 It's now time for our questions, the leader with Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Thank you, Speaker. My question directed to the Premier. Premier, your testimony yesterday at the Gas Plant Committee was highly evasive. It strained the bounds of credibility and was obviously deeply disappointed in all of us. In fact, to the Premier, you've lost the moral authority to govern and you conduct that kind of performance on such an important issue. One of the many items that was far from clear in your answers. I want to make sure your chance to answer it today. When did you first ask for a briefing from Colin Anderson of the OPA to get a full cost of the cancellations of Oakville and Mississauga and who ordered the cover-up of information around those costs? When did you ask for a briefing? Very much, Mr. Speaker. I did. I spent an hour and a half at the committee yesterday, Mr. Speaker. I answered all the questions that were directed towards, was and has been part of my commitment to be open and transparent. And I told the committee, Mr. Speaker, exactly what I knew and when I knew it. So, Mr. Speaker, I hope that the leader of the opposition will check-hancered because my answers are recorded there. Thank you. Again, I want to give... I know the Premier has been highly evasive on her answers with respect to the cancellation of the gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga. So, I do speak, I want to give her another opportunity. Order. The member from the Minister of Training College of the University has come to order. The member from Renfrew has come to order. Leader. And unfortunately, true to recent form, you avoided my very simple question just now, Premier. So, I'll give you another opportunity pleased to be direct with us. I would like to know exactly when you asked for a full briefing from Colin Anderson of the Ontario Power Authority in your capacity as Premier of the province of Ontario on one of the biggest scandals in our province. Surely one of the first meetings you called for was a full briefing, a thorough disclosure of the costs and who ordered the cover-up. Premier, exactly what did that meeting take place? Premier. Well, Mr. Speaker, I disagree with the language that the leader of the opposition is using. I don't accept the premise of his question, but, Mr. Speaker, I said I was at the committee yesterday. I answered the question. I tabled the documents that I had received from the OPA, Mr. Speaker, and from the time I was in this office, I was in conversation with, from the time we were sworn in, I was in conversation with the Minister of Energy, the information that we were receiving through the OPA. I tabled yesterday, Mr. Speaker, and the reason that the leader of the opposition is asking these questions is because I tabled those documents yesterday, Mr. Speaker. I brought them to the committee. I made them available. And the OPA estimates were different from what we had previously been told. And in fact, yesterday, there was another number. The information was different again, Mr. Speaker. That's why it was very important that the auditor general write his report. That's why I asked the auditor general to write his report. And I believe that it's important we wait for that report, Mr. Speaker. The member from Redford, your leader wants to put the supplementary question. Thank you. Final supplementary. Thank you. Again, premiering this respectfully, you're not answering a very simple question. It seems to me that the very basic first meeting you'd asked for as a new premier would be to sit down immediately with Colin Anderson of the Ontario Power Authority and ask him for the full costing of the cancellation of the Oakville and the Saug gas plants and ask him who ordered the cover-up. This seems to me fundamental. Yesterday in committee, you did say you didn't know, we didn't know, but respectfully, premier, it's your job to actually Minister of the Environment from the north to know the facts. Premier, you wanted the job. You campaigned for the job. You asked for the job. I ask you respectfully, why aren't you doing the job? Thank you, premier. Mr. Speaker, I'm very much looking forward to the opposition leader's testimony about his costing. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to know what his thoughts are about how they expected the cost to be. I look forward to that. I don't know exactly when he's going to appear before committee, but I've been there, Mr. Speaker. I told the committee what I knew, and the reality is that the numbers kept changing and keep changing. And that is the reality. That's why we need to wait for the auditor general's report, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. New question. You know, firstly, I did not get an answer on if the premier did have a briefing from Colin Anderson. Minister, social services come to order. Why is she was woefully negligent to the premier speaker? Why is she woefully negligent and not addressing that as one of your first meetings? I would think that would be the basics of the job. Yesterday, you were supposed to clear the area. You left a lot more questions on answer. So, Speaker, I didn't get an answer to my first question of why the premier was woefully neglectful in her duties as premier to get the bottom of that. Respectfully, it is your duty, premier, to know those answers, not try to cover them up. There's another important distinction there at committee. Colin Anderson basically said yesterday in the morning that everybody knew the cost of the gas plant. You say that's not true. A very basic question. Question? Who's telling the truth? You or Colin Anderson? Who's telling the truth, premier? The minister of energy come to order, please. The leader is using language that is type-robe walking in terms of some of the things he said. So, I'm just going to give him a caution now that if it's... I need everyone's attention. So, I would ask the leader to be cautious of that type of language. Premier? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Well, the reality is that the complexity of calculating the costs of the relocation of these plants has meant that the costs keep changing, Mr. Speaker, in terms of the information that I received from the OPA. I had briefings with energy officials, Mr. Speaker, from the time I came into this office. I was dedicated to making sure that we had a process that was going to open up the opportunity for the members of the opposition and the third party to ask the questions that they needed to ask. I made it very clear that I was going to appear before committee. I have done everything that I could since I came into this office, Mr. Speaker, to make sure that the process was opened up. The reality is that the calculation of the numbers has changed. The information that we have gotten has changed, and it changed as recently as yesterday morning, Mr. Speaker. I tabled documents that made it clear that at one point there was one number and there was a different number yesterday. That's why we need to wait for the Auditor General's report, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Speaker, and I appreciate it. I am trying to walk that line. It is a difficult balance, but I think you understand, Speaker, the seriousness of this issue and that the credibility of the Premier of the province of Ontario is at stake. Premier, now you say that the numbers kept changing. I think you're basically saying that you never asked for a briefing to get finality on those numbers. You decided to look the other way, or you knew and you refused to tell us either way that undermines our ability to put confidence in you to lead this province of Ontario. You stood here in the legislature and publicly and said the costs were $40 million, and all the while you knew the costs were far in excess of that $40 million. So if you're willing to say something that you know was not in keeping with the facts, why should we have any faith to be honest to the taxpayers of Ontario when you yourself were involved in covering up this scandal or the cancellation? That's the member to withdraw. Mr. Speaker, the contention, the assertion of the leader of the opposition is simply not true, Mr. Speaker. I appeared at committee yesterday. I talked about the cabinet meetings that I had attended. I talked about the information that I was given. I made it clear that the information that I had given, I was given changed, Mr. Speaker. The numbers changed, and the OPA appeared at committee yesterday and made it very clear that the numbers had changed, and the information they had... Order, please. Please finish. The OPA made it clear, Mr. Speaker, that the numbers that had been given to us were not the same numbers that they were bringing for yesterday. There's nobody in this legislature, Mr. Speaker, who wants the information clearly on the table. Nobody wants that more than I do, Mr. Speaker, which is why I've done what I've done for the last number of weeks. Final supplementary. Here. Respectfully, Premier, ignorance is no excuse. Willful blindness is no excuse. You are the premier of the province of Ontario. You have the ability and you have the responsibility to make a good and compelling answer. Order. It should have been one of your first meetings. And quite frankly, you say the numbers have changed. The minister of rural affairs come to order. Your answers changed. I think, please, Mr. Speaker. That means it's time for a change in the province of Ontario to get us down an entirely different path. Premier, your answers today, your answers at committee yesterday were highly evasive. You've lost the moral authority to govern. I will ask you respectfully to put before the legislature a confidence vote when it comes to the Liberals continuing to put their interests ahead of taxpayers. Will you call that confidence? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I answered the questions yesterday and now, Mr. Speaker, I'm looking forward to a very large confidence issue coming before this House. And that would be the budget, Mr. Speaker. We are focused on Bridges infrastructure and we're focusing on a fairer and a prosperous Ontario, Mr. Speaker. We're focusing on investing in the music industry, Mr. Speaker. Those are the issues that will come before us. That will be the confidence issue that we discuss, Mr. Speaker. I sincerely hope that the opposition members read the budget and determine whether they want to support that budget based on the merits of the budget, Mr. Speaker, because I believe that those issues touch the people of Ontario every single day. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. You're welcome. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Would the Premier agree that our job here as elected members is to put the public interest, the needs of the people who elected us ahead of the interests of well-connected insiders or the political interests of our parties? Absolutely, Mr. Speaker. And I would suggest that everything that I've done as an elect official and certainly everything that I've done in this office as Premier has been directed at making sure that we do act in the best interests of the people of Ontario, Mr. Speaker. That's what government exists to do. That is why we have government, Mr. Speaker, to act in the collective interest, the best interests of the people of Ontario. Even spending $10 billion on gas plants to save seats, that doesn't sound like the public interest to me. That sounds like the liberal interest. Yesterday in the committee hearings, the Premier admitted that as a cabinet minister, she signed off herself, signed off on the cabinet decisions scrapping the private power deal in Oakville without asking any questions at all about the cost. And as co-chair of the Liberal Campaign, the Premier didn't even ask any questions about the cost of the business saga. As the co-chair of the campaign, why didn't the Premier ask a single question on behalf of the people who would be stuck paying the bills, the massive bills for those decisions? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And again, I answered these questions yesterday at committee. The reality is that the relocation of these plants was the subject of a negotiation, Mr. Speaker. I was a member of a cabinet that was implementing that the third party and the opposition had agreed needed to happen, Mr. Speaker. We were implementing that. There was a negotiation. And the reality is, Mr. Speaker, that those numbers were not available. We did not discuss the specifics of the negotiation that was happening at the table. And I would expect that the leader of the third party would understand how negotiation works and that it actually needs to be a confidential process, Mr. Speaker. And not every member of the cabinet had access to those specific numbers. Final supplementary. What I understand is, regardless of what happens in a negotiation, people have an estimate, a ballpark idea of what they're going to have to spend when something like this gets decided. During the election campaign, I was asked, Speaker, whether I would commit to scrapping those plants. And I wanted to. I wanted to. Since the Liberal government's decision to sign that private debt power deal in the first place was the wrong decision. But I would not make that commitment, Speaker, because the government refused to make documents public and we had been asking for those contracts time and time again. And I didn't know the cost, Speaker. And the Premier had the same opportunity as I did to ask for the cost. And she decided not to ask any questions at all, to simply do whatever her party said she should do. Why can't she admit this was the wrong decision? She is intent on having it both ways, Mr. Speaker. She suggests that she would not have cancelled the gas plant contingent on the cost, Mr. Speaker. But we heard in committee yesterday that her candidates were out saying that they would cancel the gas plant, Mr. Speaker. She cannot have it both ways, Mr. Speaker. The reality is, all parties said that they were going to cancel the gas plants. That was the position that everyone took. We implemented that decision, Mr. Speaker. And I was quite clear that I had had to be spent in the way that I had to be spent. But we made good on the decision that was agreed to by all parties in this House. Thank you. Your question? Mr. Speaker, I find it quite disconcerting that the Premier of this province doesn't know the difference between a candidate and a leader. I don't know how this question is to the Premier as well, Mr. Speaker. In tough economic times, these issues... Order, please. Okay, so let's start mentioning individual writings. You really aren't helping. Please. Thank you. Questions for the Premier Speaker? In tough economic times, it's these very issues that matter and they matter a great deal. And people are worried in these times as well about falling further and further behind. Now, the Premier tells everybody in this province that the cupboard is bare and she's telling families that they're going to have to be paying more. I apologize for the interruption. Please stop the clock. The Minister of Community and Social Services will come to order. And the member from Glen, Gary, Prescott, Russell... I've got the seats memorized. Thank you very much, Deputy Speaker. Thank you. Yet the government's moving ahead with a new corporate tax loophole worth $1.3 billion a year while public sector CEO salaries are climbing everywhere from the OLG to hospitals. Question? When is the Premier going to see that this is the wrong direction and it's people that should be coming first? I'm just going to draw a line between a comment that the leader made before she asked that question to say that Mr. Speaker, I'm part of a team because that's how I work. And the difference between meeting with candidates about working with all of the members of the team, Mr. Speaker, and being the position, Mr. Speaker, we know that is the position of the NDP, Mr. Speaker. We made good on that promise. Final supplementary? I don't believe it's my final. Oh, sorry. Apologize. I was quite excited. So I forgot to check it out. Supplementary. Well, Speaker, I guess the people will decide what kind of leadership they want in this province. I think the people the Premier had a chance to ask questions about the gas plant cost and she didn't ask a single question about something that was going to cost the public over a billion dollars or almost a billion dollars. And I don't know what she has to say to the people of this province because she certainly didn't say it yesterday in committee. People are struggling right now, Speaker. They're worried about their jobs. They're worried about healthcare. They're worried about the cost of everyday life. And today they see in the paper that their government, and once again, gave away more than half a billion dollars to make a political problem disappear for them. And now they're asking them they're planning to ask them, those very people, for more and more money, more and more money when they're already having a strained local budget. Does the Premier think it's fair that a government spends billions of dollars on CEO salaries increasing on corporate tax loopholes, on cancelled gas plants while asking people to pay more? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So let me just, let me just make that connection I said it was going to make about being a team and we're all in this together. The reality is, Mr. Speaker, that the budget that we will table tomorrow speaks to the needs of the people of the province, Mr. Speaker. It speaks to the needs making sure that we have a fiscally responsible treasury budget in place. And at the same time, Mr. Speaker, that we invest in the things that we know are going to make people's lives better. And that means making sure that home care is in place, Mr. Speaker, making those investments, making sure that the infrastructure that's necessary for economic growth in small and rural communities, Mr. Speaker, that their roads and the bridges are dealt with because I know that municipalities struggle with that, Mr. Speaker, making sure that young people have access to placements, to co-ops, Mr. Speaker, so that they can find their way into the workforce. Those are the concerns, and I understand that, and I know that the third party agrees that those are issues we should be focused on. That's what will be in our budget, Mr. Speaker. Final supplementary. Speaker, new Democrats have been very clear. Now is not the time to be opening up a brand new $1.3 billion tax loopholes so that corporations don't have to pay their HST. And we've been clear as well. These are tough times, and we shouldn't be making it tougher for families by asking them to pay more while corporations pay less. My question to the Premier is, will Thursday's budget close the brand new $1.3 billion corporate tax loopholes, or will we see the same old status quo that leaves people falling further and further behind? Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I know that the Minister of Finance has answered that question many times in the sense that he's working with the federal government. There is a federal government component responsibility to this, Mr. Speaker, working to close some of the loopholes that what the leader of the third party is talking about is not exactly a loophole. It's a constraint of the tax regime, Mr. Speaker, but the reality is that he's working on that. Underneath her question is an issue around building transit for people in the GTHA, Mr. Speaker, and the reality is we believe that it's very important that we have a plan to build that transit going forward. We don't have another 40 years to wait, Mr. Speaker, and the single moms who are trying to get their kids to school and trying to get to work, they don't have time to wait either, Mr. Speaker, so we need to get on that, and I would expect that the third party would be right with us and the member for Trinity Spadina leading that. No question. The member from Memphis City. Thank you, Speaker. This morning my question is for the Premier. Premier, yesterday at the Justice Committee had sworn testimony from Ontario Power Authority's CEO Colin Anderson that quote everybody quote in the government knew the cost of the Oakville Gas Plant cancellation was more than $40 million. Despite you and your entire government clinging to the $40 million number all these months, you finally admitted to the Justice Committee that you knew the cancellation indeed was much more. What you didn't tell the committee is when you knew. Premier, is the reason because you and others have stood there in this legislature time and time again telling us one thing when you knew something else to be true. Is that why, Premier? Mr. Speaker, I had in my hand a memorandum of understanding that this was dated September 24th, 2012. The same day that this memorandum was dated, it went on the website, it was posted on the website of the Ontario Power Authority. I find it absolutely appalling, Mr. Speaker, that that critic did not read this document. Not only that, he did not read the 261 page contract that sets out the arrangement between Trans Canada, the province on this very, very clear from this document. There are some costs that number is identified and there's a range of other items, savings as well as additional costs that are included in this document. So the whole world knew, including him, if you read this document that there were other costs and savings that had to be calculated and the welfare plan, discreet. A member from Prince Edward Hastings will come to order. The member from the Pean Carlton, whoops, Lampton Kent Middlesex will come to order. Supplementary. Thank you, Speaker. Perhaps a page could send a glass of water over to the minister. His face is almost as red today as the Premier's was all day yesterday during the testimony. Premier, we've now seen that your government will say anything to stay in power. You continue to say one thing when the opposite is true. Mississauga cancellation is 20 million. Nope, it's 275. Oakville is 40 million. Nope, oops, it's 310 million. You said you didn't know anything, but it's your signature Premier on the cabinet documents that started this whole process. You're all over this Premier and by not telling us when you knew what you knew, you've shown us your part of the scandal. Why should we ever trust anything you say again? Minister. Mr. Speaker. Member from Bruce Greil and Sam, come to order. Member from Simcoe Gray, come to order. He's tilting at windmills, Mr. Speaker, because he refused to read the document. He refused to read the document that identifies that there will be future costs and savings at the Oakville plan. Mr. Speaker, he continues to say that Colin Anderson said everybody knew. The only reason why he doesn't know, he did not read the document that says there will be additional costs, additional savings that need to be calculated. Order. Member from Durham, come to order. I believe that's the second time. Chairman, please. Order. This document, Mr. Speaker, they've been trying to calculate the costs. And yesterday, Mr. Anderson went before the committee and he came with two different costs. Four weeks ago, he had a different cost. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's why we need the... Member from Essex, no question. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier. People want to look to Queens Park and they want to see some leadership. Instead, this is what they see. They see a Premier who says that she never even spoke with Dalton McGinty about gas plants. They see a new government writing blank checks to cancel private power deals because you ripped up contracts without any idea of how much it would cost. They see a Premier who has known four months that the cost of cancelling gas plants was not $40 million and not $180 million but knew full well that there were more costs coming and didn't bother to tell the families who are going to pay the bill. These are more examples of the new government being exactly the same as the old government. Premier, is this the sort of leadership that Ontarians should be expecting from this new government? Premier? Mr. Speaker, I'm still reeling a little bit by the admission by the Leader of the New Democratic Party that even though our candidates said they would cancel, they didn't really meet it. I'm wondering if the member can tell the chairman for citizens for clean air who told the committee we met with all the parties and all the candidates and were given commitments by every candidate in the Oakville area they would support cancelling the plan. We have Greg Rohn, the Coalition of Homeowners for Intelligent Power. He said yes, the NDP they were against the plan. He went on to say the NDP came in and attended our rally. The mayor of Oakville, Rob Burton, our citizens organized their own effort to ask the province to rethink the proposed power plan. They won promises from all parties to stop the proposed power plan. Mr. Speaker, I could go on with the candidates with the commitments of the New Democratic Party to cancel both plans. Perhaps the honourable member could explain. Supplementary. Back to the Premier. Premier, leadership means making tough decisions and it also means being honest. Not continuing to keep on terrains in the dark despite months having months to correct the record. It means taking responsibility. Not trying to blame the other guy when you've done exactly the same thing. I know the Premier keeps saying her government is new. So why does this Premier's leadership look exactly like the same as the last Premier's leadership? Mr. Speaker, I can go on here. I think the member's question about leadership proves the point here. Hazel McCallion came before the committee and you know what she said? She said the impression that was certainly given beyond a doubt I think all parties would have cancelled it. There is no question about it. So I think she'll be quite surprised to learn on the leader's statement today. But you know Mr. Speaker, you can go right to the source here. According to Torstor and Nurse Service September 16th, 2011 Etobicoke Lakeshore NDB candidate Dion Coley also pledged to fight the plan. September 29th, 2011 local NDB candidate Andrew Sick has soon issued statements concurring with the new liberal cancellation. Even the member from Toronto Danforth told InsideToronto.com We wouldn't build it. We saw today all of them The new question. The member from Ajax Cookery Thank you Mr. Speaker. My question is for the minister of health and long-term care. 182 years ago today on May 1st Emily Stowe was born in Norwich, Ontario Dr. Stowe went on to become the first female physician in Canada. To mark this date and to acknowledge the extraordinary service our doctors provide we recognize May 1st as doctor's day. Doctors play a vital role in keeping everyone healthy. My constituents in Ajax Pickering want to be assured that they have access to a family doctor when they need one. Speaker, can the minister tell us what the government is doing to increase our doctors in Ontario? Well thank you Speaker and thanks to the member from Ajax Pickering for this very important question. And I'd also like to acknowledge the member from Richmond Hill he successfully introduced the motion to recognize May 1st as doctor's day back in 2011. But most importantly I want to say thank you to all of Ontario's doctors they work so hard every day for Ontario patients. Speaker, we have made significant progress in recruiting new doctors right across the province. Today we have 4,000 more doctors practicing in Ontario than we did in 2003. In Ajax in Pickering that's a 40% increase. 190 new doctors practicing in Ajax Pickering. We're training more doctors we've increased the number of residency spots for international medical graduates and more doctors are going to under serviced areas Speaker. Healthcare Connect is working to connect patients who need doctors to doctors and they need a doctor to take care of them. Thank you Speaker. 93% of us now have a family doctor. Thank you Minister. Speaker, this is not only good news for my constituents but for all Ontarians having access to a family physician is important to everyone but that's just one part of ensuring equitable access to primary healthcare. Speaker, not all of my constituents are easily available to visit a doctor's office or might have to see a specialist who might not be very close to their home. Speaker, can the minister please let us know what we're doing to ensure that each and every Ontarian has access to a doctor despite any challenges that they might face. Thank you. Speaker, the member raises a very important point and we're working hard to make sure that every Ontarian has access to primary care. We made a commitment to Ontario diabetics that we would provide a doctor and nurse practitioner. You're going to get one. We've kept that commitment, Speaker. Now we're saying to Ontario seniors we're going to make sure you get attached to primary care. Speaker, back in December last year we worked with the Ontario Medical Association with a new agreement. That includes 30,000 more house calls for doctors. It includes after hours care so people can get access to the care they need when they need it. People was all about improving quality of care for patients and I'm very pleased it received overwhelming support from Ontario's doctors. We've increased the number of telemedicine visits and virtual visits more than 10 fold since 2003 and we're going to continue to work with Ontario doctors to make sure patients get the right care the right place, the right time. Thank you. Thank you very much, Speaker. My question is for the premier it's obvious that disclosing all you knew about your gas plant scandals is not part of your plan. In spite of the fact that seven witnesses including OPA CEO Colin Anderson have said that you and all of your cabinet knew all along that the costs of Oakville would be more than 40 million you still refuse to reveal when you knew that. You claim that as a member of cabinet you didn't know. You claim that as a meeting chair when the Oakville MOU was discussed you didn't know. You claim that as liberal campaign vice chair you didn't know and then as premier that you never knew that the cost far exceeded 40 million. Premier your claim is hard to accept it's time for the legislature to decide will you call our want of confidence motion or will you continue to refuse to reveal your record is it? Premier Governor Nelson Do you know what's hard to accept is the double standard that exists here the premier of the province appeared in front of the committee yesterday and answered all the questions that were directed to her she appeared Mr. Speaker as soon as she was invited let me tell you about the progressive conservative party which is yet to release any of its costing for the plans before the election despite the YouTube videos and tweets and press conferences Mr. Speaker we asked the leader of the opposition to be there yesterday he refused and now he's looking at a schedule maybe the 7th maybe the 14th but you know what Mr. Speaker we have asked three progressive conservative candidates to appear in front of the committee one has outright refused one was coming to the committee and then suddenly decided she couldn't and another one is still thinking about it so Mr. Speaker I ask the honourable member in his supplementary to explain to us when progressive conservative party candidates will be coming forward and talking about their costing of these plants in the last election thank you supplementary when might you be inviting those candidates to your cabinet meeting Premier you just aren't getting it the Ontario power authority has given their best guess of what the old field plant cancellation and relocation cost and it is 775% higher than the number you and your colleagues have repeatedly claimed yesterday you the opportunity to make a statement and to testify for 90 minutes about your version of the events Premier you failed to make your case your government's record has been laid bare the members of this assembly are not buying what you're selling and I am certain that the people of Ontario aren't doing anything wrong if you actually believe that you've done nothing wrong and deserve the confidence of this house then call our want of confidence our want of confidence motion for debate and let this decision decide Mr. Speaker I will send gently to the members question and I fail to hear any indication of what the progressive conservative numbers were or about the presence of the candidates or the testimony of the opposition of the opposition made this a corner stone both sides are not being helpful finish please Mr. Speaker this was a corner stone of their campaign they had tweets they had news releases they had media interviews and the leader of the opposition appeared he starred in a YouTube video they sent out thousands of robocalls Mr. Speaker I do not think it's unreasonable that we would like to hear from the candidate who made those robocalls I do not think it's unreasonable that we want to hear from the candidate who put out this pamphlet saying the only party that will stop the sure way power plan is the Ontario PC party and yet Mr. Speaker they evade the questions about their costing they evade the presence of their candidates when will they come forward to the committee Mr. Speaker the question is for the Premier nearly two years ago Jordan Fram and Jason were buried in a run of muck accident at the Sudbury still be mine their families are still waiting for answers about why they died in a preventable accident when will the Premier do the right thing and call public inquiry into this tragedy so that no more lives are lost on the job Minister of Labor for the third party for the question on a very important issue Speaker is always very tragic when we hear about a loss of a worker in the case of the tragedy that took place two years ago it was tragic as well and the Minister of Northern Affairs and mine and I had the chance to meet last just last week Wendy Fram won the mother of the person who passed away in that accident. Speaker of course we need to continue to do more to ensure that we make our workplace especially mines safe and I have committed along with Minister Gravel to Wendy Fram that we will work with her to ensure that we are taking steps that no other son or daughter is lost in a mining accident in our province. Last weekend I stood with Sudbury workers and their families to mark the day of mourning here and the workers are here with us today in the spectators gallery the miners who earn their living underground in this province deserve peace of mind and their families deserve peace of mind families of Jordan Fram and Jason Shanieh deserve answers as do the families of the other nine miners who have lost their lives over the last five years and in fact the person who was killed yesterday in a mining accident about 50 kilometres outside of what they need and call a public inquiry into the deaths at the Stobie mine and the safety in the mining industry all together speaker and industry which has changed rapidly over the last number of years and yet has not been reviewed for upgrades to its health and safety legislation for over 30 years. Thank you very much thank you very much speaker and sympathies to the families of the worker who passed away just outside Wawa as well as the chance to speak to the members from Algoma Manitoulin about that incident as well and assured him that I will work along with him and my ministry to ensure that we get all the answers speaker in case of the Stobie mine there is a criminal trial that date is announced in October they were also going to be a mandatory corners inquest in that instance the ministry of labour is also involved in in about four different health and safety blitzes dealing with mining sector one just finished and there will be three more coming up through this summer and early next year speaker we also working through the mining legislative review committee which is part of the occupational health and safety act and we are looking at option as to how we can work with the co-chairs of that committee and find ways to make our mining even more safer thank you very much Thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the minister and the minister of health and safety services today in Ontario more than 80% of our citizens use some form of mobile device and most of them have entered in some kind of contract with the provider in my own writing of your southwest and we are experiencing many issues with regards to cell phones I would say that the most concerning is probably that of students being robbed of cell phones but the other major source of infuse about the language in contracts about additional charges and massive cancellation fees I think we've all experienced that minister I'm happy to learn that you introduced legislation to address this very issue and speaker through you to the minister I would like to ask the minister to share with us why you have chosen to take action now instead of waiting for the CRTC to develop the code of conduct Thank you speaker and I want to thank the member for York southwest for a very important question I'm very pleased to rise to talk about the new wireless services agreement act I also want to thank the minister of natural resources the MPP for Sioux St Marie for showing strong leadership on this issue from the very beginning and we all know there's been explosion of the use of wireless communication devices in this province speaker unfortunately there's also been explosion of complaints and issues around that and in fact a recent CRTC hearing commissioner for complaints noted there's been a 250% increase in complaints over the past four years a very significant number and my ministry the ministry consumer services has received 740 calls and complaints in just the last year so there is need for clear action speaker and the bill will give a clear action they're looking for Thank you Thank you Mr. Speaker I'm astonished to hear the number of complaints I'm not entirely surprised because cell phones are one of the most widely used consumer products with a large complicated contract attached to it but it's not entirely surprising to hear the number of complaints most consumers they already have consumer protection act in place to protect them from unethical practices but with the complex web of problems that consumers encounter with their wireless services there needs to be dedicated legislation to specifically address this issue so speaker through you to the minister can you please explain to this house how the proposed act will be providing more transparency and fairness to consumers Thank you Thank you speaker I'm very pleased to talk about the action our government is taking to help consumers in Ontario this legislation has 5 major components first it provides clarity contracts will have to be disclosed in plain language easy to understand language second it will require consumers to provide consent prior to any changes being made to current contracts third it will include a maximum cap $20 on cancellation fees four the bill will require service providers to include all inclusive pricing predominantly on their ads and five if you are improperly billed and the provider refuses to pay consumers will have the right for triple recovery of the amount owed additionally speaker the bill will require service providers to stop building billing immediately once the divorce device is reported loss or stolen these measures are very strong speaker protect and empower consumers thank you new question my question is to the premier speaker four years ago the then attorney general and the most recent minister of energy tabled in this house a very prophetic bill and it was passed by this house and the premier voted for it it was bill 108 and titled an act respecting apologies apologies is defined in this act as an expression of sympathy or regret a statement that a person is sorry or any other words or actions indicating contrition or commissuration I'd like to ask the premier after an hour and a half of admitting her responsibility for signing documents for spending some $858 of taxpayer's money on a deal to save liberal seats will the premier stand up and apologize to the people if the member for new market aurora chex hansard from yesterday and from this house he will see that I have many times said that I regret which is one of the words one of the synonyms used to define an apology I have said Mr. Speaker over and over again that I regret that this situation happened I regret that we did not have a better process in place Mr. Speaker I regret that the costs were not clear Mr. Speaker I regret that public dollars had to be spent in this way in order to relocate these gas plants Mr. Speaker and it must not happen again we have a better process going forward and one of the things I said yesterday repeatedly was I hope that the Justice Committee having heard all of the witnesses is going to be able to help and give some advice on how going forward we can avoid this situation ever happening again Mr. Speaker $585 million was used to save liberal seats the premier admitted that it was a decision of the federal party of Ontario the premier admitted that she signed the cabinet document to spend those funds what we cannot and what people in this province cannot understand is why the premier cannot stand in her place reach deep down and say to the people of Ontario I am sorry for what I did for what our government did and for what our party did again the premier not stand up and utter those words what is keeping her from making that apology to the people of Ontario I ask the premier one more time Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker I understand the passion that motivates the member opposite Mr. Speaker and I said yesterday throughout the hour and a half that I was as frustrated as they were Mr. Speaker we all agreed that the minister of the environment is not helpful when he continues to heckle while the answer is being put it's not helpful that we all agreed that these decisions should be made we implemented the decision Mr. Speaker and everyone wanted to see that decision implemented because that's what they talked about Mr. Speaker that was their position we made that decision we entered into a negotiation Mr. Speaker and I have said repeatedly that I regret that a better decision wasn't made up front and that we need to make sure that this doesn't happen again but since I came into this office Mr. Speaker I have done everything in my power to make sure that everyone had the information that they were asking and that the decision is to the minister of community safety and correctional services on Monday a man who fired gunshots at his former manager and terrified a London neighbourhood was sentenced to seven years however he will serve less than half his sentence the appalling conditions of the jail were cited by the judge as a reason for reducing his sentence Speaker is the minister okay with convicted criminals being prematurely released due to the terrible conditions at this jail so community safety and correctional services Mr. Speaker we respect the right of the judge to impose sentences that the deem appropriate under the law we are aware of the concern regarding EMDC we have with the administration of the jail we have started we have developed a 12 point plan and we are working on the improvement of that jail and I've also suggested what will be implemented it's 12 kind of a board of director for that jail comprised of citizen in the community to help us to redress the situation at the EMDC thank you Mr. Speaker Speaker the conditions at Elgin middle-sex attention center have long been deplorable and workers have told this government that they were at risk and so were their ability to properly do their job now we're seeing that these conditions are resulting in reduced sentences for convicted criminals why hasn't the minister taken this issue seriously enough to prevent this kind of fiasco from happening in our correctional system thank you minister as I said in the past Mr. Speaker the EMDC situation and EMDC jail is our top priority both my office and the ministry of correctional services have been following the situation the the assistant deputy minister have been there many times we've changed the administration at the jail all of this to try to improve the situation and I take the concern very seriously that's why I want myself to visit the jail and make sure that we have a plan to redress the situation thank you Mr. Speaker thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the minister minister of education a great education enables our young people to succeed later in life our government has to increase our investment in education system by 45% since 2003 as a result we have seen tremendous progress in student achievement for example graduation rates has increased by 15% since 2003 however we also know that in order for students to be do well in school we need to be healthy students Mr. Speaker through you to the minister can you please inform the house what you're doing to make our schools a healthy place to learn thank you minister yes thank you very much speaker and I'd like to thank the member from Scarborough agent court for her advocacy on behalf of healthy schools speaker we know that a healthy student is an active learner that's why our government is committed in our schools where healthy choices are the easiest choices students can make our school food and beverage policy sets nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold in schools so that our students have access to good quality food and I'd like to thank the dairy farmers of Ontario who are here this morning their participation in milk programs in many of our elementary schools but we also set out a comprehensive healthy school strategy which includes daily fizz ad funding for all our boards to have mental health leaders support for mental health nurses in our schools and a healthy school framework to assist schools thank you supplementary our schools are not just a place to learn but also a place called community hubs there are places where students gather before and after school or weekend to learn this is quite evidence of many of my schools in Scarborough and one of my visit to the principal had to get on the PA system to remind the students that it is now 5pm and students need to vacate the school buildings unless they're involving extracurricular activities making our school accessible for community program is a great way to get our students to be more active through you to the minister can you please inform this house what are you doing to make our school more accessible to the community thank you minister thank you speaker and our government has made schools more accessible to the community because the member from Scarborough is absolutely correct that what happens after school is important in the lives of students too this school year we're providing $42 million through our community use of schools program this funding is a healthy act of lifestyles by enabling not-for-profit groups to offer affordable activities to our young people and as part of our community use of schools program we are providing $7.5 million to help provide free access to school space outside of school hours in communities that need it most through our 220 priority schools to offer school space at no charge to not-for-profit group speaker we will continue to work with local profits to serve the community thank you thank you speaker speaker my question is for the premier the premier's testimony yesterday wasn't just evasive it was downright suspect when asked repeatedly about when she first learned of the so-called cost of costs the premier ducked and dodged attempting to avoid accountability speaker while the weak need liberal apologist in the NDP may be willing to turn a blind eye the PC caucus will hold the scandal plague government to account so I ask the premier this will she finally uphold her moral obligation and call the PC want of confidence motion for a vote good question speaker let's review the premier's actions in this regard she was the one that came to office's premier and asked the honour general to look into the Oakville situation she's the one that called for a select committee this legislature which was rejected by the opposition she was the one who asked the government members to put forward a motion for a government-wide search for relevant documents for the committee yesterday and spent an hour and a half asking answering questions that were posed by the progressive conservatives Mr. Speaker there's a quote that I'd like to share with everyone from Oakville Mayor Rob Burton and he said the following anyone who wishes to criticize the cost of cancelling it would do everybody a favour they would explain how they would have done it differently Mr. Speaker I couldn't put it better than Mayor Burton Mr. Speaker thank you very much again to the premier that was a pathetic response that response might be in fact enough to satisfy the weak and feeble members of the NDP's Toronto caucus but taxpayers in my riding expect better Speaker instead of busying themselves capitulating to NDP extortion the Liberals should be focused on the truth of the gas the member will withdraw they should be focused on getting to the truth of the gas plant scandal but it's clear Speaker this government is determined to play games this one is hide and seek you hide the real cost of the gas plant scandals and force the opposition to seek out the truth and the truth we're finally getting hurts you have lost the moral authority to govern but my question do you have the moral fiber to call the PC confidence motion today delivered Mr. Speaker the honourable member talks about games I'd like to just inform everyone I've just received a note Mr. Speaker the Justice Committee will not be sitting tomorrow and there's a reason why Mr. Speaker because the list of witnesses were all former conservative candidates and not a single one Mr. Speaker is going to show up not a single one is going to show up and discuss the costing the analysis that was done by the progressive conservative party about the promises that they made at the door in media through news releases in the Twitterverse on YouTube through Lobo calls why their leader stood up and said done, done, done they were available that day Mr. Speaker to stand beside the leader but they're not available tomorrow Mr. Speaker to answer some questions of the Justice Committee thank you Mr. Speaker my question is to the Premier the Chichiman ferry is a crucial link between Tobomori and South Bay Mount on Manitoulin Island crucial to businesses, tourists and students it contributes 25 million a year to local economies and transports over 200,000 passengers a year it's supposed to open up for summer on Friday but it won't because the Ontario Government and the federal government refuse to take responsibility for dock repairs needed to address low water levels the own sound transportation company has been raising concerns about the threat of low water levels for over a year the cost of repairs is less than $20,000 and the benefits are in a tens of millions when will the Ontario Government stop trying to find ways to avoid its shared responsibility for the ferry and start playing a constructive role in getting the ferry running now before local economies and businesses are devastated it's Northern Development in Mines Minister of Northern Development in Mines thanks so much Mr. Speaker and this is a very serious situation certainly one that we are determined I appreciate the question the fact is the current low water levels of Lake Huron are putting the Chisholmong Ferry to position where it cannot safely dock at the wharves the work that needs to get done is immediate work the wharves are owned and operated by Transport Canada we have a legal agreement we have a legal agreement with them to maintain that I had a discussion yesterday with the federal minister who is at this stage not prepared to do that we're going to keep the pressure on let me say this and I am able to speak we recognize the importance in terms of tourism and the economy we are prepared to find a solution the work needs to get done and I am determined to see that work does get done so the Chisholmong can operate as soon as possible the member from Kimmins James Bay on the point of order thank you very much Mr. Speaker just for the record the reason the committee is not meeting tomorrow according to the clerk it's not a point of order the member from Willowdale guests mother Fay Penn and Aunt Diane Penn are here to observe Katrina Penn we welcome them to the house this no deferred votes this house stands recessed until 3pm this afternoon