Ontario’s legislature will see its first action of 2023 on Tuesday, with MPPs set to return for a breakneck three-and-a-half-month stretch of sitting.
Plenty packs the agenda, including health-care law changes promised by the Ford government and the release of its 2023 budget.
In separate announcements in January, the government said it would introduce legislative changes in February to implement plans to improve Ontario’s rutted health-care system.
The last stage of the government’s three-step expansion of the role independent (and mostly for-profit) surgical and diagnostic health-care facilities play in performing taxpayer-funded medical procedures hinges on the passage of incoming legislation.
A bill it’ll introduce this month will allow independent diagnostic centres to conduct more MRI and CT scans, and hip and knee replacements on the public dime, while also strengthening oversight of non-hospital surgical settings, according to a Jan. 16 press release.
The bill will “provide the province with more flexibility to continue to expand access to more surgeries and further reduce wait times,” the government said.
The government also plans to introduce a bill allowing health-care workers registered or licensed in another province to territory to practice immediately in Ontario, it announced on Jan. 19. The government said an accompanying legislative proposal will allow nurses, paramedics, respiratory therapists, and other health-care professionals to perform duties outside their typical responsibilities or work settings. These changes are meant to quickly make a dent in staffing shortfalls across the health-care system.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is also expected to commit his semi-annual hijack of the political spotlight sometime before the end of March, when the government’s 2023-24 budget is due.
Much of Bethlenfalvy’s 2023 so far has been spent touring Ontario as the lead of the government’s pre-budget consultation process. The government’s online consultation was also open from Jan. 11 to Feb. 10.
Governments won’t disclose budget figures until it’s tabled. However, the Ford government also hinted that Bethlenfalvy’s upcoming budget will generally take a cautious approach to spending.
Last week, in a press release accompanying the government’s 2022-23 third quarter finances, Bethlenfalvy highlighted that “Ontario and the rest of the world continue to face ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty,” as well as that “the road ahead may not be easy.”
The Finance Ministry’s consultations website also highlighted current “uncertain economic times.”
Ontario’s Finance and Economic Affairs Committee was also recently travelling the province for its own pre-budget consultation process. The committee finished its tour in early February. This process, which is separate from the government’s, leads to a report meant to inform Bethlenfalvy and his ministry. The government isn’t required to accept any of its recommendations.
After a government releases its budget, MPPs tend to spend significant chunks of the next few sitting weeks debating and passing it.
The first of 47 scheduled question periods this spring will also be held on Tuesday. Recently confirmed Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles will finally settle in to the leader of the official opposition’s seat in the legislature.
It’s expected that she, the NDP, and the rest of the opposition members will be taking aim at the premier over recently published revelations about developers’ involvement in his daughter’s stag and doe and wedding.
The legislature will welcome a new member in a few weeks after the March 16 byelection to replace longtime NDP leader and Hamilton Centre MPP Andrea Horwath. The NDP’s Sarah Jama is the race’s favourite.
Another seat is expected to be opening up shortly after the spring sitting. Laura Mae Lindo, the NDP MPP for Kitchener Centre, plans to step down in the summer.
