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May 4, 2021

42nd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2021-May-04 (PDF)

L257 - Tue 4 May 2021 / Mar 4 mai 2021

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Tuesday 4 May 2021 Mardi 4 mai 2021

Orders of the Day

Advancing Oversight and Planning in Ontario’s Health System Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 visant à faire progresser la surveillance et la planification dans le cadre du système de santé de l’Ontario

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

Loi sur le Conseil exécutif

Members’ Statements

Education funding

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award

COVID-19 response

Ontario Legislature virtual tour / COVID-19 immunization

Civilian oversight of police

Farel Anderson

Mental health and addiction services

COVID-19 immunization

Port Perry

Border security

Question Period

Long-term care

Long-term care

Long-term care

Border security

Government accountability

Long-term care

International students

Hospital funding

Long-term care

Public transit

Land use planning

Anti-racism activities

COVID-19 immunization

Greenbelt

Deferred Votes

Advancing Oversight and Planning in Ontario’s Health System Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 visant à faire progresser la surveillance et la planification dans le cadre du système de santé de l’Ontario

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

Loi sur le Conseil exécutif

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on Government Agencies

Introduction of Bills

Hawke-Lea Holdings Ltd. Act, 2021

Equity Education for Young Ontarians Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur l’éducation en équité pour les jeunes de l’Ontario

Motions

Committee sittings

Petitions

Land use planning

Optometry services

Water extraction

Caregivers

Optometry services

Waste reduction

Caregivers

Orders of the Day

Extension of emergency declaration

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Advancing Oversight and Planning in Ontario’s Health System Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 visant à faire progresser la surveillance et la planification dans le cadre du système de santé de l’Ontario

Resuming the debate adjourned on May 3, 2021, on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 283,

An Act to amend and enact various Acts with respect to the health system / Projet de loi 283, Loi visant à modifier et à édicter diverses lois en ce qui concerne le système de santé.

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

Mr. Joel Harden: This morning, I’m going to speak to

schedule 2 of Bill 283, which proposes a regulatory framework for various health professions, including personal support workers. In the time that I have to offer some comment on this proposal this morning, I want to begin from a place that I wish my colleague the Minister of Long-Term Care had done yesterday, and that is to offer an apology on behalf of this Legislature for how we have failed the personal support work profession during this pandemic.

Ever since the report from the LTC commission dropped last Friday evening, I’ve been sitting with that document, as I did with the report from the Auditor General, as I did with the Canadian Armed Forces report. Every time, it seems we get a report that shames us more than the last one.

What I find striking, Speaker, is that when the minister was asked by our friends in the media, “Do you take any responsibility and will you apologize to people who put themselves in harm’s way in this moment and were traumatized”—in ways that words are hard to express, but the report goes some distance to it—the minister talked about soul-searching. There was no apology to personal support workers. I’m disappointed in that, and I want to say, as the critic for disabilities in this province, that I’m sorry for how we’ve failed personal support workers.

Last Friday night, I had the privilege, thanks to my friend Lynn Steele from the Canadian PSW Network, to attend a vigil for those who have lost their lives as PSWs in the middle of this pandemic. We were joined by Gloria Turney, Jodi Verburg and so many others as we remembered people like Christine Mandegarian, who lost her life three days after she was diagnosed positive, who begged through her union for PPE in this facility.

It’s truly astounding to think, in the year 2021, that we learned nothing from the impact of SARS in this province despite an abundance of research, that we let stockpiles of PPE expire, and more importantly, that we are continuing to fail PSWs. Why do I think we’re continuing to fail PSWs? We are continuing to fail PSWs and other care workers in long-term care and home care because we are letting profitable companies turn this industry into a playground for them to issue dividends to shareholders, to make some people very rich, and to put Mercedes and BMWs in driveways and not workers right at the point of care so people with disabilities and seniors get the support they need.

What evidence do I have to make a comment like that, Speaker? Well, the Toronto Star has recently been doing quite a bit of investigative research that should be considered by my friends in government. It should have informed this particular piece of legislation. The Star found that long-term-care homes operating in the province of Ontario will be fully funded until the end of summer 2021, regardless of how they performed during this pandemic. So Roberta Place in Barrie, where we saw massive death and massive casualties, is fully funded to the end of 2021.

Tendercare in Scarborough is fully funded to the end of 2021, regardless of their absolute incapacity and unwillingness to offer staff proper PPE. It beggars belief. In any organization, whether it’s profit, not-for-profit or public, you don’t reward people who fail. You don’t reward people who ritually short-shrift staff. But that’s what we’ve decided to do as a province, according to the Star.

The analysis continues: The Star investigated the financial statements of Extendicare, Sienna Senior Living and Chartwell Retirement Residences and it found that “in the first three quarters of 2020 ... these ... companies collectively paid out nearly $171 million to shareholders at the same time they received $138.5 million through provincial pandemic pay for front-line workers, the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy” and other sources of public funding.

So the reason I began with an apology to personal support workers is because not only did we not give them the gear, the equipment and the support they needed to stay safe at one of the worst times in our health care system, we have rewarded people who have profited in this moment as PSWs have been asked to put themselves in harm’s way. That’s breathtaking.

David Milstead from the Globe and Mail recently revealed that Chartwell, which operates 23 long-term-care homes in Ontario, paid out more in executive bonuses in 2020 than it did the year before. This is on this government. You are deciding to allow Chartwell and Sienna Living and Extendicare and Revera to continue their abusive workplace model—and Schlegel homes and others.

If I was in government, if I was at the cabinet table and we were debating how we were going to keep ourselves going in the pandemic and we were going to extend emergency help to long-term-care homes, including for-profit homes, we would putting riders on that money: no dividends to shareholders and mandatory infectious disease protocols in every single one of these workplaces. They did not do that. The federal government as well did not do that. In fact, the federal government owns Revera through one of the federal pension plans. What did they do through their own company, I say to the Trudeau government, to ensure that Revera stopped abusing its workforce? Absolutely nothing.

That’s why what I expected from my colleague from Kanata, the Minister of Long-Term Care—I expected at the press conference yesterday for her to begin with an apology to personal support workers, to take responsibility for how the government has failed personal support workers. We didn’t see that. After 23 and a half minutes and a lot of finger pointing, the minister left the stage. Why? It begs asking. Why?

The minister is on record, in her previous capacity as a doctor in the city of Ottawa, for being an advocate for privatization of health care services. Let me read for the benefit of this House some of the tweets she wrote in those eras that have since been deleted but saved for the record.

She wrote at one point, on February 17, 2015, “Ontario was short-sighted in bringing in legislation that currently prohibits the private provision of medically necessary care.” That’s one thing she wrote. She also wrote, on April 4, 2012, “A political party that tells you private options for medicare are necessary is honest.” On another occasion, the minister wrote, in July 2017, “Not even Cuba has single-payer health care.”

So there is a profound philosophical difference at the highest levels in this government about how we take the public’s money to deliver medically necessary care, particularly in the middle of a pandemic. That’s what I’m coming to realize. I can only conclude, Speaker, that that was the reason we didn’t have a fulsome apology from that minister yesterday for how Ontario has failed personal support workers.

But I want to end on a positive note, Speaker, because the long-term-care report did acknowledge what we needed to do. The LTC commission report says that 70% of workers in long-term care need to be full-time. They said that wages in this sector have to be comparable to the hospital sector. I want to say to every single person who cares about long-term care, whether you’re a resident, a family caregiver or a worker in this industry, there is only one way that can happen: You have to elect a government that is not tied to the for-profit long-term-care industry.

You have to elect a government that will actually take every single public dollar that people work hard for in their taxes to share with this House and put it into care.

There is a revolving door between this government and the for-profit long-term-care industry. Many of the senior staff members in this government have gone on to lobby for Chartwell, Sienna, Extendicare, Revera. But with the New Democrats, what you will get—every single support worker out there, what you will get is someone who will take every single public dollar and put it into care.

It’s time to take profit out of this industry. It’s time to nationalize the standards of this industry. A New Democrat government in BC early in this pandemic took a collective agreement and gave it to every single person in the province of British Columbia—mandatory minimum salaries, benefits. And guess what? They didn’t have the spread that we did here.

I don’t want to hear any more excuses and finger-pointing from this government. I would like to see them take responsibility, take leadership and stop greed in this sector.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): We have time for questions and comments.

Hon. Paul Calandra: I thank the honourable gentleman for his question. He raises a number of good points. Having listened to him for three years, I believe him to be passionate about the things that he believes in. Having said that, I’m not going to suggest that I’m either in agreement or in disagreement with him.

I wonder if he had given some consideration—he talked about nationalizing all of the retirement and long-term-care homes in the province. I wonder if part of his proposal is how he would do it, what the costs associated with such a proposal would be, how that would increase care in such a proposal, and where the funds would be redirected to ensure not only that could we do it, but that it could be affordable and would lead to even additional homes in perpetuity in the province of Ontario.

Mr. Joel Harden: Thank you for the question. The member is absolutely able, as everybody in Ontario is, to go to the Ontario NDP website right now and see our plan to transform the long-term care and home care sector. We have a plan over eight years to take profit out of these critical sectors.

We are paying a dear price, I will say to the member honestly, to watch people fail, to watch executives fail and reward themselves. That has to stop. I don’t care if you’re a Conservative, a Liberal, a Green, a New Democrat or none of the above. We can’t take the public’s money and give it to people to put Mercedes in driveways and give dividends to shareholders. Every single dollar has to be put into care. Every single cent that is given to this House has to be given to people making good wages and residents getting the care they need—not in four years, Speaker, but right now.

I’m a descendant of Tommy Douglas. I think this is public health care, and I think we could do it if we committed to say no to the for-profit industry and tell them they have no right to run this industry into the ground any longer.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The next question.

Mr. Chris Glover: I want to thank the member from Ottawa Centre for his passion and his comments. He’s an incredible advocate for seniors and for people with disabilities in this province.

In the commission report that came out last week, it released that the Armed Forces reported that 26 seniors had died of dehydration before they were called in. That’s 26 seniors who could have survived if they had just been given some water to drink. It’s absolutely shameful. And these are in the for-profit long-term-care homes that the member from Ottawa Centre was mentioning, where $170 million in executive bonuses were paid out in 2020, at the same time that we, as taxpayers, through the Conservative government, gave them $138 million.

Instead of putting the money into care, they’re putting the money into their own pockets. What should this government be doing to fix this to make sure that no—

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Thank you. Back to the member from Ottawa Centre to respond.

Mr. Joel Harden: Last night, just to answer the member’s question, I was speaking to Dr. Cameron Love, who is the CEO of the Ottawa Hospital network at home. He was informing me of some of the expansion plans in Ottawa to try to deal with the long-term-care crisis. What I was struck by when I was talking to Dr. Love, who is a very talented health administrator, is even now, even at this moment in the pandemic, how tied we are to thinking that for-profit companies have to be part of the solution.

Schlegel Villages—and James Schlegel is the CEO of this company—has been brought into an expansion project in our city at the Riverside campus of the former Ottawa Hospital to open up a long-term-care facility. What the public needs to know is that for every dollar they give Mr. Schlegel, you can expect 20 cents or 30 cents on that dollar to be going out the door in dividends and profits. It’s disgusting, Speaker. I’ve spoken to union representatives who organize for PSWs in Schlegel homes who talked about workers crying in the parking lot before they go into work.

We have to stop investing money in these industries. We know who can deliver the care well. It’s the public; it’s the people who care.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The next question.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Very sincerely, I want to really drill down on the honourable gentleman. I’m not going to have the opportunity during debate to look at the NDP platform on this.

He’s raised a number of points with respect to the nationalization of long-term care in the province. I take him at his word for it; I take him at his word for it. It’s not something I have studied in the short term, so I wonder if he could top-line what the NDP platform that he talks about, what the costs associated with that would be. It must be in the report that he cites, what the costs associated would be and what the long-term forecasting of the costs of that would be to the province of Ontario. It must be in there. If he could just give me that, then we can drill down on another question after that.

Mr. Joel Harden: Again, to answer my friend’s question, the comments I made were about nationalizing the standards in the sector. I want to point to what my colleagues in British Columbia have done. They took a union’s collective agreement and they applied it to the entire province. It cost the province of British Columbia $10 million a month—$10 million a month to do that.

Instead, our province has been bailing out failing for-profit homes at a cost of more than a billion dollars. So instead of asking the Ottawa Hospital to bail out Carlingview Manor, to bail out West End Villa, to bail out these failing enterprises, why wouldn’t we, member, take the public’s money and actually make sure that that money went directly into non-profit and public care? That’s the point.

Taking profits out of this sector entirely is an eight-year plan that I invite the member to read about in the document. It’s a good plan. It makes fiscal sense, and it makes ethical sense.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The next question goes to the member from Algoma–Manitoulin.

Mr. Michael Mantha: Many of the complaints that I’ve been dealing with from front-line workers and PSWs who work in long-term-care homes who have reached out—overworked, understaffed, burnt out, tired, fatigued, lack of PPE, just frustrated with not having their voices heard. However, those that own those private homes, their obligation is to make sure that there is a profit that is returned. That is their goal.

They are hired with the objective to identify, “How do we make that profit?” It is frustrating to explain to the public that this is the good functioning of how a home works when you see the individuals who are caring for the mothers, who are caring for the fathers, who are caring for the grandparents don’t have the ability to perform their jobs. Those public dollars need to go to front-line workers. How do we do that?

Mr. Joel Harden: Change the competitive bidding process that currently exists for long-term care and home care contracts. I spoke to Pat and Hugh Armstrong on my drive down here, Speaker. They called that process, designed by former Premier Mike Harris, an affirmative action strategy for for-profit companies. You push out public and not-for-profit organizations and you make them compete on wages. You take sick days away from workers. You make people work with 30 residents on one floor and one or two staff people. That’s the legacy of former Premier Harris in this province. That’s what we have to change.

I ask someone coming from a Conservative perspective to help me understand why we would put Mercedes and BMWs in the driveway of executives, we would issue dividends to shareholders and we wouldn’t be paying personal support workers and putting every single dollar into care. It doesn’t make sense.

We needed to see that in this bill today. That’s what those women and men want from this government, not platitudes.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The next question?

Mrs. Daisy Wai: I was attending an interview on long-term care yesterday. As I review, I see that the AG is actually saying that there are a lot of things that she has advised with SARS in 2003. Nothing was taken up by the previous government.

I still remember how we, in 2018, already saw the need for personal support workers and a lot of work for long-term care. That’s why we have a ministry and that’s why we have a minister. Actually, I sent an email to the minister yesterday, appreciating what she has done for the last year and a half, where she described to me that we actually did go into a house that is all broken down and it is on fire.

I just want to ask the member opposite if he realizes—

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): You ran out of time to pose your question, but I’ll turn to the member from Ottawa Centre to respond.

Mr. Joel Harden: Speaker, I have respect for my friend—we’ve collaborated on seniors’ advocacy in the past—but I have a very different

interpretation of this minister; I’ll be very candid and honest with you. We shared a flight home in February 2020, the minister and I, and at one point, the minister looked at me and said, “Joel, with COVID, we’re all on the same team.” I kind of took it to heart at one level, even though I knew the minister and I are philosophically different, that we would take every single dollar in the province of Ontario and put it into addressing the crisis. But what the LTC commission report has told me is that the minister failed Ontarians, Dr.

David Williams failed Ontarians, this cabinet failed Ontarians, and the people who’ve had to be traumatized and see awful, horrific incidents in our long-term-care institutions were failed.

If it were me, if I were the minister, my resignation letter would have already been on the Premier’s desk. This has to happen, and then we have to take the money, that is the people’s money, and put it into care, period.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Further debate?

Mr. John Fraser: It’s always a pleasure to speak after the member from Ottawa Centre, especially his passion, which is sometimes hard to elevate yourself to, but it certainly helps before getting into debate. He has made some very good points, and I’m going to come back to what he said in a minute.

I do want to say that a couple of things in this bill, like regulating PSWs, will be a good thing. There’s something else we have to do for them; I’ll discuss that later. Physician assistants are incredibly important, and the move to put them into the College of Physicians and Surgeons is a good thing. Again, the scope of practice and the psychological and behavioural analysis parts of this bill are a good thing. It’s important that we align the practices today with the legislation.

Now, the data collection piece on vaccinations—we’re only about six million vaccines in, so it’s a little late, but I guess it’s good that it’s there because we do need that. It would have been better to have that information shared as early as last December. If we had been vaccinating over Christmas in long-term-care homes, that would have been even better.

The member from Ottawa Centre makes a very good point: It’s very clear that the private ownership of long-term care hasn’t been working, not working at all—

Hon. Monte McNaughton: Where were you?

Mr. John Fraser: I just heard, “Where were you?” Well, you know, Minister, I think sometimes it’s good to admit when you take responsibility. Where were you 400 days ago when Ontarians needed paid sick days?

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Through the Chair, please.

Mr. John Fraser: Anyway, Speaker, it’s clear that we have to move in a different direction. That’s very clear.

About two weeks ago when Extendicare, who is being made whole by the government, not only paid a dividend but gave their management bonuses, and then had a proposal to look at the wages of PSWs and workers, but they deemed that it was not a good use of resources—that’s incredible. Any organization, a good organization, a smart organization, understands that your workers, that your people, are your most valuable asset. Without them, you can’t do business. Without those people, more importantly, we can’t care for the people that we care for most. So, while it’s good that we’re going to provide some regulation for PSWs, we have to do more than that to acknowledge them.

The government gave pandemic pay a month later than BC and Quebec. We’re still short on what Quebec is doing. Pandemic pay ended some time around the third week of August. Six weeks later, they came back with, well, not $4 an hour but $3 an hour. I’m not sure that we were sending the PSWs—the people that we depend on to care for our moms, our dads, our brothers and sisters—the right message in doing that. I know the government said, “We’ve extended it to the end of June.” What? Really? How can you do that in light of that report, in light of the long-term care commission report? How can that even make sense?

We know where we have to be, and we keep saying that, but then: “Well, the wages are going to go until the end of June.” What is that message? “We’re still not sure about you; we don’t know if you’re actually worth it”? Is that what the government’s message is? Because if you were on the other end of that equation, that’s exactly what you would be thinking. That’s exactly what any of us in this building would be thinking. So it’s not just good enough to regulate.

Speaker, what I really wish would happen is that the Minister of Long-Term Care or the Premier would respond to the long-term care commission’s report. It’s been four days now. The Premier hasn’t responded, hasn’t defended his iron ring. I think those 3,000-plus families who lost a loved one deserve that. I think PSWs deserve to have decent wages—permanent, not till the end of June; not just regulated, but appreciated.

So, Speaker, while I can support some measures in this bill—most of the measures in this bill—it’s not what’s here; it’s what’s missing. And that missing piece is going to be the thing that’s going to change how we care for people as they get older.

I thank you for your time.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): We have time for questions and comments. The Minister of Labour has the first question.

Hon. Monte McNaughton: Mr. Speaker, I move that the question be now put.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): I’m sorry, but that’s out of order.

Hon. Monte McNaughton: Sorry—after. Okay.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Might you have a question?

Hon. Monte McNaughton: Sure.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Ask your question.

Hon. Monte McNaughton: We’ll try this again. Mr. Speaker, I’m proud to join this debate on such an important topic. My question to the member opposite: Where were you, really, for 15 years? Where was the previous government in attacking the problems that we had known about for decades? It’s critical. I know the member opposite came forward yesterday to admit there were challenges, but I have to ask: What happened in 15 years under the previous government?

Mr. John Fraser: Anybody who looks at that report has to feel some sense of responsibility. We may have built 30,000 beds, raised the wages of PSWs by $4 an hour, instituted RQI inspections, which this government ended, but that wasn’t enough. It’s clear. We take full responsibility for not doing enough, and that’s what needs to happen right now: for everybody to take responsibility, for the minister to say, “I take responsibility for these decisions that happened between the first and the second wave, because I should have made a different one.” We all have to do that. If we actually want to get to where we need to, everybody has to take responsibility for their part.

Do I wish we had done more? You’re darn right I do, and there’s not a day I don’t think about that. So I hope that answer is good enough for you, Minister.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The next question.

Mr. Joel Harden: Hello to my friend from Ottawa South. I’m wondering—I’ve been paying very close attention to everything the member just said, Speaker—if he could help us understand if we’ve reached a fork in the road, perhaps.

I was trying to indicate in my remarks, hearing from people I’ve had the fortune to speak to, that we’ve put a lot of hope that the private sector can help us with capacity issues and can help us with labour force shortages. It would seem to me that the private sector has manifestly failed. So, I’m just wondering if the member—because you’ve had experience in government—can reflect about the fork in the road it seems that we’ve come to and where Ontario goes from here. Should we be continuing to fund homes that reap profits and issue dividends to shareholders by lowballing wages to workers? Should that be part of our growth strategy going forward, and if not, what should be?

Mr. John Fraser: No, we shouldn’t be doing that. Having said that, and I think you would agree, there’s a lot of toothpaste to put back in the tube.

The thing that we need to build is community-based care. We wouldn’t build long-term-care homes for kids to go to school, in the way that we wouldn’t build schools the way that we build long-term-care homes and serve long-term-care homes. We wouldn’t do that in hospitals. We wouldn’t do that in child care. No. So why do we do it when people are old, when they need care? Why is that okay?

There’s too much conflict between the needs of the people and the need to drive a profit, to back pension funds with workers who might not have a pension. Does that feel good to anybody? It doesn’t feel good to me. It doesn’t seem right.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The next question.

Mr. David Piccini: I was actually just getting ready to step outside, but it’s a pleasure to join the debate. I thank my colleague from Ottawa for his remarks on this topic. It is an area of great concern. Having spent time working in health care and working alongside some phenomenal physicians in this country when I was at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, I know this is an issue that was on the minds of many in the health care community over the last decade.

I appreciate the member opposite’s contrition for utter and abject failure, for lack of investments and lack of proper training for new health care professionals, but my question is with respect to the next generation of health care professionals. Now that they have the colleges and we’re seeing a much more effective wrapping of arms around the scope of practice, does he support micro-credentials to help them ladder up? Does he support expanded OSAP eligibility? Does he support free PSW training? And does he support—

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Thank you. I’m sure you served most of the question. I’ll ask the member from Ottawa South to respond.

Mr. John Fraser: I think that was a particularly unkind way to characterize my desire to have done more, which is the challenge in government. It’s something that I think about every day, that I think all of us think about every day. I think the people on the other side think about it every day. They may not say things out loud about it because they’re in a government, but anybody who looks at this situation right now has got to feel a level of responsibility. What we need to see from everyone in here, including the government, all of us over here, is the responsibility for our

part in that. Whether that’s how we assist PSWs in elevating them—I support that 100%. We should give people the opportunity to grow. I support those things, but I also support—

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Conclude, please.

Mr. John Fraser: —to have benefits, to have a stable job. You’re not going to get the results that you want if you don’t give people the stability that they need. It’s the same for any of us.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The next question.

Ms. Sandy Shaw: “Unkind” is exactly how I would characterize this government’s response to this tragedy. I respect your acknowledgement, your self-reflection to look at the mistakes of the past, but this government continues to deflect any responsibility and they continue to point fingers and lay blame elsewhere. It’s really despicable.

You and I had talked about retirement homes on and off. This government proposes another regulatory body. The Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority was something that was put in place 10 years ago. We see that it’s not a great regulatory authority; it has failed during the pandemic. It’s a self-regulating body.

My question is, given that they’re the same operators, the Reveras, the Chartwells, the bigs that are running retirement homes and long-term care at the same place, would you have a second look at the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority?

Mr. John Fraser: I think so. I mean, yes, we have to. The things that we see in Ontario are not just happening in Ontario; they’re happening around the world.

Actually, and this is a little bit off topic, in the States, they’re not building long-term-care homes as much anymore. They’re starting to build more retirement communities. They’re starting to expand things out.

We have to stay on top of this, and so do other places around the world. We constantly have to be looking at these acts, whether we’re actually enforcing them. One of the things that I look at, when we brought in RQIs, that’s really important. We needed to do more in enforcement. We passed a bill in this House in December of 2017 that got royal assent, but the measures for increased penalties for infractions in long-term care didn’t pass. They didn’t enact it on the other side. It’s sitting there on the books.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The member for Mississauga–Streetsville.

Mrs. Nina Tangri: Speaker, through you: You know what, I took the time prior to being elected, and since being elected, to visit long-term-care homes in my riding. I shadowed PSWs in the dementia ward and Alzheimer’s ward, and it’s a very difficult job. I don’t think anybody here disagrees with that. It’s a tough job. They work extremely hard.

But we’ve been working for years to build a stronger, more integrated health care system. Every step of the way we’ve seen that the personal support workers—they’re actually the largest group of unregulated health care providers, and you know that. Patients and families have been calling for greater accountability, oversight and quality and safety standards for their caregivers.

So, I’m going to ask the member, will you answer their call today and support this legislation so that we can get them regulated?

Mr. John Fraser: What I do believe is that the regulatory body will help to build a profession. I know it’s there to protect the public as well; that’s important. I think it’s more important that we elevate the profession.

If we want to look at accountability in long-term care, you need to look at the leadership. Go into a home with a good leader: great result. Go into a home with a lousy leader: lousy results. If we’re looking for accountability, that’s where the accountability lies. The leader of the team is the person who takes it there, right? It starts at the top.

Those homes that I’ve gone to where the most important thing is the immediate daily needs of the residents there—not working in an office or filling something out. If they’re short somewhere, someone who works in an office is feeding, or someone who works in an office is helping somebody get ready for breakfast or taking somebody to a program that they need to be to.

So, if you want to look at accountability, accountability is the leadership at the top level too.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Further debate?

Hon. Monte McNaughton: I move that the question be now put.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Mr. McNaughton has moved that the question be now put. We’ve had 20 speakers over three days and more than nine hours of debate, so I’m satisfied that there has been sufficient debate to allow this question to be put to the House.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I did hear a no.

All those in favour of the motion that the question be now put, please say “aye.”

All those opposed, please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

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

Vote deferred.

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

Loi sur le Conseil exécutif

Resuming the debate adjourned on April 26, 2021, on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 265,

An Act to amend the Executive Council Act in respect of attendance at Question Period / Projet de loi 265, Loi modifiant la

Loi sur le Conseil exécutif à l’égard de la présence à la période des questions.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Further debate?

Mr. Michael Mantha: Again, it is always an honour and a privilege to stand on behalf of the good people of Algoma–Manitoulin and bring their voices and views to the floor of the Legislature.

I was prepared to speak to Bill 283 this morning. I did want to raise the concerns of a lot of the community members across Algoma–Manitoulin in regard to the rollout of the vaccines and the ineffectiveness of what is happening in the riding. I also wanted to talk about the frustrations and the realities of home care, of the PSWs as far as what they’re feeling on the floors of their places of work, but I won’t have that opportunity this morning. I will ask the Speaker to, at times, indulge me in my comments, because there are some concerns that I do want to raise that are related to Bill 265, the Executive Council Amendment Act. I’ll do my best to always bring it back to Bill 265.

When I left here a couple of weeks ago, we left in a little bit of a fury. There seemed to be some perception that the opposition was very supportive of this bill and there seemed to be surprise from the government side that we were actually debating the bill. I think for any piece of legislation that comes to the floor of this Legislature, as the official opposition or as any member inside this House, our role is to look at the bill, study the bill, reach out to our community members and see what their views are.

At second reading, the member who was here last week, due to our cohorts that we’re having—the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane did a very good job of actually explaining the position that our caucus had taken and how we had spoken and raised certain concerns that we had with the bill.

The bill is not a very complicated one. It is no more than maybe about half a page. For those who are watching at home, Bill 265 is a bill that would exempt cabinet ministers from attendance requirements related to question period during a declared emergency or orders under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.

The bill also goes on to say that, currently, the Executive Council Act requires cabinet ministers to attend a minimum of two thirds of question periods unless they are engaged in official business or absence due to religious holidays, bereavement or illness. Bill 265 expands this exemption to include absences that occur during a declared emergency or an order put in place under the EMCPA.

The new part of this particular piece of legislation and where we raised concerns, and why we oppose the bill at second reading, was that this includes the entire 42nd Parliament. I don’t know about you, Speaker, but I don’t have a crystal ball. I cannot foresee the future. We don’t know what’s going to happen next week, as a matter of fact. I think we’ve witnessed that quite a few times. But we don’t know what’s going to happen next month. We don’t know what’s going to happen in six months from now.

The concern that was raised from the official opposition was, why does this have to cover the entire 42nd Parliament? The government has the ability, has the mechanisms and has the tools at their disposal to make the changes in order to make sure that this does include the pandemic period and not further beyond—because, again, we don’t have a crystal ball. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.

What I do know and what I alluded to a little bit earlier is that people are frustrated in Algoma–Manitoulin. People are looking at some of what’s coming out on the television and it makes them question this government, as far as where their priorities are. It angers them that we’re talking about exempting ministers from their duties during question period, when they are frustrated with what they’re seeing happening in ICUs, when they are frustrated when they’re seeing hospitals that are over capacity.

Again, being a northern Ontario member, can you imagine the concerns that people are having across northern Ontario, where there has been due diligence and people have been maintaining their social distancing, wearing their masks? There are always the exceptions to the rules that are happening, but the spread of the virus in northern Ontario has been fairly well contained. Public health units are absolutely fantastic. You pick up a phone, you give them a call, you get the answer and you provide it to your constituents—not always the answers they’re looking for, and again, there are some frustrations in regard to how the vaccine is rolling out in northern Ontario.

I’ll just go on the record to say, just last week, an issue that my staff had dealt with, particularly with the vaccine rollout, is in Algoma–Manitoulin we have three public health units. We have the Thunder Bay District Health Unit that covers the northern part of my riding. For the larger part of my riding, which is in Algoma, we have the Algoma Public Health unit. And then covering from Spanish on, going into Manitoulin Island toward Sudbury, we have the Sudbury and Manitoulin district public health unit. All of them are rolling out their vaccine programs, and all of them—the messaging is very close.

It is sometimes challenging for my staff to balance out where the calls are coming in and where the concerns are coming in from constituents and the information that is rolling out.

In Elliot Lake, where I actually live—Elliot Lake is predominantly a community where a lot of seniors are there. There’s Elliot Lake Retirement Living that thrives there with the invitation to great living. There are awesome trails and there are services there that are second to none. The organizations that are there are fantastic. It’s just a very tight-knit community that really takes care of their neighbours.

The messaging that we’ve been working on with Algoma Public Health is that on the Algoma Public Health website, they’re advertising that vaccines are available for 60 and above and also that vaccines were available through the Shoppers Drug Mart in Elliot Lake for 55 and above. When people are calling, they’re finding out that, “No, no, no, you’re not eligible. It’s only 70 and above.” When we started digging into it, we found out that we’re stuck in Elliot Lake at 70 and above. There are just not enough vaccines coming into Elliot Lake to address the high population we have of 70-year-olds and above.

It’s roughly, I would say, almost 40% of the population in Elliot Lake. As soon as vaccines are coming in, people are calling to get their time reserved. In the same token, then people are going, “Well, let’s look at option B.”

Why are they advertising on Algoma Public Health that this is available for 60 and above? We’ve managed to have a discussion with Algoma Public Health to raise that. It doesn’t make the individuals who are 62 or 68 happy, but we’re trying to get it addressed and to bring down the frustration. Also, just for those possibly from Elliot Lake who are calling, my staff did find out from Shoppers Drug Mart that they’re out of their vaccines. They provided access to vaccines for 55 and up; however, they’re out of it and they won’t have any more vaccines till—oh, my gosh, they’re saying the end of May, possibly the beginning of June.

Again, I raise the point that the vaccine rollout, when you’re sitting in northern Ontario watching the news and you’re seeing various areas that are now receiving vaccines 18 and above—and we understand that there are red hot zones that are across this province. If we’re going to tackle this as a province as a whole, that’s where the focus needs to be. But what people are asking in many communities across northern Ontario is to make sure that we’re getting our fair share, because that’s the frustration that a lot of people are feeling.

When you’re 72 years old and you’re watching the news at 6 o’clock, and you’re seeing people as young as 18, 20 or 25 who are all lining up to get their vaccine, and your vaccine calls have been cancelled twice, three times, four times, it gets frustrating. They deserve their vaccine as well.

On another point, because we’re in the midst of a crisis right now, I came back to a point that I was making earlier: People are frustrated, looking at this government, as to where their priorities are. It is—we’re at May 5 today, Speaker?

Ms. Peggy Sattler: May 4.

Mr. Michael Mantha: May 4. Speaker, just so you know, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic hitting us, there were a lot of other people who were being affected by a virus. I have to say that I worked very closely with Dr. Steini Brown, who is now providing a lot of that advice in the pandemic that we’re in to this present government. I have the utmost respect for Dr. Brown. He is a bang-up, straight-up guy. He and I worked extensively hard on developing the report on the Lyme Disease and Tick-Borne Illnesses Task Force. We did this in 2018.

May is Lyme awareness month. That is another issue that we all know about in this House. I know when I was first elected, it touched me very closely. I met up with a mom in Manitouwadge—actually, I met up with her grandmother, who came to see me at a constituency clinic and talked to me about her daughter, who could no longer care for her daughter. That’s how I got introduced into this pandemic—and I will say that has been a pandemic that has been forgotten, that we are not talking about anymore. But guess what? They don’t have the ability to take a break.

They don’t have the opportunity to say, “You know what, I’m not going to report in for work, for question period.” They deal with this each and every day.

In my riding, I have Austin Chillman, 18 years old, a fantastic kid; wonderful, pleasant. He used to play hockey, soccer and all kinds of things, and now has a hard time struggling walking up the stairs.

Monique Diotte-Hachey is from the Windsor area—you might know her, Speaker. She’s a beautiful mom. She actually had to go to Florida and spend of her own money in order to get the treatment and care that she needed. She came back. She felt good. She slipped back in. They used their entire life savings for her getting that treatment. She’s still suffering with Lyme disease.

Paige Spencer—beautiful; they call her “Blue Eyes.” She’s a beautiful young woman. She has actually been in this House several times when we’ve raised discussions about Lyme disease.

Rossana Magnotta is a woman who has put her entire life towards the development of a strategy and a cure for Lyme disease, raising the awareness. She lost her husband, Gabe, and her son to Lyme disease.

Then I think about Melanie Wills. She’s the director at the G. Magnotta Lyme Disease Research Lab at Guelph university, who is trying to develop care and new technologies and new research in order to identify and treat people with Lyme disease.

I remember in 2018 when this Ford government was elected. I walked over to the Premier and I said, “Settle in,” and I walked over to Minister Elliott as well, and I said, “Settle in, but we’ve got to deal with something.” I provided them with a copy of this task force report, because I remember working with a lot of those backbenchers over there, and a lot of them came over since we have been in this House and talked to me about Lyme disease. So have the independents, as well.

We’re in May right now. May is Lyme awareness month. We can’t forget about these people. We have to move on the recommendations that were put into this report. We have to acknowledge that people are still hurting, those who are affected by Lyme disease.

I want to get back to this order, Speaker. I want to go back to the priorities that people in Algoma–Manitoulin have and the frustrations that they’re seeing for the failure of the priorities of this government. Again, when we see the services in our hospitals, when we see the need for care and the workers who are working in many of our facilities, in our long-term-care homes and in our hospitals—when this pandemic hit, it hit hard. A lot of those individuals who were into their normal functions, their routines of their days, got completely thrown into a different task.

Some were taken out of their centres and put into hospitals to help out, and they did it willingly because they knew that’s what needed to be done. There were orders that were put in where holidays were cancelled, hours were added, shifts were changed, and people just did it. They didn’t complain. They knew it had to be done, but they are now hurting.

I’ve had individuals who are working in long-term-care homes who have picked up the phone and basically said, “Mike, I am burnt out; I am completely burnt out. I can no longer do this. I can no longer let my employer put me in these types of environments and actually endanger my family. I’m leaving the field. I love my patients. I love the clients that I work with, but in good conscience, I cannot stay in my role as a PSW.” That was hard for that person, making that choice, but it was necessary for her to make that choice for her family. She’s out of the field.

She continues to stay in touch with me. As a matter of fact, we just spoke this morning. Good morning, Catherine. I’ve seen your marks; you are doing fabulously in your studies. I hope that the kids are happy with the Internet that they have at home now. I know that you got a new provider. It was one of your struggles that you were having with providing—she’s got a small army; I think she’s up to number five. She’s just a spitfire. She’s just full of fire, this woman. I hope that some day she returns to her calling, her calling as a PSW.

I hope that she gets the ability to get back into that role, but right now she is frustrated, not just by her environment, but by the initiatives and the lack of action that had not been taken to address some of her concerns that she had while she was in the field, over in the long-term-care home.

Speaker, there are many others. I did want to touch on Mary Evans, who is a lady out of Blind River, and her frustrations as well. She, as well, can’t take a break from question period or she can’t take a break from her duties because right now she is suffering from an illness. Her surgery has been continuously changed over and over, and postponed and postponed—a lack of responses. This is from Mary: “If you continue to let me go, I’m getting worse. I’m not getting any better. I need to get into the hospital. I need to have the surgery” that the doctors and the specialists have identified that she needs.

For hope of Mary, having brought her story here to the floor of the Legislature, I sure as heck hoped that I’ll be able to talk to the Minister of Health and try and move her issue forward so that we can get her into the hospital.

Again, Speaker, it comes back to priorities. We need this government to focus on the true priorities of what Ontarians need.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): We have time for questions.

Mr. Joel Harden: It’s always a privilege to listen to my friend from Algoma–Manitoulin. I consider him to be one of the best constituency politicians I’ve ever met, because you always come to this place with those local stories and the local flavour from your community.

I was struck by your comments on Lyme disease. You’re one of this chamber’s best advocates on Lyme disease. Every time we go to our constituency office to pick up something, I run into Craig, whose mom you know, who lives with this disease. I want to thank you, from Craig’s perspective, about putting that on the table.

I want to ask you, given the PSW you spoke about who has left the profession—in Ottawa, Speaker, we have a 60% turnover rate; 60% per year of people going into this profession and leaving. I have heard from a lot of people’s perspectives about what we need to do to make these jobs meaningful, full-time, attractive careers. But what do you think for the resident of your community who you talked about? What can Ontario do to bring that amazing person back into this profession? Because we need her.

Mr. Michael Mantha: An aggressive recruitment program for PSWs needs to happen. But first what needs to happen is to recognize the struggles that are there within the industry: the workplaces, the wages. Provide them with an environment where they can bounce off of their colleagues. Right now, when you’re going into a role—I’ve shadowed PSWs while they’re going into their establishment. There is no humanity that they—you’ve removed that out of the system.

You are now—you care, you have 0.25, and this is your role: You go to the room and you punch in your code—you punch in everything. You go in and you measure; you pull them out of bed; you come back, “I punched it.” And then you put them back into bed or you sit them in a chair and you punch it in. And then you go to your charts and you write that all in, and then you go to your next station. There’s no time to say, “Good morning.” There’s no time to say, “How are you doing?” We’ve taken the human aspect of our health care system.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The next question.

Mrs. Nina Tangri: I do want to thank the member for educating us, especially on Lyme disease, something I know he’s very, very passionate about.

But back to Bill 265, the Executive Council Amendment Act: As you said, it’s a very short act and it’s just for the health and safety of all of those in this building, including the members, all the staff, the Clerks. This act has been put here to keep those cohorts in place for the safety of everyone. So my question is, very simply, will you be supporting this bill?

Mr. Michael Mantha: I think I was quite clear in my comments, that there are some concerns with the bill. Unless you have something that I don’t, which is a crystal ball, which is an opportunity to look into the future—I don’t know what’s going to happen next week; I don’t know what’s going to happen two months from now; I don’t know what’s going to happen three months from now. What I do know is that things are moving quickly, and we need to have the ability to perform our duties.

I would hope, as well as you do, that things will significantly change. Something is going to come forward which is going to be able to ease on the restrictions, move the communities forward, open up businesses and help our small businesses, getting into the summer months—tourism once again. But again, not having a crystal ball and putting this bill for the entire 42nd Parliament—that is what’s concerning and that’s what we raised.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The next question.

Mr. Tom Rakocevic: Over the course of this session of our Parliament, I think we’ve seen the government make constant changes to the standing orders, and some of these changes have been viewed as undemocratic in many ways. Certainly what they have done is consolidated more and more power for a majority government. Can you comment on some of the changes that may have been criticized as being undemocratic?

Mr. Michael Mantha: Well, I always try to look at the glass as half full. The things that we have been successful in getting done in this House are some of the things that I pride myself in. Even though we’re sitting here in opposition, there have been some success stories that we’ve actually accomplished.

One of them—we just did it last week—is not what we wanted; it’s not the amount of paid sick days that we actually wanted to accomplish. But for the province of Ontario, along with our stakeholders and the many labour organizations that have come forward, there’s three days. It’s a beginning, and I stress “beginning.” It is not the end, and the fight continues on to making sure that we recognize all of those workers and our front-line heroes that we’re referring to, and making sure that we provide them with the actual sick days that they’re rightfully entitled to.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The next question?

Hon. Paul Calandra: I’m gratified that the member could not name one standing order change that was undemocratic, Mr. Speaker, because the changes that we’ve brought in have in fact made this place more democratic. I’m surprised to hear the member opposite is opposed to more debate. I’m surprised to hear the member opposite is opposed to having leadership positions on committees. I’m surprised the member opposite is opposed to having independents have more opportunity to speak at committees. I’m surprised the member opposite is against take-note debates. I’m surprised he’s against additional opportunities for debates after a report stage.

But I ask the member opposite—he sat in the House after second reading and allowed this bill to go directly to third reading, so I’m surprised to hear him now suggest that he had amendments to the bill when it was he who made the decision to allow this to go directly to third reading without committee.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The member from Algoma–Manitoulin to respond to the surprised government House leader.

Mr. Michael Mantha: I so enjoy being in the House and in my new role as part of our House team and as a deputy whip. I enjoy the cordial conversations that I’ve had and will have with my friend. I won’t engage with his spin, his perspective, because it’s actually his. We have different perspectives in regard to how certain decisions were played here.

I will say to the member: I will learn from my errors, and it won’t happen again. I will learn, and it will make me a better MPP and a better legislator inside this House. However, I will stress to the member that we were quite clear when we were at second reading. We raised the concerns. The government does have the ability to address those concerns and make sure that this doesn’t go longer than for the entire period of the 42nd Parliament.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The next question?

Mr. Chris Glover: I want to thank the member from Algoma–Manitoulin for his comments. He is the most knowledgeable person I’ve ever met for that region of Ontario. I once drove on a bush road just west of Geraldton down to Highway 17, and he’s the only person who not only knew that road and had driven it but actually knew the name of it. I’ve never met anybody else who knew that.

He also talked about Elliot Lake. He mentioned that 40% of the residents of Elliot Lake are seniors, are above 70. He talked about the challenges that they’re facing, that the people are facing there with the vaccines and getting registered. We’re facing the same problem in my riding. We’ve got 22 different portals where people can register for vaccines, and it’s causing great confusion. Can the member talk about what this government should be doing not only with the standing order changes but also with day-to-day things to get us through the pandemic, like the vaccine rollout?

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Back to the member from Algoma–Manitoulin.

Mr. Michael Mantha: I want to thank the member, and you are always welcome to come through the riding of Algoma–Manitoulin. You’re absolutely right, there’s a lot of back trails that I think are quite dynamic and quite unique travelling through northern Ontario as a whole. I think we have a few of your colleagues here within our caucus who can give you some of those hints and those places.

He talked about a lot of the frustration that had been raised and the priority of people across my riding in Algoma–Manitoulin, which is the vaccine rollout. There could have been a lot better process as far as how we were going to roll out the program. Again, stressing the fact that from a perspective of seniors who are sitting in their living rooms who are 62, 68 or 72—in Elliot Lake, we are stuck at 70 and above.

When you’re sitting in your living room, watching the TV with daily messaging coming up and you see other areas—again, I want to stress the fact that people in northern Ontario understand that we have to deal with the hot zones, but they are frustrated when they’re being denied their vaccine rollout as well.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): We don’t have time for another question and response, with less than 30 seconds. It’s still too early to go to members’ statements at 10:15, so I’ll call for further debate. Further debate?

Alrighty then, Mr. Calandra has moved third reading of Bill 265,

An Act to amend the Executive Council Act in respect of attendance at Question Period.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I believe I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All of those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

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

Third reading vote deferred.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Orders of the day? I recognize the government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: No further business.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The House stands in recess until 10:15.

The House recessed from 1010 to 1015.

Members’ Statements

Education funding

Ms. Jennifer K. French: I’m always glad to stand up for and strengthen public education. Today, however, we have to protect it and defend it from a sneaky Conservative agenda seeking to undermine it while folks are focused on a pandemic.

Despite the challenges of online learning and the desperate need for affordable Internet access for at-home learning, families and students are being forced to choose a year-long learning option for their children. They can choose either in-person learning at school or permanent virtual learning at home.

Parents have concerns about underfunded, overcrowded classrooms in schools with fewer educators and caring staff—who they hope will be vaccinated by September, and they hope the government will fund protective measures to keep everyone safe at school. Parents are also anxious about a permanent virtual learning option. They’re being asked to choose whether or not to keep their children home permanently to learn online with TVO/TFO as the only proposed provider of asynchronous e-learning, and families aren’t allowed to change that channel. Parents are anxious about making a year-long choice today, when they don’t know what life will look like next week or in September.

The DDSB board chair sent a letter to the Minister of Education urging him to “halt the proposed changes to offer virtual learning as a permanent choice for families and the role of TVO-TFO as the only provider of asynchronous e-learning.” Education unions, parents and partners are also speaking out about permanent virtual learning.

Education is supposed to be the great equalizer, but all things are not equal, and despite this government’s strange obsession with their new mid-pandemic math test for teachers, their plan for education doesn’t add up. Students, education workers and families are suffering. This government must invest in public education and educators and get onside with health experts’ recommendations to ensure schools will be safe places to learn when the time comes. That’s a choice that should be easy to make.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award

Mrs. Daisy Wai: Last Saturday, I was invited to attend a virtual event celebrating the life and legacy of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip. I’m most thankful for Prince Philip’s dedication to uplifting young people, particularly through the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. It is a youth development program that runs in 144 nations worldwide.

I was honoured to participate in this program when I was a grade 10 student in Hong Kong. It helped to develop me in four areas: personal interests, physical fitness, community service and adventurous outdoor living. I was truly blessed to have been the first female to receive all three medals: bronze, silver and gold. The Governor General of Hong Kong presented the gold medal to me at the Governor’s house.

These awards gave me the courage, strength and determination to accomplish my goals. I was able to run a successful business for more than 25 years and am now serving Ontario as an MPP. It helped shape my life, and it continues to shape the lives of countless youth in Canada and around the world.

COVID-19 response

Mr. Chris Glover: It’s Mental Health Week and the lesson that we are to take away this week is to “Name It, Don’t Numb It,” to speak about the things that are causing us stress so that we can work with others to solve them.

This has been a particularly hard year in the riding of Spadina–Fort York: 70% of us live in high-rises and 52% of us live alone. The places that we normally connect with other people are closed—the restaurants, the patios and the gyms. There’s constant construction noise. People are telling me about the homelessness crisis, and we are experiencing a homelessness crisis that is really overwhelming our riding. We have people losing income and their homes, and we have people scrambling to get a vaccine.

We are doing what we can to help each other, but we need the government to do their part as well. We need the government to fix the supports for small businesses and their workers so that we don’t lose one more small business in Spadina–Fort York or anywhere in Ontario. We need them to restore the construction noise bylaw so that people aren’t kept awake all night. We need them to fix the vaccine rollout and we need them to take action on the homelessness crisis. We are supposed to name it and not numb it.

I’m naming the things that this government needs to do to reduce the stress to help us get through this pandemic, and to help maintain the mental health of all people in Spadina–Fort York and across this province.

Ontario Legislature virtual tour / COVID-19 immunization

Mr. Billy Pang: In this April’s spring break, I was delighted to host my first live Queen’s Park virtual tour. Since being elected as MPP for Markham–Unionville, one of my favourite events to organize is the annual Queen’s Park tour. Although the in-person tour didn’t happen this year, I was excited that this virtual tour could happen, allowing Markham–Unionville families to explore Queen’s Park from the safety and comfort of their homes. Led by our tour guide, we toured the lobby and chamber, all while discovering the architectural features and history of the legislative building.

As part of the event, we also had fun trivia questions and a “get to know your MPP” segment, where I had the opportunity to share my background and my current role as the MPP. From their engagement, I trust that attendees enjoyed this virtual tour and learned more about how I serve Markham–Unionville in my MPP role.

Mr. Speaker, Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine program is under way with almost 5.4 million doses administered to date. As eligibility continues to expand, I encourage everyone to embrace the opportunity and book their vaccine. Every vaccine administered is a step toward reducing COVID-19 transmission and for our province to hopefully return back to normal soon.

And when that day comes, I would be delighted to invite members of Markham–Unionville to come right here for an in-person Queen’s Park tour.

Civilian oversight of police

Ms. Suze Morrison: Last month, Justice Gloria Epstein released her independent review into missing person investigations in the Church and Wellesley Village. The report found that police have systematically discriminated against 2SLGBTQ+ people and communities. From the bathhouse raids to carding, from the mishandling of missing persons reports to the failure to respond to community safety concerns, all of this history has contributed to a mistrust of the police. As a result, the most marginalized of communities have been denied access to justice.

Justice Epstein’s independent review showed the damaging effects of differential treatment on communities that are over-policed and underserved. Systemic discrimination contributed to the police’s failings in several cases, and this ultimately cost lives.

We need to fundamentally change how our province keeps people safe. That includes reconsidering the role the police play in our communities and investing in community supports.

I call on the Solicitor General to work to implement the recommendations of this independent review, to overhaul the institutions that prevent police transparency and accountability, and take action today to save queer and trans lives. 2SLGBTQ+ people deserve to feel safe and protected in their communities.

I want to thank Justice Epstein for her work, and offer my support to the loved ones of the victims in the report. We must never forget their names: Selim Esen, Abdulbasir Faizi, Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, Majeed Kayhan, Andrew Kinsman, Dean Lisowick, Soroush Mahmudi, Skanda Navaratnam, Alloura Wells and Tess Richey.

Farel Anderson

Mr. Jim Wilson: I rise this morning to congratulate Dr. Farel Anderson, who recently received the University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry Alumni of Influence Award. Dr. Anderson is enjoying a well-earned retirement after having practised dentistry in Collingwood for more than 45 years. His professional life and civic engagement have had a lasting impact on the well-being of our community.

Coming from a modest family background in Jamaica, Dr. Anderson appreciates the challenges faced by those less fortunate. He never turned away a patient, often providing services at reduced fees, or without fee, for those who didn’t qualify for assistance.

His charity extended to his home country, where for over 20 years, he volunteered dental services for several weeks at a time at the Foundation for International Self-Help medical-dental clinic in Jamaica.

His outreach activities helped many young people in Collingwood overcome their fear of the dentist’s chair. Through the Brush-a mania Program, he visited area schools where he explained dental hygiene and demonstrated the tools used in his practice.

Dr. Anderson has volunteered with numerous organizations, including the E3 community living organization, which seeks to serve the needs of vulnerable Collingwood residents.

Farel Anderson was the first Black candidate to be elected to Collingwood town council in the 1970s. He served as chair of the police services board and helped lead the development of a modern fire department. His contributions to country and community have earned him many well-deserved accolades and awards, including the Order of Collingwood and the Queen Elizabeth jubilee award.

Dr. Farel Anderson is a Collingwood treasure. Our community is grateful for his lifelong commitment to his fellow citizens and to his profession, and I am proud to have supported his nomination for the Alumni of Influence awards.

Mental health and addiction services

Ms. Christine Hogarth: This week is Mental Health Week in Ontario. Every year during the first week of May, we work to raise awareness about the importance of mental health.

Mental health is health, Mr. Speaker, and this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the fact that now, more than ever, we need to give time and attention to the work done by organizations across Ontario.

Last week, I hosted a virtual town hall to discuss mental health issues. We were very pleased to have as our special guest Ontario’s very first Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, the Honourable Michael Tibollo, who contributed his time, his expertise and his compassion to the event. It certainly went over time, because the dialogue was wonderful.

Etobicoke–Lakeshore residents who joined us at the virtual meeting were eager to discuss mental health services for children and youth, the importance of providing COVID-19 vaccines to people suffering from mental health issues and raising awareness regarding supports that are available, including Ontario’s online programs, like BounceBack, designed to help them overcome symptoms of anxiety and gain new skills to regain positive mental health.

I encourage residents across Ontario to take time this week to learn more about how they can support positive mental health for themselves and their loved ones. Please remember you are not alone and help is available.

COVID-19 immunization

Mr. Tom Rakocevic: I continue to work with our incredible local health teams in establishing pop-up and mobile vaccinations to fill in the gaps of the vaccine rollout.

In just an hour from now, our next pop-up vaccination clinic is set to start daily until Thursday at Habitant Arena on Weston Road. I will be joining them later today. This Friday, we’ll be running another pop-up at Grandravine community centre until Sunday.

Through this ongoing work, we have quickly doubled the vaccination rates of neighbourhoods throughout our riding of Humber River–Black Creek. I want to thank Cheryl Prescod, Michelle Westin, Joesi Nelson and the entire Black Creek Community Health Centre team who are there right now at Habitant Arena. They continue to work tirelessly to improve the health of our community and have been a shining star during this pandemic.

I also want to thank the University Health Network and GlobalMedic, who have been instrumental in delivering this ongoing local vaccination network.

My NDP colleagues and I have been calling for an equitable distribution of vaccines, meaning more supply to hot-spot communities and prioritizing front-line essential workers. I want to thank the team at our local Humber River Hospital, who chose to offer pop-up vaccination opportunities to my community rather than wait untold weeks before the central booking line would make vaccines available to all of those 18-plus. Thank you, Sudha Kutty and Ruben Rodriguez, whose team has been working so hard in vaccinating people door-to-door within high-rise apartment buildings within my community.

I welcomed the news yesterday to finally open the central booking line to those 18-plus in hot-spot communities like mine. We have been calling for this for quite some time now. To keep things moving, it is so important to secure enough vaccine supply so people can get vaccinated as soon as possible. We must ensure that the vaccine rollout is an equitable one.

Port Perry

Ms. Lindsey Park: Speaker, 2021 marks Port Perry’s sesquicentennial. In June 1871, 150 years ago, the county of Ontario passed a bylaw to incorporate the village of Port Perry, officially separating it from Reach township.

During a time when the traditional ways we love to gather as a community have been put on hold, the festivities this June will celebrate the power of community over 150 years, with the theme “Community Celebrating Community.”

Celebrations will be held in accordance with public health guidelines, while still showcasing the town’s unique history and colour. Local print shop PP Print, in conjunction with the township of Scugog, I am told, will be producing a commemorative booklet that will feature stories and pictures of local history, traditional recipes provided by local restaurants and a list of 150 things to do in Port Perry.

Speaker, there are so many things I love about Port Perry. I love the little shops and cafes, the beautiful boardwalk along Lake Scugog. I love the town’s vibrant arts and culture scene—I think of Town Hall 1873—and I love the strong family-like community spirit that makes people feel welcomed and cared for.

The warmth of the Port Perry community has always stood out to me, and during these challenging times, the heart of Port Perry continues to shine through. On June 9, I look forward to attending the kick-off flag-raising event and celebrating one of the best little towns in Ontario.

Border security

Mr. David Piccini: It’s an honour to rise in the House.

Canada must act now to secure our borders. Over 90% of new cases in Ontario are variants. We know these variants are concerning and are having a greater effect on younger Ontarians. These variants of concern didn’t swim here, they didn’t fly here; they were carried here via infected passengers, who in turn spread these variants through our communities.

Tens of thousands of international travellers land at Pearson and continue to land in our province. Don’t take my word for it, Speaker. Here is what Dr. Colin Furness, epidemiologist at U of T, had to say: “Our border controls are like a sieve. We could do so much ... better.... It’s not rocket science.”

I agree: It isn’t. Many of our closest allies got it right. The UK have banned entry into the UK for people who have been in or through over 40 countries worldwide. Australia has restricted entry to Australian nationals or nationals of New Zealand.

From day one, Premier Ford has called for increased testing. He’s called to fix the loopholes at our border. It was Premier Ford who brought antigen testing to Pearson. We continue to call on the Liberals to act now to fix the loopholes.

The good news is we have vaccinated over five million Ontarians. We want our lives back. There’s light at the end of the tunnel. Over 420,000 Ontarians booked tests yesterday alone, and in the time from this morning until I delivered this today, over 150,000 Ontarians have booked again.

Let’s get our lives back. My message to the Liberals is simple: Stop playing games. Do the right thing. Fix the loopholes at our land borders and secure our borders now.

Question Period

Long-term care

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, I’m going to ask my first question this morning to the Minister of Long-Term Care, and I’m going to start by quoting directly from the commission report: “26 residents died due to dehydration prior to the approval of the” Canadian Armed Forces “team due to the lack of staff to care for them. They died when all they needed was ‘water and a wipe-down.’”

Yesterday, this minister repeatedly refused to answer a basic question: When did this minister responsible for long-term care know that seniors in long-term care were dying from neglect and dehydration?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Any loss of life in these circumstances during this pandemic has been tragic. The reason we called in the military, the Canadian Armed Forces, was because all the measures that had been taken were not sufficient to address the growing demand. That is why they were called upon.

We know that the staffing collapse in these homes, from multiple reasons, is what necessitated calling in the military. It still took time to get them into the home, and COVID was a very rapid threat.

I’ve said before that I am committed to making sure that long-term care is a better place to live, a better place to work. These lives lost cannot be in vain. We will improve these conditions, and that is currently what we’re doing with the staffing, the new capacity, the IPAC measures. We are working to make sure that these lives were not lost—

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Well, Speaker, the minister is still not responding to the question. The Minister of Health hasn’t responded to questions. Nobody on that side of the House is taking any responsibility. They’re not being accountable for what happened to long-term care with COVID-19. In fact, it’s clear that government ministers knew exactly what was going on in long-term care.

In fact, the CEO of RNAO, Doris Grinspun, gave testimony to the commission that says the minister of the Treasury Board and finance was calling her to try to get help for Orchard Villa, and I quote from the commission’s report from Doris’s testimony, “So I got the phone call at about 11:00 p.m. one day, and in that phone call was the minister telling me, can I help with Orchard Villa before things were public, that it was a disaster what had happened with the residents.”

Speaker, did this Minister of Long-Term Care receive the same kind of panicked calls from the Minister of Finance with the same kind of information and the same kind of request for help?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: I have said time and time again that I take responsibility for this, for the well-being of the residents, for the staff and for the families. In fact, that is why I came to politics in the first place, out of concern for the issues surrounding the neglect of long-term care, having witnessed it personally with my family members. I know how hard it is on families, having witnessed it as a physician for almost 30 years. There is no doubt that I have a sense of responsibility for this, and I have said it repeatedly.

I do not know why this does not seem to register with the member opposite, the Leader of the Opposition. She does not seem to want to acknowledge that for some reason.

We are taking responsibility for a broken system. COVID moved so fast—we heard this time and time again. A home would be fine at the beginning of the week and within days it was a war zone. I have said that repeatedly. So speed was of the essence, to work with our medical officers of health, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Ontario Health, the acute care sector to bring to bear on these homes the support that they needed. And we can—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you. Final supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, what’s clear is the ministers in this government were protecting each other and worried about things going public instead of protecting seniors and worrying about them. In fact, on March 30, 2020, this minister stood with the Premier and claimed that there was going to be an iron ring put around long-term care, which we all know never happened. On March 31, the next day, the minister’s own staff were pleading for more PPE in long-term care, and then of course, in early April, a few days later, the Minister of Finance is begging the RNAO to send nurses into Orchard Villa, pleading for help.

I ask this minister one more time, Speaker: When did she know that seniors in long-term-care homes in Ontario were dying of neglect and dehydration?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: I’ve told the member opposite repeatedly that the reason we called in the military was because the speed with which COVID moved in some homes made the homes into a war zone. It happened very quickly.

The premise of your question is bordering on obscene, and the reason why is because all of the ministry, public health, medical officers of health, thousands of people have been working to shore up these homes, and they were no match for COVID-19. So to impugn that there was any attempt in terms of what you have just said is inaccurate, not based on any fact and unfounded.

What we were doing, 24 hours a day, was trying to get support to those homes. With an unknown virus that wasn’t fully understood, with a shortage of supplies globally, we were taking every measure and working collaboratively with all the partners to solve this problem. And I reject the—

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

Long-term care

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is also for the Minister of Long-Term Care. But I can assure her, what is obscene and what Ontarians think is obscene is 4,000 seniors dying from COVID-19 in long-term care, because they didn’t do their jobs.

But look, the Canadian Armed Forces—again to the minister—arrived on April 29. They started to go into the homes, and of course their report was released on May 29. Certainly, in between the time they arrived and the time the report was made public, this minister would have received some kind of updates as to what was happening in these long-term-care homes, yet on May 19, the minister told this House, “Our government has acted quickly and responsibly” and will “continue to take more action at a rapid pace until this pandemic is over”—which we all know never happened. There was never any rapidity.

What does this minister say to families? What does she say to the families who she was supposed to be protecting when she wasn’t doing so, when the Armed Forces found those people pleading for water? Let’s face it: This minister needs to resign. Will she do so?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: It is devastating to families, there’s no doubt about that. I have taken responsibility for their well-being and their welfare, and it is devastating to all the people who have been working around the clock: the staff, the public service, the front-line providers, the emergency services, the funeral homes, everyone who has come together to try to provide the support in a time of a global pandemic, a 100-year pandemic—100 years since the world has ever seen anything like this.

I want to acknowledge all of the people who have worked so hard to provide the care to these homes. When that fails—that is what we had to do, was to call in the military. I understood the need to get them in swiftly, but even the military took a number of days to come in. So when we look at the speed with which COVID moves, we need to understand the learning process that the whole world was going through and all the people who were working so hard to support these homes, the residents, staff and families.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: For over a year, this minister denied the crisis in long-term care instead of stopping it. She refused to support seniors in long-term care. She stood by the Premier’s fallacy of an iron ring around long-term care. She actually said in this House that they were moving quickly and reasonably, literally while the Canadian Armed Forces were finding people dying of neglect in long-term-care homes. This minister has tried to save the Ford government and save her own reputation instead of saving people in long-term care.

How can anybody expect that this minister can fix things when she can’t even admit to her mistakes? Will she resign today and take ministerial accountability for the things she was supposed to do and didn’t do to protect seniors in long-term care?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: If the Leader of the Opposition had done her job during the time that the previous government neglected long-term care, if you had been a voice, if you had taken the opportunity that you had—years and years of runway that you wasted, that the Leader of the Opposition closed her eyes to. Go back to the Hansard. Look at how many times she even bothered to mention the words “long-term care.” Look at your failure.

I was left to pick up the pieces from a devastating 15 years of neglect. I will not be spoken to that way by the Leader of the Opposition, who neglected this sector, and the opposition at the time neglected this sector—

Interjections.

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

Just a second. I’m going to remind all members to make their comments through the Chair, not directly across the floor at each other.

This is the final supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, this minister has not even committed to implementing the recommendations of the commission. It is unfathomable that she didn’t simply say, “Yes, we’re going to implement every one of those recommendations.” Instead, what we saw were staff literally being abandoned by their minister during this crisis. Many of them have now left the sector, and understandably so. We now have an immediate staffing crisis that is worse than when COVID-19 hit Ontario in the first place.

The commissioner said clearly that staff need higher wages right now. Staff need full-time work right now. We need more staff right now, not three years from now, not two years from now—right now.

Five days later, the minister still refuses to apologize and still, as you just saw, will not admit to her failure. This minister needs to resign. Will she finally do what she should do and resign from her position?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: You know, I really don’t know where the Leader of the Opposition is coming up with this distortion. Our government has addressed on a continuing basis, even as I became the Minister of Long-Term Care, looking at the staffing, looking at the capacity-building, and we’ve been doing this all throughout the pandemic with a sense of urgency, understanding the need for this sector.

In the first wave, with the pandemic pay, we were able to hire 8,600 and more staff into long-term care. We began before that with a staffing expert panel to inform us on what we could do to improve the staffing. We have created capacity in our public colleges for over 8,000 students to be trained by the fall. We have another program with career colleges and district school boards. We have an Ontario reserve seniors support system that we arranged in the first wave.

I do not understand where you’re getting this information from. We’ve been very clear: We’re building the capacity, we’re building the staffing, we’re building the IPAC. We’re doing all these recommendations and working on them, some of them—

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

Long-term care

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question this morning is to the Minister of Health. The CEO of the registered nurses said that the Minister of Finance called her about the crisis unfolding in his riding, in Orchard Villa, and I’m going to again quote from her testimony:

“So I got the phone call at about 11:00 p.m. one day, and in that phone call was the minister telling me, ‘Can I help with Orchard Villa’ before things were public, that it was a disaster what had happened with the residents and that he was excruciatingly in pain.”

So the government knew what was unfolding in long-term care. Ministers knew what was happening in the long-term-care sector. They knew the staffing problems were serious and that people were losing their lives, that people were abandoned in their rooms. Did the Minister of Health receive the same phone call with the same information and the same plea from the Minister of Finance?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: Again, Mr. Speaker, as the Leader of the Opposition will know—and I would certainly hope that members opposite were doing the same thing that members on this side of the House were doing: We were engaging with our community members, whether it was long-term care, retirement homes, individuals in community support groups. We were all engaging and we were all working very hard to see how we could help. I don’t see how the member opposite, the Leader of the Opposition opposite, can suggest that members of Parliament shouldn’t be doing that on a daily basis, especially given the fact that this is a global health and economic pandemic.

But the Minister of Long-Term Care is quite correct: Many of the issues that we faced were issues that we inherited after decades of neglect in the sector. We have made a commitment to make them better. We inherited a system that was woefully underfunded. We inherited a system that had not been built out, that did not have spaces. I had a 118-year waiting list in my riding before this government was elected. We’re making changes to make lives better for people in long-term care. It’s a responsibility we all have—all of us, on both sides of the House—and we all will get the job done for seniors.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Leader of the Opposition.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, what this minister forgot to mention is that the Ford government was cutting long-term care in 2019’s budget, and in 2018, one of the first things they did was cancel the comprehensive resident quality inspections, so they really do have a problem with their own history.

But look, the same minister—the same minister who denied more funding for long-term care in February—knew that there was a disaster unfolding. He wouldn’t cough up the money. The disaster continued to unfold. The entire Ford cabinet knew what was going on, and yet they all continued to claim there was an iron ring around long-term care. How is that possible?

The Minister of Long-Term Care, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Finance and now the government House leader: None of them will take any responsibility for 4,000 seniors losing their lives in long-term care because they wouldn’t spend the money and they wouldn’t act quickly enough to save those lives. They all need to take some responsibility. When will they?

Interjections.

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: Let’s be very clear, Mr. Speaker: We will accept responsibility for the things that fall under our watch, and that’s why we are making significant investments. But to be clear, all Legislatures for a number of years share the responsibility of the woeful inadequacy in this sector—woeful inadequacy of this sector, a sector that had not been invested in for decades. We immediately moved to make investments in long-term care. Before the election, we talked about ending hallway health care.

That is why the Minister of Health brought forward Ontario health teams, a blanket of care that included long-term care, included acute care, included ICUs, home care for communities. We made those investments. We’re adding homes every single day—the largest build-out of long-term care in the history of this province.

What happened is completely unacceptable. We accept responsibility for those things, but to be clear, generations of parliamentarians who have sat in this place have failed seniors. We will make sure that that stops, and we started to make sure it stopped in—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order. The opposition, come to order.

The next question.

Border security

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: My question is for the Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction. For weeks now, on this side of the House, we have been calling on the federal government to secure our international borders and stop the flow of COVID-19 variants into our country. Minister Blair and Minister Hajdu don’t think this is a serious concern, but since February thousands of international travellers have tested positive for COVID-19 variants of interest and variants of concern.

Mr. Speaker, does our government recognize the seriousness of variants of concern flying in through our airports and driving in over land borders? What is the government doing to address this?

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: More than 5,000 air-travel passengers have tested positive for COVID-19 since February. The Premier and this government have constantly been asking for the federal government to secure our borders and keep Ontarians safe. But the federal government has dragged their feet.

We now have confirmed cases of the B1617 variant in Ontario, in Quebec, in British Columbia. We needed stronger action like in countries like the UK and Australia, which were able to secure their borders and keep their communities safe.

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to call on the federal government to close all the loopholes. You can still take a connecting flight into Ontario and carry one of these deadly variants into the province. We need to protect Ontarians, we need to keep Canadians safe and we need to ensure that the federal government takes stronger actions on our borders.

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

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: More than 90% of new cases in Ontario are variants. The B117 variant, first found in the United Kingdom, is now the dominant form of COVID-19 here in Ontario. The federal government does not think securing our borders is a priority, but if they had taken action before it was too late, we may have been able to avoid this third wave.

Mr. Speaker, it is still better late than never. Will the minister call upon the federal government to finally take action to secure our borders?

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: We know the significant impact that these variants are having across Ontario through the third wave. We know that 90% of current cases are from variants. We now have confirmed cases of the B1617 variant in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. We need stronger actions.

Premier Ford led the country in implementing testing at our airports before the federal government was able to do anything. We have secured our land borders. We have put OPP patrols at our land borders in Manitoba and Quebec.

Currently, people are flying to the United States to avoid quarantining and crossing and walking over our federal borders in New York and Windsor and other places. We need the federal government to act now to secure Ontarians, to keep Canadians safe. We’re calling on the federal government once again to address the borders and secure Ontario.

Government accountability

Mr. Peter Tabuns: My question is to the Premier. Last year, a shadowy group called Vaughan Working Families spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads attacking teachers, while at the same time, this government attacked teachers every day during their contract talks. The Vaughan Working Families group is a front for a company called Vaughan Health Campus of Care, who are long-time big donors to the PCs.

We wrote to Elections Ontario about the attack ads, as they may be considered illegal under election laws. And now, a full year later after the ads ran, we’ve received confirmation the RCMP is now investigating.

Now that the RCMP is involved, is there anything else this Premier or his Minister of Education would like to tell Ontarians about what they know about these attack ads against teachers?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: Speaker, I guess, unlike the member opposite, I have full faith in Elections Ontario to continue to do its job.

What I do know is, when it comes to whether it’s education, whether it’s health care, whether it’s transit and transportation, the member is quite correct: We are making significant investments to keep our students safe through COVID-19. The member opposite is quite correct. We are making significant investments in transit and transportation so that we can get people moving around so that we can unleash the potential of the Ontario economy once we get through this COVID pandemic.

But obviously, in the short term, we’re going to remain focused on making sure that we keep the health and safety of the people of the province of Ontario top of mind. That is why the Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction so effectively pointed out how important it is that the federal government step up to the plate, finally, and secure our borders.

If the member opposite wants to be helpful, he can call his federal cousins in Ottawa and ask them to push to secure the Ontario border so that we can keep these variants out of the province of Ontario.

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

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Again, to the Premier: I guess they didn’t like the question.

One of the people clearly involved in the group, Quinto Annibale, is a development lawyer this Premier appointed to be vice-chair of the LCBO. He’s also been a very generous donor to the PCs and supported the health minister when she ran for the party leadership.

We asked the government agencies committee to bring Mr. Annibale forward so we could ask questions, but the government blocked our attempts.

Now that the RCMP are involved in getting to the bottom of this shady group, the Vaughan Working Families, Ontarians deserve to know if the Premier is still fine with Mr. Annibale’s role at the LCBO. Will the Premier now allow the government agencies committee to bring forward Mr. Annibale for questions about his involvement with Vaughan Working Families?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Again, to be very clear, Mr. Speaker, I am very confident that Elections Ontario has what it needs to ensure that all those who are participating, or want to participate, in elections in the province of Ontario can do so fairly. Again, unlike the member opposite, I have confidence that Elections Ontario will do that.

At the same time, Mr. Speaker, we are going to continue to remain focused on what’s important to the people of the province of Ontario. And what’s important to the people of the province of Ontario right now is that we chart a path out of this COVID-19 mess. We are seeing variants of concern out of control at our borders. That’s what we need to focus on. We need the assistance of the members opposite to help us to convince the federal government to secure our borders.

In the meantime, Mr. Speaker, we are doing everything we can to make sure that all Ontarians get vaccines in their arm. Over five million doses have been administered to date. That is great news for the people of the province of Ontario.

We’re doing all that we can. We’re attacking this virus in hot spots. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and very soon we will be able to unleash the potential of the Ontario economy and get people back to work, Mr. Speaker.

Long-term care

Mr. Jim Wilson: My question is for the Minister of Long-Term Care. Some 36% of people living in Wasaga Beach are seniors. The town is one of the top 10 postal codes in all of Canada for its high percentage of senior citizens, and that number is rapidly growing. Surprisingly, Wasaga Beach has no long-term-care beds, despite years of my asking for them. Residents are forced to leave their community to access care.

My constituents are perplexed that last month’s budget made no mention of long-term care in Wasaga Beach. We were hoping for some beds. Can the minister give my constituents an explanation?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Thank you to the member from Simcoe–Grey for the question. Wasaga Beach is a community, like so many, that the previous government neglected with respect to long-term care. The previous Liberal government only built 611 new spaces between 2011 and 2018, and they failed to meet the needs of communities across the province like Wasaga Beach.

Our government is making up for lost time. Along with building new homes, we’re taking innovative approaches to solve long-standing problems. In November of last year, our government announced the expansion of community paramedicine programs. This initiative will help seniors stay safe while living in the comfort of their own home. Both Simcoe and Grey counties were offered places in our government’s expanded community paramedicine program.

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

Mr. Jim Wilson: Thank you for that answer. The minister may know, Speaker, that at least two companies are prepared to fill the void for long-term-care beds in Wasaga Beach. Primacare applied two years ago for a 160-bed facility in the community, and Jarlette Health Services hopes to locate a greenfield facility there, providing for 96 seniors. Both of these are reputable companies with a proven track record. They have the resources, the experience and the commitment to deliver the urgently needed support that my constituents need and deserve.

Speaker, I certainly appreciate the pressure on the government and on the minister in terms of the need for long-term-care beds across the province. As a former Minister of Health, I kept track of this issue quite clearly over the years. I was astounded for 15 years that the previous government built no beds. They took credit for 6,000 beds that Mike Harris had put in place, of the 15,000 that he built, during the first part of the McGuinty government, but they built no net new beds over 15 years. So I know there’s a backlog.

I just want you to consider Wasaga Beach, in the top 10 postal codes in Canada for senior citizens who need beds. Minister, will you give them serious consideration in the next round of allocations?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Again, thank you to the member from Simcoe–Grey for his question. The most recent group of allocations prioritized upgrading older homes in response to the lessons learned around improved infection prevention and control measures, particularly the elimination of three- and four-bed ward rooms. This was also addressing the growing needs of diverse groups, including francophone and Indigenous communities, and promoting campuses of care to better address the specialized care needs of residents.

Applications that have not received an allocation in this round will be kept and considered for future potential allocations. In addition to the 750 existing spaces at nine homes in Simcoe–Grey, there are currently three projects in the development pipeline that will build 121 new spaces and upgrade another 169 spaces to modern design standards.

I thank the member opposite for his question.

International students

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: My question is for the Minister of Colleges and Universities. Speaker, in addition to inadequate and ineffective border measures that have been challenging our provincial public health response by bringing variants of concern into the province, on Friday Prime Minister Trudeau once again confused Canadians with his message that Ontarians had requested a ban on international students.

Speaker, this came as a surprise to me. Our government has always been very clear on the protocols for students and residents coming or returning to Ontario and the public health guidelines they must abide by to help in our efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Would the minister please help to clear up the confusion that the Prime Minister created?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Northumberland–Peterborough South and parliamentary assistant.

Mr. David Piccini: Thank you to the member for that important question and for all of his work advocating for a better post-secondary future in his community of Brampton. Mr. Speaker, he is right that there was a lot of confusion caused by the Prime Minister’s remarks, so perhaps we could take this as a learning lesson for all of us and set the record straight. What this government has called for, and what we’ve been very clear on in four letters to the federal government, is to take stricter measures at the border to prevent variants of concern from entering this country.

We’ve called for a ban on all non-essential travel. We’ve called for mandatory PCR testing for interprovincial travellers. We’ve called to close the loophole at our land borders, and we’ve called for proper enforcement of hotel quarantining.

Mr. Speaker, we continue to be very clear—crystal clear—to the federal government. We’re imploring them to take stricter measures at the border. We know that 90% of variants of concern are entering through our improperly enforced borders. Now is not the time for division. Now is not the time for the sort of division that the Prime Minister’s remarks create. Now is the time to work together. We again call on the federal government to get strict, get real at our borders.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): And the supplementary?

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: I want to thank the parliamentary assistant for clarifying the confusing and incorrect statement that the Prime Minister made on Friday.

I know that many international students and post-secondary institutions were concerned about what these measures would mean and were looking to their provincial government to once again step up when their federal government would not. This has been the case for paid sick leave, imposing strong but necessary restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and, now, standing up for our international students.

Speaker, would the parliamentary assistant please elaborate on what our government is doing to ensure that international students entering into Ontario are doing so in a safe way that does not pose a risk to themselves, their classmates and all Ontarians?

Mr. David Piccini: Thank you to the member for that important question.

Let me be clear again: What we are calling for from the federal government is strict border measures, adequate screening and properly enforced quarantine. What we have done with our post-secondary institutions and with our designated learning institutes in the province of Ontario is we’ve worked actively with each of them and their local public health officers to develop individually tailored solutions for proper quarantining and measures for arriving students. We’ve done it to ensure the safety of those communities, to ensure safety on campus and to ensure the safety of those students arriving.

While I’m at it, when we’ve worked collaboratively together with our institutions, we’ve increased mental health supports on our campuses. When we’ve worked collaboratively with our institutions, we’ve supported them with micro-credentials. When we’ve worked collaboratively, we’ve launched free PSW training to tackle the health professions backlog.

Mr. Speaker, when we work together, we can accomplish anything. That’s why we’re calling on the federal government: Work with us. Listen to the municipalities—

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

Hospital funding

Mr. Jeff Burch: To the Minister of Health: This government’s failure to prepare for the third wave has left our hospitals on the verge of collapse. This means that while ICU beds are overflowing, thousands of essential surgeries have had to be delayed. Tragically, we’re now hearing stories of cancer patients who have lost their lives after cancelled surgeries.

This government’s failure to provide hospitals with the support they need is only going to make stories like these more common. What is the minister’s plan to address the hospital capacity issue, and will she make the necessary investments now to save lives in Ontario’s hospitals?

Hon. Christine Elliott: I thank the member for the question. In fact, we have invested over $5 billion in our hospitals since the start of this pandemic. We’ve created over 3,400 new beds, the equivalent of six large community hospitals. We’ve created several hundred new intensive care spaces because of the increasing volumes of COVID-19 patients we knew were going to be coming into our hospitals. We have prepared for that throughout. We are preparing to deal with expanding our capacity yet again and making sure that we have the health human resources in order to operate in those situations.

As for the surgical backlogs, it is unfortunate that it’s necessary for us to pause some of these surgeries because of the influx of COVID patients. However, despite that, we were able to do over 420,000 surgeries since the start of the pandemic for people who required surgery for cardiac, cancer or for other reasons. As soon as the numbers start going down, both in terms of the number of cases and the number of people in hospitals, we will get back to that as quickly as we can, because we know many people have been waiting for surgeries for a long period of time. That is a priority for us, to make sure they get the surgeries that they need.

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

Mr. Jeff Burch: Well, I guess that means there is no plan, Speaker.

This government is now patting themselves on the back for telling hospitals that they might be able to avoid the worst of their triage protocols. To be clear, people are already dying because of hospital capacity. They’re dying because they have had life-saving surgeries cancelled. They’re dying in hospitals hundreds of kilometres away from their homes and families. And even if we avoid the province’s worst-case scenario, this has already been the worst-case scenario for many Ontario families and for the doctors and nurses working on the front lines.

My question again to the health minister: Will she take responsibility for the capacity crisis, and what is she doing now to save the lives of patients in our hospital system?

Hon. Christine Elliott: I would say to the member, through you, Mr. Speaker, that we have been creating capacity. We have been dealing with this since the beginning of this pandemic. We’ve been creating more space in our hospitals.

As far as dealing with the surgical backlog: Previously, we invested over $500 million in order to expand the operating hours in our hospitals to evenings and weekends, and to make sure that we took a regional look at our regional waiting lists so that we could expand our surgeries into all of our hospitals. This is something that we will continue once the crisis of this pandemic is over, because it makes use of all of those spaces and gets people into operating rooms and surgeries to have their necessary work done as soon as possible.

There are many steps that we have taken and that we will continue to take to make sure the people in our hospitals—our front-line health care heroes, who have been at this for over a year now. We can never thank them enough for the work they’re doing. We’re truly grateful for all of that.

We have been working alongside our health care workers, beside our hospitals to make sure that we have the capacity we need so that anyone coming into our hospitals—

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

Long-term care

Ms. Mitzie Hunter: My question is to the Minister of Long-Term Care.

I wrote to the minister and her government about the state of long-term care and the government’s slow response to COVID-19. And yet, despite many calls, especially from families, to protect residents and staff, her government was slow to respond and even took a summer break.

On page 129 of the commission’s report, it’s titled “Slow, Late and Reactive: The Early Provincial Response.”

Can you tell this House what you did in the months of July and August to prepare for the second wave of the pandemic in long-term care, to protect vulnerable seniors and to remedy the staffing that the Canadian Armed Forces, the FAO, labour unions, members of the opposition, the media and families were calling on you to do?

Will you accept and act on the 85 recommendations that make up the recommendations of this report, and make them public, as is requested in recommendation 85, on an annual basis to this Legislature, on your progress?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Since we asked for the commission to be set up for long-term care, we’ve been very clear about our intent to make the report public, which we have done.

We’ve also been very clear about making sure that we address the recommendations in that report: to understand what we’ve already implemented, what needs to be implemented. We are completely open to addressing all of those 85 recommendations as soon as we understand what has already been done and what is in progress and what needs to be done.

The difference is that our government is taking action. Reports really littered the political landscape under the previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP—report after report after report on four hours of direct care, on the capacity issues. The member opposite from Ottawa South knew full well that the ward rooms posed a threat.

In terms of looking at preparedness, absolutely, we worked around the clock with many, many partners, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Public Health Ontario. We created a—

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

Ms. Mitzie Hunter: If the minister knew the threat, why were you slow to act? That’s really the question and the substance of this report.

I will send you the letter I wrote to you on March 27 and again on May 19.

My question was, specifically, what did you do over the summer to prepare for that second wave? There were more deaths in long-term care in the second wave than in the first. I’ve been listening to the response, and it doesn’t go far enough.

This report is devastating. It’s devastating to the families, to the staff and to the people who are closest impacted.

Minister—through you, Speaker—will you apologize today to these families? If you can’t bring yourself to apologize, you must resign.

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

Minister of Long-Term Care.

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: The report is very insightful, and I thank the commissioners for their insights. I really think that it was intended to provide us with guidance, and that is what it has done.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: In late June—

Interjection.

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

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: If the member opposite would choose to listen, I will give her the information she’s looking for.

In late June 2019, our government created the first stand-alone Ministry of Long-Term Care to address the systemic challenges—and the commission is very clear in the report on these long-standing systemic issues, numerous times throughout the report. Just a few months later, COVID-19 struck our province.

Our government has consistently relied on the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Ontario Health, Public Health Ontario and countless medical experts. Last summer, preparedness assessments were carried out across the province to help long-term-care homes with emergency and outbreak prevention. This was in addition to shoring up the staffing in the homes, using resident support aides and hiring 8,600-plus hires into long-term care with the pandemic pay. Homes were encouraged to work with their hospital partners, and Ontario Health assisted with that.

This was a collaborative, co-operative effort. Absolutely, we must take responsibility for repairing this long-neglected system, and we will continue to do—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order. Member for Ottawa South, come to order.

The next question.

Public transit

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure. Last month, I had the pleasure of joining our federal and municipal partners and representing our government to announce infrastructure investments that will improve the local public transit system in the city of Brampton.

Mr. Speaker, I was thrilled to see that our government has invested over $58.2 million for the latest Brampton transit project. This funding will help ensure that Brampton’s residents and visitors will be able to access more efficient and safe transit services, getting people where they want to go when they want to get there.

I’m proud that our government is working with our municipal partners and federal counterparts to get these projects built, and I know my constituents are looking forward to a faster and more reliable commuting experience. Can the minister tell us how she is working with the federal government and our municipal partners to make meaningful investments for the people of Brampton?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The parliamentary assistant, the member for Oakville.

Mr. Stephen Crawford: I would like to thank the member for this important question and for his continued advocacy on behalf of the people of Brampton.

We have now nominated over 760 projects to the federal government for ICIP approval. This includes 140 road, bridge, air and marine infrastructure projects, for a total provincial investment of more than $115 million in over 200 public transit infrastructure projects through the outside-GTHA public transit stream.

Let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, although COVID-19 has forced the world to slow down, we have not stopped building. Since January, we have made nearly 60 joint virtual events, like the one the member mentioned, delivering exciting news about infrastructure funding in partnership with the federal government, non-profit