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December 7, 2000

37th Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcripts 2000-Dec-07 (PDF)

L115 - Thu 7 Dec 2000 / Jeu 7 déc 2000

PRIVATE MEMBERS’ PUBLIC BUSINESS

CANCER TREATMENT

FIREFIGHTERS’ MEMORIAL

DAY ACT, 2000 /

LOI DE 2000 SUR LE JOUR

DE COMMÉMORATION DES POMPIERS

CANCER TREATMENT

FIREFIGHTERS’ MEMORIAL DAY

ACT, 2000 /

LOI DE 2000 SUR LE JOUR

DE COMMÉMORATION DES POMPIERS

MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS

BRANT WALK OF FAME

MUNICIPAL RECOGNITION AWARDS

LABOUR DISPUTE

BOWMANVILLE ZOO

MUNICIPAL RESTRUCTURING

LABOUR DISPUTE

AIMING FOR THE TOP SCHOLARSHIPS

DOCTOR SHORTAGE

ST THERESA’S HIGH SCHOOL

REPORTS BY COMMITTEES

STANDING COMMITTEE

ON GENERAL GOVERNMENT

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

NIAGARA ESCARPMENT

PROTECTION ACT, 2000 /

LOI DE 2000 SUR LA PROTECTION

DE L’ESCARPEMENT DU NIAGARA

MARRIAGE AMENDMENT ACT, 2000 /

LOI DE 2000 MODIFIANT

LA

LOI SUR LE MARIAGE

PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION

PRIVACY ACT, 2000 /

LOI DE 2000 SUR LA CONFIDENTIALITÉ

DES RENSEIGNEMENTS PERSONNELS

SUR LA SANTÉ

VISITOR

STATEMENTS BY THE MINISTRY

AND RESPONSES

PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION PRIVACY LEGISLATION

ORAL QUESTIONS

LABOUR LEGISLATION

SCHOOLTEACHERS

HOMELESSNESS

SCHOOL EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

SCHOOLTEACHERS

LABOUR DISPUTE

NURSING PROGRAMS

DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIAL

IN SCHOOLS

LABOUR LEGISLATION

OPP FACILITY

LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

DRINKING AND DRIVING

PROVISION OF INFORMATION

PETITIONS

STUDDED TIRES

PROTECTION OF MINORS

OPP FACILITY

NORTHERN HEALTH TRAVEL GRANT

REGISTRATION OF VINTAGE CARS

WATER EXTRACTION

REGISTRATION OF VINTAGE CARS

WATER EXTRACTION

REGISTRATION OF VINTAGE CARS

ORDERS OF THE DAY

EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS ACT, 2000 /

LOI DE 2000 SUR LES NORMES D’EMPLOI

The House met at 1000.

Prayers.

PRIVATE MEMBERS’ PUBLIC BUSINESS

CANCER TREATMENT

Mr Joseph N. Tascona (Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford): I move that in the opinion of this House, the Ministry of Health should undertake to do the following:

-- Review the

schedule of payment for PSA testing in Ontario to determine whether providing payment for PSA testing by the provincial health plan for men without symptoms may increase detection of prostate cancer in asymptomatic men and, if so, provide such payment;

-- Create a prostate cancer awareness program and provide the money required for such purpose;

-- Work with the Canada Post stamp advisory committee to facilitate the development and issuance of a commemorative stamp to raise research funds to support the fight against women’s breast cancer.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr Michael A. Brown): Mr Tascona has moved ballot item number 53. The member has up to 10 minutes for his presentation.

Mr Tascona: The first part of my presentation on this matter will deal with PSA testing and the second part will deal with the commemorative stamp for women’s breast cancer.

First of all, what is a PSA test? It is a blood test that measures a substance produced by the prostate gland called prostrate specific antigen. The PSA blood test tells doctors when patients have a higher-than-normal level of PSA. A high level of PSA usually means that the patient has a prostate problem but it does not necessarily mean he has cancer. Men who have a prostate infection or prostate growth that is not cancerous may also have high levels of PSA.

Studies have shown that prostate cancer is the second most frequent cause of cancer-related death among men and early diagnosis is essential. The bottom line is that the PSA test is one of the most significant biochemical tests for the early detection of cancer.

Currently the ministry pays for the following: when a man has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is receiving treatment or is being followed up after treatment for the disease, the PSA test is available at no charge to the patient through the hospital laboratory service. Secondly, when a doctor suspects prostate cancer because of a man’s history and the results of his physical examination, including digital rectal examination, PSA testing is available at no charge to the patient through the hospital laboratory service.

In men without symptoms, the PSA test is not paid for by the provincial health plan. A man can have his PSA test if he is willing to pay for the test himself. However, it is hoped he will make the decision only after discussion with his doctor.

The ministry has stated, in a letter to one of my constituents: “The laboratories branch of the ministry has committed to reviewing the comments the ministry has received over the last year regarding the impact of the policy on PSA. We will also consider any new clinical evidence that has been published. In evaluating the clinical evidence, we will again rely on the opinions of experts.”

The resolution I have put forth today has been reviewed by the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation, and they are supportive of there being a reduction in the barrier to the increased use of PSA tests and are also in favour of prostate cancer awareness with respect to bringing this issue forward.

In terms of the studies, there are a number of them. The one I want to refer to is entitled To Be Screened or Not To Be Screened: PSA Testing for Prostate Cancer. It’s very interesting. It says:

“In recent years the incidence of prostate cancer diagnosis has been increasing in Canadian men. On the other hand, the mortality rate from prostate cancer has remained relatively stable. This increasing gap between incidence and mortality suggests either that the treatment is more effective or that earlier detection is taking place, with men living with a diagnosis of prostate cancer for a longer time.”

What that indicates, not only here in Canada but also in studies in the United States, is that there is a clear downward trend in prostate cancer mortality in Canada and in the United States.

“This downward trend in mortality coincided with an increase in PSA screening. Although these data may reflect earlier diagnosis and treatment of advanced disease, as well as more definitive treatment of localized disease, the figures are compelling.

“Before we adopt a universal screening program for the early detection of the disease it is important that an effective treatment be available to those diagnosed. Although some studies report prolonged progression-free survival following radical prostatectomy and suggest that this is a result of earlier treatment and more organ-confined disease, others suggest that the benefits of prostatectomy have been overestimated.

Until we can determine if the prolonged survival is a result of earlier detection and treatment or the fact that less malignant tumours are being identified by screening, we cannot argue against prudence in prescribing PSA testing for all men between 50 and 70 years of age. PSA screening every five years does not seem adequate, however. I agree that yearly testing is reasonable unless the serum PSA level is below 1.0 ng/mL, in which case testing every two years would be acceptable.”

What we’re looking for is a balance here in terms of the bar with respect to this type of testing.

My constituent from my riding, whose name is John Batstone, shared this information with me. Certainly the figures are out there with respect to PSA testing. He says:

“I realize that a study to prove that the mortality rate of men will improve with widespread screening for prostate cancer has not been conducted. I suggest to you the study will never happen as it will be difficult to find a group of men who will be willing to forgo a PSA test that will find cancer in at least 3% of the group. I think 3% of Ontario men is a significant number, and to suggest funding for widespread screening is not warranted based on that percentage is to legislate without conscience.”

The information we have with respect to prostate cancer and the fact that there should be more awareness made of it with respect to men speaks to two things: (1) early detection can decrease the mortality rate, and (2) a focus with respect to dealing with the PSA test in terms of whether it should be a test for one year or two years or you designate a particular age group. That issue has to be reviewed and it has to be given the attention it deserves.

What I’d like to do in the last couple of minutes of my opening statement is deal with the breast cancer stamp. I’ve received support from Cancer Care Ontario with respect to this initiative. I’ve also received support from Premiers and ministers of health across the provinces and territories with respect to this initiative. It’s designed to raise funds to support research for breast cancer. This is done in the United States through a semi-annual stamp.

I have a letter from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation which supports this initiative. They comment about the United States stamp:

“We know that this stamp was extremely successful in the United States, raising over $15 million in two years, and we are certain that we can also have very successful results in Canada. The proceeds from the stamps will be used by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation for breast cancer research, education, diagnosis and treatment. This will bring us one step closer to eradicating this disease.”

The major challenge is to get the Canada Post stamp advisory committee, which is located in Ottawa, to allow this to happen. They have only allowed a stamp of this nature to be used to raise funds on one occasion, and that was with respect to literacy. I would say that there’s compelling evidence and there is obviously tremendous support with respect to a breast cancer stamp. I’ll just read from this article:

“According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the leading cause of death for women between the ages of 35 and 54. This year 173,000 women will be diagnosed with the disease and 43,000 will die from it.

“The breast cancer stamp features a woman with the phrase ‘Fund the fight; find a cure.’”

I have written to the Canada Post stamp advisory committee. They have indicated they will look at this, but I think we need to make sure that we have the support of this Legislature, that we have support throughout this country and also from organizations such as Cancer Care Ontario and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation to emphasize to the Canada Post stamp advisory committee that this needs to be done. To me, to have issued one stamp to deal with raising funds for literacy has set a standard that this can be done also.

That’s my resolution. I look for support from the House on these two matters for PSA testing and breast cancer.

Mr Michael Gravelle (Thunder Bay-Superior North): I’m very pleased to join the debate. I will say at the outset that I certainly intend to support the member’s resolution, and I hope all members of the House will. In some ways, it probably doesn’t go far enough. I think the Ministry of Health and the minister have been slow to recognize that this is something that should be under the OHIP formulary. There is no question that this has some real impact on people that is substantial. I want to make it clear that I think we should be moving forward with this.

The issue of prostate cancer is one of extraordinary concern. According to the Canadian cancer statistics for the year 2000, there are more cases of prostate cancer diagnosed among Canadian men than any other form of cancer.

I think it’s important to say that prostate cancer doesn’t just affect men. It impacts on entire families, because it is the fathers, the sons, the husbands, the brothers, the uncles, the grandfathers, the cousins or the friends who are affected, and the reverberating effects are obviously experienced by all.

The fear of prostate cancer also impacts on individuals. Sometimes men are unable to have entitlement to the peace of mind that can accompany a screening test that has been negative simply because they cannot afford the luxury of having a test that has to be paid for out of their own pockets. There is genuine concern among many people due to the fact that the cost of the PSA test, which of course is the prostatic specific antigen test, that’s done at a clinic or a doctor’s office, even in cases where cancer is definitely suspected, is not covered by OHIP.

I cannot help but wonder why such an important testing procedure is not properly funded through OHIP rather than shuffling off to a hospital laboratory those men whose physical exam and history point in a substantial way to cancer being a distinct possibility. Those costs are covered by OHIP.

This year, huge amounts of money are being poured by this government into supplying free flu vaccine to anybody who wants it. There is absolutely no fee schedule. Whether you’re high risk, low risk, no risk, no matter, the flu shot is there for the taking, and that’s a good thing. But add to this the very substantial dollars that have been poured into the expensive advertising, including television promotions, to encourage individuals to take advantage of this free vaccine, and you see what the ministry is able to commit to.

In contrast, examine the selective criteria related to the

schedule of payment for PSA testing in Ontario. I will just read it quickly, if I may. This is the

schedule of payment for PSA testing:

“When a man has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is receiving treatment, or is being followed after treatment for the disease, the PSA test is available at no charge to the patient through the hospital laboratory service.

“When a doctor suspects prostate cancer because of a man’s history and the results of his physical examination ... PSA testing is available at no charge to the patient through the hospital laboratory service.

“In men without symptoms ... PSA testing is not paid for by the provincial health plan. A man can have the PSA test if he is willing to pay for the test himself. However, it is hoped he will make this decision only after discussion with his doctor.”

This has to change. The minister has stated publicly that the ministry will review its position on broad public screening for PSA if there is clinical evidence to support the statement that screening improves the outcome of patients. I think we’ve moved beyond that point. The minister’s colleague Mr Tascona is asking that there be a review of the

schedule of payment for PSA testing in Ontario to determine whether providing payment for testing by the provincial health plan for men without symptoms may increase detection of prostate cancer in asymptomatic men. If so, they should provide such payment.

I’ve spoken with many of my constituents over the past several years who are very apprehensive about the possibility of prostate cancer and who would very much like to have the screening test but who simply cannot afford the test, particularly on a repeated basis. Prostate cancer is known to be a disease of aging, and this is the time of life when most people are on reduced incomes and where every penny counts.

Often these are men whose wives very sensibly practise preventive health measures of their own and who make sure, for example, that they have their regular Pap smears, breast examinations and mammograms, all of course paid for in full by our provincial health system, as it very much should be. We’re very pleased that’s the case. They keep hearing that early detection is of paramount importance. How long do we have to wait for government-appointed experts to tell us this is also the case with prostate cancer?

Certainly there is an added cost to this, but I ask you, Speaker, and ask everyone in the House, what price do we put on a situation that can possibly prevent a death? Having lost my own father to cancer about a year and a half ago, I understand first-hand how painful it is to watch a loved one suffer and ultimately lose that person’s treasured presence. I want to support positive measures for early detection and for prevention of advanced disease. I care for my constituents, and I worry about the things which worry them. On their behalf, I want to fight for what is fair.

I believe that my colleague’s resolution is fair, and therefore I offer my support for it and I ask all members of the House to support it as well.

Mr Gilles Bisson (Timmins-James Bay): I want to say at the outset that I, along with other members of our NDP caucus, will be supporting this resolution. I think we also recognize that there’s not much chance that this in the end is going to lead to PSA testing being done on an annual basis and being paid for by the Ministry of Health, for a number of reasons which I want to outline.

We know the Canadian Cancer Society is not as supportive of this endeavour of annual testing for PSA as some would believe. The Canadian Cancer Society still believes there’s some work to be done in order to determine if actually doing a PSA test on every individual is in the end going to give us the results we want when it comes to detecting the possibility of somebody contracting prostate cancer. Mr Tascona can speak to that a little bit later.

I know and I understand quite well, knowing how this government operates and how other governments have operated in the past, that this resolution will be passed this morning. But the way the resolution is written, it basically gives the government the kind of wiggle room it needs to be able not to do anything, but to give the opportunity to the member to say, “Look at this. I’ve got a resolution. It passed. I was able to do this wonderful thing in the Legislature this particular morning, December 7, 2000.”

If you look at the resolution and you read it carefully, it says, “[To] review the

schedule of payment for PSA testing in Ontario to determine whether providing payment for PSA testing by the provincial health plan for men without symptoms,” etc. The point is “review.” All that’s going to happen is that the ministry is basically going to utilize the work that the Canadian Cancer Society is doing and is going to say, “Until the Canadian Cancer Society is finished its work, we don’t believe that paying for PSA tests on every man in the province of Ontario within certain criteria is warranted.” It is not going to happen. This is just an opportunity to say, “Look at something wonderful we are doing in health care.”

I would suggest to the member across the way that what we could do, and it is something that is proven, something that is supported by the Canadian Cancer Society, is around the whole issue of colorectal cancer. You would know that Cancer Care Ontario and the Canadian Cancer Society have both come back and said that if we were to do tests on men over age 50 every year, and all we were to do is, I think, take a stool sample and check for blood, that is the most effective way of being able to curtail the amount of death caused by colorectal cancer.

In fact, in studies where that’s been done -- and according to the research notes I have, there have been 22 studies done in North America -- all 22 studies have said in conclusion that if we were to check for colorectal cancer, we would be able to eliminate up to 80% of those deaths from colorectal cancer.

I raise this in this debate for the following reason. The government of Ontario, the Mike Harris government, agreed with that position about two years ago if I remember correctly. At that time, the Minister of Health got up and said: “We believe that what we are being told is true. We want to be able to provide for an annual test for colorectal cancer across the province for men over age 50. We know, according to the studies,” said the government of the day, Mike Harris, a couple of years ago, “that if we were to do this, we could save up to 80% of those people who contract colorectal cancer.”

Unfortunately, like most health announcements made by this government, nothing came of it. There was a photo op. The minister got up in front of the cameras. They had their drop designed in the back in order to give the specific message they wanted to give going into the last election. They made the announcement that they were going to do this, and nothing happened. We are two years later and there is no annual testing done for colorectal cancer.

When the government was brought to task after the election, raised by our NDP health critic, Frances Lankin, the minister said, “Oh, well, hang on a second. We are not going to do full annual tests for everybody. We are going to do a pilot program in order to determine if doing screening for colorectal cancer will actually give us the results we are looking for, because we have to make sure whatever we do is done in such a way that we know we are going to get a good result for the dollars being spent.” That was over a year and a half ago.

The pilot project that now the minister has retreated to, where she has said they are not going to do full annual testing for colorectal cancer for men and women over age 50, but instead are going to do a pilot project, hasn’t even started yet.

I say to the member across the way, and I know the member for Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford brings this to us in sincerity, the reality is that your motion is going to pass this morning, and the Minister of Health is going to basically sit on this and do nothing with it because she is not convinced, even in cases where colorectal cancer testing has proven to determine who is going to get cancer and curb the number of people dying from cancer; 22 studies that have been done all point in the same direction, that up to 80% of those tested will have their lives saved because of the colorectal test.

They have not moved on that particular issue. What makes you believe that the government is going to move on PSA testing when the Canadian Cancer Society is at this point saying, “We think the book hasn’t been written on this”? They don’t believe at this point that testing across the province every man over the age of 40 or 50 is going to be the way to go. I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. I’m not a scientist. I’m not going to pretend it is or isn’t.

We’ll support your resolution because we think it’s a step in the right direction, but I want to ask the member simply this: what makes you believe, Mr Tascona, that at the end of the day the government is actually going to follow through on this resolution? And are you prepared to give us some sort of guarantee that within a period of time -- let’s say we’ll give you 12 months -- we are going to get a definite answer on your resolution? I don’t think so. I don’t think you’re going to be able to commit to that.

You know yourself, when it comes to other issues of annual testing such as colorectal cancer, that it is your government that has not taken action on that particular issue. That’s much the same as we’ve seen with most issues dealing with health care with this provincial government.

When they were elected in 1995, the Harris government embarked on an aggressive agenda in order to wrestle money out of the health care system. They set up the hospital restructuring commission, which took a look at which hospitals they could close across Ontario. We’re seeing the effects of those decisions now by way of people who are not able to get into emergency rooms across Toronto and across all of this province. In fact, people living in Kapuskasing were not able to use the emergency department for what it is intended on two nights in the month of November because we didn’t have doctors to give us coverage in those emergency departments.

One of the reasons we find ourselves in this position is because the government has systematically taken money out of health care in order to offset what they were giving to people by way of the tax cut, and it is only lately that they’ve started to put some money back because they threw the entire system into chaos and the system is starting to break down to an extent. Yes, the Ontario health care system is still a good public health care system that works fairly well for individuals.

There are all kinds of good examples where people who need treatment for bypass surgery or whatever it is get excellent care in our hospitals. But there are signs that the system is starting to fray. It started to fray directly, member from Barrie, because your government made cuts in the health care system that threw the system into a bit of a spasm, as we might say. Now your government is starting to invest some of that money back in. Welcome back. We don’t know where you’ve been for the last six years but we’re happy that you’ve finally come back to your senses.

But you created the problems in the system that we’re now having to experience today.

I don’t think for a second that by passing this motion we are in the end going to see Ontario come any closer to annual PSA tests being done for men over the age of 40 or 50. I don’t think that’s going to happen because clearly your government has not demonstrated, in my opinion and in the opinion of many others, that it is really committed to the issue of public health care and developing a public health care system into the new millennium. In fact, I think you’ve been trying to take us down the other way.

I believe that part of what this whole agenda about taking money out of the health care system was about was an attempt to put the system into chaos so they could make the argument to start privatizing the system. I really believe that’s what the agenda is of the Harris government. What they have found is that the public’s appetite for private health care is not as strong as the government thought it would be or would like it to be, so they’re trying to put some of the money back in that they’ve taken out. You can’t have a system of health care operate the way it does now, where you take money out and you put entire communities at risk.

I say, on behalf of the people of Kapuskasing, that your government on coming to power in 1995 promised it was going to respond to the critical doctor shortages we have in northern Ontario, that you were going to build on the successes of previous governments -- the NDP government and the Liberal government before that -- with programs designed to attract doctors to northern Ontario. Our approach in the NDP was to train doctors in northern Ontario so they established themselves there. You said you were going to find a solution and here we are, five years later, no closer to having more doctors in northern Ontario than we were five years ago.

Now we’re finding situations such as we found in Kapuskasing this last month, where the doctors are worked off their feet. They’re underpersoned as far as the doctors’ complement in the community of Kapuskasing is concerned. These people are not superhuman. They can’t work 24 hour a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. They need to have some support from their provincial government to say, “We’re prepared to make the investment in health care to make sure that communities like Kapuskasing, Ontario, have a full complement of doctors so that we can provide the kind of health care system the citizens in that community, as in other communities, are entitled to.”

It is unacceptable to find ourselves in a situation where, for two days last month, the emergency ward at Sensenbrenner Hospital had to close from 8 o’clock at night to 8 o’clock in the morning because there weren’t doctors to cover the emergency ward. What we have instead are people coming into emergency, being treated by nurses, who try real hard, but if there’s anything serious we don’t have the expertise of a doctor to cover off the emergency that walks through the door. That I put squarely in the lap of the provincial government.

I say to the Minister of Health and to the Premier, let us hope and pray that nobody comes to their death because they’ve not been able to get a doctor in an emergency ward somewhere in Ontario, like Kapuskasing, over the next while.

We’ve been raising this issue with you directly and we’re asking for your help. We’re saying there are two things you can do. The first thing you can do is provide the kind of funding that’s necessary to bring doctors in on locums. Yes, there are already existing programs there and, yes, that is partially successful, but we need to try to do something to attract those doctors in other communities who might be able to come in on a locum to give doctors like we have in Kapuskasing the respite they need.

That deals with the immediate solution, but the long-term solution is that we need to establish a northern medical training centre somewhere in northern Ontario. One thing we’ve learned in the north is that if people go off to study to become doctors, that means they’re making a seven- to 10-year commitment of studying somewhere in southern Ontario. If that person is studying in Toronto or London or wherever to become a doctor, they establish roots in the community where they’ve gone to university.

They meet somebody, they do their internship and their residency in a hospital somewhere in southern Ontario, they develop a network of friends and they develop an attraction to a community. I understand that. At the end of the day, they decide to establish their practice close to where they made that group of friends. It’s hard for them to then pick up and take off and go to practise in a community like Moosonee or Kapuskasing or Pickle Lake or wherever it might be.

I would argue that what we need to do, especially in the north, is to establish at one of our universities that currently exist -- Lakehead, Laurentian or Nipissing -- a program where we’re able to train our own doctors in northern Ontario facilities, universities and hospitals, so that those young people in northern Ontario who decide -- or people in southern Ontario -- to become doctors and go to university in northern Ontario have an opportunity to train in the north, establish roots in those communities, do their internship and residency work directly in places like Manitoulin Island, Sudbury, Timmins, Kapuskasing, Pickle Lake, Nipigon or wherever it might be.

There’s more of a chance that once those young people graduate, they are going to stay in those communities and decide to make their lives in those communities.

We have learned one thing through this process. The Liberal government tried by way of attraction programs to drag doctors to northern Ontario. It was a good idea at the time, but we’ve learned that as much as you try to entice people to a community, you can’t force people to live somewhere if they don’t want to live there. We found the most attractive program is to train those doctors in the north. That’s something the NDP started when we did the northern residency program. We found the retention is that about 80% of those people who do their internship in northern communities end up staying there.

We’re saying, let’s expand on that success and let’s create a medical facility in northern Ontario that trains doctors so that in a day not too far down the road we don’t have to shut Sensenbrenner Hospital because we didn’t happen to have a doctor.

Mr Bob Wood (London West): I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone in the House that I rise to support this resolution today. One of the reasons I do that is that I think it fits very well into the overall context of our health care reforms.

Members are of course familiar with what those reforms are: the restructuring of hospitals to bring them into the form of 21st century institutions that can provide 21st century health care; the changes in home care, where there have been massive injections of new money, and a change in the system to improve the quality of care and make more care available; and perhaps most important, particularly in the context of this resolution, is our commitment to primary care reform. We have seen an important start on that in the form of the recent agreement with the Ontario Medical Association.

I think that provides the basis for a partnership that is going to result in something everyone agrees should happen -- primary care reform. But we get less consensus when we get to actually looking at how it might be done.

I think an important part of primary reform is going to be prevention, and this resolution speaks directly to that. That’s why it fits so well into the context of our overall direction in this area.

What I like most about the proposals put forward in this resolution is, number one, it takes a look at prevention; number two, it takes a look at results-based action. When we look at paragraph 1, it speaks not only of the proposal, but of finding out whether or not this is a way of actually preventing disease. As we look at prevention, we have to look at what actually works and what actually doesn’t. I think the author of this resolution has been very wise in setting out, as part of the resolution, that we have to know that something is actually going to do some good before we endorse it and do it.

Paragraph 2 speaks to what I think is going to be another important part of 21st century health care, and that is communicating what has to be done to the general population. We’ve heard over many years that we’re now in the communications age, and that’s absolutely true. If there’s a way of making people’s health better and they don’t know about it, it’s worth absolutely nothing. So I think what is spoken about in paragraph 2 is very much a part of what’s going to become 21st century health care.

I offer the same comment about paragraph 3. It speaks again about communications. We, as Canadians, for historical reasons I think have been rather poor communicators, both to our own people about who we are, what we do and what we should be doing, and to others. We don’t get that message out to people outside Canada either. I would encourage the member to continue the work he’s doing with Canada Post. Everybody uses postage stamps, which is obvious. On the other hand, to get important messages on those stamps so that more people get the message, more people can do things that will help improve their health, is very much a 21st century health care idea and I congratulate the member for that.

The last comment I’d like to make in this general area is this: I’m quite confident that this resolution is going to pass. What I’m a little less confident about is that something is going to happen as a result of it. I’d like to offer a caution to everyone in this Legislature and to the government, that I think it’s important this thing not get filed somewhere without further action.

It’s quite possible, as is sometimes done, that we agree with something and then do nothing. I understand why that’s the case, because there are heavy cost pressures and priorities have to be set. But this surely is a good idea. It is not going to cost a lot to get started on it and I hope something will actually happen. I invite all members of this Legislature and all members of the government to give a serious look at actually carrying out what’s proposed in this resolution. It is going to make a real change for the better in the lives of a good number of people if we actually do what’s proposed here, and I invite the Legislature and the government to do it.

Mr James J. Bradley (St Catharines): I am going to be speaking in favour and voting in favour of the resolution today. I’m going to deal primarily with what is in provincial jurisdiction, as I believe we very often and unwisely spend a lot of time dealing with the federal jurisdiction. I will support the stamp as well, I think that is a positive move, but that’s something we can no doubt tell our federal friends they should proceed with in the federal House.

I want to deal with the test itself. I raised this issue about the PSA test in a question to the minister on December 17, 1998, among other times. I happen to believe the PSA test should be available to men who wish to have that test, at no cost -- it’s a simple as that, in my view -- just as other tests are available for other reasons.

Obviously early detection, when you’re dealing with any kind of cancer, is very positive. It increases the chances, first of all, of a person avoiding death from any particular form of cancer, or some longer-term health consequences. It’s going to be important that we have this test available to men, that there not be a barrier. What happens now is that it is essentially a two-tiered situation in health care. If you can afford the test, you can get it, and you pay for the test. If you believe you can’t afford it, then you’re not going to get the test.

I don’t think we should have a two-tiered health care system. That was one of the issues in the federal election campaign. I hope the federal election campaign solved that issue, though I suspect it did not, because those who are proponents of a two-tiered health care system continue to propose that.

I think all of us would agree that early detection is important. This test is one tool available for that purpose. All of us probably have received telephone calls and letters from people who are grateful they had the PSA test and had their cancer detected early. I remember getting a letter from a former teacher of mine who lives in the riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka and is a friend of Ernie Eves, as well as a friend of mine. We correspond from time to time, at Christmastime and so on. He wrote to me saying how he thought it was very important because his cancer had been detected early as a result of a PSA test.

We’ve heard that from people so many times. We’ve also heard from people who are sorry they did not have that test available in a timely fashion, because their cancer had been more advanced. We’re all aware of people we’ve lost -- good friends, colleagues, members of family -- to prostate cancer and other forms of cancer, and we’re saddened by this. My very good friend and former colleague in this House the Honourable Robert Welch, as we know, passed away this year as a result of prostate cancer. He made a wonderful contribution to this province.

There should be no cost to this test. I suspect this resolution has been vetted by the Ministry of Health because it doesn’t call directly for this test to be provided free of charge. It asks the government to investigate this. That means it has gone through the Ministry of Health and the Minister of Health has looked at it and said, “Please don’t put this in the form of resolution that compels the government to do so. It puts too much pressure on.”

However, it does raise the issue again. I think it is positive to have the issue raised in this House again so that the minister can have yet another look at this matter. Reference has been made to colorectal cancer, for instance, and screening processes for colorectal cancer. It would be important to make that much more widespread. Many of us realize that many people have been afflicted with that disease and that early detection is extremely important in that case.

When we get into the treatment of these diseases, because we’re looking at some costs, this will save money in the long term if people have their cancer detected early. The consequences will not be as great. It will save money. I don’t think people should have to go to another country to receive timely treatment for cancer care. That’s what’s happening now in Ontario.

I worry about the doctor shortage in Niagara, and it’s an acute crisis at this time, whether people again are going to be able, through other ways, to detect diseases at as early a stage as I would like to see them detected.

We know we have a chaotic ambulance dispatch service in the Niagara region. That’s another problem for another day that we will have to deal with in this House.

As well, because we’re talking about costs here, there’s no question that if you’re going to have a top-notch health care system which is available universally, which is not a privatized system, which is not a two-tier health care system, it requires a massive investment of government funding. I believe the people of this province want to see that investment. That’s why members hear me worry aloud in this House about massive tax cuts.

It’s because I believe we deprive ourselves, particularly during a downturn in the economy -- not so much now, but during a downturn -- of needed revenue to be able to invest in the kind of essential health care matters that the member from Barrie has raised before the House today. That’s certainly a worthwhile investment and I would support that kind of investment.

He talks about awareness. It’s absolutely essential to have that awareness. People are fearful, but we have to have that awareness. I believe the stamp would be a positive step as well.

I intend to vote for this resolution, though I believe the test should be free of charge at this point in time and available upon request.

Mr Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North): It’s a pleasure to rise this morning to make a few comments on the member for Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford’s resolution. I’d like to thank the other speakers, from Thunder Bay-Superior North, Timmins-James Bay and London West, for their comments, as well as Mr Bradley’s comments.

I was at a meeting just the other morning, the township of Oro-Medonte’s inaugural meeting, and a gentleman came up to me from the Probus Club in Barrie. Mr Tascona had spoken to the club a few weeks ago and had brought up the fact that he was bringing forward a resolution here in the House. The gentleman asked me to make sure we do whatever we could here in the House to support this resolution. He himself had been through and is currently going through some prostate cancer treatments, and he asked me to pass on to the members of the House and to Mr Tascona that we do everything we can to keep this resolution going forward.

I’d also like to thank Mr Tascona for his support of the Cancer Care Ontario unit that we’re working very hard to have come to Simcoe county, to that part of Ontario. The Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie of course is a very large and new hospital; it’s almost regional in status. Mr Tascona has been working very diligently to ensure that Cancer Care does come to Barrie, and I hope that does happen over the next few years because we have a growing population in that region. I’m pleased that Mr Tascona has taken the initiative in his own riding to have that done.

I think the resolution is really an investment in the citizens of our province. I look at paying the $20, and whether the people can afford it or not. I think it should be available at no cost to men across our province, particularly as men reach the age of 50 and early detection could save or protect that person’s health for the future. It’s not only for health care dollars that may be spent in a terminally ill ward at some time, but it’s also the fact that people can lose their salaries and lose many years of work or contribution to Ontario’s economy.

I think for the investment alone it’s well worth it, although I would expect that our federal partners would want to cover their fair share of any of these costs as well.

The other thing that I think is very important this morning is the portion of the resolution on the Canada stamp. That’s an excellent idea. I hope this resolution is successful today and we can forward this. I hope that any discussions with Canada Post’s advisory committee will bring forth a positive response and we can put the fight against breast cancer in women on that stamp.

I think it falls in line with other awareness we see about women’s breast cancer, and that’s the fact that even a lot of companies like Royal Doulton -- I don’t know if anybody’s aware of it, but if any of you gentlemen want to buy a Christmas gift for your wife or your mother or anything like that, the Royal Doulton Co has a doll each year from which, for every one bought, they contribute $35 to the cancer society in support of the fight against breast cancer in women.

I was amazed, when we opened the new breast screening program in the city of Orillia, how supportive the community was. I didn’t have any idea at that time that just in one year, in one of the locations, they had done over 22,000 breast screenings for women. I wasn’t aware it was that high.

I consider this a resolution of protection. It’s very similar to the public health money we spend, and I certainly hope all members of this House will support this resolution this morning.

Mr Rick Bartolucci (Sudbury): I stand in support of the resolution by Mr Tascona and commend him for taking up the cause as a member on the government side. Certainly you will know, and Hansard will show, that for over three and a half years now I have read petitions into the record with regard to this particular test, asking the Minister of Health and the Harris government to ensure that it is covered. To date, I’ve only received letters from the Minister of Health that she won’t include it. So I commend the government member for challenging the Minister of Health to do what is right.

To this point in time she hasn’t. Hopefully he will effect some positive change and will join the chorus of Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario Liberals in asking the government to fund this test.

I speak from very personal experience because my father died of prostate cancer, a very, very horrible death. He suffered brutally, I guess is the best word to explain it. I don’t know if early detection would have caused him to live longer, but I do know that his was a cruel death. He was a good man, a man who involved himself in his community in a very positive, caring and loving way. Although we question why someone dies the way they die, what we try to do is ensure that others won’t have to experience the same thing, and this is what this resolution does. If early detection saves one life, it’s worth it. If this test saves one life, it’s worth it.

So I commend the member and certainly I’m going to be supporting the member’s resolution. I hope the minister will listen to the member and include this on her list of things to do for treatment within the realm of the Ministry of Health when it comes to cancer. I would also hope that this minister changes her mind and will start fully funding the northern health travel grant, will ensure that there isn’t discrimination for cancer patients. This is all a part of it. This is a bigger picture. But I don’t want to get into that today. Everyone in this House and across Ontario knows my position on this.

This is a resolution that deserves to be supported. It is a resolution that challenges the government to do something positive. It is a resolution that cares about the people in Ontario who hopefully, with this early detection, will avoid the very painful death that my father experienced.

Mrs Brenda Elliott (Guelph-Wellington): While I’m pleased to rise in the House this morning to participate in this debate, and I would like to compliment my colleague Joe Tascona for bringing this issues before the House, it is a difficult issue to discuss. There have been a number of articles and pieces of research done on this particular topic, as to what is the most effective and accurate way of determining whether or not cancer is beginning in the prostate for men.

The resolution that we’re debating today has three parts. The first is to review the

schedule of payment for the PSA testing, the second is to create a prostate cancer awareness program, and the third is dealing with the issue of a commemorative stamp to raise research funds to support the fight against women’s breast cancer. Since two of three of these items deal particularly with prostate cancer, I think those are the two I would wish most to speak about this morning, even though I am a woman and breast cancer obviously is of more personal concern to me.

From my point of view -- I guess this follows from the comments of my colleague across the House, and perhaps it’s because of the age I’m at -- it seems that I know more and more men who have been stricken with this, or at least have had a scare. Perhaps it’s the demographics that we’re facing, but from my own personal experience, and I certainly have received a number of letters about this matter in my constituency office, it’s very clear that it is an issue that is on the minds of the male constituents in my riding.

I wouldn’t limit it just to the men in my riding, but obviously then on the minds of the people who love those men in our riding. There is something about a cancer that is deeply frightening to people, and particularly when you’re dealing with prostate or breast cancer there are different implications that come with that which speak probably to the manliness or the womanliness of the person involved.

It is something that we need to pay attention to as a government, and whether or not the government decides to act on this issue of the testing, the very fact that this issue is being debated in the House this morning in private members’ hour is a step in the right direction to raise awareness of the whole issue for men who haven’t been thinking about it and who may somewhere along the line read an

article or have someone mention to them that it’s something they do need to pay attention to and something that they need to understand for their betterment and for the issue of preventing problems and maintaining optimal health. For the most

part it is an illness that, once detected, can be successfully treated, and that’s true of most cancers nowadays. But obviously the incidences of cancers are growing and any steps that can be taken to prevent this are important.

For many years there has been increased awareness of breast cancer, and certainly our government and many other governments around the world have taken steps to address this. The fact that the whole issue of a stamp is out there being discussed indicates how far awareness of this illness has come. I was at an event this summer, a walk to raise funds and to remember women who had been stricken with breast cancer who had died, and those who had survived.

I was quite heartened to see how many family members were present to remember, but foremost in their minds was to raise the awareness of others in the community so that they wouldn’t lose somebody and so that they would be successful in their fight. Of course, the key in all of that is early detection. Funds are needed for that.

I would simply add my voice as a woman in caucus here to say that I compliment my colleague who has brought these three initiatives forward. I think they are worthy of the consideration and support of this House. They are not always easy topics to talk about, because for many of us when it’s on our minds it’s a signal that we know someone or we have had a personal experience that probably has been painful to us in our personal lives. Such is certainly the case in my own life, but the outcomes have been positive.

I compliment my member and I support him in his endeavour.

The Deputy Speaker: In response, the member for Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford.

Mr Tascona: I want to thank the members who have spoken on this resolution: Thunder Bay-Superior North, Timmins-James Bay, London West, St Catharines, Simcoe North, Sudbury, and Guelph-Wellington. All of their comments are received with thanks.

Certainly the part of the resolution that deals with PSA testing -- prostate cancer is the second most frequent cause of cancer-related death in men. That is a fact. Early detection -- call it prudence -- is something that universal screening can address. There may be issues, obviously, with respect to the age category where that may arise. There may be issues in terms of the frequency of testing. But I think it’s important to look at this for what the intent is, to pay for that test, because prudence is something we should be promoting.

Funding of the awareness is very clearly set out in that resolution. We need to fund an awareness program with respect to this type of cancer. There are ministerial materials that go out there right now to the physician and to the patient which are basically educational in nature. I would submit that’s not enough. We have to do more.

Finally, on the breast cancer stamp, certainly that is something that would be very positive in terms of raising funds for research across this country and also the other issue of awareness. I think with the support of this House and the support that I’ve received in letters from Premiers and Ministers of Health across the country, and working with the Breast Cancer Foundation and other cancer groups, we can put forth a strong case to the stamp advisory committee for them to make this a stamp that can raise funds to fight breast cancer.

The Deputy Speaker: This completes the time allocated for debate. I will place the question regarding this motion at 12 o’clock noon.

FIREFIGHTERS’ MEMORIAL

DAY ACT, 2000 /

LOI DE 2000 SUR LE JOUR

DE COMMÉMORATION DES POMPIERS

Mr Levac moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 107,

An Act to proclaim Firefighters’ Memorial Day / Projet de loi 107, Loi proclamant le Jour de commémoration des pompiers.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr Michael A. Brown): The member for Brant has 10 minutes.

Mr Dave Levac (Brant): Mr Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to make reference to and display and read some materials received from outside the House.

The Deputy Speaker: Agreed? Agreed.

Mr Levac: Thank you, members.

I want to be very clear about the bill. It’s a bill that I believe is non-partisan. I believe it’s long overdue. For the record, I want to read the bill. The bill in itself is two pages long. The first page is the cover page. The second page, the essence of the bill, is one sentence. But the

preamble is very important, so I’d like to read the bill into the record.

“An Act to proclaim Firefighters’ Memorial Day

“Fire fighting is known as one of the most dangerous professions. Firefighters working on behalf of the people of this province are called upon to take extraordinary risks every day in order to protect the public from the dangers posed by fires and other life–threatening situations. Many firefighters have given their lives in the performance of their duties.

“Given the enormous commitment which the firefighters in this province have demonstrated repeatedly to the people of Ontario, it is appropriate to proclaim a memorial day to commemorate those firefighters who have fallen in the line of duty. This day will provide an opportunity for all Ontarians to honour and recognize the important contribution these people made to preserving our safety and well–being.

“Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, enacts as follows” -- and this is the bill:

“1. The first Sunday in October in each year is proclaimed as Firefighters’ Memorial Day.

“2. This act comes into force on the day it receives royal assent.

“3. The

short title of this act is the Firefighters’ Memorial Day Act, 2000.”

That’s the essence of the bill. It’s non-intrusive but it’s important: small but mighty.

I’ve had the opportunity to speak on several occasions in this House regarding firefighters, as is my duty and role as critic for the Solicitor General. When given that honour by Dalton McGuinty, I was taken aback by the trust that he placed in me to protect and to understand the needs of our firefighters and our police and our emergency measures act. So I’d like to share with you some of the comments I have made in the past about our firefighters in this province.

“I rise today to speak on behalf of Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal caucus to recognize the professional firefighters who join us in the Legislature today from fire stations around the province. This is a job that places one’s life on the line every single day. Firefighters perform their duties, understanding the threat of personal injury, in order to keep our communities and families safe. To them and their families I say ... thank you.

“This past Sunday” -- three Sundays ago -- “a firefighter was injured in Sudbury responding to a home fire. Earlier this month, a lone firefighter saved two lives in Midland, even under unsafe” working conditions. “As legislators, it is our duty to assist firefighters any way we can so that they can do their job professionally and safely....”

“That is why months ago I introduced Bill 107, the Firefighters’ Memorial Day Act.”

Specifically, it was in June and, coincidentally, the member from Simcoe North introduced

an act to honour police officers as well. Under those two particular umbrellas, this House must take action that is non-political, non-partisan and simply says that we honour these people. Today it’s the firefighters.

It’s important that we go beyond Bill 107, as important as it is. We have to have right-to-know legislation to protect our firefighters. Third party investigations into occupational diseases is also needed.

I appreciate the fact and the opportunity that has been given to us today to honour and protect our firefighters. As I asked and received unanimous consent, I have received over 450 pieces of correspondence from firefighters across the province, from fire services across the province, from fire chiefs across the province, supporting, asking for and commending this bill because for one day it requests us to stop and think and remember the people who have given their lives in the performance of their duties. There are people in this House who have been affected by the professionalism of firefighters.

There are people in this House who have unfortunately lost family members as a result of firefighting.

In the letter I sent around to ask people if they understood and wanted to have a memorial day, I was able to raise awareness of the fact that currently there is no one day officially recognized in the Ontario Legislature to pay tribute to the outstanding contribution firefighters and those in fire services continue to make in our society day in and day out. I felt, after doing my homework on this issue, that it was long overdue. We need to officially recognize a memorial day for the firefighters.

I also have a list of over 400 individuals from all of the different ridings that were represented in this Legislature from all parties that have received these pieces of correspondence. I also reported to the House beforehand that the bill was approaching and that I sought their unanimous consent to pass the bill as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case right now, but I continue to push and ask this House to give us that time, to give us that moment in time, in history, to allow us to do something in the Legislature that far too often we do not do, and that is fully co-operate on the passing of this legislation in order to prove in a positive and upbeat way that our firefighters are appreciated and their sacrifice is indeed honoured.

We’ve received correspondence from Elora, King, Toronto, Stratford, Listowel, Lincoln, Middlesex, North Perth, the firefighters of West Perth, St Marys, Durham and of course Brantford. Three people in Brantford have lost their lives performing the tasks of firefighting over the years. I want to share for a very short moment some bravery across the province.

On June 17, 1998, Brian Young, a 12-year veteran from south Frontenac, heard a loud crash outside his home, and frantic screams. He rushed out of his home to find a truck engulfed in flames mere metres away from his front door. The 12-year-old driver was already dead. However, Young was able to save the 14-year old passenger after he managed to cut the boy’s safety belt free. When asked what went through his mind when he did this act of bravery, Young said, “I never really thought about it. I just jumped in and helped the boy. That’s my job.”

On November 13, 1999, firefighters pulled a 40-year-old man from a burning house in Timmins. Although the house was in flames, members of the Timmins fire department entered the residence and removed the man safely.

The list is endless. I pulled from the Web site the honour roll from the Toronto firefighters. As far back as 1848 we’ve had firefighters give their lives in the line of duty. From 1848 to now, we have not given ourselves an official day to recognize those who have died in a job that very few people want to do.

I’m asking for non-partisan acceptance of this bill and quick passage in any way, shape or form. I would challenge the members in this House to find a way to make sure that those people who have the authority and the power to do so would take the time to ensure that our brave firefighters are recognized in an official way across Ontario.

I’m very proud to say that I formed a group called Friends of the Firefighters in Brantford, Ontario. In Brantford, our goal was to raise enough money for one thermal imager. The community banded together and we raised enough money to buy three thermal imagers, plus accompanying equipment and training, to the tune of over $110,000. Equally important, in the rest of the riding of Brant I was able to secure through our committee enough money to buy three more thermal imagers, which speaks to our dedication to our men and women who sacrifice their lives day in and day out.

These types of activities prove nothing less than that we honour, respect and admire our firefighters in Ontario. This bill, this act of Parliament, this dedication that we can put in legislation will show one more time the importance in which we hold our firefighters in Ontario.

It’s important for us to recognize that families are behind the firefighters. We need to honour and bring dignity to those fallen lives, for the sake of the firefighters, yes, but more importantly for the living, as a testimony that we respect their families. We respect and honour them and thank them for the sacrifice they know their loved ones make day in and day out.

As I finish my time, I can only ask the members of this House to pass Bill 107 as quickly as possible, and I thank them for their indulgence.

Mr Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North): I rise this morning in support of Bill 107,

An Act to proclaim Firefighters’ Memorial Day in Ontario.

I guess I have to agree with the member from Brant: it’s one of those bills that should be non-partisan and that I believe is very similar to the bill of Mrs Mushinski, from Scarborough Centre, Bill 130, and similar to what I had discussed with Mr Levac earlier, my Bill 111, the Ontario Police Week Act. The fact that no other province has shown leadership in this regard is a chance for us in the province of Ontario to do just that.

As my notes say here, in the last 20 years, between 1979 and 1999, 25 firefighters have lost their lives in the line of duty. I’m not sure whether those numbers are full-time fire departments or include volunteer fire departments, but I did know one person one time, Mr Johnson from the township of Orillia fire department. He died in the line of duty, but he actually died of a heart attack carrying a generator to the scene of a fire. That was a very sad day in the history of that volunteer fire department.

I’d like to just say a few things about volunteer fire departments. I know a lot of the major fires we hear about are handled by full-time departments, but across Ontario we rely heavily, particularly in rural Ontario, on the volunteers who sit on and train under our municipal councils. I’ve had a working relationship for almost 20 years with volunteer fire departments, starting with Fire Chief Ernie Beach in 1980. It was a department that was along the lines of a social club, although they handled a number of fire calls and they did a lot of resuscitation calls as well.

As time progressed, they had continually done more and more training until, when I finished my political career in municipal government in the township of Severn, we had an active volunteer fire department of 80 volunteers, and a full-time chief and deputy chief. I can’t say enough about the work these people do, the hours they put into training, the hours they put into fundraising on behalf of organizations like muscular dystrophy and working on behalf of school programs. They are just good, active members of our communities.

Any time we can support a resolution like Bill 107, I think it’s important we do so. It’s important that we recognize those many people who have given their lives, but also that we recognize that we appreciate the work put in by our full-time and volunteer fire departments across our province. It’s certainly respected. There’s a lot of precautionary action taken on any fire, but the odd time someone dies in the fire and that’s very unfortunate. This time it’s a good opportunity for our government and the opposition to support Mr Levac’s bill. I believe it will send a good message to all our volunteers and our full-time fire departments across the province.

A number of people in this House had the opportunity last week to meet with the professional firefighters’ association. They brought forth some good points. I thought they presented themselves in a very professional manner. I met with them for over an hour in my office and we discussed the issue in Midland where one fireman went into a house fire and actually saved two people. If he hadn’t been there, there probably would have been two people dead today. So those types of problems come forward.

I’m pleased to listen to it. I support Bill 107 and I ask the members of this House to support it as well.

Mr John Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands): I too would like to add my congratulations to the member for Brant for bringing this forward. Many taxpayers, particularly residential property taxpayers, sometimes do not see the value they get for their tax dollars. There are certain municipal services where everyone can see the value they’re getting. We’re thinking of the police, of fire, of some of the other municipal services such as roads and parks and things along that line.

Quite often we forget the risk these individuals take on our behalf to make sure our cities and communities and our smaller villages and hamlets are secure. Whether they’re full-time firefighters or part-time firefighters, they all are doing it with one prime motivation and purpose in mind: to ensure that the people of their communities are safe and sound. To recognize all the firefighters, particularly those firefighters who have given their lives over the years for the safety of their fellow citizens, is commendable and highly overdue.

I was just given a list, and this is only a list of the Toronto firefighters who have lost their lives in fires going right back to 1848. There are well over 250 names on this four-page list of individuals who have actually died as a result of fires that have taken place. I’m sure this goes for the entire province.

I’ve been given another list. In researching this matter, I was able to find these statistics. Just last year, there were three firefighters who lost their lives trying to protect our communities. In Sault Ste Marie a fire occurred in April of last year and a firefighter lost his life. Also in April of last year, two firefighters escaped serious injury in Port Colborne, but they could have very easily been severely injured or killed as a result of that. In May of last year, two Cumberland firefighters used their rescue boat to in effect save two boys who were clinging to an overturned canoe from drowning.

Firefighters aren’t only there to fight fires for us and to make sure our communities are safe; they also are helpful in so many other ways. If we can recognize them all, particularly the ones who have fallen in the course of duty, then I think we should do that. I would like to congratulate the member for Brant for bringing this bill forward. Let’s make sure that from now on, the first Sunday in October will forever be known as Firefighters’ Memorial Day in this province.

Mr Joseph N. Tascona (Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford): I’m very pleased to rise today with respect to the private member’s bill brought forth by Mr Levac. The intention -- it’s

An Act to proclaim Firefighters’ Memorial Day -- is something this province would be the leader in with respect to doing such a thing, because when you review the jurisdiction across the other provinces in terms of what they have done, it’s remarkable that there is little, if any, legislation on the matter. Second, some provinces don’t have a memorial or a provincial day of recognition for this group of hard-working public servants.

This province has taken a number of measures to support our firefighters. In 1997 the Ministry of the Solicitor General introduced a public safety officers’ survivor scholarship fund of $5 million to provide scholarships for spouses and children of public safety officers killed in the line of duty. The fund was established to enable the people of Ontario to partially recognize the debt of honour owed to surviving families.

Firefighters are considered public safety officers. We obviously know that because their service is so essential that they’re not given the right to strike. To date, approximately $81,000 in scholarship funding has been provided to 13 recipients, since the program was introduced. All were children of fallen officers, 11 in total, or firefighters, two in total.

There is also another initiative that’s underway by Marilyn Mushinski, the member for Scarborough Centre. Her private member’s bill entitled

An Act to proclaim Ontario Firefighters’ Week recognizes the brave men and women who unselfishly risk their lives to keep us safe from the perils of fire in our homes, workplaces and communities. Her bill would legislate a week dedicated to the contribution firefighters make to public safety and encompass a day of memorial for fighters, as per current practice.

There’s no doubt that Firefighters’ Memorial Day is something we all can support. The measures that have been taken by this government have gone a long way in terms of changes to how firefighting is done, not only in terms of fire trucks but in changes to the Ontario fire code; smoke alarms; Bill 84, which is the Fire Protection and Prevention Act; changes to the fire marshal’s public fire safety council; and also the office of the fire marshal, who has a very important role to play in this process also.

The Solicitor General has taken a number of steps with respect to not only giving recognition to the men and women in the firefighting profession, but also providing a structure to promote not only safety within the profession but also public awareness. I think that’s what the member across is trying to do here: bring about public awareness, public appreciation of the work that has been done by firefighters in their profession.

When you combine that with the private member’s bill by the member for Scarborough Centre,

An Act to proclaim Ontario Firefighters’ Week, it certainly is recognition to honour our firefighters with respect to public safety, so certainly I can support this. I’d be very surprised if other members in the House wouldn’t support this in terms of the role that firefighters play. This is not something that is owned by one particular member. We’re glad the member has brought this forth. We’re all here together as equals. We’re all here together to recognize a profession that has provided public safety, and there should be no ownership in this particular piece of legislation, because there isn’t any. It’s all something that we equally share.

Mr Ernie Parsons (Prince Edward-Hastings): It truly is a privilege to stand and support Bill 107, put forward by the member for Brant. I congratulate Mr Levac on taking the initiative and the lead to get this going.

I, quite frankly, am in awe of our firefighters, whether they be full-time or volunteer. We have all too often in this particular era lost the meaning of “hero.” Many of our young people, if asked for a hero, will name a movie star or a music artist when I would suggest that each and every firefighter in the province is a hero. They show incredible bravery that has not been recognized enough by our population, so what a wonderful opportunity this provides to set aside a little time each year to recognize their contribution.

There is a verse in the Bible that I may not quote exactly but it is to the effect that “No greater love hath a man than this, that he lay down his life for a friend.” Our firefighters, each and every day, leave home knowing that there may be a requirement for them to lay down their life for us. That absolutely overwhelms me. The emotions are too great to actually describe that there are people who are prepared to do this. I think it is fair to say that for those in the firefighting profession it’s not a job -- it’s a calling. It’s a mission on their part, and I’ve spoken to many who have told me that as far back as they can remember they wanted to be a firefighter.

I can think of one individual in my riding, Tom Nobles, who is suffering the effects of poor health due to attending at a fire with unknown chemicals in it. Without thinking, without any hesitation whatsoever, Mr Nobles entered the building to ensure that no one in there was at risk and to put the fire out. He is paying, and his family is paying, a price for that. We need to recognize and appreciate. There are many Tom Nobles all over this province who are suffering ill health because of their commitment and their dedication to us.

We also need to recognize the commitment of family members of firefighters who know that each time their loved one leaves the home, absolutely nothing may happen that day or there may be a major event requiring them to lay their life on the line.

So the least we can do is set aside a little time each year not only to remember those who have paid the supreme sacrifice in protecting us but to also recognize and respect and honour those who each and every day perform the service that ensures us and our loved ones are safe.

This is such an overdue bill that I’m stumbling a little bit on what we need to say to these people. This is just a wonderful way to recognize their contribution. I hope everyone ensures speedy passage of this bill.

Mr Peter Kormos (Niagara Centre): Look, part of me bristles a little bit. Were it not for my regard for the author of this bill, and my understanding of his intent, were this to come from anybody other than an opposition member, I’d be far more critical of the bill. Of course I’m going to vote for the bill. If there’s anybody here that doesn’t vote for the bill, they’re not being good Canadians, they’re being disrespectful to firefighters. But good grief, firefighters were here on November 28, 29 and 30 for a very specific reason.

They weren’t here to lobby for Ms Mushinski’s feel-good, “Let’s scratch them behind the ears and send them home” legislation. As a matter of fact, that was an insult and I was ashamed. Firefighters were in the members’ galleries and the public galleries, and in an incredibly cynical and opportunistic move -- oh, and are cynicism and opportunism the unique prerogative or in the unique ownership of Conservatives? Of course not. I guess part of politics is seizing the moment, being there at the right time in the right place with the right comments.

Because Lord knows if you’re not there in the right time and the right place, or if you’re there with the wrong comments, then all hell breaks loose. You know that.

So of course I’m going to support the bill, and other New Democrats are going to support the bill, just like we supported Ms Mushinski’s bill. As I say, I have regard for the author of this bill and for his intent and his motives in putting it forward.

But it’s oh so easy to erect a monument to police officers, as they deserve, but then to deny the fact that we have fewer cops per capita now than we did in 1994, when the province was still reeling from a deep recession, when revenues had crashed through the basement. It’s also fine, similarly, to proclaim a day for recognition of firefighters -- a week, a month, a fortnight.

But then to turn our heads to firefighters when they come to this Legislature with some real concerns about staffing, about the power of the fire marshal’s office, about the abuse of the managerial exclusions, a power that was created in Bill 84 -- an abuse that this government was forewarned of; it was the subject matter of a whole lot of criticism during the Bill 84 hearings.

The role of the fire marshal and whether or not he or she, that office, will have the real power with adequate staff to perform audits of local firefighting services and make sure those audits have some impact on how those municipalities provide for staffing of those firefighting services was very much at the forefront of debate during the Bill 84 hearings.

Let’s not ignore the concern that firefighters had and continue to have about the stupid squeegee bill, which prevented firefighters, along with a whole lot of other good people across this province, from doing the fundraising they do and have done historically, that amounts to millions and millions of dollars a year, fundraising that’s incredibly creative, fundraising that involves all of the community, but fundraising that relies most significantly on the incredible commitment and the contribution of volunteer time by firefighters. I’m talking about the boot drives.

Maybe folks in Toronto -- I don’t know if Toronto gets a chance to experience those the way we do in small-town Ontario. I was out with the firefighters in Welland when they had their boot drive, and what they do is they take their helmets and boots. it’s a very creative form of fundraising -- not for themselves; for muscular dystrophy, among other things.

I was proud to stand with them. I praise and credit the Niagara Regional Police for exercising their good judgment at not laying any charges, but I also understand that had there been, for instance, a single complaint from what I call a cranky citizen, the Niagara Regional Police probably would have had no choice but to lay a charge. I also understand that in other communities firefighters weren’t as assured as they were in Welland and Niagara that there would be no charges actively pursued, to the point where -- again, I’m not faulting those police departments. The job of those cops is to enforce the law.

There’s the law; they didn’t write it. They may, and I suspect they do, agree that it’s among the sillier laws that have been passed in this province, or imposed, but their job is to enforce it. So I’m not criticizing the cops.

So here we are, and I join in with the words of praise for firefighters. I know these women and men from down where I come from, and I know a whole lot of them from across the province. I’ve gotten to know them to know them, and I feel very fortunate for having gotten to know them, during the course of my involvement here at Queen’s Park, and very much during the incredible battle over Bill 84, where firefighters organized one of the most effective campaigns this province has ever seen.

Although they didn’t achieve all of their objectives, they made some serious impact on the most dangerous elements of Bill 84. But they also raised those concerns about Bill 84 on which I recall government members of that committee saying, “Don’t worry about it.” What’s the line? “No problemo.” Well, it is a problem. The matter of managerial exclusions has been being abused in municipality after municipality. Firefighters are saying, “Look, amend the act so that the matter of managerial exclusions can be dealt with” and can only be dealt with in a fair way, in a way that doesn’t attack and impact in a negative way on the collective bargaining unit.

A modest proposal, isn’t it: the issue of minimum staffing. Firefighters, like our cops, like our correctional officers, are called upon to be very much that front line of community safety personnel. We may, all of us, as taxpayers -- and all of the folks across this province are taxpayers of one sort or another -- say, “Why do there have to be so many firefighters on duty at that time? Heck, there wasn’t a fire, there wasn’t a call that day.”

But when your mom or dad has the heart attack or the stroke or when your house is on fire and you’ve got your kids up in their bedrooms on the second floor, you want the biggest damn crew of firefighters arriving as can possibly be imagined. It’s of little comfort to see firefighters in the dilemma, understaffed, on their truck that’s first to arrive on the scene, of having to break their own regulations to enter the building -- and they do -- having to put themselves at risk -- and they do. That’s how firefighters die.

Or they have to perhaps -- and firefighters are loath to do this -- pause that extra second to try to evaluate the situation. That extra second, as we know -- and if you didn’t know, read the transcripts from Bill 84 and you will learn that mere seconds count oh so dramatically. Seconds -- not minutes, seconds -- mean the difference between life and death.

And firefighters do far more than put out fires. Firefighters, as we all know, in every community across this province, as understaffed as they are in almost every community across this province, are there at motor vehicle accidents. They’re there in those traumatic injury situations. They’re there in those traumatic health crises -- heart attacks, strokes -- with the defibrillation units, the paddles.

With the screwed-up ambulance dispatch system that this government has imposed on municipalities, it has caused at least two and maybe as many as four deaths down in Niagara region -- not because our paramedics don’t want to do their job and certainly not because firefighters or other emergency personnel don’t want to do their job. When this government screws up the dispatch system, in the context of that, firefighters’ role in attending to those health emergencies becomes that much more relevant.

This government’s obsessed with giving municipalities the tool box. The tool box is a wrecking bar, a chainsaw. That’s what it is. The tool box is new arbitration rules, and the government tried to jig it even more. Thank goodness for the Ontario Court of Appeal, because the government tried to jig that up even more with their appointment of judges as arbitrators. Remember that? It was the SEIU and CUPE decision. And this government’s contemplating appealing that decision?

I’m not sure that we shouldn’t be more concerned about that waste of taxpayer’s money, because this government’s track record in our courts has not been particularly impressive. I’m hard-pressed to recall a case that they’ve won. Lord knows, don’t send the Attorney General, because we heard the comments that were made about his last appearance in the Supreme Court of Canada. He certainly didn’t do anybody proud, did he?

Look, colleagues, friends -- if I have any here. I’m not here to develop social relationships. That should be obvious to you folks by now. I’m not particularly interested in them. But listen friends and colleagues. It’s one thing and it’s oh so easy to stand up and say, let’s declare a firefighter memorial day, week, month, fortnight, whatever.

Let’s cut to the chase here and commit ourselves to talking about those -- of course, we should be acknowledging the incredibly important role of firefighters, who, at great risk to themselves and with great professionalism -- firefighting has never been more complex and it has also never been more dangerous. The role of firefighters has never been broader in terms of the emergencies they respond to reactively and the work they do proactively, because you’ll note that there are fewer fires than there have been historically. That’s a result of the firefighter’s role in fire prevention.

There are fewer deaths in this province than there were 50 years ago from fires and that’s because of the firefighter’s role in promoting fire safety, fire services that go door to door installing smoke alarms and detectors.

Do all these services deserve to remain unsung? Of course not. But if you really mean what you say, let’s be prepared to address those issues that firefighters raised during their lobby efforts here at Queen’s Park November 28, 29 and 30. Let’s do more than engage in, “Let’s make them feel good and tell them oh how grateful we are. Thank you very much, firefighters,” and then boot them at the same time. Let’s respond to those concerns. Let’s have legislation amending Bill 84 dealing with managerial exclusions. Let’s have amendments dealing with minimum staffing.

Let’s have amendments dealing with the power of the fire marshal to make meaningful audits and to make sure those audits are complied with by municipalities. Otherwise, they’re irrelevant. That’s what firefighters said and that’s what the criticism was during the course of Bill 84.

And let’s not handcuff our firefighters when they want to do community service like raising money for muscular dystrophy. Let’s make sure they don’t have to go out there uncovered by any municipal permit, at risk of being busted and uninsured. Let’s get down to the real issues here.

Mr David Tilson (Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey): I rise to speak in favour of the bill and I’d like to congratulate the member from Brant, Mr Levac, in introducing this bill. I can see he spent some time in its preparation. I think it is time that we spent a specific day honouring firefighters, and the day he has chosen is the first Sunday in October.

My riding, like many others in this place, is basically a rural community, although there are some urban parts to it. The entire riding consists of volunteer firefighters. I appreciate that the larger communities are full-time fire departments, and I’ll let others speak to that, although they do basically the same work. But I would like to address my comments in support of the bill to the volunteer firefighter. I am pleased that Mr Levac has introduced the bill because I think we need to honour those people.

There are many communities in my riding that have volunteer fire departments: Dundalk, Shelburne, Grand Valley, Orangeville, Caledon -- it goes on; there are quite a few of them. They all do outstanding work. They literally save us. They save our lives; they save our property; they do things that we should be forever grateful for, which I trust is the main purpose of his bill.

There was a fire just recently in Dundalk, several weeks ago, which we were quite concerned about. It was on the main street; a number of buildings were damaged. There was a seniors’ facility nearby that had to be temporarily vacated. Fortunately, the fire didn’t affect them, but the work of the firefighters, from speaking to the local mayor, Don Lewis, and others in the community, was simply outstanding. There have been other fires, and I know we could all tell stories in our communities of fires that have occurred and the wonderful work that is done.

These firefighters do all kinds of things. Some of them have been alluded to by other members. They hold open houses, and the purpose of those open houses is to introduce members of the public to the volunteer firefighters, to show how some of the equipment works, to talk about home escapes -- how you get out of a place that’s on fire -- the inspections that go on. Yes, they’re becoming more rigorous, and well they should be. As one of the other members mentioned, probably the number of fires is down, but it’s because of the work that’s done by these fire departments around our province.

The firefighters are being required to do more and more, with the number of medical calls they do with ambulances. They have to go on training courses continually. They go away and spend time out of their own -- they’re leading two lives. They have their regular job, and then they have the life of a volunteer firefighter, and they take time off from work and time off from the family to go and take courses. Then they come back and educate the other firefighters and other people in the community.

I spoke to one member in my riding, Bruce Beatty, who’s a volunteer firefighter in Orangeville, and he said he wanted me to mention one thing. That was the topic of green lights, which were recently introduced by this government, and that if you see a car with a green light on it, it’s not mandatory, but members of the public should be aware that that is a firefighter who’s going to a fire or going to the fire hall to serve maybe even your own house. He thinks the public should be made more aware of those green lights, as do I.

I’ve attended functions all throughout my riding honouring these people, people who have spent 25 years or more performing this wonderful service to their community. I congratulate the member for Brant. As has been said, I can’t believe anyone’s going to vote against this, but I congratulate him for the initiative he’s taking in bringing this bill forward.

Mr Rick Bartolucci (Sudbury): I stand in support of Bill 107 and thank the member for Brant, Mr Levac, for bringing it forward. I also stand in my place today and challenge the government, the Ministry of the Environment and the Solicitor General’s department, to investigate a very serious occurrence that took place at an Inco dumpsite blaze. It started on October 27; it was put out on October 29. Some 31 firefighters were involved. The Ministry of the Environment was asked to come to the site to identify the toxins that were burning. They refused.

At the beginning of November, the fire chief from Sudbury sent a letter to the Ministry of the Environment asking for the opportunity to sit down to have a debriefing so that these 31 men can understand what type of chemicals they were fighting. To date there has been no response.

I simply challenge this government, if you support this bill, support it by your actions. Make sure that the Ministry of the Environment sits down with the Sudbury professional firefighters. Make sure those 31 people who want to know what they were fighting at least have some closure to this fire. I challenge this government to not only talk the talk today, but to walk the walk.

I commend and thank the Sudbury professional firefighters for the excellent work they do. Chris Stokes, Marc Leduc, Mike Ouellette, Mike O’Reilly and Danny Stack are only some of the executive who ensure that our community is protected. I challenge this government to live up to their obligation.

Mr James J. Bradley (St Catharines): I will be supporting this resolution of course. I think it’s most appropriate that we recognize firefighters with this particular bill, which is

An Act to proclaim Firefighters’ Memorial Day.

I was very pleased when we saw a move in that direction with the police officers. We had a police memorial erected where the provincial government followed the lead of the federal government of a number of years ago. I think it was 1993 that the federal government erected a police memorial and the provincial government dud so last year. I was pleased with that. I was in attendance at that.

I think a memorial day for those who are involved in firefighting is very important, but there are so many other issues that we must deal with in terms of firefighters in this province. We have to remember those important issues. We know it’s a very dangerous job. Anybody who has watched firefighters in action has to admire the fact that they’re going into danger at all times. You simply don’t know what you’re dealing with when you’re dealing with fire, what is inside the building you’re going into or the vehicle you’re going into.

They confront very difficult circumstances. In a fire or in a drowning situation or any kind of accident that happens, they are often the people who are there to help to extract people who are very badly injured or who may be deceased. It has to be very difficult for firefighters, both psychologically and physically, to do the job they do. We thank them very much for that.

But we must recognize the issues they’ve brought to our attention on their day -- we call it lobbying here -- when they came to speak to us about issues such as their voluntary action in the community. They are great fundraisers. They are really people dedicated to the community in so many different ways. The squeegee bill has had a negative effect on them, for instance, because they’re unable to do what they used to be able to do with the special fundraising they had in that particular circumstance. So I want to urge the government to look at all of the issues that are important to firefighters in this province.

I intend to support this bill because I think we should pay tribute to those who have lost their lives in the defence of others and in trying to save others.

Mr Gerry Phillips (Scarborough-Agincourt): I will be supporting the bill by my colleague Mr Levac. I think it’s important to recognize those who have given their lives, but it’s also an opportunity to recognize those who have risked their lives.

I’ll just give a brief personal experience. My wife and I and our family live an old farmhouse. It’s 160 years old now, a wooden structure. I think it was 15 years ago, on Christmas Eve, the coldest Christmas that I can ever remember. We were going to go out to a friend’s house for Christmas Eve dinner. My mother-in-law wasn’t feeling well so my wife stayed home with her. Fortunately, we have smoke alarms in our house. The smoke alarm went off and there was a fire building very quickly in our garage. Remember, this is a wooden structure. This was about 10 o’clock on Christmas Eve. We were very fortunate.

The fire truck was just backing back into the hall, having been out at a call. Fortunately, we live close to the fire hall. The call came in and the fire truck was there probably in about 30 seconds and they saved the house.

My point is this: first, while I was out enjoying Christmas Eve and warm and comfortable in a house, there were our firefighters again working Christmas Eve. They had just returned from another fire and, as I said, without a question of a doubt, they saved our house, so we still live in it, fortunately, and it’s now 15 years older, and 15 years better I might say.

I wanted to particularly salute the firefighters -- at the time the Scarborough firefighters, now the Toronto firefighters -- and say from personal experience how much the community appreciates what they do. Nothing could perhaps be more symbolic than Christmas Eve, as the rest are enjoying the festivities, there our firefighters are on duty, standing by and protecting us. From first-hand experience, our family has benefited enormously, so I obviously will support the bill. As I said, it is an opportunity to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives, but also to recognize those who continue to risk their lives for us.

Mrs Sandra Pupatello (Windsor West): I want to congratulate the member for Brant for bringing the bill forward today in a very honest fashion, allowing us the opportunity to discuss once again what the real issues are for firefighters across Ontario.

On behalf of the constituents of Windsor West, I congratulate our own firefighters from Windsor who work diligently, not just fighting fires and saving lives, but also working in the community on a regular basis.

I marvelled when the firefighters were here last week, coming to lobby MPPs, in particular the government MPPs, about what the real issues are in terms of allowing them to do their job better.

One of the items that struck me most was that if the government members were truly interested in being supportive of what firefighters do day in and day out, they would review the office of the fire marshal, so that when we have instances like we had in Midland, when firefighters are at a service level that doesn’t allow them, in their opinion, to do their job like they want to do it, that actually puts a firefighter at peril when he goes and responds to a call -- those are very real issues for firefighters.

I don’t want to have to add to the list of those firefighters that we memorialize because we’ve lost lives because they spent the time for us fighting fires and we could have made the difference in allowing them to have the kind of fire service levels available in municipalities across Ontario that do right by the public.

Does the public have a right to know that their municipality has the right level of fire service? This is the role of the fire marshal. This, I contend, is what the fire marshal is not doing across Ontario today.

There are many other issues in the area of the health and safety of our firefighters. When our firefighters have to do battle repeatedly with the Ministry of Labour when there are issues over fires that have caused the illness in our firefighters, where we have an unprecedented level of a certain type of cancer among our firefighters and they go forward to the Ministry of Labour and say, “Please consider what you will look at as obviously work-related injuries” -- we shouldn’t have to fight and do battle with the government when it seems so clear that we as a government want to be supportive.

I applaud our member for bringing this forward, and even the member opposite who last week brought forward a private member’s bill. But when the rubber hits the road and we are truly interested in helping our firefighters do their job, we have to discuss the very real issues that they face every day, through the fire marshal’s office, through health and safety regulations for the very people who are saving our lives.

The Deputy Speaker: Response.

Mr Levac: I’m humbled and very pleased with the comments from the members from Simcoe North, Kingston and the Islands, Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford, Prince Edward-Hastings, Niagara Centre, Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey, Sudbury, St Catharines, Windsor West and Scarborough-Agincourt. I’m truly humbled by their comments and I appreciate the fact that they do recognize that this is simply a bill so that all of us could get around to saying thank you to our firefighters.

I have done my homework and I want to make it perfectly clear to the members of the House, in case they don’t think so, that I have gotten responses back since I’ve introduced Bill 107, and the comments to me have been very clear and plain, from the fire chiefs, from the communities, from the mayors, from the firefighters themselves: they only want one day. That’s all they’ve asked for. That’s all they deserve. As a matter of fact, they didn’t ask for it; they haven’t asked for it. I’m presenting it and their feedback to me has been that they only want a day.

I want to make another comment. Earlier I had said something about the thermal imaging machines that we’ve been able to purchase in Brant -- a total of six for our entire riding. I was informed just a couple of months ago that though thermal imaging has multiple uses, we actually have had confirmed by a couple of our firefighters that a life was saved with the used of a thermal imager. I would challenge the ministry, I would challenge the government, to ensure that every single fire department in the province of Ontario has a thermal imager as part of its standard equipment across the province. I think it’s necessary and I think it’s needed.

I want to thank the member from Niagara Centre and the member from Windsor for their challenges. These challenges are important to take up. As much as this is strictly just a day to honour our fallen firefighters and their families, we need to start from here and move forward with correcting the problems that have been pointed out. The member from Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford wanted to take credit for an awful lot of the goods; I didn’t hear him stand up and say that there were some problems that needed to be corrected. As has been pointed out from this side of the House and by the firefighters themselves, we need to do more in this Legislature to ensure the safety of the citizens of Ontario.

The Deputy Speaker: This completes the time allocated for this ballot item.

CANCER TREATMENT

The Deputy Speaker (Mr Michael A. Brown): We will now deal with ballot item number 53. Mr Tascona has moved private member’s notice of motion number 32. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

FIREFIGHTERS’ MEMORIAL DAY

ACT, 2000 /

LOI DE 2000 SUR LE JOUR

DE COMMÉMORATION DES POMPIERS

The Deputy Speaker (Mr Michael A. Brown): We will now deal with ballot item number 54. Mr Levac has moved second reading of Bill 107. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

Pursuant to standing order 96, this bill will be referred to committee of the whole House.

Mr Dave Levac (Brant): I seek unanimous consent that Bill 107 be sent to the justice and social policy committee.

The Deputy Speaker: Agreed? Agreed.

All business relating to private members’ public business now being complete, I will leave the chair, to return at 1:30 of the clock.

The House recessed from 1201 to 1330.

MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS

BRANT WALK OF FAME

Mr Dave Levac (Brant): On Tuesday, December 5, I was honoured and privileged to co-host an event in my riding of Brant that I would like to bring to the attention of this House and to the citizens of Ontario. Having founded and chaired the annual Walk of Fame, I am pleased to announce that we have completed the fourth instalment with three more very worthy inductees.

Mr Pat Goddin, born and raised in Brantford, now living in Paris, Ontario, is a six-time world champion wood carver of waterfowl. He’s the Wayne Gretzky of this delicate, fine art form.

The Cockshutt family virtually revolutionized the farm implement industry and helped build Brantford from the bottom up during the Industrial Revolution. The family produced mayors, councillors, a Lieutenant Governor and provincial members of Parliament, all to the betterment of Brantford.

Finally, we honoured no less than 23 Olympians and para-Olympians from the past century, starting with Tom Longboat from the Six Nations, to Kevin Sullivan, our 1,500-metre track and field Canadian champion.

Our previous inductees include such notables as Doug Jarvis, the Ironman of the NHL; Dr James Hillier, scientist and inventor of the electron microscope; comedian Phil Hartman; Alexander Graham Bell; poetess Pauline Johnson; Arnold Anderson, a local sports radio broadcaster for over 50 years; Brantford’s favourite father and civic booster, Walter Gretzky; and finally, Dr Emily Stowe, the first female doctor and principal in Ontario. The list goes on: Wayne Gretzky and others will be included.

The riding of Brant has proved itself to be a hotbed of talent, innovation and endless possibilities.

MUNICIPAL RECOGNITION AWARDS

Mrs Julia Munro (York North): Last week I attended the town of Georgina’s municipal recognition awards in my riding of York North. The awards pay tribute to volunteers who have made a significant contribution to the municipality. The following people were presented with awards: Paul Harpley, for arts and culture; Henry “Bill” Kasper, sports mentor of the year; Doris Baker, senior citizen award of merit; Debbie Gordon and Yvonne MacKinnon, special recognition; Dalton Mercer, service recognition; Kaelea Campbell, junior citizen of the year; and Anne Pegg, citizen of the year.

Anne Pegg’s award of citizen of the year is well deserved. Her list of community involvement and commitment is a long one. Her most recent volunteer activity is with the Trillium Foundation as chair of the grant review team. “Rewarding and educational” is how Anne describes her years of volunteer commitment.

Anne Pegg and the other recipients of the Georgina municipal awards are examples of why next year has been declared International Year of Volunteers. Volunteers from around the globe are gearing up for next year’s celebration. The United Nations General Assembly declared the year to promote the activities of volunteers everywhere and to encourage many more people to donate time and energy to a worthy cause.

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2000 Georgina municipal recognition awards.

LABOUR DISPUTE

Mr Dominic Agostino (Hamilton East): I rise again in this House to speak about the plight of the 200 community care case managers in the city of Hamilton who have been out on strike now for nine weeks as a result of this government’s underfunding of home care in the Hamilton area. These 200 people deal with hospitals and discharge planning. They ensure people get the care they need in their home.

As a result of the strike, we’ve had emergency room meltdown in the city of Hamilton, we have hospital backlogs, we have longer stays, and this government continues to refuse to acknowledge the plight of these 200 people who do a tremendous job in our community. The reason they’re on strike is that they are being paid less than other workers who do the same work in neighbouring municipalities. The reason they are on strike is because their caseloads are larger, because their working conditions do not allow them to deal with the people they are helping in our community.

This government has put blinders on, their heads in the sand. They have continued to ignore it. Nine weeks on the picket line while the health care crisis in Hamilton continues, while there’s chaos in our hospitals, while there’s chaos in emergency rooms. These people want to be back doing the job they’re supposed to be doing; that is, helping people.

What makes it worse is that the CCAC management has brought in scab labour, scab workers, to try to do the work of these 200 trained professionals. They think nine or 10 clerical people can do the work that these people who are here in the audience today should be doing. It is a disgrace that that has happened. It is a disgrace that this government has allowed the strike to go on. I urge Elizabeth Witmer today to come to the table with the money necessary to properly fund the CCAC and get these people back to work where they belong, helping patients, and not on the picket lines, and to get those scabs out of the Hamilton office.

BOWMANVILLE ZOO

Mr John O’Toole (Durham): I’d like to invite the people of Ontario to visit my riding of Durham over the holiday season to witness something truly unique and fun for the whole family. Throughout December and into January, the Bowmanville Zoo is putting on a festive show with a bit of a twist called The Animals’ Gift: Christmas in the Stable. This is a one-of-a-kind play featuring 50 of the zoo’s animals and their trainers, Marcia Hendrickson, Jackie Borosa, Ted Strikwerda, Brad St John and Chris Vanderkooi.

Last year when Bowmanville Zoo owner Michael Hackenberger and the show’s manager, Kelly Whitlock, staged this production, it attracted some 6,000 people over a one-month period. This season, even more people are expected to see this one-and-a-half-hour-long production of the original Christmas story.

Furthermore, I’m proud to report that the Ontario Ministry of Tourism has provided $7,500 in funding for the Bowmanville Zoo production through the Ontario Tourism Event Marketing Partnership program. The Bowmanville Zoo, established in 1919, is the oldest privately owned zoo in Canada, and several of its animals have appeared in films and television. The tourism program is designed to help increase attendance at a variety of community events in Ontario, which, as we know, helps local and regional economics and therefore benefits all the province.

I enjoyed the show myself. I invite everyone to participate this winter.

MUNICIPAL RESTRUCTURING

Mr Rick Bartolucci (Sudbury): Shortly after our area was ordered to restructure into the city of greater Sudbury, I expressed concern to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing that, as is usual with the Harris Tories, ideology would take precedence over people and that funding needed for this transition would not be forthcoming.

While the Tory experts estimated restructuring costs to be $12 million, the reality is that restructuring in my community has cost $24 million. One year ago, I wrote to the minister asking him to treat the people of my region fairly. I pointed out that he had given the city of Toronto $250 million for restructuring costs, and Chatham and its surrounding municipalities $22 million in order to cover restructuring costs. I asked that my citizens, my community, be treated fairly. To date, I have not received a reply from the minister saying that he would do that.

Last June, the Tory-laden and -appointed transition board wrote a letter requesting that the minister cut a cheque for $24 million. To date, no cheque has been cut; no response has been made. In a few days from now, Minister Clement will be attending the inaugural meeting of the city of greater Sudbury. I challenge this minister to bring with him a cheque for $24 million to pay for the Tory municipal experiment in restructuring in Sudbury.

My community cannot afford $24 million for your experiment. That $24 million would pay for the David Street pumping station so that southern residents would be able to drink clean water; $24 million would pay for the community share of our hospital restructuring, which is in a mess because of this government; and $24 million would pay for infrastructure costs, much needed in my community. My community cannot afford your experiment any longer.

LABOUR DISPUTE

Mr David Christopherson (Hamilton West): I rise today to join with my colleague from Hamilton East in condemning this government in your Pontius Pilate-like attitude toward the strike of 200 workers at the CCAC in Hamilton. I would point out it is exactly the same attitude you’ve taken toward teachers. The fact is that you control all the purse strings, you control all the legislation, and yet whenever we have major disruptions and turmoil in our communities, you say it’s up to local entities to solve the problem. The fact of the matter is that you’ve underfunded community health care. You’ve underfunded our education system. You are the cause of all of these strikes.

Further to that, at the Hamilton CCAC we now have scabs. Prior to your taking power, there were laws in Ontario under the NDP that prohibited scabs. They were illegal. You have now made it possible for this unnecessary, unwanted strike to continue. There are 200 workers, many of whom are here in the gallery today to look you, Minister, right in the eye and say to you that you have an obligation. This is your failed managed competition system. It’s your failed funding system that has caused these workers to be out on strike. All they ask for, all they’re seeking here today, is fairness and justice, and all they receive from you is the back of your hand.

This government has an obligation. Given that you created the problem, that you are the one who has put Hamilton patients as well as these Hamilton workers into the situation they’re in, you have an obligation to provide a solution, and that solution is money. We know the hospital system is in crisis, emergency wards are in crisis, and this strike is just adding to that. You have an obligation to step in and provide adequate funding for community health care, just as much as you have an obligation to step in and provide health care funding for hospitals.

I’m pleased to stand here for as long as I can --

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon Gary Carr): Sorry about that. It would have been a long afternoon if somebody hadn’t stepped forward. Thank you.

AIMING FOR THE TOP SCHOLARSHIPS

Mr R. Gary Stewart (Peterborough): I rise today to show my appreciation for the hard work and academic achievement by the Aiming for the Top tuition scholarship winners in my riding and across the province. I am very impressed with the average mark of scholarship of almost 88%, and I understand that more than 1,500 winners graduated with marks of 90% or higher. The dedication and quality of the recipients certainly are reflected by these marks.

Our government is committed to helping every willing and motivated student to receive a post-secondary education. Aiming for the Top is a new Ontario government program that recognizes hard-working students who earn top marks. I also would like to acknowledge the role played by the parents, teachers and principals who helped the students achieve this award.

Please join me in congratulating this year’s Aiming for the Top tuition scholarship winners.

DOCTOR SHORTAGE

Mr James J. Bradley (St Catharines): As each month passes, the doctor shortage in St Catharines and Niagara becomes more acute. For individuals whose family doctors have retired, fallen victim to illness themselves, passed away or moved to a new location, their situation becomes a genuine crisis as they attempt to enlist the services of a diminishing number of physicians, many of whom are simply unable to accept new patients.

At last count, the Niagara region was short at least 78 physicians, including both family doctors and specialists. An objective and accurate assessment would likely reveal that many doctors resident in Niagara are approaching the normal age for retirement and, for some, this point is only a few years away.

Hospital emergency wards and walk-in clinics are the only option for people who do not wish to or are unable to travel beyond the borders of Niagara to receive health services from a family physician or the services of an ophthalmologist or other specialist.

Ontario must begin to graduate far more physicians, surgeons, family doctors and specialists to meet the urgent needs of a growing and aging population, and special incentive programs must be accelerated and expanded to encourage these essential medical practitioners to locate in St Catharines and Niagara. If this requires a substantial investment of funds, forget about further politically attractive tax cuts for the rich and devote government revenues to an area that surely all residents would consider to be essential.

ST THERESA’S HIGH SCHOOL

Mr Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North): I’m pleased to inform the House of a very pleasant experience I had when I visited St Theresa’s High School in the town of Midland last Friday. At the invitation of school principal Richard Pressé, I was able to spend the morning. With keen interest, I toured the school with Principal Pressé. I discussed technical programs and the shortage of skilled tradespeople with instructors Richard Belanger and Mark Stewart. I visited the cafeteria, where students work in a co-op program preparing food for the students and staff.

I was able to have a round table discussion with president Katie Breckbill and her student council and their teacher adviser. I was able to spend time with representatives of the parent council. I was able to meet with teacher Sean Mei and visit his very unique audio and video studio, where students make their own recordings and have their own cable TV show, STTV. I was able to spend time with teachers who told me first-hand their concerns with extracurricular work.

St Theresa’s is a school growing at a rapid rate, I believe because of the school spirit and bonding and the highly motivated and professional staff. Parents in the Huronia region of my riding often choose St Theresa’s as the school they prefer their children to attend. After experiencing an expansion only two years ago, already the growth has meant the school is at full capacity with an additional 26 portables this fall.

The purpose of my visit was very simple. Everyone wanted me to see first-hand the growth that was occurring and problems the school was experiencing with reforms to education. However, they painted their picture in a very professional manner, using constructive criticism and suggestions for improving our system. I’ve been invited to return to the school in the new year and plan to do so. In the meantime, I thank Richard Pressé, his staff, his students and his parent council for allowing me the opportunity to visit St Theresa High School.

REPORTS BY COMMITTEES

STANDING COMMITTEE

ON GENERAL GOVERNMENT

Mrs Julia Munro (York North): I beg leave to present a report from the standing committee on general government and move its adoption.

Clerk at the Table (Mr Todd Decker): Your committee begs to report the following bill as amended:

Bill 101,

An Act to promote snowmobile trail sustainability and enhance safety and enforcement / Projet de loi 101, Loi visant à favoriser la durabilité des pistes de motoneige et à accroître la sécurité et les mesures d’exécution.

The Speaker (Hon Gary Carr): Shall the report be received and adopted? Agreed.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

NIAGARA ESCARPMENT

PROTECTION ACT, 2000 /

LOI DE 2000 SUR LA PROTECTION

DE L’ESCARPEMENT DU NIAGARA

Mr Murdoch moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 157,

An Act to revise the law relating to the Protection of the Niagara Escarpment and the Surrounding Wetlands / Projet de loi 157, Loi révisant la loi concernant la protection de l’Escarpement du Niagara et des terres marécageuses environnantes.

The Speaker (Hon Gary Carr): Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry?

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

All those opposed will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Mr Bill Murdoch (Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound): It’s my pleasure to introduce the Niagara Escarpment Protection Act, 2000, to the Ontario Legislative Assembly. This act, if passed, will allow the Minister of Natural Resources to designate the Niagara Escarpment and surrounding wetlands as a natural area of each municipality within the area, if the designation approves. When the minister makes a designation, the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act is repealed.

Development of the natural areas is prohibited unless the municipality where the land is situated approves. Then this development must be approved in this House. Basically this act abolishes the Niagara Escarpment Commission, a move I believe should have happened years ago. Abolishing the Niagara Escarpment Commission will save the taxpayers of this province over $4 million, and this money in turn could be used to buy the land. In short, this is a common sense bill and it should have been used a long time ago.

MARRIAGE AMENDMENT ACT, 2000 /

LOI DE 2000 MODIFIANT

LA

LOI SUR LE MARIAGE

Mr Murdoch moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 158,

An Act to amend the Marriage Act / Projet de loi 158, Loi modifiant la

Loi sur le mariage.

The Speaker (Hon Gary Carr): Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

Mr Bill Murdoch (Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound): It’s my pleasure to introduce the Marriage Amendment Act, 2000. This act, if passed, will create a new position in the province of Ontario: a marriage commissioner. I don’t know if many of my colleagues are aware of this; however, it is difficult if not impossible to have non-denominational marriage ceremonies performed in rural and northern Ontario. That is why I’ve introduced this act. Through it, six marriage commissioners will be appointed in each of the 103 electoral districts in Ontario by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

These commissioners will be able to perform marriages during their three-year term, much like justices of the peace performed marriages in the past.

Marriage is a sacred institution. It should not be