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February 23, 2006

38th Parliament, 2nd Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcripts 2006-Feb-23 (PDF)

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L'ONTARIO

Thursday 23 February 2006 Jeudi 23 février 2006

PRIVATE MEMBERS'

PUBLIC BUSINESS

NOWRUZ DAY ACT, 2006 /

LOI DE 2006 SUR LE JOUR NOWRUZ

PUBLIC TRANSIT

NOWRUZ DAY ACT, 2006 /

LOI DE 2006 SUR LE JOUR NOWRUZ

PUBLIC TRANSIT

MEMBERS' STATEMENTS

VOLUNTEERS

CANADIAN WOMEN'S HOCKEY TEAM

OMERS PENSION PLAN

LOCAL HEALTH

INTEGRATION NETWORKS

YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS CONFERENCE

DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT

SPEED SKATING OVAL

DON VALLEY WEST

CONSERVATION FAIR

LOCAL HEALTH

INTEGRATION NETWORKS

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

HIGHWAY TRAFFIC AMENDMENT ACT

(CELLULAR PHONES), 2006 /

LOI DE 2006

MODIFIANT LE CODE DE LA ROUTE

(TÉLÉPHONES CELLULAIRES)

MOTIONS

PRIVATE MEMBERS' PUBLIC BUSINESS

DEFERRED VOTES

ONTARIO MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES

RETIREMENT SYSTEM ACT, 2006 /

LOI DE 2006

SUR LE RÉGIME DE RETRAITE

DES EMPLOYÉS MUNICIPAUX

DE L'ONTARIO

ORAL QUESTIONS

LOCAL HEALTH

INTEGRATION NETWORKS

MUNICIPAL FINANCES

POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION

ONTARIO ECONOMY

HYDRO GENERATION

CONSERVATION

LAYOFFS

FRENCH-LANGUAGE SERVICES /

VIOLENT CRIME

FARM INCOME

AIR QUALITY

PETITIONS

FREDERICK BANTING HOMESTEAD

IDENTITY THEFT

SPECIAL CARE HOMES

EDUCATION FUNDING

ASSISTANCE TO FARMERS

SPECIAL CARE HOMES

POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION

SERVICES FOR THE DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED

TEACHER QUALIFICATION

CHILD CARE

PROPERTY TAXATION

ASSISTANCE TO FARMERS

PUBLIC LIBRARIES

ORDERS OF THE DAY

ENERGY CONSERVATION

RESPONSIBILITY ACT, 2006 /

LOI DE 2006 SUR LA RESPONSABILITÉ

EN MATIÈRE DE CONSERVATION

DE L'ÉNERGIE

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

ENERGY CONSERVATION

RESPONSIBILITY ACT, 2006

(CONTINUED) /

LOI DE 2006 SUR LA RESPONSABILITÉ

EN MATIÈRE DE CONSERVATION

DE L'ÉNERGIE

(SUITE)

ROYAL ASSENT /

SANCTION ROYALE

ENERGY CONSERVATION

RESPONSIBILITY ACT, 2006

(CONTINUED) /

LOI DE 2006 SUR LA RESPONSABILITÉ

EN MATIÈRE DE CONSERVATION

DE L'ÉNERGIE

(SUITE)

ADJOURNMENT DEBATE

LOCAL HEALTH

INTEGRATION NETWORKS

The House met at 1000.

Prayers.

PRIVATE MEMBERS'

PUBLIC BUSINESS

NOWRUZ DAY ACT, 2006 /

LOI DE 2006 SUR LE JOUR NOWRUZ

Mr. Racco moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 63,

An Act to proclaim Nowruz Day / Projet de loi 63, Loi proclamant le Jour Nowruz.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bruce Crozier): Mr. Racco, pursuant to standing order 96, you have up to 10 minutes.

Mr. Mario G. Racco (Thornhill): I'm very pleased to rise in the House today to speak about Bill 63, which is my private member's bill,

An Act to

proclaim Nowruz Day.

Before getting into the bill I would like to bring your attention to the members' gallery and welcome some special guests of mine, members of the Persian

community. It's still early, so only a few of them are present, but there are more coming. Mrs. Mahnaz Shahbazi and Miss Samin Isaveghlou, welcome.

March 31 marks the first day of spring for Persians all over the world. It marks the first day of the new year, or Nowruz, meaning "new day." Nowruz is

celebrated with family and friends and symbolizes hope of new beginnings.

Statistics Canada suggests that nearly 100,000 Persians live in Ontario; however, this may be a modest estimate. With so many Persians choosing to live in

Ontario, it is only right that we honour their presence and contribution to the cultural mosaic of our province by proclaiming March 21 each year as Nowruz Day.

I would like to share with you a bit of history about the Persian community in our country and in our province of Ontario. Compared to other immigrant groups,

Persians are relative newcomers to Canada. As late as the end of World War II, it is believed there were only about a dozen Persians living in Canada. The large influx of immigrants into Canada

after World War II did not include any significant number of Persians. Many Persians came to Canada as part of a massive flow of students to North American universities that began after 1965. That

was in the United States. Many would remain in Canada after completing their studies and having obtained immigrant status. Following the Iranian revolution in 1979 and the overthrow of the

monarchy, and throughout the Iran-Iraq war, the rate of immigration accelerated rapidly.

There are many reasons why people came to Canada: political, economic, educational, professional and religious reasons. New Canadians enjoy Canada's democratic

and stable society, free of oppression and violence. Many Persians settled in the GTA, with a significant percentage of them settling in North York in the 1980s and 1990s. It is now believed that

56% of Persian Canadians reside in Toronto, mostly in the Willowdale riding of my colleague MPP Zimmer. Unlike other immigrant groups coming to Canada, there was no established Persian community to

help the new immigrants settle into the new culture. These new Canadians quickly joined the professional ranks as medical doctors, engineers, lawyers, nurses and dentists. Many of them had to

upgrade their qualifications to meet Canadian standards because they got their education back home. Those who came later chose entrepreneurship, focusing on the creation of construction companies

-- we have the largest high-density builders from that community -- restaurants, bakeries, dry-cleaning shops, grocery stores, repair shops and computer stores.

The Persian business community has generously supported Persian identity in Canada through financial means and promotional Persian-language journals, magazines,

radio and television programs. Advertising revenue bolsters the production and free distribution of many group publications and programs. The Persian community is extremely active in promoting

their culture and Canadian culture. There is a great deal of community support available for new immigrants from Persia as well. They host many events and there are many organization websites,

publications and community groups available to the Persian community.

According to the 1996 census, there were approximately 64,000 Persians living in Canada, or a 21% increase from 1991. The Persian community is a young one, both

in terms of the length of time it has been established in Canada and the age of the members of this community. Only 7% of Persian Canadians are over the age of 60. The largest age group is between

25 and 39. What that means is that there is significant growth within that community today. The 2001 census estimates that 89,000 Persians live in Canada. Now it is estimated that nearly 100,000

Persians are living just in Ontario. The numbers seem not to balance, but that is because there are more members of the community than the statistics seem to indicate. The exact number is difficult

to determine, as data collected is determined by country of birth or language spoken. Therefore, the data do not reflect all members of the Persian Canadian community. Over the last decade,

Persians have made up between 11% to 20% of the permanent residents from the Middle Eastern region. Ontario has the largest percentage of Persians, which is estimated to be 58%.

Within the community, Persians are making significant contributions in the area of academia and science worlds. There is a significant number of Persian

professors at most, if not all, of the Ivy League schools in North America. There is also a significant presence of scholars, professors, masters and Ph.D.s at York University, the University of

Toronto and Ryerson. In fact, I am told that at Ryerson there are 26 Persian professors teaching. That's a huge number.

Probably one of Ontario's most well known members of the Persian community is Mr. Karim Hakim of Hakim Optical. In June 2005, Mr. Hakim was inducted as a Knight

of the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta, right here at Queen's Park. Sir Karim Hakimi, as he is now known, was bestowed the honour of knighthood for his generosity and

humanitarian efforts. His contribution includes donating hundreds of thousands of pairs of eyeglasses to people in need all over the world. He also has participated in the Ride for Sight for the

Foundation Fighting Blindness. Sir Hakimi led Canada's largest motorcycle charity parade, in which more than 1,000 motorcyclists across the GTA raised money for vision research. The motorcycle

parade is one aspect of Ride for Sight, which has collected more than $12 million in donations for the Foundation Fighting Blindness, FFB, the only private organization dedicated to finding causes,

treatments and cures for blindness. The director of the Foundation Fighting Blindness has said that Ride for Sight has raised more money than any other motorcycle charity ride in Canada.

I thank you for the time. I look forward to the support of all honourable members on Bill 63,

An Act to proclaim Nowruz Day. Just before I conclude, let me say

that we in this province, in Canada in fact, tend to recognize community members because we feel that Ontario and Canada are a country and a province made from many other nations from so many other

parts of the world. I'm one good example. I was born and raised and educated in Italy, but I came here, and today I am in this honourable House. Like me, many other Ontarians and Canadians have had

the good fortune of finding this province, this country, as welcoming as it is. We in public office should never forget how important it is to make all of us feel very comfortable where we are,

because when we are happy, when we are comfortable, we can do even more than what we are doing.

I have a significant percentage of the Persian community in the riding of Thornhill, and as I said earlier, my friend MPP Zimmer also has quite a sizable

percentage. The Persian community is all over the ridings, but those two ridings have the highest number. This community has done so much, not only for themselves but for us, for Ontario, for

Canada. By passing Bill 63, we are sending a strong message saying, "We are so pleased that you're part of Ontario, of Canada, and we want to celebrate your heritage, your first day," a celebration

that they were born celebrating. Their parents, the people before them, celebrated for so many generations, and we in Ontario should, and I trust all of us will, support this bill, because it means

saying thank you to them for choosing Ontario, for choosing Canada as a place to live, to grow, to work, to pay taxes and to be good citizens, because they are. They pay good taxes because they

make good money. We should be happy for them that they do well, because when they do well, so do we.

Also, I can assure you that it is a community which respects and loves the laws of this province and this country. I can think of a number of occasions when I

saw members of the community participating at functions, participating in the Chief LaBarge events, and in the community at large.

I say to them, thank you for choosing Ontario, thank you for choosing Canada, and I thank this honourable House for supporting the bill.

The Deputy Speaker: Further debate?

Mr. Rosario Marchese (Trinity-Spadina): I'm pleased to support the bill introduced by the member from Thornhill. I want to say that I'll be

sharing my time with my colleague from Beaches-East York, who will probably make more anthropological remarks than I will, except to say that this holiday is the most revered celebration in the

greater Persian world, and we understand it has been celebrated for 3,000 years. So strong is the support for this celebration that when the theocratic government of Iran came to power in 1979,

Nowruz was banned because the government wanted to recognize only Islamic holidays and considered Nowruz a pagan celebration. But we know that the people wouldn't have any of it. It's the most

popular holiday in Iran, and most people continued to celebrate it anyway; thus, finally, the government of the day had to lift the ban. We know that this celebration is strongly rooted in their

traditions and strongly revered, so we acknowledge and celebrate with them today this most revered holiday.

I also want to extend my acknowledgement to a friend of mine whose name is Mehdi Kouhestani, who is the national representative of the international department

of the Canadian Labour Congress and also is the former Ontario CUPE council president. We have known each other for quite some time, and I wanted to, by way of friendship, extend my good thoughts

on their celebrations of this holiday.

I want to add that, as much as the member from Thornhill would like to celebrate this tradition in a very cheerful, happy way, I know that many of the guests who

are here today watching this announcement would like me to talk about something else, and that is the issue of access to trades and professions. We know that many of the people from Iran and the

greater Persian world come to this country well prepared academically, that they are very well educated, and when they come here, many of them are not able to get the kinds of jobs they are looking

for. I know that Mr. Racco, as he is speaking to some of our guests, is probably telling them how hard he is working to make sure they are able to get the jobs they so desperately want to get. I'm

sure that's the kind of communication that's going on while he is there saying hello.

The point is that we on this side of the House, including my colleague Tony Ruprecht, who is very big on this issue -- I am sure that daily in the Liberal

caucus, if not weekly at the caucus meetings, he is speaking --

Mr. Tony Ruprecht (Davenport): Hourly.

Mr. Marchese: I'm not sure about hourly -- is speaking to the obstacles that many people who come from the greater Persian world are looking at

in the way of getting the jobs that they deserve. And Tony Ruprecht from Davenport is constantly fighting to remove the barriers faced by engineers, nurses, teachers, doctors -- constantly. That is

why he is going to stand up here today to celebrate the Liberal accomplishments in this field, with the help of New Democrats, of course, to push him along the way.

We know that we have the most educated taxi drivers in the world, who would love to be able to get jobs as engineers, doctors, nurses and teachers but are not

able to. I am sure they want us to talk about that today. It isn't just a matter of celebrating their arrival to the country and that they should be working and paying taxes; it's a matter of

making sure, when they come to this country with the greatest of hopes and expectations to be able to land a job, that they ought to get it. The member from Davenport knows full well that many of

these people who come to this country are not getting it, because for years he has been fighting on their behalf, and he's going to speak to us about the successes he is having in this caucus to

get rid of those barriers.

While it is true that many who are doctors are getting a little more access to being able to practise -- and dare I say that the reason they are getting some of

those doctors' jobs is because the country and the province need them? If it didn't need them, the good regulatory body, which I've criticized from time to time and don't praise enough, would not

have broken down some of those barriers to enable them to practise. We need them, therefore the regulatory body says, "Okay, we'll open the door a little bit."

But do you think the regulatory boards of engineering have done the same? Tony Ruprecht knows they haven't, and he is lobbying day in and day out to make sure it

happens while he's in government. The Liberal government, my God, is so great and so good that the barriers are just coming down day in and day out. We have the most educated taxi drivers, from the

Persian world, waiting for the Liberal government to pry those doors open, waiting and waiting as Tony Ruprecht and others in that caucus, Mario Racco included, are just fighting it out in caucus

every week, saying, "We've got to do more."

It's about celebrating Nowruz today, yes, but it's about breaking down barriers; it's about making sure that these communities make a little more money so they

can pay a little more tax to the Ontario and Canadian governments. Mario Racco is speaking to this. He's going to have two or four minutes at the end of the day to talk about what the Liberal

government is doing to make sure that these guests who are here today have better wages and better opportunities at jobs, so they can be better taxpayers here in Canada and Ontario. He'll speak to

that in the next little while, I'm sure.

But my friend Mehdi Kouhestani, from the Canadian Labour Congress, released a study that reported that Canadian-born visible minorities faced the highest

barriers to steady, well-paying jobs of any group in the country. This barrier is expected to worsen, not get better. Canadian-born Arabs, Persians and west Asians experience a 14% unemployment

rate. Canadian-born South Asians experience a 9.6% unemployment rate.

So what do I say to Mario Racco, the member from Thornhill, and others who might be speaking to this? We celebrate Nowruz today, but we would celebrate it more

and with greater satisfaction if we knew that we were getting rid of the barriers to their employment and if we knew that they were getting well-paying jobs so they could be happy Canadians.

Mr. Jim Brownell (Stormont-Dundas-Charlottenburgh): It is indeed a pleasure for me to stand today in support of Bill 63,

An Act to proclaim

Nowruz Day. I certainly commend the member from Thornhill for bringing this forward. I trust that some people would come to the conclusion that, being a member from eastern Ontario, what am I up on

my feet for? I have had a long association with history and heritage in my riding -- I'm still associated with three historical societies -- and with that and my work in education, I have always

been very happy and excited about promoting not only the old heritages that we had in eastern Ontario but the new heritages that we celebrate in our community.

Eastern Ontario has had a long history of immigration, back to the Scottish, Irish, German, the Loyalist history, joining with the Mohawks who had settlements on

the St. Lawrence River in my area and the Mohawk community of Akwesasne, where we still have great celebrations. This summer, I'm going to be attending their powwow. These are the things that we

celebrate in eastern Ontario.

But as our province has evolved over the past couple of hundred years, we have in recent years welcomed many new and very diverse populations to our community,

people of Chinese, Irish, Polish and Pakistani descent.

It was just last Saturday that my wife and I were in the community celebrating with the Italian Canadian sports club, a great celebration where they had a dinner

and dance. It was just another opportunity to celebrate with those who, from around the globe, come to our community and bring their cultures. They bring unique traditions with them, they enhance

our cultural fibre and they have made our province what it is.

In my area too, the Cornwall and District Immigrant Services Agency has worked very hard to welcome our new Canadians; even those of Persian descent we welcome.

In my community too, I look at the Quilt of Belonging. The Persian culture and history was recognized on the Quilt of Belonging, a brainchild of Esther Bryan. That quilt is touring in northern

Canada; it is now at Rankin Inlet. I'm happy to say that three constituents from my riding, John and Susan Towndrow and their son Lee, are touring with that quilt and bringing many, many cultures

to citizens across this country.

The member from Thornhill's bill will have the same effect that we have with that quilt, with the heritage I celebrate in eastern Ontario, because it will

recognize the distinct contribution of Persian Canadians to our province. They have a great culture and they wish to respect and celebrate their traditions here in our province. I laud that. I

lauded that for 32 and a half years in my classroom with the students I taught, and I continue to do that as I work for my constituents back home, bringing these celebrations into the

community.

Nowruz, the Persian new year, is a festival that traces its origin back over 3,000 years to one of the world's oldest religions, Zoroastrianism. We have a

community wanting to celebrate that new year because it really is a time when they celebrate cleansing. It is a time where they celebrate with the spring cleaning of home and person, with fire and

with family. This celebration will give thanks to the prosperity of this province, for the work they do in this province, and it will be that new beginning. It certainly is a time of celebration.

They have had a new beginning in our province, where they've come into our community and have been excited about celebrating.

I certainly laud and thank the member from Thornhill for having the initiative to bring this forward and to celebrate with those of Persian descent.

Mr. David Zimmer (Willowdale): I'm very happy to speak in favour of this. Nowruz means "new day." It's a celebration that I understand has been

going on for many thousands of years in Persia. It's always celebrated on the first day of spring. That is significant, because spring, as you know, celebrates renewal. We've come through the

winter successfully, people have survived winter, and the first day of spring is the renewal, moving into a new era.

In many ways, Nowruz, celebrating renewal, also speaks to the Iranian experience here in Canada. Let me give you some facts about the Iranian experience here in

Canada, because it very much is a renewal for Iranians and very much a renewal for Canada; for Ontario and for Toronto. Ninety-six per cent of all Canadian Iranians are first-generation Iranians

here in Canada. 58% of those Canadian Iranians are resident here in Ontario, and of that 58%, 44% of Canadian Iranians live in the city of Toronto or the GTA. I'm very happy to say that in my own

riding of Willowdale, in the north part of the city, there is an enormous Iranian community. In Willowdale, as in Toronto, as in the GTA, as in the province and as in the country, the Iranian

community has made a huge contribution.

The vast majority of the Iranians here in Canada are in their prime and productive years, along with their young families coming up behind them. That's very,

very significant, because the Iranian community is highly educated -- highly, highly educated. In my experience with the Iranian community that I deal with, there are engineers, doctors, lawyers,

scientists, technologists, business persons, medical personnel. Combined with that skill set and their high level of very sophisticated education and training, they are truly leading this city and

province and country in a renewal of our society, a renewal of our economy. That's why Nowruz is such an important festival, celebrating renewal of the year.

I want to just refer to this House and get on the record a research

article entitled Iranians in Canada: A Statistical Analysis -- some 26 pages. It's prepared

by the department of systems and computer engineering, Carleton University, by Professor Garousi. This is worth reading for all of us. It's a very detailed analysis of the Iranian community in

Canada, in Ontario and in the GTA. It sets out the facts. We have a lot of conversations and a general anecdotal awareness of the contribution that the Iranian community makes, but this document --

I urge all of you to read it -- sets out the facts of the Iranian contribution.

There are, however, some difficulties that the Iranian community is dealing with, as are other new immigrant communities. It would be remiss of me if I didn't

get those on the record. At page 24, the document highlights the two most significant problems that Iranians face here in Canada. Not surprisingly, they are underemployment -- not unemployment,

because everybody works -- and underutilization of their professional skills. The document then goes on to analyze the cause of those problems and points out that the cause is largely a lack of

recognition of non-Canadian credentials and, again, underutilization of Iranian professionals. I think that's something that needs redressing as we approach Nowruz, which is the renewal of the

Iranian contribution to Canada.

Mr. Frank Klees (Oak Ridges): I'm pleased to participate in this debate. I want, of course, at the outset, to pledge my support for this

legislation. It is appropriate that we recognize not only the meaning of this important event as it has been over the last 3,000 years -- the principles remain the same -- but in so doing, I

believe what this Legislature is doing, more than recognizing an event on a calendar, is recognizing the important contribution of a people who throughout the ages have made such a significant

contribution to civilization, to who we are as humanity.

As well, as a provincial Legislature, we have the responsibility to recognize the foundations of our communities and the building of this great province and the

building, indeed, of our country.

I look across the floor often in this place and continue to marvel at the wonderful opportunities that this province and this country afford us, because many of

us are not born Canadians. Many of us cannot point to generations here, either in the province of Ontario or even this country. Personally, I came to this country at the age of five with my

parents, who made a decision, very unselfishly so, to immigrate to this country. My father often said to me when I asked him the question, "Whatever prompted you to make the decision to come to

this country?" to leave many of the very stable environments that he had and the family had, it was simply this: "I did it because I wanted more opportunity for you and your sisters." It was a very

selfless act on behalf of my parents to make that very difficult step. There will never, ever be any greater sense of appreciation in my heart towards my parents than for that very act that they

took to choose to make this province and this country their home.

Many here who now have the privilege of representing our constituencies as members of provincial Parliament are immigrants. I'm sure that in the minds of our

parents, when they made the decision to come here, they never dreamed that their sons or their daughters or their grandchildren would ever be in a position of elected office in this province, but

here we are and we're grateful, and so we have a responsibility.

I say to the member who brought this forward, congratulations to him for having the initiative and recognizing and honouring the Iranian community through this

initiative. Much can be said about the economic initiative of the Iranian community. They are a true entrepreneurial spirit and they are people who know what it's like to work hard. They are people

who know what it's like to expect nothing if you don't put something in. You work; you are responsible for your family, for your own self-sufficiency. They are not a people who come forward with

their hand out; rather, they are known for people who give a hand up. That is the generosity of the individuals whom I have come to admire and appreciate, both within the community in the broader

sense as well as personal friends.

I want to take this opportunity to recognize an individual who has come to mean a great deal to me and who is an example in terms of both business proficiency

and success, but someone who has never, ever stopped to consume those successes on himself or his family, but has taken the next step and has shared that success with the rest of the community. I

refer to Mr. Farsad Kiani, who has businesses around the world. In fact, I tried to get in touch with him this morning. He's in London, England, today -- as he is, I think, almost on a regular

basis, four or five times a month. He travels to the US because in his conglomerate of businesses he has facilities internationally. This is an individual, when you meet him, about whom you don't

get a sense of a magnate. Rather, you get a sense of someone who is first of all very human, is someone who cares deeply about the individual he is interacting with, and who also seeks no accolade

for the things that he does or his family does within the community.

I had the great honour a few months ago of being asked on behalf of Mr. Kiani to present awards at York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill, where Mr. Farsad Kiani

and Mrs. Joan Bush Kiani have provided an endowment that recognizes and rewards York Central Hospital staff and physicians who regularly demonstrate outstanding examples of great customer service

and compassionate care. I had the privilege of presenting the awards on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Kiani to volunteers within the hospital, to staff members and, I will never forget, especially to one

lady. This is someone who worked in the support services of the hospital, and when I presented the award, the lady broke out in tears. It was the first time she had ever been recognized in such a

gracious way for the work she has been doing in that hospital. But, you see, it took somebody who understands the importance of contribution to a community to have the sense to actually come

forward and institutionalize an award that recognizes that kind of effort.

So I say to the Iranian community, thank you, not only for Mr. Farsad Kiani and Mrs. Kiani, but for the many individuals within the Iranian community who are

made of the same humanity and who have the same giving heart and the same compassion that you have brought and instilled into the fabric of our province and our country. We are richer and stronger

because of your contribution.

In that same sense, I want to pay tribute to someone who has made a significant contribution as well to our province. This is someone whom I met within the

context of serving as a member of provincial Parliament, and that is Mr. Jamal Gharavi. He came to this country as a pediatrician and, sadly, was not able and is not able to practise as a

pediatrician.

If there's anything as a Legislature that we should do, collectively, in a non-partisan way -- put everything else aside, folks; put away whatever label we may

have as a political party, whether we be government or opposition, and let's do one thing and get it right, and that's the issue of foreign-trained professionals: giving them the respect to

practise here in this province and in this country. There has been so much discussion and platitude given to this -- and there isn't anyone in this House who doesn't see the injustice of someone

having been trained, someone having practised in the medical profession, having operated and performed surgeries for years in their country of origin, and we give them points in our immigration

system -- here is the travesty -- for being professionals. When they make application for immigration, they are told at the point of immigration, "Yes, we're going to move you to the top of the

list because you are a professional. You're a doctor. You're an engineer. You're an accountant." What does that message give them? That means, of course, that, "If I get high marks when I come to

the country, I'll be welcomed and I'll have an opportunity to be the professional for which you gave me all of these points." Not true. These people leave where they are, they come here and they

find out that they may as well tear up their professional designation, because we say it's worthless here.

I've said this often tongue-in-cheek, but there's a terrible truth to it: In the greater Toronto area, the quickest way to get a doctor is to call 967-1111. For

those who don't know that number, that's the Pizza Pizza number. And it is sad because it's true. We have professionals who are delivering pizzas or driving cabs or working in other occupations

when we should be honouring them for the professional contribution they can make. There is no shortage of doctors in Ontario -- none. We have 3,000 doctors in Ontario who are not being allowed to

practise, and shame on this Legislature for not taking the initiative and fixing that problem.

Interjections.

Mr. Klees: There are members of the government who are groaning. Now, hold it.

Interjection.

Mr. Klees: No. Don't talk about Mr. Harris. I am not justifying anything that any previous government has done. If we can help -- I'm simply

saying that every government has failed on this issue; every government. I take that responsibility, and I'm saying, let's move on. Rather than having this political DNA that seems to be imprinted

into every one of our hearts, let's move forward and do something about it. That's what I'm saying. Forget the partisan deliberations about this. But I digress.

Mr. Marchese: Stay focused.

Mr. Klees: I want to stay focused on paying tribute to Mr. Jamal Gharavi, who, as I say, came to practise as a pediatrician but, because he was

unable to, he has now focused on a very worthwhile community project. He is now working for Catholic Community Services of York Region and he has developed a program referred to as Focus on

Fathers. It's a parenting program that helps fathers become better fathers. What a wonderful calling. If there's any way that we can strengthen our communities, it's to help to strengthen the

family.

Again, isn't that so indicative of the Iranian community? If there is an example that we can take as Canadians from not just the Iranian community -- I refer to

it because that's the nature of the debate today -- it is the respect for family, it is the respect for parents, young people, our pages. If there's anything at all that we should be learning from

this debate, it's the fact that strong families strengthen our communities, and it starts with respect -- respect for mothers and fathers and grandparents and respect for each other. That's an

example that we have in this wonderful community.

So once again, I commend the member, my colleague from York region, for bringing forward this important bill. You have my support, and you will rightly deserve

the honour of the community on whose behalf you have brought this forward.

Mr. Michael Prue (Beaches-East York): I hope that I can do proud my friend from Trinity-Spadina in my anthropological talk here. I told him a

little bit of what I wanted to say.

This is an ancient tradition. This is a tradition that not only comes from Persia, not only comes from Iran, but it is a tradition that literally transcends all

of the cultures and all of the religions of the world. You see, many religions celebrate this day -- many, many religions -- even unto this time. This is the spring Ohigon and the Kwan Yin day of

Buddhism. It is the Shunkei Sorei-Sai day of Shinto -- March 21. It is the Ostara day of Wicca and it is, of course, the Nowruz day for those who come originally from or whose ancestors can be

traced through Iran.

Under the Muslim calendar, this is the year 1375, and we will be celebrating that this year. In the old Fasli calendar, it is the year 3744. Just so people know

what that is, that is the renewal of the world. That is the day on which Zarathustra received his revelation. It is the day that is held sacred for the creation of fire. It is, of course, a very

Iranian holiday; a very Iranian thought.

It was in ancient times, the first Nowruz, when the whole cycle of life began. The sun, in those days, did not change; it was transfixed in the sky. There was

no day and night. There was no male and female. There were no seasons. Everything was transfixed. It was on that first day, that first Nowruz, that, through the sacrifice of plants and animals, all

of these things changed. Everything changed: There were days and nights, there were seasons, and the sun did move across the sky every day. It is that which is celebrated.

That ancient religion that came out of what is modern-day Iran has literally influenced every single religious thought in at least the western world and

probably the entire world.

When we look at what happened and how the celebrations take place even unto this day, there is much in common with the religions that many of us profess in

Ontario. It has much in common with Christian Easter. If you look what happens, it is a spring and a rebirth. It is something which we can easily understand, even in a Christian society.

I look back with sadness. I think what a different kind of world this may have been had this wonderful holiday and the people who first thought of it survived.

One of the saddest days -- except, I guess, if you were a real hero-worshipper of Alexander the Great -- was 334 BC, in which the magnificent kingdom and Persepolis were destroyed. It was there

that the faith that brought the first Nowruz was destroyed. There's not much left of that today. You can go and see the archaeological remains, but there's not much left of it.

That was a sad day. But do you know something? The celebration of this faith, the celebration of Nowruz, continued beyond the destruction of Persepolis. It

persisted up until the time of the Sassanids, it persisted in those who migrated from Iran to India -- and there's a very large Farsi community there today -- and it persists here in Canada, as

people have come to this great land.

It is, and continues to be in modern times, a 13-day celebration. Can you imagine? Thirteen days. We have the 12 days of Christmas; they have the 13 days of

Nowruz. It is a wonderful time when all kinds of celebrations take place. What I think it is most akin to and what we can best understand in terms of our own Christmas celebrations is that this is

a time of shopping. It is a time of gifts; it is a time of feasting; it is a time of family and get-togethers. It's a time when money is exchanged: new bills and shiny coins. It is also very much

like Easter. It is a time when all of the children get new clothes and wear them. It is a celebration, immensely, of life.

Mr. Ted McMeekin (Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot): Like your tie.

Mr. Prue: And my tie. My ties are legendary. Hope you like it.

This is a religion, this is a thought that has literally lasted millennia. It is said that it probably started with the Sumerians, and the Sumerians

transferred it to the Babylonians, to the Achaemenians, to the Elamites, to the Akkadians and to the Sassanids. It has survived Islam. It is part of the tradition, even in Christian and Farsi

households. It is part of the tradition for those who still follow the Zoroastrian faith. It is part of the tradition even in Islamic cultures. Even in times when Islam was trying to do away with

this great celebration, it has survived.

I commend the people who are here today and I commend the member who brought this forward, because this is a celebration of life. It is a celebration that is

truly and uniquely part of the Persian community, but it is a celebration that all of us as Canadians can interpret, understand and appreciate and all of us should celebrate with every single

passion that we can because it is a celebration that life will continue. Even though all of these ancient histories and all of these ancient cultures and religions have come and gone, what has been

transfixed, what has remained is this belief in the rebirth, in the renewal, in family, in getting together and in celebrating life. That is what the Persian community has brought to us. I commend

you for coming to Canada. I commend you for having the faith to come here and to bring this tradition with you.

As other speakers have said, we need to do more to help new immigrants. We need to recognize the rich history they bring and the culture they bring, and we

also need to recognize the talents they have brought. If this bill in any way will do that, then we all must support the bill and we must support the member who brought it. More so, we must support

the community that is now an integral part of all things we call Canadian. Happy Nowruz.

Mr. Ruprecht: Congratulations to Mr. Racco, the member from Thornhill, who introduced Bill 63,

an Act to proclaim Nowruz Day. Today in the

gallery helping us to celebrate this very special event and the passage, I hope, of this bill are Ali Samiian, Mahnaz Shahbazi, Samin Isaveghlou, Simin Isabiglu, Nader Naderi, David Farmani, Alidad

Mafinezam, Merdad Hariri, Lily Pourzand, Maryam Aghvami, Behnam Esfahanizadeh, Masoud Mansourzadeh and Mohamed Tajdolati. Thank you for being here today to help us celebrate this special event.

This day is obviously very symbolic of a community which has requested this day for many years, and we are here today to say thank you to them for their

contribution and also thank you to Mr. Racco. We know that finally, after these many years, this bill has come forward, and we wish to congratulate them.

This is a rich community. In 1946, after the war, the first students began to arrive, and then from 1963 to 1966 we had students come from Iran to join us here

in Canada as immigrants. But the main wave came from 1976 to 1985, and consequently the richness of their culture is reflected today in Ontario.

I have, of course, as most members know, written a book called Toronto's Many Faces, and in the book is a very important and very special

chapter on the

Persian community. I want to very briefly just tell you how rich they really are. Not many of us know the media in this community: Images of Iran is a CityTV channel; the Iranian is the monthly

newspaper; there is an Iranian program on Rogers Cable; the Iran Star, a weekly newspaper; Iranian Women; Rasa magazine; Zabran weekly newspaper; and on and on it goes. It's amazing that a

community of less than 100,000 would have this kind of media representation. Organizations: the Iranian Community Association of Ontario; the Iranian Women's Organization; the Iran Ethnic

Foundation; the Persian Traditional Art and Culture Foundation; and on and on it goes.

But much more important, look at the

section of prominent Torontonians. Here is a people, whom those of you who spoke earlier have mentioned, with tremendous

contributions. Here they are, less than 100,000 strong, and making a tremendous contribution throughout all the professions.

Yes, there is more to be done, and we made a promise which we are going to keep. But let's look at the prominent Torontonians: Nasser Akmal, owner of Persian

Rugs; Shane Bagi, developer; Esanau Isragi, another developer; Sheena Garandazi, composer; Mr. Hakim, who was mentioned earlier; Idi Ghospanian, conductor; Niyam Kazemi, graphic designer; Fred

Kazravi, entrepreneur; Dr. Lafti Monsouri, former director general of the Canadian Opera Company; Dr. Asalam Mohajer, recipient of the Roy Thomson Award; Kaza Mohadevi, owner of Iran International

Carpet and Rugs; Dr. Fazemi Mortazavi, member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, community leader and philanthropist; Riza Navami, artist and architect; Dr. Seeva Taha, lawyer; and on and on it

goes.

They have come here and they have selected this great country. Why? Because the

preamble to the Constitution says that this country has the right -- we are

fiercely Canadian, but also we have the right, because of this Constitutional

preamble, to be proud of our background and proud of our heritage. This is the genius of Canada and this is why so many

Iranians and those of Persian background have come to this country. Equality before the law: Wow! That's an experiment that we, you and I and this generation of Canadians, are participating in:

equality before the law. The school system: equal treatment of everyone not only before the law but in the schools, with the opportunities they have.

When we think of what this country has done, when we think of the contribution of Iranian Canadians to Canada, when we think that we are a multicultural

country that has an experiment the whole world is watching, then we know Iranian Canadians and the rest of us have developed a great country that we can all be proud of, that all ethnic Canadians

and all people from all over the world can come to this country and say, "We have a great country, we have a great culture, and more power today." Congratulations to the Iranian Canadian

community.

I want to say thank you for coming today.

The Deputy Speaker: Mr. Racco, you have two minutes to respond.

Mr. Racco: Let me thank all the members in this honourable House who spoke. Because all of you spoke in favour of Bill 63, I trust that we

might be able to deal with it quickly, so that this March we will be able to celebrate doubly such an important occasion.

It certainly has been a pleasure for me to work with the community. I want to tell the House that my party, the Premier, the honourable Sorbara, the Honourable

Smitherman, MPP Zimmer and myself have been in touch with the community quite regularly to make sure that their wishes are reflected in the decision we make in this honourable House.

This community, as has been said, is certainly providing many professionals who are running our hospitals, who are building this city, this region and this

province with the best quality residential housing that we can expect. Of course, they are active in almost any industry and profession in our province.

This is a community that has done so much for the province, but also for themselves. I want to say to them, thank you for what you have done, but most

importantly, thank you for what you're going to do, not only for you and your families but for the province of Ontario and for Canada. You have provided additional honour to this province. You have

been the best that you can be for yourself and for our province, and you deserve all our respect. I believe Bill 63 will go to some little degree to do that, so that together we can celebrate not

only your heritage but Ontario heritage, because your community, like my community and our community, is Ontario, is Canada.

PUBLIC TRANSIT

Mr. Bob Delaney (Mississauga West): I move that, in the opinion of this House, the government of Ontario should continue and expand its

initiatives and investment in public transit, especially in assisting the fast-growth municipalities in the "905 belt" around the city of Toronto to link with one another through new or

better-organized public transit links between these municipalities to ease gridlock, enhance opportunities for employment, and reduce carbon emissions.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bruce Crozier): Pursuant to standing order 96, you have up to 10 minutes.

Mr. Delaney: This morning, I've got a resolution for the movers and shakers in Ontario. One of the drawbacks of being a mover and shaker in

Ontario in the 21st century is that before you can do your shaking, you have to move from where you have your breakfast to where you do the shaking part of your livelihood.

Therein lies the challenge. You can stew in the crawling gridlock on the 401, the QEW or the DVP in TO, you can edge your way along the Queensway in Ottawa,

and wherever people come to live, to work or to be entertained, they've got to figure out how to navigate through the traffic, then park the car, and only then focus on what they've actually come

to do.

The peak period of commuter traffic may be rush hour in Ottawa, it may be rush minute in some of our smaller cities, or it may be our infamous all-day gridlock

here in the GTA. Over and above the cost in time, parking and frazzled nerves, gridlock costs us in pollution, land use, and just plain visual blight.

Civilized cities enable you to get around in them without having to bring two tonnes or more of steel with you. Hong Kong, for example, packs about the same

population as the two dozen municipalities that make up the GTA into an area less than the size of my riding of Mississauga West. You couldn't even begin to imagine trying to make a world-class

city like Hong Kong, Paris, London, New York, San Francisco or Vienna function if everyone needed a car to move around, so why should Ontario's world-class centres of activity be any different?

This issue is one of the things that brought me to this Ontario Legislature. It's one of the reasons that I got into politics. In Mississauga West, one of the

difficulties we had is that our people have to commute to commute. In the area that I live in, in northwestern Mississauga, our flow of traffic in the morning consists of people getting into their

cars and sitting in gridlock to get to parking lots to park their cars to get on GO trains to take the GO train to downtown to get on the subway to go to work. Now, part of this is the normal

course in the 21st century of people moving farther and farther away in order to be able to find a place that they can afford to buy to live in comfort. But part of it is also, as a society, our

reluctance to organize ourselves to help people get from where they are to where they need to be.

One of the things that I campaigned on in 2003 to help ease some of the gridlock -- it's not a long-term solution in and of itself, but it's part of the

solution -- is to get a new GO train station built at Lisgar in northwest Mississauga. On the day on which the Minister of Transportation announced the station, I got a call from one of the

reporters on the Toronto Star, who said, "Are you aware that your station at Lisgar is the first time in 25 years that there's been a new station built on the Milton GO line?" I said that no, I

wasn't. He said, "It's also the first time in 25 years that there's been a new station built in Mississauga." That shows you, as a society, just how reluctant we've been to come to grips with the

fact that people have got to be able to get from where they are to where they need to be without, as I said earlier, having to take two tonnes of steel with them to do it.

This morning, for me, was a perfect example. I left my home at about quarter to 9 and had, I thought, lots of time to get down here. But I ran into frustrating

gridlock that really shouldn't have been there on the QEW, and although I've gotten pretty good at finding a few little shortcuts when the major routes are clogged up, I would have loved to be able

to leave home after the last GO train scheduled had left and been able to take public transit conveniently to get here to downtown Toronto. But I couldn't. Part of that reason lies in the

reluctance of governments of all stripes over the last two generations to make decisions that needed to be made in order to help people, especially here in the GTA, move from where they are to

where they need to be.

For example, again using my riding of Mississauga West, from west of Milton, where the GO train line ends, to east of the Humber River, where the track bed

opens up a little bit, we have two tracks that take us into downtown Toronto. Forty years ago, that line had two tracks. CP Rail, which owns the track bed, uses it at pretty near full capacity all

day long. For GO Transit and for all of the commuters who depend on it, we have a narrow corridor in time, as well as in land, in which we can move from where we live, which is northwest

Mississauga, to where most of us want to work, which is downtown Toronto. That time begins at 6:30 in the morning and ends at 8:10 going out of Meadowvale; add five minutes to the other stations of

Streetsville, Erindale, Cooksville, Dixie and Kipling.

This GO train station that we've just got at Lisgar will help by taking some of that east-west flow of traffic and allowing a little bit of it to move north in

the morning and south at night in an area where we don't have roads that are simply clogged with traffic. That, in and of itself, will help. Another thing that will help has been the agreement by

our Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal to help fund a third track on that Milton GO line. That third track will allow the pie to be made a little bit larger and will allow commuter traffic

to run both ways all day long. We used to have that. Fifteen years ago, we could get from northwest Mississauga to downtown, and we could get, most importantly, from downtown back to northwest

Mississauga during the day. Today we can't. We need to more than ever, because most of the growth in the high-growth areas of the GTA, and especially in the my city of Mississauga, has taken place

in the area where I live -- in the northwest corner. It was a pledge that I made to the people who sent me here to do something about that problem, and we've started on that.

I'm hoping that in the next five to seven years, we can get the federal government to match some of Ontario's infrastructure funding and get CP Rail, which

also needs the capacity that that third track would offer, and get everybody to the table and get construction started on that. This isn't just a minor project. That third track on the Milton line,

in and of itself, was estimated at approximately $300 million. Having sat there on the GO train in the morning and watched, I can count about six or eight bridges, including the big span over the

Humber River, that need to be upgraded in order to make that happen.

The government of which I'm privileged to be a part has worked hard on public transit issues and made some progress. Although there's a lot of work still to be

done, we can point to some of the progress that we have made. Let me quote here from a news release from the city of Mississauga:

"`Through the province's gas tax funding, we have been able to improve service frequency along our major routes" -- this is referring to busing -- "ease

overcrowding and expand service into new neighbourhoods,' said Mayor McCallion. `We have acquired 72 new accessible buses and we are now using smart buses to provide better service times along our

busiest corridor -- Hurontario Street. We have expanded the city centre transit terminal to provide better service between GO Transit and Mississauga Transit and to act as a future link for a bus

rapid transit (BRT) network. Now we need the federal and provincial governments to fund construction of GO Transit's BRT network, which will be a critical inter-regional transit corridor along the

GTA.'"

Mayor McCallion points out a very important thing: If what I wanted to do is, say, get from downtown Mississauga or downtown Oakville and get to my colleague

Mr. Racco's hometown of Markham, if I wanted to get to downtown Markham, I'd have to go through Metro Toronto to do it or I'd have to take the car. What we need are transit corridors to link the

905 belt together in much the same way as we have a hub-and-spokes transit system right now that takes people from the 905 belt into the centre of the city and in the evening takes them home again

but doesn't allow those thriving municipalities along the 905 belt to link with one another.

Why is this important? Because 15 years ago, Metro Toronto outpopulated those municipalities, which were then mostly suburbs in the 905 belt, approximately two

to one. Today it's approximately one to one. Within about a generation, it will be two to one the other way. Our 905 belt will have twice the population of Metro Toronto, and we've got a band of

about five to seven years to make some critical decisions, while we still can, in order to help the municipalities -- and there are about a dozen and a half of them in the 905 belt -- link to one

another.

I thank you very much for the time to bring this resolution to this House, and I look forward to hearing discussion on it.

The Deputy Speaker: Further debate.

Mr. Ernie Hardeman (Oxford): It gives me pleasure to be able to put a few words on the record to the resolution from the member from

Mississauga West. First of all, I'll begin by saying that I support the resolution, and I think everyone in the House will support the resolution.

Listening to the presentation, he started off by suggesting a new definition of the movers and shakers in our society, and I just wanted to say that I felt

good about that, because I am one of those movers and shakers. I come in from my great riding of Oxford every morning, and it takes me between two and two and a half hours to arrive here from

Oxford county, recognizing that at least two thirds, if not three quarters, of the way takes less than a quarter to a third of the time. The rest of the time we get caught in the traffic and the

gridlock that exists in and around Toronto. I can recognize the detriment that it has on the time that people spend, the detriment it has on our society and our environment. I think it's very

important to suggest that we all should support this resolution to make sure more gets done.

I would just suggest to the member that maybe a more appropriate way -- or maybe he has already done that -- is to speak to the Minister of Transportation and

the Minister of Finance and realize that more needs to be done for our transportation infrastructure in this province. That's why I was a little surprised. I was very appreciative of this

resolution coming before us, but I was surprised that it was coming from a member of the government, particularly a member of the government living right in that gridlock area, who would have seen

what was needed to get it done. I'll have to assume that he has done that and the government has said, "No, we have other priorities," and so the member is now seeing that this is the way to bring

not only before the Legislature but before the people of Ontario that he agrees that the government is not funding the infrastructure enough and that more should be done.

Having said that, I just wanted to speak quickly about the one initiative that the government has done after many requests from the municipal government. The

government finally came through with giving a little bit more funding, which they said was part of the gas tax. But if it was part of the gas tax -- and I disagree with it. In fact, the gas tax all

goes into the general revenues, and then the government decides where they send the general revenues. If it's a gas tax, it would have to somehow be associated with where the gas tax was generated

to send it back to where it was generated. There's obviously nothing in the legislation or in the process that the government presently uses that does that.

The big problem we have is that the decision was made by the government that all the gas tax collected in the province -- I shouldn't say all the gas tax, but

the gas tax that they're allocating, which is the two cents per litre that is collected throughout the province, is then sent back to the municipalities that have transit. In my riding, two of the

municipalities got some funding. The city of Woodstock got $289,000 and the town of Ingersoll got $46,000. Tillsonburg, of course, is about a third as big as Ingersoll; they have nothing, because

it's dedicated only to transit.

Of course, we must remember that in rural Ontario, the only means of transportation is the roads and the bridges and the infrastructure needed for us to get

from place to place. Not only do we have farther to go, but we have fewer people in the area to pay for those services, so it becomes very important.

Just for the member's benefit, I would say that my colleague John Yakabuski, from Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, introduced Bill 3, the Public Transportation and

Highway Improvement Amendment Act (Assistance to Municipalities), and I think in this debate it's very important to again put on the record what my colleague said:

"The reason I introduced this bill is because when the present government brought in a gas tax rebate program, they extended it only to the 105 municipalities,

out of some 445, that have a public or rapid transit system operating in their municipality. We feel this is a fundamental issue of fairness with respect to the way rural Ontario is treated. One of

the great problems in rural Ontario today is the ability to keep in good condition the infrastructure they're responsible for, such as the county roads, the municipal roads, and the bridges, which

in my county is one of the biggest challenges we have. Warden Sweet" -- the warden of Renfrew county -- "could certainly let you know that we have over 250 bridges in Renfrew county alone."

Again, I think it's so important, if we look at the gas tax and the issue of the gas tax -- I know that is not directly related to the motion, Mr. Speaker, but

you will have been listening to the member and he brought it up in his debate to the motion -- and the distribution, if we go back in time and the way it has been ever since the gas tax, it was

implemented and it was called a road tax on gasoline. That was supposed to be a tax that the government collected to help build roads.

Mr. Rosario Marchese (Trinity-Spadina): And the Tories fixed that.

Mr. Hardeman: I can tell you that shortly after it I was done, I don't think anyone spent all the money they were collecting on roads.

Mr. Marchese: Why not?

Mr. Hardeman: I think it was during the New Democratic years when they reduced the spending on roads because they had other priorities, but

that's not the point.

The point is that the principal use of the gas tax was to be for the roads that gas vehicles were going to use, and that, in fairness, is not happening. We

have a problem with the fact that money that is supposed to be going to roads is going to transit. That's not to say that that much should not go to transit. We now have a motion here that says

even more is needed for transit. So the challenge is not where that money is going; I think we have to start realizing that the gas tax that municipalities are getting is in fact a portion from

general revenue funds, and the portion both for mass transit and for roads is not sufficient to meet the demands of our infrastructure in roads.

As I said, I will be supporting this resolution because I think it's headed in the right direction. We've got to convince the members of the government,

including the member putting forward this resolution, to put more money in our infrastructure and do something with this gridlock. I don't think there is anything that bothers the average person

who is traveling back and forth every day and spending all that time on our highways and byways more than sitting there, waiting. As he said, if you're not moving, you're not shaking, and it's

true. If you're not moving, nothing is happening except that you're polluting our air and wasting our energy.

I support the resolution, but I would also ask that he ask his government to be fairer with the distribution and make sure all of Ontario benefits from the

program the government puts in place. As I said, we will be voting for the resolution.

Mr. Michael Prue (Beaches-East York): I looked at this resolution, and at first blush anyone can say it is a good resolution, but in order for

me to be persuaded, and I can be persuaded, I need to see some government action. We need to see where the money is. We need to see where the actions are. We need to see where the commitment

is.

As a Legislature, why do we even have to ask the government and the executive council to do what is self-evident to all of us? We all know that much of

southern Ontario is in gridlock. We all know about the carbon emissions. We all know about the amount of money that is being lost to the economy while people in trucks and transportation are

gridlocked. We know the tremendous cost. We know about the downloading to the municipalities, which cannot keep up their end of road maintenance and transit and transportation systems. What we need

to know is not whether we are committed to this, because of course it is self-evident that we should all be committed; what we need to know is, what are the plans? Where is the money? The budget is

only about a month or two months away. Where is the money going to be contained in this budget? Certainly there was not adequate monies put aside in the last budget, and I doubt very much, in spite

of this resolution and the good words contained in it, that there will be sufficient monies put aside in the next budget either.

The Liberals have a lot to say about this much-vaunted gas tax, of which we approve. We had the same thing in our platform. I'm not going to say that the two

cents isn't a good idea, but it has taken forever for the two cents to work its way in, and in fact won't work its way in to be fully functional until October of this year. Is it enough? I don't

think so. It is not enough because the gas tax is not providing even the same resources to places like the city of Toronto that they got pre-gas tax. Even with the gas tax at its full capacity of

two cents this year, less money will be going to transit under that gas tax than the Conservatives gave to Toronto for transit. Can you believe that? I find that hard to believe. The reality is

that the money going to transit in Toronto this year will be $180 million less than they got in 1995. You can talk about the much-vaunted gas tax but there needs to be something else. There needs

to be a commitment from the province of Ontario that it is committed to the building of subways, to putting transportation and buses on the roads, and to the upkeep of the roads and bridges in this

province on which public transit will run.

There was much talk in the last election about the two cents for gas tax, but there was nothing in the Liberal platform, and there is no plan even till this

day, for intermodal transportation between cities. This is the really big failure. We believe there should be at least one cent for intermodal transportation. If there is two cents for transit,

there should be at least one cent for intermodal transportation. That means buses and trains that go between municipalities. It would be possible for someone living in Mississauga to work in Durham

without taking a car if it was possible for intermodal transit to connect those communities either directly, through Union Station, or around Toronto. This is what needs to be done: We need to have

intermodal transit and transportation, and it simply is not on the drawing board.

I look at other jurisdictions, at countries like Japan, at countries throughout Europe or the British Isles. You can see the genius of their transportation

systems. If you hop on a train, you can literally go almost anywhere at any time. They run all day; they run into the evening hours. I know that even in the city of Toronto, in which I have lived

almost my entire life with the exception of one year in Ottawa, where I live close to the Woodbine subway station, at 9 o'clock at night, if I'm still here in the Legislature, if we sit till 9:30,

I cannot get the last bus home to my house, and I live just off the Woodbine subway station. If I can't catch that last bus, it's either a cab fare, which is about $7, or it's a

four-and-a-half-kilometre walk.

That's the problem, because the transit is so --

Interjections.

Mr. Prue: The walk may be better for me, but transit is so starved of funds that even for a downtown community on the Woodbine subway station

-- I only live four and a half kilometres from that subway station -- there is no bus to get home. This is what needs to be done: The transit has to not only expand in terms of the roots it has,

but those roots that are in existence have to be able to run later in the evening and earlier in the morning for people to take advantage of them. This is what happens in other great jurisdictions.

This happens in Japan and Great Britain. I look at the experiment in London. They have really pushed to clean up the downtown core of traffic. They charge people to go in now. Are we looking at

that experiment? We're not looking at that experiment. I'm not sure I advocate it, but we're not even looking at it to see whether that will keep the cars out of downtown Toronto or downtown

Ottawa; we are not looking at it at all. We are not putting any disincentives for people to come downtown with their cars. All we have here is silence.

I looked at this resolution and I thought, where is the money for the transit systems? I heard what my colleague from the Conservative Party had to say about

the smaller towns not getting any money from the gas tax -- and with good reason. That's because they're not running any transit systems. We have to be committed to transit: 85% of all the transit

vehicles and 85% of all the people who use transit in the GTA use it in Toronto. In fact, there are more yellow TTC vehicles -- or at least there were. I'm not sure that's still the case, but there

were more yellow vehicles when I was a member of Toronto city council. Those are the ones that grind the streetcar tracks and take the TTC employees around; they're not for the general public.

There were more yellow vehicles in the TTC arsenal and in their warehouse than there were transit vehicles in the rest of the GTA. I know there have been some changes since then, but the reality is

that most of it is downtown and most of it is woefully underfunded. The TTC is starving for operating funds and this year is again going to have to increase the cost of Metropasses and the cost of

fares.

They're not alone. I opened the paper today. Here we are debating this, and members from Mississauga, what do I read in the paper today? Here it is from the

Toronto Star: "Transit Fares Rise in Mississauga: Mississauga Transit users will have to come up with an extra 25 cents starting Monday as fares increase to $2.50 a ride." That is a 10% increase.

We're talking about getting better transit. What is this except dissuading people to use that transit?

I look as well at what's happening with the TTC and Howard Moscoe's latest idea of giving free TTC passes. There's a lot that can be done and a lot that should

be done, but we need to start with being true partners with the municipalities. The poor municipalities -- Toronto's running a $212-million deficit, Mississauga is having to raise their taxes by

5.9%, and here we have a resolution asking us for better transit. When the municipalities are treated better, when there is a true commitment to them and to the transit authorities they run, then

and only then will I give credence to a resolution like this, and then and only then will I believe the executive council will come forward with the necessary funds to do what this very laudable

and very courageous, I might say, resolution attempts to do. I just don't believe in my heart of hearts that it's going to make it from this member of the Liberal Party to that front bench in the

Liberal Party and make any difference at all.

Mr. Kim Craitor (Niagara Falls): I'm pleased to have the opportunity to speak in support of the resolution from my good friend Bob Delaney.

I'm going to express my support in two ways. One is with respect to the current government's program, which is helping my community of Niagara Falls, and then to explain how this resolution can

benefit the residents of the Niagara Peninsula as a whole in terms of a Niagara regional inter-municipal transportation system easing gridlock, enhancing opportunities for employment and, finally,

reducing carbon emissions.

First, let me tell this House that I'm pleased to indicate that the McGuinty government's gas tax refund fuelled an amazing 700% increase in weekend ridership

in the city of Niagara Falls. From March 6 to June 5, Niagara Transit offered extended weekend service and special weekend fares of 25 cents. The 25 cents resulted in a ridership increase of 700%.

It was such an excellent program that the transit commission decided to give the citizens of Niagara Falls an additional break for the entire summer when Niagara Transit offered loonie weekends.

Passengers paid $1 rather than the normal adult fare of $2.25, or $2 for seniors.

More important, according to Niagara Transit's general manager, Terry Librock, was the fact that Niagara Transit's regular overall ridership increased by up to

13% for the entire year. Terry attributes 12% of the 13% to the 124 hours of extra weekend service to the community that the gas tax program funded. Terry also believes, as do I, that the

government's program is a great investment by the province for municipal transit. The gas tax is paying off for our city because it provides long-term, stable funding, allowing the Niagara Transit

Commission to plan significant transit improvements at the local level.

This year's provincial gas tax funding for Niagara Transit will increase by 50% to over $820,000. With this money, Niagara Transit will use the funds to buy

new buses and improve and create better services but, unfortunately, they will be doing this alone and not in an integrated fashion as my friend and colleague's motion speaks to. All of this is

great news for transit, but the member from Mississauga has it right when he says there's a need to expand on these excellent initiatives and investments in public transit. We need to link our

transit systems together for maximum benefit through new or better-organized public transit links; for example, a GO train from Niagara Falls. For me to come from Queen's Park in Toronto to Niagara

Falls, I have to take the TTC. It's $2.50 to Union Station. I have to take one of two trains; that's $34.50. When I get back, I have to pay $2.25 for Niagara Transit, and then I may have to use the

People Mover System in Niagara Falls to eventually get home. That's a cost of about $90 return.

So there's certainly an opportunity for us to work together to create a much more integrated system, and that's the reason I want to support this

resolution.

Mr. David Zimmer (Willowdale): I'm happy to support this resolution. The member opposite has hit on something. We need seamless transit in the

GTA area, and we need that transit because the GTA area has a special responsibility to this province and to this country. We often hear that the GTA, southern Ontario, the area around Toronto, is

the engine of economic growth for this province and indeed for this country. We've also heard that over the next 10, 15 or 20 years, competition in world economies is going to be fierce. We have to

put forward and rely on every advantage we can possibly muster here in Ontario to be a strong economic competitor.

In the next 10, 15 or 20 years, it's expected that there will be an additional five million new Canadians, new population, in and around the GTA area. To build

our economy so that Ontario and the GTA continue as the economic engine of this country, we need several things. We need an effective health care system so that workers and people are attracted to

this province. We need an effective education system so that people are attracted to this province and to this area and that we provide the necessary training and skills. We also need an effective

transit system, not just to move the member opposite from Brampton into this Legislature, so that my legislative assistant, Shawn Knights, who lives in Brampton, can get in here, and so that my

residents in Willowdale can get downtown and uptown, but we also need to concentrate on, in addition to moving people, moving commercial transit. That's roads and highways by which the trucks,

tractor trailers and vehicles -- transit -- haul the economic goods that this province produces. They can move it around the GTA area, quickly move it out of the province down to the border, and

move goods and raw products from northern Ontario down here. We're talking about a seamless transit here: moving people, moving goods and services.

In this Legislature, my count is that about a third of the members are from the GTA area. That's from all parties. Surely, on a non-partisan basis, the third

of this Legislature that's from the GTA that sits in this body can get our heads together and work to develop a seamless transit system to move people and to move goods and services.

Mr. Toby Barrett (Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant): I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this resolution. While we're here talking about how to

improve transit links between municipalities to "enhance opportunities for employment" in the 905 belt, I assume some rural municipalities would be wondering when this government will be doing

something further to enhance their opportunities. I support better organized transit links. In fact, I think it's a great idea, especially if they would go a step further and continue to link with

many of our rural areas.

My feeling is there is a lack of understanding, certainly a lack of public transportation in my riding. In my view, this government has missed the bus as far

as rural Ontario goes. Certainly in Norfolk county and Haldimand county in my riding, there is no bus. We did have a bus for a number of years that traveled along provincial Highway 3 coming out of

Tillsonburg across to Simcoe and down to Port Dover. It caught up with provincial Highway 6, up through Jarvis, Hagersville, Caledonia and into Hamilton. That last remaining bus service hasn't

existed for a number of years now.

We were discussing the much-heralded gas tax that, obviously, our rural Ontarians pay with every fill-up. That, as we know, helps fund the public transit

dreams of our urban neighbours. I will point out that in rural Ontario, certainly in my part of rural Ontario, public transit is a memory; it's not a dream. Little goes, obviously, to funding

public transportation in rural municipalities. As we all know, OC Transpo out of Ottawa doesn't go as far as Winchester; the TTC does not go as far as Wingham. Of the three counties of my riding --

Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk -- Norfolk received nothing, Haldimand county received nothing. The only gas tax money to come our way was $40,000 for Brant county. I suppose with $40,000 you might be

able to buy a used van, maybe you could pay someone minimum wage to drive the van, and you could fill up the gas tank a bit. That would pretty well use up $40,000.

My concern is that when this government was elected, they made a promise: They promised to tap into the potential of rural Ontario. I'm suggesting that tap is

pretty well running dry, if you start looking at the kind of dollar figures or government support for rural Ontario with respect to this particular issue, the issue of public transit. I say this

advisedly, but this bill does reflect a bit of an urban-centric agenda. It does focus on the 905 area. My concern is that there is an additional potential to ignore some of the unique issues in

rural Ontario, transportation being one of them.

I think of this government's cavalier attitude, the proposal to take away the drivers' licences of young people with recent legislation introduced by the

Minister of Education, to penalize young people for poor attendance in school. Again, in rural Ontario, Norfolk county, Haldimand county specifically, there is no other option. There is no bus;

there is no TTC. If you take away a young person's licence, you have pretty well totally removed their transit options, other than calling a taxi, which can be very expensive, to have a taxi run

out to a farm, for example, from town. You've removed that option in a business operation, a shop in the country or a farm where somebody has to drive that pickup truck into town to pick up parts

or supplies. Especially during the upcoming planting season, a very intensive time where all hands have to be on deck, you do have to have someone with a driver's licence to go into town,

especially when emergency repairs are called for.

You don't see this government removing these kinds of options for urban young people in that legislation, as I understand it. I'm sure that, for example, in

our major cities, young people on occasion do have problems with attendance at school. I don't see a call to take away their TTC pass, for example, but the legislation seems more than willing to

take away a young person's driver's licence. I'm suggesting there's a modicum of unfairness there.

With respect to this legislation, looking at the bigger picture, those of us who live in farm Ontario, rural Ontario, northern Ontario, essentially want to be

back on the transit map where that is feasible. We are concerned that legislation like this can go the wrong way and continue to contribute to some of the damage that we have seen in the past two

and a half years. Whether everyone has a driver's licence or not, we're seeing rural families, northern Ontario families, that are paying more than $2,000 a year more, thanks in part to the

McGuinty health tax, thanks in part to the ever-increasing cost of gasoline, of diesel, obviously of natural gas -- of energy costs in general -- and more specifically, as a result of the

uncertainty of the policy from this government, of electricity.

Mr. Marchese: I'm going to read the resolution again, because I think it's particularly important. Mr. Delaney's resolution says, "That, in

the opinion of this House, the government of Ontario should continue and expand its initiatives and investment in public transit, especially in assisting the fast-growth municipalities in the `905

belt' around the city of Toronto to link with one another through new or better-organized public transit links between these municipalities to ease gridlock, enhance opportunities for employment,

and reduce carbon emissions."

I'm going way out on a limb here, and I wouldn't want anybody to take any bets because this place is very volatile, but I wager to say there is not one member

of this place who is opposed to it. Is that a fair assessment, do you think? With all due respect to the member, this is a very harmless little resolution here and I'm not quite sure why we're

debating it. What I'd rather do is debate the following, and this is the Liberal promise:

"We will bring a region-wide approach to identifying and meeting GTA transit needs by creating the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority....

"The new GTTA will be given the clout and resources to tackle gridlock and ensure free movement of people and goods in a rapidly growing region."

That, monsieur Delaney, mon ami, is the Liberal promise that was made. Why didn't he introduce that promise as a resolution to be debated here today rather

than the resolution he brings forward that says the government should do more on this and that? Do you understand what I'm saying, Mr. Delaney? You probably appreciate why people like me get

irritated by stuff like this.

You see, when you make a promise such as the one I read, we should be debating where you are at with that promise. I remind you that you've got about a year

and a half left. You ain't got much time. As my friend from Beaches-East York said, your budget is coming down in a month or a month and a half or so. He does not and I do not anticipate you're

going to deal with that problemo. So I'm saying to you that you've got about a year and a half left to deal with your promise to create the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority, and you refuse

to speak to the promise by introducing a useless, weak resolution that says nothing.

Mr. Delaney: Rosie, you've got to be nice.

Mr. Marchese: I did say, "With all due respect."

Rather than dealing with the downloading of transportation to the cities, which is literally desiccating most of the cities around Ontario -- you understand

"desiccating"; they're dry, really dry -- rather than dealing with the downloading the Tories left us with, which you promised to deal with, rather than introducing that motion to be debated,

you're here with something that gives us no satisfaction or pleasure by way of debate. You should be taking up the uploading of transportation so that municipalities could finally deal with their

problems, or at least making sure that we get back to the old formula we had as New Democrats, and that former mayors here would probably know. The formula was 75% province, 25% cities, and 50% on

capital.

Mr. Wayne Arthurs (Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge): No, it was 50-50 on operations.

Mr. Marchese: Fifty per cent on operations -- it's what New Democrats had when we were in power. The Tories eliminated that. You should deal

with that because that's what cities need by way of provincial support, not a resolution that gives us absolutely no hope that we're ever going to deal with this, that gives the city of Toronto no

hope that it can ever deal with its transportation woes, when my friend Michael Prue speaks about being behind by $180 million less today than they were getting in 1994-95. That's what we've got to

deal with.

So you can hide behind your 2% tax that is yet to come due, that is yet to be fulfilled, that has yet to come, and when it does come it will be by October. You

can hide behind it, but cities are starving, Monsieur Delaney, for funds. They're waiting for the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority. They're waiting for that. It's your promise. Debate that

in the next couple of minutes you've got. But please, don't bring me here for an hour to talk about something that says, "Yes, the province should do more," that should do this, should do that.

They're not doing anything.

I hope that Monsieur Delaney in his two-minute response will speak to the Liberal promise that clearly we do not have before us, that clearly they're about to

abandon and that clearly is not helping our cities.

Mr. Arthurs: I appreciate the opportunity to spend a couple of minutes on this resolution. I'm pleased to stand in support of it.

I want to reflect, though, a little but on what we have been doing. I would suggest that we have a four-year mandate and that the GTTA is on track, that it's

coming. I takes some time to work with the stakeholders.

Let me reminisce for a second. Back in the early 1990s, when there was an NDP government, I remember there was a steering committee -- I can't remember what we

called it. GO, the TTC and the abutting municipalities were all invited to the table. Lou Parsons actually chaired that. One of the things we put on the table was two cents for gas tax, but the

government of the day said, "We can consider that but we'd have to raise the taxes on gas to do it," and that wasn't acceptable. So that initiative really didn't go anywhere because the government

of the day wasn't prepared to address it on a go-forward basis and sharing to enhance the system.

Then the Tory government came into play and they created the Greater Toronto Services Board, the GTSB, and gave it primary responsibility for transportation

and transit in the greater Toronto area, but they gave it no teeth, they gave it no capacity, they gave it no financial ability to do anything. What did they do at the end of the day? They gave up

on it and pulled it back because they fumbled the ball so badly.

Our government in the interim has been working very hard over the past two years, making sure that all the stakeholders come to the table, making sure that

when the minister comes forward with his proposal on the GTTA -- whenever that is; it'll be in the mandate; it's one of our commitments -- he will come to the table with everyone on side, working

together, paddling in the same direction as opposed to everyone paddling in different directions. I'm rather looking forward to the success our government is going to have on that initiative, as

compared to what I've experienced with former governments over the past dozen or so years.

I'm also going to look forward to the balance of the two cents on gas tax that our government committed to and implemented almost immediately. It was October

of 2003 or 2004 -- I can't remember when we back-dated it to, but we put that first cent in place and municipalities knew we were serious. We committed to staging it over the two-year time frame to

allow it to ramp up. This October they'll get the final instalment, up to two cents a litre on gas -- not a new tax but in the existing structure -- to support public transit in the greater Toronto

area and across the province where there is transit.

I'm very pleased with the resolution. I think it's a good resolution. I think it speaks to what the need is. The 905 regions around Toronto represent about 15%

or 20% of the population of the province. We should be paying attention to that. We should be paying attention to its economic viability, to the capacity of people to move within that system, as

well as to move in and out of the city of Toronto. There's a lot of work that still needs to be done, and at times we have to get the 905 regions on Hansard, because Lord only knows, we get enough

of Toronto on Hansard from all members. So this is an opportunity for us to ensure that the vital needs of two-and-a-half million people get addressed as well.

I'm certainly looking forward to the minister and his timing, when he's ready and feels it's appropriate, in bringing forward the GTTA initiative within the

context of what we promised in our campaign platform, and I'm certainly looking forward to the balance of the two cents a litre coming forward to assist and encourage municipalities.

In my own jurisdiction, my own home town in essence, most recently the region of Durham has got the message. They needed to work together to enhance transit

within that jurisdiction, and took the disparate transit systems and created the Durham Region Transit system, to begin working more closely so they could work with their neighbours in York and

Peel and Halton, as well as their neighbours in Toronto.

I'm very pleased to stand today in support of the resolution that the member from Mississauga West has brought forward and look forward to voting on it

shortly.

Mr. Tony Ruprecht (Davenport): First of all, congratulations to Mr. Delaney for introducing ballot item number 20, to assist "the fast-growth

municipalities in the `905 belt' around the city of Toronto to link with one another through new or better-organized public transit links between these municipalities to ease gridlock."

It's obvious that what we need here and what Mr. Delaney is asking for is a real paradigm shift, a shift to new priorities.

The NDP members today, as much as I normally like what they have to say, and I'm listening very carefully, are simply too negative. You will remember the

history of public transit. Remember what happened in 1996-97? Capital funding for transit was slashed from 75% to numero zero. Now, in 2005, Ottawa is getting $200 million for public transit from

the Liberal government; Toronto, the GTA, $600 million. This is the Canada-Ontario, Ottawa infrastructure agreement.

What about the gas tax? The gas tax for Toronto, between 2005 and 2006, right now, is $120 million. In short, since October 2003, Toronto received $447 million

for public transit. Now, you have to admit, that is certainly better than zero. That's the history we've come from.

It is obvious: Transportation, especially for the public -- it is important that we realize this is not simply moving people around. If anyone has seen what

takes place in some of these Asian cities like Bangkok -- I know you've been there -- or Manila -- I know you've been there -- it takes about two hours to travel half a kilometre on public

highways. That's gridlock. We are doing better, but we certainly have to do much better than that.

As I said earlier, and Mr. Delaney's motion is speaking directly to it, we have to have a shift in priorities. We are counting on the NDP members who are here

today to support this bill and to stop being Mr. Negative. We have shifted our budget from zero to all these millions of dollars and we are counting on your support. Support this bill. Don't sit

here and just be negative and sit on your hands and say, "Oh, this is useless because we can't get this bill from the backbenches to the front benches of the Liberal Party." This, as you know, is

not correct. You know better than that. We are counting on you. We're counting on your support. Stand up and be counted, be positive and help Mr. Delaney. Get up every day in the Legislature and

help so that the Minister of Transportation can make his case.

Mr. Marchese: Shameless, shameless.

The Deputy Speaker: Order.

Mr. Ruprecht: And especially you, Mr. Rosario Marchese. You have a special responsibility on your shoulder, because your riding is in the

middle of Toronto, and consequently we are counting on you to support this bill.

Interjection.

Mr. Ruprecht: Yes, that's true. The whole point is simply this: From 75% to zero does not speak well of a seamless public transportation

system.

Mr. Marchese: What does it speak to?

Mr. Ruprecht: This is what Mr. Delaney's bill speaks of directly: a seamless transportation system that will stop the gridlock in Ontario.

In addition to that, it's not only the gridlock in Ontario; it will produce employment opportunities and reduce carbon emissions, which you said earlier you

agree with. Stand up and be counted.

Mr. Marchese: Shameless, shameless.

The Deputy Speaker: The member for Trinity-Spadina will come to order.

Mr. Ruprecht: We support you; you support us in this bill.

The Deputy Speaker: I really shouldn't have to ask members like the member for Trinity-Spadina to come to order as often as I do. This is

private members' business. We're here to listen to what each other has to say. It becomes more difficult when there is that much commotion in the House.

Mr. Delaney, you have two minutes to respond.

Mr. Delaney: Thank you very much, Speaker. It will take almost the whole --

Interjection.

The Deputy Speaker: Member for Trinity-Spadina, I have asked you to come to order, please. Mr. Delaney.

Mr. Delaney: I'd like to thank the eight members who spoke knowledgeably and certainly passionately about this resolution: the members for

Oxford, Beaches-East York, Niagara Falls, Willowdale, Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant, Trinity-Spadina, Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge and Davenport. I note that the member for Oxford recognized his two- to

two-and-a-half-hour commute to get to Queen's Park; and his seatmate, my good friend the member for Durham -- who, I might add, is an excellent hockey player -- suggested raising taxes, and gosh,

this is just not a tax-cut-and-borrow government.

Some $10 million of the 2005 gas tax went to rural municipalities, and some $12 million in 2005-06 of the gas tax went to rural municipalities, just to put

that into some perspective.

The member for Beaches-East York says, essentially, "Show me the money." Beginning last year, Ontario has invested $1.4 billion in gas tax funding to benefit

83 transit systems serving 110 municipalities. This year's amount is $232 million, up from $156 million last year and up from a total of zero when the former government cut support for transit

systems in 1996-97.

Thank you very much for the time to discuss this resolution this morning.

Interjections.

The Deputy Speaker: There must have been something in the Wheaties this morning, I think.

The time provided for private members' business has expired.

NOWRUZ DAY ACT, 2006 /

LOI DE 2006 SUR LE JOUR NOWRUZ

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bruce Crozier): We will first deal with ballot item number 19.

Mr. Racco has moved second reading of Bill 63,

An Act to proclaim Nowruz Day. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry?

All those in favour, say "aye."

All those opposed, say "nay."

In my opinion, the ayes have it. Carried.

Mr. Mario G. Racco (Thornhill): Mr. Speaker, I would like to send Bill 63 to the standing committee on the Legislative Assembly.

The Deputy Speaker: Mr. Racco has asked that the bill be sent to the standing committee on the Legislative Assembly. Agreed? Agreed.

PUBLIC TRANSIT

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bruce Crozier): We shall now deal with ballot item number 20, that being private members' notice of motion number 8,

standing in the name of Mr. Delaney. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry?

All those in favour, say "aye."

All those opposed, say "nay."

In my opinion, the ayes have it. It is carried.

All matters relating to public members' private business having been dealt with, I do now leave the chair. The House will resume at 1:30 of the clock.

The House recessed from 1203 to 1330.

MEMBERS' STATEMENTS

VOLUNTEERS

Mr. Norm Miller (Parry Sound-Muskoka): A few weeks ago, Lieutenant Governor and fellow Muskokan James K. Bartleman recognized the

contributions of Orvil K. Hammond of Bracebridge. Orvil Hammond has funded breakfast programs at two local schools as well as contributing to the installation of an elevator at the Bracebridge

Mr. Hammond was among 38 Ontarians who received the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship in a ceremony held here at Queen's Park, which recognizes good

citizenship and outstanding public contributions through exceptional long-term efforts. In a career spanning over 60 years, Orvil Hammond has progressed from humble beginnings to being a very

successful businessman. Over that time, he has always helped our community and his employees in many thoughtful ways. Congratulations, Orv.

I'm also very happy to recognize the efforts of more than 80 Harvest Share volunteers from the Parry Sound area. This program is dedicated to improving

volunteer hours and counting, and Roswitha Promberger, who has been with the organization from the beginning. Other volunteers include: Steven Burnside, who has given 1,053 hours; Joan Burnside,

giving 932 hours; and Karen Allen, with 739 hours. Their hours of effort and those of fellow volunteers is remarkable and deserving of recognition. On behalf of the many people in Parry

Sound-Muskoka who benefit from their efforts, I extend my heartfelt thanks and congratulations.

CANADIAN WOMEN'S HOCKEY TEAM

Mr. Tony C. Wong (Markham): It gives me great pleasure to rise in the House today to congratulate three women hockey heroes who struck gold

this week at the winter Olympics in Torino. Kudos to Gillian Apps of Unionville, Cherie Piper of Markham and Gillian Ferrari of Thornhill, members of the Canadian women's hockey team that defeated

Sweden 4-1 in the final. Your gold medal win is a shining example that through skill, determination, teamwork and a true Canadian attitude dreams really do come true.

I'm particularly proud of these young women because they serve as a role model for youth, particularly girls, to engage in physical activity and sports. The

McGuinty government is helping Ontario youth lead stronger and healthier lives through a vehicle called the Active 2010 communities in action fund, or CIAF. Recently, the Markham Skating Club

received a one-year grant worth over $8,000 from CIAF. These funds will support an outreach and membership development project to engage new residents of Markham in recreational skating.

Living in one of Canada's most culturally diverse communities, many new residents of Markham may have had little experience participating in skating as a form

of physical activity and recreation. Through this project, the Markham Skating Club will engage and encourage 400 new children and youth residents to skate. As our Minister of Health Promotion has

said, organizations like these play a critical role in this government's strategy to help Ontarians develop healthier and more active lifestyles.

Please join me in congratulating Gillian Apps, Cherie Piper and Gillian Ferrari on their tremendous win.

OMERS PENSION PLAN

Mr. Ernie Hardeman (Oxford): Our leader, John Tory, has been urging both Premier McGuinty and CUPE's Sid Ryan to let cooler heads prevail and

return to the negotiating table. Before I go further, I want to thank the Premier for taking the advice of the leader of the official opposition at the 11th hour and averting a strike that would

have crippled this province.

Premier, I still don't understand why the government is ignoring AMO's request to see the province's estimates on the total cost of the OMERS reform. AMO has

every reason to be concerned with changes you are making to this multi-billion dollar pension plan. I would expect that, on a matter of this importance, you would want to share your numbers with

AMO or, as scary as it may be, Premier, is it that you really don't know what the financial impact is going to be to the taxpayers of the province of Ontario?

I'm very concerned with Bill 206 -- a bill that was amended over 100 times, a bill that is not at all the same as it was the day it was first introduced. The

amendments that were made to this bill do nothing to address the concerns brought forward by the many presenters during the committee hearings. In fact, some went so far as to say that if the

government was going to put forward what is believed to be a flawed governance model, then, frankly, it would be better that the government leave things the way they were.

The province is rushing to reform one of Canada's most important pension funds, without a reasonable understanding of the potential repercussions and without

sufficient regard to the best interests of employees, retirees, employers and, most importantly, taxpayers, because that's where all of this OMERS money comes from.

Once again, I ask the Premier to recognize that the taxpayers of Ontario should not bear the undue financial burdens this bill could impose upon them.

LOCAL HEALTH

INTEGRATION NETWORKS

Mr. Peter Kormos (Niagara Centre): Let me tell you what hard-working folks in the whole area of health care delivery have to say about the

government's misguided, ill-conceived and downright boneheaded LHINs proposal.

Liz LeMesurier, from Deere Street in Welland, and Gerry Fortier write to me:

"Dear Mr. Kormos

"As a health care worker and a voter I am concerned that the Ontario government is radically restructuring our health care system without any consultation with

the public and health care workers.

"Bill 36 will create 14 local health integration networks that will decide the health care Ontarians will get.

"LHINs will have the power to shut down local health services or transfer them to other locations.

"Our communities will lose health services. Health care workers will lose jobs.

"LHINs will have the power to transfer public health services to for-profit companies through a competitive bidding process.

"LHINs are not local and undemocratic.

"All this has caused me" -- the authors of this letter -- "deep concern. These changes will negatively impact patient care, our communities and hospital

workers' jobs."

These health workers, along with millions of Ontarians, know that this government, hell-bent on the privatization of health care with Bill 36, its LHINs

policy, is dooming the future of health care in the province of Ontario. I join with them in telling this government to stop and terminate Bill 36.

YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS CONFERENCE

Ms. Judy Marsales (Hamilton West): I'm delighted to share my enjoyment in attending the opening ceremonies for the Young Entrepreneurs

conference held yesterday at Mohawk College. The conference is designed to provide a forum for young people to understand the impact of entrepreneurship on the economy. A teacher asked, "Who has

cut grass or babysat for money?" and then made the connection between these activities as defining the start of entrepreneurship. The majority of companies are started by one person -- one person

with an idea and a dream.

Entrepreneurs are the backbone of business. My thanks go to all the teachers who are encouraging young people to explore these options. Thank you to Reid

McWilliams from Mohawk College, who, along with Kristin Huigenbos, coordinator of the Small Business Enterprise Centre of the city of Hamilton, organized this very successful conference.

The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has two wonderful programs for students, Summer Company and Youth Partnerships, which offer great opportunities

for students to test their interest in small business by giving them mentoring and hands-on business experience.

Entrepreneurs are a hard-working, dedicated group of citizens who combine energy, tenaciousness and creativity to build successful businesses, develop job

opportunities and support communities.

Congratulations to the Small Business Enterprise Centre for their initiative in offering this conference at Mohawk College, and to all the young people who

brought their enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and attended and celebrated and cheered.

DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT

Mr. Robert W. Runciman (Leeds-Grenville): I want to address a very serious problem threatening both the commercial and sports fisheries in the

St. Lawrence and Thousand Islands region that the Minister of Natural Resources to date is ignoring.

The double-crested cormorant moved into the region a number of years ago in the wake of another invasive species, the zebra mussel. Cormorants are clear-water

fishers, and the presence of zebra mussels has dramatically reduced turbidity and made the river an attractive hunting zone for this invasive species.

New York state's Department of Environmental Conservation along with the US Fish and Wildlife Service have made efforts to control the cormorant population on

the US side of the river, but their efforts are not achieving the desired goal, because Ontario officials continue to sit on their hands.

New York State Senator Jim Wright, along with Tom Nichols, chair of the St. Lawrence County Legislature, have called on the Ontario government, through the

Ministry of Natural Resources, to work co-operatively with US agencies to address this growing problem before irreversible losses occur.

I urge the Minister of Natural Resources to get engaged and stop taking a pass on efforts to address this dramatic situation. Significant damage to fish

populations is occurring and the time to act is long overdue.

SPEED SKATING OVAL

Mr. Jeff Leal (Peterborough): I'm pleased to rise in the House today to speak about the Ontario Speed Skating Oval. Earlier this month, I had

the honour of announcing an investment of more than $800,000 by this government toward the construction of an innovative facility in the town of Lakefield just outside of Peterborough.

The speed skating oval in Lakefield will be Ontario's only temperature-controlled, outdoor 400-metre speed skating oval, complete with an adjoining

multipurpose building. A key element of this project is the geothermal heat pump system. This means that excess heat will be captured for use as a heat source for the oval buildings, two local high

schools and a subdivision in the area.

This announcement is about community partnership, about partners working together to provide the best solutions to build a stronger, healthier Lakefield.

I wish to recognize the efforts of those committed partners who were instrumental in bringing this project forward: Mr. Graham Wilkins, Mr. Norm Kyle, Mr. Rick

Morrison, Mr. Mark Graham, Mr. Bob Helsing and Mr. Allan Heritage. And a special thanks to Catriona Le May Doan, who has graciously agreed to be the honorary spokesperson for this project.

The McGuinty government is delivering results in Lakefield and communities across Ontario through the rural economic development program. It is expected that

the Ontario Speed Skating Oval facilities in Lakefield will be used by more than 80,000 people annually. This project will provide more than 180 new jobs in the community and has the potential to

generate more than $6 million in new tourism for Ontario. Congratulations to everyone involved.

DON VALLEY WEST

CONSERVATION FAIR

Ms. Kathleen O. Wynne (Don Valley West): I'm happy to report today on the Don Valley West Conservation Fair that I hosted at Don Mills Plaza

this past Saturday. I'm proud to report that over 200 residents came to take a look and learn from the displays set up by 17 exhibitors on a range of conservation issues.

We had small business people, not-for-profit citizens' organizations and school-based programs all demonstrating their leadership and sincere interest in

making a smaller ecological footprint in our society.

I want to thank Citizens' Environment Watch, Earth Rangers Centre, Enbridge, Green$aver, Next Energy, Nulight Ltd., Toronto Hydro, the Don Valley West

One-Tonne Challenge, Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy, Evergreen, EnerWorks, North Toronto Green Community, FIRSTeam, EcoSchools, New Currents and Recycling Streams.

While residents learned how they could draft-proof their homes, switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs and teach their children to reduce, reuse and

recycle, they also learned of the additional benefit resulting in reducing their energy costs. As I spoke with many of the people in the mall, I appreciated just how much they were interested in

this issue, are already aware about energy issues and want to do more.

This event is just one example of how we can foster a culture of conservation. I'm pleased to say that the residents of Don Valley West care deeply about how

conservation plays a significant role in environmental responsibility.

LOCAL HEALTH

INTEGRATION NETWORKS

Mr. Ted McMeekin (Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot): Rather than dwell on the myths that have been circulating about local health

integration networks, I'd like to clarify the purpose of Bill 36: to deliver a more transparent, regionally accountable, truly integrated health care system for the people of Ontario.

Let's pause for a moment to consider the state of that system. What we inherited were the remnants of a system neglected to the point of implosion. The Tories

closed hospitals, fired thousands of nurses and ran up a massive deficit in the process. We had a choice: to accept the consequences of the Tories' slash-and-burn health care policy or to roll up

our sleeves and deliver a reformed health care system that is more accountable and responsive to the needs of patients. Needless to say, we chose the latter.

Today we are delivering on that promise. LHINs represent a fundamental shift in Ontario health care. We are taking a loose cluster of services and turning them

into a truly integrated system, a system that will be responsive to specific local health care needs.

I do worry about the dangerous games some groups are playing with our health care system. Those who would spread misinformation and seek to derail our reforms

are taking grave risks with the health of Ontarians. I would call on all stakeholders and members of the House to join us in focusing Ontario's health care system where it properly belongs: on

patients.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

HIGHWAY TRAFFIC AMENDMENT ACT

(CELLULAR PHONES), 2006 /

LOI DE 2006

MODIFIANT LE CODE DE LA ROUTE

(TÉLÉPHONES CELLULAIRES)

Mr. O'Toole moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 68,

An Act to amend the Highway Traffic Act to prohibit the use of phones and other equipment while a person is driving on a highway / Projet de loi

68, Loi modifiant le Code de la route pour interdire l'utilisation de téléphones et d'autres équipements pendant qu'une personne conduit sur une voie publique.

The Speaker (Hon. Michael A. Brown): Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

The member may wish to make a brief statement.

Mr. John O'Toole (Durham): The intention of this bill, of course, is to change drivers' behaviour, to address the issue of driver distraction,

to improve the statistics with respect to the relationship between technology and potential accidents and to require drivers to cease using phones in certain situations. But the key thing to this

piece of legislation is quite practical: It's to do the right thing. If it saves one life, it does the right thing.

MOTIONS

PRIVATE MEMBERS' PUBLIC BUSINESS

Hon. James J. Bradley (Minister of Tourism, minister responsible for seniors, Government House Leader): I seek unanimous consent to put

forward a motion without notice regarding private members' public business.

The Speaker (Hon. Michael A. Brown): Agreed? Agreed.

Hon. Mr. Bradley: I move that, notwithstanding standing order 96(d), the following change be made to the ballot list of private members'

public business: Mr. Dunlop and Mr. O'Toole exchange places in order of precedence such that Mr. Dunlop assumes ballot item 40 and Mr. O'Toole assumes ballot item 22; Mr. Hardeman and Mr. Klees

exchange places in order of precedence such that Mr. Hardeman assumes ballot item 47 and Mr. Klees assumes ballot item 23.

The Speaker: Is it the pleasure of the House the motion carry? Carried.

DEFERRED VOTES

ONTARIO MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES

RETIREMENT SYSTEM ACT, 2006 /

LOI DE 2006

SUR LE RÉGIME DE RETRAITE

DES EMPLOYÉS MUNICIPAUX

DE L'ONTARIO

Deferred vote on the motion for third reading of Bill 206,

An Act to revise the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System Act / Projet de loi 206, Loi

révisant la

Loi sur le régime de retraite des employés municipaux de l'Ontario.

The Speaker (Hon. Michael A. Brown): Call in the members. This will be a five-minute bell.

The division bells rang from 1349 to 1354.

The Speaker: All those in favour will please rise one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.

Ayes

Arthurs, Wayne

Balkissoon, Bas

Bartolucci, Rick

Berardinetti, Lorenzo

Bountrogianni, Marie

Bradley, James J.

Brownell, Jim

Bryant, Michael

Cansfield, Donna H.

Caplan, David

Chambers, Mary Anne V.

Colle, Mike

Craitor, Kim

Crozier, Bruce

Delaney, Bob

Dhillon, Vic

Duguid, Brad

Duncan, Dwight

Gerretsen, John

Hoy, Pat

Jeffrey, Linda

Kular, Kuldip

Kwinter, Monte

Leal, Jeff

Levac, Dave

Marsales, Judy

Matthews, Deborah

Mauro, Bill

McGuinty, Dalton

McMeekin, Ted

McNeely, Phil

Meilleur, Madeleine

Milloy, John

Mitchell, Carol

Orazietti, David

Parsons, Ernie

Patten, Richard

Peters, Steve

Phillips, Gerry

Pupatello, Sandra

Racco, Mario G.

Rinaldi, Lou

Ruprecht, Tony

Sandals, Liz

Smith, Monique

Van Bommel, Maria

Watson, Jim

Wilkinson, John

Wong, Tony C.

Wynne, Kathleen O.

Zimmer, David

The Speaker: All those opposed will please rise one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.

Nays

Arnott, Ted

Barrett, Toby

Bisson, Gilles

Chudleigh, Ted

Hampton, Howard

Hardeman, Ernie

Horwath, Andrea

Hudak, Tim

Klees, Frank

Kormos, Peter

Marchese, Rosario

Martel, Shelley

Martiniuk, Gerry

Miller, Norm

Munro, Julia

O'Toole, John

Prue, Michael

Runciman, Robert W.

Scott, Laurie

Sterling, Norman W.

Tory, John

Wilson, Jim

Witmer, Elizabeth

The Clerk of the Assembly (Mr. Claude L. DesRosiers): The ayes are 51; the nays are 23.

The Speaker: I declare the motion carried.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

ORAL QUESTIONS

LOCAL HEALTH

INTEGRATION NETWORKS

Mr. John Tory (Leader of the Opposition): My question is for the Premier. I wonder if the Premier could explain to the House why his

government has found it necessary to provide the Minister of Health with more power than any Minister of Health in recent memory. I am referring specifically to the power that is given in the LHIN

bill to allow the minister to ride roughshod over the LHIN accountability agreements whenever he chooses to do so. I wonder if the Premier could explain why that power is necessary if your priority

is on giving the power to make these decisions to the local level?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty (Premier, Minister of Research and Innovation): I'm pleased to take the question. In any discussion about LHINs, I would

ask the leader of the official opposition, as I would Ontarians, to consider our track record to date with respect to health care generally and medicare specifically, and the tremendous commitment

we have demonstrated in that regard. We are the first province to put in place a specific piece of legislation, the Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act, which effectively enshrines national

legislation at the provincial level.

The LHIN undertaking, which we are putting forward on behalf of the people of Ontario, is all about ensuring that Ontarians have more say in their community

when it comes to the delivery of good-quality health care. What it does, in a real sense, is give more control, more determination to people at the community level, and we think that's healthy and

appropriate.

Mr. Tory: Let's talk about that, because, as with so many things, it's a matter of whether it's real or a mirage. In fact, you used different

language the other day. You said that you had every confidence in the people to assist when it comes to making important decisions.

What you've done is put a

section in this bill that, without a hearing, without cabinet oversight or approval, without having to meet any definition at all of

what is in the public interest, the minister can override the accountability agreement between the LHINs and himself at the end of a negotiating process that hasn't succeeded, effectively rendering

them -- his hand-picked appointees, by the way -- powerless to be involved in the decision.

Worse than that, this overriding that he can do, totally trampling on any involvement by the local people, will take place in secret, in darkness. That means

the public will never know that the minister overrode what the local people wanted to do.

So I ask you, Premier: If this is really about local input, local decision-making, local involvement, why are you allowing your minister to become some sort of

a politburo where he gets to make the decisions himself in secret? Why are you doing that?

Hon. Mr. McGuinty: Again the leader of the official opposition is sorely mistaken in this regard. Our made-in-Ontario model will empower local

communities to make decisions about local health care. We just don't believe -- and I'm surprised to hear the leader of the official opposition assert something to the contrary -- that you can

micromanage the entire health care system from an office tower within the precinct of Queen's Park.

Right now, Ontario is the only jurisdiction in Canada with no local say over health care needs. On behalf of all those people who have signed on to serve on

LHIN boards, I resent that somehow these people have been chosen for reasons other than their ability and their goodwill and their determination to improve the quality of care at the local

level.

Mr. Tory: Premier, of course, you have basically substituted those hand-picked appointees of yours for good people who signed up before to

serve on local hospital boards, where they will have no role to play anymore. But even the hand-picked people you put in place are going to be overridden by the minister. If you've read the bill,

check out subsection 18(3), which says that the minister can override any of these decisions that your hand-picked people will make in any event.

We moved an amendment that would have strengthened your argument about local representation and power. We said that there should be a dispute resolution

mechanism set up so that if the minister and the LHIN can't agree, he doesn't just get the power to go to a secret room and decide by himself; somebody else gets to take a look at it. You voted

that down.

If you're serious about what you said and making sure local people have a say in local health care matters, why won't you reconsider that? Why did you vote