Latest / Kvetch & Release / Windsor Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie on his Queen's Park vote-count record

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Windsor Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie on his Queen's Park vote-count record · Kvetch & Release

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  Welcome back to AM eight hundred CKLW. A topic that's been coming up recently
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  as of late is attendance records at all levels of government. And you know,
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  quite frankly, we're seeing governments get up and rise. Spring settings that
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  are over, they're going home for the summer. But that doesn't mean that
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  work ends, of course, But a lot of people look at the amount
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  of time that is what appears to be put in at the you know,
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  elected level and go there's not much involved with that whatsoever. You're on the
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  train a bunch traveling back and forth. You get long summers off and of
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  course there's a constituency work that isn't revealed, but I think it starts to
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  guard people a little bit when they see that, you know, you're not
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  necessarily showing up for votes. And there was a report that comes out on
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  an annual basis talking about members of provincial parliament whom miss the most votes at
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  Queen's Park, and I don't think it's all that surprising. Doug Ford,
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  the premier, attends less than two thirds of votes. The premier's role is
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  a different role. Now we can have a conversation about his attendance record versus
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  other premiers as have passed. But it is a unique role in that there's
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  a lot going on. But there were twelve MPPs who attended less than two
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  thirds of votes joining me to discuss right now. His attendance record is the
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  windsor to come see MPP Andrew Dowie, how are you doing today? Well?
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  Not too bad? John? How are you today? I'm doing well?
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  Thanks? So, as you know, we're today is officially the summer
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  solstice will hit it around four forty in the afternoon. Unique time, and
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  I guess opportune time for us to have this conversation. What's your take?
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  Well, I guess right off the bat, what is I can tell you
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  what your attendance record is. You came in at eighty five percent of votes
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  that happened, you were there, you cast one. How do you feel
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  about that? Well, you know what, I think I want to do
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  better than that. It didn't feel like I'd missed that many. But all
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  I think back to why would miss votes? More often than not, they
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  related to having a minister's visit locally and having to come back to really accompany
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  them, whether it's a funny announcement or a tour I also remember coming back
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  for the University of Windsor convocation, which resulted in missing effectively three days of
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  votes for that. So looking at it, I see many of my colleagues
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  have done better. Anthony Leardi ninety one percent, Trevor Jones ninety two percent.
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  So you know, they do great work in the legislature and they really
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  show up. And you know, I think this coming year, when this
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  comes out, I will be higher than the eighty five percent. I don't
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  remember having as many times away from the legislature. And with that, you
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  know what, it's such a privilege to serve in the legislature. I don't
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  know how long it will last for, and it just to be able to
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  go through the doors and to be part of the process is going to be
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  you know, it is just truly truly rewarding and we should never take it
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  for granted as legislators. Yeah, absolutely so. I mean it's up to
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  the voters how long you're going to be able to spend your time there.
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  But looking at it as a practical matter, you guys have a majority government.
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  It doesn't really necessarily matter if everyone is there at any given moment,
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  so long as you can control the vote and make sure that you know committees
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  don't go the wrong way. I'm obviously playing the devil's advocate side right there,
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  But what would your response be to that type of an attitude. I
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  think it's important that you be present so you are witnessed to what happens.
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  What's being reported today, for example, on intimate partner violence is just nonsense,
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  it's fake news. On June sixth, there was a committee meeting,
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  the Justice Policy Standing Committee, which identified the really the plan for the subcommittee
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  on intimate partner violence. So I'll use MPP Gretzky as example, and MPP
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  Styles who are out there talking about how nothing's been done. The record certainly
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  doesn't show that. And looking at MP Gretzky's record of fifty nine percent attendance,
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  I can see why she may have not had that information given that her
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  frequency at the legislature. So obviously, yesterday we did have the Ontario NDP
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  leader here in Windsor and they held that roundtable as you just were mentioning about
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  intimate partner violence. That's that's why this is a conversation that's having happening in
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  the media. She was on with me yesterday on AM eight hundred CKLW.
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  Seems like you're taking this one a little bit like it's a serious issue.
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  It sounds like free you just not like just the intimate partner violence, of
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  course, but how it relates to our prior conversation about attendance. It is
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  important you have to know what is going on, and you know if criticize,
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  what's fair to criticize. But don't go engaging in misinformation because you didn't
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  keep yourself informed of what was actually happening at the legislature. When I miss,
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  I pick up the phone and I call my colleagues and find out what
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  happened that day, because it's important. We don't know what happens when we're
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  not there unless we inform ourselves. And that happens for caucus meetings, that
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  happens for just the general parliamentary business, because what happens on one day can
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  certainly influence what happens the next day. And so I pick up the phone,
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  I call, whether it's our local members who are always there, the
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  cabtant ministers who may have had an announcement. I've taken the time to exchange
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  phone numbers with my colleagues and I have no problem with picking up the phone
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  calling them, so it allows me, even when I'm home for constituency business,
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  to keep engaged with constituent files and go to bat for those that are
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  need of help. There are other legislatures in other jurisdictions here Canadian Senate,
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  but also in New Zealand and the House of Representatives in Australia that enalize members
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  for unapproved absences. I would love to just get your opinion about that and
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  whether or not you think it would be appropriate for Queen's Park. All of
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  us in the government caucus must have our absences approved so much that things that
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  we take for grand down here, for example going into the United States to
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  maybe go to northern Ontario, or even to bring a colleague to meet someone
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  who's involved in local business, we have to get those approved. As international
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  travel, it is pretty strictly regulated on the government side. I can't speak
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  to the opposition side and what their tenants standards are, but on the government
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  side it is through an approval process through the government whip and they can be
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  stringent. I have been turned down for absences on request finding the right time
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  to go on vacation with my wife, for example, and if they say
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  no, it's a no and I have to find a different time. So
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  it is strictly regulated. So I think the process does allow for it.
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  It's just a matter of whether the different parties wish to do something about it
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  and keep their members in attendance. How do you make a decision whether or
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  not you want to spend time more and whins they're doing constituency work or you
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  know, up at the legislature. It seems like that would be you know,
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  a different difficult battling of both sides of the brain. Our House Leader
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  reminds us that the grand total of days in the legislature is certainly less than
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  one hundred in a given year, and that it's a vital role in our
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  parliamentary process. It's important that we show up to vote on behalf of our
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  constituents. It's important that we show up to debate on behalf of our constituents
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  and presenting petitions for example, what happens every day about one o'clock, Having
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  the opportunity to raise and give members statements or ask questions a question period,
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  It all matters, but particularly on committee, this is where I find the
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  most opportunity to speak about local issues, and I can bring some of our
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  local concerns to the forefront in a very focused way because it's going to be
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  relevant to a particular bill, and I can see how that bill can or
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  can't help our local situation. So it's a great opportunity to go to bat
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  for your constituents when you're there in the legislature. Make sure it's on the
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  record, and make sure that it's part of the overall conversation. And this
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  is where we've maybe missed out in recent years, where if we're not part
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  of the conversation, we're not thought of, and then when investments are being
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  sought, we don't have the loudest voices in the room. So I'm gonna
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  throw a curveball at you right now only because it's relatively breaking news and live
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  radio, and this is how we do it. The premiere is calling on
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  the Canadian federal government to immediately match or exceed you has tariffs on Chinese imports
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  regarding electric vehicles, including a one hundred percent tariff or more. So I
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  wonder what your thoughts are about that. Well, you likely saw I retweeted
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  that, so I fully in support of this. The we are doing our
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  utmost to establish a circular electric vehicle economy in the Province of Ontario where everything,
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  every single component can be completed within the Province of Ontario and building our
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  local economy. And if we have unjust trade trade that that's happening where we
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  have something that's sold at a loss and that's flooding the market, devaluing products.
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  That doesn't help our local workers, that doesn't help our local economy.
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  It just means we lose out on good jobs. And it's important that we
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  have a fair economy, a fair way of doing trade. And flooding the
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  market with products that don't meet Canadian standards or potentially don't meet Canain standards as
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  well as as some of this soul below cost just because we could do it
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  forever until we put our competitors out of business. That doesn't help the Ontario
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  public. And so I'm fully in support of Premium Forward's a call to the
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  federal government on this, and as the Premier said, forty three billion dollars
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  worth of investments in the EV industry and battery manufacturing industry has been secured over
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  the last four years. It would be a shame to see any of that
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  go up and smoke because of unfair trade practices. I want to thank you
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  Andrew for joining me and for accepting the curveball of the breaking news right there.
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  Have yourself a great day you too. Thank you John. Andrew Dowie
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  is the MPP for Windsor to come see we'll take a quick break.