 Now it is time for oral questions and I recognize the Leader of the Majesty's Royal Opposition. Thank you so much speaker. First of all I want to wish everybody a happy International Women's Day not only my colleagues here in the house but also women and girls around the province and my first question is to the to the Premier Speaker. I think like all Ontarians on Friday I was really excited to hear that we're finally going to get vaccines rolling into our province and I think that's something absolutely to celebrate and of course also to celebrate those frontline healthcare workers and pharmacists and family docs that are going to be helping with getting those vaccines into people's arms. I was also pleased that the government finally agreed to put frontline workers in hotspots our COVID heroes into the second phase plan for the distribution of the vaccine or rather to the for the implementation of the virus the vaccine for people in those workplaces and those neighborhoods. Speaker my question for the Premier is does he believe that it's the right thing to do to have people lose pay when they have to go and get their vaccine. Mr. the Governor I recognize the Premier to reply. Well first of all Mr. Speaker I'd like to wish all the women in Ontario a happy International Women's Day. We have some of the greatest women in the world right here in Ontario. Mr. Speaker I don't believe that the frontline healthcare workers should have to you know get their pay deducted that's my personal opinion if they're within the hospital within the healthcare system everyone else is lined up they should be able to get a vaccination and that's that's the answer to the question the good news is Mr. Speaker we're heading up towards a million vaccinations we have a well-oiled machine we have the infrastructure set up right across the province again Mr. Speaker all we're waiting for is the vaccines as soon as we get those they're going to be into people's arms and we continue to lead the the country in vaccinations. Thank you the supplementary question. Thanks Speaker well the Premier will know that the Employment Standards Act doesn't cover off people taking time off work without losing pay to get a vaccine we know that the federal program does not cover off the potential loss of pay for workers to leave work to get their vaccine and I think it's really important that we don't put up barriers or in fact that we actually take down barriers that prevent people from getting the vaccine especially as we know AstraZeneca has a very short shelf life and so I would ask the Premier will he agree to making sure people can take time off work to get their vaccine and not lose any pay. Well Mr. Speaker as the member opposite knows we continue to advocate with the federal government improvements to the sick pay program that they have but I am pleased to announce today in the House that 245,000 workers in Ontario have now applied or are receiving sick pay benefits across Ontario and we continue to advocate to improve the program for all workers but I would strongly recommend to people right across this province to continue what you've been doing every single day since COVID-19 hit the province and that's continue working together to get through this it's great news that almost a million more vaccinations are coming to the province this week and we're going to continue to get needles in arms of people to finally eradicate COVID-19 from the province of Ontario. Final supplementary. Well Speaker this is something that experts actually agree with as well that people shouldn't have to worry about losing pay to get vaccinated in fact Dr. Michael Warner director of critical care at Michael Garen hospital says this and I quote essential workers age 60 to 64 toiling in factories and fulfillment centres will not be able to take time off to head to their local or distant pharmacy to get the AstraZeneca vaccine unless the government provides paid Vax time so the question is why would the premier object to something that would make it easy for our frontline heroes in those factories and in those neighborhoods to get vaccinated. Well Mr. Speaker we're not objecting to that in fact Mr. Speaker we continue to work with our federal partners obviously these are clearly unprecedented times with COVID-19 here in the province and across Canada and across the world but I'm proud to say we've made a huge improvements Mr. Speaker when it comes to protecting the health and safety of workers their families and the communities at large in fact Mr. Speaker there's now one month of paid sick days for workers here in Ontario and across the country 245,000 workers are either receiving sick pay or have applied for sick pay and there's a 700 million dollars left in that bank account Mr. Speaker and we're going to continue to work with our federal government work with all of our partners across the country to ensure that the health and safety of all workers are protected and I believe that the majority overwhelming majority of people are excited to get their vaccinations and we'll show up to get vaccinations. Thank you the next question again the leader of the opposition. Here my next question is also for the premier folks will know that the NDP has actually a bill that we've been trying to get the government to agree to it was brought forward by the member from London West we'll we've debated it at least a half a dozen times if not more a year we'll be doing it again today and in fact that bill does contain the clause that allows workers to take time off to get vaccinated but every time we raise it the premier shoots it down so my question is what's his plan to make sure that workers frontline heroes can actually go and get their vaccinations without losing pay. Mr. Labour turning up the bill. Well Mr. Speaker I'm proud of what this government has done to protect the health and safety of every single person in this province. In fact Mr. Speaker the very first initiative that this government brought forward supported by all members of this house was job protected leave which told every worker in this province if they're in self isolation if they're in quarantine if your mom or dad's staying home to look after a son or a daughter because of the disruption in the school system you can't be fired. Furthermore we took action to eliminate the need for sick notes and I'm proud of what this premier and what this government has done on behalf of workers. Premier Ford led the charge in Canada to deliver 1.1 billion dollars worth of sick pay for workers and as I said a moment ago Mr. Speaker more than 245,000 workers are now receiving that benefit. The opposition parties call for two paid sick days. The official opposition said seven maybe 10. I'm proud to say that we've delivered one month of paid sick days for workers in this province. Supplementary question. Mr. Speaker you know the government's rollout of the vaccine has been very slow it's been very confusing. We know that we've now slipped to eighth when it comes to per capita vaccinations being achieved in the 10 provinces. The variants we know are picking up speed in terms of transition or transmission rather we know that AstraZeneca has a shelf life that we have to be concerned about and we know that what we should be doing is everything we possibly can to encourage people to get their vaccines and to take away the barriers to doing so. Why will this premier not step up and make sure workers our frontline heroes can get their vaccine without losing any pay? Well Mr. Speaker we have been stepping up for workers every single day during this pandemic. In fact Mr. Speaker I'm proud to say that 80 percent of the federal sick day program is directly deposited into workers bank accounts within three to five days. Mr. Speaker workers in Ontario can now apply more than once and we continued to advocate on behalf of workers and a few weeks ago the federal government to their credit stepped up and delivered 20 days one month of paid sick days for workers. We're going to continue every single day to stand up for the working class families of this province. We're going to stand with workers every day until COVID-19 is a distant memory. The final supplementary. Well Speaker we on this side of the house are ready to pass any kind of legislation or motion the government will bring forward to make sure people are able to continue to get paid even if they have to go get a vaccine. That's something it's been a year Speaker it's been a year and this government has not stepped up to protect the livelihoods of our frontline heroes throughout this pandemic and it's about time that we do the right thing here. I mean how hard is it to do the right thing by these frontline workers. I would ask the Premier and the government to make it easy for folks to take the burden off to make sure people don't have to worry about losing pay when they make their appointment to go get vaccinated. Will the Premier please do the right thing. Well Mr Speaker we've been advocating on behalf of workers in their families and every community every single day during this pandemic. In fact Mr Speaker our government has infested more than 45 billion dollars including billions in additional supports for the health care system supports for individuals, supports for businesses. Mr Speaker the Premier of this province worked with the Prime Minister all provincial and territorial leaders to deliver over a billion dollars in paid sick days for workers. Mr Speaker there's still over 700 billion dollars left in that bank account we're going to continue to work with Minister Qualtrough and the federal government to continue advocating on behalf of workers to ensure that all of us working together get through COVID-19. Thank you. Next question to Member for Waterloo. Thank you very much. My question to the Premier and this is a question about government ethics and accountability. Last Thursday the government tabled the supporting broadband and infrastructure expansion act. Now normally you would assume a bill with a name like that focused on expanding broadband. However on Friday leaked memos revealed that the true purpose of the legislation was to help casino developers in Durham pave over protected wetlands and avoid a court battle. That's bad enough Mr Speaker but a scan of elections in Ontario's record shows that just days ago the PC party cashed in nearly $5,000 worth of donations from the project's lead developers. Can the Premier tell Ontarians why his party is taking big donations from developers and then helping them pave over protected wetlands in the province of Ontario. The Parliamentary Assistant, Member for Milton. Thank you very much Mr Speaker. I want to thank the member opposite for the question. Mr Speaker every single MZO issued by the Minister on non-provincially owned lands has been at the request of the local municipalities. Of course as we all know in this particular incident it was requested by the City of Pickering. It was supported by the Region of Durham. This is an important project Mr Speaker for the Region. Mr Speaker to answer the question in terms of the political donations I reject the premise that question altogether Mr Speaker. If the member opposite delivered more homework on that Mr Speaker she would find out the same developers actually donated thousands of dollars to the members of the opposite in the party including the former Premier's riding and the current leader of the Liberal Party. Thank you Mr Speaker. Order. Supplementary question the member for Waterloo. Thank you well perhaps you should reject the donations and you then you would have some credibility in this house. Mr Speaker Ontarians aren't surprised by the Premier's relationship with big developers and that especially that is resulting in a loss of wetlands and natural spaces but it's wild how brazen he's become while he thinks Ontarians are preoccupied with the pandemic. On February 24th the developers filled the PC parties coffers with nearly $5,000. Next year they're going to be able to donate $10,000 but just eight days later on March 4th the Minister rushed out of regulation and effectively forces the warehouse to be built on top of a wetland while also putting in related legislation into a bill that's supposed to be about broadband internet which is an issue that we all care about. Speaker does the Premier really think that Ontarians are that gullible that there's no connection between the donations and what you're designing through legislation for developers especially when his government bends over backwards to accommodate his big donors. I'm going to have to ask the member to withdraw. Withdraw. Feuding motive. Government can reply. Member from Melbourne. Thank you very much. Thank you Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker facts are important and we all we know NDP and the Liberals always seem to be short when it comes to the real facts Mr Speaker. As I pointed out this particular MZO was requested by the City of Pickering. It was supported by the region of Durham and this is an important project for the region Mr Speaker. This project would help create over 10,000 jobs and boost the economy in the region Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker the proponent and the TRCA have also entered into an agreement that will ensure the creation of ecological benefit that meets or exceeds any loss to the natural system Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker this will lead to a net benefit to the natural environment. Thank you Mr Speaker. The next question the member for Kitchen and Conestota. Well thank you very much Mr Speaker. Speaker I have had many extraordinary women in my life who have helped shape me into the man I am today from my mother to my grandmothers to aunts teachers and even neighbors women who have played a strong role in my upbringing and I know that I am not the only one in this house that can say such a thing Mr Speaker and now I have my wife and my daughter to help shape me into being a more loving husband and supportive dad. Each one of us owes a lot to the women in our lives who have been there in the good and the bad times. Speaker we know that COVID has impacted women at a higher rate than men and this includes both economically and their social well-being. Speaker can the minister of children and women's issues tell us tell the house what the government is doing to support women across Ontario especially during the pandemic. Thank you Mr Speaker and thank you the member from Kitchen and Conestota for that great question and also for being a friend and supporter to myself and my caucus colleagues. Speaker it is true that the pandemic has disproportionately impacted women. Women have been more likely to lose their jobs or leave work to care for kids and the rates of domestic violence are on the rise. From the very beginning of the pandemic I've been working hard with sector partners and colleagues to put supports around women. Women shelters have remained opened. Additional funding has been given to help with infection and prevention control. Emergency childcare has been given to frontline workers and a majority of those being women. Speaker our government has given wage increases to frontline workers like PSWs and those in the social services sector with again the majority of them being women and we are investing into retraining those who have lost their jobs into things like skilled trades which has had many incredible opportunities that are well paying and secure. These are just some of the things that we have done with more so that women will not be left behind during this pandemic and beyond. Well thank you very much Speaker and thank you to the Minister for that response. It's reassuring to know that our government is focusing on protecting those who have been impacted the most by the pandemic and of course this includes women. Speaker the Minister mentioned something that I think is important. Many of those on the front lines of this pandemic are women. These are strong brave women who have been been on the front lines front and center risking their lives to support us. From nurses and doctors to support staff at our local hospitals to police officers and first responders a heartfelt thank you Speaker. As I said before we really owe a lot to the women in our lives whether directly or indirectly and what we should be celebrating and we should be celebrating them and thanking them every day Speaker. It is even more true on International Women's Day. Can the Minister please share what we can do to thank all the women in our lives for the incredible work that they do. Thank you Speaker and thank you again to the member for that question. Speaker we celebrate International Women's Day to highlight the success and leadership of women around the world and the first place I would like to start is right here in the women in this chamber. Each one is a wonderful representative in their writing and their communities and showing strong leadership that women belong everywhere and while we may disagree on policy or politics each one of us is working hard to represent our constituents while balancing many other responsibilities and it is an honor to serve in this house with each and every one of you. Speaker I also want to take a moment to recognize the nurses doctors personal support workers researchers childcare and early years workers and other women on the front line of this pandemic to say a thank you to all of them. We already know how phenomenal women and girls are and the important role that they play in each one of our lives. COVID has only made it clear that Ontario would not operate without the extraordinary women who have stepped in and stepped up to protect our province. That includes our Deputy Premier and Minister of Health who has done an outstanding job to work hard for this province. Thank you very much. Thank you very much and my question is to the Premier. Speaker lower Duffins Creek in the Durham region is an environmental wetland complex that has been classified as provincially significant and is protected by law. Yet this Premier and his ministers are pursuing its destruction at all costs. The community cannot understand why this government would prioritize a warehouse that could be built elsewhere over a provincially significant irreplaceable environmentally vital wetland. Ontario nature and environmental defense have launched an eco justice lawsuit against this government alleging unlawful use of a minister's zoning order or MZO allowing for demolition of a part of this protected wetland. Speaker this government just introduced bill 257 that would retroactively make lawful what up and until this bill would have been deemed unlawful. My question is is the Premier planning to rewrite any other laws to wriggle out of any other lawsuits. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker as I pointed out earlier every single MZO issued by the minister has been at the request of the local municipality unless the lands are provincially owned. Mr. Speaker in this particular case the request was made by the city. It was supported by the region. Mr. Speaker this project is important to the region would create over 10,000 jobs. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker you know we have a responsibility to support our municipal partners exactly what we're doing. Mr. Speaker the proponent in this case and the TRC have entered into an agreement that will ensure the creation of ecological benefit that meets or exceed any loss to the natural system Mr. Speaker and will lead to net benefit to the natural environment system. Mr. Speaker we're also committed to growing the green belt. We've launched the consultation currently Mr. Speaker. We made a commitment unlike the liberals that carved out the green belt 17 different times Mr. Speaker. Thank you again to the premier as CBC recently reported an internal government memo warned that without these bill 257 planning act amendments there is a quote moderately high risk that this MZO would be found to have contravened that law. It also warns that without consultation with impacted indigenous communities there is a quote high risk that a court would conclude that Ontario has not fulfilled its constitutional consultation obligations end quote wow. This government is going to remarkable lengths to follow through on this warehouse promise. This weekend hundreds of people in Pickering took a stand for the wetland and against this premier's anti-environment agenda. The president of the Treasury Board who's also the minister of finance should be defending this environmental treasure in his community. Folks across the Durham region want to know why this MPP the premier and the minister of municipal affairs are doggedly clinging to this particular project. I would love to know who's really making the decisions for the premier or for the province. My question is this what will it take for this premier to leave Duffence Creek alone and stop attacking the environment. Well thank you very much Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker you know as I continue to point out facts are facts. Facts can't be changed Mr. Speaker. I know the members of the opposite always for some reasons short on facts Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker as I mentioned out we made a commitment to protect the green belt and the minister has been absolutely clear that we will not allow any development into the green belt period. As a matter of fact we are working on expanding the green belt. Mr. Speaker we've launched the consultations unlike the opposition NDP that supported the Liberals. Liberal government Mr. Speaker carved out the green belt 17 different times Mr. Speaker. We believe that is absolutely unacceptable to be able to do that especially to support their friends to support the insiders Mr. Speaker. We will not tolerate that on this side of the house. We will continue to stand up for every single Ontario. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you Mr. Speaker. My question is to the associate minister of children and women's issues. Minister today will mark and celebrate the International Women's Day. Like all of our colleagues I'm astonished and saddened by the spike in domestic partner violence over the last year. I refer you to a February 15th article by the Canadian press regarding the continued rise in domestic violence. Canada's assaulted women helps line fielded over 20,000 calls between October 1 and December 31 2020 compared to 12,000 calls during the same period in 2019. Everything closed overnight and our crisis lines laid up said Yvonne Harding a manager at the organization. There were limited supports for women beforehand but at least they had outlets. They had opportunities to leave the house to get help such as daily trips to and from school and less access to family and friends by leaving victims with fewer options. Minister instead of citing dollar figures and statistics as to what the government claims to have done to stop the rise in domestic violence I'd like to ask if you'd agree with me that ending the lockdown would immediately help many women to be safer at home. The associate minister of women and children's issues. Thank you Mr. Speaker and thank you to the member for that question. I think it's about a year ago that I visited the shelter in your region with the D'Amico family and thank you for the contributions that they have made. I'd also like to thank the frontline workers working in women's shelters across Ontario. Thank you to O'Aith and Marlene and her workers. They have worked so hard to ensure that women are kept safe at this time because it's not always safe for everyone to stay home and women and children who are at risk of violence need to have supports in place. It's a critical time that residential service providers for people experiencing violence have the security that they need to continue supporting vulnerable women and this year our government is investing 172 million dollars in supports for survivors and violence prevention initiatives and this includes investments in emergency shelters counseling 24 hour crisis lines safety planning and transitional housing and as part of the COVID-19 action plan for vulnerable people we are also investing 40 million dollars in COVID residential relief funding and I will have more to answer the supplementary thank you. The supplementary question. Thank you Speaker but my question was if the minister agreed that ending the lockdown would help many women be safer at home I submit that the answer is unequivocally yes and therefore continue to implore the government to end the lockdown. Minister the effects of the lockdown on the economic well-being of women are profound and disproportionate compared to men. Last November the Royal Bank said that tens of thousands of women already left the workforce. According to Canadian Women's Foundation women accounted for more than 63% of jobs lost since March 2020. The job recovering among men was much better than among women. As of the end of July women recouped only half of the initial job losses and mostly in part-time work so I asked the minister to please set aside what the Doug Ford government claims to have done and on this international women's day would the minister agree that ending the lockdown and fully reopening the economy is the best thing to do for the well-being of Ontario's women. Again the associate minister children and women's issues. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the member for that question. I agree that women need to be kept safe and have the supports in place and I also agree that women have been disproportionately affected during this pandemic and that's why this government is investing 4.6 million dollars in the women's economic security program and 2.2 million dollars in investing in women's futures programs. These are programs that are made available to provide crucial funding to organizations that support women who are in low income positions to transfer to develop knowledge skills and experience to transition into well-paying jobs and I think the minister of labor training and skills development for the work that he has been doing to encourage women into skilled trades by providing the funds available and necessary to take women who have lost their jobs and given the opportunities to retrain for jobs of the future jobs that are sitting empty where we need women to fill those places. So I thank all of my colleagues and thank you to all the women that we have worked with virtual roundtables hearing first hand what the needs and concerns of a women in Ontario are and as we said keeping women safe and supported is our number one priority. The next question the member for Kitchener Conestoga. Well thank you again speaker and this time it's to the minister of infrastructure. Even before the impacts of COVID of the COVID-19 pandemic I've received inquiries from many of my constituents in Kitchener Conestoga who are struggling with unreliable broadband service that pandemic has only amplified the problems of poor inadequate service. Far too many people in our province lack reliable internet and in some cases they have no connectivity at all. I know our government has made historic investments to improve connectivity and that we understand the importance of this for our small businesses and the many families and students who rely on it to learn and stay connected yet despite all the provincial investments and the potential benefits of your legislation to remove barriers to building broadband faster there are still some members of this house who claim the province has to do more that we aren't doing enough and that there's more work to do. Would you please explain to us exactly what it will take to get adequate broadband across Ontario. Minister of infrastructure. Well thank you to the member from Kitchener Conestoga for his question his advocacy for his constituents and the member is quite right our government has done a number of things to help close the digital divide as the member points out in the provincial budget presented last fall we announced historic investments to broadband infrastructure but as I pointed out many times before and to the members of the legislative assembly here broadband is a federally regulated sector it is the CRTC that is responsible for establishing country-wide rates and standards for internet and cellular connectivity however despite this Ontario is not standing still our government is taking steps to close the digital divide and while we continue to call on our federal government to do its part and properly fund broadband I would invite all members of this house to join us in that call Mr. Speaker we are making historic investments and taking steps to improve and expand broadband connectivity to communities right across the province Mr. Speaker and I'll have more to say in the supplementary question. Paul thank you Speaker and Minister I'd like to read an email I received from Keith a Conestoga College student from Elmira taking online courses and I quote Speaker dear MPP Harris when I finished high school I never imagined that I would be taking college courses online because of COVID-19 if I had reliable internet taking my courses would be far less stressful I often have problems participating in my classes because of weak and unreliable connections and sometimes I have to do my schoolwork late at night or early in the morning to get a better connection Keith goes on with my midterms about to start I'm really concerned that my lousy internet will add unnecessary stress with more and more people doing things online when can we expect things to improve for people outside the city when it comes to internet service and I'd like to thank Keith for that message so my question again for the Minister of Infrastructure is when might students like Keith have access to reliable high-speed internet thank you Mr. Speaker I'd like to thank the member opposite first question and I want to say to Keith I understand the difficulties he's experiencing I live it too as many of the members of the legislature do so I understand that more and more people are accessing services online students are learning online and families are shopping online and that's why we have a plan that's why for more than a year our government has taken action to improve internet connectivity for communities in Ontario that lack adequate service we're making historic investments to improve the internet service in northern Ontario southwestern Ontario eastern Ontario and central Ontario and last week I introduced legislation that if passed will help us bridge the digital divide because now more than ever we need a made in Ontario plan to help build infrastructure faster strengthen our communities and lay the foundation for growth and renewal and long-term economic recovery we're taking action to remove barriers and I expect this whole legislature to support this legislation to increase broadband connectivity thank you the next person the member for guidance good morning mr. Speaker this question is for the premier Speaker before the pandemic students in this province were already struggling with overcrowded classrooms and not enough one-on-one support and what did this government do they tried to lay off 10 000 teachers parents students education workers and us in the opposition stopped the worst of those cuts but we entered this pandemic playing ketchup racing to hire the staff needed to keep our kids safe and learning this pandemic is far from over but a new ministry of education memo is warning that school boards must prepare for staff layoffs for the year ahead apparently the funding for COVID has an expiry date speaker why is the premier looking to make deep cuts to education when our kids need more support than ever well thank you speaker i want to join the minister for children and women and congratulating acknowledging international women's day today i will note no speaker that there is no government that there's no premier pre-pandemic and during this pandemic that has invested more in public education than this progressive concerted party funding is up per pupil per student funding to school boards over 25 billion dollars is up funding in mental health more than double that funding envelope is up speaker for special education at historic levels over 3.1 billion dollars that funding is up funding to prepare students for STEM careers is up in this province funding to lift mask scores over 200 million dollars that funding envelope is up to support safe and reliable transportation funding is up funding the skilled trades and skills development to encourage more in the apprenticeship and careers that we know we need that funding is up that funding will continue to remain up under this government because we believe in public education we believe in lifting up creating an opportunity society or young people who work hard who got a good education got a good job that is our mission and we're going to continue to focus on lifting students up every single day in this province and the supplementary mr. speaker perhaps the minister of education didn't hear the question making class sizes bigger laying off staff was always a terrible plan but today it is an even worse plan frankly it's it's unconscionable children have coped with trauma with loss with anxiety over the last year our school communities have shown resilience and creativity in the face of absolutely incredible odds but this pandemic is not over the disruption is not over every single expert in education is saying the same thing students and staff are going to need more support than ever will the premier assure anxious parents today that he will invest in the well-being recovery and in the future of our students and take these cuts off the table at the end the minister of education will well mr. speaker our government is going to continue to invest in public education I do note the ever-changing position of the member from Davenport you know on February 5th the member said and I quote I've been asking where these mystery hires are for months end quote and yet today today she purports to believe that these hires were critical so which one is it either they didn't happen for the last six months as you attack the government or they did and the fact is speaker we know 3400 more teachers were hired on a temporary basis to support lower classroom sizes 134 more mental health workers 1300 more custodians working hard in our schools the fact is we know these temporary investments have made a difference to protect students and keep our schools open a position contrary for liberals and new democrats that would have closed schools for a longer period we are on the side of parents the one investment is going to the front of class we're going to continue to deliver that while ensuring quality education merit-based hiring and a curriculum that leads to their jobs in this province very much mr. speaker my questions for the premier speaker personal support workers are a vital part of care here in Ontario COVID-19 has revealed just how valuable they are speaker the majority of psw's are women they've been working tirelessly on the front lines battling this virus putting themselves at risk and their families at risk too many times without the proper protective equipment speaker they care for the people we care for most and I've heard the premier many times thank psw's and I know that they probably appreciate his thanks but what they need is his commitment so the temporary wage enhancement is set to expire on March 31st so speakers through you can the premier commit to providing psw's a permanent wage increase minister of health well thank you very much speaker and thank you very much the member for the question we value the work that personal support workers do in all aspects of our healthcare system in long-term care home and community care hospitals and we part of our government's plan to deal with COVID-19 we have increased psw wages three dollars per hour for eligible workers in long-term care three dollars per hour to eligible workers in excuse me home and community care two dollars an hour for eligible workers in public hospitals and three dollars per hour to eligible workers in social services providing direct personal support services to people in their community this is something that we need to do in order to recruit and retain personal support workers we're examining all aspects of the issues relating to personal support workers including the amount that they're being paid there are many other issues this is something that is under consideration right now by our government and we will take action as necessary on before March 31st supplementary question thank you speaker and I I don't believe I got the answer that a psw is needed to hear today they need to hear about the government's commitment they don't want to see another six week gap between the pandemic pay and then the next iteration so it's critical that we raise these wages to stabilize the workforce and it's the right thing to do and one of the challenges that we have right now is it's becoming to stabilize between home care and long-term care so we know that we need to raise those wages permanently and we have to pay people a decent living wage so fewer home care psw's order will mean less care for seniors which means it'll put more pressure on long-term care it will also not allow them to be where they want to be so advocates are calling on the government not only to standardize the wages across both sectors but also to raise the wages of psw's to twenty five dollars an hour in all health care settings so speaker through you will the premier assure this house that his government will standardize psw wages to 25 dollars an hour well we're certainly well aware of the issues relating to personal support workers who provide a vital role in our health care system and so the member will also know that the issue isn't simply one of remuneration that is part of it for sure but we also know that as we graduate personal support workers in Ontario almost half of them leave within about a year because in some cases they aren't they don't expect the work that they actually are going to be facing so we need to do a take a bunch of actions one is to make sure that as they're trained that they have training within some of the places of work in hospitals in long-term care homes and in home and community care so that they can anticipate what the work is going to be we also need to recognize them as a profession that this is something that they're sort of the forgotten workers in the health care system when in actual fact they are the foundation especially in home care where they're meeting very vulnerable clients so all of these issues are being taken into consideration right now along with the issue of remuneration because we know we need more personal support workers within our health care system and the next question again the member for kitchen economy store well thank you again speaker and uh this time i rise to ask the government about its position on the line five energy corridor following last week's historic vote this house voted to call upon the federal and provincial governments to fight against the closure of line five while at the same time recognizing the safety of pipelines as a way to transport energy mr. Speaker will the government house leader please stand and commit that this government will get behind this motion protect ontario's jobs and fight against the closure of line five thank you very much mr. Speaker the member is quite correct that was a a very historic vote last week for a number of a number of reasons not only uh did a vast majority of this house agree that pipelines are uh are safe and that important for jobs and economic activity it we saw really an historic shift finally from the n dp mr. Speaker who for decades have talked against pipelines of talks against the safety of pipelines earlier in the week i know her the lead of her majesty's loyal opposition had suggested that this was a debate the line five debate was something that shouldn't even happen in the province of ontario they voted against line five twice but finally after the great work of the member for sarnia lampton and a number of other members he was able to convince the n dp that 50 years of n dp ideology on pipeline safety was wrong and that it is responsible for good jobs it is safe mr. Speaker and we will do all that we can to make sure that we were in the federal government to keep this line five going mr. Speaker as the house has asked us to do and i thank the n dp for their support of pipelines in those jobs the government for its strong position on this issue and i also want to congratulate the n dp for finally agreeing that pipelines are a safe way to transport energy here in the province mr. Speaker and i know that the people of southwestern ontario who would appreciate it as well if the liberal members in this house would have also voted to protect jobs and save the line five pipeline mr. Speaker because this is such an important issue can the government house leader stand and unequivocally affirm that the government here in the province of ontario will fight for line five again the member is absolutely correct and i can assure the member and all of those members who voted in favor of line five that we will do just that we will fight to ensure that that motion is uh is brought forward that our federal friends our friends down south understand the importance of line five what is shocking mr. Speaker that in his first test of leadership the leader of the liberal party failed the people of the province of ontario he failed workers he failed all of those people that rely on jobs because of line five mr. Speaker he has proven that he's not ready for the job he's not up to the job this liberal leader is the same as the other liberal leader mr. Speaker we will stand up for jobs we will stand up for pipelines we will stand up for the billions of dollars of economic activity those that natural resources provide to the people the province of ontario even if the liberals won't mr. Speaker we will thank you next question thank you speaker um today we celebrate international women's day and i want to wish all our sisters around the world a happy international women's day but speaker while we celebrate we must also commit to ensuring that we have a gender based strategy to our economic recovery here in the province of ontario for the last year as ontario faced the biggest crisis it's ever seen it's been women who have been on the forefront of the of the crisis without the sacrifices of these nurses teachers psw's and frontline heroes all mainly women who knows where we'd be today but speaker while women were working hard to keep us safe and keep our province moving this government refused to give psw's the raise that they promised they sent teachers back to unsafe classrooms they stood by while women lost their jobs and their livelihoods and forced to close their businesses and they keep voting against paid sick days here in ontario my question to the premier will the government commit today on international women's day to ensure that all women will receive the supports that they need in this economic recovery and that they won't be left behind in this crisis as we move forward the associate minister of children and women's issues thank you mr. Speaker and thank you to the member for that question and happy international women's day to all women that are here in my ministry we celebrate women every single day and i'd like to take this opportunity to thank the many mentors that i've had in my life growing up such as my mom who is also a politician locally and also the the work that we need to do to mentor the next generation i have three young daughters and i hope that they will work hard to achieve all of their goals but i think it's also important that we're supported by men and i look to the men in my own caucus who are here to support us our premier who supports us as women in government so thank you to each and every one of you you know we need to everybody has a role in achieving gender equality and that includes men and boys and we need to continue changing attitudes that prevent women and girls from achieving their full potential we recognize women have been disproportionately affected by this pandemic and women will not be left behind as this province recovers speaker based on this conservative government's responses this morning on international women's day women are yet again not a priority we need an intersectional feminist recovery one that serves the women of st paul's and across ontario during cobit 19 and beyond our local psw's need a four dollar an hour permanent pay increase for starters our local women small business owners need no evictions we need funding to keep our businesses alive we need the funding this government promised us from metro links to market and advertise our small businesses especially those run by women and by pop community members our artists our women artists deserve direct funding our survivors of violence deserve osap forgiveness when is this government going to give women the same priority it gives to pc party donors developers and big corporate ceos if not on international women's day speaker when when are you going to get it right thank you mr speaker and thank you to the member for this question we in fact support women each and every single day this government has stepped up in fact as you said you've meant you've talked to many workers across the province as have i as have all of my members in the cabinet and one thing that we hear from women many times is the need for childcare and i thank my colleague the minister of education for the work that he has done to ensure that we are providing affordable accessible and flexible daycare for women and families across this province in fact we committed a billion dollars to build thousands of new childcare spaces in schools over the coming years in addition to the 16 000 spaces created in 2020 we provided ontario with the care tax credit in addition to childcare expense deduction and will target tax relief in low and middle income families this government has stepped up we are here to support families and women thank you to the minister of labor training and skills development for his investments in training women into well paying jobs that are needed in the future so this government steps up every single day not just on international women's day the next question the member for scarborough gildwood thank you speaker happy international women day to all women today i wear green for hope my question is to the minister of health minister scarborough has been the hardest hit community in ontario when it comes to covet 19 in the pandemic hospitals in scarborough have had the highest covet in patient numbers more than any other health unit in the province for every 100 individuals infected five end up in icu in scarborough the ontario covet 19 science table reports that a vaccine strategy that prioritizes both age and neighborhood would prevent an additional 3767 cases 702 hospital admissions 145 icu admissions and 168 deaths from covet 19 as compared to a strategy that prioritizes based on age alone equal share of vaccines to all hospitals sounds fair but it is not when you consider the positivity rates in scarborough and the infection rates and the ravages of this virus over the last 12 months minister will you prioritize the distribution of vaccines to scarborough hospitals and clinics today minister of health well thank you speaker and thank you very much to the member for a question this is a really important issue we do have a vaccination plan one plan that is being rolled out by the 34 public health unit regions across the province the allocations are based on the population in the area but it's also looking at things like at-risk neighborhoods at situations where there are a number of homeless shelters for example there are additional vaccines that are allocated based on that because we know that there are situations where there are some at-risk neighborhoods where they have exceptional rates of both covet 19 infections hospitalizations and unfortunately deaths we are taking both age and risk into account in both allocating vaccinations and setting up the clinics as a matter of fact i will be visiting a mass vaccination clinic this afternoon with a premier response thank you speaker and i think the minister for that and i would love to join you on that visit in scarborough because that is not what i am hearing from the health providers in scarborough we have not seen the number of allocations based on risk and we know that scarborough has been the highest hit community compared to anywhere else in terms of the infection rates as well as the hospitalization rates so therefore they do require more vials of vaccines and you know i can appreciate that other hospitals and areas in the province have extra vials so they've started to vaccinate those 80 and over in their communities the scarborough allocation has not even been enough to do the allocation of phase one so they need more vaccines for the size of the problem that they have based on infection rates based on positivity rates based on death rates we have the data we have the science we have the ethics to make this decision will you provide the vaccine so that scarborough hospitals can do the vaccinations to those over 80 in the community this week again the minister are taking all of those factors into consideration every public health unit region across Ontario all 34 of them receive vaccines based on population and based on risk based on at risk neighborhoods based on the number of shelters homeless people that they have all of that is being taken into consideration scarborough is no different than any other community what i would say is that some areas with smaller populations are now able to do the inoculations of people over 80 years of age in some parts of Toronto that hasn't happened yet because of the number of essential workers that need to be inoculated the number of people in long-term care homes and so on but i can tell you that over the next several weeks Toronto Pfizer allocations are going to be quadrupled in addition to 17 000 doses of Moderna this week to plans to increase future allocations to over 7 000 doses and future shipments i would also point out that according to the COVID-19 science advisory table due to swift action by our government and in conjunction with our partners our implementation of the vaccine roll out to the long term thank you thank you very much the member for next question the member for York southwest thank you mr speaker my question is to is for the premier my office has been contacted by many family members confused about the first seen roll out who qualifies where they go and how they elderly parents or those with language barriers will be able to access the system York southwestern is identified hot sports and one of the high risk that is harmed to many essential workers many of whom are black and racialized residents that were previously neglected by this government when a local COVID testing facility hasn't even established them until late september or last year are fearful they are once again being left behind what can the premier tell our community about the first seen plan to address residents concerns and will our high risk community have local fascination facilities minister of health well thank you very much to the member for the question this is an important issue I know many people are concerned about when they will be receiving their vaccines and they're anxious about it and we're anxious that they receive the vaccine as soon as possible but we are vaccinating it based on age of course as the end of phase one people over 80 as we start moving into phase two it will be people between 60 and 79 years of age and so on but it's also based on risk as I've indicated before there are some at-risk neighborhoods within Toronto that will be receiving additional vaccines there will be some mobile testing clinics there we will be mass vaccination sites as well but the communications are very important they have been translated into a number of different languages that information is available on the website and in addition as the local public health units are ready to start vaccinating in different stages of age and risk that will be notified to the people in those communities in many many languages we want everyone who wants a vaccine in Ontario to be able to receive one and the supplementary Mr Speaker about to the premier a recent report trying to start story outline more than 350 sites for covered immunization did not include a single location in high-risk community like ours in york south-western i know this government wants to pass things after local public health but i urge you to take direct action and leadership and work with Toronto public health to leave no one behind and be vigilant when it comes to high-risk communities like ours i sent the health minister and dr developer a letter outlining at least of suggestions like fascinating entire senior buildings at what at one time will the government listen to my suggestions that include local access and accommodation for seniors and others who simply cannot physically stand waiting in long lineups and create our fascination facilities in my community i thank the member very much for suggestions i'd be very interested in reviewing them because we want to make sure that everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one we are working with dr de Villa i know that dr williams our chief medical officer of health speaks with dr de Villa almost daily that is really important because we want to make sure that we're going to have access sites for people to receive vaccinations in all parts of the province and in many locations some will be mass vaccination clinics some will be in pharmacies some will be in primary care providers some will be even mobile test units for some of the communities at risk so we are working with dr de Villa we are working to make sure that all of the information is translated into many languages we don't want language to be a barrier for people to be able to receive access to vaccines we will take every step that we need to take to ensure that everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one the next question the member for Ottawa thank you mr speaker my question is for the associate minister of children's and women's issues mr speaker on international women's day i too want to ensure that we don't miss the opportunity to recognize that this proportionate impact that this pandemic has had on women in particular and it's worth repeating that 10 times more women than men have fallen out of the labor workforce which women were hit hardest your youth visible minorities newcomers and many moms 12 times as many mothers as fathers left their jobs to care for toddlers in school age children most of us likely know at least one woman if not more who are part of these alarming statistics mr speaker i'm asking this question on behalf of all women of Ontario who are struggling right now to see a float and continue to be a pillar in their family minister can you explain how childcare will be made more affordable and accessible and explain how and when women can have access to the support you have referred to to ensure that they can truly be part of the economic recovery associate minister children women's issues okay mr speaker and thank you to the member for that great question and as i said not a round table goes by from any sector that we talk about childcare and how necessary it is not just for moms but also for families and thank you to the minister of education we participate in heard from numerous women across the province on what we can be doing to ensure that we have affordable accessible and flexible childcare childcare centers are not always possible for women who are working in agriculture women who are working in skilled trades we need to ensure that we have that flexibility when moving forward which is why this government has the care tax credit to ensure that we've also committed a billion dollars to build thousands of new childcare spaces in ontario and as i said 16 000 spaces created in 2020 alone so we are working as well with our federal provincial and territorial counterparts to ensure that we have childcare spaces available for women because we know it is such an important piece and i look forward to the supplementary thank you supplementary question mr speaker having to sustain such economy hardship doesn't come without emotional and mental challenges and we haven't spoken to that yet but so many women you know are superwoman and almost expected to be but you know reality is just we're just human you know that well some women can benefit from the support of their family not everyone does so single moms are struggling and so many who are already in challenging positions before the pandemic don't know where to turn for help so my question is what is the government doing to actively offer mental health support to women the associate minister thank you mr speaker and thank you again to the member for that question and i too have heard heartbreaking stories from women in this province about the struggles that they have had during covid we know that women have been disproportionately affected because they are over represented in areas such as hospitality and tourism the restaurant business retail business so these are all issues that we need to take forward and hearing firsthand from those women but also hearing the solutions as well and i understand that mental health has been an issue for for everybody for our young people which were providing supports in post-secondary for mental health but also for those who have lost their jobs have lost their business and i you know work with the minister of mental health and addictions and the great work that they are doing on our roadmap to wellness and the minister of health as well to ensure that we're responding mental health supports across the lifespan of people ranging from from young to adults and seniors so thank you for your concerns remember for university thank you speaker my question is to the premier at 12 o'clock 1 a.m today the stay at home order was lifted and the mass eviction of tenants has begun again in toronto 14 000 ontarians have already been evicted from their homes during the pandemic these people have been forced to find emergency shelter look for apartments or crash with family and friends in the middle of a pandemic and many of these people have lost their income their job or their business through no fault of their own because of COVID-19 evictions are very clearly putting people at risk of catching and spreading COVID-19 and with new more aggressive COVID-19 variants spreading in our community people must have a safe and secure place to call home at this time premier you said people who can't pay their rent during COVID-19 will not face eviction so why are you lifting the eviction ban the attorney general to reply thank you mr speaker and as the member knows the landlord tenant board is an adjudicative tribunal that resolves disputes between landlords and tenants independent of the government and and as the opposite as the member opposite knows as well the emergency order was issued to protect public health to help people stay at home prevent the spread of COVID-19 the enforcement of evictions was temporarily suspended in those areas that were locked down and now that the lockdown has been lifted we normal processes will resume there are discretion and and the sheriff's office has has its own directive and we will continue to put the safety of individuals at the forefront of everything that we do thank you mr speaker thank you that concludes our question period for this morning beg to inform the house that pursuant to standing order 101c a change has been made to the order of precedence on the ballot list for private members public business such that ms bigham assumes ballot item number 63 and mr racosevic assumes ballot item number 93 we now have a deferred vote on private members notice of motion number 142 as moved by mr mantha the bells will now ring for 30 minutes during which time members may cast their votes i will ask the clerks to prepare the lobbies