MPP mutiny over French-language cuts
PC member whose riding is heavily francophone speaks out against Ford
A newly elected Progressive Conservative MPP has broken ranks with her party over Premier Doug Ford’s cuts to French-language services.
Amanda Simard (Glengarry-Prescott-Russell) has taken to Facebook to express her displeasure at Ford’s elimination of the independent watchdog for French and his cancellation of a francophone university.
“The decisions made last week concerning the office of the commissioner and the Franco-Ontarian university disappoint me greatly, and I share this disappointment and frustration today, having initially worked as much internally as possible to reverse these decisions,” Simard wrote.
The rookie MPP, who was not at Queen’s Park on Thursday, said in French that she has asked Ford “to reconsider these measures.”
“My first reflex is always to use diplomatic channels to resolve situations, and that's what I did, before reacting publicly, as soon as I became aware of these decisions,” she wrote.
“By the way, I read somewhere that MPP Simard ‘might be upset.’ False. I am ‘definitely up- set.’ To my friends, to my community, to my riding, you know me — my francophonie is important to me.”
Simard, a lawyer and the parliamentary assistant to Franco- phone Affairs Minister Caroline Mulroney, said she “needs to assess where we are and what we can do and must do.”
“I am with you. I hope you will support me,” she told constituents in her Eastern Ontario riding on the Quebec border. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Simard is feeling the heat.
“People all around the province are putting pressure on MPPs of all stripes to get this decision reversed,” Horwath said.
“I would hope that when the vote comes that MPPs all across the legislature are able to vote their conscience on this,” she said.
Asked whether Simard would be stripped of her duties in Mulroney’s office as a result of speaking out, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli said, “I don’t make those decisions or get involved in that level.”
Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser said the Tories are “pathological” in their bid to “silence their critics.”
Both the French-language watchdog and the independent child advocate’s office have been melded into that of the ombudsman, while the environmental commissioner’s duties will be handled by the auditor general.
On Friday, Mulroney will be conferring with federal Official Languages Minister Mélanie Joly, who has criticized the changes.