Statues to be wrapped at Queen’s Park ahead of planned OSAP cuts protest

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is preparing some highly-unusual measures for Queen’s Park when it resumes sitting next week.

Statues on the Queen’s Park lawn will be put under wraps to protect them from any possible vandalism by expected protestors.

CHCH News Queen’s Park producer Randy Rath has been covering the legislature for 45 years and he’s never seen them cover up the statues like this before.

It’s due to concerns about a planned demonstration over cuts in grants for college and university students. But today, the government would rather talk about things like security and even gunplay instead of student loans.

Premier Ford is once again speaking out about crime.

“Congratulations for shooting this guy. He should have shot him a couple more times as far as I’m concerned,” said Ford.

Ford was praising a homeowner in Vaughan after police say the man used a legally-registered gun to shoot and injure one of the suspects in a home invasion yesterday.

“These guys, they need to be shot as far as I’m concerned. They’re coming through the front door to hurt your family,” said Ford.

While the premier was praising home-made justice, Queen’s Park staff were dealing with f-word vandalism to a statue of one of the founders of confederation, George Brown, during a protest over student assistance cuts earlier this month.

Speaker Donna Skelly says it cost more than $5,000 to clean up the damage, and a war memorial was also stickered during the protest.

READ MORE: Students protest cuts to OSAP grants; arrests made during rally at Queen’s Park

The legislature is getting ready for another student funding protest next week.

“The statues will be wrapped with either a plastic or a canvas material prior to Tuesday. The protest will take place, hopefully it will be peaceful. And then once the protestors have left, the wrapping will come down,” said Skelly.

“This government, their priorities just simply do not match what I think people are looking for from their government right now. And I think, you know, focusing on wrapping the statues, fine, protect the statues. But you’re not protecting the people,” said Ontario NDP opposition leader Marit Stiles.

Stiles says a lot of people are angry over the student assistance cuts.

“For him to be telling people to shoot each other rather than him fixing the problems, telling people to shoot each other or to carry pepper spray, to me it seems like more nonsense. Frankly, very irresponsible nonsense,” said Stiles.

McMaster political science professor Peter Graefe says Ford would rather talk about headline-grabbing issues than his government’s core responsibilities such as health care and education.

“When you have thousands of students at Queen’s Park protesting a change in the student loans program, if you’re the government, it’s a lot nicer to have a conversation about students vandalizing a statue and how that’s improper behaviour, and have that the topic of conversation rather than the student loan cuts,” said Graefe.

While the premier says the world just isn’t what it was a few years ago.

“People are done with this. They’re done with all these crazy protestors and nasty people breaking into homes and stealing cars,” said Ford.

The legislature sits again on Monday after its Christmas break. The big protest over student assistance is planned for Tuesday – then the budget on Thursday.

WATCH MORE: Students rally in St. Catharines, at Queen’s Park protesting Ford’s OSAP changes