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

December 4, 2024

43rd Parliament, 1st Session

< Previous sitting day

Next sitting day >

Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2024-Dec-04 (PDF)

L191 - Wed 4 Dec 2024 / Mer 4 déc 2024

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Wednesday 4 December 2024 Mercredi 4 décembre 2024

Orders of the Day

More Convenient Care Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 pour plus de soins commodes

Members’ Statements

Lambton Generating Station

Homelessness

Lauren Manders

Climate change

Off-road vehicles

Member for Hamilton Mountain

Member for Mississauga East–Cooksville

Holiday messages

Long-term care

Christmas parades in Lambton–Kent–Middlesex

House sittings

Introduction of Visitors

Emergency response in Parry Sound–Muskoka

Question Period

Government accountability

Government accountability

Government advertising

Automotive industry

Government accountability

Transportation infrastructure

Addiction services

Health care

Forest industry / Taxation

Government accountability

Health care

Arts and cultural funding

Public transit

Sports and recreation facilities

Deferred Votes

Community school liaison officer programs

Introduction of Visitors

Introduction of Government Bills

Support for Seniors and Caregivers Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 sur le soutien aux personnes âgées et aux fournisseurs de soins

Introduction of Bills

Captive Wildlife Protection Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 sur la protection des animaux sauvages en captivité

Petitions

Land use planning

Social assistance

Orders of the Day

Working for Workers Six Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 visant à œuvrer pour les travailleurs, six

Royal assent / Sanction royale

Working for Workers Six Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 visant à œuvrer pour les travailleurs, six

More Convenient Care Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 pour plus de soins commodes

Private Members’ Public Business

Arts and cultural funding

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Next, we will have a moment of silence for inner thought and personal reflection.

Orders of the Day

More Convenient Care Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 pour plus de soins commodes

Resuming the debate adjourned on December 3, 2024, on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 231,

An Act to enact or amend various Acts related to health care / Projet de loi 231, Loi visant à édicter ou à modifier diverses lois en ce qui concerne les soins de santé.

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

M me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: I am pleased to be back here today and to rise and to speak to our province’s plan to provide Ontarians with the publicly funded care that will help build healthier communities and strengthen the province’s health care workforce today and into the future. These are transformative initiatives our government is advancing to build a system that ensures accessible, high-quality care, while modernizing our health care system.

Today’s health care priorities are guided by a single principle: creating a patient-centred system that delivers the right care in the right place at the right time.

Through bold investments and innovative legislation like the More Convenient Care Act, 2024, we are breaking barriers and laying the groundwork for a stronger and more resilient health care system—one that meets the needs of today’s Ontarians and prepares us for the challenges of tomorrow.

Other legislative and regulatory changes being proposed in order to connect more people to convenient care close to home include the following:

—strengthening governance and transparency—this is specific to

schedule 3 of this bill: creating a transparency framework for staffing agencies that operate in the hospital, long-term care and community health sectors, to disclose administrative markup rates to the government through the new Health Care Staffing Agency Reporting Act, 2024;

—enhancing hospital governance by working with the sector to define best practices, ensuring providers across the province have access to the tools and resources they need to deliver high-quality care;

—enhancing patient care: modernizing the provincial electronic health record, the EHR, as the next step to being able to provide eligible Ontarians with safe, secure and direct access to their personal health information online through Health811—in reference to the

schedule from the bill,

schedule 6, pertaining to the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004;

—also, allowing nurse practitioners to complete and sign mandatory blood testing forms to expand access to care for people submitting applications, including victims of crimes, correctional officers, members of the College of Nurses of Ontario or the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, medical or nursing students, or paramedics—this also pertains to

schedule 5 of the bill, Mandatory Blood Testing Act, 2006;

—as well, exploring and consulting on options that would support consistent and quality mental health and addiction services by better understanding the variety of services provided by this workforce;

—reviewing the ambulance vehicle and equipment standards to enhance patient safety and make it faster for paramedics to access the tools they need to deliver emergency care;

—also, improving service delivery—this is always critical, Mr. Speaker—to strengthen the authority of the Chief Medical Officer of Health to promote greater alignment and consistency when issuing orders to local Chief Medical Officers of Health across different regions—this pertains to

schedule 4, the Health Protection and Promotion Act;

—as well as updating public health regulations for public pools, zoonotic diseases and diseases of public health significance to reduce burden and align with best evidence.

Mr. Speaker, before I get too far into the details of this bill, I would like to tell the chamber of my recent experience with our health care system. It was actually my husband’s experience, which ultimately means my experience, as I believe that any time one person is interacting with the health care system, there are the loved ones who are at their side.

My husband had been in pain for some time. It was his hip. He made the decision to seek out help. From the moment he interacted with our family doctor, to the moment he walked into the office of the orthopedic surgeon, to the time that he went to the hospital, which was our local Southlake hospital—by the way, it’s been rebranded and their name is now Southlake Health—my husband had nothing but huge accolades for our health care professionals.

It is always a bit nerve-racking when you undergo surgery—for the patient and for the loved one—but everyone with whom we interacted was professional, empathetic, patient and always informing of the next steps in the process. Of course, I had to send a thank-you note to my husband’s surgeon to thank him for helping my husband. What a difference he made in the quality of my husband’s life and of our family’s.

I had the great honour of receiving a phone call from Dr. Gamble, who is the orthopedic surgeon for my husband. Wouldn’t you know he called me and he invited me to attend his Christmas function that he was putting on for the entire orthopedic staff at Southlake. He asked me if I would speak to the team, as it would be great for the team to hear about my husband’s experience. What a true honour and privilege I had to speak to a room full of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists—the entire team. That is what Dr. Gamble said to me. He said, “Dawn, it’s not just me. It takes a team.”

Well, I was able to stand up in front of these amazing professionals and tell them about my husband’s experience with them; how he feels better than he had in 10 years. Boy, did I get applause for that one—I guess my husband got the applause for that one.

Yes, I was there as the member of provincial Parliament for Newmarket–Aurora, but I’m also their voice at Queen’s Park. But I was also there as a loved one of a patient who they cared for, and they made all the difference in his life as well as our family’s. Now we can plan for our family outings without worrying about the pain and discomfort that my husband was in.

So, once again, to the health care professionals at Southlake Health orthopedics department, thank you from the bottom of my heart. On behalf of my family and my husband, your expertise, your care, your professionalism—well, you are the cream of the crop.

Le gouvernement de l’Ontario a déposé la loi de 2024 pour des soins plus commodes, qui, si elle est adoptée, déploiera la prochaine étape du plan de la province pour prodiguer à un plus grand nombre de personnes les bons soins financés par le public, au bon endroit, en édifiant des collectivités plus saines et en renforçant la main-d’oeuvre du secteur de la province aujourd’hui et pour l’avenir. Les initiatives sont basées sur trois piliers clés du renforcement des soins :

« Renforcement de la gouvernance et de la transparence....

« Nouveau projet de loi proposé : Loi de 2024 sur les rapports des agences de placement de personnel de soins de santé

« Le gouvernement cherche à obtenir des commentaires afin de créer une nouvelle législation qui créerait un cadre réglementaire obligeant les agences de placement à déclarer au gouvernement des renseignements administratifs, sur la facturation ou les taux de salaire. Le cadre sur la transparence serait conçu pour parvenir à la transparence concernant le tarif que les agences facturent aux hôpitaux et aux maisons de soins de longue durée, accroître la certitude relative aux coûts pour les employeurs et la stabilisation des tarifs des agences.

Puis, on a : « Amélioration des soins aux patients :

« Modification de la Loi de 2006 sur le dépistage obligatoire par test sanguin

« Le gouvernement souhaite obtenir des commentaires sur les modifications proposées à la Loi de 2006 sur le dépistage obligatoire par test sanguin afin de permettre au personnel infirmier praticien de remplir et de signer les formulaires pour le dépistage obligatoire par test sanguin. Permettre au personnel infirmier praticien de remplir et de signer ces formulaires aidera à offrir aux demandeurs comme les victimes de crimes, les agents des services correctionnels ou les ambulanciers paramédicaux un accès accru à ce service de santé.

« Amélioration de l’accès des patients à des renseignements

« Les modifications proposées à la Loi de 2004 sur la protection des renseignements personnels sur la santé aideraient à habiliter la population ontarienne à avoir plus de contrôle sur sa santé, y compris en permettant à la population ontarienne admissible d’avoir un accès numérique direct à certaines données personnelles sur la santé conservées dans le dossier de santé électronique »—ça veut dire le DSE—« provincial, sous réserve des exceptions précisées par règlement. »

Puis, alors, encore : « Amélioration de la prestation de services ...

« Peaufinage des rôles et responsabilités en matière de santé publique

« Ces modifications favoriseraient des pratiques de santé publique qui sont harmonisées aux preuves et aux pratiques exemplaires actuelles, réduisent le fardeau sur les intervenants touchés, y compris les agences locales de santé publique, les propriétaires de piscines publiques et les propriétaires de piscines résidentielles et de spas et se penchent sur les problèmes de santé publique émergents et assujettis à des contraintes de temps qui peuvent avoir des répercussions sur les établissements de soins de santé. »

I would say like to take this opportunity to speak to Ontario’s health care workforce which is at the heart of all these improvements. Since 2018, our government has added nearly 100,000 new nurses to the system with another 30,000 currently studying in colleges and universities. In addition, the Learn and Stay grant is helping nearly 3,800 students train for health professions by covering tuition and direct educational costs in exchange for post-graduation service. These investments are crucial as we continue to build the health workforce for tomorrow.

The expanded scope of practice for nurse practitioners and registered nurses will take effect on July 1, 2025. These changes include:

—allowing nurse practitioners to order and apply defibrillators and pacemakers, enabling faster response times for life-threatening cardiac events;

—enabling both nurse practitioners and registered nurses to certify deaths in more circumstances, expediting end-of-life processes for families and easing administrative burdens during an already difficult time;

—authorizing nurse practitioners to perform electrocoagulation procedures, which can treat certain skin conditions like skin tags and lesions, ensuring that patients have quicker access to care.

These changes are particularly impactful for rural and Indigenous communities, where access to care can be limited. By empowering nurse practitioners to take on additional responsibilities, we are enhancing the care available to people who may not otherwise have access to specialists. These changes also reflect confidence in our health care professionals’ expertise. Dr. Michelle Acorn of the Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Ontario, states, “These changes represent a necessary shift to enhance our ability to provide timely and comprehensive care across Ontario.”

Furthermore, by allowing registered nurses and nurse practitioners to perform these procedures and make life-impacting decisions, we reduce pressure on emergency departments and allow physicians to focus on more complex cases, thereby improving the efficiency of our health system. This is particularly crucial as Ontario works to meet the health care demands of its growing population. The residents in Newmarket–Aurora will benefit directly from these initiatives through better access to key services, including mental health and addiction supports as well as secure access to their personal health information through a modernized electronic health record system.

Speaker, the initiatives I have outlined today are united by a common vision: building a health care system that prioritizes people. We are addressing long-standing challenges, empowering our health care workforce and investing in innovative solutions to ensure that every Ontarian has access to the care they deserve. Through these efforts, we are not just meeting today’s needs, but we’re preparing for tomorrow’s challenges.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): It’s now time for questions and answers.

MPP Wayne Gates: I listened very carefully to my colleague, but if you want to stand up and say you support nurses, doctors and health care workers, then I guess one of my questions to you is: Why did you support Bill 124, which attacked those same nurses, doctors and health care workers?

In my community of Fort Erie, our urgent care hospital has a reduction of hours from 24/7 to 10 hours per day. This community has 40,000 residents in it. Do you believe that residents deserve to have their urgent care services cut when you have 40,000 residents relying on our urgent care centre in Fort Erie?

M me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: I would like to thank the member from Niagara Falls very much for the question.

In this More Convenient Care Act—I’ll speak to the bill as it is. In this act, we are making some changes to allow nurse practitioners and registered nurses to increase their scope of practice. Now, why would we do that? We’re doing that so that more people can get the care they need, when they need it and right at the time that they need it. The whole purpose is to improve the patient experience by enhancing health care delivery and easing pressures in parts of our health system. It’s also alleviating health human resource challenges. When we improve access to care by increasing the scope of our nurses and practitioners, we are helping have more patient care services.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Further questions?

Ms. Laura Smith: I know the member talked in an animated way about her own personal experience, and she also talked about a lot of the feedback. She talked about Dr. Michelle. I’m just interested in what has been the early feedback from consultations indicating and regarding an expansion of scope of practice for nurse practitioners and registered nurses.

M me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: Thank you to the member from Thornhill for that great question. In fact, the consultation that we’ve received, the comments we’ve received thus far have all been positive, because what the College of Nurses is looking for, as well, is exactly per the response in the last question: to increase their scope, because the nurses know they have the education and the capabilities to deliver the service that’s needed right then and there. To have to wait for somebody else to provide that service, it doesn’t make sense.

They know and they’re willing to take it on, just like our pharmacies, because in our pharmacies, there has been how many pharmacies now that are providing services in my community? And speaking with one of the independent pharmacists, they have told me how their patients find that the service-providing is so much more—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Further questions?

Ms. Sandy Shaw: The title of this bill, More Convenient Care Act—I have to say, there is nothing in the province that’s convenient about health care right now.

In fact, in Hamilton, our hospitals have a $136-million deficit. They serve 2.5 million people. And do you know what they’re doing? They’re cutting services. They’re cutting cancer clinics. They’re cutting mental health services.

We also have analyses that say that 2024 is the worst year for Ontario ER closures. We also have closures in urgent care centres—10,000 hours, so far, of urgent care centres closed in this province.

There is nothing in this bill that will make care accessible to people today.

We are in crisis today. We had the member from Niagara Falls talk about places closing.

What will this bill do—not down the road, but tomorrow—to make sure people can access care in emergencies, in urgent care centres, when they need it? Right now, it’s not available to them.

M me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: Madam Speaker, I’d like to thank the member for the question.

When I started reading this bill the other day, when it was provided—the first schedule, City of Hamilton Act, 1999, states: “Section 11 of the City of Hamilton Act, 1999, is re-enacted to establish a board of health for the city. Currently, the city itself has the powers, rights and duties of a board of health under the Health Protection and Promotion Act.” When I read this, I thought about my colleagues who represent Hamiltonians—Hamiltonians who I’m very familiar with—and I thought to myself, this is excellent, because what this means is that representation right from Hamilton is going to be part of this health board. They know their own population. This is amazing, a great thing—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Further questions?

Mr. David Smith: I want to thank the member from Newmarket–Aurora for sharing her personal journey with her husband. It’s so amazing.

To the contrary of what I’m hearing in the room, I strongly support the More Convenient Care Act.

I would just like to ask a quick question: How would the proposed change in the board of health governance model differ from the current model that we currently have?

M me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: I’d like to thank the member from Scarborough Centre for the question, and before I go into the response there, I’ll tell you now, yes, it’s amazing. So many of the health care workers I spoke with at the event that day came up and said to me, “Do you know what, Dawn? We don’t here”—and I think that’s why the doctor wanted me to be there, because doctors get the kudos, not all the nurses, and it takes that team. So I was honoured to speak to all the nurses, all the doctors, the physiotherapists, and thank them for everything that they’re doing for our loved ones.

To answer your question, my friend the member for Scarborough Centre: Currently, for example, Hamilton city council acts as a board of health, with no citizen representatives or provincial appointees. This is why my comment to the member previous was that now they’re going to have representation on that board of governance—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Question?

Mr. Joel Harden: The bill that we’re talking about is called the More Convenient Care Act. I would like to think it is convenient, if you’re in a mental health or a health crisis, that you can get to an ER as soon as possible. That’s my definition of convenient.

My question for my friend—because I didn’t hear you talk specifically about the need for this bill and this House to do more about the rash of emergency room last-minute

schedule changes or closures, and I’m going to name a few here, recently reported: Clinton Public Hospital, Chesley public hospital. Both of these hospitals in 2024 had to close 335 times—last-minute

schedule changes or full ER closures.

I’m wondering if you could explain to this House what in this bill will make sure that if people need urgent care, they can get to the closest hospital possible.

M me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: I’d like to thank the member for the question.

There is a lot in there, but a couple of things I’m going to definitely address about the mental health and addictions part of this bill is a consultation with, specifically, the workers who deal with mental health and addictions. I think that’s great because we need the opportunity to speak with them and see what they need further to support their work.

I’ll give you some examples of what our government is doing. In my riding of Newmarket–Aurora we have the very first mental health community care hub that is currently being built. That will deal specifically with people who are in a mental health crisis. What will end up happening is, instead of them going to the hospital, they will go to this centre, where they will get the help that they need from specific specialists who deal with mental health and addiction—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): We do not have time for further questions.

We will move on to further debate.

MPP Lisa Gretzky: It’s my pleasure to get up and speak to the More Convenient Care Act.

I’m just listening to the member from Newmarket–Aurora not actually answer the questions that were being asked. My colleague asked about emergency departments and urgent care centres in communities all over this province and the member opposite started going on about one centre that provides mental health supports and that is not accessible to these communities that don’t have emergency departments, that don’t have urgent care centres.

Frankly, what she brought up is not even in this bill. She’s talking like it’s being addressed in this bill but it’s not in this bill. As a government member, one of the party members from a party that actually brought forward this bill, you would think that she would know that.

My colleague from Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas asked a very specific question, again, about access to emergency department care and urgent care for people in need. And the member from Newmarket–Aurora, from the government side—her response was about public health units. They don’t provide the emergency care at a hospital. They are not the ones providing emergency care at urgent care centres. The response was nonsensical. It was a distraction, a deflection.

I will say on that particular subject around public health, if the government really, really believed in public health, they would be funding it. They would be funding it. We just had rounds of layoffs in Windsor at our public health unit and people who took early retirement in their jobs will not be replaced. They were talking about having to cut critical public health services: maternal newborn services, vaccine services, school programs.

This government has cut a public health measure to deal with the opioid crisis that we are seeing in this province by closing consumption and treatment services. I’m going to do more on that because the Auditor General’s report just came out and it was a scathing report on many things, but especially that.

Our health unit, in partnership with our specialized mental health and addictions hospital—with experts—were running SafePoint in Windsor. They were running it together. And this government, without evidence, without data, just because the Premier himself had said, “I don’t believe in it”—and it’s very clear the Minister of Health doesn’t believe in it, does not believe in harm reduction. So SafePoint closed and those services are gone from the community. The government doesn’t address that—that that was delivered by public health.

Some 80% of the people that accessed services at SafePoint in my community, a consumption and treatment service well within the restrictions that this government wants to put on them—it’s nowhere near a daycare, nowhere near a school, nowhere near a vulnerable population aside from the people that it was meant to serve: 80%, not a single security risk, none, no urgent calls to police; 80% of the people that accessed the services there were then connected to primary care physicians. They got wound care. They got connected to mental health services if they needed it. They got referred to addiction services.

They got housing services, food security, all those wraparound supports that the government will talk about but isn’t actually providing to people in the community.

So tell me, if you’re looking at evidence and you’re looking at data and you’re looking at best practices and you’re actually listening to the experts, what led to the decision to close SafePoint? You have no evidence, because you weren’t collecting data, you weren’t talking to the experts.

The Auditor General’s report—as I said, scathing report—I’m going to backtrack a bit, because yesterday I was watching the afternoon debate, and the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions stood here and said that this bill, he was saying, shows the importance of collecting data and analyzing data and working with the experts. Yet, the Auditor General’s report yesterday showed that this government does the complete opposite and has absolutely no interest in consultation.

The Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions talked about how important it is to consult and gather data—because that’s in here somewhere, talking about data. Yet, the Auditor General’s report made it very clear that the government is not interested in that, not interested in that at all. They don’t even want to know what it is, but if they did know what it is, they wouldn’t follow it anyway, as we’ve seen in the past.

When you look at the housing task force that this government put together—it was their own task force, hand-chosen people by the government. When that report came out talking about the housing needs in this province and what this government needs to do in order to build safe, affordable, sustainable, supportive housing in this province, the government went, “Thanks for your time,” and shelved the report and did the exact opposite over and over and over again. That’s what this government does. They’re not interested in data. They’re not interested in the facts.

They’re interested in their own agenda, and they don’t seem to care that every day in this province, three people die from an overdose.

Let’s see if I can find the exact part here. In the Auditor General’s report she mentions something incredibly important: The government did no study, no tracking. The government failed to track rates of hospitalization for overdose—the percentage of people who were prescribed opioids who developed an addiction.

Now, Speaker, I stood in this House—I think it was last week; it might have been the week before—and talked about Dan, who was a wonderful, contributing member of our community. He had a job. He loved to play music and had some friends who put together a band. He was an uncle, a brother, a son. He was in a car accident and was prescribed pain medication—opioids—and developed an addiction. Before he died of an overdose, alone in his apartment, he would go to the methadone clinic every morning, and there was a doctor—it was his doctor—who was prescribing him morphine pills to take at home.

Imagine that: There was no tracking or tracing or flagging that this person had an addiction. And I want to be clear: This can happen to anybody. It may have happened to some of you on the other side of the House. It could be you personally. It could be a family member. It could a neighbour or someone else you care about. Anybody could be suddenly faced with an addiction—anybody.

I shared that story of Dan. Dan was my brother. And then, to read in the Auditor General’s report that the government does not track the rate of hospitalizations for overdose, or the percentage of people who were prescribed opioids who then developed an addiction—that is an alarming statement. Because what we hear from the government side—if I have to hear the Minister of Health one more time stand up in this place, or in the media studio, or at a scrum, and talk like people who have addictions are less than, or they are somehow dirty or criminal—to imply that—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): I will caution the member on imputing motive, please. Careful with your wording.

MPP Lisa Gretzky: Thank you, Speaker. Those weren’t just my words; those are people that are actually feeling that way based on what is being said.

To then hear the Associate Minister for Mental Health and Addictions yesterday talking about how this bill and this government—how it’s important to them to destigmatize mental health struggles or addiction struggles, and then to hear members on that side of the House use language like that—the government members using that language are part of the problem.

How do you think that people who are struggling with mental illness or with addiction are going to want to come forward and seek help? That is the most critical piece to them seeking help for their treatment and their recovery, is them actually wanting to come forward and get that help. And that help doesn’t look the same for everybody. For some people, it’s abstinence. That’s what this government is pushing. Evidence, the experts and the service providers within mental health and addictions, especially within the addictions realm, have already realized that pushing just an abstinence-based model is not the direction to go, is not working for everybody; that we need harm reduction.

But this government isn’t talking to those people, isn’t listening to those people, doesn’t want to hear it, because they are just ideologically opposed to the idea that we need be looking at different kinds of care. The Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions talked about the different kinds of—the thought just went out of my head. But meeting people where they’re at: That’s what he said. Meeting people where they’re at—well, for some people, it’s harm reduction.

The member from Newmarket–Aurora talked specifically about a public health agency in Hamilton. I talked about one in Windsor. When you take away harm reduction services—this government is now touting their HART hubs. Again, the Auditor General said they have done no planning, no studies, haven’t looked at any data, didn’t really talk to anybody, rolled it out, made an announcement with no real plan in place—I guess they’re going to work it out as they go. In the meantime, people are going to continue to die on the streets without access to care.

They talk about connection to supports and services, that somehow in this bill it’s going to have people better connected to mental health and addiction services; that somehow through this bill—and then their references to HART hubs—suddenly the problem is solved. People who are seeking help, who are ready for help for their addictions are going to go these HART hubs, and that magically means that they’re going to get into detox and then immediately into withdrawal management and then immediately into a treatment bed and then, I don’t know, maybe immediately into non-existent supportive housing.

But we know that when people come out and seek help, when they seek that support and treatment, what is happening now is they wait months to get into detox, they wait again to get into withdrawal management—usually in which time they then relapse and are in crisis again. And then if they get through the withdrawal management, they wait for a treatment bed, again risking relapse, and then a lot of these people don’t have safe, stable, supportive housing, so they’re put out on the street. They’re put out on the street, and they cope the best way that they can, and oftentimes that means relapsing.

This stigmatizing language that is used from the other side of the House is not helpful. It’s incredibly harmful and hurtful. Perhaps if some of the folks on the other side of the House had been through this or lived on the streets—I’ve lived on the streets. Does that make me a bad person? Because according to government side and some of the language they use, at 17, when I was homeless and living on the streets, that somehow made me a threat to my community. I didn’t live in tent. I slept under a bridge for a while, and somehow that makes me and others like me a threat to society. It’s absolutely absurd.

When we’re talking to about a bill that’s specifically about health care—I will pull the piece out of it; it’s about care, and that’s what we need more of. We need more caring. We need more compassion. We need to be more open to advances out there when it comes to mental health and addiction treatments. But you’re not, because you would actually have to collect that data and talk to the people who work in the communities, talk to Indigenous communities. I know you like to talk about them or show up for photo ops, but talk to them about what is going on in the community.

I’ve listened to my colleague from Kiiwetinoong stand here far too many times and talk about deaths in his community. Where are the supports? Where are the supports as they’re losing more and more young people to suicide, more and more people to overdose? And they can’t access help—culturally appropriate help, I would add to that.

When we talk about harm reduction, the government doesn’t like to talk about this piece—and I’ll go back to the public health side of things. When you talk about consumption and treatment services, it is consumption and “treatment services” for a reason. But, Speaker, what we’re going to see—because this government, under HART hubs, is not going to provide clean supplies. We’re not talking about providing drugs to people. They test the drugs to make sure that they’re not going to kill somebody, they’re not toxic. But they provide clean needles and other paraphernalia; they have safe-needle disposals.

What we are going to see is not only an increase of dying because you’ve taken away consumption and treatment services, these sites; what happens is then our whole community becomes a consumption site. You’re going to find more people out on the street using, you’re going to find more needles and more risk out in the community. You’re going to see an increase in HIV. It’s already happening in other jurisdictions—we’re seeing a drastic increase in HIV and AIDS. You’re going to see a dramatic increase in hepatitis C because people cannot access clean medical supplies.

You’re going to see more severe wounds and other health issues. And they’re going to end up in the emergency department, which is far more expensive than providing harm reduction on the front end.

Again, I’ll point out, at SafePoint, 80% of the people who accessed their services got connected to primary care—kept them out of the emergency department, got them connected to housing so they are off the streets, got them connected to food, got them connected to counselling, got them connected to treatment and recovery.

Speaker, the last thing I’m going to say in the 34 seconds that I have left: This bill does absolutely nothing to address the fact that we have a crisis in the health care system. You can talk about all the nurses and staff you’ve recruited, but a lot of nurses in our area go to the States, where they’re treated better and they’re paid better—that they’re not being attacked by the government with Bill 124. And until you actually put in a bill that you’re going to stop the private agencies from profiteering off the work of these nurses and the people who rely on their support, very little is going to change.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): It is now time for questions.

Mr. John Jordan: First of all, this is a great bill.

Having worked in the health sector, the CH sector, for a couple of decades, I’m fully aware of the value of interdisciplinary teams and practitioners working to their full scope of practice—the right care, the right place, the right provider. By increasing the scope of practice for nurse practitioners, that takes pressure off physicians and that takes pressure off our emergency departments.

Would the member opposite agree that this bill and the increase in the scope of practice is going to have a positive impact on people who are looking for primary care? Not everybody needs a doctor. I have a nurse practitioner. I’m not looking for a doctor. I don’t need a doctor—but primary care.

MPP Lisa Gretzky: I’ll put that back to the member. Are you going to properly pay nurse practitioners? Because that’s not currently the case.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Through the Speaker.

MPP Lisa Gretzky: Speaker, I talked a lot about mental health and addictions, and so did the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

I want to point out, if this government really wanted people immediately or appropriately attached to a continuum of care, then you should have voted for our motion for universal mental health care, but you didn’t. You voted against universal mental health care. You said no to people being able to access psychotherapists and psychologists and specialized mental health nurses. You voted against that. When we are in a mental health and addictions crisis, you should be doing everything you possibly can to ensure that people can access all those supports and services whether or not—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Further questions?

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: It’s always an honour to be able to get up and give the perspective of northwestern Ontario, from Kiiwetinoong.

In the riding of Kiiwetinoong, we have two small hospitals, and we have two small long-term-care facilities. Sometimes, when I bump into nurses, they’re from down south—“Oh, I’m from Brampton,” “I’m from Toronto,” “I’m here for a couple of weeks”—whatever—to cover that service.

There are a lot of things happening up north. A couple of weeks ago, a gentleman passed away because of complications of tuberculosis.

So I’m just wondering, when we talk about the Health Care Staffing Agency Reporting Act, the changes in

schedule 3, do you think this is enough response to be able to address the health care system in Kiiwetinoong?

MPP Lisa Gretzky: I would say—and I’m from the deep south, as I refer to it—absolutely not.

If you listen to the stories that the member for Kiiwetinoong brings to this House on behalf of his constituents, they are heartbreaking and they are preventable. If the government was actually investing in his community and others to ensure that people had access to primary care; if they had access to urgent care; if they didn’t have to travel, in some cases, hours—in his community, a lot of them are fly-in communities. That is not proper access to health care. So I would say that no, I don’t really see anything in this bill that is going to address the health care needs of my colleague’s community but other communities—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Question?

Ms. Laura Smith: I listened to the member from Windsor West, and she talked about tracking information. Through this bill we are actually investing in making it easier for Ontarians to access their health information online, which in my opinion provides much better care, because sometimes we don’t remember what we did from one year to the next. Would the member not agree that this is a positive step for Ontarians and the health care system?

MPP Lisa Gretzky: That is an interesting question—based on what the Auditor General’s report said yesterday, which is that this government seems to have some sort of adverse reaction to actually collecting data, looking that the data, talking to experts, and analyzing and making decisions based on that data.

But the other thing that I would like to raise is a concern around the safety and security of that information, and I know my colleague from Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas raised that yesterday and was kind of gaslit from the other side of the House. But we have seen data breaches in this province, in record numbers under this government—

Mr. Anthony Leardi: Point of order.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Point of order?

Mr. Anthony Leardi: The member is using unparliamentary language, once again. Would the Speaker kindly remind all honourable members of this House to use parliamentary language?

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): I would ask both sides to come to order, and I do agree: Please be careful with your language.

MPP Lisa Gretzky: All right. If the members opposite would stop doing it, maybe we would stop call calling it out.

We have seen a record number of data breaches under this government. When you look at social assistance, ODSP and OW, the huge data breaches that we have seen—when you look at what has happened recently in several hospitals down my way, in my community and neighbouring communities, it basically shut down operations of hospitals and people couldn’t get care because of data breaches. A lot of that is because the government has not done the work to ensure that that data is safe and secure.

So while we think that collecting that and information-sharing amongst health care workers is important, what we have concerns about is the government’s actual ability to ensure the safety of that information.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Question?

MPP Wayne Gates: I think what we should be talking about is a crisis in health care—that’s what we should be talking about. And how we get there—I’m going to tell you: I’m from Niagara Falls. I represent Niagara-on-the-Lake, Fort Erie and Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls has 14 million visitors come to it every year. They go to Fort Erie, whether it’s the racetrack or to go and visit whatever is going on in Fort Erie. They go to the wine industry down in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Do you know what this government has done? You closed the small Niagara-on-the-Lake hospital that we have.

You’ve cut the hours to the urgent care centre in Fort Erie from 24/7 to 10 hours a day. You can’t tell me that you care about health care.

In our community, we are one of the highest areas in the entire province for seniors. Fort Erie has got 40,000 residents. Do you believe that Fort Erie deserves an urgent care centre 24/7 to alleviate the problems we’re having in the emergency room in Niagara Falls?

MPP Lisa Gretzky: I would say to my colleague that every community in every part of this province should have health care services that actually meet the needs of the people that live there. So, absolutely, his community deserves that, at the very, very least. What we have seen is this government continue to purposely undercut and underfund health care services.

Because my colleague asked that question, I want to point out that yesterday he asked a question about parking fees that were going up, I believe, 44% at hospitals in his area. The Minister of Health, instead of saying, “No, they shouldn’t have to do that, being the government has acknowledged the hospitals charge those parking fees because they’re underfunded and they have to charge that in order to pay their bills,” what the Minister of Health said, instead of saying, “Absolutely, we’re going to get rid of those fees”—she patted herself on the back for bringing them in.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Further questions?

Mr. David Smith: I want to thank the member from Windsor West for her presentation. As always, I admire your passion that you bring to this House when you are presenting.

I have just a simple question for you: Through the expanding scope of nurse practitioners in this bill—the Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Ontario and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario are applauding these changes. Does the member stand with the RNAO and the NPAO?

MPP Lisa Gretzky: I always support the nurses and the nurse practitioners, and we’re glad to see that the government finally seems to be coming onside. But the reality is that is not going to solely fix the health care crisis that we are seeing in this province and the lack of investment the government has made. When you continue to put taxpayers’ dollars into these for-profit corporations with no accountability or oversight, really—because you’re not asking where those profits are going, and are they actually going to the front-line health care workers, we’re continuing—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Further debate?

Mr. John Fraser: I’m pleased to speak to the More Convenient Care Act, which begs the question: Is care convenient right now? With 2.5 million Ontarians not having a family doctor, that’s not very convenient.

Interjection.

Mr. John Fraser: It might be better if the member spent less time heckling and more time speaking up for the residents of Eglinton–Lawrence so they could get a family doctor.

So we know it’s a problem; nothing is done in this bill to address it. I’ll talk a bit more about it later, but I would like to talk specific to the bill, because there are some things in here that are good. I think there’s a lot of tinkering around the edges of things where we could have a more effective piece of legislation for things like nursing agencies. I guess we should all be thankful, because it’s only taken a little more than two years for them to actually recognize that there’s a problem with nursing agencies. I might as well start talking about this first.

What they propose in here is really, essentially record-keeping and a fine for not keeping records—nothing about the action that you’re going to take to reduce gouging, excess charges, private health care benefiting more than public health care; it’s just record-keeping, that’s all: “You’ve got to tell us this, you got to keep it on record, and if you don’t keep it on record, we’re going to fine you.” But you’re not doing anything about the essential problem, which is the almost $1 billion that we spend on nursing agencies. You’re not going to fix it with that. What you’re saying is, “Give me the receipts,” and then you’re going to put them on a desk—not going to work.

Interjections.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): I apologize to the member.

I recognize the member for Essex.

Mr. Anthony Leardi: Madam Speaker, could you once again kindly remind all the honourable members to use parliamentary language?

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): I will ask everyone in the House to come to order.

To the member from Ottawa South: Let’s raise the bar, please. If we want respect, we must speak to our—

Interjection.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Would the member for Ottawa South not interrupt the Speaker when the Speaker is speaking?

Interjection.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): That’s all right. Please, let’s use parliamentary language and respect colleagues in the House. Thank you.

Mr. John Fraser: Well, thank you very much, Speaker. It’s good to get a fresh start on this.

In the nursing agencies part, folks, you’re just asking people for receipts. Tell them to keep records, and you’re doing squat—I think that’s okay, “squat”? I just wanted to check.

I think the measures for nurse practitioners, the expansion of their scope—good thing. It makes it possible for us to vote for the bill.

Blood testing: I agree totally with what’s being done in this bill.

Now, I’ve got to ask, the Health Protection and Promotion Act, in terms of the medical officer of health and class orders—it’s interesting that this is in here. We could debate whether that’s something that is really necessary, that is important. It comes out of the pandemic and basically takes power away from public medical officers of health, local people who are trying to address the critical situation that they have at a certain time, whether it’s for something like COVID or another infectious disease like monkeypox.

My concern is you’re taking this power away, but you may slow down the process of taking action. I don’t think it’s, like I say, a hill to die on, but that’s a question that I have.

But the biggest question that I have is why, when 2.5 million Ontarians don’t have a family doctor and when three million other Ontarians are at risk of losing their family doctor because they’re over the age of 60, this government isn’t doing something to address primary care now—not asking nursing agencies for their receipts but figuring out a way to get everybody a family doctor.

Now, I know that the government has called in another expert, and I can remember a few other experts. Maybe all of you can as well too. I remember the blue-ribbon panel for post-secondary education. They came with some recommendations, and I’m sure they’re in somebody’s desk somewhere over there, but they’re not actually being implemented.

A friend of mine, Jack Kitts, did a long-term-care report. You might remember that—85, 84 recommendations. I think only one of them was followed, and that report is—I’m sure it’s in another member’s desk over there or in their office. It’s just sitting there collecting dust.

And then there was the housing panel. Tim Hudak used to sit right over here. He was on your side. He was the guy who was going to come and fix housing for you. He was going to make recommendations. What happened with that? Nothing—nothing.

Climate change panel—in somebody’s desk over there as well too.

The way this government works is: “We’ve got a problem. It looks bad; we’ve got to do something. We want to make it look like we’re doing something, so let’s get an expert. Let’s get an expert who everybody recognizes and let’s get ourselves through the next three or four months.” And then after it’s done—in the desk. Nobody sees it. It doesn’t see the light of day.

The lack of access to primary care is causing a lot of the problems that we have in our health care system. It’s causing increased wait times in emergency rooms. It’s taking longer for people to get the next level of care they need if they have something like diabetes that’s not diagnosed, or they have cancer, or they have another chronic disease. If you don’t have a relationship with a primary care physician or nurse practitioner and you’re sick, it’s really hard for you to get the care that you need. And I know that the members opposite don’t like—you know, when I tell the member from Essex that he’s got 13,000 people in his riding who don’t have a family doctor—

MPP Wayne Gates: How many?

Mr. John Fraser: It’s 13,000. That’s a lot of people. I know we get heckled—and I don’t want to have to pull out my list again, but I can, because if people need to be reminded, I’m more than happy to do that. And I appreciate—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): To the member: I apologize for interrupting the member, but we do not use props in the House. I will remind the member we do not use props in the House.

Mr. John Fraser: It’s just that they put one on my desk every morning. I’ll just put it down; I won’t hold it up. It’s just a map so I know where everybody is.

So the member from Eglinton–Lawrence: 19,000. It’s just a reminder, okay? Anybody else? Put up your hand if you want to know. Nobody’s putting up their hand?

Interjection.

Mr. John Fraser: He’s good. You’re about 2,000. That’s where they do it right. He’s good.

Ms. Sandy Shaw: How about the Premier’s riding?

Mr. John Fraser: Premier’s riding: 32,000; Etobicoke: 100,000; minister: 10,000—it’s good. It’s good in the bad, if you know what I’m saying.

Everybody needs a family doctor. So why isn’t the government going out and saying, “Here’s the commitment we’re going to make to do it, and here’s how long it’s going to take us to do. We’re going to guarantee every one of you a family doctor or a nurse practitioner, and we’re going to build teams.” No.

What do they do? “Let’s get another expert.” I like the expert you’ve got. I think they’re going to be very disappointed with the results that always happen, which is, in the desk, gone, collecting dust, in exile somewhere—all the work that people do.

It’s so bad that a person who led your party was asked to do something on housing, and you ignored him. What does that say? What that says is, you weren’t serious about actually taking the advice of other people. The reason you were asking for his advice was so you could write it in a press release and point over there when somebody asks you a tough question about housing—or long-term care or climate change or post-secondary education—“Oh, they’re taking care of it. It’s not us. They’re going to give us recommendations that we’re going to put in our desk.”

I would be encouraged if the members opposite would say to the Premier and to the Minister of Health, “We’ve got a really, really big problem, and we need to do something about it, and we need to go to the wall for it; not appoint another expert.”

So I’m going to support this bill, but I want the government to know that they’re not fooling anybody with another expert panel.

The government members need to say—and if they want to find out how many people in their riding don’t have a family doctor, so they can say it this way to the minister and to the Premier—“We’ve got a big problem. It’s hurting people. It’s hurting my neighbours. There are people who are going to lose their family doctors. We don’t have a plan. We’re not making a commitment. Minister, Premier, I need you to do this because the people in my riding need this.”

If you don’t have a family doctor, it’s hard to stay healthy; it’s hard to get care for a chronic disease; it’s hard to get a referral—and then it’s hard enough to actually get there. I think 11,000 people died on a wait-list last year.

The crisis in family medicine and in primary care should be at the top of the list of this government. Finding everybody a family doctor is more important than banning bike lanes. It’s more important than having a map to show everybody where they can get booze at the corner store and spending a billion dollars to do it. It’s more important than dreaming of a fantasy tunnel under a highway 30 years from now. The problem is right now.

The government needs to address the shortage of family doctors and make a commitment; I know they’re not going to, because they keep skating around it, and they appointed another expert so they can put the report in their desk.

I want the government—and the people in your ridings do, and the people in my riding do—to address the primary care crisis, because it’s going to fix a lot of things that are problems in our health care system, like emergency room wait times, like wait times for referrals, like managing chronic diseases. It’s a big problem, folks. I know there’s a—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): I apologize to the member, but it is now time for members’ statements.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

Members’ Statements

Lambton Generating Station

Mr. Robert Bailey: It is an honour to rise in the Legislature and share important news for the residents of Sarnia–Lambton.

As we know, our province is continuing to grow at a rapid pace, and as a result, Ontario will soon be facing a surge in electricity demand. Luckily, the Ontario government, under the leadership of Premier Ford and the Ministry of Energy, is taking action to ensure we grow the energy supply in this province.

One such action involves examining the potential redevelopment of former energy-producing sites, like that of the former Lambton generating site in my riding, owned by Ontario Power Generation. The Lambton site was once an energy-producing all-star for this province. With its existing infrastructure, proximity to transmission lines and the local expertise in industrial construction and energy production, the former LGS site represents a promising opportunity for significant future energy development.

Early community engagement is a critical part of our government’s approach to new energy generation. I’m excited that we will be kicking off these conversations with communities close to these potential sites in the near future. These discussions will help gauge community support and explore potential benefits, including economic opportunities and energy security. I look forward to learning more from these conversations in Sarnia–Lambton. I believe our government’s plan to generate more energy will help to ensure we keep our energy bills down and the power on for generations to come.

Homelessness

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: I want to take this opportunity to highlight the incredible advocacy work of a number of local neighbourhood associations and service providers from my riding of St. Catharines. These groups have sent a public letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Minister, they are calling on this government to strategically address the homelessness crisis in St. Catharines.

Haig Neighbours, Queenston Neighbours, the St. Catharines Downtown Association, the Port Weller Residents Association, Fitzgerald Neighbours, Niagara Quakers, Grace Justice Group, Silver Spire United Church, OPIRG from Brock and Trillium United Church: These are the local organizations that have stepped up and are calling for immediate intervention. It is neighbourhood groups, volunteers and those who work with vulnerable individuals directly who witnessed the urgent need for housing and mental health supports and addiction services first-hand. They see what’s happening when our municipalities are not provided with adequate resources.

Minister, it affects every resident on every level when communities lack the power to help those in need in meaningful ways. To echo their calls, communities can only flourish when we succeed in looking out for one another, and I want to make it clear that I support their call for bold actions now. Thank you.

Lauren Manders

Mr. Matthew Rae: I rise today to celebrate an extraordinary athlete and resident of Stratford, Lauren Manders. Lauren recently represented Canada at the world triathlon championships in Spain, where she competed against some of the best athletes in the world and where Lauren finished as the fastest Canadian woman and 10th overall in the 25-to-29 age group.

What makes Lauren’s story truly remarkable is the resiliency and determination she displayed in leading up to that event. Just two days before she was to depart for Spain, Lauren was in an accident while training on her bike. Despite being injured and shaken and facing significant damage to her equipment, she remained steadfast in her commitment to compete.

With her bike repaired and the doctor’s clearance, Lauren travelled to Spain and dug deep to achieve her goals. The triathlon tested her mental and physical limits, with challenges on a technical course and gruelling events. Lauren completed the swim, bike and run, finishing the final five kilometres in under 20 minutes, a testament to her preparation and perseverance.

Lauren’s achievements in the face of uncertainty are impressive and commendable. She’s an inspiration not only to our local community but to athletes everywhere. Congratulations, Lauren, on this incredible accomplishment. Perth–Wellington is proud of you.

Climate change

Mr. Peter Tabuns: I appreciate this opportunity. I have to say, Speaker, that the reality of the climate crisis is one that I don’t think has come home to many of the people in this chamber. I suggest that they start watching videos from south Florida television stations, which is an odd thought, but increasingly, as hurricanes go through south Florida and make situations for people unlivable, people are deciding to move out. People are facing insurance bills that are outside their ability to pay. They are beginning to confront the very real leading edge of that climate crisis.

Here in Ontario, we’ve seen fires in northern Ontario that have disrupted communities. We’re seeing higher insurance costs there, but I’d say it’s much more acute in south Florida right now.

Speaker, we are not seeing a response from this government to the climate crisis that is in any way commensurate with the scale of the problem we’re facing. We are looking forward to a reduction of our standard of living. We are looking forward to risks to property and life that this government is not preparing for.

As we come to the end of this year, I urge the government to rethink what they’re doing. It isn’t a question of partisan advantage or perspective. It’s a question of, how do you deal with a threat to our way of life? At this point, the government is not taking that threat seriously. People in south Florida right now are having to take it seriously; it’s being forced on them.

Off-road vehicles

Mr. Steve Clark: Earlier this fall, I spent a morning on the trails with members of the Johnstown and Thousand Islands ATV Clubs. It was a real great opportunity to experience the scenery of my beautiful riding from a completely different vantage point. It helped me understand why ATV riding is such a fast-growing activity, and it is driving increased revenue into Ontario’s tourism economy. I saw the passion that riders had to maintain trails, their respect for property owners, how they support small businesses and how they raise funds for community causes.

But they told me there is something more that could be done for the potential of ATVing. The missing piece, Speaker, is what exists for Ontario’s 30,000 kilometres of snowmobile trails: It’s a one-permit system. It would allow users, whether from Ontario or beyond, to purchase one annual pass to access thousands of kilometres of trails. It’s more convenient and a sustainable system. Revenue generated would improve trail maintenance and could help connect them, while increasing collaboration between clubs and enhancing rider safety.

It’s why I tabled a motion for the government to work with trail management clubs to establish a one-permit system, with the option of ATV clubs to opt out.

On behalf of ATV riders and clubs in my riding and across Ontario, I look forward to debating the motion in the new year with the support of my colleagues.

Member for Hamilton Mountain

Miss Monique Taylor: Oh, it’s starting already; here we go. Speaker, today I rise to give my final farewell to the Ontario Legislature. I want to start by being clear that I am not leaving early. I plan on staying until an election is called, but the government has threatened an early election in the spring, which is more than a year and a half early. I did not want to miss this opportunity to reflect and to say thank you, so I appreciate the leniency that has been awarded to me today.

I was first elected to this Legislature on October 6, 2011, to the 40th Parliament. I was 39 years old and, honestly, didn’t know much of what I was doing. I knew the people of my community, as I had already been working on their behalf through Scott Duvall, a city councillor for ward 7. But I had no idea of the road I was in for.

Andrea Horwath was the leader and positioned me as the critic for children. Thankfully, Norm MacAskill was my EA, and Kara McLean was the lead researcher on my file. I was truly set up for the best start, and I will be grateful to both of them as they showed me the path and provided the help to build the foundation of who I am today.

My first duty of business was to attend the Youth Leaving Care Hearings here at Queen’s Park. Those young people were empowered to speak their truths, and certainly laid the path for the next 13 years of my time here. I am eternally grateful to each and every one of them.

I have had the honour of calling for legislation such as Ombudsman oversight over the children’s aid societies; calling for Katelynn’s Principle, an overarching foundation of child welfare; trying to eliminate wait-lists for children’s mental health; to make an autism program strong enough to support the growth of our kids. I’ve worked on and carried passage of all-party legislation such as the myasthenia gravis awareness month. And currently Bill 74, a missing vulnerable persons act, still sits on the table, which has the active support of over 100,000 people of Ontario. It would be truly fantastic to see that legislation pass while I serve here in this Legislature.

I have not taken this role lightly. I certainly have not seen myself as being a wallflower or a seat holder. I have fought and I have fought hard for you, my constituents, and for the young people of this province. I’ve been ejected, I believe, four times for refusing to back down and probably hold the record of being called to order—and I am sorry, Speaker. But I was also voted by all sitting members of the Legislature in 2017 as the most determined MPP in the Legislature: a true badge of honour. My time in this chamber has been passionate and for the best interest of my community and, I know, the betterment and well-being of our most vulnerable children.

I’ve also had a lot of fun, hosting various community events in my riding: Mother’s Day teas, pumpkin fests, Santa parade food drives. If I could dream it, we could make it happen for the community to enjoy.

Each election, we leave here in the hopes that we will be returned by our constituents with faith, and I have been able to do that four times. This time, however, I have made the decision that I will not seek re-election provincially and I will be running for the federal seat for Hamilton Mountain. I’m excited and I am humbled by the overwhelming response to this announcement that I have already received in my community, and I look forward to a vision which reflects the needs of our community on the Canadian stage.

Being grateful is an understatement to having the greatest opportunity and privilege to represent the people of Hamilton Mountain, standing shoulder to shoulder with families fighting for better autism services; working hard for better lives for persons with disabilities; standing against the privatization of our hydro system, and now our health care system. And to top it all off, we weathered together a global pandemic for years.

An immense thank you to the many families who have trusted me with your personal stories, your fears and your tears. I’m honoured to have been able to be the carrier of your trust, and I would not have been able to do any of this if it wasn’t for my friends and my family: my mom, my dad, my siblings, my daughter, Destinee, and my beautiful granddaughters, Sophia and Aspen.

I would not be able to be here without a strong team, and the countless hours of volunteers in my riding association, my community, the labour movement, and of course my amazing staff who has always ensured that I was prepared and our constituents were well taken care of—thank you, thank you, thank you.

To the Legislature staff—the Clerks, Speakers, security, broadcast—thank you. I have made some wonderful friendships, and I have been grateful for the hospitality that you have shown me and the privilege that you have given me while I’ve served here. We have definitely had our share of laughs and kind gestures.

To my leader, Marit, and my Ontario NDP family: I have been proud to serve on your House team and as your deputy whip. Sometimes it’s been like herding cats; sometimes it’s like stapling Jell-O to a wall, but most times it has been with pride as I watch you show your strength, your tenacity and your willingness to fight hard for your communities.

We are New Democrats. People in our communities and in our families know us and they love us, but they will never understand the bond that we feel for each other. To serve in a world that at times makes no sense is a gift. It is a shared experience that only a few of us will know. I am grateful for the friendship and, in some cases, the extended families that I will honour forever.

To all members of this Legislature, I say: Please don’t forget the communities who sent you here. Don’t forget the first feeling that you felt when you stepped on this chamber floor and the trust that has been granted to you. We are here for a blip in time. Use it well.

It is so difficult to say goodbye, so I won’t. Instead, I will do what I always do. I’m going to win the next election and stand with all of you from Ottawa to fight for a better Ontario in a stronger Canada.

Signing off with love, hope and optimism. Stay well, and thank you for your service. And thank you for allowing me this time today.

Applause.

Member for Mississauga East–Cooksville

Mr. Kaleed Rasheed: I rise today with a heart full of gratitude, reflecting on a journey that has been one of the greatest privileges and most humbling experiences of my life. I appreciate the House leaders allowing me to speak for a few extra minutes.

Speaker, in 2018, I had the honour of being elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Mississauga East–Cooksville. This milestone was deeply personal, as it allowed me to fulfill my grandfather’s Canadian dream of giving back to this country by serving the riding I have called home for over 20 years.

From the very beginning, I was committed to advocating for the needs of this riding. I have proudly supported crucial improvements to infrastructure, including advocating for better public health care for our community. In addition to addressing the local needs of my riding, I also championed the advancement of technology and digitization across the province of Ontario.

I’m deeply grateful to Premier Ford for believing in me and entrusting me with the roles of Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery—or, as I used to say, the ministry of peanut butter and sandwich delivery—and Ontario’s first Associate Minister of Digital Government. These positions provided me the opportunity to lead numerous transformative initiatives, such as the successful Verify Ontario app, and expanding digital options at ServiceOntario, ensuring a smoother, convenient and more accessible flow of services. In doing so, we revolutionized how Ontarians access services online.

I truly believe these initiatives have and will continue to shape Ontario’s future as a leading province for generations to come.

Many people played a key role in these accomplishments. I want to acknowledge that none of these initiatives would have been possible without the support of my government colleagues, who I love so much, and the dedicated staff at Queen’s Park.

I would also like to express my gratitude to the deputy ministers I was privileged to work with, my chief of staff as well as the dedicated ministry officials and staff.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for your leadership and contributions in fostering respectful and constructive dialogue in the chamber.

I also want to thank Mr. Trevor and his entire staff at the table for their valuable insights during the proceedings of the Ontario Legislative Assembly and for their steadfast support, as well as the legislative staff and security personnel, who constantly work hard behind the scenes to ensure the smooth operations of day-to-day activities and keep us safe. Thank you to the members of the press gallery for their tireless work in keeping the public informed.

I extend my utmost gratitude to the opposition. Though we may not have always seen eye to eye, I hold a deep respect for you and the role you play in strengthening our democracy.

To my constituency staff: Thank you for your outstanding dedication to the residents of Mississauga East–Cooksville. You have been the backbone of our efforts, ensuring that our constituents feel heard, valued and supported. I’m incredibly, incredibly proud of all we have accomplished together.

Speaker, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the riding association and to the campaign volunteers. The local campaign teams truly embodied the spirit of collaboration, dedicating countless hours alongside me, rain or shine. Each of you played an integral role in this journey, and your efforts have not gone unnoticed.

And to the people of Mississauga East–Cooksville: Thank you for your trust. I had the pleasure of connecting with many of you, whether it was during door-knocking, community events, a cup of coffee at my office or helping resolve your challenges. On many occasions, you brought with you your stories and hope, and I will always cherish these moments of connection. Representing you has been a true honour.

To my successor, I say that you will be inheriting not just a riding, but the trust of some of the most humble, kind, loving and down-to-earth constituents. Representing them will be a great privilege.

Finally, I would like to thank my family for all their sacrifices and support in my endeavour. It was not a solo journey. My family was with me every step of the way, always sacrificing their own time and comfort so I could pursue my initiatives. In a way, they too served this wonderful riding and province. For that, I could not be more grateful.

Speaker, as I reflect on this journey, I am reminded that the strength of a community lies in its people—their passion, resilience and unwavering support. I will carry the lessons and memories from this experience with me, always striving to make a positive impact wherever I go.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey with me. Thank you to my government colleagues. I will miss you. I love you all. Serving the people of Mississauga East–Cooksville and the province of Ontario has been the absolute privilege of a lifetime.

God bless you all. Thank you.

Applause.

Holiday messages

Mrs. Robin Martin: A couple of tough acts to follow.

As the holiday season approaches, communities across our province are lighting up with joy and anticipation. This is the time of year that reminds us of what truly binds us together: family, community, generosity and compassion.

In the coming weeks, the fortunate among us will gather with loved ones, exchange gifts and reflect on the blessings of the past year. But this is also an important time to think of those who may be facing challenges during this season. By donating to local food banks, volunteering our time or simply giving the gift of time and attention to another, not only do we help those less fortunate, but we also strengthen our community bonds. And we remind ourselves in the process that true happiness is found in those bonds, and not in what we get, but in what we give to others.

Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate, I encourage everyone to carry the holiday spirit with them throughout the year. The sense of community that shines so brightly during the holidays is something we should strive to nurture every day through acts of kindness; mutual support—including, importantly, by obeying the rule of law which protects us all; and fulfilling our duties to our family and our fellow citizens; and by building a province where every person is valued and no one is left behind.

To everyone across this great province and in my riding of Eglinton–Lawrence, merry Christmas, chag Chanukah sameach, and however you are celebrating, I wish you a season filled with joy and generosity and many opportunities to find happiness and hope in giving to each other.

Long-term care

Mr. Rudy Cuzzetto: Last week, it was a special honour for me to join the Premier and the Minister of Health for a real milestone announcement in Mississauga–Lakeshore at the groundbreaking of Hospice Mississauga, the first residential hospice in our city.

A few years ago, I had the privilege to announce an investment to expand the Dorothy Ley Hospice in Etobicoke, and it was a pleasure to see Dipti Purbhoo here at Queen’s Park on Monday. But until now, Mississauga has been the largest city in Canada without a residential hospice. We had a critical gap in hospice care. Because as much as we all love and support Dorothy Ley, we all recognize that no one in Ontario should have to leave their community to access compassionate end-of-life care.

That is what Hospice Mississauga will deliver at their new 12-bed hospice centre thanks to the province’s investment of up to $2.5 million. By building the hospice on a new seniors’ campus of care on Speakman Drive, next to the Wellbrook Place long-term-care homes, and a new health services building, we’re ensuring that families and seniors will be able to access compassionate care close to home.

Again, I want to thank Kitrina Fex and her team for all their hard work on this project, together with Karli Farrow at Trillium Health Partners and Tess Romain at Partners Community Health. I am so proud of all the work we’re doing together which makes this groundbreaking a possibility.

Christmas parades in Lambton–Kent–Middlesex

Mr. Steve Pinsonneault: As the Christmas season approaches, the spirit of celebration is growing in Lambton–Kent–Middlesex. Across my riding, communities are coming together to spread the joy and share the traditions that make this season so special.

Our riding is home to some of the most cherished holiday events, including festive Christmas parades. This year, communities like Grand Bend, Watford and Lucan will be lighting up the streets with many floats, music and holiday cheer.

Each parade reflects the dedication and creativity of volunteers and local organizations who bring them to life. These events remind us of the importance of getting together as neighbours, supporting one another and celebrating the unique character of our communities.

On behalf of my family and staff, I wish everybody a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

House sittings

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The government House leader has a point of order he would like to raise.

Mr. Steve Clark: I’d just like to announce to the House that the night sitting for this evening has been cancelled.

Introduction of Visitors

Hon. Paul Calandra: I have two introductions today, and no coincidence at all that I’m introducing my daughter, who’s joining us here today: Natalie—good kid; very proud of her. She works very, very hard, and she suffers through—well, the members of the opposition know she’s suffered through her dad’s rants. Of course, no coincidence that I brought my daughter on the day after the Auditor General’s report.

Also, Michael Segree is joining us here today. He’s a hard-working guy as well.

M me France Gélinas: We have a number of paramedics who have joined us today in the gallery. I will start with Rob Moquin, who is with the Unifor national service representatives; Kyle Stamler, a Thunder Bay paramedic who made it all the way down through the bad weather and all; Owen Van Dyke, from the York region paramedics; and Niko Georgiadis, who is the chair of the CUPE Ambulance Committee of Ontario.

From SEIU, we have Stephen Adlington and Brian McDonald, from the county of Lambton EMS, as well as Jet Alarcon.

From OPSEU-SEFPO we have Joel Usher, who is the chair; Andrew Simmons and Dave Doran, who are from the ambulance division; and Manzur Malik from OPSEU.

Welcome to Queen’s Park. Thank you for coming.

Ms. Aislinn Clancy: I don’t think they’re here yet, but I want to give a big shout-out to the Caribana Ignite folks and Caribana Arts Groups. We had the first Caribana outside of Toronto. It was a huge success. Thanks to Geraldine and her amazing team for making Kitchener colourful, fun and bumpin’.

I also want to welcome Michael Parkinson, from the Drug Strategy Network of Ontario; Ingrid Ohls, CTS support coordinator at the Guelph CHC; and Jean Hopkins, manager of Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy.

Welcome to your House.

Hon. Jill Dunlop: I’m pleased to welcome the Ontario Principals’ Council. This will be their 25th annual Principals’ Day here at Queen’s Park. A warm welcome to president Alison Osborne, Nadine Trépanier-Bisson, Jeff Maharaj, Hillary Howe, Eryn Smit, Amy Johnson, Greg Arkwright, Emily Samuel, Meshell Lynch-James and Patsy Agard. Thank you for being here today and I look forward to our meeting later this afternoon.

Ms. Marit Stiles: There are so many great people here today visiting, but I do want to give a special shout-out to some folks from my riding who are here to join MPP Andrew for the debate of the motion supporting Ontario arts, culture and heritage—very important.

They include Clay and Paper Theatre’s David Anderson and Tamara Romanchuk; the Theatre Centre’s Audrey Kwan; MOCA Toronto’s Angus Macdonald and Max Thomson; Edna Khubyar of Edna Talent Management; Miranda Mulholland, a Juno-nominated artist from Davenport; the Media Arts Network of Ontario’s Elida Schogt; George Alevizos, who is, by the way, a Davenport resident and also an ACTRA member; LIFT’s Chris Kennedy; CARFAC’s Jason Samilski; the Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement’s Aliah Schwartz; and, as well, Danjelani Ellis and Manuel Verreydt. Thank you so much. Welcome to your House.

Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon: Good morning, everyone. Nice to see you all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I’d like to introduce a young and energetic city builder, gregarious Gordon Winch. Thank you for coming and welcome to your House.

Hon. Rob Flack: The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is here today. I’d like to introduce newly elected executive members of their board: Sara Wood, Ethan Wallace, Paul Maurice and Cathy Lennon. Welcome to your House.

Mr. Peter Tabuns: It’s a pleasure to welcome to the House Emily Hurson, from ACTRA; and Laura Paduch, from the Fringe Festival. Welcome.

Mrs. Karen McCrimmon: I would very much like to welcome the Ontario Principals’ Council, especially the members that I’ll be meeting with today: Patsy Agard, Greg Arkwright and Daisi Dina; as well as the team from Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, Alan Arcand, Scott MacKenzie, Chris Hergott and Dennis Dussin.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): If there are no objections, I’d like to continue with the introduction of visitors.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: I have two introductions from the Ontario Dental Association. Welcome to Queen’s Park. I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight Dr. Lisa Bentley, because of course, she lives in the beautiful riding of Dufferin–Caledon. Welcome.

I think it is important to acknowledge special days of significant, Speaker, and the parliamentary assistant for health, and most importantly, the MPP for Essex is celebrating his birthday today.

Ms. Sandy Shaw: It is with absolute pride that I want to acknowledge today’s page captain Jack Hambly from my riding of Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas. Joining us today is Jack’s mom, Dr. Lara Housez. Also, Dr. Nathan Hambly and Mrs. Connie Hambly, proud dad and proud grandma, are watching from home.

Jack has served us well in this House and we look forward to great things happening from him back in Hamilton.

Mr. Ross Romano: I have a very special guest that I want to welcome, up in the members’ gallery. We have Liliana “Lil” Silvano, president and CEO of the Group Health Centre in Sault Ste. Marie. Welcome to your House.

Mr. Joel Harden: I’m very happy that friends from the Ontario Public Transit Association are in the House today, as well as the Canadian Urban Transit Association. There are many, Speaker; I’ll just name a few.

I want to acknowledge Matthew Wolstenholme from OC Transpo, part of the service planning team; Carla Stout, general manager of the Niagara Transit Commission; Jordan Hambleton, Niagara Region Transit; and Doug Spooner, the acting commissioner for transportation services at the city of Waterloo. Thank you and welcome to your home.

Hon. Stephen Lecce: Just a very quick introduction to Jordan Hambleton, a long-time friend and leader from Niagara transit. Thank you for being with us today.

Mr. Tom Rakocevic: I’m proud to be joined by my family today: my wife, Aleksandra, and my sons, Aleksandar and Ilija.

Hon. Vijay Thanigasalam: I would like to welcome a former OLIP intern and a young leader, Mr. Sky, to the Ontario Legislature. Welcome back, Sky.

Mr. John Vanthof: I would like to congratulate our other page captain for today, Elissa Wakeford. Joining her on this proud day are her parents, Natalie Bisson and Shane Wakeford, and her granddad, whom some of you might recognize, Mr. Gilles Bisson.

Hon. Nolan Quinn: I’d like to welcome the team from Mitacs that are here today celebrating 25 years of good work; they have a reception in 228 at noon: Sylvain Giguère, Gurkamal Dhahan, Amanda Green, Ryan Caldwell, Modupe Olufemi and Emily Gordon. Welcome to your House.

MPP Jill Andrew: It’s a big day for the arts here today.

I would like to welcome Michael Murray from the OAC; Valerie Tomlinson, friend and constituent, from AGO; Michael Rikley-Lancaster from OMA; Emily Reid from TOPS; Rachel Kennedy from Toronto Fringe Festival; Sedina Fiati from The Black Pledge—I have more to go—Stefan Dzeparoski from the interdisciplinary Digital Dream Society.

We have Angus Macdonald from MOCA; Dayna Nelson; we have Morgan Norwich from SummerWorks; Carole Paul; from MOCA once again, Max Thomson; Kira Allen; Tonjha Richardson from ACTRA; John Cleland from ACTRA—a ton of folks from ACTRA. Last but certainly not least, we have Nadia Hohn.

Thank you so very much for coming out today, all of our arts, culture and heritage superstars.

Hon. Stan Cho: Six amazing people to introduce today from Ontario Creates and Ontario Arts Council. They are chair Aaron Campbell, CEO Karen Thorne-Stone, board member Aldo Di Felice.

From the OAC, we have chair Simon Foster, CEO Michael Murray and director of gaming, Mariya Afzal.

Lunch is on Graham McGregor. Thanks for coming to the Legislature.

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: I too would like to welcome arts and cultural representatives to Queen’s Park. From Parkdale–High Park we have Elizabeth Jackson Hall, painter and artist; Jameson Kraemer, actor and ACTRA member; Audrey Kwan, managing director of the Theatre Centre; and Kristine Maitland, photographer. Welcome.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Welcome to the team from Mitacs who is here today. Many have already been introduced, along with Stephen and Sylvain and Gurkamal, with others. They’ve been crucial in keeping Ontario’s businesses competitive and supporting the province’s world-class talent. We look forward to seeing them at their reception at noon today.

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: Today, we have some wonderful guests from Niagara transit as well as Niagara Region Transit. I want to thank them for keeping our ridership to an affordable rate around the Niagara region. I want to welcome Carla Stout, general manager, and Jordan Hambleton. Thank you and welcome to your House.

Ms. Chandra Pasma: It’s my pleasure to join in welcoming the Ontario Principals’ Council to the House today, including president Alison Osborne, executive director Nadine Trépanier-Bisson, Eryn Smit, Emily Samuel, Greg Arkwright, Jeff Maharaj, Meshell Lynch-James, Hillary Howe, Amy Johnson and Ottawa West–Nepean’s very own Patsy Agard, along with staff Daisi Dina and Peggy Sweeney.

Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for all the hard work you do, and welcome to your House.

MPP Lise Vaugeois: From the Ontario Principals’ Council, I would like to welcome Hillary Howe, principal of C.D. Howe Public School in the Lakehead District School Board; and Amy Johnson, principal in the Renfrew County District School Board.

I would also like to welcome paramedics Kyle Stamler, representing Thunder Bay paramedics, and Rob Moquin, Unifor national rep and also a Thunder Bay resident.

Great to see you again. Thank you so much for your work. Thank you for being here.

Ms. Sandy Shaw: It gives me great pleasure to introduce a fine resident of my riding and political junkie, Fraser Passmore. Welcome to your House.

Ms. Jessica Bell: I’d like to introduce Winston Lee. He’s a volunteer in our office, and he also works with MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam in Toronto Centre. Thank you for being here.

MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam: It’s an honour to recognize some esteemed individuals who have joined us today: from the Ontario Public Transit Association, William Holmes, Marco D’Angelo, Tom Glover, Sasha Pejcic; and from TTC, Karen Thorburn.

There’s also a number of arts advocates and administrators, the talent and creative heart of Ontario. They’re all here for their specific bill, a motion to increase arts funding. I want to welcome, from Toronto Centre, Dewitt Lee, Beth Airton, Leah Bobet, Alexander Gates, Clea Iveson, Helen Lee, Rogers Murphy, Tony Tran and Hamel Docter; also, organizations such as Fringe Festival, Toronto Railway Museum and Metcalf Foundation; and then finally, my deep gratitude to my intern, Winston Lee, who is here.

MPP Wayne Gates: We always want to have young people getting involved in politics. I want to welcome a 17-year-old co-op student, first time ever been to Queen’s Park—he’s dressed better than I am today. Welcome to Queen’s Park, Keith. Thanks for coming here. Enjoy your day.

MPP Jill Andrew: I’d like to welcome IATSE president Justin Antheunis. How could I forget him? Thank you for all the lessons from your members on timber wood.

Also, I would like to extend a proud welcome to Ontario Public Transit Association members Kyla Marrin, Neil Malcolm, Jordan Hambleton and Majdi El-Sadek. I look forward to meeting you this afternoon and chatting.

Miss Monique Taylor: I would also like to welcome some guests from the Ontario Public Transit Association who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with today: Maureen Cosyn Heath is the director of transit for Hamilton Street Railway; Catherine Baldelli is from Burlington Transit; Jon MacMull is from the Canadian Urban Transit Association—and then folks from Niagara Falls who have already been introduced. Welcome to Queen’s Park. Thank you so much for being here.

I also had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful people at my granddaughter’s swimming lessons, and now they are joining me here today for a day at Queen’s Park: Andreana Zerafa and her daughter Sicily Hudson. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

MPP Lisa Gretzky: It is my honour to welcome Dr. Charles Frank. Dr. Frank is a dentist in my riding. He’s here with the Ontario Dental Association. I’m looking forward to our meeting later today.

Mr. Chris Glover: From the arts community, I’d like to welcome IATSE president Justin Antheunis; ACTRA member Joanne Boland; filmmaker Chris Kennedy; artist Queen Kukoyi; from TAPA, Matt McGeachy; from the National Ballet of Canada, Amanda Ram; from ACTRA, Gord Rand; from CARFAC, Jason Samilski—lots of artists in the building today—from George Brown College, Karen Sinotte, and also Jian Shu.

Welcome to your House. We look forward to the debate this afternoon.

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: Thank you, Speaker, for allowing me to recognize guests from the Ontario Dental Association. I’m looking forward to meeting with Dr. Kevin Boyce, a dentist from St. Catharines, later on this afternoon. Welcome to your House.

M me France Gélinas: Aylan Couchie from Nipissing First Nation is here today. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Meegwetch, Speaker.

Remarks in Anishininiimowin.

I would like to introduce to the House the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages, Ronald E. Ignace, a member of Secwepemc Nation and former chief of the Skeetchestn Indian Band.

Also joining from the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages—I’d like to welcome Jessica Arnouse, executive assistant to the commissioner; Ashley Keays, manager of policy and communications; and Lema Ijtemaye, senior policy analyst.

Meegwetch for being here today. I look forward to meeting you over lunch.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’ve got two more introductions.

The member for Cochrane South in the 35th and 36th Parliaments, the member for Timmins–James Bay in the 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st Parliaments, and the member for Timmins in the 42nd Parliament, Gilles Bisson, is here today.

Welcome back, Gilles. It’s great to see you.

Also, we have the member for Carleton–Grenville in the 31st, 32nd and 33rd Parliaments, the member for Carleton in the 34th, 35th and 36th Parliaments, the member for Lanark–Carleton in the 37th and 38th Parliaments, and the member for Carleton–Mississippi Mills in the 39th Parliament, Norm Sterling.

Welcome back, Norm. It’s always good to see you here.

Emergency response in Parry Sound–Muskoka

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Next, I’m going to recognize the Minister of Natural Resources on a point of order.

Hon. Graydon Smith: Thank you very much, Speaker—just a few moments to update the House, less in my role as minister and more in my role as a local MPP. You’ll know that over the last few days, we’ve had an emergent situation in Parry Sound–Muskoka, where parts of the riding—specifically, in the south end—received about five feet of snow. We’re used to receiving snow, but that amount in that amount of time is unusual. It has created a situation that has been very difficult for a lot of people.

So, just a message to all those people that help has been and will continue to be there for you. When the mayor of Gravenhurst declared an emergency early Sunday morning, the first person on the phone with her was the Premier of Ontario to extend help and offer anything that the government could provide to help. Emergency Management Ontario has certainly been a helping hand through all of this.

But I want to recognize all the people locally that are doing incredible work to help others right now. It’s not a surprise to me, having been a mayor and been through emergencies in that area, that it’s an all-hands-on-deck effort. To Mayor Lorenz in Gravenhurst and the mayors in the South Muskoka region, keep up the great work. I’ve been sitting in on all their emergency control group meetings in Gravenhurst, and their team is supremely organized and doing fantastic work on behalf of the people in their community.

To all the NGOs and other groups that have come to the area to lend a hand, thank you very much for what you are doing to make sure that we can get to people that have been stranded and are going through a difficult time, often without power. To our first responders—our OPP, our fire, our paramedics in the area—once again, they’ve answered the call and just done an amazing job in making sure that people stay safe. To the utility workers, whether it’s from Hydro One or Elexicon, thank you for working under what are extremely difficult conditions to get into some of the more rural parts of the riding.

I’d be remiss, too, Speaker, if I didn’t mention that there has been help provided from all over this province, especially through the central Ontario corridor, from other municipalities and utilities that have come to help.

I’ll just close with a couple of small anecdotes that I think reflect the way people in our riding help one another. You’ll know, because I’ve said it in this chamber before, the phrase “How can I help?” has special meaning for me as someone who has volunteered and recognizes the power of volunteerism. When you ask, “How can I help?” during an emergency, you find out just how many people are willing to do just that.

Jesse Grimes owns the Sobeys store in Gravenhurst. On Saturday and Sunday, when people were stranded in their vehicles, he took the food from his store, went out, of his own volition, and distributed food to people in their vehicles. Gordie Merton, who everyone knows in Gravenhurst, a wonderful young gentleman, went to seniors’ homes to check on those seniors, to say, “Do you need soup? Do you need anything in terms of food, or do you just need companionship?” Isolation can be a real challenge when you go through events like this because of the rural areas we have.

I have always been honoured to be the representative for Parry Sound–Muskoka but never more so than the last couple of days to see the response and how the people in our area have come together to support one another. I want to thank everyone in this chamber that has reached out to inquire on how we’re doing. We’ll get through this because many hands make light work, but it’s important work and the work continues.

Thank you very, very much.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I believe it is time for oral questions.

Question Period

Government accountability

Ms. Marit Stiles: Good morning, Speaker. This question is for the Premier. Unfair, subjective and not transparent—that is how the Auditor General described the call for development process for Ontario Place. The government is ponying up some serious cash for the Premier’s vanity project: hundreds of millions for a taxpayer-funded parking garage, $60 million so Therme could have a fake beach and $700 million to move the Ontario Science Centre so Therme could get a sweet deal.

Why won’t this government take this seriously? Does the Premier not think that wasting billions of taxpayer dollars is a big deal?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply for the government, the member for Brampton West.

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: Let me begin by reading what the Auditor General confirmed with reporters yesterday: “We do not have any evidence of the Premier’s office interfering in the process.” She also confirmed the call for development process was never intended to be a structured procurement process, but more like a real estate transaction in which potential partners view the site and have more extensive discussions.

Mr. Speaker, we welcome the recommendations provided in the report by the Auditor General and we’re working very closely with Infrastructure Ontario to implement those recommendations. We remain focused on ensuring that every step of this revitalization reflects good governance, respects taxpayer dollars and delivers long-term benefit for Ontarians.

It’s worth noting that the opposition has consistently opposed progress, offering no concrete solutions or alternatives. Their approach is to criticize, while our approach is to build.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: I’ll tell you, Speaker, the people of Ontario are not buying it, but they sure are paying for it. Yesterday, the minister could not even be bothered to answer for how, under her watch, this project got so out of control: billions over budget, wasted hundreds of millions to close the science centre, handing over bags of taxpayer cash to subsidize a luxury spa company. Instead of taking responsibility, the minister made a civil servant face questions for her decisions.

Will the Premier take responsibility, do the right thing and fire his infrastructure minister?

Interjections.

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

To reply, the member for Brampton West.

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: Let me read another response to the report by Infrastructure Ontario to the Auditor General: The Auditor General found no evidence that there was any inappropriate contact between IO employees and IO’s bidders. The goal was to take in ideas from across the globe and compare them on an apples-to-oranges basis to see which of these ideas best aligned with the government’s vision and would have the best benefit to taxpayers.

For far too long, Ontario Place was neglected, left to deteriorate and underutilized. Our government took on the challenge to revitalize this iconic site and make it a thriving, accessible space for families, tourists and for future generations to come.

Again, the Leader of the Opposition may focus on criticism, but we’re focused on results—focused on building infrastructure, creating jobs, fostering economic growth and delivering spaces that the people of this province will be proud of.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: No, no. We’re not buying it. The auditor’s report makes it very clear that Therme was struggling financially. In fact, they’re broke, right? They did not pass the financial test to be viable for this contract. Yet, despite warnings from staff at Infrastructure Ontario, the minister pushed through this deal and handed them billions—billions—in taxpayer dollars. Those funds are meant to build homes, hire doctors, fix our schools, not prop up a broke Austrian luxury spa company.

Why won’t the minister do the right thing, take responsibility for wasting taxpayer dollars and resign?

Interjections.

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

The member for Brampton West.

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: Let me again take this opportunity to read what the Auditor General confirmed to the reporters: “We do not have any evidence of the Premier’s office interfering in the process.”

The Leader of the Opposition can criticize as much as she wants. I drive by Ontario Place every morning and it breaks my heart to see such indifference and neglect of our historic and iconic destination by a previous Liberal government, and always supported by the NDP.

You know, Mr. Speaker, the mistake we made is the mistake to have a vision—a vision to bring our iconic destinations back to life. It is not merely iconic because it’s a physical site. It is iconic because it has a special spot in the hearts and minds of the people of this province, and we will bring it back to life.

Government accountability

Ms. Marit Stiles: You know what breaks my heart? The $700 million to move the science centre; the $500 million to replace the trees that you tore out; the $280 million to build a parking lot for this spa company; the $346 million for site servicing and a whole other phase that hasn’t even been costed yet. This is now five times what this government initially projected, and it is going to cost us more than $2.2 billion.

We have been sounding the alarm on this side for this project from the very start, but the minister has repeatedly refused to take any responsibility. Does the minister not believe that she is responsible for the mess that her ministry has made here?

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

To reply, the member for Brampton West.

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: Let me again read what the Auditor General confirmed to reporters: “We do not have any evidence of the Premier’s office interfering in the process.”

We will not take any lessons from the Leader of the Opposition when it comes to building infrastructure. We are making unprecedented investments in infrastructure. Their legacy is voting against hospitals, voting against infrastructure, voting against projects like Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, shutting down long-term-care homes and schools.

The legacy of this Premier and this government is to build infrastructure to support population growth, to build infrastructure so that our future generations can be proud. That is why we are bringing this remarkable destination like Ontario Place and the science centre back to life, making it a remarkable, world-class destination for people of all ages in the world.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: Blink twice over there if you need help, okay?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I didn’t hear the comment, but I’m going to ask—you’ve got to make your comments through the Chair.

Ms. Marit Stiles: All right, Speaker.

People are worried, and I’ll tell you what they’re worried about. They’re worried about how they’re going to pay rent. They’re worried about how they’re going to—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. The government side will come to order. I need to be able to hear the member who has the floor.

Start the clock. The Leader of the Opposition has some time.

Ms. Marit Stiles: As I was saying, people are worried about how they’re going to pay for groceries in this province, not how they’re going to get a $100 pedicure in downtown Toronto. Instead of focusing on helping struggling Ontarians by building homes, by fixing schools, by hiring doctors, by making life more affordable, this minister and this Premier are choosing to use people’s hard-earned tax dollars to help out a broke Austrian company.

Does the Premier think that he can waste billions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing this luxury spa company on Toronto’s waterfront, tip the scales on the procurement process and actually get away with it?

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: I think the Leader of the Opposition needs some help, because her popularity is declining every day. And the people of this province will never vote for the NDP, because the only time they were in power, they brought the province to its knees. People will never make that mistake again.

As the Auditor General noted, Ontario Place is a derelict site, a direct result of the opposition’s previous inaction, requiring extensive rebuilding under any scenario to remain operational. This means hundreds of millions of dollars, and this estimated increase would still occur to keep the current site safe for use, regardless of the redevelopment approach. Our government is finally taking action to make sure that our historic sites are back to life, making it a remarkable, world-class destination so that our future generations can be proud of our government.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. I’m going to remind members that interjections are out of order. It’s getting increasingly noisy in here. I’m going to start calling you out individually if you repeatedly interject when you don’t have the floor.

Start the clock. Final supplementary?

Ms. Marit Stiles: All right, let’s recap here. We’ve got a luxury spa that no one wants, billions and billions of dollars over budget already; contact that happened between bidders and ministry staff when that is prohibited; and a process that the Auditor General has called unfair, subjective and not transparent.

My question to the Premier is: What does a minister have to do to get fired around here?

Interjections.

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

The member for Brampton West.

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: As the Auditor General noted, again, Ontario Place is a derelict site, a direct result of the opposition’s previous inaction, requiring extensive rebuilding under any scenario to remain operational.

Let’s not forget that Ontario Place was left in a state of neglect and disrepair for many years, including under the previous Liberal government, always supported by the NDP, and they’re equally responsible for this negligence. The Leader of the Opposition is all about criticism but no vision. What solutions did they bring to the table when they had the chance?

Again, we inherited a site in decline, and we are the ones taking action to ensure Ontario Place is once again enjoyed by families, a place that people of this province can be proud of and the people of this province trust this government to get it done.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Hamilton Mountain will come to order. The Minister of Transportation will come to order.

The next question.

Government advertising

Ms. Marit Stiles: Well, it gets even worse. Yesterday, the Auditor General revealed that this government is spending more than any Ontario government in history on advertising in a single year—triple what was spent the year before. The auditor made it very clear that these ads primarily exist to promote the governing party. That’s right: They are partisan ads.

In opposition, the Conservatives railed against the Liberals’ use of government funds for partisan ads; we remember that. The Minister of Health even tabled a bill on it. But in government, they’re more than happy to follow the Liberals’ lead.

My question to the Premier is: Will you stop with the self-promotion and stop wasting Ontarians’ money?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply for the government, the parliamentary assistant and member for Eglinton–Lawrence.

Mrs. Robin Martin: Government advertisements inform people on important issues, ranging from the economy, training programs for workers, breast cancer screening programs, winter driving safety and awareness on post-secondary grant programs. Since taking office in 2018, the Auditor General has issued our government a clean audit opinion—unlike the former Liberal government—and that includes on our government advertising spending.

It’s important to note that over the past 20 years, there has been a comparable spend on advertising when adjusted for inflation and any increases reflect inflation, larger population, multilingual advertising and additional advertising mediums.

Anyone just has to look at what is going on south of the border now to know how important government advertising is for the future of the province of Ontario. Our economy is critical to make sure people have jobs, to make sure we have a prosperous province, and this government—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Ottawa South will come to order. The member for St. Catharines will come to order.

Supplementary question?

Ms. Marit Stiles: They are spending over $100 million on what the Auditor General has said are “factually inaccurate ads.”

You’re telling the people of Ontario how good they have it while they’re standing in line at the grocery store deciding which things they need to put back. People have to listen to these ads while they’re waiting hours and hours in emergency rooms, they’re sitting in congestion. They’ve got ads talking about how much they’re building, but young families are losing their homes every day. You can have all the ads you want, but you cannot fool the people who experience the consequences of this government’s neglect every single day.

Why is this government selling a story to the public instead of delivering what they’re promising?

Interjections.

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

To reply, the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Let me tell you about some of those ads that are running internationally as well. First of all, our job is to bring business into Ontario, and we are marketing Ontario around the world, whether you’re at an airport in Munich or watching a television station in the US. As a result of that media and our push last year, 137 international companies landed in Ontario last year. They brought with them and invested $11 billion into Ontario and hired 12,200 people. That is what’s happening with our marketing around the world. We will continue to push our message that Ontario is open for business and has everything a company needs to be successful.

Automotive industry

Ms. Laura Smith: My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. The previous Liberal government’s high tax policies left Ontario’s auto sector on the brink of collapse. They wanted to get Ontario out of the manufacturing business because they didn’t believe in Ontario—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member will take her seat. The member for Orléans will come to order. The member for Thornhill has the floor.

Ms. Laura Smith: Thank you, Speaker. They would rather see cars and goods being made abroad rather than right here in our province by Ontario workers.

Our government came into office—we knew we had to immediately reverse course and fix the high taxes, the overregulated business environment that the Liberals left us with. We lowered the costs across the board, and as a result, global automakers and parts suppliers have invested tens of billions of dollars in just the last few years. These companies could have gone anywhere in the world, but they chose Ontario.

Can the minister please provide the House with an update on the tens of billions of dollars invested in Ontario by the auto sector?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Well, as everyone now knows, we have landed $45 billion of auto and EV business in the province of Ontario in the last four years. Recently, we attended Port Colborne, where Asahi Kasei broke ground on their $1.7-billion facility. This new facility will make a separator, and it is an integral part of a lithium-ion battery. They will hire 300 people in Port Colborne, very good-paying jobs that will land there. Asahi Kasei’s investment is all part of the record-breaking $15-billion investment—the largest investment in our history—from Honda Canada who will build an integrated EV facility.

Between making batteries, making cars, making separators, making cathodes, this is exactly the kind of business that we have landed here in Ontario.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Ms. Laura Smith: Thank you to the minister for his dynamic work for the province of Ontario. The investments in Ontario, the investments that have been landed, underscore the competitive advantage that we have in the auto sector. We have everything automakers and parts suppliers need to succeed: the best talent in the world, low costs, an abundance of clean and reliable energy and so much more.

Automakers, they recognize this and that’s why they’re doubling down in Ontario and they’re doubling down in the riding of Thornhill, because we’ve got lots going on there as well. They see an automotive ecosystem that has been revitalized over the last six years. Rewarding, good-paying jobs—auto manufacturing jobs—are being created in the very same communities that the Liberals turned their backs on, communities that directly felt the pain of the Liberal high tax policies that chased away 300,000 jobs, manufacturing jobs.

Can the minister please share how Ontario’s auto sector went from years of decline under the Liberals to being a place where every automaker and supplier wants to be today?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: You really do need to look back to where we were when we were elected, when we lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs: Costs were soaring. All of the automakers told the Premier and I that the cost of doing business in Ontario was too high. We did everything we could. We pulled on every lever to lower the cost by $8 billion, and that resulted in a couple of things.

Number one: 850,000 people were put to work by us lowering the cost of doing business by $8 billion. Reuters announced that of the $300 billion being spent in the EV sector, zero was coming to Canada. We turned that around and went from zero to $45 billion. In all of the United States, they have landed $119 billion, yet here in one province of Ontario, we’ve landed $45 billion. That’s power.

Government accountability

Ms. Jennifer K. French: My question is to the Premier. The Auditor General’s damning report is further proof that the Therme deal at Ontario Place is a rip-off. Work has not even started yet on the luxury spa, and the cost to taxpayers has already ballooned to a whopping $2.2 billion. That is more than Therme will be paying over the course of their entire 95-year lease, so that is the equivalent of $400 from every household in Ontario for a spa that most people will never step foot in.

Will the Premier apologize for this ballooning scandal and fire the Minister of Infrastructure?

Interjections.

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

To reply, the member for Brampton West and parliamentary assistant.

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: Again, as the Auditor General noted, Ontario Place is a derelict site, a direct result of the opposition’s previous inaction requiring extensive rebuilding under any scenario to remain operational. I’ll also read a quote from the Auditor General: “Time has gone by and so things are more expensive,” so the renovation costs would go up as well.

For far too long, Ontario Place was neglected by the previous Liberal government, always supported by the NDP. As I said, the Leader of the Opposition or the members may focus on criticism, but we are focused on results: focused on building infrastructure, creating jobs, fostering economic growth and delivering spaces that the people of this province can be proud of. Our government is committed to addressing any concerns within the report, while continuing to move forward with this transformative project.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary? The member for Spadina–Fort York.

Mr. Chris Glover: I don’t know if people were listening, but the Conservative member just said that costs are going to go up. So the Auditor General report—that $2.2-billion taxpayer subsidy to Therme is not the final tally? That is going to go up from there?

It is standard practice for landlords to ask for first and last months’ rent and a credit check when they’re leasing a property, but Therme had less than €1 million in the bank when it was awarded the lease at Ontario Place, not enough to meet the financial test to take on a project like this. Apparently, this government is willing to lease 155 acres of the most valuable public parkland in Canada without the financial requirement to lease a one-bedroom apartment.

Will the government cancel the Therme deal and stop hemorrhaging taxpayer dollars?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will take their seats. The government House leader will come to order.

The member for Brampton West can reply.

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: And once again, the opposition is merely criticizing this issue because the same Liberal government, led by Kathleen Wynne, stood in front of Ontario Place in 2014 and proclaimed their vision to revitalize Ontario Place. Now, NDP members and Liberals are upset because we’re picking up the pieces of their failed project and getting the job done.

Mr. Speaker, as I’ve said again and again, this neglect will not continue under the watch of this Premier and this government because we believe in getting things done and built, not neglected. That is why we’re making our mark. We’re making Ontario Place a remarkable destination for people of all ages to enjoy, and only this government has the power to get it done.

Transportation infrastructure

Mr. Aris Babikian: My question is to the Minister of Transportation. For far too long, the previous Liberal government said no to building new highways for our growing population. This gridlock is hurting the people in my great riding of Scarborough–Agincourt. This gridlock took time away from families and added to the cost of delivering groceries and goods.

Unlike the Liberals and the NDP, we know that we cannot continue with the status quo. Our government is taking major action to build new roads and highways across our province. Under our government’s leadership, we are making m