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May 31, 2021

42nd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

vol. A

Hansard Transcripts

vol. B

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2021-May-31 vol. A (PDF)

L268A - Mon 31 May 2021 / Lun 31 mai 2021

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Monday 31 May 2021 Lundi 31 mai 2021

Private Members’ Public Business

Retirement Home Justice and Accountability Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur la justice et la responsabilité dans les maisons de retraite

Members’ Statements

Residential schools

Anti-racism activities

Autism treatment

Stroke

Education

Residential schools

COVID-19 response

Residential schools

COVID-19 immunization

Community organization funding

Tabling of sessional papers

Residential schools

Question Period

COVID-19 immunization

Education

Residential schools

COVID-19 response

College standards and accreditation

Residential schools

Professional and amateur sport

Small business

COVID-19 response

Small business

Small business

Residential schools / COVID-19 immunization

Tenant protection

Health care workers

COVID-19 immunization

Deferred Votes

Extension of emergency orders

Moving Ontarians More Safely Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 visant à assurer à la population ontarienne des déplacements plus sûrs

Retirement Home Justice and Accountability Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur la justice et la responsabilité dans les maisons de retraite

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on General Government

Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs

Motions

House sittings

Petitions

Optometry services

Affordable housing

Optometry services

Affordable housing

Gasoline prices

Affordable housing

Optometry services

Laurentian University

Multiple sclerosis

Optometry services

Orders of the Day

Advancing Oversight and Planning in Ontario’s Health System Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 visant à faire progresser la surveillance et la planification dans le cadre du système de santé de l’Ontario

The House met at 0900.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Good morning. We’re going to begin this morning with a moment of silence for inner thought and personal reflection.

Prayers.

Private Members’ Public Business

Retirement Home Justice and Accountability Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur la justice et la responsabilité dans les maisons de retraite

Ms. Shaw moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 296,

An Act to amend the Retirement Homes Act, 2010 to dissolve the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority / Projet de loi 296, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2010 sur les maisons de retraite afin de dissoudre l’Office de réglementation des maisons de retraite.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Pursuant to the standing orders of the House, the member has 12 minutes for her presentation.

Ms. Sandy Shaw: The bill is called the Retirement Home Justice and Accountability Act, but I would like to say that it would be unbearable for me to speak about justice and accountability this morning without paying respect to 215 lost children—precious children, stolen children, children who were loved, lost and mourned by their families. The discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children buried in an unmarked mass grave of a former residential school in British Columbia is a national shame, and this is about justice and accountability. It’s a crime that Canadians can no longer look away from.

It’s no great secret that children lie in the properties of former residential schools across this country and across this province. Ryan McMahon, an Anishinaabe writer, profoundly said, “The more we dig the more truth we find.”

Just down the road from my riding in Brantford is the Mohawk Institute, which is now the Woodland Cultural Centre. Over the weekend, survivors and community members gathered there to hold space for one another and to share their stories and to collectively grieve. The government of Ontario has lowered flags to half-mast to honour those children, and that’s the right thing to do, Mr. Speaker. But until governments across this country take meaningful action on the injustices that we continue to see today—missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, the housing and water crisis in First Nations communities that we hear about in this House—we will not have done our job as legislators.

Other hard lessons that this province has learned during COVID are the way that we have looked after our seniors in long-term care. The lessons are so awful; the stories we hear are unbearable. We have heard from the Canadian Armed Forces, and we’ve now heard from the long-term-care commission that we saw seniors living and dying in unbearable conditions. We now know that this is something that we were warned about, the way that we were treating seniors in long-term care, and we could have prevented this tragedy. It’s my hope that going forward we will learn the lessons from what happened in long-term-care homes.

But what has flown under the radar somewhat is that the people and seniors living in retirement homes also suffered devastating impacts during COVID-19. It needs to be acknowledged that 770 licensed retirement homes, almost all of which are for-profit corporations, operate here in the province of Ontario, and they have a population of about 60,000 residents. As of May of this year, more than 185 COVID-19 outbreaks have been identified at 171 of those licensed retirement homes.

That’s the equivalent of 22% of all retirement homes in Ontario that have been in outbreak, and there are currently many retirement homes that continue to be in outbreak. There have been nearly 4,000 cumulative cases of COVID-19 in retirement homes, and unfortunately, 603 retirement home residents have died as a result of COVID-19 and one staff member was lost.

So although the long-term-care sector was ultimately hit harder in terms of the numbers, these numbers in retirement homes also illustrate that residents living there comprised a uniquely vulnerable population. It is my contention and the contention of this bill that these COVID-19 outbreaks in retirement homes were only exacerbated by the failure of this sector’s regulatory oversight, because unlike long-term care, which is directly governed or overseen by the Ministry of Long-Term Care, the retirement home sector is overseen by a delegated authority.

For those of you that don’t understand what that means, essentially the government has taken the Retirement Homes Act and given a third-party body the responsibility to enforce the requirements of the act. The Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority is a self-governing body that oversees the act on behalf of the government, and unless you live in a retirement home or unless you have a family member that lives in a retirement home, you might not be aware of this. In fact, studies have shown very few Ontarians understand how this sector is regulated.

In fact, studies have also shown that even if residents live in a retirement home, they’re not clear what their rights are and how they’re governed. This regulatory regime was put in place by the previous Liberal government and it continues to be supported to this day by the current government.

In fact, it should be noted that Ontario is the only province in Canada that has a self-funded administrative authority that oversees the retirement sector. So essentially, we’ve given another body the right to self-govern, to self-oversee themselves in a sector that is dominated by for-profit corporations and is also responsible for the well-being of very, very vulnerable people.

This regime has been in place for about 10 years, and it’s way past time to acknowledge that this framework has failed. It has failed in its requirement to oversee the act and it has failed our vulnerable seniors living in retirement homes, because, after all, the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority is entrusted with keeping residents safe and keeping vulnerable seniors safe. Really, there’s so much evidence to show that this regime, the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority, has failed in its mandate.

It may well be that this self-regulating third-party body, the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority, benefits the profitable retirement home industry, but it’s so clear that this is not working for our seniors and other vulnerable people who currently live in retirement homes.

The evidence of the failures of this regulatory regime are many. We don’t really have to look much further than the Auditor General’s report, which revealed so many of the failings in this sector. The Auditor General identified that multiple parties have sounded the alarm about inadequate staffing and poor resident care over many years.

The Auditor General’s report also identified that retirement homes with repeat violations and non-compliance orders have been permitted to continue to care for seniors, those waiting for placement in long-term care, and other adults with complex medical needs in these homes without being required by the regulatory authority to make real and substantial change.

I think it’s important to note that these repeated failures by home operators that the RHRA has identified—they continue to allow these homes to operate, despite these ongoing violations and failures. Retirement homes that had been asked over and over again to install sprinkler systems have failed to do so, continuing to be allowed to operate in this province. If that isn’t evidence of a lax regime, I don’t know what else is.

But we all have stories of retirement homes in our communities that show the failure of the oversight regime. In Hamilton, we had the Rosslyn. It’s a terrible example of a home that was allowed to operate year after year after year despite countless documented concerns. Then, during COVID-19, the Rosslyn retirement home had to be evacuated: 64 out of 66 of the residents contracted COVID, along with 22 staff; 19 residents ultimately lost their lives. The on-site conditions were so appalling that families of the residents have filed a class action suit.

The Rosslyn is not the only home in our communities that has failed seniors, and we’ll be hearing about that from some of the other members here.

I think it’s important to also note that the face of retirement homes is changing. It’s no longer a place where people go because they just want to have meals provided for them. People in retirement homes are increasingly sicker and more vulnerable.

It’s also important to note that of the 40,000 people in the province of Ontario waiting for a placement in long-term care, 10,000 of them are in retirement homes. Those are called alternate-level-of-care patients, and the Auditor General identified that when people are waiting in retirement homes for a long-term-care bed, they are not covered by any regulation or any oversight. That is clearly a failure that needs to be addressed.

I think it’s also really important to acknowledge the staff who work in retirement homes. PSWs are on the front line and they have been sounding the alarm for years and years about what is going on in retirement homes and long-term care homes, and it’s time that we listen.

I was able to consult with many unions that represent PSWs and I want to thank them for their insight and the time that they provided to share with me the conditions in retirement homes. This was backed up by the Auditor General, who also noted that PSWs working in retirement homes are the lowest-paid of workers in care settings. That just continues to confirm what we’ve been hearing from unions. We’re hearing from workers in those retirement care homes that the level of care that’s being asked for them to provide is something that is not normally expected in retirement homes.

It’s also important to note that the composition of the board of retirement homes has raised many an eyebrow. This is a self-appointed board that’s primarily comprised of representatives from industry, many representing the large, for-profit chains like Chartwell and Revera. And they’re self-appointed, so it raises the question: How can this retirement regulatory authority be independent and provide the kind of oversight that is required when, in fact, they have an inherent conflict of interest?

It’s important to note that successive governments have allowed this to exist. COVID has lifted the lid on what has happened in long-term-care homes and now we need to understand what is going on in retirement homes. It’s no longer acceptable for us to turn away from this. It’s no longer acceptable for a government to delegate their responsibility, to hide behind the regulatory regime. It’s high time that the government understood that seniors living in retirement homes deserve the protection that this government should be providing them. That is your responsibility. It is your job to keep them safe.

I think that we need to make sure not only that retirement homes are part of a regulatory regime that looks after seniors, but that we have the kinds of protections that everyone expects will be there when their loved ones are in retirement homes.

I expect that the government will accept this bill and put it in place so that we can continue to make sure that residents in retirement homes are protected.

The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Lisa Gretzky): Further debate?

Mrs. Daisy Wai: I appreciate the opportunity to rise today to speak to the motion from the member opposite. I will be sharing my time with the MPP from Whitby.

The health and well-being of our retirement home residents and their families continues to be at the forefront of our policies. After more than 15 years of neglect by the previous government, we are determined to build a stronger retirement home system. That is why the Attorney General identified that there are problems—but they have existed for many years. We, our government, will strengthen care and safety protections for the residents and look for opportunities to further address steps which were identified during the pandemic.

Let me review what we have done and what we are going to do now. Our government was elected with a mandate to deliver results for the people. This has been our guiding light, both in the area of the retirement home sector and also in many areas of action we have taken. Being for the people requires many things, but most of all, it requires an unwavering allegiance to service. It is this ethic of service which we have taken to our supports for seniors, and especially to our loved ones in the retirement homes.

The first element of our ethic of service is to ensure that we are protecting the health and well-being of our retirement home residents, our front-line heroes and families. This is why we have acted quickly during the pandemic. We began to do this right at the retirement homes and followed the guidance of the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

We know that our residents in the retirement homes deserve a safe environment in which to live. Our government responded to the needs of our residents and front-line staff by investing over $60 million in infection prevention and control measures. This support helped pay for the extra PPE, testing, training and staffing for the retirement homes.

I want to take an extra moment to specifically thank all of those who work in our retirement homes across Ontario. The staff who have worked tirelessly in our retirement homes truly are heroes. They have demonstrated a true dedication of care to help each other, our retirement home residents as well as their families. This government, in recognition of the exemplary service that our front-line staff have provided—we have invested an extra $85 million in temporary premium pandemic pay specifically for those who work in the retirement homes, a way to demonstrate our appreciation for them.

Other than staffing, we know that vaccination is the path out of this pandemic for our province. Seniors were the first group who were vaccinated. We know that age is also a key factor to suffering some of the worst effects from this virus, including the risk of death. Every death from this virus is a tragedy, Madam Speaker, and our government offers our condolences to the families and the friends of each of those who has passed away. My heart goes out to each and every one of them.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of the government’s mandate. We must continue to move forward with ensuring that the services delivered to the people are for the people; we will always put the customer first. That is why our government is moving forward with the Retirement Homes Act review. We are looking into every element of how services are delivered to our retirement home residents.

As a government that is dedicated to the mandate “For the People,” we are working towards a stronger retirement home sector that delivers services in the manner being asked for by residents and their families. Our review involves working collaboratively with residents, their families, front-line workers, the retirement home sector, staff and all the interested stakeholders to consider how we can ensure that we provide the best service for our seniors in the retirement homes. We encourage the opposition and all members of this House to join us in delivering on this ethic of service.

And while we welcome the feedback from every Ontarian and each member of this Legislature as part of our review, it would be premature to limit the options related to how we deliver those services needed by the residents and their families.

A comprehensive evaluation requires weighing all the options with an eye always to ensure that those services provided are delivered in the way needed by and at a rate that is affordable for Ontarians. Minister Raymond Cho and I will continue to work hard, not only for the residents in the retirement homes, but for all the seniors in the province. I appreciate that MPP Coe will provide more information on how we have worked with our community partners to support seniors aging at home so that they can enjoy their family members and keep active in the community.

As a government elected for the people, we will deliver the change that is needed. Together, we can deliver an ethic of service for the people.

The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Lisa Gretzky): Further debate?

M me France Gélinas: It is an honour for me to support the bill brought forward by my colleague to change the Retirement Homes Act. I was there in 2010 when the then-Liberal government brought the Retirement Homes Act. I voted against it in 2010, and if it was here today, I would vote against it again.

Think about it, Speaker. Think about it: You have over 80,000 mainly frail seniors; the average age is 83; 70% of them are women. They move into a retirement home and the only protection we afford those people is the landlord and tenant act. Last year, 10 vulnerable seniors from retirement homes were evicted from their retirement home unit. Think about it: They were evicted.

Make no mistake, 94% of retirement homes in Ontario are for-profit. Chartwell and Revera are the biggest ones. They make a ton of money. Ask them how much of the $4.7 million they pay their CEOs comes from the profit of the retirement homes—a lot of it.

My in-laws were in retirement homes. When my father-in-law passed, my mother-in-law decided to stay in the same unit. For a 360-square-foot unit—that’s about from you to me—she paid $4,800 a month; $4,800 a month for a 360-square-foot unit. Who would ever pay this anywhere? No one. A 94-year-old who doesn’t have the energy to move: Those are the people that their unscrupulous retirement home owners charge that kind of money to.

We have a duty as legislators to give them protection. They deserve government oversight. What we have now doesn’t work. It works for the owners. They make millions and millions of dollars on the backs of those elderly people. It does not work for the people of Ontario. It is a shame on all of us that we do not provide the oversight to those people who live there. They deserve it. What we have now fails them each and every day.

I was happy to see the member from the government talk about the $60 million that the government gave to the retirement homes for infection protection and control. They also gave them a discount on their electricity. They also gave them discounts on their taxes through the pandemic to try to help them. How did the industry respond to this? They turned around and charged each and every one of their residents between $90 and $120 a month to pay for extra PPE. They were getting money from the government for IPAC, to buy PPE, and they turned around and said, “Well, rent has been capped.

We cannot increase the rent anymore this year, so we’re going to go and get an extra $1,000 from those 80,000 residents to pay for PPE that the government was already subsidizing.” Did they pass on the savings from the hydro? Did they pass on the savings from the taxes? Did they pass on the—none of that. They don’t pass on any savings, but they pass on any opportunity to increase the rent, and that’s wrong; $4,800 for 360 square feet is wrong, but it is happening all the time.

It has to change, Speaker, and this is what this bill will set out to do. It will bring a level of government oversight to those 80,000 frail elderly people who deserve our protection. Don’t leave it out to the force of the market. It doesn’t work. They are being financially abused.

Now let’s look at how the supervision of this is being done—but we won’t, because we’ve run out of time. Thank you, Speaker.

The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Lisa Gretzky): Further debate?

Mr. Lorne Coe: Good morning, Speaker. I come to this debate this morning as a former staff member at the Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat and also was the past president of the Ontario Association of Local Public Health Agencies. As members will know, we’re in the final phase of combatting COVID-19, where the vaccines are the most important weapon. We’ve seen a demonstration of that vaccination process across Ontario, but more particularly, in the retirement home setting and the success of that. I can point to the region of Durham and the town of Whitby, where the public health department, led by Dr.

Robert Kyle, has had great success in vaccinating all the residents across the region of Durham, including many of the staff, and we’ve seen the positive impacts of those efforts.

Now, added to that, Speaker, we’ve also helped to provide great relief for retirement home residents through a rent freeze, and this important action on the leadership of Minister Clark helped to provide cost certainty at a time when it was needed for retirement home residents by holding the line on their rents in 2020 and 2021. At the same time that we helped provide cost certainty for retirement home residents, our government has been ensuring that there were expanded virtual activities available for seniors all across the province, and that stems from the ongoing dialogue that occurred with residents’ councils within those retirement homes.

Speaker, we know that it’s not enough to help protect our seniors’ physical health, but also social isolation. We absolutely understand how a holistic approach to physical and mental health can produce more positive outcomes. I know that not only from my experience at the Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat as a civil servant, but also out of my previous work that I alluded to at the beginning of my remarks, which is why we have placed such an emphasis on helping seniors stay engaged online.

Speaker, as we move forward with the Retirement Homes Act review—and again, this review was precipitated by ongoing consultation and feedback that we’ve had from a variety of stakeholder groups. Within the ministry, there’s an ongoing consultation with a long-established group of seniors’ organizations that represent thousands and thousands of seniors. On the basis of that input, and other stakeholder communities, we’re moving forward with this review, as we should, because that review will inform the way forward.

I am absolutely confident that, through that review and that process—because it’s a consultative process—we will ensure retirement home residents can continue to live safely, which I know you aspire to and every other MPP in this House today aspires to, with dignity and respect, understanding that these residents and others who might be residents built our communities and continue to make informed choices about their care options, which they should have the opportunity to do.

At the end of the day, this review will ensure that the seniors who live in these retirement homes will continue to live with the dignity and respect they deserve. They deserve no less, Speaker.

The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Lisa Gretzky): Further debate?

Mr. Wayne Gates: I just want to make a comment about my colleague who talked very passionately about what’s going on in our retirement homes. Not only did they not pass on the government money that went to retirement homes, but they took that money and gave it to their CEOS and their shareholders. Nobody talks about that.

The one thing that we haven’t talked enough about, quite frankly, is retirement homes. In my riding, every single retirement home had outbreaks of COVID. Every single retirement home had people die. Every single retirement home had staff get sick. Some are still sick, by the way.

And then I came across probably the worst thing I’ve seen, I think, in my entire life, at Greycliff Manor. A young man in his thirties was in Hamilton General Hospital and he had a stroke. What they did was, instead of making sure he was okay in a hospital, they sent him to what they call alternate care. They sent him to a retirement home, Greycliff Manor, where they didn’t have the staff and they didn’t have the expertise to take care of him for the multiple problems that he was having with his heart.

I ask anybody here, why do you send a young man to a retirement home knowing they have no staff and they don’t have any expertise? It was one of the worst, and we know it was one worst because they had already taken the licence away, and they gave it to a third party controlled by the person who they took the licence away from. So he went there. He had a couple more strokes; he was a sick guy. He decided to have a medically assisted death.

The day before he was going to have medically assisted death, all his family came: brothers, sisters, his daughter. Do you know what they saw when they got there? This could be to the member over there that spoke. If you sat on the board, you should know this is going on in retirement homes. People are dying in retirement homes because they had no PPE. They had no staffing. It wasn’t just in Greycliff; it was in every single one of the retirement homes that I had.

So they get to his room the day before, and what do they find? They found their brother, their father laying in a bed that hadn’t been changed for a month. It had feces in the bed. It had urine in the bed. The room was covered with feces. The family, so he would have some kind of respect and dignity, tried to clean the room up the best they could, because they had no staff to do it. This is what’s going on in retirement homes right across.

We talk about deaths, we talk about long-term care all the time. We don’t spend enough time on retirement homes, because, quite frankly, the for-profit industry is making all their money on retirement homes. How many people know that here? Because we spend a lot of time talking about long-term care. They’re making all their money in retirement homes.

The next day the family comes back. Obviously, with everything that was going on with his body at that time and they were going to do the assisted dying at about 2 o’clock, his daughter came. She had to lay in that bed—and this should bring tears to everybody’s eyes. This young girl had to lay in that bed with her dad, hugging him. I have pictures—hugging her dad, telling him how much she loved him, laying in feces, laying in urine. Think about it: How is that possible in a province like Ontario, one of the richest provinces in this country? No daughter, no family member should have to live through that.

The last thing that little girl is going to remember is her dad—yes, she loved him to death, but the last thing she’s going to remember is laying there with feces and urine all over that bed.

That’s why this bill is so important. That’s why it’s important to support it. You can do all the reviews you want, because I’ve heard nothing but reviews for the last three years here. This is what’s happening in retirement homes right across the province of Ontario, and we’ve all got to do better and support this bill.

The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Lisa Gretzky): Further debate?

Mr. Mike Schreiner: I rise to speak on Bill 296,

an act to amend the Retirement Homes Act. I want to thank the member from Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas for bringing this bill forward. I’m going to speak to this bill in a moment, but to reflect the words from the member, today is an important day to talk about justice. We are going to talk about justice for elders today, but we also have to talk about justice for Indigenous peoples today as well.

And I thank the member for opening her comments because we can’t speak about justice without speaking about the 215 Indigenous children who were discovered in a mass grave at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. Speaker, we can’t speak about justice if we don’t speak about children that were stolen from their families, children whose futures were stolen from them by people who were supposed to be caring for them; a school system that the truth and reconciliation commission has called cultural genocide, a system that is a stain on our past.

So, Speaker, we will mourn. We as a country will mourn these children. We will mourn the intergenerational trauma from the residential school system, but we also have to act to dismantle systemic racism and colonial structures.

And so, today, when we talk about Bill 296, I also want to talk about justice for elders. Speaker, self-regulation doesn’t work. It doesn’t work when it comes to caring for people. In the first wave of this pandemic, so many people talked about long-term care, and rightfully so. But as, I believe, the member from Niagara said, the tragedy in retirement homes was real as well. Some of the horrific images I saw of personal support workers not having access to PPE was not only in long-term care, but it was in retirement homes.

Oftentimes, people don’t realize the differences and similarities between the two. People in retirement homes don’t have a clear understanding of what their rights are, because of the self-regulatory body. People don’t realize that a number of alternative-level-of-care patients are cared for in retirement homes, but the regulatory structure doesn’t reflect that. It doesn’t reflect the fact that the levels of complexity and care have not only significantly increased in long-term care, but it has also increased in retirement homes.

The Auditor General has made it very clear that the regulatory structure for retirement homes is broken. It needs to be fixed. I appreciate the members opposite have talked about the Retirement Homes Act review, and that is an important review. But I would encourage everyone in this House to vote for Bill 296 today and send this bill to committee, because the contents of this bill should be part of the debate and the conversation about what needs to happen in that review.

Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting this bill. I encourage all members of this Legislature to support the bill, and I appreciate the member bringing it forward.

The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Lisa Gretzky): Further debate?

Since this pandemic, I’ve spoken often about congregated care settings and why reform in Ontario is so needed. It is important to stand on the shoulders of advocates when discussing long-term care, ending for-profit care, why inspections matter, why proper resources matter—all of these are so important, Madam Speaker.

We all know language matters. Long-term-care reform gets lumped into the language and intentions of congregate care for our seniors and broader community. Of course, this is not true.

The riding I represent, St. Catharines, has been lucky to avoid some of the glaring examples we have seen throughout the pandemic where profit over well-being was on display. I still hear from front-line staff the alarm bells on hours of care, quality of care and dignity for seniors. We still hear from residents that raising rent in the middle of a pandemic has felt like it was the Wild West in some situations.

It is clear that we cannot leave the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and all its lessons behind us without making a difference and changing this sector: Make it safer. We have to make it stronger; we have to make it better. There are so many families within Ontario who have devastated memories of their loved ones within these settings. Of course, we shouldn’t only take the word from an elected official or from the government on this matter; however, I hope that this government definitely takes it from the Auditor General and the report from last December that clearly reveals multiple parties had sounded the alarm bells regarding inadequate staffing and resident care—

The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Lisa Gretzky): Thank you. I return to the member for Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas for her right of reply.

Ms. Sandy Shaw: I want to thank all the MPPs who spoke to this bill this morning. I especially want to thank the MPP for Nickel Belt for always standing up for seniors, for many years now. What you didn’t get to talk about was the board, the construct of the board where the inherent conflict exists. I think any retirement review from this government needs to focus on the government. It needs to be clear that the RHRA board is self-appointed. Directors get to appoint other directors, and, as might be expected, they’re dominated by retirement home executives. There are executives from Amica, Chartwell, Diversicare. They’ve been there almost since the outset.

The member from Whitby talked about the residents’ council, but it needs to be known that this is just an advisory council. Residents do not have a seat at the table. They’re not around the board table when these decisions are made, and it shows in the failures that we have seen. In fact, in the neighbouring riding for the MPP from Whitby, in Durham, there’s an example of a home, White Cliffe, where the door handles were removed from the home to keep residents from moving around. That’s unbelievable. In fact, one of the directors on the board of the RHRA is a VP at Diversicare, which represents this home.

How is this not a conflict? How do we not need to overhaul the governance system of the homes that our seniors and our vulnerable population live in?

Seniors deserve more than a sector that prioritizes profits over their well-being. They deserve a government that doesn’t hide behind a regulator. They deserve to be protected more than any people in this province. I call on the government to make the change. Accept this bill, pass this bill and make sure that people living in retirement have a sector that has oversight and that they have a government that has their back and ensures that their well-being is more important than profits.

The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Lisa Gretzky): Ms. Shaw has moved second reading of Bill 296,

An Act to amend the Retirement Homes Act, 2010 to dissolve the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the nays have it.

A recorded division being required, the vote on this item of private members’ public business will be deferred until the next proceeding of deferred votes.

Second reading vote deferred.

The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Lisa Gretzky): Orders of the day? I recognize the member for Barrie–Innisfil.

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: No further business.

The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Lisa Gretzky): There being no further business, this House stands in recess until 10:15.

The House recessed from 0947 to 1015.

Members’ Statements

Residential schools

Ms. Catherine Fife: How do you begin to process the discovery of 215 Indigenous children’s bodies on the site of a former residential school? Our colleague MPP Mamakwa said this yesterday: “All Indigenous peoples living today in Canada are survivors of Canada’s tools of genocide. We are survivors of Indian residential schools, survivors of the Indian Act, survivors of the Sixties Scoop and survivors of ongoing systemic racism which attempts to erase us. But we are still here. The death of our children is a crime against humanity, but Canada has never treated it as such.”

Cindy Blackstock said this: “As Canadians learn about the story of the tragic deaths of 215 children in the residential school in” Kamloops, “know this—Canada knew about the death rates in the schools, had tools to deal with it and chose not to.”

In 1907, Canada’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Bryce, raised the alarm about death rates of 25% of children in schools per year due to inequitable health care, poor health practices and a lack of ventilation. He was pushed out of the public service because of his advocacy.

The last residential school closed in 1996, but Canada kept fighting the kids. The feds were ordered to cease their discriminatory conduct in 2016 as it was causing unnecessary family separations, harms and the deaths of the children; Canada did not. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordered Canada pay for its willful and reckless discrimination; Canada appealed.

All levels of government need to provide the funding to ensure that all children are found and act on all 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. To do otherwise denies truth and denies justice.

Anti-racism activities

Mr. Vincent Ke: Last Friday, I hosted a press conference to announce the introduction of my private member’s bill, Bill 299,

An Act to proclaim May as Anti-Asian Racism Education Month. I would like to thank Senator Victor Oh, Minister MacLeod, Minister Lecce, Minister Bethlenfalvy, Minister Clark, Minister Cho, Minister Thompson, Associate Minister Walker, Associate Minister Sarkaria, whip Lorne Coe, Dr. Joseph Wong, PA Pang, MPP Babikian, MPP Kanapathi, PA Thanigasalam, deputy whip Kaleed Rasheed, PA Tangri, PA Hogarth, PA Triantafilopoulos, PA Cuzzetto and MPP Anand for all your salient remarks.

Thank you as well to all media friends for your continuous support along the way. Your support and advocacy against anti-Asian racism sends a clear message that we will not tolerate any form of discrimination, and are moving forward to address and eradicate the hatred that the Asian community faces. I sincerely thank you all for joining me. Together, we will make a difference.

Autism treatment

M me France Gélinas: I rise today on behalf of the Northern Ontario Autism Alliance and the many families with children that they represent.

In February, the Ontario government announced a new needs-based funding pilot program. The announcement noted that 600 children and youth from across our province would be invited to participate in the new program.

I was shocked last week when the alliance informed me that not one of them, not the other advocacy group, no service provider, no support groups have been able to identify a single northern Ontario family that has received an invitation to participate in the pilot program—not a single northern family.

Northern Ontario represents 6% of the province’s population. We have a diverse population, including First Nations and francophones, living in urban and rural environments. If this pilot was being run equitably, there would be at least 30 families from north of the French River in the study, but there are zero.

Life is different up north. Sure, the weather is colder, but the way we care for each other and the way services are delivered are also different. It would not surprise me at all, Speaker, that some best practices in integrated services would be found in northern Ontario that could be shared with the entire province.

If the ministry is truly determined to get this right, then it is imperative that there be representation from the north. Right now, the people of northern Ontario feel really hurt, and rightfully so. They’ve put in so much work in the community. This is a great shame.

Stroke

Mrs. Robin Martin: Tomorrow is the first day of June and the start of stroke month. In Ontario, we are fortunate to have access to world-class stroke care, but to be most effective, people need to get care as soon as possible. Every single minute counts.

Because of that, it’s important that everyone knows the most common signs of strokes, which you can easily remember with the acronym FAST, standing for face, arm, speech and time. Watch for drooping on one side of the face, weakness in one arm and slurred speech. If you or someone you are with experiences any of these symptoms, it’s time to call 911 right away.

Speaker, we all know that COVID-19 has had enormous pressures on our health care system. While everyone has stepped up their efforts to respond to ensure that care is available to all who need it, we continue to hear concerning reports of people ignoring symptoms of other health conditions not related to COVID-19, only to later arrive at emergency rooms with more advanced illness. Sadly, this includes cases of stroke.

Delaying stroke treatment can be devastating for both individuals and families, and for the health care system through prolonged hospitalizations and demands on rehabilitation and long-term-care services. So don’t delay. If you recognize the signs of stroke, call 911 right away and seek emergency care.

For more information on the signs of stroke and how to recognize them, I encourage everyone to visit heartandstroke.ca.

Education

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: I rise today in this chamber to express the frustration and exhaustion of parents, children, teachers and education workers right now. Students are struggling with growing mental health and well-being challenges, isolation and learning hurdles.

Last week, instead of a decision on opening schools, we received a letter and scapegoating. Premier, you have had many months to build a plan to make schools safe to reopen. Instead, this government has chosen to do nothing for months. You ignored the advice of the health and education experts, ignored the feedback from front-line education workers and refused to spend the money to make the schools safe.

Excuse the disbelief of my residents, Premier, when you send a letter requesting feedback from educators and health officials. Your track record of satisfying the concerns from these groups has been put off many times throughout the school year. Experts and educators have been speaking about safe classrooms, smaller class sizes and HVACs that are modernized, all to keep the community spread down. You never listened. Now they are left to believe that you will this time.

Those parents and teachers who are reaching out to me through tears and frustration deserve answers. Asking these questions more than a year into a pandemic, and a month before the end of the school year, feels like scapegoating. Mr. Premier, I urge you to give the parents and educators the peace of mind about reopening schools and provide them clarity before the end of this week.

Residential schools

Mr. Stephen Blais: Mr. Speaker, the hearts of a nation are broken. The grim discovery of the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops has elicited a powerful reaction from Canadians across the country. The painful truth about the residential school system is a truth that we have not yet grappled with. It is a part of our history that many simply don’t want to recognize, while others simply don’t know enough about.

Why don’t Canadians and Ontarians know enough about it? Because it hasn’t been taught. Often, when it has been taught, it’s been done as a passing nod, a part of Canada’s birthing process.

Recently, the government was offered the opportunity to improve the teaching and understanding of these events and their lasting impact. Bill 287, the Equity Education for Young Ontarians Act, would have required the history of colonization and its impacts on the rights of Indigenous peoples to be taught in an age-appropriate manner throughout the primary and secondary grades of our publicly funded education system. Unfortunately, the government chose not to support this bill.

If we are to address this painful history, we must ensure that all Canadians, but especially those of non-Indigenous backgrounds, understand it and understand the lasting impact it has had. Generations of Ontario students were not exposed to this history and don’t truly understand it, and while we must work to address this gap with adults, it is critical that we don’t allow it to continue by denying this education to our children. Our children must understand what it has meant and what it continues to mean.

COVID-19 response

Mr. Deepak Anand: Throughout COVID-19, we have witnessed everyone from individuals to organizations banding together to protect fellow neighbourhoods and communities across the province.

I would like to thank the Ismaili Council for Ontario for rising above the challenge and remaining steadfast in supporting local communities by providing essential supplies and resources during COVID-19. Thank you for your Ontario spirit.

Through the Ismaili CIVIC initiative, the council has sewn and provided over 25,000 masks, provided 5,000 pounds of food, contributed $18,000 to local food banks, delivered over 25,000 food items for health care professionals in the GTA, volunteered at hospitals, donated hundreds of pints of blood through Canadian Blood Services and hosted over five pop-up clinics in their places of worship, known as Jamatkhanas.

I want to say congratulations to the global Ismaili community as they celebrate His Highness the Aga Khan’s 64th year as spiritual leader on July 11.

Guided by principles of volunteerism and compassion—from President Salim Bhanji to my friends Kiran, Mohammed Nathu, Adam Mamdani, Laila, her sweet daughter Sanesha—each and every member of the Ismaili Council of Ontario is dedicated to serving and uplifting the community.

To the incredible volunteers and staff of the Ismaili CIVIC initiative, thank you for your unwavering commitment to fellow Ontarians. You are our community heroes.

Residential schools

Mr. Jamie West: Before I begin, I just want to say that I’m very hopeful that Vale and USW Local 6500 in Sudbury will reach a fair contract. The price of nickel and copper are doing really well. The company has received over $67 million in COVID subsidies, and they’re very profitable—profitable enough to pay out over $3 billion in dividends in Q1 of this year. There’s no need for the company to push for concessions, and I stand in solidarity with all members of Local 6500 in the need for a fair deal.

Speaker, my riding is in the Robinson-Huron Treaty territory of 1850 and Sudbury is on the traditional territory of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and Whitefish River First Nation. At the entrance of Queen’s Park, there are these tiny shoes that were left out there to symbolize the undocumented remains of 215 Indigenous children that were found on the site of a former residential school. Last night, when I pulled into Queen’s Park, I saw these tiny shoes and I literally cannot get the image of them out of my head. Some of them are small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.

In Sudbury and across the country, flags will fly at half-mast, but that is literally the least we can do. We have to do more.

The reality is, I have Indigenous friends who are my age who have gone to residential schools. The reality is that we have Indigenous communities in Ontario without access to clean drinking water. The reality is that the death of Indigenous children is a crime against humanity, but Canada has never treated it as such. The reality is, we have to do more than lower flags. Chi meegwetch, Speaker.

COVID-19 immunization

Mr. Aris Babikian: Good morning, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to report that the number of Scarborough–Agincourt residents who have been vaccinated has increased remarkably in the past weeks. The increased number of vaccinations is the result of a better supply of the vaccine and our hospital’s co-operation with various community organizations. Accordingly, the frequency of pop-up clinics, mobile unit visits to congregate homes and the mobile vaccination bus stops in various locations have successfully vaccinated 65% of adults in Scarborough and Ontario.

Due to this major achievement, we are now moving ahead of

schedule to start the vaccination of those 12 years of age and older. In addition, we started administering the second dose of vaccines to 80-plus seniors. Scarborough Health Network already started contacting our seniors and booking them for their second shot.

Mr. Speaker, everyone is cognizant that the last 14 months were challenging. I am optimistic that we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. At this moment, in addition to my March 3 recognition of Scarborough–Agincourt community institutions, I would like to also pay tribute to the following organizations: TAIBU community centre; Islamic Foundation of Toronto; Tropicana Community Services; Scarborough Chinese Methodist church; Malvern Christian Assembly; Lakshmi Narayan temple; Fujian Community Association of Canada; the community services association; L’Amoreaux Collegiate Institute; Arz Fine Foods; Shirag Bulger and so many more.

In addition, Bridlewood Mall, Agincourt Mall and Bamburgh—

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

The next member’s statement.

Community organization funding

Mr. Stephen Crawford: It’s an honour to rise today about some of the recent funding announcements in my riding of Oakville. There is no denying that this pandemic has taken a heavy toll on non-profits and organizations throughout Ontario and Oakville. I’m proud that organizations and non-profits in my community are being recognized for their outstanding work through financial grants.

The Oakville Crusaders Rugby Club hosts professional and international teams. It’s great to see that they were successful in receiving an Ontario Trillium grant to expand and deal with the implications of COVID-19. The rugby club will continue to play a vital role in supporting the physical and mental well-being of residents.

Last week, I also attended an event by the Oakville Choral Society where they performed songs like Hallelujah, Imagine and were also there to celebrate their Resilient Communities Fund grant.

The Resilient Communities Fund was also awarded to the YMCA of Oakville; the Oakville Players; Community Living Oakville; Bandology; Heartache2Hope; the Oakville Symphony Youth Orchestra; and the Canadian Croatian Choral Society.

Organizations have kept residents engaged through these difficult times and they contribute to make our society stronger. These much-needed funding grants will go a long way to ensuring organizations adapt to meet the demands of the pandemic and help my riding emerge from this pandemic. I want to extend my congratulations to all these successful applicants, and I wish them all continued success.

Tabling of sessional papers

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I beg to inform the House that the following documents have been tabled:

—a report entitled 2021 Ministry of Long-Term Care: Spending Plan Review, from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario;

—the annual report of the review of expense claims covering the period April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021, pursuant to the Cabinet Ministers’ and Opposition Leaders’ Expenses Review and Accountability Act, 2002, from the Office of the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario; and

—a report entitled 2021 Ministry of Education: Spending Plan Review, from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario.

Residential schools

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The government House leader has informed me that he has a point of order.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Mr. Speaker, I think if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to allow the member for Kiiwetinoong to speak for 10 minutes with respect to his feelings and the feelings of all First Nations in the province of Ontario following the horrific discovery in British Columbia.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Government House leader is seeking the unanimous consent of the House to allow the member for Kiiwetinoong to speak for 10 minutes. Agreed? Agreed.

I recognize the member for Kiiwetinoong.

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Meegwetch, Speaker. I rise today to acknowledge and honour the 215 children who did not return home from the Kamloops Indian Residential School. I acknowledge the communities of the First Nations in British Columbia who these children belonged to, and across the country, across Canada, those who have felt the pain of this loss. We are united in grief.

Indigenous people across the country are hurting. We are in pain, remembering all those we have lost and the destruction that residential schools have left behind.

The discovery of those precious 215 lost children, our children, has shown us again the overwhelming amount of work to be done to ensure justice, dignity and equity for our people. Speaker, the death of our children is a crime against humanity, but Canada has never treated it as such. The country must own up to its past, as must all its governments and institutions, for its role in the horror it created in residential schools.

The first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald, told the House of Commons in 1883:

“When the school is on the reserve the child lives with its parents, who are savages; he is surrounded by savages, and though he may learn to read and write his habits, and training and mode of thought are Indian. He is simply a savage who can read and write.

“It has been strongly pressed on myself, as the head of the department, that the Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men.”

People often call Indian residential schools a dark

chapter in Canada’s history, but for many of us who are affected by this directly, we know that

chapter never ended for our grandparents and for those other members of our families who were sent to residential schools. We continue to collectively feel that hurt that was experienced by our relatives in those schools.

Speaker, all Indigenous peoples living today in Canada are survivors of Canada’s tools of genocide. We are survivors of residential schools. We are survivors of the Indian Act. We are survivors of the Sixties Scoop and survivors of the ongoing systemic racism which attempts to erase us. But we are still here.

Today, I’m calling on Ontario and the Canadian government to work with all First Nations at the sites of the schools and look for our lost children. It is a great open secret that our children lie on these properties of former schools, an open secret that Canadians can no longer look away from. In keeping with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Missing Children Project, every school site must be searched for the graves of our ancestors. Canada must also demand apologies from those who helped commit these heinous crimes. Pope Francis, the Catholic church and all other churches involved must own up to their

part in this genocide, apologize and offer reparations to survivors and families of those lost. Finally, we must remember that Canada’s governments, at every level, including ours, have roles to play, responsibilities and treaty obligations.

Speaker, it’s still hard to be an Indigenous child. As I speak today, thousands of Indigenous children are without proper schools, clean water, adequate food, a safe home to live in, or good health care. Many cannot attend high school in their own communities and they are too often in the child welfare and justice systems. We can no longer throw up our hands and say, “There’s nothing we can do.” We must act together to resolve this so no more children go without.

Today, I am calling on the government of Ontario to keep the flags lowered at all provincial buildings to half mast for four days to honour the 215 children. I am also calling on the government of Ontario to institute an annual day of mourning and remembrance for those we lost to residential schools and for survivors. Let this be a first step towards an honest reckoning with the past by Ontario, by Canada and all the people who call this land home.

While we respect the lowering of flags and other demonstrations as a means of showing support for the 215 children who died at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, there is so much more work that must be done to honour the survivors of Indian residential schools and to honour those who did not go home. This work demands the attention of every member of this Legislature and it needs the collective action of all 124 members who were elected to serve here.

All of us here must be fully committed to implementing the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the ongoing legacy of residential schools. The discovery of the unmarked graves of these 215 children shows us again that genocide, colonization and oppression are not in Canada’s past; our people live with the effects in the present.

Speaker, today our hearts and our prayers are with the families and nations of these young people who did not get to return home and with all survivors of Indian residential schools across Canada. I ask for a moment of silence to recognize the 215 children who did not return home from Kamloops Indian Residential School. Meegwetch.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Kiiwetinoong is seeking the unanimous consent of the House for a moment of silence to remember the 215 children who did not return home from Kamloops Indian Residential School. Agreed? Agreed.

Members will please rise.

The House observed a moment’s silence.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you very much. Members, please take your seats.

I’m going to recess the House for five minutes.

The House recessed from 1046 to 1051.

Question Period

COVID-19 immunization

Ms. Andrea Horwath: I want to start by acknowledging the remarks of Sol Mamakwa, the member for Kiiwetinoong, and the government House leader for allowing us to take this moment in time.

But now, it’s my job to change the topic, Speaker. I’m going to ask my first question to the Premier. On Friday, the Premier said this in relation to the vaccine rollout here in the province: “I’ve never seen a more well-oiled machine.” Meanwhile, doctors and experts everywhere have been calling it “chaotic,” “confusing,” “The Hunger Games.” Clearly, if the Premier thinks that this is a well-oiled machine, he certainly hasn’t learned from his mistakes.

The question is: Why hasn’t he fixed his mistakes from the initial rollout to the rollout of dose 2?

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

Hon. Christine Elliott: Well, the answer would be: because there’s nothing wrong with the plan. The plan is being rolled out across the province. We have reached over 65% of all Ontarians over 18 receiving at least one dose. We currently stand at 67%. Nine million vaccines have already been given to people across the province. We have virtually six million further booked and ready to go, and we have the supply coming in. The plan is rolling out in the way that it was supposed to and will continue to do so.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, the big problem is, the way it was supposed to wasn’t good enough and didn’t do justice to the people of Ontario. “Everyone for themselves” is not a plan to roll out a vaccine that ensures that the most vulnerable receive the vaccines first. In fact, this government left the most vulnerable behind.

Dr. Nathan Stall says this: “This is going to create, I fear, the sort of vaccine ‘Hunger Games’ 2.0 for these older adults, where they’re now being asked to go back onto the multiple booking systems through multiple sites.” And meanwhile, we all know the mass confusion that continues to swirl around the AstraZeneca vaccine.

My question again to this Premier is: Why did he and his government not learn from his mistakes from the rollout of dose 1 and are continuing to roll out dose 2 in the same chaotic, confused and confusing way?

Hon. Christine Elliott: I would suggest to the Leader of the Opposition that, given the fact that we’ve already had over nine million vaccines already given to people, with almost six million already booked, most Ontarians do not seem confused by this rollout. In fact, this is actually good news that we’ve announced, that if people wish to receive their doses sooner than the date they have the appointment for, they can do that. They can do that online. They can do that, actually, through the pharmacies where they originally had them or through their primary care provider.

But if they choose to stay with a date that they already have booked for their second dose, they’re free to do that. If they wish to move it forward, they can do that as well. That’s choice to the people of Ontario. That’s what people have been telling us they want, and we have a system in place that’s ready and available to allow them to do that.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Speaker, it’s not about how many doses have been given out; it’s about how they’ve been given out. The rollout has left those who are most vulnerable, who need protection the most, getting the least access to the vaccines. We saw as this government was dragged kicking and screaming into addressing the hot spot issue and then abandoned that strategy a week early—two weeks early, I think. Vulnerable seniors are still less likely to have their first dose.

It’s not about all those who can easily access; it’s about those who cannot easily access. We know that seniors are still in that position, never mind trying to chase down their second dose. Meanwhile, report after report of people trying to bully their way to the second dose has been continuing to show up in the media.

So the question is: Where is the plan to ensure that those who need the vaccines the most, the most vulnerable, are easily able to access them?

Hon. Christine Elliott: In fact, I would say to the Leader of the Opposition, through you, Speaker, that what she is suggesting is simply not the case. We have a strategy which we implemented during the month of May for two weeks, where we allocated 50% of our vaccines to the hot spot areas, and it worked. Right now, we have a situation where the people in the hot spot areas are at almost 8% more likely to have been vaccinated by the first dose than people in non-hot spot areas. We followed the recommendations that were made by the medical experts.

They originally recommended four weeks, but that was before we knew we were getting double the number of doses, so we have actually followed what they suggested.

We are paying attention to the hot spot areas, as well as to our seniors. We prioritized people in long-term-care homes and retirement homes. And now, starting as of today, people who are 80 and older, if they wish to accelerate their second dose, they can do so. If they don’t wish to, they can stay with the time they already have booked.

Education

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My next question is also for the Premier. Students and their parents have been left in limbo now, waiting for the details of the possible reopening of schools. For over a year, unfortunately, this Premier decided to dismiss the concerns of parents, of teachers and education workers as he insisted that schools were safe. Now, of course, we know that they decided to cut the education budget, which just today was confirmed by the Financial Accountability Officer of Ontario.

Thursday, the Premier finally decided to lob a frantic last-minute consultation into the communities. I guess my question is, why didn’t the Premier think for over a year that the kids of this province’s education and their schooling wasn’t more important for him to take action instead of waiting until the very last minute?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the Minister of Education.

Hon. Stephen Lecce: As the Chief Medical Officer of Health has confirmed, and local medical officers of health have done the same: They have noted that the schools have been safe. We’ve always acknowledged that schools reflect our community.

Back last summer, we put in place a $1.6-billion plan that allowed us to hire 7,000 staff, 1,400 additional custodians, improve air ventilation in 95% of schools, procure 40,000 HEPA units to support them, more than quadrupled mental health funding for students from when the former Liberal government was in power. And we’re the only province in the nation to have a targeted asymptomatic testing program. That has all led us to one of the lowest case rates for youth under 20 in Canada, because we followed that advice.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we are obviously broadening the consultation to ensure we get this decision right, to not compromise the incredible hard work and sacrifice that Ontarians have made together to get our case rates down over the past weeks and get our vaccination up in the province of Ontario.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Horwath: Well, Speaker, I just have to say that it speaks volumes that, for a year almost, the government didn’t even bother to launch a consultation and they waited until the very last minute to engage at this point, which is just completely unacceptable, considering that it’s been, as I said, close to a year—close to a year that this Premier and this government have been dismissing concerns about school safety.

In fact, one of the teachers who spoke out against this particular last-minute consultation, Erin Roy, an Essex-area educator, says, “giving somebody a day’s notice when we’ve been begging all year to be consulted on these decisions ... I don’t think it’s genuine.”

Schools were supposed to be the first to open and the last to close. This government attacked teachers who raised COVID questions all the way along and now the science table has weighed in, public health has weighed in and educators have weighed in, and they’ve all said that it’s time to safely look to a regional approach to open schools. When is the government going to do that?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: Let’s take the perspective of Dr. Jüni, the head of the science table, who reported last week that Ontario, unlike other places in the world, did a relatively good job. If you compare it to the United Kingdom, our way of cohorting, our way of masking kids is much, much better. Dr. Williams said just days ago, “Our schools were safe before we closed down in the rapid rise of the third wave.”

We have consulted. We have invested. We’ve put in place a plan that leads the nation, and our commitment is to take the time to get this right, to continue to consult, and obviously to provide the certainty all parents and students in Ontario deserve.

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

Ms. Andrea Horwath: It has been a really tough year for parents and for kids, particularly because they’ve been stuck at home for months. Kids are missing their friends, they’re missing the social interactions that we all know that they need. Parents have been missing a normal life, but also have been very, very worried about their children’s ability to learn. They’ve been watching their kids become more and more depressed, and more and more lonely. Nothing that they can do about that has occurred, though. They are sitting unable to address what’s happening to their children.

The Premier should have made schools a top priority, and he didn’t. Instead, he denied that there were problems in schools, he attacked teachers and education workers, and he had the gall, at a time like this, to make cuts to our classrooms. I think it’s time for this Premier to actually follow the science table advice, listen to the advice that they’re receiving and provide the money to every region necessary to open their schools safely. Will he do that?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: We’ll continue to provide school boards with unprecedented access to investment: $1.6 billion in this current school year, $2 billion in the coming school year, an over-half-a-billion-dollar increase in the Grants for Student Needs, and $85 million targeting learning supports in summer learning, as well as a $1.6-billion renewal of COVID-19 resources.

The difference between this year and next year is that there are no federal dollars. The province is leading the way entirely by ensuring every public health measure is in place, even though we know, with vaccinations of all students double-dosed by September and with all Canadians potentially double-dosed by September—it gives us a great sense of hope about the fall. Notwithstanding we have those investments in place, there is a commitment to parents and to students and to the staff within our schools that we’re going to keep them safe as we look forward.

Residential schools

Ms. Suze Morrison: My question is to the Premier. Indigenous people across Canada are hurting. This weekend, the bodies of 215 lost children were discovered at a mass gravesite near the former Kamloops residential school. The death of Indigenous children is a crime against humanity and the country must own up to its past, as must all governments and all institutions.

It is a great open secret that children lie on the properties of former residential schools, an open secret that Canadians can no longer look back from. In keeping with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Missing Children Project, every school must be searched for the graves of our ancestors.

Will this government commit today to searching the grounds of the former residential schools in Ontario for lost Indigenous children?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: I appreciate the question from the honourable member and I understand how challenging this past weekend has been.

I think the request is certainly a reasonable one and we look forward to working with First Nations to ensure that that gets done.

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

Ms. Suze Morrison: All Indigenous people living today in Canada are survivors of Canada’s genocide, survivors of Indian residential schools, survivors of the Indian Act, survivors of the Sixties Scoop, survivors of ongoing child apprehension and survivors of ongoing systemic racism which attempts to erase identities, cultures and languages. This government must work toward an honest reckoning with our past. It’s time for the Ontario government to accept responsibility and take action to ensure justice, dignity and equity for all Indigenous people.

Will this government commit today to secure justice for all the families impacted by the horrors of Indian residential schools and create an annual day of mourning and remembrance for those we lost to residential schools, the survivors and their families?

Hon. Paul Calandra: I really do appreciate the question from the honourable member. Obviously, the member from Kiiwetinoong’s message was very clearly heard by all of us, Mr. Speaker, and I certainly do look forward to working closely with the members opposite to ensure that perhaps even before we adjourn this place, that we can bring forward a bill that would recognize something like that. So I do look forward to working with the member. The member, of course, will know how important private members’ business is in this place. I think that certainly is something that we should be working on together.

COVID-19 response

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: The residents of Barrie–Innisfil, like so many Ontarians, are eager to get their summer back with the stay-at-home order expiring this week, but in order to move forward—we know that stricter border measures stop the spread of COVID-19. This is a fact backed by science and data as well as experiences of countries from around the world that have implemented, with success, stricter border restrictions to stop the entry of COVID-19. We also know that this isn’t just international travellers. COVID-19 enters Ontario via other provinces as well.

While our government continues to urgently request real action to secure our borders, this is simply not a priority for the Prime Minister. Can the Solicitor General update the residents of Barrie–Innisfil and all Ontarians on the status of our government’s way to maintain our borders and secure Ontarians?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Thank you to the member from Barrie–Innisfil. I know that she understands only too clearly how variants can devastate a community. The third wave in Ontario was fuelled by variants discovered in other countries, with the vast majority of cases being variants of concern. That’s why the emergency order restricting travel into Ontario from Manitoba and Quebec’s land and water borders has been extended until June 16.

We also continue to advocate for the federal government to restrict travel through federally regulated air travel. Our government has written four separate letters with very specific, urgent requests to the federal government asking them to take action, only to get a vague and non-responsive answer in return. Now, as we are gaining ground on the new variants, we see our case counts drop.

It’s time for the federal government to take this seriously and address the border issues through stricter controls for domestic flights and international travel.

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

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: Over the past few weeks we have seen a crest on Ontario’s third wave with cases dropping and hospitalizations starting to decompress, which is great news for all Ontarians. With the case counts improving, I know that many Ontarians are also planning their Ontario staycations but are also wondering what other provinces—and what interprovincial restrictions are still remaining in place. Can the minister provide details as to why it’s so important for these restrictions and why they’re still needed?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: I will, and thank you for the interest in this issue. The northwestern public health unit is doing a great job, consistently having some of the lowest case counts over the past seven days. On Sunday, they recorded zero new cases.

We need to remember that our neighbouring province of Manitoba is in the middle of a very serious outbreak. Ontario will continue to offer any help we can, including by assisting by having 24 Manitoba residents currently in Ontario ICUs.

We look forward to welcoming Manitobans back soon, but we can see the positive effect of reducing mobility from areas that are experiencing outbreaks to isolated communities like the northwest has had. Premier Ford has repeatedly asked the federal government to step up and do its job, just like we are doing ours. We continue to make very clear to the federal government that we’re imploring them to take stricter measures at the border.

College standards and accreditation

Mr. Terence Kernaghan: My question is to the Premier. Last week, the review board for colleges and universities, PEQAB, rejected Charles McVety’s university application, and Ontarians gave a sigh of relief. This government snuck favourable legislation into an omnibus bill to allow Charles McVety an even bigger platform for spewing his hateful bigotry against the 2SLGBTQ community and Muslim Ontarians. This bill should have never been passed in the first place, and members on this side of the House were proud to vote against it.

On the eve of Pride, it’s absolutely necessary this government take a stand against all homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in our province. Will the government do the right thing and rip up

section 2 of Bill 213 today?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the parliamentary assistant and member for Northumberland–Peterborough South.

Mr. David Piccini: We join the member opposite in condemning any form of hate in this province, regardless of where it may stem from.

With respect to the legislation before the House, and with respect to the independent PEQAB process, as we said from day one, we lean on the independent, expert advice of the Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board. We said we would respect their decision, and we’ve done just that.

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

Mr. Terence Kernaghan: If this government condemned hatred, then they wouldn’t have passed Bill 213 and snuck in

schedule 2 in the first place.

My question is back to the Premier. Charles McVety has already launched a campaign to convince the government to give royal assent to his bill. He’s now attacking the public servants who reviewed his application, has put out a video calling for the government to ignore the process—something they might be willing to do for their long-time political buddy. Every day this legislation sits on the books is one day closer to giving Charles McVety what he wants. The only way forward is to rip up the

section of the bill to add transparency to the PEQAB process.

Along with my colleagues, I have legislation to rip up

section 2 of Bill 213. Will the government do the right thing and pass this legislation immediately?

Mr. David Piccini: The strength of our post-secondary system is because of the independent analysis of groups like the PEQAB process. It’s because of those independent processes, independent of politicians, that we have a high-quality education system—a high-quality education system void of the hate that the member speaks of opposite. We’ll always respect that independent process. It’s because of those independent processes that we’ve seen expansion at Algoma University of degree-granting authority. It’s because of that independence that we’ve seen OCAD expand their process. We’ve said from day one we’d respect that independent process, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.

Residential schools

Ms. Kathleen O. Wynne: I want to acknowledge and thank the member from Kiiwetinoong for his remarks.

My first three grandchildren’s paternal moshum and kokum were survivors of residential school. A few years ago, on a field trip to a sugar bush, when my eldest grandchild was in grade 1, a child in the class asked where all the First Nations people had gone. My daughter happened to be volunteering and she said, “Well, they’re right here.” And as the member from Kiiwetinoong said, they are right here. We are all here.

We cannot expect children to know our shared shame or our history, our true history, unless we teach it. So my question is to the Premier: Will the government reverse its decision of 2019 and make Indigenous education and the true teaching of residential schools mandatory at both the elementary and the secondary levels?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: I certainly appreciate the question from the member opposite. Look, it has become clearer and clearer every day, if it hasn’t been to people, how important it is that we do all that we can to ensure that there is reconciliation across Canada. I think that the member opposite’s words today were just another in a series of very powerful indications of how important it is. So I certainly want to work and continue to work with all members in the House, and in a non-partisan way, to make sure that we can move the ball even further.

One of the hardest things of being a member here, having been elected here, is to hear the member from Kiiwetinoong talk about how he doesn’t feel part of this place and how it doesn’t always reflect the Ontario or the Canada that he knows. We have a job to do, to make sure that we get that done, Mr. Speaker. Today, our focus is going to be on the horrific circumstances that we saw in British Columbia and making sure that we can do our best to do right by those families and the families in the province of Ontario who have suffered for far too long.

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

Ms. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, the focus for today, yes, is on those little children whose remains were found. It is a horrific story that, as the member for Kiiwetinoong has said, has been repeated all over this country. And so if the government is serious, Mr. Speaker—and I appreciate the gestures of flags being raised at half-mast and so on. I stood in this House as the Premier and made an apology, and that was a gesture. But those gestures have to be backed up with action.

One of the first things that this government did when it came into office was to stop the writing of curriculum that would have embedded the truth about Indigenous people in this country in our curriculum.

Will the Premier please make it clear and ensure that that has been rectified, that, in fact, the path that we were on in 2018, which was to back up the gestures with real action—that that action is being taken, and if it’s not, that it will start tomorrow?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Frankly, Mr. Speaker, I think the path that we take can be a better one. I absolutely, positively believe that it can be a better one. It can be a better one for First Nations when it comes to health, when it comes to education. It can be a better one for the people of the province of Ontario so that they can better understand the horrors that the member from Kiiwetinoong has talked about.

Do we have more work to do? Absolutely we do, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely we do. We have a responsibility to help, as the member from, I believe, Toronto Centre talked about, ensuring that we go to other residential schools to find the truth at these schools. Do we have a better job to do, as the member for Don Valley West talks about? Absolutely. Will this government wait 15 years to go down that path? No. We are going to do everything we can to live up to the responsibilities that every Ontario government has: giving our First Nations the best opportunity to live, work and prosper in the province of Ontario. It’s our responsibility, and we’ll get it done, finally.

Professional and amateur sport

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: My question is to the hard-working Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries. The Toronto Maple Leafs’ and the Montreal Canadiens’ rivalry has a long history in the NHL, and tonight marks game seven of the Stanley Cup’s final opening round between the two storied franchises.

On Saturday, 2,500 fans attended game six at Bell Centre in Montreal. The atmosphere was ecstatic, and the energy was felt by the players and the fans across the country.

MLSE has proposed a plan to allow fully vaccinated health care workers to attend tonight’s game seven. That will be the first time that the Leafs and Habs have met for the playoffs since 1979. Will the government allow some of our health care workers to attend tonight’s game to cheer on our beloved Toronto Maple Leafs?

Hon. Lisa MacLeod: Speaker, may I first acknowledge the member for her great work in this assembly? And just last week, she helped moderate a Jewish Heritage Month event with me to showcase Ontario’s great diversity.

Before I get started, may I say to the members from Kiiwetinoong and Toronto Centre and Don Valley West how thoughtful your comments have been today? And I do apologize for the noise that’s out there, because today should have been solemn one, where we were able listen and hear you speak your truth.

But I will say today we do have a bit of great news: We were able to work with the Chief Medical Officer of Health over the evening as well as Toronto Public Health in order to ensure that 550 front-line health care workers who have been fully vaccinated will be able to take in the seventh and final game of round 1 of the Canadian league for the NHL.

I want to thank Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment for covering all of the costs to say thank you to these front-line heroes and also to Scotiabank for allowing each member that will be admitted to be wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey.

Now, you know, Speaker, that my team is the Ottawa Senators, but I will conclude on this: Go, Leafs, go!

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

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: Thank you, Minister. This is great news not only for Leafs fans but, of course, our front-line heroes who are going to be at the game tonight and many who are watching in the province. It is evident that the plan is working, and now we know that 550 fans will be able to boost the boys in blue and their spirits as they get past the Montreal Canadiens and hopefully for the win tonight.

As we know, and many residents in Barrie–Innisfil are also wondering, sports play a really big

part in our province and they’re really looking forward to the return to play. I’m wondering if the minister can tell us how she’s supporting the return to play on all fronts.

Hon. Lisa MacLeod: Obviously, I want to thank the Ontario Hospital Association for running the lottery today to allow those 550 front-line health care workers who have been fully vaccinated to get back to play.

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Marnie McBean, the chef de mission for Team Canada, as we started to inoculate through donated Pfizer vaccines all of Team Canada’s Ontario athletes; that’s 1,100. We’re happy to do that at the Canadian Sport Institute of Ontario.

But last year, we committed over $59.4 million—that is an increase of $15.3 million—to get sport back in the province of Ontario. As we get more people with vaccines and we start to see cases go down and warmer weather, it’s my hope that we can continue to work with the central health table in order to get our sports not only back up and running for training and practice purposes, but that we can actually start to look at what a return to play for amateur and professional athletes looks like and what a return to fans in stands will look like in the longer term.

Small business

Ms. Jill Andrew: Speaker, tomorrow is June 1. Rent is due yet again for small business owners in St. Paul’s. Store owners who can have pivoted online and, of course, to curbside delivery, but overall sales have plummeted for most of our small businesses.

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT has literally ripped through our midtown community in St. Paul’s for over a decade. Recently, Crosslinx won their court case against the government’s Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario. Crosslinx got the pandemic declared an emergency, which means they are negotiating with the government for more cash to complete the project and a later completion day. All this means years more of chaos, barely any customer parking, blocked access to storefronts, inaccessible sidewalks and, in general, economic trauma to our businesses in St. Paul’s and across that Eglinton LRT strip.

My question is to the Premier, Speaker: Will this government finally support our NDP official opposition motion demanding a complete ban on evictions for our commercial small businesses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, yes or no?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: Look, we have been working flat out to ensure that our small, medium and large job creators have all the tools they need to not only survive what has been a devastating global health and economic pandemic but, as we emerge from the pandemic, so that they can thrive like never before in the province of Ontario. It is why we are so committed to a framework that is, yes, cautious, Mr. Speaker, but will get us through these final stages of what I hope will be the end of COVID-19 in the province of Ontario so that, again, we can see a rebound in our economic activity, the type of rebound that we saw prior to COVID-19.

Prior to COVID-19, Ontario was leading in job creation. We were leading in economic development. We were making important investments to help grow our economy, transit and transportation. Mr. Speaker, that’s what we want to see as we emerge from COVID-19, and we’re giving them all the tools they need so that they can prosper as we come out of this.

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

Ms. Jill Andrew: When a small business closes, families suffer, jobs are lost and the very culture, heritage and identity of our communities also disappear. This government must consult with our small businesses, loosen the eligibility requirements of the broken Ontario Small Business Support Grant program, keep workers on payroll and help businesses get to reopening day, especially those that are owned by Black and racialized and women entrepreneurs who we know historically have faced systemic discrimination.

In Little Jamaica alone, Black Urbanism Toronto reported over 140 businesses closed since the beginning of the construction, and that list has ballooned with the pandemic.

My question, again, is to the Premier: Will the Premier support my motion calling for a Little Jamaica economic health and community wellness strategy, which includes direct funding to small businesses, heritage designation of Little Jamaica, an arts strategy showcasing the cultural wealth of our community and the building of real affordable housing in all new residential construction?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction.

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: I appreciate the member opposite bringing forward these concerns.

We have hosted numerous consultations with business owners, chambers and racialized communities across this province to see the impact that COVID is having on specific businesses. We will continue to ensure that those businesses have access to the government; we’ll continue listening to their concerns.

We have, to date, through the Ontario Small Business Support Grant, paid out to over 110,000 small businesses, totalling over $1.5 billion in support. We’ve also put forward over 86,000 automatic second payments, totalling an additional $1.2 billion to support these small businesses that continue to struggle as we get through the pandemic.

As we look forward, Mr. Speaker, the reopening plan has been set forward. We’re going to continue to invest in the digitization—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Toronto–St. Paul’s, come to order.

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: We’re going to continue to do whatever we can to ensure that small businesses can get back on their feet.

COVID-19 response

Mr. Roman Baber: Speaker, to the government House leader: Today the House leader will whip the vote and force PC MPPs to vote in favour of a motion giving this government power to extend the emergency orders until December. The extension will be done by a government-run committee without debate or vote in this House.

Today, the government will cut Parliament out of its most impactful decisions in our lifetimes. The Premier will have the ability to close schools, lock down businesses and prevent us from seeing family, all because he says so. Speaker, this is an unprecedented abuse of power. This is the most undemocratic thing to be done in this Parliament since it was convened more than 150 years ago. It’s unnecessary and it’s hostile to Canada’s democracy. Our democracy should not be eroded at a time of an emergency; that’s what dictatorships do.

So my question to the government House leader: Will the House leader back away from this assault on democracy and permit PC MPPs a free vote on today’s motion to extend the emergency orders?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Mr. Speaker, it’s interesting coming from this gentleman, who all of a sudden has become very independent-minded, because he voted in favour of every single measure that this government took in order to keep the people of the province of Ontario safe. In fact, when the original reopening Ontario bill was passed, he was happy to go into the lobby and vote in favour. Unlike the member for Cambridge, who stood on a point of order on her own and voted against the bill, this gentleman here was enthusiastic in voting in support of that bill.

Mr. Speaker, we are very happy that we have made such tremendous progress in defeating COVID-19. The battle is not quite done yet, and I know that a lot of people would like to declare victory. It’s not over yet. If we’re going to see our small, medium and large job creators prosper, if we’re going to see the province move out of this and put COVID behind us, again, we need to continue to work very hard.

In response to the member opposite, no, we will not declare victory over COVID-19 until we actually have.

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

Mr. Roman Baber: Speaker, I’ve indicated to the government that this is the most undemocratic thing to be done in this House for the last 150 years and all that the House leader can do is suggest that I voted in favour of this a year ago. This is about a month after he threatened to kick me out for opposing the lockdowns, and all of these members are sitting there and they know what went on and yet still they clap for him.

Yes, I voted for this a year ago, and imagine a year later, we are still at it again, even though the entire world moved on. BC is almost out. Alberta says it will remove all restrictions, even masks, in a month. Meanwhile, they want the ability to extend it by six months.

Yes, my friend from Cambridge stood out and she was kicked out; she is seated a few feet away from me. I remained for six months to try and steer this government away from the insanity, from the catastrophe, that they have imposed on this province. The member from Cambridge and I are doing our jobs. We were sent here to represent our constituents, not to be mouthpieces, repeating talking points or voting how we are told.

You see, this is what this motion is doing, Mr. Speaker: It’s eliminating the function of this chamber. So my question: Will the House leader permit a free vote on this motion: yes or no?

Hon. Paul Calandra: I must have missed that extra six months that he granted to us to help us in COVID, Mr. Speaker.

This is a gentleman who, in March, voted—

Interjection.

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

Government House leader, please reply.

Hon. Paul Calandra: This is a member who, in March, voted in favour of measures; in April, voted in favour of these measures; in May, voted in favour of these measures; in June, voted in favour of these measures; in July, voted in favour of these measures; in September, voted in favour of these measures—now, of course, from September, October, November and December, we’re just finding out that he was doing that for us. So I appreciate how much he was doing that for us and the assistance that he gave us in steering the province through COVID-19, but I’m also appreciative of the fact that he’s now over there.

Small business

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: My question is to the Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction. As this government continues to support small businesses with direct supports—

Interjections.

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

The member for York Centre will come to order. The government House leader will come to order. If it continues, we’ll move to warnings very quickly.

Please start the clock. I apologize to the member for Barrie–Innisfil.

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: Speaker, my question is to the Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction. Since day one, our government has done much to unshackle the burdens that small businesses incurred after years of mismanagement by reducing red tape. We’ve provided them hope, and during this pandemic, this government continues to support small businesses with direct supports. But we know that structural changes are going to be just as important to help businesses to recover from long-standing issues and to help them succeed through the recovery.

Can the minister tell this House how he’s addressing many regulatory burdens that are particularly important to the economic recovery?

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: Thank you to the member for Barrie–Innisfil for that question. I appreciate all the leadership she has shown to ensure that businesses have the right conditions to continue making sure that Ontario remains the most competitive jurisdiction in North America in attracting new investments.

Mr. Speaker, with the legislation that we have put forward in this House, we are modernizing Ontario by bringing more processes online, services online, including developing new applications that will allow online sticker renewal for heavy commercial vehicle licence plates. We are creating innovative new revenue streams to help main street businesses seize every opportunity to succeed. Among other things, we’re bringing certainty in our critical mining industry by capping timelines on closure of plants.

We have a wide variety of approaches we are taking to ensure that Ontario remains competitive and that it continues to be a great jurisdiction for investment.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary.

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: Thank you to the minister for restoring competitiveness when it’s so important for our businesses. I know in my community of Barrie–Innisfil, it’s important, and of course, across Ontario.

We know that the trucking industry is also very important to get goods to market. Many businesses in my community, whether they be associated with the Barrie Chamber of Commerce or the Innisfil economic development department, need to get products to market.

I’m wondering if the minister could tell us how the Supporting Recovery and Competitiveness Act continues to support our trucking industry?

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: Thank you to the member for that question. Mr. Speaker, we have taken multiple measures to ensure that we are supporting the trucking industry. We are focused on making driving more efficient for Ontario’s hardest-working individuals, our truck drivers.

Each year, trucks have to complete multiple inspections in order to operate on our roadways. Additionally, they are subject to emissions testing to ensure they are meeting Ontario’s high environmental standards and licensing requirements. We’re easing the burdens on these professionals by consolidating many of these approaches to ensure that they can stay on the road and spend less time complying with many of these, and consolidating that process to save them time. We want them to focus on delivering goods, as they have been, from pharmacies to drug stores to grocery stores, day and night. We are ensuring that they have the ability to continue to do that.

We’re also modernizing the licence plate renewal system for heavy commercial operating vehicles so they can—

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

Small business

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: My question is to the Premier. When the Premier put forward a reopening plan for the province, this road map still means businesses will be closed for weeks, some for months. In fact, this is the first thing St. Catharines gym owner Colin Wolf looked at when counting the days backwards until he can reopen. He will not be able to fully reopen for months.

Mr. Premier, if this is the plan we’re going to be following, then businesses immediately need a third round of funding. The existing eligibility issues must be immediately addressed and fixed on the current grant. Will you provide details of what kind of third round of funding for small businesses will be created so that local Niagara businesses can finally put this pandemic behind them and get back on their feet?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Associate Minister for Small Business and Red Tape Reduction.

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: We recognize how difficult this time is for many small businesses. It’s also why we have put forward unprecedented supports. Over $2.8 billion of direct supports have been paid to small businesses across Ontario, 110,000 in the form of first payments and 86,000 businesses in the form of second payments.

Along with those supports, we have also reinvested in the largest investment to help businesses go digital: A $57-million program last year, the Digital Main Street program, now gets an additional $10 million to ensure that they can continue to help businesses pivot. We have also put forward supports like 100% of your property tax that is covered, 100% of your energy costs that are covered as well.

We recognize that these are significantly challenging times for these business owners, but we are putting forward supports, over $2.8 billion just in the Ontario Small Business Support Grant, to ensure that they have the resources they need to get through this very difficult time.

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

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: Let me just say this: This is not reassuring to small businesses in St. Catharines or in Niagara that are faced with another prolonged lockdown because of this government.

Last month, the Niagara region did their third round of COVID-19 impact on Niagara businesses and their findings shine a light on the absolute devastation and cost of repeat lockdowns made by this government’s failures. The survey indicated that 81% of businesses experienced a loss of income in 2020. The majority of the respondents indicated that it will take over three years before they see a full recovery.

The businesses in Niagara and in St. Catharines want to know: Why does this government refuse to announce a round of third funding for businesses while it ignores evictions, insurance-gouging and report after report about the impacts of their repeated lockdowns? It’s not pivoting; it’s survival of the fittest in small businesses.

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: Mr. Speaker, this government has paid out $2.8 billion in direct supports to small businesses that have been impacted by this pandemic just through the Ontario Small Business Support Grant.

We have also included now and introduced the travel grant of another $100 million to support those businesses that are in the travel industry that have been impacted. Those, again, are up to $20,000 grants that this government has put forward—$100 million to ensure that those businesses also get the support that they need.

Mr. Speaker, we’re going to continue to do whatever we can to support small businesses, just like we did before the pandemic when we brought in over a 9% reduction in the small business tax rate across the province, over $330 million in savings through red tape reduction that we have put forward—making sure that we modernize and keep Ontario competitive and continue working for our small business owners across this province through significant supports that we’ll continue to put forward to keep—

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

Residential schools / COVID-19 immunization

Mr. John Fraser: My question is for the Deputy Premier. I first have to say that it’s very disappointing and discouraging to hear the response to the member from Don Valley West that the government can’t reinstate the curriculum that they undid.

Last week, many seniors and their families felt a sigh of relief when the Premier announced that people 80-plus could rebook their second vaccine appointments earlier. This morning, that sense of relief turned into anger and frustration once again for too many seniors in my community. Our phones are ringing off the hook. As of 9 a.m. this morning, there were no more appointments available in Ottawa.

Speaker, through you, how are we once again in a situation where we’re asking seniors 80-plus, many of whom experienced difficulty booking their first appointment, to go through the same process the second time, with also giving the caveat last week, “There’s no guarantee you’ll get an earlier appointment”?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: I apologize that he’s not going to get an answer to his second question until the supplementary. But let me be very clear, Mr. Speaker: At no time did I say that this government and that the members on this side of the House wouldn’t do everything we can to ensure that there is reconciliation in the province Ontario. What I have said is that we will not wait years to get it done. We will continue to work hard, whether it’s with the Minister of Education, whether it’s with the Minister of Indigenous Affairs, whether it’s with the Minister of Finance or the members opposite, to ensure that we have a true reconciliation.

Today, Mr. Speaker, is about what we saw on the weekend, the horrific events of the weekend. I want to focus on that today and not politics. For one day I would hope that the members of the Liberal Party could put their focus on what is important, and what’s important today is respecting what we saw on the weekend and making sure that the words from the member for Kiiwetinoong and the member for Toronto Centre—that we get it done and we get it—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you. Member for Ottawa South, supplementary.

Mr. John Fraser: What’s clear today is, we need to teach our children.

Deputy Premier, as of 8:15 this morning, a resident told me she was told there are no more appointments available in Ottawa. What I can’t understand is how we couldn’t procure a system or get ourselves organized to not make people go through the same darn process again. It’s like we didn’t learn anything the first time. If the government were serious about prioritizing seniors, they would have a system that would automatically book appointments, or figure out a way to do that, or organize it so more people weren’t on the phone frustrated than happy.

Making seniors and their families go through this again is just plain cruel. I know that the phones are ringing in Nepean, Kanata and Ottawa West–Nepean, and the same thing in your offices. Speaker, through you, why does this government continue to over-promise and under-deliver, telling Ontario seniors they can rebook their vaccine appointments sooner, and then literally saying last week that there aren’t enough appointments to go around?

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

Hon. Christine Elliott: I would say to the member opposite that our system and our government is prioritizing seniors. As of today, 80-year-olds, if they wish, can change the appointment that they already have—the second appointment—for an earlier appointment. There are vaccines available. There are appointments available, perhaps not in the same pharmacy where they received their first, if they received an AstraZeneca vaccine; however, it is available on our website at ontario.ca/coronavirus. They can check which pharmacies are available, which ones do have the AstraZeneca vaccine, and they can rebook.

There are appointments available; there is vaccine available. And these seniors are not required to change it. It is only if they wish to have an accelerated dosage.

Most of them have their second appointment already booked. This is something they can do if they wish. If they choose not to, if it’s too much trouble for them to do, they can stick with the appointment that they already have. It’s very clear and it’s very simple to do.

Tenant protection

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: My question is to the Minister of Housing. Last week I attended a virtual hearing at the Landlord and Tenant Board for two constituents in Parkdale–High Park. Theresa De Mesa, a senior, and her disabled son, Anthony, have reliably paid their rent for 30 years, but their landlord, Nuspor, is trying to evict them on issues of cleanliness. Despite the stay-at-home order, the Landlord and Tenant Board is processing hundreds of evictions each week, putting the very lives of people like Theresa and Anthony at risk. Why is the minister allowing this? Will the minister put an end to eviction applications and hearings for the duration of the pandemic?

Hon. Steve Clark: I want to thank the member for the question. Our government has been crystal clear that when there’s a stay-at-home order, there would be a pause on the issuance of evictions at the Landlord and Tenant Board. This is something that Ontario’s Attorney General did right at the start of the pandemic. Every single time the government has decided to have a stay-at-home order, we have invoked a residential evictions ban.

Through you, Speaker: Again, as I’ve said many times in this House, the Attorney General has been working very diligently to deal with the staffing issues at the Landlord and Tenant Board. I want to remind the House, we put a bill forward in this House, the Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act. It was something that needed to be done. That party across, the official opposition, voted against it.

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

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: Speaker, virtual hearings are a nightmare. There are so many technical issues. Tenants get disconnected while giving testimonies, and some are unable to reconnect back into the hearing. The entire experience is confusing. Multiple hearings are scheduled at the same time, and there are frequent interruptions.

Now we’ve heard that this Conservative government is planning on making virtual hearings permanent even though it is clear that tenants are not getting a fair process. Speaker, I’d like to know if the minister has witnessed any virtual hearings at the Landlord and Tenant Board, because I have, and I can tell you, they don’t work.

Will the minister commit today to ensure that virtual hearings will not be permanent?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Attorney General.

Hon. Doug Downey: The priority of our government is the health and safety of everybody in Ontario, whether they’re interacting through one of our tribunals or independent tribunals. I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that, as the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has indicated, when there’s a stay-at-home order, there is a pause on the enforcement of evictions. But that means that we still have to have the system working for both tenants and landlords, Mr. Speaker. W4e have a record number of tribunal appointees hearing these matters so the people who have issues, whether they be tenants or landlords, can have their matters heard independently and safely.

Health care workers

Mr. Mike Schreiner: I’d like to thank the member for Kiiwetinoong for his powerful words today.

My question today is for the Premier. Last Friday, I attended a Zoom rally with thousands of nurses and health care professionals calling on the Premier to repeal Bill 124. Nurses are tired of the Premier calling them heroes and champions, and then capping and cutting their wages.

Speaker, tonight I will be cheering for the 500 front-line health care workers at the game while I cheer for the Leafs, but I know all health care workers across this province will cheer if the Premier repeals Bill 124 and gives them the pay increase they’ve earned and they deserve. It’s a yes or no question: Will the Premier do it today?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: I think the honourable member can appreciate how important nurses have been to helping guide us through this pandemic, Mr. Speaker. We make no bones about that. That is why we’re investing in an additional 2,000 nurses. But it goes even further than that: some 20,000 new additional PSWs. There is a lot of work that is being done to increase the amount of nurses in the system, because we know how important they are.

It is true, Mr. Speaker, we did inherit a system that was woefully underfunded, that had ICU capacity at one of the lowest in North America. We’re changing that—finally, Mr. Speaker. We’re increasing nurses, we’re increasing ICU capacity, and we’re funding PSWs like never before. We’re building long-term care, Mr. Speaker.

But we are still allowing, of course, those people, those heroes who work within the system, to see the benefits of their hard work. That has not been taken away through Bill 124, Mr. Speaker. I hope the member opposite will appreciate that and work with us as we bring in thousands of additional nurses, thousands of additional PSWs to make our system better for everybody.

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

Mr. Mike Schreiner: Speaker, I guess that answer is “no” to the nurses who are tired, to the thousands of nurses thinking about leaving the profession, to the nurses who care for our loved ones. But it’s also the PSWs, Speaker. PSWs are saying that they’re thinking of leaving the profession because their pandemic pay expires in a month.

I’ve been told that if we are going to attract human resource capacity to our health care system, both nurses and PSWs, we need to pay them like the heroes they are. So I’m going to give the members opposite an opportunity to answer this one. Speaker, through you: Will the government commit to making the pandemic pay for PSWs permanent, yes or no?

Hon. Paul Calandra: What we are going to commit to do is to ensure that we have the best system available for those who choose to work as PSWs in the province of Ontario. One of the first meetings I had when I was elected was with a PSW who, yes, talked about wages, how important it was to have increased wages, whether it was for PSWs or home care workers. That’s why we had a staffing study, Mr. Speaker. We knew that one of the problems we have is not only wages but it is also the amount of PSWs in the system. That’s why we are hiring 27,000 additional PSWs.

And we go further than that—the question was on PSWs, but 2,000 additional nurses. We have a bill that will come before this House today to recognize and organize PSWs, something that they have been asking for, for years. We are making tremendous progress, because we know how important they are in helping get us through this pandemic. But not just the pandemic—going forward, whether it’s health care or long-term care, Mr. Speaker, we will have their back, and we are the first government in generations to make sure that they do.

COVID-19 immunization

Mr. Faisal Hassan: My question is for the Premier. In York South–Weston, we are designated a hot spot and home to essential front-line workers, those folks who the Premier calls heroes and champions. However, we have been left behind and neglected in this government’s mishandled COVID strategy. We have no permanent vaccine facility, and my office is flooded with telephone calls from confused people who got a first shot of AstraZeneca at a pharmacy and now are being told they cannot get their second doses there, and are left wondering what they do now.

With the vaccine expiring shortly, what is the government doing to ensure these folks in our community get their second dose, and why has the government not been able to get anything right in what is now over 15 months of this pandemic?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Minister of Health.

Hon. Christine Elliott: I thank the member very much for the question. As the member will know, the doses, which we’re now receiving in good supply—particularly the Pfizer doses, but we still have many AstraZeneca doses left as well—are being allocated equitably across all 34 of the public health unit regions. It’s up to each individual unit region now to allocate to any hot spots that they wish to designate. That’s available to the city of Toronto to do.

However, with respect to the AstraZeneca shots, we now know that there were some that were held back because we had to check them for quality assurance, because we want to make sure that anything we give to Ontarians is, first, going to be safe and, secondly, is going to be effective. We have received over 30,000 of those shots that have been returned from quality assurance that are ready to be extended and can be given to people. They are available through pharmacies or primary care providers.

People can find out where they can receive the shot—it may not be from the original pharmacy where they received it, but they can go online onto the website, ontario.ca/coronavirus, and they can find out the pharmacies that are carrying those AstraZeneca doses. They can call and book an appointment to receive their second shot.

Deferred Votes

Extension of emergency orders

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): We now have a deferred vote on government notice of motion number 111, relating to the extension of the period of emergency.

The bells will now ring for 30 minutes, during which time members may cast their votes. I’ll ask the Clerks to prepare the lobbies.

The division bells rang from 1155 to 1225.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The vote on government notice of motion number 111 relating to the extension of the period of the emergency has taken place.

The Deputy Clerk (Mr. Trevor Day): The ayes are 36; the nays are 22.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I declare the motion carried.

Motion agreed to.

Moving Ontarians More Safely Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 visant à assurer à la population ontarienne des déplacements plus sûrs

Deferred vote on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 282,

An Act in respect of various road safety matters / Projet de loi 282, Loi concernant diverses questions de sécurité routière.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The bells will now ring for 15 minutes, during which time members may cast their ballots. Once again, I’ll ask the Clerks to please prepare the lobbies.

The division bells rang from 1226 to 1241.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The vote on the motion for third reading of Bill 282,

An Act in respect of various road safety matters, has been held.

The Deputy Clerk (Mr. Trevor Day): The ayes are 53; the nays are 2.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I declare the motion carried.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

Retirement Home Justice and Accountability Act, 2021 / Loi de 2021 sur la justice et la responsabilité dans les maisons de retraite

Deferred vote on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 296,

An Act to amend the Retirement Homes Act, 2010 to dissolve the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority / Projet de loi 296, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2010 sur les maisons de retraite afin de dissoudre l’Office de réglementation des maisons de retraite.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The bells will now ring for 15 minutes, during which time members may cast their votes. I’ll ask the Clerks to once again