 It is now time for Member Statements. I recognize the Member for Timmons. Thank you, Speaker. There's a lot of people in our communities throughout Ontario have worked very hard in order to provide services to the population, to those that were that became sick and had COVID-19. We know in the health sector, in hospitals in public health units and long-term care homes and in the community generally there's a lot of people that are working in an important way to provide these services and we look more specifically with respect to what's happening in long-term care homes. It's quite tragic. This situation was not a surprise if people have been paying attention to the house for a long time. They would know that we've raised the issue of how many hours of care those residents are entitled to if we're going to provide changes in the system. I think that these changes have to be done in collaboration with everyone in this house and with the population and we have to look at how we can add services, home care services to provide people with choices to stay home instead of being sent to a long-term care home. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize that many people in our province are deeply hurt, frustrated, outraged and saddened by the violence that has occurred across American cities over the past week. In particular black communities in Ontario have expressed sorrow and despair over historic and modern day slavery and racism. Although the United States has been the centre of international attention, we recognize that in Ontario we must do more to address how racism impacts our society today from the justice system to the education system to the child welfare system and much much more. I have heard voices in the black community who have made calls to me who have shared their views on social media and who have spoken to our caucus and I want to thank them for their honesty and their openness. This includes business leaders like Farley Flex and advocates like Jamal Giovanni and it makes me think of individuals in my riding of Barry Innisville like when I went to the black woman in business event and there were community leaders such as Claudine Cousins, the CEO of Power Simcoe, Stephanie Gorely, the owner of Granite Plus and Shelly Skinner, the owner of Shelly Skinner Events. I think of Shaq Edwards who organizes cure courts every year, a charity basketball tournament to raise money for mental health and help youth cope with mental illness. All of these leaders speak up and they want to speak up to elevate and lift those around them to reach their full potential where they be woman in business, a community advocate, or an athlete or community. Our government is committed Mr. Speaker to doing our part to address community concerns and will continue to engage with community voices calling for more just society. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the member for Windsor West. Thank you Speaker. I want to begin by acknowledging the thousands of frontline workers across Windsor Essex who are showing up for our community every day throughout the pandemic. They are working long hours making sacrifices and putting themselves at risk. I can't thank them enough for their contributions. Yet the government's pandemic pay program has shown my community that not all frontline workers are being considered equal. So many people who put themselves at risk every day are not being recognized with pandemic pay. I've been contacted by many workers in high risk environments who have been left out. However, Premier Ford says that no one else will be added to the list, making workers feel as though the line has been drawn which separates those that the Premier feels are deserving and those he deems unworthy. For those individuals that are eligible there are issues as well. The Premier refuses to make pandemic pay retroactive to the start of the state of emergency. Some eligible workplaces still haven't heard from the government at all and ultimately no one has actually received pandemic pay yet even though it was announced in April. They're still waiting for the recognition that they deserve. Some workers told me that they had to quit one or more jobs at retirement and long term care homes because of the government's order to limit movement between workplaces. While this was important to stop the spread of the virus it means that some folks who put in hard work in high risk environments and were then forced to quit will not receive pandemic pay for the time that they put in. The bottom line is that the Premier Ford continues to call frontline workers heroes yet he's excluding people and delaying the recognition they deserve. Worse yet many of these workers were already underpaid part-time employees cobbling together an income through several jobs before the pandemic. This Conservative government did nothing to help them then and they're failing to help them now. These workers deserve so much better. Thank you. Member Statements. The Member for Mrs. Saga Malkin. Mr. Speaker, global pandemic has challenged all of us. Our life has come to a grinding halt. Many people have lost their lives more have become sick even more have lost their jobs and livelihood yet across Ontario beyond the numbers beyond the terrible headlines there are countless stories of compassion, cooperation, innovation and enterprise. During this tough time I was able to witness a ray of hope in the form of organizations like Sideham, Save a Food Bank, Malton Women Council, Malton Masjid, Jamia Masjid, Superfan Nav Bhatia, Ram Mandir, Saigon Park, Yogi Divine Society, YMCA of GTA, United Six, Canada India Foundation, MDA Muslim Jamaat, my Indians in Canada Association, Care for Cause, Punjabi Food Seva, CU and many other organizations that have come forward to help the community. Ontario Spirit is the name Premier Ford has given to the actions of companies in competition coming together to build ventilators. Elected members working together above party lines, organizations and individuals donating cash and in kind to help those in need. Retirees coming back to work to pick up the baron and join the federal across Ontario. Volunteers have gone above and beyond to help from neighbours doing cross reruns, to swing circle making masks, to restaurants sending food, to children creating colourful thank you notes. To that Mr. Speaker is Ontario Spirit. Tough time is a test time to every single Ontario. I want to say thank you. Thank you for inspiring me and thank you for your Ontario spirit. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you. The next member statement, the member for Essex. Thank you very much, Speaker. It's an honour to be here today. I want to first thank our first responders and those on the front lines during this crisis and the global pandemic around the world who are protecting our communities. Indeed COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerabilities that we have as society has laid bare those inequities that we know exist and continue to exist. Speaker, if anything, we know now that we are only as safe as a society as the most vulnerable among us. And Speaker, as we learn more about the effects of COVID-19 and how it fragments our society, we only have to look at those who produce and provide us with safe nutrition. Our farm workers and specifically our migrant farm workers who are now at the epicentre of this outbreak. We are seeing that happen across and around the province. And those are issues, Speaker, that we could have and should have addressed through regulation in this house and at the federal level. We are seeing protections that other workers around the province have and continue to have that have kept them safe. Access to PPE, the ability to self-isolate, clean, affordable and accessible living standards. Those are basic fundamentals that are putting not only them but our entire society in parallel. Speaker, in parallel we can do better, we must do better. These are the issues that this house has to be determined to address. I truly hope that we endeavour to do that. Thank you, Speaker. Members' statements? The Member for Perry Sound, Muscoca. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the many individuals, businesses and service clubs across Perry Sound, Muscoca that are helping us get through the COVID-19 pandemic. There are way too many to list, but I would like to mention a few. The Perry Sound Rotary Club, which from the beginning partnered with Sobeys to deliver groceries. And the Bracepers Rotary Club, which donated grocery gift cards to families in need. The lion's clubs have donated to our food banks and the Goodfellows Masonic Lodge and Wabano Shrine Club made a large donation to the West Perry Sound Health Centre. Muscoca Brewery has produced hand sanitizer for the hospital and others. The Muscoca Builders Association raised more than $100,000 for our hospitals and food banks. Various restaurants have provided food for our healthcare workers. Novelty Man Embroidery in Huntsville and West Perry Sound Health Centre Auxiliary have put their sewing skills to use, making masks while the Perry Sound Sewing Centre produced gowns for the hospital staff. True North Printed Plastics has been making face shields while Huntsville High School student Caden Ledston has 3D printed ear savers for healthcare workers. Tim Horton Memorial Camp donated all their food to the Perry Sound Harvest Share Food Bank. Deerhurst Resort donated their supply of PPE to Muscoca Concoman Health Centre and Perishable Food to the Huntsville Table Food Bank. These are just a few examples of how people and businesses around my writing are showing the Ontario spirit and supporting their communities through this difficult time. As things reopen, it's our community's turn to show support for our local businesses. I encourage everyone to shop local as much as possible to help our local businesses recover. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member Statements. Member for Hamilton Mountain. Thank you, Speaker. During this pandemic I have heard from many small business owners in my writing of Hamilton Mountain. They all did the right thing and closed down during COVID-19. But now they're afraid that their businesses won't survive this pandemic. Yesterday I spoke to Christina, a small business owner who runs a dance studio. Her landlord owns 60 commercial properties and is refusing to buy a program. And not only that, he's raising her maintenance fees by 30%. I also spoke to Teresa who owns several hair salons and she understands that she needs to stay close to help stop the spread. But the federal loan that she was able to receive only provides her with one month's worth of rent for her businesses and she's uncertain what the beauty industry will be able to operate again. Ontario needs to do more to help its small businesses. Tax deferrals just mean that they have to pay down the line. Without a commercial rent subsidy or commercial eviction programs, we are going to lose small businesses that make our community vibrant and livable. It's time for the government to listen to small businesses and take real action to help them weather this pandemic. Thank you. Thank you. Member Statements. The Member for Kitchener, Conestoga. This week is local food week here in Ontario. A time to celebrate the agri-food producers and farmers that work so hard to feed our families. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the farmers in my riding have been working over time to help keep our plates full of delicious local food. My family is always looking for ways to buy local food and one of our favorite summer activities is visiting the St. Jacobs Market, which you will know very well Mr. Speaker. It's in the township of Woolwich, right in the heart of Kitchener, Conestoga. The market is typically in full swing by now. Like most local attractions and retailers, things are looking very different this year. I know that I was not the only one who was excited to hear the St. Jacobs Market receive the green light to be able to reopen on June 4th. And we will once again be able to enjoy some of the best that Ontario has to offer. The market has been supporting their vendors and working with the region of Waterloo Public Health Officials and municipal leaders during this difficult time and I want to commend them for this. The physical distancing measures will be in place as well as additional cleaning and sanitation protocols to keep both vendors and customers safe. St. Jacobs Market is a staple of summer in my riding and I am grateful for all of those that have worked hard to develop this plan. I look forward to being able to stop by and support our local vendors very soon in Waterloo region. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Member for Orléans. Thank you Mr. President. I would like to tell you how proud I am of the essential workers who are strong in resilience. Every day I'm inspired by their kindness and their dedication to help each other. The meeting for the elders of Ottawa continued in that effort by offering an activity for the elders. It's an example of remarkable. We're using technology to improve ties among population. The Eastern Ottawa Community Resource Center provide vulnerable families with the support they need every day and especially during this recent crisis. The recent together apart virtual concerts saw thousands of residents come together online to enjoy local music and raise valuable awareness and money for these important community organizations. Finally Mr. Speaker the events of this week have cast a dark cloud across our community both here in Ontario and across North America. But in that darkness I continue to be inspired by the work of local sports organizations like the Orléans Bengals Football Club. Their outreach programs have been recognized by both mental health advocates and municipal leaders for the positive impact they have in the community. The Bengals are now putting the focus of these efforts to combat racism leading the way to eradicate racism amongst our youth before it takes root in the community. We are embracing diversity inclusivity and love. I want to thank them for their community leadership and ask everyone to be a bangle not a bully. Thank you member statements the member for Oakville. Thank you Mr. Speaker and we know these are very difficult times for everybody and there are shining examples in the Oakville community of people doing great work helping our community to those who need some help and this needs to be recognized by the people who have been organizing meals to seniors homes as well as drive buys for special Olympians. The idea behind the birthday drive buys is to show support and love for someone while respecting physical distancing. For the past four weeks Zoom and the local real estate company has been coordinating with local food companies to deliver meals to frontline workers whether they are paramedics, work in retirement homes, the Curse Street Mission, Halton Women's Place among others. Oakville resident along with the Oakville Chinese community have coordinated and helped donate thousands of N95 masks and other PPE supplies. Their outstanding work is going to the Oakville hospital, Halton police Anderson House among others. Art House is a Halton charity that has been enhancing the creativity and the positive well-being of children of Halton for over 11 years. COVID-19 has dramatically affected the lives of Art House families and kids access to school breakfast programs and after school programming. Curse Street Cafe, a local business very close to my constituency office is helping Art House by providing meals to families in need through the Art House program. Finally I'd like to also acknowledge there's actually an anonymous Oakville physician who has donated $200,000 to local food relief efforts. We should thank these people for all their great work. Thank you very much. Thank you. That concludes our member statements for this morning. It is now time for oral questions and I recognize the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Thank you, Speaker. Before I begin my first question to the Premier, I think it's important to acknowledge the pain and anger and anguish and frustration that is unfolding around the United States as well as around the world with the murder of George Lloyd and the protests against anti-black racism that are everywhere and also acknowledge the loss of Regis Kozinski Pequette, a young black woman with mental health issues that we lost last week, hoping her family can get the answers that they deserve. Speaker, earlier this morning I spoke with yet another family coping with devastating loss following the death of a loved one in our broken long-term care system, this time at Royal Rose Place in Welland. Tammy Kutu wasn't informed that her grandmother had contracted COVID-19 until hours before her death. Like thousands of others, Tammy is demanding answers. The Premier has not only refused to call an independent judicial inquiry, but last week Tammy learned the Government maintains a list of high-risk red homes but refuses to tell families which homes are on it. Will the Premier tell Tammy today whether the home where her grandmother died was on that list? To respond on behalf of the Government, the Minister of Long-Term Care. Thank you, Speaker, and thank you for the question. Our Government has been clear that our number one priority is to the residents and long-term care staff in homes that are affected. The wellbeing and safety of residents and the staff is a commitment of our Government. Fighting fiercely against COVID-19, we have taken tool and measures on an ongoing basis and we've acted swiftly to assess and make sure our homes are protected as much as possible. We've done that. The red homes are a priority and we work with Ontario Health, our Ontario Public Health System, hospitals, the emergency teams that are going in on an ongoing basis to help our long-term care home staff. This is a sense of urgency and that's exactly what we've been doing all along and our Government is transparent. Thank you. Thank you, Speaker. My supplementary is also to the Premier. This weekend families and Vaughn were shocked to learn about a COVID-19 outbreak at the Woodbridge Vista Care Community. A long-term care facility that was operated by the same corporation currently facing lawsuits following the Armed Forces report into extreme neglect at their Altamont facility. Staff at Woodbridge Vista say they have no confidence in the management's ability to handle the crisis. They are competing with the Government to take control of this facility. The Premier thus far has refused. Will the Premier tell staff and families of residents of Woodbridge Vista facility whether that home is on the Government's secret list of high-risk red homes? Thank you, Speaker, and thank you for your important question. When we look and assess the homes, there are many eyes that determine how we are going to help these homes. It is a collaborative effort that we use when the process is taking a very long time for the homes to be able to stop the spread of COVID and contain COVID, when it's taking longer than we anticipate. That is a moment in time where we determine it is necessary to have a mandatory management order. We've worked with hospitals to help with that. This is a collaborative effort, but when it comes right down to it, our Government has said everything is on the table. We will do what is necessary to shore up these homes. And I've said before that COVID-19 has a devastating impact on long-term care homes, and we've taken measure after measure and used all tools responsible to address this, and we will continue to do that to help our homes and our residents and staff. The final supplementary is also to the Premier. Last week, the Premier said this, and I quote, you deserve to know what I know as Premier. That's what he said. You deserve to know what I know as Premier. But the reality for thousands of families is that they've been left in the dark. They're unable to visit their loved ones, unable to get basic information about what's going on inside the homes where their loved ones reside. The Government has refused to commit to an independent judicial inquiry, and now they're using to even reveal which homes are dangerously unsafe. Why is the Government so unwilling to expose the failures inside these for-profit facilities? Mr. Long-Term Care. Thank you, Speaker, and thank you for the question. Our number one priority is the safety and well-being of our residents in Long-Term Care and the staff and their families. It is a guiding principle that we have consistently adhered to during this whole process. This is a war with COVID-19. There is no doubt globally, nationwide, and in our province. And in terms of how we address issues with licensees, an application to change a licensee on any home is looked at with rigor. We address those issues, and an independent commission will allow us to be moving and advancing the needs of Long-Term Care residents and their families and staff. Communication is a key part of this, and the homes that have come in and had assistance with hospitals are doing much better with that. Thank you. The next question. Once again, the Leader of the Opposition. Thank you, Speaker. My next question is also for the Premier, but I would have to say that nothing at all that has happened in terms of oversight of Long-Term Care for decades in this province has been done with rigor. Nothing has been done with rigor. The government's own website says that the residential quality inspection or an RQI is a comprehensive, unannounced, systematic and detailed review because they are unannounced private care home providers can't sweep problems under the rug when the inspectors arrive. Last year they only completed nine RQI inspections, nine inspections for 626 Long-Term Care homes. This government knew, well by the way, in 2020 this government has conducted zero RQI inspections in 2020. This government knew in January the potential for this virus to hit our Long-Term Care homes and knew it was a big possibility. Why did they not complete a single RQI inspection in Long-Term Care meeting up to the pandemic? Thank you for the question. There is need for absolute clarity in terms of the inspections. Our government has been committed to making sure that the safety and well-being of our residents in Long-Term Care is the priority and our ministry conducted almost 3,000 inspections. These were not notified inspections, these were random inspections. We've had public health risk assessments of all the homes. We've public health goes in and does food inspections and kitchen inspections. Our hospitals have done IPAC assessments. We are making sure that many eyes are on these homes and we also anticipated that with the coming of COVID. We knew that we needed to take action to make sure that we had much support for these homes as possible and that's exactly what we did. My supplementary is back to the Premier Speaker. The government has had a secret list of which are the most problem plagued homes in the province. The former government called them high risk and as we know this government calls their secret list red homes. They knew which homes were the most at risk for problems but they still didn't do an annual RQI inspection in them. We're still in the first three months of the year. They did nothing, nothing at all to prepare these so-called red homes for the pandemic. They didn't stockpile PPE, they didn't certainly ensure that they had hired enough staff. Does the Premier still think it's unacceptable that his government didn't conduct a single comprehensive resident quality inspection of long-term care homes in the crucial months leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic? Mr. Long-term Care. Thank you, Speaker and thank you for the question. To be absolutely clear, there were almost 3,000 inspections, there were annual inspections, there were public health assessments, there were IPAC or infection prevention and control assessments, there were ongoing assessments. Looking at how we could maintain the safety of people going into the homes was paramount and we were working with Public Health Ontario, Ontario Health teams, looking at how we could make sure that our homes were supported. So this is something that's been ongoing. COVID-19 requires us to adapt quickly and to be responsive and sometimes to adapt our processes which is what we've had to do and we've done it consistently in anticipation. So to say that February 3rd with guidance, March 11th with essential visitors, active screening, all the efforts that we've made in terms of protecting our homes, it's been ongoing, it's been swift and it's been decisive. We need to be absolutely accurate on this information. Final supplementary. Thank you, Speaker it's been nothing at all like swift and it's been nothing like at all like decisive. In fact, it's been quite the opposite which is why we've had over 1,600 deaths in long-term care as of this date. Eatonville Care Centre in Etobicoke is in the Premier's own backyard speaker. It's a privately operated home that hasn't had a thorough resident quality inspection since 2017. In the last two years, it's obvious that problems that inspectors had long identified have even gotten worse. This is the type of facility that should have been thoroughly and randomly inspected annually, but this government refused to undertake through a thorough RQI inspections across the board. In April, we joined the frontline healthcare workers calling for the government to take over the management of Eatonville, something that took them six more weeks. Six more weeks and the death of 11 residents to finally do. Why did the government fail to inspect and handle the serious COVID-19 outbreak at the Eatonville facility? Thank you. Thank you for the question. Our government is committed to the safety and well-being of residents. There have been almost 3,000 inspections. There have been annual inspections. There are public health assessments. There are food inspections. These are ongoing and many eyes have been on these homes, which is exactly why we took the measures that we did to bring in the Canadian Armed Forces, understanding that these homes were under siege by COVID-19. This was leading up to this point. It was also a collaborative approach to make sure that our staff in our long-term care homes had the support that we could provide. But above and beyond that, COVID-19 was taking a toll, and that is why we moved decisively to bring in the Armed Forces at our home's time of need and provinces' time of need. And that's what we did. Eatonville has been supported. Trillium Hospital is in there, has been for weeks. And this will continue. The mandatory management orders will be ongoing until we can get these stabilized. Thank you. The next question. Let's get in the leader of the opposition. Thank you, Speaker. My next question is also for the Premier. But I have to say this government has been very slow and very indecisive. If the homes were under siege by COVID-19 and the siege was successful, it was because this government did not protect the vulnerable residents in long-term care. The Rose of Sharon Care, Korean long-term care home, has been a vital provider of care, and the only facility in the province dedicated to the Korean community. They haven't had a single case of COVID-19 infection, which is why the community is worried. The government has received an application to transfer ownership of the home to RICA, one of the four private providers who operate two of the worst infected homes in the province at Eatonville and Hawthorne Place. Will the government do the right thing and stop any transfers of licenses of long-term care facilities to private or profit operators during this pandemic? Minister of Long-Term Care. Thank you, Speaker. As I've said numerous times, our government has taken swift action and decisive action for our homes and used every measure and every tool possible. In terms of the case that you're mentioning, an application to change the licensee on this home has been received by the Ministry of Long-Term Care, but a change of licensee goes through a rigorous examination, and that will be the case in this situation. No final decision has been made, but let me assure this House that all considerations will be examined. And I want to take an opportunity to say that many of our homes have managed heroically during this pandemic that has affected long-term care homes across the globe with devastation that is unprecedented. And 70% of our homes right now are not in outbreaks. And we're moving in a direction of support and improvement, and I hope that all of you collaborate to support our long-term care homes and help them get what they need. Supplementary question? Speaker, this is my final supplementary that would make eight questions. I'm hoping the Premier can answer this one. The community has reason to be worried, Speaker. Things are so bad at Eatonville and that the military actually had to be called in to try to save residents after countless people died and many more were infected by COVID-19. The community doesn't want to see a private for-profit operator with a record of COVID outbreak to take over. They don't want to see that happen to their home. There should be no expansion for for-profit long-term care homes during this crisis. And there should be no expansion of for-profit long-term care until all inquiries and all investigations are completed in this province. Will the government stand with the Korean community and refuse to transfer the license of the Rose of Sharon facility to this for-profit agency? Thank you, Speaker. As I said, a rigorous examination of this issue will be ongoing. We will make sure that it is a thoughtful process and adheres to what is required for this home and for the residents. The safety and well-being of residents and staff is our government's number one priority. And that's exactly why we've been working across the board with Public Health, Ontario Health, Ontario Health teams, an integrated system to make sure that the well-being is supported of our homes. No doubt the homes have been struggling some of them. But if we look at the data, resident cases are at the lowest number since April 15th. Staff cases are at the lowest point since April 20th. And as of May 31st, there were 19 homes in red and in the first week of May, there were 34 homes. So we are making substantial progress. These efforts must be ongoing and I hope that you will be part of the solution. Please be part of the solution. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Premier, I'm proud of our government's prudent, scientific-based approach when it comes to handling this pandemic. Our aim has always been crystal clear regarding the protection of the health and safety of the people of this province while supporting businesses and entrepreneurs who are the backbone and the economic success in Ontario. The people of this province have seen this success demonstrated in Phase 1 reopening framework, thanks to their commitment to the following the health and safety protocols in place regarding physical distancing measures. Speaker, could the Premier please share with the legislature what new operations our government has announced to allow our constituents to enjoy the outdoors while staying safe and practicing physical distancing? Order. Premier. Member from Stormont onto South Glengarry for the question. As I have seen, he's one of the hardest working members and thank you for that. Our province continues to fight the spread of this disease and we have seen real positive results. We've seen positive results on the expanded testing, on the tracing making sure that the public is informed and I got to thank the 14.5 million people in this province that have cooperated listening to the protocols of the Chief Medical Officer of Health and that's what allowed us to look at Stage 2 about regional opening across this province and we're going to come up with some answers for that over the next few days but the number one priority is that the people of this province stay healthy and we're going to base that on health and science. We're going to base it on people out there saying open up or people protesting outside saying open everything up because it wouldn't be safe, Mr. Speaker. We're going to do the safe responsible thing, listen to the medical professionals, listen to the health team that's how we're going to open up. Thank you. Thank you Premier. This is great news because we know that many of my constituents along with the rest of Ontario are very happy to hear about the more and more operations restarting. The ability to see a movie with the family or practice batting skills once again is a positive activity that many of my constituents greatly appreciate. Further providing more and more outdoor options for people especially as the days become longer and the weather becomes warmer is great for people wanting to get some exercise. So, Speaker, can the please share with the legislature about the potential next steps government would consider for potential phase two reopening of the economy and the province as we move forward. Thank you. Premier. Thank you, Mr. Member. As we've consistently stated any decision will be based on science and health. Further, I'm not prepared to take unnecessary risk when it comes to health and safety but because of the strength of our new testing program in place and encouraging results, we are now comfortable with asking our officials to look at a regional approach for staged openings. This will be one option we consider as we move to stage two. This is one option that we're putting on the table and we're only able to do this now because we're getting great testing results. We're expanding it right across the province. We're looking at hotspots, Mr. Speaker areas in the GTA and even parts of Toronto. Because there's a tale of two provinces here. There's the rural area that we haven't seen the spread and then there's the urban area that we've seen the spread. So we're going to do the responsible thing and listen to our health professionals. Thank you. Thank you very much, Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Last week, the Premier indicated that he was going to get tough with private for-profit long-term care operators. Yet, at the same time, he revealed that James Schlegel, the CEO of Schlegel Villages, Inc., a private for-profit long-term care chain, was a key member of the Premier's incident management system long-term care table. Through his various corporations, Mr. Schlegel has donated upwards of $50,000 to the PC Party since 2007. This includes a donation of $20,000 to the Minister of Health's leadership bid. Does the Premier think that it is appropriate for one of his most generous party donors, with a stake in private for-profit long-term care, to have this important role? I'm looking at the Minister of Long-term Care. Thank you, Speaker. The pit this pandemic has hit homes of every type of ownership. We know that the capacity in our long-term care homes was at 99%. It was a long-standing issue. As well, the staffing was in a crisis leading into the pandemic. We were addressing both of those things leading in to this pandemic. We were making progress that had never been seen before, after almost two decades. Many of you sit here, and you were in a position to make those changes as an opposition supporting the Liberal government of the time. Let us deal with facts. Let us deal with the truth. We know that wardrooms play an issue. They are an issue in this. Our capacity was an issue. The staffing and also regional services. Thank you, Speaker. Among other things, the table that Mr. Schlagel sits at is tasked with making decisions about staffing, access to personal protective equipment, and oversight of long-term care homes, including the ones that Mr. Schlagel owns and operates. The Premier has not invited any nurses or frontline staff onto this decision-making group, even though their leadership and insights have saved countless lives throughout this crisis. They are good enough to work in these places, but not good enough to offer their expertise to make these places better. I heard the long-term care minister say that everything is on the table, but of course with this government, not everybody is at that table. Why has this Premier made a space at the table for prominent PC donors who own some of the very homes that he makes decisions about? The Minister of Long-Term Care It is no secret that the Ministry of Long-Term Care has consulted across the board to understand the issues that were so badly neglected for many years. We say Ontarians have questions and we want to answer those questions. Our long-term care sector and those that work on the front lines, they also have information that is helpful to us. We need to understand from all corners what we can do to improve the situation. Windsor West come to order and we need to acknowledge and we need to find solutions. And that's going to take all of us. The problems in long-term care are bigger than stop the clock. Minister of Long-Term Care will take her seat. Please stop the clock. Member for ASICS will come to order. The Premier will come to order. I think she still has some time. Start the clock. I recognize the Minister of Long-Term Care. The problems in long-term care have been long standing and it behooves us all to work together to get the information that we need and to be listening to our sector, the frontline workers and beyond. And that's why exactly we are having an independent commission to be able to have public hearings, to have a public report. Thank you. The next question, the member for Lanark Frontenac Kingston. Thank you, my question is for the Premier. Premier, you've stated quite clearly and I quote, the people have a right to know what I know. I agree. However, you seem to have forgotten that democracy is a two-way street or to function properly and effectively, you need to know what members are. Mr. Labour come to order. And what they are hearing from their constituents. Unlike your cardboard cutouts, Dale Moore is a real person. He's worked all his life. He's contributed to society. He saved diligently in how to dream to own his own business. He was set to open his business on March 17th, the day you shuttered his dreams and turned them into a nightmare. Dale's financial capacity has been exhausted. He faces financial ruin under your state of emergency. Dale is one of thousands of unseen tragedies of your government. Premier, why do you insist on creating more tragedy for the people who voted for you? To respond on behalf of the government, the select general. The member opposite talks about people's lives. And I think more than anything, that is what this emergency situation and this extension is all about. We are trying to do the right thing. And that means that we are going to extend the declaration of emergency. We can tweak it. We can remove it as we see the numbers go down. But let me be clear, Speaker, this is about protecting people's lives. That's why we're doing it. That's why we continue to do it. And that's why you will have the opportunity this afternoon to debate it fully. Thank you. Supplementary question? Again to the Premier. For 13 weeks you frustrated the members of this House from participating in and voting. Member will take a seat. The member will take a seat. Member knows full well that he makes his comments through the chair and not making direct accusations across the aisle. Address your comments through the chair. The executive powers of the unelected are shrouded in darkness and hidden from view. And from their ivory tower they cannot see what we all see. Like Dale Aaron owns a business, is raising two children, has a mortgage to pay, has food to put on the table and spousal support payments. Aaron's business is also shuttered but must still pay the rent, the business and the property taxes. Speaker, the Premier has placed Aaron in an untenable position. He has destroyed the dreams and hopes of the many people in Ontario. Will you Speaker, will the Premier end this ongoing tragedy and permit members of this House to be involved? Question to the Premier. Mr. Speaker, to answer the member what we've been doing for 13 weeks, I don't know what you've been doing. I've been working 18 hours a day around the clock, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. And I'm there, I'm doing everything I can to help small businesses, to help families get through it, to fix the procurement program, to see the cracks in the ship. Member for Lannard, Fraun, Mackings can come to order. And prompted up 98% of the time by the opposition here. That's what we're doing. We're being transparent. I'm out there every single day, Mr. Speaker, telling the people what I know, what we're doing to fix it. I'm proud to say we finally, finally after a lot of work, we have the procurement system going in the right track. We have enough PPEs for everyone across this province. We're expanding the testing, we're expanding the tracing. We're coming up with a great tracing platform as well, Mr. Speaker. That's what I'm doing. I can't even see straight in the morning because I'm up all night, helping people fixing the problems, returning phone calls. That's what I'm doing. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Premier. Yesterday marked the third anniversary of the Anti-Racism Act here in Ontario. An act that committed the government to the following. Establishing a three-year anti-racism strategy implementing the collection of race-based data across ministries organized and conduct ongoing public consultation to provide the public with reporting and to create an anti-racism campaign for our education system. Speaker, this government has failed to implement even one of these pieces within the act. Premier, the first question I asked you in this legislature almost two years ago is do you believe systemic racism is real, which you failed to answer? I'll ask you again, do you believe that systemic racism and anti-black racism is real? And if so, what are you going to do as the Premier of this great province to combat these forms of racism? And please, have the decency, Premier, to answer this question, you owe it to so many people here in Ontario as the leader to answer it. I recognize the Solicitor General. Thank you, Speaker. You know, I was very honored when the Premier appointed me the Solicitor General and with that responsibility came with the Anti-Racism Directorate. And the work that we've been doing to reflect the Premier's comments yesterday, there is nowhere in Ontario where hate and anti-Semitism and anti-racism is appropriate. And we are working together on that. The anti-racism directorate continues to do excellent work across ministries. We've already talked previously about how the Ministry of Health has proactively chosen to trace race-based data when it relates to COVID-19 issues. You know, I understand that the member opposite I understand that the member opposite is agitated, is frustrated, but frankly so are many of us. We need to make sure that we get this right. We need to allow the Thank you. Thank you. The supplementary question. My question is to the Premier and Premier, the 627,000 black people in this province are heartbroken. We've all seen the images of George Floyd and how just devastating it is, who had died on the streets at the hands of being detained and restrained by police. Incidents of racism happen in Ontario in this province. Years ago in Scarborough Patrick Shan was restrained by a security guard and he too said, I can't breathe. And moments later he stopped struggling and he died. A coroner's inquest did change the laws here in Ontario and provided additional training for security guards. My question Premier is that Indigenous black people of colour want to live in this province not just appropriately but actually free from racism. It's their right. They want the full enjoyment of all the systems in education, in justice in society, in the economy. They want to know that their children will not die at the hands of police or anyone else. So my question to you Premier right now will you tell the people of this province that you are going to be taking concrete steps to eliminate anti-black racism and racism in all its forms in this province and restore full funding to the anti-racism directorate and the Black Youth Act. Thank you very much. Premier. Thank you Mr. Speaker. What we saw down in the United States, what happened to Mr. Floyd was nothing but disgusting what would happen. And there's no room here in the province for racism, not under our government not under me as Premier. And I think my friend over there knows I've always stood up, my family's always stood up for the black community, anyone in the minority community. We have zero tolerance for racism, zero tolerance and we're going to move forward, we're going to support the black community and every other minority community here because we are the most diversified province jurisdiction anywhere in North America. That's why 99% of us we all get along. There's always bad apples there's always bad apples no matter what profession it is but I can tell you the black community knows I have their back and I'll always always have their back. And you know it, you know it. Restart the clock. The next question, the member for Brampton Centre. Thank you Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Mr. Speaker, this weekend over 5,000 people from across the GTHA marched for Regis, Gorchinski-Petet against anti-black racism and I was honored to march along with them. They know that Ms. Gorchinski-Petet's death is not an isolated incident but part of a pattern of black deaths that includes Don Dre Campbell in Brampton and countless others. And they are calling for an independent investigation into Regis' death because people do not trust that the SIU in its current form will bring justice to her family and the community. Mr. Speaker, how will the Premier ensure an independent public investigation and justice for Regis when his government refused to adopt the core recommendations from Justice Tullock's report and has removed measures to make the SIU more transparent and accountable? Thank you. I completely understand why family, friends and community are wanting answers and are demanding answers and they have every right to do that. But I will not make assumptions and jump to conclusions. We need to let the independent SIU do their job. The ability for them to independently investigate this very critical incident is frankly what the Pequett family need, what the community needs, what the policing community needs. We need to let the SIU do their job without any kind of suggestion of interference politically from your side or our side. Please allow the SIU to do that independent work now so that we can have the answers that the family deserves and we need to know. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, my question to the Premier. We're hearing from people across this province devastated by Miss Kaczynski Pequett's death and demanding an independent investigation into what happened. They know that when a black Ontarian or their family calls for help during a mental health crisis, it should not result in their death. For justice for Regis, for her family and black communities, there must be a full transparent independent and public investigation and steps must be taken to address anti-black racism in all our institutions. Speaker, the Premier could start by restoring funding to anti-racism director that he got it and investing in community by funding culturally responsive black mental health services. Will the Premier commit to making that investment today? If I may remind the member opposite and individuals listening, the SIU reports are public. The investigation is independent. We need to allow them to do that work. The independent arms length civilian oversight body that investigates deaths, serious injuries, allegations of sexual assault that occur in circumstances involving police and civilians. Allow them to do that work and to be clear again, I will say the anti-racism directorate has not had any funding cuts. They continue to do excellent work and I wish that the members opposite would actually embrace what they're doing across government to ensure that we have what we need in the province of Ontario for all Ontarians. Thank you. Next question, the member for Orlean. Mr. Speaker, the financial impact of COVID-19 on Ontario's municipalities is real and it's staggering. Ontario residents rely on municipalities to provide critical services each and every day and COVID-19 is crippling their finances. Mississauga is projecting a $100 million shortfall. In Ottawa they're burning a million dollars a day and here in Toronto the capital of our great province they're projecting a loss of $1.5 billion dollars. This will mean tens of thousands of Ontario residents are laid off and residents will see massive increases to property taxes and bus fares. It should be clear to everyone that no economic recovery is possible without a solution to the municipal financial crisis. We've called for the establishment of a $4 billion emergency fund municipal leaders are pleading for help. My question Mr. Speaker is to the Premier, when will the province provide direct operating support to Ontario's municipalities? To respond, the Government House Leader. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. As you know the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing along with the Minister of Finance have been working very closely with our federal partners to bring forward a program that we were very clear in saying that we needed assistance from the federal government for our municipalities. Now I know yesterday I believe the federal government did advance some funds that had already been committed. That's a good start but as the Premier said we need significant additional funds. Many of the municipalities had already accounted for the funds that were released by the federal government that had been previously delayed by the federal government. They've already accounted for that in their budgeting. And as we've said we are going to need some additional help from the federal government. I think this is something that you've heard from municipalities not just only in Ontario but across the country. So I know the Premier, our Premier and the Premiers across Canada have been asking for the federal government to do a bit more to help us on this Mr. Speaker and we wait anxiously for that additional support. Thank you. Thank you. A supplementary question. Well Mr. Speaker, Toronto's Mayor has said that there have been a lot of encouraging words and I think we've just heard some more. But of course encouraging words don't pay the bills. Ontario's large urban mayors are projecting a $415 million revenue loss in transit for April to June alone. And without provincial leadership big cities will have no choice but to slash bus routes and raise bus fares. There will be no economic recovery in Ontario if our big cities don't get back on transit and transit will fail without provincial leadership. The federal government has said that they'll be there to support provincial leadership in supporting municipalities and public transit. To the Minister of Transportation, will the government guarantee that bus routes won't be cut and fares won't go up because of their delay in providing support to transit? Well I think the honourable member for his question we've been very clear from the outset that we were going to need the assistance of the federal government in a pan-Canadian response to the COVID crisis. They have been very good partners to this point but I think the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Ontario Association of Municipalities have been equally clear that they need additional support and assistance from the federal government. When he talks about transit and transportation the honourable member will know that the government has made a significant commitment to transit and transportation across the province of Ontario. Almost a $30 billion commitment. There are a number of projects that have been waiting approval of the federal government when it comes to transit and transportation through the Canada infrastructure program. We made some progress, limited progress yesterday when the federal government finally released monies that had already been committed. There are more to do, this government is ready to do more and we will do it in cooperation with our federal partners as we have throughout this crisis. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you. The next question, the member for Oshawa. My question is to the Premier. The military's account of what went on behind the curtain at Orchard Villa, a long-term care home in Pickering is awful. The families of Nina Watt and Paul Parks and George Morrison are just a few of the almost 80 grieving families wanting to know what happened at Orchard Villa. The city of Pickering is calling for an investigation. 5700 have signed an online petition. There are lawsuits and a call for a criminal investigation. Families of Orchard Villa wrote to the Premier, quote, today we are asking you to begin an independent public inquiry as soon as possible. We do not want an independent commission where information is controlled and stones can be left unturned, end quote. Paul's daughter Kathy implores us to, quote, lift the roof off these homes and let us all look inside together. We need a public judicial inquiry. We need those who are still alive to be taken care of now. We need the end of for-profit long-term care homes in Ontario, end quote. Will the Premier abandon his commission and launch a real public inquiry to lift the roof off of long-term care and let us all look inside together? Thank you, Speaker. And thank you for the question. I'll set it before and I'll say it again. I am committed, as the Minister of Long-Term Care, our government is committed to transparency. And that is why an independent commission with public hearings, public input, a public report is absolutely critical to making sure that we get to the bottom of this. This is an expedient way forward. Our government had been making progress on addressing the redevelopment and the capacity issues in long-term care that had been so long coming, so ignored, so neglected for over a decade. And there are people in this chamber who sat and were supportive of the previous government's, liberal government's neglect of this sector. We are transparent. We are moving forward. We will encourage public input. We will absolutely move forward with a commission and independent nonpartisan commission. Thank you, Speaker. My question to the Acting Premier. The recent report on long-term care facilities by the Canadian Armed Forces revealed horrifying conditions experienced by vulnerable seniors in the midst of this pandemic. For months, the official opposition has been calling for the immediate takeover of all unsafe long-term care centres. And so the imminent takeover of Hawthorne Place in My Riding is overdue, but welcome. But it shouldn't have taken a horrifying military report for action. Following a conversation with North York General, CEO and senior staff, I'm confident that they will bring immediate relief, but I am concerned that they are not being granted the scope and the ability to publicly report on their findings to bring lasting change when they leave. Will this government commit to ensuring that the findings of all taken over LTCs are made public and will they immediately move to take over all unsafe LTCs here in Ontario? The Minister of Long-term Care. Thank you. Thank you, Speaker. And thank you for your question. I want to make sure that all Ontarians know the loss of their loved ones must not be sustained. The problems plaguing long-term care for decades, it goes back decades. Now is the time that we can make a difference. All of us, collectively, everyone, we all have to contribute. And part of moving forward with the solutions is to understand the problem. And that's exactly what we're getting to the root of. The Canadian Armed Forces, I am tremendously grateful for them. They came in Ontario's time of need when our homes were struggling. We are now emerging from this. Those homes that are still continuing to struggle containing the spread are getting mandatory management orders. To be clear, the government doesn't manage long-term care homes. We are getting assistance from hospitals. This is an integrated approach. We must use the expertise available and we will continue to support our homes, our residents, our staff and families. Next question, the member for London North Centre. My question is to the Minister of Long-term Care. Speaker, the good people of the Canadian Armed Forces confirmed that families and workers have known for ages. Our long-term care system is broken and seniors are suffering. William, a retirement residence worker in my riding, told me, and I quote, what amazes me is that people are acting as if this was a new thing. This hell has been going on for decades. Julie, a nursing home worker in my riding, said that what she sees in long-term care homes is maddening and saddening. There didn't seem to be enough staff to properly care for people. Staff shortages and senior neglect are not new issues. They go back to conservative privatisation of long-term care. The Liberals upheld and continued that privatisation. It's just part of the Lib-Con League's playbook. Speaker, why is the Minister pretending that they just realised our long-term care system is broken when workers and families have been begging the government for help and sounding the alarm for years? Minister of Long-term Care. Thank you, Speaker. And the member is accurate about the staffing crisis. There is no doubt. And that had been going on for many years. Our government was committed to addressing and fixing these issues, which is why there was a dedicated ministry created to long-term care. And in less than a year we had already begun to address long-standing issues in the sector, including redevelopment, building capacity that had been ignored and neglected by the previous government, supported by the opposition, also staffing, an expert panel to understanding how we move forward with this. Our government was committed, is committed, will be committed. We will make progress on this. We will advance long-term care. The system was broken, and we are here to fix it. And I ask you to please be part of the solution. It's going to take everything we've got. We have an aging population. We have dire conditions leading up to COVID. We need everyone to work together to solve this massive issue. Thank you. Thank you, Speaker. And through you, my question is to the Minister of Long-term Care. And through you, with all due respect, if the minister did not know she didn't do her job, and if she did know she still did not do her job. Minister, it is not just workers who are raising concerns about a broken system. Families across the province have been the same, saying the same thing for years now. One of my constituents, Pamela, pulled her mom out of long-term care back in March to try and help keep her safe, and she was assured that the spot would be safe. That spot has now been pulled, and her mother, who suffers from dementia, is back at the bottom of a three-year wait list. Speaker, it's clear that this long-term care system was broken long ago, but will the minister commit to an independent judicial inquiry that will allow the citizens of Ontario to understand where governments went so wrong and what steps are needed to fix this? Thank you, Speaker, and thank you for the question. I first want to clarify the issue surrounding your constituent. If someone is removed from a home to stay with family or other support, they do not go to the bottom of the list. They will be prioritized. So I just, I want to clarify that. In terms of the public order, in terms of the public input for our independent commission, I want everyone to understand with clarity there will be public hearings. There will be opportunity for public input. There will be a public report. The issues that were long-standing in long-term care, we were running, we were running to catch up. Knowing an aging population was at the door, understanding the years of neglect by the previous Liberal government, understanding the societal values needed change. We were running to catch up with staffing assessments, with looking at capacity, an integrated system with health, understanding how all this comes together, and how we were going to solve hallway health care. We were running as fast as we could, and then COVID bit us. Here we are today. Want you to be part of the solution? Please work with us. This is bigger than all of us. Thank you. The next question, the member for Ottawa South. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Premier. We are all very deeply disturbed by the Canadian Armed Forces report into the conditions of five long-term care homes in this province. Yesterday, the Ontario Ombudsman announced that because of that report he will be conducting his own investigation into the government's inspection of the province's long-term care homes. We all welcome that. My question for the Premier is this. When did the Minister of Long-term Care and the Premier aware of these conditions in these five homes? And what led his government to ask for the help from the Canadian Armed Forces? Thank you. Questions to the Minister of Long-term Care? Thank you, Speaker, and thank you for the question. The Ombudsman, the Ontario Ombudsman is welcomed in this process of delving into what happened over a period of time, not only the crisis, but leading up to that crisis. We're working with Public Health, Ontario Health, the Ontario Health teams, the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour, all across the board to understand how we could support our homes. Looking at the integration that was necessary to do this. And I also look back on the years leading into this, and the member himself was the Parliamentary Assistant to the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care Minister. He would have knowledge of all the existing issues and how the imperative was for our government to fix those issues. We called in the Canadian Armed Forces when we knew that our homes had exhausted every other possibility and our support was exhausted. They needed help, and that's why we called them. The supplementary question. Thank you, Speaker. I'm trying to understand the sequence of events that inform the government's decision to call on the military. And Ontarians want to know that their parents and grandparents who are in long-term care homes don't have the same things happening there. So Ontario fully inspected 926 long-term care homes last year, waited a month to raise the lowest paid workers in long-term care, waited a month to prevent workers from working in more than one long-term care home, allowing the disease to continue to spread, and then wasted tens of thousands of tests that could have been used in long-term care. So, Speaker, through you, what impact, if any, does the Premier believe these delays had in these five homes, and in fact, the dozens of homes with double-digit deaths across Ontario? Thank you. Thank you, Speaker, and thank you for the question. I think the delays were over 15 years when the long-term care sector was neglected, where capacity was not built. Instead, the government chose other priorities. It did not recognize the absolute devastation that would occur by ignoring the needs of our aging population. That was the previous government that did that. Almost 3,000 inspections that we've had, as well as public health assessments, as well as the QIs, as well as all the different eyes that were in our homes to assess. We know that our government was active and decisive, and making sure that every tool and measure could be used. It is hard to make up. Thank you. Question. Member for Parkdale High Park. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Yesterday was the first of the month. Once again, tenants who lost income during the pandemic are unable to pay their rent through no fault of their own. This government is allowing landlords to continue to threaten tenants with eviction during the pandemic. And as the province opens up, we can expect the landlord and tenant board to resume eviction hearings soon as well. Tenants feel vulnerable and threatened. Will the Premier cancel all eviction notices due to the pandemic and deliver rent relief to make sure that hundreds and thousands of tenants don't lose their home? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As you know, the government has been working again very closely with our federal partners on this very issue, whether it's commercial rent relief and indeed on the residential side, Mr. Speaker. We hope to continue this close collaboration because ultimately we want to make sure that not only are residential commercial tenants protected, but when we start to move out of the COVID nightmare and back to opening up the economy, we want everybody to be able to participate. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Supplementary question. Member for Hamilton Mountain. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Commercial tenants are being evicted because they did what the Premier ordered them to do and shut down during the pandemic. The commercial rent relief program isn't working because it was left up to landlords to decide if they wanted to take a rent cut. Yesterday British Columbia government announced a ban on commercial evictions and additional supports for commercial tenants who are not being able to be helped by the federal rent relief program. This Premier could do the same thing. Will he sit back and watch landlords shut down more businesses or will he step up and support the NDP plan to save Main Street? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As the member will know, the minister of finance was in front of the Standing Committee on Finance just yesterday and was asked this very similar question to this, Mr. Speaker. And what he said, I'll reiterate what he said actually, he mentioned that the program was a little late in starting and it was partly because of the fact that our minister of finance was so aggressive in making sure that the program was made bigger so that more people could participate in that program. But to suggest that it's not working when it's only been, I think, less than a week that it has started, Mr. Speaker. I think it is jumping the gun a little bit, Mr. Speaker. I'm very confident. We've heard that there has been a very robust uptake on the program. The minister of finance said that we will continue to monitor the program to make sure that our tenants are protected, Mr. Speaker, because ultimately we want the economy to roar back so that it continue to be the engine of the Canadian economy. Thank you. Thank you. The next question, the member for Perry Salomon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Attorney General. COVID-19 and the need to practice physical distancing has forced the suspension of most in-person court operations in Ontario. While absolutely necessary in order to protect the health and safety of our frontline workers and all Ontarians, it is critical that access to justice continues across the province during these challenging times. Can the Attorney General please tell this House what our government has done to ensure adjustments are made throughout the justice system to adopt to a new reality and stay operational during this public health emergency? Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the fantastic member from Perry Salomon who just has such a stellar job in his riding and around the province. We're working together with our justice partners. Nothing's more important than the health and well-being of Ontarians. That stretches across the justice system and those who interact with it daily. When the pandemic began, we worked right away. We got into it and we tried to minimize disruption as people needed to continue to access the system for a whole variety of needs. We modernized the system 25 years and 25 days, Mr. Speaker. There is no question we move quickly. We move quickly with our justice partners. We move quickly with the Solicitor General to make sure that we weren't transporting prisoners, that we were doing remote bail and remand by video. We made commitments. Financial commitments. $1.3 million, Mr. Speaker. Laptops, VPNs, digital devices. I brought forward the legislative changes to conduct hearings virtually, Mr. Speaker. We've implemented e-filing capabilities, quick action to allow virtual witnessing of wills. We continue to do a lot of work, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Time for a supplementary question. Know that your commitment to updating Ontario's antiquated justice system predates the current public health emergency. But it's clear your office and your judiciary have been hard at work expediting the modernization of our justice system during this public emergency. Mr. Speaker, I know there are many people in my riding who are excited about the changes that have been made to allow for virtual and remote proceedings to streamline and move processes online. It is helping to make our justice system easier, faster and more affordable for people to access. Can the Attorney General please tell this House if we can expect to see these positive steps towards a justice system fit for the 21st century continue even after the public emergency has passed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can tell you that even before we were trying to identify areas for modernization and the justice partners have been fantastic, whether it be the Chief Justices of the Ontario Court's Superior Court of Appeal, Mr. Speaker, the Ontario Bar Association, the Federation of Ontario Law Associations, the Canadian Black Lawyers Association, SABA, the South Asian Bar Association, all of our partners have joined together to find a better way forward, Mr. Speaker. And the answer to your question is yes. We will continue our efforts to bring the Ontario's court system into the 21st century with concrete action for the first time in memory. Mr. Speaker, we're going to continue to make investments in transformational technology, modernizing existing processes, providing more services, moving them online, expanding access to justice. Mr. Speaker, Ontario's justice system will become a leader and emerge from this crisis more resilient and better prepared to respond to future challenges. That concludes our question period for this morning. We have a deferred vote on a motion for closure on the government notice of motion number 77 relating to certain House proceedings and committee business. Call in the members. This is a five-minute bell. I'm going to ask the members to take their seats or any seat. The members need to take their seats. On May 27th, 2020, Ms. Cajun moved government notice of motion number 77 relating to certain House proceedings and committee business. Mr. Theny-Gaslam has moved that the question now be put. All those in favour of Mr. Theny-Gaslam's motion will please rise one at a time and be recognized by the clerk. Thank you. Mr. Cram. Mr. Sermon. Mr. Sirma. Mr. Phillips. Mr. Phillips. Mr. Clark. Mr. Klarke. Mr. Chou Willardale. Mr. Chou Willardale. Mr. Cook. Mr. Hood. Mr. Hogarth. Mr. Hogan. Ms. McCann. Ms. McEnna. Ms. eing. Ms. Tangle. Ms. Scott. Ms. Scott. Mr. Sabawe. Mr. Sabawe. Mr. Nichols. Mr. Nichols. Ms. Skelly. Ms. Skelly. Mr. Gill. Ms. Dunlock. Ms. Dunlock. Mr. Bowman. Mr. Pan, Mr. Sandy, Mr. Canapathy, Mr. Guzzetto, Mr. Ostra, Mr. Ostra, Mrs. Martin, Mr. Puccini, Mr. Sabolo, Mr. Tenegasli, Mr. Tenegasli. All those opposed to Mr. Tenegasli's motion, please rise one at a time and be recognized by the clerk. Mr. Bisson, Mr. Vanta, Mr. Ogre, Ms. Gretzky, Mr. Natascha, Ms. French, Ms. Taylor, Ms. Carpoche, Ms. Carpoche, Mr. Yard, Mr. Yard, Mr. Birch, Mr. Birch, Mr. Glover, Mr. Glover, Mr. Arthur, Mr. Rokosovic, Mr. Rokosovic, Mr. Kernaham, Mr. Kernaham, Mr. Fraser, Mr. Fraser, Mr. Schreiner, Mr. Schreiner, Mr. Koto, Mr. Koto, Mr. Blay, Mr. Blay, Mr. Hillier. The ayes are 54, the nays are 19. The ayes being 54, and the nays being 19. I declare the motion carried in the midst of a vote. Ms. Kanjan has moved Government Notice of Motion No. 77 relating to certain House proceedings and committee business. I can recognize the Member for Timmons on a point of order. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to say that having all of these members in the House is against, I think, what should be done in a public health crisis. It is not a good idea. I don't know why the government is doing this. We have agreed to how many members on this side of the House have to be here. The fact that the government has to bring all these members in, I think, is a contravention to what good sense should bring. Thank the Member for his intervention, but I do not find that he has a valid point of order. Ms. Kanjan has moved Government Notice of Motion No. 77 relating to certain House proceedings and committee business. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? All those in favour of the motion will please say aye. All those opposed will please say nay. My opinion, the ayes have it. Calling the members. This will be another five-minute bell. Same vote? I heard a no. Ms. Kanjan has moved Government... Okay, sorry. The members need to take their seats. Ms. Kanjan has moved Government Notice of Motion No. 77 relating to certain House proceedings and committee business. All those in favour of the motion will please rise one at a time and be recognized by the clerk. Ms. Jones. Ms. Jones. Mr. Klaner. Mr. Klaner. Ms. Elliott. Ms. Ellingham. Ms. Fullerton. Ms. Fullerton. Ms. Smith-Babe-Quinty. Ms. Smith-Babe-Quinty. Mr. Yakabuskey. Mr. Yaquibuskin. Ms. Fedele. Mr. Fedele. Mr. Fedele. Mr. Wach. Ms. Thompson. Ms. Thompson. Ms. Sarkeria. Mr. Sarkeria. Ms. Duane. Ms. Duane. Ms. McNott. Mr. McNott. Ms. Leche. Ms. Leche. Ms. Kanje. Mrs. Marto, Mr. Kramp, Mr. Serma, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Clark, Mr. Choe Willowdale, Mr. Cooke, Mr. Hoga, Ms. McKenna, Mrs. Tangry, Ms. Scott, Mr. Sabawi, Mr. Nichols, Ms. Skelly, Mr. Gill, Ms. Dunlop, Mr. Bowman, Mr. Smith Peterborough-Cawartha, Mr. Babikian, Mr. Trianthophilopoulos, Mrs. Y, Mr. Bailey, Mr. Bailey, Mr. Pang, Mr. Pang, Mr. Sandu, Mr. Kanapathy, Mr. Guzzetto, Mr. Ostra, Mrs. Martin, Mr. Puccini, Mr. Tobolo, Mr. Tenegaslo, Mr. Tenegaslo. All those opposed to the motion will please rise one at a time and be recognized by the clerk. Mr. Vison, Mr. Vanta, Ms. Horvath, Mrs. Gretzky, Mr. Natascha, Ms. French, Ms. Taylor, Mr. Carpoche, Mr. Yard, Mr. Yard, Mr. Birch, Mr. Berch, Mr. Glover, Mr. Arthur, Mr. Rokosovic, Mr. Kernahan, Mr. Frazer, Mr. Schreiner, Mr. Kotow, Mr. Blay, Mr. Hillier, Mr. Hillier. The ayes are 54, the nays are 19. The ayes being 54 and the nays being 19, I declare the motion carried. After being no further business, this House stands in recess until 1 p.m.