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March 21, 2018

41st Parliament, 3rd Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcripts 2018-Mar-21 (PDF)

L003 - Wed 21 Mar 2018 / Mer 21 mar 2018

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Wednesday 21 March 2018 Mercredi 21 mars 2018

Throne speech debate / Débat sur le discours du trône

Introduction of Visitors

Legislative pages

Oral Questions

Government’s record

Mental health services

Dental care

Dental care

Hospital services

Hospital services

Health care

Wind turbines

Pharmacare

Infrastructure funding

Highway improvement

Hospital funding

Agri-food industry

Public transit

Visitors

Introduction of Visitors

Members’ Statements

Transportation planning

Health care funding

La francophonie

Human trafficking

Health care

GO Transit

Taxation

Down syndrome

Events in Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound

Introduction of Bills

Sewage Bypass Reporting Act, 2018 / Loi de 2018 sur l’obligation de faire rapport concernant la dérivation des eaux d’égout

Poet Laureate of Ontario Act (In Memory of Gord Downie), 2018 / Loi de 2018 sur le poète officiel de l’Ontario (à la mémoire de Gord Downie)

Personal Information Protection Act, 2018 / Loi de 2018 sur la protection des renseignements personnels

Taxpayer Protection Amendment Act, 2018 / Loi de 2018 modifiant la

Loi sur la protection des contribuables

Motions

Private members’ public business

Petitions

Dental care

Dental care

Child protection

Hospital services

Cardiac care

Voting age

Long-term care

Cardiac care

Mental health services

GO Transit

Government services

Injured workers

Orders of the Day

Throne speech debate

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

ORDERS OF THE DAY

Throne speech debate / Débat sur le discours du trône

Resuming the debate adjourned on March 20, 2018, on the motion for an address in reply to the speech of Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor at the opening of the session.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: It is my duty, my responsibility and my honour, in the parliamentary tradition, on behalf of Ontario’s New Democrats, to respond to the speech from the throne.

I have to say, I think it’s clear that folks like me and folks like the rest of the members in this chamber, I’m sure, love our province. It’s a great place to live, and it’s a great place to raise a family and build a life.

It’s the great privilege of my life to have been able to meet so many Ontarians thus far as the leader of the Ontario New Democrats; to really engage with them and hear their concerns, their worries, their hopes, their dreams, their frustrations.

We know that this province can be a great place where people should be able to build a great life no matter when they made Ontario their home, no matter which part of this great province they live in. That should be something that’s attainable and achievable for all Ontarians.

Speaker, before I continue with my speech, I want to let you and the Clerk’s table know that I’ll be sharing my one-hour lead with the member from Timmins–James Bay.

One of the things we know for sure is that in order to build a good life in Ontario, people need tools to help them achieve that. They need to have supports from their government. They need to have a government that helps to ensure that some of the fundamental pieces of their lives are easier to take care of and to deal with because there’s a government in place that uses public dollars to help support families to build their successful lives.

But what we know is that, for the last 15 years, we’ve had a government in place in the province of Ontario that has forgotten that that is what their job is. Here we are, 15 years after the Liberals took power in our province, and people say they need better health care. People tell me they’re unhappy with the disturbing failures of this government to deal with seniors’ care in our province. We need better schools for our children, Speaker. We need to make sure that families can afford quality, not-for-profit child care no matter where they live in our province.

We need to make sure that young people in Ontario have a chance to actually graduate from school and start a successful life. We need better jobs, better benefits for workers.

We need to have a province where, for a change, we don’t just rue or worry about the growing gap between those at the top and everyone else, where we don’t just talk about the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots; we don’t just stop that gap from growing even further, but we actually start to close the gap between those at the top and everywhere else. That’s what government should be doing in our province, Speaker.

We need a province that has more prosperity, more opportunity for prosperity, for working families; more security for families, more opportunity for everyone—everyone—in our province.

Speaker, the last number of months—probably more than that; probably years in some parts of the province, for sure—people are telling me that they want change, that it’s time for change in our province. But they want change for the better. I have to say that’s not what this throne speech offers. For far too long in our province, people have been told that they have to settle. They have to switch between bad and worse—bad and worse—whatever way you want to look at it, Speaker. They have to switch between Liberal governments and Conservative governments. They’ve been doing that for a couple of decades now and look where it has gotten us. Look where it has gotten us.

Both of these parties, Liberals and Conservatives, sell off our public assets. That’s what they do, every time. That’s not the right direction for Ontario, Speaker. We’ve had the Liberal government sell off Hydro One, one of our most important revenue-generating public assets that we used to own, collectively, as a public. But now Hydro One operates in the best interests of the very lucky friends of Liberals and Conservatives who managed to buy shares. Now it operates in the best interests of the shareholders, not the people of Ontario.

Shame on the Liberal government, and shame on the Conservative government before them, who started the deregulation and privatization in our electricity system.

People need to think about what change for the better looks like. It doesn’t look like the same old same old of selling off our public assets and handing the value over to their friends in high places. That’s not change for the better.

Families have been squeezed. Families have been squeezed for some time now. In fact, in Ontario, it’s very clear that wages have been stagnant. In fact, a recent study showed that in a decade’s time frame, up until 2016, I believe—2006 to 2016, although when I go back and look at my details, I might have to correct the record, but I’m pretty sure that was the time frame—the rest of Canada did okay. Some parts of Canada did better than others. Ontario came dead last. We had very, very little real wage growth in our province—bottom of the barrel for the nation.

It’s shameful. We are a province of great prosperity, and yet the people in our province have been left behind. As a result, we know what else happened, right? The cost of everything went up, especially our electricity costs. The cost of housing, the ability to afford to buy a house—young people now can’t even imagine trying to buy a house in the neighbourhood that they were raised in or even rent in the neighbourhood that they were raised in.

Wages, as I said, benefits—the way people work has changed. Young people can’t get decent jobs coming out of school. At the same time, people go to their hospitals, for example, and they can’t get the services they need and deserve. Kids go to school and their schools are crumbling around their ears. We have people lined up in hallways in hospitals, schools being closed in communities around the province.

Correct me if I’m wrong, my colleagues, correct me if I’m wrong, but when the Liberals ran for office way back in 2003, one of their major platform pieces was a moratorium on school closures. Why? Because the Conservatives were closing schools from one end of the province to the other. That moratorium, as we know, didn’t last very long. And to this very day, Liberals now have been closing schools at an amazing, disgraceful rate, where parents now have to build in to part of their very busy and stressful lives the fight to keep their local school open. This is what we have after 15 years of Liberals and almost a decade of Conservatives before them.

I hear these stories, Speaker, everywhere I go: people worried about schools being closed, worried about the condition of the schools that their kids are in; concerned about the quality of education that our kids are getting; worried about the young people and their ability to pay for their college and university educations; worried that those young people aren’t going to get a job once they do graduate; concerned that people can’t afford to put a roof over their head; concerned that they can’t pay the bills, that they have to make choices between heating and eating. That’s what we have to deal with.

Yesterday morning, I spoke to the Grain Farmers of Ontario. If they can’t afford their electricity costs as farmers, if the farming community, the agricultural community, cannot afford their electricity costs, nobody in the province gets to eat. Yet this is what the Liberals, and the Conservatives before them when they started deregulating and privatizing our electricity system, have left our province with. So after a couple of decades of Conservative and Liberal government, what we need is change, absolutely, but we need change for the better here in Ontario.

When people go to their hospitals and they get stuck in a hallway on a gurney, or when someone takes a loved one to a hospital and watches as they sit for hours and hours and hours in an emergency room; when people try to access mental health services through emergency mental health in their hospitals—I think of a young woman I met in London who told me a story about her brother which was horrifying. Her brother was having serious mental health concerns and problems. He had the courage—the courage—to take himself to the ER to try to get some help. Instead, he sat for hours and hours and hours and hours in an emergency room and then in a hallway on a gurney for a couple of days after that.

Speaker, it’s no wonder that people are getting cynical about politics, because no matter who they seem to elect—they bounce between the Liberals and the Conservatives and the Conservatives and the Liberals, and life just keeps getting harder for folks. Life keeps getting harder. What happens? People become cynical. People become cynical and they start to lose hope.

They start to lose hope that anything can ever change, because Liberals and Conservatives do the same thing when they are in office: They cut services, they privatize our public services, they sell off our public assets, and people—everyday families, working families, middle-class families—are the ones that pay the price. In both instances, it’s usually the friends of these parties that end up doing very, very well.

The Liberals have had 15 years to help people. They have had 15 years to make life easier for the families in this province, to make life more affordable for the people of our province. Instead, they have made life harder.

What did the Liberals do? They chose to spend those years, those 15 years, slashing hospital budgets, closing neighbourhood schools and selling off our vital public asset Hydro One. In the context of the throne speech, after 15 years in office, anything the Liberals say now—whether they say it in their throne speech, whether they say it in their upcoming budget, whether they say it on the campaign trail—nobody will believe them, because anything they promise now, they could have achieved for the people of this province over 15 years in office.

What is the throne speech all about? I think it’s pretty obvious: The throne speech is a cynical attempt to try to convince the hard-working families of this province that this time around—I think we’ve heard this before—Kathleen Wynne is going to be different. The Liberals are suddenly going to be different, after 15 years of disappointment, after growing child poverty, after finding that last year—was it last year or the year before?—Toronto was given the dubious distinction of being the child poverty capital of Canada. Congratulations, Kathleen Wynne. Congratulations, Liberal Party.

They talk a lot about these issues, but they do not put in place the kinds of policies, the kinds of programs and the kinds of supports that actually help families to make sure they can raise children in a dignified way and provide them with the supports and the requirements that they need to have a healthy life.

This Liberal government wants folks to believe that suddenly they care—isn’t that their word? Why didn’t they care for the last 15 years? Why didn’t they care when they were cutting hospital budgets to the bone? Why didn’t they care when we found out that all of their talk was just a lot of hot air and, in fact, low-income children are becoming worse off instead of better off with the Liberals at the helm. Why didn’t they care then?

They’re trying to convince people with this throne speech that they are going to invest in services instead of cutting them, like they’ve done for the last number of years. Although, interestingly enough, the throne speech did not have one single concrete change—not one single concrete change contained therein, not one. The throne speech didn’t do anything to fix hallway medicine. The throne speech didn’t end the crisis in our long-term-care system. It didn’t buy back Hydro One and put it back into public hands or make electricity more affordable for people in any way.

It didn’t give Ontarians the prescription drug coverage and the dental coverage that they need. This throne speech does nothing. It does nothing to fix the legacy of cuts and broken promises. The Premier and her Liberal government have made their choices, and now it’s time for Ontario to choose who will replace them.

As for the Conservatives, well, we know what the Conservatives do every time they get into office. When they run on campaigns, they try to pretend that that’s not who they are and they use different language to confuse people a little bit. But make no mistake, in their heart and soul, Conservatives believe in small government, and small government is code for cutting public services, selling off public assets—

Mr. Rick Nicholls: Really?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Yes, privatization. That’s what Conservatives do every single time.

Look, I can remember, before I was elected to the Ontario Legislature, that it was the Conservatives that decided they were going to privatize our home care system—and look where we are now. Lots of their friends who own home care companies are doing great. They’re making profits hand over fist. But people can’t get the home care supports they need in their community. They’re not getting the quality of care they deserve.

It used to be that not-for-profit organizations like the VON, for example, did a great job providing home care services. Some municipalities were providing those services, and lots of not-for-profit organizations were providing those services, but the Conservatives thought, “We want smaller government. We don’t want to have to be responsible for those kinds of things. And, really, we have a fundamental value that the private sector should be doing all of this work. All of this work should be done by the private sector. All health care should be privatized.”

I’ve got to tell you, that’s what happened the last time, as the Conservative Party was coming out of office back around 2003. Just before they left, they started to privatize and put a competitive bidding model in place for our home care system. Now it has fallen apart. Where we used to have the majority provided by not-for-profit and municipal service providers, we now have private companies, because that’s the way the Conservatives like it.

We now have a Conservative Party leader, after the fiasco of their process and the very clear indication that they gave Ontarians that they can’t keep their own ship on track and their own house in order—so I don’t know how they expect to take the reins of government; I have no idea, because they obviously can’t manage their own party.

Having said that, they’ve now elected a leader who said he is going to leave no stone unturned when it comes to finding more privatization in Ontario—more privatization in our health care system, more privatization in our electricity system, more privatization in every single function of government. He is going to go through every ministry, he said—this is his promise—and leave no stone unturned to seek out more opportunities for privatizing our public services and selling off our public assets.

Again, this is what Conservatives do. They believe that the public shouldn’t really have any assets; that, in fact, all of our public assets will be—how did the Liberals used to say it? “We’ll reposition, we’ll broaden the ownership.” This is what they’re saying about Hydro One.

It’s no wonder people get cynical when they hear Conservatives and Liberals talk. They’re not straight up with the people of Ontario.

I’m going to be straight up: New Democrats will not sell off revenue-generating public assets. And we will bring Hydro One back into public ownership, where it belongs.

Needless to say, as the people of this province are looking toward change, what they need to think about, and what we are offering, is change for the better, something that’s different. It’s time to do something different in the province of Ontario. Stop bouncing back and forth and getting disappointed, getting no further ahead, and having life become even harder and harder because the choice keeps going back and forth between Liberals and Conservatives.

We have a message of hope for the people of Ontario. Ontario can be different. Things do not have to be this way. It absolutely does not have to be this way in the province of Ontario. Ontarians don’t have to choose between bad and worse. We can choose change for the better.

Mettons-nous au travail. Transformons l’Ontario.

Let’s make the change that really transforms our province into a place where the government that’s elected—a New Democratic government—puts the best interests of the people of this province at the heart of every single decision that we make. That’s what we’re offering the people of Ontario.

What do families need? Well, we know, because we listen to what families say. I spend all of my time, as do NDP MPPs, listening and actually hearing what people tell us. They need real action on affordable child care, which they won’t get from the Tories. The Tories think they can just send a couple of hundred bucks to people and somehow they’re magically going to find affordable, quality, not-for-profit child care. It is a dreamland. Don’t buy it. It’s not going to happen. We need affordable, quality, not-for-profit child care in the province of Ontario so families can be supported while they go to work and feed their children and give them a good life.

We need to restore some public support, some provincial support to our struggling transit systems in municipalities around our province. Again, it was the Conservatives who decided that public transit should be completely the responsibility of municipalities.

Mr. Gilles Bisson: Big mistake.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Big mistake.

In fact, it was the Liberals who got rid of something called the Ontario Bus Replacement Program. They think the municipalities should have complete responsibility for transit.

Well, guess what? New Democrats are different than Conservatives and Liberals. We think that the province of Ontario should help municipalities to provide good, effective, well-run public transit in their communities. What that means is coming back to a relationship where the province of Ontario, for all municipalities including right here in this great city of Toronto, picks up 50% of the operating costs of our transit systems post-fare box. That’s what things used to be like in Ontario, and it helped municipalities to provide a quality of service that was achievable and to expand their ability to provide service for people in Ontario.

If we want to get people out of cars, if we really want to do our part when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, if we really want to help people find the way to reduce their carbon footprint, then, holy smokes, we should be helping municipalities to provide transit systems that enable people to make real choices when it comes to how they get around.

We’ve also acknowledged, some time ago, that when the Conservatives downloaded affordable housing to municipalities, they didn’t send with it an appropriate amount of money to help maintain and replace that housing stock. I used to be a housing activist before I became an MPP, before I became a city councillor. My passion was affordable housing, and I sat on the boards of directors of a couple of different housing organizations and a couple of different community organizations to agitate for greater affordable housing in our communities.

When the Conservatives downloaded housing, they left municipalities with the housing stock but not with the ability to maintain that housing stock over time or to replace it when it became beyond its usable lifetime. The Liberals have been asked many times to step up to the plate by a number of the larger municipalities because they simply have backlogs of maintenance and repairs that are unmanageable. In fact, now we have municipalities, like the city of Toronto, where hundreds of units are at risk of actually being shuttered. Meanwhile, the wait-list for people for affordable housing is 100,000 people strong—100,000, and yet hundreds of units are at risk of being shuttered.

That’s not right, Speaker. New Democrats have made the commitment to Mayor John Tory and to mayors around the province. I’ve spoken to a number of mayors on my travels around the province. We will do what provincial governments should do and really partner with municipalities and provide the one third of funding necessary to repair and maintain those housing units.

You know what else, Speaker? New Democrats believe that we have a role to play when it comes to ensuring that every person in our province is able to have the same minimum wage. The Liberals have decided that not everybody deserves the same minimum wage. We disagree. Everybody who labours in this province, everybody who works in this province, should be getting the same minimum wage. The value of an hour of people’s labour, people’s work, is the same, regardless, and so no person should be without a $15 minimum wage.

We also have some real concerns, Speaker, that we are going to address when we form the government in this province, around some of the other big issues that people face. We know that we have not only air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions to deal with, but we need to make sure that people have access to fresh water, that we keep our waters safe for people, going forward, that we make sure that our cap-and-trade program is a program that is not only effective—which, of course, we have a hard time making sure that that’s the case, because we don’t have a transparent system.

Our cap-and-trade system is not transparent. The Liberals refused to make it transparent, and we will fix that. We will make sure the people of Ontario know what our cap-and-trade system is achieving, how it’s being achieved and, in fact, what role everyday people are playing in the attainment of our goals around reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and reducing our carbon footprint and doing our part to change the track we are on in terms of global warming. We will do that, as New Democrats. We’ll make it transparent so that we can measure it to ensure that it’s effective.

And one other thing, Speaker: We’ll make it fair. The Liberals did not build fairness measures into their cap-and-trade program. They could have.

Mr. Peter Tabuns: They could have.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: They could have. In fact, we encouraged them to do so. We provided many amendments that would have helped, for example, lower-income folks be able to adjust and absorb some of the increased costs that are now being experienced and helped make sure that rural and remote communities were given a hand—particularly in the north, where climate is much more harsh, where winters are longer, colder, and the months of darkness are longer, where businesses even in the north face a different challenge.

These are things that we said to the government: You’ve got to build in some fairness for the agricultural community, the agri-food sector, because we know that the impacts of climate change, like increased flooding, are going to affect farmers. The Liberals said, “Nah, we don’t want to do any of that stuff.”

Well, when we take the reins of government, we will make sure our cap-and-trade system in this province makes the big polluters pay but also make sure that it’s a fair system, a system that is transparent and a system that is easy to evaluate so that we can determine its effectiveness. That’s what cap-and-trade should be, Speaker. We’ll make it happen.

The other day, New Democrats had a rally, if you want to call it that. We had a council meeting over the weekend, and I was really excited. I was excited because we had a great amount of energy, a great amount of momentum in our team, and we talked about an amazing platform that we’re going to be putting forward very shortly. Our platform is going to be a platform that, as people will see, will do what governments are supposed to do, which is to help people achieve their best life right here in Ontario. That’s what our platform is going to do.

It’s going to be coming out soon, and it’s going to include a very responsible fiscal plan that shows people exactly how we’re going to achieve our goals.

I announced five particular things that we’re going to do as New Democrats, five particular areas that we are going to focus on, among many, many others which you will be able to see in a couple of weeks’ time, as I’ve said, when our full platform is unveiled.

First and foremost, the very first change for the better that New Democrats are going to focus on is getting rid of hallway medicine in the province of Ontario. We’re going to get rid of hallway medicine and we’re going to fix seniors’ care in our province. We’re going to stop cutting our health care system. We’re going to invest in hospitals and make sure that hospitals are at least receiving—at the very least, and in fact we have made the commitment that we will go beyond—the inflationary increases that they require each and every year.

We’re going to make sure that communities where they have a growing population are able to have hospitals and hospital infrastructure that’s able to keep up with that population growth.

Look at communities like Brampton. The Brampton hospital—the first P3 hospital that the Conservatives put in place in the province of Ontario, by the way—

Mr. Ross Romano: Hear, hear.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Oh, “Hear, hear,” for the P3s. You know what? P3s are alternative finance and procurement models. The Auditor General slammed the Conservatives for their Brampton hospital, and they are slamming the Liberals for doing the same thing, because what it does is make their friends rich, but Ontarians pay through the nose with higher costs. Our Auditor General said that with the Liberals, with just 72 or so P3 projects—and they have hundreds of them—we overspent by $8 billion. That’s your money, public money.

We overspent by $8 billion on just a portion of the sweetheart deals that Liberals and Conservatives like to make with their friends in order to build infrastructure for the people of Ontario.

Now, I’ve gotten off track, but when it comes to health care and hospitals, we will be making sure that pressures like population growth are factored into the way that we fund our hospitals and provide the infrastructure for those communities. We’ll also acknowledge that not every community is the same. Not every community is the same, so we’re going to take into consideration the unique needs of all of our communities as we support our hospitals to provide the care that people deserve in our hospitals.

We’re also going to look at long-term care. Here’s something that I just find so disheartening: I don’t know how many round table discussions I’ve had around the province where I have ended up literally in tears, Speaker, hearing the horror stories, the absolute horror stories that people share with me about what happens to their loved ones in long-term care. In some cases, they won’t tell their stories publicly, and I don’t blame them. You know why? Because they’re worried about retribution. How can that be?

People trying to advocate for their loved ones who are being hurt in long-term care; who are being treated inappropriately in long-term care; who are sitting in diapers for hours and hours on end; who are missing meals; who are ending up with unexplained injuries and bruises; who are going to hospital without even having their loved ones informed by the long-term-care facility—it is horrifying. People tell me that they are worried and stressed every time they make that journey out of their home to go visit their loved one in long-term care because they have no idea what they’re going to find when they get there.

I know that our MPPs here in the NDP caucus have been hearing those stories for a very long time. If we’ve been hearing those stories, why haven’t the Liberal MPPs been hearing those stories? I have no idea why they haven’t. Well, maybe they have. And if they have, why haven’t they done anything about it? It is disgraceful. It is shameful, absolutely shameful.

Instead, what the government has done is taken on the public inquiry into the heinous murders that happened in Woodstock and London. We agree: There needs to be a public inquiry into the Wettlaufer murders. Those family members deserve to know how the system failed them, and how the system allowed this particular nurse to do the terrible things that she did. Absolutely, that public inquiry is necessary.

But it was an opportunity to put in place a full-blown public inquiry, one that looks at every aspect of long-term care to ensure that we take that responsibility to look in the mirror and say, “Our system is failing our most vulnerable loved ones. What are the problems there? How can we fix them?” Kathleen Wynne, the former Minister of Health and that entire Liberal government decided not to bother.

We’re going to fix that. Within 100 days of taking office, we will expand the public inquiry into long-term care. We’re going to make sure that our loved ones, our vulnerable grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles who are inside long-term-care facilities, are going to get the kind of long-term care that they need and deserve, including a minimum of four hours of hands-on long-term care.

The inquiry that we would undertake would be a find-and-fix inquiry so that we will make sure that as we uncover the systemic problems in our long-term-care system, we’ll make sure that we fix them. Because it is a broken system, and it’s a system that has long failed the people of Ontario.

That was the first change for the better. I think that’s a great change for the better, and I’m looking forward to providing that change for the better for the people of Ontario.

The second change is that we need to help our young people tackle the student debt that they now have and make sure that we have an opportunity for them to get a job once they graduate from school.

I hear the worry in young people’s voices. I talk to the parents whose kids have gone to college and couldn’t get a job; who went on to university and still couldn’t get a job; who are maybe going on to further degrees. All the while, their student debt is increasing. That mountain of debt is weighing those kids down and they can’t find a decent job in their field. It shouldn’t be that way.

Young people are very, very worried and their parents are very, very worried. The debt that they have is weighing them down even further. There are young people who have told me, literally—I think I was with the member from Welland at the time, when a young woman at Brock University told us that she is not even thinking of getting into a serious relationship because she can’t even imagine the idea of settling down and maybe starting a family, getting a home, buying a car, until she’s well over 30. We were talking to this young woman who was about 21 at the time. Can you believe that?

It used to be that we used to rue the fact, or we used to worry about or be concerned, that young people end up in their parent’s basement until they’re about 25 years old. That was the problem. The last

article I read in a newspaper recently about this particular stat, maybe about a month ago, is that now it’s up to 35 years old.

In fact, I met a woman in Brantford, in the Speaker of the House’s riding. She is a woman who finished high school, decided she was going to work, worked at a big chain for a while, and then decided she really needed to do something more challenging with her life, so she went to university. She went to university and now she’s 28 years old and just about to graduate, and she’s really worried because she has a lot of debt.

She’s leaving university and so she’s no longer going to be eligible for her prescription drugs or her dental plan, and because she has about $500 a month of prescriptions because of her physical ailments and other conditions that she has, she has now, at 28 years old, upon graduating from university—a thing she should be very proud of.

I was very proud of her and I encouraged her. I said, “Good for you. You’ve done something great. You’ve done something that’s going to help you to build a good life.” But the first step she’s taking after university—she’s finishing probably any time soon—is to go back to live with her dad. At 28 years old, she’s moving back into her father’s house, Speaker, because she’s got no dental coverage, she’s got no prescription drug coverage, she’s got no good job, and she’s got a mountain of student debt. This is what the Liberals have been offering to the young people of our province for 15 years, Speaker.

Interjection: Shame.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Absolutely shameful. We fund universities at the bottom of the barrel in our province. The burden of the cost of university education sits on the shoulders of young people, and they have little opportunity to be able to build a life with that debt hanging over their head and having very few options in terms of jobs. We’re going to change all of that.

We’re going to be converting loans to grants to take the pressure off of our young people and we’re going to create and support tens of thousands of job opportunities for young people through co-op education and other work-integrated learning programs, because this is what parents and young people tell us they need and want; because we listen to what people say and try to solve the problems and provide the tools and supports that people need to build a good life in our province.

Third change for the better, Speaker—what have we talked about already? Well, we’ve talked about ending hallway medicine and fixing seniors’ care. We’ve talked about helping young people to deal with their student debt and get a good start in the workplace upon graduation. The third change is, we are going to stop the privatization in this province and we are going to start to fix the damage that Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals have done in our electricity system. We will bring Hydro One back into public hands where it belongs.

The privatization of Hydro One has been a disaster. The Financial Accountability Officer, the person that New Democrats put in place, frankly, to ensure that the public is able to access some accountability when it comes to the actions and behaviours of government, has said this has been a financial disaster all the way around. We all know that it’s caused our rates to go through the roof, that it’s costing people a fortune. Look, that all started under the Conservatives, don’t forget.

They started with privatizing and deregulating electricity because they thought the private sector is the only sector that should be doing anything in the province and that our public dollars should always be padding the pockets of their private friends. That’s what Conservatives believe.

That’s what the Liberals did to our electricity system, Speaker, really. Costs have gone up. The fiscal situation of our province, our financial well-being, has deteriorated because of the sell-off of Hydro One. And this pretense that Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals have around, “This is going to help us fund infrastructure”—well, the Financial Accountability Officer called BS on that just recently. He said it’s going to cost us more. It’s going to cost us more to actually fund infrastructure in the complicated scheme that the Liberals put together so they could funnel money to their friends.

Speaker, both of these other parties have in their plans, really, no plan. The Conservatives have said they are going to stay on track with what the Liberals have done. The Liberals, of course, think they did the right thing—which, of course, everybody knows was the wrong thing. We are not going to stand for that. We are going to bring Hydro One back into public ownership and make sure that it operates in the best interests of families and businesses and industry in our province, the way it should. We’re going to bring bills down by about 30% for the people of this province.

And it’s going to be done in a way that fixes our electricity system not just for ourselves, Speaker, but for generations to come—the way it used to operate for generations in the past. Shame on the Conservatives and the Liberals for dismantling that valuable asset and that valuable, necessary service. Shame on them. New Democrats are going to fix that.

The fourth change that we’re going to bring to our province, the fourth change for the better: We are going to make sure that every single person in our province, regardless of whether they work or whether they don’t, where they live, how much money is coming in the door, how much money they’re making, what they’re earning, how old they are—any of these factors are irrelevant. Every single Ontarian should be able to afford their prescription drugs and their necessary dental work. One in three workers in this province do not have a workplace benefit plan.

When it comes to prescription drugs, we know that there are a couple of million people who don’t get their prescriptions filled. There are even more who will get that prescription filled and then sit at the kitchen table and cut those pills in half to make sure the bottle lasts even longer. I don’t care whether you’re under the age of 24, whether you’re over the age of 65, or whether you’re all of those millions of Ontarians in the middle; nobody should be without the prescription drugs that their doctor prescribes for them. So we’re going to fix that.

Shame on the Liberals for trying to pit groups of people against each other. That’s the way they like to do things, obviously. They’ve been doing that for 15 years. But Ontarians are in this together. We should be supporting each other. Regardless of whether you’re an 18-year-old or a 23-year-old or a 40-year-old or a 29-year-old or a 68-year-old, we’re in it together, and every single one of us deserves to have access to the prescription drugs that we need. That’s what New Democrats are going to do.

It’s interesting; folks might not realize this, but where one in three people don’t have a workplace benefit plan, those two thirds of people who do—once they turn 65, almost all of those folks lose those benefits, meaning they lose their dental benefits as well. Two thirds of seniors who turn 65, all of a sudden, boom, don’t have dental care anymore.

There are approximately 4.5 million people in our province who have no dental coverage whatsoever. In fact, in Ontario, every three minutes someone is trying to access help for dental pain at either an emergency room or a doctor’s office. Well, that’s not where you get dental care. But these folks don’t have any choice because they can’t afford to go to the dentist. That not only means, oftentimes, most times—well, do you know what? Everybody knows it. Pain in the mouth, pain in the teeth, is one of the worst things. But just imagine if you had that pain in your mouth and it lasted not a week or two until you could get to the dentist, but it lasted weeks and months and years.

Just yesterday, in London, I was talking to a woman who said that she had a cavity and she couldn’t afford to get it—well, actually, she started with a cavity, and she was pregnant, so she couldn’t get the X-rays or anything. So she waited until she had the baby, which was several months later. But then, of course, once she had the baby, her benefits were no longer available to her. So she couldn’t get the dental work done because she had a new baby and couldn’t afford to get the work done. She had to wait years before she finally got back to work and got a benefit plan.

She said, years later, after not having gotten any cleanings, no checkups and no dental work, she was embarrassed. She was actually embarrassed to go back to the dentist, because she knew that her oral health was not in a good state even though that’s something she had prided herself on for most of her life, prior to this situation happening.

I felt badly. Nobody should have to feel that way.

The worst was, by the time she was able to get to the dentist, the tooth couldn’t be saved. What was a very small cavity, because it couldn’t be dealt with, and then she couldn’t afford it to be dealt with—by the time she could get to a dentist and get it dealt with, she lost a tooth. The tooth had to be pulled.

That shouldn’t be happening to people in Ontario. Imagine the years of pain that she had in her mouth because she couldn’t deal with the necessity of getting that dental work done because she couldn’t afford it.

We’re going to fix that. That’s one of the changes for the better that we’re bringing to Ontario. That’s one of the changes for the better that we are bringing in, in Ontario—pharmacare for everyone, dental care for everyone. Everyone will get the dental care that they need.

Here’s the other thing, our last piece of the plan: We know that people in our communities are struggling. They are trying to get the services that they need. They are not able to provide for their families, because life is more unaffordable than ever. Good jobs just aren’t there for folks anymore. Good jobs with benefits rarely even exist. There’s so much more precarious work in our province. Our government has been falling down when it comes to providing the tools people need to build a good life, so we’re changing that.

We always complain and we always get concerned. I’ve seen so many articles and so many commentaries about the growing gap between the rich and the poor in our province or, if you want to say, those at the very top and, really, the rest of us. There’s not even the rich and the poor anymore. It’s those at the very top who continue to get more and more of the wealth that we generate in our province.

The government likes to brag about GDP growth, but when all that GDP growth goes to the select few and nobody else is getting any better off, that’s a big problem. That’s where we see the growing gap occur. That’s what it looks like.

We’re going to fix that. We’re going to actually make sure that the wealthiest amongst us pay their fair share. We’re going to make sure that those most profitable corporations are there, too, to pay their fair share.

The Liberals, for some reason, don’t believe that’s necessary. They talk a good game, but they’ve done nothing. In fact, the only time there has been a change in the way that those at the top are asked to pay their fair share—after the Liberals and Conservatives give them all of the public services and privatize them and give them Hydro One and help them make tonnes and tonnes of money, they don’t ask them to pay their fair share.

We ask them to pay their fair share. A couple of years ago, when we had a little bit of say on what goes on around here, we said those highest earners were going to pay a little bit more or else we were not going to allow the government to continue.

We also said the government had to stop cutting the corporate tax rate in Ontario, because they were cutting and cutting and cutting the corporate tax rate, just like Conservatives do—just like Conservatives will do, by the way, if they are ever given the opportunity to get back into office. They are going to do it again. It’s just going to make things worse. Their friends at the top will get much better off, and the rest of us will continue to try to scramble for crumbs while they continue to privatize our public services and cut, cut, cut whatever services we have left.

That’s not the way of the future. That’s not change for the better. That’s definitely, definitely not change for the better.

Mr. Gilles Bisson: It’s more of the same.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: It’s more of the exact same.

These are what we believe are a fine beginning. Our platform is going to have a lot more great ideas in it—a lot more great ideas. It’s going to be a properly costed platform. It’s going to have with it a responsible fiscal plan that lays out exactly how we can move forward with these ideas. It’s going to put a path in place that shows the people of Ontario that, yes, we can put you at the heart of every decision we make. We can make sure that we’re making this province into a place where everyday families—not just the rich, not just the friends of Liberals and Conservatives, but everyday families, working-class families, middle-class families, are able to build a good life here.

There’s a couple minutes left on the clock. I’m going to turn over the remarks to my friend the MPP from Timmins–James Bay.

Better health care, better seniors’ care, jobs and better opportunity for education for young people, bringing Hydro One back into public hands—these are the things that will help Ontario to turn a page and make sure that folks know they don’t have to settle anymore; they can have a government that acts in their best interest.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): The member from Timmins–James Bay.

M. Gilles Bisson: Quel discours, quelle vision et quel coeur sur des dossiers qui sont tellement importants pour les Ontariens et les Ontariennes. Le long et puis le court de ce dont M me Horwath et le NPD parlent dans ce discours et dont on parle durant cette campagne, qui va venir plus tard ce printemps, c’est exactement le point que la chef a fini avec, et ça, c’est qu’on a besoin de s’assurer que, quoi que le gouvernement fait, quand ça vient aux services, que ce ne soit pas pour le 1 % au top, mais que ce soit pour toute la population de l’Ontario.

Pour trop, trop longtemps, on a des gouvernements libéraux, comme on a des gouvernements conservateurs, qui se disent : « On est préoccupé. On est préoccupé avec le 1 %. » On a les libéraux qui, quand ils étaient à l’opposition, se fâchaient contre les conservateurs et disaient : « Oh non, arrêtez la privatisation. On n’est pas pour ça, nous. Non, non. » « Quelqu’un a besoin d’avoir du coeur, » disait M. Dalton McGuinty, « et d’aller faire ce qui est important pour la population ontarienne. »

Ce qu’on a vu, c’est que quand les conservateurs ont perdu le pouvoir, oui, il y a des libéraux qui ont été à l’autre bord, mais c’est la même gang. Bleu, rouge; rouge, bleu : il n’y a aucune différence. C’est le même parti avec un différent nom, et puis des différentes couleurs.

Si tu regardes l’agenda, et c’est ça le point que M me Horwath fait, les libéraux et les conservateurs chassent un peu le même monde. Ils veulent être capables de soutenir ceux au top de l’économie, le 1 %, et de dire à eux autres : « We got your back. Inquiétez-vous pas quand ça vient à la privatisation et quand ça vient à faire sûr de bien prendre soin de nos amis au 1 %. On est là pour prendre soin de vous. » Les libéraux et les conservateurs, ils se battent l’un contre l’autre et puis ils font toutes sortes de belles affaires pour voir lesquels peuvent aller à l’autre bord de la Chambre pour être capables de donner ce que le 1 % veut avoir.

Moi, je suis avec le 99 %, pareil comme M me Horwath et tous mes collègues. On a besoin de s’assurer, à la fin de la journée, qu’un gouvernement ne réfléchit pas seulement à ce qui est important pour le 1 %, mais à ce qui est important pour la population. Pensez-y. On a M. Ford qui dit : « Oh, moi, si je deviens le premier ministre, on va continuer la privatisation, et puis on va réduire les impôts pour le monde au top. » Est-ce que le monde qui est au top a besoin d’avoir une largesse du gouvernement pour leur dire que c’est correct, qu’ils ont besoin de payer moins?

Il y a un choix. Il y a un choix pour le mieux. Le choix pour le mieux c’est de voter pour M me Horwath et le NPD et dire : « Assez. C’est assez, ça. » On a besoin de s’assurer que ce n’est pas toujours le 1 % qui sont les seuls qui vont avoir les bénéfices de ce qu’un gouvernement peut faire quand ça vient à son mandat, à l’autre bord de la Chambre quand ils se trouvent au gouvernement. On a besoin d’avoir quelqu’un qui dit : « On va être là, et puis on va faire les affaires qui sont importantes ».

Par exemple, si on s’en va et puis on dit que les grosses corporations, celles avec le plus d’argent, vont payer un peu plus, ça veut dire que le monde, quand ils ont besoin d’aller au dentiste—ils n’ont présentement aucun programme qui aide à payer pour même y aller. Comme M me Horwath a dit, le monde, ils n’y vont pas. Ils ne sont pas capables de payer le bill, so ils n’y vont pas. Mais pourquoi ne pas prendre un peu d’argent d’eux autres au top et le transférer dans un programme qui va donner au restant de la population la chance d’être capable d’aller au dentiste?

Ce n’est pas seulement la personne qui travaille au salaire minimum. Combien de gens qu’on connaît, qu’on représente de tous les bords de la Chambre, où les deux parents travaillent, font un salaire combiné de peut-être 80 000 $ à 100 000 $, n’ont pas de programme de dentiste et ne sont pas capables d’aller au dentiste? Ce n’est pas rien que le monde à 15 $ de l’heure qui a ce problème; ce sont les familles à travers cette province qui ont d’autres pressions : payer l’hypothèque, manger, acheter de la nourriture à mettre sur la table, payer le linge pour leurs jeunes, payer leur bill d’hydro.

On a des problèmes chaque mois à être capable d’arriver. Pourquoi pas prendre un peu du 1 % et en donner au 99 %? Ça se tient debout.

Si on regarde les pays qui sont les meilleurs quand ça vient aux standards de vie à travers le monde, ce sont les pays qui prennent cette approche-là, qui comprennent, à la fin de la journée, qu’ils ont besoin d’avoir une économie qui est robuste, ils ont besoin d’avoir une économie qui est rentable et capable de faire une bonne compétition, mais qu’ils ont besoin d’avoir des règles qui établissent une certaine, comment dire, balance quand ça vient à s’assurer que ce ne sont pas seulement ceux du 1 % qui vont tout avoir, aux frais du 99 %.

M me Horwath parle des médicaments et comment des personnes—on l’a vu à travers la province—qui ont au-dessus de 25 ans et en bas de 65 ans n’ont pas de couverture pour leurs médicaments. Si tu ne peux pas prendre tes pilules pour prendre soin de ta condition, qu’est-ce qui va arriver? Tu vas devenir plus malade, tu vas tomber dans le système, et ça va coûter au système beaucoup plus d’argent.

Je sais que les libéraux et les conservateurs, eux autres, disent que ça, ce n’est pas aussi important. En plus, la politique des libéraux pour dire qu’ils ont fait quelque chose—où vraiment ils ont donné des médicaments à la

partie de la société qui a moins de 25 ans et qui est en meilleure santé, et ceux entre 25 et 65 ans qui ont besoin de médicaments ne sont pas capables de les avoir. So, donc, pour eux autres, c’était de la politique.

Sur le bord des conservateurs, eux autres, ils disent, « Comment est-ce qu’on peut trouver une autre opportunité pour le 1 %? On va privatiser plus de notre système de santé. On va privatiser plus de notre système de maintenance des routes sur nos routes d’hiver. On va privatiser plus du système d’hydro. »

Donc, il y a un choix, monsieur le Président. Il y a un choix pour le mieux. Et ce choix-là, c’est de dire, « On n’a pas besoin de choisir entre un parti qu’on n’aime pas, qui est présentement au pouvoir, et un parti qu’on n’aimait pas quand il était au pouvoir. » C’est le temps de faire un choix d’avoir quelqu’un, comme le NPD sous M me Horwath, qui va dire, « Un gouvernement se mesure sur ce qu’on fait pour le 99 % et non seulement le 1 %. »

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

Hon. Michael Gravelle: It’s a great honour to take

part in the debate on the response to the speech from the throne. I listened closely to the third party’s last hour and certainly I appreciate so many of the points that they brought forward and recognize that what’s important for all of us is that we are truly fair to everyone. I’ve spent the last almost 23 years now as an MPP, first for the riding of Port Arthur in 1995 and then the riding of Thunder Bay–Superior North in 1999, and I’ve focused almost all my energies all that time in making sure we find that fairness.

Certainly that speaks very much to what was reflected in the speech from the throne this past Monday about opportunity and about care, and we did use the word “care” a lot because we mean it.

The fact is that Ontario’s health care system is something that we need to be very proud of. From health care planners to physicians to our front-line nurses and our support workers, they all do a remarkable job under tremendous pressures and under increasing pressures, which is why we have made a deliberate decision as a government to go into deficit, in fact, for next year in order to make sure that we have got the proper investments in health care, mental health care and long-term care, all areas of complete priority.

I speak very much as a person who is so proud of the fact that we have put OHIP+ in place for free prescriptions under pharmacare for those under the age of 25, and now we are announcing that it will be put in place for seniors over 65 as well, which is something that I can tell you I’ve heard from many seniors in my own constituency. They’ve made it very, very clear to me that this has been a real burden for them, so we’re going to move forward on that.

In terms of northern Ontario health care, we’ve got the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, a remarkable institution. Since opening in 2005, 527 medical doctors have graduated from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. That’s been a remarkable help in terms of recruiting what we need for doctors in the north. Seven new hospitals have been built since 2003, 42 family health teams have been put in place and eight new nurse practitioner-led clinics in the north.

And we’ve got a Northern Health Travel Grant Program, which is a vitally important program for everyone in northern Ontario who is not able to receive services in their home communities. We’ve just increased the funding for that, expanded it through a $10-million enhancement, and that’s incredibly important.

As a northerner, there are so many other issues that we’re proud of. We’re proud of free post-secondary tuition for hundreds of thousands of students across the province, many of them in northern Ontario, which has made access to post-secondary institutions far more possible and makes a real huge difference.

But we’ve got a number of programs that have been a real priority for us, which have been incredibly important in terms of building the economy and building the social system in northern Ontario. I think of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp.: Since 2013, we’ve invested nearly $600 million through the NOHFC in well over 3,700 projects, leveraging more than $2.1 billion in direct economic activity and creating or sustaining over 15,000 jobs in northern Ontario. That is absolutely huge, and I’m very excited about that.

We announced another very important thing: We provided very strong support to the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission. There was a time when it was under threat of divestment. We put together a minister’s advisory committee. In fact, one of the first things Premier Wynne asked me to do back when she became Premier in 2014 was to put together stakeholders and listen to the people of northeastern Ontario in terms of the importance of the ONTC. We put in place a minister’s advisory committee made up of key people in northeastern Ontario, who advised us to keep four of the five lines in public hands, which we have since done.

We’re now in the midst of expanding intercommunity bus services. We provided bus services to every location that was served by the Northlander, and now we are enhancing that bus service by building on that motor coach service and moving into northwestern Ontario, so that we can make sure communities that have not been previously served by motor coaches will be served by motor coaches. We’re rather excited about that.

There are other things that perhaps aren’t quite as obvious to people who live in southern Ontario. The need to expand broadband is hugely important. We’ve expanded broadband to 100,000 more people in northern Ontario, covering 98% of the people in the north, and we’ve committed another $30 million to continue expansion to five of the Matawa communities in the Ring of Fire region, which is huge for them as they move forward on the Ring of Fire.

When one speaks specifically about the Ring of Fire, there’s no question—

Mr. Gilles Bisson: He’s driving the bulldozer.

Hon. Michael Gravelle: There are two key aspects to the Ring of Fire, Mr. Speaker: Regional infrastructure—

Mr. Gilles Bisson: He’s driving the bulldozer.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Are you finished?

Mr. Gilles Bisson: I’m just helping.

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

Continue.

Hon. Michael Gravelle: Regional infrastructure is certainly key to building roads into the Ring of Fire. We’ve committed $1 billion towards making that happen; neither of the other two parties have made that commitment.

But the other really important part of moving this project forward together—a major resource development project, in a remote part of the province that has never seen development before—is the partnership with First Nations. My colleague across the way referenced the fact that the Conservative leader spoke about bringing bulldozers in there. That shows an utter lack of respect for the work that’s going on with First Nations. I mean, this is a partnership. It’s is important that we get this right. In fact, we are making real progress in getting a road agreement in place.

Last August, Premier Wynne was in Thunder Bay with a number of First Nation leaders, announcing the fact that we are moving forward on road construction to build an all-season road access from the communities of Webequie, Martin Falls and Nibinamik through to the public highway network and into the Ring of Fire. That work has continued apace and is crucial, but to think that we would go ahead without that kind of negotiation is rather appalling, from my perspective. I can’t imagine that the Conservative leader would continue to speak in that manner, nor any of the people in his caucus who understand how important those negotiations are.

Speaker, this is not just about the minerals. It’s huge; it’s a huge development—$60 billion in minerals in the ground and great opportunities from an economic point of view. We want to make sure we get it right.

In fact, when the Premier made the announcement last August in Thunder Bay, she spoke about, obviously, moving forward on building the all-season road access. Alan Coutts, the CEO and president of Noront Resources, said that this would be a real game-changer. Well, it is a game-changer. It’s not just about the minerals, but it’s a game-changer in that sense. Creating these new economic opportunities in First Nations will significantly improve the quality of life, but it also gives us an opportunity to talk about other issues as well, which we are doing on a regular basis with all nine Matawa First Nations.

The next phase for our government and for the communities will be the environmental assessment work, with initial baseline studies already under way. There are discussions going on between a number of ministries and the communities that are speaking about building that all-season road access. That’s very important, and it’s something we’re very excited about. Our plan is to get preliminary construction started in 2019, and that will be great.

Again, the key here is to make sure that we get it right. We are working long and hard with our First Nation partners to make development happen. That certainly has been one of my top priorities as Minister of Northern Development and Mines. It does worry me that the opposition, the Conservatives, have no plan to involve local partners or consult with First Nation communities or handle any of the other complex challenges associated with the Ring of Fire. From my perspective, they’re long past being in a position to properly handle this file.

What we’re doing is what we need to be doing, which is carefully laying out the groundwork to make sure all Ontarians benefit from this incredible opportunity. We will continue to do that work and continue to speak about it in the months ahead as we move towards environmental assessment for these all-season roads.

With the little time I have left—I recognize that we’re running out of time—let me also speak about another huge priority for us in northern Ontario, and that is the northern Ontario highway network. We have been very, very pleased with the investments that we have been able to receive over the last 10 or 12 years or so. When the previous government was in power, the most that was ever provided in terms of northern Ontario highway investment was $250 million a year. We have now spent over $5 billion over the last 10 years; $640 million or $648 million in this past fiscal year on northern highways.

It’s huge priority for us and a huge job creator as well for us, and something we are very clear that we need to continue to see that great support for. So we will be doing whatever we can to continue to not just rehabilitate but expand the highway system in northern Ontario.

We’re continuing to work on Highway 69 to have four lanes between Parry Sound and Sudbury. That work is ongoing and will be completed soon. That work is going to continue to go forward. The work between Thunder Bay and Nipigon is going forward as well. And we are committed to moving forward on the four-laning between Kenora and the Manitoba border. This is hugely important to us from an economic development point of view but also from a safety point of view. That’s why it has always been a priority for me as a local member, let alone before I was a minister, to push hard for these improvements. They are vital to our system and we are going to continue to work for it.

The speech from the throne spoke, Mr. Speaker, very much about care and very much about opportunity. It talked about the fact that we are prepared to make the investments that need to be made to meet some of the challenges that we do face in both health care and other aspects of long-term care and home care. We recognize that the population is aging and as a result we need to provide more investments.

I am keen to be able to get out there and talk to people and speak to my constituents about this as soon as I can so that we can make it clear that our priority is indeed to see that there is fairness in the system and that people will be provided with the kind of care they deserve and will be getting in the future.

Debate deemed adjourned.

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

The House recessed from 1014 to 1030.

Introduction of Visitors

Mr. Bill Walker: It’s a delight to introduce Maggie Head and Gopala Narayanan, who are in the Speaker’s gallery today at Queen’s Park. Welcome, and enjoy.

Hon. Tracy MacCharles: I’m pleased to introduce our friend Howard Brown, who is here today, and Erin Morgan, the executive director of the Ontario Co-Operative Association. They are inviting all members to join them in rooms 228 and 230 for a reception at 5 p.m. this afternoon. Thank you, and welcome.

Mr. Steve Clark: I want to introduce, to you and through you, to the members of the Legislative Assembly constituents from my riding of Leeds–Grenville, who are here attending the Oral Health Alliance summit. I’d like to welcome Rideau Lakes residents Peter McKenna, Terry Lee and Liz Snyder.

Ms. Ann Hoggarth: Today I would like to welcome Rebecca Harbridge, from my riding of Barrie. Rebecca is the mother of Caius Harbridge, our page captain for the day. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Jennifer K. French: On behalf of my colleague from London West, I would like to acknowledge our page captain today, Rhys Davies, his mother, Cheryl Davies, and his grandmother, Borden Craddock, who are joining us in the gallery. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Lou Rinaldi: I’d like to welcome to the House today Lisa Colucci Voutt and Steve Soumakis. They’re here to have lunch with me today.

Mr. Ross Romano: I have a few introductions to make this morning. I’d like to introduce, in the upper gallery, a gentleman who helped me out a lot in my provincial by-election last year, Jordan Falkenstein.

I also have a very special guest I want to introduce from my constituency office, my constituency office manager, Colleen Bishop, in the rear gallery, and constituent Paul Sharpe.

Mr. Paul Miller: I’d like to welcome executives of the Pakistan Business Association of Hamilton visiting Queen’s Park here today in the east gallery. With us is the president, Zahit Butt, Waheed Malik, Shabbir Khan, Noor Bhatti, Syed Masood Hussain, Irfan Sheikh, Arshad Hayat, Rana Sabir, Jahan Choudhry, Aftab Elahi, Abid Khan, Shakil Hassan, Nadeem Younis and Zafar Choudhry. Welcome.

Mr. Arthur Potts: It’s a pleasure to introduce Deanna Allain, who is here at Queen’s Park with her service dog in training. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Robert Bailey: I’d like to introduce our page captain, Annabelle Rayson, today. She is joined by her mother, Stephanie Lobsinger, who is in the west members’ gallery this morning.

Ms. Soo Wong: I have a couple of guests who are visiting Queen’s Park this morning. Starting on behalf of my colleague the MPP from Mississauga–Erindale, page Tahira Rajwani’s father is here today, Salim Rajwani. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Today’s page captain, Adam Omarali, and his parents are here today: his mother, Zenobia Omarali, his father, Bill Velos, and his grandmother, Phirosa Omarali.

My nephew, David Wong, is also visiting. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Michael Harris: I would like to welcome page Luke Dixon’s grandmother, Sylvia, to Queen’s Park today.

Hon. Jeff Leal: It’s a pleasure to introduce some guests of mine, who are here from Peterborough with the Ontario Waterpower Association. In the members’ east gallery are Paul Norris, who is the president, Janelle Bates, Kaitlyn Leigh and Heather Ferguson.

I’d remind all members there’s a reception this evening in the legislative dining room between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.. That’s the Ontario Waterpower Association.

Mr. Yvan Baker: I just wanted to welcome Kody Lin here to Queen’s Park. He’s a resident of my riding of Etobicoke Centre and a great supporter and a good friend. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Peggy Sattler: I would like to welcome Cheryl Davies, the proud parent of page Rhys Davies, and also Mrs. Borden Craddock, who is Rhys’s grandmother. They are here today to watch Rhys in action at Queen’s Park.

Mrs. Amrit Mangat: I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the grade 10 class of St. Marcellinus Secondary School to Queen’s Park, and a special shout-out to Maya Katchutas, who lives in my great riding of Mississauga–Brampton South. Welcome to Queen’s Park and enjoy the trip.

Hon. Indira Naidoo-Harris: I’d like to recognize page captain Jathusa Balamurali today, and I’d like to welcome her mother, Sivajini Balamurali, to Queen’s Park. Welcome and enjoy the day.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): From the great riding of Brant we have page Tatyana Zebroski, and Shelly Peirce is here in the House to visit with Tatyana. Thank you very much for being here.

Also with us in the Speaker’s gallery today, we have a delegation of the senior Parliamentary staff from the Israeli Knesset, led by Director General Mr. Albert Sakharovich. Please join me in welcoming our delegation from the Knesset.

Also in the Speaker’s gallery, a very warm visit with the consul general of the Republic of Chile at Toronto, Marcos Correa. Please join us in welcoming Marcos.

Finally, I will offer my chair to the Minister of Municipal Affairs on an introduction.

Hon. Bill Mauro: Speaker, I apologize. I missed, sitting in the members’ east gallery, two of my staff who are here today: Kaley Ames and Melanie Moscovitch. Kaley has her brother, whose name I don’t know, with her here today. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I’ll do a last call for introductions, and if not, I have another introduction that I’m absolutely sure all members will welcome.

Legislative pages

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Could I ask the pages to assemble to be introduced?

These are our legislative—I’m going to say this slowly to make sure they’re in line—pages serving in the third session of the 41st Parliament:

Mr.

Adam Omarali from Scarborough–Agincourt; Aidan Fletcher, Mississauga South; Annabelle Rayson from Sarnia–Lambton; Caius Harbridge from Barrie; Colin Wang from Markham–Unionville; Eliana Rosenberg from York Centre; Emmanuel Samouel from Oak Ridges–Markham; Gajalini Santhakumar from Scarborough Centre; Humza Aziz from Guelph; Jathusa Balamurali from Halton; Justin Abraham from York West; Lauren Grierson from Toronto Centre; Luke Dixon from Kitchener–Conestoga; Medha Gupta from Mississauga–Streetsville; Mikayla Roy from Wellington–Halton Hills; Rachel Lewars from Davenport; Rhys Davies from London West; Ryan Stainsby from Don Valley West; Sophia Andrew-Joiner from Parry Sound–Muskoka; Tahira Rajwani from Mississauga–Erindale; Tamsyn King from Windsor–Tecumseh; Tatyana Zebroski from Brant; Taylor Freeman from Thornhill.

These are your pages for this session.

Oral Questions

Government’s record

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: My question is to the Minister of Finance. Good morning, Minister.

After promising a balanced budget just weeks ago, the minister broke that promise by announcing he will plunge our province into an $8-billion deficit, and just on Monday the Premier doubled down in her throne speech with that same number.

On April 2, the Premier said, “I think everyone here knows that eliminating the deficit is the most important thing we can do” for economic growth. Why is this government promising a deficit when they know it will harm the economy?

Hon. Charles Sousa: Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member opposite and her open letter to us today recognizing some of the measures being taken.

Let me start off by saying that we have slayed the deficit since we came into office. We not only have a balanced budget at this moment; we have a surplus. That surplus and that financial strength is enabling us to do a number of initiatives that we’re choosing to do on behalf of the people of Ontario.

The member opposite has made reference to the fact that there are needs out there, needs that we have been addressing by providing OHIP+, by providing free tuition, by ensuring that we have a more secure retirement for seniors, and further on with CPP enhancement.

We’ve taken these measures, and every time we’ve done these progressive measures, while balancing the books, they voted against that. We are there to support the people of Ontario.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock.

Indications are a continuation of what happened yesterday, so we will be moving very quickly.

I’m also going to remind some members of the government side that while the member was answering, I was hearing heckling, which meant that they were interfering with their own member.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): That’s not conducive to the same, because I was going to say the same thing about the opposition side.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: It wasn’t me, Speaker.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I noted that.

We will conduct ourselves properly, and we will move to warnings if it continues.

Supplementary.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: It’s interesting that the minister can read my open letter; too bad he can’t read a balance sheet.

The government likes to think that if they throw money around to their insider friends, no one will catch on to their waste and mismanagement. Servicing the debt and the deficit has become the third-largest spending priority of this government, outside of health and education. They have started to move money from vital public services as a result, and we’ve seen that with mental health wait times across the province in Ontario as they have steadily increased.

The lack of fiscal discipline and the intellectual dishonesty in this—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member will withdraw.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Withdrawn.

I always like to hit a nerve with this Liberal crowd. But the argument that they accompany it with is harmful to Ontarians.

Will the minister finally admit that he is only running an $8-billion deficit in order to pass out pre-election trinkets to save their skin?

Hon. Charles Sousa: What’s harmful, Mr. Speaker, is their alternatives of cutting and slashing and burning the very programs that people rely on. What’s harmful is them not wanting to make infrastructure investments to stimulate economic growth. What’s harmful is that they would vote against increasing jobs. Over 800,000 net new jobs have come to our province since we came into power.

Over these challenging times that we had to experience through a recession, they sat on their hands; they turned their backs on the people of Ontario. We invested. We were strategic in our investments, and we didn’t cut health care; we didn’t cut education; we didn’t cut the programs that people rely on. In fact, we bolstered those investments, and our economy grew. We’re leading Canada. We’re leading the G7. We have the lowest unemployment in Canada in 20 years.

Interjections.

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

We are now in warnings.

Final supplementary?

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Well, I have a message for the minister: As Doug Ford would say, the party with the taxpayer money is over.

Surely he knows—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): About four people just missed a warning. If you want to get your last licks in, do it now and I’ll warn you now.

You may finish.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Was it something I said, like “Doug Ford” or “the party is over”? Which didn’t you like?

Surely the government knows that whatever problems their government says they will solve, they either created them or they presided over them for the past 15 years, and they cannot hide from the fact.

If this government was doing so well, then I ask them, why is there a homeless couple at Bay and Bloor whose wife is suffering from breast cancer? Why was a London man denied a hospital bed before dying out of country? Why are our hospitals so over capacity that some young mental health care patients are waiting upwards of 18 months? That’s not under the Progressive Conservatives’ watch; it’s under the Ontario Liberal government’s watch.

Interjections.

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

Hon. Charles Sousa: The member opposite spoke about Doug Ford. They’re obviously very conflicted here. On the one hand, they have a $16-billion hole they’ve got to fill, and he’s saying, “We may balance, or we may not.” He’s not decisive. “We may sell marijuana right next to schools, or we may not.” He’s undecided.

He wants to make cuts. He has to make cuts, based upon what he says. That is not sawing into fat, Mr. Speaker. We have already included almost $1 billion to $2 billion in transformations and savings every year in our plan. We’re the lowest-cost government as a result. He’s going to saw into bone. He’s going to make life even harder for the people of Ontario.

The member opposite had five requests in order to support our budget. Let me read them to you. They want a plan to balance the budget immediately. We’re balanced. We’ve got a surplus.

They want a commitment to lower hydro rates. More than their 12%, we’ve got 40% and 60% reductions in hydro rates in rural communities—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. That’s good.

Interjection: He’s warmed up.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): So am I.

New question.

Mental health services

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: My question is to the Premier. This government’s reckless spending and love of scandal have cost Ontarians dearly. They don’t care. The Liberals simply do not care. If they cared, we wouldn’t have 40% of children unable to access mental health treatments that they need. If they cared, we wouldn’t have a 67% increase in hospitalizations for children with mental health disorders. If they cared, it wouldn’t take six months to see a psychiatrist after a suicide attempt.

Mr. Speaker, this government claims to care only now, 15 years after the fact. Why didn’t they care for the first 15?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I’m sorry that the member opposite wasn’t able to be at CAMH today, when we made an announcement that addresses—actually, I think it’s the third point in her list.

“Plan to get back to budget balance”—we’ve done that. “Match our commitment to get hydro rates down”—okay, we’ve reduced those. Then she talks about scrapping cap-and-trade, providing tax relief—that means tax cutting. That means revenue cutting. Then she says, “Match our commitments on long-term care and mental health....”

The position of the members opposite is that they’re going to cut and they’re going to invest, Mr. Speaker. It doesn’t work that way. We know what happens there: There is simply cutting. What we announced this morning were investments that are going to relieve people who are dealing with mental health issues all over this province: children and adults in the north, in the south, in the east and in the west of this province. It’s a plan that has been put in place with advisers, patients and—

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

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: If the Premier—

Interjections.

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

Supplementary.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: If the Premier actually cared—she has been part of a government for 15 years—she would not have waited on the eleventh hour, 78 days before a provincial election where her party is right now third in the polls. How many suicides did it take for this government to notice? How many patients turned away from treatment did it take for them to notice? It’s disingenuous for the Liberals to say they care now—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member will withdraw.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Withdrawn.

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

Interjection: Two strikes.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I will take care of that. You have pushed too far.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: The only thing that they care about is re-election.

Mr. Speaker, why, after 15 years, is this government only now committing to investing in mental health?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: That is just not accurate. The reality is that we put in place a mental health strategy in 2011. In every budget, we have increased supports to mental health—supports that they have voted against, I might add, every single time.

Whether it’s $140 million over three years that we announced in February of last year, Mr. Speaker, the $74 million over three years to provide faster access to mental health services, an additional support of 1,150 supportive housing units—all of those—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Premier.

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: In terms of mental health supports for children and youth: $100 million in new investments that we’ve put in place to put supports for young people across the province. Every single time, they have voted against them. We announced the largest investment in mental health in Canadian history, but that builds on supports we’ve been putting in place for years.

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

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: The reality is that no one in this province believes them and no one in this province believes they care about the issues outside of getting themselves re-elected. If this government cared—

Hon. Bill Mauro: And what are you trying to do?

Hon. Eleanor McMahon: Cut, cut, cut.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The Minister of Municipal Affairs is warned. The President of the Treasury Board is warned. The next thing after warning is naming.

Finish, please.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: If this government cared, they wouldn’t have allowed a young man to be turned away from the doors at the urgent care department at St. Joe’s. Just remember what one mental health care worker told the finance committee: “We’ve had people turned away from the doors in the urgent care department at St. Joe’s. One of those poor souls committed suicide in the parking lot. No services, no psychiatric services that can be attained in a timely manner—this is unacceptable.”

Mr. Speaker, that is unacceptable. Where is the accountability? Why do they only care now, 78 days before an election?

Interjections.

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

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Two words: Doug Ford.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Nepean–Carleton is warned.

Premier.

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that there were families, there were practitioners, there were people who lead care organizations at the announcement this morning. They’ve been working with us for a number of years as we have put increased investments into the mental health system. They have been working with us to make sure that we take the next steps to put the supports in place.

Today, we announced that there would be access for every school in the province to mental health professionals. We announced that there would be base increases to community agencies who deliver mental health services—

Mr. John Yakabuski: Does this mean you’re going to be closing more schools?

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke is warned.

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: We announced over 2,000 more beds, more supportive housing units, Mr. Speaker. So the reality is that we are building on supports that we have already put in place.

But we recognize that there’s more that has to be done—and that’s exactly what the announcement was today.

Dental care

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, my question is for the Premier.

Mira Etlin-Stein and her partner, Brian Lahaie, are both self-employed. They have a nearly two-year-old daughter. This young family is working very hard, but they do not have health benefits like dental coverage. The last time Mira was at the dentist was two years ago; for Brian, it has been five years. And their daughter has never seen a dentist.

The Liberal government has had 15 years to implement a dental program that would help Mira and her family. Why didn’t they?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, I welcome this approach that the leader of the third party is taking. I recognize that expanding dental and drug coverage are important steps that have to be taken. The member opposite knows that we expanded the Healthy Smiles Ontario program. The member opposite knows that we have moved forward on providing pharmacare for people under the age of 25 and people over the age of 65. And we recognize that there is more that needs to be done.

So I don’t disagree with the leader of the third party that there is more that we have to do to help people who don’t have those benefits.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Fifteen years is a long time, Speaker. This could have been done a long time ago.

The Premier and this Liberal government know that access to dental care is an issue; they should have known for the last 15 years. They know that the government can do something about it. But instead of investing in families like Mira’s, they chose to prioritize other things, like selling off Hydro One. That was the priority of Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals, which means that instead of the revenue Hydro One generates being used on things like dental care programs for Mira’s family, that money is now in the pockets of private investors.

Mira and Brian should be able to go to the dentist regularly, and so should their daughter.

Why did the Premier choose to prioritize lining the pockets of the already wealthy with the Hydro One sell-off instead of investing in a dental plan that would help everyday families?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, as I said before, I recognize that there are people in this province who are under a lot of stress and that they are looking for supports. We have put supports in place: pharmacare for children and youth up to the age of 25, free tuition, increasing the minimum wage. And we recognize that there is more that needs to be done, which is exactly why, in the throne speech, we outlined the areas where we believe there is the most need, where we need to step up so that people can care for themselves and care for each other.

I don’t disagree with the leader of the third party that there’s more that needs to be done, and we are stepping up and we are going to put those supports in place, Mr. Speaker.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: People are under stress because for 15 years this Liberal government has left them swinging in the wind. That’s why they’re under stress.

Speaker, entrepreneurs, musicians, artists, freelancers and others in the gig economy need workplace health benefits, starting with dental care. Seniors need dental care. Folks on social assistance need dental care. But instead of prioritizing the needs of everyday families, the Liberals spent $1 billion on the gas plants scandal. Their policies have ensured that corporations and the wealthiest don’t pay their fair share in our province. They sold off Hydro One. And they wasted $8 billion on P3 projects that could have been completed for far, far less.

Some 4.5 million people in Ontario can’t afford to go to the dentist. Why weren’t they the Premier’s priority during her time in office?

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

Hon. Helena Jaczek: As the Premier has affirmed, of course, dental care in particular has been a focus of our government and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. We took the original Children In Need Of Treatment Program, or CINOT, as it was known, and expanded it across the province into the Healthy Smiles Ontario program. This is now helping more than 450,000 kids to get important dental services. We are absolutely committed to ensuring that children have this very good start in life, in terms of what we call Healthy Smiles Ontario. It’s very important for their future.

The Premier has alluded, and of course in the throne speech—we have made very clear that we know there’s more to do. We know there’s more to do across several populations, and we will continue to work in this regard.

As the member referred to, for those on social assistance, there is a program of dental benefits available. We continue to make these improvements. This is what our government is all about. We’re about caring for people and giving them the very best opportunity.

Dental care

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My question is for the Premier, Speaker. Let me tell the Minister of Health and the Premier of this province about CINOT and Healthy Smiles. Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, the Hamilton medical officer of health, released a report this week that says this about children in our city: Thousands of Hamiltonians don’t have access to dental coverage. She says that right now in Hamilton, 42% of children currently in second grade have a history of tooth decay, a result of not having regular access to dental cleanings and preventative dental care.

What does the Premier have to say to the parents of these children about why she has done nothing to help them in her time in office?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Again, I would just reinforce what the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care has said. We recognize that there is more to be done, but we have expanded the programs, particularly for children, to provide supports for kids who otherwise wouldn’t be able to access dental care.

But I think this issue is much like the pharmacare issue, in that had we the ability to go back to 1969 and have the discussion about medicare again, with what we know now, I think we would suggest that perhaps pharmacare and dental care needed to be part of that medicare package.

I think we can agree, Mr. Speaker, that those are gaps that should have been filled, but we can’t go back to 1969. We have been working to expand programs for children in this province for dental care. We know there is more to be done, so we don’t disagree with the leader of the third party.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, Dr. Richardson’s report said that one in 10 grade 2 students in Hamilton require urgent dental care, and that many schools in the city report very high rates of untreated cavities in their students. She is trying to expand free dental programs at the city level, so that more people in my community can go to the dentist without worrying about how they’re going to be able to pay for it.

Why has the Premier left municipalities and local medical officers of health to deal with this serious medical issue on their own? Why hasn’t she done anything in her 15 years in office to help?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, I know the Minister of Health will want to comment on the specifics again, but just to remind the leader of the third party: We have been making increases in the program to help kids with dental health problems. We’ve put Healthy Smiles in place. We’ve expanded that program. There is more to be done.

With all due respect to the leader of the third party, I don’t remember seeing this in her platform, and I don’t remember seeing her talk to us about Healthy Smiles, Mr. Speaker, so I appreciate that she is now making this a cause célèbre. We have been working to increase those supports. We know there’s more to be done, but to suggest that somehow she has been on this and we haven’t is just not the case.

Interjections.

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

Final supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, with all the resources of the third party, we can’t always do the government’s job.

Look, the programs that they are lauding have failed. Grade 2 students were born around 2011. This government has been in office since 2003. Where the heck have they been, Speaker? Families who can’t afford a dentist have no choice but to let their oral health issues get so bad that they require medical—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Ladies and gentlemen, I think it’s just called respect.

Carry on.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Their oral health issues get so bad that they actually require medical attention in our hospitals, because when you go to a hospital, you don’t have to pay out of pocket.

I was outraged when I read Dr. Richardson’s report this week. It is heartbreaking to me that parents are being forced to let their kids go without the care that they need because they just can’t afford it. No parent should be put in that situation—

Interjections.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: —and those MPPs over there may say it’s boring, but it’s the truth. Why hasn’t the Premier done anything about this in her 15 years in office?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, I am—

Interjections.

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

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I think it’s appropriate that the leader of the third party is outraged, Mr. Speaker, as I was outraged five or six years ago, which is exactly why we have been putting more supports in place to help kids with dental issues. The reality is that this is a gap. It is a gap in our health care system, as pharmacare is a gap. We have taken a major step forward in terms of putting—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The leader of the third party is warned.

Carry on.

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I really do believe that this is an important conversation that we did start by increasing supports for kids and adults with dental issues. It’s something that needs to be expanded. We recognize that.

I think what would have been helpful over the last few years is if the leader of the third party had raised this and we had had a conversation and there had been suggestions that could have come forward about how to move on this. This is a national challenge. We have not heard constructive ideas from the third party, but we’re open to them.

Hospital services

Mr. Bill Walker: My question is to the Premier. Your pre-election throne speech preached about, “Care is all around,” and “this impulse to care for ... people ... who are struggling.” Well, Premier, Todd Hrabchak’s family wants to know why you won’t practise what you preach. His wife says that you’re letting him rot in a Florida hospital instead of bringing him home so he can get the care he needs in an Ontario hospital.

Premier, your speeches are just talk and no substance. But if I’m wrong, then please prove it. Will you instruct your Minister of Health right here, right now to get on the phone and find Todd Hrabchak a bed here in an Ontario hospital?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: There are many things that are disturbing about this story, and it’s unacceptable—absolutely unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. But the reality is that there are beds in Ontario. There are beds here that could be available. So the challenge is, what is happening with that insurance company that they are not able to work with the system to find those beds?

The minister will speak to the details of a meeting that she is going to be having. But we are going to figure out where that—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Leeds–Grenville is warned.

Finish, please.

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: We’re going to figure out where that disconnect is. There are beds here in Ontario and the insurance companies should be able to access them.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mr. Bill Walker: Back to the Premier, please: Time and again, you say you care, but when put to the test, you fail Ontarians in their most critical time of need. It is unacceptable that you failed Larry Dann. It’s unacceptable that you failed Stuart Cline when you left him languishing in a Mexico hospital due to a lack of hospital beds in Ontario, and sadly, Mr. Cline died.

Now Todd Hrabchak’s life hangs in your hands. If your Minister of Health won’t pick up the phone and you find it so acceptable—Premier, will you find him a hospital bed today?

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

Hon. Helena Jaczek: I think we can all really sympathize with the families involved in these very difficult cases. As the Premier has said, there seems to be this disconnect between knowing, as we know, that there are beds available across Ontario and the insurance companies’ efforts—and I am sure they are making good efforts—to try and connect to find those beds. This is precisely why we’re asking questions about why this disconnect is occurring, and we want to make sure that everyone has the benefit of, obviously, our wonderful, world-class health care system here in Ontario.

I have invited members of the insurance associations to meet directly with me, very, very soon, and with officials from my ministry. In particular in this case, our office has been working extremely closely with the Toronto Central LHIN on this particular case, and we’re hoping that this case will be resolved in the very, very near future.

Hospital services

Mr. Peter Tabuns: My question is to the Premier. I’m going to follow on the lead taken by my colleague there. Todd Hrabchak is an 83-year-old man from Toronto. He’s stuck in a hospital in Florida. His leg is infected and he can’t stand or walk. Todd and his wife, Lilian, need to come home now. They need to get back to Toronto to be seen by Todd’s own doctors and physiotherapists, but their insurance company can’t find a hospital bed for Todd in Toronto. No one here is surprised—no one here is surprised. Why is the Premier doing nothing to stop the overcrowding in our hospitals so that people like Todd can get the health care that they need?

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

Hon. Helena Jaczek: I can assure the member opposite, Mr. Speaker, that we’re doing everything we possibly can in terms of my ministry and the local LHIN. We are working extremely hard in this particular case. We need to coordinate services so that they in fact are seamless in these very difficult situations. We’re aware that the individual in question has had treatment from a particular hospital in Toronto and we are working extremely hard to ensure that he gets back as soon as possible to those physicians who know his case very well already. I can simply say that we will continue to work on this particular case. In the supplementary, we’ll address the broader systemic issue.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary.

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Again to the Premier: This keeps happening week after week because Ontario’s hospitals are dangerously overcrowded. Joe Glowacki, Stuart Cline, David Ronald, Danny Marchand, Larry Dann: All of these people were told in recent weeks that they couldn’t come home because there were no hospital beds available when they faced a health care emergency. Can the Premier tell us, right now, how many more Ontarians waiting in pain will it take to convince her that this overcrowding crisis is real?

Hon. Helena Jaczek: Mr. Speaker, I need to reiterate: There are critical care beds available in Ontario. The beds are there. What we have is a systemic disconnect in terms of communication between the out-of-country hospital and physicians, the insurance company, and our health officials on the ground. That’s precisely why I have invited members of the insurance communities affected to meet directly with me.

We can all understand the suffering in terms of the individual and the families involved. We are determined to ensure that we have a streamlined system so insurance companies know how to access the beds that I would like to say, yet again, are available here in our world-class health care system.

Health care

M. Shafiq Qaadri: Ma question est pour la ministre de la Santé et des Soins de longue durée, the Honourable Helena Jaczek. I ask this question on behalf of the people of Etobicoke North who I’ve been proud to represent for the past 15 years. Speaker, providing all Ontarians with timely access to the care that they need, whether at home, in the community or in one of our full-service hospitals, is of course of utmost importance to our government and to me, personally, as a physician. Our health care system has many things to be proud of, from our doctors, nurses, support workers, even our volunteers.

We continue to reduce wait times for surgery, increase access to primary health care providers, and expand services for Ontarians at home and in their communities. Life expectancy is higher than the national average and one of the highest in the world. Thank you, by the way, Minister, for the $400-million expansion for Etobicoke General Hospital. We have the best survival rates in the country for prostate, breast, colorectal and lung cancers. Even the Fraser Institute, God bless them, and the Wait Time Alliance have consistently ranked Ontario as having some of the shortest wait times in Canada.

Speaker, my question is this: The speech from the throne outlined our government’s plan for a brighter future for our health care system. Can the minister please expand on those investments?

Hon. Helena Jaczek: Thank you to the member for Etobicoke North for this very important question and for giving me an opportunity to discuss how our government is choosing to continue investing in care. We’ve all seen that a growing and aging population is contributing to the pressures faced by our health care system, and we’re continuing to support the people of this province by making monumental investments in mental health—announced this morning—health care, and home care. That’s why we’re making a deliberate choice to run a deficit to invest more in the people who are making our province strong.

The people of this province will see major investments from our government in the services that they need, including the expansion of government programs that are already making it easier for people to care for their loved ones and help them to succeed: programs like OHIP+ that are helping to alleviate the financial burden many families face, a program that has provided more than one million young individuals with free prescription drugs since January 1. We will continue to fight for historic programs like OHIP+.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mr. Shafiq Qaadri: Thank you, Minister, first of all for detailing to this House how critical health care is, the entire system, to our province and to our government, as well as the once-in-a-generation expansion of pharmacare. I know that my own residents in Etobicoke North welcome and appreciate these sorts of investments.

Speaker, yesterday the Premier was joined by the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, as well as the Minister of Seniors Affairs, to make announcements that support care, create opportunity and make life more affordable during this period of rapid economic change. I myself was at a seniors’ health fair in Etobicoke North run by the Rexdale health centre, and we were able to determine and announce that more than 10,000 children have received free medications as a result of our pharmacare expansion. That, of course, Speaker, as you’ll know, includes an entire list of 4,400 medications available to Ontarians broadly.

We also know that we have a collective responsibility to care for our seniors, so my question is this: Can the minister please inform this House of the important expansions that we’re making to support seniors across the province?

Hon. Helena Jaczek: Minister of Seniors Affairs.

Hon. Dipika Damerla: I want to thank the member from Etobicoke North for this great question. I know that, as a physician, he knows very well that approximately 70% of Ontario seniors take at least one medication daily, and 30% of seniors in Ontario take at least five prescription drugs every day, so you can imagine that these costs do add up.

That’s why I am so proud, as the Minister of Seniors Affairs, that yesterday I stood with our Premier and the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care to announce that we will now be expanding OHIP+ to anybody over the age of 65. What this means is that prescription drugs in Ontario, for anybody over the age of 65, will soon be completely free—no co-pay, no deductible. This means no co-pay and no deductible for over 2.6 million seniors and their families. Our seniors told us—

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

Wind turbines

Mr. Jim Wilson: My question is for the Minister of Energy. In August 2017, the Environmental Review Tribunal ruled against a proposal to build eight 500-foot-tall wind turbines in my riding due to significant public safety concerns and their close proximity to the Collingwood airport and Clearview aerodrome. Citizen groups and organizations worked hard to stop this project and have since made an attempt to have their legal costs awarded or repaid by the tribunal.

This government has cost hard-working citizens in my riding over $850,000, and local municipalities an additional $800,000. The Green Energy Act won’t allow these groups and individuals to get their money back. Will the minister change this legislation to allow the tribunal to award costs?

Hon. Glenn Thibeault: When it comes to community engagement and to the renewable procurement process, we did listen to many of the community groups in the past, and we did try to strike the right balance between early community engagement and achieving value for ratepayers by putting an emphasis on cost. I can appreciate where my friend in the opposition is coming from.

This process is administered by the IESO and is overseen by an external fairness adviser, so even when a contract is offered, the process is not over. I believe that’s part of the question that my honourable colleague has mentioned. Project developers, through this process, must obtain all required licences and approvals, such as the renewable energy approval, or REA, or an environmental assessment before they can start construction on those projects.

I look forward to speaking more in the supplementary.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mr. Jim Wilson: Back to the minister: Minister, your government caused my constituents and my municipalities to spend over $1.6 million. Nobody ever thought any government would be stupid enough to approve eight—12, I guess, in the beginning—500-foot windmills between two airports, but since you made that decision and your ministry made that decision and your government made that decision, it caused my constituents and my municipalities to spend this money at the tribunal. They won at the tribunal. Thank God that, finally, common sense came to light.

These citizens did you a favour. Pilots were going to get killed. It was never a question of if someone was going to get killed; it was always a question of when someone was going to get killed. They did you a favour by forcing the tribunal to do the right thing. You owe them $1.6 million. Will you do the right thing and pay them back?

Interjections.

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

Minister.

Hon. Glenn Thibeault: Again, when looking at the process that we put in place, it is to strike that right balance between making sure that communities have a process in place to ensure that they can actually express their views and actually put projects in the right light to ensure that if there are concerns, they can bring those concerns forward.

As I said before, we really worked hard with the IESO to strike that right balance between early community engagement and achieving value for ratepayers by putting an emphasis on cost. I know that the IESO and the external fairness adviser are in place to ensure that that happens. I know that, working with the IESO, the province will continue to ensure that all renewable energy procurement encourages the selection of projects with local support and the most competitive prices, as well as with projects with First Nations and Métis participation.

Pharmacare

Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: My question is to the Premier. In 2016, the Premier tabled a budget that would increase drug costs for seniors by more than 70%. In 2016, that was wrong. We fought the government and we won. The Premier backed down.

Two years ago, the Premier tried to slash drug coverage for seniors. What has changed, other than there being an election in 78 days?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Basically what the member opposite is saying is that when a policy is brought forward and there’s consultation on it, when there’s a reaction and a government changes their mind and puts in place a better policy, that’s not a good idea.

Well, what I would say to the third party and to this member is that I believe that that’s how good policy is made. I believe that we talk to people, we come up with a solution and we put that forward. We have moved forward with the—

Interjection.

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

Finish.

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: —the largest expansion of medicare in a generation. OHIP+ puts in place free prescription medication for children and youth across this province—all medications, 4,400 medications. We’re expanding that to seniors. That’s a significant increase in medicare support.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: I believe that good policy should be made when a government has 15 years of rule in Ontario and not 78 days before an election. That’s when I believe policy should be made.

Yesterday’s Liberal campaign promise leaves millions of Ontarians between the ages of 25 and 65 to fend for themselves with no drug coverage at all. Families will still be forced to empty their wallets to get the medicine they need and too many people will still cut their pills in half to make the bottle last longer.

The Liberal government has had 15 years to implement a truly universal pharmacare program that covers everyone, regardless of age or income. New Democrats have a plan that will cover everyone. Why don’t the Liberals?

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

Hon. Helena Jaczek: I think that certainly—

Interjection.

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

Carry on.

Hon. Helena Jaczek: I would have expected that the third party would have been so happy when they saw our OHIP+ plan, because it sounds like we’re thinking essentially along the same lines. I personally believe that our plan is a comprehensive, very broad-in-coverage type of plan. We cover 4,400 drugs. Theirs is only 125 drugs.

Of course, we, on this side of the House, really like to listen to people. We know that our Premier has been holding town halls. Just yesterday we were at an event and people were coming up to us to tell us what our pharmacare solution has meant to them as families. In other words, children are able to access their drugs in a very important way. Now we have expanded this to seniors. We have an excellent plan and we continue to move forward.

Infrastructure funding

Mr. Granville Anderson: My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure. For many people, infrastructure is intangible—something expensive that can take years to build. We know that infrastructure is more than just that. It is the water we drink, the schools our children grow up in, the hospitals where we welcome new life, and the roads that carry us home at the end of the day.

With a booming economy and growing population, now is the time to invest in infrastructure. People need and deserve that. Last week, the minister joined his federal counterpart to make an announcement that will unlock billions of dollars for priority infrastructure projects in every region of the province. I know that this announcement is hugely consequential for our province and will shape how people live in Ontario for generations to come.

Speaker, through you to the minister, can he inform the House what this latest investment entails?

Hon. Bob Chiarelli: Thank you to the member for Durham. The people of Ontario are best served when all levels of government work together. We have a responsibility to build the infrastructure our province needs to maintain a strong economy and a high standard of living.

Speaker, our track record speaks for itself. Our own government is already making the largest infrastructure investment in Ontario’s history: $190 billion over 13 years. Last week, Ontario received an $11.8-billion boost from the federal government. Ontario is matching that with $10 billion, with over $7 billion of that amount going to our transit authorities. This joint funding will support faster commute times, cleaner air and water, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and enhanced recreational facilities. These are things people need to thrive in their communities and things our province needs to maintain a booming economy and a high quality of life.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mr. Granville Anderson: Thank you to the minister for his response. The people of Durham know what that commitment means, Mr. Speaker. Ontario’s commitment to match the federal government’s investment at 33% will empower communities to build more of the infrastructure our constituents need.

Last week I was very pleased to be at the Durham regional headquarters to announce that the province is contributing well over $78 million in infrastructure funding to build new urban transit networks and service extensions that will transform the way Durham residents live, move and work. This will help build and maintain fast, reliable public transit for Durham constituents, such as GO train services to Courtice and Bowmanville, which will decrease their commute times and allow them to spend more time doing the things they love doing most.

But public transit is only one of four priority areas receiving support through the agreement signed last week. Speaker, through you, would the minister please share more details about the latest investments in Ontario’s infrastructure?

Hon. Bob Chiarelli: Phase 1 of the federal government’s infrastructure plan resulted in over 2,000 projects, with every municipality receiving formula-based funding. This new phase 2 promises to deliver even more for communities in every region of the province. Together, Ontario and Canada’s joint investments in Ontario’s infrastructure amount to nearly $22 billion. No government in Ontario’s history has invested more in infrastructure than Kathleen Wynne’s.

Speaker, every dollar we invest in infrastructure is at risk of being cut under a Doug Ford Conservative government. The Conservatives have totally ignored infrastructure policy and don’t ask questions about it in this House. Frankly, to quote Winston Churchill, when it comes to infrastructure and energy, the Conservatives are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. If history taught us anything, it is that—

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

Highway improvement

Mr. John Yakabuski: My question is for the Minister of Transportation. We have an infrastructure question. Maybe the minister might want to get in on that.

I want to congratulate the minister on her appointment. I’ve given her a few weeks to get acclimated to the file.

I have a question on Highway 17. The continued twinning of Highway 17 farther into Renfrew county is a top priority for me and my constituents. We’ve been fighting for this for 15 years. While we’ve seen some progress, clearly not enough has been made. The county of Renfrew has already done the necessary work—they prepared the study—and their report most certainly demonstrates the need for the extension of Highway 417.

Speaker, given the importance of this project to all of eastern Ontario, can the minister assure the House that the next phase of construction will be included in this year’s budget?

Hon. Kathryn McGarry: Thank you to the member opposite for the question.

As he knows, our government understands the importance of expanding Highways 417 and 17 through the county of Renfrew for both economic growth as well as safety reasons. We are committed to making the necessary improvements, and we are making progress. In 2012, we finished the first phase of expansion. Phase 2 is also complete, and it opened to the public on November 18, 2016. We’re now able to move forward with detail design for the next phase of the expansion of Highway 17 from Scheel Drive to three kilometres west of Bruce Street in the town of Renfrew.

We will continue to seek funding for construction in future budgets. Once construction funding is confirmed, the project—

Mr. John Yakabuski: I haven’t heard the word “approved.”

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock.

There’s a small group in here who have a “W” beside their name—and the next comment is naming, just to remind you.

You may finish, Minister. Wrap up, please.

Hon. Kathryn McGarry: Once construction funding is confirmed, the project will be identified in the five-year plan portion of the southern highways program.

In the meantime, my ministry continues regular rehabilitation and maintenance work on the existing corridor.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary.

Mr. John Yakabuski: Well, thank you for the progress report that we already know about. We’ve said progress has been made, but we’re looking for the approval.

Speaker, the minister’s predecessor saw for himself the need to extend Highway 417 when he came to Renfrew county in the autumn of 2016. While the design study has indeed been approved, local residents are calling for swift action, with shovels in the ground immediately.

As everyone is aware, Highway 17 is a major route for commercial truck traffic, and it also connects Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and Garrison Petawawa to Ottawa. Additionally, this project is vital to the economic development of eastern Ontario because the roadway is part of the national east-west transportation corridor.

Given how crucially important this highway is, will the minister assure this House today that the next phase of construction will be included in this year’s budget?

Hon. Kathryn McGarry: As I was saying, work does continue to advance on this corridor. We’re committed to looking at areas for advance construction if and when possible, which will enable easier transitions during a future expansion. This continues to be a priority for me and my ministry because our government understands how vital this is.

It’s surprising to me, Mr. Speaker, that the Conservatives are going into this election with more radically conservative policies than Mike Harris, Tim Hudak or Stephen Harper ever ran on. Doug Ford is promising cuts, but won’t admit how much or say where they’re coming from. All but two Conservatives MPPs opposed Ford’s leadership, some of them forcefully, and now they have to rely on Ford’s billion dollars of cuts in services.

The member and his party vote against the budget, each one, to—

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

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): That’s my job.