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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 12 October 2021

The Ford Government is putting the brakes on a major Wastewater Treatment Facility in East Gwillimbury fearing the plan to put 40 million litres per day of treated effluent into Lake Simcoe could lose them votes in next June’s Provincial Election.  

Of course they would never admit to that.  

Oh no!

The official reason – the one we are expected to swallow – is that they need more time to

“gather up-to-date information on environmental, social and financial implications of any waste water solution for the region.”

Members of York Regional Council are likely to be spitting feathers. They and their staff have been working on future waste water requirements for more than two decades. And its flagship project - the so-called North York Sewage Solutions – is ready to roll.

On Thursday (14 October 20221), York Regional Council will consider the implications of the delay which could be huge.

I've been blogging about the problem for years. And years. And years.

York Region Wastewater Act

But more delay is now inevitable. Last week at Queen’s Park the Ford Government introduced Bill 5, the York Region Wastewater Act, a resurrected version of an earlier Bill which died on the Order paper when the Provincial Parliament was prorogued in early September.  Ford did not want to risk any adverse headlines during the Federal election campaign so MPPs were sent home where they couldn’t cause any trouble.

Bill 5 is currently having its second reading on the principles and is yet to go into Committee for line-by-line scrutiny.

Of course, people when asked raise legitimate questions. What about the phorphorus load in Lake Simcoe? Is it rising or falling? And the salt run-off? What about pharmacueticals flushed down the toilet? And birth control pills? And what about the fish? Lake Simcoe is very shallow. Wouldn't it be better and safer to pipe the sewage to Pickering and into Lake Ontario? It is so much deeper. But that would mean running a pipe through the protected Oak Ridges Moraine. These questions and all the others need answers. And I am sure York Region will be able to supply them. They have been in training for this for a decade and more.

Enter David Puccini....

Expert Panel required

The newly appointed Environment Minister, David Puccini (photo right), not yet four months into the job, wants to appoint an “expert panel” to advise the Government

“on the best and latest science, the latest data and the projected needs of a growing community”.

He says the Government is 

“driven by a commitment to sound and evidence-based decision-making”.

And, admittedly with some justification, he blames the previous Liberal Government for failing to make a decision on the project, constantly kicking the can down the road.  

“…the data behind it was left to go stale by the previous Wynne-Del Duca government. They had the application, sat on it so long, and made that change (to the terms of reference ) in 2010 with very little to no consultation. It’s been stale for a decade.”

Wynne-Del Duca Liberals refused to make decisions

This theme is taken up by other Progressive Conservatives. The MPP for Barrie–Innisfil and Puccini’s Parliamentary Assistant, Andrea Khanjin, echoes her Master’s Voice. In a truly terrible stream-of-consciousness speech that was way too long and rambling she finds her target:

“We know the Wynne-Del Duca Liberals refused to make decisions. So this is something that we inherited… To no surprise, their decision-making was based on political maps of this province rather than… the science and the importance of the fabric of our communities…”

MPPs are told that the membership of the advisory panel is expected to be finalized by the end of 2021, with a report going to the minister by September 2022. We have no idea who is going to be on the panel. Nor do we have its terms of reference.  

Progressive Conservative sing-a-long

Progressive Conservative MPPs are all singing from the same song sheet.

Jim McDonnell, the Parliamentary Assistant to the Housing Minister, Steve Clark, says the Bill

“will enable the regional municipality of York to establish the right evidence-based solution to meet its waste water servicing needs”

What about the Bradford Bypass?

We are told data underpinning the previous Environmental Assessment, finalised in 2014, is now too old. So they need another one. McDonnell says:

“Ontario’s environmental assessment program is an important process that ensures impacts to the environment are considered before building infrastructure or other projects in our communities.”

Excuse me?

The same Ministers say a new Environmental Assessment is not required for the Bradford Bypass even though that one was completed light years ago, in 1997.

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Note: Robin Martin - the Parliamentary Assistant to Health Minister Christine Elliott – tells us:

The expert panel will consist of experts in land use planning and waste water infrastructure and would consult with stakeholders and engage with potentially impacted First Nations. It would provide advice on:

—additional sewage capacity needed to accommodate forecasted population and development in the upper York region waste water area;

—all options for providing additional sewage capacity necessary to accommodate future populations and development in both York and Durham;

—the costs of developing and implementing Upper York Sewage Solutions options and any alternatives; and

—sustainability and efficiency of all options, including consideration of the use and optimization of existing waste water services and protection of human health.

That seems like a lot of work to me.

Click "read more" for Minister of the Environment's speech

Read more: Could Sewage swing the Provincial Election?

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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 08 October 2021

Background: Carmine Perrelli is a York Regional Councillor representing the City of Richmond Hill.  

On 15 April 2021 the Regional Council considered a complaint against Perrelli brought by one of his constituents, Jason Cherniak, a Richmond Hill lawyer.

Cherniak said Perrelli had blocked him on Twitter, preventing him from commenting on the covid pandemic.

York Region’s Integrity Commissioner, Jeffrey Abrams, upheld the complaint and recommended the Region revise and update its Code of Conduct to include matters which are not currently covered such as blocking on social media.

After a lively debate councillors directed staff

“to consider a social media policy for Members, starting with a Council Education Session on the matter in the fall of 2021”

No Education Session

The staff report, described as an “initial analysis”, focusses on current practice elsewhere. It goes up the Committee of the Whole next Thursday (14 October 2021). Crucially, it makes no recommendations about the proposed Council Education Session and when it might be held nor the form it might take. It is left up in the air.

The report acknowledges that the Council’s Code of Conduct is silent on the 

“operational management of social media accounts, particularly when it comes to blocking." 

and notes that

…the Region’s Integrity Commissioner has indicated that arbitrary blocking is a breach of the Code of Conduct and recommended that Council develop specific provisions around social media activity. 

The report concludes:

Should Council wish to pursue the Integrity Commissioner’s recommendations, Council will need to consider how it wishes to manage blocking. Options could include a warning system prior to blocking, the circumstances under which people can be blocked and whether blocking will be temporary or permanent.”  

Staff recommend the report be “received”. If this happens, the issue is effectively dropped. There will be no consideration or revision of the Council’s Code of Conduct as recommended by the Integrity Commissioner. And Regional Councillor Perrelli will be free to continue blocking Jason Cherniak and others.

That said, Perrelli is not tweeting so much these days.

What is to be done?

The belligerent and quick-tempered Carmine Perrelli is a law unto himself. He writes his own rules and, if others object, he shouts them down.

For years, York Regional Council dragged its feet in adopting a Code of Conduct and only did so in 2019, years after most other councils. 

Prominent members and former members including Newmarket-Aurora’s newly re-elected Liberal MP, Tony Van Bynen, actively resisted adopting a Code of Conduct on the grounds that the lower teir municipalities already had them. They chose to believe, mistakenly, that a Regional Council Code of Conduct was unnecessary. 

Long Grass

If the Regional Council “receives” the staff report next Thursday without proposing further action it will be knowingly kicking a contentious issue into the long grass.

That would be letting Jason Cherniak down. And it would be sidelining the recommendations of its own Integrity Commissioner.

All for an easy life.

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At the conclusion of the debate on 15 April 2021 when calling the vote, the Regional Chair, Wayne Emmerson, said:

“All we are doing with this is to approve and receive the report from the Integrity Commissioner, Mr Abrams.

All those in favour? Against? Being none.” 

The Minutes record that 

“That Council receive the report from Jeffrey A. Abrams and Janice Atwood-Petkovski, Co-Principals, Principles Integrity, dated March 30, 2021.”  Carried

See also Carmine Perrelli and Joe DiPaola grudge match.

Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 06 October 2021

Just when you think there is nothing more to be said about a political scandal that happened in Britain over 20 years ago… along comes the Pandora Papers.  

I see that the former UK Conservative Cabinet Minister, Jonathan Aitken, received £166,000 (C$282,000) for his hagiography of Kazakhstan’s autocratic president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The book was published in 2009.

According to the UK's Guardian newspaper 

“the Kazakh government appears to have secretly commissioned and paid for his book”. 

The money was paid in tranches from 2007-2010 and was

“routed via Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands and discreetly sent to Oxford and the ex-MP’s company, Aitken Consultancy & Research Services Limited”.

Cutting out the cancer of bent and twisted journalism

Way back in December 1997, when I was an MP at Westminster, I called for Aitken to be prosecuted for perjury.

In 1993 when he was Minister for Defence Procurement his Paris Ritz Hotel bill was paid by aides of the Saudi Royal family. As a Minister he was banned from accepting hospitality which might place him under an obligation. It was a (relatively) small story that snowballed into something very big. Aitken sued the Guardian for libel, promising to use:

"the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play . . . to cut out the cancer of bent and twisted journalism."

In court, Aitken's version of events quickly unravelled and the action collapsed when it became obvious he had been telling lies about what had really happened.

He was subsequently convicted of perjury and sentenced to 18 months in prison but was released after seven months.

Surprising Attack

In his 2000 autobiography “Pride and Perjury” he absurdly blames me for his misfortune, claiming I launched a “surprising attack” on him during the 1997 Christmas Adjournment Debate which, to his mind, persuaded the police to investigate.

“This obscure parliamentary occasion is traditionally a minor, “last day of term” event in which backbenchers raise parochial items about their constituencies. To the astonishment, and in some cases the outrage, of the 15 or so MPs who were taking part in the debate, Mr Gordon Prentice, the Labour Member for Pendle, used the occasion to devote his entire speech to the view that I should be prosecuted for perjury…. He said I had a history of arms dealing and sponging off very rich Arabs.”

It all happened a long time ago and I considered it ancient history.

Which it is.

But it is still worth noting that Aitken was the paid apologist for an autocrat who ruled Khazakstan for almost thirty years.

Three years ago, Aitken was ordained as an Anglican priest.

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Update on 7 October 2021: The Toronto Star editorial: Pandora Papers - Time to end the free ride

Read more: Jonathan Aitken and Nursultan Nazarbayev - the Pandora Papers and a blast from the past

Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 04 October 2021

Is Richmond Hill the most dysfunctional Council in Ontario?  

In a word, yes.

The long-running feud between Richmond Hill’s two Regional Councillors, Joe DiPaola and Carmine Perrelli, came to the boil last week. 

(Photo: DiPaola front row 2nd from right. Perrelli front row second from left)

On 15 September the long serving Mayor, Dave Barrow, abruptly resigned from the Council days after returning to work following a six month long leave of absence, taken for medical reasons.

In Barrow’s absence the Council has been frequently deadlocked 4-4, paralysing decision-making. 

In a parting shot, Barrow persuaded his colleagues at a special council meeting on 8 September to eliminate one of the two deputy mayors. Carmine Perrelli lost out to his rival, Joe Di Paola, who has been Acting Mayor for seven months.

Barrow’s resignation has triggered a battle for the succession with DiPaola and Perrelli being the two most likely candidates. 

By-Election or Appointment?

But how should the Mayoral vacancy be filled? 

DiPaola wanted to commission a polling firm to consult local voters on what to do next. A by-election would cost over $600,000. DiPaola believed this to be a complete waste of money given there will be a council-wide general election next year, in October. An alternative would be to appoint someone to act as Mayor until then. The Municipal Act permits this.

Carmine Perrelli, belligerent, argumentative and self-important, demands a by-election, saying the people must decide who is to be Mayor.

After a tumultuous Council meeting, councillors decide on a by-election which will be formally agreed at the next Council meeting on 13 October 2021.

Perrelli’s boorish behaviour has been, by any measure, beyond the pale. 

He protests that DiPaola rudely interrupts him “without any procedural justification”.

Yet he interrupts others.

Self-restraint

As I see it, DiPaola is a model of self-restraint, making his position clear in a tranquil, understated way while Perrelli rages and bellows and shakes his fist at the Moon.

Perrelli demands silence from others so he can concentrate on what he is saying:

“I would appreciate it Mr. Chairman if you would stop chewing while I'm speaking and making noise with your candy bar. It's very distracting.” 

Perrelli demands the Council suspends its sitting while he takes a bathroom break:  

“I don't have a point of order (but) I don't want to miss any of the comments my colleagues are making but I need to have a bio break so if you could just hold the process for two or three minutes I would really appreciate that.”

DiPaola calmly replies:

“You're welcome to leave (but) we are not going to recess.” 

No longer welcome

DiPaola decides to exclude Perrelli from the meeting, citing his disruptive behaviour. He tells the Council Clerk:

“Councillor Perrelli is no longer welcome in this meeting, OK. His votes are not gonna count. I'm going to exclude him from the proceedings going forward. I've been as nice as I possibly could but…  please mute his microphone. He is no longer part of this meeting.”

Perrelli is incandescent. 

DiPaola’s ruling is challenged and the Council divides 4-4. The clerk advises that in a tie the Chair’s ruling stands. 

Perrelli returns

DiPaola is pressed by Councillor Beros to allow Perrelli back into the meeting:

“When it comes to a vote of this magnitude I believe it is important that all members who are in attendance are able to vote. They’ve been democratically elected to their position and each vote matters.

 I am gonna ask you for the last time, Sir, Deputy Mayor, Regional Councillor Perrelli, is here. His vote should matter on this motion."

Joe DiPaola:

“Councillor Beros, I certainly don’t want a vote of this magnitude to be affected by the absence of a member who was present at one point during the meeting. If Regional Councillor Perrelli is standing by and wants to sincerely apologise for his behaviour, accept responsibility for disruption of the meeting I will permit him to sit in and cast a vote so long as he agrees not to speak out of turn. We appreciate that.”

Carmine Perrelli:

“… Thank you Council for reinstating me back into this meeting. (Laughs) Everybody knows who I am. I am very passionate about what I believe in and sometimes I get carried away."

"Thank you for the opportunity to come back because I think it’s important. And I will try to keep my passion under control.”

Fat chance.

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Note 1: Richmond Hill is represented on York Regional Council by its Mayor and two Regional Councillors - Joe DiPaola and Carmine Perrelli. Currently Joe DiPaola sits on York Regional Council as Richmond Hill's Acting Mayor. Godwin Chan is Acting Regional Councillor. And Carmine Perrelli as Regional Councillor.

Note 2: Regional Councillor Perrelli blocks critics from commenting on his tweets – just like Newmarket-Aurora’s newly re-elected Liberal MP, Tony Van Bynen. York regional Council will be holding a seminar in the Fall on how elected members use social media. It is expected the “You are Blocked” issue will be considered. The question is whether politicians (and not private individuals) whose salaries are paid for by taxpayers should be able to block on-topic comments which are not abusive or threatening.

Note 3: Richmond Hill's Council Mettings are streamed on YouTube. The meetings on 29 September 2021 are here and here. 

Update on 12 October 2021: Minutes of the special meeting of Richmond Hill Council on 29 September 2021 are here.