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May 29, 2019

42nd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2019-May-29 (PDF)

L111 - Wed 29 May 2019 / Mer 29 mai 2019

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Wednesday 29 May 2019 Mercredi 29 mai 2019

Notices of reasoned amendments

Orders of the Day

Protecting What Matters Most Act (Budget Measures), 2019 / Loi de 2019 pour protéger l’essentiel (mesures budgétaires)

Notice of reasoned amendment

Introduction of Visitors

Oral Questions

Health care funding

Municipal development

French-language education

Ontario Place

Government contracts

Education

Ontario budget

Agri-food industry

Air quality

Child care

Affordable housing

Correction of record

Deferred Votes

More Homes, More Choice Act, 2019 / Loi de 2019 pour plus de logements et plus de choix

Protecting What Matters Most Act (Budget Measures), 2019 / Loi de 2019 pour protéger l’essentiel (mesures budgétaires)

Royal assent / Sanction royale

Introduction of Visitors

Wearing of jersey

Members’ Statements

Polar Bear Express

Italian Heritage Month

Indigenous affairs

Oakvillegreen Conservation Association

Government policies

Événements divers à Orléans et Toronto / Events in Orléans and Toronto

Home builders

Arts and after-school programs

Toronto Raptors

Toronto Raptors

Committee sittings

Motions

Committee sittings

Petitions

LCBO

Veterans memorial

Library services

Veterans memorial

Indigenous programs and services

Affordable housing

Curriculum

Municipal government

LCBO

Fish and wildlife management

Toronto Transit Commission

Veterans memorial

Library services

Education funding

Orders of the Day

Getting Ontario Moving Act (Transportation Statute Law Amendment), 2019 / Loi de 2019 pour un Ontario en mouvement (modifiant des lois en ce qui concerne le transport)

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

Notices of reasoned amendments

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Before I ask for orders of the day, I beg to inform the House that, pursuant to standing order 71(c), the member for Ottawa–Vanier has filed with the Clerk a reasoned amendment to the motion for second reading of Bill 115,

An Act to amend the Liquor Control Act with respect to the termination of a specified agreement. The order for second reading of Bill 115 may therefore not be called today.

I must also inform the House that, pursuant to standing order 71(c), the member for Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston has filed with the Clerk reasoned amendments to the motion for second reading of Bill 115,

An Act to amend the Liquor Control Act with respect to the termination of a specified agreement, and the motion for second reading of Bill 117,

An Act to amend the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The orders for second reading of Bills 115 and 117 may therefore not be called today.

Orders of the Day

Protecting What Matters Most Act (Budget Measures), 2019 / Loi de 2019 pour protéger l’essentiel (mesures budgétaires)

Resuming the debate adjourned on May 28, 2019, on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 100,

An Act to implement Budget measures and to enact, amend and repeal various statutes / Projet de loi 100, Loi visant à mettre en oeuvre les mesures budgétaires et à édicter, à modifier ou à abroger diverses lois.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): When we last debated this bill, the member for Kingston and the Islands had the floor. I believe he still has time. I recognize the member for Kingston and the Islands.

Mr. Ian Arthur: Thank you, Speaker. It’s a pleasure to return to the debate on this. I’m just trying to find where I left off yesterday. I was running through a list of the things that were missing from the Ontario budget, cutting what matters. I’m a little more tired than I was last night, so it may not be quite as lively, but we’re going to work through it.

If the budget is protecting what matters, you can quite simply use deductive logic to look at what’s actually missing from it. And in the absence of mattering, it doesn’t matter. I don’t agree with the cuts. I think that they are cruel. I think that they are malicious. But this, for us, is the budget that just keeps giving. That has to be a miserable experience in the ridings of the members opposite, because it was rolled out as a good-news budget and the deep, regressive cuts that are in this budget were buried. The government didn’t own up to them in the beginning.

They didn’t own up to them at the front of it, and instead they’ve allowed them to kind of trickle out as people discover them again and again, which gives us so much mileage in the press and for debate in this chamber. It really is, in the terms of fulfilling our role as the opposition, the budget that does keep giving. Unfortunately, it doesn’t actually give to the people of Ontario; it takes away.

I believe I had just been asked to withdraw because I implied telling the truth to the people of Ontario didn’t actually matter. So I think that’s where I had left off, which I just figured out how to say again in front of you.

The reason that I had gone down that avenue of debate was that the Auditor General—and I’m going to quote a Toronto Star

article here: Auditor Urges Tories to Stop ‘Factually Inaccurate’ Advertising:

“Ontario’s independent fiscal watchdog is sounding the alarm.

“Noting the previous Liberal administration spent $16.5 million on what she considers to be ‘partisan’ ads last year, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk wants the Progressive Conservatives to strengthen the Government Advertising Act.

“The Liberal government watered down that law in 2015, and that change ‘took the discretion away from the office, taking away our independence pretty much from this process and requiring us to pretty much be a rubber stamp.’”

So we’re paying lip service to an idea that the government shouldn’t spend partisan money on ads, but we’re giving the person responsible for enforcing that no power to actually enforce it. Own up to what you’re doing, because that sounds like needless red tape. If you want to spend the money on the partisan ads, then why not cut this act too? It would be politically unpopular, but it shows the selective process of figuring out which red tape is worth spending time on, and this one isn’t.

I’m going to go back to quoting here: “The result is that her office now must ‘approve an ad even if it’s factually inaccurate,’ she said.

“‘From my office’s perspective, that is just a paper-pushing exercise that has created additional work versus a value-add for the taxpayer.

“‘The act creates the optics that we are performing a useful function to save taxpayer dollars being spent on partisan advertising, but we are not’” actually “‘doing that.’

“While in opposition, the Tories promised to return the auditor’s power to veto advertising by amending the legislation.” So it was a campaign promise, so promise made, promise broken.

“But after 11 months in office, Premier Doug Ford’s government has no immediate plans to tighten the restrictions.

“Instead, the Tories have gone on a multimillion dollar advertising blitz attacking the federal Liberal carbon-pricing measures with TV and radio commercials that Lysyk warns would not pass muster under the previous law.

“‘The reason we’ve continued the practice of commenting on the old rules is because ... the public ... would be assured that we would consider the issue of partisan and have discretion over that,’ she told the Legislature’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts.... ‘That’s the way it had functioned for many years.’

“Lysyk said she advised the PC government that its new carbon-pricing ad, which hit airwaves last week, would not have been compliant under rules that were in place until 2015.”

For me, this is a rather remarkable turnaround from the previous respect and putting the Auditor General on a bit of a pedestal and trying to reinforce to the public how this government was actually going to listen to the Auditor General. But they’re only going to listen to them when it suits them. They’re only going to listen to them when they like what the Auditor General is saying and when it can be used as a tool against the previous Liberal government. But when it doesn’t suit this government, they don’t have time for her.

Again and again I stand up in debate, and it just reinforces that Liberal, Tory, same old story. The operating mechanisms of this government do not differ dramatically from that of the previous government. You have a different agenda and perhaps a couple of different issues, but how you choose to operate, how you choose—you’ve exaggerated the powers of the Office of the Premier. You have pushed the boundaries, or this government has pushed the boundaries, of the Office of the Premier significantly compared to the previous government. But in terms of operating mechanisms, it’s not really different.

There isn’t a fundamentally different approach, despite what is told to the people of Ontario on a daily basis. There is a continuation, an exaggeration, of the worst habits of the last government. That’s not a legacy I would ever want to follow. It just isn’t.

Another

article that actually just came out: “Doug Ford Is Peddling a Fiscal Fantasy.” That was a quote from the title of the article. I know I have to refer to him as the Premier when I speak. It’s from the Globe and Mail on May 28. This is going back to something I touched on yesterday, that Ontario is dead last among provinces for total per capita spending.

So when we’re talking about a broken health care system or a broken children’s aid system or a broken program for children with autism, we’re actually talking about chronically underfunded programs. We’re talking about $16 billion in backlog repairs needed just to keep our public education institutions up to standards—and they are pretty low standards. They’re making sure that there isn’t snow in the gym in the winter, or that the heat turns on, or that children don’t get heatstroke in the hot months of the summer and the spring. And those hot days are coming sooner and sooner and sooner with the climate crisis.

Our total per capita spending is the least of any province in Canada, and we also have the lowest per capita revenue. So if we actually want to build a budget about what matters, we need to look at that, we need to protect it, we need to fund these programs adequately so we can be proud of what they represent in Ontario.

I thank you very much for allowing me to contribute to this debate. I wish this budget went a lot further, I wish it did more, and I wish it didn’t cut what matters to Ontarians.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Questions and comments?

Mr. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: This budget is about protecting what matters most. Let’s take a look at what this budget actually delivers on rather than all the fearmongering that has been going on.

An extra $1.3 billion for health care—I think that’s the largest expenditure in health care by any government.

Let’s talk about education: an extra $700 million into education.

When I think of how this budget impacts Brampton, I can’t help but mention auto insurance reforms. For the first time, a government is taking seriously the need to reform auto insurance. A good driver in Brampton should pay as much as a good driver anywhere else in the province. That’s why I’m so supportive of this piece of legislation, this budget, which is going to tackle an industry that has had a war on drivers. It’s very important that we take this into consideration.

Let’s talk about some of the other great things in this budget. Free dental care for low-income seniors, for the first time ever—such an important part of our health that has been ignored, increasing pressures within our emergency rooms.

It’s so important to really recognize what this budget is actually delivering on. That’s why I’m so happy to be here to support and speak in favour of this. I really hope that all of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle recognize the importance of investing in health care, the importance of investing in education, just exactly as this piece of legislation will be doing.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Further questions and comments?

Ms. Rima Berns-McGown: I’m honoured to contribute to the debate this morning.

This really is the “let them drink beer” government and the “let them drink beer” budget.

As the Globe and Mail argued in its editorial yesterday, the government has manufactured a deficit crisis in order to make draconian cuts in a province that already, as my colleague just said, has the least among provinces for per capita spending. It’s unforgivable when the government is willing to spend $1 billion to break a contract, which is not good for business, and untold numbers of millions of dollars for propaganda parading as news.

But the thing that I really want to talk about is that among all the cruel cuts, among the cruellest, is that which we just learned about to the Transition Child Benefit. It’s a cut that affects single moms and very vulnerable children, among them refugees. I want to take a little bit of time to point out to the government that its ongoing formulation of these refugees as illegal asylum seekers or illegal border crossers is extremely racist and deeply problematic, particularly at a time of rising hate and rising white extremism. It delegitimizes them as human beings.

Refugees have a legal right to seek asylum in Canada. It is extremely racist to keep doing it, and it’s even more problematic when the government asks its racialized members to refer to them that way. I really think that if the government doesn’t understand what I’m talking about or why this makes sense, please ask my colleague the critic for anti-racism, Dr. Laura Mae Lindo, to explain it to you. She’ll be happy to do so.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Further questions and comments. The member from Thornhill.

Mrs. Gila Martow: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I know you’re practising your radio announcer’s voice for the Raptors game Thursday night.

We just heard the member from Kingston and the Islands speak about the budget, which is what we’re debating this morning. He said that it was rolled out as a good-news budget. Actually, Ontario is in such a fiscal mess, I think the words that we used were “responsible and reasonable,” and that’s what we heard from many of the experts as well.

It took 15 years to get the debt to catastrophic levels. We’ve had debt for a long time in Ontario, but the amount of debt that was piled on during 15 years of Liberal mismanagement, propped up by the NDP, was astronomical. I want everybody to picture their credit card statement. Most of us still get credit card statements, either on paper or, hopefully, online. They see the minimum payment. They see the interest if they aren’t making their full payments, and they understand what it means to have a balance on a credit card and how the compounding interest just grows and grows and gets out of hand.

I think we all know of constituents, or people in our neighbourhoods, who have had to file for bankruptcy just because credit card debt put them over the limit. All of a sudden their business wasn’t doing as well.

We have to get our deficit under control so that we can even think—think—about paying down the debt. We are still growing—the amount of interest we’re spending per day, which is around $35 million a day in Ontario, just in interest on the debt, with low interest rates.

We are in dire straits. We all have to take responsibility for it, even though we were raising the alarm about it. We’re now in government and we are taking responsibility to deal with the problem that really wasn’t our own making. That’s unfortunate, Mr. Speaker, but we’re up to the task and we’re going to do it.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Further questions and comments.

Mr. Taras Natyshak: I want to thank my colleague the member from Kingston and the Islands, who did a wonderful job really eviscerating the current government’s budget and what it does to the people of this province. I think he has coined a new term that is apropos, in that it “cuts what matters most” rather than focus on what matters most.

Speaker, it focuses on beer—a-buck-a-beer—that we really didn’t see transpire here. That was a big, massive campaign promise by the Premier.

But, Speaker, do you know what? I’ve been here for eight years. We’ve been in this House for just under a year. I’ve seen various governments and leaders come by. I’ll tell you, I have yet to see a Premier or a leader of the party sink so quickly in terms of that honeymoon period. We all know that there’s a honeymoon period that governments and cabinet ministers experience.

I think even the finance minister is wondering if he’ll ever get back to that sweet spot of a honeymoon period because we’ve seen this government plummet in the polls, in terms of popular support and approval ratings, faster than any government in history. It’s amazing. We couldn’t imagine that anyone could have been worse than the Wynne government, but the Doug Ford government has proven us wrong.

The cuts to francophone services, the cuts to child advocates, the cuts to autism services—and, Speaker, the Premier has taken it upon himself to broadcast his own cellphone, and he’s taking calls and he’s making calls. But now he seems very frustrated. He’s calling folks up and actually starting to berate them and threaten them. I’m hearing that even Andrew Scheer is not going to take his calls anymore, he is worried so much about the Doug Ford effect and how they’ve plummeted.

I’m going to stop giving them advice. I think we should stop giving them advice because, at some point, they’re going to actually get on the right track, and it might improve their fortunes.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Back to the member from Kingston and the Islands for final comments.

Mr. Ian Arthur: Thank you to the members from Brampton South and Thornhill, on the government side, for contributing to this.

If I had more time I would try and talk a little bit about the rate of health care inflation, because I don’t know how it is that a cook from Kingston, Ontario, needs to talk to this government about how monetary policy works. I don’t really understand that—why it falls on me to try and explain why funding something under the rate of inflation is the same as a cut, and that health care inflation actually sits around 5%, so anything below that represents a cut. So when the member for Brampton South stands up and talks about “unprecedented investment” in this budget, there is no link to reality—

Interjections.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Order.

Mr. Ian Arthur: There is no link to reality. This is the budget that will simply keep on giving. Buried in the budget’s fine print is a fiscal future hit in the form of “unannounced revenue reductions and spending measures,” hidden tax cuts in the 2021-22 that will put even more pressure on the government to reduce spending. So this government actually hasn’t had a miserable enough time yet with the backlash.

They’re going to double down on this. They’re actually going to double down on this in 2021 and face a whole other round of vitriol from the people of Ontario, who simply don’t want to see what matters to them being cut again and again and again.

This is the budget for cutting what matters. Ontarians are waking up to that reality and they’re finding it incredibly unpleasant. My voice in the Legislature is just one, but it is one that is backed by a cacophony of people who are finally standing up and saying, “No, we want to protect what matters to us, and this government is dynamically opposed to that.”

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): I just want to, again, caution the members of the House. I was starting to find it very difficult to listen to the member who had the floor. He deserves to have the right to have the floor, and I, as a Speaker, deserve the right to be able to listen to what he has to say. So I’m going to ask that we keep the comments to a very, very, very dull roar. All right?

Further debate?

Mr. Doug Downey: Pursuant to standing order 48, I move that the question be now put.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Mr. Downey has moved that the question be now put. I am satisfied that there has been sufficient debate to allow this question to be put to the House.

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

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

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

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

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

Vote deferred.

Notice of reasoned amendment

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): I also beg to inform the House that pursuant to standing order 71(c), the member for Timmins has filed with the Clerk a reasoned amendment to the motion for second reading of Bill 115,

An Act to amend the Liquor Control Act with respect to the termination of a specified agreement. The order for second reading of Bill 115 may therefore not be called today.

Orders of the day. I recognize the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Steve Clark: No further business.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): There being no further business, this House will now stand recessed until 10:30.

The House recessed from 0923 to 1030.

Introduction of Visitors

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I would ask for the members’ attention. We have with us in the Speaker’s gallery a delegation from the Parliament of the Czech Republic, led by the president of the Chamber of Deputies, His Excellency Radek Vondráček. Please join me in welcoming our guests from the Czech Republic.

Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: I think they’re making their way to the Legislature right now. I would like to welcome Pascale Thibodeau from London; she is here with the Viamonde school board today.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I wish to introduce a special guest who is here as well today. A former member of the Legislature who represented the riding of Sudbury in the 41st Parliament, Glenn Thibeault, is here with us today. Welcome. It’s great to have you here.

Mr. Will Bouma: It’s my great pleasure to welcome to House today Mark Baxter, a representative from the Brantford Police Service, and Gavin Jacklyn, a member of the Brantford fire service, for the passing of the budget. Welcome to the people’s House.

Mr. Jeff Burch: I’d like to wish a very happy birthday to my friend from St. Catharines, Jennie Stevens.

Mr. Mike Schreiner: It’s a great pleasure to welcome two of my constituents from Guelph to Queen’s Park today: Shirley Hunt and David Cranmer are in the members’ gallery.

Hon. Caroline Mulroney: It’s my pleasure to welcome to the House Barb Aabo, Jason Aabo, Annalena Seemann, Matthew Seemann and Teo Jambrosic to the Legislature today. Both the Aabo and Seemann families are avid supporters of the York 4-H club. As leaders and participants, they exemplify the motto of the 4-H philosophy. Thank you for all you do, and enjoy your day.

M. Guy Bourgouin: J’aimerais souhaiter la bienvenue à M me Isabelle Girard et M. Denis Chartrand de l’Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l’Ontario et à tous les conseillers scolaires et les conseillers étudiants qui sont présents aujourd’hui à Queen’s Park. Bienvenue.

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: It’s my pleasure to welcome Alan Snook and Gordon Smith from Grid20/20. Today they are giving a presentation on modernizing Ontario’s energy grid. Thank you for being here. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: I would like to welcome two very good friends of mine, Emily Spanton from St. Catharines, as well as Stephanie Stenabaug from Toronto. Welcome to your House.

Ms. Jill Dunlop: I’m happy to introduce two constituents of mine from Simcoe North, Brandy and David Giffen. Thank you for being here today. Welcome to question period, and lunch and a tour later.

Ms. Kathleen O. Wynne: I’d like to give a warm welcome to Diane Pagulayan and Felicia Pagulayan. Felicia is a grade 5 student. They’re from Brampton. Felicia is going to be the Minister of Education one day, she tells me.

Mr. Speaker, shortly, a group of students will join us from Don Valley West, along with their teachers: students from Northern Secondary, Leaside High School, York Mills Collegiate and Milne Valley Middle School, which technically is a school from Don Valley East, but they feed into Don Valley West schools. Welcome.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Member for Kitchener Centre.

Ms. Laura Mae Lindo: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was unprepared for that.

I have two introductions. First, I wanted to introduce Dylan and Julie Robbescheuten. Julie is my constituency office caseworker and so she’s here. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Shortly, we will see the students from Lincoln M. Alexander Secondary School’s Boys and Girls Club. They will be chaperoned with Devon Hanson, Andrea Williams, Melissa Kent, Cherry Elcock and Duwayne Letts. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Rudy Cuzzetto: Today I would like to welcome Kevin Webster and his son, Ben Webster, and Janet Daglish from Bayshore HealthCare.

Miss Monique Taylor: I’d like to welcome back autism advocates and parents. With us today we have Fernanda Perdikaris, Faith Munoz, Amy Moledzki, Michau van Speyk, Kowthar Dore, Amanda Mooyer, Bruce McIntosh, Pat McKenna, Angela Brandt and Sharon Tees. Thank you very much for coming back to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Ernie Hardeman: I’d like to welcome some members of the Beef Farmers of Ontario who are here with us today: vice-president Rob Lipsett, director Don Badour and director Jason Leblond. The Beef Farmers of Ontario are here today to host their 14th annual beef barbeque outside on the front lawn of Queen’s Park. I encourage everyone to join them after question period for some delicious Ontario corn-fed beef. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Judith Monteith-Farrell: I’d like to welcome Jason Reid, who is here with the Beef Farmers of Ontario, from my riding in Thunder Bay. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Bill Walker: I’d like to introduce Rob Lipsett, vice-president of the Beef Farmers of Ontario, and a constituent from the great riding of Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound, and remind everyone of the succulent beef that will be served on the front lawn at lunchtime.

M. Joel Harden: Je suis très heureux, aussi, comme mon collègue de Mushkegowuk–James Bay disait, de faire la connaissance de notre ami de l’ACÉPO. Je suis très heureux pour notre réunion cet après-midi.

Mr. Vincent Ke: I would like to introduce students from Seneca College in my riding of Don Valley North. They are working towards a post-graduate certificate in government relations. Welcome to Queen’s Park, and I hope you enjoy your trip.

M me France Gélinas: J’aimerais souhaiter la bienvenue à un bon ami à moi, M. Jean-Marc Aubin, qui est avec le Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l’Ontario et également Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Pléiade. Bienvenue à Queen’s Park, Jean-Marc.

L’hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Il me fait plaisir de présenter aujourd’hui à la Chambre la vice-présidente de l’Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l’Ontario, Sylvie Landry. Bonjour, Sylvie, et bienvenue à Queen’s Park.

Et aussi, I would like to welcome Suresh Kumar, founder and CEO of Connecting GTA, who is here today with other business owners from across Durham and the GTA. Ontario is open for business, and I welcome them today.

Ms. Donna Skelly: It’s my pleasure to welcome 70 parents and children from the Ontario Christian Home Educators’ Connection, who are visiting us in the Legislature today. It was great to meet with all of them this morning. I hope you enjoy your day.

Mr. Daryl Kramp: I’d like to welcome the concerned citizens for wind power, who will be hosting a reception at noon today in room 247.

Mr. Vijay Thanigasalam: It is with great pleasure I rise today to introduce all the business professionals from Connecting GTA to the Legislature, including, from my riding of Scarborough–Rouge Park, my friend and supporter, the CEO and founder of Connecting GTA, Suresh Kumar, as well as Keith Thurailingam, Nithiyan Thavalingam Goolam Begg and the rest of the Connecting GTA group. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

M. Sam Oosterhoff: C’est aussi mon grand plaisir aujourd’hui d’accueillir à Queen’s Park l’ACÉPO, l’Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l’Ontario. Bienvenue, et merci pour votre advocacie.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: I want to welcome a Nipissing constituent and director of the Beef Farmers of Ontario, my friend Jason Leblond.

M me Gila Martow: Je veux donner aussi un accueil chaleureux aux conseils scolaires qui sont ici. On a quelques noms ici sur mon papier : Pierre Tessier, Marielle Godbout, Martin Bertrand, Lucille Collard et Pierre Girouard, et aussi plusieurs étudiants. J’ai parlé avec Sébastien. Bienvenue à Queen’s Park, tout le monde.

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: I’d like to welcome the children and teachers from St. Jean de Brebeuf from Vaughan-Woodbridge. Welcome to your House.

Mr. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: I want to take this opportunity to introduce some of our great interns who are here today watching question period: Sarah Rimbey, Marshall Darbyshire, Henry Gray and one of my best door-knockers, Sukhman Sangha.

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: I would like to welcome l’Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l’Ontario, and, from the Ottawa region, Gilles Fournier and Lucille Collard and your group. Merci, et bienvenue à Queen’s Park.

Mrs. Amy Fee: I’d like to welcome this morning Karen Looby from my riding, and her 17-year-old daughter, Shannon Looby. They’re here visiting Queen’s Park for a tour and to also learn more about their Ontario Parliament.

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: I would like to join my PA in offering a warm bonjour to our francophone friends. Thank you for being here today.

I’d also like to welcome the representatives of Wind Concerns from my area.

Being a proud alumnus of the Blyth-Belgrave 4-H Beef Club, I would like to give a warm welcome to our Beef Farmers of Ontario as well as the York region 4-H members who are proudly representing Minister Mulroney’s area. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Oral Questions

Health care funding

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My first question this morning is to the Premier. In their report this week, the Financial Accountability Office revealed the deep health care cuts hidden in the Ford government budget. One of their key findings was that, despite the Premier’s claims, health spending will decrease by $2.7 billion when compared with the 2018 budget. The FAO was unable to provide details of those cuts because the Ford government wouldn’t allow them to. Why is the Premier hiding the details of these health care cuts from the public?

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of Finance.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you very much for the question. Today, we truly hope that your opposition party will join the government in supporting protecting what matters most. If you actually looked through the 383-page budget, you would find that the health budget has increased by $1.3 billion. Spending for hospitals is up $384 million. Spending in home care is up $267 million. We are providing $1.75 billion to build 15,000 new long-term-care beds. Many of them are already under construction. More than 7,000 of them have been announced. I would urge the Leader of the Opposition to open to any page of the 383-page budget and see what—

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, everyone in Ontario knows that this finance minister tried to sell his budget as something that it completely is not. Now the FAO is laying bare the facts, because the FAO is non-partisan. He works for the people of Ontario. He is not a partisan.

His office has other insights into the deep and reckless cuts that the government has planned for our health care system. Under the Ford government’s scheme, hospital funding will be effectively cut, not even keeping pace with inflation. And of the $2.7 billion in cuts, one of the deepest will be to children’s mental health, which will be slashed by 15%.

Can the Premier provide any justification whatsoever for cuts to children’s mental health while there are over 12,000 children on a wait-list for services, most waiting at least 18 months to get that service, or to hospital funding while patients continue to be stacked up in hallways, from the Liberals’ scheme for health care?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: It’s interesting that the Leader of the Opposition refers to the Liberals, considering they supported them all along the way on the creation of the hallway health care problem.

To help with that, as I said, we are adding $27 billion over 10 years in new hospitals, including $17 billion over 10 years in capital improvements. We are putting an unprecedented $1.9 billion into mental health and addictions in the province of Ontario.

The one that I talk about almost every day—I cannot believe, as an MPP who has seniors coming into their office over and over with dental work that needs to be done, that we cannot afford—I cannot believe that this government is going to vote against giving $90 million to 100,000 seniors on low income.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: What I can’t believe is that this callous government is making yet another cut to vulnerable children in their budget. That’s what I cannot believe.

Families know the Premier has no plan to cut health care wait times, but they definitely see a plan to cut health care services. The independent FAO is blunt: In 40 years—in 40 years—in this province, only one government has pulled off health care spending restraint of the kind proposed by this Ford government, and that Premier was Mike Harris, the last Conservative government, the same Mike Harris who closed 28 hospitals, fired 6,000 nurses and eliminated 7,000 hospital beds.

Why is this Premier taking us backwards to an era of deep health care cuts, putting families at risk and deepening the Liberal hallway medicine crisis?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. I’m going to call the members to order. The member for King–Vaughan, come to order. The member for Kitchener–Conestoga, come to order. The member for Whitby, come to order.

Start the clock. Minister of Finance to reply.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Speaker, I’ve said it almost every day in this Legislature: The previous government was spending $40 million a day more than they took in.

We are bringing, and in fact, the FAO has confirmed that our government is delivering, a measured, thoughtful and responsible path to balance. It’s credible. It’s a plan laid out in budget 2019. It will put the province on a sustainable footing. But it also delivers $26 billion back to the people of Ontario.

I cannot believe that, this morning, the NDP will not support $2 billion in CARE Tax Credits given to 300,000 low- and middle-income families. Some 300,000 families are waiting for that $2 billion CARE Tax Credit, and you’re not going to support it. I can’t believe that they will not support the $2 billion in the Low-income Individuals and Families Tax Credit.

Speaker, there are 26 billion dollars that they’re voting against.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Waterloo will come to order. The member for Davenport will come to order. The member for Hamilton East–Stoney Creek will come to order.

The next question.

Municipal development

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is to the Premier. But I think there is nothing responsible about prioritizing beer over health care, nothing at all responsible about that.

My question is about Ontario municipalities who are fighting back against the government’s Bill 108, an unbalanced scheme that gives developers the power to override everything from municipal planning to environmental regulation, and brings back the much-hated Ontario Municipal Board under a new name.

Earlier this week, the Premier finally admitted to municipalities that he had made serious mistakes, but the Ford government is still ignoring requests to give municipalities time to comment on Bill 108.

Why is the government ramming this legislation through and once again ignoring serious concerns of municipalities?

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of Municipal Affairs.

Hon. Steve Clark: Speaker, through you to the honourable member: It’s very interesting that yesterday we had the Ontario Home Builders’ Association here at Queen’s Park. I know that members from all three parties were there—as well as my friend from the Green Party; sorry about that. Everyone on her bench acknowledged what the Ontario Home Builders’ were saying yesterday: that we’re going to need to build housing supply in this province. We can’t wait another minute. That’s exactly what we’ve moved forward with our Housing Supply Action Plan and Bill 108, the More Homes, More Choice Act.

That’s exactly what we’re doing. We’ve consulted widely across this province, including with our municipal partners.

But it’s the will of the Legislature whether that vote after question period will carry for Bill 108. I’m sure, and we’ll be watching very closely, that those same members that had the cocktails and canapés for the Ontario Home Builders’ Association last night—we’ll see where they stand when Bill 108 gets voted on, Speaker.

Interjections.

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

Start the clock. Supplementary question?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Well, Speaker, to have a minister that doesn’t understand it’s about building communities, not just homes, is pretty worrisome. It’s pretty troubling.

If the government really wanted to consult with municipal partners, as he likes to pretend that they are, on Bill 108, they wouldn’t be scrambling to ram this bill through this Legislature. But with less than two weeks left in the Legislature, the government has only scheduled a single day of committee hearings. So they can have canapés and wine with their friends from the homebuilders’ association, but they can’t give municipalities the opportunity to discuss a piece of legislation—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. I apologize to the Leader of the Opposition.

Start the clock. Conclude your question.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: —but they don’t have time to spend listening to the concerns of municipalities from one end of this province to the other, on a bill that is going to have serious implications in terms of municipal planning and environmental protection? Where is their priority?

Will this government do the right thing and extend the committee hearings over the summer? They can even serve their wine and canapés, if they want. Or will they ram through yet another unworkable scheme that nobody in this province that is a municipal leader actually wants?

Hon. Steve Clark: Speaker, through you to the Leader of the Opposition: She can talk about my friends in the development industry. I’ll tell you something, her caucus looked pretty friendly with them last night at the reception downstairs. Let me tell you that, Speaker.

You know who’s my friend? Any partner that wants to build more housing. I want to say to that millennial couple who don’t see a path to home ownership—I want to talk to them. I want them to know that they have a government that understands that we need to build more homes and have more choice. I want to work with any partner in any industry, whether it’s in the public sector or the private sector. We need friends to build more homes and to have more choice. They’ve got a lot of friends on this side of the House, they had them when they were in opposition, and they have them now that they’re in government.

Interjections.

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

Start the clock. Final supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, this past summer the government signed an agreement with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. In it, they endorsed the principle of regular consultation with municipalities and made a commitment to co-operate with local governments when considering new legislation that would have a municipal impact. The Premier made a mockery of that commitment with his budget, and has been scrambling to undo that damage all this past week.

Municipalities have made it very clear that bringing back the OMB might be what their developer friends want in the government, but is not what is best for the communities that municipal leaders represent. Municipal councils in Grimsby, in Grey county, in Southwest Middlesex and Markham have all passed resolutions rejecting that scheme.

Will the Premier honour his commitment, admit this bill, like his budget, is not workable, and stop ramming legislation through just for their development friends?

Hon. Steve Clark: I find it very passing strange that the Leader of the Opposition continues to slag home builders and people who actually provide hope to people. Her caucus didn’t seem to have any problem in meeting with these home builders yesterday, these people who are providing hope—and look them in the face and say that they agree that the elephant in the room is that we need to build a million homes to be able to satisfy demand. I just can’t understand why that member is so far out of step with all of her caucus.

Speaker, I’m going to make no apologies. The first thing I did as minister was I increased the opportunity to meet with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. I moved from every two months under the previous government to every month. In fact, I meet with them a lot more than once a month. I meet with them almost on a weekly basis, and I’ll continue to meet with them; I’ll continue to consult with them.

But make no mistake, we’re going to build more homes and provide more choice. Our government is committed to it. She can continue—

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

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. It seems appropriate at this time to remind the members that this is the Parliament of Ontario.

Start the clock. The next question.

French-language education

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is also to the Premier. The fallout from the Ford government budget continues to have a devastating impact on students in our classrooms. Today we’re learning more details of the impact on French-language school boards. The MonAvenir Catholic board says that 40 teachers will be losing positions; the Viamonde board says that they are being forced to shed 22 teaching positions. These cuts don’t just mean fewer teachers, as we all know, Speaker; they mean fewer courses and educational opportunities for students.

Is the Premier still arguing that these cuts won’t have an impact?

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of Education.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Referred to the Minister of Education.

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Thank you very much, Premier, and thank you, Speaker. I’m pleased to stand in this House today and say that we have a very good working relationship with our francophone partners. The fact of the matter is, we’re working very closely to ensure that we’re growing francophone education like never before. We’re increasing our investments and we’re working very closely with them.

The fact of the matter is, when we take a look at our overall situation in Ontario, again, we’re spending $36 million a day in interest on the money that we owe just to make ends meet. We have to go out to the people we’re transferring dollars to and say, “Please work with us.” Surely—surely—school boards across this province can find one to four cents on the dollar from within as opposed to hitting the front lines, because, again, we have been told loud and clear from one end of this province to the other by teachers, parents and students that there’s a lot of waste in school boards, and surely they should have been looking within first.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: These cuts are especially devastating to Franco-Ontarians who have already seen this government destroy a French-language university and the French Language Services Commissioner. Once again, the Premier is hitting this community with even more cuts. It’s not fair to them, Speaker, and it’s especially unfair to students who are losing teachers, watching class sizes grow and seeing course options vanish.

Will the Premier admit that these cuts have consequences to French students and reverse those cuts now? Do the right thing for a change.

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of Education.

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Again, Speaker, I have to remind the Leader of the Opposition that our government understands the importance of French education for many families across this province, and we’re preserving the history and the future of the French language across Ontario, as I said, in French Catholic, as well as French public, institutions.

Just this past week, my seatmate, the President of the Treasury Board, on behalf of Minister Mulroney, opened Viola-Léger near Courtice, south of Peterborough, and that’s good news for Ontario.

And we’re investing like never before. We’re investing $1.8 billion through the Grants for Student Needs. This represents an increase of more than $16 million than what was committed by the Liberal government in the previous year. We’re going to continue to work with our partners to ensure that French education remains an important part of our children’s overall education.

Ontario Place

Mr. Sheref Sabawy: My question is to the Premier. Yesterday, we learned of our government’s plan to begin a call for a development process to revitalize Ontario Place. After years of neglect from the previous government, it is fantastic to hear that our government is taking concrete steps to engage in a worldwide search for a partner or partners to help us make Ontario Place a world-class destination once again.

There is so much potential for a site as big as Ontario Place. Its location also means that the site could be an economic boon for both the province of Ontario and the city of Toronto. Can the Premier please let the House know what our government for the people has in store in the immediate future for the Ontario Place site?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our great MPP from the great state of Mississauga–Erin Mills.

Mr. John Fraser: It’s a riding. It’s called a riding.

Hon. Doug Ford: Yes, I know. You can’t take a little joke. But anyway—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

Hon. Doug Ford: Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, our Minister of Infrastructure and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport made a great announcement, an absolutely incredible announcement, for a destination that this country has never seen before. We’re putting proposals out for ideas across the world, and that’s going to be open for the next few months. We’re going to be reviewing it, but it’s going to be an incredible, incredible destination for families.

Mr. Speaker, there are two things we aren’t going to do at Ontario Place. The first thing we aren’t going to do: We aren’t building a casino. The second thing we aren’t going to do is—there was a proposal from Mayor Tory that he wanted to build condominiums—

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

Mr. Sheref Sabawy: Thank you—through you, Mr. Speaker—to the Premier for his response. I echo his sentiments that he shared about his experiences, and I am sure that many members of this House have fond memories of Ontario Place as well. It is a shame the current generations were not able to experience the site.

However, the site is 48 years old and needs to be reimagined for the 21st century. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a truly great attraction, one that will be something Ontarians will be proud of and will attract tourists from around the world.

Can the Premier please tell the House more about the call-for-submissions process and what our government envisions for the future of the site?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our great MPP from Mississauga—

Interjection: Another all-star.

Hon. Doug Ford: We have so many all-stars over here, it’s amazing. It is absolutely amazing—absolute champs.

We have some great ideas—a destination, again, the likes of which this province has never seen. Mr. Speaker, I’m sure you went to Ontario Place, and a lot of folks over in the opposition and in our party grew up going there. What a highlight. I know I had some great times in the summertime going to the bandshell.

It’s going to consist of a destination that can be used 365 days a year, not just in the summertime, even though it’s beautiful down there in the summer. We can’t wait until we see the proposals. We look forward to working with the city of Toronto, making sure that Exhibition Place and Ontario Place act as one—

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

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I say to the member for Hamilton East–Stoney Creek, we don’t need the buzzer.

Next question.

Government contracts

Mr. Taras Natyshak: My question is to the Premier. Speaker, since coming into office, the Premier has made some shocking interventions into private contracts. Who could forget when he ripped up Alykhan Velshi’s contract at OPG, costing taxpayers a half a million dollars? He also ripped up contracts at Hydro One, which cost Ontario ratepayers US$103 million in bungled contracts. Now the Premier has made it clear that his comrade the finance minister and him were just warming up. They claim they can expropriate, without compensation, whenever the glorious leader demands it. What contracts do they plan on ripping up next?

Hon. Doug Ford: Mr. Speaker, I’m actually having a lot of fun today.

I’m sure the MPP from Essex was talking about the Beer Store, the monopoly that we’ve seen since, I think—what was it?—since 1926, somewhere around there: three huge, multinational, global companies controlling the choice of the consumer in Ontario—the only place in the world, by the way. And it’s not a sin, Mr. Speaker.

I’ll put my bottom dollar on it that when they are in the convenience store and they’re in the retail stores and it’s a hot summer day—I’m looking over there—there’s going to be a lot of thirsty mouths going into those convenience stores to get a cold beer. But it’s also going to be available in retail stores. So just imagine, Mr. Speaker.

I had some folks from the US up here yesterday and I told them about the beer battle. They looked at us like we had three heads: “What? You can’t go into a retail store and buy a steak and food and pick up”—

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

Mr. Taras Natyshak: Speaker, that is an unbelievable answer from the Premier—absolutely nothing of an answer.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. The government side will come to order. I apologize to the member for Essex for interrupting him.

Start the clock. The member for Essex has the floor.

Mr. Taras Natyshak: Trade experts and business analysts have looked at the Premier’s Beer Store scheme, and the reviews are about as bad as his approval rating right now. The highlights include: “Flirting with extreme legal danger”; “a public policy gaffe of epic proportions”; a “horse-galloping-amok-in-a-hospital approach to public policy.”

Speaker, the Premier seems to forget that populists are supposed to be popular. So why is he plowing ahead with this risky and expensive scheme that could end up costing taxpayers $1 billion? Why are you putting that on the backs of the taxpayers—your penchant for beer?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. The member for Sault Ste. Marie must come to order. The member for Niagara West must come to order. The member for Markham–Stouffville must come to order.

Start the clock. Premier to reply.

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of Finance.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: To be clear to the people of Ontario who may not be aware, the government does not own the Beer Store, as many people believe. It is owned by three multinational, global beer companies.

Speaker, our parliamentary system, as you know, gives us the tools to get out of bad deals signed by the previous Liberal government. Our legislation ensures that we will get the best possible deal for consumers and taxpayers and we will not be held hostage by multinational companies.

This sweetheart deal that the Liberals signed is a terrible deal for Ontario consumers and small businesses. Left alone, as the NDP would want, this unfair deal would continue for six more years. You have to wonder why these multinational corporations are so opposed to us selling their products in more convenience stores—

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

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Essex, come to order. The member for Niagara Falls, come to order. The member for Waterloo, come to order.

Next question.

Education

Ms. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Education. I’m joined, as I said earlier this morning, by a group of students from my community of Don Valley West and from Don Valley East. The class size changes being implemented by this government will have a direct impact on these students, who will find themselves sitting in classes with more students, in schools with fewer adults and with fewer optional courses available to them.

The minister has previously used academic outcomes in countries like China and Vietnam to justify the increase in class size. Both jurisdictions have very test-oriented, highly competitive education systems with notably high levels of student anxiety and depression. A 2019 UNICEF study points to the pressures of school in Vietnam as a major contributor to mental health problems in teenagers.

Could the minister share with us all this morning the studies that she has used that demonstrate a direct link between increased class size and improved student outcomes without accompanying deterioration in student mental health and well-being?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: I look forward to continuing this discussion because, you know, I think it’s rather rich hearing from the member opposite her questioning of the manner in which we based our decisions to go forward with education after the disastrous manner in which they totally derailed education in Ontario over the span of 15 years. They actually destroyed our students’ opportunity to learn math in a proper way. They destroyed the atmosphere in the schools, creating mental health issue after mental health issue.

The study that has led the way and informed the policy that we’re making was based on the responses of 72,000 people from across Ontario last fall. Seventy-two thousand people chose to take the time to either participate in a telephone town hall, online survey or written submissions to tell us how to fix the mess that that member opposite made to education—

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

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Don Valley East will come to order.

I recognize again the member for Don Valley West to do her supplementary.

Ms. Kathleen O. Wynne: I’m interested to know how many of those people actually said “increase class size.”

Mr. Speaker, I had the pleasure of attending the opening of the beautiful new Sioux North High School, as the minister did, in Sioux Lookout last week. The building is impressive and it will be a community asset for years to come. Even more impressive are the staff and students of the Keewatin Patricia District School Board, and I know the minister agrees.

As she knows, Indigenous youth are the fastest growing group of young people in Ontario. We need them to be at their very best, but they face challenges that the students here today do not. They often have to travel thousands of kilometres to get to high school, where they’re without the support of their community. They’re dealing with the intergenerational trauma of residential schools. For all those reasons and more, they need supports in their high schools so they can graduate and go on to college, university or skilled training.

One of the brilliant supports the Keewatin Patricia board has put in place is graduation coaches. Mr. Speaker, I hope the minister had a chance to meet some of the teachers, support staff and community elders who are these grad coaches.

Mr. Speaker, given that the administration of the Keewatin Patricia board is planning for staff cuts as a result of the class size increases, can the minister today guarantee that the supports that are actually and demonstrably improving opportunity for Indigenous students will not be cut?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: It almost feels like this is a lob ball, and I appreciate the question very much.

Yes, to the member opposite: Absolutely, it was a great day at Sioux North in Sioux Lookout last week. The vice-principal of that particular school, Jenny, was almost in tears when she said, “Thank you for expanding the grad coach program.” I chose to expand, out of a pilot program that the Liberals facilitated—I expanded the program to touch 37 different coaches in 31 school boards to provide support to Indigenous students as they pursue their diploma. It’s something that’s working incredibly well. It’s something that the member opposite probably should have thought about expanding during her time over the last 15 years.

Let me tell you: We’re also investing $3.25 million to support the implementation of the newly released curriculum that we announced in Thunder Bay last week. I look forward to working with our Indigenous partners as we meet in June to talk about how else we can better support our Indigenous students across Ontario.

Ontario budget

Mr. Michael Parsa: Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance. Over the past month, we’ve heard from people across the province about our government’s plan to protect what matters most. Hearing from my constituents has made one thing very clear to me: Budget 2019 was a resounding success.

After 15 years of Liberal tax-and-spend policies, the people of Ontario were tired and wanted change. Finally, their government has put forward a plan that puts people first and will restore accountability and trust in our province’s finances.

I look forward to joining all my colleagues to vote in favour of the Protecting What Matters Most Act later on today. Would the minister please tell the House the important changes that the people of Ontario can expect if the legislation passes today?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you to the member for Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill. The Protecting What Matters Most Act turns the page on 15 failed Liberal budgets, waste, mismanagement and hydro scandals. Finally, the people of Ontario have a government that is committed to being open about how we spend their money.

The proposed Fiscal Sustainability, Transparency and Accountability Act puts people first and restores accountability and trust in the province’s finances once again. This is a huge step towards reducing the deficit we inherited from the previous government. As I said earlier, they were spending $40 million a day more than they brought in. We look forward to bringing transparency to the people of Ontario, and hope that all members of this House vote in favour of protecting what matters most.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Mr. Michael Parsa: Thank you to the minister for his response. Trust, transparency and accountability have been absent for far too long in Ontario, Speaker. By reversing this trend, we can implement our plan to protect what matters most while respecting taxpayers and being fully transparent in our decisions.

We’re putting people first in everything we do. We’re providing relief to families and to individuals. We’re making Ontario open for business and open for jobs, and we’re doing it all in order to protect the essential services that the people across Ontario rely on.

Would the minister explain how the Protecting What Matters Most Act will help us fulfill these commitments, bring relief, and ensure the sustainability of our critical public services?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: We cannot wait to bring the Protecting What Matters Most Act for third reading in just a few more minutes.

It’s unfortunate that the NDP have already made their opposition to this bill clear, but it’s not too late for them to change their minds.

It’s not too late to join us in voting in favour of the CARE Tax Credit, which will provide 300,000 families with up to 75% of their eligible child care expenses. The NDP can still vote for modernizing the skilled trades and apprenticeship act, which will make it easier for young people to get the skills they need to find a well-paying job. They can still support the PTSD Awareness Day, an important sign of progress as our government continues to make historic investments in mental health.

Speaker, the NDP have the opportunity to do the right thing now and join us in protecting what matters most.

Ma question : est-ce l’intention de ce premier ministre de faire savoir aux francophones que l’éducation de leurs enfants n’est pas une priorité pour son gouvernement?

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of Education.

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk about what our government is doing in support of francophone education. Again, I have to thank the member opposite for allowing us the opportunity to stand up in this House and share that over the next year, our government will be providing our French-language boards with over $1.8 billion in grants for student needs. This represents a $16-million increase over what was committed by the previous Liberal government.

We are absolutely on the right trajectory in terms of supporting and growing our French education in this province. We’ll continue to work with our partners and do the right thing, because French education needs to be an important part of our children’s education.

I have family members who actually are teaching in francophone schools, and I’m hearing first-hand the importance of making sure that people have choice. The francophone language and francophone education in Ontario are absolutely paramount in the overall successful landscape of education in this province. Again, I say “merci beaucoup” to—

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

M. Guy Bourgouin: J’apprécie la réponse de la ministre, mais allez dire ça aux 50 ou 70 enseignants qui vont perdre leur emploi cet été.

Encore au premier ministre : les coupures de cette envergure auront un effet dévastateur pour l’éducation des enfants dans mon comté. Peut-être que vous ne le savez pas, mais environ 60 % des résidents de Mushkegowuk–Baie James sont francophones. Les enseignants sont débordés. On manque d’enseignants qualifiés et on manque de suppléants.

Est-ce que le premier ministre a l’intention de démanteler le système d’éducation dans une région majoritairement francophone?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Again, Speaker, I have to share with the member opposite that “c’est dommage.” It’s too bad that—it is really too bad—the people opposite in the party are fearmongering. It doesn’t matter what language you speak; fearmongering is fearmongering. This party just doesn’t seem to get enough of it.

The fact of the matter is, we’re investing in francophone education in this province. Our education partners know that we’re sincere when we say that francophone languages and francophone education are paramount in importance to making sure that we have a robust education system in this province. We’re leading by example.

Again, in terms of school boards, generally speaking, I say that surely, when it comes to the waste that people are pointing to, they can find one, two or possibly four cents on the dollar within their administration as opposed to—

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

Mr. Jeremy Roberts: My question is to my friend the Minister of Education. Mr. Speaker, through you, I know that our government has been clear about our commitment to get education in Ontario back on track. This is a key priority for many parents in my riding of Ottawa West–Nepean. For that to happen, it is clear that our students need to be prepared with the skills they require to succeed, like being able to speak French.

With over 100,000 students enrolled in French-language schools across Ontario, could the minister please tell us what she is doing to support French-language education right here in Ontario?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Merci beaucoup to the member from Ottawa West–Nepean. I know he’s doing great work on behalf of his riding and as a member of our caucus. I thank you for all you do. You lead with your heart, Jeremy, and I thank you for that.

But I also want to say “merci beaucoup” to ACÉPO, who is here with us in the gallery as well. They are excellent advocates for our French public boards.

I am extremely proud of the investments our government is making to ensure the success of our French-language education system here in Ontario. I know they’re leading by example. I say “merci beaucoup” again for the manner in which they’re leading, cohabitating and making sure capital dollars are well invested. They’re leading by example in that regard. Graduation rates are at historic highs and enrolment has increased. Our government is excited to have French-language education in Ontario not only growing, but thriving.

Just three weeks ago, my parliamentary assistant, the member from Niagara West, announced that our government is investing almost $20 million in projects and initiatives to support students, parents and teachers in Francophone-language schools—

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

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: To the ministre des Affaires francophones.

L’hon. Caroline Mulroney: J’aimerais aussi encore remercier le député d’Ottawa-Ouest–Nepean pour cette question importante.

Notre gouvernement va continuer de travailler avec nos partenaires en éducation—

Le Président (L’hon. Ted Arnott): Merci beaucoup.

Next question.

Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho: I thank the member of the opposition for raising the important question. I want to assure this House that this government takes our responsibilities for Ontarians living with disabilities very seriously.

We know there’s more to do, but it’s also time for real action and we are taking it right now.

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

Mr. Joel Harden: To put that in perspective, to what the minister said, $1.3 million is less than what the Premier of this government is spending on his own personal lawyer in his office, Mr. Gavin Tighe.

People with disabilities deserve more from this government. We know that the last government talked a great talk but delivered very little. We know that Queen’s Park, the very building in which you and I are working, is not fully accessible. That is true across this province: Health care, education, transportation and our spaces of recreation remain inaccessible, Speaker, and we are obliged by law to make this province fully accessible by 2025.

Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho: I will repeat what the opposition member said. The previous government for the last 15 years did very little, like the Honourable David Onley said. The last 15 years, the NDP supported the last government, so you are on the same team.

The soul-crushing barriers Mr. Onley outlined were also highlighted in the first two AODA reviews by Charles Beer and Mayo Moran. This report is an indictment of the previous government, which your party supported for 15 years.

Our government is carefully reviewing Mr. Onley’s report, which we made public faster than either previous report. I will respond to your motion tomorrow.

Agri-food industry

Mr. Norman Miller: My question is for the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Ontario has a robust agriculture and agri-food sector, one that our government has long been an advocate for. Agriculture is a critical component of our province’s economy, generating $39.5 billion per year and employing over 170,000 people. Our government is committed to ensuring this sector remains viable and sustainable into the future.

This week, the minister met with the Ontario Independent Meat Processors, including processors in the north, to discuss issues facing the industry. According to the Ontario Independent Meat Processors, total meat processing sales in Ontario are valued at $2.2 billion.

Would the minister please tell the House how our government is helping to grow Ontario’s meat processing industry?

Hon. Ernie Hardeman: I thank the member from Parry Sound–Muskoka for his excellent question. This Monday, I had the pleasure of hosting a unique online round table discussion with northern Ontario meat processors to hear first-hand some of the challenges affecting the sector.

Our government is supporting meat processing to help ensure safe, high-quality foods through a recent intake we opened through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Through a targeted intake in February for food safety improvements, 39 projects were approved to receive up to $509,000 in cost-sharing funding. These projects will focus on food safety initiatives, while also helping processors grow and develop their business.

I’m pleased to announce that a second intake opened on May 24, 2019, which will run to August 30. I encourage meat processors from around the province to apply for the second intake and look forward to continuing to support the industry.

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

Mr. Norman Miller: I appreciate the minister’s hard work advocating on behalf of Ontario’s meat processors to support some of the best meat products in the world, processed right here in Ontario.

Agriculture and agri-business are of vital importance to our province’s economy. Our government is committed to growing agriculture in the north and across Ontario, while ensuring Ontarians consume safe and healthy food products. I know that farmers in northern Ontario appreciate having a government that listens to them and acknowledges the unique challenges that they face.

Can the minister please tell the House how our government is supporting agriculture in the north?

Hon. Ernie Hardeman: Thanks to the member for the question.

Our government is working closely with representatives from northern Ontario to hear first-hand the ways we can work together to grow the industry and create good jobs. I want to thank the northern meat plants that took part and shared their ideas.

One of the areas that my ministry’s advisory group is focusing on, led by my parliamentary assistant, is how our government can further grow agriculture in the north. Our government recently announced that we are investing more than $350,000 in two agriculture companies in Cochrane and Timmins, supporting five full-time jobs.

I’m pleased to be working very closely on this file with the Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines and Indigenous Affairs to create and protect jobs and boost local economies in northern Ontario. We want to reinforce the north’s competitive advantage and make sure northern Ontario, like the rest of the province, is equally open for business.

I’m proud of the work our government has done so far and look forward to continuing to support agriculture in northern Ontario.

Air quality

Mr. Faisal Hassan: My question is to the Premier. On May 8 I met with a group of constituents who have been suffering due to poor air quality in their neighbourhood. For years now, residents of the Stockyards neighbourhood of York South–Weston have been unable to go for walks in their neighbourhood or send their kids out to play for the toxic, noxious chemicals in the air, emitted by industry in the neighbourhood.

Can the Premier commit to finding a solution for the hard-working people of the Stockyards once and for all, beginning with the testing of the air quality in this neighbourhood?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Acting Premier.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Minister of the Environment.

Hon. Rod Phillips: Mr. Speaker, through you to the member—and thank you for the question—air quality is an essential, essential issue for our government and for our province. In fact, one of the matters that we put forward in our Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan was to advance the cause of real-time air monitoring. As the member likely knows, much air monitoring is done through modelling, and so we have both invested in terms of the ability to have ministry resources do that monitoring but also worked with industry so that they can do real-time monitoring as opposed to the modelling in the past.

I would be open, however, to getting more details from the member about the specific situation in his neighbourhood. Obviously we want to make sure that the standards are being met and that both industry’s and the neighbourhood’s concerns are being covered.

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

Mr. Faisal Hassan: Again my question is to the Premier. Industries in the Stockyards area have been fined over the years, to no avail. All the while, residents have had to suffer and live in fear of the safety and well-being of their loved ones. No parent should have to explain to their children why their neighbourhood is always stinky or why they cannot go out and play with their friends.

Will the minister commit to finding an expedient and effective solution for the people of the Stockyards and to restore their pride in their neighbourhood?

Hon. Rod Phillips: Again, as I said to the member, I would be happy to meet with him to understand the specifics of this issue, but of course, air quality, water quality and the quality of our soils and land are important priorities for our government. We also believe in making sure there’s pride in our communities, pride because we are making sure that we are dealing with the local environmental issues like litter, like smell, like others.

So I would be happy to sit with the member, understand the issue better and respond directly to him.

Child care

Mrs. Daisy Wai: My question is for the Minister of Education. When our government introduced our first budget, it was clear that it was designed to protect what matters most and put Ontarians first. After years of waste and mismanagement in this province, finally there is a plan that will restore people’s trust in government and put money in people’s pockets.

I know that some Ontarians weren’t always able to access high-quality and affordable child care. Can the minister please explain how the government is bringing relief to Ontario parents and helping them to access more options when it comes to child care?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Thank you to the amazing member from Richmond Hill. You know, Speaker, she brings a certain spark to her job as the MPP representing Richmond Hill, and she’s doing a great job.

I’m happy to share with you, Speaker, that since we took office, our mandate has been very clear that we want to protect what matters most. That’s why we introduced our Childcare Access and Relief from Expenses Tax Credit, or CARE for short. This tax credit will give parents—not the government—control over the child care decisions they make for their children.

With this credit, families in Ontario could receive up to $6,000 for every child under the age of seven, $3,750 per child between the ages of seven and 16, and families who support a child with severe disabilities would be eligible for $8,250 per child, regardless of age. This credit will allow parents to offset child care expenses they may incur when starting a new job, working longer hours or going back to school.

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

Mrs. Daisy Wai: Thank you to the minister for understanding the needs of our families. I am so glad that this government believes in empowering parents in my riding of Richmond Hill and all over the province to make the decisions that are best for children and their families.

It was always clear that the previous government simply did not listen to the people. That’s why it is so pleasing to hear that finally we have a government that will support parents and put them in charge of making important decisions for their children. Could the minister please tell me more about the CARE Tax Credit and how it brings the greatest relief to parents and families in Ontario?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Thank you for that. We’re going to be putting parents first. Parents and their children need to be at the centre of every decision that gets made, and this crucial support will provide over 300,000 Ontario families with funding of up to 75% of their eligible child care expenses. Families will have the ability to choose the child care option that is best suited to their children, including care in centres, in-home care or even camps, because we know that choosing appropriate child care is one of the most important decisions a parent will ever make.

Mr. Speaker, this will make child care for Ontario families more affordable and more accessible and flexible, and this will ensure that parents, as I said, will have choice to make the best decisions for their families.

We cannot understate how important this support for lower-income families could be. In some cases, the CARE Tax Credit might mean a parent can join the workforce or decide to work more hours—

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

The next question.

Affordable housing

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: My question is to the Premier. A report was released on average monthly rental rates across Canada. This report showed that St. Catharines had moved up three spots, now making it the ninth-most-expensive city to rent in all of Canada. The cost of a one-bedroom rose 5.2%, and the cost of a two-bedroom rose 5%—well above what people’s wages rose by.

It’s no secret that Niagara region is facing an affordable housing crisis. An increase in rental rates will push people further into poverty and even homelessness, yet this government gutted protections for renters and removed rent controls. Why is this government making renting more unaffordable for the people in St. Catharines?

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of Municipal Affairs.

Hon. Steve Clark: I want to thank the honourable member for the question. I appreciated being in her riding on Friday. We had an exceptional opening of an affordable housing project, and I appreciate her advocacy for that project when she was on council.

Again, part of our Housing Supply Action Plan and our bill, the More Homes, More Choice Act, is that we realize that there is a record low vacancy rate in this province—probably a 17- or 18-year low. We have to have more purpose-built rental. That’s why, in our fall economic statement, we announced that we would protect existing tenants but allow an environment without the rent control so that more purpose-built rental can be built in this province. We need a lot of purpose-built rentals, Speaker, to be able to have a situation where we can deal with that crisis.

I appreciate the honourable member indicating that there is a problem in her riding. There’s a problem, quite frankly, all across this province—

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

The supplementary question?

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: Yes, it was Friday when we did attend the grand opening of the new affordable housing built in St. Catharines, owned and operated by Niagara Regional Housing. It was a big day for St. Catharines, as the issue of affordable housing was kind of addressed.

However, with 85 new units, only a very small dent was made in the NRH housing wait-list of 16 years, currently over 5,500 people. It has been about 40 years since the last affordable housing unit owned and operated by Niagara Regional Housing was built in St. Catharines—40 years ago was the last one.

When will this government take a hard look at the crisis happening now and allocate funding to assist the Niagara region in building more affordable housing units?

Hon. Steve Clark: That’s exactly what we’re doing, Speaker. On Friday, I acknowledged that one of the reasons why our government announced the Community Housing Renewal Strategy before we tabled Bill 108 was because of advocates like the ones in Niagara region, who indicated that we needed make a clear signal right across this province that we want to leverage every single dollar in the system to build, renew and expand our community housing system. That’s why we did it prior to the tabling of Bill 108, the More Homes, More Choice Act.

Our message to our 47 service managers and our two Indigenous program administrators is, “We want to work with you. We want to work with you and leverage every dollar you have in the system,” and, importantly, every dollar the federal government has in the system. We acknowledge and thank the federal government for their renewed interest on the housing file. But all three levels of government, all of our not-for-profit partners and all of our—

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

Correction of record

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Minister of Education has informed me she has a point of order.

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: I mentioned before that we just recently announced the opening of Viola-Léger. I mentioned it was in Courtice, but in actual fact, it’s in Bowmanville.

Deferred Votes

More Homes, More Choice Act, 2019 / Loi de 2019 pour plus de logements et plus de choix

Deferred vote on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 108,

An Act to amend various statutes with respect to housing, other development and various other matters / Projet de loi 108, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui concerne le logement, les autres aménagements et d’autres questions.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): We have a deferred vote on the motion for second reading of Bill 108,

An Act to amend various statutes with respect to housing, other development and various other matters.

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

The division bells rang from 1148 to 1153.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): On May 8, 2019, Mr. Clark moved second reading of Bill 108. All those in favour of the motion will please rise one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.

Ayes

Anand, Deepak

Baber, Roman

Babikian, Aris

Bailey, Robert

Barrett, Toby

Bethlenfalvy, Peter

Bouma, Will

Calandra, Paul

Cho, Raymond Sung Joon

Cho, Stan

Clark, Steve

Coe, Lorne

Crawford, Stephen

Cuzzetto, Rudy

Downey, Doug

Dunlop, Jill

Fedeli, Victor

Fee, Amy

Ford, Doug

Fullerton, Merrilee

Ghamari, Goldie

Gill, Parm

Hardeman, Ernie

Harris, Mike

Hogarth, Christine

Jones, Sylvia

Kanapathi, Logan

Karahalios, Belinda C.

Ke, Vincent

Khanjin, Andrea

Kramp, Daryl

Lecce, Stephen

Martin, Robin

Martow, Gila

McDonell, Jim

McKenna, Jane

Miller, Norman

Mulroney, Caroline

Nicholls, Rick

Oosterhoff, Sam

Pang, Billy

Park, Lindsey

Parsa, Michael

Phillips, Rod

Piccini, David

Rasheed, Kaleed

Rickford, Greg

Roberts, Jeremy

Romano, Ross

Sabawy, Sheref

Sandhu, Amarjot

Sarkaria, Prabmeet Singh

Scott, Laurie

Skelly, Donna

Smith, Dave

Surma, Kinga

Thanigasalam, Vijay

Thompson, Lisa M.

Tibollo, Michael A.

Triantafilopoulos, Effie J.

Wai, Daisy

Walker, Bill

Yakabuski, John

Yurek, Jeff

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

Nays

Armstrong, Teresa J.

Arthur, Ian

Begum, Doly

Bell, Jessica

Berns-McGown, Rima

Bisson, Gilles

Bourgouin, Guy

Burch, Jeff

Fife, Catherine

Fraser, John

French, Jennifer K.

Gates, Wayne

Gélinas, France

Glover, Chris

Harden, Joel

Hassan, Faisal

Hatfield, Percy

Hillier, Randy

Horwath, Andrea

Karpoche, Bhutila

Kernaghan, Terence

Lindo, Laura Mae

Mamakwa, Sol

Mantha, Michael

Miller, Paul

Monteith-Farrell, Judith

Morrison, Suze

Natyshak, Taras

Rakocevic, Tom

Sattler, Peggy

Schreiner, Mike

Shaw, Sandy

Singh, Sara

Stevens, Jennifer (Jennie)

Stiles, Marit

Tabuns, Peter

Taylor, Monique

Vanthof, John

West, Jamie

Wynne, Kathleen O.

Yarde, Kevin

The Clerk of the Assembly (Mr. Todd Decker): The ayes are 64; the nays are 41.

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

Second reading agreed to.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Pursuant to the order of the House dated May 28, 2019, the bill stands referred to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy.

Protecting What Matters Most Act (Budget Measures), 2019 / Loi de 2019 pour protéger l’essentiel (mesures budgétaires)

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

Bill 100,

An Act to implement Budget measures and to enact, amend and repeal various statutes / Projet de loi 100, Loi visant à mettre en oeuvre les mesures budgétaires et à édicter, à modifier ou à abroger diverses lois.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): We now have a deferred vote on a motion for closure on the motion for third reading of Bill 100,

An Act to implement Budget measures and to enact, amend and repeal various statutes.

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

The division bells rang from 1157 to 1158.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): On May 15, 2019, Mr. Fedeli moved third reading of Bill 100,

An Act to implement budget measures and to enact, amend and repeal various statutes.

Mr. Downey has moved that the question now be put.

All those in favour of Mr. Downey’s motion will please rise one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.

Ayes

Anand, Deepak

Baber, Roman

Babikian, Aris

Bailey, Robert

Barrett, Toby

Bethlenfalvy, Peter

Bouma, Will

Calandra, Paul

Cho, Raymond Sung Joon

Cho, Stan

Clark, Steve

Coe, Lorne

Crawford, Stephen

Cuzzetto, Rudy

Downey, Doug

Dunlop, Jill

Fedeli, Victor

Fee, Amy

Ford, Doug

Fullerton, Merrilee

Ghamari, Goldie

Gill, Parm

Hardeman, Ernie

Harris, Mike

Hogarth, Christine

Jones, Sylvia

Kanapathi, Logan

Karahalios, Belinda C.

Ke, Vincent

Khanjin, Andrea

Kramp, Daryl

Lecce, Stephen

Martin, Robin

Martow, Gila

McDonell, Jim

McKenna, Jane

Miller, Norman

Mulroney, Caroline

Nicholls, Rick

Oosterhoff, Sam

Pang, Billy

Park, Lindsey

Parsa, Michael

Phillips, Rod

Piccini, David

Rasheed, Kaleed

Rickford, Greg

Roberts, Jeremy

Romano, Ross

Sabawy, Sheref

Sandhu, Amarjot

Sarkaria, Prabmeet Singh

Scott, Laurie

Skelly, Donna

Smith, Dave

Surma, Kinga

Thanigasalam, Vijay

Thompson, Lisa M.

Tibollo, Michael A.

Triantafilopoulos, Effie J.

Wai, Daisy

Walker, Bill

Yakabuski, John

Yurek, Jeff

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

Nays

Armstrong, Teresa J.

Arthur, Ian

Begum, Doly

Bell, Jessica

Berns-McGown, Rima

Bisson, Gilles

Bourgouin, Guy

Burch, Jeff

Coteau, Michael

Fife, Catherine

Fraser, John

French, Jennifer K.

Gates, Wayne

Gélinas, France

Glover, Chris

Harden, Joel

Hassan, Faisal

Hatfield, Percy

Hillier, Randy

Horwath, Andrea

Karpoche, Bhutila

Kernaghan, Terence

Lalonde, Marie-France

Lindo, Laura Mae

Mamakwa, Sol

Mantha, Michael

Miller, Paul

Monteith-Farrell, Judith

Morrison, Suze

Natyshak, Taras

Rakocevic, Tom

Sattler, Peggy

Schreiner, Mike

Shaw, Sandy

Singh, Sara

Stevens, Jennifer (Jennie)

Stiles, Marit

Tabuns, Peter

Taylor, Monique

Vanthof, John

West, Jamie

Wynne, Kathleen O.

Yarde, Kevin

The Clerk of the Assembly (Mr. Todd Decker): The ayes are 64; the nays are 43.

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

Mr. Fedeli has moved third reading of Bill 100,

An Act to implement Budget measures and to enact, amend and repeal various statutes. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard some noes.

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

All those opposed will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

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

The division bells rang from 1201 to 1202.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Mr. Fedeli has moved third reading of Bill 100,

An Act to implement Budget measures and to enact, amend and repeal various statutes.

All those in favour of the motion will please rise one at a time and be counted by the Clerk.

Ayes

Anand, Deepak

Baber, Roman

Babikian, Aris

Bailey, Robert

Barrett, Toby

Bethlenfalvy, Peter

Bouma, Will

Calandra, Paul

Cho, Raymond Sung Joon

Cho, Stan

Clark, Steve

Coe, Lorne

Crawford, Stephen

Cuzzetto, Rudy

Downey, Doug

Dunlop, Jill

Fedeli, Victor

Fee, Amy

Ford, Doug

Fullerton, Merrilee

Ghamari, Goldie

Gill, Parm

Hardeman, Ernie

Harris, Mike

Hogarth, Christine

Jones, Sylvia

Kanapathi, Logan

Karahalios, Belinda C.

Ke, Vincent

Khanjin, Andrea

Kramp, Daryl

Lecce, Stephen

Martin, Robin

Martow, Gila

McDonell, Jim

McKenna, Jane

Miller, Norman

Mulroney, Caroline

Nicholls, Rick

Oosterhoff, Sam

Pang, Billy

Park, Lindsey

Parsa, Michael

Phillips, Rod

Piccini, David

Rasheed, Kaleed

Rickford, Greg

Roberts, Jeremy

Romano, Ross

Sabawy, Sheref

Sandhu, Amarjot

Sarkaria, Prabmeet Singh

Scott, Laurie

Skelly, Donna

Smith, Dave

Surma, Kinga

Thanigasalam, Vijay

Thompson, Lisa M.

Tibollo, Michael A.

Triantafilopoulos, Effie J.

Wai, Daisy

Walker, Bill

Yakabuski, John

Yurek, Jeff

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

Nays

Armstrong, Teresa J.

Arthur, Ian

Begum, Doly

Bell, Jessica

Berns-McGown, Rima

Bisson, Gilles

Bourgouin, Guy

Burch, Jeff

Coteau, Michael

Fife, Catherine

Fraser, John

French, Jennifer K.

Gates, Wayne

Gélinas, France

Glover, Chris

Harden, Joel

Hassan, Faisal

Hatfield, Percy

Hillier, Randy

Horwath, Andrea

Karpoche, Bhutila

Kernaghan, Terence

Lalonde, Marie-France

Lindo, Laura Mae

Mamakwa, Sol

Mantha, Michael

Miller, Paul

Monteith-Farrell, Judith

Morrison, Suze

Natyshak, Taras

Rakocevic, Tom

Sattler, Peggy

Schreiner, Mike

Shaw, Sandy

Singh, Sara

Stevens, Jennifer (Jennie)

Stiles, Marit

Tabuns, Peter

Taylor, Monique

Vanthof, John

West, Jamie

Wynne, Kathleen O.

Yarde, Kevin

The Clerk of the Assembly (Mr. Todd Decker): The ayes are 64; the nays are 43.

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

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

Third reading agreed to.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): There being no further business, this House stands in recess until 3 p.m.

The House recessed from 1206 to 1500.

Royal assent / Sanction royale

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I beg to inform the House that in the name of Her Majesty the Queen, the Administrator has been pleased to assent to a certain bill in her office.

The Deputy Clerk (Mr. Trevor Day): The following is the title of the bill to which Her Honour did assent:

An Act to implement Budget measures and to enact, amend and repeal various statutes / Loi visant à mettre en oeuvre les mesures budgétaires et à édicter, à modifier ou à abroger diverses lois.

Introduction of Visitors

Ms. Sandy Shaw: I’d like to introduce in the gallery with us today members from OPSEU. There’s Denise Davis, OPSEU Local 378; Jamie Kensley, OPSEU Local 681; and Robin Reath, the president of OPSEU Local 163. Welcome to your House.

Ms. Goldie Ghamari: I have some very special guests with me here today. I have Jacob, Jessica and Isaac McEvoy, as well as their mother, Stephanie McEvoy, from Munster, which is in my riding of Carleton. They are here today doing a tour. I wanted to welcome them to Queen’s Park. It’s been great to show you around.

I also wanted to give a shout-out to Jane Wilson from Wind Concerns Ontario, because she hails from my riding of Carleton, in North Gower.

Mr. Taras Natyshak: This morning, late in the morning, I noticed that there was a group of kids up in the gallery. They were kids from the CUPE kids’ camp. The CUPE convention is happening this week in Toronto. A great friend of mine, Morgan Gibson, was up in the gallery, and she’s here. It’s great to see young activists come to take

part in question period. I want to welcome them.

Wearing of jersey

Mr. Roman Baber: Speaker, on a point of order.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for York Centre.

Mr. Roman Baber: I seek unanimous consent of the House to wear my Raptors jersey until the end of routine proceedings today.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for York Centre is seeking the unanimous consent of the House to wear his Raptors sweater until the end of routine proceedings today. Agreed? Agreed.

Members’ Statements

Polar Bear Express

Mr. Guy Bourgouin: I rise in the House today to share concerns from the people of Moosonee and Moose Factory.

Last week, I attended an information session that Ontario Northland railway held in Moosonee in its attempt to reduce the frequency of the Polar Bear Express train service. The Polar Bear Express is a magnificent ride that leaves Cochrane for Moosonee on the tip of James Bay. Not only is it a tourist attraction, but it also functions as the main port of entrance for goods and people to an otherwise isolated region. In spite of this, Ontario Northland wants to reduce the weekdays from five round trips to alternate days travelling north and south, and, on Sunday, a round trip in exchange.

Passenger rail service plays an extremely important role in the regional economy of my riding. Because of the lack of year-long road connections to the south, the train provides critical transportation options for families, elders, students and workers.

This government has committed millions to the public transit systems in southern Ontario, and rightly so, but has left northern Ontarians waiting for the return of the Northlander. Now they want to cut the Polar Bear Express. Northern Ontarians certainly want better and deserve better.

Italian Heritage Month

Mrs. Robin Martin: Saturday marks the beginning of Italian Heritage Month in the province of Ontario, and Sunday, June 2, marks Italian Republic Day, or Festa della Repubblica. This day marks the decision made by the citizens of Italy in 1946 following the Second World War when they voted in a referendum to determine the form of government in their country.

Italian Heritage Month recognizes and celebrates the contributions of the Italian Canadian community—the culture, the heritage, la bella lingua and, yes, the cuisine—all month long.

Mr. Speaker, I have previously referred in this House to the Columbus Centre in my riding of Eglinton–Lawrence as the cultural hub of the Italian Canadian community. It is home to sombre observances like the Italian Fallen Workers Memorial, which I have attended for a number of years now on the international Day of Mourning, but it is also home to celebratory occasions like Italian Heritage Month. Throughout the month of June, the Columbus Centre will be hosting events to celebrate Italian heritage and showcase the talents of Italian Canadian performers.

I look forward to attending many of these events in the upcoming weeks, and I invite all members of this House to join me.

Indigenous affairs

Ms. Laura Mae Lindo: Today I would like to speak about Amy Smoke, a constituent in my riding of Kitchener Centre. Amy is an MSW student in the Indigenous field of study at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is also a powerful two-spirit Mohawk woman from the Turtle Clan. We have been blessed to have her complete her practicum placement in my community office.

I have learned a great deal from Amy, and she has taken it upon herself to teach me, my team and the members of our community about working inclusively with Indigenous communities, the First Peoples of this land. I’ve learned that we must work differently if we’re truly committed to reconciliation. Most importantly, we have to do more than listen. We need to hear and we need to act, because what we do in this House has a real impact. It has a real impact on Indigenous communities, and that impact extends to the work that the government fails to do and the rhetoric that the government chooses to use.

It matters when we cut funding to Indigenous culture and arts. It matters when we cut the budget of the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs. It matters when we cancel the Indigenous curriculum writing sessions. And it matters when we tell our students that learning about Canada’s colonial history is not important enough for it to become a mandatory course.

We must remember that learning is our responsibility, and when someone takes it upon themselves to teach us, that is their gift. The only way that we can express gratitude for their gift is to point to the important information that they have given us and put that right beside action. That is true reconciliation.

Oakvillegreen Conservation Association

Ms. Effie J. Triantafilopoulos: When it comes to protecting our natural environment, keeping our water sources clean and fighting climate change, we need everyone to get involved. Our government is taking action through measures such as our made-in-Ontario fund to develop new technologies to fight climate change.

Residents of my riding of Oakville North–Burlington know best what is needed in our communities. That is why people in my riding are so proud of the work that the Oakvillegreen Conservation Association does to preserve our environment for future generations.

Oakvillegreen is a volunteer-driven organization that focuses on practical work such as tree planting, stewardship programs for local forests, education and advocacy.

I was pleased to join them last week to celebrate the construction of a rain garden project in St. Luke’s church in Oakville’s Palermo community, one of four to be planted in Halton.

Oakvillegreen is planting trees in rain gardens in Oakville as part of their Ready for Rain program, looking to create more resilient neighbourhoods during heavy rainfalls. Oakvillegreen designed the program and then won a $75,000 seed grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, demonstrating the need and the value of the program.

I’m very proud of the work of the volunteers at Oakvillegreen and the important work they are doing in our community.

Government policies

Ms. Judith Monteith-Farrell: In Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario, the most vulnerable members of our community depend on the legal services of the Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic. Kinna-aweya’s board and staff work tirelessly and are gravely concerned by how this government’s plans will harm the growing numbers of people they serve.

Those cruel plans include:

—$1 billion taken away from community and social services, when so many are already suffering crushing poverty;

—the stricter definition of “disability,” leaving those with temporary or intermittent disability to be forced to try and survive on Ontario Works;

—instead of mandatory health benefits, a limited, discretionary health spending account; and

—the limiting of compensation to victims of crime.

On top of all that, legal aid clinics are facing their own funding crisis and uncertainty, all because of the Ford government’s cuts, taking away the voice of the poor and their access to justice.

This government is bringing back austerity, choosing to resource their rich friends. But austerity is a failed strategy. It causes real harm to vulnerable communities and it harms the economy. The IMF has said so and the Bank of Canada has predicted it, as has the Conference Board of Canada.

I encourage this government to stop the cuts and to stop making the cuts on the backs of the most vulnerable in our province.

Événements divers à Orléans et Toronto / Events in Orléans and Toronto

M me Marie-France Lalonde: Écoutez, c’est très important de trouver des façons d’engager les jeunes de nos communautés. Each year, I make an effort to form a youth council, speak to students in their classes, attend graduation ceremonies and sign each graduation certificate.

Recently, I joined a French immersion civics class at Gloucester High School, and I spoke to them about being the leaders of today. I was so inspired to learn that they are organizing a garage sale to support their local Boys and Girls Club. I’m very proud of our students.

Moreover, on Saturday here in Toronto, I joined Equal Voice, the Ontario

chapter of Daughters of the Vote, an organization that works to empower women and allows for civic engagement opportunities. I acted as a keynote speaker, where I talked about the importance of becoming action-oriented and surrounding yourself with good mentors. I hope my message, “Actions speak louder than anything else; open yourself to possibilities and take a leap,” is able to resonate with young women across our province.

Mr. Speaker, access to housing is also an issue that is top of mind for Ontarians. J’aimerais remercier le travail de premier plan d’Habitat pour l’humanité. I was at their groundbreaking ceremony of the last phase of their 16-townhouse development in Orléans. I wish a warm welcome to all our new families moving into our community.

Home builders

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: I rise in the House today to recognize a local business. A local business in my riding has been recognized at a national level for its excellence in home building. On May 10, the Canadian Home Builders’ Association held their 2019 national awards for home-building excellence. Over 700 entries from across the country were entered. I am proud to say that a business in my riding, SanDiego Homes, received an award in the new home production category, where their home “The Strathmore” won the award for the best one-storey detached bungalow in all of Canada.

SanDiego Homes brings pride to my riding and to Innisfil as a local family home-building company. They have been one of the largest home builders in Simcoe county for many years and have created more than 1,500 homes in the county. I wanted to personally congratulate them on their accomplishment and also thank them for all the work they have done in the riding, including the $2 million that they have donated to our local health hub to make health more affordable. It is actions like these that bring our community together.

I also want to acknowledge all of the other builders in our province, as Ontario companies brought home 21 of the 40 awards at the conference—just another case for how Ontario home builders are some of the best in the country. This is why we must work to reduce red tape and allow them to continue their success like we’re doing in our bill, the More Homes, More Choice Act.

Arts and after-school programs

Ms. Suze Morrison: Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend the end-of-the-season concert for the St. James Town Children’s Choir. The choir is made up of children from grades 3 to 8 living in St. James Town, a vibrant and diverse community in my riding. I watched in awe as I was transported back to my own childhood and reflected on the impact that access to music programs had on my life.

In grade 6, I had the opportunity to learn the cello at a public school, something I otherwise would not have been able to afford to do. The music program gave me focus and drive in a time in my life when my family was struggling with deep poverty. There is no single moment in my life that I consider more pivotal to my trajectory out of generational poverty than the day that I was accepted into the music program at Etobicoke School of the Arts. I was exposed to middle-class communities for the first time and, through that, I learned the unwritten rules of that middle class that allowed me to succeed in post-secondary education and in my early career.

Access to arts programming was about more than music to me, and it’s about more than music to the kids in St. James Town. It’s about giving them every opportunity to succeed and feel proud of their accomplishments, no matter the socio-economic situation they were born into.

I urge the PC government to stop your callous cuts to the arts and after-school programs. Invest in programs like the St. James Town Children’s Choir and watch our children flourish.

Toronto Raptors

Mr. Roman Baber: With the Toronto Raptors competing in the NBA finals, what a remarkable time to be a fan. In October 1995, a mere seven weeks after immigrating to Canada, my high-school buddy and I went to the inaugural, first-ever game in Toronto Raptors history, at $2.50 for the nosebleed seats at the SkyDome. I was hooked for life. Because of that, when I think of the Toronto Raptors, I often think about my magical experience as a teenager of coming to Canada.

Through thick and thin, I’ve been a diehard fan of my beloved Raptors ever since. Between multiple losing seasons, last-minute heartbreakers, six Atlantic Division championships, New York Knicks in five, game seven against Philly, Vince Carter’s miss, Lowry’s three-quarter-court buzzer beater against the Heat, getting destroyed by LeBron, Drake getting mad at the refs courtside, I saw it all.

When, two weeks ago, Kawhi’s first game seven buzzer-beater shot in NBA history bounced on the rim four times, time stood still. What Kawhi Leonard did for the city of Toronto will never be lost on the fan base. I’m prepared to call it now, Mr. Speaker: Kawhi Leonard is, without a doubt, the best Raptor in NBA history.

And now, with victory over the Bucks, I cannot describe the joy I have for the Raptors fans and especially for the people who make the Scotiabank Arena, to me always the Air Canada Centre, a place where magic happens.

Raptors fans are so diverse, civilized and kind. They represent a true makeup of our magnificent city of Toronto. And fans, we’ve earned it, we deserve it, and we’re going to own it. No matter what happens, we’re going to the NBA finals.

Bring on the Warriors. Let’s go, Raptors. Let’s go, Raptors.

Toronto Raptors

Mr. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: This past Saturday, history was made. The Toronto Raptors made the NBA finals for the first time in franchise history. For long-suffering Toronto sports fans, this was one of the most gratifying and rewarding feelings. Canadians from coast to coast have joined Canada’s team in cheering them on throughout the playoffs.

Our team is battle-tested. We found our focus and rhythm, defeating the Orlando Magic in five. Against the Philadelphia 76ers, Kawhi Leonard hit one of the greatest shots in NBA history in game seven to win it all and create a memory that will last forever in all Toronto sports fans.

Finally, we defeated the Milwaukee Bucks. Down 2-0, we beat them four times in a row—the best team in the regular season in the NBA.

Kawhi Leonard, who is arguably one of the best two-way players in the entire NBA, is ready to deny the Golden State Warriors their three-peat, just like he denied LeBron James and the Miami Heat their three-peat in 2014. He’s done it before; he can do it again.

I ask all Canadians from coast to coast to continue cheering our beloved Toronto Raptors, whether it’s at Jurassic Park in downtown Toronto or Jurassic Square in Brampton.

And to Kawhi Leonard: We know that California winters might be a little warmer, but this city has your back and is in awe of your commitment and talents. Hopefully, you’ll consider staying a little longer so we can create more memories for young basketball fans across the country.

I urge all members to join me in wishing the Toronto Raptors all the best in the NBA finals.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you very much. That concludes our members’ statements for this afternoon.

Committee sittings

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Timmins has informed me that he has a point of order he would like to read.

Mr. Gilles Bisson: Mr. Speaker, I have a very short point of order that I want to make in regard to committee hearings that are going to take place on Friday. Our difficulty is, committee ends at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. Written submissions end at 5, and we have to go at 6 o’clock to have all of our amendments before the committee. It hardly gives time in order to have proper time for committee. I would ask you to take a look at if there is any way that we can get the government to actually allow us the time to be able to move properly when it comes to the construction of amendments.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Is there a specific standing order that the member wants to make reference to?

Mr. Gilles Bisson: Yes, under standing order 100.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I don’t know that it’s a valid point of order, but I hear the member and I’ve heard the point that he has made.

Motions

Committee sittings

Mr. Stephen Lecce: Speaker, I move that the Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills be authorized to meet on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for King–Vaughan has moved that the Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills be authorized to meet on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.

The member for Timmins wishes to respond?

Mr. Gilles Bisson: Yes. Mr. Speaker, it’s kind of in keeping with what I just raised as a very quick point of order. We’re dealing with committees here. Committees are the place where we do business. That’s where we’re able to get the public to come and hear, have their say about our bills and, at the end of the day, be able to do meaningful amendments.

In this particular case, the government is making an amendment to the

schedule of committees in order to allow us to be able to meet one day sooner, which I think is a reasonable thing to do that we can also support. I would just ask the government that we could move in some way on amending your previous time allocation motion to allow the amendments that come on the bill that’s before committee now, that is to be heard on Friday—because the difficulty that we have is that we’re going to have people who are going to be submitting their presentations to committee by 5 o’clock.

So if somebody comes in on the last rotation at, let’s say, 4:40, if that person finishes at 5 o’clock and says something that is worthy of an amendment, we’re not going to be able to deal with the amendment because there won’t be enough time to draft it, if the government all of a sudden finds there is a difficulty with what they have done in their bill.

What’s even worse is that people have until 5 o’clock on Friday to be able to draft their submissions and have them before the committee. Well, again, if somebody gives their submissions to the committee, we get them all in written form sometime before 5 o’clock, they’re not going to be given to committee members until after 5, and we’re in a position where we can’t write any amendments. Why? Because we can’t take into consequence what people have either presented at committee in person or what people have actually come to when it comes to being able to present at committee by way of a submission.

So I think that if the government is prepared to make an amendment on the scheduling of the actual committee hearings that we’re going to be dealing with on another matter and move it from a Wednesday to a Tuesday, the government should be willing to amend their particular time allocation motion in order to allow proper time for the committee to be able to look at the submissions that were given during the day orally at committee by people who are coming to depute and also for those people who are going to be putting things in writing.

At least in that way, if we have a day to draft up the amendments, we have a chance, both the government side and the opposition side, to be able to do proper justice when it comes to what we hear at committee.

I have to say, I’m very disappointed that the government is leaving one hour between the time we hear the deputations at committee, one hour between the time that we actually get the last of the submissions at 5 o’clock, and 6 o’clock, which is the time that we have to have all our amendments in. If the legislative process and the public is to be respected, we have to have a mechanism by which the process allows that to happen.

Clearly, the time allocation motion, as it was written, is flawed. I use this opportunity by way of this particular amendment to when this particular committee is going to meet on Tuesday to say, let’s amend this particular one, if the government is willing, or bring another motion to the House before tomorrow that allows us some proper time to be able to hear what people have to say, to take into consequence what they said, either written or what they’ve done in person, and then we can actually reflect that in our amendments.

The last point I want to make—and I don’t want to take the full 16 minutes, although I can; I can take the full 16 minutes if I wish. I want to make this point: The government is also putting itself in a bit of a bind here, because often, when people come to present before our committee, people actually remind us of or point out discrepancies in the legislation.

The government is putting itself in a box where if there is something that we find out when it comes to the presentations on the bill that is worthy of an amendment, and the government says, “Oh, we never thought of that in drafting the bill,” they’re going to be in a position where they themselves are not going to have the time to be able to amend the legislation.

I just think it’s a very flawed way for the government to operate when it comes to being able to draft legislation and allow the process to go through the House in a way that reflects what we heard from the public. If the government is not prepared to do that, it tells me they don’t want to hear what the public has to say. That’s what it means. I want to believe that is not the case.

I want to believe that the government wants to give the public the opportunity to have their say, and if what they said changes the minds of committee members so that there is an amendment that needs to come forward, the government will actually allow a proper amount of time for people to be able to draft their amendments, both on the government side and the opposition side.

Mr. Speaker, you’ve sat on committee plenty, along with myself. We both came here in 1990, so we understand this process quite well. The point I make is this: When the government does not—how do I say it?—do justice to the ability for this House and members to do their business, it’s treading very closely, quite frankly, to becoming a point of privilege. Now, I’m not raising it as a point of privilege today, for reasons that you can understand, but my point is: How are we expected to do our jobs here in this House if the very motions that the government brings forward prevent us from doing so?

Privilege is normally defined as not being able to interfere with a member’s ability to do their job in this chamber or within this precinct. In this particular case, by way of the motion, the government is putting us in a position where it’s pretty hard to do our jobs, even if we wanted to, because the government is not providing, by way of their time allocation motions, sufficient time between the time that we hear the presentation or we get a written submission to the time that the amendment actually has to be drafted and submitted to the committee. Even if I went to legislative counsel as a committee member at 5 o’clock in the afternoon and I asked them to amend a particular

section of the law, we’d be pretty hard-pressed to come up with a thoughtful amendment, given we only have one hour.

I ask the government to reflect on their responsibility as a government. You have the right to introduce legislation, and in the end you must be able to pass it. I understand that as a member of the opposition our job is to hold you to account, but when you do not allow the public and the opposition to hold you to account and have a proper process that would allow us to do our jobs, I think what you’re doing is that you’re making a bit of a mockery of the situation and of this House.

So I ask the government to reflect on that. They have a couple of ways to remedy it. They could decide to hold this particular motion and amend it, or they can come back with another motion tomorrow, so that we actually add time to that particular committee on Friday, so that by the time we finish—people depute at committee at 5 and we’ll have our written submissions by 5—we’ll have the proper time, until the next day or sometime after that, to be able to come up with our amendments.

It will also mean that if we’re trying to write amendments and it’s 5 o’clock in the afternoon on Friday—guess what happens at 5? People are out of this building. We’re going to need to have legislative counsel around here in the event that we have to draft amendments. The government is going to have to think about that, because if you don’t, you put this House in a position of not being able to do its job, and I think you’re treading very closely to trampling on the rights of members when it comes to the privilege that we have of being able to do our jobs.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the response from the member across.

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

Mr. Lecce has moved that the Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills be authorized to meet on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

Motion agreed to.

Petitions

LCBO

Ms. Sandy Shaw: I rise to present a petition entitled “Support the LCBO.” It says:

“Whereas the LCBO in 2017-18 transferred dividends of $2.12 billion to the Ontario government, which were invested in the public services” that we rely on “like health care, highways and colleges…; and

“Whereas the LCBO is a socially responsible retailer that ensured the safety of our communities in 2017-18 by challenging 13.9 million transactions over concerns of intoxication, underage purchase or second-party purchase; and

“Whereas the LCBO raised $11 million in charitable donations in 2017-18 for MADD Canada, children’s hospitals, the United Way and local charities;

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

“To direct government to keep alcohol sales in public hands in order to protect our young people and communities and to ensure the profits are invested in our public services.”

We have over 5,800 signatures on this, Mr. Speaker, and we’re going to submit that. I heartily endorse this petition. I’m going to affix my name to it, and I’m going to ask Patrick to take this to the table.

Veterans memorial

Mrs. Amy Fee: I have a petition this afternoon in support of constructi