Hello,
The Ontario election is a step closer to formally being announced on Tuesday, with Ontario Premier Doug Ford set for an afternoon meeting with the Lieutenant-Governor to recommend the dissolution of provincial parliament.
Elizabeth Dowdeswell is likely to accept the Premier’s request, and the writs for the provincial election in Canada’s most populous province can then be signed.
The election will be held on June 2, with Mr. Ford aiming to lead his Progressive Conservatives to a second consecutive majority government since they won the 2018 election, and ended 15 years of Liberal government.
There are 124 seats in the Ontario legislature. As dissolution looms, the Progressive Conservatives have 67, the NDP 38 and the Ontario Liberals have seven. There’s one member of the Green Party of Ontario, one of the New Blue Party of Ontario, one of the Ontario Party, and six Independents. There are three vacant seats.
Politicians have already been unofficially campaigning for weeks, with two out of the three major parties having already released their platforms.
Reporter’s Comment, Queen’s Park Reporter Jeff Gray - “And we’re off. Ontario’s election campaign, informally under way for months, starts with PC Leader Doug Ford out in front, according to most polls, despite the punishing two-year pandemic and widespread angst over runaway housing prices and spiking inflation. Mr. Ford has a slogan, “Get It Done,” and is campaigning as a doer who will build new highways and expand hospitals.
“Despite spending four years as Leader of the Opposition, Andrea Horwath and her NDP are in third place in those same polls, behind Steven Del Duca’s Liberals, although this could be what pollsters call vote-parking, an echo of the federal Liberals’ popularity in the province.
“Ontario’s Liberals, almost completely wiped out in 2018 with the defeat of the unpopular Kathleen Wynne, now have just a month to introduce the relatively unknown Mr. Del Duca to voters. So far, their campaign has relied on headline-grabbers: This week he pledged to temporarily cut all transit fares to $1. (Story here.)
“While health care remains a key issue during the pandemic, all the parties so far appear focused on spending promises and pledges aimed at saving voters’ money – not at relitigating Mr. Ford’s handling of COVID-19. That may reflect the electorate’s fatigue with the pandemic and perhaps the realization that Ontario fared better when measured against the death and infection rates of many other places.”
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS ASKED NOT TO COMMENT ON U.S. ABORTION RULING - The Conservative caucus was ordered Tuesday not to talk about the explosive draft U.S. Supreme Court decision, which suggests the court will overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. Story here. There’s a Globe and Mail explainer here on what’s happening to Roe v. Wade and U.S. abortion rights.
MPS CONSIDERING UKRAINE VISIT - MPs on a parliamentary committee are eyeing a visit to war-torn Ukraine to demonstrate support for Kyiv even as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remains mum on when he might follow the lead of European and U.S. politicians in journeying to the Ukrainian capital. Story here.
OPPOSITION SEEKS REVENUE LEADER’S TESTIMONY - The Conservative Party and the NDP are calling on Canada Revenue Agency Commissioner Bob Hamilton to testify before a parliamentary committee after a massive disclosure of sensitive internal documents revealed numerous allegations of wrongdoing at a CRA division responsible for ensuring multinational companies pay appropriate levels of Canadian tax. Story here.
ELECTORAL REFORM DEBATE IN QUEBEC The debate over electoral reform has resurfaced in Quebec, with opposition parties raising alarm over projections indicating the ruling Coalition Avenir Quebec could walk away with 100 of the province’s 125 seats next October. Story here.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
CLARK TO MODERATE TORY LEADERSHIP DEBATE - Former journalist Tom Clark will moderate the first official debate in the Conservative leadership race, set for May 11 in Edmonton. Mr. Clark served as chief political correspondent for Global News until 2017 and is currently the chair of Global Public Affairs, a strategic and communications consultancy. The two-hour debate will begin at 6 p.m. MT at the Edmonton Convention Centre. According to a party media release, questions are not shared with the candidates ahead of time. The second official party debate is scheduled for May 25 in Montreal.
SIX QUALIFIED TO RUN; THREE DISQUALIFIED IN LEADERSHIP RACE - The Conservatives cleared six candidates to run in the party’s leadership race but disqualified three others, who all said they had met the fundraising and nomination requirements to make it to the final ballot. Story here.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, May 3 accessible here.
GG TO VISIT QUEBEC - Governor-General Mary Simon is heading to Quebec this week for her first official visit to the province. She will be in Quebec City on Wednesday, with an agenda of meetings that includes J. Michel Doyon, the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, as well as Quebec Premier François Legault, François Paradis, president of the National Assembly of Quebec, Indigenous leaders and Quebec Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade, leader of the official opposition.
CSIS DIRECTOR TO PARTICIPATE IN VIRTUAL EVENT - The director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service will be speaking to the issue of protecting national security in partnership with Canadians this week. David Vigneault will be participating in the virtual event organized by the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia. Mr. Vigneault, CSIS director since 2017, is taking about, according to the university, “a discussion on the imperatives of diversity and partnerships in protecting national security, and the organization’s ongoing transformation.” The event is scheduled for May 4 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. PT. There are details here.
THE DECIBEL
On Tuesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, The Globe’s mining reporter Niall McGee talks about the carbon footprints of electric vehicles as governments announced $1-billion in funding this week for building electric vehicles in Ontario – just the latest investment from government into the industry that hopes to do away with gas-powered engines, and replace them with batteries. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings in the National Capital Region, and then the Prime Minister and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau attended the national funeral of Guy Lafleur. The Prime Minister delivered a brief statement prior to the service at the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet attended the funeral of Guy Lafleur in Montreal.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and NDP MP Taylor Bachrach spoke on Parliament Hill about the NDP proposal to change the voting age to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, and Mr. Singh and NDP MP Gord Johns met with the Canadian Mental Health Association. Mr. Singh attended the World Press Freedom Canada Annual Awards Luncheon, participated in Question Period and was scheduled to attend the Vote at 16 reception hosted by Mr. Bachrach and Children First Canada.
No schedule released for other party leaders.
OPINION
André Picard (The Globe and Mail) on why every Canadian should have a primary care medical home: “Today, about 15 per cent of Canadians do not have a family doctor, the same percentage as in the late 1990s – and since. These patients end up in walk-in clinics and emergency rooms, with no continuity of care. The reality is that this festering problem is, fundamentally, a structural one. The single most important feature of a healthy health care system is a strong base of primary care. If you don’t have a solid foundation, everything you pile on top of it, including emergency departments, surgery and long-term care, is going to be shaky. And that’s what we have in Canada today: A health system that seems to be crumbling slowly before our eyes. It’s near impossible to get a family doctor. In overflowing ERs, hallway medicine is the norm. Surgical backlogs stretch months and years. Need mental health care? Forget about it. Good luck getting home care. Or a bed in long-term care. The solution isn’t throwing more money into an inefficient system in a knee-jerk fashion, especially at election time.”
David Shribman (The Globe and Mail) on how the Supreme Court draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade signals new phase of fractious American politics with vast implications: “The leaking of a draft Supreme Court ruling that would overturn protections for abortion set in motion a new phase of fractious American politics that has vast, formidable and unpredictable implications in a country already riven by wide divides. By reversing Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court would signal a fundamental shift in American social policy and would recast the lives of women, shape the profile of the Congress that will take form after the midterm congressional elections and thrust the high court into prominence it has not possessed since 1954, perhaps since 1857.”
Ethan Lou (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how Pierre Poilievre has a point on central-bank digital currencies: “Mr. Poilievre’s aversion to a central-bank digital currency, whatever the source of it, should be taken seriously. For when considering a central-bank digital currency, there’s a lot more than monetary policy or financial technology that needs to be taken into account. Our government should look at the trends elsewhere and ask itself: Is this the sort of society we want to become?”
Rachel Pulfer (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how journalists are essential in bringing Russian abuses to light: “Lives are at stake, and Canada must act with an urgency that is currently lacking. Canada needs to do concrete work to realize the Media Freedom Coalition’s promise of emergency visas for journalists and expedite visa processing to meet the urgent need of the times. Separately, Canada needs to step up to offer proper financial support at appropriate scale for independent Russian-language and Ukrainian-language journalists. This would empower these journalists to fight Russian disinformation and misinformation in Ukraine and access international media networks to better share their stories on a continuing basis.”
Robert Danisch (The Conversation) on why Doug Ford will, once again, win the Ontario election: “If a politician or a political party believes voters cast ballots in favour of policy positions laid out in a party platform, then they badly misunderstand persuasion and what it takes to motivate a voter. All of the resources that the NDP and the Liberal Party pour into the details and the rationales of their policy positions are misguided if the assumption is that these platforms will result in votes.”
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Ian Bailey