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Premier Doug Ford's Ontario

Mike Harris’s former environment minister appointed by province to head Greenbelt Council​

From link.

Retired MPP Norm Sterling, an Ontario environment minister in the Mike Harris government of the 1990s, is the Ford government’s choice to lead the Greenbelt Council.

Sterling replaces David Crombie, who resigned in November over the province’s controversial limiting of local conservation authorities’ ability to deny development permits for sensitive lands. Crombie called the moves by Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government “high-level bombing” that “needs to be resisted.”

Sterling’s appointment set off a new wave of criticism for the Ford government, which has frequently used ministerial zoning orders to force particular development approvals and is pushing to build Highway 413 through parts of the Greenbelt, a band of protected farmland, forests, rivers and lakes.

The Opposition NDP noted Sterling voted in 2005 against the creation of the Greenbelt.

“Putting the fox in charge of the henhouse is classic Doug Ford,” said NDP environment critic Sandy Shaw in a statement.

“Time and time again Ford has been busted trying to pave the Greenbelt as a favour to his donors. Ontarians have a right to be worried about this appointment.”

In 1995, Sterling faced criticism for slashing the Environment Ministry’s budget by 40 per cent while arguing that “implementing stronger environmental policies” would counter the funding loss.

Later, the Walkerton tainted water inquiry concluded that Harris-era cuts led to the end of lab testing for municipalities in 1996 and helped set the stage for the 2000 disaster that killed seven people and sickened thousands of others.

Toronto city Coun. Gord Perks, who as a Greenpeace campaigner in the 1990s argued against such cuts, loudly groaned when asked the appointment.

“I have no hesitation saying that I’ve been watching environment ministers going way back and will say without hesitation that Norm was the most anti-environmental of them all,” said Perks (Ward 4, Parkdale—High Park).

“The step down from (former Toronto mayor) David Crombie to Norm Sterling is to step down from somebody who cares to somebody who will actively wreck things.”

But in an interview Sterling, a lawyer and engineer who represented Ottawa-area constituents from 1977 to 2011, rejected such criticism and said his focus in the new post will be protecting the environment.

“My motives are to give future generations the freedom to make decisions about where our province is going with regard to resources,” Sterling said.

In terms of his plans for protecting the Greenbelt, given the pressure from housing developers, Sterling said it’s a difficult problem, but he believes he’ll find solutions.

“We can do it … we can retain the best parts of our natural resources, but we also have to be concerned about how we’re going to provide people with places to live. We’re going to have to listen to a lot of people to advise us on how we might do this,” Sterling said.

The founding member of the Niagara Escarpment Commission said his involvement in the escarpment plan helped him understand “the significance of land and water resources.”

He added that he’ll use this same mindset in his new role.
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“As someone who cares about the environment and our kids, it’s such a thrill for me to be able to say to my eight grandkids that your granddad is going to be involved in making your future better,” Sterling said.

In a news release announcing his appointment, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark said Sterling “brings important experience to the Greenbelt Council, and I am confident that under his leadership there will be incredible work done to support growing the Greenbelt.

Clark added: “As a fellow grandparent, we understand the importance of leaving all of our grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, with an enhanced version of the gem that is the Greater Golden Horseshoe.”
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tiffer24 said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1388499386368417792
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His website says:

"During the pandemic, the Provincial Legislature has continued to operate with modifications to address the province’s needs. Our teams were split into cohorts to lessen the opportunity for spread. Unfortunately, this week, I received a positive test for COVID-19 and am now following the necessary quarantine restrictions. After receiving my first dose of vaccine, I can tell you that I was particularly diligent in following the masking and distancing guidelines for the short two-plus week period required to achieve its protection. The only situation I can recollect was waiting for an apartment elevator when someone masked in line inadvertently sneezed. I remember feeling uncomfortable, but it happens. Whether this was the point of contact, I can’t say for sure, but I mention this only so that you may appreciate how little contact it takes for these new variants to spread and for the increased risk our essential workers and people in large urban areas face daily. While the short period of vaccination could not stop me from picking up the virus, I can credit it for the minor symptoms that I am experiencing that could easily be explained as the common cold."
 
178362229_4212864015401270_7457635450505338772_n.jpg
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Some iron ring:

globalnews.ca

‘Too slow, too late’: Ford gov. received months of warnings about long-term care before second wave | Globalnews.ca

The Ford government received repeated warnings about the looming dangers in long-term care homes before COVID-19's second wave but failed to act.
globalnews.ca globalnews.ca

AoD
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It's a shame this story broke late Friday. I really hope the media doesn't let him get away with it. I expect he's going to hide even though he's done with quarantine this week.
 
EagleEye said:
It's a shame this story broke late Friday. I really hope the media doesn't let him get away with it. I expect he's going to hide even though he's done with quarantine this week.
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Doesn't look like it will be gone - the report was released late Friday (of course, big surprise there) but this is from a few hours ago.

AoD
 
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I posted the link in the Covid thread; but given the interest here............this is a link to the actual LTC report:


Though its 321 pages, I highly commend giving it a read.

I shared some initial thoughts in my post in that thread: https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/novel-coronavirus-covid-19-ncov-2019.30830/post-1684501

There are 2 fundamental conclusions from my perspective.

1) Pre-Ford, the Liberals under invested in the system for well over a decade, failing to implement standards that were already mandated.

2) Ford, having inherited a very challenged system did far too little, far too late.
 
Northern Light said:
There are 2 fundamental conclusions from my perspective.

1) Pre-Ford, the Liberals under invested in the system for well over a decade, failing to implement standards that were already mandated.

2) Ford, having inherited a very challenged system did far too little, far too late.
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And the response to date has been to whine about said inheritance, rather than respond to questions about why they did nothing about it.
 
PinkLucy said:
And the response to date has been to whine about said inheritance, rather than respond to questions about why they did nothing about it.
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https://twitter.com/ColinDMello
Colin D'Mello CTVNews
@ColinDMello

Replying to @ColinDMello
Fullerton says as a society there needs to be some "soul searching" about long-term care and why it has not been given the importance it deserves. #onpoli

https://twitter.com/x/status/1389222966517542916

Yes, society need to do some soul searching - about how they managed to vote in ghouls like herself who went on to gaslight the public.

AoD
 

Minister of Long-Term Care walks out of news conference on damning commission report​

From link.

An evasive minister of long-term care walked out of a news conference where she was speaking to the damning report by the province’s Long Term Care COVID-19 Commission.

The commission found the province was not prepared for the pandemic because of years of neglecting the sector including chronic underfunding and staffing shortages.

A Canadian Forces member told the commission in one home residents were not only dying of COVID-19 but also neglect, saying 26 died of dehydration, needing only “water and wipe.”

When asked when she learned people were dying of neglect, Merrilee Fullerton said “we have to move forward.”

“I came to politics because of long-term care, the neglect of this sector, and I came to fix it,” said Fullerton. “Our the government is fixing it. And we will move forward, understanding the insights and recommendations from the commission and I’m very very grateful to the commission for this work.”

The report was critical the government’s “lack of urgency” early in the pandemic, saying as outbreaks first started in homes the government still had not formalized its response structure.

Fullerton was asked what she would have done differently.

“The government measures and processes, we were trying to move fast for government and COVID-19 was moving faster,” she responded.

She was then asked if her government would apologize.

“You know I think collectively as a society we need to do some soul-searching and understand why, you know, it took a pandemic to address the capacity issues in long-term care,” she answered. “It’s very very clear in the commission’s report and the auditor general’s report that these were long standing issues.”

Fullerton frequently laid the blame on previous governments and answered questions by touting the government’s investments since the first wave of the pandemic including “20,000 new and over 15,000 upgraded spaces in development.” The province aims to create more than 30,00 new spaces over the next decade. Fullerton says they are also investing $9.6 billion new dollars in response to the pandemic.
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'Fullerton frequently laid the blame on previous governments and answered questions by touting the government’s investments since the first wave of the pandemic including “20,000 new and over 15,000 upgraded spaces in development.”' Bet they will not blame the Mike Harris government who started this mess with privately-run long-term care, and who, Mike Harris, is now Chair of one of those privately-run long-term care 'businesses', Chartwell Long-Term Residences.
 
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