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
The end of masks: The biggest news in Ontario politics this week was arguably the announcement that the province will effectively end nearly all its broad public-health measures by the end of March. Chief Medical Officer of Health Kieran Moore said Wednesday that provincial rules requiring vaccination policies in long-term-care homes will end on March 14, and provincewide mask mandates for most indoor spaces will end on March 21. “We are now learning to live with and manage COVID-19 for the long term,” Moore said. Read the government’s full briefing here.
Many experts, educators and others expressed shock at the government’s decision to end mask mandates so quickly. Peter Jüni, who heads Ontario’s COVID-19 science advisory table, told CBC News the decision was “not supported by science right now.” The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario condemned the move as “premature,” and the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board voted to continue to make masks mandatory for staff and students, even though the province has the final say. A coalition of children’s hospitals has also asked the province to wait longer. On Friday, following the HWDSB’s decision, Education Minister Steven Lecce told boards to stick to the province’s timeline. Writing for TVO.org, Sarah Trick says the decision to abandon mask mandates is a betrayal of disabled Ontarians.
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Masking optional: While Kieran Moore is championing the end of mask mandates, he said that COVID-19 remains a threat and that some people may still choose to wear masks even when they are no longer required. Premier Doug Ford said he will still mask up in certain situations. “If I’m going into long-term care to see my mother-in-law, I’m wearing a mask. If I’m visiting someone in the hospital, I’m wearing a mask,” he said Thursday. “But people are going to have a choice. We’re at that point that people are going to have to determine if they want to wear masks or they don’t want to wear a mask.”
Roads and transit: Ford unveiled his government’s “Connecting the GGH” plan Thursday, promising to spend $61 billion on transit and $21 billion on highways in the Greater Golden Horseshoe over the next decade. The funding includes the cost of the proposed Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass. “A province that is growing as fast as ours needs a transportation network to support it,” Ford said.
Child care: On Tuesday, federal children and social development minister Karina Gould said the Ontario government had submitted an action plan on federally funded $10/day child care. Ontario is the last province or territory to sign on. This plan is an official proposal, and it’s viewed as an important step in the process.
Buy Ontario: The province announced this week that it will require public-sector entities, such as schools and hospitals, to give preference to Ontario companies when purchasing goods or services. Dubbed the “building Ontario business initiative,” the new policy “will level the playing field for Ontario businesses vying to support our province’s procurement needs and will ensure they are able to compete with overseas businesses,” Minister of Government and Consumer Services Ross Romano said.
$5,000: The province announced Monday it would pay nurses a bonus of up to $5,000 as a way to encourage more of them to stay in the field. “As we continue our efforts to build up our nursing workforce, this investment will help us to retain the nurses that we already have,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said. Exactly how much each nurse will receive will depend on factors such as whether they work full-time or part-time and when they were employed. The province estimates the incentive payments will cost $763 million.
COVID-19 relief: Thousands of small businesses in Ontario are still waiting for COVID-19 relief grants, the Globe and Mail reports. Ontario’s associate minister of small business and red tape reduction says that about 8,800 applications are still being processed but that about $98 million has already been sent to more than 9,800 businesses.
“Regrets”: This week, in a settlement to a defamation lawsuit launched by former Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown, CTV National News acknowledged that key details included in a story alleging sexual improprieties “were factually incorrect and required correction.” The broadcaster also said it “regrets including those details in the story and any harm this may have caused to Mr. Brown.” Brown resigned as leader of the Ontario PCs following the allegations. Currently mayor of Brampton, he has said he is now thinking of running for the leadership of the federal Conservatives.
Baber bid: One Ontario politician who is definitely running to be the next leader of the federal Conservatives is independent MPP Roman Baber (York Centre). “We’re going to disrupt politics and change the way politics is done,” he told a crowd during a speech Wednesday. Baber was kicked out of the Progressive Conservative caucus last year over his opposition to COVID-19 restrictions.
Lewis joins the race: Another Ontario politician making a run for federal Conservative leader is Haldimand–Norfolk MP Leslyn Lewis, who came in third overall in the last leadership race. Lewis has incorrectly said vaccination does not prevent COVID-19 infection and transmission. She has been criticized for seeming to imply childhood vaccination is not safe, contrary to scientific consensus. She has also alleged Canada is undergoing a socialist coup.
Science curriculum: The province unveiled a new science curriculum for Grades 1 to 8 on Tuesday — the first update since 2007. The update is meant to give students more hands-on work in class and put more emphasis on skills, such as coding, that have become increasingly important as technology has changed. There will also be more focus on how science, technology, engineering, and math can be applied in skilled trades.
Graduation: The Toronto Star is reporting that the province told schools to hold in-person graduation ceremonies and proms for Grade 12 this year and to hold all assemblies in person.
Period poverty: The province promised last fall to provide free menstrual products to elementary and high-school students. Now it needs to do the same for college and university students, advocates say. “A lack of access to these products should not impede on a student’s engagement with higher education, but the truth is that it does,” said Eunice Oladejo, president of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. According to advocates, “period poverty” — the financial inaccessbility of menstrual products — means some students miss classes or feel unable to take part in campus activities.
PSW tuition: The province will spend $54.7 million this year on a program that will provide tuition support for up to 4,000 personal-support-worker students enrolled at private career colleges. The province says the program will help ensure there are enough PSWs to meet a government commitment of providing an average of four hours of direct care per day to long-term-care residents.
Berns-McGowan going: NDP MPP Rima Berns-McGowan (Beaches–East York) has decided against running for re-election. “As an introvert & empath, this job has taken a toll,” she posted to Twitter. “I need to get off the frontlines for my own wellbeing.”
Randy: Independent MPP Randy Hillier (Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston) was permanently suspended from Twitter Tuesday for violating the plaform’s “COVID-19 misleading information policy,” according to the company. Hillier found himself in numerous COVID-19-related controversies over the past several months. In October, family members of people who had recently died criticized Hillier for falsely stating on social media that their loved ones had passed away because they had received a COVID-19 vaccine. More recently, MPPs passed a motion giving the Speaker the authority to prevent Hillier from rising in the legislature until he had apologized for calling federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra a “terrorist” and urging people to flood Ottawa police phone lines during the recent convoy demonstrations there.
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How will events in Ukraine ripple through Ontario’s economy and politics?
The province won’t be engaging in diplomacy or making military policy. But the Ford government will still have decisions to make, John Michael McGrath writes.
Ontarians need to start talking trash
The province is facing a pretty basic problem: we’re running out of landfills. Matt Gurney wonders what we’re going to do about that: “I really wish I were not as worried about our ability to handle a crisis that is still 10 or 15 years away. But I am worried. This seems like the kind of ball we’ll end up dropping.”
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Beyond the Pink Palace
First-person health-care stories: In this TVO.org series, health-care workers and hospital staff from across the province tell their stories — of strain, of loss, and of persistence — in their own words. This week, a hospital nurse in Hamilton, a hospital security guard in southwestern Ontario, a paramedic in Niagara, and an ER nurse in Toronto share their personal reflections on what it’s like working during the pandemic.
“Dear John”: Steve Paikin pays tribute to veteran political strategist, author, and frequent TVO guest John Duffy, who died unexpectedly this month at age 58.
Kim Campbell: Former Canadian prime minister Kim Campbell turned 75 on Thursday. In a recent 70-minute Zoom call with Steve Paikin, she talked about life in Italy, her marriage to pianist Hershey Felder, the state of the world, and, yes, Canadian politics.
