The Globe and Mail - 18.02.2020

A6 | NEWS O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| TUESDAY,FEBRUARY18,

As Ontario MPPs return to the legislature
on Tuesday after an eight-week break, the
Progressive Conservative government of
Premier Doug Ford faces a growing list of
potential headaches.
Tensions are rising amid an impasse
with striking teachers’ unions, with a prov-
incewide one-day strike scheduled for Fri-
day. Ontario’s Liberal Party, reduced to a
rump in the most recent election, is now
poised to select a new leader, former cabi-
net minister Steven Del Duca, who will set
his sights on Mr. Ford.
And before the end of March, the gov-
ernment will unveil its second budget, po-
tentially reigniting the battles over spend-
ing cuts that have dogged it since last
year’s budget.
The government says its budget will
take an even-handed approach. It also in-
sists a deal can be reached with teachers
unions – angered over plans to increase
class sizes and mandate online courses –
at the bargaining table.
But Opposition NDP Leader Andrea
Horwath says thegovernment must back
off its education cuts if it wants a deal with
teachers. And she is wary of a potential re-
run of last year’s budget, which the gov-
ernment presented as protecting public
services, but included cuts to public

health, legal aid and other programs.

“I know that last year, they tried to sell

their budget as something that it wasn’t,”

Ms. Horwath said. “And it took a lot of peo-

ple a couple of days and, in some cases,

weeks to weed out all of the cuts that were

hidden in that budget.”

Finance Minister Rod Phillips told re-

porters this week that the budget would

balance concerns over the cost of living

with the need to spend more in key areas

such health and education and the gov-

ernment’s plan to gradually balance the

books over the next three years.

“I think it is all about a balanced ap-

proach. ... People are worried about affor-

dability for themselves. They are worried

about investments in the key services,” Mr.

Phillips said. “But they also understand

that with the largest subsovereign debt in

the world left bythe lastgovernment ...

that we are going to have to be careful.”

PC House Leader Paul Calandra played

down talk of back-to-work legislation to

end the series of one-day teachers’ strikes

that have left parents scrambling for child

care. He said he felt both sides were close

enough that a deal could be made at the

table. But he would not rule out legislating

teachers back.

“There’s no denying that obviously the

government has massive legislative tools

at its disposal,” Mr. Calandra said, adding

that he has children in school and feels the

same frustrations as other parents.

“I don’t think we’re there yet. I think

most people will still say, get into the room

and figure it out,” he said. “ ... I know de-

spite all the rhetoric on our side and on

their side, there is still a deal to be done.”

He said he has been critical his own gov-

ernment’s approach to the budget, and

that he preferred a quicker attack on the

province’s $9-billion deficit. At the gov-

ernment’s current pace, the books will not

balance until 2023–ayearafterthenext

election.

“I am more of a fiscal hawk in the party

than perhaps others are,” he said in an in-

terview. “ ... The Premier has chosen to do

it over a longer period of time, so that we

can work together to get there.”

He also dismissed concerns that a revi-

talized Liberal Party, with renewed fun-

draising and a louder voice under Mr. Del

Duca, posed a threat.

“This is the guy who was at the table, for

many, many years of McGuinty and Wynne

government, which has put us in the place

where we are right now with massive def-

icits, large debt, economic disparity be-

tween urban and rural parts of this prov-

ince,” Mr. Calandra said, adding that Mr.

Del Duca was “part of the reason which got

me to run provincially.”

The legislature’s return will also mark

the first Question Periods at Queen’s Park

operating under new rules that allow Mr.

Ford to refer questions directed to him to

his cabinet without having to announce it

in the legislature.

The NDP, which says that Mr. Ford often

deflects questions unless they are friendly

queries from his owngovernment’s MPPs,

has said the change will let the Premier off

the hook.

But Mr. Calandra says the rule change –

already standard procedure in every other

legislature in Canada – actually favours

the Opposition. Now, premiers won’t be

able to run out the Question Period clock

with what Mr. Calandra called the “slow

rise,” taking several seconds to get up only

to refer a question to another front-bench-

er.

“He can still be asked a question, and

will answer those questions that he wants

to answer,” Mr. Calandra said.

OntarioPCsfacechallenges

aslegislatureresumes

GovernmentofPremier

DougFord,miredinlabour

talkswithteachers,prepares

forMarchbudgetandeyes

comingnewLiberalleader

JEFFGRAY
LAURASTONE

and Liberals tied with 20 seats in the legis-

lature. The Green Party and the People’s

Alliance have three each, Mr. Gauvin is the

lone Independent and two seats are va-

cant.

He was the second Tory MLA to de-

nounce the ER closings, after Bruce North-

rup said Thursday he couldn’t support the

move, but intended to continue support-

ing the government in other areas.

Both the Greens and Liberals said they

were prepared todefeat thegovernment

on a confidence motion.

The government had said resources di-

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has
announced hisgovernment is backing
down on a decision to close emergency
rooms overnight in six community hospi-
tals in the province, in order to allow for
community consultations.
In a statement released late Sunday, Mr.
Higgs says residents of rural New Brun-
swick face unique challenges, and that he
can’t in good conscience move forward
with the March 11 implementation date
without addressing those concerns.
He says he will visit the communities
with the affected departments – Sussex,
Sackville, Sainte-Anne-de-Kent, Caraquet,
Grand Falls and Perth-Andover – in April
and May to get the views of leaders,
health-care providers and citizens.
The announcement follows Deputy
Premier Robert Gauvin’s decision last
week to quit in protest over the reforms
and opt to sit as an Independent.
It left the minoritygovernment in the
precarious position of facing a confidence
vote or possibly calling an early election.
Mr. Higgs had said as late as Friday that
his resolve had not changed, but that he
would meet with his caucus to decide how
to proceed.
“I have said time and time again that
we are on a mission to save New Brun-
swick, and that includes tackling the crisis
in health care,” Mr. Higgs said in his an-
nouncement to cancel the closings Sun-
day.
“But we need people in this province to
be part of the solution and that must start
with hearing from the people most im-
pacted.”
Mr. Gauvin’s departure left the Tories

verted from the overnight shift would

shore up daytime services, enhance men-

tal-health services and allow for more

long-term chronic care beds.

Mr. Higgs said Sunday that thegovern-

ment will hold a health-care summit in

June to develop a strategy for ensuring a

sustainable and reliable public health-

care system for the future.

The findings from the community

meetings and summit will be released in

the fall, Mr. Higgs pledged.

THE CANADIAN PRESS

NewBrunswickPremiercancelsovernight

ERclosingspendingcommunityconsultations

FREDERICTON

NewBrunswickPremierBlaineHiggsspeaksinFrederictononMonday.OnSunday,hesaid

thegovernmentwillholdahealth-caresummitinJunetodevelopastrategyforensuringa

sustainableandreliablehealth-caresystem.STEPHENMACGILLIVRAY/THECANADIANPRESS

Two Toronto-area tow-truck company
employees are in hospital after a Sunday
night shooting in what police say could be
the latest incident in a violent turf war
between tow-truck drivers across the
Greater Toronto Area.
York Regional Police Staff Sergeant
Marc Hilliker said the shooting happened
around 8:40 p.m. in the parking lot of Pro-
menade Mall in Thornhill, near Bathurst
Street and Clark Avenue.
The first victim, a 30-year-old man, was
shot while sitting in a car in a parking lot.
The second, a 17-year-old, was standing in
the lot when a masked gunman opened
fire.
By the time emergency responders ar-
rived, the shooter had fled. The two vic-
tims were rushed to a trauma centre. As of
Monday morning, Staff Sgt. Hilliker said
the 17-year-old was deemed stable. The
30-year-old remains in critical condition.
The parking lot – where the car and a
tow truck remained parked – was taped
off Monday for forensic investigation.
Staff Sgt. Hilliker said Monday that the

investigation will be probing what con-

nection this case might have to the con-

tinuing violence and feuding within the

GTA’s tow-truck industry.

As The Globe and Mail reported Sat-

urday, in the past year more than 30 tow

trucks have been set on fire in the region,

and at least two men with ties to the in-

dustry have been killed, as operators

compete for bigger slices of the lucrative

business and tensions continue to esca-

late.

Mark Graves, head of the Provincial

Towing Association of Ontario, told The

Globe that he used to receive calls from

consumers with complaints about exorbi-

tant bills. Now, he primarily receives calls

from drivers afraid to go to work.

The violence has also targeted periph-

eral industries, including a Vaughan law

firm that specialized in representing in-

surance companies in court battles

against local towing companies, over stor-

age and towing bills.

That firm, Carr Law, has closed down

after two arsons, an attack on a lawyer in

the parking lot and finally a shooting in

broad daylight in September.

Industry stakeholders said the violence

has added urgency to their long-standing

calls for regulation and oversight of the

lucrative and highly corruptible industry.

Doug Nelson, who is both head of the

Ontario Recovery Group (an umbrella as-

sociation that represents the interests of

heavy-duty towing companies in the

province) and executive director of the

Canadian Towing Association, says pro-

vincial licensing and management is the

only way to protect tow-truck drivers –

and consumers.

Transportation Minister Caroline Mul-

roney and Government and Consumer

Services Minister Lisa Thompson have

previously declined interview requests

with The Globe about violence within the

tow-truck industry.

In an e-mail Monday, a spokesperson

for Ms. Thompson said,“The government

is aware of this issue and remains com-

mitted to working with our law enforce-

ment partners and the Ministry of Trans-

portation where necessary. Any criminal

activity falls under the purview of the po-

lice and should be reported to the local

law enforcement unit.”

A spokesperson for Ms. Mulroney de-

ferred questions Sunday to the Solicitor-

General, who also declined to comment

through a spokesperson.

Twotow-truckcompanyemployeesshot

intheGreaterTorontoAreaamidviolentturfwar

MOLLYHAYES
CRIMEANDJUSTICEREPORTER

C

anada is facing a decision

on the biggest oil sands

mine proposal in almost a

decade. Alberta’s Frontier oil

sands mine, proposed by Teck

Resources, has gone through a

lengthy regulatory process culmi-

nating in a recommended

approval from a joint federal-

provincial review panel and is

now under consideration by the

federal cabinet.

A casual observer might

assume that, given the potential

environmental and economic ef-

fects, this process would have

been comprehensive.

Yet the panel’s report, which

shares the reasoning behind the

decision, is remarkably weak on

its considerations of climate

effects. Surprisingly, no condi-

tions were proposed that

mitigated any of the project’s

climate effects. In a year in which

two-thirds of Canadians voted for

stronger climate action, this is

unacceptable.

In the 1,300-page report, only

seven pages were spent discuss-

ing the climate effects from the

project, and in that space, the

panel dismissed much of the evi-

dence put in front of it.

Moreover, the panel remained

silent on whether emissions from

the mine would result in a “signif-

icant adverse effect.”

Contrary to popular belief, the

bitumen that would be produced

by the project – as approved by

the joint review panel – would

not be best in class from a climate

emissions standpoint. Yet the

panel accepted that, as proposed,

Frontier would be, at best, an

average emissions performer per

barrel compared with its oil sands

neighbours. This has much to do

with the lower quality of the ore

that the company would extract,

leaving it exposed as investors in-

creasingly consider carbon risk. It

encouraged the company to do

better, but imposed no condi-

tions to ensure this aspiration.

The panel also rejected any

consideration of alternative oil

price forecasts put in front of it. It

instead relied on a highly opti-

mistic forecast for global oil de-

mand and future oil prices. This

means that in order for Cana-

dians to enjoy the stated econom-

ic benefits from the project, we

are likely accepting that the world

will fail to prevent the worst

effects of climate change.

The panel concluded its seven-

page climate discussion by

recognizing that because it would

create a large source of emissions,

the Frontier project may make it

more difficult for Canada to meet

its climate targets. Whether it did

make it more difficult was

deemed by the panel to be out-

side the scope of its review.

The panel’s assessment is

proof of the need for better cli-

mate assessments in project deci-

sion-making. The new Impact As-

sessment Act has the potential to

treat greenhouse gas effects more

rigorously, but it is unclear what

guidance future panels will be

given to properly assess climate.

What we need are tools, such as

clear carbon budgets, to under-

stand how individual projects fit

into Canada’s long-term decarbo-

nization pathways, and for the

use of those tools to be mandato-

ry in project decision-making.

Teck Resources’ recent an-

nouncement that it will aspire

voluntarily to meet net-zero

emissions by 2050 is an important

acknowledgment of the signifi-

cant climate effects of this pro-

ject. However, much remains to

be defined about how this project

fits into Canada’s climate budget.

It is the federal government’s

role to ensure that Canada and its

major projects are prepared for

the coming years of decarboniza-

tion. But until our regulatory

processes connect the dots

between individual projects and

our country’s stated climate

goals, and our provincial and fed-

eral leaders start co-operating on

short-term emissions-reduction

targets and Ottawa’s commit-

ment to reach net-zero emissions

by mid-century, projects such as

Teck Frontier will continue to be

controversial.

SIMONDYER

Regardless

ofthedecision,

Teck’soilsands

mineproves

thesystem

isstillbroken

OPINION

ExecutivedirectorofthePembina

Institute,anon-profitthinktankthat

advocatesforstrong,effective

policiestosupportCanada’s

clean-energytransition