 It is now time for oral questions. I recognize the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Thanks. Thanks Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Deputy Premier. We all know that COVID-19 continues to grip our province. Our ICUs are almost at 900 in terms of COVID patients. We just had a moment of silence for 13 year old Emily Viagas who lost her life to COVID-19 over the weekend. Hospitals are now training their staff on how to talk to loved ones about the fact that their loved one in hospital is not going to be able to get the life support that they need. Dr. Isaac Bogash says this and I quote, the system is beyond capacity. Speaker, why hasn't this government implemented the urgent recommendations of its own advisors from almost two weeks ago now? To reply, the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. Thank you very much, Speaker. And in fact, the medical advisors to the government have been helping us set the course since the beginning of this pandemic. They have advised most recently that we shut the province down with the stay-at-home order which we have done. They have advised that we cancel all emergency surgeries to preserve hospital capacity which we have done. They have advised that we make sure that we are able to use the entire health system as one health system as a total so that we can make sure that we take capacity, take advantage of every bit of capacity in our hospital system. That's why we are transferring patients from one hospital location to another to ensure that they can receive the care that they expect and deserve. It may not be in the hospital, that's the closest to home, but they will receive excellent quality health services as a result of this. Supplementary question. Speaker, time and time again this government has failed to act urgently to save lives in our province. The media has been providing shocking reports of chaotic and disjointed Cabinet meetings which result in a groupthink mentality where the members of Cabinet seem to convince each other not to take action to save lives. As a matter of fact, one source says this and I quote, just about everyone said they didn't want to piss off their stakeholder speaker. Why was nobody at that table speaking for the patients that are dying in our eyes today? Minister of Heritage, Tourism and Culture come to order. I'm going to leave the opposition to withdraw. Just about everyone said they didn't want to tick off their order. Minister of Health to reply. We've been taking the advice of the medical experts since the beginning of this pandemic, starting with Dr. Williams, our Chief Medical Officer of Health, the preventive health measures table, the science advisory table. There are numerous medical experts who have been advising us. We have been taking their advice. That's why we brought forward first the province wide emergency break and now the stay-at-home order. We've been advised that we need to limit transmission of the community in order to save our hospital system and to save lives. We've been doing that. We've ramped down the emergency surgeries, which was recommended. We've transferred the patients to make sure that we have adequate capacity across the system and we are continuing to follow their advice every step along the way. They are the experts in this area. That is what both I listen to as Minister of Health and our Cabinet listens to when they're making Cabinet decisions. And the final supplementary. Well, Speaker, unbelievably, the Premier is still putting political interest first. In fact, all weekend long, his PCMPPs were twittering and tweeting away in defense of the Premier of this province, instead of in defense of the people who are struggling for breath in the ICUs. This government has ignored time and again explicit warnings and advice from the science table. Back in February, they ignored explicit advice from the science table. Just almost two weeks ago now, they ignored and continue to ignore at this very moment explicit warnings and advice from the science table, from their own experts. People are dying, Speaker. People are losing their lives every day to COVID-19. When will the government implement the urgent recommendations from almost two weeks ago from their own advisors at the science table? Our government has been implementing the recommendations made by the science advisory table. We have to take into consideration a variety of factors, but we have been listening. We have ramped up the capacity in our hospitals, including in our most recent budget, where we put $1.8 billion more into it in order to make sure that we can be ready for what's going to be happening to increase the numbers of people in our intensive care units. The science advisory table warned us about the variants of concern taking over as a dominant strain in our province, which they have, which we are now prepared for. We have been listening. We will continue to listen. We will continue to take their advice, and we will be able to follow that advice with every measure that we're going to take to save the health and well-being of the people of Ontario. That's been our first concern since the beginning, and we'll continue to be. Thank you so much, Speaker. My next question is also for the Deputy Premier. After being ignored by this government, the science table has resorted to releasing some statements. In fact, I'm going to read from one of them right now. It says, this is advice from the science table, quote, vaccines are essential in slowing the pandemic. This means immediately allocating as many doses as possible to hotspot neighbourhoods, vulnerable populations, and essential workers, specifically 50% of vaccines to 74 hotspot neighbourhoods. The most vulnerable neighbourhoods still have the lowest vaccination rates in our province. There's line-ups, and we've all seen them, hundreds upon hundreds of people in places like Scarborough, Brampton, at Driftwood Community Centre. People are not getting what they need to fight this virus. How can the government not take the advice of the science table? Will they take that advice today? And if they do not, how can this minister, how can she justify ignoring public health advice? The Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture has to come to order. Minister of Health to reply. Thank you, Speaker. In fact, there has been no ignoring of the public health advice we've received from the science advisory table. They recommended that we vaccinate based on age and risk and looking at priority hotspots. 114 poster codes have been identified as being hotspots in the province of Ontario. We have been allocating more vaccines to those hotspots. We are already based on the initial recommendations made by the science advisory table, designating 25% of all of the vaccines from the top being allocated to those hotspots before the rest is divided up across the province among the 34 public health units based on population. That is what we've done. Those 25% levels of vaccines are making a difference. We are starting to see the numbers go down slightly. We're not able to say it's a trend yet, but the numbers are going down slightly in large part due to that recommendation of putting more vaccines on the hotspots, which we have accepted from the science advisory table. Supplementary question. Well, Speaker, the Minister of Health knows that she has not completely implemented what the recommendations are, and I think everybody knows that. But here's another recommendation, Speaker, that the government is ignoring, and I quote, from the science table. Some indoor workplaces have to remain open, but the list of what stays open must be as short as possible. This means permitting only truly essential indoor workplaces to stay open and strictly enforcing COVID-19 safety measures in those places. We know that the government has ignored this advice as well. In fact, Dr. Lowe and Dr. De Villa had to take measures into their own hands because the government is ignoring the advice of the science table. So will the government act on this piece of advice today? And if not, how can this Minister of Health justify a decision to ignore public health advice during a pandemic? Minister of Labor, training and skills development. Well, thank you very much, and thank you to the member opposite for this question. We continue to work very, very closely with our local public health units. We support the decisions that they're making. They are able to make individual choices for their own public health unit region. Mr. Speaker, from our ministry standpoint, I can tell you we work closely with all public health units. That's how we determine which places of work we inspect. That's why in the Peel region, for example, we've gone to thousands of distribution centers, warehouses, factories, agri-food businesses to ensure that we're doing everything possible to keep workers safe, to ensure that employers are held to account that they're following all of the public health guidelines to protect their places of business. And the final supplementary. Speaker, the science table also recommends, and I quote, paying essential workers to stay home when they are sick, exposed, or need time to get vaccinated. Speaker, Ontarians don't want any more excuses, and they don't want any more of the belame game. So will the government, in the situation we have now, when people literally are dying by the dozens every day, will we see the government pass legislation today to bring paid sick days to Ontario? And if not, will the Minister of Health, how will the Minister of Health justify to those doctors who are losing lives every day in the ICU, who are watching people die every day in the ICU? How will this help Minister justify her decision not to take the advice of the public health advisers? Well, Mr. Speaker, we don't want any worker in the province to have to choose between their health and their job. That's why, Mr. Speaker, the very first piece of action we took when COVID-19 hit the province was to bring in job protection leave. If you're a worker who has to be in self-isolation and quarantine, you can't lose your job for that. If you're a worker that wants to go and get vaccinated, your job is protected. Mr. Speaker, we went further. We eliminated the need for sick notes here in Ontario during COVID-19. But, Mr. Speaker, we were really disappointed. We know that we have to have a federal partner when it comes to paid sick days to ensure that the payments get out to workers across the province. And, Mr. Speaker, we were disappointed with the federal budget last week. Over $100 billion in new spending, and they still continue to pay workers not only in Ontario, but across the country below minimum wage. Mr. Speaker, the federal government has to be our partner and do more for workers here in Ontario. Thank you. The next question, the member for Brampton East. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Brampton is in a crisis. We have a COVID-19 positivity rate of over 22 percent, making it one of the highest in the entire country. People are getting sick and dying at an alarming rate. Our only hospital of Brampton Civic is struggling to keep up with the surge of COVID-19 patients. Now, Brampton was a COVID-19 hotspot since the beginning of this pandemic. And from the beginning, we were left behind by the Conservative Government. We were left behind when it came to testing and getting access to the resources we need to fight COVID-19. And now, when we need it the most, we're being left behind again when it comes to getting access to the life-saving vaccine. Per capita, Brampton has one of the fewest pharmacies giving out vaccines when compared to other municipalities throughout Ontario. We only have one COVID-19 pop-up location, which is not even located in Brampton and actually doesn't even service our entire city. When will the Conservative Government finally stop abandoning Brampton families and give us the support we need to fight COVID-19? Thank you very much, Speaker. And in fact, Brampton has been given significant assistance during the course of this pandemic. There is no suggestion that they're receiving any less than they're entitled to. In fact, out of the 114 hotspots that have identified across the province, there are 25 hotspots in the Brampton and Peel area, allowing access to more vaccines. That 25% that I was speaking about before, 25% of all vaccines off the top are divided amongst those public health regions. Brampton has 25 of them. In addition, the areas where people can receive vaccines in appeal, Brampton appeal is over 150 pharmacies, seven of which are operating 24-7, 40 primary care sites, four hospitals, eight plus pop-up sites in high priority areas, and countless mobile vaccination teams. We are certainly well aware that Peel is a hot spot and we are dedicating more vaccines in more places for people to receive those vaccines. Thank you. The supplementary question. Thank you, Speaker. Emilia Victoria-Vigues was 13 years old when she became one of the youngest Canadians to die from COVID-19. Her father, Carlos, provided and described the agonizing position he was in. See, Carlos was the only member of his family of four to test negative for COVID-19. His wife was at Brampton Civic on oxygen struggling with the sickness. And when his daughter, Emily's condition started to deteriorate, he didn't know what to do. He knew that Brampton Civic was one of the worst-hit hospitals in our entire country with COVID-19. And he was afraid that if Emily went there, she'd be sent to a hospital outside of Brampton and be separated from both her parents. So he did his best to take care of her. And he did his best to take care of her. And he thought that Emily would get better soon. The next day, Emily Victoria-Vigues became one of the youngest Canadians to die from COVID-19. How many more deaths will it take before the Conservative government gives Brampton the support we need to fight COVID-19? Well, Emily's death is truly a tragedy. And it's something that I'm sure all of us send our sincere condolences to her family. She was a young woman who was just starting out in her life. And it is a tragic situation that she passed away. However, we all need to remember that we are working as hard as we can to bring vaccinations to as many people as possible. We do have the resources in our hospitals to be able to care for anyone who comes in with COVID or with any other life-threatening illness. And that is why we're building up the hospital capacity by creating more spaces in our hospitals and also by building up our health human resources so that anyone who needs to be in intensive care in an Ontario hospital will have a place there. Thank you. The next question, the member for Northumberland, Peter Burleson. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to ask a question today. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Solicitor General. Speaker, this weekend the Federal Minister of Public Safety tweeted that less than 2% of Canada's COVID-19 cases have come from travel. But Speaker, I think it is important to point out that around 70% of cases in Ontario are now related to variants of concern, including quite a number in my community of Northumberland, Peter Burleson. For many of my constituents, Mr. Speaker, who reached out to me over the weekend, I know this can be a confusing and a scary time with conflicting messages. So can the Solicitor General please remind Ontarians why variants of concern pose such a threat to the people of this province and our health care system and what our government is doing about it? Thank you, Speaker. To reply, the Solicitor General. Thank you, Speaker, and thank you to the member from Northumberland, Peter Burleson. You know, this is such an incredibly important topic as we deal with these highly contagious, highly transmittable variants of concerns. We all know that they are transmitting faster and unfortunately are more deadly. As the Premier and our health table has said many times, this third wave in Ontario is actually like fighting a whole new virus. Speaker, it's important we all understand these variants of concerns did not arrive at our province by chance. They came from our borders from other countries and now they make up the vast majority of cases in Ontario. Almost 70% of new cases are actually detected each day with variants of concerns. Ontarians should know that their provincial government is doing everything possible to stop the spread of these variants and we're on our way with 35.8% of Ontario residents over the age of 18 now having received their first vaccination. Supplementary question. Thank you, Speaker, and thank you to the Solicitor General for that information. I know she would agree that the suggestion by some that travel related cases make up only a small percentage is indeed a misleading speaker. This is a concern that has been expressed by many municipalities in my community of Northumberland, Peterborough South. And in fact, Mr Speaker, this is a concern echoed by municipalities across the province of Ontario. I know Mayor Patrick Brown in a motion moved by council said, and I quote, immediately call on the federal government to immediately develop and implement an effective strategy prevent to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 from all destinations. Mr Speaker, this from a mayor in a community where right adjacent to where our largest international airport in the country is situated and it is concerning speaker for folks in my community because these municipalities doctors and our government know that these travel related cases have led to variants of concern ravaging communities in our province. So, Speaker, can the Solicitor General please review what actions the government has taken since last year to address this border issue? Thank you, Speaker. Solicitor General. Thank you again to the member from Northumberland, Peterborough. So our government has long been advocating and taking action to strengthen Ontario's borders. Of course, it was Premier Ford and our government who instituted testing at Pearson in the early part of the year because we felt that the federal government wasn't doing enough to protect and ensure that visitors to Ontario were actually COVID free. So we instituted that testing program at Pearson International Airport for incoming international travelers. This was built, of course, through a section 22 through the Chief Medical Officer of Health. And of course, we've also closed Ontario's borders from Manitoba and Quebec for the same reason. We understand that the variants of concern need to be stopped before they come into our communities. All of this, Speaker, while continuing to push the federal government for further action within their jurisdiction, while it was positive news to hear that three countries have been paused for 30 days, it's not enough, Speaker. Now, we vaccinated over 4.7 million Canadians, Ontarians, my apologies, but we need to do more to stop the variant. The next question, the member for Niagara Falls. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Last week, Niagara Health announced that the ICU capacity is at 104 percent. Level three ICU is at 164 percent, and the ICU vented bed capacity is at 125 percent, and we have 83 patients with COVID. Frontline healthcare heroes are worried they'd be forced to implement the triage protocol that they've been briefed on. They don't want to make the impossible decision of who is more worthy of life-saving care like ventilators or trained ICU nurses. This government is directly responsible for the surge in COVID-19 cases, resulting in deaths. They have repeatedly ignored the advice of public health experts. They are more concerned with how their stakeholders may react. They're doing what is desperately needed to save lives and avoid having to use a triage protocol. Mr. Speaker, when will this government listen to public health experts and stop putting politics above saving people's lives? Thank you very much, Speaker, and I would say to the member opposite that, first of all, the health and well-being of the people of Ontario has been our first interest since the beginning of the pandemic, and will always be. The second issue is that there is no triage protocol being activated in Ontario, has not been activated, because we are building capacity to make sure that we can care for everyone who comes into our hospital who needs to be in intensive care, whether it's by reason of COVID or by another reason. So we're building both a physical capacity to make sure that we can have the beds to house people. We've created over 3100 more beds. I know I've said this before in this House, but that's also 285 more intensive care beds. That's within the last year. Even within our last budget, we allocated another $1.8 billion to create our capacity. But we're also creating more health human resources in order to make sure that we'll have the people to operate in those hospitals. I'll be able to speak about that in my supplementary. Thank you, Speaker. Back to the Premier. I just want to say I think that's a myth. Niagara has been a COVID hotspot with 387 deaths. Some nurses are seeing two and three patients die per shift. This government calls them heroes, but refuses to listen to public health experts. Last week, the President of Niagara Health said critical care capacity at Niagara Health is in a state of crisis. We've opened additional critical care beds in other areas of the hospital, but we have limited critical care trained staff to further increase capacity. And the Medical Advisory Committee briefed doctors on the triage protocol. This is a result of this government putting stakeholders' interests over public health advice. Dr. Della said it is very worrying when it becomes clear that the cabinet isn't making science-based decisions. He said that, not Wingates. Speaker, when will the Premier immediately implement provincial paid sick days, ensure that paid time off for vaccines, close non-essential businesses, and get direct financial support for workers and small businesses in the province of Ontario? Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the member opposite for his question. Mr. Speaker, I think all of us jointly together can thank all of the people in Ontario. As of today, Mr. Speaker, about 4.7 million people have received their vaccination. That is good news. That's over 30 percent of eligible adults in the province of Ontario. That's how we're going to work to defeat COVID-19. But, Mr. Speaker, we need to have a federal partner to help us get through COVID-19 working together. Mr. Speaker, that's why we need more vaccines to the province faster. That's why we called on the federal government to step up and do a better job at securing Canadian borders. And, Mr. Speaker, we need to have a federal partner when it comes to paid sick days for the federal government to pay Ontario workers less the minimum wage response. We're calling on the federal government as well working with other provinces, including the BCNDPs, to call on the federal government to step up, work with us. Let's get paid sick days for everyone in Ontario. Thank you. The next question, the member for Don Valley East. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the government house leader. Speaker, the government has committed to some sort of supplement to the federal program. We learned that after the apology by the Premier that something's coming, but details have been very limited. We haven't heard anything. Even today, we haven't heard any details. There's no question, Mr. Speaker, that we need in Ontario some type of paid sick program. So I'm asking all members of this house to support Bill 247 that we'll vote on today for 10 paid sick days. So, Speaker, through you to the minister. If the government has changed its mind and now is supporting paid sick days, will the minister, the house leader, support a free vote for all of his members in the legislature today? Government house leader. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've already indicated, our members on this side have indicated that we will not be supporting the members' bill. I note that his own leader does not support the bill that he put forward in the house speaker, but more importantly, as I've said on a number of occasions, we want to ensure, and as the Minister of Labor has highlighted, we want to make sure that there is a regime in place that protects all workers and Mr. Speaker and gets us through this pandemic. And very soon, we will have something to bring forward. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It's unfortunate the house leader has said that he will not be supporting the bill and the government will not be supporting the bill. Mr. Speaker, today this will be the 21st time, either through motions or other previous bills, that the Conservative Party and the Premier have voted against paid sick days. When 83 percent of Ontarians agree that paid sick days are so necessary, this is not a political issue. This is not a partisan issue. This is about the best science. So my question is back to the house leader. What has he based this decision on today and tell me exactly why he's decided not to support 10 paid sick days today in the legislature? Again, Government House Leader. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Honourable Gentleman. It's certainly not a political matter, especially when you consider that his own leader does not agree with the legislation that he has put forward to this house today, Mr. Speaker. We will be working on a plan, Mr. Speaker, an important plan for the people, the province of Ontario. These essential workers who are working so hard across this province to keep this economy going, Mr. Speaker, to help us get through this pandemic. There are number one priority, Mr. Speaker. There are number one priority, not a bill that the member has brought forward that it does not meet the needs of these essential workers in these in these workplaces across the province. So we're going to bring a bill forward that will be comprehensive, will protect the people, the province of Ontario, Mr. Speaker, as we have been doing since the beginning of this pandemic. Thank you. The next question. The member for Northumberland, Peterborough South. Thank you, Speaker. My question is again to the Solicitor General. Mr. Speaker, in her last response to me, the Solicitor General outlined a number of actions our government has taken to keep our border secure and keep Ontarians safe from the new COVID-19 variants. But, Mr. Speaker, we know that that does not go far enough. In fact, Mr. Speaker, infectious disease expert Colin Furness said this weekend that there are two problems with the federal government's proposed flight plan. One, it doesn't go far enough. And that two, by targeting only two countries, it actually has the unintended consequence of provoking racism. Mr. Speaker, we need more decisive action from this federal government to prevent variants of concern from entering our provinces, hitting an already beleaguered healthcare system that is dealing with variants of concern that have spread from other areas of the world. Mr. Speaker, can the Solicitor General please outline for the House some data that demonstrates why further action is needed now to stop variants of concern from entering the province? Thank you. Thank you, Speaker. And again, I really have to acknowledge the incredible advocacy that the member from Northumberland, Peterborough South, has had on this issue. He's been strongly out there explaining why. But for the benefit of the rest of the chamber, allow me to show some of the data points. He's right. There's more action is needed to keep COVID-19 from crossing into our borders. For example, in the last week alone, nearly 10,000 foreign national travelers entered through Toronto Pearson Airport. 22 international flights have landed at Pearson with possible COVID-19 exposures. Nearly 80,000 people, not including essential commercial truckers, have crossed Canada's land borders. Clearly, more action is needed by the federal government to restrict travel and to more properly and thoroughly screen for COVID-19 at our borders. Thank you, Speaker. And the supplementary question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that response. And it's clear, Mr. Speaker, that this is an urgent issue that demands attention now. And Mr. Speaker, I'll again go back to comments from infectious disease expert Colin Furness, who did rightly point out that this is deeply concerning for two reasons. That again, it does not go far enough. And two, it provokes unintended racism. Mr. Speaker, last week, when the federal government announced that they were banning direct flights from India and Pakistan, Mr. Speaker, that leads to that unintended consequence that I referenced earlier. We know that doctors like Dr. Sharkawi has said this doesn't go far enough for residents in the province of Ontario. Mr. Speaker, we call on that government to immediately do more to secure our borders. Much more must be done right now. So can the Solicitor General be unequivocal about what our message to the federal government is today, Mr. Speaker, for the people of Northumberland, Peterborough South and for concerned Ontarians across this province? Thank you. Solicitor General. Thank you, Speaker. So on Friday, Premier Ford joined with the Premier of Quebec to jointly call on the federal government to put a hold on international flights. This is not just an Ontario problem. This is a Canadian problem demonstrated by Canada's two largest provinces working together to protect lives. We ask the federal government to strongly consider the following. First, reduce mobility of COVID-19 variants by further reducing incoming international flights. Secondly, roll out further protective actions at the Canada-U.S. land border. You know, Speaker, we've put in place what we can do interprovincially between Manitoba and Quebec and ensuring that only essential travelers come into Ontario, but the federal government will come to order. The independent members will come to order. These new measures should be in place for as long as necessary. We are now vaccinating over 111,000 people a day over the last seven days. We need to have the time to protect our citizens to get properly vaccinated. Thank you. Thank you very much. The next question, the member for Windsor West. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Deputy Premier. This government has had 24 chances to pass legislation that would provide paid sick days for every worker in Ontario. They just voted against it again a moment ago. ICUs and hospitals are overrun with COVID-19 patients. Variants are getting out of control, leading to more and younger essential workers needing hospitalization and dying from COVID-19. Public health experts, nurses, doctors, business owners, mayors and city councillors, essential workers, those of us in the official opposition and the government's own science table have pleaded with this government to pass paid sick day legislation and to save lives. Paid sick days prevent workers from having to choose between paying rent, buying groceries and going to work sick. At every opportunity, the government has refused to take action and implement paid sick days. Speaker, why won't the Premier and his government do the responsible thing and immediately implement paid sick days for Ontario workers? Why do they feel that it's acceptable to let people get sick and die? Speaker, workers in the province of Ontario shouldn't choose between their health and their job. That's why we moved decisively to bring in job-protected leave. If any workers impacted by COVID-19, if they're in self-isolation in quarantine, if your mom or dad who has to stay home and look after a son or a daughter because the schools have been closed, you can't be fired for that. We eliminated the need for sick notes. We also ensured that there was job-protected leave for vaccinations, but we need to have a federal partner. We heard loud and clear from the BC NDPs last week who called for the federal government to step up as well. There is a system in place that's delivering checks to workers, but we can't have the federal government paying workers in Ontario and other workers in other provinces less than minimum wage. They have to be part of the solution. Supplementary question. Thank you, Speaker. That response shows the complete lack of personal responsibility that is letting people get sick and die in this province. It's shameful. Many essential workers are living paycheck to paycheck. One misday of wages or break-in income means the devastating choice of paying rent or feeding their family. Birgit, an ICU nurse working with COVID-positive patients, shared last week that she contracted COVID-19 in October. She and many other frontline heroes don't have paid sick days. Jurisdictional ping-pong doesn't help workers like Birgit and won't save lives. Last week, while COVID cases soared among Ontario workers, the Premier made a non-announcement on paid sick leave that let everyone in this province yet again. Paid sick days could have saved lives months ago, could save lives tomorrow and in the months to come. The Premier and his government are responsible for the death of every essential worker and their family members that have passed because of COVID-19 because they refuse to do what is necessary to save lives. Speaker, my question is simple. How many people have to get sick or die before this government listens to health experts, workers and many others and implements paid sick days? What is their magic number? Well, Mr. Speaker, we are going to get this right. And, Mr. Speaker, we need to have a federal partner to help us get through COVID-19. The opposition come to order. The independent members come to order. We need more vaccines for every adult in the province of Ontario. Mr. Speaker, we need the federal government to step up and increase payments to workers in this province. It is an injustice that workers in Ontario are getting paid below minimum wage. Mr. Speaker, the infrastructure is in place to quickly increase those payments to workers. And thirdly, Mr. Speaker, we need the federal government to step up, secure our borders, secure our airports, prevent variants of concern from getting in to the province. We are going to continue every single day standing up for the people of this province. I came to ask the House to come to order. I need to hear the member who actually has the floor and has been recognized to speak. And I can't when there's a constant barrage of heckling on both sides of the House. The next question, the member for York Centre. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health. Last Thursday, the Interior Science Table published a science brief titled, Behavioral Science Principles for Enhancing Adherence to Public Health Measures. The science brief advises the government to apply various averse behavioral strategies to maintain and enhance endurance to public health measures. The measures include persuasion and modeling of public health behavior. It recommends the drawing of various alternatives in the event that Ontarians do not comply. It recommends instilling fear of missing out. It invites incentives to encourage obedience. My question to the Minister of Health, does she believe that it's appropriate for the Ontario Science Table to recommend that the government engage in psychological manipulation of Ontarians and does she intend to accept this particular recommendations of the science table? Minister of Health. Thank you very much, Speaker. We have been listening to the recommendations of the science table from the beginning of this pandemic. They recommended that we engage in the lockdown and the emergency break lockdown, which we then transmitted into a stay-at-home order. They also recommended that we ramp down surgeries to make sure that we would have availability in our public hospitals for increased number of people who have fallen victim to COVID because of the variants of concern. They also recommended that we look at the hotspots, that we allocate vaccines based on age, risk and on the basis of the hotspots. 114 different hotspots were identified in 20 different public health units. We are following those measures. We are implementing extra vaccines into those areas 25 percent more. They have recommended 50 percent more, and we're studying that as well. The recommendations that have been made by the science advisory table have been followed for the most part by the government, and we look forward to hearing more of their recommendations because they do contain people who are experts in this area. They have provided us with sound modeling, which has meant they. Thank you. A supplementary question. Thank you, Speaker, to the Minister of Health. While some Ontarians were moved by the Premier's apology last Thursday for attempting to impose a police state in Ontario, the government's policy with respect to its baseless outdoor restrictions since Thursday has not moved one bit. Not a single doctor in the entire province of Ontario agrees with the government's restrictions on outdoor recreational activities. Every doctor agrees that the risk of transmission is negligible or exceedingly low. In fact, I'll challenge the minister to present one example of outdoor transmission in the province of Ontario. She won't because she cannot, Speaker. So my question to the Minister of Health. Why is the government acting against the advice of every physician in the province? Does she agree that the risk of outdoor transmission is exceedingly low? And if so, will she give Ontarians some much needed relief and let them play outdoors? Minister of Health. Thank you, Speaker. Well, to the member opposite, I would say to you, through Speaker, we are doing taking the steps we are taking to prevent transmission of COVID-19 and the variants of concern, which we all know are much more transmissible, result in more hospitalizations, more ICU admissions, and unfortunately more deaths. So while we encourage people, especially with the weather being nicer to go out for a walk, get your exercise, go for a walk or a run, whatever you want to do, however, what is not good is when people are together in larger groups because they that is how the virus is transmitted. So of course we encourage people to be outside. We of course encourage them to engage in, in healthy activities. However, it is not good for people to be in larger groups without maintaining the public health measures. That is why we brought in the provisions that we did to maintain the health and well-being of the people of Ontario. Thank you. The next question, once again, the member for Northumberland, Peter Burrow-Sell. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Speaker, I'm again highlighting that this week we heard very concerning reports that the new B1-617 variant from India has now been confirmed in British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta, and right here in Ontario, Mr. Speaker, with over 36 cases. The minister and her earlier answer outlined a number of decisive measures this government has taken to secure our borders and to implement testing at our airports. Mr. Speaker, I draw an analogy with driving in a car with the roof open in pouring rain. You can put on a jacket. You can do a number of things inside the car, but sooner or later you've got to close that roof to stop the water from getting in the car. Mr. Speaker, municipalities have highlighted this concern. The people of my riding have highlighted this concern. Families in Peel Region have highlighted this concern. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Solicitor General is when will the federal government do the right thing, close the border, and what more are we going to do to ensure that that happens? Thank you, Speaker, and thank you again to the member from Northumberland, Peter Burrow-Sell. The B1-617 variant of concern has been connected to what is now the largest outbreak in the world. And of course, our hearts break when we see the Indian government and the individuals dealing with this incredibly virulent strain. Our government has taken extra precautions to protect our border and true points at both Manitoba and Quebec, and every case that comes in through the border is one too many, and that leads to further spread. We must continue to protect Ontario, even as we continue to battle the third wave that the pandemic has already arrived, which is also why we will continue to call on the federal government to do their part by securing international entry points and further restricting international travel. The time is now. The supplementary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for that answer. You know, Mr. Speaker, it's never too late to do the right thing, to secure our borders, to prevent the next variant of concern from entering this country and ravaging our already strained health care system, Mr. Speaker. The time to act is indeed now. Notwithstanding the critical issue of protecting our border, Ontario remains in the midst of a third wave that we're seeing globally, Mr. Speaker. Maintaining public health measures continues to be of the utmost importance to stopping the spread. Speaker, can the solicitor general remind Ontarians what they can do to keep themselves safe and their loved ones safe in the province of Ontario? Thank you, Speaker. Again, thank you for the question and an important reminder. You know, one of the first things that we can do is remind everyone and educate everyone on the importance of when that vaccine is available to you, regardless of the type, go get vaccinated. We vaccinated 4.7 million Ontario residents. 35.8% of adults over the age of 18 in Ontario have received their first shot. And we're only moving forward. In the last seven days, we've had over 111,000 people get vaccinated every single day. But we cannot take our foot off the pedal at this point. You know, I know these restrictions require sacrifice. And for some, we're very frustrating when they can't see their loved ones and their neighbors. But patients admitted to the and staff working in IRC who's are even more tired of fighting COVID than we are in order to continue to stop the spread of this deadly virus. We all know what we need to do. Stay at home whenever possible, including avoiding nonessential travel, maintaining a physical distance of two. Wearing a mask when required. And of course, washing your hands thoroughly and often. Thank you, Speaker. The next question, the member for York Southwest. Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the premier. In my writing of York Southwest and we are home to many essential workers and have been designated by Toronto Public Health as one of high risk. The actions and more accurately the inactions of this government towards my community is very disturbing. And it is discrimination. Unlike other communities, we have zero mobile pop-up clinics and no permanent facility. When will the premier acknowledge the risk our community faces and provide us with mobile pop-ups clinics and permanent facility that would help mitigate transmission, protect families and treat our communities with urgent needed and not as an afterthought? Thank you very much. Speaker. And in fact, the 34 public health unit regions across the province of Ontario are all being treated fairly equitably based and receiving vaccines based on population based on risk and identification of hotspot areas. In addition to that, we have a high priority community strategy order of 12 and a half million dollars to support high priority neighbourhoods across the province, including in Toronto, which will assist with education and outreach, increased access to testing and vaccination and wraparound services, including financial assistance and isolation centres to support self-isolation. So those are available across the City of Toronto, particularly in those high spot areas, and will be available to anyone across the city. And the supplementary question. Thank you, Premier. Back to the Premier. We need the government to step up to the plate and provide mobile clinics promised two weeks ago without passing the park to Toronto Public Health or community health partners or blaming the federal government. It stopped putting politics over people. This past week, a community pop-up was announced for the postal code in my community, one of the postal codes in my community. With the 24 hours it was cancelled, with supply being the ex-shoes, many community members still lined up because the work did not get out. Why put the community through this emotional ordeal? For seen clinics shouldn't be announced without supply being secured, Mr Speaker. I would like to know why the province seems to have no organisation, no plan and no reason why it is other communities have after-day, day after day of clinics in York South, while York South-Western, we have no permanent facility and no mobile pop-ups yet. Minister Paul. Well, I'm certainly pleased to advise the member that the reason why some of the cancel areas, vaccination areas are cancelled is because each of the 34 public health units receives their allocation through the ministry. They understand when their allocation is coming, how many vaccines they will be receiving and then they provide the vaccines to the mass vaccination centres, to the pop-up clinics, some of the mobile clinics as well. In some cases, they are overbooked, even though those areas know what allocation they're receiving. I'm not certain if that's what happened in your situation, but we have seen it happen in other areas. However, there are mobile clinics that are moving through apartment buildings, places of congregate living for seniors, where they provide notices, response of a day and then they come through and will vaccinate everyone who wants to receive a vaccination in an apartment building. That is happening across the city of Toronto now, because we know that there are some groups of people that have vaccine hesitancy or there are other reasons why they aren't coming forward. We want to make sure that everyone in Ontario who wants a vaccine can get one. Thank you. The next question, a member for Don Valley West. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And my question is for the Premier. This past Friday, many of us received an open letter from more than 1,800 doctors addressed to the people of Ontario. They signed onto this letter, these 1,800 doctors, to ask people in Ontario to reach out to government to express their fears about their own healthcare in the midst of the pandemic. Now, Mr. Speaker, this is not a group of people who by nature or who frequently are moved to political action. They're often uniquely unsuited to collective action. And so when more than 1,800 doctors are moved to speak out, I think we should listen up. They're advising paid COVID recovery days, a workplace testing and vaccination plan, more available doses of vaccine to hotspots, and improved transparent public information. This is what the science table has already called for, Mr. Speaker. But these are doctors who are seeing it not happening and are calling it out. Much of what these doctors have called for is already in the public realm. Can the Premier tell the people of Ontario how he will respond to these frontline physicians? Thank you to reply, the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. Thank you very much. And I thank the member very much for the question. We are relying on the advice of the science advisory table. We are building capacity. We acknowledge that our health system is under stress right now. And the frontline doctors, nurses, personal support workers and everyone else, they are the true heroes in all of this. All of us will acknowledge and accept that because they've been going through this for over a year. We know that they need extra supports. That's why we're building more spaces. We have, we're building spaces in hospitals. We have two pop-up hospitals that are happening, both at Sunnybrook and in Hamilton. And we are building on the health human resources by building on the nurse extern program by bringing in more personal support workers. And we've also asked the federal government for assistance in addition to different provinces. We have received positive response from several of the provinces to help our health human resources we have here. And we're continuing to build that so that anyone who needs to be in hospital right now will have excellent and appropriate care. Supplementary question. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. You know, if in fact the government were doing what the science table said it should do, then nearly 2,000 doctors in this province would not be writing a letter to the people of Ontario, Mr. Speaker. And I understand that the deputy premier is not going to veer from her house note today. But the problem with that in the midst of a pandemic, Mr. Speaker, is that the people of Ontario are being bombarded with confusing contradictory experiences. They're being told by their government that it is doing everything in its power and that it has been all along. And yet they look around and they see that their sons and daughters who work in factories or schools or daycare centers can't get vaccinated. People living in dense urban communities like Thorncliffe Park or York South Weston or Scarborough Guildwood, Mr. Speaker, see an inadequate number of doses of vaccine for their families, even though they know that their community is more at risk than others. People feeling unwell want to stay home, but they cannot because they won't be able to pay their bills. Speaker, what is the premier and what are his colleagues going to do to demonstrate to the people of Ontario that this government is in fact doing everything possible to stem this pandemic? Thank you very much. And I would say again to the member, we are taking every step possible to make sure that we can deal with the pandemic. Part of the issue, of course, has been vaccine supply. However, we know that within the next week, starting next week, we are going to receive vastly increased quantities of the Pfizer vaccine. That is really important. We're also looking at how do we roll out the Pfizer vaccine in a modified pilot into pharmacies, because up until now it has been mostly AstraZeneca that's been available in pharmacies. We know with this much bigger supply of Pfizer coming in, we need to be able to learn how to transport it safely because it has very specific containment of requirements. And to make sure that everyone in pharmacies is knowledgeable on how to administer it. We want to make sure that these avenues are more widely open to people. So it's not just mass vaccination, primary care clinics. It's available in pharmacies. It's available in specialty clinics and mobile and pop up clinics. We want to make sure as the supplies come in in greater quantities that we can get more vaccines into more arms as quickly as possible. Thank you. Thank you. The next question from Member for London North Centre. My question is the Deputy Premier. Speaker, over the last several weeks, London hospitals have been taking critically ill COVID patients from the GTA. With more COVID patients due to arrive this week, St. Joseph's Healthcare announced that they are halting all non-urgent surgeries to ensure they can care for patients from other hearted areas. This means that anywhere from 40 to 50% of hospital surgeries will be impacted with a further reduction in surgical volumes from 70 to 50%. Speaker, the day health experts warned us about has now arrived. Surgeries have been cancelled. ICU beds are filling up. Our healthcare system is being tested on a daily basis. Will this government provide funding to immediately and safely address the backlog in London surgeries? Thank you. Thank you, Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. It is a very important issue, the fact that we have had to halt non-emergent surgeries and procedures in our hospitals in order to be able to accept the COVID patients who are coming in. Our government has invested over $500 million in order to deal with this backlog. And it's really important to also remember that we have also dealt with 430,000 scheduled surgeries that have taken place since the beginning of this pandemic. Unfortunately, we have to stop now, but we recognize that this is a very significant issue that we need to deal with. We cannot do it right now because we need those places where the the ramp down of the scheduled surgeries is expected to create 700 to 1,000 spaces. And we will have the staff there in order to deal with the COVID patients and post-surgical patients. However, this is something that we will get back to as quickly as possible because we know if someone is waiting for a cardiac or cancer surgery, that is very important as well. And we will get to it as Thank you. Supplementary question. Back to the deputy premier. Surgery cancellations are worrying my constituents like Danielle, who should be fully enjoying her time with her son Jericho. But because of the third wave that the premier walked us into, eyes wide open, she's now more worried than ever. Her son was born with a congenital heart defect, but now his care is in jeopardy due to surgery delays and cancellations from this government. Jericho has an electrocardiogram scheduled, but now it's not clear whether this appointment can even take place, let alone the other medically important surgeries he may require. Speaker, the minister needs to promise that people like Jericho will receive the care he needs and that his surgery will not be canceled or delayed. Question. Will you provide an answer today so that mothers like Danielle can have some peace of mind during this difficult time? Thank you very much. Well, thank you. This is a really important issue. I'm not sure of Jericho's age, but if we are not canceling or delaying any pediatric surgeries, they are continuing despite the pandemic, despite the fact that they are still receiving some adult patients, but no pediatrics surgeries are being canceled. That is all surgeries are important, but especially I know for parents that have children that need surgeries right away, they will absolutely continue. Thank you. The next question, the member for our Simcoe Gray. Thank you, Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Education. Speaker, the Minister of Education will be aware that the Simcoe County District School Board will establish its annual capital priority list later this week and submit it to the ministry in May. We know that replacement of Banting Memorial High School in Alliston will be at or very near the top of the board's list, as it has been every year since at least 2015. Minister, Banting Memorial was an old building when I attended there in the 1980s. Every year that this project is delayed, the costs go up. Speaker, if the school board once again advises the minister that a new Banting Memorial is among their top priorities, will the minister fund its replacement? Minister of Education. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. What I can confirm is that every year this government has allocated over half a billion dollars to build new schools and renew our schools after really was a decade of school closure policy and a $15 billion deferred maintenance backlog inherited by the former government and premier and that's most regrettable for young people in the province, but we're committed to investing both in the renewal of our schools of $1.3 billion every year to do that and to expand and build new ones. And so I look forward to hearing more from the Simcoe County District School Board as they establish their priorities so we can work with them to help identify schools that merit the need for improvement. I know the member has raised us in the past. I also know that when we announced a federal program, a federal provincial program, the ISIP infrastructure program $650 million was provided for schools, of which over $17 million is going to the Simcoe County District School Board. That is going to help improve the schools within his community. Thank you. A supplementary question. Back to the minister. Speaker, if the minister has any doubts about the need to replace Banting Memorial, I want to once again extend an invitation for him to visit the 70-year-old building. New to come to the trustee, Sarah Bates, has even offered to provide hazmat suits so the minister can do a behind-the-walls tour to see for himself that the facility is caked in asbestos. Speaker, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin by Sir Frederick Banting and his partners. It would be very appropriate, appropriate timing for the minister to visit the school named for Canada's first Nobel Prize winner. Will the minister come to Alliston when it's safe to do so, to make a long overdue announcement. In honor of Dr. Banting and the thousands of future scientists and upstanding citizens, his namesake school will produce. Minister of Education, I appreciate that the local community has a great interest in this particular school. We will continue to work with the school board, the Simcoe County District School Board, in helping them prioritize improvements to some of the older buildings. We also know that there are many across the province. It's why every single year under this government premier, we've allocated over $550 million to build new schools in every region of this province, including in Simcoe County. And we'll continue to do that. We'll work with the member, the board, and the community, of course, parents to understand how this government can support better facilities for the next generation within his community. Thank you. Thank you very much. That concludes question period for this morning. Next, we have a deferred vote on a motion for closure, on the motion for third reading of Bill 269, an act to implement budget measures, and to enact and amend various statutes. On April 20th, 2021, Mr. Bertlin-Falvey moved third reading of Bill 269. On April 22nd, 2021, Mr. Calander moved that the question be now put. The bells will now ring for 30 minutes, during which time members may cast their votes on Mr. Calander's motion that the question be now put. I will ask the clerks to please prepare the lobbies.