Kathleen Wynne still weighing options for marijuana sales
In interview with CBC News, Wynne brushes aside notion that she's like an NDP premier
After a flurry of activity this spring — expanding rent control, announcing a $15 minimum wage, cutting hydro bills, bringing Pharmacare to children and young adults — what's next for Premier Kathleen Wynne?
I put that question and a few others to Wynne in an interview on the grounds of Queen's Park on Tuesday, with the legislature wrapped up for its summer break and the election less than one year away.
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NAFTA talks 'extremely important'
Wynne said a key focus in the coming months will be getting the new Pharmacare program and workplace reforms rolling, but she is also making it a priority to show governors and lawmakers in the U.S. that millions of jobs in the US rely on the Canadian market through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
"I am going to continue to travel to the United States, make that argument and work to protect the interests of the people of Ontario," said Wynne in our interview. "Making sure that we stay connected to this important trading partner as we go through the NAFTA negotiation, that's going to be extremely important."
Wynne said she is planning international trade missions to other markets that she hasn't travelled to before, but when I asked which countries, she only replied, "Stay tuned."
Looking at all options on marijuana
"Stay tuned" is also the summary of her answer to my questions about how the province is going to manage marijuana distribution, with pot legalization on track for 2018.
Wynne said the government's pot policy experts are taking time "to get it right" and considering everything from private-outlet sales, to the LCBO, to creating a new Crown corporation to regulate and oversee the marijuana market.
"They're looking at all options with personal safety, community safety at the top of the agenda and at the core of the decisions that we make," said Wynne. "We have a good distribution network in place in terms of the LCBO, but we are looking at options and there are lots of arguments on all sides of these issues."
Wynne also referred to "general concern across the country that there are some unanswered issues" on drug-impaired driving.
"Making sure that we understand exactly what the technologies are going to be and how we're going to enforce those impairment issues, those are questions that are being asked right now," she said.
Affordable housing 'a big concern' ... but no promises
If Wynne is looking for somewhere to take her "activist" agenda next, many people in Toronto would urge her to tackle the sorry state of community housing.
"It's a big concern of mine that we have the right range of affordable housing," Wynne said in the interview. "This conversation has been particularly acute with the city of Toronto, although it is a provincial discussion because there are municipalities all over the province that want to see more affordable housing, often seniors' housing."
With Toronto Community Housing facing a $402 million shortfall, city hall is considering taking direct control of the seniors-specific buildings that are home to some 27,000 people. Meanwhile, Mayor John Tory is pressuring the Wynne government for $800 million to repair TCH buildings that have fallen into disrepair.
"I want to work with the city of Toronto and with other municipalities to make sure that as we put funding in place for ending homelessness, for supportive housing, that those dollars are spent in a way that meets the needs of the municipalities," said Wynne, but offered no specific commitments.
Taking Pharmacare national
A partial Pharmacare program — providing free medications for all children in Ontario and young adults aged 24 and under, starting in 2018 — was the centrepiece of this year's budget. I asked Wynne if the government has the fiscal room to expand it in next year's budget
"I don't know that we do at this point, it's a very expensive process," she said. "We would be better off if we had a national plan because we would have more leverage."
Wynne's next step on Pharmacare will be urging her fellow premiers to take a unified position in favour of a national drug program, to put pressure on the federal government.
"My hope is that at the meeting with the premiers this summer we will be able to talk about this," said Wynne. "There's a pretty strong consensus across the country that this is something that needs to happen.
Wynne 'a great NDP premier'?
Wynne is often accused of taking crucial NDP planks and adopting them as part of her platform. A recent editorial in the Globe and Mail called her "a great NDP premier."
When I brought it up, Wynne laughed and replied: "The NDP might have something to say about that."
But given how many of her policies come straight out of the NDP playbook, I put this to Wynne: "Why shouldn't people just vote for the NDP?"
"I'm a Liberal through and through," said Wynne. "The decisions we've made and the problems that we have solved and the way we've solved problems is pretty clearly Liberal."
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