Welcome to my community newsletter. Summer is officially here! Legislators are back in their ridings until the fall. You can re-watch some of the action from the spring sitting here.
Need help? See my website to plan your visit: Contact-MPP Ted Hsu.
Here’s what you can find in this month’s issue:
Across Ontario:
- LCBO Strike
- Highway 413
- Ontario Science Centre
- Ontario Ending Wastewater Surveillance Program
Local Stories
- Fire at Quinn’s Meats
- 401 Closures
- Wolfe Islander IV
- ICH Funding Expiring
- New Team-Based Health Facility
In Our Community
- New Paramedic Station
- Kingston Literacy and Skills OTF
- ECE Conference
- Super ID Clinic
- Wolfe Island Run
- Queen’s University
- Catch Me In Your Neighbourhood
- **Save the Date: Labour Day Picnic**
Warm regards,
Ted
Across Ontario
Here are some of the big stories from Ontario over the last month.
After a two-week long strike, OPSEU and LCBO came to an agreement. The deal includes keeping all 680 retail LCBO locations open until 2027 and launching a task force to “examine the impacts of the Ford government’s access-to-alcohol policies on the revenues of the Crown corporation.” OPSEU advocated against locations other than LCBO selling ready-to-drink beverages. Doug Ford refused to budge, even going so far as to move up the start date for cocktails and beer sales in grocery stores in the middle of the strike. I went to listen to workers at the picket lines in Kingston where they were braving the hot sun.
According to The Narwhal, internal documents reveal that Highway 413 will likely take at least a decade to build. One document noted that, “currently there is no commitment to a timeline for detail, design and construction.” The cost to build Highway 413 has never been made public and the decision to start construction without a final plan is a big financial risk. Whether land can be expropriated, and what to do about endangered species has not been settled. The Toronto Star reported on Premier Ford’s promotional video on social media, touting progress on the 413 but I know from history that having to redesign after starting to build is a surefire way to risk ballooning costs in any big project.
Ontario Science Centre Closure
Despite growing backlash against his decision, Doug Ford has decided to keep the Ontario Science Centre (OSC) closed, citing structural problems. The Minister of Infrastructure stated that repairs could cost upwards of $500 million. However, advocates are noting that neither of two engineering reports recommended an immediate shutdown. Jason Ash, co-chair of Save Ontario Science Centre, said, “independent experts continue to publicly state the building is safe to reopen.” Since the OSC’s closure on June 21st, several organizations and philanthropists have offered their services to restore the facility.
The choice is not so much between shutting down the OSC or not, as it is between spending $50m-$100m for a temporary Science Centre, on a new site, to open in 2026 at the earliest (the Ford government’s plan) or spending that money to start fixing the existing OSC and re-opening it earlier.
Ontario Ending Wastewater Surveillance Program
The Ford government will not be renewing the wastewater surveillance program, which ended on July 31, known for cost-effectively monitoring outbreaks during the COVID-19 pandemic. It can also catch infectious disease threats and researchers and local public health officials are looking to wastewater for signs of the bird flu that is crossing the U.S., hurting poultry and dairy farms. The government’s rationale for ending the program was that it is duplicative to an existing federal program. They also stated that the federal program would be expanded to fill in any gaps left by the ending of Ontario’s wastewater surveillance program.
My office has inquired to federal officials about whether these statements made by the Ontario government are true. Here is the response we received: “Federal wastewater monitoring programs do not duplicate the work done by provincial wastewater program. While work is underway to expand federal testing in Ontario, the scope of the expansion would not replace the current scope of the Ontario program. Ontario’s decision to sunset their wastewater testing program was not coordinated with PHAC’s decision to expand its wastewater monitoring program.”
This program cost-effectively monitors dangerous viruses — and its absence poses a risk to farmers, and public health across the board. The government’s excuse is just misleading.
If you want more frequent updates about provincial news, subscribe to my Weekly Wrap where I cover five of the top news stories of the week.
Local Stories
In late June, a fire broke out at Quinn’s Meats, destroying the facility. This fire is devastating for farmers in Eastern Ontario. It will affect at least a year’s worth of bookings, and with other abattoirs at capacity, farmers who were supposed to go to Quinn’s have no other options. I have reached out to the Federal Minister of Justice, Dominic LeBlanc, to look into an emergency restart of the abattoir at Joyceville Institution. I also visited Green’s Meats in Wingham whose abattoir also burned down but was rebuilt by the next generation of Greens. I want to find out what the provincial government should or should not do in helping to rebuild abattoir capacity.
Driving on the 401 near Kingston, you may have seen signs about interchange closures. I received a number of emails from worried constituents about them. The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is “initiating a rehabilitation project on Highway 401 that … runs from east of Westbrook Road to 1.5 km east of Highway 15.” MTO has since asked their contractor to cover the signs and only install advance notification signs for locations where the work is scheduled to commence within a week of the installation of the sign. Additionally, MTO has made it clear that there is to be no closure of consecutive on- or off-ramps in the same direction at the same time.
For more updates, you can visit https://511on.ca/.
On August 17th, the Wolfe Islander IV will finally go into full-time service. This has been three years in the making, so thank you to residents of Kingston and the Islands for your patience. You shouldn’t have had to wait that long! The initial service schedule for the ferry will be every 80 minutes. Once battery charging and automated docking are finished, it should go back to 60 minutes service. For more information on the ferry and departure schedules, please visit: https://www.ontario.ca/page/ferry-services.
Although this is welcome news, because the ferry will be docking at Dawson’s Point, businesses in the town will continue to lose out on foot traffic from Kingston. Local businesses are also not helped by the fact the shuttle between the town and Dawson’s Point ends in the early evening. I have once again asked MTO for an updated briefing on when the Marysville dock will be in use and about extending the hours of the shuttle that currently runs to and from Dawson’s Point.
Kingston’s Integrated Care Hub is the last resort for people with nowhere else to turn. The City of Kingston has had to fund wraparound services — social services, healthcare — for the last 3 months. And now, the funding is set to expire. Kingston’s ICH is not alone. Similar services across the province are waiting to hear about the state of their funding. I continue to call on the provincial government to provide long-term, predictable, funding for the Integrated Care Hub. That will also help it to evolve into something better.
New Team-Based Health Facility
A new team-based healthcare facility has been set up in Kingston: Midtown Kingston Health Home. They are now open and will provide team-based primary care close to home for over 8,000 residents of Kingston and the Islands. Services will also include cancer screenings, prenatal care, well baby care, and sexual health services.
For now they will have walk-ins service for people who don’t have a family doctor. After they get guaranteed permanent funding from the provincial government (I’ll be pushing the Ford government on that!), the Health Home will be rostering patients from Health Care Connect, so if you haven’t registered yet, please do so. You can see more information about the new Health Home here.
In Our Community
This month, I had the opportunity to attend the opening of the new Frontenac Paramedic station in Glenburnie! Here in Eastern Ontario, and across rural Ontario, we need to build up capacity so that communities have the services they need. I also applaud those who are looking for better ways to serve. Community paramedicine, something championed by paramedics, is now being implemented across Ontario.
Kingston Literacy and Skills OTF
On July 5, I was able to see the new chair lift that Kingston and Literacy and Skills got through an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant. KL&S is a great organization that has provided great benefits to our community and our local economy for many years. Their goal of making services more accessible is something to be proud of.
On July 9, I had a great conversation with licensed childcare operators in the Kingston area. Over the course of two hours, I heard various concerns including how, even after working years or decades in childcare, ECEs still don’t get pensions, which hurts worker retention. Five years after school, only 40% of ECE graduates are still working in childcare.
Many childcare operators are running on a deficit budget this year as they wait for the Ford government to give details on a new funding model which takes inflation into account! I want to thank all the ECEs who took the time to share their experiences with me.
Thank you to Kingston Community Health Centre and Martha’s Table volunteers for putting on such a helpful event with the purpose of equipping vulnerable people, or anybody else, with proper ID. I was able to stop by for a while and saw just how many people benefited from staff present from Canada Revenue Agency, Service Canada, Service Ontario, OW/ODSP, and my own office.
On July 7, I attended a sold-out, beautiful race day at the Wolfe Island Classic Run! The proceeds from the race will go to Wolfe Island Medical Clinic. Thank you to the organizers and participants that made this great event possible. While on the island, I also took some time to discuss the ongoing ferry delays and the use of the Marysville dock with local businesses.
I met with Queen’s University employees, Dr. Mary Louise Adams and Dr. Samantha King to get the local view of Doug Ford’s postsecondary education cutbacks, and how that will impact the quality of education our kids will receive. Several departments are facing significant staffing cuts — 100 people are expected to lose their jobs through the non-renewal of their contracts.
Catch Me in Your Neighbourhood!
On July 15, some of my team and I were behind the RioCan talking to residents about provincial issues that matter to them. I heard from several residents about the ongoing need for more family doctors and primary care options. If you see me in your neighbourhood this summer or fall, feel free to say hello and tell me what provincial issues are on your mind!
SAVE THE DATE: Labour Day Picnic
Mark your calendars for Monday, September 2, 2024! From 1:00pm – 3:00pm, my office will be partnering once again with MP Gerretsen’s office for our Labour Day Picnic in Lake Ontario Park . This event is FREE and is open to all. We just asked that you register in advance so that we know how much food to prepare. We had a great turnout last year and lots of fun! There is fun for the whole family and an opportunity for you to chat with myself and MP Gerretsen about the issues you care about. I look forward to seeing you all there!
Register for our Community Picnic!
Need Assistance? My office is happy to help.
Please contact my office at 613-547-2385 or at [email protected]