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October 2, 2017

41st Parliament, 2nd Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcripts 2017-Oct-02 (PDF)

L100 - Mon 2 Oct 2017 / Lun 2 oct 2017

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Monday 2 October 2017 Lundi 2 octobre 2017

Introduction of Visitors

Wearing of scarves, pins and pocket squares

Moment of silence

Oral Questions

Government’s record

Government’s record

Hospital services

Hospital services

Government’s record

Pension plans

Agriculture industry

Government’s record

Long-term care

Human trafficking

Government’s record

Mental health services

Seniors

Visitors

Member for Bramalea–Gore–Malton

Members’ Statements

David Johnston

Sheila Koffman

Riding of Etobicoke North

Sara Carson

Ron and Shirley Levene

Events in Northumberland–Quinte West

Oktoberfest

Epilepsy Durham Region

Breast cancer

Petitions

Long-term care

Anti-smoking initiatives for youth

Inclusiveness

Guide and service animals

Domestic violence and sexual violence

Animal protection

Organic products

Lyme disease

Dental care

Wind turbines

Pharmacare

GO Transit

Orders of the Day

Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 pour l’équité en milieu de travail et de meilleurs emplois

Cutting Unnecessary Red Tape Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 visant à réduire les formalités administratives inutiles

The House met at 1030.

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

Prayers.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): This being the first sitting Monday of the month, I ask everyone to join me in the singing of the Canadian national anthem.

Singing of O Canada.

Introduction of Visitors

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): In our members’ gallery, we have a visitor: Madame Meilleur, the former member from Ottawa–Vanier in the 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st Parliaments.

Ms. Lisa M. Thompson: On behalf of the member from York–Simcoe, I’d like to welcome the parents of page captain Rachel Marshall. Lisa and Dave are here to see their daughter in action today. They will be in the public gallery. Welcome.

Ms. Jennifer K. French: I’m pleased to welcome Ashley Noble, a young woman from my riding, who is here to take in all of the politics of Queen’s Park up close. Welcome, Ashley.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: I am delighted to introduce the great Gerry Marshall, mayor of Penetanguishene, and his CAO.

Ms. Cheri DiNovo: It’s my absolute pleasure to introduce the family of our wonderful page Emerson Manning. We have Murray Tenebaum, Emerson’s grandfather; Lori Tenebaum, Emerson’s grandmother; and Chloe Manning, Emerson’s sister. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Ann Hoggarth: Today I would also like to welcome to Queen’s Park Gerry Marshall, who is our wonderful warden of Simcoe county. He is joined by Jeff Lees.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: I’d like to welcome Rethink Breast Cancer to the Legislature today. Their mission is to empower young people worldwide who are concerned about and affected by breast cancer. They’re here with us to mark the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Yasir Naqvi: Today is a very special day because we have a delegation of female parliamentarians from Iraq. I want all the members to recognize them as they’re visiting our question period.

Please welcome Najat Sayer Mhana, member of Parliament in Iraq; Sabah Abdulrasool Abdulridha Al-Tameemi, member of Parliament; Abeer Issa Mohammed Al-Luaibi, member of Parliament in Iraq.

In addition, we have Hamid Khalaf Ahmed, deputy chair of the Prime Minister’s advisory council; Maha Amir Bash, head of an NGO and a member of the Iraqi minority council; Inas Ali Salman Alomairy, a teacher who works with NGOs doing work in women’s rights; Kifah Naser Ahmed, senior adviser to the equivalent of the status of women in Iraq.

Of course, you introduced Madeleine Meilleur, who is accompanying the delegation, and we have Maryantonett Flumian, president of the Institute on Governance, who have sponsored these female members of Parliament from Iraq to visit Ottawa and here at Queen’s Park.

Please welcome them to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Lorne Coe: Page captain Archana Jagannathan’s parents, Priya and Ramesh, are in the public gallery. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mrs. Gila Martow: My guest isn’t here. He’s probably stuck in traffic. But I want to introduce Roger Jones. He’s part of the Society for the Preservation of Historic Thornhill. He worked very hard on the Thornhill Village Festival year after year. He’s also a professional engineer of Ontario and a long-time member of the PC riding association of Thornhill.

Hon. Yasir Naqvi: I also want to introduce members of the Ontario Association of Architects who are visiting Queen’s Park. Please welcome John Stephenson, president of the Ontario Association of Architects; Kristi Doyle, executive director of the Ontario Association of Architects; as well as members and staff from the association, including from my community of Ottawa. Please welcome Roberto Campos, who is the chair of the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Wearing of scarves, pins and pocket squares

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Ottawa South on a point of order.

Mr. John Fraser: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker: I believe that you’ll find we have unanimous consent that members be permitted to wear pink scarves, pins and/or pocket squares to raise breast cancer awareness.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Ottawa South is seeking unanimous consent to wear the scarves, pins and pocket squares. Do we agree? Agreed.

Moment of silence

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Ottawa Centre on a point of order.

Hon. Yasir Naqvi: On a point of order, Speaker: I believe you will find that we have unanimous consent to observe a moment of silence before question period, as a sign of this House’s condolences for those who lost their lives and were affected by the horrific violence around the world this past weekend, in Edmonton, Marseilles and Las Vegas.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The government House leader is seeking unanimous consent for a moment’s silence. Do we agree? Agreed.

I would ask everyone in the entire House to please rise for a moment of silence for those impacted by the senseless violence.

The House observed a moment’s silence.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Pray be seated.

It is therefore now time for question period.

Oral Questions

Government’s record

Mr. Patrick Brown: My question is for the Deputy Premier. Today marks a momentous occasion. It is the 14th anniversary of Liberal scandal, waste and mismanagement. After 14 years of waste and political corruption, Ontario works harder, pays more and gets less.

The Hydro One fire sale is just one example. The Liberals make no mention of the sale until after the last election. When 80% of the province opposes the fire sale of Hydro One, what do Liberals do? They sell it off to the benefit of their insider friends. The Liberals just can’t be trusted.

After 14 years, and after the Hydro One fire sale, how can we ever trust this Premier? How can we ever trust these Liberals again?

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

Hon. Deborah Matthews: I’m very grateful for this question, because we are celebrating 14 years, and let’s talk about some of the progress that has been made.

Members of this House will remember that minimum wage had been frozen at $6.85 for all of the years that that government was in power. From $6.85, we’re on our way to $15 so that people can actually earn a living wage. It’s an important improvement in the quality of life for many, many Ontario families.

Speaker, 14 years ago, the five-year graduation rate from high school was a shocking 68%. Only 68% of kids graduated high school within five years. We have increased that, thanks to the great teachers in our schools, to 86.5%. That is extraordinary progress over the 14 years in which we have been in office.

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

Interjections.

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

Supplementary: the member from Leeds–Grenville.

Mr. Steve Clark: Back to the Deputy Premier, because after 14 years of Liberal waste and political corruption, Ontario works harder, pays more and gets less. Five OPP investigations—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. I sense a theme, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it immediately. The outbursts will stop.

Please finish.

Mr. Steve Clark: Five OPP investigations into the Liberals is just—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): If you want to play that, I will. The Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, as soon as I sit down, you start. That’s insulting.

Mr. Steve Clark: Five OPP investigations into the Liberals is just one example. That’s right: Under the Liberals, we have had as many police investigations into this government as Tom Brady has Super Bowl rings. We’ve never seen anything like it either before. But, Speaker, it took Tom 15 years to set his record. These Liberals? It only took them 14. When it comes to scandalous behaviour and a lack of accountability, no one can match them.

After 14 years, because of this unprecedented five OPP probes, how can we trust this Premier or the Liberals ever again?

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

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Well, Speaker, let’s think about where we were 14 years ago compared to where we are today: full-day kindergarten for four- and five-year-olds across the province. Remember when—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): It goes both ways. The member from Lanark, come to order. And somebody else is really lucky.

Carry on, please.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: When we think about our kids, kids in low-income families now have access to free dental care. They did not have that when you were in charge. Now people under age 25, starting January 1, will have free prescription drugs. That is great progress over the last 14 years.

When it comes to post-secondary education, under their watch, people could not go on to college or university, because they simply couldn’t afford it. Now, over 200,000 students have free tuition, and many, many more have access to grants and loans.

Think about the quality of our air. Think about our air. We have clean—

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

Final supplementary: the member from Nepean–Carleton.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Back to the Deputy Premier, because after 14 years of Liberal waste and political corruption, Ontario works harder, pays more and gets less.

The $1.2-billion cancelled gas plants scandal is just one example. While long-term-care homes are struggling to upgrade beds, like at the Osgoode Care Centre, or vulnerable seniors are being abused, as was the case in the last few months in the city of Ottawa, their government has been focused on managing things like the $1.2-billion gas plants scandal that helped them win the 2011 election.

Barack Obama spent less money becoming leader of the free world than the McGuinty Liberals did to win that election, to save a few GTA seats.

Now this scandal has ended up in a criminal court. According to the Information—

Interjections.

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

Please finish.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: I must have ripped off a Band-Aid too quickly for them over there.

According to the Information and Privacy Commissioner, they violated privacy laws and they obstructed investigations, and we even found out on Friday that Ontario’s Chief Information Officer, David Nicholl, warned former McGuinty staffers not to delete emails.

Mr. Speaker, after 14 years, and because of the gas plants scandals, how can we trust this Premier? How can we trust this government?

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Deputy Premier.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: We have come through the worst recession since the Great Depression, and we have now got the lowest unemployment rate in 16 years in Ontario. We have balanced the budget. We’ve been strong fiscal managers.

But think about social assistance. You froze social assistance rates; you slashed them, then you froze them. We have now changed the rules so that people on social assistance are able to keep more of what they earn. They’re able to keep support for their children.

We shut down all of the coal-fired plants—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Minister of Infrastructure, come to order.

Member from Hamilton East–Stoney Creek, how are you doing?

Mr. Paul Miller: Good.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Good.

Finish, please. Wrap up.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Ontario is a stronger, fairer, better place now than it was 14 years ago, and we’re proud of the progress that we have made.

Government’s record

Mr. Patrick Brown: My question is for the Deputy Premier, because after 14 long years of Liberal waste and political corruption, Ontario works harder, pays more and gets less. That is the Liberal legacy. Doubling the provincial debt in just 14 years is an example of that.

Ontario is now the most indebted subnational jurisdiction in the world. We owe more than anyone else. While Liberal insiders doubled the debt, taxpayers footed the bill and Liberal insiders got rich. Whether it’s Samsung, the Gandalf Group or the 30 big renewable mega contracts, it was always Liberal insiders that benefited while hard-working Ontario families paid more.

After 14 years and a provincial debt of over $300 billion, how can we trust this Premier and the Liberal Party ever again?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: I’m grateful for these questions because they give us a chance to actually review where we have been over the last 14 years. Let’s just think about this, Speaker: We have created 760,000 new jobs in Ontario since we were elected in 2003. My recollection is that they wanted to start by firing 100,000 people.

Our employment rate has dropped to 5.7%. It’s been below the national average for two and a half years. Our economic growth is strong; we’re leading all G7 nations when it comes to economic growth. Private sector economists are forecasting that our growth will outpace the rest of Canada over the next two years.

We have made investments in infrastructure. We have made investments in schools, in roads, in hospitals and in bridges. Those investments cost money. We’re investing in them. It has created jobs and it’s improving this society—

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

Supplementary: the member from Nipissing.

Mr. Victor Fedeli: My question is for the Deputy Premier because, after 14 years of Liberal waste and political corruption, Ontario works harder, pays more and gets less.

The assault on household pocketbooks through increased fees and taxes is just one example. When this government took office, Ontario was the economic engine of Canada. Sadly, today we’re a have-not province.

The Liberals added the Ontario health tax. We should have known it wouldn’t end there. Families are now paying $2.4 billion a year in service fees. Licence and vehicle registration fees are up $503 million just in the last four years.

After 14 years and because of shameless taxes and fee increases, how can we trust the Premier or the Liberals ever again?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Well, all I can say is I’m really glad that party is not in office, because the investments that we have made have resulted in real change. The lowest unemployment rate in 16 years: That’s something to be proud of. We’ve reduced our debt-to-GDP ratio significantly and we’re on our way to do more.

We have a balanced budget, and that is allowing us to invest in the things that we care a lot about on this side of the House—free tuition for over 200,000 students, child care spaces, more long-term-care spaces, more supportive housing spaces. The most vulnerable in this province are better off now, Speaker, under our government than they would have been under them. They are better off because we’ve made that a priority.

They’re the ones who froze social assistance rates. They’re the ones who put in onerous rules to prevent people from getting help. They’re—

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

Final supplementary: the member from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex.

Mr. Monte McNaughton: My question is for the Acting Premier, because after 14 years of Liberal waste and political corruption, Ontario works harder, pays more and gets less.

The loss of hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs is just one example. Manufacturers have been dealt blow after blow by this government: soaring electricity costs, cap-and-trade and now more red tape.

Business owners and managers have been raising the alarm, but this Liberal government continues to insist that they know better. Liberal denial doesn’t help the communities and families who are hurt as these companies close shop: Heinz, Caterpillar, St. Thomas’s Ford plant, Brockville’s Proctor and Gamble, Peterborough’s General Electric, Bacardi, Wescast—too many to name here.

Mr. Speaker, after 14 years and because this Liberal government’s decisions continue to kill manufacturing jobs in Ontario, how can we trust this Premier and the Liberals ever again?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: My question is, how can we trust them when all they do is distort the facts?

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Withdraw.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Withdraw.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Carry on.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Let’s look at the facts, Speaker: 760,000 more—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. The member from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex, come to order.

Finish, please.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Speaker—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex, second time. I may go past the warning if I even attempt to sit down and he says it again.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Speaker, of course the opposition will pick up on where the jobs have been lost. That has been a serious issue. But I have yet to hear him talk about the 760,000 net new jobs. Let’s be clear: 760,000 more jobs have been created than we have lost. Whenever a company chooses to close, we are there to help those employees—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. The member from Leeds–Grenville, the member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke and the member from Huron–Bruce, come to order.

Finish, please.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: There’s a certain irony when he talks about the loss of the Ford plant. They would have let the auto industry die. Their advice was to let—

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

New question: the leader of the third party.

Hospital services

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Before I begin, I really just want to quickly congratulate my colleague Jagmeet Singh for a decisive win of the leadership of the federal New Democratic Party.

Applause.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Thank you. He will be touched that we gave him a standing ovation, I know.

My question is for the Deputy Premier. There is a crisis in hospitals in Ontario. It is the new normal to hear horror stories of people waiting for days in emergency rooms and being treated on stretchers in hospital hallways with no privacy and no dignity.

Last week, the Premier finally admitted that there’s a problem, but her solution is to maybe, sometime in the future, reopen 150 beds that she closed in Toronto. One hundred and fifty beds will not fix this crisis—not in Toronto and certainly not in the hundreds of communities across this province that are suffering under the weight of the Premier’s cuts and freezes to hospitals. Just last week, we learned the hospital in Thunder Bay, which has been in a near-constant state of gridlock for years, was forced to admit 400 patients in a hospital built for 375.

What is the Liberal government’s plan to fix the mess that they’ve created in our hospitals?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: I remain incredulous, quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, that the leader of the third party continues to disparage the fact that there is a proposal that has come forward from, I believe, half a dozen hospitals in the GTA to help address the capacity challenge that they are facing, particularly in advance of the coming winter. We, as yet, don’t know what the impact of the flu will be. They’ve come forward with a very reasonable proposal for opening 150 beds at the old Finch site of the Humber River Hospital.

We didn’t close those beds, by the way; we transferred them to the brand new, $4-billion Humber River Hospital, which is now providing the highest quality of care.

For the leader of the third party, this is her opportunity to be clear on this issue: Does she or does she not support the proposal coming forward from the hospital system—supported, by the way, by the Ontario Hospital Association? Does she or does she not support their proposal for opening 150 beds for transitional care?

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, I think it’s incredulous that the Minister of Health can’t fix the problems that he has made and that he has to wait for the hospitals to come together to beg for some kind of solution because of the crisis they have created in our hospital system.

Brampton Civic’s acute care beds have been, by their own account, over capacity for more than two years. But it’s not just Brampton Civic. Etobicoke General Hospital’s acute care beds have also been over capacity every single day from January to May of this year. In January, capacity reached as high as 122%, and this is when safe capacity is supposed to be 85%.

When will this government admit that the problem is province-wide and do something for the people forced to endure overcrowded hospitals in communities like Brampton and Etobicoke?

Hon. Eric Hoskins: Well, Mr. Speaker, we are doing something. We allocated $24 million in the spring budget precisely to address this capacity challenge that is faced across the province in different hospitals—a budget that that member, that leader of the third party, voted against. And she still hasn’t given a reply as to whether she supports the Humber proposal or is against the Humber proposal.

We know that we face capacity issues. That’s precisely why—ironically, with the NDP specifically and emphatically asking us to address the capacity issues in our hospitals, when we do just that, they’re the first and frankly the only ones to stand up and oppose it.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: This is my third, right, Speaker? Not my new question. I’m on my third. Thank you.

The remaining question goes back to the Deputy Premier. The bottom line is, notwithstanding the boasting that this minister is doing, they shorted the hospital sector $300 million of what they asked for in the last budget. They didn’t step up to the plate, even though they were begged to by the hospital association.

Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga is also over capacity. The beds there have been running as high as 109%.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Minister of the Environment, come to order.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Since January, the hospital has been forced to use “unconventional beds,” meaning hallway medicine. These figures represent real people in Mississauga, many of them who experienced the worst days of their lives dealing with an accident or sickness that forced them to go to the hospital.

When will the government heed the call of the Ontario Hospital Association and provide immediate investment in our hospitals? When will they actually do something to help people in Mississauga?

Hon. Eric Hoskins: I was honoured to be at Trillium in Mississauga to announce, beside the finance minister and the Premier, a brand new hospital for that community, a hospital which will provide even a higher level of care to a greater number of individuals. This is the situation throughout the province. We have 35 hospitals that are new hospitals, either being built or in the planning stage. We continue to make those investments. We’ve added more than 1,000 hospital beds in the last several years.

We just talked about—I can only imagine that the leader of the third party, by her silence, is against the Humber River proposal. She’ll have to explain that to the hospitals and communities that would benefit with that specialized care for seniors in a transitional capacity. We’re making those investments. We’ll continue to make those investments, and we’re seeing the impacts across the province.

Hospital services

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is also for the Deputy Premier. On Friday, in Sudbury, there were 22 people forced into “unconventional bed space” because the hospital was over capacity. That’s 22 Ontarians forced to receive treatment in hallways or even broom closets. One person not getting the care that they deserve is too many; 22 people is nothing short of a crisis. This happens every single day in Ontario. This is the new normal for people who are sick.

The last Conservative government fired 6,000 nurses, closed 28 hospitals and slashed over 7,000 hospital beds. The Liberals have cut or frozen hospital budgets for years now. Now that the Premier has finally admitted that there’s a problem, her solution is 150 beds in Toronto. Can the Liberal government tell us how they expect 150 beds in Toronto to be enough?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Chief government whip.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: The Humber River proposal, the Finch site, is just one of a number of proposals that we’ve received from the hospital system, a proposal and approach that is supported by the Ontario Hospital Association and reflects the $24 million this fiscal year that we’ve indicated we’re investing specifically in capacity and ALC beds. We continue to invest.

Again, it’s unfortunate that the third party is disparaging the PCs despite their record on health care, because they’re a close second. They closed more than 9,000 beds: 24% of all the acute beds in the province, 13% of the mental health beds in this province. They delisted home care, they reduced the number of drugs on the formulary and they fired thousands of nurses. They committed to finding another $600 million in cuts in health and education in the last election.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: SickKids hospital is also over capacity. This is a world-class hospital, something Ontarians can be proud of. But even this hospital, where staff care for some of the most serious, devastating illnesses and accidents that affect children, is not getting what it needs from the Premier.

The Premier must know that this is a crisis. She must know how it affects the people of this province, the children of this province, and still the government’s only solution is to reopen 150 beds that they closed in Toronto?

Hon. Eric Hoskins: I’m the first to accept and even embrace constructive criticism, but there’s a point in the dialogue, in the debate, when I think we need to ask ourselves: Are we—or one party—by repeatedly calling a crisis, calling an emergency, frightening people about the condition in our long-term-care homes, frightening people about the conditions of our hospitals?

I had this discussion last week with the president of the Ontario Hospital Association. There’s a point at which I think we need to realize the impact of what we say among Ontarians. We need to have that balanced approach.

I’m the first to accept criticism where criticism is deserved, Mr. Speaker, but I think we need to do that in a measured way which truly aims at making the system better, not instilling fear in Ontarians.

Interjections.

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

Final supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: The people of Ontario don’t need the NDP to scare them about going to the hospital; they’re telling me they won’t go to the hospital because they’re scared. That’s the reality that is happening in our hospitals.

Do you know what? Ten years of freezes and cutbacks result in what we’re seeing today. This government has been in office for 14 years, and this is what they’ve done to our hospital system? Shame on them.

University Health Network hospitals are over capacity. Humber River Hospital: over capacity. Michael Garron Hospital: over capacity. SickKids: over capacity. One hundred and fifty beds will not fix the mess this Liberal government has helped to create.

When will the government admit that the hospitals need more than what they have been allocated, finally invest in the good-quality health care that Ontarians need and deserve and promise that, moving forward, they will at least be funded to cover inflation, to cover population growth and to cover the unique needs of our communities?

Interjections.

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

Minister?

Hon. Eric Hoskins: Here’s an example of the increasing capacity and the infrastructure investment that we’re making in Hamilton alone: Hamilton Health Sciences’ Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre, a $200-million project, completed in 2012; St. Joseph’s Healthcare’s West 5th Campus, a $500-million—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Beaches–East York.

Finish, please.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: The Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre, a $70-million project completed that will facilitate 70,000 visits annually; Hamilton General Hospital, $44 million to consolidate different services into a new 100,000-square-foot facility; and $581 million for the West 5th Campus on Hamilton Mountain.

These are just several examples, in Hamilton alone, of the investments that we’ve been making and are making and will continue to make.

Government’s record

Mr. Jeff Yurek: My question is for the Acting Premier because, after 14 years of Liberal waste and political corruption, Ontarians are working harder, paying more and receiving less.

Speaker, the cuts to Ontario’s hospitals are but one example. This government was responsible for Ontario’s public hospitals suffering through four years of frozen budgets. This government continued to cut funding, pushing our hospitals to a breaking point.

The Auditor General warned this government that hospital beds were unnecessarily being occupied by patients waiting for long-term care or home care, causing delays. This government failed to act, resulting in the dangerous levels of overcrowding faced by our hospitals today. Patients continue to wait on stretchers in the hallways. With flu season around the corner, Ontario hospitals are on the verge of a serious capacity crisis.

Mr. Speaker, after 14 years of hospital cuts and frozen budgets, how can we trust this Premier or these Liberals ever again?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: To the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: Mr. Speaker, we have invested and increased the budget in our health care system every single year since taking office. That includes the most recent budget, where we increased the hospital operating budgets by $500 million, which is on top of the previous year of $500 million in new investment. We are investing in new hospitals, in the operating of hospitals, including in St. Thomas itself and across the province.

It’s regrettable that a party that closed, I think, 27 hospitals—

Hon. Mitzie Hunter: Twenty-eight.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: Is it 28 hospitals—that closed almost 10,000 hospital beds, that made cuts across the system, is a party that now is asking us to fix the mess that they created. We’ve fixed that mess, and we’re continuing to invest to make the best possible system in this province.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary: the member from Niagara West–Glanbrook.

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: My question is for the Deputy Premier. After 14 years of Liberal waste and political corruption, Ontario works harder, pays more and gets—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. Originally, there appeared to be a concern about certain terminology, and I am now suggesting to the members of the opposition that the terminology is not acceptable to the House. It won’t be used, and I will ask you to stop using it.

Finish, please.

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: Mr. Speaker, eHealth is just one example—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Beaches–East York, second time.

Please finish.

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: Speaker, eHealth is just one example of this political mismanagement and scandal. This government has been making and breaking delivery promises on eHealth almost as long as they’ve been in power.

Cronyism, overpaid consultants, outrageous expenses, lawsuits and settlements—the Liberals seem to have unlimited creativity when it comes to finding ways to throw away our money on eHealth.

As the Toronto Sun summed up the Auditor General’s damning report last November: “$8 billion and 14 years later” we still do not have a working electronic health record system.

After 14 years, because of the eHealth fiasco, how can we trust the Premier or the Liberals ever again?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: I’m proud of the fact that over 80% of our family doctors are utilizing electronic medical records in their offices. In fact, virtually every Ontarian who has intersected with our health care system has an electronic health record. We find that is making for better information and better decisions by front-line health care providers as well as empowerment to the patients themselves.

We have come a long way. We have remote clinical consultations, nearly three quarters of a million that are happening with Telehealth Ontario, where face-to-face interactions digitally are happening between consumers of health care and providers of health care. We have the Ontario Laboratories Information System, where 92% of all our hospital, community and public health lab data is available in that repository, and there are more than 100,000 users of that data. We have a Digital Health Drug Repository that tracks, among other things, the medications that are prescribed by health care providers.

Obviously this is a moving target as we continue to evolve our digital health care system, but I’m proud of the work that we’ve done today.

Pension plans

Mr. Paul Miller: My question is to the Deputy Premier: A couple of months ago, Sears Canada was given the court’s approval to begin liquidation sales. So far, 59 locations have been closed and more than 1,200 employees have been affected. The saga continues as we learn that Sears Canada is filing a petition to terminate their pension plan. And now Sears just announced on Saturday that they will be closing another 10 stores, including one in Hamilton.

New Democrats have called on the Premier to actively work to protect the pensioners here in Ontario from being shut out from what they’ve earned over a lifetime. The lack of pension protection in this province is unacceptable.

Sears pensioners need to know: Will the Premier step up? Will she put pressure on the federal government to make changes to the bankruptcy, insolvency and CCAA processes so that hard-working current and former employees are given priority to get paid the pensions they’re owed?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: To the Minister of Energy.

Hon. Glenn Thibeault: Sears remains subject to the Pension Benefits Act. I know that the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, FSCO, which administers the PBA, including the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund, is continuing to monitor the situation. Filing for bankruptcy does not affect the assets in the pension plan. Monthly pensions will continue to be paid to the plan beneficiaries. In the event of a windup, a claim could be made on the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund. The PBGF is unique to Ontario, the only jurisdiction in Canada to offer such a fund. Right now, pensioners receive $1,000 through the fund.

We are implementing changes to increase pensioner payments from $1,000 to $1,500. We care about retirement security for the people of Ontario, and that’s why we moved forward with the changes to the funding framework for the defined benefits pension plan.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mr. Paul Miller: I’m surprised the energy minister is answering this, but anyway, the Ontario government should have been prepared for the end of Sears’ pension security. This has been expected for some time, and while today it might be Sears, tomorrow it will be another company, and there have been many in the past. This needs coordinated action from both levels of Liberal governments. Unfortunately, the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund, which was just mentioned, will only guarantee pension shortfall coverage up to $1,500.

The system still leaves many former Sears employees without full benefits. I remember 10 years ago, when Mr. Arthurs, appointed by your government, studied the PBGF and said the recommendation should be $2,500. So it’s no big improvement to $1,500. You’re still far short of what benefits are for people. When are you going to do something about it?

Hon. Glenn Thibeault: Minister of Finance.

Hon. Charles Sousa: I appreciate the question and the concern the member has for our pensioners and retirees. We’ve seen it time and time again when these things occur. If it wasn’t for the backstop that the Ontario government, the only province, the only jurisdiction in North America which provides a pension guarantee—of those Sears employees, should they be affected, 90% will be fully covered as a result of our pension guarantee.

We recognize that more needs to be done. That’s why we’ve modernized our pension reforms to enable many of those pensioners and those who have existing programs to diversify to other holders to protect their interests. We’ll continue to do more and we’ll work alongside the member to try to make sure that everyone is protected in the province of Ontario.

Agriculture industry

Ms. Ann Hoggarth: My question is for the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Minister, food is what sustains us and gives us the energy to get up every morning, to work, to learn and play, and to go about our daily lives. Without a strong farm and food sector in the province of Ontario, we would not be able to enjoy the bounty and diversity of foods that we love and share with our friends and families at this time of the year, particularly at Thanksgiving.

As you know, our agricultural communities across this great province work extremely hard each and every day to provide us with more than 200 foods grown and harvested right here at home. This week is dedicated to this hard work as we begin Ontario Agriculture Week.

Minister, this week allows us to celebrate the contribution that our farm and food sector has given to our province for over 150 years. Can the minister please share with us how our government is celebrating our—

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

Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and responsible for small business.

Hon. Jeff Leal: I want to thank the member from Barrie for her passion about agriculture—and, of course, she’s a very good singer of Good Things Grow in Ontario.

This is Agriculture Week in the province of Ontario and we’re taking time to recognize our farmers and farm communities that contribute to our communities and our economy. We are blessed in Ontario with nearly 50,000 family farms, contributing in excess of $37 billion to Ontario’s GDP.

Just last Friday, in my riding of Peterborough, I was joined by my colleague the member from Northumberland–Quinte West to announce $500,000 in funding from the Greenbelt Fund for various farm and food processing across the province of Ontario. I must say that one of the recipients was the very fine Millar egg farm in the great riding of Peterborough.

Today we’re also welcoming the Wine Council of Ontario, the Ontario Craft Cider Association and the Ontario Craft Brewers to celebrate their success.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Ms. Ann Hoggarth: Thank you, Minister, for that response and for the important message. It’s great to hear that our government is investing in our farm and food sector to boost availability of local food. I’m also pleased to know that we’ll be welcoming guests to Queen’s Park who represent our farmers, and food and beverage makers.

Minister, Ontario Agriculture Week will come and go, but we need to acknowledge the hard work Ontario farmers do each and every day to ensure that we have food on our tables.

I know my constituents in Barrie certainly enjoy foods grown and harvested locally. They purchase Foodland Ontario-branded products at the supermarket and visit local farmers’ markets, including the ones in Barrie and Innisfil. They want to know how the province is recognizing the long heritage of farming in the province of Ontario.

Will the minister please tell this House how our government is honouring the province’s agricultural sector and working to build up its future success?

Hon. Jeff Leal: I want to thank the member from Barrie for her supplementary. I want to acknowledge the Dafoe family this morning, who hosted the Peterborough County Plowing Match on Saturday. I can tell you that the minister had a very straight furrow.

I’m also pleased to announce today that through our Ontario Farms 150 commemorative sign program, we’ll be looking for those farms and farm families across the province of Ontario who have had their farm for over 150 years, and we’ll be providing them with the appropriate signage. I encourage all members from all sides of the House to make applications.

I also want to acknowledge the work of organizations like the Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance and, of course, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, which represents over 30,000 family farms in the province of Ontario, and to recognize their long history of farming in this great province. In fact, the OFA will be here at Queen’s Park tomorrow.

We’re starting to launch our Bring Home the World food campaign to raise awareness about the wide variety of foods that are grown, harvested and made right here in Ontario. We acknowledge—

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

Government’s record

Ms. Sylvia Jones: My question is for the Acting Premier, because after 14 years of Liberal waste and political scandal, Ontario works harder, pays more and gets less.

Kicking 3,500 children off the wait-list for life-changing IBI autism therapy just because they were five years old is one example. It took three months—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. The member from Kitchener–Conestoga, come to order. The chief government whip is warned.

Finish, please.

Ms. Sylvia Jones: It took three months, a new minister and the advocacy of thousands of families for the government to realize that autism doesn’t end at five. After 14 years and the government kicking children off autism therapy wait-lists because of their age, how can we trust the Premier and the Liberals ever again?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Minister of Children and Youth Services.

Hon. Michael Coteau: I appreciate the question from the member opposite. We have opportunities over the course of our political career to make decisions, and those decisions are always captured in Hansard. They’re captured out there and people report on them. The member opposite talks about our record on autism, which is, I would say—when it comes to the allocation of resources, we are the best government in all of North America when it comes to focusing on autism.

But here’s the irony in the question: The Leader of the Opposition sat in Ottawa for years. He had a decision to make, to support a national autism plan, and he voted against that. So, Mr. Speaker, when we talk about autism and what we’re doing for children, and we compare both records, please don’t make any confusion.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary: the member from Whitby–Oshawa.

Mr. Lorne Coe: My question is for the Deputy Premier, because after 14 years of Liberal waste and political scandal, Ontario residents work harder, pay more and get less.

The Liberal government’s arbitrary and cold-hearted approach to school closures is yet another example. Speaker, months ago, they had 600 schools on the chopping block. The Ontario Alliance Against School Closures says that in the five years leading up to the release of the ministry’s revised pupil accommodation review guideline, 277 schools were closed.

After 14 years and school closures, how can Ontario residents trust the Premier or the Liberals ever again?

Hon. Michael Coteau: To the Minister of Education.

Hon. Mitzie Hunter: I’m pleased to rise in this House and speak to our government’s record on schools and education in this province, because the member opposite is asking the question but is ignoring the 11 schools that were built or expanded significantly in his own riding.

Mr. Speaker, we continue to invest in Ontario’s publicly funded education system, and you are seeing the results, from full-day kindergarten to graduation rates that are—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Come to order, both sides—especially the questioner.

Finish.

Hon. Mitzie Hunter: Mr. Speaker, you are seeing the results, from full-day-kindergarten investments to graduation rates in this province—86.5% of students are graduating versus the 68% that were graduating when that party was in power.

We will continue to invest in Ontario’s publicly funded education system because it is the right investment for the people of this province.

Long-term care

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My question is for the Deputy Premier. Ontario’s long-term-care wait-list tops 30,000 people right now. Just like our hospitals, the level of care in these homes is suffering under this Premier and her Liberal government.

Last week in Ottawa, there was yet another incident in a home, this time involving verbal abuse of a senior in care. These stories keep coming up. It seems that every day I hear from family members who are telling me about the horrific conditions their loved ones face in long-term care. This is not a case of a few bad apples, as the Conservative member from Nepean–Carleton said. The issues in long-term care are systemic. They stretch to every corner of this province.

Will the government finally acknowledge that long-term care is in a state of chaos and expand the scope of the Wettlaufer inquiry to find and fix the serious problems in our long-term-care system?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: The Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: Absolutely, the safety and well-being of every single resident in our long-term-care homes is the top priority for me and for my ministry. We’re working hard to provide that high level of care that ensures that safety and that security.

I have been clear, and I’m going to be clear again, that non-compliance with the Long-Term Care Homes Act is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Mr. Speaker, that’s part of the reason why I introduced legislation just last week to strengthen the fines, the penalties and the measures available to my ministry and me as minister to ensure the compliance that we expect with the act. If we receive a complaint or hear of a situation which is unacceptable, we conduct an immediate inspection and we act on the result of that inspection immediately.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: In response to the incident in Ottawa last week, the Liberal member from Ottawa West–Nepean said, “All Ontarians should be able to grow old with dignity in a safe, secure and compassionate environment.” And do you know what? I agree with that, Speaker. I agree with that 100%.

What we have in Ontario does not come anywhere close to meeting that standard right now. Ask any family member of a loved one in care. They will tell you about the constant state of worry that they face every single day, wondering what’s happening to their parent or grandparent or spouse.

The Conservatives think the issue in long-term care is a few bad apples; the Liberals think the issue is Elizabeth Wettlaufer. When will the government finally admit that the chaos in long-term care is ongoing and affects the whole system and everyone in it?

Hon. Eric Hoskins: Again, I have the responsibility—as does my ministry, but ultimately it rests with me—to ensure the safety and security of every resident in long-term-care homes in this province. It’s a responsibility that I take extremely seriously.

I look forward to the debate, and I anticipate and hope that the third party will support the increased compliance measures, including fines and penalties, the ability to suspend licences and other powers, so that we can ensure that the highest quality of care is being provided and that safety and security exists.

Mr. Speaker, I will work with all parties to ensure that we do the absolute utmost to provide that level of care. We owe it to those nearly 80,000 Ontarians who call home a long-term-care home. That is their home. We have the responsibility, and I take it very seriously.

Human trafficking

Mr. Ted McMeekin: My question is for the Minister of Community and Social Services.

I know it’s a priority of this government to help survivors of human trafficking heal and rebuild their lives and to prevent human trafficking from occurring in the first place. Last year, the government created Ontario’s first-ever strategy to begin to tackle this horrendous crime.

This past week I was pleased to learn about the new funding that was rolled out to support community partners across this province in their efforts to combat human trafficking and support survivors. Native Women Inc. Hamilton-Wentworth received over $700,000 to support their emergency shelter, transportation needs and culturally respectful care. I was pleased to be able to announce that in Hamilton.

Speaker, could the minister please tell us more about the funding announced at last week’s announcement?

Hon. Helena Jaczek: Thank you to the member for his question and for his continued advocacy to support survivors of violence in the Hamilton area.

I was pleased to announce last week that our government will be providing funding through both the Anti-Human Trafficking Community Supports Fund and Indigenous-Led Initiatives Fund of almost $19 million toward 45 projects aimed to provide wraparound services and supports to survivors of human trafficking. This is the first time that funding like this has been available on this scale in Ontario or even anywhere in Canada.

I’d like to thank everyone in the anti-human-trafficking community who has assisted us with our strategy and with the need to create these funds. Our partners have told us how important it was for Ontario to move forward on our strategy. Last week’s announcement is just the latest step.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mr. Ted McMeekin: I want to thank the minister for that great answer. I also want to thank all the service providers that work tirelessly to put an end to this crime and to ensure that survivors have the supports they need, and that we can all play a part.

Ending human trafficking is a very important step toward ensuring that survivors can live safely, free from threat, fear or experience of exploitation and violence. We know that service providers, law enforcement officers and our government play a great role in making this happen.

Human trafficking affects some of the most vulnerable people in our society. That is why I am pleased that the government launched its $72-million strategy to end human trafficking last year. I’m sure that the additional funding announced last week through the community supports will help.

Could the minister please update the House on continued government efforts to support survivors and put an end to this ongoing crime?

Hon. Helena Jaczek: Minister of the Status of Women.

Hon. Indira Naidoo-Harris: I want to thank the member for this important question and for being a strong advocate for his community.

Speaker, human trafficking is a brutal crime that affects the young and vulnerable in our communities. It is absolutely unacceptable, and it’s something I want you to know that we are working hard to fight, with our community partners.

That’s why I was so pleased to be along with my colleague as we announced that we are giving vital assistance to dozens of organizations on the ground that work tirelessly to protect and support survivors. This funding gives support and resources to groups that are dealing with survivors of this heart-wrenching crime.

But Speaker, I want you to know that our work to end human trafficking doesn’t stop there. Here are some of the things we’re doing. In addition to the Anti-Human Trafficking Act, which allows for restraining orders and compensation, we’re also creating a new Human Trafficking Lived Experience Roundtable. We’ve also enhanced funding to 47 service partners through the victim crisis assistance program and expanded the victim/witness—

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

New question.

Government’s record

Ms. Lisa M. Thompson: My question is for the Deputy Premier.

After 14 years of Liberal waste and political scandal, Ontario works harder, pays more and gets less.

The Liberal cap-and-trade scheme is just one example of how they have made life harder for the people of Ontario. The Premier rushed the legislation, which enables the Liberals to continue doling out billions of our hard-earned dollars to Liberal friends. That’s on top of the billions being sent to California, where Ontario businesses are forced to buy carbon credits. Speaker, it takes my breath away.

Earlier today, I heard a member opposite arrogantly say, “Get over it.” But after 14 years of scandals, wasteful spending and bad policy, like their disastrous cap-and-trade scheme, how can we trust the Premier or her Liberals ever again?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Minister of the Environment and Climate Change.

Hon. Chris Ballard: Thank you to the member opposite for that. I’ll tell you what takes my breath away, Speaker. It’s the amazing progress that this government has made in the past 14 years to make sure that our children have fresh air to breathe. Since this government closed the coal plants, there hasn’t been a smog day in Ontario; there hasn’t been the orange haze hanging over the GTHA. That’s real progress.

I can tell you that the foundation of what we’re doing in this province is to make the reduction of greenhouse gases fair and equitable for all businesses across the province. I’m still waiting to hear a plan from the other side.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary: the member from Parry Sound–Muskoka.

Mr. Norm Miller: My question is for the Deputy Premier.

After 14 years of Liberal waste and political scandals, Ontarians work harder, pay more and get less. Infrastructure to the Ring of Fire—or the lack thereof—is just one example. This government first promised to develop the Ring of Fire in 2010. In the throne speech, they called it “the most promising mining opportunity in Canada in a century.”

In 2014, they promised $1 billion to build transportation infrastructure to the Ring of Fire. Since then, the Premier has made a lot of promises and some excuses, but still we’ve seen no shovels in the ground. Northern Ontarians are running out of patience with this government.

Mr. Speaker, after 14 years of waste and scandal, and because of the broken promises about developing the Ring of Fire, how can northern Ontarians trust the Premier or the Liberals ever again?

Hon. Chris Ballard: To the Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation.

Hon. David Zimmer: Thank you very much for that question.

Of course, the Ring of Fire does represent a historic opportunity to really effect—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Lanark, second time.

Finish, please.

Hon. David Zimmer: Because of that historic opportunity to affect the economic underpinnings of this province—that’s why this government committed $1 billion to infrastructure development in the region. We are going to build on that infrastructure development in the region.

Just recently, we invested about $785,000, along with the federal government, to enable the Webequie, Eabametoong, Neskantaga and Nibinamik First Nations to complete an all-season community service corridor study. That’s the first step in unlocking the potential of the Ring of Fire commitment.

This is a commitment that the opposition parties should help us with, instead of putting roadblocks in the way. We are going to open the Ring of Fire—

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

Mental health services

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My question is for the Deputy Premier.

A few weeks ago, I met Denise Skowronnek. Her brother Daniel Reale used shoelaces that he wasn’t supposed to have to take his own life while admitted to St. Joseph’s West 5th site in Hamilton. Dan was the 11th person to die by suicide while admitted to the West 5th site in the last 18 months.

Carol Patenaude’s daughter Nicole—just 20 years old—died by suicide while released from the hospital on a day pass.

Families of loved ones who need mental health care should be able to expect that their loved ones will be safe and receive excellent care that gives them every chance at recovery. When that doesn’t happen and tragedies occur again and again, families deserve answers.

That’s why I, together with these families, have called for a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Daniel and Nicole and all of the others who tragically lost their lives. Will the government support this call?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: I do appreciate the question.

Mr. Speaker, no family should have to endure the pain of a loved one, a family member, a friend or a colleague whose life ends in suicide.

Let me, on behalf of everyone in the Legislature, as well—and I know the leader of the third party has done this—express my deepest sympathies to the families of all 11 individuals who, over this period of 18 months, regrettably and unfortunately, lost their lives in this way.

In response to the third party’s call for a coroner’s inquest, it’s important to know that the coroner and the coroner alone has and retains that right to decide upon and begin an inquest. It’s entirely at his discretion. It’s important, and I think we would all agree, that the office of the coroner operate at arm’s length from the ministry and the government, and that’s why we leave the discretion with the coroner himself.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Mr. Speaker, I sincerely hope that a coroner’s inquest will come to pass and that it will also focus on the resources that front-line staff need and the funding that our hospitals require.

We know that mental health care workers in Hamilton—all health care workers in Hamilton, and across the province—are doing the best they can, but they’re not being given the resources they need. Hospitals have faced budget cuts, layoffs and bed closures in communities desperate for better care, including my city of Hamilton. After years of cuts, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton is facing another $7 million in cuts, thanks to the current government, while Hamilton Health Sciences is facing another $20 million in cuts this year.

Will the government support the families’ call for the coroner to consider these factors in any inquest that actually happens?

Hon. Eric Hoskins: Mr. Speaker, unlike the leader of the third party, I’m not going to prejudge or pre-assume what any potential investigation or inquest might find in terms of a relationship to these 11 unfortunate suicides.

Back in 2015, I personally asked the Ontario Hospital Association what more we could do to prevent suicides in our hospitals. I asked the OHA if it would create a task force of experts and individuals with lived experience to develop recommendations for preventing deaths by suicide by patients and clients under hospital care. We recently received the report of recommendations from the suicide prevention task force. In fact, these recommendations have now only recently in past weeks been shared with all the OHA, all hospital members, all hospitals across the province.

I believe that this will be one step, but one important step, so that we can all come together to make sure we’re doing what is required to prevent these tragedies from taking place in the future.

Seniors

M. Shafiq Qaadri: Ma question est pour la ministre des Affaires des personnes âgées, the Hon. Dipika Damerla. Seniors’ affairs are particularly important in my own riding of Etobicoke North, as we have a very healthy, vibrant and growing contingent of seniors. As you may know, Speaker, yesterday, October 1, marked National Seniors Day in Canada. It was also the United Nations International Day of Older Persons.

The Ontario seniors’ community is over two million strong and will more than double in the next 25 years. For the first time in Ontario, there are more seniors over the age of 65 than folks under the age of 15. As you will know, Speaker, seniors have played an important role in building up the communities of this province and have achieved so much and contributed so greatly to a diverse and prosperous Ontario.

My question is this: Will the Minister of Seniors Affairs please inform the House about what the government is doing to support seniors in communities across the province of Ontario?

L’hon. Dipika Damerla: Merci beaucoup pour la question. I also want to join in celebrating and congratulating on the occasion of National Seniors Day and international seniors’ day, which was yesterday. In fact, I was joined by the member from Trinity–Spadina yesterday as we celebrated National Seniors Day and international seniors’ day at the waterfront.

Our government is fully committed to helping seniors age well, to be safe and live active, independent lives in comfort and dignity. That is why we continue to invest in numerous programs to better support our seniors, and I look forward to speaking more about it in the supplementary.

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

Mr. Shafiq Qaadri: Thank you, Minister, for your stewardship of this file. The Seniors Community Grant Program is one that is particularly popular among my own community groups in Etobicoke North. These groups are integral parts of communities and work to provide seniors with space to share, learn and prosper, and opportunities to enjoy new and exciting experiences. When the seniors’ community grant was developed in 2014, it opened doors for many of these groups to expand their programs and offer unique experiences to Ontario seniors across the province.

I know the minister was recently in Scarborough to make a related announcement. Would she please inform this House about the next round of seniors’ community grants?

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

Hon. Dipika Damerla: I again want to thank the member from Etobicoke North for the very important question. As he mentioned, the Seniors Community Grant Program is an integral part of the services we provide our seniors, and it has so far supported more than 1,300 initiatives, benefiting almost 440,000 seniors across the province.

Last Monday, I joined with Habitat for Humanity in Scarborough to announce the opening of applications for the next round of grant funding. In addition to the grants that have been awarded in the past, we have created a new dedicated stream this year for larger-scale initiatives. Under this new grant stream, organizations could be eligible to receive up to $100,000 for projects that are regional or provincial in scope. Applications are now open until the end of November.

Visitors

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Point of order, the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

Hon. Eric Hoskins: Members of provincial Parliament are invited to join me. With our courageous Iraqi parliamentarians, we’re going to have our photo taken on the grand staircase in just a few minutes after question period. Everybody is welcome to join us.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Point of order, the member from Kitchener–Waterloo.

Ms. Catherine Fife: I’d just like to welcome my guests, Ron and Shirley Levene from the great riding of Waterloo region.

Member for Bramalea–Gore–Malton

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Deputy Premier, point of order.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: On behalf of the Liberal caucus, we wish to offer our congratulations to the member from Bramalea–Gore–Malton, Jagmeet Singh, on his leadership win.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): There being no deferred votes, this House stands recessed until 1 p.m. this afternoon.

The House recessed from 1146 to 1300.

Members’ Statements

David Johnston

Mr. Ted Arnott: “Aren’t we fortunate to have the opportunity to serve?” That was how the Governor General, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, replied to me after I wrote to thank him for his outstanding contribution to our country and to acknowledge with gratitude the extension of his term as the Queen’s representative in Canada.

Today David and Sharon Johnston officially depart from Rideau Hall after seven years of the opportunity to serve.

I came to know David Johnston well when I represented the riding of Waterloo–Wellington from 1999 to 2007 and he was the president of the University of Waterloo. I came to look forward to our every interaction and meeting. He was brilliant, positive, focused and caring. His leadership and creativity helped vault U of W to the forefront of Canadian universities, which also served to strengthen our local economy in immeasurable ways, including helping Waterloo region become a high-tech powerhouse.

It turned out to be superb preparation for his next challenge: “Contemplare meliora,” or to envision a better world, which he adopted as a motto. He would choose to make his priorities strengthening learning and innovation, encouraging philanthropy and volunteerism, and supporting families and children. Through his events, speeches and writing, he challenged all of us to reach higher and achieve more, each to our fullest potential.

Is Canada a better place for his efforts? Without question, it most certainly is. And through his energy and personality, the reach and scope of the role of Governor General was animated, strengthened and enlarged.

Yes, we are indeed fortunate to have the opportunity to serve, and David and Sharon Johnston’s service will long be remembered as exemplary. On behalf of the Ontario PC caucus, we offer our thanks and wish them good health and much happiness in the years to come.

Sheila Koffman

Ms. Cheri DiNovo: I rise to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of Sheila Koffman, who was not just known to the residents of Parkdale–High Park but right across the downtown Toronto corridor. She was the owner of Another Story bookstore on Roncesvalles and a social justice activist. The store itself started decades back on the Danforth, and she managed to keep it alive by really highlighting the work of other social justice activists, people who were writers of colour, who were queer writers, and children’s authors as well.

She was very well known throughout the elementary and post-secondary school system in Toronto for being the person and the place where you could get books that you just couldn’t get anywhere else. She was a board member of the Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre.

I want to tell everybody that on October 21 we’re going to have a New Orleans-style parade down Roncesvalles from Another Story bookstore to the Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre in her honour. There will be a number of speakers who will be celebrating her life. She died way too early at 72, but we all thought she was even younger than that. That’s the kind of person Sheila Koffman was.

We’ll miss you, Sheila, but your legacy is still lasting. It’s the 30th anniversary of Another Story bookstore.

Riding of Etobicoke North

Mr. Shafiq Qaadri: Speaking of development in the great riding of Etobicoke North—where to even begin? For example, we have currently under way a $400-million expansion of Etobicoke General Hospital. We are doubling the size, the footprint, of the hospital itself, and as a doctor and parliamentarian, I can tell you how delighted I am. We’re going to be having a new cardiology wing, a new respirology wing, a neurology wing, a new emergency department, and folks who need dialysis will not need to travel all the way to Brampton.

We have, as well, eight stops of the $1.2-billion Finch LRT, custom-made, custom-tailored for my riding in Etobicoke North.

As you know, starting this September, so many students are benefiting from free college and university tuition. For families making under $50,000, two- and four-year college is going to be free.

OHIP+ starts in a couple of months, January 1, 2018. For folks from zero to under 25, medications will be free.

In January 2019, we are scheduling a massive increase of the minimum wage, as well as rent control.

Speaker, all of these magnificent developments are going to affect the lives, the pocketbooks and, ultimately, the prosperity and future education of the great people of Etobicoke North.

Sara Carson

Mr. Victor Fedeli: The show is called America’s Got Talent, but over the past few weeks millions of viewers learned that North Bay has talent too, in the name of Sara Carson and her dog, Hero. As many are now familiar, Sara is a highly skilled dog trainer and for weeks this summer, she and Hero wowed television audiences with their act. Judges Simon Cowell, Mel B, Heidi Klum and Canada’s own Howie Mandel praised her week after week, and week after week, she advanced further into the competition until she reached the show’s finale.

Congratulations, Sara, and thank you for thrilling not just Nipissing, but America’s Got Talent viewers everywhere. We can’t wait to see what you’re doing next.

Ron and Shirley Levene

Ms. Catherine Fife: It’s my pleasure to recognize two outstanding constituents from Waterloo region who are here with us today. Ron and Shirley Levene have called Waterloo home since 1987, where they raised their three sons, Casey, Leejay and Elli. Tragically, the Levenes suddenly lost their 18-year-old son Leejay in 2007. Leejay was an incredibly talented artist and musician, and his parents have dedicated themselves to keeping his memory alive by giving back to the community.

Each year, the Levenes partner with a local charity and together they print 3,000 calendars of Leejay’s art, with all of the proceeds going to charity. The 2018 calendar supports the work of Child Witness Centre, a program that provides support to children and youth who have been a victim of or witness to abuse or violence. I’d like to commend Shirley on her dedication to this project. She works every day to give back to Waterloo community organizations. Her work has been recognized across the region, including a nomination for Oktoberfest woman of the year.

Shirley and Ron are also proud Waterloo Rotarians and respected members of Waterloo region’s Jewish community. In Leejay’s memory, the Levenes are doing the work of “tikkun olam”—pursuing social justice and healing the world.

I would like to thank the Levenes for their generosity and compassion. Waterloo region is a stronger community because of their leadership. May Leejay’s memory be a blessing to all of us.

Events in Northumberland–Quinte West

Mr. Lou Rinaldi: Speaker, it’s that time of the year when Ontarians all across the province have the opportunity to experience the bountiful harvest of locally grown fruits, vegetables, honey and other produce that our farmers have been working hard to produce all summer.

This year marks 150 years since Canada’s Confederation, but communities in Northumberland–Quinte West have been holding these events since long before Canada was established.

In the last several weeks, I’ve been criss-crossing my riding to attend and celebrate fall fairs and festivals in each of our communities. In Port Hope, I was there to kick off the 186th Port Hope agricultural fair, and the following weekend, Cultivate, a festival of food and drink.

Families have been visiting Roseneath Agricultural Society’s fair for over 148 years to experience the exhibits, the annual tractor pull and to take a ride on the historical carousel.

The Percy Agricultural Society celebrated its 167th Warkworth fair this year, with many entries for their best in produce, pies and other baked goodies. Trenton held its first annual autumn market place in the downtown square. And of course, Speaker, my hometown, the heart of apple country—Brighton Applefest showcasing all things apple, with close to 20,000 people attending.

These events go on and on, and I want to congratulate all the volunteers who made that happen.

Oktoberfest

Mr. Michael Harris: Halt deine Lederhosen fest—hold on to your lederhosen because the 49th annual Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest is once again is rolling out the barrels for Canada’s greatest Bavarian festival. In the true spirit of Gemütlichkeit, 15 festhallen across our region are opening their doors October 6 through to the 14 to young and old, whether German for life or just for the day. As usual, our royal festival family, Onkel Hans, Tante Frieda unt Ziggy unt Zaggy Steiner, will be on hand with over 480 volunteers and 1,300 community and service club volunteers for the second-largest celebration of German heritage in the world.

Drawing on Waterloo region’s long history of German roots, our annual celebration has had something for everyone since its launch in 1969, from Canada’s largest Thanksgiving Day parade to 48 family, cultural and sporting events and many festhallen events. And while zee spigot and zee mallets won’t be tapping the first kegs until Friday morning, the volunteers and board of directors have long been hard at work preparing and hosting pre-festival events. Just this weekend, the Oktoberfest gala ball was held at the new Lot42 space in Kitchener, where 21-year-old Mikaila Emrich was crowned Miss Oktoberfest 2017.

This Thursday, the KW Oktoberfest women of the year will be named at the same Lot42 as the barrels get set to role.

So we invite all to come down to Kitchener-Waterloo for fun-filled, safe festing. Or, as we say in the region: Ein, Stein, drive safely.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Ein Prosit.

Epilepsy Durham Region

Mr. Granville Anderson: On Saturday I was pleased to take

part in the annual Pull Together for Epilepsy Fire Truck Pull in my lovely riding of Durham. Individuals formed teams of 10 people each, and they worked together to pull a fire truck 100 feet. There were four teams, and I was so honoured when I was asked by the executive director, Dianne McKenzie, to be on one of those teams. All funds raised support Epilepsy Durham and support those living with epilepsy in our wonderful communities throughout Durham.

The pull is an exciting event, and it brings people in the community together to demonstrate to those living with epilepsy that they are not alone. There are over 36,000 people in Durham region who live with epilepsy. To put that in context, that is one in every 100.

Services commonly provided by Epilepsy Durham include one-on-one support services, advocacy, employment, social skill and human rights support for individuals living with epilepsy, their siblings, youth and seniors.

This is a fun event for family and friends to come out and enjoy and support such a great cause. I would like to applaud the great work Epilepsy Durham Region does in support of our community, as well as congratulate them on their 30th anniversary. They have served our community for 30 wonderful years.

Breast cancer

Mr. Jeff Yurek: I rise today to highlight that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I’d also like to take this time to acknowledge Rethink Breast Cancer, which is here at the Legislature today. Rethink Breast Cancer is bringing awareness to our younger generations through their groundbreaking approach. The organization provides information on breast cancer education, resources, advocacy, community-building and fundraising.

Rethink has taken an active role in advocating the government and industry on behalf of patient groups. They are shining a light on the process of public reimbursement of cancer drugs and what can be done to improve access and shorten wait times for care. Access to these drugs and treatments is critical to ensure that our loved ones are here for as long as possible.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women and will affect one in eight women during their lifetime. According to the latest statistics, it is estimated that 26,300 women and 230 men in Canada will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and almost 5,000 women and 43 men will die from the disease in 2017.

It is important to be mindful of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, which include a lump in the breast or armpit, changes in the breast shape or size or skin changes. The Ontario Breast Screening Program and making mammograms part of routine medical care are the best methods for early detection of breast cancer. Finding the cancer early means more treatment options and a better chance of survival.

As October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I encourage all Ontarians to get involved within their community to raise awareness regarding this terrible disease. I would also encourage all women to speak with their health care professionals regarding their screening options and risk factors.

Petitions

Long-term care

Mr. Jim McDonell: I have a petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

“Whereas the government first promised a legislated care standard for residents in the province’s long-term-care homes in 2003, but are yet to make good on their promise;

“Whereas the Long-Term Care Homes Act 2007 empowered the provincial government to create a minimum standard;

“Whereas the most detailed and reputable study of minimum care standards recommends 4.1 hours of direct care per day;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To legislate a care standard of a minimum of four hours per resident each day, adjusted for acuity level and case mix.”

I agree with this and will pass it on to page Adam.

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

Applause.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Nickel Belt.

Are you clapping for me?

M me France Gélinas: No, I—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Oh, for him. I’m sorry.

M me France Gélinas: Well, absolutely, Speaker, I’m clapping for you.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Petitions.

Anti-smoking initiatives for youth

M me France Gélinas: I’d like to thank Isabelle Roy for signing this petition. It reads as follows:

“Whereas in the past 10 years in Ontario, 86% of all movies with on-screen smoking were rated for youth, and the tobacco industry has a well-documented history of promoting tobacco use on-screen; and

“Whereas a scientific report released by the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit estimated that 185,000 children in Ontario today will be recruited to smoking by exposure to on-screen smoking, and more than 59,000” of them “will eventually die from tobacco-related diseases incurring at least $1.1 billion in health care costs; and

“Whereas the Ontario government has a stated goal to achieve the lowest smoking rates in Canada, and 79% of Ontarians support not allowing smoking in movies” for children;

“Whereas the Minister of Government and Consumer Services has the authority to amend the regulations of the Film Classification Act via cabinet;

They petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“To examine the ways in which the regulations of the Film Classification Act could be amended to reduce smoking in youth-rated films released in Ontario.”

I fully support this petition, will affix my name to it and ask Ariana to bring—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Further petitions?

Inclusiveness

Mr. John Fraser: I have a petition here from World-Changing Kids:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas there has been an increase in fear and hate towards people in our communities who practise different religions and who are from different cultures and races than the majority of the population; and

“Whereas many of our friends are feeling frightened and alone in the face of any form of discrimination and hate; and

“Whereas we want to show the world that the hate seen in Ontario does not reflect the people of our province; and

“Whereas we believe that everyone should feel welcome and safe in our communities. It is the diversity of our province that makes it so wonderful;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“That all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario stand up and speak out against all forms of hate and discrimination and stand together in love and kindness.”

I agree with this petition and I’m going to give it to page Duncan.

Guide and service animals

Mr. Michael Harris: I have a petition here on open access to registered service dogs and owners.

“Whereas the Ontario Human Rights Code speaks to the ‘duty to accommodate persons with disabilities ... in a manner that most respects the dignity of the person;’ and

“Whereas, despite these provisions, many who require, have been medically recommended for and own professional, trained service dogs, including children with autism, PTSD sufferers and others, continue to be denied access to public places; and

“Whereas, in one such case of a Kitchener boy with autism being denied access to have his professional, trained service dog at a Waterloo Catholic District School Board school, an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled against specified accommodations for the boy and his dog at school; and

“Whereas Bill 80, the Ontario Service Dog Act, has been introduced at the Ontario Legislature to strictly prohibit ‘denying accommodation, services or facilities to an individual or discriminating against an individual with respect to accommodation, services or facilities because the individual is a person with a disability who is accompanied by a service dog’; and

“Whereas service dogs perform a series of vital tasks to support those living with disabilities, including serving in guidance, seizure response, mobility assistance, autism and PTSD support, among other medically acknowledged services; and

“Whereas ongoing denial of access means those requiring service dogs are continuing to face further hurdles beyond the impacts of disability to be allowed the public accommodations they deserve;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“Open access to registered service dogs and owners:

“Endorse the legislative requirements of Bill 80, the Ontario Service Dog Act, to end continued discrimination and ensure those requiring service dogs are no longer denied the essential public access they should already be guaranteed.”

I wholeheartedly agree with this petition, sign it and will send it with Benjamin to the table.

Domestic violence and sexual violence

Ms. Peggy Sattler: This is a petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario called, “Support Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence.” It reads:

“Whereas half of all Canadian women have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, and approximately every six days a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner; and

“Whereas a 2014 national survey showed that Canadian workers who experience domestic violence often disclose the violence to a co-worker, and that the violence frequently follows the worker to work; and

“Whereas the experience of domestic violence and sexual violence can cause significant physical, mental, emotional and financial hardship for survivors, their families, and society as a whole; and

“Whereas workers who experience domestic violence or sexual violence should not have to jeopardize their employment in order to seek medical attention, access counselling, relocate, or deal with police, lawyers or the courts;...

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“That the Legislative Assembly pass Bill 26 to provide employees who have experienced domestic violence or sexual violence (or whose children have experienced domestic violence or sexual violence) with up to 10 days of paid leave, reasonable unpaid leave, and options for flexible work arrangements, and to require employers to provide mandatory workplace training about domestic violence and sexual violence.”

I fully support this petition, affix my name and give it to page Greg to take to the table.

Animal protection

Ms. Daiene Vernile: This is a petition that’s titled “Ban Fur Farming in Ontario.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas a poll conducted by Environics ... showed that 92% of Canadians are in favour of better animal protection laws. Another poll conducted by Humane Society International ... showed 68% of Canadians support a ban on fur farming;

“Whereas numerous countries and regions recognize that animals’ basic needs cannot be met in any fur farm housing system and have already banned fur farming, the import and/or sale of fur products. The United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Serbia, Denmark, the Netherlands” have passed legislation banning fur farming;

“Whereas animals on fur farms are subjected to long periods of inactivity, lack of stimulation and are restricted from performing natural behaviours ... leading to frustration, stress and stereotypical (abnormal repetitive) behaviour...;

“Whereas confining and killing animals such as fox, mink, chinchilla and rabbit solely for an unnecessary luxury item like fur is inhumane and cruel;

“We, the undersigned, believe fur farming is inherently cruel and we petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to consider implementing a ban on fur farming.”

You can see that I have quite a few here. I will send them down with page Milind.

Organic products

Mr. Jim McDonell: I have a petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

“Whereas Canada is now the fifth largest organic market in the world and expanding by over 10% annually;

“Whereas the federal government adopted the Canada organic standards in 2009 for products labelled organic that are traded outside of their province of origin;

“Whereas the Canada Organic Trade Association rated Ontario lowest amongst all provinces for regulation, support and development of organic products;

“Whereas anyone in Ontario is free to use the term ‘organic’ on any product, even if they are not certified, as long as they do not use the logo or trade across provincial borders;

“Whereas this opens the door to fraud as the market grows, and

whereas five other provinces have already enacted organic legislation to address this gap;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To pass Bill 153, Organic Products Act, 2017.”

I agree with this and will pass it off to page Michael.

Lyme disease

Ms. Jennifer K. French: I have a petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

“Whereas Ontario does not have a strategy on Lyme disease; and

“Whereas the Public Health Agency of Canada is developing an Action Plan on Lyme Disease; and

“Whereas Toronto Public Health says that transmission of the disease requires the tick to be attached for 24 hours, so early intervention and diagnosis is of primary importance; and

“Whereas a motion was introduced to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario encouraging the government to adopt a strategy on Lyme disease, while taking into account the impact the disease has upon individuals and families in Ontario;

I wholeheartedly support this. I affix my name to it and send it with page Eva.

Dental care

Mrs. Cristina Martins: I have a petition that is addressed to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

“Whereas lack of access to dental care affects overall health and well-being, and poor oral health is linked to diabetes, cardiovascular, respiratory disease, and Alzheimer’s disease; and

“Whereas it is estimated that two to three million people in Ontario have not seen a dentist in the past year, mainly due to the cost of private dental services; and

“Whereas approximately every nine minutes a person in Ontario arrives at a hospital emergency room with a dental problem but can only get painkillers and antibiotics, and this costs the health care system at least $31 million annually with no treatment of the problem;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to invest in public oral health programs for low-income adults and seniors by:

“—ensuring that plans to reform the health care system include oral health so that vulnerable people in our communities have equitable access to the dental care they need to be healthy;

“—extending public dental programs for low-income children and youth within the next two years to include low-income adults and seniors; and

“—delivering public dental services in a cost-efficient way through publicly funded dental clinics such as public health units, community health centres and aboriginal health access centres to ensure primary oral health services are accessible to vulnerable people in Ontario.”

I agree with this petition, will affix my name and send it to the table with page Emerson.

Wind turbines

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: I have a petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on industrial wind turbines that states:

“Whereas residents of Ontario want an immediate moratorium on all further industrial wind farm development;

“Whereas residents living in close proximity to proposed turbine locations are concerned about the impact on their health, the local environment, declining property values and the lack of local decision-making on industrial wind farm projects;

“Whereas unaffordable subsidies paid through the feed-in tariff program are causing electricity rates to skyrocket;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“To place a moratorium on all further industrial wind farm development, restore local decision-making, and to cancel the feed-in tariff program.”

I support this petition, affix my signature to it and will give it to page Ariana.

Pharmacare

Miss Monique Taylor: I have a petition that reads:

“Universal Pharmacare for All Ontarians.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas prescription medications are a part of health care, and people shouldn’t have to empty their wallets or rack up credit card bills to get the medicines they need;

“Whereas over 2.2 million Ontarians don’t have any prescription drug coverage and one in four Ontarians don’t take their medications as prescribed because they cannot afford the cost;

“Whereas taking medications as prescribed can save lives and help people live better; and

“Whereas Canada urgently needs universal and comprehensive national pharmacare;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support a universal provincial pharmacare plan for all Ontarians.”

I couldn’t agree with this more. I’m going to affix my name to it and give it to page Eva to bring to the Clerk.

GO Transit

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Ted Arnott): Member for Etobicoke North.

Mr. Shafiq Qaadri: Thank you, Speaker, for the recognition.

I have a petition addressed to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

“Whereas Cambridge, Ontario, is a municipality of over 125,000 people, many of whom commute into the greater Toronto area daily;

“Whereas the current commuting options available for travel between the Waterloo region and the GTA are inefficient and time-consuming, as well as environmentally damaging;

“Whereas the residents of Cambridge and the Waterloo region believe that they would be well-served by commuter rail transit that connects the region to the Milton line, and that this infrastructure would have positive, tangible economic benefits to the province of Ontario;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“Direct crown agency Metrolinx to commission a feasibility study into building a rail line that connects the city of Cambridge to the GO train station in Milton, and to complete this study in a timely manner and communicate the results to the municipal government of Cambridge.”

I send this to you via page Rachel.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Ted Arnott): Unfortunately, that concludes the time we have available for petitions this afternoon. I regret that I wasn’t able to recognize everyone who had a petition today.

Orders of the Day

Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 / Loi de 2017 pour l’équité en milieu de travail et de meilleurs emplois

Resuming the debate adjourned on September 13, 2017, on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 148,

An Act to amend the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and the Labour Relations Act, 1995 and to make related amendments to other Acts / Projet de loi 148, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2000 sur les normes d’emploi et la Loi de 1995 sur les relations de travail et apportant des modifications connexes à d’autres lois.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Ted Arnott): Further debate?

Mr. Mike Colle: It’s kind of difficult speaking today, given the horrific situation in Las Vegas and what happened to those innocent people, but I guess we have to continue on somehow.

I’m here to speak today to Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017. This is the beginning of second reading debate.

As you may know, Mr. Speaker, after first reading this bill went out for public consultation in 10 different communities across Ontario, which is pretty unusual. But given the complexity and the impacts of this bill, which is quite a game-changing bill, I think it was appropriate to go out and listen to people in Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto, Kitchener, and Niagara Falls.

I was in a lot of those public hearings, and it was very compelling to hear people on both sides of the issue. There were some compelling stories about how this change to labour relations laws might affect some employers, small and large. They were really sincere. They weren’t there for ideological reasons. They just said, “Some of these changes may be hard for us to handle.” On the other hand, there were also all kinds of people who came up and said, “I cannot survive on $11.40 an hour.” These were people who sometimes had two or three jobs.

These were people who wanted to work, but they could not pay the rent at the end of the month. In fact, many of them got into debt at the end of the month and had to go to a cash advance or borrow money from family and friends. These were people who came before, made deputations—and, as I said, they were trying to put across their concern or their support for this legislation.

There’s no doubt the changes in this legislation are quite far-reaching in that the Labour Relations Act and the Employment Standards Act haven’t been updated, in some cases, in over 20 years. This update or modernization had to be done. Mr. Speaker, you’ll well know that the workplace in Ontario, in small and large communities, has changed. Most jobs people have that are full-time with benefits, a pension and full hours are a real gift.

But what’s happening more and more is that there is more part-time work, temporary work and contract work, where you don’t know if you’re going to get the hours you want, you don’t know whether you’re going to be called in and you don’t know whether or not you’re going to have a paycheque in two or three weeks.

Again, there are over 1.6 million Ontarians who work hard and get paid minimum wage, or certainly under $15 an hour. Therefore, they’re asking the Legislature—they’re asking, really, their employers, everyone, how we can deal with this income inequality in Ontario, where a lot of people, through their good fortune and hard work, are making a good living. They may belong to a union; they may work for a big company. They, God bless them, are making good money.

But there are all kinds of people who find themselves working harder and harder, multiple jobs, and there’s a growing gap between those making more and more money and those who are working hard and, again, are not able to pay the rent. These are not people who want to go to social assistance, as we heard in the deputations across the province; these are people who want to work. What they’ve said loud and clear is that they need an increase in the minimum wage. The present rate we’re increasing minimum wage is just not going to do.

We had the workplace review, which went on for a couple of years, and they made a lot of recommendations that have been incorporated in this bill. For instance, after five years, the bill calls for at least three weeks of paid vacation every year. That’s a change, an improvement. It also calls for 10 personal emergency leave days, including two paid days, a year. Those are new provisions in Bill 148.

Employees can turn down a shift without fear of losing their job if they are not given four days’ notice. Employers must pay workers the equivalent of three hours’ wages when a shift is cancelled within 48 hours of a scheduled start time—another thing that employees asked for.

There’s also a provision here that says “equal pay for equal work.” It’s quite common, in Newmarket or in Clappison’s Corners, where you’ll have a full-time worker working beside a part-time worker. The full-time worker in Clappison’s Corners is making twice as much as the part-time worker at Clappison’s Corners, working side by each on the job. Is it fair that that worker at Clappison’s Corners who is working part-time makes less than the worker right beside them who is employed full-time? One will make 11 bucks an hour; the other person will make 20 or 25 bucks an hour. That’s what happens right now.

This bill, Bill 148, calls for equal work for equal pay. I know that it’s a revolutionary idea that’s opposed by the critics. They say, “Well, we can’t have this,” and they’re opposed to the other provisions. We heard them. We’ve heard the big banks all across Canada—not all the big banks, but certainly TD. We heard Magna come out and say, “This is going to mean the end of the world as we know it.” Magna: I think that Frank Stronach made $53 million when he was CEO of Magna—a $53-million salary.

It’s interesting. Magna forgets that when the Ontario taxpayers bailed out the auto industry, Magna was one of the big beneficiaries of the bailout. They were crying for help: “You’ve got to help the auto industry.” The taxpayers of Ontario bailed out the auto industry in 2008 and 2009. That was then. Now, all of a sudden, Magna and some of the big companies say, “Oh, this is going to be impossible.” Well, it’s a bit disappointing. I can see that they would have concerns—and they’re legitimate concerns in some part—but I think they sometimes protest too much.

I know that the CEO of Loblaws—a great Canadian company. I was really disappointed when I saw Galen Weston Jr. come out and say, “I don’t think we can do this. This is going to cut into our profits.” Multi-million-dollar profits every year—and God bless him. Loblaws employees are good people; it’s a good Canadian store, but it’s disappointing to see Galen Weston Jr. say they can’t do this.

You know what I think? We’ve got to look at the example of the CEO of Sobeys, another great Canadian company. Their president, Michael Medline—here’s what he said, which is quite refreshing. This is completely opposite to some of the others. The Magna CEO is saying, or the Loblaws CEO, or the Toronto-Dominion Bank, they say, “No, we can’t do it.” The CEO of Sobeys says:

“‘We’re trying to have our employees be a competitive advantage even more than they are today, so the idea of financing that off of fewer employees to serve our customers is counterproductive and doesn’t really fit the values I like. So therefore, we’ll be finding savings but it won’t be on the backs of our teammates,’ Medline said in an interview after the company reported earnings.”

Here’s the example that you would think others would follow, especially these big companies: Find a way of ensuring that your workers are appreciated with a living wage. That’s what we’re talking about here. The wage will go up to $14 from $11.60 in the first year, and then it would go up to $15. Is it challenging for some small employers? Yes, there will be some challenges.

That’s why the minister of small business and the Minister of Economic Development have been talking to small businesses, have been talking to different sectors, trying to find ways of helping in the transition and finding ways of helping them get through this, because ultimately, there has to be a change, but sometimes change is difficult. Therefore, we’re looking at ways of helping people transition through this.

Again, as I said at the beginning, at some of the deputations across the province we heard loud and clear about some of the challenges that the increased minimum wage and the new labour laws that have come in place—greater labour protections. Some of them said, “Don’t bring in those labour law changes now.” The rapidly changing workplace really cries out for more support for workers. I’m sure, if you look around in your own communities, you’ll see that more and more people are working at minimum wage, temporary, as I said, and contract wage.

They don’t have a pension; they don’t even know if they’re going to be working a month from now. Many of them work two or three jobs. Again, these are people who want to work; they’re not asking for a handout. They’re just saying, “Give us a fair, living wage.”

Whether it’s the price of gasoline at the pump or whether it’s the price of milk, the millionaire pays the same for the gasoline fill-up at the pump as does the minimum wage worker. There’s no discount if you’re poor. Therefore, the minimum wage worker pays the same for many products as the person who’s making good money. God bless the millionaires and the people who are making good money; we don’t begrudge them, but what we do is say that we want working people to get a fair wage.

Interjections.

Mr. Mike Colle: I know that my Conservative friends are against that. The Conservatives feel that everything is fine in their world. Well, we want to say loud and clear, Mr. Speaker, that everything is not fine for minimum wage workers, for temporary workers or for precarious workers. The need to help these people is quite apparent. So maybe my Conservative colleagues should start asking working people what they think of the minimum wage—not to ask the bank CEOs, not to ask the Magna CEOs. Ask working people what they think about paying the bills, paying the rent, and about the need to get rid of this income inequality.

As we’ve said before, in Ontario we’ve had very good economic activity and growth in the last number of years, thanks to the hard-working people of Ontario, the entrepreneurial spirit of Ontario, the get-up-and-go of the people of Ontario. The economy is doing quite well. It’s never doing as well as we want, but it’s doing quite well. This is why we think that now is the appropriate time to share some of the economic gains with working people who work on the margins. These are people who don’t ask for any handouts.

These are people like Etta. She worked her whole life as a bookkeeper. She is about 68 years of age. Etta works as a crossing guard to supplement her income. She works selling Avon products. She even walks children back and forth at the end of the school day. She came to me—I remember it very clearly. She said, “Mike, is it okay, because I can’t make ends meet, despite all my jobs”—despite working her whole life—“can I apply to get some food support at the food bank?”

This is not uncommon in communities across Ontario, where people are working hard. But if you’re working hard and making 11 or 12 bucks an hour, you cannot keep pace with the cost of living because the rent, especially if you live in the GTA—if you’re making 11 bucks an hour and you’re paying 1,000 bucks or 1,200 bucks a month rent, and if you’ve got kids and are paying for their clothes and paying to put food on the table. At the end of each month, these people are saying, “All this work that I do—I need some help. I can’t seem to make ends meet month after month after month.”

That’s why we heard in the delegations that came—we heard from some small businesses. We heard from the city of Cambridge and the companies that do business with the city of Cambridge, who said that they give everybody a living wage. What a revolutionary idea: a living wage.

I know the Conservatives don’t believe in a living wage. It’s sad that the Conservatives are so opposed to helping working people. I just, for the life of me, can’t believe who they think would be hurt by giving people a couple of more bucks an hour. These are people who want to work. These are people who have families, have to pay rent, have to pay for food, and right now, if you ask them, they are not able to make ends meet.

So they’re asking their employers to work with them, to give them better protection on the job, to improve labour conditions and labour protections so they can work safely and have reasonable hours and get equal pay for equal work. On top of that, they’re saying, “Give us an increase to the minimum wage.”

Then the big Conservative economists come and say, “Well, this going to be the end of the world as we know it, so don’t do it.” But we know for sure—we heard from the $15 and Fairness campaign; we heard from a professor from the University of Waterloo at the deputations—

Interjection.

Mr. Mike Colle: The New Democrats were against an $11 minimum wage, so don’t talk.

Anyway, what they said is that when a person who is working minimum wage makes more money, they’re going to spend the money locally. If they get that $14 an hour, $15 an hour, they’re not going to spend the money offshore. They’re going to spend the money in the local community, buying milk, groceries, shoes. When the local workers get a few more dollars, they’re going to spend them at their local stores, so it helps the local economy. The big Conservative economists, the Fraser Institute and all these right-wing think tanks don’t talk about that.

They don’t talk about the money being spent locally by these working people who are going to buy more shoes, perhaps buy more food for their kids, and pay the rent. The Conservatives don’t like this. I’d like to hear their explanation of why they don’t like people who are working hard to get a fair wage. And if they think $11.40 is a fair wage, well, I don’t know what planet they’re living on.

That’s why, after all these consultations about improving the workplace, one thing that came out loud and clear from all the delegations was, if you’re going to really help people, sure, strengthen our labour laws, but ultimately you’ve got to get to the point of reducing the income gap. We need to do something to make sure people at the bottom of the wage scale get a few more dollars in their pockets so they can live a good life after they work hard.

Again, I just find the Conservatives totally out to lunch on this. How they can attack working people who—all they ask for is, “I want to work.” These are people who want to work. Give them a few more dollars, and they say, “No. Give the money to the CEOs of TD Bank or Magna.” I think they have enough money. Give it to the working people.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Ted Arnott): Questions and comments?

Mr. Jim McDonell: It’s always a privilege to get up in this House.

It is hard when I hear some of the words opposite come across here, because the studies are showing that—the Financial Accountability Officer—a very inefficient way of helping the people in poverty. That’s all we can expect out of this government. People are coming and they can’t make ends meet anymore.

Last week, I had a person come in, Dennis, from my riding, talking about needing help. He’s 71 years old. He said, “I can’t retire. I can’t afford—my pension, to live without working. I would like to quit working. I’d like to retire but I can’t afford to under this government.”

Costs and benefits—this government has not helped anybody.

Let’s be frank: The only reason they’re getting serious about this is because the polls are so bad and people are starting to hold them accountable for all the trouble and the increases and costs that they’ve caused over the last 14 years. You have to remember, they are taking more than double the revenue than when they came to power, and we don’t see the results. It’s wasted and squandered—windmills in my riding going up—to the large corporations that gave donations. They want to talk about where the money is going. It’s going back to their own people, their own donors.

What do another 390 windmills do in this province when we already have a surplus? Should we not be putting that money towards poverty, targeting the groups who need help, instead of this scattergun approach that’s going to sound good to everybody but doesn’t do anybody any good? We’re talking about the cost of living going up more than $1,500 next year, just to cover the costs of this legislation.

We know there have to be some changes. We’re not arguing with the part-time. But one of the biggest offenders is the government. We’re talking about the LCBO—people in my riding working 14 years and still part-time. That’s a government job. They have the ability to change that, but they’ve done nothing. It’s time something happens.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Ted Arnott): Questions and comments?

Miss Monique Taylor: I listened intently to the member from Eglinton–Lawrence in his debate, and he made some really interesting comments. He said people cannot make it in today’s Ontario. Well, that’s because the minimum wage has been low for so long. We have been calling on this government to increase the minimum wage. They increased it just a little over a year ago to $11.40 an hour and thought that they were making a miraculous move. Now all of sudden people can’t afford to live on $11.40. Welcome to this planet, because that was one of the comments he made: “What planet are people living on?”

Well, this is the planet that people are living on. People have not been able to afford to live in this province for quite some time, so I’m happy that they’re moving forward with the $15 minimum wage, but it’s really probably too little, too late. People know that this is an election ploy for the government. They really don’t have the people’s best interest at heart. They have the Liberals’ best interest at heart in making it through another election. I can’t see it happening.

Do you know, Speaker, that the number of people working more than one part-time job to make ends meet has jumped 20% since Premier Wynne has become Premier in this province? Some 20%—people are working harder and harder. They’re working more jobs. They’re making less. It’s just not okay.

Something else that the member talked about—it may be for a different conversation. He talked about Magna being the beneficiary of an auto bailout. If we’re not putting stipulations onto companies when we’re bailing them out, then whose fault is that? We should be working to ensure that jobs are sustainable in the province of Ontario.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Ted Arnott): Questions and comments?

Mr. Joe Dickson: It’s an honour and a pleasure to stand and speak in reference to Bill 148. The synopsis is, of course, that probably everyone here in this forum wants to see those people in need benefit fairly from Ontario’s growing economy. While business is expanding and creating wealth, not everyone is feeling it.

I recall, back a couple of years ago, when a very good member here—actually, he was a Tory member, Jerry Ouellette. We were at a public function in Durham region. A question was asked: “What can you do to better improve the economy, better improve one’s life and help provide a living wage for a lot of people?” It came up at that discussion. He said, “There’s one simple thing. You’ve already started it, and it’s going to be the greatest benefactor in all of Durham region, and that’s the 407 east extension. That helps create more jobs.”

If you’ve ever been out to Durham region, you’ll see it’s all the way along to Harmony Road in Oshawa and it’s on the way to Highway 115 which runs north and south and will go all the way to Peterborough. So it’s a win-win-win, and Jerry’s statement was eloquent. This will lead you to pay up to $15—starting at $15 an hour by 2019.

I was talking to my wife late one night and she said, “Do we have anyone in that category”—because I’m not involved with the business in Ajax—“that is lower than the minimum wage, or right around it?” I said, “I don’t know.” So we went and checked and, sure enough, we have an employee who is just over the minimum wage, so they’re in the $12 range. As an incentive to that employee, we explained to them that this legislation hopefully will pass as quickly as possible, so we bumped it ever so slightly—

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Ted Arnott): Thank you very much. Questions and comments?

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: I find it interesting that with 14 years to get to the $15 minimum wage, if that’s where we want to go, and all of a sudden the light goes on and “Boy, our poll numbers are in the tank so we better get this done.” Hopefully it will prop them up a little bit.

But I also find it interesting that we have seen hydro rates increase. Hydro rates increased 300% over this last number of years, and that’s what has contributed to people not being able to pay their bills. It’s interesting that, had the NDP not propped up this government when we had a minority here, probably we wouldn’t have the Green Energy Act around today. I think they have to take some responsibility for that.

Even the Premier said a number of years ago that she favoured a phased-in approach to increasing the minimum wage, and now we are in the position that we are going to increase the minimum wage 30-some per cent on January 1. Nobody is arguing that people don’t need more money; it’s just that the period of time that they’re doing this is going to be difficult on a number of businesses to accept that. We are getting calls from different businesses to say, “We’re going to have an issue hiring students this summer because of the fast increase in the minimum wage.”

I think it’s too bad this is happening. Businesses are the job creators, in case nobody on the other side of the floor knows that. If you put too much pressure on them, they are going to maybe do some drastic things in order to keep their businesses or they’re going to go out of business, or maybe some more of them are going to move south of the border. If you haven’t considered that, then I wish that you would consider that as we go forward.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Ted Arnott): That concludes our questions and comments. The member for Eglinton–Lawrence can now reply.

Mr. Mike Colle: I thank the members from Stormont–Dundas, Hamilton Mountain, Perth–Wellington and Pickering–Ajax for their comments. There’s a lot to respond to.

I just want to say again that, since 2003, we have raised the minimum wage 10 times, and what we found is that, at this point in time, when we did the workplace review, which was comprehensive, the word came back, loud and clear, from all the advocacy groups, all the people who care about working conditions, that, “Ultimately, you can do all these labour reforms, but you’ve got to do something about the minimum wage,” and the normal increase wasn’t going to be enough. We listened to them and said, “Okay, we’re going to increase it to $14 and then $15.”

I know this is hard for the Conservatives to understand, but you can’t just talk to business. You’ve got to also talk to working people. All they say is, “We want to work hard, we want to continue to do what we can, but we’re having a challenge because the minimum wage is too low, because we can’t get enough hours and because we don’t have equal pay for equal work.” These are the things that working people are saying.

Certainly you’re going to have the right-wing think-tanks oppose this, and some of the big corporations, but on the other hand, in the long run this is about ensuring that people who want to work get a living wage and continue to work. This is not about windmills and all these things the Tories want to talk about; this is about working people. They talk about windmills. We’re talking about hard-working people. Many of them are adults. It’s not just students—working people. They keep talking about windmills. We want to talk about working people in Bill 148.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Ted Arnott): Further debate?

Mr. Randy Hillier: I’ll be sharing my time with the member from Nipissing.

I think I’m going to start off by suggesting that members on all sides of the aisle remember that inscription about “Hear the other side” that’s inscribed in the walls here. Hearing the other side doesn’t mean just listening to the other members in here; it’s to listen and hear the other side of the debate and of the consequences of policy.

I know that the member from Eglinton–Lawrence thinks that if you’re a corporation and if you’re a business and if you make money, you’re an evil, terrible, greedy person and this government must rein them in, constrain them and prevent people from investing in our province, in our country, prevent them from creating employment and creating prosperity and wealth. I think it behooves the members on the other side to listen to the other side and hear the other side.

In 2009, we saw this Liberal government bring out a public policy called the Green Energy Act. They told everybody that this was about—it was all green and warm and fuzzy. It was going to save the world from climate change, and it was going to improve everybody’s lives.

Fast-forward a few years, and, of course, electricity rates have gone up by over 300%. Fast-forward a few years, and you see that we have energy poverty in this province. We have tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people who can’t afford their electricity bills, all because of a public policy initiated by this government in advance of the 2011 election.

We now see the same playbook being used in advance of next year’s general election.

Don’t forget, in that Green Energy Act, what also was a consequence was not just high and unaffordable electricity rates, but a loss of over 300,000 jobs. That’s what the Liberal government was prepared to accept to continue and to retain power.

Today, we have Bill 148 and the similarities, to me, are striking. They are willing to jeopardize hundreds of thousands of jobs. They are willing to jeopardize tens of thousands of businesses for their