2020 Year-ender: 'I'm a traditionalist': Government House Leader talks pandemic parliament, McVety and cheesy Hallmark movies

This Christmas season, Paul Calandra swapped one kind of housework for another.

"My chore chart has me walking my dog literally every single day," the Government House Leader said on an episode of the QP Briefing Podcast recorded in mid-December. And when he's not catching up on the domestic duties he missed during a busy legislative session, he said, he'll be fully indulging in the Christmas spirit and watching "those cheesy Hallmark movies."

Calandra is responsible for shepherding the Ford government's legislative response to the pandemic, which made him an especially busy man until the house rose in early December. When the pandemic struck, he started implementing measures to keep everyone safe — that included negotiations with the opposition about keeping cohorts of MPPs away from the chamber to allow for social distancing while maintaining the balance of power.

"The premier did say, look, you got to find a way to keep the legislature going, keep it safe," he said.

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Another change was allowing voting from the lobbies, as the much larger United Kingdom Parliament does, permitting MPPs to queue with distance between them to cast their votes.

"It's actually worked out very, very well," he said. "But I will say this, I'm a traditionalist. So the sooner we can get back to in-person voting in the chamber, the happier I'll be."

Committee procedures were changed as well to allow members to participate by video conference — but when that resulted in legislators, including PC MPP Parm Gill, getting caught Zooming while driving, Calandra had to step in.

"It is inappropriate and dangerous to participate in a Zoom meeting while driving a vehicle, especially legislative committee meetings," he wrote to his caucus at the time. "Do not do this."

Here's an MPP driving while taking part in a legislative committee via Zoom. That's something I've never seen before. pic.twitter.com/uGzPE2x2eC

— Jessica Smith Cross (@jessiecatherine) November 9, 2020

Calandra said, distracted driving aside, the more virtual committees have been a success story that shows how this legislature was able to accomplish "some level of normality" this year. Post-pandemic, members won't be allowed to Zoom into meetings but presenters will be and video streaming capacity will be added to two committee rooms that don't currently support it.

"We have had so many more people participating in committees, wanting to participate in committees, because it is so much easier for them to do via Zoom," he said. "The amount of people that have participated or wanted to participate it because it's so easy to do has been spectacular."

In the early days of the pandemic, the government worked with the opposition parties to pass bills quickly, coming together on legislation that gave protected leave to workers who have to self-isolate because of COVID-19 and let city councils meet remotely, for example.

Calandra said that involved a lot of give-and-take in backrooms and Zoom rooms.

"People should be under no illusion that the opposition wasn't fighting for the things that they wanted in that time period from March till June," he said. "We just weren't doing it in the assembly.... They fought very hard for the things they believed in. In some pieces of legislation, we remove things at their request. So they did their job as an opposition, but we moved COVID things through the House very, very quickly with their support."

But the partisanship peace treaty ended and the government began pursuing non-pandemic priorities over the summer and has since passed some controversial bills, including legislation that strips power from conservation authorities and an omnibus bill that includes a provision that would empower the college run by Charles McVety, a friend of the premier with a well-documented track record of spouting bigoted views, to become a university.

It has since passed, but the government said it won't be proclaimed until after the college's independent accreditation process, which is still pending. Nevertheless, the McVety bill became one of the most heated issues of the year and it led to one particularly interesting vote. On the afternoon of Nov. 23, the NDP brought forward a motion calling on the Ford government to condemn the "extreme and hateful invective of Charles McVety" and to oppose any efforts to make his college into a university.

It passed 29 to 27, with no Progressive Conservatives voting in favour and no opposition MPPs opposed.

However, a couple of dozen of Tories just didn't vote at all, even though they were there that day, Calandra among them.

"Look, I thought there's a difference between the man and the application process," he said.

"I cannot, I do not condone some of the things that Mr. McVety has said. But that does not mean that he shouldn't have the ability to, or the college itself should have the ability to make an application and I'm respectful of that process."

Calandra said the PC caucus was free to vote however they chose on that motion, which is always, or nearly always, the case on private members' items.

The house is set to return in February, giving Calandra and the other MPPs more time at home — hence the confession about getting to watch "those cheesy Hallmark movies" he enjoys.

"I absolutely love watching anything related to Christmas," he said. "I've got all the cartoons taped. You know, Frosty and The Year Without a Santa Claus. I just love Christmas, my favourite, favourite time of the year. I'm one of the guys who still believes that there's actually Santa Claus. So I will be Christmasing all the way through next week and into the New Year."

One question he has, however, is if he should give Netflix's A Christmas Prince a try.

(Photos by Steve Russell / Toronto Star)