The find-and-fix approach: Your COVID-19 roundup

Find and fix

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath elaborated on the kind of public inquiry she would like the government to undertake for long-term care homes.

"It has to be a find-and-fix public inquiry," she urged, saying that the inquiry must be able to share its findings on a rolling basis so that long-term care homes can improve immediately.

The government has resisted the idea of a public inquiry, and announced last week that it will pursue a public commission. The details of what that will look like have yet to be established, but experts that QP Briefing spoke with last week said they expect it will be close in scope to the SARS Commission. The government has argued that this will be done in order to ensure that the review won't take too long, although a provision in the Public Inquiries Act allows the government to set a timeline for a public inquiry. Public inquiries also come with increased legal liability for political staff and industry stakeholders.

Horwath said that her expected model for a public inquiry wouldn't be the SARS Commission, but something like the Walkerton Inquiry or Ipperwash Inquiry instead. Both of those inquiries share another aspect in common, as they were each resisted by the PC government of the day — Ipperwash was investigated only after the Liberals formed government, eight years after Dudley George had been killed.

Horwath received support for a public inquiry from two Ontarians who joined her Tuesday morning Zoom press conference.

Audrey DaCruz participated, and shared the tragic news that her mother passed away in a long-term care home earlier this month. Her family had not been notified that there was an outbreak at the home until weeks later, and her mother was in a shared room with two other individuals who had tested positive. Five days after contracting the virus, she passed away.

"She did not deserve to die this way, alone in a hospital room, with only a masked stranger by her side," said an emotional DaCruz.

The mother of Peter Priest is also in a long-term care home, and she has thankfully not tested positive for the virus yet. But Priest said that the family has prepared an evacuation plan for her if needed, as they lack confidence in the system. One reason that Priest cited is that the province is taking too long to deliver test results, and so they are of limited usefulness.

Ford to city, the sequel

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca reiterated his call for the provincial government to fill the revenue gap that is causing concern for many Ontario municipalities.

"Ontario's 444 municipalities face big challenges — and they cannot wait. The premier needs to step up and provide direct funding to our communities," the grit leader said in a statement.

Ontario's municipalities face varying issues, but it's clear there's a dire cash crunch. Last Friday the City of Toronto announced options to make up its pandemic-related shortfall, which in the best-case scenario looks to be $1.5 billion. The suite of options is unappealing, including a 47-per-cent property tax increase or a host of service cuts including discontinuing service on the Scarborough RT and Sheppard subway line, as well as drastically reducing all other transit service.

Ontario municipalities cannot budget for a deficit by law, and compared to their jurisdictional peers they also have limited revenue tools. Large municipalities also have increased responsibilities, such as social housing stock and transit systems.

Del Duca said he would like to see a $4-billion emergency fund for municipalities that's cost-shared with the federal government. He also called on the provincial government to expedite infrastructure projects and double gas tax revenues.

"Ontarians deserve stability and they deserve to know their property taxes aren't going to go up. It's up to the premier to show leadership on this issue and do the right thing," he added.

Big Ontario energy

The Liberals have changed their tune on time-of-use pricing.

MPP Mitzie Hunter wrote to Energy Minister Greg Rickford, requesting an extension of the hydro rate discounts, which have already been extended once. The initiative, which sees all residential hydro use reduced to the lowest rate band regardless of the time of day, began in April and is set to expire at the end of May unless an extension is granted.

"As we enter the summer months, Ontarians will require more energy to try to stay cool. This is particularly important for seniors and others with health needs, who are at an elevated risk of suffering adverse effects from the summer heat and humidity. Our most vulnerable members of society are also those who will be advised to stay at home for the foreseeable future," stated Hunter, a former Liberal leadership candidate.

The Liberals introduced time-of-use pricing when they were in government in a bid to provide incentives for ratepayers to change their discretionary energy behaviour and shift some activities to off-peak hours. The idea was that this would lower the demand peaks and add more stability to the hydro system.

But time-of-use pricing, which has regularly been roundly criticized by Premier Doug Ford, saw behavioural shifts only on the margins of demand. A recent Financial Accountability Office report projected that the average Ontario household would save $34 in costs over nine weeks from the change, and at a cost of $175 million to the province's finances.

Extending the program would be more expensive, as energy demand goes up in the summer as Ontarians turn on their air conditioning units. The FAO estimated that extending the program to August 31 would cost an additional $316 million.

This comes as energy demand in the province has decreased by over 11 per cent, as more people working at home means less consumption.