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March 27, 2019

42nd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2019-Mar-27 (PDF)

L083 - Wed 27 Mar 2019 / Mer 27 mar 2019

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Wednesday 27 March 2019 Mercredi 27 mars 2019

Orders of the Day

Time allocation

Report, Environmental Commissioner

Wearing of hockey jersey

Introduction of Visitors

Oral Questions

Health care

Health care

Public transit

Taxation

Government accountability

Public safety

Health care

Public safety

Public transit

Education

Beverage alcohol sales

Fundraising

Energy policies

Youth employment

Special-needs sports programs

World Theatre Day

Visitors

Deferred Votes

Time allocation

Order of business

Introduction of Visitors

Order of business

Members’ Statements

Public transit

Arturo Comegna

Environmental protection

International trade

Ancaster arts centre

New Circles Community Services

Crime prevention

On Your Mark Academic Support Program

Autism treatment

Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie

Introduction of Bills

Teach the Reach Act, 2019 / Loi de 2019 sur l’enseignement de la méthode d’ouverture pivot

Lower Automobile Insurance Rates Act, 2019 / Loi de 2019 pour des taux d’assurance-automobile plus bas

Statements by the Ministry and Responses

Education reform

Petitions

Veterans memorial

Animal protection

Autism treatment

Veterans memorial

Autism treatment

Veterans memorial

Autism treatment

Fish and wildlife management

Autism treatment

Public safety

Autism treatment

Opposition Day

Autism treatment / Traitement de l’autisme

Adjournment Debate

Autism treatment

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Time allocation

Resuming the debate adjourned on March 26, 2019, on the motion for time allocation of the following bill:

Bill 74,

An Act concerning the provision of health care, continuing Ontario Health and making consequential and related amendments and repeals / Projet de loi 74, Loi concernant la prestation de soins de santé, la prorogation de Santé Ontario, l’ajout de modifications corrélatives et connexes et des abrogations.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I understand when we last discussed this, the member for Timmins had the floor. I recognize the member for Timmins to continue.

Mr. Gilles Bisson: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As you know, when we last debated this, I had proposed an amendment to the government’s time allocation motion so that we actually find a way to give the public—the people who are the patients of our health care system, those who work in the health care system and those who pay for the health care system—an opportunity to come before a committee that travels through the province of Ontario in order to have their say on this bill.

Bill 74, we’re told, is one of the largest transformations in health care in a generation or two. If that’s true, I think then it’s incumbent upon the province—and in this case, the Conservative government’s responsibility—to make sure that, in fact, people have their say.

Mr. Speaker, you ran in the same election that we all ran in in this place. We don’t ever remember, in the last election, the then Conservative Party saying, “We’re going to do a great, big health transformation.”

They talked about trying to deal with hallway medicine. Well, you can deal with hallway medicine by reversing the flatlined budgets that the Liberals put in place for five or six years that caused much of what the problems are in the health care system today. We all remember that. When the Wynne government was in place, and the McGuinty government before that, they froze our hospital budgets. As a result, hospital costs increase, hydro costs go up, wages go up, and more people come into the hospital. Costs went up and they couldn’t operate within those limited budgets.

What they ended up doing was having to close down departments, and it caused bed shortages, which then led to hallway medicine.

In the last election, the government didn’t say, “Well, we’re going to do a health transformation bill. In order to be able to do this, please vote for me.” What they did is they talked about ending hallway medicine which, for a lot of people, could just mean, “We’re going to actually properly finance hospitals in our province to be able to provide services to the people of this province.”

We have said, by way of this amendment to the motion that we put forward today, that there needs to be an opportunity for the public to be heard. This is the people’s legislation. This is the people’s government. And if the people are to be respected, we need to make sure that they get an opportunity to be able to be heard when it comes to this particular bill.

As it stands now, the government, which is now just as bad and worse than the Liberals were when it comes to time allocation, have time-allocated this bill in such a way that there will only be short committee hearings here at Toronto. Well, I love the city of Toronto, Mr. Speaker; I think Toronto is a great city.

But there are other great cities and towns across this province, where people live—people in your riding, my riding and other ridings across the province, who interact with the health care system, people in Pikangikum and others, who quite frankly want to be part of inputting what is the problem with our health care system and what they see as a solution. I think more and more as people look at this particular legislation, they may find it somewhat wanting when it comes to finding a solution to what we call “hallway medicine” and to other problems that we have in our health care system.

Now, I want to say this, very quickly. The government says the health care system is in crisis. There are a lot of things that you can attribute to the health care system, but you can hardly say it’s in complete crisis because the reality is, if you get a heart attack in the province of Ontario or you get involved in a car accident, you will be dealt with and treated pretty well and very efficiently, very quickly. We have a very good health care system when it comes to taking care of those trauma-type things, especially things like heart attacks etc.

It’s a whole different story in the Far North, as my good friend the member from Kiiwetinoong knows. You’re far away from centres of treatment so you have to fly everybody out in most cases. But the point is, we do well. Where we don’t do well is on the elective side—surgeries for knees and hips, the types of surgeries and treatments that are not life-threatening. Those are the things that are the slowest.

The other big problem is the question of what goes on when it comes to hallway medicine. You have it in your hospitals, and I have it in my hospitals. People go into the emergency, they need a bed, and you’re scrambling trying to find a bed for the patient. You sometimes end up having to stay in the emergency for a night or two. Sometimes you end up in the hallway on the ward. That is not the way health care should work for all kinds of reasons—also dealing with all kinds of germs and things that you can catch that are, quite frankly, not good for your condition.

I think what’s important here is, if the government is truly serious about being the government for the people, well then you should listen to the people. We have a mechanism, long-cherished in this Legislature, that allows us to travel our committees across the province. We should take the constituency week that’s coming up in a couple of weeks, we should take the constituency week in the month of May and we should go to places like Ottawa, London, Kiiwetinoong and others in order to be able to hear from the people when it comes to what type of changes need to be made in our health care system.

If this government wants to shut out the people, then I say, a pox on their house because, quite frankly, that’s not what this Legislature should be all about. This is the people’s chamber. This is the people’s government. If the government is not prepared to respect the people by allowing them to get access to the Legislature by way of committee, I think we’re short shrift—and I think that doesn’t bode well for the future of this government and it certainly does not bode well for democracy.

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

Mr. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: Good morning to all. I’m honoured to discuss this piece of legislation in the form of time allocation because it’s key piece of legislation that will be strengthening our public health care system. It’s so important that we take this seriously and that we recognize that we need quick action, because the status quo just doesn’t work right now. We know that because we’ve heard that from Ontarians across this province when speaking to our constituents when we’re in our communities. We know that Ontario’s health care system is currently on life support. That’s completely unacceptable. The people of Ontario deserve better than this.

More than 1,000 patients are receiving care in hallways and in storage rooms every single day. Our government believes that this is unacceptable. No one should be forced to lie on stretchers in hospital, in the hallways, while receiving care.

When the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care announced this piece of legislation—along with two amazing parliamentary secretaries, the member from Oakville North–Burlington and the member from Eglinton–Lawrence, who spent a lot of time speaking to so many constituents and really listening to Ontarians when putting this piece of legislation—there was a story that really stuck with me from that announcement that I wanted to once again highlight in the House. That was a story about a gentleman who was in very good health but suffered a catastrophic injury that left him in a quadriplegic condition, unfortunately.

His family worked incredibly hard with his community hospital to transfer him to a place where he could receive rehabilitative services. While he was otherwise stable, he still required the services of a mechanical ventilator. So despite this progress, the only option he had to access a life-saving ventilator was to stay in intensive care in his community hospital. Mr. Speaker, he was there for 13 months. Can you imagine 13 months, day in and day out, in intensive care? Why was that? Because there was no other place available to serve his needs. There was no other place in Ontario that offered rehabilitation services to people with spinal cord injuries who require mechanical ventilation.

That’s the problem we are facing in Ontario right now. It’s because of stories like these that we are ready to challenge the status quo and put an end to years of health care inefficiencies in this province. I know that when I was knocking on doors during the election, I heard so many of these stories, and we continue to hear so many of these horror stories with our health care system. That’s why we needed to challenge the status quo, and that’s exactly what this piece of legislation does and exactly why we need to act on it as quickly as possible.

Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government ran on a commitment to end hallway health care. I made that commitment to my constituents of Brampton South, and it’s a commitment that we take very seriously. This has been a clear objective of our government since being elected. We have to do more to ensure that our publicly funded system of health care is sustainable into the future and, more importantly, that high-quality care is there for us or our loved ones when they need it most.

Too much time and attention is spent on maintaining a siloed and fragmented system. The fact is that patients and families are getting lost in the health care system. They need a system that will put their needs first. Far too many people believe that it is the patient’s or family’s job to navigate a complicated system during what is already one of the most traumatic and stress-filled times of their lives. Mr. Speaker, that just isn’t right. Our government is proposing changes to this.

With Bill 74, our government sets out our vision for patient-centred community care through fostering the establishment of local Ontario health teams. Ontario health teams would be made up of local health care providers and would be organized in a way to enable the teams to work as a coordinated group. These teams would be built to guide patients between providers. They will exist to ease patients and their families through transition points in the health care system. They would share responsibility for care plans, service provisions and outcomes and, most importantly, they would take the guesswork out of navigating our health care system.

Our health care providers work tirelessly to provide the best care possible. They work hard to connect us to the services we need, and they currently do it in spite of the fact that they have few tools in order to make those connections. Our health care providers should be able to easily link us to needed care. Patients should not have to repeat their health care history over and over again to every health care provider they are linked to. Through Ontario health teams, patients would finally have a say in their own health care journey.

With safeguards, of course, in place to protect information, our overall plan would improve access to secure digital tools, including online health records and virtual care options for patients. This legislation, if passed, would expand Ontario’s health mandate in order to bring the best of our system together and form deep roots that would put health care in our province on a solid foundation for the future. This is a long-term plan that will take a lot of hard work, but our government is up to the task.

I would also like to mention that our plan has been well received by health care providers as well as patients. There are a couple of quotes from some of the care providers that we have heard from about our plan.

The first quote that I would like to share is by Anthony Dale, the president and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association. He said, “Ontario’s hospitals are encouraged by the prospect of working more closely with partners in their communities to find local solutions to better meet patient needs.”

Sue VanderBent, CEO of Home Care Ontario, said, “We need all parts of the health care system working together to help patients stay at home and to get them back home from acute care as quickly as possible. The current system, unfortunately, is fragmented, siloed and makes that cooperation difficult.”

The Ontario Medical Association, the Ontario Hospital Association, the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario and Home Care Ontario are excited for these changes because they all know that our health care system is in dire need of transformational change. The fact is that we have world-class programs and services being developed and delivered through our various agencies across our province, but once again we have locked away the value of our system in silos.

Our government is committed to amplifying the strength of what’s working by bringing our resources together and comparing what ideas and successes can be translated to improve other programs, to bring a consistency of approach to our health care system, a common vision, a single point of oversight, a united effort to get from where we are to where we need to be.

During the election, Premier Ford and our entire government ran on a commitment to end hallway health care. We are fully committed to delivering on that promise. The Deputy Premier, her incredible team and our entire government are working very hard to fix the health care system in Ontario. If passed, The People’s Health Care Act will build a public health care system centred around the patient. It will organize health care providers to work as one coordinated team and it will create a system that is focused on patients and specific local needs. By re-centering our health care system on patients, families and caregivers, Bill 74 will reduce wait times and will help end hallway health care.

In

summary, I think it’s very important that this piece of legislation is moved forward. The current system, which is on life support across this province—the status quo—is just not acceptable. I still remember so many conversations at the door with so many of my constituents speaking to the issue of hallway health care, speaking to the issue that this piece of legislation is going to help address.

Not only that, it’s a piece of legislation that is going to coordinate with what our government is currently doing in our plan—that when we go back in a couple of years to the people of Ontario, we will be confident in knowing that we have done our part to make sure we end hallway health care and we improve our health care system.

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

Mr. John Vanthof: It’s always an honour to be able to speak in the House—but today, not so much an honour; today it’s a duty, because today we are talking about a time allocation motion where the government wants to basically cut off the voices of the people of Ontario regarding Bill 74.

We just fought an election in the province where both officially recognized parties said that they wanted to put an end to hallway health care. The member across the way just said that. I think we can agree on that; we both want to stop that. During that election, the Premier said—he made a pretty big deal about, he wouldn’t have a problem fixing the province’s books, because it’s only four cents on the dollar, and what business person couldn’t take four cents on the dollar? That’s about as much as was said: ending hallway health care and four cents on the dollar.

But now it has been said that this is going to be the biggest transformation in the delivery of health care in the province since the inception of our public health care system.

Speaker, Premier Ford may have some qualities, but he is no Tommy Douglas.

What is most concerning—and all this debate is about, really, is, the official opposition wants to ensure that the people across Ontario have a right to have their voices heard before this transformation is made. That is all that this debate is about, because this time allocation motion prevents that.

So the government is talking about the biggest transformation in modern history, but they don’t want to actually hear the people of the province. It’s the government that claims to be for the people; they just don’t want to talk to the people.

Mr. Gilles Bisson: Only some people.

Mr. John Vanthof: Yes, some people—behind-closed-doors type of people.

This whole issue is about holding public hearings over a couple of weeks across the province. That is what this whole issue is about. Why this government is afraid to do that is beyond me, because any government should want to hear from as many people as possible. Over the long run, it’s not going to delay this legislation very much, and you will actually hear voices from across the province.

One thing I have learned since I have come here is—all of us come from specific parts of the province. We want to serve our people—all members in the House want to do that—but we all come from very different places and we have very different experiences. It’s an incredible honour and a privilege for me to have learned about some of those experiences from some members on my own side and members on the government side.

While you’re contemplating making this huge transformation, why wouldn’t you want to get the experiences of people across the province before you go ahead with this transformation? Why? It’s beyond me.

A few weeks of hearings across the province—it’s basically due diligence. You’ve said yourselves, “This is the biggest transformation in history since Tommy Douglas invented it.” Well then, it’s due diligence that you should go across the province, listen to people across the province, and actually see what people’s ideas are to help you fix it, if you can fix it; what people’s ideas are about problems you’ve never encountered in your own part of the world.

Just one problem: If you came to Timmins or Kirkland Lake—I have a constituent who went for an MRI, from Kirkland Lake to Timmins. That’s an emergency service for a test. The ambulance takes you—great, right? It sounds pretty simple. But after you’ve had the test, it’s no longer an emergency procedure. Mike Checkley went on March 9 to Timmins for an MRI. He was on a stretcher in Timmins until March 13, because in parts of northern Ontario there is no patient transfer service. But unless you go to northern Ontario and hear Mike, and hear people like Mike, you’re not going to understand the full impact of that.

It’s great that Mike reached out to me and I get to tell this story, but it’s not about me. You need to hear this from Mike and from his wife and from all of the people—as many people as possible.

I can’t understand how you guys can have plaques on your desks, saying, “For the people,” and you have a chance to go talk to people through the committee system, which has been built over decades—centuries. You say you’re for the people. You have a chance to talk to the people. The people would be very happy to see us because they want input on this bill. It would be actually to your advantage because you could actually explain it to the people, but for some reason, you don’t want to. I don’t understand.

Folks on the government side, you should actually go talk to the corner office and say, “You know what? Maybe we should actually follow what the plaque says and go to talk to the people,” especially on this one. This one is going to be landmark legislation. If it doesn’t work, or if it doesn’t work as well as you think it’s going to work—obviously you think it’s going to work because you’re speaking in favour of it—you’re going to wear it.

Tommy Douglas was voted the greatest Canadian because he laid the foundation of our publicly funded, publicly delivered health care system. I sincerely hope, for my children’s sake, my constituents’ sake and their children’s sake, that your legacy isn’t that you were the last ones to tear it down. The only way you’re going to be able to say, “We did our due diligence,” is actually to take all of the tools you have at your disposal. You’re a majority government. You can just say, “You know what? We’re going to talk to the people—a couple of weeks of hearings.

We’re going to actually go to where the finance committee didn’t want to go. We’re going to go to Pikangikum and see how we could fix our health care system in Pikangikum, to see how this”—whatever you call it, your MyCare health care, however your new system is going to work. How is that going to work in Pikangikum? The best way to see that is to go to Pikangikum and say, “You know, we’re thinking about doing this. What do you think?” Go to Belleville and say, “We’re thinking about doing this. What do you think?” Right? That makes sense. That makes perfect sense.

Go to every region in this province and say, “Here’s what we’re proposing. What do you think?” And then you base your amendments or your legislation on what the people think. That’s what a true government for the people would do, and for whatever reason, you’re refusing to do it. You’re refusing to use the tools you have at your disposal.

We’re not talking rocket science here: Travelling committees have been used for years and years and years. This isn’t rocket science. No one is going to complain if the provincial government spends a bit of money travelling their representatives around to actually listen to people from the province. You could even use a bus. What is the problem here? In the overall length of time in this bill, judging from what we see in this bill, this transformation is going to take a few years. So what is the problem taking a few weeks—actually, not delaying the calendar at all, because these are constituency weeks—and developing a

schedule and going to talk to the people who are going to be impacted by this for years and years and years? What is the problem? Why won’t you do this? Because, as much as the Premier gives out his phone number, not everybody is going to be able to phone the Premier—

Mr. Gilles Bisson: The Premier’s not always answering.

Mr. John Vanthof: Yeah, and the Premier doesn’t always answer.

You have the opportunity. You have the tools at your disposal. You have the people at your disposal, the staff—a very competent legislative staff—to do this. You have all the tools to make this legislation the best it could be. We disagree with the premise, but you have the tools to make this legislation the best it could be, and you’re refusing to use them. That is a travesty, and that is also proof that, really, many of you sitting here can say “for the people” as much as you want, but deep down you don’t believe it, because you’re afraid to actually listen to the people.

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

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: It’s a great privilege to be able to rise today in the Legislature and participate in the debate on Bill 74, The People’s Health Care Act. I know that there has been a great deal of work that has gone into this piece of legislation.

Before I begin really speaking about some of the improvements, some of the need for improvement that is seen across this province and the reason this piece of legislation is being brought forward, I want to take a couple of moments and recognize the excellent Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, the member who has done just a wonderful job on bringing together a lot of different people’s perspectives on health care. There are a lot of different perspectives on what needs to happen in order to fix it.

Also, I want to recognize the member for Eglinton–Lawrence, the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, for the excellent work she has done, as well as the member for Oakville North–Burlington, who has also just been an exemplary representative of her constituents and has travelled this province—I might add, in response to the earlier debate from the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane—speaking with countless members of the public, countless front-line professionals and countless people who have been involved in the health care system for a great deal of time, speaking with them about the issues that are so important to them.

The message we heard loud and clear was that we can’t waste time. We can’t waste time on more bureaucratic red tape, on more time spent in conversation, more time spent in committees to strike reports, to bring back surveys, to write reports, to bring back more committees and create round tables.

We can’t waste time on the treadmill that is the bureaucratic ennui that we can see in institutions—and unfortunately, what we saw for the last 15 years, because for 15 years the people of Ontario had a government that liked to talk about health care, that liked to talk about speaking to people, but never actually made the changes that were necessary to end hallway health care and to bring the health care people expect and deserve in the province of Ontario to fruition. Speaker, that is not what our government is going to do.

Our government was elected on a clear commitment to end the hallway health care, and that means making the decisions that need to be made to get our publicly funded education—or our publicly funded health care system back on track.

I want to speak a little bit about—

Interjection: And the education one too.

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: Yes, and education as well, as the member so aptly notes. All the systems—we’re getting all them back on track.

I wanted to provide a little context to the House about why I’m supporting this legislation and why I think it’s such an excellent step in the right direction for the future of our province and the future of health care here in Ontario and also for the constituents of Niagara West. I had the great privilege of also serving in the 41st Parliament. Some of those who are newer in this House may not remember what that was like, but I want to tell you, serving in opposition is a great privilege.

It’s a great responsibility, and I want to commend those who are serving in opposition for the important work that they do, because, frankly, it’s not easy being in opposition. There is a lot of information that you don’t always have access to. It can be difficult to get answers occasionally. I just want to thank the members for the work that they do in holding governments to account. I did that myself as a member of the opposition for a year and a half.

It was a very good experience to see how an effective opposition can point out where a government can improve and where their priorities should lie. In that time, something I heard time and time again from my constituents was the lack of action on the part of the Liberal government, the lack of action when it came to the resources that were needed and the integration that was needed to address the challenges facing health care in the province of Ontario.

I want to read to this House a little bit from a letter—I have a whole stack of letters that came in at different points over the course of my service to the constituents of, first, Niagara West–Glanbrook and now Niagara West. I’m going to change the name for the sake of the House. They didn’t want me to share the name, but I am allowed to quote from this letter. It says:

“I am writing to you about some of the difficulties and frustrations patients and caregivers are dealing with as the home care system continues to decline.” This was on August 22, 2017.

“The home care system is so terribly disconnected and difficult to navigate that I (a young healthy person) find it completely daunting and exhausting to deal with. As hard as this is for me, it fills me with deep concern and worry that many unwell, or older unwell people, are finding it so frustrating to deal with that they are simply giving up and thus are not getting the help they need. I can’t imagine how an ill person (with no one helping or advocating for them) would manage to deal with what I have had to deal with in the last four years.

“If I did not constantly advocate for my mother, and if it were not for the help of our local” MPP, “I am almost certain CCAC, and now the LHIN, would not support my mother’s care needs.

“Since the system is so fragmented, it takes an enormous amount of time and energy for me to navigate it....

“How much of the allotted home care money actually gets used on the patients? How much is wasted on overpaid, overstaffed higher-ups who are out of touch with the actual needs of patients?

“Does anyone oversee the LHIN? Why is there no independent department to objectively listen to the issues clients are having with the LHIN or with other agencies?”

As you can see, Speaker, she goes on for pages and pages. These are just a couple of paragraphs. She asked me—this was, again, when I was in opposition—to promise to work towards an integrated health care system that put the patient at the centre, that stopped pouring endless amounts of dollars into paper-pushers’ pockets, but really focused on what patients needed, and that was a more streamlined system, one that was responsive.

Speaker, I was just jotting down a couple of words here, thinking about what are some words that people use to describe Ontario’s health care system. When I speak with my constituents in Niagara West, have the privilege of knocking on their doors and speaking with them about the issues that matter to them, I hear words like “fragmented” and I hear words like “disconnected” and “difficult to navigate.”

What I want to hear when I knock on doors, and what I’m confident Bill 74 will finally bring to this province, are words like “nimble,” “responsive,” “holistic,” and “patient-centred.” These are the goals of the Progressive Conservative government; these are the goals of the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care; and these are the goals of all of us, as a team, who put our names on the ballot last year, because we believed in ending hallway health care and we believed in getting this province back on track.

I’m very confident that the legislation before us today will be the piece of legislation that finally does that—that finally listens to the patients, that finally integrates services in a way that isn’t pouring tens of millions, in fact, hundreds of millions of dollars, into the pockets of hospital CEOs and bureaucratic make-work projects, but really focuses on front-line care in a way that the people of Ontario haven’t seen in a long, long time.

That’s really the motivation for all of us here on this side. It’s our motivation to make sure that as we make these changes to the health care system, each and every person in the province of Ontario can access health care when and where they need it. It’s about making sure that each and every person in this great province doesn’t have to worry about whether or not they’re going to have to spend the evening or the whole night or perhaps days in a hallway, like thousands of people do each and every day in the province of Ontario.

Our government committed to the people of Ontario during the election campaign that we would end hallway health care, and we’re committed to that promise. This is about creating a system where family doctors, hospitals, and home and community care providers work together in unison as a team and where, within these teams, providers can communicate directly with each other, creating a seamless care experience for the patient and their families. I’m so proud to support this bill.

I can’t speak about health care without talking about our beloved West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby. This is a hospital, Speaker, that the former Liberal government promised twice to build. When I was born there in 2000—sorry, not 2000; I’m young but not that young—in 1997, there were protests to keep that hospital open. So, when I was born there, my community was fighting for a new hospital, and the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital was promised to my community in 2005, cancelled in 2007, promised again in 2009, cancelled again in the 2012 budget.

But finally, after years and years of waiting for health care that works for the people, I had the great privilege of welcoming the Premier to West Lincoln with a firm commitment to build the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby. This is something that is just a sign of our government’s commitment to ending hallway health care, building the services that Ontarians expect and deserve, and making sure that we have a truly patient-centred system.

Thank you, Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to come and speak to this bill.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Further debate? The member from London–Fanshawe.

Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: Thank you, Speaker. On a Wednesday morning, that’s a lot of enthusiasm. That’s a good thing. We need enthusiasm in this Legislature. We need motivation in this Legislature.

When we talk about bills like Bill 74, which is a transformational change to health care like we have never seen before, we have to make sure we’re motivated to consult with the broader population and not just in this Legislature. That’s when we come to that point when we’ve debated the bill here in the Legislature, we’ve all had our time to do that, and then the government decides that it’s enough debate and wants to take it to committee.

In this case, it’s unfortunate that we’re seeing the kind of process where it’s really a short time where people are able to present to the committee. You have only until Thursday at noon, so I am making an announcement to the public who is watching about the presentations that are being offered on Bill 74 by this government. You only have from today until tomorrow at noon to submit your intention to present at the committee. That is not a lot of time. We have to remember that we have to give people enough time, so they can work around their schedules, to come to give their input on this legislation.

Members have talked about how this is going to be the most significant change in this province when it comes to health care, but we’re not giving it the significant time it needs to hear from the people it affects. That’s the front-line people and that would be people who use health care.

I can tell you, in London–Fanshawe, I have met with a mother over the years. Her daughter has a rare disease. She has been trying to get health care through London Health Sciences Centre. What she has had to do is go to the States many times and pay out of her pocket. So, when this government talks about the most transformational change under public health care, they forget to tell us that they’re going to deliver it in a public, not-for-profit way. So, I would like them to hear from this mother and explain to them how she has had to pay out-of-pocket for services in the States. She has had to mortgage her house.

She has had to take out lines of credit. That’s not the way health care should work.

When we’re talking about having the committee hold its presentations, you need to hear from people who use it, who have said they want it to be not-for-profit public health care delivery. Maybe during committee, when these people come to tell you—they want to hear from the mouths of the government members that you’re going to keep our public health care system a public health care delivery, not for-profit. They never say that and that is concerning. That is very concerning because sometimes what you don’t say says a lot.

So, why is it so hard for this government to want to travel a bill throughout this province to hear from the people of London, specifically? I remember coming to this Legislature, Speaker, and talking about all kinds of health care issues—I still do it today—and about how London was affected. We had the under-dosing of chemotherapy drugs. You were here when that happened. We had this Ornge scandal. You were here when that happened. In those two cases, there was privatization involved.

We heard about mental health. I know London was one of the first ones that talked about how people were waiting in the hallway for days and they weren’t getting help, and then they were discharged into the community, where they didn’t have the resources, and the long wait-list to talk to someone in mental health: a doctor, a psychiatrist.

Here is the problem: Toronto, as the member from Timmins said, is a wonderful city. But we need to hear robust presentations from throughout the province. Yes, you have your two hearings here in Toronto, but not everybody can get to Toronto. That’s why, when we put the amendment forward, we are cognizant that we need to hear from everyone.

Why is this government so—I want to say “belligerent,” but I don’t know if that’s out of order, but—so belligerent and not wanting to pay attention to what other people are letting them know, what other people have to say? When you talk about, “We’ve consulted over so many thousands of people,” and then they come up with this autism policy, and people come to this Legislature railing against it, screaming, yelling, being escorted out, you haven’t listened to all of the people. That’s what we’re saying when we put this amendment forward: You must listen to more than just the people you think can get here in that short amount of time, in two days, April 1 and April 2.

We need to have more robust consultation. Open up your consultation process, because what’s going to happen is, you are going to find that people who use the system are the ones who are going to pay for your mistakes, and then hopefully later, during an election, you will suffer those consequences. You will take responsibility in different ways for what you’ve done to people who use the system.

Autism is a perfect example. They made some changes. We don’t want people coming here with wheelchairs and canes and walkers and in poor health, telling this government that they did it wrong, that they privatized the system and they didn’t tell the people, and then they are suffering, because profits don’t belong in public health care. Publicly funded health care should be publicly delivered, not-for-profit health care, because what happens is, all of the dollars that are used in the public health care delivery system are for front-line patient care.

When it’s a privatized system, people want to profit from health care delivery and so they squeeze those public dollars that they get when they’re privately delivering health care because they want to see a profit. They’re in the business of profiting.

Open up the consultation process on Bill 74—a huge change to health care. Let’s hear from people who use it, and let’s be up front with how you’re going to deliver health care that should be not-for-profit public health care.

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

Mr. Bisson has moved an amendment to government notice of motion number 33, relating to allocation of time on Bill 74,

An Act concerning the provision of health care, continuing Ontario Health and making consequential and related amendments and repeals.

Is it the pleasure of the House that Mr. Bisson’s amendment carry? I heard a no.

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

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

In my opinion, the nays have it.

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

Vote deferred.

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

Hon. Todd Smith: No further business, Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): No further business. This House will now stand recessed until 10:30.

The House recessed from 0950 to 1030.

Report, Environmental Commissioner

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I beg to inform the House that the following document has been tabled: the 2019 Energy Conservation Progress Report from the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario.

Wearing of hockey jersey

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Point of order: the member from Peterborough–Kawartha.

Mr. Dave Smith: I seek unanimous consent today, on Special Hockey Day, to wear the jersey of one of the special-needs hockey teams in my riding.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member from Peterborough–Kawartha is seeking the unanimous consent of the House to wear a Special Hockey Day sweater. Agreed? Agreed.

Introduction of Visitors

Mr. Percy Hatfield: I wish to welcome Terry Yaldo from Midway Convenience in my riding. He’s with the convenience stores association, who are here today. Welcome to Queen’s Park, Terry.

Mr. Dave Smith: I’d like to welcome a number of special hockey teams to the Legislature today: the Colorado Ice Wizards from Colorado, the Durham Dragons, the Grandravine Tornadoes, the Guelph Giants, the Kitchener Ice Pirates, the Mississauga Crusaders, the St. Louis Blues special hockey team, and my personal favourite name, the Werewolves of London.

Ms. Jill Andrew: It is with great pleasure that I welcome Toronto District School Board students in the visitors’ gallery today from Forest Hill Collegiate, Northview Heights Secondary and North Toronto Collegiate, who are spending the day with the NDP caucus touring Queen’s Park and exploring career journeys in politics and advocacy.

Thank you to the teachers, student equity program advisers and guardians who helped make this happen: Dr. Amita Handa, Kevin Sutton, Mary Karas, Miranda Cimera and Deborah Haines.

And a shout-out to the Sickle Cell Association of Ontario, and my god-daughter who is in the room, Jecema Hewitt Vasil.

Mr. Rudy Cuzzetto: Today I want to welcome the parents of Elizabeth Becke, our page captain, Joanne Becke and Larry Becke, as well as her friends Alanna Cameron and Kelli Cameron. Thank you for being here.

Mr. Faisal Hassan: I would like to welcome Stephen Mensah, a young man who is a leader in my riding of York South–Weston. Stephen, welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho: I am very honoured and happy to introduce very important visitors from a very, very important organization, the Ontario Convenience Stores Association.

They are Noah Aychental, chair; Wendy Kadlovski, Nicholby’s; Solomon Kim, Kitchen Food Fair; Nick Novakovich, That’s Entertainment; Yvonne Farah, Hasty Market; Nick Jabbour, Hasty Market; Jamie Arnold, Little Short Stop Stores; Terry Yaldo, Midway Convenience; James Moretti, Avondale Food Stores; Peter Flach, Rabba Fine Foods; Victor Vrsnik, 7-Eleven Stores; Winston Zhang, Organic Market; Tony Gallo, New York News; Kenny Shim, OKBA; Manish Thakker, Vani’s Convenience, independent; and, last but not least, the CEO of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association, Mr. Dave Bryans. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): We’re running out of time. I would ask the members to keep their introductions as brief as possible.

Mr. Chris Glover: It’s with great pleasure I welcome to the House, from the Canadian Federation of Students, Kayla Weiler and Aleksei Shkurin; from the College Student Alliance, Justin Paolo Lim, Jecema Hewitt and Andrew MacNeil; from Centennial College, Miguel Meneses, Maria Peraza and Ivan Sharma; and from York University, Keith Davis. Welcome to the House.

Mr. Randy Hillier: I’d like to welcome to the Legislature Kristen Ellison from Cobourg, who is here as an advocate for children with autism and disabilities. Kristen, welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Sheref Sabawy: I’m honoured to welcome the UTM Campus Conservatives and the president, Arsham Moradi. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

M me France Gélinas: I would like to welcome Lisa Bailey, Serena Thompson, Alvin Merchant and Ulysse Guerrier from the Sickle Cell Association of Ontario. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Caroline Mulroney: I would like to welcome constituents from my riding of York Simcoe: Robin Konstantopolous and her daughter Aristea, who are here; as well as Jennifer Turner, who’s here for the first time.

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: It’s truly an honour for me this morning to welcome to the Legislature Father Gianni Carparelli, the founder of Caritas, along with guests from Italy Gabriele and Danila Petti, Tonino and Vincenza Foglietti, and Augustine and Rosella Benedetto. Benvenuti a Queen’s Park.

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: It’s my great pleasure to introduce our visitors from the Sickle Cell Awareness Group who are here with us today: Lanre Tunji-Ajayi; Doreen Alexander; Juliana Cassidy; Evet Saddler-Walters; Jacob Pendergrast; John, Marinela, Janine and Joshua Agapay; Princess Sanusi; Ade Omishore; MaryAnn Gordon; and lastly, Nevaya Wilkins. Welcome.

Mr. Daryl Kramp: I would like to welcome a number of people from my riding here today—great volunteers. To follow the Speaker’s wishes, I’ll make this as quick as I can. I’ll do it very, very quickly.

I’d like to welcome: Marg Werry, Elaine Badgely, Hubert Hogle, Elaine Rice, Geoff Webster, Shaune Lucas, Karen Hampel, Ian Hampel, John Wilson, Susan Cook, Rita Steele, Laurel Taylor, Barry Wannamaker, Nancy Fisher, Roy Willis, Bob Merrick, Donna Shabinsky, Brant Wilson, Lyle McKeown, Ron Reid, Ken Sinclair, Shelby Lawrence, Ross Sarles, William Lyons, Kelly Mumby, Linda McQuay, Chris Seeley, Bonnie Gryce and Tony Balasevicius.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Well said.

Ms. Jane McKenna: I’d like to just say a warm welcome this morning to Dave Bryans—I’ve known him and his beautiful wife, Jan, for many, many years—from the Ontario Convenience Stores Association.

Mr. David Piccini: I, too, would like to welcome Kristen Ellison, a constituent of mine who’s here at Queen’s Park, and to thank her for all her work in helping me organize a great round table with parents of children with autism in my riding just this past weekend.

Mr. Dave Smith: I have a second introduction. I have my constituency staff, Brock Terry and Andrea Dodsworth, in the Speaker’s gallery. Andrea also represents the Electric City Maroon & White.

From the Ontario Waterpower Association—with their headquarters also in my riding—I have Stephen Somerville, Heather Ferguson, Scott Stoll, Samantha Clarke and Paul Norris.

Mr. John Fraser: Mr. Speaker, point of order.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Point of order, the member for Ottawa South.

Mr. John Fraser: Speaker, I received an email from the member from Glengarry–Prescott–Russell, who is unable to be here today. I am seeking unanimous consent to ask her question during question period.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Ottawa South is seeking the unanimous consent of the House to ask a question in the place of the member for Glengarry–Prescott–Russell. Agreed? I heard a no.

Just a couple more members want to do introductions.

Mr. Roman Baber: I’d like to welcome to the House Angela Brandt and Misha Brandt, two special constituents, and to congratulate Misha Brandt on his bar mitzvah earlier this week on Sunday, which I had the pleasure to attend.

Hon. Monte McNaughton: I know they’re not in the House, but I will be welcoming to Queen’s Park later today a very good friend of mine, a great public servant to the people of Lambton–Kent–Middlesex. Retiring MP Bev Shipley will be here today, as well as the new Conservative candidate in Lambton–Kent–Middlesex, Lianne Rood. I’m looking forward to welcoming them to Queen’s Park.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Orléans is standing.

Mrs. Marie-France Lalonde: Yes. I’m asking my colleagues for unanimous consent to ask a question on behalf of the member for Glengarry–Prescott–Russell, who has given written permission to ask a question on her behalf this morning.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Orléans is asking unanimous consent of the House to ask a question in place of the member for Glengarry–Prescott–Russell. Agreed? I heard some noes.

Oral Questions

Health care

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My question is for the Premier. Yesterday, the government stated that they plan to set strict criteria for organizations that want to bid for health care contracts from the government’s new mega-agency for health care. Will one of the criteria be excluding companies seeking private profit from public health care?

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of Health.

Hon. Christine Elliott: I thank the leader of the official opposition for the question, but the point of the changes we are making to modernize our health care system is to centre care around patients, families and caregivers. There will be strict criteria for any organizations that wish to become a local Ontario health team.

Generally speaking, they will be centred around being able to manage the funds that will be allocated to them and to spend those funds appropriately, to maintain the quality of care that’s expected of them, to make sure that all health organizations are properly funded and able to deliver that care, and they will be required to continue to have patients, family members and caregivers be included in the design and implementation of the work that they do going forward.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Well, Speaker, it also seems that the government is planning to centre profits around their friends in the private sector. It’s concerning that the Ford government can’t provide a simple answer on this, an answer that the public deserves. Yesterday, I asked specifically about private surgery services. A company called Advance Surgical Operatory in London, Ontario, wants the government’s green light to expand procedures available at their private, for-profit surgery clinic.

Will the government exclude private operating rooms from their so-called Ontario health teams: yes or no? Please tell the public. They deserve an answer.

Interjections.

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

The question is referred to the Minister of Health.

Hon. Christine Elliott: Well, here is the answer to your question: We are centering care on patients, families and caregivers. We are strengthening our public health care system. If there are any funds left over in any particular year that are given to any local Ontario health team, they will be reinvested back into that public health care system the next year.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Families have a hard time believing the government’s commitment to defending public health care. The answers are not clear, and this government is not admitting to their plans when it comes to the privatization of our health care system. Perhaps it’s because the same operating room that is so desperate to break into our health system got a personal visit from the Premier during last year’s election campaign. Perhaps it’s because the Premier himself said that he would leave “no stone unturned” in his hunt to privatize public services like health care.

I’m going to ask the Premier: Why is he unwilling to make a basic commitment to keep private, for-profit health services out of their Ontario health teams?

Interjections.

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

Stop the clock. Okay, we’re just getting started. I’m going to ask the government to come to order. I have to be able to hear the questions. I have to be able to focus on what the Leader of the Opposition is saying. You would expect me to do so.

Start the clock. Response, Minister.

Hon. Christine Elliott: Through you, Speaker, I would say to the leader of the official opposition that she continues to ignore the fact that about 30% of our current health care services are delivered by companies that are privately owned but are paid for through the government, through our public health care system. Nothing is going to change from that under our new plan.

We are modernizing the system. We want to make sure that patients and families receive the truly connected care that they need.

Why the leader of the official opposition and her party continue this fearmongering—scaring patients, particularly seniors, is not responsible.

We are strengthening and modernizing our public health care system to make sure that patients receive better, more connected care. That’s the end; that’s what we’re doing.

Health care

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is also for the Premier. Last night, I heard from residents from across Brampton about the state of their health care. They’re concerned about long hospital waits and getting the services that they need. They’ve already seen first-hand the risks of private, for-profit hospitals when the last Conservative government made their community the guinea pig for Ontario’s first private P3 hospital.

This government should not be proud of their record on privatization. Whether it’s in P3 hospitals or home care, they have made a mess of our health care system with their privatization drive.

That project delivered fewer beds while draining away public health dollars into private profits.

The government’s omnibus health bill threatens to open the door even wider to unprecedented levels of private, for-profit health care.

Will the government amend their bill to keep private profits out of our public health care system?

Interjections.

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

Premier?

Hon. Doug Ford: Minister of Health.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The question is referred to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

Hon. Christine Elliott: Thank you very much, Speaker. Again, through you, I would suggest to the leader of the official opposition that there is nothing to amend in Bill 74 because there’s no drive towards privatization; there is nothing of the sort. What we are doing is modernizing our public health care system.

The situation that she refers to in Brampton is something that is happening across the province. That’s what we’re trying to fix.

We have a situation where 1,200 patients, every day across this province, receive health care in hallways of hospitals, storage rooms and other inappropriate places. We are trying to limit that.

We want to eliminate hallway health care and make sure that people receive the care in the places where they should—in safe, appropriate, clean environments—and that our great health care providers in Ontario are able to deliver the care that they want.

This truly connected care is going to help keep patients out of hospitals and create safe places—

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, the people of Brampton aren’t looking for more private, for-profit health care or a mega health agency. They know that right now their dollars are being siphoned off into the pockets of private interests instead of being utilized for front-line care. They want investments in front-line care to ensure that they’re not stuck in an ER hallway waiting days and days for treatment, or wondering how they can support loved ones without access to home care.

They remember the last time a Conservative government promised them that private, for-profit health care would improve their hospitals, and the waits are longer than ever because of that ill-advised direction that this party took us the last time they were in government.

Will the government amend their new health omnibus bill to ensure that the door is closed to private, for-profit health care?

Hon. Christine Elliott: Speaker, again through you: I would say that what the leader of the official opposition is talking about is absolute, complete and utter nonsense.

What we are doing is strengthening our public health care system. Bill 74 reflects that. We are talking about that here, to people in communities. I can tell you that I have done a lot of travelling since we’ve announced this bill. I’ve been to communities across Ontario—North Bay, Bracebridge, Ottawa, Northumberland, my own riding of Newmarket–Aurora—and people are excited about what we’re bringing forward.

Providers cannot wait to apply to become local Ontario health teams, because they know that right now there are many impediments that are in place through the Ministry of Health—funding silos that have been set up that inhibit them from being able to communicate with each other. They want to do that. They want to be providing excellent patient care. That’s what Bill 74 will provide.

I hope you will come and support us on it.

Interjections.

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

Start the clock. Final supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, I direct the minister and the Premier to the 2007 Auditor General’s report that clearly shows that that P3 hospital in Brampton was built at a far higher cost than it should have been and delivered fewer beds than it should have and cost us more in interest payments and operating costs over time than it should have cost us because the dollars went into the pockets of private interests and not into the development of a proper hospital in Brampton.

Last night, I heard that those folks in Brampton want a health care system that they can count on, not one that feathers the nests of Conservative friends. Instead, they see a government laying off nurses and health professionals, making decisions behind closed doors and posing for photo ops at private health clinics.

There is a simple way that the government could gain some trust from the people of Ontario today—a simple way that they can gain some trust. When the Premier refused to acknowledge, on the campaign trail, that he was going to privatize health care—now he can get that trust back. Will the government amend their new health omnibus bill to ensure that the door is closed to private, for-profit health care?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Please stop the clock.

I’m sorry to interrupt. The member for Kitchener–Conestoga has to come to order. The Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry has to come to order. The member for Niagara West has to come to order. The member for King–Vaughan has to come to order.

Start the clock. The minister to reply.

Hon. Christine Elliott: Speaker, again, through you: I would have to remind the leader of the official opposition that the hospital she referred to was built by the previous Liberal government. It had nothing to do with the Progressive Conservative government. The one thing we can agree on: 15 years of complete mismanagement and total disregard for patients.

What patients in Ontario need: That’s what we’re concentrating on with Bill 74. There is no need to amend that bill, because there is no element of privatization there. We are concentrating on strengthening our public health care system. We want to make sure that the people of Brampton and people across the province of Ontario can continue to access our public health care system for their services, that we can reduce their wait times, that we can connect their services, that we can make sure that they receive faster care.

All of those things are dealt with in Bill 74. So, please, I would urge you to read it again and support it.

Public transit

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is to the Premier. For months, the Premier has insisted that he has a great track record when it comes to building transit, which comes as a surprise—

Interjections.

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

Start the clock. The Leader of the Opposition has the floor.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: —to people who watched him at Toronto city hall, where he did a far better job of tearing plans up rather than getting anything built.

Now it looks like he’s at it again, Speaker. Last night, the Toronto Star revealed that the Ford government is ripping up Toronto’s transit plans and insisting that they follow a vague new plan that includes a privatized relief line.

Why is the Premier meddling with long-established transit plans, and why is he determined to delay and destroy transit plans that are already approved and under way in Toronto?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker: When it comes to transportation, we’re just beginning. It’s nothing you’ve seen yet. We’re going to build proper transit here in Toronto. We’re going to finally get subways built, to get people from point A to point B right across the GTA. We’re extending Eglinton. We’re making sure we’re building the downtown relief line. We’re helping the people of Scarborough. My friends in Scarborough, help is on its way. We’re going to be building transportation. We have a great announcement today from the Minister of Transportation: $1.2 billion of infrastructure around Ontario. We’re finally getting this province moving.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: People in Toronto simply want transit that works. Instead, they have a Premier who seems more interested in wasting billions of dollars in rewriting plans, delaying construction, issuing demands and privatizing transit lines so his well-connected friends can turn a profit.

The people of Ontario shouldn’t be stuck with the bill because the Premier of the province decides, once again, that he wants to play mayor of Toronto. The people of Toronto deserve transit that works, not a plan written in crayon by the Premier, who has never met a transit plan he couldn’t derail.

Will the Premier stop meddling, stop privatizing and work with the city of Toronto to get transit built?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker, again, we’re going to build, build, build, subways, subways, subways around the GTA and around Toronto. We’re expanding right across Ontario.

A great announcement is happening—$1.2 billion. You’ll be hearing from the best Minister of Transportation you could ever ask for. He’s so busy, he can’t keep up with the announcements. There are announcements every single day, no matter if it’s making sure we extend GO, or making sure that we build roads and fix the roads, or building the greatest transportation system in the world.

We are putting more money into infrastructure than anyone in North America. We’re going to be putting tens of billions of dollars into building infrastructure across this province.

Taxation

Mr. Daryl Kramp: My question today is to our Premier. Last week, the Premier joined the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks down in Oxford to discuss the impacts of the federal carbon tax with some of the leaders in our agricultural sectors.

Farmers in my riding made it very, very clear that the federal carbon tax is going to cost them dearly in every aspect of their operations. Farmers are already some of our best stewards of the land. They’ve made their living for generations by preserving their land for their livestock, their crops, and to pass down to their families. Our government has been working hard to bring our farmers’ cost of business down by scrapping the Green Energy Act and the disastrous cap-and-trade program.

Can our Premier please tell us what he has heard from the agriculture industry leaders on the impact of the disgusting, harmful federal carbon tax?

Hon. Doug Ford: I want to thank our chair of caucus, plus the great MPP from Hastings–Lennox and Addington. He is a true leader in our caucus.

Through you, Mr. Speaker: I visited our member’s riding, and he’s an all-star. When you go down the street, everyone loves the member. My friends, I was out with the Minister of Agriculture, we were in the rural area, finally got out of the bubble—we call Toronto “the bubble”—talked to the real people, the farmers who are working 18 hours a day around the clock, the best stewards of the environment.

Our Minister of the Environment has put an outstanding plan together, showing that you don’t need a carbon tax that’s going to hurt the farmers, hurt families and hurt businesses, because the carbon tax does nothing for the environment—absolutely nothing.

We’ve already hit 22% reductions. We have 11 years to hit the 30% mark, and we’re going to not only hit it, we’ll surpass it.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary.

Mr. Daryl Kramp: I certainly thank the Premier for the answer.

When the people of Ontario elected this government, they elected a government that will bring an end to the 15-years of Liberal mismanagement and make life more affordable again for the people in the province of Ontario.

Mr. Speaker, sadly, we are now only a few short days away from having the federal government impose—that’s “impose”—their carbon tax on the everyday, hard-working people in this province. That is clearly unacceptable.

I can tell you that this tax, being the worst tax that we have probably ever seen—our Premier and this party is going to do something about it. We are going to challenge them all the way, because this is unjust. It is not right, it is improper and it has to come to an end.

Premier, what are your thoughts on this?

Hon. Doug Ford: Through you, Mr. Speaker, I’ll give you my thoughts, and I’m going to give you the thoughts of everyone, not just in Ontario but across this country. People can’t stand this carbon tax. It puts a burden on the backs of every single family, not only in Ontario but across this country. It puts a burden on every single business, the hard-working people at the convenience stores who work 18 hours a day. There’s no one who works harder than people waking up at 6, opening their stores at 7, working till midnight, and doing it over and over again seven days a week. It’s going to hurt the convenience store owners. It’s going to hurt the small business owners, the large businesses.

We’re trying to compete worldwide. We’re trying to compete with one hand tied behind our backs. But my friends, a warning bell is going off. The warning bell is that on April 1, you’re all going to be paying 4.5 cents more per litre for gas. You’re going to be paying more for absolutely everything in the grocery store. It’s going to be a recession when it comes to the carbon tax. We’re going to—

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

Interjections.

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

Start the clock. Next question.

Government accountability

Mr. Kevin Yarde: My question is for the Premier. When asked about the appointment of Ron Taverner as OPP commissioner, the Premier called it a “transparent process.” The Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services claims that an “independent selection committee” made the decision.

Later that same day, a member of that very committee corrected her by reaching out to Dean French, saying, “The messaging in today’s Legislature on the OPP commissioner uses the term ‘independent’ selection panel. Independent of who? I’m the deputy minister to the Premier and Ron reported to Mario when he was at TPS. I would drop the word independent.”

So my question: Is the Premier willing to correct himself here today and set the record straight, or does he stand by those words?

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. I’m going to ask the member for Carleton to come to order.

Start the clock. Premier to reply.

Hon. Doug Ford: Government House leader.

Hon. Todd Smith: The member opposite is the same member who filed the complaint with the Integrity Commissioner in Ontario. The Integrity Commissioner here in the province went through an exhaustive interview process with numerous individuals who were allegedly involved in whatever the member was alleging, and when the investigation was completed, the Integrity Commissioner came out with a report—and I would like to point this out—that completely exonerated the Premier of Ontario for any wrongdoing in this case. We appreciate the finding of the Integrity Commissioner. We actually thank him for the investigation he has done. In our opinion, this matter has been put to rest.

There are a lot of other things that I know the members from Brampton, Markham and Scarborough should be asking, but they’re not asking these questions on policy today. Instead, they’re trying to play in the gutter and play gutter politics.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary.

Mr. Kevin Yarde: The question again is to the Premier. The Integrity Commissioner’s report clearly states and clearly reveals that the secretary of cabinet had serious concerns about the categorization of this process as independent, yet day after day the minister and the Premier stood in this House and used the very word the secretary told them to drop. We’ve asked the Speaker for his view, but the minister could clear things up today. Now that it’s been revealed that the secretary of cabinet was telling the government not to use the word “independent,” is the Premier ready to admit that he and his minister were wrong to do so?

Hon. Todd Smith: Thanks to the member opposite for the question. The report makes it pretty darned clear. The report makes it very clear, as we said from the beginning, that this complaint was frivolous and without merit, and completely exonerated the Premier of Ontario.

I don’t know why the member opposite and members opposite, including the leader of the official opposition, continue to play down in the gutter on this clearly political issue that they’re dealing with over there, because nobody else really seems to care when it comes to this. People in Ontario want to know about what the government is doing when it comes to policy and creating jobs.

In honour of all of those great young athletes who are here for Special Hockey Day today, I would say Holy Mackinaw! We’ve created 95,000 new jobs in Ontario thanks to the policies that we’ve introduced—

Interjections.

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

Restart the clock. Next question.

Public safety

Ms. Christine Hogarth: Well, I have a policy question. My question today is for our Attorney General.

We on this side of the House and my PC colleagues across the hall here are supportive of the men and women in uniform by providing them with the tools and the resources they need to keep the streets and our homes safe. My constituents in Etobicoke–Lakeshore trust our government’s willingness to crack down on violence committed by armed gangs, but they also appreciate our efforts to divert our youth from a path of crime and violence.

Mr. Speaker, can the Attorney General please explain to this House our government’s approach to breaking the cycle of violence in our communities through the guns-and-gangs strategy?

Hon. Caroline Mulroney: I would like to thank the member from Etobicoke–Lakeshore for her question. I am proud to say that yesterday our government for the people announced the next phase of our comprehensive strategy to support the local fight against gun-and-gang violence in communities across Ontario. In August of last year, our government announced the first phase to fight the urgent gun-and-gang problem in Toronto. The province-wide second phase of the strategy addresses the threats faced by communities on all fronts through enhanced local enforcement, prosecution, and prevention and intervention initiatives.

One of the key elements of our prevention approach is to establish justice centres that will move justice out of the courtroom and into community settings by co-locating justice, health and social services all under one roof. This is a new model of intervention in Ontario that has proven to be effective in disrupting gang recruitment and protecting young people in communities in jurisdictions across North America.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to say we are making good on our promise—

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

Ms. Christine Hogarth: I thank the Attorney General for her response. The PC candidates all campaigned on a promise to improve public safety in this province. As a member of this government for the people, I am proud to stand here today to know that our government is committed to tackling gun-and-gang violence across Ontario and keeping criminals off our streets.

I would now like to direct my supplementary question to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. Could the minister please outline how our investment in front-line policing will keep our families safe and tackle violent crimes in all of our communities?

Hon. Caroline Mulroney: To the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Thank you to the member from Etobicoke–Lakeshore. I know we’ve spoken many times on the justice and community safety file, and I know how important it is to you and the residents of Etobicoke–Lakeshore.

In addition to the new prevention and intervention measures yesterday, our government announced new supports and resources to help police forces disrupt and dismantle criminal gangs and keep innocent people in Ontario safe from guns and gangs. The gun-and-gang support unit will support police forces across Ontario to undertake major gun-and-gang investigations and prosecutions, as well as improve province-wide intelligence gathering, integration and coordination. In addition, our government is establishing a dedicated gun-and-gang specialized investigation fund to support joint operations between police forces.

Our government’s commitment is clear: We will not stand by and let gangs prey on our young people and destroy the security that the people of Ontario deserve and expect from their government.

Health care

Mr. Gurratan Singh: My question is to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. Yesterday we had a town hall in Brampton about our broken health care system, which packed the room with people who came to share their stories, people like Teresea. After giving birth, Teresea started to think and feel in a way that she described as really scary. She was having anxiety and irrational thoughts. Later, she found out that she was suffering from postpartum anxiety.

As a new young mother, she went to Brampton Civic, and despite the best efforts from dedicated front-line workers, she had to wait hours because there were no rooms available for her. In order to be seen by a doctor, she had to share her deepest and darkest emotions in a hallway with strangers passing by.

Now Teresea is pregnant for the second time and though she’s excited, in the back of her mind she’s also scared. She keeps on asking herself, “What if I suffer from postpartum anxiety again?”

Why is this government forcing mothers like Teresea to bare their souls in public?

Hon. Christine Elliott: I thank the member very much for his question.

I do agree with you. Right now we do have a broken system where people are not receiving the care that they deserve, and the transitions from hospital to home care and hospital to long-term care are fractured. That’s what we are attempting to fix with the modernization of our health care system.

I share your concern and your constituent’s concern about receiving care in hallways. As I’ve indicated before, that’s happening in hospitals across the province: 1,200 people each and every day. It’s not an easy thing to fix. There’s not one simple answer to it. We need to do a number of things on a number of fronts, but that’s what we are doing with Bill 74 and also with our mental health and addictions plan. We have $3.8 billion that is being invested by the province over 10 years to make sure that people such as your constituent receive the health care that they need for postpartum depression or for whatever their mental health or addiction problem is.

That is what we are doing. We are modernizing our public health care system in order to deal with situations exactly—

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

Mr. Gurratan Singh: In order to end hallway medicine so new moms like Teresea can receive care with some dignity, instead of fully funding Brampton Civic Hospital, instead of converting Peel Memorial health centre into a full-time, 24-hour hospital and instead of building a new hospital for our growing community, this government has voted against ending hallway medicine in Brampton.

My question is simple: Why?

Hon. Christine Elliott: The situation in Brampton is similar to many other fast-growing communities where they are experiencing higher levels of hallway health care. We want to stop that. We want to stop that in Brampton; we want to stop that across the province. But again, the answer is not simple.

One of the things we need to do is create more long-term-care homes, because, as you will know, the patients who are in hospital who don’t need to be there anymore but have no other place to go remain in hospital for extended periods of time. That’s one of the reasons why we made our campaign commitment to create 15,000 new long-term-care spaces within five years. We’ve already attained about half of that goal and we’re working on it on a daily basis.

We also want to make sure that people receive the mental health and addictions care that they need in the community so that they don’t need to go to the hospital as their last means of resort. And we know that many people cycle in and out of emergency departments.

Finally, we need to have better chronic disease management pathways, which is one of the reasons why—

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

Public safety

Mr. Randy Hillier: My question is to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

Speaker, last Thursday I was at a fundraising event in Perth for Lanark County Interval House, which provides vital services and assistance to victims of domestic violence. I was reminded of a commitment from the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services three years ago to consider a pilot project on active GPS electronic monitoring of violent offenders.

Speaker, can the minister confirm if this pilot project was undertaken and share the results with the House?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: As the member from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston would know, three years ago the Liberal Party was the government in power.

I can assure the member that we are actively engaged with our partners in probation and parole and, frankly, the Ministry of the Attorney General, as a justice file collectively, to study issues that are actually going to make our communities safer. What we have discovered is that there was a lack of action that was happening in the last 15 years.

We have signalled very strongly to our partners on both sides of the justice file, whether it’s in policing or on the crown attorney side, that we will work together in a multi-ministerial approach to make sure that individuals within our community continue to understand and value the importance of our goal, which is to make communities safer.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary.

Mr. Randy Hillier: Again to the minister: I didn’t hear an answer as to whether the pilot project was undertaken or not. I’m astonished that the minister would not know if it had been undertaken or not.

Speaker, will the minister commit to this House to review my previous correspondence with the ministry on this subject—I can send some of it over with the page right now—and report back on the status of an active GPS electronic monitoring system so that women who have experienced domestic violence can have greater security than just a restraining order on a piece of paper?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: As the member opposite knows, we collectively, whether in opposition or in government, have studied many systems. We made many suggestions when we were in opposition.

As I mentioned, this is a multi-ministerial approach that we are reviewing.

I want to highlight something on violence against women, sex trafficking and human trafficking: We already have a current investment in our government of $174.5 million in funding for violence-against-women services. We are investing an additional $1.5 million in funding for rural front-line services.

I don’t think there is any doubt that we see challenges, whether it is in rural Ontario, where we have distance challenges, or in urban centres, where the increasing prevalence of human trafficking continues to become something that our police services—

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

Public transit

Mrs. Robin Martin: My question is for the best Minister of Transportation. As a Toronto MPP, I am proud that our government is delivering on our promise to tackle congestion in the GTA. For too long, gridlock has immobilized Toronto and the greater Toronto area, costing the province billions in economic productivity and Ontarians lost time and inconvenience.

Politicians here at Queen’s Park and city council have run in circles talking about transit but not getting anything done. We need less talking and more digging. We need to build a regional transit system that works for the residents of the GTA. We need to build subways, and we need to build them faster.

Could the minister please explain his plan to get subways built so that we can finally get Toronto and the region moving?

Hon. Jeff Yurek: Thanks to the member from Eglinton–Lawrence. Flattery will get you everywhere.

Mr. Speaker, transit is an important issue, and our government made a strong commitment to get it built. That was our plan at the start, it’s our plan now, and it’s our plan going into the future. That’s all it’s about: building transit. It’s not about playing political games, and it’s not about saying, “You’re stealing the transit from Toronto.” It’s about building transit faster, at a lower cost for the taxpayers of this province.

We campaigned to upload the subway from the TTC. We campaigned on finally giving Scarborough the transit they deserve. We campaigned on extending the Eglinton LRT. We campaigned on extending the TTC to the north of Yonge Street. We campaigned to finally build the Yonge relief line. And we’re going to get it done.

Interjections.

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

Restart the clock. Supplementary.

Mrs. Robin Martin: Thank you for that answer, Minister. It’s great to hear that our government for the people is sticking to its goal and its plan to build transit. We can’t be sidelined by politics. We need to deliver transit projects and subways right away. Unfortunately, the usual suspects at city hall are more interested in holding the region back and playing politics.

The people of Toronto and the GTA have waited years for transit to finally get built. For 15 years, they watched the Wynne Liberals fail to get the province moving. For decades, they watched Toronto city council fail to get the region moving.

Minister, the time for action is now. Can you commit today to taking the steps necessary to get subways built and the people of Toronto and the GTA moving easily?

Hon. Jeff Yurek: Thanks for that question. Mr. Speaker, we’re on the right track. Our government for the people is going to get shovels in the ground. Our government for the people is going to get people moving. We need to keep going on this right track. We will not let the NDP and the ideologues in city council hold us back any further. We have a plan, and we’re going to deliver that plan. We will expand transit to Scarborough, we will extend the Eglinton LRT, we will build a downtown relief line and we will extend the TTC north to York region. That is progress for the people of Ontario and we’re going to get this—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The House will come to order.

Start the clock. The next question is to the member for Davenport.

Education

Ms. Marit Stiles: My question is for the Minister of Education. With 10,000 education jobs set to vanish under the Conservative education plan, it’s important to consider the impact that losing even one teacher will have on students in Ontario’s small and rural schools. As boards meet to assess the damage, more details are slowly emerging. The Bluewater District School Board estimates at least 50 teaching jobs will be lost because of this plan. Grand Erie District School Board stands to lose 94 teaching positions as well as eight additional positions that focus on secondary school programming.

Speaker, how will taking away teachers help students in small and rural communities succeed?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: I’m very pleased to talk about how we’re particularly going to be supporting schools across this province, both in urban and rural Ontario, because we have a plan that’s going to work not only for parents and not only for teachers, but for students as well. When we talk about supporting our teachers, I want to be very clear, we’re investing. The province of Ontario is going to be investing to make sure that no one loses, involuntarily, their job.

The numbers that are being quoted across the way actually have nothing to do—but have a premise of fearmongering, Speaker. It’s very, very sad. It’s shameful that this party opposite is just grasping onto anything to try and fearmonger amongst our students, amongst our teachers and amongst our parents. As I said before, it is absolutely shameful because anyone who knows anything about school boards knows that this is the time of year that school boards take a look at their roster. They have to work through a process whereby they give notifications—

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: Mr. Speaker, the minister can’t keep avoiding these questions. These are numbers coming from the boards themselves as a result of this minister’s plan to cut education. For small and rural boards, losing teachers and support staff doesn’t just limit the one-on-one attention kids deserve. It also means lost opportunities to pursue a variety of subjects. When teachers with specialized qualifications in music, arts, technology, physics or French retire but are not replaced, those courses will be lost. High school teachers estimate 34,000 classes could be lost under this government’s scheme, and that will disproportionately hurt rural schools and rural students.

Speaker, the Liberals just spent 15 years attacking rural students by closing down their schools. Why is this government choosing to do the same?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Well, I can tell you this—I need to be very clear to everybody watching and listening to the type of rhetoric that is coming from across the floor—it’s absolutely shameful the manner in which this party opposite is trying to fearmonger, because the fact of the matter is we are supporting our classrooms. If we want the best learning environment possible, then that means supporting our teachers and supporting our students so, ultimately, parents once again have confidence in the Ontario education system.

Let me tell you what we’re going to be doing. As I said before, there will be no involuntary job losses. In fact, we’re going to be working with school boards and investing to make sure that nobody has any bad experience on behalf of a situation that the school boards may impose. The fact of the matter is, again, we’re investing over $1 billion to make sure nobody involuntarily loses their job. We’re going to get education in Ontario back on track, once and for all.

Beverage alcohol sales

Mr. Stan Cho: My question is for the Minister of Finance. Our government campaigned on a clear commitment to bring more choice and more convenience to the people of Ontario. And the people told us, loud and clear, they want our government to expand the sale of beverage alcohol into big box stores, more grocery stores and corner stores. We believe that the people of Ontario deserve to have more opportunity to access the products that they want to buy. We know our government has been making progress on fulfilling our commitment to the people of Ontario.

Mr. Speaker, it’s no secret that our family owes its success to its beginnings in the convenience store world. Now, with members of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association in the gallery today, could the minister please reiterate our government’s commitment to bringing more choice and more convenience to the people of Ontario?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you to the member from Willowdale. Our government is committed to improving choice and convenience for Ontario consumers. That is why we invited people to share their views on the sale and consumption of beverage alcohol in Ontario through province-wide, online consultations. We are currently reviewing the 33,000 responses which will help develop our plan to expand sales into corner, grocery and big box stores.

We believe Ontario consumers are mature enough and responsible enough to have the freedom to make the choices that are best for them. Through these changes, ensuring the safe, responsible consumption of alcohol remains our top priority. The people of Ontario told us they want to see these changes, and we plan to deliver.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary: the member for Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill.

Mr. Michael Parsa: I thank the minister for his response.

People across Ontario are excited about the prospect of having greater choice and convenience when buying beverage alcohol. Our government continues to make life easier for the people of Ontario, and we plan to continue this trend.

But let us take a moment to once again recognize the Ontario Convenience Stores Association at Queen’s Park today. These business owners are the cornerstones of their respective communities. We know they create jobs and invest in the communities they call home. They are part of the reason why our government is so focused on making Ontario open for business.

Could the minister please explain the importance of convenience stores in Ontario?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you to the member from Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill. It is a pleasure to welcome the Ontario Convenience Stores Association to Queen’s Park today. With over 7,500 members, half of whom are independent business owners, we’re thrilled to join them this morning to talk about being open for business and open for jobs. That is why we cancelled the cap-and-trade carbon tax, which saved businesses $880 million this year alone, that is why we’re giving businesses more time to adjust to the $14-an-hour minimum wage, and that is why we continue to cut red tape and reduce the regulatory burden that businesses face.

Through these changes, we want to continue supporting those in our business community who have been ignored for far too long.

Fundraising

Mr. Gilles Bisson: My question is to the Acting Premier. Yesterday we asked the Premier whether he would join us in asking Elections Ontario to review concerns about political party fundraising. The Premier raised serious issues here in the assembly, and if he really meant a word he said, surely he would want an investigation conducted.

Will he add his name to the letter that we authored yesterday?

Hon. Christine Elliott: To the government House leader.

Hon. Todd Smith: Speaker, I’m not exactly sure how this has anything to do with government policy, again, from the member opposite, but I’m happy to tell you we have raised a fair amount of money since becoming the government of Ontario because we’re working hard to do that. All of the fundraising that we’re doing in Ontario follows the rules that are laid out by the legislation that has been passed here in the Ontario Legislature.

That’s the same legislation that the official opposition would work within, we hope, and members of the independent realm over there. They would also have the opportunity to fundraise with those same rules in place, Mr. Speaker.

I can assure you that the fundraising that our party has done so far has been according to those rules. It’s been above board, and it’s actually been very successful, so I can understand why members of the opposition party, according to media reports, are a little upset, because this party is selling something that the people of Ontario want to buy; they’re not.

Interjections.

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

Supplementary question?

Mr. Gilles Bisson: Again to the Acting Premier: Other members of the assembly have said they’re ready to join us. In fact, some of those members sat in the government caucus not too long ago.

Maybe the Premier doesn’t want Elections Ontario looking into his $1,250-a-plate dinner and the lobbyists who were forced to sell those tickets. But we think that people deserve an answer. If the Premier doesn’t agree, he should say so. Otherwise, he should join us today.

Will you ask your Premier to sign the letter, along with other members of this assembly?

Hon. Todd Smith: Speaker, we have the rules. We have an elections officer. We have fundraisers that happen every day. Yes, we’ve had all kinds of $25 spaghetti dinners that the Premier has attended. We’re really looking forward to heading out on the barbecue circuit and putting the pasta to bed for a while—having some good old-fashioned hot dogs and maybe some hamburgers, and seeing the people of Ontario, the people who are happy with the direction this government is taking.

We had a big fundraiser. We had a really big fundraiser. It was a record fundraiser, as a matter of fact. The official opposition, the NDP, are having their own $800-a-plate fundraiser. I’m not sure if they followed the rules or not. There was some question about that. There was a lot of fuzziness. Maybe there will be an investigation into that. But they’re charging $800, and it comes with a special reward to spend time with the leader of the official opposition—

Interjections.

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

Next question?

Energy policies

Mr. Doug Downey: My question is for the PC—productive and competent—Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines.

After 15 long years, the previous Liberal government got complacent and tired. Their complacency caused waste and inefficiencies throughout all of government. The energy sector is an example of that waste, and the people of Ontario elected our government to clean it up. We cancelled the wasteful renewable energy projects our system never needed. We repealed the Green Energy Act to ensure the previous government’s waste wouldn’t continue.

Now we’re taking another step towards cleaning up the hydro mess, and I would ask the minister why it is so important we modernize the Ontario Energy Board.

Hon. Greg Rickford: I’m not sure I can rival that acronymology, but I’ll give my best effort, Mr. Speaker.

I spoke the other day at the Electricity Distributors Association. They were crying out for OEB modernization. Yesterday, at the Hydro One major customer conference, hundreds of people said, “Please reform the OEB,” tired of submissions in the thousands of pages, lengthy delays for approvals, and uncertainty around costs, and rate and regulatory matters. It’s time. This is the opportunity.

Last winter, the NDP stood in this place and said that we’re not delivering power for Ontario in the heart of the coldest winter. Now they’re saying that we’re not delivering power under a transparent model suggested and recommended by the Auditor General. Now they’re saying they don’t stand for delivering power for a modern OEB. They’re saying that we’re not delivering power under good principles of conservation that protect families, small businesses and Indigenous communities. We’re plugging the cord in for a brighter future and a—

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

Mr. Doug Downey: Thank you to the minister for that answer. There’s no doubt that under this minister’s leadership the OEB will once again become a competent regulator, one that helps us increase efficiency by cutting through unnecessary red tape that has been burdening our economy for many years.

But that’s not all our government is doing. We all know in this House how the previous government liked to spend money. They’ve never seen other people’s money they didn’t like to spend. When they ran out of that, they borrowed and taxed to spend more. Our government doesn’t do that. We respect the taxpayer.

Can the minister please tell the members of this House how we’re respecting the taxpayers with Bill 87, Fixing the Hydro Mess Act?

Hon. Greg Rickford: An appropriately named piece of legislation, it has indeed been described as a mess by not just people who pay their bills every month but by stakeholders who engage the OEB and the like, Mr. Speaker.

Listen to what the Auditor General had to say about things that go to cost. This was a significant and serious complaint. The Auditor General said, “Reducing electricity consumption through conservation efforts is of little value.... Investing in conservation during a time of surplus actually costs us more”—cost, cost, cost, Mr. Speaker.

Here’s another one, from Tom Adams and Ross McKitrick in 2016: “Conservation programs cost about $2 for every dollar they save.”

Mr. Speaker, we’re committed to keeping money in the pockets of the hard-working people of Ontario. We want to ensure that their energy bills are affordable and that they see in a transparent manner how much electricity is subsidized in moving forward, Mr. Speaker, to pursue a cut model and relieve Ontarians from the high cost of energy and the mess that was created.

Youth employment

Mr. Faisal Hassan: My question is to the Minister of Education. For eight years now, FoodShare Toronto has employed, supported and mentored up to 20 students each summer while providing them the opportunity to earn up to two co-op credits. FoodShare prioritizes students who are behind in credits, newcomers, students from low-income families, racialized students and students with learning disabilities. Because of this government’s cuts to our youth, FoodShare Toronto has been unable to participate in March break job programs and spring after-school programs.

Why is this government turning its back on organizations like FoodShare, which arm students with the skills to allow them to succeed in today’s workplace?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: I am pleased to stand and address this question in the sense that I need to be very clear; I want to be crystal clear. We are investing in students and we’re investing in programs that are going to make sure that they have the job skills and the life skills they need to go out and get a really good job.

I want to talk about just being at FIRST Robotics up in Barrie a couple of weekends ago. I was joined by member Downey and member Khanjin, and it was an amazing display of teamwork, of people, both mentors and teachers, excited about the students that they are enabling to embrace STEM in a very unique way. Those are the skills that they know our students need in order to move forward in the jobs of today and tomorrow. Those skills are the ones we’re investing in and getting right once and for all in the learning environments in Ontario.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Mr. Faisal Hassan: Again, my question is to the Minister of Education. Under this government’s watch, Ontario’s youth unemployment rate is 12.3%, higher than the rate for the rest of Canada. This Conservative government claims to be all about jobs but they do not seem to care about jobs for the youth in communities like York South–Weston.

Leaving programs like FoodShare Toronto in the dark about whether or not they will be able to continue to employ, educate and support students shows where the government’s real priorities lie, and it is not with our youth.

When will this government stop balancing its budget on the backs of our young people?

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: Again, I want to stand in front of everyone in this House today and say it’s our PC government of Ontario that’s actually going to be able to tout the success that we have in making sure our students have the job skills and life skills they need for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

Some of those skills actually involve embracing technology for good. I want to share an example of something that we’ve just learned about today. McDonald’s Canada, for the first time, is today accepting applications from students via Snapchat. I’m telling you, Speaker, we need to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to invest in proper studies, in a proper curriculum, so that our students are equipped to work with the means amongst them. Technology for good is absolutely a means to an end whereby we want to make sure they have the skills to go out and pursue jobs that they’re going to have satisfaction in.

Honest to goodness, Speaker, I’m excited about where we’re going with our Ontario curriculum because it’s going to make sure—

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

Next question.

Special-needs sports programs

Mr. Dave Smith: My question is for the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. In Ontario, we have more than 70 organizations involved in special-needs hockey, some of whom were in the House today as we celebrate Ontario’s first-ever Special Hockey Day. As I outlined in my original private member’s bill, Special Hockey Day coincides with the start of the 2019 Special Hockey International Tournament. Recognizing this day is important to raise awareness for the many special hockey organizations across Ontario and celebrate all of these exceptional athletes.

Can the minister inform the Legislature how our government for the people is working to promote Ontario’s first-ever Special Hockey Day?

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Mr. Speaker, through you, I’d like to thank the member for Peterborough–Kawartha for his fantastic question and also commend him for the great work that he does advocating on behalf of people with special needs. I know how important this cause is to him, and this day shows the power that individual members can have in this place when they’re passionate about a cause. I also want to thank the Minister of Finance for incorporating the legislation into the fall economic statement so that we were able to ensure that Special Hockey Day was enshrined in law at this time.

An international hockey tournament provides athletes the opportunity to compete against the best from around the world, allowing them to perfect their skills. It teaches the athletes the importance of teamwork and the value of working together, and it creates memories and friendships that last a lifetime. I’m honoured, along with my colleagues, to welcome all the athletes to this tournament. Congratulations to all.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary.

Mr. Dave Smith: I’d like to thank the minister for his answer. As he said, today is the opening ceremonies for the 25th anniversary of the Special Hockey International Tournament. It’s the first time it’s been back in Ontario since the great riding of Peterborough–Kawartha hosted it in 2017. This year’s festivities are being held in Toronto at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, formerly known as Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens. This milestone event is being hosted by the Grandravine Tornadoes. I would like to take this time to wish all of the athletes who will be competing a safe and fun tournament.

Would the minister update the Legislature on how our government for the people is supporting our special-needs athletes?

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Thank you to the member for that question. Our government is committed to helping athletes with special needs realize their full potential. I’m happy to say that Special Olympics Ontario is a recognized provincial sports organization and receives funding through the Ontario Amateur Sport Fund. We also provide project-based funding to help deliver national and international amateur sports events in Ontario, like the 2019 International Special Olympics Ontario Invitational Youth Games being held here in Ontario.

Our government also recognizes how powerful sports truly are to the province of Ontario. This tournament is a great way to recognize the unique talents of special hockey players from here in Ontario.

I want to echo the member from Peterborough–Kawartha when I say good luck to all the athletes competing in the tournament and wish everyone a very special first-ever Special Hockey Day.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): That concludes our question period this morning.

World Theatre Day

Ms. Jill Andrew: I just want to tell everyone that it’s World Theatre Day. I’d like to give a shout-out to b current, Tarragon Theatre, Solar Stage theatre and SExT—Sex Education by Theatre—and to so many others in Toronto–St. Paul’s. I encourage us all to celebrate our theatres and support our theatre, our theatre workers, our art educators and art producers.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I want to thank the government side for their assistance. I appreciate it very much.

Visitors

Mr. Sheref Sabawy: I would like to welcome Mirza Naseem Baig from the Ahmadiyya community, visiting us at Queen’s Park. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Mississauga–Malton on a point of order.

Mr. Deepak Anand: I’d also like to take the opportunity to welcome Naveed Ahmad Khan, Hadi Ali Chaudhry, Mukhtar Cheema and Abid Maqbool, along with Mirza Naseem Baig from Mississauga. Thank you for coming to Queen’s Park.

Deferred Votes

Time allocation

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): We have a deferred vote on the amendment to government notice of motion number 33 relating to allocation of time on Bill 74,

An Act concerning the provision of health care, continuing Ontario Health and making consequential and related amendments and repeals.

The division bells rang from 1145 to 1150.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Close the doors. I’m going to ask the members now to take their seats.

On March 26, 2019, Mr. Bisson moved an amendment to government notice of motion number 33, relating to allocation of time on Bill 74. All those in favour of Mr. Bisson’s motion will please rise one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.

Ayes

Andrew, Jill

Armstrong, Teresa J.

Arthur, Ian

Begum, Doly

Bell, Jessica

Berns-McGown, Rima

Bisson, Gilles

Bourgouin, Guy

Burch, Jeff

Coteau, Michael

Des Rosiers, Nathalie

Fife, Catherine

Fraser, John

French, Jennifer K.

Gates, Wayne

Gélinas, France

Glover, Chris

Gretzky, Lisa

Harden, Joel

Hassan, Faisal

Hatfield, Percy

Hillier, Randy

Horwath, Andrea

Karpoche, Bhutila

Kernaghan, Terence

Lalonde, Marie-France

Lindo, Laura Mae

Mamakwa, Sol

Miller, Paul

Monteith-Farrell, Judith

Morrison, Suze

Rakocevic, Tom

Sattler, Peggy

Schreiner, Mike

Shaw, Sandy

Singh, Gurratan

Singh, Sara

Stiles, Marit

Tabuns, Peter

Taylor, Monique

Vanthof, John

West, Jamie

Wynne, Kathleen O.

Yarde, Kevin

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

Nays

Anand, Deepak

Baber, Roman

Babikian, Aris

Bailey, Robert

Barrett, Toby

Bethlenfalvy, Peter

Bouma, Will

Calandra, Paul

Cho, Raymond Sung Joon

Cho, Stan

Clark, Steve

Coe, Lorne

Crawford, Stephen

Cuzzetto, Rudy

Downey, Doug

Dunlop, Jill

Elliott, Christine

Fedeli, Victor

Fee, Amy

Ford, Doug

Fullerton, Merrilee

Ghamari, Goldie

Gill, Parm

Hardeman, Ernie

Harris, Mike

Hogarth, Christine

Jones, Sylvia

Kanapathi, Logan

Karahalios, Belinda

Ke, Vincent

Khanjin, Andrea

Kramp, Daryl

Kusendova, Natalia

Lecce, Stephen

MacLeod, Lisa

Martin, Robin

Martow, Gila

McKenna, Jane

McNaughton, Monte

Miller, Norman

Mulroney, Caroline

Nicholls, Rick

Oosterhoff, Sam

Pang, Billy

Park, Lindsey

Parsa, Michael

Pettapiece, Randy

Phillips, Rod

Piccini, David

Rasheed, Kaleed

Rickford, Greg

Roberts, Jeremy

Romano, Ross

Sabawy, Sheref

Sandhu, Amarjot

Sarkaria, Prabmeet Singh

Scott, Laurie

Skelly, Donna

Smith, Dave

Smith, Todd

Surma, Kinga

Tangri, Nina

Thanigasalam, Vijay

Thompson, Lisa M.

Tibollo, Michael A.

Triantafilopoulos, Effie J.

Wai, Daisy

Walker, Bill

Yakabuski, John

Yurek, Jeff

The Clerk of the Assembly (Mr. Todd Decker): The ayes are 44; the nays are 70.

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

Is the House prepared to vote on the main motion?

Interjection: Yes.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Ms. Elliott has moved government notice of motion number 33 relating to allocation of time on Bill 74,

An Act concerning the provision of health care, continuing Ontario Health and making consequential and related amendments and repeals.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard some noes.

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

All those opposed will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Call in the members. This will be a five-minute bell.

The division bells rang from 1155 to 1156.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Ms. Elliott has moved government notice of motion number 33 relating to the allocation of time on Bill 74.

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

Ayes

Anand, Deepak

Baber, Roman

Babikian, Aris

Bailey, Robert

Barrett, Toby

Bethlenfalvy, Peter

Bouma, Will

Calandra, Paul

Cho, Raymond Sung Joon

Cho, Stan

Clark, Steve

Coe, Lorne

Crawford, Stephen

Cuzzetto, Rudy

Downey, Doug

Dunlop, Jill

Elliott, Christine

Fedeli, Victor

Fee, Amy

Ford, Doug

Fullerton, Merrilee

Ghamari, Goldie

Gill, Parm

Hardeman, Ernie

Harris, Mike

Hogarth, Christine

Jones, Sylvia

Kanapathi, Logan

Karahalios, Belinda

Ke, Vincent

Khanjin, Andrea

Kramp, Daryl

Kusendova, Natalia

Lecce, Stephen

MacLeod, Lisa

Martin, Robin

Martow, Gila

McKenna, Jane

McNaughton, Monte

Miller, Norman

Mulroney, Caroline

Nicholls, Rick

Oosterhoff, Sam

Pang, Billy

Park, Lindsey

Parsa, Michael

Pettapiece, Randy

Phillips, Rod

Piccini, David

Rasheed, Kaleed

Rickford, Greg

Roberts, Jeremy

Romano, Ross

Sabawy, Sheref

Sandhu, Amarjot

Sarkaria, Prabmeet Singh

Scott, Laurie

Skelly, Donna

Smith, Dave

Smith, Todd

Surma, Kinga

Tangri, Nina

Thanigasalam, Vijay

Thompson, Lisa M.

Tibollo, Michael A.

Triantafilopoulos, Effie J.

Wai, Daisy

Walker, Bill

Yakabuski, John

Yurek, Jeff

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

Nays

Andrew, Jill

Armstrong, Teresa J.

Arthur, Ian

Begum, Doly

Bell, Jessica

Berns-McGown, Rima

Bisson, Gilles

Bourgouin, Guy

Burch, Jeff

Coteau, Michael

Des Rosiers, Nathalie

Fife, Catherine

Fraser, John

French, Jennifer K.

Gates, Wayne

Gélinas, France

Glover, Chris

Gretzky, Lisa

Harden, Joel

Hassan, Faisal

Hatfield, Percy

Hillier, Randy

Horwath, Andrea

Karpoche, Bhutila

Kernaghan, Terence

Lalonde, Marie-France

Lindo, Laura Mae

Mamakwa, Sol

Miller, Paul

Monteith-Farrell, Judith

Morrison, Suze

Rakocevic, Tom

Sattler, Peggy

Schreiner, Mike

Shaw, Sandy

Singh, Gurratan

Singh, Sara

Stiles, Marit

Tabuns, Peter

Taylor, Monique

Vanthof, John

West, Jamie

Wynne, Kathleen O.

Yarde, Kevin

The Clerk of the Assembly (Mr. Todd Decker): The ayes are 70; the nays are 44.

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

Motion agreed to.

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

The House recessed from 1200 to 1500.

Order of business

Mr. Michael Coteau: Point of order.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I understand the member for Don Valley East has a point of order.

Mr. Michael Coteau: I hope it’s appropriate timing, Mr. Speaker, but I’d like to ask for unanimous consent to deliver a member’s statement in place of the member from Thunder Bay–Superior North. I hope my timing is right.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Don Valley East is seeking the unanimous consent of the House to do a member’s statement in place of the member for Thunder Bay–Superior North. Agreed? Agreed.

Introduction of Visitors

Mr. Sheref Sabawy: I would like to take the opportunity to welcome the Conservative youth association from UTM. Welcome to Queen’s Park. They are in the gallery today. I hope they enjoy their time at Queen’s Park.

Mr. David Piccini: He stole my thunder. I, too, on behalf of MTCU, would like to welcome what we call the “shuttle bus Tories” from Mississauga—not to be confused with the minivan party; there are many more in our shuttle bus Tories club here.

Welcome to Queen’s Park, and thanks for joining us this afternoon.

Miss Monique Taylor: I would like to welcome many families who will be joining us in the gallery today with autistic children and providers. Some of my friends who are here today are Sarah Klodnicki and Nancy Silva-Khan. I see Karen Botji in the gallery.

I know many folks who are with us today. I don’t want to mess up everybody’s name and leave anybody out. Welcome to you all.

Mrs. Nina Tangri: I also wanted to say welcome to our great students from UTM, as we call them.

I just want to give one little special shout-out to Livon Mamiza, who was a volunteer on my campaign and knocked on doors day and night with me. Thank you, Livon, for coming.

Mrs. Belinda Karahalios: I, too, would like to introduce the University of Toronto Mississauga students—the UTM alumni. It is my honour to welcome them to the Legislature.

Mrs. Amy Fee: I would like to welcome a couple of autism parents who are in the gallery today and that I had the privilege of meeting with this afternoon. Kristen Ellison is from Cobourg, and Stacy Kennedy is from Oakville.

Order of business

Mr. Mike Schreiner: Point of order.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Point of order: the member for Guelph.

Mr. Mike Schreiner: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to move a motion without notice regarding the independent time to respond to the ministerial statement on education reform.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Guelph is seeking the unanimous consent of the House to move a motion with respect to the opportunity to respond to the minister’s statement today on education. Agreed? Agreed.

The member for Guelph.

Mr. Mike Schreiner: I move that the time for independent response to the ministerial statement on education reform be split between the MPP for Scarborough–Guildwood and the MPP for Guelph.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Mr. Schreiner has moved that the time for independent response to the ministerial statement on education reform be split between the MPP for Scarborough–Guildwood and the MPP for Guelph. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

Motion agreed to.

Members’ Statements

Public transit

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Last night, we learned that Premier Ford wants to rip up the plans to build a relief line from Pape station to downtown. His team tells Toronto he doesn’t want to connect to the Danforth subway line. He wants a whole new technology in place and, in coded language, he says he wants it to be built by a private company.

Let’s set everything else aside about why it’s a bad idea for Premier Ford to run the subway. Set aside the questionable real estate deals, the redirection of the system to serve his political goals and not the people of Toronto, the privatization of the operations. Let’s just look at the move to stop progress on the construction of a vital transit link and throw it all into chaos.

This is what he and his brother did with Transit City almost a decade ago, and their actions then, in blocking new transit, contributed to gridlock in our city. People have difficulty now getting on the subway at rush hour along the Danforth, and slowing down the solution to that problem is madness. People in Toronto have seen the Premier destroy transit before, and no one is surprised, even if they are upset, that he is doing it again.

How can the Premier blame the city for slowing down subway building when he is saying directly that he’s going to throw out years of planning and consultation to start over? The Premier talks about building transit, but all he’s doing here is blocking it. Speaker, I’m asking him to stop this nonsense, get out of the way, guarantee the funding and get on with building a relief line so people can get to work now.

Arturo Comegna

Mr. Ross Romano: Today I am very excited to highlight an incredible constituent of mine, Arturo Comegna, owner and chef of Antico Ristorante in Sault Ste. Marie. Arturo was recently highlighted by the LCBO during their “winter recipes and northern Ontario” chef profile. The profile was done in a Master Chef competition style where Arturo’s creation was a cornflake-crusted Arctic char filet on an apple-beet salad paired with a Creekside Sauvignon Blanc, and from the pictures online it looks absolutely incredible.

Mr. Comegna first got his passion for cooking at the very young age of 12 when he first started waiting on tables. Now, at the age of 60 years, Arturo is living out his dream and his passion for cooking is as strong as ever.

I have a fun little story. My dad used to tell me stories about Arturo when I was a young child. He and Arturo had immigrated from Italy together to Sault Ste. Marie and worked together at Algoma Steel. Art was waiting tables on the side at a restaurant called Rico’s and used to always say to my dad, “Tony, you’ve got to come with me and go work at Rico’s. I make a lot more money here. It’s great.” My dad said, “Are yo