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Doug Ford has a long history of cronyism. 

So we shouldn’t be surprised to read in this morning’s Toronto Star that:

“More than a dozen of the recipients of a controversial new honour for Ontario lawyers donated to either Attorney General Doug Downey’s election campaign or his riding association.”

They will join Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney KC who was called to the Ontario bar just a few days before the announcement.

But, for me, it is Ford’s brass neck that fascinates. 

He will always do what he thinks he can get away with. 

Gravy Train

Ten years ago Toronto City Councillor Doug Ford promised to end the gravy train at Queen’s Park. And now, as Premier, he regularly uses patronage to reward his friends and grease the wheels of government.

The man is totally shameless.

As it happens, twenty five years ago I argued in the UK Parliament for the abolition of Queen’s Counsel. The then Government reviewed the system and brought in some much needed reforms. The title QC (now KC) was retained. (Click read more below.)

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Update on 12 July 2023: From the Toronto Star: "I didn't see a list says Ford"

Update on 18 July 2023: From the Toronto Star: Advertising KC status may violate Law Society rules and We're gonna fix that process says Ford

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Arden Krystal is to retire in 2024.

Update from Newmarket Today

See also: Timeline: Southlake and the sale of the Greenbelt lands in King

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The Ford Government tells us the title “KC” is awarded to lawyers who have demonstrated a commitment to the pursuit of legal excellence in service to the Crown, the public and their communities. 

Breaking contracts

On 6 June 2019 at Queen’s Park Sandy Shaw MPP asked the then Attorney General, Caroline Mulroney, about the consequences of breaking contracts with the Beer Store. 

The rule of law means that governments… should follow the law… it is a principle that this Attorney General is sworn to uphold. That’s why it’s so concerning that this government is ripping up contracts and ignoring the rule of law—all for beer. In fact, the Canadian American Bar Association wrote the Attorney General an urgent letter and said that this government will “undermine the rule of law.” The Attorney General’s job is to uphold the rule of law. Has she spoken to the Premier about these serious concerns?

Refuses to answer

Mulroney refused to answer, passing the question to Vic Fedeli, then Minister of Finance, who accused the Liberals of giving the three global multinationals that own the Beer Store a sweetheart deal. 

“International companies understand our parliamentary system. They know that a new government isn’t bound by bad legislation.”

No compensation

Even if that means ripping up contracts without offering compensation.

We still don’t know if Caroline Mulroney KC believes this kind of behaviour undermines the rule of law.

She won’t tell us.

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Update on 6 July 2023: From the Toronto Star: Doug Ford's Patronage Controversy builds on a Pattern of Poor Decision Making.

Update on 7 July 2023: From TVO: Thanks to Doug Ford we've got ourselves a good old fashioned patronage scandal

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This morning's Globe and Mail tells me Doug Ford has been quietly moving ahead with plans to sell beer in corner stores. 

It seems the great man has been mulling the pros and cons of pressing ahead with his unfulfilled promise from the 2018 election to allow convenience stores to sell beer.

I laughed out loud when I read about the closed door consultations, initiated by the Ministry of Finance, which:

"required all participants to sign non-disclosure agreements, keeping the talks secret."

When Ford vowed to break the Beer Store monopoly he overlooked the fact there would be huge costs in ripping up a watertight legal agreement with the big brewers. Ford then said legislation would protect the Province from the consequences of unilaterally breaking the contract. That ran into the sand.

Personally, I think it is totally weird that you can't buy beer at a corner store. When I first arrived in Canada from the UK it astonished me that beer and wine could only be purchased in Provincially regulated outlets. Now I'm used to it but, when I think about it, I still find it crazy. 

Christine and Dawn

I recall going to see my then MPP Christine Elliott in August 2019 to ask her when Andrew's Convenience store in Aurora would be allowed to sell beer and wines. Elliott was forever pointing to Andrew's Convenience store as the kind of local business that would benefit from the new, more liberal, policy. I remember her assistant, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, sitting in on the conversation, taking notes, saying nothing. Elliott assured me Andrew's would be selling beer in August 2020.

I couldn't see that happening when breaking the contract could cost $1 billion.

So this explains the secret consultation. Ford doesn't want anyone to remember his Buck-a-Beer fuelled promise to smash the Beer Store monopoly.

Making policy on the hoof

Ford makes policies on the hoof. They are not stress-tested before being announced to the public. This is a classic example.

In Ford's first term his media releases used to boast in a strapline at the bottom:

"Promise Made. Promise Kept."

But that kind of triumphalism was abandoned long ago.

Promises casually made are now casually broken.

I have a list.

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Click Read More below for the G&M article

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Vaughan Mayor and former Leader of the Ontario Liberals, Steven del Duca, today accused York Regional planning staff of trying to create a role for themselves if a much touted municipal reorganisation sees the Region disappearing in its current form. 

Del Duca, the new kid on the block, was responding to a memo (Regional Planning Transition Plan) put before the Council by the Region’s Chief Planner, Paul Freeman. Del Duca suggested that the region’s planners were in “self-preservation” mode.

Newmarket’s John Taylor said the comment was unnecessary, derogatory and inaccurate. 

Excellent. 

When there are matters of great consequence at stake the last thing we need is for our politicians to dance around the issue, afraid to venture an opinion.

Avoiding Unpleasantness

For as long as I can remember, members of York Regional Council have behaved in a way that avoids unpleasantness, studiously avoiding direct criticism of their colleagues. Everything said in the hushed, reverential tones of a fusty old Club. Tony van Bynen was an exemplar of this type. In the same way, Newmarket’s Tom Vegh never tries to lead or shape opinion. He is a spectator of events.

So what happened today was, in one sense, remarkable.

Del Duca took aim at the Chief Planner, Paul Freeman, whose memorandum he deemed to be defective. (Del Duca should instead have targeted Doug Ford who still hasn't decided what he wants to do with municipalities.)

Regional Official Plan to be replaced by nine plans

Georgina’s Margaret Quirk asks the Region’s Chief Administrative Officer, Bruce Macgregor, if there would still be a regional official plan after Bill 23 (More Homes Built Faster Act 2022) had been brought in and fully implemented.

Bruce Macgregor replies:

"Our understanding presently is that the Regional Official Plan will be replaced ultimately by official plans from nine of the local municipalities. Our job from a planning perspective will be to keep tabs of those plans; to participate in their evolution and to understand where growth is going for the purposes of the master planning that we've done to ensure that the infrastructure and services are provided. 

We have master plans for roads and transit. We have a master plan for water and wastewater. We have a master plan for paramedic services. We are building communities now that are the size of medium towns in Ontario in concession blocks in York region. And even more than that in some of the major transit station areas and the areas where our communities are densifying. 

And so there is a need for regional services that we have to be aware of - no differently than the school boards and others. Healthcare providers that have to understand where our growth is going so that we build complete communities. So my expectation is we will have a close handle in coordinating the outcomes of local councils in their official plans. 

Those will be the planning documents that will prevail for approval purposes under the Planning Act but we will necessarily have to be closely linked to that and bring decisions back to this council - or whatever successor exists of this council - to ensure that those services are being provided in the expected way and that we are able to fund them as well. Mr. Freeman could probably add some context relative to the Planning Act."

York Region's highly regarded Chief Planner, Paul Freeman, adds: 

“…it is correct that the regional official plan will be replaced by the local official plans through the transition. It'll take some time as your councils update your official plans and adopt new official plans. Right now the region is still legislatively the approval authority of your official plans but that will change when the rest of the proclamation comes into place probably early next year. So the province will then be the approval authority at that point. 

What the memo outlines is what the legislation tells us - that we will still be required and have an ability to comment on applications. The approval authority of Regional Council will disappear. There's no doubt about it, and so Mayor Quirk, it does get replaced. But as Mr. McGregor said there's still a need for growth management at a regional level to understand how growth is going to be aligned with infrastructure. And that is a huge responsibility for the region that is predicated on fiscal sustainability.”

False Narrative

Newmarket’s John Taylor lambasts the “false narrative” which seeks to blame municipalities for the failure to build more homes. He says the reasons why housing isn’t being built in sufficient numbers could not be laid at the door of the regional planners. He insists that his defence of regional planning is not a defence of the status quo.

Taylor then throws down the gauntlet:

“If we want to challenge the status quo let's talk about Housing York starting to build purpose built rental tomorrow on regional properties, on this property right here.

(I don’t know if Taylor meant building on the car park at the Regional Administrative building on Yonge Street but it sounded like it).

“Let's stop pretending we're challenging the status quo by talking about what level regional planning is involved and let's start talking about challenging the status quo and getting things built. Housing York is and can be… the single largest provider of rental housing in the region and we can produce much more. We can produce units. We want to challenge the status quo about how much the regional planning is involved but barely a word was said about the fact that Housing York’s capital funding source was wiped out by Bill 23. Our ability to build units, more housing, 1.5 million units, was wiped out. I don't know how many people who want to challenge the status quo met with the Premier and sent letters in about that because that's significant.”

No-one responds directly. 

The council will hold a workshop in the fall where each municipality will provide information on housing approvals, when and where they were given and if they have been acted upon.

The following members spoke in the debate: Steven Del Duca (Vaughan), Margaret Quirk (Georgina), John Taylor (Newmarket), David West and Joe Di Paolo (Richmond Hill), Iain Lovatt (Whitchurch Stouffville), Gino Rosati and Mario Racco (Vaughan). Newmarket’s Regional Councillor Tom Vegh again kept his thoughts to himself.

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Update on 30 June 2023 from Newmarket Today: York Region Council at odds over planning future.   And York Region CAO Bruce Macgregor stepping down

Related: Ontario Newsroom 18 May 2023: Ontario announces intent to dissolve Peel Region and from TVO 30 June 2023: Doug Ford wants changes in Simcoe County. What do local Mayors want?

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