The Globe and Mail - 09.03.2020

A6 | NEWS O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| MONDAY,MARCH9,

New Ontario Liberal Leader Ste-
ven Del Duca will set about tour-
ing the province as he looks to re-
build his party after the crushing
2018 election loss, while Progres-
sive Conservatives immediately
tied him to the legacy of former
premier Kathleen Wynne.
Mr. Del Duca, a former cabinet
minister in Ms. Wynne’sgovern-
ment, handily won Saturday’s
leadership race on the first ballot,
with almost 59 per cent of the
vote. A long-time Liberal organiz-
er, he will now take the helm of a
party that has not had a perma-
nent leader since the June, 2018,
election defeat under Ms. Wynne,
who still sits as an MPP.
The party holds eight seats in
the Ontario Legislature, and is
millions of dollars in debt from
the last election. Mr. Del Duca’s
first stop on Monday will be
Windsor.
In his acceptance speech on
Saturday, Mr. Del Duca, a 46-year-
old father of two, said he wants to
create a “modernized political
movement” to win the next elec-
tion.
“When we are united, when we
are focused, we get the job done,”
he said.
He later told reporters he
doesn’t plan to seek a seat in the
legislature before the June, 2022,
election unless a by-election
opens up in Vaughan-Wood-
bridge, now held by PC associate
minister Michael Tibollo, who
beat Mr. Del Duca in 2018.
“We have a lot of work to do in
order to regain with humility ...
the trust of people in this prov-
ince,” he said.
Mr. Del Duca said the party
needs to raise millions of dollars,
find a diverse slate of candidates
andcomeupwithaplatformthat
resonates with the public before
the next election, which takes
place in just more than two years.
But when asked about his own
recordastransportationminister,

which saw controversy after he

approved a GO train station near

his Vaughan riding, Mr. Del Duca

said he’s a “work in progress.”

“I don’t think that any one of

us delivers perfection, and more

importantlyIdon’tthinkthepeo-

ple of Ontario expect perfection.

They expect competence. They

expect a government to gets the

big things right,” he said.

Toronto MPP Michael Coteau

came second in the leadership

race with 17 per cent of the vote,

followed by academic Kate Gra-

ham, seen as a rising star in the

party, with 14 per cent.

In a final pitch to about 2,

Ontario Liberals, Mr. Del Duca

took direct aim at Mr. Ford, criti-

cizing the PC record on educa-

tion, health care and the environ-

mentandlabellingthePremier“a

climatechangedinosaur.”Hesaid

theTorieshavecreated“chaos”in

the education system, a reference

to four teachers’ unions that have

undertakenrotatingstrikesinthe

province,andhevowedtostreng-

thenpubliceducation.Healsoex-

pressed support for pharmacare,

a key federal Liberal pledge.

Mr.DelDucaportrayedthePre-

mier as a partisan opportunist

who does not have Ontarians’ in-

terests at heart.

“We know that Doug Ford only

cares about expanding opportu-

nity for his friends, and for set-

tling old political scores,” Mr. Del

Duca told the crowd.

Mr. Del Duca accused Mr. Ford

of wasting money on gas pump

stickers,attackadsandlawyersto

fight the federal carbon tax in

court.“WeneedaPremierwhore-

allyacceptsthatclimatechangeis

a scientific fact,” he said.

PC House Leader Paul Calan-

dra tied Mr. Del Duca to Ms.

Wynne’sgovernment,callinghim

her “right-hand man” and criti-

cizing the Liberal record on high

hydro prices and skyrocketing

debt.

“When you hear what he talk-

ed about today, it was doubling

down on the policies of Kathleen

Wynne,”Mr.Calandratoldreport-

ers. “It’s like he learned nothing

from the 2018 election.”

As soon as Mr. Del Duca con-

cluded his speech on Saturday

morning, the PC party released a

noticethatMr.Calandrawouldbe

playing host to a “pool party” at

the convention, a reference to a

recent CBC report about Mr. Del

Duca’sfailuretoapplyforthenec-

essary permits for a newly built

pool in his backyard.

Mr.DelDucarefusedtodirectly

answer questions about the pool

at his news conference.

Mr. Del Duca did not reserve

his criticism for Mr. Ford alone:

He also went after NDP Leader

AndreaHorwath,whoheaccused

of siding with the Tories during

the Liberals’ time in office.

“Wecannotaffordtohavelead-

ers who are missing in action

when the bell sounds,” he said.

The NDP’s Taras Natyshak sent

out a fundraising e-mail after Mr.

Del Duca’s win, calling him a

“scandal-plagued, out-of-touch,

former Wynne cabinet minister

from the right-leaning wing of

their party.”

Theothercandidatesforleader

were: Toronto MPP Mitzie Hun-

ter, Ottawa lawyer Brenda Hol-

lingsworth and former staffer Al-

vin Tedjo, who was joined on-

stage by a robot as he made his

pitchforartificialintelligenceand

basic income.

NewleaderplansOntarioLiberalrebuild

DelDucasayshisparty

has‘alotofworktodo’

toregainpeople’strust

asheembarksontour

acrosstheprovince

LAURASTONE
QUEEN'SPARKREPORTER

StevenDelDucawavestothecrowdafterbeingannouncedasthewinneroftheOntarioLiberalPartyleadershipraceinMississaugaonSaturday.

Mr.DelDucasayshewantstocreatea‘modernizedpoliticalmovement’towinthenextelection.FRANKGUNN/THECANADIANPRESS

Whenweareunited,

whenwearefocused,

wegetthejobdone.

STEVENDELDUCA

NEWONTARIOLIBERALPARTYLEADER

AreportfortheAlbertagovernmenthasraisedconcernsthat

a large number of methamphetamine users are frequenting

supervised consumption sites that were designed to respond

to opioid overdoses.

Front-line health workers say, if anything, that finding

shouldpersuadetheUnitedConservativegovernmenttobol-

ster services. Theprovincialgovernment formed a panel last

summer to look at how consumption sites were affecting

crime rates, social order, property values and businesses. It

didn’t address the benefits of harm reduction for users.

The report said meth constitutes up to half the drugs

consumed at locations where multiple substances are

permitted. “This was surprising and seemed antithetical to

thepurposeofthesites,whichistoaddresstheopioidcrisis,”

committee vice-chair Geri Bemister-Williams said.

“The side effects of methamphetamine are characterized

by agitation, aggressiveness, paranoia, psychosis and other

bizarrebehaviourthatincreasesandaddstothe...socialdis-

order. We, as a committee, were concerned, as the sites were

not equipped or designed to handle methamphetamine

users.”

Thereportsaidmethusersaregenerallylessatriskofdying

of an overdose unless the substance has been “adulterated.”

Bonnie Larson, a family physician who works with vulner-

ablecommunitiesinCalgary,saidthat’sexactlytheproblem.

Methis“very,veryfrequently”contaminatedwithstreet-level

fentanyl, a powerful opioid. “What we’re looking at is a con-

taminated drug supply, a poisoned drug supply,” she said.

“Nobody’s meaning to overdose on fentanyl regardless of

what drugs they’re taking, but they are at a high risk of over-

dosing and dying even if their whole intention was to use

methamphetamines.”

CoreyRanger,aregisterednursewhohasworkedinharm-

reduction programs across Alberta, said non-opioid drug us-

ers are at a higher risk of an overdose if they inadvertently

take a fentanyl-laced substance, because they don’t have the

tolerance.

Mr. Ranger suggested providing more resources at super-

vised consumption services could help address some of the

disorder that comes with increased meth use. Right now, the

sites are too busy to accomplish that. “If somebody has con-

sumedabadbatchofastimulantlikemethamphetamines,it

presents very much like an exaggerated anxiety or panic at-

tack,andthewaythatyoutreatthatisyouprovideasupport-

ive environment.”

Mr.Rangersaidmostsitesaresetuptohandleallmethods

of consumption except inhalation. Arches in Lethbridge is

one of the few in Canada that has supervised inhalation

rooms. “If anything, this report tells us that we haven’t gone

far enough. If we’re able to offer safe places for people to in-

haletheirdrugs,thenthey’relesslikelytoinjectitandtherisk

foroverdoseandtheriskforblood-bornepathogeninjection

goes down significantly.”

THECANADIANPRESS

AdvocatesinAlberta

callformoreresources

amidhighmethuseat

drug-consumptionsites

LAURENKRUGELCALGARY

F

or more than two weeks, In-
digenous youth and their
supporters occupied the
granite steps of the the B.C. Legis-
lature’s ceremonial front en-
trance, spreading out with tents,
tarps and protest signs and main-
taining a ceremonial fire that
filled the building with campfire
smoke – and tension.
All that is left of the protest is
an ugly protective fence, erected
after they vacated the space on
Friday.
The protest camp was set up in
support of Wet’suwet’en hered-
itary leaders who are in a battle
against construction of a pipeline
in their traditional territories. It
ended after five key leaders were
arrested for mischief inside the
legislature.
During the occupation, the
protesters treated Indigenous
Members of the Legislative As-
sembly – the voices who might
have best advanced their con-
cerns inside the chamber – with
contempt.
Advanced Education Minister
Melanie Mark, B.C.’s first female
First Nations MLA, was accosted
asshetravelledtoworkbyprotes-
ters who yelled “shame!” while
her constituency office in East
Vancouver was occupied by dem-
onstrators.
Liberal MLA Ellis Ross, the for-
mer chief councillor of the Haisla
Nation, ran for provincial office
with an agenda to reduce Indige-
nous poverty, suicides and incar-
ceration rates. He was blocked by
protesters from entering the
buildings on the day of the
Throne Speech and had to find
another entrance.
Adam Olsen is the Greens’ in-
terim leader and a member of the
Tsartlip First Nation who got into
politicsseekingtorepairthedeep
riftbetweentheCrownandIndig-
enous governance. He met with
the Indigenous youth, agreed
that the pipeline was a bad idea,

railedagainstinjusticestoIndige-

nous people – and was yelled at

for his efforts.

British Columbia has never be-

fore had so many Indigenous

voices in the legislature at one

time. There has never been a bet-

ter time for members of the

house, who last fall unanimously

passed legislation to commit to

humanrightsforIndigenouspeo-

ple, to listen with empathy to the

concerns of the youth outside.

But the protesters demanded

complete allegiance with their

position, dismissing alternative

perspectives within Indigenous

communities on the Coastal Gas-

Link pipeline. The Wet’suwet’en

themselves are divided on the is-

sue, and are in the midst of a sen-

sitive consultation process on is-

sues of rights and title.

Mr. Olsen tried to engage with

the Indigenous youth, and re-

mains sympathetic to their feel-

ings of frustration. But he could

notcountenancetheirtactics,nor

their tone. “I have great difficulty

characterizing much of what I ex-

perienced ... as peaceful,” he said

aftertheprotestersblockedMLAs

from entering the buildings on

Feb. 11. He suggested the protes-

ters were missing the guidance of

their elders.

Mr. Olsen was the greatest ally

that the youth could have had.

His party opposes the expansion

of fossil-fuel infrastructure, and

has voted repeatedly against the

corporate subsidiesthat govern-

ment has offered to secure a new

liquefied natural gas (LNG) in-

dustry that the Coastal GasLink

pipeline is designed to support.

He blamed thegovernment for

backing the pipeline project

when the opposition from the

Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs

was firmly established. “This sit-

uation which we face right now

was entirely foreseeable,” he said

in an interview.

Last week, Mr. Olsen was asked

to witness a meeting between

Scott Fraser, the Minister for In-

digenous Relations and Reconcil-

iation, and a small group of the

Indigenous youth. The group was

invited into the legislature only

after they gave their word that

they would leave after the meet-

ing–akeyissue because a court

injunction was in place to keep

them outside. Mr. Olsen was

blunt, after the melee that fol-

lowed,thatthegroupuseddecep-

tion in order to launch a sit-in

that led to the five arrests.

Still, the interim Green leader

maintains that dialogue must

continue, saying that Indigenous

people have little reason to trust

the Crown on good-faith bargain-

ing. “Everyone has been let down

by this system and it’s important

for us to make those systemic

changessothatthenwecancome

out with a different outcome.”

Mr.Rosswasnevergoingtosee

eye to eye with the pipeline pro-

testers – he is a champion of LNG,

and supports the pipeline as a

tool for economic development

to lift Indigenous communities

out of poverty.

But he is also an influential In-

digenous leader who served a key

roleinputtingastakeintheheart

of the Northern Gateway oil pipe-

line.

His first encounter with the

protesters at the legislature was

with a group that prevented him

from entering the building on

Throne Speech day. “Somebody

yelled at my face, some young kid

yells my face,” he recalled in an

interview.

“There was no respect for abo-

riginal issues, there was no re-

spectfortheinstitutionoftheleg-

islature. And there was so much

ignorance in terms of what these

protesters were actually protest-

ing.”

BritishColumbiaispoisednow

to make real progress toward

reconciliation,with new legisla-

tive tools, commitment and In-

digenous guidance in the legisla-

ture. The protests haven’t stop-

ped that work, but they didn’t

help it either.

ProtestersatB.C.Legislaturealienated

theverypeoplethatmighthelpthem

JUSTINEHUNTERVICTORIA

ANALYSIS

DISPATCH

BritishColumbia

hasneverbeforehad

somanyIndigenous

voicesinthelegislature

atonetime.