 It is now time for oral questions and I recognize the leader of Her Majesty's loyal opposition. Thank you. Thank you so much, Speaker. Speaker, my first question is to the Premier. Home care in Ontario was so bad that it's making national headlines. We've seen, of course, in a story that was recently published, provinces like Saskatchewan, like BC, like the territories provide publicly funded and publicly delivered home care to their residents, but not in Ontario. In Ontario, it's private companies that profit from care. Things were bad under the Liberal government. There's just no doubt about it. But it's become worse under this government, Speaker. As an investigation by CBC Marketplace found that the result is that families who are expecting care to arrive for their loved one don't see that care come at all. They can wait and wait and wait and nobody shows up because the PSW has been double-booked by her company. My question is, why has the Premier allowed our broken home care system to get worse under his watch? Thank you, Mr Speaker, and thank you to the Leader of the Opposition for the question. Our government has heard firsthand about the difficulties Ontarians face accessing home care. And of course, our Minister of Health was a patient ombudsman and heard many stories, which is why one of the top priorities when we entered government was to fix the broken system. And since then, we have been taking action to modernize home and community care with Ontario health teams posed to take on delivery over the coming years. And this makes home and community care part of our integrated health care offering and not a standalone service. We know that people want to stay at home as long as possible, and that's why we removed service maximums to allow them to have whatever hours they need to be able to stay at home. But as the person in the marketplace video noted, Willie Foreman, some people cannot stay at home, so we also needed to repair long-term care. And we've been doing that with great investments in long-term care to make sure that those resources are available for people like her husband, Robert, who need to move into home care and long-term care. Thank you. A supplementary question? Well, Speaker, Natalie Marra from the Ontario Health Coalition said this about Ontario's for-profit home care providers. And I quote, home care companies get contracts for visits that they do not fulfill, yet they still get their money. One London family whose loved one had a very poor experience, very poor treatment from for-profit provider, Linda Care said, and I quote, the care was so unreliable she was forced to put him in hospital where he waited months for a bed in a nursing home. The Auditor General said in a report in December speaker, and I quote, clients may not receive the level of care that they need when they need it. Now, this Premier should know that people, families, loved ones, want to stay in their homes as long as possible with the appropriate amount of care to help them stay there. The question is, why is the Premier still supporting his profiteering home care buddies instead of starting to support Ontarians who actually deserve the kind of quality and accessibility of home care that we could be able to give them? Thank you. To apply, Member for Eglinton Lawrence. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you again to the Opposition Leader for the question. When we came to power, there were over 30,000 people on a wait list for long-term care. These were people who were stuck in hospital and had nowhere to go, and like Robert Foreman, Willie's husband, needed the long-term care support. By building long-term care while investing in home care as well, we are ensuring that the entire continuum of care is in place for people who need it. The Opposition resorts to speculation and innuendo about privatisation when no such thing is happening. We will continue to do the hard work of improving our public health care system across the board and finally solving our home care challenges that Ontarians, frankly, have been facing for many, many years under the former Liberal government for 15 years supported by the NDP. Exactly. Final supplementary? Well, in fact, Speaker, the CBC investigation clearly showed that the for-profit providers don't do the work that they're paid to do, that they didn't do the work they were paid to do. In fact, one Ottawa family shared their tragic story, and I quote, much of the care that Bayshore promised was downloaded onto the family, and twice, nurses didn't come for more than a week, including in the eight days prior to her husband's death. Sue Vanderbilt of Home Care Ontario, the CEO there said, and I quote, we need help. We're in a crisis. That's what the home care providers are saying in our province. Home care is broken. Yes, it was broken under the Liberals, but it is broken under this conservative government as well. So my question is, why won't this Premier commit to fixing home care and community care, just like his counterparts in BC and Saskatchewan have been able to do with a system that is publicly funded and delivered and actually meets the standard of quality of care that our residents in our province deserve? Member for Eglinton, Lawrence. Thank you, Mr Speaker, and thank you again to the Leader of the Opposition. Our government is fixing home care. We're fixing the entire continuum of care in health care. We have to fix long-term care so that we can deal with hallway health care. We've been addressing our hospital needs. We've started the largest recruitment of health human resources ever in Ontario's history, and recently we invested an additional $548.5 million over three years in the home and community care sector. This will expand home care services, including supporting additional staff and personal support workers. The funding will support up to an estimated 28,000 post-acute surgical patients and up to an estimated 21,000 patients with complex health conditions every year by providing 739,000 nursing visits, 157,000 nursing shift hours, 117,000 therapy visits, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, 2,118,000 hours of personal support services, and 236,000 hours of other home care visits. Good stuff. Thank you. The next question, once again, the Leader of the Opposition. Thank you so much, Speaker. My next question is also for the Premier. I think we would all agree that long-term care saw the brunt of the pandemic, the worst of the pandemic. The brunt was taken by the people who live in long-term care, the people who work in long-term care, the families of residents and workers in long-term care, and it was a bad situation because there was a government that was unprepared and unwilling to invest the money necessary to protect those folks. The Government's own commission found that a lack of infection and prevention controls existed, that there was no PPE provided, that there was not enough staff and not enough supports for the residents. Reluctantly, eventually, this government squeezed a little bit of money out and gave it to long-term care, but those funds, sadly, came with expiry dates. And so my question to this government, to this Premier is, why is the government cutting funds dedicated to or that they're supposed to provide more staffing, retention and recruitment, as well as infection prevention and control dollars in long-term care? Why is that being cut? Thank you. Minister of Long-term Care. Mr. Speaker, of course, I don't even know where to begin with that question, because there is no government in the history of this country that ever made more investments in long-term care than this government. Very directly to the Leader of the Opposition's questions on prevention and containment funding, we're actually increasing that by $328 million a year, Mr. Speaker. That is what this government has put in place. We're increasing staffing by over 27,000 healthcare workers. That's PSW, that's Allied Healthcare Workers, that's nurses, Speaker. We're adding 30,000 new long-term care beds. We're upgrading 28,000 additional beds, Mr. Speaker, in the member's own riding. In the member's own riding. Actually, forget the member's own riding. Let's do all of Hamilton combined, Mr. Speaker. We are increasing funding to homes in that area by $70 million so that we can get to four hours of care, Mr. Speaker. I don't know where she has been, but this government is investing in long-term care for now and into the future, Mr. Speaker. A supplementary question. Well, Speaker, 4,398 residents in long-term care lost their lives to COVID-19 as did 10 staff, and that is something that we should never, ever forget. In a letter dated February 4th, this very minister said that he recognizes there are staffing pressures. February 4th, staffing pressures in the system. That still exists. That's a reality. But his deputy wrote a letter that says, and I quote, funding provided during the 21-22 fiscal year that is not spent by March 31st will be recovered by the government. That means that money has to be sent back. And that, my friends, is a cut. The funds that are going to be cut are for 24-7 screening of residents and staff, infection prevention and control, staff recruitment and retention. I can have a page send this letter over to the minister in case he didn't know that the deputy sent it to long-term care providers. So why is the premier cutting in long-term care when we should be providing more resources? Does he think that this staffing crisis is over? Mr. Long-Term Care. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This may come as a shock to people all over the province of Ontario, but at the end of a fiscal year the government reconciles its books and works closely with organizations to find out what you spent, how you spent it, was it spent properly, was it spent for the things that we needed to be spent on. We work very closely with the sector. Now, had the leader of the opposition turn the page on that letter she would have read that the government will be allocating an additional $328.7 million directly to long-term care homes to support their protection and containment, Mr. Speaker. That's on top of the $5 billion on increasing staffing. That's on top of the $5 billion that is coming for new and upgraded homes, Mr. Speaker. That, of course, includes our increasing staffing by 27,000 additional staff. 30,000 additional beds, Mr. Speaker. Now, the unique thing about all of this is that on every occasion that member voted against every single investment. Order. The final supplementary. Mr. Speaker, what this minister needs to reconcile is the fact that long-term care still remains in crisis under this government's watch with staffing problems, with infection prevention and control concerns, and he is simply not paying attention to their serious concerns. They need to plan. They're being cut right now when in a couple of weeks the new fiscal starts and they have no idea what's happening. They need certainty to be able to hire more staff. They need those specialists in IPAC without proper staffing. We know what happens in long-term care. It's the residents that suffer. It's the residents that don't get the attention and quality of care that they deserve. Cutting money for staffing and infection prevention and control right now in long-term care is not going to fix our long-term care system. My question again is why will this Premier not acknowledge that long-term care is still broken and that we shouldn't be cutting any dollars from long-term care, stop those cuts and commit to fixing our long-term care system? Minister of long-term care, Mr. Speaker, the member ought to be ashamed of herself, ought to be ashamed of herself to suggest that we are cutting funding to long-term care when the member knows full well that that is absolutely not happening. It is an increase in funding for $328 million for prevention and containment alone. Now, the member doesn't seem to know the difference between IPAC funding, which is infection prevention and control and prevention and containment. So the IPAC funding has also increased by hundreds of millions of dollars. Prevention and containment has increased by hundreds of millions of dollars. We're adding new staffing, Mr. Speaker, in her own writing, $2 million last year, over $2.5 million last year, $6 million, $22, $23, $24.25 to get us to four hours of care. I just announced last week an additional $672 million to increase staffing across the province. And we've also committed to $1.2 billion the year after and $1.8 billion the year after, Mr. Speaker. That is investments to make our long-term care system the best in this country. No thanks to that member. Make a question to the member for University Rosedale. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Premier. Public dollars spent on public transit should benefit the public interest, Ontario's public interest. So why is a Russian oligarch under sanction following the invasion of Ukraine poised to benefit from a $750 million contract for the Scarborough Subway extension? Why the Minister of Infrastructure? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Infrastructure Ontario Metrolinx has all companies working with them to abide by sanctions that are imposed by the Government of Canada. Since those sanctions have been in place Infrastructure Ontario is conducting due diligence in reviewing all contractors all teams and all teams that intend on bidding on future projects. Mr. Speaker, Straubig has communicated publicly that they are severing all relations with that particular individual. Do you supplement your question? My question is back to the Premier. Earlier this month we learned that this Government secretly reduced the Canadian content requirements for subway vehicle contracts from 25% to 10%. And this comes at a time when Ontario workers in the Olston plant in Thunder Bay faced layoffs lasting up to a year as they wait for more transit vehicle contracts. So meanwhile 27.8% of the company that won a $750 million subway contract is owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch. So let me get this correct. Why does this Government's subway contracts have nearly 28% Russian oligarch content, but only 10% Ontario worker content? Wow. The Associate Minister of Transportation has talked over the particularly. Thank you, Speaker. So I thought we made this issue very clear a month ago when the Leader of the Opposition asked about the Canadian content policy which I will clarify once again for the Opposition has not changed and remains at 25%. But no matter how much the Opposition calls for 25% Canadian content, we will not reduce it in the construction of the Ontario line from 75% Canadian content 90% of which will be made right here in Ontario, Speaker. Now here's the ironic part of the questions from the members opposite, Speaker. They talk about protecting Canadian jobs, but they stood here for the better part of two decades supporting the Liberals when they didn't build transit, when they didn't bring those jobs to Canada and when it came to the most historic transit investment in Canadian history at $28.5 billion. What did the Opposition say, Speaker? No, they voted against that. They voted against the Ontario line, $11 billion back to the local economy and against 5,000 Canadian jobs, Speaker. We will not take lessons from the NDP on Canadian jobs in this province. Next question, the member for Don Valley North. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Long-term Care. Speaker, Long-term Care as a sector has long been neglected by successful governments between 2011 and 2018. The previous Liberal governments only managed to build 611 net new beds. That is an increase of only 0.8% while the population of Ontarians has increased by 25 and over growth by 20%. Speaker, that is 611 beds for over 176,000 people. Speaker, this is simply unacceptable. Ontarians deserve to know their government is hard at work to deliver the quality long-term care spaces. Seniors can count on. Speaker, can the Minister please tell the House what recent investment has been made to fix long-term care in Ontario? Thank you. I applaud the member for Don Valley North on that question and his advocacy for his community. Also the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health for her advocacy has the opportunity to announce additional beds for a Villa Colombo new upgrade there. The member for Scarborough who joined me when we announced additional funding for homes in Toronto. Over 1600 new beds is what we announced just last week across Toronto. It is part of our plan to build 30,000 new beds, upgrade 28,000. The member is absolutely correct. The fact that over the previous 15 years investments were made in long-term care and in many of those occasions obviously supported by the NDP who held the balance of power in that time we knew that we couldn't allow that to happen we knew that we had to do better for our seniors we knew that we had to do better for the people who helped make this the best province in the world in which to live, work, invest and to raise a family and that is why we are doing so much, investing so much and again thank you to all of the members on this side of the House who advocate every single day the supplementary question Thank you Mr. Speaker and thank you to the minister for that response I am proud to be part of the government that is finally fixing long-term care but Speaker we all know that beds alone are not enough to ensure that our seniors receive the proper hands-on care that they deserve Governments of all stripes have heard of the need for four hours of daily direct care for residents in long-term care but from 2009 to 2018 the previous government only increased direct care to residents by 21 minutes that is 12% increase over nine years or slightly more than 10 minutes per year Question Our government fixing long-term care has enshrined our commitment to providing an average for four hours of direct care for residents per day can the minister tell the House on what the government is doing to fulfill this commitment Thank you Thank you very much Mr. Speaker and again thank the member for that question he has been working so very hard and I certainly have all the scars to prove of how hard he has been working for his community not only in terms of building getting new bed allocations for his community but as the member has said to me on many occasions there is no point in building new buildings if you don't have the people to work within those buildings and he is one of the key architects and I thank him for this of getting us to that commitment where we will make four hours of care something that no other government has been able to do now for his community alone that means an additional $4.7 million on the announcement that I made Tuesday so in case the House missed it on Tuesday announced 673 million for additional staffing that's an additional 10,000 people within the sector because of this funding for the members riding that means over $4.7 million and again I thank the member for his hard work in getting us to this great announcement helping us get into a position where he can fix long-term care for generations to come Thank you Thank you Speaker my question is for the Premier on Thursday the Premier went to the Alston plant in my riding during the evening shift it's too bad the Premier didn't face over the thousand families affected by avoidable layoffs or the small businesses and their employees who supply the plant that also now face an uncertain future many of the workers the Premier met will be laid off next week during this government's time in office the number of workers at that plant has gone down from 1200 workers headed to 75 workers this summer the plant needs large long-term orders from the province to keep workers jobs Premier why won't this government do more for the workers at the Alston plant I've had the opportunity to visit the Alston plant with the Premier no less than three times over the past couple of years and there's no question Mr. Speaker but what they do know is that this government stands shoulder to shoulder with them on one of the largest transit expansions in the history of this province and likely this country over Mr. Speaker it's this government unlike the federal government who committed one billion dollars with the train cars to a plant in Los Angeles that has stood there with brand new trains and refurbishments of existing ones Mr. Speaker no less than 350 million dollars announced by my colleague the Minister of Transport to ensure that the Alston plant in Thunder Bay has the orders that it needs Mr. Speaker and during this difficult time of conversion Mr. Speaker that plant will come back stronger than ever later this summer and start to build Ontario's transit out of that Mr. Speaker we appreciate those working for it my question is for the Premier the only new cars being built at the Alston plant are in American order this government has announced an order of 60 street cars and refurbishing 91 by leveled cars for the Alston plant but it has that plant has the capacity to do so much more for example the vehicles for the Ontario line should be made in Thunder Bay yet this government has lowered Ontario's mass transit vehicle content requirement rules to just 10% from the 25% the plant needs large long-term orders to create more jobs that's what we hear from the plant that's what we hear from the workers small orders and refurbishments aren't the answer Premier why won't this government reverse itself increase the Canadian content for the Ontario line subway trains so they can be made at the Alston plant in Thunder Bay minister thank you I want to welcome the member finally to this discussion after a couple of years hard work on the ground in Thunder Bay you know Mr. Speaker they are working on a couple of American orders right now because they finished a couple of orders from Ontario they convert over the course of this spring and summer Mr. Speaker they're going to be working on a whole bunch of other train cars to the tune Mr. Speaker of $350 million and they know Mr. Speaker from our visit last week that we're committed to a 75% Canadian plan Mr. Speaker that Ontario workers and Canadian workers are involved in this Mr. Speaker sadly Mr. Speaker the only thing that concerns me about this comes to earmarking $354 million for train cars how did that member vote Mr. Speaker we told the workers at all last week by the way she voted against him came on him the next question the member for Ottawa so very much Speaker my question is for the Premier this morning debate began on bill 88 and we know that the bill got off to a bad start when the government tried to sneak through eliminating the traditional college of Chinese medicine simply because somebody whispered in the Premier's ear and it's clear now that they haven't consulted on the rest of this bill there's way more sizzle than there is any stake in this bill the Premier would be hard pressed to convince anyone that the Working for Workers Act actually works for workers instead of bringing gig workers under the Employment Standards Act it actually creates a second class of workers in Ontario who don't get things like vacation pay or other rights and protections that Ontario workers have earned and deserve so Speaker through you will the government withdraw bill 88 and take the time to get it right to make sure we actually protect gig workers in this province to respond the member for Mrs. Agamal and Parliamentary Assistant through you Mr. Speaker I want to say thank you to the member opposite for that question and thank you for listening about the important work this government is doing on bill 88 so thank you for that Mr. Speaker our government that has been and continues to work for the worker this includes those who work on the digital platform in the gig economy the gig economy is here to stay and the number of gig workers is expected to rise that is why our government is advocating for the foundational rights for these workers to make Ontario the first province to give digital workers these rights legislation will ensure that gig workers have paid minimum wage they are not dismissed without notice explanation or recourse and they are able to resolve their workplace disputes right here in Ontario Mr. Speaker our government is going to work every single day to work for our workers and we want to make sure that they know that we have their backs and we are continuously striving to better protect our workers on this side of the aisle thank you thank you Mr. Speaker it is clear their intent on creating a second class of workers here in Ontario maybe it is because someone else whispered in the premier's ear I don't know so workers who don't get health and safety coverage so the premier's message to gig workers is if you get hurt at work you are on your own and you don't get paid vacation pay or stat holidays workers who don't get the right to organize or bargain workers who only get paid for minimum wage for engaged time that is like saying to the cashier in the supermarket I am only going to pay you when someone is at your cash register it is crazy the working for workers act is legislating gig workers as second class workers in Ontario as all other Ontario workers so speaker through you will the premier commit to broad public consultations and amend bill 88 so it actually gives gig workers the rights and protections they deserve Member for Mr. Saga Malm thank you again through you Mr. Speaker I will say again this is the government who is working for the workers that is why we were the first one in North America to bring this kind of bill Mr. Speaker workers in the gig economy often face uncertain conditions and lack protection including difficult predicting paychecks one week it is $1000 the other week it is $500 that is why working for workers act 2 will include the right for these workers to keep their full tips in addition to these regular pay periods that is why it will include the right for information and clarity around the algorithms used by these platforms how pay is calculated why worker might be penalized the allocation of work they will know this information we are providing these workers with much needed transparency in their pay we are providing them the right they deserve Mr. Speaker we want an economy that works for everyone we want all workers to have the opportunity to earn a good living and provide their families the opportunity to speak to them Mr. Speaker thank you Mr. Speaker my question is to the Minister of Heritage Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries the pandemic has severely impacted nearly all of Ontario's sectors and one of the hardest hit was the sports sector based on advice from our public health experts the risk was too high to safely play organized sports Ontario's athletes and sports clubs are now eagerly returning to do sports however all the time away from the game has impacted the sector immensely Speaker can the Minister tell us what the government is doing to ensure the economic stability of Ontario's sports sector Mr. Heritage Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries Community sport and recreation in Peterborough let me mention just where he has brought to me and to our government the attention of the play of Peterborough Pete's he's been working day in the Canadian canoe museum which made a significant investment on this past year as well as the challengers the young fellas and girls that are out there each and every day with their special abilities making sure they're playing the game which is why our government has made an unprecedented commitment of over $110 million of new money thanks to our finance minister working with me so we could ensure that organizations are up and running and they are supporting the sector that includes $20 million just past week a couple weeks ago to provincial sport organizations and multi sport organizations $7 million to the Ontario sport network including female athletes $3 million to assist the Ontario Hockey League $250,000 to support Ontario's summer Indigenous Games $50 million into the Ontario Trillium Foundations Community Building Fund $9.7 million in emergency relief we care about sports and recreation on this side of the House Speaker this supplementary question thank you speaker I've often said that everything you need to learn everything you need to know to survive socially in the world you can learn through team sports I'm a big fan of everything that you get when you're working together as a team I want to thank the minister for her response it seems our government truly understands the importance of sport every year we see more and more women and girls taking part in sports however they're still underrepresented underrepresented in a majority of the major sports played in this province Speaker can the minister please explain what's being done to ensure women in the sport sector receive the support they deserve from this government Mr. Heritage Port Tourism and Culture It's a very important question as a former elite athlete myself when I was much younger as a hockey mother and a former hockey coach I think it's really important that we continue to invest into female sports which is why our government has made unprecedented commitments for female athletes more than three and a half million dollars this past year went to support our female athletes in the 2021 quest for gold program with over 52% of that money going toward our female athletes who represented us at both Olympics we've supported over 980,000 women through 62.3 million dollars to our provincial sport organizations and for the first time in the history of this province this government under this ministry is investing in female sports we're leading dance and skipping rope which was never done before but we made a commitment to that because we recognized throughout the pandemic those sports were not able to be supported in addition we were able to support with over an additional 80,000 dollars to the Ontario University Athletics Association which we hope will make sure that there's parity for women in sport with the funding that we provided for them The next question the member for Key Welten Island Ladies and gentlemen my question is to the Premier Southern Ontario is putting the pandemic behind them but for those of us who live in the far north the pandemic is not over Janet Gordon of the Solicott First Nations Health Authority said last week that flying First Nations and local public health officials should have been consulted before lifting public health measures I know one of the things that she said was Ontario gets treated the same but our situation is different why were northern public health officials not consulted before the decision was made to lift the majority of public health protections this week Member for Eglinton Lords Thank you very much Mr Speaker and thank you to the member opposite for the question Our government recognizes that culturally appropriate care is essential in supporting improved health outcomes for indigenous people in Ontario and we remain committed to working collaboratively with our indigenous partners and communities working on programs that will improve access to safe and effective health care services Our government has been working with the federal government and with local health care partners to support the coordination efforts of Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority which has been facilitating response efforts in addition to capacity supports the province has assisted in providing a request for assistance to the Canadian Armed Forces for the provision of Canadian Ranger supports on the ground and in the community We will continue to work successfully with our First Nations partners as we have through Operation Remote Community 1, 2 and 3 to ensure that they have the resources that they need The supplementary question Speaker the only thing I heard are First Nations and you don't own us you don't own First Nations Speaker, Dear Lake First Nation is in a major COVID outbreak the number of cases is now 275 their population is 1200 people 275 is 23% of their population and I know speaking to them this morning their workforce is right now very low community members who have stepped up to support the households that are in isolation that's the support that they have Speaker, again Northern Public Health Officials wrote this government last week and as for resourcing for medical assistant teams to support Northern First Nations like Dear Lake that are in crisis How will you support this request Member for Eglinton Lawrence Thank you Mr. Speaker Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic our government has taken action to support First Nations and other remote communities in Ontario to be clear we know that First Nations communities are facing challenges and that's why we have taken swift action to ensure these communities have been identified as a priority group Additionally we've invested 37 million in supporting indigenous services during COVID-19 and that includes $16.4 million for distribution of goods transportation support for urban indigenous people self-isolation prevention awareness and pandemic planning $10 million to ensure continuity of services offered by indigenous social services agencies to vulnerable children, youth, adults families during the outbreak $4 million to ensure continuity of services at remote and Northern airport serving indigenous communities $7.4 million to help social service providers, charities and not-for-profits delivering critical housing services to indigenous people living off reserve With the leadership of our Premier and our Minister of Indigenous Affairs we will continue to support the First Nations communities in Ontario Thank you the next question the member for Don Golly Thank you very much Mr. Speaker my question is for the Premier Speaker by 2018 Ontario was well on its way to being a strong leader in electric vehicle manufacturing and research in 2017 our Jobs and Prosperity Fund as it had invested in Johnson Electric to the tune of $24 million to support a $350 million investment to drive electric auto manufacturing in March of 2017 I made a joint announcement with Prime Minister Trudeau a federal and provincial investment to create 300 new clean tech clean tech jobs in partnership with Ford Canada and in February 2016 a full six years ago Mr. Speaker I announced and we implemented a new electrical incentive program to help Ontarians to purchase low or zero emissions vehicles in 2018 this government led by this Premier attempted to bring all of that to a halt he did his best to kill the electric vehicle market happily leaders in the automotive sector knew that we were on the right track and they kept continuing to develop their industry now that the current government has had an epiphany Mr. Speaker on electric vehicles will they reverse their wrong-headed decision to restore electric vehicle incentives Mr. Speaker I think that question in itself highlights why it is that the people of the province of Ontario lost faith in the previous Liberal government so let's get it straight what the Liberals are asking us to do is to give a certain small sector of people money so that they can afford to buy electric vehicles and we said no instead what we're going to do is put the policies in place that will allow us to build millions of electric vehicles with thousands of people working in the sector so let's get this Mr. Speaker so let's get this Mr. Speaker it's not only a small sub-sector people who can afford to buy the most expensive electric vehicles it's all Ontarians who can afford to buy those vehicles Mr. Speaker and that there is the difference between a Conservative government and a Liberal government and a Labour people what we said is no we can be the centre of innovation we can be the centre of electric vehicle manufacturing in the province through the hard work of the Minister of Economic Development through the hard work of the Minister of Minds and Northern Development we're well on our way Mr. Speaker and of course the Minister of Energy Thank you Mr. Speaker actually what I was saying was that progress was already the Government stopped that progress Government side come to order the opening of the electric vehicle market Mr. Speaker was for all of Ontario was not for a particular group of people it was for families to have vans to be able to take their kids to school and to soccer games Mr. Speaker it was about everybody having access having rough in electric charges in their garages Mr. Speaker but this government cancelled changes to the building code Mr. Speaker I get the politics in 2018 when this government came in and cut education cut healthcare cut environmental programs Mr. Speaker I get the politics of that but Mr. Speaker now they've had their epiphany now they understand that the industry has been leading to electric vehicles will they bring back will they institute stop the clock I could hear the member for Don Valley West place her question not withstanding the cacophony that was going on over here if it continues I will start calling you out by name can you start the clock the response Government House Thank you very much Mr. Speaker I don't even again I don't know where to go with this Mr. Speaker so under the previous Liberal Watch the President of Chrysler said that Ontario is the least legal jurisdiction in which to invest and if the policies didn't change Chrysler would have left the province of Ontario Mr. Speaker we saw GM close because of the policies of that three mirror Mr. Speaker we saw high energy prices and now all of a sudden the average family is going to take their $150,000 Tesla and put the kids in the back and go to soccer Mr. Speaker and that is the difference in a nutshell Mr. Speaker in a nutshell Mr. Speaker what we said is let's put the environment in place Stop the clock we'll start with the Minister of Energy come to order the member for Don Valley West will come to order the member for York Center will come to order please restart the clock will the Government House Leader conclude his response again Mr. Speaker look we put in place the incentives that will help the economy grow the Minister of Energy has brought stability to the hydro electricity in this province the Minister of Economic Development Job Creation and Trade has removed red tape and barriers to investors in the province of Ontario we're investing in health care so people can come back into this province and the result is that Ontario is the center of economic development job creation and trade because of the policies of this government not Thank you Speaker my question is for the Minister of Northern Development Mines Mr. Speaker by now it's obvious that much of the world is supporting innovative technologies and moving towards a green economy which will ultimately lead to the eventual replacement of fossil fuels and while it's true that some jurisdictions are farther along the road than others we can see clearly that there is always progress to be made both abroad and here at home as the green wave approaches Speaker what is the Minister and our Government doing to prepare our province for the revolution and the green economy Northern Development Mines Natural Resources and Forestry Thank you Mr. Speaker I want to thank the member from Brantford and Brant for his question and the fact that he knows his constituents the folks from Six Nations of the Grand River as they embark on a large scale battery storage project need critical minerals for that kind of technology to work not just for their community that corridor and for the province of Ontario Mr. Speaker in the context of global strife we know that unfortunately countries like Russia and China have a stranglehold on critical minerals but here's the good news Mr. Speaker last week the Premier and I ruled out our critical minerals strategy a well funded strategy Mr. Speaker to ensure that from the prospecting to extraction to processing and integration into new technologies Mr. Speaker like electric vehicle, like electric batteries like technology and like national defence Mr. Speaker we intend to take our rightful place as a leader in supplying critical minerals Supplementary question Thank you very much Mr. Speaker and thank you Minister for that answer I think we can all agree that the critical minerals strategy represents a major turning point not just for our province's mining workers but for our indigenous communities like my community of the Six Nations of the Grand River I am equally sure that the hard working men and women within the sector appreciate the support and affirmation of our government for too long the previous government put the mining industry on the back burner it did not support it in order for it to reach its full potential I wonder however through you Speaker could the minister tell us more about the government's strategy the opportunity that we have in front of us and how this strategy will put Ontario in a good place to create integrated supply chains as they apply to advanced manufacturing Thank you Thank you Mr. Speaker I can't think of a time certainly in the two chapters of my political career where there's been a complete alignment Mr. Speaker of the opportunities in northern Ontario and the opportunities in southern Ontario that in their aggregate Mr. Speaker ensure that northern Ontario will play a critical role no pun intended in the prospecting and the extraction and the processing side Mr. Speaker it's why we invested $5 million in cobalt processing the first of its kind in North America Mr. Speaker it's why we invested in frontier lithium last week as part of our critical mineral strategy Mr. Speaker it's why we're pouring $25 million into exploration activities in the north to ensure that we've properly identified our critical mineral supply Mr. Speaker we know it's world class it's an exquisite supply quantity and quality Mr. Speaker we just need to get it to market and we just need the support of people all across north which we have Mr. Speaker and we're moving forward with that strategy we're proud of it Thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the Minister of Health or the Premier the people of Brampton continue to be neglected by the government when it comes to our health care system it's no secret that we've never received our fair share of provincial health care investments for decades people living in Brampton have been forced to leave our community to access life-saving cancer care I hear from constituents on a regular basis that they have to leave our community to visit cities like Mississauga Toronto and others in order to access life-saving radiation or chemotherapy treatments at Trillium Health Partners Princess Margaret Hospital or Sunnybrook Health Sciences Provincial projections show that in the next 10 years the number of cancer cases in William Osler's catchment area is expected to double and within the next 10 years the need for radiation therapy is expected to increase by more than 60% Speaker, when will this government make the necessary investments to provide life-saving radiation treatment for the residents of Brampton Thank you very much Mr. Speaker our government has been focused on ensuring Ontarians have access to the care that they need when they need it Ontario Health, Cancer Care Ontario is the government's advisor on cancer and renal systems and flows more than $2 billion to hospitals to support direct patient care every year Ontario Health, Cancer Care Ontario oversees Ontario's overall cancer strategy including critical programs which really support patients with services such as cancer surgery, chemotherapy radiation therapy Ontario's cancer screening programs such as Ontario breast cancer screening colon cancer check Ontario cervical screening programs Ontario lung screening programs and the Ontario renal network is also a part of that which manages dialysis services for the province and they are constantly tracking performance to ensure improvements in cancer care and chronic kidney disease and access to care This includes for patients in Brampton I'll have more to say about that in the supplement Speaker, well I urge the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health to read the 2018 cancer care Ontario's report which indicated that radiation treatment, capital investment strategy, in that strategy emphasise the need for greater radiation treatment capacity in the central west area listing Brampton as a preferred site but to date Brampton has not received its fair share and we continue to receive the lowest per capita healthcare funding for all of our healthcare services With decades of obvious neglect advocates have even accused the Ford Government of violating the Canada Healthcare Act by not providing adequate funding to meet basic healthcare needs in our city Speaker, the people of Brampton are tired of waiting in hallways we are tired of driving our loved ones to other cities to access healthcare and the people of this city are better. Speaker, when will this government provide the support so Brampton can receive the cancer care that it deserves and invest in our comprehensive cancer care plan Member for Eglinton Lawrence Thank you Speaker and thank you again to the member opposite for the question We have read the 2018 report it was a comment on the saddened story state that we found the system when we came to government after 15 years of the support supported by the NDP 100% of the time Ontario Health Cancer Care Ontario launched Ontario's cancer care plan 2019 to 2023 a strategic guide for improving the cancer system in Ontario and that is what our government is doing thanks to the great advocacy work done by the member for Brampton south and the member for Brampton west we are making sure we make the investments necessary in Brampton the mayor of Brampton in the fall called it a huge step in the right direction investments in Brampton for 15 years the liberals proper by the NDP heard the calls for better care in Brampton and did nothing but this government is acting to make sure the people of Brampton get the care that they deserve The next question the member for York center Question to the minister of health for two years this government justified the catastrophe it imposed on Ontarians by citing data and experts two years of miscancer screenings depression overdose loss of hope and a grievous charter violations but now we learn that the data wasn't reliable the burden of COVID on our hospitals was roughly half of what the minister told us the deaths are 20 to 40% lower but nothing compares to her use of the time and time again I stood up in this house to point out basic flaws in the tables modeling but when last week the science table warned about the government's reopening plans the minister dismissed the table as being overly pessimistic in its previous estimates well hallelujah with an election two months away the ministers dismissing the alarmist modeling practices of the science table my question is why did it take two years for the minister to call out the science fiction to reply the government house leader thank you very much Mr. Speaker look what happens is this is that the science table provides projections we work with the chief medical officer of health to assess what that would mean and then the government makes recommendations so that we don't hit the high projections so it is actually good news when fewer people are infected it's actually good news when we do better than what the science table says Mr. Speaker I would say good news for the people of the province of Ontario I've said it right from the beginning Mr. Speaker we are doing everything that we can to get Ontario out of the pandemic but it's not just about that Mr. Speaker it is about ensuring that we have a strong economy post pandemic and that's where we're at Mr. Speaker now look I know that the honourable gentleman is busy he's running for the leadership of the Federal Conservative Party so I was I'm actually surprised to see him in this room and I'm sure to be the economic engine of confederation and that's making sure that we have Mr. Speaker can we talk about the question Speaker the science table was wrong time and time again and it's not about the trajectory of cases the government house leader doesn't understand it's because it's not because of altered behaviour but because it never got the key metrics correctly the factor of mortality or of hospitalisation was never wrong even the most COVID devout individuals who work in this building started to clue in as early as a year ago that it might as well be called the science fiction table it's time for review and accountability will the government house leader commit to requesting and assembling all models graphs data memoranda correspondence and records relating to the modelling that inform the tables periodic modelling and will he make it available to the public for peer review and if you won't release it then what went into the modelling is he hiding order government house leader to respond I guess science fiction would be any hope that I might be a senator under the leadership of the member opposite look Speaker there is a reason why Ontario did better than any other jurisdiction in the world it's because we listened and we acted Mr. Speaker that is something that a responsible government does Mr. Speaker now got up in his place every single vote time after time after time after time and voted in favour of the very same measures that we brought in place that he now says that he didn't believe in so I would say to the honourable gentleman if you want to be a national leader like you are you have to have a plan and that has to be something that people can rely upon you don't want to be like the people that you sit behind flipping and flopping all over the place Mr. Speaker that is not good for Canada it's not good for Ontario but I tell you what Mr. Speaker we are going to keep moving forward so that we can continue to make Ontario the best place to live, work, invest and the raise of family and that is something we are doing the next question the member for Davenport thank you Mr. Speaker good morning my question is for the Premier Speaker Radio Canada is reporting on the move examples of climate change action in fact the science curriculum doesn't even mention the words climate change until kids hit grade 5 Speaker this government may want to deny it but the science is absolutely clear the crisis is now action is essential and it's indeed the greatest threat to our planet our health and yet to the reality that those children are going to be living with it's time this government came clean Mr. Speaker why did the government direct climate action to be removed from the curriculum and will they reverse this terrible decision the member for Flamber or rather Niagara West and Parliament thank you very much Speaker and I am very proud to be able to stand on behalf of the government and speak to the important work that the government has undertaken to address the importance of addressing climate change we've been ensuring that each and every community in our province is learning more about the ways we can work together to fight climate change and we've seen leadership from many ministries working together to ensure that our students are also learning about and knowing more about the ways that we can work together as a province to ensure that we're reducing littering that we're fighting climate change through also reducing carbon emissions by making sure that we have strong resilient communities and those are the actions that our government has taken but Speaker when it comes to the science curriculum it's a very very important curriculum that I know the people of Ontario have spent a great deal of time working to ensure that they brought forward their ideas that we heard from experts to make sure that we have a curriculum that prepares students for the jobs of today and tomorrow that ensures that they are prepared to take up whether it's jobs in the skilled trades whether it's jobs in steam whether it's jobs in technology we are taking every action to make sure each and every student in the province of Ontario is prepared for the jobs you supplement the question Mr. Speaker the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Education just stood there and did not deny that they took climate action out of the curriculum order government side come to order unbelievable Speaker while this government has decided Mr. of heritage, sport, tourism and culture industries come to order fairs come to order. Member for Davenport had the floor. Please restart the clock. Thank you Mr. Speaker. They don't like being called out for this because we found out now that they are putting ideology ahead of science in our children's curriculum and it's outrageous. Order. Mr. Speaker, there are more and- Stop the clock. Member for Renfrew Nipissing Pembroke will come to order. It's good to hear from you again. Minister of Energy come to order. I'm determined that the member for Davenport will be able to place her question. Without interruption, without further interruption, please restart the clock. Member for Davenport. Yes, I'm getting under their skin. Mr. Speaker, first of all outrageous. Secondly, there are more alarm bells ringing today about this government's cuts and their impact on our education system. A new survey of Ontario principles by People for Education was released today and it is a damning indictment of this government's failure to support our schools, our students, our school staff. Ninety percent of principles, Mr. Speaker, said staffing shortages were their top concern. Speaker, this government's lack of support has pushed our schools and the people who work in them to the branking point. Only 43% said their schools had the resources necessary to support the mental health and well being of our students. That is shameful. When will the Premier get real about recovery and reverse his planned cuts to education? My thanks to the member opposite for the question today and it gives me the opportunity to stand in the legislature and speak about the important investments that Premier Ford and Minister Lecce and the entire government of Ontario have brought forward to the education sector. And I want to also just acknowledge the incredible dedication and hard work of so many frontline staff, principals, teachers, educational assistants across the province over the two years. We do know that of course the pandemic had a major impact on the delivery of education here in the province and that's why our government has committed billions of dollars to ensure that we have additional staffing supports, that we have additional HEPA filters, thousands, tens of thousands of HEPA filters added to every school in this province. Investments in personal protective equipment, Mr. Speaker, ensuring that we have the supports that are necessary to support our students, including 25 million dollars for professional assessments, a tripling, a quadrupling actually of the mental health supports in place to ensure that our students are supported. Substantial investments, historic investments that are going to make sure that each and every classroom in the province of Ontario is a supportive environment for our students. Thank you very much. The next question, the member for Anna-Luston. My question is for Solicitor General and I know that the Solicitor General is going to be introducing legislation later this afternoon. But there's still the issue of this occupation of this city of Ottawa for almost three weeks into February. And as the minister would know, the cost for the city of Ottawa for policing alone is 36.3 million dollars. 36.3 million dollars. That's on top of the kind of suffering that people of downtown Ottawa had to live through. Now, I understand this legislation is supposed to address those occupations at Windsor and Ottawa. But I think the first order of business is to actually share those costs with the city of Ottawa and the federal government as well, too. Now, last week when I was speaking to the minister, I know that they've changed the police services board in Ottawa. Not of the crest of the city of Ottawa, the government decided to take their police services board members off. There's a meeting this week. They haven't appointed anybody. So I have two questions. Two. Number one, will the government commit to sharing policing costs for the occupation of Ottawa, the city of Ottawa? And will the government commit to making sure that their appointees, their political appointees to the Ottawa Police Services Board will come before the government agencies committee before they're appointed? Thank you. Thank you. And Minister Minnespole Ferris and Housing. Speaker, I want to thank the honourable member for the questions. And I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our members of the Legislative Assembly from the city of Ottawa. They've been incredibly engaged. This is a file that's very important and they've represented their constituents well. And despite the heckling from the other side, I thought he actually wanted an answer to his question. I'm trying speaker to give it to him. You know, again, Speaker, throughout this whole challenging time over the last two years, our members have stood up time and time again for their local mayors and their local councils. And I think rather than maligning the government, he should be celebrating the fact that there are people in Ottawa like our MPPs that are standing up for their interests. That concludes our question period for this morning. The member