 It is now time for oral questions. I recognize the leader of Her Majesty's loyal opposition. Thanks so much, Speaker. My first question is to the Premier. The dream of home ownership is fading fast for Ontarians. Their hopes are being dashed. Renters are terrified that they'll be the next ones to be renavicted or see their rents jacked up by 20 or 30 percent by their landlord. Yet yesterday, the Ford government tabled legislation that literally does nothing to address the housing crisis that Ontarians are facing. So my question is, why has this Premier thrown up his hands and literally given up on the housing crisis facing Ontarians? Order. Minister of Missile Affairs and Housing. Oh, Speaker, I just don't know where this this leader of the opposition stands. We've made a commitment from the first day we set in the legislature that we are going to make housing supply a priority of the government. We delivered in 2019 on More Homes, More Choice, our housing supply action plan. We acknowledge that the Housing Affordability Task Force is the long-term roadmap for the government. But our bill yesterday, More Homes from Everyone, recognizes what everyone, other than the leader of the opposition, acknowledges is that it takes too long to get housing built. We need to have municipalities on board, Speaker. We need to make sure that both levels of government work together to deliver housing that meets people's needs and their expectations, Speaker. That's what we're going to talk about. Member for Waterloo, come to order. Member for London North Centre, come to order. Minister of Education, come to order. Restart the clock. Supplementary question. The government's inaction plan has been a dismal failure. Young families face the real prospect now in our province of never ever being able to afford to own their own home. Many Ontarians wonder how they're even going to keep a roof over their head with rents rising the way that they are. This crisis is serious. Ontarians are hurting, Speaker. The average selling price for a home surpassed $1.3 million in our province here in the GTA, $1.8 million is the price of a home. How many people, Speaker, have to have their dreams dashed or their fears of rent hikes realized before this Premier, before the Ford government realizes that it's his job, their job, to help them? We acknowledge that the housing supply crisis is a long-term plan for the government. We realize that there's no one silver bullet. There's not one bill or one set of initiatives that's going to in the blink of an eye solve the housing supply crisis. The only person who doesn't acknowledge that is the leader of the opposition because every time we present a plan to this legislature, her party continues to vote against it. We've seen the improvements in housing supply. We've seen record housing construction because of the initiatives that we put forward in 2019. But many of those initiatives, Speaker, have yet to be implemented by our municipal partners. So we know that the only way that we're going to solve this long-term problem is to have them sign on with us. They've told us they're not there yet. They're not with us yet on the housing affordability task force. We need more time. In the meantime, this plan will start right as soon as it's passed. If it's passed, we'll start to provide relief that I think Ontarians both need and deserve. The final supplementary. Well, Speaker, Ontarians have run out of time. There is a housing affordability crisis right now and it has been growing since the last government was in office. And this government, after four years, has just made things worse. People need real zoning reform so that new housing that people can actually afford can be built. We need rent control so tenants can be secure that they can keep a roof over their heads and the heads of their families. We need investment in supportive housing, in social housing. Premier Ford's priority has been his buddies by prioritizing building a big highways that lead to big houses that nobody can afford. Government's like I'm doing here help everyday Ontarians instead of paving a pathway for more money for his buddies. Speaker, for 15 years we saw inaction by the previous government propped up by the official opposition. For 15 years those parties on that side of the house did absolutely nothing. They didn't even recognize that there was a housing supply crisis, that there was a housing affordability crisis. On this side of the house we recognize government's like an order plan and we put together systemic changes to our planning and our building system to break those log jams at the municipal level. To ensure that permits get pulled and shovels get in the ground but we need to do more both in the immediate future but we also need to look at that long-term sustainable plan. The housing affordability road map is there. We're going to work towards it. Every year of a reelected Doug Ford government is going to have a supply action plan bill on the table to increase housing supply. The next question. Thanks so much speaker. My next question is also for the premier. The Red Lake emergency room closed for 24 hours on the weekend. Patients that needed services had to be sent by ambulance over 200 kilometers for more than two and a half hours to get emergency room attention. In rural, remote and northern communities the doctor's shortage is an absolute crisis. Healthcare professionals across the province we know are burned out. A memo that actually was prepared by 13 northern physicians laid out the problem clearly for the government and I quote many communities across the north are suffering a severe shortage of physicians. It goes on to say the decision and consequences of closures need to be owned by the government including Ontario health and not the clinicians in communities. My question is pretty straightforward speaker. Why isn't the health and safety the basic access to hospital emergency room care of northern ontarians a priority for this premier for the four governments? The minister of health. Thank you very much speaker and thank you to the leader of the official opposition for the question. The health and safety of the people of Ontario has always been our government's foremost responsibility. We are aware that there are situations in parts of Ontario where we need more doctors and that's why we're expanding a coverage in our medical schools to have more doctors graduate. We've expanded to 160 more undergraduate positions and 295 postgraduate positions including the northern Ontario school of medicine which will have 30 new undergraduate spots and 41 postgraduate spots recognizing that this isn't a solution for now but it will be for the near future. We are also working with providing care in other locations making sure that we have locums in place to ensure that people receive the coverage for their health care services wherever it is that they live in Ontario. The supplementary question. Well speaker the the memo the briefing that northern doctors provided and I'll ask a page to come here and provide it to the minister in case she hasn't seen it but it's described to the can I have a page please thank you so much it's described to the the situation as dire speaker dire staff suffering from increasing burnout small and large hospitals at risk of intermittent emergency department closures recruitment efforts that are not working regardless of what this minister is trying to sell physicians have no time to carry on clinical hours as well as staff the hospitals and the er's it shouldn't be like this speaker in a province like ours in a province of such wealth northerners deserve to have quality reliable access to health care they shouldn't need to travel over 200 kilometers to get to an emergency room that's open to provide service it is unacceptable it is absolutely not okay or safe that this situation exists in our province my question is why hasn't Premier Ford done what he needed to do to resolve this why has he abandoned the health care needs of northerners in fact our government is taking action to protect the health care needs of northerners and I can advise that the ministry the primary health care branch and capacity and health workforce planning branch has been collaborating with Ontario health north and health force Ontario to find a resolution to recruitment and locum shortages by meeting regularly to identify potential opportunities to recruit new permanent or locum physicians I can also advise the newly ratified Ontario medical association ministry of health agreement has introduced a four percent base salary increase to a number of groups including the physicians practicing out of Thessalon and Bruce Mines so that is the action we are taking we are aware that there's a concern we are taking action because we need to make sure that every person Ontario who has medical needs doesn't matter where they live should have access to emergency room physicians and to primary care final supplementary well speaker what the government needs to do is to listen carefully to the recommendations of these doctors Dr. Sarah Vanderloo the chair of the northwestern northwest regional chief of staff council who serves as the chief of staff at Atacocca in general hospital says that every small hospital in the region could see its emergency room temporarily closed due to the shortages just like what happened in red lake every single one is at risk of the same situation when I spoke to Mayor Moda on the weekend he was beside himself with worry he was worried about if an accident were to occur what would happen on those northern highways that are poorly maintained by this government what would happen if there was an accident in many of the one of the many minds that that exist around red lake he was extremely worried and he should not have had to be an incident of that nature would have been foreseeable or preventable actually human tragedy it would have been horrifying now we know it doesn't have to be this way speaker the doctors have proposed solutions so my question is over four years in office why has premier Ford and his government made access to health care for northerners worse instead of better thank you speaker and speaker I think it's really important to understand exactly what happened in red lake because I believe that there it was no known to the ministry of health and the declaration was due to a service disruption being a physician was unavailable for one day uh in the emergency department at the red lake margaret kochenor memorial hospital from eight o'clock on march 26 through to eight o'clock on march 27th because of the physician not being available but the provincial emergency operation center and the ministry of health coordinated patients to be redirected to dryden and air support was available for ems transfers as required as a result the opposition come to order thank you speaker minister of health as a result no one needed to be airlifted and two people were transferred by ambulance so they did receive the health care that they needed we are aware of these situations that we are providing for locums to be available or for people to be redirected as needed so that no one needing care is left without that care that they will receive it as early as possible the next question the member for Essex thank you very much speaker my question is to the premier speaker i'm sure you'll be surprised as we all were to learn that the premier's one million dollar man is back speaker yes uh after the premier appointed his former tour director a desk job in washington for more than three hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year ian todd is back in ontario speaker he collected his million bucks and the million dollar man title in washington rubbing elbows with the far right republicans and scheduling quote office work on his calendars day after day with actually no meetings to be found but he's back here speaker he's back in ontario mr todd's appointment expired in january and he hasn't been replaced but thankfully for him he's managed to find himself some new employment this time speaker it's on the pc party campaign tour bus so speaker why did the premier give his million dollar man a job in washington when the intent all along was to just help him find something to do between campaigns thank you very much mr speaker i i don't think it comes as a shock to anybody who might be watching this or who has any knowledge of finance and trade that the ndp are not supportive of ontario having a order in the united states of america in the capital order our largest trading partner mr speaker of course the ndp would not want ontario's interest being represented there for now mr speaker we had to have uh we had to have a trade representative of a robust trade representative uh following the 15 years of disastrous uh liberal rule supported by the ndp where thousands and thousands of jobs flee this uh this province mr speaker we had become an unreliable trading partner but thanks to the work of our of our officials in the ground not only in washington but in other parts of the united states mr speaker it helped this minister of economic development job creation trade bring back jobs slantus gm ford honda and more to come because of the work that this minister has been doing in cooperation with our trade representatives around the united states this supplementary question thank you speaker speaker ian todd's calendar is pretty sparse from what we can find uh he may be the premier's million dollar man but through freedom of information act we found that he didn't actually deliver a million bucks worth of work in washington's speaker following the uh u.s election mr todd did manage to have a string of meetings with leading republicans who probably do more damage to our reputation with the biden administration than he helps at all speaker don't forget uh speaker the premier first tried to appoint his lacrosse playing buddy and a relative of his chief of staff to lucrative posts as ontario's agents general two jobs that were never filled even though at the time they were called mission critical speaker shouldn't this province have anyone else as our representative then the premier's hand-picked million-dollar buddy buddy who's idly waiting uh as his next gig as the pc tour director well mr speaker again uh our trade representatives have been very busy at work because what they're having to do mr speaker is counter the uh the uh the by america and the trade policies that would disadvantage the people of the province of ontario mr speaker that is why we have had to become so aggressive in supporting and advancing ontario's interests across the united states mr speaker now those are the very same policies that we're seeing in the united states that the liberals and ndp brought to ontario for 15 years which saw jobs flee this province it saw high energy prices of mr speaker it made it more costly to invest in the province of ontario in fact Chrysler said that ontario was the least competitive jurisdiction to do business and that if things did not change they would not have invested here now thankfully because of the work that we're doing here in the province of ontario across government ministries the minister of economic development job creation and trade response able to land the biggest investment in the auto sector saving thousands of jobs creating even more jobs mr speaker billions of dollars in economic activity mr speaker ensuring prosperity and that's what a strong stable conservative majority government delivers for the people of the province the next question the member for grant for grant all right thank you speaker my question is for the minister of agriculture food and rural affairs as we all know some of the world's most delicious food is grown and made right here in ontario not only do our provinces farmers and food processors keep ontario food on our tables but they also contribute over 45 billion dollars every year to ontario's economy now more than ever there is demand for food that is made close to home ontario's agri food food sector has been ignored for far too long under the previous government agri food employers are counting on our government to help grow their workforce and to kick start business growth through you mr speaker to the minister please what is our government doing to build a strong competitive processing sector right here in the province of ontario minister of agriculture food and rural affairs thank you very much speaker and i want to share my appreciation to the great member from brantford brant for that question because it's an opportunity to shine a spotlight on how our government has not only listened but we're taking action and we're getting it done after 15 years of neglect from the liberal government we actually are working with ontario farmers and we've identified the need to build capacity particularly in the processing sector and that's why as of tomorrow we are so thrilled to be able to present to our entire agri food sector a 25 million dollar strategic processing fund that will allow farmers from ontario whether they're beef farmers or vegetable growers to realize their potential because after far too long they they have not had been able to realize the market potential that they have and so our strategic fund that comes a lot becomes live tomorrow will actually increase processing across this province and not only are we going to ensure our food processing sector can meet the growing demand right here at home in ontario but we're going to make our farmers and our processors thank you very much thank you the supplementary question thank you thank you minister for that response and for this investment from new startups to existing facilities that are looking to expand and modernize the strategic agri food processing fund will drive economic growth across the entire province of ontario speaker when we invest in agri food we invest in every community in ontario from the north to the east and to the gta j we invest in the careers of 720 000 ontarians and their families speaker these are good paying jobs that will be key to our economic recovery so through you speaker can the minister please tell us how our government is supporting the agri food sector across the province minister michael culture very good speaker i want everyone in the province of ontario to know that our government under the leadership of premier fort is standing tall beside that member from brantford brand and we're supporting every single commodity the best we can from ginseng growers right through to our chicken producers and with that said in particular with the processing investment that we're making in addition to the agri food innovation program in addition to the program where we're matching available processing capacity with farmer demand we've introduced a strategic processing fund that opens as of tomorrow and until april 22nd food processors across this province can apply to up to three million dollars of support to construct brand new facilities that is very new and i'm proud to be able to announce that today as well as enable processors and abattoirs to expand their operations respond adopt the advanced technology i want to share a quote with you just a couple of weeks ago we're in eastern ontario and craig mclaughlin of the beef farmers thank you very much thank you the next question the member for kiwet megwet speaker i'm in a good morning my question is to the premier speaker on this government's watch the number of mining claims staked in grassy narrows territory against their will has exploded from a few hundred took over four thousand claims grassy narrows has been clear that they want no mining exploration and no industrial logging so that the land and the people can heal from the impacts of residential schools child apprehension damning relocation industrial logging and mercury poisoning mr speaker grassy narrows as asked this government to withdraw mining exploration and logging from their lands how is this government going to respond question going to respond to this call from the chief of grassy narrows respond very much the speaker appreciate the question from from the member opposite look obviously we understand very very clearly that we have a constitutional obligation a constitutional duty to consult with first nations it is something that we take very very seriously mr speaker it's less of an obligation however mr speaker and more of something that we know that we have to do if we are to to to ensure that the northern Ontario participates in the economic growth of the rest of the province mr speaker and that's why we want to we will continue consultations and we will ensure that we work as closely as we possibly can with our partners in first nations communities across Ontario including grassy narrows supplementary question back to back to the speaker the premier speaker when this government met with chief overster on november 18 there was no talk about mining exploration and logging this government has granted thousands of mining claims and nine mining exploration permits on grassy narrows land without their consent or even consultation however the minister did promise to visit grassy narrows to discuss these important concerns more than four months later grassy narrows has not heard from the minister speaker why has the minister not been to grassy narrows thank you very much mr speaker look mr speaker as i said in the earlier question answer excuse me we understand the the constitutional obligation that requires to to consult the duty to consult and we're going to continue to do that but as i also said we look at it less as an obligation and more as an important part of helping us ensure that all of Ontario including northern Ontario can participate in the economic growth that is so important not only to the province of Ontario but frankly to the entire country mr speaker so we're going to continue to do that the minister himself has worked within first nations communities his entire career mr speaker whether it was as a nurse whether it was as a as a federal minister and now as a minister in the province of Ontario we are going to continue to do that look it's very clear mr speaker the previous liberal government all but abandoned northern Ontario they left them out of any attempts to to grow and to have a prosperous north just as south wise mr speaker we are ensuring we are ensuring that we work with first nations so that all can participate in the economic growth that is so important not only to southern Ontario but to northern Ontario and we can reduce that disparity between north and south urban and rural mr speaker but we can't do it without our partners and first nations thank you and the next question remember for the morning speaker my question is for the premier under the premier's watch the average home price in Toronto has gone from $787,000 to $1.3 million and after almost four years in office the government's primary response to the housing affordability crisis is to consult it suggests and i would suggest that the premier consult the ontario greens housing affordability strategy if he needs some solutions ontario is in a housing crisis and we need action now there was a time when the ontario government provided funding for nonprofits and co-ops to build housing that people could actually afford so speaker will the premier commit to funding the funding necessary to build 160,000 deeply affordable homes supporting nonprofits and co-ops in the spring budget speaker we uh who uh nonprofits and co-ops uh that we want to keep them in the system that's why our community housing renewal strategy is being implemented since 2019 we've been working with those two sectors and we now have published our path forward you know unlike the previous government that had 15 years to deal with this we're actually acting upon the auditor general's recommendations from 2017 on their government we're actually trying to ensure that those co-ops stay in the system what keeps me up at night speaker is the fact that that we could lose 105,000 community housing uh properties so we need to do everything we can to keep them in the system you know but speaker what I'm concerned about is we've had a campaign going many municipalities have supported us on our call to the federal government for our fair share we we're owed 490 million dollars greens and this leader have never come forward and supported us so you want to build more affordable and supportive housing sign our agreement to the federal government and support that extra $480 million send him a supplementary question speaker the bitter irony especially for young people is that the government's new bill has no commitment to actually building housing that's affordable for people essentially every housing expert has come out panning the government's bill because it's clear and they've said this the experts have said this it's clear that the government doesn't understand the severity of the crisis or the urgency of needed action if the province wants to work with the federal government absolutely we should do that but it means the province has to come to the table with money and with a commitment to building 160,000 affordable homes in this province so if the housing minister is not going to answer maybe the finance minister will will there be money in the spring budget to build housing that people can actually afford in this province very municipal fairs and housing you know speaker we put our money where our mouth is in terms of dollars to municipalities we provided record dollars for homeless to support we just made an announcement last week that added more dollars in the system and consolidated supportive housing programs to make sure there were extra dollars in the system we continue to call in the federal government in their budget to recognize that we're not getting our fair share paid we're putting our skin in the game we're ensuring that we're putting up land and dollars to our municipal partners and to non-for-profits and co-ops but we need some partners and every time speaker and again I can't emphasize this enough every time we put recommendations bills regulations forward that are help the situation that is going to help solve the housing supply crisis this member for Guelph on behalf of the green party votes against it every single time speaker it's not going to make sure that housing is affordable when you keep opposing every measure that's going to help the supply crisis thank you speaker my question is to the minister of education speaker my constituents in oakville north burlington and indeed all ontarians were pleased to see ontario achieve the right deal on child care with the federal government and i would like to congratulate the minister for getting it done and for all working families in our province during negotiations the premier the education minister and our government repeatedly called on the federal government to recognize the unique components of ontario's child care system we believe it is important to provide flexibility and parental choice to parents one important component is the care tax credit speaker through you to the minister can ontario families count on our government continuing the care tax credit thank you speaker i want to thank the member for oakville north burlington for her leadership in the legislature indeed speaker our government our progressive conservative party believes in respecting the choices parents make and in recognizing the inherent costs to raise a child and that's why we are in addition to delivering 10-dollar daycare on average by year 2025 in addition to the 50% reduction that will be realized by this christmas of this year we are going to preserve the ontario child care tax credit a critical form of relief that provides up to 75% of child care expenses for families that are eligible for relief up to six thousand dollars per child per year mr speaker this is an important way we can help reduce the costs and increase support for working people it is regrettable that the new democrats and liberals have opposed this measure but ontario families can count on our government to deliver 10-dollar daycare by 2025 and continue to provide direct financially thousands of dollars on average through the ontario child care tax credit supplementary thank you minister for your answer speaker maintaining an array of options for parents to access affordable child care will help families our youngest learners and the economy speaker the government has repeatedly said that affordability and sustainability were guiding principles to land the right deal for the province of ontario ensuring relief from child care costs for working families has been a priority of this government since negotiations began speaker can the minister of education share with parents how much families saved through ontario's plan and how quickly parents will realize the benefits thank you speaker and again thank you to member opposite you know mr speaker what we did not do what the liberal party would have done is left three billion dollars off the table they would have left behind families with children in for-profit child care and they would have left a year of investment out of reach mr speaker order government stood up to the federal government to deliver a better deal for ontario families and we are proud to see a 25 percent reduction immediately on average for families 50 percent by Christmas representing roughly four thousand dollars per child in the province of ontario it will rise to 12 000 speaker in year 2023 this is real financial relief to support families to get women working in the economy and to deliver the relief that families for generations have heard politicians speak about they can count on our premier to get the job done for ontario families member for Ottawa South come forward next question the member for London West thank you speaker my question is to the premier speaker for five weeks the world has watched in horror the unspeakable suffering of the Ukrainian people and saluted their incredible courage in my community Londoners are ready and waiting to welcome Ukrainians fleeing Putin's illegal invasion into their homes but Ola Noah said from the London Ukrainian Congress contacted me to say host families are worried they may have to cover health care costs for Ukrainians who won't have OHIP coverage right away on top of routine health care needs many Ukrainians have experienced significant physical and mental trauma they and all who flee to Canada for refuge deserve access to comprehensive health care when they arrive speaker will this government commit to waiving the OHIP waiting period for Ukrainians and those seeking refuge in Ontario thank you speaker and thank you to the member opposite for the question this is a really important issue because what's happening in Ukraine right now is horrifying and absolutely heartbreaking to all of us and so we're all asking ourselves what can we do individually and it's a government to help people who are fleeing the country right now I can't advise that right now we do have five pediatric patients at the hospital for sick children who need oncology assistance they are here now with their families there's more that we can do however and this is something that we is a subject of urgent discussion within the ministry of health and across all of our ministries to understand what we can do to help recognizing that people will need significant both physical health and mental health needs when they do come to Canada and when they do come to Ontario supplementary speaker the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports that over four million Ukrainians have fled their home country and tens of thousands of those people have already applied for entry into Canada Ontario must be ready to support Ukrainians when they arrive Quebec British Columbia and Newfoundland have all announced that they will waive health coverage waiting periods for Ukrainians entering the province under the Canada Ukraine authorization for emergency travel more than 12,000 people have already signed an online petition asking Ontario to do the same I ask again speaker will this government commit right now to following the lead of the other provinces and waive the OHIP waiting period for Ukrainians and others seeking refuge in Ontario thank you minister of health to reply thank you well we certainly recognize that Canada has a responsibility to take in refugees from Ukraine as many other countries have done as well and of course you will know that it's the federal government's responsibility to indicate how many and when they will be able to come in but we will be ready we do recognize that Ontario also has a responsibility I can't commit specifically right as of this moment what we will be able to do but I can tell you that waiving coverage for OHIP is something that is specifically and urgently being discussed by our government right now on the next question the member for Ottawa says my speaker speaker today is supposed to be the last day that the premier has to deliver a budget but the premier will he change his own law for his own convenience just so he doesn't have to pay a fine right before our election instead he's been flitting around the province like a ticker bell spreading billions like it was pixie dust pixie dust like it was going to make the pandemic go away ticker we don't need magic we don't need pixie dust we simply need a plan to get our vaccination rates up so speak order through you how is it in the premier's plan to reopen there is no plan to get ontarians vaccination rates up deputy premier minister health well I can advise the member opposite that we do have a very specific vaccination plan to get more ontarians vaccinated we passed the 32 million mark last week we have total shots and arms as of today 32 million 64229 we are also moving forward I can advise that 92.8 percent of ontarians have had partial vaccination 90.9 percent have had two doses we're working on the booster shots and we're also examining whether a fourth shot is necessary an extra booster we're waiting for nasi's advice that should come later today about what age group should be receiving the fourth vaccination if necessary we are actively moving on this and we're continuing with our plan across the province of Ontario I'm just going to surprise that the minister of health doesn't recognize that there's a problem so in the premier's plan to stay open the word vaccines is mentioned once and only in reference to manufacturing so the single most important thing we can do to protect ontarians and protect our economy isn't even its plan I don't know about you but I think that's incredible we're at the back of the pack for vaccinating our children only one third of five and five to 11 year olds have a second dose and our third doses are at 50 percent and I don't know about you minister but I think for the rest of us here 50 percent doesn't cut it so anti-vaxxers they're spreading misinformation we know that they work 24-7 it's all over the web all the time we all see it we even hear it in here so why is this question premier missing inaction asleep at the switch where is a plan to get our vaccination rates up to where we need to be because it's the most important thing we can do right now and it's clearly not minister of health well it clearly is in our plan we do have a plan to increase the vaccination rates with 92.8 percent of ontarians partially vaccinated 90.9 percent having received the second dose we are distributing the third dose we do have them available we have clinics we have primary care that's providing them they're available in pharmacies as well we also have the govax buses that are going to locations where they're low number for Ottawa South come to order making sure that people in congregate care get help we've been going to community living organizations and other organizations making sure that people who are not able to come to us we can go to them so we're continuing to work on that and we will continue until we get every person in Ontario vaccinated who wishes to be vaccinated next question the member for plan bro plan bro good morning speaker my question is for the minister of municipal affairs and housing great minister speaker as we all know ontario has a housing crisis driven by a severe shortage of supply young families seniors all hardworking people are desperate for housing that meets their unique needs and our government is using every resource at our disposal to build all kinds of homes but speaker some city councils including Hamilton council are pushing an anti-housing and anti-growth ideology that is preventing orders from being built and driving up home prices this includes Hamilton council refusing to expand urban boundaries despite their own staff admitting Hamilton does not have enough land within our existing urban boundaries in which to build the homes we need speaker through you what is the minister doing to address this issue great question that is a great question one of the proposed measures under the bill would give me the authority to to pause the 120 day timeline on reviewing official plans official plans are a critical tool to address the housing crisis because they set out that long-term plan on how the municipality will create the amount of homes jobs and community infrastructure it needs over the long term we have serious housing crisis in ontario speaker and the official plans that i've seen like Hamilton and Ottawa don't maximize the housing outcomes for Ontarians and instead prioritize anti-growth and anti-housing ideology if passed i would pause the timeline on the official plans that i have received and i would consider referring them to the ontario land tribunal as an impartial adjudicator i've not yet received Hamilton's official plan but i want to emphasize to the house that i'm prepared to take the same approach if Hamilton's official plan doesn't maximize housing for the hard working people of Hamilton including those in flamboyant glambler thank you speaker and back to the minister the average price of a home in Hamilton Hamilton is over a million dollars and that is shutting out too many people of all ages wow the word crisis is an understatement speaker as the minister has said our government is taking a long-term strategy to address the housing crisis and to provide more attainable housing options for all ontarians speaker through you will the minister share the government's long-term strategy to address the housing crisis minister miss bullfairs and housing thanks speaker and i want to again thank the member for her incredible advocacy and her riding and and in the Hamilton area more homes for everyone proposes smart targeted policies in the immediate term that would help get housing bill faster get shovels in the ground and build all types of housing for Ontarians that deserve it over the long term though speaker the housing affordability task force is our government's housing roadmap we commit to implementing the task force recommendation with a housing supply action plan every year over the next four years the first step though speaker is to deliver on the task forces report on our consultation on the concept of multi generational community to bring in gentle density this consultation would feed into our housing supply working group which my ministry would establish in the summer to engage with municipalities to ensure that they actively support and are willing to implement the measures that we need to implement on the ground with these measures we're collaborating with a new opportunity with the housing affordability task force we need municipalities to pull their weight get things done on the ground and get shovels in the ground for Ontarians my question is to the premier brampton is facing a healthier crisis because of years of liberal and conservative neglect now last year the premier came to brampton and he didn't even announce a hospital he announced a few more beds for pill memorial with no emergency room now we've learned that what he did announce bramptonians are going to have to pay for why does the premier think it's okay for bramptonians to pay to fix a health care crisis created by him and the liberals minister hill thank you well speaker you know this is a really curious question from the member opposite because for 15 years the liberals propped up by the ndp heard the calls for health care in brampton and what do they do order both sides of the house and they ignore them it's our government that's saying yes to a new hospital that's going to include over 250 new patient beds and includes a 24-7 emergency in fact the mayor of brampton was very enthusiastic about the announcement and said order is a huge step in the right direction and it's actually six times larger than the original project that was planned only a few years ago why would the the mayor of brampton say that and then this member is alleging that we're not providing services we're providing those services and we will deliver them supplementary question the premier so let me get this straight the premier comes to brampton and doesn't even announce side come to order and what little he does announce bramptonians are not the people of fairs come to order i want to ask the department to order name me another city in canada that has over 700 000 people is one of the fastest growing and has only one hospital does the premier think that this is acceptable enough is enough brampton has been left behind for far too long will the concert order finally listen to what we in the ngp have been saying this whole time invest in brampton and our health care crisis and for brampton that means three hospitals with three emergency rooms paid for by the provincial government not the good people of brampton president thank you very much under the leadership of premier for the city of brampton is going to have and receive the largest investment in health care in its history new hospital a second hospital for the for the city of brampton which was neglected for 15 years by the previous government and this also includes a new medical school mr speaker for the people of brampton so for the kids that live and stay in brampton can then also at one point work in brampton deliver care in brampton and mr speaker we're going to continue to build upon this our government has announced over 600 long-term care beds for the city of brampton mr speaker there's been no government that has delivered more for the people of brampton than this government under the leadership our premier board please start the call member for guile thank you speaker my question is for the premier there are over 28 000 children and youth on wait lists for mental health care services and wait times can reach up to 2.5 years the impact of the pandemic has been hard on our kids according to sick kids over 70 percent of children reported worsened mental health during the initial lockdowns speaker mental health is health and it should be available when and where our kids need it not months even years down the road so will the premier commit today to delivering the additional 150 million dollars targeted to youth mental health in this year's budget that is needed to reduce wait times for children's mental health services to under 30 days the associate minister of mental health and addictions thank you mr speaker and thank you for that question mr speaker from day one when our government was elected we made mental health addictions a priority in fact i'm the first associate minister of mental health and addictions in the history of the province of ontario that mr speaker is the commitment that this premier made and that our government made to ensure that mental health and addiction was looked after in the province of ontario by creating those continuums of care but to put behind the fact that there's a ministry created is the fact that we have 3.8 billion dollars that has been invested on an annualized basis 174 175 176 and now we're investing 525 million dollars annually in mental health and addictions in the province of ontario to create those those continuums of response and of course what we've done is we're looking at the lifespan and addressing the issue for the children and in the supplemental i'll give you more details as to as to the investments are being made thank you the supplementary question speaker i want to be clear i respect the associate minister's work on this issue i actually appreciate him coming to guelph and providing funding for a youth wellness hub but let's be clear with people and honest with people our kids need more i met a youth on a suicide watch list who had to meet wait months to access therapy and this is happening all across the province so let me repeat some youth are waiting up to 2.5 years to access services speaker everything is not okay when it comes to youth mental health and our kids need all of us everybody in this house to do better so i'm offering the premier an opportunity today to say yes to an additional 150 million dollars on top of what's already been invested in mental health in this year's budget to reduce wait times for our children to less than 30 days yes or no will the government support this request the associate minister thank you mr speaker once again i would like to reiterate the importance of mental health as it relates to children and youth through the ministry of education substantial sums of money four times what has ever been invested by previous governments by the for the previous liberal government supported by the NDP those investments have been made and are having effects and impact on children in addition to that in the continuum of care which is so important as kids need supports outside of the school day we invested five percent we increased the overall budget by five percent to all children and youth operators within the continuum of care outside of the schools to provide additional supports we've created youth wellness hubs and continue to invest through the addiction recovery fund in additional youth and wellness hubs because it's not just about giving them treatment it's also about building resiliency and providing them with the supports they need to become better stronger and be able to participate fully in school and of course in life later on so we are thank you very much the member for york so thank you speaker my question is to the premier i have stood in this house on many occasions and spoke of how young people and families in my fine community of york southwestern can no longer afford to stay living in the neighborhoods they were raised in the cost of buying a new home or renting an apartment is simply not affordable on this side of the house we have offered many solutions to the housing crisis and we have been ignored just like this government ignored many of the recommendations of their own how housing task force with prices skyrocketing families in my writing need affordable housing why is this premier failing to address the need for such housing in communities like york southwestern mr. mr. paris in housing well speaker through through duty the honor of a member you're you're the MPP for york southwestern your federal colleague in your own writing is the federal housing minister and and i would think of all new democrats that sit in this chamber that there be one new democrat that would actually come forward and agree with us when we're asking the federal government for our fair share of an extra four hundred eighty eighty million dollars so here's something that the member opposite can do for me and can do for residents in his writing and that's make that over sure you know some new democrat has got to stand up for more dollars and the fact that we need our fair share to build more affordable housing in our writing the other thing that i could through you speaker that i could suggest to the honorable member is that when we table a housing initiative like we did with more homes more choice in 2019 our housing supply action plan that when we do measures that result in more shovels in the ground to help this crisis that the member would break away from his party that the member would stand up for the residents of york southwestern and vote for order order well the member is out of order and he is the minister of housing responsible for ontario back to the premier so many families see home ownership as out of reach because of this high prices and yet their rents are going up even more as well i have raised the case of tenants in my community facing massive rent increases if they change units and of the issues of above guideline rent increases being abused and used as a tool to jack up rents in some cases as much as 73 percent with half of the population in my community residing in apartments i hear regularly of their struggles with affordability this government ended rent control on all new units when they arrived in office in 2018 which is the responsibility of this minister which has led to devastating rent increases for families why is this government mr speaker refusing to bring back real rent control and close the loopholes that empower landlords to effect good tenants and allow rents to skyrocket member for rent through nipissing pembroke come to order minister of minister affairs and housing to reply mr speaker this this member has zero credibility on the issue that he just asked the ndp when we as a government put forward a bill that required landlords to make efforts to renegotiate a repayment agreement if the tenant had renters that member voted no when we increased fines under the residential tenancies act to $50,000 to an individual and $250,000 for a corporation in terms they voted against it when we asked that landlords disclose to the landlord tenant board whether they've ever filed for a rent eviction this ndp voted no when we actually in this i can't believe this speaker when we we increased tenant compensation for bad faith evictions allowing the landlord tenant board to give another 12 months rent to that tenant again i can't i can't respond the ndp voted no every time this government puts in place protections for tenants this ndp says one thing this is Andrea Horvath's problem she says one thing and then yeah i'm going to ask the member to withdraw withdraw the next question the member for Ottawa venue thank you mr speaker my question is for the minister of education mr speaker a draft document circulated by ontario ministry of education outlined plans to download medical and potentially clinical support services for students with disabilities onto unqualified school staff it says that school board personnel with no professional health or medical backgrounds could soon be tasked with medical responsibilities this government seems to be planning to have these education professionals perform tasks including oral and nasal suction catheterization and injecting medication disability advocacy groups and teachers union are extremely concerned about this plan that would place disabled students in arms way mr speaker this is cruel reckless and really unfair to the students and to the school professionals can the minister of education confirm or deny whether the plans to download medical duties onto untrained school board employees for education thank you to the member officer for the question i want to report and confirm that the last time the ppm the policy the surrounding this issue was first conceived and written in 1984 we are consulting with the sector to ensure we provide those critical services to families and obviously our first priority is to ensure that children with special education needs and disability are cared for it's the basis for why our government has increased investment to the highest levels for children with special education exceptionality to the highest levels of provincial history speaker it's now well over 3.25 billion dollars in funding that is increased by over a hundred million dollars just from the year prior speaker we understand how critical it is to support these children it's why the staffing has been enhanced there's now three thousand rather 300 million dollars provided for the coming school year specifically to hire more e-mails or e-c's or special education teachers to give the care that these kids deserve thank you supplementary thank you mr speaker and again about the health and safety in schools it's an issue that needs to be taken seriously on february 1st the minister of education said that the schools would be getting rapid tests every two weeks from then on that was back february 1st that's been two months and teachers have reported to me that they haven't been receiving those rapid tests that they're supposed to be distributing to students now as much as we want this pandemic to be over you know we can't simply not be testing for COVID anymore it gives the family and the students the confidence to go to school knowing that they're there whether they're asymptomatic or not that they're not going to be transmissible transmissing the disease so mr speaker will the minister of education admit that schools have not been receiving the adequate number of rapid tests for from this government and why minister of education thank you speaker on the contrary the member opposite should be should be assured that there's seven million rapid tests that are being sent to school boards every single month of the province of Ontario the deputy premier has just confirmed the continuation of rapid tests in our communities well into the summer for the purpose of enabling families and individuals to reduce the risk before they enter congregate settings and they pursue their careers and their schools and studies mr speaker in addition to the 73 000 HEPA units that are in classrooms in Ottawa and all regions of Ontario the most HEPA units in all provinces combined as of this past september our government is taking it further with an additional deployment of 49 000 working with the minister of government consumer services to deploy 40 000 net's new HEPA units to schools 9 000 for child care in the month of march in the early weeks of april to reduce risk and build confidence and ensure our children could remain in class learning thank you speaker thank you that concludes our question period for this morning government house leader has a point of order thank you speaker in accordance with the standing order 59 i will outline that business for next week and thank all colleagues for what has been a very productive week this week mr speaker so on monday april the fourth during routine proceedings a new government bill will be introduced that afternoon a take note debate with respect to the 120 day report on the blockade emergency on tuesday april fifth in the morning we will return to bill 88 working for workers act before question period on that day there will be a tribute to former member mr david ramsey in the afternoon we will return back to bill 88 uh working for workers act in the evening pmb ballot item 37 standing the name of the member for thunderbay at a cocombe on wednesday april sixth in the morning bill 88 in the afternoon uh bill 88 uh as well a as a bill that will be introduced uh in the evening there will be pmb ballot item number 35 standing in the name uh which is bill 104 in the name of the member for durham and it's the connected communities act uh that evening there will be a night sitting on the sixth and it will be with respect to the bill that will be introduced earlier in the week on thursday april seventh speaker a uh in the morning uh we will be debating the bill that was previously introduced uh in the afternoon speaker we will have a take note debate and i do encourage all members to be in the house for the take note debate in the afternoon of thursday april seventh we will be allowing members who are retiring uh to give speeches with respect to the important uh people in their lives and the amazing contributions that they have have made to the people of ontario and i would encourage all members to be here for uh for that uh for that mr speaker that evening we will have ballot pmb ballot item number 39 uh the member for brampton north uh and there will be another evening uh evening session as well and it will be with respect to the bill that will be introduced earlier in the week thank you thank you the member for kiwet nong has a point of order migwech speaker i just like to acknowledge today is the national indigenous languages day i want to do a big shout out to the language speakers the indigenous language speakers but also uh the indigenous people that are reconnecting with their language with their identity and uh and the way of life migwech my i'm just talking to uh the language speakers our language is really important migwech thank you inform the house that the following document has been tabled or report concerning jessica bell member for university rosdale from the office of the integrity commissioner of ontario before question period i informed the house that the manitoba legislative interns were uh tuning in today they are nathan duick selena austere san jem panag christina rabbet uh karson ransom and adan trembath once again we're delighted that they were able to watch us today and i hope that's a good impact next we have a deferred vote on the motion for second reading of bill 106 an act to enact two acts and amend various other acts calling the members this is a five minute bell