Amanda Simard keeps Queen’s Park guessing about her future as a Tory

Thestar.com
November 27, 2018
Robert Benzie

Amanda Simard is keeping Queen’s Park guessing.

The rookie Progressive Conservative MPP, who launched a very public fight with her government’s cuts to French services, skipped question period Monday amid concerns she will bolt to the Liberals.

Rookie Progressive Conservative MPP Amanda Simard has launched a very public fight with her government’s cuts to French services.

Simard (Glengarry-Prescott-Russell) has made headlines across the country -- and become a household name in Quebec -- for protesting Premier Doug Ford’s axing of Ontario’s independent French-language services watchdog.

Her opposition to that recent move and Ford’s cancellation of a new francophone university landed her on Tout le monde en parle, Quebec’s most-watched public affairs show, on Sunday night.

But the parliamentary assistant to Francophone Affairs Minister Caroline Mulroney kept a low profile at the legislature the next day.

Mulroney, who is also attorney general, ducked reporters, walking away as journalists tried to question her after she was quietly sworn in as the full-fledged minister of francophone affairs Monday morning.

In a statement that did not mention Simard, the premier praised Mulroney as “a tireless champion for the francophone community” and promised to hire a French-speaking political adviser.

“She will be an important voice in my cabinet as an advocate for the language, the culture and the community of Ontario’s francophonie,” said Ford, who has been rattled by the threat of defections.

Aside from Simard, the Star revealed Friday that the Conservatives fear at least two Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area MPPs are considering leaving the fold.

They are apparently concerned about the overall direction of the government, not specifically about cuts to francophone services.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said “francophones across Ontario ... felt abandoned and attacked by the premier and his government.”

Horwath accused Mulroney of not “fighting at the cabinet in the first place.”

“By singling out the Franco-Ontarian community as a target for cuts, the premier has sent a signal that this government does not respect the key role that Franco-Ontarians play in our province’s history and our future,” she said.

But Mulroney told the legislature that cancelling the francophone university was a fiscally responsible decision, given Ontario’s $14.5-billion deficit.

“We look at the Franco-Ontarians in the eye and tell them that we are ready to work on this university to advance this project. When we put this province on the road to prosperity ... we will put concrete funding behind this university, in a different way than the previous government,” she said in the house.

Mulroney also defended the loss of the independent French-language watchdog.

“It has been integrated within the office of the ombudsman with all the responsibilities. All the work he did before, he will continue to do it independently. This is very important for the protection of language rights in Ontario,” she said.