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May 31, 2017

41st Parliament, 2nd Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcripts 2017-May-31 (PDF)

L088 - Wed 31 May 2017 / Mer 31 mai 2017

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Wednesday 31 May 2017 Mercredi 31 mai 2017

Orders of the Day

Fair Hydro Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 pour des frais d’électricité équitables

Anti-Racism Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 contre le racisme

Introduction of Visitors

Members’ expenditures

Wearing of carnations

Attack in Kabul

Oral Questions

Ontario budget

Government spending

Energy policies

Energy policies

Ontario budget

Hospital funding

Cycling policies

Correctional services

Mental health services

Employment standards

Hospital funding

Mercury poisoning

Senior citizens

Long-term care

Report, Financial Accountability Officer

Deferred Votes

Budget Measures Act (Housing Price Stability and Ontario Seniors’ Public Transit Tax Credit), 2017 / Loi de 2017 sur les mesures budgétaires (stabilité des prix du logement et crédit d’impôt de l’Ontario aux personnes âgées pour le transport en commun)

Fair Hydro Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 pour des frais d’électricité équitables

Visitors

Introduction of Visitors

Members’ Statements

World MS Day

Telecommunications infrastructure

World MS Day

Moose tags

Energy policies

Camp Kosciuszko

Government’s record

World MS Day

Racontez-nous Vanier

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills

Introduction of Bills

City of Ottawa Amendment Act (Bilingualism), 2017 / Loi de 2017 modifiant la

Loi sur la ville d’Ottawa (bilinguisme)

Sewage Bypass Reporting Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 sur l’obligation de faire rapport concernant la dérivation des eaux d’égout

Construction Lien Amendment Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 modifiant la

Loi sur le privilège dans l’industrie de la construction

Ontario Forestry Industry Revitalization Act (Height of Wood Frame Buildings), 2017 / Loi de 2017 sur la revitalisation de l’industrie forestière de l’Ontario (hauteur des bâtiments à ossature de bois)

Motions

House sittings

Petitions

Services for the developmentally disabled

Services for victims of violence

Nanjing Massacre

Dental care

LCBO outlet

Water fluoridation

Landfill

Disaster relief

GO Transit

Hydro rates

Energy policies

Orders of the Day

Time allocation

Supporting Children, Youth and Families Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 sur le soutien à l’enfance, à la jeunesse et à la famille

The House met at 0900.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Good morning. Please join me in prayer.

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Fair Hydro Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 pour des frais d’électricité équitables

Ms. MacCharles, on behalf of Mr. Thibeault, moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill 132,

An Act to enact the Ontario Fair Hydro Plan Act, 2017 and to make amendments to the Electricity Act, 1998 and the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 / Projet de loi 132, Loi édictant la Loi de 2017 sur le Plan ontarien pour des frais d’électricité équitables et modifiant la Loi de 1998 sur l’électricité et la Loi de 1998 sur la Commission de l’énergie de l’Ontario.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Minister?

Hon. Tracy MacCharles: I believe the Minister of Energy will be making our third reading remarks.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Further debate?

Mr. Todd Smith: It’s interesting the way that the morning has started off already.

We’ve been talking about electricity for about the last six years that I’ve been here, certainly, in this Legislature, and the mess that the Liberal government has made in the electricity sector. They’ve been scrambling over the last several months to try and make up for the mess that they’ve made in the electricity sector. Previously, on “As the Grid Burns,” we had a government that had overseen hydro increases in some parts of the province that were well over 300% since they had taken power.

Better than 70% of what the government has spent on energy since taking power in 2003 has been on new generation. Coal was replaced by natural gas. While my colleagues on the opposite side of the House like to think that coal was replaced by wind and solar, it simply wasn’t. First, as the Minister of Energy said just yesterday at the National Energy Roundtable conference, coal was 25% of the supply mix. On a given year, wind is about 5% and solar is about 1%.

They also can’t do things, from a technical perspective, that coal was doing in the system. That’s another reason that coal was replaced by natural gas. You can’t replace a technology capable of doing voltage control or load-following with technologies that can’t—and wind and solar can’t do those things.

The more than 70% of new generation that the government put on the grid has already cost us $37 billion above market value, and is going to cost us $133 billion more by the time these contracts are over. By the way, we actually told the government at the time that this was going to happen, only to have the Minister of Energy at the time tell us that the increases were only going to be 1% per year, Mr. Speaker. I’ve already indicated it’s been 300% in some parts of the province. We’re going to call that the first time that the Tories were right, because it starts a trend.

So the government made electricity really expensive, and then came up with two bills to try to mitigate that. This House unanimously passed the HST rebate last year, after the Liberals spent years railing against it when it was first introduced in November 2011. I can remember in my first election we had members who are still ministers in this government telling us why we couldn’t take the HST off hydro bills. Now we’re doing it. That’s the second time that the Tories were right, Mr. Speaker.

In front of us, we have Bill 132, the unfair Liberal hydro scheme. When the bill was introduced, the House was provided with a cabinet document that was leaked by a whistle-blower who was concerned about the long-term costs of the plan. The government first said that the document was wrong. It then said that the document was old. When the Financial Accountability Officer issued his report, we found out that the document was right. I’m going to call that the third time that the Tories were right on this issue.

Now, here’s the thing: I don’t want to be proven right in the long gaze of history a fourth time when it comes to the electricity sector. I’d really rather just be listened to right now. I’d rather the Financial Accountable Officer be listened to right now. I’d rather that the Auditor General be listened to right now.

Last week alone, we heard from the province’s two fiscal legislative officers about their concerns about the financial structure of this bill. One confirmed the fact that it’s the government’s intent to bring in a debt retirement charge—under a different name, of course; they wouldn’t want to call it the “debt retirement charge.” But this debt retirement charge is actually going to be four times the size of the old debt retirement charge. It’s the debt retirement charge coming back on steroids.

The Auditor General confirmed something that I actually said in my leadoff speech on the bill, which is that the only reason that this new debt entity was created over at OPG as a result of this bill, Bill 132, is to keep all of that debt off the government’s books. That’s a manoeuvre that caused members of the opposing benches to howl the last time that something even similar was proposed.

Yet at every opportunity to introduce more oversight at committee and give these legislative officers a greater role in making sure this legislation was transparent, guess what the government members did at committee? They shot it down every time. It didn’t matter if we were trying to bring in Auditor General oversight or not, transparency to the system, to the bill, to this government’s inner workings: They shot it down every time, at least two opposition motions for unanimous consent just to give the Auditor General increased oversight authority.

When this much money changes hands, we’re denied by government members, because, hey, they’ve got their marching orders. We haven’t even talked yet about how much money we’re dealing with. We’ll get to that in a minute.

The Financial Accountability Officer’s projections were based on two things happening that have never happened in Ontario’s history: We would have to balance the budget for 29 consecutive years and interest rates would never rise over that time. If those two things don’t happen at the same time, for exactly that long, then the cost of this plan could end up anywhere between $68 billion and $93 billion—$68 billion and $93 billion—just to get the Liberals through the next election campaign without electricity prices being at the top of people’s minds.

I don’t think it’s going to work, Mr. Speaker. I think people are still going to be upset about the increased cost of electricity, because as I mentioned earlier, in many parts of the province, electricity prices are 300% higher than they were when this Liberal government took power.

Of course, the government believes that a potential cost of $68 billion to $93 billion deserves 10 minutes of debate in the Legislature this morning: 10 minutes from me, 10 minutes from my friend from the NDP and 10 minutes from, I’m assuming, the Minister of Energy. I have no confidence that the ministry has any appreciation of what it has actually done here.

In my speech to this bill at second reading, I mentioned the fact that from 1997 until 2013, a grand total of $50 billion in these types of bonds had been issued in all of the United States, according to Moody’s—$50 billion. With the figures we have from the Financial Accountability Officer, we now know that this potential debt bond that’s being created here in Ontario is $45 billion. I want members to think about that. Over 16 years, the entire United States posted only $50 billion in this type of debt. In 20 days, this government will almost equal that.

As I said, I have no confidence that the ministry has any appreciation of what’s being done here. As a matter of fact, the Globe said it perfectly this morning: “Liberal political expedience never” changes.

What information we’ve received from the ministry through official channels has been at best incomplete and sometimes not even that. I take some comfort in the fact that in meetings with Ontario Power Generation, they seem to know what they’re doing. However, I’m reminded that, at committee, the government gave itself the power to remove OPG as the financial services manager if OPG became unwilling to do what it’s told by this government. We tried to get the government to change this, but guess what the government members at committee did, Speaker? They said no.

So, in other words—I just want to explain that further—if OPG thought that the government was trying to pay for things with this debt issue that shouldn’t go into it, the government could deem OPG to be unwilling, under this legislation, and simply replace it as the financial services manager. There’s no further impediment to this becoming a place where the government can bury any off-book costs that it wants to—none. There’s even a clause for it in

section 1. It reads, “such other costs ... as may be prescribed.” That gives the minister the opportunity to throw everything but the kitchen sink over into this new debt entity at OPG. He can throw the kitchen sink in, too, if he wants. It’s a chef’s dream, if you’re the Minister of Finance, to be able to throw whatever you want into this concoction that you’re cooking up.

You can hide anything from the auditor in it, because as I mentioned earlier, the government kept us from adding any oversight. You can violate public sector accounting standards, you can bury people in debt, you can do it all in 20 days, and you can expect to be thanked for it. You can actually run ads using electricity customers’ own money to congratulate yourself for doing this. You can purchase millions of dollars in radio ads to pat yourself on the back for creating, potentially, a $93-billion debt entity.

In closing, I want to paraphrase the American playwright Peter Stone, who wrote that, “One useless man is called a disgrace; that two are called a law firm; and that three or more become a” government. Mr. Speaker, the Ontario people have had enough of this government. They won’t be fooled again.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Further debate?

Mr. Peter Tabuns: I appreciate the opportunity to talk this morning, even if it’s so very briefly.

We’re about to decide—this chamber is about to vote on—a bill that will add $45 billion or more to people’s hydro bills. Thirty minutes of debate: That’s extraordinary, and it’s not because the matter before us is minor, but because this government doesn’t want this bill debated in public. It wants to have electricity customers pay for advertising promoting its profile, promoting what it sees as a wonderful decision, but they don’t actually want the substance debated. And that’s why we’ve gone through a process, as my colleague from the official opposition said, of very, very brief debate—at every point this government jamming it through—because it doesn’t want this discussed.

Speaker, people need to understand that inside this cream puff of a bill, this tasty morsel of reduced hydro prices for the next little while—most particularly leading up to the election—there is a fish hook. People will have their bills cut for a few years. They will get Liberal advertising in their hydro bills. The election will come and the Liberals hope—hope—that people will have moved off the hydro issue as something that they’re upset with the government about. Who knows? They may be right. I have real doubts; it’s not what I’m picking up at the door.

I have people here in Toronto who tell me and people in Sault Ste. Marie who told me that they understood entirely what was going on: that they were going to get a break on their bill for a short period and then they were going to have their wallets and purses raided.

So in a few years, that hook in this bill will catch, and people will see their bills go up by at least 7% a year just from the cost of repaying this $45 billion—and they will notice; have no doubt, Speaker, they will notice, because that increase doesn’t include all the other cost pressures in the system. All of the other factors that will be driving up the price will be on top of that 7%.

As you may be aware, Speaker, Darlington nuclear power plant, which provides somewhere in the range of 20% to 25% of the power in this province, is going to see its rates go up from about six cents per kilowatt hour to 16 cents per kilowatt hour, almost tripling. It’s a major contributor to the electricity grid, and people will notice that rise in cost.

With the Bruce nuclear refurbishment, I’m assuming that the numbers will be very similar, so for the bulk of power generation in this province we’re going to see the cost almost triple at the same time as the Liberals have set up this financial trap which will crank up the rates about 7% a year, and then leave us with rates higher than we have ever had.

The cost pressures won’t just be from the nuclear refurbishment, not just from repayment of this pre-election goodie, but we will also be paying for surplus power that we will be exporting to the United States at dimes on the dollar. And I expect that we will see more surplus power because prices are high enough now that it’s economic for people to bail out of the system, and they are—they are. It isn’t just that they’re conserving, but people are substantially cutting their reliance on this electricity system. As they do, those who are left behind face higher bills.

This bill sets the stage for destabilization of the hydro system. No one can predict how that will turn out, except likely with a lot of tears.

Let’s review again: The Liberals in their 14 years in office have abandoned their commitment to public ownership of the hydro system; they’ve decided that putting profits on top of people’s hydro costs is something that they were entirely happy with. We didn’t have to pay profits on top of our hydro bills back when the system was publicly owned, but we do now with this government.

This privatized system produces more power than we need or can consume, which means we’re paying for power we can’t use—power that we have to dump in neighbouring jurisdictions, power that we sometimes have to pay people to take. That’s the logic of the privatized system set up by the Liberals. This is a government that doesn’t want to make conservation its first choice when it makes investments in the system because that would deprive powerful owners of generating capacity from the profits they get from selling power, whether we need it or not.

So we are faced with soaring hydro prices and the Liberals are faced with an election conundrum of how to deal with this; how to cover over the mess they’ve created in the 14 years they’ve been in power—an approach that they inherited from the Conservatives and one that they have joyfully, even gleefully, continued on.

They’re going to set us up to be in a position to pay back that $45 billion—or more, depending on interest rates; we could be talking as high as $93 billion. Once they get through the election, frankly, that isn’t something that they are concerned about. Really, their universe ends when the last ballots are cast in the next election. After that, they really don’t care what the consequences are.

That was pretty much at the heart of the gas plant scandal: They were facing a tough election; they had seats that were at risk. They were willing to blow a billion dollars to save four seats. This time, they’re willing to put ratepayers in this province at risk for $45 billion to $90 billion to get through an election. Speaker, one always has to leave reserves for an extraordinary cynicism when it comes to this government, because if you aren’t extraordinarily cynical, you can’t understand how they operate; you get confused.

In order to make all of this work, the Liberals had to go through committee. They had to put forward amendments to the bill. We put forward amendments: for transparency, for regulation, for some sort of public control and oversight, but those didn’t satisfy this government.

Interestingly, one of the amendments they brought forward was to give them the power to ditch OPG as the financial services manager of this whole scheme for whatever reasons occurred to them. We had questions. Legal counsel from the Ministry of Energy was summoned before the committee. We got to ask a few questions, and then I posed the question: Is this being set up so that if OPG is privatized, they can move the financial services manager to another body? At that point the lawyer was shut down; questions were blocked.

This government doesn’t believe in the idea of a government running things, providing infrastructure. They believe in selling off what we own. So it was entirely logical to assume, given they sold off Hydro One, they privatized new power generation, that they would be considering the sale of Ontario Power Generation and would react sharply to any question that raised that in committee. Any such question is not allowed, it’s blocked, it’s shut down. Any attempt to give the Ontario Energy Board some regulatory power, some oversight, was blocked by this government.

Speaker, 14 years of Liberal government have given us an unmanageable and unaffordable electricity system. The waters are being calmed by the applications of large amounts of dollars, but, in the end, those dollars will get soggy, they will sink, and the mess that we’re in will become entirely apparent again to people who will have to pick up the tab.

This government does not care what happens to the people of Ontario. The only thing they care about is getting elected in the election next year.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Further debate?

L’hon. Glenn Thibeault: J’aimerais remercier mes collègues de la Chambre de leur présence ici pour débattre de la Loi pour des frais d’électricité équitables qui a été proposée. Si elle est adoptée par la législature, cette loi permet d’offrir dès cet été la plus importante réduction des tarifs d’électricité de l’histoire de notre province. Mais avant de parler des mesures contenues dans la loi proposée, j’aimerais expliquer pourquoi ces tarifs ont augmenté en Ontario. C’est un défi que, si elle est adoptée, cette loi proposée relèverait parfaitement.

Le projet de loi 132, la Loi de 2017 pour des frais d’électricité équitables, de notre gouvernement, contient des mesures importantes pour fournir un soulagement immédiat et substantiel afin d’aider à réduire les factures d’électricité grâce à la proposition de la Loi de 2017 pour des frais d’électricité équitables. Si elle est adoptée, cette loi réduirait les factures d’électricité de 25 % en moyenne pour les consommateurs résidentiels dès cet été. Environ un demi-million de petites entreprises et d’exploitations agricoles bénéficieraient également d’une réduction.

Ce plan limiterait les hausses aux taux de l’inflation pendant quatre ans.

J’ajoute que cette réduction moyenne de 25 % comprend la remise de 8 % équivalente à la

partie provinciale de la taxe de vente harmonisée qui est entrée en vigueur le 1 er janvier de cette année.

La loi aiderait également les consommateurs d’électricité vulnérables de différentes façons. Monsieur le Président, permettez-moi de m’expliquer.

Tout d’abord, le Programme de protection des tarifs d’électricité dans les régions rurales et éloignées, ou le PPTERRE, serait élargi pour fournir un nouveau programme de protection des taux de livraison qui donnerait un redressement des frais de livraison par les sociétés de distribution locales ayant les tarifs les plus élevés. Cette modification permettrait à environ 800 000 abonnés de bénéficier du programme, contre 350 000 aujourd’hui.

À

titre d’exemple, un abonné à faible densité d’Hydro One qui se chauffe à l’électricité et qui consomme 2 500 kilowattheures par mois verra une réduction de son tarif de distribution d’environ 75 $ par mois, soit une économie totale de 135 $ si l’on tient entièrement compte du PPTERRE.

Deuxièmement, le Plan ontarien pour des frais d’électricité équitables a permis d’étendre la portée du Programme ontarien d’aide relative aux frais d’électricité, ou le POAFE, en réduisant les frais d’électricité pour les personnes les plus vulnérables grâce à un rabais sur les factures mensuelles, en augmentant les crédits de 50 % et en élargissant l’admissibilité. Ces changements au POAFE sont entrés en vigueur le 1 er mai 2017.

Monsieur le Président, je pense qu’il convient également de mentionner que, depuis son lancement le 1 er janvier 2016, le POAFE a approuvé plus de 192 000 ménages à faible revenu qui recevront des crédits mensuels sur leur facture. Nous travaillons également avec le ministère des Services sociaux et communautaires pour accroître la participation au POAFE de clients déjà inscrits dans d’autres programmes provinciaux d’aide sociale.

Prenant la parole sur le Plan ontarien pour des frais d’électricité équitables après son annonce au début de mars, M. Alan Spacek, maire de Kapuskasing et président actuel de la Fédération des municipalités du Nord de l’Ontario, a déclaré ceci : « Nous sommes ravis que les abonnés puissent voir les résultats positifs du [plan] dans un proche avenir, avec l’engagement que les tarifs n’augmenteront pas au-delà du taux d’inflation pendant les quatre prochaines années. » Puisque je suis moi-même du Nord, j’apprécie ses commentaires favorables.

Troisièmement, si elle est adoptée, la loi éliminerait les frais de livraison pour tous les clients résidentiels des Premières Nations dans les réserves grâce à un nouveau crédit de livraison. La Commission de l’énergie de l’Ontario estime que cela fournirait aux clients admissibles une économie mensuelle moyenne de 85 $, soit plus de 1 000 $ par année. De plus, les clients résidentiels des Premières Nations dans les réserves sont automatiquement admissibles. Cela représente quelque 21 500 clients au total.

Nous aidons également à faciliter de meilleurs échanges d’information entre les distributeurs et les conseils de bande pour mieux identifier tous les clients des Premières Nations dans les réserves. Cette mesure proposée a été bien accueillie par les dirigeants des Premières Nations et leurs communautés. Parmi eux, le chef régional de l’Ontario, Isadore Day, a déclaré que le crédit sur les lignes d’approvisionnement permettrait de « réduire la pauvreté énergétique » dans les collectivités des Premières Nations. Cela ouvre la voie vers une meilleure qualité de vie pour les Premières Nations de l’Ontario.

Donc, je suis convaincu que, si elle est adoptée, la Loi pour des frais d’électricité équitables permettrait de réduire les tarifs d’électricité et de profiter à tous les abonnés résidentiels et à peut-être un demi-million de petites entreprises à travers la province. Conséquence tout aussi importante, en fournissant un véritable soulagement, la Loi pour des frais d’électricité équitables représente également une bonne action à faire.

Monsieur le Président, merci pour le temps pour parler avec mes collègues dans l’Assemblée aujourd’hui.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Further debate?

Pursuant to the order of the House dated May 17, 2017, I am now required to put the question. Ms. MacCharles has moved third reading of Bill 132,

An Act to enact the Ontario Fair Hydro Plan Act, 2017 and to make amendments to the Electricity Act, 1998 and the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour, please say “aye.”

Those opposed, please say “nay.”

I believe the ayes have it.

A recorded vote being required, it will be deferred until after question period today.

Third reading vote deferred.

Anti-Racism Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 contre le racisme

Ms. MacCharles, on behalf of Mr. Coteau, moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill 114,

An Act to provide for Anti-Racism Measures / Projet de loi 114, Loi prévoyant des mesures contre le racisme.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Ms. MacCharles.

Hon. Tracy MacCharles: I believe the minister responsible for anti-racism will be making our third reading remarks later in the debate.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Further debate?

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: It’s my pleasure today to rise in support of the Anti-Racism Directorate as the critic for anti-racism in the Progressive Conservative caucus.

Just now, as I sat in my seat, I was reflecting on the wonderful constituency that I have been blessed to represent over the past 11 years. It’s called Nepean–Carleton. It is the largest geographic and population-based riding in Ottawa. It has the largest population and most diverse in all of eastern Ontario.

As I go to events throughout the region, particularly now because of the high growth, I do a lot of community events in downtown Ottawa. In fact, Speaker, I can tell you something: On Saturday, I could spend my morning in the most rural part of Ottawa, in a community called Vernon and I could be at a farmers’ market in North Gower, and then in the evening I could be at a wonderful event celebrating Indo-Canadian culture with the high commissioner.

And I can go to an event that is designed for the African Canadian community, which I did last week at Aberdeen Pavilion, or I could be at the mosque or at the synagogue. This is important to me, because as I get to know the people whom I represent, and I have over the past 11 years, I realize that together we are a stronger community. It makes me very proud after having grown up in a very small, largely homogeneous community in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, where I’m very proud to be from, but it makes me understand that there is a big world out there.

I used to have a dream, as a young girl, that I would know at least one person from every province in Canada. I’ve exceeded that, Speaker, but the wonderful thing today is that I now have a dream for my own daughter, that not only does she know people from the rest of her country and the rest of her province, but that she understands, accepts and embraces the diversity that we have in Nepean–Carleton, in the communities of Barrhaven, Findlay Creek, Riverside South, Manotick, Bells Corners, Trend-Arlington and Craig Henry.

When I approach this position as the anti-racism critic—and I was just given this role a few months back by my leader; this is my first bill, my first opportunity to engage with the stakeholders in this portfolio—I must say it’s become an exciting one. It’s become exciting for me because I’ve gotten to see some of the challenges that people have faced through systemic racism in the province of Ontario, but I was able to listen to them to find out how we can change that and solve the problems.

Throughout this debate, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with some very interesting people. I was very forceful, Speaker, as you know, in trying to ensure that anti-Semitism found its way into this legislation. I’m pleased to say that at committee on Monday, when we met for clause-by-clause, the government accepted my premise that anti-Semitism should be included in the legislation. On behalf of CIJA, the Canada-Israel Jewish action committee, and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, as well as B’nai Brith, I get to stand here in the Legislature saying that that is a major win for Ontario’s Jewish community.

I came from a small town, as I mentioned few minutes ago: New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. It came to light just a few months ago that the first woman ever to be put on Canadian currency, outside of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, would be a young lady called Viola Desmond. Now, Viola has passed away, but I’m going to share with everybody in this Legislature a story because I knew who Viola Desmond was before I was the age of these pages who are here in this House. This is a good story for them because I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Viola Desmond. I’m going to actually speak to the pages for a moment, Speaker, if that’s okay, if you’ll indulge me.

Viola Desmond was a young woman from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. She was travelling. She defies all odds of being on the currency and I’m going to tell you why. She was about 16 years old. She owned her own company. She grew up in rural Nova Scotia and she was a black woman.

One day, she wanted to go to the Roseland Theatre. I want the pages to look around here. See the galleries? The Roseland Theatre, which is still there today, was a place where I would go when I was your age. There was a gallery, much like this, where people would sit, and then there was a gallery up at the top. Back then, in those early days, in the 1940s and 1950s, there was still racial segregation. It meant that the people who were watching movies on the ground floor were white and the people who were watching from the gallery were black.

Viola Desmond, at about 16 years old, decided enough was enough. She decided to challenge that. What Viola Desmond did is she walked right down and she plunked herself right where she wanted to, where it was most comfortable. She took off her shoes and she sat with the white men. For that, she was charged, and she was taken out of that movie theatre.

Now, by today’s standards we think that’s wrong, don’t we? That’s completely wrong and unacceptable. But she was a civil rights leader before there were civil rights leaders in the United States. She was the first to take a stand in North America that way. We’ve all heard of Rosa Parks. She was Rosa Parks before there was a Rosa Parks. It wasn’t until the late 1960s I think when the province of Nova Scotia understood that this was wrong and started to restore her. She died before she ever got an apology from the province of Nova Scotia.

But I’ll tell you something: This is instructive of what it means to be a Canadian, and I’ll tell you why. She has defied all odds—rural, Maritimer, young, woman, black—and she’s the first female in Canadian history, outside of Queen Elizabeth II, to grace our currency. She was the underdog of all underdogs. I had the pleasure of speaking and rising in this House to announce that, because what could be considered a very black mark on the community I grew up in—they understood after that incident that that was wrong. So the community I grew up in has embraced Viola Desmond.

We had a wonderful civil rights leader who came after her, Dr. Carrie Best. My parents made sure I knew who both of them were. There is a plaque on a monument in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, where we have taken my daughter so she has gotten to see this very important piece of Canadian history.

What does that have to do with the legislation, Speaker? It has everything to do with the legislation because today not only do we have to fight anti-black racism; we know that for decades, for centuries, there have been systemic challenges faced by our indigenous population, but more and more today we see anti-Muslim bigotry, we see anti-Semitism—it’s reported almost weekly. All of this will be addressed in this piece of legislation.

More than that, as our country grows, as we understand and recognize that 60% of Ontarians are either first- or second-generation Canadian, we’re not the same as we were 10 or 20 years ago. As we see around the world, people are inflaming differences rather than seeing what unites us, and what unites us are our core democratic values, the values that we share: peace, order, good governance. We share those values. That’s why people come from all around the world to live here.

But we must make sure that the children who are growing up today don’t see physical differences. That’s what our job is in this Legislature. It’s my job as a mother. It’s my job as a legislator to ensure that people are treated equally under the law regardless of who they love, what they look like or how they pray.

That has become increasingly important to me as I see the growth in my own constituency of Nepean–Carleton. I’m very, very proud to represent a riding inside the city of Ottawa. Nepean–Carleton will split into two and a half ridings in the next election; some will go to Orléans and will be represented by the member from Orléans. It’s interesting to see that because I’ve always had to have that balance of managing rapid growth and expansion, and at the same time protecting the rural agrarian roots of some of the villages in the old Carleton county.

What I’ve noticed in the past 11 years that I’ve been here is the welcoming atmosphere of not only my community but this entire province in embracing people and diversity. I’ve spoken many times about my community—hopefully, God willing, I will be back here after 2018 to represent Nepean, where I live. I’ve talked many times about our cultural communities and the sheer fascination I have. For example, last weekend I was at the Chinese newcomers’ event in Ottawa. A lot of these cultural communities actually will have events in my community or I’ll be invited to go to downtown Ottawa.

I’ll sometimes see the members from the government side who are largely from Ottawa as well, and we’ll go to these wonderful events.

I’ll just give you an example of my weekend. I told you I went to a farmers’ market. I then went to a Top Shelf hockey game. I saw little girls and little boys playing hockey, and had a little barbeque there. I had people come from everywhere—and they literally did come from everywhere.

After that we went to an event with the Kerala community, as I mentioned, with the Indian high commissioner. I had an opportunity to speak to people and tell them about my trip to India. What’s very interesting, of course, is that the Indian high commissioner actually said that India is the largest democracy in the world, and so is Canada. You’re going to say, “How does that even make sense?” India is the largest population that shares our democratic values and we have the largest country geographically.

So it was interesting and fascinating, because when you look at India, for example, they have multiple ethnicities, multiple languages. It is a very large place. What was wonderful about this particular event celebrating the Kerala region is that they actually brought people from the Gujaratis, from different parts of India that have their own different organizations. That was really wonderful. Then, of course, I went to this wonderful Chinese event. I had an opportunity to speak and to talk to people. Oftentimes I run into a former member of this place, who is the current mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, who is doing a lot of cultural outreach as well.

And so it’s really important for me when I go to these events to make sure that my constituents know that their province, that their country, does not want to see systemic racism and wants to ensure that they feel comfortable and know that they will not be judged based on how they look, how they pray or who they love, which brings me to an event that I’ve spoken about many times in this House and makes me very, very proud. I started to get bothered after the American election with all of the negative rhetoric.

I wanted to do something in my area to bring together the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, as well as those in society who may feel marginalized because of their different cultural or ethnic background. So we had a Day of Humanity, Inclusion and Acceptance. We held it at our local synagogue, the Ottawa Torah Centre.

Speaker, I’m going to go through the day because it was so uplifting. It was one of the most amazing days. I think it could be a model and a template for every member here. What we effectively did is we had the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership come in and talk about the changing demographics of Ottawa. People think that in Ottawa we’re all a bunch of civil servants and we all look the same. We don’t; we’re different people. We’re a big city; we’re the second-largest in Ontario; we are the fifth-largest in Canada.

We can actually fit the cities of Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver inside of our city boundaries because we are the largest agricultural city in the world. We are big.

But we’re also growing. We are almost one million people, and those one million people are coming from different places. About 50% of our population is diverse. I think they almost mentioned that about 70% were racialized. So I think what was important for me was to bring all of those communities together.

So we had that conversation with the Ottawa immigration partnership. Then we moved in to what I thought was a very fun exercise. A lot of us participated, including our local city councillor, Jan Harder, who has ushered in most of the growth inside the city of Ottawa. What we did then was, we had my rabbi, Rabbi Blum. I call him my rabbi. I also have an imam. I also have a minister. I think that’s just fantastic; everybody should, because you should have relationships with lots of different people.

In any event, Rabbi Blum and his friend Dr. Aisha Sherazi—she’s a young hijabi mother and he is a rabbi—walk in and they try to strip down the differences and the preconceived notions that we all have. It became a very fun and interactive process for us to go through. When we finished that, Speaker, the rabbi left his pulpit to our local imam, Zijad Delic. Imam Delic is a wonderful man. He talked about what it means to be a Canadian—very passionate, very forceful.

We started to notice, at the beginning of the day, maybe being afraid of change and all of that, to actually confronting maybe some of our own internal biases and then realizing that people are beyond just what they look like. We moved in to what it meant to be a Canadian.

Then we had Brian Lee Cowley, who runs the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. He talked about what makes Canada great. And as our passion, our pride and our patriotism rose, we then brought in four Canadians who were survivors of genocide—in the Holocaust, Rwanda, Armenia and the recent crisis the Yazidis are facing in Syria and Iran. They talked about why they wanted to come to Canada after they had survived such horrors, why they wanted to be Canadians. It wasn’t just for their safety; it was for their values.

One that I want to leave you with, one experience, was the survivor of the Rwandan genocide. She watched her family be murdered. She was shot multiple times. Can you imagine that trauma? They sent her to Canada all by herself. She spoke to us about longing to go back to Rwanda to see if she could find at least one of her siblings. She needed closure in Rwanda. So she went back and she found a younger sister. They built a monument to their family and to their community after they had been killed in a genocide. Then she wanted to come back to Canada. Now she lives in the city of Ottawa; she lives in Orleans.

These are important stories, and I’m going to finish with this one last one. I talk about my daughter all the time. Hopefully next year, she’s going to be a page. She goes to Manordale Public School, and they have about 50 or 60 young Syrian refugees. I’ve been worried about their mental health, as I have been an advocate of mental health. I worry about the kids having sufficient language resources, and their parents.

I was talking two weeks ago about some of their experiences, and I just asked around in the community. One particular young fellow was a bit aggressive, and I said, “So, how does that work?” Through a translator, the father told my friend, “My boy was a good boy, but he saw his family being murdered by ISIS and he’s never quite been the same.”

If we think we’re all the same, at the end of the day, we do have similarities, what’s inside. So I beg of everybody in this assembly to look beyond physical appearance, look beyond how people dress, look beyond how people pray, look beyond who people love, and think of those little boys and girls who come to this country for a better life. It’s important that we ensure that they feel safe and comfortable, and that they feel that their province will stand up against any discrimination they may face.

With that, I appreciate the opportunity to rise here today in support of this bill on behalf of Patrick Brown and the entire Progressive Conservative caucus.

I will say this one other thing; I haven’t had an opportunity to speak to it. On Sunday, a video arose that was very anti-francophone. My leader, Patrick Brown, acted swiftly and moved and removed a member of our caucus.

Interjections.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Stop the clock.

There’s quite a group conversation going on over there. I don’t want to hear any arguments about it. If you want to have a group session, go outside.

Continue.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Thanks, Speaker. I just wanted to be very, very clear. This caucus actually condemns racism in all of its forms, including anti-French racism, which was seen by a former member of our caucus last Sunday. I reject his implications and I condemn them fully. I applaud my leader, Patrick Brown, on taking a very significant stand on removing that individual from the Progressive Conservative caucus.

Interjections.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Apparently, they don’t also condemn that, and that’s actually very sad, but I also notice they’re all backbenchers and probably one-hit wonders in this place too.

Thanks very much, Speaker.

Interjections.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Okay, the member from Nepean–Carleton won’t be yelling across the floor, will she?

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: No.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Thank you.

Further debate?

Ms. Peggy Sattler: I rise today on behalf of the Ontario NDP caucus to speak to Bill 114, the Anti-Racism Act, during third reading debate.

I have to say, Speaker, that I rise with somewhat mixed emotions this morning. This is a day that should truly be a day of celebration in this province. It is a day when we come together in this Legislature to demonstrate unity, to show our shared resolve, our strong commitment to dealing with racial injustice in this province, to advancing racial equity, to eliminating systemic racism, to addressing the deeply entrenched—embedded—barriers that black communities and indigenous communities have experienced for decades, the hate-motivated attacks against Jewish communities and Muslim communities that have only grown more frequent in the recent past.

We have before us a piece of legislation that is taking very strong and important steps to dealing with that completely unacceptable issue in our province. Yet, in the face of this third reading debate that we are having today, I have to reflect on the process that led to this third reading version of the bill, the process that took us through the clause-by-clause debate on this legislation just a couple of days ago, on Monday of this week.

We’ve heard a lot from this government throughout the announcement of the anti-racism strategy, throughout the bringing forward of this bill, that collaboration is absolutely essential if we are to effectively deal with systemic racism. We agree, and yet that process that took us through the clause-by-clause analysis of this bill on Monday was not collaborative, Speaker. Sadly, it showed a pettiness on behalf of the government that I found, quite frankly, unacceptable. I saw the government playing games with the time allocation motion that the government itself had written.

Let’s remember: This Liberal government has a majority. They have complete control over the contents of their time allocation motion. They have complete control over how long they will allocate to debate on a bill, over the deadlines by which amendments have to be submitted, over the length of debate that is going to take place during this third reading process.

The government’s time allocation motion on this bill set a specific time deadline for amendments to be submitted, and so one would have expected that the government would honour that deadline, that the government would be prepared to review amendments that were received in advance of that deadline. Otherwise, why would they have set that deadline? They should have been staffed up, ready to review amendments and to consider the impact of those amendments on this legislation.

Instead, what we saw on Monday was that every single amendment that was submitted by the NDP caucus within the deadline that had been determined in the time allocation motion was rejected by this government under the rationale that the government had not had time to review the NDP amendments. These were amendments that were submitted within the process that the government itself created, and yet the government showed no willingness, no interest whatsoever to consider the amendments that the NDP put forward. One wonders why this government created a timeline that they were not in any way prepared to respect in dealing with this bill.

If we were engaged in a process of collective bargaining, this would be called bad-faith bargaining, Speaker. It did not show good faith on behalf of this government. It did not show a willingness to collaborate, a willingness to listen to all sides and strengthen the legislation that was before us and move forward in the interests of the people of this province on an issue that must be addressed, on an issue that has a profound impact on black Ontarians, on our Muslim communities, on our Jewish communities, on our indigenous first peoples in this province. Yet we saw the government completely unwilling to even review the amendments that the NDP put forward.

I have to say, Speaker, that what was particularly galling for me as the NDP representative during that clause-by-clause process was that the government kept telling me that the NDP had declined the government’s outreach to engage in a conversation about amendments. I have to say that my office received a single email from the minister’s office on Friday at 2:30 in the afternoon—a Friday of a constituency week, when MPPs were not here at Queen’s Park—inviting me to a conversation about the amendments. This was on Friday, when the amendments were being considered on Monday

I do not consider that a good-faith openness to having an honest conversation, a genuine conversation about amendments. In fact, what it turned out to be was to provide the government an excuse to dismiss all NDP amendments that were submitted during clause-by-clause, to reject every single NDP amendment on the grounds that the amendments were received too late, when they were received well within the timeline that the government had set in its time allocation motion.

The effect of this, Speaker, was that it prevented any substantive debate on the amendments that the NDP proposed that spoke directly to the input that was received during public input on this bill. It allowed the government to evade going on the record in any way to try to explain their refusal to listen to the input that had been heard, and to incorporate some of the very legitimate concerns that had been brought forward by the deputants who spoke to the committee.

I’m going to speak at length to a couple of the amendments that the NDP had brought forward that were dismissed by the government without any kind of explanation as to why they would not support them, except to say that they were received too late, when they were received well within the deadline that had been set in the government’s time allocation motion. But before I do that, Speaker, I do want to make absolutely clear that the NDP caucus fully supports this bill. We agree that the amendments that were made during the committee process have strengthened this bill, and that, in many ways, they speak to the input that was received during the public input.

In particular, I want to acknowledge the changes that were made to explicitly name anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in this bill. This was very, very important to many of the presenters who came before the committee, and the new language that is included in this bill, I think, goes a long way to addressing the concerns that were raised. Most importantly, it does that in a way that does not diminish the historic marginalization, the ongoing exclusion and the displacement of black communities and indigenous communities in this province.

So, Speaker, the amendments that have been included are unquestionably constructive. They are positive and I think they are helpful in moving us forward collectively as a province to eliminate systemic racism in Ontario.

Unfortunately, the same kind of openness and the same kind of respect was not demonstrated by the government in its response to concerns that were raised by multiple deputants to the committee about the exclusion of health information custodians from the data collection requirements of the bill. Currently,

section 6 of the bill excludes health information custodians from having to engage in the collection of data and the analysis of data that is just so critical to ensuring the success of Ontario’s anti-racism initiatives.

During the public input, we heard from the Association of Ontario Health Centres, we heard from Colour of Poverty—Colour of Change, we heard from the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, we heard from the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants that the exclusion of health information custodians is going to undermine the effectiveness of this bill in understanding the impact of systemic racism, in actually moving forward with effective strategies to address that systemic racism.

I’m going to read at some length from some of the comments that were made during clause-by-clause about the exclusion of health information custodians.

The Association of Ontario Health Centres noted that, “If Bill 114 excludes health service providers from the requirement to collect data that can help identify and monitor systemic racism and racial disparities in Ontario, then the broad goal of a health equity approach to planning as set out in the government’s Patients First Act cannot be achieved effectively.

“We know that racism is one of the determinants of health. It’s well documented that indigenous populations, as well as black communities, experience the worst health outcomes in Ontario. This is entrenched through systemic racism, but it is virtually impossible to address systemic racism, in particular anti-indigenous and anti-black racism as described in the

preamble of Bill 114, without collecting race-based data. Excluding health service providers from the requirement to collect data, including race-based data, is inconsistent with the province’s own health equity mandate and indeed works to ensure ongoing inequity and entrenchment of systemic racism.”

The Association of Ontario Health Centres goes on to say, “It’s not clear what rationale there is for excluding health service providers from this requirement to collect data, including personal information. Community health centres, our members, are health information custodians and have been collecting race-based and socio-demographic data for years, often with the most vulnerable populations who they serve.

Indeed, in the last few years the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network has mandated all health service providers to collect socio-demographic data, including race-based data, so we know that it is possible for health service providers to collect personal information without contravening privacy laws.”

When the NDP brought forward a motion to address this very concern, a concern that was repeated in multiple deputations during public input, instead of the government explaining why they were rejecting the amendment that the NDP had brought forward so that the legislation would cover health information custodians, the government dismissed the NDP’s amendment without any kind of substantive debate at all.

This is a disservice to the people who came and presented to the committee, to the organizations that had surveyed their members, to the organizations that are dealing with the impact of systemic racism on the front lines on a daily basis, to the organizations that include people with lived experience of racism, who understand what the impact is and, in particular, the impact on health outcomes. The government gave no explanation as to why the legislation could not be amended to address this concern.

Having made my concern clear about the process that led to this third reading version of the bill, I do want to say that New Democrats recognize how vital it is to collect data, to create an impact assessment framework that would help us understand the systemic exclusion, the systemic discrimination that is experienced by racialized communities, black communities, indigenous communities, Jewish and Muslim communities across this province. We know the benefits of collecting that data and understanding that data. We’ve seen it in policing, in education, in child welfare.

Legal Aid Ontario has done a really useful infographic about carding: statistics on carding in various communities and how they shine a light on the systemic biases that exist in policing, that result in visible minority communities and black communities and middle eastern communities and indigenous communities being carded at a much higher rate—double the rate—than their actual representation within the population.

We saw just last month, in a report from York University called Towards Race Equity in Education, how systemic barriers are reflected in public education in this province. We learned that in the Toronto District School Board black students are twice as likely to be enrolled in applied courses instead of academic courses compared to their counterparts from other racial backgrounds, and they are more than twice as likely to have been suspended from school at least once during high school.

Data can shed a light on some of these practices and help us understand what changes have to be made to eliminate those barriers and improve equity for all racialized communities in this province.

I want to acknowledge the work of my colleague the member for Hamilton Mountain and the concerns that she has consistently raised about the overrepresentation of black children and indigenous children in the child welfare system. Again, the data confirm this. We see that in Toronto 8% of young people under the age of 18 are black, and yet 42% of children in care have at least one black parent—five times their representation in the general population.

So, Speaker, understanding the impact of race in terms of access to services in Ontario is vital if we are going to ensure a province that is fair, that provides opportunity for everyone and that enables all citizens to achieve their full potential.

Before I conclude, I wanted to mention one other amendment that was proposed during the public input process. Again, multiple presenters talked about the need to establish an anti-racism secretariat and a disability rights secretariat to complement the work of the Anti-Racism Directorate. I was pleased to hear that and I actually asked the people who had made this recommendation in their submissions how they saw the work of an anti-racism secretariat as distinct from the Anti-Racism Directorate.

They talked about the need to have a completely independent, arm’s-length body that is not answerable to the minister, that is not susceptible to the political whims of the day, to do this fundamentally important work. This was a recommendation from Colour of Poverty—Colour of Change, from the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, from the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, from the Ontario Federation of Labour.

Speaker, I have to reflect on the fact that the Anti-Racism Secretariat was an initiative long ago of a previous NDP government in this province. It was a body that was created and that was embarking on this important work and was disbanded by the Conservatives when they took power.

This is something that we must move forward with. Whatever we do, we’re not going to have an impact unless there is sustained political will, regardless of who is in government. We need to ensure that there is a shared commitment to moving forward on this critical work to ensure a province that is fair to all Ontarians.

Third reading debate deemed adjourned.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): It being close to 10:15, this House stands recessed until 10:30 this morning.

The House recessed from 1015 to 1030.

Introduction of Visitors

Mr. Lorne Coe: It’s my pleasure this morning to introduce to the Legislature Jade Harper, the executive director of the Ontario Network of Victim Service Providers for Durham region, who this morning accepted the 2017 Victim Services Award of Distinction on behalf of the Ontario Network.

Hon. Tracy MacCharles: I want to introduce two interns working in my office this summer who are here in the gallery: Houman Tahavori and Christina Alulio. Welcome to Queen’s Park again, and thanks for doing a great job.

Mr. John Vanthof: It’s a pleasure and honour to welcome to the Legislature this morning Dan Dawson, who is the vice-chair of the Temiskaming VCARS board, and Monique Chartrand, who is the executive director of Temiskaming VCARS. They were also here this morning to receive a well-deserved award.

Mr. Mike Colle: Today I’d like to introduce Julia Innes, who is the daughter of David Innes, who has had a great career here at Queen’s Park. Julia is a 10-year-old grade 4 student at a great school on Bathurst Street, Hillcrest Community School. Welcome, Julia Innes.

Mr. John Yakabuski: I’d like to introduce in the public gallery this morning, from the Women’s Sexual Assault Centre of Renfrew County, JoAnne Brooks and Nancy Lounsbury, who received Attorney General’s Victim Services Awards of Distinction this morning. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Glen R. Murray: It gives me great pleasure to introduce the guests of page captain Kaitlin Grierson: her mother, Catharine Ann Matthews, and amazingly, her twin sister, Lauren Cooper Grierson, in the gallery.

Mr. Rick Nicholls: I’d like to extend a warm welcome to correctional nurses and staff here today. From OPSEU, we have president Smokey Thomas and Clarke Eaton, as well as Monte Vieselmeyer, chair of MERC, and also correctional officers, including Chad Oldfield and Chris Jackel from the riding of Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock. We have Autumn Butsch, a correctional nurse, along with Glenna Campbell, Denise Clark, Jen Mitchell, Linda Staples and Emily Morrison.

Ms. Peggy Sattler: I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Chief Neal Roberts, who is chief of the Middlesex-London EMS, who is here today for the paramedic awards.

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I’d like to welcome a couple of people today. First of all, my interns: Alex Glista, Madison Leisk, Shelby Dockendorff and William Cook. I welcome them today.

I also want to welcome Donna Tranquada, who is the mother of one my staff members, Blane McPhail. She’s no stranger to Queen’s Park, having worked here as a journalist in the past. Welcome.

Mr. Steve Clark: I see a familiar face from the riding of Leeds–Grenville. I want to welcome Sonya Jodoin from Victim Services. She’s also a member of the Brockville Police Services Board. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Helena Jaczek: Please help me welcome two interns working in my office this summer: Jennifer Bocti and Abdullatif Al-Shaikh.

Mr. Ted Arnott: I’d like to welcome my friends Doug and Dianne Penrice, who are here from the town of Halton Hills. Welcome to the Ontario Legislature; it’s great to have you here.

Ms. Peggy Sattler: On behalf of my London colleague, the MPP for London–Fanshawe, I would like to welcome Nazish Rehan, who is the mother of today’s page captain, Eesha Rehan. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Jeff Leal: In the public gallery today, I would like to welcome Ashley Fontaine from Victim Services of Peterborough and Northumberland. She won the Attorney General’s Victim Services Award of Distinction this morning.

Mr. John Fraser: On behalf of my Ottawa colleagues, I’d like to welcome Melissa Heimerl, who is here with Ottawa Victim Services and who also won an Attorney General’s Victim Services Award of Distinction.

Ms. Sophie Kiwala: I would like to welcome Kendra Drohan, a correctional nurse from OPSEU here for OPSEU’s correctional nurses’ day, and to acknowledge the work they do in our institutions every day.

Ms. Sylvia Jones: Please join me in welcoming, from the beautiful riding of Dufferin–Caledon, Patricia, Jamie, Joanie and Erin McBride. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Reza Moridi: It’s my great pleasure to welcome two recipients of the Victim Services Award of Distinction from my riding of Richmond Hill: Clive Algie and Todd Morganstein, who are sitting in the east gallery. Please join me in welcoming them.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: I’m really happy that we have four guests from OUSA, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance: Amanda Kohler, Danny Chang, Colin Aitchison and Deb Lam.

I also spot Neal Roberts from Middlesex-London EMS, and David Innes, a great member of our team.

Ms. Jennifer K. French: I would also like to welcome correctional nurses from across the province who do wonderful work every day in our jails. Autumn Butsch is here, a correctional nurse and the Local 368 VP, along with Smokey Thomas, president of OPSEU, Monte Vieselmeyer, the OPSEU-MERC chair, and, along with him, Chad Oldfield and Chris Jackel. I would like to also introduce Chris Butsch, the president of Local 368, with his two sons today, Nathan and Hayden Butsch, who are here joining us at Queen’s Park. Welcome.

Hon. Marie-France Lalonde: I want to acknowledge also the great work that our correctional nurses do every single day and welcome them this morning. We had a wonderful breakfast.

I also would like to welcome the executives who were here: Mr. Thomas, Monte, Chad, Chris and Richard. Again, thank you for all of the work that our correctional nurses do every single day.

Mr. Peter Z. Milczyn: It’s my pleasure to introduce a very special 10-year-old constituent, Daniela Farrell. She wants to be an MPP, so in two elections she might be here. She is accompanied by her mom, Kelly Farrell.

I also want to acknowledge representatives of the Somali Canadian Association of Etobicoke who have won one of the Attorney General’s awards, and thank them for their work.

Hon. Liz Sandals: I’m very pleased to announce one of the recipients of the Victim Services Awards of Distinction, Liz Kent from Victim Services Wellington in Guelph. Congratulations, Liz.

Ms. Daiene Vernile: I am delighted to welcome to Queen’s Park and very proud of Corrie Hummel, Julia Manuel and Ingrid Thiessen of Waterloo region, who today received Victim Services Awards of Distinction. Welcome to Queen’s Park, ladies.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce important health stakeholders we have here with us in the gallery today. I’m pleased they are able to join us today on World MS Day. I would like to welcome the staff and ambassadors from the MS Society of Canada who are here to commemorate World MS Day. Canada has the highest rate of MS in the world. Welcome.

Hon. Chris Ballard: I’d like to welcome Casandra Diamond, the founding director of BridgeNorth in Newmarket, an organization that helps sexually exploited women and girls. She is a recipient of the Attorney General’s Victim Services Award of Distinction. Welcome.

Hon. Bill Mauro: I have a few introductions this morning. First, my office manager is here in the west members’ gallery; Melanie Moscovitch is with us here today. Also, I have two interns here, I think, or they are on their way: Nicholas Ryma and Fatima Nadhum.

I’m also happy to welcome to Queen’s Park two nurses from Thunder Bay corrections who are here as part of the OPSEU delegation this morning.

Mr. Arthur Potts: I’m pleased to welcome a constituent, Taylor Jantzi, and also Neelam Champaneri, who are both political science graduates.

And our good friend Howard Brown is here with his colleagues Blake Keidan and Laura Casselman, and a client, Jeannette Chau, manager of government liaison programs at PEO.

I also want to recognize the Distress Centres’ Survivor Support Program of Toronto, who are also winners of the Attorney General’s Victim Services Awards of Distinction. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: I would also like to welcome Neal Roberts, who is the president of the Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs. He is in the gallery today.

I’d like to remind all members that the annual paramedic bravery awards are taking place this evening on the main stairs—at Queen’s Park, obviously—and I hope all members can join us at 6 p.m. to honour the brave and hard-working paramedics of Ontario.

Hon. Yasir Naqvi: Earlier today, as the Attorney General I had the great honour of recognizing the 2017 Victim Services Awards of Distinction. I want all members to please join me in thanking 15 remarkable individuals and organizations from across our province for their outstanding work on behalf of victims of crime in the province of Ontario. Thank you very much.

Applause.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Please join me in welcoming, in the Speaker’s gallery, personal friends of mine and long-time Brant residents: Pat Eyzenga, Jean Taylor and Susan Howell. Welcome to Queen’s Park. Thank you very much for being here.

Members’ expenditures

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I beg to inform the House that I have laid upon the table the individual members’ expenses for the fiscal year 2016-17. Members will find copies in their desks.

Wearing of carnations

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Point of order, the member from Elgin–Middlesex–London.

Mr. Jeff Yurek: Speaker, I believe you’ll find we have unanimous consent for MPPs to wear carnations for World MS Day.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Elgin–Middlesex–London is seeking unanimous consent to wear the carnations. Do we agree? Agreed.

I believe that in the lobbies all members have access to the carnations if not already on their desks.

Attack in Kabul

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Point of order, the member from Timmins–James Bay.

Mr. Gilles Bisson: I would also seek unanimous consent. We had a terrorist attack in Kabul. A lot of people died and I think we should take a moment to recognize those who died in Kabul.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Timmins–James Bay is seeking unanimous consent to do a moment of silence for all of the victims in Kabul, Afghanistan. Do we agree? Agreed.

I would ask everyone to please rise for a moment of silence to pay tribute to the victims in Kabul.

The House observed a moment’s silence.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Peace be upon them. God rest their souls.

It is therefore now time for question period.

Oral Questions

Ontario budget

Mr. Patrick Brown: My question is for the Premier. Thanks to the Financial Accountability Office, we now know that Ontario does not have a balanced budget. The books were cooked for an election illusion. The FAO said the Liberals won’t—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I’m sorry, but that the phrase can’t be used. Please withdraw.

Mr. Patrick Brown: Withdraw.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Carry on.

Mr. Patrick Brown: The FAO said the Liberals won’t be able to “balance the budget without significant fiscal policy adjustments....” I repeat, “significant fiscal policy adjustments.” What does that mean for a Liberal? It means either hidden new taxes or front-line service cuts. So, Mr. Speaker, my question to the Premier: Given what the FAO has clearly said, what will it be? Is it going to be new taxes or is it going to be cuts to front-line services?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I really appreciate the work of the Financial Accountability Officer. I was—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Leeds–Grenville will withdraw.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): —the person that continues that trend. It’s unparliamentary and I won’t accept it.

Premier?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I was pleased that his economic forecasts are broadly in line with ours, showing strong economic momentum in 2017 and 2018, and confirming strong job gains. His analysis is also in line with the major Canadian banks and financial institutions. They also predict Ontario will continue to lead Canada in economic growth. That is very good news for the people of Ontario.

Our unemployment rate is at the lowest that it has been in 16 years—great news—and has been below the national average for the last two years. I thank the FAO for his report. We’ve got a good strong outlook, and he agrees with that.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mr. Patrick Brown: Again to the Premier: I get that the Premier’s talking point is to thank the FAO. That may sound good, but the reality is that the FAO is calling this government’s budget a charade, a sham. Look at what has actually been said. The FAO is projecting continued Ontario budget deficits over the next five years. “2017-18, the FAO projects a ... deficit,” due to more taxes and a “$3-billion boost from one-time, non-tax revenues.”

Ontarians will not be fooled. The FAO is saying that your numbers do not add up. Ontario does not have a balanced budget. This is a significant deficit, and if I’m supposed to believe the FAO or this Liberal government, I’m with the FAO. The non-partisan legislative oversight is calling the government out. Will you do the right thing? Will the Premier admit that we still have a huge deficit in Ontario?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Minister of Finance.

Hon. Charles Sousa: I appreciate the question from the member opposite, recognizing that the FAO has also revised his numbers from the spring to the fall, increasing the economic growth that the province of Ontario has been having and recognizing that the trends are improving over time. The FAO makes reference to that. Independent forecasters have also assessed it, and we have actually taken their projections and tapered them down in order to be prudent in our projections going forward.

But what’s really important, Mr. Speaker, is the actual numbers. The actual numbers, year over year, have always exceeded our budget and our targets. This coming year, we projected a deficit of $4.5 billion. It’s now down to $1.5 billion and improving—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): It’s going to calm down.

Final supplementary?

Mr. Patrick Brown: Again to the Premier: The Minister of Finance is saying that the only thing that counts is the actual numbers. Well, the FAO is saying that we have a deficit well beyond $5 billion. How is it possible that we’ve got a Premier and a Minister of Finance who have the audacity to say to the people of Ontario that we have a balanced budget when we don’t? The non-partisan legislative oversight is saying that your numbers do not add up.

I want to make sure the government tells the truth to Ontarians. Is the FAO correct that your numbers do not add up? Is the FAO correct that we don’t have a balanced budget?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Be seated, please. Thank you.

Minister of Finance.

Hon. Charles Sousa: The FAO is correct that Ontario’s economy is improving. The FAO is correct that we are trending downward. The FAO is correct that our debt-to-GDP—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Inches away from warnings. Answers will be heard by me.

Finish, please.

Hon. Charles Sousa: Those are projections by the FAO, which we actually do appreciate. In fact, we appreciate others and their input so that we can then taper and—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Member from Durham, come to order. Thanks to him, we’re in warnings.

Hon. Charles Sousa: Speaker, we’ve put forward a budget. It’s a living document. We always overcome challenges that they foresee, and we take those efforts.

What the member opposite is doing is he is voting against pharmacare for children. He’s voting against increased funding for hospitals. He’s voting against increased funding for schools. He’s voting for the elimination of free tuition for our students. He’s voting against the very measures that improve our economy to enable us to come to balance.

Government spending

Mr. Patrick Brown: My question is for the Premier. Since I can’t get an answer on the budget deficit, I’m going to ask the Premier something directly. We’ve heard other government ministers try to give their spin on this, but I want to hear directly from the Premier. What does a $120,000 giant rubber ducky have to do with Canada’s 150th anniversary?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

Hon. Eleanor McMahon: I’m happy to take this question. I want to thank the member opposite.

When we say yes to festivals, like we did with the Waterfront Toronto Festival at $121,000, we did so confident it would leverage the kind of results this festival has led to in the past number of years, including $6 million in tourism spend. We think that’s a great return on investment. I don’t know about the members opposite, but we absolutely agree that that’s the case.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Excuse me. The member from Kitchener–Conestoga is warned. And I’m going to get tighter.

Finish, please.

Hon. Eleanor McMahon: We have faith, unlike the party opposite, in local tourism operators. We have faith in their ability to make good decisions about what is going to leverage tourism opportunities in their part of the province and what’s going to make it fun—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you.

Supplementary?

Mr. Patrick Brown: Mr. Speaker, again to the Premier—I asked the question to the Premier, and I want the Premier on the record. I understand why the Premier is embarrassed that her government spent $121,000 on a giant rubber ducky, but if the Premier is actually—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The President of the Treasury Board and the member from Barrie are warned.

Carry on.

Mr. Patrick Brown: If the Premier can actually defend this, and she’s not going to send someone else out to defend it, she will say here in the House that her government is okay with spending $121,000 that we don’t have—remember we’re in a deficit; $121,000 we don’t have—on a giant rubber ducky. Can the Premier say here today that she supports it? If she won’t, why won’t she?

Hon. Eleanor McMahon: You know, Speaker, none of those arguments hold water, and the Leader of the Opposition knows it.

Here is what else we know: Again, when we have faith and confidence in these local organizers—they know what works. The $121,000 that we are leveraging in this festival is now being leveraged amongst six municipalities, and that’s really important. You know what? The member opposite says it’s shameful. You know what’s shameful? That the party opposite doesn’t understand the importance of local tourism investments and is completely out of touch with what municipalities want. You are completely out of touch.

I also want to add, Speaker, that the member from Brockville had something interesting to say, and was quoted as saying: “These activities are not only an important part of life in our towns and villages, but provide a real boost to our local tourism economy.”

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I stand; you sit. The minister is to be reminded that when I stand, you sit.

Final supplementary.

Mr. Patrick Brown: I would have more empathy for the Premier if she said, “We made a mistake. We shouldn’t have spent $121,000 on a giant rubber ducky when the province is in a deficit.”

The reality is that we have homeless men and women on our streets, children can’t get funding for autism and nurses are being fired. Yet, this government thinks it’s a good value of taxpayer funds to spend $121,000 on the giant rubber ducky.

I understand the Premier’s staff are probably telling her, “Don’t get clipped on this.” Have someone else defend this ugly government policy. But once again—a third time to the Premier—will you defend your decision to sign off on $121,000 for a giant rubber ducky? Yes or no?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. Be seated, please. Thank you.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Niagara West–Glanbrook is warned. The member from Trinity–Spadina is warned. The Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation is warned.

Minister.

Hon. Eleanor McMahon: You know, Speaker, I know that the leader—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Timmins–James Bay is warned. Who’s next?

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Try it from this place.

Carry on.

Hon. Eleanor McMahon: I know that the Leader of the Opposition doesn’t want to talk about the increase in minimum wage or the labour reforms that we’re proposing on this side of the House. I know that he doesn’t want to talk about that, so he’s ragging the puck, Mr. Speaker, and he’s put it over to me. I’m quite happy to take it, and here’s why: because not only is this festival in Toronto going to bring tourists from around the world to Toronto and that’s why the city of Toronto gave $75,000 to this festival, but it’s because five other municipalities across our province said yes, too.

What did they say yes to? They told us that they want to take this duck around the province. It’s going to the Leader of the Opposition’s riding, so is he going to call local organizers and tell them that the duck can’t come? That’s what I want to know.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. Be seated, please.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Etobicoke North is warned.

New question.

Energy policies

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Speaker, to the Premier: This session the Premier has done nothing but plow ahead with her own agenda to try and save herself and her party before the next election. Take hydro, for example: The Premier went ahead with her wrong-headed Hydro One sell-off, even though 80% of Ontarians are against it. Does the Premier think she knows more than 80% of Ontarians?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I’ve had the opportunity over the last couple of days to talk about, specifically, the changes that we are making to labour laws and employment standards and to the minimum wage. All of that is part of a plan. It’s part of the reality that government, in my opinion, exists to help people. It exists to do things that we cannot do alone. Government exists to make society more fair.

Whether that’s free tuition for students who will see that this fall—over 200,000 students will go to college and university. They will get free or better-than-free tuition. Whether it is cutting people’s electricity bills, whether it’s building 100,000 new child care spaces, or whether it’s raising the minimum wage and making sure part-time and full-time workers are paid the same, all of that is about a fair Ontario. That’s what we’ve been doing this session.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary.

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Well, I’m not surprised the Premier doesn’t want to talk about Hydro One. Under this Liberal government, hydro rates have gone up by a staggering 300%. Under this Premier alone, rates have gone up 50%. Instead of doing something to fix the mess that she’s helped create in our hydro system, the Premier signed Ontario families and businesses on to a $45-billion borrowing scheme that will cause our hydro bills to soar even higher. What does the Premier have to say to the people who will be hurt by her scheme?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I know the member opposite. I know him quite well and I know that he is committed to, for example, building transit. I know that he believes in infrastructure building. I also know that he recognizes that over many years—because he knows a lot about the electricity system in Ontario—over many years, government after government did not make the investments in the electricity system in Ontario that were needed. The system was degraded.

By the time we came into office in 2003 under the previous Premier, there had to be investments in order to upgrade the system. We made those investments, and we are paying now for those in this generation. We believe that it is more fair to pay for those investments over a longer period of time. That’s what we’re doing in order that people can see some relief right now. They will see that relief come this summer.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Final supplementary.

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Indeed, I do know the system, and privatization is damaging the hydro in this province—damaging it. The Premier didn’t even give the people of Ontario or the opposition, for that matter, reasonable time to have their say about her hydro scheme. She’s ramming it through the House in a little over two weeks—two weeks—for legislation that will affect our lives for the three decades to come.

Why does the Premier insist on limiting public input and opposition debate on her hydro scheme? What is she afraid of?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: There has been an enormous debate and discussion around this province about the cost of electricity. The member opposite knows that. We’re moving forward to give people relief by this summer, because we know that that will help people, and it will help small businesses on main streets all over the province. They will see a reduction in their electricity costs, and people in more rural and remote communities will see up to a 40% to 50% reduction.

I believe that it was an important decision to move ahead. I also know that the broadening of the ownership of Hydro One was part of our plan to invest in the people of this province and invest in infrastructure. We were not—as the member opposite is, I believe—constrained by an ideology that says, “Never work with the private sector. Do not trust the private sector.” I believe that the way society works is that government, the private sector and civil society work together to improve the lot in life of the people of Ontario.

Energy policies

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Well, I don’t consider 30 minutes’ debate to be adequate time.

Again to the Premier: After months of heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story, the Premier still doesn’t get that families are at a tipping point. They can’t afford more of her hydro rate hikes. So why does the Premier insist on pushing ahead with a plan that even the non-partisan Financial Accountability Officer says will end up costing Ontarians more on their hydro bills in the long run—more on their hydro bills? Why?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: The cutting of the electricity bills across the province is part of a broader recognition that we’re living in a very uncertain global economy. Ontario is doing very well, as both the Minister of Finance and the Financial Accountability Officer have identified. The economy is growing, but not everybody is sharing in that growth and that wealth evenly.

Cutting electricity bills, making sure that young people have access to post-secondary education, building child care spaces and raising the minimum wage, making sure that people have the resources that they need to look after themselves and their families: All of that is about building a fairer Ontario. I know that the member opposite understands that. He knows exactly why we’re taking these measures.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Be seated, please.

Supplementary.

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Again to the Premier: It’s not just that she sold off Hydro One or that she’s ramming her borrowing scheme through this House; the Premier is also using the power of her office to advertise that scheme to Ontarians by forcing utility companies to include her Liberal Party messaging in people’s hydro bills.

Will the Premier admit that she’s just using these political inserts to save her own skin before the next election?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: One of the things that has concerned me and that has concerned us is that not everyone who’s eligible for the Ontario Electricity Support Program has actually applied for it or knows about it. We’re doing everything we can to make sure that people know about that program so that they can apply and they can get a 50% reduction. We are making sure that that can happen.

As I said, I know that the member opposite knows that people in the province need relief. It’s quite astonishing to me that I expect that he and his colleagues will be voting against that relief. I think that there has been enough discussion and that they’ve talked to enough people, as we have, to know that people need relief and they need it now.

In fact, the member opposite brought forward a plan with his party that actually would not have given people relief, certainly not in the short term and maybe not ever. We’re bringing relief to people. They’re voting against it. We know that people in the province need this relief right now.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Final supplementary.

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Again to the Premier: We are voting against soaring hydro bills. Make no mistake.

The Premier has focused on nothing but her own political fortunes this session. She has barrelled ahead with a massively unpopular sell-off of Hydro One. She has allowed hydro rates to skyrocket. She’s ramming through a $45-billion borrowing scheme that the FAO says will do nothing but drive hydro bills even higher. And she’s forcing private companies to do some sneaky political manoeuvring for her in their bills.

Why doesn’t the Premier get that she can’t win an election or improve her poll numbers by continuing to make decisions that sell out the people of this province?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Be seated, please. Thank you.

Premier?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Minister of Energy.

Hon. Glenn Thibeault: I’m very pleased that it’s this Premier and this government that’s bringing forward a plan that’s going to be reducing bills for people right across the province by 25%.

But let me quote Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day: “The elimination of the delivery charge will assist our citizens by reducing energy poverty in our communities. It also represents recognition for the use of the land in the development and expansion of the provincial energy grid ... Today’s commitment by the Ontario government is commendable and allows a path forward for greater quality of life for First Nations in Ontario.” That is what they are voting against, Mr. Speaker.

Let me quote Chief Ava Hill: “Each one of our community members will benefit from Ontario’s Fair Hydro Plan. This is a step towards reconciliation and recognition of our inherent rights as treaty holders.” That is what they are voting against, Mr. Speaker.

We are making a difference for every family in this province. That is what the opposition is voting against today.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Hamilton Mountain is warned.

New question.

Ontario budget

Mr. Victor Fedeli: Good morning, Speaker. My question is for the Premier. The headline on the Financial Accountability Officer’s release this morning says it all: “FAO Expects Steady Deterioration of Ontario’s Budget Deficit.”

Despite the government announcing a so-called balanced budget, the FAO confirms this is only by using one-time revenue from the sale of Hydro One. He confirmed this is also due to using revenue from the one-time sale of buildings, such as the OPG headquarters across the street.

Speaker, what business in Canada would be allowed to pull the wool over their investors’ eyes? In the real world, people have gone to jail for pulling a stunt like that. So I ask the Premier: Will you fess up to the taxpayers and provide the real state of Ontario—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. I was listening very carefully to the question and I’m concerned that there are some implications in it. It will not go any further off that line. He knows what I’m talking about.

Premier?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Minister of Finance.

Hon. Charles Sousa: Thank you for the question, because it does give us an opportunity to reinforce the tremendous growth in Ontario’s economy, outpacing Canada—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): If the member wants to test it, I will. The member will withdraw.

Mr. Steve Clark: Withdraw.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Carry on.

Hon. Charles Sousa: Because of these initiatives and efforts, we put forward a budget that not only is balanced, it’s balanced this year, next year and the year after that. Public accounts coming forward in the fall will reinforce that we’ve outperformed yet again even last year. Those are actual numbers.

But the member opposite is asking a question—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I will accept the challenge. The member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke is warned, and someone else is very close.

Carry on.

Hon. Charles Sousa: But I say the member opposite is asking these questions because he and his party are uncomfortable with supporting our most vulnerable workers by increasing minimum wage. He even had the audacity to say that the minimum wage increase detracts from more—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Good choice.

Supplementary?

Mr. Victor Fedeli: Back to the Premier: We know the government only announced a balanced budget through these one-time sales. They’re going to run out of things to sell next year. The Financial Accountability Officer said the budget deficit will continue to deteriorate, “without additional government measures.”

We saw the government trying to balance the budget on the backs of front-line health care workers; they fired 1,600 nurses. We saw the government trying to balance the budget on the backs of students; the Liberals have closed more schools than any other government in the history of Ontario.

So my question is to the Premier. Which group is she going to target next to continue this charade of balanced budgets?

Hon. Charles Sousa: We are always looking at our economic policy. We’re always putting forward fiscal plans that enable us to grow our economy. We are, of course, looking at assets that are unproductive to repurpose them, to reinvest in making even greater contributions to our economy, and that is exactly what is happening.

Part of that contribution in this budget, Mr. Speaker, is to increase support for our health care by $11.5 billion, which that member opposite is voting against. He’s voting against an additional $9.5 billion into our education. He’s voting against pharmacare, free medicine for all young people under the age of 25. He’s voting against free tuition for our students. He’s voting against the very measures that enable our economy to succeed.

As I said before, he is distracting from the issues around minimum wage, and that is what affects the people of this province. We are talking about a plan for the people of Ontario for today and tomorrow.

Hospital funding

Ms. Cindy Forster: My question is to the Premier. Niagara Health serves tens of thousands of families, some of whom are with us here in the gallery today. They made that long trek on the QEW for three hours on a bus to be here, along with the Ontario Health Coalition’s Natalie Mehra and Sue Hotte. They brought over 2,500 letters, which I will deliver to the Premier and the health minister after question period, from community members asking the government to stop the proposal to close hospitals in our riding.

The Liberal government has a proposal in place to close more hospitals in south Niagara—in Welland and Port Colborne—all based on a non-validated report, issued in 2012 by Kevin Smith, that experts describe as lacking in “total evidence or reference,” and without any formal consultation with families in my community. This restructuring will be unprecedented in Ontario.

Will the minister explain to my friends who are here in the gallery today and those watching at home why the Liberal government refuses to put a stop to this short-sighted proposal?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: I want to first welcome and acknowledge the members of the Ontario Health Coalition who are here this morning, and other community members and leaders from Welland and the Welland area and the Niagara region, who have made that trip here today to advocate on behalf of health care in Ontario and in their region.

I’ll have more to say in the supplementary, but I want to begin by saying that that party voted against our budget, which allocated $9 billion more in capital infrastructure for hospitals, including a dedicated, brand new hospital in Niagara for the Niagara region. It was the hard work not of that member opposite, but the member from St. Catharines, the local Niagara mayor, Mayor Diodati, and many other local leaders who have worked so hard over the years to get us to the place where we are today, to be able to make that financial commitment to build a brand new hospital for the Niagara region.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Ms. Cindy Forster: Unfortunately, it’s not sited in south Niagara, which is actually where the hospitals are closing.

But in any event, we know that Niagara has one of the highest populations of seniors in the province, many of whom live on very low incomes. Worse, the region has the second-lowest number of long-term-care beds in the province. Studies from the Niagara region show that the growth is actually going to be in south Niagara. So while Niagara Falls deserves a new hospital and needs one, Welland and Port Colborne and Wainfleet also deserve to have a hospital for their residents. Closing the hospitals will have devastating impacts on not only economic development in the south end of Niagara, but on the people who live in our community.

So I will ask again, will the minister listen to the experts and to the message brought from the constituents of my riding today and put an immediate stop to the closure of the Welland and Port Colborne hospitals?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Be seated, please. Thank you.

Minister?

Hon. Eric Hoskins: Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows that I’ve spoken with her about the hospitals in the region, including the Welland hospital that she is most preoccupied with. I’ve met with Mayor Campion, as well. I’ve met with other community leaders, other mayors in the region about the Welland hospital. She knows that I have been absolutely open and flexible on the future of the Welland hospital. In fact, I have instructed my officials to demonstrate that flexibility.

I grew up not very far from Welland. I understand the importance of that community hospital to the community and I will do everything I can to work with my ministry and with the community to keep Welland open. That is my commitment. That is what we have been working towards. The member opposite knows that. I’m glad that the members in the gallery are also here to listen to that commitment: that we are working with the LHIN, the local leadership, the mayors, the communities—everybody—to find the right solution.

Cycling policies

Mr. Han Dong: My question is to the Minister of Transportation. Residents in my riding of Trinity–Spadina have different options to get to work and around the city. In my mind, the most convenient way is to bike. I know that many in my community are passionate about biking. At the same time, there are many more in my community who want to choose cycling, but feel that the necessary infrastructure isn’t there to allow for them to ride around safely.

Speaker, I am aware that, on Monday, the Minister of Transportation was with the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport to make a very important announcement about our government’s commitment to cycling. Would the minister please provide the members of this House with more information on how exactly we’re making Ontario a better and safer place to ride a bike?

Hon. Steven Del Duca: Of course, I want to begin by thanking the member from Trinity–Spadina for his question and for his tireless advocacy on behalf of his community.

This past Monday, I was very happy to stand alongside the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport as we made a very important announcement regarding the future of cycling here in Ontario. Speaker, you’ll know that in budget 2017 we announced that we’ll be investing $50 million to support commuter cycling infrastructure in our province.

On Monday, we were pleased to announce specifically that as part of this commitment we’ll be providing eligible municipalities from across the province with funding through the Ontario Municipal Commuter Cycling Program. This funding will go directly to municipalities so that they can build more bike lanes and other cycling infrastructure or choose to enhance existing cycling infrastructure.

To make cycling an even more convenient option for commuters, we have also created a new cycling Web hub that will provide a single point of access for all things cycling here in Ontario.

We’ll keep making these critical investments because our government knows that investing in cycling infrastructure makes for a safer, more comfortable ride, and that’s exactly what helps encourage Ontarians to #CycleON.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mr. Han Dong: I want to thank the minister on behalf of the cycling community in my riding. As the minister mentioned, by helping municipalities improve their cycling infrastructure we’re making it easier for people to choose their bikes to get around, both for recreation and to get to school and work.

As a part-time cyclist, I know there’s nothing better than riding along a trail, discovering new towns and regions, spending time outdoors with kids, or even something as simple as riding your bike to work in the morning. It is no secret that cycling in Ontario is experiencing rapid growth as more people realize that this is a fun and healthy form of transportation.

Minister, through the Speaker to you, can you tell us about other incentives happening around Bike Month?

Hon. Steven Del Duca: Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

Hon. Eleanor McMahon: I want to thank the member for the question and for his advocacy. He likely has more cyclists per square metre in his riding than any riding in the country. He really knows how to look after them, and I appreciate his advocacy.

I’m very pleased to rise in the House and talk about this announcement because I had a great time on Monday with my colleague the Minister of Transportation announcing what is the largest investment in cycling infrastructure in the history of our province, a significant investment that is going to contribute to the extensive trails across our province and to the cycling facilities and infrastructure.

We’re also responding to the growing needs expressed by municipalities. This, in turn, is really all about cycling tourism as well, which we know grows local economies. Our Cycling Tourism Plan: Tour by Bike was something I was pleased to announce earlier this year.

Our government is clearly committed to investing in cycling, making it easier and safer for people to ride, responding to the needs of municipalities, and working hard with the local tourism officials and not-for-profits who are making this happen. I want to thank them on behalf of all of us for their diligent work.

Correctional services

Mr. Rick Nicholls: My question is to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. Correctional nurses face a difficult dual task of protecting the health and well-being of inmates while also protecting themselves. They face plenty of verbal assaults, as well as being spat at and having feces thrown at them. The good work they do is not possible if they are not safe.

Dawn Goodenough, a nurse and steward with Local 234 at Maplehurst Correctional Complex, said that “one of our most urgent needs is finding alternatives to segregation.” Mental health is a huge concern right now. To simply say that we can’t segregate without viable alternatives in place will only lead to more violence.

Speaker, to the minister: How does this government plan to address increased violence in our jails or will they simply leave the hands of our correctional nurses handcuffed?

Hon. Marie-France Lalonde: I thank the member opposite for his question, because I had the pleasure this morning of meeting with our correctional nurses, but also in the past few months during my visits into our institutions, meeting with them and talking with them about some of the challenges that they are experiencing.

First, I want to say thank you and to thank them for their dedication and all their hard work that they do in often difficult and dangerous conditions. They are on the front lines every day and know better than anyone the challenges and the opportunities that exist in our facilities.

By working together, we are committed to giving them the tools and the support they need to do their job to the best of their greatest ability. Through our ongoing transformation, we are committed to reaching our shared goal, which is to ensure the best possible outcome—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you.

Supplementary?

Mr. Rick Nicholls: Minister, actions speak louder than words. Explosive reports from Global’s Carolyn Jarvis shed new light on the crisis in community corrections due to a lack of resources for overworked probation and parole officers. Ontario’s new corrections minister stated that she was unaware of the fact that home visits were not being done. The Attorney General was even more reckless, stating that these concerns were “manufactured” by the opposition. But the fact is, Speaker, staff have highlighted these issues countless times in the past and were ignored by this ministry.

On Sunday, a Sudbury man who was issued a lifetime weapons ban and probation order was arrested after attacking a bus driver with a knife. Speaker, to the minister: Why is the rest of the province more concerned with clear issues in community corrections than this government?

Hon. Marie-France Lalonde: Our government takes the safety of our community very seriously. I want to put some facts for the member opposite: The recidivism rate has dropped significantly. The crime rate has declined by over 30%.

I have to say, with a lot of pride, that we are currently in the biggest, greatest transformation of our justice system in generations. I look at the member opposite asking questions, and I remember their failed Mike Harris era. When I go to the jails, I’m reminded about what they have done to our correctional services.

Interjection: Privatizing.

Hon. Marie-France Lalonde: I would say privatizing, but let’s not forget cutting services and cutting our correctional staff in there. We are actually rebuilding a system that they poorly managed for several years, unfortunately.

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy with the great work of our parole and probation officers. I have met with their executives and I’m going to continue engaging to find a solution—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you.

New question.

Mental health services

Ms. Peggy Sattler: My question is to the Premier. I have been raising concerns about London’s mental health crisis since I was first elected, but over those past three and a half years, all this Liberal government has done is make things worse.

Two months ago, I shared the story of a constituent forced to lie for a week in a hospital hallway waiting for a mental health bed. Last week, another constituent, David Warren, spent more than three days in the ER waiting for his wife to be transferred to the mental health unit after she had been ordered to go to the hospital through a Form 1. Eventually, she had to go to St. Thomas to get the treatment she required.

Does the Premier think it is acceptable that Londoners have to leave their community to access the emergency care they so urgently need?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: We continue to make investments in mental health and addiction services across this province, including in London. It was this government just a couple of years ago that provided more than $1 million in funding for the operations of the crisis centre, which provides, as the member well knows, a critically important resource for individuals in London who are facing those mental health challenges.

We’ve also—fairly substantially, I would say—increased the budget of London Health Sciences itself: $16 million more to their operating budget this year, in addition to the funds that were provided to them last year, which enables them to deal with some of those challenges that they’re facing, whether that’s in the ER or whether it’s bed capacity.

We’re working on all fronts. We’re working with the hospital; we’re working with the crisis centre; we’re working with the community to find other measures that can be taken to provide that high-quality care.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Ms. Peggy Sattler: Again to the Premier: Speaker, when my office spoke to the London Health Sciences Centre about David Warren and his wife, staff at the hospital acknowledged that long waits in the ER only worsen the condition of mental health patients. They said that the system had failed David’s wife.

One of the things that could help is London’s proposed mental health diversion project, which could divert as many as 3,000 people a year from the hospital ER to the community-based crisis centre. Five times I have asked this government to approve this pilot project, but the project remains stalled. In fact, Middlesex-London chief Neal Roberts, who is here today, has become so frustrated that he has temporarily withdrawn EMS participation from the project.

Does the Premier agree that her government is failing families like David’s, and will she commit to implementing London’s much-needed mental health pilot project now?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Be seated, please.

Minister.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: Of course I acknowledged Neal at the beginning of question period, and I’m glad that he is here with us on this issue. Neal himself and other paramedics and EMS providers understand the law in the province. If they receive an individual—whether it’s a mental health or a physical health situation—they are required by law to deliver that individual to a hospital environment.

There was a solution that was suggested to the crisis centre, where they could strengthen the relationship between the hospital and crisis centre run by CMHA that would have permitted—almost overnight, Mr. Speaker—for that solution that the member opposite is looking for to happen.

However, notwithstanding their rejection of that solution, which exists in Ottawa and in Sudbury and works quite well, we are working on what I believe is quite an innovative solution. We’re working with all partners: EMS, the LHINs, London Health Sciences and CMHA. I wish we were working with the member opposite. I know she’s raised it six times. I am prepared to work with her if she’ll work with me.

Employment standards

Mrs. Cristina Martins: My question is for the Minister of Labour. Speaker, yesterday the minister, alongside the Premier, announced the government’s exciting response to the Changing Workplaces Review. We heard that the workplace of today is not the same as when legislation was first created to protect workers.

Our economy is strong, and it is growing. It is outperforming other jurisdictions. Our unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in 16 years. But not everyone is feeling the benefits of our strong economy. People are worried about falling behind, even as they work so hard to get ahead.

I have heard from constituents and community groups in my riding of Davenport that they are struggling to support their families on part-time, contract or minimum wage work. Our workers want stability in their jobs and to avoid tough decisions on whether they should earn a wage for the day or take care of themselves or their families.

Speaker, can the minister please tell us more about the government’s proposed measures to help safeguard employees and create fair and better workplaces?

Hon. Kevin Daniel Flynn: I’ll tell you how proud I am to stand today and to answer that question from the member from Davenport. I’m so happy to stand today in the House on this really important issue, Speaker.

When we launched the Changing Workplaces Review two years ago, we did so on the understanding that workplaces had changed. The workplaces that a lot of us entered as young people simply have changed. The legislation needed to change with it. We know that responsible change can ensure that every hard-working person in the province of Ontario has a chance to reach their full potential.

Ontario has got a tradition of fairness and decency in our workplaces. They have got to continue to be the defining values. Whether it’s wage equality that lifts people out of poverty, paid sick days that will allow working parents to take better care of themselves and their children, leaves that allow Ontarians to take care of themselves and their loved ones, or increased enforcement, I am proud of the response of this government to one of the best-written reports I’ve seen in the history of Ontario labour law.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mrs. Cristina Martins: Thank you to the minister for his answer. I am thrilled to hear about these proposed changes.

Minister, you already know that we need to move forward in order to give people a fair chance in today’s workplace. A few years back, our government ended the minimum wage freeze that the previous Progressive Conservative government had brought in. We put together a plan and a system that have raised the minimum wage by 70% since 2003. As a result of those changes, full-time minimum wage earners in the province are currently making $2,392 per year more than they did three years ago.

But, Minister, as I have written and spoken to you in the past, you know that I believe all Ontarians should have a fair and livable wage of $15 an hour. Yesterday, you and the Premier announced that we are going further to support our minimum wage earners. I know that these proposed measures are going to greatly improve the lives of the hard-working people in my riding of Davenport.

Can the minister please tell us more about the proposed changes to minimum wage?

Hon. Kevin Daniel Flynn: Speaker, there is no member in this House who has advocated or been involved more than the member for Davenport on this issue. She has stood up for her constituents in a way that is unlike many others.

Hard-working Ontarians really deserve to be paid a decent wage. Everybody’s got to have the right to be able to provide their family with the necessities of daily life.

Speaker, what we propose to do is increase Ontario’s general minimum wage to $14 per hour on January 1, 2018, and then to $15 an hour on January 1, 2019. That’s going to ensure that workers across this province are paid fairly for their work. It’s going to help them get ahead. It’s going to help them share in the economic prosperity of this province. It’s going to support higher consumer spending. Higher wages support strong business. That’s because customers create the wealth, Speaker—the spending.

I can’t wait to hear the response from the other parties. You know where we stand—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. New question.

Hospital funding

Mr. Jeff Yurek: My question is to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. A large number of Welland-area residents are here today to voice their concern over the Liberal government’s plan to close their hospital. The hospital services treat over 100,000 Welland-area residents. However, due to this government’s fiscal mismanagement, the health care system has become rationed. Because of the rationing, nurses have been fired, access to services cut, and now the Liberal government is planning to close hospitals across the province. Area mayors have concerns about that. The replacement of their hospital will make it very difficult to recruit doctors.

Speaker, will the minister reconsider the closure, listen to the residents here and across the province, and keep the Welland hospital open?

Hon. Eric Hoskins: I’m really grateful for the opportunity to address the Welland hospital for a second time this morning, and to do it in the context, as I referenced in my previous answer, of an unprecedented capital investment in our hospitals: $20 billion over the next decade. We added $9 billion in this budget alone that that party, of course, voted against.

One of the specific items referenced in that budget was a new regional hospital—and we have many regional hospitals around this province—a brand new Niagara hospital which will serve that entire community, including the community the member opposite has expressed concern for, I believe, for the first time.

That brand new hospital is the result of the hard work of individuals like the coalition that’s here today and their fight for Welland and other hospitals in that region, which is critically important. I admire them for that and respect them for that. We will be working together.

I’m happy to talk specifically about Welland in the supplementary.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary? The member for Niagara West–Glanbrook.

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: Mr. Speaker, seniors and families in my riding are also hurting because of Liberal mismanagement of health care. Now they are afraid that the minister is going to close the Welland hospital. Closing this hospital would mean that the elderly and sick in remote, rural communities would have to travel almost an hour to reach an emergency room. One elderly family is very concerned because they have no public transit and do not know how they will be able to receive the care they need and visit their loved ones in hospital.

My question is simple and it’s to the minister: Why must you make seniors and families pay for the waste and mismanagement of this Liberal government?

Hon. Eric Hoskins: Perhaps the member opposite can check Hansard from about 40 minutes ago, when I specifically and, I think, emphatically expressed my commitment to do everything I could to keep the Welland hospital open.

I’ve met with the mayors throughout the region, including Mayor Campion. I’ve certainly met with the NDP, which has for some time, to their credit, unlike the PCs, addressed this as a concern of the communities involved.

Mr. Speaker, I will work with the community and with the LHIN and the local leadership to see what solution is best for that community. As I said before, there has been no decision made in terms of the future of the Welland hospital.

We are building a brand new hospital for the Niagara region. We’ve given them a $26-million planning grant. We’re going to continue with the capital investment. That commitment is in the budget—a budget that member voted against.

Mercury poisoning

Ms. Sarah Campbell: My question is to the Premier. Two days ago, we learned that the government’s plan for cleaning up the Wabigoon River is to offload this responsibility onto somebody else. The Ontario government intends to make Domtar responsible for cleaning up the mercury, even though decades ago the Ontario government formally declared that Domtar is not responsible for cleaning up the mercury. This is a cynical ploy to delay action on cleaning up the mercury that is poisoning the people of Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong First Nations.

Will the Premier stop these stalling tactics and get to work on cleaning up the Wabigoon River?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I know that the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change is going to want to speak to the supplementary.

Mr. Speaker, just let me be very, very clear: We are committed to cleaning up the Grassy Narrows water system. We’ve made a commitment to that. There is work that has begun already. As part of that, there is a commitment—and I made this commitment when we were meeting with folks from the community, with the chief, with scientist John Rudd, who has been part of these discussions, and with David Suzuki.

Yes, we are calling on Domtar to take responsibility, but that is not going to stop us from moving ahead and cleaning up the water in the Grassy Narrows community. That is not in any way going to stop us from doing that cleanup.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Ms. Sarah Campbell: The Premier is well aware that Ontario’s Superior Court has ruled that it is illegal to offload their responsibility. She doesn’t care that what she is doing is illegal. She knows that she will lose this latest court battle. Her goal is not to win; her goal is to delay. All the while, families in Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong are literally dying of mercury poisoning.

Will the Premier listen to her conscience, stop this pointless delay and g