Oakville News had the opportunity to speak at length with our local Member of Provincial Parliament, Stephen Crawford, who serves as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure. The interview covered a wide range of topics relevant to Oakvilleans, including the re-opening plan, the Milton courthouse replacement, Long-Term Care facilities, Ford, the economy, Glen Abbey, and the role of LPAT in community planning in general.
Mr. Crawford was refreshingly frank and unscripted in his responses and questions were not provided in advance.
Oakville News: What would you like Oakville residents to know about the re-opening plan?
Stephen Crawford: We have unveiled a detailed and comprehensive re-opening plan beginning with, we expect, June 14th, when we will move into Stage One, with fewer restrictions on outdoor gatherings. This means the gradual opening up of outdoor dining. The progression has been developed with the Science Advisory Table and much medical input was sought, with Cabinet making the final decision.
ON: It was nice to see some clear benchmarks as to vaccination rates and cases tied to each reopening phase, in contrast to what has seemed a bit inconsistent up to now. Would you like to comment on the decision not to open schools, which seems to be against most medical advice?
SC: As the father of four daughters, I am as keen as anyone to see them back to in-person learning.
ON: Do you think with four children that may make this a little easier?
SC: I can imagine that with a single child this must be even more difficult, with mental health implications. However, report cards are being prepared as we speak, and we did not feel with the small amount of time left in the school year that we should jeopardize the safety of Ontarians. Bringing children together in large classrooms, often without air conditioning or air flow that would reduce the transmission risk, did not seem prudent, for such a short period, in view of the variants now in circulation.
ON: Your local counterparts at the federal and municipal levels seem to feel there has been good cooperation across levels of government in dealing with the pandemic, would you agree?
SC: I think cooperation has been very good. I have great respect for Minister Anita Anand who has a challenging responsibility in procurement, so critical for vaccines to facilitate recovering from the pandemic. I also have the utmost respect for Gary Carr, the Regional Chair, and Rob Burton, Oakville’s Mayor. All levels of government have had challenges and made mistakes in dealing with this pandemic, there is no playbook for COVID-19, but we have all worked well together. Fortunately, the vast majority of Canadians accept the seriousness of the pandemic and the need to take measures. Of course, there are anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers, but there has been great non-partisan cooperation.
ON: Your counterparts say the same of you. Nevertheless, your government has run ads criticizing the federal government. In the context of co-operation can you comment on that.
SC: We are working together well, but we don’t see eye to eye on absolutely everything. Ontario is very concerned by the third wave and the increasing evidence of the presence of the Delta variant, known as the Indian variant. We believe the federal government has not been restrictive enough on borders. Indeed, there has been inaction. All of these viruses arrive from outside the country and given that the Delta variant is dangerous until two doses, we feel there should have been more focus on border control.
ON: Those who got the Astra Zeneca vaccine for the first dose can now have Pfizer or Moderna for their second. That may result in a surplus of Astra Zeneca. Will it be possible for those who received Pfizer or Moderna to get an earlier second dose if they are open to Astra Zeneca?
SC: I don’t think that question has been considered and given the increase in doses of Pfizer in particular arriving I think it will be a non-issue.
ON: Much has been discussed about infrastructure investment as a way to bring the economy back after the pandemic, both at the Federal and Provincial levels. One shovel-ready infrastructure product that would have served Oakville was the new Halton courthouse project, to replace the overloaded Milton courthouse. Your government cancelled that project, in favour of refurbishing Milton and housing the courts temporarily in the Burlington Convention Centre. The legal community is very unhappy with this decision. What can you tell us about it?
SC: We are determined to be fiscally responsible. The new courthouse budget was ballooning unacceptably, and the decision was made to cancel it. The Burlington Convention Centre will serve until the Milton courthouse is refurbished, and the government is looking at ways of online justice delivery that could significantly improve access to justice and speed up the processes, which everyone wants.
ON: At Oakville News we have been curious about the cost of the cancellation. Given the experience of penalties for cancelling the gas plants, which your party was vigilant in bringing to the public eye when you were in opposition, we would like to know what if any costs were involved in backing away from this project, which was so near to breaking ground?
SC: You would have to take that up with the Ministry, I don’t have any knowledge of those costs.
ON: We have asked those questions of the Ministry, which did not provide a response. We even filed a request under Freedom of Information, which was refused. If there is a reason for this, we would like to understand it, as it is rather reminiscent of the gas plant debacle under the previous government. Would you be willing to help us get some answers here?
SC: Yes, I will see what I can find out for you.
ON: While we are on infrastructure, you are the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure. We have recently learned that some lands belonging to Infrastructure Ontario are being considered for for-profit Long-Term Care facilities. As you are as a matter of public record a shareholder in such businesses, do you see any cause for concern about conflict of interest?
SC: I have not as yet had any involvement with these discussions. As a Member of Provincial Parliament, I am entitled to own securities, unlike a Cabinet Minister who has some restrictions on trading securities and may be required to hold them in a blind trust. I own securities, as has been disclosed, in some 30 companies. I have a yearly meeting with the integrity commissioner and he has approved all my investments. If I become involved in decisions around this, I will of course seek the advice of the integrity commissioner to ensure Ontarians have no concern about any real or perceived conflict of interest.
ON: People were talking about an Ontario economic miracle before the pandemic but the economy took a huge hit. What do you think was behind that and what can we expect as we emerge?
SC: Yes, manufacturing jobs were actually increasing, and remarkably continue to do so in Ontario. Our moves to reduce regulation, accelerate capital cost allowances for manufacturing investment, and control electricity prices all had positive effects. I believe we are poised to have an unprecedented period of growth in Ontario once we can lift the restrictions with a high rate of vaccinations. I would go so far as to say we can expect to see a new “roaring Twenties” of the type that happened after the 1918 flu epidemic. Honestly, I couldn’t be more excited about how much this government has positioned the Province to prosper and create new jobs.
ON: Those measures are part of a package that includes investments laid out in the last budget. Which of those measures would you like Oakvilleans to be especially aware of?
SC: As you know the pandemic revealed significant issues with the Long-Term Care infrastructure we inherited from the prior Liberal government. We are making major investments in Long-Term Care. In the previous decade under the Liberals only 611 beds were added to LTC capacity in Ontario. Even before the pandemic, we formed a Ministry of Long-Term Care. We have introduced mandatory air conditioning, which was, astonishingly, not required before. Further, we have mandated a minimum of four hours per day of direct care, which also was not the case before. Specific to Oakville, we are accelerating the completion of a new 512-bed facility near the new Oakville Hospital.
ON: When we talk about infrastructure today, we don’t only mean bricks and mortar, do we? As the pandemic has made all too evident, broadband access is critical to society and the economy. What is your government doing on that front?
SC: 700,000 Ontarians today do not have access to reliable internet, and even rural areas in Halton lack broadband access. We are committing $2.8 billion over the next six years to expand broadband service. This will help businesses, which are increasingly selling online, access larger markets, and will create choice and opportunities for Ontarians wherever they live or work.
ON: Anything else you’d like Ontarians to know relative to the economy?
SC: As a government we have been working hard on this to get Ontario back to being the engine of Canada’s economy. Another major initiative has been a further example of good cooperation between levels of government and across party lines, and that is our $295 million investment in Ford, which adds to funds from the Federal government and the Ford Motor Company. This will enable Ford to transition to building electric vehicles, which as we all recognize are the future of automobiles. It will cement the status of Ford as a major employer in Ontario, and as Oakville’s largest employer. There will also be substantial benefits to the Ontario automotive supply chain. And Ontario has many of the minerals and raw materials needed to support electric vehicle manufacturing, so this will mean growth and jobs in Northern Ontario as well.
ON: Before we let you get back to work, I can’t let you go without asking about Glen Abbey and the larger implications for the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. The Ontario Municipal Board was reformed by your predecessors and renamed LPAT, and all parties voted for those reforms, including your own. However, now that you are in power, some of those reforms have been reversed, such that municipalities have lost control over the form their Provincially mandated growth will take. What are your thoughts on that?
SC: LPAT is still different from the OMB, but our view is that Ontario has a housing supply crisis. We need to preserve greenspace, but there is great resistance to intensification, which is the only way to preserve greenspace, and the changes we made to LPAT are designed to increase housing supply. You only need to look at the price of housing to realize there is not enough supply. The GTA will see tremendous population growth, largely through immigration, because Ontario will be booming economically. In fact, that immigration will help drive that boom. So we absolutely need to ensure that housing can keep pace.
ON: Oakville News is on record as believing that LPAT, as constituted by your government, is counterproductive to issuing building permits. Years of negotiations, expensive municipal planning, consultation with residents, all approved by the Province, often result in decisions by a single individual at LPAT. The result is that everyone simply jockeys for participation on any large proposal in terms of positioning for LPAT. It is an adversarial, combative process, not without animosity. Residents cannot hold their elected officials accountable for outcomes, which we see as fundamentally undemocratic. Further it results in long delays before ground is broken and housing supply is actually on the market.
SC: This is a very complex issue. On the one hand residents desire growth and on the other they resist it when it is near them. Our government is working hard to increase housing supply as a top priority, to improve affordability for all Ontarians, and we can’t permit a gridlock situation to hold that up.
ON: This is a major source of angst among residents. The MPP who can change the rules so that the extensive planning process undertaken by the community to meet the Province’s growth goals is respected, so that they can hold their elected representatives accountable and have input into shaping their hometowns and neighbourhoods, would be owed a great debt of gratitude.
You have been very vocal and very consistent in your support for the protection of Glen Abbey as an iconic element of what makes Oakville, Oakville. We know you are lobbying hard for its preservation. Apart from the precedent it would set and the implications for the enforceability of zoning and Official Plan provisions by municipalities, this issue is working its way through the current system. One tool that is available today is the Ministerial Zoning Order. Are you lobbying for the use of that tool?
SC: I am absolutely doing everything I can so that Glen Abbey is preserved, but I can’t speak to the specific routes to that objective I am lobbying for.
ON: Fair enough, we are very grateful for your resolute position on this issue, which a large majority of Oakvilleans believe is highly symbolic and integral to their community.
Any last comments?
SC: I would really like to commend Ontarians and in particular Oakvilleans for their cooperation and support of our measures through the COVID-19 crisis. Oakville has come through very well in comparison to other municipalities and the main reason has been the willingness to behave in ways that control the spread of the virus. They can look forward to a very bright future and a booming economy as we emerge.
ON: Thank you for your time today, you have been very generous and very frank in your answers. We admire all those who are willing to step into the firing line of public service and very much appreciate your service.