The circus is back in town, but there’s no clowning around.MPPs returned to Queen’s Park on Monday after a 144-day recess and they appear to be taking a cue from Speaker Ted Arnott’s appeal for better behaviour in the legislature.Premier Doug Ford’s call in the Star for a “new tone” in the divisive chamber clearly resonated with Progressive Conservative MPPs, who restricted themselves to one restrained standing ovation and no heckling or jeering.That was a contrast to the cacophonous free-for-all in the legislative assembly when MPPs last met June 6 — even as protesters on the backs of flatbed trucks and on foot repeatedly circled the building Monday, rallying loudly against Ford over everything from education funding to climate change.NDP Leader Andrea Horwath took aim at Ford for an extended break that was designed, but failed, to help Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer in Ontario by keeping the provincial Tories out of the news.“The premier spent most of the past five months either hiding or in damage control,” she said, insisting the Tories “undo the political damage caused by their reckless cuts” to education.Horwath also urged Ford to take heed of Ontario voters’ decision in last Monday’s federal election and abandon his “obscene” $30 million legal challenge to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon-pricing plan.“Two out of three Ontarians rejected the Doug Ford government and their climate-change denial,” she said.“They said no to diverting $30 million from schools, hospitals, et cetera, to pay for lawyers and advertisements. They said no to threatening gas stations with $10,000 fines if they refused to put partisan stickers on the gas pumps that don’t stick.”While Ford had suggested in August that he might give up the fight if federal voters supported the measure, he now insists it’s full-steam ahead with the court challenge. ...
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