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“Although temporary air intake is not a light-hearted decision, it is the right one to make now.”
MPP Lisa McLeod was not selected to serve in Doug Ford’s new cabinet on Friday. Photo by Ashley Fraser / Postmedia
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Lisa McLeod is no longer a member of Doug Ford’s cabinet and announced on Friday that she will take a break as the newly elected MP for Nepane to focus on her health.
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In a statement tweeted an hour after Ford unveiled its new non-McLeod office, the longtime progressive-conservative MPP said it was following the guidance of its doctor and medical team to “take some time to cope and improves your health. “
McLeod said the past few years “have been difficult for many people” and that her mental and physical health and well-being have been severely affected. She said her focus for the next few months will be treatment, rest and recovery.
“I’ve talked about some of my wellness challenges before,” she said. “As many people can understand and know all too well, maintaining your mental and physical health is a constant challenge. There are ups and downs. I’m down now, but I’ll be back soon.
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“It’s neither a goodbye nor a way to another job,” McLeod said. “Although temporary air intake is not a light-hearted decision, it is the right one to make now.”
She told Nepean voters that although they may see less of her this summer, her team will be there to help.
The prime minister unveiled his new cabinet three weeks after progressive conservatives easily secured a second government term. There are no new faces from eastern Ontario, but lawmakers from the area who were in the cabinet when the legislature was dissolved in May are all returning to the prime minister’s inner circle, except for McLeod.
There were no portfolio changes for the other cabinet ministers in Eastern Ontario: Merily Fullerton of Kanata-Carlton remains Minister of Children, Community and Social Services; Steve Clark, who represents the Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Lakes Rideau ride, will return to municipal affairs and the housing portfolio he has held for four years; and Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith remains Secretary of Energy.
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Leaving McLeod’s cabinet and being suspended from her new job at MPP followed a difficult election campaign.
The NDP has revealed that McLeod withdrew a $ 44,000 “allowance” from its progressive-conservative riding association, which receives public subsidies, between 2018 and 2020 in addition to its six-figure salary as cabinet minister. It was then revealed that a handful of other PC MPPs also received allowances to the riding association and the problem haunted Ford during the campaign.
A review of the annual financial statements submitted to Elections Ontario in 2014 – the furthest back where they go online – reveals that payments for “allowances” to McLeod from her riding association began in 2017, when she has received a $ 6,630 allowance and a $ 5,585 housing allowance, followed by $ 44,000 in annual allowance payments over the next three years.
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There are no such payments, as stated in the 2021 Declaration of the Riding Association, which was due on 31 May and submitted on 19 June.
Registered riding associations receive quarterly allowances funded by the public sector if they meet certain criteria, based on the proportion of votes their candidate has received in previous elections.
The Nepean PC Riding Association said it received nearly $ 45,000 in these payments from Elections Ontario between 2017 and 2020.
According to the electorate, there are no restrictions on how a riding association spends this money. Other sources of income for riding associations include donations, membership fees and transfers from the central political party.
Ford told reporters during the campaign that he was disappointed to learn how MPPs take allowances from their riding associations, even though it is legal, and told Global News that it would “tighten” election funding laws if re-elected.
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The swearing-in ceremony for the office of Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford was held in the open at the Ontario Legislature on Friday. Photo by Ernest Doroshuk / Postmedia
McLeod maintained a low media profile until the end of the election campaign – reporters from this newspaper were unable to contact her for comment on the issue of allowances. On election night, journalists were barred from entering the campaign headquarters and forced to watch her victory speech through a window.
McLeod was re-elected on June 2 with 17,108 votes, but Liberal candidate Tyler Watt did not lag far behind with 15,012 votes. In the previous election, McLeod defeated his closest opponent by nearly 9,000 votes.
First elected in 2006, McLeod has served as a high-profile critic as a politician in the opposition and has been a member of Ford’s cabinet since its formation in 2018.
She began her cabinet as Minister of Children, Community and Social Services and Minister for Women. After spending months under criticism as the face of her government’s controversial autism policy, she moved in 2019 to the ministerial role of sports, tourism, heritage and cultural industries, a key position during the pandemic and one that she held until the end of the term. .
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However, her term was not without controversy. She publicly apologized to Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnik, who said she pitted him against him at a concert with insults and swearing.
At a mental health event in 2021, MPP said she had a mood disorder and had dealt with anxiety and depression.
McLeod was also outspoken about the harassment she and other politicians faced, which in McLeod’s case included an Ottawa woman convicted of criminal harassment and threats against her.
Like McLeod, Fullerton, Clark and Smith were appointed to Ford’s first cabinet in June 2018 and remained throughout the government’s term.
Clark has held the housing and municipal affairs portfolio since the introduction of Ford’s first cabinet. His political experience at the municipal level is rich. Clark became the youngest mayor in Ontario when he was elected to run Brookville in 1982 for three terms; he also spent a year as president of the Ontario Association of Municipalities. Clark would later become the chief administrative officer of the city of Leeds and the Thousand Islands.
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A former radio newscaster, Smith has moved around the cabinet in the years since the 2018 election, ranging from government and consumer services to economic development, job creation and trade, spending two years supervising children, the community and social services and, finally, the transfer of the role of Minister of Energy in June 2021.
Unlike Clark and Smith, elected in 2010 and 2011, respectively, Fullerton was a political newcomer when she was invited to the cabinet in 2018 after securing her newly created Kanata-Carlton ride.
A retired physician and health advocate, Fullerton spent a year as Minister of Education, Colleges and Universities before becoming Minister of Long-Term Care (a role that was previously part of the Secretary of Health’s term).
This post put Fullerton in the spotlight during the pandemic, as deaths and suffering from long-term care angered families and advocates. She moved from that role and entered the portfolio of children, community and social services when the cabinet was relocated last June.
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