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October 19, 2021

42nd Parliament, 2nd Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2021-Oct-19 (PDF)

L006 - Tue 19 Oct 2021 / Mar 19 oct 2021

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Tuesday 19 October 2021 Mardi 19 octobre 2021

Orders of the Day

Throne speech debate

Report, Financial Accountability Officer

Members’ Statements

Events in Nickel Belt

Portraits of Giving

Elder abuse

School facilities

Small business

COVID-19 response

Dental hygienists

Community support services

Small business

Meredith “Mert” Schneider

Wearing of ribbons and shirts

Legislative pages

Sandie Bellows

Visitors

Question Period

COVID-19 immunization

Automotive industry

Premier’s comments

Small business

Tenant protection

COVID-19 response

Long-term care

Automobile insurance

Autism treatment

Municipal planning

Medical interpreters

COVID-19 immunization

Optometry services

Garde d’enfants / Child care

Addiction services

Deferred Votes

Time allocation

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on Government Agencies

Introduction of Bills

Rent Stabilization Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur la stabilisation des loyers

Petitions

Highway safety

Optometry services

Optometry services

Gasoline prices

Child care

Services d’optométrie

Tenant protection

Long-term care

Optometry services

Optometry services

Optometry services

Orders of the Day

York Region Wastewater Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur les eaux usées dans la région de York

York Region Wastewater Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur les eaux usées dans la région de York

Private Members’ Public Business

Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur le Comité consultatif des soins de santé axés sur l’affirmation de genre

Adjournment Debate

COVID-19 immunization

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Throne speech debate

Consideration of the speech of Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor at the opening of the session.

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: I move, seconded by Ms. Skelly, that an humble address be presented to Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor as follows:

To the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario:

We, Her Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, now assembled, beg leave to thank Your Honour for the gracious speech Your Honour has been pleased to address to us at the opening of the present session.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Mr. Pettapiece has moved, seconded by Ms. Skelly, that an humble address be presented to Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor as follows:

To the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario:

We, Her Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, now assembled, beg leave to thank Your Honour for the gracious speech Your Honour has been pleased to address to us at the opening of the present session.

Further debate?

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: Speaker, it has always been an honour to rise in this chamber to represent the good people of Perth–Wellington. I will be sharing my time with the government House leader, the Associate Minister of Transportation, and the member from Flamborough–Glanbrook.

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: Like the member for Perth–Wellington, it is always an honour to rise. Mr. Speaker, I know the throne speech has a lot of tradition that comes with a speech from the throne. One of those things, of course, is the address and the motion to move that address. The honour of moving that is given to a member of the House. In this instance, it’s a long-serving member who has done great work for his community, somebody I know that all of us on this side of the House, and I know members across the aisle, have always come to respect and honour for his incredible work. I thank him for that, Mr. Speaker.

Speaker, as I said, a throne speech is an important time in the life of a Parliament and it’s an important time also in the life of a government. Throne speeches can signify the beginning of a brand new Parliament following an election or the transition from one phase to another phase in the life of a government. Of course, in this instance it is that transition from one phase of governing to another phase of governing.

I think it’s important for us to take a look at where we have been over the last couple of years as we look at the importance of the throne speech to the government going forward. When we came to office in 2018, Mr. Speaker, it was following 15 years of governing from the Liberal Party, and there were a number of things that the people of the province of Ontario asked this Parliament to address. We were seeing a province that was burdened, that was overregulated, too much red tape. We saw a province that was driving out jobs by the thousands.

I think by the time we took office in 2018, over 300,000 manufacturing jobs had left the province of Ontario. We saw a province that had gone from a jurisdiction with some of the lowest electricity rates in North America to a jurisdiction with some of the highest electricity rates.

And it wasn’t because the people of the province of Ontario didn’t understand how to continue giving the people of this province the lowest rates; it was because the previous government decided to go down a path that changed forever—not forever, but for a long time to come—everybody’s perspective on hydro rates and the importance of it in building a strong economy. I think it bears noting, is worth noting, what that meant for the people of the province of Ontario and how difficult it made it for a new government back in 2018 to begin to attract jobs.

Let’s be very clear, Mr. Speaker: We all support the transition to a green economy; we all support or understand the importance of ensuring that we use alternative energies—wind and solar. These are very, very important elements in building a strong electricity sector, a sector that is one of the greenest in North America. But the way it was done by the previous Liberal government obviously drove out jobs from the province of Ontario, drove those rates up. Equally importantly, it really put pressure on homeowners, and we’re starting—not starting, but we have seen that pressure increase constantly.

One of the things we also got elected on was a commitment to end hallway health care. Now, what did that mean? What is hallway health care? Because every single government—we heard it from the Liberals in 2003, we heard it again in 2007, and we heard it from the Liberals in 2011 and in 2014 that they were going to do their best to end hallway health care but never did anything about it.

I said it yesterday in question period, and I think it bears repeating, because the people of the province of Ontario need to understand why we are where we’re at today. I think that helps frame the discussion in the latter part of my speech with respect to where we are going. Investments in health care, or lack of investments in health care, have always put pressure on the people of the province of Ontario. It has led to backups in surgeries; it has led to challenges across the province. It is one of those things that also drives away jobs in the province of Ontario.

One of the things that helps attract people to this province—low cost of energy, the Liberals increased it; better health care systems, the Liberals failed to make investments; a strong education system, they failed to make investments in education, in fact closing down schools, I think over 600 schools in the province of Ontario. They failed our students when it came to the curriculum. We saw in maths and sciences, our kids were failing at them in record numbers. And it wasn’t because our students weren’t capable; it was because the systems that were put in place by the Liberals were failing them.

It wasn’t that our teachers weren’t capable; it was because the Liberals failed to put in place systems that would support our teachers, that would support our students. That’s part of the context that we saw in 2018 when we were campaigning and when we came to office.

We have talked a lot about long-term care. It is something that we talked about as a party prior to the election. We said it was very important that we begin to make investments in long-term care, and we saw—and have continued to see—during the pandemic how important it is that we make those investments, but how devastating it has been to the province of Ontario that for 15 years the Liberals failed to make those investments.

I have talked about it a number of times. The Minister of Long-Term Care has approved, in my riding alone, over 900 new long-term-care beds. That, of course, is significantly more than the Liberals built in their entire time in office—

Hon. Monte McNaughton: In the province.

Hon. Paul Calandra: In the whole province, yes. I thank the Minister of Labour for that. Province-wide.

That’s not just something from my riding; it’s all of us. Every single member of this House suffered under 15 years of Liberal rule that failed to put investments in health care, that failed to put investments in ICU capacity, failed to put investments in critical care capacity, failed to put investments in long-term care. Every single riding in this province has suffered as a result of that, Mr. Speaker. That is the legacy of the previous Liberal government, and it is what has shaped us and put us in the position we are in today and that we were starting to fight when we came to office.

We’ve also heard—and it’s something that we’ve talked about a lot; I know the Minister of Labour has brought this up many, many times. We were beginning to fail. The economy was beginning to fail because we did not have the skilled workers we needed to keep this economy going—skilled workers that, of course, for generations, have been the backbone of the Ontario economy, skilled workers that have given us a subway, skilled workers that have given us nuclear reactors.

A tiny province like the province of Ontario at the time was able to build a Candu reactor, which gave us generations—and will continue to give us generations—of clean energy, the likes of which is the envy of the rest of the world. But as the Minister of Labour noted, we were failing in that department, again because the Liberals spent so much time on bureaucracy and not enough time on thinking of what we could do to actually encourage workers to come here. What was the result of that, Mr. Speaker?

The result of all of those things was that Ontario was one of the highest indebted jurisdictions in the world, one of the highest indebted sub-sovereign governments. We had a devastatingly large deficit. We needed investments in critical infrastructure; we didn’t have the money to make those investments. Our education system was failing students. Our health care system was failing patients. Jobs were leaving the province of Ontario. Manufacturing was suffering. And the people of the province of Ontario were suffering under high debt. The cost of living was increasing, Speaker. We knew that we had to get going right away, and that’s what we did.

We got going right away. We cut taxes for our small and medium job creators. We began to reform the education system, modernizing the curriculum so that our students could compete. We built new schools. We built new long-term care; we’re building more long-term care. We’re building roads. We’re building transit. We’re making the investments that are needed to make the Ontario economy strong, not just for today, but for tomorrow and for generations to come, Mr. Speaker. That’s what governments do.

We do it, and we’ve heard from a lot of people. Admittedly, some Conservative partisans ask me why we’re investing. Nobody on this side of the House has ever asked me, I’ll tell you that. But some Conservative partisans would say to you, “Why are you investing in a subway in Toronto that goes through ridings you never win and might never win?” Because it’s good for the economy of the province of Ontario, and that’s what a good government does. We don’t do what Liberals do. We don’t govern for winning elections and then do nothing. We govern for the people of the province of Ontario, and that’s what we’re doing.

We suspect—and I know it to be true—that when you give the people of the province of Ontario good government, they will reward you for giving them good government. But it’s not something that they hope for. It’s an expectation that they have, that when they send us here to do things, we will do it on their behalf regardless of what that means to our political fortunes. Because the people who are at home, the people who get up every single day, the people who were on the Don Valley with me this morning stuck behind a massive traffic jam because of an accident don’t care about us winning our ridings.

They care about the province moving forward. That’s all they care about, and that’s all they should care about, because that’s why they sent us here to do the job we do.

But, obviously, everything changed for us when the pandemic hit. In March 2020, it changed, not just for us, but for all members of this Legislature. I’ve said it a number of times, and I’ll say it again to the extent to which I’m allowed to be proud of a Legislature: This Parliament has done an exceptionally good job. We didn’t do what other Parliaments did; we didn’t run and hide and have a Zoom Parliament. We came here and we have done our jobs on both sides of the House. The opposition have held us accountable, and the government has moved forward with an agenda.

But we’ve seen what that lack of investments meant. I said it yesterday in question period. Imagine that the province of Ontario, one of the strongest economies in North America, a province that on its own would be a G20 economy, was brought to its knees, which suffered the longest lockdowns, the most severe restrictions to fight COVID-19 because of a lack of ICU capacity across the province of Ontario. Eight hundred people in ICUs across the province brought this province to a standstill for months, longer than other jurisdictions—completely, completely unacceptable. It’s not just me saying it’s unacceptable.

It’s our small, medium and large job creators who say it’s unacceptable; it’s the people of the province of Ontario who say it’s unacceptable. That is why we began to increase that capacity before the pandemic, because we wanted to tackle hallway health care, because it was unreasonable that people would wait months for surgeries. We started to increase that. We continued that and we will continue to do that post-pandemic.

We fought the pandemic head-on, but we never once did what other jurisdictions did and decided, “Let’s just make it only about COVID.” There are other important things that are happening. The economy is very important, both while you’re fighting COVID and as you come out of COVID, so we’re continuing to make investments.

Speaker, I reference this: your hard work in your region. The hard work of the Speaker in his region to help secure a new hospital for his community, something that the Premier and the Minister of Health helped move on its way yesterday with a further investment. Again, Speaker, I congratulate you for years of hard work in making that happen, but this Parliament made that happen; the things that we did, the changes in the investments that we made have made that happen.

Now we move forward with a throne speech that looks at everything we have done since coming to office. It’s not just about the hundred bills that we’ve passed, the record number of private members’ bills that we’ve passed, the fact that this Parliament was willing to sit late into June, into July, in August. It’s not all about that; it’s about now moving forward. And that’s what the throne speech does.

This was, of course, one of the longest first sessions in the history of the province of Ontario—three years—and so much accomplished. Now we’ve set down markers for the next phase of the fight on COVID, but also the next phase to repair the economy of Ontario as we come out of COVID. It is also a reflection on the fact that, of course, the people of the province of Ontario will have a decision to make in a number of months with respect to who will get the honour of serving them for the years ahead. I know some of the opposition are going to get up and say, “Well, it was a thin throne speech.

It didn’t have a lot to say on a lot of different areas,” but the throne speech was a reflection of where we were, what we’re doing and the fact that this Parliament will come to its end in May of next year for an election on June 2.

What do we have on offer in the throne speech? A continued focus on fighting the pandemic, yes, and that’s what we’re seeing. The Minister of Digital Government has brought forward—what I have heard from small businesses that have downloaded the app and some, I will say, very small businesses in my community that have been very, very challenged because of their disappointment that they’ve had to be closed longer than others, but who have said that the app—one said it was a game-changer, that it was a brilliant app and he didn’t think that a government could actually get something like this done.

I thank the Minister of Digital Government. That’s part of what’s important as we move forward. It’s that app, it’s the certificates that allow us to maintain and keep our businesses open. It’s the fact that we’re going to continue to fight COVID by continuing those investments that have given us the ability to move from 5,000 tests a day to 100,000. That’s good news for the people of the province of Ontario.

It’s a recognition of the fact that we have to continue to make historic investments in transit and transportation, because as the member from Willowdale will know and the member for Burlington will know and the member for Aurora–Oak Ridges, who probably was delayed in getting here with me today because of an accident on the Don Valley, we have to continue making those investments. We need to get people moving around the province quicker, we need to build more roads, and we need to build more transit and transportation, because that’s what’s important to building an economy.

I was fortunate to be part of a government in Ottawa—well, not fortunate that there was a recession, the Great Recession, at the time. But one of the things that we decided to do to fight the recession in 2008, unlike many other jurisdictions around the world, one of the things that we decided to do in Ottawa at the time was to make important investments in infrastructure. We made important investments in arts and culture—in fact, one of the only G7 countries that decided that we have to make investments in arts and culture because it’s important to the fabric of a society and also a massive economic driver.

But the other thing we did, despite the fact that everybody told us we shouldn’t, was we increased immigration, a massive increase in immigration in the time of a recession. A lot of people told us at the time—and the member for Barrie–Innisfil will remember because she was working with us at the time—“You can’t do that in a recession. You can’t increase immigration in a time of recession.” But, Mr. Speaker, we did it. What we showed when we did that is that when you allow people to come to the province of Ontario, they will help build a province, they will help build a country.

That is also what we are going to do on this side of the House because we’ve seen that the investments we’re making, the changes that we’ve made to the economy, are leading to a revival of the economy the likes of which we have not seen in this province for decades. We have thousands of jobs that are going unfilled.

As I was coming here today, I had to veer off the road a few times. The signs on the sides of the road said, “We are hiring. We are hiring.” As I look in my riding, people are hiring. They can’t fill the jobs, Speaker.

We have made a commitment on this side of the House, and I hope that all members will support us on this, that we need to increase immigration to the province of Ontario, because if we don’t do that, we can’t fill the jobs—

Ms. Catherine Fife: You should tell that to the Premier.

Hon. Paul Calandra: —the jobs that are needed for the people of the province of Ontario, the jobs that will help grow a strong economy. And I will tell that to the people who want to come to this province. I thank the member because she also knows how important it is, Mr. Speaker.

It’s not the fact that we’re surrounded by people who have come from different countries, but this economy needs people to come here. I say this very directly, in the context of the throne speech debate, that we need the federal government to take action, to open the borders, so that we can get immigrants—desperately needed immigrants—to the province of Ontario. This needs to happen now, Mr. Speaker. It is very, very important to us; it’s important to the economy, and I think all of us would agree on that.

I hope my Liberal friends would agree to take up that mantle as well. It is somewhat awkward that when the Liberal leader did set down his marker—I said it yesterday: The Liberal leader set down his marker on what his platform would be. So, at a time when we have thousands of jobs to fill, the Liberal leader wants to go to a four-day work week.

Also, his big proposal is to make it easier to elect Liberals. He wants to change the electoral system to make it easier to elect Liberals. I guess the fact that the people of the province of Ontario reduced them to seven seats sits poorly with him. It’s not a reflection of how bad a party they were or how bad a government they were; it’s more a mistake of the voting system, according to the leader of the Liberal Party.

I guess he thought that up as he was lounging by his illegal pool that he built. He was a minister for a short period of time. He didn’t know that you had to get a permit to build a pool on conservation lands. How could you know that when you’ve been Minister of Transportation for that long?

Mr. Speaker, look, Ontario is in a good position. Ontario has done a lot of good things. The people of the province of Ontario have done a lot of good things. There is a lot of hard work left to come. The throne speech helps us talk about what we’ve done and where we’re going. I’m very excited about the future of the province of Ontario, and I thank you for the opportunity to speak.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): When he kicked off the debate this morning, the member for Perth–Wellington did say he would be sharing his time. I turn to the Associate Minister of Transportation.

Hon. Stan Cho: Good morning. What a pleasure it is, especially to follow the government House leader after those remarks, but here we go.

Before I begin, and I’m not sure if I’m even allowed to do this or not, but I guess I’ll find out. I want to congratulate and welcome back Valerie to the Clerks’ table, and congratulate her on her little one.

You know, Speaker, I was walking up the south lawn of Queen’s Park this morning, as I often do, and just reflecting on what a 19 months this has been. I think some of my colleagues in this chamber will recall during our orientation back in 2018, three and a half years ago, the outgoing Speaker, Speaker Levac, reminded us all that since Ontario’s Legislature sat—and we are older than Canada itself; the first Legislature sitting in 1792—that only 3,000 or so individuals have had the privilege to call themselves members of provincial Parliament. We are in exclusive company and it really humbles you to think that we have a job to do, elected for our constituents, that not many people got to do.

That’s even more humbling when you consider the fact that we are living through a global pandemic, a situation, a tragedy that has affected everyone around the world. When you think back from 1792, how many points in history can we say that this has been the case in the Legislature? Not many times—the two great wars, some other tragedies throughout our history, but really, in that company, in that light, very few elected officials can say they had the honour of serving and making such important decisions during such a pivotal time in human history.

Speaker, it is with great humility and honour I stand this morning to debate the throne speech. My purpose and my remarks this morning will be twofold: to reminisce on what happened over this crazy year and a half and to look to the future, to look ahead at what’s to come, because there are some great things to come.

It was March 2020 when we decided to call a state of emergency in Ontario, and that meant making sure that we were ready for the unknown. Being ready for the unknown means being prudent in every single way, being adaptable.

I think back to when we were first elected, and the House leader mentioned this in his remarks: We formed government at a time when the people of Ontario absolutely needed us. The House leader mentioned a little bit of the fiscal situation we were in, but I want to remind members of this Legislature how dire that situation actually was. The House leader mentioned that we were the most indebted sub-sovereign nation on the planet. What does that mean? We had a deficit of $12 billion. What does that mean? It means we had a debt of $300 billion. What does that mean?

It means that the fourth-largest expenditure in our government, after health care, education and social services, was interest on our debt. That means we were spending almost $400 a second—a second—on interest, the equivalent of flushing dollars down the toilet. That’s unacceptable, because times were good in 2018. We had the potential to have a record economy here. The job growth under our government was staggering before the pandemic.

It always reminds me during those times of my life—growing up in Rexdale, my parents owned a convenience store. It was then that I learned the lesson of fiscal prudence. I’ll never forget that day. I was eight years old, and the store was busy. I remember that very clearly. My mom and dad were in good spirits and I tried to take advantage of that moment and asked for some G.I. Joes—a brand new battleship, actually. It was a really expensive toy back then.

My dad sat me down and he said, “Just because times are good, it doesn’t mean that we go out and you buy all the toys you want and you get a free-for-all.” I didn’t really understand that until, two weeks later, sure enough, the basement of the store flooded and we had to close the store for a couple of weeks—no income. My parents relied on that store to put food on the table for me, my sister and my brother.

I remember that lesson very clearly, because my dad said, “This is why you save. This is why you put away when times are good, because you never know when the storm is going to come. You never know when you’re going to have those rainy days.” It was because of that prudence my parents taught me at a very young age that we were able to weather that storm, that we were able to get through that difficult time.

There’s no difference when it comes to governing. When times are good, you have to be responsible with taxpayer money, because storms will come, and that’s exactly why we were able to weather the storm that is COVID-19.

I want to talk about some of the measures that this government took when this pandemic hit. I look back to March 25, 2020. We put aside $7 billion in additional resources for our health care system; direct supports for people and jobs; $10 billion in support for people and businesses through tax credits, deferrals to help their cash flow—again, to weather the storm. That funding—to give tangible examples, a $1-billion contingency fund.

I know some members of the opposition mocked that contingency fund: “Get the dollars out the door right now.” But imagine, in March 2020, if we had gotten all those dollars out the door without thinking about having a backup, about having reserves, about having contingencies.

Well, I’ll tell you, I remember, in March 2020, I had no idea that we would be standing here today, in October 2021, still fighting COVID-19. So, Speaker, thank goodness we did save and were prudent in March 2020, because it was more than just increased hospital capacity at the time, $341 million: $243 million for long-term care and home emergency capacity; new virus containment measures; $100 million for public health. It’s a very long list. But as we move through the pandemic, it wasn’t going away, sadly.

That’s why in the November budget, tabled by the honourable Rod Phillips, there were further resources announced to make sure that we could care and protect and support the people of this province. We laid out another $45 billion—a total of $45 billion—in support over three years: again, health resources, business supports to weather the storm, to make sure that we were prepared for the unknown.

The last budget, March 24, 2021: total investments of $16.3 billion. That total support, when you look at the health side and the protecting the jobs and the people side, well, that was $51 billion in supports.

The biggest key in these resources is how we were able to adapt as the situation changed over the years. That’s a big deal, because I remember some of the initiatives that the opposition didn’t think we could deliver, such as fixing a broken long-term care system, which we are delivering on. I think to just one example of the $4.9 billion allocated to make sure that we hit a nation-leading four hours of daily care in the long-term care sector. We’re well on our way.

My riding of Willowdale—and I’m not sure if this is the case, but I think—is the smallest geographical riding in our entire country. I may be fact-checked on this, but if you walk from the east border to the west border, from Bayview to Bathurst, you’re about six kilometres. I’ve done it. If you walk from Hullmark Centre at Sheppard all the way up to the north border of my riding, to Steeles, it’s about six kilometres as well. I’ve walked it. A tiny little place, but they have tons of challenges, and long-term care was one of them. There were no beds being built.

The last government: 15 years and 611 beds, with an aging population we knew was coming. It was that government who showed us the growth plan. So the ignorance of a growing and aging population is no excuse.

I have Carefree Lodge in my riding. I am proud to say that in just three and a half years, 233 beds in the smallest geographical riding, that I know of. The government House leader brought up something very important too, that this wasn’t a partisan decision on where long-term-care beds are going. In the Leader of the Opposition’s hometown of Hamilton: 988 long-term-care beds. That’s more than the last government put together in all of 15 years across the entire province. This is progress.

I could use my time reminiscing on the measures and the supports that we’ve introduced for people and jobs in our health care sector, but I do want to spend some time talking about where we’re going, because I have hopes that we are going to get through this pandemic, and soon. That means it’s time to refocus our efforts on getting through this and making sure that we return back to those days of not just recovery but prosperity in Ontario. And I’m hopeful. Long-term care is one of those sectors, but let’s talk about transportation as well.

Speaker, we have a booming population here. Yesterday in question period, I mentioned that who can blame people for wanting to move here. My parents did it, just like millions of Ontarians. This is the best place to live in the world. I truly believe that. One million more people are coming to Toronto in the next 25 years; three million are coming to the GTA in the same time period. In fact, by 2051, it’s estimated that the greater Golden Horseshoe alone—not Ontario; just the GGH—is going to have a population the size of our province today: 15 million people. That’s massive growth.

That means we need to prepare for the future. If COVID has taught us anything, it has taught us how important it is to do just that, and we’re doing that.

Let’s talk about transit expansion, for example. I live in a neighbourhood—and I’ve said it many times in this Legislature. I can’t think of another place in the world that has two subway lines that dead-end in one community: Finch station and Sheppard station on the Sheppard Line at Yonge—two dead ends. That’s all changing, because this is the biggest investment into transit expansion in our country’s history at $28.5 billion: four priority projects to connect Scarborough to the airport, to make sure we finally have a downtown relief line in our great city.

These are investments into the future, along with transportation expansion, making sure that we connect the grid. Nobody wants to wait two hours to get to Brampton to get home to their loved ones—nobody. That means you need to invest into the future. With that population growth coming, if you think traffic is bad today—status quo on our roads and highways? Well, it would be a nightmare tomorrow. That’s why those investments are crucial, making sure that we invest into these pivotal infrastructure investments.

There are other investments that we’re doing. I spoke a little earlier about how sometimes the pandemic and difficult times can force you to do things quicker, better. I don’t think any member in this chamber is going to deny that sometimes government moves a little slower than real life, or perhaps not as efficiently, but our government is tackling that as well.

I remember when we were talking about the reforms to procurement, for example, that the President of the Treasury Board had introduced. Some members of the opposition mocked it. The analogy of buying in bulk wasn’t good enough, but there are other reasons that we reformed procurement. Think of the health care system. Previously, doctors could use three, four surgical gloves going to the operating table. We heard this directly from doctors. But because of the procurement rules around the supply chain, those doctors had to use those gloves.

And we had no reporting mechanism back that they were actually tripling or quadrupling up on the surgical gloves, when if you had purchased in the operating room a slightly more expensive glove, the life cycle would have been drastically increased.

These are the types of reforms we’re talking about with procurement. I know it’s a little boring, not sexy, when you’re talking about surgical gloves and paying 20% more up front to have a life cycle cost that gives you a longer lifespan of gloves, but we’re talking about millions of dollars in savings in that one example alone over the years. Times that across the broader public sector with 191 agencies, boards and commissions, and you’re talking billions upon billions. Forget buying in bulk alone, which alone is projected to save $1 billion a year.

Those savings matter, because that means we can invest into things like transit, transportation, health care and long-term care—all of those things that we expect the investments to be about.

Speaker, I do want to say—I could just read off the list of the investments that we’re going to have into the future, but I remember in this chamber not too long ago that you shared a story about your mother and it really touched me. It really touched, I think, all members of this chamber. It was very special; it brought a tear to my eye, because it made me think not just about how difficult this pandemic has been on everybody, but the touching stories you shared of your mom really reminded me of my grandmother. I thank you for sharing that.

My grandmother—I’ve actually never spoken about her in this chamber. She was a strong, Christian lady, and her biggest fear—she would tell me every week when I saw her, and I visited her apartment every week at Jane and Finch. She would say, “My biggest fear in life is that I love you more than Jesus.” From my grandmother, I mean—it just got routine at a point, but when she passed away on my 21st birthday, that’s all I could hear. So your story reminded me of her story, and I thank you for that.

The reason I bring that up is because my grandmother went through a lot of hardships. She grew up in imperialist Japan-occupied South Korea, and you can imagine the difficulties she had gone through. But she had so many words of wisdom for me as I grew up, and not only did that shape the adult I became, but sometimes you realize how special words are later on in life. One of the sayings she taught me really is relevant to the pandemic, because she said, “You know, Stan”—she never actually called me Stan; my Korean name is Sung Hoon, so she always called me Sung Hoon—“sometimes human nature is like tea.

You really don’t know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.” And I believe that. I really do, because these have been some of the most difficult times humanity has ever been through, and look at the resolve of the people of this province.

We’ve made a ton of sacrifices. Had to wear a mask—difficult. We’ve lost loved ones. We’ve had to put off special occasions. We didn’t even get to say goodbye to some of those loved ones that we lost. But Speaker, through it all, we’re going to improve, not just the way we run government but our lives. We’re going to appreciate that vacation we take. We’re going to hug our loved ones we haven’t seen in years a little bit tighter. We’re going to get through this. We’re going to be stronger for it, and people around the world will find out that we are some of the strongest people. We are some of the strongest tea on the planet.

So, Speaker, it’s with great honour that I get to stand this morning to talk about the throne speech and some of our government’s priorities moving forward, because we’re going to hit the resume button and start where we were before the pandemic: on the path to prosperity, on making sure that we invest into our core programs and services, that we get our finances under control, so that when I look at the pages and I look into the future generations of Ontarians, future Canadians coming to this country, we will protect them to make sure they have the same opportunities that my parents did so we can return to that path—not just to recovery, as I said, but to the days of prosperity in Ontario—and become the economic engine of North America at the same time.

Interjections.

Hon. Stan Cho: Thank you. And with that, my time is done, Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity this morning. And again, to the people of this province, we’ll get through this together, and there are brighter days on the horizon.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The other member mentioned by the member who said he’d be sharing his time, the member from Perth–Wellington, was the member from Flamborough–Glanbrook, who has the floor.

Ms. Donna Skelly: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s always such a delight to see you in the chair. Good morning.

I rise to highlight some of the key points in the speech from the throne, which was delivered in this House just two weeks ago. The most important point, and I think Ontarians would agree, is that pandemic recovery is our government’s top priority. Our Premier has said repeatedly that avoiding future lockdowns is our ultimate goal, and we’ve taken many steps toward pandemic recovery.

One of the most significant support programs was the small business support grant. We have offered eligible small businesses grants of up to $40,000 to help cover a decrease in revenue as a result of the province-wide shutdown. Our government recognized that throughout the pandemic, businesses deemed non-essential needed a little bit of help. They could use the grant money to pay employee wages or maintain their inventory, or in whatever way made sense to them. Dozens and dozens of business types were eligible for this grant, everything from campgrounds to veterinary services.

Tens of thousands of small businesses took advantage of this program and it certainly helped sustain them through this very difficult period.

It also helped to sustain and to protect Ontario’s economy, and there was an additional grant program for the hard-hit tourism sector. The Ontario Tourism and Travel Small Business Support Grant provided a one-time payment of up to $20,000 for small businesses in the tourism and travel industry. The funds were made available to help small businesses recover from the economic impact of the pandemic and to protect and create jobs.

Our government recognized early on that giving businesses the opportunity to establish or expand an online presence could help them weather this pandemic storm. So our government invested $10 million in the Digital Main Street program to help small businesses to expand or establish a digital presence and market their services online. The program has provided small businesses with $2,500 grants, technical training and digital resources to help them reach more customers in person and, of course, online.

I’ve heard numerous success stories. In one case, three Laurentian University students launched their clothing store with only an online presence. Another example is an interior design team who wanted to add to their business by selling home decor. A brick-and-mortar location was not a good move at the time, so in August, they launched their home decor shop exclusively online. They were elated by the customer interest in this online store.

To date, the Digital Main Street program has provided over 20,000 businesses with support for their digital expansion while generating jobs for more than 1,600 students and recent graduates. Through Digital Main Street, we are giving business owners and operators the tools they need to strengthen their online presence and to enhance their technical skills. This will position individual businesses for a strong recovery, and it will help the entire province in its pandemic recovery.

Along with providing assistance with expanding their digital presence, our government also expanded the number of businesses eligible for the main street relief grant, which offered them $1,000 to offset the costs of personal protective equipment. The grant could be used to cover the costs of a variety of PPE, including installing Plexiglas or purchasing gloves and masks—anything that the business needed.

Our property tax and energy cost rebate program provided support to businesses that were required to close or significantly restrict services because of the provincial health measures. Eligible businesses could apply for rebates in the form of grants to help with their fixed costs.

I’ve spoken about our government’s economic recovery efforts. Now, I would like to talk about our efforts to avoid any other future lockdowns. Our province’s infectious disease experts, including Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, have stressed that the best way to avoid future lockdowns is to get at least 90% of the population fully vaccinated. To that end, our government has invested more than $1 billion to support the administration, distribution and rollout of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Our government has gone to great lengths to guarantee that everyone who wants a vaccine can get a vaccine. We have mobilized the entire health care infrastructure, including public health units, hospitals, pharmacies, mass vaccination clinics, doctors’ offices and mobile clinics in order to make vaccines accessible to everyone who wants to get a vaccine. That includes the GO-VAXX buses, which have been travelling around, through and to communities with lower rates of vaccine uptake.

Look at the results; they are absolutely amazing. Ontarians have stepped up to do their

part in getting fully vaccinated in record numbers. Ontario has one of the highest vaccination rates around the globe. To date, more than 87% of the province has at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. More than 83% of eligible Ontarians are fully vaccinated. Reaching the goal of 90% of eligible Ontarians being fully vaccinated is so close. It really is within reach.

Our government continues to take every necessary step to stop the spread of COVID-19. We are making record investments in the health care system, and this brings our government’s total investments to protect people’s health since the start of the pandemic to over $16 billion.

While the people of Ontario are getting vaccinated, our government is continuing to take urgent action to protect people from the spread of COVID-19. We are supporting the ongoing COVID-19 response with more than $3.7 billion over two years for Ontario’s comprehensive testing strategy.

This includes $2.3 billion this year to ensure timely access to testing; to target testing to vulnerable communities; to expand the capacity to process tests efficiently and effectively; and to protect people who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, such as those living in racially diverse, newcomer and low-income communities. We are doing this by investing more than $50 million to support improved access to testing, community outreach, vaccine access and emergency income supports.

Mr. Speaker, the health and safety of Ontarians in Ontario is our top priority. To that end, our government committed an additional $25 million to further improve ventilation in our schools. This additional funding brings the net new investments in school ventilation to $600 million. This investment will ensure that all occupied classrooms, gyms, libraries and other instructional spaces without mechanical ventilation have stand-alone, high-efficiency HEPA filter units in place. These health and safety measures ensure that students have a more normal in-person learning environment, which is critical to their mental and physical well-being.

Supporting innovative projects like Niko Apparel is why our government has invested an additional $50 million in the renewed Ontario Together Fund this year. The fund will continue to support local innovators and businesses to further enhance Ontario’s domestic supply chain capacity. It will promote Ontario’s med-tech ecosystem and build up our manufacturing sector to ensure that this province is well prepared for future challenges.

The renewed Ontario Together Fund is focused on supporting homegrown manufacturing and innovation to combat COVID-19 and to provide other goods that are critical to the health, safety and security of people in this province as we look beyond the pandemic. In total, over 70,000 ventilation devices have been deployed to help ensure that schools remain as safe as possible for students and for staff.

Protecting the most vulnerable in Ontario is our government’s primary concern. The pandemic has further exposed long-standing problems in the long-term care health system. Residents, caregivers and staff, and their families deserve much better. That is why our government is investing an additional $650 million in long-term care this year. This brings the total resources invested since the pandemic began to over $2 billion to protect the most vulnerable in our province.

Our government is taking urgent action to fix the problems in long-term care. We are increasing long-term care capacity, improving living conditions. We are increasing the average daily direct care for long-term care residents to four hours, something that people have wanted and something we, this government, are delivering. We have provided wage enhancements and are building staffing levels by providing training for more people to work in the long-term care sector.

Mr. Speaker, our government has done a lot to support health care, small business and the most vulnerable during the pandemic; however, the people who deserve the most credit are the everyday heroes in our communities who have supported others through the COVID crisis. I want to speak about some of the people in my community in Flamborough–Glanbrook who have truly shown Ontario spirit: individuals like Rebecca Fournier, a care coordinator at St. Elizabeth Retirement Residence in my riding of Flamborough–Glanbrook.

Rebecca sacrificed time with her children by actually moving into the retirement home she was working for for months in the early days of the pandemic to protect her residents and staff against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Principal Josie Pini: another pandemic hero. Josie was preparing to retire in the spring of 2020, but she postponed her retirement to continue supporting her staff at St. Thérèse of Lisieux Catholic Elementary School in Hamilton throughout the challenges of the pandemic.

And it wasn’t only educational staff who stepped up to help. Let me tell you about William and Olivia Pang. They are 12 and 8. The brother and sister are students at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Elementary School in Waterdown. In an effort to keep their school community connected during the period when schools weren’t open for in-person learning, William and Olivia organized a live, virtual trivia contest every Friday night, and they put so much work into it. They created their own questions. Virtual trivia night was so popular, it drew about 150 families to the game each week.

Local pizza shop owners loved the idea so much that they got involved as well by offering free pizza to the top winners of the game.

In June, I hosted an awards ceremony for individuals who were nominated as pandemic heroes in my riding. Dozens and dozens of people were nominated for their service to the community. They have truly demonstrated what we call our Ontario spirit. Principals at Bellmoore Elementary in Binbrook, Balaclava School in Freelton, St. James the Apostle school in Stoney Creek, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux school in Hamilton nominated their entire school staff for their efforts in keeping everyone safe.

The volunteers at Food with Grace Waterdown Food Bank and the Food4Kids Hamilton volunteers who delivered food to children at area schools were recognized for their work.

And then there were numerous individuals who were acknowledged.

The women at St. James United Church who made over 4,000 masks: The proceeds from the mask sales were donated to local charities.

Kathleen Randle kept her community at Christ Church in Flamborough connected through a weekly coffee hour using Zoom calls and phone trees.

Barbara Fanson organized food drives, raised funds for the Alzheimer’s walk and cleaned up the local playground to make it a little more inviting for the children.

Penny Rundle made homemade cards for the Case United Church in Mount Hope.

And Javid Mirza offered emotional support and was a calm presence during a time of chaos in his community. He reached out to the elderly, the vulnerable and supported Muslim youth as they delivered hot meals to the homeless.

Kevin Keyte has been a volunteer at Glanbrook Community Services for more than a decade. Throughout the pandemic, he has been delivering meals to people who are simply isolated and can’t get out. Seeing Kevin’s smiling face twice a week made their day.

So many heroes, so many people who have demonstrated the Ontario spirit.

And speaking of the Ontario spirit, hundreds of companies stepped up to help when the province was facing a crisis in the supply of PPE. We forget now as we sit in the Legislature with our masks. We forget when we first entered the first few weeks of the pandemic when we were struggling to even find masks and hand sanitizer. Eighteen months later, Ontario companies stepped up; they delivered. They did their part to keep Ontario safe.

One of those companies is Niko Apparel in Hamilton. Niko Apparel invested more than a quarter of a million dollars to manufacture surgical masks. The Ontario Together Fund provided $125,000 towards that venture. Niko Apparel is a custom manufacturer of team uniforms and performance apparel, but company executive Joe Camillo was willing to step up and retool Niko’s manufacturing capabilities to produce surgical masks that the province so urgently needed.

Another company in my hometown of Hamilton that demonstrated Ontario spirit is Coreprint Patterns. Coreprint Patterns is working on injection moulding plastic components for COVID-19 testing supplies. The company is developing production capabilities for two-millimetre deep-well plates, a necessary component for any lab-based COVID-19 PCR test. These components would be used to supply hospitals and laboratories across Ontario. Currently, there are no domestic manufacturers producing deep-well plates anywhere in Canada, and given the high volume of tests being conducted, there was a global shortage of these supplies.

Mr. Speaker, the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade provided Coreprint Patterns with a grant of nearly $860,000 from the Ontario Together Fund to support their eligible project investment of more than $1 million. Supporting innovative projects like Coreprint Patterns is why our government has invested an additional $50 million in the renewed Ontario Together Fund this year alone. The fund will continue to support local innovators and businesses to further enhance Ontario’s domestic supply chain capacity.

It will promote Ontario’s medtech ecosystem and build up our manufacturing sector to ensure that this province is well prepared for future challenges. The renewed Ontario Together Fund is focused on supporting homegrown manufacturing and innovation to combat COVID-19, and to provide other goods that are critical to the health, safety and security of people in this province as we look beyond this pandemic.

Since our government’s initial call to action was issued, we have seen a tremendous response from businesses in Ontario who simply want to help. They’ve supported our front-line workers with medical supplies and equipment, and many more have come forward with numerous innovative solutions. Through the Ontario Together Fund, our government has mobilized our manufacturing firepower and converted it into Canada’s manufacturing workshop.

Let’s turn to health, safety and security. Our government has done more to protect the health and safety of Ontarians than any other previous government. Mr. Speaker, we realize that after the pandemic has ended, Ontario’s health care system will continue to face significant challenges. That is why we are acting now, so that people across the province can continue to access the care they need when and where they need it.

To ensure that Ontario’s hospitals can continue to deliver high-quality care, our government is investing an additional $5.1 billion to support hospitals, creating more than 3,100 additional hospital beds. That is the equivalent of six large community hospitals. This includes $1.8 billion this year to continue providing care for COVID-19 patients, to address surgical backlogs and to keep pace with patient needs. We are putting patients first with a capital plan investment of more than $30 billion over 10 years to build and renew hospital infrastructure.

To help the thousands of people struggling with mental health and addictions issues, our government is providing additional funding of $175 million this year as part of our historic investment of over $3 billion.

Mr. Speaker, this government is committed to reigniting our economy. Pandemic recovery is a top priority, and under the leadership of Premier Ford, Ontario will not only recover, it will—

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): I’m sorry to interrupt the member from Flamborough–Glanbrook, but your side was allocated one hour for the debate and your time has expired. So I turn to further debate.

I see a point of order from the member from Barrie–Innisfil.

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: I just want to echo my colleague’s comments in terms of how great the throne speech was, and I want to move adjournment of that debate. Thank you.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): The member has moved adjournment of debate; however, I’m seeking advice from the table.

I’m advised that is not a point of order. You may stand and move what you want to move without saying it’s a point of order. I turn back to the member from Barrie–Innisfil.

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: Just on that point of order, Speaker, my colleague did move adjournment of debate in her speech but her mike was cut off.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): Your colleague was supposed to move adjournment of the debate, but her time had expired before she moved adjournment of the debate, and then I called for further debate. I didn’t see anyone, but I will ask again for further debate.

I turn to the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane.

Mr. John Vanthof: Thank you, Speaker. It’s always an honour to rise in this House, particularly on behalf of the official opposition in response to the speech from the throne. It’s customary for the debate to be adjourned after the government’s initial debate so that the opposition has the actual time—I was listening here very thoughtfully—to actually digest what the government is saying so we can make a reasoned response.

The government, perhaps whether they have chosen to do it this way—I can’t judge that, but we are ready to respond. We take the government at good faith, and we were told that the debate was going to be adjourned, and it wasn’t. I’m sure that the House team from the other side is not happy about this; neither are we. But that’s how this place has continued to work for the last couple of years. We were hoping that we were going to start with this throne speech on a different tone, and we are going to try, but this isn’t a good way to start it. It really isn’t.

Having said that, it is our job as the official opposition to hold the government to account. I listened very intently to the government House leader. The first time I talked to the government House leader was yesterday—we’ve been off for a while, and I wasn’t here for the first cohort week—and we were joking that maybe in another life, we would get along. We probably would. Actually, we get along here too. He has a job to do; we have a job to do.

I’m just getting a note, Speaker. Can I do that? Could I move adjournment of the debate and can I restart? That’s my question. I’m going to ask you as I’m standing. If I sit down, can I stand up again?

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: You can move adjournment—

Mr. John Vanthof: No, I’m not taking it from you; I’m asking the table.

So I can move adjournment of the debate and then start again tomorrow?

Interjection.

Mr. John Vanthof: If that is the case, Speaker, I would like to move adjournment of the debate.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): We got here in a convoluted kind of way, but we had to do it because there are rules we have to follow. I’m glad the table officers didn’t allow the cross-aisle question and answer.

Mr. Vanthof has moved adjournment of the debate. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

Debate adjourned.

Report, Financial Accountability Officer

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): I beg to inform the House that the following document was tabled: A report entitled Home Energy Spending in Ontario: Income and Regional Distribution, from the Financial Accountability office of Ontario.

Orders of the day?

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: No further business.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): There being no further business at this time, this House stands in recess until 10:15.

The House recessed from 1009 to 1015.

Members’ Statements

Events in Nickel Belt

M me France Gélinas: Although I was a little bit disappointed we did not return to the Legislature in September, it did allow me to spend more time in Nickel Belt, which I loved. I attended the USW Labour Day event, then went to Gogama. Gogama had a big fire. They were asked to declare a state of emergency, but because they’re an LSB, they were not allowed to do this, and now they’re stuck.

I also went to Mattagami First Nation. Mattagami First Nation would like to expand, but it is not easy to move the boundaries of a First Nation.

Then I took

part in the Donna Speigel rowing event. She was a long-time volunteer with the Northern Water Sports Centre.

Then I had the pleasure to attend the Lockerby Legion unveiling of their incredibly beautiful new cenotaph. I’m looking forward to Remembrance Day; this is just beautiful.

I’m also excited to share some upcoming events. Walden Cross Country will be celebrating the grand opening of their brand new gazebo, which means that you will be able to change and be outside at the same time—it makes it way easier with COVID. The opening takes place on Saturday, October 30, at noon, as part of the club’s ski swap and open house. There are many activities coming up: the National Coaching Certification Program, the Ontario Cup—all of this takes place at the Walden Cross Country club. If you’ve never been there, please drop in. It is just beautiful. You’ll love it, whether you go biking, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing. Come over, Speaker. Thank you.

Portraits of Giving

Mrs. Daisy Wai: We often come across leaders selflessly giving to the community, but they have not been recognized enough. Thanks to Karen Merk for introducing the Portraits of Giving to honour these leaders. Partnering with York region, leaders are nominated and selected for awards. They are openly recognized with a reception and photographic exhibit to capture each recipient with a personalized portrait and story of selfless giving.

The year 2021 marks 12 years of celebration of the leaders in our community. I am proud of the four recipients from Richmond Hill:

Raj Sethi received the lifetime achievement distinction. Raj founded the York Region Indian Seniors Club in 2006 and has been working tirelessly in the community.

Shanyn Godward received the honouree distinction for fire service. Not only does she protect us, she sets a great example through her service.

Delmanor Elgin Mills received an honouree distinction for their dedicated service to seniors.

Thank you to our leaders. We’re very proud of them. Thank you, Karen, for such a great initiative. It inspires our community.

Elder abuse

Ms. Catherine Fife: I recently met with Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario, a provincial not-for-profit organization that is sounding the alarm on the urgent issues impacting the safety and security of older adults in Ontario. Ontario’s seniors have experienced new and unimaginable levels of isolation during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, from isolation to neglect to physical abuse and financial fraud. In Ontario alone, EAPO’s seniors safety line reported a 250% increase in elder abuse calls in 2020, almost 1,000 cases.

EAPO has six main calls to action:

—apply an elder abuse prevention lens and invest in prevention strategies when fixing elder care, and they would like to see their pre-pandemic funding reinstated;

—protect financial well-being and fraud prevention for older adults in Ontario;

—support a network of regional and local elder abuse prevention;

—demand a seniors’ care transfer from the federal government;

—achieve funding stability to support programming for elder abuse prevention; and

—enhance accountability by naming a provincial advocate or ombudsman that reports directly to the Legislature.

Of note, our colleague in Kitchener Centre has introduced legislation that would create a seniors’ advocate who would be an independent officer of the Legislature to fulfill this call to action.

I hope that all members of this Legislature will listen to these important calls to action and work together to address the rapid rise in incidents of elder abuse across Ontario.

I would like to sincerely thank the Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario group for doing important work to keep elders safe.

School facilities

Ms. Goldie Ghamari: Communities such as Findlay Creek and Stittsville are rapidly developing in my riding of Carleton. Currently, Catholic students in Findlay Creek are being bused to schools in surrounding areas because there’s no Catholic elementary school in the community. École secondaire catholique Paul-Desmarais in Stittsville is exceeding in its capacity, but this school stands out for their sports, arts and business streams. CIEL—creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership—opens doors for students to adapt and develop in a fast-paced, changing world.

A goal of mine is to see more schools built in Carleton in order to support the growing population of young families. Building the first Catholic elementary school in Findlay Creek and expanding École secondaire catholique Paul-Desmarais would alleviate the pressure on the surrounding schools in these communities.

On October 5, I released two petitions. The first petition is for our government to approve funding to build the first Catholic elementary school in Findlay Creek. The second petition is for the approval to fund a critical student expansion of École secondaire catholique Paul-Desmarais in Stittsville.

One of the reasons I ran for office is because I wanted to see more schools built in Carleton. I have already successfully secured funding to build four brand new schools. I’ve had several meetings with the school boards and with the minister to discuss the need for schools to support an expanding student population.

I encourage everyone to visit my website at goldiempp.ca and sign these petitions.

Small business

Mr. Gilles Bisson: We will all know, as members of this assembly, that small businesses across this province have been really having a hard time adjusting to what has happened in this pandemic. It has been tough for them on all kinds of levels, and that has really taken a toll on their bottom line. That’s why we, under Andrea Horwath and New Democrats, have been calling on this government in order to increase the amount of funding available to the small business community so that they’re able to adjust to what has happened to them.

Some of them have had to take on additional expenses as a result of screening—which is a good thing. Businesses in my community, as in yours, understand why this is necessary, but there is a certain amount of cost associated to it. And their traffic is down. They don’t have the amount of business that they had before, especially with some of the limits that have been imposed on them. That’s why the chamber of commerce of the city of Timmins has been asking us to ask the government to increase the funding available to small businesses.

These businesses are the backbone to our community. I think we all understand that. We need to make sure that we provide them with the support that’s necessary to allow them to get through this particular phase of the pandemic.

Hopefully we’re going to be out of this in the not too distant future, but we want to make sure that when we come out on the other side, the members of the Timmins Chamber of Commerce, those small businesses in our town that work so hard, are going to be there in order to benefit from the rebound that will happen at the end of this pandemic.

COVID-19 response

Mr. Roman Baber: What is happening in the province of Ontario and Canada and what has been happening for the last 19 months is unthinkable. Nurses, first responders and workers from every field are being fired for refusing to undergo a medical procedure. The government is dictating how many people we may host at our homes and which customers we may or may not serve in our businesses. We’re forced to show ID and scan a QR code to sit down for a bowl of soup at Tim Hortons.

I submit that if government subjects us to these extreme measures, then we must insist that it does so on a basis of a fair narrative. COVID is a very serious respiratory virus. It can be very dangerous to some folks, mainly those with serious comorbidities, particularly diabetes. COVID is real and serious, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t objectively look at the data and craft public policy that’s based on a fair narrative.

On October 15, Statistics Canada published its COVID excess mortality analysis for 2020. Over 80% of COVID-related deaths were in long-term care homes, where on average, statistically, residents are in their last year of life. Ninety per cent of deaths between March and July 2020 were among patients with at least one serious pre-existing condition, mostly dementia.

Every death is tragic and every life is precious, but it doesn’t mean that we should redesign our lives and bodily autonomy, privacy and mobility when we know where the risk is. Government must protect long-term care homes and build hospital capacity, but end the alarmism, end the fearmongering and end the false narrative.

I’m asking the government: Own up to the narrative, leave Ontarians alone and end this nightmare.

Dental hygienists

Mr. Jim McDonell: I ask everyone to join us in celebrating Ontario dental hygienist week, which runs next week, from October 17 through the 23rd.

The growing evidence linking oral health to overall health highlights the importance of access to oral health, including regular dental and dental hygiene checkups. Dental hygienists have a distinctive clinical role in preventing gum disease and tooth decay, making a significant contribution to a person’s well-being and overall health. Dental hygienists not only clean teeth, but they provide professional assessments that include oral cancer screening, treatment planning, individual oral care evaluations, customized preventive home care programs, and lastly, they offer advice on other health areas, such as nutrition and smoking cessation.

As regulated health care professionals, dental hygienists follow stringent rules and standards set by the regulatory college, ensuring the public receives safe and ongoing comprehensive oral care at all times, including during a pandemic. The Ontario Dental Hygienists’ Association supports oral health care initiatives provided by the Ontario government, including the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program, which ensures Ontarians in need of support have access to oral health care services.

Again, I want to wish the Ontario dental hygienists all the best during Ontario Dental Hygiene Week and thank them for all their valuable contributions to the health care system in Ontario.

Community support services

Mr. Taras Natyshak: As members would know, October is Community Support Month in the province of Ontario. Community support centres support over one million Ontarians each year, including seniors and people with disabilities. They help clients live independently in their own homes and communities for as long as possible and reduce the burden on families and family caregivers and the burden on our health care system.

As Ontario’s population ages, community support services will become even more important.

So it is my honour today to give a real big shout-out to the Essex community service centre, led by my good friend Tracey Bailey—incredible leadership there—and also Denise Cassidy, who has pivoted the organization through COVID to provide virtual care and support for residents; Samantha Hughes, who is the CareLink coordinator; Carly Wood, who is changing lives with diabetic foot care, giving people freedom and comfort; and Murray Tofflemire, who is the landlord of the facility but is also an incredible corporate sponsor who has made incredible donations to the community support centre.

There are also over 300 volunteers who on a weekly or annual basis donate their time and volunteer their time to make that organization work.

Speaker, we are so better off for having the community support centre in Lakeshore and Essex county, and I know across the province in members’ communities as well. We want to recognize them all today and give them a great big thank you. Thanks for making our communities a better and a healthier place to live.

Small business

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: October marks Small Business Week, and this government, from day one, has always had the backs of small businesses. We started off by lowering the small business tax and we went on to support these businesses during the global pandemic with programs like the small business grant and, of course, the Digital Main Street. I just heard over this past week, when I talked to Kevin Gee from the first aid and CPR training, that he benefited from the Digital Main Street program. I also want to thank him for all his work and all the things that he’s doing in his business. Our downtown businesses, via the downtown BIA, have also benefited from the Digital Main Street program.

But this is also a week to commemorate the great entrepreneurship that is our community’s, and I am so honoured to live and represent a community that is so dedicated to supporting our entrepreneurs.

In fact, Barrie is home to the Xcelerate Summit, which is central Ontario’s premier business event to attract hundreds and thousands of entrepreneurs. This year, it’s the eighth annual virtual Xcelerate Summit. It’s being run by Georgian’s Henry Bernick Entrepreneurship Centre. Thank you, Sara Bentham, for all your work on that summit. It’s done in partnership with Invest Barrie, which is co-sponsored by the Small Business Centre, Grow Vantage, the South Georgian Bay Small Business Enterprise Centre, the Barrie Chamber of Commerce, Invest Barrie and Innisfil Invests in You.

Speaker, this is really an example of the great might that is our small businesses in Barrie. This week, if you can, please support your small businesses, whether it’s Deb and Ralph at Fork and Plate, Rob Saunders at Cove Café, Wild Wing in Barrie or Jennifer Dwyer at the Harbour House Grill. Please support your small businesses.

Meredith “Mert” Schneider

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: Meredith Schneider was a long-time Perth county councillor and former Perth county warden. He passed in June of this year.

Mert was a lifelong resident of the Wallace ward in North Perth, where he owned and operated a family farm. He truly was a dedicated and hard-working family man, farmer and public servant. In fact, his time as an elected official spanned 39 years. He served on municipal councils, including 10 as Wallace township reeve, 18 as Perth county councillor and two as Perth county warden.

I sat next to him during my time on North Perth council. Mert knew the importance of rural life. He knew first-hand how farmers contribute to Ontario’s nutritional and economic well-being. It’s no wonder that he was a champion of the agricultural sector.

He demonstrated his commitment by serving on the commerce and agricultural society, the Perth County Beef Farmers and as an advisory councillor with the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association. Residents of Perth county and those in the agricultural sector could not have asked for anyone more committed to their community. He represented them well.

I want to extend our condolences to his family and all those who knew him and worked with him.

Wearing of ribbons and shirts

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Is it a point of order?

Mrs. Robin Martin: No, I wanted to make a unanimous consent—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To request unanimous consent? Okay.

Mrs. Robin Martin: Thank you, Speaker. Because After Breast Cancer Shine a Light on Breast Cancer day took place last Friday, October 15, I’d like to ask all members of the House for unanimous consent so that we may wear all of the ribbons and T-shirts to remember and honour the many Ontarians who have been impacted by breast cancer.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Eglinton–Lawrence is seeking the unanimous consent of the House to wear a T-shirt as well as a ribbon with respect to breast cancer. Agreed? Agreed.

Legislative pages

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I am now going to ask our pages to assemble.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce this group of legislative pages:

From the riding of Toronto Centre, Yamama Dahdal; from the riding of Mississauga–Malton, Lamees Elbayoumi; from the riding of Toronto–St. Paul’s, Theo Guida; from the riding of Guelph, Fraser Litchfield; from Markham–Stouffville, Graden Lynch; from the riding of King–Vaughan, Emily Martin; from the riding of Mississauga East–Cooksville, Noor Rasheed; from the riding of Brampton West, Tanvi Soni; from Oakville North–Burlington, Sujay Surya; and from the riding of Toronto–Danforth, Zada Wallace.

We are delighted to have you here. Thank you very much.

Applause.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Now back to work.

Sandie Bellows

Hon. Lisa MacLeod: Point of order, Speaker.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Point of order, the Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries.

Hon. Lisa MacLeod: I, along with probably the member from St. Catharines, wanted to recognize the incredible contributions of our dearly departed friend, a friend of many in this assembly: Niagara regional councillor and the chair of the Niagara Parks Commission—which is an agency of my ministry—Sandie Bellows. We laid her to rest yesterday. Sandie had an incredible career of victims’ advocacy and, of course, of public service. And although she ran as a Progressive Conservative not once but twice, the fact remains that she counted among her best friends Jennie Stevens and Jim Bradley.

Visitors

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Joining us today in the Speakers’ gallery are Michelle Sloan and Danny Guida, parents of today’s page captain Theo Guida, from the riding of Toronto–St. Paul’s. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Question Period

COVID-19 immunization

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, my first question this morning is to the Premier. Yesterday we received some great news: Pfizer has applied to Health Canada for vaccine approval for kids that are 5 to 11 years of age. As we all know, parents are very, very anxious to protect their children, to protect their education. They’re very much chomping at the bit waiting for the announcement that those kids can get vaccinated.

We now, here in the province of Ontario, have a chance to get out ahead of this. We have a chance to prepare fully for the announcement that is inevitably going to come from Health Canada. My question is around the hope that this government is finally going to avoid the chaos, the scramble that has marked their response to COVID-19 thus far. And so, I’m asking the Premier straight up: Where is the plan for vaccinating our children?

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

Hon. Christine Elliott: I can advise the member opposite that our government is ahead of the issue with respect to the immunization of children aged 5 to 11. We are waiting for Health Canada approval, of course; however, we have asked all of the 34 public health units to provide us with their plan, which they have submitted. We are going through those plans right now. We are using a variety of sources in order to vaccinate children of this age, and we will be ready as soon as Health Canada gives it a go-ahead. We will be ready on the ground to deliver those vaccines, so parents need not be concerned.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: We have been calling for this plan since August. As we all know, British Columbia is already pre-registering their children to get the vaccines. They’re making sure that their system is ready and parents have some certainty already as to what to expect. But here we are, still with nada in terms of information for parents about how their children, 5 to 11, can get vaccinated.

The question, again, is, where is this plan? Why are parents still waiting to hear from this government? Why is it always last-minute information and playing catch-up with what other provinces have already done?

Hon. Christine Elliott: In fact, we are prepared for the vaccination of children aged 5 to 11. We know this is an issue of concern to parents. We also know that parents would be concerned that if a child of age 5 is going to be vaccinated, the parent wants to be with their child. That is only natural and we are providing for that. Whether it’s going to be in primary care, whether it’s going to be in pharmacies or whether it’s going to be in schools—not necessarily within school hours; evenings and weekends when the entire family can go—this is something that we are preparing for. We are ready to go.

Of course, the circumstances differ in each of the 34 public health units, and one size doesn’t fit all. We know that. We are working with each of the public health units to make sure that they are ready to go. We will be ready and we will have information out to parents in advance of the time when it is prepared to go via Health Canada.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Apparently, lots of questions remain. Parents really do need to know, so I hope this government has learned from its inadequacy around previous communications efforts and they are very clear, and very early on, letting parents know what the plan is, because that’s something that we need.

In fact, the other thing we need is vaccines to be on the immunization list for schools. We have been calling for this since June. When this COVID vaccine for children gets approved, it needs to go on the immunization list. My question is, will the Premier get ahead of that and actually make sure the COVID vaccine is on the routine vaccination immunization list for school-aged children?

Hon. Christine Elliott: In fact, one only needs to look at our success with respect to the vaccination campaign for adults. We now have over 87% of people aged 12 and over in Ontario having received their first dose of the vaccine and over 83% of people with the second dose. This is one of the largest campaigns around the world—not just in Canada but around the world.

We are going to apply the same policies and techniques as we did for the adult campaign to children, recognizing that children are different than adults and that there are different concerns that need to be brought to bear. But we will be ready, because this is one of the issues that is central to our government: protecting the health and well-being of all Ontarians. That, of course, includes small children. We will be ready to go as soon as Health Canada gives it a go.

Automotive industry

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is also for the Premier, but I was asking when COVID-19 joins polio, pertussis, tetanus as a school-required vaccine. The minister didn’t respond to that.

Look, we have a crisis unfolding in Windsor. Auto workers and their families—the entire community—are reeling from the announcement of yet more jobs being lost at the auto plant there, Stellantis—1,800 jobs. That’s a lot of jobs, Speaker.

Of course, when 1,500 jobs were lost at the very same plant over a year ago now, this Premier had no plan, didn’t do anything to save those jobs. These are well-paying, family-supporting jobs, jobs that not only help those families build a great life but really have a very positive, widespread impact on the economy in Windsor.

So where is the plan? Where is the Premier’s plan to save these 1,800 good-paying jobs in Windsor?

Hon. Doug Ford: Great to be here, Mr. Speaker. I had a great visit in Windsor—a great turnout.

You know something? When it comes to Stellantis, I had an opportunity to meet with Unifor, have a chat with them. I’m meeting with Stellantis today as well to discuss how we can twin moving forward with the investment, the hundreds of millions of dollars that we’re investing along with the federal government, to bring Stellantis back to three shifts, not one shift.

I’m not blaming Stellantis; I’m not blaming anyone. It’s semiconductors. Anywhere around the world, we have a problem with these chips. But once we get the chips in, we’re going to be able to ramp up.

Again, Mr. Speaker, we are investing hundreds of millions of dollars, along with the federal government. Stellantis is investing $1.5 billion to have the Stellantis plant in Windsor ramped up, going three shifts, not one shift. We’re going to be there for the hard-working people of Windsor-Essex.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Well, Speaker, had this government or frankly the Liberal government before them put together a made-in-Ontario auto strategy, we wouldn’t be in this position yet again. That strategy needs to include local manufacturing of parts, things like the semiconductor chips the Premier is talking about. But this Premier says no to good jobs.

Remember GM, where 2,300 jobs were lost, and Oshawa families and the business community were absolutely devastated at that announcement. What did this Premier say? “There’s nothing we can do.” What did he say? He said, “The ship has already left the dock.” But the community and the union, they kept fighting. They kept fighting and—no thanks to this Premier—jobs came back to that Oshawa plant.

My question is, when will this Premier stand with workers and fight for their jobs instead of rolling over and neglecting Windsor and Ontario’s auto sector?

Hon. Doug Ford: Let me remind the Leader of the Opposition, the reason these plants closed and were closing all across the province is because of 15 years of neglect and terror throughout the auto sector. We spoke to the CEO and they said this is the worst place in the entire world to do business because of the policies of the NDP and the Liberals with the high hydro rates, outrageous taxes, debt coming through the roof.

Guess what, Mr. Speaker? In 18 months we turned this around and we were able to create jobs. We lowered the hydro rates by 16%. We are now competitive against anyone in the world.

Ford is going full steam ahead with the investment that we did of $295 million. General Motors is now booming, actually booming in Oshawa, saying it’s the quickest build they’ve ever done. They can’t wait to get that up and going. In Woodstock, in St. Catharines and with Stellantis, we’re going to be there for the workers. We have turned the auto sector around. We will be the number one manufacturer of electric vehicles anywhere in North America—

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

Interjections.

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

Final supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: What this government really has done is seen 5,600 auto jobs in Oshawa and Windsor walk out of Ontario. That’s this government’s record.

A real made-in-Ontario forward-looking strategy would have spurred investment in Ontario already. But this Premier was not interested. The first thing he did was tear out electric vehicle charging stations. He got rid of the incentive for electric vehicles, which reduced the sales of electric vehicles by 50% here in our province. So let’s not make up the past, Speaker. Let’s be clear about this Premier’s record.

He has not believed in the future of EV auto-making here in Ontario. So when are we going to stop lurching from crisis to crisis and fallacy to fallacy and actually put a made-in-Ontario, forward-looking EV manufacturing strategy into our province, an auto manufacturing strategy?

Interjections.

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

Hon. Doug Ford: Mr. Speaker, let me remind the leader of the NDP and the leader of the Liberals they destroyed this province. They lost 300,000 jobs. In 18 months, we created the environment and the condition to create 307,000 jobs. The auto sector has never been stronger, under our government, than it is today.

We’re investing hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars into the auto sector. No matter if it’s Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chrysler or GM, they’re all going to be booming non-stop because of our policies of low hydro rates. We took $7 billion of burden off the backs of these companies to create more jobs.

Again, Mr. Speaker, this will be the capital of the electric vehicles in North America right here in Ontario because of our policies.

Interjections.

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

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I can wait all day long.

Start the clock. The next question?

Premier’s comments

Ms. Doly Begum: Speaker, yesterday during a press conference, our Premier made certain comments about immigrants. His comments were callous, discriminatory, dismissive, and offensive to thousands of immigrants who came to Ontario for a better future, many of whom have helped build this province. His words undermine the uphill battle that immigrants face when they come to this country, like the struggles my family faced when they came here with the hope for a better life. His words undermine the thousands of new Canadians who have helped Ontario through the past year and a half.

My question is simple, Mr. Speaker: Will the Premier apologize for his reckless comments?

Interjections.

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

Hon. Doug Ford: Thank you for the question. Through you, Mr. Speaker, let me just inform the opposition: you know, I am pro-immigration. I have been pro-immigration from day one.

We are short 290,000 people. I was the only government that wrote letter after letter to the Prime Minister saying we need more people. But when these more people come here—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’m going to ask the member for Essex to come to order. I’m going to ask the member for Ottawa South to come to order and ask the Leader of the Opposition to come to order.

The Premier to conclude his reply.

Hon. Doug Ford: Mr. Speaker, we have 290,000 jobs waiting for people around the world. I don’t care where they come from; they’re going to come here.

But guess what, Mr. Speaker? They need a place to live. The NDP and the Liberals voted against making sure that we have affordable housing moving faster. They voted against making sure we build highways and bridges to make sure people get from point A to point B. They voted against the transit system that people will be on, the subway system, getting from point A to point B—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you. The Premier will take his seat.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Premier will take his seat.

The supplementary question?

Ms. Doly Begum: The Premier told new Canadians to work their tails off, yet thousands of highly qualified immigrants—and he talked about how we need thousands of workers right now—many of whom are doctors, lawyers, nurses, professors with years of experience, are unable to find work in their field because of the barriers to foreign credential recognition, something I’ve talked about in this House many, many times.

I have heard from many of these experienced doctors, for example, who in an attempt to use their skills and support the province volunteered on the front lines during this pandemic and, after trying to make ends meet with minimum wage jobs, have given up finding work in Ontario and have actually left this province.

If the Premier is serious about supporting immigrants, will he commit today to addressing the challenges that immigrants face, help foreign-trained professionals find jobs in their field and make it easier for them to find work and actively contribute to this province?

Hon. Doug Ford: Mr. Speaker, last night and this morning, my phone was blowing up with messages, and guess who the messages were from? They were from new Canadians, first-generation immigrants who came here. They told me story after story last night.

One story was how their parents came over, and their father worked in a gold mine to put him through school, through university. Another person told me the story about his first job as a dishwasher, but guess what? He owns his own restaurant now, employing 30 to 40 people. Another person told me that he came over and took a job sweeping and cleaning up at a factory. Now he owns his own factory that employs 100 people. These are the stories I hear.

Mr. Speaker, all you have to do is come to a Ford Fest. You’ll see the support from people around the world who come there. And guess what, Mr. Speaker? I’ll tell you how Ford Nation was created. They came to this country. They couldn’t get hold of any NDP or Liberal leaders, but they got hold of the mayor of Toronto and they got hold of the Premier. We would show up to their door. We would return their calls—

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

Interjections.

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

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Premier will please take his seat. Thank you very much.

Interjection.

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

Hon. Monte McNaughton: That’s the truth.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development will come to order.

Let’s try again. Start the clock.

Small business

Ms. Effie J. Triantafilopoulos: My question is to the Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction. Small businesses in my community of Oakville North–Burlington and across the province have not had an easy year. Through the second, third and fourth waves of the pandemic, they have had to overcome hardships beyond the normal challenges that come with running a business. They have met these challenges and continue to serve their communities.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and our province, and they need to know their government supports them. Would the minister tell this House what the government is doing to support small businesses and to create an environment in which they can grow and succeed?

Hon. Nina Tangri: Thank you to the member for Oakville North–Burlington for the question. Speaker, she’s absolutely right: Ontario’s small businesses are a vital part of this province’s economy. It’s why we’ve supported them throughout the pandemic and will continue to assist them as we combat COVID-19.

It’s why we’ve now introduced five high-impact red tape reduction bills throughout the pandemic. And it’s why we’ve invested an additional $10 million in the Digital Main Street program this year to help businesses create or enhance their digital presence and invest in digital tools.

It’s why we partnered with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce to distribute rapid antigen testing to any businesses with 150 employees or less to minimize the chance of transmission, distributing more than 2.5 million tests to over 20,000 small businesses and medium-sized businesses.

It’s why we will continue to engage with and listen to the business community as we move forward.

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

Ms. Effie J. Triantafilopoulos: It’s important to note that 98% of all businesses in Ontario are small businesses. When they succeed, we all succeed.

Meeting with small business owners in my community, I’ve heard how programs like Digital Main Street and other measures have helped them during the pandemic. As this week is Small Business Week, can the minister tell us what else the minister and the government are doing to support small businesses in Ontario?

Hon. Nina Tangri: Thank you again to the member for Oakville North–Burlington for the question and her advocacy on behalf of small businesses.

Our government continues to work hard to help small businesses succeed. We’ve been monitoring the temporary changes made to support businesses throughout the pandemic, and through our fall 2021 red tape reduction package, we intend to make some of them permanent: for example, allowing licensed bars and restaurants to more easily create or extend outdoor patio areas and allowing store deliveries to occur overnight, ensuring that goods can be delivered efficiently and non-disruptively. Both of these changes made a tremendous difference to businesses, and we want to keep them.

This Small Business Week, I encourage members on all sides of the House and all Ontarians to support small businesses within their communities and shop local safely.

Tenant protection

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: My question is to the Premier. We are seeing a disturbing trend as seniors in our community are being pushed out of Niagara through no fault of their own. Ursula Hudson, a resident in St. Catharines, lives in an apartment building that has recently been purchased by out-of-area speculators a few months back. Now, like clockwork, they are all receiving notices that they have to leave their units because the new landlord, Halcyon Shores properties, wants to renovate. This building houses only—only—seniors.

One has lived in the building for almost 30 years, and another, a grandmother, is almost 90 years old. Most of them do not have Internet. They have no defence when threatening letters and LTB forms are sent to scare them.

Will the Premier do something to protect the seniors from wealthy speculators and remove incentives to profiteers so they will no longer try to evict the same seniors that helped build the community in St. Catharines and across Ontario?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To respond, the member for Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry and parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Mr. Jim McDonell: I thank the member opposite for that question. We know that keeping Ontarians healthy during these challenging times is providing them with safe access to stable and affordable housing. This is an unprecedented time. This is why, last fall, we passed Bill 204, the Helping Tenants and Small Businesses Act, to freeze rents at 2020 levels. We have taken steps through this bill to make sure that landlords are fined if they do not follow the rules and they are putting people out of their homes because of renovations under false pretenses.

We have done more for tenants in this province than anybody has done in over 70 years. The combined rent increase over the last two years is the lowest since beyond 1970. This province will take no lessons from the members opposite. We’ve showed up for tenants in this province, and we will continue to do so.

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

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: Photo op after photo op in St. Catharines is not what we have coming into my office. I have letters from new owners using the same strategy at buildings on Napier Street, on Welland Avenue, on Church Street—all across St. Catharines, Mr. Speaker. It is a crisis and it has to be dealt with now. There are solutions, and this should not be a partisan issue.

To the Premier: Everyone knows the housing crisis is worse now than when you were elected four years ago. It’s been long enough, and we need action today: taxing speculators more; rent control; removing incentives for no-fault evictions; making it harder for the wealthier speculators to outbid our young families coming into our areas for homes. Will this Premier declare a crisis in affordability for housing today and act against wealthy speculators like these, or move aside so someone else can get the job done?

Interjections.

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

To reply, the member for Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry.

Mr. Jim McDonell: I reaffirm the record of this government and the steps it has taken. Through Bill 204, we’ve done more. We’ve increased fines to $50,000 on landlords who don’t follow the rules, and corporations to $250,000. Those are substantial increases over the previous government’s legislation. So we’ve taken steps. We’ve taken steps to increase the adjudicators on the Landlord and Tenant Board to make sure they’re properly heard. We’ve also made it fairer for landlords, because it is a two-way street.

We want to make sure that there are more rental units in this province to handle the increasing population that we’ve seen over the last 20 years in this province, because there have been no rental units built. In the year we came into power, we saw a record increase in rental units in this province, which all go to lowering the price of rent. This government has taken action. Again, we will take—

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

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Member from St. Catharines, come to order.

The next question.

COVID-19 response

Mr. Roman Baber: My question is for the Minister of Finance. We all know that the science is different in Ontario. It is different than in Far East Asia, eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, and it’s different in at least 30 states south of the border. But I could never imagine that the science could be so different just blocks away on Bremner Boulevard, home of Raptors Way. For you see, MLSE restaurants on Bremner Boulevard are permitted to operate at full capacity, but at Hoops, a restaurant one block west on Bremner Boulevard, capacity is limited because of physical distancing.

Because we all know that one is more likely to transmit COVID at Hoops than at the Hot Stove or at the Platinum Club. It’s science.

This government decimated Ontario’s dining industry. Lives and families are ruined. Can the Minister of Finance please tell the House what is the science—or the political science—behind this double standard?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries.

Hon. Lisa MacLeod: I appreciate the member opposite’s question. Obviously, the government has been working directly with the restaurant industry as well as all of the stakeholders that have been hardest hit within the sectors of heritage, sport, tourism and culture industries. We’ve been working hand in glove with the Ministry of Health, in addition to the Chief Medical Officer of Health. In fact, the restaurant working group that we established has had eight meetings, four of which I was able to attend.

We also invited other ministers, such as the minister of Treasury Board, the Minister of Labour, and of course the Minister of the Attorney General, to see how, on outer years and outer months and outer weeks, we’re going to be able to sustain not only their operations but allow them to thrive in a post-pandemic environment.

We continue to do that work. The Premier, myself and all of our colleagues are working hard to ensure that their voices are heard around the table. We will continue to make that commitment that their voices will be heard and that we will be able to, at some point in the near future, allow them to see greater capacity limits.

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

Mr. Roman Baber: My follow-up is to the Solicitor General. The double standard, the hypocrisy of this government is not just shameful, it carries—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member will withdraw his unparliamentary comment.

Mr. Roman Baber: Withdraw.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): And conclude his question.

Mr. Roman Baber: The double standard is not just shameful, it carries hallmarks of totalitarian oppression and the stifling of democratic dissent. It’s completely safe for 19,000 fans to pack every seat at Scotiabank Arena without physical distancing and without masks when drinking beer or peanuts for three periods. But holding a demonstration against government measures with 101 people outdoors, where the risk of transmission is almost non-existent—that’s dangerous to public health. That’s also science.

How does the Solicitor General justify 19,000 screaming fans, unmasked and not physically distant indoors, while threatening to ticket and arrest 101 peaceful protesters outdoors? And will she end the irrational restrictions on peaceful assembly outdoors?

Hon. Lisa MacLeod: I can assure the member opposite that we have been working, as I said, hand in glove with the Ministry of Health and the Chief Medical Officer of Health. We’ve had numerous stakeholder meetings with all of these organizations and groups that he’s talking about. I can assure him that when you go into a Senators, Leafs, Raptors, CFL and OHL game, there has to be proof of vaccination in order to be there. I had the opportunity the other evening to tour the venue that the Leafs play out of to see the actual work that they’re doing with the QR codes. I give my colleague the Associate Minister of Digital Government a lot of credit for the work he is doing.

But I will say this with respect to restaurants—and I had some troubling information today from Ottawa Public Health, where 30% of restaurants in the city of Ottawa fail to comply with the vaccination requirements at this point in time. So we’re going to continue to work with the sectors that we are responsible for, whether that is pro sports and entertainment or whether that is our small businesses with respect to the hospitality sector. We will be there as we have been every single step of the way for the past 19 months. And I ask the member opposite—

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

Long-term care

Mr. Sheref Sabawy: My question is to the Minister of Long-Term Care. It is no secret that the front-line heroes that work in our long-term care homes are the backbone of this sector. Throughout the pandemic, I have seen first-hand all the great work the nurses and PSWs working in my riding of Mississauga–Erin Mills have done.

Despite all this great work, I have heard a lot of comments about staffing problems in the long-term care sector. Can the minister please inform this House what you are doing to address these concerns about staffing?

Hon. Rod Phillips: I would like to thank the member from Mississauga–Erin Mills for his question and his fabulous advocacy for the people of Mississauga.

After decades of previous governments neglecting the long-term care sector, we are making historic investments. A key pillar of that plan is investment in 27,000 new long-term care staff. That will increase the daily direct care from 2.7 hours to four hours of care, the leading hours in Canada.

I was just recently at George Brown College, where I announced $270 million for 4,050 new staff this year. In Mississauga–Erin Mills alone, the member’s riding, that will mean $1.5 million this year, Mr. Speaker, and $8 million across all of Mississauga. And by 2024, our government will be investing $50 million just in Mississauga. We’re committed to making sure that we protect our elders.

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

Mr. Sheref Sabawy: Thank you to the minister for his and this government’s commitment to fixing long-term care. This newly hired staff will go a long way to providing high-end care to our residents in long-term care and in my riding of Mississauga-Erin Mills.

I understand that this $270 million is just the first part of our government’s long-term care plan to invest $4.9 billion over four years to hire 27,000 new staff. This new staff is needed to provide an average of four hours of direct care per resident per day. This historic investment will transform the way long-term care is delivered in Ontario.

Speaker, would the minister break down what this investment will mean for a typical long-term care home in Ontario?

Hon. Rod Phillips: The member is right, Mr. Speaker. We talk about dollars a lot: $270 million this year; $4.9 billion over four years. But let’s put it into terms about people, because that’s what long-term care is about.

A 160-bed home like Silverthorn Care Community in Mississauga–Erin Mills will get $595,000 just this year. By 2024, that’s $3.4 million for more PSWs and nurses. In terms of people, in terms of care, that means six more registered nurses, that means six more registered practical nurses, and that means 23 more PSWs to support our valued elders. Mr. Speaker, it’s going to be more people, more staff, more care for seniors in Ontario.

Automobile insurance

Mr. Kevin Yarde: My question is to the Premier. Auto insurance companies have made record profits during the pandemic, as claim payments dropped by half. It would be fair to assume that our auto insurance premiums were reduced by a similar margin. Instead, my constituents have told me they have seen increases in their auto insurance premiums throughout this pandemic.

These Ontarians have been doing their part, Mr. Speaker. They have been staying home, travelling when necessary. They have even had clean driving records, but they are still being price-gouged by auto insurance companies because of their postal code.

This is not an issue that we can’t fix. This price-gouging could have easily been stopped if this government mandated lower auto insurance premiums. The official opposition introduced bills to provide Ontario drivers relief from sky-high auto insurance rates, but this government voted them down time and time again.

In a time when Ontarians are struggling and need relief the most, why has this government allowed auto insurance companies to keep charging high premiums and rake in record profits?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the parliamentary assistant.

Mr. Michael Parsa: I thank the member opposite for the question. Since the start of the pandemic, our government has been closely watching to make sure that insurance companies are treating the people of Ontario fairly. Prior to our intervention, insurance companies were prohibited by legislation from offering rebates to consumers. Our government took action to allow insurance to offer rebates and look for ways to provide meaningful relief to consumers province-wide.

By removing these barriers, all of the 14 largest auto insurance companies in Ontario, who control 97% of the market, have provided some form of relief. In fact, the amendments that we have made have enabled auto insurance to provide premium rebates for 12 months after this state of emergency. In June 2020, FSRA announced that $685 million in consumer relief was provided, benefiting 70% of insurance customers. In April of 2021, FSRA provided an update to the government that almost $1 billion—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you very much. I’ll ask the member to take his seat.

Supplementary?

Mr. Kevin Yarde: The member opposite talks about fairness. In my riding of Brampton North, we pay over $3,000 for auto insurance. There is nothing fair about paying that for your auto insurance.

These auto insurance companies are gouging all Ontarians, and that includes our truck and taxi drivers. These folks are essential workers. They make up a big part of our economy, not just in Brampton but right across Ontario. Their auto insurance rates have skyrocketed. Many of them have chosen to park their vehicles on their driveways, but they continue to pay their operating expenses. These folks need relief, and they need relief now.

The current auto insurance price-gouging is killing small businesses. They’ve tried reaching out to this government many times, but each time their concerns were ignored. I’ve raised concerns, as well as the member here from Brampton East, about the government not doing enough to help Ontarians lower their auto insurance.

I’d like to ask the Premier: Whose side is the government on, our small businesses’ that are being price-gouged or the auto insurance companies’ that are raking in record profits?

Mr. Michael Parsa: Again, I thank the member for their question. Mr. Speaker, let me make it very clear: We will always stand with the people of Ontario every step of the way. I want to just remind the member that it was our government, the first jurisdiction in Canada, to amend regulations that posed barriers for auto insurance and kept them from being able to provide Ontarians with support when they needed it during these unprecedented times.

I referenced FSRA’s update to the government, which provided almost $1 billion of relief to Ontarians during the pandemic. But that’s not where we started. It’s important to point out that when we started as government, we identified that rates were high in the province of Ontario. We started serving the people of Ontario prior to this, when we had 51,000 people—stakeholders, Ontario drivers—come in and work with us to reduce rates for Ontarians.

The last government didn’t do anything. The NDP completely supported them every step of the way. We will fight for Ontarians every single day to make life more affordable for them every single—

Interjections.

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

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Member for Brampton North, come to order.

Start the clock. The member for Ottawa–Vanier.

Autism treatment

M me Lucille Collard: My question is for the Premier. Since the government cancelled the previous autism program and introduced its own program back in 2019, access to care for children with autism has been reduced significantly across the province.

Early childhood development is a key factor in determining one’s health for the rest of their life. We know that the earlier children with autism are diagnosed and receive evidence-based therapy tailored to their needs, the more likely they can achieve their full potential and thrive. Right now, families with children with autism are left to fend for themselves in trying to somehow find the money and the resources for treatment for their children.

My question is, will the Premier follow the recommendations from the Ontario Autism Program Advisory Panel and fully implement a needs-based system and remove the age-based gap on funding?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The parliamentary assistant, the member for Ottawa West–Nepean.

Mr. Jeremy Roberts: Thank you to the member opposite for this important question. Our government is proud that we have doubled the Ontario Autism Program budget from $300 million to $600 million, the largest amount spent on the Ontario Autism Program in Ontario history. On top of that, we’re proud that we have brought together a group of experts—parents, agency heads, clinicians, self-advocates—on our Ontario autism panel to design a program made by the community, for the community. We are currently implementing this plan.

There has been incredibly exciting work done to date on foundational services, on early intervention, on the launch of core services. We are going to continue moving forward on this plan—again, designed by the community, for the community—with the largest budget for an Ontario autism program in—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member will take his seat.

The member for Hamilton Mountain will come to order.

Supplementary question.

M me Lucille Collard: Mr. Speaker, more than two years ago the government promised to reduce long wait times and provide funding for children diagnosed with autism. Since then, the wait-list has more than doubled. The most recent numbers say that more than 50,000 children are registered and waiting to enter the autism program.

Parents have reached out to me and shared their despair about the negative impact online learning has already had on their children. The wait for support is taking an increasing toll on their mental health, and urgent action is needed. I don’t know what to tell these parents to give them hope. Is help on the way? What is the government’s plan to address the Ontario Autism Program’s wait-list?

Mr. Jeremy Roberts: As we know, the Ontario Autism Program has been a challenging file for governments of all stripes for a number of years. When we look at where this program was three years ago, we see that it was a program that was underfunded. We see that it was a program with a long wait-list, with no support provided to those individuals on the wait-list. We see that kids couldn’t receive a range of clinical services beyond behavioural therapy, and we see a program where behavioural therapists weren’t regulated.

Now today, Speaker, we see that folks on the wait-list are receiving interim support as we roll out the new core services program designed by the community. We see program funding is the largest in Ontario’s history, with our doubled $600-million budget. We see a range of clinical services being offered through core services, expanded from behavioural services to speech language pathology, occupational therapy and mental health services. And we see behavioural therapists being regulated for the first time in Ontario history.

Tremendous progress has been made. Lots of work still to be done—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member will take his seat.

The member for Hamilton Mountain, come to order.

The next question.

Municipal planning

Mrs. Robin Martin: My question is for the Associate Minister of Transportation. In the last decade, home prices in Toronto have exploded, rising 120%, making it very difficult for many, in particular young people and young families, to get on the property ladder. My constituents in Eglinton–Lawrence bring this issue up all the time in conversations and in correspondence.

I know our government is committed to increasing housing supply in several ways, including by building vibrant neighbourhoods around transit. Could the minister please explain the work that he is doing on transit-oriented communities?

Hon. Stan Cho: Thank you to the member from Eglinton–Lawrence for that very important question. I know that keeping housing accessible for generations to come is a top priority for that member, so I appreciate this question.

The concept of transit-oriented communities is quite simple, Speaker: Build transit, and then build a vibrant, multi-purpose community around it. We’re talking about housing, retail stores, libraries, restaurants, pubs, parks, core services, all within walking distance of transit. These are new neighbourhoods, Speaker, 20-minute communities, if you will. It’s time we evolved from just planning for asphalt deserts like park-and-ride parking lots around transit stations, and bring people closer to the station stops.

This is about smart city planning. It means increasing the supply of housing throughout the GTA so that more people in our province have places to call home. We’re excited. We’re going to make progress on this and we’re going to keep the dream of home ownership alive for generations to come.

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

Mrs. Robin Martin: I thank the minister for his response. Under the previous Liberal government, short-sighted thinking and band-aid solutions caused the skyrocketing housing crisis, so it is refreshing to hear about the minister’s long-term planning on this issue.

I know that our government has shown true leadership on transit by committing $28.5 billion, the biggest investment in transit in Canadian history, and this includes funding for the Ontario Line, which will add over 15 kilometres to Toronto’s subway system—finally.

Can the minister update the House on the transit-oriented communities that will be anchored by this historic project?

Hon. Stan Cho: The member is correct: This is a very historic project. Consultations are ongoing on the transit-oriented communities, or TOCs, along the Ontario Line. We’re talking about East Harbour station, Corktown, Queen-Spadina, King-Bathurst and Exhibition. We’ve reac