 It is now time for oral questions. I recognize the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Thank you so much Mr. Speaker. I would just like to acknowledge its International Women's Day today and it's a day that we talk about breaking the bias and also remembering our Shiro's who continue to persist on the front lines of our healthcare system and that's what I want to talk about today, Speaker. My question is to the Premier. We know that women are bearing the brunt of the backlog surgeries and procedures here in Ontario. Women are working on our healthcare system trying to deal with those backlogs. Women are patients who are waiting in pain and anxiety. And women are also caregivers and supporters of family members who are having procedures delayed, who are not getting the fertility treatments that they deserve and need, who are waiting for knee surgeries, who are waiting for procedures like MRIs. What we need to clear the backlogs, Speaker, is a government that's prepared to invest the dollars and have a plan and unfortunately we're just not in that spot. The minister and this Premier know that things are very bad. Tens of millions of surgical weights rather and procedures are backlogged. So the question to the Premier is why is he failing? Why is he failing to get rid of this backlog, get rid of the surgical and procedural backlog that folks say, that experts say, is going to take a long time to fix under their pace? Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. Thank you very much, Speaker. Well, our government's top priority has always been the health and well-being of all Ontarians, whether they've been suffering from COVID or now, whether they need to have diagnostic procedures done or surgeries done. That's why, since the fall of 2020, we've invested over half a billion dollars in upgrading our system to make sure that we have the proper number of beds, over 3100 more beds that we created because nothing much was done by the previous government in that respect. We've also spent over half a billion dollars in allowing surgeries to be performed evenings and weekends so that people can get the relief that they need. We know that they've been waiting, and we are creating with the investments that we've made, the spaces for them as well as the health human resources that we need to operate those beds. Well, Speaker, you can't fix the system without the staff to run it, and I think that's become very, very clear. Beds are great, but if there aren't any staff to run those beds, to provide the bedside care, then we're going to get not very far. In fact, healthcare workers represented by ONA and SEIU and CUPI and by Unifor said this yesterday, and I quote, temporary fixes haven't worked to stabilize the PSW workforce, and a one-time $5,000 payment won't work to retain and recruit nurses who are asking for long-term predictability and support. So my question is, when is the Premier going to quit with the gimmicks? Do the right thing. Provide the respect and dignity that these healthcare workers and nurses are asking for, and scrap Bill 124. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and our government is incredibly grateful for the contributions of Ontario's healthcare workers and the critical role that they have played throughout this pandemic. Mr. Speaker, our government has also reaffirmed and invested over $342 million beginning in 2021-22 to add over 5,000 new and upskilled registered nurses and registered practical nurses as well as an additional 8,000 personal support workers as well. For long-term care homes, Mr. Speaker, our government is investing an additional $57.6 million to hire 225 nurse practitioners in the long-term care sector. As our public accounts showed last year, we spent over, invested over $19 billion to support healthcare workers and the people of this province responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Speaker, empty words do not retain healthcare workers. They do not recruit healthcare workers. They do not return healthcare workers. They're calling out this Premier on his latest gimmick. That's what they are doing because they know it is not going to clear the backlogs that we have in this province. It's not part of an overall staffing plan to properly run healthcare and, in fact, own a President Catherine Hoy, calls it, and I quote, an exclusionary and insufficient Band-Aid measure that doesn't begin to address the issues driving nurses away and hurting patient care. I know nurses across the province are irate at once again being thrown crumbs. How quickly this Premier forgets the heroes on the front line of our healthcare system? They have had one major ask. They've had it for a long time. He still refuses to listen to what those workers need and what they deserve. And that is to scrap Bill 124. Will he make that commitment to them today? The President of the Treasury Board. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. These are the facts our government has made the most significant investments into the healthcare system of any government in this province's history. Mr. Speaker, the members opposite have voted no to supporting 56 major hospital projects across this province. They voted no to supporting over $5.1 billion last year to support hospitals, Mr. Speaker, creating more than 3100 additional beds, the equivalent of six large hospitals. Mr. Speaker, our government will continue to support frontline healthcare workers. We will continue to support the people of this province and ensure that they get the support they need. And most importantly, our frontline healthcare workers get the support they need to get through this pandemic. A supplementary question. A red note. I apologize. Leader of the opposition. My next question is also for the Premier. But I can tell you what we proudly voted against and that's Bill 124. New Democrats voted against Bill 124. But look, we also have a crisis in our home care system here in Ontario, Speaker. And of course, women are the majority of clients in our home care system. And we are also the home care staff that support those clients and those staff are run off their feet. They're exhausted, they're burnt out and they are not getting the support they need from their government. In fact, Home Care Ontario said this before the pandemic, Speaker, that half of PSWs do not stay in the job for a full year. The scheduling and the pay are the major issues that prevent these women from actually building a good career in home care. The pandemic pay bump that this government provided is in fact expiring in a few short weeks at the end of March. Why hasn't the Premier made the pandemic, the PSW pandemic pay bump for PSWs permanent? Thank you very much. Well, our government has taken steps time and time again to increase pay for personal support workers. This, we recognize the important role that they play in all parts of our health care system. The member opposite mentioned home and community care. We recognize the important role that home care plays in our health care system with all of the health professionals involved in it. And that's why we pass the connecting people to Home and Community Care Act, which will modernize the delivery of home and community services by bringing an outdated system that was designed in the 1990s into the 21st century. That includes personal support workers, registered practical nurses, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and all of the other people involved in the home care system. Well, Speaker, home care and long-term care have been neglected under this government just like the Liberals before them. Deborah Simon, the Ontario Community Support Association from that organization said, and I quote, we've seen that this crisis has been quietly building as one arm of the system gets funding while the other, which is designed to keep people safe at home and alleviate the burden, is in dire straits. There is no longer any runway, of course, with the past Liberal government and now this government underfunding. The sector has been pleading, pleading for government help to retain staff. They cannot provide the services that people need and deserve in their homes. Why has this Premier refused to pay the wages that retain staff and fix our home care system instead of sitting back and allowing this major crisis in home care to continue to grow? Our government is taking the steps necessary to build healthier communities, strengthen our public health care system, and ending hallway health care. That is why we're taking action to modernize home and community care with Ontario health teams poised to take on its delivery over the coming years. The health system's response to COVID-19 has reinforced how important it is for health care providers to work together as one team. Home and community care should be an integral part of our home care system, not a standalone system. It's important for all systems to work together to provide the integrated care that patients and families across Ontario need and to provide true patient-centered care. So we are investing accordingly. We have invested an additional $548.5 million over the next three years in home and community care, which will add significantly to the hours that are available for people to receive care and to add more workers into the health care system. The sad thing is we all know that it doesn't have to be this way. We all know that we can actually fix our home care system. We can alleviate the pressure on hospitals and on long-term care. All it takes is the political will and a belief in the public health care system, which unfortunately this government doesn't have. The Canadian Medical Association report just last spring March of 2021 said that the health care system would save billions of dollars. The health care system could save billions of dollars if we were properly funding and operating a home care system that people can rely on. And that would free up, of course, more funding for long-term care and for our overcrowded hospitals. But this Premier, like the Liberals before him, has really done nothing. He's sat on his hands and done nothing to deal with the crisis in home care. With so many reasons, including the quality care of our loved ones in the comfort of their own home, why has this Premier refused to fix home care? Why has he ignored the crisis and home in community care in our province? Climate community care is an important part of the care that people, health care that people receive in our province. With respect to the $548.5 million that we have invested into home care, that would support up to an estimated 28,000 post-surgical patients and up to an estimated 21,000 patients with chronic health conditions every year by providing 739,000 nursing visits, 157,000 nursing shift hours, 117,000 therapy visits, 2,118,000 hours of personal support services and 236,000 other types of home care visits. This is a significant investment that's going to add greatly to our home and community care services so that people can receive the home care that they need in their own homes, not having to go to hospital. Speaker, my question is to the Premier. Women serve our communities on the front lines. As workers especially in health care during this pandemic, they far too often experience violence and harassment on the job. The Canadian Medical Association Journal noted, quote, nurses and personal support workers, especially women and racialized women, typically experience the brunt of workplace abuse in health care, end of quote. This is only made worse by Bill 124. This government must repeal Bill 124. My colleague from Nicobel introduced Bill 68, the Speaking Out Against Workplace Violence and Workplace Harassment Act to protect workers, speaking out on this unacceptable reality. My question to the Premier is, will this Conservative government commit to passing this bill to protect whistleblowers and protect frontline health care workers like those hardworking block nurses from the Block Nurses Task Force who are speaking out against violence and anti-black racism in the workplace? Will the Premier protect our frontline health care workers on International Women's Day and all the other days of the year? Thank you. Minister of Health. Thank you very much. Our government will not tolerate any kind of racial overtones or sexist overtones to our frontline health care workers. We are very strongly in favour of protecting them. There have been many steps that have been taken in order to protect their rights and to make sure that they are safeguarded. This happens within every hospital and this is certainly happening at the level of the Ministry of Health. There is no place for this. We recognise the wonderful work that all of our health care workers provide and we want to make sure that everyone is protected in the workplace. There is no place for any of those activities. We want to make sure that the people who are performing our frontline health care duties and any health care duties in any aspects, our hospitals, long-term care or home care are protected to do the job that they were hired to do. Thank you, Speaker. So racism and sexism, just so everyone knows, they're not overtones. These are systemic violences that our frontline health care workers are dealing with. My question is to the Premier. The violence in the workplace is in addition to all the other stresses that are placed upon women during the pandemic and before. One of the focuses this week is Black Mental Health Week and we want to tackle mental health in our Black communities. Today we're working, we're coming together, reflected on the unprecedented strength and resilience of women in so many roles they play as workers, caregivers, family and community members. That resilience, though, must be met with concrete steps by this government to support women, especially our mental health, especially Black women, Indigenous women, racialised women, LGBTQ plus women, women and gender non-conforming folks with disabilities, among many other intersections. Too often the lack of affordable services create barriers for women to fully live their lives. Mental health care must be brought into our OHIP coverage so that all women have access to the health care they need to thrive at work and in their communities. My question is back to the Premier. Why hasn't this government taken action to make mental health care a part of our public health care system? The Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addiction. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for that very important question. As you know, from the very beginning, this government has been extremely focused on ensuring that there is a plan to look after the mental health of everyone in the province of Ontario. And I can tell you that as part of that plan when we talk about culturally sensitive services and the need to support the women, those in racialised communities, those are all things that are included and are part of our plan. And as you know, we have a $3.9 billion investment that's being made, and now $525 million in annualised spending is being spent to look after those very things. So we have invested in services with respect to addictions for women, specifically for women, something the past government never looked at and something that we believe is extremely important to ensure that mothers have the ability to look after their children and that they are also able to get their lives back. So we have made significant investments and will continue to look after the women, all women, in the province of Ontario. Thank you, Mr. Member for Eglinton Lawrence. Thank you, Mr. President. We know that prosperity is the best alley of our citizens. It's something that we don't take lightly. Francophone is an essential richness. So this is a question for the Minister of the Francophone Affairs. In which way will this government help building Ontario and what is this government doing to promote Francophonie and to help Francontarians? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Speaker, and thank you, my colleague, for her question. I'm happy to tell this House and the Francophone community that the Ministry of Francophone Affairs in collaboration with other ministries keeps working strongly to support Francophone development, which was a strategy developed in 2020 since the announcement of the budget in 2021. We have invested additional funds to do so. We are here to support Francontarian businesses, which is why February 3, 2022 we have announced an additional investment for the Federation of Francophone Affairs of Ontario to increase the funds to promote Francophone Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the answer of the Minister. Can the Minister enlighten us in what concerns job creation in the bilingual and Francophone domain? What is exactly the Federation going to do, and how is the Federation going to support Francontarian businesses? Thank you, Speaker, and thank you again, the Minister for, my colleague, for her question. The Federation has developed a system to allow individuals to establish relations with the Federation to promote the creation of new jobs with incubation projects by means of a collective creation of works. We will create new spaces, both physical and virtual, which will make it easier to develop Francophone industries and businesses. Additionally, this will allow the development of women of color in this domain. I thank the Federation for their hard work. The next question, the member for Parkdale High Park. Thank you, Speaker, my questions to the Premier. Universal childcare is key to gender equity. Women tend to take on the bulk of childcare responsibilities and make the biggest sacrifices in their work and personal lives when there are gaps in childcare. An affordable childcare program helps not just women and children, but the economy as a whole. Yet, Ontario is the only jurisdiction in Canada that hasn't signed on to the $10-day childcare deal. On International Women's Day, I ask the Premier, will he finally stop the delay and sign the deal? Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I think not only on International Women's Day, but on every day we want to make sure that we have supports in place to allow families to ensure that they have the opportunities to re-enter the workforce in some cases and to provide even more for their family. We are working very closely to get a deal that is in the best interest of the people of the province of Ontario. We want to get to $10-day childcare. That is the goal of the federal program. We are helping the federal government understand how it is that we can get to that $10-day for the people of the province of Ontario. I am confident that the opposition would not want us to sign a deal. That disadvantages the people of the province of Ontario in comparison to every other jurisdiction in the country, Mr Speaker. So we will continue to work hard to ensure that we can deliver $10-day childcare for the people of the province of Ontario and a deal, Mr Speaker, that doesn't disadvantage future generations of Ontarians so that we can cut a deal today. Thank you. Back to the Premier. It isn't just at home that women are making sacrifices. The majority of childcare workers are women, too, and they have been underpaid and overworked for decades. This government has an opportunity now to ensure childcare workers are properly paid for the important work they do caring for our children. Will the Premier finally agree to lift childcare workers out of poverty and out of precarity, stop the stalling and sign the $10-day childcare deal now? Thank you, Mr Speaker. You know, I've said day after day we're very, very close to getting a deal and we are very, very close to getting a deal. But we're going to make a deal with the federal government that makes sense to all Ontario families. The reality is the federal government only contributes 2.5 percent only 2.5 percent which is staggering. Our government invests over $2 billion in childcare every single year. Mr Speaker, we also put a tax credit of $1,500 to help families with childcare. We're going to get this deal and just stay tuned Mr Speaker hopefully it'll be sooner than later. Thank you. Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Yesterday I asked his government if they would commit to doubling ODSP rates and the Minister for Children and Social Services used a lot of words to essentially say no. The Minister said that the government had increased rates in 2018 when in fact the 3 percent planned increase was cut in half to 1.5 percent. The Minister said that the government's goal was to get people on disability back to work but what the government doesn't realize many people with disabilities face significant barriers to accessing employment and I want to quote Kim an ODSP advocate who described living on ODSP during COVID like this it's like I'm being punished for being born disabled like I committed some kind of crime so Speaker will the Premier start treating people with disabilities with respect and double ODSP rates in the spring budget. Mr Children Community and Social Services Thank you Speaker and thank you for the opportunity to clarify what I actually did say yesterday which is that our government did raise the ODSP and OW rate that we came in in our first year and that was after the Liberals had a chance to raise rates and the fact is that they waited until before an election that they knew that they would lose to do it. Our government is very very clear about this we are understanding the commitment that it is critical to provide supports to individuals who are looking for a job who may have lost their job or who are unable to work as we said yesterday. Knowing the challenges posed by the pandemic we invested more than $1 billion in the Social Services Relief Fund $1 billion put out temporary emergency assistance allowed the discretionary benefit to be used and on top of this understanding how critical this is to the vulnerable people of Ontario we have asked the federal government to come to the table with its campaign promise for a Canada disability benefit and we will can thank you the supplementary with all due respect to the minister the government can't pass the buck on this one so yes let's let every party in this legislature work together to press the federal government to deliver on their promise for a Canadian disability benefit but let's be clear ODSP is a Provincial Responsibility so one-time funds during COVID might help a little bit but the reality is you cannot survive in this province on $1,100 a month we are forcing people with disabilities to live in crushing poverty and we are better than this speaker we as Ontarians are better than this so I'm calling on the government to raise people out of poverty double ODSP rates we bring them above the low income cut off level in the spring budget will they do it speaker minister children community and social services thank you speaker to the member opposite our government will continue to be committed to making sure that we get the support to our most vulnerable as we have been doing during a very challenging time with the COVID-19 pandemic everyone understands what the challenge has been on this and we are making sure that we are meeting with our federal counterpart and that with Carina Gold not so long ago and we discussed the topics that are absolutely critical to supporting the people people in need it took the importance to stress it took the moment to stress the importance of the federal government's immediate delivery of their campaign promise to support individuals with a disability in Ontario through the establishment of a Canada disability benefit to the member opposite this is not passing any buck this is taking responsibility for making sure we work with every government with every group that will to support our most vulnerable people and I hope you do the same member for Grampton West thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the associate minister of transportation when the Del Ducal wind Liberals were in power they said yes to wasting taxpayer dollars and no to transit drivers across the GTHA who wanted their commute to be more convenient more affordable and more simple to navigate Speaker and various commuters to serve a government that listens and who are willing to take the steps necessary to improve the rider experience Speaker we know that effective transit infrastructure means more than just laying subway tracks so Speaker through you can the associate minister tell us what he and his ministry are doing to improve the transit rider experience great question the associate minister for transportation GTA thanks Speaker that is a great representative for Grampton and I'm glad to let the member know that our government is indeed moving forward with improving the rider experience by reducing fare throughout the GTHA and that includes the great riding of Grampton West our government has made it free to take local transit to and from go across most of the GTHA we have enacted a go affordability pilot for peel region giving low income riders a break on transit costs Speaker our government has now also practically doubled the presto discount for youth and post secondary students regardless of where they are enrolled on go and up express so that our hardworking students can get to and from home or class with more change in their pockets Speaker unlike the Liberals we are saying yes to connecting the grid and yes to getting people from point A to B through a better rider experience thank you Speaker and thank you to the associate minister for his response including how this government is cutting fares for transit riders across the GTHA the wind del Ducal liberals made getting from point A to point B a financial burden for hardworking inheritance they imposed tolls on the people of Durham on the 412 or 412 and 418 when Stephen del Ducal was transportation minister he hiked license plate stickers by 22 percent Mr. Speaker we cut them Speaker can the associate minister tell us what transportation are doing to ensure that we never turn to the dark days of the del Ducal liberals and that people can move ahead with more money in their pockets so they get from point A to point B associate minister of transportation Speaker thank you Del Ducal's big plan for transit when he ran for the leadership of the Liberals was to give riders discounts for off peak time Speaker Del Ducal wanted to penalize people for commuting to work or going to commute or tax but don't worry you can get a discount when you're not going to work or doing anything else important it's ridiculous frankly Speaker it's the old saying if a liberal policy falls in the forest but no one is around to benefit does it even make a sound our government is concerned about keeping money in their pockets of transit riders 247 even if we only look at how we eliminated double fares for commutes between go transit and local transit system across much of the GTA for instance Speaker adults who commute back and forth using Brampton transit and go three days a week could save $250 annually on transit expenses Speaker while the Del Ducal Liberals wants to respond to commuter tax and increase the cost of living we are making life more affordable connecting the grid and improving the transit rider experience all alone Please restart the clock the next question the member for London West Thank you Speaker my question is to the Premier Speaker this is the fourth international women's day since the human rights tribunals landmark decision on pay equity for Ontario midwives and the third since remedies were ordered to close the gender pay gap midwives have been fighting to be fairly compensated for the vital work they do since 2013 under both liberal and conservative governments yet instead of ending pay discrimination both liberal and conservative governments have taken midwives to court Speaker why is this government refusing to release to the Ontario Association of Midwives the fall gender based analysis ordered by the human rights tribunal and why are they continuing to fight midwives in court Mr. Health Our government greatly values the and supports registered midwives and Aboriginal midwives that is why our government invested an additional four million dollars to expand midwifery services in Ontario bringing the annual total investment over 200 million dollars this investment will help an additional 35,000 families across Ontario to an additional choice in primary care during a pregnancy birth and of course postpartum services this additional funding will mean that expecting families across Ontario will be able to access quality care from a midwife during pregnancy labour and birth as well as six weeks of support once their baby is born so we greatly value their services Supplementary Speaker the gender wage gap is widest in female dominated professions like midwifery as well as other care jobs like childcare workers, social workers, PSWs nurses and more these are the jobs that have born in front of the pandemic the jobs that are absolutely critical to Ontario's recovery from COVID-19 and the jobs where women's labour is most undervalued and most underpaid instead of closing the gender wage gap this government is forcing a 1% cap on nurses and other public sector worker salaries with bill 124 which is effectively a wage cut they are foot dragging on a federal childcare deal that would reduce the wage gap and they are refusing to make PSW pandemic pay permanent Speaker why is this government so committed to low wage policies that keep women's wages down I'm the President of the Treasury Board Thank you very much Mr Speaker the Protecting and Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act is designed to protect all public sector workers especially those that protect our frontline services we are incredibly grateful for our frontline healthcare workers and this government has supported them every step of the way Mr Speaker just last year in our public accounts the government showed its commitment to investing to support the people of Ontario over 19 billion dollars Mr Speaker were invested into supporting not only our healthcare workers our frontline healthcare workers but also our province Mr Speaker our government has made the largest investments in healthcare of any other provincial government in this province's history and the members opposite have voted no to each and every single one of them that includes over 56 major hospital projects Mr Speaker our government will be continuing to support the people of this province investing in our critical frontline healthcare services thank you very much Mr Speaker my questions for the premier Mr Speaker even though provincial appointments are approved by cabinet the premier has admitted he does not have the time to review all of his appointees his hand picked appointee to the Ottawa Police Services Board and a long time conservative donor and activist actively supported the legal occupation of our nation's capital now how could this happen how did the premier and his government not have the time to review all of their appointments perhaps Mr Speaker they did and that's the bigger problem after the fiasco of 2019 where the premier was caught appointing his chief of staff sports buddies and relatives we were told that there would be a more open and transparent process to political appointments in this in this province Mr Speaker so clearly that didn't happen other than being a long time conservative donor Mr Speaker please services board Mr Speaker the member opposite can defame people in this house but do that outside because it is very clear that this individual has said that he does not support what happened in Ottawa now in terms of the three police Ottawa Police Services Board members the City of Ottawa made a determination that they were going in a new direction with their police services board we accepted the resignation of those three provincial members and in due course we will be appointing three additional provincial members it drives me crazy that you can suggest people have different motives when they have clearly said that they did not support the protest they attended and they have now explained what happened in that first weekend when there was no emergency order by the city, by the province or by the federal government Member for Orleans come to order, Member for Essex come to order, Member for Ottawa South come to order, Member for Hamilton Mountain come to order, supplementary thank you Mr Speaker so clearly the government cannot explain the qualifications of the City of Ottawa Police Services Board now Mr Speaker property taxpayers property taxpayers in Ottawa are $30 million because of the added costs of the illegal occupation and the legal occupation that was supported by their own political appointees to date we've heard nothing from the government about how they're going to support the City of Ottawa and taxpayers in Ottawa with this enormous financial challenge so on the one hand they have a political appointee that's adding to policing costs in the capital and they're doing absolutely nothing to support the taxpayers of Ottawa to pay for those additional policing costs the Premier has ignored the occupation in Ottawa he has ignored the pain and suffering of those who went through it he still hasn't even come to Ottawa to speak to business owners about what exactly they went through so Mr Speaker if the Premier has no inclination to care about the harassment and violence that people experience in the City of Ottawa why the City the $30 million they need to cover their bills respond the government house leader of course we have been supporting we have been supporting the City of Ottawa since we came to office Mr Speaker certainly there have been a number of investments across all sectors whether it was for policing whether it's been for long-term care whether it's been for education whether it's been for healthcare Mr Speaker there has been no government that has made more investments in Ottawa in the greater Ottawa area we have been supporting this government Mr Speaker in fact Mr Speaker in fact Mr Speaker we actually had to come to the rescue of Ottawa when it came to their light rapid transit Mr Speaker you will recall that the member office who just asked the question was responsible for a rapid transit system that was over budget that was broken and ultimately government house leader take a seat member for Orleans come to order the member for Orleans is warned the member for Carlton will come to order government house leader will conclude his answer the member for Orleans is upset because we pushed the button to start it but unfortunately when we pushed the button to start it after his work it didn't start Mr Speaker so we had to pour more resources in we had to pour more resources in to make sure that it worked but there is a commission to find out what exactly went wrong and I hope the member will participate in that commission next question Mr Speaker thank you very much Speaker my questions to the Minister of Labour training skills development the future of work is changing more than ever electronic devices are essential to how people work this leaves room for employers to use these devices to monitor their workers we can all agree that being spied on without our knowledge by our bosses is never good Ontario workers are counting on our government to show leadership and to protect their privacy can the Minister please share with this House how his ministry is proposing to rebalance the scale and protect Ontario privacy Mr Labour training and skills development thank you very much Mr Speaker and I want to thank the member from Aurora Oak Ridge's Richmond Hill for that great question whether you're a delivery person using GPS to deliver packages or an office worker logging on from home you deserve to know if and how you're being tracked this is why our government introduced legislation to protect workers privacy our bill if passed will make Ontario the first province to require employers to be transparent with their workers about if and how their electronic devices are being monitored our government is leading the future of work and we're breaking new ground on protecting the privacy of our workers thank you very much Mr Speaker and I thank the Minister for the reassuring response and for the great work that he and his ministry have been doing on behalf of all workers in this province the Minister highlighted how different types of workers will benefit from these proposed changes and it's great and it doesn't matter that if you're working on a construction site at the office or at home this policy will apply to you and our government Mr Speaker to lead Canada in protecting worker privacy so through you through you Mr Speaker to the Minister he can tell us what he and his ministry are doing to achieve this goal Mr Labour to gain to the member for that very important question our government is breaking down barriers by increasing transparency we're empowering our workers by giving them the tools they need and deserve this power and by pulling back the veil our workers can make informed choices about how they work and who they work for this is how we are rebalancing the scales and how we're putting our workers in the driver's seat of Ontario's future next question thank you very much my question is to the Premier on this International Women's Day while the government uses this as an opportunity to make self congratulatory claims on this side of the house we'd like to bring them back to earth in the FAO's recent report on Ontario's labour market in 2021 they found that there had been a concerning weak job recovery among young women the report also detailed sharply higher job vacancies in 2021 affecting small businesses an area of our workforce where women have already had massive challenges trying to succeed the government hasn't made it any easier with many women entrepreneurs applying for government supports for instance throughout the pandemic only to find themselves ineligible because they don't have staff on payroll or they are a family business when will this government match their own platitudes with action to ensure that women business owners and workers don't continue to fall through the cracks women in the province of Ontario should have every opportunity to reach their potential Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you First of all I'd like to wish everybody a very happy International Women's Day and it's very important as we see here today many members of this house are women and I'm very very proud of that fact It was this government who recognised that small business that were impacted by public health measures they needed immediate support of which were owned by women It was this premier who said we have to get money to businesses quickly because we knew that these employers were affected by strengthened public health measures Speaker I'm pleased to announce that over 9800 applicants for the small business relief grant have been paid amounting to over 98.1 million dollars so far and there are still 800 884 applications that are currently in progress Speaker this is still open until March 11th we encourage anyone who can apply to please apply those legible businesses will receive the funds Mr Speaker it is almost like this government is believing their own press releases It is laughable to hear the minister's response knowing that small business supports that this government has provided thus far through the pandemic haven't taken any consideration into those industries that are predominantly women owned small businesses in Ontario we know that over half of women owned SMEs in Canada are in the accommodation and food services industry for example and industry that the FAO's labour market report shows is continuing to suffer the check is not in the mail just last week Aroma cafe a woman co-owned small business in my writing and now said it was closing its doors to the pandemic related financial challenges Monica and her business partner dreamed about owning their own food space and now their dream is dying with no support from the government to turn to how will this ensure going forward that a gendered lens is properly applied to small business support programs stop leaving women behind in this province Thank you speaker I'd like to thank for her question speaker it was so important that we provided measures to all businesses especially those of course that were run by our women and I'd like to remind the member that it wasn't just the small business relief grant or the support grant last year they were also able to apply for over 300 million dollars to help offset fixed costs that includes property taxes hydro natural gas and provided a thousand dollars for PPE we put more people on to the PPE directory speaker I'd also like to remind the opposition that it's really important that we invest in our small businesses that we make sure we have the building Ontario better initiative where Ontario businesses owned by many women can apply and procure from our government that we have a single window for business so that more businesses including women owned businesses can have less burdens so they can have a more centralized system have a business service Thank you Thank you very much The next question Thank you Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker businesses in my riding are in danger of closing their door for good because they're not receiving adequate financial support from this government it is a premier's responsibility to make sure it's failure to control adequately the occupation of Ottawa doesn't lead to people losing their businesses since the government announced funding BIAs have reached out to me to say that they appreciate the financial support but it's not enough they need break they need tax break they need hydro break they need anything really and they specifically said that affordable daycare is a barrier for entrepreneurs they need an eviction ban for those who are still unable to pay their rent this is adding to the stress and anxiety and mental health support is also needed the government needs to recognize it's part of responsibility in what has happened and provide appropriate relief will the government do that government has seen it Yeah Mr. Speaker I agree with the member opposite it's not only the provincial government the federal government and municipal government are sure that Ottawa can recover from the three week occupation that is why we've worked very very quickly with our federal partners the federal government has provided funding and we have also provided funding we went a little bit further and in a bit of a different direction than the federal government not only to provide support for the small businesses that were impacted but to provide support for the tourism sector in Ottawa that is it's such an important sector to the people of Ottawa speakers we went a little step further that was something that was guided of course by the members for Ottawa West and Appian the member for for Carlton and and our other members from the Ottawa area we understand how important it is to help Ottawa recover it's the second largest city in the province of Ontario it is the seat of our federal government but it is also a huge economic driver when it comes to arts and culture Mr. Speaker and we will continue to be there for the people of Ottawa Can you supplement me Mr. Speaker unless you were in Ottawa during you know this occupation there's three week long occupation it might be difficult to understand how people were suffering as businesses workers and residents are still trying to recover it has been very disturbing to learn about the links between the premier and these anti-public health demonstrations the Solicitor General should have been making sure that the lawlessness in Ottawa was addressed but we see that senior suffering offers were supporting the occupation and donating to the organizers we have also learned that a man that the premier appointed to the Ottawa public police services board strongly supported the occupation while having access to confidential law enforcement intelligence given this failure of governance does the premier plan to come up with a new police board appointment process that will obey the rules of transparency accountability I have to say stop the clock I have to say to the member for Ottawa that the supplementary question didn't really connect with the original question which he carried a rephrase or question start the clock yeah thank you Mr. Speaker so as we see that the Ottawa Police Police Service Board at an active role into what happened in Ottawa and the active occupation and the lack of action by this government will the government review what the Ottawa Police Services Board actions in role are to have a government process that is does the government wish to reply Government House Speaker Speaker just to save the member I will say this that we will continue to work very closely with the people of Ottawa through our members of the provincial Parliament indeed with the members opposite we all want the same thing when it comes to Ottawa Mr. Speaker we want to ensure that the second largest city in the province of Ontario, the seat of our federal government, the economic driver for eastern Ontario which is responsible for so much revenue in terms of arts and culture and the thousands of people who work within those industries are supported and that is why we want to continue to work with our federal government to ensure that we have a better future. Thank you Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Lily is a young girl who lives in my riding of Hamilton mountain recently she reached out to me to share her father's story. Lily's father Michael used drugs for many years before her and her brother were born but he was able to achieve sobriety conditions. Sadly Michael relapsed at the end of last year and he died by overdose in January. Lily's dad reached out for help before he passed away but he faced long wait times for residential treatments. Michael died on the wait list. No child should ever have to face what Lily and her brother have experienced. What is the Premier sorry can the Premier please say to Lily and her family what he is doing to provide timely access to residential treatment beds and addiction services. You applied. Thank you Mr. Speaker and thank you to the member opposite for the question. My heart goes out to Lily and to her family and we know that this is an issue that existed prior to the pandemic and of course has been aggravated by the pandemic. Thank you Mr. Speaker that we have made and I'm proud to have made an announcement that $90 million was being invested through a new addictions recovery fund which will immediately expand access to addiction supports province wide and adding almost 400 new addictions treatment beds including in northern rural and indigenous communities. This is a problem that exists and the $32.7 million in new annualized funding for targeted addiction services and supports including treatment and care for opioid use disorder that we announced last summer which has also helped to enhance access to evidence based services Mr. Speaker every Ontarian deserves to be fully supported in their journey to get help with recovery and that is what this investment is. Thank you. Supplementary. Lily and her mother told me that she wanted to share her father's story because she didn't want anyone else to feel how she feels or how her dad felt. There are many more people like Michael who try to get help and they weren't able to get the treatment that they needed. A new report released by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network and by Unity Health was provided by an opioid overdose in the early stages of the pandemic had interacted with the health care system in the month before their deaths. Speaker this is an ongoing public health crisis and it's time that the government treats it as such. Last week I met with Addictions Mental Health Ontario who is requesting a baseline funding increase to community based mental health addictions and $20 million annually that would save lives. Can the premier commit today to providing this increase? Thank you Mr. Speaker. Since 2019, our government has announced $525 million in new annualized funding for mental health and addiction services. This by far is unprecedented from any other government in the past the amount of investments that have been made. We are taking this very seriously and this means that we are establishing more and better critical mental health and addiction services and we're creating new supports we are actually making it easier for people to access services we're filling the gaps and we're looking at the fragmentation and building a cohesive system to help an individual through the creation of a continuum of care. This recovery is critical in that continuum investments are being made because in addition to the $525 million, $90 million in addiction recovery fund over and above that was invested into the mental health and addiction system in the province. Mr. Speaker, we have invested in breaking free virtual supports and all other supports necessary to ensure that anyone that needs help is able to get it when and where they need it. Next question, the number for Premier. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker good morning to you. My question is for the Premier and it is a question that is being asked by thousands of Ontarians like Tina and Andrew in my writing. What they want to know is why is this PC government continuing with Bill 195, the reopening Ontario Act otherwise known as the ROA. Why not end it now? What is going to be different in two weeks? And how is the science changing in two weeks? What is the government commit today to end the ROA? Response to Government House Leader. Mr. Speaker, I think we have been very clear as we start to emerge from the latest wave of the Omicron wave we are starting to eliminate some of the restrictions that were put in place. I note for the member opposite of course that we are back at full capacity in a number of our sectors and we are seeing enormous jobs and opportunity come back to the province of Ontario. I know the Minister of Economic Development Job Creation and Trade will confirm this. One of the things that we heard is because Ontario did so well during the pandemic because we are making such important investments in healthcare, we made important investments in transit transportation that a lot of companies want to come back here. It is not just about the pandemic and emerging from the pandemic it is about showing leadership and that is what we have done. As a result of the hard work of the Minister of Health we are seeing jobs and opportunity come back to the province of Ontario like we have never seen before. We look at the reopening of Ontario as well. Do you have a supplementary? I do not have a supplementary, but the answer was not responding to me. No supplementary. Next question. Member for Oshawa. Thank you very much. My question is to the Premier. My constituent Samantha is a recent cancer survivor but can no longer get around her two-story house that she needs a bungalow with fewer stairs. Even though her own house has increased in value in order to find a home to meet her needs in budget she has to move further east and further away from her family support system and the doctors she sees regularly for follow-up care. In a recent article in Oshawa this week Meredith Kennedy, the President of the Durham Region Association of Realtors said, quote, I am working with first-time buyers looking in Clarington right now. It is very difficult when bidding against 20 or 30 people but I have recently put out a report that Durham Region's home prices have risen 500% in the past 25 years. 25 years. Remember 1996 Speaker, it's when I graduated high school and the average home in Durham was about 150,000 and that same home now is about 925,000 increase of more than 500%. What are her options? What is the government's solution to the housing crisis and challenges in Durham Region? Thank you. Thanks, Speaker and through you to the Honourable Member. Our government is doing a lot right from the first day we were in the legislature as a new government we knew that the housing supply crisis was severe fueled by 15 years of inaction by the Liberal government supported 99% of the time by new democrats. We brought forward a sweep of improvements in the system with our more homes that were built in the first place Ontario's Housing Supply Action Plan which Speaker I want to remind the members opposite that they voted against those measures. So what did those measures in 2019 result in? They resulted in tremendous new construction being built both by homes, both single family homes, homes of all types, missing middle and also purpose built rental housing supply action. The supplementary question. Thank you, Speaker. My question is again to the Premier. Shamilah shared her concerns about the lack of measures to ensure housing is affordable. Quote, areas like Oshawa used to be affordable for average income families like myself but now Oshawa is also becoming a city difficult to reach. Where should my children settle if they can't plan a future in Oshawa? While these PCs are tripping over themselves to destroy our green spaces for all instead of intensification communities are needing leadership to build affordable housing, investing capital repairs of existing housing stock and make it harder for non-resident speculators to eat up our supply. So my question is will this Premier commit to the solutions in the NDP plan for housing that will make a difference to real folks and families in our community? Thank you, Speaker. We're not going to go back to the field policies of new Democrats we're not going to go back to the politics where the answer to every opportunity is no. I'm not going to demonize any provider whether they be in the public or the private sector or the non-profit sector that want to build more homes of all types of all shapes of all sizes. But again, Speaker, we're in a situation where here's another new Democrat who will speak about housing but yet won't join us in asking the federal government to pay their share. We're being short changed to 490 million dollar speaker and again we're not getting any support from any of the parties but I'm glad to say that the new Liberal candidate in Barry Springwater Oro Medante has come forward and actually support us so at least there's one Liberal in the province that's supporting our fair share campaign. Thank you. That concludes our question period for this morning. So stands in recess until 3pm.