SCOOP: Del Duca's DVE prospects polled
Plus: Vax expansion, Sir John A's $25K cleaning bill, staff and nomination moves
Good Monday morning. This is Queen’s Park Observer — the very first issue! You can read more about the premise and inspiration behind this newsletter here, and more about what a subscription gets you here.
ABOVE THE FOLD
As MICHAEL COTEAU set his sights on federal politics, Liberal Leader STEVEN DEL DUCA was polled as his potential provincial replacement in Don Valley East. Del Duca — who previously said he’d only run in his home riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge — was cagey when asked to reaffirm that pledge.
“We’re still going through a series of discussions,” he told me, adding he’s “very excited about [his] proven track record of delivering for the people of Vaughan” during his MPP days.
“We’re going to continue to nominate candidates right across Ontario, including a nomination in my riding over the next number of weeks and months, so I would say stay tuned for more details.”
On a March evening in Don Valley East — where Coteau is running for the Liberal nomination federally and currently represents provincially — a source who was granted anonymity received a call from a pollster asking questions about who they would support in a potential provincial election, with Del Duca as the option for the Liberal candidate. The other 2018 contenders, including local Toronto city councillor and PC runner-up DENZIL MINNAN-WONG, were also on the list.
The source tracked down the call to Pollara, which is owned by top Liberal strategist DON GUY. Guy is a senior adviser in Del Duca’s camp and led successful campaigns for the Grits during the DALTON MCGUINTY era. He didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.
Coteau’s bid potentially clears a path for Del Duca to pick up a seat and spend a few months flexing his legislative muscle in Question Period before the grind of the general election campaign begins. But three Liberal insiders independently agreed that polling a potential replacement’s prospects so early in the game is bad form when it comes to political etiquette. One called it “premature.”
These two have history: Coteau came in second to Del Duca in last year’s leadership contest. They were also front bench-mates in KATHLEEN WYNNE’s cabinet. Now, the veteran MPP has the leader’s blessing to jump into the federal arena.
“When I did speak to Steven about this, he reminded me of a conversation I had with him, probably about 15 years ago, before I was a [school] trustee,” Coteau says. “And you know, I was surprised that he remembered this, but he reminded me that when he did ask me what were my ambitions, my response was I wanted to be in Ottawa some day, representing my community. So he completely understands what my connection was to the federal party.”
“And he’s also assured me that if it doesn’t go according to plan, that I have a place with him in the Ontario Liberal Party.”
While Coteau is a heavyweight, it’s not a slam-dunk race for him — he’s battling it out with at least one other candidate: HAFEEZ LADHA, who works to support investments in global public health.
This could all be a moot point soon. By law, if Coteau doesn’t resign his provincial seat before June 2 — and he isn’t obligated to do so until he officially secures the federal candidacy — Premier DOUG FORD won’t be forced to call a byelection to replace him, and the seat could remain vacant until the vote in 2022.
HAPPENING TODAY
First up at 9 a.m., Financial Accountability Officer PETER WELTMAN will release a report on the Ministry of Health’s spending plan for fiscal 2021-22. The report is meant to support the Standing Committee on Estimates, which meets to review the expenditures tomorrow morning (there are no committee meetings slated for today).
On Zoom at 11 a.m.: Del Duca will make a victory-lap announcement about his party’s pitch for universal $10-a-day licensed childcare.
Ministers and Opposition leaders will scrum after Question Period around 11:30 a.m. in the Media Studio. Liberal House Leader JOHN FRASER will follow at 2 p.m., to discuss the Long-Term Care Commission’s report detailing the government’s missteps amid COVID-19. Later on at 3 p.m., health officials will provide their regular pandemic update.
The PC Party is hosting a $1,000-a-ticket fundraiser on Zoom this evening, featuring a trio of ministers: VIC FEDELI, GREG RICKFORD and PRABMEET SARKARIA.
ON THE ORDER PAPER
Ahead of Question Period this morning, PC MPP DAVE SMITH (Peterborough—Kawartha) will kick off second-reading debate on his private member’s Bill 281, to amend Christopher’s Law and allow public access to the sex offender registry.
After QP, MPPs will vote on second reading of NDP Indigenous and Treaty Relations critic SOL MAMAKWA’s backbench Bill 286, which would explicitly recognize the right of people living and working on reserves to expect safe drinking water.
On the afternoon docket is Bill 288, the Building Opportunities in the Skilled Trades Act, which Labour Minister MONTE MCNAUGHTON tabled Thursday. The proposed legislation would create a new Crown agency — dubbed Skilled Trades Ontario — to replace the Ontario College of Trades.
Government House Leader PAUL CALANDRA is angling to get McNaughton’s bill through second reading this week. It’s also up for debate on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, at which point it will likely hit the requisite 6.5-hour mark before it can be time allocated or studied at committee.
SPOTTED:
— Premier DOUG FORD back on the photo-op circuit, now that his isolation period is over following close contact with a staffer who tested positive for Covid. Friday saw the premier sign off on sending desperately needed ventilators to India as it grapples with a catastrophic Covid surge. The first Canadian Armed Forces plane packed with medical supplies touched down in New Delhi on Saturday.
— PC MPP JIM MCDONELL (Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry) also out of post-Covid isolation and on the mend: “While I contracted the virus before my vaccination had time to provide me with its maximum protection, I do not doubt that it was responsible for my low level of symptoms.”
— Small Business Minister PRABMEET SARKARIA in a virtual sit-down with Ontario Chamber of Commerce president ROCCO ROSSI on Friday afternoon, to talk pandemic support and recovery. “Very much appreciate Minister [Sarkaria’s] desire to learn where the problems lie and what can be improved,” Rossi tweeted.
POLL WATCH
Approval of the Ford government’s handling of the pandemic is taking a nosedive amid the third wave. According to EKOS pollster FRANK GRAVES, a paltry 19 per cent of respondents gave the province the thumbs-up, compared to 80 per cent last summer. Per Graves: “That is unimaginably low. Biggest issue of last 80 years. Worst marks ever.”
Meanwhile, a fresh public-opinion survey from Innovative Research Group pegs overall satisfaction with the PC government down to 39 per cent, with more than half — 55 per cent — unhappy with its Covid response.
Good news for the Grits, who held on to their slim lead among decided voters, with 36 per cent of respondents saying they would cast their ballots for the OLP, compared to 32 per cent who support the PCs. No thanks to Del Duca, it seems — a majority either had a neutral impression of the Liberal leader, or none at all. More juicy tidbits in that IRG poll: a plurality of respondents are undecided on who would make the best premier, and a majority of PC partisans agree the powers-that-be were warned back in February that without immediate action, Covid cases would skyrocket by April. A plurality of the PCs own supporters also believe the decision to loosen restrictions is directly responsible for the spike.
MAKING HEADLINES
— On the links, it’s Ford versus his own caucus and, at least in the opinion of one MPP, his voting base. The Toronto Star’s Robert Benzie has the scoop: “Tory MPPs were told earlier this week that golf courses will remain closed until at least June 2 … One irate PC donor confided he has been rejecting the party’s recent emailed fundraising appeals with a one-word response: ‘Golf’ … Another complicating factor is the Tories feel they cannot allow golf without also reopening basketball and tennis courts as well as soccer fields and baseball diamonds.”
— Don’t hold your breath for reopening. Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. BARBARA YAFFE said she’d be “surprised” if restrictions lift later this month, lest we “end up with a fourth wave.” Health experts are similarly skeptical Ontario will fully come out of the stay-at-home order when it expires May 19. Meanwhile, the Canadian Paediatric Society joined a chorus of advocates urging the reopening of all outdoor recreational spaces, after the government was forced to backtrack on its roundly criticized move to shutter playgrounds.
— A travel ban back-and-forth with Ottawa, via the Star’s Susan Delacourt: Prime Minister “JUSTIN TRUDEAU’s government has fired off a letter to Ontario this weekend, asking DOUG FORD and his cabinet to identify which international travellers they want banned from entering the province … [a] reply to Ford’s escalating bid to pin the blame on Trudeau for the third wave of the pandemic, which included an attack ad launched by the provincial Conservatives … In the language of government, that translates to something along the lines of ‘put your money where your mouth is.’”
— PMJT chalked up the PCs’ political ads to “personal attacks.”
— “Dozens of residents in two Ontario nursing homes hit hard by the coronavirus died not from COVID-19 but from dehydration and neglect, the Canadian military says in reports obtained by The Globe and Mail,” Karen Howlett reports.
— OPSEU prez WARREN (SMOKEY) THOMAS welcomes being called out for alleged racism. “The head of one of Ontario’s largest unions is acknowledging ‘systemic flaws’ within the organization after a Black union president alleged she’d been bullied and secretly monitored by her fellow officers,” by CBC’s Trevor Pritchard.
— Pop quiz! “Graduating student teachers across Ontario will be scrambling to write a math proficiency test the provincial government is making available on Monday, following a months-long delay that has prevented would-be educators from clearing a final hurdle to securing their teaching licences,” reports the Globe and Mail’s Caroline Alphonso.
— Untangling red tape for rapid tests, from Brian Platt in the National Post. “This is long, long, long overdue,” Canadian Federation of Independent Business CEO DAN KELLY told Platt. “Ontario, to its credit, did move on removing some of the regulatory hurdles earlier than a lot of provinces. But it’s outrageous to me that governments allowed a whole year before they actually got their act together and allowed for rapid testing to be used as a tool to try to keep asymptomatic spread out of Canadian workplaces.”
GROUNDSKEEPING
Sir John A. Macdonald racks up $25,000 cleaning bill: Speaker TED ARNOTT is keeping the country’s controversial first prime minister boarded up as he conducts a review of the statue, which sits on the south lawn and was doused in pink paint during a Black Lives Matter Toronto protest last summer. The goal, Arnott said, is “to consider what we might do in the future to ensure that everyone feels welcome on our property, and that the history of Ontario is presented in a way that is accessible and appreciated by everybody.”
Pressed on what that means exactly — such as recognizing Macdonald’s legacy of harmful Indigenous policy — Arnott said “we’re still working through it.” While he’s not a fan of removing the statues from the lawn, he’s consulting with several groups, including NDP Indigenous Relations critic SOL MAMAKWA, to come up with “creative” and “sensitive” solutions that serve as a “basis for reconciliation.” For now, John A.’s statue will stay under cover from potential vandals so the Legislature doesn’t have to cough up more cash to clean it.
Inside the Leg, diversity may soon be easier to find — specifically in front of Lieutenant Governor ELIZABETH DOWDESWELL’s viceregal suite. Arnott is in talks with a group that wants to donate a bust of LINCOLN ALEXANDER, Ontario’s first Black LG and Canada’s first Black MP and cabinet minister.
PANDEMIC TRACKER
Sunday’s Covid toll included 47 deaths, the highest in a single day since early February. Another 3,216 cases were logged, based on just 38,540 tests, while 848 patients are in ICUs.
On the vaccination front: Pfizer’s shot is now available for the broader 18-plus crowd at certain hot-spot pharmacies in Toronto and Peel.
Indigenous people living in cities — who tend to be hospitalized with Covid at a much higher rate than the general population — are now eligible to get their second dose within the originally recommended 21 to 28-day window after their first.
Hard-hit Toronto seems to be hitting its stride. Officials say half of the city’s adults were inoculated with their first dose over the weekend. (Patties, flowers and DJ beats may have helped.)
Meanwhile, Registered Nurses Association of Ontario CEO DORIS GRINSPUN is calling on the premier to kick off Nursing Week, which starts today, by speeding up the second jab for nurses on the front lines, who have to wait four months along with most others. UPDATE: The province did just that Monday morning, opening up second-shot eligibility to all hospital and acute care staff, patient-facing health workers and medical first responders who work on the front lines of the pandemic, including nurses and personal support workers in long-term care.
Unemployment ticked up 1.5 percentage points in April, coinciding with tougher public health measures. According to the latest data from Statistics Canada, Ontario’s unemployment rate hit 9 per cent last month, up from 7.5 per cent in March, with the retail trade and accommodation and food services industries accounting for the biggest losses. Economic Development Minister VIC FEDELI blamed the third wave driven by more contagious variants: “These job numbers serve as a stark reminder that as we continue to do everything possible to support Ontarians, there is much work ahead of us.”
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
— AMANDA IARUSSO has returned to her roots at law firm McCarthy Tetrault, exiting Attorney General DOUG DOWNEY’s office, where she was most recently Executive Director of Policy and Legal Affairs. One Tory insider described the move as a “huge blow” for the ruling party, which has been bleeding staff in recent months.
A recently departed PC staffer suggested the turnover is expected given the timeline to 2022: “It’s always a tough decision, at least it was for me, because these jobs they really are blessings, opportunities, particularly for younger people. I learned a lot. I was able to work with a lot of ministers and do some good things. I just felt like it was the right time for me to try some other things in the private sector.
“Government wide — I can’t speak for everybody, obviously — there have been a number of people, chiefs [of staff] and others that have moved on in the last six months or so. To some degree, it’s kind of that normal cycle for governments where people decide whether they’re going to stay for the next one or not.”
Another ex-PC didn’t buy that theory, saying, “Normal turnover happens six months before an election, not 15 months before.”
— Speaking of Downey, the AG on Friday announced the appointment of a new regional senior justice to the Ontario Court of Justice: SANDRA BACCHUS. Effective June 3, Bacchus replaces ASTON HALL in the Toronto region; Hall was named Ontario’s first Black associate chief justice earlier this year. Since joining the bench in 2011, Bacchus has sat on a handful of justice committees, including those related to education and domestic violence, per a release.
— PAUL PAOLATTO has been nominated to carry the PC banner in London West. Runner-up in London’s last mayoral race (and reportedly cleared of some but not all questionable campaign expenses) Paolatto was acclaimed as the PCs 2022 candidate last week, emphasizing his business savvy and background on the local police board and children’s health centre. He’s currently Chief Operating Officer of Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. “I understand firsthand the issues that matter to the region and its residents, including supporting small businesses and fostering long-term economic growth,” Paolatto said in a statement. NDP House Leader PEGGY SATTLER has represented the riding since 2013.
— ALI MOMEN is no longer vying for the Liberal nomination in Toronto—St. Paul’s, his first publicly declared choice. He’s now gunning for Parkdale—High Park. A Grit source said the party pushed the Come From Away actor to run in another riding, as they make way for a potential appointee. Their narrowly-failed 2018 candidate, JESS SPINDLER, who moved to Winnipeg after the vote, previously told this reporter she’s “seriously considering” making a comeback for 2022. JILL ANDREW, NDP critic for Women’s Issues, Culture and Heritage, is the current MPP for St. Paul’s; New Democrat BHUTILA KARPOCHE, critic for Early Learning and Child Care, reps PHP.
— The Ontario Liberal Party has tapped MIKE CAVANAUGH as Manager of Field Organization. Cavanaugh previously worked on Del Duca’s leadership campaign and for the federal party on the Hill.
— Greens kick 2022 candidate recruitment search into high gear: GPO Leader MIKE SCHREINER is on the hunt for traditionally barrier-ridden candidates from underrepresented groups as part of a “Take the Lead” campaign, issuing a callout for nominees and donations to the party’s Diversity and Inclusion Fund, which provides start-up cash to help alleviate administrative, logistical and other hurdles preventing people from putting their name on the ballot.
LOBBYING DISPATCH
Here are the new, renewed and amended lobbyist registrations since Friday:
— Jenni Byrne, Jenni Byrne + Associates: King Towing
— John Penner and John Duffy, StrategyCorp: York Region
— Adam Yahn, Summa Strategies: Golf Canada
— Christopher Froggatt, Loyalist Public Affairs: Cadillac Fairview
— Nicholas Pozhke, Loyalist Public Affairs: Uber Canada, Redeemer University
— Dan Mader, Jill Wilson, Ryan Guptill, Nicholas Pozhke and Christopher Froggatt, Loyalist Public Affairs: Dye & Durham Corporation
— Derrick Araneda, Stosic & Associates: Baxter Corporation
— Vincent Crisanti, Vincent Crisanti: 819630 Ontario Ltd
— Samuel Duncan, Wellington Advocacy: Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Esper
— Aleem Kanji, AleemKanji.com: Calgary Real Estate Board
— Tyler Bjornson, T.Bjornson and Associates Consulting: Phoslock Environmental Technologies
— Ron Ross, Newforum: Police Services Board for the town of Stratford
— David Donovan, Sussex Strategy Group: Wataynikaneyap Power LP
— Kenneth Stewart, Maddy Stieva and Aaron Scheewe, The Capital Hill Group: IBM OCEAN CANADA LIMITED
— Natalie Dash and Paul Brown, Campbell Strategies: Nieuport Aviation Infrastructure Partners
IN-HOUSE ORGANIZATIONS: Ontario Bar Association.
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