Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
On 16 January 2023 Southlake convened a site selection meeting to review the “Bathurst and Davis Dr Opportunity”. (see graphic right) 
The meeting considered the land requirements for the hospital complex itself and the associated parking. There is also reference to an “LTC fit” which I take to mean long-term-care.
Intriguingly there is a reference to requirements that may need to be built into an MZO. (The Auditor General is currently conducting an inquiry into the Government’s use of Minister’s Zoning Orders)
"Just a conversation"
Last month, in response to a Freedom of Information request, Southlake’s Chief Executive, Arden Krystal, explained why she had no record of the consequential meeting on 1 November 2022 when developer Michael Rice offered Southlake some of his Greenbelt lands at Bathurst for a peppercorn:
“At an initial meeting such as this, we listen to ideas, but do not conduct any form of negotiations or even get into specifics. As such, it isn’t customary to take notes - it is essentially just a conversation.
If opportunities appear to have some merit, we would then begin more intentional or formal meetings in such cases, where minutes or notes could or would be taken.
However, because we were about to embark on a formal land acquisition process, we opted to consider this opportunity along with the other potential lands available, which resulted in fair evaluations of all lands in question.”
The “Bathurst and Davis Drive Opportunity” is clearly part of that wider evaluation she talks about.
Land use planning consultants
We now know that Southlake commissioned land use planning consultants who contacted King Township in August 2019 to give them a heads up on the hospital’s Master Plan which was to recommend a two-site solution to the Ministry of Health.
King’s Director of Growth Management, Stephen Naylor, was a participant in that meeting on 9 August 2019. He would have talked to Mayor Pellegrini about it. So, ever since, Pellegrini has been telling the world he has been looking for a site for a second Southlake. However, the Township insists it has no records of ever having conducted a search for a site suitable for a hospital.
Pellegrini was interviewed by the Integrity Commissioner, David Wake, who tells us:
[288] The mayor explained that other lands in the vicinity had already been discussed as a possible hospital site and that if Mr. Rice contributed land from his recently purchased property, he believed it would potentially be a viable option for the hospital and a significant benefit for King Township.
I shall find out after 6 December 2023 if King Township is prepared to tell me where these other lands are and who owns them.
Elsewhere… On 21 July 2023 I filed an FoI with the Township asking for sight of all records:
generated and authored by staff arising from the resolution moved by Mayor Pellegrini and seconded by Cllr Cober on 7 November 2022 which directed them "to work with the landowner, Province and Southlake Regional Health Centre to expedite development approvals for the lands identified for the expansion of Southlake hospital”.
Tomorrow (20 November 2023) the municipality is due to tell me what actions it took to expedite the required approvals.
See also: Timeline: Southlake and the sale of the Greenbelt lands
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
The Ford Government is giving more funding to "for-profit" clinics to perform certain OHIP-covered surgeries than it gives Ontario's public hospitals to perform the same operations, reports the CBC.
The CBC says:
“…the rates being paid to the privately-owned Don Mills Surgical Unit Ltd. are noticeably higher than what the province provides public hospitals for the same procedures...
Last week, former health minister Christine Elliott registered to lobby the Ford government on behalf of Clearpoint. Her official registration says her lobbying goals are to "engage the government in updating and increasing the base funding amount available to Clearpoint."
Clearpoint runs Don Mills Surgical Unit.
Lobbying former colleagues
Personally, I think it is quite wrong for a former Health Minister who left office as recently as June 2022 to be lobbying her friends and colleagues to boost the profits of her client, Clearpoint. Who thinks this is OK - other than former Progressive Conservative Cabinet Ministers?
Elliott, the former Progressive Conservative MPP for Newmarket-Aurora, is a “consultant lobbyist” which the Integrity Commissioner interprets this way:
As a consultant lobbyist, you are lobbying when you communicate with anyone in government to try to influence a law or regulation, government policy or program, transfer of a Crown asset, good or service to the private sector, government grant, contribution or other financial benefit, or government contract, or arrange a meeting between a public office holder and anyone else.
And “Lobbying” is defined as being paid to communicate with government in an effort to influence decisions.
The 12 month rule
Former Ministers are subject to lobbying rules which are way too lax. Former Ministers like Elliott cannot lobby for 12 months after leaving office:
“For 12 months after you leave government, you cannot lobby: (a) the minister (or ministers) of the ministry where you worked in the preceding 12 months; (b) ministers' staff who work in that ministry or ministries; or (c) public servants who work in that ministry or ministries.”
In the UK (which has its own issues with former Ministers) there is a two-year ban on lobbying which, on all the evidence, is still too permissive:
On leaving office, Ministers will be prohibited from lobbying Government for two years. They must also seek advice from the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACoBA) about any appointments or employment they wish to take up within two years of leaving office. Former Ministers must ensure that no new appointments are announced, or taken up, before the Committee has been able to provide its advice.
Elliott targets Gallagher Murphy
Bizarre as it may seem, Elliott could now be lobbying her successor as MPP for Newmarket-Aurora, Dawn Gallagher Murphy - assuming that DGM has any influence whatsoever in Government decision making.
Gallagher Murphy was hand-picked by Doug Ford who proclaimed her the official PC candidate for the riding within 24 hours of Elliott making her shock announcement that she would not be running again.
Nurses' pay held down
Back in July I wrote that nurses' pay was being deliberately held down. And the Ford Government was turning to agency nursing where costs are going through the roof.
As Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health, our local MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, has done absolutely nothing to ensure nurses get a fair deal.
The vacuous Dawn Gallagher Murphy MPP congratulates people for what they do. After observing her for 17 months as our MPP this is her defining characteristic.
Getting nurses a fair deal? Forget it.
But will she listen to what the consultant lobbyist Christine Elliott has to say about the virtues of her client Clearpoint?
You bet.
Click "Read more" below for Christine Elliott's view on lobbying by public bodies such as hospitals. In 2010 she called on the (then) Liberal Government "to prohibit all hospitals, local health integration networks, community care access centres, Cancer Care Ontario, eHealth Ontario and other publicly funded health care bodies from hiring consultants to lobby government officials".
From the Register of Lobbyists:
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Paul Calandra, the new Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, endlessly repeats the line:
"We made a public policy decision that was not supported by the people of the Province of Ontario."
What weasel words these are.
The people were never consulted.
In the provincial election on 2 June 2022, the people were never asked if they wanted the Greenbelt to be opened-up for development.
It should have been the centrepiece of the Progressive Conservative platform but it wasn't there.
Ford never had a mandate to remove lands from the Greenbelt.
The fact that he has a majority of seats in the Legislature doesn't change that fact.