Ever wonder why you see some Ontario cabinet ministers all over the airwaves, while others seem to be in hiding?
We do.
When I say “we,” I mean those of us whose job it is to secure interviews with ministers and then put questions to them on your behalf. After all, some of these folks have significant influence over your life. Will your local hospital have an adequate supply of nurses? Will your kids be able to afford to buy their own homes? Are provincial parks being adequately maintained? Is a reputable court system there for you if you get in trouble?
These questions and myriad more are the responsibility of Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet ministers, which is why, from time to time, we like to talk to them.
Sometimes, ministers can surprise us with how willing they are to play ball. For example, Labour Minister Monte McNaughton not only came on to The Agenda as a guest, but also agreed to go on with three major labour-union leaders. That’s pretty much unheard of, and, indeed, one of those union leaders spent his entire time taking the minister to the woodshed.
Agenda segment, November 25, 2021: The PC party's labour charm offensive
But McNaughton gave as good as he got and never lost his cool. After the segment ended, I felt sure that viewers respected him more — even if they disagreed with him — for his willingness to engage in a civilized debate with his critics. Score that a win for McNaughton.
We’re also pleased when Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy accepts our invitations to appear. A pretty buttoned-down Bay Street guy before he got into politics, Bethlenfalvy wasn’t a natural on camera when he took control of Ontario’s nearly $200 billion annual budget. But he’s worked at being more comfortable in the artificial studio setting of television cameras and bright lights to the point that he’s now a much better performer and can answer questions quite well.
Agenda segment, October 12, 2022: How does Ontario have a $2.1 billion surplus?
We had Housing Minister Steve Clark on about a week and a half ago. Clark first got elected as the boy mayor of Brockville at age 22, more than 40 years ago. He’s carrying one of the toughest portfolios in cabinet, and yet he not only spent more than 20 minutes answering our questions on air, but also stuck around for another 20 after the cameras were off to answer more. Gotta admit, the producer and I were impressed.
Agenda segment, January 27, 2023: The housing minister's plans to make homes
Now, contrast that with some others. Ford has visited our studio three times: once as a candidate for mayor of Toronto, once while on tour promoting a book he co-authored with his late brother, Rob, and a third time as a candidate for the Progressive Conservative party leadership. But in the 1,706 days since Ford became Ontario’s 26th premier, he has never once done an interview on the TV station the province actually owns — TVO. We’ve asked his communications people numerous times, but the answer, so far, has always been “the premier is unavailable.”
The premier has given myriad one-on-one interviews to other journalists, but never to us. Every premier of Ontario since John Robarts (1961-71) has appeared on TVO. Except Ford. It’s odd because the premier and I have a perfectly good, professional relationship. But, for some reason, his people have managed to find time for dozens of other journalists, just not The Agenda. Curious, eh?
As disappointing as that is, it’s not the most bizarre example I can give you. February is, of course, Black History Month. The current PC cabinet features a Black woman, Charmaine Williams, the MPP for Brampton Centre. In fact, she is the first Black Progressive Conservative woman ever to sit at the cabinet table.
We thought that was interesting and invited Williams to appear on The Agenda during Black History Month to talk about, well, the Black history her appointment represented. Her communications assistant apparently also thought it was a neat idea, because he reached out to me in the first place to pitch having his minister appear on the program. When I sought and got permission for her to appear, that same press secretary promised he’d be back in touch in a flash to work out the arrangements.
Then I didn’t hear from him for two weeks.
I reached out again and was told that “folks much higher above my pay grade” decided the minister should not appear on TVO during Black History Month.
I responded by saying I found it passing strange that the minister who’d made Black history was being prevented from appearing on TVO during Black History Month. I noted she was appearing at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Democracy Forum during Black History Month. And her press secretary didn’t make me feel any better when he reminded me that the minister had plenty of other events planned for this month. But, as hard as he tried, he just couldn’t secure a spot for the province’s own TV station.
Then he suggested we try again for March, during International Women’s Week. That made little sense to me, since she certainly wasn’t the first PC woman to make cabinet. That actually happened 50 years ago, when Premier Bill Davis appointed Margaret Birch.
Being in journalism means putting up with these stupidities on a daily basis, so, believe me, we’re all accustomed to this.
But I’d sure love to know who in the premier’s office doesn’t like us. This is really getting silly.