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September 23, 2020

42nd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2020-Sept-23 (PDF)

L185 - Wed 23 Sep 2020 / Mer 23 sep 2020

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Wednesday 23 September 2020 Mercredi 23 septembre 2020

Orders of the Day

Helping Tenants and Small Businesses Act, 2020 / Loi de 2020 visant à soutenir les locataires et les petites entreprises

Members’ Statements

Robert Mulligan Invitational

Long-term care

COVID-19 response

Armenian Independence Day

Climate change

Conservative Party of Canada

COVID-19 response in Mississauga East–Cooksville

Broadband infrastructure

Russell Mackay

Pasta it Forward

Legislative Protective Service

Question Period

COVID-19 response

Long-term care

COVID-19 response

Long-term care

COVID-19 response

Wildlife protection

Hospital funding

Long-term care

Small business

Education funding

Personal protective equipment

Caregivers

Tenant protection

Statements by the Ministry and Responses

Jour des Franco-Ontariens et des Franco-Ontariennes / Franco-Ontarian Day

Petitions

Climate change

Climate change

Education funding

Tenant protection

Education funding

Education funding

Long-term care

Education funding

Personal protective equipment

Long-term care

Long-term care

Education funding

Orders of the Day

Helping Tenants and Small Businesses Act, 2020 / Loi de 2020 visant à soutenir les locataires et les petites entreprises

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Helping Tenants and Small Businesses Act, 2020 / Loi de 2020 visant à soutenir les locataires et les petites entreprises

Mr. Clark moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 204,

An Act to amend various Acts respecting municipal elections, to amend the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020 and to provide for a temporary residential rent freeze and specified temporary protections for certain commercial tenants / Projet de loi 204, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui a trait aux élections municipales, modifiant la Loi de 2020 sur la réouverture de l’Ontario (mesures adaptables en réponse à la COVID-19) et prévoyant un gel des loyers d’habitations temporaire et des protections temporaires précisées pour certains locataires commerciaux.

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

Hon. Steve Clark: Absolutely, Speaker. Good morning. I’d first like to say that I’ll be sharing my time with the member for Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry and the member for Etobicoke–Lakeshore.

Good morning, Speaker. It’s always great to see you in the chair. I see we’re having a Speaker switch, so I’ll allow that to take place.

Good morning, members. I’m proud to rise in the House today to speak about the Helping Tenants and Small Businesses Act. First, this legislation, if passed, would freeze rent increases, starting on January 1, 2021, until December 31, 2021, for almost all of Ontario’s 1.7 million tenants.

Second, it would continue our ongoing efforts to help small businesses by extending the temporary ban on evictions for small businesses whose landlords are eligible for the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program.

Third, this legislation would amend the Municipal Elections Act, the Municipal Act, the Election Act, the Assessment Act and the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation Act to create a single registry of electors.

In addition, to support better compliance with the public health guidelines across Ontario, amendments to the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act would, if passed, create a new offence and fines in relation to breaking the rules for social gatherings.

So, Mr. Speaker, it’s great to see you in the chair this morning. Before I turn things over to my parliamentary assistant and the parliamentary assistant for the Solicitor General—they’re going to speak about other details of the bill—I’m going to speak about the proposed residential rent freeze.

Our proposed changes regarding residential tenancies are simple: to freeze rents on residential units across Ontario in 2021. This would provide financial security, predictability and stability to the vast majority of Ontario tenants as we continue to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. At a time when so many Ontarians are facing temporary changes to their hours at work or even temporary job losses, we need to ensure that they do not see an increase in their rent, because we know in times of crisis every little bit helps; parce que nous savons qu’en périodes de crise, chaque coup de pouce est utile.

The Residential Tenancies Act sets out the rent increase guideline formula. It’s a formula that only applies to rent increases for units covered by rent control. It does not apply to units occupied in November 2018 or after. Our government excluded new rental buildings from rent control to encourage more purpose-built rental construction, because we all know in this House that Ontario has a housing shortage.

And our changes to rent control were working. Rental starts in 2018 and 2019 were the highest they’ve been in decades. It doesn’t matter what metric you use—new rental starts, new rental completions or permits for new rental construction—we were seeing new housing at levels we hadn’t seen in over 20 years. I think that’s good news not just for tenants but good news for Ontario.

But as we all know, almost everyone has been impacted by COVID-19 in some way, so our proposed rent freeze would apply to all units covered under the Residential Tenancies Act. It would include units that typically would be exempt from rent control. It would be supporting families who rent houses, students renting suites, couples in mobile homes and seniors in land-lease communities or retirement homes. It doesn’t matter if you are in a rent-controlled unit or not, our changes would freeze your rent. It would also apply to individuals paying the lower end of market rent or who receive rental assistance in community housing, and it would support vulnerable people in care homes.

It is designed as a temporary, one-year rent freeze to remain in place for the duration of 2021. This means no rent increases could come into effect during the freeze period, even if a rent increase notice had already been provided. In 2022, the system would return back.

We recognize that landlords often count on rent increases to maintain their businesses and recover increases that they may be facing in their costs, and I want to thank landlords across Ontario. We know that they have shown the Ontario spirit by working together with their tenants, and, for that, we want to say thank you. We want to say thank you to those landlords who are working with their tenants.

Landlords will still have to give at least 90 days’ notice for any rent increase that will take effect in 2022, and some of those notices may be issued by the end of 2021 for planned increases in early 2022. This will allow both landlords and tenants time to prepare for the transition. But let me be clear: Landlords in rent-controlled units will not be able to catch up on 2021 rent increases.

Mais je te tiens à le préciser : les locateurs de logements assujettis au contrôle des loyers ne pourront pas rattraper les augmentations de loyer de 2021.

Any rent increases in rent-controlled units in 2022 will have to be calculated based on rents in 2021, which will be the same rents that they’ve experienced in 2020. And we will provide the public with plenty of notice on the rent increase guideline in 2022, announcing it no later than August of next year.

Mr. Speaker, this rent freeze is in response to extraordinary times. Like every action our government has taken in these challenging months, it reflects our putting people’s health and safety first, and supporting everyone in the province as we work to get Ontario back on track.

As we prepare for the year ahead, we are being proactive in addressing financial security for tenants. We are aware of the economic impacts of the pandemic on so many Ontario residents, whether that be through temporary layoffs, temporary salary reductions or any other reason. We want to reduce the pressure on Ontarians struggling to pay for utilities, food and other basic needs. That’s why we’re helping tenants in the form of a 2021 rent freeze. Our government is the only province in Canada to announce our intention to freeze rent in 2021. We know that Ontarians do not know what the next year will bring, but our proposed rent freeze offers some financial security for 1.7 million Ontarians.

Speaker, we know even with such protections, many Ontarians will struggle with paying their rent. We have listened to the calls for more direct financial assistance for vulnerable tenants, and I want to assure you that we have been doing exactly that. We have been giving direct help to thousands of Ontarians in need through the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit. With the federal government, we’ve committed to a $1.4-billion investment over the nine years of the program. It’s a portable housing benefit so that individuals and families can use it to pay rent in any home anywhere in the province.

More than 3,000 households have been approved for the benefit already, and we expect this number to grow to over 5,000 by the end of the year. The Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit is a groundbreaking program, and this government was groundbreaking as being the first province or territory in Canada to sign on to its launch in April of this year.

Speaker, I want to thank the Premier for his strong leadership in these unprecedented times. He has listened to public health experts, consulted with municipal leaders, businesses and every sector in this province as we faced something we had never faced before. He has engaged with Ontarians on the front line. We need a government that listens and then acts based on the best information available, adjusting course as required—every week, every day or every hour. Our government’s approach with this legislation involves that kind of listening and responsiveness.

We heard the concerns of tenants facing rent increases in 2021—and we listened.

Monsieur le Président, nous avons entendu les préoccupations des locataires confrontés à des augmentations de loyer en 2021, et nous avons écouté.

While many have shared with us the need for this rent freeze, they’ve also communicated the need for some flexibility and some balance. That’s why the proposed legislation allows for some special exemptions. We know that in order to maintain a healthy and safe rental stock, landlords invest upfront capital in making their units safe and their units secure. This rent freeze would not apply where a landlord receives approval from the Landlord and Tenant Board to raise rent in order to recover the cost of certain repairs.

Let me be clear: This is not an across-the-board exception. It is only for eligible capital improvements and for operating costs related to security services. The legislation would also continue to permit some rent increases if landlords and tenants come to an agreement to cover the cost of adding a specific service—for example, air conditioning or parking. Our government also recognizes that homes for special care and group homes offer supportive care. They have unique operational needs and funding arrangements, so the rent freeze would not apply to them.

Mr. Speaker, throughout this pandemic, our government has worked to ensure that Ontarians can stay in their homes. It started with our temporary moratorium on evictions, but that’s not all we’ve done. In response to COVID-19, our government has invested an additional $510 million into our communities to help our most vulnerable. Our social services relief fund is providing innovative housing solutions in the long term but is also providing immediate assistance for those that need it right now. This fund has expanded shelter capacity across Ontario, purchased PPE for those in need, and gone towards rent banks and utility banks to keep the lights on and to keep people in their homes.

But, Mr. Speaker, that’s not all we have done. The Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act introduced numerous changes that will help tenants across Ontario. We know that many landlords and tenants have shown the Ontario spirit by working together during these difficult times.

The Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act enhanced protections for tenants to deter illegal evictions and to further encourage landlords to work with their tenants during COVID-19. In fact, the protecting tenants act doubled fines for landlords who broke the law. Individual landlords who engaged in bad-faith evictions now face up to a $50,000 fine. Corporate landlords could face up to a $250,000 fine. Victims of bad-faith evictions now qualify for up to a year’s rent in additional compensation.

We’ve also introduced changes that would require the Landlord and Tenant Board to consider whether landlords tried to negotiate repayment plans with their tenants before resorting to an eviction. This highlights the necessity of working together and maintaining tenancies while we work to get Ontario back on track.

Speaker, at the root of so many housing challenges is the need for more supply. It’s something that we tackled with More Homes, More Choice, our housing supply action plan. This legislation set up a regulatory and policy change to transform Ontario’s broken housing system and encourage more construction of housing of all types, including rental. As we cautiously ease the restrictions on construction across this province, not only are we seeing more rental construction, but we’re seeing new construction of affordable rental units. This is a direct result of our government’s investment and our partnership with non-profit and community organizations.

Speaker, I’ve had the great opportunity, as you know, to see many new projects in person in the past few months when touring the province, and I think that those projects are really offering people and communities new hope. I see the member for London–Fanshawe. I know that she’s very interested in this, because she attended the announcement in London, where our government invested over $1.6 million towards the construction of a new affordable and accessible rental building geared to seniors and people with disabilities.

When I visited this building—the residents are just starting to move in—and I’m sure the member opposite agrees, there was tremendous excitement. The new home is located near essential services such as grocery stores, transit and medical care, and has easy access to the YMCA, a public library and parks. It’s beautiful inside, and it’s beautiful outside.

But it’s exceptional for a number of other reasons, Speaker. Thanks to a partnership between the province and the Royal Canadian Legion, 10 of the units at this brand new building are dedicated to veterans. Too many Canadians who have served our country struggle to find housing. This project is a great example of how we can all partner, all levels of government, to do just that.

Speaker, I was up in Sault Ste. Marie, in the Minister of Colleges and Universities’ riding, where we’re teaming up with the Urban Indigenous Homeward Bound program to create new affordable housing. Working with our partners there, we have invested nearly $3 million in the transformation of the former St. Bernadette Catholic School into affordable housing. When the project is complete, the 15-unit rental complex will provide a home to Indigenous women and children who are at risk of homelessness.

The Homeward Bound program provides a sense of community as well, providing mothers with on-site child and family care, life skills, assistance in obtaining post-secondary education and employment mentoring.

Speaker, whether it’s that converted school in Sault Ste. Marie or an apartment in Kitchener or a basement suite in downtown Mississauga, Ontario is our collective home, and our government is investing in ways to make it more welcoming, safe and secure for everyone.

L’Ontario est notre chez-nous collectif, et notre gouvernement investit de façon à le rendre plus accueillant, plus sûr et plus sécuritaire pour tout le monde.

We are doing all we can through this legislation and our proposed rent freeze in 2021. We’re providing protection against illegal evictions and new investments to boost the construction of affordable homes, to ensure that everyone has a roof over their head, now and in the months ahead, as we work to get Ontario back on track, because everyone—everyone, Speaker—deserves a place to call home.

I am pleased to provide a little insight into the rent freeze portion of this bill. As I said, there are four sections of this bill. The two parliamentary assistants will now go through the other sections of the bill that I have outlined in my remarks. With that, I will turn it over to my parliamentary assistant, MPP Jim McDonell.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): I now turn debate over to the member from Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry.

Mr. Jim McDonell: Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for the opportunity to speak about how we are working to support municipalities across Ontario through these challenging times. I will be sharing my time with the parliamentary assistant to the Solicitor General.

As the minister outlined, our proposed legislation will provide relief from rent increases for most of Ontario’s 1.7 million residential tenants, who all need some sense of certainty in a time of uncertainty.

It will also provide relief for the thousands of small businesses, the backbone of every village, town and city in Ontario. It recognizes those who made the hard decisions, like scaling back their operations as customers stayed home, as well as the investment of business owners in additional cleaning, PPE for staff and hand sanitizing for customers, so they can operate safely. Our government understands the extraordinary cost of operating a small business during a pandemic. Not only have they had to miss rent payments, but too many have worried about whether they would have to shut down permanently.

The COVID-19 outbreak has taken a heavy toll on all of us as individuals and as communities. That’s why Ontario is continuing to step up for our small businesses. This proposed legislation will help both residential and commercial tenants, and will also help our municipal partners. The Helping Tenants and Small Businesses Act proposes the creation of a single registry of electors.

As the province reopens safely, Minister Clark and the Premier have been tremendous leaders in advocating for local governments. Our government is focused on strengthening communities, restarting jobs and the economy, and ensuring critical services are delivered right across the province.

Commercial rent assistance: The Helping Tenants and Small Businesses Act will play a crucial role in our efforts to help small businesses recover from the financial impact of COVID-19.

Just as our government moved quickly to put a moratorium on residential evictions this year to keep tenants safely in their homes, we’ve put in place a temporary ban on many commercial evictions from June 17 to August 31 of this year. And it had to be done, because small businesses form the backbone of our communities. The Helping Tenants and Small Businesses Act would extend that ban.

We recognize that local businesses need more time to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. We know that when small businesses suffer, the impacts are felt not only at the local level, but at the provincial and national levels as well. The Premier, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Minister of Finance have worked diligently with their federal counterparts, making the case that Ontario’s small businesses need support, and our government continues to balance the needs of landlords with those of tenants.

That is why we established the temporary moratorium on commercial evictions to coincide with the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance for small businesses, or CECRA, for the commercial landlords and their small business tenants.

Ontario committed up to $241.2 million as its share of the federal-provincial program, making more than $900 million available in urgent relief for small businesses and their landlords across Ontario. Small businesses should not be alone in taking on the financial cost of the COVID-19 outbreak. Landlords who apply to the program can receive forgivable loans equal to 50% of the monthly rent that their tenants would normally pay. In turn, the commercial tenants would still pay rent, but the financial burden is greatly reduced down to just 25% of what they would normally pay.

Meanwhile, under the program, landlords must cover the remaining 25% of the rent, ensuring that all our small businesses, our friends and our neighbours, can stay in business. It’s crucial, because the cost of saving our local hardware stores, barbershops, galleries, pubs and restaurants and what they contribute to make our neighbourhoods unique and support local jobs is worth it. That is why we are proposing to extend the moratorium on evictions for CECRA-eligible small businesses.

The federal government had been ready to end the program at the end of August, but on September 8 the federal government announced its decision to extend the program for the month of September. With that essential funding in place to support both landlords and tenants, we’re proposing to extend the ban on commercial evictions from September 1 to October 30. The amendments we are proposing to the Commercial Tenancies Act mirror those implemented in June through the Protecting Small Business Act, and would extend the changes to align CECRA for small businesses.

We are proposing this as a temporary measure, but we believe it is essential. Extending the ban on commercial evictions gives small businesses a longer runway to return to normal, to create jobs and to help rebuild the economy. We know we’re not alone in this thinking. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Restaurants Canada and the local business improvement areas have all been calling for eviction protection for commercial tenants to help keep them in their rented space and to support their recovery.

Our municipal partners have also expressed support for any measures that help local businesses as part of the economic recovery. Toronto mayor John Tory called the commercial eviction ban “absolutely the right thing to do” so small businesses could focus on their operations.

If passed, this legislation would amend the Commercial Tenancies Act to protect small businesses from being locked out for non-payment of rent. The extension of the commercial evictions ban would ensure landlords could not seize a small business’s assets and sell them in a distress sale. For the duration of this ban, landlords would not be able to get an eviction order for rent arrears, and the ban would be retroactive. Any landlords who have already served an eviction notice as of the day after the previous ban ended, September 1, would have to allow their tenants back in. Any landlords who seized goods from their tenants on September 1 or later would have to return any unsold goods.

Mr. Speaker, this is not the only way our government is supporting small businesses and communities. We’ve also invested funding into local manufacturers in order to keep our front-line workers and communities safe. In April, we launched the Ontario Together Fund to provide financial support to innovative businesses to retool their processes and increase their capacity to make personal protective equipment, or PPE.

For example, in Concord, we invested over $1 million to a manufacturer and assembler of medical devices and subcomponents. This funding will allow the company to increase its output of face shields from 200,000 per week to more than 1 million per week. This increased capacity will help them deliver 10 million face shields more quickly.

In Barrie, our government is investing $1.8 million to a medical device manufacturer that distributes to more than 60 countries around the world. This will help the company re-engineer and retool its current operations and purchase new moulding equipment. With this new equipment, the company will double its output of oxygen masks; triple its output of ETCO2 masks, which are used to monitor breathing prior to ventilator use; and quadruple its output of eye and face shields to meet Ontario’s need for PPE. The funding will also allow the company to reorganize its production facility to allow for physical distancing.

This is just another great example of how our government is committed to supporting small businesses as we get Ontario back on track.

Mr. Speaker, municipalities are also our partners in this important work to keep people safe and get Ontario back on track. They are on the front lines, working hard to keep their communities safe during the COVID-19 outbreak, finding innovative ways to deliver the important services residents rely on. We have been listening to our municipal partners, working with them to ensure that we can respond quickly to their evolving needs. Whenever possible, we have been reducing burdens to help ensure that municipalities have the flexibility to continue making important decisions and providing their critical services.

For example, in March, we worked across party lines to introduce and pass the Municipal Emergency Act. Back then, a quorum of municipal council members, 50% plus 1, needed to be physically present to conduct business. That didn’t make sense and wouldn’t work in a time of self-isolation and restricted gatherings. That is why we made it possible for members of councils to meet electronically and be counted for quorum during emergencies. Municipalities of all sizes have successfully adopted this new way of doing business.

We’ve removed other barriers that didn’t make sense during a state of emergency. We temporarily suspended decision-making timelines under the Planning Act so municipalities could focus on what was most important: local public health needs. We extended timelines for existing municipal development charge bylaws that would be expiring during the emergency, and for those expiring up to six months after the end of the emergency, so municipalities could keep collecting revenue related to growth. With an emergency order, we gave municipalities the flexibility to redeploy certain staff to critical municipal services, including bylaw enforcement, homeless shelters and public health services.

These challenging times have shown us, more than ever, that flexibility is critical for all governments, and we know that it will be necessary as we move forward. For example, this summer we issued a new emergency order, and amended another one, to allow municipalities to quickly pass temporary bylaws to create and extend patios. This allowed for covered outdoor dining areas where people could safely enjoy a meal, and helped local restaurants keep and create jobs.

We all know that our municipalities are key partners in Ontario’s economic recovery and we need to use every tool available to help them recover, because municipalities’ success is our success.

Mr. Speaker, another way our government wants to reduce the burden on municipalities is by addressing issues affecting voters, candidates and municipal clerks. In his post-election 2018 report, Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer recommended the government consider the creation of a single registry of provincial and municipal electors and give him and Elections Ontario the responsibility to manage the list. We are proposing to do just that.

Under the Helping Tenants and Small Businesses Act, we are proposing changes to the Municipal Elections Act, the Municipal Act, the Election Act, the Assessment Act and the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation Act.

Our proposed amendments would create this single register of electors for use in municipal and provincial elections. The single list would be used by Elections Ontario and municipalities. It is expected to be more accurate, meaning fewer corrections for voters at polling stations, as well as fewer delays for Ontarians on election day. Our proposed changes would create a consistent approach between municipal and provincial elections, and more certainty about the accuracy of information when Ontarians exercise their right to vote.

We have heard from municipal councils across the province that municipal voters’ information needs improvement. Some of these municipal councils have passed resolutions to encourage our government to explore ways of improving it. And if passed, our proposed changes would do just that.

Currently, the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. provides municipalities with a preliminary list of people eligible to vote in every municipal election. Municipal clerks then correct and revise this information to develop the voters list. The Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario and several municipal shareholders have expressed support for appointing the Chief Electoral Officer and Elections Ontario as the authority responsible for a single register of electors.

If passed, our proposed changes would help make voting easier for voters, candidates and municipal clerks, in time for the 2026 regular elections and any municipal by-elections initiated after January 1, 2024.

Mr. Speaker, this is just one way we are working to ease the burden on municipalities and support their recovery. We know that municipalities across the province—and across Canada—are facing financial challenges as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Premier championed this cause across the province. He fought hard for a good deal for Ontario, and under the Safe Restart Agreement, we were able to secure up to $4 billion in funding for municipalities, including up to $1.39 billion to help them address their operating pressures related to COVID-19.

We committed to helping municipalities bounce back by providing the tools and resources they need to keep their communities safe and functioning. I’m pleased that the federal government partnered with Ontario to provide urgently needed funding for communities across the province. This month, as a first step, $695 million will flow to all 444 Ontario municipalities on a per-household basis. Later this year, a further $695 million will be available to those in need of additional support to address financial pressures.

This important funding provides the flexibility municipalities need to address specific priorities in their communities and help ensure that our municipal partners can continue delivering the crucial services people rely on every day.

This funding goes hand in hand with the legislative changes proposed today to support our municipal partners, and help ensure they emerge stronger than ever and ready to lead Ontario’s economic recovery.

Mr. Speaker, our government wants to support municipalities and help them deliver efficient, critical services to their residents. This work was under way well before COVID-19’s outbreak. We understand that every community is different, and we are committed to giving municipalities the flexibility they need to meet their unique needs. But making life easier for municipalities and improving municipal voters lists is just one of the important aspects of this bill.

My colleague Minister Clark has also spoken to you today about how this proposed legislation would make positive changes to enable our government to better support tenants and small businesses during the COVID-19 recovery. Taken together, the proposed changes would help strengthen our communities as we work to restart jobs and the economy during this extraordinary time. We have said from the beginning that we were all in this together, and I am heartened by the stories of people across the province who are buying local, investing in the health of the local businesses and communities.

With this legislation, the province is doing the same, demonstrating its support for local businesses and local communities—a support that is ongoing—because we have to work together to support all small businesses and help our communities recover from COVID-19.

Thank you, Speaker. I now turn it over to my colleague.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): The member from Etobicoke–Lakeshore.

Ms. Christine Hogarth: It’s great to join in this debate on second reading of Bill 204. I’m proud to speak about the proposed legislative amendments to the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020.

Before I dive into the specifics of the proposed amendments, I just want to first remind the House of the tremendous sacrifice the people of Ontario have made over the last several months, and the steps we as a province have taken together in our fight against the deadly COVID-19 virus.

I know throughout the summer and over the last couple of days, everybody has shared stories from their ridings of special people who have gone above and beyond just to help each other out. When COVID-19 first hit, our neighbourhoods gathered together and we helped out our seniors, we helped out our young people, and we wanted to protect each other. If you were walking down the street, you would choose a side of the street and nod at each other from a distance. The kindness that people showed each other was quite astonishing. Even though it is a tough time, it was a rewarding experience to be part of.

At 7 o’clock every night in my neighbourhood, we all banged our pots and pans to cheer on our front-line workers and our first responders. It was great community spirit. In Etobicoke–Lakeshore, that’s something we did. And I know that on all sides of the benches, we all had some stories to share of people really showing the Ontario spirit. So I do want to thank our businesses, our store clerks, our grocery store workers and our transit workers.

I had the opportunity to tour our Metrolinx site, one of our GO Transit stations, with the Minister of Finance and our Associate Minister of Transportation, to see first-hand how they sanitized, put in directional arrows and had signage, just to make sure that people who were taking transit felt safe to do so. I want to assure people out in the community, especially people in Toronto, that taking transit and getting on the GO and taking our TTC is safe. I want to thank those workers who go to work every day and make sure that the customers feel safe on transit.

On March 17, Ontario declared a provincial state of emergency in response to the pandemic. We took extraordinary steps to protect the health and the well-being of all Ontarians. We closed non-essential workplaces. We limited bar and restaurant services to takeout food and delivery. We restricted social gatherings to five people. We implemented enhanced measures in long-term-care homes, closed schools, and implemented online resources, among so much more.

Between February and July alone, this Legislature passed 18 pieces of legislation, including emergency measures needed to protect public health and prepare for economic recovery. The Legislature debated and extended the declared provincial emergency five times.

Then, after a long, difficult spring, we had reached a point where Ontario’s COVID-19 numbers were trending in the right direction. New cases were down, hospitals had fewer cases in their intensive care units and a large percentage of cases were resolved. It was proof of the progress we had made together after months of Ontarians shouldering an enormous burden.

We charted a path to recovery. We moved cautiously to open regions of the province in stages, based on case counts and other information about what was happening in different regions. We closely reviewed the guidance of our public health officials across the province as we carefully took each step forward. We were making progress—so much progress that we terminated a declared provincial emergency on July 24, 2020, and continued orders that were necessary to protect the health and safety of Ontarians under new legislation, the reopening Ontario act.

Now, more recently, schools have reopened across the province and students are getting back to learning both in school and some online. They’re getting to see their classmates and they’re getting to see their teachers once again, and I thank those teachers who prepared the classrooms to make sure our children were safe.

In long-term-care homes, residents can once again leave their residences for short stays and temporary absences and visit their loved ones. In communities across Ontario, hair salons are open, restaurants are operating with dine-in services and people are able to reconnect in ways they once didn’t, in ones we used to, in ones we used to expect. All those little things that we used to love to do we can now do again. These are examples of the progress towards recovery that are only possible because of the collective efforts of Ontarians who have constantly followed public health guidance while the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic exists.

Unfortunately, the progress has been tempered by recent spikes in COVID-19 cases, not only here in Ontario but across the country and around the world. As I mentioned, on July 24, 2020, the reopening Ontario act came into force to ensure important measures remained in place after the declared provincial emergency came to an end. Under the act, orders can be extended for up to 30 days at a time. The act also allows the government to amend certain orders. It does not, however, permit the government to create new orders.

But orders are only useful and effective if they’re followed by everyone. Sadly, as we’ve heard in the news over the past few weeks, we have seen an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases across Ontario. Four weeks ago, we were averaging about 100 new cases a day; two weeks ago, we were averaging just over 200 daily cases; and earlier this week, we saw 478 new cases.

With the way the current public health trends are going and the current rate of infection, we must take stronger action. It is needed now to protect our seniors and our most vulnerable, and to safeguard the progress we’ve made together. As the Premier said on the weekend, “The alarm bells are ringing.”

For public health and safety, our government amended orders setting the rules for areas in stage 3 to reduce the number of people permitted to attend social gatherings and organized public events in places that are not operated by a business or organization across the province, to a maximum of 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors, subject to limited exceptions. This reduction applies to such gatherings or events as social functions, parties, dinners, gatherings, barbecues and wedding receptions held in private residences, backyards, parks and other recreational areas. Mr. Speaker, everyone knows this is not something we wanted to do, but we cannot jeopardize the progress we have made.

Additionally, last week, all orders under the ROA were extended until October 22, 2020. But, again, these orders can only work to protect public health and safety if they’re followed, so now it’s time to look at what we can do to stop the rule-breakers.

It’s not about the people who are following the rules; it’s about the people who are breaking the rules, because unfortunately, not everybody is doing their part. We hear about this on the news. We heard about a situation in Hamilton. We hear about situations in Cherry Beach. I hear about situations in my riding in Etobicoke, along the beachfront. Our police officers are trying to enforce the rules. Unfortunately, there are just some rule-breakers.

We can’t have these parties. We can’t, and everybody knows. You go into a party in good faith, and everyone’s just gathering and having fun, and they just don’t realize as time goes on that—and this is actually younger people. Unfortunately, it is the younger people.

And, hey, I was a younger person at one point too, and you like to be social with your friends, but you don’t realize that once you leave that party or barbecue or wherever you are in someone’s backyard, you may go home and visit your grandparent; you may go see your nieces or your nephews or your cousins, and you may have caught something from somebody else and you may not even know it because you feel just fine. That’s why this government needs to put forward some rules and fines. We need to protect those. We’re not thinking sometimes when we’re at a party, and there are some consequences.

Based on the data and reports from local medical officers of health, social gatherings at private residences are a significant source of increased transmission of COVID-19. I know we’ve all heard the Premier ask people to please stop the partying; stop the partying. He says, “I don’t want to be that dad.” But you know what? That is the voice we kind of need in our heads. You know what? Maybe we should stay home. Maybe we can just wait a little bit or maybe we should continue to social distance or wear that mask for the sake of everybody.

To ensure better compliance with the orders, we introduced proposed amendments to the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020, that would, if passed, create a new offence regarding hosting or organizing a gathering at residential premises or prescribed premises that are exceeding limits under the order: a minimum fine of $10,000 for organizers or hosts of gatherings that exceed limits.

The proposed amendment would also authorize the Lieutenant Governor in Council to prescribe additional types of premises for the purpose of the new offence. The amendments would also give authority for police officers, special constables or First Nation constables to order the temporary closure of premises where there are reasonable grounds to believe that any gathering exceeding the number of people allowed is taking place and to require individuals to leave the premises. Well, that’s a mouthful, Mr. Speaker.

Under the new set fines established in relation to the current reopening Ontario act orders, people attending one of these gatherings could be fined $750 for just being present. Again, this is not something we want to do; we just don’t want to jeopardize the progress that we have made.

Every decision the Ontario government has made in response to COVID-19 has been informed by medical advice and scientific evidence. We continue to act swiftly and nimbly while being accountable and transparent. We’ve ramped up testing, we’ve developed legislation, we’ve extended orders and we’ve issued health and safety guidance.

Thousands of front-line health care workers have put their lives on the line to treat and to save others. Volunteers, businesses and Ontarians across the province have rallied together to battle this pandemic. Sadly, some Ontarians have lost their lives to this virus, impacting the lives of thousands of others, including family members and friends. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve all shared those stories in the House over the last couple of months.

It’s important to talk about what has been going on over the last couple of months and some of the positive things that have come up. We talked about our front-line workers, our firefighters, our paramedics. They’re all doing some great work, and for us as a province to have to go back because of a simple party—those simple parties, we think about them as just going out and having some fun, but we don’t know the effects that they are causing. We all are seeing the lineups of people getting tested, and the numbers are rising every day.

It’s time for us to step in, and sometimes it might have to hurt your pocketbook if you’re seen at a barbecue or a party, because we need to protect our loved ones. We need to protect our seniors.

Nobody here wants to stop and not have that opportunity to see their loved one in a long-term-care home, if it’s their grandparent, if it’s their parent. We all have a responsibility as a whole. As parents who send their children to school, we have to make sure that those children are safe before they go to school, make sure that we’re not bringing anything into our homes. We all have been doing that as a collective, and I appreciate all the work everyone has done, but especially as our schools are opening.

You know, I always think of my nephew and my stepdaughter going to school. You want to ensure that they have a safe environment. We have to put faith in the other parents, in the other families, that they’re also doing their part. Sometimes they have young teenagers in the home, or they have young adults living in the home. It’s just our nature—we’re social beings—to go out and have some fun. Unfortunately, sometimes with that fun you may catch something. As I said, you may not feel it yourself, because you may be asymptomatic, but you don’t know how that’s going to affect your loved one or someone who is a vulnerable person in your home if they have different conditions.

Also, when we have these parties—I just want to give a shout-out the great people at 22 Division here. They’re some wonderful folks. During the summer, we had a lot of bonfires in the park—which is illegal; they shouldn’t be doing that—and we stepped up enforcement around our park areas to make sure that people were safe. We wanted to make sure we were safe, so we’re using our law enforcement. We have to think about the cost to society when our police are sitting there, trying to say, “No, you can’t come in the park,” or “You can’t start this fire,” or “You should be here,” or “You should be there.”

We have to use some common sense, and we have to share that common sense with our family members. As we age, sometimes we have lessons learned from the past. I’m sure my parents told me not to go to parties many times, but now we tell our kids not to go to parties for different reasons.

But we have to make sure that we are utilizing our first responders for what they need to be used for, not to be breaking up parties during COVID. There are fires. There are different incidents that the police, the fire and the ambulance should be at. They shouldn’t be policing parties, really, so we really need to buckle down and stop these parties from happening. Anybody who is watching and who knows me from the past would probably have a little snicker at me talking about not going to parties, but it is true. We are in a different time.

It’s a crazy time; 2020 has been a very different year, so we must continue to be vigilant and make sure that our first responders are used for the appropriate duties versus breaking down parties.

I think I read a story once about how there were about 200 people, and someone had charged everyone an entry fee to go to this house. Everybody was having fun, because that’s what young people like to do, and they should have fun, but right now we’re in a different stage and we just need them to maybe wait—wait until there’s a vaccine, or have less people at the event. Now we’re having rules of 10 inside or 25 outside, so we want to make sure that they follow those rules, and that’s why we have to put these rules in place.

Anyways, Mr. Speaker, every decision that the Ontario government has made in response to COVID-19 has been informed by medical advice and scientific evidence, as I mentioned earlier, and we need to remember that we will continue to do so to ensure the safety of all Ontarians.

We must remain vigilant, and we all must continue to follow public health guidance. Situations are different in every community. I was in Sudbury a couple of weekends ago. It’s where my in-laws live, and I was at a 50th birthday party. There were some people social-distancing; some were not. We were outside with some friends who are just a little bit more vulnerable so they decided not to go inside the house. In Toronto, a little different story—some people have a lot of family members in their homes, so we have to still be careful and still be vigilant. Smaller towns like Thunder Bay or out east—every community is a little bit different.

So everyone has to bring their story forward, but we still have an obligation to tell our young people, “Maybe we need to follow the rules.” Because of the rising number of COVID-19 cases, we cannot take this lightly. And we cannot take this lightly because we don’t want any more deaths. That is why this government is going to take strong action. Violators who behave recklessly and refuse to follow the rules should face steep fines as they risk not only their health, but the health of others. They also jeopardize the path to recovery for Ontario as a province.

This amendment, if passed, would provide Ontarians with the confidence that we are taking the necessary steps to ensure compliance with orders. Creating an impactful minimum fine for hosts and organizers of social gatherings that exceed limits at private residences is one way we can support the health and safety of our communities and, in turn, Ontario’s path to a safe recovery. As we heard the Premier, please, let’s all continue to do our part.

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the fight against COVID-19 is far from over. We have come too far and sacrificed too much to go backwards. I ask everybody to share with their communities, ask them to be safe, wait to go to those parties, please be vigilant and look after one another.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Questions?

Ms. Suze Morrison: I would like to direct my question to the minister. When we look at the eviction ban, the ban on evictions for businesses, my concern is as we see cases increasing across the province—we’re looking at a long haul here in terms of increasing cases and a potential second wave. Why does the commercial eviction ban expire in this bill on October 30? Does the minister think that COVID-19 is magically going to be over on October 30, that we’re going to have a vaccine by then, and that the threat to small businesses will be truly eased by that point? Can you defend the short time frame on the eviction ban?

Hon. Steve Clark: Thanks very much for the question. The federal government announced on September 8 that an extension to the CECRA program for businesses would be to the end of September while they explore other supports for small businesses. So, as the member notes, this legislation, if passed, would extend the previous commercial eviction ban past September 1, 2020, to align with the end of the expected application deadline for CECRA for small businesses in that program. The proposal would also allow that the deadline could be extended as far as October 30.

However, the eviction ban could be ended earlier if the deadline changes. So we will continue to work with the federal government. We will continue to encourage commercial landlords to apply for this program.

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

Hon. Doug Downey: I thank the minister for bringing forward this very important legislation to continue to protect Ontarians with health and safety at the core of it.

We know some small businesses are struggling, in particular restaurants, and some of the employees then are not there. A lot of those employees may well be renters. I guess my real question is, can you expand on some of the things we are doing to help protect the tenants of this province?

Hon. Steve Clark: I want to thank the Attorney General not just for the question, but also for his quick action to apply to the court for the residential eviction ban that he did at the start of the pandemic. He acted extremely quickly. He was extremely responsive, and I want to thank him for his efforts.

We’ve made a number of legislative changes to strengthen tenant protections. The last bill that was passed discouraged renovictions and bad-faith evictions. We also invested, now the total is $510 million, in our social services relief fund, where we’ve encouraged municipalities and our other providers to strengthen rent banks and utility banks. Many of them have created temporary assistance programs that kept people in their homes.

There has been a tremendous amount of co-operation between ourselves and the federal government as well. We will continue to work to keep people in their homes.

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

Ms. Suze Morrison: Back to the minister: This bill may prevent evictions temporarily for small businesses, but it does nothing to prevent evictions for residential tenants, despite the fact that we heard the Premier say back in March that, “No one will be kicked out of their home or their rental apartments based on not being able to pay the rent. It’s just not going to happen; we won’t allow it to happen.” That’s from the Premier back in March.

Why is it, then, that in this bill, you have done absolutely nothing to prevent the eviction of residential tenants? In fact, eviction orders and eviction notices are continuing to proceed at the Landlord and Tenant Board as we speak right now.

Hon. Steve Clark: Speaker, through you to the honourable member: Thank you for the question. The Attorney General continues to monitor the situation. Again, the Superior Court of Justice’s suspension of residential evictions concluded on July 31, 2020. That was a measure that the Attorney General did very early on in the pandemic.

The member has mentioned that one specific item, but again, I want to take this opportunity to talk about a number of things that we’ve done for tenants. Obviously, this bill will provide some certainty for the vast majority of tenants in our province by having a rent freeze for 2021. Again, we’re the only province or territory that has indicated that they would be doing this for 2021. We’re, again, working with a number of our providers to find those longer-term sustainable solutions to keep people in their homes.

We will continue to work with our municipal partners, and we will continue to encourage them to spend some of that $510 million on rent banks and utility banks. We really want people to stay in their homes, Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, affordable housing and housing security is a social determinant of health, as I have learned during my nursing studies. This social determinant of health is more important now than ever.

I know that in my own riding of Mississauga Centre, people are struggling to pay rent and they will welcome this legislation. This move to freeze rent in 2021 is a positive step to protect the 1.7 million Ontarians who rely on rental housing. I want to congratulate the minister and his team for his leadership, for leading the way in Canada as the only province that has introduced this type of legislation to protect renters in 2021.

Can the minister please highlight to the House what this government has done to support renters during the COVID-19 outbreak?

Hon. Steve Clark: Thanks to the member for that excellent question. I want to compliment her as well for her advocacy during the pandemic, not just with her constituents, but also in her capacity as a nurse. I called her early on in the pandemic and really thanked her for being one of those front-line heroes. Thank you for all the work that you do.

As the member noted, there are a number of measures that this government put forward—the Attorney General, with the eviction ban, early on in the pandemic. We also worked collaboratively with the opposition on the economic statement that we tabled early on, and that included the $200-million social services relief fund. We bolstered that fund to $510 million.

I know in her area, in Peel region and in Mississauga specifically, they’ve done some great work to keep people housed, to buy PPE, to ensure that people who are in community housing are safe. But at the same time, we’re working collaboratively on creating new housing. I was just in one of her colleague’s ridings. We turned sod at a great developer called Indwell, that is doing great work with supportive housing, and we’re going to build upon that supportive housing. We’re going to work with groups like Indwell to create more opportunities in more communities to support those who are most vulnerable.

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

Ms. Suze Morrison: A commercial eviction ban alone will not save small businesses that are currently staring down, in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars of back rent. It will not save their businesses alone. Nor will the residential rent freeze, alone, save tenants from the clutches of evictions—evictions that this government is currently allowing to continue.

Why has this government continued to ignore calls from the NDP for both a residential, as well as commercial, rent subsidy program? That is what is truly needed in this province to save small businesses and protect residential tenants from eviction.

Hon. Steve Clark: Again, Speaker, I want to correct the honourable member. I will put up our $510 million that we’ve placed to help residential tenants and to strengthen our community housing system up against any province or territory in Canada. I want to remind the member that, in my speech this morning, we were the first province or territory in Canada to sign on to the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit. We’ve already been able to help 3,000 households since April to make sure that they have a safe and secure place to call home.

Again, on the commercial side, we want to ensure that businesses have the support that they need to recover from this unprecedented situation. That’s why our government has created and committed up to $241 million to deliver the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance plan for small business programs, in partnership with the federal government.

We’ll continue to work with the federal government. We will continue to pass along the comments and the feedback by our commercial tenants. We’re all in this together, and we’re going to continue to build upon our previous investments to help people and businesses across Ontario.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Rick Nicholls): Unfortunately, there isn’t enough time for another question and comment.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

Members’ Statements

Robert Mulligan Invitational

Mr. Ian Arthur: I rise today to recognize a bond of friendship that spans the years. In the summer of 2012, rowers at Trent were faced with the worst of fears, a cancer diagnosis of one of their own. Brent is one of the most competitive people I know and a cornerstone of our team at university, but as the treatment robbed him of his ability to compete, a community came together to support a friend.

To keep the competitive spirit going, they began mini-putting, a sport where they could all still meet on an even playing field—or a green, as it were. While this particular story is a tale of success—Brent is recovered and is expecting his first child—these friends knew that the legacy had to continue. So was born the Registered Association of Mini-Putters, or RAMP, and each summer has now held the Robert Mulligan Invitational, the only mini-putt tournament/cancer research fundraiser of its kind, where this team of friends still comes together to do what small thing they can so that the stories of other families may end happily.

Competition and community service: A day of humble beginnings is now one of Peterborough’s key fundraisers in the battle against this terrible disease. Thank you to all the contributors, the putters who brave the little mountains, the widows of the course, who, each year, renew the bonds of friendship and commitment to a cause. Occasionally, I get to spend time with this team of friends, and for this I am thankful. They are the best people that one could know.

Congratulations on achieving this year’s fundraising target, and good luck in all the years to come.

Long-term care

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: Speaker, in June I spoke about the people working so hard in our long-term-care homes. I thanked them for rising to the enormous challenge of COVID-19. More challenges are still ahead of us. Many more of us will need long-term care. We’ll need more staff: PSWs, nurses, administrators, activity coordinators, volunteers and many others. We’ll need modern, accessible buildings, because these buildings are the residents’ home. We’ll need them in the cities, in small towns and in the country, and all of them will need to be prepared for future pandemics.

For all these reasons, our government is focused on the future of long-term care. We gave the go-ahead to projects like the new West Perth Village Seniors’ Community. New beds are also coming to Knollcrest, Royal Terrace and Strathcona. But there’s so much more to do.

I want to thank the long-term-care operators who have put in applications for new beds in Perth–Wellington. I have met with many of them and written letters of support. Make no mistake: As MPP, I support every single one. I’ve said that many times, and I’ll keep on saying it.

Working with all long-term-care operators—for-profit, not-for-profit, and municipal homes—we can meet this moment. We can build the future of long-term care in Perth–Wellington and across Ontario.

COVID-19 response

Mr. Terence Kernaghan: With parents returning to work and kids returning to school, the wait times at London’s testing centres have never been higher. Lines are so long that Londoners are getting discouraged from seeking out testing altogether. They’re giving up and going home.

Last weekend, Mary, a mother in my riding, needed to get her children tested after they began showing COVID-19 symptoms. Mary could not get them tested because London’s only testing site open on the weekend was already at capacity by 12:30 p.m. That’s less than two hours after it opened. Another Londoner, Karen, waited nearly four hours with her elderly mother before the two of them could get tested.

Parents and caregivers like Mary and Karen are trying to do the right thing. For months, this government told the public to get tested. But now this same government is not stepping up to the challenge. As demand increases, so must our testing capacity.

Speaker, I’m asking this government to give Londoners peace of mind and help alleviate the burden on the Carling Heights and Oakridge centres. We need more testing by expanding assessment centres, their hours and hiring additional staff. The health of Londoners must be a top priority.

Armenian Independence Day

Mr. Aris Babikian: On September 21, the Armenian community of Ontario, along with all of Canada, celebrated the 29th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Armenia.

After 600 years of colonization by the Ottoman Empire and genocide, the Armenian people rose like a phoenix from the ashes and established the Republic of Armenia on May 28, 1918. Regrettably, the short-lived republic was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920. Today, the Republic of Armenia is a member of the free world.

The history of Armenians in Ontario dates back to 1887, when Mr. Garabed Nergarian settled in Port Hope, Ontario. Since then, Armenian Canadians have become an integral part of our society. They have excelled in arts and science, business, academia and politics.

As a token of their appreciation to Canada for providing them a safe haven, many Ontario Armenians conscripted in our defence forces and fought in both world wars to defend the values and the principles for which Canada stands.

We are proud to have such a vibrant community that has contributed so much to our province and country. Their presence in Ontario enriched and strengthened our mosaic.

Congratulations to the Armenians of Ontario on the 29th independence anniversary.

Climate change

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Speaker, the climate crisis deepens on a daily basis, and yet this government sleepwalks towards disaster, either rolling back the partial steps that have been taken before, undermining half measures that are already in place or outright going backwards.

In the city of Vancouver, people have recently experienced some of the worst air quality in the world because of the giant climate-stoked forest fires just south of them in California, Oregon and Washington. The climate-stoked hurricane season south of us is already breaking records, and we are only halfway through it.

And yet, we have a government that is planning to ramp up gas-fired power plants, which will accelerate the climate crisis. At the same time, we see the Premier and the Prime Minister agreeing to further weaken the system of reducing industrial climate pollution, an example of outright irresponsibility. It is as if there was no crisis, as if we had all the time in the world to stop this unfolding emergency.

Speaker, we have a responsibility to protect human life and provide a future for ourselves and our young people. The way this government is going on climate, we won’t be able to do either.

Conservative Party of Canada

Mrs. Belinda C. Karahalios: Good morning. Mr. Speaker, there’s a ruling class in this country, and they are all “family.” That’s not a quote from the 1800s when Upper Canada was ruled by a small group of men known as the Family Compact; that’s a quote said on March 9 by a lobbyist from Crestview Strategy to Cambridge resident Jim Karahalios, informing Jim that he had to support Erin O’Toole to remain in the Conservative Party leadership race. Party brass preferred this candidate. After my family didn’t take the deal, Jim was removed from the race twice.

But stealing an election wasn’t enough for Mr. Rogers, Mr. O’Toole, Senator Don Plett, Lisa Raitt, Dan Nolan and Derek Vanstone. We needed a court victory to repay campaign debts. A few weeks later, 19 volunteers in the local PC riding association were expelled without cause by a fellow member of this supposed ruling Conservative family, Brian Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t serve this made-up ruling Conservative “family.” I already have a family, and I serve my constituents. I am grateful for the support of my family and from Canadians across the country and would like to specifically say thank you for the support of the 19 people expelled from the Cambridge PC board, who chose to stand up for democratic principles rather than try to gain the acceptance of some made-up ruling Conservative family.

COVID-19 response in Mississauga East–Cooksville

Mr. Kaleed Rasheed: On August 19, I was joined by the Premier as well as some of my colleagues from neighbouring Mississauga ridings at Trillium Health Partners hospital to participate in a funding announcement on behalf of the Muslim community.

COVID-19 has been the greatest challenge this province has faced, and it has become a defining moment in our history. We will honour those who struggled, became ill or passed away, and we will celebrate those who stood up and made a difference in big and small ways to help those who are struggling through these difficult times.

Last month, the Muslim community handed over a cheque of $100,000, the first instalment of a $5-million commitment to the Trillium Health Partners hospital. I’m so proud of the community for coming together through the most challenging times to support the health care facility that benefits our greater community here in Mississauga and Peel region. I’m grateful, as I’m sure we all are, to know that the public can count on individuals in the community to ensure our hospitals and the important work they do are supported and ready to serve the needs of everyone. I want to thank and congratulate the community for their outstanding generosity.

Broadband infrastructure

Mr. John Vanthof: The lack of broadband access has long been an irritant in rural Ontario. With COVID-19, it has become a crisis.

In 2018, in this House, the NDP proposed a long-term strategy of $100 million a year, $1 billion over 10 years, to actually come to grips with it. It passed unanimously. The government responded with a $300-million promise over 10 years. The Premier himself stated that he was going to be on this “like a dog on a bone,” in that folksy way that only he can say—like a dog on a bone.

In the 2019-20 budget, there was indeed over $31 million allocated to rural broadband infrastructure. But in the report from the Financial Accountability Office, it was laid out that not one dollar of that $31 million had actually been flowed through to fund rural infrastructure. So the Premier was on it like a dog with a bone, but in the country, we know what dogs do with bones: They bury them. And that’s the same as what this government did with the $31 million. Sadly, that is a recurring trend. What the Premier says is going to happen and what actually happens are often never the same, and for rural broadband, that has got to change.

Russell Mackay

Mr. Jeremy Roberts: It is my pleasure to rise to pay tribute to someone who truly displays the Ontario spirit. Russell Mackay was planning on leaving $5,000 for the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in his will, but his daughter, Crystal, suggested that he donate it now. With that, Mr. Mackay decided to walk the cheque 125 kilometres all the way to CHEO.

On Tuesday, September 5, he presented a cheque for $105,000 to CHEO.

Mr. Mackay was not the only one that displayed the Ontario spirit. Passing drivers honked their horns in support, with some even pulling over to give him money to add to his donation. A Tim Hortons dropped off sandwiches, doughnuts and coffee. In Carp, in the riding of my friend, the MPP for Kanata, residents of a nursing home cheered him on and gave him money as he passed by.

Mr. Mackay, when he arrived at CHEO, said, “I thank each and everybody who helped me, sponsored me. I’m overwhelmed by the amount we raised, and we’re still raising more until the end of the month.”

This year has highlighted the importance of supporting each other through tough times. As the MPP for Ottawa West–Nepean, I want to thank Mr. Mackay for his tremendous work to support a critical hospital in our community, and for anybody watching at home, if you would like to donate, you still can by going on the www.cheofoundation.com website.

Pasta it Forward

Ms. Natalia Kusendova: I’m happy to rise today to speak about an excellent initiative that I had the pleasure of working with throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Pasta it Forward is a local project from Vaughan started by Frances Tibollo, president of the Canadian Italian Heritage Foundation, and her friends with the idea in mind to help members of the community who may be unable to access food with a hot pasta meal.

To date, Pasta it Forward has prepared and delivered over 55,000 meals, thanks to the generosity of countless donors, suppliers and volunteers who have worked to ensure that the initiative is the success we see today. These meals have been delivered to many different people in need, including persons who have found themselves food-insecure, hard-working front-line health care staff and public safety workers, and even to persons in our remote First Nations communities.

I was thrilled to collaborate with Pasta it Forward on numerous occasions, when we delivered meals to hard-working personal support workers; for example, at Amica residence community in my riding of Mississauga Centre or at Chartwell Robert Speck Residence, as well as Copernicus Lodge in Parkdale–High Park, and to the nurses at my very own hospital working in the emergency room at Etobicoke General Hospital.

Pasta it Forward exemplifies the best of the Ontario spirit. It shows the ability of the great people of this province to organize and collectively tackle rising dilemmas. I continue to be inspired by the work of Ms. Tibollo and everyone else at Pasta it Forward, because you know what? A little pasta can go a long way.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you very much. That concludes our members’ statements for this morning.

Legislative Protective Service

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Before I ask for oral questions, I want to acknowledge the presence in the House today of the current class of the Legislative Protective Service’s cadets-in-training, who are observing the House in session as part of their training program. This class will complete their training and be sworn in as officers of the Legislative Protective Service this Friday. Welcome to the Ontario Legislature. We’re delighted to have you here.

Applause.

Question Period

COVID-19 response

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My first question this morning is to the Premier. Families are watching with growing concern as more and more Ontarians are becoming ill with COVID-19. Yet after months of suggesting that the government had a plan, the Premier had nothing to say at all yesterday about protecting students in schools, about seniors in long-term care and protecting them, about helping working moms and dads caught in long lines waiting for COVID-19 tests. Families need to see immediate action and investment by this government. Instead, we’re a day late and $6 billion short.

Why is the Premier yet again so unprepared?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Government House leader to reply.

Hon. Paul Calandra: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for the question. We have been prepared and continue to be prepared to fight COVID-19 across the province of Ontario. That includes significant investments in public health. It includes significant investments in testing. We understand how important it is to the people of the province of Ontario that their health and safety is protected.

Not only are we investing in health care, but the Minister of Education has made significant investments to ensure that our students are safe. The Minister of Long-Term Care has been working very closely within her industry to make sure that our long-term-care homes are ready. Of course, the Minister of Government and Consumer Services has been ensuring that some of the shortages that we had in PPE are certainly not the case going forward. So we are prepared. We are ready. I thank the honourable Leader of the Opposition for her question.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: The Premier spent much of last year cutting our public health system, hospitals and our schools. Those cuts left us scrambling to deal with COVID-19 in the spring. In July, the government claimed they were planning for a second wave of the pandemic, but they refused to make the needed investments. They refused to make the needed investments in schools. They failed to create a testing regime that could withstand a second wave, and our long-term-care homes tell us that they are not ready. They are telling us that they are not ready, regardless of what the Premier and the ministers say.

Is the Premier actually prepared to take the urgent action that’s necessary to get this province in gear when it comes to the second wave of COVID-19, and if so, when is he going to do it?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Again, I thank the honourable member for the question. This government has been seized with ensuring the safety of the people of the province of Ontario with its COVID action plan right from the beginning. It started in March, when we moved aggressively to bring forward public safety measures to protect the people of the province of Ontario. It resulted in the closure of much of the economy, the honourable member will know. But significant investments were made in health care. Significant investments have been made in testing. We, in fact, lead the nation in terms of testing.

Our response has been one of the best responses in North America, Mr. Speaker. We should be very proud of that.

At the same time, we understand how important it is to keep our students safe. We understand how important it is to learn lessons from the first wave with respect to our long-term-care homes, and we’ve moved very aggressively to do that. We understand how important it is to make sure that we have made-in-Ontario access to PPE, and we have done that. We are going to continue to ramp up testing. It is important. Obviously, we all want the people of the province of Ontario to be safe, and we will continue to do all that we can and spare no expense in doing so.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, with all due respect, here’s a reality check: As one health expert put it yesterday, “This is time for the full-court press. On all fronts.” It’s time to go.

In other words, health experts are very worried that this government’s actions are lagging behind when it comes to the severity of the crisis in front of us. We need investment and we need action, and we needed it yesterday.

The president of the Ontario Hospital Association says this: The “hospital sector’s labs cannot sustain ... testing under these conditions.... The system is heading for a crash.”

Long-term-care homes say, “Homes are not currently ready to manage a second wave.” That’s the reality check.

Schools are scrambling to meet students’ needs and operate safely.

Will the Premier finally admit that he either has no plan or the one that he apparently has isn’t working?

Hon. Paul Calandra: The plan that we’ve put in place is a plan that leads North America in terms of protecting its people. I’m very proud of that, Mr. Speaker. But did we learn from parts of the first phase? Absolutely. We learned that we had to have a made-in-Ontario source of PPE. All jurisdictions were fighting that battle. This Premier stepped up to the plate and made sure that, going forward, we have access to PPE right here in the province of Ontario.

We learned that we had to increase testing capacity, and we have done that. Across every region of this province, we’re increasing testing capacity. It is good news that people are going to be tested, but we understand that as kids go back to schools there would be rising concern. That’s why, across every region in this province, testing will be increased.

The Minister of Long-Term Care has been working non-stop, day and night, to make sure that our long-term-care homes are prepared. I’m told that some 99% of our homes right now are not in an outbreak and that we have some of the most stringent responses when they are, Mr. Speaker, so I’m very proud of what we’ve done. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t more work to do. We will continue to spare no expense to make sure that the people of the province are—

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

The next question.

Long-term care

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is to the Minister of Long-Term Care, but I can tell you, all those folks who are waiting literally hours on end and being turned away don’t think the testing story in Ontario is good news.

But my question is to the Minister of Long-Term Care. Our loved ones in long-term care face the greatest risk as the second wave of this pandemic grows. Yesterday, even as the Minister of Long-Term Care was dismissing concerns about the risks facing seniors in long-term care, as the government House leader just did, Ottawa’s medical officer of health was ordering a takeover of two for-profit facilities where the pandemic has claimed 11 lives since August. Homes themselves say that they are not ready for the second wave.

When will the Premier and this minister take action and make the investments necessary so that staff, residents and their own experts can know that the government is actually taking their advice? Because up until this point, it sure seems as if the government is not taking the advice of staff, experts, residents and family members.

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Thank you for the question. Our government’s priority is the safety and well-being of residents and staff in long-term care. There is no doubt about that. I have always acknowledged the vulnerability of our residents in long-term care. I have been in contact with the medical officer of health in Ottawa over the past weeks on a regular basis to understand what more we can do for our homes that are hard hit right now in Ottawa.

I appreciate the support and the actions by the medical officer of health that we have worked in conjunction to achieve, to have the hospitals going into the homes that are affected and providing additional support. It is an expedient way to provide this through the Health Protection and Promotion Act, and our government will continue to work with our partners, whether it’s the medical officer of health, whether it’s the Ontario Long Term Care Association, AdvantAge Ontario or our long-term care sector, hearing from resident councils, hearing from family councils. We will continue to work and endeavour to make sure that our residents and staff are safe.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Their families are not reassured, frankly, by the minister and this government’s empty words and empty promises when it comes to long-term care. While the minister has insisted that 99% of homes are not in outbreak, government documents filed at the Premier’s own long-term-care commission show that 149 homes, nearly 25%, are classified as high-risk.

Now, I find it pretty bizarre that the minister doesn’t know what to do. What she needs to do is get more PSWs. She needs a higher ratio of staff to residents. She needs to do the things that have already been clearly identified that need to be done to fix our long-term-care system.

But when asked to make the details of that report of the high-risk homes available, the government refused. They’re refusing to let people know where those high-risk homes are. Will the minister today make that information public? Tell us which homes are high-risk so that people can be prepared.

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Thank you to the member opposite for the question. We’ve said before in this chamber, and I’ve said before in this chamber, that the high-risk situation of our homes varies depending on where the hot spots are in the province, and the staffing issues. This is something that we are constantly monitoring. My ministry and our government have been entirely focused on making sure that our long-term-care-home staff and residents get the support they need.

We’re working in three stages, really: the emergency response, as there are flare-ups across the province, and addressing those in a timely way—as you have seen with the medical officer of health in Ottawa, that relationship and those ongoing efforts that we collaborate on to make sure our homes get the support they need is really critical. The stabilization plan for the staffing, for our PSWs and other staff in long-term-care homes, is ongoing. It was informed by an expert panel. We’re taking action on that and also looking at the modernization and capacity issues that were so badly neglected.

This is continuing. We are continuing in COVID speed to keep our staff and residents safe in long-term care.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, in the spring, while the Premier was promising that there was an iron ring around long-term care—over 1,850 residents have died in long-term care from COVID-19.

Now, this minister and the Premier are insisting that experts, front-line staff and even operators of long-term-care homes themselves are wrong when they say that they are not ready for the second wave. It is not myself as the leader of the official opposition who is making these claims; it is the homes themselves that are saying to the government, “You haven’t helped us get ready for the second wave of COVID-19.” Now there is a list of high-risk homes that are at risk for outbreaks, and yet they refuse to share the information.

Will the Premier and this minister admit that this crisis actually needs urgent action and urgent investment, stop hiding the facts from the public and implement the recommendations of his own experts to save lives in long-term care? That 11 more people have died since August is absolutely unacceptable—absolutely.

Interjections.

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

The Minister of Long-Term Care to reply.

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Thank you for the question. I’m going to repeat that 99% of our homes have no resident cases and are managing very well. Our attention is on the ones that are having difficulties, making sure that we layer on additional supports for them and the $243 million and $45 million that have flowed to help homes with their IPAC.

But I would like to mention a quote from the September 21 joint letter by OLTCA, AdvantAge, CanAge, OLTC Clinicians, Family Councils Ontario and the Ontario Association of Residents’ Councils: “Your government’s response in wave 1 with the launch of the long-term-care action plan was critical in helping our long-term-care homes fend off and contain COVID-19.” So I do take exception to your characterization. The quote continues: “These measures have improved our homes’ readiness for the next wave.”

I want to impart to you, member opposite, that there is a difference now compared to wave 1. It encompasses many different things that we’ve learned over this span of time from our health experts and our scientific experts. So we are listening. We’re listening across the board to our sector, to residents, to families and to our scientific experts.

COVID-19 response

Ms. Catherine Fife: My question is to the Premier. As families across the province line up five, six or even eight hours with thousands of potentially sick people to get their tests, the Premier declared that he was perfectly okay with a new private company that plans to offer people testing at home for a price. The Premier says, “It’s a free-market society.”

Speaker, through you to the Premier: We know the Conservatives wish that we had a American-style two-tier health care system—just ask the Minister of Long-Term Care—but does the Premier really think that families should have to pay $400 for this government’s failure to plan?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, for the question. I’ll remind the honourable member that it was actually a Progressive Conservative government that brought in socialized medicine here in the province of Ontario, and we’re very proud of that.

Since coming into office, we have made historic investments in health and long-term care. Many of the problems that we inherited from the previous 15 years of the Liberal-NDP coalition in this place, we have started to address, whether that’s providing additional resources for our long-term-care homes—when it comes to COVID-19, we have spared no expense in preparing the province of Ontario, and that includes testing, Mr. Speaker, across every region of this province. We have increased the capacity for testing and we are going to continue to do so in our fall preparedness plan.

I’m very proud of the people who work in health care across this province. They have done a spectacular job in making sure that Ontario is amongst the safest jurisdictions in North America in which to live, work and raise a family. I’m proud of that record.

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

Ms. Catherine Fife: Mr. Speaker, the last time I asked a testing question in this House was six months ago. What has this government learned? The Premier’s plan does not do enough to prioritize the needs of families across the province. In Waterloo region, lineups for testing have gotten so bad that the police were called. I heard from a student who has taken transit to the testing centre four days in a row, and still they have not been able to get tested. This morning, the testing facility in K-W was full for the day at 7:15 a.m. People arrived at 3 o’clock in the morning. People can’t afford to spend hundreds of dollars and sometimes days waiting for a COVID-19 test.

Speaker, does the Premier expect everyday Ontarians to shell out hundreds of extra dollars for a private COVID test when they can barely afford to take the day off in the first place?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Again, I’m not sure where the member has been. The Premier outlined yesterday, as did the Minister of Health, the significant investments we are making in testing across every region in this province. We’re massively increasing testing capacity because we know how important it is not only to ensure that people have the confidence that they are safe in their communities—

Interjections.

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: —that our educators feel safe, that our students feel safe, that our economy continues to be working. It is because of that that we’ve made such investments in testing. We have tested more than any other province, combined—Ontario is doing more testing than all other provinces combined. I think that is something that we should be proud of.

Does more have to be done? Absolutely. If there’s one thing that we are learning through this COVID crisis, it’s that you can never let up; you always have to be prepared and expect the worst. That’s what this government has been doing since day one, sparing no expense in making sure that Ontario remains the best place in which to live, work, invest and raise a family and, ultimately, we’ll make sure that the people of the province of Ontario are safe because that’s our obligation.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. The Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry must come to order. The Minister of Children, Community and Social Services must come to order. The member from Windsor West will come to order. The Leader of the Opposition will come to order.

Start the clock. The next question.

M me Natalia Kusendova: Ma question s’adresse à la ministre des Affaires francophones. La communauté franco-ontarienne contribue à la culture et à l’économie de notre province depuis plus de 400 ans. Le vendredi 25 septembre, on célèbrera la journée des Franco-Ontariens et Franco-Ontariennes avec tous les membres de cette communauté, y compris les francophiles comme moi.

La COVID-19 a été un défi pour tous les Ontariens et Ontariennes. Comment le gouvernement a-t-il soutenu la communauté franco-ontarienne au travers des enjeux auxquels ils ont été confrontés?

L’hon. Caroline Mulroney: Je remercie ma collègue de Mississauga-Centre pour sa question. Depuis le début de la pandémie au milieu du mois de mars, nous avons travaillé fort et en collaboration avec la communauté franco-ontarienne pour répondre à ses besoins, que ce soit avec la mise sur pied du comité ministériel de la relance économique francophone, l’annonce de l’édition 2020-2021 du Programme d’appui à la francophonie ontarienne, l’annonce de l’équipe Santé Ontario d’Ottawa-Est et, bien sûr, la traduction simultanée des conférences de presse du premier ministre.

Hier, il m’a fait un grand plaisir d’annoncer un investissement de 500 000 $ pour le tout premier Réseau économique francophone en Ontario et un fonds pour la campagne de promotion des entreprises franco-ontariennes, deux mesures qui découlent du travail du comité ministériel sur la relance économique et de leurs recommandations sur les leviers nécessaires pour le redémarrage de l’économie francophone de l’Ontario.

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

M me Natalia Kusendova: Merci, madame la Ministre, pour votre réponse—ce sont de bonnes nouvelles—et pour tout ce que vous faites pour la communauté franco-ontarienne. Ce sont là des progrès remarquables.

Vous avez mentionné l’annonce de 500 000 $ d’hier. Que signifie plus concrètement cette annonce pour les petites entreprises franco-ontariennes?

L’hon. Caroline Mulroney: Je remercie la députée pour sa question. Notre gouvernement comprend l’importance du développement économique francophone dans la promotion et l’épanouissement de la francophonie ontarienne.

Le réseau, qui reposera sur une plateforme virtuelle en ligne, permettra la mise en relation d’entrepreneurs francophones et permettra d’accroître leur visibilité et la visibilité de la communauté francophone tout entière. Il permettra d’augmenter les opportunités d’affaires, d’engendrer des partenariats et des alliances stratégiques, et aussi la multiplication des échanges.

De son côté, le fonds de promotion pour les entreprises permettra aux produits et aux services franco-ontariens d’être connus au-delà des marchés locaux, à travers l’Ontario, ainsi qu’au Québec et au Nouveau-Brunswick. Le besoin de ces initiatives existait avant la pandémie et le besoin est d’autant plus large maintenant que nous passons à travers ce moment difficile.

Monsieur le Président, notre gouvernement agit de façon proactive et adopte des mesures concrètes pour que les entrepreneurs franco-ontariens et franco-ontariennes prospèrent et continuent à contribuer à notre province, à l’économie et à la culture de l’Ontario.

Long-term care

Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: My question is to the Minister of Long-Term Care, in hopes to get an answer today. Earlier this week, when asked about the protections for workers at West End Villa, the Minister of Long-Term Care said, “I can assure this chamber and Ontarians that West End Villa has the PPE that it requires, including N95s, available to the staff to use.”

But yesterday, workers on the front lines of this devastating outbreak bravely came forward to clarify that this is simply not the case. Despite claims from the government and their private for-profit operator friends at Extendicare, workers are now saying that this vital PPE is available to some employees but not to others.

Why is the information peddled by the Minister of Long-Term Care so wildly different than that of the workers on the front lines of this pandemic?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Thank you for the question. First of all, I want to recognize the dedication, the commitment and the compassion that our front-line workers bring every single day to our long-term-care homes and residents.

I have been in regular contact with the Ottawa hospital that is involved in supporting these two homes, and I have received assurances that the N95 masks are available to our staff in those homes. I have been seeking to make sure that these are available to our staff—and I say “our staff” because I consider all the people working in long-term care to be serving Ontarians—and that it is available in the homes. I have had reassurances. I will double back and I will make sure that that is accurate information.

I want to remind everyone here that we have developed a procurement process for masks that is unlike anything this province has ever seen to make sure that our staff and residents are protected in the way that is necessary.

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

Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: Speaker, what’s disappointing is that this minister hasn’t actually acknowledged what we’ve been questioning this last week and a half about it. The second wave of the pandemic is here. We are already reliving the horrors of the first wave in our long-term-care homes. To date, the horrifying outbreak at Extendicare West End Villa has infected 23 staff, 37 residents and claimed the lives of 11 other residents. Workers in these homes are laying their lives on the line to care for our vulnerable seniors. Each and every one of them should be able to freely access PPEs they need to stay safe and do their job.

When will the workers at West End Villa be given the PPE that they deserve and need to survive the deadly outbreak?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Thank you again for the question. If we look at the differences between wave 1 and wave 2, there are multiple, and the first really is the PPE. The availability of the PPE and the supplies of the PPE are much more secure. The staff in these homes do have access to the N95s. As I said, I will make sure that we have that information as it is confirmed to me by people on the ground and the hospital assisting this home.

But if we look at the testing, as well, the surveillance testing done in our homes, and the acknowledgment of asymptomatic spread within the elderly in the long-term-care homes, these are differences from wave 1. We can say with accuracy that those are making a difference. We’re picking up cases of staff through this testing process so that it’s not coming into the home, and only a very tiny percentage of homes are affected. My heart goes out to all the residents, the staff and their families who are affected. We will continue to do everything possible to ensure their safety. That is our—

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

Next question.

COVID-19 response

Mr. Randy Hillier: My question is for the Premier. It’s time that this government begins to be truthful and honest. For seven months, the public has been fed—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member will take his seat. I’m going to caution on his language.

Mr. Randy Hillier: Pardon?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Did you hear me?

Mr. Randy Hillier: No.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I will caution the member on his language that he’s going to use.

Place your question.

Mr. Randy Hillier: —some real, some probable and some imaginary. Although the elderly who are sick and frail are at a high risk to COVID, the rest of the population is not.

Unlike the repeated messages of panic from this government, we do find clarity in other jurisdictions. Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg, Montreal’s medical officer, has stated this COVID virus is “much like the seasonal flu.” A group of 400 Belgian doctors have stated COVID is “not a killer virus, but a ... treatable condition.” Eighteen Canadian doctors wrote the Premier: Your policies risk “significantly harming our children ... with life-long consequences.”

Speaker, to the Premier, will you start being honest about the risk of COVID?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’m going to ask the member to withdraw.

Mr. Randy Hillier: Withdraw.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Government House leader to reply.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Respectfully, I disagree with just about everything the member said.

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

Mr. Randy Hillier: Again to the Premier.

Our deputy chief medical officer of health has stated our testing results are over 50% false positives, yet we keep testing, knowing full well that the results are near meaningless. Another group of Australian doctors have spoken out: “Ordinary sensible people if properly informed, should inevitably conclude that the ... government policy is ill-focused, heavy-handed, and unjustifiable.” But your government keeps creating new restrictions.

A group of UK doctors have stated the objective of virus suppression is “unfeasible and is leading to ... harm across all age groups,” but the government limits access to our health care system, putting everyone at risk. I believe that this government has caused enough harm.

To the Premier, why are you using COVID as an election campaign strategy at the cost of health—

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

The next question.

Wildlife protection

Mr. Toby Barrett: My question is for the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. As we know, here in Ontario, we have a thriving resource-based tourism sector. In normal times, we draw tourists from around the world, who come for the pristine wilderness in the northern parts of our province. Hunters and anglers spend more than $560 million and $1.6 billion, respectively, each year in Ontario to support jobs in many of our rural and northern communities.

We know that a disease that takes hold in animal populations can upset the balance in an ecosystem, threaten the safety of our food supply and hurt businesses and livelihoods for many who work in agriculture, hunting and resource-based tourism. Minister, what is our government doing to ensure that we’re on top of this threat posed by disease in wildlife populations?

Hon. John Yakabuski: I want to thank the great member from Haldimand–Norfolk for that question. He’s right to the point on the importance of monitoring livestock and wild animals.

Our government gets it. We represent people in every corner of the province and understand the interconnectedness of our ecosystems and our economy. The health of our wildlife and rural economies affects the food supply chain for people in cities, from Ottawa to Toronto and Windsor. Earlier this year, we took action to further protect wildlife populations from chronic wasting disease, CWD, and ensure continued hunting opportunities in the province. CWD is a progressive, fatal disease that affects members of the cervid family—deer, elk, moose and caribou.

Speaker, I’ll have more to say in the supplementary.

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

Mr. Toby Barrett: Thank you, Minister, for that response. It’s one thing to say that we’re on top of things when the going is good, but it’s great to hear that we’re being vigilant with respect to this threat of chronic wasting disease and other similar diseases.

I was pleased to find out that in Ontario we’ve tested over 13,000 deer and elk over the past two decades and all the tests have been negative. But as we know, we can never take things for granted. There have been cases in neighbouring states and neighbouring provinces.

My question to the minister is, what are we doing here in Ontario to ensure that we continue to keep our cervid populations safe?

Hon. John Yakabuski: Thank you again to the member for the question.

I have attended the testing facility at Trent University in Peterborough, as well, to see the great work they do.

While CWD has not been detected in Ontario, as you say, it is important to remain vigilant. CWD was discovered in 2018 on a deer farm in Quebec, close to the Ontario border, and has been found in all five states bordering Ontario.

In December 2019, our government announced a CWD prevention and response plan to ensure that approaches are in place to minimize the risk of the disease entering or spreading within our province.

Additionally, this summer we proposed to prohibit the import of live, captive cervids from outside of the province, in most circumstances.

The newly proposed changes would enhance protections that are already in place. These measures will protect Ontario’s wildlife and support sustainable hunting, which creates jobs and makes an important economic contribution to our province.

Hospital funding

M me France Gélinas: Ma question est pour le premier ministre.

Speaker, I think we can all agree that we are living through some scary times right now. But one thing that people can count on to calm our anxiety is our public health care system. We all know that we can count on our hospitals to care for us—not just for COVID-19, but for all the health challenges that we face.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has been all hands on deck for every health care worker, and, with a looming second wave, the demand on our health care system will continue to increase. But now we’ve learned that 97 nurses will be laid off at Southlake hospital in Newmarket.

I know the Premier likes to cut expenditures, but in the middle of a pandemic, how can he justify laying off 97 nurses from the front line?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The government House leader to reply.

Hon. Paul Calandra: While I’m not going to specifically comment on negotiations between the hospital and its staff, I will say this: The member is absolutely correct that the provision of health care services is incredibly important. It’s one of the most important things that government can do, and that’s why we’ve made significant investments. In fact, we’ve increased the budget to the largest that it has ever been in Ontario history.

I think what the Minister of Health has been doing since the beginning is transitioning our health care system to Ontario health teams so that we can get a ribbon of care, so that whether you’re in home care or in long-term care or needing access to a family doctor or to the hospital, that care is available to you and it’s easier to access. That means providing more services where people need them the most, in the community. I’m proud of the work that we’ve done.

And let me just say, Southlake is an incredible hospital. I’ve used it on a number of occasions—both myself and my family. The nurses and staff there are exceptional, and I know all of us in York region are grateful for the work that they do.

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

M me France Gélinas: It gets worse, Speaker. According to the nurses at the hospital, the layoff of 97 front-line nurses is based on a best-case scenario, based on the province’s actual funding. Let that sink in. Newmarket could lose over 100 front-line nurses.

Now, more than ever, the Premier should ensure that our hospitals have the resources they need to deliver the care people need and, frankly, to save lives. The Premier has a huge role to play in making sure that people trust our health care system and that that trust does not get eroded.

Should I remind the Premier of baby Sophia, who was sent home from that hospital only to die three days later?

Will the Premier do the right thing and protect Ontario’s families and ensure that these 97 nurses will be there to care for us and don’t get laid off?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Again, we moved very quickly as a government to ensure that the resources were in place for our health care professionals. That includes an increase of over $5 million for Southlake. But, as the member knows, it’s not just about money; it’s about how we access quality care.

Myself and my own family were seeking assistance for a father-in-law who needs to get from radiation treatment and needs home care. It has been very difficult and challenging to access all of these services, even for somebody who has been in public service for many, many years. The changes that the minister is making, the changes that this government is making will mean that it is easier for people to access care that they need, whether it is home care, whether it is long-term care, whether it is a test, whether it is access to a hospital. That’s why we are making these changes.

Nurses are vital to this. That’s why the Minister of Education, with the Minister of Health, has been hiring more nurses for our education system. We value the work that nurses do. We can’t run a system without them. There are going to be continued investments to make sure that all Ontarians have access to the highest-quality care that this province can provide.

Long-term care

M me Lucille Collard: My question is to the Minister of Long-Term Care.

I recently had the privilege of convening a panel of medical experts in Ontario to explore how long-term-care homes have responded to COVID-19 in order to identify what improvements should be prioritized going forward to ensure better protection for our seniors. This forum was really well-attended and very informative.

This panel is in the process of producing a report, which I will be very happy to share with the minister. Unfortunately, we were surprised to learn that there is no mechanism for sharing this important research with the ongoing long-term-care commission. Given the wide-reaching consequences of COVID-19, it is important that we ensure that the commission hears important contributions from medical experts and communities from across the province.

The Ministry of Long-Term Care established the terms of reference for this commission. Why was a meaningful process for consulting the public not included in these terms of reference?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Thank you for the question. The terms of reference for the commission are very broad and comprehensive. They have a website that is available to provide information and update the public and any other group that’s interested.

I’ve been very clear, and our government has been very clear, that this is an independent commission. They have the ability to summon individuals. They have the ability to have public hearings and they will issue a public report. But it is their decision. The ministry does not have the ability to influence them in any way. They are independent.

I think this is a very important point that seems to be forgotten that, as a ministry, we have three very capable and respected commissioners and they have started their work already. So we have a process. They have a website. Please reach out and use the link available, but this is an independent commission.

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

M me Lucille Collard: Again, to the Minister of Long-Term Care: While we must protect the independence of the commission and respect the expertise of the panel, it is equally important to have a framework to allow the commission to conduct its inquests fully.

Nowhere on the website can we find information about public meetings or any way to make submissions to the commission. In order to make an inquest fully, it requires ensuring that the mandate includes a clear process for being able to solicit input from Ontario’s medical professionals and hear about the different ways that COVID-19 has affected Ontario’s diverse communities in long-term care.

Under the commission’s terms of reference, the minister has the discretion to make amendments to the commission to ensure that it may conduct its inquests comprehensively and accurately, and avoiding the perception that the work is being done behind closed doors without hearing from the public experience.

Will the minister use this discretion to include a clear and well-defined process for consulting the public in order to allow experts producing helpful research on this exact issue to submit this research to assist the commission inquiry?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Thank you, again. It’s very clear that the reason the independent commission was established was to do exactly that: to understand what happened, to hear from individuals and organizations, and to investigate how COVID-19 spread within long-term-care homes; how residents, staff and families were impacted; and the adequacy of the measures that were taken by the province and other parties to prevent, isolate and contain the spread. It’s very clear that our government is being transparent about this process.

The terms of reference are comprehensive and wide, and they do have the power to do the things you mention. The intent from this government is to provide an independent commission. It is independent. They have three highly respected commissioners—one very respected in government; the other in the health field, the CEO of the Ottawa Hospital. Also looking at—

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

Small business

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: My question is for the associate minister responsible for small business and red tape reduction. In my riding of Perth–Wellington, COVID-19 has forced many businesses in the riding to adapt to the new business climate. Every day, I get phone calls from struggling small business owners.

With COVID-19, we know that we’re facing an unprecedented challenge. Businesses are facing unique problems created by the global pandemic. They need help from the government to adapt to this new environment. Business owners in Ontario aren’t looking for handouts. They’re looking for just a little help to get back on their feet.

Minister, can you please tell me how our government is supporting businesses as they respond to the challenges caused by COVID-19?

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: Thank you to the member for Perth–Wellington for that question. Our government has taken a number of steps to help small businesses respond to COVID-19. We have provided, at the onset, $10 billion in provincial tax deferrals, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board premium deferrals and other business supports. We have provided over $900 million in urgent relief to small businesses to help with their rental payments. We have helped over 54,000 businesses receive rental support through this program.

We have made investments to help businesses go digital: a $57-million investment in Digital Main Street, the largest investment in the history of this country to help businesses go digital. Mr. Speaker, we have launched the Tackling the Barriers web portal to help businesses pivot and support them during this very difficult time.

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

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: Mr. Speaker, through you to the minister, I want to thank the minister for that answer. Economic growth and job creation will be key priorities as we get our economy back to where it was before. Businesses need the support to survive but also thrive and continue growing after we get through this pandemic.

Can the associate minister please tell this House how our government can get our economy back to where it was before the pandemic hit?

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: Our made-in-Ontario plan for growth, renewal and economic recovery will bring us back and make us stronger than ever before.

In July, our government passed the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act. This piece of legislation is helping restart thousands of jobs, is attracting new investments and is helping businesses adapt to the new environment.

Making Ontario a modern regulator, one that communicates clearly and operates effectively, will free up our people and businesses to focus on what is most important: recovering and re-emerging stronger than ever before.

The pandemic has reinforced the need to take stronger action to make regulations better for people and smarter for business, and that’s exactly what we are doing. We are going to continue to modernize outdated regulations, remove duplication and minimize costs for business. We’re going to continue to work with our businesses to ensure that they can rebuild, rehire and re-emerge stronger than ever before.

Education funding

Mr. Ian Arthur: Speaker, through you, my question is to the Minister of Education. My office has heard from many alarmed parents, including Kimberly, and they all attest to the same thing. As more students are being kept home, local school boards are collapsing classes, making them larger without social distancing. We have heard of classes with three or four grades in them, with less than one metre between desks, without adequate safety. In Kimberly’s case, the child’s school went from 13 to 11 classes.

Now the minister has said that this is being done by school boards, but he can direct those boards. It is within his power to cap all class sizes at 15 and provide the funding so that we have safe schools in Ontario right now. The current approach, signed off on by this minister, is clearly not working, and it is endangering the lives of people in Ontario.

With outbreaks in dozens of schools in Ottawa, will the minister commit right now to limiting students of all ages to 15 per class? Why are there crowded classrooms when the teachers have been hired, the money has already been allocated and the classrooms are sitting empty?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: The plan that we unveiled in this province has been fully endorsed by the Chief Medical Officer of Health. Moms and dads of this province can have confidence that it has been informed by the best medical and pediatric science this country has. We have worked every step of the way to build up capacity, to introduce layers of prevention to mitigate the spread and the risk within our schools.

We are cognizant that the risk in our schools is reflective of the risk within our community, which is the basis for why yesterday the Minister of Health and the Premier announced the largest flu vaccination campaign in Ontario’s history: $70 million to procure 700,000 more vaccines for more young people, particularly for our kids. It’s very important to help mitigate the spread.

We’ve taken action to hire more custodians, to improve ventilation and, obviously, to hire more teachers to reduce the classroom sizes in all boards, including in Limestone, including in Algonquin and Lakeshore, including in CEP de l’Est de l’Ontario and all of the boards within the member opposite’s riding. They’re receiving more funding to ensure that those classes are as safe as humanly possible.

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

Mr. Ian Arthur: It’s not enough funding to only have 15 students per class, and that is exactly what they need.

Three days ago, there were three outbreaks in Ottawa; today there are 38. Your plan is not working, no matter who signed off on it.

Tackling a pandemic is about the management of risk. It is about taking every action that anyone possibly can to move that needle to a little less risk—which means that for every classroom that only has 15 students in it, we have less risk of an outbreak. Every time you commit to a 15-person classroom, you’re helping to protect more people in this province—and the minister knows this. I can only imagine that the minister weighed the risks of a 30-person classroom versus 15 and found out that he thinks it’s an acceptable level of risk to pack 30 students into a classroom.

Will the minister commit to 15-student classrooms for every class in Ontario right now?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: In the words of the Ottawa Catholic School Board chair, this year they have the smallest classroom sizes in the history of that board because of government funding, because we’ve helped support the unlocking of reserve funds—together, provincial, federal and boards—ensuring that they have the capacity to do more hiring.

Well north of 2,600 teachers are being hired because of the funding we’ve provided. In various school boards, the challenge is not access to funding, as acknowledged by the Toronto District School Board yesterday; it’s access to supply of educators, in fact.

Nonetheless, in Ottawa, we’re seeing classroom sizes in junior kindergarten and senior kindergarten averaging 22, well below the provincial average pre-COVID-19; in grades 1 to 3 at 17.6, well below the provincial average before COVID-19; in grades 4 to 8 at 22.2, also below the average. In every board, funding is flowing to ensure that it is safe.

I’ve spoken to Dr. Etches as well as the leadership of the medical team in Ottawa as recently as this weekend, with the aim to work with them to ensure that we reduce the risk and improve the safety of our schools in Ottawa and across our province.

Personal protective equipment

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: My question is to the Minister of Government and Consumer Services.

Speaker, at the outset of COVID-19, it was clear to everyone in the province and across the country that a significant response was required to ensure that front-line workers had the PPE they required. We were reminded daily on the news that the global market for critical personal protective equipment and medical supplies was