Politicians of all stripes have been praising frontline retail workers who've kept essential businesses — like grocery stores — running since the beginning of the pandemic, so the news that the Ford government had floated taking away six of the nine statutory holidays some of those workers enjoy was politically ill-timed.

Unifor President Jerry Dias told the Toronto Star Thursday that staffers for Government and Consumer Services Minister Lisa Thompson told union leaders about plans to amend the Retail Business Holidays Act to eliminate six of the stat holidays it gives workers, leaving only Christmas, Easter and Canada Day, for two years.

The next morning, Premier Doug Ford and Labour Minister Monte McNaughton called Dias and told him that plan was cancelled, Dias told QP Briefing.

At a news conference later in the day, Ford said publicly that the proposal was dead on arrival. “No, we aren’t doing that,” he said. “I think people should spend time with their families. There’s nine stat holidays and, as much as the malls would be packed and everything, I just think people need to take a break nine times a year."

Dias lauded Ford's decision but didn't have a good word for Thompson. She proved a controversial figure in her previous post as education minister, Dias said, adding, “everything she touches turns to crap.”

"So I mean, you know, baseball, usually three strikes, you're out. She's at two already. I don't think we should wait for the third.”

Asked about Dias's comments, a spokesperson for the premier's office said Thompson "has the support and confidence of the premier."

Dias said there's more work to be done. He's calling on the government to reverse its freeze of the minimum wage and to implement paid sick days, and he's calling on the major grocery store chains — Loblaws, Metro and Sobeys — to reverse their decision to cancel the $2-per-hour pandemic pay bump for workers.

The way the wind blows

The government will stop tilting at one particular windmill project.

The Nation Rise Wind Turbine project in North Stormont will proceed after the provincial government will not pursue an appeal, government and industry sources tell QP Briefing.

The government had been slapped down in a damning ruling issued in May, which detailed a litany of ministerial missteps that prevents a project with 29 wind turbines from proceeding just before completion. Environment Minister Jeff Yurek had expressed concern about the local bat population at the eleventh hour, but the court found his "decision was unreasonable and that the process by which he reached the decision was procedurally unfair."

A local community group that also opposed the project reached a settlement with the company in a side agreement.

Public-workers get recognized too

Meanwhile, another group of workers is being fêted.

Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell marked the conclusion of National Public Service Week with a laudatory statement.

"As The Queen’s representative in Ontario, I happily and wholeheartedly salute the Ontario Public Service and the many thousands of people working in the broader public sector," she said in a statement. "We are living through challenging, uncertain times. You have been asked to go above and beyond, delivering policies and programs that under normal circumstances would take months or even years to put into place. Your expertise and dedication are a model for us all, and you strengthen my sense of optimism. I am proud to serve alongside you."

Beer and wine

Meanwhile, getting beer and wine into corner stores has been bumped down the premier's priority list by the pandemic.

"I'm not walking away from it at all," Ford said, when asked about that campaign promise at his media availability on Friday. "But I have higher priorities than beer and wine in the corner stores right now. So that's going to continue to move forward."

He said he couldn't say now whether the province will continue to allow restaurants and bars to deliver liquor to homes, after the temporary measure put in place to help them stay afloat during the pandemic expires. "But I don't think it's a bad idea — that's my opinion," he added. "I want to sit down with our cabinet and give you a straight answer. But right now everything's on the table."

Condolences

Ford offered condolences for the loss of Karolina Ciasullo and her children Clara, 6, Liliana, 4, and Mila, 1, in a car crash in Brampton. The crash is being investigated by the Special Investigations Unit because of the potential involvement of an officer. The SIU has not said if the officer was pursuing the vehicle that collided with the family's van.

But when asked if there should be stiffer penalties for fleeing the police, Ford said yes. "I’d throw the key away, I’d keep these guys in jail for the rest of their lives. We have to get tougher sentences from the feds."

"This is a family that’s just been destroyed. I can't even imagine what the husband, the father is thinking right now, it's heartbreaking, every person listening can relate when you have children," he said.

In brief: A call for a minister’s resignation, deprioritizing an election promise, and more

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