Canada Day party back on at Ontario’s legislature as Liberals step in

Thestar.com
July 2, 2019
Rob Ferguson

The Canada Day party on the front lawn of the Ontario legislature is back on as the Liberals fill the void left when Premier Doug Ford’s government axed the traditional celebration on short notice.

A year after being reduced to a rump of seven MPPs in Ford’s landslide election victory, the former governing party is hosting a “people’s picnic” on the grounds from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a DJ and free ice cream.

“No one cancels Canada Day,” Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter (Scarborough-Guildwood) said Friday, acknowledging the event will be a scaled-down version of the festivities in past years which have featured musicians and entertainers on stage and a 21-gun salute by the military.

“We going back to an old-fashioned picnic. You bring your picnic basket and your blanket and you spread it out.”

The government faced a backlash over the last week after it was revealed the festivities begun 52 years ago were being scrapped to cut costs in favour of a cheaper solution -- free Canada Day admission to the first 500 people at 10 attractions across the province, including the Ontario Science Centre and the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls.

That will cost an estimated $80,000 versus the $300,000 to $400,000 or more to run the traditional Canada Day party, Ford officials said earlier this week.

“I think it’s important to celebrate within our communities and that’s exactly what we’re doing by taking the celebration to so many places across the province,” Brampton South MPP Prabmeet Sarkaria, named associate minister for small business and red tape reduction in last week’s cabinet shuffle, said Friday.

Hunter said concerns about the loss of a celebration at Queen’s Park as a “gathering point” prompted the Liberals to step in with the lawn party idea, which will be funded by party riding associations.

“It’s deeply meaningful to people. It was short-sighted of the Ford government to cancel a 52-year tradition.”

A government source cited dwindling attendance over the last decade as a reason for the decision, made “months ago” but never announced until word leaked out, foiling plans to have Progressive Conservative MPPs make announcements this week at the attractions with free admission.

Opposition parties speculated that the government, which is struggling in public polls amid budget cuts, scrapped the event because Ford has been booed at three recent events -- most recently the victory rally for the NBA’s Raptors.

But Ford’s office said he was never slated to appear at a Canada Day event.

The other attractions with free Canada Day admission to the first 500 people are Fort William Historical Park in Thunder Bay, Huronia Historical Parks in Midland and Penetanguishene, The McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Vaughan, the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, and the St. Lawrence Parks Commission.

In Toronto, the free admissions are at the Ontario Place Cinesphere and the Royal Ontario Museum.