday that “each party has put forward dramatically different policies and funding commitments” and “that will have a direct impact on our government’s legislative agenda.” Opposition critics aren’t buying it, accusing the ruling PCs of shirking responsibility as Covid flares up.
Question Period is kaput — so the PCs will avoid a televised grilling on such topical hot-potatoes as the return-to-school and vaccine passport policy.
But the Ford government may actually be overdue — proroguing is fairly normal and gives governments a chance to reset their agenda. This particular moment also makes sense for the PCs, who are navigating uncharted mandate territory when it comes to the pandemic and recovery. Not to mention they’re coming off another spring cabinet shuffle and staring down a general election next June.
That said, the timing and rationale set up the Premier’s critics: “Everyone knows that DOUG FORD has been hiding for the past two months,” said Liberal Leader STEVEN DEL DUCA, winking at Ford’s campaign-era obscurity.
Procedure-wise, this means a clean slate for the Order Paper. All bills currently on the table get killed, and the new session kicks off with a Speech from the Throne.
What’s the over-under on another zebra mussel filibuster?* Some legislation could make a comeback — but the first will be the pro forma Bill 1, An Act to perpetuate an ancient parliamentary right. Don’t let the name fool you — it’s a fancy-sounding formality allowing the Legislature to do its thing and function without permission from the Crown.
UPDATE: Pour one out for these bills — here’s a throwback piece on some of the legislation that didn’t make the cut.
FOR YOUR RADAR — Debate tailgate? For a cool $1,000, dish about those “different policies and funding commitments” with Premier DOUG FORD at a PC fundraising event Thursday evening, the same night federal leaders face-off in an English-language debate. The invite.
Also: The first sitting week is shaping up to be a busy one for provincial politics, coinciding with the Council of the Federation meeting, the big all-premiers’ sit-down that takes place in Winnipeg next month.
*In a 2018 attempt to stall parliamentary proceedings, NDP MPP GILLES BISSON introduced a spate of bills about zebra mussels with long titles naming dozens of lakes — which ate up a lot of debate time. The tactic is straight out of the playbook of former Tory premier MIKE HARRIS.
HAPPENING TODAY
— 9 a.m.: Green Leader MIKE SCHREINER marks the first week back at school with a presser at the Bickford Centre school in Toronto’s Little Italy neighbourhood, “highlighting how Premier Ford and Minister Lecce have failed Ontario families, students and educators.”
— 9:30 a.m. in the Media Studio: NDP Leader ANDREA HORWATH sticks to the back-to-school theme with a newser calling for more permanent paid sick days amid the surging fourth wave.
— 3 p.m.: Top doc KIERAN MOORE briefs reporters.
MAKING HEADLINES
— WHAT’S UP, DOC? “He believes in vaccines. But he doesn’t believe in some of the public-health measures that have been taken. Neither do I.” Norfolk County Mayor KRISTAL CHOPP says politics may be playing a hand in the controversial appointment of Dr. MATT STRAUSS — the new acting medical officer of health in Haldimand-Norfolk who hasn’t been shy about his anti-lockdown views. More from the Simcoe Reformer.
Liberal Health critic JOHN FRASER wants the Tories to veto Strauss’s appointment, saying the slowest-to-vaccinate public health unit shouldn’t be led by someone who “publicly opposed lifesaving public health measures.”
But the PCs say their hands are tied, based on Strauss’s “acting” status. Press secretary ALEXANDRA HILKENE said Health Minister CHRISTINE ELLIOTT “is responsible for approving the appointment of full-time medical officers of health, not acting medical officers of health such as Dr. Strauss.”
— TESTING TEACHERS: Some late-in-the-game clarity as schools return, from the Toronto Star: “Unvaccinated school and child-care staff will have to take two rapid COVID-19 tests a week — with some having to trek to a local pharmacy for the next two weeks as the program rolls out across the province.”
— WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN? The head of the country’s biggest school board in Toronto is asking the Ford government to add the Covid vaccine to the list of already-required inoculations for those 12 and up.
— WHOA, NELLY! Ivermectin — the horse de-wormer at the centre of online misinformation suggesting it can be used to treat Covid — is flying off the shelves at equine supply shops, prompting warnings from Health Canada.
— PANDEMIC TRACKER: Covid’s upswing continues — the province clocked 944 cases Saturday, the highest daily count in more than three months. (There wasn’t an update on Labour Day Monday, so today’s data will be a double feature.)
It’s not looking so hot for ICUs, which are important markers. With daily double-digit admissions, Ontario Hospital Association head ANTHONY DALE is again urging folks to get the jab.
— WHAT THE PHRAGMITE? “Conservation groups across Ontario have teamed up to manage invasive plants called phragmites in their respective regions” and to “call for funding proposals to help control the spread of phragmites in the province.” CBC has the story.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
First in Queen’s Park Observer — JEFF PARKER, most recently chief of staff to Finance Minister PETER BETHLENFALVY, has landed at Infrastructure Ontario as vice president of partnerships and insight. The pair go way back — Parker has 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.
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.
In case you missed last week’s edition, RICHARD CLARK is taking over as Bethlenfalvy’s new chief of staff.
— Over at Government and Consumer Services Minister ROSS ROMANO’s office, SCOTT ALLINSON is the newest senior comms adviser.
TRANSITION: WALLACE PIDGEON has left Infrastructure for Seniors and Accessibility Minister RAYMOND CHO’s office, where he serves as director of communications and tour. Pidgeon was D-comm for ex-infrastructure minister LAURIE SCOTT.
PROMOTIONS: ALEXANDER GIORDANO is now Education Minister STEPHEN LECCE’s executive assistant. Giordano was previously Lecce’s constit assistant.
—Also in Cho’s office: BRAYDEN REID goes from summer intern to policy and comms adviser.
SPOTTED:
AT THE PODIUM — Premier DOUG FORD with Rosh Hashanah greetings…Labour Day remarks from Minister MONTE MCNAUGHTON…
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL — JUSTIN TRUDEAU pelted with rocks in London…The Force going strong in Milton:
REGULATORY ROUNDUP
It’s Tuesday, so you know what that means — time for a weekly look at the government’s latest proposals on the regulatory registry, where the nitty-gritty of policymaking is hammered out. Today’s lineup is light, but a bunch of other comments are due this week — catch up here and here.
LAB EXPERIMENT — The proposal: “Modernize the lab [and specimen collection] licensing framework by streamlining regulatory requirements” including “revising licensing fees for laboratory facilities…Exempting certain health care providers from the requirement to obtain a licence for specimen collection…Regulating the advertising and promotion of laboratory facilities” and “updating the role and qualifications for laboratory facility personnel to reflect current needs.” Deadline for public feedback: Oct. 16.
LOBBBYING DISPATCH
Here are the new, renewed and amended registrations since Friday:
— Amir Remtulla, Amir Remtulla: News Media Canada
— Karl Baldauf, McMillan Vantage: Sportradar US
— Philip Dewan, Counsel Public Affairs: Ontario Association of Prosthetics and Orthotics
— Jordan Angus, Capital Hill Group: Information Technology Association of Canada
— Andrew House, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP: Coventry First LLC
— Jenni Byrne, Jenni Byrne + Associates: Slate Asset Management
IN-HOUSE ORGANIZATIONS: The Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists — Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association — Ontario Bar Association — Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks & Treasurers of Ontario — Manulife.