Rebel Tory MPP hosts raucous town hall
Rookie member who defied Ford on cuts to francophone institutions reaches out
Rebel Tory MPP Amanda Simard will return to her post at Queen’s Park on Monday bolstered by a “resistance” movement that came out in force against Premier Doug Ford’s proposed cuts to the province’s French-language services.
It was a raucous town hall meeting inside the packed Saint Isidore arena as hundreds of Franco-Ontarians from surrounding communities, including Embrun, Russell, Alfred and Plantagenet, voiced their angst and anger at the government’s proposed cuts.
The Tories announced last week they were transferring the French-language service commissioner’s mandate to the Ontario ombudsman and scrapping plans for a stand-alone French-language university.
On Friday, after days of backlash, Ford said the government would create a French-Language Services Commissioner position within the provincial ombudsman’s office and would seek to turn the office of francophone affairs into a full ministry, led by Attorney General Caroline Mulroney.
“Personally, I think it is one step forward for three steps back,” Simard said of the proposal Sunday. “If we keep making such concessions there won’t be much left in a few years.”
Simard, the rookie member for largely francophone Glengarry-Prescott-Russell riding, also serves as parliamentary secretary to Mulroney in her secondary role as the minister responsible for francophone affairs.
“I’m going to go back on Monday morning and see how everything is,” said Simard, who had been absent from the legislature for much of last week.
“This has been a really intense week, not just psychological, but there are a lot of logistics and reflecting and speaking with constituents.”
Simard got an earful from her constituents at Sunday’s town hall, though many were quick to praise the MPP for taking a “courageous” stand against the cuts proposed by her own government.
“This was a big day, but also, with social media now, people are way more in touch with us, and so we got a lot of feedback,” Simard said.
“Now it’s time for us to see if we can do anything with that piece of legislation.
“We want to put pressure first on reversing the two decisions and then the legislation will come to committee. I don’t know if someone will bring an amendment to make it happen, but then we’ll have to see what the next steps are.
“This has been going at a very fast speed, and I think we’ve been successful on some terms, because there has been a reaction from the government, and that’s already one step.
“So now we can do more.” Simard said she is committed to working with the Ford government, and appeared to pour cold water on a Toronto Star report suggesting PC party insiders are growing concerned over her possible defection from the government benches.
Simard said she has no plans to cross the floor.
“I don’t know where that came from, but it didn’t come from me,” she said at the tail end of a scrum with reporters after the town hall.
Simard tweeted a one-word message Saturday, “Résistons (Resist)” accompanied by a letter signed by 111 “francophone and francophile” lawyers who supported her opposition to the government’s plans.
Carol Jolin, president of l’Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario, earned a standing ovation Sunday as he railed against the cuts, which he said came with no community consultation.
“It would have been great just to call us, just to talk to us. So we can sit together and look at the whole issue and try to find solutions together,” said Jolin.
“And we need to get all the information, because I have the feeling the Ford government doesn’t understand the francophone community, and even the French service commissioner, and what it means for the francophone community.
“I hope we will have a call this week, the sooner the better.”