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December 4, 2018

42nd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2018-Dec-04 (PDF)

L059 - Tue 4 Dec 2018 / Mar 4 déc 2018

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Tuesday 4 December 2018 Mardi 4 décembre 2018

Orders of the Day

Green Energy Repeal Act, 2018 / Loi de 2018 abrogeant la

Loi sur l’énergie verte

Introduction of Visitors

Oral Questions

Automotive industry

Government accountability

Ontario Provincial Police

Taxation

Environmental oversight

Greenhouse industry

Anti-racism activities

Government accountability

Manufacturing industry

Discrimination

Northern economy

Sports and recreation facilities

Celebrate Ontario / Fêtons l’Ontario

Senior poverty

Tourism / Tourisme

Consumer protection

Deferred Votes

Green Energy Repeal Act, 2018 / Loi de 2018 abrogeant la

Loi sur l’énergie verte

Displaying of flag

Introduction of Visitors

Members’ Statements

Government accountability

Heartbeat of the Yellow River

Season’s greetings

Season’s greetings

Labour dispute / Conflit de travail

Events in Ottawa / Événements divers à Ottawa

Christmas Baskets

Child advocate

Holiday toy and food drive

Hunting and fishing licences

Adjournment debate

Motions

Committee membership

Petitions

Animal protection

Toronto Transit Commission

Guide and service animals

Traffic control

Independent officers of the Legislature

Veterans memorial

Long-term care

Mental health and addiction services

Orders of the Day

Access to Natural Gas Act, 2018 / Loi de 2018 sur l’accès au gaz naturel

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Green Energy Repeal Act, 2018 / Loi de 2018 abrogeant la

Loi sur l’énergie verte

Resuming the debate adjourned on November 20, 2018, on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 34,

An Act to repeal the Green Energy Act, 2009 and to amend the Electricity Act, 1998, the Environmental Protection Act, the Planning Act and various other statutes / Projet de loi 34, Loi abrogeant la Loi de 2009 sur l’énergie verte et modifiant la Loi de 1998 sur l’électricité, la

Loi sur la protection de l’environnement, la

Loi sur l’aménagement du territoire et diverses autres lois.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): When the House last debated this bill, the member for Sarnia–Lambton had the floor. He continues to have time. I recognize the member for Sarnia–Lambton.

Mr. Robert Bailey: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had a great morning this morning with the Egg Farmers of Ontario. I’ll give them a shout-out. They were cooking omelettes for all of us down there, so it was a great morning.

Where we left off with the Green Energy Act: Ontario’s government for the people is delivering on that promise to repeal the 2009 Green Energy Act and reduce Ontario’s skyrocketing hydro rates. Under the former government, energy rates had tripled, hurting families and driving manufacturing jobs out of Ontario. Let’s be clear, Mr. Speaker: The Green Energy Act helped Liberal insiders get rich while families across Ontario were forced to choose between heating and eating and putting food on their plates. The Green Energy Act made it so much harder for businesses in Ontario to stay in business.

Thousands of jobs were lost across Ontario because manufacturing plants were too expensive to operate.

One of the first actions we took as a government was to cancel over 758 expensive and wasteful wind energy projects as part of our plan to cut hydro rates by 12%. Many of those future energy wind turbine projects, Mr. Speaker, would have been in my riding of Sarnia–Lambton and the adjacent riding of Lambton–Kent–Middlesex. I’m glad to say that those projects were cancelled, stopped and put an end to.

There was too much division, Mr. Speaker, in parts of Ontario. We all heard it. I heard it numerous times. Families were split; churches divided; communities divided; parents not speaking to loved ones. Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners were awkward because people came to find out that one part of the family had signed a lease and signed an agreement; other parts of the family disagreed with that.

I talked to one farmer, and he said, “Mother told us never to talk about green energy or anything at dinner because it was too disruptive.” So, Mr. Speaker, we’ve put an end to that. I’m glad to say that we were able to have some small part.

In my role as an opposition member, when I had the privilege to serve in Her Majesty’s loyal opposition, I had the opportunity to speak many times, to rise on that issue and have the privilege to speak about it. Then when we were given the honour and privilege of forming the government, I was given the opportunity to see that through and carry through with that and actually bring those actions and those thoughts to fruition. That was a promise made and a promise kept.

The previous government, as it’s well known, forced and shoved these wind and solar projects into the backyards of many communities that didn’t want them, and that was wrong. We’re restoring the ability of local communities, through their municipalities, to control where major facilities can be built.

As a number of people pointed out, if you can say where a Tim Hortons or any other fast-food restaurant can be located, and/or if they can have access to major roads, yet you can’t have any influence on where major industrial wind turbine projects—or solar, which weren’t nearly as intrusive—could be located, there seemed to be something wrong with that. I’m proud to say that we, as a government, were able to change that, put an end to that, and we were able to move forward.

This proposed legislation would give government the authority to stop approval of wasteful energy projects, projects where the need for electricity has not been demonstrated. This would put the brakes on additional projects that would only add costs to electricity bills that the people of Ontario simply can’t afford.

There’s the old adage that when you’re in a hole, if you want to get out, you quit digging. I don’t know why the government of the day—someday I’m going to sit down and have a conversation; I’d love to find out. Once they realized they had met their goals, and they had more energy than they could use and were actually giving it away at a sale price to neighbouring jurisdictions, why did they continue to try and approve these projects and continue building these projects? No one has ever given me an answer.

Maybe I should have sat in on one of those committees where they were questioning the energy minister and the former Premier and public servants who were in government at the time. Maybe I’ll have to look through the notes and see if that ever came up. I think that’s an answer we all should have in this Legislature.

We believe that the people of Ontario should have the final say about what gets built in their communities, and that municipalities should also have the power to stop expensive and unneeded energy projects in their community.

We’re also keeping the parts that actually protect the environment, measures like promoting energy efficiency and standards in energy conservation.

We made a promise to lower the cost of living for hard-working Ontarians by reducing hydro costs, and today’s announcement is doing just that. When it comes to putting more money in the pockets of Ontarians, we’re just getting started. After years of skyrocketing electricity rates, your bills will finally start to come down, and we’re cleaning up that mess that the Liberal government made.

In my riding of Sarnia–Lambton, it’s not that we’re against any type of energy project, because we’re not. I’ll put this forward: We probably have more energy projects in my riding of Sarnia–Lambton—at one time, we had the largest solar installation in North America, it was touted at the time. It’s located just outside of the boundaries of the city of Sarnia. It’s within the city of Sarnia but on the outskirts, on prime agricultural land. How that got located there is another story that happened long ago. I won’t even blame it on the Green Energy Act. It happened before the Green Energy Act was put in force.

But it’s a shame, because that land will probably never be returned to agricultural production. It’s some of the best land in southwestern Ontario.

We have many NUG plants, as they’re called, the non-utility generators. I can think of four that I know of that were built to chase the load in parts of Ontario, because the green energy projects—when the wind didn’t blow or the sun didn’t shine, as they shut down the coal plants in Ontario, then you needed facilities like these non-utility generators, which are gas-fired, combined-cycle generators, which would generate electricity by burning natural gas, which is the next-cleanest thing, I guess, to nuclear. They were installed, and we have a number of them in southwestern Ontario in my riding of Sarnia–Lambton.

Also, we have at least three cogeneration plants that were built by industry, which run from time to time but not as often as they should.

So I think that in my riding of Sarnia–Lambton alone, it shows we’re not against new ideas, new energy concepts.

I see I’m running out of time. I do want to talk about some of the things we’re doing in my riding of Sarnia–Lambton to do with the bio industry. There’s a whole biotech industry that has grown up in Sarnia–Lambton. We’ve rebranded ourselves as the green valley. For years we were known as the chemical valley, and we still have a lot of industry there that has cleaned itself up, in the petrochemical refinery industry.

But we’ve got a whole new generation of industry that’s coming on board, led by the Bioindustrial Innovation Centre, and we have the Sarnia-Lambton Research Park in association with the University of Western Ontario, and there are a number of pilot projects. I hope people out there will take the time to come to Sarnia–Lambton and see what we’re doing there. We’ve got some exciting projects. It’s not like we’re against new ideas; we certainly aren’t, Mr. Speaker, and we’ve proven that. Those projects are starting to take root now.

I was proud to go down to eastern Ontario to the area of Maitland with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Honourable Steve Clark, a number of months ago. In their area, they have a number of brownfield sites there, where a number of major industries used to be located. They’ve moved out. They’re going to try to emulate in the same way what we’ve been able to do. It has taken about 15 years in Sarnia–Lambton’s case, but I’m sure that the area of Maitland, Ontario, should be able to do it a lot quicker because they can see the shortcuts where they can bring this industry there a lot quicker.

Mr. Speaker, like I say, to sum up, the Green Energy Act made it harder for businesses that were in business in Ontario to stay in business, and made a lot of businesses take a second look: Would they relocate here? So I think a number of initiatives that we’ve taken here in southwestern Ontario and across Ontario with the new open-for-business act and the revocation of the Green Energy Act alone have made a big difference, and I’m sure it’s going to lead to better days.

I was in the House when the Green Energy Act was passed in 2009. I remember speaking about it at the time. I don’t have my notes here, but I remember cautioning at the time that I didn’t see anything good coming out of it. I wish I had been wrong, but I wasn’t.

I do appreciate the opportunity to rise here today to speak to this bill. It’s always a privilege and an honour to speak in the Legislature on behalf of the citizens of Sarnia–Lambton and southwestern Ontario. At that, I will yield the floor.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Questions and comments.

Mr. Joel Harden: I want to thank the member for Sarnia–Lambton for those comments. I’m going to endeavour, in a minute and 53 seconds, to answer your question. You mentioned that you never had a good answer as to why Ontario decided to pursue renewable energy given that we off-load 23% of our energy when we don’t have use for it to the United States, and we essentially pay the United States to take our energy. I take the member’s point: That’s a ridiculously wasteful system.

What’s also wasteful, Speaker, which is why the previous government, whose policy I will not defend, attempted to take us down the path of renewable energy, is the waste associated with nuclear power. That’s something that I spoke to when I had 20 minutes on this bill the last time I rose in this House, and I invite the member to look at that because what I said was informed by members in my community.

Right now, what the member for Sarnia–Lambton should know is that we are currently looking at a proposal in the Ottawa Valley to build an above-ground nuclear waste facility the size of 70 NHL hockey rinks 200 metres away from the Ottawa River, which is a source of drinking water for millions of people. There is a cost to maintaining and doubling down on a centralized energy generation system, which is what the government, unfortunately, is poised to do. It may be emissions free, but it’s not waste free.

What our children and our grandchildren expect this government to do, expect us to do as a Legislature, is to find a way to embrace renewable energy. What I said in my remarks it that there is, in my view, a way to embrace renewable energy that fits perfectly well within a Conservative policy world view; it’s called virtual net metering. It’s a policy I’ve promoted, with my friend from Markham–Stouffville, at the social policy committee. If it was pursued at a co-operative, non-profit level, it wouldn’t have the problems associated with the secretive, high-cost model for renewable energy embraced previously.

So, member for Sarnia–Lambton, that’s my attempt to answer your question. Let’s take up this discussion off-line.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Questions and comments.

Mr. Paul Calandra: I, too, want to thank the member for Sarnia–Lambton for that passionate discourse on the Green Energy Act and all of the reasons why the government needed to move rather quickly to make some changes on how we procure energy in this province. He spoke very passionately about the disagreements within families and farms and communities over how the previous government brought forward the Green Energy Act, and I think we heard a little bit more of that in committee.

While the member opposite, my NDP friend from Ottawa South—

Mr. Joel Harden: Centre.

Mr. Paul Calandra: —Centre—is correct that nobody is going to defend the previous government’s Green Energy Act, it is our job, of course, to move forward and to bring on something new. That’s what the government has done. Of course, all forms of generation, I think, are on the table, but that generation has to be cost-effective. It has to be in the best interests of the people of Ontario. That’s the direction we need to move in.

I think that what the previous government did in terms of how they rolled out the Green Energy Act has done a disservice to our renewable sector. It has really turned them into an enemy—something that can be a positive, but it must be done in a way that is cost-effective and that the people of Ontario can afford to do.

We’ll agree to disagree on some aspects of nuclear power. As many of my colleagues know, I’m a big fan and supporter of nuclear power. It provides us the baseline energy that has been so effective in keeping our costs down for so many years.

But ultimately, Mr. Speaker, this is the first step in moving us forward. When you look at what the government has done—the Minister of the Environment working with the Minister of Energy and working with the Minister of Finance—it is bringing together all of the elements we need to get Ontario moving again, to put us back on track, to make it more cost-effective to do business and to really restore Ontario as the engine of the Canadian economy.

I thank the member for his passion on the topic and I look forward to working with him, moving forward.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Questions and comments?

M me France Gélinas: It was interesting listening to the comments coming from the government regarding the Green Energy Repeal Act. When people come and speak in favour of nuclear energy, you have to respect that people coming from different parts of the province may have different opinions. You will all remember, and you’ve heard me say in the House many times, that we all know where the Canadian Shield is—this great, big, massive amount of rock in the north of our province. You put a pin in the middle of the Canadian Shield, and you’ve just put a pin in Nickel Belt.

Why do you think people in Nickel Belt are not in favour of nuclear energy? Because we know darn well that this is where they’re going to bury the nuclear waste.

The people from Atomic Energy of Canada and the people from nuclear energy are forever going through every part of Nickel Belt to see if there is a willing community who will accept to be—they don’t use the term “nuclear waste dump,” but this is what we use in Nickel Belt, because you all know that they are not going to come and ask to bury underneath Toronto. They’re not going to go and ask to bury underneath Ottawa. They’re going to ask—and sometimes tell us—that this is where they’re going to bury the nuclear waste, and it’s going to be underneath my pillow.

What I don’t know is how many feet underneath my pillow, but I don’t care how many feet it is. I don’t want it there, and the people of Nickel Belt do not want it there.

You have to respect that when we see energy skyrocketing because the Conservatives and the Liberals decided to privatize, and then you see that the forms of energy that are not harmful to health—the green, renewable energy—are being shut down, people in Nickel Belt speak up.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Questions and comments?

Mr. Mike Harris: It’s always a pleasure to rise in the House and participate in debate and in questions and comments.

I had the opportunity to speak to this bill a couple of weeks ago. There’s one thing that I really took heart from the member from Sarnia–Lambton’s comments, and it’s the fact that the Green Energy Act put wind turbines in people’s backyards who didn’t want them. There was no recourse to deal with that, Mr. Speaker.

One of the hallmarks of our country and our province and our democracy is the fact that everybody gets a say. Everybody’s voice should be heard. I think one thing that our government is doing very well is that we are listening to the voices of the people of Ontario. It’s really important that we’re making sure that people are getting what they want and they’re understanding why these things are being placed in their backyards. I’m lucky.

I don’t have any wind turbines in my riding, but if you get out within probably a 20-minute or a half-hour drive from the northern edge of my riding, you run into the wind turbine farm in Mount Forest, and that runs all the way down into Sarnia–Lambton, where the member is from.

There are a few concerning costs that I just want to highlight real quick: We paid $3.75 billion more on our electricity bills than we should have. I think that’s a staggering number, when we look at that. Wind and solar only make up 11% of the power generated here in Ontario, but it made up 30% of the debt retirement charge. How is that a sustainable model? I don’t think that that really makes sense. I think a lot of people in Ontario have started to see through that.

In 2016, we dumped over a billion dollars’ worth of clean energy just right out of the system, and we’ve talked about—

Interjection.

Mr. Mike Harris: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the time.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): We’ll return to the member from Sarnia–Lambton for his two-minute summation on what he just heard.

Mr. Robert Bailey: It’s a privilege to be able to rise and reply to the members from Ottawa Centre, Markham–Stouffville, Nickel Belt and Kitchener–Conestoga.

When our government took office, we had made a commitment during the election that this government would put the needs of everyday people first. We promised to respect their hard-earned money and to make sure they got to keep more of it in their pocket, where it belongs. We promised to be accountable to the people who pay those bills day in and day out. We also promised to drive efficiencies in the electricity sector and push energy costs down. More importantly, we promised to restore the public’s faith in our election—electricity system, and election system, maybe.

Since day one, we’ve been working to keep those promises. We listened to people when they told us that they had an issue. We thought about what was wrong with the electricity system. We heard about the negative impacts that it was having on families and businesses.

I do appreciate having had the opportunity to talk about some of the exciting things that we’re doing down in Sarnia–Lambton as well as across the rest of Ontario, like down in the Maitland area—I wish the minister was able to be here so that I could speak to him directly. He would rise, I’m sure, and second my comments about the positive image that they had on there. We know the province’s families and business were fed up with rising electricity prices.

I do want to add to the comments—I remember when we talked about these wind turbines. There was talk at one time about putting them on the Scarborough Bluffs of Toronto. That soon came to an end because—

Hon. Lisa MacLeod: Yes, it did, because it was a Liberal seat.

Mr. Robert Bailey: Yes, it was a Liberal seat then, and they said no. That didn’t happen, so they foisted them upon the rest of the Ontario, who didn’t have a say.

I would like to add to the member from Kitchener–Conestoga: The people of Ontario did have recourse, and that was the election of June last. That’s when they had their recourse.

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

Ms. Peggy Sattler: It is a pleasure for me to rise today to participate in this third reading debate on Bill 34, the Green Energy Repeal Act.

Speaker, I want to begin by commending our critic for the official opposition, the member from Toronto–Danforth, who I think has done an exemplary job of pointing out what’s missing from this legislation and also the real impact of this legislation, which, frankly, is minimal. This is a bill that’s largely symbolic. While it does repeal the Green Energy Act, it re-enacts almost all of the provisions of the Green Energy Act in the Electricity Act.

This notion that through this legislation we are getting rid of the green energy legislation that had been in place before is actually not true, because the provisions of the Green Energy Act that were problematic are really being moved into the Electricity Act.

The biggest problem with this bill is that it gives a sense of false hope, that with this bill, there are some concrete steps being taken to really begin the process of fixing some of the problems that Ontario faces in our electricity system. And, of course, a bill that doesn’t address the fundamental issues of privatization and deregulation will do very little to address the problems with our energy system.

This bill will do very little to reduce rates. That has been a focus of this government, this party, during the election: their commitment to reduce hydro rates. If we don’t deal with the privatization of our energy system, we won’t be able to achieve that meaningful reduction in rates that Ontarians deserve.

This bill won’t do anything to return our electricity system to broader public ownership. Certainly, the reason that our energy system started out as publicly owned is because we recognized that there is a substantial public benefit, that our energy system is a critical tool to enable us as legislators to advance the public interest and ensure that energy planning decisions are made in the public good.

The bill doesn’t do anything to start the process of winding down the Liberals’ Fair Hydro Plan. It’s interesting that we are having this debate on this bill at the same time that a committee is grilling the members of the former government on the Fair Hydro Plan. Certainly, members opposite were quite scathing about the Liberals’ Fair Hydro Plan at the time that it was introduced, and they continue to be during those committee processes. However, they have had opportunities to start to undo the harm that was done with the Liberal Fair Hydro Plan but have chosen not to. They have instead embraced the Liberals’ Fair Hydro Plan lock, stock and barrel.

One of the concerns about this legislation that has been raised by members on this side of the House is the fact that it singles out renewable energy projects. Certainly, New Democrats agree that municipalities should be able to have veto power over energy projects that are sited in their communities. That is something that is long overdue. However, this bill says nothing about other kinds of private energy projects, for example, gas plants and nuclear projects. Those kinds of energy projects can continue to be foisted upon unwilling communities regardless of this legislation.

The other gaffe in this legislation, of course, is that while it allows municipalities to be involved in renewable energy projects, it says nothing about the many other kinds of issues that municipalities should be able to have a say over; for example, landfills. Last week in my riding, I met with Bryan Smith from OPAL. The OPAL Alliance is Oxford People Against the Landfill. It is an initiative that came together in 2012 because of plans to situate a mega-landfill in Oxford county. The people of Oxford do not want a landfill in their community.

Bryan Smith from OPAL came to my office and provided me with pages and pages of petitions signed by residents of Oxford county who are calling on the province to allow communities the right to approve projects like landfills that are going to be situated in their communities.

This is an important right. Municipalities should have the ability to say yea or nay when there are plans to proceed with major projects like the landfill in Oxford county. I know that the member from Oxford is well familiar with this issue because he introduced a private member’s bill, when he was on this side of the House, to give municipalities that right. It’s interesting that this bill before us doesn’t address any of those other planning issues that municipalities might have an interest—or do have an interest—in participating in decisions on.

I want to say that it’s important, as we look at this legislation, to be clear-eyed and realistic about what it will do and what it won’t do. Most importantly for the people of this province, it will do nothing to start to reduce the skyrocketing hydro rates that brought down the Liberals, along with the privatization of Hydro One. This bill will do nothing to create that oversight and independent planning that we need in our energy system. It does not restore that independent process that was taken away by the Liberals.

Of course, that’s not surprising, because we have seen this government eliminate those independent officers of the Legislature—the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, the Environmental Commissioner, the French Language Services Commissioner—because they don’t like these kinds of independent oversight mechanisms. So it’s not surprising that they didn’t reintroduce that independent planning process that we need.

Ontarians need to remember that this bill is symbolic and will do very little to address the real issues in our energy sector here today.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Questions and comments?

Mr. Vijay Thanigasalam: Our government promised to be accountable and responsible for the people of Ontario. One of the ways we promised to do that was to repeal the Green Energy Act. With this legislation, I’m pleased to say that we are delivering on that promise.

The Liberal Green Energy Act allowed energy rates to triple, drastically crippling our manufacturing sector. Because of this act, thousands and thousands of jobs were lost in the province of Ontario. Unfortunately, it really hurt all Ontarians.

The Green Energy Act made it so much harder for businesses in Ontario to stay in business. The people of Ontario lost jobs across Ontario because manufacturing plants were too expensive to operate. This government for the people is delivering on its promise to repeal the Green Energy Act, and our government is reducing Ontario’s skyrocketing hydro rates.

If this legislation is passed, it would send a strong signal about our government’s energy priorities. First, it shows we are committed to helping electricity consumers lower their energy costs. Ontario has enough supply of power right now, and our province does not need power that additional renewable energy contracts would have provided to have reliable electricity.

Secondly, it demonstrates that we are committed to restoring authority to municipalities to ensure they have a say in the siting of renewable energy projects that affect their communities.

Third, it proves that we are committed to retaining provisions that will help electricity consumers lower their energy costs and drive efficiency.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Questions and comments?

Ms. Laura Mae Lindo: I wanted to say thank you to my colleague from London West for such sage advice: Let us be clear-eyed and realistic with any of the legislation that we pass. I’m hoping that we’re not just going to take that advice when it comes to the green energy repeal but that we’ll take that, moving forward.

In this particular bill, the idea that I keep hearing over and over again is that everything that we need to make it effective is actually missing from the bill. It’s not the first time that we’ve had this discussion or this debate.

If people want to make sure that Ontarians receive the decreases in their bills, as promised, then you have to ensure that you address the root causes of what is causing the bills to skyrocket. As my colleague from London West has explained so eloquently, that means addressing privatization and making sure that the proper regulations are actually in place. If that information is missing from the legislation, it’s impossible for us to do good on the promise that was made. I don’t entirely understand why, but this seems to be an ongoing discussion with every piece of legislation that comes through the House.

And so, again, I just want to repeat our colleague’s message: Let’s be clear-eyed and realistic. If the words in the bill are not providing the information that people need to decrease privatization, to stop privatization, to move things into public hands, then we’re not going to see the decreases.

I just want to point out that this problem isn’t just with this bill; this problem keeps coming up over and over and over again. I do hope that at some point, the government takes the time to be clear-eyed and realistic.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Questions and comments?

M me Natalia Kusendova: Ça me fait grand plaisir de parler ce matin en faveur du projet de loi 34, Loi de 2018 abrogeant la

Loi sur l’énergie verte.

Je remercie la députée de London-Ouest pour son discours.

Pendant la campagne électorale du printemps de cette année, chaque candidat du Parti conservateur a fait des promesses aux familles ontariennes. On a promis aux individus, aux familles et aux petites entreprises un gouvernement responsable et digne de confiance, qui écouterait et rendrait l’abordabilité en remettant de l’argent dans les poches des contribuables. Maintenant notre gouvernement tient à tenir ces promesses.

Le projet de loi du gouvernement libéral a fait tellement plus difficile pour les entreprises de rester en Ontario. Les familles ontariennes ont été forcées de choisir entre chauffer leur maison et manger.

Une des premières actions prises par notre gouvernement était d’annuler 758 projets d’énergie chers et inutiles, résultant en 790 milliards de dollars économisés. C’est un important pas envers notre plan pour réduire les tarifs d’électricité de 12 %.

Monsieur le Président, on a entendu ce matin à la radio que les prix de la nourriture et des aliments vont augmenter de plusieurs centaines de dollars en 2019.

Now more than ever, Ontario families are relying on our government to make life more affordable and to keep money in their pockets. To those hard-working families, I am proud to say that help is here. After years of skyrocketing electricity rates, your hydro bills will finally start coming down. We’re cleaning up the Liberal hydro mess and making sure that our electricity system works for the people once again.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Questions and comments? The member for Algoma–Manitoulin.

Mr. Michael Mantha: Good morning, Speaker. It’s always a privilege taking my place on behalf of the good people of Algoma–Manitoulin and, of course, seeing you in that chair. You make it look exquisite. You’re something else, Speaker. I tell you, you have a presence, I have to say, when you’re sitting in the House.

Anyway, I want to go back to the member, where she talked about our critic the member from Toronto–Danforth, who has brought very thoughtful views in regard to exactly what that bill does. As the member had said, it’s a symbolic bill. It really doesn’t do anything.

When I hear Conservative members take their seats and talk about how this is going to reduce hydro bills—it’s not. It’s not. When you look at the biggest error that was done by the previous government that was there, it was their Fair Hydro Plan, which was a $40-billion boondoggle. They haven’t addressed it; they’ve kept it. Now it’s part of their plan. They can’t blame the Liberals for that one no more. It’s part of their plan, and the ongoing privatization that is going to happen is going to escalate our hydro bills again and again and again.

We’ve seen this story before. It started way back when, and it is just continuing on with the same type of messaging. If we wanted to do something, I would encourage this government to once again look at our platform—look at it—where we talked about the elimination of time-of-use. Look at doing the equalization of the delivery charges. Now that would reduce hydro bills, and it would be a substantial step forward. But again, we don’t hear these ideas, or I’m not sure if the government is listening to those ideas when they keep asking for different views or different opinions in regard to how we could do this.

What this does do is that it creates an economic hardship on a lot of the businesses and communities across my riding in Algoma–Manitoulin, particularly with Wikwemikong First Nation, Elliot Lake and Wawa, who all had green initiatives that they wanted to have pushed forward in order to change the windows, heating and so on and create jobs in their communities. With the stroke of a pen, those are gone.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): We’ll return to the member for London West for her response.

Ms. Peggy Sattler: I would like to thank my colleagues the members for Kitchener Centre and Algoma–Manitoulin, as well as the members for Scarborough–Rouge Park and Mississauga Centre, for their comments.

Reference was made to the 758 projects that were already cancelled in one of the first acts of this government. That tells us right there how symbolic this bill really is. Those contracts have already been cancelled. Having this legislation in place will do virtually nothing to change the reality on the ground.

What the cancellation of those projects did, however, is send a very strong signal to potential business investors in this province that you have got to be very careful if you sign a contract with the government of Ontario, because that contract could be ripped up at any moment. That is very troublesome, because it will have an impact on people who are thinking of starting businesses in Ontario.

I want to return to my fundamental point, and that is that this bill will do nothing to address the problems that we saw, beginning with the privatization that was started by the former Conservative government and that was ramped up by the Liberals, the deregulation, the politicization of our energy system that has contributed to skyrocketing hydro rates. This bill will do nothing to prevent the government from making decisions behind closed doors that are going to have a direct impact on the people of this province.

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

Ms. Donna Skelly: I’m grateful for the opportunity to speak about how our government for the people is making changes to help make the lives of all Ontarians easier by taking important first steps to reduce hydro rates.

Over the past 15 years of Liberal government, we saw families feel the brunt of skyrocketing energy prices and manufacturing jobs leaving Ontario. It’s clear that the only people that benefited from the Green Energy Act were Liberal insiders and donors who got rich at the expense of Ontarians making the choice between heating and eating.

This issue is one I have a personal interest in and have followed quite closely for a number of years, and that’s because the wasteful and misguided Green Energy Act is one of the reasons I got into politics. When the act was first introduced by the McGuinty government, I was co-hosting a program on CHCH Television in Hamilton called Square Off, where the issues of the day were analyzed and debated. To be frank, I was enjoying a successful career in broadcast journalism. I enjoyed my colleagues, I enjoyed the content that we covered, and I enjoyed spending more time with family and friends than a life in politics might allow.

But there was something disingenuous about the arguments being put forward by the proponents of the Liberal government’s Green Energy Act that really got to me. As a mother, as a consumer, as someone who had to manage a household budget, it just didn’t add up.

It also didn’t sit well with my upbringing. When I grew up in northern Ontario, as I’ve talked about in this Legislature before, Ontario was growing. We were the economic engine of Canada, and I knew one of the key reasons was our abundant supply of affordable hydroelectricity. It was a huge strategic asset. Our economy depended on it, which is why my sense then and our experience now is that the ideas behind the Green Energy Act were fraught with problems. The more I thought about it, the more I was concerned. Eventually, that concern, along with ballooning deficits and other scandals, would prompt me to run for political office to effect change.

Mr. Speaker, today I want to share three reasons why the Green Energy Act has failed Ontarians, the culmination of which is that the Green Energy Act made it harder for businesses in Ontario to stay open. It simply became too expensive for manufacturers to operate here. An unfortunate extension of this we have seen recently: GM is planning to close up shop in Oshawa by next December.

Since day one, our government has been committed to getting rid of the waste left behind by the Liberals. That is why we cancelled 758 expensive and wasteful projects as part of our larger plan to cut hydro rates by 12%, saving electricity consumers $790 million.

It’s not our responsibility to force communities into doing things they don’t want to do. We are allowing our municipalities to decide what works best for them. Bill 34 is intended to give the government the authority to stop the approval of wasteful projects, and give power to the municipalities to do the same, while maintaining measures that promote energy efficiency and energy conservation. This will allow electricity prices to stay at a level that the people of Ontario can actually afford.

I would like to take some time now to share with the House how the Green Energy Act negatively impacted our province and hence why it needs to be repealed. An executive

summary released by the government when the Green Energy Act was first tabled goes into detail about what the Liberals had hoped to achieve. According to this

summary, the purpose of the Green Energy Act was to enable all Ontarians “to participate and benefit from green energy as conservers and generators, at the lowest cost to consumers.”

The

summary also states that “a greater emphasis on conservation and efficiency would be at least 11% ... [to] 32% less expensive.” We know this never happened because energy prices nearly tripled under the Liberals. It’s beyond belief how prices could increase so much at a time when electricity supply was increasing and demand was decreasing. These sharp increases put Ontario near the top of the list when it came to electricity costs across North America, which in turn would hit the economy with decreased investments due to the extra costs placed on larger energy consumers.

In 2013, the Fraser Institute conducted a study that looked into the effects the Green Energy Act had in our province. They concluded that the act had disastrous impacts on Ontario’s energy rates and would seriously threaten economic competitiveness, with investments estimated to drop by nearly 13% in the mining sector and almost 30% in manufacturing.

Our government cannot stand by while our job creators face obstacles that are preventing them from paying for good, well-paying jobs that can provide the boost our economy desperately needs.

Let’s look at the study’s three main conclusions as to how the Green Energy Act failed the people of Ontario. The first conclusion is that “it is unlikely the Green Energy Act will yield any environmental improvements other than those that would have happened anyway under policy and technology trends established since the 1970s.” How is it that a plan that was supposed to be modern and fit for the 21st century is giving us the same results as those from 40 years ago? It really makes you think about what the Liberals’ true motive was when it came to passing laws that involved rewarding contracts to people.

The McGuinty-Wynne government’s own cost-benefit analysis of the act, albeit confidential at the time, predicted that closing coal plants would yield nearly unnoticeable effects of air quality, which had been improving on a consistent basis since the 1980s. Most types of air contamination had already fallen below the strictest provincial limits by the year 2000.

What’s even more interesting is the impact of wind power on emissions. Due to the ever-changing nature of wind power, adding this to the electricity grid requires backup power from natural gas plants. If the Liberals had their way, we would have had to lose a nuclear plant at the expense of this renewable and gas-fired generation combo. The move could have actually led to a net increase in air emissions, the exact opposite of what the Green Energy Act was supposed to achieve.

Our government has shown that not only are we committed to getting rid of wasteful programs, we are committed to supporting nuclear power and have done so by protecting the jobs of 7,500 people working at the Pickering nuclear plant.

The second point is that the plans implemented under the Green Energy Act are not cost-effective. Rather, it costs 10 times more than an alternative found in a confidential McGuinty government report in 2005, and leads to the same environmental goals as simply closing coal-fired power plants. By using this report to support the Green Energy Act, the Liberals hid the truth from the public, since it never considered or recommended replacing coal with wind or solar power.

According to the Fraser Institute, the confidential report did contain a retrofit option for coal plants that would have led to the same greenhouse gas reductions as closing the plants, at one tenth of the cost of the Green Energy Act and one seventieth if the plan was seen to completion. That means huge savings for taxpayers ranging in the billions of dollars. However, both the Liberals and the NDP decided to vote in favour of a plan that benefited the loyalty of Liberal donors over the best use of taxpayer dollars.

The third point that the Fraser Institute made clear was that the Green Energy Act would not create jobs or grow the Ontario economy. The truth is that the overall effect of the act was an increase in production costs, reduced competitiveness and making households worse off due to the skyrocketing costs. It is astounding that a government would claim that a program as costly as the Green Energy Act would create 50,000 jobs without any formal analysis to base that number on. The Liberals were forced to admit that the jobs created were mainly temporary and their magic number of 50,000 never accounted for job losses from increased costs.

Mr. Speaker, I’m proud to see that we are standing here in hopes of repealing this. It’s one of the reasons I decided, as I mentioned earlier, to run for MPP and I’m honoured to be able to stand here in support of Bill 34 to help make it happen for all Ontarians. I encourage all members of this House to stand up with the people of Ontario who have waited far too long for lower hydro rates and support the repealing of the Green Energy Act.

I move, pursuant to standing order 48, that the question be now put.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Ms. Skelly has moved that the question be now put. I am satisfied that there has been sufficient debate to allow this question to be put to the House. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I did hear a no.

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

All those opposed to the motion that the question be now put, please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

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

Vote deferred.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Orders of the day. I recognize the Minister of Labour.

Hon. Laurie Scott: No further business.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): There being no further business called, this House will stand in recess until 10:30 with question period later this morning.

The House recessed from 0954 to 1030.

Introduction of Visitors

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I wish to draw the attention of the House that we have some very special guests with us in the Speaker’s gallery from Australia—were that we were all there: the Honourable John Ajaka, president of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, and Mr. Mark Webb, chief executive, parliamentary services of the Parliament of New South Wales. Please join me in welcoming them to the Ontario Legislature today.

Mr. Faisal Hassan: I would like to welcome to the Legislature and Queen’s Park today the tourism industry leaders: Janet O’Connell from the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario; Suzanne Caskie from Centennial College; Andrew Lind from Muskoka Language International; Donna Lee Rosen from George Brown College; and Joe Baker, who will be joining us a little bit later. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Steve Clark: I apologize; I’m a little hoarse. We had a great by-election win by Michael Barrett last night in Leeds–Grenville–Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.

Speaker, I have an introduction. I want to introduce to you, and through you to members of the Legislative Assembly, the manager of tourism in Brockville and Thousand Islands. I want to welcome to the Legislature Katherine Hobbs.

Ms. Jill Andrew: I would like to welcome our guests from the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario—thank you very much for being here: Alexandra Anderson, David MacLachlan, Troy Young, Laurie Marcil, Andrew Siegwart, Suzanne Caskie, Dug Stevenson, Kevin Eshkawkogan, Bonnie Ruddock, Donna Lee Rosen and James Murphy. Welcome to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

Hon. Bill Walker: It’s my pleasure to welcome Bryan Plumstead, manager of tourism, county of Grey, to Queen’s Park. Welcome, Bryan.

Mr. Stephen Lecce: I would like to welcome Alex Greco from Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. He’s here today at Queen’s Park. I know Minister McNaughton was looking forward to speaking to the annual conference in November and I’m looking forward to speaking with their GR members this afternoon. Welcome to the Legislature.

Mr. Norman Miller: It’s my pleasure to welcome representatives from the Tourism Industry Association, including James Murphy from Explorers’ Edge, Dianne Hounsome from Resorts of Ontario, Luke Nixon-Janssen from Deerhurst and Muskoka Tourism, Dave MacNeil from Festivals and Events Ontario, Laurie Marcil from Nature and Outdoor Tourism, Dave MacLachlan from Destination Northern Ontario, Marty Kalagian from Destination Northern Ontario, Kevin Eshkawkogan from Indigenous Tourism Ontario, Rick Layzell from the Boating Ontario Association, Alexandra Anderson from Camping in Ontario and Minto Schneider from WRTMC. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Wayne Gates: Good morning. I’d like to introduce Robin Garrett from my riding of Niagara Falls, who is here today with the board of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Sheref Sabawy: I would like to welcome an active member from my riding, Maria Melino—welcome to Queen’s Park—and also take the opportunity to welcome our former MP from Mississauga–Streetsville, Brad Butt from the Mississauga Board of Trade.

Mrs. Nina Tangri: Soon we’ll be having a school from my riding; Philopateer Christian College will be joining us.

I would like to also welcome the director of government relations at the Mississauga Board of Trade and my former member of Parliament for Mississauga–Streetsville, Brad Butt.

I would also like to give a big thank you to the Egg Farmers of Ontario, whose office is located in my riding, for the wonderful omelette this morning.

Mr. Paul Miller: As the tourism critic, I’d like to welcome all the people from the tourism industry who are here to visit us today at Queen’s Park. Welcome.

Mr. Daryl Kramp: Today I’d like to welcome two gentlemen from the snowmobile organization of Ontario: Ryan Eickmeier, and accompanying him as his partner in crime is my first staff from when I was first elected in 2004, Mr. Andrew Walasek. Good to see you again, my friend.

I’d also like to—my former colleague Brad Butt. Good to see you again, Brad.

Hon. Caroline Mulroney: I would like to welcome to Queen’s Park today the honourable Peter Van Loan, former MP for York–Simcoe.

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: Simcoe county is really well represented today. I wanted to welcome our MP from Barrie–Innisfil, John Brassard, and also Peter Van Loan in the gallery.

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

Hon. Todd Smith: Thank you, Speaker, and good morning to you. I’d like to welcome a very good friend of mine from Bay of Quinte Tourism. Dug Stevenson is with us today. He’s in the House today. Welcome.

Mr. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: I’d like to take an opportunity to introduce a constituent, Binu Saradakutty, who is also the mother of a wonderful page of ours, Nidhi Kumar, who happens to be the page captain today. I would like to welcome her to the House as well.

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: It’s my pleasure to introduce Mrs. Beth Potter, the CEO and president of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario. Welcome to Queen’s Park. I’d also like to remind everyone that the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario is hosting a reception in committee room 230 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. this evening. Welcome.

Hon. Laurie Scott: I’d like to introduce Michael Vasmer, visiting from University College London and doing a PhD in quantum computing. Welcome to the Legislature today.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): And the member for Kitchener–Conestoga.

Mr. Mike Harris: Last but not least, Mr. Speaker; thank you. I’d like to also acknowledge some members from Waterloo region tourism that are here today, including Minto Schneider.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): And we welcome the other guests who have yet to be introduced.

Oral Questions

Automotive industry

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My first question is to the Premier. Tomorrow, General Motors is going to be meeting with US lawmakers about their restructuring plans. These lawmakers have all made it clear that they are not going to throw in the towel when it comes to fighting GM’s decisions to move jobs out of their communities. Meanwhile, the Premier’s message to GM workers is: It’s over; it’s done.

Why does the Premier think throwing in the towel is the only option?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker: Over the last few days, probably a week or so, I’ve talked to more GM workers and their families than anyone in the country.

Interjections.

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

Hon. Doug Ford: I spoke to the mother of a GM worker this morning. I told her that we’re going to be working our backs off and we’re continually working our backs off to create new opportunities for GM workers so that they don’t have to worry about losing their jobs every two years, because that’s what it seems has been happening with GM in Oshawa: Every two years, they’re either there for a bailout or they’re threatening to close the facility down. We have all hands on deck. We had four ministers at our meeting up in Durham. We had our local MPPs up there. We’re reaching out to every major company in the world—

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: In a joint statement, the two US senators for Ohio made it very clear: They said, “[We] are committed to saving these jobs.” GM workers “have proven themselves time and again, and [we] will continue to fight on their behalf.” They’re sitting down with GM tomorrow to fight for jobs in their community. Why isn’t the Premier putting up the same fight for workers in Oshawa?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker: Everyone in this chamber, especially the leader of the NDP, knows I never walk away from a fight—ever. So what I will be—

Interjections.

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

Hon. Doug Ford: What I will be fighting for, I’ll be fighting for lower taxes on every individual and lower taxes on businesses. I’m going to be fighting to get rid of this nasty carbon tax, because you can’t be fighting for a carbon tax one day, on a Monday, and then wonder why jobs are leaving on a Tuesday. That’s what the opposition is doing. They’re continuously fighting to raise taxes and to make sure they have a carbon tax. We just passed Bill 47. It’s a great bill to attract new companies—

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Except when overnight the Premier walked away from the fight to save jobs in Oshawa.

The families in Oshawa need a government that will fight for jobs. Instead, they have a Premier who says it’s over, it’s done. The thousands of people who rely on GM for direct and indirect jobs need an auto strategy. Instead, this government scraps support for electric cars, leaves the position of auto adviser vacant for months and refuses to fight for their jobs.

Why is the Premier refusing to do what every other elected leader across North America is already doing: standing up for the workers at GM and saying, “I’m not giving up on these jobs”?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Speaker: The leader of the NDP will be saying this for the next year. As the jobs are going to be wound down, we’re going to be out there creating new jobs, great-paying jobs, secure jobs—because our government is creating jobs in Ontario. We lost 300,000 jobs under the previous administration. The NDP voted 97% of the time with their Liberal partners there.

We have changed the rules in this province about creating jobs. We’ve lowered the hydro rates. We’ve ended up getting rid of wasteful energy contracts to the tune of $790 million, bringing hydro rates down, bringing taxes down and creating an environment so Ontario is open for business.

I was just speaking to the Minister of Finance. He was over in New York, and the best words they’ve ever heard are those words: We’re open for business.

Government accountability

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is also for the Premier, notwithstanding the fact that he’s making stuff up about the NDP again in his responses. Speaker, the—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I have to ask the Leader of the Opposition to withdraw.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Withdraw.

The Globe and Mail reported this week that the Premier and Dean French, his chief of staff, are working—working very hard, in fact—to ensure that Toronto Hydro CEO Anthony Haines gets the CEO position at Hydro One. As a Toronto councillor, the Premier was an ally of Haines, supporting him as his salary climbed to $1.1 million a year. According to the governance agreement with Hydro One, however, the hiring of the CEO is a decision of the board and the board alone.

Can the Premier explain why Dean French, his chief of staff, is personally intervening to land the job for Haines?

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of Energy.

Hon. Greg Rickford: The Leader of the Opposition asked a pertinent question. Let’s look at the difference between OPG and Hydro One: OPG is a crown corporation; Hydro One is a private company. That’s the difference. What’s the same about them is that they make their own staffing decisions—so a crown corporation making their own staffing decisions, and a private company making their own staffing decisions.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: According to the Globe report, the only Hydro One directors supporting the Premier’s favourite candidate are the ones the Premier installed on the board. Six out of the six independent directors at Hydro One are rejecting the Premier’s personal pick and have even hired a lawyer to help them deal with the Premier and his chief of staff.

Why is the Premier so adamant on foisting his hire upon Hydro One?

Hon. Greg Rickford: As I said before, both OPG, as a crown corporation, and Hydro One, as a private corporation, make their own staffing decisions. We’ve endeavoured to renew the leadership there and reflect a cost savings that matters to the people who pay their hydro bills each and every month.

But I find it interesting that the Leader of the Opposition, the head of the anti-nuclear democratic party, would have gotten involved in the operations of our public utility and cut 7,500 people loose. That’s what they campaigned on. We’re standing up for those jobs. That’s a skilled workforce in Pickering–Uxbridge. We’re going to defend those jobs every day. We won’t let her have an operational say in our electricity system.

Interjections.

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

Final supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: What we see a lot of is the government standing up for the Premier’s hand-picked friends in high positions.

Once again, the Premier and his hand-picked chief of staff seem to think they can do whatever they want whenever they want and stick the people of Ontario with the bill. We’re already paying half a million dollars because the Premier’s chief of staff demanded that Alykhan Velshi be fired after a single day of work. Now the Premier wants to meddle in the hiring at Hydro One.

Why is the Premier’s chief of staff, Dean French, inappropriately intervening in this hiring process?

Hon. Greg Rickford: Just by way of review, we’ll look at the differences and similarities between these two companies. OPG is a crown corporation. It’s different from Hydro One, as a private corporation. Those would be the differences. The similarity with respect to human resources is that they make their own staffing decisions.

Ontario Provincial Police

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is also to the Premier. Yesterday, we asked the Minister of Community Safety about the serious concerns raised about the Premier’s appointment of a new OPP commissioner. iPolitics has just broken a story. They report, “When the top job with the Ontario Provincial Police was posted in October, Ron Taverner couldn’t apply, because his rank was too low.” Then two days later, the requirement suddenly changed.

Can the Premier tell us if the Premier’s office had anything to do with this change, or did the Premier recuse himself from that decision?

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: As was reported, there was a change in the qualification request for the ad. But from reading the reports, it was to ensure that more people applied. We wanted to make sure that the best person to head our OPP was going to apply. The hiring firm made that decision, and it’s been done.

Frankly, I find it pretty offensive that someone who has spent literally decades in our public service has been suggested that he is not qualified to serve as the commissioner for the OPP. That’s what I find offensive.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Well, Speaker, what is shocking is that this minister just admitted that the hiring process was changed so that a certain someone, like the Premier’s friend, would suddenly be able to qualify for this job. That’s what the minister has just told this House.

People have raised serious concerns about this appointment and the process. Chris Lewis, the former OPP commissioner, has claimed, “The fix was in from day one.” Now it looks as though the government literally rewrote the job description so a friend of the Premier could apply for the job.

Will the government commit to a transparent and impartial review of this hiring process for this incredibly important position?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: The independent hiring committee unanimously supported the appointment of Ron Taverner. I was happy to endorse that at cabinet last Thursday. But I want to remind people that it wasn’t just about us. Rob Jamieson, president of the Ontario Provincial Police Association: “On behalf of the uniform and civilian members of the OPPA, I would like to welcome our new commissioner. We look forward to working collaboratively with Commissioner Ron Taverner, someone who has such a proven track record in law enforcement.”

If I may, Speaker, Bruce Chapman, president of the Police Association of Ontario: “I’ve know Superintendent Ron Taverner for 30-plus years. He’s a hard-working, progressive and dedicated officer. Ron is a great choice to lead the Ontario Provincial Police.”

The chief of police for the city of Toronto says the city of Toronto’s loss by having Ron Taverner leave is actually the OPP’s gain.

He will be an excellent commissioner.

Taxation

Mr. Rick Nicholls: My question is to the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. For too long, the hard-working people of this province were faced with inflated costs that they simply could not afford. With the passing of the Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, Ontarians have finally been able to feel some relief.

While the Trudeau Liberals advocate that a carbon tax is the only viable option to reduce emissions, they fail to see that their tax will once again make life unaffordable. The people of this province need a government that will stand up for them. They need to know that our government will do everything we can within our power to stop the Trudeau carbon tax.

Can the minister tell this House what our government, with the leadership of Premier Ford, intends to do to stop this regressive, job-killing tax from being imposed on our province?

Hon. Rod Phillips: Mr. Speaker, through you to the member from Chatham-Kent–Leamington: Thank you for that question. Our government made a promise to the people of Ontario, a promise to get rid of the job-killing cap-and-trade program. But we did not do that to have the federal Liberals just impose a carbon tax that the FAO says will cost $648 per family. We didn’t get rid of cap-and-trade just to have an even worse carbon tax put in its place.

That’s why, under the leadership of our Premier, there are now six provinces across this country that are standing together, standing against the federal plan, most recently the province of New Brunswick, who said last week they will join the court challenge against this unconstitutional, regressive, job-killing tax. We will do everything in our power to stop Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Mr. Rick Nicholls: It’s good to know that our government remains committed to doing everything we can to ensure that the hard-working people of our province are no longer punished with increased costs to everything.

Speaker, the province of Ontario has the authority to make decisions on how Ontario will fight climate change. Our government is serious about taking actions against the challenges we face because of climate change. Last week, the minister brought forward our plan that will in fact ensure that we take—what’s the exact word? We will hold on to the Paris agreement. Again, can the minister highlight the actions we will take to ensure Ontario’s continued progress toward our targets?

Hon. Rod Phillips: Mr. Speaker, I’ve never heard the member from Chatham-Kent–Leamington at a loss for words. This is the excitement for our Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan. It’s a comprehensive plan that ensures clean air, clean water and clean land, but also addresses the challenge of climate change.

We did commit to meet Canada’s targets in terms of the Paris accord, Ontario’s share of that, which is a 30% reduction by 2030. Ontarians have already made great contributions in that regard—a 22% reduction. We have put a plan together that will constructively and in a common-sense way take that down that extra 8%.

We’ve also put a plan in place that will make sure that we are taking care of our waterways, that we are monitoring and making people aware of sewage discharges. We’ve talked about municipalities having a say in landfill. There are many parts of this plan that I look forward to talking about.

The one thing that we promised wouldn’t be in that plan and the one thing that Ontarians can count on us to fight, is a carbon tax that’s going to hurt families and hurt businesses.

Environmental oversight

Mr. Ian Arthur: Yesterday, we heard from legal experts and environmental experts, including the Canadian Environmental Law Association, the Ontario Headwaters Institute and the former deputy Environmental Commissioner. They warned that the government’s decision to abolish the independent Environmental Commissioner would gut environmental oversight and accountability in this province.

Will the Premier listen to these experts and keep this important independent office?

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of the Environment.

Hon. Rod Phillips: Mr. Speaker, through you to the member: I thank the member for the question.

The changes we’ve made are going to ensure that Ontario continues to be the only province that has an Environmental Commissioner. Our Environmental Commissioner will be independent through the auspices of the Auditor General.

This reflects our government’s need to deal with the fact that we have a $15-billion deficit, but we’ll still maintain the appropriate oversight. The commissioner will be there, working under the Auditor General, to ensure that all the various oversight and other requirements are in place, and that we continue to balance a healthy economy and a healthy environment.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Mr. Ian Arthur: That’s an interesting answer, because the government just tabled amendments to Bill 57 to provide for potential layoffs to the Office of the Environmental Commissioner.

It looks like the government is planning on some staffing cuts when it comes to the environment. Why is the Premier so afraid of environmental oversight and accountability?

Hon. Rod Phillips: I thank the member of the NDP for the question.

I note that the NDP apparently didn’t file any amendments to Bill 57—none. Is that right, Mr. House leader? I guess they don’t have any concerns; in fact, none related—

Interjection: No good ideas over there.

Hon. Rod Phillips: No ideas on any of the aspects, and nothing related to the Environmental Commissioner.

Again, the committee will duly consider the amendments and make the decisions, as they should. They will be voted on by this House. But the important aspect is that Ontario will maintain an Environmental Commissioner. That Environmental Commissioner will, in fact, be in the federal model, the exact same model as the federal government uses, working with the Auditor General. We will remain the only province that has an Environmental Commissioner.

Greenhouse industry

Ms. Goldie Ghamari: My question is for the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Interjections.

Ms. Goldie Ghamari: My favourite minister.

The minister spoke at the Ontario Greenhouse Alliance reception last week and pointed out numerous ways in which our government is supporting the greenhouse sector in areas such as labour, natural gas expansion and reducing regulatory burdens.

Ontario represents almost 60% of the production area for Canadian greenhouse vegetables. Last year, Ontario’s greenhouse sector and related value chain supported over 81,000 jobs, enabling the people of Ontario to enjoy fresh Ontario vegetables all year long.

Last week, the minister announced that our government is redesigning funding to ensure it will help the greenhouse sector take their businesses a step ahead through innovation. Can the minister please tell us what steps this government has taken to reduce burdens for greenhouse businesses in Ontario?

Hon. Ernie Hardeman: I thank the member from Carleton for her important question.

Last week, I was proud to announce that our government has redesigned up to $8 million in existing funding projects, delivered through the Agricultural Adaptation Council, to help fund more projects and encourage more innovation in the greenhouse sector.

Our government has already taken action to help the greenhouse sector by reducing regulatory burdens in ending the cap-and-trade carbon tax, reducing energy bills for our greenhouse producers. By working with the private sector, we are creating more incentives to expand natural gas to rural and remote communities to assist our producers with their energy costs. Our government continues to press the federal government on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to have it reflect the unique circumstances of agriculture and food production.

We are committed to working with our greenhouse farmers to continue to promote growth and innovation.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Ms. Goldie Ghamari: Thank you to the minister for his answer and his support of our greenhouse industry in Ontario.

Greenhouse farmers across Carleton, such as SunTech farms, will be happy to hear about the ways in which our government for the people is supporting them in areas such as labour, natural gas expansion and reducing regulatory burdens. Our investment in the greenhouse sector will result in additional innovative projects occurring in the greenhouse sector; specifically, programs that are accelerated or incremental. It is great that our government was able to work with the sector to make this program more effective.

Can the minister please tell us how we are supporting the needs of the greenhouse industry in Ontario?

Hon. Ernie Hardeman: I thank the member for her supplementary question.

As the member previously mentioned, we’re helping our greenhouse sector across numerous areas, such as labour, natural gas expansion and reducing regulatory burdens. Our government is working with our partners in the Ontario greenhouse vegetables and ornamental sectors to make sure we deliver maximum value for our investments.

In fact, Jan VanderHout, chair of the Ontario Greenhouse Alliance, says, “Greenhouse agriculture is a driver for growth and jobs. We are very pleased to be working as a partner with Minister Hardeman to get support for the greenhouse farmers. This funding will help the sector to continue implementing advanced technology, to be more effective as a sector and to benefit consumers.”

Our government is proud to work with the Ontario Greenhouse Alliance as well as with all of our other partners in the greenhouse fruit and vegetable and ornamental sectors.

Anti-racism activities

Ms. Laura Mae Lindo: My question is to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. Last week, Statistics Canada released their annual report on hate crimes in Canada and it was not good. In Ontario, there was a 67% increase in hate crimes last year, well above the rest of the country. These troubling statistics demonstrate the highest number of hate crimes in Canada since 2009.

Mr. Speaker, lip service that there is no place for racism in Ontario is simply not enough. Concrete action needs to be taken. Will this government do the right thing and fully fund the Anti-Racism Directorate so that it can carry out its mandate of ensuring that Ontario is an equitable and safe place for all Ontarians?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Thank you for the question.

I’m actually very pleased to be able to talk about those StatsCan statistics and the release, because it is important.

Notwithstanding your previous comment, I do actually believe that there is no time and place where anti-racism should be accepted and will be accepted in our workplace—

Interjection: Racism.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: —racism, my apologies, would be accepted in our homes, in our communities and in our workforces. That’s why I’m pleased that the Anti-Racism Directorate will continue its important work. We need to have those details in order to make sure we make the appropriate decisions to make sure everyone across Ontario is safe.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Ms. Laura Mae Lindo: Now, more than ever, the Anti-Racism Directorate ought to be reinstated. The report clearly states that among the provinces the greatest increase in the overall number of hate crimes was observed in Ontario. Hate crimes against Muslims increased an alarming 207% last year; against Black Ontarians, it increased 84%; and against the Jewish community, it rose 41%.

This is beyond alarming; it’s disturbing. Real action needs to be taken now to combat anti-Semitism, anti-Black racism and Islamophobia. Inflammatory rhetoric is not going to make this reality better. Combatting racism in Ontario must be a priority.

Will the government commit to expanding the Anti-Racism Directorate mandate to ensure that government officials are trained so that they do not pass legislation that perpetuates hate?

Interjections.

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

Minister.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: I’m not sure where the rhetoric is coming from, Speaker. I said very clearly that we want to make sure we make decisions with the facts. We will do that with the assistance of the Anti-Racism Directorate. But, again, I will say, we need to make sure that in our schools, in our workplaces, in our synagogues, in our places of worship we protect those individuals who are targeted and subject to hate. It is inappropriate, it is wrong, and we will make sure as a government that we are putting policies and procedures in place to actually make a difference.

Interjections.

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

The next question, the member for Scarborough–Guildwood.

Mr. Gilles Bisson: Point of order.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): There’s no point of order during question period.

The member for Scarborough–Guildwood.

Government accountability

Ms. Mitzie Hunter: Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to ask a question for the member from Thunder Bay–Superior North.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Scarborough–Guildwood is seeking unanimous consent of the House to permit her to ask a question on behalf of the member for Thunder Bay. Agreed? Agreed.

Ms. Mitzie Hunter: Speaker, my question is to the Premier.

Premier, it is widely reported that your chief of staff ordered police to shut down cannabis dispensaries. Also, a few months ago, there was meddling in Hydro One in terms of the appointment of the CEO. OPG’s vice-president: It was reported that Dean French, your chief of staff, ordered his firing, costing taxpayers $500,000.

When you were asked, your response was that you’re not interested in knowing what happened. But this is of concern to the people of this province. How much will Dean French, your chief of staff, continue to cost the people of this province? Is it time, Premier, for you to fire your chief of staff?

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of Energy.

Hon. Greg Rickford: With all of the respect that I can muster, think of the number of people who were fired because of the incapable, incompetent way that our energy sector was dealt with during a decade and a half of darkness. We’ve flipped the switch, turned the light on, Mr. Speaker. People in northern Ontario now have better options for energy. We’re lowering the price of electricity, lowering the price of gas.

Talk about hiring and firing? Too many people in this province, too many people in our vast region of northern Ontario made choices between heating and eating, made choices as to what activities their kids would go in and where they’d have to move to next because this government put them out of work with the incompetent way they handled the energy sector, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Ms. Mitzie Hunter: Back to the Premier: Now Ontarians are wondering how it is possible that your close personal friend Ron Taverner, a superintendent from Toronto, was given the position of chief of police for the OPP. People are writing, concerned about what this means in terms of ongoing investigations into former candidates and the Premier himself, which will not be able to proceed in an unbiased and objective manner, especially given the fact that the Premier’s chief of staff has no problem picking up the phone and calling the OPP and ordering them to conduct investigations.

Premier, the people of Ontario are concerned with your government’s deliberate abuse of power pertaining to close personal friends and what this will mean for people across this province—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you. The Minister of Energy, response.

Hon. Greg Rickford: Well, again, Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, this was a party that destroyed the economic viability of this province. Let’s be clear about that. We used to lead this country. We were its economic engine; we are now its fiscal basket case. Thank goodness we have a President of the Treasury Board who stays awake all night worrying about this deficit—but attacking it is what gets him up in the morning, Mr. Speaker.

Every one of our colleagues around this place is going to stand shoulder to shoulder to undo the damage that they did, to make electricity prices more affordable, to ensure that gasoline prices are affordable, and to make sure that that job-killing carbon tax, which the federal government wants to impose on us and which would cost us some true dough, never comes to fruition here in Ontario.

Manufacturing industry

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Today we have representatives from Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters joining us here at Queen’s Park. CME represents 2,500 leading manufacturers across Canada, including hundreds here in Ontario. In fact, they’re going to be releasing a report later today on advanced manufacturing and how to strengthen the sector here in Ontario.

I know our government for the people was elected on a promise to bring good jobs here to Ontario, and a big part of that job is to bring good manufacturing jobs here to Ontario.

Can the minister inform the House of the steps that he is taking and that our government is taking to make sure that we support our manufacturing sector and that Ontario is open for business?

Hon. Todd Smith: That’s a great question, and we mean it when we say that Ontario is open for business.

Since we were elected in June, my ministry has been working tirelessly to attract, build and grow manufacturing businesses right here in Ontario. My parliamentary assistants, Parsa and Skelly, have been busy travelling the province talking to people at round tables, and that was how we created the Making Ontario Open for Business Act, which repealed the job-killing legislation that was included in Bill 148. We repealed those job-killing parts of Bill 148 and passed Bill 47.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, Dennis Darby, who is the president of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, said, “The repeal of Bill 148 is a major step toward reducing costs and restoring business competitiveness for Ontario manufacturers.”

We’re going to continue to cut the red tape in Ontario and bring good jobs back to Ontario.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: Thank you, Minister. I’m glad you’re working hard to keep Ontario open for business. We know that we would have lost 7,000 jobs in Pickering in the nuclear industry if it was up to the opposition.

It’s absolutely staggering that even the previous government could stand idle while our province lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs, good jobs that support Ontario families and communities. These are hard-working people, neighbours of ours who want to own a home and a car and who want to help their kids obtain an education. Failed Liberal policies like Bill 148 made it harder, if not impossible, to achieve these dreams.

Can the minister inform this House what other steps he and our government are taking, and intending to take, to restore our manufacturing sector and bring more good-paying jobs to Ontario?

Hon. Todd Smith: A great question, again.

The Making Ontario Open for Business Act was just the first step in our plan to make Ontario open for business. In the fall economic statement, our government announced that we were going to be reducing red tape by 25% by 2022. That’s a 25% reduction in the costs of complying with provincial regulations. We’re going to do it without compromising health and safety.

We’re going to make Ontario the most competitive destination for investment in North America. Manufacturers are going to move their operations from Ohio and Michigan to Ontario instead of the other way around. There are going to be more good-paying jobs for the people of this province after 15 years of failed Liberal policies supported by the NDP—policies that made it extremely difficult to build, buy and drive a car in Ontario. We’re turning this ship around. Ontario is open for business, Mr. Speaker.

Discrimination

Mr. Taras Natyshak: My question is for the Premier. This is a question about the Premier’s leadership, Speaker.

We’re seeing a disturbing increase in discrimination and the outright promotion of hate. This Sunday, the Premier will be appearing at Charles McVety’s event as his special guest in Mississauga. He’s even in the promotional material for this event. This would be the same Charles McVety who was condemned by the broadcasting standards council for distorted facts and abusive comments about gays and lesbians.

My question is simple, Speaker: Why is the Premier endorsing this man and his views?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker: It has nothing to do with government policy, but, do you know something? I will be speaking to people. I will be speaking to people, taxpayers, who were fed up with the Liberal government and their buddies in the NDP raising taxes to the highest taxes in North America and raising hydro rates to the highest in North America.

Some of those people I’ll be speaking to on Sunday were the group of some of the 300,000 people who lost their jobs under the leadership of the NDP and the Liberals in this province. They are so pleased and happy that our government is in power, turning this province around, creating good-paying jobs, lowering taxes and lowering hydro rates, making sure that every single month when they see their gas bill, it actually has gone down. When they’re filling up their tank at the gas station to get to the event, guess what? They’re paying the lowest gas prices in years. That’s what they appreciate. These are people who are fed up with the last 15 years.

Interjections.

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

Supplementary?

Mr. Taras Natyshak: I guess the Premier doesn’t think that the LGBTQ community or minorities are taxpayers either in this province of Ontario—pretty shameful, Speaker.

Speaker, I want the Premier to hear some of the hateful rhetoric that McVety has said: “By the way, what is sexual orientation?... You could have an orientation to commit pedophilia. You could have a sexual orientation to commit all kinds of things. It doesn’t meant that we have to accept it.” That’s Charles McVety. In other broadcasts, he claimed that Muslims were responsible for the Holocaust, and he referred to Haiti as the “capital for voodoo.”

Are these the sort of family values that the Premier plans to support this weekend?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker: Again, these people are going to be there from all sorts of churches across Ontario. They want to hear from not only myself, but other leaders in the community, how we’re going to help them create jobs. These are good Christian people. Maybe he’s anti-Christian; I’m not anti-anything.

You know, Mr. Speaker—

Hon. Victor Fedeli: How about anti-everything? Anti-police—that one’s anti-police.

Hon. Doug Ford: You’re right, Minister: We’ve got anti-police, anti-Christian, anti-military—anti everything over there.

They’re anti-business; we’re pro-business. We’re creating jobs. We’re lowering taxes. We’re putting money back into the people’s pockets instead of the socialist regime that’s on the other side of the aisle here.

Interjections.

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

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The House will come to order. Start the clock.

Next question, the member for Ottawa South.

Mr. John Fraser: Point of order, Mr. Speaker: As today is the day that you’ve designated for two questions for members of this side of the House, I am seeking unanimous consent to ask a question on behalf of my colleague from Don Valley West.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Ottawa South is seeking unanimous consent of the House to ask a question on behalf of the member for Don Valley West. Agreed? I heard a no.

Next question.

Northern economy

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: My question is for the Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines. Our government is committed to protecting and creating good jobs in the north, and I’m proud that we’ve been keeping that promise early on in our mandate. A strong northern Ontario is a strong signal for a prosperous Ontario. That’s why we’re supporting infrastructure development and creating new jobs in the north to ensure we remain competitive. Our government is going to tear down the Liberal barriers that have hindered the development of the northern Ontario economy.

Can the minister please tell the members of this House how we’re creating and protecting good jobs in the north?

Hon. Greg Rickford: Any time I get a chance to speak about northern Ontario and the opportunities that we’re creating, of course I appreciate those kind of questions.

We’re focusing on communities, we’re focusing on industry and we’re focusing on academic assets in our vast region. We’re supporting things like the township of Carling to support the building of a 9,443-square-foot facility to host family gatherings, conferences and business functions and to serve as an emergency shelter, while helping to create jobs in sustaining that asset. We’re investing in forestry operations—forestry operations that are jointly owned by Indigenous communities and private companies. We cut through the red tape so that Harte Gold could expand the sugar zone, and how sweet it was to see all those happy people out there ready to get to work in that mine.

We have a great member of provincial Parliament from Sault Ste. Marie who stood up for those jobs in Sault Ste. Marie. Now we’re going to continue to fund our education system in northern Ontario to create—

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

Supplementary, the member for Sault Ste. Marie.

Mr. Ross Romano: Thank you very much to the minister for all your hard work creating jobs for the people of northern Ontario.

Speaker, I know from speaking with employers that in addition to creating good jobs and making Ontario open for business, Ontario also needs to do a better job of giving young people the opportunity to reach their full potential. This includes ensuring that they have the skills necessary to fill the jobs that are being created across Ontario. I know that families and young people want to be able to gain the skills they need in their local communities so that they can continue to build a life for themselves in northern Ontario.

Can the minister please tell us what our government is doing to ensure that young people and job seekers can get the skills that they need for the good-paying jobs in northern Ontario?

Hon. Greg Rickford: Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities.

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Thank you to the member from Sault Ste. Marie for that question.

They’re absolutely right: Ensuring our young people have the skills for the jobs of tomorrow is essential for the prosperity of northern Ontario and our young people. That is why I’m proud that Ontario’s government for the people has invested over $6.5 million at Lakehead University as part of the creation of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Engineering and Sciences. The centre will house laboratories and research centres, a student entrepreneur centre and new Canada research chairs.

In early November, I had the pleasure of visiting Thunder Bay and Lakehead University, and I saw first-hand the exciting efforts to create an even more successful environment for our young people. I congratulate Lakehead University on this new development and look forward to working with them and all of our northern universities and colleges to deliver results for the people of northern Ontario.

Sports and recreation facilities

Mr. Paul Miller: My question is to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

Earlier this year, in the fall, I was alerted to a situation that worried me. My office began getting phone calls that a local and very popular year-round sports facility, Players Paradise, intended on selling their property to another company. It’s my understanding this recreational facility is now being converted into a marijuana grow op.

This is the only climate-controlled, year-round facility in my riding, and parents are now having to drive their children as far as Mississauga to keep them active in sports.

Will the government do its part to ensure that the people of Hamilton East–Stoney Creek have access to proper publicly owned sports and recreation facilities by investing in a new year-round facility for my community?

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Thank you for the question.

I’m not apprised of the details of that specific situation, but the Ontario government is very concerned and wants to ensure that facilities are available for youth to be able to not only participate in sports but also develop the skills and move forward, whether it be continuing in minor league or professional leagues.

But the important thing is that something like this has not come to light to me as yet, and I would love to discuss it with you, perhaps after today’s session, learn a little bit more and investigate what exactly is happening there so that we can look into it and provide proper direction and a proper review of it.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Mr. Paul Miller: Thank you, Minister. One of my main concerns: My constituents have told me that they should not have to depend on a private business—a business that can sell out and move away at any time—for their family’s team sports, seniors’ fitness programs or even their children’s birthday soccer parties.

I’m sure that the local and federal governments and counterparts are more than willing to partner up to construct a publicly owned sports and recreation facility. Will the minister support this endeavour?

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Thank you again for that question.

As I mentioned to you, sports is something that is of great interest to the people of Ontario, and also as a way to ensure that our children have opportunities to better their lives, to stay busy and occupied and to learn skills that are necessary later on in life. Whether it be teamwork or whether it be individuals setting goals for oneself—it’s important that we have those facilities available. One of the things that our government stands behind is ensuring that we work toward providing those opportunities.

Unfortunately, at this point, I don’t have enough information to be able to get back to you, but what I can tell you is, saddled with the debt and saddled with the operating deficit we have, we have to be very careful and very calculated moving forward as to how we allocate funds. But I assure you this is something that is of interest, and it’s something that we will look into and see what we can do as a government.

Celebrate Ontario / Fêtons l’Ontario

Mr. Kaleed Rasheed: My question is for the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

Minister, I learned recently that the application process for Celebrate Ontario 2019 launched, a program that supports local festivals in communities across Ontario. Although there are many members who are aware of this fantastic program, I’m sure many of my constituents may not be familiar with the assistance that this program provides. I have seen countless examples of Celebrate Ontario funding grants that have helped organizations in putting on great events that bring people to our communities from right here in Ontario and around the world.

Can the minister provide the House with more information on the Celebrate Ontario program?

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Thank you to the member from Mississauga East–Cooksville for the question.

Fêtons l’Ontario est un programme qui soutient les festivals et les événements en attirant des touristes dans les communautés locales et en créant des milliers d’emplois et en générant des millions de dollars dans l’impact économique de l’Ontario.

This program has been incredible in terms of the results that it has provided. In fact, $1 of funding from Celebrate Ontario results in almost $21 in visitor spending.

In the past, Celebrate Ontario has helped events like the Beaches International Jazz Festival, Artfest Kingston and Festival de la Bine de Plantagenet reach their full potential. It will also help the recently announced Tall Ships Festival, which will take place in Brockville next summer.

I could speak more about the positive results of the Celebrate Ontario programs for much longer than the time that is allocated. However, I will, in the supplement, expand on the program.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Mr. Kaleed Rasheed: Thank you to the minister for that response.

For every one tax dollar invested, communities benefit from a $21 return. It’s an astounding figure. This program truly seems to exemplify value for money when it comes to spending the taxpayers’ dollars in a fiscally responsible way.

I’m also certain that members in this House would love to feel this impact in their local communities as well. Can the minister let us know more about the application process and how organizations that put on events and festivals can apply to the Celebrate Ontario program?

L’hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Par votre intermédiaire, monsieur l’Orateur, je me ferai un plaisir de répondre à cette question posée par le député.

Applications to the Celebrate Ontario program must be completed and submitted no later than Wednesday, January 9, 2019, at 5 p.m.

For 2019, the new Celebrate Ontario application process makes it easier for festivals and events to apply to the program. These changes include a simplified single application form, making it easier for applicants to apply to the program, a streamlined funding formula that’s applicable to all festivals and event budgets, as well as funding support that is focused on programming improvements and marketing to tourists.

Nous espérons voir de nombreux événements de partout en Ontario appliquer à cette fantastique initiative, et je souhaite la meilleure des chances à tous les candidats.

Senior poverty

Ms. Rima Berns-McGown: My question is to the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. The Ontario Association of Food Banks’ 2018 Hunger Report was released yesterday, with startling statistics. The number of seniors visiting food banks increased more than 10% over the last year—a rate that is nearly three times faster than the general population. Yet this government has slashed social assistance increases in half and cancelled the basic income pilot.

In the absence of basic income, which would have provided a solution to this problem, what is the minister going to do about increasing senior poverty?

Hon. Lisa MacLeod: It’s a very important question. But let me be very clear: I don’t want to increase seniors’ poverty, as the member just asked what I would do to do that. We want to decrease seniors’ poverty in the province of Ontario. We want to make sure we can lift more people up.

Let me say, first of all, thank you to the Ontario Association of Food Banks for the important work that they do, particularly at this time of year. The report that I read yesterday was startling. We have already taken measures within my ministry to work with the minister responsible for seniors as well as the minister responsible for housing.

The difference between this Progressive Conservative government and every government that came before us is that we work together in a multi-ministerial way to support the individual, to lift them out of poverty. One in seven people in the province of Ontario living in poverty is unacceptable. It is something that we’re going to work towards to make change.

Speaker, I’d be remiss if I did not encourage every member of this House to do what myself and others are doing by having a food drive for their local community, as I’ll be doing on Saturday for the Barrhaven Food Cupboard.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Ms. Rima Berns-McGown: Seniors are being pushed further and further into poverty by the rising cost of living, particularly housing. Seventy-four per cent of food bank clients over the age of 65 are rental or social housing tenants, yet this government has decided to cut rent control for new units in the middle of a housing crisis.

Can the minister explain how cutting rent control in the middle of a housing crisis will make life more affordable for our seniors who need to use food banks so they can make their rent, or is she going to suggest that seniors should all be going out and getting a job?

Hon. Lisa MacLeod: The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Steve Clark: I want to thank the member for the question, but I do want to correct her. The rent control exemption is not the only thing our government is proposing. Again, I want to make this very clear to the members on the opposite side.

We launched last week a Housing Supply Action Plan. I encourage all members of the Legislature to have a round table and go onto our website at Ontario.ca/housingsupply and give us ideas on how we can create more housing, how we can deal with that supply problem.

I agree, we have a real supply crisis in the greater Toronto and Hamilton areas and if we’re going to solve it, we need to work together. Again, I encourage everyone—Ontario.ca/housingsupply—to give our government for people your ideas. We want to work together. We want to create more housing.

Tourism / Tourisme

Mrs. Belinda Karahalios: Good morning, Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Our government’s tourism strategy plays a key role in the future of our province and is a significant economic driver. As the minister has mentioned previously in the House, the tourism industry accounts for over 4% of the province’s GDP, which contributes more than agriculture, mining and forestry combined. The greater Toronto area alone hosted almost 44 million tourists in 2017, with a total of $8.8 billion in visitor spending.

Can the minister update the House in respect to the government’s tourism strategy?

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

Notre gouvernement a lancé sa stratégie sur le tourisme lors de l’assemblée générale annuelle de l’association du tourisme de l’Ontario, à Windsor en Ontario.

Going forward, I’m sure TIAO and their partners will have thoughtful insights when engaging in the consultation process.

When we strengthen our tourism sector, it strengthens our economy as a whole. It’s an industry that supports over 390,000 jobs and generates over $34 billion in economic activity.

Notre gouvernement au service de la population est impatient de déployer nos séances de consultation à travers la province dans un futur proche.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Mrs. Belinda Karahalios: Thank you, Minister, for that response.

It is indeed an exciting time for the tourism sector across Ontario, including my riding of Cambridge. Not only have we launched consultations for a new tourism strategy, but we have also committed to creating opportunity for the economy to flourish, create good-paying jobs and strengthen the visitor’s experience.

Would the minister please inform this House as to why it is so important to have a strong tourism strategy that will draw more people to our great province?

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Thank you to my colleague for that question.

Our tourism strategy will play a key role in bringing in more international visitors to Ontario to ensure that our local partners have the necessary tools to succeed in achieving our objectives.

Our tourism strategy will ensure that our local partners are heard loud and clear regarding the challenges they face, because it’s our job to ensure we implement those changes to further strengthen the industry.

Mr. Speaker, we’re making sure that local communities and the people on the front lines also have a strong voice in our consultation sessions. Our government is committed to bringing back jobs and economic prosperity to the province of Ontario. I can assure this House that under Premier Ford’s leadership, our government will work tirelessly to strengthen the tourism industry in the next four years and beyond.

Consumer protection

Mr. Tom Rakocevic: My question is for the Minister of Government and Consumer Services—and congratulations on your new portfolio.

Yesterday, I met with Julie and Marcel Bellefeuille, who purchased their new Ottawa home from Tamarack Homes. They have black mould, they have leaky walls, they have a cracked foundation and much more. Their home value has dropped by $100,000—and they’re not alone in their troubles.

Tarion is the agency that is supposed to help new homebuyers like the Bellefeuilles get these problems fixed, but Tarion is dragging its heels and they continue to suffer. Tarion is supposed to help when the developer refuses to fix defects.

When will this government do something substantive for the Bellefeuilles? And when will the minister reform Tarion so that it finally protects new homebuyers instead of just developers?

Hon. Bill Walker: Thank you to the member opposite for the question.

We always on this side of the House want to ensure that people have the protections they need when they need them. We want to ensure that people’s ability to buy a house, a home, a condo—whatever it be—that they have the services, the programs, the protection and the confidence, because that is the biggest purchase that they’ll probably ever make in their life.

We want to ensure that the entities within the ministry are always providing value for taxpayer dollars and delivering the quality and service that they expect. We will be working with industry stakeholders and Ontarians to ensure that the appropriate protections are in place for consumers, that the regulatory burden for businesses is reduced, and that organizations and agencies like Tarion are there for people when they need them.

Deferred Votes

Green Energy Repeal Act, 2018 / Loi de 2018 abrogeant la

Loi sur l’énergie verte

Deferred vote on the motion that the question now be put on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 34,

An Act to repeal the Green Energy Act, 2009 and to amend the Electricity Act, 1998, the Environmental Protection Act, the Planning Act and various other statutes / Projet de loi 34, Loi abrogeant la Loi de 2009 sur l’énergie verte et modifiant la Loi de 1998 sur l’électricité, la

Loi sur la protection de l’environnement, la

Loi sur l’aménagement du territoire et diverses autres lois.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): We have a deferred vote on a motion for closure on the motion for third reading of Bill 34.

Call in the members. This is a five-minute bell.

The division bells rang from 1142 to 1147.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): On November 13, 2018, Mr. Rickford moved third reading of Bill 34,

An Act to repeal the Green Energy Act, 2009 and to amend the Electricity Act, 1998, the Environmental Protection Act, the Planning Act and various other statutes.

Ms. Skelly has moved that the question now be put. All those in favour of Ms. Skelly’s motion, please rise one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.

Ayes

Anand, Deepak

Baber, Roman

Babikian, Aris

Bailey, Robert

Barrett, Toby

Bethlenfalvy, Peter

Bouma, Will

Calandra, Paul

Cho, Raymond Sung Joon

Cho, Stan

Clark, Steve

Coe, Lorne

Crawford, Stephen

Downey, Doug

Dunlop, Jill

Elliott, Christine

Fedeli, Victor

Fee, Amy

Ford, Doug

Fullerton, Merrilee

Ghamari, Goldie

Gill, Parm

Hardeman, Ernie

Harris, Mike

Hillier, Randy

Hogarth, Christine

Jones, Sylvia

Kanapathi, Logan

Karahalios, Belinda

Ke, Vincent

Khanjin, Andrea

Kramp, Daryl

Kusendova, Natalia

Lecce, Stephen

MacLeod, Lisa

Martin, Robin

Martow, Gila

McDonell, Jim

McKenna, Jane

McNaughton, Monte

Miller, Norman

Mulroney, Caroline

Nicholls, Rick

Oosterhoff, Sam

Pang, Billy

Park, Lindsey

Parsa, Michael

Pettapiece, Randy

Phillips, Rod

Piccini, David

Rasheed, Kaleed

Rickford, Greg

Roberts, Jeremy

Romano, Ross

Sabawy, Sheref

Sandhu, Amarjot

Sarkaria, Prabmeet Singh

Scott, Laurie

Skelly, Donna

Smith, Dave

Smith, Todd

Surma, Kinga

Tangri, Nina

Thanigasalam, Vijay

Tibollo, Michael A.

Triantafilopoulos, Effie J.

Wai, Daisy

Walker, Bill

Yurek, Jeff

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): All those opposed to the motion will please rise one at a time and be counted by the Clerk.

Nays

Andrew, Jill

Armstrong, Teresa J.

Arthur, Ian

Begum, Doly

Bell, Jessica

Berns-McGown, Rima

Bisson, Gilles

Bourgouin, Guy

Fife, Catherine

Fraser, John

French, Jennifer K.

Gates, Wayne

Gélinas, France

Glover, Chris

Harden, Joel

Hassan, Faisal

Hatfield, Percy

Horwath, Andrea

Hunter, Mitzie

Kernaghan, Terence

Lalonde, Marie-France

Lindo, Laura Mae

Mantha, Michael

Miller, Paul

Monteith-Farrell, Judith

Morrison, Suze

Natyshak, Taras

Rakocevic, Tom

Sattler, Peggy

Schreiner, Mike

Shaw, Sandy

Singh, Gurratan

Singh, Sara

Stiles, Marit

Tabuns, Peter

Vanthof, John

West, Jamie

Yarde, Kevin

The Clerk of the Assembly (Mr. Todd Decker): The ayes are 69; the nays are 38.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I declare the motion carried.

Mr. Rickford has moved third reading of Bill 34,

An Act to repeal the Green Energy Act, 2009 and to amend the Electricity Act, 1998, the Environmental Protection Act, the Planning Act and various other statutes. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard some noes.

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

All those opposed will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Call in the members. This will be a 10-minute bell.

Interjection: Same vote.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Same vote.

The Clerk of the Assembly (Mr. Todd Decker): The ayes are 69; the nays are 38.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I declare the motion carried.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): This House stands in recess until 3 o’clock this afternoon.

The House recessed from 1152 to 1500.

Displaying of flag

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Orléans.

Mrs. Marie-France Lalonde: Monsieur le Président, it’s a unanimous consent, actually, if I can ask a point of order: During my member’s statement, I would like to show the Franco-Ontarian flag as I’m reading my member’s statement a little bit later on.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Orléans is seeking unanimous consent of the House to display a Franco-Ontarian flag while she does her member’s statement. Agreed? Agreed.

Introduction of Visitors

Mr. Sheref Sabawy: It’s my honour to introduce Phoebe Wasfy, the principal of Philopateer Christian College in Mississauga. She’s arriving; she’s going to be in the gallery in a few minutes. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Members’ Statements

Government accountability

Ms. Laura Mae Lindo: “Dear government:

“It’s time to do better.

“I’ve had a lot of people in my riding of Kitchener Centre reach out to tell me that they’re worried.

“They say that they are nervous that the Ford government isn’t paying attention to the impact of their decisions. I mean, you folks are in charge of us—literally!

“So some people have asked me to reach out with a gentle (but firm) reminder that history teaches us a lot about what happens when we don’t use our positions of leadership wisely ... when we let power corrupt our morals and our ethics ... when we don’t really lead ‘for the people’ and just use the tag line instead.

“Aimé Césaire warned us about this in his play, The Tragedy of King Christophe.

“And Frantz Fanon warned us about it in his book, The Wretched of the Earth.

“Both of these men taught us that if we aren’t careful—if we don’t listen to the criticism that people have about our decisions—we will begin to lead just like those leaders we spent our lives complaining about.

“More recent leaders have also warned us of the same.

“Do you remember when Brian Mulroney confronted Liberal leader John Turner about the same thing in a 1984 debate? You know, when they were debating patronage appointments? Brian Mulroney said “You had an option, sir, to say, “no.” And you chose to say, “yes” to the old attitudes and the old stories of the Liberal Party.’

“Crazy, isn’t it?

“It’s time to do better. Our children are watching.

“Respectfully,

“Laura Mae Lindo, MPP, Kitchener Centre.”

Heartbeat of the Yellow River

Mr. Billy Pang: On Saturday, November 24, I attended the Chinese Collective Arts Association’s annual show entitled Heartbeat of the Yellow River. The event took place at the Flato Markham Theatre in my riding of Markham–Unionville. It was an excellent showcase of a traditional form of Chinese culture, but also contemporary

interpretations, performed by young Chinese Canadians.

The Yellow River is one of the longest rivers in the world and runs through nine provinces in China. Chinese civilization is believed to have developed and originated around the Yellow River, which is the reason why it is so highly regarded in Chinese heritage.

Mr. Speaker, the Heartbeat of the Yellow River gala was a special event for me because it showed me that traditional Chinese culture is not only being preserved by young Chinese Canadians but is also reshaping itself to reflect the experiences of young people who identify with both their Chinese ancestry and Canadian nationality.

To live and serve in Ontario, which not only upholds diversity but champions it, brings me a great amount of joy and honour.

Season’s greetings

Mr. Percy Hatfield: Speaker, I’m in a bit of a legislative haze

We’ve been here something like 150 days

And there’s some rhyme, but no real reason

Why we tend to get a little silly as we approach the holiday season.

So listen up, and you’ll hear it

I’m finally getting into the Christmas spirit.

Now, some MPPs already have their Christmas lists

And yes, some are asking for edible cannabis.

Ah, the holidays, whether you celebrate them or not.

In this House we have been dealing with recreational pot.

Now, no one claims to be smoking that wacky tobaccy

Lest we get hauled away by our Sergeant-at-Arms, the non-partisan Ms. Jackie.

But for some, it is with sadness

That we’ve hopped aboard this reefer madness.

I mean, first the Premier cancelled our summer vacation

And Speaker, they’re always imposing time allocation

And doing all of those standing ovations.

And then, someone with a lust for power

Kept us here late, well past the midnight hour

Passing laws with no restitution

Challenging the Canadian Constitution.

A coherent agenda has been a puzzle

Ministers, at times, somewhat muzzled.

Still, the government House leader, the Quinte Grinch,

Won’t let up, not even an inch.

The new year promises to be even harder

Especially if we see more challenges to the Canadian charter

And for that I am at a loss.

Why do we have all of this legislative chaos?

And as you know, there’s always one gift that’s impossible to find

Speaker, if you don’t mind, this year

I’m guessing it’ll be that elusive buck-a-beer

I just can’t find it anywhere.

Oh, gosh darn it

I forgot to say “Merry Christmas” to you, Speaker, the gracious Ted Arnott.

And before my memory completely fades

Just like that Liberal bill on cap-and-trade

To all the MPPS and the staff in the hall

And the pages on the left and right

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Thornhill.

Season’s greetings

Mrs. Gila Martow: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Sung to the tune of White Christmas.

I’m dreaming of a balanced budget

Just like the ones we used to know

Where the ledgers glisten, and bureaucrats listen

To messaging from the PO—that’s what we call the Premier’s office around here.

I’m dreaming of a province “open for business”

With every government bill we write

May your investments be merry and bright

And may all your red tape turn to white.

I’m dreaming of reduced traffic

With every trip that I take

May our roads be clear and bright

And may all our subway plans get a green light.

I’m dreaming of a PC Christmas

Just like the ones we used to know

With friends we hold dear

And plenty of good cheer

With help from lots of drinks like buck-a-beer.

Mr. Speaker, I want to wish everybody a merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, a happy new year and a happy Kwanzaa. I always talk about the Jewish community here, and I have to say that “White Christmas” was written by Irving Berlin—his father was a very famous cantor—and at least half of the very-well-known Christmas songs were written by Jewish composers. I think I mentioned once here in the Legislature that I believe that if you could ask them, if they were still alive, “Why did you all write so many Christmas songs?” they would say, “It’s a living.”

Labour dispute / Conflit de travail

Mr. Joel Harden: This past Saturday, 14,000 people took to the streets across Ontario to oppose the direction this government has charted out for francophone rights.

La plus grande manifestation a eu lieu dans mon comté au centre-ville d’Ottawa, où 5 000 personnes se sont rassemblées à l’hôtel de ville dans le froid du 1 er décembre.

One of the people I met there was the great Jean-Claude Parrot, the former president of the postal workers’ union of Canada. My esteemed colleague has thrown down a poetry challenge that our friend from Thornhill has picked up, so I’ll end with a tribute to Jean-Claude. It’s taken from a book; it’s one of my children’s favourite books. It’s called the Great Reindeer Rebellion.

’Twas the night before Christmas, and somewhere up north,

Dear Santa was frantic—he paced back and forth.

He had just heard news that he sure didn’t like:

It seemed that the reindeer were going on strike.

Oh, no! Yes, Dasher and Dancer,

and Prancer and Vixen;

Even Comet and Cupid;

and Donner and Blitzen!

They said, “We are finished!

We’ve had quite enough

of pulling your sleigh with

such big, heavy stuff!...

No pulling or flying, Santa.

We’re in this together!”

With that, Speaker, I’ll just note that our friends who work for the federal government, the Canadian postal workers’ union, have just been legislated back to work. The truth of that particular labour dispute that our friends at the federal government level have mismanaged is that too many postal workers this holiday season are going to be hurt in the course of work. I hope the message that they hear, loud and proud, from the people here in Ontario is that people in Ontario support postal workers. They support people delivering presents this holiday season. If the federal government turns its back to you, in Ontario we treat you with love.

Events in Ottawa / Événements divers à Ottawa

Mrs. Marie-France Lalonde: First, I would like to start by congratulating the new 2018-2022 city of Ottawa council, which I had the pleasure to attend the inaugural ceremony of last night.

J’ai bien hâte de travailler avec les nouveaux conseillers de ma circonscription d’Orléans : Laura Dudas, quartier Innes; Matthew Luloff, quartier Orléans; et, pour un 3 e terme, Stephen Blais, quartier Cumberland.

I was also very proud to know that during the month of November, four of my constituents were honoured. Brian Tardif and Marie-Claude Doucet received the Order of Ottawa, while Aldège Bellefeuille was presented with the Brian Killrea Award for Excellence in Coaching on November 22, alors que Trèva Cousineau fut décorée le 16 novembre du Prix d’excellence de l’Ontario pour les personnes âgées pour sa contribution exceptionnelle auprès de la communauté francophone.

Et je ne pourrais passer sous silence, monsieur le Président, le moment le plus touchant, qui a été certes ma participation au grand rassemblement de la résistance samedi à Ottawa. J’y étais avec mes collègues John Fraser et Nathalie Des Rosiers, et accompagnée d’environ 5 000 personnes à Ottawa.

Nous sommes, nous serons.

Christmas Baskets

Mr. Will Bouma: For more than 50 years, Christmas Baskets has been providing food for a holiday dinner and children’s toys to families in Brant county, Brantford and Six Nations.

First-day registrations for Christmas Baskets were at near-record levels as the holiday program got off to a late start in Brantford–Brant. Two 50-foot trailers filled with tables, desks and cardboard boxes