 So it is now time for oral questions. I recognize the leader of his Majesty's very opposition. Thank you, Speaker. My question is a Premier. On Tuesday the courts recognized that Bill 124 was unconstitutional. The decision reads that the government has not, I quote, explained why it was necessary to infringe on constitutional rights to impose wage constraint at the same time as it was providing tax cuts or license plate sticker refunds that were more than 10 times larger than the savings obtained from wage restraint measures. If the economic conditions didn't justify infringing on constitutionally protected rights, then why did the Premier introduce Bill 124 in the first place? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As a member opposite knows, we are reviewing the decision and our intention is to appeal. But let's speak to the investments. Historic investments this government has made across this province over 170 billion dollars invested. Let's look at health care investments. We've got a 40 billion dollar infrastructure, hospital infrastructure plan that we're going to put forward. That's going to build new hospitals all across the province, new hospitals in a city like Brampton that was neglected, ignored by the previous Liberal government, a new hospital in the city of Windsor, a new hospital in Uxbridge and a new hospital in Mississauga. Mr. Speaker, we are making the critical investments needed to support this province throughout the last four years and we'll continue to deliver on that over the next four. Response? Supplementary question. I think it's been reinforced that there isn't a critical lack of money, that in fact the funds were there to pay people decently. Bill 124 has driven nurses out of our hospitals and created a staffing crisis in our health care system. The government can start undoing the mess that they made. So will the Premier drop his intention to appeal the court's ruling on Bill 124 and finally work on a plan to recruit, train, retain and return nurses to our health care system? Again, the President of the Treasury Board. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm happy to speak to the investments that we have made in health human resources across this province, especially in the last four years. The largest health care investment increase year over year was recorded last year when this government put an additional $5.2 billion into the health care system. What does that mean, Mr. Speaker? Since March of 2020 we have added over 12,000 health care professionals into the system. Just this year the Ontario College of Nurses has registered 12,800 nurses and we still have a month to go. So we will continue to make these historic and unprecedented investments that we have been making to ensure we have the health human resources across this province. Final supplementary. Thank you, Speaker. And with this question of the Minister of Labour, yesterday the Minister of Labour stood in this House and instead of addressing the substance of the opposition's legitimate questions into Bill 124 he opted for talking points about private sector unions even though he knows full well that there is no union public or private in this province that supported Bill 124. So with the benefit of hindsight will the Minister tell the hundreds of thousands of broader public sector workers in this province why it was he backed a bill that suspended their rights to collectively bargain in the first place. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker and I'll repeat for the member opposite as we review the decision our intention is to appeal and we are incredibly grateful to our public service across this province that serve Ontario and Ontarians and we're also also incredibly proud of the investments that we are making in this province just three months ago the Minister of Finance tabled our budget which in fact the members opposite voted against, voted against increasing healthcare funding to this province voted against building infrastructure 160 billion dollar infrastructure plan across this province which would see hospitals in places like cities like Windsor and cities like Brampton and Scarborough all across this province so we will continue to make these historic and unprecedented investments across this province. Member for Brampton North and Member for Waterloo will come to order next question the member for Humber River Black Creek. Good morning Speaker my question is for the Premier. Speaker the Auditor General tabled her report yesterday and painted a very clear picture of the state of auto insurance here in Ontario so my question is very simple does the Premier agree that Ontario drivers are being gouged on their auto insurance yes or no Mr. Finance? Mr. Speaker thank you to the member opposite for that important question Mr. Speaker you know could have saved the Auditor General some time and money maybe we should have done a value for money on this finding because of course as the member opposite knows that we take the cost of on insurance very seriously Mr. Speaker as the member opposite knows through the pandemic we saw rate relief of 1.3 billion dollars for auto insurance drivers in this province Mr. Speaker now the member opposite knows that as well but the member opposite because I know he's a very learned fellow has read page 102 of the budget that was tabled in April which the member for Brampton South just highlighted that your party doesn't vote for and Mr. Speaker I'll highlight what's on page 102 in the supplemental question. Supplementary. Speaker it's only 10 30 a.m. and it seems the minister is already out to lunch on this issue so I'm going to help him I'm going to help him. The answer is the answer is yes Ontario drivers are being gouged on their auto insurance we pay the highest auto insurance rates in Canada despite having some of the lowest per capita accidents in fact accidents have been down since the start of the pandemic and yet insurance rates are climbing at double the rate of inflation and while Ontarians are struggling insurer profits hit 27 percent and drivers are overpaying in the hundreds of millions so will this government do the right thing and bring auto insurance premiums bound to the level they should be. Yes or no. Mr. Speaker maybe I'll take the member opposite out for lunch so I do appreciate the question it's a very serious question Mr. Speaker so let me read from page 103 sorry from the budget which I'm sure the the learned never read. The financial services regulatory authority of Ontario is implementing a new strategy for reforming the regulation of automobile insurance rates and underwriting as part of the new strategy FISRA will be developing a new fair work for ensuring fairness and rates that would replace outdated guidance including existing guidance on territorial rating also known as postal codes right here on page 103 so I'd ask the member opposite do you support that in the budget and why did you vote no first to make your comments through the chair final stuff please start the clock final supplementary I thought the minister was supposed to give answers not ask questions and you know what this this is exactly why this minister is one of my top 10 favorite fantasy authors of all time. Speaker the proof is in the premiums I've said it before the auditor general has confirmed what new democrats have been saying here for years auto insurance postal code discrimination is real and it has to stop drivers with clean driving records in Brampton Scarborough Northwest Toronto and many other GTA neighborhoods are paying double the rates of others and two months ago I tabled a bill to end auto insurance postal code discrimination in the GTA the government supported this very same bill before the election the premier said it was a priority so will they pass this bill into law immediately yes or no yeah mr. speaker I know the member opposite would love to be on this side of the house so that he could help us reduce insurance rates I come back to the pandemic some 1.3 billion dollars of relief zero increases for two years because we've been focused on keeping costs down for the people of Ontario but mr. speaker just doesn't end with territorial ratings that we're looking to provide value for auto insurance premiums and the people of Ontario we're also looking at choice that's also on page 103 we're looking at more choice for auto drivers you know who want more choice in the industry we're also looking at fraud and abuse mr. speaker we've directed fissure to look collect the data so that we can tackle fraud and abuse in the system respond mr. speaker the member opposite knows well that this government's priority is to provide relief to the hardworking people of Ontario and that's what we ran on and that's thank you very much thank you speaker yesterday's Ottawa LRT inquiry report revealed a cascade of problems due to the decision to build the LRT as a public-private partnership the report said quote in many ways the p3 model caused or contributed to several of the ongoing difficulties in the project these difficulties included a lack of transparency misleading information from the p3 contractor and the city's inability to hold the p3 partner accountable for deficiencies will the government learn the lessons of the Ottawa LRT fiasco and stop signing risky p3 contracts to apply minister of infrastructure thank you very much uh to the member for the question and certainly we're grateful to the commission but mr speaker it's because of the p3 projects that we have that we are able to build subways in the city of Toronto and in your region it's the reason why we're building highways like highway 3 highway 427 extension highway 401 widening in the garden city skyway uh mr speaker it's the reason why we've made such great progress on building hospitals in the province of Ontario like Niagara, Von Corderlucci, west west Lincoln Memorial Hospital, Niagara South, Trillium, Ottawa mr speaker i've always said i've been very transparent we will use the right model for the right project and we will proceed in that way very good member for Parkdale High Park supplementary sir the same p3 contractors and private consultants responsible for the Ottawa LRT are also responsible for the Eglinton Crosstown p3 the auditor general warned of deficient designs and missed deadlines there are already signs that the problems experienced with the Ottawa LRT could happen with the Eglinton Crosstown p3 Metrolinx keeps announcing more delays and keeps paying more money to the p3 contractor they recently announced yet another one year delay which both the minister and Metrolinx have refused to explain clearly something has once again gone wrong with the Eglinton Crosstown p3 what is the ministry and the Metrolinx hiding thank you very much mr speaker the minister of transportation has been very clear that she is doing everything she absolutely can to make sure that we can get the Eglinton Crosstown running as quickly as possible but mr speaker our p3 history in the province of Ontario is a wonderful one we have brought to life 74 projects since the inception of infrastructure Ontario since our government was elected we brought 24 projects to market 15 of which are currently in construction mr speaker we were elected on a strong mandate to build this province and that's what we will do question number four wiki speaker my question is to the minister of infrastructure in the coming decades and terryl's population is expected to grow by more than six million people as our population grows investing in infrastructure is now more important than ever speaker clog roads and gridlocked highways hurt our hardworking families as they're stuck in traffic longer than needed outdated and antiquated infrastructure dragged down our economy makes us less competitive as a province speaker and terryl cannot afford to hold this economy back now it's a time to build speaker can the minister of infrastructure please share with the house what our government is doing to build effective and resilient infrastructure for all enterians minister of infrastructure very much to the member and again mr speaker we were elected on a very strong mandate to invest in infrastructure which is why we are investing 159 billion over the next 10 years last week we announced our updated p3 project pipeline which included 39 projects and mr speaker during COVID-19 under the premier ford's leadership we developed the rapid build program to build long-term care homes as quickly as possible which resulted in 320 additional beds at lake ridge and a construction period of 13 months mr speaker we are taking those learnings through the rapid delivery program and we've announced our first rapid delivery program to build schools in the province of Ontario this includes five new schools creating 15700 student spaces and 1500 child care spaces thank you thank you speaker and back to the minister speaker addressing our infrastructure needs today is an investment in the future of our province to gather let's build health care networks that better serve our patients and keep our province moving ahead infrastructure investments ensure a stronger economy better jobs and bigger paychecks for all enterians communities like brampton Windsor and my region of Durham are all places that have long advocated long advocated speaker for infrastructure investments but sadly speaker the previous level government ignored our needs now is the time for our government to act now is the time speaker that gets shovels in the ground speaker can the minister of infrastructure tell the house what critical projects our government is undertaking as we together rebuild Ontario i certainly can mr speaker the people elected us they brought us back here because they want more hospitals they want more highways they want more schools and more public transit in our most recent p3 pipeline update we are advancing procurement and construction on our hospitals and children's treatment centers ones like niagara health trillium queensway mrs salga waha camh chio and quinty health with regards to transportation we continue to advance highway three scarborough subway the eglinton cross-town west extension ontario line north which we've broken up into two separate contracts in the garden city skyway not only that mr speaker we're also bringing ontario place back to life so that families the wonderful place thank you very much mr speaker my questions to the premier yesterday's auditor general report showed that the interior lottery and gaming as signed private casino contracts based on unrealistic bids but instead of holding those contractors to their contracts agreed to let them pay 3.3 billion less to the government speaker these are billions of dollars that should have gone to supporting our schools our hospitals to the premier why is this government letting the olg undermine its own credibility by signing and renegotiating bad contracts thank you to the member opposite for that question you know mr speaker those contracts which were signed in about the about a decade ago 2012 now between 2011 to 2014 i think there was a minority government and who supported the minority levels uh oh the member opposites party look over the last decade the ontario lottery and gaming corporation has been good for taxpayers in fact the most recent year returned 1.5 billion dollars to the taxpayers of this great province mr speaker not only that provided significant growth to the economy through good jobs good working jobs good paying jobs bigger paychecks mr speaker response and finally the citizens of this province we have a great entertainment industry through the ontario lottery gaming corporation that provides entertainment value to the citizens at all the casinos and all the great thank you supplementary question thank you thank you so much speaker i mean if i could enforce those contracts i would but you know who could this minister finance has also showed that the olg and its private casino operators did not have adequate processes to prevent money laundering quote at two casinos mr shoppers were able to obtain four casino checks for between 4900 and 10 000 dollars with limited pay order no casino winnings despite olg's money laundering policy that play must be verified before issuing any checks above three thousand dollars mr speaker money laundering is happening in ontario's casinos uh british columbia has stronger money laundering provisions in place today but that the government should bring in so my question really simple will the minister of finance commit to making those changes today so that money laundering does not happen in ontario casinos mr speaker there's no room for bad actors in this province but let me tell you the ontario lottery gaming corporation has a very rigorous process it has policies and procedures in place and mr speaker uh they've increased their enforcement over the years and are doing a terrific job we will always go after bad actors mr speaker but let me tell you this i i i have to question the scope and the misincrease of the auditor general to using taxpayer dollars to do a sting operation in an area that we have plenty plenty of enforcement in this problem we are going to go after the bad actors order speaker we are going to make sure that we have the highest standards in this province we take it seriously the olg takes it seriously and this government takes it seriously this question the member for peter burrow court thank you mr speaker my question is to the minister of of energy speaker concerns about the issues of access to electricity in our province exist communities in rural remote and northern ontario deserve access to reliable source of electricity but sadly for many that's just not the case in many indigenous and northern communities the continued reliance on diesel generators is an ongoing challenge that's right that needs to be addressed diesel generated electricity is expensive it's polluting and it doesn't meet the needs of any growing communities indigenous communities across ontario serve as important partners in our energy sector speaker can the minister of energy please elaborate on what our government is doing to ensure northern remote and indigenous communities have access to the electricity they need thank you minister of energy thanks very much mr speaker thanks to the member opposite for the question as minister of energy my top priority is to ensure that we have a reliable clean electricity grid that meets the needs of everyone across ontario especially in remote communities the member's right that there are still some remote flying communities that are operating on diesel generators mr speaker that's expensive it's not good for the environment and it doesn't allow for growth and new homes and expansion to be built in these communities that's why it was really important last week that i joined my friend and colleague mpp from kawetnong in kingfisher lake his home community mr speaker with many of his family members it was a tremendous day as we lit up that community to the provincial grid mr speaker thanks to the wate and the kineap power project which is a tremendous project it's known as the line that brings light mr speaker i would add it's the line that brings hope as well supplementary question thank you mr speaker and thank you to the minister for that response it's encouraging to see our government's leadership working alongside first nation communities to partner on connecting our electricity grid to northern ontario being connected to our electricity grid unlocks future economic and social development in northern communities including new schools housing and economic opportunity speaker can the minister of energy elaborate on the wate power project please tell this house how this first late first nation led project will bring energy certainty and new opportunities to northwestern ontario thanks for your support mr energy thanks very much the wate and the kineap power project is a very important project 1800 kilometers of transmission line an indigenous led project 24 first nations teaming with fortis power mr speaker to connect communities like kingfisher lake and 16 others to the provincial grid mr speaker our government's proud to support this project with 1.34 billion dollars which will help the construction during this time three of the 17 fly-in communities have already been connected to the provincial grid chief eddie mamakwa in kingfisher lake said last week you know he recalls and the member opposite said this to me as well he recalls when the first diesel generators were brought in in 82 the runway was built in 87 the running water came in in 93 and they'll always remember in 2022 when they hooked up to the provincial grid it allows for growth it allows for housing to be built in the community it allows for the new school that's being built in kingfisher lake to be powered this is what happened when we work together with first nations partners to ensure that we're seeing economic prosperity in their communities it's a tremendous partnership and should be congratulated next question leader of the opposition thank you speaker speaker my question the premier yesterday's auditor general report revealed the government is failing to make adequate use of its renewable energy resources another report yesterday shows that this government is about to waste the money of Ontario ratepayers by procuring more gas plants the report by power advisory says it would be cheaper to invest in efficiency conservation renewable energy and storage instead of spending billions on new gas plants hydro bills are already too high why is the premier wasting money on new gas plants when there are cheaper options that don't use fossil fuel mr of energy mr speaker thanks to the member opposite it's pretty rich coming from the member opposite to talk about affordability in the energy sector when his own party believes that we should get rid of natural gas a baseload power supply and that member in particular is not supportive of nuclear which provides 60 percent of our baseload power in the province every day each and every day my job as the ministry of energy is to ensure that we have an affordable and reliable supply of electricity in the province mr speaker the independent electricity system operator has advised us that if we were to remove natural gas from the system we would have blackouts and brownouts is that what this member wants it's certainly not what this government wants or what the people of ontario need mr speaker we're seeing record investments in our province because we now have a reliable and affordable electricity grid in the province of ontario one that is competitive with other jurisdictions and we're seeing the results with multi billion dollar investments here in ontario supplementary well an interesting dodge so let's try it again the premier has promised private gas plant companies that ontario ratepayers will keep paying for the new gas plants even after they are shut down the gas plant contracts will run to 2040 but those plants will be shut down long before under federal law we already had one gas plant scandal under the liberals and it looks like the pc government is determined to do exactly the same thing how much will ontario ratepayers be forced to pay for new gas plant contracts after these plants have been shut down minister of energy mr speaker the member opposite wants to shut down gas plants now mr speaker that would result in brownouts in our province completely unacceptable the independent electricity system operator has also told us that it would increase electricity bills by a hundred dollars a month that is unacceptable to our government mr speaker and it's unacceptable to the people of the province of ontario this member and we saw a glimpse of their energy policy a couple of weeks ago and the member from ottawa center ran extension cords across the bridge from ottawa to gatineau that's a look at what we could expect god forbid if an ndp government was ever in charge of our energy supply mr speaker we simply can't have that unpredictability we have to have a reliable and affordable system in every single day i'm working to ensure that our system is clean safe office choice it's reliable and affordable so we can see the growth that we need in our province much my questions for the premier in 2018 the premier was caught on video telling a room full of developers we will open up the green belt a big chunk of it then in may of that year he swore to all ontarians that he unequivocally wouldn't touch the green belt in april 2022-21 he said we're not going to touch the green belt so here we are december 2022 it's christmas and the premier is proud to say promise made promise kept to his rich developer friends the problem is he broke his promise to the people of ontario he's giving away the people's green belt order huge chunks of it it's not he has to give so speakers for you to the premier can the premier stand here today and tell us why anyone would believe anything that he said Mr. municipal ferries and i can say the same thing about the honorable member he stood here in this house and as a member of the governing liberal party carved up the green belt 17 times no apologies no answers for the people of ontario we made it very for a driving range we were clear we were transparent we're in the middle of a housing crisis speaker and we posted on the environmental registry a plan that would provide a minimum of 50 000 homes many of these sites have received municipal support the one in pickering mayor ash i have a letter that i'll read in the supplemental clearly indicating that they wanted this property in the draft to be available for home construction all of these sites are adjacent to existing urban areas they're all able to be serviced and at the end of the day our plan unlike the liberals added will will add to over 2 000 acres to the green belt supplementary thank you speaker well it's evident that the premier thinks part of his job description is to make his very rich friends even richer it's clear that there's a pattern of people gaining inside knowledge and advanced notice of this government's decisions order order the member for rent through nipissing and i heard what the member for auto itself said and i will remind all members that you can't impute we're going to ask the member to withdraw and then conclude his question speaker why would someone take out a hundred million dollar and ask the member to withdraw sir i didn't hear you speaker there is a clear pattern of people gaining inside knowledge order why would someone take out a hundred million dollar loan at 21 interest to buy land that you could literally do nothing on and weeks later magically you could it took more than a day for this government to say no when they were asked whether developers got a heads up a whole day it's not the developers green belt it's not the government's green belt it's not the premier's green belt to give away it's the people's green belt so speaker through you will the premier stand in this house and tell the people of Ontario that his rich developer friends did not get a heads up minister mr farrison house you know it's it's pretty rich you know coming from a gentleman who worked for a premier maginti who stood in this house who sat in this chamber on this side of the house and and carved up the green belt 17 times it's pretty pretty rich that this guy is bringing this question forward i'm going to read you a letter from the mayor pickering uh his worship mayor kevin ash the first paragraph says it all you recently received a letter from mayor ryan requesting the repeal of the duffins rouge agricultural preserve act 2005 in the city of pickering as a newly elected mayor of the city i would like to support this request as noted by mayor ryan these lands were part of the regional and municipal growth plans for settlement area expansion to the green belt 20 years ago we're moving forward on this request from municipalities other request from municipalities at the end of the day response the plan proposed will have a minimum of 50 000 homes uh you know provided for us and over thank you thank you before ottawa south will come to order the minister of northern development will come to order the next question member for a mississauga thank you our studies reveal that approximately one in five children in ontario are encountering mental health challenges the past few years have been especially difficult for our youth as they face unique challenges augmented by the isolation brought on by the pandemic it is therefore crucial for our government to expand access to innovative solutions in order to support the mental health and well-being of ontarius children and youth speaker can the associate minister of mental health and addictions please share with this house how our government is ensuring high quality care for children and young people through integrated services such as the youth wellness hub the associate minister of mental health and addictions thank you mr speaker and thank you to the member from mississauga center for a question since 2019 we've invested 570 million dollars into child and youth mental health supports across the province of ontario and in june of 2021 we dedicated another 31 million dollars to reducing wait times and improving access to mental health services expanded alongside these services are youth wellness hubs these are one-stop shops for mental health and addictions treatment primary care services and early intervention programming for youth age 12 to 25 available on a walk-in basis they offer a safe space for youth a warm handoff to other community-based care providers ensuring children that are in need of help that there is no wrong door we now have 22 of them in the province of ontario we've green green led under eight and i'm looking forward in my supplemental to talking a little bit about the work of joanna henderson at kmh and the great work when we collaborate that we can do as a province and state thank you very much supplementary question thank you speaker and i thank the minister for his response and for his taros work on mental health and addictions for our province and i am proud that one of the 22 youth wellness hubs that the minister spoke of is actually located in malton in my city of mississauga the malton youth wellness hub provides vital services to youth in my riding such as mental health counseling substance use support employment housing and education support as well as recreation these services are being delivered through partnerships with organizations like the catholic family services peel different cmha peel different and our place peel and many many others in 2010 the previous liberal government was provided a report prepared by an all-party committee which included 23 recommendations to improve mental health services speaker not a single one of those recommendations was implemented unlike the liberals our government is committed to working with our mental health partners to support and address our children and youth mental health and well-being needs speaker can the associate minister please elaborate on how our government is building a comprehensive plan to connect mental health and addiction system the associate minister thank you mr speaker and thank you again for that question this monday dr handerson and myself got together to announce an exciting pan canadian initiative called the integrated youth services net the i y s net and as many of you here today have heard me say over and over again if we can't measure it we can't manage it the i y s net will connect every youth hub across canada through a shared data infrastructure easing collaboration between researchers and policymakers imagine that mr speaker mental health practice informed by real-time data exchanges and that optimized service delivery and treatment outcomes learning from youth and proactively adapting to their needs this is an unprecedented opportunity for us to be creative collaborative and make catalytic change mr speaker together with our provincial provincial and territorial allies we're building a system centered around the values of justice diversity inclusion and lived experiences are young people all across ontario mr speaker this is what we're focused on and we will build that system in collaboration with all our partners thank you next question the number for niger center thank you speaker three of the minister of municipal affairs and housing i've asked the minister numerous times whether the government had tipped off developers about plans to open the green belt for development the minister has had multiple different answers to our questions first the answer was that the government talks to anyone who builds homes yesterday the minister said no without any further elaboration every day it seems we get a new answer from the minister so today i'll ask again speaker did the minister or any other government or pc party official share with any landowner developer or lobbyist information about the government's plan for developing the green belt before it became public on november 4th minister mckelter isn't having a speaker i answered yesterday that no i did not and that i will assist the integrity commissioner in the investigation thank you speaker up until april the chief of staff to the minister of municipal affairs and housing was luca bucci in june mr bucci was hired as the ceo of the ontario home builders association despite a one-year cooling off period required of former government officials who become lobbyists mr bucci seems to be lobbying the government on development issues and recently spoke at the heritage committee in support of bill 23 where he interacted with the minister's parliamentary assistant he appeared this morning to speak in behavior in favor of bill 39 the cooling off period exists to prevent lobbyists from putting their former employers in a real or potential conflict of interest why is the minister allowing his office to be lobbied by his former chief of staff such disappointment colleagues from across that i got up i'm i'm somewhat hurt by that but here's the reality here's the reality speaker they can couch it any way they like because they have been doing it for not only just the last two weeks really they've been doing it for the entire time that the ndp has existed and that is the committee of no right they don't want people to have homes they don't want people to have homes in the gta they're happy that where we're at but we said no right from the beginning right colleagues we were elected on a mission to make Ontario better than it was than when we when we took over mr speaker so what have we done we've done better on health care we've done better on education we're doing better to put more money in the pockets of the people the province of ontario well they want they want people to live in their parents basements forever i know a lot of parents here who want their kids quarter and into a great home somewhere in the province of ontario that's where i know that it's a dream of i know that when my parents came to this country you know my parents did they wanted to have a better a better tomorrow for their kids and that is what we're all about so you can continue to say no hold people down we'll move forward give hope and prosperity thank you uh speaker i uh i unabashedly identify as a pet parent unfortunately uh i've spent far more time in veterinary clinics than any parent would want to we have a significant shortage of veterinarians in my area in ontario and across the province and i know from firsthand experience from from those of my friends that it's causing significant wait times problems with emergency clinics and uh and burnout in our veterinarians it's also having an impact on our farmers who can't find people to take care of their livestock uh speaker i would ask if our minister of agriculture food and rural affairs could please highlight what our government is doing in order to address this issue very much and i very much appreciate your your devotion and the question as well because this is something that people across ontario are talking about just not pet owners but ontario livestock farmers as well and i want to be perfectly clear that this is an issue in terms of access to veterinarian services it's an issue that's across the nation but here in ontario we're taking action you know this past spring we met with stakeholders from the veterinarian sector and they identified very clearly that we needed to modernize and the fact of the matter is the veterinary act in ontario hasn't been looked at for over 30 years but speaker it's our government that is taking action and for the first time we are looking and working with our stakeholders to identify how we need to modernize given the fact that there's new technologies and uh and the scope of practice for both veterinarians and technicians have evolved we need to get with the times and modernize our legislation in this province as well and so it's part of our grow ontario strategy that we're going to be moving forward with and i'll speak more about it in my supplement thank you supplementary question speaker it's without any hyperbole whatsoever when i say i'm incredibly excited about this again from from my experience i've spent a lot of time with a lot of our registered veterinary technicians across this province and i know again from experience i wish i hadn't had but from experience just how valuable they are and how extensive their learning experiences and what they could do to help veterinary services i'd ask if the minister could talk a little bit more about how modernizing the Veterinarians Act could allow our amazing registered veterinary technicians to provide more services and and and help sort of fulfill this gap mr vega poachers we're all affairs thank you very much and to the member from kitchener south haskler you know we we are going to be listening first and foremost and we certainly look forward to your input as well as input from people involved in the sector from across ontario and the member from elgin middle sex london will be leading these consultations across this province as he goes on tour because we want to hear first and foremost you know how has the sector evolved how do we need to modernize how do we need to develop legislation in 2022 that creates less red tape and builds a stronger ontario because speaker that's what bill 46 is all about and as we look to to grow ontario we want to make sure that people have their voices heard and we're looking very much forward to an expansive consultation process that will identify the new scopes of practices that have evolved response as well as our veterinarians and first and foremost the important aspect here is that we are engaging everyone in the veterinarian sector to make sure we get it right thank you very much member for thunder basic period north thank you my question is to the premier front line mental health and addictions workers have been clear we are in a cute crisis with record numbers of opioid deaths in ontario this crisis is particularly acute in thunder bay where we have four times the provincial average of deaths will the province increase community based addiction services including harm reduction and supportive housing and increased capacity and publicly funded publicly run treatment centers in our communities the associate minister of mental health and addictions thank you to the member officer for the question we know that there is an opioid crisis in the province of ontario that predated the pandemic and it only was aggravated with the pandemic our government the first government has made historical investments in addiction treatment and mental wellness and those investments now total 525 million dollars in annualized investments in addition to those investments because of the pandemic we created a an addiction recovery fund another 90 million dollars that created 400 treatment beds 7 000 new treatment spots that are out and about all over the province of ontario now those investments are being made where they're needed most and the focus was on jurisdictions on cities and towns where those were needed the most where we have the highest rates of overdoses and so investments were made in su lookout 40 beds in thunder bay 35 in uh Sudbury 50 in timmins 10 and 54 in canador at canador college in north bay now why were those investments made because we are going to build a continuum of care respond to individuals from the time that they require withdrawal management through addiction through supports all the way to providing them with supportive housing because that's what we need to do thank you uh thank you for mentioning supportive housing i appreciate that and look forward to seeing more of that in our region in thunder bay there are a multitude of for-profit methadone clinics in the business of keeping people hooked on methadone as a profit medical practice it is in their financial interest to keep people on methadone indefinitely in contrast not-for-profit clinics work with clients to gradually reduce dosages until the person is drug-free will the government investigate these exploitative businesses and commit to supporting community-based not-for-profit mental health and addictions treatment that includes mobile crisis response teams and the building of supportive housing which i'm glad we are you intend to do the social minister thank you mr speaker and thank you for that great question i mean when you stop and think about the amount of supports and services that we need in the province of Ontario we all know or we should know that that treatment should be in the communities it should be delivered in a way that is measured so that we know that the outcomes that we're getting are the ones that are the best for the people in the province of Ontario and we also know that we need to do more to ensure we have low barrier access points to be able to get into a system to get the supports that are necessary so when you talk about mobile crisis intervention teams i support them we support them as a government we have expanded them throughout the province and will continue to do so because we know that it's a way to get individuals the help that they need and that's the key point here we have to get people to treatment which is why those 400 beds were created why we have 7 000 additional treatment spots and yes we will deliver services at the same standard and level across the province of Ontario because that's what every ontarian deserves to have in their community thank you remember for storm on dundas so clean gary thank you speaker my question is to the minister of public and business service delivery as our lives become increasingly dependent on technology we need to be more knowledgeable about the ever-present cyber threats we now face recently we saw the negative impacts that cyber security attacks can have with the school board reporting that it was affected by a cyber incident as a province we must ensure that we are equipped with the necessary tools to stay safe as we access services digitally speaker can the minister please explain what our government is doing to prioritize the safety and the security of all the people of ontario in our increasingly digital world minister of public and business service delivery thank you very much speaker and i thank the great member for storm on dundas south dan gary for the great work we're doing for the people of his riding speaker since our government introduced ontario's first ever cyber security strategy in 2019 we have rolled up our sleeves and gotten to work as you know speaker many of us know this very well that a key pillar of this strategy was the creation of our cyber security expert panel appointed to help evaluate the state of cyber security across the ops and bps and after two years of hard work and collaboration our government has publicly released their final report earlier this october and committed to implementing its recommendation speaker this report is a major milestone on our path to improving our cyber resilience and perhaps most importantly it helps us create even more secure online services for ontarians supplementary question thank you speaker and thank you to the minister for that response cyber attacks have become more sophisticated and frequent targeting vital services as our government continues our ambitious agenda to utilize digital capabilities for programs and services we are responsible for protecting the public from harmful cyber security threats the public expects the data they share with their government to be secure and safely managed speaker could the minister of public and business service delivery please elaborate on the next steps our government is taking to better protect cyber security for all the people of ontario thank you speaker and i again thank the member for his question speaker the work ahead to implement these recommendations will not always be easy and it will certainly not be immediate but i can pledge to you today that i will work tirelessly with my colleagues to usher in the changes needed to bolster our cyber security across all of government the expert panel recommendations are forming the foundation of our cyber security policies and help develop the best practices that we will share across all sectors our ongoing digital transformation has already delivered significant benefits to the public and businesses and we must continue to protect them from cyber threats so we can deliver on our government's plan to make life easier and build a stronger ontario thank you next question the member for starboard thank you very much speaker my question is to the premier last week the minister of health said that the primary care physicians should treat more children so they do not have to go to emergency rooms however the reality speaker is that 1.8 million ontarians don't have a regular family physicians to even go in these situations ohib covered virtual care has been one of the last resorts that pay that parents and their sick children have had to find immediate medical help which this government is gutting leaving parents with a cost of about 29 dollars a month our government is allowing for private ventures like kickscare to charge for virtual pediatric visits and i have a quote here dr aviva law speaker from a pediatrics a pediatrician who consulted on kickscare is urging the provincial government to maintain access to virtual care and this is what she said pediatricians and i quote no longer be able to offer virtual visits for patients because and she goes on to talk about how it's in in in equal for people who don't have a family doctor speaker so my question is our government at a time when there is a crisis why are they gutting essential services like ohib covered virtual care speaker i live in laurence a parliamentary assistant the minister of health thank you very much for the question we just want to take a moment to acknowledge the great work done by all of our doctors across ontario and we thank them for all of their efforts as members may recall with respect to virtual care during the pandemic we started to cover virtual care and before the last election a three-year physician services agreement was ratified by the ontario medical association and its members and it was a true milestone because it was the first time in 10 years or so that a a deal had been reached without an arbitrator but it also realized another milestone that agreement made virtual care a permanent feature of our health care system and our health care offering for the first time ever for patients and we're very proud of that but under the new framework things have been changing and the way that's compensated has been changing but that is what the only ratified and what the members of the omae agree to sir speaker i appreciate the response from the parliamentary assistant and i would hope that they actually intervene and look at what's happening with virtual care lion lionel a parent in scarborough southwest reached out to our office speaker about his recent experience after getting sick the only way his family was able to get medical advice and a prescription was through virtual service speaker our government is allowing for for-profit made from a sense that to be made from essential services like health care and fundamentally taking away the rights of ontarians to publicly funded primary care and lia a little lia little page another another ontarians who actually talked in the cbc article talked about her 16 year old month 16 months old daughter who had to stay out of the emergency room in the past year four times because of virtual care so the system that you have come up with for virtual care it's not working so my question is speaker at a time when pediatric hospitals are overrun for especially for infants and babies and we need to have a virtual care service that actually covers these people like these parents why is this government taking away options that are available that are available to save kids thank you thank you thank you thank you very much for the question again and as i was saying under the new virtual care agreement all medically necessary virtual care services including patient visits by telephone will continue to be insured under OHIP but there are we're implementing a new pricing structure for virtual care and that's what we're really talking about here is a pricing issue that ensures patients are receiving services through the avenue that best reflects a patient physician relationship patients will continue to have access to virtual care we're clinically appropriate in settings for example like rural and remote mental health services but our government has been clear with virtual care because this is what we heard from patients it's intended as a complement to in-person care not a replacement so we are making a requirement that a physician has to actually meet a patient once within a 24 month period we don't think that's too much to ask that provides for better patient care which is what we want to do in ontario question the member for slugger bay out of coca thank you speaker speaker my question is for the minister of natural resources and forestry we all know the issue of deforestation is a major concern because trees absorb and store carbon dioxide restoring degraded forest is a significant avenue for carbon absorption and storage and one of the strategies for addressing global warming since 66 of ontario is forested and almost 90 of those forests are public this ministry contributes significantly to our role in helping to protect ontario and our fight against climate change speaker can the minister explain how our province contributes to sustainable forest development while ensuring the protection of our environment thank you mr speaker and thank you to the member from thunder bay out of coca he is doing a tremendous job for the people in his riding in our tremendous speaker responsible stewardship and sustainable development of ontario forests are at the heart of what my ministry does healthy forests are essential to environmental well-being and provide important recreational and tourism opportunities for residents here at home and for people around the world the forestry industry in ontario generated 18 billion dollars in revenue from manufactured goods and services in 2020 and supported more than 148,000 direct and indirect jobs in 2021 forestry operations are a vital source of good jobs particularly in rural and northern communities where they may be one of the main sources of employment sustainable growth ontario's forest sector strategy is our government's tenure timeline to unlock the full potential of our forest sector and our plan will continue ontario's response of sustainable development and position the province as a world leader and making and selling forest products from renewable sustainable thank you thank you supplementary thank you speaker and thank you for to the minister and thank you for the great work you're doing as minister of natural resources here in april of in april of 2021 the ministry created a forest sector strategy committee comprised of municipal indigenous and industry representatives to continue improving the sector while many innovative companies in our province utilize our forestry products companies located in rural remote and northern communities have challenges that other businesses wouldn't have to face higher costs access and difficulties attracting and retaining talent are significant economic development challenges in northern and rural regions question speaker can the minister of natural resources and forestry address how our government will continue or will support investments in innovation in ontario's forestry sector going forward thank you speaker thanks very much i want to thank every single employee too in the forestry sector ontario because they're doing a great job every every single day you know forest biomass is an incredible opportunity for ontario and it includes trees that aren't used in conventional forest products as well as sawmill byproducts like bark sawdust and wood shavings it can be used in medicines and pharmaceuticals plastics and polymers textiles 3d printing battery energy storage and green hydrogen and it can even be used as a component in jet fuel using forest biomass can support both the province's forest management and environmental objectives helping us to use more mill residues reduce waste and land filling and provide clean energy as we realize our plan for future uses of forest biomass these facilities will make important contributions to the forestry sector and regional economies our government is ensuring families communities and industry can depend on a healthy and vibrant forest sector thank you next question the member for muskegua melcy melcy thank you speaker once again northern terrier was hit with wicked weather which caused another road closure our record so far three-for-three divided long in hearse this morning trucks are like winter will be long kilometers long after 12 hour road closure on ontario 511 there are no indication of road closures we have contractors who cannot fulfill their contractual obligations people are calling my office for updates how are we supposed to function up north when every snowstorm creates road closure to the minister when will your ministry address these issues passing my private memory my my private members bill is a good start minister thank you speaker and thank you to the member for his question meeting in our standards for highway clearing across the province but especially in northern ontario speaker our government recently just announced a new standard for clearing highways in northern ontario and new highways highways 11 and 17 standard called the ontario trans canada standard speaker we will see our our northern highways cleared in 12 hours that is four hours faster than ever before massive investments that we have made in clearing more our roads in the north 1100 pieces of new equipment changes to our contractors model and new weather information state spots mr. speaker we've only we have been working very closely with our contractors to make sure that we meet those standards and continue to improve road closure road cleaning in northern ontario thank you very much just rise in accordance with standing order 59 outline work for next week so on monday in the morning we will be dealing with bill 51 the legislative amendment act in the afternoon we will be on bill 36 which is the progress on the plan to build act on tuesday december 6 in the morning we will continue with bill 36 in the afternoon routine there will be two statements by ministers the first by minister fullerton on the national day of remembrance and action on violence against women in a statement by minister malrouni on the modernization of the french language act in the afternoon on tuesday december 6 we will go to bill 51 again which is the legislative assembly amendment act and in the evening we will go to private members bill standing in the name of the member for kinkston in the island the the think twice before you choose gas act on wednesday december 7 bill 39 the better municipal governments act in the afternoon bill 39 better municipal governments act in the evening we will do the pmb from the member for which gg walk james bay bill 43 and on thursday december 8 there will be a tribute to a former member of provincial parliament mr david ronberg and in the afternoon is yet to be determined thank you very much point of order the member for mississauga center thank you so much speaker today is romania's national day and i would like to invite all members to participate in the flag raising at 12 followed by a reception in room 230 thank you thank you very much i'm so into standing order 36 a the member for ottawa south has given notice of his dissatisfaction with the answer to his question given by the minister of municipal affairs and housing concerning the green belt this matter will be debated tuesday following private members public business next we have a deferred vote on a motion for closure on the motion for second reading of bill 46 an act to enact one act and amend various other acts call in the members this be a five-minute bell