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February 23, 2023

43rd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

vol. A

Hansard Transcripts

vol. B

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2023-Feb-23 vol. A (PDF)

L044A - Thu 23 Feb 2023 / Jeu 23 fév 2023

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Thursday 23 February 2023 Jeudi 23 février 2023

Orders of the Day

St. Thomas-Central Elgin Boundary Adjustment Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 sur la modification des limites territoriales entre St. Thomas et Central Elgin

Members’ Statements

International Mother Language Day

Events in Mushkegowuk–James Bay / Événements divers à Mushkegowuk–Baie James

Anti-racism activities

Hospital services

Black History Month

Northern health services

Wellington Dukes

Temporary nursing agencies

Riding of Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound

Anniversary of invasion of Ukraine

Introduction of Visitors

House sittings

Independent members

Question Period

Government accountability

Health care / Soins de santé

Health care

Economic development

Education funding

Curriculum

Hospital services

Human trafficking

Agri-food industry

Health care workers

Northern transportation

Northern health services / Services de santé dans le Nord

Provincial parks

Affordable housing

Independent members

Business of the House

Deferred Votes

Protecting Human Rights in an Emergency Act (Emergency Power Generators), 2023 / Loi de 2023 sur la protection des droits de la personne en cas d’urgence (génératrices de secours)

Wearing of ribbon

Introduction of Visitors

Introduction of Bills

Temporary Nursing Agency Licensing and Regulation Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 sur la délivrance de permis aux agences de soins infirmiers temporaires et la réglementation de ces agences

Uploading Highways 174 and 17 Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 sur le transfert de compétences relatives aux voies publiques 174 et 17

Statements by the Ministry and Responses

Anniversary of invasion of Ukraine

Petitions

Adoption disclosure

Volunteer service awards

Health care

Health care workers

Volunteer service awards

Détachement de la PPO

Subventions aux résidents du Nord pour frais de transport à des fins médicales

Health care workers

Social assistance

Volunteer service awards

Request to the Integrity Commissioner

Orders of the Day

St. Thomas-Central Elgin Boundary Adjustment Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 sur la modification des limites territoriales entre St. Thomas et Central Elgin

The House met at 0900.

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

Prières / Prayers.

Orders of the Day

St. Thomas-Central Elgin Boundary Adjustment Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 sur la modification des limites territoriales entre St. Thomas et Central Elgin

Mr. Clark moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 63,

An Act respecting the adjustment of the boundary between the City of St. Thomas and the Municipality of Central Elgin / Projet de loi 63, Loi concernant la modification des limites territoriales entre la cité de St. Thomas et la municipalité de Central Elgin.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I recognize the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to lead off the debate.

Hon. Steve Clark: Good morning, colleagues. Today it is both my pleasure and my privilege to rise to begin debate at second reading of our government’s proposed legislation, the St. Thomas-Central Elgin Boundary Adjustment Act. I’m pleased to say that I will be sharing the government’s time during this leadoff address with my honourable colleague the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

I’m sure when Minister Fedeli speaks, the minister will tell members of the House that when global companies seek out a location for a new manufacturing facility, there is fierce competition within jurisdictions across North America and the world to win their business. And as we all know, our biggest competitor is south of the border. I know this very well. My riding of Leeds–Grenville–Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes is right on the beautiful St. Lawrence River, looking over into northern New York state.

There have been times when we’ve debated in the House the fierce competition that comes from south of the border. It wasn’t uncommon, back when the Liberals were in power, that Ogdensburg, New York, and the economic development area around there, would have tremendously fierce competition to try to move our businesses from Ontario to northern New York state. So I know this very well.

As a government, to compete for jobs and investment offered by the global marketplace, Ontario needs to move quickly to take advantage of opportunities. That is exactly what we are doing with Bill 63, the city of St. Thomas and the municipality of Central Elgin boundary adjustment act.

At my ministry, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the associate minister, Michael Parsa, the parliamentary assistant, Kevin Holland, and I are actively doing our part to deliver on our government’s plan to build Ontario and lay out a foundation for the province’s long-term economic recovery. We’ve made changes to several acts under my ministry’s purview, like the ones we’re proposing in Bill 63, to get shovels in the ground faster on critical infrastructure, including a number of government priorities: housing, broadband, highways, transit, as well as supporting an increased investment in job creation.

I think we can all agree that when it comes to job creation, it’s one of the great opportunities we have in this House to look at an issue in a non-partisan way. We need to be an attractive location for new business. Our province must offer a strong inventory of site locations. These are sites where the timing and the cost for development and investment is readily known and it’s also streamlined to meet project deadlines. It has become an expectation among investors—a global standard—that these sites are shovel-ready. That’s why I’m here this morning along with my colleague the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Our government is taking the necessary action to help secure future investment opportunities for a very large site, or a mega site as they are called. As the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade will tell you in further detail, his ministry has identified mega sites across Ontario that could support large-scale strategic investment opportunities—very, very important. Many of us have local communities that participated in some of these efforts.

The most recent was the Job Site Challenge, where there were a number of communities that came forward and presented investment opportunities to Minister Fedeli. There are other programs like the certified site program—many of those in the House will know that communities across the province have worked closely with Minister Fedeli’s ministry to create these certified site opportunities.

The mega sites bring real, new opportunities for long-term investment that can create thousands of good-paying jobs and many, many more indirect jobs throughout the industrial supply chain that will benefit communities across the province.

The site which has been identified as part of this program has the potential to create thousands of new jobs for the community, the region and our province. This proposed legislation that I will talk more about this morning would reduce red tape to help ensure the site is shovel-ready, as is required to attract the large-scale manufacturing investments in today’s global marketplace. This is something that many, many other jurisdictions have put in place. For Ontario to compete, we need to do the same.

Speaker, many times you’ve heard me speak in the House about too much red tape that can cause delays and ultimately drive up costs for housing construction. We have seen, as a government, how bureaucratic government processes, excessive fees and excessive costs have led to once-viable projects not moving forward. As Ontario’s ongoing housing supply crisis clearly demonstrates, the effect on ordinary Ontarians is serious. This is a very serious situation that our communities are facing today.

Too much red tape has a similar impact on industrial investments, and in this case that we’re speaking about this morning as part of Bill 63, it can also deter major investments and desirable, good-paying jobs from our communities. That’s why we need to act now. We need to act today to make the site in question ready for investment. It’s very important that I tabled the bill yesterday and it’s even more important that we’re going to take today’s legislative time to debate it, because time is of the essence.

The site that we’re speaking about currently straddles the municipal boundary of the city of St. Thomas and the municipality of Central Elgin, which is a lower-tier municipality in Elgin county. This means that the permitting and approval processes would involve three municipalities: Elgin county, the municipality of Central Elgin, and the city of St. Thomas. In other words, this process has the potential to involve lots of red tape, lots of delays in approvals and, potentially, the fact that it could drive away this very important investment. Speaker, we can’t let this happen.

We cannot let red tape get us on the sidelines and out of the game when there are so many other jurisdictions that have put this as a priority.

If municipal boundaries are not changed, a potential investor would have to work with all three municipalities for all the necessary permits and approvals—these include things like site preparation, infrastructure upgrades, planning approvals, building permits, fire protection enhancements. That would be a very onerous process. It would drag out timelines for building on the site, certainly a disincentive for any potential investor. Changing the municipal boundaries so that all of the site is within the jurisdiction of the city of St. Thomas—which is, again, a single-tier municipality—would make site improvements and construction faster and more efficient.

Our government has been focused on greater efficiency and building Ontario since the very first day we took over as government in 2018. That is why, with the St. Thomas-Central Elgin Boundary Adjustment Act, we’re proposing to restructure the municipal boundaries so that the land comprising the site can all be under one municipal jurisdiction. Anyone who has spent any time in a municipal council chamber who now sits in this Legislature understands this process and knows exactly why we’re here and why we need to act quickly.

Moving the municipal boundary line is really in keeping with this government’s objective to deliver simpler, faster and better services to the people and businesses in our province. One way we’re doing that is making one municipality, St. Thomas, the single point of contact for a potential investor to conduct this essential business at the municipal level. This is going to encourage the speeding up of site improvements. It’s going to ensure that construction is faster and, I suggest, more efficient, while at the same time, it’s creating the potential to bring thousands of new jobs to the community, the region and the province.

Many of us have sat in this Legislature and talked about making sure we put everything in place to ensure that our communities are investment-ready. I’ve sat on both sides of the House; I’ve talked about this over and over again. And finally, we’ve got the opportunity to create a mega site to compete with other jurisdictions, and we need to act quickly. We need to ensure that we move forward with this legislation.

Speaker, I’m very excited about the economic development in municipalities across Ontario, and I know that Minister Fedeli feels the very same way that I do. I’m very, very encouraged by the clear evidence that we have seen that has many municipalities coming forward indicating they’re ready and they’re willing to work with us to help build Ontario.

Last month, I had the chance to meet with many, many municipal delegations, as did PA Holland, as did Associate Minister Parsa, at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association conference, or ROMA—as municipal officials who now are provincial MPPs know and use that term well. At ROMA, the message from mayors and from councillors was clear: Our government needs to continue its focus on removing barriers to growth and to economic development so that we can secure the very real and tangible benefits that this growth will bring to Ontario.

We need to work with our municipal partners to ensure that they have the infrastructure and other supports that are in place to attract this type of investment, including in less population-dense areas like Elgin county.

That’s why, for instance, the government has been making historic investments in rural Internet services as well as traditional infrastructure like roads and bridges. And that’s why my ministry is also focused on getting housing built across Ontario, both in densely populated areas, but also in big cities like Toronto and Ottawa. As we saw at ROMA, we’ve got willing partners in rural and northern municipalities in every corner of the province.

Last fall, for instance, we introduced our third housing supply action plan, More Homes Built Faster. This builds upon the previous housing supply action plans, More Homes, More Choice, which we tabled in 2019, and More Homes for Everyone, which we tabled early in 2022. These plans are a part of a government-wide strategy to build Ontario and ensure the conditions necessary to support growth are in place.

That’s also why my colleague the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, the Honourable Monte McNaughton, has been working so tirelessly to ensure that Ontario has the workforce that it needs to support economic growth—while investments in skills development, education and support for newcomers in our province are all very, very important as part of our plan to help build Ontario.

We have to ensure, as well, given all that great work that Minister McNaughton is doing, that we have enough housing for the increased labour and the increased immigration as we welcome new Canadians to the best province to live, work and play in the world. We know that workers will drive Ontario’s economic growth, but they also need a safe and attainable place to call home.

Our policies are working. In the last two years, we’ve seen the highest level of housing starts in Ontario in more than three decades, while we’re within striking distance of going up over the 100,000 housing starts in a year. Minister Parsa actually talked about it yesterday in the House. Last year we saw close to 15,000 purpose-built rental housing starts, which is the highest level of housing starts in Ontario’s history—great news. The policies that we’ve enacted in our most recent housing supply action plan are sure to add to this record.

We’ve made it cheaper and easier, for instance, to build affordable housing, non-profit housing and purpose-built rental housing, and we’re working with our partners in government, industry, labour and the non-profit sector to build homes that Ontarians need.

Speaker, we know that for Ontario to continue to thrive we need homes of all types to be built to reflect the individual needs of Ontarians. That’s why we’re making it easier to ensure that there is gentle density in existing communities by allowing three units to be built as of right in many of our existing communities, both in urban and rural areas. This means Ontarians will now have access to the types of homes people have been talking about for years, like laneway homes, garden suites, basement units—things that we need to incent.

We need to encourage our municipal partners to get shovels in the ground faster, which will provide more housing options in the areas that are already densely populated.

But we’re not stopping there—and I want to make it very clear: We’re not done yet. Our government has also provided billions of dollars to support vulnerable Ontarians. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve allocated about $1.2 billion through a program called the Ontario Social Services Relief Fund.

I’ve said this in the House before; I can remember it like it was yesterday. Minister Smith, my seatmate to my right, and I came up in the middle of a snowstorm, much like the one we had last night, in the middle of the pandemic—I think we were on day 4. We thought the pandemic was going to last three weeks. Nobody knew, right? So we announced the Ontario Social Services Relief Fund, a very modest fund to allow our service managers to get on the ground, help our most vulnerable citizens, get PPE, hire staff and do whatever it takes to make sure people are safe.

It’s hard to believe that after that modest announcement that the two ministers made—it wasn’t even live; it was in front of a teleprompter, because even then everybody was working from home. To be able to take a modest program and then build it over the last three years to $1.2 billion is a real testament to the work that all MPPs did in the middle of the pandemic to make sure people had a safe, secure place to call home.

The total of what we’ve invested as a government is $4.4 billion over the last three years to help grow and enhance community and supportive housing. Our government knows that helping more Ontarians find a home that meets their needs and their budget is really in the best interests of all Ontarians. It is that context in which changes that we’re proposing today in Bill 63 should be viewed. I want to stress that. We need to look at all of the measures that government has done when we deal with why Bill 63 is on here today.

Economic development in an increasingly competitive, often protectionist global economy is never easy. The challenges of the last few years have clearly demonstrated that jurisdictions that are unprepared to support growth fall behind. That’s something that Ontarians simply cannot afford.

The government is creating world-class transit. We’re making record investments in new housing while we’re also making historic investments in infrastructure.

I want to thank Minister Surma for all of her work on the infrastructure file. She is doing great things in Ontario—not just with roads and bridges, but a tremendous progressive agenda on the expansion of broadband in communities across Ontario.

We’re also, as a government, cutting red tape. We’re easing the regulatory burden on ordinary Canadians, so that we can move forward quickly to deliver on the priorities that we were elected to pursue.

The changes that we’re proposing today are all about making it easier to invest in Ontario, easier to bring jobs to our province, easier to enjoy the substantial public benefits that a thriving economy gives to all Ontarians. That’s what we’re here for today.

Speaker, as a former mayor myself, a former CAO, I know that municipalities play a critical role in making these public benefits a reality. For one thing, municipalities help deliver the preconditions for economic growth, the policies that I was discussing earlier that benefit Ontarians. For instance, we need municipalities on board if we’re going to tackle Ontario’s housing supply crisis, since we know that they are playing a critical role in cutting red tape and making it easier to build homes that Ontarians need.

Municipal governments also play a critical role in building public transit and public infrastructure, requiring public services that support economic growth. Often, they do it in close partnership with the provincial government.

As Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, I’ve got the opportunity to see first-hand municipalities across this province and their great desire to work with our government to deliver important public services to Ontarians. Just last month, for example, I was pleased to announce that the provincial government is extending the deadline for implementation projects under the latest intake of the Municipal Modernization Program, and also the Streamline Development Approval Fund.

This is going to help municipalities streamline, digitize and modernize their services—very important, because once again, they need to deliver the conditions that are necessary to support economic growth and prosperity in our province. This is a key partnership that we have with municipalities. We need to work together.

I’m very excited by the past successes that we’ve had working with our municipal partners—all 444 municipalities—as well as the opportunity to build on the success with the bill that’s being debated today.

I want to thank my colleague behind me, the local MPP, Rob Flack from Elgin–Middlesex–London, for his tremendous advocacy for his community. I really appreciate his support with Bill 63 today. He’s doing a great job.

I also want to talk about my ministry. As I’ve said, with MPP Flack supporting us—I want to talk about the MMAH support for the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. I want to take a moment to look back on the changes made by several acts under my ministry’s purview that increased investment and created more jobs. We got shovels in the ground on a bunch of critical infrastructure projects, including housing, broadband, highways and transit.

An example that I’ll give the members this morning is, we made changes to regulations under both the Municipal Act and the City of Toronto Act which enabled Ontario municipalities to directly access financing from the Canada Infrastructure Bank for capital projects, including the financing of zero-emission buses. To get shovels in the ground faster, we’re also streamlining the land division approval process under subdivision control provisions of the Planning Act.

We’re also working with our partners in the building and development sectors to modernize the delivery of building code services and help accelerate housing construction across the province. We’re supporting efficiency in the building and construction sector by updating the building code to clarify that building officials have the discretion to use alternate methods to conduct remote inspections. We did this because we needed to work with our partners to remove these types of barriers while still making sure we have a safe, secure system. Our building code is one of the best in North America, and I want to thank all the officials at the ministry for the great work that they do.

We’re so proud that municipalities now have the flexibility to design and implement their own internship program for building officials—something that I remember talking to municipalities about the first month that I was here as minister, something that had long been discussed with municipalities. We’ve moved on those types of things because we needed to accelerate construction activity, but we also needed to address both current and future staffing shortages.

Additionally, we recently consulted the sector on potential changes to the qualification program for Ontario’s building practitioners that would be implemented in the near and the long term—very, very important stuff.

Our majority component of the work with the building and development sector is further harmonization of Ontario’s building code with the national construction codes. Increased harmonization of these codes—while it doesn’t sound that sexy, it does, in the long run, help reduce red tape, and it helps overcome barriers related to trades. It also includes product manufacturing along with building design and maintenance. Again, we have a very strong building code. We’re the envy of many jurisdictions because of its safety and its innovation. In turn, the market standardization across the country is so very important.

Harmonizing our building code with the national code just makes sense. Our next edition of the building code is expected to be released later this year.

One of the things that I’m particularly proud of on the economic development side is the fact that our government, through my ministry, has been using minister’s zoning orders to accelerate priority infrastructure projects, something that I think was long overdue in the province. Minister’s zoning orders—some people call them MZOs—help kick-start the planning approvals process by getting zoning in place for critical local projects. They include housing, long-term-care homes, health care facilities, transit-oriented communities—lots of economic development initiatives.

In partnership with our municipalities, these zoning orders are a really important part of the government’s policy tool kit to help these types of local projects move at a pace that Ontarians both need and deserve. They’re making really positive changes in communities right across Ontario. They’re currently in place and they are creating jobs, they’re helping to build exciting new business investments, and they’re accelerating new housing builds.

In the past, I’ve been proud to make MZOs to support economic development projects in conjunction with my friend the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. The example I’ll use is the request from the city of Windsor and Minister Fedeli that I make an MZO to accelerate the development of a 4.5-million-square-foot facility for NextStar Energy. The plant in Windsor will be a battery plant for electric vehicles. It’s a joint venture between LG Solutions and the automaker Stellantis. Once fully operational, that facility will provide approximately 2,500 well-paying jobs.

It’s a great boost to the city of Windsor and all those surrounding communities. That’s how our government works together to boost our economy.

Also, last year, at the request of the township of Oro-Medonte, I made an MZO to help speed up the expansion of manufacturing and warehouse facilities for Wolf Steel. That’s the manufacturer for the famous Napoleon brand of fireplaces and barbecue grills. Wolf Steel is the township’s largest employer, and the expansion, once complete, will provide another 180 jobs to Oro-Medonte. Again, that’s our government working to boost Ontario’s economy.

In 2021, at the request of the city of Markham, I made an MZO to expedite the creation of a tremendous program. It has a studio, film production facilities, a science park innovation hub, office space, a hotel, art galleries, child care centres and theatres. It actually will eventually employ about 6,000 people—6,000 new jobs and an estimated $1.5-billion investment in annual economic output. That’s, again, our governments working together, our ministries working together, to boost Ontario’s economy.

Our government is proud of the partnerships we’ve developed with municipalities. We’re going to continue to work with them and to listen to them to create the tools that they need to address local challenges.

I want to give one last example of the power of MZOs to help expedite and create new jobs. I’ve made a total of 13 MZOs to support transit-oriented communities, one of the government’s most exciting programs we have. Those are the developments on the Yonge North subway line and the all-new Ontario Line that will help create almost 55,000 jobs.

I could go on with many, many other examples, Madam Speaker—it’s great to see you in the chair this morning. I’m so proud of our government’s record on MZOs. In fact, minister’s zoning orders under this government are helping to create over 150,000 jobs. It’s a great-news story and, again, another example of our government working together to boost Ontario’s economy.

When we look to the city of St. Thomas, one of the communities that’s in this bill today—the primary community we’re dealing with—it’s a growing community, an area that’s ready for industrial growth. It’s the heart of southwestern Ontario, also known as Canada’s manufacturing heartland, I’ve heard people say.

Since the first day we were elected, our government was both committed to protecting and also expanding good-paying jobs. Our best salesman, as the Premier says—Premier Ford always says this, that Minister Fedeli is our best salesman; Minister Fedeli, in turn, says that Premier Ford is the best salesman. I’ll use a baseball analogy: Vic is the set-up man and the Premier is the closer. So it’s a great team. We’re very fortunate to have such a committed minister and such a committed Premier on job creation, and I want to thank them, just before I turn it over to Minister Fedeli.

The region that we’re talking about has traditionally been one of the most prosperous in Ontario, but it has also seen difficult times. Fierce competition over investment is a continual challenge in jurisdictions. This area has so much to offer. It’s so well positioned. It’s close to the US border and the Great Lakes, which makes it ideally suited to support enhanced international trade, both from our traditional trading partners in the United States but also beyond. The area is also home to Ontario’s advanced manufacturing supercluster.

We know that further development of our province’s manufacturing capabilities will help Ontarians prosper in good times and protect them from economic fallouts in bad times. So I’m really looking forward—and I’m eager to support the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade as we help new investments in south-western Ontario.

This land is of high value when it comes to strategic investment opportunities. It’s just a great program. And you can tell this morning that if I’m excited—you can’t wait until Minister Fedeli hits the stage, because he’s even more enthusiastic. I’m just the legislative tool that gets this mega site ready.

Our government has a strong record of clearing away the impediments and barriers that stand in the way of both progress and growth while maintaining regulations that keep people both safe and healthy.

Changing the municipal boundaries through the proposed St. Thomas-Central Elgin Boundary Adjustment Act gives this community, this region and, indeed, this province a fighting chance at attracting investments and the potential to create jobs. We’re trying to reduce duplication. We need to manage our resources in a way that is sensible, to attract businesses and the people who run them.

I know that the city of St. Thomas has seen its population grow by about 10% from 2016 to 2021. The labour force is led by a large manufacturing sector.

We’re very excited about this opportunity. We want to continue to open our province for business. We want to build Ontario up. This is a great project. I encourage all members of the House to support our efforts in creating this mega site.

Thank you, colleagues, for allowing me the opportunity to open debate.

I’ll take this opportunity now, at the 26-minute mark, to let Minister Fedeli be the closer, to talk about all the wonderful things we’re doing with Bill 63.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you very much to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for bringing this bill forward. You have heard for the last 32 minutes how very important this is. I want to congratulate you and your team for bringing this to the closing line, Minister Clark. This is excellent work.

So why are we here? Because there is a critical shortage of shovel-ready industrial mega sites in Ontario, and this shortage places Ontario at a significant disadvantage when competing for high-value projects that we are seeing all around the world. Without immediate action, we risk losing the opportunity to compete and win these huge, transformative investments.

Think about other jurisdictions around North America, especially in the US. They have projects that are ready to go. They have land that is ready to go. They have a fulsome inventory all around North America, and we don’t. There are hundreds of thousands of jobs that will go with all of these properties around North America, and we’re not where we need to be. We need to show that we’re not just open for business, but that we’re ready for business.

So let’s understand why we got to where we are. I’m going to be very blunt: Years of mismanagement under the previous government cost Ontario 300,000 manufacturing jobs. In fact, I remember sitting in opposition and looking at the previous government’s final—thank God it was their final—report on the economy, and it’s very clear: They threw the towel in on manufacturing. They completely gave up. They did not think ahead and start to assemble land in Ontario, and you wonder why.

I’m going to read a quote now. This is from that government’s report on the economy: “The structure of the Ontario economy will continue to shift from goods-producing to service-producing sectors.” That’s their admission. They said “no more” to manufacturing. They went on to say that that will result in “shifting employment from goods-producing industries, in particular manufacturing, to” the service sector.

Speaker, they threw the towel in. They gave up on those 300,000 people who lost their jobs in manufacturing. The previous government just said, “That’s it. We’re throwing the towel in. We’ll give up on manufacturing.” Forget the fact that for more than a century, Ontario has been the manufacturing hub of Canada. We’re the economic engine of the country, and they said, “No, we’re going to give up.”

In fact, we heard even further—and I’ve said this in this Legislature many times—that the auto sector was starting on a downward spiral under the previous government. High costs, high taxes, high energy rates, red tape—all of those together were watching the auto industry spiral downward.

Sergio Marchionne was the former chair of what was then called Fiat Chrysler. He sat on a stage with former Premier Kathleen Wynne, and she mused out loud, “Would Chrysler be expanding in Ontario?” He looked at her with this quizzical look on his face and he said to her, “This is not what I would call the cheapest jurisdiction.” Then she pushed him and he went on to say, “You need to create the conditions to be competitive.” That was like a real gut punch to Ontario—that we have gone from this worldwide envy of manufacturing to this humbled loss of 300,000 men and women.

Every single company in the auto sector was reducing production instead of increasing. Instead of fixing the mess they created, they just threw the towel in and gave up.

Enter Premier Ford. Premier Ford brought us together as a caucus and said, “We’ve got to do everything in our power to lower the cost of doing business in Ontario.” We visited every one of the auto manufacturers, and they all told us, “Your costs are out of control. You’re not business-friendly in Ontario. We’re not here.” He said, “Give us a chance. We’ll come back to you with a plan,” and we developed Driving Prosperity. That’s the name of the plan that was going to bring back the auto sector.

It started with a reduction of WSIB, workplace safety insurance—a 50% reduction in the cost to business of WSIB. That is a $2.5-billion savings every single year to the business community who reinvested that money—no reduction in the benefits of WSIB, just in the cost. It was so stuffed with cash at the expense of all these businesses with high WSIB rates that it was lowered. That’s a savings of $2.5 billion annually.

Then we put in what’s called a capital cost allowance. What that meant was that you can write off the cost of your brand new equipment. If you decided to invest in Ontario and bring in brand new equipment, you can write that equipment off in the first year. That’s a huge advantage to Ontario. It saved a billion dollars annually by businesses.

Then we had red tape reduction. We have our own Minister of Red Tape Reduction. Nine bills have come through the Legislature—two a year—that reduce red tape. It’s about a $500-million annual savings in red tape. A couple of them are very specific to the auto sector. We sat with them and we said to them, “Show us, tell us what red tape you need—that is duplicative with the federal government, or other reasons. Tell us what you need. Show us what you need to create new jobs.” And that’s what we did.

We lowered the cost of industrial and commercial hydro rates by an average of 15%. We lowered the provincial share of municipal taxes in every community of Ontario so that they all have the same low tax rate now: 0.88%. That’s a $450-million annual savings to the business community.

Add it all up—$7 billion a year in lower cost to do business in Ontario. That is this huge advantage.

We went back and started knocking on the doors of all of these auto companies that were abandoning Ontario and said, “We’ve done what you’ve said.” It immediately put the brakes on them leaving and began the accession. We first heard from Ford in Oakville, with a $1.8-billion announcement; then Honda in Alliston, with a $1.4-billion announcement; GM in Oshawa and in Ingersoll, with a $2.3-billion announcement; Stellantis in Windsor and in Brampton, with a $3.6-billion announcement; Umicore in Loyalist, with a $1.5-billion announcement; and, of course, the LG NextStar Energy battery plant in Windsor, with a $5.2-billion announcement.

Last week, Magna announced their half-a-billion-dollar investment at their six plants in Ontario. Half of that money—more than half of it—goes into Brampton for a brand new facility on EV battery decks, basically; they’ve also got Newmarket, Belleville, Guelph and Penetanguishene.

These are all communities that are adding, collectively, 1,000 new jobs in Ontario, and that brings us to $17 billion from zero—from worse than zero, if you could imagine, to $17 billion in announcements from the auto sector in two years alone.

But it doesn’t just stop at the auto sector. When you think about the other kinds of investments, we’ve done about 150 deals across Ontario in the last couple of years. There’s $3 billion from the life sciences sector, with companies like Sanofi, Roche, CCRM in Hamilton, Resilience and others. Billions of dollars in the tech sector—Telus announced $23 billion in Ontario; Nokia, in Ottawa, a $340-million investment.

Again, we’ve done 150 deals and five trade missions to eight countries, just since the last election. And we’ve heard the same two things from every single company—they love Ontario. This is their words. Think about the turmoil that’s created around the world, coming out of the pandemic. We have Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine. We have the whole China question. All of this turmoil is consuming the business world and families, and they look to Ontario as a sea of calm. They say, “That’s where we want to be.

We want to be there.” They also say to us, “We also like Ontario because it’s a safe jurisdiction.” They know that it’s safe for their employees to be there. They know that it’s safe for their executives to go over. They know that it’s safe for families. They all said the same thing in the nine countries that we visited since the election—eight countries plus the United States.

The end result of all of this action over the last few years, since the day we were elected to a week ago: We’ve seen over 600,000 new jobs created in the province of Ontario—300,000 before the pandemic and 300,000 new jobs since the day the pandemic struck Ontario.

Interjections.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: That is applause-worthy. It really is.

The auto sector accounts for 100,000 jobs throughout the province, and for the very first time in the history of the auto sector, northern Ontario will now be included. The auto sector now, because of electric vehicles, takes in critical minerals, the processing of critical minerals, the production of the parts for batteries, batteries, the production of auto parts—we have 700 parts makers in Ontario, and 450 tool and die and mould makers in Ontario. We’ve got 300 companies that are in the connected and autonomous vehicle business.

Think about the very first electric vehicle in Canada that came off the assembly line only a month or so ago, GM’s BrightDrop. It’s basically a FedEx delivery vehicle, the very first electric vehicle rolled off the assembly line. It was designed and engineered in Markham, Ontario, by GM. Seven hundred employees are there.

Ford has 500 of these types of employees in Ottawa. BlackBerry QNX has about 500 in Ottawa as well.

In Windsor, Stellantis has about 800 employees. They’ve put in almost a billion dollars and have two—two—North American centres of excellence, research centres. It is their head location for battery design and battery research.

That’s what’s happening in Ontario, and it’s because we’re competitive that we have this edge. We have a talented workforce. We have state-of-the-art research and development. We have award-winning manufacturing.

Look at Toyota. Toyota won the J.D. Power award for the best production plant in the world. This isn’t the best Toyota plant; it’s the best auto plant in the world. And because of electric vehicles, we now have this critical mineral part of it that’s added.

But we’ve also got a clean energy advantage. Speaker, if you bought an electric vehicle in the United States, you would think you’ve made a contribution to society by buying an electric vehicle. But in the US it’s made, sadly, with energy that’s made from burning coal. So if you buy a car that has a battery made in Kentucky, you’ve got about 6% clean energy. If you buy a car that has a battery made in Indiana, you have about 7% clean energy. You’ve got assembly plants that are made without clean energy. You’ve got steel in the doors and the hoods that are made with coal-produced steel.

Shift to Ontario for a second. You’ve got a clean energy environment—94% clean energy is what we build our cars with. Our battery companies will be able to buy an equivalent of 100% clean energy. At Dofasco and at Algoma, they’re now making steel not from coal, but from an electric arc furnace, which means we have green steel building our cars, with clean energy building our cars.

So when you buy an electric vehicle, as they start to come off the assembly lines in Brampton and in Oakville and in Windsor, you will have a car that you can be proud of because it is not just an electric vehicle, it is a zero-emission—a green—vehicle, which will be the envy of the EV sector. That is a very, very big component. Think about Dofasco alone. You’re talking about the equivalent of taking a million cars off the road a year just by that one conversion alone.

The critical minerals are something that I think will be the sleeper story this year. I think it was the Windsor Star that did an interview and they asked, “What is going to be the exciting news this year?” And I said, “You watch. The sleeper story will be a lithium hydroxide plant for northern Ontario.” I genuinely believe that. I don’t normally overpromise because we don’t like to ever underdeliver, but I can tell you I really believe that we are going to see lithium projects in northwestern Ontario start to happen, and they’re going to need a lithium hydroxide plant.

You need that liquid to make a battery, and we believe that the minerals of northern Ontario should be processed here in northern Ontario and tie the auto sector into the north for the very, very first time.

We have a real competitive advantage. Ontario is one of the very few jurisdictions that has every mineral necessary to make a lithium ion battery. We’ve got great, great new nickel finds around Timmins, if you can imagine—a gold town like Timmins. South of Timmins they have a fabulous new nickel find. Just north of Timmins, Canada Nickel is there with a great new nickel find.

In Sudbury, where we’ve seen Onaping Depth go down—it’s an old mine that couldn’t get any deeper because of the technology. Well, today you can actually send electric vehicles down there. You don’t need to worry about ventilation anymore because you’ve got electric vehicles doing the heavy work. They’re going to go deep, as deep as they possibly can. That’s because of the electric vehicle revolution.

Then we look at the Ring of Fire. Initially, the play was all about the chromite that is there. I think you’ll actually see them move the chromite out of the way to get to the nickel that’s there.

That’s why we’ve got this road to prosperity that we’re building. We’ve got $1 billion committed. We hope our federal partners will commit their $1 billion into that plan.

Bloomberg has acknowledged everything I’ve just said here today. Bloomberg ranked Canada as second in their annual global battery supply chain report. Think of where we were three years ago. We had zero—zero—electric vehicle production. Some $300 billion was invested in North America in electric vehicle and battery announcements. We got zero of it under the previous government—zero. We were able, through our Driving Prosperity plan, to put a plan together—$17 billion. I’ll be very frank: We have at least that much in the pipeline.

We won’t win it all, but we’ve got a big pipeline of projects lined up for Ontario over the next two years. Bloomberg moved us from nowhere in sight of anybody to second in their annual global battery supply chain report. We’re first in North America, ahead of the US, second globally. That confirms that we have indeed created the right conditions to attract investments, create jobs and remain competitive.

That brings us to the one missing piece: why we’re here today. We are in fierce competition right now for large investments. As I’ve said, we have a big pipeline filled with projects, but we just don’t have the land. We need to assemble, very quickly, large pieces of land for large potential investments. Close to 40 US jurisdictions offer a certified mega site program—key competitors, all through the States. They have shovel-ready sites and an expectation of an investor locating there. That’s why we are laser-focused right now on securing large anchor projects in the auto and in the EV space, but this critical factor will be having a suitable site.

Timing is known. Costs are known. Project timelines are out there. We know we needed this land, and that’s why, in November 2019, we launched the Job Site Challenge program. This is Canada’s first challenge that went out where municipalities, economic development agencies and industrial property owners can put forward large tracts of land—500 acres, 1,000 acres, 1,500 acres—so that we can use them to support large-scale manufacturing operations. Just think about it. For context, 500 acres—that’s almost 400 football fields. That’s what 500 acres looks like. And 1,500 acres obviously can support three times that.

We need to immediately build an inventory of what we call mega sites. These are sites that are investment-ready. These are sites that would be owned, contiguous pieces of property, either serviced or ready to be serviced. We’ve seen the successes of LG Energy in Windsor. We’ve seen the success of Umicore in Loyalist township. There is a significant demand for shovel-ready sites.

Again, I’ve said we have a big amount in our pipeline. We’ve secured $17 billion, with several more announcements coming. We have about that much in our pipeline. But what we need is to give the investors and those potential companies the confidence in the future of Ontario—that we have land available for them.

This particular site in St. Thomas that we’re speaking about, and in Elgin county, is considered a highly attractive mega site. It has been identified as one of the very few potential mega sites in the province. It has a vast amount of acreage. It has close proximity to the major routes. It’s fully serviceable for electric, gas, water, waste water. And it has a high probability that it could be sold to one of these investors.

The site, as you’ve heard from Minister Clark, straddles two municipalities: the city of St. Thomas and the municipality of Central Elgin, which is in Elgin county. These two municipalities have very different steps in permitting requirements. They have different timelines for permitting. It creates confusion and complexity. You could imagine an investor who wants to buy a big hunk of land but has two municipalities with different rules and guidelines—a building that could potentially straddle two municipalities. We need to take the piece of one and join it to the other. There’s a lot of red tape that could come. There’s a lot of delay in meeting timelines.

Speaker, we need to unlock the full potential of this site, and that’s why the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has introduced legislation that would change the municipal boundary so that site would be completely located in St. Thomas. It would reduce red tape. It would ensure that the St. Thomas site is truly shovel-ready in a very near term for a potential investment. This legislation would allow the city and the province to proceed quickly with permitting, proceed quickly in preparing the site to meet any potential investor timelines. It’s going to allow Ontario to remain competitive. It will allow us to position the province as an attractive place to invest and to grow.

These proposed changes have the potential to bring significant economic benefits to the people of St. Thomas, to the people of Central Elgin and all of the surrounding communities. We’re going to work very closely with the affected municipalities with respect to proposed legislative changes. We’re going to continue to consult with Indigenous communities about the St. Thomas industrial site.

And we will continue to work very, very hard to identify large-scale industrial sites throughout Ontario, where we know that we have so many prospects and so little assembled land.

We continue to say that Ontario is the ideal destination for manufacturers. We have a world-class auto supply base, we have a growing EV and battery-supply-chain footprint, we have reliable clean energy, we have northern Ontario’s critical mineral resources—we have an ecosystem in Ontario.

Certainly, we have one of the greatest auto ecosystems. We’re the only jurisdiction in North America with five different auto manufacturing companies. That’s unique in all of North America. We are the number two automaker in North America.

Speaker, we’re also the number two tech cluster in all of North America. When you look at the cars of the future, it’s basically going to be a computer on wheels. Well, as the number two tech cluster in North America, we have that tech ability, and as the number two automaker, we know how to attach them to wheels. That’s our expertise. We have absolutely great and spectacular days ahead of us in Ontario in the auto, in the EV sector.

But these mega sites can be for all kinds of projects, whether it’s in the tech field, whether it’s in the life sciences field, whether it’s in the aerospace sector, whether it’s in the chemicals sector. We have so much potential in Ontario, and I won’t say it’s untapped potential, because look at what we have achieved: 600,000 men and women went to work today in a facility in Ontario that they did not work at only four and a half years ago. This is a monumental shift in what was happening.

We saw the decline of Ontario’s manufacturing—the former government that threw the towel in and, in writing, gave up on the manufacturing sector.

Premier Ford came along, and Driving Prosperity was written. It was our blueprint for success. That’s why we have 600,000 men and women working today who weren’t working.

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

MPP Jamie West: Thank you to the members opposite.

When the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing was speaking, he talked about housing and supporting municipalities.

Our city council is working on the budget this year, and they’re very concerned about property taxes going up. One of the reasons they’re concerned is because citizens are very upset about paying more taxes but having potholes and snow plow issues all the time. One of the issues that they’re struggling with is the downloading of developer service fees from housing and the fact that, in Sudbury, for the supervised consumption site, the province still hasn’t chipped in $1.1 million.

I’m asking the minister: Do they plan to compensate the city of Sudbury for the shortcomings from the province?

Hon. Steve Clark: Good morning to everybody again. I’m very excited that we had the opportunity to table this game-changing bill in the Legislature. I appreciate that the member wants to ask a question about Bill 23.

We are continuing to work with municipalities to understand the financial costs that they’ll be under. Many municipalities already incent development, already incent affordable housing, already incent attainable housing, so this is not a new concept. It might be new for Sudbury.

We will be pleased to take a look at the numbers that the member obviously has received from his council, and we’ll be more than happy to give him a very lengthy, detailed response.

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

Mr. Mike Harris: To the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade: We lost roughly 20,000 manufacturing jobs in Waterloo region under the tenure of the former Liberal government. That was a huge blow to our region.

I only caught about the last 10 minutes of his dissertation, if you will, but I was wondering if he could touch a little bit on what these types of investments mean to communities not just in southwestern Ontario, but all across Ontario—I think it does truly speak to the prosperity that is ahead when we see this type of investment coming to the province—and what they mean to the average, everyday person.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thank you to the member for the question.

It’s interesting, in the auto sector—you always hear about these indirect jobs that are created. When I was mayor of the city of North Bay and my economic development team would say, “Well, they’re going to bring 10 jobs, but there are going to be 40 spinoff jobs,” I never understood and never acknowledged that that was actual. They were talking about a big stretch. But in the auto sector, they’re not talking about a stretch, because the auto companies assemble vehicles; they don’t make many of the components.

So for every $1 that’s invested, for every job that goes to an auto plant, you can see about $7 to $9—some will say $12—invested in the other sectors. You will see seven to nine to 12 jobs created in the other sectors. They don’t make a tire. They don’t make a steering wheel. They don’t make a windshield. Somebody else makes that for them. So when you have an increase in a plant, you have an increase in jobs all around.

Because it’s critical minerals now from the north—no matter where you are in Ontario, you are now going to benefit from the auto investment.

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

MPP Lise Vaugeois: I am having a great deal of difficulty hearing the minister of housing and the member from Thunder Bay–Atikokan make claims about supporting more homes for everybody—including supports for non-profit housing—since you know very well that the two shovel-ready projects I’ve been talking about for the last six months in Thunder Bay have not been able to access any support or funding from this government. There doesn’t appear to be a funding stream available for not-for-profit housing projects. These projects would bring 100 new living units to Thunder Bay.

I’m wondering when the government will be creating the appropriate revenue stream so that these projects can be supported and go ahead.

Hon. Steve Clark: I know the member opposite is very interested in this program. I know that she has spoken to my fantastic parliamentary assistant, who is also from the Thunder Bay area.

Again, I want to encourage all of the members opposite to have a relationship with their service manager. Those are the people who are on the ground, the DSSAB—she’s shaking her head; I guess she doesn’t want to have a good relationship with her DSSAB. But if there’s an affordable housing project that a community wants, the first opportunity they should have is to sit down with the district social services administrator to talk about the available programs that the government of Ontario has, along with the federal government, under the National Housing Strategy. This is our system.

We work collaboratively with our service managers. They do great things on the ground. Despite her shaking her head, I happen to be very supportive of what her DSSAB does, and I look forward to continuing to work with them.

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

Mr. Nolan Quinn: My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

It’s reassuring to know that our government is making every effort to attract new investments, remain competitive and create new, good-paying jobs. I applaud the government for introducing legislation that will continue showing the world that Ontario means business and that Ontario is open for business.

As the government continues implementing its ambitious plan to build Ontario’s economy, I’m reminded that this legislation is not the only wrench in the tool box.

Can the member elaborate on the other efforts the government is using to attract investments, while also ensuring that our own businesses and entrepreneurs here at home have everything they need to create jobs and build the Ontario of tomorrow?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Thanks to the member for a great question.

We’ve got a number of other advantages that I did not have an opportunity to speak about. I talked about the fact that we have this ecosystem here in Ontario, but it’s supported by this beautiful talent that we have, which is rejuvenated every year by 65,000 STEM grads—science, technology, engineering and math—every year. We have this unique ecosystem that also includes trade deals with 50 different countries around the world. So when you are building something in Ontario, you have the opportunity to export that, tariff-free, to most countries in the world—an extremely competitive advantage.

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

Mr. Wayne Gates: It’s always a pleasure to stand up in this House.

I’ve been involved in the auto sector for the last 40 years, and I can tell you, what really killed the auto sector in the province of Ontario was when the Harper government allowed our dollar to go to $1.10; today, it’s at 75 cents.

I want to talk to the minister directly. As you stand up and continue to take credit for the electric vehicles in the province of Ontario, I’m going to tell you who should get credit for it—and it certainly isn’t the government: It’s the bargaining committees of GM, Chrysler and Ford that went to the bargaining table under the threat of the Oshawa plant closing. It was the rally they had—including the union taking out Super Bowl ads at an incredible cost to the membership. But do you know what happened? They went to the bargaining table, and they were able to negotiate exactly where the auto sector is going. They saved the auto industry.

So I think what you should do, when you stand up, is thank the unions, thank the workers who are in those plants that are putting out the best product—not just for the last four years; they’ve been putting out the best product in North America for the last 40 years. We have the best auto workers in the world. That’s why we’re getting the work—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Thank you. Response?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: When I have visited our prospects worldwide, we bring up the fact that Toyota was named the number one production facility in all of the world—again, not just the number one Toyota facility, but the number one auto plant worldwide.

And I have to say that the lowering of the cost of doing business in Ontario is a key factor—$7 billion. Premier Ford and I visited every auto plant, and they all told us, “You need to lower the cost of doing business in Ontario,” and you saw us do that by lowering the cost of business by $7 billion.

Plus, we have incentives that we have provided to every one of the companies I’ve mentioned. They tally about $2.5 billion. We have decided to put our $2.5-billion investment in the EV sector, into the plants, to hire these workers.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Unfortunately, we do not have time for further questions and answers, but we do have time for members’ statements.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

Members’ Statements

International Mother Language Day

Mr. Deepak Anand: February 21 is International Mother Language Day.

Born and raised in Punjab, Punjabi is my mother tongue—the language in which I uttered my first word. Punjabi is the mother tongue of almost 400,000 residents serving Ontario.

Punjabi Arts Association is one such organization that has been working tirelessly for over 31 years to promote the Punjabi language and its culture through intergenerational platforms of expression where conversations and addressing community issues and concerns are high-lighted through theatre, music and other art forms.

Madam Speaker, art binds and strengthens communities. It helps promote and preserve Canada’s cultural diversity. In Ontario, our government and its granting agencies are the biggest champion of artists and arts organizations.

In 2022, PAA produced seven scripts, held monthly acting workshops, and hosted fun and engaging improv events in Punjabi.

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending PAA’s Canadian Punjabi Kavi Darbar, a night of Punjabi poetry. I was impressed to see our Ontario youth tackling social issues with choices of words that were thought-provoking.

Thank you to the board members, volunteers, sponsors and supporters of PAA for serving and promoting mother language. You make us all proud. Remarks in Punjabi. Punjabi Arts Association, my best wishes, always stay in high spirits.

Events in Mushkegowuk–James Bay / Événements divers à Mushkegowuk–Baie James

Mr. Guy Bourgouin: The winter Carnaval period and March break are upon us, so today I would like to highlight some of the activities that will be happening in my riding from Hearst to Jogues, and all the way through to Smooth Rock Falls, over the next few weeks.

Starting as early as today, to name a few activities, there will be night skiing at Moonbeam ski hill, a crib tournament, a dabber bingo, a casino and wine-tasting evening in Moonbeam, an adult social evening at the Smooth Rock Falls Curling Club, a virtual bingo and public skating.

There are multiple children’s and family activities across the community, such as big-screen movies, road hockey tournaments, a soapbox sled competition, a polar bear dip in the Kapuskasing River, multiple concerts at the centre de loisirs and a Ski-Doo poker rally.

I can’t name them all, but I encourage our residents to take a look at the great carnival schedules prepared by our municipalities on Facebook, as there’s something to do for everyone.

I would like to wish everyone lots of fun and a happy and safe winter carnival and March break.

C’est le temps des carnavals d’hiver et le congé de mars arrive à grands pas, et nos communautés n’ont rien laissé à leur épreuve. Je vous invite tous à regarder aux calendriers préparés par les municipalités sur Facebook pour ne rien manquer.

J’aimerais souhaiter à tous les résidents beaucoup de plaisir lors de cette période de carnaval, et un beau congé d’hiver.

Anti-racism activities

Mr. Aris Babikian: This year is the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act. This act virtually banned the entry of Chinese immigrants for 24 years. This tragic exclusion separated families for almost a quarter of a century. To commemorate the anniversary, the Tribute to Early Chinese Immigrants Canada Foundation, the Markham Museum, and the York Region District School Board, together with researchers at the University of Toronto and many other stakeholders, will create a rotating exhibition for the GTA. In addition, there will be commemorative events such as concerts, tree-planting, workshops and cultural performances.

The launch of the activities will take place on Tuesday, March 21, which is the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and it will culminate with Asian Heritage Month.

The intention of these activities is to bring “final closure to this unjust treatment,” as one of the organizers stated. Furthermore, it is their wish to ask Canadians to join hands in making our country more harmonious, inclusive and respectful to one another, and moreover, to educate and sensitize future generations with the devastating consequences of racism.

The early Chinese immigrants’ hard work, perseverance and determination contributed to building Canada as the best country in the world. Many of the descendants of the head tax and the exclusion act—are now residing in Ontario. It is our duty to bring healing and closure for the survivors and their descendants.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank former citizenship judge Nancy Siew for her diligent work on this file.

Hospital services

Mr. Jeff Burch: The Welland hospital is a full-service hospital that serves the fastest-growing area of the Niagara region. This hospital would not exist without the endless support from our community. In 1945, the Welland hospital auxiliary formed to help fundraise for the site. Over the years, they’ve continued that work, raising $750,000 to renovate the ICU and $1 million towards a dialysis unit named after them. Countless community organizations, like the Hungarian cultural society, saw the need for this hospital and contributed what they could.

Unfortunately, Niagara Health recently confirmed that services at the Welland hospital will be significantly reduced. As of February 27, emergency surgical services in Welland will be cut in the evenings and on weekends. Families in Welland, Port Colborne, Thorold and Pelham who show up at this hospital and need to be in an operating room within the hour will have to wait for an ambulance to take them to another hospital. Doctors and nurses at the hospital have told us this will create dangerous situations for patients, leading to poor outcomes and unnecessary deaths.

In April 2022, this House passed my motion to maintain full emergency department services and acute-care services in Welland to ensure that there are safe, equitable hospital services throughout the Niagara region. I look forward to working with the minister and this House to ensure the government honours its commitment to maintain these crucial emergency services.

Black History Month

Ms. Patrice Barnes: I rise today to say it’s an honour to represent the people of Ajax.

February is Black History Month. It’s a recollection of our collective past and present achievements and a celebration of Black excellence.

Earlier this month, I was honoured to be a part of the 16th annual Durham Black History Month event, the largest put on by Cultural Expressions Art Gallery. Esther Forde and her team did an amazing job. Every year, this event presents the Madiba Award, named in honour of Nelson Mandela. This year’s Madiba Award was presented to Adam Brown.

Adam was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disorder that affects peripheral vision, depth perception—and profound night blindness. Adam has led an amazing life despite his vision challenges. He took to TikTok with a lighthearted, self-revealing appeal to the public to join with him to reach out to their local MP to encourage the government to fully fund the treatment which would help thousands of men, woman and children with RP not to go blind over their lifetime. Almost three years later, with over 450,000 likes and 15,000 letters sent to the Ontario government, the gene therapy Luxturna was fully approved.

I would like to personally thank Adam for his advocacy and leadership in trying to make life better for thousands of Ontarians.

There’s no better moment than now to celebrate and remember the numerous ways in which Black people have continued to shape Ontario culture, economics and society.

Northern health services

M me France Gélinas: Speaker, as you know, Ontario has over 1.5 million residents with no access to primary care. They have no family physicians, no nurse practitioners.

In my riding, close to 30,000 people do not have access. In a part of my riding called the Valley, we had three physicians retire in the last year and, sadly, two weeks ago today, a very well-loved physician, Dr. McAlister, passed away quite suddenly, leaving behind thousands more patients, and there’s no physician replacement in sight. But we have solutions. We have nurse practitioners who are willing and able to take on those orphaned patients. All we need is the minister’s signature.

Carol, Dr. McAlister’s widow, called me and asked if I could get a nurse practitioner for her husband’s patients.

The Capreol Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic has asked multiple times for $293,000—not millions; $293,000—for an additional nurse practitioner, receptionist and social workers. They will be able to supply primary care to hundreds of additional patients, offer same-day appointments, after-hours appointments, provide mental health services and much more. The Sudbury nurse practitioner clinic also presented a reasonable plan.

We could, in a matter of weeks, change the lives of thousands of people by giving them access to primary care. We could support Dr. McAlister’s orphaned patients.

Minister, the good people of Hanmer and Capreol need you to sign off on more nurse practitioner positions right now. Will you do it?

Wellington Dukes

Mr. Ric Bresee: This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to attend a wonderful event. I was invited to drop the puck at a local hockey game. In various roles, many times over my municipal career and now as an MPP, I’ve had the chance to drop a puck. It is always an honour, but this one was special.

The young teammates of the Wellington Dukes, including four members of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, decided to make this game have a cultural message as well. They recognized that, for many of us, hockey is a Canadian thing. Young or old, male or female, settler or First Nation, one of the things that almost everyone in this country shares is some level of passion and a knowledge of hockey.

Another common element is the collective heartbreak that we have all felt as the discoveries of graves at residential school sites across the country have occurred.

As a country, we have not done a good job in providing the education and the cultural understanding of the devastating impact of the imposition of the residential school system for multiple generations and the long-term impact of this horrific

chapter in our history.

So I was very pleased to see the efforts to bring more awareness to that history. Using hockey to cross all cultures within Canada, and specifically in my area of eastern Ontario, is both very appropriate and should be very effective.

I want to thank the Wellington Dukes, the participants and the audience in attendance. I hope they enjoyed the game, and I hope they will take some time to learn the truth. We need to recognize the past to build a better future for all Indigenous persons and for all of Canada. Thank you, Speaker. Meegwetch.

Temporary nursing agencies

Mr. Adil Shamji: This week, the government released their legislation to bring surgeries and diagnostic services out of hospitals. While there could be merit in such a strategy if implemented in a not-for-profit manner with credible guardrails, it alone cannot be a solution to all the challenges in our health care system.

The bedrock of our health care system is its people, and that bedrock has been eroded by Bill 124. This wage-constraining, unconstitutional legislation has pushed health care workers out of the public system. Meanwhile, temporary, for-profit nursing agencies, operating with limited oversight, have been pulling them out. As this has happened, we have learned how some temporary, for-profit nursing agencies exemplify some of the most corrosive elements when profit is mixed with health care.

That is why today I will be tabling a private member’s bill that, if passed, will license and regulate temporary nursing agencies. It takes aim at the most outrageous and predatory practices in a fair and reasonable way. For the first time, nursing agencies will be required to obtain a licence that can be suspended or revoked. They will be forbidden from unethical recruiting practices, unfair negotiation tactics and price-gouging. There will be transparency and accountability achieved through inspections, along with a prohibition against unconscionable pricing.

The bill is fair. It is not onerous. It borrows from accepted practices by this very government, and it won’t destabilize our health care. What it will do is level the playing field and prevent siphoning of health care workers from our public system, and it will stop runaway profiteering.

Riding of Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound

Mr. Rick Byers: Good morning, colleagues. It is my pleasure this morning to tell you about something very exciting that happened recently in our Grey-Bruce community. I know many of you would expect me to be telling you about Groundhog Day on February 2. Well, it was indeed a great morning in Wiarton. The fireworks at 7 a.m. were spectacular, and Willie was his usual eloquent self communicating his forecast. As you heard, he said it would be an early spring this year.

But no, colleagues, this morning I want to tell you about something more exciting than Wiarton Willie, and that’s a new school in Markdale. On February 7, I was thrilled to announce that the Bluewater District School Board had been given approval to proceed with the new replacement for the Beavercrest public elementary school in Markdale. This will be an investment of $15.5 million, an increase of $6.9 million. The new school will be an absolute jewel. It will have 328 new student spaces, 39 new child care spaces, two new child care rooms and a two-room EarlyON family centre.

Thank you, Minister Lecce, for your constant support. You have been there from the start for Markdale.

Thank you, Minister Surma, for your great leadership in the government’s infrastructure program.

Thank you, Bill Walker, for your energetic support over the years.

Thank you, Wiarton Willie.

And thanks to this government for your support of Markdale.

Anniversary of invasion of Ukraine

Ms. Effie J. Triantafilopoulos: I stand today to recognize that it has been one year since the horrific Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a nation, we must continue to support Ukrainians as they struggle for peace, freedom and democracy. They have shown the world incredible bravery and resilience as they face unimaginable challenges. I stand today to honour them and the thousands of people who have lost their lives and loved ones to this selfish act of terrorism. In my own community of Oakville North–Burlington, I’ve heard so many tragic stories about displaced Ukrainian families.

I stand today for them, for the pain they’ve had to endure, and yet I remain humbled by the remarkable resilience and strength of the human spirit.

At a Christmas celebration with the families at St. Volodymyr’s Ukrainian church, Father Jaroslav told me that Ontario has provided a sense of community and safety that was desperately needed amidst the horrors of the war in Ukraine.

I’m proud of the work we have done by welcoming refugees and providing them with health care, emergency housing, education and other assistance like mental health supports.

We will not waver in our commitment to the people of Ukraine. We will continue to provide them with the support they need to rebuild their lives. We stand with Ukraine.

Let us never forget that the freedom and dignity of every human being is a fundamental right that must be protected at all costs.

Slava Ukraini.

Applause.

Introduction of Visitors

Ms. Catherine Fife: I’d like to introduce Emily Trudeau. She is the director of research for the NDP caucus. She started as an OLIP intern back in 2016. She went on to be my legislative assistant and executive assistant. She is moving on. Tomorrow is her last day. I just want to say a special thank you. We can’t do the work that we do without our amazing staff.

Hon. Stan Cho: Visiting us from the centre of the universe, Willowdale, is a special young woman: Grace Sun. Grace is the recipient of the 2022 Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Youth Achievement, which recognizes her exceptional contributions to heritage, conservation, environmental sustainability, biodiversity, cultural and natural heritage. Watch out for Grace, everyone. She’s going places.

Mr. Joel Harden: Rather like my friend from Waterloo, I want to thank Sharon Lee, who has been an OLIP intern in our office. She has done really tremendous work. She is here today.

Sharon, I’m going to miss you, we’re going to miss you after this week. Thank you so much for your work. You’ve been terrific.

M me Lucille Collard: I would like to welcome to Queen’s Park this week Mark Kaluski. He’s my executive director. He’s also of Ukrainian origin, and I’m grateful for his support this week.

Hon. Charmaine A. Williams: I just want to wish my twins happy birthday. Today is their 11th birthday—the two that threw me over the edge.

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: I’d like to welcome and thank my OLIP intern, Téah U-Ming. Today is her last day, and I want to say a big thank you for all of her work this past term.

Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon: I’d like to welcome two wonderful women, Anushka Goswami and Jiya Sahni. They are part of the Women in House program through Western University. It’s always great to have women in the chamber. We need a heck of a lot more of them here.

Ms. Goldie Ghamari: I’d also like to welcome Anushka Goswami from the Women in House program here at Queen’s Park. She interned with me, shadowed with me on Tuesday, and we had a great time. Welcome.

M me France Gélinas: J’aimerais dire un gros merci à Thomas Forget, qui a travaillé avec le député Mike Mantha pendant plusieurs années. C’est sa dernière journée aujourd’hui. On apprécie tout ce que tu as fait pour nous, Thomas. Merci.

Ms. Laura Smith: I would like to welcome two women in the House. We’ve got, from Western University, Tamsen Long and Anaum Farishta.

MPP Jill Andrew: Today, we are welcoming Centennial Infant and Child Centre straight out of St. Paul’s, where they’re supporting children with complex development challenges and their families through innovative—and fun, I might add—individually designed programs, services and supports.

I want to welcome Shemina Ladak, Fatima Mulla, Matthew Lee, Kasia Ziemba, Lorraine Chiarotto, Ali Arshinoff, Brett Balaban, Chris Butler, Grace Lowe, Katherine Newton and Jessica Rotolo—who, by the way, is the winner of the LotsOfSocks design competition; Jessica’s fantastic sock design was selected from hundreds of entries to inspire the #LotsOfSocks design for #WorldDownSyndromeDay2023; rock on, Jessica—Sherene Karmali, Tonia Griffith.

And this cat shirt—Kaleb, you fantastic drag storyteller, this one’s for you.

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: I, too, would like to welcome some Western University women to the House today. They have a great initiative happening. I’d like to specifically welcome Michelle Wodchis-Johnson as well as Tiffany Lin.

Ms. Laura Smith: I would like to present and welcome our newest page for this season from Thornhill, Mr. Jaden Musharbash.

House sittings

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I beg to inform the House that, pursuant to standing order 9(h), the Clerk has received written notice from the government House leader indicating that a temporary change in the weekly meeting

schedule of the House is required. Therefore, the House shall commence at 9 a.m. on Monday, February 27, 2023, for the proceedings of orders of the day.

Independent members

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Guelph has a point of order.

Mr. Mike Schreiner: I’m seeking unanimous consent of the House that, notwithstanding standing order 100(a)(iv), five minutes be allotted to the independent members as a group to speak on second reading of private member’s Bill 41.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Guelph is seeking the unanimous consent of the House that, notwithstanding standing order 100(a)(iv), five minutes be allotted to the independent members as a group to speak on second reading of private member’s Bill 41. Agreed? Agreed.

Question Period

Government accountability

Ms. Marit Stiles: My question is to the Premier. This morning, I filed a complaint with the Integrity Commissioner requesting an investigation into the Premier’s actions surrounding their family fundraiser and his cozy relationship with developers. Will the Premier fully co-operate with this investigation?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To respond, the government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: It has been a rather—I’ll be charitable and say an unimpressive start for the Leader of the Opposition. We have some real challenges that this province is facing. The drive-by smear of the Leader of the Opposition—tried this once; the Integrity Commissioner has said that there was no issue with it. The Premier has answered the question. So let’s try another smear tactic; let’s try bringing the family into it.

What we are going to do instead is continue to focus on the priorities of the people of the province of Ontario—building this province up. While they continue to talk the province down and the achievements that we’re seeing in the province of Ontario, we’re going to do just the opposite—build better roads, build better schools, build better colleges and universities, give our workers more opportunity to succeed in the province of Ontario. Thousands of jobs are being created, billions of dollars in economic activity coming right here to the province of Ontario. We’ll focus on that. She can focus on the drive-by smear, which accomplishes nothing for the people of the province of Ontario.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: Back to the Premier: Yes, we should be talking about the issues that are facing Ontarians. You’re right. But how are Ontarians—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Leader of the Opposition has the floor.

Ms. Marit Stiles: You give yourself a round of applause, but how are Ontarians supposed to trust that this government has their interest at heart with this cloud of suspicion hanging over them about this government and who has access to them? Ontarians deserve a government they can trust.

Are there any other events or parties of this nature that the Premier or his staff have organized recently that may be worth also asking the Integrity Commissioner to investigate?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Even in her own letter to the Integrity Commissioner, she ends it by saying, of course, “in my opinion”—in her opinion. No facts, no real evidence; just the member’s opinion.

Here is the opinion of the people of the province of Ontario. In June, they cast their ballot, and the opinion of the people of the province of Ontario was that the PC government was doing the right thing for the people of Ontario. They returned us in larger numbers for the first time in decades and reduced the opposition. So what we’re going to continue to do is focus on the priorities of the people of the province of Ontario.

Just this morning, I received a notice from a constituent of mine who was visibly upset at the fact that her $300 gas bill includes a carbon tax of $47. She said in her email, “How can I continue to afford to pay the cost of living when a $47 tax is added to my bill? What am I supposed to do? I can’t turn off my furnace. I can’t afford to put solar panels on my roof.” She said, “Continue to do what you’ve got to do to fight carbon taxes to make life more affordable for the people of Ontario.” And that’s what we’ll do.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: I’m going to go back to the Premier again, and I want to remind this government that invitees at this fundraiser said they felt “browbeaten” and “dirty” after receiving flyers and emails requesting donations of $1,000 for the Premier’s family fundraiser.

Just this morning, it was revealed that developers, insiders and government appointees also attended this wedding. One guest is a lobbyist now working for a company pushing to built on greenbelt land. Another received a paid provincial appointment just months later.

Will the Premier commit now to sharing the details of which developers and which government lobbyists were invited to this event, who approached them for funds and what, if any, land deals or appointments were discussed?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Let’s look at what the Leader of the Opposition is saying here. She wants the Premier of this province to ask his daughter to table in the Legislature the guest list to their wedding. That is what she is asking. I don’t even know what to say about that, Mr. Speaker.

We have real issues in the province of Ontario, not who went to a Ford family wedding. We have constituents paying $50 for a carbon tax and trying to decide whether they can heat their homes. I have a small business person, Daniella Pantallea in Stouffville, who is saying she sees that things are changing and she wants the government to continue to focus on building the economy. That’s what we’re going to do.

I have meetings with constituents on Friday who want to come and talk to me about the ability to buy their first home—some who have been looking for a very, very long time and are getting frustrated and want us to continue on the path. They’ve heard of our plan to build 1.5 million homes, and they are coming to talk to me about how they can participate in the dream, because they want, just like generations—

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

Health care / Soins de santé

Ms. Marit Stiles: Ontarians deserve a government they can trust, Speaker. They’re not getting that. They don’t trust this government.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order. The Leader of the Opposition has the floor.

Ms. Marit Stiles: Ontarians deserve a government they can trust.

Nurses in this province deserve a government that values them.

Health care is a tough but rewarding profession. Health care workers deserve our respect and our admiration, but in Ontario’s health care system today, they are simply not receiving it.

Nurses have felt undervalued for years. In January, they started bargaining a renewal contract with the Ontario Hospital Association. Their main demands are very reasonable: Ensure better staffing and wages so that Ontarians get the care they need when they need it.

Will this Premier finally show that he values nurses and health care professionals by raising their wages and negotiating a fair contract?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The government House leader and Minister of Long-Term Care.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Mr. Speaker, I think we have shown just how much we value nurses across the province of Ontario. In her own question, she highlights what we’re doing. We’re negotiating with nurses with respect to their contract.

But at the same time, Speaker, I hope the Leader of the Opposition will think twice about the NDP’s previous lack of support for what we’re doing in health care—billions of dollars of health care investments. I know in Niagara, there’s a $3-billion commitment to building a new hospital in Niagara Falls. There will be more nurses in that hospital. There will be more doctors. There will be more PSWs. But the NDP do not support that. And 60,000 new long-term-care beds across the province of Ontario? The NDP does not support that. A new hospital in Brampton? They don’t support it. Two new medical universities?

They don’t support it. Thousands of new nurses who will be brought online because of the hard work of the Minister of Colleges and Universities? They have not supported that.

In addition to paying our nurses and the negotiations that are happening, I hope that they will consider voting in favour of the billions of dollars in—

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: Billions of dollars that have remained unspent on health care, 4,000 hours of ER closures—that’s the story of this government.

Speaker, this government claims that they’re bringing in new health care workers but never talks about a plan to actually keep them in the profession. Thousands of nurses are leaving. Instead, they’ve suppressed nurses’ wages, ignored their concerns. Now they’re set to force more of them out of our public hospitals and into for-profit clinics.

Speaker, it is a sad state of affairs in Ontario when Ontario’s nurses have become one of our most valuable exports.

Will the government act today to address the working conditions and wages of nurses and health care professionals so we can keep them here in Ontario?

Hon. Paul Calandra: How rich, coming from the NDP, right? This is an NDP who had the opportunity to govern this province once, and what did they do? They laid off thousands of nurses across the province of Ontario. They held the balance of power under the previous Liberal government. Did they support new hospitals? Did they support long-term care? No, nothing—not a peep.

We have brought in incredible resources to build our health care system. We are investing in hospitals in every part of this province—north, south, east and west. We’re tackling the divide that used to exist between urban and rural medicine. We are balancing the budgets between our small and medium hospitals and the large hospitals. We are educating more nurses in the province of Ontario than has ever happened before. We’re bringing more doctors into the system. We’re building new hospitals in Brampton, Niagara; we’re building new hospitals in Ottawa, in Windsor—all over the province. Do you know why?

Because nurses have told us they want to work in new facilities that respect the work they do.

That’s why we’re making those investments. What the Leader of the Opposition could do is vote in favour of any of them.

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

M me Marit Stiles: Les infirmières et infirmiers se battent depuis les années pour les meilleurs salaires and conditions de travail. Mais au lieu de les soutenir, ce gouvernement a présenté une loi inconstitutionnelle pour plafonner leur salaire. Ils ont poussé les infirmières à quitter la profession. Ça, c’est la cause de la crise en ce moment.

Pourquoi le premier ministre n’admet-il pas finalement que la loi 124 était une erreur, et que pour retenir les infirmières, il faut leur payer un salaire juste?

L’hon. Paul Calandra: Comme vous savez, nous avons fait beaucoup d’investissements dans la santé. Nous avons commencé en 2018 pour investir dans nos hôpitaux, dans la santé de longue durée. Chaque fois que l’opposition avait l’opportunité de voter avec nous pour supporter le système de santé dans cette province, l’opposition a voté non, a voté contre tous ces investissements.

Et maintenant la chef de l’opposition, elle dit : « Nous supportons ces investissements. » Mais on avait l’opportunité plusieurs fois durant ce terme de ce gouvernement—il y a un budget à venir. La chef de l’opposition a l’opportunité de supporter ce gouvernement, de supporter le système de santé, de supporter le système de longue durée.

Je pense que la chef de l’opposition et le NPD vont faire la même chose et voter contre tous ces investissements, mais ce gouvernement va voter pour notre système de santé et va bâtir un nouveau système de santé pour toute cette province et pour tous les citoyens de l’Ontario.

Health care

M me France Gélinas: Ma question est pour la ministre de la Santé.

Medicare is a program that defines us as Canadians, as Ontarians. With medicare, care is based on our needs, not on our ability to pay. Canadians and Ontarians are good people. We care for one another in good times, and we care for one another in times of need, sickness or injury. Medicare is something that every Ontarian and every Canadian is proud of, but Bill 60 puts all of that at risk.

Speaker, why is the Ford government destroying medicare?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the parliamentary assistant and member for Eglinton–Lawrence.

Mrs. Robin Martin: The opposition’s objective is fighting change. Our objective is improving Ontario’s publicly funded, OHIP-covered services for patients.

As journalist Kelly McParland recently stated, the opposition’s approach “is a big reason health care in Canada has reached a cliff edge. Even as cries for improvement go up, any effort to change a system that clearly isn’t functioning effectively is met by an avalanche of objections from organizations skilled in the art of ... delay and obstruction, convinced only their” initiatives and “remedies are acceptable, and only if implemented as they prefer.

“Alarmism and obstruction got us to where we are now, and if it has its way we’ll stay stuck with a crumbling system for years to come.”

That is not good enough for this government. We are taking action to improve services for patients.

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

M me France Gélinas: The government is inviting private, for-profit, investor-owned corporations into Ontario’s health care system. The body of evidence is strong and well supported: The government’s actions will lead to investors making hundreds of millions of dollars off the backs of sick people. I’m really sad to stand witness to this destruction of medicare.

Why is this government bound and determined to destroy medicare?

Mrs. Robin Martin: Recently, a constituent from Thunder Bay–Superior North wrote to my colleague from Thunder Bay–Atikokan and said the following:

“I want to write to you about my successful surgery. Premier Ford is absolutely correct about getting the private medical clinics and hospitals involved to ease the backlog of surgeries. Had it not been for the private hospital I had my treatment at, I would still be dealing with the pain and suffering of my medical issue. I got the surgery done in two months instead of having to endure the pain and suffering for an additional 18 months. All options should be on the table—options for the benefit of the patient and not the political agenda of the other political parties.

In fact, the NDP suggested I go to a private hospital”—that’s the Shouldice hospital in Thornhill. “Full speed ahead with this caring legislation. At least the PCs are concerned with my well-being and others like me.

“Sincerely,

“Jon Swaggart”—

Interjections.

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

Economic development

Mr. Deepak Anand: My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Mississauga is home to large, knowledge-based industries including advanced manufacturing and life sciences. Talented and vibrant residents know that Mississauga’s competitiveness in these industries cannot keep growing on a business-as-usual trajectory.

After 15 years of anti-business Liberal government policies, where we saw 300,000 manufacturing jobs leaving this province, thanks to this government’s job creation-friendly policies we have seen an increase in Ontario’s competitiveness in creating 600,000 jobs since 2018.

Minister, my constituents want assurance that this government will continue attracting new investments and showing the world that Ontario is not just open for business; Ontario is ready for business.

Speaker, through you: Minister, please explain what the government is doing to continue creating good jobs and attracting investments to Mississauga.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: By reducing the cost of doing business in Ontario by $7 billion every year, we’ve shown that Ontario is open for business. We’re attracting record investments and record jobs—$17 billion invested in the auto sector; $3 billion invested in life sciences; billions of dollars invested in the tech sector.

And our support for Mississauga’s world-leading advanced manufacturing sector has never wavered.

Mother Parkers recently announced their $33-million investment in Mississauga. They’re a made-in-Ontario success story. They’re going to be producing private-label coffee and tea for the world’s largest retailers and restaurant chains. They will be creating new jobs, new markets, making cold coffee and tea extracts in a brand new manufacturing facility. We were pleased to support them with a $5-million investment.

Speaker, that’s what we’re doing to attract investments and jobs.

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

Mr. Deepak Anand: Thank you, Minister, for that answer.

Mississauga’s economic prosperity has been made possible as a result of this government’s success in supporting our businesses and bringing thousands of manufacturing jobs back to Ontario.

I want to take a moment and thank the hard-working workers of Ontario. We could not have achieved this success without your hard work.

These investments that the government has attracted have been transformational, protecting Mississauga’s standing as a Canadian pinnacle of innovation. These investments have ranged across tech, aerospace, life sciences, chemicals, even the auto sector—that’s right, Mississauga will play an important part of this province’s EV revolution.

Through you, Mr. Speaker: Minister, further to these investments, can you please highlight how our government is going to support Mississauga’s entrepreneurs as well?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Our investments are game-changers for Mississauga. We supported Cyclone’s $21-million aerospace investment, where they reshored 60 jobs from facilities in the US. We’ve helped numerous Mississauga auto parts manufacturers, through our Ontario Automotive Modernization Program, to join Ontario’s new auto and EV revolution. We invested in Mississauga’s life sciences sector by supporting Bora Pharmaceuticals’ $2.5-million project to reinvigorate their development capacity and create new good-paying jobs in Mississauga. We’ve helped Mississauga businesses get online through the Digital Transformation Grant.

In addition, Mississauga’s Small Business Enterprise Centre receives $420,000 annually so they can supply entrepreneurs with all the tools they need to be successful, and that includes $112,000 to help students and young entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground.

We’re building Ontario, Speaker.

Education funding

Why is the Minister of Education refusing to provide the supports children need to be at school?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: I want to thank the member opposite for the question.

We believe every child has a right to be in school without disruption right to June. I would hope the members opposite will advance that principle as we carry on our negotiations with teachers over the coming months.

For children with special education needs, we actually increased the budget this year by an additional $90 million. The special education budget is now at the highest levels ever recorded in Ontario history.

I appreciate that we have long-standing challenges of staffing. It’s why this Progressive Conservative government has hired 7,000 additional education workers since we came to office in 2018. We know there’s more to do. For mental health, for example, we increased funding by 420%. I appreciate that there are challenges within our school boards. We can expect them to have the staffing in place to support our kids.

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

Ms. Chandra Pasma: It’s insulting to tell parents that you’re making historic investments when you’re underfunding education so badly that there are parents who have to sit outside of their kids’ school every day just to help their kids use the bathroom.

Children like Sumi Saeed in Hamilton and Colette Cousins in Toronto deserve to have the supports they need, without their parents needing to sacrifice everything to keep them at school.

So why won’t the Minister of Education commit to adequately funding education and making sure every kid who needs an EA gets one?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: We agree that children with special education needs need to have the supports in place. It’s exactly why we hired 7,000 additional education workers in the province of Ontario. It’s why we’ve hired roughly 900 additional educators since starting in office in 2018, notwithstanding the members opposite. But enrolment, when it comes to children, has actually remained flat. The enrolment of staff, the increase of staffing, is still taking place.

Mr. Speaker, with that said, the member speaks about the need for funding. It is this government that has increased funding for this current school year by an additional $683 million for publicly funded schools. That’s a 2.7% increase—more funding for school boards, more funding per child, more funding in every community.

We recognize there’s more to do. We’re working across party lines to continue to ensure children have the best education system possible and that kids are able to graduate and get a good-paying job in this province.

Curriculum

Mr. Billy Pang: My question is for the Minister of Education.

Canada’s economy, and indeed the world’s economy, is changing and innovating every single day. Many technical and digitized jobs in demand today may not have even existed a generation ago. The knowledge and skills previously required for work must reflect and adapt to meet our future needs.

Parents want assurances that our education system is keeping pace with the ever-changing future job landscape, so that their children have the best possible chance at obtaining good jobs with stable paycheques.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what our government is doing to ensure that Ontario’s curriculum is providing students with forward-thinking skills for the jobs of the future?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: I want to thank the member from Markham–Unionville for this question.

Mr. Speaker, we graduate 65,000 STEM graduates a year, and even still, there are 17,000 vacant seats today in computer and information system professionals.

This advancement will help support our kids and give them the competencies they need to succeed in the ever-changing economy around us.

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

Mr. Billy Pang: Thank you to the minister for his response.

Knowing that students will learn about increasingly critical technological concepts is encouraging. The much-needed changes to course content will certainly reflect the knowledge and skills that are necessary for careers and occupations that are emerging across many sectors.

What is also true is that many jobs in the skilled trades are currently unfilled, and the vacancy rates continue to rise by the day. The reality is that Ontario’s population is growing rapidly, and workers for many occupations are desperately needed to build infrastructure and housing.

Speaker, can the minister please explain our government’s plan to connect students with in-demand skilled trades jobs?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: We want Ontario students to be not just the users of technology, but the creators of technology in this country. That’s why we’ve updated the curriculum with a real emphasis on life and job skills, on reorienting the curriculum around the labour market needs that are going to help these young people to get a good-paying job, to own a home and live a life of dignity and purpose in this country.

Mr. Speaker, we do need more skilled labour. We need them to fuel the economy, to build the infrastructure necessary to improve our lives.

It’s why we expanded the Dual Credit Program just in December—a significant increase. We’re talking about roughly 24,000 students benefiting from this type of investment that’s going to help them to do reach-ahead courses and really take courses in high school allowing them to graduate and complete their studies in college.

We’ve expanded the Specialist High Skills Major program, which allows students to gain credits in high school related to the skilled trades.

And 15,000 students are participating in the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program.

All of this is designed to give them a leg-up and a competitive advantage to get those good paying jobs in the future.

Hospital services

Mr. Jeff Burch: Speaker, through you to the Minister of Health: Back in April, all parties in this House supported my motion to keep full emergency department services and acute-care services at the Welland hospital. Yet, recently, folks across my riding in Welland, Port Colborne, Thorold and Pelham were shocked to learn that Niagara Health is permanently removing after-hours emergency services in Welland as of February 27, next week. So if someone in need of emergency surgery shows up at the Welland site, they will be put in an ambulance and sent to another hospital.

What specific steps will this government take to stop these cuts and uphold my motion to ensure that full services remain at the Welland hospital so that families in south Niagara have safe and equitable access to health care?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health, the member for Eglinton–Lawrence.

Mrs. Robin Martin: Speaker, we know that the status quo isn’t working. Like the rest of the health care system, emergency departments across Ontario have been experiencing significant health human resource challenges. Our government is taking action, launching the largest health care recruitment, training and retention initiative in the province’s history. And our Emergency Department Locum Program averted over 1,900 closures of emergency departments in 2022.

Building on the 12,000 new nurses registered to work in the province last year, our government is investing in a range of initiatives to attract, train and retain more nurses and get them into our health care system, including our Learn and Stay program.

We’re working hard every day to make sure we have the health care resources and staff we need to deliver services across Ontario.

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

Mr. Jeff Burch: Speaker, if the Welland hospital were to lose these life-saving services, the nearest hospital to offer them would be the Niagara Falls site, which is half an hour away by ambulance. That does not include the time it takes to load the patient into the ambulance, processing, stabilization and off-load delays by EMS, which are currently in crisis across Niagara. As many front-line doctors and nurses and medical professionals made clear to me, these changes will almost certainly result in avoidable deaths for patients who need to be in an operating room within the hour, for example, with a burst appendix.

Is the government willing to leave the people of south Niagara without timely access to life-saving care, or will the minister honour my request and meet with me immediately to resolve this dangerous situation?

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

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: Thanks to the member for Niagara Centre for raising this issue.

I think it’s important to consider the reason for so many of the investments that we’re making into the province of Ontario and into the Niagara region, and it’s to address the health care concerns of constituents in all of our ridings and also to ensure that we’re building up a health care system that meets the needs not only of communities that are large and urban, but also smaller communities such as those also in southern Welland.

That’s why our government has introduced measures to not only increase the amount of new internationally educated nurses, but we’ve doubled the nursing program at Brock University, going from 300 nurses to 600 nurses—including five other nursing programs across the province.

We’ve launched two new medical schools to ensure that we’re graduating hundreds of new doctors who are able to provide the services that are needed.

But where was the member opposite when it came to funding these important investments to ensure that services were being maintained across Niagara and Ontario? Nowhere to be found, voting no every single time when it came to making sure that the rubber hit the road and the money was put where it’s needed.

We’re the government that’s going to get the job done for the people of Niagara, for health care across your riding and mine.

Human trafficking

M me Lucille Collard: My question is to the Attorney General.

I think everybody here can agree that human trafficking is a terrible crime. When the victims become survivors, they need to be able to rebuild their lives, and it takes a lot of resilience to come out at the end of the tunnel and look forward with hope.

However, survivors of human trafficking often encounter one significant barrier when trying to move forward with their lives, and that is having to defend themselves against debts that their traffickers incurred in their name. In fact, these debts have the effect of re-victimizing the survivors, because these debts damage their credit and are real barriers to moving forward and being able to leave their past behind.

Bill 41 proposes to address this important issue by stopping the collection of these debts and the publication of such information on consumer reports.

This government has taken steps to address human trafficking in the past, and there is one more opportunity for you to stand in solidarity with survivors of human trafficking.

Will the government support Bill 41 tonight at second reading and help ensure that the control traffickers exert over their victims is severed for good?

Hon. Doug Downey: I thank my friend for raising this very important question and this very important area that we’re all focused on.

I want to give a special shout-out to Laurie Scott, the MPP. Mr. Speaker, she was on this file, she was on this problem long before this government was even elected. When we were sitting in opposition, she was driving forward change, and she’s made change after change after change and helped educate people about what’s actually happening in our communities with this heinous crime.

So I want to say that we’re following Laurie Scott’s lead and that we’re engaged in this bill. We look forward to the debate tonight—and I’ll answer more in the supplementary.

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

M me Lucille Collard: I do look forward to hearing more.

While Bill 41 is an excellent step forward in the fight against human trafficking and will ensure victims are better supported as they move forward, it is only one step. More work needs to be done. Addressing human trafficking requires a holistic approach that not only focuses on enforcement but also puts in place preventive measures to keep our young people safe and supportive measures to help survivors move forward.

We must do more to educate our young people on ways to recognize and avoid dangerous situations that could lead to them being trafficked.

We must do more to ensure survivors are supported as they heal from this traumatic experience and rebuild their lives.

My question is: What is the government going to do to hear the voices of the survivors who know the solutions to prevent human trafficking from occurring, and to better support survivors as they deal with the impacts of the crime?

Hon. Doug Downey: Mr. Speaker, we’re taking a multi-ministry approach. There are five different ministries engaged in combatting this heinous crime. We’ve put significant resources into battling the people who are perpetuating this and, of course, supporting those who are victims of it.

We have done small things like making sure in Smart Serve that they have embedded training programs for those on the front line who are most likely to encounter those involved in human trafficking. We’re doing big things like investing tens of millions of dollars to support victims of this crime.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to point out that Laurie Scott, who I mentioned in the first part of my answer, is actually a co-sponsor of this bill this evening, so I look forward to her words and to the others as we move forward to continue to combat this very heinous crime.

Agri-food industry

Mr. Ross Romano: My question is for the Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development.

Last week, the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance, NOFIA, had their annual conference in person for the first time in several years. The conference presented an opportunity for farmers, stakeholders and industry experts from northern and remote communities to gather and discuss ideas for the agri-food sector. Farmers are a critical component of Ontario’s economic strength. Without their hard work and their dedication, our communities and our province would not thrive.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what our government is doing to support the hard-working men and women of our northern and remote agri-food sector?

Hon. Greg Rickford: I want to thank the honourable member for his question.

Northern Ontario farmers feed cities, and increasingly our vast region is in play for Canada’s agri-food agriculture sector in a meaningful way.

I can feel the palpable enthusiasm we shared with the people of the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance around some of the work that the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund is doing to ensure that they have the tools to be a major player in agriculture and agri-food production in Canada.

We’re expanding capacity, lengthening the ability for seasons with farm technology. We’re investing in tile drainage in Thunder Bay with the agricultural research group. We’re creating terminals in places like Rainy River, in my riding, which have allowed Rainy River to become the largest canola and corn producer in northern Ontario.

These are real developments that are putting our agriculture sector in northern Ontario at the top of the list as destinations for farming.

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

Mr. Ross Romano: Thank you very much to the minister for your response.

It’s clear that the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund is providing much-needed leadership in supporting our agri-food sector in the north. Under the previous Liberal government, many of our farmers from northern and remote communities felt like they were not respected. Seeing the minister engaging so collaboratively with this vital industry is incredibly encouraging.

Northern agriculture is vital to the strength and the success of our province’s economy, with northern farms generating over $230 million in revenue and an increasing number of individuals joining this sector.

Can the minister please explain how changes to the NOHFC will better support the agri-food industry across the north, as well as help new farmers enter into this sector?

Hon. Greg Rickford: I’ve got colleagues asking for a heritage fund in their region.

Anyway, I want to recognize another important aspect of agriculture. It’s very near and dear to me, and it’s important, I know, to the member for Kiiwetinoong. That is food security and food sovereignty for our Indigenous communities. Whether they’re in the southern part of northern Ontario or in isolated communities—we’re working with no less than four or five Indigenous communities on really serious and important agriculture projects.

Mr. Speaker, I promised the member from Kiiwetinoong that we would work with April Mckay at Keewaywin First Nation as she grows out her community gardening capacity, teaching young people how to operate community gardens; Eabametoong in agriculture technology and storage; Thessalon First Nation’s Bio Centre. And, of course, we appreciate the work being done in Wikwemikong First Nation on some other farming.

We’re going to be there for Indigenous communities.

The entire north is going to have a strong presence in the agriculture footprint of Canada.

Health care workers

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: My question is to the Premier.

Nurses across Niagara are braving literally an ice storm to rally in St. Catharines today. Their message is quite clear: It is time to stop calling nurses heroes while supporting unconstitutional legislation that is wreaking havoc on the staffing crisis.

Some 60,000 nurses across Niagara and Ontario are negotiating their first contract since working through a global pandemic.

Speaker, through you to the Premier: Will you commit today to direct the Ontario Hospital Association to compensate nurses fairly so Ontario is able to recruit and retain nurses to end this staffing crisis?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Minister of Long-Term Care and government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Well, we’ll allow the Ontario Hospital Association to continue its negotiation with our nurses. I think that’s the right thing to do.

At the same time, no, we’re not going to stop calling our nurses and front-line workers heroes, because that’s what they are—it’s not just during the pandemic; it is all the time—and we’ve always felt that they are. So I’ll let the NDP go down that road. We will continue to thank them for their service, and we’ll continue to do it by building and investing more in health care across the province, because we think that’s the right thing to do.

Health care is not just about people and making our communities better and providing better service for people; it’s also about building a better economy. So when the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade goes out there to sell Ontario, he can sell the investments that we are making in health care as an opportunity, another reason why to come to Ontario, where we build broadband across northern parts of Ontario. It is another opportunity.

So, no, we will not stop calling our front-line workers and our nurses heroes, because that’s what they are. And we’ll respect them by investing in those services.

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

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: Thank you, Speaker. Again, through you to the House leader—600 vacancies in the Niagara health system.

It was heartbreaking to hear of a nurse who sat and cried at her desk because she was put in charge of a floor with over 30 patients in her unit. Despite being only one year out of nursing school, she was somehow the most senior staff member at the time.

I have heard too many stories like this. This is far from normal. Nurses working in understaffed hospitals right now are counting on us.

Speaker, through you to the House leader: Can you explain to nurses across Ontario why you are willing to commit public dollars to private, for-profit clinics and commit public dollars to pay lawyers’ fees to appeal Bill 124 before you are willing to compensate nurses fairly so we can end the staff crisis and shorten hospital wait times?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’ll remind the members to m