 It is now time for oral questions and I recognize the Leader for Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Thank you so much, Speaker. Speaker, there's a new report being released today that raises serious concerns about Ontario possibly facing a third wave of COVID-19 in our province. We know that the second wave strategy for the government was to really do nothing and wait for the vaccines to arrive. As a result, thousands of people lost their lives in long-term care and elsewhere. And we went into another lockdown. So my question for the Premier is, is this the strategy to prevent Ontario from going into a third wave? Do nothing, wait for the vaccines, hope for the best and perhaps end us up in another lockdown. The Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. Thank you very much, Speaker. Well, I can assure the Leader of the Official Opposition that we are taking every step that we can to prevent going into a third wave. We have the vaccinations well underway. As a matter of fact, yesterday we overcame one million vaccines being administered. So we're well on our way to doing that. We are ramping up. We are ramping up with pharmacies and mass immunization clinics with primary care so that as we receive these vaccines in increasing quantities, we're going to be able to get more needles into people's arms to provide them with the protection that they need. But we're also taking every step that we can because we know that there are variants of concern out there that are expected. The modelling has said to us that it's going to be the dominant strain very shortly. We're now at about 40%. So we're preparing our hospitals, we're creating additional capacity, and we're dealing with preventing greater outbreaks. And we've put a six-point plan in place to make sure that we can deal with that, which I will discuss in the supplementary. The supplementary question. Speaker, back to the Premier. The vaccine rollout has been slow. It's been sloppy. It's been poorly planned and poorly executed. And the government hasn't put in place the kinds of things that were necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19, for example, paid sick days for workers. So here we have a situation where they've rushed the reopening. They haven't put any additional measures in to stop the spread. Looks like they're hanging their hat on a failed strategy from the second wave, which was simply to rely on the vaccine. Is this really all the Premier has to offer to Ontarians? A failed strategy to prevent us from a third wave and going into another lockdown? You, Mr. Speaker, if our strategy is failed, what do you say about the rest of the country? Because we're leading the country in most vaccinations. Over a million vaccinations. We've also put mandatory on arrival testing for international travelers. And if we didn't do that, Mr. Speaker, we'd see the cases go much higher. We had enhanced screening and sequencing, maintaining public health measures, strengthening case and contact management, implementing enhanced protections of vulnerable populations, leveraging the latest data to inform the public health. We made sure we had every day people are going into long-term care. They're getting rapid tests. We're deploying hundreds of thousands of rapid tests all throughout the system, long-term care education into manufacturing. Now with the distribution of the vaccines, we have mobile units going out there. We have hospitals, public health units, mass vaccination centers. So maybe the NDP should hop on board and give a suggestion rather than sit here and complain every single day. The final supplementary. Yes, the Premier doesn't listen when he comes into question period. Speaker, we've been offering all kinds of solutions for a whole year now. They just don't want to implement them. Speaker, that's the problem. But you know, we're not in the clear and I think people are worried. The rollout of the vaccines have been completely confusing and messy. We needed new measures to protect people like the ones the NDP has been asking for, things like paid sick days, things like smaller cat class sizes, things like paid time off to go get your vaccine. But this government doesn't seem prepared to do any of that. And in the meantime, it looks like we're waiting for the vaccines to prevent a third wave. It didn't work in the second wave. That strategy did not work. Why is this Premier not prepared to learn from his mistakes and actually put a plan in place to prevent us from sliding into a third wave and yet another lockdown in our province? And between you and our party. Through you, Mr. Speaker, I just want to remind the leader of the opposition again, not only are we leading the country in vaccinations, we obviously need more. We still, as of today, we've never moved from this spot. We're number one with the lowest cases, to the exception of the Maritime Provinces, anywhere in the country. We're number one in the lowest cases, any jurisdiction our size in North America. So it's not about us. It's about all the frontline healthcare workers. And that's what the leader of the opposition misses. Every time she gets up and criticizes, she's criticizing the doctors, the frontline healthcare workers, PSWs, paramedics, everyone, tens of thousands of people that are out there giving it everything they can. And maybe, again, she can hop on board and help out once in a while. The next question, once again, the leader of the opposition. Thank you so much, Speaker. My next question is also for the Premier. Speaker, Thunder Bay is in absolute crisis. They have the highest per capita cases of COVID-19 in our entire province. I want to share something that the Medical Officer of Health there has said. Dr. Janet DeMille, and I quote, says, there's no sense in sugarcoating it. Things are not looking very good right now. This is from a couple of days ago. A significant and uncomfortable amount of cases are being reported every day. COVID-19 is essentially everywhere. It's in many different places, and it's spreading. Speaker, why didn't the Premier announce yesterday that they were sending a whole bunch of vaccines to Thunder Bay, a place that clearly needs them desperately? The Minister of Health. Thank you. Well, thank you very much for the question, and I can advise that while the situation in Thunder Bay is serious, there's no question about it, the number of cases has actually gone down today from 67 to 48. We have sense of significant resources in there to help them deal with that. We have provided 20 assigned provincial case managers that have gone up there. They've asked for 10 more. We're going to do that. I've had conversations with the federal minister, Minister Haidu. The federal government is doing what they can as well to provide some isolation housing, but we are doing the case in contact management. 92% of the cases are being reached within 24 hours. We've also funded the hospital by another $2.7 million to create 30 new beds, but we are containing it. It's coming under control. We know there's significant resources that are still needed to help them, and they will be receiving additional vaccines as well. But right now, the important thing is to stop the spread of this and to make sure that we can keep this contained and get these numbers down even more and put them into another framework when they're ready to do so. Supplementary. Since February, the NDP, the member for Thunder Bay, Atacocan, has been ringing the alarm bells about what's been going down in Thunder Bay. And all we got from this government was another failed slogan. This time it was called an emergency break. It's not, it was never a plan. It was just a slogan for the government. We have a crisis in Thunder Bay. We have not had the kind of response necessary. We didn't hear that the vaccines are going to pharmacies yesterday. We didn't hear Thunder Bay on the list of hot spots that was announced. How can it be that since February, there's been a crisis unfolding in Thunder Bay weeks later, the government still has not sent the vaccines necessary to get the virus under control in Thunder Bay? Porter. Minister of Health to reply. Well, there's several steps that need to be taken. One is to contain the outbreaks and that is what we are doing right now. We are providing the case and contact management. We've done what we needed to do to boost the hospital capacity so that people need to be admitted to hospital. There's a place for them in their community that they don't have to be transported hundreds of kilometers away. And we've also done whatever we can to deploy rapid tests. We've deployed over 82,000 of the Abbott Pan bio tests. We're doing all the testing that we need to do. We are sending vaccines and they will be being used as well. But there's two pieces dealing with the outbreak and then making sure people are vaccinated. We are dealing with both of those issues and we are working very hard with the local medical officer of health to bring the situation down. And as I indicated earlier, the number of cases have gone down by 19 cases from yesterday. So it is, the plan is clearly working. And the final supplementary. Speaker, people in Thunder Bay have been begging since February for some help. They were begging for isolation centers. They were begging for more supports. They were begging for things like paid sick days. And all the government said was they have an emergency break. They basically had a slogan, but they didn't have a plan. They acted with no urgency when it came to helping Thunder Bay. So I guess like my question is why has the government been missing in action when it comes to Thunder Bay? Unwilling or unable to actually provide that community with the vaccines they need to keep people safe and stop the virus from spreading throughout the community. And the minister of health. Our government is dedicated to maintaining the health and safety of every single person in Ontario regardless of where they live. Dr. Williams, our chief medical officer of health looks at this data on a daily basis, is in regular contact with the local medical officers of health and together they make recommendations to our government as to what should be done, whether the emergency break should be applied, where they should be in the framework. There are certain things that can be done in different parts of the framework as the member very clearly knows. We are watching every part of Ontario very carefully, particularly with respect to the variants of concern and we're taking action where we need to as we have done in Thunder Bay. The next question. The member for T-Watt-Norma. My question is with the Premier. Speaker, all Indigenous people across Ontario have not received equitable access through the COVID-19 vaccine roll-up even though they are part they are part of the phase one priority group. The majority of Indigenous people living off-reserve in cities including Toronto and Thunder Bay vaccination efforts for off-reserve Indigenous people were delayed by the lack of access to vaccines and resources to develop Indigenous-led vaccine programs. Speaker, where is Ontario's plan to respond to the urgent need to vaccinate urban Indigenous people living in Toronto and Thunder Bay who are currently being hit with the third wave? The Premier to respond. Well, through you, Mr. Speaker our government is working with the Indigenous partners right across the province and sure they have the tools to mitigate the challenges of COVID-19. Ontario has dedicated over $37 million in support for unique needs for Indigenous people during COVID-19 including $16.4 million for the transportation of people and goods support urban Indigenous people self-isolation prevention awareness and pandemic. We also made it a priority for the 31 flying communities that Orange did an incredible job going in there well received people who were as happy as punch and I'll tell you $10 million to ensure continuity of the services offered by Indigenous social services agencies and vulnerable children and $7.4 million. I got a list all the way down here I could keep going all day at the end of the day do you know who gets all all their credit? Chief Roseanne as I say and Minister Rickford that's the reason as I've heard from numerous people the Indigenous community has never been treated better ever Nicky. Thank you. Thank you. And the supplementary. Back to the premier Indigenous communities are not happy as punch when we talk about this pandemic. Speaker we know Indigenous people Indigenous people are over represented in correctional facilities and living without homes and urban areas. There have been multiple outbreaks in first nations and among urban Indigenous people due to the incarcerated Indigenous community members having COVID-19 upon release Mr Speaker public health units have acknowledged the rapid spread of COVID among the those in correctional facilities and people without homes it should be a critical priority for these groups to be vaccinated. I ask again what has Ontario done to work with Indigenous led health providers to vaccinate vulnerable question urban Indigenous people as part of phase one priority rollout. The premier to apply. Well again through you Mr Speaker that was one of our highest priorities to go into the 31 flying communities not only did Orange fly in but the member flew in too to get his vaccine so thank you for for doing that and kind of jump in the line as they talked to a few chiefs that were pretty upset about that or flying into a community that he doesn't belong but that's here or there or we have also provided 11 million dollars in emergency funding to first nations Tribal councils and PTOs to address urgent needs Ontario is prioritizing residents of the first nations elder care homes and flying Indigenous communities as part of phase one of our vaccine rollout and Mr Speaker the first round of vaccinations has been offered to adults in the 31 flying first nations which was a massive massive success Werner and as of March the 7th Mr Speaker the operation remote immunity has administered 15,324 doses including 12,661 doses and 2,664 second doses so thank you Orange for doing such a great job thank you the next question the member for Barry Innisville thank you Speaker Speaker we know it's been a challenging time for everyone in Ontario but especially to farmers I speak to many farmers and they say owning running and operating a farm can be very stressful and this has been a particularly difficult year for them last week I had attended the Virtual Agra Knowledge Forum hosted by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture in partnership with the Holland Marsh Growers Association and not a wassaga futures while on the forum the topic of mental health was discussed and I can say I had a plethora of information to give to the forum when it comes to this government's work on mental health for our farmers but I wanted to ask the Minister of Agriculture if he can provide us an update on some of those extra actions we've taken when it comes to attention for farmers and their mental health great question thank you can you remember for Perth Wellington and Parliamentary Assistant thank you Speaker and through you I'd like to thank the member for Barry Innisville for this important question she represents a truly beautiful writing here in rated Ontario Mr Speaker mental health is an extremely important topic and I'm happy to bring attention to some of the initiatives our government has been working on to highlight mental health within the sector this government cares about the well-being of farmers and farm families in Ontario we acknowledge there are unique challenges faced by them when dealing with mental health research has shown farmers are experiencing stress depression and burnout at levels higher than both the general population and other occupations because of this I believe it is more important than ever to make sure we take the time to talk about farmers mental health earlier in his term the Minister of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs brought attention to mental health struggles faced by farmers and we put together a first aid toolkit that allows farmers easy access to resources available these include information about immediate help financial difficulties and mental health resources thank you Mr Speaker well thank you Minister for that excellent answer and I know our government wants to continue to encourage farmers and farming communities to help address the stigma around mental health and know that it is okay for them to seek that help and obviously we have lots of support through the Ministry of Agriculture for them to access I know the the Minister of Agriculture has also been working to expand some of the supports for farmers and I want to give this as an opportunity to the Minister to expand on some specific ways that our government is planning into the future to assist farmers to continue with this very important conversation great question the response member to first policy thank you Mr Speaker Mr Speaker thanks again to the member for the questions our government is focused on ensuring the well-being of everyone in Ontario and as I stated earlier we know the farmers facing unique set of mental health challenges and because of this the Minister will be hosting a roundtable this afternoon to encourage open dialogue highlight what we have done and continue to do to get farmers the help they need it will also identify possible gaps and where we go from here we are also investigating ways to enhance and expand CMHA Ontario's role out of the in the no program developed at the University of Guelph as well as how to expand the farmer wellness program a program supported by OFA across the province our government is committed to being a champion for farmers mental health and we will continue to work with the sector for innovative solutions and ideas thank you Mr. Speaker thank you the next question the member for Essex thank you very much Speaker my question is to the Premier the question is about election financing and ethical standards this week we saw the Premier rewriting the law to protect developers rights to build a warehouse on significant the protected wetlands now we see that the Premier has two big ticket fundraisers lined up for next week starting tonight on the one year anniversary of the pandemic declaration no less with a $1,000 a ticket $1,000 ticket to get into a zoom call with the Premier for a minimum wage worker Speaker that's interrupt the member I'm going to interrupt the member the question has to be about policy has to be about the bill it's not about internal party matters again I'll recognize the member for a minimum wage worker that's about 70 hours at work so we can be pretty sure that those folks won't be joining the call with the Premier tonight Speaker the question to the Premier is who is on the attendance list to lobby the Premier tonight at the $1,000 ticket fundraiser and what new piece to legislation or MZO's will he be writing tomorrow as a result Speaker yesterday the PC parties let it slip that the Premier is planning another $1,000 ticket fundraiser in Vaughan next week a year into this pandemic the Premier seems more concerned about raising cash for his PC party than bringing in relief for Ontarians who need it the most that's why he brought in legislation to double up the donations this is legislation that is currently on the floor of this House Speaker this is live legislation that's currently on the floor that doubles the donation limit for big pocketed deep donors especially those who want development permits to pave over wetlands when Ontarians and small businesses are barely holding on a full year into this pandemic why is the Premier rewriting election laws and taking in big donor cash for developers who want to pave wetlands to build warehouses I'm going to ask Peter to reply thank you very much Mr Speaker Order this is a member in a party which launched their election campaign on the weekend with respect to environmental policy Mr Speaker look we have been working very hard throughout this pandemic to ensure that all Ontarians first and foremost that their health and safety is taking care of the Minister of Health has been working very very hard with all members on this side of the House that's what we've been focusing on health and safety small businesses getting the economy back in order Mr Speaker investing in long-term care investing in health care the Minister of Finance has been doing an exceptionally good job of working across party lines to try and ensure that the economy gets moving but what you see again Mr Speaker is exactly why the NDP never forms government in the province of Ontario Mr Speaker they flip flop all over the place but ultimately Mr Speaker they are an angry party without all the policies that Ontarians could never see electing into government we will focus on the future optimistically seeing what Ontario has to offer all Ontarians thank you very much the next question the member for Scarborough Gilgore thank you Speaker my question is to the Premier and Speaker I extend my heartfelt condolences to all who have lost their loved ones due to the pandemic in the past year a year ago I stood in this house in this legislature and I asked the government to close the doors on long-term care to protect our most vulnerable who are susceptible to respiratory viruses and sadly Speaker there was a delay there was slow action and we failed our residents in long-term care in the first wave then we had an opportunity to make up for it in the second wave but we did worse and the results were devastating a year on we are now staring down a third wave and people who work in long-term care are still struggling to get the supports that they need to do their jobs safely Speaker my question to this government is what are you doing to improve these long-term care homes and to prepare for the third wave I have a suggestion how about implementing question paid sick days you have four billion dollars that you've put aside in contingencies there's a budget coming up March 24th will you do that in that budget Mr. Long-term Care Thank you thank you Speaker and thank you to the member opposite for the question our government has been actively and decisively working to address the COVID-19 issue in long-term care and across Ontario we've been doing that all along from the very beginning with staffing and able to hire 8,000 over 8,600 staff with the pandemic pay with the first wave and then planning with the staffing in the longer-term issue and creating the necessary staffing that was so badly neglected by the previous government to create 27,000 new positions in long-term care to get to that four hours of direct care per resident per day in four years we've put 1.9 billion dollars up to 1.9 billion dollars by 24-25 for that and we've been renovating and redeveloping and modernizing long-term care this whole way through not only dealing with response but understanding the imperative to address the urgency of staffing and capacity and to retain staff we'll continue to do it thank you a supplementary question Speaker long-term care homes in our province need resources today not years into the future and your 4.2 million dollars that you announced will only allow 372 PSWs to receive their training and they won't be ready for another four years so this is not going to address the immediate concerns that we have for Thunder Bay region alone they need 500 PSWs and other frontline care workers to respond to the essential workers that they need in that region there's a province-wide deficit in this area so now is the time for your government to develop a career path that people want to aspire to in PSWs to improve the working conditions and the standards of care to make sure that they can work in a safe environment without risk and to provide higher wages for these essential workers to recognize the work that they do in long-term care so they don't have to take on two and three jobs outside of long-term care so speaker will this government in the upcoming budget invest in personal support workers and the money required for long-term care thank you very much again the minister of long-term care thank you speaker and thank you for the question for anyone who's been listening for many many months now they will understand that our government has been working diligently to address the long-term staffing crisis in the long-term care sector and the emergency response so the pandemic pay four dollars an hour increase for PSWs four hundred sixty one million dollars for that on top of that the temporary wage increase a three dollar per hour increase for that a one point three eight billion dollar expenditure across the sector the eighty six hundred eight thousand six hundred people that we are able to hire into long-term care with the resources we had in the first wave added to that eight thousand two hundred PSWs alone to be trained in the next in the next coming months to be ready for the fall billions billions of dollars have gone towards staffing and COVID-19 support and we've been at this the whole time where have you been and again I'll remind members to make the comments through the chair not directly across the floor to each other the next question the member for Barry Innisville Speaker across the globe governments and businesses are examining strategies to build back stronger and emerge from this pandemic with a competitive advantage while approaches may may vary from one jurisdiction to another one thing is certain in Ontario natural resources innovation and technological advancements will be the centre of our economic recovery and the critical ingredients to today's tech technology and critical minerals Ontario is home to a vast number of critical minerals including copper zinc platinum lithium chromite nickel and other materials that are in high demand with the global with the global demand for critical minerals set to increase exponentially can the minister of energy northern development and mines expand on this great opportunity in a very ethical and safe manner the member for Peterborough Gortha and parliamentary assistant thank you Mr. Speaker and thank you very much to the member from Barry Innisville for that question yesterday I had the pleasure of joining minister Rickford minister Fidelli first cobalt frontier lithium and indigenous community engagement to announce Ontario is developing a critical mineral strategy this is part of our commitment to drive investment increase Ontario's competitiveness in the global electric vehicle and green technology marketplace all the while creating career job opportunities in Ontario's mining sector last year the World Bank estimated the demand for critical minerals will increase by as much as 500 percent by the year 2050 these minerals are essential components in medicine aerospace defense and carbon emissions zero electric vehicles Ontario's position to supply the entire world with critical minerals that are vital to the strategic high growth industries like electric vehicles computer and telecommunication technology and other clean technologies that support a low carbon future this presents a tremendous opportunity and I'll have more to say in my supplementary well thank you Speaker and countries all over the world are racing to find suppliers of responsible source critical minerals support their manufacturing and technology technology sectors whether it's granite lithium platinum it can be found here in Ontario mining companies have a lot of options when it comes to deciding where they'd like to go and develop their new operations it's important that from the very beginning we have a development strategy here in Ontario and that we develop it as soon as possible not to lose on this incredible potential investment these jobs and to highlight Ontario's ethical practices and our great safe practices so will the minister tell hear us in the legislature and the rest of the world what we are doing to really amplify the sector thank you thank you Mr Speaker as demand grows for critical minerals Ontario is positioned as a stable reliable and responsible supplier environmental social and governance factors have never been more important people want to know that they're investing in areas with responsible environmentally conscious governments and that is exactly what investors are getting in Ontario we'll continue to collaborate with community stakeholders business owners regulatory bodies conservation groups and indigenous community rights holders the Ontario Mining Association had this to say about it we applaud this initiative and look forward to working with the government on developing Ontario's critical mineral strategy this is a great way to support Ontario's transition to a low-carbon economy and boost our ability to meet growing global demand for responsibly sourced materials Mr Speaker the industry is excited our government is excited and we look forward to developing this strategy in collaboration with all of our partners next question the member of St. Catharines good morning speaker my questions to the premier in many ways Niagara is unique vulnerable to COVID-19 one of the oldest populations in Ontario we can't turn back time however when you diverted 5,500 modern doses of life-saving vaccines from Niagara we were in the middle of a crisis where we had one death every three and a half hours over a span of a week as I said we cannot change the past but you can consider Niagara now and today yesterday Niagara was not included in either the family physician or pharmacy pilot vaccinations Niagara has one of the highest percentages of variant COVID-19 cases in the province to be excluded yet again is a disgrace Mr Speaker my question is will the premier immediately include Niagara in these pilot projects and treat Niagara fairly in its vaccination rollout Mr. Hall thank you very much Speaker and I can certainly assure the member opposite that Niagara has always been treated fairly and will continue to be treated fairly with respect to all things related to COVID I can advise with respect to the comments that you first made with respect to the distribution of vaccines that the initial plans for the Moderna distribution were changed when protocols for the movement of Pfizer and allowed these vaccines to be transferred to long-term care homes as well as other high-risk congregate homes vaccinations for these vulnerable populations were prioritized for both vaccine types including residents, staff and essential caregivers so Niagara's initial allocation of Moderna vaccine was reallocated to ensure that second doses were available in areas that had first administered Moderna vaccines while the Pfizer vaccine was allocated to Niagara so allocations to Niagara have been monitored carefully and Niagara did and continues to receive vaccines above its population-based share of vaccines so they are absolutely being treated fairly thank you thank you supplementary we move back to the premier and to the minister I would like that answer given to the people who had a member of their family pass away within every three and a half hours during the first wave back to you minister minister or the acting premier yesterday my office reached out to our family physician clinics and pharmacies to ask them if given the chance to be in the vaccination pilot do they have the capacity to get vaccines into the arms of seniors in Niagara the response was simple a resounding yes Niagara North family health team was able to administer 800 flu shots a day with the capacity to do even more Mr. Premier they are just waiting on you with over 370 deaths in Niagara from COVID-19 and a diverted shipment of Moderna we know the cost of the slow roll out to Niagara seniors population Mr. Premier when will this government make the people of Niagara a priority give them the green light to our pharmacists and family physicians to administer the vaccines to continue to save lives minister help well first we regret the loss of any life in Niagara or any other part of Ontario but the reality is that we did not receive significant volumes of vaccine from the federal government until recently they are only starting to come in in quantities with respect to the vaccinations that can be provided through primary care physicians as well as in pharmacies we are going to be using the AstraZeneca vaccines because they are going to they're easily transportable and can easily be used we are working with pharmacies we are working with the OMA to bring this forward this is going to be done as soon as we receive additional doses we've only received 194,500 doses of AstraZeneca so far which are going to be used in the three areas in Windsor in Toronto and Kingston Frontenac because they are time limited they expire at the end of this month we will be receiving more doses and as we receive them they will be expanded to pharmacies across the province and I can advise you that the area of Niagara is considered to be a hot spot and will be receiving additional allocations of vaccines Speaker my question is for the Premier but first I have to say the comment the Premier made to the member from Corvette Juan this morning was beneath the office and so Speaker the government has put forward Bill 257 it essentially does two things it expands access to broadband in Ontario which is a good thing and secondly it gives the Minister of Municipal Affairs and the Premier unfettered power to allow building anything anywhere they see fit with no right of appeal and it's retroactive Speaker so they've taken expanding broadband which is about creating economic opportunity for all with a measure that's about creating wealth for the few their friends so Speaker through you will the Premier do the right thing and remove Schedule 3 from Bill 257 protect our wetlands protect our green space protect our environment and our communities and our families thank you Speaker E-Parliamentary Assistant and Member for Milton Thank you very much thank you Mr Speaker Mr Speaker first and foremost we've been clear in this House every single ministerial zoning order that has been issued has been issued at the request of the local municipality for the first time in over a decade Mr Speaker this provincial government has a very good working relationship with all of our municipal partners unlike the previous Liberal government I would also like to remind the member opposite when he and his party was in power Mr Speaker Order they may use of the MZO's regularly Mr Speaker on this side of the House of course we issue MZO only at the request of the municipalities and where projects are important and are going to be a main economic driver Mr Speaker to the local economy and create tens and thousands of jobs Mr Speaker and we will continue to do that response the supplementary question Speaker you've used it 33 times in the last few months so I'd stop using that line so this just has such a the schedule has such a McVeedy feel to it sorry I draw withdraw I'll take that back it's more retro it's like we're checking a box on the Dean French to-do list okay so look bill three grants excessive powers to the minister and the premier and it overrides communities and our own provincial policies and I know the government thinks it's clever to put a poison pill in a bill and that we're going to deal with that here because that's what we do but here's what it is it's a poison bill for families it's a poison pill for communities it's a poison pill for the environment it's a poison pill for wetlands it's a poison pill for the future so will the premier do the right thing and take this poison pill out and actually pull it out and let's debate it as a standalone hearing this legislature government house leader no mr. Speaker no because we will continue to advance economic projects that are good for the province of Ontario let's be very clear mr. Speaker four years we have been hearing from liberal and NDP politicians that you can have economic order you can balance the economy and when you take care of the environment you have social license to move forward on economic projects that's what we have done with this bill mr. Speaker and what have they done they've turned their backs on the economy they've turned their back on the environment mr. Speaker this is a liberal party mr. Speaker that increased WSIB payments that increased taxes made us the most indebted sub sovereign government in the world mr. Speaker that put windmills on farmers' properties that they didn't want in communities that they didn't want evicted farmers from their lands mr. Speaker this is a liberal party that was tossed on their butt because Ontarians lost faith the only ones who believed in the liberal party was the NDP who supported them for so many years the next question the member for Barry Innisville Mr. Speaker March 15th marks world consumer rights day this government wants consumers to feel confident that they are well informed when they spend their hard-earned tax dollars and money providing Ontarians with strong consumer protection legislation and readily available user-friendly education and compliance tools will help strengthen protection and promote trust and confidence for the people of Ontario and that's what this government has done all along everything we do we put the people first and we do not take the people's trust for granted before COVID hit the member for Barry Springwater or Odonte and I held a seniors day where we had the minister of consumer services staff come in and actually talk about how we can strengthen consumer confidence and protect our seniors so I want to ask the the minister of government and consumer services to also explain some of the other steps for ministry has taken to align legislation with marketplace realities to protect our Ontarians the government consumer services thank you very much speaker and I'd like to thank the hardworking member from Barry Innisville you're doing an amazing job on behalf of your writing and speaker in the spirit of world consumer rights day I would like to share with everyone that our government is committed to providing Ontarians with a wide range of protections for everyday transactions from buying furniture through to renovating their home and that is why we conducted the first comprehensive review of the consumer protection act in 15 years to address new technologies and also on how we can better protect consumers in a changing marketplace we've consulted with the consumer reporting act to help consumers better monitor their credit ratings we have passed legislation to cap interest rates that letters can charge on payday loans and we have launched consultations on other high-cost alternative financial services to strengthen regulation and protect vulnerable borrowers from potential harm speaker we have a plan to build a modern and equitable system that truly serves hardworking consumers both now and for future generations supplementary question well thank you minister for taking care of the current and future generation and really showing that consumer protection doesn't stop at everyday purchases and loans it's much more consumer protection should always safeguarding tarans from absorbent prices in times of prices for example it was our government that put in emergency orders when it came to combating price gouging when it came to very protective goods very important goods during this pandemic and since we've launched that initiative speaker there has been a significant decrease in uh in complaints which means speaker these measures where our government took have worked but consumer protection should always be there for and tarans when they need it especially for large purchases like when they purchase a home so can the minister of consumer services also further elaborate on the actions our government is taking to protect and tarans from lark for these large purchases mr govern consumer services thank you speaker we're not be pleased to I can tell the member from barry innesville and everyone watching today that we've been very very busy on that front speaker I want to share with you that we passed rebuilding consumer confidence act to promote higher quality new home construction and to protect consumers from bad actors we also passed tressa the trust in real estate services act and we introduced the first phase of regulatory changes with the second underway and we look forward to bringing that to the house in the future these changes will strengthen professionalism and ethical standards in real estate sectors across this province to better protect buyers our government has has designated also the home construction regulatory authority to license and hold new home builders and vendors to professional standards speaker we also launched a condo guide to help condo buyers make informed decisions speaker we're being very proactive you very much thank you next question the member for sub-president thank you speaker speaker the cca process is not appropriate for a public funded university like lorenchen and my community of sub-president is frustrated the cca process speaker is designed for the private sector and very rarely then with lorenchen cca excludes all of the people who are most likely to be at risk but have had zero ability to influence the financial decisions that created the crisis for example students faculty research departments are all at risk cover none of them are responsible for the continuous post-secondary cuts made by success of liberal and conservative governments nor are they responsible for financial decisions of lorenchen's board of directors which includes four government appointees students like adam Kirkwood speaker shouldn't be paying the price adam is a phd candidate at lorenchen university and because of cca adam's research is stopped he estimates that he's lost ten thousand dollars of his own fellowship funding and now he's not even sure he'll be able to complete his research or be able to graduate my question speaker through you to the premier is will the premier provide emergency funding to ensure that graduate students like adam can complete their research and be able to graduate thank you nice presentation well thank you speaker and thank you to the member for the question what I can confirm is that proportionally lorenchen university has received more than 40 percent of their total revenue through grants provided by the ministry of colleges universities compared to roughly 23 percent of average of university sector overall what I can also notice that consistent operating grants for lorenchen university over the past five years close to 80 million dollars and we're going to continue to provide support to colleges universities as was noted by the parliamentary assistant yesterday a special advisor has been deployed alan harrison to provide advice and recommendations to the minister regarding the financial situation at lorenchen and also to offer perspective on governance and their strategic planning processes to make improvements going forward thank you supplementary question speaking back to the premier it's important to note speaker the conservatives talk about the funding but ontario is not just below average when it comes to per student funding there's so far below average that every other province is above average lorenchen university speaker is well known for his expertise in research and because of cca that's now at risk as well a toronto star article indicated that lorenchen universities professors and graduate students had secured tens of millions of dollars in research funds and now they have no idea if they were to complete that research carol cappy is the director of lorenchen's center for research and social justice and policy and she said we don't know about the future of our research center or our research not only is the cca process impacting lorenchen's current research obligations lorenchen's access to future research funding could also be negatively impact as professor albrecht shalt husted said the cost is also to our reputation there is a cost to our relationship with granting councils a cost with potential students a cost to our communities as well my question through you speaker to the premier will the premier provide emergency funding to ensure that lorenchen universities current research programs are saved and their future reputation is preserved again a minute for vegetation reply well thank you speaker what i can confirm is that lorenchen university students remain the government's top priority as we continue to assess options to support lorenchen as university undertakes its next steps towards setting sustainable operations but in the context of students it cannot be left without being said speaker that it was this government following 15 years the former liberal government were tuition factually rose the highest and most expensive in Canada it was this government that actually ordered tuition by 10 percent providing 450 million dollars directly into the pockets of students a historic cut that's making a difference for everyday students to the province of Ontario it was this government during the pandemic that put a six months osap moratorium in place recognizing the challenges for these young people will continue to be there for students in lorenchen and right across this province thank you the next question the member for guelph good morning speaker my question is for the premier so many struggling small businesses have reached out to my office frustrated that they cannot get quick access to the ontario business support grant they've done their part to contain COVID and now they're asking the government to step up and help frustration turned to anger yesterday when they learned the government is pulling out all the stops to build an amazon warehouse on environmentally protected land and now they're wondering speaker small businesses are wondering why the premier is pulling out all the stops for amazon but they are having to wait days weeks and months for the help they were promised so will the premier commit today to speed up approvals so that small businesses get the financial support they need to survive the parliamentary assistant and member for willowale thank you very much speaker thank you to the member opposite for raising the important issue of supporting small businesses I know in our budget consultations last year with that member we heard from small businesses directly about those very difficulties and that's why this government has been there from the beginning order with a series of permanent measures as well as most recently the small business grant support program and speaker 1.3 billion dollars that's a figure as of yesterday morning almost 1.3 billion dollars has reached the hands of those small businesses speaker that is providing real relief to whether the storm and the average waiting time for those application processes to have money in hand is 12 day speaker now of course there are the cases where there are some mistakes made on applications or perhaps a more complex file I offer to the member opposite if you have a particular business that is unable to access those funds to contact my office I'd like to work with you to see what the the issues are but the reality is speaker this money is getting to the small businesses we know the job is not done and I look forward to tabling the budget in 13 days supplementary question speaker over and over again I've raised this issue I think I've heard members of other parties raised this issue I've I've written the minister I've spoken directly to the minister on this issue there are many small businesses that are still waiting months after this program was announced to access the money they need just to survive and so imagine how they felt yesterday when many of them are struggling to compete against the amazon that literally the government is ripping up all of our planning rules and environmental protections for an amazon warehouse and these businesses are just saying like get us some help like we closed down to stop the pandemic and we just need some help so I'm I'm asking the member opposite to please provide them with some assurances and some guarantees that these applications are going to be approved in a speedy manner so businesses get the money they need member for Willowdale thank you speaker and thank you again to the member and as I said in my first answer 1.3 billion dollars has flowed to these businesses in the form of a grant up to 20,000 dollars average waiting time 12 days and if there are cases that require further investigation please feel free to contact my office but speaker that's not all we've also introduced a series of permanent measures whether that was a up to 30 percent foreign tax reduction and elimination of the EHT attacks on jobs for the smallest of small businesses a PPE grant of 60 million dollars the digital main street program to help businesses retool to the new reality that is COVID-19 the Ontario Together Fund speaker it's a long list and I hope the members opposite across the benches despite their political beliefs will vote for these additional support measures because their voting record to date speaker has shown that they oppose those small business supports and I'm hoping that will change when we table our budget in 13 days the next question the member for Humber River Black Creek thank you speaker my question is to the acting premier there's a resident in my community who came to Canada in 2019 escaping an abusive relationship trying to make a better life for her and her daughter throughout the pandemic she has worked two jobs just to pay the bills during the day she looks after five children while they're the children's parents go to work at their essential jobs and at night she works as a cleaner she wants the vaccine but she may not be able to get vaccinated because she's still waiting to receive her government ID on ID that the government is requiring people to present before they get the vaccine Ontario's COVID-19 science advisory table has told us that in order to save lives we need to vaccinate people based both on age and risk so my question and I'm looking for clarification today from the premier is this government really going to turn down at risk residents from getting vaccinated if they don't have a government ID government house leader look I'll just say this to the to the Honour General I think the last two questions that we've heard there are particularly troubling it's not the type of thing that we that we should be doing at this point but obviously if there's somebody who needs a vaccine somebody like that who is the exact type of person that we should be very proud of that we should be encouraging to come to this country reach out let us know who that is I know the ministers will work tirelessly to make sure that she can get her vaccine and I would say to the Honourable Member Horner Leader of the Green Party when we're dealing and working with small businesses of course we want them to succeed and are going to move heaven and earth to make sure that they can succeed Mr Speaker but to suggest that because we're trying to bring more business to the province of Ontario that means that we don't care about small business Mr Speaker that's not what should be happening at the final stages there should be optimism vaccines are getting out there Mr Speaker we're seeing great great things happen across the province and now let's try to focus on helping each other get to the end of this so I say to the Honourable General reach out and we will make sure that she can get her ID and get vaccine thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you I appreciate the sentiment of the minister but what of the Honourable Member but what we are looking for is clarity so that it doesn't have to be a one off it's that everybody no matter who they are get access to this vaccine because it helps everyone that's what we're looking for now question two there are many essential workers in my community who do not have paid sick days many of these workers who are most at risk of getting COVID-19 may not be able to get vaccinated because they can't afford to take the time off work since despite multiple attempts by the NDP this government continues to refuse to give paid sick days to Ontario workers so couldn't the acting Premier tell me if and when this government will be bringing mobile vaccination clinics to communities like mine that will be able to vaccinate people outside of regular work hours to lower the risk of further spread throughout Ontario Mr. Vell well certainly I can assure the member that we are doing everything possible to make sure that people who want vaccines will be able to get them and we will be doing that through a variety of ways through mass vaccination clinics through primary care offices through pharmacies and mobile vaccination clinics as well because we know that there are people who because of their work hours or their personal circumstances are not able to come into the clinic so we are using every method possible to get to the people who want to receive the vaccines and with respect to your earlier question we will make sure that this woman who you are speaking of gets her vaccine because she's the exact kind of person as the the house leader said that response needs it and deserves it as as does everyone else in the province of Ontario the next question member for York centre thank you speaker my question is to the Minister of Health yesterday's statistics Canada released a report which begins quote beyond deaths attributed to COVID itself the pandemic could also have indirect consequences that increase or decrease the number of deaths as a result of various factors including delayed medical procedures or increased substance use and that more recently quote the number of excess deaths has been higher than the number of deaths due to COVID and these deaths are affecting younger people suggesting that other factors including possible indirect impacts of the pandemic are at play close quote the report concluded that as early as November the number of excess deaths from COVID was on par with number of excess deaths not from COVID difference of 44 Canada wide looking at the trend and the harsh lockdown commenced in December it cannot be disputed that more people are dying from excess deaths that aren't COVID than deaths caused by or with COVID and these are especially young people so now that it's clear that lockdowns are killing more people than COVID I asked the Minister will she please end the lockdown and actually start saving lives Minister of Health thank you well first of all as the member may know there's been over 6,000 actually over 7,000 people in Ontario who have died from COVID every death is a loss to many many families and every death that is not because of COVID is also a great loss to those families we are certainly aware that because of the steps that we've needed to take to make sure that we have hospital capacity for people coming into hospital with COVID we've had to postpone many other surgeries and procedures and tests we are at about 227,000 right now as a matter of fact this is something that I am very concerned about and we are taking steps to make sure that we can deal with those surgical volumes that have had to be delayed in those those procedures we have invested up to 283 million dollars to support additional priority surgeries including cancer cardiac cadract and orthopedic procedures we've also extended diagnostic imaging hours at healthcare facilities for MRIs and CT scans and other critical procedures we are supplementary Speaker a few weeks ago I asked the minister of health how many elective procedures be it surgeries or treatments were cancelled by the province of interior since the start of the pandemic what would be the estimate of patients passing away because of their surgeries and treatments were not performed and if the minister does not have such numbers will she undertake to ask the ministry's staff to perform such analysis and report the numbers back to the house I didn't receive a reply except for something that I may have heard right now nor did the minister come back to the house with these numbers until today a March 4th CTV news article describes a study conducted by secondstreet.org which used numbers put out by the Canadian Medical Association to estimate that between mid-March and mid-June Ontario cancelled more than 184,000 surgeries or procedures the ministry of health at the time said that it had no records so I'm not sure which numbers the minister is referring to today but my question to the minister is why doesn't the ministry have such records what is the number she just cited which period does it actually represent mid-March to mid-June or the entire year will the minister commit to on thank you next question thank you minister's health to apply minister's health to apply thank you well I can assure the member that the number is 227,000 procedures I've been reviewing this data on an ongoing basis and that is as of two days ago that is updated on a regular basis and this is something that of course we're all concerned about as we're dealing with COVID and the variants of concern we're also concerned with the people who've had delayed surgeries who need to have cardiac surgery who need to have cancer surgery we are putting hundreds of millions of dollars into the member of New York center will come to order if the member wants to hear my answer or just wants to keep mattering on over there but this is the answer the answer is we are dealing with it we are reducing those surgeries and procedures as much as possible and we are putting hundreds of millions of dollars into doing that well done well done well done York South Western Mr Speaker 12 families that I've lived first my question is to the Premier 12 families that I've lived at a nice apartment building at 2419 Kill Street in York South Western have been given N30 notices by their new landlord and are being renovated many of these families have lived there for decades and I've heard from shocked residents and this states that our home is nothing more than an asset to make money from but to us it is a home another tenant friend has lived there more than 10 years and says we make our rent and pay our bills no matter how hard it might be sometimes and we still get an eviction letter even when we play by the rules we are still punished there is no help for us we only have each other this is not matter of choice for us it is about survival forcing us to move out now especially in the middle of a global pandemic is an act of violence Premier why is this allowed to happen why is it so hard to just have a place to live why are there no protections for tenants and why are N13s continue to be allowed The Attorney General Chris Barnes Thank you Mr Speaker they're the the member opposite and thank you for the question and he was talking about very specific situations which I won't address very specific ones in case they are in front of the board it's very important that we we recognize that the landlord tenant tribunal is an independent board tribunals are independent arms length from government so we don't weight into into those individual pieces but Mr Speaker it's important that we have a system that allows people to have their voices heard and it's exactly that whether they be a tenant or a landlord that they have a fair system that's working that allows them to have it heard in a reasonable amount of time Mr Speaker and I was proud to announce today that accelerating justice and the reform of tribunals is something that we're undertaking and we will see substantial change through the course of this calendar year thank you Mr Speaker Thank you very much that concludes our question period for this morning the member for London West has informed me she has a point of order she'd like to raise Yes thank you Speaker we know that vaccine hesitancy is a reality in many communities as a result of generations of systemic racism historical traumas and poor treatment by the health system the member for Kwaetnug did what all of us are called to do he stepped up led by example and continues to be a big part of the efforts to show that vaccines are safe today he was recognized for his leadership in helping to fight vaccine hesitancy in Ontario First Nations communities with insults from the Premier this has no place in Ontario's partner tonight Thank you Thank you That was not a valid point of order Pursuant to standing order 36A the member for Scarborough Gildwood has given notice of her dissatisfaction with the answer to her question given by the minister of long-term care concerning paid sick leave the house will come to order this matter will be debated Tuesday March 23rd following private members public business we have a deferred vote on the motion for second reading of bill 261 an act to authorize the expenditure of certain amounts for the fiscal year ending March 31st 2021 the bells will now ring for 30 minutes during which time members may cast their votes members may cast their votes I'll ask the clerks to prepare the lobby