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

April 4, 2012

40th Parliament, 1st Session

< Previous sitting day

Next sitting day >

Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcripts 2012-Apr-04 (PDF)

L034 - Wed 4 Apr 2012 / Mer 4 avr 2012

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Wednesday 4 April 2012 Mercredi 4 avril 2012

ORDERS OF THE DAY

ACCEPTING SCHOOLS ACT, 2012 /

LOI DE 2012 POUR

DES ÉCOLES TOLÉRANTES

INTRODUCTION OF VISITORS

ORAL QUESTIONS

ONTARIO ECONOMY

ONTARIO BUDGET

ONTARIO BUDGET

ONTARIO BUDGET

AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

HYDRO OPERATIONS

AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

ONTARIO PUBLIC SERVICE

AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

WORKPLACE SAFETY

COMMUNITY SAFETY

AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

VISITORS

INTRODUCTION OF VISITORS

MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS

CONSUMER PROTECTION

SUICIDE PREVENTION

CITY OF PETERBOROUGH

FRED WEST

CLIMATE CHANGE

PARAMOUNT FINE FOODS

DIG SAFE MONTH

NOISE POLLUTION

GASOLINE TAX

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

ONTARIO’S WOOD FIRST ACT, 2012 /

LOI DE 2012 PRIVILÉGIANT

LE BOIS EN ONTARIO

LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT

OF REGULATIONS ACT, 2012 /

LOI DE 2012 SUR LA SURVEILLANCE

LÉGISLATIVE DES RÈGLEMENTS

TAXPAYER PROTECTION

AMENDMENT ACT, 2012 /

LOI DE 2012 MODIFIANT

LA

LOI SUR LA PROTECTION

DES CONTRIBUABLES

COSTING OF PUBLIC BILLS ACT, 2012 /

LOI DE 2012 SUR L’ÉTABLISSEMENT

DES COÛTS DES PROJETS DE LOI

D’INTÉRÊT PUBLIC

PAT HAYES

PETITIONS

CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN

EDUCATION FUNDING

LONG-TERM CARE

ONTARIO NORTHLAND

TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION

IMMIGRATION POLICY /

POLITIQUES D’IMMIGRATION

SCHOOL FACILITIES

DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES

IMMIGRATION POLICY /

POLITIQUES D’IMMIGRATION

SCHOOL FACILITIES

SCHOOL CLOSURES

ORDERS OF THE DAY

ORDER OF BUSINESS

FAMILY CAREGIVER LEAVE ACT

(EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS

AMENDMENT), 2012 /

LOI DE 2012 SUR LE CONGÉ FAMILIAL

POUR LES AIDANTS NATURELS

(MODIFICATION DES NORMES D’EMPLOI)

The House met at 0900.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): May we all pray, please.

Prayers.

ORDERS OF THE DAY

Hon. John Gerretsen: Good morning, Speaker, and good morning to everyone here on such a beautiful, sunny day like this morning. It’s my pleasure to ask that government order G13 be called at this time.

ACCEPTING SCHOOLS ACT, 2012 /

LOI DE 2012 POUR

DES ÉCOLES TOLÉRANTES

Resuming the debate adjourned on April 3, 2012, on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 13,

An Act to amend the Education Act with respect to bullying and other matters / Projet de loi 13, Loi modifiant la

Loi sur l’éducation en ce qui a trait à l’intimidation et à d’autres questions.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Further debate?

Mr. Yasir Naqvi: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on this very important bill, Bill 13,

An Act to amend the Education Act with respect to bullying and other matters. The

short title of this bill, Speaker, is the Accepting Schools Act, and that is how I will be referring to this particular bill.

Speaker, this is my second term in this great Legislature. It’s five years that I’ve been serving the people of Ontario, and particularly the people of Ottawa Centre, and I would argue that at least in my short time in this Legislature, of all the laws, bills and issues we have debated and discussed, this particular matter, this particular bill, is by far the most important one that I have been engaged in. This bill represents hope. It represents hope for thousands and thousands of children and young people in this great province of ours.

This particular bill represents hope for those children and young people who are in our schools and are bullied on a daily basis. This bill represents hope for those adults who have been victims of bullies and are out of our school system now but still carry the scars of bullying. Some of them have the courage to come out and speak against bullying, share their stories and try to inspire others so they can also continue with their lives, and some don’t.

Speaker, this bill is hope for parents, for members of families whose children are bullied—and there are, unfortunately, many in our province—especially those parents who have lost a child of theirs, a child who took his or her own life because of bullying. They will all agree, unfortunately, that there have been too many in our province.

Therefore, it is incumbent on us—no ifs and buts about this—that we need to deal with the issue of bullying in our province, and we need to have an action plan on this very important issue now. This is not a matter for the future. This is not an issue we should delay our action on, because our duty and responsibility as members of this Legislative Assembly, our fiduciary duty to the people of Ontario, especially to the children and young people of this great province, requires that we deal with the issue around bullying now.

I think I stand in very good company. All members of this Legislature recognize how important it is that we have strict laws, that we have an action plan in place now dealing with bullies. More importantly than the 107 of us who are elected, the people out there, the members of our community, the people of Ontario are demanding of us that we have an action plan, that we have policies, that we have laws now that deal with bullying. So the stars are aligned. We are all on the same page. Now what we need to agree on is that action plan.

What we need to agree on is our resolve, our will to take action, and that’s what leadership is about. That’s the kind of leadership all of us have to demonstrate by working together.

Speaker, my riding of Ottawa Centre is a diverse riding. It’s a riding made up of many, many communities. It’s a riding made up of young and old, a riding made up of people who have lived in that community for a long, long time and those who just arrived in Ottawa yesterday. We are blessed to have a very diverse community that we call Ottawa, and particularly Ottawa Centre.

I also have a very diverse community in terms of a large LGBT—lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered—community that lives in Ottawa Centre, a community that is extremely active in not only promoting the well-being of members of the LGBT community, especially youth, but also the community at large, which is active in our schools, which is active in our neighbourhoods, to ensure that we live in a vibrant place. Collectively, we all work together to ensure that our community, our neighbourhoods are safe places to live.

When I’m out there and talking to them about Bill 13, they want action on Bill 13 now. They are very supportive of Bill 13 and what it stands for. What does Bill 13 stand for, Speaker? I think the

preamble language in Bill 13 is quite instructive. It states that the people of Ontario and the Legislative Assembly believe that all students should feel safe at school and deserve a positive school climate that is inclusive and accepting, regardless of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, family status or disability. All important differences are listed within the language of this bill, differences that don’t just need to be tolerated; differences that need to be accepted and, in fact, celebrated.

The bill goes further and says that the people of Ontario and the Legislative Assembly believe that a healthy, safe and inclusive learning environment where all students feel accepted is a necessary condition for student success—because that is what we want for our children: no matter who they are, no matter what family they come from, that they are successful in school and they are given equal opportunity to thrive.

The bill goes on to say further—and I 100% wholeheartedly agree with that statement, and I think the people of Ontario accept that as well—that students need to be equipped with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to engage the world and others critically, which means developing a critical consciousness that allows them to take action on making their schools and communities more equitable and inclusive for all people, including LGBTTIQ—lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, transsexual, two-spirited, intersex, queer and questioning people.

This is the right set of policies that we are putting forward. We need to make sure that we address the root causes of bullying that takes place in our schools. Kids are getting picked on because they may be LGBT; they may be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered. They may be getting picked on because they’re kids of dad and dad, or mom and mom. There is no reason that that should take place in our schools.

I urge all members to please vote in support of this bill. We need to work at bringing Bill 13 and 14 together so it is law before this September, so that we can start addressing issues around bullying in an effective, forceful manner, starting the new school year. This is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate to the world outside that we do have the capacity to work together and make Ontario a better place for our students.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Questions and comments?

Mr. John O’Toole: The member from Ottawa Centre spoke with passion, representative of what Dalton McGuinty told him to say—which is fine.

What I’m going to do here is basically, I’m going to put on the table something that’s important. Just in the media today—it’s very good—it says:

“The way to fight bullying is to have school boards, bureaucrats, principals and teachers committed to ending it.

“It’s to make it clear to kids from the first day of school that no one has the right to bully them for any reason and that if they are being bullied, the adults in charge of the school will help them.

“Then, that promise has to be backed up with real action.

“None of this will happen as long as we’re caught in an ideologically-driven sideshow over one form of bullying based on sexual orientation” versus others.

There should be no hierarchy of bullying—no bullying is tolerated—and that distraction is really what’s causing the problem. Bill 14, which we unanimously agreed, I think, puts a more mature look at the whole issue.

This

article I’m reading and will refer to says, “First, bullying permeates both public and separate schools.

“Second, kids get bullied for all sorts of reasons, including but not limited to sexual orientation.” None of it’s acceptable.

“Third, the real problem has been the tendency of school boards, bureaucrats and administrators to ignore bullying, to refuse to back up teachers trying to combat it and to re-victimize the victims of bullying by transferring them to other schools” instead of dealing with it.

We need leadership on the issue. We need clear rules that aren’t creating a hierarchy of one form of bullying versus another. No form of bullying is acceptable in Ontario or Canada, or for that matter the world. And I can tell you first-hand, I’m dealing with constituents now who have been bullied, not for any particular reason that I would disclose here, but it was not dealt with properly and indeed the child was transferred. In fact, the child becomes re-victimized. This bill simply doesn’t do it. Look at Bill 14. Look at serving the children, not some other ideology.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Thank you. Questions and comments.

Mr. Michael Mantha: I want to take this time to introduce you to a fabulous, young little girl from Bruce Mines. Her name is Candace. You know, there were a lot of signs that were there. First, she was a bubbly young person, very athletic, was very active in her community. Nobody would have thought that the outcome that she chose was the outcome that happened. The unfortunate part? She couldn’t talk to anybody. She didn’t have that avenue. She didn’t have that organization. She didn’t know who she could go to. And unfortunately she took her life.

She made a drastic decision because those resources weren’t there; or if they were, they were hidden; or if they would have been, she didn’t know where to go to get them. It’s unfortunate now that all the signs were there but nobody recognized them.

There’s a lot of good in Bill 13. There’s a lot of good in Bill 14. We need to take some action—yes. We need to take the right steps—yes, we do. But we need to do this in a way that will serve all Ontarians. Let’s put the flags down. Let’s get this right, let’s get the discussions going, but let’s say no to a lot of what we’re seeing—or a lot of what I’m seeing—as far as positions that we’re taking on either/or. They’re both good. Let’s move them forward. Let’s get this right. I think we owe that to our kids, we owe that to our communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Thank you. Questions, comments.

Hon. John Gerretsen: I’m very pleased to speak on this bill, and it’s unfortunate that a bill like this and Bill 14 have sort of become very partisan issues because they really shouldn’t be. I think all of us remember either having been bullied, particularly during our formative years in schools, or seeing bullies operate in those schools, and there have been some lasting effects of that.

What I would strongly suggest to the process here is that we take the best aspects of this bill and the best aspects of Bill 14 and come up with a law that is a nonpartisan law. A lot has been said about sexual orientation, and that’s only one kind of bullying.

I have sort of been thinking about how some organizations—mainly, the separate system doesn’t want to have the committees called one thing or another. Now, I’ll tell you I’ve been a separate school supporter my entire life. Quite frankly, I can’t see it. Kids in their schools are going to call the committees whatever the heck they want to call them, and just because adults say you’ve got to call it this, you’ve got to call it that, okay, that may be the official name, but they’re going to call it whatever they want, and that’s the reality of the situation.

Let’s deal with the real issue here so that people aren’t stigmatized, so that people don’t suffer the consequences of this for the rest of their life, or as the member from Algoma just mentioned, some very dramatic situations happened with respect to the young girl that he talked about who in effect took her own life.

This should not be a partisan issue. There are good points in both of the bills, and the only way we’re going to make a real difference in the schools is by allowing the kids to basically decide what to call the committees that they want to form. This is a good idea. This is one way in which we can all collectively do something about the bullying situation in our schools.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Questions and comments?

Mr. Rob E. Milligan: As a high school teacher, an educator, a parent and just an individual who cares for his community, province and country, and for everyone from all walks of life regardless, I think the member from Durham made a very good point: Bullying is wrong, regardless of sex, gender, religion, creed—it doesn’t matter; it’s wrong, period. Intolerance—

Mr. Bob Delaney: Sexual orientation.

Mr. Rob E. Milligan: Sexual orientation—it’s wrong, right?

Mr. Bob Delaney: See? That didn’t hurt.

Mr. Rob E. Milligan: No, it didn’t hurt. And intolerance for diversity is wrong, period.

We have to remember that we’re dealing with human beings. Bullying is something that has been around for thousands of years. We try to legislate it. We try to improve upon it. We’re educating our youth toward the tolerance of others and their beliefs. This is important. I think that, obviously, we have to do better. We can actually address the issue of bullying within our school systems.

But, really, we have to look at the heart of the matter, and that is one of collectively working together. Bill 13 and Bill 14: We can argue that ours is better than theirs. But I think the member from Kingston and the Islands made a good point: This is a nonpartisan issue. It should be a nonpartisan issue, because it affects everyone and their families. So, Mr. Speaker, I have to say we are looking toward working with the other parties: the third party and the government.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): The member from Ottawa Centre has two minutes to respond.

Mr. Yasir Naqvi: My gratitude to the members from Durham and Algoma–Manitoulin, the Attorney General, and the member from Northumberland–Quinte West.

Speaker, I stand here as the member for Ottawa Centre, and there’s only one group of people I speak for, and that is the people of Ottawa Centre and nobody else. They are telling me again and again that we need to take action on bullying. They are telling me that we all need to work together as a group of responsible, elected members and deal with this issue.

They’re telling me, “Bill 13, Bill 14—we don’t know. Work together and take action on bullying.” They’re telling me, because they do watch, “Stop playing games in this Legislature. Get to work. Don’t delay debate on this important issue.” Let’s talk and find a solution to bullying.

Most importantly, Speaker, believe it or not, the kids are watching. They’re talking about it. I go to a lot of schools—elementary and high schools. They are talking about this particular issue, and kudos to them. They want action, and they’re saying, “We don’t get it. Why are you taking so long? Why can we not have a law in place so we can start working with our teachers, so we can start working with our principal, so we can start working with our administrators, so we can start working with ourselves and start dealing with the issue around bullying—bullying of all kinds?”

We need to take action. Speaker, I urge every single member: Let’s work together and pass a law by June so that we can implement it in our schools for September.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Further debate?

Mr. Jeff Yurek: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning. I’m glad to speak on this bill. It’s a pretty close issue to myself. About two years ago, I had a visitation at a funeral home. One of my employees who had left us—she had moved on to another job—her 13-year-old son decided just before Mother’s Day to end his life. It wasn’t because he was sick; basically, he was bullied, and he was sick of being picked on at school and having no help, no supports from the school, the school board or the community at large.

I went to that visitation, and I haven’t really gone to a visitation for a child before. It was quite shocking and startling. A lot of emotions went through my mind at the time. There was anger and rage, but most of all it was helplessness. I felt helpless because what could I do as a community member, a pharmacist in the community, for my old employee? How could I help this family? How could I prevent this from going on? At the time, the helplessness you feel—you know, it hurts. It eats away at you. So I’m glad now that I’m in a position where I feel that I can help.

I am very, very proud of my fellow caucus members: Elizabeth Witmer from Kitchener–Waterloo, who came up with quite an extensive bill. I’m proud to be part of her caucus, and I’m quite proud to be alongside Lisa MacLeod here from Carleton-Nepean—Nepean–Carleton. I always say it backwards. But I’m proud to be a colleague with Lisa and her advocacy on bullying, and I just give you very much applause.

I did have a long speech on this, but this morning I thought, “I’m representing Elgin–Middlesex–London. I’ll give out some emails that I received on it, just so my constituents’ thoughts are heard in this Legislature.” Some of them have come from maybe earlier.

This one comes from Anne Taylor, chair of the St. Thomas-Elgin Anti-Bullying Coalition. Anne is actually the mother of the son who took his life, and used to work for me.

“We are calling on all parties to work together and take time for careful consideration over the drafting of a final bill. ‘Bullying is abusive in nature and is a result of intolerance, inequity and misuses of power. In order to put an end to bullying and bullycide, we must use legislation to help build this framework. The language must be concise and specific regarding bullying and peer abuse.

Our hope is to have a bill strictly devoted to anti-bullying for all students and to keep other issues of equality separate so that the bill’s purpose is not distorted, making it about political reputations or narrowing the bullying focus to issues of sexual orientation and sex education, instead of the safety and learning success of every single one of the children and youth in this province.’”

This next one comes from Corina Morrison, co-founder of the London Anti-Bullying Coalition. I’ve met with Corina. She was on my doorstep right after the election. She is an advocate who is non-stop, and I’ve met with her numerous times over the past few months.

“It is vital to the well-being of our children, that legislation gets it right. ‘Without informed decision-making and effective legislation, every Ontario student remains at risk.’”

This comes from Karen Sebben, co-founder, York Region Anti-Bullying Coalition: “My son’s three years of bullying took the form of homophobia, and he is not homosexual. As parents it didn’t matter to us what form the bullying took. The fact remains that aggression and assault were taking place regardless of the reason. This is the focus of any anti-bullying legislation and PCs’ Elizabeth Witmer got it right with Bill 14.”

This comes from Katie Neu, co-founder of Bullying Canada: “We have to look at all of the lives being lost as a result of the bullying they have endured, as well as those coming forward with their school horror stories and realize that something has to be done. Bullying is not being taken seriously enough and needs to be addressed before this epidemic takes even more lives.”

These are the experts in bullying; it’s not us. I think we need to listen to the experts and follow through.

I’ve got some emails here. These are a group of law students. I’m sure we all got this email, but I’m going to read it out anyways.

“As law students of Osgoode Hall Law School, University of Toronto, and University of Ottawa, we want to thank you for your concern regarding the issue of bullying in schools. Many of us have experienced bullying in our own lives and have endured its detrimental effects.

“While we commend the goal of Bill 13 insofar as it addresses the need to eradicate bullying, we are concerned with the method and scope of this bill in attempting to achieve ‘bullying prevention and intervention.’ While bullying can single out traits such as race or sexual orientation, bullying is not limited to students displaying such traits—rather, any and all students may become targets, whether for the size of one’s body, for shyness, or for any other characteristic.

Legislating that school boards empower only those students who lead clubs from one of four explicitly protected groups—gender equity, anti-racism, respect for students with disabilities, and sexual orientation—sends the message that some grounds for bullying merit more attention and protection than others. Consequently, the scope of the bill is too narrow and exclusive to promote true equity for all potentially targeted traits and identities. Moreover, the bill is silent on character development, and on creating a safe environment for speaking about bullying.

“The bill’s

section on disciplinary measures similarly gives explicit attention and protection to issue-specific causes.

Section 4(2) lists the general term ‘bullying’ along with ‘sexual assault, gender-based violence and incidents based on homophobia.’ Sex and gender-related issues are not the only motivations behind bullying or violent behaviour; addressing only these groups unduly minimizes the bill’s impact. Should we not send the message that all bullying is unacceptable, regardless of what prompts it?

Furthermore, the sanctions, or ‘appropriate consequences’ for ‘inappropriate behaviour’ listed under subsection 7(3) are vague, and give arbitrary power to schools to decide their own standard of ‘appropriateness.’ We suggest that such licence may alienate or marginalize students whose conscientious beliefs may not align with the dominant views of school boards about what merits punitive sanctions.”

I got another email: “I have ... been very busy with our many appointments all because of bullying. I sincerely hope changes are coming to keep our kids safe.

My oldest, who endured bullying in grade 4 then intensified in grades 7 and 8, chose to go to an out of boundary high school to make a fresh start. (He started counselling in July 2010.) Over this past summer, not only the usual nervousness of starting grade 9 in a school where you don’t know many, but he was so afraid of being bullied again, not only did he suffer emotionally but it became physical—heart palpitations, involuntary spastic twitching, unable to participate in all the activities he once loved—basketball, soccer, swimming, golf.” He wasn’t allowed to be a kid anymore. “He used to be an avid reader, read all the time and could not wait to start another novel.” His hygiene started to become neglected. “He ‘would rather be dead than go to school.’ We were in a very bad place.

I was worried for his personal safety.

“Anyways after lots of outside help, he is now going to begin his third type of therapy and medication ... he is doing better. We have been told it’s still a long road, and it makes me want to scream because he is 14 and this is not how life should be for a teenager. I am just very fortunate and count my blessings that he is still with us.”

Families are going through too much in this province over bullying. Those that survive bullying are affected emotionally for life. They’re scarred, and it’s hard to bring them back. It’s time to work together. Bill 14 is an amazing bill, and I salute it and I support it. Hopefully, we can work together and get one unified bill and get it out to our students in this province. Thank you.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Questions and comments.

Miss Monique Taylor: I’ve been listening quite intensely to all of the discussions going on here in the House today, and it seems to me that we’re all under the same agreement. It doesn’t matter what kind of bullying is happening; we know it’s happening. That’s the key issue. We know that we need special-interest groups because the kids are going to create their own special-interest groups. It’s them who are feeling the heat on this.

The problem with this bill that I’m seeing is that we don’t have the funding to back up this program. Who are going to be the ones administering the program? Who are going to be the psychologists on-site, the therapists on-site to deal with these kids who are having these issues? We’re already having funding shortfalls when it comes to EAs for our disabled children and children with special needs. So who’s going to be the one to take the extra stand and to do the extra work that’s needed when these kids come to them? We have teachers and we have staff in the schools.

They’re already over-bound—and yet we have no one to watch a playground. Where’s the issue here? If we don’t have enough supervision in the front of the school where they’re fighting on the front steps, and we have adults walking by them, where are we going wrong here?

Instead of arguing about what kind of bullying is happening in our province, maybe we’d better be looking at how we are going to fund the education system better to make sure we do have adults responsible who are going to step in and take a stand, that we do have adults and therapists and everybody—EAs—at the school to make sure the kids have the resources that they need to make sure it works.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Questions and comments? The member from Scarborough East.

Ms. Soo Wong: No, Scarborough–Agincourt, Mr. Speaker.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Thank you for correcting me—

Interjection.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): But your member stood up first. The member from Scarborough–Agincourt. No tricking the Speaker. It’s not nice.

Ms. Soo Wong: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m delighted to stand and to be given an opportunity to speak in support of Bill 13. I’m very sad and very sorry to hear from my colleague from Elgin–Middlesex–London about that tragedy. I think that was one preventable death that all of us are deeply saddened by.

The proposed legislation is about protecting students, and at the same time creating a safe and inclusive environment so that every young person in our school can learn. That’s what this bill is all about.

I appreciate all the constructive feedback shared with us this morning by my colleagues, but we need to move forward. We need to move forward with legislation that is strong, robust, comprehensive, and that will protect young people at the same time, to ensure their safety. It’s not just about protection; it’s also about providing resources.

The legislation is very clear. It talks about providing consequences, because we need young people to know there will be consequences to your bullying. We all know bullying is a learned behaviour. You’re not born a bully. You learn about these kinds of behaviours.

The other thing in the legislation is there will be a recognized Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week. Again, it will be education and prevention, and there will be resources to support. I know the member from Hamilton Mountain expressed concern about who’s going to be funding this proposed legislation and what have you. There are going to be resources, especially for the mental health piece, because we know that young people who have been bullied, or will be bullied down the road, need that support—not just the bullied, but also the perpetrator.

I fully support this legislation, and, moving forward, I’m happy to be working with my colleague to bring both Bills 13 and 14 together.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Questions and comments?

Mr. John Yakabuski: I’m pleased to speak for a couple of minutes on Bill 13, and the address by my colleague from Elgin–Middlesex–London is a good segue into this.

A young man made an appointment and came in to see me in my office, a fellow by the name of Dustin Garron: 16 years old, multiple suicide attempts, has experienced bullying in his life at school. Dustin is also gay, and made it clear that the reasons for bullying had nothing to do with his sexual orientation, nor did his suicide attempts.

He was disappointed in the way that this government deals with mental illness, very disappointed in the focus in Bill 13 but more pleased with the focus in Bill 14, which attacks and deals with the issue of bullying whatever the reason may be. I thank the Attorney General for standing here earlier today and saying exactly the same thing.

We have a responsibility in this Legislature to make sure that we do everything we humanly, possibly can to eliminate bullying. My friend from Durham talked about how the school boards are saying—and how this writer said—it has to be dealt with head on, right at day one, so that the culture in our school systems, the culture everywhere, is one that says no to bullying. It is wrong, and we as adults and we as legislators must ensure that that does not happen.

It should not be an issue that is being politicized by the government, by their stance on it in trying to put one particular emphasis on one particular reason why someone may or may not be bullied. It is time to get down to the business of doing what is right for all children here in the province of Ontario and stop playing political games.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Questions and comments?

Mr. Jonah Schein: I’m new here to this Legislature and it’s a bit confusing for me to hear this kind of debate because, to me, I hear people stand up, we all despise bullying, we’ve all seen it; we all know we need to deal with it. Obviously, for families who have lost a loved one to suicide when that’s a result of bullying, it’s tragic. We all agree on that.

Obviously, I support this bill. It makes sense. We need good, strong equity policies in our schools. We need to make sure that we have schools that have a school culture that is anti-oppressive, that supports people who are victims of bullying and supports bullies as well to deal with the problems that they have.

But to me, I feel like the debate is sort of off in some sense, in that we’re talking about a province with growing inequality. The problem with the bully debate is that it disguises the real issue behind bullying, which is power imbalance, that some people have more power and some people have less. The real debate that we should be having right now is how we share our resources in this province and the fact that some people have so much power and some people have so little power.

To talk about bullying as if it’s the fault of an individual in a school rather than a societal problem, which is what it is—you know, kids learn these things at home, kids learn these things on television, kids learn these from our political leaders. What they see if they’re looking in this House is a government that will not stand up for the underdog, will not stand up for people who are struggling. This is the real issue that needs to be addressed here.

Yesterday, our leader, Andrea Horwath, stood up and she said she wants to make sure, if this budget is going to pass, that we stand up for the 99%, that we stand up for people who are struggling, and that the people who are doing very well, the top 1%, give a little bit back. We’ll see if Dalton McGuinty and the government is listening, but this is the way we need to go forward.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): The member from Elgin–Middlesex–London has two minutes to respond.

Mr. Jeff Yurek: I want to thank my colleagues from Hamilton Mountain, Scarborough–Agincourt, Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke and Davenport for commenting.

I think what we need to do with this bill is we need a bill that’s equal and accepting to all and rules out that one form of bullying is more consequential than the other. It’s across the board. We need to come out and say bullying is wrong and we need to have supports in place for our kids.

The one point that Bill 13 misses—and I’m just going to comment quickly on it, because Elizabeth Witmer’s Bill 14 attacks it—is cyberbullying. Kids can’t get away from bullying. It used to be, 10, 15 years ago, you could leave school and at least go home to your family and be safe and secure. Nowadays, you’ve got Facebook and Twitter and what have you chasing you home. It’s there, it’s constant, and it’s 24 hours, seven days a week. I’m glad Bill 14 actually tackles cyberbullying, because I think it’s getting worse and we need to start hitting it hard from all aspects.

We need to have legislation that encompasses yesterday, today and tomorrow, and Bill 14 does so, and again, I’m very grateful.

We all have stories here. We’re all affected by bullying one way or the other, and whether you like it or not, it does affect you emotionally and physically, whether you realize it or not, because these are heart-wrenching stories that gnaw away at you. The sooner we can get some solutions out of this Legislature and into Ontario helping our kids, the better.

I have an eight-year-old daughter at home and I never want her to go through bullying. I just couldn’t picture it. Thanks for your time.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Further debate?

Mr. Rosario Marchese: I am happy to speak to Bill 13, and I will say that we support Bill 13 and we don’t have a problem with that. It surprises me that there are some Conservative members who say they do have a problem with that, because their Bill 14 is equally good and adds different elements to the aspect of bullying, and New Democrats have other things to say about it as well.

I’m not sure why some Tories are presenting it as an either/or. I don’t know why you’re doing that. When some of you stand up to speak to it, you recognize elements of Bill 13, you support it, but you say, “No, that’s not good enough. Our bill is the one that does it.”

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: One shot to get it—

Mr. Rosario Marchese: I don’t see why you do that. The member from Nepean–Carleton says it’s a one-shot deal. No, it isn’t, necessarily. It isn’t. And your Bill 14 doesn’t do it all either, as New Democrats have pointed out. So there’s this ideology of right and wrong that is completely mistaken, and I don’t know why you do that. I know why Tories are against this bill, and it’s the part of the bill that says the following: “A new

section 303.1 requires boards to support pupils who want to establish and lead activities or organizations that promote gender equity, anti-racism, the awareness and understanding of, and respect for, people with disabilities or the awareness and understanding of, and respect for, people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.” What is so wrong with that? Why are some Conservatives so afraid of that? I just don’t understand it. We’re living in an age where, if you can’t accept that, something is definitely not right about your political positioning on this. I get terribly nervous and worried about that kind of politics.

Section 5, subsection 301 of the act, talks about, “which sets out the purposes of the provincial code of conduct, is amended to include preventing bullying in schools.” That means all bullying. I know that as some of the Tories are talking to each other, they may not realize that that

section deals with all bullying. It’s clear that the Conservatives either do not see that or fail to see that or deliberately don’t want to read that as part of the bill. So when the member from Ottawa–Nepean says that, “We want to deal with all bullying,” well, that

section talks about all bullying. What she doesn’t want to say, even though she herself supports it, is that

section 7, the new

section 303, is something that puts a new obligation to school boards, and even though she agrees with it, she’s saying that is not something her party can live with. I’ve got to tell you that I feel very, very disappointed in them in that regard.

What does Bill 14 do? Bill 14 adds a few other elements, and it says the following—and how could I disagree with it? Bill 14 says that some of the additions will define “bullying” as “severe or repeated” harmful behaviour. I think that’s a good and useful suggestion. Does it take away from Bill 13, or add to it? It adds to it; it doesn’t take away. Requiring the minister’s annual report to the Legislature to include school board data about bullying incidents—that adds to Bill 13, it doesn’t take away. There is no disagreement between these two elements.

The inclusion of bullying prevention in the curriculum—well, that is added in Bill 13, so that’s not an additional component of it. So that’s not a problem.

So you have these additional elements in Bill 14 that are reasonable amendments, and I don’t know why they can’t simply say 13 is okay, 14 is good because it adds a few other elements—and New Democrats are going to talk about the root causes of bullying and what we could be doing about it, which neither Bill 13 nor 14 does. So when the member from Ottawa Centre says we need to deal with the root causes, well, he says it but he doesn’t say how. It’s not contained in the bill at all. There’s no mention of how we deal with the root causes.

So even though he speaks the language of New Democrats, it doesn’t speak to it in the bill. That is the problemo that New Democrats speak to. Neither Bill 13 nor Bill 14 speaks to it.

Am I proposing that we create yet another, New Democratic, bill, Bill 15, to deal with that problem? No. We’ve got two bills, and we’re going to say that as we deal with each, New Democrats will propose suggestions to make it better. We could propose a Bill 15 and present ourselves as the real party of difference on the issue of bullying, but we’re not going to do that. So when I hear the Tories say, “No, we’ve got to destroy Bill 13 because it’s not good enough and ours is better,” I say I don’t know.

I say to the Tories and to the Liberals, do you remember when Falconer did his report? Mr. Falconer did his report and made a number of suggestions about violence in the schools, and no one, actually, in this assembly ever dealt with that report, because it was commissioned by the Toronto board—and Soo knows what I’m talking about. The Toronto board, lacking in funds, could never implement that report, but the provincial government could have. I suspect the Toronto board made efforts at trying to get the province to fund some of those things and failed miserably.

I know some of the trustees who are here as Liberal MPPs didn’t want to attack their Liberal colleagues, but I would have, as every other board before them did, where we had New Democratic trustees attack the New Democratic government—and they did that. The Liberal trustees should have done the same with their Liberal colleagues, and didn’t. That, I find regrettable.

If we want to deal with issues of violence, let’s look at what Mr. Falconer says, because he says preventing violence in schools requires adequate resources for proper student supervision, adequate funding, community outreach workers to build links with the community, and adequate funding for student supports such as social workers and child and youth workers. None of those implementations were reviewed, or they might have been reviewed but they were never implemented; they were never addressed. They need to be.

We need to understand why young men and women bully others. There’s a long list of reasons why it is that young people bully, and it all connects to the culture and connects to families. If we’ve got alcohol abuse in the family, it’s going to show up in the school system. If there are mental health issues, it will show up as a problem in our school system. If there is bullying against gays and lesbians and transsexuals in our schools, it’s because it is utterly connected to every aspect of our culture that, obviously, says that that isn’t right.

We need to fight that, and we need to fight that ferociously, aggressively. There are multiple reasons. Poverty is another problem that reflects itself in the school system.

We need to understand why they do it, and punishing them simply will not solve the problem, which is what part of what Bill 13 does and Bill 14 does. Expelling students doesn’t deal with the problem of sexual abuse of children against children, which has happened and has not been dealt with by boards.

Boards need financial support, principals need financial support, and in spite of what this Minister of Education is doing, attacking boards, she is not supporting them financially. When we impose a new obligation on boards, which I support, it has to be imposed with financial supports. This minister and other ministers cannot say that boards can do this. When boards are required legally to implement Bill 13, it means they have to do it, but if they’re not given the financial support, they will not be able to do it well. That’s the contribution New Democrats make to this debate on Bill 13 and Bill 14.

But, please, let’s proceed with Bill 13. It’s a good bill. Let’s then deal with Bill 14 and not bully each other on that issue, and then let’s look at what it is that we can do by way of additional amendments to Bill 13 and Bill 14 to make it a little better. I think we can do it.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Questions and comments?

Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn: It’s a pleasure to join the debate and to follow up on the always excellent remarks of the member from Trinity–Spadina.

I had occasion today to receive a letter that was sent to me from Vancouver. It’s from a young woman who spent her youth growing up in the town of Oakville. She has decided, because of what we’re doing in Ontario and because of the attention being paid to this issue, that she’d like to open up a little bit about her own experience. I won’t use her name, obviously, but I’ll tell you what she says in the letter. It’s a long letter, but there are some parts that really stand out.

One says, “I was teased because I was smart, [but I was] left out because I was poor. [I was] ganged up on because I had no one to defend me, and this was allowed to happen because I was a bit of a precocious child and that doesn’t tend to win one the kindness of teachers. In short, there was no protection for me when I was on the grounds of my elementary school.”

She goes on to say, “The lessons I took away from my childhood are not ones that I would teach children of my own. It taught me that being smart makes you a target; that any sign of confidence is a target to be shot at; that being happy is futile because there will always be someone to tear it down and rip it apart. It taught me not to trust anyone, that people will always say one thing and do another opposite, more sinister thing in its stead, and that like a pack of hyenas, people (adults and children alike) will team up to topple the thing they find most threatening.”

When you think of the childhood that this person experienced, it seems to me that what we’re proposing to do today by Bill 13 or 14, or whatever bill the adults choose to call it, is something that needs to be done—and it needs to be done, I think, in some haste. Young people are still suffering through this on a daily basis, and until Queen’s Park acts on this issue, it won’t stop. It’s time that we move ahead on this, Speaker. Thank you.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Questions and comments?

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: It’s a pleasure to once again engage in debate today and discuss what the member from Trinity–Spadina has talked about.

I want to commend the member from Oakville for bringing a letter to this House from one of his former constituents. I think that’s probably the most important thing that we’ve done since debating both Bill 13 and Bill 14, is talk about the issues, I know I want to make mention of my colleague from Elgin–Middlesex–London and the tragic story that occurred in his community, and as well to the member from Algoma–Manitoulin, because I think we’ve got a few issues here.

I’ve spoken a lot about Bill 13 and Bill 14, but I think what we’ve seen occur in this House are people bringing stories from their communities, from people that they know, about three issues actually. Bullying is one, mental health is another and, finally, suicide prevention and suicide being committed, which makes me think—and I say this as a member of the assembly, like every other member of the assembly, 106 other people—if there was ever a time for greater study, perhaps even a select committee on dealing with these types of issues all together, it might be now.

I think that while we’ve done this as a so-called committee of the whole, even though we’re not a committee of the whole, we’ve all discussed it. We all have views. We all have values that we’ve brought from our communities about this issue. I just hope it’s all reflected by the minister when we move forward, because we’ve obviously missed that opportunity to work together at an earlier stage.

So I do appreciate what the members have said, particularly when they bring the stories from their own communities to this assembly. It has affected me, and I know it has affected every other member.

Thank you, Speaker, for the opportunity.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Thank you. Questions and comments?

Mr. Michael Mantha: I don’t want to be repetitive, Mr. Speaker, but you know, I think I will, because everybody needs to hear this in this House.

I’ll start first by giving you a little bit of a discussion I had with my son last night. When I was talking to my son, he said, “You know, where most of the bullying happens is outside in the school yards or outside on the streets.” He said, “Why are you guys calling so many darn recesses? Why are the bells ringing so many times? Why aren’t you dealing in the classroom where the issue needs to be dealt with? Why aren’t you doing that, Dad?”

Anyway, I thought about that and I said, you know what? For a 13-year-old boy, he’s pretty bright. He’s really, really smart.

Mr. Rob E. Milligan: He gets it from his mom.

Mr. Michael Mantha: Yeah, he might get it from his mom.

But, anyways, I think working together is really an acknowledgement of someone else’s work. Bill 13 has great points—some points—but Bill 14, from the member from Nepean–Carleton, also has good points. Our member—I was actually very surprised that he was accused of bullying—from Trinity–Spadina also brings up good points. How is it that this House cannot stay in this House long enough to acknowledge the goods of all three positions and get this done right?

The member from Ottawa Centre said it quite well earlier, that kids in Ottawa Centre are talking about it in their classrooms. Well, guess what? They’re all talking about it. They’re all looking at us in this room, and if we don’t get the work done in here and we keep running out, ringing bells and not getting the work done, we’re failing them. So let’s work together, let’s be reasonable, and let’s get this right. I think we owe it to our kids.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Questions and comments?

Ms. Soo Wong: I’m pleased to be given another opportunity to speak in response to Bill 13. Let me first respond to clarify for my colleague from Trinity–Spadina. When I was a trustee for the Toronto District School Board like my colleague from Don Valley West, we were unfortunately faced with a tragedy resulting in the Falconer report. Working with our government, we were able to create one of the most successful programs that was ever introduced by this government. It’s called Focus on Youth.

Focus on Youth is one of the leading evidence-based programs, now going on almost five years—I think four or five years—whereby we provide resource support for our young people, free summer camp and employment opportunities. For the past couple of years—for last year I can say the data: We hired over 600 young people in the city of Toronto through the Toronto District School Board, becoming one of the largest employers in the city. The youth who were hired were high-risk youth. Not only were they given an employment opportunity, they were also given credits. This program also provides credit recovery. I wanted to make sure my colleague from Trinity–Spadina had the facts straight.

At the end of the day, we recognize the concerns on safety. The school board will never get enough money. They will always criticize the government about not enough funds here, there and everywhere. But I do know we have social workers, and we have psychologists at TDSB. But at the end of the day, we also need to make sure there are resource supports.

Mr. Speaker, the proposed legislation is not just about protecting young people, it’s also providing resource support. The member from Ottawa-Nepean talked about the mental health piece.

All of us in this House support some kind of legislation to protect our students and ensure that they can learn. Maybe together, we can do something for it before the beginning of the new school year.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): The member from Trinity–Spadina has a two-minute response.

Mr. Rosario Marchese: Thank you for all the comments. To the member for Scarborough–Agincourt, the Toronto school board is about to lay off potentially 1,000 workers. We’ve been trustees, both of us on the same board. We know what we’re talking about here. They’re about to lay off the very people you mentioned, which includes social workers, psychologists, educational assistants and other eyes in the Toronto board. Please, come on. I know you’ve got to talk to your minister about this because she’s attacking the school board and saying she gives them a whole lot of money.

The reality is that in a system that’s based on numbers, you’ve been getting less money over the years, and you’re short $85 million. Your school board is short $85 million, and they’re going to have to lay off up to 1,000 workers. Please.

This bill is about bullying, and we think there are good elements in this bill. We hope that the Conservatives will make amendments, as we will, in committee. I think overall, this can work, but we need to deal with the fact that school boards are doing a lot of work without the adequate resources, and they’ve been doing it more and more each and every year. We’re imposing new obligations on boards and principals and teachers, and we do this without understanding the incredible workload that principals and teachers have.

We simply think it’s a magical thing for them to be able to do on their own; we simply say, “Do it,” and it happens. There’s simply no understanding from provincial members about what it takes and the supports they require.

This bill does impose a lot of work on them, but if it doesn’t have the support so they can do the job well, it simply will not be done. That’s what New Democrats will speak to at the hearings.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): Further debate? The member from Scarborough East-Pickering.

Ms. Tracy MacCharles: Pickering–Scarborough East, thank you, Speaker. I’m very happy to speak on this very important bill today. We are committed to passing Bill 13 as soon as possible.

I do want to acknowledge the member from Trinity–Spadina and the member from Hamilton Mountain for their supportive comments. We are in total agreement: We need to get on with this. However, I also want to assure the member from Trinity–Spadina that we do know what it takes to make this bill happen, and I will be speaking to that soon.

We want to work with our colleagues in opposition, and I call on the members of the official opposition to help pass this bill as quickly as possible. Speaker, I get many calls in my riding of Pickering–Scarborough East about this bill. People are supportive of it. People have some suggestions. That’s what we have committee for. We need to move this forward.

I do want to share a comment we received from Dara in Toronto. She says, “I wish to congratulate the Liberal government on putting forward an anti-bullying platform that provides recognition, protection and support to all Ontario’s children. I applaud you and [the Premier] for standing up for what is right, for showing all our children that we live in a province where discrimination and bullying of any kind, for any reason, is not okay, that it is their right to do what they can do to stop it and that our government will support them in supporting each other.” So I thank Dara from Toronto for sending her comments to us.

The Accepting Schools Act, if passed, will bring tougher consequences for bullying and hate-motivated actions. It will require all schools to support students who want to lead activities that promote understanding and respect for all. It will require school boards to develop policies and guidelines that include supports and resources for all students, and it will recognize Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week in legislation to ensure and support existing activities in boards and within the communities, to make it very clear that bullying is not okay.

The proposed Accepting Schools Act is a key component of our government’s plan to make Ontario schools healthy, safe and inclusive learning environments where students feel accepted. Ontario is recognized across jurisdictions and leading the way with aggressive safe school legislation, and I know, Mr. Speaker, that there are many school boards in our province that already have laid strong foundations for this legislation.

There are many school boards, including the Durham District School Board—where I sit on the special ed committee of that school board—where they have not just policies in place, but they’ve executed on those, and this legislation will build and strengthen on those, so I’m very proud of that.

Ontario is the first province to require all school staff to report serious student incidents, including bullying, to the principal of the school. But there is more work to do, and that’s why we’re making it law to create safer and more accepting schools for all students. The proposed legislation will provide clear expectations and increased accountability for school boards and bullies, including making expulsion a possible consequence for bullying.

One of the things, Speaker, I like about this bill is that it recognizes all of the key people involved in bullying issues: the bully, the witnesses, the bystanders, the staff—all the people affected—the victims. We speak to supports for everyone involved because we can’t address a serious issue if we don’t have the sufficient supports in place.

And getting back to the member for Trinity–Spadina: Again, I appreciate his supportive comments about the bill, but I do want to assure him that there are enough hows in this bill. We know how to execute this, Speaker, and the bill will build on our efforts over the last six years to prevent bullying and create a very positive school climate. Some of the things include integrating the mental health supports in schools as part of Ontario’s 10-year mental health and addictions strategy, which is very much focused on children in this province, Speaker.

The bill also required the establishment of an Accepting Schools expert panel to give advice on new resources for parents, school staff and other matters and other players involved in the process. The legislation will also provide direction to the curriculum council to report back next year on integrating equity and bullying prevention across the curriculum.

The legislation also provides for public awareness campaigns to remind all Ontarians about the role in preventing bullying. Like all legislation, we can have good legislation but if we don’t communicate it properly, we keep it the best-kept secret—

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): I just want to say that we have six sidebars going on and it’s very difficult to hear what’s being said. I’d appreciate it if you have any heated conversations that you take them outside. Thank you.

The member, continue.

Ms. Tracy MacCharles: Thank you, Speaker. We are doing more than just telling bullied kids it will get better; we are working together to make it better now.

It is incumbent on each and every one of us to make sure students feel safe, included and welcome in Ontario schools.

If we all think back, most of us have experienced bullying at some point during our school years—some more than others, unfortunately. It does impact people, and it stays with them for life. I remember feeling very intimidated and threatened by someone half my size in height in high school, and I’ll never forget that experience. That is a much more minor example compared to some of the very tragic situations we’ve seen happen in our province. Unfortunately, many suffer in silence for fear of reprisal or for fear of not being supported by their school or their school board. That is why this legislation is so important.

School safety has been a priority for this government from the beginning. That’s why all school boards must have policies and procedures on bullying prevention and intervention. We need to level the playing field more on all the good work that all the school boards have done around promoting safe schools.

Since 2004, this government has invested $285 million in safe schools initiatives. They’re helping make Ontario schools some of the safest in the world. We are very proud that we’re continuing to build on this good work.

If passed, the Accepting Schools Act will create legal obligations for boards to address bullying prevention and early intervention, progressive discipline, and equity and inclusive education. For the very first time, we are defining bullying in legislation so that every student, every teacher, every principal and every parent knows what we’re talking about when we say bullying is not okay in our schools.

I spoke the other day about how it is important that this happen in the school environment. Yes, behaviours and values and ethics start at home, but it is at the school environment where many of us get socialized. That’s where a lot of our learning happens. Research shows that relationships in the school environment have a direct correlation to how students progress into adulthood, how they make important life decisions, how they choose educational paths and so on. So doing this in the school context is very important, very compelling.

One of our greatest strengths is diversity. We believe that all students, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability—all of that—have the right to a safe and positive learning environment.

We’ve talked about the gay-straight alliances, and I just want to comment that under Bill 13, the naming of such groups is not overly prescriptive and provides flexibility, because we know that every school board has its own culture, has its own rhythm. So this bill provides flexibility on a number of fronts.

I want to share some examples of some of the names of gay-straight alliances currently in place. One is Be the Movement, from Campbellford District High School. Another is Anti-Homophobia Alliance, at Victoria Park Collegiate. Another one is Born Equal, Humberview Secondary School; Dialog, at Cardinal Carter Secondary School; Kenora Positive Spaces Alliance, Beaver Brae Secondary School; and YES, which stands for Youth Embracing Sexualities, at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate, which is in my honourable member’s riding of Scarborough–Guildwood and also where my daughter happens to dance, so I’m very familiar with that high school.

Our focus is not on the naming of these clubs, Speaker. The legislation is about making sure kids get the support they need. We’ve hired more staff in schools, more social workers, more attendance counsellors, lunch yard and bus supervisors across the province. I’m very proud of that, and I’m very proud to support this bill.

I strongly encourage all members of the opposition to help us move this forward quickly to committee.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Paul Miller): It being 10:15, this House stands recessed until 10:30 this morning.

The House recessed from 1015 to 1030.

INTRODUCTION OF VISITORS

Mr. Ted Arnott: On behalf of the member for Halton, I’m pleased to introduce Janet Mogus, who is the mother of page Emma Mogus, who’s doing a great job representing the riding of Halton.

Ms. Cheri DiNovo: I’m delighted to introduce to the House James Loney, who’s here for page Seph. Thank you.

Mr. Mario Sergio: As part of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations’ Queen’s Park day, we have from York University Livy Visano and Mitzi Grace Mitchell, here paying a visit to the House today. Welcome.

Mrs. Julia Munro: I’d ask all members to help me in welcoming the grade 10 students from Holy Trinity High School in Bradford, and their teacher, Maureen Reesor, who will be here shortly.

Ms. Cindy Forster: I’d like to introduce Candy Bell and Mike Dionne, from Port Colborne, and Tom Bell, from Welland. Tom is the grandfather of page Alexander Forgay. Candy and Mike are the aunt and uncle.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Peterborough.

Interjection.

Mr. Jeff Leal: Oh, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry. I’m so excited about Peterborough Day today that you kind of get carried away a bit.

I’d like to introduce Sara Humphreys and Marcus Harvey, who are members of the faculty at Trent University in Peterborough, as part of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations; and a good friend of mine in the Speaker’s east gallery, Jay Amer, from Peterborough. He’s here for Peterborough Day, and he’s president of Amer and Associates.

Mr. John O’Toole: I’m pleased to welcome to the Ontario Legislature agricultural equipment dealers in Ontario: President Beverly Leavitt and Chairperson Keith Stoltz. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Taras Natyshak: I’d like to welcome Mario Spagnuolo, the first vice-president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, from my riding of Essex, as well as members in the gallery, Bobbye Baylis, JoAnn Hayes, Theresa Hayes and Patti Hayes, who are here today to pay tribute to Pat Hayes, former member of provincial Parliament for the riding of Essex.

Mr. Kim Craitor: Boy, we’ve got a full house of visitors today. I want to recognize, from the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario, who were kind enough to stop by my office, Steve Hawkins. We have Albert Hendriks, who is, by the way, from Welland, so that’s great. We also have Rick Orr. And I want to apologize to one of the guests who’s here; I didn’t get the lady’s business card, but thank you for coming by the office and sharing time with—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Leeds–Grenville.

Mr. Steve Clark: I know we have a number of insurance brokers here today meeting with MPPs. I’d like to give a special welcome to one of my constituents, Brenda Duffy. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Monte Kwinter: As we approach the holiday and festival of Passover, I have guests who have come to present me with the traditional matzoh: Rabbi Yermi Cohen; his father, Chai Cohen; and his son Mendy Cohen. I want to wish them and the total Jewish community, Chag Sameach.

Mr. Michael Harris: I’d like to welcome some special guests today, who are making their way to the members’ gallery. Sarah and our four-week-old son Murphy will be making their inaugural visit, so I’d like to welcome them.

Hon. John Gerretsen: I’d like help welcoming the guests of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations. We have with us today the president, Constance Adamson from Queen’s University, as well as Mark Jones from Queen’s University, and Kevin Jaansalu from the Royal Military College of Canada, which is the only military college in Canada.

Mr. Ernie Hardeman: I’d like the assembly to recognize Peter Burns. He’s from the great town of Tillsonburg and he’s here today with the insurance brokers.

Mr. Michael Coteau: Joining us today at the Legislative Assembly is a former colleague of mine at the Toronto District School Board, former chair John Campbell.

Mrs. Elizabeth Witmer: I’d like to introduce Kate Lawson and George Freeman from the University of Waterloo, Judy Bates from Wilfrid Laurier, and Ted McGee from St. Jerome’s University.

Mr. Mike Colle: The IBAO is here, the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario. They’re having a reception in the legislative dining room for everybody at 5 o’clock. I’ve got Greg Robertson, who is a broker in my riding. I went to high school with his father, Ross Robertson. Welcome to Greg Robertson.

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: I’d like to introduce Rick Orr. He’s the owner of Orr Insurance in Stratford—

Interjection: Ornge?

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: Orr Insurance—which was founded in 1895. He is also president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario. Welcome.

Ms. Tracy MacCharles: It’s my pleasure to introduce Connie Guberman, a senior lecturer in the department of women’s studies at the University of Toronto, Scarborough campus, in my riding of Pickering–Scarborough East. She’s here with the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. John O’Toole: I’d like to recognize from my riding Hannah Scott from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and Sara Humphreys and Marcus Harvey from Trent University in Oshawa. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Linda Jeffrey: I’d like to welcome to the House today David Morrison and his wife, Yzzel Lazgare. They are friends of my legislative assistant, Bill Killorn, and they have just moved here from Spain. Welcome to Ontario.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Regrettably, we have gone well beyond the time allotted for introduction of guests. I will extend that by a short moment by introducing my other brother, Joe Peters, in the gallery today.

We also have with us the delegation for the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario in the Speaker’s gallery. Thank you for being here.

And we also have special guests with us. We have today in the Speaker’s gallery the constitution implementation committee of the Republic of Kenya, led by the High Commissioner of the Republic of Kenya to Canada, His Excellency Mr. Simon Nabukwesi. Thank you so much for being with us today. Welcome.

Applause.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Our delegation is here to study democracy at its best.

ORAL QUESTIONS

ONTARIO ECONOMY

Mr. Peter Shurman: I’ll do my best to help. My first question is to the Premier.

Ontario’s job crisis has reached a fever pitch, Premier. You have 600,000 people unemployed. Yet your idea of a jobs strategy is more studies, more reports, more spinning of bureaucratic wheels—like your budget’s so-called jobs council, or handing out millions to companies like WindTronics, only to have them turn around and leave.

Ontario is Canada’s largest province. We have the potential to succeed. You should strive for an environment that creates jobs and economic growth. Instead, you hide behind councils and summits and reports. Now, rather than listing off all the short-term jobs you have subsidized, thought of subsidizing or plan to subsidize, tell us how many jobs this so-called jobs council will actually create. And if you don’t have a direct answer, why are you doing it?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: To the Minister of Finance.

Hon. Dwight Duncan: Speaker, the budget creates 170,000 net new jobs with higher incomes on average. Later this morning, I will be sharing with Ontarians—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I apologize to the House. I may have given you the impression that today it’s okay to get loud. The opposite is true. Please.

Minister?

Hon. Dwight Duncan: Later this morning, I’ll be sharing with Ontarians that fourth quarter GDP grew by 0.5%, an annual rate of 1.8%. We’ve recovered all the jobs, and more, since the recession. Consumer spending is back, economic growth is back, and business investment in machinery and equipment is at an all-time high. It’s time that member starts speaking positively about this great province that’s poised for growth—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Supplementary?

Mr. Peter Shurman: Go to the head of the class.

Moving on to the next example of empty gestures with no substance, your failed budget also talks about the creation of a productivity summit, but, not unexpectedly, it is silent about any measures that would actually improve productivity. What is clear is that instead of reducing red tape for businesses, this Premier is going to bring in more consultants to tell him what every business in Ontario already knows and has been saying for years: If you want to increase productivity in the province of Ontario, reduce the red tape burden on businesses. It’s that simple.

Will the Premier get his head out of the clouds and adopt the Ontario PC jobs plan that reduces red tape, reduces business taxes and gets people back to work?

Hon. Dwight Duncan: Our tax plan for jobs and growth was the greatest reduction in business regulation in Ontario history. That member and his party voted against it. They didn’t listen to the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. They didn’t listen to exporters and manufacturers. They didn’t support a major bill in the last session that reduced burdens.

Today, this morning, the CFIB is out with their business barometer, and Ontario is now above the national average. It’s a sign, according to them, that business confidence is coming back. The economy’s growing.

Your plan was a waste. The people of Ontario said no to you. They said yes to this government, and they’re saying yes to a budget that creates 170,000 net new jobs.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Final supplementary.

Mr. Peter Shurman: That’s one angry man. He doesn’t listen to us; he doesn’t listen to them; he doesn’t listen to the people. It’s amazing that, after eight years at the helm, this Premier continues to rely on consultants to tell him what to do and still continues to fail.

That brings us to the FIT program, which has been nothing short of disastrous. Your feed-in tariff program has caused energy prices to skyrocket, and it has killed jobs in Ontario. The Auditor General stated that for every green job created, we lose up to four jobs in the general economy. That means you have actually killed as many as 80,000 jobs in Ontario with the FIT program alone.

Premier, how many people need to lose their jobs before you stop pushing this failed pet project? Are you too politically motivated to accept its failure, or do you simply not care about the damage?

Hon. Dwight Duncan: Pure fiction, Mr. Speaker. Ontario’s green energy policies have created, so far, 20,000 net new jobs.

The member opposite may want to refer to one-off announcements. Well, let me tell you about some one-off announcements. Last week alone: Toyota, an $80-million investment in Woodstock, with 400 new jobs. That’s not a one-off; that’s impressive growth from a big company. The Ford Motor Co. is adding a third shift to the Essex engine plant to build the Ford F-150—100 new jobs. That’s not a one-off; that’s confidence in the future of Ontario. And General Motors: $245 million in St. Catharines, 300 new jobs—that’s not a one-off. That’s confidence in Ontario, confidence in the working people of this province, confidence in our—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. New question.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock, please.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Be seated, please.

New question.

ONTARIO BUDGET

Mr. Peter Shurman: My question is back to the Premier. If your goal was to produce a budget that was heavy on rhetoric and light on action, then congratulations; you have succeeded. That’s correct: 57 times you used the word “review”; 26 times you used the word “consult”; 17 times you used the word “explore”; 17 times you used the word “consider.” It is no wonder that your ministers don’t have time to do anything; they’re all too busy talking.

The one thing you don’t seem to consider in this budget is actually doing something. We have a recommendation. Will you finally adopt our jobs plan and actually get Ontarians working again?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: To the Minister of Finance.

Hon. Dwight Duncan: Their job plan is to hire poll clerks and DROs and force an unnecessary election. We reject that. They want an election. They forget that their so-called jobs plan, their Changebook, was rejected by the people of Ontario only six short months ago. So, no, we don’t accept your job plan for more poll clerks, more DROs, more election workers.

We need a steady hand at this time as the Ontario economy is beginning to grow and get back on its feet. We reject your jobs plan for poll clerks and DROs. We’re going to stand and implement this budget, which has been embraced by most major business and economic groups in Ontario, and I’ll share quotes with the member after. No more poll—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Supplementary?

Mr. Peter Shurman: I’ve got a new plank for the jobs plan: That minister should step down. Premier, Minister, it is clear that the phrase “in-action” is lost on you; it sure doesn’t figure prominently in the budget. Twenty-four times, you used the word “negotiate”; 27 times, you used the word “encourage”; 17 times, you used the word “facilitate”; 14 times, you used the word “discuss.”

The time for talk is long over. Negotiations have ended. Discussions are done. Forget the blustering. Everyone knows what you refuse to accept: We need action; we need it now. Will this Premier do what’s right? Will he do what’s necessary? Will he abandon this weak budget and adopt the Ontario PC plan that will put people back to work?

Hon. Dwight Duncan: Here’s what Janet Ecker said: “...the government is making ... tough” and “necessary choices.” Here’s what the DBRS credit rating agency said: “Overall, DBRS views the continuation of the fiscal recovery plan and the increasing emphasis on cost containment as an encouraging step in the right direction.” Here’s what Mary Webb, the senior economist at Scotiabank, said: “The challenge for this government in this budget was to provide a credible repair plan, and so it has. It has provided a broad-based plan—detailed, strategic—that they hope will keep them on the deficit reduction track even with more moderate growth.”

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite wants to force an election. He wants all of us to resign. We don’t want to do that. We want to build a better and stronger future for all Ontarians. I urge him to quit playing—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Final supplementary.

Mr. Peter Shurman: Don’t you dare, Minister, pin an election on us. Take responsibility yourself. Premier—

Interjections.

Mr. Peter Shurman: Premier, we’ve been talking about job creation, but all we’ve heard from that end is just—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): My observation—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Order. My observation is that we have people yelling at each other across the floor not even associated with the questioner or the answerer. I am asking for your attention, please.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Member from York, again, when I’m speaking—thank you.

Final supplementary.

Mr. Peter Shurman: We’ve been talking about job creation for a very long time. All we get is rhetoric. Ontario has been hearing that stuff for years. Meanwhile, between the failed FIT program and the lack of a jobs strategy, energy prices skyrocket, and 600,000 people remain out of work. Your government continues to do nothing. You refuse to admit your mistake and back away from the failed FIT program. You ignore calls for action to help the 600,000 people unemployed—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you.

Minister of Finance.

Hon. Dwight Duncan: Since June 2009, Ontario has created more jobs than all the provinces combined. We have recovered more jobs with higher incomes since the depression. Employment is above pre-recession levels. Consumer investment is above; business investment is above. Ontario is absolutely on the right track to getting back to strength, to continuing to build our economy.

As to an election, Mr. Speaker, I’m afraid that member and his leader pinned the tail on themselves. They put themselves in a corner where they wouldn’t negotiate, they wouldn’t talk, they wouldn’t offer constructive ideas; instead they walked out. They want an election, aided and abetted by their friends in Ottawa. Mr. Speaker, we don’t want an election—

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Oh, did you hear that, Speaker?

Hon. Dwight Duncan: As to that, I hope the member from Ottawa will call her colleagues in the federal government—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. New question.

ONTARIO BUDGET

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My question is to the Premier. Yesterday, the Premier said he’d keep an open mind regarding constructive proposals. Later that day, Speaker, we made some, and almost immediately the election sabres began to rattle.

Can the Premier assure us that he’s willing to work with other parties to make this minority government work?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: Speaker, I think I’ve expressed that sincere intention from the outset. I say to my honourable colleague that we welcome any proposal that she might put forward, but our preference—and I believe this is in the public interest—is that we receive that in its entirety and that we not receive a series of demands.

I would also argue that it’s in the interests of a better working relationship that we not learn about these proposals through the media.

I also say, Speaker, I am concerned about additional costs that could be found in the series of—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): This is not the moment to make comments when I am getting things quiet.

Interjection: Especially not the Deputy Speaker.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): That includes the person that just spoke—not helpful.

Premier.

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: Speaker, I say again to my honourable colleague that we welcome proposals. Our preference is that we receive a proposal in its entirety, rather than a series of demands. It’s important that we measure the fiscal consequence of a package in its entirety. I say again to my honourable colleague, we’re very concerned about any new costs.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, as the Premier knows, we have been hearing from everyday Ontarians, and they understand that the province is facing some very challenging times. But families are facing challenging times, too, and the crisis in the household budget affects the bottom line here at Queen’s Park.

Yesterday, we did put forward some serious ideas to generate revenue, as well as ease the burden on household budgets. Is the Premier ready to consider measures that would ask for a little bit more from Ontario’s highest earners to give families a bit of a break?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: Speaker, I say to my honourable colleague—I remind my honourable colleague—that we’ve asked wealthier Ontarians to pay more for their prescription medications, seniors in particular; that was part of our budget.

Again, I say to my honourable colleague I’m not prepared to consider one-offs. I think it’s really important, and I think it’s in the public interest, that we receive the proposal in its entirety so that we can give it due regard and, in fact, measure the fiscal consequences of any particular package. So I would encourage my honourable colleague to tell us, in a more fulsome way, what it is that she would like to put to us by way of a substantive proposal.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Final supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Well, Speaker, I understand that the Premier has a desire for us to give him proposals, and we’re going to continue to do that. We’re looking forward to doing that.

I understand also, Speaker, that the Premier has made some comments about wanting to avoid any new taxes. But more and more people are saying that those who make a lot more can actually pay a little more, especially in tough times. In the US, President Obama recently asked, “Do we want to keep giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans like me, or Warren Buffett, or Bill Gates—people who don’t need them and never asked for them? Or do we want to keep investing in things that will grow our economy and keep us secure?”

Speaker, I ask the question to the Premier because it’s a good question. What does he think about this kind of approach?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: Speaker, I would caution my honourable colleague—we have a different taxation system here in Canada and in Ontario, and, I would argue, Speaker, it is much more fair in terms of the way that we tax people across the income spectrums. I think it’s much more progressive, Speaker, and the fact of the matter is that the income gap between our lowest earners and highest earners is not nearly as extreme as it is to be found in the United States.

I again say to my honourable colleague, if she has an intention to submit proposals to us, we’d like to see the package in its entirety so that we can give it due regard.

ONTARIO BUDGET

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, perhaps the Premier just didn’t realize, but the income gap in Ontario and in Canada is growing at a faster rate than that in the United States. I think that’s important for him to know. And it’s not progressive at all to have a budget that asks people at the top not to contribute at all to the pain at the bottom, Speaker, which is what the Liberals brought forward.

There’s no doubt that the Premier asked a lot from families in his budget. I’d urge him really to consider that the families are the people who need a break in these tough times, and he has to think about those who can do more during these tough times. If the Premier was willing to slap an unfair HST and a regressive health tax on everyday Ontarians in his budgets in the past, shouldn’t he consider this time asking the province’s millionaires and multimillionaires to pay a little bit more to help families in tough times?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: Speaker, again, I would argue that our budget is, in fact, making the right choices. It’s fair and it’s balanced.

Just so we understand, Speaker, about where it is we are in terms of increases in program spending over the course of the next three years: For education, it’s going to go up 1.7% a year for three years; post-secondary education, 1.9%; health care, 2.1%. And I think this is very important, because I don’t think most Ontarians are aware of this: The single greatest increase is for social services, at 2.7%.

Again, I say to my honourable colleagues in the NDP, I would like to think that they would see some of themselves in those numbers, Speaker. It’s been said that a budget is more than just an economic statement, it’s a statement of our values. We’ve attached the highest value, Speaker—in fact, 2.7%—to funding social services here in Ontario.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, I think everyone agrees that no budget could be perfect, and I’m hoping that the Premier keeps an open mind and listens to people; for example, like Don from the Sudbury region. Don writes this: “If the Ontario government is going after the average guy, while executives with premium pay packages to begin with are off scot-free, this is not fair. Austerity should be shared by all.” What does the Premier say to people like Don?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: Speaker, my honourable colleague knows that there are provisions in here that address executive compensation in a very specific way. We’ll freeze them for another couple of years. I say, and I think we’ve been pretty clear on this, Speaker, if my honourable colleague has any specific proposals related to that, we’d be very pleased to receive those.

But again, I think the best way for us to move forward on this is to receive the package in its entirety so that we can properly consider it, rather than a series of independent proposals or demands. I think what we owe to Ontarians is careful consideration of any proposal that we receive, and so we look forward to receiving the package in its entirety.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Leslie from Oakville says the following: “The deficit should be borne by those that can shoulder it, not the most vulnerable.”

Speaker, people are scrambling right now and they’re struggling through tough times, and they’re worried that this budget is going to make their lives even harder instead of helping them prepare for the future. They don’t want to see politicians drawing lines in the sand, but they do want to be heard. Can they count on this Premier to keep an open mind and to be open to solutions that could make this budget a little more fair?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: Speaker, we remain open and, as I say, we look forward to a full package of proposals that my honourable colleague would like to put forward. But the fact of the matter is, Speaker, that when we have the tremendous honour and privilege of sitting on your right-hand side, we bear a heavy responsibility. We have done everything we could to make sure that this budget is informed by the right choices and informed by values that Ontarians share. We protect our schools, we protect our health care, we commit ourselves to balancing by 2017-18 and we commit ourselves to laying a stronger foundation for new jobs and new growth.

So I say to my honourable colleague, we’re going to look very carefully at any costs associated with the measures that she is putting forward. I said that before, Speaker; I’ll say it again. Having said that, I look forward to receiving a full package of proposals.

AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

Mr. Frank Klees: My question is to the Premier. The Auditor General said that what he saw going on at Ornge and the lack of oversight by the Ministry of Health didn’t pass the smell test. His nose told him that.

Well, the stench got worse this morning when the member from Willowdale brought it into the hearing room. Not one witness was able to come forward to give testimony this morning because of the member’s stalling tactics. Now, we’re told that he was put up to it by the political operatives in the Premier’s office. What I would like to know from the Premier is, what is it that they’re trying to hide on behalf of the Premier? Will the Premier tell us why the stalling tactics to keep witnesses from coming forward?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: To the Minister of Community and Social Services.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Order. Order. Thank you.

Government House leader.

Hon. John Milloy: Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important that we review the facts of what happened this morning. I think all members of the House recognize the fact that the public accounts committee has a right to look into the Ornge investigation. In fact, members from all parties have given it the mandate to do that.

At the same time, we recognize there is an OPP investigation into Ornge. We also recognize the fact that witnesses before the committee have been asked to swear an oath. As a result of that, with the advice of the clerk, the committee agreed to hire counsel for the committee to respect the OPP investigation and to protect witnesses under oath.

This morning there was discussion in the committee brought forward by members of all parties on how we can best use the counsel to protect the investigation and protect—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Supplementary?

Mr. Frank Klees: It was a pure stalling tactic on the part of the government, Speaker. That counsel was hired on Monday. If in fact what they wanted was to have discussion with counsel, every member of the committee would have been willing to meet with that counsel 24 hours from the time that she was appointed, which would have taken us to last night. The fact of the matter is, this has nothing to do with consultation with counsel. It has everything to do with obstruction of the work of that committee.

I want to know from the Premier, will he interfere? Will he step up and will he appoint a select committee of the Legislature, that this Legislature expressed its will to have, so that we can get on with the business of getting to the bottom of what happened at Ornge?

Hon. John Milloy: Mr. Speaker, yet again we encounter the double standard. For weeks we have heard from the opposition about the protection of witnesses, about witnesses needing to come forward and feel that they have the proper protection in front of the committee.

We went to great lengths today to make sure that the counsel was being properly used by the committee. Mr. Speaker, do you know what the member from Newmarket–Aurora did? He put forward a motion to have the counsel fired. That is the double standard of the opposition. They don’t want the protection for witnesses, they don’t want the protection for committee and to protect a very serious OPP investigation.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Order. Thank you.

New question.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I do not have the capacity to name individuals in what I heard—I’m sorry, I don’t mean “name”; I mean, “identify” members who were saying those words that were unparliamentary. I would count on each member’s dignity to withdraw that and not to use it again.

New question.

AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

Mr. Jagmeet Singh: My question is to the Premier. Liberal MPPs went out of their way this morning to delay a committee looking into Ornge, just as the former Minister of Health and other government officials were about to testify. Did the Premier’s office direct his MPPs to stall the committee and delay a key witness from testifying about the Ornge scandal?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: To the Minister of Community and Social Services.

Hon. John Milloy: Once again, let’s look at the facts.

I think every member of this House recognizes that there is an important OPP investigation going on into the Ornge situation at the same time as hearings are happening in front of public accounts.

There is precedent in this Legislature to have a counsel at the committee to help witnesses who are, for the first time in many years, under oath and to make sure that we do not jeopardize the OPP investigation.

Efforts were made this morning to ensure that the counsel’s role was properly defined and that the counsel was made available to all members, and all the opposition could do was put forward a motion to see that counsel fired—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Member for Peterborough, come to order. He’s answering the question.

Hon. John Milloy: —in the case of very, very important deliberations which, as I say, could potentially impact an OPP investigation. What went on this morning was the responsible protection of the committee’s work as well as the OPP investigation.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mr. Jagmeet Singh: Again, my question is to the Premier. There’s little doubt that these delay tactics were indeed intentional, and knowing the heavy-handed reputation of the Office of the Premier, we all know what’s going on here. Why are the McGuinty Liberals obstructing this committee from getting to the truth of what happened at Ornge, and why is the Premier’s office stalling this investigation?

Hon. John Milloy: Again, a double standard. We have heard for weeks that we need a committee process to look into the Ornge situation which protects witnesses. We’ve heard for weeks about the OPP investigation.

There is a strong parliamentary tradition that when a standing committee is looking into a matter which is at the same time being investigated by the police, measures are taken to make sure that there is no interference. That is why a counsel was hired, and that is why we spent this morning trying to define a proper role for the counsel.

The only thing that that member’s party could do was support the member from Newmarket–Aurora, who tried to fire the counsel who was offering support to that—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. New question.

HYDRO OPERATIONS

Ms. Soo Wong: My question is for the Minister of Energy. Minister, Ontario’s electricity agencies play an integral role in the production of Ontario’s electricity supply, as well as the management and planning of our electricity system. In these uncertain economic times, it is vital that all of our agencies, including those in the electricity sector, are operating in an efficient manner. I know that my constituents in Scarborough–Agincourt want their electricity agencies to maintain reliability in the system while at the same time managing costs.

Minister, can you please tell the House what is being done to ensure that our electricity agencies are being run as efficiently as possible without sacrificing the reliability of the system?

Hon. Christopher Bentley: The member for Scarborough–Agincourt is absolutely right. The energy agencies in Ontario have been taking us from the brownouts that we inherited in 2003 to making sure that we have a very reliable system, from the aging infrastructure to a more modern system, and they’ve been doing it in a way that’s taking costs out of the system in order to best manage the rates.

I’ll give you a few examples. Ontario Power Generation has launched an initiative to take $600 million out of their operating costs over the next four years. The independent electricity operator has been reducing its cost by $23 million over the past seven years, and it’s a very, very small agency. The Ontario Power Authority has improved their efficiency by reducing their budget by 4.1%. All of this is in contrast to where the last party, the party opposite, left us, which, in seven months, after they blew up Ontario Hydro, saw hydro rates go up 30% in seven months—their failed experiment.

We’re repairing the system, improving the infrastructure and helping to manage the costs over the long term.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Ms. Soo Wong: Thank you, Minister. I’m glad to see that in these difficult economic times, you’re ensuring that Ontario ratepayers are protected.

I know that Hydro One has been at the forefront of our efforts to rebuild the dirty, outdated and unreliable energy system we inherited from the opposition in 2003. Last week, Minister, you informed the House that Hydro One has replaced over 5,000 kilometres of transmission lines. That is an impressive accomplishment.

Minister, can you please share with the House some of the cost-saving measures Hydro One has taken to protect ratepayers, while at the same time making the needed upgrades and investments to our energy system?

Hon. Christopher Bentley: The member is right, once again: We started in 2003 with the brownouts, with the dirty coal and with infrastructure that had not been upgraded as it should be for many, many years.

So Hydro One has been working really hard: 5,000 kilometres of wire—that takes you from here to the Yukon, to Whitehorse—being upgraded and new wire. That ensures reliability. But what else are they doing? They’ve taken almost $200 million in costs out of their operation over the past couple of years alone—$200 million. They’ve managed to reduce rates below what they otherwise would have been.

And they’re doing something else: They’re improving and upgrading the infrastructure from the old technology that they were left with in 2003. They have been investing on behalf of the people to have a modern, reliable, up-to-date system for today and for the future. That’s the responsible way to go.

AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

Mrs. Elizabeth Witmer: My question is for the Premier. This morning, we saw a shameful attempt by this Liberal government to do everything they can to obstruct and delay the investigation into Ornge, and they used Mr. Zimmer to do so. This is on top of all of the other tactics. Now, when Mr. Zimmer was asked to explain if all the dodging and delaying was to protect the Premier, he got visibly upset and he stammered out, “No, no, no.”

My question to the Premier today: Is this to protect the Premier and this government?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. I’d like to make a comment. First, as is the convention in this place, we reference people’s ridings, please, and second of all—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member will withdraw that comment.

Interjection: I’ll withdraw that, Speaker.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. I do understand—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Renfrew will come to order, please.

I understand that there are things being said back and forth that I may not pick up, and it’s because the members have decided to yell back and forth. Even when I’m standing beside people here, there are times where I cannot hear, and that’s not conducive to this place being able to conduct its business, particularly mine, where I’m supposed to hear things that are going on in this House. If I can’t hear them, I can’t respond or react to them. So I’m asking you—this is a very serious situation that we’re talking about, and I acknowledge that, but let’s keep the language down in terms of the volume, and let’s let each other ask and answer the questions appropriately.

Premier.

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: Speaker, to the Minister of Community and Social Services.

Hon. John Milloy: I don’t think there’s any member of this House who would disagree with the fact that the situation at Ornge is a very serious one. We have had questions in this House. We have a committee which is looking into it. We have an OPP investigation. We had a detailed Auditor General’s report coming forward.

The list of witnesses that have been put together is a very robust list. Those witnesses are being asked to appear under oath. We don’t know for sure, but some of those witnesses may be part—their testimony may in fact impact on an OPP investigation.

The only responsible course, as has been the precedent for other committees of this Legislature, is to have a counsel that has been appointed. This morning, with the help of government members, there was discussion at the committee about the—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Supplementary?

Mrs. Elizabeth Witmer: Well, Mr. Speaker, I’m going to try the Premier again, but I would say that the exercise this morning was insulting to counsel. She was quite aware of her responsibilities and was prepared to exercise them appropriately.

But let’s get back to who was in that room this morning. Who was sent to the committee? The director of legislative affairs to the Premier, the chief of staff to the House leader, two media specialists, senior Liberal caucus researcher, senior adviser to the House leader. I ask the Premier today, what is behind this attempt to delay and obstruct the work of the committee from getting to the truth? Why will you not be held accountable? What are you trying to hide?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Be seated, please. Thank you.

Government House leader.

Hon. John Milloy: Mr. Speaker, we are not in the habit of setting up—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Order, please.

Hon. John Milloy: We are not in the habit of setting up political witch hunts or kangaroo courts. We have respect for the standing committees of this Legislature, which are looking into a matter which is also the subject of an OPP investigation.

What was truly shocking this morning was when the member from Newmarket–Aurora attempted to fire the counsel that had been retained by the committee. This is a serious investigation by the public accounts committee, and we need to ensure that both the OPP investigation and witnesses before that committee receive the consideration, receive the protection that is due to them.

AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

Mr. Taras Natyshak: My question is to the Premier. It should come as no surprise to the Premier that there are ongoing questions about the credibility of his health minister. Asked on March 21 whether there were red flags in the January 2011 letter, the Minister of Health said, “Yes, of course.” But by March 28, the minister denied seeing any issues at all. On February 29, she said, “We fired the board and have replaced them.” But last week, the minister said the board voluntarily resigned. Does the Premier agree that the credibility of his health minister is quickly fading?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: To the Minister of Health.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: I think the Auditor General himself has acknowledged that we took concrete, substantive action when we became aware of the problems at Ornge. In fact, even the member from Newmarket–Aurora described us as taking very aggressive action.

The point is, when we became aware that there was a problem at Ornge, I acted. We do have a completely new board at Ornge, we have completely new leadership at Ornge and that new team at Ornge is making a profound difference for the operations at Ornge. Their first focus is patient safety. They’re making a demonstrable difference on patient safety. They are winding down the for-profits. Some are already wound down; others are in the process of being wound down. We have a new performance agreement, and I’ve introduced legislation. I think the people in this province expected me to take action, and I did that.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mr. Taras Natyshak: When faced with some tough questions about why the health minister didn’t respond to the obvious red flags, the government blamed the opposition MPPs and has even called into question the integrity of the Chair of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. Why is the Premier blaming everyone else but his own health minister?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: To the Minister of Community and Social Services.

Hon. John Milloy: The Minister of Health has had an opportunity to appear in front of the public accounts committee. She was asked for an hour; she in fact spent two and a half hours there. She talked about the action that she took to address this situation.

At the same time, there have been questions raised from the opposition about the so-called red flags. The government has put forward a series of motions wanting to hear from opposition members who had meetings with Ornge, who received detailed written briefings from Ornge. The Chair of the committee had a two-hour tour of Ornge, accompanied by a very prominent Conservative lobbyist who is in fact part of the opposition leader’s campaign.

Mr. Speaker, I think, again—we cannot be held to a double standard here. If questions are about what red flags were on the government side, it’s equally legitimate for the government to ask what were the red flags on the opposition side.

ONTARIO PUBLIC SERVICE

Mr. Grant Crack: My question is to the Minister of Government Services. In our budget of 2009, the government committed to reducing the size of the Ontario public service by 5%. We made this commitment to streamline government services and to help balance the budget.

Can the minister please update us on how the government is doing in reaching that target?

Hon. Harinder S. Takhar: I want to thank the member for Glengarry–Prescott–Russell. Our government is absolutely committed to balancing the budget. We had to make hard but right choices, and one of those choices is to reduce the size of the Ontario public service. It’s never easy to reduce that size, but I’m very, very pleased to inform the House that as of March 31, 2011, we have met our target of—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Member from Hamilton East–Stoney Creek, come to order.

Hon. Harinder S. Takhar: We have done so through attrition and also managing of our vacancies in the Ontario public service.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Supplementary?

Mr. Grant Crack: It’s nice to be able to ask a question and not be heckled from the other side.

I’m happy to hear that the government has achieved our target of 5% reduction in the Ontario public service. In the budget of 2011, our government committed to a further 2% reduction in the Ontario public service by 2014.

Can the minister tell us if the government is still on track to meeting this target and if we can expect to see these reductions affecting services that Ontarians have come to rely on?

Hon. Harinder S. Takhar: I want to thank the member again for asking the question.

The Ontario public service provides very important service to Ontarians on a daily basis, and I am very proud of our Ontario public service. But we do have a target to reduce our Ontario public service by 2% as we go on further. In this budget, we have been able to identify that two thirds of the target that we have set for ourselves will be met through the reduction in this budget.

We will work with our Ontario public service to identify the other opportunities—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Order, please.

Hon. Harinder S. Takhar: —so we can balance the budget by 2017-18.

AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

Mr. Frank Klees: My question is to the Premier. The government House leader continues to use as an excuse the fact that there is an OPP investigation going on into the scandal at Ornge for the delay tactics that his backbenchers are using at the public accounts committee.

I want to remind the House leader and the Premier that in the federal Liberals’ Adscam scandal there were three things going on at the same time. The public accounts review of Sheila Fraser’s report was going on, an RCMP investigation was going on, and eventually a full public inquiry, the Gomery commission, was going on.

Members here know full well what the parameters of our investigation are. Will the Premier call off those obstructionist tactics and let us get on with the business of—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Be seated, please. Thank you.

Premier?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: To the Minister of Community and Social Services.

Hon. John Milloy: Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind members of the House that the government members voted—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): This is the example I was talking to you about. I’m standing right here, and I can’t hear.

Minister?

Hon. John Milloy: Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the members of the House—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Renfrew will now come to order.

Hon. John Milloy: I would like to remind—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): And York.

Hon. John Milloy: I would like to remind members of the House that the government side voted to have the public accounts committee look into the Ornge situation. We have begun hearings. This is a very serious matter because of the fact that there is an OPP investigation. No one has suggested that we not have hearings, but we suggest that we follow the proper procedures so that the investigation is protected.

I would also point out that the recommendation to have counsel to the committee came from the clerk of the committee, and the honourable member was undermining the recommendation of the clerk when he moved a motion to have counsel fired. We do not want a kangaroo court. We want to get to the bottom of this in a way—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. Supplementary?

Mr. Frank Klees: Well, Mr. Speaker, surely the government House leader is embarrassed by having to recite those speaking lines that he’s been given by the Premier’s office. We were fully in support of having counsel. That was a decision made by the committee itself. What we oppose is the member from Willowdale using that counsel to obstruct the work of the committee. That is why I passed a motion to say, let’s get rid of the counsel for now; let’s have that same counsel attend at the select committee of the Legislature that was voted for by this House, because that is what we need to get to the bottom of this mess.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Be seated, please. Thank you.

Hon. John Milloy: Mr. Speaker, I am just flabbergasted by the double standard—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): If anyone wonders if there is a moment when I do get a little frustrated, this is it.

Minister?

Hon. John Milloy: Mr. Speaker, I’m quite frankly flabbergasted by the double standard of this member. He stands up here day after day doing his best Perry Mason impersonation, talking about the seriousness of the Ornge situation. We agree it is serious. It is particularly serious because the Ontario Provincial Police are also looking into the matter.

We want counsel. We want counsel that is properly protecting witnesses and protecting the work of the committee. There are precedents for this. Both the Gigantes and Martel hearings had counsel. That counsel’s role was properly defined. Mr. Speaker, the action that was taken this morning by the member to have the counsel fired was reprehensible.

WORKPLACE SAFETY

Mr. Gilles Bisson: My question is to the Premier. Premier, you’ll know that there was a tragic fatality in Timmins this week with the death of a miner at Lake Shore Gold. Unfortunately, it follows on the step of a whole bunch of other tragedies in communities like Sudbury and other communities across Ontario that are in the mining business.

We have an Occupational Health and Safety Act that was created some 30 years ago, and you know that the Steelworkers have asked for a review of that act so that we can take a look at what the coroners’ inquests have done in each of those deaths, look at the trends to see what changes we can make to the Occupational Health and Safety Act so that we can make our workplaces safer.

Premier, I’m asking you today, will you start such a review?

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I thank the member for Timmins–James Bay for his question. Premier?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: Mr. Speaker, to the Minister of Labour.

Hon. Linda Jeffrey: My thoughts certainly go out to the family and the co-workers of the worker who was killed in that tragic accident. I can’t imagine how difficult the situation is for the family of that young worker. No one in this province should go to work in the morning and be fearful that they won’t return home safely. That’s why my ministry is committed to working to improve health and safety in Ontario mines and workplaces across this province.

As a Ministry of Labour investigation is ongoing, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the specifics of this case, but what I can say is that the investigation will be thorough and comprehensive, because I believe that’s what the family members of the deceased worker expect, and that’s what we’re going to do. While the mining industry is fundamentally a very dangerous and hazardous activity, the ministry has achieved some of the lowest injury rates in the province. But every injury or fatality is one too many.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mr. Gilles Bisson: Minister, I agree that one injury is way too many and one fatality is way too many, but nobody here is asking you to interfere with the investigation of the tragedy that happened this week. What we’re saying is that, over the last 30 years, there’s a body of knowledge that has been created by coroners’ inquests that have investigated the deaths in mining in Ontario. What we’re asking and what the Steelworkers and the families are asking for is that we look at that body of information so that we can take a look at how we can improve the Occupational Health and Safety Act so that workers going to work tomorrow will know that it is a safer place.

I ask you again, Minister—I’m not asking you to comment on this investigation. I’m asking, will you undertake a commitment to do a review of the Occupational Health and Safety Act by looking at those coroners’ inquests that have already been done so that we can strengthen health and safety in this province and, hopefully, prevent these types of tragedies from happening again?

Hon. Linda Jeffrey: I appreciate the passion of the member. Certainly, we continue to work to bring forward new regulations to improve health and safety. Back in January of this year, we brought several changes that came into force that aim to improve and update training requirements, more occupational noise limits and improve exposure requirements.

We want to work with the industry, with labour, to strike a balance between ensuring compliance and helping workplaces achieve healthy and safe environments.

We also make the mining industry a priority in doing health and safety blitzes. Last year alone, we visited 180 mining workplaces, and since 2009 we’ve visited 5,000.

We want the same thing: to make sure that every worker who goes to work in the morning comes home safe and sound. Certainly we have now a chief prevention officer who’s working quickly with our enforcement division to find new and better ways to reach employers and workers.

But our work is not done. Our ministry will continue to work hard every day to make workers safer—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you.

COMMUNITY SAFETY

Ms. Helena Jaczek: My question is for the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. My constituents in Oak Ridges–Markham have heard a lot about our budget tabled last week, but they haven’t heard much about how our plan will impact law enforcement.

Although everyone has concerns about their own and their family’s safety, most people in York region recognize that crime is on the decline in our community and that Ontario is now the safest province in Canada, and I’m sure we all want to keep it that way.

Mr. Speaker, through you to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, what measures will your ministry be taking to keep our community safe, and have you explored other means to find efficiencies, given our fiscal situation?

Hon. Madeleine Meilleur: First of all, I want to thank the member from Oak Ridges–Markham for a very good question.

Thankfully, we have found other ways to achieve savings. Our budget includes a plan for 100 civilians to perform data entry, which would otherwise be conducted by OPP officers. It is estimated that every one civilian frees up the equivalent of 2.5 front-line officers’ time, so that means 250 more OPP officers will be spending more time providing front-line police services. This will create 100 good-paying jobs for Ontarians, so an increase in job creation, and reduce police officer overtime.

This plan, along with all the other budget components, benefits the province of Ontario. The opposition should put the interests of Ontarians ahead of their own political interests and work with us to move our five-year plan.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Ms. Helena Jaczek: My constituents in Oak Ridges–Markham, like most Ontarians, realize salaries and overtime make up the bulk of public sector expenses, including the OPP budget, and it appears the civilian data entry plan is a start to making everyday operations more cost-effective. However, other costly items for this service include the equipment the OPP needs on a daily basis, especially things like patrol vehicles. The fleet must be a great expense, with the maintenance costs for everyday wear and tear and the frequent turnover of vehicles in order to meet replacement targets.

Mr. Speaker, through you to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, is there a plan to reduce the cost of the OPP patrol vehicle fleet?

Hon. Madeleine Meilleur: Good question. As part of our ongoing efforts to find efficiencies and cost savings, my ministry is looking at potentially raising the kilometre threshold for replacing OPP vehicles. The recent advancements in vehicle technology, engineering and warranties have enabled OPP fleet vehicles to stay on the road longer while ensuring our police officer safety.

The McGuinty government is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all Ontarians. We are also committed to balancing our budget by 2017-18, and we are on track.

This budget is about choices, to eliminate the deficit, create jobs and protect the gains we have made in education and health care. It will take all of us together to achieve those goals through our five-year plan for the budget.

AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

Mrs. Elizabeth Witmer: To the Premier: It’s become clear that the Liberal delay tactics at the public accounts hearing into Ornge are to protect the Premier and those in his office. On the witness list today was George Smitherman, the same George Smitherman the Premier protected during the eHealth scandal. I say to you, Mr. Speaker, what is the Premier trying to hide by preventing George Smitherman from testifying under oath today?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: To the Minister of Community and Social Services.

Hon. John Milloy: I think the answer to the question is the question itself. Mr. Smitherman was asked to appear in front of the committee under oath, as were all witnesses asked to appear, in a situation when we have an ongoing OPP investigation.

I think most members, if not all memb