role="main" class="main-container container js-quickedit-main-content" id="main-content">

November 24, 2021

42nd Parliament, 2nd Session

< Previous sitting day

Next sitting day >

Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2021-Nov-24 (PDF)

L023 - Wed 24 Nov 2021 / Mer 24 nov 2021

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Wednesday 24 November 2021 Mercredi 24 novembre 2021

Orders of the Day

Throne speech debate

Members’ Statements

Homelessness

Kaneff family

Nurses

Gender equality

Indigenous land claims

Violence against women

Tale of a Thousand Turtles project

Government’s record

Skills training

Visitors

Question Period

Protection of privacy

Employment standards

Consumer protection

Domestic violence

Air quality

Hospital funding

Post-secondary education

COVID-19 testing

Education funding

Mental health services

Child care

Child care

Addiction services

Environmental protection

Hospital funding

Private members’ public business

Deferred Votes

Stay Home If You Are Sick Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 permettant aux employés malades de rester chez eux

Time to Care Act (Long-Term Care Homes Amendment, Minimum Standard of Daily Care), 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur le temps alloué aux soins (modifiant la

Loi sur les foyers de soins de longue durée et prévoyant une norme minimale en matière de soins quotidiens)

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on Social Policy

Introduction of Bills

9-1-1 Everywhere in Ontario Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur le 9-1-1 partout en Ontario

Paris Galt Moraine Conservation Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur la conservation de la moraine de Paris Galt

Petitions

Treaties recognition

Optometry services

Tenant protection

Optometry services

Highway safety

Optometry services

Optometry services

Nurses

Front-line workers

Private members’ public business

Opposition Day

Hospital funding

Private Members’ Public Business

Protecting Vulnerable Road Users Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur la protection des usagers de la route vulnérables

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Throne speech debate

Resuming the debate adjourned on October 28, 2021, on the motion for an address in reply to the speech of Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor at the opening of the session.

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

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Meegwetch, Speaker. Remarks in Oji-Cree . It’s always an honour to be able to get up in this place to talk about some of the things we face as Indigenous people. It’s also an honour to represent the constituents of Kiiwetinoong regarding the motion, but also the throne speech itself.

I know that sometimes when I listen to the debates I get so convinced that there’s change coming, but the actions look very different. I was here when we listened to the throne speech. I’m going to read out the piece of it that I’m going to speak about:

“Your government will also continue to engage with Indigenous communities in true partnership as we continue the work toward meaningful reconciliation. A few ... days ago, Ontario and Canada observed the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. On that day, today and every day, your government will work to strengthen its relationship with Indigenous peoples and play an active role in supporting healing and reconciliation.”

Good words. Those were the words on October 4 when Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor delivered the government’s throne speech to open this session of the 42nd Parliament. For the benefit of those people at home, the throne speech opens every new session of Parliament. The speech introduces the government’s direction and goals, and outlines how it will work towards achieving them.

First, before I get into my remarks, I would like to thank the people of Kiiwetinoong, because they are amazing and they have worked so hard to get through the pandemic and work together as a community, as nations. It is an honour, again, to represent them and bring the voice of the north—the real north—here to the Legislature.

On the day of the throne speech, I listened very intently to what was being said, as many items I hoped would be in the speech were not there. In the throne speech there was no mention of issues that are essential to the people across the north, such as education, affordable housing and protection of the environment. More resourcing is still needed for health care and smaller class sizes. There was talk of additional long-term-care beds and hospital beds across Ontario; I want to be able to see this turn to action on the 76 long-term-care beds that Sioux Lookout has been waiting for since 2018.

Speaker, we are dealing with a mental health and opioid crisis across the north, and this government should not be maintaining the status quo. More action must be taken to help those who need it and bring it closer to home.

Throughout the pandemic, the tourism sector has called on Ontario for assistance and to make good on promised funding. Tourism operators continue to have ongoing operating difficulties and uncertainty about their future. Even before COVID-19, municipalities had increasing financial pressures. They need more options from the province to expand their financial resources, such as stabilization of the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund and increased resource revenue sharing from Ontario.

I also listened to what was said about healing and reconciliation, and I have concerns. On May 28, 2021, the Tk’emlúps First Nation announced its preliminary findings that there were 215 children found on the site of a former Kamloops Indian residential school. Uncovered at the site were children as young as three years old. According to Chief Rosanne Casimir, these children had been missing and were undocumented deaths. Although the communities had been searching for their own missing children in the past decades, the news was shocking and, of course, it was devastating for all of us.

At the local level in my riding, in response to the announcement, the Sioux Lookout area Chiefs Committee on Health and the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority board of directors began advocating and demanding action to be taken to search for the missing children who had attended Indian residential schools in the region.

On the same day the federal government, under pressure to respond to the findings, announced funding to support communities who wanted to conduct a search, access professional archaeological investigation services and return the remains home, if desired. Less than two weeks later, Ontario announced $10 million in funding over three years to identify and commemorate residential school burial sites.

Speaker, we also know that there were 18 former Indian residential school sites in all of Ontario. Lac Seul First Nation has announced that they will take the lead in the search for children who attended government institutions, both educational and health, on its traditional territory. In the area of Sioux Lookout, these are the Pelican Lake Indian Residential School and the former Sioux Lookout Zone Indian hospital. That’s actually where I was born, the Indian hospital. The First Nations will also work with the municipality of Sioux Lookout to search for the missing children in the town cemeteries and burial sites.

The former Pelican Lake residential school site sits on the traditional territory of Lac Seul First Nation and Treaty 3 territory. It first opened up in 1926 and closed in 1973. In its developmental stages, the planners put the school in a wooded 116-hectare area located 10 kilometres by boat from Sioux Lookout, and it’s about three kilometres from the CN railway. It was planned to be a large Anglican institution that would be at full capacity with 125 students from communities across northern Ontario. These students were Ojibway, they were Cree, from both Treaty 3 and Treaty 9 territories.

Sioux Lookout Zone Indian hospital was built in 1949 to treat tuberculosis, perform surgeries, deliver babies for communities in northern Ontario. Again, this is where I was born. The 65-bed hospital was part of a network of racialized segregation—health care facilities that treated Indigenous people for decades. That’s the funny thing too. I thought it was normal to go to an Indian hospital, and then you have this other hospital. I don’t know what they called it. It was a provincial hospital. Some people called it a white hospital. That’s essentially what it was. If you were brown, you went over there; if you were white, you went over there.

That ended in 1997. The former Sioux Lookout Zone Indian hospital closed its doors when the municipality of Sioux Lookout amalgamated with the local First Nations, Ontario and Canada in the creation of the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Heath Centre in 2010.

Sioux Lookout’s mayor, Doug Lawrance, notes that, “We know there are unidentified graves in the Northway Cemetery adjacent to the old ... hospital site. The Municipal Truth and Reconciliation Committee has been working towards memorializing those buried but not identified in the Northway Cemetery.” So there are remains there. We also suspect that there are burials of children in the mound near the site of Pelican Falls.

I bring up this issue, I tell this story, because this is part of the history of not only the Sioux Lookout area but of Ontario itself. I have spoken to many people, and I hear often that they did not learn the truth about residential schools. This is something that we cannot repeat with our own children, your children, our grandchildren.

Speaker, I want to be clear: There is no reconciliation without truth. Meaningful reconciliation should engage young people in learning about Canada’s history of colonization, thinking creatively about the future and providing them with an opportunity to make a difference—not just one, but opportunities. I say that because one of the first things that the government did when it came into office is stop curriculum writing that would have embedded the truth about Indigenous people in this country in our own curriculum.

The four Ontario school board associations have said that there’s a practical and a moral obligation to be able to equip trustees, board members and boards with an accurate knowledge of Indigenous history, with insight and support for building school communities where the relationship between Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people is founded on mutual respect and understanding.

Since the release of the TRC report, provincial governments have been entrusted with the specific mandate of making the history of residential schools, treaties and historical and contemporary contributions of First Nations, Métis and Inuit a mandatory educational requirement for all kindergarten to grade 12 students. This has yet to happen. Is that reconciliation?

Senator Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, stated, “Reconciliation is not an Indigenous problem, it is a Canadian problem. It involves all of us” who are here.

Ontario educators Lindsay Morcom and Kate Freeman have said in the Canadian Journal of Education that reconciliation cannot be led by the colonizer.

“When approached in this way, reconciliation is an artificial concept because it only scratches the surface of the deep-seated historical and current inequalities that affect our society. The problem with this approach is” made worse “by the fact that, in this framework, we continue to perceive reconciliation from a Western, Eurocentric perspective without” learning more about “what Indigenous teachings tell us about” our relationships with another.

“True reconciliation requires us to engage Indigenous philosophies on ethical ... interactions and to strive to create meaningful, deep societal change where Indigenous and Western perspectives are treated with the same consideration.”

This goal is essential now, given that we know what happened in Kamloops and at residential schools across Ontario. While we respect the lowering of flags and other demonstrations as a means of showing respect for all children who died in Indian residential schools across Ontario and Canada, there is so much more work to be done to honour our ancestors who never came home and to honour the survivors, also, of residential schools. It’s so important to honour those who did not get to go home.

This work demands the attention of every member of this Legislature, and it needs the collective action of all 124 members who are here, who were elected to serve Ontario. All of us here must be fully committed to implementing the calls to action from the TRC to address the ongoing legacy of residential schools.

The discovery of the unmarked graves of the 215 children shows us again that genocide and colonization are not in Canada’s past. Our people live with the effects in the present today, and we are long past the time of waiting for governments to honour their commitments to the treaties and reconciliation.

In their report, Calls to Action Accountability: A 2020 Status Update on Reconciliation, Eva Jewell and Ian Mosby from the Yellowhead Institute identify three main barriers to the completion of the 94 calls to action:

“(1) a vision among policy-makers of the ‘public interest’” as not including “Indigenous peoples;

“(2) the deep-rooted paternalistic attitudes of politicians, bureaucrats, and other policy-makers, and;

“3) the ongoing legacy and reality of structural anti-Indigenous racism.”

They also stated, “Where ‘reconciliation’ is attempted, we have found in our discussions with Indigenous experts and practitioners that it is non-Indigenous organizations who take advantage of ... government budget lines and they are often exploitative.”

Mr. Speaker, reconciliation as just a budget line item pads these institutions that start temporary project-based initiatives to avoid the institutional change that reconciliation demands. In this way, money earmarked for reconciliation often results in little more than recolonization. What I’m saying is, this is not reconciliation. Our children and residential school survivors deserve more than just empty promises and lip service. Meegwetch for listening.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Questions and responses?

Mr. Will Bouma: Speaker, through you, I always appreciate having conversations with the member from Kiiwetinoong and the point of view that he brings to this House. He knows, as I’ve mentioned before, how much I appreciate the fact that he is willing to sit in this place and everything that that means to him and to his people.

For myself, personally, it’s been such a wonderful development to have been at the former Mohawk Institute in my riding for the announcement of the $10 million in funding to search for graves at the former residential school sites in the province of Ontario. I’ve been so appreciative of the leadership shown by Chief Darren Montour from the Six Nations Police Service and the excellent working relationship between Brantford city police, Six Nations police and the OPP. They’ve launched a criminal investigation, with the leadership of Six Nations police, as they search for—

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Question?

Mr. Will Bouma: They’re doing the ground-penetrating radar right now.

I would like to ask the member if this is a good development and if this is a good first step in the reconciliation process.

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Meegwetch for the question. Certainly, my friends over at Six Nations are leading the work in Ontario and starting the search.

I know that in other provinces the funding that is provided—First Nation organizations are just doing the work. They’re not doing the proposal-based approach where they have to get the province or the feds to approve it. That’s not right when we are trying to find the remains of our children.

Certainly, it is a good step, but we just need the government to get out of the way. It has to be an Indigenous-led process. The government just needs to get out of the way and let us do our work. Meegwetch.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Questions and response?

Mr. Gurratan Singh: I want to thank the member from Kiiwetinoong for his really powerful presentation this morning.

You often mention how you say reconciliation is dead in Canada and in Ontario. Can you just elaborate a little bit on that and describe what it is that makes reconciliation be in such a terrible state in Ontario and in Canada?

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Thank you for the question. Probably around February 2020, in and around that time, I remember saying that with this government, reconciliation is dead. I said that because I just felt that, with some of the cutbacks that had happened, some of the cancelled things, it wasn’t moving towards reconciliation. When there’s no work side by side, when the government treats us as stakeholders, not partners—when we talk about the Ring of Fire, it’s a divide-and-conquer approach. That’s kind of what I meant. We need to work together to a better place.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Further questions and response?

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: My thanks to the member for Kiiwetinoong for speaking in this chamber. My thanks also for the strong advocacy you have for northern Ontario. I know it’s an immense, immense territory that you have the opportunity to represent, and that brings a unique perspective.

I’m wondering if you could speak a little bit about the economic development aspects and the importance of those partnerships you referenced, and perhaps walk through it for someone like myself who is trying to understand some of those complexities between some First Nations that are moving in a direction of a lot more resource development and some others that might have some concerns and are wanting to work through those concerns in a meaningful way. Can you share a little bit about what that process should look like and how there are also differences even between the various nations in the north on that?

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Meegwetch for the question on resource development. Let me be clear: First Nations are not against resource development. They just want to be at the table. But when you’re not at the table, at the decision-making table, it will not work. The Ring of Fire will not happen if you don’t talk to other First Nations, period. But I think it’s important, you know, that there are things that happen in communities. I have 14 long-term boil-water advisories in the riding, the longest one is 26-plus years, and I bring those up. I have children dying who are 12 years old, dying by suicide.

How do we deal with that? How do you expect for communities, First Nations, to rise when—how can you talk about economic development when you have these issues that we need to deal with? Ontario has got to become part of the solution.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Questions and response?

Mr. Ian Arthur: Thank you to the member from Kiiwetinoong for his speech. Symbols matter a lot. It’s interesting to recognize the new symbol that’s in the Legislature. We debate a lot of different topics here, but I’m struck by what it must be like to debate something entitled “speech from the throne” and then to actually stand up and respond to questions from members opposite where they’re asking to be patted on the back for providing some money to find the unmarked graves of children. It must kill you inside. My question is, how do you keep coming back to this space and keep doing that, when that is what you’re faced with?

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: That’s a very good question, and I don’t really know how to answer that. But I can say this: I know this is a very colonial place. This place was never built for a person like me, a First Nations person. I know that. But it gives me hope. I keep coming here because I have hope. It is the children, the youth, the people of Kiiwetinoong that give me hope. It is the others, people in Ontario, people across Canada who reach out to me, whether First Nation, non-First Nation, non-Indigenous. That’s where I get my hope. I think it’s about to change the trajectory by thinking of the people who are here, and I hope you stand with me on that.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the member from Mississauga Centre.

Ms. Natalia Kusendova: I’ve had the privilege to work with some of our Indigenous partners when it comes to the issue of human trafficking, especially in my area with the Mississaugas of the Credit River, and I’m so proud of the work we have done as a government to address this heinous crime. I think it’s so important that some of the funding that the government is providing is towards Indigenous-led initiatives, because we know that the Indigenous community has suffered from human trafficking for decades. I think it’s really important that we have partners and that these initiatives are led by the community.

Can the member talk about this and why we should be investing more into Indigenous-led initiatives within human trafficking?

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Thank you for the question. It’s certainly a big issue. We see it. Our people live it. But I think there are bigger things happening as well. Why are people ending up in those places? We cannot deal with things downstream. We need to address the issues upstream as well: better housing, better education, better health system, better schools, better mental health. That’s how we make change. We cannot continue to deal with things downstream. I think it’s a very reactive approach. We’ve got to be more proactive.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the member from Hamilton Mountain for a short question.

Miss Monique Taylor: I’m grateful to have the opportunity to hear the member from Kiiwetinoong and the perspective that he brings to this House. I think this conversation has led us into the perfect place of talking about mental health, the lack of resources in your community and what it is that your community needs to support people’s mental health to ensure that we don’t have more human trafficking.

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Yes, mental health is very important, because we cannot continue to accept and normalize that it’s okay for 12- and 13-year-old boys and girls to die by suicide or just give up hope. We need to be able to give hope to youth, not just Indigenous youth but youth in general, in Ontario.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Further debate? I recognize the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Steve Clark: Speaker, I have to say, this is the first opportunity I’ve had to congratulate you on your ascension to the Chair. You’re a great friend, and I’ll try to keep my language in a parliamentary manner today so you don’t have to stand up and eject me or do anything drastic. I’ll try to deal with this in a respectful manner—but it’s great to see you.

It’s also a great privilege for me to have a few moments to speak about the speech from the throne. This is a very important time in our history, and it gives me a great opportunity to talk, not just about our government’s plans, but also to touch on some things in my great riding of Leeds–Grenville–Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.

Speaker, I think we all agree that the last year and a half has been a real challenge for Ontarians. There’s no question about that. But I am very proud of our government’s efforts. I’ve seen every day that our health care heroes and those on the front lines of the pandemic have just performed so, so very well. And in my riding of Leeds–Grenville–Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, I’ve seen people step up and contribute. The local health unit, our hospitals, long-term care and retirement homes, immunization clinics at local drugstores—everywhere you could see in the riding, people have stepped up.

On the other hand, Speaker, the pandemic has emphasized issues that needed to be addressed. I’m proud that our government has taken action. I’m proud that we’re continuing to find ways to address even the most long-standing issues faced by Ontarians. There’s much, much more, I think we all agree, that we need to do collectively. Our government has also stepped up to make difficult decisions, to protect Ontarians at every single stage of the pandemic, and that’s why I believe that we as a province have pursued the most cautious reopening in Canada.

But the other thing—and this is something that I’m sure you’ll agree with, Speaker, because I said it many times when we were on the other side of the House. At every stage, our government put politics aside and put ideology aside to make decisions to save people’s lives and to protect Ontarians. I’m proud that, when necessary—and this is something we also said when we were in opposition—we also changed course. We had to act in a manner that we believed was in the best interest of Ontarians and, I’ve always said this, our constituents deserve nothing less.

Go back to 2020: Let’s face it, there was a significant amount of triaging that had to take place. Resources had to be committed and then allocated and then reallocated to essentially put the pressure on all of us to ensure that we had a plan in place that saved lives and protected Ontarians. Controlling the spread of the virus was paramount to this government.

The introduction of vaccines has been a very important tool in this fight. Our government created a vaccine distribution system with military precision. We coupled it with an outstanding educational campaign, and the results, I think, are outstanding as well. In my riding, my local health unit, the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, asked people to step up and get vaccinated, and that’s exactly what they did, Speaker.

Our health unit’s outstanding numbers need to be restated in this House: Our first-dose vaccination rate is 98.5% for ages 12-plus; second-dose vaccination rate, 95.7%, Speaker. Let’s do a comparison. Let’s look across the river from my riding to New York’s St. Lawrence county. It has only 54% of the population that’s vaccinated. So you’re seeing a significant difference in how those two jurisdictions, Ontario and New York, dealt with this issue.

And I’m so proud. I’ve said this many times throughout the pandemic: I’m so proud how people in my riding stepped up to control the spread and minimize the impact of COVID-19. Our Ontario high vaccination rate is helping us to return to a more normal life and to, again, concentrate on the things that need to be addressed by government.

Speaker, our government has already committed a dramatic amount of funds for long-term care. Certainly, the pandemic exacerbated the long-standing vulnerabilities after decades of underfunding by governments of all political stripes. The situation, I think we all agree, should never be allowed to repeat itself. That’s why the government is investing $2.68 billion to build 30,000 new and upgraded long-term care homes over the next decade, as thousands of them are being upgraded to 21st-century design standards.

In total, as we all know—we’ve talked about it many times as part of the throne speech debate—we’re looking at 20,000 new, 15,000 upgraded long-term-care beds, after 15 years of inaction by the previous government where they only built 611 beds. Our government knows that beds aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet. Behind every single one of those beds—every one of them—there are real families that are impacted by a loved one who needs a safe place to spend the remaining years of their life.

In my riding of Leeds–Grenville–Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, there is long-term care growth in every corner of the riding. There is a major expansion at Maple View Lodge in Athens, a new building and redevelopment at Wellington House in Prescott and a new home in Southbridge in Kemptville. And, Speaker, there’s more to come.

Also, from my ministry, I’ve used a tool called the minister’s zoning order. I’m proud to have approved, as minister, and fast-tracked many long-term care projects across Ontario that are going to be built for today’s realities and for the future: beautiful, spacious facilities; single rooms instead of wards; modern ventilation; modern amenities. These are beds that are being fast-tracked using a tool that I think we all agree—at least I hope the opposition will start to agree that this is a tool that is much-needed for us to be able to realize building those 30,000 beds.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I made the announcement in 2018 at Southbridge in Kemptville about the redevelopment, and I had a number of staff come forward and talk about our plan to build more long-term-care beds. The issue that we see is we have to have more staff. We have to have better-paid staff. We have to have new advantages for training and retraining opportunities. That’s why our government is investing nearly $5 billion over the next four years for more than 27,000 long-term care staff, including nurses and personal support workers.

In doing so, Ontario will provide long-term care facility residents with four hours of direct care per day, and that’s something that we really—as a government, it’s a priority for us. That’s why we’re making this long-term investment.

We’ve introduced legislation, as we all know, that will protect residents through better accountability, better enforcement and better transparency. This is good news for Ontario.

The other fact, Speaker, that I want to talk about is Ontario’s hospitals. They’ve been on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our government is using every tool at our disposal to support them through these unprecedented times.

The government is committed to ending hallway health care. We’ve committed to address the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve increased investments to hospitals across the province for a third straight year. And to support hospitals in managing those pressures created by COVID-19, we’re providing hospitals with over $1.2 billion to ensure that they can continue to provide that high-quality care our residents deserve.

Now, there’s one aspect that I want to outline, and that is: As part of this, we’re investing $696.6 million to provide financial stability and relief to hospitals by eliminating significant portions of historic working capital deficits for public hospitals that qualify for eligibility. This is very important because it’s something that the previous government refused to even consider.

In my riding, I was so very proud to announce recently that the Brockville General Hospital would receive $25.6 million from our government to deal with this long-standing working capital deficit. Our community hospitals provide exceptional care to residents and families. This massive one-time investment to the Brockville General Hospital and a similar investment to the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital ensure they are placed in a stronger financial position, that they’re able to grow, that they’re able to thrive to meet the needs of the community.

This builds upon our investment we made. I made an announcement of almost $5 million in the summer to help our local hospitals, and that added to another $2.3-million announcement for infrastructure investments. All of these things put into good stead the opportunity to expand. That’s why I was so very proud to announce a new cutting-edge MRI, our region’s first MRI, to be housed at the Brockville General Hospital, which I announced in October.

These announcements, this additional support to our hospitals as part of Ontario’s action plan, include $760 million to help hospitals continue to respond to COVID-19 and an additional $300 million to reduce surgical backlogs. I’m confident now, because of our government and the work we’ve done over the last three and a half years, that our region and our province will have the compassionate care that residents need, not just for the short term but for many, many years to come.

From my own ministry, I want to talk about housing. The pandemic has really exacerbated the difficulty that far too many people have to find an affordable place to call home. Emergency funds were distributed by our government to help municipalities deal with shelter and housing needs across the province. The social services relief fund provided over a billion dollars to municipal service managers and our Indigenous program administrators to help a diverse range of very vulnerable people. It helped create longer-term sustainable solutions and it helped support the sector to safely transition to recovery.

As we look ahead, the same municipalities that I’ve been dealing with for the social services relief fund now have to develop longer-term strategies for meeting the needs of affordable rental and affordable home ownership, and the challenge is severe. It’s driven, and I’ve said this many times, by a severe shortage of supply. Rental housing and affordable home ownership are even further out of reach for too many Ontarians. That’s why in 2019 we introduced More Homes, More Choice, our province’s housing supply action plan, to address the housing crisis and to help build more affordable homes.

Our plan puts Ontarians first. We’ve cut red tape and we’ve helped build the right type of homes in the right places to make housing more affordable and to help taxpayers keep more of their hard-earned dollars, and new building stats for housing across the province are at the highest level they’ve been at in decades.

But we know there’s more that the government needs to do, and that’s why I’m going to turn to an announcement we made as part of the fall economic statement. Our government is creating a housing affordability task force to look deeper into the issues faced by those who want to create or those who require housing. The task force will identify further opportunities to get shovels in the ground faster, to remove duplication, to remove barriers and make housing more affordable for hard-working Ontarians. It’s going to explore measures to support market housing supply and affordability, and it will provide our government with strategies and advice to continue to address Ontario’s housing crisis.

In the time I have left, I want to go back to the riding. I want to talk about how, from the onset of the pandemic, we wanted as a government to ensure that personal protective equipment—PPE, ventilators and other equipment—was a priority, and our government never lost sight of what would come next.

When the pandemic began, it became more important than ever to unleash the unstoppable force of Ontario’s workers and Ontario innovation to build made-in-Ontario solutions. The response from the people, business owners, workers and communities was incredible. I remember this like it was yesterday. Early on in the pandemic, Premier Ford pledged that Ontario front-line workers would never again have to worry about PPE supplies. When he said that, I knew that the hard-working people in Leads–Grenville, Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes would be part of that solution.

Businesses of every size demonstrated the true Ontario spirit that I think was so vital in keeping our residents safe and making sure that we were prepared for any future challenge that came our way.

In Brockville, as a result of a $23.3-million investment by Ontario matched by the federal government, we invested in Ontario self-sufficiency in PPE. High-quality N95 masks are now being produced at a brand new Brockville manufacturing plant. The production of N95 masks is critical in fighting COVID-19, and the investment in Ontario in well-paying, sustainable manufacturing jobs demonstrates our ability to work together to find solutions to get Ontario back on track.

Here’s another example in my riding: Greenfield Global in Johnstown is another one of those companies rising to the occasion during the first wave of the pandemic. At the onset of the pandemic, I was proud to work with Greenfield, their dedicated employees and our government to help secure Health Canada approval to supply companies making hand sanitizer to meet this unprecedented demand.

Then I was excited, six months later, to announce our government’s investment of $2.5 million through the Ontario Together Fund to support Greenfield so that they could ramp up production of the high-grade alcohols to be used in hand sanitizer. The project, which includes a $75-million facility upgrade and expansion investment in Leeds-Grenville from Greenfield, enables the company to make 114 million litres of specialty-grade alcohol annually to its high standard. That’s enough, Speaker, to make over 150 million one-litre bottles of hand sanitizer, helping Ontarians and Canadians and health care and front-line workers continue to combat COVID-19 safely and effectively.

These two projects, these two examples of how my riding stepped up, strengthen our province’s domestic supply chains and reduce our dependence on unreliable foreign supply chains. So this was a huge announcement in the riding.

Speaker, I want to talk just briefly about the fact that months of public health measures have left a significant toll on people’s mental health and well-being. Our government is investing heavily in mental health programs to meet those needs. As well, we recognize the linkages between those experiencing homelessness with mental health and addiction challenges. Our government is investing $10 million a year to strengthen mental health and addiction supports for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

In 2020-21, this funding has been used to strengthen mental health and addiction services in communities hit hard by COVID-19, increasing outreach services to individuals, better connections between mental health, addictions and housing. This is an all-of-government approach. It’s part of our Roadmap to Wellness, which is the government’s plan to invest $3.8 billion over 10 years to build a modern, connected and comprehensive mental health and addiction system.

In closing, Speaker, Ontario has not hesitated to spend what was necessary to save lives and protect Ontario families and Ontario businesses through the pandemic. As a result, there were fiscal challenges ahead. Our government is committed to an economic and fiscal recovery that is fuelled by economic growth, not tax hikes or spending cuts. Ontario will see roads and highways built. Our government will build and expand transit to communities across the province. We will build and expand hospitals and long-term care facilities. We will create an environment where more homes can be built to meet the needs of growing communities.

The pandemic has created opportunities for all three levels of government, and we need to put aside our differences and work together more closely. I intend to foster those relationships. I’ve worked with municipal leaders over the last 20 months individually. I’ve worked with them through their associations, like the Association of Municipalities Ontario, AMO; the Rural Ontario Municipal Association, ROMA; the large urban mayors; various wardens associations; the two fantastic northern Ontario associations. I’ve also met with federal Minister of Housing, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, so that Ontario projects will receive their fair share of federal funding for housing.

We need to create the environment that gets us out of this recovery, Speaker. The throne speech highlighted our plans. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to outline some of not just our plans but also issues in my riding.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Questions and response?

Mr. Gilles Bisson: My question to the minister is a fairly simple one. When you first came to office, one of the first things that you did is you decided to cut money to public health and actually were going to enact a plan put in place by the former Liberal government that would have reduced the number of public health units in Ontario and made more larger units with having less of them. Along comes the pandemic, and all of a sudden you find out that’s not a good idea and have to do something. My question to you is, do you think that was an error at the beginning to make those kinds of decisions, and then having to reverse them?

Hon. Steve Clark: Thanks to the member opposite. I tried to outline today some of the historical funding cuts that the previous Liberal government did over 15 years. I want to praise our government, I want to praise the Minister of Health, because looking at what happened in my riding—for years, the funding formula to my local hospital in Brockville was inaccurate. It was wrong. It penalized those medium hospitals.

What it resulted in is not only our government having to fix the funding formula, not only our government having to fix the historic working capital, but also having to ensure throughout the pandemic that hospitals and public health units had the resources that they need. Unlike the member’s question—we’ve stepped up, we’ve supported public health and we’ve supported public hospitals.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Question and response?

Mr. Norman Miller: Thank you to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for his speech. He certainly hit on a lot of items that are important to the riding of Parry Sound–Muskoka that I represent. I was really pleased to welcome him up to Gravenhurst where he did the groundbreaking for the largest single purpose-built rental housing development in my riding ever: 232 purpose-built units.

He talked about the changes to funding for medium-sized hospitals. That is so important in my riding because for the past 20 years, pretty much every year, I’ve had to go to the Minister of Health to look for funding to keep them whole, particularly on the Muskoka side. With this working capital funding and other funding, they’re projecting five years now with balanced budgets. That’s so important.

But the item I wanted him to expand upon was long-term care development. I know in my riding, I’ve looked at the number of dollars going to individual long-term care homes to bring in four hours of care per resident, and it’s significant. It’s millions of dollars. Could the minister talk about that in his own riding, please?

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I return to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Steve Clark: Thanks, Speaker. Through you to the member: First of all, I want to congratulate you on your outstanding career in the Legislature. You’ve just done a tremendous job. I also want to say that he’s hosted me a number of times over the last three and a half years, not only in his riding but at his home, and I have to tell you, Speaker, he cooks a mean steak. He and his wife are great hosts.

As the member notes, we had to make some changes. There were funding inaccuracies that took place with medium-sized hospitals. We were able to do that. But the long-term care piece, I think, is particularly important to me. I mentioned in the House yesterday as part of question period that the previous government, in 15 years, built 611 beds. Just the minister’s zoning orders alone that I’ve been able to put forward have helped facilitate the early construction of 3,700 beds. This is like night and day, Speaker, our commitment to long-term care versus the previous government’s. Thank you to the member for bringing this up.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the member from London North Centre.

Mr. Terence Kernaghan: Through you, Speaker, to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing: Under this government and the Liberals before them, bad actors are getting away with building unsafe homes that don’t meet the Ontario building code. Legal standards were not being enforced. Canadians for Properly Built Homes has raised this issue with the government numerous times.

Building to code is not optional. Legal contracts guarantee homes are built free from defects in materials and in workmanship. Will this government finally stand up for consumers and ensure that builders deliver on all aspects of contracts and the Ontario building code?

Hon. Steve Clark: I thank the member for the question. The member knows that the Minister of Government and Consumer Services has looked at this file and presented legislative changes that I believe will help improve the system. As well, we continue to work with our municipal partners about the planning and building process in Ontario. I think we have in Ontario, with our building code, an extremely high standard.

I celebrate the fact that we have such a safe set of standards in place today, and the fact that we’ve consulted with the industry on how we can make it better, how we can ensure that safety is a priority in everything we do, but at the same time also ensure that we can build more homes.

We’re in a housing crisis, Speaker. It’s all about making sure that people have an affordable place to call home.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the member from Flamborough–Glanbrook.

Ms. Donna Skelly: To the minister, I want him to expand a little on what my colleague raised earlier, on our commitment to build more long-term-care facilities. Through the Speaker to the minister: In my previous life, I recall covering scandal after scandal when it came to the previous Liberal government, but rarely did we cover an announcement of an investment into long-term care. That’s because, in my opinion, the previous Liberal government perhaps didn’t find our most vulnerable a sexy issue or an issue that they felt that they wanted to support. It wasn’t something that was even on their radar.

And I’m very proud of the work that our government has done, recognizing that they are our most vulnerable and we have to take care of them.

Through you, Mr. Speaker, can the minister share more on our plans and our commitment to developing more beds?

Hon. Steve Clark: I want to thank you for that great question. This is something that we have valued not just before 2018, during that 2018 campaign, but since government, we’ve really stepped up with dollars and a commitment to that four hours of care. There have been a lot of motions and private members’ bills and discussions in this House, but now we’ve actually got a plan in place.

We owe Ontario seniors such a debt of gratitude, and we need to ensure that we’ve got a system that doesn’t just upgrade the facilities, not just making those beds to this level of standard that we need and that they deserve, but also to ensure that staffing levels provide that four hours of care per day. This is a process that we jumped in right from the first day we were in government. There is a significant amount of dollars that are invested. Our seniors deserve no less. We have to continue to provide these dollars for them.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the member from Kingston and the Islands.

Mr. Ian Arthur: To the minister opposite: I was pleased to hear that there’s going to be a task force on housing. It’s such a critical issue. I hope that they look to some of the best practices globally. One of the best examples that I have ever heard of is the city of Vienna, where nearly three out of five people actually live in public housing, and it’s not public housing like we think of it. There are tennis courts, on-site daycare, swimming pools, saunas—it’s beautiful. But it’s public housing. It’s public money that was invested in it.

I wonder if the minister would speak to the role that government funds in public housing, truly publicly owned housing, play, or if he thinks that market-based solutions are going to be adequate.

Hon. Steve Clark: That’s such a great question, because what I would love to have is to have that member’s party support our call to the federal government. We’re being shortchanged from the federal government, as part of the National Housing Strategy, some $490 million, based on our core housing need.

Almost the first day after the minister was sworn in federally, I went up to Ottawa to talk to him about this plan that we have, this redevelopment. We were the first province or territory in Canada to sign on to the National Housing Strategy. We’re right in the middle of renegotiating with the federal government. But our core housing needs, we require more dollars—more dollars for our municipal partners so that they can build that much-needed community housing system that was neglected for the better part of 15 years by the previous government. So what I hope I will hear at some point is that member and his party supporting our call to the federal government for our fair share.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the member from Brantford–Brant for a very short question.

Mr. Will Bouma: In the dying seconds, to the minister, just a quick quote from one of my mayors: “The government of Ontario has done an excellent job battling COVID-19 while stabilizing the economy, which is no easy feat.” We have already put out the OMPF numbers. What does that mean to our municipalities?

Hon. Steve Clark: Good question, and I want to thank the member for Brantford–Brant. We made a commitment to our municipal partners that we were going to let them know as early as possible those OMPF numbers. The finance minister has delivered that. As municipalities are right in the middle of their budgeting process, this is so important that we give them that certainty—great question.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Further debate?

Mr. Gilles Bisson: I’m glad to be able to rise and give my thoughts in regard to the throne speech that was delivered by the government earlier this fall. It’s interesting to listen to the government members, and I understand part of the reason why: They’ve done no wrong; they’ve done everything right; they’re the best government in the history of the universe, if you listen to what they’re talking about. But the reality for Ontarians at home is quite different. Things are getting much more unaffordable when it comes to the day-to-day things that we need, Mr. Speaker, to be able to survive.

If you’re a young couple in the city of Toronto, in Whitby or many other communities, especially the further south you go, you can’t afford to buy a house. Houses have now become, as a regular cost, anywhere from $800,000 to $1.5 million and then upwards. How does a young couple who both are starting out, who probably get $60,000 or $70,000 a year each in their salary, afford to buy a house?

There was a really good question put forward by the member from Kingston to the Minister of Municipal Affairs. He asked, “Do you believe there’s another approach to housing other than market-based solutions, which is to build houses and sell them?” And you noticed he didn’t answer the question, because they are ideologically driven to that particular direction.

There’s nothing wrong with building houses. Most of us in this assembly own our own houses; I have two. We have the house out at the lake, and we have the house in the city. Most people want to be housing owners; that goes without saying. But for a lot of people starting out or some of us who age out and need to get out of our houses because they’re too much to maintain, there’s not much in the way of choices, and whatever choice is available is unaffordable.

I’m talking to people in my constituency, Mr. Speaker, and I’m sure you speak to people in your constituency. They’re not able to afford the basic things that they were looking forward to as they move closer towards their retirement. The cost has gone up. The price of gas is up. Grocery costs are up. The price of materials has gone up. My Lord, if you were trying to buy a two-by-four, let’s say about a year ago, the price went from about $1.75 for a two-by-four, for a stud, to upwards of $7 or $8.

And at the time, a lot of people—municipalities, MPPs and the citizens—were calling on the government to do something, because I’ll tell you something: It’s the same tree. The tree didn’t get more expensive. The tree in the forest is harvested in a sustainable way. It’s brought to our sawmills and then it’s sold out in the distribution system, and it comes back to the market vis-à-vis some building supply store. The prices had gone up 400% to 500%, and so people called on the Premier to do something. “Stop the gouging,” we said.

And what did we hear from the Premier’s office and the rest of the front bench of the Conservative caucus? Crickets. We didn’t hear anything.

So you know as I do, Mr. Speaker, and all of us in this assembly know, people who were looking forward to either doing some renovations on their house or being able to build a new house or a garage or whatever it was put that on hold because they couldn’t afford to buy in today’s market. And that’s just but one industry.

The member from Kingston and the Islands raises a really good issue when it comes to not-for-profit housing. One of the things that I’m the most proud that we did when we were in government from 1990 to 1995 is we invested heavily in not-for-profit housing. In many communities around Ontario, the majority of the housing stock now that resides with municipalities—because the Harris government got rid of not-for-profit housing programs, downloaded the buildings to the municipalities and said, “It’s your baby. You take care of it.” But the majority of that stock was built by the NDP.

I’m very proud that we did that, because it provided affordable housing. It was mixed income. It wasn’t just for low-income and retirees; it was mixed-income housing. You had people who were making a very good salary who paid the market rent, and you had those people who were either on pension because of retirement or on disability who paid a lesser rent based on income. It was a great program.

We saw all kinds of construction go across this province. It created jobs in the middle of the recession. People were working, building these units across the province. And what happened? The Conservatives under Harris, when they came to power, got rid of the not-for-profit housing program. The federal Liberals cancelled the funding that came to the provinces. The former Liberal government was not interested in going there, because they believe in a market-based approach. There has to be a mixed approach. Market is part of it, no argument, but you have to have a mixed approach.

This government says, “Oh, we’re working with the federal government to help us get money from the feds.” Listen, let’s do our jobs. Let’s, yes, get a good deal from the federal government. I don’t argue that for a second. If I was the minister, I’d be doing that too. But you need to have a strategy in place that says Ontario is prepared to build so much housing stock in the not-for-profit sector. This is how much we’re building. These are the types of rents we’re going to be charging, and it will give citizens hope that they’re going to be able to find a place to live that’s reasonable.

In the city of Timmins, Mr. Speaker—as in Sudbury and a whole bunch of other places in northern Ontario—we’re seeing the cost of rents go up exponentially. Somebody moves out of an apartment in a house or a house, whatever it might be, or an apartment building, and you’re seeing the rents starting to skyrocket. People aren’t making more money today than they were two, three years ago. In fact, if they’re lucky, they may have got 1% or 2%—if they’re lucky, if they’re not working in the public sector. What do they do to be able to afford this housing that is so needed?

This is the problem with the government’s approach. The minister was so proud to say they’re the most non-partisan government in the history of the universe—hogwash. This is one of the most partisan governments I’ve seen, and I’ve been here 32 years this fall. This is one of the most partisan governments I have ever seen. They will not work with the opposition parties or the independents when it comes to drafting legislation.

We go to committee, members of the opposition propose reasonable amendments that are put forward by the people that came to see us—in the little amount of time that they get because this government changed the process at committee—and it will not take an amendment from anybody. Even Mike Harris took amendments from the opposition. Bob Rae took amendments from the opposition. Why? Because it made better legislation. But these guys are of the view that, no, we’re the only ones who know, and it’s an extremely partisan approach to governing.

You’re creating a task force in order to look at what to do with housing. You don’t need a task force to figure out what’s going on with housing, quite frankly. You might get some ideas, but you have to have a plan. There are plans that exist in order to be able to deal with how we build both mixed-income housing in the not-for-profit sector and what we do to assist to drive the price down on houses that are built for sale, and maybe there’s a hybrid model somewhere in between—maybe there’s a hybrid model that can be spoken of.

In England, that’s what they did many years ago—I think it was after the Second World War. What they did is, they built not-for-profit housing, but some of that housing stock was available for people to have as a way of a mortgage. Maybe that’s a hybrid approach. Rather than having a condominium approach or not-for-profit, maybe you can have something that you build—you know, granny flat-style units or condo-style units—and you allow people to buy them at a reasonable price. We’re not driven by profit to build this, as a government; we do it as the cost of providing services to the public.

So when the government stands here and tries to say to all of us that, “Oh, my God, we’re doing such a great job,” just go back and talk to constituents and ask them how you’re doing today as compared to four years ago. Is the cost of living more expensive today than it was then? Are you further ahead, or are you further back? If you measure that on either scale, Mr. Speaker, we are further back. Life has become much more unaffordable under this government. Yes, a lot of this has to do with the pandemic. We understand that, but the measures the government has taken have not, quite frankly, been enough to deal with some of these costs.

The other one is the price of gas. You look at the price of gas that’s going up exponentially—you just saw the United States government under Joe Biden, the administration is releasing, what is it, 50 million barrels of oil from reserves to try to drive down the price of gas. It is an approach. I’m not going to argue that it’s not. But the point is, at least he’s trying to do something. You guys hide behind the market, “Oh, we can’t do nothing”—Chicken Little—“The market’s going to get us.”

There are things we can do. There are things that we can do in the way of regulation, as we do with hydro, as we do with natural gas and, to a certain degree, as we do with milk, because it has its own regulatory system to deal with the collection and distribution of milk. We can put in place a system that ensures that there isn’t these great big gas spikes that come on the weekends—

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I apologize to the member from Timmins for disrupting his words. It is now time for members’ statements, but we will make sure that you are able to resume debate in the future.

Debate deemed adjourned.

Members’ Statements

Homelessness

Mr. Ian Arthur: This past Monday was National Housing Day, and yet, tragically, on Monday night, the mercury dropped to minus 12, with an unprecedented number of Kingstonians sleeping rough.

The crisis is growing daily, and we are not being presented with adequate solutions from this government. Social housing registries have eight- to 10-year wait-lists. A more appropriate term might not be “wait-list” but “wish list.” Affordability barely exists. Rent for a one-bedroom in Kingston costs nearly twice what the allowance is on social assistance. And for those who are employed, their employment often does not cover their rent, let alone the essentials that they need. The reality is that we are asking people to live on an impossible amount and so they are stumbling, first with a missed bill, then a utility cut-off, then an eviction.

Housing is one of the main social determinants of health. Study after study confirms this. One of the leading hospital networks in Canada has taken the unprecedented step of establishing supportive housing for historically marginalized groups who are frequent users of hospital services. Research suggests the net annual cost of a homeless person with mental illness can run into the hundreds of thousands. Approximately 230 individuals represent over 15,000 visits to Toronto’s University Health Network emergency departments because they lack access to more appropriate support.

This paradigm cannot continue, Speaker. We must break the cycle before it is impossible to do so.

Kaneff family

Mr. Rudy Cuzzetto: Last month, I had the privilege to join the Premier and Mayor Hazel McCallion to announce a significant donation from Kristina and Anna-Maria Kaneff and their family to the Trillium Health Partners to help support the redevelopment and the expansion of the Mississauga Hospital. This donation honours and builds on the great legacy of their father, Dr. Ignat Kaneff, and they made the announcement on his 95th birthday.

As his daughter Kristina said, “Our father embodied the spirit of giving throughout his life.” In my member’s statement last year, I said that Dr. Kaneff’s legacy and his Ontario spirit would live on, and it does, in his daughters.

I would ask all members to please join me in recognizing the entire Kaneff family for their incredible generosity and their support for the Mississauga Hospital.

Nurses

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: Kill Bill 124: This is what nurses have been asking for from the Ford government. Nurses have always been heroes, but these past two years, we’ve relied on them more than ever.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses have suited up in protective gear, showed up every day to work, walked into our hospitals, despite harassment, despite protests to the front lines. They have worked non-stop for two years now, ignoring their own exhaustion, suppressing their own fear so they could tend to us, hold our loved ones’ hands when we couldn’t, stroked our loved ones’ heads as we said goodbye from afar.

Imagine the worry they would have felt, terrified of bringing the virus home to their family members. How long was it that they couldn’t hug their own children, where some were separated from their family because they couldn’t risk going home at all?

They have paid with their health, their well-being, and some with their lives. And what does the Premier do in return? He keeps their wages suppressed. Bill 124 caps nurses’ wage increases at 1%, which is way below inflation. And when wages don’t increase at least by inflation, it’s a wage cut. Wage suppression is not how you treat health care heroes.

Many nurses are leaving the profession because they are fed up. We cannot afford to lose these heroes now. I urge the Premier to do the right thing: Repeal Bill 124.

Gender equality

Unfortunately, Speaker, I know that when it comes to sexist slurs made towards female parliamentarians, my experience is not the exception. My fellow female colleagues can attest to the fact that it is a rule.

People say to take these interactions with a grain of salt, but this event reminded me how vulnerable I am solely because I am a girl. And we wonder why so many of our daughters, our sisters, our mothers and our wives are reluctant to enter into politics or even enter male-dominated fields.

November is a solemn reminder that way too many women face hardships and challenges each and every day in Ontario. But I know that we, working together, must and can do better when it comes to gender equality and, even more so, treating each other with basic respect and decency. By working together, we can eliminate these attitudes and elevate each other.

Indigenous land claims

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: The violent dispossession of First Nations people from their land for the purpose of resource development is a foundation Canada was built upon.

On November 18, dozens of heavily armed RCMP officers raided the Gidimt’en Checkpoint in British Columbia. Wet’suwet’en land defenders and their supporters have been controlling access to this road to stop Coastal GasLink from drilling under Wedzin Kwa, their sacred headwaters. Fifteen people were arrested on November 18 in an invasion of Gidimt’en yintah, including Wet’suwet’en elders, legal observers and two journalists.

The Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs represent a governance system that predates colonization and the Indian Act that was created in an attempt to outlaw Indigenous peoples from our lands.

The Wet’suwet’en have continued to exercise their unbroken, unextinguished and unceded right to govern and occupy their lands by continuing and empowering the clan-based governance system to this day. Under Wet’suwet’en law, clans have a responsibility and a right to control their territories.

We are obligated to protect the ways of life for future generations that come after us. All eyes on Wet’suwet’en.

Violence against women

Ms. Lindsey Park: November is Woman Abuse Prevention Month. Today, I’m wearing purple as a symbol of the courage it takes a woman to leave her abuser. However, the courage of a woman is not enough. It takes the support of an entire community. This year, the Wrapped in Courage campaign is not selling purple scarfs; they are mobilizing violence against women shelters across Ontario to remind everyone that now, more than ever, violence continues to be the greatest inequality rights issue for women and girls.

I want to thank Bethesda House, a women’s shelter for women fleeing abuse in Bowmanville, for the work they do every single day of the year to support women fleeing devastating and sometimes life-threatening situations. We know that over the course of the pandemic, when we’ve asked Ontarians to stay home, that home is not a safe place for everyone.

I want to thank all the shelters across the province who have worked to continue to provide a safe place for women fleeing violence over the course of the pandemic, as well as the agencies that provide legal support, like Luke’s Place in Durham, that have so generously stepped up during the pandemic to take calls from women fleeing abuse across the province. Finally, I want to thank the Durham Regional Police and Victim Services of Durham Region who are critical partners in the fight to end violence against women.

To join the fight, go to wrappedincourage.ca.

Tale of a Thousand Turtles project

Mr. Norman Miller: Today, I rise to celebrate the township of The Archipelago, which was awarded with the Peter J. Marshall Innovation Award for innovation in providing public services at this year’s AMO conference.

The Archipelago has demonstrated amazing innovation and collaboration in order to protect local species such as turtles and snakes with its Tale of a Thousand Turtles project. This began as a road rehabilitation project, but the township quickly identified an opportunity to engage local partners to protect species at risk. What resulted was a collaboration between the local community, Georgian Bay Biosphere, Shawanaga First Nation and Hall Construction to protect eggs and nests that may have otherwise been destroyed.

The actions of The Archipelago and their community partners have resulted in the collection of more than a thousand eggs and the release of more than 1,000 snake and turtle hatchlings.

It is extremely impressive that the Tale of a Thousand Turtles project was not only cost neutral, but the road construction was completed on schedule, all the while implementing new environmental policy. The Archipelago has demonstrated the ability to fulfill infrastructure upgrades and pursue development projects, while ensuring local species are protected and environmental due diligence is included in the planning process. The construction crew participated in species-at-risk training, and this resulted in a personal investment by the crew in protecting local reptiles.

I congratulate Reeve Bert Liverance and everyone at the township of The Archipelago on this initiative to protect wildlife, and I encourage other municipalities to follow their example.

Government’s record

Mr. Gilles Bisson: Many of us will know in this assembly, because we often talk to constituents on the phone, in person and by email, that life has become much more unaffordable. It is really getting difficult for a lot of people to try to make ends meet. You look at what’s happening when it comes to the price of groceries, you look at what’s happening to the price of materials when it comes to any work that you have to do in your home and you take a look at the price of gas when it comes to the gas that you put inside your vehicle: Everything is going up, and life is getting much, much more unaffordable as time goes by.

We listen to the government talk about how great a job they’re doing, but the reality is that for the average person at home, they ask themselves this question: How am I comparing today to where I was three and a half or four years ago? The measure to that is that they’re not doing any better; they’re doing worse.

Our wages have not gone up; they’ve been essentially stagnant over the last period of time. The minimum wage was at first frozen by the government—if it had not been frozen, we would probably be around $16.50 per hour today—and the cost of everything is going up, so people can little afford the things that are the basic necessities they need to be able to get by.

This government has failed on the point of making life more affordable, and we as New Democrats will continue pushing in that direction in order to try to deal with some of the things that can be done.

Skills training

Mr. Deepak Anand: The world we live in today is changing rapidly. COVID-19 has further transformed our lives, especially our jobs and the way we work. Many workers have faced unemployment and underemployment, and have to rethink their career paths.

To support workers during these tough times, the Ontario government is investing an additional $85 million to expand Ontario’s Second Career program for workers, including self-employed individuals, gig workers, youth, newcomers and individuals with disabilities. Through the expanded program, workers attain the skills to match in-demand jobs and receive up to $28,000 to cover costs for tuition, training, books and transportation, and $500 to cover the cost of living expenses.

Second Career will also help job seekers to retrain and re-enter the workforce quickly with programs that take 52 weeks or less to complete. It will connect workers with well-paying jobs in Ontario’s rapidly growing sectors, including advanced manufacturing, life sciences and ICT.

To apply, please contact your local employment services agency or speak to an employment counsellor by booking an appointment at Ontario.ca/secondcareer. I encourage residents in Mississauga–Malton to take advantage of this program and contact Peel Career Assessment Services, Achēv or Family Services of Peel to complete the application, or call our office.

We have 300,000 unfilled jobs in Ontario. Let’s support our workers and together let’s build a prosperous Ontario.

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

Visitors

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’m very pleased to inform the House that one of today’s page captains is page Eleanore Bouma from the riding of Brantford–Brant, and we have with us today at Queen’s Park her mother, Joni Bouma, and her sister, Lena Bouma.

Also page captain today is page Hayden Lai from the riding of York–Simcoe, and we have with us today her father Desmond Lai.

Welcome to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. We’re delighted to have you here.

Question Period

Protection of privacy

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My first question this morning is for the Premier. The Premier has been pretty consistent on one thing throughout the pandemic, and that’s chaos: constant problems, constant delays, massive lineups and wait times, the first-dose Hunger Games, booking system crashes. The Premier promised a safe, secure and easy-to-use vaccine portal. What we know now is that, in fact, it is neither safe, secure or easy. It was hacked and the OPP cannot confirm what data has leaked or how many people have been affected.

My question is, how on earth did the Premier let the vaccine portal system fail the people of Ontario so badly?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: I appreciate the question from the Leader of the Opposition. She should know that, frankly, the world-renowned Ontario Provincial Police cyber crime unit did investigate, an arrest has been made, and Ontarians can continue to have the utmost confidence in the system.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, private health information in this province should be safe, and especially when we’re talking about our kids. Parents have a right to know if there is any risk at all to that safety. The government claimed on Friday the 19th that they had no reason to believe at all that text message scams were connected with the portal. We now know that that was inaccurate, Speaker. The OPP revealed that the province asked for police help on Wednesday, November the 17th, but they didn’t tell parents.

My question is, why did the Premier not alert parents about this breach before opening bookings for the younger children, and why didn’t the Premier come clean with parents the moment they found out that there was a breach to the system?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Look, as I just said, Speaker, a very thorough and very swift investigation was undertaken by the OPP cyber crime unit. An arrest has been made. The system remains secure for the people of the province of Ontario, and we continue to encourage Ontario families to book those vaccine appointments.

Speaker, we have a world-leading vaccination rate in the province of Ontario. We are approaching, if I’m not mistaken, 90% for first vaccine doses and close to 87% for second. Unlike what the Leader of the Opposition is suggesting—chaos—what we have had is a measured response which has seen a world-leading vaccination rate and supports put in place for individuals who needed to get those vaccines.

We are doing everything that needs to be done to put this pandemic behind us and emerge stronger than ever before.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: People had their personal information compromised. That’s what we all know: They had their personal information compromised. That’s a very serious privacy breach, Speaker. In fact, the only reason we even know about it is because the people whose information was breached, who got those scam emails, actually went to the media.

The government knew this was happening and they chose to keep it under wraps and plow ahead regardless with opening registration for children without their parents even knowing what was going on.

My question for the Premier is this: Who ordered this information to be kept from parents? Was it the Premier? Was it the minister? Who will take responsibility for this cover-up?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’m going to ask the Leader of the Opposition to withdraw her unparliamentary remark.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: I withdraw, Speaker.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): And I look to the government House leader to reply once again.

Hon. Paul Calandra: The Leader of the Opposition’s question highlights the challenges of dealing with a pandemic with an opposition like that. The OPP, an award-winning cyber crime unit, was immediately engaged, and quickly went to work and has charged an individual who is no longer working with the government of Ontario.

As opposed to getting people afraid, the Leader of the Opposition—what she should be doing is helping us get more parents getting their kids booked to get their first and second doses, Mr. Speaker. That should be the priority of the opposition: helping us put the pandemic behind us, helping us rebuild the economy. That should be the focus of the Leader of the Opposition: thanking the OPP and the award-winning cyber crimes unit for their swift action to ensure the safety of the booking system. Instead, the Leader of the Opposition goes in a different direction, because I suppose she thinks that it will help her poll numbers.

But what we know will help the people of the province of Ontario is putting this pandemic behind us, and that’s what we’ll continue to focus on.

Employment standards

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is, in fact, for the Premier, but I will say, deflecting my question about people’s personal private information to the OPP is beneath even this member, Speaker. It’s shameful.

But the Premier has been consistent on another thing throughout this pandemic, and that is not being there for the workers of this province. He was dragged kicking and screaming into putting in place three measly paid sick days, and now he’s ripping those paid sick days up for a second time. The Premier seems to think that the pandemic is already over, but case counts for COVID-19, as we know, continue to be up in Ontario.

My question is pretty straight up: Will the Premier in fact be ripping up three paid sick days for Ontario workers on December 31?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: Again, Mr. Speaker, an interesting question from the Leader of the Opposition, because while they were asking for one or two sick days, we were fighting to get 23 paid sick days for the people of the province of Ontario. We didn’t agree with the Leader of the Opposition when she wanted to reduce the amount of sick days that we had put in place for the hard-working people of the province of Ontario. My colleagues will remember this quite clearly. We were the party, of course—one of the first governments in the country—to protect workers who were facing the effects of COVID.

The opposition, of course, didn’t agree with that. Our Premier brought in over $1 billion in supports to help people who are sick get the pay that they needed to stay home so that we could continue to fight this pandemic. They wanted us to cut those hours.

What we’ll continue to do is ensure that the people who work and who need protection and who need support will have that support. That’s why we brought in paid sick days. We didn’t put the burden on businesses, like the opposition wanted us to do. We assumed that responsibility, because we thought, and continue to think, that that is the right approach.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Well, Speaker, perhaps the government House leader would like to correct his record, because in fact it’s this government that 27 times voted against paid sick days paid by the government that we were recommending.

Nonetheless, we know that it’s flu season now. Children, of course, are also just finally getting their bookings for the COVID-19 vaccines, the littlest children. More people, of course, are indoors as the weather gets colder, so more staff are at risk of getting sick. They need paid sick days to overcome any sickness and to heal themselves, to protect themselves, to protect their co-workers, to protect their families.

The question is, why is this Premier ripping up the three measly paid sick days that Ontarians have right now?

Hon. Paul Calandra: To be clear, Mr. Speaker, what we voted against was the opposition that wanted to put the burden on our small and medium job creators. We voted against that. What we voted against was an opposition that wanted to reduce those 23 sick days that our Premier negotiated with the Prime Minister. They wanted to reduce that. Well, of course, we weren’t going to be cutting sick days for people. We’ve also said—I guess the Leader of the Opposition hasn’t been be brought up to date—but of course we also said that parents who need to take their kids to get their vaccine appointments can utilize the sick days that we have put in place.

So, again, I encourage the Leader of the Opposition to work with us, help us get more parents booked so that more children can be protected and we can finally put this pandemic behind us and we can continue to be the economic engine of the province of Ontario, of Canada. That’s what you should be working with, and I hope, finally, that you might help us build a bigger, better Ontario.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Again, I’ll remind members to make their comments through the Chair.

The final supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: This Premier and this government may be patting themselves on the back, but the reality is, we need permanent paid sick days in this province, and the government needs to get that done. Because that’s exactly what getting things done for workers looks like: permanent paid sick days for our province. And as I said, it is flu season. It is getting colder out. People, because of the weather, are being driven back indoors. Children’s vaccines are just starting. The fact of the matter is people are going to start getting sick. That’s the way it works in our climate, in our province.

So the question, again, is to the Premier. Will he finally do the right thing? Will he commit to real, permanent paid sick days, to a real program of permanent paid sick days here in our province once and for all and say that he is definitely not going to tear up, for a second time, the measly paid sick days that workers now have?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Again, these are measures that we brought in. The opposition, of course, voted against those measures, ostensibly because they didn’t like the fact that we didn’t think, at a time of a global health and economic pandemic, that our small and medium job creators should face the burden that would be associated with it. That’s why we brought in measures to protect workers’ paid sick days that included the government offsetting those costs for these small businesses that have done so much.

So when the Leader of the Opposition asks us to put these paid sick days back on the backs of our small, medium and large job creators, at a time when they are just emerging from this pandemic and all the hardships they faced, I say very clearly to the Leader of the Opposition: No, we’re not going to do that. We’re going to continue to protect the people of the province of Ontario.

When they asked us to reduce our sick days from 23 down to three, we said no. We want to work with the federal government to have a system that protects workers for the amount of time that they need, Mr. Speaker. We will continue to protect workers. We will let the Leader of the Opposition continue to vote against all of those measures, but the people of the province of Ontario know who they can trust to protect them.

Consumer protection

Mr. Taras Natyshak: My question is to the Premier. When asked about an Ontario developer who got caught trying to gouge their customers out of an extra $100,000, the Premier puffed up his chest and gave some surprisingly tough talk. I’ll quote the Premier. He said, “Nothing burns me up more than that—some developer just trying to make extra money off the backs of hard-working people. Unacceptable.” Even I was surprised at the tough talk that the Premier put out there.

But I agree with the Premier. Nothing would make me happier than to help the Premier throw the book at some of his developer buddies. So my question to the Premier is: Premier, a YouTube clip does not constitute real action. So what is he going to do about the price gouging and when is he going to finally act?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): And to reply, the Minister of Government and Consumer Services.

Hon. Ross Romano: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to rise, and thank you to the member opposite for the question. If I may just take a moment to say, this is my first opportunity to be able to rise in the House as the Minister of Government and Consumer Services, and I’m very proud of this opportunity.

Interjections.

Hon. Ross Romano: Thank you. I really want to take the opportunity to recognize all my excellent predecessors, like Minister Thompson and Ministers Walker and Smith as well, for all the great work that they were doing. I look forward to being able to follow in some very, very large footsteps, but looking forward to it all the same.

This is such an important question, and I really thank the member opposite for raising it. As our Premier has very, very clearly and unequivocally stated time and time and time again, we will not tolerate bad actors who take advantage of hard-working Ontarians. That is the most basic principle of our government for the people, and we are going to ensure that we continue to do that. I look forward to further embellishing and discussing this further—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you. Supplementary question.

Mr. Taras Natyshak: If the Premier’s re-election strategy is to run on his record of saying one thing and doing absolutely nothing—news flash—he’s already lost. We have seen this before from the Premier: He’s “hitting the roof.” He’s “outraged.” He’s mad as heck. He’s going to come down “like an 800-pound gorilla.” He’s “got zero tolerance for this kind of nonsense,” and he’s coming after the price gougers. But each and every time, whether it’s people getting gouged—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

Mr. Taras Natyshak: He hasn’t done any of that, so they’re clapping for the Premier’s non-action. Each and every time, whether it’s on toilet paper or PPE or hydro rates or gasoline or his buck-a-beer that never actually transpired, when it comes time to actually do something, the Premier is all talk and no action.

He says he wants to “throw the book” at price gougers. This would be a slam dunk for him. I’ll even give him an alley-oop. If he needs, we can work together and introduce a motion here today to get this done.

So will the Premier finally put his words into action, or is he ready to admit that he’s just all bark and no bite?

Hon. Ross Romano: Thank you again for the question. As I indicated earlier, I’m very, very interested in being able to respond to this and to expand upon my earlier answer.

The Premier has been very clear that we do not tolerate bad actors, and we will protect all of the hard-working Ontarians. It is absolutely critical that we continue to protect all consumers across all of Ontario, and we expect all condo developers to treat Ontarians who are purchasing preconstruction units fairly and with integrity. I know the member opposite would say the same thing. Of course, we all want to make sure that we’re treating consumers fairly.

We are looking into this, Mr. Speaker. I can tell you that there has been substantial work done in this area. Consultations have already been held. We’re actually in the middle of two consultations right now to solve this issue, because we will not tolerate bad actors.

Domestic violence

Ms. Laurie Scott: My question is to the Minister of Children, Community and women’s issues.

Minister, the COVID-19 pandemic has left many families across Ontario dealing with a multitude of challenges. Sadly, for many women in the province the pandemic has increased the frequency and severity of domestic violence, meaning that more women and children are living in fear and danger and are in need of support.

November is Woman Abuse Prevention Month, a time to shine a light on this societal problem.

The key to supporting women who find themselves in abusive situations is enabling them to access supportive housing.

Can the minister tell this House what the government is doing to help women and their families to find supportive housing?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: I’d like to thank the member from Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock for her important question and her very good work.

Our government remains committed to doing all that we can to support victims of domestic violence. That’s why, as part of our 2021 budget, we are investing $18.5 million over three years for the Transitional and Housing Support Program. This program supports survivors of domestic violence and survivors of human trafficking to find and maintain affordable housing.

In addition to housing support, Transitional and Housing Support Program workers are also a key resource for survivors by helping with safety training and other available supports, such as counselling programs, social assistance, education and training programs that will help them transition to a better life, free from violence and fear.

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

Ms. Laurie Scott: Thank you, Minister, for that answer.

Back to the minister: As she points out, survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking often need additional support to help them transition to a better life. For domestic violence survivors, escaping an abuser can be complicated. The journey often begins with a call to an assaulted women’s helpline for assistance, which leads to a connection with an emergency shelter in the community. Once safely at the emergency shelter, survivors need support and assistance to transition to long-term, affordable and safe housing. Without this support, they can be at risk of returning to their abusers.

Can the minister please explain to the House who will benefit from this program and what outcomes the government expects to achieve?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Thank you again to the member for Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock for that question.

As the member points out, the Transitional and Housing Support Program is a key resource for survivors escaping domestic violence and human trafficking. Our investment enhances the existing program by serving more people and addressing service gaps, while expanding services to serve survivors of human trafficking. The program helps survivors of violence and human trafficking, including Indigenous peoples, to find stable housing so they can begin to heal.

The expansion of the Transitional and Housing Support Program is expected to improve access to stable housing and alleviate pressures on the emergency shelter system. By helping survivors and their families with wraparound services, we are supporting them on their journey to healing and independence.

Air quality

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Good morning.

Remarks in Oji-Cree.

My question is to the Premier. Last week, Aamjiwnaang First Nation learned that the levels of cancer-causing chemicals in its air are 44 times higher than is considered safe, after years of fighting for this data from this government and previous Liberal governments. Data obtained using freedom-of-information requests by the media revealed elevated levels of known carcinogens and indicated that Ontario knew the levels were far higher than the provincial standard.

This level of benzene pollution wouldn’t be acceptable anywhere else. Why is this acceptable in Aamjiwnaang?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

Hon. David Piccini: Simply put, it’s not. That’s why this government is taking definitive action, since we established a health group early on, engaging Indigenous communities, engaging the region. I just recently posted regulations on SO 2 emissions, which will see an immediate 30% reduction, something the previous government could have done and didn’t.

Secondly, over the next five or six years, we’ll see a reduction of 90% in SO 2 emissions with air monitoring unit number 1 in Aamjiwnaang First Nation. Thanks to working with our government, collaboratively with industry, we’ve seen a 50% reduction in benzene, and we’re going to continue to act. We’re increasing monetary penalties and we’re mandating public reporting, so that no longer will this community be kept in the dark, because it’s unacceptable.

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

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Back to the Premier: Speaker, Aamjiwnaang has been surrounded on all sides by petrochemical facilities for decades, and members have long known that these facilities have exposed them to environmental harm.

In 2019, the United Nations special rapporteur on toxic chemicals said, “I was struck by the incredible proximity of the affected First Nations to dozens of intense chemical production and processing facilities, which resulted in incredible releases of pollution and waste affecting the [residents’] health.”

Aamjiwnaang is asking Ontario to work with them, to protect them from further environmental harm. How and will you honour their request? Meegwetch.

Hon. David Piccini: I really appreciate that member’s question. Yes, I’ve spoken to Chief Plain, and as I said, we’re acting.

When this government first took office in 2018, we launched the Sarnia area environmental health project, working with Aamjiwnaang First Nation, working with the region and working with industry. We’ve issued since then over $1.8 million in monetary penalties.

But we’re acting. We’ve set an immediate reduction of 30% in SO 2 , working with industry for a 90% reduction by 2026, as they operate on three-year planning and investment cycles. This is going to mean millions in investments into that community to improve air quality.

Simply put, the kids and the communities deserve better. That previous government, under the Wynne-Del Duca Liberals, issued zero dollars in monetary fines. They didn’t act. They did nothing.

That member has my commitment: As a government, we’re acting. We’re going to work with Aamjiwnaang First Nation and we’re going to let our actions speak louder than words.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’ll remind the House that we refer to other members by their riding name or their ministerial title, as applicable.

The next question.

Hospital funding

M lle Amanda Simard: Mr. Speaker, Ontario Liberals have been long committed to turning Peel Memorial into a full hospital and delivering a third new hospital in Brampton to support their growing health care needs. When will this government say yes to a new hospital for Brampton?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

Minister of Health?

Hon. Christine Elliott: I thank the member opposite for the question, but I would say we already have promised a new hospital for Brampton. We made this announcement several months ago. We’re building 250 new hospital beds for Brampton, as well as a 24/7 emergency department, and we’ve already granted over $1 million for the planning grant for that. So the people of Brampton are going to receive the health care resources that they need. We are the government that’s going to provide them.

Interjections.

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

M lle Amanda Simard: Mr. Speaker, last year the Premier and his government continued to promise that a new hospital was being built in Brampton, when, in fact, as we found out later, it was a wing that falls short of what the community of Brampton desperately needs.

The question is simple: Will this government stop congratulating themselves and build a new hospital in Brampton. Yes or no?

Hon. Christine Elliott: Well, this is going to be a new hospital. It’s being transferred from what it previously was, for daily care. It’s now going to be a 24/7 hospital for the people of Brampton. It’s a rapidly growing community.

Again, I would quote the mayor of Brampton, who recently said, “Brampton got nothing for two decades—for 20 years we were ignored despite having institutionalized hallway medicine. Frankly, this should have been done 15 years ago.” In fact, it should have been done 15 years ago by the previous government. They didn’t get the job done, but our government will.

Post-secondary education

Mr. Norman Miller: My question is for the Minister of Colleges and Universities.

Currently, over half of post-secondary students have reported feeling depressed and over two thirds have experienced anxiety. New stresses caused by the pandemic mixed with the regular challenges of post-secondary education have led to an increase in poor mental health for students. Post-secondary students need greater support during these challenging times, and they need it now.

Speaker, can the minister please tell the House what initiatives the government has taken to address the alarming rates of poor mental health seen in post-secondary students today?

Hon. Jill Dunlop: Thank you to the member from Parry Sound–Muskoka for highlighting such an important and pressing issue that’s facing students these days.

Since we were elected, our government has committed to addressing the well-being of all Ontarians, including post-secondary students. Last year, our government invested over $26 million in mental health supports for post-secondary students. That’s an increase of $10.25 million from the previous year. This funding included grants for mental health workers, services and Indigenous institutes supports. We acted swiftly to fund much-needed mental health services.

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, in the fall economic statement, our government was proud to announce an additional $8.7-million investment to increase mental health supports at Ontario’s post-secondary institutions. This additional funding will help to address the increased need for services that students so desperately need.

Our government will continue to work hard to address mental health challenges facing students.

I look forward to speaking more to this pressing issue in the supplementary.

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

Mr. Norman Miller: Thank you to the minister for the response.

Speaker, as students shifted to online learning in response to the pandemic, many experienced additional stress. At this point, some students are still unsure of what their winter semester will look like. This uncertainty is creating logistical challenges for students like those from my riding who have to travel further to attend campus, adding to the stress.

Now that vaccination rates are higher and case counts are lower, fully vaccinated students should be able to return to campus. The return to in-person learning is critical to the well-being of students.

Can the minister please tell the House what the government is doing to get students back on campus for the winter semester?

Hon. Jill Dunlop: Thank you again to the member for that question. As a mother of three daughters attending universities in Ontario, I have seen first-hand how students need to get back in the classroom and receive in-person instruction.

In the fall, our government worked closely with the Ministry of Health, the Chief Medical Officer of Health and post-secondary institutions to develop a reopening plan that worked for students. In September, schools proved that they had the capability to begin reopening with the proper health measures in place. I’m proud to say that 96% of students and 95% of faculty are fully vaccinated. With these high vaccination rates, we know students can safely transition to in-person learning.

In recent weeks, students have been vocal in their frustration and lack of motivation with online learning, and we are listening. Students should not have to worry about the uncertainty around winter semester. That is why we are working with our post-secondary partners to provide support for institutions as they prepare for winter 2022 so they can safely reopen.

COVID-19 testing

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: My question to the Premier. My constituent Erin is a mother of young children, including an infant who cannot be vaccinated or wear a mask. Erin tells me she relies on her local pharmacy to pick up medications and diapers, often with her children in tow. Now she fears putting her baby at risk by attending to these vital needs in the same space where symptomatic people are being tested all day long.

Will the government reverse their irresponsible decision that allows symptomatic COVID-19 testing out of pharmacies?

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

Hon. Christine Elliott: Thank you very much to the member for the question, but I’m afraid we see things quite differently. What we need right now in Ontario is more places for people to be tested, because with colder weather, we are seeing more people indoors. We are seeing the numbers go up, although the numbers in our intensive care units are remaining very low.

We need to have convenient places for people to go. If they feel that they may have COVID, they need to be tested. They have to have an entrance to go into; they’re not going to be allowed to go in and do their regular shopping. They will go in to be tested or they will have someone else pick up a test for them and then return it for them.

Pharmacies will have to opt in. They will need to have the physical space available for this to be done safely, and there are very intense infection prevention and control measures that are in place to make sure that the other patrons in the store are also going to remain safe and healthy.

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

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: Back to the minister: The Ford government allowing symptomatic COVID-19 testing in pharmacies has left everyday Ontarians exposed and afraid to access essential services. For my constituent Michael, his local pharmacy is now a symptomatic testing site, despite there being a hospital testing centre just a 10-minute walk away. Michael also says he and his family no longer feel safe picking up prescriptions and using pharmacy services.

With this decision and with the response, the Minister of Health is essentially saying it’s okay for people with COVID-19 symptoms to go to the same place where vulnerable people are. So my question to the minister is, are you aware COVID-19 is airborne?

Hon. Christine Elliott: I can assure the member opposite that the policy that is put in place for allowing pharmacies to opt in to this testing for both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals is safe. There are dedicated protocols there. There are many measures to make sure that these protocols are going to be followed, by the inspections that we have available, as well as by the College of Pharmacists, which holds pharmacists to very high standards. It has also been approved by our Chief Medical Officer of Health and the epidemiologists who advise him.

In fact, what Dr. Moore has said about symptomatic testing in pharmacies is this: “We absolutely anticipate a great partnership with our pharmacy experts and that they will be able to test in a safe manner within their facilities for those who have symptoms. We’re working with them to have the best infection prevention and control protocols in place to best protect their clients, but very much welcome their partnership”—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you.

The next question.

Education funding

Ms. Lindsey Park: My question is for the Minister of Education. With so many young families moving to Clarington, we need to plan for the growth pressures in our schools. A number of Clarington elementary schools are already overflowing, and for years to come we want to make sure our youngest learners have a great place to call home that’s close to home and to start their education journey.

I was pleased to see the minister announce yesterday new funding for building and improving schools. When will we find out if the Northglen school in Clarington is approved?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Niagara West and parliamentary assistant.

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: My thanks to the member from Durham for the question, and my thanks also for her advocacy. I know that this has been a project that she has been advocating for for quite some time, and I know that the constituents in her riding understand the importance of seeing modern, safe schools being built across not just their region, but across Ontario. That’s why I was very pleased to see yesterday the Minister of Education join the Minister of Infrastructure to announce some $600 million in new capital planning projects.

Interjections.

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: Absolutely. It’s very, very important to ensure that our province is being built up after so many years of the former Liberal government’s neglect where we saw many schools being closed across this province—over 600 schools. Our government is the government that is building schools in communities like yours.

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

Ms. Lindsey Park: I’ve always found the minister and his parliamentary assistant, as well as their ministry team, willing to listen when bringing east Durham concerns to their attention.

Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board already owns an 8.3-acre property that’s incorporated as a school in the municipal plan near Northglen park. On top of this school board, I have had many, many families contact me, asking me to bring this to the ministry’s attention. Don’t you agree with parents and the school board that it’s time for a new elementary school in Clarington?

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: My thanks again to the member opposite. The member is absolutely correct that our government is investing in more new schools. In fact, yesterday’s announcement is announcing specifically $565 million for 26 new schools in communities such as the ones that you represent and are advocating for, including 20 permanent additions and renovations being built and an additional 1,500 child care spaces. This is actually going to be adding, in addition to these spaces, 19,700 student spaces.

This speaks to the Minister of Education, our Premier, and the ministry as a whole’s commitment to ensuring that every single community in this province receives high-quality public education and that they receive it in safe, modern and technologically connected and accessible schools.

I know that there will be more details coming out in the coming days about these particular projects that have been approved in this capital tranche, and I anticipate further conversations with—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you very much. The next question.

Mental health services

Mr. Lorne Coe: My question is to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Farming is not like other careers. It’s truly a 365-day-a-year job, with long hours and many stresses: unpredictable weather and difficult crop conditions, social isolation, heavy workloads, fluctuating markets and prices, labour challenges—and throw in the ongoing pressures associated with COVID-19.

The issues that farmers in my riding and across Ontario have to contend with can be overwhelming. Access to mental health resources in rural communities can also be difficult. Can the minister please explain what steps this government is taking to address mental health challenges faced by the farmers in my riding?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: I want to thank the member from Whitby for this important question. It wasn’t too long ago that I had the opportunity to be north of Oshawa and Pickering with both Minister Bethlenfalvy and MPP Coe visiting on-farm and seeing the dedication and the passion that is absolutely indicative of the type of farmers we have across this province. We need to demonstrate that we have their back as well.

That’s why I’m very pleased to share with everyone that on Monday we announced a $7-million multi-year program for supports for farmers and their families to assist them with challenges, because the member was absolutely right: What other sector has people committed to their profession 365 days a year? And those days include challenges. The two programs we introduced on Monday will provide wellness supports that are part of a larger investment that I appreciate from Minister Tibollo and Minister Elliott—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you. Supplementary question.

Mr. Lorne Coe: Back to the minister: I’m pleased to hear that the government is investing millions of dollars to fund these mental health support programs. However, one of the major issues associated with mental health challenges is that people in need often don’t reach out and consequently do not get the supports they need. Compound that issue with farmers in my riding and across Ontario often working alone: They may not speak up at all, Speaker.

Can the minister explain how the government is addressing this critical first step to support farmers in receiving the supports they so desperately need?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: The member is very astute, because it ranges from cost of production to weather to market access. For 365 days Ontario farmers are working hard to produce good-quality food close to everyone’s home. That’s why we need to have their backs.

The $7-million multi-year program includes two particular programs: a farmer wellness initiative that will provide tailored, specialized support for farmers as well as their families—and I might say, this is a very popular initiative. It is modelled after initiatives that were introduced in eastern Ontario by Deborah Vanberkel, in Lennox, Addington and Hastings. She has led by example in this regard, and her legacy is allowing us to build on that success and demonstrate that our government has farmers’ backs all across Ontario.

In addition to that particular program, we’re also introducing the Guardians Network. It’s a suicide prevention network, and it’s all about training individuals to recognize farmers or farming families that could be at risk. The volunteers who will be trained will be able to recognize challenges and how farmers are dealing with those challenges.

This is great news for Ontario, and I’m very proud to be part of a government that stands with—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you. The next question?

Child care

Miss Monique Taylor: My question is for the Premier. Today, the Ford government is finally supposed to be back at the table with the feds to try and hammer out a deal for the long-delayed child care plan. The only problem, though, is that the government still hasn’t handed in their detailed proposal, and they still haven’t given the action plan that the feds need to finalize the deal.

Speaker, parents are struggling with the cost of living, and they need $10-a-day, affordable child care now, not when the Premier gets around to negotiations. When is the Premier going to stop trying to run out the clock, try to stop doing the bare minimum and finally get this deal done?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Mr. Speaker, it’s actually the NDP who would seek to have us do the bare minimum. What we have is a federal government that has asked the province of Ontario to work with it to get to $10-a-day child care. We are working together to do that. The federal government put an initial offer on the table. We explained to them that it did not get us to the $10-a-day child care that was the goal of the program. The federal government didn’t come to us and say, “Well, it’s a take-it-or-leave-it offer.” They came back and said, “Let us know what the differences are in the province of Ontario and how we get to that $10 a day.

So unlike the NDP, who would have just accepted what the federal government put on the table first—even though the federal government wants to do more, the NDP are saying no. You know what the NDP are like, Mr. Speaker. They’re that couple who invites you out to dinner and then forgets their wallet. That’s what they are.

What we’re going to do is, we’re going to get $10-a-day child care for families in the province of Ontario by working with our partners, despite the fact that they’re unwilling to do that.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Miss Monique Taylor: Every day that this government continue to drag their feet and try to run out the clock, it is costing parents thousands of dollars out of their pocket, and it costs our economy even more.

Ontarians have suffered enough, and the fact that the Premier couldn’t even be bothered to do his homework before today’s meeting shows that he really doesn’t even care about getting a deal, but he is going to do everything he can do to stop it. If he’s not willing to do the work to get a deal, then he needs to get out of the way because there is too much at stake for Ontario families and our economy.

Conservative Premiers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and even Jason Kenney in Alberta managed to get their own pettiness out of the way and get a deal for $10-a-day, affordable child care. Why can’t this Conservative Premier do the same thing for Ontario families?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats.

Government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Every single day—you know, you try to help them; you really do. You try to help the NDP understand how governments function and how to work with other people, but they just don’t get it.

What the NDP are telling the people of the province of Ontario is that despite the fact that we have a partner that wants to help us get to $10-a-day child care, despite that fact, we should say, “No, we don’t want those extra resources. Forget about the differences. Let’s just sign any deal.” We’re not going to do that because we want to get to the $10-a-day child care. That’s our goal.

It is true that the Liberals botched up this file for 15 years and gave us rates that are far too expensive for families in the province of Ontario. We’re going to get a deal that is sustainable, that is in the best interests of Ontario families and that helps build a $10-a-day child care foundation for decades to come, despite the fact that the NDP seem completely unprepared to ever deal with issues that come before them.

Child care

M me Lucille Collard: I just got a little taste of the answer I’m going to be getting.

Mr. Speaker, child care in Toronto costs nearly $19,000 per year. People on minimum wage earn $27,000 per year. The Minister of Education acknowledges that child care is inaccessible and unaffordable, yet we’ve been waiting endlessly for $10-a-day child care, which is preventing parents—mostly women—from joining the workforce.

The government wants more money for a longer period than other provinces. That’s why it’s making the deal so hard to negotiate. The federal government has been asking for an action plan that is not being provided, as has been mentioned. Lack of a plan—sound familiar?

My question is, why is it taking so long for the government to provide a plan and negotiate a deal on child care for the benefit of Ontarian families and for the benefit of our economy?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Speaker, now I know why Steven Del Duca doesn’t want to be in the House. It must be very difficult for the Liberals to ask these types of questions. We heard it earlier, with the Brampton hospital question—if they only had that fifth mandate. They had four mandates to do something about child care, but if they had had that fifth mandate, they would have gotten the job done for Brampton—but it’s taking us in our first mandate to get it done. On child care, we first heard the commitment back in 1993, I think. It was a real big stretch goal for the Liberals that was, of course, supported by the NDP—those stretch goals.

Here’s the difference: A Progressive Conservative government is going to deliver on affordable child care, just like a Progressive Conservative government delivered on public health care, just like a Progressive Conservative government delivered subways to the province of Ontario. It is a Progressive Conservative government that delivers constantly, and we will deliver for the families of Ontario.

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

M me Lucille Collard: This government claims to be all about promoting a strong economy. Ten-dollar-a-day child care would allow more parents to enter the job market and continue with their careers. That’s what would help our economy, and that’s why the other provinces have signed a deal. It is also the right thing to do.

While everybody is waiting for relief, this government’s delay is costing parents thousands of dollars. The government says it’s waiting for a fair deal, but everyone is tired of waiting for the government to step up and help working families.

So will the minister or the government prioritize Ontario families and sign a deal today?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Mr. Speaker, one wonders, if the Liberals are so passionate about this, how it is that we have the most expensive daycare fees in the country. Under their watch, daycare fees, the costs of child care, actually increased by 40%. Think about that: 40%. Think of how that impacted the people of the province of Ontario and Ontario families. Put on top of that the fact that we had the most expensive hydroelectricity rates in the entire country. Put on top of that the fact that thousands of jobs were being lost because of the policies they brought in place.

Here’s one thing I know: A Progressive Conservative government will get the job done for Ontario families when it comes to affordable child care. The member opposite has my word. We will complete the job that the Del Duca government, the Wynne government, the McGuinty government never could do, and we’ll do it in our first mandate.

Addiction services

Mr. Jamie West: My question is for the Premier.

Speaker, Barbara Ries is a constituent of mine. She was prescribed opioids after a serious work injury. Barbara took her medications as prescribed and became addicted. When Barbara filed a complaint against her health care provider; it resulted in a training session for the physician. Meanwhile, Barbara faced homelessness and lost care of her children.

The government can’t sit by while such injustices continue. There are thousands of people like Barbara out there, and they want accountability for those who over-prescribe opioids, and they want solutions for those suffering from addiction.

Barbara beat her addiction, but many others aren’t as lucky, especially in Sudbury, where we face an acute shortage of addiction supports.

My question is, when will the government move from the sidelines of the opioid overdose epidemic and take serious action to save lives and address the opioid crisis?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Thank you for the question from the member opposite.

Mr. Speaker, we know that there is a polysubstance overdose issue in the province of Ontario. One of the first things we did as a government was to create a Roadmap to Wellness to understand the needs of the various people who live within the province, and what we did was announce $32.7 million be invested in new, annualized funding for targeted addiction supports, including treatment and care for opioid use disorder.

These investments will enhance and give additional supports to people in the province using evidence-based therapies and interventions that include opioid agonist therapies and high-quality addiction service