 Now it's time for Question Period, the leader of Her Majesty's Royal Opposition. Thanks, Speaker. Question for the Premier. Premier, the current law requires you to produce a detailed financial report about the province's books before an election campaign. Finances, expenses, the debt, growth projections. But there is a loophole in that law that, as it's written in a minority situation, so if there's an election next quarter, that report would not come before the taxpayers of province of Ontario. Premier, you said you want to be open and transparent. I don't think you meant that ironically. So will you be good to your word and actually support Closet Loophole? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I love it when the opposition has an epiphany, Mr. Speaker. In 2003, we introduced the Financial Transparency and Accountability Act. It's one of the first pieces of legislation that we introduced, Mr. Speaker. And as it happens, the Conservatives voted against that. People have the information as we go into an election. We put that in place, Mr. Speaker, to address a $5.6 billion deficit that had not been revealed before the election, Mr. Speaker. So we believe that it was very necessary that we have that piece of legislation in place. And I have said repeatedly, since that day forward, that we are committed to that kind of openness and transparency, Mr. Speaker. So we're very glad that the leader of the opposition has seen the light on this, Mr. Speaker. Well, I guess that's the answer I expected. I was hoping for a clear yes, though, Premier. You know, I hope that you're not wiggling here. No, we're going to start right off the bat. Stop. I'll go into individual writings now. Leader? I hope you're not trying to wiggle off the hook here with some misdirection. I hope you give me a straight up answer on this. So basically, this would be a financial report that the Auditor General would sign off on. So during the election campaign, potentially in the spring, that taxpayers would know the true state of the book signed off of the Auditor General. When you crafted your legislation, you cleverly left in a loophole that gets you off the hook. I want to commend the member for Halliburton Court of Lakes, Brock and Laurie Scott, who's caught you on this, and she's brought for the members' bill that will be debated on Thursday. So a very simple question to you, Premier, is will you and the Liberal Caucus support Laurie Scott's bill and close the Liberal Liberal Caucus? Mr. Speaker, please. Thank you. Premier? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Well, we have said all along, Mr. Speaker, that we'll continue to look for new and important ways to provide more transparency and openness. As with all private member's bills, Mr. Speaker, we'll listen to the debate. I haven't seen the legislation. I don't know exactly what it encompasses. I look forward to the debate. But Mr. Speaker, I would just ask the Leader of the Opposition to remember that it was our government that introduced the legislation in the first place. We brought in the legislation because there was a $5.6 billion deficit that had been hidden from the people of Ontario when we came into office in 2003. So of course, Mr. Speaker, we're going to look for new ways. We're happy to have passed legislation to bring in the financial accountability officer, Mr. Speaker. We're the first provincial government in Ontario to have that oversight measure. Of course, we'll be looking for new ways to be transparent, look forward to the debate on the private member's bill. Well, the Premier is pretty straightforward. If you're looking for new ways to ensure transparency, it's kind of you're staring right in the face, two desks behind you. I've already started. She would close a liberal loophole and she would compel the Finance Minister then to put the true state of the books before the province in an election campaign and the Auditor General would sign off on it. I mean, what's wrong with that? I don't understand why you're resisting closing the liberal loophole here. You know, Premier, that when Don Drummond looked at your books, he discovered that you're actually heading towards a $30 billion deficit. That you're taking the province to tripling our provincial debt. So we don't really believe... We're going to take with us a few grains of salt. What the Finance Minister says? We actually want to see the Auditor General sign off on the books before a spring election campaign. Will you close the loophole? Can you see it, please? Thank you, Premier. The Auditor General discovered that we're the only government that has in fact reduced spending year over year. Mr. Speaker, we haven't looked at what the legislation, actually what the implications would be, but we introduced the legislation in the first place, Mr. Speaker. We said that it was important that before an election people in the province know what is in the province's books and we did that, Mr. Speaker, because there was a $5.6 billion deficit that had been hidden before the previous... When the previous government was in office before the 2003 election, Mr. Speaker, we said that shouldn't happen again. So, of course, we're willing to work with the private members bill. We look forward to the debate and I'm glad that the leader of the opposition finally sees that this is an important path to be on. Mr. Speaker, do you see it, please? Do you see it, please? New question, leader of the opposition. Back to the Premier's speaker. I'm not sure while the Premier is dancing around and avoiding answering a simple yes or no question. She says maybe she's not been briefed on the bill. If you are, we hope we get an answer as soon as possible because clearly, I don't know how many can argue with this. It closes a liberal loophole. It would force the finance minister to put the true state of the books before the province and sign up for the Auditor General. It seems very straightforward. I don't know why they're resisting on this, Mr. Speaker. Well, maybe I have one idea, I guess. Your economic statement that you put out two weeks ago, as Vic Fidelli pointed out in his Fidelli Focus on Finance, your medium term outlook numbers are absent. You don't actually show how you get to a balanced budget. This stuff is actually a pleasure reading for me, Speaker. I actually enjoy reading these reports. Question. But those totally blank the pages that show what you're going to do for spending in the medium term. You rip those pages out. I'm not saying the ending of the story and ripping out all the chapters. So why are you not in information? What are you keeping from the public? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So as forward to the debate on the private members bill, Mr. Speaker, unlike the leader of the opposition who will vote against a budget before he has read it, Mr. Speaker, I am not debate, Mr. Speaker. I believe that this place works best when we have the opportunity to hear people's perspectives and to hear what the implications of legislation would be, just as I believe that it's important to read a budget before you decide whether you're going to vote against it or not. So we're going to read the legislation. We're going to listen to the debate, Mr. Speaker. We're going to look at the implications, but I would just say that we brought in legislation in order to deal with the issues around transparency. We did that when we were first elected because of a deficit that had been hidden, Mr. Speaker. We are consistently looking for new ways to be transparent and look forward to the debate on this private members bill. So, the ministry... Well, respectfully, Premier, this legislation was cabled two weeks ago. I would fully expect that you'd be briefed on it. Your finance minister surely is aware of this bill and I imagine it's got to be 100% supportive. I don't see how you can argue with it. And if you do agree with Lori Scott's bill because we are 100% behind that bill, the closed the liberal loophole. I would also then produce what's missing for the financial economic statement. It puzzles me what you're trying to hide. I mean, my background is in economics. That's what gives me this scintillating personality and charming sense of humor. But I actually do read these six. And imagine my disappointment when that outlook was missing for your financial economic statement. It makes me wonder, number one, is a deficit even worse than you say? Are you going to raise taxes, number two? You have no clue whatsoever how to get into the whole thing if Dougie said... Thank you, Premier. Passing strange at the member opposite and all of his friends there are talking about transparency and accountability. Transparency and accountability that this government has brought to this house well before they decided to flirt with the idea. In fact, Mr. Speaker, if they read the budget from pages 143 to 148, we spoke at length about the new measures of accountability including post-secondary education, child welfare, community-based mental health, consumer agencies, tax credit system, and, of course, the introduction of a financial accountability officer which would have the powers well beyond that being brought forward by the private member's bill. They, sir, voted against those very measures and now they decide that they want to come forward with amendments to a measure that they never even read, Mr. Speaker. We will continue to do our part bring that transparency and accountability to this house. Final supplementary? The finance minister says that there's a new level of transparency. Well, I look forward to seeing what the OPP has to say after they investigate their office. I don't think that's going to scandal. But two OPP investigations. That takes some doing. But I'll ask the finance minister there because I know he's been briefed on this. He's been on the top of his files. It was tabled two weeks ago. And I know someday soon he's going to be moving beyond talking points and actually proving that he's got this file under control. So I'll ask him if it doesn't get as for the premier. Will you agree to Lori Scott's bill? Will you close the liberal loophole? Will you put before the people of Ontario the true state of the finances signed up by the Auditor General in time for his spring election campaign? I want to hear your thoughts so that it can wrap back up again. Carry on, please. Mr. Speaker, the province of Ontario, this government is the first government and the first province in Canada to introduce a financial accountability officer to maintain integrity in our numbers. We introduced interim reports illustrating that we cut spending even again last quarter. The Auditor General has audited our measures to reduce spending as well as control of spending for the last four years running. We recognize the challenges before us. We recognize that the world market has continued to slow and yet Ontario has consistently exceeded its targets because of the measures and the directions that we have taken. We'll continue to do that. We'll continue to do what's necessary for Ontario's and for growing our economy. I say to the member opposite who stood in this house in 2003 before the $5.6 billion hidden deficit, he said this. I quote the provincial budget ... You're not going to get to say it. No questions. We're going to go third party. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you, Speaker. The next question is for the Premier. Over three years ago New Democrats proposed targeted tax credits to reward companies when they put people to work in the province of Ontario. Now thousands of job losses later the government has committed to studying the idea. How many more jobs will be lost while the government does that, Speaker? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Well, I think the leader of the third party knows that we are putting in place measures that will invest in people and will invest in infrastructure and will create an environment that will allow businesses to thrive. So, Mr. Speaker, we have said there is a series of tax credits in place that have supported business and we need to look at those. We need to make sure that the business tax credits that are in place are working, Mr. Speaker, and that they are having the desired effect of making sure that we look at those. You know, I think that the notion that somehow there shouldn't be those kinds of supports does not make sense, Mr. Speaker, and so we're looking at them to make sure that the ones that are there are actually having the desired effect of creating jobs. Before the last budget the government also said they would take action to close new corporate tax loopholes that will hand Ontario's biggest businesses not when they create jobs, mind you, but when they wind and dine clients or buy box seats at the sky dome. Has the government closed that loophole, Speaker? So, I know that the Minister of Finance has spoken to this a number of times and is working with the federal government on some of the specifics, Mr. Speaker, but I think the bottom line is that we need to make sure that we have the right supports in place for business, including the supports that would help small business with their payroll tax, Mr. Speaker, which is why we want to get the Small Business Act passed because we want to make sure that the right supports are there so that businesses can expand, Mr. Speaker, and at the same time make sure that we put the supports for young people in place and it's very heartening that the post-secondary institutions today are going to be talking to members about what they are doing to work with young people and make sure that the supports and the programs that the universities are preparing young people for the jobs that are available because we know we've got jobs and we know that we've got young people who are looking for those jobs. We need to make sure that those are linked together, Mr. Speaker. Final supplementary. Well, Speaker, what the Premier may not realize is that for people losing jobs this is pretty concerning stuff. The Liberal government plows forward with an HST giveaway that rewards companies for hitting the town, but for some reason it needs to hold more conversation and more consultation before she moves forward with proven tools that have helped provinces like Manitoba become the shining star of Canada's recovery. Can the Premier explain why proven tax measures go to the back of the line, while tax measures that help well-connected insiders and cost-entarians billions and billions of dollars are the Premier's top priorities? So thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In that exchange, the leader of the third party would explain why she's not going to work with us to get the Small Business Act passed, Mr. Speaker, because that will actually help small businesses with their payroll taxes and it would actually help 60,000 small businesses in Ontario, Mr. Speaker. So I hope that when the leader of the third party talks about targeted tax measures, Mr. Speaker, that she would work with us on that one because I agree with her, Mr. Speaker, that we need to work with the Federal Government on some of the issues that the Minister of Finance has raised and is in conversation with the Federal Government. But there are issues before this house, Mr. Speaker, like the Small Business Act on which we could use the support of the NDP and make sure that that gets passed and we give those supports to our small businesses in the province, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. New question, leader of the third party. Mr. Speaker, I just stopped playing political game speaker and things have moved forward a lot more cleanly. In communities across Ontario, people rely on gaming to provide good jobs are wondering what the government's plan is doing to their industry. Last year, the government plowed ahead with a plan to bring new private casinos to cities like Toronto and push aside horse racing and the people who rely on it. Now, the people of Toronto and people in communities across Ontario, in fact, have said they don't want a casino and even the premiers admitted that she doesn't believe that little liberals got the horse racing initiative right. What's the government's plan now, Speaker? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of issues in that question so I'm going to talk about what is happening, which is we have been very clear that the integration of horse racing into the gaming plan overall is very important and in fact it's part of that five-year plan going forward. We're investing $400 million in the horse racing industry to introduce stability into the horse racing industry. There is a sustainable future for horse racing in the province, Mr. Speaker, which really was not in place when I took this office. So the reality of having the integration of horse racing into the overall gaming strategy has happened, Mr. Speaker. That's part of the plan. In terms of municipalities' ability to choose whether to have a casino or not, Mr. Speaker, that has always happened. Well, Speaker, here's the reality. The government's plan to push new private casinos isn't working and it's putting communities that rely on gaming, like Niagara Falls and Fort Erie, for example, at economic risk. The premier has admitted that the liberal government didn't get this right. Why is the government upping the ante on a hand that everyone knows is a loser? Mr. Speaker, I think what is a strategy that is going to allow the horse racing industry, the gaming industry, to work together to make sure that this industry overall is able to be responsible and sustainable, Mr. Speaker. There are obviously issues around problem gambling that have to be addressed, Mr. Speaker. There are issues around some communities wanting to have casinos and others not, but that is why it's important that we have a strategy so that horse racing can be part of the overall strategy. It's why, Mr. Speaker, there's a new board at OLG. It's why we've got a new strategy in place to make investments over the next five years and to make sure that the horse racing industry is attached to gaming so that we can make decisions that are rational for communities and for the whole industry. Thank you. Final supplementary. Speaker, the net result of this OLG privatisation scheme is that rural families across Ontario have been thrown into chaos and regions like Niagara who have already been hit hard by job loss feel like they're being clobbered by their own government. The government could have addressed problems in the slots at race track program, but instead they chose to put private casinos' interests ahead of tens of thousands of rural families. The Premier isn't going to be a good person. The Ontarioans are calling her bluff. Will she reinstate the thoughts at race tracks profit sharing program until we can reach a sustainable solution? Thank you. Let me just get this straight. The leader of the third party wants to reinstate a program that was bad policy that was not transparent and was not providing a sustainable and open process and open program in horse racing. Repeated reports looked at that, Mr Speaker. Back to 2008, there was a report that said this is not a program that is transparent. It is not clear how it can work in a way that is fair across the system, Mr Speaker. So that's the program that the leader of the third party wants to put back in place. Well, we're not going to do that. We're going to go and make it visible for the future. That's going to be sustainable, that's going to provide a future for horse racing and it's going to be integrated with gaming across the province. That's the plan we've got. See you in a minute. New question. The member from Palo Burton, Corintholite. My question is for the Premier. up government to new possibilities. In this letter you state to the Ontario people that I quote, our open government initiative will help create the transparent accessible government that the people of Ontario deserve. Two weeks ago I introduced my private members bill the fiscal transparency and accountability amendment act pre-election responses which will put you put into legislation that the government must release a pre-election financial report no later than 30 days after the minister moves the budget motion in the year or within seven days after RIT is dropped for a non-fixed election. I'm doing your work for you will you support my bill and let voters know our financial situation before they go to the office. Mr. Speaker I come for looking at the legislation that we brought in when we came into Ottawa. We're looking we're interested in hearing the debate Mr. Speaker. So we look forward to the debate and as I said earlier unlike the party office it we're going to read the legislation and listen to the debate before we make that decision Mr. Speaker but we look forward to that debate. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Well I did bring in the bill two weeks ago you know your claim your government how accountable it is this could be a major plus for your government I'm giving you an opportunity but let me list your history in transparency billion-dollar gas plant scandals your ministry of health is rife with scandals orange e-health there's two OPP investigations going on that's your record of transparency so I'm giving you a chance to support a bill that would provide transparency and tell the people of Ontario the state of the provinces finances before they go to the polls will you come back on Thursday for private members bill and support this bill which will help all. Mr. Speaker I can I appreciate the member opposites private members bill and her contribution to this debate and I can appreciate why you're doing it because the premier of the day in 2003 said this we are not running a deficit the finance minister of the day said we are pleased that we have a fifth consecutive balanced budget. Tim Hudak the member of the cabinet he said this the provincial budget has been balanced I appreciate why you don't trust the members on your side of the house we will do our part we have introduced a financial accountability officer we have our statements audited we are presenting our books in advance and we'll continue to do so thank you it is order it's very difficult to ask for order when the answer is being given and I'm hearing more noise from the side that's giving the answer and for those that are heckling on the other side it balances off so that no one can hear so I'd appreciate a little refrain new question the member from nickel belt thank you mr. Speaker to the minister of health and long-term care yesterday we learned that the tragic death of four orange employees last May and Mussoni was as a result of organizations failure when it comes to safety and training this revelation is deeply distressing especially given the fact that orange has been under the microscope for microscope for such a long time and the government has assured us time and time again that all is good at orange now can the minister explain to ontarian how things could have gone so wrong yet again there is no question that the terrible tragedy of the helicopter crash on May 31st was devastating both personally and for the orange organization they have taken action speaker they have responded already to many of the recommendations made by HRS DC and I know that they are continuing to work with HRS DC to ensure that all of the directions are in fact implemented I think it's fair to say speaker that under the new leadership at orange Dr. Andy McCallum and his board and his senior leadership team have put the highest priority on patient safety and on safety of their employees speaker so I think it would be important to note answer steps that have already been taken and I look forward to the supplementary where I will go over some of those reforms speak you thank you Mr. Speaker well too many aspects of what went wrong in moussine on May 31st seems like a carried over from the minister's failures to oversee orange months months before the crash the safety officer in moussine warned about the risk of green pilots and night flights but tragically this whistleblower like many like him before seem to have been ignored and as a result four people lost their lives and three beautiful children in my writings are without their dads this government can talk a good game about oversight but if it does not include basic safety standard it's for none will the minister admit that she has yet again failed ontarians member from nickel belt she has indeed set herself that you give us confidence speaking to the people at orange you give us confidence that strong elements of oversight are now there you guys are part of this your job overseas you know how to do your job you're dedicated to it it brings results things have changed for the good of the people of ontario that was in May speaker and I believe that the member opposite was correct in her observation so some of the steps that have been taken speaker since May 31st additional training for helicopter pilots including controlled flight into terrain they've they've revised their operating procedures for night operations including operations into black hole sites they're installing lighting pads at 91 helipads across the province including the north to assist pilots landing at night there are other speaker I will tell you I'm I out of time okay thank you thank you very much mr. speaker my question is for the Minister of Children and Youth Services we're all aware of the challenges faced by crown wards it can be very difficult growing up in these circumstances in my community there are many parents who like to build families through adoption adoption provides a great way for crown wards to find permanent loving homes unfortunately the adoption process can be very time-consuming and stressful for families minister can you tell us what our government is doing to make the adoption process easier so more families consider adoption when building a family thank you mr. children you services thank you mr. speaker and thank you the member from brampton west for his question as I said earlier November is adoption awareness month and welcome to the adoption Council of Ontario that are here today we've course one Ontario to be the best place in Canada for families this includes increasing the number of children growing up in permanent homes through adoption and legal custody through reforms and regulatory changes we have improved the adoption process for families in Ontario we've removed barriers to adoption and made it easier for prospective parents to adopt a child provide permanent homes for chill for more crown wards and prepare youth for adulthood I would encourage all families looking to adopt to visit the MCYS website the website provides helpful tips and advice on how to navigate our adoption system we will continue to help families would like to adopt and assist more children join safe loving and permanent families supplementary thank you very much minister I'm glad to see that we've taken action to improve the adoption process in Ontario and that through legislative changes we're helping families and youth throughout the province I'm hopeful that families will take advantage of the helpful advice posted on the ministry's website speaker another thing I hear from my community is that many older crown wards are passed over for adoption it's important that we help these youth find permanent homes of their own it's my understanding that a barrier to their adoption is that the process can be quite costly for prospective families minister what's our government doing to encourage the adoption of older crown wards thank you minister thank you again for the supplementary and we recognize as well that there are often challenges to placing older children and siblings in permanent homes one of the factors that was just raised is costs associated with adoption that's why we took action to help these youth by making adoption easier for prospective families last year we introduced an adoption subsidy for families who adopt children over the age of 10 the subsidy provides financial support of 11,400 per year per child the subsidy offers great assistance to families who would like to adopt but face financial barriers through this subsidy 110 children have already found permanent homes and it's expected that by the end of the year 150 more children will be adopted these changes speakers improve the lives of children in care and ensure that more children are placed in safe loving and permanent homes and more importantly families your question the absence then to the minister of health minister I think you agree with me that the people of South Niagara deserve a modern state of the art hospital you appointed Kevin Smith to be the supervisor in our health system I don't often agree with all of your decisions but I think Kevin Smith has done a terrific job and as you know he pointed out that a South Niagara hospital as opposed to maintaining the four existing sites would save the taxpayer $285 million in capital and then you'd have a $10 million savings and operating from lower admin expenses that you could put to attracting more nurses and more specialists I think all of us agree that this is the way to go the next step as you know minister is a planning grant to allow the folks at the Niagara Health System to then decide where the services are going to go and how they're going to build that new hospital I ask you minister will you green like this will you grant me authority and give them the planning grant to go the next step well speaker I'd like to thank the member opposite for acknowledging the extraordinarily fine work that dr. Kevin Smith has done at the Niagara Health System is as he well knows there was a difficult challenge when dr. Smith was appointed supervisor but I think there is an overwhelmingly strong consensus that he has done a great job and really put that hospital on a much stronger footing the member opposite does raise the issue of a of a capital request for a new hospital in south Niagara it is something speaker that we are looking at carefully it of course does come with with the closure of other hospitals as dr. Smith said we would close five hospitals to build one new one that is not an easy decision for a community to make speaker I think I'd like some clarity from the member opposite whether he in fact would support that plan as described by dr. Smith I think it was very clear about that actually I said you should carry out dr. Smith's recommendations and do it do it now this was not like about this it actually saves money it actually means that you have savings you could put towards attracting new north's nurses or run off their feet today so what's not to like this proposal save taxpayers money and it raises the bar when it comes to standards I will cost you to ignore the NDP's approach initially they wanted the site to be in Welland and then there's a by-election so they said well we also want to be in Niagara Falls they said well keep them all open they want to have a cake in it to nobody takes that NDP way seriously I think dr. Smith has made the right recommendation so the question is the planning grant is the next step you did authorize that for the well sorry for Windsor in a similar situation they consolidated the Windsor from two sites down to one under the cases in Niagara so I don't know why you did it for a question but you're not doing it for Niagara so I'll ask you will you say yes to the planning grant to allow the work to happen you want to see that new hospital at the Lion's Peak Road thank you speakers I say I am delighted with the conversion of the leader of the opposition infrastructure investing in hospitals is the right thing to do you will recall recall just a year ago speaker a year and a bit ago and our budget included the plans for before building new hospitals the leader of the opposition for against that many of them in communities represented by members of his own party so I'm delighted he's changed his mind I'm delighted that he sees that capital at inverse infrastructure building and hospital building hospitals investing in that infrastructure is the right thing to be doing speaker so we're continuing to build new hospitals we think it's the right thing to do here and we're looking very carefully at this particular project to new question my question is to the minister responsible for the accessibility for Ontarians Act since December of last year the government has known that 70% of Ontario's private companies are not complying with the AODA reporting requirements to make matters worse speaker this information was only discovered after the AODA Alliance spent months battling with this government to release this compliance data information that should always have been publicly available the minister tells us now that he is quotes unquotes upset about the lack of compliance but can he explain to Ontarians why his government's lack of enforcement had to show up in the Toronto Star for him to finally promise action thank you mr. Speaker and I appreciate the question as I spoke to this yesterday I want to repeat that the compliance levels by businesses that have more than 20 employees required to file by December 31st of last year and that percentage is unacceptably low only 30% of the businesses in this province have complied so since becoming minister I've taken this issue extremely seriously during my tenure as minister and minister responsible for the AODA we have doubled the number of businesses that now are complying in September I asked the ministry and they sent out more than 50,000 letters 2,500 enforcement letters are going out this week mr. Speaker this is an issue that I take very seriously to some extent unfortunately I have to admit that the AODA legislation itself as was passed unanimously by this legislature the mechanism for enforcement is in some respects cumbersome in terms of the process that we have to follow answer and for that reason we are following the process as outlined in the law but I am working on this vigorously and I I intend to go as full as we need to get full compliance Speaker this 2005 legislation is an essential tool for ensuring equal access for persons with disabilities in Ontario but it can only be effective if the standards are enforced which is up to this government even more outrageous the government earmarked 24 million to enforce the act but they never bothered to spend any of it instead of platitudes and empty promises can the minister provide Ontarians with a concrete time like actually what you're going to do for enforcing the AODA finally I think it's important there are two issues that I want to reference first of all we didn't have an opportunity to enforce on the customer service standard until this year so the requirement for businesses to comply with December the 31st so since that time since the beginning of this year we have sent out two letters to all the businesses across the province 50 more than 50,000 in September alone I'm following up with 2,500 enforcement letters and with regards to and we also have a marketing plan that we're launching as well and I want to say because this is important on the positive side as well many businesses have complied but the entire Ontario public service and the the agencies that this government responsible for we have 100% compliance for this act as well for this standard so we are working on this and I'm prepared if necessary to issue further enforcement letters including fines until businesses comply thank you thank you speaker my question is for the minister of training colleges and universities the honorable Brad do good speaker as the MPP for Tobacco North I have many college-aged students who attend of course various institutions many of whom are seeking quality training in French I've also noticed that many Francophone students travel far and wide for the great opportunities available at GTA colleges when choosing an area for higher study Francophone students across the province deserve fair and equitable access to quality post secondary education such students should be able to choose to study in the area of interest and rest assured that the above options its speaker unfortunately still to this day they are often limited in those very choices speaker can the minister please tell the house what the government is doing to create more opportunities for post-secondary students wishing to study in French thank you minister training college universities thank you very much for your question students have better access to French language programs is a key priority for our government on October 24th mr. speaker our government announced an action plan to increase access to French language post-secondary education particularly services in central and southwestern Ontario will be committing 16.5 million dollars to help universities in college expand their French language programs including expansions that are already underway at York University's Glendon College College Borrell and the city take a collegial we've also expanded distance grants for students but mr. speaker I'd like to take a moment and acknowledge the work of our minister of Francophone affairs she's been a passionate champion to announce these initiatives but it's a minister of Francophone affairs who's really championed them within our government she's the one that there's deserves the credit thank you thank you mr. speaker I'm very happy that the government is going to have a post-secondary education in French more accessible so the post-secondary students in my constituency says that the amount the amounts given will allow them to have more programs in French in law commerce public relations journalism and biology to name a few mr. speaker the minister could he tell us what this plan is going to mean for the francophone community in Ontario. Mr. of Francophone affairs mr. speaker thank you mr. speaker thank you for the the minister thank you for the member of itabico no and this plan is very important since before 2020 there are francophones going to live in south and central Ontario so we are going to increase programs with the several million dollars increase we are going to create a legislative committee that's going to start in the next few months before spring 2014 and we are going to see if Glendon can play a more important role and we're also discussing with York University to talk about the governments in college and York University will ask to be designated under the francophone affairs. My question is to the acting premier last week in an unprecedented event the elite anti-racket squad of the OPP took an after-hours tour of the premier's office it was described as a crime scene because some in this government destroyed documents so no one would find out about the one point one billion dollar scandal we have asked for a debate and a vote on a non-confidence motion and we have asked for a judicial inquiry into this one point one billion dollar scandal the liberal government has refused on both occasions with the acting premier please explain to this house why she thinks the premier can maintain the confidence of the people of Ontario now that the OPP have directly been engaged in her office well speaker I think that our premier has done an extraordinary job from the moment she became premier of this province speaker she indicated that she would be open and she would transparent she would continue to cooperate fully in any effort to gather information she wrote to the auditor general she restruct the committee she provided 186,000 pages including 30,000 from the premier's office the committee heard from 70 witnesses during a hundred more than a hundred all documents were released the opposition voted against that strangely enough the the premier appeared at the committee in April she's coming back on December the 3rd she's accepted responsibility as a member of cabinet speaker I think our premier has done everything possible to make sure people get the information they need thank you back to the acting premier does this sound transparent to you your government broke the law your government told this house on several occasions the cancellation was only 40 million dollars when instead you knew for as many as two years it was over 700 million dollars you obstructed the information and privacy commissioner and they have destroyed official government documents speaker at what point does that go deputy premier a government house leader speaker the members should be very very careful I think with with her language but you know mr. Speaker there's there's a broader issue here and that is that she can't ignore the fact as she tries to day after day that it was a progressive conservative party mr. Speaker that went from door to door in those writings involved with the gas plan and said the only way to see them cancel was to vote for the progressive conservative it was the leader of her party who stood up at a press conference which is available on YouTube and said that if he was elected premier that the gas plan would be done done done mr. Speaker it was their party that went into the last election promising through robo calls through press releases through tweets through door to door pamphlets that the only way to get rid of the gas plants was to have them form the government it's time they came clean when their analysis with their costing new question from London West thank you speaker my question is to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services speaker earlier this month we learned of the death of Adam Cargis of the Elgin Middlesex Detention Center after he was housed with another inmate with a long history of violence in addition to specific issues of overcrowding and lack of direct supervision at EMDC this tragedy also shows the ineffectiveness of the province-wide offender tracking information system and letting correctional officers know about inmates with previous records of assaults or gang activity when is the government going to take real action to ensure officer and inmate safety across all of Ontario's correctional facilities for the question I think it's a very important question as you know mr. Speaker a safety of both the inmates and the correctional officer is my number one priority we focus strongly on communication between our correctional facility and the justice system we have a centralized database offender tracking information system inmates demeanor and threat level are on Otis this and formation system accessed by administrator by facility transfer we have procedure standing order for sharing inmate and formation correctional officer are trained for this and formation is shared with staff including criminal and behavior history and formation is shared also with staff verbally and electronically correctional officer expected to familiarize themselves with inmates situation and share any update during thank you thank you supplementary thank you speaker again to the minister of community safety and correctional services speaker I think it would be helpful for the minister to actually talk to correctional officers herself they know that a provincial database is only as good as the information it contains and how widely it is shared there has been no auditing of the database to ensure accuracy there are no processes in place to provide consistent access across institutions and despite what the ministry claims there are no mechanisms for staff to raise concerns when will the minister accept her responsibility for oversight and put systems in place to make sure that the offender tracking information system is doing what it is supposed to do thank you mr. Speaker for the for the question as I said you know health and safety of the boat the correctional officer and the inmate are my number one priority mr. Speaker this system the Otis and formation system is constantly reviewed that that review is part of our continuous improvement process the process include a weekly report of employee concern related to the system so we are taking the complaint and we are addressing the complaint Otis was audited this past year from technological perspective and the probation and parole officer as well as approved designated staff who have a business reason to access the offenders record can use that base for this purpose so mr. Speaker we take it very seriously it's continuously review and if the correctional officer have concern about it I advise them to bring the concern to the management thank you thank you speaker my questions for the the minister of energy and minister in 2003 all three political parties and all three political leaders committed to closing all coal-fired energy in Ontario and two of the five plants producing energy that way we're in my riding of Thunder Bay out of coconut for 10 years I've been working on the conversion the maintenance and the sustainability of both of the coal plants in my riding including the plant in out of coconut that conversion I'm pleased to say is well under the way under way over the next decade there's the potential for a number of mining projects to come on stream in northwestern Ontario and while there continues to be disagreement over the energy needs of northwestern Ontario in the next five to ten years we need to ensure that Thunder Bay in northwestern Ontario our position for the economic growth and job creation these projects may bring speaker last Friday I was pleased to announce along with my colleague from Thunder Bay superior north that the Thunder Bay generating station will be converted to burn advanced biomass fuel minister the benefit of the house could you please share some of the work that went into ensuring the future of the Thunder Bay generating station thank you mr. energy speaker I thank the member from Thunder Bay out of coconut for his question and the member and his colleague the minister of Northern Development of Mines have been advocating on this issue for many years unlike the third party who only seemed to have discovered it yesterday and I want to commend them for their work on this file Friday's announcement was the result of the members strong leadership over the past ten years as well as out of his colleague from Thunder Bay and months of working with the local stakeholders and residents and Ontario's energy agencies the conversion to advanced biomass is another step in reducing dirty cold burning in Ontario and puts our province on the leading edge of worldwide biomass research and the continued operation of this plant will ensure that Thunder Bay has the power it needs to support future action supplementary thank you speaker miss minister thank you for the response having worked on this issue for 10 years I know how important Friday's announcement was for the constituents in my riding and for the future of Northwestern Ontario not only will this cost effective conversion to advance biomass ensure that Thunder Bay has the supply of clean and reliable electricity it needs it will secure significant employment until at least 2020 with the Thunder Bay and Attico can generating station conversions now in place I feel we're well positioned to move forward and prepared for the mining expansion that may come in the Northwest the five-year contract will allow us to monitor the region's energy demands over the near term and make the appropriate decision at that time can the minister please update the house on what other steps our government has taken to ensure Northwestern Ontario has a supply of clean reliable and affordable electricity thank you Mr. Speaker the chair Ian Angus of the Northwest Energy Task Force states and I quote five years is really good a commitment to keep this plant alive is really good mr. Speaker we expect the converted unit will begin operating in 2015 on a five-year contract helping ensure the residents of Thunder Bay continue to have a clean reliable cost effective supply of electricity great news to ensure the region has the energy it needs for new mining projects we have also committed to building a new transmission line between Wawa and Thunder Bay which will provide an additional 650 megawatts of capacity for the Northwest and the north of Dryden report lays out additional options for new generation and transmission lines over the short and long term including the connection of remote communities in the region mr. Speaker our government has taken action to ensure that Northwestern Ontario has the energy they need when they need it and will continue to work to ensure the capacity is there for mining developments in the future new question the member from new market or speaker the minister has been boasting about a new management team at orange since January of 2012 one would have expected that a competent and experienced management team would have at least ensured that the minister of the environment come to a federal safety regulations would be met by that organization but we find this week that a human resources Canada report cited that orange failed to comply in six specific areas including failing to adequately train pilots on the hazards associated with operating helicopters in northern Ontario especially when flying for nighttime emergencies speaker this is the current management team I want to know from the minister how much more evidence does she need to conclude that orange does not have the core competency to manage an aviation business and will she agree to transfer that to the minister of health long-term care the speaker interesting to hear the recommendation from the member opposite no we will not be transferring orange to a private sector operator speaker the improvements at orange have been significant and tangible and real and they have been working with HR SDC to ensure that they fully comply with the directions made by HR SDC speaker they have already moved on a number of fronts I will go over them again additional training for helicopter pilots including control flight into terrain the revised up revised operating procedures for night operations including operations into black hole sights answer they're installing solar lighting pads at 91 helipads including in the north to assist pilots landing at night speaker they're auditing all training thank you you elementary speaker how much longer will this minister put pilots and paramedics and patients at risk it is very clear not only the HR DC report but there were two transport Canada reports issued earlier this year that show non-compliance in a number of areas specifically with regard to pilot training training pilots on simulators in a model that is different from the model they're being asked to fly not training pilots in terms of de-icing fundamental issues that any company with the experience and competency and aviation would know it shouldn't take a report to point out the shortcomings of the management at orange this minister intent on keeping the master scheme in place continues to put pilots and paramedics and patients at risk when will you agree to finally settle on making the important changes there rather than perpetuating a master scheme that's my question will she take the necessary thank you minister of health long-term care the speaker if the member opposite actually would take off his ideological blinkers and look at what's actually happening he would see that that change is well underway speaker I'm going to continue with some of the changes that have been made since May 31 speaker there they're hiring flight operations quality assurance inspectors and a manager of flight training and standards they're auditing all training records to identify and address any training needs for staff they're ensuring that all helicopters have advanced avionics in their fleet speaker these steps that are being taken will will continue to improve the quality of care but the people at orange are doing excellent work speaker answer they transferred transferred 32 patients four little children got to the health care they needed thanks to the good work of the people at orange thank you new question and we're from Camaro Rainier River thank you to the minister of transportation last weekend much later than usual the Northwest finally received its first dump of snow and the contractors should have been prepared despite MTO assurances that the ministry has increased contractors budgets by 16% and that will put new equipment on the roads conditions were as bad as ever in the Northwest highways closed accidents increased and the region came to a standstill even the public school boards bus cancellation notice conceded very little clearing had occurred when will the minister get serious about the safety in northwestern Ontario and ensure that northerners can travel safely on the highways of all seasons thank you mr. treasurer mr. speaker we have added 50 crews and vehicles in northeastern and northwestern Ontario alone there are six additional crews on duty now in the canora rainy river area there's more vehicles than ever before there is also a program mr. speaker where we are requiring all contractors to replace all of their vehicles over 10 years at at least 10 percent per year that's well underway it does snow there are icy conditions that come up quickly the other thing that's been added mr. speaker and in canora this is a particular challenge is that we do pre-treat the bridges for icing which is the biggest risk mr. speaker we have the safest roads in north america including the north and giving our weather challenges rather huge I will look at the particular issues in your constituency and if there isn't a response I'll show there is one mr. speaker thank you supplementary thank you speaker you know that that all sounds fine and dandy but I mean the bottom line is that you've reduced these contracts by 22 million dollars the NDP has been forced to compile road reports for the past two years just approved to your ministry that a problem exists I'm hearing things last yesterday my office was flooded I've heard that there's no proactive work being done on roads that the salt doesn't go down when they know that there's going to be an issue last year was the worst here year that we've had in history worth having things like 14 transport pile ups some highways aren't safe to travel for a week after there's very little snow we can't continue the entire region whenever there's a snowfall and that your assurances are not working will you act now to ensure that highways in northwestern Ontario are maintained all year long Mr. Speaker the challenge isn't just snow I was in Sudbury earlier this week with the MPP from Sudbury and it was a perfectly bone dry day and we had accidents because cars flipped over no snow nothing visible people didn't perceive it but we had icing on the bridge as mr. Speaker and when we have bad snow it's a problem it's a particular problem in the north because we don't have enough alternate routes which is why this government unlike others passed with no help from the federal government is tweeting those highways answer I do not run the contract but they have more equipment than they ever have before I've been up with the MPP from Al Goma metatoolin I will come to your constituency I will meet with the contractor with you and we'll make sure you get satisfaction thank you member from simple gray on a point of order yes mr. Speaker I seek unanimous consent to move a motion that the order of the house dated November 4th 2013 referring bill 105 an act to amend the employer health tax act to the standing committee on general government be discharged and that bill 105 be referred instead to the standing committee on finance and economic affairs the member has asked for unanimous consent do we agree I heard a note thank you the member from the member from Timmins James Bay on a point of order mr. Speaker I would just say in regards to this particular request that's been put forward by the Honourable House Leader of the opposition the official opposition there's been no discussion about the house leaders the monks the house leaders at this point to deal with this nobody one second speaker one second none of the but none of the parties are opposed to 105 there's a way of moving order please as is the convention that is not the place for me as the speaker that's not a point of order and I know that you've put it on record but that's not my my responsibility and I would I would offer all members to get the house leaders together to have that discussion there are no deferred votes this house stands adjourned until sorry until 3 p.m. this afternoon