The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - Queen's Park Returns: Reactions Across Ontario

Episode Date: October 25, 2024

After a 19-week-long hiatus that saw alcohol arrive in convenience stores and an announcement to build a tunnel under the 401, the Ontario legislature returns with no shortage of issues to deal with. We take a look at what the Ford government has been up to, and the reaction it's stirred up across the province.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a 19-week long hiatus that saw alcohol arrive in convenience stores and an announcement to build a tunnel under the 401, the Ontario legislature returned this week with no shortage of issues to deal with. To bring us up to speed on what the Ford government has been up to and the reaction it's stirred up across the province, we welcome in Sudbury, Ontario, Mark Ishwabi. He's the host of Morning North on CBC Radio One. In Windsor, Ontario, Patty Handysides, host of The Shift on AM 800 CKLW. And in London, Ontario, Devin Peacock, host of The Morning Show on 980 CFPL.

And it's great to have you three fellow hosts with us here tonight on TVO. You know, I wanna start with just a general premise, which is to say that when things happen here in the capital city, we tend to oftentimes believe everything begins and ends here. And the reason we like you three on the program tonight is that we want to see how things are sort of playing outside of the capital city.

So Patty, start us off here. The whole issue of taking out bike lanes and the province opting to pay for them seems very directed at the capital city. Does this have any effect in your neck of the woods? And if so, what? Well, you know, our mayor was one of the first outside of two big mayors to be given strong mayor power. So we've been interested to see how much extra, you know,

kind of power that the province wanted to have here in Windsor. It came at an interesting time, this whole announcement of the province having the say in taking out a traffic lane. That very week, there was a very long street going into downtown Windsor. That was actually happening.

It was a one-way street, but they were taking a full lane out to make a bike lane that very week. Dec decided on, consulted by the City of Windsor and the people in the neighborhood to do that. But to take that away, take that power away from the people in the city is a lot of controversy here over whether the province should have those kind of step, those chances to step in and step on municipal decisions like that and to take away the public consultation rights. Marcus, how about in Sudbury? Is bike lanes a big issue there? Bike lanes are a big issue for the people who want bike lanes, but I would say that they want more. You've been to Sudbury, Steve. You know that traffic is not an issue here like it is down in Toronto. So we have

some bike lanes. In fact there was a major project not that long ago just completed through a thorough fare through Sudbury and what they did is they put the bike lane on the sidewalk. So maybe it's the pedestrians in the north that are more concerned but they still have their room as well but that's really not an issue for Sudbury at all. Devin how about in London? Bike lanes are an issue and they aren't so it's an interesting situation for London where they're not particularly popular amongst some Londoners but as it relates to this legislation specifically a lot of the bike lanes we have in London aren't on major arteries and in the areas where we do have bike lanes on some of the bigger thoroughfares they've actually expanded the road to include the bike lanes so some of what

the the province and the Premier is talking about hasn't really doesn't really impact London here what is interesting about it though is London is doing its mobility master plan right now which does include bike lanes as well as other modes of transportation. So there is a possibility that future bike lanes could be impacted by this but it's not really known yet. But it's not a huge impact for London at the moment. Interesting because Patty, you know in the capital city if you turn on talk radio in

this town, I mean it's just, I don't want to say it's non-stop but it's such a huge issue you know, in the capital city, if you turn on talk radio in this town, I mean, it's just, I don't want to say it's nonstop, but it's such a huge issue, you know, and of course some hosts like to foment the whole war on the car and motorists versus cyclists and all of that. Do you get much of that in Windsor? We do actually, we have a very vocal cycling group and people that like to do it, but the city, you know, just isn't at the any time

really putting any kind of particular strong bike lanes in there, painting lines in and then that they're doing that. But we're like the other cities to outside of the capital city. We don't have any bike lanes on our main arteries and obviously any freeway or anything else going in there. So there is a constant battle when new roads are being done or roads are being resurfaced to put in more better bike lanes that are buffered but that's kind of a never-ending battle here. Gotcha. Okay let's go on and Devin I want to ask you because London of course snuggles right up to the 401. I want to ask you about the Premier's plan to put

a tunnel under at least part of the 401 that's in Toronto. Now Londoners take this highway a lot. How did they react to this development? They reacted with a bit of a smile in terms of the idea of a tunnel. It was one of those stories where, I'm from Toronto originally, so I have a soft spot for Toronto,

but I've been in London for over 20 years now, and it just seems there's a lot of focus on Toronto and not as much focus on London. So a lot of Londoners saw the idea of a tunnel underneath the 401 as yet again something that's maybe for Toronto not necessarily for London or even southwestern Ontario. When we did talk about it London that was more an issue of why not just buy back the 407 because the Londoners do like to go to Toronto, go through Toronto and would like to use the 407 but that was the bigger thing for us in terms of we're going to do something, forget

the tunnel, just buy back the 407. Marcus, I know the 401 is a long way away from Sudbury but having said that, sometimes the talk we hear in Toronto is that the Premier sometimes looks like he would prefer to be the Mayor of Toronto as opposed to the Premier of Ontario. Does that kind of chit chat make its way up to Sudbury? Absolutely. And when it comes to a tunnel, we've got the expertise in Northern Ontario. We're hard rock miners up here.

We can build that tunnel if you're going to pay for it. And it's interesting because Sudbury does have a tunnel, a municipal tunnel, under its infrastructure under the entire city. And I'm not talking about mines. I'm talking about a sewage tunnel that's been built over the last 20 years. And it actually carries sewage from one end of the city to the treatment plant. So for a government to build a tunnel isn't out of the question but you're talking about a lot of money and there's other highways in Northern Ontario that have been promised. The four-laning of Highway 69 between Sudbury and Toronto. It's been talked about for years, been promised, they say it's still a priority but for the last eight years nothing has been done in terms of expanding that four-laning so definitely

I would say northerners feel a little left out when there's all this talk about Toronto traffic. Well lest we convey the impression that nothing has been done on that some of the 69 is four-laned right? Absolutely some of it has been done but there is a stretch of 80 kilometers that was promised back to the Liberal administrations and it still hasn't been done. Okay, Patty, of course 401 does go to Windsor and I just wonder how, I wonder how the people of Windsor feel about the notion of their taxes going into, oh I don't know, 50 to 100 billion dollars for a tunnel underneath the 401 across Toronto.

Well, we already have an existing bridge and an existing tunnel here that connects us over to Detroit. And we have a new tunnel that's about to open in less than 12 months. I mean, new bridge that's about to open in 12 months. We understand with the undertaking of this, you know, it's been more than 20 years since they decided to build a new bridge here. It's only about two and a half kilometers long. Not nearly what Doug Ford's talking about with this tunnel. It's over water and land, not under.

And it's at, it's now past six and a half billion dollars at the cost and it hasn't opened yet. And just the time, the design time, you know, it took years and thousands of wells to be drilled to make sure it could afford, it could take the weight. You gotta find out whether the ground can support things like that. There's so much design and work in infrastructure, ideas and engineering to go into this. And without even talking about money to begin with, we know that it's gonna be incredibly expensive.

I like the idea we talked about a year in our news of why don't they just buy back the 407? It'll be cheaper than building this tunnel. Yeah, you know, I hear that suggestion all the time. And yet, Devin, I have, well, I've yet to hear anybody in government say that it's an option that they are pursuing or even considering. You think they should consider it?

I think they should consider it. You know, I was just on the 407 recently when I was going through Toronto to go up to the cottage for Thanksgiving. The 407 is always, seems to have tons of space when we talk about gridlock and getting stuck in traffic that Toronto traffic is terrible. I do agree something needs to be done about it but when we talked about it here it's bring back the 407 not only do you not have to wait for 25, 30, however many years it's

right there so 407 seems like the easy direction to go and if you need to build a tunnel after that, then okay, we'll talk about the tunnel. Well there's a full economic statement coming from the Minister of Finance next week so we'll see if there, we'll see if there are a few cents in there for potentially buying back the 407, we'll see. Marcus, let's talk about health care. We all know that health services in northern Ontario are, well, let's just say much more difficult to come by than they are down south of the French River. What are you hearing up north in terms of the government's plans? And we saw the announcement this past week to hire Jane Philpott to study within five

years a solution to getting everybody a general practitioner in this province. What are you hearing? Actually some excitement frankly from health care providers in Norman Ontario. I talked to a doctor in Wawa who thought it sounds like an awful big job the promise that every Ontarian will be connected to a primary care provider. Now that's not necessarily a doctor, it could also mean a nurse practitioner, and we talked to a nurse practitioner as well who was thrilled that nurse practitioners are included in that. And we also heard from a doctor in Timmons who works in the

emergency and he said he was a family doctor but he says there's no money in it as a family physician with a practice you've got the overhead so he works in ER exclusively now and and says it's just not the headaches to become a family doctor so clearly there's a problem there's some hope I talked to the the head of the Nossam University the School of Medicine in Sudbury and Thunder Bay and she was involved with a report that Dr. Jane Philpott wrote regarding primary healthcare, talking about how you'd move into a certain postal code

and you'd be immediately connected to a primary care physician or some sort of clinic that might include social workers, might include dietitians. But she mentioned that it could cost two billion dollars so there's politics here clearly that if someone is worried they'd say they don't have a family doctor and of course a lot of people don't have a family doctor in this province now the government can say well look we're studying it we're gonna take care of you it's just gonna take a little while

hmm Patty two and a half million people in this province, last I heard, do not have access to a primary care doctor. I'm sure a lot of them live in Windsor. How was this announcement reacted to in your part of the province? I mean people are very excited to hear anything, though it sounds like there may be some improvement on health care because not only are so many people still without family health care doctors and a lot of that is as our doctors are aging and retiring not as many work to 80 or 90 anymore like they used to and The retiring and people are lost not having that doctor to fill in afterwards, but also we have a lot of newcomers We have a lot of people moving here because of jobs and there's just no doctors. But the other thing

Excuse me. The other thing here is because we're right on the border, the wait times, I mean, I'm sure the wait times are as extensive everywhere, especially for diagnostic testing. People here cross the border and pay in Michigan to have diagnostic testing. They get the results back within a day or two or three days and they bring it back to their doctor so they can move on to that next step, whether it's seeing a surgeon or some kind of specialist. But that's what it's got to now because we're so close to it. We see the advertisements on television selling us that you can go to these diagnostic clinics that are all over Metro Detroit.

And people do and they pay the money and they're willing to do that so that they can move ahead on that line. That is fascinating because for all the people who say we don't have two-tier health care here in Canada, it's not the case. Our second tier is just, well in your case in Windsor, it's just north in Detroit. I guess for the rest of us it would be south in the United States. Okay, Devin, give us the lay of the land in London. The notion that Jane Philpott has five years to solve this problem, how has that reacted to there?

Excitement because there's a lot of Londoners that do not have a family doctor. The number seems to grow every single time we do a story on it here and talk to doctors and talk to those involved with it. So there's some optimism because it is Dr. Philpts specifically who was involved with this and is is taking this on but also just some skepticism as well because of the prospect of you know a provincial election potentially early in 2025 the fact this does take five years that's a long time for a lot of people and every time we see the numbers come out it's you know by five years from now How many more Londoners are going to be without a family doctor? London is one of the fastest growing cities not just in Ontario, but the entire country

You know, we have a we have a housing issue here, of course But also it's it's for family doctors and health care providers. It's a significant issue So it was warmly received but there's a bit of skepticism just in terms of five years is a long time to potentially have to wait. Marcus, let's just do a word or two here on the politics of this move. This is, of course, the former Liberal Health Minister federally, Jane Philpott, being hired by a progressive Conservative Premier of Ontario to do a study, which, of course, takes her out of the mix as being a potential

candidate in the next Ontario election and she had been musing about that. What's your take on the politics of this move? Well I don't think Bonnie Cromby will be thrilled that Dr. Philpott is doing this work for the Conservative government but I think it's a great great strategy for the Conservatives, takes away potential candidate from the Liberals. But it also makes them appear to be nonpartisan, that we have the best interests of Ontarians at heart and we're going to solve this problem that's been plaguing the province for years. Let's show you guys some tape here.

This is Marit Stiles, the leader of the official opposition, with some strong words for the Premier in question period on Tuesday of this week. Sheldon, if you would, roll it. This government is failing every day to deliver on the most basic responsibility of a provincial government, which is health care for the people of this province. But somehow they're able to keep all their promises to their insider wealthy friends. So I want to know from the Premier Premier why is this government choosing to spend billions on luxury spas that no one wants and a tunnel that won't be built for 20 years when they

can't get sick people out of hallways. Patty, this is a line frankly we're hearing from all of the opposition parties that the Premier has sort of lost the plot and is favouring his insider donors to the Conservative Party. Any idea if that's resonating in southwestern Ontario? Absolutely. There's a lot of talk here. Doug Ford still certainly has big supporters here. There's no doubt in some of the things he's doing.

But healthcare and housing is the thing that gets, you know, drawn after. It's just constant talk about healthcare and housing. For us, housing has become a really huge issue. I know everyone's facing that, but we're having more than a thousand new people every month coming here. We've got jobs, we've got a new EV battery plant that's about to open. We've got, you know, construction jobs, we've got a new hospital about to be built. So there's people moving here, but we don't have the housing. And just in the last seven or eight years, our housing prices have more than tripled. We used to be very affordable.

It's not anymore. And that's a big problem. And it's talked about daily, hourly here. And yet at the same time, yeah, we are hearing, it resonates loud and clear here that there's this some kind of spa going up in Toronto, the tunnel that came out of left field. even back when he started talking about there needs to be paper bags at the LCBO. Those kind of issues bothered people. And so, you know, they want to hear more on health care, not just bringing in Jane Philpott, but bringing, you know, doing more, they want to see it. They want to see some results. Devin, how about you on that? It's an interesting dynamic in London. We have three NDP MPPs and one progressive conservative

just south of Borders, part of London. So we have a lot of New Democrat representation. In terms of that message resonating deeply, I think it's cracking through a little bit, but really a lot of Londoners are really just concerned about encampments, homelessness and housing is a huge concern similar to Windsor. We have a big problem with encampments and I know the Ontario big city mayors were calling on the province recently to do something and and step in on that and think more about involuntary treatment but But encampments is really the message

that is something we're talking about a lot in homelessness. It's something that's almost a daily topic here. It cannot be stated enough. So that message resonates a little bit, but I don't even think that kind of speaks to what people in London are really concerned about. Marcus, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the Tories have won a seat

in Sudbury in almost 40 years. Maybe it was Jim Gordon the last guy to win the seat there for the Tories? Jim Gordon, absolutely, former mayor of Sudbury. Okay, so how's Doug Ford playing in Sudbury these days? Well, we're so far removed of what's going on in Queens Park that the issue of health care, it has been an issue but I think it's it has pushed down on the list of concerns. I think a lot of the interest groups, including the Ontario Medical Association, the Ontario Health Care Coalition, they've been very good about getting their message out that more needs to be done. And of course, Franchelina, the NDP MPP for Nickel Belt, is the NDP's health critic.

So you hear her frequently talking about the concerns with health care, in particular the privatization of health in Ontario. But I think Patty and Devon are right in that homelessness, even in Sudbury, is a big issue. More people on the streets than we've ever seen before. And the opioid crisis is a real concern up here. Housing, even in Sudbury, is a real concern. Cost of rent has gone up. Affordability is a real issue. So I think the health care, well, it's always a concern and at least the Ford government can say now we're studying it, taking a look at it, we're going to try to help you get a doctor. And of course, Sault Ste.

Marie was a huge example. 10,000 people de-rostered, lost their family doctor in the Sault. So it's still an issue. They were able to bring in some nurse practitioners to help deal with that. Apparently they're overworked and there's people still waiting for a long time to get to see a nurse practitioner or a doctor but I think some of these other issues cost a living as well it's sort of gone up on the scale of issues. In which case in my last couple of minutes here let's ask how people would react to the notion

of spending 150 million dollars a year before they had to on an election next spring which we are not confirmed but may happen. And also the notion, which we hear next week will come down, this $3 billion plus that will be spent to give everybody a $200 rebate next spring as well. Again, potentially just before a spring election. Patty, how's that playing? Well, I can tell you, I think people are already tired of elections here, and that's because we're so close to Detroit that we are inundated with the presidential campaign next door.

And of course, there's the talk, too, about what will happen on the federal side. When it comes to the Ontario government, if they were to call an election early, I don't know. It's funny, every time an election is called or a by-election is needed, somebody steps down and there's a by-election. I always think about the cost. We do talk about it. We have stories on it. But it doesn't seem to reallylection. I always think about the cost we do talk about it we have stories on it but it doesn't seem

to really rile up the people about the cost of an election so much as just you know obviously who's going to be running. Devin with all of the priorities that need some attention right now how would people in London feel about three plus billion dollars for an early election and $200 checks in the mail next spring? I don't think people will be too enthused about the idea of a provincial election. I don't hear a lot of people clamouring for something along those lines. With regards to the rebate, every time I talk to it with people, sometimes they're surprised to hear that it would be happening and they'll take it, but they don't really think, you know, $200 a person,

if that is what it ends up being, is not the biggest boon for them. So people's, when I've talked to them, they'll take it, but they don't think they really need it. And it's kind of, that's money that would be much better spent, you know, on homelessness, encampments, and some of the more pressing issues, even housing. There's a lot bigger issues than $200 in everyone's pocket.

Marcus, you get the last 20 seconds on that. Well, I'm sure the opposition parties are thinking and creating a list of what could be done with $3 billion. All the listeners that we had who contacted us via text or on our talkback line, they're saying, they see what this is, what it is, and that is a ploy to win votes.

But hey, if you found 200 bucks on the street, would you pick it up and take it? I'm sure people are going to take it. Whether or not they want an election, well, we'll have to see. We shall see. Indeed. Patty Handesides from CKLW, Devin Peacock from CFPL, Mark Eshwabe, CBC Radio One in Sudbury. It's great to have you three with us here on TVO tonight.

Many thanks. Thanks. Thanks.