 our guests for being here. It is now time for question period. The member from the left in Kent Middlesex. Thank you very much. My question this morning is to the acting Premier and is regarding the recent election results here in the city of Toronto. By capturing nearly 40% of the vote and winning by a margin of over 64,000 votes, Toronto residents elected a new mayor and ultimately a new council with a strong focus on resolving traffic gridlock. Mayor Electori has sent a strong signal that he intends to move forward with big improvements in Toronto's transit infrastructure, including his signature campaign piece called Smart Track. Acting Premier, how does your government plan to work with the new mayor and council to move forward on their mandate to improve the agriculture and the members from the team can come to order please. Thank you Premier. To the minister of transportation. Thanks very much Mr. Speaker. Of course I thank the member opposite for that question. I've had the opportunity already to send some correspondents out to Mayor Electori, along with mayors that have been elected right across the GTHA, right across the province of Ontario, Speaker. I think what's most exciting about the results that we saw that took place not just in Toronto, but right across the region is how much energy and passion there is with respect to the debates around transit. I look forward to working with Mayor Electori and mayors and councils right across the province so that we can successfully deliver our 29 billion dollar infrastructure plan. Thanks very much. Thank you Speaker and back to the Acting Premier. Mayor Electori's Smart Track plans to deliver a new rail system in the existing GO Train corridor within seven years. It is a London-style surface rail subway that moves the most people in the shortest time across the entire city. Tory Smart Track plan promises 22 new station stops and five interchanges with the TTC Rapid Transit Network. After hearing Premier Kathleen Wynn's Hallelujah remarks, we know the Premier is excited to work with the new Mayor Electori. Is the government planning to implement Smart Track or do you have some other plan? Thanks very much Mr. Speaker. So as I mentioned in my initial response to this member's question, there is of course a great desire on the part of both myself and every member of this government to work very closely with all of our municipal partners so that we can deliver on the ambitious plans that we have for the province's future speaker. What's really important to note, not just about the proposed Smart Track that Mayor Electori has put forward, what's really important to note Speaker is that in our 10-year plan we have a very fundamental piece of that plan that is two-way all-day regional express rail forego which will provide up to 15-minute service on all of our GoRail corridors over the next 10 years electrified service speaker. It's something we're very excited about and there are wonderful opportunities within that plan from my perspective for us to be in alignment with not only Smart Track but a number of positive projects that will benefit communities right across the region. As I said earlier, I look forward to working with all mayors and councils to deliver good results for the people. Thank you and final supplementary. I'll speak her back to the afternoon creamer. Your government has promised $15 billion for Greater Toronto and Hamilton area transit expansion over the next decade but much of this money is already spoken for and already allocated. The people of Ontario have heard many transit promises from your Liberal government from two-way all-day go service to high speed rail from Windsor to Toronto to a Scarborough subway. If you're going ahead with Smart Track are these other transit projects a lower priority now and how do you tend to pay for all of them? Minister? Thanks very much Mr. Speaker. So I I uh there's lots of great news on this side of the house of course the speaker with respect to the ambitious plans that we have for the next 10 years. I'm not quite sure where the member opposite's getting his facts or information. What I do know what I do know Speaker is that the Ministry of Transportation and the wonderful team at Metrolinx will continue to work very closely with all mayors all councils all other municipally municipally owned transit authorities so that we can deliver some tremendous results for the people including Speaker the two-way all-day regional express rail that transformation of go trains and go service right across the GTA Cheney and beyond which Speaker will benefit communities like Kitchener, like Milton, like Barry and like so many other Speaker that's the work that we're focused on. Thanks very much. Okay. I'm going to be quick with this. The shots back and forth are going to stop. If you're not stopped by you I'll stop them. It stops now. New question the member. Thank you very much Speaker and my next next question this morning is for the Minister of Children and Youth Services and is regarding the adoption crisis occurring here in Ontario. Minister as you know across Ontario there are approximately 8,000 children waiting for permanent homes in this province. Adoption is a provincially regulated issue and is a lifelong commitment. Minister do you agree with the right Honourable Governor-General David Johnston that there is an adoption crisis occurring here in our province? Thank you. Thank you for the question. And I do take my responsibilities on the adoption file very seriously. I know that the number of children who have been adopted in Ontario has continued to increase. We have less and less children waiting to be adopted. We are very focused in particular on children in the aboriginal community speaker who where there's perhaps more challenges on on proceeding with adoption but we're working very closely with those communities to make sure things are culturally sensitive and appropriate. So my commitment is to continue to look at the issues and opportunities associated with the adoption file and I'd be pleased to be with the member to discuss that more fully. Thank you. Well Speaker back to the minister. Minister you will know that it is often easier to adopt on other continents than it is to adopt across regional boundaries here in Ontario because each CAS office operates in a silo within their own territory. In 2009 prior to his appointment Governor-General David Johnston led an expert panel on the adoption crisis. Five years later the major recommendation remains unfulfilled. Sadly government red tape and inter-provincial barriers often prevent adoptions from other parts of Canada. Minister this is about children in our society. What can we do to work together to help resolve this crisis and ensure that waiting families are matched with children in need. Thank you. Thank you to the member for the question and he commented on the role of the children's aid societies in terms of adoptions in Ontario and we've made tremendous progress in coordinating the efforts of adoption between the CASs. We have actually a reduction in the number of CASs in in Ontario and they are working very closely while while maintaining the protocols that that have been established for adoptions in Ontario. I understand his point about international versus domestic. I pursued an international adoption myself until I became pregnant with my twins. I'm very familiar with that process as compared to what we have here in Canada and in Ontario and I think when we look at the file there's been great progress. Is there more work to be done? Absolutely. Are there some issues associated with adoptions in Ontario? Absolutely. We'll continue to work on that. I'm happy to provide a personal briefing on that. Thank you. Thank you. Final supplement. Well Speaker back to the minister. According to the adoption council of Canada it takes up to nine years for someone to navigate the complicated adoption process. The real adoption crisis here in Ontario is that a bloated and broken system is preventing the timely match of waiting families with children in need. Minister the longer a young child stays in foster care the harder it is for healthy attachment to begin. As a new father minister it breaks my heart to think of children growing up without a loving home. Minister November is National Adoption Month. What specific steps are you committed to taking over the next month to help resolve Ontario's adoption crisis? Thank you minister. Well first of all congratulations to the the member on being as a new father or having as maybe a second child I'm not quite sure. We know we know there are some opportunities on the adoption file. I think it's important though when we use numbers around the adoption file that we be very careful because sometimes we're talking about averages where we have to look at the specifics of cases. We have an adoption strategy in Ontario again I'm happy to brief the member on that and our as I said our particular focus is around the Aboriginal community and helping facilitate more appropriate adoptions in care making sure those are culturally sensitive and uh nothing is more important to me speaker than the future of children in our province and I will continue to provide the appropriate leadership on this file. Happy talking about it further. Thank you. Thank you. New question the leader of the third party. Thank you speaker my questions for the acting premier or the deputy premier rather. When the deputy premier president of the Treasury board got her mandate letter from the premier she was instructed to quote increase the government's accountability and transparency or end quote. Now does that include ending the government's attempt to cover up what happened with the gas plants by ensuring that Peter Feist and Laura Miller testify at the gas plants committee. The deputy premier. Government house leader. Thank you very much speaker I thank the the leader of the third party for for the question. Premier speaker I've spoken often in this house about our government's commitment to being open and transparent in making sure that we've got principles in place that ensures that there's more enhanced transparency and accountability when it comes to government functions and that's why speaker we're really proud that we have tabled a government an MPP transparency and accountability legislation which we're hoping that will pass through this house and also speaker that is why we've been we've been very clear in stating that it is time for the justice committee to complete this work it is time for the justice committee to to start the work of writing its report. The committees have been working for three years. They've listened to about 90 witnesses hundreds and thousands of documents have been considered it is time for them to give some advice. I'm just going to offer a caution as opposed to withdrawal please be guarded with your language it was very close I appreciate the member taking that under advisement supplementary. Well speaker you know the legislation means nothing if the government's not prepared to keep their word and start being transparent and accountable to the people of this problem. New Democrats bought tooth and nail speaker to get the details about the 1.1 billion dollar gas plant scandal in the first place. We uncovered the facts cancelled gas plants that they didn't cost $230 million as the liberals had suggested but they in fact costed 1.1 billion dollars. We uncovered that the liberals put their own political interest first ahead of the people of Ontario and we learned that liberal insiders wiped computers to try to hide evidence from the people. Now will the minister responsible for accountability and transparency the head of treasury board will that minister tell her liberal colleagues on the gas plants committee to be truly transparent and fully accountable to stop hiding the truth and make sure that Laura Miller and Peter Feis actually testify at that committee. Speaker we have been absolutely clear on this point we want the justice committee to finish speaker during during the campaign we were very clear that we want the justice committee to engage in is your board writing given the extensive amount of work that the members of that committee has done and I remind the leader of the third party because her question was I would suggest to speaker to you was full of contradictions because on April 29 three days merely three days before the third party decided not to support the budget in this house the member from our own party the member from brambley gore martin moulton stated that and he moved a motion in the committee stating that the standing committee on justice policy begin report writing in open session speaker what has changed I mean this was three days before a campaign was called and we agree I think it is time speaker that we should we should get the work and report writing and I asked the opposition parties to stop stalling the work in the committee and let's get back to work in justice committee thank you final supplementary I think it's shameful that the house leader doesn't tell the whole story when we're talking about accountability and transparency we absolutely indicated we wanted to continue to have witnesses come to that committee and that house leader knows it she won't learn as much again which at the center at the center of the computer wiping scandal in the premier's office and Laura Miller the deputy of chief of staff of the former premier was orchestrating that scheme now ontarians deserve to know what information was so important to the liberals that they used military stop the clock come to order and stay that way please finish ontarians speaker deserve to know what information was so important to be to be hidden that the liberals used military grade software to make sure it got wiped out they deserve to know who gave the order speaker so the question goes back frankly to the head of the treasury board in your mandate letter one more time i want to i want to remind that minister that increasing the government's accountability and transparency at her is her job when she's going to do it speaker with with with all due respect the kind of allegation assertions of the lead of the third party's making is something that the justice committee should not be looking at that is exactly the kind of stuff that the Ontario provincial police is investigating into we should not insert ourselves in a police investigation i think it's that matter should be left up to the police which is an arms length investigation from the functions of the government in fact the opp witnesses when they came to to the justice committee they they said the same thing said do not engage in work that we are doing so i asked the members let's get back to the mandate of that committee and that is to give guidance to the government as to how decisions around large energy infrastructure should be made that was the mandate of the committee that's what we need to focus on that is why speaker we brought a motion in the standing committee legislative assembly to refer ministry of energy to the standing committee of just in policy so that members there can resume their work the members from the opposition are dragging their feet thank you new question the leader of the third party thank you speaker my next question is also to the deputy premier does the deputy premier and head of the treasury board think that privatizing and outsourcing it services at an increased cost of two hundred million dollars is a good idea when we can do that same work in house for much less thank you deputy premier well speaker thank you to the member opposite i welcome the opportunity to clarify some of the erroneous information that has been dropped in this house speaker so it is true that it can so we need it consultants we need them to provide services and programs that ontarians need and a cost effective efficient and convenient way ontarians expect our their services to be to be delivered in a to be accessible digitally we actually have done a very good job reducing our reliance on it consultants and i think speaker i think everyone would acknowledge that there are occasions where we actually need to turn to those task specific consultants where we don't have the expertise internally but where we do also have the expertise internally we are bringing those uh consultants into the ops speaker i'll look forward to the supplement thank you the liberal government keeps insisting it's looking for ways to save money and rationalize the way that we run our province we have it professionals but instead of using the professionals who work for the ontario public service the liberals have increased the use of outside consultants by 63 percent in the last five years it's just more privatization by stealth and more cost to ontarian speaker does the president of the treasury board responsible for saving money think that this makes any sense whatsoever well speaker i can tell you we've worked hard to figure where that 63 percent number comes from because it's simply not true in fact you might remember speaker in 2002 the auditor general delivered a scathing report on the use of it consultants and we were elected in 2003 since then we have achieved results we have cut in half our reliance on consultants since that time speaker around 1500 consulting consulting positions 1500 consulting positions have been converted to ops staff most of which were it positions the result has been an ongoing saving of 60 million dollars in fact we're not done we've uh we're moving to uh convert an additional 90 it consultants further 3.6 million reduction so i think we actually agree thank you final supplementary speaker the minister might want to talk about a action from 2003 i'm talking about an auditor general's review of much more recent history speaker the bottom line is ontario now has 63 percent more consultants doing it work than it did five years ago not 11 years ago speaker five years ago it costs more than double to hire a consultant than it does to do the work in house there are more consultant speaker and we're paying them more money those are just the facts now i can understand if the head of treasury board the former minister of health is having e-health deja vu over there across the aisle will the head of treasury board take the lessons learned from e-health in fact stop outsourcing and privatizing it services bring them back in house and save the people of ontario 200 million dollars that people intelligent well many people armed with the same facts will come to the same conclusion so i am offering an opportunity to actually make sure that the ndp has the right facts they have been claiming that the government is spending 700 million dollars a year on it consultants it's simply not true the number speaker was 130 million dollars what the opposition has done is it has included things like our microsoft office licenses in that 700 million dollars if they think that we should develop our own version of microsoft office order you have time for a wrap up oh i say i i uh i just simply do not cannot buy the argument that we should be developing our own internet service within government our own office microsoft office uh program speaker thank you question remember from run through nificent thank you very much speaker last week i asked the premier whom she deflected a question on the gas plant scandal my question is for the deputy premier last week i asked the premier she deflected it to the house leader he gave a somewhat dithering obstructionist response to questions with regard to the gas plant scandal and the standing committee on justice policy who had been interviewing witnesses we've asked specifically and the premier has quoted enhancer to saying she wants all the facts to come out at this committee so we have two witnesses laura miller peter feist eyewitnesses to the caper eyewitnesses they know who deleted the emails they know who destroyed documents and they know who had unauthorized access to the premier's office so we've asked and i'll ask you again you're in the dead pre you're in the big chair today make a decision look at will you laura miller and peter feist to come before that committee so that the facts can be known and we can put this baby to bed thank you order i will now uh first of all i didn't recognize you second of all the next person that speaks when i'm trying to get quiet will get warned deputy premier i apologize speaker government house leader thank you uh speaker and again i i i'm a member of the amusement uh with uh with a uh his version of logic that he presents what he's talking about speaker again is the matter that he's member from leeds granville is worn finish please speaker the matter that he is the the member uh from renfrew uh pambrook nipis again is is referencing the way he's categorized categorized like them are clearly within the purview of the ontario provincial police as speaker as you know there is an ongoing investigation uh in that whole matter and it's up to the opp to determine as to what next steps should be uh they should be taking answer which witnesses they should be talking to that is not the mandate of the justice committee the mandate of the justice committee is looking looking into the decision thank you on the relocation of gas plants thank you supplementary thank you very much mr speaker back to the acting premier you know the house leader is a lawyer he knows that the opp cannot force liram laura miller or peter feis to give a statement but the but the committee can if you would allow them to come before this committee now this morning you tabled for second reading your bill eight it's i don't know how many times you use the words accountability and transparency well this is your opportunity to put some action onto those words not hollow hollow words which we get usually get from the liberal party this is a time to stand up and take action this is the last opportunity we have an opposition day motion today that will call upon this house to bring laura miller and peter feis before that committee so that we can hear from them we can get the facts the premier will have her completed investigation we'll get to write that report but the people of ontario will not be denied the final adjudication of what happened there and that is what your actions are your family question do you see the face thank you government house leader uh thank you uh thank you again speaker speaker i want to thank the member from nipian colton for referencing the speech from the throne yesterday and this is what the speech from the throne says and to ensure that his decisions are always made responsibly openly in the best interests of ontarians your government will take steps to allow the justice committee to write its report right that's speaker is coming from the speech from the throne which by the way speaker was passed in this very house and the speech from the throne speaker clearly says that the government will allow the justice committee to write his report we are doing exactly that speaker we have asked the standing committee of legislative assembly to refer ministry of energy to the standing committee justice policy so that justice committee the deputy host leader is warned finish please do you have wrap up we we've asked the justice committee so that justice committee can speaker can start the process of writing reports and giving his recommendations to the government thank you very much new question the member from kitchens or water thank you very much mr speaker my question is to the deputy premier speaker the president of the treasury board's mandate letter says she's responsible for quote conducting an ongoing review of it service delivery including ensuring that costs and expenditures provide value for money does the deputy premier think that the estimated three hundred and fifty million dollars spent to construct the gulf data center a facility whose services are in fact being contracted out make sense well thank you speaker and you know i really think it's important that the nvp get their facts straight when it comes to the it this is very important work speaker and we welcome the criticism and the opposition from the opposition but speaker it's important that we start with the right facts so the member opposite has uh has said that the government spending seven hundred million dollars on consultants simply not true there is a mysterious number floating out there about how much we've increased reliance on consultants the truth is speaker that we have reduced our reliance on consultants by 50 percent saving tens of million dollars and we know there is more work to do and we are committed to that sir so speaker the the gulf data center the center that the member has referenced is a very important part of ontario's it plan we uh we are very proud of that center and uh we are not quite sure what her criticism of that is but uh you're very proud of that data center supplementary thank you i i'll make my criticism very clear mr speaker the minister is supposedly tasked with finding savings and eliminating waste right now it's estimated that the gulf data center servers are only being used 20 percent of their capacity yet the government is contracting out data storage to privately operated cloud now perhaps it's convenient for that data and those emails to be in a cloud somewhere instead of a secure facility run by the trained qualified it professionals in the ops but why is this government wasting money by contracting out data storage to the private sector when ontario already has the capacity to do those services in house and the people of this province have already paid for it that's exactly what we're doing we invested a significant amount of money in that data center there's another data center in kincston speaker and we are consolidating work into those centers so again i actually think we agree that the right thing to do is to use the data centers that we have invested heavily in for the best possible value there has been concern about uh using the cloud and i think it's important that the member understand that the only information that is on the cloud is actually public facing information so our ontario.ca website for example is on the cloud there is no personal information thank you thank you mr. speaker my question is for the minister of community safety and correctional services mr. speaker i'm grateful for the hard work of ontario's correction staff who play such an important role in keeping our communities safe this is particularly relevant and of considerable concern in my riding of kincston and the islands where we have five correctional facilities recently the minister joined me and kincston along with a panel of experts from the field of corrections at a town hall event that i hosted at queen's university we had experts from a variety of organizations including the law department at queen's youth diversion john howard society and of course the federal correctional officers union i was happy to have the minister and discuss this issue that hit so close to home discussions about corrections are important but what kincstonians and ontario expect to see from our government is action mr. speaker can the minister question tell us what has been done to take action on this issue minister community safety and corrections thank you very much speaker i want to thank the member from kincston and the islands for uh raising a very important issue and her invitation to me uh to the panel discussion that she hosted at at queen's university speaker doing introduction of gas i mentioned that we've got some correctional officers who are visiting sitting in the in the public gallery and through them uh speaker i want to first of all thank all our correctional officers for their hard work professionalism and dedication and keeping our community safe every day speaker our goal is to build a stronger and safer communities at the roundtable uh we discussed uh the clear mandate that i was i'm given by the premier to transform our correctional system and i discussed speaker the action that we are taking on and addressing capacity issues while working to ensure the safety of all our staff members and our inmates and also speaker ensuring the support support for rehabilitation and reintegration for our inmates is in place to minimize recidivism i look forward to providing more details in supplementary thank you supplementary thank you mr. speaker and thank you to the minister for his response i'm happy to hear that the minister will be taking action to address the state of our correctional system in ontario but mr. speaker we still hear of concerns around mental health services and critical programs to rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders into our communities mr. speaker these issues are of interest to all ontarians as they affect recidivism and have an impact on community safety as a whole that is why it is important that we work together with all of our partners in corrections to address these issues mr. speaker through you to the minister please elaborate on the specific steps that you are taking to address these concerns thank you minister speaker thank you speaker we're focused on a system that keeps our correctional staff and inmates safe while providing more opportunities for training and rehabilitation that means continually working to improve conditions at every institutions across the province by enhancing education rehabilitative and training programs for offenders improving services for mentally ill female and aboriginal offenders improving discharge planning and community reintegration and addressing both capacity and innovation within our correctional system speaker i know that our opsu partners and all our corrections partners share the same goals we are already working towards to improve the safety and security of both correctional staff and inmates and are moving on rolling out protective equipment for our correctional officers developing a regional intermittent center strategy and hiring over 300 new officers by the end of this year not to mention speaker we're hiring more mental health nurses to provide better care for our inmates that are in our care and custody thank you thank you your question remember from latter product Lenox and Addington thank you speaker my question is to the acting premier minister contrary to all your spin your government is not acting in an open transparent nor accountable manner i'd like to bring to the public's attention important detail from the mars audited financial statements and i quote in 2011 mars phase two inc exercised an option in the amended ground lease with a re to sublet the property to phase two trust thereby enabling it to develop and manage the property minister this was immediately after you loaned mars 224 million dollars to complete phase two what part of the contract was not amended that has now cost us an additional 65 million dollars not to mention the millions in interest that we're also paying now thank you well thank you speaker and and i have to say i think the member opposite needs to acknowledge publicly that the building has been valued at or above our investment in that building speaker so again i ask the member opposite what would they have done in the face of a an economic downturn that caused real challenges for a re would you have left the hole in the ground at the corner of college and university avenue or would you have stepped in to do the responsible thing where taxpayers are actually getting an enhanced benefit speaker so we we took the steps we we are taking steps that are necessary in order to actually have an asset that works for the people of the province thank you supplementary maybe i can have a page bring over the financials for mars to the minister again mars makes it quite clear in their financial statements that they revised the phase two agreement with a re after your government loaned them 224 million dollars mars amended the agreement to allow them to both develop and manage the property your government has repeatedly stated in estimates that you spent 65 million dollars to buy out a re phase two operations and management rights how can you spend 65 million dollars to buy out the a re contract in 2014 when mars's own audited statements say they took ownership of that same contract in 2011 thank you it's very important to us on this side that we are responsible with every single dollar that taxpayers have paid and in order to ensure that we are actually doing the right thing when it comes to the situation at mars is we've uh we've asked a couple of very prominent people to give us advice the uh the member will withdraw thank you we have engaged carol stevensson the former dean at the ivy school of business speaker in london and michael no nobrega the formerly of omer's to give us advice on what the right thing to do is let me repeat the value of the building has been on several occasions valued at more than or at or after what we have already invested this is a good deal for ontario thank you new question the member from nickle belt thank you speaker the minister of health and long-term care thank you speaker the liberal government is undermining our public health care system by allowing secret medical tourism into ontario ontarian holds public health care system dear frontline health care workers and new democrats will not stand by and allow it to be dismantled allowing people to use their credit card to jump the line goes again every principle of medicare it goes against care being based on needs and not on ability to pay it's time for this liberal government to end the secrecy and come clean on medical tourism will the minister tell ontarian how many hospital are already in the business of medical tourism and how many ontarians have been bumped down the line and forced to wait longer for them to thank you thank you mr speaker i appreciate the question first of all zero patients having bumped down the line i think it's important that we not provide misinformation to ontarians and that it gives me an opportunity as minister of health to be absolutely clear that ontario patients must and will always come first and hospitals are not allowed and will not be allowed mr speaker to displace any ontarians in favor of international patients mr speaker our government is committed to ensuring that ontarians have timely access to the best quality hospital care and i want to say as well that i want to thank specifically the rnao the registered nurses association of ontario and their partners for flagging this issue and bringing their concerns to me in fact i met with their head dors greenspan last monday specifically on this on this issue answer mr mr speaker i'm happy to elaborate in the supplementary exactly what measures we've already put in place as well as further measures coming up supplementary speaker i can't believe that we have a minister of health who would stand in this house and defend medical tourism defend a system that will undo everything that we have done to make sure that care is based on needs not on ability to pay medical tourism you know that medical tourism will create a two-tier system where people with big wallet will jump the queue this is wrong this goes against every principle that we hold here and they know this but yet he stands in this house and defends this nurses dr midwives who are at queen spark today they are calling for a ban on medical tourism they are the frontline workers they can see that the government plan is creating a two-tier system it is putting profit ahead of patient care why won't the minister listen to on question act immediately ban this medical tourism and stop the well thank you rich people from jumping the queue thank you very well mr speaker i quite frankly don't know where to begin this idea that the member opposite has that somehow these patients are jumping the queue is absolutely not true the the allegation that she suggested that somehow is affecting the patient care of ontarians is absolutely not true but the truth is mr speaker is that when i first had this conversation with the rnao and others i began a review process in through my own ministry we sent a survey out to the hospitals which are actually engaged in some way or thinking of being engaged in in international patients we sent out a survey to get more information we're reviewing the results of that survey i mentioned that i met with rnao as recently as last monday on this as well i take their concerns very very seriously but mr speaker i have to say that we have already implemented measures where zero public doctor dollars can be used to pay for this type of ontario patients must and will always come first mr speaker and any revenue generated has to go back into hospitals to improve patient care but we are looking at you further information later thank you mr speaker mr speaker my questions for the minister of community and social services minister during the election campaign i met with thousands of constituents and they raised a range of issues and one of the things that they raised was that many of them have family members who are struggling with developmental disabilities and they need help in my riding of a topical center we have we're fortunate to have organizations like community living that provide support to their to those families and those individuals but since becoming npp i've heard very clearly more support is needed for people and their families of those who have this developmental disabilities advocates have asked for more specialized care that is targeted to that are targeted to individual goals and needs and i know in this house we had we heard calls for greater support uh yesterday when the report for the select committee on developmental services was tabled yesterday i know that through the budget the government has chosen to prioritize and invest further to support those with developmental disabilities minister could you tell us who will benefit from these investments and how this will impact the lives of those individuals and their family thank you minister community and social services thank you mr speaker and thank you to the member for a topical center for this question and i was certainly proud to rise in the house yesterday in response to the select committee on developmental disabilities report and to detail the many actions our government continues to take in this area as we transform developmental services in this province our goal is to ensure that everyone can participate fully in our communities the 2014 budget placed a further emphasis on this transformation through our 810 million dollar investment the single largest investment in the developmental services sector in the province's history this investment is expanding direct funding to serve 21 000 more individuals and families specifically we will be supporting 8 000 children and their families through special services at home and 13 000 through the passport program in this way we will provide more choice and flexibility within the existing system to better promote inclusion independence and choice thank you supplementary thank you minister and i'm sure those people impacted will will appreciate this the significant investment minister yesterday you mentioned that the government was exceeding its projected targets in providing direct funding supports for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families however as you know there are in some cases individuals both adults and children continue to wait for funding from these programs and this includes constituents in my own riding of a topical center getting access to these funds so that individuals can start to enjoy more programming support is obviously critical and top of mind to these people and their families minister how is the how is the minister how is the government tackling these wait lists and when can these adults and children in a topical center beyond expect to enjoy that support good question thank you minister thank you we committed in the budget to eliminate the current wait list for the direct funding programs passport and special services at home and our government is making significant progress as thousands of people are already benefiting from our budget investment since our budget passed in july of this year 7 900 people and their families have been approved for direct funding exceeding our original targets for this year by at least 20 percent we're already more than 35 percent toward our goal to provide direct funding to 21 000 people we also as of october 1st updated the eligible services and supports eligible for funding under passport so adults with a developmental disability can get temporary respect for their caregivers take part in community classes recreational programs develop work volunteer daily life skills hire a support worker and create their own life plans to reach their goals thank you my question is for the minister of tourism culture and sport minister let me quote from your mandate letter from the premier continue to work with the tourism industry and regional tourism organizations to support the sector's economic growth and encourage collaboration among tourism industry partners minister a report by fred lasar of the shulak school of business at york university finds that increasing the aviation fuel tax in ontario could mean a loss of nearly 3000 jobs and decreased provincial GDP by almost 100 million annually so my question to you is what economic analysis have you done on the impact to job and revenue losses that this aviation tax will thank you minister of finance sir finance well i appreciate the question as you know aviation fuel um is impacted not just by what the province of ontario has just recently applied it hasn't even changed since 1992 majority of the fees associated with the airlines is actually a federal component notwithstanding that mr speaker we also recognize that ontario has benefited from greater runs greater airline investments and and more opportunities in in the province we also have mitigating opportunities in some of the remote communities that we'll be looking at and we look forward to continuing to enhance tourism and activity thank you stop clock who's next no for the warning supplementary well thank you mr speaker well minister in july sunwing announced that they will begin to operate flights out of buffalo instead of pierce an international airport largely to avoid the increased costs just last week officials were here from buffalo international airport launching a campaign to attract travelers south of the border they have bought ads on the gardener they are running tv commercials and have a website to emphasize the potential savings to ontarians uh you like to point out and blame other levels of government but the bottom line here is your government's aviation fuel tax increase is bad business here in ontario so minister uh are you not concerned at all that this increase uh in taxes is driving businesses and travelers out of ontario are you not at all concerned mr speaker we are stimulating and investing in our economy to promote greater growth and greater opportunities and maintaining a very competitive business climate including uh the areas around tourism and here's what the buffalo airport senior marketing and manager noted he said the following and i quote he like many other residents of western new york will use the toronto airport to fly to international destinations we recognize that toronto and pierce is a very competitive airport and we will continue to be so when uh when we look at other airports and other opportunities around the world we are an international hub and it's still more effective to operate from west from from toronto and the rest surrounding regions in ontario what's also important to know mr speaker is that there are increased investments and increased flights coming out of ontario than ever before mr speaker and we will continue to enhance and support that thank you your question the member from winds of west thank you mr speaker last month the minister of community safety and correctional services inform me that male offenders from windsor and chatham serving intermittent sentences would report to london rather than the new 247 million dollar facility in their own community as you know conditions at the london facility are deplorable with constant instances of overcrowding under staffing and lockdowns with the minister now announcing plans to build new facility in london will male offenders from windsor be required to port to report to this new facility or does the minister ever plan to allow male intermittent sentences to be served at the southwest detention center thank you very much speaker i thank the member from windsor west for asking the question and i very much looking forward to working with the member on very important issues dealing with community safety and correctional services i've appreciated our conversations speaker thus far on issues and particularly the issues that she has raised in regards to algan middle sex detention center speaker as i've spoken in the house before i've had the opportunity to visit emdc along with our our superintendent and the members of the of the members of the local union and and that of the the provincial union as well to better understand the kind of challenges and solutions that we need to determine together and as a result speaker we are not only implementing the 12 point action plan that my predecessor the attorney general put into into action and 11 out of those 12 are already already in action but we are also have announced the building of a new regional intermittent detention center so that we can separate intermittent inmates from those were sentenced thank you thank you supplement thank you speaker i don't believe i actually received an answer to my question as to whether windsor and chat intermittent offenders will then be returned to windsor uh mr speaker we also learned from the minister during his recent tour of emdc in london that one of the reasons that southwest detention center in windsor isn't fully operational is because it's currently understaffed thereby male intermittent offenders are being sent to the emdc in london and we all know how successful that has been in fact the frequent lockdowns on the weekends at emdc are due to staff shortages leading to volatile ongoing situation there minister short staffing of correctional facilities is not just a problem in windsor it's not just a problem in london but across the entire correctional system in this province it's a health and safety issue for the staff and a safety and service issue for the offenders the minister mentioned hiring 300 officers windsor alone would take up a one-fifth of who you plan to hire for this entire province what will the minister do to fix the problem of staff shortages at existing correctional facilities and ensure all new facilities are adequately staffed thank you minister we're really proud of the state of the art detention center that has been built in southwest in windsor called the southwest detention center speaker we're even prouder of the fact that we worked very closely with our correctional staff both management and correctional officers in terms of the design and the operation of the southwest detention center so that not only we enhance the health and safety of our correctional staff but also the safety of inmates as well speaker the southwest detention center right now is at 80 capacity the reason is at 80 percent capacity is by plan because we want we have a transition plan we want to make sure that you don't just you don't just open a jail and just fill it up with people we are the health and safety of our correctional staff both managers and correctional officers is extremely important so we want to make sure that there's a plan there's proper transition in place as for intermittent from windsor to mtc speaker we're only talking about four to six individuals only but i look forward to continue working with the member opposite thank you question remember from girl thank you speaker my question is for the minister of health and long-term care speaker as i am sure you and most members of this house are aware flu season has begun in anteria my constituents in the writing of Durham are concerned about how easy it is to catch the flu sneezing and coughing lack of hand washing and children playing at school all make it easy for un inevitable for us to get sick this season sometimes the individual who are most vulnerable to the flu like the seniors in my writing can experience awful complications such as new pneumonia speaker through you i asked the the minister what is the government is doing what is the government doing to stop the spread of influenza this season thank you well thank you mr speaker i want to thank the member for from Durham for this very timely question and yes the flu season is here and that's why Ontario is once again offering a fleet a fleet a free let's say that three times fast a free flu shot mr speaker for everyone six months of age and older who lives works or goes to school in the province as of last week the free flu vaccine i'm not going to get that wrong was made available at doctors offices and at community workplace flu immunization clinics i even kicked off the beginning of the season last thursday by giving a flu shot to galen weston who is the executive chairman and president of law laws by one of the downtown law laws pharmacies and he said he didn't feel a thing this was to promote the fact that you can now get your flu shot from a trained pharmacist at almost 2400 pharmacies across Ontario and each year the flu shot prevents the need for 200 000 emergency visits 30 000 so rather 30 000 visits to hospital yards 200 000 to doctors offices i'm looking forward to the supplementary mr speaker sure you do the supplementary mr speaker through you i wish to thank the minister it is great to know that the flu shot will be so easily available for my constituents to access this year as a matter of fact mr speaker i will be taking my flu shot next week input parry at the local shopper's drug mine by constituents in Durham are extremely involved in their community which make the spreading of flu even easier healthcare professionals suggest getting lots of rest fluids and hand washings are method to prevent the spreading of the flu but we all know this can prevent the spread of flu on its own i am often hearing people say that they won't need a flu shot this year because they had one last year another thing i hear but you shot can actually cause the flu speaker i wish to ask the minister through you is there any truth to these rumors mr and mr speaker before i begin to answer that i want to also like the fact that we have so many pharmacists here today as well last year they actually administered almost three quarters of a million vaccines flu vaccines to ontarians and i know it's going to be even more this year but i'm happy to set the record straight so that ontarians are informed about the flu and the flu shot it's simply not true that you can get the flu from the flu shot it's also a myth that you don't need a shot every year it's because flu strains can change annually so that the vaccine that you got last fall or winter may not protect you this year and it's especially important for those who are at a high risk of flu related complications mr speaker including the elderly young children and those with weakened immune systems the flu vaccine is safe effective and free for all ontarians over six months of age and as a physician i strongly encourage every ontarian to roll up their sleeve and help stop the spread of the flu this year. Thank you. Question. The Leader of the United Nations. The Minister of Minister of Minister of Affairs and Housing. Minister as you know on June 17th of this year a devastating F2 tornado ripped through the township of ESA creating a path of destruction from the village of Angus to the southwest corner of the municipality homes were destroyed people were displaced and the municipality incurred substantial costs to assist residents and help with the cleanup in fact Mayor Terry Doudal estimates that there was over 10 million dollars in damages so minister you sent a letter to the municipality just recently and you turned down their application for disaster relief under the program you give them zero dollars there were over 100 homes destroyed people were displaced the township itself had which you know over 55,000 dollars question and yet no assistance why aren't you able to provide that assistance. Thank you. Well Mr Speaker that's a good question and it deserves a straight up and good answer but before i give that answer i just want to take a a moment to thank the honorable member opposite who asked the question for being with us yesterday standing with us in Hamilton as our community grieved the loss of a great Canadian hero Jim appreciated your being there sir. I want to commend the people of ESA Township and Angus for their response the first responders and the and the municipal responders in fact the community's response to the events in July demonstrated just what a caring and generous set of community partners were there most of the damage that was caused was covered by insurance most of the was covered by insurance and that was the case in in this particular instance i could give more details in the supplemental supplementary well it's hard to give my usual supplemental with those kind comments from the minister uh i will ask you something though seriously i try not to be partisan about it but it's my first time i've ever asked this in 24 years i have an article from the very examiner that says no tornado relief coming and it hints that the reason we're not getting any relief with up to 10 million dollars in damages is because it's a tori blue riding so i hope that's not the case minister i trust that's not the case i hope ministers don't aren't saying that privately to people the mayor certainly has indicated in this article that that might be the case and the author of the article indicates that so i'm going to give you an opportunity to clear that up i hope you're not discriminating against my riding because they vote the right way the uh minister queer political pedigree has nothing to do with old draft decisions their number of members on this side of the house and the opposite side of the house who qualified for old draft assistance and when those requirements were met that assistance was provided as i said in the response to the first part of the question the vast majority was covered by insurance overland flooding often isn't but tornadoes are invariably covered the total damages from the old draft application that the township made was in fact expenses in the neighborhood of about seventy seven thousand dollars the community itself generously raised over a hundred and forty thousand dollars so the township doesn't need the money or don't need the money because the colleagues in their community we're so generous in helping their neighbors and we should celebrate that thank you and your question member from the former manager thank you mr speaker and good morning to you my question is to the minister in northern development and mines yesterday was meet the miners day at queen's park you had the same briefing and attended the same reception as i did the message was loud and clear industry told us that due to uncertainty instability uncompetitive energy prices and lack of framework the mining sector in this province is suffering industry told us when they went abroad looking for investment dollars investors said no ontario was not a good investment when industry came to government for help they got nothing when first nations asked to be included they were excluded mining companies all across this province are suffering they are asking for stability they are asking for competitive energy prices they're asking for a framework in order to do business here and abroad will this government help the mining sector in ontario or continue to sit on the sidelines and watch as they leave one by one i regret we won't get a supplementary question but may i say i think you and i may have been at very different meetings and perhaps at a different reception that was one of the most positive gatherings of the mining sector we've seen in a number of years at queen's park there are no question we recognize there are a number of challenges and there are no questions that the mining industry particularly those that were there yesterday made it clear how important certainty is but the also the story is a very important part of the story despite those challenges despite the they're working closely with our government on a number of measures despite all those challenges we are still the top jurisdiction in canada for mineral exploration and for mineral production despite those challenges we have we have our 9.8 billion dollars in mineral production last year new mines opening up next year new mines opening up the year other 10 new mines opening up in the last 10 years so while there are many challenges we continue to work closely with all the mining sector but in a very positive way moving forward on all aspects of mining sector including the ring of fire a member from stormland dundas and sulk and glary on a point of order yeah thank you speaker i just wanted to quickly see some residents up to eastern ontario judy wilcox donna lowen and leona st john here from the writing next welcome we have a deferred vote on the motion of second reading of bill 18 an act to amend various statutes with respect to employment and labor calling the members this will be a five-minute belt members take their seats please members take their seats please over the 20th 2014 mr flin moves second reading of bill 18 all those in favor please rise one at a time and be recognized by the court delin mr quadri mr quadri mr orzetti mr grovelle mr grovelle mr micke mecan mr murray mr murray mr murridi mr cotel mr cotel mr leol mr leol mr zimmer mr zimmer Mr. Delaney. Mr. D'Alene. Mr. D'Balcusen. Mr. D'Albénés. Ms. Albanés. Mr. Dixon. Mr. Dixon. Ms. Vangat. Ms. Vangat. Mr. Crack. Mr. Crack. Ms. Wong. Ms. Wong. Ms. Hunter. Ms. Hunter. Mr. Sergio. Mr. Sergio. Mr. Moral. Mr. Moral. Mr. Jas, Ms. Jasmine. Ms. Jasmine. Mr. D'alduca. Mr. D'Alduca. Ms. Dahmerla. Ms. Dahmerla. Mr. Frazer. Mr. Frazer. Mr. Anderson. Mr. Anderson. I'm supposed to say this all those opposed please rise one at a time be recognized by the clerk 97 the nays are zero the motion carried pursuant to order of the house dated October the 28th the bill is ordered referred to the standing committee on general government we have a deferred vote on a motion for allocation of time on bill 15 call in the members this will be same vote no thank you call in the members this will be a five minute bell the 28th mr. Bradley move government notice of motion number six all those in favor please rise one at a time be recognized by the clerk mr. Leo mr. Flynn mr. Zimmer mr. Delaney mr. Delaney mr. Bulkerson all the names mr. Dixon mr. Dixon his manga mr. Crack his wall his wall his Hunter mr. Sergio mr. Moro mr. Moro mr. Jassa mr. Del Ducat mr. Dalduca his Domura mr. Fraser mr. Fraser mr. Anderson mr. Anderson mr. Baker mr. Baker mr. Ballard mr. Don mr. Don mr. Hogarth mr. Hogarth mr. Koala mr. Koala mr. Long mr. Molley mr. Martin mr. McGarry mr. McGarry mr. McMahon mr. Miltran mr. Miltran they do Harris they do Harris mr. Potts mr. Pots mr. Rinaldi mr. Rinaldi mr. Mille mr. Mille all those opposed please rise one at a time be recognized by the clerk mr. Clark mr. Clark mr. Hardiman mr. Hardiman mr. McLeod mr. Wilson mr. Wilson mr. Fidelli mr. Fidelli mr. Yacobusky mr. Huda mr. Huda mr. Miller Perry sound the scope mr. Miller Perry sounds a scope Mr. Dunlock mr. McNaught mr. McNot mr. Jones mr. Comps Mr. Thompson mr. Barrett mr. Barrett mr. Monroe Monroe mr. Scott mr. Bailey mr. Bailey mr. Walker mr. Walker mr. Harris mr. Nipples mr. Nickles mr. Marto mr. Marto mr. mcDonnell mr. McDonnell mr. McLaren mr. McLaren mr. Pettipy mr. Pettipy mr. Hillier mr. Hillier mr. Singh mr. Singh mr. Horvath mr. Horvath mr. Mr. Vanta, Mr. Vanta, Ms. DeNovo, Ms. DeNovo, Ms. Angelina, Ms. Angelina, Mr. Tabas, Mr. Miller Hamilton East Stony Creek, Mr. Miller Hamilton East Stony Creek, Ms. Sattler, Ms. Sattler, Ms. Taylor, Ms. Taylor, Mr. Nadeshack, Ms. Fife, Ms. Fife, Ms. Forster, Ms. Forster, Mr. Mantha, Mr. Mantha, Mr. Hatfield, Ms. Hatfield, Ms. Campbell, Mr. Gates, Ms. Gretzky, Ms. Gretzky, Mr. Chimino, Ms. French, Ms. French. The ayes being 53 and the nays being 44. I declare the motion carried. There are no further deferred votes. This house stands recessed until 3 p.m. this afternoon.