 It is now time for oral questions. I recognize the leader for Majesty's loyal opposition. Thank you so much speaker Speaker my first question is for the premier It's really apparent that we're now in the third wave of COVID-19 and folks are pretty worried that this premier and the government are Sleepwalking us into another massive lockdown Late on Friday, we all know that the premier loosened indoor restrictions for COVID-19 Precautions and didn't put in any of the measures that would help people stay safe in those situations So the question is why is the premier seem to be doing exactly the opposite of what his own experts and frontline health care Providers are suggesting he should be doing Thank you for the question and through you mr. Speaker that's exactly what we're doing We're following the advice of the chief medical officer along with the local medical officers In in peel and in Toronto. We had a great discussion. That was their direction We followed the direction and we're going to continue following the direction of the docks. Thanks Well speaker in fact the government hasn't been following the experts advice and now we're in a third wave that was preventable on February 11th the science table warned that rushing the reopening Was going to lead to disaster They were telling the premier and this government that they needed to put measures in place to keep people safe like paid sick days The very next day the premier reopened indoor Eating for example in restaurants basically sending restaurant workers Into an environment where the spread was likely to happen without even the basics like paid sick days to rely upon The question is why is this premier refusing to spend the money necessary? Speaker to keep people safe to make sure that we don't end up in another massive Lockdown in our province notwithstanding that he keeps getting advice on how to do exactly that Well through you mr. Speaker we have the toughest restrictions on all of North America, you know And that's that's actually actual facts and so so far we've vaccinated 1,553,000 people The total vaccines are about 1.7 9 million we've ramped up the vaccination center as majority of the people have heard that Now we're doing 75 plus and mass vaccination centers We've increased the pharmacies from 350 to 700 But the problem is mr. Speaker we still we still need more vaccines because we're just a fraction of the way on the full capacity Full capacity if we just had all the vaccines we needed would be about 9 million people a month But we're looking forward to getting more shipments this week from the federal government Speaker speaker Dr. Brown the head of Ontarians COVID Ontario's COVID advisory table Said this if public health measures are lifted cases could rise Dramatically dr. Peter june said or Peter uni said this we're heading for another lockdown Now these are what the experts are saying these are quotes directly from the expert speaker So my question to the premier is why does he continue to ignore these? repeated pieces of advice from the experts and instead Seem to be just walking us straight into another massive lockdown in our province Then through you mr. Speaker we listen to the experts We have the panel of docs that give us advice Every single day and we appreciate the great job. Dr. Williams an insult team has done in the other experts And you know once they give us the green light we go to thorough discussions on When we open up how we open up and they give us a direction and we follow that that direction and that's exactly what we've done The next question once again the leader of the opposition. Thanks so much speaker My next question is also for the premier. This is about warnings from the hospital sector In fact Anthony Dale about a month ago from the Ontario Hospital Association said this and I quote The warning to the premier could not have been clearer an exhausted Over-extended hospital sector is likely going to have to deal with a third pandemic wave Ultimately the consequences of and responsibility for today's decision to reopen on February 16th rests with the government of Ontario Will the premier admit that in fact he refused to listen to this warning from the Ontario Hospital Association and those frontline exhausted and overworked Healthcare providers and and are now putting at risk the capacity of these hospitals to keep people well in Ontario Thank you very much speaker and in fact I can advise the leader of the official opposition that we have been building up hospital capacity since the beginning of this pandemic We have built over and created over 3,100 more hospital beds across the province of Ontario Which is the equivalent of six medium-sized hospitals We've also recently received approval to spend up to 125 million dollars to create more Intensive care beds and medicine beds in case there any increases in our numbers so that we will be able to make sure that We can admit and treat any patients with COVID-19 or have to be admitted to hospital for any other reason This is something that we have dealt with from the beginning of this pandemic and we're continuing to build capacity today Supplementary question speaker right now today Doctors and ICUs are actually desperately transferring patients that they cannot care for The hardest hit communities unbelievably the hardest hit communities in our province have been left behind by the Ford government They're getting the least support of all Dr. Fallis as you all probably all know Dr. Brooks Fallis from the William Osler Hospital the critical care physician said this And I quote this government is either completely incompetent or has no regard for the health and lives of Ontarians or both My question is To the Premier these frontline health care workers are exhausted. They feel Abandoned by their government Why will the government not admit? Why will the Premier not admit that he made the wrong call? The third wave is upon us. He needs to put in measures to tamp it down. Will he do it? Through you mr. Speaker, it's funny Later the opposition mentioned Anthony Dell not I'm not going to divulge private messages But basically on Tuesday good afternoon Premier I want to thank you very much for the comments you made made about being vigilant I won't go on with the rest of the message. So the leader of the opposite the leader The leader leader of the opposition can point out the great doctors because even docs that disagree and they disagree By the way with our chief medical officer a lot of local medical officers and and God knows how many other doctors But guess what mr. Speaker I talked to endless doctors every single week. I talked to endless CEOs public health unit docs And they're all they're all saying hey We're we're moving as quickly as we we can to crush this curve to knock off the third wave Appreciate the work that you're doing in my comment back to them. I appreciate the work you're doing So we have a great Relationship with the docs and you you can find out of 15,000 docs You're going to find a few that may not agree, but they're still doing a great job And the final Supplement well speaker the reality is by many many experts this premier and this government were warned that a rushed Reopening was going to lead to disaster that the government could avoid a third wave by putting some basic things in place Like paid sick days like making our schools safer with lower class sizes better ventilation and other measures But they didn't want to spend the money The four government did not want to spend the money speaker So my question is why did the government think it was all right to ignore the advice of experts? Instead put people in the line of fire when it comes to the spread of the virus And why does he still at this moment refuse to acknowledge that he can stop another? massive lockdown in Ontario by doing the right thing Investing the money and keeping people safe in Ontario You mr. Speaker, I think all the frontline health care workers have done an incredible job and when the leader of the opposition is Criticizing me she's criticizing all the docs in the frontline health care workers Which is not which is not helpful at all mr. Speaker and I understand and I'm not I'm not proud of this figure But you know the NDP spend money spend money spend money, and I'm not proud of this But I said right from order. I will not spare Spare a penny and we haven't we have a 38 billion dollar deficit can't wait to get the economy going on We spent tens of billions of dollars to protect the lives and the safety of every single resident here in Ontario along with protecting order livelihoods as well of small businesses right across this province So overall, I think the people of Ontario have done an incredible job Thank you The next question the member for Davenport Good morning, mr. Speaker and this question is for the premier Speaker as of friday the end of what would have been march break one in five of all schools in this province have covid outbreaks 44 schools are closed including 10 in dufferin peel catholic board alone Where an outbreak at one school sent three education workers to hospital We have 140 new cases in our schools today Schools are closed in woodstock in hamilton in london in sudbury in mississauga and the list goes on and on and on And it grows every day speaker the premier and the minister of education have said repeatedly that they want schools open Why then are they standing by while so many are forced to close To respond to the government the minister of education Thank you speaker in this province 99.2 percent of schools are open As we contend with the variants of concern in this province the chief medical officer of health the foremost medical authority in Ontario has suggested schools have been and continue to be safe places to Go to go to school. In fact, I spoke to the chief medical officer of health this past week to dr Lowan peel to dr De Villa in toronto dr Edges in auto between friday and the present all of whom have confirmed that the Program the infection prevention protocols in place have helped to keep schools safe And they are working notwithstanding the necessity for vigilance, which is why the province invested 1.6 billion That's why we lead with the most comprehensive protocol to date It's why we'll continue to follow the medical advice to ensure schools. Yes remain open and remain safe in ontario Mr. Speaker, I don't know what the minister doesn't get here, but this situation is very serious back to the premier We are seeing more than 500 children catching this virus every single week Faster spreading variants are running rampant and frontline workers in our schools are telling us again That they aren't seeing any new supports We're still this government is already warning that there are more cuts coming The asymptomatic testing program has never met its 50 000 tests a week goal and hasn't even reached half of that Over the life of the entire program speaker the time for half measures is surely over What will the premier do today to keep every student every teacher and every education worker safe from a third wave? Mr. Education The premier will continue to follow the best medical expert advice to ensure schools can remain open Which is a contrasting position of the members opposite who have sided with other interests Who wanted us to keep them closed in september in october certainly not reopen in february And would have kept them closed for a stated home order into march This government is on the side of parents who believes very strongly order schools must be open for the mental health and the development of a child That is consequential to their life and we are on their side We are going to continue to invest 1.6 billion dollars, which has yielded over 3000 net new teachers 1400 more custodians 800 more being hired in the teacher realm temporary hires another 400 custodians We've improved their ventilation well over 95 percent of schools as reported by the school boards themselves publicly We will continue to follow the advice providing pp to every educator to every student because yes We understand it is serious and we are committed to rising to the challenge to keep these schools open and safe in this province Thank you the next question the member for duro Thank you speaker my questions to the minister of long-term care The long-term care wait list has been a growing problem for decades As of december 2020 it was reported that there are 40 000 people waiting for care they need in long-term care homes The financial accountability office found in october 2019 report The previous government increased the number of long-term care spaces by only 0.8 While the population over the age of 75 grew by 20 percent In my writing of durham we have long wait lists and I often hear from constituents the frustrations They have trying to get their loved ones the care they need Ontarians deserve to have confidence that they can receive the care they need when they need it Minister my constituents want to know what are you doing to shorten the long-term care wait list? Thank you questions to the minister of long-term care Thank you speaker and thank you to the member of durham for all the good work that she does Not only on behalf of constituents, but for residents in long-term care and the long-term care home sector She really is a tireless advocate for her constituents We lost a lot of runway while the previous government neglected long-term care building only 611 net new spaces between 2011 and 2018 Our government has been working hard to fill that gap that the liberals left behind Last week I announced 80 new projects across the province and we are investing 933 million dollars in these projects on top of the 1.75 billion already committed to building 30,000 new spaces over 10 years One of those projects is port perry place Which will lead to 192 new and 32 upgraded long-term care spaces in the member's writing And that's in addition to a project in bowmanville that will build 125 new and 99 upgraded beds That totals 1 970 net new beds in the durham region our government. Thank you And a supplementary question Thank you speaker. I want to thank the minister for the response and the investment in durham region I agree that building new beds is essential to filling the gap in capacity that has been allowed to build up under the previous government But there are also homes built to design standards from the 1970s And we need to upgrade those to modern standards eliminating ward rooms for example We saw the effect of crowded older facilities during the pandemic and port perry place was one of the homes That had a serious outbreak Tragically speaker 13 residents lost their lives during that outbreak It really underscores speaker the need to redevelop and upgrade existing spaces to modern design Standards, can the minister please tell this house what she is doing to upgrade and modernize existing homes that need it Again the minister of long-term care you can Thank you speaker and once again. Thank you to the member from durham That is crucial that we acknowledge And learn from the tragedy that unfolded during the pandemic at homes across the province And at port perry place And at homes like it Underlines the urgency of upgrading older homes And this latest round of allocations prioritized Upgrading older homes in response to those lessons learned Around improved ipak measures Particularly eliminating those four bed ward rooms Port perry place has been allocated 96 new spaces and 70 upgraded ones And that's on top of the 53 beds previously allocated This project is going to mean a new home in a totally new building built to modern standards In port perry with spaces for 224 residents Our government is repairing and rebuilding long-term care after decades of neglect by previous governments Thank you speaker my question is for the premier A recent cbc news report highlighted a map of all of the pharmacies administering vaccines in toronto It revealed that some of the wealthiest communities with the lowest transmission rates also had some of the most Pharmacy vaccine locations Alternatively communities full of essential workers that have had some of the highest transmissions were noticeably bare For instance out of the 39 pharmacies in my community just one is administering vaccines Premier this is an example of how pandemic response does not equate to risk or need The science advisory table has said that a vaccine rollout strategy targeting not just age But also risk of contracting covet 19 could save many lives Communities like mine in northwest toronto need more vaccine locations immediately When will you add more of these sites in at-risk communities? Minister tell thank you speaker well in fact our Vaccine rollout system will allow ontarians to receive vaccines at hospitals mobile clinics mass vaccination clinics pharmacies And of course primary care offices particularly for people with pre-existing health conditions With respect to the pharmacies. We had started the project in toronto in Windsor Essex and in Kingston Frontenac with Approximately 325 330 pharmacies But those are going to be rolled out across the province in neighborhoods everywhere To 700 it will be doubling it within the next two weeks and then doubling that again Between now and the end of april so that everyone regardless of where they live on ontario Will be able to receive a vaccine if they wish to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine at any pharmacy close to them This is we just started off with 325, but it will be moving across the province very quickly Yeah the supplementary question the member for scarborough southwest Thank you speaker speaker I would ask the minister and this government to stick to the facts like they have always stated The fact is this government has failed to prioritize hard hit communities My community of scarborough is one of the hardest hit in the province Just like my colleagues writing as well, but when it came to putting equitable strategy This government has failed just this morning This government voted against the motion to implement an equitable vaccine strategy Speaker when it came to cobit testing centers This government failed and our our community had to fight for more Covid testing centers when it came to cobit relief Our communities had to fight for more support when it came to more vaccines now yet again We're fighting for more vaccines for our hardest hit communities with the lack of access to clear communication and more vaccines Our communities are left in the dark. So I would ask again Will this government commit today to more equitable vaccines for our hardest hit communities like scarborough mr speaker And the minister of health Thank you speaker. Well, the short answer is yes, but speaker I would say through you to the member opposite speaking about the facts We have created a very equitable plan for the distribution of vaccines across the province including a bioethics specialist on the vaccine task force This was created with a lot of thought with a lot of effort with a lot of Looking at areas across the province that have been hardest hit And so while our distribution of the vaccines is based primarily on population size it also builds in factors relating to the The situations in each community and communities that have been the hardest hit and in those communities They will be receiving more vaccines because they need to in order to get the level of transmission down So we have paid attention to that from the beginning and will continue to do so in the future And saying specifically to this member your area will be receiving more vaccines because they have been more badly hit by Covid-19 Question the member for Ottawa. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Speaker my question to the premiere I want to speak specifically about the peel region that has consistently seen the highest rates of Covid-19 infections In the province that has been in lockdown since november 23rd as of today There are a total of 312 total active cases in the peel district school board and different peel catalytic district school board With 221 closed classroom and 13 closed school The infection rate has impacted the region to the point of shutting down schools Workplaces and transit. My question is what is the government doing to reverse this very concerning trend and protect the residents of pl True health Thank you, speaker. I thank the member very much for the question There are several areas that have been very badly hit by Covid-19 As the member will know that appeal and Toronto are still in gray that they are still in The most significant area of lockdown because of the levels of transmission So we are working very hard in both of those areas to help get the numbers down Which is why many services still remain closed We are going to continue to work on that and again as I indicated earlier in those areas that have been particularly badly hit By Covid-19 they will receive additional levels of vaccines in order to ensure that the people that Are transmitting it because we know that there are significant concerns in parts of peel as well as in Toronto To get those levels down so that those areas can then move transition into a different part of the framework But those concerns are very evident to us and we are working on them daily And the supplementary question Thank you. Mr. Speaker and again to the premier On march 15 the chief medical officer of health dr. Williams stated that it is appropriate To prioritize sectors at higher risk of infection in lockdown zones Peel was already left out of the first round of pharmacy vaccination appointments despite having the highest rates of infection in the province So my question is can the government commit today and tell the residents of peel that they will be Prioritized to get the vaccination and for the 300 000 at risk essential workers in peel Mr. Bell Well, absolutely they will be we are Rolling out the vaccines across the province in the mass vaccination centers But of course many people wish to receive the Astra Zeneca vaccine in pharmacies Which is now available to to people anyone over 60 years of age can receive that vaccine That's recently been changed by health candidate and by nasi that it is effective for people over age 65 so that there are more openings than ever that are coming in We haven't received a significant volume of vaccines up to date But I can't advise and this is on the federal government's website that we will be receiving 1194 000 and so on vaccines from fiser of which ontario will receive 466 000 in the next two weeks, so we will be able to expand that we are going to be expanding the pharmacies where the Astra Zeneca vaccine can be obtained as well and that is going to be Across the province including in the region of peel Thank you. The next question remember for eglinton lorence. Thank you, mr. The president. Thank you speaker My question is for the minister of francophone affairs The french ontario university will open its doors in september of 2021 How will this university Contribute to the flourishing of the franco-ontarian community the minister of francophone affairs Thank you mr. Speaker and thanks to my colleague for her question on the french ontario university will be A very important thing for francophones in the southwest of the province who are suffering from a lack of french language instruction The central southwest region of ontario Will soon have the will soon have half of ontario's francophone population I've always believed in this project It is a post-secondary institution which will prepare students To get the skills they need and will help us address the Bilingual workforce shortage in ontario. I'm very happy that I reached an agreement with the federal government so that this university can Be created It's the first university governed for and by francophones and it represents The culmination of a long-standing dream. Thank you supplementary question I'd like to thank the minister for this important accomplishment The international week of francophonie was celebrated throughout the world last week How did the government observe this occasion? I would like to thank my colleague for her question On monday We announced that we will offer a training At the boreal college on tuesday We said that we will keep investing millions of dollars in order to Better integrate newcomers On wednesday the francophone flag Was put in front of our different buildings and then we said that we would add New beds in long-term care francophone We also said that we want to support francophone tourism We will also invest $500,000 For different francophone organisms. Thank you Thank you speaker. My question is to the premier Brampton is the city of over 600,000 people yet when we have one hospital Years of underfunding by liberal and conservative governments has put brampton in a healthcare crisis that was declared Before covet 19. It is so bad at our single hospital in brampton The patients are often transported outside of brampton because there's simply not enough room despite this the conservative government actually voted against investing in our healthcare system Brampton deserves better Enough is enough. Will the premier commit today? To investing to fix our broken healthcare system and that starts by building another hospital in brampton Thank you. Well through you mr. Speaker I can advise the member opposite that over the last year since the pandemic started We have created an additional 3100 beds in hospitals across Ontario, which is Equivalent to six community-sized hospitals. This has happened across the province including in brampton Including across peel and this is something that we're continuing to build because anticipating Further hospitalizations as a result of the the variants of concern the uk variant the brazilian variant and the south african variant More people are hospitalized and that is why we recently received 125 million dollars in funding to create an additional 500 beds across the province that serves the entire province Including the region of peel including brampton. So this is something that we continue to monitor We continue to reinforce continue to put more money into more beds So that people need to be hospitalized in the province of ontario. There will be space for them Thank you speaker back to the premier Brampton is a city full of essential workers who risk their lives every single day going to work to move our economy Last week we learned about a devastating outbreak at a brampton amazon fulfillment center Where hundreds of workers were infected with COVID-19 many new canadians Speaker, this is what healthcare experts have been warning about since this pandemic has started Workplaces are one of the largest areas of spread for COVID-19 and it's why paid sick days are so important So will the premier finally accept the facts? Will he bring in paid sick days so workers don't have to choose between going to work sick or paying the bills Or will he continue to put workers and communities at risk? Governor hosley. Thank you very much. I appreciate the question from the member opposite As he knows, we of course have 20 paid sick days. I can Confirm for him that of course we will not be following the NDP's advice Now is certainly not the time to be reducing sick days From the 20 that are existing to the NDP proposal of 14 I wish that They would reconsider that mr. Speaker. We've said right from the beginning that sick days are important That's why the premier negotiated with his colleagues the other premiers and the federal government to ensure that Not only on terms, but all all Canadians have access to 26 days But again to confirm for the member there is absolutely no way that this government would reduce sick days from the current 20 to the NDP proposal of 14 The next question the member for scarborough gilder Thank you speaker My question is to the premier premier when you sent thousands of students back to pack classrooms in the fall You promised that you would do everything in your power to keep them safe Now on top of the chaos your government created in schools hot spots like scarborough have classrooms empty due to outbreaks Of covet 19 And these schools are now closed Donwood park public school Is not in session today Speaker the premier is cutting 1.6 billion dollars from classrooms next fall And while ontario liberals would invest 8 billion dollars in schools for our children's safety and their future ontario students teachers staff Education workers have faced an overcome enormous challenges during this pandemic as well as their families and parents Is the premier going to saddle them with a funding cut in this week's upcoming budget for education funding? I'll remind members to make their comments through the chair to respond on behalf of the government minister of education Thank you speaker Let me remind the member opposite It was her government that saddled students in the next generation with a 15 billion dollar repair backlog It was this minister specifically and her government that in fact closed 600 net schools in the heart of rural and suburban parts of the province The most expensive child care under her leadership the most expensive Hydro the rates go that the data points continue I think it's rather concerning What our government is doing and our premier is doing most specifically is investing In school safety by ensuring yes, we've provided 1.6 billion dollars a lock for school safety Part of that is to hire more staff to ensure air ventilation systems are improved of which 95 percent of schools have reported improvements in those schools themselves Pp extended to staff extended to the students themselves and the fact is speaker that 99 Point 2 percent of schools are open today recognizing as the member office has acknowledged We do face challenges in Ontario in the world. We'll continue to remain vigilant continue to invest in our students And the supplementary question Speaker I would ask the member opposite the minister to get his fact straight The FAO has set the school repair backlog at 14.4 billion dollars as of last fall So what have you been doing these last two and a half years? Organizations like fix our schools estimates the backlog to be at 16.3 billion dollars So it is even growing under your watch. So instead of pouring money into Unneeded highways that nobody wants along that corridor the ontario liberal action plan would invest in rebuilding schools and focus on upgrading HVAC systems boilers plumbing windows And under our plan we would have a system for publicly reporting standards of good school repair As well as investing in new child care spaces question Why is this government investing in infrastructure like highway 413 instead of the priorities for ontario families such as schools Minister of education Mr. Speaker I stand corrected. You're right. The member opposite is correct Only a 14 billion dollar deferred maintenance backlog in our schools in the province of which are only 14 billion dollars That's the legacy of the del Ducal liberals and I think the people of this province know better Not to reward them with four years of government at time when we need a government focus on the priorities of working families and parents Which includes more investment in health care and education and tax relief for working people That is exactly what our premier has done in the context of our schools. We're very proud That yes, we invest over a billion dollars per annum in In maintenance to ensure we keep these schools safe and modern It's why we are investing in broadband expansion to all schools, which will be complete this coming september It's why speaker We invest half a billion dollars to build new schools many of which an expansion in scarborough and My colleague iris bebekins riding. I mean the fact is speaker We are going to continue to invest more in scarborough in toronto and every measure the province will recognize After 15 years of neglect by the former government. There's much more work to do in ontario Next question remember for durham Thank you speaker My questions for the associate minister of mental health and addictions Speaker there are increasing concerns among my constituents in durham about the ongoing issues around opioid addiction and overdose Which I know is not an issue unique to the riding of durham Every day we know that men and women across the province are becoming victims to various deadly substances in our communities As the minister has said in this house before they could be brothers sisters mothers fathers and friends Recently some estimates say that overdose rates in ontario have increased by 59 percent Since last year the cova 19 pandemic has certainly impacted the mental health of too many ontarians Speaker could the minister please update the members of this legislature On what the government is doing to address opioid addiction and overdoses across the province the associate minister of mental health and addiction Thank you, mr. Speaker And I'd like to begin by thank you the member from durham for her great advocacy on behalf of her community and the great work She does here at queens park Mr. Speaker before the pandemic even hit us our government committed to doing something about the ongoing issues around substance abuse Including opioid addiction and overdose that have impacted the lives of ontarians and in some cases entire communities from the far north And we know the cova 19 pandemic has only presented us with more complex challenges That's why mr. Speaker our government took immediate action to provide 194 million dollars in emergency funding to further expand The many mental health and addiction services, which are already being accessed by over 62 000 ontarians This is in addition to the 15 and a half million dollars We invested through our roadmap to wellness for additional response supports across the province mr. Speaker We are doing what the past liberal at ndp governments ignored And that is investing in a system that will give benefit to all the people in the province of ontaria when it comes to the health Thank you. Thank you very much Thank you speaker I know our government is continuing to make investments so ontarians of all ages can have access to the high quality mental health and addiction Supports they expect and deserve I want to thank the minister on behalf of the thousands of ontarians that are receiving direct support during these difficult times As this pandemic continues, there's more work to be done I know the minister will continue to stand up for those impacted not only by addiction, but by mental health challenges as well Speaker would the minister please explain what other investments our government has made to help support ontarians While on their road to recovery and what investments have been made in those more remote and northern communities Was it minister Thank you, mr. Speaker And mr. Speaker, we've made many investments throughout the entire province from the gta All the way to ontario's far north including many of the remote communities in fact, mr. Speaker We've invested 32 million dollars in funding specifically to address the needs of those living with mental health and addictions challenges in northern ontario New funding the investments include new funding For inpatient mental health beds Mobile crisis services both in home and mobile detox services and opioid addiction services and municipalities like timon's Sudbury thunder bay and manitoulin, but that's not all Recently we announced a significant investment in ontario's northwest including the hiring of up to six Psychiatrists this investment will help around 1800 unique patients each year through these resources Mr. Speaker, I can keep going on about the investments that we've made But the bottom line is that we're going to continue standing up for the mental health And supports for those suffering with addictions It's our government that's finally going to build a mental health and addiction system that works for everyone in this province On the st. Paul's Speaker through you to the premier last monday when it was revealed that the parliamentary secretary to the minister of Education the mpp for nagra west Would attend an anti-choice event where organizers compared legal abortion to the holocaust The premier promised only to talk to his member It appears this talk was more of a pat on the back than a slap on the wrist Because not only did the member happily join organizers who trivialized the atrocities of the holocaust But he spoke in strong opposition of the right to choose My question to the premier is this Will the premier tell ontarians exactly What he said to his member and why he was allowed to attend this event at all. Thank you To respond for the government the government house leader. Thank you very much mr. Speaker. I think uh, The premier was was very bear with respect to his displeasure with uh with the member but at the same token I must say i'm i'm equally Troubled by uh by the by the member opposite suggesting that somehow a premier or a leader would Order members or tell them what they can or cannot do as members look we uh Are uh our in full agreement? Mr. Speaker of of how important the issues are that the member across Order rave rave. Excuse me. We have spoken to uh spoken to the member about it mr. Speaker and and Hopefully, uh, the member will Will give A great deal of consideration on attending events like that in the future. Thank you The supplementary question Speaker to the people of ontario and my community in st Paul's the house leader just rambled for a minute and I did not hear a single word Nobody in this house heard what the minute what the house leader had to say This is an important issue again speaker through you to the premier even the premier's colleagues in the federal party Are willing to take a stronger stance than he is in the face of some conservative party members attempting to put abortion policy On the convention agenda the federal conservative leader came out to publicly state that he is pro choice While the federal leader is staring down party members who seek to threaten abortion access The premier of ontario is right here cheering them on with bomb bombs Why is the premier allowing harmful anti-choice sentiment to grow in his conservative caucus? Can we please get an answer from the premier of ontario? Thank you That's absolutely incorrect mr. Speaker We have said right from the beginning and we continue to be this legislature has voted with respect to a women's right to choose mr. Speaker And and we will of course Defend that as a government as this legislature has has on many occasions reaffirmed Mr. Speaker there is no Wavering on that Speaker so with respect to the members a direct question Yes, we will continue to support a woman's right to choose until this legislature chooses to do something differently We will support that and we will defend that at every instance Next question order the member for cambridge Change is for the premier last week after months of watching owners of restaurants and bars have to close down The businesses the government made changes to increase the capacity limits for restaurants bars and other food and drink establishments And the red and orange zones For months establishments in the red zone could only allow 10 people in their premises and in the orange zone 50 The government had the power due to bill 195 to make these changes earlier without requiring a vote in this legislature And before many went out of business what took the government so long minister of health Thank you speaker Well, I would say to the member opposite the need for public health measures We have to keep the level of transmission of covet 19 Under control as much as we can that's what we've been working towards the variants of concern have considerably upset The direction that we were headed because there are the variants of concern the uk Brazilian and south african are much more transmissible They end up in more hospitalizations more severe cases of covet and sadly more deaths That is what we've been following all along We've been listening to our public health experts dr. Williams and the public health measures table And we had to wait until they felt that changes could be made for the health and safety of Voluntarians and that's exactly what we did And the supplementary question Well, despite their pious claims to the contrary it doesn't appear that the government is following much science and its decision making On the same day last week that capacity limits were increased in red and orange zones Total covet cases in ontario spiked to over 1700 daily for each of the last three days Last november when these red and orange capacity limits were set covet cases on that day were just over 1300 What part of the science is the government following when it decides after months to let restaurants operate even when daily covet cases are increasing Couldn't this same decision have been made months ago before thousands were forced to close down the restaurants due to the government's questionable decision making And the minister helps Thank you. Well, once again, we follow public health measures. There were changes that were made Particularly in areas in gray in peel in toronto to allow for outdoor patios To open as long as the physical distancing measures were followed but the difference of course is the variance of concern with the The original covet cases moving downward we could see and the Dr. Brown and his table told us that in their They're modeling that we could see the variance of concern taking over from the Original covet which we are now seeing but we are watching that very carefully. We're watching what's happening in our hospitals We're watching to make sure that our icu beds are not going to be overwhelmed So we are doing all of the work that we're doing is in accordance with the advice that's being given to us By dr. Williams and the public health measures table Because our first and foremost priority is the health and safety of all ontarians Cute the next question number four wings away. Thank you speaker My question is to the premier seniors and long-term care homes have been in isolation for over a year Many confined to their rooms separated from their designated caregivers without meaningful access to the people that love them And provide the support they need to stay mentally and physically healthy Sitting alone in their rooms their health rapidly declining with no stimulation. No exercise Some have lost the will to live some die from isolation Most have not felt fresh air or been out in the sunshine since the beginning of the pandemic The majority of long-term care residents across the province have been vaccinated against COVID-19 Designated caregivers at being vaccinated too Meaningful access can happen in a safe manner with proper PPE testing infection prevention and control measures in place Speaker Why won't the premier take concrete action to ensure these families are immediately reunited that no one is denied meaningful access to their caregivers And residents in care homes can leave their rooms to enjoy the outdoor Ministered long-term care Thank you speaker and thank you to the member opposite for the question Back in march of 2020 we had to take the very very difficult decision to restrict access to visitors into long-term care That was done with very little understanding of what COVID-19 presented We now have vaccines as you mentioned. We now have testing. We have additional measures However, the science is still evolving We must continue to be vigilant if we look at bc and we see homes that were vaccinated Staff and residents having outbreaks This is something that we have to be very very vigilant and cautious with these new variants And we took the action of allowing residents to meet with their essential caregivers This was an important step in that direction. We know how hard it is on residents and and families There's no doubt response the essential caregivers were a step in that direction Including four homes in outbreak and we're continuing to review this with experts in public health And with the medical and scientific knowledge, I appreciate your concerns the supplementary question Thank you speaker The minister is saying that caregivers are allowed in even during an outbreak and yet 90 year old Heinz Zebel Has not been outside to the home in six months and his family has only ever been allowed when when new visits with him Speaker many long-term care residents have been locked away denied meaningful access to their designated essential caregivers for over a year Policies implemented by care homes across the province differ greatly when it comes to caregiver access or residents going outdoors The government's guidance means nothing to these homes Mental and physical decline in care home residents is increasing as isolation takes a devastating toll For some it leads to simply giving up and death Vaccines have been the light at the end of a very long tunnel for many residents in long-term care Medical experts say the vaccines are working. They're reducing the cases of COVID-19 in care homes We're down to 11 active cases across the entire province question It's over one year into the pandemic Yet this government continues to allow care homes to deny residents meaningful access to their caregivers and fresh air The premier has a legislative solution before him since September something they supported So why won't he immediately pass my more than a visitor act and reunite families once and for all Thank you speaker and once again, thank you for the important question There is no doubt that the well-being of residents and their families Requires a level of of visitation And so that is what we've been trying to do by having the essential caregivers if we look at the science We know that the vaccines are not 100 effective at stopping the transmission. They are not We have to look at bc and learn from the experiences elsewhere We are working with our public health units our medical officers of health and for homes in outbreak In one essential caregiver is permitted for each resident That is the nature of public health the medical officers of health Do have the ability to restrict that and we have seen that happen Public health units may temporarily limit visitors in situations with outbreaks over a precaution So this is something that we are working with with our partners to understand how we can move forward With the very very difficult situation when outbreaks occur in homes and deaths occur We do not want to go back to where we were with wave one. Thank you Thank you very much the next question Once again the member for Cambridge Thank you speaker My question is for the minister of energy last week the FAO reported that expensive green energy contracts are part of the problem of Ontario's high electricity rates and with this government subsidy of rates for large businesses Quote the costs are being moved from ratepayers over to the taxpayers and quote to the tune of 2.8 billion dollars For the first three years totaling 15.2 billion dollars of subsidies by 2040 Instead of subsidizing big business on the backs of the taxpayer Why won't the government do what is necessary defend the taxpayer use the legal power of this legislature and terminate those green energy contracts For wind and solar early saving ratepayers and taxpayers billions in the process And the government house leader Mr. Speaker the members is quite correct in the the former liberal government's green energy Program was was implemented in a in a very disastrous way for the people of the province of Ontario As a member will know as she campaigned on on the promise That was fulfilled by this government to ensure that the the fair hydro plan Was open and that people could understand the cost of the fair hydro plan Very correct and and and how expensive it has become it is a Multi-billion dollar expense to the people the province of Ontario It's not to suggest that green energy is an important part of our of our energy mix in the province of Ontario It is mr. Speaker What where the mistake was made was by the previous liberal government in in contracts that we could not afford at a time When we did not need those those energy Systems put in place mr. Speaker So we will continue to ensure that it is open and that people can see all the advice of the auditor general Speaker and i am I'm confident in the fact that we continue to keep those rates low for all of the people of the province of Ontario And that energy will continue to be something that is a is an important driver of economic activity Despite promising to cut rates by 12 and other promise made promise broken This government has been subsidizing not cutting electricity rates But only for the largest businesses in the province not i might add for residential farm or small business This government has the power to shut down expensive green energy contracts through through legislation and to cut rates But they choose not to it is the same legislative power The government is used to tell restaurants how many people they can serve Additional expensive electricity by wind turbines and the nation rise wind project is being constructed in the riding of storm at Dundas south glingary that will cost rate pairs 400 million dollars over 20 years for electricity We don't need and isn't surplus Why doesn't the government defend the taxpayer use the power of this legislature the same way it uses its power in restaurants And legislate an end to these green energy contracts and decommission with surplus wind turbine projects starting with the nation rise project Government house leader, of course the member will know that we have reviewed all of all of those contracts all contracts, mr. Speaker and those contracts that could be terminated Were in fact terminated early on one of the first things that we did as a government We have continued to keep rates low for the people of the province of ontario. In fact When compared to what the costs of energy would have been had the liberals been reelected We have been able to reduce those by 18 percent. We've gone even further during the pandemic, mr. Speaker By reducing rates for all of the people of province of ontario and including businesses small medium and large Small medium and large job creators. They're an important part of the economy whether it's restaurants Whether it's our large Job creators they're an important part of keeping this economy going so that we can continue to pay for safe schools long-term care health care Mr. Speaker, so they certainly make no apologies for for helping individual ontarians And certainly no apologies for helping small medium and large job creators Good morning speaker. Thank you my questions to the premier A 64 year old st. Catherine's resident rick mccallion is living with cancer rick recently called into public health He was asking when he could expect to get his vaccine in nigra Mr. McCallion was told it could be june This would be slower than other regions since nigra has the second highest concentration of seniors in ontario It will take longer to vaccinate our seniors given our allotment of vaccines I stood in this house and I said it before our pharmacies have the capacity Our dense senior community has the need Will the premier recognize that nigra has one of the oldest populations in ontario In addition, will the premier guarantee we top the list for immediate inclusion In the pharmacy vaccination rollout Minister vell Well, thank you speaker and I thank the member very much for the question We are in the process right now of expanding the number of pharmacies that will be able to administer the vaccine that will be done Within the next two weeks. We expect to double that to approximately 700 pharmacies across the province including in nigra And then doubling that again within the next month However, given the situation that the member just suggested with respect to this gentleman who has a pre-existing condition That this is a situation where likely he will receive a call from his primary care provider who will also be receiving The vaccines as well and they he will be able to then go to his primary care provider to receive his His vaccine whatever type it may be because that is what has been planned by the vaccine committee and the vaccine task forces For people with pre-existing conditions Because the response care provider is aware of those specific conditions The primary care provider will be reaching out to them and making appointments for them to receive their vaccinations within their primary care providers offices By thanking the nagger public health they're doing an incredible job on our vaccines in nagra As my colleague mentioned nagra is one of the highest concentration of seniors in the country Those seniors are put at risk in january when this government diverted over 5,500 doses of Moderna vaccines away from nagra The only way to keep them safe and save lives in nagra is by ramping up the vaccine efforts Pharmacies in my writing are ready to do what they do best And that's save lives A great local partner simpsons pharmacy has 3,500 people on a wait list They just need to supply you vaccines so they can do their job Will you move immediately to include nagra in the areas in which pharmacies can administrate vaccines? A simple yes or no would do. Thank you Minister how? Well, all of the public health units in ontario all 34 of them are doing an amazing job Getting the vaccines out. We have administered over 1.5 million doses thus far And protected our residents of long-term care retirement homes in other areas and we're working through We've got a majority of people over 80 vaccinated in most if not all of the public health units Which is why we've been able to move that down to age 75 and that's where they are receiving Applications and Times to come in for the to receive the vaccines But speaker I think before I get into the substance of my answer I think it's time to dispel a myth that has been circulating in nagra that nagra is not receiving their fair share of vaccines That is not so vaccines are being distributed fairly in nagra. In fact Nagra is receiving response their fair share of vaccines And we will continue to allocate vaccines based on population and based on particular circumstances But nagra is receiving the vaccines that they're entitled to Thank you the next question The member for to miscommunicate. Thank you Uh, my question is to the associate minister of health Uh, responsible for mental health and addictions The kirkland lake opioid task force is meeting on a regular basis to deal with increased opioid addiction problem Into miskeming and we are dealing one of the things that's come come to our attention is during the covet epidemic to miskeming has been Left it's basically it's a it's a treatment desert Because the treatment centers are all in our major centers in northern ontario And if you are addicted or want help or quite frankly eat mental health services To miskeming is not the place to live because We're being excluded The minister just said in one of his responses that the the torey plan should work for everyone in the province I question and ask whether he would work with the opioid tax force and working himself to make sure that the people in To miskeming also have equivalent services as the rest of the province Thank you Thank you, mr. Speaker as The member opposite i'm sure is aware Our government was the government that implemented about a year ago the road map to wellness and the road map to wellness is a foundational document based on work that goes back to 2010 which i might add Nothing had been done with until our government came to power We made a commitment of investing 3.8 billion dollars in mental health and addictions in the province And we started by laying the foundational work that needed to be done In addition to looking at the lifespan and the age groups within The lifespan of an individual from birth to death we looked at how we will implement and develop a scale of In each constituency where Individuals will have the supports they need closest to their homes. That is a fundamental part of what we're doing in addition to that We're also developing a strategy to ensure that culturally appropriate services are delivered Whether it's farmers whether it's indigenous communities We are building a model and of course with covet 19 have had to Speed up the things that we're doing with respect to virtual care But we are building that model and we're looking after the people every person in the province of ontario Thank you That concludes our question period this morning. We now have a number of deferred votes We have a deferred vote on a motion for closure on the motion for second reading of bill 254 An act to amend various acts with respect to elections and members of the assembly On march 3rd 2021. Mr. Downey moved second reading of bill 254 And on march 11th 2021. Mr. Gill moved that the question be now put The bells will now ring for 30 minutes during which time members may cast their votes on mr. Gill's motion That the question be now put and I will ask the clerks to prepare the lobbies