 It is now time for oral questions. I recognize the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Thank you so so much speaker can I just say to the minister across the way that was very moving and I know you're feeling a lot of emotions right now and that was that was lovely as well as the other speakers also but speaker my first question this morning is in fact to our premier we all know that our healthcare heroes gave their all during the pandemic they they gave their all and now they are absolutely burned out the nurses in our our province in our hospitals and all health care settings really did deliver for us but their government simply didn't have their backs now we know that they continue to face really difficult situations at work there are staffing shortages that are massive their workloads on their wards are extremely heavy they feel disrespected because of this government's low-wage policy bill 124 and they continue to face significant mental distress yesterday the Federation of Nurses told Parliament over 80% of nurses report insufficient staffing in their workplace with two-thirds saying the quality of care has designed has declined over the last year my question is simple where is this premier's plan to retain recruit and return health care workers to our health care system thank you very much for the question we certainly recognize the tremendous work that's been done by nurses across the province for the last two years we know that they have in many cases had to sacrifice their being with their own families especially before vaccinations started and we recognize that a strong nursing workforce is critical as we move forward into our recovery phase past COVID and that's why our government is investing in a number of different ways in order to retain a nurses first of all and we're investing $763 million to provide Ontario's nurses with a lump sum retention incentive of up to $5,000 per person that's equal equivalent to about a 6.9% increase but there's more than that we are retaining and we're recruiting more and more nurses in order to be able to allow for some of the nurses who've been on the front lines for the last two years to be able to have the time off that they need because many of them have been at work virtually the entire last two years we need to do more work both to retain what we have but also to recruit more people and I'll speak to that in the supplementary if this minister doesn't know she ought to that their their one-time payment with strings attached was largely panned by nurses they still feel very disrespected but it's not just nurses speaker it's not just nurses medical lab professionals processed millions millions of COVID tests and other samples over the last two years their new report says that they are experiencing burnout as well. Michelle Ho the CEO of the medical laboratory professionals association said this and I quote we have a mass exodus of people leaving the profession because they are tired of feeling unappreciated they too are disrespected by this premier's low wage policy bill 24 so my question is why does this premier insist on continuing to disrespect and drive out health care professionals in this province with his low wage policy including our medical lab tests Minister of Health what we're doing is supporting all of our health care professionals with the investments that we've made we've made investments to support our nurses we made investments previously with pandemic pay to help people get through this time period and to recognize their efforts knowing that they were in many cases having to leave their families behind they were working extra shifts we recognize that all frontline health care professionals have been through a great deal and that is why we are spending additional monies in order to recruit and retain more health care professionals we've also recognized that we need more physicians in Ontario that's why we're expanding for the first time in the last 10 years the number of undergraduate and postgraduate spaces for physicians and to train more doctors for northern and rural areas but we recognize that there are also other frontline professionals that need help that's why we've expanded the number of beds available we're expanding the number of professionals they're going to be able to be trained at some of these locations including the new medical center medical school in Brampton that is going to be started by Ryerson that will also be able to train other health care professionals including lab techs including nurses and other frontline health care profession well speaker the reality is the staffing crisis continues to be a problem in our health care center our health care services rather and this government should not be surprised by that back in october the premier's own science table flagged them with with this with this concern and i quote sustained burnout will likely contribute to staff retention challenges due to health care providers leaving their workplaces and professions a vicious circle maybe underway where under staffing leads to increase burnout and an even weaker health care workforce that spiral is underway speaker but it doesn't have to be this way this can be fixed and we can start fixing it by ripping up the government's bill 124 low wage policy so my question is when nurses when ps w's when lab technicians when the government's own science table are ringing the alarm bells that something needs to happen and it needs to happen fast why is he stubbornly refusing to fix it to fix it and get rid of bill 124 his low wage policy we are dealing with it by retaining the frontline health care professionals that we have by recruiting more people and providing them also with the supports that they need if they are facing exhaustion burnout in some cases many of them need mental health supports we are providing that we're providing that at both in terms of online assistance but for people that need frontline interpersonal care they can receive that as well but we're also getting ready for the future by building the support at the runny meat center that is going to be four frontline professionals that includes frontline police officers frontline firefighters but also frontline health care workers because we know it can often be more difficult for them to obtain supports in a traditional setting we are creating a center that is going to be for them when they are facing burnout when they have mental health response this is going to be a center specifically for frontline health care providers and frontline providers for other services thank you the next question the leader the opposition speaker my next question is for the premier we all know it's been a difficult couple of years in our schools in this province there's been a new report issued by the people for education an organization that does a lot of work in terms of our education system and in that report it says that 90 90 percent of principals found that the pandemic was extremely difficult to navigate for the staff that they were responsible for the report says the stress on teachers and education workers is resulting in an absolute crisis in our education system a staffing crisis that's significant and that they're very worried about worse the group is calling for action and they have been doing so for some time but they're being ignored by this premier and his minister so my question is why is the premier and the minister why are they ignoring our kids and our schools and the workers that work in those places the folks that who support our children and our families why are they being ignored by this government very much i wish to thank the leader of the opposition for her question but speaker i think it's important that we take a step back and we look at the investments the historic investments that have been made by this government by premier ford and minister leche and the entire government of ontario in our education system truly historic investments that have been forced and and built upon the health and safety measures that we put in place based on the recommendations of the chief medical officer of health and of course his team and i want to speak a little bit about some of the specifics we've seen that this year alone under the leadership of premier ford our government is increasing investment in public education by 683 million dollars the single largest investment in ontario's history that's a substantial investment what this means is that on an average provincial per pupil basis funding funding is going to be over 13 000 per student for the first time in our province's history there's a 92 million dollar increase in the special education grant funding through the gsn being projected to increased over 3.25 million dollars substantial funding that's ensuring our students receive the best education possible last speaker in the report that i was referring to in my first question principle shared stories of the hardships that they've been facing during the pandemic and i'm going to share some of those with the government because apparently they're unaware one principle said and i quote families are undergoing significant stress i have a staff member breaking down in my office over stress at least once a week it's a lot to take in another one said without and i quote without an increase in supports to keep schools open safely the impact of educational funding cuts which is what's happening especially during a pandemic on our community will only worse the government cut 500 million dollars from education just in the the last review that's not going to fix what's broken cuts by this government are not going to fix what's broken in our education system so when is the premier going to start question investing in education stop cutting and fix what's broken to make sure our educators and our students get the kind of schools that they deserve very much the leader of the official opposition must have been a victim of discovery math because the reality is is that on this side of this house we have invested the largest the single largest amount in public education in ontario's history our government's investments in public education have increased each and every single year since taking office rising nine percent in the 2022-23 school year when compared to before our government took office this is a substantial amount of investment and it is ensuring that each and every student in the province of ontario is receiving the safe and supportive environment that they need to learn it's ensuring that each and every student is receiving the staffing supports to our education workers and i want to speak about a few of the specifics we recently announced a detailed plan ontario's learning recovery action plan to strengthen the learning recovery in breeding and math anchored by the largest provincial investments in supports summer learning mental health and special education in our province's history these are real dollars that are going into our education system including 176 million dollars being expanded to access free publicly funded tutoring in small groups a largest summer learning investment in ontario's history 15 million dollars expanded teacher-led online tutoring in english and french with more days and grades offered to more students and of course very important as we deal with the consequences of the pandemic the largest mental health investment in ontario's history more than 90 million dollars a quadrupling of what we saw under the former well speaker it is uh it is certainly not surprising that this government is denying the cuts they're making to education but the evidence is very clear and in fact that reports and conclusions should be an alarm bell for this government and the fact that is not is truly frightening here's another quote from that study the ontario government and education system have allowed students staff and families to go without the support resources and action plan needed to navigate this crisis but speaker it didn't have to be this way in fact it still doesn't have to be this way we can invest we can invest in our schools and in our classrooms we can build a system that has the supports that our children need we can take care of our excellent staff and give them the respect that they deserve together we actually can actually can fix what's broken in our education system but we have to stop the cuts and make the necessary investments and so my question is why will this premiere do exactly that very much speaker and i have to correct the record because under the leadership of this premiere the government has increased funding the publicly funded education system each and every year by historic amounts to ever increase to ensure that every student of this province receives an education that they can be proud of that they can assure they're prepared for the jobs of today and tomorrow but i want to speak a little bit about some of the specific issues that were mentioned by the member opposite although of course clearly she hasn't had the opportunity to go through some of the budget items that express how much we're increasing supports for public education we've invested over 300 million dollars to hire 2,350 new staff and we also announced an agreement with the Ontario teachers federation to deliver access to thousands of retired educators we've increased the 50-day re-employment rule to 95 days for retired teachers principals and vice principals in the public school system we've expanded the use of temporary certificates to a new cohort of Ontario teacher candidates this will allow approximately 3400 additional certificates to teacher candidates this year alone these are the sorts of measures that we are taking as a government to ensure that each and every classroom in this province has good staff in front of it each and every classroom is safe supported with ventilation with proper and adequate access to uh infection control measures thank you thank you very much the next question remember 49 percenter thank you speaker 3d the premier in october 2020 the minister of municipal affairs and housing issued a minister's zoning order to enable a medical innovation park on unserviced farmland in Oro Medante the MZO was sought by developers with political and donor ties to the PC party by granting the MZO the government claimed it would accelerate the production of PPE vaccines and other medical supplies but none of that happened speaker the medical innovation centre was never built instead the property owner put the land up for sale for 26 million dollars citing the MZO as a key selling point through you speaker why is the premier handing out MZO's just to boost the property values of friends and donors to the PC party yeah now caution members who can't impute motive the minister of municipal affairs and housing wishes to reply absolutely speaker i want to reply that you know those are unfounded allegations that the members should really seriously reconsider when he's posing a question again speaker i've said this many times minister zoning orders come at the request of the local council therefore priority projects that that council determines are needed and are necessary in their community i understand that that property is is not for sale that information while it might have been correct several months ago is not the case today we're going to continue to work with that council to ensure that the project and the zoning meets the intent of the minister's zoning order thanks to member for the question thank you speaker according to a tear net search the oramodonti property was bought in april 2020 for 2.6 million dollars six months before the MZO was issued then the property owner put the land up for sale for 26 million dollars 10 times what they had paid for it less than two years before same land all that had changed was the MZO this government has issued 80 MZOs in just the last three years more than five times what the previous government issued in 15 years more than half of those MZO speakers more than half have benefited friends or donors to the premier and the pc party when will the premier stop corrupting the planning system with special favors to his friends and donors again i say to the member for niger center you can't impute motive with the question or any statement in the house member for niger center order order on the government side minister municipal affairs and housing thanks for withdrawing that that's uh only the important thing that the ndp should be doing speaker but you know the fact of the matter is let's let's do the compare and contrast and the leader of the opposition can chirp all she wants but you know here's the compare and contrast we want to build Ontario up we want to work with municipalities we want to ensure that municipalities can build the housing can have the job board can have a basis on this side of the house is the economic engine of our country against speaker liberals and new democrats will always gravitate to a coalition against development against prosperity against local councils to work with councils to ensure that our province leads the nation's please restart the clock member for bruce grayo and sound speaker it's always a pleasure to stand up in the house to represent the communities in my great riding of bruce grayo and sound and i want to thank the minister of infrastructure 17 million dollars to gray county for 3 982 house connections 16 million dollars to bruce county for 5 225 thousand homes as part of the southwestern integrated fiber technology or swift program mr speaker in just last week gray county on so they would be using some of their provincial funding to minimize the increase of property taxes from a 3.75 percent hike to a 2.88 percent increase this is great news for the use of funding that will go a long way in putting money back in the pockets of the hard-working people of gray county and i look forward to seeing the other projects that will be funded mr speaker through you could the minister of infrastructure please share with us how our government is supporting critical infrastructure projects in my riding to apply the minister of infrastructure thank you very much for the question there's no question that our small rural and northern municipalities have been the victim of chronic underfunding to support their infrastructure backlog by the previous government that is why our government committed an additional one billion annually in our fall economic statement bringing our total investment to two billion per year over the next five years these investments will help 424 small rural and northern municipalities including those in southwestern Ontario build and repair their infrastructure such as roads bridges and water and wastewater systems as part of our investment 13 communities throughout the area including bruce and gray counties will see over 12 million to support local projects for more than 266 000 residents to provide safe and reliable infrastructure mr speaker these people are getting the infrastructure that they so desperately deserve thank you the supplementary question thank you very much mr speaker and thank you to the minister for great response i know this funding will go a long way to support the municipalities in my riding and across our great province of entero now mr speaker i know that our government is working tirelessly to connect interns to high-speed internet an issue that is very important in my riding and again across the province in areas of southwestern entero including gray and bruce county we're retaining and attracting young farmers and seeing increases in their earnings despite the increasing population and drive for more farmers many of these farmlands don't have the connections they need to connect to reliable high-speed internet an essential service they rely on heavily to access information to make business decisions market their products operate on farm technology and much more mr speaker can the minister of infrastructure please explain how our government is helping these farmers in my riding and across our great province connect the helping them connect to compete in today's economy mr of infrastructure thank you so much mr speaker and i want to thank the member for his hard work our government is investing a historic four billion in high-speed internet infrastructure and has committed to full connectivity province-wide by the end of 2025 through the southwestern integrative fiber technology or swift more than 63 000 homes and businesses are being connected to high-speed internet services in the region and we didn't stop there mr speaker we invested a total of 255 million to connect 58 000 more homes and businesses across southwestern Ontario construction is underway for 53 projects and swift is on track to complete construction by june 2023 our government is saying yes to building ontario and yes to connecting all ontarians thank you speaker my question is to the premier experts have been warning us for years that home prices are being driven up by investors who anonymously buy and sell homes in ontario and canada to store wealth launder money and cheat on their taxes the bc government found that money laundering in the real estate sector caused house prices to skyrocket by five percent in just one year experts in the ndp agree to stabilize housing prices and stop tax evasion and money laundering in the real estate sector we must bring in a land registry and require secret investors to reveal their true identity but this government doesn't want to do it why is this government allowing anonymous investors to drive up the cost of housing beyond what ontarians can afford to respond minister of municipal affairs and housing thanks speaker i want to thank the member for the question she had a very similar question a couple of weeks ago and i know the minister of finance gave a really good answer and i'll let him deal with the supplemental our government has been crystal clear throughout our mandate that all housing options are on the table and we've spent a lot of time early on in our term looking at housing supply something that the laughing leader of the opposition has voted against every time she's the gig again we had a bill that protects tenants and strengthens community housing something you'd think new democrats would be in favor of again they vote against it uh you know even some of our measures including the housing affordability task force and it's interesting that some members support some of the issues but don't support some of the others there's a bit of a a challenge in that caucus in terms of getting their housing policy but you know what's not in their housing policy speaker not one word and that's supporting our call to the federal government for the 490 million dollars that they owe us thank you my question is back to the premier uh so a new report from transparency international canada reveals that ontario and canada are being marketed in russia and elsewhere as great places for money laundering and fraud countries like the uk are rushing to pass legislation to create a public land registry to expose and stop money laundering and fraud and a similar bill has been sitting in our legislature for months yet this government does nothing why are russian oligarchs and other transnational criminals still allowed to take advantage of ontario's weak transparency laws and hide financial crimes in our real estate sector all right minister can i ask you a question well thank you mr speaker and thank you to the member opposite for that very important question uh you know mr speaker i'm sure she's uh she's read the fall economic statement that i tabled in this house november 4th of 2021 yes she's nodding her head so she hasn't of course as you know uh anyone would note that the government we introduced the ontario business corporations act as a measure to prevent and better detect the use of corporations for tax evasion money laundering or other illicit financial activities mr speaker so that's right there in the fall economic statement we're taking action but let me tell you something else mr speaker uh what the minister of municipal affairs and housing was talking about is the imbalance of supply and demand of housing we're welcoming people right across the world to this province the ukrainians our minister of labor and our premier welcoming ukrainians to this great province mr speaker they have to have a place to live we have to build houses we have to build supply and we won't rest until we start to build more houses and more places to live in this great province thank you mr speaker next question member for ottawa vignette thank you mr speaker my question is for the premier mr speaker two weeks ago just before the march break i tabled a private members bill in relation with a very important issue human trafficking bill 99 seeks to help survivors with their financial burden as they try to recover a normal way of living survivors of human trafficking often find themselves with huge debts that were forced upon them like credit cards and student loans and it's really nothing else than financial fraud i'm proposing that these course debts be forgiven and that information on the debts not be made available when the finances of the survivors are evaluated discrimination on the basis of someone having been trafficked is sadly common in the financial sector so my question is will the government support my bill to put a stop to this heartless practice minister colleges and universities thank you mr speaker and thank you to the member for that very important question and this is something on this side of the house we take very seriously and in my former role as associate minister of women and children's issues i was one of the co-leads on developing the anti-human trafficking strategy so our government has taken continuous action on this this issue in the past the ministry of colleges universities has exercised discretion to forgive Ontario student loans and debt for human trafficking survivors based on financial hardships economic considerations or other circumstances that do not warrant the collection of these debts these requests are conducted on a case by case basis and as part of the review the ministry looked at individual circumstances including documentation that was provided such as police reports so i know i have addressed a letter that you sent to my office this is a very important issue and i know i've had more information in the the follow-up about the the strategy that we have developed and the importance that this government takes towards humans trafficking victims thank you mr speaker i very much appreciate the intent you know of the response and trying to help with the debts but i think we need a legislation that addressed that in a systemic way to make sure that these survivors are protected the united state did recently passed a law bar barring the collection in consideration of course that's encouraging human trafficking and i think Ontario should do the same human trafficking is a horrible crime that targets women racialized people and vulnerable people and i find it alarming that kids in our school are among the victims and i think that we should do everything possible to at least help the survivors so will the government be taking concrete steps to ensure that survivors of human trafficking aren't prevented from taking their life back because of financial fraud yeah the minister of children and women's issues social thank you so much i just want to first of all say when i first got this portfolio i went with minister leche sold gen and we went to a school just for that alone to make sure that the school boards were be able to recognize when kids would be human trafficked and it was an honor to be there and i was very blessed to be part of that right after minister dunlop everyone deserves uh freedom from exploitation unfortunately ontario is a hub for human trafficking and as the most police reported incidents of human trafficking canada that is why our government created ontario's anti-human trafficking strategy and we have committed to investing 307 million dollars over the next five years our anti-human trafficking strategy is focused on four key areas raising awareness which i just spoke about protecting victims and intervening early supporting survivors and holding offenders accountable thank you very much next question member for scarborough riche park thank you thank you mr speaker my question is for the minister of colleges and universities speaker the economic impact of the pandemic has many young ontarians worried about entering the workforce getting jobs and developing meaningful and stable carriers students both across the province and right at home in my writing want to be a secure in their future endeavors we all know a skilled workforce will be an important driver for ontario's economy and competitiveness students who choose to enroll in post-secondary education should be rewarded for their hard work and dedication by getting a job that will support them throughout their lives mr speaker through you could the minister tell us what is being done to ensure students in post-secondary education get the education and skills needed to lead meaningful carrier thank you mr apologies in the university thank you mr speaker and thank you to member from scarborough riche park for all of your hard work i know we're meeting this afternoon for an exciting announcement in your area our government puts students first through supporting the economy jobs and benefiting hardworking ontarians and this month we've announced exciting initiatives for students throughout the pandemic we have seen psw's be the true heroes and we are incredibly appreciative of the private career colleges who have trained countless students for their heroic roles in health and long-term care that is why earlier this month our government relaunched the personal support worker challenge fund for private career colleges to support up to 4 000 psw students in ontario this 54.7 million dollar investment will not only address the shortages of psw's in the province but also support students for meaningful careers in health care our government says yes to making investments that will ensure ontarians have access to the healthcare they need and private career colleges have an excellent track record for students for in-demand roles in health and long-term care we are committed to preparing students for critical jobs caring for some of those vulnerable people as we build a more resilient and stronger healthcare system in ontario Mr. Speaker i would like to thank the minister for her answer and for her ongoing commitment to supporting students in ontario i admire this government's all hands-on deck approach to bolster our healthcare system and this minister's evident dedication to students and post-secondary education supporting students for in-demand roles in health care through high quality education will support ontario's economic recovery and help hardworking ontarians in their carriers speaker i'm curious to know what other sectors the minister is supporting students in so my question to the member is what other initiative has the minister uh as the minister taken on to support students so they can get meaningful careers and make ontario stronger thank you and the minister of colleges in well thank you mr speaker thank you again to the member for that question as minister i want to make sure students get every opportunity to get the skills and education needed for jobs in all sectors including new innovative and cutting-edge industries that is why i was delighted to announce the new ontario esports scholarship program gaming is the largest segment of canada's entertainment industry with ontario home to 300 video game companies these in-demand jobs are growing here in ontario and this new scholarship program will assist colleges and universities with one million dollars over two years to support students enrolled in programs such as video gaming game developments and game design last year the gaming industry contributed more than five point five billion dollars to the canadian economy supporting more than 55 000 full-time jobs including computer scientists software engineers data scientists and marketing professionals this rapidly growing industry in the province is not only supporting our provincial economy but it is also a critical piece to support training in sectors like health care manufacturing and the skilled trades the next question the member for tato danforth thank you speaker speaker my question is a premier keeping cabinet mandate letters a secret has been a top priority for this premier for three years he's so determined to keep them hidden that he's refused to listen to the information and privacy commissioner the divisional courts and now the court of appeal this is public information speaker it's literally just what the premier asked his first cabinet to do in their jobs that's why the court of appeal dismissed the premier's last ditch attempt to stall 55 days ago the court ruled he had to release these 150 pages of mandate letters so ontarians could see will the premier do as the courts said he needs to do and release these mandate letters or will he continue to waste time and money on this needless and expensive charade government house leader thank you very much mr. speaker well mr big i'll help the the member opposite so we were elected in 2018 with a mandate to fire the six million dollar man check we were eliminated on a promise that we would stabilize energy prices in the province of ontario check we were eliminated we were eliminated to stop the 19 increase that the previous liberal government had planned check we were elected on a mandate to deliver a three-stop subway for the people of scarborough check we're eliminated to bring back the 300 000 jobs that were lost by the liberals check we're a limit we were elected on a mandate to end red tape in the province of ontario check mr. speaker on every single mandate we are delivering for the people of the province of ontario and we will continue to do so for a long time to come mr. speaker man oh man speaker back to the premier what an answer i can't believe it anyway now i know why is the premier so desperate to withhold these letters from the public is still unknown although the answer we got may explain some of it what's also unknown is how much this ridiculous process has cost the people of ontario the government has refused multiple requests to reveal how many public dollars and government resources they poured in this three-year long battle at keeping secret what everyone involved says the public has a right to know if the premier won't be open with the people of ontario about what is in the letters he should at least be open about how much the secret is costing the people of ontario when will this premier reveal to ontarians just how much he spent trying to hide these mandate letters from the public it's no wonder the member opposite is so worried about that answer because he participated in all of the things that i mentioned he was very happy to vote for a carbon tax for the people of the province of ontario that would cost every single ontarian hundreds of thousands of dollars mr. speaker one of the first things we did was eliminate that mr. speaker he was one of the architects in a program that was paid billions of dollars for energy that we did not need and could not afford he stood up happily and made sure that it happened by working closely with his coalition partners in the liberal government mr. speaker because they worked together so i understand why he's stressed out mr. speaker but this is what i can tell the member the mandate that we have we are delivering on health care reform we're doing it building long-term care we're doing it transit and transportation we're doing it better colleges and universities we're doing it delivering for our students so they can get past the discovery map of the past we're doing it mr. speaker and what we're seeing in Ottawa today the people know if you want a strong stable ontario the only route to it is a strong stable provincial progress thank you stop the clock let's restart the clock the next question the member for scarborough gildwood thank you speaker my question is to the premier by the end of 2014-15 school year when the full day kindergarten program was fully implemented almost half a million of our earliest learners were already benefiting this marked a major shift when this program was first announced in 2010 by the ontario liberals and it amounted to the most significant investment in ontario education in a generation students in fdk are better prepared to enter grade one actually and even grade three and they are more successful in school thanks to the leadership of the federal liberals we once again have an opportunity to invest in our children's future as of today every single province and territory in this country with the exception of ontario has signed and started to implement a child care agreement with the federal liberal government conservatives are ideologically opposed to this child care agreement just as they were opposed to fdk they know that ontario will not ontarians will not want them to cancel a program that they're benefiting from when they see the learning benefits for children speaker will the premier stop dragging his feet and sign the child care agreement with the federal government thank you thank you very much and to reply on behalf of the government government has figured thank you very much mr speaker so in the question itself look look at the question in the question she said thanks to the leadership of the federal government which means that for 15 years the government that she was a part of failed the people of the province of ontario so in that way and this of course is a member who brought forward a motion of support and confidence in the government the first in the history of parliamentary democracy where an opposition party brings forward a vote of confidence in the government and votes en masse with the ndp begs us to ensure that we stay in government right until the end of our mandate mr speaker but look when it comes to child care we're not going to follow the lessons of the previous liberal government that brought us the highest child care fees in the country mr speaker we're going to work on behalf of the people of the province of ontario to sign a deal that is in the best interest of the people of the province of ontario that supports families for generations to come mr speaker and not what the opposition would have us do mr speaker disadvantage future generations of ontarians to cut a deal today that's not what we'll do we'll do what's right for the people of the province of ontario mr speaker and back to the premier and his government speaker this premier and this government cite the cost of a child care program as the reason for their delay kicking and screaming they are being dragged to the negotiating table however ontarians know that an investment of one dollar in child care will get a return of a dollar fifty maybe even two dollars back they know that this investment will increase labour force participation especially for women and it is women's history month so that is very important it will boost ontario's gdp as well as generate more revenue for this province but more importantly it will help ontarians with the deepening crisis of affordability in this province ten dollars a day child care to ontario families who are struggling to cope with the cost of housing and food will make an enormous difference it is already costing over a thousand dollars this year to ontario families by this government's delay in signing are you going to give this money back to those families that are losing a thousand dollars because of your delay speaker thank you thank you very much again the government house leader to reply speaker these are remarkable questions from the member opposite her question highlights every single failure of the previous liberal government the reason it is costing families so much money is because of the programs and policies of that member and the government that she was a part of the reason we have the highest child care fees of the province in the country are because of the decisions that you made working with your coalition partners in the ndp that's why we have the highest child care fees you have voted against every measure that we put in place to reduce those fees to for parents you voted against every single one of them and now all of a sudden members come on all of a sudden colleagues the liberals care about affordability they didn't care about affordability when you work with ndp to put a carbon tax on the people of the province of ontario you didn't care about affordability when you were raising taxes you didn't care about affordability when three thousand jobs were going somewhere else people understand that to protect progress prosperity and growth a strong stable provincial conservative government is the only way to do it stop the clock i'll remind the members to make their comments through the chair and not directly across the floor at each other please start the clock the next question the member for flamborough glanbrook thank you speaker and speaker we are going to continue on the theme of the consistent failures of the previous liberal government but my question is to the minister of economic development job creation and trade speaker as we all know unfortunately under the previous liberal government ontario's auto sector was absolutely decimated it was on life support hundreds of thousands of jobs fled the province the sector had zero confidence in the previous liberal government and they simply saw no future here in ontario but speaker things have changed under the leadership of this premier and this minister today the auto sector is making significant investments in this province and my question to the minister please tell this house what recent investments have been made to support good paying jobs right here in ontario thank you speaker last week with the premier we were proud to lead yet another game changing investment in ontario's auto sector honda canada announced a 1.4 billion dollar investment in their plant in alliston to upgrade and retool their plant for hybrid vehicle production and we made a strategic investment of 132 million dollars to support those jobs here in ontario through our driving prosperity plan we're focusing on transforming our auto sector and positioning ontario as north america's leader in developing and building the cars of the future this investment will secure thousands of new jobs at their plant in allison but will also create thousands more indirect jobs all through the province of ontario speaker the supplementary question thank you speaker and again thank you to the minister for all of your hard work clearly the auto sector now has confidence in the province of ontario and in this government and investments like these have transformed local economies and they are securing their prosperity for years to come ontarians truly deserve a government that is willing to make these anchor investments in local communities as they have multiple spin-off benefits and create great paying jobs for local workers i see it every single day in my hometown of hamilton speaker there is so much more we can do and we are doing so back to the minister can you please tell us what this investment means for ontarians and what is the government's broader plan to transform and secure ontario's automotive sector great minister of economic development speaker this investment from honda continues the momentum of significant auto investments we've seen in the province in just over a year our auto and related manufacturers have invested nine billion dollars here in the province of ontario and it's because we reduce the cost of doing business in ontario by nearly seven billion dollars annually we have created the right economic conditions to attract yet another historic investment this program from honda only further solidifies ontario's position as the global auto manufacturing hub we are positioning ontario's economy to unleash our potential and show the world our manufacturing might we continue implementing driving prosperity speaker that is our plan for the auto sector and it will transform the province's auto supply chain to build the cars of the future thank you the next question remember for grant incentives thank you speaker my question is to the premier speaker yesterday the province's patient ombudsman released a two-year report that shows that this government has neglected long-term care for far too long as we all know nearly 400 and 4400 residents and staff lost their lives in the pandemic in long-term care but these problems weren't just because of the pandemic these are systematic issues that were bad under the liberals and made even worse by this government as the patient ombudsman said and I'll quote no one in ontario's health care system wants to repeat of the scenarios we face in the spring of 2020 this will take strong leadership end quote speaker what is the government doing to assist the patient ombudsman to ensure that these complaints are handled properly and that ontarians receive care with dignity and respect in our long-term care system well I think it should be a quite obvious what we've been doing right from the beginning mr speaker and of course uh we welcome the the report because it really solidified what we already knew we knew that we had to make important investments in long-term care in the province of ontario of course it was the liberals and the ndp who worked together in a coalition who ignored long-term care between 2011 and 2014 especially at a time when the ndp held the balance of power to ignore long-term care at a time when it was so important but what are we doing mr speaker we're making important investments in staffing and care because we know we have to increase staffing mr speaker we're going towards a groundbreaking north american leading four hours of care mr speaker again something that this government is doing we're putting the resources behind it that's a five billion dollar commitment mr speaker and we are building thousands of long-term care beds across the province of ontario and upgrading those old beds eliminating more beds there's more work to be done mr speaker but this government will continue to make the appropriate investments and get the job done thank you speaker the report titled honoring the voices and experiences of long-term care home residents caregivers and staff during the first wave of COVID-19 in Ontario makes it clear that systemic issues are not being addressed in long-term care and in home care and community care it's evident that patients and staff are not getting the supports they need to provide quality care that residents deserve we only need to read stories like story number nine in the report that indicate that there was no assistance provided to for meals for residents and that family members flagged concerns like dehydration and malnutrition and yet nothing was done speaker the patient ombudsman says that families are concerned that their loved ones are not getting the service levels they deserve and staff shortages are leading to patients being abandoned the office raised that in 2021 that more than double the number of mandatory reports were made by the ministry and these reports outline abuse neglect or risk of harm over the previous year under this government's leadership speaker what is this government going to do to implement the recommendations the policy recommendations in the ombudsman's report and provide the care that residents in long-term care what the report does is highlight the system that we inherited frankly and we all knew this we all knew this that's why it is so disappointing that when they had the balance of power when they could force the previous government their coalition partners into making some decisions in long-term care that's why it's so disappointing that they settled for stretch goal and insurance but it doesn't matter because what are we doing mr. Speaker we're building new long-term care homes across the province now while the previous liberal NDP coalition we're only able to develop 611 net new beds we're delivering 30 000 new beds but when it comes to the beds there's no point in having beds if you don't have care that's why we're increasing staffing by 27 000 positions across the province now what does that mean for the people of Brampton delivered by the president of the treasury board what it means is 35 million dollars more for staffing for the homes in Brampton mr. Speaker on top on top of the homes that we are building in Brampton mr. Speaker on top of the new hospital that the president of the treasury board has delivered on top of the medical school the university thank you very much thank you the next question remember for Ottawa say my question for the premier now we all know the bill 88 is erroneously named the working for workers act because what it does is it actually makes gig workers second-class workers in Ontario actually not able to get the same kind of benefits and protections that all other workers can get in Ontario no health and safety protections right not even minimum wage because you're only people for engaged time and that's like saying to a cashier in the supermarket I'm only going to pay you when someone's standing at your cash so why do they call it the working for workers act if it doesn't work for workers because they like to say it they like to say it they like to write bills they they can put on their flyers I'm working for workers but they're not it's not going to raise up gig workers not at all no it isn't so speaker when will the premier actually question that he likes to say he's going to do parliamentary assistant member for mrs agamal you mr speaker and thank you to the member opposite for asking this question mr speaker as we know in 2016 only four four point five percent workers were in the gig economy today one in five Canadians work in the gig economy and the number is expected to rise that is why mr speaker our workers for what working for workers act two if past will make Ontario the first province in Ontario to protect the foundational rights of these digital platform workers to the workers I want to ensure you this legislation will make sure that the digital platform workers will have the right to information how they have been penalized on their platform it will require written notice if they're removed it will give them the right to resolve work related disputes in Ontario in the province where they work and they live and most importantly mr speaker it will protect them from reprisal if they seek to asset their rights mr speaker their ministry has made protecting workers our first priority whether you work in a big company whether you work in a big company a small business or any right share app you will not be left behind in this part so the working for workers act doesn't actually give health and safety protections to gig workers it doesn't actually give them minimum wage it doesn't give them things like vacation pay or statutory holidays in some sort of prorated form not at all but let's go back about premier saying things and not actually doing them did he uh did he lower gas prices no no he would I'm going to reduce your hydro prices I'm going to reduce your height did it happen no 12 percent no you know what 20 income taxes election last time now I'm going to cut your taxes by 20 percent anybody seen that no okay look I to be fair we did get buck a beer but you you would be hard pressed to actually not spend more money than saved and trying to find buck a beer so when is the premier actually going to do the things he likes to say he's going to do and to reply the government house leader I take my glasses off today because I noticed that the uh liberal leader has now stopped wearing glasses and you know the last time a liberal leader stopped wearing glasses it led to seven members in the opposition caucus Mr Speaker so imagine imagine the house leader for the liberal party talking about affordability and reducing prices we eliminated immediately the Ontario carbon tax and the member for mark of unionville stood in front of that gas sign and we saw the prices come down one two three four but you know what happened the coalition team over there begged the federal government to put a carbon tax back on the people of the province of Ontario and we fought it every step of the way and we'll continue to fight it Mr Speaker the legacy of the opposition and of this member is a decaying health care system a long term care system with 600 students who couldn't pass basic reading writing and math Mr Speaker what we've done is changed the province we've saved the auto sector and transitioned it to the autos of tomorrow Mr Speaker we're building subways we're building roads and we got back the next start the clock the next question member for Humber River Black Creek thank you speaker my question is for the premier speaker residents northwest Toronto Vaughn Mississauga Scarborough and Brampton pay the highest auto insurance rates in all of Ontario on average drivers their pay over $1,000 more a year on their auto insurance premiums than drivers in other communities speaker safe drivers with clean driving records in my community are getting gouged because of our postal code i fought against this for years i've done the research and it shows that the streets of my community don't even have the most accidents yet still we're getting gouged will this government finally end postal code discrimination once and for all well thank you Mr Speaker and thank you to the member opposite for that question very important question and as you know our government's keeping close watch to make sure insurance companies are treating the people of Ontario fairly and Mr. Speaker i'm sure the member opposite knows that we send a clear message to those insurance companies to provide relief and in fact but yes it did the leader of the opposition by $1.3 billion in consumer or consumer savings $1.3 billion of course that's a reduction in premiums across the province Mr. Speaker the best way to lower rates for the members of the opposite and for people in Ontario in Toronto and all across and Brampton and Durham and New York and Peel of course is to implement broad systemic reforms which our government is continuing to work on response it's important that these reforms do not result in increase of cost for all customers Mr. Speaker we've done a lot through this pandemic for insurance premiums and i'll have a little bit more to say in these uh supplemental thank you question speaker you know if government ministers had the same kind of energy they have at deflecting questions during question period instead and have that same energy on the golf course with these auto insurance execs standing up to them there maybe we wouldn't be gouged but instead time after time the issue of auto insurance gets raised here and all we get is PR from this government for auto insurance execs the proof is in the premiums i've set up before all of your constituents all of our constituents know this speaker last year insurance company profits went up by 65 percent in Canada to over 10 billion dollars for the first time ever one third of those profits were in auto insurance alone the mto has reported before that Ontario has ranked in the top five for road safety in all of north america for decades yet at the same time Ontario drivers pay some of the highest auto insurance rates in all of north america ontario drivers are getting gouged and we deserve relief will this government take real action to stop auto insurers from profiteering on the backs of ontario drivers mr speaker mr speaker only the member opposite and the party opposite would consider gouging a 1.3 billion dollar savings for all ontario drivers in insurance premiums that 93 percent of uh ontario drivers saw a reduction in their premiums you know that you know that in in Toronto in grampant in oh the you know the the data's out there but mr speaker we have more work to do that's why we've been focused on things to make more money in the pockets of hardworking ontarians like driving on the 412 and the 418 those tolls which were put on in fact the only place in ontario where they were put on in Durham was by the previous liberal government we've taken them off mr speaker the val tags the val tags which went up under the leader of the liberal parties watch every year for five six years in a row went up to 120 dollars mr speaker this is a party the we are a party that's going to make life more affordable for the citizens of ontario we've done a lot already we're going to continue to do more thank you that concludes our question period for this morning i understand