 is now time for oral questions. I recognize the leader of the official opposition. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Premier. During last spring's campaign in the leaders' debate I stood next to the Premier when he promised the parent of a child with autism and I quote, we will be there to support you 1,000%. I promise you, you won't have to be protesting in front of Queen's Park like you have with the Liberal Premier. I want the Conservative Premier to look in the gallery today at families who have come from across Ontario to protest his policies. Does he feel he has supported them 1,000%? Please take those seats. Premier. Through you, Mr. Speaker, I remember that. I remember saying it and I truly believe this. This is the toughest file I've ever dealt with, ever. It has emotions involved, families involved, children involved, and it's heartbreaking. I know and I'm sure many of people in this legislature have taken calls. I've taken hundreds of calls, hundreds of calls and listen to their stories. We feel our government we feel we're doing the right things. When we went into office, Mr. Speaker it was bankrupt the system. The system was bankrupt. They funded it to $256 million. We had it run to the Treasury for emergency funds of $100 million. The system was broken. A broken system that the opposition voted for. They actually voted for it. Order. Mike, can I continue? Well, thank you, Premier. We normally allow a minute for questions and a minute for responses. At 50 seconds I normally stand to remind members that their time is almost up. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reality is it is this Premier who is breaking people's hearts across our province. Parents don't feel supported. They feel betrayed. For thousands of parents across Ontario, therapy offers them a chance to truly connect with and communicate with their own children sometimes for the very first time. They'll do anything to access supports, but the Premier's scheme asks them to do the impossible. With these changes, parents estimate their families will be covering 80 to 95% of treatment costs out of pocket. That's $80,000 to $90,000 a year on a family budget. Does the Premier believe that paying for 5% of the cost qualifies as 1,000% support? Members, please take their seats. Premier. Do it again. You have to do it again. You have to do it again. Minister of Social Service. Thank you very much, Speaker. And I appreciate the passion and the compassion of the member opposite and the leader of the opposition. This is a very emotional issue for many of us. Some of us in this legislature have devoted our career for fighting for these families including myself and the Minister of Health and my parliamentary assistant Amy Fee. We've travelled across the province. We have heard from people. But as the Premier has just stated the system we inherited six and a half months ago was broken. It was bankrupt. We had to go back to Treasury Board for an additional $100 million so that we could continue to serve just 25% of the population with autism in the province of Ontario. That was heartbreaking. It was gut wrenching. We had to make a decision so that we could make sure it was fair, equitable, sustainable. That's why we are moving to a model that directly funds parents and doubles the investment in our diagnostic hubs. That's the right thing to do. We're making sure that we have a more sustainable way to support our families and our supplementary. Well, Speaker, I have to say for a politician that's been fighting most of her career on behalf of these families once she's in a position of power, she is supposed to fix it. Not make it worse. Not make it worse. And is downright cruel. Under the Fort government changes families will be cut off from full support if they earn as little as $55,000 a year of income. rich to qualify for full support. How did the Premier decide that two parents earning the minimum wage are too wealthy to deserve the already inadequate support that his scheme provides? I get the leader of the opposition is angry. I would ask her to consider the truth and the circumstances that we inherited with a $256 million program that was excluding three out of four children in this province. That means some children were getting some service but most of the children were getting no service. Speaker she couldn't look at herself in the mirror if she had to inherit a program like that just like we in this government couldn't after we had to inject a hundred million dollars into this system so we could ensure that places like Aaron Oak and Chio could make it through the holidays to support the 25% of the children who were fortunate enough to be in this program. That is why I'm committed to clearing the waitlist so that 23,000 children who are denied service in the province Ontario will get the service they deserve. We start the clock. Supplementary. This question is for the Premier. Thank you. My next question is for the Premier. Children and their families came here today from across Ontario because they were promised help by this Premier and instead they're being sold something much much worse. Can the Premier explain to them how a family earning $55,000 a year is wealthy enough under his scheme to cover more than $80,000 a year in treatment costs? Premier. Children and community and social services. Mr. Children and community and social services. Thanks again to the member opposite for her question and thanks to the parents the gallery who are here today so that we can explain our program. I think that there's some misinformation that I've heard over the last couple of days from the opposition. Right now they're suggesting that people will be will be you know not eligible for support if they're making $55,000. Children let me be perfectly clear. Those between the ages of zero to five will be able to be part of the childhood budget right up until they're 18 but the maximum amount of support will be in the early years because we know evidence-based early intervention is key to success so that's why we want to clear the wait list. Having said that. Order. We are making sure that the most vulnerable people in this program that is low and medium income earners should have the most support but into the member's point opposite that in terms of the $55,000 will be getting 98.5% of that budget of $140,000 from zero to the 18-year-old. Supplementary. Speaker I was very clear in my question I talked about full support and she just actually agreed that they will not be getting full support because of their income. These are real people that are here today speaker. They want what any parent wants a fair chance for their kids. I want the Premier to tell parents of the parents of Sebastian for example from Waterloo or Brayden whose parents came here all the way from Kingston or any of the parents here today that he still stands by changes that will leave them having to spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars that they don't have just so they can do basic things like communicate with their own children. And if he doesn't stand by this scheme what will he do to fix it? Thank you very much a speaker. I guess it comes down to how you view this plan. You think it's okay or the minister or the member opposite thinks it's okay to only support 25% of the children in the program. This government believes that we should clear the waiting list of 23,000 children who will be on the wait list for an indefinite amount of time. This is a data driven project where we have invested additional money in order to support more families with better supports and more choice. We will directly fund parents so that they can make the decisions that are in the best interest of their children and I'm proud to defend this plan and I am proud that this government will finally for the first time support 100% of the children in this province that have autism. What I don't think is okay I don't think it's okay for this government to kick families and children with autism to the curb and tell them they're gonna have to make it on their own when we all know how expensive the therapies are for children with autism. They're not demanding the impossible they're asking the Premier to simply keep his word but instead of providing promised support the Ford government is yanking it away and instead of being a voice for these families in government the minister responsible threatens families when they don't say nice things about her plan and herself. Enough is enough speaker will the Premier do the right thing today tell your minister tell his minister that she has to resign then tear up this failed scheme and replace it with a new plan backed with actual investment that provides parents with the support for their children that they were promised minister it's very much a speaker I'm proud of this plan because for the first time in Ontario history we will clear the wait list by doubling the opposition and directly funding parents so that they can make the best choices for their children whether that is behavioral therapy whether that's respite care whether that's technological aids and whether that is caregiver training we are committed to doing this and for the member opposite to to suggest that this plan will change is nothing short speaker of providing false hope to those who think it will change because I can tell opposition come to order and this government have full confidence in this plan I will make sure this plan is implemented and I will be the minister responsible for the autism program who implements this program thank you start the clock next question the member for Hamilton Mountain thank you speaker my question is for the minister of children community and social services and I just want to start by saying you have it all wrong there's nothing evidence-based about your plan nothing when to interrupt the house again to remind members all members to make their comments through the chair the member for Hamilton Mountain should put her question speaker Nancy has twin seven-year-old boys with severe autism right now they're in 30 hours a week of intensive therapy they're learning how to feed themselves and have just started to communicate with their mom their therapy cost $60,000 a year each under the new OAP which is the government's new proud program they will receive less than $5,000 a year each Nancy is afraid her children will never learn to live independently they will never have the quality of life that they deserve the new program devastating for Nancy and her family will the minister help parents like Nancy stop the changes to the OAP and instead commit to investing in needs and evidence-based sir thank you minister of children community social services very much a speaker and thanks to the member opposite for bringing Nancy's story to the Ontario Legislative Assembly I think the member opposite has to understand the complexity of this situation the fact that we have decided to invest in early intervention where we know that that is evidence-based where we are going to allow for a flexible childhood family budget for families like Nancy's to get the services that they need but where I think the member opposite forgets part of the equation is that three of the province of Ontario have been denied support by their Ontario government because of the way the program was set up children 23,000 were languishing on a waitlist for an indefinite amount of time meaning we could have a five-year-old child on the waitlist and would age out of the program by the time they were 18 without getting a call for service that is wrong it's unconscionable and it's response and that's why we have moved to a direct funding model and we're doubling the investment in diagnostic hubs supplementary this minister doesn't seem to understand that these are children that we're talking about they are not numbers on the list by giving each child the liberal government's failed plan your plan is worse Tatiana is a mom of three kids two of them are on the spectrum one of her boys is receiving therapy now and is the other one is on the waitlist her one son is getting $60,000 a year in services the new program would give her less than $5,000 a year Tatiana can't afford to pay for this on her own and her boys will regress she's afraid that they will never be ready to go to school for her other son on the waitlist she is willing to wait because she knows that proper services are worth it in the end for her children will the minister listen to the families who have come here today admit that her plan needs more work and they'll go back to the drawing board thank you very much speaker and thanks for bringing Tatiana's story to to this assembly those were the exact types of stories that were so heartbreaking and gut wrenching when we inherited this program and found out that Tatiana's son would be on that opposition come toward a time meaning he would likely never get off it because of the way this system was broken that's why we went to the treasurer for Essex come toward Hamilton Mountain come toward the program for only 25% of the children afloat 23,000 children may not be a lot to the to the members opposite but my job is to protect every single child that has autism in this program in this project and that's what I'm doing we're making sure that position come toward get the rough funding support so she can make the best decisions for her child who's already receiving support as well sadly as the child that was not going to get off the waitlist but I can come in today within the next 18 months he will be off this waitlist next question the member for mississauga streetsville my question is for the minister of community safety and correctional services mr. Speaker Ontario's government for the people was elected with a mandate to improve public safety across this province and to provide the brave and dedicated men and women of our police services with the tools and resources they need to perform their duties safely and effectively before the last election the Liberal government passed the most anti-police legislation in Canadian history a deeply flawed piece of legislation that ignored the everyday realities of the difficult jobs are dedicated and brave police officers are asked to do to restore respect to these heroes in Ontario's community our government paused the implementation of bill 175 mr. Speaker could the minister please update the members of this legislature on how the comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act will make Ontario safer and treat police with fairness and respect good question minister of community safety and correctional services thank you thank you for the member from mississauga street fuel for the her important question and congratulations on becoming a grandma Ontario's government for the people was elected with a mandate to fix the Liberals broken policing legislation to fulfill our fundamental responsibility of commit keeping Ontario community safe I'm proud to say that yesterday Ontario's government for the people introduced the comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act this legislation is central to our commitment to making Ontario safer standing up for victims and holding criminals accountable for their actions police deserve our gratitude and respect not our suspicion and scorn that's why our government is providing police with the tools resources and support they need to do their jobs often quietly and heroically the previous liberal government's legislation did not even pay service to the principle of fairness or due process for police officers not only was this unfair it was disrespectful to the police or officers and speaker we are fixing that mr. Speaker I thank the minister for her response and I am proud to stand here today knowing that our government is delivering on its promise to restore fairness and respect for our brave and dedicated police officers right here in pure region where I was inspired by their dedication by joining them on a ride along just a few weeks ago the men and women of our police services now know that our government is listening to them and will continue to work to ensure public safety across this great province mr. Speaker can the minister explain to the house how this proposed legislation will keep everyone in Ontario safe by improving training and making governance work better good minister game to the member there is no greater responsibility for a government than public safety and this government has been focused on this top priority since day one to act on our mandate from the people of Ontario and keep the promise we made to improve safety across this great province we have proposed legislation to improve governance training and transparency as an early response to justice Tullock's report on street checks we will mandate human rights systemic racism diversity and indigenous culture and rights training for new police officers and special constables we will make successful completion of training mandatory for members of police services boards our proposed legislation will also maintain First Nation policing provisions to provide First Nations with the ability to opt in to enter as policing legislation community safe response goes beyond policing itself and so does our proposed legislation we are also proposing amendments to the mandatory blood testing act and I look forward to debating this legislation in the days to come thank you speaker my questions to the minister of children community and social services last Saturday our office hosted an emergency roundtable about the government's changes to autism services at the roundtable I met Laura who I'm pleased to say is joining us here at Queen's Park today Laura's son Noah is seven years old living with autism after years on the wait list Noah finally started receiving ABA therapy and he's making huge strides including sleeping in his own bed and being able to sit at the table with a non-preferred food item why is the minister ending coverage of this beautiful seven-year-old and therapy why is that not helping enough children community and social services thanks very much speaker appreciate the question from the member opposite I did miss him on Saturday when we're supposed to be playing hockey in his riding we did win that game happy to happy to say that though we have order on my team let's bring a moment of levity here because this is an emotional issue and while we understand that 25% of the children were receiving a sport we understand also that 75% of the children weren't and so I have an obligation as the minister responsible for this program to ensure that we that we allow every child in Ontario the opportunity to get some level of opposition come to order it's unfair it's unequal and it's possible to continue with the previous Liberal government's plan so we're going to continue to support and open this process for Hamilton of diagnostic response as we have at Holland Bloorview and at Aaron Oaks and a Chio and we're going to make sure that once those children are cleared off that diagnostic diagnosis hub we are going to ensure thank you thank you speaker unfair back to the minister let's talk about unfair I think it's unfair to be giving out a tax cut in this province to the richest Ontarians that will cost $275 million while families with autism aren't getting the support they deserve that's unfair this government is cutting corporate income taxes by a billion dollars when families with autism can't get the support they deserve for Laura it's time for all the families who are here to have a government that will be on their side and that requires rethinking this plan that is not giving people false hope speaker that is asking our friends in government to collegially rethink this program so we don't ruin our public school system support the families that need our support will the minister commit to changing your mind listening to parents and working with us passion for this it's an important issue for the 25 percent of the parents who were receiving the support from this program but I have to look at all children on this program that's why we have to extend support to the other 23,000 that's why we have increased our budget from this program from $256 million to $321 million that is why we went in for an emergency hundred million dollars from Treasury board it to ensure that we could keep this program alive but speaker I have to say we must ensure that we have appropriate levels of support for all children not just one in four that's wrong it's a opposition come toward the way the previous government had run it so I'm going to stand here and I will I will let the member opposite know this plan is the plan that will be implemented to suggest to parents otherwise is to provide for the responsible families and I won't have it this question the member for Brampton South thank you mr. Speaker my question is for the minister of economic development job creation and trade every day a hundred thousand men and women across this province go to work in the auto sector including thousands from my riding Brampton South recently the minister and the premier with we're at the auto show where they unveiled our government's auto plan entitled driving prosperity a plan to keep these jobs in Ontario Ontario was North America's top auto producing region in 2017 building almost 2.2 million vehicles with thousands of those vehicles right in Brampton I know that our government for the people is committed to ensuring the future of a thriving auto sector in Ontario can the minister inform the house about the steps our government is taking as part of driving prosperity to ensure the future of our auto sector and I thank the member for the great question this morning last week I did have the pleasure of introducing our auto plan for Ontario driving prosperity which ensures that we continue to build over 2 million vehicles and maybe even more in Ontario so that we can employ hundreds of thousands of people in the supply chain you know one of the key pillars of our driving prosperity plan is innovation and I just want to elaborate on how the lines have blurred a bit in the auto industry between an auto manufacturer and a tech company we have more than 200 businesses that are currently operating in the tech sector in the automobile industry so companies like Google and Ford and GM and Blackberry QNX and Apple they're all working in this space to ensure that we're enhancing the autonomous vehicle the vehicle of the future and that's why we've committed to invest in the Avian program that's why we're creating a new winter tech development stream and we certainly have advantages in Canada in Ontario to develop that next phase of the autonomous vehicle Mr. Speaker and that's why we're driving prosperity with our auto plan thank you back to the minister speaker I know the minister is committed to a future a strong future for the auto sector in Ontario and the families in Brampton and across this province are counting on his leadership I know that many of the principles that the minister has laid out as part of our government's open for business strategy are also part of our driving prosperity plan for the auto sector right now the government has built 66 before the house to try to reduce the burden of red tape on Ontario businesses can the minister tell the house how our approach to red tape and regulatory reform is going to work to help our plan for Ontario's auto sector minister thanks again for the great member for the great question we have made a commitment to reduce red tape not just in the auto sector but in manufacturing and agriculture and agri-food and the mining and northern development and forestry sectors by 25 percent by 2020 that's so that we can drive prosperity not just in the auto sector but in every sector of the province's economy that's why we brought forward the restoring Ontario's competitiveness act and prior to that we brought in the making Ontario open for business act which undid a lot of the job-killing legislation that was brought in by the previous Liberal government under bill 148 bill that was actually set off alarm bells at great companies like magma that are working in the auto sector and warrant a bill like that would decimate our sector that's why we immediately got to work and unwound bill 148 so that we could continue to create the good jobs and the sector agrees Mr. Speaker I can tell you that the driving prosperity plan that we announced last week has been celebrated by the auto sector finally they have a government that's listening not boycotting and paying money in advertise next question member for Toronto St. Paul morning Mr. Speaker my question is to the Minister of Children Community and Social Services David Prasenko here today is the father of seven-year-old Kaylee who was diagnosed with autism just before her third birthday Kaylee requires 20 hours of intensive ABA IBI therapy a week to maintain the progress she has made this cost 66,000 dollars a year when the Liberal government announced their plan to cut funding for children with autism after five years of age Kaylee was cut off just three months into treatment she regressed now under this government Kaylee has been let down again Mr. Speaker her father told me the Conservative government's changes are disastrous and he cannot possibly afford the treatment that Kaylee needs David said he might have to quit his job divorce his wife and possibly leave this great province of Ontario in order to save Kaylee's life question what does the Minister of Children Community and Social Services have to say to dedicated parents like David you might want to look at him whose lives will be ruined by the government's changes to the Ontario autism program once again before I asked the minister to respond I would remind the members to make their comments through the chair in response to the question Minister of Children Community and Social Services very much Speaker and thanks to the member office it for bringing her constituents concerns to the floor of this assembly David and Kaylee it's good of you to be here today that said we are 100 committed to ensuring that we provide more flexible support to David and Kaylee we also have to balance that with the fact that we have 23,000 children on a waiting list that is indefinite we need to ensure that there is support for all children which is why we have doubled our investment into diagnostic hubs so we can get quicker diagnosis for children so we can ensure that those between the ages of zero and five are getting more support when we know through evidence that it helps children that is early intervention and that is key we are committed to ensuring that we clear that 23,000 person child waitlist so we actually directly invest and empower parents so that they can make the choices for their own family whether that's a technological aid behavioral therapy respite care or caregiver training thank you speaker my question is to the minister for children community and social services since the government's cuts to autism funding i have received hundreds of emails and calls from distraught parents parents like Jen Fitzgerald whose son waited nearly two years to access a program to help him better communicate and express his emotions her son started the program just last month but now because of this government's cuts Jen has no idea what support her son will receive she told me and i quote she's staring into an abyss when it comes to her son's care and his future Jen wants to be able to support him as best she can so that her son can be an independent and contributing member of society but she needs help minister why are you hurting instead of helping Jen's family and families like hers i'll ask the members to make their comments direct their comments through the chair minister to reply thank you much speaker and i appreciate the member opposite talking about Jen and letting us know a little bit of more about her story for the past 13 years i have traveled across this province and met with families whose children have autism in fact i worked with my former ndp opponent laurel gibbons to create the self-nepian autism center which we funded through our community we fundraised so that we can provide support and respite support for those families it's a matter that i have taken to heart with the minister of health in fact in the 2007 election she and i had crafted the policy that our then leader meritori had had presented this is very near and dear to my heart and it's important for me to continue to speak to the families but i do have an obligation for all children in the program and i would like the member opposite to understand that there is no cut here it was a 256 million dollar budget and i've expanded that response $321 million but i'm also going to clear the waitlist of the 23 000 children who have received no support under the previous government thank you next question the member for scarborough gilderwood thank you speaker my question is to the minister of children and youth services minister yesterday we learned that families earning minimum wage will receive a clawback under your government's autism program can you tell this house why you are choosing to keep families in poverty so that they can look after their children with dignity families are pouring into our constituency offices they are telling us about the hardship that this program is creating they are depressed they are without hope this program is a disgrace i see the tears of the people who are in this chamber we hear them we see you will this minister tell families why you expect that families earning minimum wage are able to provide the services that they need for their children how are they going to do that minister of children community and social services thank you very much speaker i think the member office it is misinformed those making minimum wage will be supported in this government in a variety of different ways including our lift tax credit they'll also be receiving close to 99 percent of their the entitlement a throat this program which is up to 140 000 dollars per child a throat their lifetime but what's the disgrace what's the disgrace is for 15 years that member and her party had an opportunity to invest into order services instead they took official opposition come to order they cut funding and they left me a system that wasn't even broken it was a house so i asked the member office it if she can stand in her place and look at herself in the mirror for tonight 23 000 children in this province support member for hamilton mountain come to order start the clock supplementary mr speaker again to the minister she told families impacted by autism on the campaign trail that she would look out for them instead she is stabbing them in the back a fundamental principle of a child diagnosed with autism is that their needs are unique they are different they are not the same why is your program ignoring this difference it is a fundamental principle of autism why is this government refusing to provide kids with autism with the support that they need a little bit of care is simply not enough why is this government choosing to balance its books on the backs of kids with autism and their families government side come to order government side come to order minister response it takes a lot of nerve for a member of this assembly affiliated with the liberal party government side come to stand up and speak about defending parents and children with autism i refuse to ignore the three out of four children member for hamilton mountain come to order as her government did i refuse to cut funding in this program as her dependent members come to order i refuse to allow a program where children wait on a wait list indefinitely that's not going to happen on my watch we are going to implement a fair balanced member for ottawa south come to order a sustainable program that lifts 23 000 children they left on a wait list orlianne come to order off and into service that's what we're going to do as a governor next question start the clock member for flamborough glamborg thank you mr speaker speaker our government knows that our law enforcement professionals right across ontario are hardworking women and men who put their safety at risk every day they go out on the job these women and men are everyday heroes who work tirelessly to keep us safe in hamilton my community in canara and right across ontario we've heard time and again that the current special investigations unit process wastes time energy and precious resources investigating the wrong things under the current system an officer who provided cpr could face a nearly year-long investigation if the injured person did not survive their injuries they deserve better speaker could the minister tell us about how this new legislation proposes to fix this problem the attorney general i'd like to thank the member for flamborough glamborg for her question our legislation will if past provide transparency and clarity to police officers police chiefs and to the people of ontario under the proposed changes the siu would be required to conclude an investigation in 120 days or provide an explanation of why that benchmark cannot be met notification would continue to be required mr speaker and set circumstances we would all reasonably expect such as when use of force custody or detention and motor vehicle pursuits result in serious injury or death as well as in reported cases of sexual assault and when there is discharge of a firearm at a person however for example in the cpr case the member outlined or when an officer is unsuccessful in stopping a suicide attempt those officers do not deserve to be subjected to months long criminal investigations response if past this legislation would clarify the mandate of the siu and focus its resources where they should be on possible criminal activity supplementary thank you minister and mr speaker this is evidence that our government for the people listens to the concerns of front-line officers this new legislation is balanced it's respectful it is fair mr speaker i know that front-line officers in my community and right across ontario will be happy with these changes to siu investigations if it is passed i think we can all agree that whether an officer is unsuccessful at saving a victim's life through cpr or it's stopping a suicide attempt that officer should be recognized for his or her efforts and not treated like a suspect in a criminal investigation can the minister tell this house more about these proposed changes the attorney general to be clear our government knows that the women and men in uniform are everyday heroes and i would like to take this opportunity mr speaker to highlight one such hero in our midst who sits in our caucus the member for hastings lennox and adenton mr speaker he was a proud member of the OPP before continuing to serve our community in the house sadly when the previous liberal government looked at police officers all they saw were potential offenders their policing legislation bill 175 was plain and simple anti-police bill 175 made ontario less safe by weakening the trust between the public and the police and by ignoring the everyday reality of the jobs that the police do to keep us safe my ministry and our government know that effective police oversight and respect for police go hand in hand and that police officers are the hard working men and women who deserve our respect and support we listen to the concerns of our frontline officers and that's why we're proposing to restore transparency and fairness to a system that had previously left the police and the people in the dark thank you thank you speaker my question is to the premier premier titer stone is a father of three intimates two of his young children live with severe autism titer has had to leave his career at the hospital to take care of these two kids leaving his family to rely on one income although the stone family was one of the 23,000 families on the waitlist for ibi therapy they were hopeful because at least they knew that the care their children need would be coming minister and to the premier directly one income on one income how is titer supposed to come up with the 60 80 thousand dollars a year needed per child that is needed to pay for intensive ibi therapy premier minister of children community services minister of children community and social services or members the opposition will know that it was within the standing orders to allow ministers to refer questions to each other questions been referred to the minister of children community and social services thank you very much and i think the member opposite for his question and for bringing a tyler stones story to this assembly the member opposite has a distinguished career in this house and i've known him for the past 13 years and so i'm going to level with him tyler stone's children if they're order we're going to be on the waitlist under the old program indefinitely that means those children would have received no support from their Ontario government i could not in good conscience allow that to continue if the members opposite want to provide false hope to parents they can do that but i'm here to say today that tyler's children will be eligible opposition come toward 40 000 dollars throughout their lifetime and there will be a flexible ability response for them to manage their childhood budget so that they can invest in behavioral therapy technological aids and other services at the parent's own choosing thank you member for muskiwak james bay my question is for the premier a young boy from campus casing requires 20 hours of therapy every week but under this government's plan sidrick will only be offered a mere two hours a week that is one tenth of what he has been prescribed by his specialist his family will be forced to pay out of pocket for costs not covered by this government as well as the cost to travel from for two hours every day to and from timmons to receive treatment family and children deserve so much better than to be pushed onto long waiting lists or into bankruptcy we have a more responsible responsibility towards those in need premier question do you think that sidrick should be without the education the support and the care he deserve yes or no minister thank you very much yes speaker i appreciate the member office its question i also appreciated him sending me over cedric's picture beautiful little boy from his community i want to assure the member opposite that as we move forward with this plan we will be sending more support to the north and we will ensure that there is greater diagnostic support in the hubs there so that we can provide additional resources but let me be perfectly clear as i stand here and i communicate this plan to ontarians this really is about fairness equity and sustainability we have increased the budget for this program from 250 opposition come to 321 million dollars we have sustained the previous program by injecting an emergency 100 million dollars into the program but our goal is to ensure the 23 000 children who weren't receiving support in the province of ontario before that's three out of four children who have autism in this province will now receive support thank you for catching the connoisseur this is for the minister the minister of transportation recently our government made a fantastic announcement in kitchener about go expansion we are committed to decreasing the gridlock in the city of toronto and across the province we are getting people of ontario moving so they can spend more time with family and loved ones in december the minister announced more train service in the mornings and evenings between kitchener in toronto this was great news for people in kitchener waterloo wealth acting in georgetown our government for the people is expanding go service faster and years earlier than the liberals had planned with the announcement the demand for more go service became very clear can the minister of transportation share with the house the additional news about the kitchener line that was announced this week or last week minister of transportation thank you very much speaker and thanks a member from kitchener connoisseur for that question and for continuing to work with me on the transportation file as he stated our government is working and committed to decreasing gridlock and getting people of ontario moving we are doing this ahead of what was the previous government's plan schedule because we are working with our valued partners to excel accelerate the timelines with go expansion this is an important step for our government's plan to deliver two way all-day go transit to and from kitchener in toronto last week our government announced the popular 450 express train would return to better serve those ontarians and demanding more service mr. speaker the reintroduction of the train was because of the great advocacy work of my fellow pc caucus members and i'd like to thank the opportunity to shout out and thank them the members from kitchener connoisseur the kitchener from south hessler came bridge brampton west brampton south for amazing advocacy work they were in contact with me from day one to work for a solution we found that capacity had really grown in the system and it's unfortunate mr speaker that the previous government announced thank you mr speaker through you to the minister thank you for that answer i know the people of waterloo region appreciate the reintroduction of the 450 express train as it allows them more options to get where they need to be our government saw the demand enacted quickly to reinstate reinstate the express train our government is finding better and smarter ways to work with our partners and current infrastructure to deliver more transit rides faster at a lower cost to the people our government will continue to deliver reliable transit to the people of kitchener with the goal of providing all day two-way go from kitchener to toronto can the minister expand more on our government for the people's plan to expand go rail service minister treasurer mr speaker and thanks to that member again for his question mr speaker on june 7th our government was elected and we are elected for the people and we are going to expand go transit throughout this province despite despite the opposition from members across the way mr speaker by working with our partner at cn we're able to speed up the timelines for go expansion across the province kitchener is about one example of this great partnership we are expanding go service years years ahead of schedule by speeding up our no negotiations to free up track space mr speaker that is how we will deliver two-way all-day go transit to kitchener way ahead of the proposed schedule our government is committed to improving transit across ontario and we've made it clear in our mandate to get the people of ontario moving we have several projects moving already including new commuter service to st catharines and niagara falls and mr speaker we have more to come next question the member for waterloo thank you thank you very much mr speaker my question is to the premier in my writing sarah is raising two wonderful children who have autism her children have very different needs gwen currently receives 14 hours of therapy per week while ivy requires less she requires two hours under your program sarah sarah will be 37 000 short in paying for gwen's therapy the minister and even her parliamentary assistant are ignoring the fact that autism is a spectrum with diverse needs and your plan will fail kids like when who need more support does the premier understand how damaging this program is to families across this province and will you hold your minister and your parliamentary assistant to account for rolling out a flawed plan for children who have autism premier minister of children community and social services the minister of children community and social services thanks very much speaker thank the member opposite for asics come to work i appreciate sarah's uh sarah's concerns um but i'll be perfectly honest i've worked very hard with my parliamentary assistant amy fey and chris crossing this province in my opinion is the ideal member peresha parliament she arrived here as number for waterloo come door to a four children two of whom have autism and she has put the children on that waitlist those 23 000 children that were never going to get support under the previous liberal plan she put them first and that means we are going to put forward a fair and equitable plan that has increased spending from a 256 opposition come to order response 21 million dollars we are doubling the investment into diagnostic hubs and as importantly we're giving parents flexibility and choice in the system and how supplementary start the clock supplementary the member for kitchener center thank you mr speaker my question is to the premier kelly russell is one of my constituents a mother with a six-year-old son living with autism kelly applied for the oap with erinote kids in december 2016 for a ba therapy she waited for two years while a liberal plan failed her erinote kids now can't tell kelly where her son is on the waitlist under the new conservative plan the funding she is entitled to won't even come close to covering her son's therapy and mr speaker kelly writes they're holding the key to my child's future in their hands why has the minister drastically cut funding for children over the age of five thank you very much just speaker and i'm happy to address kelly directly on this what the member opposite isn't telling kelly and some of the others who who are interested in this field is that that waitlist at erinote was indefinite they couldn't tell her where her child was on the list because it would probably take years and years and years for waterloo gondor member for hamilton mount kelly at home what i've done instead is i have increased the budget for this program from 256 million dollars to 321 million dollars and what i'm going to do is directly invest in erinote so that i can double the investment on diagnostic hubs and then once the children have the diagnosis they're going to be funded directly so that they can get service in their community or they could get a technical response or they could get caregiver training or respite care that's what tekelly is going to be entitled to with this program next question the member for mrs augum all thank you mr speaker my question is for the minister of finance minister it has been over six months since we learned the true depths of the liberals waste and mismanagement 15 billion deficit surprised us all but our government got to work immediately to fix the mess we inherited i'm so proud to support the fall economic statement in which we found 3.2 billion in efficiencies and wherein we were able to return 2.7 billion dollars back to the hardworking ontarians in the months that have followed we're working hard to make life more affordable reduce and make sure the world knows ontario is open for business and it is open for jobs mr speaker the results speak for themselves could the minister please give us an update on the success of our plan in recent months thank you mr speaker minister finance well thank you speaker and thank you to the member from mrs augum allton last week we were very pleased to share the progress that we have made in restoring ontario's fiscal health we can now report speaker that the deficit stands at 13 and a half billion dollars that is one and a half billion dollars lower than the 15 billion dollar deficit we inherited from the liberals speaker it is clear our plan is working our government is making ontario open for business we're making sure that we're open for jobs by restoring confidence reducing the mountain of regulations and red tape remember the speak the liberals were spending 40 million dollars a day more than they brought in speaker we still have a lot of work to do but we remain focused in putting ontario back on a responsible path to balance in order to protect the key services that matter most supplementary thank you thank you minister mr speaker my constituents like most ontarians are concerned how the liberal mismanaged to make ontario the most indebted sub-national government on the planet our opposition clearly thinks that instead of solving wasteful spending the government should tax everything and make life more expensive mr speaker the previous government only knew two words tax and spend on the contrast of a government has replaced those two words with fiscal responsibility can the minister further inform this house how the government is working to get ontario fiscal house back in order responsibly thank you mr minister president of the treasury board president of the treasury board well thank you mr speaker for the question thank you for that tax and spend may be the model of the opposition but here's what we are for we ended march madness spending we launched the audit and accountability committee we restricted travel and hospitality we reviewed spending line by line and we saved most importantly three point two billion dollars while doing that mr speaker and we did this while ensuring people don't slip i would ask the the members the guests who are here you have to uh allow parliament to proceed if you don't stop you'll have to ask you to leave sergeant in arms we need to remove the person who's disrupting the proceedings the president of the treasury board can conclude his answer thank you once again i would ask whoever's oh this is the same person president of the treasury board thank you mr speaker um we did this so that people don't slip through the cracks mr speaker the left tax credit means that low income in terrians will pay zero provincial income taxes mr speaker the truth is this government has to make order choices mr position come to order it is our moral imperative to make the choices needed so that our province is fiscally not just for our children but our children's church question the member for kinkston the island thank you mr speaker my question is to the premier kelly mcgarry lives in kinkston with her son braden who was diagnosed with autism braden waited nearly two years for intensive treatment but it was worth it the treatment was life changing but this april after the government's cuts braden will only receive a fraction of what his treatment costs under the new program he would not even have qualified for the intensive intervention because of his age kelly's husband has given up a career managing a staff of 20 to care for their son they remortgaged their home kelly told me and i quote i don't know what else to do what will happen to the children who will not receive therapy because of this government's plan premier minister children community and social service very much speaker i want to thank the member opposite for asking the question for kelly and braden i guess the question i have back to the member opposite is why did he think that 23 000 children on an indefinite wait list should receive no support at all from their ontario government i've heard a lot of uh from from the members opposite about the fade hope that they're trying to provide to ontario families i i've heard from the members opposite that they're trying to portray as a cut when it's a member for hamilton mouth and coming over the opposite that uh that they're trying to uh suggest moms and dads that if their child is on the wait list that they were getting off i have to tell you speaker when i became a minister responsible for this portfolio on june 29th this was one of the first files i looked at we had staff and ministers in tears looking at what the liberals had left us and i in good conscience could not allow this continue to continue which is why thank you start the clock supplementary the member for nagger center thank you speaker my question is to the premier last week i met with rebecca hey a concerned parent of an eight-year-old son on the autism spectrum rebecca is from thorald and is here in the gallery today for years thousands of children with autism have been have been on long wait list desperate for support rebecca was one of those families when her son was not getting the early intervention he needed she applied for a loan of a hundred thousand dollars this is an impossible situation for working families it is unsustainable the minister's plan could bankrupt many families moving them from wait lists to a situation where they are forced to borrow money for services they need for their children does the minister understand the devastation her plan will cause for everyday families like rebecca's all across ontario minister thanks very much remember opposite for bringing rebecca's concerns to the floor of the legislature i'd like to welcome rebecca to this assembly the previous program was inflexible we are going to provide a family with up to one hundred and forty thousand dollars in a childhood budget that they can use between the ages of zero and eighteen recognizing that early intervention is key so we're going to front end that investment into our children who our who who are between the ages of zero and five we're also going to make sure that when we clear the diagnostic hub wait list that we are going to directly find these parents so that they can make the decision if they want a technologically behavioral therapy caregiver support or care or respite but speaker let me be perfectly clear i'm proud that our plan will finally provide families with the freedom to choose the best services for their child this is the plan the the new democrats need thank you thank you that concludes the time we have available for question period this afternoon this morning member for scarred will gilded on a point of order thank you speaker i have a point of order i'd like to welcome my constituent luisa william who is here in the members west gallery today thank you pursuant to standing order 38a the member for toronto st paul's has given notice of her dissatisfaction with the answer to her question given by the minister of children community and social services concerning autism this matter will be debated today at 6 p.m pursuant to standing order 38a the member for scarborough gildwood has given notice of her dissatisfaction with the answer to her question given by the minister of children community and social services concerning autism this matter will also be debated sometime after 6 p.m today there being no deferred votes this house stands in recess until 3 p.m