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December 3, 2024

43rd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

vol. A

Hansard Transcripts

vol. B

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2024-Dec-03 vol. A (PDF)

L190A - Tue 3 Dec 2024 / Mar 3 déc 2024

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Tuesday 3 December 2024 Mardi 3 décembre 2024

Orders of the Day

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

Members’ Statements

Holiday events in Oakville North–Burlington

Food banks

Bite of Brant

Nepean Housing Corp.

Santa Claus parades in Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound

Consumer protection

Seniors’ services

Balmy Beach senior men’s rugby team

Holiday events in Bay of Quinte

Holiday messages

Introduction of Visitors

Question Period

Government accountability

Government accountability

Public transit

International trade

Government accountability

Transportation infrastructure

Labour legislation

Health care

Agri-food industry

Winter highway safety / Sécurité routière en conditions hivernales

Child care

Public safety

Hospital parking fees

Women’s employment

Annual report, Auditor General

Visitors

Deferred Votes

Cutting Red Tape, Building Ontario Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 visant à réduire les formalités administratives et à favoriser l’essor de l’Ontario

Affordable Energy Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 sur l’énergie abordable

Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries Act, 2024

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on Social Policy

Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs / Standing Committee on Social Policy

Introduction of Bills

Highway Traffic Amendment Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 modifiant le Code de la route

Highway Memorials for Fallen Police Officers Amendment Act (In Memory of Officers Impacted by Traumatic Events), 2024 / Loi de 2024 modifiant la

Loi sur les constructions situées sur la voie publique et nommées à la mémoire des agents de police décédés (à la mémoire des agents touchés par des événements traumatisants)

Petitions

Landfill

Manufacturing sector

Emergency services

Manufacturing sector

Social assistance

Health care funding

Air quality

Addiction services

Economic development

Social assistance

House sittings

Orders of the Day

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

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

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

Ms. Jones moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 231,

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

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Would the minister care to lead off the debate? I recognize the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: It would be my honour.

It is indeed an honour to rise today to speak on the introduction of the More Convenient Care Act. I’d like to note that I will be sharing my time with the member for Essex and my parliamentary assistant, who has been an incredible champion for not only the community of Essex in his riding but building across Ontario a more connected and convenient health care system.

The proposed legislation builds on the progress of Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, which our government introduced last year, as well as our important work to strengthen public health and the province’s digital-first health strategy. Your Health is a comprehensive plan to improve how the health care system is providing people with connected, high-quality care and more effectively meeting the needs of patients and families across Ontario. It’s about providing more people with the right care in the right place by expanding capacity, delivering faster access to care, reducing wait times to key services and hiring more health care workers.

This proposed legislation, along with other regulatory and policy items, will support our government’s ongoing efforts to build a stronger health care system in Ontario, now and for decades to come, by strengthening governance and transparency, improving service delivery and enhancing patient care throughout the health care system.

Before I discuss some of the key components of the More Convenient Care Act and related initiatives, I would like to highlight some of the progress that has already taken place in our health care system over the last several years under the leadership of Premier Ford.

Our government has been unwavering in our work to provide the people of Ontario with more connected and convenient health care services, no matter where they live. Connected and convenient care means providing patients and families with a better health care experience at every stage of life, helping them to stay healthier with better health outcomes.

Our government has made record investments in our publicly funded health care system to connect more people to the care they need, when and where they need it. Since 2018, we have increased the health care budget by over 31%—

Interjections.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Thank you—investing over $85 billion into a system this year alone. Our government continues to bring forward bold, creative and innovative solutions to ensure that the people of Ontario have access to more convenient and connected care. We are building a health care system to last by making historic investments and designing health care services to better connect Ontarians to the right care in the right place within their communities, through local hospitals, primary care providers, mental health and addiction services, home and community care, and Ontario health teams.

We are making it faster and easier to access more convenient care in hospitals, in emergency care, in pediatric care, in community surgical and diagnostics centres, in long-term care and in people’s homes.

To meet the needs of our growing communities, our government is getting shovels in the ground for over 50 hospital developments across Ontario. Over the next 10 years, these projects will lead to a more than $50-billion investment in the hospital sector, adding over 3,000 new hospital beds across Ontario. Through our investments, we are already seeing results. Ontario is now leading the country, with almost 90% of people connected to a primary care provider, as well as the shortest wait times for certain surgeries.

One of the significant steps we are taking to provide patients with the right care in the right place is by taking action to increase access to primary care. Timely access to primary care helps people stay healthier longer with faster diagnostics and treatment, as well as more consistent support managing their day-to-day health, while also relieving pressures on emergency departments and hospitals.

Through our record investment of $110 million, we are providing more access to primary care teams for 328,000 people across Ontario, adding over 400 new primary care providers and 78 new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams. Interprofessional primary care teams include a variety of health professionals, such as doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses and registered practical nurses, physiotherapists, social workers and dietitians, who work together to deliver comprehensive care for their patients.

From Windsor to the new and innovative Periwinkle clinic in Kingston, I have travelled across Ontario and seen first-hand the impact these primary care teams make in the lives of Ontario families.

Our government is not stopping there. As part of our government’s 2024 budget, Building a Better Ontario, we are doing even more to bring us even closer to connecting everyone in Ontario to primary care providers. Through this year’s budget, we are investing over half a billion dollars over three years for additional new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams, which will also focus on high needs areas and connect approximately 600,000 more people to primary care teams.

This investment will also provide support to all existing interprofessional primary care teams through ongoing operational funding for their facilities and supplies so that they can continue to provide high-quality care to their patients.

Last month, our government also announced that Dr. Jane Philpott will serve as chair and lead in our new primary care action team, with a mandate to connect every person in Ontario to primary health care within the next five years. Dr. Philpott’s work will build on the considerable investment we’ve already made, including in primary health care teams and in the largest expansion of medical schools in over a decade, with new medical schools in Brampton, in Scarborough and in Vaughan, and the first medical school in Canada focused on training family physicians.

Dr. Philpott will lead the development and implementation of an action plan to further expand team-based primary health care across Ontario, which will include ensuring more convenient access to existing teams, with better access on weekends and after hours, while reducing the administrative burden on family doctors and other primary care providers and improving connections to specialists and digital tools. I’m thrilled to say that Dr. Philpott’s important work began just this week, and I look forward to working closely together with her to deliver on our promise.

Our government is also making historic investments in health workforce programs and expanded medical education and training programs, as well as breaking down barriers so health providers, both domestic and internationally educated, who want to work in Ontario can do so faster and start caring for Ontarians sooner. We are supporting and increasing the number of health care workers across our province by recruiting, retaining and maximizing the workforce to meet growing demands on the health care system.

Since 2018, more than 15,000 new physicians have been hired, with a nearly 10% increase in family physicians and nearly 100,000 new nurses registered to work in Ontario. Last year, we had a third record year in a row, with more than 18,000 new nurses added to the workforce and another 30,000 nursing students who are currently studying at one of Ontario’s colleges or universities. And we are adding thousands of new medical school, nurse practitioner and nurse education seats across the province to shore up our health care workforce for years to come.

Through the Learn and Stay grant, we are encouraging more people to train for professions like family medicine, nursing, paramedics and lab technicians by covering the tuition and other direct educational costs for students enrolled in eligible programs in exchange for a term of service upon graduation. Currently, nearly 3,800 students are benefiting from these Learn and Stay grants.

Our government also continues to expand the scope of practice for health care professionals, building on their skills and expertise to ensure more Ontarians can connect to the care they need and deserve. Since expanding the role of registered nurses to prescribe medications, nearly 300 registered nurses have completed the training and are authorized to prescribe, and just last week, we announced a scope of practice expansion to the role of nurse practitioner and registered nurses, making it faster and more convenient to connect to care, especially in rural and Indigenous communities.

These changes save time, improve convenience and access to health care services, improve the patient and caregiver experience, get people healthier faster, and help to ease pressures on hospitals and walk-in clinics.

The More Convenient Care Act is another way we are building on our government’s progress to date, bringing forward more bold solutions to support the delivery of connected care for Ontarians. The proposed legislation and regulatory and policy initiatives are focused on three pillars to address system gaps and build a stronger health care system.

The first pillar is focused on strengthening governance and transparency by addressing the use of temporary agency staffing; strengthening hospital governance and accountability; and strengthening board of health governance in the city of Hamilton.

The second pillar is improving service delivery by making enhancements to the oversight of local public health agencies; refining public health roles and responsibilities; supporting voluntary mergers of nine local public health agencies; and improving hospital service continuity.

The third pillar is enhancing patient care by expanding scope of practice for Ontario’s nurse practitioners, registered nurses and pharmacy professionals; improving patient access to their health information electronically; supporting improvement in the emergency health sector; and consulting on the addictions counselling workforce.

One of the ways to strengthen transparency is by proposing new legislation, called the Health Care Staffing Agency Reporting Act, to create a regulatory framework that would require temporary staffing agencies to disclose agency fees. This would also enable the government to publish this information to help improve transparency and cost certainty for hospitals and long-term-care homes.

We are also proposing to enhance governance by making amendments to the City of Hamilton Act to enable the city of Hamilton to appoint its own board of health, where city council members and community representatives could be board-of-health representatives. This would enable a governance structure with more comprehensive representation and expertise, which could enhance public health decision-making and help to integrate a broader range of perspectives in public health and decision-making.

Additionally, new regulatory changes will support the voluntary mergers of nine local public health agencies into four new entities. The Porcupine Health Unit and the Timiskaming Health Unit would become the northeastern health unit. The Brant County Health Unit and Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit would become the Grand-Erie health unit. The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit and Peterborough county and city health unit would become the Haliburton, Kawartha, Northumberland and Peterborough health unit.

The Hastings-Prince Edward county health unit, the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington health unit, and the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit would become the southeast health unit.

Another component of the proposed legislation that would improve service delivery is amendments to the Health Protection and Promotion Act which would align requirements for public pools and zoonotic and infectious diseases with the latest evidence and best practices while maintaining public health protections. It will also strengthen the authority of the Chief Medical Officer of Health by approving

section 22 class orders issued by a local medical officer of health. This change is expected to provide greater opportunities to identify provincial supports to help mitigate the risk.

The proposed legislation would enhance patient care by amending the Mandatory Blood Testing Act to allow nurse practitioners to complete and sign mandatory blood testing forms. Enabling nurse practitioners to complete and sign mandatory blood test forms will assist in providing people such as victims of crime as well as correctional officers or paramedics with expanded access to this health care service. This proposed change is one of the many ways we are looking to further expand the scope of practice for nurse practitioners and for registered nurses, allowing them to use their training, their skills and their education more effectively and maximizing the services they can provide.

We’ve consulted with the College of Nurses of Ontario and other health care partners in many making changes to nurses’ scope of practice in areas related to treating heart conditions, electrocoagulation for certain skin conditions and lesions, and end-of-life matters.

Through this legislation, patient care would be further enhanced by changes to digital health initiatives. Proposed amendments to the Personal Health Information Protection Act would help empower Ontarians to have more control over their health, including by providing them with a general right of access to certain records, including their personal health information in the electronic health record, subject to any exceptions specified in regulation.

I would now like to provide further details related to creating a transparency framework for temporary staffing agencies to report their agency fees to the government. The transparency framework would be designed to achieve transparency regarding the rate agencies charge hospitals and long-term-care homes, increased cost certainty for employers and stabilize agency rates. Currently, there is a lack of transparency regarding the rates agencies charge health service providers, including the overall fees and agency mark-ups. Rates for agency staff can vary significantly across Ontario.

They may often be higher in rural, remote or northern areas of Ontario. Employers may also be charged travel and accommodation premiums, as well as additional charges for last-minute or after-hours staffing requests. Hospitals and long-term care homes can be limited in their ability to negotiate rates due to a lack of transparency or the urgency of their staffing needs, and this can impact the agency’s costs that they incur.

Our government has made significant investments to increase the number of workers in the health care system, including $743 million over three years to continue to grow our workforce through increased enrolment and retention plans, so people can get care faster and closer to home.

Agencies may also be responding to changing workforce expectations, with some segments of the workforce prioritizing flexibility over the total compensation packages associated with full-time employment in hospitals and long-term-care homes. Should the proposed legislation be passed, we would continue to engage front line partners on how to bring agency fee stability to hospitals, long-term-care homes and emergency departments while protecting quality of care prior to drafting regulations.

Key stakeholders to be consulted would include health care employers, such as hospitals and long-term care employers and their respective associations; health care unions and professional associations; and temporary staffing agencies operating in the health care sector and their representing organizations, such as the Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services.

Our government understands a modern, connected and convenient health care system is a digital one. We are investing in the enhancement and expansion of digital tools to prioritize a more seamless health care experience for the people of Ontario. We have made ongoing investments in Health811 to create a modern, digital front door into our health care system. Every month, Health811 receives over 80,000 requests by phone and digitally to access information and services, such as advice from health care providers and video visits with nurses.

People have growing expectations about easier access to their personal health records, and we know that people expect that they can access their information digitally. Through the More Convenient Care Act, we are taking steps to enable people to conveniently access their own personal health information through the provincial Electronic Health Record and certain other types of records. The province has made significant investments to create the provincial health record, which is a secure record of a patient’s health history that is managed by Ontario Health.

This digital record has become a vital tool used by health care providers to understand a person’s medical history, make clinical decisions and support integrated care across the health care sector.

The personal health information in the Electronic Health Record includes personal health information concerning lab tests orders and results from hospitals, community labs and public health labs; publicly funded drugs, dispensed monitored drugs and pharmacy services; reports and images submitted by hospitals and integrated community health services centres; and clinical information from hospitals and home and community care organizations.

This personal health information is currently available for health care providers accessing through the provincial clinical viewers, and some patients can view their lab data via select patient portals. However, direct patient access to personal health information that is held in the Electronic Health Record is not currently available. If passed, the proposed legislation would enable Ontarians to access their own personal health information securely and conveniently, including through a general right of access to their personal health information in the Electronic Health Record and certain other records, subject to any exceptions specified by regulation.

The proposed legislation would amend the Personal Health Information Protection Act to increase the number of health care providers contributing data through the provincial Electronic Health Record, including from accredited community pharmacies and integrated community health service centres, as well as provide eligible Ontarians with safe, secure and direct access to certain personal health data held in the Electronic Health Record. These additional contributions will make it easier and more convenient for health care providers to provide high-quality care without the burden of contacting numerous other providers and trading faxes back and forth.

And we plan to keep adding more digital health-related services to keep increasing the value and convenience for Ontarians. This approach will allow Ontarians to avoid the inconvenience of accessing numerous different portals while juggling multiple user names and passwords, and we are continuing to ensure people can access a wide range of information in any way Ontarians find convenient for them. The proposed legislation builds the framework for digital access to personal health information, and it also supports a general right of access to information in the Electronic Health Record and in repositories through non-digital means.

Consultation with the Minister’s Patient and Family Advisory Council, who have been doing exceptional work for many years; jurisdictional scans from across Canada; and surveys from the pan-Canadian digital heath organization Canada Health Infoway, have indicated there is a demand for people to access their health information to support making more informed decisions as part of their health care journey. Surveys indicate that individuals who have access to their health information generally have a positive experience, feel more informed about their health status and treatment, are more able to set and make progress on their health goals, and feel more empowered to manage their health.

Other studies indicate that patient access to health records can empower patients by improving trust and knowledge, and can help facilitate patients to work with their physicians. Other impacts may be that patients feel reassured, and patient access to medical records improves communication between providers and their patients.

The proposed legislative amendments would help to address these demands, enabling Ontario Health to provide a secure log-on mechanism, which can be used for certain purposes, including to enable eligible Ontarians to access records held in the Electronic Health Record, subject to any exceptions specified in regulation.

The Ministry of Health will continue to work collaboratively with Ontario Health, the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement and other stakeholders to ensure that the proposed legislation and any supporting legislation, if approved, would provide the framework to deliver a digital portal so that Ontarians can view their records in one single place.

I want to be clear that our government will always prioritize rigorous privacy protections. We will ensure that any digital solution is tested and meets the highest standards. We took steps to enhance our privacy regime by introducing an administrative monetary penalty framework that the Information and Privacy Commissioner can use to levy fines to individuals and organizations that are found to be violating the freedom of information and privacy act. Ontarians can rest assured that we have made significant investment in privacy and cyber protections to ensure people’s personal data is safe and secure.

This proposed legislation is part of our broader efforts to create a modern and convenient digital system where Ontarians, over time, will be able to easily access a wide range of health information through Ontario Health, subject to any exceptions specified in regulation. This will empower people to take a more active role in their health.

The proposed legislation would also make amendments to the Health Protection and Promotion Act to increase oversight by the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health of class orders issued by local medical officers of health, under

section 22 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act, in respect of communicable diseases. A medical officer of health may issue an order under

section 22 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act directed to a class of persons who reside or are present in the health unit served by the medical officer of health if the medical officer of health is of the opinion, upon reasonable and probable grounds, that in their health unit a communicable disease exists or may exist, or there’s an immediate risk of an outbreak of a communicable disease; the communicable disease presents a risk to the health of persons; and finally, the requirements specified in the

section 22 order are necessary to decrease or eliminate the risk to health presented by said communicable disease.

The change being proposed would require local medical officers of health to provide notice to and receive written approval from the provincial Chief Medical Officer of Health before issuing a

section 22 class order. A key role of the provincial Chief Medical Officer of Health is to monitor the health status of the population and advise the provincial government on public health issues. If approved, this change is intended to support greater alignment, greater consistency and proportionality in

section 22 class orders issued by local officers of health in respect of a communicable disease. It will also allow for an assessment of appropriate use of the

section 22 class order authority and what provincial supports may be available to help address local communicable disease risks.

Supporting more alignment and consistency in the use of

section 22 class orders is another part of the ongoing work to modernize and strengthen public health processes in Ontario. The proposed amendment to the Health Protection and Promotion Act would be implemented by the provincial Chief Medical Officer of Health through the development of operational guidance, which would be developed in collaboration with local medical officers of health. The Ministry of Health will work with local public health agencies to support clear and transparent communication and involvement of stakeholders in the implementation of this process.

Speaker, it is now my pleasure to share my time with my outstanding parliamentary assistant, the member from Essex, who will be providing more details on how our government is providing patients and families in Ontario with more connected and convenient health care, which is supported by the More Convenient Care Act and related regulatory and policy initiatives.

The Acting Speaker (M me Lucille Collard): I recognize the member for Essex to continue debate.

M. Anthony Leardi: Bonjour, madame la Présidente. C’est un plaisir ce matin d’adresser l’Assemblée au sujet du projet de loi 231. C’est la Loi visant à édicter ou à modifier diverses lois en ce qui concerne les soins de santé. J’aimerais dire que c’est un plaisir de continuer de travailler avec la ministre de la Santé et aussi de travailler avec le premier ministre pour livrer un bon système de santé ici dans la province de l’Ontario.

I would like to take this opportunity to say to the assembly that it’s a pleasure to continue working with the Minister of Health. It is definitely a pleasure to continue working with a minister who demonstrates every day her commitment to the health care of the province of Ontario, and in particular, to every individual in the province of Ontario, to ensure that we continue having the best system of health that we can have here for every citizen.

I want to acknowledge also the incredible health care workers in our province who are doing so much for people every day: our doctors, our nurses, our nurse practitioners, our registered practical nurses, our personal support workers, our personal care workers—so many people every day who are caring for individuals who are in need of assistance. We want to recognize their contribution.

This certain bill has several schedules to it—these are six schedules, each of them dealing with a separate act.

Schedule 1 deals with the City of Hamilton Act, 1999. As things currently stand, the city of Hamilton has a board of health for the city, but it acts as its own board of health. So our government is further supporting an effective health care system through proposed legislation that would make amendments to the City of Hamilton Act.

It would enable the city of Hamilton to appoint its own board of health, and instead of having a single-tier model—whereas the city of Hamilton is currently acting as its own board of health—this change would now mean that there would be a board of health for the city of Hamilton that would consist of council members and community representatives that would be appointed. With this new structure, the city of Hamilton has proposed appointing city council members, community representatives and an education representative; that would help strengthen the link between health care services and the education system.

This is not a new idea, Madam Speaker. These are provisions that are currently found in the City of Toronto Act and in the City of Ottawa Act, and in both of those pieces of legislation, the city of Toronto and the city of Ottawa have control over their own boards of health.

These changes that we’re proposing in this piece of legislation were specifically requested by the city of Hamilton, and they’re supported by local stakeholders with whom the ministry has had consultations. Various people had an opportunity to make submissions to the Ministry of Health, and those bodies included the following: the city of Hamilton advisory committees; health care professionals and community partners; and the public. They were invited to assess the current situation and give their ideas.

The changes that are proposed would better help Hamilton in delivering the services that are delivered by a board of health, and, I think, also better represent the community in Hamilton and diverse members of its population.

This is a responsive move on the part of the government. It is responsive to requests for change, and it’s expected to enhance local public health decision-making—also, to improve accountability at the city of Hamilton level and to strengthen public health outcomes. It’s intended to create a more independent, community-centred and locally responsive board, and we believe that Hamilton residents will welcome this development.

Here are the proposed amendments to the existing structure and the governance of Hamilton’s board of health:

(1) It will enable the city of Hamilton to set the board’s size through a bylaw, in accordance with the Health Protection and Promotion Act.

(2) It will allow the city to appoint members of the board, including city council members, or community representatives or both.

(3) It will establish the city as the board’s area of jurisdiction, its geographic area.

(4) It will indicate the city’s role in appointing key officials, such as the medical officer of health and others.

The duties and responsibilities of the board of health will include making recommendations on issues that fall inside the jurisdiction of that board and of the city. If this legislation is passed, the city of Hamilton will be responsible for implementing the necessary bylaw and whatever other changes at the local level are required.

I’d like now to talk about changes that are being made to the Mandatory Blood Testing Act. These involve nurse practitioners. That will be found in

schedule 5 of the bill that is before us right now.

The Mandatory Blood Testing Act requires blood to be tested in certain circumstances and, as the name of act suggests, it is mandatory. What the proposed legislation before us today will do will be to expand the scope of practice for nurse practitioners. This is something that nurse practitioners have been requesting. If the legislation passes, it means that nurse practitioners will now be authorized to complete and sign forms under the Mandatory Blood Testing Act.

I’d like to get into more detail about that. These forms are required for an applicant to apply and have the blood of another person tested for an infectious disease, such as HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, if they have come into contact with that person’s bodily fluids.

Nurse practitioners already provide primary care in many settings, including community safety and correctional services, and now they will be eligible to be called upon to complete these forms under this specific act, the Mandatory Blood Testing Act, in place of a physician.

This is a good idea because right now, the duty to perform this service could be reduced if we authorized other qualified individuals, such as nurse practitioners, to complete the necessary forms. It will also reduce barriers. It will reduce barriers particularly in areas of Ontario that are rural and in northern Ontario, as well as reducing barriers for people in settings where nurse practitioners can provide a greater scope of practice and where they usually serve clients in rural and northern areas.

Of course, people need some training. This is being provided through the Chief Medical Officer of Health, who will provide training to local public health agencies on these changes. It is envisioned that these changes will come into effect on July 1, 2025.

As I’ve mentioned, Madam Speaker, nurse practitioners have requested an enlarged scope of practice. In this particular instance, they have demonstrated, in this government’s view, the proper expertise and knowledge, skills and judgment to have their scope of practice expanded to include this service.

In addition to that, I’d like to provide this assembly with a quote which might assist in explaining why this particular change is so important. This is particularly important to people who act as first responders, in particular police, who might unfortunately come into contact with individuals for one reason or another, or by one way or another, who might expose that particular peace officer or police officer to bodily fluids in the course of conducting their responsibilities.

I’ll just give one simple example: If a police officer is arresting an accused individual and that accused individual happens to spit on the police officer, and that bodily fluid happens to somehow enter into the police officer’s bloodstream, by whatever means, that police officer could potentially be infected. There is a mandatory process that police officer has to go through.

We’ll, of course, continue consulting with nurse practitioners with regard to other requests for expanded scope of practice. Nurse practitioners play a very important role in our public health care system. Working together with our Ontario universities, 121 training positions have been added to the primary health care nurse practitioner program, which is helping grow the nurse practitioner workforce now and in the years to come. The expansion brings the total of nurse practitioner training positions up to a total of 321 at various schools across the province of Ontario, and we’re currently working with our partners to add an additional 29 positions.

We’re also building on primary care in the province of Ontario, part of which is delivered through Ontario’s nurse practitioner-led clinics, which are supported by the province of Ontario to the tune of $46 million per year through our interprofessional primary health care teams. These investments are helping to establish two new nurse practitioner-led clinics and expanding four additional nurse practitioner-led clinics. With these investments, we expect that a total of more than 100,000 Ontarians will be served by these clinics, providing care to many people who previously did not have a connection to primary care.

I’d like to now take the opportunity to talk about an additional scope of practice expansion for nurses, supporting the nursing workforce. We’re expanding the scopes of practice for nurse practitioners and registered nurses in other areas, which will provide more choice and convenience for people in how they access care, while enabling registered nurses and nurse practitioners to work to the full extent of their training and expertise to better meet patients’ needs.

The proposed amendments are as follows: They are under the Regulated Health Professions Act and the Vital Statistics Act. They will help expand the practice of nurses and nurse practitioners in areas related to treating heart disease, electrocoagulation for certain skin conditions and lesions, and end-of-life matters. These are changes that are being made and proposed in consultation with the College of Nurses of Ontario and other health providers. Those changes include the following:

(1) providing faster care for someone in cardiac arrest, by allowing nurse practitioners to order and apply a defibrillator, which provides an electric shock to help restore a person’s regular heartbeat;

(2) making it faster for people to receive care if their heart isn’t beating regularly, by allowing nurse practitioners to order and apply cardiac pacemaker therapy and transcutaneous cardiac pacing—I hope I pronounced that correctly;

(3) helping people with skin conditions and lesions such as skin tags get them removed faster, by allowing nurse practitioners to order and perform electrocoagulation;

(4) allowing nurse practitioners to complete and sign mandatory blood testing terms for specific infectious diseases; and

(5) improving the end-of-life experience for families after the death of a loved one by allowing nurse practitioners to certify death in all circumstances, as well as allowing registered nurses to certify death when death has been expected. This will help ensure deaths are certified in a timely manner, to preserve dignity for the deceased and their families.

Anybody who has had to go through that experience with a loved one, I think, will be able to appreciate these changes. I think throughout our hospitals and our long-term care homes, people will recognize the importance of those changes, and the people who have to certify those situations will appreciate being given the expanded scope of practice to do so.

We’re confident that these changes are suitable, because nurse practitioners and registered nurses possess the expertise and education for these types of roles, and they’ll continue receiving the tools they need, including standards of practice, policies and guidelines, to support their professional practice. These changes are going to make things better for people in Ontario, including Indigenous communities, rural communities, northern communities and communities in remote areas of the province. In addition, these changes will ease stressors for other primary care providers and support the capacity and efficiency of the health care system.

On the topic of nursing, our government continues to support and invest in growing the nursing workforce in Ontario. In November, the government announced bringing more nurses into the health care system with an investment of $500 million to educate new nurses and increase opportunities for nurses and also providing opportunities for existing nurses to upskill.

For example, the province has launched a fund which assists approximately 1,000 nurses to upskill their talents in emergency departments across Ontario, and that is particularly important in rural areas of the province and in areas of the province that are remote. The province is also working with the College of Nurses of Ontario to reduce barriers for internationally educated nurses, allowing them to register to work in Ontario faster and start caring for people sooner.

To build on the nearly 100,000 new nurses the province has added to the workforce since 2018, the government is investing $510 million over the next three years to give more than 20,000 health care learners an opportunity to work in hospitals and home and community care organizations by the end of 2027. This is sometimes known as the Enhanced Extern Program.

That helps hospitals hire qualifying nurses, medical, respiratory therapy, paramedic, physiotherapy and occupational therapy students and internationally educated nurses to work in a hospital in an unregulated capacity, under the supervision of regulated care providers. In addition to that, the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership program provides internationally educated nurses the opportunity to demonstrate their current nursing knowledge, skill and language proficiency while working to meet the requirements to enter the practice as a nurse.

In addition to that, through the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, we’re providing tuition for people who are entering nursing programs in our colleges and our universities. The government is investing over $1.6 million over the next year to support more than 1,600 registered nurses with up to $1,000 towards tuition costs, as they train to prescribe medications for certain conditions, such as contraception, immunizations, smoking cessation and topical wound care.

Beginning in April of 2025, internationally educated nurses will be able to move through the College of Nurses of Ontario registration process faster. Internationally educated nurses who have a baccalaureate degree and practical nurses who have a diploma will no longer need to go through the lengthy education assessment step in the registration process, saving them up to $7,500 and allowing them to start sooner.

With all of these initiatives, we’re continuing to build up Ontario’s current and future health care workforce, adding thousands of new nurses across the province and bolstering Ontario’s health care system. We are strengthening the health care system capacity and ensuring quality, timely and high-quality health care where and when people need it.

I’d like now to turn my attention to the expanding scope of practice for pharmacy professionals, which has been exceptionally well-received. This allows people in Ontario to get treatment for minor ailments—at the current time, 19 minor ailments—without the necessity of having to go through a physician but rather to go to their local pharmacist to get the treatment they need for 19 common ailments. In January of 2023, the government expanded the scope of practice for pharmacists, starting with 13 minor ailments and then it was further expanded in the fall of 2023 to the current number, which is 19.

This has been a huge success. Over 5,100, or 99% of, pharmacies in Ontario have participated in the program. They’re making care faster and easier than ever. As of October 2024, more than 1.3 million pharmacist assessments for minor ailments have been completed and that means 1.3 million visits have been successfully completed, giving people access to the type of treatment that they need without any unnecessary delay. Ontario has become one of the most leading jurisdictions in Canada in providing health care through pharmacies. We will continue exploring more ways, more innovative ways to provide convenient and fast health care to people in the province of Ontario.

In addition, the government is proposing to strengthen local hospital governance and accountability by establishing a central governance and accountability office to collaborate with sector partners, including Ontario Health and the Ontario Hospital Association. We’re focused on improving hospital service continuity by working with Ontario Health to clarify the expectations for hospitals and provide advance notice of significant service and operational changes to support regional planning.

We’re also looking to examine the addictions counselling workforce, which involves establishing a consultation process for Ontario’s addictions counselling providers. Since 2019-20, our government has invested more than $800 million in new base funding to treat mental health and addictions. This includes community mental health, child and youth mental health, mental health and addictions in the justice sector, and eating disorders. It includes more than $152 million for addictions treatment services and supports and an additional $9 million for youth wellness hubs that are delivering appropriate care to youth.

In 2022, the government established the Addictions Recovery Fund, which is a $90-million, three-year investment to boost the capacity in addictions services in both day treatment and bed-based settings.

This past August, the government announced an investment of up to $378 million over four years to support the creation of 19 homelessness and addiction recovery, or HART, hubs. HART hubs will connect people to a holistic approach to treatment that could include mental health and addictions services and support, as well as providing social services. HART hubs are a critical step to filling gaps in care for vulnerable populations, so they can connect to high-quality care where and when they need it, including supportive housing and other services.

In brief, the bill before us today proposes to make the changes that I enumerated, including others. It’s part of an overarching plan that the government has adopted, providing better health in the province of Ontario—more health, where and when you need it. Again, I’m happy to support the Minister of Health and the government in this project and to support this bill today.

The Acting Speaker (M me Lucille Collard): We’re going to go to questions.

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: My question is to the Minister of Health. Supervised consumption sites have been proven to save lives by preventing overdoses. The evidence is overwhelming; there is no debate about that. We are in the midst of a toxic drug supply crisis, and the minister has directed 10 supervised consumption sites to be closed. Now, the minister and her government say that they will be replaced with HART hubs, but we know that HART hubs do not provide the range of harm reduction and health services that supervised consumption sites provide.

Not only that, but the supervised consumption sites have been directed to be closed by March,

whereas the HART hubs will be announced in December. We know that it will be much more time until funds flow and services are provided.

My question to the minister is, how do you justify taking this risk of so many peoples’ lives during this critical period?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: I’m not sure if the member opposite was listening in the last hour, but there was actually no mention of consumption sites in this proposed legislation.

Having said that, I will ensure that we actually offer pathways out of addictions. The HART hubs that the member opposite references provides a multidisciplinary, multi-service approach that is actually going to provide more services and not just enable drug use in the province of Ontario.

The Acting Speaker (M me Lucille Collard): Next question?

Mr. John Jordan: I want to start by thanking the minister for the primary care investments that have been made in my riding of Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston, which includes four nurse practitioners in the town of Perth. I also want to state that I’m a firm believer in interdisciplinary care and everyone working to their full scope of practice, especially nurse practitioners and nurses.

I want to ask the minister: What has early feedback been from consultations regarding expanding scopes of practice for nurse practitioners and registered nurses?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Thank you—a really important highlight. There have been clinicians for many, many years asking for expanded scope of practice. Speaking to nurse practitioners last week about the changes and how that’s going to impact their ability to serve their patients, it is very heartwarming to see that not only are clinicians embracing these scope of practice expansions, but we’re actually seeing it in the changes.

We can point only to one change that we made in pharmacies, and within six months, we had over a million Ontario residents accessing those expanded scope of practice opportunities in their local pharmacies dealing with minor ailments.

It’s working, Speaker.

The Acting Speaker (M me Lucille Collard): Next question?

M me France Gélinas: The six schedules in the bill all move small steps in the direction of better care. But we are living right now in a crisis like our health care system has never ever seen before with 2.5 million Ontarians who do not have access to primary care, who end up having to go to the emergency room because this is the only service—except that for the thousandth time last year, the emergency rooms were closed, mainly in northern and rural areas where I live.

There is a crisis happening. Medicare is based on—if you go see the doctor, it’s free; if you go to the hospital, it’s free. It’s based on your needs, not on your ability to pay. This is the basis of our health care system, and it is in crisis.

What is in this bill that addresses the real crisis that Ontarians face every day in our health care system?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Thank you very much for that question.

As we expand medical schools in the province of Ontario, with the greatest of respect, why did the member opposite and her party vote against it? As we expanded the number of seats available in our medical schools—every single medical school in the province of Ontario now has more medical seats available for students to train in the province of Ontario—why did the member opposite turn down and vote against those investments?

We will continue to make changes in our health care system to ensure that people have access. At some point, the NDP and the member opposite are going to have to decide, are they with the people of Ontario or are they with special interests?

The Acting Speaker (M me Lucille Collard): Next question?

Mr. Lorne Coe: You will know that Ontario is leading the country with almost 90% of Ontarians connected to a primary care provider. The legislation before us this morning speaks more about how we’re connecting Ontarians to a primary care provider. The minister only had a certain amount of time to talk about that.

I’d like the minister to expand, please, on what the government is doing to connect Ontarians to a primary care provider across the province of Ontario.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Thank you for the question.

Of course, in February of this year, we announced 78 new or expanded multidisciplinary primary care teams. I think it’s really important to reinforce what a primary care multidisciplinary team looks like. It’s not just a family physician; it is a nurse practitioner, it is an RN, it is a mental health worker, a dietitian. These are the teams that are making an impact in our community.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being in Innisfil where we saw a nurse practitioner-led team expansion, and the crowd and the clinicians were thrilled that we had another expansion opportunity here in the province of Ontario. Since February, we have been able to hire, recruit and take on new patients in Innisfil. That’s taking action.

The Acting Speaker (M me Lucille Collard): Next question?

M me France Gélinas:

Schedule 3 of the bill talks about staffing agencies and mandatory reporting. We know that the staffing agencies just gouge our health care system, yet there is nothing in the bill to stop this gouging, to make sure that our hospitals, our long-term care, our home care have the resources to be able to recruit and retain a stable workforce.

You were just talking about the 78 new or extended interdisciplinary teams. None of those teams—community health centres, nurse practitioner-led clinics, Indigenous primary health care teams or community-governed family health teams—have seen a pay increase for their staff since 2017. We are about to be in 2025. How are you going to protect against the gouging that happens and make sure that all of those health care agencies can recruit and retain a stable workforce?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: The member opposite represents a northern riding. She knows the temporary staffing agencies have operated in the province of Ontario for decades. What we are doing in this proposed legislation is actually to collect the data to ensure that we see if there are increases or in fact decreases in the use of temporary staffing agencies.

With the greatest of respect, 100,000 new nurses in the province of Ontario have been licensed in 2018; 30,000 are training in our colleges and universities today for those opportunities to work in community, in hospitals, in our long-term-care homes. Those are the changes that we are putting in place and we are ensuring that not only can we retain excellent conditions in the province of Ontario, but we’re training and making those opportunities available for our young people.

The Acting Speaker (M me Lucille Collard): Last quick question?

Mr. John Jordan: The member from Essex spoke about the Mandatory Blood Testing Act, 2006, and changes in practices and processes are also very important to meeting our health care demand. I’m wondering if the member from Essex can expand on that.

Mr. Anthony Leardi: That’s a great question.

Changes in practices and processes can mean that we have more people such as nurse practitioners or registered nurses doing more, expanding their scope of practice and getting more health care to more people, rather than making the scope of practices more narrow, which reduces the number of people who can deliver that service. If we expand the scope of practice, then more people can deliver the service.

Now, as long as they’re qualified and they’re professional, like the great nurse practitioners in the province of Ontario and the registered nurses in the province of Ontario—when they’re professional and they’re qualified we can expand the scope of practice and provide more services to the people who need them, especially our police officers, who need this service.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

The Acting Speaker (M me Lucille Collard): We’re going to move to members’ statements.

Members’ Statements

Holiday events in Oakville North–Burlington

Ms. Effie J. Triantafilopoulos: Speaker, the holiday season is in full swing, and I’m delighted to tell you about two incredible Santa Claus parades that brought the community of Oakville North–Burlington together in the true spirit of the Christmas season.

In November, I was pleased to participate in the Oakville Santa Claus Parade with my colleague MPP Crawford. It was an amazing parade that filled the streets with holiday cheer, festive floats and excited families.

This past weekend, I cheered on the hundreds of runners in the annual 3K Santa Claus run and then joined my colleague MPP Pierre on our float in the Burlington parade. It was equally magical, with music, lights and, of course, Santa himself spreading joy to all the young and young at heart.

These parades are celebrations of the strength and fellowship of our communities. They are a reminder of why we do what we do. The energy, the warmth and the sense of togetherness shows us what it means to be an Ontarian. And of course, it wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of community organizers, volunteers and participants who give their time and energy to creating such memorable experiences.

As we celebrate the holiday season, I wish everyone in Oakville North–Burlington and across Ontario a joyful and festive time filled with family, friends and, of course, a little bit of Santa’s magic. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.

Food banks

Ms. Sandy Shaw: I just wanted to report that Feed Ontario, which is a network of over 1,200 food banks, just released their Hunger Report and the numbers are staggering. There were over seven million visits to a food bank for emergency food, and new food bank users increased by 43%. Food banks are now being forced to reduce the amount of food that they provide to try and keep up with this surging demand, and we all know so many children and families rely on food banks in our communities.

So, this holiday season, I want to recognize and honour the hard work being done in Hamilton by groups who support those in need.

I first of all want to say to Food4Kids: Congratulations on your sold-out breakfast gala today. You underscore the importance of feeding kids in our community.

I want to thank Ancaster Community Services; Flamborough Food Bank; Good Shepherd; Mission Services; Neighbour to Neighbour, who have been doing this forever; Dundas community and family services; and Hamilton Jewish Family Services.

I especially want to make sure people know that Hamilton has a holiday registry. This provides a listing of supports available in the city of Hamilton to provide food and to ensure that people don’t go hungry over the holiday season and know that they are not alone—they understand that there is a community behind them to support them through what can be a lonely time for people in our city.

And so, Speaker, as the holiday season approaches, I want to express my deep gratitude to the people of Hamilton. I am constantly inspired by the kindness and the generosity that you show to neighbours and to people in your community.

From my family to yours, I want to wish everyone a healthy and safe holiday season.

Bite of Brant

Mr. Will Bouma: I am pleased to speak today about the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Bite of Brant that will be taking place this coming spring in the county of Brant.

Bite of Brant is a deeply important initiative in the Brantford–Brant community that allows grade 5 students to connect with local farmers and gain an understanding of, and an appreciation for, the amount of work that goes into producing the food that we eat every single day.

This year, 1,000 grade 5 students had the opportunity to press apples into cider, study planting seeds, learn about careers in the agri-food industry, climb onto a tractor and get an up-close look at live farm animals.

Last month, our government recognized the incredible work that Bite of Brant does each and every year by presenting them with the Excellence in Agriculture Award.

Speaker, I am proud to represent a government that understands the importance of our agricultural sector. Agriculture is the number one industry in the county of Brant, and Bite of Brant ensures that students can engage with the farmers who are not only a vital part of Brant county’s economy and society but are also an essential part of Ontario’s prosperity.

I would also like to acknowledge the countless volunteers and farmers who make Bite of Brant so engaging every single year. Thank you all. Have a great day.

Nepean Housing Corp.

Ms. Chandra Pasma: This year, the Nepean Housing Corp. is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Since their incorporation by the city of Nepean in 1984 as a not-for-profit housing provider, they have been a pillar of our community, offering hundreds of Nepean families an affordable place to call home.

They have also built a wonderful sense of community through their programming and their tenant engagement, helping to support residents in meeting their essential needs and ensuring everyone has a voice in their community.

Most recently, Speaker, Nepean Housing has been developing new, affordable, not-for-profit housing in Nepean, converting four housing units into a multi-story building with 31 units. This fantastic development at 1 Dunbar Court will provide a mix of housing for families and seniors as well as supportive housing for adults with developmental disabilities in partnership with TCE, Total Communication Environment.

These new units are helping to address a desperate need for affordable housing and supportive housing in Ottawa’s west end. The building will be fully accessible and will also offer community space to the whole Dunbar Court community. One of my favourite things about this new development is that it is near net-zero, proving that we can address more than one crisis at one time.

This is what not-for-profit housing providers can accomplish in our province when we support them. I would love to see developments all over the province like this, but that won’t happen without substantial government support. We need to get government back into the business of building housing and support our community housing and not-for-profit providers.

A heartfelt thank you to Nepean Housing for all that you have done for our community, and here’s to the next 40.

Santa Claus parades in Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound

Mr. Rick Byers: Colleagues, one of the many special things about the Christmas and holiday season is the opportunity to participate in all the fabulous Santa Claus parades in our communities. In Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound, parade season kicked off in Owen Sound on November 16. It was a wonderful parade. There were many floats, lots of wonderful music, many folks walking and handing out treats, and of course, there was Santa Claus, with his great sleigh and wonderful reindeer. There was a great turnout from the Owen Sound community, with families and friends filling the streets. It was certainly a joyous start to parade season.

Next was supposed to be in Markdale last Friday. However, Mother Nature had her say. It will happen at some time.

This coming weekend will be a busy one for parades. On Saturday, it starts in Durham, then Meaford, Dundalk, Hanover and Wiarton. On Sunday, it’s the Kemble non-motorized parade, then Neustadt, where former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker was raised. On December 14, the community of Holstein has its non-motorized parade, then parade season ends on the 21st in the wonderful community of Chatsworth.

If you’re counting, that’s 11 parades in Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound and 11 Santas. It’s truly amazing commitment from these great communities, and to me, that’s the most important message from all these wonderful events. It’s not which float is biggest, which band is the loudest or how many gifts were in Santa’s sleigh. It’s about the amazing commitment that each of these communities has made to put on their parades. It’s about friends and families coming together to participate. It’s a great example of what makes life so special in rural Ontario.

Thank you to everyone who made these 11 parades such a great event for our communities.

Consumer protection

Mr. Tom Rakocevic: Yesterday was Cyber Monday. As you shopped online, you probably noticed a “buy now, pay later” option offered by a growing list of fintech companies. More and more shoppers, especially younger ones, are opting to buy now and pay later, which is encouraging them to spend more by spreading it out, whether they can afford it or not. But some fintech companies are charging as much as 36% interest if you don’t pay on time, and some people will even pay more when they layer credit one on top of the other—and no longer just for big purchases. “Buy now, pay later” allows installments on even the smallest of purchases, so you can even finance your slice of pizza.

What most shoppers don’t know is that these “buy now, pay later” schemes exist in a regulatory grey zone and are not federally regulated in the way that credit cards are. This lack of regulation and oversight leaves consumers unprotected to the vague and varied agreements they offer shoppers for their use. What are the hidden costs? What happens when you miss a payment, and how does it affect your credit? How do you resolve disputes? The list goes on and on.

With some businesses paying as much as 8% per transaction, this is hurting small businesses. If you think this doesn’t affect you because you don’t use it, think again. These high fees can actually increase inflation by driving up the built-in sticker prices of items to make up for these high transaction costs. Make no mistake, the consumer always pays in the end.

I urge the government to pass my motion to establish a regulatory framework for “buy now, pay later” products, and ensure that consumers are protected, and the online marketplace remains fair, transparent and safe for all.

Seniors’ services

Mr. Lorne Coe: Yesterday morning, the Honourable Natalia Kusendova-Bashta, the Minister of Long-Term Care, and the Honourable Sylvia Jones, the Minister of Health, announced almost $80 million over three years to improve dementia care and supports to improve the well-being of seniors, their caregivers and families.

This includes requiring all long-term-care homes to have a dementia program, with an investment of $9 million over three years to launch a new program with respect to caring for residents living with dementia; $15 million over two years to launch community access to long-term care that will give seniors still living in their homes access to certain services in long-term-care homes; and $20 million over three years to expand adult day programs, which offer social programming and peer connections, helping reduce isolation for seniors, including those with dementia.

Supporting initiatives that strengthen communities like Whitby and enhance the lives of seniors remains a top priority for our government. This recent investment will significantly improve the care and treatment of seniors living with dementia and provide vital support to their caregivers and families in Ontario.

Balmy Beach senior men’s rugby team

Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon: Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts: I have some exciting news. Beautiful Beaches–East York is home to the best rugby team in the province, and they are in the House. The Balmy Beach Rugby team won the provincial championship for a record-setting 17th time, making them the rugby team with the most championship wins in all of Ontario.

The senior men’s Balmy Beach Rugby team beat the Brantford Harlequins—looking at you, to the member of Brantford–Brant—in a close match to win the prestigious McCormick Cup this past September. Incredible Iain McLeish, president, director and head coach for Balmy Beach Rugby, helped lead the team to victory ahead of their 70th anniversary in 2025.

We celebrate this diverse, talented crew, knowing they had help with their proud achievements through the dedication and spirit of generations of Balmy Beach players, coaches and volunteers who have made the club what it is today—the strongest rugby club in all of Ontario.

Congratulations, and up the Beach!

Holiday events in Bay of Quinte

Mr. Tyler Allsopp: For the past few weeks, I’ve shared with members of the Legislature some of the great work being done by businesses and charities in the Bay of Quinte. Today I rise to talk about some incredible holiday events that are coming up this weekend in our riding and will be running throughout the holiday season.

Over in Prince Edward county, in Ameliasburgh, they are hosting Christmas in the Village on Saturday the 7th from 12 to 3. Also on Saturday, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Regent Theatre in Picton, check out William Shakespeare’s Christmas Carol, which has quickly become a holiday classic.

In Quinte West, there will be a holiday market this weekend, while the Belleville Downtown District BIA continues to host their Enchanted Holiday Market for the next two weekends. You can visit the local pop-ups with artisans and food vendors, entertainment and activities within their holiday huts.

In Trenton, the downtown business improvement area will also have free horse-drawn wagon rides throughout the downtown, daily, from the 15th to the 23rd between 5:30 and 8 p.m.

One of my family’s favourite holiday traditions—and it’s actually free—is enjoying the local holiday lighting displays, particularly the Belleville Festival of Lights, which takes place every night in Jane Forrester Park. And in Quinte West, there is the Doug Whitney Fantasy of Lights in Fraser Park and the Christmas Fantasy at the Frankford Tourist Park. All venues will be lit until the end of the year.

The holiday period is a time of joy, family and celebration. Bay of Quinte has many great events for all ages to discover and enjoy, and I encourage all to visit the many holiday events taking place in our community. For more info, visit bayofquinte.ca or visitthecounty.com.

Holiday messages

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: As we approach the year’s end, I am filled with gratitude for the remarkable achievements and unwavering community spirit in Markham–Thornhill. This year, we celebrated the rich cultural diversity that defines our riding through events such as Tamil Heritage Month, Lunar New Year, Eid, Diwali, Nowruz, Rosh Hashanah, community barbecues and many more. These celebrations remind us of the strength and beauty of our multicultural community.

Also, our local businesses have demonstrated incredible resilience in overcoming economic challenges and our community has united to support one another through love and compassion.

The holiday season is a time to reflect on how we can bring light into the lives of others, especially those in need. This season offers us the opportunity to show kindness, whether by volunteering, donating or offering a helping hand. Together, we can pave the way into the new year.

Mr. Speaker, to my colleagues in the House from all parties and the residents of Markham–Thornhill, I extend my heartfelt wishes for a joyful and peaceful holiday season. May this time of the year give us the strength and courage to move forward in hope and optimism for my residents and the wonderful people of Ontario.

Introduction of Visitors

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): In the Speaker’s gallery today is Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake, along with his wife, Leslie, and the hard-working staff at the Office of the Integrity Commissioner. Commissioner Wake has served this Legislature with integrity since 2016. As he soon begins a well-deserved retirement, on behalf of all members, I wish to thank Commissioner Wake for his sage advice and professional expertise.

Welcome to the Legislature, and once again, thank you.

Applause.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I wish to extend an invitation to all members to attend a farewell event for Commissioner Wake following question period being held in room 340—again, right after question period.

Ms. Sandy Shaw: Earlier this morning, I talked about Food4Kids in my riding, and what I neglected to mention is the contribution of Hamilton firefighters with their #eatAbeet campaign. So it gives me great pleasure to introduce members of Local 288 from the Hamilton Professional Firefighters Association: Rob D’Amico, Brad Smythe, Josh Kreidl and Joe Labenski.

It was great meeting with you today. I’m looking forward to your reception this afternoon and this evening. Welcome to the Ontario Legislature.

Hon. Jill Dunlop: Today I’m pleased to welcome Brett Eeles and Leona McAusland from the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association, and from my riding and with the Orillia Fire Department. Thank you for your service and for keeping our community safe. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

M. Guy Bourgouin: Comme derrière tout bon député, on a une équipe derrière vous. Moi, ce n’est pas différent. Moi, j’ai mon équipe qui vient de Kapuskasing—Mélanie Gagné, Stephanie Ouimette—mais aussi, j’ai mon assistante législative Astrid Krueger.

And you know the song:

Sung to the tune of The Best.

You’re simply the best

Better than all the rest

Better than anyone

Anyone I’ve ever met ...

You’re simply the best....

Ms. Aislinn Clancy: I’d like to introduce my family away from home, Katie and Estelle Crane. And family members of our legislative coordinator, Stacey: Brad Woodward and Emily and Leah, his kids. Thank you to our future generation of leaders for coming today.

Mr. Robert Bailey: It’s a great pleasure today to welcome all of the Ontario professional firefighters here today. Especially, I have two members from Sarnia–Lambton in the persons of Matt Madere and Brian Secord here in the east members’ gallery. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

M me France Gélinas: I also want to welcome firefighters from Sudbury, members of the OPFFA. That’s Chris Zawierzeniec and Mike Squarzolo. Always a pleasure to see you.

Mr. Mike Schreiner: I have a number of introductions today, so I beg everyone’s patience.

First of all, I’d like to welcome all the firefighters from across Ontario, but especially Colin Hunter and Chris Boehmer from the Guelph Professional Fire Fighters Association.

I also would like to welcome Autumn Hodgson, who is the page captain today. Her family made it through the snowstorm down from Parry Sound–Muskoka to join us today: her father, Glen Hodgson, who’s a long-time friend of mine, as well as Kristy Kujala and her grandmothers, Mary Lynn Black and Pat Hodgson. Welcome to Queen’s Park. Congratulations on your big day.

Finally, I’d like to welcome my constituency manager, all the way from Guelph, Lisa Maslove, who is here today. Thank you for the amazing service you provide the people of Guelph.

Mr. Will Bouma: I’d like to welcome firefighters from the Brantford Fire service, Gavin Jacklyn, Wayne Robinson and Josh Van Horne.

Thank you for what you do for our community. Have a wonderful day.

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: I would like to welcome today to our House St. Catharines Professional Firefighters association: Liam McGrath, treasurer, and Ryan Madill, the president.

I just want to say thank you for that wonderful meeting this morning, and we’ll see you this evening at your reception.

Mr. Stephen Blais: I, too, would like to welcome all the firefighters from across Ontario, but in particular, from Ottawa, David Andre, André Delorme and Tim Bernardi.

Thank you for keeping our community safe. We all know firefighters play a central role in community life, so thank you for all the community events that you put on, including, this past weekend, the Orléans Parade of Lights, which had thousands of people on the main street of Orléans.

Mr. Brian Riddell: I have the pleasure today to introduce two firefighters from Cambridge: Jordan Armstrong and Patrick Nixon.

I’d also like to welcome all firefighters, and I’d like to welcome all the students from Southwood Secondary School in Cambridge, where I also graduated from.

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

MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam: Good morning, colleagues. I want to just also extend my special welcome to the Ontario professional firefighters. I look forward to my meeting this afternoon with Victoria—also known as Tori—Goulart; John Maclachlan; and Mike Smith.

I want to thank also the Toronto firefighters who are in the building today, and I want to extend my special congratulations to our new Toronto Fire Chief, Jim Jessop.

Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon: I want to introduce the bold, brave and sometimes boisterous Beaches–East York Balmy Beach Rugby club: Iain McLeish, the president and director; Malency Wainwright; coaches Patrick Maulson, Michael Allen and Brian Spanton; and players Filip Pasagic, Ben Jones, Sasha Putt, Ulises Ornelas, Brock Clancy, James Roseborough, Jason Park, Kyle Lagasca, Tomas Larouche, Chris Thomas, Jamie Cain, Andrew Hevey and Simon Onyango. Thank you. Welcome to the House.

Hon. Mike Harris: I, too, would like to welcome some amazing firefighters from all around Waterloo region today: Reid McIver, Brandon Jamieson, Adam Overgaard, Kevin Collins. Look forward to seeing you guys later this afternoon.

Miss Monique Taylor: It is always a pleasure to welcome firefighters from right across the province. I’ve seen so many familiar faces today already. But a special thank you, of course, and welcome to Local 288 from Hamilton: president Rob D’Amico, Brad Smythe, Josh Kreidl and Joe Labenski.

Welcome back to Queen’s Park. I look forward to our meeting today.

Mr. Tyler Allsopp: While I’m not going to sing, I happen to think that my members are simply the best as well. I’d like to extend a welcome to Curtis Clarke, Steve Morgan and Stephanie Page from the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association.

Thank you so much for coming, and welcome to Queen’s Park.

MPP Jill Andrew: I am proud to welcome the North Toronto Collegiate Institute to Queen’s Park, to your House. I want to give a big, big, big thank you to teacher Shannon Bilmer for all your wonderful work with our students.

I also want to thank the Ontario professional firefighters, specifically Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association members Gerlando Peritore and Steve D’Aloisio.

I also want to thank Commissioner Wake for your years of service and kindness.

And last, but certainly not least, I want to welcome Andrea Vásquez Jiménez here from Policing-Free Schools. Thank you, and all of you, welcome to your House.

Hon. Kevin Holland: I would like to extend a welcome to two members of the Thunder Bay Professional Fire Fighters Association. First is Robert Sheppard, who, on January 1, will be taking over as president. Second is Dennis Brescacin, who has served an incredible 28 years on the executive, the past 12 as president. Thank you for your service to your community and welcome to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: I too would like to give a very warm welcome to all of the firefighters, especially from the Toronto Professional Firefighters’ Association: John MacLachlan, John Blair, William Morris, Michael Smith, Tomas Girdauskas, Gerlando Peritore, Matthew Fabbro, Tori Goulart, Steven D’Aloisio and James Wenger. I look forward to our meeting today.

Mr. Ted Hsu: I’d like to welcome Ayrton Potter of the Kingston Professional Firefighters Association, who is visiting and who will be meeting with me later today. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Nolan Quinn: I’d like to welcome Jeffrey McIntyre and Dan Heroux from the Cornwall Professional Fire Fighters Association. Thank you for the meeting this morning.

Ms. Jennifer K. French: I would also like to welcome, from the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association, Oshawa Local 465 president Peter Dyson, VP Nathan Langille and Brad Whittle. Welcome to your House.

Hon. Sam Oosterhoff: We have Timothy Lea here, platoon chief with Niagara Falls Fire Department. Thank you for all you do.

MPP Wayne Gates: First of all, I just want to say, to Mr. Wake, thank you very much for your years of service. I’ve always enjoyed my meetings with you. You’ve kept me on the straight and narrow, so thank you very much for everything you do. Enjoy your retirement.

I’d also like to welcome the firefighters from Niagara Falls—Tim Lea. You guys do an incredible job. You have one of the toughest firefighting responsibilities in all of Ontario with Niagara Falls. Thank you for everything you do.

And to the rest of the firefighters, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Hon. Doug Ford: Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all the firefighters. I appreciate everything you’ve done, day in and day out. There’s no government in the history of this country that’s shown more love to our great firefighters than this government. It’s well deserved. Thank you for your service.

Another special announcement: I want to wish my right-hand person Julia a happy birthday—the ripe age of 26 years old. Oh, my goodness, youth is beautiful. Anyway, she controls my life. Thanks, Jules, for all the work that you do—and putting up with our gang right here too.

Ms. Marit Stiles: I too would like to welcome all the firefighters in the House today. It was a pleasure to speak at your conference. We welcome you here and thank you for all your work.

I have also want to give a special shout-out to the outgoing Integrity Commissioner, Mr. David Wake, who’s joining us here today. I know we’ve kept him rather busy over the last few years, in particular.

But I also want to mention his incredible staff team, who are joining us here today as well, and we have the honour of visiting with later today. We know the incredibly important work you do for the people of Ontario. I want to thank you all and, of course, Mr. Wake, for your incredible service to this province. Thank you so much and best of luck in your retirement.

Mr. Aris Babikian: would like to welcome Linda Li to the House today. She’s the mother of our page captain today, Andrew Yang Muhlbacher. Congratulations, Andrew. Scarborough–Agincourt is proud of you.

MPP Lise Vaugeois: I would like to welcome the wonderful Dennis Brescacin and Robert Sheppard, who are here representing the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association from Thunder Bay. I would also like to welcome Hammarskjold High School students who are here visiting the Legislature today. I look forward to meeting all of you later.

I also want to give thanks to Commissioner Wake for your sage advice. Thank you very much.

Mrs. Daisy Wai: I’d also like to thank our Integrity Commissioner for all you have done for all of us.

I would also like to welcome the Ontario professional firefighters, and in particular the Richmond Hill local executives, Jeff Voisin and Tim Sparks. I’m looking forward to our meeting this afternoon.

Mr. Chris Glover: I also want to extend our welcome to the Ontario professional firefighters, and in particular the Toronto firefighters. I’ll be meeting with some of you later this afternoon.

From Ontario Place, we have a number of visitors: architect Catherine Nasmith; Ontario Place For All co-chair Norm Di Pasquale; Ontario Place photographer Steven Evans; architect and artist Bill Greaves; the editor of Canadian Architect Magazine, Elsa Lam; real estate broker and expert on the Therme lease Nina Deeb; and landscape architect Walter Kehm.

I also want to give a special welcome to my new executive assistant, Sam Hamilton. Welcome to your House.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: With us today is the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, and many of their Ontario manufacturing members. We encourage everybody to join them this evening at the 25th Ontario Made reception in the dining room, where they’ll recognize the outstanding contributions of Ontario manufacturers to our economy.

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: I also want to give a big shout-out to our great firefighters who protect us each and every day. Thank you. And particularly just over there from Durham region and Pickering, thank you for all that you do to keep us safe.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): That concludes our introduction of visitors for this morning.

Question Period

Government accountability

Ms. Marit Stiles: Good morning, Speaker. This question is for the Premier.

While Ontarians have struggled to find a home, to find a family doctor and to just make ends meet, this Premier has been singularly obsessed with building a personal vanity project down on Toronto’s waterfront, a luxury spa. He was willing to do anything and pay anything to get it.

The Auditor General released her annual report this morning, and it confirms that the Ontario Place redevelopment process was rigged from the start. The ministry did not follow any established processes, and the Premier’s office got their hands dirty to change the scores to benefit the Premier’s insider bidders.

Why did the Premier and his infrastructure minister rig the Ontario Place procurement process to benefit certain bidders?

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: Withdraw.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’m going to ask the government members to come to order.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

To reply for the government, the member from Brampton West.

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: We thank and respect the Auditor General’s report, and the recommendations outlined in the report. Mr. Speaker, as you are aware, the report was just tabled this morning. We look forward to responding to the report. Other ministers will be addressing the report in a joint briefing this afternoon.

We are committed to making Ontario Place and the science centre projects that every Ontarian can be proud of. This means creating jobs, tourism and ensuring these spaces remain vibrant, innovative and welcoming for future generations.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, let me be very clear: The Auditor General says very clearly in her report that this was a very good deal for Therme and a very bad deal for Ontario.

What’s important here is that Therme’s financial problems were no secret to the infrastructure minister:12 days before they signed the lease, her staff flagged that Therme had cash-flow-negative. They barely had a million euros in the bank. They couldn’t even buy a condo in Toronto for that, let alone our entire waterfront. So from day 1, the Premier and his infrastructure minister knew that they had to use public dollars to pay for his personal vanity project.

Therme is too broke to even run a splash pad, Speaker. Why did they choose this broke luxury spa company as the bidder to redevelop Ontario Place?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats. The member for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke will come to order.

To reply for the government, the member for Brampton West.

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: Again, we respect the Auditor General’s report and the recommendations outlined in that report. But when it comes to Ontario Place and the science centre, the opposition is merely criticizing the issue, which is more sound but no light, all criticism but no vision.

Our government is making unprecedented investments in infrastructure, including bringing Ontario Place back to life and building a brand new science centre. Our vision is to take the province forward, not backwards. We’re the government that’s thinking about the future of our children. The science centre and Ontario Place will be places for all in our communities.

My question to the member opposite is, why are you so against Ontario Place and the science centre? Why are you so against our children going to the science centre, where children will go learn, do science-related projects and open their minds for all possibilities of science in all its forms?

Interjection.

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

The final supplementary.

Ms. Marit Stiles: The Auditor General has revealed the price tag for the Premier’s vanity project is actually going to be more than five times the original projections—five times; an additional $2 billion, at least. All while Ontarians are struggling to put food on the table.

The facts are very clear: The Premier and his minister have hatched this whole personal vanity project, and it is costing the people of Ontario $2 billion more. The minister knew this. She stood in this House and she denied it. It’s there, clear as day, in the Auditor General’s report. Today, she got caught.

So I want to ask this Premier: There has to be accountability here. Will the Premier start by firing his infrastructure minister?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock.

Start the clock. The member for Brampton West can respond.

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: As I said, we look forward to responding to the recommendations outlined in the report. But the NDP has once again chosen to politicize the project that will benefit the people of this generation for generations to come. The decades of neglect by the NDP and Liberals left these iconic spaces underutilized, underfunded and inaccessible to many Ontarians. Where was their vision, their leadership and their action, Mr. Speaker? As our government steps up to transform these sites into world-class destinations, they choose to criticize rather than contribute.

Mr. Speaker, we are committed to making Ontario Place and the science centre a project that every Ontarian can be proud of. This means creating jobs, fostering tourism and ensuring these spaces remain vibrant, innovative and welcoming for future generations, and we are getting it done.

Government accountability

Ms. Marit Stiles: I’ll tell you what my vision is for this province: building homes, fixing schools, hiring doctors and bringing some integrity and accountability back to this province.

The Auditor General’s report on the use of minister’s zoning orders is nothing short of another bombshell.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Government side, come to order.

Ms. Marit Stiles: It confirms what was obvious: that the MZO process under this Premier’s watch has been rife with preferential treatment, and in this report, the Premier himself was implicated. When it came to one MZO in the tiny township of Cavan Monaghan, the minister’s deputy chief of staff wrote, “The minister and the Premier are asking for this.”

This government is under criminal investigation because of their soft spot for billionaire developers, so why is this Premier still handing out MZOs like candy?

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Minister of Red Tape Reduction will come to order.

To reply for the government, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Paul Calandra: I appreciate the support from the opposition, Mr. Speaker. Now, if only we could get support when we’re building homes in the province of Ontario. If only we could get support when we’re removing the red tape to get shovels in the ground; if we could get that support when we’re building subways, when we’re building schools, when we’re building hospitals. If only we could get support for that.

The report actually highlights, also, the work that we have done to ensure that the MZO process is a net benefit to the people of the province of Ontario. We have used the MZO process to ensure that we get hospitals in Toronto to protect the flight path, to build homes across the province of Ontario. As I have said, I will continue to use that tool where it helps me get shovels in the ground to build homes faster.

Just the other day, the Leader of the Opposition was suggesting that we’re not going fast enough to build homes. But that is the irony of the NDP, right? They say one thing and do something else, even sometimes in the very same question.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: They’re not building homes. They’re giving out these MZOs as preferential treatment for their donors and their insiders. The Auditor General found in the report released today that MZOs are being doled out without due diligence, and explicitly says that nearly one in five are facing significant servicing delays. The report shows that the government consistently ignored the warnings about infrastructure capacity.

So I want to know, to the Premier: Are the people of Ontario getting anything out of this, or is this just another tool that’s designed to only help his insider friends?

Hon. Paul Calandra: My insider friend at the city of Toronto, the mayor of the city of Toronto, asked me for an MZO to protect the flight path to SickKids hospital, so we did that. My good friend the mayor of Newmarket asked for a ministerial zoning order to bring Blue Door Support Services, which we granted. My good friend the mayor of the city of Toronto asked me to provide an MZO for a 13-storey in-patient hospital in the city of Toronto, so I provided that. My good friends at the city of Peterborough also asked for an MZO, which we granted.

My good friend the member for University–Rosedale, the NDP housing critic, said this: “This is an MZO that will help people in my riding get the care they need,” when we were talking about the MZO and the hospitals.

We have a process that is in place. We’ve renewed that process. We’ve highlighted in our response that we have fulfilled the recommendations of the Auditor General, but I will continue to use the tool to the benefit of the people—

Interjection.

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

The final supplementary.

Ms. Marit Stiles: The truth is that MZOs have long been this government’s favourite tool in cozying up to their developer friends and donors. But after they got caught handing them out at weddings—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Government side, come to order.

Ms. Marit Stiles: —we were told that they were going to change their ways. We were told they would change their ways. This report makes it really clear again that the current minister is doing nothing to change the ways of the former minister, who was at the heart of the greenbelt scandal.

We have the lowest housing starts since 1955 in Ontario. When will the Premier start putting the interests of Ontarians ahead of the likes of Mr. X, who, by the way, makes a special guest appearance in the Auditor General’s report this time?

Interjections.

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

The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Paul Calandra: The recommendations in the Auditor General’s report, 16 of the 19 were actually done in advance of the report; 16 of the 19 were already done.

I cozy up to a lot of people. In fact, I cozied up to, again, the town of Newmarket when they were looking for additional transitional housing. I cozied up to the mayor of Kingston for the MPP in Kingston, who asked me to bring a tiny-home project that the previous minister brought forward for under-housed veterans.

But I’ll tell you what: The previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP, made it almost impossible it to get shovels in the ground in the province of Ontario. When you take two million hectares of land, which we’ve all decided is a good thing, you take that out of production, what you’ve got to do is ensure that you unleash development in your urban areas. You have to build transit, you have to build transportation networks, you have to make it easier to get shovels in the ground. What did they do? They made sure that none of that happened.

So we’re untangling the mess that was left behind by the Liberals and the NDP. We will get the job done. We will build 1.5 million homes and leave a province that is bigger, better and stronger than ever before.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Member for Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas will come to order. The Leader of the Opposition will come to order.

The next question.

Public transit

Ms. Jennifer K. French: My question is to the Premier.

Yesterday, the government announced that the Premier’s million-dollar man, Phil Verster, is finally out as Metrolinx’s CEO. We have been calling for Verster’s ouster for a long time. He’s gone, but what does that mean for the mess he’s leaving behind? Well, Michael Lindsay, the former president and CEO of Infrastructure Ontario, is the new face of Metrolinx. Michael Lindsay is the same man who has overseen the Ontario Place deal with Therme that forces the people of Ontario to spend hundreds of millions of public dollars to subsidize a private luxury spa in Toronto.

Premier, a fresh face is not a clean slate. How will things improve for transit riders or the public when the Premier is replacing someone who was never able to deliver a new rapid transit line with someone who has never run a rapid transit system at all?

Interjections.

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

The Minister of Transportation.

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: First, I want to thank Phil Verster for his years of service in this province and welcome Michael Lindsay, the new interim CEO of Metrolinx.

Let’s be clear: We’ve got shovels in the ground on the Ontario Line, a line that will move 400,000 people every day. The NDP have voted against that every step of the way. We introduced One Fare in the past year, which helps save commuters $1,600 a year and makes public transit more accessible. Unfortunately, the NDP and Liberals voted against that as well. We added over 300 more trips to GO train services across this province to move people from all regions of this province on the GO trains to get to where they need to go, and guess what? The members opposite voted against that.

We will continue to build public transit in this province, and we’ll take no lessons from the NDP, who have refused—

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

The supplementary question: the member for Toronto–St. Paul’s.

MPP Jill Andrew: To the Premier: Under Mr. Verster, the costs of subway construction have nearly tripled to an astonishing $1 billion per kilometre. The Eglinton Crosstown P3 construction project running right through St. Paul’s is now 13 years old, and we still don’t know when this little teenager is going to get running. This record of failure shows why we need major reforms in how the government procures and delivers major infrastructure projects.

Mr. Michael Lindsay was also behind the sell-off of Ontario Place and directly involved in decisions related to preferential treatment for the Therme deal. After rigging the Ontario Place process, he has now been appointed as CEO of Metrolinx and paid with public dollars.

My question to the Premier: Why is the Premier replacing Mr. Verster with Michael Lindsay, the man who oversaw the shady Ontario Place deal with Therme and shut down the Ontario Science Centre based on a bogus—and I mean a bogus—business case? You—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order. Minister of Health, come to order. The government House leader, come to order.

Minister of Transportation can reply.

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: One thing is clear: If it was up to the NDP, they would do the exact same thing the Liberals did for 15 years, which was build absolutely nothing. It’s a shock that they put politics over public transit. Members of the NDP should be supporting this government as we make $70 billion worth of investments into public service.

Let’s talk about some of those investments: the Yonge North subway extension, which will bring over 30,000 people within walking distance of public transit, the Ontario Line, which will move 400,000 people every single day and take 28,000 cars off the road, and the NDP vote against that. That’s a shame. For them, it’s all about politics, not about moving this province forward.

We’re going to continue to get shovels in the ground and build for the future, to build for the next 10, 15, 50 years of this province, to see people being able to use more accessible public transit and improve their quality of life. Because we—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Toronto–St. Paul’s will come to order. The government House leader will come to order.

The next question.

International trade

Mr. Anthony Leardi: My question is to the Premier. Under our government’s leadership, Ontario’s economy is a leader in North America once again. Our trade and strong financial ties with our neighbour to the south are part of our economic success. The United States is Ontario’s largest trading partner, with millions of jobs depending on this vital relationship.

With President Trump’s election, trade policies are shifting. Threats of tariffs are bringing challenges and concerns to many businesses in our province. But our government has shown that we are ready to adapt and protect jobs that are tied to cross-border trade. The Ontario government has done significant work to strengthen this relationship, from trade missions to promoting Ontario goods.

Can the Premier please tell us more about the economic benefit that trade has brought to both Ontario and the neighbouring United States of America?

Hon. Doug Ford: I want to thank the member from Essex for that very important question, through you, Mr. Speaker. During a time of global instability, it’s never been more important that Ontario and the US make sure we strengthen our economic ties, create jobs on both sides of the border and protect our shared national security interest.

If we were a stand-alone country—which I’d never recommend—we would be the US’s third-largest trading partner in the world: over $500 billion of two-way trade between the US and ourselves, split equally down the middle. We’re the number one trading partner to 17 states—states like Ohio and Michigan and New York, to name a few—and we’re number two to 11 other states.

We have created an economic powerhouse in Ontario. We’ve seen trade increase by $100 billion since we’ve been in office because we’ve created the environment and the conditions for companies to come here and thrive and prosper. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing, with over $70 billion in investment right here in Ontario since we’ve taken—

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

Supplementary?

Mr. Anthony Leardi: Thank you to the Premier for his continued leadership.

Ontario’s economy depends on strong trade with the United States. Our shared border is more than just a line on the map. It’s a lifeline for jobs and businesses. Every day, billions of dollars in goods cross our borders. These goods create jobs for families across Ontario and also in the United States.

Ontario has the critical minerals and the energy that the United States needs for growing its economy and its national security. But new trade policies in the United States could change that. There are threats of tariffs, barriers, and new rules. The Ontario government has stepped up, showing leadership in tough times. We must continue to protect our workers and industries.

Can the Premier share what we are doing to promote the benefits of trade between Ontario and the US?

Hon. Doug Ford: Thank you for the question from the member of Essex.

I’ll tell you exactly what we’re doing: We’ve signed trade deals with leaderships through Michigan, Nevada, Indiana, Illinois, New Jersey and many more to come. We’ve had meetings over the last two years with the governors, the senators, the congressmen and women that absolutely love Canada. They love the trade that we do between Ontario and the US.

We were seeing this coming down the road months ago, so we were proactive. We put an ad campaign—the best ad campaign, the largest spending in Canadian history—to reach out to over 100 million Americans, telling them what a great partner we are, no matter if it’s the critical minerals that they’re using or a great Minister of Energy shipping energy down to Michigan and New York, keeping their lights on. Making it stronger as a connection—we’re so much stronger when we work together.

That’s my message to the President of the United States: that when we work together, we are a powerhouse against the rest of the world.

Government accountability

Mr. Chris Glover: The Auditor General’s report came out today and it showed that the Therme deal at Ontario Place broke every rule for making government contracts.

The Triple Five Group was originally a favoured bidder and was set to take over the entire Ontario Place site, but the bid received low scores. After a meeting with the Premier and the minister, Triple Five was invited to resubmit its bid. Did any government official direct Infrastructure Ontario to allow Triple Five to resubmit its bid?

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

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: Once again, I would repeat that we thank and respect the Auditor General for his report and the recommendations that are outlined in the report. As you are all aware, that report was just tabled this morning. We look forward to responding to the report, as other ministers will be addressing the report through a joint briefing this afternoon.

Mr. Speaker, we are committed to making Ontario Place a project that every Ontarian can be proud of. This means creating jobs and tourism and ensuring these spaces remain vibrant, innovative and welcoming for future generations.

It was the previous Liberal government, which was always supported by the NDP, that left this historic place in a state of neglect and disrepair. This neglect will not continue under the watch of this Premier and this government, because we believe in getting things done and built, not neglected.

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

Mr. Chris Glover: So, $2.237 billion is what the Auditor General said today is the taxpayer donation to the Therme mega-spa and the project at Ontario Place. How much rent are they paying? About $1.1 billion over 95 years. The Auditor General says that in today’s dollars, by the time they finally pay off that $1.1 billion—like, half the amount—it’ll actually be the equivalent, in inflation-adjusted dollars, to $163 million. So they’re not even paying rent; they’re getting the rent for free.

The Auditor General revealed that, prior to signing the 95-year lease with Therme, a senior analyst with Infrastructure Ontario reported that Therme was cash-flow-negative and its equity value was less than €1 million.

Did any government official direct Infrastructure Ontario to ignore all of these warning signs before signing this terrible 95-year deal with Therme?

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: As you’re aware, that report was just tabled this morning, and we look forward to responding to the report this afternoon, as other ministers will be doing so during a joint briefing.

But we wouldn’t be talking about Ontario Place had the Liberals and NDP not neglected this historic place. Instead of neglect and disrepair, Mr. Speaker—the same Liberal government, led by Kathleen Wynne, stood in front of Ontario Place in 2014 and proclaimed their vision to revitalize Ontario Place. Now, they’re upset that we’re picking up the pieces of their failed project and getting the job done.

Mr. Speaker, we are making an Ontario Place that the people of this province will be proud of, where our families will go, where our kids will go. We’ll get the job done.

Transportation infrastructure

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Transportation.

In the last election, the people of Ontario voted overwhelmingly for our plan to build new highways. They voted for Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass. After 15 years of inaction by the previous Liberal government, we need new highways to keep our economy moving. Ontario’s population is rapidly growing, and we need to ensure that Ontario has the infrastructure needed to move goods and people.

After years of inaction by the previous Liberal government, can the minister please explain what steps our government is taking to build highways faster?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Hastings–Lennox and Addington and parliamentary assistant.

Mr. Ric Bresee: Thank you to my friend the member from Markham–Thornhill for that question.

Speaker, our government is focused on building the infrastructure we need to keep our people and our economy moving. The previous Liberal government—they said no to building critical infrastructure projects, like the Bradford Bypass and Highway 413. From my perspective, they said no to building almost anything.

The people of Ontario know that the Liberals and the NDP did nothing to plan for our growing populations. Communities in the GTA were left to deal with worsening congestion, with no solutions in sight. That’s why the people of Ontario re-elected our government with the second-largest majority in Canadian history.

With our Building Highways Faster Act, this government is committed to action. This means cutting red tape and opening new highways sooner, not later. We’re the only party, focused on solutions. We are—

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

The supplementary question.

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: Thank you to the parliamentary assistant for the great response.

Gridlock is at a breaking point. The previous Liberal government ignored this problem for too long. Reports indicate that Toronto commuters face the longest travel times in North America, spending an average of 98 hours each year in rush-hour traffic. This is less time with our families. People want solutions. That is why our government is taking action that will help keep them out of traffic.

Can the parliamentary assistant please explain how the Building Highways Faster Act will help keep our province moving?

Interjection.

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

The response? The member for Hastings–Lennox and Addington.

Mr. Ric Bresee: Thank you again to the member from Markham–Thornhill.

We know the impact that gridlock is having on our families across this entire province. I’ve spoken with parents who just want to make it home to have dinner with their kids on time. I’ve heard from businesses who say it’s driving up the cost to deliver their goods, their groceries and everything else to their customers.

That’s why we’re taking action. Through the Building Highways Faster Act, we’re fast-tracking the Bradford Bypass and Highway 413. We’re bringing forward measures that cut the red tape and introduce 24-hour construction. These projects will cut commute times, reduce traffic on local roads and support our growing province. Ontarians know that we’re the only party that has a real plan to tackle gridlock.

Labour legislation

MPP Lise Vaugeois: My question is about Bill 229. The Minister of Labour promised to bring presumptive coverage for wildland firefighters and consider one fire season as one full year. But these protections are missing from the latest Working for Workers bill. If the language is not clear in the bill, claims for coverage will be refused. Will the minister send this bill to committee to ensure the necessary changes are made to protect wildland firefighters?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the Minister of Colleges and Universities.

Hon. Nolan Quinn: Firefighters are heroes that put their lives on the line to protect others in their time of need. They risk their own lives in service of others, and for that, we owe them our sincere and fulsome gratitude.

However, what most people do not realize is that firefighters face rates of cancer that are nearly four times higher than the average Ontario population. Our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, is doing more than any other government to support these heroes. In the Working for Workers Five bill, we improved the presumptive coverage for firefighters, fire investigators and volunteers for primary-site skin cancer by lowering the required duration of service from 15 years to 10 years, bringing Ontario to the lowest required duration in the whole country.

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

MPP Lise Vaugeois: It’s a pity we didn’t get an answer to our question.

Another provision of Bill 229 is that it diverts funds intended to support workers by creating a slush fund for employers. In 1998, supports for injured workers were significantly reduced, with the promise that rates would be restored when the WSIB no longer had an unfunded liability. However, now that there is a surplus, instead of restoring rates, benefits continue to be slashed, deducting support payments for jobs that don’t exist, suppressing claims for long-term injuries, incentivizing companies to hide accidents—all of which has resulted in workers being forced into poverty.

Will the government send this bill to committee to remove this

section and ensure that WSIB serves the needs of workers?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Solicitor General.

Hon. Michael S. Kerzner: I’m very proud that our government, led by Premier Ford, has the backs of all the firefighters every single day. It’s a pleasure that the OPFFA is here today. I spoke with them yesterday, as the Premier did and the Minister of Labour. A couple of weeks ago, we were at the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs in Niagara, but the message is the same. Their welfare is important to us, and that’s why our government came forward with so many major changes in addressing their concerns for their own welfare and their own safety, by changing the presumptive cancers, and we came forward with the Fire Protection Grant.

We recognize they put their lives on the line each day to keep our community safe. What defines our government’s leadership, under Premier Ford, is we will have their backs morning, noon and night.

Health care

Ms. Stephanie Bowman: There are 2.5 million people in Ontario with no family doctor, including 29,000 in Don Valley West. But it’s no surprise to this Conservative government that our public health care system is breaking—after all, that was their plan. First, they shelved the program to certify internationally trained doctors. Then they cancelled new nurse practitioner-led clinics for five years. Then they brought in Bill 124, driving nurses out of the profession. The OMA offered solutions, but the government threw that report aside.

Now, before they waste millions of taxpayer dollars by calling an early election, the Premier hires a former health minister to write another report that they will ignore. But booze in corner stores, they’re all over that.

My question to the Premier: Why won’t you rush to get people a family doctor the way you rushed to get booze in corner stores?

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

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Oh, Speaker, Speaker, Speaker. You can have your own story, but you can’t have your own facts. The facts are that we actually directed the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to quickly assess, review and ultimately license, when appropriate, internationally educated and trained physicians. What did that do? That got us a historically high number of internationally trained physicians wanting to practise in the province of Ontario. What did the member opposite do? She sat on her hands while her party actually cut the number of seats available in Ontario. That was in 2015, Speaker.

Imagine, if you would, where we would be today if the Liberal government of the day hadn’t cut 50 medical seats. Well, I don’t have to imagine; the numbers show we would have had almost an additional 450 physicians trained in the province of Ontario. Those are the facts.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

The supplementary question.

Ms. Stephanie Bowman: The 2.5 million people without a doctor know what the facts are. This government spends 2.5 to four times more for procedures at for-profit clinics than they spend for the same in public hospitals. That is not fiscally responsible, and the government knows it.

If this was so great for the people of Ontario, the government would be bragging about it in their TV ads. By the way, the AG told us this morning that they’ve spent a record amount on those ads this year.

Instead, the CBC had to get this information via an FOI. When interviewed about these costs, hospital officials “spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared talking publicly about the province’s funding arrangements could bring financial repercussions to their hospitals.” That’s scary.

My question to the Premier: Why is he focused on doling out profits to his insider friends while he lets public health care systems fall apart?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: What our government is focused on, under the leadership of Premier Ford, is actually building up a system that was ignored for far too long. You know, Bonnie Crombie actually said during the leadership that she felt that the previous Liberal government was spending too much money in their health care budget. What have we done? Under the leadership of Premier Ford, we have seen a 31% increase in the health care budget. What do those investments mean? They mean that we have more nurses training in the province of Ontario, more doctors training in the province of Ontario.

We have expanded nurse practitioner-led clinics that the previous government ignored. I was just at a nurse practitioner-led clinic in Innisfil, where 10 nurse practitioners—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: —are now working in the province of Ontario. That is only one example—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Ottawa South will withdraw.

Mr. John Fraser: I withdraw.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): He will rise in his place and withdraw.

Mr. John Fraser: Speaker, I withdraw.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): We’ll move on to the next question.

Agri-food industry

Mr. Rick Byers: My question is for the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness. Under the Premier’s leadership, agri-food exports have increased 65% to $26.2 billion. Almost 30,000 new agri-food jobs have been created across Ontario. The sector generates nearly $51 billion in annual GDP, up $3 billion since 2018. Over 871,000 men and women now work in agri-food, representing one in nine of all jobs. Lower taxes, less red tape and support for farmers have made all of this possible. But so has research, innovation and the commercialization of the latest technologies.

Can the minister please share how our government has worked to support agri-food research and innovation to strengthen the long-term competitiveness of Ontario’s agriculture sector?

Hon. Rob Flack: Research and innovation has been the hallmark of Ontario’s agri-food system for over a century. We are an absolute agri-food powerhouse in North America. Our $51-billion industry is being supported with a renewed $343 million in support for agri-food alliance. It is an alliance of partnership between the Ontario government, the University of Guelph and the Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario.

We are supporting all these partners. Why? To create the environment for our industry to succeed. Farmers and primary agriculture, agribusiness, farm suppliers and agri-food—all built on past successes, but, yes, looking to the future to meet future consumer demands.

Under this Premier, agri-food is absolutely flourishing in this province. Speaker, the best is yet to come.

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

Mr. Rick Byers: Thanks to the minister for that excellent answer. The alliance is a critical asset to our province’s agri-food research capability. It’s good to hear that it’s been renewed and strengthened. At its core is the University of Guelph, a globally recognized leader in agri-food research, but it also encompasses Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario, ARIO. A