Members of provincial parliament will meet to reaffirm their pledges of allegiance to the King and offer their condolences to the royal family.
They are also expected to observe a moment of silence in honor of 48-year-old Toronto police Const. Andrew Hong and 38-year-old Shakeel Ashraf, who were both killed in a shooting spree across the GTA on Monday afternoon.
MPs have regularly attended the legislature over the past five weeks in a summer session that has seen several Progressive Conservative bills quickly voted into law.
The first was Bill 7, legislation allowing the transfer of elderly hospital patients to long-term care homes of their choice on a temporary basis.
The idea is that this will free up hospital beds for others who need it. But supporters argued that the elderly would be “intimidated” into moving into a home away from their family or face large hospital bills.
The PCs advanced this bill without committee debates or public hearings, which opposition parties called undemocratic.
The other bill of note was Bill 3, which gave the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa stronger powers just as candidates are gearing up for an election campaign. The powers include more control over the city’s budget and veto powers to override council decisions on matters of “provincial priority”.
The PCs argued that these powers would allow mayors to build housing more quickly.
MPPs are expected to return to Queen’s Park on Oct. 25, a day after Ontarians go to the polls for municipal elections.
