 It is now time for oral questions. I recognize the leader of the Max's Loyal Opportunity. Thank you, Speaker. My first question is to the Premier. And it's in the context of the fact that the people of Ontario are exhausted from battling COVID-19. And what we've learned from all of the experts is the successful way to avoid a catastrophic third wave is to be very careful and slow, for example, with the reopening of our province. Another piece of advice that was really clear from the experts is that the public health measures to protect people need to be increased. And of course, then, there's always the vaccinations that are coming down the pike. But, Speaker, when public health units and doctors and hospitals are all saying that the government has been rushing the reopening, all the Premier has to say in response is that not to worry. There's an emergency break in place that they can rely on should something go wrong. Well, Speaker, that was announced a couple of weeks ago. We have no idea to this day what would be the criteria for the implementation or utilization of that emergency break. Perhaps the Premier can shed some light this morning. Respond, the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. Thank you very much, Speaker. And what we have today is not a reopening of Ontario. It is a transition back into the framework that we had before. We're taking this very slowly and cautiously because we know of the variants of concern that are out there, both the UK variant, the South African variant, the Brazilian variant. And I'm sure that there will be others. But the emergency break has been applied and it's applied on the basis of the number of cases that are out there, the ability of public health to be able to respond in a timely manner, the ability of our hospitals to be able to deal with people with COVID and with other issues, and the level of variants. And we've seen the break be applied even this past week with having both Peele and Toronto remain with the stay-at-home orders because of the variants and other issues that they're trying to deal with, as well as in North Bay, which otherwise would have been in green, but because of the variants of concern and the concern about them escalating has remained at the stay-at-home order for the safety of the people in the North Bay area. Thank you. The supplementary question. Speaker, I'm not sure if the Minister of Health noticed the news last night, but people are flocking to the malls in places like York Region. It seems to me that the message the government is trying to send is really not getting through. Most experts have actually said that by the time the government gets to implementing an emergency break, it'll be far too late. Fearfully, that's what might be happening as we speak. In fact, Dr. Michael Warner said this, quote, instead of waiting until we have a critical number of people vaccinated first, the Ontario government has jumped the gun because they have not put in place proper measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. When you see people flocking to the mall speaker, when you see the fact that our caseloads are no longer falling, the question that we have for the government is this claim of caution is not... Question. ...colding water. Why is this government jumping the gun when it comes to the opening of our province? Thank you, Speaker, and I would say to you, to the leader of the official opposition, it should come to us. It's no surprise to you that I vigorously disagree with what you're saying. Though we are seeing the numbers coming down, but we recognize with a variance of concern, they can go back up again exponentially. So that is something that is being very carefully watched by Dr. Williams, by the Public Health Measures Table, which includes a number of the local medical officers of health from across Ontario. They will not hesitate to use the emergency break again if they need to, and this is being very carefully watched in York as well as in every other part of Ontario. The final supplementary. Well, Speaker, you know, the other thing that has been indicated by most experts in terms of avoiding a catastrophic third wave are the fact that more public health measures need to be put in place, and yet this government is refusing to do so. Measures like, for example, an eviction ban for tenants, measures like, for example, reducing class sizes to 15 in the schools, and measures like paid sick days. And yet none of these measures are being seriously considered by this government, nor implemented. So the question then is, when Dr. Williams, even Dr. Williams, says he favours the idea of paid sick days, why is our Premier stubbornly refusing to implement them? The Minister of Labor, Training and Skills Development. Well, Mr. Speaker, the very first initiative that our government undertook was to bring in job-protected leave for every single worker in this province. If you're home because of COVID-19 and self-isolation and quarantine, if you're home looking after a son or a daughter because of the disruption in the school system, you can't be fired for that. Furthermore, and the member opposite should know, we eliminated the need for sick notes during COVID-19. But, Mr. Speaker, the thing that the leader of the opposition is failing to mention to working women and men across the province is that there is one month of paid sick days for every single worker in this province. We need to raise awareness of that program. And it's a disservice to every woman and man that's working in the province of Ontario that the leader of the opposition and the NDP don't make them aware of that program. Question. Leader of the opposition. Next question is also for the Premier. The disservice is in not recognising, however, that paid sick days are a requirement if people are going to do the right thing and stay home when they're feeling sick. Having said that, the other people that are in a very bad situation now are seniors who are really concerned about when they're going to get their vaccine. They're worried and they need information. In fact, even family doctors are worried and they need information. They're saying that the government is being confused in its communication around the vaccine rollout. In fact, Dr. Michelle Cohen says this, and I quote, when patients call my office anxiously looking to get on a vaccination list because the government told them their family doctor would soon be calling, I will have nothing to offer them but frustration. Creating confusion makes it easier for the government to evade accountability. So my question to the Premier is, what is happening here? Is this physician and other physicians correct in saying that the government's aim here is to evade accountability? And if not, why is there such confusion around the vaccine rollout? Again, Minister of Health. Thank you very much. Well, the aim here is to be clear and transparent with the people of Ontario, but the vaccination rollout, as we have thus far. But the reality is that each of the 34 public health units have been asked to develop their own plan and submit them to the vaccination task force because what is relevant in one part of Ontario in terms of doing vaccines in a rural area may be going to your family doctor. In an urban area, it may be going to a mass vaccination clinic. There are many different ways that this is going to be rolled out and this is going to be made clear in a very short while, how they can do it, so they can do it by contacting their family doctor. In many cases, they can do it online. Many people may not feel comfortable doing that. They can also call a centre to book their appointments. So this is going to be specific and clear to the people and it's going to be produced within a very short time. A supplementary question. Well, Speaker, I think everybody knows that part of avoiding a catastrophic third wave is a successful vaccine rollout. However, it's really clear that before this pandemic hit, our Premier was not all that confident in our public health units. And now, of course, we are in a situation where we're going to be relying on them and I think importantly because I actually do have confidence in them with the planning and distribution of the vaccines, contacting people at the administration, all of this will be done by public health units. The same ones that the Ford government was cutting and trying to amalgamate with force mergers before the pandemic hit. In fact, in 2019, the Premier said, all they know how to do, referring to public health units, and I'm quoting, is tax people and spend their money, not drive efficiencies. So my question is, has the Premier all of a sudden had a change of heart? Does he suddenly respect public health units and will he provide the support that they need to successfully vaccinate everyone in Ontario? Minister of Health. Thank you. In fact, we have every confidence in our public health units. They have done a spectacular job during the course of this entire pandemic from the very beginning in terms of increasing case and contact management in terms of being in touch with families, in terms of being in touch with individuals. In some cases, issuing their own section 22 orders where they feel that there are measures in their own particular area that need to be further protected. But I would also, again, through you, Mr. Speaker, remind the leader of the official opposition that our public health units have been implementing our flu vaccines for many years, and this year implemented our biggest flu vaccine in our history with over 6 million vaccines being given to people of Ontario with more to come. So I have every confidence that our public health units have the knowledge and the experience to drive a very successful COVID vaccine campaign. Order. The final supplementary. I'm curious that this government has had such a change of heart when it comes to public health units. Let's hope that it stays that way, Speaker. But the bottom line is it's clear that the government has not undertaken the measures needed to ensure that the province is not plunged back into a third wave that's devastating and catastrophic. We clearly don't see a reopening that has been slow enough or careful enough, say all the public health experts. We clearly don't see increased measures like paid sick days, for example, and a ban on evictions and slower class sizes. We clearly have a confusing vaccine rollout that the government is creating confusion around and chaos around. So I guess the question that I have is, you know, how can we guarantee that all of those seniors who are worried about the COVID-19 pandemic resurging, how can we guarantee them that this government has it together enough to stop a third wave from occurring? And the Minister of Health. Thank you, Speaker. Well, it'll be very simple to do that because we're going to roll out a clear and transparent plan within the next very short while. And people will know when and how they will be able to get the vaccines. In some cases, people will be able to do it themselves. In some cases, they will need to have their family members help them. In some cases, they'll be able to call. Some of the public health units will receive information. In other situations, they're going to be working with the family doctors in order to make sure that they can receive the information about when and where to come in. But we will be ready when we receive the vaccines, which we don't have in great quantities right now, but when we receive them, we'll be able to triple or quadruple the number of vaccines we can do in a single day. We are ready for it, and the people of Ontario can count on that. All of our seniors will get the shot if they wish to have one. Thank you. The next question, the member for Davenport. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This question is for the Premier. Speaker, parents and education workers are counting on this government to keep students safe and schools safely open. We know from the experts that in order to do that, we need a broad, asymptomatic, and truly accessible testing program. But despite a commitment to conduct up to 50,000 tests a week, the Ministry is reporting just 3,706 tests completed since late January. In what's become the practice of this government, school boards are scrambling to establish testing systems after being given just days to prepare. In the meantime, the number of schools closed due to the outbreak doubled since last week. Speaker, where are the promised safety enhancements in schools, and when will we see a truly comprehensive in-school testing plan that matches the scale of this pandemic? To apply to Minister of Education. Well, a very interesting admission from the education critic that under the NDP plan, they would mandate compulsory testing on parents, students, and staff unlike any jurisdiction in the world. In this province, Speaker, we are providing voluntary choice to parents, but yes, we're making it accessible, more convenient, and local. That's why we've stepped up the testing capacity. The Minister of Health through Ontario Health has already provided symptomatic and asymptomatic testing to public health units throughout this entire pandemic, certainly since September to the present. But in the Ministry of Education, given the variance of concern, given the new challenges we face as a province and country, we have expanded capacity. In asymptomatic testing programs that were unveiled as recently as yesterday, the average rate of positivity in Toronto, in Peel, in Hamilton, Ottawa, and Sudbury is 0.8%, 8-6%. Demonstrating, I believe, that the rate of transmission is low, but underscores the necessity to keep our vigilance up to keep our kids safe. Supplementary questions? Mr. Speaker, there's slow-walking testing in this province. It's outrageous. Speaker, it's not just parents and education workers asking these questions. People for education released preliminary results of their annual school survey today, and it paints a very bleak picture of overworked school administrators trying to keep up with constantly changing directives without the resources and the support they need. 73% of principals responding to the survey ranked enforcing physical distancing as a top concern. One said, and I'll quote, it is impossible to keep students socially distanced. I have class sizes of 24 to 27 students and can't possibly space them out to eat at lunchtime. Speaker, through you to the premier, if the goal is to keep schools safely open long-term, why are we still seeing up to 30 kids crammed into classrooms in this province? And the Minister of Education responded. Mr. Speaker, this is a once-in-a- generation crisis that our province is standing up to make sure that our schools remain safe and that our schools remain open. That is a position that is a contrasting one in this legislature. There are two parties in this house that would rather our schools be closed. It was the words of the member opposite a month ago when community transmission was around 2,000 to 3,000 that said, we didn't have to have it this way when schools were closed, which thus would conclude you'd keep them open at a time of community transmission of 3,000 cases a day. We have cautiously against the position of the opposition leader we have cautiously reopened the schools. We're actually the only province speaker in the nation that cautiously reopened waiting till those rates got down while we expand capacity for testing enhance our enhance our enhance our requirement for screening before a child enters a school. Of course, mandated masking all the way down to grade 1 with a better quality mask. This government is on the side of parents. We're on the side of teachers. We're going to keep our schools open. I'm going to ask you to come to order. The next question the member for Flamborough Glanbrook. Thank you and good morning Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Health. As we continue our fight against COVID-19, I know it's critical that we all continue to follow public health advice until more vaccines arrive as this is our best and to only defense against the virus. While I know the delay in shipments of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine had affected our government's potential rollout, we still manage to offer the first doses of vaccine to all long-term care residents across the province. As we continue to receive more vaccine doses from the federal government, would the Minister please update this house on our government's progress in the rollout of these vital vaccines? Mr. Health. Thank you Speaker and thank you to the member from Flamborough Glanbrook for your question and for your advocacy ongoing. Our government is committed to having one of the most effective COVID-19 immunization campaigns in the country and we are well on our way to achieving this goal by having recently administered over 575,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines in phase one priority population throughout the province. This was done even after the unexpected reduction in supply coming to us from the federal government. Our government swiftly acted in response to our vaccination plan to ensure the most vulnerable like those in long-term care receive the vaccine as quickly as possible. As we receive more shipments of the vaccine from the federal government we are looking forward to continuing to expand our vaccination rollout to include immunizations. Thank you the supplementary. Thank you Minister and thank you to all members of the government. As our government builds on this early success I know constituents in my riding can take comfort in the fact that this government is working tirelessly to ensure as many Ontarians as possible are vaccinated as quickly as possible pending the availability of supplies. It's important for Ontarians to know that this is only the first phase that increases so will the number of people receiving the vaccines. Can the minister inform the members of this house how our government plans to build off these early successes in our vaccine rollout. Minister Thank you building from some of the early successes our government has achieved even with a limited supply of vaccines we are continuing to expand our capacity and ramp up efforts for which is expected to begin this April. This will be done by working collaboratively with local public health units who have developed plans to operate mass immunization clinics as soon as enough supply becomes available as well as continuing to offer mobile clinics to vaccinate our most vulnerable. Additionally an online booking system will be implemented in order to further support those who are unable to book an appointment through the online tool. Our government will stop at nothing as we continue to implement comprehensive vaccination campaign in the country. Thank you Speaker. Thank you Speaker my question is for the Premier. Yesterday I asked this government to come clean and tell Ontarians which developer is lined up for the Prime Minister to talk to the Prime Minister and the Prime Speaker. First the minister told us that the site isn't being sold to anyone and there's no sale of the property but hours later the Premier said the deal hasn't been signed 100% yet and that the process is moving forward so which is it? Speaker why is this government refusing to tell us who in the Premier's inner circle wants me to listen carefully to what the opposition member has to say and if she says anything unparliamentary I think the government side would expect me to be on my feet makes it harder for me to listen when there's heckling from the government side when one of the opposition is asking a question very same thing the other way start the clock next quite a response the member from illness. Thank you very much thank you now I will say the same thing to the opposition side when there's a government minister answering a question you would expect me to listen carefully and if the member says anything inappropriate or outside the rules you'd expect me to be on my feet it's harder for me to listen carefully and intently when there's heckling from the other side so I'd ask you to consider that too supplementary Thank you Speaker back to the Premier once again this government is putting political favors for their developer this government has brokered a special deal with one developer for the heritage listed found rebuildings without any other bidders and without actually listing the property for sale in an open fair and competitive process they didn't even bother to notify the city my community has had enough of this government's contradictory statements and vague talking points we want answers who is being and how much have they donated to the Ontario PC Party for that right Can I ask the member to withdraw the response Member for Milton Thank you very much Thank you Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker we've been clear that the negotiating mandate to facilitate the future sale of the site has been approved however the site has not been sold we're currently consulting with the community to hear more from them we also have an ongoing conversation with Mayor Tory and the ministry staff is also having an ongoing conversation with the city staff we look forward to completing our public consultation and moving forward with the environmental remediation of this site Thank you Mr. Speaker Thank you the next question the member for Orléans Corriado Thank you Mr. Speaker My question is for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and the House for somebody that can answer ministerial zoning orders are directives that allow the minister to decide how a parcel of land can be used overriding local planning in existing zoning rules while these directives can sometimes be justified they should be used sparingly as to not regularly deny Ontarians the opportunity to voice concerns or appeal this is especially important when the projects raise environmental concerns 16 of these orders were issues yet suddenly this government has issued 37 over 2 years and 32 of those were issued last year alone we've seen decisions over the last 2 years that have further reduced environmental protections and I worry that these orders are being issues with the same lack of concerns Can the Minister justify issuing so many MZOs when we know they should be used sparingly as to override important planning processes The response the member from Milton in parliamentary system Thank you Thank you Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker our government has been crystal clear that every single ministerial zoning order issued on non-preventionally owned lands has been the request of the local municipality full stop MZOs are a tool our government uses to get critical green belt moving faster Mr. Speaker let me list some of the projects the member opposite has opposed the creation of 3700 long-term care beds nearly 1,000 affordable homes and hundreds of supportive housing units 26,000 new jobs the expansion of a Sunnybrook hospital a made in Ontario PPE facility and Mr. Speaker I can go on and on Thank you Mr. Speaker the supplementary question Mr. Speaker 14 ministerial orders were issues to push through projects where environmental concern have been raised we can understand the use of these orders to approve projects for much needed long-term care beds producing urgently needed medical supplies and other similar cases as the minister pointed out however when the government uses these exceptional power under the guise of recovery measure from the pandemic to allow for the destruction of protected wetlands and dangerous species or important agricultural land it may be of the interest of some developers but it is certainly not in the public interest economic recovery is important but not at the cost of the future generations who will have to grapple with the impact of these decisions if MZOs are meant to be used for fast track urgent infrastructure needs can the minister explain how using them to approve building projects such as market price housing in a film studio crucial to our COVID-19 recovery thank you Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker ministerial zoning orders are not new in fact they have been used since 1972 the previous liberal government issued 19 MZOs Mr. Speaker one difference between our government and the previous liberal government is that liberals built only 600 long-term care beds Mr. Speaker compared to the 3600 long-term care beds that our government has built by issuing these much needed MZOs to help communities right across this province and we will not apologize for that Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker the next question the member for Flamberall Glamber thank you speaker the next question is for the solicitor general I was pleased to see that yesterday the government introduced the combating human trafficking act this fulfills a key commitment by the premier during last year's announcement of Ontario's five-year anti-human trafficking strategy that Ontario would take a hard look at legislative options available to combat this heinous crime I know that all members and communities across this province but speaker I'm sure that this is no easy feat given Ontario has the most reported incidents of human trafficking in the country can the house receive more details on how specifically this legislation will help whole defenders accountable so that those who perpetrate this heinous crime face justice the solicitor general to reply thank you and thank you to the member and advocacy in our anti-human trafficking strategy you know speaker our young people are at greatest risk for being exploited by traffickers we've said it before but it bears repeating the average age of recruitment is only 13 years old because of the strong foundation laid by our colleague the minister Laurie Scott while we were in opposition we have been able to provide a government-wide comprehensive approach to human trafficking in the province of Ontario so if passed this legislation would provide police service with the authority to access motel, hotel and short-term rental guest registration information with the penalty of non-compliance of $5,000 it will require companies that advertise sexual services to have a contact for law enforcement to request information as part of a human trafficking investigation these are government-wide real difference in our community and for our young people thank you Thank you the supplementary question Thank you Mr. Speaker and through you it is reassuring to hear the solicitor general highlight how the proposed legislation would provide new tools to more effectively hold offenders accountable but these tools can only work if police are well resourced to take on traffickers and I've heard the solicitor general say that it is especially true when it comes to human traffickers moreover our increasingly digital world has made trafficking even more complex with traffickers able to rely on new forms of communication to identify potential victims and to evade detection my question again to the solicitor general can you identify what resources police have to fight the perpetrators of this heinous crime again to the solicitor general the member is absolutely right human trafficking investigations can often be complex spanning across multiple jurisdictions and unfortunately over many years which is why a new intelligence led joint forces investigation team was established bringing together police agencies from across Ontario including the OPP municipal police services and First Nations police services the capacity of the OPP child sexual exploitation is also being expanded by adding an additional 23 officers police services are also enhancing the use of major case management for human trafficking by investing in software development you know I think if the pandemic has shown us anything it's our reliance on digital and the fact that our children and our young people are spending more and more time online and frankly the traffickers have used this as an exploitation pathway so these initiatives are already seeing results of operations resulting in traffickers being charged last year and into January thank you speaker for Lud and West thank you very much speaker my question is to the premier speaker the premier likes to claim that he's the reason the federal sickness benefit program exists but when the program was first proposed the premier's response was blunt and clear he told everyone and I quote I don't support it even though it would be temporary and even though it would be funded entirely by the federal government speaker why does the premier think he deserves credit for a program that he fought against from the beginning minister later well thank you very much Mr. Speaker we've worked every single day to protect the health and safety of every single worker in this province in fact Mr. Speaker the very first initiative we brought forward was to bring legislation to protect jobs if any worker is home in self isolation in quarantine if your mom or dad has to stay home and look after a son or a daughter because of the school closures you can't be fired for that furthermore we eliminated the need for sick notes but Mr. Speaker thanks to the premier of Ontario all provincial and territorial leaders they worked together to work in this province and to all Canadians Mr. Speaker I'm proud to report today that over 110,000 workers here in Ontario are either receiving benefits or have applied for benefits we're going to continue to advocate on behalf of workers to bring improvements to this program supplementary question thank you Speaker the minister should know that unpaid leave isn't going to help workers pay the bills and pay the rent if it wasn't for the federal government coming to the table in the first place and for the other premiers like the premier of BC who fought back against this premier's refusal to support workers Ontario workers wouldn't have even the limited and the inadequate federal sick benefits they can apply for now last week this premier said he doesn't want provincial paid sick days because he thinks that investing in Ontarians is a waste of money Speaker why is this government so focused on preventing Ontario workers from getting the paid sick days they deserve then the response Minister of Labor well Mr. Speaker there's still $800 million left in the bank account through this federal program we're going to continue to advocate on behalf of workers Mr. Speaker that's why I've worked really really closely with Minister Qualtrill the federal minister who's responsible for this program we've worked together to raise awareness of this program to also push for faster payments in fact Mr. Speaker 80% of the sick day pay is now being directly deposited into Ontario workers bank accounts within three to five days that's good news for workers furthermore Mr. Speaker thanks to our advocacy on behalf of workers the federal program is now one month of paid sick days but Mr. Speaker I have to ask the member opposite one of the NDP members last week called the federal program useless and the leader of the opposition last week Mr. Speaker said what we want to see is paid sick days in Ontario ten paid sick days seven rather ten sick days seven paid and yes that would be small businesses responsibility thank you very much thank you the next question the member for York Centre thank you Mr. Speaker to the Government House Leader almost a year ago the Premier told Ontarians we need to lockdown for two weeks to flatten the curve two weeks into two months to the province turn into almost four months for most of the GTA in my beloved city of Toronto four months turn into a year flatten the curve turn into slow the spread slow the spread turn into stop the spread and now stop the spread turn into until we all get vaccinated we should stay home it's been a year a year of depression of economic devastation a year of miscancer diagnoses and cancer heart surgeries a year of children and adults developing depression and anxiety my city of Toronto is in ruins North York is not recognisable my question to the Government House Leader will the narrative become until we address all variants until we get the Pfizer booster shot until Moderna adjust the formula when will you let us free what is that parameter and why should we believe you Order the response the Government House Leader thank you Mr. Speaker I'll of course remind the Honourable General that of March of last year he voted in favour of lockdown measures he did so again in April he did so again in May he did so again in June he did so voted in favour of the reopening Ontario Act in July he voted in favour of the measures in September he voted in favour of those measures in October he voted in favour of those measures in November he voted in favour of those members of those measures in December Mr. Speaker so I thank the Honourable Member for the support that he has given to help keep the people of the province of Ontario safe in March April May June July August September October November and December thank you Supplementary question I have not heard a response I have not heard a response because there is no exit strategy there never was the Government keeps stumbling and fumbling along adjusting the narrative to the politics of the day governing by opinion polls as most of the world is already open a recent UK study concluded that there are already more than 4,000 variants of COVID-19 on January 12 Moderna said that its vaccine is only good for a year it's an open and fortunate magazine Pfizer is contemplating a third booster shot Dr. Stiney Brown the modelling expert during the February 11 public hearing briefing public health briefing called some of the variants potential vaccine escapees so why why is the Government offering an unviable exit strategy again just four months more just till the fall just until we get the third shot my question to the Government House Leader what is the exit strategy and will he apologize for the millions of lives ruined by this Government again Government House Leader to respond I think the Minister of Health the Premier have been very clear on what the exit strategy is it's to keep the people of Ontario safe and healthy that is why I am quite proud of the fact that as the Minister of Health highlighted yesterday and the Premier as a matter of fact to highlight it yesterday that Ontario has done better than almost any other jurisdiction in North America in terms of keeping its people safe so I am quite proud of that Mr. Speaker there is a lot of work left to be done I'll let the Honourable General now who sat with this Government and voted for many many many months on all of the very same measures he somehow now disagrees with explain that to his constituents for us the health and safety of the people that's what we're doing we're putting the resources in place to ensure that that can continue to happen the Minister of Education put in place a resource to ensure our students are safe the Minister of Long-Term Care has done that and the Minister of Finance will be highlighting measures to get this economy moving and back on track as soon as possible Thank you very much the next question to Member for Flanders Thank you Speaker on December 5th 2019 the Government introduced Bill 159 Rebuilding Consumer Confidence Act 2019 the Bill received Royal Assent on July 14th 2020 once in force it will enable the Government to issue administrative penalties against businesses that do not comply with specified provisions of the Consumer Protection Act or its regulations the Consumer Protection Act is designed to protect consumers from harm when purchasing goods and services in the changing marketplace the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services is consulting further on the Consumer Protection Act can the Minister of Government and Consumer Services explain the objective of the current review Minister of Government and Consumer Services Thank you very much Mr. Speaker and thank you to the Member from Flamborough Glenbrook for that that question she is one of the hardest working MPPs in this house and your constituents are lucky to have you Speaker I want to share with you that our Government is conducting its first comprehensive Consumer Protection Act for the first time as I mentioned in 15 years and this is the most comprehensive act that governs the MPRTEX consumers and businesses with regards to how consumers and businesses interact specifically this particular act needs to evolve and I'm sure everyone in this house will agree to that our review of this act specifically is looking at how the act can adapt to changing technology and marketplace innovations support compliance and include effective enforcement powers and tools to deter non-compliance we're looking at how to make the act clear and easier so consumers and businesses alike can determine their rights and their obligations all the while we are continuing to look at how to better protect our vulnerable consumers from practices like aggressive high pressure contracts Thank you very much and these supplementary questions Thank you speaker and thank you minister last summer the Ontario government took action to protect the province most vulnerable consumers by amending the payday loans act the government set the maximum interest rate that can be charged on payday loans in default to 2.5% and the maximum fee that payday lenders can charge for dishonored payments at $25 the impacts of COVID-19 have made it more important that consumer law be clear to business avoid imposing undue burdens on companies and entrepreneurs focused on recovery and stop dishonest competitors from harming consumers and taking business away from honest businesses can the minister of government and consumer services explain what else the province is doing to protect vulnerable consumers through the Consumer Reporting Act consultations Mr. Government consumer service Thank you Mr. Speaker and again I'm going to talk to her from Flamborough, Glambrook and I have to share with you not only does she take care of her own constituents but when called upon from people from throughout Hamilton she readily assists them as well and so in terms of assisting our government is committed to protecting consumers and ensuring they have the information they need to make informed decisions when it comes to borrowing money we are looking to establish new procedures for users with regards to the high cost alternative financial services like installment loans lines of credit and auto title loans provided outside of traditional financial institutions like banks that is why we are consulting with stakeholders as well as the public to identify ways that we can improve the regulation and make available more specific information about these high cost services so that we can protect again our vulnerable borrowers from potential harm and we will be consulting to look at this particular thank you very much thank you the next question the member for Brampton Senate thank you and good morning speaker just waiting for my mic to turn on okay perfect good morning speaker thank you my question is for the premier speaker yesterday the minister of long term care announced that they are finally investing to help train 373 new psw's for our long term care sector while other provinces of psw's in Ontario there is still no real staffing strategy and there's definitely no real plan to ensure we address retention and recruitment issues in the sector like increasing psw pay speaker through you to the premier psw's deserve a clear answer why won't this government commit to increasing pay for frontline workers like our psw's minister long term care thank you speaker and thank you to the member opposite question we know that staffing was long neglected in long term care and that's why we've had three approaches to addressing the staffing crisis it was the emergency response the stabilization response and then the longer term and we had to do all of this simultaneously because the way COVID hit a very at risk sector because of the capacity issues that were neglected for so long and the staffing issues we measure to deploy hospital staff we had matching portals we had the temporary wage increase after the pandemic pay and we're continuing to make sure that we have a better place to work and a better place to live for our long term care sector and this is absolutely important while we have the four hours of on average direct care for resident per day how we build the staffing the 373 that were announced the other day are part of a much larger thank you very much and the supplementary question Speaker with all due respect this government had almost a whole year to figure out how they were going to address staffing issues in our province almost every other province has stepped up by boosting salaries or paying for training but here in Ontario thanks to this conservative government PSWs are falling further and further behind and the crisis in long term care continues to grow we need you to stop thanking them for their good work and actually put some action into play here why won't this government increase PSWs pay and give them the raise that they deserve here in Ontario Minister of Long-Term Care Thank you speaker so we saw with the the pandemic pay and then the temporary wage increase how complicated this area is and we worked very diligently with other ministries including the Ministry of Health to understand when we do this area what its effect is on the rest of the system this is it is really important to have this depth of understanding in Quebec where more than half of Canada's long-term care does have occurred 86% of the long-term care homes there were publicly funded and I want to mention that because there's a lot of discussion about how Quebec is doing and if we actually look at the data Ontario is doing much better in comparison to the long-term care residents are waiting a very long time to receive their vaccine they're waiting 90 days we've moved ahead and we've got over 120,000 people vaccinated in long-term care and so I think this comparison that's being created with what Quebec has done is we've chosen a different approach and our approach is working if we look at the rate of attrition of the 10,000 people that they promise to hire they have lost significant and we're not able to hire that many very much thank you the next question the member for Ottawa South thank you very much Mr. Speaker my question is for the Premier on Friday the government made a vaccine announcement that was short on details in fact they created another problem by telling people that their family doctors would be responsible for calling them and telling them about how and when they're in an anxiety for too many Ontario seniors and then they announced an online booking system that's not ready yet which is no good to those PHUs who are ready to vaccinate people over 80 so but the Premier announced on Friday was more of an idea than a plan you know a plan has specifics details targets you inform the people you're working with about the plan before you announce it and so Speaker through you detailed information for seniors over 80 on how to get their vaccine the minister of health well I think the member very much for the question the reality is there are going to be 34 plans that are going to be released because each public health unit region is submitting their own plan to the vaccine task force it's being gone through with the members of the vaccine task force to make sure what part of Ontario we're looking at urban versus rural northern versus southern some of the in some cases primary care physicians are going to be contacting their patients when the vaccines come in because I would remind the member through you Mr. Speaker that we are still waiting for vast quantities of vaccines to come in but in some cases the physicians will be calling the patients to come into their offices in other cases physicians and pharmacists and in some cases nurses and nurse practitioners will be offering the vaccines in multi-vaccine sites for mass vaccination clinics so there's a variety of ways that this is going to be done but there isn't just one plan for the entire province there are plans that are relative to the local public health unit thank you thank you very much and the supplementary question we respectfully minister we need a plan and in the immortal words of Yogi Berra it's deja vu all over again in December the Premier told us that we were ready and what happened over Christmas well the four government took a vaccination holiday over Christmas and then they failed to take the advice of Pfizer and move their vaccine into long-term care homes so Ontario was at the back of the pack weeks behind other provinces in getting a first dose into every resident in long-term care we clearly weren't ready as the Premier said and vaccines didn't get into the arms of those who needed it first so this can't happen again Speaker with over 80s or in phase 2 and it feels like it's happening again so Speaker once again I will ask when will the government release the specific details of the how, when and where all seniors over 80 can receive their vaccine and commit to doing the same thing for phase 2 of the roll-in thank you Order Mr. Health to reply Speaker in fact we're planning for this for some time there is a plan that is available but it's going to be delivered individually in the different public health unit regions with respect to the vaccines I'm sure the member is very well aware that we've had delays significant delays in the delivery of the Pfizer vaccine as well as the Moderna vaccine yet we've still been able to change the plan so that we've been able to cover all of the residents of our long-term care homes at least with the first dose that is no small to the Pfizer vaccine we were advised and in fact told by Pfizer we were not to move that vaccine because it could become unstable and perhaps ineffective for use for long-term care residents we thought about the best way to deal with that we wanted to make sure that we followed the that it would be safe and effective for the people that were being immunised and that's why the decision was made to make sure that all of the workers could then be immunised and as soon as the Moderna vaccine was available which are more moveable they were moved when Pfizer changed their recommendation and indicated that the vaccines could be moved to limited places that's what we did we stepped up immediately to do that thank you thank you very much and the next question the member for Waterloo thank you very much Mr. Speaker good morning my questions for the Premier does the Premier of Ontario believe that conservative MPPs threaten communities with funding cuts if they're criticised by the local mayor Governor House Leader thank you very much Mr. Speaker actually I'm quite proud of all of the work that the members on this side of the house have been doing to work with our partners at the municipal at the municipal level and indeed we've been hearing criticism in this house that we're working too closely with our federal partners Mr. Speaker ultimately Speaker what I expect our members to do and I assume that they would do it on that side of the house and they would do it on their communities fiercely advocate for the things that are important to their constituents and I'm quite confident that conservative members of provincial parliament do that every single day even when that means working across party lines to do so the supplementary question I can assure you Mr. Speaker that isn't happening in Peterborough the mayor of Peterborough is fighting back this week after the local Conservative member sent a letter to City Council threatening to pull $6 million in funding away from the municipality remember affordable housing this funding was for housing is a crisis in every place in this province this is not a game and it's not PC money the mayor quite rightly says pulling funding for homelessness in the middle of a pandemic and I quote her is wicked and immoral she went on to say that provincial money is I quote not a gift that can be lorded over us and taken away we agree so my question to the premier or the house leader again is does he think it's acceptable that his MPPs threatened to take away funding just because they don't like being criticized do you think that is appropriate behavior for an MPP to conduct himself in this province I'll remind members to make a comment to the chair not directly across the floor government house leader to reply thank you very much Mr. Speaker I'm not fully aware of the issue that the member raises but I do expect whether it's the member for Peterborough or any of the members on this side of the house to fiercely advocate for what's important to them what's important to their constituents even if that means once in a while being offside with a partner at a different level of government Mr. Speaker yes do I think members should work hard to do that absolutely I do I expect our municipal partners and our federal partners to understand the pressures that our members and that our government and the people of Ontario in the midst of an enormous pressure asking me has this government done a lot for housing in Peterborough yes absolutely has it been the member for Peterborough that has advocated for millions of dollars in different areas of housing in Peterborough yes absolutely should that member and any member of this house on either side of the house strenuously advocate even if it means disagreeing with a member of a council or a federal member of Parliament yes do you're elected to do that is represent the people of Ontario and the people of Ontario are left in the dark before the Christmas break we saw this government push through legislation that would allow a well known bigot to get university accreditation for it the next question the member for or that thank you very much Mr. Speaker my questions for the premier Mr. Speaker the government has a clear track record of back room accreditation for his college and now we're learning of another secret deal to sell Toronto's Dominion Foundries after months of closed door negotiations Mr. Speaker Ontarians deserve to know who's won this government's game of let's make a deal will will the government so I'm going to ask the member to withdraw I withdraw Mr. Speaker place his question thank you Mr. Speaker will the government tell us who is getting this sweetheart secret deal well thank you very much Mr. Speaker I'm going to thank the member opposite for the question and once again I will remind all members in this house Mr. Speaker one more time that the site has not been sold I'm not really sure what the member opposite is talking about but I would say the government in this case Mr. Speaker is leveraging a vacant provincially owned property to build a new affordable housing and community space our government heritage impact assessment for the site and it determined that the building requires a demolition to allow for environmental remediation it's astonishing that the members opposite continue to stand against environmental remediation in this case thank you Mr. Speaker and the supplementary question thank you Mr. Speaker my supplementary is also for the premier we've heard time and again that the government wants to defend the proper use of process Mr. Speaker and they never miss an opportunity to preach about transparency and accountability and yet they rarely practice it themselves the government once again has refused to disclose who is getting this back room deal here in Toronto Mr. Speaker and the premier's decision the premier's decision to use the cup stop the clock minister of education must rise in this place and withdraw start the clock the member can place his question once again the government has refused to disclose who is getting this secret deal here in Toronto the premier's decision to use the cover of a pandemic to ram through a deal to demolish and sell Dominion Foundries is completely unacceptable Mr. Speaker will the premier practice what he preaches and commit for the development rights on it will be made at market value in a clear and transparent way for the benefit of Ontario taxpayers and the reply again the member from Milmont Thank you very much Mr. Speaker we've been clear only the negotiating mandate to facilitate the future sale of the site has been approved and the site has not been sold I can continue to stand here again and again Mr. Speaker and let the members know again and again in case they have hard time understanding I'm happy to stick around after question period and also help them understand the site has not been sold Mr. Speaker we are currently consulting with the community to hear more from them we've also had ongoing conversation with Mayor Tory and the ministry staff having ongoing conversations with the city staff Mr. Speaker and we look forward to completing our public consultation and moving forward with the environmental mediation of this site Thank you Mr. Speaker Thank you the next question member from St. Catherine Thank you Speaker my question is to the Premier I recently met with local officials and restaurant owners in St. Catherine's to talk about the need for more sector-based support they have a point CFIP described Ontario as having the worst support for small businesses in the country the owner and chef of this batch in St. Catherine's Adam Hainam Smith says the injections from the grants are not enough and expects to run 2021 at a loss the Premier knows Niagara and St. Catherine's is a tourist and restaurant destination losing our restaurants means losing our main streets will the Premier stand up and hear the cries for help and will he immediately announce more emergency funding for hard hit services that will help them weather the storm during a third wave the parliamentary assistant member for Willaville thank you very much Mr. Speaker and I appreciate the member raising these important issues because we recognize the hospitality sector the tourism sector has been one of the hardest hit areas of business in this province that's why Speaker from the very beginning we have outlined a series of supports I mean the most a grant of up to $20,000 for these hard hit restaurants for these hard hit tour operators Speaker and I'm proud to say that even since yesterday the funding that has reached the hands of many of these businesses even in St. Catherine's is now up to $930 million Speaker that's over 66,000 businesses who have received funds in hand however we recognize of course that this is a very serious pandemic that will have long lasting economic effects and that's why we're coming down up to 30% or EHT a tax on jobs that has been permanently eliminated for the smallest of small businesses Speaker a series of measures for today and for tomorrow so that we can indeed weather the storm Thank you Thank you Speaker back to the Premier Adam ended our meeting by saying that he had to go lay off another staff member other restaurant groups at the meeting had to take a look at what is in gray and these businesses just want to open their doors but they can't unless it's safe our chief medical officer cited low-vaccine supply for Niagara's continued lockdown he said to avoid to avoid the third wave it is a race for vaccination but Niagara has not given 500 5500 Moderna vaccines to somewhere else will the Premier stand up and tell small businesses across Niagara and in St. Catherine's why Ontario with its worst small business support in the country won't do more to help businesses through a lockdown while it continues and I thank the member for the question but what I can assure the member through you is that Niagara has received its fair share of vaccines in fact in some cases overly so their vaccines were sufficient to vaccinate all of the residents of the long-term care homes the vaccines we had to reshift some of the vaccines and Moderna but there were sufficient vaccines delivered to Niagara to make sure that all of the residents of the long-term care homes were given at least the first injection and that we will continue with that we have a priority a phase priority of people to receive the vaccines but I can assure the member opposite that Niagara did receive their fair share absolutely thank you