NEW: Doug Ford dined with Madeleine Bodenstein and Mario Cortellucci at his daughter’s September wedding. His cabinet approved Bodenstein’s appointment to York police board this month, after appointing Cortellucci to it in October.
via
@Thetrilliumca
Prime Minister Trudeau says the Red Cross will help Ontario with vaccinations and is making plans to assist with extra health-care workers, on top of already announced assistance on drugs, Red Cross in LTC, contact tracing and lab support.
Today the government house leader claimed NDP photographed premier's daughter's wedding guest list.
And then he asked one of our reporters if he did it.
The answer is no. It was on the wedding photographer's website.
via
@Thetrilliumca
Wow. The Ontario legislature just gave unanimous consent to reduce
@Roman_Baber
's salary to the rate of CERB.
This is in response to his PMB to reduce all members' salaries to that rate, which he just tabled.
Toronto MOH Dr. Eileen de Villa on why she's asking for the public health restrictions to be extended: "I have never been as worried about the future as I am today." She goes on to explain the growth of variants of concern has been alarming.
NEW: Records of donations to the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario last month show the party benefited from what appears to be more than $50,000 in contributions linked to a single developer, in tickets to a single fundraiser. 🔓
NEW: RNAO CEO
@DorisGrinspun
is calling for a review of Ford's table of medical experts, saying he needs people with the expertise to understand what's happening and the guts to say it like it is. She recommends
@DFisman
, says then we'd have had this announcement two weeks ago.
The Ontario Liberals now say they're "formally requesting an immediate investigation by Elections Ontario and the Ontario Provincial Police’s Anti-Racket/Anti-Fraud Branch, in coordination with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre" into this "apparent scam."
So Doug Ford’s Conservatives are apparently sending out donation requests disguised as “invoices” for $300 now. I fear this will confuse and scam some people into thinking they owe this money. This is a new low even for the
@OntarioPCParty
.
#onpoli
Looks like Ontario's accidental doubling of the number of people vaccinated was more than just a website error. Members of the task force gave two tech briefings with the doubled numbers and the general used inflated numbers at a press conference with the premier on Monday.
I asked Ont's Solicitor General today if he was aware of the Mass Casualty Commission's recommendation on police education before he made the decision to not require officers to have post-secondary education.
(h/t to
@stphnmaher
)
He didn't say.
In my inbox: "Ontario Launches $30 Billion Infrastructure Funding Program." Click, open. Huh, that's not a new provincial program, it's the federal Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. And the agreement for that "new" cash was signed under the last government.
#onpoli
In a bombshell report, Ontario’s auditor general says much of the land removed from the Greenbelt was initially proposed by developers with access to the housing minister’s chief of staff
The minister didn't take my question and didn't give an explanation for why she walked out before I could ask. But it could have been because of this.
Or maybe this reporting?
A little inside baseball on the Ford government's back-to-school plan: it was released under embargo to chosen reporters only, giving the rest of almost no time to read it before today's CMOH press conference and ask informed questions.
John Mutton is a bodybuilder, magic mushrooms entrepreneur, and CEO of the self-described ‘leading firm’ in turning out Minister’s Zoning Orders
via
@Thetrilliumca
For the past few days I've been trying to figure out if anyone is investigating the deaths from neglect described by the military, reported publicly by the LTC commission. So far, looks like no one and the Ford government is mum. Details in here.
Baffled. When the CAF LTC report came out in May, the premier said: "And as soon as we received this report... we launched a full investigation. And the results of our investigation will be turned over to the police." The SolGen just said there was no such investigation.
Protesters are starting to gather at Orchard Villa. They oppose the expansion of the LTC home that experienced one of the worst crises of they pandemic. Unions and the Ontario Health Coalition are part of it, calling for the end of for-profit care.
NEW: Ron Taverner dissuaded the TPS from staffing the stag and doe, emails obtained by
@CharliePinkerto
show.
“Just an FYI, this event is a private function and a fundraiser. We are reluctant to sent (sic) on duty resources to this event...” he wrote.
The Ford government rezoned a developer-owned golf club in the Greenbelt per a request from a PC appointee who was linked to Vaughan Working Families.
Civil servants said there were no supporting studies, but it was on the minister's office priority list.
Got the shot. So grateful to the Toronto East Health Network for setting this up as soon as pregnant people were made eligible. My OB called me that very day to tell me how to register.
I couldn't be more excited to announce Village Media's latest site: The Trillium.
We have expanded to Queen’s Park, where a talented team of five journalists will cover every angle of provincial politics, policy — and personalities.
Some actors and activists are holding a sex-ed class at Queen's Park on Thursday, promising to read parts of the 2015 curriculum, including Colin Mochrie and Debra McGrath (and their daughter Kinley Mochrie) and Sean Cullen. Whose curriculum is it anyway, right?
New: Ten executives at a single development corp donated more than $30,000 to Liberal leadership candidate Bonnie Crombie, records suggest.
Is she running a risk by accepting developer dollars given the controversy at Queen's Park?
Today I ask Minister Fullerton when she knew that residents of long-term care were dying of dehydration and neglect, a finding from the long-term care commission. She didn't answer.
'We have to move forward': Minister responds to LTC report finding that seniors died of dehydration and neglect
via
@jessiecatherine
#onpoli
(Unpaywalled 🔓)
Retiring judge warns of "significant damage to the justice system" from Ford's "like-minded" judges comments
Justice David Doherty used his last words at his swearing-out ceremony to defend the importance of the independence and neutrality of the court.
Colin's excellent story mentions inquiries that seemed to prompt the premier's office to go to the Integrity Commissioner about the stag and doe. They came from
@CharliePinkerto
.
Charlie had a story about the stag and doe and more. He's a fantastic reporter and it was solid.
BREAKING: Premier Doug Ford tells Ontario’s Integrity Commissioner that developers who he counts as “personal friends” attended a fundraiser stag and doe party for his daughter and son-in-law in August.
#onpoli
NEW: The Ontario government has delayed the release of documents to the independent commission on COVID-19 and long-term care, "impeding" and negatively impacting its work, the commission has confirmed to
@QPbriefing
Developers, many of them familiar from the Greenbelt reports, are prolific donors in municipal politics.
One donated to 65 candidates in the GTA in 2022. One family, giving one address, donated $96,000.
via
@Thetrilliumca
Premier Doug Ford just defended the appointment of two of his former staffers to a committee that selects judges by advocating for explicitly partisan judicial appointments as "part of democracy."
The Star has the background:
NEW: The military team that spoke about 26 deaths from neglect in a Toronto LTC home asked for it to be raised with higher-ups, the full report shows.
And a hospital CEO said lack of food and water likely contributed to deaths at that home months ago.
🔓
New: Liberal
@JohnFraserOS
is asking for the command table to appear at the select committee on emergency management. He tells me he wants to ask what advice the premier has been given, when it was given, and what backed it up.
Colleges minister raised $24k from private college execs at meet and greet
The PCs raised over $150k from executives with public-private college partnerships the government saved from extinction
via
@Thetrilliumca
We've got a new columnist at
@Thetrilliumca
!
In her first column, former auditor general Bonnie Lysyk urges more transparency in government decision-making, especially when it involves the private sector.
via
@Thetrilliumca
In the lawyer's words: "The Court of Appeal made it clear to them, that they're not going to countenance this type of legislation being used to block the claims of vulnerable people who've been harmed by the government's stupidity."
via
@Thetrilliumca
NEW: The court ruled in favour of the Ontario Nurses' Association on their application for an injunction against four LTC homes, regarding PPE and cohorting of residents.
NEW: A COVID-19 outbreak at a meatpacking plant in Brampton remained unknown to the public for more than two weeks as the local public health unit opted to let the company "tell their story from their private business perspective" instead.
🔓
This is new and terrible. From CAF notes, on the delay in deployment: "26 residents died due to dehydration prior to the arrival of the CAF team due to the lack of staff to care for them. They died when all they need was 'water and a wipe down.'"
Here's our story, for subscribers.
I'm told the NDP supported Jama in making a speech today — but then she read a different one. Words like "apartheid" and "occupation" weren't part of the original script.
It was the final surprise that got her booted.
New from the Ontario Long-Term Care Association: It's working on how the LTC sector can use its 6,000+ empty beds to ease capacity pressures on hospitals. Which is striking, considering how much support LTCs needed from hospitals until recently.
I asked
@DorisGrinspun
the same thing. She holds the minister responsible, saying she should have known, particularly having been a doctor, she should have known this was happening.
The Ontario NDP is asking the OPP to review whether the neglect in long-term care described by the CAF and recent AG and commission report warrant criminal charges. As of yesterday they said they weren't investigating these deaths.
"The numbers do not tell the stories of residents who begged for help and answers as life slowly drained from their bodies and light dimmed in their eyes."
Some legal reaction:
This is behaviour we'd expect "from MAGA Republicans, not the Premier of Ontario."
"The court is an important democratic check against people in power and the fact that Ford is willing to — to use a legal term of art — f--- around with it is so disturbing."
"Apart from fatalities due to COVID-19, residents died as a result of neglect due to staff shortages.... As a result of these conditions, some residents spent their final hours in complete isolation and ultimately died alone."
NEW: The LTC commission is pushing back against the Ford government in a dispute over documents, saying most of the "50,000" it was given are duplicates and placeholders.
It's still waiting for records that explain the rationale for COVID-19 decisions.🔓
Former health minister is Christine Elliott lobbying for private hospital that benefitted from an increase in public funding during her time as health minister.
(For subscribers, h/t
@QPnewsboy
)
NEW: Premier Ford didn't use the word "permanent" but he just said the temporary pay increase for PSWs is "100%" and, "We're going to keep that in place."
Will get in touch with his office to confirm if that was meant as a promise it will be made permanent.
An Ontario Health document shows emergency department wait times are significantly worse now than before the pandemic.
This first story outlines the data and some initial reactions from doctors who work in emergency departments and see it firsthand.
Why does it matter? Ontario has its issues over cash-for-access fundraising. After the Wynne-era scandal, that government tightened the fundraising rules. The current government has loosened them.
The province issued an MZO Friday authorizing the expansion to 832 long-term care beds and 670 retirement home units, over Pickering's objections.
"The feeling about Orchard Villa and the lost souls is still very current and very raw."
via
@Thetrilliumca
Here's a letter from
@AndreaHorwath
asking the coroner to clarify how many investigations it has launched into LTC deaths, and for it to call an inquiry. This comes after the solicitor general wrongly said yesterday all LTC deaths are investigated.
BREAKING: Ontario now allowing anyone who wants to be tested for COVID-19 to be tested, including asymptomatic people. "Even if you’re not showing symptoms, please go get a test. You will not be turned away," says a prepared statement from the premier.
NEW - Green Party leader Mike Schreiner in tears speaking to reporters regarding Premier Ford accusing indigenous MPP Sol Mamakwa of jumping the vaccine line. “I’ve been feeling numb ever since that moment happened”
This is something I've never experienced before. The Ontario NDP is hosting Zoom press conference with a paramedic and a PSW about understaffing in long-term care, but it's shielding their identities and modulating their voices. They've said they'll provide proof to the media.
Just listened to
@PaulCalandra
on Ottawa morning say his controversial LTC bill makes it clear "we actually will not be moving anyone against their will, without their consent." But there are hairs to split here. 1/
Question period theatre time: John Fraser brandishing his health card and his credit card shouting, “Which card, premier?”
Got a stern, “The member from Ottawa South will put his cards back in his wallet,” from the Speaker.
Every so often there's a good burn in Question Period, and I feel like some
#onpoli
people who aren't watching the legislative channel or sitting in the gallery would enjoy it. So here's
@MacLeodLisa
from this morning. She was challenged on what a PC government would cut:
Hallway health care: Ontario Health metrics put numbers to strained system
The number of hallway health-care patients has hit its highest-ever level, according to Ontario Health
via
@Thetrilliumca
This is highly critical of CMOH Dr. David Williams for not recognizing community transmission and asymptomatic spread, and what that would mean for long-term care. "Delay is deadly," the commissioners wrote.
The OPP has “not had one media outlet contact us or provide us with a source of their information,” he added. “Therefore, it is difficult to form reasonable grounds to believe an offence occurred."
BREAKING: Provincial police haven’t “yet” uncovered any evidence to warrant launching an investigation into whether any Ford government staff tipped developers off before opening up the Greenbelt, shows an OPP detective’s email obtained by The Trillium.
International travel cancelled. Requests to be absent from the legislature denied. Phones locked away. And ministers can't let their PAs field their questions in question period.
Sources say the PC caucus is being punished over the Speaker vote that went sideways.
The minister of long-term care has released the report from the independent commission to the media. It will be posted online shortly. Reading it now. In the meantime, here's a brief letter they sent with it:
BREAKING: On the very same day Ford's campaign tells me "Doug has committed to consulting with the experts" on supervised injection sites, he says this in the debate: “Well my friend, what I’m not going to do is I’m not going to have injection sites in neighbourhoods.”
#onpoli
Wow.
@avelshi
in a memo to staff; "If you have engaged in inappropriate behaviour towards a fellow staff member in OLO, you need to leave and leave now, because I will redefine the meaning of the word ruthlessness in protecting staff who work for me."
#onpoli
Oh dear, Ford just held up this chart and made it seem like the difference between the red and green lines is vaccines. It's not. It's public health measures. The difference the vaccines make is between the lines of the same colours.
I think that was a yes, right?
(I asked Dr. Williams if he thinks the province needs to implement paid sick leave and I believe he described it as a good example of something the province can do.)
Here's today's protest at Tendercare LTC in Scarborough. I spoke with families of residents who died and of residents still living there. They all said they need more help.
Records show eight people with names matching those of executives at Empire Communities each donated an amount equivalent to two tickets to a June fundraiser — $3,200 — shortly before it was held, as did another eight who share a surname with the president and CFO.
Watching PC MPP Amanda Simard speak out about francophone services, in defiance of her party and in favour of an opposition motion.
#onpoli
is pretty interesting right now. You don't often get to see an MPP going out on their own like this.
NEW: The CAF notes on deaths from neglect in two Toronto LTC homes are now under investigation, according to LTC Minister Merrilee Fullerton. There are LTC inspectors in the homes and work is ongoing with the coroner's office to understand and verify what happened, she says.
The minister of health has been giving a canned answer that clarifies nothing when she's been asked about private nurse practitioner clinics that are springing up. I tried to get clarification this week. It didn't go well.
I spoke with a very frank LTC resident today about the promise of four hours of daily care. It said it would help a lot but when I told him about the timeline his response was "I'll be dead by then."
Just learned the LTC commission won't be livestreaming the interviews with the ministers of health and long-term care. We'll be seeing transcripts. A spokesperson also confirmed that the government still hasn't turned over all of the documents the commission is asking for.
NEW: Data analysis by Ontario civil servants found the for-profit ownership of long-term care homes was a significant factor contributing to larger outbreaks and increased deaths in the second wave of COVID-19.
For subscribers: Who donated to the premier's pick for mayor of Toronto
"Mr. X" and a handful of Greenbelt developers are among the donors who gave to Mark Saunders in the Toronto mayoral byelection
via
@Thetrilliumca
But it's notable that all of the names have the same donation, matching the two-ticket price, in the 11 days leading up to the fundraiser, and align with publicly available search result data.
ICYMI: The process that triggers a coroner's investigation in long-term care generally starts with forms filled out by the homes themselves.
Here's one advocate's problem with that: "Who’s going to report, 'We were negligent, we let 26 people die?'”
Did I work on that story for days and days, checking and double-checking every detail and then publish it with "Bonnie Combie" in the headline? You bet.
The commission says it's unclear why the second wave was worse, despite the government having months to prepare. Actions it did take weren't in time: hospital partnerships didn't take effect until November, new inspectors were still in training and training PSWs was too slow.
It's been over a month since the military notes on deaths from neglect in long-term care became public. So far, there's been little progress toward getting justice. The grandson of one man who died said this: "The push for accountability can't just dwindle away."
"Staff told the Commission about crying before, during and after work, vomiting in locker rooms from stress, and watching residents whom they loved die in great numbers."
"We have been clear the long-term care system in Ontario is broken. We must act quickly and decisively, and that is why an independent non-partisan commission is the best way to conduct a thorough and expedited review," says LTC Minister Merrilee Fullerton in a statement.
I understand a media strategy that includes leaks to select reporters about political developments — it can help keep them onside, it can be an attempt at currying more favourable coverage. But on an important public policy document? The questions will be asked eventually.