Premier Doug Ford's Ontario

[W. K. Lis]

Appointment of Mike Harris to Order of Ontario sparks anger​

From link.

Former premier Mike Harris’s appointment to the Order of Ontario — the province’s highest honour — is sparking outrage online amid the COVID-19 debacle in long-term-care homes and his current position as board chair of one of the largest operators.

Suze Morrison, Ontario NDP MPP for Toronto Centre, tweeted Harris “is the last person” she would put on a list of Order of Ontario appointees announced New Year’s Day.

Harris, ex-leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, was premier from 1995 to 2002. He has been chair of Chartwell Retirement Residences since 2003.

In an interview, Morrison said the timing of his appointment couldn’t be worse.

“In a moment in time when we’ve lost thousands of seniors to COVID-19 in these poorly managed, privatized homes, for the sake of profits, to recognize Mike Harris with this highest honour . . . is devastating to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in long-term care this year.”

A government spokeswoman acknowledged receiving the Star’s request for comment about the Harris backlash, but did not respond further.

Ottawa law student Tom Naciuk called the appointment “cronyism.”

“Appointing the chair of Chartwell, Mike Harris, to the Order of Ontario, particularly after everything that has happened with for-profit LTC homes, is a sickening example of cronyism,” Naciuk wrote on Twitter.

In a scathing June 2020 email sent to the CBC in response to what it called “a highly subjective portrayal of the COVID-19 situation in Canadian long-term care,” the CEO of Chartwell, Vlad Volodarski, defended Harris’s record as chair — and premier.

The email said the LTC sector “has been vocal for some time now with all levels of government . . . that it was facing staffing issues well before COVID-19,” Volodarski wrote in the email.

He also challenged the CBC to “substantiate the claim that a drop in care levels dates back to when Mike Harris was premier.”

While the Harris government moved from mandatory minimum staffing levels to a different funding formula, “within this funding system the average number of care hours has increased.”

Volodarski’s email also stated that during Harris’s tenure as premier, “the capacity of the Ontario LTC sector was expanded by 20,000 new beds and 16,000 old beds have been renovated . . . ,” he wrote, adding “There have been no meaningful investments in capacity expansion or renovation programs in the Ontario LTC sector ever since.”

Ninety per cent of Chartwell’s portfolio is private pay retirement residences, of which only 23 are LTC in Ontario, Chartwell spokeswoman Sharon Ranalli wrote in an email.

The Star has reported that during the first three-quarters of 2020, Extendicare, Sienna Senior Living and Chartwell Retirement Residences saw disproportionately more deaths among residents than the average in Ontario non-profit or municipally run long-term-care homes. In that same time period, the three operators made huge payouts to investors while taking millions in government funds, a Star analysis of data shows.

Ranalli wrote that payments made to Chartwell by governments for pandemic pay for front-line workers were “flo-thru funds for our employees or expenditures related to government directives for PPE, staffing and infection control measures in the four provinces in which we operate.” The funds were not CEWS (Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.)

Lt-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, chancellor of the Order of Ontario, announced 47 appointees for 2019 and 2020 on Friday.

“We have seen the best of Ontarians this year, and many of these new appointees are being honoured for a lifetime of service to this province, laying the groundwork of resilience and community that each one of us was called to act upon in this historic global pandemic,” Dowdeswell said in a news release.

“Let these appointees inspire you and encourage you to honour those around you by nominating them to be recognized by the province. We have much to be proud of.”

The release did not say why the two years were lumped together and government spokespersons did not provide an explanation by deadline.

The 2019 appointees to the Order of Ontario are:

Melanie Adrian, Roland “Roly” Armitage, Allan Carswell, Helen Ching-Kircher, John Colangeli, Nancy Coldham, Sean Conway, Clare Copeland, Barbara Croall, Lisa Farano, Geoff Fernie, Allan Fox, John Freund, Susan Hay, John Jennings, Marlys Koschinsky, James W. Leech, Audrey Loeb, Dani Reiss, Janis Rotman, Linda Silver Dranoff and Joan Sutton Straus.

The 2020 appointees to the Order of Ontario are:

Daniel Allen, Joseph Raymond Buncic, Michael DeGasperis, Raymond Desjardins, Ernest Eves, Hershell Ezrin, Carlo Fidani, Karen Goldenberg, Mike Harris, Ellis Jacob, Jing Jiang, Shana Kelley, André Lapierre, Dale Lastman, André M. Levesque, Peter Liu, Hazel McCallion, Arden McGregor, Janet McKelvy, George McLean, Rosemary Moodie, Robert. W. Runciman, Marilyn Sonley, Ahmad Reza Tabrizi and Karen Weiler.

The newest appointees will receive their honours at a ceremony at Queen’s Park when the chief medical officer of health deems gatherings possible once again in the province, the news release said.

From link.

 

[DSC]

Glad to see all the Tory politicians getting their Order!

Harris, Eves, Runciman and McCallion.

The Selection Process seems to be clearly in the hands of the Premier:

Selection process (for Order of Ontario)​

An advisory council reviews the nominations and recommends candidates to the Lieutenant Governor for appointment to the Order of Ontario.

The council consists of the Chief Justice of Ontario, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the Secretary of the Cabinet and up to six additional members of the Order of Ontario appointed to the council by the Premier.

The Order of Canada selection process seems to be a bit more open, and, AFIK, the Advisory Committee (to the Governor General) is appointed by the GG NOT the Cabinet. Wiki states: "The appointment process for the Order of Canada is notable for being mostly removed from the active partisan influence normally seen in the British honours system. "

 

[Richard White]

Hurricane Hazel is already a Member of the Order of Canada and has national honors from around the world.

She's very much deserving of the Order of Ontario on her own merits.

 

[DSC]

Hurricane Hazel is already a Member of the Order of Canada and has national honors from around the world.

She's very much deserving of the Order of Ontario on her own merits.

Agreed, she may not be perfect but she gave a lot to Mississauga - my point was that the selection process appears to involve far too many people appointed by the Premier and that will tend to result in too many politicians.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Glad to see all the Tory politicians getting their Order!

Harris, Eves, Runciman and McCallion.

The Selection Process seems to be clearly in the hands of the Premier:

Selection process (for Order of Ontario)​

An advisory council reviews the nominations and recommends candidates to the Lieutenant Governor for appointment to the Order of Ontario.

The council consists of the Chief Justice of Ontario, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the Secretary of the Cabinet and up to six additional members of the Order of Ontario appointed to the council by the Premier.

The Order of Canada selection process seems to be a bit more open, and, AFIK, the Advisory Committee (to the Governor General) is appointed by the GG NOT the Cabinet. Wiki states: "The appointment process for the Order of Canada is notable for being mostly removed from the active partisan influence normally seen in the British honours system. "

Hazel McCallion is (mostly) Liberal.

From link.

While party preferences are not usually expressed in Canadian municipal politics, McCallion supports the Liberal Party at the federal and provincial levels, and was asked in 1982 to consider running for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party. She endorsed Kathleen Wynne on the convention floor of the 2013 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election, and later endorsed her and her party in the 2014 Ontario general election. Otherwise, McCallion has been described as a small-c conservative. McCallion endorsed Liberal leader Justin Trudeau for the 2015 election. She also appeared in a notable television advertisement for the federal Liberals during the final days of the 2015 election. In the 2018 Ontario provincial election, McCallion endorsed PC leader Doug Ford who later went on to become Premier of Ontario (we all make mistakes).

 

[old boy]

Appointment of Mike Harris to Order of Ontario sparks anger​

From link.

From link.

A depressing depravity of soul shows in the Harris appointment at this moment, and the timing couldn't be better for the Covid-battered Tories under Ford. If distraction deployed in this sick manner works in politics, then hand it to Ford's handlers in taking one right out of Trump's
playbook . Anyone remember Philips ?

 

[ShonTron]

Hazel McCallion is the living epitome of confusing longevity with greatness.

She’s a racist, with plenty of instance of extremely poor judgment, like the World Class Developments fiasco.

Mississauga would look almost the same without her, as it had everything going for itself: the airport, the industrial lands, the highways, and the seeds of development already in place. There'd only be a lot fewer things named for Hazel McCallion.

 

[old boy]

Hazel McCallion is the living epitome of confusing longevity with greatness.

She’s a racist, with plenty of instance of extremely poor judgment, like the World Class Developments fiasco.

Mississauga would look almost the same without her, as it had everything going for itself: the airport, the industrial lands, the highways, and the seeds of development already in place. There'd only be a lot fewer things named for Hazel McCallion.

She can't take credit for the hurricane though. I still can't figure out what Mississauga is apart from the smorgasborg of tall condos with no apparent " there, there ". Still, Hazel is a memorable character which is saying something in our times of lackluster leadership.

 

[Richard White]

She can't take credit for the hurricane though. I still can't figure out what Mississauga is apart from the smorgasborg of tall condos with no apparent " there, there ". Still, Hazel is a memorable character which is saying something in our times of lackluster leadership.

Mississauga wanted to be a financial centre hence Skymark Hub and the multitude of offices around the City Centre as well as Renforth, Dixie, etc.

They were originally a bedroom community that wanted to be the centre of everything but failed. Mississauga will always be a bedroom community.

 

[zang]

Mississauga wanted to be a financial centre hence Skymark Hub and the multitude of offices around the City Centre as well as Renforth, Dixie, etc.

They were originally a bedroom community that wanted to be the centre of everything but failed. Mississauga will always be a bedroom community.

Mississauga was at one point a major bedroom community for the industry surrounding the airport. That is, until its proximity to brought “ethnicity” into the mix, and there was a big white flight to parts north of Snelgrove.
The 80’s saw a big wave of airline pilots move from Mississauga to Caledon, Orangeville, Hockley Valley. The ease of a 30 minute drive down Airport Road or HWY 10 from a glistening white community appealed to many.
I know, as we were an Air Canada family who did exactly that. Mississauga got browner and my parents fled. After we moved, I knew other kids with parents at Wardair, CPAir, Nordair, Canada 3000, and we knew what felt like a million other Air Canada families.
Now that those communities have become more diverse, I wonder where the pilots are fleeing to?

 

[afransen]

Mississauga wanted to be a financial centre hence Skymark Hub and the multitude of offices around the City Centre as well as Renforth, Dixie, etc.

They were originally a bedroom community that wanted to be the centre of everything but failed. Mississauga will always be a bedroom community.

More people commute to Mississauga than commute from. Mississauga is definitely a pretty bland suburban place for the vast majority of its area, but it is going to see a lot of intensification and will try to start properly urbanizing.

 

[afransen]

Mississauga was at one point a major bedroom community for the industry surrounding the airport. That is, until its proximity to brought “ethnicity” into the mix, and there was a big white flight to parts north of Snelgrove.
The 80’s saw a big wave of airline pilots move from Mississauga to Caledon, Orangeville, Hockley Valley. The ease of a 30 minute drive down Airport Road or HWY 10 from a glistening white community appealed to many.
I know, as we were an Air Canada family who did exactly that. Mississauga got browner and my parents fled. After we moved, I knew other kids with parents at Wardair, CPAir, Nordair, Canada 3000, and we knew what felt like a million other Air Canada families.
Now that those communities have become more diverse, I wonder where the pilots are fleeing to?

Is it a 'white flight' thing, or a 'sell in the higher value core and move to the fringe' thing? Get a better house for the same money....

My boss lives in Georgetown and is the white half of a multi-racial family. He seems to think Georgetown is pretty racist (similar to his experience coming from small-town Nova Scotia). I'm honestly kind of surprised. The 'townies' must have been diluted by now with imports from elsewhere (regardless of ethnicity). I don't mind a mixed neighbourhood at all. I get weirded out by neighbourhoods that are monocultural (borderline ghettos).

 

[zang]

Is it a 'white flight' thing, or a 'sell in the higher value core and move to the fringe' thing? Get a better house for the same money....

My boss lives in Georgetown and is the white half of a multi-racial family. He seems to think Georgetown is pretty racist (similar to his experience coming from small-town Nova Scotia). I'm honestly kind of surprised. The 'townies' must have been diluted by now with imports from elsewhere (regardless of ethnicity). I don't mind a mixed neighbourhood at all. I get weirded out by neighbourhoods that are monocultural (borderline ghettos).

Mississauga wasn’t an expensive place to live in the 80s.
Small town Ontario is still pretty effing racist. .

 

[afransen]

But is Georgetown and Caledon still small town Ontario?

 

[Northern Light]

Ontario's LTC Commission denied extra time to complete its report.

The time was requested because the government has not been forthcoming with requested information.

Ontario rejects extension for probe into LTC homes after commission blames province for ‘significant delays’

The Ontario long-term care commission has sought an eight-month extension to complete its work, and says delivering a final report by a proposed deadline of Dec. 31, 2021, will ‘require the province’s full co-operation’

www.theglobeandmail.com