 It is now time for question period of Her Majesty's Law and Opposition. I guess, speaker, I'll ask question to the house leader today. I will say as I lead off, I want to talk about the fall economic statement next Thursday. I will say to the house leader, I do feel let down. I guess it's partially my own fault. When I met with Premier Wynn over a number of bills, including Bill 74, she said she supported it. She did, then she abstained, then she voted against it or fled. So I guess next time I want to cut a deal with the Liberals, I'll just go directly to Pat Dillon and fight on how you're going to win. I think that's what you're going to do. If you're a house leader, you'll be deciding what legislation comes forward. You'll consult Pat Dillon, the Working Families Coalition, I guess. But let me ask you this. In the fall economic statement, you've been given a heads up. We actually see some bold ideas being spent under control, or we're going to see a lot more liberal fluff. I think it's fluff. Who's going to help? The Minister of Finance. Mr. Finance? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the interest the third party now has in what it is that Ontario will be doing going forward for the long term. Our fall economic statement are going to talk about how we're going to continue to invest in our people, what we're going to do to continue investing strategically in infrastructure so that we build and create more jobs. I'm hearing the noises from both sides while a question is being put and an answer being put. It stops. Carry on, please. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And of course, how we're going to continue to maintain a very dynamic business climate to encourage that investment. This is what's important for Ontario, not only for Ontario, but for Canada, Mr. Speaker. And we're doing a number of initiatives in this fall economic statement, which I'll address in the supplementary. Thank you, Mr. Supplementary. I don't know how to respond. You know, respectfully, Finance Minister, every day I'm asking you questions or the Premier about jobs and the economy getting spending under control. I've asked probably a dozen questions of the economic statement. I've not had answers yet, so let me give it a try to you. You know, we just, as I pointed out yesterday, we just passed a four-year anniversary of Ontario's credit downgrade. Next week, we'll hit the fifth anniversary of Ontario becoming a have-not province, all under the begin-to-win Liberals. We have 300,000 lost manufacturing jobs and almost a million people who want to work who can't in the province of Ontario. And quite frankly, we helped clear the deck so you could put a plan forward, but all I've seen since that time, legislation on restaurant menus and 24-7 dispatch for pets when you can't even run orange air ambulance for human beings in the province of Ontario. Minister, with all due respect, enough of the fluff, enough of the clutter, we are actually going to see a plan come Thursday to put Ontario on top. Can you see it, please? Thank you. Minister. I need to poke. Carry on. Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the member opposite, the leader of the opposition, smiled and smirked at the hard work that Ontarians have been doing over these last many years. Including, Mr. Speaker, the work that we've done on this side of the house without their support. That includes reducing spending per capita basis on this side. As a government, we are the lowest cost government anywhere in Canada as a result of the work that we've done. For four years in a row, we've controlled our spending at less than 1% growth year over year. And last year, as audited by the Auditor General, our spending actually went down. And that's the first time in over a decade. But apart from all the control measures that we put in place, it's the stimulus and the strategic investments that we're making to support our economy that has mattered. And that has created more than 475,000 net new jobs since the recession, Mr. Speaker. Can I stop for a minute, please? Well, I guess Thursday will be a watershed moment. We'll see if the Finance Minister acts like a Finance Minister or just a parrot for tired old talking points. I mean, truth be told, Finance Minister, you can torture statistics and get them to confess to anything. But the reality is, there are a lot of people who are out of work in the province of Ontario. There are a lot of people who are losing hope in this great province. They're losing hope in you because, quite frankly, I don't trust the word you say anymore. And what's frustrating, too, is why the third party has the expectation come to an order. The defense attorneys for the Liberals is apologists for the Liberals whenever you have to get off the hook. I know why you put the fluff forward, because they'll support it. They'll keep this plan going. They'll bail out no matter what you do. I'm saying it's enough, it's enough, enough with your fluff, enough with your bobbles and trinkets. I want to see a real plan. I want to see Ontario working again. And if you're not going to do it, we're prepared to do the job for it. Can you see the peace? Can you see the peace? Thank you. The Minister for Rural Affairs will come to order. Answer, please. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Talk about fluff. The opposition have no plan. And the only plan that they put forward is one of destruction and is going to harm our economic recovery. The members' opposites just stand in this house and support our employer health tax program to help small business is being stalled by that side of the house. We need to pass that now to support those small businesses. 60,000 more small businesses would be exempt from paying that tax. They're holding it up, Mr. Speaker. They're simply supporting businesses, supporting working all those families that are working hard. We're taking leadership. We're supporting them by researching reform. We're introducing new forms of raising capital. So when we renew our capital and we're doing it at better rates, they're stalling us. They should stand up. Thank you. Your question? Remember from the P.N. Carlton. My question is to the Minister of Energy. Today the committee investigating the gas plant scandal was cancelled. The Premier is refusing to be called as a witness to respond to the Auditor General's report. And as consistently reported by the CP this week, the Premier is holding off-site press conferences during question period. So journalists can't cover both. The pattern of behavior reflects something very seriously wrong with her leadership. It shows she is hiding something. She'd make Rosemary Woods, President Nixon's secretary, blushed by her behavior. Will the minister explain why the Premier continues to put obstacles in our place? Why she told the House and committee that the cancellation would only be $33 to $40 million when she knew over two years ago it would be well over $700 million? Thank you. Mr. Speaker, although I'd like the opportunity to answer that question, I'm referring it to the Government House. Very good. The convention is simply move it to another minister and that's all. Government House Leader. Mr. Speaker, the member is simply wrong. The Premier has not refused to appear in front of committee. She's indicated to the committee that her office will work with the committee to find a date in the coming weeks, which Mr. Speaker, I would remind that when the leader of the opposition was called in front of the committee, it took three tries before he went in front of the committee. I would also point out, Mr. Speaker, in terms of if they want to talk about timing, why will they not allow their candidates to come before the committee and to talk about the spending analysis that was done by the Conservative Party before it made the very aggressive promise in the last election to cancel these plans, to talk about the type of work that was done by the Conservative Party and to bring their costs into the table, Mr. Speaker. We've called them over and over again and they are being blocked by the opposition. Will the member commit today that she will allow the candidates to come forward? Supplementary. I'm going to go back to the energy minister. I do notice he has a pattern of only answering the last question I have, so I have no opportunity for rebuttal. And I'd really like to go back to him. You have been withholding information. Your Premier is hiding from questioning and you are denying debates in this House. They are not tactics of an honest broker, Minister. The Premier would not get away with not telling the truth if it were not for the... No, that's not acceptable withdrawal. Withdrawing, Speaker, but if we wouldn't be in this position... Simply a quick withdrawal and then you proceed. Withdrawing, Speaker. So let's review the facts. In the last two weeks, the Deputy Minister of Energy and the head of the OPA told us in the Justice Committee that the government... Minister, the environment, come to order. The bill plan exceeded the $40 million, the Premier cited repeatedly, for over two years. Questions. She continued to use that number in the House. Now she refuses to come before us under oath. Will the minister tell me what the Premier is hiding and what is she afraid of? Thank you. Someone else will. The member is simply wrong. The Premier has indicated that she will go before the committee again and they were working out a schedule, just as the Leader of the Opposition did with the three tries it took for us to get him before it. But you know what, Mr. Speaker? I think we understand where the member is coming from. I'd like to quote from a press scrum that she had just this morning when a reporter said to the member who's asking the question, he said, you've got an AG report on both plans. You've had former Leader McGinty twice. We've had Premier win there once. We've had Colin Anderson at least twice, maybe three times. I mean, at what point are you going to wrap this up? And the member who just asked the question said, well, when we get the answers that we want. Mr. Speaker, we have been forthcoming. We have brought forward tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of documents. The Premier has stood in this room day after day and answered the questions. I can't help it if the truth doesn't fit her reality, Mr. Speaker, but the simple fact is that we have cooperated in the previous... Thank you. Supplementary. So maybe third time's a charm. Back to the energy minister, because I won't have an opportunity for a rebuttal. But let's be perfectly clear. The reality of the facts are this. Your government wasted $1 billion. Your leader told us it only cost $40 billion to stand in this house and deny a dying woman the cancer drugs she needs because you're too busy wasting money. And that is not what the priorities of your government are. So much more, they could go wrong. So no wonder the Premier wants the press gallery offsite during question period. Order. She has the right to put the question. Continue, please. No wonder the Premier wants the press gallery offsite during question period. No wonder she won't appear under oath. She cancelled the gas plan investigation for today. Will the government house leader or the minister of energy stand in this place and commit to the people of Ontario that the Premier will testify? Thank you. Government house leader. That's a new order. April 16th, Mr. Speaker, four opposition candidates invited to testify at the Justice Committee, including PC candidate, Jeff Janisic and Zerrin Churchin. They all declined. April 30th, the same day the Premier of this province appeared, the leader of the opposition is asked to testify. He declined. Backup witnesses, Yanasek and Churchin also declined. We then invite PC candidate, Mary Ann DeMonte Whalen. She accepts and is scheduled to testify. Then mysteriously calls back a few hours later to cancel. May 2nd, Janisic, Churchin and DeMonte Whalen are called to testify. Janisic tells the clerk to stop calling and the other two do not respond. May 7th, the leader of the opposition is once again invited to testify. He declines, even though he had written a letter to the committee saying that he would try to work for that date since he refuses. The Liberals call on Janisic, Churchin, DeMonte, Whalen and the member from Halton, but none of them agree to testify. May 23rd, Janisic, Churchin and DeMonte. Thank you. All refuse to testify. That's it. I'll take care of that part of it. New question, the member from Toronto, Danforth. Thank you, Speaker. My question to the Minister of Energy. Ontario households and businesses are paying the highest electricity prices in Canada. And they're tired of being kept in the dark about electricity decisions. We've been pushing to get some answers. But despite promises of transparency and openness by this government, we're not getting them. I'll start with a simple question. The Premier was not available to take questions at today's hearings on the cancelled gas plants. When will she be available, or is she refusing to attend? Thank you. Mr. Speaker, we've been very clear that the Premier who has appeared in front of the committee before, who has asked over 200 questions in this House, has indicated her willingness to appear in front of the committee, and her office is working with the clerk of the committee to find a date. Mr. Speaker, again, when we invited the leader of the opposition to appear in front of the committee, it took several tries before he would agree. We've asked the member of Halton to appear in front of the committee. He's refused. We've asked Conservative candidates to appear in front of the committee. The Premier who asked the Auditor-General to look into the Oakville situation. It was this Premier who asked me as House leader to work to set up the committee with a broad scope and broad powers to undertake the examination that's going on. As I think I mentioned already, she's answered over 200 questions in this legislature, and she will be forthcoming in front of the committee in the near future when a date can be arranged with her office. Thank you. Supplementary? Well, that wasn't the straightest answer I've ever gotten. Mr. Speaker, people here in the government talk about transparency and openness, but they see the Premier scrambling to avoid testifying in her role in the cancellation of private power plants and refusing to let the Auditor look at the $180 million or more that they spent on nuclear plans that aren't going ahead. People paying the bills think they deserve some answers. So I'll try an easier question. The minister insists that he's moving ahead with plans to refurbish nuclear plants. In fact, the government's already signed contracts worth nearly a billion dollars. Has the minister done any cost-benefit analysis and if so, will he table that analysis today? Minister of Energy, Mr. Speaker. Minister of Energy. Mr. Speaker, there were several issues raised in the question and I'm going to answer the question by asking the question, Mr. Speaker. The New Democratic Party, both on transit and on energy issues, Mr. Speaker, have no program. They have no policy. They stand up and ask questions. They are not accountable to their own base. They're not accountable to the public in Ontario. They have no answers for energy. They have no answers to transit, Mr. Speaker. I would like the critic who is responsible for creating alternative policy to the government to come forward for the transit and transportation to make sense. Thank you. Final supplementary. So I take that as a no. Speaker, again to the minister of energy, households and businesses are paying the highest electricity bills in the country and they see a premier using to answer basic questions about a billion dollars handed to private power interests for gas plants that won't be built. A government that refuses to answer questions about hundreds of millions spent on abandoned nuclear plants and a minister who is signing nuclear power contracts worth hundreds of millions but can't produce a business case to justify the expenditure. Does the minister think that's acceptable to people who are paying more and more? Mr. Speaker, the questions have been asked on a number of occasions and they've been answered, Mr. Speaker, and I'll answer them again. Expenditures to date on nuclear refurbishment are for definition phase activities such as the establishment of project organization, scope finalization engineering, planning, procurement and contracting. In fact the project itself is going to create 25,000 jobs for the province of Ontario, Mr. Speaker particularly here in the GTA. Mr. Speaker, we also have an independent oversight advisor who will provide regular updates on the progress of the Darlington nuclear refurbishing project to the ministry of energy. Mr. Speaker we are moving forward responsibly, we are moving forward on a basis of not building new nuclear at the foreseeable future Mr. Speaker, a decision which that critic has agreed with Mr. Speaker, yes to no noon Thank you. New question the member from Timmins James Bate Somebody should tell him not the point all the time it's not polite. My question is to the acting creepier People are concerned about the cost of everyday life. Families across Ontario haven't seen a real raise in years. The cost of everyday life is going up and instead of making life more affordable, your government is letting people fall further and further behind New Democrats and Andrea Horvath have worked hard to deliver results that will make life affordable so that people can stop treading water and start getting ahead, like people getting a 15% reduction in the auto insurance rate Can the acting premier tell us why people's auto insurance rates are still going up? Acting premier Mr. Finance Thank you Mr. Speaker. Well I'm pleased to say that as a result of the hard work that this side of the house has been doing, we've been fighting to reduce the cost of claims trying to ensure that the degree of fraud and other circumstances that are creating those premiums to have gone up over these past number of years, that we start to get them going down. And as a result of the legislation that we've passed with your support, and I appreciate the work of the third party in these endeavors, but I am pleased that rates have in fact on average been reduced to a point. We are anticipating greater reductions in the next release in January as a result of the work that we've done to give FISCO more control, more steep, and more oversight. And as a result of those initiatives, we are confident that that work will enable us to have better premiums overall. Thank you. Supplementary Minister, I'm going to quote my good friend, a member from Trinity's Padina, and say drivers are being whacked. We're seeing people's insurance rates go up. We have an email from William who says his auto insurance endurance has gone up 16%. Lena from Hamilton writes in and says her auto insurance has gone to 11%. So as people are getting squeezed, they're falling further and further behind. And many of these same drivers are seeing their auto insurance going up, are getting hit when it comes to the drive clean program having to pay twice for tests that they've actually passed, but the machinery says that they failed. So I ask you, can the acting Premier explain to me and to those people why people are falling further behind under this government's watch? So Mr. Speaker, I would I'll give the public who may be watching to call this hotline if they wish to issue a complaint to FISCO. That's 1-855-5847669. Now, you can call that number. You call the Obenzman to create or at least explain some of the difficulties that may be arising. But I can say this, rates for the third quarter in a row have been dropping on average. I can cite issues where people have actually received more than 15% reductions on their renewals as a result of making those calls and shopping around. So I encourage people to do just that. We are fighting fraud. We're looking at what happens with regards to the tow trucks, the collision repairs, the health clinics. We're providing greater rates for safe drivers. We're implementing new dispute resolution reviews. All of these and the watchdogs that's going to be implemented will enable us to champion and fight on behalf of our consumers. Mr. Speaker. Final supplementary. To the acting preview, it's clear that people back home are feeling squeezed. And what's clear is it would appear that this government is dragging its feet when it comes to dealing with auto insurance rates going down or dealing with the drive clean program. People under drive clean are having to pay more than they should in order to make sure that they meet the standards. Why? Because the program doesn't work effectively as they're failing even though their cars are safe because of the equipment. So I say to you whether it's big costs like auto insurance or lots of smaller costs like multiple drive clean tests for cars that aren't big polluters people are feeling like they're falling further and being further behind. Why is the premier and the acting premier letting people fall further and further behind in this province? Mr. Speaker. This side of the house has been fighting hard to find jobs and create stimulus so those people could be working. And that's the issue. There is a lot of concern still as a result of our global recession that continues to exist. But here in Ontario our fundamentals are strong people are working and there is greater confidence in where we're going. We're fighting auto insurance rates we're doing everything necessary to protect individuals with their pensions Mr. Speaker. No one on that side of the house is even looking forward. We're doing that here. We'll continue to fight for the people of Ontario. Thank you. A new question. A member from Newmarket Aurora. My question is to the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. Speaker following the premier's announcement last week of a new era of transparency for her government. I asked her to table the Metrolinx $170 million contract. Speaker that's a contract that was sole source is costing taxpayers millions in penalties today and is another indication of the mismanagement of her government. I received a letter this morning from Metrolinx and not surprisingly this letter confirms that the government will be dealing with this document in the same way that it dealt with the gas plant documents. From from Mr. Bruce McQuague we're working on it but parts of the contract may be redacted. Why is that not surprising? I'm going to ask the minister to ensure that we get that contract into our hands unredacted. Thank you. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. Mr. Speaker I'm getting to feel a great, great amount of empathy for the for the member from New Market Aurora he just seems to have trouble getting any position in which the facts will support. First he was proffering Mr. Speaker that there was a $70 million penalty. Bombardier told him it wasn't true. Metrolinx told him it wasn't true. I told him it wasn't true but he keeps on repeating it. So let me say again it's not true. The contract is proceeding. This is a party that seems to have something against not just public transit but Bombardier Mr. Speaker. They want to cancel all the projects freeze go, cancel LRT that would destroy Bombardier Mr. Speaker. He does it I have never seen a conservative party tack business the way they did. Bombardier provides excellent service gives us great value Mr. Speaker the premier and the minister of training college and university with Centennial College Mr. Speaker to increase to increase job creation. Bombardier is one of our biggest employers and fastest companies I have no problem with Bombardier it's the government that's bungling millions and millions of dollars through contracts that are quite frankly a bungling on his part why doesn't the minister know what is in this contract? The fact of the matter is I now have a letter from Metrolinx that insists that the contract I refer to was in fact competitively bid that is patently false it is not true. This was an option under a contract that was signed a year before under which that contract gave Metrolinx an option that option should never have been taken out that option should have been publicly bid and saved the taxpayers some 200 million dollars. I want to say to the minister now get your fact straight bring that contract forward let us all see what the facts are and then we'll draw the conclusion about who seems to be strong. Will the minister agree to get that contract into this house unredacted so we know what they're doing. You seated please. Thank you minister. Iker with for if business has friends like that they don't need enemies Mr. Speaker. This is a party that wants to cancel almost every major rapid transit project in Ontario Mr. Speaker that would that would first of all cost billions of dollars to that company it would cost billions of dollars in cancelled projects. This is the party that thinks they can buy gas plants for free at garage sales Mr. Speaker. I guess that's where they want to buy their transit projects. They don't seem to understand that infrastructure costs money Mr. Speaker. They don't have any plan to pay for it but they want to cancel it. The contracts Mr. Speaker negotiated between Metrolinx and Montmartre are quite transparent. As the city council Mr. Waterloo said to the member from kitchen product Stoga you're dead wrong. I have to agree with the council in Kitchener. My dear friend from Market Aurora is just simply wrong Mr. Speaker. Thank you. The member from Trinity my question is to the minister of civil affairs. Last week you announced a land use planning review that specifically excludes OMB operations. This is now what communities were asking for and this is not what you promised two months ago. It's another bait and switch just like bill 26 and 204 which was supposed to make OMB decisions consistent with provincial policy and just like bill 51 into 7 which the government said would quote make municipal councils the decision makers with respect to planning unquote despite these bills the OMB remains out of control. Earlier this year the OMB ignored Waterloo's region's official plan and defied the province's own places to grow act. When will the government finally reform the undemocratic and out of control OMB? Thank you Speaker and I appreciate the members passion on this issue we've spoken about this many times and I think that certainly at the at the province this government believes that we have a strong and modern land use planning system and we believe we have a well established development charges system which is what I announced just last week and we heard from many municipalities community groups and developers who want more accountability more transparency in the system we believe it's time for a refresh and certainly we believe that good land use planning is important to ensuring the long-term prosperity of our of our province for our environmental health and the social well-being of ontarians and when I spoke about the land use planning announcement last week we talked about including the OMB and development charges to better meet the need of 434 municipalities across Ontario we need to hear the views of everyone he knows and certainly we have conflicting views and I look forward to any input that the member makes going forward and I look forward to the supplementary here thank you supplementary in 211 the minister of labor promised the people of Ottawa that if reelected he would reform the OMB he was reelected and nothing happened in 212 the minister of finance promised the people of mississauga that he would rein in the OMB in months not years he said it's been over one year and nothing has happened instead we have a bait and switch government review that focuses more on the needs of developers than the needs of communities and municipal planners when will the government stop making false promises and admit it has no intention of ever reforming the OMB well speaker I don't share the uh the negative perception that the member has and certainly I understand that everybody has concerns and certainly the member from Ottawa and many of my colleagues on both sides of of the house have expressed concerns about how we can improve the system we have a very short scoped period of time before the end of the year I'm hoping to hear from developers from municipalities from community groups I think we would certainly want a more accountable and transparent system and we and we believe it's important to find a balance with the with all of land use planning across Ontario everyone has a stake in making planning work across Ontario whether it's community groups whether it's municipalities you know uh from the building and development industry I've heard from them that we want to put in changes that will implement predictability transparency cost effectiveness for communities and for businesses across Ontario because these moves will attract between business on there's your answer thank you thank you thank you very much Peter my question is to the job creating minister of economic development trade and employment the member was used the title or the writing only the member should withdraw thank you speaker our government's economic plan investing in people investing in infrastructure and creating the right business climate for job creation in Ontario is something we are prioritizing we can't do this unless we help the small businesses and the people they employ across the province on wednesday the Canadian Federation of Independent Business a body which represents over 42,000 small businesses across Ontario released an open letter it was addressed to the minister and also to the minister of finance requesting that this house pass bill 105 the supporting small business act and proceed with the next stage of the legislative process could the minister please inform the house along with the members of the CFIB why this bill has not moved to committee yet even though it has been debated for 15 and a half long thank you minister of economic development trading thank you mr speaker it's a great question and yes small businesses are an integral part of Ontario's economy and bill 105 will help to support small business in Ontario ensure that 60,000 small businesses will pay less employer health tax and in fact it'll eliminate that tax all together for 12,000 small businesses in this province this legislation is exactly what we need to help drive the economy forward it helps small businesses and support the creation of new jobs now the pcs have stood up in this house time and time again to ask us where our plan is well mr speaker this is part of our plan and but members of the official opposition continue to denigrate the hard work that ontarians do for this province and do for Ontario's economy 42,000 small businesses have voiced their opinion and we're trying to do something good here for the small businesses of Ontario the fact that this bill is not moved forward to committee despite over 15 hours and is disappointing to say the least least mr speaker i urge all members of this house to work together heed the calls from cfib thank you the right thing and push this bill waving in and out of government policy is one thing but i want to remind both the questioner and the answer to stay on government policy please carry on thank you speaker and thank you minister for the update it's disappointing to hear that we're unable to find some common ground on doing the right thing for the economy and also for the right thing for our small businesses in ontario we received another letter on this issue from tanner financial a small business located here in ontario and it stated in a quote our firm provides benefits to financial planning to small and medium-sized businesses in ontario we have found that many of our smaller clients are still in a stage of growth where any tax is prohibitive to their success it goes on to say speaker increasing the exemption by any amount will have a positive impact the letter goes on to urge this house to work together and pass this important bill can the minister please inform the members of this house how this might implicate implicate small businesses like tanner financial and small business owners who run them this house cannot work together to pass this important bill thank you minister well thank you again to the member for his question Mr. Speaker and Hastings will come to order there are roughly 400 000 medium-sized firms small and medium-sized firms in ontario and this figure represents 99 percent of all businesses operating in this province and it's obviously a significant source of employment so by providing the right kind of support that small businesses need bill 105 the supporting small businesses act can play a very strong role in the economy and that's exactly the work that all of us need to do is elected members of this house this government's priority is to create good jobs and grow our economy and we're doing this by investing in people investing in infrastructure and creating a dynamic and innovative climate for businesses to succeed bill 105 will do this Mr. Speaker and by not supporting this important legislation that's we're not supporting organizations like the CFI be in tanner financial ultimately we're not supporting a growing business environment ontario which is good for the economy an integral part of creating good meaningful job thank you your question the member from Kitchener Conestuga this uh speaking my questions to the minister of the environment minister the supreme court has ruled that profits made off of revenue neutral programs are illegal and must be paid back yet you continue to float the law in order to keep collecting multimillion dollar surpluses every year using the drive clean program in fact in just two years the liberals have collected an additional 30 million dollars using their illegal drive clean tax for how they wasted that minister it's time to show some respect for the law so will you comply with the supreme court's ruling today by ending this abuse of untrans hard-earned money and by paying back all of the revenue you've collected in your illegal drive see legal tax correct illegal here we are again with the conservative party attacking a program which is designed to improve air i guess you might not be getting the minister of the environment please be seated the member from renfrew will come to order the member from leeds granville will come to order and the member from halton will come to order that's enough carry on member will be aware that for the first decade this program was actually in deficit now there was it was costing money to provide this program which was established by the conservative government a number of years ago in 1999 i want to tell him and this may surprise this may surprise some of the new members uh and the conservative party but in fact the only increase in price that has come for the drive clean program was implemented in 2002 by the conservative government of mike harris you asked you're getting get it minister from the member from prince ever tasting is worn finish your answer your 10 second wrap up sure some members sitting on the benches were including your leader were part so that's the only increase that we have seen i am working at the present time thank you minister finance thank you supplementary yeah minister now that your uh government is getting advice from former pc environment minister norm sterling i'm wondering if you're going to be taking his advice on drive clean from your conversations with him you clearly know that a progressive conservative government would have phased this temporary program out long ago that's why we've been calling on the liberal government to scrap the program for years now i'm sure you've watched cpb news and saw mr sterling recommend it's time to sit down work together and phase out drive clean so minister will you accept mr sterling's advice and start working with us to scrap drive clean once and for all it's interesting that you would in fact ask me to accept the advice of a member of your party who was thrown under the bus no point of order right now but stop the clock if you would take my advice maybe we would be able to make sure that these things didn't happen because i didn't hear it because i was dealing with somebody heckling over here and if you need to withdraw all i would ask you to withdraw well if it would i would withdraw of course uh but here we go again with the tories their inexplicable war on clean air i know they won't be happy until they stoke up the coal plants again including the the natto coal plant appears they want to rev those up again answer i want to put some 36 000 tons of smog pollutants in the air we breathe by replacing drive clean with their drive dirty program and ultimately you can say this is what thank you no question the man the member from to miss me copper thank you speaker my question is to the acting premier last year the government cut the mnr program for the live trapping and relocation of nuisance bears and since then there have been several near fatal bear attacks across the province the last one in peterborough in parts of my riding human bear encounters are a daily occurrence further increasing the risk of attack this afternoon your government will have the chance to support my motion to create a special committee to develop a provincial bear management strategy will you to the minister of northern development minds minister northern development minds thank you very much but your speaker i'm very pleased to have an opportunity to respond i think what we can say mr speaker is that our government certainly supports the spirit of the uh motion that's coming forward we are always interested in having further discussions about important matters such as the one that will be coming forward this afternoon and i hope that i know the member i think understands that the minister of natural resources treats us as a very serious issue as well we we maintain that public safety is the number one priority particularly as it relates to the the issue of human bear conflicts the minister is looking at instances of human bear conflicts across the province looking at available options to address the issue and evaluating some of the wildlife management options i think it's also important mr speaker that the member opposite and certainly our members here acknowledge the uh answer the time the member for that it may add a token it's brought for a private member as well which recognizes the challenges before so certainly we thank you for that thank you supplementary thank you once again uh to the acting premier in response to my question october 3rd regarding the liberal liberal governments cuts to the bear management program the mnr minister stated and i quote this is an issue that we take very seriously and we are developing a plan and his quote don't you think it's about time that you consulted with the people who actually deal with bears on a daily basis the people actually live in bear country this all per this special committee will travel throughout the province and actually consult with them once again once again will your government support my motion to create an all-party committee to actually address the bear management issue in this problem thank you mr speaker well indeed uh and when the when the minister addressed that issue instead of looking at a plan that's indeed the case i mean he understands very much how this is a very significant issue it's a public safety issue and indeed the wildlife management options are being explored again our colleague from thunder bay out of koken has a private members bill it's also going to be coming before the house and i think it's important to to accept his real leadership being shown by him as well and and again mr speaker uh the spirit of the motion is one that we uh that we welcome and uh further discussion with northerners is always welcome but again the minister of natural resources is taking this very seriously evaluating various options and we want to continue to work with the member opposite and all other members in the house to find some solutions to this challenge thank you thank you new question the members of mississauga streetsville well thank you very much speaker speaker this question is to the minister of tourism culture and sport minister each summer i attend musical artistic and cultural festivals in western mississauga i watch our artists and our performers just pour their hearts out into their music and into their choreography and i appreciate that the musical community in our province of ontario is passionate about its work earlier this year you and the minister of finance announced the ontario music fund which focuses on stimulating economic growth raising the global profile and building a dynamic market for our music companies and performing artists much anticipated in the arts community the ontario music fund was officially launched earlier this week would the minister please explain to the house some of the highlights of the ontario music fund minister culture tourism thank you thank you speaker and thanks i want to thank the member from mississauga streetsville for asking that wonderful question speaker i say wonderful because the ontario music fund really a wonderful program is the program that contributes 45 million commitment we make in the 2013 budget and contribute 15 million over three years to capitalize on the success of our music industry and accelerate ontario's economic growth the omf will support sound recording in ontario marketing and promotion of canadian artists live performances both in ontario and abroad and business development initiatives this will be accomplished through four streams music company development music industry development music futures and answer music speaker the music company development and music industry development stream will launch october the 28th thank you thank you supplementary minister ontario is english canada's cultural and artistic hub and like any type of business the arts community needs a state-of-the-art infrastructure we have the creative and performing talent in ontario's music industry also needs the tools and facilities to succeed in today's dynamic and rapidly changing music industry ontario's musicians of tomorrow bands like nigel and the senators need to know how to get their music produced promoted and protected mississauga's local studios like metalworks and sonic sound need to connect the best musical talent with both world markets and local gigs minister please explain how this funding benefits ontario's music industry thank you minister thank you speaker thank you very much for the question again speaker ontario's ryburn and diverse music industry is a vital contributor to the province cultural and economic prosperity in 2011 ontario's music sector generate over 429 million in revenues accounting for almost 82 percent of canada's total revenues our province is home to canada's largest and one of the world's most diversified music sector the new ontario music fund represents a significant commitment by ontario to strengthen our music industry answer this is why we created a new ontario music fund as part of the 2030 ontario budget thank you speaker thank you mr. speaker mr. speaker my question is to the minister of finance tomorrow november the first is the start of financial planning awareness month and also tomorrow you will meet other provincial finance ministers to discuss enhancing the cpp our employees and employers cannot afford any more mandatory deductions that an enhanced cpp or new opp would entail they're already having trouble making ends meet why then minister are you failing ontarians by not allowing prpp's pooled registered pension plans you adopted our prp plan into your 2013 budget why are you stalling instead of a new ontario pension plan why don't you allow prpp's for ontarians to save by themselves question for themselves with lower costs and greater flexibility or don't you trust ontarian workers with their own money thank you sir finance well there you have it mr. speaker that side of the house feels it's not important to support the families of ontario by suggesting that we not give them other opportunities we are introducing prpp's a voluntary program we said we would and we're proceeding to do that that's not in question the point being may go is they feel middle class families can live on 12 000 a year when they retire we don't accept that and decide the house we're going to work and champion the cost for them the years to come minister i'm concerned with your inaction on improving the retirement security of ontarians in 2016 there will be more people drawing from a public sector pension than paying into one this is leading to a hundred billion dollars in unfunded liabilities people are living longer and the return on retirement investments has never been lower as the tsunami of retirees appear on the ontario hydro horizon we need to deal with the reform of the public pension system minister what is your government doing to reduce the over 100 billion dollars of unfunded liabilities within the public sector thank you minister finance so i appreciate that i think all of us in this house i'm not trying to be cute here i think we all share the concern that the people of ontario deserve to retire with some decency and with security and with a degree of comfort knowing that when they do retire all the hard work and and the investments they made will pay off the member opposite has been doing some work to that effect with voluntary pool retirement pension plans we are proceeding with that it's a voluntary program we're going to provide more choice and there are a lot of ontarians that do have flexibility but we know more than 50 to 60 percent do not and it's those that we're trying to protect it's those middle-class earners especially that needs support and i look to that side of the house to recognize that to accept that we need to work with all of the provinces across Canada that's what i'll be doing tomorrow with my colleagues so that we can propose and and encourage no question member from estates thank you speaker my question is to the minister of health and long term care speaker as the minister knows Windsor hospitals are being threatened with the loss of funding for all cancer surgeries if they do not comply with a cancer care ontario directive to transfer thoracic surgeries to london by december the first my question is simple is the minister going to allow this dispute to escalate to the point where windsor patients lose access to vital cancer surgery thank you speaker what i can say is that i am absolutely committed that windsor area patients receive the highest possible quality cancer care speaker i rely on the advice of experts including experts at cancer care ontario to ensure that all ontario patients including those in windsor get the highest quality care and they are doing a great job speaker in fact ontario cancer patients have among the best survival rates in the world as part of the work cancer care ontario has implemented the thoracic surgical oncology standards that are evidence-based within those standards cco has set out that hospitals need to meet a minimum volume of surgeries in order to be designated a thoracic center that's our speaker that minimum requirement is 50 in and uh two thousand one hundred and 50 in 2012-13 there were 49 surgeries performed supplementary speaker the question is about access to care in our communities in windsor and apparently the minister's version of the map of ontario really does end in london speaker i understand that the dispute between cancer care ontario and windsor hospitals has been occurring for the better part of six months and yet the minister has really done nothing windsor hospitals are also concerned that the loss of thoracic surgeries will have a long list of detrimental effects and impacts on their patients and now patients fear that the loss of all cancer surgeries in their region and they're wondering who is going to stand and protect their access to health care can the minister explain how she's going to solve this problem and so that cancer services in windsor are preserved speaker i can assure the member opposite and the member from windsor west that uh that windsor patients will still receive will continue to receive cancer surgery uh of cancer care speaker in windsor uh speaker cancer care ontario's work uh as a result of their work the 30 day post op mortality rate for the removal of a lung speaker has been cut in half let me repeat that the mortality rate has been cut in half thanks to cancer care ontario's focus on improving quality of care i have been working very hard speaker with the member from windsor west on this issue we continue to work to ensure that windsor area patients continue to receive the highest quality answer thank you question the member from old school thank you speaker i've got a question this morning for the minister of northern development of mines speaker my role as parliamentary assistant to the minister of transportation and infrastructure i've engaged in a number of important discussions with municipal partners across the province in particular at the AMO conference last august i joined with the minister of northern development at mines as well as a number of other ministers from our government for a meeting with the northern ontario large urban mirrors speaker at this meeting the northern mayor shared with our government key priorities and how we can advance the growth plan for northern ontario so speaker will the minister of northern development of mines please provide the house with an update on how our government is working to address those priorities that were outlined by the northern mayors can minister more of northern development of mines thanks very much mr speaker and i'm very pleased to have an opportunity to uh to address this question today uh i want to let the members of the legislature know uh that yesterday we reached out to the northern uh ontario large urban mirrors and a number of other northern municipal leaders to share the very exciting news that the province will be hosting a northern leaders forum on december the 6th uh 2013 in the beautiful community northern community of timmins um this forum is going to be bringing together uh municipal aboriginal and community leaders as well as a number of our government ministers to work to identify opportunities to advance the objectives of the northern ontario uh growth plan speaker we understand how important it is to work with our partners to to build on the competitive advantages of northern ontario part of our government's plan to support a dynamic and innovate a business climate that attracts investment and continues to create jobs we're very excited about that thank you leader's forum parliamentary thank you uh thank you minister speaker this forum is a key priority that the northern mayors were advocating for something i know they're going to be very pleased to hear has taken place and in the next few weeks under the leadership of our premier regional collaboration between municipalities has been welcomed and encouraged to ensure that we benefit the people of ontario to the greatest possible manner speaker it's also great to hear the minister of northern development and minds speaking positively about the advancing the growth plan for northern ontario through initiatives such as the recent program changes and this northern leaders forum will the minister now please share with the house how the northern leaders forum is going to help advance the actual implementation of the growth plan for northern ontario thank you minister well thank you so much mr speaker and certainly i am um one of the requests at the meeting we had with amo was to uh to have a northern leaders forum such as we're in i'm announcing today and very pleased that our government is able to fulfill the uh request of the nulla mayors uh our government has always placed an extremely high priority on working with our partners across the north and that's only been more emphasized uh under premier wins leadership uh our government first released the growth plan as a blueprint for uh for job creation and economy development over the next 25 years throughout the north and since its release a couple of years ago we have seen communities organizations uh um businesses and aboriginal groups achieve some amazing things that have unequivocally shown to me and proven my belief the speaker in the strength of the resilience that we all share as northerners speaker this forum is going to provide a great opportunity for our government and our northern partners to renew momentum and drive forward the next phase of the growth plan my question is to the minister of infrastructure minister snow bill clubs in my riding and across ontario have come to us in distress they've been told by hydro one and the orders of your ministry that effective january one 2014 they will no longer have access to the use of hydro corridors unless the local municipalities enter into agreements to not only fund 50 percent of the total cost of taxes on the land but also ensure that all trails are moved 15 meters away from any tower that fencing and gates are installed and that the areas are monitored year-round minister there's a few problems with this the ontario federation of snowmobile clubs tells us it's impossible to move the trails 15 meters away from any tower second they question why they should have to maintain the trails year-round when they are multi-use trails other people use these trails outside of snowmobile season and third how much is this going to cost and impact the industry minister these are valid concerns can you please explain why local clubs and municipalities are being asked to maintain and pay the taxes on lands that are owned by the province of ontario or is this yet another liberal tax grab thank you mr. Speaker i want to thank the member for for the question i always always greatly appreciate when members are raising issues on behalf of important important constituencies is the first i've heard of this mr. speaker to be very honest with you it concerns me greatly i will certainly look into it there could be an issue between hydro and safety issues i can't speculate in detail on what the issue would be i take the members concern is sincere and i will will commit to working with him to resolve this issue thank you mr. Speaker thank you supplementary again to the minister minister the use of hydro corridors is paramount as you know to the snowmobile trail system these new requirements will impact snowmobile clubs across the province and may needlessly lead to the dissolution of an industry that's presently thriving so to give the minister an idea of the impact of this new regulation the cost estimate done in my riding by the township of spring water found their share of the cost of the taxes on a mere three kilometers of trail to be three thousand seven hundred dollars per year remember there's thousands of kilometers of trail using hydro corridors and that this is only for three kilometers and they will also be responsible for the fencing and maintenance snowmobile clubs can't afford this obviously municipalities can't afford it this issue affects thousands of snowmobile clubs thousands of dealers thousands of restaurants hotels gas stations and thousands of jobs in rural ontario is your government prepared to create another completeness array in a thriving industry like the snowmobile industry in ontario just like you did in the horse racing industry are you you act now to ensure this doesn't happen i think you know mr. speaker my tone to the member was very constructive and positive so if we could just sort of park the rhetoric for a moment we're working very closely with snowmobile clubs right now to look at to look at integrating our fee systems with minnesota manitoba and that we've had a number of concerns raised by snowmobile clubs as you know we have a very good agreement that's up for renewal with them where they maintain trails and we fund them we collect a fee i'm quite surprised mr. speaker given the level of contact we have with these clubs they have not raised this issue with me i am very glad they've raised the the issue with the with the with the minister with the member opposite mr. speaker i have a great respect for the member and we'll look forward to working with him to resolve it i i certainly share the concern if those facts are as they say he is and i have no reason to disbelieve him mr. speaker i'm not satisfied with them i will work with him to correct the situation thank you new question the member from park delhi park park delhi park thank you mr. speaker my question is the minister of housing 165,723 people languish on affordable housing weightless in toronto alone an abysmal new record uh city of toronto as well as many other municipalities across ontario including london thunderbay express support for my inclusionary zoning bill even hazel is supportive the regional planning commissioners of ontario representing planning directors commissioners senior officials of municipal governments also all supported my bill inclusionary zoning would provide up to 12 000 new units a year in affordable housing and address the crisis that is plaguing ontario without mr. speaker one tax dollar being spent my inclusionary zoning bill has been introduced four help them four times question to committee but the liberal government has refused to bring it forward or to act on it how many more families have to be on the waiting list for this government thank you speaker and i thank the member for the question and certainly we realize that this is a very serious issue and since 2003 we've invested three billion dollars the largest affordable housing program ever uh in the province's history i want to thank the member for her advocacy on this file i know that she has the private members bill on inclusionary zoning we need we believe that municipalities are in the best position to understand local needs that's why we give municipalities some of the tools they need to look at affordable housing options i know toronto has been looking at some options in the last week we're happy to work with them and i'm happy to work with the member ongoing thank you thank you i uh i apologize to the member from parkdale high park i have these brain things happen from time to time um there are no deferred votes this house stands recess until one p.m this afternoon