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May 1, 2019

42nd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2019-May-01 vol. Array (PDF)

L099 - Wed 1 May 2019 / Mer 1er mai 2019

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Wednesday 1 May 2019 Mercredi 1 er mai 2019

Orders of the Day

Time allocation

Order of business

Introduction of Visitors

Fitzroy Gordon

Oral Questions

Municipal finances

Public health

Public transit

Ontario economy

Municipal finances

Beverage alcohol sales

Child care

Municipal finances

Public transit

Government spending

Fire safety

Education funding

Hate crimes

Correctional services

Notice of dissatisfaction

Deferred Votes

2019 Ontario budget

Time allocation

Correction of record

Introduction of Visitors

Members’ Statements

Workers’ rights

Bone marrow donation

Government’s record

Ontario Christian Gleaners

Indigenous languages

Events in Orléans / Événements divers à Orléans

Kempenfest

Earth Day

Harry Jerome Awards

Legal aid

Visitors

Yom ha-Shoah

Introduction of Bills

Mandatory Police Training Act, 2019 / Loi de 2019 sur la formation obligatoire de la police

Egyptian Heritage Month Act, 2019 / Loi de 2019 sur le Mois du patrimoine égyptien

Motions

Adjournment debate

Petitions

Legal aid

Veterans memorial

Legal aid

Animal protection

Legal aid

Veterans memorial

Legal aid

Veterans memorial

Legal aid

Fish and wildlife management

Orders of the Day

Fixing the Hydro Mess Act, 2019 / Loi de 2019 pour réparer le gâchis dans le secteur de l’électricité

Adjournment Debate

Government spending

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Time allocation

Resuming the debate adjourned on April 30, 2019, on the motion for time allocation 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): Further debate?

Mr. Jeremy Roberts: It’s a pleasure to rise today and speak on the topic of Bill 100, which is our government’s budget bill, quite possibly the most important piece of legislation that we have put forward since coming to office almost 11 months ago last June.

This document is a comprehensive document, Mr. Speaker, that touches on a wide range of different topics, and helps to chart us a path forward for the next half-decade to help bring us back to a position of balance, all the while protecting what matters most. That’s actually what we titled this budget. My good friend the Minister of Finance, the Honourable Vic Fedeli, in his infinite wisdom, decided to call this budget Protecting What Matters Most, because that’s what we’re doing.

Mr. Speaker, as you are aware, I oftentimes like to put things in context a little bit by taking a little jaunt down history to see what lessons we can learn from the past and how they’re applicable to today. In fact, there is a wonderful lesson for us to learn as we chart forward our path with this new budget by looking back into the early 1990s at the Canadian federal government. You see, in the early 1990s, Mr. Speaker, the Canadian federal government was in a pickle. Years of financial mismanagement had left the Canadian government with the unfortunate label of “fiscal basket case.” That’s what people were calling the Canadian government at the time.

The Canadian government needed to go out and get a new line of credit to keep paying for its growing debt. Unfortunately, when Canadian bond salesmen went out to try to sell Canadian debt, nobody wanted to buy it. Nobody thought that Canada, the fiscal basket case, deserved to be given a new line of credit. This, Mr. Speaker, was a crisis because if we couldn’t finance our debt, we wouldn’t be able to provide the incredibly important and critical programs that Canadians relied on.

At the time, Mr. Speaker—and I give him full credit for this—the Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien took action. He reduced spending at the federal level. Now, as part of that, he took a different approach to the federal Conservative government. While the federal Conservative government of Prime Minister Harper reduced spending in terms of direct program spending, Prime Minister Chrétien actually slashed transfers to the provinces in an effort to get the finances under control and, of course, that had ripple effects down the line here in Ontario, where we did see program cuts and layoffs at the time.

Thankfully, these actions of the Liberal government and the Conservative government put us back on a sound fiscal track, and Canada was once again able to finance its debt. It was able to borrow more money so that we could continue to provide those important critical public services that we rely on.

Unfortunately, when our government took office on June 7, we found ourselves in a similar situation to Canada in the 1990s. After 15 years of reckless, irresponsible spending decisions—and this is a startling statistic—Ontario was the most indebted province or state in the entire world, the most indebted sub-sovereign state in the entire world. We were spending $40 million per day more than we were taking in, and we were spending over a billion dollars each month just on financing our debt.

Now, that’s startling because when you look at a pie chart of the different areas of spending for the provincial government, you see that our number one priority is, of course, health care; the second priority is, of course, education; third, social services; but, then, fourth, before we get to any of the other critical areas that the provincial government provides support in, whether that’s post-secondary education or infrastructure or energy, whatever it might be—before we get to any of those spending areas, the fourth-largest spending of the provincial government is paying interest on the debt.

That money could be going toward supporting vital services that we rely on. That’s why, when we were elected in June, we were elected on a promise to return us to balance and to get our financial house in order. And the reason we’re doing that is because we don’t want to see money being thrown out the door paying for interest on our debt.

We also want to make sure that when people look at Ontario, they see someone who they think they can trust to buy our debt, to finance our debt, because, if not, we will end up in a situation where my children and my grandchildren and everybody’s children and grandchildren here in this chamber and around the province aren’t going to be able to rely on that world-class public health care system, on that world-class public education system that we all care so, so much about. So when we talk about protecting what matters most, that’s what we’re talking about. We’re talking about getting us on a path to return us to balance.

Now, when we laid out this plan, when the Minister of Finance laid out this plan, alongside the Premier and the President of the Treasury Board, they could have gone a different route. They could have taken an aggressive path to balance and gotten us to balance as quickly as possible. But we know that that’s not necessarily the responsible path to take. The right path to take is to take a moderate path, to say, “Okay, this is going to be a challenge for all of us that we need to work together on to cut back our spending, and to get ourselves back on sound fiscal footing, but we are not going to do it aggressively.”

We laid out a plan to return to balance in five years. We’re starting already. We inherited a $15-billion deficit and got it down to $13 billion in the first year. We’re making progress towards getting us in a position where we’re in surplus, where we can start paying down that debt, reducing our interest payments and investing that money where it matters most. And that’s exactly the sort of position that we want to get ourselves into.

Now, as part of this responsible five-year plan forward, we had a number of phenomenal measures in this budget that are going to help with that goal of protecting what matters most. So when we talk about returning to balance, we’ve decided that we’re going to put our money where our mouths are. You see, in our budget, we included the accountability guarantee and, through this, the Premier and the Minister of Finance have each put their own salaries on the line.

The government will be mandated, going forward, to be transparent and accountable with our public finances, and if we aren’t, if we don’t meet the obligations laid out in this budget bill, then the Premier and the finance minister will suffer a cut to their pay. They’re willing to put their own salaries on the line because they know how important this goal is to protecting what matters most and giving our future generations a chance to thrive and prosper in the same way that we have been blessed to over the past number of years.

Along with balancing the budget, when we talk about protecting what matters most, we need to look at some of those areas that are critically important. One of those areas is health care. Health care in this province, our public health care system, is vitally important. It’s something that we all count ourselves incredibly fortunate to have here in the province of Ontario. This budget makes sure that we’re protecting health care. In fact, while we go about balancing the budget, health care spending in Ontario will continue to grow. I want to repeat that just so that everybody fully understands and grasps that.

Health care spending is not decreasing as it did in the 1990s. Health care spending is continuing to increase year over year as we move forward on this important task, because we recognized that this was an area that we needed to protect going forward. As part of that, we’re going to see some phenomenal measures going forward as the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Long-Term Care brings about the reforms in the health care bill.

The budget also lays out $17 billion in new capital spending for hospitals around this province to make sure that our hospitals are getting the support that they need to continue to grow, expand and serve these growing and diverse populations. I look forward to seeing some of that support in Ottawa.

I know that we are getting support for a number of our local hospitals in Ottawa, including the new Ottawa Civic campus that is getting built, support for the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, or CHEO, a place that’s close to my heart, and support for hospitals in my riding as well—the Queensway Carleton Hospital. So that’s an area that we know is vitally important that we’re going to continue investing in as we go about returning to balance.

Of course, another important area is making sure that our seniors get the support that they need. There are two things I want to highlight here. As we go about balancing the budget, we have committed to building, creating and modifying over 30,000 new long-term-care beds. This budget committed to 15,000 of those new long-term-care beds on top of the already 7,000 that are in the pipeline today.

That’s going to make sure that that massive backlog of seniors who are currently waiting at home, desperately in need of long-term-care beds, or worse, who are currently taking up beds in hospitals where they shouldn’t be—and that those beds could be freed up for other patients because those seniors could be put in a place where they need to be, where they can get the 24/7 care they need, in a long-term-care facility. That’s one of the areas where we’re investing in seniors.

Another area, of course, where we’re also investing in seniors is through dental care, by making sure that low-income seniors have access to free dental care, because we know that that preventive health care is so vitally important for them.

The last thing that I’d like to do here, Mr. Speaker, is to talk a little bit about what Ottawa has received in this year’s budget. Ottawa was incredibly fortunate to receive a tremendous amount of support through this year’s budget. Ottawa received $1.2 billion towards stage 2 of our light rail transit system. This was a wonderful announcement that I had the chance to participate in, alongside the Premier, the Minister of Transportation and my other caucus colleagues from Ottawa.

This $1.2 billon towards stage 2 of LRT in Ottawa represents the largest infrastructure investment in Ottawa’s history since the construction of the canal. That’s going to make sure we can keep people moving in the city of Ottawa. It’s going to make sure that people are able to get to their jobs easier, because of course—a lot of people don’t know this, but Ottawa is actually one of the largest cities, geographically, in Canada. You can fit the cities of Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Vancouver all inside the boundaries of the city of Ottawa.

So we’ve got to make sure that those people in our big city can get to where they need to go.

I’m particularly pleased with this investment, Mr. Speaker, because this stage 2 of LRT is going to bring light rail transit right into my riding. We’re going to see a light rail transit station at Moodie Drive, we’re going to see a light rail transit station at Algonquin College, and we’re going to see the residents of my riding being able to access everything that downtown has to offer. Whether it’s the Parliament buildings, whether it’s getting to the University of Ottawa, whether it’s connecting onto the Trillium Line and getting down to Carleton University, it’s going to be a fantastic win for the people of Ottawa West–Nepean.

Another large investment that we saw in this budget is $2 million towards the Ottawa police to help deal with guns-and-gangs violence. Guns-and-gangs violence has been something that has been on the rise, unfortunately, in Ottawa. Our police services made it clear to us when we got elected that they needed some additional support to deal with this growing problem.

That’s why in our budget we were pleased to make sure that we could provide that support to Ottawa so that our police services have the tools that they need to take action on this important, vital issue of keeping our communities safe, because at the end of the day we all know that keeping our communities safe is probably the number one priority of any government.

Beyond this—I mentioned this a little bit earlier, but I’m going to dive into it a little bit more deeply—we saw some funding in this budget towards something that I’m incredibly proud about, and that’s funding towards the children’s treatment centre at CHEO, our children’s hospital. Mr. Speaker, when I was born, I had a cleft palate—a big hole in the top of my mouth—and the doctors at CHEO told my parents that I’d probably never be able to talk. Of course, my parents now say that they can never shut me up.

But I was fortunate at that time to receive support from the children’s hospital, and giving back to that hospital and seeing it continue to thrive and grow over the years is something that has shaped my life.

For us to be putting this money in this budget towards CHEO’s groundbreaking #1door4care project—it’s so exciting, because this project is going to centralize a number of mental health and developmental disability supports on the CHEO campus. We’re going to take an outpatient facility that’s currently several dozens of kilometres away, in Vanier, and bring it to the CHEO campus so that it’s there next to the in-patient facility.

We’re going to make it so that when a family is in crisis with a mental health issue or with an issue involving a developmental disability, they don’t face confusion about where they should go to. They know that they can go to CHEO and that there is #1door4care there that they can access. This is the sort of support that our government is committed to and that we’re making sure that we’re providing to the wonderful people of Ottawa and also, of course, the people of my riding, in Ottawa West–Nepean.

That’s some of the support that’s going towards Ottawa. Let’s touch on a couple of other areas here. Education: We all know that education is vitally important in our province. Other than the member for Niagara, I think I’m the second-youngest in this chamber, so I’ve been in our education system within the past decade, and I have seen some of the needs that are there in our school systems. The wonderful thing about this budget is, just like in health care, we are continuing to grow education spending year over year in this province. We’re not cutting education spending; it will continue to grow.

We’re going to be making those targeted investments that we need to make, like $13 billion in capital support to make sure we can build some new schools in places where we need those new schools—in growing communities—and also make repairs to some of the schools that desperately need them.

That again goes back to that overarching theme that we have of protecting what matters most. We’re protecting our health care. We’re protecting our education. We’re making investments in cities, like the city of Ottawa, to make sure that support is there.

We’re also going to be doing some things that I’m pretty excited about; some really smart things that I’m surprised government hadn’t done before now. I speak, of course, about some of our efforts to digitize government services. As a millennial, I find myself all the time wondering: Why in the world do we not have an app for this? Why in the world is this something that I can’t do online? I’m sure that many of us, over the years, have thought to ourselves, “My God.

To get a driver’s licence or health card, I have to go and stand in line at the ServiceOntario station and wait for what can be up to an hour.” You get one of those little tickets from the machine and you watch that screen, waiting for your number to come up. Now we’re going to move towards digitizing some of those government services. I commend my friend the Minister of Government and Consumer Services for leading this charge to make sure that we can have digital access to services like renewing your driver’s licence, like getting your health card renewed, and like getting your vehicle permit.

These are things that we should have in a government that is of the 21st century. We are heading there through this budget and making sure that we’re making those transformational changes that can ensure that our government is providing the support that we need and the service levels that we need, all while taking that critical step towards balancing the budget.

Of course, balancing the budget is going to involve some tough decisions. There are going to be times when we have to make decisions about where we can find an efficiency or whether or not a program is continuing to serve the purpose that it should serve. But I’d like to challenge everyone at home—I think we need to reframe this discussion. We all know how important it is to balance the budget. We know how important it is to do it while protecting what matters most.

So every time you hear about an efficiency or a spending cut, I would ask everyone at home to ask yourself a simple question: Is this something that we want or something that we need? Is this spending going towards the most vulnerable and in-crisis individuals, or is it a luxury that we can live without for a couple of years?

I’m convinced that if we apply this litmus test, we can work together to make sure that we can achieve that goal of balancing our budget, setting us on a sound financial course into the future, and making sure that we are protecting what matters most: our health care, our education and our growing cities.

I’m incredibly proud of that. That’s why I am going to be so proud to support Bill 100, to support our government’s budget and to go home to my community and share this incredibly good news that what we were elected on is exactly what we are doing.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Further debate?

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: It is with great disappointment that I have to rise in the House today to speak to yet another time allocation motion. I should be speaking about the actual debate motion itself, not a time allocation motion. This bill has over 60 schedules. It affects so many things that we as a society hold to be core principles or values, things we hold dear, like public education, public health care, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and access to justice.

It’s not just the members on this side of the House for whom these are core principles, but we know it is for our constituents and for the people of Ontario as well, because we have been hearing from the people. My office and, I’m sure, many members, including the members from the government side, have received volumes, hundreds, maybe thousands of emails, phone calls and visits from our constituents. We could be spending our time reviewing the 60 schedules, listening to the people of Ontario, but instead, here we are back again shutting down debate on an important and, I would say, life-impacting and life-changing piece of legislation.

If it’s not already obvious, we on this side of the House, the NDP, do not support time allocation motions that shut down debate on very important issues that are going to impact the people of this province. My approach in this House, as an elected representative for Parkdale–High Park especially, is to amplify the voices of the people in my riding, not to silence them.

Frankly, I’m not surprised that instead of debating the content of this bill and the vision for Ontario, we are here debating a time allocation motion, because this government has done this repeatedly. They are not only trying to shut down debate and trying not to listen to us, but they are also shutting down members from their own side by putting forward a time allocation motion. Speaker, with this, the government is basically saying that they don’t even want to hear from their own members. They don’t want to hear from the constituents of the ridings that they represent.

This time allocation motion is asking for the members of the House to be in agreement that it is in the best interest of Ontarians for committee hearings to occur only over two days—and that’s next week, May 7 and 8—just as they did with the health care bill, the bill that privatized our health care system, Bill 74, and many other bills, actually, where they only allowed one day of committee hearings.

Speaker, we all know Ontario is a big province. Do they not want to hear from people who can’t get to Queen’s Park on very short notice? Do they not want to hear from people in their own ridings, people living in the north? I have to ask why. Why do you not want to hear from the people of Ontario? If you truly believe that this bill is “protecting what matters most,” then you should be confident that the people of this province will come and support your bill. But no, you won’t allow them to speak to it, and I think that’s very telling.

Also, the proposed deadline to appear before the committee is May 2. That’s tomorrow; 4 p.m. to be precise. The government is only going to give the people of Ontario until tomorrow at 4 p.m. to submit their request to appear before the committee. Everything is happening so quickly without enough public notice that I’m sure the majority of Ontarians don’t even know that 4 p.m. tomorrow is the deadline. This is undemocratic. But, then again, it’s the Ford government.

We have seen this in the past and, myself, as a representative of a riding in Toronto, we’ve seen this government use the “notwithstanding clause”—

Interjection.

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: Or threaten to use it. Or said, at least, that you would do it in a heartbeat, right? That you would do it again.

As well, Speaker, the deadline for the written submissions is 6 p.m. on Thursday. That’s one week from now. We all know that when there were thousands—I think tens of thousands—of written submissions that were submitted for Bill 74, the government didn’t even give the committee enough time to compile all of that information and for it to be summarized so that the committee could take into consideration all of the things, and yet, again, we’re back in the same place.

This is something that the government has done repeatedly to stop the people of Ontario from expressing their concerns about their government’s actions. This is not what the legislative process is all about. The Legislature belongs to the people of Ontario. We are here to serve the people of Ontario. It’s a place where members bring the thoughts, ideas, suggestions, concerns, hopes and dreams of our constituents, but all of that doesn’t seem to be of any priority for this government.

We know that debate results in better legislation, and using a time allocation motion diminishes the role of that process. Speaker if we had proper consultations, I am sure that we would hear from many parents and teachers about, for example, the cuts to the public education system.

I want to share with you a story from my riding. In Indian Road public school, the school community there is devastated at the potential loss of their music teacher, Ms. Katherine Fraser. My office has received numerous emails telling me that Ms. Fraser should be winning the teacher of the year award and not be handed a surplus notice. Ms. Fraser is known for keeping the music room open at recess and at lunch for students to come in to play or sing. She runs the improv club and the guitar club. She teaches students to write and sing original compositions that they perform at school concerts in front of their peers and parents.

A local parent, Kaleb Montgomery, wrote to my office to share that he nominated Ms. Fraser for the TDSB teacher of the year award, and how much of a loss it would be to the school for her to be surplussed. Kaleb shared his son’s experience in Ms. Fraser’s class and how Ms. Fraser transformed his son’s relationship with learning and school. He writes:

“Tate has some learning challenges. He has a dyslexia-type condition that makes reading and especially writing very difficult. He suffers from anxiety because of this. His anxiety has caused him to have difficulty getting to school some days. Not only does Katherine give him a reason to get to school, he is excited and energized” about going to school because “he has music class and/or practice.

“Tate, with all of his classmates, has played” in “Massey Hall twice, the Gardens, and soon Roy Thomson Hall. He is 12 years old.”

He writes: “I’m tearing up as I write this, but none of this would have happened without Katherine’s experience, love, dedication and energy. She pours all of herself into our kids. She is a force of nature. She inspires our kids to risk and express themselves with passion and learn self-confidence. She is that teacher that our kids will remember for the rest of their lives.

“We have recently learned that with the Ontario government’s threatened education cuts, Katherine Fraser will be the one cut at our school.

“Yours sincerely,

“Kaleb Montgomery”

Speaker, there are amazing teachers like Ms. Fraser all across this province who are unsure whether they will be teaching in September. At the No Cuts to Education town hall that I hosted last week, I heard similar stories from many parents and teachers from across my riding.

Speaker, I only have a few minutes left and I just want to say, finally, that this budget is an attack on our public education system. Our education system is a public trust. The government does not have the right to destroy it.

It is also an attack on the most marginalized in our community. It’s an attack on refugees, on tenants, on the environment, and this time allocation motion is an attack on democracy itself.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Further debate? The member from Cambridge.

Mrs. Belinda Karahalios: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning to you.

It’s my honour to rise here in this place on behalf of the people of Cambridge and North Dumfries. It’s always a pleasure. It’s always humbling to be able to address issues that are of great importance to the people of my riding of Cambridge, but indeed to all Ontarians.

That’s why we’re here, for all Ontarians. That’s who we are concerned with on this side of the House and for the 11 seats on that side of the House. That’s right, Mr. Speaker, you heard me: We are so big that we needed to take up seats on the other side. But I digress.

We are here to protect what matters most, and that’s quite clear in Bill 100. I am proud to sit on this side with my colleagues. I am proud to be part of this government. We are steadfast in our commitment to putting Ontarians first, protecting what matters most, and to righting the fiscal wrongs of years—15 years—of Liberal waste, mismanagement and neglect.

I am standing up here today and speaking to the importance of time allocation because we need to get things moving, because we need to get things done. And Bill 100 will get things done for Ontarians, Mr. Speaker.

This budget covers a lot of ground: from getting our great province on the path to fiscal sustainability to protecting critical services such as health care and education. In fact, we’ve added $700 million to the education budget. We can’t expect the latter two, which are improving health care and education, without the former, fiscal sustainability. We know this all too well, thanks to the last decade and a half under the previous Liberal government. But this government—our government—is looking out for fiscal sustainability while being mindful of just how important it is to help hard-working Ontarians and those who need our help the most in their later years.

One element of Bill 100 that I’d like to highlight with the time that I have here today, Mr. Speaker, is related to health care: specifically, dental care for low-income seniors. This is something that I heard from people during the last election and before I came here. It’s also something I’ve heard about since taking my seat here, when I speak with seniors and families and community partners; I’m sure many of my colleagues heard the same thing as well. The Liberals didn’t get the job done.

They spent the cupboard bare for 15 years and ignored this important aspect of health care as well as many other aspects of health care. Simply put, at least two thirds of low-income seniors in Ontario do not have dental insurance. They simply aren’t covered.

Untreated oral health issues can lead to chronic disease and a lower quality of life. The longer that oral health care is delayed or left unchecked, the more costly and painful treatment will become. Untreated oral health issues represent a significant drain on the health care system and contribute to hospital overcrowding. For example, in 2015, there were over 60,000 hospital emergency visits for dental problems alone, which cost Ontario’s health care system approximately $31 million.

This is why our government is moving forward with its commitment to introduce a new dental program for low-income Ontario seniors, with an annual investment of approximately $90 million when the program is fully implemented—because we recognize the importance for seniors to live safely and independently, and how much dental care means and why that support matters. This is also why time allocation for this bill is so important, because the assistance offered for seniors in this area is long overdue—15 years overdue.

Our government’s new, publicly funded dental care program for low-income seniors will help decrease unnecessary trips to the hospital, prevent chronic disease and increase quality of life for seniors in my riding of Cambridge, all through Waterloo region and in communities all across Ontario.

About our dental care program for low-income seniors, Bill Davidson, executive director of the Langs community health care centre in Cambridge, said this: “The Ontario government’s announcement about dental health services for low-income seniors is a welcome and much-needed investment. It is not only a critical resource for seniors who need the service immensely, it is a wise shift to preventative health care that promotes wellness and favourably impacts the overall health care system economically.”

This just further illustrates the need for time allocation on Bill 100: so that we can get moving on what matters most.

Our government’s investments will make sure that our seniors have the care they require and that hospitals are able to deliver the high-quality, patient-centred care Ontario patients expect and deserve, while addressing wait times and supporting ending hallway health care, which is also a key promise that we made to Ontarians.

Even when we look at other parts of Bill 100, we see the necessity of what is offered. For example, I could talk about the importance of giving parents the support they need to look after their children; Bill 100 does that. It offers parents of young children some very-much-needed support. The cost of child care can be a barrier to employment, especially for parents with young children to care for and look after. To help reduce the cost of child care, our government is proposing, as part of Bill 100, to introduce the Ontario Childcare Access and Relief from Expenses, or CARE, tax credit, which would support working families, especially families with low and moderate incomes.

I’ve had an opportunity to bring up the CARE tax credit in this House before, and Speaker, I wanted to reference it again today, because, as a parent of a busy three-year-old, I know first-hand the importance of quality child care. As a parent, I want to ensure that my child has the best. As the member of provincial Parliament for Cambridge, I know that parents of young children in my riding want and deserve to have the opportunity to provide the best for their children.

The CARE tax credit would be one of the most flexible child care initiatives ever introduced in the history of our province. It would place parents at the centre of the decision-making process. The proposed tax credit could raise the incomes of working parents and help experienced employees return to work sooner after a parental leave or job separation. The reduced child care costs resulting from the CARE tax credit could help expand Ontario’s workforce by about 9,000 to 19,000 people, seeing businesses stay competitive.

The CARE tax credit would help eligible families choose the care that is right for their children. Currently, families in need of child care may have few affordable options beyond subsidized daycare, which may not be available nearby or may have a long wait-list. This isn’t acceptable. The CARE tax credit would provide relief from expenses, enabling families to access many different child care options, including care in centres, homes and camps. The CARE tax credit would also be easy to access because it wouldn’t require families to gather additional information come tax time.

With this new tax credit, eligible families would receive up to 75% of their eligible child care expenses incurred as of January 1 this year. Each year, the CARE tax credit would provide up to $6,000 per child under the age of seven, up to $3,750 per child between the ages of seven and 16, and up to $8,250 per child with a severe disability. The CARE tax credit would cost around $390 million annually and provide about $1,250 per family, on average, in new child care support to about 300,000 families.

These are just two areas that Bill 100 touches on. We touch on why they matter. These two items are great examples of why time allocation is important. They show quite clearly why we need to move forward and why we need to move quickly to get things done for parents, for seniors and for people all across Ontario. Bill 100 acts on what the last government failed to do. Ontarians have waited too long already and shouldn’t have to wait any longer. Let’s get on with protecting what matters most.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Further debate? Further debate?

Ms. Scott has moved government notice of motion 36 relating to the allocation of time on 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 a no.

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

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

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

Vote deferred.

Order of business

Hon. Bill Walker: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker: I seek unanimous consent to put forward a motion without notice regarding Yom ha-Shoah.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Mr. Walker has put forward a notice of motion to recognize Yom ha-Shoah. Is there consent? Agreed? Agreed.

Hon. Bill Walker: I move that, following the proceeding known as members’ statements during routine proceedings on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, up to five minutes shall be allotted for the independent members, followed by five minutes for Her Majesty’s loyal opposition, followed by five minutes for Her Majesty’s government, to recognize Yom ha-Shoah, at the end of which the member for York Centre will recite a prayer in ancient Hebrew.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Mr. Walker has moved the following: “That, following the proceeding known as members’ statements during routine proceedings on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, up to five minutes shall be allotted for the independent members, followed by five minutes for Her Majesty’s loyal opposition, followed by five minutes for Her Majesty’s government, to recognize Yom ha-Shoah, at the end of which the member for York Centre will recite a prayer in ancient Hebrew.”

Shall the motion carry? All those in favour? Agreed.

Motion agreed to.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Orders of the day? I recognize the minister.

Hon. Bill Walker: No further business.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): This House now stands recessed until 10:30 this morning.

The House recessed from 0945 to 1030.

Introduction of Visitors

Mr. Dave Smith: I would like to welcome two groups today. First, from the Peterborough Humane Society we have Sue Warrington, Shawn Morey, Nicole Truman and Chris White. They’re here for lunch with me today. They were the winners at the event that we held in Peterborough that I can’t recall the name of. The Fur Ball Gala; I’m sorry.

The second group I have is Rebecca and Steve Daynes from Peterborough.

Mr. Percy Hatfield: I have three guests here today. First, I’d like to welcome the Ontario Parliamentary Friends of Tibet for the summer internship program. My intern will be Jigme Tsering. Welcome, Jigme.

Also, from the fire chiefs we have Bruce Montone, the fire chief in Amherstburg, who will be here, a former chief in Windsor; and also Rick Arnel from the town of Essex. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Jill Dunlop: I, too, have a few guests here to introduce today. I have the Walker family: Amanda, Dave, Alysha and Kayla. Also, with the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, I have the deputy chief of Rama Fire and Rescue Service as well as the director of OAFC, Jeremy Parkin. Thank you for being here today.

Ms. Jennifer K. French: I’m also pleased to welcome fire chiefs and deputy fire chiefs here today: Derrick Clark, Stephen Barkwell and Todd Wood from the city of Oshawa. Also, I’d like to welcome Chuck Parsons from the town of Kingsville. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: From the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, I would like to introduce Cynthia Ross Tustin, Richard Arnel, Bill Boyes, Mark Berney, Chad Brown, Stephen Hernen, John Hay, Paul Hutt, Jeremy Parkin, Mark MacDonald, Deryn Rizzi, Jason Whiteley, Richard Boyes and Mark Tishman. Thank you and welcome to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: I have two introductions to make. First, I would like to welcome the family of Helen DeBoni, who is page captain today. Her family, in the House: Jill Zelmanovits, mom of Helen; Ross DeBoni; Luke DeBoni; and also her grandparents Judith and George Zelmanovits. Welcome to the Legislature.

As well, I’d like to welcome students who are part of the Ontario Parliamentary Friends of Tibet program at Queen’s Park. We have Tenzing Gaphel Kongsta, who will be working with MPP Calandra, the member from Markham–Stouffville. We have Tenzin Norzin, who will be working with MPP Parsa, the member from Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill. We have Jigme Lhamo Tsering, who will be working with MPP Hatfield, the member from Windsor–Tecumseh. And we have Jamyang Choetso, who will be working with me. I’d like to thank all of the members who are taking students this summer.

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: I have the privilege of welcoming to the Legislature John Urie, who is from my riding, from Grimsby. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Joel Harden: Speaker, Happy May Day.

I also just want to say—I can’t find him; I’ve looked for him all morning. Kim Ayotte, the fire chief in Ottawa, is here somewhere. If he’s not here, Speaker, it’s because he’s home filling sandbags. I want to thank Chief Ayotte and all of his members. I want to tell them I’m going to be home later today filling sandbags with them.

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: I would like to introduce two constituents of mine. Josh Boersen and Steve Van Ness are here today to watch the proceedings. Welcome.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Brampton Centre—Brampton North.

Mr. Kevin Yarde: Thank you, Speaker. Yes, Brampton North. I would like to welcome Fire Chief Cynthia Ross Tustin from Essa Township Fire Department as well as Deputy Chief Chad Brown from Peterborough Fire Services and Fire Chief Rob Grimwood from Niagara-on-the-Lake, as well as all the other fire chiefs here today.

Hon. Monte McNaughton: I know he’s not in the Legislature yet, but he’s coming. I want to welcome a good friend of mine—actually my first hockey coach—and former Liberal MPP for my riding from 1985 to 1990. I would like to welcome Doug Reycraft to Queen’s Park today.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Windsor–Tecumseh again.

Mr. Percy Hatfield: Thank you, Speaker. I’d like to correct my record. I welcomed Chief Rick Arnel from Essex. He’s actually from Ajax. My mistake.

Mr. Stan Cho: It’s my privilege to introduce two awesome guests this morning: fellow Willowdaler Ellen Schoenberger, who is here watching her grand-niece in action as a page, and Victoria “Vicky” Florez, whose daughter, Sara, works in my office. It’s Victoria’s birthday today. Happy birthday and welcome to the Legislature.

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: Today I would like to thank Chief McCormick from St. Catharines fire department, as well as all the deputy chiefs and all the men and women who are in the fire department in St. Catharines. Thank you for all you do.

Mr. Kaleed Rasheed: I would like to welcome two of my very good friends, Brett Johnson and Liv Stewart, to Queen’s Park. Welcome, and I hope you have a good day here.

Miss Monique Taylor: I’d like to welcome back to the Legislature Angela Brandt, Amanda Mooyer, Amy Moledzki, Stacy Kennedy, Faith Munoz and Bruce McIntosh. Welcome back to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Vincent Ke: It’s my honour to introduce my constituents, my friends and my volunteers from my riding of Don Valley North. They are sitting in the public gallery above us. Their names are Fu Yanchen, Wang Haixia, Peng Hui, Wu Xiaohui, Sun Yu Ping, Cindy Tang, Wang Mioa, Jack Wang, Yijun Chen, Lina Xie, Jiang Lianbo, Fan Zhuang and Tina Zhang. Welcome to Queen’s Park. I hope you enjoy your day.

Ms. Judith Monteith-Farrell: I’d like to welcome our great fire chief from Thunder Bay, Ontario. Welcome to Queen’s Park, John Hay.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: I’d like to welcome in the gallery the former Nipissing–Timiskaming member of Parliament, Jay Aspin. Welcome, Jay. And I’d like to welcome North Bay Fire and Emergency Services fire chief Jason Whitely to our Legislature today.

Mr. Ian Arthur: It’s my pleasure today to welcome Gemma Zelmanovits from my riding and her family. They are here. Her niece is the page captain today. Thank you for visiting.

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Today I would like to introduce members of We Are Golf, who are at Queen’s Park today on the second annual National Golf Day to discuss the vital importance of the golf industry. Welcome, Doug Breen, Blair Breen, Leslie Ferrari, Jeff Germond, Wendy Burgess, Jay Aspin, Simon Bevan, Jason Boyce, Brenda Evans and Mike Kelly. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Kevin Yarde: I’d also like to welcome Bill Boyes, who is the OAFC vice-president from Brampton; Stephanie Malo, fire chief from Mississauga; Bruce Morrison from Halton Hills; and Todd Daley from Callander.

Mr. David Piccini: I too would like to welcome fire chief Ted Bryan from Otonabee-South Monaghan, who is joining us today. Thanks for taking the long drive down. I’m looking forward to meeting with you later today, wherever you are.

Mr. Stephen Crawford: Good morning. I have two individuals I’d like to introduce to the Legislature today. I have an Oakville constituent who also serves the province as a crown attorney, Ms. Rana Thiara. I’d also like to introduce a friend, Mr. Kelly Harris. Welcome to the Legislature.

Ms. Jane McKenna: I’d just like to welcome the Burlington Royal Arts Academy. They’re up there in the west lobby. They are very, very talented students. I was thrilled to be able to speak to them and the teachers and the parents this morning.

Also, I have a constituent, Jeff Germond. He actually is the CEO at Mississauga Golf and Country Club. He’s here today.

Ms. Lindsey Park: I’d like to welcome to the Legislature fire chief Mark Berney from the township of Scugog Fire and Emergency Services. He’s also the vice-president of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you. Again, we’ll welcome all of the guests who have not yet been introduced.

I know that the member for Ottawa–Vanier has a point of order.

M me Nathalie Des Rosiers: I’d like to seek unanimous consent because the member from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston had to leave urgently and I’d like to take his position in the question rotation today.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Ottawa–Vanier is seeking the unanimous consent of the House to ask a question in place of the member for Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston. Agreed? I heard some noes.

Fitzroy Gordon

Ms. Jill Andrew: I’m rising on a point of order. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent for the House to observe a moment of silence to honour Fitzroy Gordon, the founder of Toronto’s G98.7 FM and a formidable advocate for Toronto’s Black and Caribbean communities.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Toronto–St. Paul’s is seeking the unanimous consent of the House to have a moment of silence to honour Fitzroy Gordon, the founder of Toronto’s G98.7 FM and an advocate for Toronto’s Black and Caribbean communities. Agreed? Agreed.

The House observed a moment’s silence.

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

It is now time for oral questions.

Oral Questions

Municipal finances

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, before I begin I think it’s important just to thank the Environmental Commissioner, Dianne Saxe; Irwin Elman, the Child Advocate; and François Boileau, the French Language Services Commissioner, for all of the work that they’ve done over many years as advocates for the people of the province.

My first question is to the Premier. Yesterday, the mayors of 28 of Ontario’s largest cities issued a statement denouncing what they call a “stealth” campaign of cuts affecting everything from public health to policing to flood management to child care. The Ford government has spent the last months denying that these cuts are even happening. Is the Premier saying that these 28 mayors are wrong and he’s right?

Hon. Doug Ford: Solicitor General.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: While the member opposite and the leader of the NDP can choose to keep repeating things that, frankly, we do not subscribe to in our party and in our government, we are going to continue to actively work and engage our municipal partners.

As you know, ministers of the crown meet with AMO at least once a month, often more than that, to talk about the changes that we are making, to initiate conversations that ensure that what people want to protect and what matters most to Ontario residents is looked after by all levels of government. Whether that happens at the federal, provincial or municipal levels, we all have a responsibility to ensure that the dollars that are spent, collected when we collect taxpayers’ dollars, end up being the most efficient, and ensure the health and safety of our residents. That’s what we do when we work with our municipal partners and that’s what we will continue to do.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: It seems to me the government has a pretty twisted idea of what partnership means, Speaker.

The Premier can have his ministers deny his reckless cuts, but no one believes them any more, especially when 28 mayors, representing 67% of the province’s population, say that these cuts will have a devastating impact. They’ve asked the Premier, at the very least, to delay the cuts so that they can actually plan, instead of reeling, as the Ford government lurches from one stealth cut to the next.

Is the Premier willing to consider that request?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Steve Clark: Speaker, through you to the Leader of the Opposition: I spoke to Mayor Cam Guthrie from Guelph this morning. He’s the chair of the large urban mayors’ committee, or LUMCO. We had a very good chat, and I’m sure it’s a conversation we are going to continue.

As the Solicitor General outlined in the first part of the question, we have a framework of consultation with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. LUMCO has a seat at that table. It’s a confidential process, so while I’m not going to betray the confidentiality of some of the discussions we’ve had with ministers and AMO and their affiliates, we’ve had a very good conversation.

The Solicitor General is right: We do meet on a monthly basis. There are other meetings that take place, if there is an emerging and important item.

Suffice it to say, I had a very good conversation with Mayor Guthrie. I look forward to continuing to engage—

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: I’m sure what the minister called a “chat” the other person in the conversation is calling something completely different.

Nonetheless, the Premier’s cuts are hitting municipalities, and these are services that families across our province rely on. Only the Ford government could cut flood management in the midst of unprecedented flooding, cut immunization programs just as health experts are warning of a measles outbreak, or cut public health while they claim to be tackling hallway medicine and then have the brass to claim that they weren’t doing it.

Twenty-eight mayors have joined the chorus—the loud chorus—of doctors, nurses, scientists and tens of thousands of average citizens who say these cuts are dangerous and absolutely indefensible.

Why is the Premier so certain that all of these people are wrong and he alone is right?

Hon. Steve Clark: We’re going to continue to have conversations with Ontario’s large urban mayors. We’re going to continue to engage the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. Unlike the previous government that expanded that consultation to every couple of months, we meet with them every month. We give them a door to be opened in the interim if there’s an issue that they want to speak about.

Quite frankly, I find it pretty rich from the Leader of the Opposition, who has supported the Liberal government. They were spending $40 million a day more than they were taking in. We were saddled with a tremendous deficit that, I have to say—our budget that Minister Fedeli has tabled that’s protecting the things that matter most to Ontarians is a responsible plan.

We’re going to continue to engage our municipal partners. We’re going to listen to them. We’re going to work with them and move forward.

It’s quite funny that the Leader of the Opposition seems to think she knows the conversation between Mayor Guthrie and I this morning. I find that very, very strange.

Public health

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is also for the Premier. But what I’ve got to say is pretty rich is that this government and these ministers don’t remember when they were in opposition, trying to support municipalities to overcome the downloading of the last time the Conservative government was in office, under Mr. Harris. It’s quite rich, Speaker.

Anyway, the question is to the Premier. Yesterday, the Premier wrote to the mayor of Toronto, insisting that the—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. The member for King–Vaughan will come to order. The member for Sault Ste. Marie will come to order.

Restart the clock. Leader of the Opposition, I apologize.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Yesterday, the Premier wrote to the mayor of Toronto, insisting that the Ford government budget cuts to public health won’t impact the programs public health provides. The chief medical officer of health, the Ontario Medical Association, doctors, nurses, school boards and, of course, the mayor himself disagree.

Does anyone who doesn’t work for the Premier support his view?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker: We actually made our response to the mayor of Toronto public. I find it ironic—I spent four years down there—and the present mayor hasn’t found a single penny of efficiencies in an over $13-billion budget. They have a fleet of cars down there, $10 million, and they’re still getting paid for their cars. They’re getting millions of dollars to actually go out and water dead trees. They tell me there aren’t efficiencies to be found—and by the way, it’s 0.024%. If they can’t find that in a budget, we have serious problems at the city of Toronto.

All they know how to do at the city of Toronto is tax people and spend their money, not drive efficiencies. They don’t care about the taxpayers’ money at the city of Toronto.

We do care about the taxpayers’ money. We’re still splitting the expense 50-50; that’s pretty good, if you ask me, Mr. Speaker.

Interjections.

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

Supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: I think what’s pretty ironic is the Premier obviously wants to be there, over in the city of Toronto, but for some reason he’s here. That’s what’s pretty ironic, Speaker.

The Premier simply cannot have it both ways. When you cut funding to public health—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. The member for Markham–Stouffville will come to order. The member for Mississauga East–Cooksville can come to order. I can hear what you’re saying. You don’t have to yell across the floor.

If we took a poll of our visitors, I’m not sure how many would be impressed by the behaviour from some members. Let’s think about that.

Start the clock. Again, I apologize to the Leader of the Opposition.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: The Premier can’t have it both ways, Speaker. When you cut funding to vital public health services, you can’t pretend that those services won’t suffer. And they’re vital services that keep us healthy and out of hospitals. Whether it’s immunization or school breakfast programs, that’s the fact: It keeps us healthy and out of our hospitals. Is the Premier seriously arguing that he can hit public health with retroactive budget cuts but public health won’t suffer?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker: What the Leader of the Opposition doesn’t say is that over the past 10 years, Toronto Public Health has run a cumulative surplus of $52 million. That’s $52 million, with a surplus of nearly $12 million in 2011. Where’s the money? Where is that money, Mr. Speaker?

Let’s talk about the $20 billion our government has given to the city of Toronto by uploading the backlogged repairs for the TTC. Where is that $20 billion? I don’t hear the mayor talking about the $27-billion investment we’re putting into transit.

It’s all right to talk about, again, 0.024%, less than one third of 1%—that they can’t find efficiencies. Through you, Mr. Speaker: They need to wake up, smell the coffee and start driving efficiencies for the taxpayers of this city.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. Members take their seats. Order.

Restart the clock. Final supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, the last time the Conservatives drove efficiencies we ended up with Walkerton, and that’s certainly not something that we want to have again in the province of Ontario. That’s something the Premier needs to think about.

He needs to think about—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. Order. If this continues, I will start warning members. If I have to warn them, the next time they will be named. We’re going to have order here.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Minister of infrastructure will come to order.

Restart the clock. Again, I apologize to the Leader of the Opposition.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Thank you, Speaker. In neighbourhoods and communities across Ontario, public health units are providing vital services that keep us all healthy. I’ve said it once and I’m going to keep saying it because it’s the truth. Programs like breakfast programs, school immunization, dental clinics—where, in my own community, over 50% of kids in grade 2 had cavities in their mouths that were untreated—long-term-care centres, doctors, nurses and mayors from across Ontario, of every political stripe, have told the Premier that these cuts put all of these services in all of these communities at risk.

At what point will the Premier realize that all of the bluster and denials won’t change the fact that his reckless cuts will do serious, serious damage and that it’s actually time to reverse direction and stop the cuts from happening?

Hon. Doug Ford: Solicitor General.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: The NDP can continue to chase headlines and continue to repeat rhetoric that, frankly, has no validity, while we protect what matters most.

I want to talk about some of the investments that our Deputy Premier and Minister of Health has already made, as a government:

—a commitment of an additional 15,000 long-term-care beds, half of which we have already announced and we’re not even a year in;

—$90 million that will cover 100,000 low-income seniors for free dental care;

—$384 million in additional funding in hospital operational funding;

—$27 million over 10 years for hospital infrastructure.

I could go on and on, but I’m focusing and our government is focusing on what matters most. We will stop the inappropriate spending, like, for example, watering dead tree stumps.

Public transit

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is to the Premier. Earlier today, the Ford government announced their intention to start—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. The member for Sault Ste. Marie is warned. I don’t know if there’s a confidence vote later on today or not.

I apologize again to the Leader of the Opposition. Start the clock.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Thank you, Speaker.

Earlier today, the Ford government announced their intention to start a hostile takeover of Toronto’s transit system. The province is supposedly still at the negotiating table with the city—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I apologize. Again, stop the clock. The member for King–Vaughan is warned.

Restart the clock. The Leader of the Opposition.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: The province is supposedly still at the negotiating table with the city of Toronto on this matter. The Premier hasn’t even come close to answering serious questions about this scheme, and Toronto council has been clear it’s a scheme that will not work for the people of Toronto.

Does the Premier have any intention of actually working with the city in good faith, or is this yet another example of a Premier stubbornly imposing his will and refusing to acknowledge the serious consequences?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker: Boy, talk about rich. Talk about ironic. We’ve had a stagnant transit system here for the last three decades. You look at the map of the TTC; it’s not moving.

Through the great work of our Minister of Transportation—he has put out an incredible, incredible plan. No matter if it’s the Ontario Line starting at Ontario Place going up to the Ontario Science Centre, if it’s extending the Eglinton line out west all the way out to the airport to serve the people of Etobicoke, or it’s to the great people of Scarborough, who have been waiting for transit for decades and decades—we’re going to make sure we have a three-stop subway stop right there. And another great announcement for the people up in Richmond Hill: We’re going to run the Yonge line all the way up to Richmond Hill.

We’re putting the largest investment in Ontario’s history, in the country’s history, in North America—a $27-billion investment.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Well, I guess the Premier doesn’t remember the last time the Conservatives were in office, when they buried the Eglinton subway tunnel that was being built to expand subways in the province.

It’s clear that the Premier is plowing ahead with a hostile takeover of the TTC without the permission of the people who built, paid for and use the subway, just like he’s ignoring the doctors who provide public health or teachers in a classroom.

After decades and decades of transit delay, some of which was caused by the Premier during his time at city hall, the people of Toronto want their leaders to work together to get transit built. Instead, the Premier is changing plans and attempting to impose his will yet again.

Why won’t the Premier realize that this actually will lead to further delays, less transit and more gridlock?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock again. The Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry is warned.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Niagara West is warned—you.

Start the clock. Premier to reply.

Hon. Doug Ford: The great Minister of Transportation.

Hon. Jeff Yurek: You know, it’s unfortunate the Leader of the Opposition and the NDP are mischaracterizing this entire announcement that we will be introducing legislation tomorrow. We are stepping forward with ensuring—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’m going to ask the minister to withdraw.

Hon. Jeff Yurek: I withdraw.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The minister may conclude his answer.

Hon. Jeff Yurek: So what we are doing is, we have been working with the city of Toronto since last November. We campaigned on a promise to upload the subway. We campaigned on a promise to build new subways for the city of Toronto. The old system was not working, Mr. Speaker. They were unable to expand this current subway network, and we are going to do that. We’ve been working with Mayor Tory and his staff since November, working towards the terms of reference. We have been meeting with them weekly as we progress towards the upload which is going to benefit not only the people of Toronto but the entire province as a whole.

Mr. Speaker, I have to ask the Leader of the Opposition a serious question. She gets upset when she claims we’re downloading services. We’re actually uploading $20 billion worth of network into our province. Is she for uploading or not? She needs to get on the record—

Interjections.

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

Next question. Start the clock.

Ontario economy

Mrs. Daisy Wai: My question is for the Premier. This week, the Premier travelled to New York City with the Minister of Finance. They were in the Big Apple to speak to investors on Wall Street, promote our 2019 budget, and let our largest trading partner know Ontario is open for business and open for jobs. Since being elected, we have been cutting red tape through measures like the Making Ontario Open for Business Act and the Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act. We are providing corporate income tax relief through the job creation investment incentive, and we are fixing the Liberals’ hydro mess.

Could the Premier explain to the House how important it is to bring our open-for-business message to international investors?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker: Myself and my all-star Minister of Finance went to New York. I’ll tell you, that was one of the most rewarding trips, not only for us but for the people of Ontario.

When we talked to the largest investment firms in the entire world, that stopped investing in Ontario, stopped investing in Canada, because of the tragedy they saw that took place over the last 15 years—when we told them that we were cutting the red tape by 25%, saving businesses over $400 million, cutting regulations, making sure we reduce hydro rates, making sure that we put a job creation investment incentive of $4 billion, they were excited. We talked to numerous Fortune 500 companies, and they look forward to coming, creating jobs, and creating investment in Ontario.

Interjections.

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

Supplementary.

Mrs. Daisy Wai: Thank you to the Premier for his response. Businesses finally have a government and a Premier who understand business. They have confidence in the government again. Ontario has created 123,000 jobs since we took office nine months ago. It is because we are creating an environment where job creators can thrive, and because after 15 years of Liberal waste, scandal and mismanagement, we are getting our fiscal house in order again.

Our 2019 budget protects what matters most to Ontario families, while providing a clear path to balance. Could the Premier outline for the House how our budget was received by investors and businesses in New York?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our all-star member of provincial Parliament from Richmond Hill. You’re doing a great job, Daisy. I apologize I didn’t say that at the beginning; I got so excited about this trip to New York I took off on that, so my apologies.

When we went to New York—again, we met with private companies, Fortune 500 companies, and met with investors a few times—there was one investment company, the largest in the world, that told us they had never seen a prosperous country and a prosperous province, Ontario, dismantle the energy file ever in their entire lives. They said the investments just dried up. No one was interested in investing in Ontario or Canada anymore.

The exact words are, “They systematically destroyed your energy file.” They said, “Even if we planned to destroy it, we couldn’t destroy it as well as the NDP and the Liberals have done it over the last 15 years.” That’s staggering, when investment dries up. But we told them, Ontario is open for business and—

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

The next question.

Municipal finances

Mr. Jeff Burch: My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The recent budget cut vital funding for municipalities and municipally cost-shared programs. A planned increase in gas tax funding for municipal transit was cancelled, costing more than 100 municipalities over $360 million per year in planned funding. Public health funding is being cut by $200 million per year. The Community Infrastructure Fund, which funds projects in small, rural and northern municipalities, was retroactively cut by $100 million per year.

Why is this Premier making life harder for families and businesses that count on these municipal programs?

Hon. Steve Clark: Speaker, through you to the honourable member, I’m surprised that we haven’t heard from him or his party when we made a historic investment in the last fiscal year. We provided 405 municipalities out of Ontario’s 444 municipalities with over $200 million on a one-time basis to work on municipal modernization. That was a great announcement, one that has been celebrated across this province.

Again, we work quite closely with our municipal partners. We value the relationship that we have with them, and we’re going to continue to sit down with them and talk about how we can assist and work with them. We know that there is a tremendous appetite out there for municipal officials to make their municipalities more effective and more efficient and ensure that those critical services that they provide their constituents are done in the most efficient and effective way as possible. We value our relationship. We’re going to continue to work with them.

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

Mr. Jeff Burch: For almost half of Ontario’s municipal governments, a 1% property tax increase raises only $50,000 per year, but the Premier has cancelled hundreds of millions of dollars of annual funding for municipally cost-shared programs, meaning either huge cuts or huge property tax increases. We are seeing cuts to flood protection, interlibrary loans and housing programs.

The last Conservative government cancelled funding for municipal social housing and transit, and social housing and transit have been in a state of crisis ever since. Why is the Premier repeating this shameful history with cuts to public health and other vital municipal programs?

Hon. Steve Clark: To the Minister of Infrastructure.

Hon. Monte McNaughton: Here we are, yet another day in question period, and the NDP continue to defend the record of the former Liberal government. I don’t understand. Every day they are advocating on behalf of the former Liberal government.

Mr. Speaker, on March 12, on behalf of Premier Ford and our government, I announced a $30-billion investment in infrastructure plans for municipalities right across the province. That is a historic investment.

We’re going to invest $30 billion in roads and bridges, in transit right across the province, green infrastructure like water and waste water systems, as well as building community centres and recreation and cultural centres right across this province. I would think that the NDP would support that type of investment in their own communities right across this province.

Beverage alcohol sales

Mr. David Piccini: My question is to the Minister of Finance. We know that when the people of Ontario elected our government, they did so wanting greater convenience and greater choice in their everyday lives. That’s why our government promised during last year’s election campaign to bring beer and wine into corner stores, big box stores and even grocery stores. When I went for my morning coffee at Clark’s Variety, I heard from countless farmers, folks in rural Ontario who said, “Why can’t we pick up a beer on our way home?”

Yesterday, a study from the Retail Council of Canada reaffirmed that our commitment will have a positive economic impact. In fact, it will contribute over $3.5 billion to Ontario’s economy. Speaker, could the minister share details of how bringing more convenience and more choice for Ontario’s consumers will provide opportunities for job creators and consumers alike?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you, Speaker, and to the member for Northumberland–Peterborough South for the question. By expanding choice and convenience for Ontario consumers, we’re expanding opportunities for small businesses right across the province. Local store owners, brewers and consumers all stand to benefit from an expanded market.

Yesterday, the independent Retail Council of Canada said that if Ontario were to increase the number of retail stores selling alcohol to meet just the national average, we would see 9,000 new jobs created in Ontario and $3.5 billion added to our GDP. The retail council says, “Greater choice for alcohol and increased convenience is both a strong win for Ontario consumers as well as for Ontario’s economy.” Speaker, we agree and look forward to filling yet another promise made to the people of Ontario.

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

Mr. David Piccini: Thank you for that response, Minister. I know members of the opposition aren’t interested in those sorts of economic impacts to our province and those jobs, but it’s encouraging to hear the words of yesterday from the independent, non-partisan Retail Council of Canada.

It’s abundantly clear that our government is open for business and open for jobs, and it’s going to continue putting people first in everything we do, as evidenced by the Retail Council of Canada’s comments. But we also must ensure that the changes we inevitably introduce are socially responsible, and that the health and safety of our communities are maintained.

Minister, can you tell the House how our approach to modernizing alcohol sales embraces this immense economic opportunity while also ensuring it’s done in a responsible manner?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Again, thank you to the member for the question.

Speaker, not only does Ontario stand to benefit from the job creation opportunities that exist, but expanded choice and convenience would directly benefit consumers. Our proposed changes would allow responsible adult consumers to make the choices that are best for them. At the same time, we want to ensure that any proposed improvements will uphold the safety and health of all of our citizens and all of our communities.

We have appointed Ken Hughes as special adviser. His experience as chair of Alberta Health Services will inform our government’s absolutely responsible approach. We continue to engage with a wide variety of groups, and we look forward to working with them on the great opportunities that lie ahead.

Child care

Ms. Marit Stiles: My question is for the Minister of Education. Just last night, we learned of yet another cut hitting Ontario’s child care system. Buried within the government’s 2019 child care allocations is a $50-million cut to child care operators through the retroactive elimination of fee stabilization funding.

Now, Mr. Speaker, fee stabilization was put in place in order to ensure that as our front-line child care workers saw their wages rightly increase, operators would not be forced to either increase fees for parents or lay workers off. Simply put, the funding helped keep kids in reliable care, kept parents from seeing a hike in their fees and helped Ontario workers keep their jobs. Why is the minister taking this away?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Thank you very much for the opportunity to stand and speak in the House today, to dispel yet another NDP myth that they’re trying to perpetuate. The manner in which this party is trying to fearmonger is just staggering, and this is another example.

Quite frankly, all I have to say is, “Bill 148.” That fee stabilization was put in place to correct a mistake that the former Liberal government made, and you backed them up yet again. Decision after decision—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’m going to ask the minister to make her comments through the chair, not across the floor.

The minister to conclude her response.

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Okay. Thank you, Speaker.

The decisions made in daycare across Ontario—absolutely unaffordable. The previous government raised Ontario’s minimum wage by 20%, and that was absolutely unmanageable for Ontario’s child care sector. So what are we doing? We’re fixing the mistake that the NDP backed up that the Liberal Party made. The fact of the matter is, we’re investing $2 billion—

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: Mr. Speaker, I don’t know why this government is in such a rush to get it so very wrong. The abrupt end to this stabilization funding means that child care facilities are being hit with massive changes to their funding formulas with absolutely no warning from this government. Clearly this government has no idea how this change will impact Ontario families, because once again they haven’t consulted with the key stakeholders before they pull the funding.

To make matters worse, Mr. Speaker, 44 out of 47 child care delivery and oversight boards had their general allocation funding cut this year, leaving parents, again, to pick up the tab.

Since forming government, the Conservatives have made child care less safe for children and more expensive for parents and have created absolute chaos for child care providers and educators. Why?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: The answer to “Why?” is very simple. We were elected as a government to fix the mess the Liberal government made and that this party propped up for the last 15 years. Honestly, we’re getting it right once and for all for Ontario daycare. We’re investing over $2 billion. We’re continuing with the Wage Enhancement Grant, we’re continuing with the Home Child Care Enhancement Grant, and we’re also continuing with the qualification upgrades for early childhood educators.

Municipal finances

Ms. Mitzie Hunter: My question is to the Premier. Speaker, through you to the Premier: Yesterday the Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus raised concerns over the Ford government’s downloading-by-stealth agenda. This plan will place significant financial pressure on municipalities that are already struggling to cope with the cuts to library services and public health.

Under its downloading-by-stealth agenda, this government will require municipalities to cost-share child care funding at a rate of 80 to 20, from its previous 100% funding. Why is this government unilaterally shifting these costs when we know that we only have one taxpayer? Why is this government using child care cost-sharing to off-load their responsibilities—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. The member will please take her seat.

The government side will come to order. Once again, I need to be able to hear the member who actually has the floor, has the right to place a question, and is not breaking the rules by loud interjections.

Start the clock. I apologize to the member for Scarborough–Guildwood. Please conclude your question.

Ms. Mitzie Hunter: Why is this government using child care cost-sharing to off-load their responsibilities onto municipalities, leaving them out to dry?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker: I can’t believe what I just heard. There’s one taxpayer? This is a government that dismantled this province for decades. This is a government that put our debt, the largest sub-sovereign debt in the world, at $347 billion. When I was in New York, they couldn’t believe it. This is a government that put our children, our families, the workers in this province into a deficit of $15 billion.

We have to be fiscally responsible, Mr. Speaker. I just can’t believe that the government of 15 years of scandal and mismanagement of money from the taxpayers actually has the nerve to get up here and say that there’s one taxpayer. They’ve never seen a dollar that they don’t love spending. It’s about tax, tax, tax; spend, spend, spend.

Interjections.

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

Restart the clock. Supplementary question.

Ms. Mitzie Hunter: Again, back to the Premier: This morning we learned that the Ford government is cutting $50 million in funding that was meant to support child care centres with increasing costs of labour. The removal of this funding will destabilize the system and force child care centres to either cut staff or to raise fees for parents—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock again. The member for Kitchener–Conestoga is warned. The member for Carleton is warned. Six members have been warned.

Start the clock. Again, I apologize to the member for Scarborough–Guildwood.

Ms. Mitzie Hunter: The report also notes that there’s a centre in Peel that is already raising fees by $72 because of this devastating cut.

Families simply can’t afford hundreds more dollars for child care costs.

Why is this Premier forcing increased fees on child care centres—at the same time, downloading its responsibilities to municipalities? It’s like you’re giving with one hand and taking from the next. It is wrong, and it’s hurting families and also destabilizing a system that they rely on.

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker: They were taking from both hands. The reason they’re raising it $72 is because the previous government raised the minimum wage from $11 and change up to $14. I spoke to child care folks, and they can’t afford to hire people because of the minimum wage.

What we’re doing—we’re putting a CARE tax credit, which is a child care expense deduction. We’re investing $2 billion. Families can receive up to $6,000 per child under the age of seven. They’re going to get a tax credit of $3,750 from seven up to 16 years of age. Anyone with a severe disability is going to get a tax credit of $8,250. We’re helping 300,000 families out there—300,000 families. They will have a choice where they get their child care—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. The member for Orléans is warned.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): It’s not helpful. We’re trying to have decorum in this House for the remainder of question period. It’s the Speaker’s obligation to try to maintain that. I need your help.

Start the clock. Next question.

Public transit

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Transportation. Recently, the Premier and the Minister of Transportation unveiled a bold vision for transit right here in the GTHA. It is a $28.5-billion transit vision to expand the province’s subway network by 50%. This is a historic announcement, and this is by far the most money ever invested to get shovels in the ground and get new subways built.

Our transit vision includes: expanding transit options for Scarborough residents, who have been ignored for far too long; moving forward with the desperately needed Ontario Line; extending the TTC subway into York region, Markham and Richmond Hill; and extending the Eglinton West LRT. People have waited long enough for an integrated regional transit system.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Transportation update the Legislature on the upload?

Hon. Jeff Yurek: Thanks to the member from Markham–Thornhill. It’s a great opportunity to work with him. He has been a strong advocate for an extension of our subways up north there.

Mr. Speaker, I was honoured to be invited to speak this morning at the Toronto board of trade’s annual breakfast and I thank them for the invite. I announced that tomorrow in this Legislature I will be introducing the Getting Ontario Moving Act. If passed, it will give us the legislative tools to upload ownership of future subway expansion projects to the province so that we can get them built and build them faster. That is our government’s plan: to get people moving and get the economy going.

In the past, other governments have made promises to expand transit in the GTHA, but red tape and politics prevented that from happening. Time and again people have been disappointed when nothing gets built. During the campaign our party promised to upload responsibility for subway infrastructure to build subways faster and get Ontarians moving, and we’re doing just that.

I look forward to more answers in my supplemental.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: Thank you to the Minister of Transportation for the very informative and exciting update.

Our government for the people is moving full steam ahead to hold true to our commitment to get people across Ontario moving. As the minister has stated, our subway transit vision will include:

—the Ontario Line, which will provide real relief from congestion on Line 1. It will be twice as long and will move twice as many people as the original relief line project—and we will get it done at about the same cost;

—the Yonge North subway extension, which will connect the subway to one of the region’s largest employment centres;

—the long-awaited three-stop Scarborough subway extension;

—the Eglinton Crosstown west extension through Etobicoke.

Can the Minister of Transportation share more details about the legislation being tabled tomorrow?

Hon. Jeff Yurek: Thanks again for that question. Mr. Speaker, as I stated before, the province is in the best position to build transit. We’ll be able to prioritize transportation projects and make decisions based on what is best for the people of Ontario, not just Toronto.

We have a greater capacity to finance projects and move them along much, much quicker. We have the resources and the decision-making abilities, we can issue ministerial zoning orders, and we can compel utilities to prioritize our projects.

We will utilize the city’s previous planning that they have done. We’re going to use it to work with the city and with the federal government in order to build, develop and create a truly regional transit system. We’re going to be connecting neighbourhoods that have never been connected before. We’re going to be working towards fare integration.

Mr. Speaker, this is great news for the province of Ontario as we work forward to implementing our $28.5-billion investment in transit in the city of Toronto and the GTHA.

Government spending

Mr. John Vanthof: My question is to the Acting Premier. This week, the Premier and the finance minister took their partisan news service on a trip to New York City. The media report that the Premier’s office has refused to disclose the cost of the trip. Will the Premier tell us how much the public will be paying for his trip to New York? It’s a very simple question.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you very much for the question. I can tell you it was a great honour to join the Premier in New York this past week. It’s interesting, Speaker, that since we have come out of the budget blackout period, we have raised $4.6 billion from the markets, and half of that was in US dollars.

There is unbelievable confidence, for the first time, in the province of Ontario. They loved our “Open for business, open for jobs” message. They loved the fact that we’ve cut red tape, that we have a job creation investment fund, that we’ve cut the WSIB fees of $1.45 billion, that we scrapped the cap-and-trade, that we have cut the hydro bills. We are open for business and open for jobs, and they spoke loud and clear with their chequebooks.

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

Mr. John Vanthof: While the Premier was gone we’ve seen the government announce that they don’t have funds to maintain student breakfasts or teachers in the classroom, or even flood management as Ontario scrambles to deal with record flooding. At the very least, the Premier of this province owes the people—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

Mr. John Vanthof: At the very least, the people of this province deserve to know how much this trip cost. Obviously, the Premier’s office does not have unbelievable confidence in its own numbers. It’s a simple question. It deserves a simple answer: “The trip cost X.”

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. The member for Northumberland–Peterborough South is warned.

Restart the clock. The Minister of Finance to reply.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you very much. We took a fabulous message to the investors and the business prospects in New York. They love the fact that we are transforming government. They love the fact that we are modernizing government. They love the fact that we are digitizing government. In fact, we told them the story about exactly how if you went to your DMV to get your licence renewed, in Ontario, you can now go online to renew your licence. You can now go online to renew your vehicle registration. You can now go online. So we showed them what we mean by digitizing our government.

We told them that we had a plan to save four cents on every dollar spent, and in fact our plan to date has resulted in almost eight cents in savings on every dollar spent.

And they were thrilled to hear that not only are we doing this without increasing taxes; we’re returning $26 billion in relief to Ontario’s families. They found that the situation is better today than it was 10 months ago.

Fire safety

Ms. Goldie Ghamari: Before I begin, I just wanted to welcome to the Legislature the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, and in particular fire chief Pascal Meunier from Carleton Place; fire chief Ken Stevenson from Burk’s Falls and district; and fire chief Brian Wilson from Clarence-Rockland, who I look forward to meeting with later today. I also want to give a quick shout-out to fire chief Kim Ayotte from Ottawa, who couldn’t be here.

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Solicitor General. Protecting citizens is at the core of our government’s work for the people, and the enforcement of modern and robust fire safety rules protects the lives of citizens as well as our hard-working firefighters.

We know that fire regulations are a key part of ensuring the safety of our communities. These regulations aren’t always top of mind for everyday citizens, but they have a big impact on fire services’ ability to do their job. Could the Solicitor General please let us know how improving these regulations is making firefighters and citizens safer?

Interjections.

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

Solicitor General?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Thank you to the member from Carleton for your important question, but also for serving on the caucus advisory team for the Solicitor General. Her advice is very valuable, so thank you.

I would also like to welcome and thank the fire chiefs for joining us today at Queen’s Park. It’s important advocacy that you need to do to educate us as MPPs, so thank you.

Your officers, the brave men and women on the front lines, keep our families safe. As a government, we’re committed to ensuring firefighter regulations support firefighters across Ontario. Whether you live in Kenora or Cambridge, Ottawa or Oxford, I can assure you that the regulations that we put in place are going to be appropriate for the communities that you serve, and we will continue to do that.

As you know, there are some new regulations coming forward in the early summer that will really make an impact for the services as well as the communities that we serve. I want to assure you that we will continue to make sure that those regulations are appropriate for the size and the service of the community that you serve.

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

Ms. Goldie Ghamari: Speaker, through you: I would like to thank the Solicitor General for her response. It’s truly an honour to serve on the caucus advisory committee and to work with our first responders all across the province.

Firefighters have always stood up for the safety of communities, and now they have a government that respects and supports them as they carry out very difficult and very dangerous jobs each and every day. We ask these brave men and women to potentially put themselves in harm’s way to keep our loved ones and our communities safe. In return, we see it as only fair to support them in their important duties.

Through you, Mr. Speaker: Could the Solicitor General please tell us more about how our government is providing better support to firefighters across Ottawa and Ontario, and improving fire safety?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Speaker, as you know, our government values the important work that firefighters do as they place themselves in harm’s way.

I want to also give a shout-out to the volunteer firefighters, because they also play a vital safety role in our small-town communities. Frankly, it’s why we amended the Fire Protection and Prevention Act this past fall: to ensure that full-time firefighters can volunteer their services, if they choose, in their home communities.

I would be remiss not to highlight, Speaker, your work for many years in opposition on this issue, and of course my friend and colleague the Minister of Labour, to bring forward this amendment. It makes a real difference in our smaller communities, so thank you.

These amendments protect firefighters and municipalities from any pressure to dismiss professional firefighters from what is commonly referred to as double-hatting. This will also ensure that professional firefighters cannot face association penalties for double-hatting and will allow municipalities to include them in their service model

Our government is restoring respect for first responders, including firefighters, and I want to thank them for their service.

Education funding

Miss Monique Taylor: My question is for the Minister of Education. Yesterday, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board announced that 99 teachers will be laid off. That’s enough to staff two full high schools.

I’ve heard from a math teacher who lives in Flamborough–Glanbrook who is on maternity leave and has received her notice, stating that she no longer has a job to return to. Why does the minister, and the member from Flamborough–Glanbrook, think it’s okay to gut schools in Hamilton?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Quite frankly, we don’t. What we’re doing is restoring trust, transparency and accountability to the province’s finances, and we expect our education partners to work with us in that regard as well.

The GSN notifications just went out on Friday. We’re going to be working with school boards to make sure that the efficiencies that are found within their administrations are not impacting our classrooms. We want to establish a precedent in terms of making sure our Ontario tax dollars are going into sustaining and building and growing a learning environment that is effective for both the student and the teacher.

Our number one priority is student achievement, and we can’t lose sight of that. That’s why we’re working with our labour unions and working with our education partners. We have invited them to come forward, through to May 31, with ideas, suggestions, offsets—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you. Supplementary question: the member for Sudbury.

Mr. Jamie West: Thank you, Speaker. The question is to the Minister of Education as well. In the greater Sudbury region, 51 high school teachers at the Rainbow District School Board received redundancy notices on Friday. While in past years there was a chance that these educators would be reassigned, this government’s cuts to education make the threat of job losses very real. These teachers are not resigning and they’re not retiring. They can be out of a job as a direct result of the Conservatives’ cuts to the education system. What does the minister have to say to the hard-working educators in Sudbury, worrying that they could lose their jobs?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Well, the first thing I have to say to all teachers in Ontario is: Please, don’t get caught up in the fearmongering we’re hearing from the members of the opposition day in and day out.

We have a huge mess to fix in Ontario, and every sector has to do their part. But I can tell you, our number one priority is the learning environment in the classroom that is absolutely focused on student achievement. We’re standing with teachers. We’re standing with students, so that teachers, students and, ultimately, parents have absolute confidence in what is going on and happening in our classrooms in terms of addressing getting back to the basics, making sure that our students have the job skills and the life skills they need to ensure a job today and for tomorrow as well.

When it comes to making sure that we get things right—I heard the member opposite say that teachers received notification of redundancies on Friday. That board only received their GSN on Friday. There’s too much fearmongering—

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

Interjections.

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

Restart the clock. Next question.

Hate crimes

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: My question is for the Attorney General. I join my colleagues in the House today to solemnly mark and observe Yom ha-Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. This day is about the tragic loss of more than six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust and honours those who survived this unthinkable tragedy.

Sadly, the threat of hatred is not isolated in our history books. In fact, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics cited an alarmingly sharp increase in hate crimes in 2017, with incidents targeting religion up 80%. Anti-Semitism was a factor in one in five incidents, and we saw an increase of 400 hate crimes reported to the police over the previous year.

Could the Attorney General please tell this House how our government is standing up against hate?

Hon. Caroline Mulroney: I want to thank the member from Barrie–Innisfil for her important question on Ontario’s 20th anniversary of Yom ha-Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. This is a day we come together as Ontarians to make sure that we never forget and that we are vigilant against the rise of hate in our communities.

We have zero tolerance for hate of any form here in Ontario. It’s why I’m working with my colleagues and my ministry to create a new working group of regional hate crime crown specialists. This new group will ensure a consistent approach is taken to combatting hate crimes. This group will work to create closer relationships with police officers investigating these heinous crimes. It will also work closely with community partners to develop specialized training for our lawyers to ensure that they are sensitive to the unique elements of hate crimes and the deep impacts that they have in our communities.

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

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: I want to thank the Attorney General for letting us know about the important work that is under way to uproot the seeds of hate from our communities, where everyone deserves to live free of hate, intimidation and violence.

From this terrible period in our history has emerged a glimmer of light with remarkable stories of faith, hope, resilience and determination. We know many survivors have immigrated to Canada and settled in Ontario. We are fortunate to count them among our neighbours and our community leaders.

Could the Attorney General reflect on the importance of working with and honouring the stories of the victims of the Holocaust and our commitment to never forget?

Hon. Caroline Mulroney: We can never stand back and cede ground to the rise of hate. A part of the responsibility we share is to carry in our hearts the stories of heartbreak and terror that many of our neighbours and their families experienced in this dark

chapter of history.

I recently had the privilege to meet Max Eisen, a remarkable constituent in my riding of York–Simcoe, who shared his story of survival in his book, By Chance Alone. In it, he wrote: “I found myself in the men’s line with my father and my uncle. My grandfather, my grandmother, my mother (still holding baby Judit), my two younger siblings, and my aunt were all marched away in the other group. Everything happened swiftly and we had no time to think.

I didn’t have the opportunity to talk to my mother—nor did our eyes ever meet—and wasn’t able to say goodbye to her.” The horrors that Max Eisen and so many others faced challenge us to keep fighting against the rise of hatred in Ontario. We can’t let them down, and we won’t.

Correctional services

Mr. Paul Miller: My question is to the Solicitor General. It has been nearly 10 months since 62 recommendations were made to prevent overdose deaths in Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre. The inquest was sparked after a wave of inmates overdosed in this correctional facility, a problem which has, sadly, continued since the recommendations were released. This week, an inmate overdosed less than 24 hours after families and friends had placed 15 crosses outside of the facility to represent the inmates who have died since 2012.

The Solicitor General has until May to respond to these recommendations. What day this month can the people of Hamilton expect the minister’s response?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: The member opposite raises, frankly, a very tragic issue that is happening within our corrections institutions and, frankly, within our society. When people choose to use and abuse drugs, it has an impact. It has an impact on our streets. It has an impact in our hospitals. It has an impact in our institutions.

What I am doing is not waiting for recommendations. I’m not waiting to react. We’ve already made some quantitative changes that are seeing improvements, but it takes time. As the member opposite knows full well, these are not issues that started 10 months ago. These are issues that have been ongoing. We have been giving our corrections officers and staff additional tools, but we need help. We need help from individuals to stop bringing illicit drugs into our jails. We need to make sure that everybody understands this is a societal problem, and we will work collectively with my partners in the—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you. Supplementary? The member for Niagara Falls.

Mr. Wayne Gates: My question is also to the Solicitor General. There was a crisis in corrections under the Liberals and now there’s one under the Conservatives. In March, a constituent from my riding, Angela Case, sent the Solicitor General a letter. She told her about how her 22-year-old son died of a fentanyl overdose in the Niagara Detention Centre. She explained that the detention centre was built to house 125 inmates but currently has 250. Angela explained where the government’s protocols and regulations came up short in preventing the death of her son. But the Solicitor General didn’t even have the courtesy to respond.

When will the Solicitor General respond to Angela and tell her how the government has created a system where people overdose on fentanyl inside our jails?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: You know, I can’t imagine, as a mother, hearing of such a tragic death happening in our institutions. But I also want the members to understand and appreciate that every time we assess an individual who comes into our prisons, every time we take that 24 to 48 hours to make sure that people are not suffering from an overdose, it is a challenge, and it is a challenge that we are dealing with head-on. Frankly, that is why, last week, we made an announcement of a new investment of a new jail in Thunder Bay.

We understand that you can’t have waiting lists in our corrections institutions. We have no choice. We must take the people who need to serve in our institutions. There is no waiting list in an Ontario jail. We are working on it. These are issues that have festered, quite frankly, for many, many years, and we’ve already started to make investments and changes and—

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

I’m going to advise the House, again, that the following members were warned this morning during question period: the member for Sault Ste. Marie, the member for King–Vaughan, the member for Niagara West, the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, the member for Kitchener–Conestoga, the member for Carleton, the member for Northumberland–Peterborough South, and the member for Orléans. I remind those members that if they’ve been warned, the warning carries over into the afternoon sitting. If you have been warned and the Speaker has to call you to order again, you may be named and have to leave the chamber for the remainder of the day.

Notice of dissatisfaction

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Pursuant to standing order 38(a), the member for Timiskaming–Cochrane has given notice of his dissatisfaction with the answer to his question given by the Acting Premier concerning the costs of the trip to New York City. This matter will be debated today at 6 p.m.

Deferred Votes

2019 Ontario budget

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): We have a deferred vote on the motion that this House approves in general the budgetary policy of the government.

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

The division bells rang from 1149 to 1154.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I would ask the members to please take their seats.

On April 11, 2019, Mr. Fedeli moved, seconded by Mr. Ford, that this House approves in general the budgetary policy of the government.

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

Elliott, Christine

Fedeli, Victor

Fee, Amy

Ford, Doug

Fullerton, Merrilee

Ghamari, Goldie

Gill, Parm

Hardeman, Ernie

Harris, Mike

Jones, Sylvia

Kanapathi, Logan

Karahalios, Belinda

Ke, Vincent

Khanjin, Andrea

Kramp, Daryl

Kusendova, Natalia

Lecce, Stephen

MacLeod, Lisa

Martin, Robin

Martow, Gila

McDonell, Jim

McKenna, Jane

McNaughton, Monte

Miller, Norman

Mulroney, Caroline

Nicholls, Rick

Oosterhoff, Sam

Pang, Billy

Park, Lindsey

Parsa, Michael

Pettapiece, Randy

Phillips, Rod

Piccini, David

Rasheed, Kaleed

Rickford, Greg

Roberts, Jeremy

Romano, Ross

Sabawy, Sheref

Sandhu, Amarjot

Sarkaria, Prabmeet Singh

Scott, Laurie

Skelly, Donna

Smith, Dave

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

Andrew, Jill

Arthur, Ian

Bell, Jessica

Berns-McGown, Rima

Bisson, Gilles

Burch, Jeff

Des Rosiers, Nathalie

Fife, Catherine

Fraser, John

French, Jennifer K.

Gates, Wayne

Gélinas, France

Glover, Chris

Gretzky, Lisa

Harden, Joel

Hassan, Faisal

Hatfield, Percy

Horwath, Andrea

Hunter, Mitzie

Karpoche, Bhutila

Lalonde, Marie-France

Lindo, Laura Mae

Mamakwa, Sol

Mantha, Michael

Miller, Paul

Monteith-Farrell, Judith

Morrison, Suze

Rakocevic, Tom

Sattler, Peggy

Schreiner, Mike

Shaw, Sandy

Singh, Gurratan

Singh, Sara

Stevens, Jennifer (Jennie)

Stiles, Marit

Tabuns, Peter

Taylor, Monique

Vanthof, John

West, Jamie

Yarde, Kevin

The Clerk of the Assembly (Mr. Todd Decker): The ayes are 68; the nays are 40.

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

It is therefore resolved that the House approves in general the budgetary policy of the government.

Motion agreed to.

Time allocation

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): We have a deferred vote on government notice of motion number 36, relating to allocation of time on 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 1158 to 1159.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): On April 30, 2019, Ms. Scott moved government notice of motion number 36, relating to the allocation of time on Bill 100. 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

Elliott, Christine

Fedeli, Victor

Fee, Amy

Ford, Doug

Fullerton, Merrilee

Ghamari, Goldie

Gill, Parm

Hardeman, Ernie

Harris, Mike

Jones, Sylvia

Kanapathi, Logan

Karahalios, Belinda

Ke, Vincent

Khanjin, Andrea

Kramp, Daryl

Kusendova, Natalia

Lecce, Stephen

MacLeod, Lisa

Martin, Robin

Martow, Gila

McDonell, Jim

McKenna, Jane

McNaughton, Monte

Miller, Norman

Mulroney, Caroline

Nicholls, Rick

Oosterhoff, Sam

Pang, Billy

Park, Lindsey

Parsa, Michael

Pettapiece, Randy

Phillips, Rod

Piccini, David

Rasheed, Kaleed

Rickford, Greg

Roberts, Jeremy

Romano, Ross

Sabawy, Sheref

Sandhu, Amarjot

Sarkaria, Prabmeet Singh

Scott, Laurie

Skelly, Donna

Smith, Dave

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

Andrew, Jill

Arthur, Ian

Bell, Jessica

Berns-McGown, Rima

Bisson, Gilles

Burch, Jeff

Des Rosiers, Nathalie

Fife, Catherine

Fraser, John

French, Jennifer K.

Gates, Wayne

Gélinas, France

Glover, Chris

Gretzky, Lisa

Harden, Joel

Hassan, Faisal

Hatfield, Percy

Horwath, Andrea

Hunter, Mitzie

Karpoche, Bhutila

Lalonde, Marie-France

Lindo, Laura Mae

Mamakwa, Sol

Mantha, Michael

Miller, Paul

Monteith-Farrell, Judith

Morrison, Suze

Rakocevic, Tom

Sattler, Peggy

Schreiner, Mike

Shaw, Sandy

Singh, Gurratan

Singh, Sara

Stevens, Jennifer (Jennie)

Stiles, Marit

Tabuns, Peter

Taylor, Monique

Vanthof, John

West, Jamie

Yarde, Kevin

The Clerk of the Assembly (Mr. Todd Decker): The ayes are 68; the nays are 40.

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

Motion agreed to.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): This House stands in recess until 3 p.m.

The House recessed from 1202 to 1500.

Correction of record

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Point of order: the member for Windsor–Tecumseh.

Mr. Percy Hatfield: Thank you, Speaker. I’d like to correct my record. Yesterday at this time, I made a member’s statement on the passing of my friend Daphne Clarke. I said she came to Windsor in 1980. Speaker, Daphne came to our community in 1970, and I apologize for my error.

Introduction of Visitors

Ms. Natalia Kusendova: Good afternoon, Speaker. Today, I have a very special guest in the gallery: my mom, Anna Kusendova, who came to watch me present my private member’s bill, as well as her friend Ms. Barbara Bisek, who is a registered nurse and works in our hospital. Thank you so much for being here.

Mr. Roman Baber: I would like to introduce my parents, Ilia and Rozana Baber, and my little sister and her husband, who are going to be joining us shortly, Dr. Marta Baber and Mr. Jesse Braun.

Members’ Statements

Workers’ rights

Mr. Joel Harden: I rise on May 1, International Workers’ Day, to honour the struggles, sacrifices and contributions of working people. I’m proud to be here representing a party that was set up to advance workers’ demands. Universal health care, public pensions, workplace rights: These things were never freely given. Generations of Canadians—our grandmothers and grandfathers—fought for them, and I salute them today on May 1.

I also make these remarks, Speaker, at a time when it’s actually hard for me to be here. There are communities neighbouring to mine that are suffering incredible damage, given the floods, and it’s the first responders and volunteers who have shown us the power of working people in practice. In fact, Speaker, I saw something first-hand when I was sandbagging that I’d like to share with this House. In an emergency situation, I saw city staff, first responders and the military, whom I’m very thankful for, come together, and they accomplished great things.

In that same spirit of selflessness, on May 1, I invite us to consider what we as a province could contribute to solving the great crises of our time: climate change, poverty and inequality. To me, that’s what democratic socialism is all about. It’s about neighbours helping each other in their time of need to accomplish great things.

Speaker, on May 1, I want to remind us to think of the goal to build a province for the many, not the few.

Bone marrow donation

Mr. Deepak Anand: Bone marrow transplants, also called stem cell transplants, treat over 80 diseases and disorders, including certain forms of cancer. A patient’s diseased bone marrow is replaced with healthy stem cells from a donor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to raise awareness for the bone marrow registry. On any given day, there are about 1,000 Canadians on a waiting list for a bone marrow transplant. Three out of four patients rely on external bone marrow donors. Finding a potential donor is not an easy job, especially among South Asians, where there’s a one-in-a-million chance because of the extremely low donor registration rate.

I would like to recognize a charity, Match For Marrow, from the GTA, which has partnered with Canadian Blood Services and other international organizations to raise awareness for bone marrow registries. Match For Marrow was founded in 2010 when Jasnoor Deol was diagnosed with blood cancer and his family wanted to help him. Jasnoor has been waiting nine years for a transplant and still hasn’t found a donor. I commend the efforts of Match For Marrow.

Mr. Speaker, South Asians only make up 5% of the worldwide bone marrow/stem cell network. I want to talk about a youth, Avinash, who passed away on April 21 after waiting for three years for a potential donor he was not able to find.

I encourage everyone to get involved and spread awareness and, for further information, go to www.onematch.ca.

Government’s record

Mr. Faisal Hassan: I rise today on behalf of my constituents, the hard-working and decent people of York South–Weston.

The last few months have been challenging in my riding. My constituents are angry, hurt, disappointed and overwhelmingly frustrated with this government.

The Ford Conservatives campaigned on a commitment that no cuts would be made to front-line services and jobs. The reality on the ground across the province is different. Programs vital to the success of many communities in York South–Weston and beyond, supporting women, newcomers, racialized folks, students and low-income households, are now in jeopardy, all because of this government’s attacks on front-line services.

The implications of this budget are far-reaching. Everyone, from the young child wanting to borrow their first book from a public library, to the high school student without reliable access to the Internet being forced to take an online class, to the nurse who is being let go due to a lack of funding, to the senior citizen on a fixed income whose recreational program was defunded, will be severely impacted by this budget.

Teachers who have dedicated their lives to the education and well-being of our children are losing their jobs all across this province.

This government has turned its back on the people of Ontario. It is only making things worse. The people of York South–Weston and the people of this province deserve better.

Ontario Christian Gleaners

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

Mrs. Belinda Karahalios: Thank you, honourable Speaker. Today I’m speaking about an event and an organization that you yourself are actually quite familiar with.

On April 12, I had the pleasure of attending the Ontario Christian Gleaners dinner to celebrate their important work over the past 10 years in my riding of Cambridge.

For those who are not aware, the word “glean” means “to gather from a field what is left” in order to give back to our communities. “Gleaning” is a Biblical concept in which God instructed farmers to leave a portion of their crops for the poor or those in need. This is what the Ontario Christian Gleaners aim to do in their work by donating millions of servings of soup worldwide.

Also, their dinner was hosted during National Volunteer Week, and I would be remiss not to highlight the contributions of their volunteers. Thank you for making a difference not only locally in Cambridge but also overseas.

Their volunteers trim over 5,000 pounds of vegetables, which go into over 30,000 servings of soup every day. They trim, dice and dry fresh apples that are then packed as treats for children. All of this food is arranged and donated to their partner organizations, who distribute as far-reaching as Haiti, the Philippines and Romania, just to name a few places.

The Ontario Christian Gleaners are committed to being global citizens and making an impact on alleviating world hunger. They have combined their gospel message with humanitarian aid.

Thank you for all the work that you do, Gleaners.

Indigenous languages

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Chi meegwetch, Mr. Speaker. The United Nations declared 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages, based on a recommendation from the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

The fact that most of these are Indigenous languages puts the culture and knowledge of Indigenous peoples at risk. Ontario is home to six Indigenous language families: Anishinaabemowin, Onkwehonwe, Mushkegowuk, Lenape, Inuktitut and Michif, which includes over 18 unique languages and dialects, including my own, Oji-Cree.

Our languages play a vital role in telling our history. They carry tradition and cultural identity. They tell our creation stories. They provide us with our world views and values. Every year, we lose more and more of our languages. Right now in Ontario, there are no Indigenous languages considered to be safe.

The language that we speak is our way of being. Our language carriers need to work together to carry our languages forward to help one another. Language is culture.

I honour those who do this important work in our communities as it is an essential part of who we are as people.

Meegwetch.

Events in Orléans / Événements divers à Orléans

Mrs. Marie-France Lalonde: I rise before the House today to bring to light a plight experienced by many residents across Ottawa. Flooding has displaced many people from their homes and has had economic consequences. Last weekend, while working alongside volunteers who tirelessly were filling sandbags to help alleviate any further damage, they relayed to me their voices of concern. I want to say thank you to the many volunteers, community leaders, Canadian Armed Forces and first responders who came together to help these residents. It’s very timely, Mr.

Speaker, that today also marks Ontario’s First Responders Day. The flooding in Ottawa is another testament to the essential services first responders provide to help us keep safe and healthy.

Vendredi dernier, j’ai aussi participé au premier gala de collecte de fonds du Centre de secours alimentaire de Gloucester, qui, tristement, soulignait aussi leurs 30 ans de service. This food bank as well as many others is a sad reminder of the needs that still face many families in our communities. We need to do better.

Lastly, I am pleased to say that I will be hosting two autism round tables in Orléans on May 6 and 16. Furthermore, I’m also working with community leaders to host a community consultation on dyslexia needs and disabilities. Mr. Speaker, health care is an important need for me.

Kempenfest

Mr. Doug Downey: Summer is a busy time in Barrie–Springwater–Oro-Medonte and Barrie–Innisfil. Eve