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April 7, 2022

42nd Parliament, 2nd Session

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Hansard Transcripts

vol. A

Hansard Transcripts

vol. B

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2022-Apr-07 vol. A (PDF)

L055A - Thu 7 Apr 2022 / Jeu 7 avr 2022

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Thursday 7 April 2022 Jeudi 7 avril 2022

Orders of the Day

Green Shirt Day Act, 2022 / Loi de 2022 sur la Journée du chandail vert

Members’ Statements

Health care funding

Battle of Vimy Ridge

Northern health services

Hospital funding

Homeless Health Peel

Member for Cambridge

David Myles

Tenant protection

Green energy initiatives

COVID-19 deaths

Parliamentary privilege of freedom of speech

Wearing of pins

Introduction of Visitors

Question Period

COVID-19 response

Mental health services

Employment standards

Taxation

Northern health services

COVID-19 immunization

Life sciences sector

Automobile insurance

Rent regulation

Health care funding

Mental health and addiction services

Government spending

Subventions aux résidents du Nord pour frais de transport à des fins médicales / Northern Health Travel Grant

COVID-19 response

Small business

House sittings

Notice of dissatisfaction

Deferred Votes

Working for Workers Act, 2022 / Loi de 2022 visant à oeuvrer pour les travailleurs

Tax Relief at the Pumps Act, 2022 / Loi de 2022 sur l’allègement de la taxe à la pompe

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Petitions

Environmental protection

Social assistance

Optometry services

Education funding

Visits in correctional facilities

Tenant protection

Long-term care

Optometry services

Orders of the Day

Retiring members of provincial Parliament / Députées et députés du Parlement provincial sortants

The House met at 0900.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Good morning. We will start today with a moment of silence for inner thought and personal reflection.

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Green Shirt Day Act, 2022 / Loi de 2022 sur la Journée du chandail vert

Mr. Parsa moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 112,

An Act to proclaim Green Shirt Day / Projet de loi 112, Loi proclamant la Journée du chandail vert.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I return the floor to the member from Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill.

Mr. Michael Parsa: Speaker, good morning to you and to all my colleagues here in the Legislature. Before I start, I’d like to mention that I will be sharing my time with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

As always, it’s a real pleasure to be able to stand in the Legislature to discuss a very important bill, not just to me but, as you will see, probably to every single person in this Legislature and every Ontarian, one that will benefit all of us, Mr. Speaker. This particular bill is quite different, as it recognizes a selfless individual who made a decision that saved the lives of others.

I’m sure everyone here in the Legislature and those watching at home remember the tragic accident that took place on April 6, 2018, involving the Humboldt Broncos. Canadians and hockey fans around the world, here in the province, in Canada, were heartbroken to hear about the bus crash that claimed the lives of 16 people and injured 13 others, who still, to this day, are left with both physical and emotional scars. Professional players, staff, and really the entire hockey community rallied behind the entire team, who lost so much in the crash. It was remarkable to see the amount of support the team received along with the close friends and families of each player.

Speaker, one player in particular, named Logan Boulet, who was a defenceman on the team, made a selfless decision to register as an organ donor. When Logan succumbed to his injuries on April 7, 2018, Logan’s parents, Toby and Bernadine Boulet, fulfilled Logan’s wishes and donated his organs, saving the lives of six other individuals who needed organ and tissue transplants.

Logan’s decision to register was influenced by his coach, Ric Suggitt, who also unfortunately passed on June 27, 2018, as a result of the accident. Coach Suggitt was a registered organ donor and also saved the lives of six individuals.

As news spread of Logan’s organ donation, it is estimated that almost 150,000 people registered to become organ donors in the weeks that followed his passing. This phenomenon became known across Canada as the Logan Boulet effect. To honour Logan’s selfless act, his parents initiated Green Shirt Day to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation. Today is the fourth anniversary of Logan’s passing and by proclaiming April 7 as Green Shirt Day, the province of Ontario would recognize the significance of organ and tissue donation and the lasting impact of the Logan Boulet effect.

Green Shirt Day serves as an opportunity to spread awareness and educate Ontarians about organ and tissue donation and to honour the victims and survivors of the bus crash.

According to Canadian Blood Services, approximately 90% of Canadians say they support organ donation, but only 32% have actually registered. According to the statistics, we have seen that donation rates have improved over the last 10 years, but we still lose approximately 250 Canadians each year who are waiting for an organ transplant. Today in Ontario, there are over 1,500 people waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. One donor can save up to eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 75 more through tissue donation.

As you can see, Speaker, certainly more work needs to be done. We need more Ontarians and Canadians to register to meet organ and tissue donation demands and to save the lives of others. For those looking to donate, I encourage you to visit beadonor.ca to see if you qualify, and sign up so you can save the lives of other Ontarians and other Canadians. You can also register in person at any ServiceOntario centre, or you can complete a Gift of Life consent form and send it over to the address provided on the Ontario website.

To Toby and Bernadine, I’d like to take this opportunity, on behalf my family, myself and, certainly, my colleagues, to offer my deepest condolences. I know today will be a difficult one for you, but I want you to know that we stand with you. And through this bill, if it passes, Logan will always be remembered and certainly his selfless decision will always be honoured. To both his parents: You are both setting an example for parents across the country who have faced similar tragedies. Your courage and resilience to honour Logan is something all parents should strive for.

You both have managed to turn a tragic situation into a positive one to honour your son. Thank you for leading by example.

I would like to thank the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for advocating for this initiative. When we first spoke about it, I was so touched and honoured to bring this bill forward to remember all the players, the staff, the families who were all impacted by this tragic loss.

Bill 112, Green Shirt Day Act, 2022, is a small gesture that we as members of provincial Parliament can make to carry on Logan’s act of kindness and selflessness and to raise awareness for organ and tissue donations. I have no doubt that this bill will encourage Ontarians to donate and to help save lives across the province and the country.

But I think it’s very important. This is a really, really important initiative that we should all be supporting. So I really thank the minister for bringing this forward and for allowing me to be a part of it and to present it here in the Legislature. I look to all my colleagues here: Hopefully you will support this so that we can pass this so every April 7 from now on we will recognize Logan and his entire family for their great initiative.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): The member did state at the start that he would be sharing his time with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and I turn the floor to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Steve Clark: Thanks, Speaker. Good morning. It’s great to see you in the chair on Green Shirt Day.

I want to thank MPP Parsa, the member for Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill, for being so accepting of this idea of tabling a private member’s bill, Bill 112, to proclaim April 7 Green Shirt Day in Ontario. First of all, I want to thank him for his leadership in tabling this bill, and I want to echo his comments. His comments were very moving.

When you look back four years from now, our country was grieving. We turned the lights on on our porches, we put hockey sticks outside and we remembered those individuals who passed in that terrible crash with the Humboldt Broncos. But out of that extremely terrible tragedy, this Logan Boulet effect, this effect for organ donations, is an incredible movement that came right across our wonderful country.

Some might ask, other than the fact that I’m a hockey player and my boys played hockey, what’s my connection with this? I want to talk about why I advocated to MPP Parsa for this. I have a young teen in my riding. His name is Ethan Bos, from North Grenville. Ethan turns 16 this year, and the first thing he’s going to do—the top of his list—is to sign his organ donor card. That’s the first thing this teen is going to do.

Since 2019, he’s made it his mission to reach out to municipal councils, to provincial and federal officials to move forward on proclaiming Green Shirt Day. He started in his home municipality of North Grenville, moved over to the city of Ottawa, got those two municipalities, and then in the following year, Speaker, Ethan went out to every council, I think, in Leeds–Grenville, and many of them in Lanark county, to ensure that Logan’s memory—that Logan Boulet effect—moved forward in eastern Ontario.

He’s met with people at the federal level and, after all the work that he did last year, he wanted to take it to the next level. So, after Green Shirt Day, we had a chat with his parents and with Ethan and talked about the possibility of at least tabling a Green Shirt Day bill in the Legislature.

And I have to tell you, we’ve got an incredible member in Michael Parsa. He’s done a great job—and thank you for allowing me to say his name. She’s shaking her head, so I won’t do it again, but I want to thank the MPP for doing that for me. But he did a lot more than that, Speaker. He believes, as I do, in the Logan Boulet effect. He believes that one of the most selfless things that that young man did was to sign an organ donor card and provide opportunity for a life for others.

To have someone at a very young age—as I said, Ethan from my riding is turning 16 this year, but, since 2019, here’s a young man who has gone over and above the call of duty to keep Logan’s memory alive in our riding. I think it’s an incredible opportunity for us to keep the Logan Boulet effect moving across Ontario.

This is a tremendous bill. Again, I want to thank the member for giving me the opportunity, and I want to thank him not just for the Boulet family but for every Ethan Bos who’s out there. To have a young person be so moved that he calls into civic action, engaging with all three levels of government—this is incredible for a young person who’s turning 16 this year to be able to do this.

I think we owe it to the Boulet family, but we also owe it to the Bos family and every other family and every other young person who wanted to make sure that terrible, terrible situation with the Humboldt Broncos—that something good is coming out of it: the fact that we’re moving forward with bills like this in the Legislature.

I hope that all members of the Legislature support this. Again, I want to thank the member for Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill for his initiative and I want to thank the members and wish them all the best this morning.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further debate?

Mr. Joel Harden: It’s an absolute pleasure to rise on this motion this morning. It’s a great initiative. As we think about the significance of Green Shirt Day, I think my neighbour in eastern Ontario hit it on the head just there when he pointed to a young man in his community who has decided to show some leadership and actually spend some time in his life—I was deeply moved by Ethan Bos’s story too.

It also takes me, to be honest, to some words that were recently shared at an event I had back home with the great singer-songwriter Craig Cardiff. If he’s not on your playlist, get him on there. I’m just going to quote a segment of one of his songs called Safe Here, and it will segue to some of my comments on this legislation:

Our words came out sharp like edges of knives

When all we needed was to talk things through—this is a moment of huge consequences ...

Not what we say but what we do

This is my country

This is your country too

There are so many things we need to change

It’d be too easy to let them overwhelm us

It’d be too easy to let things stay the same.

I think about someone like Ethan Bos, who does that fantastic thing we see in politics sometimes: taking the reins, not waiting for somebody to get change done; taking the reins as a young person and making change happen. Shout-out to Ethan Bos.

I also want to acknowledge something that I think this Green Shirt Day is attempting to highlight for us. It’s a policy problem that goes back for as long as policies have been designed. We have a contradiction when it comes to organ donation in this country. I think MPP Parsa would agree. I think other members would agree. Overwhelmingly, when Canadians are asked, when Ontarians are asked, if they support organ donation—90% is the figure I’m familiar with. But, Speaker, we only have 36% of folks signed up. Do I attribute that to lack of interest? No, absolutely not.

The reality is most people don’t think about organ donation. Most people don’t think about organ donation. Most people don’t think about that in their day-to-day lives as they are running from pillar to post, raising children, looking after their neighbours, looking after elders, trying to earn a living. The issues of existentialism, the issues of “What will happen to me when I die?”—perhaps some of us just don’t think about it that much. MPP Oosterhoff has talked about this with some of his advocacy in this place.

We don’t think about it that much, but we ought to. That’s what Ethan Bos has told us. We ought to be thinking about organ donation. And why? Because in the absence of a regime for organ donation, where we massively increase that number up, where people are signed up to donate their organs in the event of their death, we have people languishing on wait-lists with preventable health illness situations who need not have that.

I do not attribute that 36% figure to people’s lack of interest, Speaker. I attribute it to people who want to do well by their neighbour, but who need this place, the House of the people in the province of Ontario, to design policy that makes it happen.

As we talk about the importance of Green Shirt Day, I want to salute someone who stood in this place for years to make precisely this case—a giant in this province, a giant political figure in this province whose impact you can find all over the Hansard of this place: the honourable Peter Kormos, who sat in this singular seat, as I understand it. When then-Premier Rae and he had a disagreement, Premier Rae expelled him to this single seat right over here, right beside me.

Peter was never one to mince words. Peter was one to stand up for what he believed was true. We’re remembering April 7 with Green Shirt Day, but another date, when I think about organ donation, that’s important to me is March 30. March 30, 2013, was the day we lost Peter Kormos—truly a giant in Ontario politics.

Growing up in poverty, caring about his neighbours in Welland, Ontario—a scrappy place deserving of a scrappy politician—Peter was seized by the issue of organ donations. I invite anybody listening to me right now or reading the Hansard of my speech to simply enter into Google “Peter Kormos” and “organ donation,” and you’ll be treated to a journey of selfless advocacy, where Peter, in this case, and so many others, decided to use his platform to figure out what we could do to increase that 36% number to 90%—or 100%; let’s set the goal where it should be—to make sure we had organs available for people who needed them.

What Peter discovered, after a lot of research, Speaker, was that we needed to shift the regime for organ donations from one of voluntary consent, where somebody pre-emptively, like Logan Boulet, who was among the Humboldt players, the 16, who lost his life and who had signed ahead of time the rights for his organs to be donated—bless Logan and all those people who make that conscious decision. But MPP Kormos believed that what we needed to do was we needed to make sure that we changed the regime for organ donations to one of presumed consent.

“Presumed consent”—what does that mean? It sounds like fancy jargon. What it means is it operates rather like a pension plan. When you enrol in a workplace with a pension plan, the employer assumes you want to be a member of that pension plan. They don’t ask every single employee, “Would you like to opt in or opt out of your pension plan? Would you like to opt in or opt out of your benefits plan?” They presume you want to have a decent retirement and that you’re happy to be working in a place where the people before you have bargained those benefits for you. Presumed consent in pensions and benefits: the same regime Peter believed should apply to organ donations.

It should be presumed that citizens of this province want folks with fragile health conditions needing organs to benefit from what can be harvested from you when you leave this world physically, when your physical body leaves this planet and you have organs that you can contribute to give someone else the gift of life. Peter was fighting for a regime that said, “I’m going to make that assumption that you want your neighbour to live.” That’s what the province of Nova Scotia has done. The province of Nova Scotia moved ahead with the regime of presumed consent. What that has meant in that province is a 40% increase in folks signed up for organ donations.

The MPP from Nickel Belt has a bill before this House right now in Peter Kormos’s memory—Bill 91—called the Peter Kormos Memorial Act (Saving Organs to Save Lives). This is precisely what the member for Nickel Belt is asking us to do, to be inspired by the Ethan Boses of this world, by the Logan Boulets of this world, to actually change policy.

Many times in this place, Speaker, we’ve stood and we’ve made terrific statements of awareness, terrific statements of mutual agreement. Those have been some of my favourite moments, having had the privilege to do this job for the people of Ottawa Centre, when I see people across party lines come together on an issue of concern.

Awareness would seem to be easy, and I am so happy this is before us this morning. But what we really urgently need to do, for people out there desperately in need of a liver, desperately in need of a pancreas, desperately in need of organ donation so they can live, so their families can keep them in their lives for what could be a few years or, in some cases, a few more decades—it could completely change someone’s life. You could give them their mom back. You could give them their brother or sister back, their grandma or grandpa, their father, their uncle, their aunt. It’s truly the gift of life.

That is the miracle of modern medicine: Organ transplants can literally save a life for not just a short amount of time, but for a significant period of time.

But if we keep it at awareness and we don’t seize this opportunity to move to a regime of presumed consent, I submit, through you, Speaker, we’re letting Ethan Bos down. That young man has dedicated part of his life to criss-cross Ontario, coming into the city of Ottawa, which is how I know about him, persuading city councillors in the city of Ottawa to sign up for his initiative, to push us to honour April 7, Green Shirt Day. But we’re letting Ethan down if we keep it at awareness. That’s what I remember from Peter Kormos. Words are wonderful. We can do a lot with words. We can build bridges with words.

Sometimes we can hold each other accountable with words. Sometimes, as I saw last night, it can get harsh. That’s life in this place. But if words can lead to action, that’s where we really can truly see help being present and help being on the way.

At the moment, 1,500 people in the province of Ontario are waiting for organ transplants. Behind every one of those numbers is a family member who desperately wants to stay here in the province of Ontario with their communities and with their families. As we think about getting those green shirts on, can we also think about what would do that? What would actually, tangibly do that? How can we move from awareness to action?

I’m going to take the liberty, Speaker, to ask: Can I just hear, from a heckle or a gesticulation of a hand or anything, who in this House would actually like to see Ontario move to a regime of presumed consent as the province of Nova Scotia has done? I’m just going to look across the chamber and see as people wiggle their hands or nod their heads. I’ll give you a few seconds to respond. It’s a very informal poll, Speaker. I’m a political scientist by training and I charge nothing for this. I’m seeing some agreement.

Maybe after I speak, in a question or answer, a member of the government can move a motion of unanimous consent that we actually move to a regime of presumed consent on organ donation or to direct the Ministry of Health to implement that before the end of this Parliament. Because you know what that will be, Speaker? A massive beacon of hope for Green Shirt Day. MPP Parsa could use his platform, as he has done, to get up in communities across this province and say, “We’re doing Green Shirt Day, but we’re also changing the regime of organ donations in this province”—and every single parliamentarian agreed to it. I didn’t see a person with a furrowed brow when I just asked that question.

We are weeks away from an election. Wouldn’t it be great if we could go to the people and say to them: “Oh, man, we disagree on taxes. Oh, boy, do we ever disagree on climate policy. God help you if you were to listen to a debate in this place on housing policy. We are at loggerheads. We disagree. But on organ donation we, as a Legislature, agree that we must move to a regime of presumed consent.”

Green Shirt Day on April 7 is an opportunity for us to pass the Peter Kormos Memorial Act, by unanimous consent.

Let’s even avoid sending it to committee, because I believe—could my colleagues help me? The member for Timiskaming–Cochrane, the member from Manitoulin, how many times has this bill been introduced in the House here? Because I am a rookie.

Mr. Michael Mantha: Many, many times.

Mr. Joel Harden: Several times. So we’ve had the benefit of legislative research. We’ve had the benefit of elected representatives coming into this place, debating it ad nauseam. I would love to get a question—I would like to see a government member stand up in this place and say, “Let’s move a motion of unanimous consent to immediately direct the Ministry of Health to move to a regime of presumed consent.” You can do it on your own and not worry about the member from Nickel Belt’s legislation. It accomplishes the same thing. Fine. Or you can agree to send Bill 91 straight to third reading so we can have a vote on this before the end of this Parliament. What a huge victory that would be.

If people at home are watching me and asking, “What did Joel have for breakfast? Is he on planet Mars, that Parliament would move that fast?” Let me remind folks watching this and folks reading the Hansard, through you, Speaker: It’s happened in this place before.

I’ll give you an example. You’re going to have to give me some lenience, Speaker, because it’s on a different subject, but the goal is the same. You know about this issue because it’s something that impacts you in your riding all the time too; we’ve talked about it: Voula’s Law.

What is Voula’s Law? Why am I bringing it up in the context of a discussion about organ donation? Voula’s Law was an opportunity through a private member’s motion, not a private member’s bill, for this House to agree unanimously that residents of care facilities—be it a long-term-care home, a retirement home, a group home, any kind of assisted living—have a right to see family caregivers—they have a right.

And in instances where a power of attorney or a family caregiver has a disagreement over the conditions of care in that home and they press complaints, and a care home operator decides to take the complaints as abuse, harassment and shut down discussion and conversation between that family caregiver when they’re making reasonable complaints and ban family caregivers from care homes and use the Trespass to Property Act to keep family caregivers out, as a Legislature, on March 4, 2021, we said unanimously, “That’s an abuse of the Trespass to Property Act. That’s not okay.”

I was proud to work with Minister Cho, who is here this morning—nice to see you, Minister. I was proud to work his chief of staff. I was proud to see every single parliamentarian in this place agree that Voula’s Law is the principle upon which we agree.

Since that time, I’ve had occasion to work with many, many families in the province of Ontario who’ve held up Voula’s Law as a huge win, who said advocating for their loved one in a care home is not a crime and shouldn’t be treated as such—

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Green Shirt Day.

Mr. Joel Harden: I’m there, Solicitor General, I’m there. Through you, Speaker, I’m just going to mention to the Solicitor General why I’m talking about Voula’s Law—because I’m asking the government to contemplate a motion of unanimous consent this morning to immediately—inspired by Green Shirt Day—move organ donation policy in this province to a regime of presumed consent. That would require unanimous agreement, which is precisely what was achieved through Voula’s Law, I say to the Solicitor General, through you, Speaker. That’s the relevance.

Let’s think about what the member from Windsor–Tecumseh accomplished with his poet laureate in honour of Gord Downie. It was another moment in this House where we came together and we realized the importance of the arts, the importance of poetry, and how powerful it will be now to have someone criss-crossing the province, inspiring people, particularly young people, to use the power of the arts to mobilize their communities. That is another instance of unanimous agreement.

Back to Green Shirt Day: In Ottawa, let me tell you, Ethan Bos, every time you feel discouraged about the future, get on the Google machine and look up someone like Ethan Bos. Look at that young guy’s shining face smiling back at you when you feel down in the doldrums of the 20 case calls you’ve had to answer in the riding and your inability, perhaps—you feel that way as a politician—to respond effectively. Any time any one of us feels down in the dumps, get on the Google machine and look up Ethan Bos.

See how that young guy has voluntarily used his time as a 16-year-old to fight for the principle that people should not be languishing on a wait-list. We shouldn’t have 1,500 people on a wait-list waiting for organs. Let’s honour that sacrifice.

Let’s honour that intentional sacrifice of someone like Ethan Bos by saying to him that parliamentarians of this Legislature will unanimously agree, after years and years and years of debate in this place, to move to a regime of presumed consent, to follow the example of the province of Nova Scotia that took this decision, and, upon taking this decision, increased the amount of signups for organ donation by 40%.

I’m also going to end by reflecting on the legacy of someone who has been a controversial figure in the city in which I live, Eugene Melnyk, owner of the Ottawa Senators. Mr. Melnyk, a controversial, outspoken figure, but one of the things he cared a great deal about—he just passed away—was organ donation. Mr. Melnyk gave a lot of his time to try to advocate for precisely what I’m talking about. Think about this: If a business magnate and socialist from the same city can agree on something, isn’t that an indication that there’s broad agreement to do something urgently? That’s across the political spectrum.

The late Mr. Melnyk—and I’m thinking of his family today—used his platform to do what Ethan Bos did. I think that’s commendable. I truly do.

So in the moments we have in this Legislature, let’s remember that we do have a responsibility to fight, to argue, to question each other and to hold each other accountable. That’s an important part of this job. We won’t be doing right by the people who built this place, by the workers who built this place, if we don’t do that. But let’s also remember that there always will be moments like the one MPP Parsa has given us today, where we can stand up on a point of principle and say organ donation sign-ups must increase.

But then, the follow-up question to that is: What are we prepared to do to make that happen? Awareness is absolutely critical. But as the great political scientist Isaiah Berlin once said, negative liberty, freedom from discrimination, is never enough. What we need is positive liberty: the resources and the capacity to take action, and the resources and the capacity to empower others to take action.

Moving to a regime of presumed consent, if we’re able to do that this morning or within the time of this Parliament, will honour the Ethan Boses of this world. It will honour the Logan Boulets of this world and the 16 folks who lost their lives. It will honour the Peter Kormoses of this world. It will honour all the medical professionals involved in those transplants, saving lives every day, and we should be thankful for those folks who are doing that.

That’s how we can move from awareness to action. I know it can happen, because I’ve seen it before. So let’s make it happen.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Just before we continue: Both sides of the House are being reminded to please only identify members by their ridings or their titles. “MPP last name” is not sufficient. Generally, the only time that a member is named is when they are booted from the chamber. So that is a very different circumstance this morning, as we will continue debate.

Further debate?

Mr. Michael Mantha: I want to comment the member from Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill. I’m glad that this is what we’re talking about this morning, because I rise and I’m filled with a lot of emotion. Some of those emotions are questions as to why and how this type of an incident could happen in 2018—the individuals; the losses to those family members that were all affected and impacted by this.

But then, I was just sitting here and I was thinking about some of those outcomes, and how certain lives were significantly changed as well: how a tragedy was taken and where opportunities were available, so that we basically had miracles for others. I wanted to touch on some of that today, because of the impact of the gift of life and what an organ donation can do. I’ll be able to share a story with you today in regard to what I personally experienced on many occasions at my own place where I stay here in Toronto.

It is quite overwhelming, seeing an individual going through the stages, who is waiting for an organ donation. You have the hope and you have the despair. You have the fright, you have the questions, you have the anxieties. Then you have the call, and then you have the wait, then you have the procedure and then you have the outcome. I’ve experienced both negative and positive outcomes, and I’ll try to walk you through it.

But I want to go back to the 16 of the 29 passengers who lost their lives here. I remember we were here in the House, and many of us scrambled to find hockey sticks. We went out on the front lawn here, and we all took pictures. I know that apparently there was a quick word that went around that the MPP for Algoma–Manitoulin has hockey sticks hanging on his wall, so my hockey sticks appeared in many pictures of MPPs who wanted to have those pictures to commemorate and to offer our condolences, our prayers, our thoughts, our care, our love to the many who were affected by this tragedy.

We’ve seen through northern Ontario, through the entire country, different ways of commemorating what happened there. We’ve seen candles on our lawns. We’ve seen flags that were worn. We’ve seen T-shirts, and again, hockey sticks that were being displayed on the lawns and on the doorsteps of individuals who were holding on to Humboldt Broncos memorabilia. Posters were put in windows. Hearts were glued on doors and on cars. We’ve seen teddy bears with candles being put at specific locations. It was something that was really just overwhelming, to see how an incident like that impacted each and every one of our lives and how it affected us all.

I know in my riding of Algoma–Manitoulin, I pride myself—I go out to Junior A hockey games. It’s tough for me at times because I actually have three teams; I have the Espanola Express, the Blind River Beavers and the Elliot Lake Red Wings. Of course, I have my jersey from each team. Of course, when I go into Blind River, I have the Blind River jersey on. When I’m in Elliot Lake, I have Red Wings jersey on. And when I’m in Espanola, of course I have the Espanola Express jersey on.

But being at those initial games where they had commemorative games as well to recognize the tragedy that had happened—if you don’t have a Junior A team in your community, there are many others that have peewee, novice—many, many communities commemorated and had special evenings to recognize what had happened here.

This is what’s inspiring about these young men. A lot of what they bring to our communities goes unnoticed. If you’re not paying attention or if you’re not in need, then you miss the value that these young lives bring to our communities. These young hockey players, these young potential doctors, these young potential business owners, these young potential entrepreneurs come into our communities and they touch us, and this is how they touch us: They come into our homes because we have to billet them. They come and stay with us.

So not only are you now benefiting from having this new young life inside your home, but you’re sharing that with your kids. You’re seeing their growth; you’re making that bond.

I wanted to explain that because I think it’s really important that we understand how this incident impacted individuals in those communities on April 6. There were many, many lives that were negatively affected by this, and we offer our hearts, we offer our thoughts each and every day that we think of these individuals. Green Shirt Day will keep that memory of those individuals going forward, will keep that alive.

But now I want to shift over to the benefits and the good things that really came out of this. I say that because how can we grab a tragedy and get the positives out of it? This is what this young man did, or his family did. The phenomenon is referred to as the Logan Boulet effect. I want to touch on that and spend a little bit of time there, Speaker, because I want to share with the House the experiences that I’ve seen personally.

This family provided a miracle to others. That’s what it is. It’s a miracle. It’s an opportunity at a life. I want to talk about a young woman I met. When I was first elected in 2011, after my campaign office, I found an actual office as an MPP, and right next to my office was a hairdresser and pedicurist. I think you and I, Speaker, at one time, have explored and enjoyed those luxuries, and I remember those days. I won’t go into great detail, but I do want to let the Speaker know that I really, really enjoyed those afternoons, and I’ll never be able to look at my feet in that way, I tell you.

We went in for this pedicure and manicure and everything. They started with this grinder on my feet, and, I swear to God, I couldn’t stop myself from just bursting out laughing. We had fun. Anyway, I’ll stop now, Speaker. I know it’s torture for you.

I want to spend the time to introduce you to Kim Cloutier. Kim Cloutier was the mother of two boys in Elliot Lake, and her husband was Chris. I met them as an MPP. And what I was doing, to have a little bit of fun, because we had some community members who would come in to get their nails or their hair done on the next side—she had her regulars in there. I got into this habit of walking into the hair salon, and as they were sitting there, I would grab the daily paper that comes into the various businesses, coffee shops or whatever—they had horoscopes—and I would read their horoscopes.

Well, sometimes, those horoscopes weren’t very good, so I’d change it up just to make them feel good. Kim really enjoyed that. Kim actually would come and get me in the office to come over. She’d say, “The ladies have gathered. They want to hear their horoscopes.” Kim had this way of bringing people together. I often talked to her friends and her sisters, afterwards, and she was described as the glue that brought everybody together.

Kim developed a respiratory problem. It took some time to identify what that problem was, but it was getting worse and worse and worse. She went through many tests. She needed oxygen, and then it got to a point where she was informed that she needed a lung transplant. So she went through a very long and tedious process of, first, “Do I qualify? How do I get on the list?” and finding out about organ donation and so on.

It was a roller-coaster ride for her, because it is one thing finding out, “Okay, this is the problem.” It was frustrating for her and her family as far as finding out, “What’s wrong with me?” We’ve all had those family members. Once you have that diagnosis, you go, “Oh, it’s bad, but at least now I know what it is. So what’s the solution?” The solution was to get her on the organ donation list for lungs.

Kim went through that entire process, and then lo and behold, as she’s preparing for that, there had to be some medication that had to be provided to her to bring down her immune system in order for it to be weak. I hope I’m describing this properly, but I’m not medically savvy; I just go from memory as to what was shared with me, with the family, as we were all going through this. She had to bring down her immune system so that when the transplant was actually scheduled, her body would not refuse those tissues, the lungs that she was going to be receiving.

When you’re on this list for organ donation, there are not that many organs, or it’s very difficult to get put on that list and to be considered, because if there are organs that do become available, those who are on the top of the list, who are most in need, are the ones who are going to get considered first. Getting to the top of the list is what’s very, very, very scary, because you have to be basically on your last breath. If it’s a heart that you need, you have to be basically on your last beat.

When you’re sitting in a medical room, imagine the amount of pressure that is on those who are making the decision, saying, “Mike, not this time. John, not this time. Paul, not this time. You can wait a little bit longer. We’re going to provide it to Kim.” Imagine those that are in that role and responsibility to make that decision. Now that’s pressure. That’s making a gift-of-life decision. That’s miracle-making right there.

So finally, Kim, her condition had gotten so bad that she received the call, because she had to be down here in Toronto. This is where her and I actually had a lot of fun because she had stayed with me in my condo here for a period of time. When you see an individual going through that roller coaster, you see it in their eyes. You see their skin going grey. You see their hope going down. You see them waiting and waiting and waiting, and that weight is on them. You feel it too. It’s on you. You’re the one going home. I’m hoping to get home—and this was over a three-month period.

And when I go back to the condo—or for a while she stayed with me at the condo, but they did manage to secure a place here because it was difficult to find, first, the finances. Oh, jeez, yes, we didn’t even touch on the financing, about how difficult it is on the family to secure the money that you need, because they lived in northern Ontario. Try to find yourself a place here in Toronto—because you have to be within a call’s distance of a hospital in order to respond to that call when it comes in.

Anyway, you go in and you see the eyes and you see it in the family as well. But then you walk in that one day and there’s Kim sitting at the end: “I got the call. I got the call. We’re going in.” She finally gets that call and she goes in, and you see that person go through that process of getting some lungs. You come out. And the whole medication that you have to take so your body doesn’t reject those—because it’s one thing getting that call, but there’s also a process that follows that. There’s the prep, there’s the actual surgery, and then there’s the process after the surgery so that you can make sure that—because not every organ transfer, not every gift of life is a successful one.

I want to jump ahead. Kim’s was not successful. But it was successful, and I’ll explain to you why. Kim got her lungs. After the surgery was done, she went through a short process of a lot of medication. But this is why I say it was successful: because Kim had the opportunity to breathe. Finally, she got to breathe. She got to feel what it feels like to go “Ah.”

The unfortunate part for Kim, as I said a little bit earlier, is that her body started rejecting those organs. She eventually lost her battle, but she gained an opportunity to close some doors, to close some issues and to actually have somewhat of a life. I think the thing that she enjoyed the most after she had done the surgery is not having a mask on with oxygen and having the ability to breathe. Just imagine that, Speaker: just having that ability to breathe, something that we just never think about.

I’ve had other individuals who have come through my place. I’ve actually had a successful lung-transplant constituent who stayed with me and they went through it successfully. I’ve had other individuals who have donated organs, and it’s something that I’ve really—it’s one of the benefits that I have as far as being an MPP here and having a place that I can offer constituents, being so close to the hospitals.

You’ve heard me in the past talk about Elijah Hennessy. He is the miracle child from Elliot Lake, who had and continues to have some major heart issues. Elijah has blessed me with so many visits. I’ve seen so many things that some of these hospitals—and there are miracles that are happening there. I touch on that—oh, and Drew from Blind River. There are so many: Emily from Massey. We have so many things that we can do here if we so choose to, and I’m not saying that we all have to do it. I choose to do it because I can. It’s my choice.

So I welcome these individuals when they come over to my condo, because after a day, I’ll tell you, like last night, getting home at 10 o’clock at night, it sure is nice seeing a smiling face. And I hear I’m going to be late here tonight as well, so it would be nice having someone there.

I wanted to share Kim Cloutier’s story. I want to again give a shout-out to the member for his Green Shirt Day for how important it is, and what the impacts are going to be, and encouraging those, if you have not, to take the time to talk to your family about organ donation. Make the choice. I’ve seen it, I’ve lived it. The benefits far outweigh any of the negative impacts. But the key is to make sure that you explain what your choices are to your family members. Make it known. It’s a simple check on the back of your licence that you have to do.

Pick up a phone and make a call and let them know that you want to be an organ donor. The things that you can—how you can change a life—oh, my goodness, I’m running out of time.

I completely forgot Rick Prashaw, who was an individual who worked with the federal member, Tony Martin. He was one of his assistants. He lost his son due to a seizure, and he offered the organs from his son as well. He’s got a fabulous book—unfortunately, the name escapes me right now, but it’s a really good read for people who are interested or want to become knowledgeable about the importance of organ donation. Look up the author: Rick Prashaw. His son was just an amazing boy. There are, I believe, nine individuals that benefited from the organ donations from his son.

It’s a miracle of life. It’s something that we should take seriously. And it’s in all of us to give. So, please, think very seriously about providing the gift of life.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further debate?

Ms. Judith Monteith-Farrell: I am very, very touched with this ability to talk to this issue this morning and to this bill. I thank the member from Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill for bringing forward this bill this morning.

I want to talk about this in a couple of different ways. But first I want to say, in Thunder Bay–Atikokan, we are a hockey town and we actually really hit above our weight with regard to the great hockey players that come from Thunder Bay. So when April 7 occurred, almost every family could know, the idea of how many times they had taken their children to hockey tournaments or were on buses. It was something that was felt throughout our community and there was almost on every doorstep a tribute.

People contributed money, there were events to really highlight—to grieve and really feel for those families, those 16 families that lost people, that this could be us. So that was one of the things, I think, to commemorate that spirit that came out throughout Canada, really, I think is one way of looking at this, just as a good part of this bill.

The second way I want to look at this bill is, all of us come here with our experience. I had an experience with having to make the decision on whether or not organs would be donated. It was my spouse. Fortunately, we had had those discussions. But it was before, I think, the time—because it’s been some time—the check-off on the back, or whether or not he just forgot to do that or what the issue was.

But the people from the Trillium Foundation came to me while I was sitting in the ICU waiting room, took me aside and had to have that conversation about, “Would your spouse be willing to donate their organs, do you believe?” and “You need to sign. You need to make that decision for someone else.” Even though I knew in my heart—but the other thing is, what you don’t realize is when you’re sitting there and your family member is on life support, you don’t want to let them go. You don’t want to let even one piece of them go. So presumed consent would assist with that.

It would assist when families have to make those hard choices.

So, April 7, commemorating and celebrating that families were brave enough to make that choice, is a very important issue. It’s something that needs to be talked about more, the awareness that organ donation is important, it matters, and that you can do something good at a time when your life is falling apart. And that’s important, because that provided my children, his sisters, his friends something to hold on to, that this man, who died sooner than I, definitely, wanted him to, but sooner than he should have, was able to give a gift. He was a very giving person. He was a great family man. Gary Farrell: I want to say his name.

I signed for Gary, and he was able to donate his kidneys, his liver. Unfortunately, his heart was taken but wasn’t able to be used, but it was used to study. That’s the other part: Even if the organs are not used in a transplant because they find out, once they’re harvested, that they’re not suitable, they use them for study so they can know more and develop better treatments or understand what happened. That’s a very, very important part of what went on with that transplant.

That is something Green Shirt Day would assist with. It would assist with that understanding, people actually having those conversations, understanding about what a transplant can do for someone and for the family, when you’re making those decisions.

The other way that I feel this is so important and why awareness about transplants is important in my community: I have a great friend, Dom Pasqualino, who is the president of the Unifor local at Alstom. We’ve been friends for many years. Dom was living on a dialysis machine. Even though he was doing all this great activism for his membership, every night, he would hook himself up, or his partner would, and he would have dialysis. Dom was looking frail—and he’s a young man. He’s a great contributor to our community. He never complained; he was amazing.

But he got the call, and Dom is doing so very, very well, is so excited and is doing even better work because he has his evenings free now. He used to take calls while he was on his dialysis. To Dom Pasqualino, who successfully had a transplant, this bill, raising awareness and making sure that we have more transplants available for folks is so important.

Another experience that I have with transplants is around cystic fibrosis and young people—because you find out when you’re very young. We are having better success at keeping people alive for a longer period of time, but parents live with the shadow that their child may not make it for a long time. Once they get to be young adults, often, or teenagers, they have to come to Toronto and live here because they have to be close by in order to have the ability to answer that call if there are lungs available.

I found out a lot from parents of children with cystic fibrosis and their journey. I found out that some of them can’t get lung transplants because of a specific bacteria or infection they had at one point. So it’s finding that out and then the roller-coaster ride of all that. But once they get that call and they get new lungs and it’s successful, that’s a very young person that gets to live a life, who gets to get married and have a family. They are in a really, really good place. This is why Green Shirt Day is important, but presumed consent would provide that much more availability of transplants.

I want to also highlight the struggles that people in northern Ontario have accessing this kind of health care. Often they are on very long lists and they have to fly back and forth. I’ve had people get the call, come to Toronto, prepare, and then they find out, no, they’ve been bumped off the list and then they have to fly back. All of that is on their own dime because it it’s not covered by the Northern Health Travel Grant.

This morning, I applaud the member from Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill. I applaud our colleague, the MPP from Nickelback—Nickel Belt, not Nickelback.

Laughter.

Ms. Judith Monteith-Farrell: Sorry, France.

Interjection: We needed that laugh.

Ms. Judith Monteith-Farrell: Yes.

They are highlighting this issue, that it is something that we all should be working towards and that we should ensure that we have more transplants available in Ontario.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further debate?

Ms. Jessica Bell: Thank you to the member for Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill for this initiative. I didn’t want to presume that I needed to get up, but clearly I did.

Today is the fourth anniversary of the tragic collision that took place in Saskatchewan, where the Humboldt Broncos were involved in a tragic crash. Their bus, as they were travelling to a hockey game, hit a semi-trailer that failed to stop at the intersection. The semi-trailer was going over 100 kilometres an hour and, tragically, of the 29 passengers on the bus, 16 passengers lost their lives. The remaining 13 will all bear, and continue to bear, the physical and emotional scars for life, as will the family and friends of this community.

This is related to what we are speaking about today because Humboldt Broncos defenceman Logan Boulet was one of the individuals who tragically succumbed to his injuries. His parents, Bernadine and Toby Boulet, offered to donate his organs so that six lives could live on. They did so because Logan told his parents he was registering as an organ donor and that he was inspired by his coach and mentor, Ric Suggitt. In some ways, it’s a small amount of hope or consolation in what is an unspeakable tragedy for that community.

Now we have the fourth annual Green Shirt Day to recognize the value of being an organ donor, and once again I want to thank the member for Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill for initiating this conversation this morning.

The process and the organization that needs to happen for people who die, to have their organs transplanted to people who desperately need them, is an initiative that’s been going on since the science was developed. I want to recognize some of the organizations that are leaders in this work. That includes the Trillium Gift of Life Network, the Canadian Transplant Association, Canadian Blood Services and the Kidney Foundation. There are many others, but they are some of the leading ones that I would like to recognize today.

What is also important to note is that, as a result of Logan Boulet’s decision to register as an organ donor, and the families and friends in the community who decided to highlight that tragedy in order to motivate people to be organ donors, it has led to over 350,000 people in Canada having signed their organ donor card in the last three years. That is a positive outcome from an unspeakable tragedy.

Earlier this morning, I went to the Trillium Gift of Life Network Facebook page to better understand how organ transplants impact people in a positive way. I’d like to share some of the stories today. This is from Ryley Mitchell:

“I was first diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy when I was seven months old in 2006. I was put on the waiting list and only waited 10 days for my new heart. The call came late in January at 2 in the morning. I went into surgery for five hours and when I was out I looked happier and healthier already. I was smiling. This is how I got the nickname Smyley Ryley.

“My transplant journey is never over but with the support of my family, friends, doctors, nurses and support from SickKids it has been much easier.

“My donor family being so selfless is one of the reasons I feel inspired to help many other people by sharing my story and volunteering.”

When I read that story, the first thought that comes to my mind is that “Smyley Ryley” did not have these memories. Those memories were told to her by her parents, who, I can imagine, cannot think of a greater gift than having a selfless donor make the decision to transplant a heart so that their child can live.

This is another quick note, from Rhonda Lee. She just writes a quick note saying, “On March 13, it will be 27 years since I had a heart transplant.” And she’s still alive today. “Thank you to the donor family. I would not be here without your kindness.” Why I chose to identify this one is that living 27 years after an organ transplant, especially a heart transplant, is really exceptional. Often transplant recipients do not have the privilege of living that long, but because the science and the technology have improved, people’s life expectancy after receiving a significant organ transplant has increased.

It’s wonderful to hear that Rhonda is one individual who has been able to live for that long.

This is another one. It’s from Jane Ross. She speaks about her husband. She writes, “Eleven years ago, on February 14, we got that call. And that call is that my husband was going to get the gift of life, which was a double lung transplant. We never forget, and we are always so grateful to the family who lost someone that they loved and made the decision to support an organ donation. We also recognize the top-notch care that he received, and continues to receive, from the people at UHN and Toronto General. It takes a village for all involved. Please register and don’t take for granted our health care.”

Once again, this is an example of a hospital in University–Rosedale—actually, SickKids is one of them and Toronto General is another. It’s part of the united health network that’s in my riding. I’d like to take a moment to recognize the thousands of health care workers who live in downtown Toronto, including University–Rosedale, who have worked selflessly throughout this pandemic to provide critical care. That care has included continuing with critical transplants in order to save people’s lives. Thank you for that.

Next, I’d like to read out an individual, Deb Brunato—she’s an eight-year double lung transplant survivor. She says, “Without my donor, I would not be here. Thank you to my donor and their family for their most precious gift of life.” Once again, you can see this overwhelming support and feeling of gratefulness towards the individuals who were selfless enough to register to be organ donors before they, tragically, died. We can see the impact of that decision right here.

For those people who are looking at being an organ donor, who are interested in being an organ donor, it’s very—

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Sorry to interrupt. It is now time for members’ statements. We will continue your debate at a later time.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

Members’ Statements

Health care funding

Ms. Jessica Bell: The Financial Accountability Office released its report this week on health care, and this is what it showed: It showed that Ontario is spending less on health care per person than any other jurisdiction in Canada; Ontario has the fewest hospital beds per person; Ontario has the fewest registered nurses per person.

That means that we are not able to provide the health care we need, in the time that we need it, because government after government has not wanted to invest in it. It has led to situations where exhausted nurses and health care professionals have had to give up and quit because they are not being paid the wages that they deserve, and it is resulting in up to 400,000 people waiting for necessary surgery because they cannot get that time in an operating room for their heart surgery, their cancer surgery, their hip replacements.

This has got to change, and this is how we can do it: We need to invest in universal public health care; we need to have a plan to clear the surgery backlog; we need to invest in mental health care, pharmacare and dental care; we should pay our health care workers properly, which means repealing Bill 124; and we need to recommit to universal public health care, because we are a healthier and more prosperous province where we can all access health care when we need it, without having to worry about paying for it.

This is what an NDP government will do.

Battle of Vimy Ridge

Mr. Lorne Coe: I’m wearing the tie of the Ontario Regiment—I’m an honorary member of the Ontario Regiment—and I’m doing that because I’m about to speak about Vimy Ridge.

One hundred and five years ago on a cold Easter Monday in northern France, thousands of Canadians fought together to achieve one of the First World War’s most memorable victories. They came from every corner of Canada. They were francophones, anglophones, new Canadians, Black Canadians and Indigenous peoples. Many of them were young men in their late teens and early twenties, homesick and exhausted, but brave and united in their fight for peace, freedom and justice.

In the early hours of April 9, 1917, after carefully planning and preparing their attack, they climbed from their trenches and stormed Vimy Ridge, an enemy fortress many thought could never be taken. Members of all four divisions of the Canadian Corps battled uphill through a landscape scarred by years of conflict, fighting side by side for the very first time. They did not stop until they had victory. Over the course of four days, through mud, shelling and gunfire, they captured the entire ridge, achieving what no Allied army had done.

Speaker, the Battle of Vimy Ridge was an important

chapter in the Great War and in our country’s history. What they accomplished was more than a remarkable military feat. With courage, determination and grit, they taught us that, together, ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things, and in so doing, they helped define Canada as a country.

On April 9, please take a moment to honour the brave Canadians who fought at Vimy Ridge. Nearly 3,600 of them never came back home. Over 7,000 were wounded. Their sacrifice transcends time and reminds us of the immense debt of gratitude we owe all Canadians in uniform, past and present, for their courage, dedication and service.

Lest we forget. Lest we forget.

Northern health services

Ms. Judith Monteith-Farrell: Addictions, mental health and homelessness are at crisis levels in northwestern Ontario. I am so pleased that the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association and the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities will be discussing this during their upcoming conferences. But they can’t do it alone.

The government received a research paper draft in January from the Northern Policy Institute. In it, it has eight recommendations:

—provide long-term funding for capital repairs on community housing;

—amend the Health Protection and Promotion Act, 1990, to define a “northern service hub” and provide additional funding to these hubs;

—establish a joint task force to collect data and intelligence on the underlying and systemic retention issues of health care professionals in northern Ontario;

—support new and existing Housing First programs;

—support new and existing Indigenous culturally sensitive housing;

—establish a northern mental health and addictions centre of excellence.

There are also recommendations on inter-facility patient transfers and establishing mobile crisis intervention teams. I call on this government to solve this crisis.

Before I end, I want to the express my wishes for a healing journey for the MPP for Thunder Bay–Superior North. I’m sure every one of us in this House is wishing you a speedy recovery.

Hospital funding

Mr. Vincent Ke: Last week was significant for the residents of Don Valley North and beyond. We are preparing our hospitals and long-term-care homes to confront the challenges that lie ahead: two important funding announcements for North York General Hospital to meet the diverse health care needs of the fast-growing population in the community.

Karyn Popovich, president and CEO at North York General Hospital said, “With the generous support of the Ontario government,” North York General Hospital “is moving forward with the largest hospital expansion since we opened our doors more than 50 years ago.”

Speaker, the new patient care tower will include a brand new emergency department, in-patient beds and operating rooms and is anticipated to open in 2029-30. The new long-term-care home to be operated by North York General Hospital will feature 384 beds, making it one of Toronto’s largest homes. Construction is expected to start in spring 2024 and be completed in the summer of 2026.

The residents of Don Valley North are absolutely thrilled by this exceptional news that demonstrates we are working hard to end hallway health care as we promised.

Homeless Health Peel

Ms. Sara Singh: We have a housing crisis in Peel, and homelessness is steadily increasing in our region. That’s why Homeless Health Peel has stepped up to the plate and offered primary care to over 1,200 clients throughout the pandemic. Homeless Health Peel is a nursing and primary care service for people experiencing homelessness and other vulnerable communities in the Peel region, but they are scheduled to actually lose their funding in a matter of months if the provincial government doesn’t step up to the plate.

Homeless Health Peel has helped clients like Bill Smith, who is currently housed at a shelter hotel in Brampton. He’s received care that has made a significant difference in his life. As Bill has shared, he ended up having a couple of aneurisms in his leg and couldn’t work. The services that Homeless Health Peel have been able to provide have helped him live with dignity and lift his spirits. Bill shares that his primary care nurse, Shaunna Demars, has been helping bring mental health care support and the medication that he needs.

Advocates in our community are calling on this government to ensure that Homeless Health Peel receives the funding it needs, which will end in March. That means that over 1,200 clients and folks in our community may not get the services they need. As nurse practitioner Clinton Baretto, the founder and clinical director of Homeless Health Peel says if these services aren’t available, “the health of people experiencing homelessness in the region will suffer.” It’s the only place for them to get real care.

Let’s do the right thing, as Ameek Singh has said, and add the services into our community. Let’s help save lives and help fund Homeless Health Peel.

Member for Cambridge

Mrs. Belinda C. Karahalios: I rise to make my final statement in the 42nd Parliament in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as it comes to a close. It has been an honour to serve the people of the constituency of Cambridge over the last four years in this House of democracy. In representing my constituents and my values, I have done my best to put forth important ideas and arguments that often would not have been discussed in this Legislature otherwise.

In tabling my first private member’s bill, I wanted to present a bill of consequence and identified the gap in our laws that doesn’t outlaw voter fraud in internal party elections. All Ontarians I speak with are shocked when they hear that governments have identified it as a priority to micro-manage every dollar spent on internal party campaigns, but when someone is victim to voter fraud, there is no law to protect them. I know this all too well, having watched voter fraud take place in front of thousands of people at the 2018 PC Party convention. It’s too bad that the current government never proceeded or had any interest in making that historic legislation law.

I am also proud to have stood up for the people of Cambridge when it came to local matters, even those that are controversial in nature, and to stand as the only current or former member of the government benches to vote against Bill 195, which I refer to as the lockdown bill. I am confident that, in time, I will be on the right side of history on that vote.

The challenge of this job is hearing of Ontarians who are struggling, trying to do my best to help and not always being able to immediately solve the problem. On a personal level, the most eye-opening experience is finding out that some of the people who you thought were friends were actually never friends at all.

Despite the challenges of the last four years for Ontarians, perhaps the silver lining in serving as an MPP is the great honour it has been to meet or speak to thousands of constituents and Ontarians outside my riding who I otherwise would never have met, and to receive their words of encouragement at times when it felt like it would have been easier to stop. Those are the memories I will remember and cherish and take away from the 42nd Parliament.

David Myles

Mr. Norman Miller: As some of my colleagues know, I have hosted 17 interns from the Ontario Legislature Internship Programme, or OLIP, over my time as MPP for Parry Sound–Muskoka. I recently learned that one of these interns, David Myles, has been nominated for a Juno award. David is nominated for Instrumental Album of the Year for his album That Tall Distance. If he wins, it will be his second Juno award. He was previously nominated for being a co-writer on Inner Ninja, which won Rap Recording of the Year in 2013.

I’ve had the pleasure of hearing David play several times since he worked in my office in 2004. I must say that, although I wasn’t aware at the time that he wanted to be a professional musician, having worked with him, his creativity and dedication to his craft do not surprise me. Even back then he was a great writer, crafting members’ statements and speeches that got picked up on the evening news.

I’ve seen him perform in Toronto and at the Stockey Centre in Parry Sound, and he has only gotten better over the years. David is just one example of the many talented people who have gone through the OLIP program. It has been one of the great joys of my time as MPP to mentor 17 of these bright individuals and follow their careers long after they finished the program.

I congratulate David on his nomination and wish him the best of luck in the Juno awards in May.

Tenant protection

Mr. Peter Tabuns: The housing crisis is very real. As I’ve been going door-to-door in my riding, I’ve had parents and grandparents come out and say to me, “My children and my grandchildren have no hope of getting a home. They can’t afford the rent, let alone buy a place. And so they will not be able to continue living in the community that they grew up in.”

I’ve been in apartment buildings where single moms with children in studios and one-bedrooms have said to me, “I cannot move into a larger unit because when people move out of the bigger ones, the landlords crank up the rent sky-high. Can’t do it.” And I’ve talked to tenants in my riding who live in homes and who are fearful that someday their landlord is going to have to renovate, and when they get that eviction notice, they know they’re going to leave my community and maybe even leave the city that they’ve loved.

People need decent homes so they can live decent lives. This government has failed to take action on the rules that allow landlords to crank rents sky-high when someone moves out of a unit. They haven’t taken action to stop the games that happen with above-guideline increases, which many corporate landlords use as a way of cleaning tenants out so they can open the door to even higher rents.

Speaker, this has to change. The people of Ontario deserve decent housing. We have to act.

Green energy initiatives

Recently I had a chance to visit the Markham headquarters of GE Hitachi, where 80 new jobs are working on a cutting-edge nuclear reactor for Ontario. These jobs are highly skilled and well paying, underlying Ontario’s ability to balance economic growth with decarbonization initiatives.

Nuclear power is one of the reasons that Ontario already has such a green power grid, and such projects will further increase our province’s carbon-free power generation.

Additionally, in January it was announced that Markham–Unionville would receive development of a hydrogen-blending facility, which will reduce the emissions of 3,600 families and businesses across the riding.

And finally, a Tesla battery factory in Markham has created jobs and will help Ontario reach its goals of becoming a supply chain hub for electric vehicle production.

I’m proud of Markham–Unionville’s contribution to Ontario’s pursuit of a green economy, and I look forward to seeing the emissions reductions we achieve in years to come.

COVID-19 deaths

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I have a point of order from the member from Brampton Centre.

Ms. Sara Singh: Speaker, I seek unanimous consent for the House to observe a moment of silence for the 84 Ontarians who have succumbed to COVID-19 over the past week.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): The member from Brampton Centre seeks unanimous consent for the House to observe a moment of silence for the 84 Ontarians who have succumbed to COVID-19 over the past week. Is the House in favour? Agreed.

Everyone please rise.

The House observed a moment’s silence.

Parliamentary privilege of freedom of speech

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Point of order, the government House leader.

I’d like to table this document now, because I think it would be very valuable for members who are both here and those who will be retiring very soon.

Wearing of pins

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): A point of order from the Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries.

Hon. Lisa MacLeod: Speaker, if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent to allow members to wear pins in recognition of the 105th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which took place from April 9 to April 12, 1917, and still remains today a core part of Canada’s and Ontario’s heritage and our cultural fabric.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Is it the pleasure of the House that consent be granted? Agreed.

Introduction of Visitors

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): In the Speaker’s gallery this morning are parliamentary interns visiting us from Ottawa as part of their study tour with the Ontario legislative interns. In our galleries are Élizabeth Bergeron, Charles Bernard, Anne Campbell, Harriet Crossfield, Jonathan Ferguson, Annyse Hawkins, Ryan Jamula, Angelica Kalubiaka, Wynn Rederburg, Rayna Sutherland, and academic director Paul Thomas. How do we show our welcome to Queen’s Park?

Applause.

Hon. Lisa MacLeod: Today there will be a number of tributes given to our colleagues who have chosen to retire from politics after this, and I want to welcome them all and their visitors.

But, today, on behalf of my esteemed colleague and very close friend Jim McDonell, the member for Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry: He is visited today by two of his friends, Tom Ayerst and, of course, his long-time assistant and great friend to him and to myself, Marilyn McMahon-Ayerst. Welcome to Queen’s Park today, and thank you for being here on behalf of Jim.

Ms. Lindsey Park: I would like to welcome my dear mother, Joan, joining us in the gallery this morning.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Welcome, mom.

Hon. Monte McNaughton: I am going to welcome Stephanie and Trevor from the municipality of the township of Warwick. Welcome to Queen’s Park today.

Hon. Stephen Lecce: I want to welcome, to the seat of our democracy, Larry, Deepank, Daniel and Sylvana, who are here from King–Vaughan. Welcome to the Legislature this morning.

Ms. Peggy Sattler: I want to welcome Jan Borowy and Fay Faraday, who are here from the Equal Pay Coalition; Patty Coates, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour; Cathryn Hoy, president of the Ontario Nurses’ Association; and Mina Amrith, executive vice-president of SEIU Healthcare, who are here at Queen’s Park today to hold a media conference.

Question Period

COVID-19 response

Ms. Sara Singh: My first question is for the Premier. Dr. Peter Jüni, the head of the Premier’s own science table, calls this sixth wave a “tidal wave.” He says that waste water measurements of COVID mean that Ontario has now between 100,000 and 120,000 new COVID-19 cases a day. That means about 5% of the whole province is infected.

We have more COVID cases than ever before, Speaker, and the Premier is just calling this a little “uptick.” The Premier believes that we have the hospital beds to handle this, but the reality here in Ontario is that we don’t have the staff for those beds.

As much as the Premier might wish that this pandemic is over, it isn’t. Why is the Premier simply waiting for hospital beds to overflow with patients before taking any proactive action?

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the Minister of Health.

Hon. Christine Elliott: Thank you to the member opposite for the question. In fact, the increase in cases that we’re seeing now is expected. This is something that Dr. Moore has commented on several times with the release of some of the public health measures, as well as with the increased transmissibility of the BA.2 variant that is now the dominant variant in the province of Ontario.

But the situation has changed very much since the beginning of this pandemic and, to quote Dr. Moore, he has said this: “We have tools that we did not have just two years ago, including highly effective vaccines that have changed the course of the pandemic, high vaccination rates that continue to improve as more and more Ontarians see the value of getting boosted in order to protect themselves, their families and their communities.”

We also have the antivirals, which are now being distributed more widely across the province, and we do have the capability within our hospitals. Today, the number of people in ICUs was 157; yesterday it was 166. We’re holding steady and will continue to do so.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Supplementary?

Ms. Sara Singh: If the rising case counts were expected, where, then, is the urgent action from this government to implement the tools that they have to help us curb the spread of COVID-19 in our communities and help do things like make sure that our children are not kept out of classrooms, that working people don’t go without paid sick days, for example, or that small businesses won’t be further managing disruptions because of COVID-19 spread in our communities? Patients are already having their care delayed; surgeries have been cancelled. Piling up more people into hospitals means those folks are not going to get the surgeries they need.

The science table and other experts are calling for the continued use of masks, paid sick days and more testing in Ontario, but Ontarians haven’t actually even heard from the Chief Medical Officer of Health for weeks. What is the Premier’s justification for dropping masks in hospitals and long-term-care homes?

Hon. Christine Elliott: Since the beginning of this pandemic, we have always taken the steps necessary to protect the health and safety of the people of the province of Ontario. We are following the recommendations from our Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Moore, and his advisers. Dr. Moore has recommended masks don’t need to be worn, except in certain circumstances: in hospitals, in long-term-care homes and in other congregate settings where it’s necessary for the protection of people. Should Dr.

Moore change his views in the coming days, we will be making those changes as necessary, but as for wearing masks, it is something that is voluntary, although most people are choosing to wear masks in crowded public spaces and we anticipate they will continue to do so.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Final supplementary?

Ms. Sara Singh: Dr. Jüni is worried that without the use of masks, our health care system will be overwhelmed. He also said that the government moved too quickly to drop the mask mandates here in Ontario. He said that he’s “very uneasy” and worried that the wrong signals are being sent to Ontarians.

Ontarians deserve to hear from the best experts we have. That includes bringing the Chief Medical Officer of Health out of hiding to explain what is going on here in Ontario. Why is the Premier ignoring the problem rather than taking proactive measures to help us get through the sixth wave?

Hon. Christine Elliott: Our government has always taken the necessary steps to protect the health and safety of the people of Ontario, and we will continue to do so. We are following the advice of our Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Moore, and his advisers and the science advisory table as well. The view of one physician compared to the views of many is something that we listen to, but we are following the advice of Dr. Moore. He has provided us sound advice throughout, and I know he will continue to do so.

It was Dr. Moore’s advice himself several weeks ago to say that we don’t need to have regular conferences with him because we need to learn to live with COVID. Sadly, it’s not going away immediately. It’s going to continue within our system, but we have the measures that we need to keep people in Ontario healthy, with increased vaccinations, including the fourth vaccination that’s available as of today, the antivirals, and we do have the capacity in our hospitals to manage.

Mental health services

Ms. Sara Singh: My next question is also to the Premier. We know that one of the biggest gaps in mental health care is for our children. As more and more Ontarians seek mental health supports and are openly sharing their struggles, families and children are concerned that the supports they need are out of reach and cost too much. They want their children to thrive and lead happier, healthier lives, but far too often mental health services are out of reach because of horribly long wait-lists and these huge financial barriers. Why won’t the government recognize that universal mental health care will help families and kids access mental health supports in Ontario?

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Thank you for that question. Our government recognizes the impacts this pandemic has had on the mental health and well-being of children and youth across the province. Building an Ontario where young people are safe, healthy and thriving are the right things to be doing, and our plan impacts on those very issues.

That’s why we’ve made targeted investments in intensive mental health supports and services for children and youth that include a $20-million investment across the board—a 5% increase—to all supports and services for youth; in addition to that, $2.7 million for four youth wellness hubs in Guelph, Renfrew, Timmins and Windsor; and in addition to that, another eight youth wellness hubs, again to build on the supports necessary for youth. In addition to that, we’ve looked at specific youth wellness hubs for Indigenous populations to ensure they have the supports they need.

We’ve made investments, including in eating disorders. They are solid investments to ensure that all children and youth have the supports they need, when and where they need them.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Supplementary?

Ms. Sara Singh: Children’s Mental Health Ontario has called on all of us to take the #kidscantwait pledge to invest in mental health supports for our youngest people here in the province. Mary Kloosterman, the CEO of the organization, says, “Some kids are currently waiting up to two and a half years to see a mental health professional.” I know in my community of Brampton, that’s an unfortunate reality for many young people who need supports.

It shouldn’t be like this in Ontario. We’re lagging behind in the country and we need to do better for children, with immediate investments to cut the waits and invest in the services that they need. Speaker, why hasn’t the Premier recognized that children in this province can’t wait any longer for the mental health supports that they need, and when are they going to make the investments to help us save lives and ensure children have access to the supports?

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Once again, I’d like to reiterate that our government is actively investing. Our government is at the forefront across Canada from the standpoint of investments that are being made in mental health and addictions. In fact, not only are we investing through the ministry of mental health and addictions, we’re investing through education. And the amount of money that’s been invested is above and beyond any money that’s ever been invested by any government, even the one when your party was in power.

We are making a substantial difference and laying transformational change in a system that was broken long before we came in to power, and the pandemic, which exacerbated the situation, is being addressed as well, with the investments that are being made which now total over $525 million annually. In fact, Children’s Mental Health Ontario said, “The ... government’s new mental health and addictions strategy,” the Roadmap to Wellness, “is a start towards making transformational changes to address the gaps in service and wait times for child and youth mental health and addictions,” and we will continue making those investments, notwithstanding—

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Thank you.

The deputy leader.

Ms. Sara Singh: I’d like to remind the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions that it was this government that cut planned increases in 2018 to the mental health budget.

But it doesn’t have to be this way for children in our province, Speaker. When experts like Children’s Mental Health Ontario call on us to invest, to cut the wait-lists and build capacity, they can count on New Democrats to support that call to action. But children in Ontario can’t count on this government to do the same. Under the Liberals, the wait-list should have never reached two and a half years for children to see a mental health care professional, and the wait-lists were made even worse when this Premier made cuts rather than investments when taking office.

Will the government recognize that now is the time for universal mental health care services to be a part of OHIP, and use the upcoming budget to build a better mental health care system for our children and people across Ontario?

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: I thought this issue was addressed the last time I was asked. The $325 million that’s being referred to is in fact a campaign promise by a government that got seven seats in the last election. This government invested a 5% increase over the amount that was invested previously by previous governments. This government is making transformational changes in a system that was broken long before we came to power. In 2010, with your members as part of that standing committee, they talked about lack of access, fragmentation, a broken system.

It took this government to build a Roadmap to Wellness that is making transformational changes, and it’s backed by an investment of $525 million annualized, $3.8 billion over 10 years.

We will not take lessons nor listen to the delusions that somehow we’ve reduced spending on mental health. That’s preposterous. I can’t even comment on that. And this is not the first, it’s the 10th time I have heard the same nonsense coming out of the side of the opposition.

Employment standards

Ms. Peggy Sattler: My question is to the Premier. This morning, the Equal Pay Coalition was at Queen’s Park, together with leaders of the Ontario Federation of Labour, the Ontario Nurses’ Association and SEIU Healthcare. They were here to sound the alarm on the Ford government’s attack on the collective bargaining and pay equity rights of nurses, PSWs and many other women workers in health care and social services. The coalition and labour leaders are united in calling on this government to repeal Bill 124, withdraw Bill 106, pay health care workers what they deserve and stop overriding women’s rights to pay equity.

Why did this government decide to gut pay equity in Bill 106 instead of simply paying PSWs, nurses and other public sector workers what they deserve?

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the Minister of Labour.

Hon. Monte McNaughton: I thank the member opposite for this question. First, I want to begin by thanking all of those front-line health care workers who have worked every single day to protect our families and all of our communities.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to take this opportunity to personally pay tribute to a trailblazer in this province, and that is former Premier Kathleen Wynne, the member from Don Valley West. She blazed a trail and she inspired many people across this province.

I just want to share a story. We all know that Premiers have a hectic schedule, a busy schedule. But for me, I remember this one moment at Queen’s Park when I was back in opposition, critical of the former government. My daughter was out front of the Legislature, and the Premier took time to come over and talk to her as a young lady. So I want to say to the former Premier, on behalf of the province of Ontario, on behalf of this government, thank you for your service.

Interjections.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Thank you.

New question. I recognize the member for—

Interjection.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Oh, sorry. My apology.

Supplementary?

Ms. Peggy Sattler: Thank you, Speaker. They say there’s a reason why this is called question period and not answer period.

Bill 106 overturns hard-won Supreme Court victories on pay equity. It is a direct attack on the rights of women in health and social services who have carried us through this pandemic. It is unconstitutional interference with collective bargaining rights, just like the Ford government’s earlier attack on workers with Bill 124.

An Environics poll commissioned by the Equal Pay Coalition was released this morning, showing that 85% of Ontarians believe it is important for the government to do more to promote women’s economic equality. That means decent wages and working conditions like permanent paid sick days.

Ontario voters care about women’s economic equality. Why doesn’t this government?

Hon. Monte McNaughton: It is a priority of this government. I want to remind the member opposite that everyone deserves equal pay, regardless of their gender.

I want to thank the Pay Equity Commissioner, Kadie Ward, who I appointed a couple of years ago. She is doing great work to ensure that women have equal pay in this province. Kadie Ward, the new Pay Equity Commissioner, comes with a wealth of experience. She has worked in Ukraine, and I think it’s important to note that many of the Ukrainian refugees that are going to be coming here are going to be women and children. We’re going to be there with supports for these women and children that come here.

That’s why I was proud to join the Minister of Health, the Premier, the Minister of Infrastructure and Ukrainian Canadian leaders yesterday to announce over $300 million in supports for Ukrainian refugees to find safe haven here in Ontario and to build better lives for them—

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Thank you. That was a test just to make sure the House was paying attention to hold the Speaker accountable, so thank you very much.

It is now time for a new question.

Taxation

Ms. Natalia Kusendova: Good morning. My question is to the Minister of Finance. Minister, I’ve heard from so many constituents in my riding of Mississauga Centre who are very concerned after the federal government raised the price of the carbon tax last Friday. These people are hard-working Ontario families, moms, dads, seniors and our young people who have had a very, very long two years. As the costs continue to rise, especially the cost of living, this tax increase almost couldn’t come at a worse time.

Speaker, through you, how are the minister and the government planning to address these tax hikes imposed by the federal government and cut costs for Ontario families?

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance.

Mr. Will Bouma: Thank you to the member from Mississauga Centre. If I could just say here in the House, I would like to personally thank her for her incredible work, not just on the front lines through the pandemic as a nurse and representing her profession, but also and especially her incredible advocacy for the most vulnerable and marginalized in her community, and indeed, across the entire province of Ontario.

But my colleague is completely right. Our government understands that taxpayers are under pressure. We recognize the impact that inflation, and especially the significant impact that rising gasoline and fuel prices are having on businesses and families, and our government is here for them. That’s why, as part of our plan to provide relief across the board, our government has introduced the Tax Relief at the Pumps Act that would, if passed, temporarily cut the gas tax by 5.7 cents per litre and the fuel tax by 5.3 cents per litre for six months, beginning on July 1. Speaker, this is just one part of our plan to cut costs for every Ontarian.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Supplementary?

Ms. Natalia Kusendova: Thank you to the parliamentary assistant for that response. It’s great to hear that our government has taken the initiative so quickly after a disappointing increase in the carbon tax by the federal government, ensuring Ontarians keep more money in their pockets, not the government’s pockets. After 15 long years of Liberal mismanagement, it’s great to be a part of a government that is working for the taxpayer, for the people in so many ways.

But with so much ongoing economic and world uncertainty, the pressure that so many Ontarians are under, due to inflation and rising costs, is becoming very difficult to bear. Speaker, through you, what is the minister’s and the government’s plan to help build Ontario and cut costs for Ontario’s hard-working families?

Mr. Will Bouma: Thank you again for the great question from the member from Mississauga Centre. She’s absolutely right. Ontarians have faced a tough two years from the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impacts. No government better understands that. That’s why we are continuing to call on the federal government to do the right thing and join Ontario in providing relief for families and workers by cutting the carbon tax.

The Tax Relief at the Pumps Act is just one part of our plan to continue to build Ontario and to keep more money flowing into the pockets of hard-working Ontarians. From removing unfair road tolls on Highways 412 and 418 imposed by the Del Duca government, to eliminating licence plate renewal fees and stickers, to providing tax relief for seniors, workers and families, this government is keeping costs down for the people of Ontario.

Speaker, we, on this side of the House, are the only party that says yes to the people of Ontario and has a plan to fight for them.

Northern health services

Ms. Judith Monteith-Farrell: My question is for the Premier. Speaker, Northwestern Ontario has a dire shortage of physicians, and it needs to be addressed now. For example, the CEO of the Lake of the Woods District Hospital told KenoraOnline he has never seen this many vacancies. Because of the lack of staff, the ICU had to close 14 times since September.

One of the biggest barriers to solving this problem is that the hospital has great difficulty recruiting doctors. The government knows that even with the expansion of the spots at NOSM, it will take many years to clear the current physician shortage of 325 doctors, and that number will continue to rise. What is this government going to do to immediately address the physician shortage in northwestern Ontario?

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the Minister of Health.

Hon. Christine Elliott: Our government did make a commitment to end hallway health care, and that starts with improving access to primary care services for those living in rural and northern Ontario. We do understand that there is a particular concern in northern Ontario with attracting and retaining physicians, but we have both long-term and short-term solutions to that problem. We are providing $6.2 million across 32 primary care teams to improve access to primary care in high-needs communities across the province. We also have, in terms of short-term solutions—I know it’s not ideal, but we do have locum placements in many northern communities.

But I think the biggest long-term solution that we have is increasing the number of placements in our medical schools across the province of Ontario, which were not dealt with by previous governments. But I can speak to that more specifically in the supplemental.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): The supplementary.

Ms. Judith Monteith-Farrell: Again to the Premier: Almost every day I hear from constituents who have trouble accessing primary health care. This has impacts. When we tell people in a pandemic that you need to consult with your physician, and they don’t have one, it’s a problem.

As the NOSM Physician Workforce Strategy makes clear, we need short-, medium- and long-term solutions to ensure that health care needs of northerners are taken care of. Experts say solutions involve training new doctors, of course; recruiting doctors from other places; and retaining doctors we have working in the region now. Physicians are burning out. They’re desperate; they’re leaving. This needs to be a systemic, coordinated approach. What is this government going to do to ensure that there is a systemic approach to the physician shortage in northern Ontario?

Hon. Christine Elliott: We are taking a systemic approach to dealing with this situation, with a variety of solutions. One is, as I previously said, increasing the allocations to our primary health care teams, but there’s also virtual care, which is becoming more and more common. More and more Ontarians want to use that. We are digitizing our health care records. We are also allowing people in northern Ontario to obtain the solutions and assistance from physicians in other locations.

As you’ve mentioned, the most important thing that we’re doing is increasing the number of doctors that we actually have in the province of Ontario. We’re increasing the number of placements by 160 undergraduate seats and 295 postgraduate seats, of which the Northern Ontario School of Medicine will be receiving 30 undergraduate and 41 postgraduate seats. That’s really important for people who live in northern Ontario to be able to train in northern Ontario, and it’s much more likely that they will stay in northern Ontario. That is a true long-term solution to this problem.

COVID-19 immunization

Mr. Rick Nicholls: Speaker, through you to the Minister of Colleges and Universities: The objectives of directive 6 issued by Dr. Moore were to set out a provincially consistent approach to COVID-19 immunization policies, but directive 6 also allowed for unvaccinated students to continue to learn online, and that seemed to work okay for students whose personal choice was to not get vaccinated.

It was immoral that the colleges and universities decided on their own and were allowed to further jeopardize students and teachers when they implemented an unnecessary policy of vaccinate or terminate, or even lose your academic year. Students had their personal reasons for not wanting the vaccine, and it was obvious that these non-medical “powers to be” disregarded personal choice.

Your government continued to allow these institutions to move far beyond directive 6 into a heavy-handed, authoritarian approach. So, Minister, will you step in and stop these non-medical educational institutions from forcing an invasive medical procedure on staff and students?

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Obviously, our colleges and universities are independent institutions that make independent decisions. The good news is that, as the Minister of Health has highlighted, with the high vaccination rates in the province of Ontario and, really, the groundbreaking investments we’ve made in hospital capacity in preparing the province of Ontario, following 15 years of failure to make these types of investments, Ontario is in a very good spot to weather the storm.

At the same time, it’s also important to note that our colleges and universities really pivoted very quickly. It took a lot of resources and additional funding to prepare them so that our students could continue to learn online when the pivot was necessary. The Minister of Colleges and Universities did some great work on that, as did the Minister of Education for our elementary and secondary school students.

We’re very proud of the fact that, despite a global pandemic, our students have been able to continue to work, they’ve continued to graduate and they’ve continued to provide exceptional benefit to the province of Ontario and will continue to do so—

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Thank you.

Supplementary?

Mr. Rick Nicholls: Back to the minister: These educational institutions continue to go even further by mandating vaccines for all students and lecturers, regardless of whether students take the courses online or on campus. Does that make any sense? Students have no option; they’re being coerced. Colleges and universities are now forcing students, if they want to pass, to attend classes in person to be vaccinated; if not, they are disenrolled.

Students who have been disenrolled and whose educational institution claimed that they are unable to confirm if the student will be returning must repay their OSAP six months after that point of disenrolment. Why? Perhaps your ministry could reconsider its stand and implement a no-vaccine mandate and tell these institutions they can no longer mandate vaccines.

It has been said that education is something no one can take away from you. Minister, don’t take students’ education away. Minister, what are you prepared to do to protect unvaccinated students, who are entitled to an education and a good job?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Again, I thank the member for the question. We’re obviously prepared to do everything it takes to keep the people of the province of Ontario safe, including our students. That is why the Minister of Education, when it comes to elementary and secondary students, has ensured that we have one of—if not the—safest return-to-school protocols in the entire country.

The Minister of Colleges and Universities—when the pandemic hit, we knew very well how important it was to allow these students to continue their education so that they could graduate, so that they could progress into the careers of their choice, what they had worked so hard to do. That is why we put enormous resources in to allow our colleges and universities to pivot very quickly, something that they were going to do over a long period of time. We allowed it to happen seamlessly and very quickly so that they could continue to get the education that they’re paying for, Mr. Speaker, and that is so vital, not only to their future but to the future of the people of the province of Ontario.

As the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade adds so many new jobs in so many different sectors of the economy, we need these students to continue to graduate so that they can fill the thousands of jobs that are empty and that are needing to be filled in the province of Ontario. They have a great future, as do all Ontarians, because of the decisions of this government.

Life sciences sector

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. We saw the minister in Hamilton just last week make an exciting announcement at McMaster Innovation Park to support our life sciences sector. Ontario’s life sciences sector is a key part of Ontario’s economy and employs thousands of workers across the province.

Now, more than ever, Ontarians are counting on our government to grow Ontario’s life sciences sector and secure new investments in next-generation health technology, medicines and vaccine manufacturing. Speaker, through you, can the minister tell us how his ministry and our government plans to grow Ontario’s biomanufacturing and life sciences sector?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Companies have made a streak of game-changing investments in Ontario in the auto sector recently. In the past 17 months, we’ve seen $12 billion in investments, adding thousands of jobs.

But as the member pointed out, other sectors in Ontario have been seeing similar success. Over that same period of time, Ontario has welcomed investments of almost $2 billion by leading life science companies, including Sanofi, Resilience and Roche. Last week OmniaBio announced a $580-million investment to build a new cell and gene therapy manufacturing facility at McMaster University in Hamilton. And Invest Ontario, our investment attraction agency, made their very first investment by providing $40 million.

Speaker, whether it’s a game-changing auto investment one day or a half-a-billion-dollar life science investment another day, it’s clear that Ontario is getting stronger.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Supplementary?

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: Thank you, Minister, for that answer. Through you, Speaker, we’ve seen a number of investments over the past few years, which have contributed to the growth of Ontario’s life sciences sector. I’m sure my constituents, and all Ontarians, are excited to hear about the record-breaking investments we’ve attracted, as opposed to the mass exodus of jobs caused by the previous Liberal government.

Speaker, through you: Could the minister tell us what new investments have been made and how his ministry is positioning Ontario to be the life sciences sector hub of Canada?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Last week we also announced a new life sciences strategy, the very first provincial strategy for that sector in more than a decade. This announcement included $15 million for the Life Sciences Innovation Program, which helps position the sector for long-term growth, investment and job creation.

We set a lofty goal of 85,000 high-value jobs by 2030, focusing on four areas: growing our business biomanufacturing, building domestic PPE, boosting commercialization and adopting innovations. Our vision, Speaker, is to establish Ontario as a global leader in biomanufacturing and life sciences. We will continue making the right strategic investments to support critical industries like our life sciences sector.

Automobile insurance

Mr. Gurratan Singh: My question is to the Premier. Times are really tough right now. People are struggling with how expensive life is becoming, from the cost of gas, to groceries, to auto insurance. But instead of helping people, the Conservative government is allowing billion-dollar car insurance companies to rip off Ontarians.

Does the Premier think it’s okay that there are people in Ontario who are paying more for car insurance than for the mortgage of their own home? Does the Premier think it’s okay that there are people with clear driving records who are being charged higher rates, purely based on where they live? Does the Premier think it’s okay that there are people who are struggling to make ends meet because of the crushing cost of car insurance?

Well, it’s not okay, but the Premier is allowing it to happen. Will the Premier do the right thing and vote yes to our NDP bill to lower car insurance rates to make life more affordable?

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance.

Mr. Will Bouma: I appreciate that question, because the member is absolutely right. The people of Ontario work hard, and our government understands that the taxpayers are under pressure. That’s why we have been following the auto insurance sector so very, very closely. That’s also why we had a clear message to insurance companies as we went through the COVID pandemic: You should provide relief that reflects the financial hardships your customers are facing because of COVID-19. By encouraging and promoting timely action by insurers, our government enabled more than $1 billion in consumer savings, affecting 93% of Ontario drivers.

Mr. Speaker, we continue to remove barriers to relief, and by doing that, we will be able to provide options and choice to consumers in the province of Ontario. In fact, David Marshall’s new report stated that FSRA, since 2019, “has been active in reducing regulatory burden.” We support the work the regulator is doing to cut red tape. I’ll say more in the supplemental.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Supplementary?

Mr. Gurratan Singh: Back to the Premier: The only thing that the Conservative government is following is whatever their insider friends and buddies want in the insurance companies. If we look at the track record of this Conservative government, it’s very clear: They allowed rates to go up in 2018 when they first got elected; they allowed rates to go up when we saw traffic drop to some of its lowest during the height of the pandemic; and now, as people struggle to make ends meet, they continue to let rates go up.

In case the Conservative government was confused, let me make it clear: The buck stops with the Premier. Rates only go up when the Conservative government allows them to go up. People deserve better. They deserve to live an affordable life where they’re not suffering under these crushing auto insurance premiums. Will the Premier do the right thing and vote yes to our NDP bill and make life more affordable to Ontarians?

Mr. Will Bouma: David Marshall’s new report mentioned that the future of consumer services, like insurance, lies in being responsive to rapid changes, such as pricing and innovation. We recently implemented, through FSRA, a new regulatory sandbox to test new initiatives to respond to changing consumer needs. Successful innovations from this sandbox would be delivered to the consumer market. We will continue to increase consumer choice through enabling our auto insurers to offer optional direct compensation property damage, savings for good drivers with telemetrics and develop stronger anti-fraud measures.

Mr. Speaker, the key is affordability. We understand that the people of the province of Ontario need relief. That’s why we are taking measures in the auto insurance industry, at the gas pumps, with your vehicle licence plate stickers in order to provide that relief to the people of Ontario.

Rent regulation

Mr. Stephen Blais: In fact, the key is affordability. In 2018, this government made a number of promises—big promises—that they failed to deliver on, including their promise not to touch rent control. I believe the quote from the Premier at the time was, “I have listened to the people, and I won’t take rent control away from anyone. Period. When it comes to rent control, we’re going to maintain the status quo.” That was May 2018, Mr. Speaker. Lo and behold, one of the very first things this Premier did was to take rent control away from thousands of Ontarians. And a year later, tenants were reporting double-digit increases.

With skyrocketing housing costs right across the province, these rent controls could have provided much-needed relief to thousands of renters who are struggling to make ends meet. This is just another broken promise in the long list of broken promises from this Premier.

After two years of turmoil, does the government regret breaking their 2018 commitment to maintain rent control in Ontario?

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Steve Clark: I want to thank the honourable member for the question. It gives us the opportunity as a government to talk about what we promised Ontarians. We promised Ontarians, from the first day we sat in the Legislature, that we were going to do everything we could to increase housing supply. We also kept our promise to preserve rent control for existing tenants. It was a promise we made during the 2018 election.

So what did that promise that was in the fall economic statement accomplish? Well, we’re now seeing purpose-built rental construction, the likes that we haven’t seen since the early 1990s, since 1992, Speaker. In each consecutive year after our housing supply action plan, communities across Ontario saw purpose-built rentals being constructed where it had not been even thought about under the previous government.

Your government, sir, over 15 years, neglected purpose-built rental. Nothing was built. Under our government, that changed.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I’ll just remind all members to please direct their comments through the Chair.

I recognize the member from Orléans for the supplemental.

Mr. Stephen Blais: Well, let’s talk about some of the government’s promises, as the minister highlighted in his answer. They promised to lower hydro rates—fail. They promised to lower gas prices—fail. They promised a 20% income tax cut—fail.

The government can come up with any excuse they want, but Ontarians know that their rent is higher today than it was four years ago. The cost of a one-bedroom rental in Ottawa is over $1,600; in Toronto, it’s over $2,000. This morning, I took a look in Brockville: It’s almost $1,300 in Brockville. Rents are sky-high, and this government has done absolutely nothing to keep them under control or help Ontarians with growing costs.

Will the government admit that they broke their 2018 promise to maintain rent control in Ontario, and immediately bring it back for relief for Ontario families?

Hon. Steve Clark: I laid out the facts on the state of purpose-built rentals in Ontario. We’re seeing 30-year highs in communities all across Ontario. We want to build upon that. We want to work with our municipal partners.

And we’re all very excited about the federal budget today, to see the measures that the federal government is putting forward, the money that they’re spending. I’ve said it many times here: Dealing with the housing supply crisis is a long-term strategy. We need all three levels of government for it to work.

But you know what, Speaker? I’m not going to take any lessons from this guy across the way and his party. For 15 years, hydro rates—sitting in the constituency office, like I had, sir, and to have every single call, for week after week after week, complaining about this government’s inaction on the hydro file, closing rural schools, making life unaffordable, choking off our medium and small hospitals. I’m not going to take any lessons from this guy at all.

Health care funding

Mr. Norman Miller: My question is for the President of the Treasury Board. From day one of this pandemic, our government has been committed to protecting the health, safety and well-being of the people of Ontario. But we all saw that when the pandemic was declared in March 2020, Ontario was not prepared. COVID-19 exposed long-standing gaps across our health care system: unused PPE had expired in provincial stockpiles, Ontario was reliant on other jurisdictions for supplies and provincial pandemic plans had not been updated.

I was pleased to see our government release A Plan to Stay Open, to ensure we are never caught flat-footed in another emergency. Can the President of the Treasury Board tell us exactly what is in our government’s plan to stay open?

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the parliamentary assistant to the President of the Treasury Board.

Mr. Rudy Cuzzetto: Thank you to the member from Parry Sound–Muskoka for that timely question.

The member is exactly right. At the outbreak of this pandemic, we were not prepared. Since March 2020, this government has made historic investments to protect the people of Ontario, but it is clear more must be done. That is why we have released A Plan to Stay Open and introduced the Pandemic and Emergency Preparedness Act to build up our capacity to respond. These steps will expand Ontario’s health care workforce, improve the production of critical supplies and build more hospital beds to ensure we have the capacity to meet any future challenges. Unlike the previous government, we understand the importance of investing in Ontario’s health care system.

Speaker, I will have more to stay in the supplementary about this plan and how we will continue to protect the people of Ontario by keeping Ontario open.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): Supplementary.

Mr. Norman Miller: Thank you to the parliamentary assistant for that response.

The pandemic brought to light long-standing systemic challenges. Hallway health care has been a problem in Ontario for decades. In my riding, our hospitals are frequently well over 100% capacity, largely because of the number of ALC patients who can’t get into a long-term-care facility or get home care. Recently, Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare is seeing 40% of our beds occupied by ALC patients.

Between 2011 and 2018, the Liberal government built only 611 net new long-term-care beds. Meanwhile, our government has 27,148 new and 23,504 upgraded beds in the development pipeline.

Back to the President of the Treasury Board: How will his legislation and A Plan to Stay Open add more beds to our health care system?

Mr. Rudy Cuzzetto: Again, Speaker, I want to thank the member for that question. I want to thank the Minister of Long-Term Care for all the excellent work he is doing to build our long-term-care homes across this province.

I also want to thank Minister Elliott. Through the Ministry of Health we are investing $22 billion over the next 10 years to address challenges around bed shortages. These investments will increase capacity in the existing hospitals, build new health care facilities in our communities and renew aging hospitals and community health care centres. This investment includes the launch of 50 new major projects and will add over 3,000 new beds over the next decade. This is on top of the 3,100 acute and post-acute care beds this government has already added to the system.

Let me be clear to the people of Ontario: We know it is our responsibility to prepare the province for future generations. And again, this Premier is getting things done.

Mental health and addiction services

Ms. Jennifer K. French: My question is to the Minister of Health. The Back Door Mission and its Mission United service partners established a model of care to support the immediate crisis needs of those most in need in Oshawa. The downtown clinic has operated with one nurse practitioner, one RN and rotating doctors providing specialist care. The Mission United clinic provides primary care and a full clinic to about 600 clients—individuals who previously did not receive primary care due to systemic barriers and otherwise might not. This population suffers chronic homelessness, mental health challenges and addictions, and, in most cases, a complex combination of all three.

Unbelievably, the funding from the province through Ontario Health East has evaporated without warning. Days ago, the medical support team found out the funding would not continue beyond March 31, and our community and vulnerable neighbours desperately need this funding to continue. It is not hyperbole to say that lives are at stake.

I’ve sent the minister a letter outlining the situation. Will the Minister of Health commit to the funding needed immediately to run this desperately needed acute care clinic at the Back Door Mission?

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bill Walker): I recognize the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Thank you for that question. Clearly, when it comes to mental health, addictions and, of course, health, they are interrelated. It’s extremely important that the supports and services are in place to help everyone, especially our most vulnerable.

I just learned of the Back Door Mission. I’m not familiar with it, but I certainly would like to spend a little bit more time and understand a