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May 8, 2024

43rd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

vol. A

Hansard Transcripts

vol. B

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2024-May-08 vol. A (PDF)

L155A - Wed 8 May 2024 / Mer 8 mai 2024

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Wednesday 8 May 2024 Mercredi 8 mai 2024

Orders of the Day

Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 visant à oeuvrer pour les travailleurs, cinq

Wearing of ribbons

Members’ Statements

Artificial intelligence

Niagara Folk Arts Festival

Thalassemia

Pauline Shirt

Dan MacKay

Homelessness

Yom ha-Shoah

Education issues

Vision Health Month

Cadets

Introduction of Visitors

Question Period

Health care

Region of Peel

Forest firefighting

Taxation

Education funding

Taxation

Services for persons with disabilities

Government accountability

Taxation

Pharmacare

Justice system

Taxation

Public transit

Taxation

Long-term care

Visitors

Deferred Votes

Get It Done Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 pour passer à l’action

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy

Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs

Standing Committee on the Interior

Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs

Petitions

Social assistance

Hospital services

Wearing of kaffiyehs

Social assistance

Air quality

Gasoline prices

Post-secondary education

Rare diseases

Social assistance

Tenant protection

House sittings

Orders of the Day

Keeping Energy Costs Down Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 visant à maintenir la facture énergétique à un niveau abordable

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 visant à oeuvrer pour les travailleurs, cinq

Mr. Piccini moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 190,

An Act to amend various statutes with respect to employment and labour and other matters / Projet de loi 190, Loi modifiant diverses lois relatives à l’emploi et au travail et à d’autres questions.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Would the minister care to lead off the debate.

Hon. David Piccini: It’s an honour to rise today to debate Bill 190, the Working for Workers Five Act. Speaker, it’s like Harry Potter. They just keep getting better, and we’re on to number 5.

Speaker, I’ll be dividing my time with my incredible parliamentary assistant from Ajax, the hard-working member.

I want to first start by thanking the ministry office team at labour, immigration, training and skills development—they’ve worked incredibly hard on this largest labour bill—and the incredible men and women who work for the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development all over our province, who work hard each and every day. I really want to thank them, the deputy and the entire team for the work that they have done to put this bill together. It’s a team effort, and it’s a team sport. I thank them.

The member from Ajax—again, I’ll be dividing my time with her. Her background as an immigrant to Canada as a teenager and her work with provincial and Canadian school boards and associations gives her such an important perspective on the changes we’re tabling as a part of this latest bill.

I also, Speaker, would like to acknowledge the Premier for his leadership and support not only on this bill but for trail-blazing Working for Workers legislation over the past number of years. The Premier knows, and I agree, that by putting workers first, we can bring the Ontario dream within reach for more people and ensure Ontario remains the best place to live, work and raise a family.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank everybody—in addition to those I’ve mentioned—who has supported us with this bill. I want to acknowledge the member from Mississauga–Malton and the member for Scarborough Centre who have heard concerns, contributed to this bill, spoken with their communities, championed this legislation and done incredible work in their former capacities as parliamentary assistants.

Above all else, the Ontarians who have contributed to this piece of legislation: the workers, employers, firefighters, newcomers, labour organizations, business and industry associations and so many more—the people who just pick up the phone and call you at your constituency office surprised to see you answer and then contribute to important pieces of legislation like this.

It’s also fitting that we’re talking about this bill during Occupational Safety and Health Week, which is observed yearly across North America, to raise awareness about the importance of workplace health and safety and to promote the prevention of workplace injuries and illnesses. In fact, Ontario’s own Occupational Safety and Health Day falls yearly on the first Tuesday in May, which was yesterday.

Given that, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the importance of supporting a culture of health and safety in every workplace all year long. Our bill includes important measures to do just that. It builds on the success of our previous Working for Workers bills, introducing new legislation, regulatory amendments and other actions that would help people find good jobs, increase worker protections and support newcomers.

We’re working to open pathways into the skilled trades; remove barriers to employment; protect front-line heroes and workers; support women at work and improve fairness for workers. By continuing to put workers first, we can spread opportunity and good jobs by strengthening worker supports and protections, and we can tackle the labour shortage and promote economic growth.

Protecting front-line heroes and workers: As I get started on the details of this bill and the complementary measures in the Working for Workers package, there are some people I want to talk about first. I’m talking about the heroes who put all of us first every day, who risk their lives for ours when they go to work, and that’s Ontario’s firefighters. They run to danger as we run away from it, something we’ve so often said in this place, and they deserve a government that values their service and their sacrifice. They deserve a government that recognizes the risks they take each and every day and provides more expansive supports.

In the months I’ve been Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development—which is seven—I’ve been listening to the firefighters’ concerns. I’ve heard from municipal firefighters, wildland firefighters and fire investigators, including concerns about getting the support they need and deserve if they fall ill from diseases that firefighters are at higher risk from because of the dangerous work they do to keep us all safe.

I’m proud that our government is serving those who serve by strengthening and improving protections for Ontario’s municipal and wildland firefighters. That’s why we’re proposing to ensure wildland firefighters and investigators have the same presumptive coverage that municipal firefighters have for occupational cancers, heart injuries and for PTSD.

I would like to thank the MPP for Thunder Bay–Atikokan for all his hard work and advocacy on this file—and our Minister of Natural Resources. I’d like to thank the member for Mushkegowuk–James Bay, the member for Thunder Bay–Superior North and everybody who has contributed to this important piece.

The member here has taken time to introduce me to wildland firefighters, has welcomed me to the great north in Thunder Bay—we were there at Kakabeka Falls together—and has brought such an important perspective for firefighters in Ontario. I value you being such a strong advocate for the north.

As a part of this bill, I’m introducing legislative changes to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act to include wildland firefighters and wildland fire investigators in the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board presumptive coverage for PTSD. And we’re complementing this with a regulatory change to the firefighters regulation to include wildland firefighters and wildland fire investigators in presumptive WSIB coverage for occupational cancers and heart injuries. As we continue to see more wildfires in Ontario with each passing year, our wildland firefighters need the support they deserve for their heroic efforts.

To further improve all occupational cancer presumptive coverage for all firefighters and fire investigators—including those fighting and investigating wildfires—we are proposing to improve presumptive coverage for primary site skin cancer by reducing the duration of service required from 15 to 10 years. Once again, we are leading Canada with the lowest duration of service in the country.

I want to thank the incredible members from the OPFFA, in particular Greg Horton and the incredible team, and Gavin Jacklyn, who invited us down to Brantford for this important legislation. And I want to thank, for the work that he did, our member for Brantford–Brant, who had us down. It was emotional because behind these moves are men and women who have served. Behind these moves are men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

If passed, this change would allow more firefighters and investigators suffering from this occupational cancer to access the WSIB benefits and services they need and deserve. I know everyone in this room today sees the importance of standing with front-line heroes.

My mission—and the mission of the Premier and our entire government—is to build a province that leaves no one behind. That is why, as a part of this larger package of actions to complement the changes in this bill, we’re also planning to consult on expanding PTSD coverage to more workers. I want to thank the PAO for the work they do, Mark Baxter and the incredible team there. We want to further support workers who regularly witness traumatic situations in their jobs.

Mark Baxter brought a team which included two incredible police officers from Cobourg to meet with me. They spoke a bit about the work that the front-line men and women in uniform do and the fact that this coverage and these supports are provided for front-line officers, but those who review body cam footage and often see these traumatic incidents not once, not twice, but sometimes up to seven times, do not have support. Again, I want to thank the Police Association of Ontario for the work that they do and those men and women who are on the front lines, protecting our communities.

I had the opportunity to go out and join Cobourg Police Services on ride-alongs, Port Hope Police Service on ride-alongs, the OPP on ride-alongs and Durham police on ride-alongs. These are just some of the many services that protect the community I have the honour of representing. The member for Ajax will have more on to say on this later.

Another key element of this bill, and one I’m excited to talk about, is opening up pathways into the skilled trades. This matters. They are also heroes, the tradesmen and -women who go to work on our front lines. For years, governments talked about it. They talked the talk but we are walking the walk.

Under the leadership of Premier Ford and this government we’re recognizing that the trades matter, that if we are going to build the hospitals, the schools, which previous governments shut down in rural communities like mine that we are now building—and, yes, if anyone is watching in Newcastle, we’re still fighting to get that new school in Newcastle, something I’m working with our Ministry of Education on.

Speaker, we are seeing a new day in Ontario, a day where we’re building schools and child care centres in rural Ontario, where we’re building hospitals—over 50 in construction right now—where we’re building highways.

I want to thank the incredible men and women in labour who joined us for the Highway 413 announcement. It’s incredible. I see some of the members opposite watching. It must be frustrating, watching unions that traditionally back them standing behind Premier Ford and saying on the mike—and if you don’t believe me, Speaker, it’s on YouTube; just go back and watch it—that there has been no Premier who has had the backs of labour and our private sector building unions than Premier Doug Ford.

There were hundreds who stood shoulder to shoulder with us, the incredible men and women from LIUNA. I want to especially thank Jack Oliveira and the team at LIUNA 183, and Joe Mancinelli, who spoke there as well. I want to also thank the incredible associations who were there, the operating engineers—Mike Gallagher—who stood with us and delivered a passionate speech about the importance of 413; the ironworkers, who joined us; UA; the associations—so many it’s hard to mention them all. They stood with us for that announcement.

These skilled trades workers are the backbone of our economy. They’re the carpenters who build our homes, the electricians who keep our lights on, the plumbers who ensure our water runs and the welders, mechanics and technicians who keep our industries running smoothly. In short, they are the unsung heroes who grow and keep our society growing and prosperous, and they’re in high demand.

It’s no secret that Ontario is facing a shortage of workers in the skilled trades. Over the next decade, Speaker, it’s estimated we’re going to need 500,000 skilled trades-related jobs. I think every single member of this Legislature sees that and recognizes that, and I’m confident that we’ll see support for measures we’re taking to get more men and women into the trades.

This means we need to act now. We must attract, train and retain people in the skilled trades. That’s why our Working for Workers package includes measures that would make it easier for people to enter careers in the skilled trades, especially youth and second career workers.

So this bill would make changes to the Building Opportunities in the Skilled Trades Act, or BOSTA, to increase access to apprenticeship training for people who have prior experience but cannot meet the academic entry requirements to register as an apprentice.

I’ve met countless Ukrainian refugees who are here. If you told me, Speaker, that I had to leave Canada tomorrow, I wouldn’t know where on earth my degree is; I wouldn’t know where—I think it might be my mom who has my Ontario secondary school diploma, to be honest. I couldn’t get that, Speaker.

So recognizing those who fled war-torn spaces around the world, we’re making sure that, through working with employers, we’re removing barriers, through employer attestation, through competency-based assessment to make sure people are working in the field in which they have expertise, because nobody here is pushing a low-skill economy, where people are working in jobs that they, quite frankly, are way overqualified for. People who can be an engineer, the cab driver who’s a doctor or a nurse—I’m sick and tired of getting in an Uber and seeing that.

We’re also including measures in this bill with the Fairness Commissioner and our regulatory bodies to remove those barriers, and I would welcome any other ideas from members in this place to remove those barriers, so that we can get more people working in those careers.

That’s not it, though. That’s not it. We’re also doing more. We’re proposing to add a new accelerated stream to the popular program, our Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program. I want to thank the incredible Minister of Education. Speaker, there’s a theme here. I’ve mentioned about a quarter of our caucus already, and I’m just on page 3. That’s because we’re a team: a team that comes together to contribute to landmark legislation, like this largest labour bill since we formed government.

The member for King–Vaughan, the Minister of Education is a leader in this game-changing initiative, and what are we calling it, Speaker? It’s the Focused Apprenticeship Skills Training, or FAST for short. The government likes their acronyms. FAST will enable grade 11 and 12 high school students to participate in more apprenticeship learning through co-operative education credits while completing high school.

Mr. John Yakabuski: Great idea.

Hon. David Piccini: It is a good idea. Graduates would receive a new seal on their OSSD, on their school diploma, to signify their successful completion of the program and to distinguish them for their dedication and learning in the skilled trades. This is part of the Premier’s 2023 commitment to expand options for students entering the skilled trades.

For years, we talked about it. I would go into high schools and I would see the brightest and the best taking an advanced placement, taking courses that would count towards a university degree. Why can’t those same students take experiential learning opportunities that would count towards their level 1 apprenticeship? Why not, Speaker? If you’re going to tackle the stigma, as I think everybody in this place agrees, you’ve got to start treating the trades equally as a valuable profession, as they do in jurisdictions like Germany. That’s what this Premier’s doing. That’s what we’re doing with this measure, and we’re the first province to take this sort of leadership.

We’re making it easier for people in Ontario to find apprenticeship opportunities. In fact, for rural Ontarians in communities like mine—Herb’s Plumbing, Fred the electrician, who I spoke to the other day and so many more. It’s called the silver tsunami. One in three journeypersons are over the age of 55. How are we going to attract the best and the brightest in rural Ontario to take over these businesses?

When you have a job in the trades, you can start to run your own business; you can become an entrepreneur.

To better connect apprentices with employers and better connect those employers with apprentices who are seeking that apprenticeship, we plan to launch a new online job-matching portal for our potential apprentices, journeypersons and employers. Currently, we do not have a dedicated provincial system to help apprentices find employers and sponsors who are looking for apprentices, so we’re filling that gap with a new platform that will help streamline the process for potential apprentices to find interested sponsors, register and begin their training. We’re just starting with that portal, but I look forward to building in mentorship opportunities along the way.

I’ve got to give another shout-out—the theme is growing—to Minister Williams from Brampton, who has been such a champion for women in the trades.

We had a women-in-trades round table, and I think it was Victoria Mancinelli from LIUNA who introduced me to a number of workers. I think of my time down in Grimsby, where I met some remarkable women who are trailblazers, who are breaking down barriers—single moms she introduced me to. And do you know what? They talked about having more mentorship opportunities.

So I look forward for this portal to be that one-stop shop to get your hours towards your level 1, 2, 3 etc., but also to unlock mentorship opportunities that can continue to break down barriers for women in the trades.

We’re not stopping there. Another important measure supporting the trades is a new technological education requirement to earn your OSSD. This requirement will expose Ontario students to at least one tech ed course that could guide them to a future career in the skilled workforce, including the skilled trades.

When we have youth who are graduating not ready for the job market, that is not a failure of youth, that is a failure of us, that is a failure of decision-makers, that is a failure of us as a society to not better connect them to remarkable job opportunities.

This new tech ed course—previous governments could have done that, but they didn’t; we did.

Mr. John Yakabuski: They chose not to.

Hon. David Piccini: They chose not to. It speaks about their value systems.

We know that the previous Liberal government wanted to turn Ontario into a service economy. I didn’t believe it until I went to the forum for ministers in charge of skills development, for that skills development component of my portfolio. I looked back at the previous minutes and I looked at what Ontario said, and, colleagues, you would never believe—certainly, colleagues on this side would never have believed it.

Mr. John Yakabuski: I was here.

Hon. David Piccini: You were here, yes. The member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke remembers.

In the minutes, they said, “We’re going to transition Ontario into a low-skill service economy.” That’s shocking.

I, actually, in the record, made a point of saying that under the leadership of this Premier, under the leadership of this Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, we’re bringing game-changing investments that are life-changing.

I was down in Niagara for the carpenters, to kick off their bargaining, and I had a great conversation with the carpenters. It was just a few nights ago. Josh Neville from Port Hope carpenters said to me that these sorts of legacy investments that this minister—who is the number one salesperson in Ontario—has brought into our province are not just game-changing, they’re life-changing. They’re life-changing for the men and women who are going to work on the automotive lines that are going to build the EVs of tomorrow.

It’s life-changing for the Indigenous who are taking an equity-building stake in critical minerals in the north. It’s life-changing for those companies that are working to extract those critical minerals that are going to be the backbone. It’s game-changing for the building trades that are building these buildings. This minister keeps bringing these new investments in—I think the largest was NextStar in Windsor; then it was the largest again at Volkswagen, and now it’s the largest again with Honda.

I remember, in Windsor—it’s 16 times the size of SkyDome. What’s the size of the new building, Minister? It’s even bigger. If you think of something 16 times the size of SkyDome—I remember because I had family that worked on SkyDome. That was a massive amount of building trades coming together to build that big SkyDome. And now we are building buildings 16-plus times the size of that. Just think of the opportunities for men and women in the building trades.

Speaker, we’re also removing barriers for employment. It’s not just tradespeople we need in this province. An important part of our plan to fuel economic growth is improving job access for newcomers, and helping put internationally trained professionals on a path to success.

More proposed changes in this bill, if passed, would help fill thousands of jobs in Ontario going unfilled and close gaps in the labour market. As part of this bill, I’m proposing that regulated professions be required to have a policy to accept alternatives where applicants cannot obtain standard registration related documents for reasons beyond their control such as war or conflict or natural disasters. I mentioned this earlier.

I want to specifically acknowledge the leadership of my community in Northumberland–Peterborough South, who have welcomed Ukrainian refugees en masse, building on the incredible work we did to welcome Syrian refugees in our community. I recently visited Café Lviv for Mr. G’s birthday the other day—he’s the partner of the mayor of Port Hope—and I met a number of remarkable women working at that restaurant. I will encourage any member of this place, if you’re in Port Hope, visit Café Lviv. It’s an amazing restaurant. I was eating Ukrainian food, and I was speaking to one of the women who works there.

Speaker, do you know what she is? She’s a pediatrician. She works in pediatrics, and she is working at a restaurant. I dedicate measures in this bill to her because we’re going to work hard to ensure people like her are actually practising on the front lines in health care, where they belong.

We’re proposing that regulated professions must have a plan to enable multiple registration steps to happen simultaneously. Imagine learning a new language, as these Ukrainian refugees have done, just to literally run a hurdle race like Perdita Felicien. It is insane. They are jumping hurdle after hurdle after hurdle. And do you know what happens, Speaker? They give up because of the ridiculous barriers put before them.

So we’re talking about taking all of those steps, moving all of those steps, moving them concurrently, working with Fairness Commissioner Glasberg and working with these regulated bodies to make sure we’re slashing these barriers, doing concurrent approvals, making sure that we’re proposing to give the Fairness Commissioner a regulatory power, because we have to do better for these newcomers.

These proposed changes to the Fair Access to Regulated Professions and Compulsory Trades Act would remove barriers for foreign credential recognition and speed up registration. We already, in many respects, lead the nation in speeding up that registration process, but we can do more. Importantly, they would help newcomers transition to work in their field in which they train faster, again, leaving no one behind.

To complement this proposal, I’m proposing a regulatory change under the Ontario Immigration Act to expand occupations eligible for the in-demand skills stream of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program.

Speaker, I’m looking forward to meeting with my federal counterpart, Minister Miller, to talk about this. Working with the federal government, we’ve expanded the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program. When it comes to processing times, we do it in 90 days here in Ontario. The minister in Manitoba with the cool new Premier over there—that minister said—she just sent me an email that she’s coming to visit Ontario, and we’re going to welcome her in this place to talk about better welcoming newcomers and the work Ontario is doing. I think all of us in the place can take pride in those processing times.

I thank her for her leadership, and I’m looking forward to working with her to bring those same types of time guarantees to people immigrating to Manitoba too.

Further changes proposed as a part of Bill 190 would, if passed, improve internal review efficiency for the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program by allowing for the delegation of internal review functions to ministry officials.

And, finally, to complement this bill as a part of the Working for Workers package, we’re planning a new trusted employer model to make it easier for employers and nominees to access the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program.

I wanted to give a big shout-out to all those employers out there, including many in my own riding, who do so well by these newcomers. It’s not just a job; it’s a family. It’s a support network. It’s so much more that these employers are offering these newcomers, and we want to recognize their leadership by those who have exemplary records, by recognizing them with a new trusted employer model, ensuring that newcomers can join the front lines of our workforce faster.

It’s going to reduce the administrative burden on employers that are trusted or experienced partners of this government. These changes mean better efficiency welcoming newcomers to our province, and they would further respond to the needs of businesses to better open Ontario to more people willing and eager to help us build a better and stronger Ontario, those great employers.

But, Speaker, we’re not stopping there. There’s so much more. Fairness for workers: That’s another important hallmark. Before I pass my time to the great member for Ajax, I would like to talk about working for workers who are already here in Ontario. It’s not just those who are currently working, but those who are currently looking for jobs too. I’m proposing to amend the Employment Standards Act to increase transparency for job seekers in two major ways: first, by requiring employers to disclose in publicly advertised job postings whether or not a vacancy currently exist.

Ghost jobs—the Toronto Star reported on that, and I had a great chat with them as we looked to implement these measures. A recent survey of hiring managers conducted by Clarify Capital in October 2023 found that 50% reported creating job openings to keep the talent pool at the ready for when they are hiring, without the actual intention to hire in the immediate future.

Speaker, think about what we have done as a government: requiring salary transparency in job postings; removing Canadian work experience requirements in previous Working for Workers bills; recognizing that sometimes it’s like a new job just to apply for another job, and that you’re running through and hopping over many hurdles to apply for that new job, just to find out it’s a ghost job and it doesn’t actually exist—that is not right—or just to find out that the salary being offered is one that is less than what you earn today. We took care of that in Working for Workers 4. They deserve to know whether their applying may get them a call back in the short term.

But, Speaker, we’re not stopping there. I’m also proposing changes to the Employment Standards Act to require employers to respond to interviewees for publicly advertised job postings. After the stress of an interview, the work preparing for it and the hope it raises, people deserve to know whether or not they got the job or if they’ll be called back another interview within a reasonable amount of time. We’ll work in regulation to specify that.

We’re saying an important thing in legislation here. We’re elevating the societal contract. We’re elevating that contract for many of the people here who look like they are going to be embarking on a great career ahead, who go for those interviews. You probably want to hear back if you got the job. You probably want the courtesy of knowing if there is something in that interview process that is an inhibitor for future jobs. Let’s get you the feedback you deserve, so that these young Ontarians—so that anyone in this place—can improve themself in that process. It’s elevating that societal discourse. It’s a mutual responsibility.

Speaker, we don’t talk enough about accountability and shared accountability: accountability for those applying for the job, accountability to those employers to ensure that they’re giving that feedback. And so, I look forward to working with employers and with job seekers as we roll this out, Speaker.

It has been an honour of a lifetime, just the last seven months in this role and the role in environment prior. I’m just scratching the surface on what this bill is doing. I know the member for Ajax will elaborate on other measures—getting tough on bad actors, doing so many more things in the legislation.

But I’m incredibly proud, as someone who has grown up in rural Ontario, who was just recently at ENSS in Brighton, who looked to a graduating class I would say 50% of whom want to get into the trades, but have been told for too long that trades are perhaps for someone who is less academically inclined or are told a variety—and I don’t even want to perpetuate the stigmas here in this place, so I’ll stop right there.

But what we’re saying, and I think I speak on behalf of everyone in this place, is that we are treating the trades as a profession. We disagree, I’m sure, when it comes to health care, schools, education and how we get there. But I think everybody in this place, at their core, recognizes we do need new med schools. We do need new hospitals. We do need state-of-the-art campuses of care that I’m fighting for in Campbellford. I never miss an opportunity, folks, to bring up the new hospital I’d like to see in Campbellford. I’m advocating to my own government to get that for Campbellford.

But we all agree, and this ambitious plan for health care that this Premier has led is putting the dollars to make that, hopefully, a reality for us.

We all agree we need those hospitals, we need those schools, we need those highways so that you can spend more time with your loved ones at home, so that you’re not stuck in gridlock. Honestly, I dread sometimes coming into Toronto in the gridlock. I breathe a sigh of relief when I hit the county of Northumberland. I see the rolling hills, I see the clear streets in front of me, and I know I’m that much closer to my wife, to the dogs and to getting home, to seeing my family. We can alleviate gridlock.

But it’s not just the highways and the roads, it’s public transit. For every $1 we spend on roads and bridges, we’re spending $2 on public transit. The largest low-carbon public transit project taking place in North America today is the Ontario Line. Who’s going to build all of this? Who’s going to lay the track? Who’s going to work underground—the labourers working underground, doing these tunnels?

I was at 183 the other day and saw the state-of-the-art tunnel system. I want to give a shout-out to Sandro Pinto, the training director, for showing us that incredible training opportunity for the tunnels at 183. Again, they’re doing such great work.

But for us to do these projects on time and on budget, for us to just get these shovels in the ground, we need men and women in the trades. This Premier and this government are smashing the stigma. We’re increasing paths. We’re breaking down the barriers, bringing core fundamentals back to high school: math, budgeting, STEM, tech trades—all of these things that, quite frankly, should have been done years ago. But we’re doing it. We’re bringing those fundamentals back to high school, and it’s going to better equip our next generation.

Again, when you have a job in the trades, you’ve got a career for life, but it’s so much more than that. You’re entrepreneurs. You’re running businesses. I think to friends of mine in my community. I was just with Tom Behan, Behan Construction. I was just with Steve Henderson, Henderson Construction. They’re starting work. They’re giving back to our community.

Where did I see Tom? I saw Tom at the youth wellness hub fundraiser. Why does a contractor get involved? So many of them give of their time for these important community efforts. It’s not even just about all that infrastructure I talked about. It’s those men and women in the trades who give of their time and their remarkable craftsmanship for free to support incredible initiatives like a youth wellness hub.

A big shout-out to Port Hope who got the 23rd youth wellness hub in Ontario—of course, under the leadership of Premier Ford and our government, we started 22 of them. We’ve now increased a new 10 in the budget to increase that number. I was proud to stand with colleagues the Minister of Health and the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions in Port Hope to announce that new youth wellness hub.

But behind all of these incredible initiatives, I again want to take it back to the workers—the workers who get up each and every day. I got up the other day at 4 to come into Toronto—it was mostly pickups on the 401 that I saw. It was men and women going to job sites early in the morning, those same men and women who build our hospitals, build our schools, build our public transit, build our roads, highways and bridges, and will be responsible for the 1.5 million homes we’ve set the ambitious target to build in Ontario. We see them, we hear them, we value them, and we’re removing barriers for youth in this province to become them.

I want to close with this. We announced recently in Mississauga at M City—and a big thank you to Steve Chaplin, the team at EllisDon and especially Michelle. Michelle was nervous; she was told just a few minutes before that we had asked her to speak. She said she would. Michelle did more than just speak to measures we’re doing to ensure bathrooms have a proper cleaning schedule. I think you will hear from the remarkable member from Ajax a bit more on that. We are doing common-sense changes to elevate, to bring the same quality you experience in a washroom on Bay Street to Main Street, and we’re doing it for workers across Ontario.

She said that common-sense changes like that, having washrooms for women but most importantly PPE—“I’m sick and tired of hearing from women who are wearing coveralls that are down to their knees and tripping, working doubly as hard to try to keep up with their counterpart.” We’re saying, you’ve got to have properly fitted PPE. It’s in regulation.

We are one of the first provinces to ever do that, these common-sense changes. Michelle stood at the podium to not just speak about important measures in this legislation that we’re doing—she and that team at EllisDon are supportive of the measures we’re putting in this bill—but she, more importantly, stood as a role model for women across Ontario.

We saw last year the largest number of women registered to become apprentices, among the largest in Ontario’s history. It is a proof point that the work we’re doing is working. We saw a 116% increase in women in the building trades.

Still, they only represent a small percentage of those on the work lines. But thanks to people like Michelle, who stand as a role model for young girls who look up to them, they know that there is a remarkable career ahead of them, that they can enter those jobs. Imagine, all of the things I mentioned we’re building in Ontario, doing that and ignoring 50% of the workforce. That doesn’t make any sense. So I’m proud of the work that this government is doing to break down barriers for women in the trades, to listen to them and to work with them to remove these barriers.

I want to close by saying it’s been a remarkable opportunity, working with the team at MLITSD—it’s a mouthful—on this bill. I just want to thank everybody who has contributed to this. This is so widely stakeholdered. It’s the voice—this is not just paper, these are the voices of thousands of Ontarians who have provided feedback to this bill. I want to thank them.

The best days are yet to come in Ontario. Under the leadership of this Premier we’re building a stronger Ontario. We’re leaving no one behind. We are a welcoming place for newcomers, we’re bashing down barriers for men and women to enter the skilled trades, providing a beacon of light for youngsters looking to enter skilled trades, and we couldn’t do it without the leadership of Premier Ford.

I just want to close by thanking everyone for giving me this opportunity to speak. I want to turn things to over to my incredible colleague and partner in all of this, the distinguished member from Ajax.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Further debate?

Ms. Patrice Barnes: I’m pleased to rise today to debate Bill 190, the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024, alongside the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. I want to acknowledge the leadership of the minister and the entire team at the ministry, who are working to support workers in our province. I see, every day, the minister’s passion to make things better for the workers of the province of Ontario and I applaud his work with the measures contained in this bill.

I’d also like to thank the Premier for his leadership and support of our government’s actions and trail-blazing legislation for Ontario workers. He truly leads by example, working for workers to make sure we keep the Ontario dream within reach of more people.

Thank you also to the members of caucus and workers who have advocated and consulted on the changes in this bill. As a professional and also as a woman, I am proud of the proposals we are making to the Working for Workers Five Act to further support women at work.

Canadian research, as recent as 2022, has shown that women are more likely to be subjected to workplace harassment, including online harassment, than other workers. People who face multiple intersectionalities such as gender, race or disability are also very likely to be harassed. This includes online harassment. As many workers now work from home all or part of the time, virtual harassment is something we increasingly need to ensure we are protecting workers from.

We need to recognize that, with the change in our technologies, our legislation has to change as well. That is why, as part of this bill, we are proposing to modernize the Occupational Health and Safety Act to include virtual harassment. We’re acting to reflect the realities of modern work in our legislation and to better protect workers no matter where they perform their work.

To complement this proposal, our ministry is also planning consultations on more potential changes to prevent and address complaints and incidents of workplace harassment. Harassment is unacceptable. It makes going to work very difficult. Whether it’s online or face-to-face, our government’s message is simple: It has to stop. And we are working to ensure that it does.

While addressing virtual harassment is an incredibly important change for all workers, especially women, I’d also like to talk about some other important changes our ministry is proposing to specifically support women in the trades, particularly in construction.

We have seen an increase in women working on construction projects, and we’ve heard their requests to make their workplaces more inclusive. In fact, a 2022 survey of Ontario tradeswomen in construction cited better washroom facilities as one of the things missing to make this type of work more appealing to women. Some of us in here can relate to that. To help, we are proposing a change to the construction regulation to require constructors to provide menstrual products on many construction sites.

Those construction sites affected would be those with 20 or more workers and expected to last three months or longer—sites where it would be feasible to have a reasonably private place to access menstrual products.

While only 13% of workers in Ontario’s construction industry are women, we want to increase this number. Changes to ensure that their needs are met on the job site will help.

To bring better washrooms to all workers as part of our Working for Workers package, we’re proposing new requirements under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for washrooms provided for workers. While in construction it’s already a requirement for washrooms to be kept in a clean and sanitary condition, we’re now proposing to roll it out to similar workplaces all across Ontario. And to ensure that this is a regular practice, constructors and employers will be required to maintain an up-to-date cleaning log for each washroom, to be prescribed by regulation in the future. This will allow workers to see when the washrooms were last cleaned and to keep the people in charge accountable.

Washrooms need to be kept in a clean and sanitary condition, not just for workers’ health, but for their dignity as well. No worker should be confronted with a dirty washroom while they’re at work, where you have to make the choice to either stay on site or go off-site to use the washroom. It should be that way for every workplace.

These hard-working people are showing up day in and day out to do their jobs, and we all need constructors and employers to do their part.

To further protect workers, we will also consult on expanding the types of equipment to be provided on construction sites. Equipment like defibrillators—something that can make the difference between life and death in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest—is important on the job site. This is in addition to a comprehensive review of traumatic fatalities in the construction sector.

We have heard some of the sad stories of workers that have gone to work and have not come home, and so we’re charging the Ontario Chief Prevention Officer, Dr. Joel Moody, to do a comprehensive consultation, as well as incorporating asbestos-related data into the ministry’s forthcoming Occupational Exposure Registry to improve our efforts to prevent future asbestos-related illnesses.

Earlier, the Minister of Health made this announcement: To better protect workers, increase fairness and, importantly, reduce unnecessary burden on health care providers, we’re proposing a change to the Employment Standards Act to prohibit employers from requiring sick notes for the three unpaid sick days employees are entitled to under the act. This change to put patients before paperwork would, if passed, help people avoid unnecessary trips to the doctor’s office when sick. This means fairness for employees who can better recuperate at home.

It means better safety for health care workers who would now see less exposure to people with communicable diseases looking to complete paperwork, and for patients in waiting rooms. It would mean many hours saved for primary care providers, which we have heard from the Ontario Medical Association.

Family doctors spend approximately 19 hours per week on administrative tasks, including four hours of that writing notes or completing forms for patients. Let’s get those paperwork hours back for them to, instead, spend those taking care of patients.

I want to emphasize that employers would still have tools available to maintain staff accountability around sick days off, such as requiring attestations or asking for pharmacy receipts, depending on the circumstances. This is about reducing unnecessary burden on our health care system while continuing to support both workers and employers. And it complements other actions by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board efforts to collaborate with health sector organizations as they explore additional measures to reduce administrative burdens for sick or injured workers and health care professionals.

Speaker, we continue to do more. I would like to talk about workplace fairness—the minister mentioned this earlier. We want to send a message that employers who break the rules and exploit or endanger workers will face the consequences. That is why we are proposing changes to the Employment Standards Act that would, if passed, double the maximum fine for individuals convicted of violating the act from $50,000 to $100,000. This would make Ontario’s maximum fine for individuals the highest in the country and send a message to unscrupulous employers that it’s unacceptable.

We’re also increasing the penalty that an employment standards officer can issue for certain repeat offenders by five times. It’s a change from $1,000 per penalty to $5,000. That is less than the price of an iPhone to a more substantive penalty, especially when it’s multiplied by each employee affected. And it would be available for officers to issue on third or subsequent contraventions of the same provision.

These changes are designed to make bad actors think twice before they violate the act, and to give the courts and our officers more leverage to appropriately penalize those that do, levelling the playing field for Ontario’s majority of responsible employers.

So to recap, all of these changes have one goal in mind: putting workers first, because an economy that doesn’t work for workers, does not work at all. Through our Working for Workers packages we have been, and plan to continue, making common-sense changes that put workers in the driver’s seat.

The themes that the minister and I have spoken about today are not new. In fact, this government has shown its support for workers in several of its Working for Workers packages. For example, in 2022, we stood up for members of the Canadian Armed Forces by expanding military reservist leave to cover time spent in Canadian Forces military skills training and reduce the amount of time military personnel need to hold a job before they can take the leave. We reduced that from six months to three months. And again, in 2023, we improved military reservist leave yet again, expanding reasons for the leave and further reducing the time reservists need to be employed before taking leave.

The firefighter presumptive coverage improvements outlined today also build on improvements in 2023 when we expanded presumptive occupational cancer coverage for firefighters and fire investigators to include thyroid and pancreatic cancers, as well as further improvements this year when we reduced the time firefighters and fire investigators need to have been employed prior to diagnosis to receive presumptive coverage for esophageal cancer, from 25 years to 15 years. That is substantial.

We have been protecting the safety and dignity of workers from the very beginning of the Working for Workers series. Legislation passed by this House in 2021 gave delivery workers the basic human dignity of access to a restroom at businesses they are serving.

And in 2023, we improved washrooms for construction workers by mandating clean, well lit and properly enclosed washrooms on all construction sites, and improved job sites for women by requiring women-specific washrooms on larger sites, as well as properly fitting personal protective equipment and clothing be available for workers of all body types, making construction work safer and more inclusive. We know that when women are on site with ill-fitted protective gear, it puts them at risk.

And to demonstrate our seriousness about safety and bad actors, in 2022 we increased the maximum fine for corporations convicted of Occupational Health and Safety Act violations to $2 million, emphasizing our dedication to putting worker safety above all else.

We have also been proactive around the opioid epidemic’s effect on workplace safety, mandating that certain at-risk workplaces have life-saving naloxone kits on site, and workers must be trained on how to use them. This was passed in 2022.

Fairness for employees and job seekers has been an ongoing theme for this government’s improvements since 2021. To protect vulnerable workers, we introduced mandatory licensing for recruiters and temporary help agencies, and followed up last year with changes that, once proclaimed, will require employers to disclose the expected compensation or rate of compensation in publicly advertised job postings to ensure job seekers have clear information about the pay they can expect before they decide to apply. There’s nothing like going through the entire process and finding out that what you’re getting paid wasn’t even worth the time.

We also ensured fairness for hospitality and services sector staff by clarifying and introducing some important employment standards. These include:

—clarifying employers cannot deduct wages when customers dine and dash, gas and dash, or otherwise leave without paying. Those workers should not be penalized;

—clarifying that employees must be paid for trial shifts;

—requiring employers to disclose if they have a policy of sharing worker tips and post it in the workplace; and

—requiring employers who pay tips using direct deposit to allow their employees to select which account they want them to be deposited.

This continues, Speaker: To ensure fairness for Ontario workers, it’s important to keep our laws current to new technology and applicable to real life. That’s another thing we’ve been doing through Working for Workers. Technology in the workplace has transformed how we operate, communicate and innovate. We addressed this in 2021 by introducing a requirement for larger employers to have a written policy on disconnecting from work to safeguard people’s personal and private time in an era where work can easily follow you home.

And we followed up in 2022 to protect privacy with a requirement for large employers to disclose how they’re monitoring their employees electronically, as well as a change to the Employment Standards Act to ensure that employees who work solely remotely are counted for when mass termination provisions happen, and that they receive the same protections as their in-office counterparts—because they are, after all, employees.

This government has also been working to get people into jobs through Working for Workers packages to ensure red tape and unfair practices don’t stand in the way of newcomers who aspire to contribute to our communities. It is unfair that people come with a dream and have those dreams dashed because they encounter challenges around their experiences and their job that they bring to Canada. In our last package, we made changes that, once proclaimed, will prohibit all provincially regulated employers from including a requirement for Canadian experience in job postings or application forms.

This was a natural extension of our 2021 prohibition on Canadian experience as a requirement for registration in the more than 30 regulated professions and compulsory trades.

We are helping put newcomers on a path to success by enabling them to start careers in Ontario that match their skill sets, including skills that we need in sectors like health care and the skilled trades. This is why we have also been addressing barriers internationally trained individuals may face when having their qualifications assessed, such as changes to improve transparency and accountability for the assessment of qualifications by the regulated professions and third parties.

Speaker, as you can see, this package extends the groundbreaking supports and improvements already helping millions of workers across the province by protecting the health and dignity of workers and front-line heroes, ensuring fairness for employees and job seekers, supporting women at work, removing barriers to employment and making it easier for more Ontarians to start a career in the trades. We are using every tool in our tool box to work harder for workers each and every day, to not only to protect workers but to also keep and attract more workers in the province to ensure our economy remains strong.

As I said, the themes aren’t new. We are building on the past bills we have introduced under the leadership of the Premier, and we will always keep working to support and protect workers.

I call on all members of this House to join me in supporting Bill 190, the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024. Thank you, Speaker, for the opportunity.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): It is now time for questions.

Ms. Peggy Sattler: My question is actually to the minister. Certainly, he will recall during COVID when the government brought in the infectious disease emergency leave, and that gave 10 days of leave. Two days of those were to be paid, and it also eliminated sick notes. So while we are pleased to see the long-overdue elimination of sick notes in the bill, we do not see any change to the 10 days of personal emergency leave, we don’t see any requirement for paid sick days. Even in the COVID bill, it had two paid sick days. We’ve been advocating for 10 paid sick days, which is what they have at the federal level.

Can the minister let us know why they took the elimination of sick notes but did not put in a requirement for paid sick days?

Hon. David Piccini: Thank you to the member for that question. The government has taken a number of big steps here, again, putting patients over paperwork. I would also highlight to that member important work we’ve done—it’s posted for consultation now, and I hope she provides feedback—on leave provided for those battling critical illnesses and leave for those caring for those battling critical illness. Again, work that this government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, has done.

I’ve got to say, these are breaking down barriers, providing people with the stability to care for their loved ones. But also, this bill speaks to so many things we’re doing to break down barriers for people to get into the workforce.

I appreciate what that member is calling for, but we’ve included strong measures in this bill, and I’m very proud of it.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Questions?

Ms. Laura Smith: Through you, Speaker: The minister talked about the importance of skilled trades and it literally being the backbone of the community. I know that’s the case in my riding of Thornhill.

He also talked very passionately about Fred the electrician and also the silver wave that’s upon us. Can he talk a little bit about how we’re leading the youth into the skilled trades?

Hon. David Piccini: I’m happy to. It is affectionately called the silver tsunami, but it is serious. When we see one in three journeypersons over the age of 55, that concerns me. That concerns me for those who want a home, for everyone here who wants the ability to own a home. Too often in this place we’re trying to say that that’s not actually what people want, but we want the ability and the dream of home ownership to be attainable for everybody in Ontario, and that’s going to require men and women in the trades.

Again, technical trades in high school, the new FAST program to get on-the-job experience, the job-matching portal for people like Fred who don’t have the time, have a massive HR department to bring people on—a simple portal making it easier to match apprentices with employers to get the hours towards their C of Q are just some of the many measures we’re taking.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Questions?

Ms. Sandy Shaw: My question this morning also to the minister: You brought up the notion of ghost jobs, and I appreciate that. Essentially, ghost jobs are jobs that people work for that never actually appear. I want to talk about foreign temporary workers, migrant workers, who also are in ghost jobs with the promise of a working permit that also never appears. Really, this is a form of labour trafficking. There’s no other way of going about saying that. Temporary foreign agencies and contractors use this to exploit workers—absolutely no doubt that that happens. We have workers who are given the promise that they would be allowed to stay in Canada to continue to work, but that never happens.

You mentioned that your counterpart, Minister Miller, at the federal level—I’d like to hear what you will be bringing up as part of this exploitation of workers in the province.

Hon. David Piccini: I wish I had more time because there’s some good stuff in that question.

First off, Speaker, this government introduced a regulation to crack down on temporary help agencies to require a licensing regime again. You’ll recall this did exist in Ontario decades ago—bringing back a licensing regime, imposing some of the toughest fines on bad actors, those who withhold passports.

I would also point her to the federal government who are now shortening the ability for work permits, I believe, from 12 to six months. We’re asking for a carve-out in health care, in the health space, and then we’re also including measures here through FARPACTA legislation to fast-track people into employment where there’s credentials and hiccups and issues there, because you have to streamline that process to have a future of permanency here.

There’s so much. I wish I could include it all in—but a good question there, and we are working with the feds to crack down on bad actors.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): I recognize the member for Essex.

Mr. Anthony Leardi: I welcomed the announcement with a great deal of excitement when I read that a person or a student would be able to spend 80% of their time in training and 20% in academics. I thought that was a great advancement, very important for the province of Ontario and very exciting for students who are interested in entering the trades.

But not everybody greeted this news with excitement. For example, there was this person named Cheri DiNovo—I didn’t know who she was. She said, “Who needs to learn history, science and reading when you can stay uneducated”—that’s what she said. She said, “You can stay uneducated by spending 80% of your time training for the trades.” Now, that shocked me. I don’t think somebody should be saying that you stay uneducated when you spend 80% of your time training for a trade. That took me totally by surprise.

I didn’t know who this person was. I learned later on. I just want to ask the minister, is he aware of who this person is and why she hates the trades so much?

Hon. David Piccini: I, too, was very disheartened and heartbroken to read those derogatory and inflammatory remarks from that former member of this Legislature, but I think it’s reflective of a bygone era of an old attitude that we’re relegating to the dustbin of history and actually empowering youth to enter the trades, recognizing and treating the trades equally to those advanced placement credits, AP courses that count towards a university degree that I said. I’m proud to treat it as a profession, Speaker. We’re going to continue doing that. We’re not going to get distracted by that noise.

Under the leadership of this Premier and that member who has been a fantastic advocate for Windsor, we’re going to keep getting people into the trades because when you’ve got a job in the trades, you’ve got a career for life.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Further questions? I recognize the member for Niagara Falls.

Mr. Wayne Gates: I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to rise.

The government continues to put forward Working for Workers bills. However, my bill to end deeming in the province of Ontario—we have put forward legislation and multiple amendments in committee to have this practice stopped, and the government has consistently voted against it, voted it down over and over again. And this minister knows that deeming by the WSIB forces workers into poverty—into ghost jobs, by the way.

Why is the government supporting such a cruel policy that harms injured workers, their families and our communities?

Hon. David Piccini: Speaker, there’s so much in this labour bill. I was hoping to get a question on one of those measures, but I appreciate that that member wants to bring up something he’s been advocating for, and I appreciate that.

I will say at a very high level—

Interjection.

Hon. David Piccini: Will you let me answer? I’m just going to answer the question because I appreciate what he asked.

We recognize that a lot more needs to be done with the WSIB. We’ve embarked on an ambitious reform. I think, at its core, what I will say is a culture where we have to get people better and where we want to support those getting back to work, but also providing dignity for those who will be unable to do so. And that’s why we’re expanding supports for injured workers through WSIB, and we look forward to sitting down with that member offline to talk about concerns he’s brought forward.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): It is now time for further debate.

MPP Jamie West: I’m going to be brief because I know we’ll be going to members’ statements soon.

I want to talk about one of the themes, and I’ll expand on more of this when we get into the debate later on. But one of the themes of this bill is about changing things to electronic documents, and I have concerns with this. I understand the ease of use and how effective it is. I understand in some workplaces how helpful that will be. But the concern I have with electronic documents is that a lot of workplaces don’t have access. And I know people will say everyone has a phone or everyone has a computer, but the reality is, not everyone has a phone and not everyone has a computer.

A lot of workplaces don’t have connectivity. I come from mining and the underground, and a lot of mining organizations don’t have connectivity underground.

There’s a requirement to have paper documents because it’s the easiest way to communicate with people, especially older workers. I don’t want to be ageist, because I’m old, but there are older people. We’ve all been in a situation helping our parents hook up the VCR in the old days or helping our parents get on the Internet. There are just some people who are not comfortable with electronic documents, and when it comes to health and safety, if we’re not sharing information as easily as we can, there’s an expression when it comes to health and safety that you learn because something tragic happened to you or someone told you about something happening to you.

So if you’re making it difficult for workers to have access to information—for example, of who their joint health and safety committee is and who the members are and where they are in the workplace—a lot of workplaces are small and everybody would know, but at my workplace, when I was a worker safety rep, I represented the filter plant and the furnaces, I represented the converters and casting and cooling and crushing and I represented the copper end. It was the size of about two or maybe two and a half football fields: more than 400 workers, plus contractors, plus management.

There were a lot of people there who might not know who I was or where to find my office, let alone the other people on my committee from management and the workers’ side. And we had a really good committee; we worked really well together to solve these issues, but not every workplace is like that. And so, Speaker, when I talk about information being posted online, it may make sense to a lot of people, but for some people, that’s going to be a detriment.

A few weeks ago, we just talked about intimate partner violence, and we know it’s a concern. The Conservatives, as well—I know, often, as critics, we end up pointing the finger and yelling, but the Conservatives as well embraced the idea of intimate partner violence and declaring an epidemic. If you don’t have a harassment policy posted in the workplace, some people may not see that. And although it’s common sense to us in this room that you shouldn’t behave in that manner, there are some people who don’t realize that or what to do or how to make a complaint.

All that information is on your harassment document, your policy, and the policy points to the procedures which should be easily accessible to people so they can find out how it’s followed up on. What do you do when there’s harassment in the workplace? Who do you contact? How do you move it forward? How do you have it addressed? And I’m not talking about how you have it addressed in the most extreme examples, it’s how you have it addressed in terms of correcting behaviour, to explain to people that certain things are unwanted?

Because I know sometimes people are doing things that are considered harassment or offensive and not realizing that their language is outdated and inadequate. These are things that really concern me in this bill.

The minister is here and, often, when we debate, we’re not able to speak at the same time, and so I want to say, there’s some really great parts to this bill, like the occupational disease

section for wildland firefighters. I was just at FONOM yesterday speaking with the wildland firefighters. They knew, Minister. Already when I came up to them, they were very excited about it; they knew that the bill was coming forward. And I know that this is something we’ve all, as—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): I apologize to the member for Sudbury, but it is now time for members’ statements.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

Wearing of ribbons

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): I recognize the member for Markham–Unionville.

Mr. Billy Pang: Speaker, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to allow members to wear purple ribbons in recognition of May 10 being Lupus Awareness Day.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): The member for Markham–Unionville is seeking unanimous consent to allow MPPs to wear ribbons in recognition of May 10 being Lupus Awareness Day. Agreed? Agreed.

Members’ Statements

Artificial intelligence

M me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: During private members’ public business this evening, I will be moving my motion regarding artificial intelligence use in government.

Speaker, we are a government that is building a better Ontario, which includes building a better, more productive, positive customer service transformation for Ontarians.

Today, there is no legislation governing the safe and responsible use of AI in any provincial or territorial jurisdiction in Canada, nor within the federal government itself.

As a government, we need to ensure a secure digital future. To do this, we need to fine-tune our own data and also build our foundational model. With this, we can harness the power of AI within government, while building the necessary guardrails to protect our data.

I would like to recognize and thank the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery for all the work performed to date, from consultations to the formation of an AI working group, to the publication of Ontario’s trustworthy AI framework.

The purpose of this motion is to move the government forward with the next critical steps to adopt methods to assess potential risks, to judge the successful adoption and ethical use of AI, all the while developing measures to counter emerging cyber security threats.

I look forward to this evening’s public business debate.

Niagara Folk Arts Festival

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: I rise to celebrate the Niagara Folk Arts Festival, Canada’s longest continuous heritage festival, now marking its 56th year. My community is so proud of the Niagara Folk Arts Festival. Each year, I look forward to the open houses, to the cultural attire, to the conversations.

Last year, I met a family who shared their journey as refugees, reminding me of my own history we share. There is nothing more Canadian than that.

Speaker, my grandmother was a quilter. Each year, she would begin a new quilt—it didn’t matter the size or the colour of the cloth, because when woven together, when brought together, it made one complete, harmonious whole. I treasure these quilts. They remind me of the folk arts festival. It’s a vivid reminder of the uniqueness, the inclusivity of every culture in Niagara.

No matter the debate or the division in this chamber, we should be aspiring to reflect the inclusive spirit that thrives in our own communities. It is our duty to stand for inclusion, for diversity and for making sure there are spaces for both.

I encourage all members to come to Niagara and celebrate the many vibrant communities with us. We welcome you to visit one of the many open houses that will be—for the next 15 days. Come travel the world with the Niagara Folk Arts Festival.

Thalassemia

Mr. Rudy Cuzzetto: Today is the 30th anniversary of the creation of International Thalassemia Day on May 8, 1994. Three years ago, I was proud to co-sponsor a private member’s bill with my friend from Barrie–Innisfil to proclaim May 8 as Thalassemia Awareness Day each year here in Ontario, on behalf of people like Mary Alfano, a mother of twins living with thalassemia in my community of Mississauga–Lakeshore. This is a day to help raise awareness of one of the most common blood disorders in the world, the genes for which are carried by up to 2% of the world’s population.

Much like sickle-cell anemia, patients with thalassemia can’t produce normal red blood cells, so they need regular blood transfusions to supply enough oxygen to the heart, brain, lungs and other organs. This is sometimes called Mediterranean anemia because it most often affects people from the Middle East, North Africa, Greece and Italy—especially the regions of Sardinia, Sicily and Calabria.

Just like patients with sickle-cell disease, thalassemia patients have had to deal with stigma and discrimination. I want to thank the Thalassemia Foundation of Canada for everything they do to advocate for thalassemia patients and to support scientific research into new treatments. I ask all members here to join us to raise awareness for thalassemia and to support the foundation’s work to ensure that all patients can live a long and healthy life.

Pauline Shirt

Mr. Peter Tabuns: I rise to commemorate a friend of mine, a community leader and wise spirit, Pauline Rose Shirt (Nimikiiquay), who died this week. Pauline was beloved in our Toronto–Danforth community. I cannot do full justice to her story or her impact in this statement, but I want to note a few things.

Pauline was a Plains Cree Elder from Saddle Lake, Alberta, Red Tailed Hawk Clan, and member of the Three Fires society and Buffalo Dance society.

In 1974, Pauline and her then husband, Vern Harper, led the Native People’s Caravan. The caravan travelled from Vancouver to Ottawa to deliver a manifesto to the government on the treatment of Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Pauline was the Elder at George Brown College in Toronto, and in 2023, she was appointed to the Order of Ontario. Pauline served on the Elders Council of the Urban Indigenous Education Centre, starting in 2008.

In our community, she was best known for being the founder of Kapapamahchakwew, Wandering Spirit School. In 1976, after unsuccessfully trying to find a public school that was culturally appropriate for her son’s education, Pauline started the Wandering Spirit Survival School. In 1983, it was officially recognized as a cultural survival/native way school. In 2019, there was a remaining ceremony to return it to its origins: Wandering Spirit School.

She was a warm presence at powwows and First Nations celebrations throughout our community.

I want to convey my condolences to her remaining family and thank her now for all she did to build our community.

Dan MacKay

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: My statement today is about Honorary Colonel Dan MacKay. Dan, of course, is a decorated reservist, having served 44 years in uniform and having commanded the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa twice. He served as the deputy director of history and heritage at the national defence department and he served as the aide de camp to our Lieutenant Governor for over 30 years. He is a Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John Ambulance and he is one of the most humble men that I have ever met.

He is dedicated and he is committed to all things Ottawa, but he’s also—and this will surprise you when I say it—an unlikely feminist. Dan has been a girl dad. He has been the biggest defender and champion of his wife, Fran, who is now, in her own right, the Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the Governor General’s Foot Guards.

He is a big champion of the Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the Cameron Highlanders, Barbara Farber, and he is a steadfast reminder to all of us of how important our history is by recognizing Lillian Freiman, the “poppy lady,” who first brought the poppy to Canada, who founded the Royal Canadian Legion, and whose home is now the army officers’ mess in the city of Ottawa.

Dan has been a champion and a reminder that women are important in Canada, and as much as he has accolades in the military and throughout the city of Ottawa, he has always quietly stood behind every woman he has supported.

Homelessness

Miss Monique Taylor: A recent Hamilton Spectator

article broke down the homelessness death data published by research group Hamilton Homeless Morality, data that tells a daunting story driven by lived experiences of those living rough in our streets.

Ninety-one deaths in two and a half years is horrific. Half of those deaths were caused by drug overdoses and half suffered from mental illness. If those numbers are not disturbing enough, the story continues: 90% of homeless people who died were men and nearly 50% of these deaths, they had lived on the streets for more than a year. Homelessness is killing Hamiltonians. In fact, the average age of death among homeless Hamiltonians is 46, what some would call mid-life. The numbers do not lie.

This story could have a different ending; an outcome that meets at the intersection of love, hope and support; a story that our communities want to tell and share. Housing impacts people’s lives. It can lengthen their lives and it can save their lives. Many community members, partners and organizations are doing just that. They are tirelessly doing the heavy lifting to provide shelter, stability and health care. Together, we must meet people where they are at. Everyone deserves a place to call home.

Yom ha-Shoah

Mrs. Robin Martin: Earlier this week, Jews in Ontario and throughout the world observed Yom ha-Shoah, the day of commemoration for the six million Jews who were murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Holocaust.

On October 7, to quote Rex Murphy, “a cowardly, medieval murder cult (campus heroes), Hamas took the lives of over 1,200 Jews” and others in Israel. Since then, we’re facing an anti-Semitic increase in events beyond acceptable levels here even in Canada, because really the only acceptable level is zero.

Anti-Semitic incidents take many forms—hate speech, vandalism and intimidation—but they are all manifestations of a broader attack on the fundamental idea that all Ontarians should be treated equally with respect and feel safe to live their lives freely in Ontario.

The mass murder of the Holocaust lasted from 1941 to 1945, but it is important to remember that it started long before then, almost a decade before, in 1932. The best way to stop anti-Semitism is to ensure it never starts. As human beings, we all share a duty to all other human beings to treat them with dignity and respect, because they are human beings. We cannot forget the terrible tragedy of the Holocaust and the lessons learned. We must always stand up against anti-Semitism and all forms of hate. Never again is now.

Education issues

Mr. Vincent Ke: Last week, I heard from many people in my riding of Don Valley North, including parents and teachers. They applauded the government for its tough and necessary actions of restricting cellphone usage and banning vaping, along with all tobacco, nicotine and cannabis products in schools. Now, they feel much more confident in our education system.

Speaker, excessive cellphone usage and vaping are two issues that have long plagued students’ physical and mental health and productivity levels. A third of the world’s population is at risk of smart phone addiction, which has negative impacts on a student’s short-term and long-term information retention and overall academic performance. As well, in Canada, one in four older high school students reported vaping in the past month, even though it is clearly illegal for those under age 18.

From zero tolerance and mandatory learning and prevention campaigns to security cameras and vaping detectors, this government is taking concrete action to protect our province’s students so that they may have the greatest chance to succeed, for the sake of their future and ours.

Vision Health Month

Mr. Deepak Anand: Vision is vital, offering direction, purpose and motivation, driving action toward fulfillment and growth. In contrast, recent data shows a staggering 2.1 million Canadians are grappling with blindness or partial sight, while over 5.6 million contest with vision-threatening conditions.

In Ontario, only 65% of children receive an eye examination before their seventh birthday, and only 2% adhere to the recommendation for age-appropriate eye assessments, including many residents from Mississauga–Malton. This could lead to undetected vision problems, hindering children’s academic performance, social interactions and overall quality of life.

Thanks to former senator Dr. Asha Seth, due to her efforts, May is national Vision Health Month and aims to increase the awareness of the importance of eye health and methods to prevent vision impairment.

My sincere gratitude to the CNIB for their continued work on supporting the education and awareness on vision-related needs in Canada. They’re here today, so I urge all MPPs to join them in room 228 between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to delve deeper and explore actionable solutions to support our Ontarians.

Speaker, together let’s strive towards a prosperous Ontario. This is a non-partisan issue. We have the same goal: to serve the people of Ontario, where everyone receives the necessary support and service to flourish.

Cadets

Mr. Will Bouma: Colleagues, as many of you are aware, my riding of Brantford–Brant is home to a vibrant, motivated and active cadet movement.

Today, we welcome the top cadets, as chosen by their commanding officers, for their dedication, for their excellence and for their willingness to make our community the best that it can be. The cadets of Brantford–Brant not only improve themselves but also improve the communities that we serve together.

I know that the son of my executive assistant joined the cadet program as a shy boy and emerged as a confident and refined young man. Sorry to embarrass you, Daniel.

For the Navy League Cadet Corps Admiral Landymore, we have Ordinary Cadet Matthew Kelly and Able Cadet Nayla Anderson, joined by Lieutenant Richard Carpenter, Midshipman John Sinden and Lieutenant Kathryn Lapointe.

For the Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Admiral Nelles, we have Joshua Ocampo and Chief Petty Officer Second Class Julia Kocis-Ristanovic, joined by Lieutenant Rendle Robb.

For the 2659 Royal Canadian Army Cadets, we have Chief Warrant Officer Kyrianna Jorgensen and Master Warrant Officer Christian Kuan, joined by Captain Jenne.

For the Royal Canadian Air Cadets 104 Starfighter Squadron, we have Flight Corporal Arthava Saraswat and Sergeant Shayne Chapin, joined by Officer Cadet Craig Shaw.

Cadets, officers, the people of Ontario salute you for your hard work and contribution to Brantford–Brant. Thank you very much.

Introduction of Visitors

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: Today, I’d like to welcome the marine council of Ontario: Frank Montecalvo, Jean Aubry from the St. Lawrence Seaway, Mike Riehl, Wes Newton, Larissa Fenn. Thank you, and welcome to your House.

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: I’d like to welcome a constituent from my riding, Niko Pupella, with Community Living, along with his fiancée, Amber. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

MPP Jill Andrew: We’re incredibly lucky to have the CNIB in our St. Paul’s community, and they’re here today. I want to welcome representatives from CNIB here: Dr. Asha Seth, Arun Seth, Suzanne Decary-van den Broek, Alice Clark and Larissa Proctor. Welcome to Queen’s Park. Thank you for recognizing Vision Health Month.

We invite everyone to join at 12 p.m. for the CNIB’s reception, where they’re advocating for every kid in Ontario to have access to full, comprehensive eye tests before school.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Again, I’ll remind members we don’t make political commentary during introduction of visitors.

Mr. Mike Schreiner: It’s a real honour today to welcome members from Community Living Ontario and Community Living Toronto for your advocacy day, and a special shout-out to my friend and constituent Judy Noonan, from Guelph.

Hon. Michael Parsa: Good morning, colleagues.

Speaker, I want to welcome Community Living Ontario CEO Chris Beesley, Jo-Anne Demick and Lisa Tabachnick to Queen’s Park; also, from Community Living Toronto, CEO Brad Saunders, Cooper Saunders and Jennie Chanda and everyone else who is here from the variety of Community Livings across the province.

Welcome to Queen’s Park. I look forward to seeing you at your reception.

Ms. Catherine Fife: I’d like to welcome, from Extend-A-Family Waterloo Region, Allan Mills, executive director; Ryan Voisin, board director; Rob Jemmett; and Mary Tindale. They bid on lunch here at Queen’s Park for Hockey Helps the Homeless, and they will be dining later on today.

Also, not here yet is Ann Bilodeau, chief executive officer at KW Habilitation.

Welcome to your House.

Mr. John Fraser: This month is vision month, and I’d like to welcome members of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. They’re here to talk to us today about things like vision screening for kids. They have a reception at noon.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Patrice Barnes: Today, I’d like to welcome to the House the 2024 crop of summer interns to the Legislature. Thank you for being here. Have a great summer session.

Mr. Wayne Gates: I’d like to welcome guests from Fort Erie Community Living: Nikki Boon, Ryan Blanchard, Austin Kientz, Michael Matthews, Penny Adams and Aaron Mcphee.

Welcome to Queen’s Park. I’m looking forward to our meeting at 12 o’clock.

Ms. Bobbi Ann Brady: I’d like to welcome to the House my friends Jennie Chanda and Trish Morris from my riding of Haldimand–Norfolk, representing Community Living Access.

Mr. Deepak Anand: It’s always a pleasure to welcome the residents of Mississauga–Malton: Raju Devis, Sheeba Raju, Annlynn Maria Raju, Aarktwain Raju Devis—the proud parents of page captain Aaldrian Raju Devis.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Miss Monique Taylor: I would like to thank and welcome some folks from Community Living who I had the pleasure to meet with this morning—Brad Saunders, CEO of Community Living Ontario, and Valérie Picher, board chair for Community Living Ontario—and welcome them to our reception this evening in rooms 228 and 230.

Also, I’d like to welcome—and I look forward to meeting with them this afternoon—Thomas Simpson, a vice-president of the CNIB, and Larissa Proctor, director of community relations and engagement with the CNIB.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon: I’d like to also welcome Community Living and thank them for all the great work they do in Ontario to make it a better place to be—and especially jazzy Jonathan Bradshaw, a beautiful Beaches–East York resident and no stranger to this House.

Mr. Anthony Leardi: I’d like to welcome Karen Bolger and other representatives of Community Living Essex to the House. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Peggy Sattler: I’d like to welcome Vicky Pearson, who is here from Community Living London, along with a group of amazing advocates from New Vision Advocates. Welcome to Queen’s Park. I’m looking forward to our meeting this afternoon.

M me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: I’d like to welcome William Hulme from my riding of Newmarket–Aurora, who’s here today with Community Living Ontario for their advocacy day. Welcome, William.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: I’d like to welcome my two summer interns, Khalil Jamal and Jaydan Khosid, to the Legislature.

Ms. Sandy Shaw: I’d like to welcome Lorri Detta from the wonderful organization Rygiel Supports for Community Living in my riding of Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas. Welcome to your House.

Hon. Greg Rickford: All I want to say is a warm welcome to Woods Parent from Fort Frances High School, a page here; Matthew Kelly, a cadet from Cayuga Nation; and of course, Brynn Rawn, who works as an intern in my office and is from Kenora. Welcome to this magnificent place.

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: I’d like to welcome my two new interns for the summer, Nimrit and Aflyn, who are here for question period this morning. Welcome to the people’s House.

Mr. Andrew Dowie: Just building on my colleague from Essex, inviting Karen Bolger to the House, I also have Marilyn Godard, Liz Raffoul, Tim Davidson, James Washington, John Klassen and Paul Brennan from Community Living, Windsor and Essex. Thank you for being here. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Vijay Thanigasalam: It’s my pleasure to introduce in the Legislature today representatives of the Ontario Marine Council: Guillaum, John, Dave, Kevin and Wes. Also, introducing the chair of the Ontario Marine Council: Steve Salmons is in the gallery.

I invite all the members to join them at their annual reception this evening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the legislative dining room.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Speaker, I wanted to introduce a staff member of mine. Many of you will know him and probably have been on his podcast: Vincenzo Calla, who is a University of Ottawa student, and he’s joining me up here today from Nepean.

Hon. David Piccini: I want to welcome a constituent of mine who is here, Robert Smith, to the Legislature today. I’m looking forward to seeing you after question period. And also, a shout-out to Connor, Hayden and Marshall, who are here today as well. Welcome.

MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam: I also want to extend my personal and warm welcome to Community Living Toronto—I look forward to your reception this evening.

And a very special welcome to Winston Lee, who is my new intern. I hope you’ve made it into the chamber. I want to say thank you for all you’re doing so far.

Mr. Billy Pang: May 10 being Lupus Awareness Day in Ontario, today, I’m thrilled to welcome the amazing delegation from Lupus Ontario. They are Diana Bozzo, Melissa Bozzo, Ashley Bozzo, Tanya Mahadeo Connacher, Eric Castro, June Alikhan, Linda Keill and 12 others.

Mr. Deepak Anand: I would like to welcome former senator the Honourable Dr. Asha Seth, Dr. Arun Seth, Suzanne Decary and Larissa Proctor from the CNIB. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: At this time, I’d like to welcome all of the members from Niagara’s Community Living. I’m looking forward to your reception this evening.

Question Period

Health care

Ms. Marit Stiles: This question is for the Premier. Today, the Ontario Medical Association confirmed what we all suspected, that this government has no plans to address the primary care shortage. In fact, if they keep it up, they’re on track to make the crisis in health care worse.

Family doctors are concerned that this government—and I want to quote them here—will “further erode the ability of family doctors in Ontario to build viable practices, and continue to put access to family medicine out of reach for a growing number of Ontarians.”

Further, we know that the number of physicians that are retiring far exceeds the number of graduates into family practice.

So the people of Ontario want to know, does the Premier agree that a strong recruitment and retention plan is necessary to care for the more than 2.3 million Ontarians who do not have a family doctor?

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

Hon. Sylvia Jones: I’m going to use this opportunity to do a bit of compare and contrast, shall we? So I look at what the NDP government did under Bob Rae. They actually cut the number of nurses and residency positions. Under the Liberal government, they cut 50 residency positions available for family physicians, for physicians looking to match a residency. What does that mean? That means today, we have over 300 less physicians practising in the province of Ontario.

Now, let’s compare that to what we have done since 2018. Since 2018, under the leadership of Premier Ford, we have seen a historic high of 12,500 physicians licensed to practise in the province of Ontario—a historic high. We are ensuring through last month’s matching of residency positions—those are young people, those are medical students who are matching with their residency specialty of choice—a 100% match in the province of Ontario. And, of course, we’ve actually increased—

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

Supplementary?

Ms. Marit Stiles: Here’s the reality: 2.3 million Ontarians without a family physician in the province of Ontario under this government’s watch.

While this government is ignoring the crisis in primary care, we are seeing private, for-profit clinics popping up all over this province. They’re promising 24/7 access to primary care. But the catch is patients have to pay hundreds, even thousands, of dollars. This is all about making money off of very sick people, Speaker. It is shameful. There is something very seriously wrong with that.

The government is doing nothing to stop these so-called executive health clinics from gouging patients. So my question to the Premier is, is this government eroding the public health care system to help line the pockets of private clinic operators?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats.

Minister of Health.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: We have more to share in terms of expanding our publicly funded health care system in the province of Ontario. I’m not sure if the member opposite remembers that in February we announced an expansion of 78 primary care multidisciplinary teams.

Since February, we have already seen in Minto-Mapleton, in Innisfil, in Kingston that these primary care multidisciplinary teams have recruited and started taking on new patients. Those are patients who are being attached to primary care practitioners in the province of Ontario—78 that we announced in February. Of course, under the leadership of the Minister of Finance, we have made an additional investment of over $500 million in our most recent budget.

We’re getting the job done.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, the family doctor shortage has had ripple effects across this entire province and the whole health care system. With fewer family doctors, patients are spending longer in waiting rooms, in emergency rooms and in walk-in clinics. Many of them are forgoing preventive care screening altogether.

Physicians have been warning successive Liberal and Conservative governments for years about the consequences of not investing in primary care. So, Speaker, back to the Premier of this province, why is this government ignoring the solutions that are being proposed by family doctors?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats.

Minister of Health.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Speaker, we are taking a system-wide approach to ensure that we have capacity. We have 50 hospital capital builds that are in the pipeline right now today: new hospitals, expanded hospitals, renovated hospitals. We have two new medical schools that are starting in the province of Ontario, in Scarborough and in Brampton.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine today has 51% of their students wanting a match for a primary care practitioner position. The scope-of-practice changes that we are making to ensure that people see the right clinician when they are looking for assistance—we know that those changes, specifically with pharmacies, have led to a decrease in people going to emergency departments, because they have access at their local community pharmacy.

We will continue to do that work and make sure that Ontario continues to lead the Canadian federation in the number of physicians who are matched with patients—

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

Once again, I need to remind the House that it has long been the established practice of this House that members should not use props, signage or accessories that are intended to express a political message or are likely to cause disorder. This also extends to members’ attire where logos, symbols, slogans and other political messaging are not permitted unless the House has granted unanimous consent. This Legislature is a forum for debate, and the expectation in the chamber is that political statements should be made during debate rather than through the use of props or symbols.

I’m going ask the member for Toronto–St. Paul’s to come to order.

I’m going to warn the member for Toronto–St. Paul’s.

I must name the member for Toronto–St. Paul’s. Jill Andrew, you must leave the chamber for the duration of the day.

MPP Andrew was escorted from the chamber.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Start the clock. We can resume question period.

Once again, I recognize the leader of the opposition.

Region of Peel

Ms. Marit Stiles: Back to the Premier: Global News has just reported on the chaos and confusion that surrounded the Premier’s reckless decision to restructure and dissolve Peel region and then his—of course, we’ll all remember this—partial reversal, another giant flip-flop just months later. Billions of dollars in taxpayer costs were at stake, and the Premier either didn’t care or had no clue.

It seems like neither the transition board nor anyone in the ministry had any idea where the Premier was going with his plans for Peel. So when it comes to the restructuring of Peel, does this government have any idea what they’re doing?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Yes, absolutely, Mr. Speaker.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, I don’t expect that minister to have to continue to answer for this, but the chaos and the confusion doesn’t end. The people of Peel have real problems that need to be addressed by this government. Brampton Civic, one of the busiest emergency rooms in the country, continues to operate over capacity because Peel Memorial is not funded to operate 24/7. The Premier could implement an NDP solution right now to hire more staff for that hospital, but he refuses to do so.

Is the government solving problems for the people of Peel, or just insiders and land-hungry developers?

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

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: Let’s talk about Brampton, Mr. Speaker, and what this Premier and this government have done for that city. In fact, it’s that same leader who lost three of her own MPPs because of the neglect that they have shown to cities like Brampton.

Let’s talk about the 413. Your position on that is to oppose it while the entire city and region needs it.

When it comes down to investing in new hospitals for Brampton, what did you do? You voted against that.

When it comes down to opening the new medical school, the first one in the GTA in over 100 years, what did the NDP do? They opposed that, Mr. Speaker.

We will continue to invest in Brampton, and I hope the NDP get out of their downtown bubble, come to the streets of Brampton, Mississauga and Peel region, and listen to the people and what they are saying. They want us to build roads, highways and transit, and that is exactly what we will do.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

And the final supplementary?

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, this government can keep making all those hollow promises and hollow claims, but the people of Peel, I can tell you, see right through it. They’re spending more time in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 401 than they’re spending time with their kids at home. The Premier could implement an NDP solution right now: Remove the Highway 407 tolls for truckers—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats. The government side, please come to order so I can hear the member who has got the floor and is asking the question.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

The Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity.

Hon. Charmaine A. Williams: Yes, let’s talk about Peel. Peel doesn’t want the NDP to represent them, because Peel voted in all PC members to represent the Peel region. Why? Because the Liberals, supported by the NDP, for decades neglected the region of Peel: one hospital; didn’t rebuild the second hospital. But what is happening? We are building the second hospital in the region of Peel. We are making a highway to get people home faster so that they could spend time with their families. That is happening under the leadership of Premier Ford and this government.

So, yes, we will continue to represent the people of Peel, because we actually listen to the people of Peel, and we will continue to get the job done for the people of Peel.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. I made a mistake, and I apologize to the Leader of the Opposition.

Start the clock. The next question.

Forest firefighting

Mr. Guy Bourgouin: My question is to the Minister of Natural Resources. There have been over 14 wildfires recorded in Ontario already in 2024. This is in comparison to two fires recorded in the same period last year. According to wildfire fighters, we are still short 200 forest firefighters. Minister, what is your plan to fill the gap?

Hon. Graydon Smith: If the member opposite wants to talk about statistics, the number of hectares is way down over a 10-year average already this year.

But, Mr. Speaker, we’ve been clear. I’ve been very clear in this House about the respect and support we have for our wildland fire rangers in Ontario. We have our crews ready to go. We have our aircraft ready to go. We have the people on the ground, doing the logistics, ready to go. In fact, we’re ready to help not only Ontarians, but other jurisdictions all throughout this great country of ours, should they be suffering during their forest fire seasons.

We have always made it a priority to look after the well-being of communities, infrastructure, individuals all throughout Ontario. That’s what our wildland firefighters do. We’ve got the crews on the ground, in the air and ready to go when the time calls for it.

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

Mr. Guy Bourgouin: Well, Minister, I think your cuts in the budget will reflect my next question. Minister, the ministry is not only short-staffed, they are also missing three water bombers out of six to properly cover the fires. Let’s not mention the other planes that are not ready.

In the words of Noah Freedman, provincial fire crew leader, “If you don’t have enough, you have to decide what burns and what doesn’t.”

Minister, how will you decide which community the water bombers will go to first?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats.

Hon. Graydon Smith: You know what? We’re ready to go. All our equipment is ready to go. All our people are ready to go. I just visited the base in Thunder Bay 10 days ago. I went in and talked with all those fire rangers, the people who are doing the logistics, the pilots. They’re ready to go, absolutely ready to go, so to insinuate otherwise is doing a disservice to Ontarians, quite frankly.

We’ve got our attack bases all throughout the north, again, ready to go—ready to go to make sure that Ontarians stay safe. That’s the mission of this government. That’s always been the mission of this government.

Previous governments did not make the investments that we make today to make sure that we’re supporting our firefighters, to make sure that we’re doing the things that want to bring people into forest firefighting in Ontario. But the conclusion of all of this is that this government is the only government that is making sure that northern Ontario stays safe, grows and has opportunities.

Taxation

Mr. Lorne Coe: My question is for the Minister of Energy. The Liberal carbon tax continues to not only increase our energy and gas bills, but also drive up the cost of food, housing and so much more. That’s why, Speaker, it should be a given that all members in this Legislature oppose this tax. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Rather than join our government in calling for the federal Liberals to scrap this disastrous tax, the NDP and independent Liberals are choosing to play politics and ignore their constituents.

Our government stands with the families and people of Ontario, which is why we will not stop until the federal government finally listens and eliminates the carbon tax.

Could the minister please explain what steps our government is taking to support our clean energy future without resorting to the carbon tax?

Hon. Todd Smith: Speaker, the member opposite knows exactly what we’re doing because he’s a huge champion of the investments that we’re making in our nuclear sector, coming from the Durham region, Canada’s clean energy capital—the refurbishments that are going on at places like Darlington and soon will be going on at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station; also the new development of small modular reactors.

Mr. Speaker, we know we don’t need a punitive carbon tax in Canada or in Ontario. It’s simply not working. But the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, and the king of the carbon tax, Justin Trudeau, are continuing to make people pay more. They’re making them pay more on their home heating bills. They’re making them pay more on their gasoline fuel-ups. They’re making them pay more on their groceries.

My parliamentary assistant and I were even saying this morning that the Queen’s Park media gallery spring fling next week has even doubled in price, up to $80 next week, Mr. Speaker. Now, I don’t know if we can blame Bonnie Crombie and Justin Trudeau for that, but it’s 80 bucks this year.

So we can do this without increasing the carbon tax—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Member for Beaches–East York, come to order.

Supplementary question?

Mr. Lorne Coe: Back to the Minister of Energy: We hear it time and time again: The Liberal carbon tax only stands to punish Ontarians.

As people in our province continue to struggle with high interest rates and a rising cost of living, all governments should be putting forward measures that provide financial relief for individuals and families. Instead, the federal Liberals, supported by their provincial counterparts, are choosing to drive up the prices of day-to-day essentials like gas in the tank and groceries. Speaker, Ontarians have had enough. It’s time to scrap the tax.

Could the minister please explain to the House why the federal government must end this unjust carbon tax?

Hon. Todd Smith: Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the great member from Whitby again for his question.

Interjections.

Hon. Todd Smith: Obviously, the carbon tax is having an impact on everything in our province, and I continue to get heckled by queen of the carbon tax Bonnie Crombie’s crew over here. The Liberal Party of Ontario continues to support Justin Trudeau’s federal carbon tax.

There’s no bones about it. It’s costing everybody more to live in our province and the carbon tax is driving that, not just in Ontario but right across the country.

But our plan is working here in Ontario. Our energy plan is called Powering Ontario’s Growth, investing in new and refurbishing our nuclear reactors, investing in multi-billion dollar refurbishments of our hydroelectric facilities, building the country’s largest energy storage in a competitive process and other non-emitting renewables that are coming onto the grid in the future that are going to continue to ensure that we are the economic powerhouse in North America.

We’re landing deals like $15-billion Honda deal—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Beaches–East York will come to order.

The next question.

Education funding

Ms. Catherine Fife: My question is to the Minister of Education. Speaker, this government is deliberately and chronically underfunding education in Ontario and children are paying the price. This year’s budget included no meaningful increase in base funding to address the complex needs of students in Ontario, particularly the funding for special education in Ontario. It was a drop in the bucket and does not even cover the deficit of most school boards. Last year, the TDSB spent $67.6 million more on special education than what they received. Kids are hurting, teachers are struggling. It has never been this bad in Ontario before.

My question is to the Minister of Education. Why is this Conservative government so adamant about underfunding the education sector which is at a crisis point?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: Thank you for the opportunity to speak today about an investment we have made to improve public education. I’m proud that our government has increased funding for special education by $659 million. When compared to the former Liberals, that is the highest investment—$3.5 billion—ever recorded in Ontario history. We’ve also increased funding to $29 billion overall for education. We’ve increased the staffing by 9,000 more education workers, 3,000 more teachers.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

Supplementary question?

Ms. Catherine Fife: [ Inaudible ] Minister of Education that cameras do not replace educators. That’s what’s needed in our system.

Speaker, recently a constituent of mine who works at a local elementary school in Waterloo region as a child and youth worker said, “Violence in schools is at a crisis point.” She detailed the abuse she faced at her school, and it was shocking: being injured or degraded on the job; being spit at; having scissors thrown at them; being punched, kicked, pinched.

On top of this, there is a lack of support to cover sick or injured staff. The Conservative government’s significant underfunding of the education system means that EAs and support staff—shows the lack of respect they have for these workers. They weren’t even mentioned at all in this latest budget.

To the minister: When will the Conservative government give the education sector and education workers the funding they desperately need and the respect that they deserve?

I would hope that members opposite, parents and legislators, would stand with the government as we implement this plan to finally establish academic rigour back in Ontario’s schools. We’ve added more staffing. We added more funding, and we’re asking for higher expectations in our school boards to deliver safety and academic achievement and excellence back in Ontario’s schools.

Taxation

Mr. Kevin Holland: Good morning, Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development. We’ve heard it from Ontarians, from Premiers of all political stripes and from experts that the Liberal carbon tax needs to be scrapped, but the federal government is not listening. Instead, they hiked the carbon tax by another 23% last month—

Interjections.

Mr. Kevin Holland: While we listen to the heckling from across the floor, further emphasizing that they’re completely out of touch with reality, the impacts of this disastrous tax are felt in communities across our province, including in the north, where the cost of transporting goods is already higher. Now, they are being penalized with higher gas prices. That’s simply unacceptable. The federal Liberals need to scrap this tax today.

Speaker, can the minister further share with the House how the Liberal carbon tax negatively impacts northern and Indigenous communities?

Hon. Greg Rickford: It’s one thing for us to say it here in this place, it’s another thing to hear it from municipal and First Nations leaders from across northern Ontario, which is precisely what happened at the northern Ontario municipal association meetings just about 10 days ago and, of course, FONOM yesterday. All we heard, Mr. Speaker, was the costs associated with the carbon tax on just about every aspect of a municipality’s operation and, for isolated and remote First Nations communities, that additional cost on their fuel.

Now, despite the Prime Minister’s inculcations that this is good environmental policy, there is an overwhelming number of people who are opposed to it. When the leader of the provincial Liberals took the throne, you would have thought that she would have said no to the carbon tax. She sat back and she did precisely the opposite. It’s what makes her the queen of the carbon tax. Everybody in northern Ontario says they’re out of touch. It’s too expensive in northern Ontario. Scrap the tax.

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

Mr. Kevin Holland: Ontarians are feeling the impact of the carbon tax on everything from their groceries, their gas, their heating bills, and so much more. It is driving up costs and making life unaffordable for individuals and families in northern Ontario and across the province. But, Speaker, the opposition members representing these communities remain silent as the federal government hikes this tax time and time again. The people of northern Ontario deserve better.

While the NDP and independent Liberals continue to downplay the impact of this regressive tax on northern communities, our government is fighting to ensure their voices are being heard.

Can the minister tell the House what communities and businesses across the north are telling him as to why they want an end to the Liberal carbon tax?

Hon. Greg Rickford: Just getting back from Sudbury, I met a couple of folks as part of the Renewable Resources Recovery company. These are an extraordinary group of entrepreneurs and inventors, and they’ve paired up with the Coniston seniors housing complex, and they’ve been able to develop a geothermal-type technology that draws the heat off of sewage pipes. It heats at least one heat pump in the seniors complex.

If they get five more heat pumps, they’ll be able to power heat and cool the entire first floor of this multi-storey building—fantastic technology. It’s attracting PhD students from top universities.

My only question is, why don’t they wrap those sewage pipes coming out of the Prime Minister’s office and understand what everybody really thinks of this tax, and that is to scrap it.

Services for persons with disabilities

Miss Monique Taylor: May is Community Living Month. In Ontario, we have over 100,000 people with intellectual disabilities accessing developmental services. Over 11,000 people have added their name to #5ToSurvive campaign online. Their ask is 5%—5% base funding to keep the lights on, accessible vehicles running and qualified staff during a human resource crisis.

Premier, will you commit today to provide the 5% that Community Living is asking for?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The members will please take their seats.

To reply, the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

Hon. Michael Parsa: Good morning and thanks so much for the question. Mr. Speaker, I’m very appreciative of the Premier and our government and our partners who are doing great work with Community Living across the province here, which is why we backed them up with support.

We are investing more than $3.4 billion on developmental services this year. That, Mr. Speaker, is over a billion dollars more than the previous government was doing. Now, why do I mention that? It’s because the NDP held the balance of power for three years. You’ve been here long enough to know what you can do when you hold the balance of power. They could have forced the Liberals to invest more in amazing partners who are doing great work across our province. They didn’t. They failed the people of this province.

It took this Premier, it took this caucus to stand up for people with developmental disabilities across the province and say, “We will have your back,” just as we have since we formed government.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

The supplementary question?

Miss Monique Taylor: That’s awfully rich coming from a minister who’s been in government for six years. We have heard about group homes in Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton. Windsor and more that have had to close their doors—14,000 people are sitting on wait-lists, and 80% of those same organizations are expecting a deficit this year.

Aging parents need to know that their now adult loved ones will be in safe, supportive housing with consistent staff. Their ask, their plea, was for 5%. Your government gave them 2%.

Premier, when will you take responsibility for the absolute crisis you are creating and properly fund our supportive housing living homes?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats. I’ll remind the members to make their comments through the Chair.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Ottawa South, come to order. The member for Waterloo come to order. The member for Hamilton Mountain come to order.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

The Minister of Children, Community and Social Services can reply.

Hon. Michael Parsa: Mr. Speaker, I wish this member and her party had shown the same passion when the previous government failed the families across the province, other than talk. There must be cameras running, Mr. Speaker. There must be cameras, because when the cameras are off, Mr. Speaker, you will never see the NDP.

In fact, I will tell you what they have done. They have voted against every single measure that we have put forward to make sure that the service providers have the tools and resources to serve the people of Ontario. This member has been here long enough, but of course, when the cameras are running, you’ll hear the NDP get up and talk a big game, Mr. Speaker—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

The member for Hamilton Mountain is warned.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

The minister can wind up his response.

Hon. Michael Parsa: Mr. Speaker, in budget 2024, I am proud and thankful to the Premier and the Minister of Finance for increasing the support to our partners who are doing amazing work. There’s still more work to be done. I assured our partners we will never stop standing up for them, who are doing great work across every single community in our province. They’ve been—

Interjections.

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

The member for Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas, come to order. The member for Windsor West, come to order. The member for Essex, come to order.

Restart the clock. The next question.

Government accountability

MPP Andrea Hazell: Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Premier. Last week, I met with seniors from my community of Scarborough–Guildwood to discuss their concerns. Living on a fixed income means that every day, they are falling further and further behind in this affordability crisis. They are concerned about what the future looks like for their grandchildren and future generations and whether their grandchildren will ever be able to afford a home. They are concerned about having to use their credit card instead of an OHIP card to access the health care they need.

At a time when Ontario families are struggling to pay the bills, the Premier is more concerned with helping wealthy, well-connected insiders. My question to the Premier: When will the government stop putting themselves and their wealthy friends first, and focus on making life more affordable for families in Ontario?

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

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Through you, Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the member opposite for that question. I’m sure, as we go to vote for the budget, the member opposite will dutifully consider supporting what’s in the budget, which includes the Guaranteed Annual Income System, which is indexed to inflation for the first time ever for low-income seniors.

And I’m sure the learned member opposite will also take a look at how we cut the gas tax for many people who have to move around this province, Mr. Speaker, and my colleague over here, with One Fare, for those taking transit, saving daily riders $1,600 a year. This is real money for the people of Ontario, and I’ll have more to say in the supplementary.

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

MPP Andrea Hazell: Mr. Speaker, it is clear from that answer that this government is more focused on wealthy insiders and not the people who are struggling to make ends meet—

Interjections.

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

The member will take her seat for a moment. Take your seat, please.

The government side will come to order.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke will come to order.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke will come to order.

Start the clock. The member for Scarborough–Guildwood has the floor; I apologize.

MPP Andrea Hazell: Mr. Speaker, groceries have never been more expensive. It is impossible for our young people to even dream of buying a home and our hospitals are overcrowded—

Interjections.

The Speaker