 It is now time for question period. The member from the PNC. Thank you very much. Obviously I rise today and on behalf of all colleagues, Sarah profound condolences to the political community with the passing of Mr. Hillier and yesterday of Mr. Ford. My question is for the Premier. On October 28th, the Premier said and I quote, The agreements were in line with our net zero bargaining framework when she was referring to the secret union payouts with the teachers. On November 25th, the Premier said three more times that agreements were made with a net zero framework. Four stretch goals in a very small amount of time. Now today we find out from the CP's Allison Jones that the deals, quote, actually come with an additional $300 million cost. But that's just the tip of the iceberg because we know the Auditor General has yet to return her report into her investigation of these secret payouts. So I ask the Premier, how does net zero equal $300 million? Mr. Speaker, and I know that the Minister of Education is going to want to comment on this. And what we're talking about is nine agreements, Mr. Speaker, that have been ratified, that are consistent with our net zero bargaining framework. Mr. Speaker, most importantly, students remain in school. There were no cuts to the classroom, Mr. Speaker. There were modest wage increases that were offset by finding other savings throughout the collective agreement. But let me just say, Mr. Speaker, on the benefits. We're taking more than a thousand different benefit plans for teachers and education workers, moving them to a handful of provincial trusts. And I think that it would be interesting to the member opposite to know that for years from the time I was in school, and I was a school trustee from the time that the Minister of Education was a school trustee, there has been a conversation in the education sector about how to rationalize the benefits package across the province, Mr. Speaker. That will save money, Mr. Speaker, and that's why making that move was so important. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, this is at least $300 million taken out of the education budget. That is not a rounding error. I know the Premier is not an accountant, but that's $300 million more than she told this House. This is also, of course, the same Premier that told us the canceled gas plants were only $40 billion before we found out the true cost was $1.2 billion. She is cutting demonstration schools across this province, special ed cuts everywhere. Parents are fundraising for basic necessities in our classroom. I ask the Premier, what does $300 million in education funding mean to her? Because it certainly doesn't mean pizza and popcorn to me. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, I didn't recognize you, Premier. Carry on, please. Let me just say, Mr. Speaker, that the changes in the benefits, Mr. Speaker, are changes that have been talked about in the sector for many years. Because when the school boards were amalgamated, Mr. Speaker, when the funding model changed in this province at the hands of the previous government, Mr. Speaker, it only made sense to talk about how there could be savings in those benefits plans. Finally, we've gotten to the point where we can do that, Mr. Speaker, where those benefit plans can be amalgamated. There can be changes that will save money to the system. It will actually lower the cost of benefit plans through the power of bulk negotiation. It only makes sense. And, Mr. Speaker, I actually would have thought this is the kind of efficiency and savings that that party would support. Final supplementary. Speaker, the Premier of Ontario just had the audacity to look at this assembly and say that she found $300 million in efficiencies when it cost more than a net zero, cost $300 million. You can't trust this government anymore when they tell us it's going to cost one thing. Stop the car. The chippiness is pretty high and I can read it, so I'm going to start looking at individuals. Carry on, please. The power worker deals had a net zero deal until we found out that it was $87 million more to buy hydro one shares. The teachers union deal was supposed to be net zero until we found out it's at least $300 million more. You have one job and that is to find net zeros in this government in order to balance the deficit, which you have no objective of doing. So I would like to understand from the Premier of Ontario, you've assigned somebody in the Treasury Board to find net zero deals. Question. If you fail at every turn, what is the Deputy Premier's job anyway if she can't find deals here? Minister of Education. Yes, thank you very much, Speaker, and I'm delighted to answer this question. There were a thousand different benefit plans. Some of those benefit plans might have had 15 or 20 people in them. They were extraordinarily expensive. We have been talking since this problem in education, since I was the president of the public school boards, and I had no legal authority to do anything about it to bring everybody together. For the first time in this round of bargaining, because we had the authority to negotiate centrally, we actually have the ability to bring a thousand inefficient benefit plans into five or six pools. There is an upfront investment. Thank you. You've seen it. It's not helpful to hear people using other than titles or writings, and I'm going to put my foot down on that new question. The member from Prince Edward Hastings. Thank you very much, Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Education this morning. Over the last six weeks or so, Speaker, I've received all kinds of letters, emails, phone calls, and visits of support for SAG and ASCA demonstration school in Belleville and the other demonstration schools in Ontario. I've heard countless success stories from kids who didn't think they had a future before going to these schools, and now they're breaking down barriers at their potential, reaching their potential at post-secondary institutions across Ontario. I met Chris a few weeks ago, who was a grade eight student, reading at a grade one level. In just a few months in the program, he was now back at his proper grade level when he came to reading. He was looking forward to going back to his home school and being a successful student at his grade level. In spite of success stories like that, the Minister won't commit to SAG and ASCA serving students next year. I understand the Minister is going to be in Belleville this evening at SAG and ASCA. Will she finally commit to the school's future? Or will she give parents and staff the same non-answer she's been giving the house for a week? Thank you. Minister of Education. Yes, thank you very much. And as I've said many times, there is a consultation ongoing, and we have not made any decisions. Apparently the members opposite know what the decision is, which is really quite mystical, because I don't know. I'm consulting. Because we want to find out, we want to find out, Peter, how we can ensure that thousands of children in Ontario who are reading below grade level can benefit from the sorts of programs that go on in the demonstration schools. We're not arguing about whether the demonstration school programs are successful. What we're promoting is the fact that there are thousands of children in Ontario who can't read. How do we solve that? The thousands can't read. Thank you. Speaker, back to the Minister. They've capped enrollment. They're not even accepting enrollment. They're not even accepting enrollment for next year. They're sending the teachers who are seconded to these schools back to their home schools. The Minister has clearly mastered the 5Ds of question period. Dodge, dip, dive, and dodge. That's what she's doing on a continual basis here at Queen's Park. I've got another one for her, demand. The parents of Ontario's most vulnerable students are demanding an answer. They're going to be standing in front of the Minister this evening demanding an answer to the future for their kids. A future that can best be provided by keeping SAG and ASCA schools open. That's a future that this government and this Minister are putting in doubt. I've got another D for her. This whole process has been a disgrace. It's been a disaster. It's been despicable because the Minister will not give an answer as to why enrollment has been cancelled. Will she stand up before these parents, students, and staff tonight and tell them what the reality is? Just a general reminder that when I stand, you sit. Minister. Yes, thank you. I agree that there are a lot of people who are demanding answers, but some of the people who are demanding answers are the parents of children who don't have an opportunity to move away from home and attend a residential school and to get remedial reading programs. The question was asked by the member from Prince Edward Eastings and I'm sure you're going to listen. Very on please. Those parents are also demanding an answer. We know that there are a lot of children who have very severe learning disabilities. It's important to understand, Speaker, that this isn't all children with learning disabilities. This is children with very severe learning disabilities of average intelligence or above who are many, many grade levels behind in terms of ability to read. We need to figure out how to deliver programs that work to all those children. Thank you. The third party. Speaker. Sorry, final supplementary. The member from Chatham, Ken Essex. Back to the minister. Speaker, recently I met with a courageous constituent from my writing of Chatham, Ken Essex named Katie. She was diagnosed with a severe learning disability and her reading level had not progressed beyond grade three. After six months at the Amphist demonstration school in London she's reading slightly above a grade seven level after six months. This school has given Katie confidence to believe in herself but she's worried that the government is considering closing your school. Katie said, and I quote, if I was not given the opportunity to attend a demonstration school I would have struggled through school and felt like a failure. Please don't devastate these families, minister. So, speaker to the minister can the minister assure Katie and her parents that her demonstration school in London will be open in September? Ken Essex for losing track. Minister of Education. Yes, thank you. And I think what we need to do is talk to all the Katie's in the province who are having challenges reading and tell all the Katie's in the province. Right now, speaker, there's a maximum of 40 children at each of the four demonstration school. In fact, the member opposite says that that's capped but in fact there are less than 40 children at each of the demonstration schools. Not because that was how many qualified. So, for this very specific criteria so we have less than 160 children in the entire province who are getting the benefit of these very strong remedial reading programs. We need to make sure that we look after all the Katie's in the province who need similar remedial programs. Thank you. New question, leader of the third party. Thank you so much speaker. We have a few questions for the premier. Seniors organizations from across Ontario have written to the premier. I'm sure she's received the letter. They said, quote, we are asking you to cancel the fee increases for seniors and uphold the principle of universality for our health care system. Will the premier listen to the nearly 60 organizations who have written to her and cancel her plan to increase the cost of prescription drugs for seniors? I know that the leader of the third party is very aware that there is a regulation that has been posted that there is a consultation going on right now and that those organizations will be obviously very interested in giving us feedback and we will be listening very carefully to them. Mr. Speaker, the leader of the third party also knows that our policy that was 173,000 more seniors will pay no deductible. Seniors who paid deductible previously will pay no deductible. That was the intention of the plan. We said that on the second part of the plan we were going to be listening to people as the regulation was posted and if we didn't get that part right then we would adjust it. We said that repeatedly. Earlier this month I asked the premier whether she believed in universal health care and that means that if you need care you can get it no matter who you are and no matter what your income is and she said yes speaker but what she is doing and what she just spoke about a moment ago speaker is moving in exactly the opposite direction of universality. Ontario seniors put it pretty that they sent the premier speaker they said she is abandoning this principle and dismantling universality. So will this premier do the right thing and cancel her plan to nearly double the prescription costs for seniors. Thank you Mr. Speaker There is no stronger defender of universal health care in this province than our premier seniors Mr. Speaker Evidence of that is that our seniors in this province have the lowest by far the lowest out-of-pocket expenses for drugs Mr. Speaker and it averages $277 per annum for our seniors in this province let's go to Manitoba where the average out-of-pocket cost is $982 per year or Saskatchewan $4 per year or in British Columbia $615 or in Alberta where it's $613 more than twice we have the lowest out-of-pocket cost to our seniors because we are so generous to our seniors when it comes to providing the drugs that they need Mr. Speaker This health minister can stand in this place and spout rhetoric but actions speak longer than words across Ontario are worried about the premier's plan to nearly double their drug costs today nearly 60 organizations wrote to the premier to tell her to cancel this plan our Queen's Park offices our constituency offices have been getting letters and emails and phone calls from worried seniors and I'll bet that every liberal backbencher is getting the same calls and emails and letters as we are on this side of the house we know what that means for their jobs if they ignore those seniors the premiers acknowledge that she's made a mistake will she do the right thing for seniors and cancel her plan to increase their prescription drug costs Mr. Speaker it's not surprising that the NDP doesn't support our efforts to move 173,000 more seniors so they pay no annual deductible because here's their record when they were in power they closed coverage for over 230 drugs from the Ontario Drug Benefit Program over 10% of all drugs on the formulary at that time and the health minister at that time all that the health minister would stay is that these drugs would be available to low income seniors for reasonable prices at pharmacies they closed 24% of acute hospital beds they closed 13% of mental health beds across this province in 1995 they reduced hospital funding by 1% which was the second year in a row of reducing total health care funding Mr. Speaker we don't need to take lessons from the NDP your government was a disaster when it came to health care thank you no question the leader of the third party my next question is for the premier but I have to say what we don't support on this side of the house and the NDP benches the premier has received a letter that is signed by the alliance of seniors stop the book well there's going to be the minister of Aboriginal affairs is now on notice anyone else want to comment leader the premier has received a letter that's been signed by the alliance of seniors local health coalitions carp chapters Jewish, Chinese and Tamil senior associations unions and retiree association will this premier tell these groups how many seniors will see their drug costs nearly double well again I will say that I understand I really do understand that it serves the leader of the third party's political purposes to set a fire where there isn't one Mr. Speaker the reality is that our budget removes all costs for drugs from 173,000 students there was a second part to that seniors seniors removes the cost of drugs from 173,000 more seniors Mr. Speaker and we said that in terms of the deductible that we would consult we would look at that Mr. Speaker and if we had got the threshold wrong that's the process we're undergoing right now Mr. Speaker the leader of the third party knows that she knows that seniors have an opportunity to give us feedback and we've said we will change it Mr. Speaker if we got it wrong Mr. Speaker it's not just myself as the leader of the Ontario new democrats that are concerned about this it's 60 seniors organizations that are setting a fire speaker and that's what the premier needs to pay attention to the premier just isn't listening to Ontarians once again first it was the decision to sell Hydro 1 even though everybody knows that's a bad idea and now it's her plan for seniors drugs unless the premier cancels her plan potentially millions of seniors in Ontario are going to see their drug costs shoot through the roof seniors groups seniors groups are telling her to cancel this plan to undermine the fundamental principles of our healthcare system that our healthcare system has been built on in this province and in this country can the premier tell Ontarians what happened to the basic idea that government should be listening to people and governing for all Ontarians Mr. Speaker is exactly what we did which is why 173,000 more seniors will not pay any deductible Mr. Speaker in place there is comment on the regulation that we are receiving right now we have said Mr. Speaker if that second part of the initiative we didn't get right we will change the threshold but Mr. Speaker we will not do that because the NDP is ranting at us Mr. Speaker in an irrational way when we've already said that we're going to consult on this we're going to look at it and if we got it wrong we'll change it so the leader of the third party for her own political reasons can ramp up the rhetoric and pretend that somehow this is a cause that she has championed Mr. Speaker 173,000 seniors in this province will pay no more deductible we will make a change if that's necessary we will listen to the people of the province we will listen to the seniors who are affected we will not follow the lead of the NDP Thank you Start the clock Final supplementary Mr. Speaker I know that this premier doesn't like the fact that we have a democratic process and the opposition has a role but that's actually the truth that she's going to have to get used to it the premier admitted that this plan was a mistake she's being revisionist now by saying that she actually listened to people Stop the clock She's being revisionist now and saying that she actually listened to people when everybody knows she threw this into her budget without listening to anybody because they had it written before they even started their budget and they were using drug costs for seniors so she admitted that the plan was a mistake she's given herself until next Wednesday to start making changes and she said if people spoke up she'd make a change well people are speaking up speaker today's groups representing hundreds of thousands of seniors are telling the free house the liberal plan is wrong so will she listen to Ontario seniors cancel her plan to nearly double drug costs and uphold the core value of the universal here in Ontario Mr. Hawkinson-Care Mr. Hawkinson-Care Mr. Speaker I can understand why the NDP won't talk about and doesn't appear to support 170,000 more seniors who will go from paying $100 a year deductible to zero and they will actually be added to about 300,000 people that are currently in that position a member from Hamilton East Stony Creek second time Hamilton East Stony Creek is warned finish please so Mr. Speaker when those 173,000 are added to the existing lowest income seniors almost half a million seniors out of the 2 million that are in this province pay no annual deductible that's nearly 25% Mr. Speaker but I understand why they don't support this they didn't support us on PSW wage increase and that thank you new question Mr. Speaker thank you Mr. Speaker my question is to the Minister of Labor Goodwill Toronto's bankruptcy Goodwill Toronto's bankruptcy filing shows that it's 430 employees are owed $4.2 million in severance and vacation pay Mr. Speaker they are unlikely to see a dime from the settlement meanwhile the outgoing CEO received all over 240,000 dollar salary by the time she abandoned ship by that time the 11 board members were already gone the employment standards act is clear the directors are personally liable for employees vacation pay they cannot run from this will the minister guarantee that Goodwill's employees will get the money they are owed from the runaway board of directors thank you Mr. Speaker thank you Speaker and thank you to the Honourable Member for that question certainly it is an incident that concerns us all here in the province of Ontario when we see an incident like that happen at the Ministry of Labor we have an employment standards act that's administered by the group we go in in situations like this and we ensure that people who have worked hard for that money are paid what we have is an excellent track record of collecting funds obviously from time to time there are those people we can't collect from I can tell you that work is ongoing with this file it is expected to come to a successful conclusion thank you supplementary back to the Minister of Labor Goodwill's board allowed the charity to run into the ground the decision to resign and abandon Toronto's most vulnerable is nothing short of cowardly Chief amongst the Dodgers is David White director of design and policy at the ORPP implementation secretariat perhaps the minister responsible for the ORPP met Mr. White through the outgoing Goodwill CEO her former colleague at Toronto Community Housing Mr. Speaker will the minister throw the book at Goodwill's board members for unpaid wages or will there be a special deal for friends of Liberal cabinet ministers Speaker that question is beneath excuse me I'm going to suggest to the member that he's desperately close to making an accusation that is not parliamentary but I'm going to let it go with the warning that those kinds of accusations are not acceptable in the House in terms of members of this place Thank you Speaker I think most people in this House agree with you entirely in that ruling, thank you the federal government's got exclusive jurisdiction over bankruptcies and insolvencies and you know that we have made our government's position known on this The member from Lanark knows better and he's got to stop doing that and I'm not going to tolerate that anymore because I've been hearing some nicknames coming from him and it's not acceptable in this place Yes Carry on The ministry provided funding to Goodwill and that funding was provided on a monthly basis as soon as the ministry became aware of the program closure all payments were stopped We've connected with a number of these individuals with new employment support I think the ministry and this government have done everything Thank you Good question Good question My question is to the Premier this morning Premier, the member from Sault Ste. Marie continues to publicly raise 1,000 reasons why the province can't do anything but watch the steel industry in his community and if good paying jobs dry up and blow away But the Mayor and Council have asked this Premier and this government to act now to go with steel's operations from going down the exact same road as has happened in Hamilton and the US Steel Stelto's operation The Premier met with Chinese officials She's met with the owners of Estar Steel overseas Will the Premier meet with the Mayor of a city in her province who is looking for help for thousands of members in his community Thank you Thank you and I appreciate the question and I just want to say that there is nobody who is working harder to make sure that the steel industry in Ontario is healthy than the member from Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario knows that The member from Sault Ste. Marie is a fierce advocate for the steel industry and you know he will continue to look for solutions and Mr. Speaker we have a responsibility to look at the steel industry in Ontario in the context of the steel industry nationally and internationally That's exactly the point that the member for Sault Ste. Marie has made and Mr. Speaker, I will meet with anyone who is interested, who has some solutions to how we might resolve this issue Thank you Thank you Mr. Speaker Premier, nobody is listening to the question Mr. Speaker, with 8000 jobs tied to the mills and another 8000 pensioners the failure of the steel mills for the people of Sault Ste. Marie is not an option The mayor has asked the province to play a leading role in the restructuring process of SR Steel Speaker, here's the question again Does the Premier agree with her minister's comments is she prepared to meet the workers, the unions pensioners, creditors and potential buyers to tell them that this province values steel manufacturing and sees a future for it in this province This issue is an issue that is a national issue and it's an international issue I think it's page 128 of the federal budget actually commits to take actions that we have been calling the federal government to take a recognition that the steel industry is critical to this country it's critical to the supply chain of so many of the industries in Ontario and we recognize that working in partnership with the federal government there may be a solution to this but one thing that is not going to work is talking down the steel industry in Ontario, make sure Thank you, new question the member from Barry My question is for the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Minister Murray yesterday marks the 22nd mark the annual International World Water Day since 1993 it has held annually as a means of focusing attention on the importance of fresh water and advocating for the sustainable management of fresh water resources it's been estimated or 10% of the world's population do not have access to safe water putting at risk of infectious diseases and premature death we are extremely fortunate in Ontario and Canada to have access to clean water that's why on World Water Day we all have a role to play in protecting and restoring our waterways can the Minister please inform the House about some of the work the Ministry is doing to preserve clean water in our province Thank you, Minister Thank you very much Mr. Speaker, yesterday was World Water Day I also want to start by thanking the member for the leadership that she has been undertaking as you know the Lake Simclote Water Protection Plan is the model on which the Great Lakes Protection Act was advanced I want to thank my friends at Ministers of Omafra and MNRNF our two key partner ministries the Great Lakes Protection Act this act at the Guardian Council which had its first meeting today had nine chiefs and grand chiefs it had AMO it had my friend Don McCabe from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture it was 35 people who spent yesterday afternoon looking at priorities and solutions to improve the quality of the Great Lakes we are very quickly moving on this legislature's leadership to the Great Lakes Protection Act and the first meeting yesterday I think was described by everybody as a great success Thank you Minister for that answer I've seen the efforts of the government in protecting our water resources close to my home as he has stated in my writing at Barrie our government launched the Lake Simclote Protection Plan in 2009 it remains the most comprehensive watershed based plan to reduce phosphorus pollution and improve water quality and fish habitat in Lake Simclote in October we released the five year report back that shows that the health of Lake Simclote is improving also last fall our government passed the Great Lakes Protection Act legislation the Great Lakes account for 21% of the world's surface fresh water by volume we must take care of them can the minister please provide an update on our government's efforts in protecting the Great Lakes one of our greatest natural resources thank you minister Mr. Speaker we run something called the Great Lakes Guardian Fund which puts out almost a hundred community projects we fund across the Great Lakes and First Nations communities and municipalities but there are partnerships that are already developing Mr. Speaker yesterday was from our friend Don McCabe the president of federation of agriculture and the warden of Bruce County the mayor of Bruce Kinross who are doing the member from here on Bruce will know this they are doing a partnership right now around tiling that's going to significantly reduce the amount of nutrients going into the lake these we now have a whole system of coordinated actions and we're improving data collection in the lakes we'll have a bit working with natural resources we'll have both better data on the quality of fish invasive in species animals pesticides pharmaceuticals and other problems and road salt in the lake it's a great day and a great way to celebrate your warden to the minister of agriculture food and rural affairs the minister for rural affairs quietly suspended the Rural Economic Development Fund it's a $14 million program specifically for rural areas so what does this mean Speaker Kempville's business retention and expansion program it's in limbo known access to the grant Meathards Barn Business Cooperative waiting for an answer what about the Ontario water center project in Clearwater Speaker when will this minister do his job halt the suspension and actually fight for people in rural Ontario can you see the face minister thank you very much Mr Speaker I do appreciate the question for the member from Hullam and Norfolk this morning and indeed I remember that party with the previous premier of Ontario announced the drop-in commission and the drop-in commission looked at all the business support programs in the province of Ontario and I remember they would stand up day in and day out and implement all the recommendations for the drop-in commission and one of those recommendations was to move all our business support programs under one umbrella that's exactly what we're doing with the red program we're moving it over to my colleague minister do good under the jobs of prosperity fund people that were formally supported by red will now be able to make applications to the job of prosperity fund and we'll continue Mr Speaker to invest in rural Ontario can you see the place supplementary well again Mr agriculture food and rural affairs the minister once said and I quote with the help of the red program rural communities will be better possession to attract investment create jobs and sustain the highly skilled workforce so despite the minister's obvious belief in the program he suspended it however speaker when meeting with February 22nd the minister told them that the applications and I quote were in the pipeline they would be reviewed shortly my question did the minister of rural affairs not know that his government suspended his vital rural program or does he simply not care when he tells people across rural Ontario thank you minister thank you very much I want to thank the member from Hullover North for gas supplementary we indeed certainly believe that the red program is very important to rural Ontario that's why we took the components of the red program and as the commission recommended put it under one program by their jobs and prosperity fund we'll continue to look at those applications that are in the pipeline to make sure that they are honored because they have significant importance to rural communities and I do Mr. Speaker when they're in power they close 32 ag offices run across the province of Ontario the member from Hamilton Mountain thank you Mr. Speaker my question is to the minister of education a few weeks ago the legislature hosted students for the model parliament Seamus McKenna from Hamilton Mountain was one of them Seamus has struggled throughout his school years due to a severe learning disability but last when he started attending the Trillium demonstration school and a couple of months ago he took it upon himself to apply for the model parliament program it was an incredible achievement that neither he nor his family thought was possible it's a striking testament to the value of our demonstration schools and the positive effects that it has for our most vulnerable kids will the minister tell Seamus and other families across this province that they their specialized schools will stay open thank you yes thank you very much and once again I'm pleased to respond to this question once again no decisions have been made we are reviewing the program but what is very clear is the program has been a success we understand that this is one more example of a student who has fallen way way behind multiple grades in terms of their reading they have taken a very focused program at one of the demonstration schools they have caught up in their reading and they have been able to go back into the regular school we want that for more than just about a hundred percent of the enrollment right now in the four demonstration schools we want that for more students thank you supplementary the minister just said that closing down programs will make it equally inaccessible it doesn't make sense minister last week 400 word essay to apply for the model parliament would never have been possible without access to the demonstration school programming attending Trillium gave Seamus the confidence to apply even without telling the adults one of the many students that I have heard from on this important access to specialized environment in the school especially when this government continues to cut special education funding from school boards 22 million dollars was taken away from various boards last year families and kids deserve better from this government I will ask again will the minister commit today to keeping these schools open so first of all the NDP does have a problem with the definition of cuts 22.5 billion two years in a row is not a cut especially when there were less students this year than the previous year that actually means we spent more per pupil but what I do want to do is congratulate Seamus and on his wonderful his wonderful achievement in being accepted to the model school students in the demonstration schools describe to me the wonderful experience of being able to read a novel for the first time in their life of being able to read a textbook for the first time in their life of being able to write an essay for the first time in their life we want more students to have that experience that's why we're focusing on the consultation process to find out how to improve the experience for more students thank you thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the minister of energy we know that openness and transparency are key to good government in fact the more we know about how we are doing the better job we can do to create a strong competitive environment for people in Ontario to thrive in my writing of Halton there are dozens of new and emerging businesses opening their doors all the time for them to be successful they must have strong useful information so they can plan for the future minister yesterday the quarterly Ontario energy report was posted it provides a wealth of information and data about electricity, oil and natural gas in the province this is valuable information for Ontario businesses including the reporting of industrial electricity prices for all Canadian provinces and US states this is the first time that the Ontario energy report has provided jurisdictional comparison data minister can you please tell us more about this additional information on electricity prices thank you Mr. Energy thank the member from Halton for the question the Ontario government is committed to being the most open, transparent and accountable government in the country and opening up government data supports this commitment we're proud to say that the ISO has made North American jurisdictional data for industrial electricity prices available through yesterday's release of the Ontario energy report in their 2016 emerging stronger report the Ontario Chamber of Commerce proposed enhancing the transparency of electricity pricing we thank them for their helpful work Speaker this report provides more information on industrial electricity prices in Ontario and a transparent comparison that demonstrates how competitive Ontario's industrial rates are within North America and we're proud to have made that possible thank you Mr. Speaker I want to thank the minister for that answer and for his hard work in the energy sector this information will be extremely helpful to the business community and other stakeholders working with numerous Halton residents and business owners about the cost of electricity and they often ask for more information people want to understand how and why rates change measuring and putting our electricity rate into context through these comparisons is key to better understanding the electricity system and how it works by improving access to vital data we help businesses grow, spur innovation and solve problems including transparency, accountability and engagement the result is better policy better programs and better outcomes for all Ontarians minister can you please share with the house what the results of this comparison indicate thank you minister the results of this comparison indicate that our hard work to maintain competitive electricity rates is showing results industrial rates in northern Ontario are among the lowest in Canada and lower than 49 American states and industrial rates in southern Ontario are lower than in Michigan, Wisconsin New Jersey California and below the American average speaker and while other jurisdictions are still burning dirty coal for two thirds of their party our government is proud that we have achieved competitive rates while undertaking the largest climate change initiative in North America speaker the numbers are probably available on the Ontario energy report website members of office speaker should recognize these facts and stop discouraging industry investments in Ontario the opposition may choose to talk Ontario down speaker but we will continue to work with our partners in industry to build this province up thank you thank you very much my question is to the associate minister of health and long term care we understand your government is prepared to repeat history with orange at another lease with Augusta Westland the same company under criminal investigation by the OPP anti-rackets branch for the past 13 years your government has wasted billions of dollars on shady contracts from sands and e-health to orange money is being squandered instead of being invested where it is needed the most making our seniors drug care affordable and increasing access to long term care beds I'd like to know from the minister how does she feel about this continued waste and mismanagement at a time when her government is looking to double the cost of seniors drugs when 24,000 seniors are without access to a nursing bed and when she's yet to find money to rebuild 30,000 outdated beds through you Mr. Speaker I ask what is her plan to address these glaring and negative impacts to our seniors thank you associate minister of health and long term care thank you speaker the minister of health and long term care thank you Mr. Speaker there are so many elements to that question I hope you'll forgive me if I focus on one or two I hope they're the ones that you intended we could perhaps in supplementary but again as I said earlier this week when it comes to orange we're in a new regime a new culture at orange as well where patient satisfaction is as good as it has ever been it's actually excellent in terms of the patient experience those 18,000 individuals that depend on air transport either fixed wing or helicopter transport across this province we have a brand board we have a new governance structure a new level of accountability and transparency that is so effective at providing that important care that people need at a time of crisis Mr. Speaker I would hope that in the supplementary question there's some guidance to me and specifically which issue the member opposite would like me to focus so Mr. Speaker I'll make it simple maybe you should start respecting seniors as I held a media conference here at Queens Park to repeat my call to issue a plan of action on when and where you'll build the needed beds that your government has promised and to halt your government's plan to double the cost of seniors drugs if you denounce the waste and billions spent on failed programs like eHealth, Orange and Sam's and started managing your budgets properly and didn't spend 12 billion dollars a year in interest payments then you'd have the money for the seniors drug plan and you'd have the full term care waitlist Mr. Speaker how can this minister defend the orange contract and the amount spent on interest to support the government's overspending in the face of 24,000 seniors without access to a nursing bed and seniors facing nearly double prescription drug costs Thank you Can you see it please Mr. Speaker apart from the 12 billion dollars over the next decade that we're spending on capital for new hospitals apart from the $345 million new dollars that we're investing in our hospitals over a billion new dollars in our healthcare here's what we're doing for our seniors an additional $250 million each year growing for home and community care $75 million over three years for community based hospice and palliative care Mr. Speaker we're expanding as the member referenced 173,000 more seniors going from $100 deductible for their drugs to $0 deductible the shingles vaccine making that available a savings estimated $170 per senior between 65 and 70 years of age we're removing the debt retirement charge Mr. Speaker we're adding $10 million into our long-term care homes for behavioral support that we're seeing more dementia including Alzheimer's there are many many things that we're doing for our seniors so that we're providing them with the service that they require and deserve thank you Mr. Speaker my question is to the premier the premier knows that the Ontario Heritage Act and other laws protect archeological and burial sites in our province yet while the premier was minister of transportation she allowed the construction of the new allen dale gold station in berry she allowed the digging through the ossuary she allowed an area containing hundreds of bodies and one of the oldest year in when that village found to date we have strict laws in Ontario to protect these sites they carry severe penalty millions of dollars and jail term what is the premier going to do to hold to account the people who have done wrong and allow the desecration of this historical first nation site thank you minister of tourism culture and sport minister of tourism culture and sport I want to first start by saying that our government has a lot of respect for the heritage and the respect for the aboriginal community here in the province of Ontario and we'll continue to work to make sure that we continue to build a strong relationship and I also know that the minister of government and consumer services is one way on this issue I want to just say Mr. Speaker that we're a government that first government 30 years to change the province of Ontario we made those changes to make sure that we brought in the consultation with the aboriginal community Mr. Speaker at any given moment when we find human remains or any heritage significant pieces through the archaeological process it automatically goes to the third phase and we're currently in that phase right now and it's a little bit too early to say what the next step is but we will make sure that this file is handled in a very respectful way Thank you Mr. Speaker there has been seven, and count them seven, archaeological report done on this rare year-on-win burial site that is now the Allen-Gol station all of them said not to go ahead and look for burial first but no instead of taking these reports into account the minister of tourism culture and sport looked at the one report that said they ignored all of the other they ignored their own work they ignored their own letter that they wrote to the city of Barry saying that this site needed further archaeological work because of the artifacts on site the government broke their own law there should be consequences to that why was this government so negligent in their action and when will they hold the people to account and more importantly when will they fix this wrong To the minister to the minister of government and consumer services thank you very much please to take the supplementary question the determination as to whether or not the area is an aboriginal people's burial ground is made by the register of cemeteries and we obviously take this issue very seriously this decision is informed by archaeological reports that are currently being reviewed they're being reviewed by MTCS and my colleague minister and we will not be accepting the final archaeological report until we are convinced that all of the content meets the highest archaeological standards and they've all been complied with in Ontario the former register Michael DeMello was in contact with chief chair Chippewa Ramaphors nation and with legal counsel as well and the current register Nancy Watkins is reviewing the file and speaking to them as well my staff have been in contact with the register speaker and we are ensuring that all processes that are required to be followed under the legislation thank you new question my question is for the minister of children and youth services we know that children do better in school when they have a full stomach research and my own experience as a teacher demonstrates that hunger affects kids ability to learn but we also know that some children are not able to eat a full breakfast at home before school starts other families are not able to send a full lunch and snacks to schools with their kids Mr. Speaker, can the minister please share with us in Miss Saga Brampton South and across Ontario with access to nutritious meals and snacks thank you thank you speaker and I would like to thank the member from Miss Saga Brampton South for this very important question I am very proud to say speaker that the Ontario student nutrition programs help support breakfast snacks and lunch programs in schools in a wide range across our province this program plays a very important role in supporting healthy development of children and youth and readying them to learn over the past two years the province has invested an additional $13.3 million to expand and enhance this very important program the investments are part of our Ontario healthy kids strategy program and it's part of our Ontario poverty reduction strategy speaker when fully implemented into the school year the funding is expected to provide approximately 89,000 more children and youth with access to nutritious breakfast programs and 540 higher needs schools and there will be more students coming forward thank you Mr. Speaker I would like to thank them Mr. for her answer this program is certainly impressive and I'm glad to hear that it helped over three quarters of a million and youth last year Mr. Speaker this program as I mentioned clearly helps kids focus on their learning in the classroom it also sounds like the student nutrition program plays an important role in poverty reduction in our province and we know that some first nations communities experience higher than average levels of poverty Mr. Speaker can the minister share with us the steps her ministry is taking to provide nutritious food to first nations youth in our schools thank you thank you and again I want to thank the member for the question and she's absolutely right we know that many first nations communities have difficulty accessing affordable nutritious food speaker and that's why we are investing more than $4 million by 2017 to support student nutrition programs in first nations educational settings by expanding the student nutrition program speaker more first nations children and youth will have access to nutritious food that supports their learning and healthy development over 60 first nations communities have worked with their leadership to develop new program models that will suit the needs of their communities and incorporate cultural practices into the program which I think we all agree is very important new first nations student nutrition programs will be phased in over the next two years school year speaker and we're very very pleased to support this program thank you new question the member from here on Bruce thank you very much Mr. Speaker the Liberal government has banned the use of the pesticide that farmers rely on across Ontario while making the claim that this measure will save bees but a scientific study released by Health Canada the US Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year found that using this pesticide for seed treatment actually poses no potential risk to bees those are the facts that is the evidence yet the Liberals keep on with their neonic band at a cost of $630 million to Ontario farmers speaker so I have to ask the minister has he even reviewed the scientific evidence released by Health Canada he's choosing just to ignore it thank you thank you very much let's just correct a few facts here one there is no ban there are bans in the world we chose not to ban it Mr. Speaker because we're taking a precautionary approach and we realize that there are farmers who need this I think all of us in this house would agree that a systemic neurotoxin that is quite toxic we're seeing it in places in Ontario where there are none of the pests of which it controls don't make doesn't make much sense there are several PMRA studies and at the same time there is a US EPA study that showed over 50% of the non-managed bee losses are related to that Mr. Speaker this is one of four stressors Varroa mites viruses and diseases climate change and weather impacts and food deserts are under more stresses than they ever have been and Quebec Mr. Speaker went through the same process we went through and introduced the exact same approach we have and that is increasingly the approach is being recognized as a reason thank you supplementary I put a paraphrase no he did not read the health Canada study again back to the minister this minister claims to care about evidence in fact he has even told his twitter followers and I quote for evidence-based decision making throughout my professional life but when presented with scientific evidence released by health Canada that challenges the foundation of this minister's neo-nick band he has chosen to ignore the facts the minister's refusal to review the evidence contradicts its own statements and is frankly anti-science Speaker will the minister who is not a scientist please explain why he thinks he knows better than a team of scientific experts at health Canada question US environment protection agency thank you Mr. Speaker one of the things that we feel very strongly about on this side of the house is that you don't cherry pick science there are probably there are over Mr. Speaker there are over a thousand it's never too late to ask for attention nor ask people not to come back there are well over a thousand major studies that have been done by Sussex Purdue Minnesota University by the US EPA and studies by PMRA if the member has reviewed the auditor general and the federal environmental commissioner's review of the PMRA studies she would probably realize that I don't know why the vast majority of science suggests there is a problem here and in fact Ontario and the Netherlands and the United States and some of the western provinces they don't seem to want to hear the facts Mr. Speaker thank you your time is up and as a reminder I do have a few people that have points of order before we dismiss and I'm going to deal with them right away thank you very much Mr. Speaker we would just like to remind members and the staff of the reception this afternoon from one to three in the legislative library to honor Gloria Richards in her 42 years of public service to the province of Ontario I'd like to thank the member for stepping on my announcement the member from Scarborough Agent Court on a point of order I have two guests visiting to Queen's Park my good friend Edin Gadjaraj and his son Edin Gadjaraj Queen's Park Mr. Speaker I'd like to ask your indulgence to welcome Dr. Millie Roy the mother of our page Sohan van de Maasler who's with us this week and then the following week and joining is his sister Maya de Maasler in the public gallery Mr. Speaker I just wanted to correct my record the response to the question of supplementary in fact it was 42 agriculture offices that were closed not 32 question period is over I'm trying to entertain people's points of order thank you the member Mr. Speaker I would like to welcome page Terry Kwan's mother and father welcome to Queen's Park I am going to double announce it with an announcement that there was an email sent to all members you need to check I was told no but I've checked and said they were sent so it's a matter of making sure the communication breakdown is not there however more importantly I'd like to remind the members that the retirement party for Gloria Richards is today at 1pm the third floor of the library she would love to see you all all kinds of stories and I will tell you that we're working 100% we're going to have some good storytelling there are no deferred votes this house oh former speaker Edda Koffer is here in the speakers gallery welcome to the former speaker he got the email I don't know about you guys the member from beaches east York on a point of order I meant to stand earlier but this afternoon at 12 we're raising the Bangladesh flag in the front lawn and I welcome all members to attend it's the largest speaking second language in my community thank you okay I think we got everyone there are no deferred votes this house stands recess until 3pm this afternoon