role="main" class="main-container container js-quickedit-main-content" id="main-content">

May 20, 2021

42nd Parliament, 1st Session

< Previous sitting day

Next sitting day >

Hansard Transcripts

vol. A

Hansard Transcripts

vol. B

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2021-May-20 vol. A (PDF)

L267A - Thu 20 May 2021 / Jeu 20 mai 2021

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Thursday 20 May 2021 Jeudi 20 mai 2021

Orders of the Day

Moving Ontarians More Safely Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 visant à assurer à la population ontarienne des déplacements plus sûrs

Members’ Statements

Land use planning

Front-line workers

Opioid abuse

Trevor Jones

Education funding

Supportive housing

Front-line workers

Front-line workers

CrossFit Cobourg

Stray current

Report, Ombudsman of Ontario

COVID-19 deaths

Question Period

COVID-19 response

Health care funding

Long-term care

COVID-19 immunization

COVID-19 response

COVID-19 response

Small business

Personal support workers

Anti-racism activities

Border security

Autism treatment

Immunisation contre la COVID-19 / COVID-19 immunization

Education funding

COVID-19 response

Deferred Votes

Equity Education for Young Ontarians Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur l’éducation en équité pour les jeunes de l’Ontario

Royal assent / Sanction royale

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on Social Policy

Introduction of Bills

Anti-Asian Racism Education Month Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur le mois de sensibilisation au racisme anti-asiatique

Statements by the Ministry and Responses

Energy policies

Petitions

Education funding

Education

Sex offender registry

Optometry services

Orders of the Day

Extension of emergency orders

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers/Prières.

Orders of the Day

Moving Ontarians More Safely Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 visant à assurer à la population ontarienne des déplacements plus sûrs

Resuming the debate adjourned on May 18, 2021, on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 282,

An Act in respect of various road safety matters / Projet de loi 282, Loi concernant diverses questions de sécurité routière.

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

Mr. Chris Glover: It’s an honour to speak to this bill this morning. I was thinking about setting the context for my speech this morning, and I was thinking about—and I think my colleague from Algoma–Manitoulin will appreciate this, because it’s a story that starts with driving in northern Ontario, and it starts with googling directions.

Two summers ago, my daughter was teaching at Big Grassy reserve, just on the south shore of Lake of the Woods. I went to visit her for the long weekend. People have very little sense of how big this province is. But I flew to Winnipeg, rented a car, drove three hours back across Manitoba, through the United States and back up into Ontario to visit her. We visited for a couple of days.

I have a good friend—I used to be a forest firefighter working out of Geraldton, and my crew leader lives in Kenora, so we wanted to go to Kenora. From Big Grassy reserve to Kenora, by highway, you have to go south and then east and then back north up the west side of Lake of the Woods. But I googled the directions and Google said there was this other road that I could take that took me directly east over to the north-south highway.

So my daughter and I were driving on this road. At first, it’s a two-lane asphalt road, and then we cross an intersection and it becomes a two-lane gravel road. I’m thinking, “Oh, that’s okay. I used to live in the north. That was actually a very good logging road.” Then we turn north, and it’s now a one-lane gravel road. I’m thinking, “Okay. Well, you know, hopefully this will get us over to the highway where we need to get to.” And then it tells us to turn right again, and now we’re on a road that’s two ruts. So it’s just room for the tires and then, basically, grass and stuff.

We’re driving down this, and my daughter says, “Dad, I think we should turn around.” I said, “No, no. It’s fine. It’s fine. There are lots of these roads in northern Ontario. It will be fine.” And then we come to this big puddle, and it’s like, I don’t know, 20 feet long. I get out of the car and look at the puddle and I poke it with a stick. It all seems solid. It wasn’t very deep. My daughter says, “Really, I think we should turn around.” I said, “No, no. I think we’ll be okay.” So we drive through that puddle.

Now, this road is becoming sort of like an ATV trail more than a road, I have got to say, at this point. We come to this other spot and this marsh has swept over the side of the road. It’s a puddle that’s maybe a hundred feet long. I got out. I poked at it. My daughter says, “Dad, we’re turning back. The GPS cut out 20 kilometres ago.” At that point, we still have a long ways to go to the highway. At that point I thought, “You know what? It’s not just me. My daughter’s with me.” So we turned around and we backtracked and took the highways up.

The lesson that I take from that is, sometimes—and I notice the northern members are really enjoying this story, right? Any story about northern Ontario that starts with, “I was googling directions”—and when you’re a southerner, you know it’s not going to end well. But the lesson I took was, at some point, when you’re on the wrong road, you’ve got to change directions.

The relevance of that lesson to this bill is, one of the most important parts of this bill is the classification of e-bikes. Under this classification system, most of the e-bikes that are currently in operation in Ontario will be made illegal. At first, when I heard it last week at committee, I thought, “That can’t be right. Surely the government of Ontario is not trying to make most of the e-bikes that are currently being used in Ontario illegal.” But we heard deputant after deputant. Afterwards, I did some research. I wrote an

article for Now Magazine about it. And when I wrote the

article for Now Magazine, I sent it to the NDP coms team. They sent it to research and said, “Is this right? Is this factually correct that the classification system this government is proposing for e-bikes in Ontario would make most of them illegal?” And the researcher said yes. Then I sent it to Now Magazine, and the editor came back with the same question.

I want to thank my colleague from Oshawa, who brought up amendment after amendment in a very short time frame. This bill was introduced just two weeks ago. It’s been rushed through the Legislature, it’s been rushed through committee and it’s being rushed through the third reading. I don’t know what the anxiety is for the government to get this bill through, especially when it’s on the wrong road. Just like the directions that I googled in northern Ontario didn’t work for me, these directions are going to be devastating for the e-bike industry in Ontario.

So I’m hoping that the government will listen to not just the opposition here, but to the e-bike industry and retailers across this province who have been telling you that the classification system that you are using or that you’re proposing for e-bikes in Ontario will end up making most of them illegal.

I’ll talk to it in a little bit more detail here. This all started when the federal government changed its regulations on February 4, 2021. They repealed their definition of power-assisted bicycles. This left this open, so now we need power-assisted bicycles—e-bikes, basically—we need a new clarification system. The Globe and Mail was actually very critical of the federal government, and I agree.

It would be far better to have national standards for e-bikes rather than be doing it province by province, because that way, when we’re inviting e-bike retailers and hopefully e-bike manufacturers into Ontario, we could say, “Hey, we’ve got a national standard. If you make your bikes in Toronto or you make your bikes in Ontario, you can sell them anywhere in Canada.” But unfortunately, the federal government did not do that, and so it is left to the provinces. It would be far better if the provinces were all to get together and decide on a classification system.

On that classification system, what we heard at committee from gentlemen like Ben Cowie, who runs a bicycle company in London, Ontario, was that he was saying that Europe and most of the States have very similar e-bike classifications. There are three classifications, and they limit the speed. The first one is a pedal-assist. The maximum speed is 32 kilometres an hour and the maximum wattage is 500 watts. There’s a little bit of variation, but basically, that’s the standard. There’s a second class: It’s a pedal-assist, with or without a throttle. Again, it’s 32 kilometres an hour and a 500-watt bike.

The third one is a pedal-assist only, and it’s got an upper speed of 45 kilometres an hour. Those upper speeds are not necessarily the maximum, but they’re the maximum speed at which the electric assist cuts out. So if a person is pedalling and wants to go faster than 30 kilometres an hour, they can still do it but they have to do it under their own power.

These are the standards that are in place in both Europe and in most of the United States, and so this is the standard that deputant after deputant was telling us to bring forward in Ontario, so that if somebody is importing e-bikes into Ontario, they don’t have to have a special order just for Ontario. They can actually bring in bikes that have the same classification system as in Europe and the United States.

They were also hoping, some of these companies, to manufacture e-bikes in Ontario. The importance of this—e-bikes are not just a recreational vehicle; these are a major form of transportation. They are the fastest-growing form of transportation in the world. The sales are doubling each year. There’s currently 2.1 million e-bikes being sold per year. That’s expected by 2030 to hit 17 million e-bikes per year. The hope would be that some of those e-bikes would be manufactured in Ontario. It would be wonderful to have a Canadian company, a major brand of e-bikes, being manufactured in Ontario.

But why would a company set up an e-bike manufacturing outlet in Ontario when, if they manufactured them here according to Ontario standards, they can’t sell them across the border to the United States and they can’t export them to Europe?

You’ve created this legislation that is before us. There’s still a chance for this government to change it, to go back to committee, to pull it back before you finalize this legislation. There’s a chance to actually create an opportunity for the e-bike industry in Ontario, because currently what we’ve got before us is actually going to be a competitive disadvantage for our province and for this industry.

I’ll give you some examples of what it means. I talked to Mike Stein, who is the general manager of Amego e-bikes on Richmond Street in my riding. He says that he has had a quadrupling of sales in this past year. During the pandemic, the number of e-bikes that he was selling went up four-fold. Now this government is saying that a lot of those bikes that he’s sold are going to be illegal on the roads in Ontario. So what does that mean to all those buyers, all those thousands and thousands of buyers of those e-bikes? How is this going to be enforced?

Are you going to be reimbursing those people for those bikes that you have suddenly made illegal? Or are you going to make some sort of exemption for them in regulation? You’re creating a chaotic regulatory environment and legislative environment for this industry.

I was talking about the importance of this to the economy. Deloitte expects the e-bike industry in the next three years to be a $26-billion-a-year global industry. People are using e-bikes to replace cars.

Derek Rayside is a resident in my riding and he lives right down near Yonge and the waterfront. He’s married and they have two kids. They gave up their family car four years ago, and part of the reason they gave up their family car was because he would be driving somewhere, he would come back, and the last kilometre to get down to Queens Quay and Yonge area would be 45 minutes, just to cover that last kilometre, because sometimes there would be a Leafs game getting out or a Blue Jays game getting out. There are so many events.

We have a wonderful tourism industry in the downtown waterfront and people appreciate it, but it does make traffic very, very congested. So the e-bikes are actually one of the solutions to this congestion.

Anyway, he gave up his car, the family car, and they’ve got a triple tandem e-bike. He and his wife and one of the kids can get on this triple tandem e-bike, and they will get on the Martin Goodman Trail and ride all the way to Etobicoke, to the Costco in Etobicoke, and buy their groceries and ride all the way back. Their other child will use his own bike, which is also an e-bike. He said that the e-bikes gives them the range and the ability to carry cargo like that. He said that the other place that they go is the science centre.

To get to the science centre, they have to go along the Martin Goodman Trail and then up the Don Valley bicycle trail. I don’t have an exact estimate, but I would guess it’s probably a 10- or 15-kilometre ride. With two young kids, it’s too much to do without the electric assist, but the electric assist means that they can travel that far in an environmentally friendly way, and this is the other advantage of e-bikes. They reduce congestion and they’re environmentally friendly, because they’re just charged.

As long as we have a green energy system that’s developed where we’re producing electricity through renewable resources, then we can use that electricity and get out of the combustion engines, the gas-powered vehicles.

I worry about this legislation and this current piece around e-bikes. I was thinking about it in terms of Dragons’ Den. I was thinking that if there were some young entrepreneurs in Ontario who came to Dragons’ Den and they said, “Look, we’ve got this e-bike industry. Our sales have quadrupled in the last year. We’ve got our own design. We want to manufacture these and we need the capital investment to manufacture these e-bikes in Ontario,” the Dragons would look at that and say, “Look, you’ve got a good track record.

I appreciate your ambition, but if you look at the legislation that was just passed by the Conservative government in Ontario, they’re making most of those e-bikes that you want to manufacture illegal.” They’re actually snuffing out this fastest-growing manufacturing opportunity in the world. E-bikes are the fastest-growing form of transportation that’s being sold in the world. They are going to outsell electric cars in Europe within a year or two.

I would ask the government to please consider revamping this piece before you pass this legislation, because you’re impacting our economy, it’s going to impact our environment and it’s going to add to the road congestion. The road congestion in the GTHA costs us $6 billion a year. If you have that family, like Derek’s family, on bicycles rather than cars, they’re taking up just a small portion of the space of a car. When people are on bicycles, more people can move through the city with less congestion. That will reduce that $6 billion a year that we throw away every year because of traffic congestion in the city.

I’ve got a few minutes. There’s one other

section of this bill that I wanted to talk to. That’s on the subject of doorings. Doorings are an issue that is really important to me. I’m an avid cyclist. I was doored in 2018 while riding along Bloor Street. It was a section—at that time, the bike lanes stopped around Bay Street. So I’m just past where the bike lanes are. A vehicle pulled past me and it stopped three feet out from the curb. A passenger got out of the back door. If they had tried to time it to get me, they couldn’t have done it any better.

It’s just like I’m riding along, they pull past me, they stop just in front of me and a passenger gets out of the door, without even pulling over to the curb or anything, no warning whatsoever. So I got doored. My thigh was badly bruised. I’m limping around. It was a ride-share driver. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was actually going into shock. My blood pressure is normally 80 over 120. The ambulance eventually came. At first I said, “No, no. I’m fine. I’m fine,” because you do that when you’re in shock. But my blood pressure, actually, when the ambulance driver took it, was 180.

So I was going into shock.

But, anyway, I’m dealing with this thing. After the accident, I talked briefly to the passenger and he gave me his phone number. Then he had to go, because he was in a meeting. I talked to the driver. I said, “I need your licence and registration.” She said, “No, no. This has nothing to do with me. It’s between you and the passenger.” I said, “No, no. We just had an accident. By law, you have to give me your licence and registration.” The police came eventually. Somebody called the police, because I’m limping around and I’m probably getting kind of pale.

I’m trying to tell this woman, “No, no, you’ve got to give me your information.” The police came and said, “Actually, this is a grey area in law.”

In 2011, doorings were downgraded from accidents to incidents by the former Liberal government. The police did not have a report form for these doorings. Normally, they would fill out an accident report. He said, “I’ll write one for you, but this isn’t actually the proper form. We don’t have a protocol for dealing with these doorings.” At one point, the woman who was driving that vehicle started to leave, and the ambulance actually chased her and brought her back. But with the standards of the day, I don’t know whether she didn’t have the right to leave.

It was all very grey and murky, and I was trying to deal with this while going into shock. I was on the Toronto Board of Health at the time. We brought forward a motion to the city, and we asked the city to ask the province to change doorings back from incidents to accidents.

That change is being made in this legislation, so thank you to the government for making that change. It’s something that I’ve been advocating for for a number of years. We need more action on doorings.

The other thing I was asking for was that there be mandatory training for rideshare drivers. Driving a rideshare is very different from driving a regular vehicle because you are picking up and dropping off people all day, often in very congested places like the city of Toronto. So I would ask that that also be amended in this act.

There are some other things that could be done to reduce the number of doorings. My colleague Marit Stiles, the member from Davenport, brought forward a motion to teach the Dutch reach, which is a system that they use in Holland. They teach people that instead of opening your door—if you’re on the driver’s side—with your left hand, use your right hand. It forces you to turn around. It forces you to do a shoulder check. That can also reduce the number of doorings. It would be nice to see the Dutch reach also be taught as part of the G1 driver training.

So I’d ask the government—with the dooring, you’re making a good step; there are more steps that need to be made. But the e-bikes issue—you’ve got that wrong, and you really, really need to change this legislation before you pass it.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Questions to the member for Spadina–Fort York?

Mr. Rick Nicholls: I listened intently to the member from Spadina–Fort York’s presentation. He talked a lot about e-bikes. I don’t want to talk about e-bikes.

I want to talk about towing. The MOMS Act proposes the Towing and Storage Safety and Enforcement Act, which would require tow operators, tow truck drivers and vehicle storage operators to have a provincial certificate to operate. It also proposes vehicle and equipment requirements for tow trucks and provides protections for persons requesting or receiving towing and storage services.

To the member from Spadina-Fort York: Would you agree with the steps that we have outlined to combat the fraud and criminal activity seen and experienced by many in the towing industry?

Mr. Chris Glover: In committee, we heard about the towing issue. Certainly, there is a lot of criminal activity. The media has exposed what’s going on with the towing industry. It definitely needs to be cleaned up. We heard that from the CAA and from the Ontario Good Roads deputants when they were speaking to committee.

So there are parts of this bill that are very good, but there are other parts of this bill that are going to really harm Ontario, particularly the e-bike

section of the bill.

This is one of the things that happens in this Legislature. Eventually, you’re going to be standing up and you’re going to be saying, “Oh, the opposition voted against cleaning up the towing industry,” when actually, the same legislation—what we do not want to support is making all of these e-bikes illegal. It would be better if you actually had multiple bills rather than one omnibus bill, and then we could debate each issue separately.

But the towing industry one—yes, that’s an important step to make to clean up that industry.

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

Ms. Suze Morrison: I listened intently to my colleague’s remarks.

During the story about your experience of being doored, all I could think about was a really large crash that happened in F1 last year. Romain Grosjean went into a steel barrier at 192 kilometres an hour at 67 Gs. The car split in half and burst flames.

He walked away from that crash largely because the body that oversees F1 over the years has put in place incredible safety measures like a halo, which people resisted for a long time. The halo is a ring around the top of the car that protects the driver’s head. All I could think was that people in F1 cars going 192 kilometres an hour into a steel wall are more likely to survive than a cyclist going 14 or 15 kilometres an hour on a road in Ontario, and how that must feel.

My question to the member is: What do we need to do to help people not resist the changes that we need to make to make our roads as safe for cyclists as they are for F1 drivers?

Mr. Chris Glover: Thank you very much for that question. This is the thing about bicycles and pedestrians: Cyclists and pedestrians are the vulnerable road users.

There were a number of amendments that were brought forward to the committee, particularly by the member from Oshawa, to improve the road safety for vulnerable road users. They were all voted down by the government. This is really, really unfortunate.

As a cyclist in the city of Toronto—I get around: I drive, I cycle and I also skateboard here sometimes. I’m supportive of all different modes of transportation. We need to make them all safe. I think the city should be congratulated for the expansion of the cycling lane network, but we need to do much more.

On the dooring piece, there are a number of things that we could do, particularly mandating training for those rideshare drivers.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Flamborough–Glanbrook.

Ms. Donna Skelly: Thank you, and good morning, Mr. Speaker.

My question is to the member opposite. Many of us commute distances to come to the Legislature. Once we start to see the province open up again, we’re going to see, of course, more people on the highways, either going to tourist attractions or perhaps to their summer residence. Historically, we have seen people working on our highways, and it has always amazed me how risky, really, that job is. Even as a flag person, woman or man, working on the highways certainly presents a heightened sense of risk because you are dealing with people who are behind a 2,000-pound piece of equipment that could cause a lot of damage.

This particular proposed MOMS Act will improve working conditions for our highway workers by allowing the use of automated traffic control devices to direct traffic at a construction site. I’m wondering if the member opposite agrees that we should adopt technology like the automatic flagger assistance device to protect workers who are maintaining and building our highways.

Mr. Chris Glover: Thank you very much for the question. I noticed the government side aren’t asking about what the majority of my speech was about, which was e-bikes and the classification system that’s going to make most of them illegal. Ask me a question about that and how you could change this legislation to improve it so e-bikes are not made illegal.

As far as improving the safety of road workers, absolutely, every step that can be taken should be taken to improve the safety of workers. They’re absolutely vital. Road construction is so important. Our road network is so important. It’s so important that it be maintained. No one should ever be in danger when they’re working on our roads.

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

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: When we talk about the Moving Ontarians More Safely Act, 2021, I think about the north. I know there’s a long discussion of e-bikes.

When this government came into power in 2018, I remember the former Minister of Transportation coming to me and saying, “Sol, I just got briefed and I didn’t know that we ran airports.” So when I talk about travel, when I talk about moving Ontarians safely, all I’ve got is airports. When we talk about e-bikes—like, sorry.

I know that we talked about northern travel and whatever, and I think it’s important when we talk about Ontarians—it’s just so foreign to me when you talk about e-bikes or when we talk about the towing or Metrolinx. We don’t have highways; the sky is the highway for us.

I’m just wondering: If we talk about safety in the north, when we talk about keeping Ontarians safe, what do you see in the north that you spoke about?

Mr. Chris Glover: I want to thank the member from Kiiwetinoong for that question. It’s a question I’d love to have a dialogue with you about. My only experience in the fly-in communities: When I was on the forest fire crew, I was on a fire in Webequie. They had a gravel runway and that’s what we flew in to. That gravel runway had just been built. Before that, they only flew in by water. In the summertime, they had planes with pontoons on that landed on the water, and in the wintertime, they made an ice runway on the lake. Actually, the member from Kiiwetinoong is nodding, because he knows this very well.

I don’t know if other fly-in—this is many years ago. I don’t know what the situation is, but certainly the airport safety of those fly-in communities in the north is paramount, because that is their lifeline through most of the year.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Questions?

Mr. Vijay Thanigasalam: Speaker, through you to the member opposite: As we are discussing Bill 282, this legislation currently being debated is all about enabling legislation for future regulations and safety. This MOMS Act ensures that e-bikes, including cargo e-bikes that are permitted in Ontario today, will continue to be permitted as e-bikes or under the Cargo E-Bikes Pilot Program. Municipalities will choose which classes of e-bikes would be permitted in their jurisdiction, because municipalities know what’s best for their jurisdiction, their municipal roads. Would the member opposite agree that municipalities are in the best position to decide which e-bikes to have on their roads?

Mr. Chris Glover: There are different roles and there’s different expertise. The municipalities certainly know where e-bikes belong within their jurisdiction. There are bike lanes where maybe e-bikes are appropriate or maybe they’re not. But what the Globe and Mail has said is that we need a national standard of e-bikes so that we’re not creating a competitive disadvantage by having different standards, province by province and municipality by municipality. Can you imagine if you wanted to manufacture e-bikes in Ontario and every municipality had a different classification system? How could you possibly set up a manufacturing outlet? It just doesn’t make sense.

So, please, talk with other provinces and talk with—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you very much. Next, we have the member for Flamborough–Glanbrook.

Ms. Donna Skelly: Good morning, Mr. Speaker. I rise this morning to speak to the Moving Ontarians More Safely Act, also known as the MOMS Act. The provisions in this act would enhance protections for vulnerable road users and consumers, improve commercial vehicle and the safety of highway workers and strengthen the province’s oversight of the towing and vehicle storage industry.

Mr. Speaker, street racing and stunt driving are among the most serious threats on our roadways. Our government is committed to combatting bad driving behaviour. It’s reckless, it’s dangerous and it’s a serious crime. Between 2013 and 2019, the number of driver’s licence suspensions issued for street racing and stunt driving increased 130%. Between March and August 2020, roadside driver’s licence suspensions for street racing and stunt driving increased an additional 52%. Nearly 5% of drivers suspended during this period had one or more previous suspensions in the previous five years.

Based on our current data, every three and a half hours someone is injured in a speed-related crash right here in Ontario. Drivers between the ages of 16 to 25 are responsible for many of these collisions. The proposed street racing and stunt driving measures in this MOMS Act are intended to enhance and strengthen Ontario’s existing stunt driving penalty regime by expanding its application and removing any loopholes that may exist.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a significant decrease in traffic on our roadways. In some rural areas, the roads were almost empty. Unfortunately, during this very same period, there was a corresponding increase in bad driving behaviour. Many drivers took open roads as an invitation to put their foot on the gas pedal. This proposed legislation introduced by our government will hopefully put the brakes on stunt driving and street racing on Ontario’s highways.

As our Solicitor General, Sylvia Jones, has said, “Stunt driving and street racing are serious threats that have posed a greater risk to our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

This legislation proposes increased penalties and sanctions under the MOMS Act. The MOMS Act is not only about the action our government is taking against stunt driving and street racing. As part of the proposed legislation, we are embracing new technologies to make informed decisions and to improve safety on our roads. It also includes the creation of a new Towing and Storage Safety and Enforcement Act, which will ensure police services across the province have the tools they need to combat high-risk driving on Ontario’s roads.

Mr. Speaker, during the very first few months of the initial lockdown last spring, police in York region impounded nine vehicles in one night following a rash of stunt driving incidents that officers said was connected to COVID-19 restrictions. Police said the nine drivers were travelling more than 50 kilometres above the posted speed limit. Again, these examples simply underscore the gravity of the problem of high-speed driving during the pandemic.

Just two and a half months into the pandemic, York Regional Police laid 306 stunt driving charges against drivers travelling more than 50 kilometres above the speed limit. To offer a comparison, over the same period in 2019, York police laid 149 such charges.

In one incident, police impounded a vehicle being driven by a 16-year-old on Highway 7 in Vaughan. The teenage driver, who has a G1 licence, was allegedly driving 120 kilometres an hour in a 60-kilometre-an-hour zone. The police officer who pulled the car over had the young man call his mother, who had no idea her son had even taken the car out for a drive.

Police services across the province have been reporting a spike in dangerous and high-speed driving. The spike is largely attributed to the restrictions required to combat COVID-19.

Mr. Speaker, street racing is a problem in my hometown of Hamilton as well, particularly in my riding of Flamborough–Glanbrook. Flamborough–Glanbrook is a largely rural area with open roads that invite reckless drivers to run their vehicles at dangerous speeds. In one incident, a 25-year-old driver was handed an automatic roadside licence suspension and had his vehicle impounded for seven days for going 53 kilometres over the posted speed limit. In September last year, police were called to the Cineplex parking lot in Ancaster after being told by a provincial task force that a street racing rally was about to get under way.

On Monday, Burlington OPP tweeted that they stopped a 30-year-old driver for going 46 kilometres an hour over the posted limit on Highway 407. According to police, the driver said, “I thought you would only get charged for doing 50 over.”

A few days earlier, a motorcycle driver was pulled over for tearing down Highway 407 in Burlington at 166 kilometres an hour. He told police he had been going that speed for quite some time with absolutely no problems. Well, he does have a problem now. His bike was impounded, and he was charged with stunt driving.

On the same day in Toronto, two drivers were clocked at more than 200 kilometres an hour. Each had their vehicle impounded, their driver’s licence suspended and are now heading to court on stunt driving charges.

Mr. Speaker, these are just a few examples of why our government is taking strong action to protect road users against unsafe and aggressive driving.

The MOMS Act introduces new measures to combat high-risk driving and to improve road safety. The measures include longer driver’s licence suspensions and longer vehicle impoundment periods for drivers engaged in stunt driving, street racing and aggressive driving.

As a mother of two sons in their 20s, I am alarmed by the increasing numbers of young drivers who are caught stunt driving and street racing. This disturbing trend in such dangerous driving behaviors is evidence that existing penalties and sanctions are no longer effective in deterring stunt driving and street racing.

By imposing stiffer vehicle impoundment and licence suspension penalties, the MOMS Act sends a clear message to reckless and dangerous drivers.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to take a moment now to talk about the stiffer penalties proposed for stunt driving and street racing.

If passed, the MOMS Act would increase the roadside driver’s licence suspension and vehicle impoundment period for drivers caught street racing or stunt driving to 30 days—the vehicle would be impounded for 14 days. Currently, both suspension periods are seven days each.

The legislation also proposes escalating penalties for repeat offences. On conviction for a first offence, the driver’s licence would be suspended for a minimum of one to three years; for a second offence, a minimum of three to 10 years; for a third offence, the penalty would be a lifetime driver’s licence suspension. A lifetime suspension for a third offence could be reduced at a later date. However, a fourth and subsequent offence would result in a lifetime driver’s licence suspension, period.

We are also proposing lowering the threshold for stunt driving charges of driving 40 kilometres per hour or more above the speed limit on roads where the posted limit is less than 80 kilometres an hour.

Mr. Speaker, these are substantial increases to the existing penalties that send a strong message to drivers that their foolish and dangerous behavior on Ontario’s roads will simply not be tolerated. It’s anticipated that harsher penalties will deter drivers from engaging in street racing and stunt driving.

We know that speed continues to be one of the worst killers on Ontario roads. Travelling at high speeds on our highways puts the life of the driver and others in jeopardy. The risk of fatality or serious injury is approximately 11 times greater when vehicles are involved in a collision at 50 kilometres or more over a posted speed limit when compared to vehicles driving at or below the posted speed limit.

The MOMS Act targets the worst offenders on our roadways by creating escalating suspensions for repeat offenders and setting a lower speed threshold for stunt driving charges on municipal roads.

With this proposed legislation, our government is taking concrete action to protect people—to protect families, to protect pedestrians on our roads. We are determined to keep Ontario’s roads among the safest in North America. As the Premier has said, we will not sit by and do nothing while drivers are found speeding well over the limit and being reckless on our roads. The MOMS Act is a significant continuation of the work our government is doing to strengthen road safety.

Driving is a privilege, and those who threaten the safety of others have no place on Ontario roads.

Our government’s message is clear: Drivers who put lives at risk are on our radar. We will not tolerate their careless disregard for the safety of others.

Mr. Speaker, in January of this year, municipalities, road safety stakeholders and enforcement agencies were consulted on a list of high-priority, high-impact proposals aimed at targeting stunt driving, street racing and reckless driving. For the most part, stakeholders were very supportive of these safety initiatives.

Our government’s efforts are being applauded by police forces and safe driving advocates across Ontario.

Superintendent Scott Baptist of the Toronto Police Service said, “By creating a series of escalating sanctions for aggressive driving behaviours, it will focus the most significant repercussions on those most deserving—those who would completely disregard the law, putting the lives and safety of other road users in jeopardy.”

“This is an important first step toward realizing a future where Ontarians are no longer fatally injured or seriously hurt on our roadways,” said Scott Butler, the executive director of the Ontario Good Roads Association.

But the MOMS Act is not only about street racing and stunt driving. We are also committed to combatting other unsafe driving habits, such as distracted driving. We are fighting distracted driving by ensuring that the public is aware of its preventable dangers and consequences.

The measures included in the Moving Ontarians More Safely Act target the bad drivers on Ontario’s roads who put everyone’s safety at risk. The measures in the MOMS Act also help shield vulnerable road users from harm. Pedestrians and roadside workers are exposed to injury and possibly death by dangerous drivers each and every day. If passed, the MOMS Act introduces measures to protect vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and those working on our highways.

We know that responsible driving makes roads safer for everyone. That is why the MTO monitors trends in driving behaviours to identify concerning trends. That way we can make changes to the rules and penalties to ensure that everyone is safe. This proposed legislation would authorize MTO transportation enforcement officers to close a road, drive along closed roads and direct traffic as part of their duties when responding to emergencies or assisting in collision investigations.

Our government would permit the use of automated traffic control devices, known as automated flagger assistance devices, as an additional traffic control tool in construction zones. We’ve all seen construction workers standing on the road holding a stop sign for drivers when two lanes are reduced to one. This measure would reduce the need for construction workers to physically stop traffic themselves. The proposed legislation would also permit vehicles used in highway construction projects to back up on divided highways only if the movement is safe.

Bryan Hocking of the Ontario Road Builders’ Association praises our government for introducing this safety measure. Hocking said, “Initiatives that crack down on stunt driving, that allow for the use of automated flagger devices are important tools that will make construction zones safer for workers and make our roadways safer for all Ontarians.”

The MOMS Act would also introduce additional tools to address commercial vehicle drivers who violate hours-of-service rules. It would clarify dimensional limits for trailers. It would permit technical standards to be incorporated in the Highway Traffic Act by reference rather than requiring a legislative or regulatory amendment. This change would ensure that the most updated version of standards will be automatically incorporated into the HTA.

The MOMS Act, if passed, would strengthen provincial oversight of the towing sector. It would create the Towing and Storage Safety and Enforcement Act by amending four statutes. The provisions in the proposed TSSEA would require tow operators, tow truck drivers and vehicle storage operators to be certified and to meet prescribed requirements and standards. Set standards would be required for customer protection and roadside behaviours, including penalties for non-compliance. A director of towing and vehicle and storage standards would be established to provide oversight.

When your vehicle is broken down, the last thing the driver wants to worry about is whether their tow truck operator can actually be trusted. Mr. Speaker, these changes will protect customers and give them the confidence they need, when they’re waiting by the side of the road for a tow, that a reliable and reputable tow truck driver will be there to assist them.

During our consultations with stakeholder groups, there was a strong recommendation that a new provincial oversight regime is required for the towing industry. Many of the stakeholders’ suggestions, including training for tow truck drivers, creating a level playing field for the towing sector, offering customer protection for commercial vehicles and ensuring fair pricing, are all recognized in this legislation.

Throughout the regulation development process there will be regular consultations with stakeholders. Teresa Di Felice of CAA said, “Many reputable tow operators ... already provide safe, honest and professional services.” Di Felice echoed the view that by elevating provincial standards combined with regulatory oversight, Ontario further strengthens the towing profession and inspires greater consumer confidence in the towing industry.

OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique commended our government for introducing the safety measures in the MOMS Act. He said, “It’s an important step towards addressing the serious road safety issues created by aggressive drivers and unsafe towing practices.”

By introducing the provisions in the MOMS Act, our government is going further to improve road safety in Ontario, protect vulnerable road users, and improve protections and standards for consumers and businesses.

Mr. Speaker, those of us who have ridden streetcars in Toronto know that getting on and off the vehicle can be dangerous. Many drivers simply ignore rules and blow right past the open streetcar doors, but that kind of reckless driving has been difficult to deter.

Our government has heard loud and clear from commuters in Toronto about how hazardous getting on and off a streetcar can actually be. That is why our government is introducing an automated camera enforcement framework for streetcars that will allow transit agencies to submit photo evidence of vehicles that illegally pass streetcars when they pick up or drop off passengers. This means that drivers who endanger the lives of streetcar passengers by flying past their open doors could soon get an automatic ticket if caught by an automated camera.

If passed, the legislation would amend the Highway Traffic Act to authorize the use of photo evidence to automatically ticket drivers who illegally pass streetcars.

While illegal passing of a streetcar’s open doors is actually difficult to enforce because currently there is simply no way to capture the licence plate of an offending driver’s vehicle, the proposal to allow cameras on streetcars would change that. There have been far too many incidents of pedestrians being injured while stepping off a streetcar.

Mr. Speaker, if passed, the MOMS Act will also set out new standards for e-bikes. It would allow for the fine-tuning of e-bike rules by municipalities by creating new

definitions for e-bikes, or power-assisted bicycles, in the Highway Traffic Act.

Mr. Speaker, for all of these reasons, I urge you and all members in this House to support the MOMS Act. Our lives and the lives of our loved ones could depend on it.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Questions for the member for Flamborough–Glanbrook?

Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: I listened to the government member talk about the road safety measures that are in this bill. They’re needed, right? The tow trucking, the stunting, the speeding. What I didn’t hear about is the other road safety measures that could be implemented which could be looked at from a dooring perspective. It’s also very much a safety concern for vehicles and bicyclists.

During the committee presentations, I know deputants talked about asking this government to adopt Bill 62, the Protecting Vulnerable Road Users Act, and also Bill 89, which is the Teach the Reach Act. During the committee amendments process, the NDP asked this government and proposed that we put these two bills into the MOMS Act to further strengthen road safety. As this bill, as the member has talked about, is all about road safety, why did the government not choose to implement Bill 62 and Bill 89 to strengthen it further?

Ms. Donna Skelly: Our province has a long history of permitting automated camera-based enforcement programs. In fact, back in 2004, the province passed legislation to permit municipalities to use red light cameras to deter intersection violations. In December 2019, Ontario implemented new regulations and provisions contained in the Safer School Zones Act, 2017, to permit municipalities to deploy automated speed enforcement, or the ASE system. In July 2020, the municipalities of Toronto and Ottawa became the first jurisdictions in Ontario to begin active camera enforcement in designated school zones.

Mr. Speaker, the proposed streetcar camera framework will be an opt-in program for municipalities, the same as other programs. Municipalities will be responsible for all aspects of program administration, including procuring camera technology, processing photographic evidence and laying charges. All of these measures will help keep our roads safer.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Questions?

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: Thanks to the member for her presentation and speaking very passionately about this. It’s called the MOMS Act. I know you are a mother. Could you speak a little bit about what this means to you as a mother, knowing that your children—I mean, they’re not children anymore, but children across this province will be kept safer, and what it means to you as a mother?

Ms. Donna Skelly: Thank you so much for the question. As a mom—I have two young boys and they like cars. I have seen their friends drive and they like their vehicles as well. I think part of the problem is that the penalties that currently exist just weren’t enough of a deterrent to young people who think that they are simply immune to risk and to penalties.

What we are doing is we’re focusing on targeting, especially, young people. As the statistics that I mentioned in my report said, between 16 and 24 tend to be the highest offenders of stunt driving and stunt racing. These measures will act as a deterrent. It will be lenient enough to give them a break if they truly, truly can show that they can change their driving habits.

But as a former reporter, I covered far too many stories of young people who have caused hardship to others and to their own families simply because they thought that they could speed 40, 50 kilometres over the posted speed limit, that they simply wouldn’t face any penalties. This is a deterrent. It will prevent them from speeding and hopefully save a lot more lives.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Questions?

Mr. Peter Tabuns: I want to thank the member for her presentation earlier. I do have a question, though, about stunt driving and penalties. My riding, Toronto–Danforth, borders the Don Valley Parkway. We have an ongoing summer problem with motorcyclists, biker gangs, engaged in stunt driving and racing on the Don Valley. The problem we have is not that there’s a lack of penalties, although I have no problem with greater penalties for stunt driving; we just can’t get anyone to enforce the law. So I would appreciate it if the member would say how higher penalties will stop stunt driving when you can’t even get the law enforced today on existing penalties.

Ms. Donna Skelly: Thank you for the question. We have been working with stakeholders, including members of police forces from across Ontario, who are supportive of the measures that we are implementing, that we are proposing. It’s that awareness and that constant dialogue and that relationship with our police departments right across Ontario that will ensure that they will recognize the value in enforcing these laws.

I just want to go over it, Mr. Speaker, if I may. With the increase in these penalties, I do believe that once we as legislators spread the word, once the media spreads the word and once police do enforce it, it will truly act as a deterrent. For a first offence, a minimum of one to three years of your driver’s suspension; a second offence, a minimum of three to 10 years; a third offence, a lifetime suspension that may be reduced at a later date; but the fourth and subsequent offences is a lifetime driver’s licence suspension.

We will be creating the lower speed threshold for stunt driving charges of driving 40 kilometres per hour or more above the limit on roads where the speed limit is less than 80, and we will introduce a default speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour on a highway not within a local municipality or a built-up area.

Mr. Speaker, the deterrents, coupled with public education and working with stakeholders, should address your concerns.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Member for Chatham-Kent–Leamington.

Mr. Rick Nicholls: I’d like to ask a question about stunt driving. The Legislature passed a motion not long ago calling for higher penalties for stunt driving offences, and this legislation appears to respond to that. Could the member provide some further information about what the proposed new penalties are and the reasons behind them?

Ms. Donna Skelly: Yes, I’d love to. Our government is very, very concerned about the increase in the number of drivers that we have seen participating in street racing, stunt driving and other kinds of high-risk and aggressive driving. High-risk driving behaviours regularly cause injury and death on our roads and the recent trends are moving in the wrong direction, as I stated in my comments earlier. We have seen more and more people take advantage of our lower-utilized highways by stunt driving.

As I said, in my own community, we’ve had police report excessive speeds for young people who are on rural roads simply because people are staying home more often—and, of course, even massive gatherings, where they were going to be hosting a stunt driving rally; luckily, the police were able to prevent that from going forward.

Based on our current data, every three and a half hours, someone is injured in a speed-related crash in Ontario, with drivers between 16 to 25 accounting for a considerable percentage of these collisions. The proposals implemented in this bill will address the need, will address how young people are thinking that they are immune to any sort of danger or penalty. It will provide higher penalties and hopefully keep more people in Ontario safe.

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

Mr. Michael Mantha: I want to go to an analogy the member from Spadina–Fort York used at the start of his statement: When the government is going down a certain path, and that path or that road has two lanes, it becomes two ruts. It becomes a path, and then you’re obstructed with an obstacle. At that point in time, you have to make the decision to turn around or pick up a phone and call someone for help.

Well, on this particular bill, there’s no disputing that the towing industry—because I’ve personally shared those stories in regard to what I’ve experienced with some friends who have relocated from southern Ontario to northern Ontario because of the chaos that is going on in the industry. There’s no disputing the road workers.

There are some disputes, there is some help, and there are some guides. There are some red flags that have been sent out to this government in regard to the e-bikes. Why won’t you pick up a phone or turn around and go back to the beginning and come back down the right path so you could have good legislation which all of us support in this House?

Ms. Donna Skelly: I’m pleased to actually rise for this question. It’s funny, because I say “northern Ontario,” but I know we won’t all agree that, say, Sudbury is northern Ontario; it’s probably middle Ontario. But Toronto is not Ontario. We have to start looking to other municipalities. I’m a former city councillor. What works in Toronto doesn’t necessarily work in other parts of Ontario. This Legislature often is so Toronto-centric. This is not Sudbury. This is not Thunder Bay. This is not North Bay. This is not London.

We have different needs in our municipalities, and I think what we are doing is the right way to approach e-bikes. Let municipalities determine what’s good for their people. They know best.

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

Mr. Michael Mantha: It’s always a pleasure to take my place on behalf of the good people of Algoma–Manitoulin. I’ll be sharing some of my time this morning with the member from Toronto Centre.

I’ve always promised my constituents that when any piece of legislation comes to the floor, I will debate and I will bring suggestions from a northern perspective. But before I do that, Speaker, I want to ask for your indulgence. I want to give a shout-out to one of Elliot Lake’s strongest heroes. His name is Elijah. Elijah is over at SickKids right now, and Elijah has gone through some major, major miracle heart surgery yesterday.

His mom provided me with this update, and this is for the people on the north shore and in Elliot Lake: They took out his first ventricle and gave him two with a lot of tunnels and patches—miracle surgery that a lot of the team was worried about, but he is doing well. And someone who just went through something so major—the surgery took 9.5 hours, and because he is amazing and SickKids is magic, he came out of the OR, off the ventilator. His blood pressure is holding. He’s being reduced off his meds. He’s still on the external pacer.

The CPAP machine has been removed, and his toes are pink, which means his heart is working well.

Applause.

Mr. Michael Mantha: Elijah, I can’t wait to hold you. I wish I could go down there and see you right now, but I think it’s just best that I stay here.

Now, let’s get back to this wonderful bill, Bill 282, the Moving Ontarians More Safely Act. I was here in the House just a couple of days ago when the minister came up and took her place and started her comments with the following: that every 14 hours, one person is killed on our highways because of a variety of reasons.

Again, I’m bringing in a northern lens here, Mr. Speaker. It’s nice outside, right? Everything is going green. The blooms are coming out and everything. But there’s something that I refuse to let this Legislature forget: our winter roads. I am going to bring this and howl at it every single time that I have that opportunity inside this House. When you look at a bill, the Moving Ontarians More Safely Act—what better-fitting title than making that apply to northern Ontario as well in regard to our roads? Our roads are not being maintained to the level that we expect them to be.

The member from Mushkegowuk–James Bay introduced a bill not that long ago, just last year, which would bring Highways 11 and 17 to classification 1, equal to what is on the 400-series highways. That would mean more equipment. That would mean safer roads. That would mean more ability for Ontarians to be getting to and from hospitals, schools, building our economies, because when our roads are closed, we can’t go anywhere.

Ask people who live in Hearst. Ask people who live in Beardmore. Ask people who live in White River, the people in Batchawana. From Sault Ste. Marie to Wawa, that highway is constantly closed. And why? Not because things have changed significantly. It snowed in northern Ontario for a very long time. But recently, we have had more road closures and more accidents.

You talk to a community like White River, that was locked in and couldn’t get out of their community at all. You talk to a young lady from Manitouwadge, Kennedy Quade, who, by a mere 20 seconds—they swerved and her friend Kobe was gone. You talk to a gentleman like Tom Featherstone out of Goulais River, who is absolutely frustrated in regards to the conditions of the roads in the Sault Ste. Marie area and Goulais River area. This is unacceptable. Again, I bring this with a northern lens to the floor of this Legislature.

The other things I want to mention about here: DriveTest services in northern Ontario. My goodness, there’s one Ontario; why is it that we cannot get the same services as the rest of this province in northern Ontario as you do everywhere else? We cannot get any DriveTest surveys or inspections done in many of my northern municipalities. DriveTest calls and says, “No, no. There’s a snowstorm. It’s unsafe. We won’t be able to get to your community. We’ll postpone it to next month.”

Guess what happens the following month? There’s another snowstorm. You guessed it, Speaker. That’s what happens. That is frustrating. There’s no accountability. It’s hurting our industries. Larry Lacroix owns a bus business in Chapleau. He is constantly struggling to get his bus drivers certified. It’s a constant frustration for many people in northern Ontario.

The other thing that we have in northern Ontario and across this province is insurance costs. The Moving Ontarians More Safely Act—truckers, forestry workers, farming communities: For many of them, the insurance in this province is skyrocketing. Family-run businesses can no longer operate because they cannot find the proper carrier for them in order to get the insurance that they need.

I look at this title, the Moving Ontarians More Safely Act, and there are some things in here that I alluded to in my previous question. In the towing industry, a gentleman that I work out with at my gym—we started talking. He found out I was a local member there. We started chitchatting. He relocated to northern Ontario because of the unsafe industry that is in southern Ontario, and he was happy. I had a chat with him. He says, “When are you guys going to do something?” So, good, we’re doing something here. We’re beginning a discussion. There’s no disputing that we have to get that done.

The road workers: I have plenty of friends that do a lot of bridge work, that do a lot of highway maintenance. My kids were, at one time, working on highways. So that is, again, another good discussion.

But, as I alluded to a little bit earlier, the e-bikes—in Elliot Lake, I have a very strong population of seniors, I have a very strong population and residents who have mobility issues and challenges.

This is an opportunity for us to get this right.

What is being proposed right now is going to lead to certain individuals asking, “Am I breaking the law? Is what I’m doing legit? Is it not? How do I know that the purchase I’m going to be making is going to be safe? Is it wise for me to get this particular bike? Is it going to be okay for me to have it in the future? Will I be able to use this at my daughter’s—who lives in another municipality—versus in Elliot Lake or on Manitoulin Island?”

These are a lot of the questions, from a northern lens, that people are asking. As I said from the get-go, I will always take my seat and I will always stand on behalf of the good people of Algoma–Manitoulin and bring a northern lens. These are some of the issues that we need—that we were hoping to see in the Moving Ontarians More Safely Act, that I do not see in this bill.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): The member has indicated that he will share his time with the member from Toronto Centre. So I now turn it over to the member from Toronto Centre.

Ms. Suze Morrison: I really want to thank my colleague the member from Algoma–Manitoulin for sharing his time today. It’s certainly a great opportunity to be able to rise in the House and speak about the need for road safety in our community.

I’m quite happy to be standing today, because I’m going to use this as an opportunity to talk about one of the things I’m most passionate about in the entire world, and that’s motorsports. A lot of people are often surprised to hear of a young woman in downtown Toronto obsessed with motorsports, but here we are. It has been a big part of my life for about a decade now. One of the reasons it’s such an important part of my life is that I came to motorsports through trauma.

I was sexually assaulted in my early 20s, and in that moment that I was recovering, I was just getting my driver’s licence for the first time, and the speed was something I became addicted to right away. It became an outlet for me, a place I could go and feel safe—locked in my car and learning to find control in my life in a new way.

But I immediately recognized the need to have safe spaces in Ontario to take that speed and get it off of our roads. Organized grassroots motorsports events are safe outlets to go and experience that speed in a safe way.

To all the young people in our communities who have that adrenaline addiction, that need for speed: Keep it off of our public roads. We do not need that. There are amazing local tracks that folks can take advantage of. Autocross is one of the most accessible, grassroots forms of motorsports you can get into. There are phenomenal local clubs that can help you. And you learn to become a better driver. You learn advanced defensive driving skills and advanced car control, and it’s so important.

So my pitch to young people is, if you’re interested in that speed, keep it off our public roads. The measures in this bill are going to go a long way to doing that. I really ask people to think seriously about that.

Speaker, I know I probably only have a minute or two left, but the other piece I want to speak to is that as someone connected to the motorsports community—one of the things we’ve been hearing in the most recent round of lockdowns is that outdoor recreational facilities have been closed. Unfortunately, our local racetracks and autocross clubs haven’t been able to run events because, just like the golf clubs, they’ve been caught up in the closure of these outdoor recreational spaces, and it has been exceptionally hard.

The previous member talked about how we’ve seen an increase in high speed and stunt driving on our roads as a direct result of COVID-19. I would argue that it’s correlated to the fact that our tracks can’t open. There’s nowhere for people to go and do that safely.

I was quite disappointed when the members opposite voted against the motion to safely reopen outdoor recreational facilities, like our golf clubs, like our racetracks, for example, that would provide a much-needed outlet for folks to take these high speeds, get them off of our public roads and onto our racetracks where they belong, safely. I really hope that we’re able to get back to doing that soon.

Speaker, the last thing I wanted to—one minute—work in, as well, because I never get a chance to talk in the House about motorsports, and I could go on and on and on.

Interjections.

Ms. Suze Morrison: It’s my only opportunity.

I want to talk about the safety, the role that motorsports plays in—

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Thank you.

Ms. Suze Morrison: Oh, no.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Hold that thought. When we do reconvene on this particular bill, you will have more time—and then, of course, the question-and-answer afterwards.

Third reading debate deemed adjourned.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Before we get into members’ statements, though, I would like to recognize the Minister of Government and Consumer Services on a point of order.

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Thank you very much, Speaker. I just want to share with the House that I really feel that the member from Toronto Centre should have more time to talk about her passion. I’ve met up with her in Centralia. The very car she drives to Queen’s Park is the car she races, and she does so in a safe environment, in a safe way. Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Well, I don’t believe that’s a point of order. However, having been said already, it’s now time for members’ statements.

Members’ Statements

Land use planning

Mr. Chris Glover: One of the challenges and one of the criticisms that we have of the current government is that they continuously take measures that strip communities and municipalities of the ability to plan the future of their neighbourhoods.

I’ll give you some examples: the MZOs. There was an MZO issued on the foundry site, and then, in late January, suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, demolition crews arrived on that site—which is in my colleague from Toronto Centre’s riding, and it’s a valuable, valuable heritage property—and they began demolition.

The other thing that the government has done is that they’ve been talking about and negotiating and looking at RFPs on Ontario Place for the last three years, but they haven’t been public about it. There has been no public consultation, there has been no public process, and the RFPs, the proposals that were received, were kept secret, so we don’t know what the future of Ontario Place is. This is one of the most valuable pieces of property that is owned by the people of Ontario.

The final one I want to mention is the Rail Deck Park. Last week, LPAT ruled in favour of a developer over the city of Toronto over the future of the Rail Deck Park. It was supposed to be a 21-acre green space right in the middle of Toronto, over the train tracks that are over the Union Station tracks, and now it has been scuttled by this government’s giving more power to developers through LPAT than to municipalities and local communities. So I’d ask the government to please listen to the communities and listen to municipalities.

Front-line workers

Ms. Donna Skelly: As we near the end of the legislative session, I want to take some time to recognize our incredible front-line heroes, our health care heroes. PSWs, doctors, nurses, paramedics deserve to be honoured this week and every week for the selfless work they do in healing and helping others.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have heard stories of front-line workers who have sacrificed their own well-being in an effort to save lives. Many are putting in gruelling hours, often under very stressful conditions. These hard-working men and women are courageous, committed and dedicated to helping those who need it most. They’ve taken time from their families to be there for their patients.

I know personally how much our front-line workers give of themselves. My sister, Sharen, was a nurse in New Brunswick and in communities across Ontario. She served in Moose Factory, building trust in health care systems among members of our First Nations communities. My aunts Catherine and Helen had worked in hospitals across Ontario, balancing a gruelling nursing career with the obligations of young mothers. My rookie nephew, Liam, is a paramedic and just helped deliver his very second baby.

By their nature, all of our front-line workers are generally caring and compassionate people. They wouldn’t have entered these professions if they weren’t. Throughout the pandemic, doctors, PSWs, paramedics, nurses and all front-line health care workers have gone above and beyond in the battle against COVID-19. For these reasons, I want to say I appreciate and am truly grateful for all that you do. Thank you.

Opioid abuse

Ms. Suze Morrison: Speaker, 2,000 people in Ontario died from a fatal opioid overdose last year. These deaths are preventable. My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of those we’ve lost this year. I can’t imagine the pain and the grief that those family members and friends are experiencing.

A study by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network and data from Toronto Public Health confirm that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of opioid overdose deaths during the pandemic. COVID-19 has contributed to a deadly and volatile drug supply, and it has been devastating for our community.

The crisis is impacting families across the province and from all walks of life but has claimed the lives of marginalized people to a far greater degree. The number of opioid-related deaths among people who are unhoused more than doubled during the pandemic.

In 2021 this crisis has become even worse. On May 6, there were five fatal suspected overdose-related calls to Toronto Paramedic Services, the highest daily recorded number yet. On May 12, the Moss Park safe injection site in my riding of Toronto Centre reversed 14 potentially deadly overdoses in one day.

The number of opioid-related deaths will continue to increase unless this government takes urgent action. Every day that they ignore this crisis is costing lives. People need help, Speaker. They need access to affordable supportive housing. They need access to treatment options, to harm reduction services and to a safe drug supply.

I’m calling on this government to step up, establish a plan to end the opioid crisis and to save lives.

Trevor Jones

Mr. Dave Smith: I’ve stood in this chamber on a number of occasions to speak about some of the exceptional people who have called different communities in my riding of Peterborough–Kawartha home. Today I have the honour of talking about a young gentleman who I’m sure all of Ontario, as well as the entire country of Canada, will come to know by name possibly as early as this summer. Trevor Jones is a 23-year-old young man who hails from the hamlet of Burleigh Falls, about 35 kilometres north of Peterborough on Highway 28.

Trevor is the two-time under-23 world rowing champion in single sculls. Although he is a gifted athlete, his road has not been easy. In 2019 his rowing season was interrupted because of a forearm injury that required surgery to mend compartment syndrome. Then, with the restrictions and cancellations due to COVID, the Olympic qualifiers that were scheduled for 2020 were all postponed when the Olympics in Tokyo were postponed.

Speaker, between May 15 and May 17, an Olympic qualifier for rowing was held in Lucerne, Switzerland. Between injuries and cancellations, it had been almost 18 months since Trevor had been involved in this level of competition, but he rose to the challenge and took home the silver medal, qualifying for the Olympics with a time of seven minutes and 1.48 seconds.

Congratulations, Trevor. All of Ontario is behind you, and good luck in Tokyo.

Education funding

Ms. Sara Singh: I would like to take a moment to thank all of our amazing educators across Peel region, in Brampton Centre and across our beautiful province of Ontario. They have been going above and beyond to keep students engaged throughout this pandemic, finding fun and creative ways to address the COVID and Zoom fatigue that we’re all experiencing, but especially our young people, who have been managing a lot of different stressors, many racialized young people not having access to the supports they need to thrive in the current conditions of this pandemic. We know that they’ve been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 as well.

This is why it is so beautiful to see school board after school board reject hybrid learning models in the province of Ontario. I want to give a big shout-out to our union members at the Elementary Teachers’ Federation in Peel and our local school board, who recently also said no to hybrid learning because they understand that fractured learning will have a negative impact on students’ outcomes, especially those who are racialized.

What we need this government to do is invest in creating safer classrooms so that we can have a safe return to our schools for students and educators alike. This means improving our ventilation and air filtration systems, investing in smaller class sizes and ensuring that students have every opportunity to succeed.

Speaker, I want to join the chorus of school boards and union members and educators and students and parents who are saying no to hybrid learning and making sure that this government is going to invest to ensure that we have a safe start in September.

Supportive housing

Mr. Mike Schreiner: I’m proud to rise today to highlight the unanimous vote by Guelph city council to support a 32-unit permanent supportive housing project on Willow Road in my riding. This vital project will help Guelph take an important step to achieving our goal to end homelessness by 2023. I’m proud of Guelph’s effort to build partnerships between non-profit organizations and private developers, service providers such as our community health centre, and all levels of government.

Speaker, we need the provincial government to be an active partner to support permanent supportive housing in Guelph and in ridings across the province. No one wants to see the tent encampments that we’ve seen over the past year or witness the violent confrontation that took place yesterday in Toronto at Lamport Stadium Park.

This province has a housing crisis. People are suffering. The most vulnerable need more than a temporary roof. They need a permanent place to call home and wraparound mental health and addiction support services to stabilize their lives.

As a society, we will be judged on how we treat the most vulnerable.

I believe everyone in this House has an obligation to stand up for permanent supportive housing.

Front-line workers

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: Speaker, when the pandemic began, communities everywhere came out to support front-line essential workers. They did it with good reason, and they did it with enthusiasm.

It’s now well over a year later, and many front-line workers have been working nearly non-stop. They’re ready for a break.

We hear you, we thank you, and your communities still support you.

I want to share just a few recent expressions of that support in Perth–Wellington.

On Saturday, the Downtown Mount Forest Retail Committee held the second annual Chalk Up Mount Forest sidewalk drawing event. It was in honour of Heather Aitken, who passed away from a rare disease. Dozens of driveways were decorated with creative messages honouring Heather and all front-line workers.

Another example: Last week was National Nursing Week and National Police Week. Several local trucking companies took up the cause, contributing to a creative tribute on the side of a transport truck. It featured a photo of a police officer, nurse, doctor, firefighter and a truck driver. Last Wednesday, Arthur-based Ivan Armstrong Trucking parked the trailer at Groves Memorial hospital. It brought front-line workers together and encouraged them to celebrate their work and each other.

Of course, these are just two examples among many.

Whether on a driveway or the side of a truck, the message is clear: Front-line workers matter to all of us. Thank you for your service.

Front-line workers

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Speaker, this past week, I’ve been contacted by emergency room and ICU nurses to talk to me about their wages and their wage negotiations.

The Premier calls these nurses and other front-line health care workers “heroes,” and frankly, he’s right; they are. Daily, they risk their health, they risk their lives to treat people, and in return, many thousands of them have had to deal with COVID-19 as an illness in their own lives. Four of them have died.

But how does the government treat these heroes? If anything shows that those words mean nothing, or less, it’s the government’s wage suppression bill, Bill 124. This bill keeps any wage increase below the rate of inflation for these nurses and for these health care workers. Seriously, these nurses who are risking their lives and dying are being told by this government that they can’t negotiate a decent wage increase.

Speaker, we need to treat nurses and other health care workers like the heroes that they are. Bill 124 needs to be thrown out, and we need to be able to negotiate decent wages for people who risk their lives.

CrossFit Cobourg

Mr. David Piccini: Speaker, it’s wonderful to rise today to shine a light on an amazing partnership I recently became aware of in Northumberland–Peterborough South.

Over the last 14 months, as we’ve spent more time on the screens, as we watch daily newscasts that, every day, talk about case counts, ICU admissions, we often don’t take enough time to talk about the positives—the positives of businesses pivoting in response to COVID-19, teachers and students who have been responsive and pivoting to online learning. The students’ routines have changed, which, as we know, has had an affect on their mental health and well-being.

What do these two examples have in common, you might ask, Speaker? Let me tell you about Laurie Kerr, a grade 7/8 teacher at Grafton Public School. She has had students in the free virtual workouts offered by CrossFit Cobourg. This is a truly creative partnership with a local small business that benefits students, their mental health and their physical well-being.

CrossFit Cobourg’s goal is to empower and support our community. They’re doing just that. At the helm are two great young guys in far better shape than me, Bud Tinney and Scott Carreira. Their virtual workouts are accessible for all ages and all levels of fitness. They’ve been helping people stay fit through this COVID-19 global pandemic and they’ve been doing a phenomenal job. This partnership is a great experience for students to interact with their community and to get outside.

We as a community are stronger together. Thank you, Ms. Kerr, for your creativity and thinking outside the box. Thank you to Bud Tinney, someone I’ve come to know through this pandemic, for offering these virtual workouts at no cost to community members, including our students.

What a great community we have in these grade 7/8 students Grafton Public School—yet another example of a small-town community coming together through these difficult times.

Stray current

Mr. Rick Nicholls: Earlier this month, I was pleased that my motion to create a working group to examine the issues surrounding stray current and to provide recommendations surrounding the best practices to protect livestock and people from stray current passed unanimously.

I brought this motion forward for many reasons. First of all, I just wanted to recognize the advocacy of Chatham farmer Lee Montgomery, who has done lots of work over the decades attempting to eliminate stray current on farms throughout Ontario. I’ve always been a safety advocate, as I previously put forth a stray current bill back in my days in opposition, but, sadly, my bill died on the order table as the Liberal government of the day did not see the value in allowing my bill to go to committee, despite passing second reading.

Now, as the MPP for Chatham-Kent–Leamington, I strive to do the right thing. Thomas Edison, known as the father of electricity, also mandated that return currents be returned to the source through a wire capable of handling such loads and never be returned to the source through the ground because of the negative impact on living creatures. Stray current causes livestock to experience health issues such as mastitis, foot rot, open sores, miscarriages and even death, resulting in huge financial losses for farmers.

Through the creation of an experienced expert working group, it is my hope that our group will create an ethical and agreeable approach to eliminating stray current problems that have adversely affected livestock and people throughout Ontario for decades.

Report, Ombudsman of Ontario

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I beg to inform the House that the following document has been tabled: a report entitled Oversight 911: Investigation into How the Ministry of Health Oversees Patient Complaints and Incident Reports about Ambulance Services, from the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario.

COVID-19 deaths

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I understand the Leader of the Opposition has a point of order she wishes to raise.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Thank you very kindly, Speaker. I seek the unanimous consent for the House to observe a moment of silence for the 151 Ontarians who have succumbed to COVID-19 over the past week.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Leader of the Opposition is seeking the unanimous consent of the House for a moment’s silence for the 151 Ontarians who have succumbed to COVID-19 over the past week. Agreed? Agreed.

Members will please rise.

The House observed a moment’s silence.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you. Members, please take your seats.

Question Period

COVID-19 response

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My first question is for the Premier. Earlier this week the Premier and his MPPs, against all science and health advice, voted against our motion to reopen outdoor amenities safely. Can the Premier confirm that he is now going to go back on his decision and lift the restrictions that he imposed on outdoor activities notwithstanding the fact that every credible expert begged him not to do so?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

To reply, the Minister of Health.

Hon. Christine Elliott: I would say to the leader of the official opposition that we have encouraged people to be outdoors. The weather is great now. We encourage people to be outdoors, to go to the parks. The parks are all open. Go for a walk, go for a bike ride, go for a run. Get outside and get some exercise. We know that’s important for people’s physical and mental well-being. We have not strayed from that. We have always encouraged people to be outdoors this time of the year.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Back to the Premier: This government has a terrible record on reopening. We’ll remember, back in the fall, they brought forward their colour-coded framework in which the metrics that they utilized were four times higher than what the experts recommended.

Back in February, the science table predicted that if the government rushed the reopening and didn’t put in place extra public health precautions, we would be in a very terrible situation. They predicted disaster. Lo and behold, the Premier ignored their advice and walked us right into this brutal third wave.

In April, the Premier decided to close playgrounds and bring a police state into Ontario instead of giving us paid sick days for our essential workers. That’s not what the science table recommended.

Now, apparently, there’s been another marathon cabinet battle under way. Will this Premier commit this time to not rely on buddies and lobbyists and stakeholders in his decision-making but actually listen to the science?

Hon. Christine Elliott: Since the beginning of this pandemic, our government’s top priority has been the health and well-being of the people of Ontario. Since the arrival of the more transmissible variants to the province—which was, actually, what did lead to the third wave—we’ve continued to take the necessary actions to control the spread.

We continue to rely on the advice and recommendations of our Chief Medical Officer of Health, our public health measures table and many other medical experts, to review the science and the data and the clinical evidence to provide us with advice and recommendations on when we can safely start to reopen the province, when the time is right.

Because there are many factors that need to be considered, including the numbers of the cases that we’re seeing in the province; what’s happening with hospitalization, new hospitalizations as well as ICU rates; the R rate; public health system capacity; and, of course, the rate of vaccinations—which are going extremely well. We’ve now vaccinated over 7.5 million people in the province of Ontario. That’s very good news.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, the problem is, they don’t take the experts’ advice. They don’t take the advice. We cannot get this wrong again. It is important to get it right. Parents want their kids back in schools. Working people want to be safely back on the job. Front-line health-care workers need relief, not a fourth wave to deal with. Businesses need certainty so that they can reopen for good and start hiring people again. Everybody wants to see public health ahead of politics.

Speaker, the Premier has messed it up three times, costing us jobs, costing lives, costing businesses. We don’t trust them. Nobody trusts this government to get it right. Will he commit today to base his plan on the expert advice and make sure that he makes that advice public? Because nobody trusts this Premier. Nobody has confidence that he’ll get it right this time.

Hon. Christine Elliott: I would say that of course we are relying on the medical advice and the scientific advice that we’re receiving from the experts. They will be the ones that will advise us when it will be safe to start gradually reopening things. We know that has to be done on a very gradual basis because of the variants of concern, in particular. More information will be coming forward on that very, very soon.

Health care funding

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is also to the Premier. I have to say that people are relieved that the announcement came that the surgeries are going to start being booked again. That is really great. It can’t happen soon enough, as we all know. In fact, in the National Post there was a report that said this: “Soon-to-be-published data indicates that twice as many Ontarians with heart ailments passed away waiting for surgery during the pandemic than before COVID-19 hit.”

My question to the Premier is: Can he tell us how long he expects people to have to wait, and how many Ontarians have already passed away while waiting for their surgeries?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Minister of Health.

Hon. Christine Elliott: Our government is certainly well aware that many people are very anxious, wanting to have their surgeries that have been postponed done as soon as possible, and to have their diagnostic procedures done as well. We know that there are many people that have had their lives put on hold for a period of time because of the variants, because of the surge in cases that we’ve seen that have required hospitalization of many, many people with the COVID variants. However, we have already put significant amounts of money into dealing with the backlog: $500 million from last fall to the most recent budget; $500 million will certainly help.

But I think it’s also important to note that in 2020-21, the average Ontario hospital completed 88% of their total surgical allocation, and that since the beginning of this pandemic, there have been already over 430,000 scheduled surgeries done, and more to be done now with the reissuance of the amendment to directive number 2.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: With all due respect, people haven’t only had to put their lives on hold; people have lost their lives while they’ve been on hold. The FAO estimates, as everybody knows, that there will be 419,000 surgeries and procedures backlogged by September, and it will take three and a half years to clear that backlog. It didn’t have to be this way.

In British Columbia, they started last summer to try to reduce the backlog and get those surgeries and procedures dealt with and they entered the third wave of this pandemic with 95% of their backlog cleared. That didn’t happen in Ontario. Ontario did nothing in that regard, and now we’re further behind than ever. Even worse, this government tabled a budget that had less than half of the necessary funding to clear the backlog.

My question is, when will we see a plan that has clear benchmarks and the appropriate funding to clear the surgical and procedural backlog?

Hon. Christine Elliott: The situation in BC can’t be compared to the situation in Ontario, because it’s important to point out that the percentage of procedures completed in BC represents the patients who were on surgical wait-lists when the ramp-down in March 2020 began and had their surgeries delayed. It does not account for patients that would have been added to wait-lists in that time period if there had not been a ramp-down. So that is not even applicable to Ontario.

But with respect to what is happening in Ontario, we have invested over $283 million to support additional priority surgeries, including cardiac, cancer, orthopaedic and cataract surgeries. We’ve extended diagnostic imaging hours at health care facilities for MRI, CT scans and other tests. We’ve invested more than $351 million for more than 2,250 new beds at 57 hospitals. We’ve also initiated a surgical wait-list and surgical smoothing program to make sure that we can help people as quickly as possible, and we have invested the money in order to be able to do that.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: People are suffering, and they can’t wait indefinitely for this government to put a plan together.

Dr. Harindra Wijeysundera, a Sunnybrook cardiologist, says this: “I have lost a lot of patients on the wait-list ... Those patients and their families deserve recognition that they are victims of this pandemic, too.” Patients are literally losing their lives while waiting for delayed surgeries.

Speaker, my question to the Premier is this: Without significant investment and a serious plan to eliminate the backlog, patients desperate for surgery are going to be left suffering and at increasing risk. When will we see the plan and the funding?

Hon. Christine Elliott: There is a plan and there is the funding, as I’ve just indicated to you—$500 million to start—in order to be able to move forward with the diagnostic procedures as well as the surgeries. This has been organized for some time. We’ve been working through it. We were able to do many of the surgeries and procedures before the third wave hit us, and we are looking to do that as much as we can now. Dr. Williams and the medical experts, as well as people in our government, have been looking at the lists on a daily basis to see when we can amend directive number 2.

You’re right. It’s great that it’s happened. We’ll be able to start with the ambulatory procedures and day procedures, as soon as now, in some hospitals, as long as they’re able to follow the guidelines and rules set out by Ontario Health. That is very good news, and we know that people are anxious to have their surgeries done or procedures done, and we are going to move through them as quickly as possible.

Long-term care

Ms. Sara Singh: My question is for the Premier. This morning, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a new report that calls on this government to commit to ending private, for-profit long-term care in Ontario. The report notes that the main focus for private long-term-care operators is making a profit for themselves and their shareholders, and they’re willing to cut corners if that means bigger profits for them. We’ve seen this clearly throughout the pandemic with many homes withholding PPE and not paying their PSWs and front-line workers a livable wage.

The main focus of anyone in senior care should be making sure seniors are safe and healthy, but that’s not what’s happening here in Ontario. That’s why the COVID-19 death rate in for-profit homes was twice the rate of non-profit homes and five times the rate of publicly owned homes, Speaker.

My question, through you, to the Premier: Will the Conservatives let this report and recommendations sit on the shelf yet again, like all the other advice they’ve been given, or will they take responsibility, take action and take the profit out of long-term care?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Of course, we started taking action from day one when we were elected, Mr. Speaker. We didn’t need reports to tell us that we needed to make some significant investments into long-term care. That is why we started immediately, back in 2018, to build long-term-care beds. Look, I’ve said it on a number of occasions: The fact that the previous Liberal administration only built some 600 beds over the time that they were in office is completely unacceptable. There were four previous Liberal administrations that did nothing to build out long-term care, did nothing refurbish some of the older homes, did nothing for a staffing strategy.

What we’re doing is putting 2,000 new nurses in the stream, 27,000 new PSWs, 30,000 additional spaces. This is an incredible step on our way to ensuring that every resident of long-term care gets four hours of care; a North American-leading level of care. We’re well on our way to the best system in North America, and I hope that the members opposite will support us on that.

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

Ms. Sara Singh: Speaker, it’s not just New Democrats and everyday Ontarians who are calling for an end to for-profit, big-corporate long-term care, a clear legacy of the Liberal governments and Conservative governments, as well; it’s senators, lawyers, public health and policy experts, economists, just to name a few. They all agree that phasing out for-profit long-term care isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s essential to the well-being of our seniors and the health of our long-term-care system here in Ontario.

Again to the Premier: Will you take the advice of these experts, listen to them and the data, and commit to taking the profit out of long-term care?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Certainly, Mr. Speaker, I’m not going take the advice of the members opposite, who are suggesting that we remove thousands of beds from the system. That’s just simply not going to happen. I’m not certain what the members opposite don’t understand.

We are not going to reduce the amount of long-term care available to the people of the province of Ontario like the member is suggesting. We’re going to increase it by 30,000 spaces, because we know we need to. We’re not going to reduce the amount of care in long-term-care homes. We’re going to increase it—four hours of care—which is why we’re hiring some 27,000 additional PSWs. That’s why we’re bringing on 2,000 additional nurses.

So very clearly, to the member opposite: No, I am not going to listen to you. I am not going to reduce the amount of long-term-care beds. I am not going to reduce the amount of nurses. I am not going to reduce the amount of PSWs. I am not going to reduce the amount of care. I’m going to do just the opposite, as all of the members on this side of the House are committed to doing. We’re going to get this right, Mr. Speaker, because it’s been too long and it’s been ignored for too long.

COVID-19 immunization

Ms. Donna Skelly: A major priority for our Premier, for our health minister and for this government has been getting needles into arms. As of today, as the minister just mentioned, over 7.5 million Ontario adults have received their first dose.

Ensuring that millions of people can get their vaccine is simply no small feat. This government has worked diligently to create a robust online platform and call centre to manage the demand for vaccines.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Government and Consumer Services provide some insight into the work that has gone on behind the scenes to enable more than 7.5 million Ontarians to receive a vaccine?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: I would like to thank the hard-working member from Flamborough–Glanbrook for that important question. I would like to share in the House that I routinely refer to the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services as the machinery of government, and they have not failed us when it comes to making appointments for vaccine bookings.

When you couple our effective call centre with the online booking that was stood up by the Ministry of Health, we have an amazing one-two punch when it comes to accessing vaccines.

For example, just two weeks ago, on May 3, when the 18-and-older cohort in hot spot regions were allowed to start making their appointments, we had a record-breaking day. At that time, we accommodated, through the online portal and our call centre, 420,000 appointments. And the very next day, we also accommodated almost 300,000 appointments again.

So, what I would like to share with everyone in the House: When you pull our call centre together with our online booking, we have one of the best systems in North America.

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

Ms. Donna Skelly: Thank you, Minister. I know Ontarians are reassured to hear that our call centre is here to help all of those who are eligible and want a vaccine to actually get one.

Our call centre offers support in over 300 languages. Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure if you know this, but Ontario is among the first, if not the first, jurisdiction to offer live translation services for vaccine booking—

Interjection.

Ms. Donna Skelly: Yes, that’s correct—the first.

With the tremendous interest and volume our call centres have experienced, there have also been key days when wait times cannot be avoided. Can the Minister of Government and Consumer Services shed some light on what patterns she is seeing, and what Ontarians can expect when they call for support?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: I’m very proud to share with everyone that, when you take into consideration our unique, live, real-time translation in 300 languages, when you think about the hundreds of agents that we have available to book appointments through our call centre, and when you also marry that with our effective online portal, we are one of the best in North America when it comes to booking vaccines.

I have to tell you that, while there sometimes is a wait time, that’s good news because it shows that there are hundreds of thousands of people who want to help Ontario move forward by getting their vaccines. Speaker, I am really pleased to share with you that the average time in booking an appointment is less than seven minutes.

Just earlier this week, my mom sent me a note. On Monday, she got notification from the Huron-Perth health unit that she could book her second appointment. I also heard from an individual who had 22,999 people ahead of him on Tuesday morning that he booked his appointment for Sunday. Speaker, we have one of the best appointment booking systems in North America, and thank you—

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

COVID-19 response

Ms. Marit Stiles: This question is for the Premier. Students and their families are worn down after another five weeks, and in some cases even longer, of emergency remote learning. They are missing their friends and their teachers, and they are watching very anxiously as the end of the year approaches and there is a possibility that they’re going to have another Zoom chat replace their graduations.

Speaker, this government refused to do what was necessary to keep schools safely open because they just didn’t want to spend the money. They refused to listen to the experts when they closed the playgrounds and the soccer fields. We don’t even know at this moment how many education workers have been vaccinated, which is a key part of reopening schools.

Is the Premier going to come forward with any kind of plan to salvage this school year, or is the real plan to keep kids in online learning permanently?

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

Hon. Stephen Lecce: We’re going continue to follow the best expert advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, as we have done throughout the pandemic. I know the members opposite did not vote for his continuation and give confidence to our lead medical officer, but on this side of the House we believe in following his advice, and that’s why we have done so since the beginning.

It’s why Ontario has one of the lowest case rates for children under the age of 20 in the nation, because we invested $1.6 billion, put every intervention possible within our schools, from improving air ventilation to the supplying of three-ply quality mask PPE to cohorting students to increase screening, asymptomatic testing—the only province that has that type of capacity within all regions of the province. We’ve done that following the advice; we’re going to continue to do that.

Obviously we know how important it is to keep schools open. While we have done so throughout the year, our aim is to follow the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, because we do not want to put at risk the recovery that we now finally see on the horizon.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, what’s clear, I think, from a response like that is that this government is wiping its hands of this school year and of our students across this province. This Premier isn’t serious about safely reopening schools because he’s too focused on saving money by keeping our kids permanently online. That is their plan. They’ve made it very clear.

Teachers, education workers, school boards, pediatricians, parents and mental health advocates are all saying the same thing: Online learning is harming our kids. We should be investing now in reopening our schools. The Public School Boards’ Association has said the government’s plan “may be promoting the online learning option to the detriment of student well-being and the overall integrity of our education system.”

Why? With the mounting evidence and growing backlash, why won’t this government drop this terrible plan?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: It is ironic coming from members opposite, who have stood with the teacher unions to keep schools closed throughout 2021. In fact, it was the members opposite who said schools should remain closed so long as the stay-at-home order remains in place. They would have kept schools closed, they would have taken away choice from parents and they would have undermined the learning quality kids in this province deserve.

The Premier provided $1.6 billion—more than any province; more than the New Democrats in British Columbia—more funding for mental health than any province, a 400% increase over when the former Liberals were in power. We have followed the advice. We have put in place cohorting, asymptomatic testing, stricter screening of kids. We have ensured busing transportation has been improved. We have ensured cleaning is enhanced within our schools. We did all that, leading us to one of the lowest rates of cases for youth—

Ms. Marit Stiles: Nothing. You failed.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Let the minister complete his answer.

Hon. Stephen Lecce: We have put those dollars in place. That has led us to one of the lowest case rates of youth under 20 in Canada, because we followed the advice.

We want to keep schools open and we want kids in school; it must be safe. We are following the best advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, as we have done throughout this pandemic, and we will continue to do so in the interests of students in Ontario.

COVID-19 response

Mr. Mike Schreiner: My question is for the Premier. On November 3 of last year, the Premier released a colour-coded reopening plan that was immediately rejected by scientists and public health experts.

On February 11, the Premier was advised that if he reopened too early, we would have a disaster. Well, the Premier reopened too early and we had a catastrophic third wave.

On April 16, the Premier brought in carding and closed playgrounds. Scientists immediately said, “This is not what we are recommending.”

Speaker, will the Premier commit today to a reopening plan, supported by the science advisory table with clear and transparent key indicators for when it is safe to reopen schools, communities and businesses for outdoor and indoor service?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Minister of Health.

Hon. Christine Elliott: First, let me be clear: It’s the arrival of the more transmissible variants that actually led to the third wave that we’re dealing with the higher rates, and that is why we’ve been calling on the federal government to do something about that, because that is how the variants came in. However, since we have implemented the stay-at-home order, we’re also looking at how we may safely exit it when the time is right.

You’re absolutely right. We need to do this slowly and carefully, and there needs to be a plan, which is being developed, which is based on the scientific advice and the medical advice that we received from the Chief Medical Officer of Health, the public health table, as well as other medical experts. It is based on looking at outdoor activities first, indoor activity later, but there will more information that will be coming forward with respect to this imminently.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Mr. Mike Schreiner: Speaker, with all due respect to the minister, and I have the utmost respect for this minister, the government has not followed the advice of the science advisory table time and time again. This is a matter of public confidence and trust. The only way we are going to combat COVID and get this pandemic behind us is if the public is onside.

So I am pleading with the government today: Follow the advice of the science advisory table, have clear indicators, be transparent with the people of Ontario what the science advisory table is telling them and give businesses time to plan. No more flip-flopping. Will the government commit to doing that today, Speaker?

Hon. Christine Elliott: I appreciate the question from the member, and I can advise the member opposite that we are relying on the medical advice that we’re receiving from the science advisory table—that’s one group—the public health measures table, the chief medical officer’s advice and other medical experts.

They are certainly providing us with guidance on when and how things can be opened when the time is right, because there are many factors, of course, that need to be considered: the rates of vaccination, which are going very well, with over 7.5 million vaccines already administered, but it’s also dealing with the numbers of new hospitalizations, the numbers of people who are in intensive care units, the R rate, the public health system capacity.

There are a variety of factors that must be considered, but I can certainly assure the member, through you, Mr. Speaker, that we are listening to the medical experts; we are following their clinical advice and recommendations. There will be a plan, which will be released imminently.

Small business

Mr. Dave Smith: My question is for the Minister of Finance. As we head into the second summer of this pandemic, all of the members in this chamber have seen and heard how hard the effects of COVID-19 have been on Ontario’s small businesses. We also know how the recovery of these small businesses is critical to the recovery of our communities as we lay the groundwork to rebuild Ontario better in the wake of this pandemic. That’s why I was happy to hear from a number of small businesses in my community, who were in dire need of financial support, that they received the second instalment of the Ontario Small Business Support Grant.

Could the minister tell us more about how the government is supporting Ontario’s small businesses at this time and elaborate on what new supports have been made available to small businesses?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Willowdale and parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance.

Mr. Stan Cho: Thank you to the member. I know he cares deeply about small businesses that have been impacted greatly by COVID-19. Our government has been working with those businesses for the last 14 months, from the beginning of this pandemic, providing over $23 billion to protect our jobs and our economy. In our most recent budget 2021, our government set aside $100 million for an Ontario Tourism and Travel Small Business Support Grant to help the tourism industry reclaim its place as an economic powerhouse job creator in our province.

Applications are now open for the Ontario Tourism and Travel Small Business Support Grant, which will provide one-time payments of $10,000 to $20,000 to eligible small businesses in the tourism and travel sector. Each small business owner can use that money to support whatever they feel is best. Whether that is paying the wages or keeping the doors open, again business owners understand their needs best.

So I encourage everyone to visit ontario.ca/covidsupport for further eligibility details. Please apply. I think all members in this House have a responsibility to help businesses apply, and that deadline will be open until June 21, 2021.

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

Mr. Dave Smith: Thank you to the parliamentary assistant for that answer. It’s great news that the government is supporting hard-hit small businesses in so many ways. As the minister knows, some of the hardest-hit small businesses in this pandemic are in Ontario’s vital tourism sector. Specifically, in my riding, we have had 33 years of summer Musicfest. That is in jeopardy of not going on. The revenue that that generates for our community, the spill-off in tourism, is absolutely fantastic. Could the minister tell us how the Ontario Tourism and Travel Small Business Support Grant fits into the government’s plan to rebuild a healthy economy?

Mr. Stan Cho: It’s an important question. I would like to correct my record: That grant application program will be open until June 25, 2021. I just misspoke there.

Our government is going to continue to do our best to support this hard-hit sector. We’ve been doing that from the beginning. The Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries has hosted 15 town halls since the start of this pandemic, advocated for the industry at the jobs and recovery committee, created 14 ministerial advisory committees and created the tourism task force.

On Thursday, May 13, the minister announced the Ontario Tourism and Travel Small Business Grant program and hosted three briefings throughout the day: one for the stakeholders in the tourism and travel industry, where close to 1,000 stakeholders were invited and hundreds showed up; one for the government MPPs; and one for the opposition—to the two members who actually showed up for that town hall, I want to thank you for putting politics below your constituents; your constituents are more important. On a personal note, I want to thank you and let you know that I have deep respect for you and this chamber.

Thank you again for supporting small businesses. Our government is continuing to do—

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

Personal support workers

Ms. Suze Morrison: The hard-working personal support workers in the province are exploited, underpaid and overworked. Many of these workers are immigrant and racialized women, and for over a year they have worked on the front lines of this pandemic, putting their lives at risk to care for the seniors of the province.

I recently spoke with Connie, a PSW in my riding in Toronto Centre. She has worked throughout the pandemic, caring for seniors in their homes. Her hours fluctuate significantly and she doesn’t have benefits, and while she receives pandemic pay, it only applies for the time she’s scheduled to care for residents, which sometimes can be as little as three hours a day.

PSW pandemic pay wage enhancements are set to expire at the end of June. Connie and other PSWs across the province are demanding a permanent pay raise. Will this government listen and give personal support workers the pay increase and full-time jobs that they deserve?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the Minister of Health.

Hon. Christine Elliott: Thank you very much to the member for the question. We certainly also value the incredible work that personal support workers have done throughout the pandemic. They have been there in our long-term-care homes, in our hospitals, in home and community care. We know that there are issues relating to their wages. That’s why we have provided this temporary support that’s running to the end of June.

But during that time, we’re also looking at some of the other issues that personal support workers are concerned about: not having full-time jobs; in some situations, not having benefits; not being paid for some of the additional work they do; the travelling time; all the other issues that we’re concerned about. We want PSWs to stay in the system. We know that many leave after their first year because it’s not the job that they expected it to be, so we want to work that into their training and education as well.

So, in short, there are many issues that need to be dealt with to keep our personal support workers and retain them in our system, and we are working on just that, in addition to the pay requirements.

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

Ms. Suze Morrison: Respectfully, back to the minister: If you want to keep the PSWs in our system and keep them in your jobs, the answer is simple. You need to just pay them more and give them permanent, full-time work.

PSWs are essential, and they deserve to be treated with respect. Connie, the PSW working in my riding, told me that the seniors that she visits depend on her. She is paid for only one hour each visit to provide the most basic of care, like helping them go to the washroom, bathing them, preparing food. It is impossible to rush this kind of care in an hour. Ultimately, she ends up volunteering her time, because she can’t stand to leave these seniors without the help that they need.

Our seniors deserve the highest-quality care and the workers who care for them deserve a decent, livable wage and full-time careers. When is this government going to step up, do the right thing and properly pay PSWs in the province of Ontario?

Hon. Christine Elliott: In the question that the member asked, Speaker, through you to the member, she indicated that there are other issues in addition to the pay issue. There’s the timing issue. There’s the travelling issue. There’s the trying to put groups of people together so that there’s not huge travel time involved in it, and making sure that people are paid for the work that they do and that they don’t have to volunteer.

But we also know that there are other issues. We are looking at the bill that’s just been put forward in the Legislature to regulate personal health workers to make sure that they have certain standards that they need to conform to. They want that. We are doing that because we also recognize that’s important for them, but it’s also important for the very vulnerable people that personal support workers care for: children, seniors, people with disabilities.

We are looking at all of these issues to make sure that when someone goes through and is trained as a personal support worker, they want to stay and they want to continue to do this work. They are really the linchpins in home care; I certainly would agree with the member. They are the ones who know the family. They know all the issues related to what’s going on. So we want to encourage them and we want them to stay—

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

Anti-racism activities

M me Lucille Collard: My question is to the Minister of Education. Last night we had an incredibly important conversation in this House on making the education system more equitable through Bill 287. Few members were here. I want to thank my colleagues in the opposition who shared their important and moving personal stories, as well for their constructive feedback.

It was extremely disappointing that the government came to the debate with their minds made up, believing that they are already doing enough to fight racism in the education system. It is unacceptable to refer to any action on systemic discrimination as “counterproductive.” There can never be enough done as long as systemic barriers still exist.

To the minister: Why won’t the government work with all members of this House to implement Bill 287 when it has the potential to improve the education system even further?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: Mr. Speaker, we are very much committed to breaking down barriers that impede the success of students, particularly racialized, Indigenous and underrepresented young people in the province of Ontario.

Respectfully, the former Liberal government had 15 years to advance equity in education, and they did not. Today they bring forth a private member’s bill,

whereas this government since day one has brought forth transformation. We are the government—unlike the former Liberals, respectfully—that is destreaming the grade 9 math curriculum. We are following the best advice by limiting discretionary suspensions of young kids disproportionately impacting Black and racialized children and special education children.

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

Mr. Stephen Blais: Growing up in Orléans, my community wasn’t the most diverse place. In a high school of 1,600 students, I can count on maybe two hands the families of children who came from non-white backgrounds. But we didn’t talk about it. It wasn’t something that was discussed in school and we didn’t talk about it as friends. As a result, that lack of understanding and that lack of vocabulary to talk about these issues remains with me to this day, Mr. Speaker.

We need to ensure that our children are exposed to more understanding of where we are as a society today and how we got here. Sometimes understanding that history is going to be difficult, it’s going to be hard and it’s going to be uncomfortable. But it’s important to do, Mr. Speaker. If we don’t do it, we’re leading our children to a great disservice.

I’ll ask the Minister of Education again: Why won’t his government support Bill 287 and ensure that our children get the understanding, education and conversation they need and they deserve?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: If the member opposite’s thesis to the House is that we need to better reflect society and diversity, then how could the member oppo