Welcome back to the Inside Ontario blog, where every Monday we recap some important stories from around Ontario.

This week: ten schools are investigated for cheating in Ontario’s standardized testing; Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion takes the stand at her conflict of interest inquiry; the Far North Act passes its third reading; new developments in the G20 investigations; and Ontario’s new youth drinking and driving law is being enforced in Ottawa.

 
The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) is probing possible irregularities and cheating in the standardized testing that occurred at ten Ontario schools. The EQAO is responsible for the standardized testing of more than 5,000 Ontario elementary and secondary schools. Ontario introduced standardized testing in 1996 for students in Grades 3, 6, 9 and 10 in an attempt to measure school performance.

Local newspapers are providing insights into some of the violations that the EQAO is investigating. For instance, the Hamilton Spectator reports that a teacher at Sanford Avenue Elementary School in Hamilton “inadvertently” allowed students to study with last year’s standardized tests. The Brantford Expositor reports that more than half of the incidents being investigated by the EQAO province-wide were reported by the schools themselves (two of the schools being investigated are in Brantford’s Grand Erie District School Board). 

The Globe and Mail provided a history of previous problems that the EQAO has experienced when administrating its standardized tests.  

 
Last week, eleven-term Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion took the stand at an inquiry investigating her alleged conflict of interest in a failed $14.4-million land deal with a company partially owned by her son. Mayor McCallion’s son, Peter, stood to gain $10-million from the deal.

While testifying McCallion maintained that she had done nothing wrong. On her third day on the stand, she conceded that some may believe that she was trying to enrich her son with the land deal – although she reiterated that was not her intention. Mayor McCallion’s testimony ended on Thursday. 

Bill 191, The Far North Act, passed its third reading last week. The controversial act plans to protect 225,000 square kilometres of boreal forest in Northern Ontario from development.

First Nations groups in the areas affected by the Far North Act have opposed the legislation, saying that it will remove their local control

over their land and violate their treaty rights



.

Last week in Question Period, Giles Bisson, NDP MPP for Timmins-James Bay, said there could be First Nations civil disobedience in Northern Ontario because the McGuinty Government’s legislation is removing local control from these northern communities.

Last Wednesday, the government of Ontario announced that former chief justice of Ontario, Roy McMurty, will conduct an independent investigation into the historical context of the Public Works Protection Act. The act was passed in 1939, but was obscure until the G20 Summit in Toronto when an executive order by the McGuinty Cabinet amended it so the police could have limited special powers to demand identification and make arrests inside the G20 security perimeter (it was popularly known as the “five-metre rule”).

However, the amendment of the Public Works Protection Act was poorly communicated, resulting in public confusion about the extent of the police’s powers (as was written about in a previous Inside Ontario blog post). 

The original intent of the Public Works Protection Act was to guard against home front security risks during the Second World War. 

Critics say McMurty’s review, as laid out by the government, will be too narrow. 

Adam Radwanski, columnist with the Globe and Mail, detailed the miscommunication between the premier’s office and the press on the scope of McMurty’s investigation. Before the official announcement of McMurty’s investigation, journalists believed the government was commissioning an independent inquiry into the G20’s five-metre rule (rather than a historical examination of the act with recommendations to modernize it).  

Also last week, the Toronto Police Services Board announced that retired judge, John W. Morden, will lead an investigation into the actions of the Toronto police during the G20 Summit. Morden will answer 35 reference questions laid out by the board, which include the police’s power to arrest without a warrant, the use of “kettling,” and so on.

 
The Ottawa police report that they have laid 121 charges since Aug. 1 under Ontario’s new youth drinking and driving law. Under the law, drivers under 22 years old must maintain a 0.00 blood-alcohol content.

Const. Kathy Larouche of the Ottawa police said that young drivers take drinking and driving much more seriously than their parents’ generation.

To learn more about Ontario provincial politics visit TVO’s Civics 101 microsite. There you will find the Question Period Archive, where you can view previous sessions of question period at Queen’s Park on-demand.