Every Friday, TVO.org provides a summary of the most notable developments in Ontario politics over the past week.
Here’s what caught our attention:
Queen’s Park keywords
Trucker chaos: Toronto officials are preparing for a possible truck convoy protest at Queen’s Park this weekend, similar to the demonstrations that have paralyzed much of Ottawa’s downtown for the past week. Of particular concern are a number of hospitals close to the legislature. Authorities say they are taking steps to ensure emergency vehicles, patients, and medical personnel will be able to easily access the hospitals despite any protests. Meanwhile, after ongoing calls to do more about the Ottawa demonstrators, police there have announced they will begin a “surge and contain strategy.”
Nurse pay: The Ontario Nurses Association concluded a meeting with Premier Doug Ford on Thursday without any commitment from the government to repeal Bill 124, which limits pay raises for nurses and other public sector workers. “While I am deeply disappointed that the Premier did not commit to repealing Bill 124, I am hopeful that our meeting next week will be productive. We do agree with Premier Ford’s position that Canada’s federal health transfers should increase,” said ONA President Cathryn Hoy in a news release.
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Vaccine passports: Chief Medical Officer of Health Kieran Moore says the province will need to soon decide whether it keeps or does away with its vaccine passport system. “The vaccine isn’t providing significant benefit at two doses against the risk of transmission, as compared to someone unvaccinated,” he said Thursday. “We have to reassess the value of the passports in the coming weeks and months.” Currently, one only needs two jabs to qualify for the passport, but some experts have said the requirement needs to change to three. Moore also said that when public health rules are further relaxed, masks “will be the last of the measures to go.”
LTC visits: Starting Monday, the province is loosening limits on the number of visitors allowed into long-term-care homes. The number of designated caregivers per resident will increase from two to four, though only two can visit at a time. And residents who have had at least three doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be again allowed to leave their LTC facility for social trips.
Rapid tests: Ontario says it’s still waiting for 35 million rapid COVID-19 tests that the federal government promised to deliver in January. “Our ability to manage the pandemic relies in part on the federal government’s ability to meet their commitments to provinces,” said Alexandra Hilkene, spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott. The office of federal health minister Jean-Yves Duclos told the Toronto Star that deliveries to provinces and territories are slightly behind schedule, but will be completed by the end of this week.
Testing kids for COVID-19: Despite the province’s irritation at the slow arrival of rapid tests, Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced Tuesday 3.6 million of them will be shipped out to Ontario school boards and child-care providers this week – with more coming on a bi-weekly basis from now on.
Portable benefits: Gig workers are going to have to wait until after June’s provincial election for details on the portable benefits package promised by Labour Minister Monte McNaughton. He told CTV News an advisory panel looking into the idea will be appointed in March and submit its final recommendations to the government in July. “It’s going to take time, I’m going to get it right,” he said. The package is meant to address the fact that many people today work in precarious jobs that don’t have any health benefits. However, there are concerns such a program could be expensive for both businesses and taxpayers.
Not interested: Premier Doug Ford quickly stamped out speculation that he might make a bid to become the next federal Conservative leader. “No, I have my hands full. I love being premier of this province,” Ford said on Tuesday, in advance of the vote that ousted Erin O’Toole.
Parish out: The NDP has dropped Steve Parish as its candidate in Ajax after he came under fire for dedicating a street after a man who fought for the Third Reich during World War II. In 2007, when Parish was mayor of Ajax, a street was named after Hans Langsdorff, who captained the German battleship involved in 1939’s Battle of the River Plate. (Learn more about Ajax’s relationship to that historic battle). Langsdorff is considered a hero by some because he disobeyed Adolf Hitler’s order to fight to the death and decided to scuttle his ship rather than risk the lives of more than 1000 crew members in what he thought would be certain defeat. Parish continued to defend the decision to honour Langsdorff for many years, despite complaints that it was inappropriate to memorialize anyone who served a racist regime bent on exterminating people it considered inferior. (The street has since been renamed).
146,000: That’s how many jobs Ontario lost in January, according to the latest report from Statistics Canada. The figure represents 73 per cent of the country’s job losses for the month. The decline in employment, which was mostly in part-time positions, is being at least partly blamed on the public health measures the province imposed in response to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
$103.1 million: That’s how much the courts have ordered the province to pay education workers’ unions as compensation for the Putting Students First Act, imposed under Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty. The act was a deficit-control measure that imposed contracts, froze salaries, and eliminated the banking of paid sick days. The money is on top of more than $100 million unions have already received after courts ruled the act violated collective bargaining rights in 2016.
4 million: That’s how many people may have caught COVID-19 during the recent Omicron wave, according to wastewater data studied by Ontario’s Science Advisory Table. Scientists are using wastewater to estimate the spread of the virus, since the province’s testing system has become overwhelmed and is no longer an accurate measure of how many people are infected. (To find out more about the pros and cons of wastewater testing, check out this report by TVO.org Hamilton-Niagara reporter Justin Chandler). The science table’s full estimate ranges between 1.5 million and 4 million infections.
290: That’s how many medical exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine have been handed out in Ontario under a new system intended to combat fraud. Under this system, any exemptions issued by doctors have to be verified by the local public health unit. “We’re very pleased that given the limited number of valid medical exemptions issued to date, the process is working and individuals with legitimate medical exemptions are able to be accommodated,” said Alexandra Hilkene, a spokesperson for Health Minister Christine Elliott.
“Prolonged peak”: Modelling released this week by the Science Advisory Table says that the Omicron wave has likely plateaued and headed towards a decline, but there will be a “prolonged peak” of hospital patients with COVID-19. Scientists also warn people to expect at least a slight increase in infections because of the province’s decision to partially relax public health measures this week.
Fighting hate: Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism Parm Gill has announced $25 million in funding to help places of worship and cultural community centres purchase security cameras, alarms, lighting and other safety measures. “We hope this grant will help to support the important work these groups are doing and empower communities most at risk of being targeted with hate-motivated crime feel safer and more secure,” Gill said.
Cash-for-coyotes: The province says that a controversial annual coyote-hunting contest organized by a hunting supplies retailer in Belleville is legal. “Coyote populations are stable and secure across Ontario and there are no sustainability concerns with the province’s coyote population,” the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry said in a statement. Chesher’s Outdoor Store has held the contest for at least the past 5 years and awards $2,500 in prizes to the hunters who kill the heaviest coyotes. Animal activists say the competition violates Ontario conservation laws, which prohibit hunting or encouraging someone else to hunt for “gain or the expectation of gain,” unless specifically authorized by the government.
More Ontario politics coverage on TVO
The Agenda: Does Ontario’s COVID plan ignore disabled people?
Getting through two years of the COVID-19 pandemic has been tough enough for most people, but what about the challenges for people with visual impairment or other disabilities? Steve Paikin talks with two advocates from the disability community to see what the important issues are, and whether the Ontario government has adequately addressed them.
The Agenda: Is Ontario Making Strides in Black Health?
Nam Kiwanuka explores anti-Black racism in Ontario’s health-care system with Roberta Timothy, who is developing a master’s program in Black health at the University of Toronto — the first of its kind in North America.
#onpoli podcast: How Queen’s Park responded to the trucker convoy
Hosts Steve Paikin and John Michael McGrath dug into the early response from Queen’s Park over the trucker convoy in Ottawa. Also, opposition MPPs are asking for stronger measures against independent MPP Randy Hillier over racist comments he made on Twitter. And, why public health and Premier Doug Ford are changing their messaging around COVID-19.
Beyond the Pink Palace
Living with COVID-19: Matt Gurney talks to psychologist Steve Joordens about how the human mind perceives threat, and what insight that gives us into the very different ways people have reacted to the pandemic.
‘Loudmouths’: According to John Michael McGrath, the protesters who took over downtown Ottawa are losing the debate over public health rules, and the actual mass movement in the country is the millions of people who are actually trying to end this pandemic.
Erin O’Toole’s lesson: Steve Paikin offers his analysis on Erin O’Toole’s ouster as leader of the federal Conservative party.
Conservative insider: Matt Gurney speaks with a member of Erin O’Toole’s inner circle on conversion therapy, the convoy, and what comes next for the Conservatives.
Nuclear fusion: Ontario’s Bruce Power, which operates the world’s largest nuclear plant, apparently won’t have enough on its plate in the 2030s. So it’s signed a deal with a Canadian fusion-power startup, John Michael McGrath reports.
Homelessness in Thunder Bay: TVO.org’s Josh Sherman speaks with the Thunder Bay social-services board about what’s changing and what isn’t when it comes to homelessness in the district.
Groundhogs: Wiarton Willie predicted spring will come early. TVO.org reporter for northwestern Ontario Charnel Anderson speaks with Lakehead University biology professor Michael Rennie about the reliability of rodent prognostication — and which furry guys have the best track records.
Black History Month: It’s a month to remember what Black people in Canada and around the world have gone through, and how they have enriched society and culture. Check out TVO’s selection of articles, interviews and documentaries on Black history.
