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April 22, 2021

42nd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

vol. A

Hansard Transcripts

vol. B

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2021-Apr-22 vol. A (PDF)

L251A - Thu 22 Apr 2021 / Jeu 22 avr 2021

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Thursday 22 April 2021 Jeudi 22 avril 2021

Orders of the Day

Protecting the People of Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2021 / Loi de 2021 visant à protéger la population ontarienne (mesures budgétaires)

Members’ Statements

National Poetry Month

Rebecca Fournier

COVID-19 immunization

Peterborough Porch Pirates for Good

Environmental protection

Home care

Youth mental health services

COVID-19 response

Agri-food industry

Anniversary of attack in Toronto

COVID-19 deaths

Question Period

COVID-19 response

COVID-19 response

COVID-19 immunization

COVID-19 immunization

COVID-19 response

COVID-19 response

COVID-19 response

COVID-19 response

Employment standards

COVID-19 immunization

Commercial insurance

COVID-19 response

COVID-19 response

COVID-19 response

COVID-19 response

Introduction of Bills

Christopher’s Law (Sex Offender Registry) Amendment Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 modifiant la Loi Christopher sur le registre des délinquants sexuels

Petitions

Volunteer service awards

Red tape reduction

2021 Ontario budget

Caregivers

Fish and wildlife management

School facilities

Broadband infrastructure

Toronto Transit Commission

Fish and wildlife management

Education funding

Business of the House

Orders of the Day

Protecting the People of Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2021 / Loi de 2021 visant à protéger la population ontarienne (mesures budgétaires)

Supporting Recovery and Competitiveness Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur le soutien à la relance et à la compétitivité

Executive Council Amendment Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 modifiant la

Loi sur le Conseil exécutif

Correction of record

The House met at 0900.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Good morning. Let us pray.

Prayers/Prières.

Orders of the Day

Protecting the People of Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2021 / Loi de 2021 visant à protéger la population ontarienne (mesures budgétaires)

Resuming the debate adjourned on April 21, 2021, on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 269,

An Act to implement Budget measures and to enact and amend various statutes / Projet de loi 269, Loi visant à mettre en oeuvre les mesures budgétaires et à édicter et à modifier diverses lois.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Further debate?

Mr. Joel Harden: It’s a privilege to rise this morning to speak to this bill, because this bill really is about priorities for the people of Ontario, and I don’t think we could imagine a more important time to be talking about that. We are, as everybody knows in this House—we’ve been talking about it all week. I’m mindful all members are mindful that we are at a really critical point in our handling of this pandemic. Speaker, our ICUs are nearing capacity, and our office, as I’m sure everyone’s office, has been deluged with plaintive appeals for help. I want to bring some of those plaintive appeals to the floor this morning.

I want to talk this morning about someone I’d like my friends in government to help, and it involves advocacy they’re going to need to do with the federal government. I want to talk about Kherin Dimalanta. Kherin is a Filipina woman who is 33 years of age, who came to Canada, like thousands of Filipinos do every year, to look after other people’s children. Kherin left her two young children, Jeremy and Jillian, back in the Philippines to do this. It’s a sacrifice that people have made in that country for a very long time.

Speaker, six months after she arrived here to look after the children, and this bears mentioning, of two essential workers, the Kyeremanteng family—the husband is an ICU doctor in our city. When Kherin came to Canada in 2017 to look after the Kyeremanteng children, she had to—every single temporary foreign worker has to undergo regular tests for insurance reasons, for immigration reasons. Six months into her stay here, she had a blood test. After that blood test, she was diagnosed with a significant kidney disease.

And if you can believe it, Speaker, for this essential worker who’s looking after the children of essential workers, she had to immediately go onto a dialysis program while looking after these children. She’s a truly heroic person, Speaker. I invite you to look up her story on the Internet.

But there is a very cruel aspect to our federal immigration program, Speaker. We actually have, if you can believe it, a health care costs cap for people who are allowed into Canada to work under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. It’s $21,204. If someone here in Canada under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program costs our country more than that, then we tell them to go back home. Can you believe it? Can you believe it, Speaker? I have a hard time, as a Canadian, contemplating that.

In the country that celebrates public medicare—all of our parties do—we’re saying to someone who comes to this country, leaving her own children behind, the sacrifice that entails, to give their family some kind of opportunity—we’re telling her, when she had been working here, paying taxes here, that she costs too much for us.

So at the end of this month, one of the many plaintive appeals our office has received—Kherin is being told that her OHIP coverage can be cut off. Just to repeat that, Speaker, for the House: Her OHIP coverage could be cut off, because she costs Canada too much. It takes my breath away, Speaker. It truly does. We deal with many, many challenging cases in our office; I know everybody in this House does. But this is one where I invite my friends in government, who I know are listening, to take a special interest in.

I have been talking to my counterpart, the member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre, the Honourable Catherine McKenna, making a plaintive appeal through that direction.

I know this government has a lot on its plate, but I also know this government cares—they mention it all the time—about front-line workers. We often will talk about the people toiling in the grocery stores and the warehouses and driving our buses, delivering our food, looking after our elders. All of those people, bless every single one of them, particularly in this moment. But I don’t want us to forget, Speaker, about people who are sometimes hidden from view, because they’re working flat out in our own homes, looking after children or looking after elders.

Kherin right now is faced with an untenable choice. She can stay and hope that advocacy like I’m trying to do this morning—and Migrante Ottawa and other members of the Filipino community who have been advocating for Kherin—works, and we can extend her health care coverage and she can stay here and stay healthy, or she can go back to the Philippines and die in front of her own children. I’m sorry, I know that sounds melodramatic, but it’s true. Talk to the physicians working with Kherin. A 33-year-old woman could be helped with urgent health care.

My pitch to this government for Kherin Dimalanta is to take the sword of Damocles off this person’s life. Let’s do the Canadian thing. Let’s do what Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats, Greens and every other Canadian with a conscience would do in a situation like this. Let’s make a plaintive appeal to the federal government and say every single person here under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program that’s dealing with a backlog at the IRCC, dealing with situations like these, be it health care or others, let’s act for them. Let’s act for them now as a Legislature. Let’s insist on justice for Kherin Dimalanta and every other single temporary foreign worker in this moment.

Speaker, on a related note, I want to mention something that has been troubling me since last summer. It’s been troubling me because I’m mindful, having had the benefit of talking to Migrante Ottawa and other advocates for temporary foreign workers who are here in Canada as agricultural workers—I’ve listened to them. I haven’t been able to go to the grocery store in the same way ever since. Every time I look at a tomato sitting on the shelf of one of our grocery stores, I think about the hands that harvested that tomato. I think about the hard-working producers in this province that go lights out for us, and I appreciate it.

But, Speaker, something I found chilling is: Last July, we made a public health decision in this province to say that agricultural workers in this province could continue to work despite testing positive if they were asymptomatic. Let’s let that marinate for a second. We just did a prayer a few moments ago to give thanks for those who look after us and to remember to abide by them. It’s a prayer I take seriously. But last July, we said that the hands that harvest those tomatoes or those grapes or whatever the product may be, if those workers test positive but are asymptomatic, they can continue to work.

It was a terrifying moment in the province of Ontario. When you’re talking about folks who have been coming here for years and more recently as migrant workers in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to help our agricultural system work—they’re a critical part of the agricultural economy. Everybody acknowledges it. My question for you, Speaker, is were we there for them in that moment?

I know many, many producers, many agricultural producers, who were there for their workers in that moment. But there were some public health officers in this province that had to issue their own directives to make sure the bunkhouses where those workers slept were safe. I know my friend from Windsor–Tecumseh has spoken about this eloquently in this house. If there is a golden rule, Speaker, perhaps it’s don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

So I’m urging my friends in the federal government, whether it’s the case of Kherin Dimalanta—the agricultural season is imminent again. I wish it were otherwise, Speaker, but we’re not probably going to be past this pandemic by the time people are back out there in the fields doing the good work for us. Are we going to be there for them? Are we going to make sure that we get vaccines into arms to help keep those workers safe? Because, just like Kherin, they make great sacrifices to come to our country to make sure we’re fed. So let’s be there for them. Let’s not forget about them.

I also want to talk about Chandra Pasma, Speaker. Chandra Pasma is someone who has taught me a great deal. Not only has Chandra served at a high level as someone working for the Leader of the Opposition at the federal level back in the 2011 Parliament, Chandra presented herself as a candidate running for our party in Ottawa West–Nepean in the last provincial election. She did a fantastic job, and it was a great team.

But one of the things that impacted Chandra was this virus that we’re all talking about. Chandra is one of the folks in our province who are described as COVID long-haulers, Speaker: You test positive, you live with the virus, you deal with treatment, you deal with isolation, you do it, but for Chandra and, as I’m learning as the province’s critic for disabilities, for a significant amount of people, the impacts of the virus don’t leave.

I’ve got to tell you, Speaker, every time I hear members of my community—and I know members of the government hear the same stories and hear the same voices—diminishing this virus, or suggesting that this is only impacting a minority of people or trivializing the impacts—I invite every single person watching what I’m saying right now to look up and google the name Chandra Pasma, C-H-A-N-D-R-A P-A-S-M-A. Look up the stories that she has told.

She has become a focal point for COVID long-haulers in the province of Ontario. She’s become a resource for them to seek out to say, “Is there something wrong with me? I thought I’d gotten through this, but I still can’t focus on my tasks. I’m living in a constant brain fog. I have inexplicable scales on my skin all the time. I live in constant, aching pain.” Chandra lived through that. Her whole family has lived through that. And here we are, in this moment, where we actually don’t have a clinical—well, that’s not fair to say. We don’t have a disability accommodation appreciation of this disease yet; COVID-19 is so new.

I’m inviting all of us to think about the consequences of living with this virus for the rest of your life after this moment, when we decide whether or not to open up too early, when we decide whether or not we take risks with large, congregate workplaces or settings for people who aren’t vaccinated. Think of the people like Chandra who are going to be living with the consequences of that.

But, you know, there’s a sliver of good news to this story, Speaker. We’re living in a difficult time, so it’s important to emphasize the good news when we have it. I am proud to tell this House that Chandra Pasma is going to be seeking the nomination for Ottawa West–Nepean again tonight. She’s going to be surrounded by her family and friends. It takes a lot of courage. It takes a lot of courage to go through the year that she has gone through, to wrestle with the decision about, “Do I put myself forward again or not?” And she is going to do it. God bless her, Speaker. God bless every single person in a position like Chandra’s.

I want to talk about someone else, on a related note, that I heard about on the radio this morning, Rob Kingston. My friend from Peterborough might have heard of Rob’s story. Rob Kingston used to work at a credit union in Peterborough. He’s also a COVID long-hauler. He had trouble, after going through his quarantine, with the virus, dealing with regular tasks at work. He was ultimately fired last October from his job. He loved the credit union. But his affliction, his predicament—medically, there’s no real diagnosis for it yet.

So the employer is just looking at an employee who’s not meeting targets and saying, “I’m sorry, Rob. Times are tough. We need you to get through these expectations. You’re not meeting them. You’ve got to go.”

But Rob knows what he’s living with and Rob is taking his claim public. Rob is asking the Ontario Human Rights Commission to render a judgment about whether or not it is, in fact, workplace discrimination to ask COVID long-haulers to demonstrate the same productivity as people who are not struggling with those conditions do.

I have good faith in the great Ena Chadha, who is our commissioner for this province, Speaker, that she and her team will expeditiously look into this matter, because COVID long-haulers deserve respect. They deserve help. We should be trying to enable their participation in the workforce. We should be accommodating their needs in this moment. I know there’s a team of health experts, researchers, trying to figure this out right now. But until we do, there are human beings and families that are suffering as we wait.

Speaker, in the time I have left, I feel compelled to also talk about a group of workers in downtown Ottawa who have reached out to us, who have had to live through something that I find deplorable. One of the best hotels in downtown Ottawa, Speaker—I’ve had occasion to do business there; I’d ask family members to stay there who were visiting us from away, before this virus hit our economy—is the downtown Sheraton Ottawa Hotel. Great place—at least I thought it was a great place. It had won award after award for customer service.

The Ottawa tourism awards would often feature some employee from the Sheraton Ottawa Hotel winning a customer service award, a food excellence award, and trade association after trade association saying, “This is a great hotel.”

Management in this particular building had been telling the workers regularly through the bulletin board, “We can’t wait to bring you all back on once this virus is over and tourism comes back. This is hard for everybody.” As recently as January, those sorts of messages were coming out from local management. But when workers tried to access their records of employment to file their taxes, they found a shocking revelation: Most of them had been terminated. The entire workforce pretty much had been laid off, as is the case in the entire tourism industry. But they went to get their record of employment, and when they pulled down the document, it said “terminated.”

You can imagine what people are thinking. The average service in this hotel, which is always a good litmus test for how happy people are, is 15, 16, 20, 25 years. I encountered a banquet server—32 years. They made this place a crown jewel of Ottawa’s tourism industry, but if you can believe it, an offshore investment company that now owns this hotel, someone at a boardroom table somewhere outside of Canada, decided these workers were expendable. At the stroke of a pen, “We’re going to let you go.”

I have written my neighbour the Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries. I have asked the minister to intervene. I have written officials within the city of Ottawa and my colleague the member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre to stand up for jobs. These are family-supporting jobs in this place. These are the kinds of jobs that people worked hard to get and, when they got them, worked hard to keep—award-winning service. By and large, the people in this place are racialized women cleaning rooms, making food, organizing conferences in hotels.

But have we heard a peep from my friend MPP Lisa MacLeod on this matter? Sadly, no. Minister MacLeod does not leap forth, and she has a considerable pulpit in our city. People respect the minister; I respect the minister.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): A reminder to all members that we refer to other members by their title or their riding only.

Mr. Joel Harden: Okay, the MPP for Nepean, Minister MacLeod. Better?

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Not her name; her riding or title.

Mr. Joel Harden: At any rate, Speaker, I was just asking my friend in Ottawa to stand up for these workers, and I haven’t heard a peep yet. I haven’t heard a peep.

I hear this government all the time say they believe in front-line workers. I know the tourism industry is going to come back. It’s going to come back, and Ottawa is going to continue to be a fantastic place to work, live and play and do business. But if this employer at the Sheraton Ottawa Hotel thinks it can take advantage of this moment and throw 70 hard-working people under the bus, they’ve got something coming. We’re going to put a scarlet letter on this hotel. I’m going to personally tell everybody I know, “Don’t patronize this hotel. There are plenty of other hotels in the city of Ottawa that don’t treat their workers like this.”

Can you imagine if we behaved like this as MPPs during a pandemic and we said to our staff, teams, working lights out back in the constituency offices, if they were laid off, “I’m just going to get rid of you, and after the pandemic I’m going to hire somebody back at minimum wage.” There are collective agreements governing our workplaces here in our party. There’s no way in heck a union would let us get away with that. But I know no member in this House would behave like that. So how can we sit idly by and watch Keck Seng Investments, an offshore company, throw 70 workers under the bus?

I’m making a plaintive appeal to Minister MacLeod and this government: Stand up for Sheraton workers and tell the people of Ontario that companies that try to do this, we’re going to make an example of them and we’re going to say, “We don’t put up with that in Canada. We don’t put up with that.”

The great Martin Luther King once said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies. We remember the silence of our friends.” That’s what Dr. King said. I think about that all the time in this moment, because advocacy is hard; I’m not going to lie. I’m an opposition politician. I know that everyone in this House gets tough case after tough case coming into their offices. But I’ve tried to highlight a few this morning to illustrate the gravity of some folks’ lives in this moment and how some of us, if we utilize our parliamentary tools a little bit more than usual, we can offer a lot of help and a lot of comfort to people in difficult times.

That’s what I am hoping to see the government’s budget do. I’m hoping to see the government’s budget go to bat for jobs. I’m hoping to see the government’s budget go to bat for COVID long-haulers and help people. I’m hoping to see the government’s budget go to bat for Kherin Dimalanta and people who came here in good faith to work hard for this country. The notion that we have a cap on health care costs for people is un-Canadian, Speaker. It’s beneath us. So let’s work as a Legislature to do better. We can and we must do better.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Thank you. Again, a reminder to all members: We get into the habit of referring to people by name and that is not acceptable. It has to be by their riding or their title, full stop. Thank you.

Questions and comments?

Mr. David Piccini: I appreciate the opportunity to rise in the House today. Thank you to the member from Ottawa Centre for his speech, especially his impassioned speech about temporary foreign workers. I know in my riding they’re critical to our agriculture supply chain and to putting food, the tomatoes, on the table.

One of the things with respect to health care supports, would that member support—and perhaps something we could all agree on is that the Canada Health Transfer is not enough from the federal government and we could, indeed, receive a larger proportion from the federal government.

Mr. Joel Harden: Yes, absolutely. We do need some more funds coming from the federal government. The federal government can, on the one hand, preach tolerance and preach compassion with how we treat people and then put a cap on their health care costs. I bet if I did, “Okay, let’s do a show of hands right now. Who opposes this arbitrary cap on health care costs for people?” I bet you every hand would go up. So, yes, I welcome the member’s suggestion. Let’s fight for Kherin and workers like her.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further questions?

Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: Thanks to the member from Ottawa Centre for that contribution to the debate. It was very interesting and very compelling when he was talking about temporary foreign workers and how we open our doors for them to come in and do the work that’s so essential to us, but they don’t have things like the health care that they need and there’s a federal health care cap on that.

I also want to talk about, as we’re talking about workers in the hospitality industry—I’m just wondering in this budget if you can talk about how it could be enhanced, where there could be benefits if one of those workers were sick. Is that in the budget? If one of those workers needed to go get a vaccine, is that in the budget? Can you tell us how those kinds of benefits and programs would actually help workers that you talked about in that essential field or the hospitality industry?

Mr. Joel Harden: My friend from London–Fanshawe is absolutely right. The benefit of a paid sick day program that was universal and focused on employers and the efficiency of that would absolutely help someone like Kherin or any of the folks out there working in our economies, who are often below the radar, who work on those short-term contracts that the federal program does not cover.

Ontario has an opportunity to come to the rescue, and I hope news of that is imminent, because we can all agree that those workers matter. We need to help them, and we need programs to help them.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further questions?

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: My thanks to the member from Ottawa Centre for his speech this morning—of course, speaking about the budget and particular aspects of the budget that perhaps the member felt should have been strengthened.

I always appreciate hearing from members of the opposition—also having served in that role, to know, of course, that there needs to be that level of probing questions and probing concerns being raised, also from various backgrounds.

My question with regard to, particularly, the workers you spoke about—and obviously, we’ve seen workers in hospitality and tourism impacted: Have you heard anything about the training benefit that has been offered, the tax credit of up to 50% back, with regard to up to $2,000 this year for training? I know it’s a difficult choice for many to make, but unfortunately, just given the situation, in Niagara we’ve seen people take advantage of that. Has that happened in Ottawa, as well?

Mr. Joel Harden: It’s a good question. I know the member’s riding has got to be impacted just as badly as ours. Tourism is a big part of the Niagara experience. I’ve had occasion to be down in your neck of the woods, and I know people from all over the world do the same. When the economy falls apart and that sector falls apart, a lot of people are going to be faced with those choices of, “Where do I go?”

So do we have a tax credit to help people retrain? For sure, it could be utilized for something.

But I’m thinking about someone like Glen Shackleton, who runs the famous Haunted Walks business you may have heard about. Glen told me, “Joel, what I need is some upfront cash, much more ambitious than the grant program the government has outlined, to keep a lifeline out to these—because we’re going to be doing those haunted walks pretty soon”—thank you, Glen—“in the summer and fall.” That business needs to stay alive. That’s a Canadian success story, and I know in the member’s riding there are also Canadian success stories.

So tax credits for training are good, but let’s amp this up a little bit. Let’s really be ambitious with probably the sector most impacted, in many respects, by this crisis.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further questions?

Mr. Percy Hatfield: My good friend from Ottawa Centre put the names of Chandra and Rob on the floor, and I thank you for that. He also quoted Martin Luther King, who said that a measure of a man is taken not at times of comfort and convenience but at times of conflict and controversy. We are certainly in conflict and controversy.

There’s so much yet we have to learn about COVID-19. It’s a very cross-jurisdictional issue, as we all know—federal, provincial, municipal.

My question is, what can we do, what should we do together—because we’re all in this together—to prepare a proper path for those who travel the COVID-19 long-hauler journey to recovery?

Mr. Joel Harden: I think the first thing we need to do is to acknowledge, as a Legislature, that this is a phenomenon unfolding before our eyes. As our health care system is bursting at the seams to deal with the emergency care that’s part of this virus, we have to help the people who are going to live with this and continue to live with this. So let’s acknowledge that research that says this is a significant problem.

Let’s make sure WSIB, let’s make sure employers, let’s make sure every single public policy program we have control of in Ontario accommodates COVID-19 long-haulers, gives them real relief so they can actually take, perhaps, a step back from employment—partial employment—so that when they’re ready to be back to where they were before they became a long-hauler, they’re back and they can be back on their feet. Those are proactive solutions that we can do to help people.

I thank my friend for the question.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further questions?

Ms. Donna Skelly: You raised some valid points about lack of support for people who are impacted by COVID-19 in the workforce. Of course, in the recent federal budget, we saw absolutely nothing in terms of any sort of additional support through the recovery sickness benefits.

We’re also seeing, more and more, that one of the reasons why we are having such a difficult time across Canada in being able to control the spread of COVID-19 and we’ve seen this third wave is because our airports remain open.

My question to the member opposite: Do you and will you encourage your party on a federal level to lobby the federal government to address these glaring omissions in the recent federal budget, to ask for increased supports for benefits and also to shutter our access at the airports?

Mr. Joel Harden: I thank the member from Flamborough–Glanbrook for that question. I think we are agreed that the federal program is not working. It’s particularly not working for workers like the workers I tried to describe in the time I had this morning. It’s not helping people on temporary contracts. The member’s government has a historic opportunity, as we’ve been begging for months, to come to the table for those precariously employed workers who are continuing to get sick despite going all out for us in those essential workplaces.

Regarding the issue of the airports, Speaker, I’m just going to say, for the record, the debate on public security is important. I know this is not what the member intended, let me be very clear, but there is a constituency out there online that is starting to attack. It’s not the member; it’s not necessarily the member’s government. There’s a constituency out there online that is using this moment to attack people coming to Canada from other countries. As a Legislature, as that policy issue gets resolved federally, let’s make sure we don’t cater to those voices. I think the member knows who I’m talking about.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further questions?

Ms. Marit Stiles: Thank you to the member from Ottawa Centre for a very impassioned and really, I think, important contribution to the debate today on this bill.

One of the things that the member and I have spoken about before on numerous occasions is his concerns regarding the lack of support—frankly, the lack of adequate funding—for schools, for education and particularly our children.

I was on a town hall last night with parents and students from the Windsor area who are deeply concerned about the impact of COVID on children going forward. I wonder if the member would speak about the concerns that he’s heard from his constituents in Ottawa Centre.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): A very quick response from the member from Ottawa Centre.

Mr. Joel Harden: Quickly, Speaker, I would just say to my friend from Davenport that we’re dealing with a mental health crisis amongst, particularly, teenagers in our city. It scares me; it truly does.

My partner is part of a great team at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario working with eating disorders. They’ve never seen such an influx of patients: kids struggling with anxiety, with self-harm behaviours.

Let’s take a collective breath. Let’s get the resources into the hands of school boards. I know every single school board official and every single education worker wants to help those kids, but they need extra staff power and extra resources to make it happen.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further debate?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Speaker, I intend to speak for the next 10 minutes, and it is certainly an honour to be in the House to speak on the 2021 budget. Our action plan to protect people’s health with $16.3 billion and to protect our economy with $23.3 billion makes it a total, all in, for COVID of $51 billion in supports.

This budget is about making good on our continued commitment to do whatever it takes to keep the people safe while building the foundation for a strong economy and steady economic growth. This budget is a signal of confidence to the people of Ontario that we are all confident that Ontario families, when the time is right, will unleash the economic growth that is necessary for job creation, prosperity and a stronger province.

Speaker, many people here have spoken about the tremendous investments that we have made with families, with our loved ones, with our children, with our seniors. My focus will be twofold. It will be on the economic side, as economic development minister, but it will also be on the northern side, as a proud northerner and lifelong resident of northern Ontario.

I would start with passenger rail, Speaker. As part of the commitment from our budget, as part of our commitment to Ontario’s future, our government fully understands that every region of the province must have its interests represented, its priorities recognized and its full potential achieved. We know, historically, for the last 15 years, for the north that has not been the case.

Speaker, I speak specifically about passenger rail. For 100 years, northern Ontario was well served by Ontario Northland’s passenger rail, linking Union Station in downtown Toronto with Cochrane and then up to Moosonee. If you take the canoe across, you’re on Moose Factory Island. That happened for 100 years, until 2012.

A few years ago, those who were here will recall, at that time the Liberal minority government, only with the support of the NDP, shut down our 100-year-old passenger rail. That could only happen in a minority government by the NDP assisting them. The PC member from Parry Sound–Muskoka and I were the only two northerners back then who stood up and voted against the Liberal budget to stop that closure.

In a few minutes from now, today, this morning, the northern members in this Legislature will have a chance to change that. They will have a chance to stand up for the north. We urge the northern NDP members to vote in favour of the $5 million that’s coming to support the planning and design work for the final return of passenger rail that was taken away from us.

This is another serious step our government has taken to help meet the north’s transportation needs. This investment builds on last year’s transportation plan for northern Ontario. Our commitment to passenger rail, unlike the other parties, is firm; it’s ongoing and it’s unyielding. We want our trains back, and we’re going to bring that back.

We’re also committed to building the foundation of a strong, modern and interconnected mining sector. We urge the northern NDP members to vote in favour of the $5 million over the next two years in the new Ontario Junior Exploration Program. This is going to attract investment and improve Ontario’s competitiveness in the exploration sector. It’s going to facilitate the discovery of promising mining opportunities. This is when we get our mining back in Ontario.

Think about before that Liberal government got put into power. We were the number one mining jurisdiction in the world, and under that previous government, with the policies that they put in place, we tumbled. Well, we’re back. We’re building all of these great resources. We’re increasing the funding for the Ontario Mine Rescue Program by $2.9 million. That’s money that will fund training for underground mining and that will expand the program services to ensure emergency preparedness for all surface and subsurface mines in the province.

Most importantly, we are developing Ontario’s first-ever Critical Minerals Strategy to support the mineral industry, high-growth sectors, innovative clean technologies and transition towards a low-carbon economy both at home and abroad. Minerals required for electric vehicle batteries are found all throughout the north. There’s cobalt, well, in the town of Cobalt. There’s graphite in Hearst. There’s lithium north of Red Lake. There’s nickel in Sudbury.

Our strategy will complement the recent investments that we’ve heard from the auto sector: $6 billion, unprecedented in the history of Ontario. Ford is transforming their Oakville complex to become the global hub for battery EV production. GM is returning to Oshawa and investing in the delivery truck EV plant in Ingersoll. We’ll see Stellantis invest in Windsor. Those are the announced programs we’ve heard. Others are growing as well.

We’ve seen our Driving Prosperity auto plan is working. The leaders of all five auto companies have told us that the fundamental changes that were made over the last three years, including in this budget, have reduced the cost of doing business in Ontario by $7 billion a year. They know that, and they acknowledge that.

This budget provides $200 million for the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund to help small and rural northern communities build and repair local infrastructure. It continues investments in northern highway expansion for projects like the Cochrane bypass in the northeast, Highway 69 from Parry Sound to Sudbury, Highway 11 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon, and Highway 17 to the Manitoba border. It puts $10.2 billion over 10 years to continue the success of that ICIP program that has already delivered water and waste water in Rainy River, a new bus garage in Kenora, upgrades to water pollution control in Latchford.

These very important developments in the budget include temporarily doubling the Regional Opportunities Investment Tax Credit from 10% to 20%. This is really important for your business community to grow. All across northern Ontario, including Algoma, Kenora, Manitoulin, Parry Sound, Thunder Bay, they can raise that maximum from $45,000 to $90,000. Those are the regions we’re doing this for. We’re doing it for the north.

There are northern upgrades to long-term-care beds and new long-term-care beds: Extendicare, upgrading 256 beds in Sudbury; Waters Edge, 12 new beds to their upgraded, brand new, in fact—148 beds in North Bay; Extendicare Sault Ste. Marie, 20 new beds and upgrading 100 beds. In my riding, in Trout Creek, we’ll have a brand new 96-bed long-term-care home built.

If you remember sitting in this House—Trout Creek, the tiny town was rocked when the former Liberal government, again always with the support of the NDP, shut down the 66-bed facility there, sent those people, those families, to the hospitals in the area and sent 80 workers home that day. Well, we’re putting a brand new 96-bed facility back in Trout Creek and the 100 employees that come with it, and the families that will be there.

The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation: We are adding $50 million over two years to the NOHFC. This is the time for the NDP to stand up and support the north, support their local businesses. This is the time for you to vote in favour of adding $50 million to the NOHFC, to add to the $100 million that’s already there every single year. Your businesses depend on this. Your businesses apply. This is how they’re going to expand. This is how they’re going to grow. They need the support of the NOHFC. They need you to stand up for them today.

Speaker, there’s a lot more that I can say and there’s a lot more to be done, but I certainly acknowledge that all regions of the province can and will feel the effects of an economic rebound. It’s extremely important to note, though, that while the NDP have said they will not support this budget, they did not offer up even one amendment—not one. They complained, but they did not add one change to the budget.

Throughout this pandemic, the people and businesses of Ontario have made very difficult sacrifices to stop the spread of this virus, often at a very personal cost. Our government will continue to support and work hand in hand with all of the people in Ontario.

I thank you for this opportunity to speak today.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Questions and comments?

Mr. Percy Hatfield: Budgets are about cash; my favourite “cash” is Johnny Cash. To channel Johnny Cash, Speaker, I would say I fell into a burning ring of fire. For the Ring of Fire, during the Liberal majority government was going to put $1 billion in the next budget. What did we get? A plug nickel.

With this majority government, when elected, the Premier said he’d be on the bulldozer getting into the Ring of Fire. I ask the minister—I didn’t see it, perhaps I missed it—where in the budget is all the money you’re going to do to open up the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you very much for the question, to the member. I have personally been to the Ring of Fire five times now, and I can tell you that the changes we’ve seen from the very first day I was there to what’s actually happening on the ground, right now as we speak—there are environmental assessments that are there, after more than a decade of silence from the previous government where absolutely nothing was done. In fact, worse than nothing was done; it fell backwards. We’re actually seeing the environmental assessment being done now.

The planning is under way. The groundwork is under way to be able to link the Ring of Fire to the nearest rail line. We’re actually seeing this development. It warms my heart, Speaker, to be able to say that it is well under way.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further questions?

Ms. Donna Skelly: As I have mentioned in the House many times, I grew up in northern Ontario, in a small railroad town called Capreol. I was absolutely thrilled to see in this budget funding going towards the reopening, I guess you would say, of rail service in northern Ontario. My father was a railroad engineer. I grew up on the rail, on a train literally. I travelled across Canada. I was very fortunate. It is such an integral part of the north too.

To the minister: Would you please expand on the opportunities in this budget for a revived rail service in northern Ontario?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you very much to the member from Flamborough–Glanbrook, and thanks for your great work in the transportation sector, especially with our ports in the Hamilton area as well.

You’ll be very pleased to know, as a Capreol girl, that there are tremendous projects under way with rail in the north. As I said earlier in the speech, to have grown up travelling on what was then known as the Northlander from Union Station to my hometown of North Bay, all the way to Cochrane and then farther—there are the drawings now. The design work now is actually being done to rebuild that removed rail line.

There was no more sales office in Union Station. Some of the hubs along the way have been torn down. There’s a tremendous amount of work to do, and with this budget, the $5 million that’s in this budget, that work is now under way.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further questions?

Mr. Joel Harden: I thank the minister for his speech. As a man of business, I was wondering if you could comment on a micro-economy that I have to pay attention to in my critic role, and that’s people living on disability right now in this pandemic. Something I was disappointed to not see is an immediate increase in benefits for folks on the Ontario Disability Support Program. There was a temporary increase for a few months if you found your worker, but there was nothing across the caseload. I know other provinces, like British Columbia, immediately brought in increases across the caseload that are still in effect.

I’m sure the minister is aware that what we can do for people who are living in poverty living on disability benefits is going to impact his local economy in North Bay, and right across the province, and is going to help people with disabilities whose costs of living have massively gone up. Does he have anything to say for those folks?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Let me directly answer your question. There is $750 million-plus put in the social services relief fund. That’s my direct answer to your question.

Let me talk a little bit more about the jobs that have been created in Ontario. This very morning, today, Thursday morning, 25,000 more men and women woke up to go to a manufacturing job in Ontario than did pre-COVID-19. That’s the growth that we’re seeing happening here in Ontario, and that is the growth that’s coming.

Over the last two years, this government, led by Premier Ford, has worked to reduce the cost of doing business in Ontario by $7 billion. Those fundamentals are all still in place, and the business community has recognized that those fundamentals are in place. That is exactly why we’re seeing—

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Thank you. Further questions?

Mr. David Piccini: Thank you, Minister, for your remarks.

Minister, I feel very strongly about our environment—and I feel too often that discussion is solely limited to taxation and, specifically, taxing the hard-working men and women of the riding I represent.

You spoke about transportation. I didn’t know about the northern line and the lengths that the previous Liberal government went to to shut that down.

I think of the importance of transportation in my riding—increased investments that this government has made to accelerate the GO and increase two-way GO, accessible transit in Port Hope, a new fleet of buses in Cobourg. This is critical to not only a more sustainable environment, but to getting people to places and to their jobs.

Minister, how important are these sorts of investments to the north and to communities like mine?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you very much for the opportunity.

We have laid out a tremendous path in last year’s transportation plan for northern Ontario. You asked the question, “How important is it?” It’s important enough that the north has its own unique transportation plan, which talks not only about the final return of passenger rail—after being stripped away from northern families in Ontario by the minority Liberal government, as I said, only due to support from the NDP—but in addition to that, we’ve seen the new bus routes that have been added by Ontario Northland.

We see the hard work that is being done on roads all across, as I started to talk about—Highway 11 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon, Highway 17 to the Manitoba border, Highway 69. I can’t believe the NDP will be voting against the expansion of Highway 69 from Parry Sound to Sudbury.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further questions?

Mr. Michael Mantha: It’s always a pleasure and a privilege to take my seat on behalf of the good people of Algoma–Manitoulin.

Small business is something that we’ve been—their heartfelt struggles have been felt through this entire pandemic for a very long time.

I always give credit where credit is due. I must say that the renewal of the program which is going to be providing additional funding for those businesses that did previously qualify is going to be welcome news. I know the TIAO, also with the CFIB, worked extremely hard to lobby this government to get those things done—the expansion that was done in the tourism sector, particularly for northern Ontario; the outfitters who are now going to qualify for some assistance.

However, there is a big piece, which was the eligibility criteria, that was left out for other small businesses to qualify for this program. Why was that missing from this year’s budget?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you very much for the question. And thank you for the acknowledgment that the small business support grant really was brought in in such a timely manner and with such great assistance.

I can tell you that just down the street from my home on Highway 94, where I’ve been for the last year, there’s the Royal Canadian Legion. I picked up the phone and gave them a call and said to them, “The Legion qualifies for the small business support grant.” He went online at 11 o’clock on Wednesday morning, during the eligible time, and he called me at eight minutes to 7 on Thursday night, the day later, and said, “Vic, the money is in our account already.” That is why the small business support grant was put in.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further debate?

Mr. Michael Mantha: It’s always, again, a privilege to stand here on behalf of the good people of Algoma–Manitoulin and offer some of my comments to Bill 269, which is comprised of 10 schedules. There’s not a whole heck of a lot to talk about in this, so some of my comments that I’ll be bringing to the floor this morning are going to be from a different perspective, particularly from the tourism sector—that’s where I left off in my comments and my question to the minister right now—who have felt that they have struggled, they have been alienated, they have been forgotten for a very, very long time.

J’apporte une différente perspective, surtout sur les économies et puis les petites entreprises, les entrepreneurs qui sont dans le secteur touristique. Ce sont des gens qui offrent leur coeur, offrent leurs jours—c’est leur vie qu’ils mettent dans leur petite entreprise—et qui n’ont jamais demandé pour de l’aide. Ils sont tout le temps débrouillards, inventifs. Ce sont des gens qui mettent leur esprit dans leur ouvrage et ce sont des gens qui, vraiment, sont essentiellement fiers d’être capables d’accomplir sans avoir de l’aide.

Mais une chose qu’on réalise pendant cette pandémie, c’est qu’on a tous eu besoin d’aide. Tous les gens à travers cette province ont eu besoin d’aide, puis, surtout dans le secteur touristique, ce sont des gens qui ont été oubliés par ce gouvernement. Il y en a plusieurs d’entre eux dans ce secteur-là et d’autres secteurs, des petites entreprises. Oui, le gouvernement a apporté des projets de loi, puis des subventions et de l’aide financière pour certains. Mais il ne faut pas qu’on oublie qu’il y a une grosse

partie de ces gens qui n’ont pas été inclus dans ces fonds-là. Il y en a qui sont encore frustrés d’avoir l’éligibilité et d’avoir leur application et des réponses de ce gouvernement. Là, on attend des mois pour avoir une réponse, s’ils vont effectivement recevoir des fonds pour qu’ils puissent survivre à travers cette pandémie.

Je vais vous donner un exemple d’une petite entreprise sur l’île Manitoulin. Ils ont appelé et ont fait application. Une fois qu’ils ont fait l’application, ça a été un gros montant de temps avant qu’ils ne reçoivent une réponse qu’ils n’étaient pas éligibles. Quand ils ont regardé l’information et la réponse qu’ils ont reçue, ils ont remarqué qu’ils avaient fait une erreur dans leur soumission.

Ça fait au-dessus de deux mois qu’ils sont en train d’essayer de contacter le ministère pour corriger cette erreur, parce que la seule réponse qu’ils ont eue d’eux autres, effectivement, c’est qu’ils ne sont pas éligibles. Il y a un deuxième fonds qui est devenu éligible pour les gens de recevoir, mais ils n’ont même pas arrangé leur première application. Ils veulent avoir le premier fonds—pour être éligibles pour le deuxième, il faut qu’ils qualifient pour le premier—mais ils ne peuvent recevoir aucune information de ce gouvernement. Ça, c’est un gros problème auquel beaucoup des entreprises sont en train de faire face.

Un autre des gros problèmes est, à cause que leur entreprise était rouverte un montant de temps après la date requise—ils ont été rouverts pendant la pandémie—ils n’ont pas de moyen de démontrer qu’ils ont eu un revenu dans un tel mois pour être éligibles. Ça fait au-dessus de quasiment 11 mois qu’ils sont en fonction, qu’ils sont rouverts pour le public, mais à cause qu’ils n’ont pas été ouverts pour la grosse période de temps, eux autres non plus ne sont pas éligibles pour le premier fonds ni le second fonds.

Je voulais simplement donner ces deux exemples-là pour qu’on apporte un visage à ce que les gens sont en train de faire face.

I really want to put my comments today on the tourism sector. Tourism businesses are really struggling out there.

I want to bring a couple of examples to the House. There is a small business that opened up on Manitoulin Island. They have been trying to obtain a small business loan, and when they initially applied, they were denied. I know I have spoken to the minister’s assistant about this, and I’m hoping we’re going to be able to resolve it, but these individuals had initially applied for the small business grant, and they received a response from the ministry that they were ineligible. When they received that ineligible response, they reviewed it. They couldn’t figure out, “Why are we ineligible?” They noticed they had made an error in their submission.

It was very time-consuming for them to first get that first response from the government, but since then, it’s been over two months that they’ve been waiting to get a response from the government to correct the error in the first application for the initial funds that were there. They are excited that there is a second one that has been announced as well, which is going to help them survive through this pandemic. However, the first one still needs to be addressed in order to get them an opportunity to qualify for the second one.

This is happening in many small businesses across this province, where people are struggling to get through. I understand that there is an overwhelming amount of applications that are in, but there should be a way for that individual to put their concern or to change or to modify their initial application to correct the errors that were inadvertently made. That’s a struggle that small businesses are facing.

According to TIAO, the industry lost over 200,000 jobs in Ontario, and 74% of those businesses are facing significant cash flow problems. The industry needs more than tax credits, marketing and money for loans. They are under a mountain of debt. If we don’t want the industry to crumble, there needs to be direct, immediate financial help. The tourism industry feels abandoned.

Here’s another example: Businesses like coach bus companies have seen their businesses drop 99% while receiving no help from government and are drowning in debt. When I sat down with representatives and businesses from the coach industry—these are the businesses that actually travel tourists, when they do come to Ontario or to Canada, to our wonderful locations that we have across this province, our landmark destinations: Niagara Falls, the casinos, Wonderland. You name the place, that’s where these buses take individuals, to those destinations.

It’s great to see that there is some assistance that has been provided to some of those venues. Some of the other venues have not been included in that assistance. But it’s these buses, these businesses that take those individuals—and they have been decimated, completely decimated, as far as getting any assistance through the Ontario Small Business Support Grant.

Again, I want to reiterate that I’m glad to see businesses that already qualify will receive a second grant. They have been struggling, and this is probably going to help them pay a good portion of their debt.

I want to come back to a constituent of mine. She has a small coffee shop in Massey. She serves a little bit of sandwiches and soup. Essentially, it’s kind of a social gathering group that you have there. There are people who come into her shop. She offers crafts and she does a lot of yarn work.

Sometimes, we just need to be seen. Sometimes, we just need people to know that, “Hey, I’m alive. I’m over here. This is who I am.” That’s what she does. Her name is Laura Courtemanche.

Right now, she is struggling. She is having a hard time making ends meet—not only just surviving with rent and her location and supplies and so on, but her hydro bill. She’s asking me, “Mike, can you please tell me when this next round of funding is going to be made available? Because I’ve sent a note in to Hydro One to let them know that this is coming and that’s how I’m going to be able to pay my hydro bill. Please don’t cut me off. Can you also tell the government to do something in regard to telling these utility providers not to shut us down and not to cut off my hydro in the middle of this pandemic?”

Because not only does she care for the services and the small bowl of soup—God forbid; she makes probably about 50 cents on that bowl of soup, which is a great soup, by the way. Laura, I love it. Thank you very much. She makes great muffins, and I have to stop eating not just those muffins, but her butter tarts. Her butter tarts, I tell you, are something else. But she provides a location for people to go to and just sit and talk, with all of this pandemic that’s going on. It’s not just in her restaurant; a lot of that social interaction happens on the sidewalk right in front of her place. It happens on the stool that’s in front of the window with the “open” sign.

That’s what these small businesses do in small communities across Algoma–Manitoulin, and in a lot of your own communities as well. It gives you that opportunity to release your stresses, your concerns. These small businesses really need help. For too many, this grant is still far from enough. These series of lockdowns and this uncertainty have put a toll on their finances, and most of them will continue to need help past the March 31 deadline on that first loan and afterwards. It’s not because the program ends that the lockdown and the uncertainty go away.

The virus is still here. It will remain here for a very long time. Many businesses were excluded from the grant because they were considered essential, yet they were also affected by the lockdown, like hotel businesses in downtown Toronto and Ottawa, restaurant suppliers. They all have been affected because they depend on other businesses and people coming to them. They also need help.

The Manitoulin conference centre in Little Current: Usually, there’s a workforce of anywhere between 40 to about 55 individuals that are there. Talking to Corey, the proprietor of the conference centre, they are down to nine, and it’s a struggle for them to just make ends meet, as well, because they’re not getting much of the assistance that they need as well.

I could talk about ski hills and them suffering in northern Ontario, particularly the small ski hills. The snow is gone, but they’re going to go through their summer months, as well, where they start preparing for their winter months. There are a lot of costs that went into preparing for the previous or the last two winters, but then they were told to close down. There are a lot of inspections that need to be done. The equipment needs to be inspected. The individuals need to be trained. All of those are all costs which these businesses were hoping to recuperate, but are not going to be able to recuperate at all.

The support grants are going to be helpful, but when it comes to many tourist outfitters, the initial $10,000, followed by a second one is going to be a drop in the bucket, and those are realistic. You’ve heard those words before from your tourist outfitters in regard to how they’re going to be struggling. I know that the member from North Bay—sorry, the member from—give me your riding, Vic.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Nipissing.

Mr. Michael Mantha: The member from Nipissing understands that, because he’s actually been to some of those tourist outfitters in Algoma–Manitoulin and across northern Ontario, and he has heard those same complaints. He knows those struggles and he has listened to those comments of individuals, from those business owners.

Michelle Watson from Kaby Lodge has expressed her huge concerns in regard to the struggles that they are facing. Here’s the reality of what they are facing: They have lost over 90% to 95% of their entire clientele for this entire pandemic. They were told to prepare last year, previous to the shutdown that happened last year.

They had to go through an entire process of going to camp; opening up camp; checking the equipment; making sure—because there’s no hydro going to these areas, they rely on generators—that those are in place; making sure that the fridges are working, in order to order the food in; making sure that the accommodations are there, because over the course of the winter and the spring, there is sometimes damage that happens, whether it’s heavy snows or our northern critters decide to walk in and break down a door.

We have issues at times with bears. Speaker, you’ve experienced some of that. You were down at my trailer last year, so you had that wonderful time. Oh, and by the way, you know those swamps that we go in? I actually find them beautiful. I actually find them very refreshing, and that’s where you see those wonderful critters that we so enjoyed very, very much.

The point that I was trying to make is that it takes a very long time for these businesses to actually ramp up their operations, and it is extremely costly for them to ramp up that operation. So when you set that in motion, and they go out and fly out to their camps—because they can’t drive, they fly out. And you need pilots. You need special individuals in order to make sure the maintenance is being done over at camp, to open up your camp and prepare for the upcoming season. So you do that.

You look out. You bring in all your employees, because some of these individuals in their isolated areas that they’re in—you’re accommodating for some 200 to 400 individuals coming into their lodges, to their various destinations that they have on the lakes and so on, so you need a small army of individuals to provide the services, the housekeeping, the cooking, the cooks, the janitors, the cleaning, and so on and so forth. So they all come in and they all gather.

You’ve got to make sure that they go through the safety procedures and know the protocols that are there, because, like I said, 911 isn’t going to pick up the phone right away. So you need to make sure that your staff is a quality staff, that they are informed, that they are knowledgeable, that they know the process and they know the procedures of how to respond to urgent matters.

A lot of your tourist people who do come to these destinations don’t have to think about that, because that environment is provided to you. That environment is something that goes without even saying, but that’s the ambience, and that’s the joy that northerners have, to provide that ambience, to provide that opportunity to people who are coming to our destinations and really enjoy what we have to offer in northern Ontario.

So employers prepare to train and prepare to open, and without any notice, without any warning, they are told, “You know what? You can’t open.” They understand the challenges that we’re in under COVID-19 and the pandemic. What they don’t understand, and what frustrates them, is that entire period and the costs that were associated with preparing to open up, with training your employees, with moving things along and getting going, and then they are told, “You know what? You’re on your own.”

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Thank you. I’m sorry to interrupt the member, but seeing the time on the clock, it is now time for members’ statements.

Third reading debate deemed adjourned.

Members’ Statements

National Poetry Month

Mr. Percy Hatfield: Speaker, T.S. Eliot started The Waste Land, one of his most famous poems, with “April is the cruellest month.” But for the past 55 years, April has been recognized as National Poetry Month in Canada. This year’s theme, as announced by the League of Canadian Poets, is “resilience.”

What is resilience? Well, Speaker: “We meet resilience in every corner we’ve been backed into, every hardship that we endure. Resilience is geographical, spiritual, historical. It’s the fight against climate change, the inner battle with mental health, the outcry for human rights and an end to systemic racism. Resilience is the backbone of generations of trauma, the silence at the dinner table, the bow to culture’s violin. Resilience is the courage to start each day anew.”

Speaker, the League of Canadian Poets says, this National Poetry Month 2021, we should “celebrate, reflect on and respect the resilience that has made us who we are.”

Perhaps this month, we, in this chamber, can set aside some time, if you will, to stop and smell the roses, so to speak, reflect on why we’re here, respect the resilience that has made us who we are and perhaps pick up a book of poetry or read some poetry—maybe even write a few lines of poetry:

It’s easy to do

For MPPs like me and you

Don’t be meek: Do it—just for fun

Speaker, I see my allotted speaking time is done.

Rebecca Fournier

Ms. Donna Skelly: I want to take this morning to recognize a true pandemic hero in my riding of Flamborough–Glanbrook. Her name is Rebecca Fournier. Rebecca is the care coordinator at St. Elizabeth Retirement Residence in Hamilton. She treats her residents and her staff as extended members of her family. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rebecca was willing to live at St. Elizabeth in an effort to keep her residents and staff protected against the spread of the virus.

Rebecca is a single mother. She has two children at home. Her children stayed with her parents during the time that she actually moved in and lived at the retirement home. Rebecca was willing to sacrifice time with her family for months in an effort to protect the lives of her most vulnerable residents. She even gave up her personal time when St. Elizabeth was dealing directly with a COVID outbreak.

Rebecca’s co-workers say she is a leader, a solid role model, someone who inspires others to go above and beyond. She’s willing to work long hours. They say she’s always positive. She’s always available when her residents need her.

Rebecca is an example of how to make a positive difference in this world. She’s one of the many thousands of people in Ontario who have been working to keep our most vulnerable residents safe, who have been making a positive difference in the world.

Rebecca and all of these front-line workers represent the best of humanity, and I want to sincerely thank them for their sacrifice.

COVID-19 immunization

Mr. Tom Rakocevic: We must have an equitable vaccine rollout so that those who are most at risk are prioritized in getting vaccinated. My community of Humber River–Black Creek has been one of the hardest hit during this pandemic, due to the socio-economic barriers faced by so many living there.

A couple of weeks back, and under rising pressure, when the Premier announced that those 18-plus in hot spot communities would be vaccinated, we thought we were finally heard, but when we realized that this announcement was made without a plan, details, a timeline or a dedicated vaccine supply, we had to quickly take matters into our own hands.

We formed a team to quickly plan and distribute a large number of vaccinations within Black Creek to get some of the province’s most at-risk individuals and families their first dose of vaccine as soon as possible. I joined a team of incredible and tireless health care providers and organizers, including Black Creek Community Health Centre, Humber River Hospital, the University Health Network, Michael Garron Hospital, LOFT, Toronto Community Housing, the San Romanoway Revitalization Association, Greenwin and our councillor, Anthony Perruzza.

Together, we organized a series of pop-up mobile vaccinations at Jane and Finch, and we were able to administer over 12,000 vaccines to Humber River–Black Creek residents since this past weekend.

Our work isn’t over yet, and we continue to work hard at establishing new mobile vaccination clinics here in Humber River–Black Creek. I thank those who lined up and braved the weather, rather than waiting untold weeks or months so that they could get a vaccine elsewhere. The government must secure more vaccine supply and vaccinate all of those most at risk as soon as possible. The vaccine rollout must be equitable, and we must prioritize all hot spots.

Peterborough Porch Pirates for Good

Mr. Dave Smith: Ninety seconds doesn’t seem like it’s enough time to really reach out and thank all of the volunteers who have done so much in our communities, but there’s one in particular I want to talk about, and that was back on April 10. The event was called Porch Pirates for Good, and it was a Peterborough-wide food drive hosted by Kawartha Food Share. The Porch Pirates food drive volunteers and Kawartha Food Share turned the phrase “porch pirate” into something that was good.

In fact, it was the largest fundraiser in Kawartha Food Share’s history, collecting over 51,000 pounds of food and over $4,000 from our community members in just a couple of hours. They also had a collection from 20 local businesses the day before, collecting 2,000 pounds of food.

With 70 volunteer pirates, each covering a neighbourhood in the city, they distributed flyers beforehand. People left the food donations in bags on their porch, and those volunteers went out and picked it up. There were 10 captain volunteers back at Kawartha Food Share, and it would not have been possible if it wasn’t for those head mateys: Megan Murphy, Ashlee Aitken, Lois Tuffin and Susan Dunkley. This collection will be a great help in getting Peterborough–Kawartha through the spring, when it typically sees a lull in donations.

The spirit of giving in my community never ceases to amaze me.

Environmental protection

Ms. Sandy Shaw: Today is Earth Day, an important day to celebrate our environment and act to protect our natural heritage. It’s important to acknowledge also that today, April 22, 2021, here in Ontario, we are at the height of a third-wave COVID crisis. Sadly, we are experiencing the disastrous results of this government scrambling too late in a crisis.

We’re also facing a climate crisis. Experts are warning us that the time to take urgent action to avoid the devastating impact of climate change is now. I want to recognize Indigenous women, water protectors who fight to ensure our water is protected. Kristen Villebrun, Makaśa Looking Horse, Autumn Peltier and the late Josephine Mandamin have all taken action to protect our water, and all of us in this House could learn a lesson of leadership from them.

In my riding, people care very deeply about natural spaces like Cootes Paradise. This weekend was the 50th anniversary of the Dundas Valley School of Art auction. So many of the works were tributes to Cootes Paradise, including a very special watercolour by the founder of the DVSA, Marion Farnan. Our love of Cootes Paradise runs deep in Hamilton.

Mr. Speaker, I’m also extremely proud of our party’s plan for the environment, “Climate. Jobs. Justice.” It’s the boldest climate plan Ontario has ever seen.

We are facing the devastating impact of a government facing a crisis unprepared. It is also unthinkable that Ontario does not have a credible climate plan. Please stop being silent on the climate crisis. The time to act is now.

Home care

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: Door-knocking in the last provincial election, I remember meeting Anne, a resident of Beamsville in my riding of Niagara West. Anne was in her eighties. Her husband had recently passed away.

Visiting Anne at the little white bungalow that she and her husband had built together in the 1960s, she told me about her desire to stay in their home as long as she could. But Anne’s children had moved out of the area, and she worried about having an accident or not being able to get the support that she needed.

Speaking with seniors like Anne in Niagara West over the past few years, I’ve heard a great deal about the importance of aging in place. But of course, this aging needs to be safe. Many seniors in my riding want to be able to stay at home as long as possible, as long as they can know that they are safe and supported in their environment.

Our government agrees and is taking action to support seniors with the care they need. A couple of weeks ago, I was joined by Kevin Smith, the chief of Niagara EMS, Marvin Junkin, the mayor of the town of Pelham, and Jim Bradley, the chair of the region of Niagara and former long-time member of this Legislature, to announce an expanded community paramedicine program across Niagara. The significant investment of over $8.2 million in the community paramedicine program on behalf of the Minister of Long-Term Care is a great step to providing the care that seniors such as Anne deserve.

It provides services to seniors who are waiting for placement in a long-term-care home or who are soon to be eligible for long-term care to safely keep seniors in their home for as long as possible. The program offers access to health services 24/7 through in-home and remote methods, such as online or virtual supports, non-emergency home visits and in-home testing procedures, as well as ongoing monitoring of changing or escalating conditions.

This is just one more step to provide health care in Ontario and to support seniors in Niagara West.

Youth mental health services

Ms. Sara Singh: I wanted to take an opportunity today to thank the amazing youth who are part of the Brampton Centre youth council, members like Evan, Omar, Jasmine, Giya and Erika, who have been providing their insights and sharing their thoughts and perspectives about the challenges that young people are facing during these uncertain times.

Many of them are concerned about what’s happening in education. They’re worried about the health and safety of their families and their educators. Many of them felt that our classrooms were unsafe, and many shared concerns about access to mental health resources throughout this pandemic.

Many are worried about what the future has in store. Will they be able to find stable employment? Will they be able to attend their graduation or even hug their loved ones? They’re also worried that their friends are dying by suicide, because they weren’t able to get the help and supports they needed in our community.

Speaker, Peel has an average wait time of 790 days for mental health services for young people, and this has only gotten worse with COVID-19. We need urgent investments in our mental health services, so children in our province aren’t waiting far too long for the supports they need.

This pandemic has been difficult on all of us, and the long-term impacts have yet to be seen for future generations. So I just want to take an opportunity and say to young people at home that it’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to be upset, it’s okay to be sad and it’s okay to be mad. You are not alone. Please reach out if you need help.

COVID-19 response

Mr. Roman Baber: I submit that the government has lost legitimacy to govern. Let’s review:

—a quarter million surgeries postponed;

—one million cancer screenings that did not take place;

—a mandatory directive yesterday to cancel all non-emergency surgeries, including cancer surgeries;

—children out of school for the third time;

—a mental health catastrophe, with youth suicide attempts skyrocketing;

—an only 14% increase in ICU beds available during the pandemic;

—a $30-billion deficit, with nothing to show for it;

—a new $20-billion structural deficit, remaining for years to come after the pandemic is gone;

—a $400-billion debt, a 24% increase, for one more than $76 billion higher than they inherited from the Liberals;

—outdoor recreational activities closed for absolutely no reason; and then

—last Friday, predicated on political advice, martial law; the unthinkable, the unconscionable, the unlawful, the undemocratic, an attempt to create a police state in Ontario, thwarted by the police itself. Shame on them.

Speaker, they have shown utter incompetence. They’ve shown disregard for the rule of law. They do not represent Ontario. They do not represent their voters. They do not represent their party. They lost legitimacy to govern.

You’ve lost the mandate to govern and you should govern yourselves accordingly.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’ll remind the members to make their comments directly through the Chair, not across the floor.

Mr. Roman Baber: You know I’m right.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

Mr. Roman Baber: Shame on all of you.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for York Centre will come to order.

The next member’s statement.

Agri-food industry

Mr. Toby Barrett: Since the start of the pandemic, one of our government’s top priorities was to guard against the spread of COVID-19 in agri-food workplaces and to ensure that Ontario’s food supply remains strong and responsive.

Yesterday, ag minister Hardeman announced that our government is investing $22 million in a brand new program designed to drive the adoption of technology in agri-food workplaces and to enhance the health and safety of our workforce. Known as the Agri-tech Innovation Program, this new initiative will help our farmers and agribusinesses adopt unique and innovative technologies to improve efficiency and productivity.

This plan is the second stage of the Agri-food Prevention and Control Innovation Program, which was announced in the 2020 budget. The Agri-tech Innovation Program will not only better protect agricultural workers and farm employees, but it will also help drive the agriculture industry’s success and growth and improve resilience in the years ahead. Examples this program could support include on-farm automation and robotics to assist with things like production, harvesting and so many other functions.

More details on the Agri-tech Innovation Program will be available at the OMAFRA website. I sincerely thank Minister Hardeman for his commitment and his investment in Ontario’s farms and our agri-food business.

Anniversary of attack in Toronto

Mr. Stan Cho: I rise this morning to mark a sad and difficult day for my neighbourhood. Tomorrow will be the third anniversary of the Toronto van attack that took the lives of 10 and left a deep, lasting scar on our city and on my community of Willowdale.

On April 23, 2018, a beautiful, warm spring day, a terrorist, driven by misogyny and hatred, used a rented van as a weapon by driving onto the sidewalk of one of our city’s busiest streets, killing 10 people, most of them women, and injuring 16 others.

This senseless act of evil had a profound effect on my community. We were scared, shaken to our core. We had been attacked in our home, on the streets where we, our families and our friends walked every day.

But through this tragedy, there was also an outpouring of kindness, love and hope. From everyday heroes on the streets who ran towards danger to help victims, to those who laid flowers, led prayers, hugged neighbours and brought the community together to mourn and to heal, Willowdalers found light in the darkest of moments. And that light shines just as bright today as our community continues to heal, continues to support each other and remember those we lost.

Tomorrow night, Willowdalers will gather virtually for a community dinner organized by We Love Willowdale, a group of neighbours that formed in the wake of the tragedy to look after one another. This event will give our community a chance to reflect, to remember, to grieve our loss, but also to give thanks for an incredible community and the kindness of our neighbours who call Willowdale home.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): That concludes our members’ statements this morning.

The member for London West has informed me she has a point of order.

Ms. Peggy Sattler: Speaker, on a point of order: I seek unanimous consent to bring forward a motion without notice requiring the government to implement paid sick days legislation to help protect workers across Ontario from COVID-19, so no one has to make the difficult choice between staying home when sick and being able to pay the bills.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for London West is seeking unanimous consent to bring forward a motion without notice. Agreed? I heard a no.

The member for Davenport has informed me she has a point of order.

Ms. Marit Stiles: Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to immediately pass private member’s motion 153, calling on the Ford government to implement paid time off for vaccinations, helping facilitate the timely vaccination of Ontario’s workers as part of the fight against COVID-19.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Davenport is seeking unanimous consent to immediately pass a private member’s motion. Agreed? I heard a no.

The member for Humber River–Black Creek has informed me he has a point of order.

Mr. Tom Rakocevic: Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to immediately pass private member’s motion 152, calling on the Ford government to revoke O. Reg. 298/21 and the unprecedented and potentially unconstitutional powers it has extended to Ontario’s police services.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Humber River–Black Creek is seeking unanimous consent to immediately pass a private member’s motion. Agreed? I heard a no.

The member for Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas.

Ms. Sandy Shaw: Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to immediately pass private member’s motion 154, calling on the Ford government to implement a full shutdown of Ontario’s non-essential businesses where the risk of COVID spread is high and extend adequate financial supports to help the workers and businesses impacted by the interruption.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas is seeking unanimous consent to immediately pass a private member’s motion. Agreed? I heard a no.

The member for Algoma–Manitoulin has informed me he has a point of order.

Mr. Michael Mantha: Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to immediately pass private member’s motion 136, calling on the Ford government to provide financial assistance for small businesses not eligible for other supports during the pandemic.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member is seeking unanimous consent of the House to immediately pass a private member’s motion. Agreed? I heard a no.

COVID-19 deaths

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Brampton Centre has informed me she has a point of order.

Ms. Sara Singh: I seek unanimous consent for the House to observe a moment of silence for the 150 Ontarians who have succumbed to COVID-19 over the past week.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Brampton Centre is seeking the unanimous consent of the House to observe a moment’s silence for the 150 Ontarians who have succumbed to COVID-19 over the past week. Agreed? Agreed. I’ll ask members to please rise.

The House observed a moment’s silence.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you very much. Members, please take your seats.

The member for Don Valley East apparently has a point of order as well.

Mr. Michael Coteau: I seek unanimous consent to move a motion regarding the immediate passage of Bill 247, the Paid Personal Emergency Leave Now Act.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Don Valley East is seeking the unanimous consent of the House for the immediate passage of Bill 247. Agreed? I heard a no.

Question Period

COVID-19 response

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Last week the government made an announcement that was so devastating, it literally led to physicians sobbing when they heard it. Doug Ford of course, as we all now know, made decisions not based on public health at all but, rather, based on politics and polling. His decisions, based on these kinds of factors, have really caused a ravaging of communities, a ravaging of families to COVID-19 in this province.

Today he had a chance. Today he had a chance to do the right thing and actually implement the recommendations of the science table: paid sick days for all workers; really, truly closing non-essential businesses and giving them the support they need, as well as their workers need, to get through these next several weeks; making sure that every hot spot has the vaccines that they need, that the priority goes there to stop the spread of this deadly, deadly virus. He didn’t do any of those things today when he made his press conference—none.

How much longer are Ontarians going to have to wait for their Premier to do the right thing, base his decisions on public health and science and save lives and stop the spread of this virus?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members, please take their seats. Government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Of course, that is exactly what we’ve been doing since the start of this pandemic. As I mentioned the other day, when we took office, we had a provincial lab system that could handle 5,000 tests a day. That is up to 75,000 tests because of the hard work of this government. We had a long-term-care system that was in peril. We have made significant investments to increase that. We had a system that has one of the lowest ICU capacities per capita in North America. We moved very quickly to upgrade that capacity and to put resources in place for health and human resources to cover those ICUs.

We added critical care access to the system. We’re bringing vaccines into hot spots. We’re bringing vaccines into essential services. We have vaccinated over four million people in the province of Ontario, despite the fact that we have been having unreliable vaccine delivery from the federal government.

There is a lot of work that has been done. There is more to do, and we will get the job done on behalf of the people of the province of Ontario.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, they haven’t gotten the job done yet. There are 806 people with COVID-19 in our ICUs today—806. It’s a dire situation in this province. The only people who don’t seem to get that is this government.

Surgeries are now being cancelled, and in response to what both the Minister of Health and the Solicitor General had to say yesterday, Shady Ashamalla, head of general surgery at Sunnybrook hospital, said this—this is around the triage, which today they claim isn’t happening. But the doctors are saying this: “There is triage. We are long past the point of standard of care.”

Dr. Nir Lipsman, from Sunnybrook, a neurosurgeon at that health sciences centre, said this: “Man in 20s with life-threatening brain hemorrhage, the most urgent of urgent cases. Can’t take to OR, they’re full of patients waiting for ICU bed. Meanwhile, pressure grows, life slipping away.”

The crisis is getting worse day by day. When will the people of Ontario have a government that takes it seriously and acts on the recommendations of the science table?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Minister of Health.

Hon. Christine Elliott: We do take the situation very seriously, have since the beginning of this pandemic and have taken steps to build our hospital capacity since day one, since this started. We’ve built over 3,100 new beds in this province since the pandemic began, six-community-hospital size. We’ve also increased our intensive care capacity by 14%. We’ve initiated programs so that we can use the entire capacity of our health system, by being able to do the patient transfers, which are happening on a daily basis, and by redeploying staff to make sure that as we create more spaces, we have the staff to activate them and to work in them.

We’ve also created two new field hospitals at Sunnybrook. We’re also building one in Hamilton. We are creating the capacity that we need so that if people in Ontario need to be in an intensive care bed, there will be one there for them.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The final supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, while this—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for York Centre will come to order.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: While this government is lost in a quagmire of internal politics and worried about polling, people are dying and hospitals are in an absolute scramble.

Nearly a week has gone by since the government first learned of the science table recommendations—over a week, actually, since they learned of it. It’s been a week since the failure of an announcement that they made on Friday and it’s about three months since the science table has been warning this government about what would happen in the third wave if they didn’t bring the right policies to bear. Of course, we all saw that they didn’t, so here we are.

Yet the government still refuses to act on the recommendations of the science table, while people lose their lives, while entire communities are aflame with COVID-19. How much longer before the government starts doing what they should be doing: bring in paid sick days, close down those non-essential businesses and give them the support they need, make sure that we’re addressing the COVID fire in the hot spots? How much longer?

Hon. Christine Elliott: Since the beginning of this pandemic, we have relied on the advice and recommendations given to us by Dr. Williams, our Chief Medical Officer of Health, and others, by other medical experts and by other tables, including the science advisory table. They have provided the critical data and modelling that has allowed us to be able to make the decisions that we have made up until now. They advised us to put the emergency brake on, which we did do, and then recommended the stay-at-home order, which we did do. They also recommended that we reduce mobility, which we did do.

We have taken their advice. They advised us we needed to increase hospital capacity, which we did do. We have followed the advice of the medical experts since the beginning, and we will continue to do that until we get everyone in Ontario who wants to receive a vaccination vaccinated. That is what we’ll continue to do. Our medical experts are the ones that are providing us with that advice and counsel, and have since the beginning.

COVID-19 response

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is to the Deputy Premier. This morning the Premier said the decisions aren’t easy. But there are the right decisions that need to be made and this government has not made them.

There’s no doubt, as was mentioned by the government House leader, that the hospital system was in disarray: years of cuts and frozen budgets, cutbacks by this government to public health before the pandemic hit, a failure to listen to the public health advice warnings about COVID-19 and especially the huge failure in February, when they were warned what needed to happen to avoid exactly where we are now. They were warned by the science table.

Now, people are dying in our emergency rooms and an ICU doctor in Barrie literally just told his vice-president that this situation is catastrophic. This is catastrophic. That’s what the doctors on the front lines are saying.

How can this government justify where we are? We didn’t get here overnight, for sure, but how can they justify not taking the actions that they should have been taking all along?

Hon. Christine Elliott: Necessary actions have been taken all along since the beginning of this pandemic to grow our hospital capacity. We also set up the framework which we are following. We also set up the emergency brake for the entire province, followed by the emergency stay-at-home order and the other emergency orders that we had to bring forward.

It was recommended that we stop with our surgeries and procedures for a period of time—not because we wanted to, but because we knew we had to create the space in our hospitals to be able to care for COVID patients, as well as other patients who come in during an emergency. We also were advised that we needed to build up our staff, which we are doing with the redeployment of staff from Ontario Health and the former LHINs. We are receiving assistance from some other provinces in Canada with staff, as well. We are doing whatever we need to do in order to create that capacity so that we have spaces for people in our emergencies and people in our intensive care units.

But it’s also really important to blunt that transmission of the variants. That is why we had to bring the emergency stay-at-home order forward to reduce mobility, to get people to please stay at their homes, to please follow public health measures so that we can blunt the transmission of these variants, which is a totally different situation from what we were dealing with in the first wave. But we are dealing with it. We’re asking people to please continue to follow those public health measures so that we will be able to curb that transmission, as we are doing in hot-spot areas.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, it is beyond belief that this Minister of Health is still, to this very moment, not listening to what the experts are saying and not listening to the recommendations of the science table. Instead, they are blaming people. She just did it again, blaming people. Stop blaming people. Stop closing parks. Stop bringing police powers into Ontario that everybody knows were wrong.

We need to have some focus here. We need a government that’s doing its job. We need to close non-essential businesses and support them through. We need to move vaccines to the places they’re needed most, where COVID is raging. And we need paid sick days for every worker in this province.

How long are Ontarians going to have to wait? Will they ever get the recommendations passed through this cabinet and this government to save Ontarians’ lives and stop this COVID spread?

Hon. Christine Elliott: Through you, Speaker, I would like to say to the leader of the official opposition: Don’t make suppositions about what you think I’m thinking and what I am saying. I am not in any way accusing the public of anything.

I am working to protect the health and safety of the people of Ontario, and have since the beginning of this. That is why we have taken the steps that we’ve taken to bring the stay-at-home order forward. That’s why we’ve taken the steps to reduce the surgeries and procedures, unfortunately, for a short period of time, so that we will have the capacity in our hospitals. That’s why we are having to move people around to places where they can be served, using our entire health system capacity.

That is why we’ve designated the hot spots, because we know that’s where we need to concentrate our efforts in order to reduce transmission across the entire province. That is why we’re designating 25% of all the vaccines coming forward now into those hot spots where they’re absolutely needed. That is why we’re introducing the pop-up clinics and extending hours, so that people can get the vaccines that they need.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The final supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, we heard the government House leader try to slough off their huge error on Friday as a communications mistake, that it was some small mistake they made. Everybody knows that that’s not true. It was an embarrassment that the government tried to suggest that that’s all it was: a communications problem.

Hot spots still don’t have vaccines at places like—well, actually some of them do, but the lineups go for miles and miles at places like the Driftwood Community Centre. The lines are huge. Whole families are still getting sick from contracting COVID-19 at non-essential businesses. There are no paid sick days in our province. Dr. Irfan Dhalla from Unity Health said this: “How many lives would have been saved if we had provided paid time off in January...? Or, even better, before the second wave?”

Does the Premier or the government have an answer to this? When are we going to get real, accessible paid sick days for every worker in our province?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Of course, we are moving very quickly to ensure that essential workers have access to a paid sick day regime.

As we said, we were very disappointed on Monday that the federal government did not honour the commitment that we thought we had in place to supplement paid sick days, to fill in some of those gaps that had become very clear as a third wave started hitting across Canada, every province in the country—and some of the things that we saw, of course, in Europe, Germany, France and a number of other jurisdictions that had been in a third wave before us.

We are working very diligently to ensure that a very comprehensive paid sick day program comes forward for the workers of the province of Ontario.

Just the other day, I was speaking to a good friend of mine, Mr. Baljit Sierra, who I referenced the other day in the House. He talked to me about how hard his workers have been working. He, of course, does provide sick pay benefits for his workers. He gave us some great suggestions.

Very soon, we’re going to be bringing forward a very comprehensive plan to cover the gaps in the federal system.

COVID-19 immunization

Ms. Sara Singh: My question is for the Deputy Premier.

Yesterday, Peel’s chief medical officer revealed that Brampton’s positivity rate has reached a staggering 22.4%. That means that one in every five COVID-19 tests is coming back positive. Dr. Loh said that community members who come into contact with one another should just “assume that they might have COVID.”

Speaker, the Premier let the pandemic completely go unchecked in Brampton. They failed to provide equitable distribution of vaccines to our community, they didn’t protect essential workers with paid sick days, and now community members and front-line workers are at more risk than ever. The COVID-19 crisis has reached unthinkable levels in our community.

Why is the Premier ignoring our pleas for help in Brampton?

Hon. Christine Elliott: We have been providing the communities across the province of Ontario—all 34 public health units—with an equitable distribution of vaccines based on population, also based on risk.

Peel region definitely has a higher level of risk—we certainly recognize that—as does Toronto. That’s why we have been expanding the solution for Brampton, particularly, by taking 25% of all of the vaccines that are coming in in the future, going to hot spots in the province of Ontario.

There are 11 postal codes in Brampton that have been identified as hot spots, and extra vaccines will be going there. We also have a variety of distribution channels. Speaker, I would say that William Osler has the Brampton Civic Hospital, the Chinguacousy Wellness Centre; Trillium Health Partners has Mississauga Hospital, University of Toronto Mississauga. There are 18 hot spots pop-ups in Brampton and Peel. There are 61 pharmacies in Brampton right now that are administering vaccines. So Brampton will be getting an extra number of vaccines, and we’ll have those available in a variety of locations.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question?

Ms. Sara Singh: Speaker, what the government is allocating—25% of the vaccines—is still well below the 50% that the science table recommends. So I can appreciate what the Minister of Health is trying to say here, but we’re still not getting our fair share.

Brampton is a city full of essential workers who have to show up to work so that other people can stay home. It’s bad enough that the Premier refused to provide them with paid sick days, but now he’s refusing to provide access to vaccines that our community desperately needs.

Yesterday, Mayor Brown had to make a public plea, begging for the Premier to expand vaccine access in our community, because case counts and hospitalizations are continuing to rise.

Speaker, we are experiencing some of the highest positivity rates in the province—nearly double what Toronto is experiencing. Why do our mayor and community members still have to continue to beg this government for assistance for vaccines? And what is this government going to do to help make sure that Bramptonians will get through this next wave?

Hon. Christine Elliott: Our government already recognizes that there are concerns in Peel region, and Brampton in particular. That is why we are concentrating an extra level of vaccines to be delivered to Brampton. There are 11 hot spots that have been identified in that area. We are providing extra vaccines there.

It’s also important to note that in addition to the pharmacies that are providing them—61 pharmacies in Brampton—we’ve also worked with Shoppers Drug Mart for 20 locations to have 24/7 availability of vaccines to make it convenient for people to come in whenever they are able to, knowing that many people are working during the day and have to go to work. There are 20 locations that are offering these 24/7 vaccine clinics, and six of those 20 are going to be active in Brampton. We recognize the difficulties there. We are sending more vaccines there, and we are making them more available.

COVID-19 immunization

Mr. Robert Bailey: My question is to the Minister of Health and Deputy Premier. Mr. Speaker, my constituents, like all Ontarians, are anxious to get their COVID-19 vaccinations. I hear from so many constituents who say that vaccination is the one hope they have been waiting for and the first step to returning to a somewhat normal life. My constituents also tell me they just want to feel safe when going out to do everyday things, like grab a coffee or get some groceries.

Can the Minister of Health tell this House what our government is doing to expand vaccinations across the province and help more Ontarians feel that sense of relief?

Hon. Christine Elliott: Thank you to my colleague from Sarnia–Lambton for that important question. As we know, Ontarians are anxious to get their vaccines, and we are anxious to get them to them. That’s why, this week, under the guidance of Health Canada, we announced that we were going to extend vaccine eligibility for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at pharmacies and primary care settings to individuals over the age of 40. By doing so, we’re able to offer the protection of the vaccine to more Ontarians earlier than anticipated.

With the supply of AstraZeneca available at this time, this expansion significantly increased access to vaccines in hot-spot communities. In fact, yesterday, our pharmacies had a record-breaking day by vaccinating over 135,000 Ontarians with their first shot. We will continue to work with all of our partners to ensure that everyone who wants a vaccine will get a vaccine as soon as possible.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question?

Mr. Robert Bailey: Thank you, Minister, for that answer. I know my constituents are also thrilled to be able to access first doses and my pharmacists are happy to support our mass vaccination program.

Mr. Speaker, like everyone else in this province, I’ve heard concerns about supply issues with the COVID-19 vaccines. Can the minister update this House on the progress of our provincial vaccination campaign?

Hon. Christine Elliott: Thank you again for that question. In addition to yesterday’s record-breaking pharmacy numbers, we also hit a record for the total number of doses administered in a day by vaccinating over 130,000 people. This means that we have now administered over 4.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccination. Although we have faced vaccine shortages from the federal government, we are working with all partners to get as many vaccines into arms as possible.

And finally, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report to the House that we are on track to vaccinate 40% of adult Ontarians with their first dose by the end of this month.

COVID-19 response

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: My question is to the Premier. We never should have gotten to this point where critical care triage becomes a possibility, but the government’s choice to put politics before public health has brought ICUs to the breaking point. In Ontario, we have seen again and again that anti-Indigenous bias, anti-Indigenous racism is systemic in our health care. We are often scared to get medical care we need because of racism.

What protections are in place to ensure Indigenous and other racialized patients don’t get wrongly triaged as a lower priority for intensive care when needed?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Minister of Health.

Hon. Christine Elliott: I thank the member very much for the question. There has been no triage protocol that has been activated in Ontario as yet. What we are doing is building capacity in our hospitals so that anyone who needs to be in intensive care will have a space.

But I can also advise the member that Chief RoseAnne Archibald is a member of our vaccine task force. She has been a very ardent member in favour of making sure that First Nations people have their vaccines as soon as possible. That is why we implemented Operation Remote Immunity, working with Dr. Tien of Ornge to make sure—recognizing the vulnerability of many First Nations people to COVID-19—that they were amongst the first to receive their shots. We are looking at second doses now.

Again, I can advise that Regional Chief RoseAnne Archibald is a very valued and respected member of the vaccine task force. We are listening to her issues and concerns on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, we had this conversation with her last evening.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Back to the Deputy Premier: Workplace conditions and the lack of paid sick days are driving essential workers, who are often racialized people, into intensive care units. I know the ICUs are full of Black, brown, Asian and Indigenous people—essential workers. They are in the line of fire.

That means, once again, racialized people are the ones who are disproportionately impacted by physicians deciding who does and doesn’t get life support.

What urgent measures is your government taking so no one is given the power to decide who gets what precious medical resources, and who does not?

Hon. Christine Elliott: Thank you again for the question. Again, I will reiterate that no triage protocol has been initiated in Ontario. Everyone is receiving excellent care. We are making sure that there is no discrimination, there is no bias—there’s nothing there. We have worked with our vaccine task force. We have bioethicists at the table. We have, as I told you, Regional Chief RoseAnne Archibald.

We are making sure that every person in Ontario who needs care will get the care that they require. That is why we are building capacity in our hospitals. To make sure that we have that capacity, we are transferring some patients from one hospital to another, because we are looking at our entire hospital system as one system, and we are using every resource available within that system to care for anyone who needs to be in intensive care.

COVID-19 response

M me Lucille Collard: My question is for the Minister of Health. The third wave has put us in the middle of a historic health care system crisis. Yesterday, there were 72 new admissions to critical care units. This week, we’ve learned that the government has ignored countless recommendations from the COVID-19 science table. The government failed to properly implement the six recommendations that experts believe will help us through this, and they further announced new restrictions that the science table has explicitly said won’t work. The government also ignored the advisory group’s recommendation regarding the allotment of vaccines to hot-spot regions.

So my question is, if the government is not following science, can the minister explain to Ontarians what process it follows in making decisions about their safety?

Hon. Christine Elliott: I thank the member for the question. We have been following the recommendations of our medical advisers since the beginning of this pandemic: Dr. Williams, the health prevention table group, as well as the science advisory table. We have taken their advice in terms of the recommendations to bring in the emergency brake, to bring in the stay-at-home order, to increase capacity in our hospitals.

We also received some modelling from them with respect to what would be the difference if we increased vaccine allocation into the hot-spot communities. We looked at several different scenarios. We have decided to increase to 25% of all of the vaccines that are coming in, as we receive increasing supply very shortly, to go into those hot-spot areas, because we have been advised by the medical experts that if we do that, we will be able to reduce transmission more quickly. That will benefit all of the people across Ontario. It will also reduce hospitalizations, intensive care admissions, and prevent more deaths.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

M me Lucille Collard: Again to the Minister of Health: I’ve said many times that the government is consistently failing to consult key players that could help in making effective and informed decisions. This week, Ottawa Public Health wrote a letter to the government to make specific requests about COVID-19 restrictions and enforcement. The board of health for the city of Ottawa health unit “approved a motion requesting time-sensitive actions in order to curb COVID-19 rates and transmission and lessen the burden on our health care sector.” These specific requests are made with good intentions to help the government make better decisions.

Will the minister commit to take these immediate and decisive actions to protect the health of Ontario residents, as well as our health care sector’s capacity to continue providing care to those who need it?

Hon. Christine Elliott: What I can certainly advise the member is that we do listen to the advice and the issues that are raised to us by local regional medical officers of health, as well as Dr. Williams, who is in regular contact with them. We have also listened to the hospitals. We have listened to their concerns with respect to capacity. We have conversations with the vaccine task force, with the local medical officers of health and with the heads of the hospitals every two or three days.

So we are very cognizant of the issues that they’re raising, of the requests that they have from us, particularly through the Ministry of Health. We’ve always listened to them since the beginning, and we will continue to listen to them, because they are the ones that know the issues in their local geographic areas. They are the ones with the medical expertise, knowledge and judgment. Of course we rely on that to be able to make the decisions that we are making, to continue to pursue the health and safety of all of the people of Ontario. We rely on them for their expert advice and judgment, and we will continue to do so.

COVID-19 response

Mr. Mike Harris: I’m proud of the work our government has done to ramp up vaccine access to Ontarians, and of course this includes giving priority access to education workers. Speaker, education workers are essential to keeping kids learning, which is critical for their development, both academically and socially, as well as for their mental health. We know getting our educators vaccinated is a key step that will help ensure a gradual return to normalcy for our students. With that in mind, can the Minister of Education share some more details about this accelerated plan to keep kids safe?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: There has been great progress in the province of Ontario, notwithstanding insufficiency of vaccine supply in Ontario. Yesterday we hit a new record of 136,000 doses administered. That is progress. I’m proud that many educators, those working with special education, those who live or work within a hot spot, are able to get access to the vaccine. I’m grateful for the leadership of the Solicitor General and the Minister of Health in working to get as many front-line workers those vaccines that they need.

I’m also grateful for the ongoing work being done to support front-line workers in the province. We extended emergency child care to them, given this period of remote learning closure, because we want them to know that, as the Premier has said, we have their back. We will care for their children as they have to report to work and do the really impossible work of keeping this province safe within our hospitals, those that work within our grocery stores, our police, our fire and paramedics and, of course, those supporting the vaccine rollout.

We’ll continue to be there for all parents, specifically those working within our front lines, and will continue to work very hard to get these vaccines to all front-line workers across Ontario.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

Mr. Mike Harris: Speaker, through you: Prioritizing education workers for vaccines is an incredibly important step that we need to take to ensure that they are, of course, safe and protected.

We also know how important it is to be there for Ontario families. While shifting to remote learning was necessary given the spike in community cases, it nonetheless poses a challenge for moms and dads, including my own family. We all know the importance of safe and accessible child care, most importantly for our brave front-line workers, who depend on it so they can continue to perform their critical work. I’m proud that our government is once again providing emergency child care for these workers. Still, it can be a struggle for parents to keep up with the cost of living while trying to support their children’s education amid the stress of this pandemic.

Can the Minister of Education please share with this Legislature what efforts are being taken to support parents at this time?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: In addition to the work being done to support reducing child care costs in the budget, the Minister of Finance confirmed that there’s a 20% top-up for the child care tax credit. That’s going to save an average family $1,500. It’s going to make a difference.

In addition, to all families out there, for children aged zero up to grade 12, province-wide, they will be receiving a cheque of $400 per child within the province of Ontario. And I’m proud: Effective this coming Monday, April 26, for all Ontarians who’ve applied before, they need not apply again. They will automatically start to receive those cheques within their accounts, which will make the system more seamless, and really at a critical time while their kids are home. For those who have not applied in the past, you will be able to apply effective May 3 to 17.

This is part of a broader plan: roughly $2 billion in direct financial support in the pockets of parents, where we believe it belongs.

We’ll continue to do everything we can to support families through this difficult time.

COVID-19 response

Ms. Marit Stiles: This morning, CBC is reporting that the Attorney General warned the Premier that his plan to expand police powers was unconstitutional, but the rest of the cabinet decided to ignore him. Yesterday, the Solicitor General refused to answer this exact question from reporters.

My question, through you, Mr. Speaker, to the Solicitor General: Did you know this was unconstitutional, yes or no?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: When we introduced the regulatory piece on Friday, we didn’t actually accurately capture our intention, and that was the importance for all Ontarians to respect the stay-at-home order and stop the spread of COVID-19.

Although the vast majority of Ontarians have respected the public health measures put in place, individuals continue to put others at risk by gathering with those outside their household—which is why we rescoped regulation 8/21 to make sure that the focus was ensuring police and bylaw enforcement officers had the enforcement tools necessary to enforce the order so that people stopped gathering outside and in large gatherings, which is, as we all know, the cause of the variants of concern spreading so quickly through our communities.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary question?

Ms. Marit Stiles: Here’s the thing: Not only did the Solicitor General and the Premier ignore warnings from the government’s top lawyers and from their own fellow cabinet ministers around the table, we also learned that the people responsible for this half-baked, unconstitutional and outright ridiculous plan to make things worse for Ontarians were party-insider-turned-lobbyist Kory Teneycke and the Premier’s personal pollster, Nick Kouvalis. Surprise, surprise, Speaker: The same two concocted that hare-brained scheme to tape off parks and picnic tables and turn playtime into criminal activity.

My question, Mr. Speaker, again through you to the Solicitor General: Why, when thousands of Ontarians are barely hanging on in ICUs across this province and more and more are getting sick every day, are you taking advice from the Premier’s buddies instead of doctors, nurses and health experts?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I will remind the members to make their comments through the Chair.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

The Solicitor General to reply.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: The science table and medical experts have told us that actually limiting movement does improve our outcomes in terms of tamping down and ensuring that the variants of concern do not continue to transfer and transmit. It’s pretty clear, in the last number of months, that those variants of concern are far more deadly, are far more easily transmitted and, ultimately, are leading to ICU bed capacities.

Our priority has always been to address and discourage gatherings and crowds that violate that stay-at-home order. We have to do these things in order to protect people. I’m frankly shocked that the members opposite don’t understand how critically important it is for people to follow the rules so that we can protect—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Davenport, come to order. The member for Hamilton East–Stoney Creek, come to order. The Minister of Natural Resources, come to order. The member for Don Valley East, come to order. The member for York Centre, come to order.

The next question.

Employment standards

Mr. Michael Coteau: My question is to the Premier. Paid sick leave is one of the most urgent concerns right now. This morning, we learned from a CBC story that after hours of debate in cabinet last week, the government determined no additional restrictions were required. Then hours later, all of a sudden, the government changed its mind and brought through rushed, ill-conceived measures because pollsters told them the decision wouldn’t fly.

It’s because of accounts like this that no one has faith in this government anymore. Now, the Premier comes out, just an hour ago, and says that he’s working on a plan. Mr. Speaker, where is this plan? Will this plan include paid sick days, and will this plan be ready on time?

My question back to the Premier is: Does this government need to conduct another poll to tell it how to build a program for paid sick days here in Ontario to protect the lives of Ontarians?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply for the government, the government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Of course, as I’ve said on a number of occasions, we were expecting improvements to the federal program in Monday’s budget. That didn’t materialize as we were promised, so we are moving very quickly to ensure that there is a program in place for hard-working essential workers across this province, who have really played a heroic role in making sure that this province continues to not only keep the economy going but to help us get past this pandemic once and for all.

Of course, as the Premier has said on a number of occasions, as all of this caucus has been working, we’re going to have the backs of essential workers in this province of Ontario, like we have right from the beginning.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary qu