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February 27, 2023

43rd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

vol. A

Hansard Transcripts

vol. B

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2023-Feb-27 vol. A (PDF)

L045A - Mon 27 Feb 2023 / Lun 27 fév 2023

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Monday 27 February 2023 Lundi 27 février 2023

Orders of the Day

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

Members’ Statements

Government investments

Health care

Doug Wagner

Tommy Douglas

Events in Etobicoke–Lakeshore

Leading Women, Leading Girls, Building Communities

Ferguson Jenkins

Land use planning

2023 Canadian International AutoShow

Anti-racism activities

Introduction of Visitors

Question Period

Health care

Land use planning

Fire in Pikangikum

Fiscal and economic policy

Children’s mental health services

Flooding

Consumer protection

Health care

Services for children and youth

Fertility services

Health care

Health care funding

Health care workers

Broadband infrastructure

Public transit

Visitors

Introduction of Government Bills

Reducing Inefficiencies Act (Infrastructure Statute Law Amendments), 2023 / Loi de 2023 sur la réduction des inefficacités (modifiant des lois sur les infrastructures)

Introduction of Bills

Seniors Month Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 sur le Mois des personnes âgées

Motions

Committee membership

Petitions

Mental health services

Volunteer service awards

OPP detachment

Adoption disclosure

Alzheimer’s disease

Highway construction

Land use planning

Social assistance

Social assistance

Gasoline prices

Emergency services

Northern Health Travel Grant

Opposition Day

Health care

Orders of the Day

Your Health Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 concernant votre santé

The House met at 0900.

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

Prayers.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I want to acknowledge that we are meeting on lands traditionally inhabited by Indigenous peoples. We pay our respects to the many Indigenous nations who have gathered here, and continue to gather here, including the Mississaugas of the Credit. Meegwetch.

This being the first Monday of the month, I will ask everyone to join in the singing of the Canadian national anthem, followed by the royal anthem.

Singing of the national anthem / Chant de l’hymne national.

Singing of the royal anthem / Chant de l’hymne royal.

Orders of the Day

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

Mr. Fedeli, on behalf of Mr. Clark, moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill 63,

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

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Further debate?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: I will note that I am sharing my time with PA Dowie and Minister Clark.

Speaker, there is no time to waste when it comes to securing major industrial investments that will employ generations of Ontario workers in good-paying jobs. We are constantly in fierce competition with other jurisdictions when companies consider making large investments in manufacturing and industrial operations, including multi-billion-dollar transformational projects.

You have to wonder, Speaker, how we got here, so a little of the history about why we’re standing here today looking to develop industrial sites: Quite frankly, it’s because the previous government, for 15 years, did not develop industrial sites. They sat on their hands and watched businesses leave Ontario. They sat on their hands and watched companies and other jurisdictions have all of these plants spring up and revitalize their communities and their states and their places overseas. This previous government sat on their hands. I’ll be very specific about this now.

First of all, the evidence is clear: 300,000 manufacturing jobs left Ontario under the Liberal government. That is just an absolute fact; it’s an undeniable fact. That’s the result of what the Liberals’ hand-sitting did. Let’s see how that occurred now.

In the long-term report on the economy—this is an annual report that is issued by the Minister of Finance. It comes out once a year and it gives the state of the economy, basically. There are quarterly reports that come out. The Liberals missed eight of them by the way; I just want you to recall that, that eight of them were missed. So we didn’t have a clue. They were trying to contain the damage that they had created by just not reporting to the people, as if we didn’t already understand how dire things were getting under them.

But in their final—thankfully, it turned out to be their final—report on the economy, it was clear, Speaker, that all they did was throw the towel in. They just gave up on manufacturing. They gave up on the workers in Ontario.

The proof point of that—and I’m going to use my notes to quote the exact sentences from the report—is that in the Liberals’ report on the economy, they stated, “The structure of the Ontario economy will continue to shift from goods-producing to service-producing sectors.” Now, Speaker, we all know that this will result in—again I’m quoting—“shifting employment from goods-producing industries, in particular manufacturing, to service-sector industries.” This was their concept all along: They wanted Ontario out of the manufacturing.

They put it in writing: “We want Ontario out of the manufacturing.” They no longer wanted us to be the economic engine of this entire country. They wanted us to find jobs in the service-producing sector, according to their own writing. This is exactly why we saw the hollowing out of the manufacturing sector: high taxes, high energy rates, red tape, all of the things that are anti-business.

They had doubled energy rates, increased all business taxes of every type. Red tape was piling up, strangling the business community. And then she asked a few more questions about it, and he finally said to her, “You need to create the conditions to be competitive.” You could hang that on the wall as a message to the incoming government.

Premier Ford took that message and said to his caucus, “We are going to do everything to create the conditions to be competitive, because that’s how we’re going to get the auto sector back, the life sciences sector back, the tech sector”—all of these sectors that were leaving Ontario. Some 300,000 people lost their jobs under that previous government. I don’t know how much louder you can say that to the government as we did in opposition day after day: “Don’t you see what you’re doing?”

So Premier Ford said, “That’s it, enough. We’re creating those conditions.” Many things happened. Number one, we visited every one of the auto plants, the Premier and myself. We sat with them and they told us exactly what Sergio Marchionne said, that you’ve got to lower the cost of doing business. We heard them loud and clear.

We came back and developed Driving Prosperity, and it’s the plan to bring back the auto sector. This is almost five years ago now. The plan was there and articulated. Number one: reduce the cost of WSIB. That’s your workplace safety insurance. That fund was so overstuffed with cash taken from the business community—so overstuffed that it far surpassed any financial requirements whatsoever. In fact, it far surpassed any moral requirements to keep that much money. So we reduced the cost of doing business by a 50% reduction in WSIB. That is a $2.5-billion annual saving to the business community that they are now reinvesting in their companies. That’s the first—$2.5 billion.

The next thing we did, Speaker, was put in an accelerated capital cost allotment. And what does that mean? When a company buys a piece of equipment, they get to write it off now in Ontario in-year, in the same year. That’s a huge financial savings to them. In fact, it’s a billion dollars a year that those companies are saving. Now that’s $3.5 billion.

Then we began with our red tape bills, meeting with the companies, asking them, “What pieces of red tape are duplicative with the feds?” Let’s take the highest, the most strictest of the two, and remove the other one. Then you only need to do your paperwork once. Those are the types of things. It’s over $400 million—in fact, in the last red tape report, they announced that it’s over $500 million annual savings in red tape reductions to these companies who we’ve seen, as you’ll see, are reinvesting that money here in the province of Ontario.

Then we reduced the province’s share of those companies’ local property taxes. Basically, we’ve standardized the taxes. Some came down 30%; some came down 6%. But we standardized it at 0.88% across Ontario and that saves $450 million every single year for these companies.

If you recall when we first got elected, in January the Liberals had a huge tax increase scheduled. We cancelled the tax increase. In fact, under this government, you will find no taxes increased, not even your hunting and fishing licences. Premier Ford and our party, we believe that lower taxes create jobs, lower taxes create wealth. High taxes kill jobs. We saw that under the Liberals. This is why we’ve done the reduction of the local property taxes.

Basically, we’ve pulled on every lever that a government has to lower our intake, to lower the cost of doing business. That now is over $7 billion annually in savings to companies right across Ontario.

So the Premier and myself got back in the vehicles and headed back to every auto company. We met with Toyota in Texas and Ford in Washington. We sat down and we laid this out for them. Here is Driving Prosperity: We’ve lowered the cost of doing business by $7 billion annually. That’s number one.

We have an ecosystem here in Ontario that is ripe for this EV revolution. We told them back then, “Look to northern Ontario.” We’ve got Glencore and Vale in Sudbury who are producing battery-grade nickel. We’ve got mines being planned north and south of Timmins, the gold town, that have found nickel. We have the Ring of Fire. Yes, there are mounds of chromite on the surface. We can move that aside and go deep and get the nickel. Then we look at northwestern Ontario, where there are four potential lithium mines.

We’re telling all of these companies, if you want to make electric vehicles, make them in Ontario, because Canada is the only jurisdiction in North America with all the minerals to make a lithium-ion battery. In fact, we have them all right here in Ontario. That was the first message.

The second message is: If you want to take that lithium and make lithium hydroxide, the liquid that’s necessary in an electric-vehicle battery, we have that expertise here in Ontario. We can set you up in northern Ontario near the mines, and we can do that with you. And as you come back to southwestern Ontario, where the auto companies are, you can build battery plants here. We have the ecosystem here. We have the technology. We have the expertise.

We told them we are producing 65,000 STEM—science, technology, engineering and math—grads every single year. You’ve got a steady stream of employees that can work at these companies. We have 700 parts makers in Ontario. We have 500 tool-and-die and mould makers in Ontario. We have 300 companies that are in the connected and autonomous sector in Ontario, including 700 or more employees at GM in Markham. Ford has 500 of these employees in Ottawa. BlackBerry QNX has 300 or more in Ottawa. Stellantis, formerly Chrysler, has more than 800 at their two new facilities in Windsor.

We’re telling them, “You can do all these things.” These are there today; they weren’t there when we were talking about them. You can do all these things. You can make all the components that go into a battery. You can make the cathode here. You can make the anode here. You can make the separator. You can make the copper foil. You can do all of that in Ontario. That is what we were telling them. We have the people. We have the expertise. We have the ecosystem. We have brought the cost of doing business down.

Canada has free trade agreements with almost 50 countries. If you make it in Ontario, you can export around the world almost exclusively tariff-free. If you make a battery in the United States and ship it, or you build a car in the United States and ship it to Europe, you’ve got either a 2.7% or a 10% tariff. If you build a battery or a car in Canada and in Ontario and ship it, you have no tariffs in Europe because of our free-trade agreements. We have agreements.

We have everything in place, but we need some land, because the previous government failed—miserably, I might add—to acquire large mega-sites of land. So, as we’re out around the world talking about all the great things in Ontario, we just need a few more pieces and that is these mega-sites.

We do know that, as a result of all of what we told these companies, all the investments that they are going to be making, when you think about—around the time we got elected, we did an analysis. There had been $300 billion dollars invested in North America in EVs. And under the previous government, zero came to Ontario. Zero out of $300 billion.

You look today and you will see that we have now announced $17 billion—$17 billion—in transformative automotive and EV investments: Ford in Oakville, Honda in Alliston, LG Energy/NextStar in Windsor, GM in Oshawa, GM in Ingersoll, Stellantis in Windsor, Stellantis in Brampton, Umicore in Loyalist. Magna just made their announcement: half a billion dollars into Brampton, Newmarket, Belleville, Guelph, Windsor, Penetanguishene. This is why Ontario is the number two automaker in all of North America.

And it’s interesting, Speaker, that we are also the only jurisdiction in all of North America to have five major automotive assemblies, and I’ve just named them: Stellantis, Ford, General Motors, Honda and Toyota.

It’s interesting that not only are we the number two automaker, but we are the number two tech sector in all of North America. If you look at an EV car today, it’s nothing but a big computer on wheels. Well, isn’t it just great that we’ve got the opportunity to be the number two tech sector and the number two automaker—the two things that are needed to make these vehicles of the future?

As a result of all of these changes that we’ve made in Ontario—remember, 300,000 jobs lost in 15 years by the last government—today we are over 600,000 new jobs created in Ontario since the day we took office. We’ve got 100,000 employees alone who are in the auto sector. Since 2022, we’ve landed 150 deals alone, resulting in 7,500 new jobs just from those deals. And that included through our five trade missions into nine countries, when you include the States, Germany, Austria, Korea, Japan, Belgium—we heard a message, Speaker.

It’s really interesting: No matter where in the world we went, we heard two messages. The first was that in this really tumultuous world, where we’re just coming off of a two-year pandemic, where we have Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine and we’ve got this China issue that we’re trying to face—all this turmoil that everybody in the world is antsy about—every company said that they looked to Ontario as a sea of calm. We are a trusted, reliable partner. In all of this turmoil, they can look at Ontario and know that they’ve got a partner here that they can rely on.

The second thing they all said about Ontario was that it was safe. It was safe for their employees, safe for their executives, safe for their families. That’s how they view Ontario. No matter where we were in the world, those were the same two messages that we heard. We’re a trusted, reliable jurisdiction for everybody’s employees and everybody’s families, and that’s why we have this $17 billion in new announcements.

Now, a couple of the things that we talked about that are going in our favour: It’s this talented workforce—it’s all about the people. It really does come right down to the people. Look at Toyota; they won the J.D. Power best automotive plant in the world. That’s what we’re producing in Ontario. This isn’t the best Toyota plant in the world; it’s the best auto plant in the world. It’s right here in Ontario. It’s because we have a talented workforce. We have state-of-the-art research and development in Ontario. We have award-winning manufacturers. We have an abundance of critical minerals in Ontario’s north.

And this red tape reduction—this is really something. I talked about it briefly before, but we’ve taken 400 pieces of red tape that have been reduced. We’ve also done things like lowered your payroll costs and lowered electricity costs. We lowered commercial and industrial electricity rates by an average of 15%. That’s another $1.3 billion in savings.

The CFIB gave a Golden Scissors Award just recently for our At Your Service Act, which was part of the spring 2022 red tape bill. That’s because our government has brought in nine red tape bills and cut red tape. It’s over $500 million a year in the cutting of red tape.

Mr. Rob Flack: Big money.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: It is big money. It really, genuinely is.

When you think about our energy rates and the kind of energy we produce—we’ve all talked about this in the Legislature before—in Ontario, we have 94% clean energy. If you are making a battery in Ontario, you can also buy the clean energy credits and have your battery with 100% clean energy here in Ontario. It’s one of the few jurisdictions where you can do that.

If you’re in the States making a battery in Kentucky—I’m going to go back a step here. You’re buying an electric vehicle. You believe that you have made your contribution to society because you’re buying an electric vehicle in the US. You’re buying a green vehicle. Well, you’ve done one of those but not two. Yes, you bought an electric vehicle, it runs on a battery, but you have not bought a green vehicle. In Kentucky, a battery is made with 6% clean energy. They burn coal to make power to make a battery. How is that helping? In Indiana, you’re at 7% clean energy.

Again, you’re burning coal to make power to make a battery. If you’re assembling vehicles in the US in a state that burns coal, you are not making a very green vehicle. Even though that vehicle is an electric vehicle and you think you’re driving a green vehicle, you are not driving a green vehicle. In Ontario, when our vehicles come off the line, you will be driving a green vehicle.

Here’s another reason why: Dofasco, which was burning coal to make steel, is now converting. With a half-a-billion-dollar investment by the province of Ontario, by the people of Ontario, Dofasco will be moving off of coal. That facility for making steel from an electric arc furnace is under conversion right this moment. Premier Ford and myself were down there only a few weeks ago looking at the conversion that’s happening. That means, with our half-a-billion-dollar investment, they are going to be making green steel.

So your car, bought in Ontario and made in Ontario, will have green steel, will have a 100% clean battery and 94% clean energy assembling that vehicle. You go back down to the States, you are nowhere near, not even remotely near, the same kinds of metrics.

Dofasco alone, by the way, converting coal to an electric arc furnace—that’s the equivalent down there of taking a million cars a year off the road.

So, obviously, Ontario is one of the very few jurisdictions that is indeed on track to meet the 2030 target of reducing emissions by 30%. In fact, greenhouse gas emissions are down 27% and counting.

We talked a little bit earlier about critical minerals and that now, for the very first time in the 120-year history of auto, northern Ontario will be included in the auto sector, because you need those minerals to make a battery. You need that lithium hydroxide, which could be made in northern Ontario from the lithium mined in northern Ontario—you could be making that. But for the very first time, the north is now part of the auto sector.

In fact, at a speech that I was giving in Sudbury a few weeks ago, I sat with the principals from Glencore and Vale and they were talking about battery-grade nickel. It was interesting. There was a nickel mine in Sudbury that had been shut down years ago because they couldn’t go any deeper; they couldn’t ventilate any deeper. But now, today—Onaping Depth it’s called—they’re spending $1.3 billion to open that mine up again because now they will run electric vehicles down there. They won’t have diesel. They won’t have any diesel down there so they don’t need that massive ventilation that couldn’t go any deeper.

They will now use electric vehicles with lithium ion batteries to mine nickel to make electric vehicles with lithium ion. Talk about a closed loop here in Ontario. It’s absolutely amazing.

Remember I said $300 billion of electric vehicles, before our government got elected, had all gone to other jurisdictions in North America; zero in Canada. Just recently Bloomberg ranked Canada second in their annual global battery supply chain. Imagine: We’ve gone from zero; now we’re second globally in the supply chain. In fact, we are first in North America. We are ahead of the US, according to Bloomberg. That confirms that everything the Premier said that he wanted done is done. We have created the right conditions to attract investments, to create jobs and to remain competitive.

As a result of all of this activity, Site Selection magazine—it’s a very popular magazine that those in economic development follow. That magazine follows all of us as well. Ontario just recently earned Site Selection magazine’s number one ranking as the most competitive province in the nation. That is absolute news, and very exciting news. Companies around the globe are looking to Ontario for their future.

That award from Site Selection magazine—number one in the nation—is a very huge vote of confidence in the province of Ontario’s economy. But it focuses the light on our shortage of mega-sites that are prepared. We have lots of land in Ontario. We’re one of the largest jurisdictions in North America, size-wise. There’s lots of land here. Let’s be clear about that. Anything can be converted. But there’s a critical shortage of shovel-ready industrial mega-sites. That’s what we need in Ontario, and that places Ontario at a very significant disadvantage when we’re competing for high-value projects.

That’s why we want to take immediate action so that we don’t risk losing any opportunities. We want all those cards on the table.

We talked about all the things before: the minerals, the people, the tariff-free. We talked about the STEM grads. We talked about the ecosystem. We talked about lowering the costs. All of those are in place, but we want to make sure that we have a fulsome inventory of serviced land. It’s really important not just to have it in the bank; we want it to be able to provide jobs for thousands and thousands and thousands more people.

We’ve seen the business community create 600,000 jobs. By the way, that’s 300,000 pre-pandemic, 300,000 since the pandemic. With 600,000 jobs already created in Ontario, can you imagine where we’re going to go in the future? We’ll have some serviced land. It will show that we’re not just open for business, as the Premier likes to say, but ready for business.

That’s why at the moment we are obviously in fierce competition with other jurisdictions for all kinds of investments. We’ve talked about this for days and weeks and months, that we are out there. You’ve seen us around the world trying to lure businesses here. There are 40 US jurisdictions right now who offer a certified mega-site program. That’s what we are contending with out there. Our key US competitors—Ohio, Iowa, North Carolina, Missouri, Tennessee—all have anywhere from 19 to 51 certified sites. These are shovel-ready sites. That says we’re ready for any potential investor. We need more certified, shovel-ready sites.

We’ve got to have those ready for when we’re travelling and luring prospects here. We can not only give the pitch that I’ve just outlined for you, but we can also tell them, “By the way, here is your suite of sites that are ready for you to choose.” That’s why, back in November 2019, we launched the Job Site Challenge program. It was Canada’s first challenge where municipalities, economic development agencies, industrial property owners—we asked them to put forward large tracts of land, anywhere from 500 to 1,500 acres, that could support a large-scale manufacturer. That’s what we asked for.

Just for context, 500 acres—that’s almost 400 football fields, by the way. You can imagine what size 1,500 acres would be. We want to build an inventory of mega-sites that are investment-ready—take a look at the site and know we can go.

As a result of all of our economic development, travelling and some of the successes we brought in, we still have about $20 billion in the pipeline. We’re not going to win it all, but wouldn’t it be nice if we sure had a fair shot at every single penny of that? We’ve won $17 billion, and we’ve got more than that still in the pipeline. But again, many of those require a large-scale site. Companies are confident in the future of Ontario. That’s why we have that big pipeline. They’re confident in the future of Ontario; they want to be part of that future of Ontario. They want to be that future.

That St. Thomas site that we’re talking about is considered a highly attractive mega-site. It has been identified as one of the few potential mega-sites across the province. Why? Because it has large acreage; it’s in close proximity to transit routes and highways; it’s fully serviceable with electric gas, water, waste water; and it has been deemed to have a very high probability to sell to an investor.

The site that we’ve picked currently straddles two municipalities: the city of St. Thomas and the municipality of Central Elgin, which is in Elgin county. These two municipalities have different steps to permit. They have different permitting requirements. They have different timelines. It creates confusion and complexity for any potential investor, especially if they decided to build the building right smack dab in the middle of the property line. There’s a lot of unnecessary and burdensome red tape for investors, and it can also mean delays in timelines. Timelines cost money.

To unlock the full potential of this mega-site, we’re introducing legislation that would change the municipal boundary so that the site would be fully located in St. Thomas. That reduces the red tape, and it ensures that what we call the St. Thomas site truly is shovel-ready in the very near term for any potential investments. It would allow the city themselves and the province to proceed quickly with permitting, preparing the site to meet any potential investor timelines. It will allow Ontario to remain competitive as an attractive place to invest and grow.

Those changes have the potential to bring significant economic benefits to the people of St. Thomas, Central Elgin and the surrounding communities. Of course, we’ll work closely with the affected communities with respect to any proposed legislative change, should they be passed.

Again, we’re going to continue to look for additional large-scale industrial sites around the province, because we are the ideal destination for any kind of manufacturers. We talked about $17 billion in the auto sector, but there’s also $3 billion in the life sciences sector that we’ve won in Ontario in the last two years. Billions in the tech sector—I used this example the other day: Telus alone is investing $23 billion in hiring 9,500 people in Ontario. Think about Nokia—the Premier was there to make the announcement of Nokia’s $340-million investment in Ottawa.

Tech, life sciences, auto—we’re firing on all cylinders here, while we still have cylinders to fire on, in Ontario. Clean energy, critical minerals, world-class workforce, and now we need the last piece of the puzzle: mega-sites built throughout Ontario.

The window of opportunity to secure transformational EV sites is only open for a short time. Right now, all around the world, everybody is jockeying for position to make sure they’re near critical minerals or to make sure they’re near a workforce, to make sure they can go into a low-cost jurisdiction, to make sure they can go into a jurisdiction that has an auto ecosystem. All of those are in Ontario.

I’ve said this to many of our prospects around the world—I don’t know if I’ve ever said it in the Legislature, but I’ll tell you how I close when I’m speaking with an auto company around the world: It’s like a carousel going around. When that carousel stops, there won’t be a horse for everybody. That is my message to all of the EV automakers, battery makers, parts suppliers: The carousel is still spinning. We have all of the things that you need here in Ontario. We’ve got the critical minerals, but they’re going to be spoken for sooner than later.

All of these companies—battery companies, EV makers, parts makers—they’re looking today, right now, around the world. They’ve got to get located somewhere. They’ve got to get a plant built. They’ve got to get producing their parts and their products and their batteries and their vehicles to meet all of the deadlines that are out there. There’s not much more time for them to pick a site. They’re all doing it now. That window is open now, and it won’t stay open for long. That’s why Ontario has been so aggressive in looking to land all of these pieces of the EV revolution. We want them here now, because the time is now.

Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak. I’ll turn it over to MPP Dowie.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bhutila Karpoche): I recognize the member from Windsor–Tecumseh.

M. Andrew Dowie: Je suis ravi de prendre la parole encore une fois sur le projet de loi 63. Ce projet de loi vise fondamentalement un résultat simple : créer un site d’emploi pour les Ontariens de toutes générations. C’était crucial d’avoir un site industriel prêt pour achever le succès chez moi à Windsor–Tecumseh, et particulièrement l’usine de batteries pour véhicules électriques de NextStar Energy.

Notre gouvernement connaît bien que nous avons un excellent site industriel à Central Elgin. J’espère bien que ce projet de loi passe par notre Assemblée et que la ville de St. Thomas et la population de la région seront bientôt les bénéficiaires des centaines d’emplois dans le futur proche comme résultat de notre décision.

C’est essentiel que les employeurs majeurs connaissent qu’un choix de s’établir en Ontario non seulement est profitable pour eux et pour les employés, mais porte aussi le moins de risques. Leurs décisions seront prises dans le futur proche quant à savoir si on devrait choisir l’Ontario, et nos décisions ici vont les influencer.

Dans ce gouvernement, nous voulons faire de l’Ontario un choix facile. Nous devons rivaliser contre et vaincre la compétition, parce que les régions qui sont nos compétiteurs sont transfrontalières.

L’Ontario est loin d’être le seul territoire avide d’investissement. Dans tout le Midwest américain, de nombreux États ont vu leurs propres industries se vider. Ils veulent que leurs industries reviennent. Ils compenseront les coûts et le travail interne de l’entreprise pour sceller l’accord.

Les entreprises évaluent les coûts, mais elles évaluent également la complexité pour eux autres. Elles veulent que leurs constructions et leurs opérations soient fluides. Résider dans deux municipalités distinctes ajoute une complexité qui n’est vraiment pas nécessaire.

C’est essentiel pour ces entreprises que leur site d’affaires soit adapté et facile à utiliser. Nos concurrents savent que le calendrier et les coûts de développement associés doivent être facilement connus et rationalisés pour respecter les délais du projet. L’Ontario doit être concurrentiel à cet enjeu.

J’utiliserai comme comparaison la juridiction à l’autre côté de la frontière de ma communauté : le Michigan. L’État du Michigan est en bonne voie avec son propre programme d’amélioration du site. Le programme de préparation des sites stratégiques permet aux municipalités au Michigan de développer des sites prêts à l’investissement.

Le programme des fonds stratégiques du Michigan, qui est lancé par le gouvernement de l’État, prend en charge les dépenses de préparation des sites stratégiques et méga-stratégiques pour les investissements, y compris l’acquisition des terrains; la préparation du chantier; le développement des infrastructures; la démolition et construction des bâtiments; l’assainissement environnemental; et soutenir les frais d’architecture, d’ingénierie et professionnels.

Un site stratégique ou méga-stratégique peut appartenir à des intérêts privés ou publics, et peut être utilisé à des fins manufacturières et commerciales.

Le Michigan n’est pas seul. Prêt de 40 juridictions proposent un type de programme de certification de mégasites. D’autres juridictions ont des sites prêts à l’emploi pour le développement. Nous devons les rejoindre ou nous serons laissés pour compte.

Speaker, this bill is fundamentally about one outcome: to create an employment site that will employ Ontarians for generations. Our government created, in November 2019, the Job Site Challenge. It was Canada’s first program to include municipalities, economic development agencies and industrial property owners who put forward large tracts of land of up to 1,500 acres to build an inventory of mega-sites that are investment-ready and could support large-scale manufacturing operations.

My home municipality of Tecumseh was one of the first to sign up for the Job Site Challenge. Mayor Gary McNamara had been advocating for a program of this kind for many, many years during my time on council. I’m quite happy to see that such a program finally came to fruition at the provincial level, and that it was our government who heeded the call.

I will send my apologies to all my colleagues here for being a broken record from our debate on the second reading of the bill, but the point remains relevant for the $5.1-billion NextStar project. They located it on lands within the city of Windsor that were previously annexed from the town of Tecumseh. Windsor was able to establish a market-ready site here. This foresight was a game-changer that landed the NextStar plant. The simplicity of the transaction carried the day.

I will give my thanks to Minister Clark as well for his minister’s zoning order, ensuring that the risk inherent with this project from the planning process, that could have delayed the project and knocked our site out of consideration, was mitigated.

I would also like to thank Minister Smith for his minister’s order to confirm with certainty that the required electrical transmission lines would be brought to Windsor and Essex county as quickly as possible, following many previous years of delay.

During the recent election, there were many commitments to ending MZOs made by political candidates and leaders. This was, quite frankly, an incredibly bold pitch to make in our community: “Vote for us, and we want to end the best shot at prosperity that you have earned in decades.” Thanks to Ontario’s voters and those in Windsor–Tecumseh, I’m delighted that this was never put to the test. Adding risk is just not good business in our efforts to grow employment.

The proof of success is there with NextStar—and Umicore, as well, in Loyalist township. Ontario has demonstrated confidence in the future of our industry, and is instilling that confidence in industry.

The Central Elgin site offers prospective employers 1,200 acres of potential industrial development. When we have a critical shortage of shovel-ready industrial sites here in Ontario, it is vital that we secure sites like those in Central Elgin that are accessible for development quickly. We owe it to our residents to ensure that good employers can have a home here in Ontario and provide benefits to all of its employees. Indeed, it is a lack of shovel-ready mega-sites that keeps Ontario held back.

This is not an issue, happily, for the Central Elgin site, and it quite frankly is long past time to make this site work for the benefit of the residents of Elgin county, the city of St. Thomas and the regions surrounding.

We need to get it done for the people of Elgin county and the city of St. Thomas, but also for the people of Ontario. Otherwise, we just risk losing the opportunity to compete for and win these transformative investments. These investments bring hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs with them every time.

Many of the currently planned electric vehicle and EV battery-related investments are expected to come online in the mid-to-late 2020s, meaning that the window of opportunity to secure these investments, which are transformative in Ontario, is right now. Losing these investments to other areas is not acceptable to the people of my riding. We’ve lost enough manufacturing jobs in my riding of Windsor–Tecumseh. It is long past time to start taking back these investments, and our government is doing so.

But we need to have a solid inventory of fully serviced industrial parks and shovel-ready sites. Bill 63 achieves just that for St. Thomas and for Elgin county. The purpose of Bill 63 is a simple land boundary adjustment. The site is in two municipalities, as the minister stated earlier: the city of St. Thomas and the municipality of Central Elgin. We can address unnecessary and burdensome red tape that adds risk to our efforts to land large employers by consolidating all the lands within the regulatory environment of the city of St. Thomas.

But Bill 63 is not an end by any means. We need many, many more of these sites to be developed, and that means beginning with goodwill. The province will work closely with all the impacted municipalities and First Nations communities for this site, and going forward as well, as we identify more large-scale industrial sites.

Speaker, let us keep Ontario as the ideal destination for advanced manufacturing and for EV battery manufacturers, powered by our reliable clean energy, critical mineral resources and, of course, our world-class workforce and research and development ecosystem.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bhutila Karpoche): The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

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

I’m so glad that I’m able to share the government’s time this morning with the great member for Windsor–Tecumseh. I want to thank all of my colleagues for their support, but him particularly, for his advocacy in his riding. He’s a tremendous member. The people in his riding are very well-represented. Collectively, both the member opposite and the minister—we’re here for the same reason. We’re here to fight for jobs and investment, not just in Windsor–Tecumseh, but in all of Ontario.

I’m particularly pleased with my colleague the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Vic Fedeli works tirelessly to attract jobs and investment across our province, Speaker. The minister outlined that our government has a record that I think we can all be proud of when it comes to attracting both jobs and investment to Ontario. With his wonderful enthusiasm, I think we can all acknowledge that we have no intention as a government to slow down.

The legislation in front of us this morning—I know some of the members opposite raised the question last week of why we’re acting so quickly. I take those questions very seriously. The answer is very simple: Ontario is a prosperous, growing province. We’ve got a great record for investment, jobs and growth, but our government is not going to just sit back and be content with the job that we’ve done. Our job isn’t done. We’re taking an all-of-government approach to build Ontario, to attract major new investment to our province.

You can see, Speaker, that this approach is carried through with many, many ministries right across government. My colleague the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade is leading our government’s efforts in attracting companies from around the globe to invest in Ontario. My colleague the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development is making sure that Ontario is equipped with workers that have the skills and is, really, creating the workforce to carry out these jobs.

My colleague the Minister of Transportation is making sure that Ontario has the transportation network that’s ready to move more goods and people safely and efficiently from across the province. My colleague the Minister of Infrastructure is making sure that we have the right supports in place to attract and expand business in Ontario.

My own ministry is focused on the challenge. We’re taking some major steps in the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to attract—and attack—more homes and better supply and to be able to create an environment where we can build 1.5 million homes by 2031.

We want to make sure that workers have a safe, attainable place to call home. I carry out this work alongside my ministry colleagues, my government colleagues, including my Associate Minister of Housing and my parliamentary assistant, the member for Thunder Bay–Atikokan. Speaker, the bill that we’re debating this morning should be seen in that light, that whole-of-government approach to attract investment and those good-paying jobs to Ontario.

Because not only is it my ministry that’s working to get more homes built faster, but we’re working with all of our municipal partners—all 444 municipalities—to reduce red tape and bring in the sort of investment that will benefit workers, municipalities and our communities.

I’m so pleased with the initial response that we’ve seen to this legislation. There’s a clear recognition from so many Ontarians that everyone benefits with this sort of investment that we’re attracting here today.

I’m also pleased by the widespread acknowledgement from Ontarians that we need to pull together in a global economy that sees fierce competition for jobs and investment. We know that trade and international partnerships have long been an important part of Ontario’s economic success. But we’ve also seen that some countries around the world have pulled up the drawbridge in recent years. They’ve implemented protectionist measures that put Ontario jobs at risk.

Faced with this challenge, our government and its partners need to do everything in their power to attract investment and provide those good-paying jobs that Ontarians need. That of course means that we need to ensure that we have the housing, the transit, the infrastructure and the workforce to attract investment. But it also means that we have to deal with the unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles that come in front of major investments to our province. We’ve got to do everything in our power.

I’ve had the opportunity to visit southwestern Ontario many times as minister and as an MPP, including Elgin county. It’s really ripe for that investment. The member for Elgin–Middlesex–London, sitting beside me, is a fantastic representative and he knows that the location of this site is ideal. It’s fantastic to have major highways connecting St. Thomas and Elgin county to the rest of Ontario and beyond, to the rest of Canada. It’s just a few hours from the major markets in the United States and ports that can accommodate Ontario-manufactured goods across the world. It’s also in close proximity of some of Ontario’s leading universities and colleges.

With a skilled and capable workforce, it’s already a powerhouse. His riding is a powerhouse in advanced manufacturing already. It’s such an exciting opportunity for our government and our province to have a chance to demonstrate to potential investors around the world that Ontario is truly open for business, because we know that by getting it right at this site, we can attract more investment in every single corner of the province.

As I wrap up—I look forward to questions—I want to once again reflect on the why: why our government is moving forward so boldly with our plan to build and grow Ontario. The last few years have been challenging for many Ontarians. We faced an unprecedented global pandemic. We’ve struggled with supply chain troubles. We’ve coped with global upheaval all around us. But despite these challenges, I’m so very proud that Ontarians came through stronger than ever. We’ve shown what makes our province so great.

But these challenges have also shown us that there’s the need for more manufacturing. We need to invest in manufacturing. We need to ensure that our government and all levels of government are doing their part to support made-in-Ontario products. We know that further development in our province’s manufacturing capabilities will help Ontarians prosper in good times and protect them from economic fallouts in uncertain times.

Now we have a real opportunity to showcase the very best the province has to offer, to showcase why, in a world facing so many challenges, Ontario is the right place to invest. Our province is an ocean of calm when so many other parts of the world are facing turmoil. We have the skilled workforce. We have world-class infrastructure to support this investment. The investment, in turn—what does it mean? It means good-paying jobs. It means growing communities. It means prosperous businesses. It means thriving families.

That’s something that everyone—no matter what side of the House, no matter what political ideology, political spectrum you have, you can all come forward. You should all be able to support this. I hope, as we move forward toward a vote on this important piece of legislation, that all members will do precisely that.

I just want to say that this is very important. Time is of the essence. Minister Fedeli has outlined very importantly this morning how many other jurisdictions have already done this. They’ve already created a mega-site. They’re already investment-ready. There are dozens of jurisdictions in North America that are looking to us today. We’ve had tremendous success, but we need to move fast. The people in St. Thomas and Central Elgin—this bill will provide that opportunity for our government. It will ensure that we have a site that can compete tomorrow, that has access to the world.

We need to understand that if we’re going to be in this game—and I want us to be leading, as Minister Fedeli and the member for Windsor–Tecumseh have talked about this morning—we need to move forward. I appreciate the speed in which the House has moved to get us here for a third reading.

I, in turn, can commit that our government is continuing its relentless focus on attracting investment, on supporting Ontario families, on working for workers and for building Ontario. I look forward to the debate. I hope it’s as quick a debate as we were in the second reading because time is of the essence. We need to move forward.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bhutila Karpoche): Questions?

Mr. Jeff Burch: A question for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing: We all want more good-paying manufacturing jobs. My father worked at General Motors, and we certainly had the benefits of that growing up.

This bill is essentially taking land from one municipality and putting it in another for the purposes of streamlining and attracting an investor. I think we all support that and understand the speed with which we want to do this as well.

I remember reading back in July, I believe it was, that there were some disputes between municipalities as they were assembling this land. Can the minister tell us have all of those disputes been resolved or are the municipalities neighbouring all in support? Are there any outstanding issues?

Hon. Steve Clark: Speaker, through you to the member: We’ve got a general shortage of quality industrial land in the province, as the member knows. He’s a former municipal politician. There are ongoing negotiations that have to take place between municipalities. It’s a very big site.

I have the confidence of the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade that he will continue that conversation between Central Elgin and St. Thomas. Those conversations are not over; he will continue to engage both sides.

But really, Speaker, again I want to reiterate to the member and all members that there is no time to waste when it comes to securing major industrial investments that will employ generations of Ontario workers in good-paying jobs.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bhutila Karpoche): Questions?

Mr. Lorne Coe: Good morning, Speaker. Myself and the MPPs for Ajax, Durham and Pickering–Uxbridge, we hear all the time about the incredible talent in the region of Durham that exists—young STEM graduates and hard-working people in the skilled trades, and particularly innovative and excited entrepreneurs, because they know what’s on the horizon. We know what has been created by the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

My question, Speaker, through you to the parliamentary assistant is, can the member elaborate on the type of investments Ontario is attracting thanks to the competitive edge that we have across Ontario but, in particular, in the region of Durham?

Mr. Andrew Dowie: I appreciate the question from the member. Really, we have seen tremendous investment. I mentioned the NextStar Energy and Umicore investments to start, but we also have tremendous other opportunities that are in the pipeline.

As the minister noted, not all of them will come to fruition. However, think of the $2 billion in investments by global biomanufacturers—Sanofi, Resilience and Roche pharmaceuticals—and $17 billion in investments by automakers and suppliers of EV batteries and battery material. You’ve heard of LG Energy Solution, Stellantis, General Motors, Honda, Ford, Umicore, Magna, Nokia—$340 million investment to build in Ottawa. So the investments are coming in thanks to the government’s proactive efforts to attract investment. I thank you for the question.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bhutila Karpoche): The member from St. Catharines.

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: Thank you, Speaker. It’s a pleasure to see you this morning. Good morning.

It is a positive development when a municipality can find a way to support their communities with jobs. In St. Catharines, General Motors has announced that they will add 500 jobs by investing in EV and the auto sector at their plant. I’m excited and optimistic about the auto sector. I’ve spoken to GM, and this news is subject to support agreements from the federal and the provincial governments. It makes sense to get this moving as fast as possible. We are a proud automotive town in St. Catharines.

My question is to the minister: Given the subject today, can you please update us on the support agreement and timelines from the provincial government’s investments in supporting adding those auto jobs to St. Catharines and Niagara?

Hon. Steve Clark: I’m sure that the member can follow up details around the agreement with Minister Fedeli. But I do want her to know that we’re on a mission to secure transformative, generational investments, particularly in manufacturing, auto and EV sectors, to ensure that good-paying jobs will be available for generations.

In auto and EV investments alone, the government has secured $17 billion in investments in just two years, with more to come. I know the member is very passionate about those jobs in St. Catharines. I can tell her that Minister Fedeli is equally passionate about them.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bhutila Karpoche): Questions?

Ms. Christine Hogarth: I just want to thank everyone for their speeches this morning. I was quite excited when I was listening to the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade talking about the great things coming forward for our future. Part of our role here in government is to create the environment so people will invest in Ontario, so people will move and we can attract business.

My question is actually to his parliamentary assistant, the member for Windsor–Tecumseh. I’m wondering if you can elaborate on some of the efforts this government has made to date to attract jobs and ensure that Ontario is where it should be so people will move here and stay here once they’re educated—because we want to make sure we maintain that intelligence—and people will live in Ontario to raise families. How are we getting those new companies here?

Mr. Andrew Dowie: Really, Ontario’s number one advantage is its people. The best and brightest minds are choosing to call Ontario their home. We have the highest rates of adults with post-secondary education and we produce more than 65,000 STEM graduates every year, of which I am a proud member of the STEM community.

Ontario also has one of the most unique and collaborative innovation environments in the world. Business, academia and government collaborate to drive transformational ideas to market through commercialization. Many of our universities—I’ll highlight Ontario Tech, Windsor and Waterloo as some who are doing phenomenal work, working with industry and in partnership with government to collaborate on equipment, on personnel and on research.

We also have some of the lowest corporate tax rates in North America. Small and medium-sized enterprises in Ontario will save up to 50% of their after-tax research and development expenditures, to make sure that more capital is available to be invested back into the people of those businesses and the operations of the business.

Last but not least, Ontario is a gateway to the world. We have free trade agreements with close to 50 countries and an extensive logistics network connecting the province with major US hubs.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bhutila Karpoche): Questions?

Miss Monique Taylor: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. It’s nice to see you in the chair today.

My question to the minister today would be about process, and the process that a bill moves through in the Legislature. We know that this bill came very late last week and here we are, already at third reading. The committee process has been skipped over due to other circumstances. I would like to know if the minister and the government have done the full consultation process with the community. There are two communities involved in this process. We’re in favour of this moving forward, but we also think it’s important that the community has the opportunity to have its say.

Did the minister do a full consultation process with all of the community and allow people to have their opportunity to speak?

Hon. Steve Clark: I think MPP Burch asked a very similar question. I think it’s asked and answered. Minister Fedeli and the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation, and Trade have ongoing conversations with both St. Thomas and Central Elgin. Those conversations are going to continue.

But at the same time, the member talks about the speed with which this bill is here. We’re currently in contention for several major manufacturing investments that require large sites with a specific set of criteria, with close to 40 US jurisdictions that offer some type of certified or mega site. We need to house those projects. We need to make sure that the province is pursuing them. That’s why we are here. That’s why we are moving quickly.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bhutila Karpoche): We don’t have any more time for questions and responses.

Third reading debate deemed adjourned.

Members’ Statements

Government investments

Mr. Hardeep Singh Grewal: It’s great to be back in the House this week. Over the last several weeks, under Premier Ford’s leadership, we were able to deliver key investments to Brampton and Ontario.

A few short weeks ago, I had the pleasure of joining Premier Ford and my caucus colleagues to announce the location of Brampton’s new medical school in partnership with TMU. This new medical school will host 80 undergraduate and 95 postgraduate students.

In over 100 years this medical school is the first to be announced in the GTA, and will be located right across from Bramalea City Centre in Brampton, with doors scheduled to open in 2025.

Speaker, to further support job growth, our government has partnered with Magna International to announce a $470-million investment and expand its operations in Ontario. This investment is expected to bring over 1,000 new high-skilled jobs to the province, out of which 560 new jobs will come to Brampton as the company expands to its eighth location. This new facility will support the development of EV vehicles such as the Ford F-150 Lightning truck and the future OEM programs.

Our government is working hard to deliver for the people of Ontario, and I’m proud that under Premier Ford’s leadership, Brampton is no longer being left behind.

Health care

Ms. Jennifer K. French: I received a letter in the mail from Judy P. in Oshawa. She says, “I’m not normally what I’d describe as an activist or prone to protesting against my government, but never in my life have I felt more compelled to very strongly voice my objection, disbelief, and frankly horror over the policies of Premier Doug Ford....

“I feel the need to fight for our health care for my children, grandchildren, family, friends, and all fellow Ontarians. Premier Ford appears to be intentionally trying to cripple our previously world-class health care system in order to make private health care look like it’s our best option. His promise to end hallway medicine has failed and turned into parking lot medicine. Never in my life have I had to worry about an ambulance not being available or a hospital not having an empty bed. Never have I had to worry about delays in surgeries or treatments and yet, this is now Ontario. People are dying.

Premier Ford has said that he would never do away with public health care for Ontarians. But he’s whittling it away and heading for a two-tiered system. And we know private facilities would get the cream of the crop in resources and personnel, making it one gold-level system for the haves, and a much poorer system for the have-nots. This will mean more Ontarians living on the edge will suffer and even die. What a legacy!”

She goes on to say, “Our health care is something I remember my parents being so proud of. Universal health care came about when I was a young child. It sets Canada apart from many nations. We used to be a shining example that other nations looked to with envy....

“We can’t afford to lose our universal health care. It’s part of what makes Canada a great place to live.”

Well, Judy, we have a hell of a fight on our hands to save medicare. Thank you for your strong letter. I’m in the fight with you.

Doug Wagner

Mr. Ernie Hardeman: I rise today to congratulate a good friend of mine, Doug Wagner, on being a 2023 Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame inductee. It’s a fitting honour for someone who has spent 45 years dedicated to developing and growing the agriculture and agri-food industry in Ontario. Through his work with several organizations, including the Ontario Seed Growers’ Association and the International Plowing Match, Doug has left a lasting impact on agriculture in Ontario.

Perhaps one of his greatest legacies is Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, which he launched in 1994 with Ginty Jocius, giving the industry a permanent site for an outdoor show.

Since then, he has continued to be involved with the farm show, becoming president in 2012 and helping it grow into eastern Canada’s largest outdoor farm show. As president, he also helped coordinate the purchase of 100 acres of provincial land to create Discovery Farm Woodstock and make it the permanent home of the farm show. He retired as president last year.

Doug has always known the importance of creating future agriculture leaders. After graduating from Ontario Agricultural College, he worked in the youth extension arm of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. He also continues to passionately share his knowledge through 4-H Ontario and the Junior Farmers’ Association of Ontario.

Congratulations again, Doug, and thank you for your lifelong commitment to Ontario agriculture.

Tommy Douglas

Mr. Wayne Gates: This past Friday was the 37th anniversary of the death of Tommy Douglas. In 2004, the CBC did a Canada-wide vote to find the greatest Canadian of all time; 1.2 million people across Canada voted. The winner wasn’t Wayne Gretzky, Shania Twain or even Terry Fox. It was Tommy Douglas.

Tommy was the father of our universal public health care system. As Premier of Saskatchewan, Tommy introduced the first single-payer, publicly funded and publicly delivered health care system in all of North America. Tommy did this as Premier while also running 17—that’s right, 17—balanced budgets in a row, and even achieving surpluses. Keep that in mind when you hear politicians saying we need to cut public services to be fiscally responsible.

Before that, government didn’t help families with health care costs. Health care was expensive and not accessible to most people. Tommy knew it wasn’t right that some people could afford health care and some couldn’t. He spent his life trying to make change for the better.

We need to remember and honour Tommy Douglas and his legacy. People across Ontario and across Canada know that universal, public, not-for-profit health care is part of what it means to be a Canadian. We take care of one another. Ontarians, Canadians don’t want American-style private, for-profit health care where the wealthy get faster and better care and lower-income families go bankrupt trying to get the health care they need, or go without care at all. The Conservatives call this profit-driven, call it innovation. But it’s really the oldest game in the book. Frankly, it’s a cop-out that will hurt Ontarians.

LakeshoreEvents in Etobicoke–Lakeshore

Ms. Christine Hogarth: As Black History Month comes to an end, I want to share with you some exciting celebrations that took place in the riding of Etobicoke–Lakeshore, home of the politician who in 1995 introduced a motion that was passed unanimously by the House of Commons to recognize February as Black History Month across Canada, Dr. Jean Augustine.

I was honoured on February 13 to address a celebration and a fundraiser for a pioneer, Dr. Augustine, Canada’s first Black female member of Parliament, and to this day, an activist whose work has changed lives.

On February 15, I partnered with Humber College to stage Black Heritage 365. This is the first of an annual event that was created to boost the ongoing effort to amplify Black Heritage Month from an academic point of view. This is its first year, and we honoured five outstanding members of our black community in Etobicoke–Lakeshore.

Black Heritage 365 featured prominent scholars who shared their stories of resilience and resistance that contributed so much to their success. They are the amazing Carla Neto, who is the executive director of the Women’s Habitat of Etobicoke, and they do such fantastic work; Ian Stewart, a pharmacist and owner of a neighbourhood Shoppers Drug Mart; Jacqueline Edwards, president of the Association of Black Law Enforcers; Keddone Dias, who is executive director at LAMP Community Health Centre; and of course, the Honourable Jean Augustine, a long-time trailblazer in our community. Their success is a model for all of us to follow, and we look forward to nominations next year.

Leading Women, Leading Girls, Building Communities

Ms. Catherine Fife: Mr. Speaker, I’m taking this opportunity to highlight the winners of this year’s Leading Women, Leading Girls, Building Communities Recognition Program. The Ford government cancelled these awards, but nevertheless, we persisted.

Duaa Al-Aghar works tirelessly to establish services for the Muslim community as well as new Canadians.

Paris Cai is instrumental in developing HomeworkHub, a youth-led non-profit organization providing free, accessible educational resources.

Sara Geidlinger is the co-creator of the Bonn Park Podcast, an ongoing living oral history of the Waterloo region.

Michelle Heyer is a nurse who advocates to ensure internationally educated nurses have the support they need to succeed.

Edl Lemlen and Sophie McConnell are grade 6 students who model inclusion by providing friendship to Sebastian, a classmate and a child with autism who is non-verbal.

As associate director of Waterloo Region District School Board, Lila Read has been an integral part of developing and leading the Women in Educational Leadership group that supports BIPOC women in education.

Rebecca Short created the Sharing Experiences program, where community groups come to the amazing Clay and Glass Gallery to do ceramics and share their experiences.

Finally, Jennifer Stager Piatkowski is a key leader responsible for bringing ONA into the Waterloo Regional Labour Council, strengthening the labour and nursing movement in our community.

And finally-finally, Sarah Wilson developed a menstrual equity pilot program for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board called Changing the Flow.

You are all inspirations, each and every one of you. Congratulations on winning this award.

Ferguson Jenkins

Mr. Trevor Jones: Ferguson Arthur Jenkins, lovingly known as “Fergie,” was born December 13, 1942, in Chatham, Ontario, to Delores Jackson and Ferguson Jenkins Sr. His father was the son of immigrants from Barbados, and his mother descended from American slaves who bravely escaped through the Underground Railroad before settling in southwestern Ontario.

As a young man, Fergie possessed a strong work ethic. He was determined and competitive, excelling in multiple sports including track and field, ice hockey and basketball. It was baseball, however, and more specifically his brilliant ability to throw with unique speed and accuracy, that garnered him attention well before graduating high school. In 1965, at the age of 22, he made his major-league debut as relief pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. The following year, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs, where he honed his professional pitching career on the iconic Wrigley Field, a ballpark known to favour hitters. Jenkins would go on to earn All-Star recognition and win the Cy Young in 1971.

As exceptional as Jenkins was on the pitcher’s mound, he also played basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters from 1967-69. In 1979, Fergie was named a member of the Order of Canada well before formally retiring in 1983 from his beloved sport. In 1991, Jenkins became the first Canadian ever to be inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

This June 10, please join me in Chatham-Kent as we honour Fergie by revealing his full-size bronze statue, an exact replica of the one that stands proudly in Wrigley Field.

Land use planning

Mr. Mike Schreiner: I rise today to honour the thousands of people who rallied at Queen’s Park on Saturday and in communities across the province to tell the Premier to keep his greenbelt promise to keep his hands off the greenbelt. We simply cannot afford to pave over the farmland that feeds us and the wetlands and green space that clean our drinking water and protect us from flooding. People are demanding that the government put the public good ahead of a handful of wealthy, well-connected land speculators.

The greenbelt provides $9.6 billion of economic benefit to our economy each and every year, and its natural infrastructure provides $3.2 billion worth of benefits to the province, especially flood protection. It’s reckless and fiscally irresponsible for the government to put all of that at risk when the government’s own Housing Affordability Task Force explicitly said we do not need to open the greenbelt to address the housing crisis.

On behalf of Ontarians across the province, I want to remind the government that they work for all the people, not a handful of land speculators, and that paving over the greenbelt and unleashing sprawl on rural Ontario is not the future the people of this province want or can afford.

2023 Canadian International AutoShow

Mr. Graham McGregor: Mr. Speaker, it’s good to see you this morning. It’s good to be back.

It’s my privilege to rise in the House today and speak to not only the largest automotive expo in Canada, but our country’s largest consumer show. Of course, I’m talking about the Canadian International AutoShow, which celebrated their 50th anniversary, running from February 17 and concluding just yesterday. And Speaker, it was a smash hit.

The auto show has an annual attendance of over 330,000, with visitors coming from all over the country. It features more than 650,000 square feet of exhibits, displays and attractions, spanning the north and south buildings of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. I think two of the big draws this year were the North American debut of the life-sized Lego Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 and the Roshel armoured vehicle that is helping to defend the people of Ukraine.

Speaker, I want to give a special shout-out to Frank Notte for all his efforts in ensuring the event is a success. Putting on a show of this magnitude is no easy feat. Him and his team pulled it off with class.

This show is put on by the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association, representing Ontario’s 1,000 new car dealers—which means that at one point they represented a certain member from Brampton North. Speaker, I remember working the auto show in the past when I sold cars for Mazda of Brampton. Believe it or not, I was pretty good at it. I actually sold a car at the auto show back in 2017. It’s a memory I will hold on to forever, and I know the attendees of the show will never forget the memories that they built at the show.

I want to congratulate the team on the 50th anniversary, and all the best for next year.

Anti-racism activities

Mr. David Smith: It is an honour and a privilege to rise today as the first Black male of African descent and one of the first three Black members elected to the Ontario Progressive Conservative caucus to recognize Black History Month in the Ontario Legislature.

Throughout this month, I had the opportunity to host and participate in a number of events that celebrated the countless contributions and accomplishments Black Ontarians have made to our city, province and country. These events also remind us of our responsibility to remain steadfast in the fight against racism and discrimination. At these events, I was proud to share what our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, is doing to support Ontario’s Black communities. Whether it’s through the Anti-Racism and Anti-Hate Grant or the Black youth action plan, our government is committed to combating racism and hate, building a stronger, safer and more inclusive Ontario.

This month, I also had the chance to visit several community organizations working to support better outcomes for the Black community, including the Careers Education Empowerment—CEE—Centre for Young Black Professionals in my riding of Scarborough Centre. The CEE centre is focused on addressing social and economic barriers affecting Black youth ages 14 and over, and helping them achieve financial prosperity, access job placements, and obtaining stronger knowledge of themselves and their potential through youth workforce development, education and advocacy. Keep up the good work.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): That concludes the time we have available for 90-second members’ statements. I was lenient on both sides of the House in terms of the timing, but I would ask members, when they’re preparing a prepared statement, to try as much as possible to bring it in at 90 seconds.

Introduction of Visitors

Hon. Kaleed Rasheed: I would like to welcome four of my incredible team members, Deema Affas, Kashaf Paracha, Taha Khawaja and Maya Hameed, to Queen’s Park. Welcome.

Miss Monique Taylor: I would like to welcome Michau van Speyk from the Ontario Autism Coalition back to Queen’s Park. It’s nice to see you, Michau.

Hon. Stephen Lecce: I want to introduce Gwyn Chapman and many inspiring young students who are here today attending the 17th annual legislative Black History Month event. Welcome.

Ms. Jessica Bell: I’d like to introduce Kerrie Fulton and Daniel Huether, residents in University–Rosedale. Thanks for coming today.

M. Andrew Dowie: J’aimerais saluer aujourd’hui l’un de nos pages, Adam Penner, de l’École élémentaire catholique Georges-P.-Vanier, dans ma circonscription de Windsor–Tecumseh. We are delighted to have you here with us, Adam, and we truly hope that you enjoy your time at Queen’s Park.

Ms. Marit Stiles: It really gives me great pleasure to welcome into the gallery here in the chamber former MP Peggy Nash and the Toronto Metropolitan University Women in the House program participants. It’s great to see you here.

This visit and this program are organized by former MP Peggy Nash, Dr. Tracey Raney and Zaima Aurony. Thank you so much for being with us here today.

Ms. Laura Smith: It is with great pleasure that I welcome my friend and colleague Mr. Chris Ainsworth, city councillor for ward 4 for the city of Vaughan from the mighty riding of Thornhill.

MPP Jill Andrew: Today is very inspirational because we’ve got tons of wonderful youth here today. I want to give a shout-out to Gwyn Chapman for coordinating the 17th annual Queen’s Park legislative Black History Month event, Inspiring Youth in Politics, where there will be hundreds of Black youth and other racialized youth and allied youth joining.

I’d also like to thank Canadian Youth Initiative, Tropicana, Black Buildup Canada, and the inspiring Youth Empowerment Network for also supporting with the coordination of today’s event.

I’d like to thank former NDP MP Peggy Nash and all the women who are here today from TMU’s Women in the House. Welcome to your House.

Finally, Speaker, I’d like to welcome Dr. Mr. Winston LaRose, the feature of the Canadian documentary Mr. Jane and Finch, produced by OYA Media Group. He’s also in the House today.

Ms. Natalia Kusendova-Bashta: Good morning. I’d like to welcome Jerine Jim, Tim Chang, Siya Shen and all the youth that are here today from the Canadian Youth Initiative. They are here to talk about their project Ping4Alzheimer and I invite all members to join us in room 248 after question period to hear about this great initiative of young people helping our seniors.

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: I’d like to give a very warm welcome to my former MP for Parkdale–High Park, Peggy Nash, and all the women who are part of the TMU’s Women in the House program. Welcome.

Question Period

Health care

Ms. Marit Stiles: Today, the Ontario Health Coalition is sharing stories of dozens of patients, mostly elderly Ontarians, who have been unfairly charged for OHIP-covered services. A patient in Newmarket was charged over $8,000 in extra fees related to cataract surgery. Another paid almost $6,000 for cataract surgery. Another paid $7,500 for a manual process and pushed into taking upgraded lenses.

This is already happening in private clinics and the government is working to expand it. What does the Premier have to say to these patients?

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

Mrs. Robin Martin: Thank you to the member opposite for the question. Obviously, there have been reported cases, and we heard some of them this morning. But if Bill 60 is passed, what was previously called an “independent health facility” will now be called an “integrated community health service centre” under the oversight of Ontario Health, which reflects our intention that these clinics be integrated with our public health care system.

We are expanding oversight by bringing in this new legislation. Integrated health centres will now have to post any uninsured charges both online or in person, and every community surgical and diagnostic centre must have a process for receiving and responding to patient complaints. The new legislation is remedying a problem that has existed in public hospitals as well as clinics, and it is making sure that these things are posted so that people cannot be upcharged.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: So the Premier is gouging patients, just more transparently. That’s what I got from that answer. Speaker, the Premier owes these patients and all of us an explanation. I have so many examples right here, which I will share with the Premier.

Back to the Premier: For-profit health care, like the kind that is being pushed by this government, requires a return on investment. That money is going to come from two places: extra charges to the public system that we’re all going to pay for, and upselling directly to patients at a time when they’re at their most vulnerable, while the cost of everything just keeps going up.

Why is this government opening the door to new fees and charges on people who are just looking to get the medical care that they deserve?

Mrs. Robin Martin: Thank you to the member opposite for the question. I think the question proves why you should vote for Bill 60. Bill 60 is going to make sure that these protections are in place for patients. Honestly, Ontarians will never have to pay under a Doug Ford government for services that are OHIP-insured. That’s what we’ve committed to. Ontarians will have these services and we’ll be continuing to fund one of the largest publicly funded health care systems in the world—$77.5 billion this year alone. That’s an additional $14 billion invested in health care spending since 2018.

We’re working with all of our partners to identify innovative solutions, such as these clinics, to expand access. Because that’s what this is about: making sure that people get timely access to care when they need it.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: This government wants us to believe that there is going to be transparency and accountability or protection. All you have to do is look at what the government did when they did nothing to hold private, for-profit long-term-care owners accountable for the horrific conditions and loss of life we saw during the pandemic. In fact, I’ll remind the government that those operators were rewarded with 30-year licences. Now we’re supposed to trust that new and expanded for-profit clinics will have oversight, even though there are absolutely no details in the legislation.

To the Premier again: Why is there no commitment to transparent public oversight authority in your legislation?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: I’m glad the member opposite brought up long-term care because she will know that just on Friday we introduced the fact that we had hired an additional 200 people for long-term care and doubled the amount of inspectors, as we said that we would do. We said that we would have the highest inspector-to-home ratio in the country and we do. Another opportunity that the NDP had to vote in favour and they voted against it.

We said we would build 58,000 new and upgraded beds across the province of Ontario, in small and large communities all over province. They could have voted for it, but they voted against it. The member voted against long-term care in her own riding.

Now, of course, we’re also saying that we’re going to improve health care in the province of Ontario. We started in 2018 with Ontario health teams in transition. We’re continuing with billions of dollars in new investments, and we’re making health care more open to the people of the province of Ontario, giving them more opportunity to have care closer to home. That’s what we’re doing. We’re building a health care system that will work for Canadians and Ontarians today and well into the future.

Land use planning

Ms. Marit Stiles: My next question is to the Premier. Ontario’s greenbelt grows our food, cleans our air and protects our watersheds. It’s absolutely critical in our fight against climate change. In fact, the greenbelt provides $3.2 billion annually in ecosystem services to the region, including $224 million per year in flood protection. Has the Premier taken the time to evaluate the environmental and financial impacts of his decision to carve up the greenbelt?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

Hon. David Piccini: This government is addressing the housing crisis facing Ontarians. That’s why we’ve brought forward this plan that’s going to expand the greenbelt and develop areas that are beside fully serviced areas beside the 401, 404 and 418, which makes sense, Speaker.

I would also add that Ontario is among Canada’s leaders in protected areas last year, doing things like the Boreal Wildlands, making additions to the Hastings wildlife, making additions in Brighton, the South Shore Joint Initiative for migratory—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

Hon. David Piccini: —protecting actual areas of environmental significance for future generations to come.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: I’ve got to say, Speaker, this land deal might be about a lot of things, but building affordable housing is certainly not one of them.

Ontarians cherish our greenbelt. We know that paving it over and paving over our vital farmlands and wetlands is going to hurt our province and its people for generations.

Instead of protecting it, this government has opened the floodgates for their well-connected personal friends. In fact, nine of the developers who benefit from the greenbelt land swap are top PC donors. Some even attended the Premier’s family festivities.

Did the Premier, his ministers or their staff tell developers about their intention to open up the greenbelt before their public announcement?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: Of course the Premier has already commented on that, as has the Minister of Municipal Affairs and the Housing.

Let’s be clear with what the Leader of the Opposition is saying, Mr. Speaker. She is saying that she wants ministers and members to start tabling invitation lists to weddings. This is an opposition that sent somebody to the Premier’s daughter’s wedding to take a picture of the seating plan. I don’t know of any other opposition party that would sink to that level, Mr. Speaker. These are people that the Premier has known for decades. When his father sat with Jim Flaherty over there in 1995, they were friends.

Why doesn’t she just come out and say what it is that she really wants to say, Mr. Speaker—that somehow, if you build in this province of Ontario, you can’t do it ethically. Why doesn’t she just come out and say what she really wants to say instead of hiding behind weasel words in this place?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: Withdraw.

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

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, there’s desperation right there for you. No one is buying this—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order. Stop the clock. I’m not sure if it was the Minister of Energy or the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. There was shouting. I would ask the House to come to order and allow the member who has the floor to place her question. Start the clock.

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, nobody is buying this, and I can tell you that everywhere around this province no one is buying that in order to build affordable housing, we have to destroy the greenbelt. It’s just not credible; it’s simply not credible.

But now, thanks to the Premier’s actions, more land speculators are circling like vultures. One of the new requests to develop the greenbelt is linked to a former staffer of the Premier turned lobbyist.

How naive does the Premier think Ontarians are? Exactly what price did this government put on the greenbelt?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Speaker, I will remind the member opposite, of course, that it was a Conservative government that brought in the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act in the first place.

But it’s more than that, Mr. Speaker. Again, this is a Leader of the Opposition who sunk to the level of sending a photographer to take a picture of a seating plan at a family wedding. This is a Leader of the Opposition who wants to have an invitation list tabled in the House. I know the member from Perth–Wellington is getting married; he must be shaking in his boots. He’s going to have to get the approval of the Leader of the Opposition for who he invites to his wedding.

Why doesn’t she just come out and say what she really means? Because we’ve heard it for decades in this place: “If you’re an Italian and you’re building homes for the people of the province of Ontario, somehow you can’t be doing it ethically.” These are people who came to this country with nothing. They came here to build a better future for their families. The home that she lives in was built by an Italian. The street that she drove on to get here was built by an Italian. The subway, the buses, the steel—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. Members will take their seats.

Order. The House will come to order. The government side will come to order.

The next question. Start the clock.

Fire in Pikangikum

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: To the Premier: Vernie Turtle, 44; Kirsten Moose, 38; and Kendriyanna Turtle, eight. On Wednesday, February 22, a deadly house fire took the lives of this family in Pikangikum First Nation. What is this government doing to help Pikangikum?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Minister of Northern Development.

Hon. Greg Rickford: We acknowledge this tragedy. I had a chance to speak to my long-standing friend Chief Dean Owen immediately afterward, following a fire, as the member points out, that took the lives of three community members on February 22, 2023. My ministry holds regular calls with the community—subsequently to that—and partners to ensure that they have everything that they need to work through this crisis. I’ve approved surge funding to address communities’ immediate requests for assistance. We stand by in an effort to continue to support them in any way that we can.

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

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: We know that the same tragedy happened in Pikangikum in 2016: nine people in one family. One community member told me that they are reliving a nightmare. I was there on Saturday. The house was still smoldering after three days because they do not have the capacity to put the fire out. This government needs to commit to a fire hall for Pikangikum so this does not happen again. Will this government help? Yes or no?

Hon. Greg Rickford: I want to thank the member for his question. My ministry provided a full briefing to him. I can tell you that we will continue to work co-operatively with the federal government. I have suggested that in certain instances, if there’s an existing fire hall, we would be prepared to support that, but we can’t do this in every single community without the full co-operation of the federal government. We acknowledge here today that fire response capacity on-reserve is something that remains a challenge for the federal government.

The provincial government will continue to work with our federal partners and at the community level to ensure that there is no red tape and that we have an ability to support fire response in these communities to prevent these tragedies.

Fiscal and economic policy

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: My question is for the Minister of Finance. The people of my riding, Markham–Thornhill, and across our province of Ontario are experiencing pressure due to the increased cost of living. Worldwide political instability, supply chain disruptions and rising inflation costs are all making life more expensive for the people of Ontario. This means higher costs for essential items such as food and gas. The cost of food has risen by 11%, and the cost of gas has risen by 3% compared to a year ago. This is very concerning for many individuals and families.

With so many economic challenges that the people of Ontario are facing, what is our government doing to keep our province fiscally sound?

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Thank you to the hard-working member for Markham–Thornhill for that question. We know that these are challenging economic times for many people in Ontario. Ongoing geopolitical conflict, high interest rates and, of course, inflation are still factors affecting global economic recovery. I think that’s clear to many. Our government has a responsible plan to ensure that our province remains on a strong and steady economic path forward. Our plan to build Ontario is grounded on our commitment to support our families, to support workers and to empower the people of Ontario.

We have laid a strong fiscal foundation upon which to continue to build Ontario. This includes record investments in new highways and hospitals, a plan that supports workers, growth and job creation. Mr. Speaker, that is what the people of Ontario expect and deserve from their government.

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

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: Thank you, Minister, for that great answer. As a government, we must always look for ways to make life easier and more affordable for all Ontarians. We see how inflation and the rising cost of living negatively impact families and individuals, especially our seniors.

While our government has shown continued leadership with strong measures like cutting the gas tax and making investments in critical programs, further action is needed. Speaker, what is the next step our government will implement to keep Ontario on an economic path to strength and stability?

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Thank you again to the member from Markham–Thornhill for that very thoughtful question. You know, folks, over the last couple of years, Ontario and the rest of the world have faced a once-in-a-lifetime challenge. Ontario is not an island, and we continue to face uncertain economic times. But I have absolute confidence in the resilience of the people of Ontario—the workers, the businesses and the families right here in Ontario. That’s why I’m proud and I’m confident to introduce the next phase of this plan on March 23, which will be Ontario’s 2023 budget.

Mr. Speaker, we have a plan for a strong future for Ontario. We have a plan that ensures our province holds its position as a global economic leader. We have a plan that respects and empowers our workers and restores our manufacturing capabilities. Mr. Speaker, we have a plan that is getting it done for the people of Ontario.

Children’s mental health services

Ms. Chandra Pasma: Our children’s mental health is suffering, but this government is failing to provide the supports they need. According to a new report, 91% of schools say they need support dealing with student mental health, but less than one in 10 schools have access to a regularly scheduled mental health specialist or nurse. The lack of support is leading to an increase in violence in our schools and making it more difficult for kids to catch up.

Why is the Minister of Education not taking action to provide mental health supports in all of our schools?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: I do appreciate the question from the member opposite. It is a very serious question affecting Canadian youth and children around the world—the increase of mental health needs in our province.

Mr. Speaker, we have in this province, every single year since coming to office, increased funding for mental health. We started with a nearly $18-million investment at the peak of spending under the former Liberals. Today, that investment is at $90 million—a 400% increase in investments, Speaker.

Year over year, we’ve hired 9% more mental health workers, professionals working directly with our kids—psychologists and psychotherapists; 7,000 more education workers, which includes social workers and child and youth workers. We recognize the demands are rising. It’s why we’ve increased funding this school year by an additional $10 million.

Mr. Speaker, in addition to our schools, many parents will get their kids access to treatment in their community. Working with the Ministry of Health, we’ve increased funding through the Roadmap to Wellness by $130 million, particularly for kids, and created 14 youth mental health hubs to ensure they have the services and the supports they deserve.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Ms. Chandra Pasma: Speaker, the minister’s results speak for themselves, when half of schools have no mental health resources at all, and fewer schools have access to a psychologist than they did under the Liberals. Without adequate supports in place, teachers and education workers are left to try and manage mental health challenges in the classroom while also navigating staffing shortfalls and overcrowded classrooms.

Our education workers are burning out, Speaker, and need mental health supports themselves. Why is the Minister of Education allowing the mental health of children and workers to suffer instead of giving our schools the resources they need?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: To meet the demand of the many families and children in our community who are facing mental health difficulty, we have stepped up with a significant investment. The numbers, I think, help tell the story of a commitment to helping meet this challenge. Every year since 2018, we have increased funding, starting at $18 million under the former Liberals to $90 million today, a 400% increase; 7,000 more education workers in our schools because of our government’s investment, and just in the last year, a 9% increase in professionals specifically targeting children in schools, supporting them when it comes to mental health services.

In addition to in-school supports—the hiring of more psychologists, psychotherapists and mental health workers—we also have stepped up support in community. There’s $130 million dedicated specifically for children and youth. We created, under our government with the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, 14 youth hubs to create integrated services for children in rural, remote and urban communities. We’ll continue to work together to meet the needs of our kids.

Flooding

Ms. Goldie Ghamari: My question is for the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. We are mindful of the devastating impact that flooding and extreme weather can have in our province. Many individuals will remember the damage that flooding caused to the people of Ottawa, eastern Ontario and the Parry Sound and Muskoka regions in 2019. These floods impacted thousands of homes, individuals and businesses, requiring Canadian military assistance, and unfortunately, sadly, lives were lost.

As we move from winter to spring and ice and snow begin to melt, many individuals are rightly concerned about how this could affect their communities once again. Speaker, through you, what is our government doing to respond to potential flood risks facing our communities?

Hon. Graydon Smith: Thank you to the member for Carleton for the question. She’s doing an excellent job for her constituents every single day.

Mr. Speaker, I certainly do understand first-hand the challenges that flooding can bring to communities. In 2013 and 2019, in the community that I led at the time, we went through devastating situations. And in 2019, the Premier was there on that very first day to ask how he could help.

But Mr. Speaker, coming out of that, the Premier and others have paid a lot of attention to developing a flooding strategy for Ontario and making sure that communities have this strategy that they can call on, drawing on expert recommendations to ensure the public is better prepared for flooding, and that we’ve been working hard to implement those recommendations.

We’ve also committed over $30 million to protect wetlands, one of the biggest wetland recovery investments in provincial history, and that helps with flood mitigation as well. Over $26 million in disaster recovery assistance to individuals, businesses and communities, and $4.7 million to help with municipalities with flood forecasting. We can’t prevent floods, but we—

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

Ms. Goldie Ghamari: Thank you to the minister for the response. It is reassuring to know that our government continues to show leadership and is making investments to strengthen disaster recovery assistance for our communities. However, our government needs to take further action regarding preventive measures.

Following the tragic events of the 2019 flood, our government commissioned a task force to report on areas and recommendations for improving flood resilience and enhancing public safety. The independent flood advisor’s report highlighted the proactive steps the government can take to mitigate the impacts of flooding in our community.

Speaker, through you, can the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry please explain how our government acted on this report’s recommendations?

Hon. Graydon Smith: Again, I thank the member for the question. Since the introduction, we’ve made steady progress towards implementing recommendations set out in Ontario’s flooding strategy. We’ve made improvements to flood plain mapping, guidance that established a multi-agency flood mapping technical team to better identify hazard areas. We’ve improved disaster recovery assistance programs by investing up to $2 million of additional funding to extend the Build Back Better pilot project through 2023.

We’re helping eligible municipalities rebuild infrastructure damaged by extreme weather to a higher standard through the Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance program. We’ve also made improvements to the province’s emergency response system so that Ontario is better prepared to handle flooding events.

Speaker, there are no quick fixes when it comes to reducing impacts from flooding, but Ontario’s flooding strategy aims to improve preparedness and make Ontario a true leader in flood management.

Consumer protection

Ms. Jessica Bell: My question is to the Premier. Kerrie and Daniel, who are here today, are owners of a newly built condo at 1 Yorkville Avenue. Since moving in, they’ve faced a whole host of problems—faulty equipment causing false fire alarms, amenities that were promised that have still not been built. Their home is still a construction zone.

Now, Kerrie has complained to her property manager, her condo board and government regulatory agencies, but no one is helping her and the problem remains.

A report written by the public accounts committee gives us a road map for what we need to do to give condo residents the protections they need, and this government signed off on that report as well. To ensure condo residents live in safe and well-maintained homes, when will this government turn this report’s recommendations into law?

Hon. Kaleed Rasheed: Thank you to the member opposite for the question. Our government takes matters of consumer protection in the condo sector very seriously and will never stop taking necessary action to protect Ontarians across the province.

Speaker, my ministry welcomes the Auditor General’s feedback on Ontario’s condo sector and has already begun consulting on ways to actively improve and expand the condo authority tribunal and its powers. We are never stopping our efforts to improve protections for all Ontarians and ensure they have a safe and secure place to call home.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question. The member for Humber River–Black Creek.

Mr. Tom Rakocevic: Thank you, Speaker. As you’ve heard, there are far too many condo residents facing big problems with no easy solutions here in Ontario, with nowhere to turn. Many end up fighting in court and are forced to give up, leaving them worse off than when they started, without a resolution and in debt. In my community, condo residents were individually forced to pay a special assessment of over $30,000, in mere days, or face a lien. Many were forced to sell. Others fought in court but gave up when legal costs hit $100,000.

Again, when will the government implement all of the recommendations in the Auditor General’s report, such as fully expanding the condominium appeal tribunal so that condo residents can finally get the respect they need and deserve?

Hon. Kaleed Rasheed: Thank you to the member opposite for the supplementary question. Speaker, it is this government that is actually making condo boards fairer and more transparent, and improving the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Ontarians who call a condo home. The condo act provides a framework that enables condo owners and their elected boards of directors to make decisions about the governance of a condo corporation. This includes provisions, among other things, related to safety, prohibited conditions and activities, and dispute resolution.

Speaker, we will continue to work with the condo sector to implement the changes suggested by the AG and ensure that condo owners across the province are provided with the treatment they expect and deserve.

Health care

Ms. Stephanie Bowman: We have heard this government talk about the importance of primary care providers, and building medical schools to train more family doctors will help in the years ahead. But why aren’t they taking action now? There are 1.8 million Ontarians who do not have a family doctor right now, including many of my constituents in Don Valley West. We hear every day, especially over the holidays, about ERs closing.

The OMA provided recommendations to help solve the family doctor problem right now: for example, investing to build centralized referral lists, reducing admin burden on doctors by hiring medical scribes so they can see more patients, and implementing more family health teams.

My question to the Minister of Health: Why is this government not implementing the recommendations of the OMA and instead prioritizing the introduction of Bill 60. And what metrics will they put in place to show Ontarians that profits don’t come at the expense of taxpayers?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Eglinton–Lawrence to reply.

Mrs. Robin Martin: Thank you to the member opposite for the question. In fact, we are doing a lot of the things that you mentioned, including investing in centralized wait-lists. The Your Health plan, which was announced earlier this year, has some of those very things in it, including the centralized wait-lists.

Ontario leads the country in how many people actually benefit from a long-term, stable relationship with a family doctor or primary care provider—over 90% of Ontarians. But we can do more and we will do more.

That’s why we’re increasing training opportunities at the same time by expanding team models of primary care across the province, which we announced, again, in the Your Health plan. Work is under way to train the next generation. We’re adding physician spots, including 450 new spots for physician training, 52 new spots for physician assistants, 150 new nurse practitioner spots, 1,500 additional nursing spots and 24,000 PSW spots. By adding these new health human resources to Ontario’s workforce, more team-based care will be made available to Ontarians.

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

Ms. Stephanie Bowman: This government seemed to take its eye off the ball when it came to the impact of Bill 124 on the health care system. They seem to neither know and certainly don’t report the growing number of unfilled nursing positions in hospitals and nurses leaving the profession. Bill 124 led to surgical backlogs, closed ERs, and unnecessary suffering for the people of Ontario, including our nurses. Public servants of this government’s Ministry of Health stated this in a leaked memo.

One impact of Bill 124 is quite clear: This government is underspending on health care by underpaying the remaining nurses we do have, contributing to underspending to the tune of $4.9 billion in the next three years, according to the FAO.

My question to the Minister of Health: Will the government take accountability for their Bill 124 mistake and invest some of the billions they’ve parked in contingency funds to fix the staffing mess they created with Bill 124?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Minister of Colleges and Universities to reply.

Hon. Jill Dunlop: Thank you to the member for the question.

We have record numbers of students who are entering the nursing profession, and we are ensuring that we have more nurses as we move forward with our plans, and this is in no part due to the NDP and Liberals, who do not support us every step of the way. We continue to make investments in registered nurses, registered practical nurses, PSWs. Every time, the opposition votes against those measures.

We are allowing our colleges and universities to now offer stand-alone nursing programs across the province, and this will ensure that nursing students can practise in their areas and continue to be professionals in those areas. As part of Bill 60, we’re hiring more health human resources, but we’ve also expanded the Learn and Stay program that is now not only there for nursing students but also for lab techs and paramedics, and this is in exchange—free tuition—to continue practising in those areas after graduation.

We will ensure that more students are entering the profession as we continue to build Ontario’s world-class health care system.

Services for children and youth

Ms. Laura Smith: My question is to the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

Our government must take action to support children and youth in the welfare system. Children and youth in the system face additional barriers throughout their lives. They are more likely to experience traumatic events such as homelessness, mental health concerns, unemployment, lack of education, and involvement in the justice system. Every day that passes, as these children get older, it becomes more and more challenging for them to move beyond the setbacks and losses that they have experienced. Governments should be helping these children, and all children, to get a good start so they can lead fulfilled, supported and happy lives.

Mr. Speaker, can the minister please elaborate on what our government is doing to help these children and youth achieve better lives?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Thank you to the good member from Thornhill for the question.

Our government has been working closely with sector partners, youth with lived experience, and advocates to inform a redesign of Ontario’s child welfare system.

To protect youth during the pandemic, we introduced a moratorium on youth leaving care as they normally would. We took that opportunity to re-examine how youth leaving care were supported and committed to improving that process.

With the Premier’s leadership, we’re taking action to enhance the system so that youth are supported. The Ready, Set, Go program, launching on April 1, 2023, will provide youth transitioning out of care with life skills and supports they need to pursue post-secondary education, skilled trades training and employment opportunities.

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

Ms. Laura Smith: Thank you to the minister for her response.

We know that having a strong support system from a very young age helps children and youth obtain the practical life skills they need to lead successful lives. It’s imperative that youth in care receive access to the same opportunities as their peers by providing them with support for education and skills training.

It is reassuring that the objectives of the Ready, Set, Go program are designed specifically to provide concrete knowledge and skills development for these young people. Can the minister please explain how this program will help provide children and youth with the tools they need?

Hon. Merrilee Fullerton: Through the Ready, Set, Go program, children’s aid societies will begin focusing on helping children plan for their future from an earlier age. From age 13, they will begin learning practical life skills and planning educational goals. At age 15, the emphasis will expand to financial literacy and preparing for the workforce, including managing personal finances, setting up a bank account, grocery shopping, resumé-building, and how to access social services and other supports.

This will come with continuing funding to support their needs. Those pursuing a post-secondary program or training in skilled trades and apprenticeships will receive further support.

Fertility services

Mr. Terence Kernaghan: In a few weeks, one of Canada’s first fertility clinics is closing its doors after 50 years of helping families grow. The fertility clinic at London Health Sciences Centre has helped bring more than 4,500 babies into the world since opening in 1972. These services are shifting to a private clinic, Omega, due to a lack of funding.

Speaker, what does this government have to say to the thousands of families who depended on this vital public service?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Eglinton–Lawrence.

Mrs. Robin Martin: Thank you to the member opposite for the question. The Ontario Fertility Program provides publicly funded in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination, including intrauterine insemination and fertility preservation, for eligible patients and as an uninsured service through agreements with participating fertility clinics across the province. Under the program, the government contributes to the funding of unlimited cycles of artificial insemination, including intrauterine insemination and fertility preservation, and one cycle of IVF per patient.

Recently, last fall, we announced a new fertility clinic opening up in Windsor, to be able to provide fertility treatments in that part of the province, with an annualized funding of $1.5 million. What we’re doing is trying to bring services closer to patients, and that’s an example of it.

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

Mr. Terence Kernaghan: Speaker, I’m glad that the government has read the website, but the website for Omega indicates that patients are responsible for the payment of medications, and the storage, and the shipping of specimens from one clinic to another. This is yet another example of the privatization of health care, where patients will have to pay more for certain services.

What we need right now is action to address the hospital crisis and a plan to recruit, retain and return health care workers in our public hospitals, not further privatization. Why does this government want Ontarians to settle for less when it comes to creating their families?

Mrs. Robin Martin: As the member opposite should know, our government has launched the largest health care recruiting and training initiative in Ontario’s history. We had a record number of new nurses sign up just last year: 12,000, which is the highest ever. Since 2018, we’ve added 1,800 family doctors across the system.

We know that many other provinces across Canada are facing pressures with health human resources, but our government has been taking steps for a long time to make sure that we have new and upskilled health care providers, including 8,000 more upskilled personal support workers and 5,000 more upskilled nurses.

This government is doing everything it can to ensure that the services are there when people need them and where they need them, and we’ll continue to make those investments.

Health care

Mr. Rick Byers: My question is for the Minister of Colleges and Universities.

Mr. Speaker, we need to continue to strengthen the health care workforce in our province. After years of neglect and inaction from the previous Liberal government, access to health care in rural communities suffered. The people in my riding of Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound were negatively impacted when it came to ensuring that we have the same level of access to health care compared to major cities. We must educate more health care workers across our province now, to ensure no region is left behind. Together, let’s build a health care system that better cares for our communities and keeps our province strong.

Can the Minister of Colleges and Universities please elaborate on what additional measures our government is taking to strengthen our health care system?

Hon. Jill Dunlop: Thank you to my hard-working colleague for that question. I’m incredibly proud to stand up today and talk about the important work that I’m doing alongside the Premier and the Minister of Health to build up the health care system. We’re taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to ensure people across the province have more ways to receive the high-quality care they deserve.

Last week, our government introduced the Your Health Act, 2023, which outlines our plan to provide Ontarians with a better, more convenient health care experience closer to home. If passed, our plan will reduce wait times, recognize credentials of out-of-province health care workers and respond directly to the changing needs of our health care system.

As part of this plan, we are working to hire more health care workers. That starts with ensuring that the next generation of those workers have access to high-quality, high-calibre education right here in Ontario. This includes moving forward with the largest medical school expansion in more than a decade and adding thousands more nursing spots and schools across the province. Unlike previous governments, we are getting it done for the people of Ontario.

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

Mr. Rick Byers: Thank you to the minister for her response. Rural and remote regions have struggled for many years to attract the health care professionals their communities need. That’s why our government must ensure that Ontarians, regardless of their community size, receive the required health care support. While the Learn and Stay grant is a very promising program, students and the local health care system in Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound need reassurance that they will receive the necessary support from our government as we move forward.

Can the minister please explain further about this program and how interested students can apply?

Hon. Jill Dunlop: Investing in the future of Ontario’s health care system starts with providing a high-calibre education for those who want to work on the front lines. Earlier this year we announced our expansion of the Learn and Stay grant, a key component of Ontario’s plan to stay open. I’m happy to say that the Georgian College, Owen Sound Campus is part of this program.

The grant, which we announced in March 2022 for students who enrol in nursing programs, has now expanded to include paramedic and medical laboratory technologist programs in priority communities. Eligible students will receive full, upfront funding for tuition, books and other direct educational costs in return for working and caring for people in the region where they studied for a term of service after they graduate.

Grant applications for the 2023-24 academic year opened this spring, targeting 2,500 eligible students at over 20 institutions. Right now, students can go online and see a full list of eligible schools and programs on the Ontario Learn and Stay Grant website and learn more about how they can apply.

Health care funding

Miss Monique Taylor: My question is for the Premier. Hamilton Health Sciences has 270 patients waiting in hospital who cannot be discharged because they are waiting for alternative kinds of care, such as long-term or home care. This has gotten so bad that Hamilton hospitals have resorted to keeping these patients in a satellite health facility. Clearly, Bill 7 and its promise to free up bed space by sending seniors up to 70 kilometres away is not working for Hamilton.

It has been four years of empty promises from this government. Will the Premier commit to repealing Bill 7 and finally focus on providing the funding our health care system needs?

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

Hon. Paul Calandra: Of course I would not repeal Bill 7, because it’s actually working for the people of Ontario. It’s what we said right from the beginning: We wanted to bring a better quality of care closer to home for people, the right care in the right place at the right time.

As I have been travelling the province, I have been visiting a lot of long-term-care homes, and one unique feature in every home that I visit is people who come up to me and say, “My mom was in the hospital” or “My dad was in the hospital and we’ve transitioned into a long-term-care home. I don’t know why we waited so long to do it because the quality of care is so much better.” Just two weeks ago the same story, but this time from somebody who was a patient in a hospital, said the same thing—that the quality of life that she has is so much better. She’s made friends. She’s out and about more. She has seen a real change in her own attitude.

We’re going to continue to do more. How the member could help is by voting in favour and supporting some of the investments that we’re making in long-term care. We’ve added 58,000 beds, many in her own riding, but she’s voted against all of those investments. Hopefully, she will see differently in future.

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

Miss Monique Taylor: Back to the Premier: Approximately one in five patients currently in hospital is ready to be discharged, but they cannot leave. The hospitals are operating overcapacity, but these patients have nowhere to go. This is all happening while Hamilton faces significant human resources shortages, with 700 nursing spots being vacant alone—that’s just one hospital.

These problems are getting worse, not better. Why is the Premier sitting on $3.5 billion in contingency funds instead of ensuring we have a strong health care system that people can rely on?

Hon. Paul Calandra: In fact, in long-term care alone, we’re hiring an additional 27,000 health care professionals. As the Minister of Colleges and Universities just said, we have record levels of enrolment.

When it comes to ALC, Speaker, here are the numbers: We’ve helped place over 5,400 ALC patients into long-term care. Over 4,800 ALC patients—have added more long-term-care beds. We have added over 2,100 beds to the long-term-care system. These are beds that have been taken out of circulation for isolation for COVID.

But let’s hear what people are saying. The CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital: “Every bed is a valuable bed, and as I said, when dea