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ABOVE THE FOLD
MONEY TALKS (AND SO SHOULD THE CFOs) — If you stay ready, you ain’t got to get ready — and GREG ESSENSA is basically telling Queen’s Park to lace up.
In his long-awaited post-mortem on February’s snap election — dropped eight months later, just as Premier DOUG FORD is rewriting the campaign-finance and timeline rulebook — Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer warns the province can’t keep pulling off surprise winter votes without a legislative revamp.
Democracy debrief: No foreign interference this time, but “the ground is shifting,” Essensa says in his 88-page report. Mis- and disinformation continue to test public trust, while early calls strain the system. His fix? A “strategic shift” rooted in old-school democratic covenants — and a plea to give Elections Ontario the flexibility to run an election anytime, anywhere, at a moment’s notice. Because, Essensa notes, “what was once rare is becoming common.”
Here’s what Essensa wants to change, legislatively-speaking:
Shrink the audit threshold: Right now, only the big spenders go under the fiscal microscope. The bar for mandatory audits sits at a cushy $10,000, which in 2022 meant 69 per cent of candidates, constituency associations and parties could skate by without scrutiny. Essensa says that leaves “limited compliance oversight.” His recommendation: drop the baseline for donations and expenses to $2,500 so smaller campaigns have to open the books too — ensuring everyone’s playing by the same Election Finances Act rules, not just the big dogs.
Tick tock on receipts: With just 62 per cent of campaign receipts filed on time (something this reporter knows all too well), Essensa wants to crack the whip on late filers. He’s asking for the power to issue fines, cut subsidies, or sign compliance agreements for anyone who misses the deadline. The idea is borrowed from the feds and is meant to “encourage timely compliance and strengthen public confidence.”
Pay the bean-counters: Chief Financial Officers might not be the stars of the show, but they’re the ones keeping candidates and parties from tripping over the Election Finances Act. The problem? “Without adequate incentives, parties often rely on inexperienced volunteers,” Essensa warns, which just invites errors (and headaches for Elections Ontario). His pitch: subsidize qualified CFOs so the pros stick around, consistency and transparency improves — and the paperwork actually makes sense.
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HAPPENING TODAY
9 a.m.: Transportation Minister PRABMEET SARKARIA will give a breakfast keynote at the Toronto Region Board of Trade’s “Highways to Prosperity: Building Ontario’s Future” event.
9 a.m.: NDPer GUY BOURGOUIN is in the Media Studio to pump up his private members’ Bill 49, which would beef up northern highway safety and is up for debate this afternoon.
10 a.m.: NDP Leader MARIT STILES is up next, alongside tenant advocates, to “sound the alarm” over the PC government’s Bill 60, the omnibus housing legislation they call “DOUG FORD’s latest attack on renters.”
Protests aplenty — 11:30 a.m.: The Ontario Nurses Association and other unions are rallying alongside striking primary care workers from the North York Family Health Team. NDP Leader MARIT STILES will also join the picket line.
Back on the South Lawn, advocacy groups Policing-Free Schools and Friends and Families for Safe Streets will rally against Bill 33, which shakes up school board governance, and Bill 56, which guts speed cameras.
ON THE ORDER PAPER
First up: It’s second reading on Bill 40, the Protect Ontario by Securing Affordable Energy for Generations Act from Energy Minister STEPHEN LECCE that adds economic growth and the development of a hydrogen market to the IESO and OEB’s objectives. Ditto tweaks to municipal bylaw requirements for construction and operation of public utilities. Debate is slated for the afternoon, too.
After the morning’s Question Period, it’s back-to-back deferred votes: On third and final reading of Bill 56, the omnibus red-tape reduction package that notably bans speed cameras, which was put on the fast-track.
MPPs will also vote on PC DAVE SMITH’s (non-binding) Remembrance Day-themed motion. Full text: “The Government of Ontario should, on behalf of Ontario veterans and their families, ask Veterans Affairs Canada to assume responsibility for mistakes on the ‘Presence in Absence’ memorial and apologize to the living veterans who were wrongly identified as fallen soldiers and to the families of deceased soldiers whose names were left off the monument.”
Later on: Bill 60, the omnibus housing legislation from Minister ROB FLACK, which remains a hot-potato despite the Ford government nixing consultations to end evergreen leases — advocates say tenant rights are still at risk.
On the PMB docket: NDPers GUY BOURGOUIN, JOHN VANTHOF and LISE VAUGEOIS will put forward their private members’ Bill 49, which would beef up highway safety in their neck of the woods up north.
WEDNESDAY’S RUNDOWN
On the fast-track: After the PCs wielded their majority to pass a time allocation motion for the aforementioned Bill 56, along with Bill 30, the latest Working for Workers Act, and Bill 25, to enshrine an emergency management strategy at the newly-created ministry, those bills zipped through second reading debate. They’ll skip the committee and public-hearing stage, per the motion.
Cleared: Bill 33, Education Minister PAUL CALANDRA’s spring revamp of school board governance, could head to committee for further study, or be time-allocated, as it’s had the requisite six-and-a-half hours of debate at second reading.
Tabled: Bill 67, a PMB from PC ERNIE HARDEMAN that would proclaim February 23 as Hospitality Workers Appreciation Day.
ON THE COMMITTEE CIRCUIT
In the hot seat — 9 a.m.: MPPs at the Government Agencies committee will grill a pair of government appointees (reminder: they can ask folks about their qualifications and how they got their gigs, but they can’t veto appointments).
— MICHAEL KRALJEVIC is up first — he’s the veteran development and real estate pro who is also the chair of the Ontario Land Tribunal, who also happens to go way back with Premier DOUG FORD. Back in 2013, then-Toronto Port Lands CEO Kraljevic was then-city councillor Ford’s pick to lead Build Toronto, which ruffled some feathers. Kraljevic is now headed for the board of governors at the Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.
— AMIT GURPERSAUD will also face questions about his appointments to the Landlord and Tenant Board and the Commission de la location immobilière.
1 p.m.: It’s another round of Ministry spending Estimates hearings at Justice Policy. Featuring Public and Business Service Delivery Minister STEPHEN CRAWFORD and Indigenous Affairs Minister GREG RICKFORD. Ministry staff lineup.
Piccini flayed: If you didn’t get enough in Question Period, NDP Leader MARIT STILES made a rare cameo at committee during Labour Minister DAVID PICCINI’s Estimates testimony, making for a fiery back-and-forth during what’s typically a pretty dry hearing. Clip.
COCKTAIL CHATTER
Making the morning reception rounds: OPSEU is hosting in the Dining Room while CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions is in Room 228. The Alliance for Healthier Communities is serving up lunch and policy talk in 228, while NFL Canada hosts in Room 230.
CLIPPINGS
— SDF SAGA CONTINUES: “Executives and owners of a number of organizations that received Skills Development Fund money from the Ford government quickly donated money right back to the PC Party.” Global News has the receipts.
Meanwhile: “The rinkside Maple Leafs seats DAVID PICCINI was photographed in belong to the family of the man sitting next to him, a director of a company that would go on to get millions in Skills Development Fund grants when Piccini became Ontario’s labour minister, CTV News has learned.”
— SORRY NOT SORRY: “Premier DOUG FORD has denounced the U.S. ambassador to Canada for profanely attacking Ontario’s representative to Washington at a reception. ‘Absolutely unacceptable. It’s unbecoming of an ambassador.’” The Star has the story.
— BAD ADS: Ford also took to the Washington Post’s op-ed pages to explain why Ontario ran the infamous RONALD REAGAN ad.
And the Premier isn’t the only one spilling ink on the matter: “Doug Ford’s anti-tariff ad was a waste, whether or not it torpedoed trade talks,” opines Robyn Urback in the Globe. Martin Regg Cohn’s take in the Star: “Doug Ford’s message to America reveals Donald Trump’s weakness.”
— RING OF IRE: “In an effort to speed up development in the mineral-rich Ring of Fire, the Ontario government has signed a community partnership agreement with Webequie First Nation” to the tune of $40 million. But but but: “Development in the Ring of Fire region has come under heavy criticism by several First Nation leaders and environmental advocates, particularly when it comes to consultations with affected communities.” CBC News reports.
— “THE MOST TALENTED MPP YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF”: TVO’s Steve Paikin on an MPP who passed away earlier this month: “Athlete, scholar, diplomat, changemaker. TIM REID spent only one term at Queen’s Park — but his career was unlike any other Ontario legislator.” Read on.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
STAFFING UP — KAILIE OORTWYN is now Health Minister SYLVIA JONES’s manager of policy. DEVON RYAN is policy adviser and JUSTINE HENDERSON is executive coordinator.
In Education Minister PAUL CALANDRA’s office, SHELDON JAMES becomes senior issues manager.
DENA COLE is now deputy director of strategic comms to Tourism, Culture and Gaming Minister STAN CHO.
JONATHAN VAN LOAN has been promoted to MPP liaison in Natural Resources Minister MIKE HARRIS’s camp.
JOHN PICILAIDIS has also been promoted to policy adviser and MPP liaison to Sport Minister NEIL LUMSDEN. WESLEY AUSTIN becomes senior manager of media, issues and Leg affairs.
I’m late to this but in case you are too: NATASHA RESTREPO RIVERA is now deputy director of operations to Long-Term Care Minister NATALIA KUSENDOVA-BASTHA.
A message from Airbnb
QUESTION PERIOD
HIGHLIGHTS: “How does the Premier explain this pattern of political donations rising and falling depending on who controls the Skills Development Fund?” — “When is this Premier going to fire his minister?” — “How much do workers in Brampton and Ingersoll…have to fork out to get this government to pay any attention to them?” — “Will the Premier continue to support this Minister of Labour and his pay-to-play schemes?” — “Did the Premier tell the founder of FGF Brands (the bakery that received $1M from SDF and donated to the PCs) to call KORY TENEYCKE?” — “Can the Premier confirm that the Skills Development Fund—that sleazy slush fund—is Kory Teneycke’s idea?” — “What is the connection between the Premier and his office to Creative Currency (the firm behind the Reagan ad and PCs “Get it done” slogan)?” — “What are the connections between Creative Currency and Kory Teneycke, our shadow Premier?” — “Does the Minister of Health want to know what all the good people in the visitors’ gallery have in common?…They have all been charged for OHIP-funded services by a private, for-profit clinic, something that is illegal” — “If funding only rises by less than 1%, even though maintaining care requires 4%, in what scenario do hospitals not face any cuts to service?” — “Commit to funding our team-based clinics fairly so they can retain staff and the people of northern Ontario can count on getting the health care they need” — “Does the Premier think it’s okay to give millions to his friends at bars and nightclubs while nurses and health care workers can’t get paid fairly?” — “Why is this government stalling on the planning grant necessary to rebuild the Welland Hospital?” — “When will this government take real action to retain nurses by improving working conditions, instead of just recruiting ones to replace those that are leaving?”
LOBBY LIST
Here are the new, renewed and amended registrations over the past 24 hours:
Giancarlo Drennan, Sussex Strategy Group: 407 ETR Concession Company, Clearway Construction Group, AirBoss of America
Chris Benedetti, Sussex Strategy Group: Evolugen (Brookfield BRP Canada Corp)
In-house organizations: Sienna Senior Living — Janssen Inc — University of Guelph — Apollo Stone & Aggregate Corp — Ontario Community Support Association — Alexion — Cereberus Capital Management — Algoma Ferrous Industries
🍽️ LUNCH SPECIAL: It’s Thursday so you know what that means — fish and chips is on tap in the basement caf.
⏳ COUNTDOWN: T-minus 7 days until the Fall Economic Statement…42 days until the House recesses…92 days until the PC convention in Toronto.
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Cover image: Getty