 is now there for a time for a question period. The Leader of Her Majesty's Royal Office. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance. Again, as the Liberals always do, they play a shell game. The latest shell game is shifting hydro bills around. We saw it with the clean energy rebate being replaced with the HST rebate, while people's bills still go up. The latest leak plan suggests that costs from your hydro bill will shift to your tax bill. Mr. Speaker, HST, income tax, the fees, the money needs to come from somewhere. Will this government come clean and acknowledge that in their leak plan, taxes are going to go up? They're simply paying a shell game. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I'm very proud to say that we're balanced in the books. I'm proud to say that we've reduced our deficit as of December 1.9 billion dollars two and a half billion in the book plan. We're taking every step necessary to protect the interest of all Ontarians and taxpayers to ensure that we invest in the things that matter for the long term to make us competitive. I just want to remind members, I have to hear questions and answers. And when those kinds of ovations take place and the interjections, it just simply raises the temperature in the house. And I'd appreciate it not happening. And also the responses to those would be helpful not to do that. So let's move the member from Timmins James Bay. I don't need your editorial. Thank you. Being serious here. Supplementary. Mr. Speaker, again, to the minister of finance, rather than answer a question on hydro, the government chooses to cheer their government talking points. So I will once again try to ask a question about hydro. Ontarians are struggling with their hydro bills, and I'd appreciate an answer to a question on hydro. Now, this is the government that includes the global adjustment. This is the government, but for those 30 bad contracts that they're now saying they might look at, they received $1.3 million in donations. So my question is, will the minister of finance come clean and acknowledge this latest leak plan is simply a shell game of shifting funds from the hydro bill to the tax base? Thank you, minister. So, Mr. Speaker, I don't have an opposite. Hasn't produced any plan whatsoever. But what we have done is invested over to $50 to $60 billion in new hydro construction, more transmission facilities, more clean power plants, enabling us to get off dirty coal and ensure we protect our environment. At the same time, Mr. Speaker, we now have greater integrity in the system, which we didn't have when the Conservatives were in power. We had blackouts and lots of brownouts, Mr. Speaker. And we are invested to protect the interests of all Ontarians and ensuring that electricians go down to protect and mitigate those input costs. You see the face? You see the face? Final supplementary. Mr. Speaker, again to the minister of finance, the minister of finance brags that there's less brownouts, but the reality is, the reality is there's more. Since 2012, there's been 275% more power outages. So the system is not more reliable. You signed bad contracts. This government signed bad contracts. They brought in the global adjustment. They have created a mess. And rather than simply give the government talking points, what I'd like is the minister of finance to apologize to the people of Ontario and say he's going to return the donations that the Liberal Party got for these bad contracts. Will the minister of finance at least encourage the Premier to return those donations for those bad contracts? Minister of Energy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to stand and speak to this, of course, Mr. Speaker, because Ontarians do remember those rolling brownouts, Mr. Speaker, and the blackouts and the smog days, Mr. Speaker. Those are a thing of the past, Mr. Speaker, thanks to this government. Fifty billion dollars, Mr. Speaker. We invested in generation and transmission. Minister, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the PCs forget what it was like when they were in government, Mr. Speaker. But you know what, they're desperate to create a problem when there is none, Mr. Speaker. I bet I can stand for 54 minutes. As the comments continue, I will. And as soon as I sit down, if it starts, I stand again. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Pointing to power outages of falling trees and dump trucks hitting lines, Mr. Speaker, we've actually made sure that we've built a system that is reliable, one that we can rely on, Mr. Speaker. And that's what we've seen right across the province with the 50 billion dollars of your time is up supplementary. New question. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Energy. Since I can't get an answer on the liberal donations for these bad contracts, since I can't get an answer. It is never it is never a bad time to stand and withdraw something that you say that shouldn't be said because I couldn't pinpoint who it was. I don't think that that's parliamentary. And I think it's time for us to elevate our game here. Finish your question, please. Mr. Speaker, since I can't get an answer on the massive increase in power outages, let me try a different tack. We all know about Frank Dottori, an absolute legend in the forestry sector. He brought his hydro bill to finance committee. The bill was $12,600, but only $363 was actual electricity. The rest was the liberal global adjustment delivery fees and taxes. So I understand the Minister of Energy is going around saying everything's rosy, everything's fine with hydro. Will the Minister of Energy acknowledge that this is a huge problem for the forestry sector? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We've been working very hard as a government, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that we have a reliable system and a clean system. But when you're looking at the forestry sector, I acknowledge the Minister of Municipal Affairs and the MPP from Thunder Bay, Minister of Northern Development and Mines. They've done a great work, Mr. Speaker, of ensuring that our forestry sector is actually saving money on their electricity bills through the Nair program, Mr. Speaker. The Northern Industrial Electricity rebate program, Mr. Speaker, is saving forestry companies 25 percent, Mr. Speaker, on their energy bills. They have some of the lowest rates, Mr. Speaker, not only in Ontario, not only in Canada, Mr. Speaker, but right across North America. We're seeing a success in this sector, Mr. Speaker. We're going to continue to find ways to help that business, to continue to grow and prosper. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again to the Minister of Energy, the Minister of Energy says they're working hard on hydro and forestry. Stop working hard because we've lost 50 percent of our forestry jobs. Our hydro bills are skyrocketing among the worst in North America. So again, listen to what those in the industry are saying. Frank was asked, was wondering why we're killing jobs in Ontario because of hydro. And in his own words, he said, most jurisdictions use energy costs to promote economic development, not kill jobs, which is what we're doing in Ontario. Mr. Speaker, the government can throw any number they want, any talking point they want, but will the Minister of Energy at least acknowledge we have a hydro crisis and it is killing jobs in the forestry sector, it is killing jobs in Northern Ontario, will he at least acknowledge we have a crisis here? Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I also again want to thank the Minister for a municipal affairs for pointing out that resolute in Thunder Bay because of their low energy costs, not only with the Nair program, Mr. Speaker, but with some of the other programs that we've brought forward as a government, they actually are seeing, Mr. Speaker, this facility being either the first or second lowest in terms of energy costs in their entire fleet, Mr. Speaker. But we recognize, yes, but we recognize, Mr. Speaker, that there is more that can be done and will be done. And that's why, Mr. Speaker, we continue to bring forward a plan. We are bringing... Right after I asked the member to come to order, he continues. I would ask the member to come to order. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we're bringing forward a plan, Mr. Speaker. We've already helped reduce rates by 8%. We're going to be doing more, Mr. Speaker, and that's a lot more than what the opposition has done because they've never invested in the electricity sector. And the example, Mr. Speaker, is the rolling brownouts and blackouts that we've seen before we took power. Thank you. One second, Mr. Speaker. One second. Mr. Speaker, again to the Minister of Energy. The Minister of Energy says they're acting. They got rid of the clean energy rebate replaced with an HSD rebate. Bills are still going up. The forestry sector is still struggling. We've lost 52% of our forestry jobs. There is nothing to celebrate here. You are killing jobs. This government is killing jobs in Northern Ontario. And it's more than simply hydro. You know, what Frank passed on to the Finance Committee in terms of this crisis, he said he's been in business for 40 years. And for 40 years, what he's seen is, aside from hydro, he's actually seen red tape triple. Red tape absolutely triple in the forestry sector. It took him eight months to open a gravel pit to repair roads. Mr. Speaker, it's bad enough that they've created a crisis in hydro. How can they allow a crisis in red tape? That's good. Economic development and growth. Economic development and growth. Mr. Speaker, let's talk about red tape because this government, this province, is leading the world when it comes to reducing regulatory burden. We've reduced 80,000 regulatory burdens, Mr. Speaker, over the years. 80,000. We have before the House a bill called the burden reduction bill. That's gonna save between $13 million and $31 million for businesses. Mr. Speaker, we have our red tape challenge which is out there, Mr. Speaker, helping small, medium and large businesses save hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, Mr. Speaker. This government is leading the way when it comes to reducing regulatory burden. Our Open for Business program has been a huge success and we've been nominated more than any other province in this country by the CFIB for the Golden Scissors Award, acknowledging from a third party that we're reducing the regulatory burden for businesses in this province, better than anyone in the country, better than anyone in the world. New question? Remember from Bradley Gorham-Alton. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Acting Premier. On Monday, the Premier indicated that she believes that there is no link between public, affordable hydro and lower hydro rates. So the Premier also claims to like to make decisions based on evidence. And so let's look at the facts. Manitoba has a publicly-owned hydro system and their rate per kilowatt hour is 7.38 cents. Ontario system is, of course, a private system and during mid-peak times, our rate per kilowatt hour is 13.2 cents, almost double. Even during off-peak hours, Ontario families and businesses pay more than Manitoba. Can the government in the country now look at these facts that there is no link between public ownership and lower hydro rates? Thank you, Deputy Premier. Mr. Vanerjee. Mr. Vanerjee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Pleased to rise and respond to that question, Mr. Speaker, because, of course, Mr. Speaker, Quebec and Manitoba are blessed with geography, Mr. Speaker. They have legacy hydro, Mr. Speaker, and going back and talking about Manitoba. Cancel the camp. Same rule applies. Speaking of Manitoba, Mr. Speaker, when they were in power, they canceled the Cannawapakak program, Mr. Speaker, and made sure that they canceled the conservation program as well. We've actually rebuilt a system, Mr. Speaker, that we can be proud of, that is reliable and clean, Mr. Speaker. We're making sure that we take it to the next level and make it most as affordable as possible for as many people in this province as we can, Mr. Speaker. But when we're looking at broadening the ownership of hydro one, Mr. Speaker, we're on track to raise the $9 billion that we intended, Mr. Speaker, to put into infrastructure to continue to build Ontario up, Mr. Speaker. Supplementary. It looks like the government's unconvinced. The government mentioned Quebec. Let's talk about Quebec. A family across the border, our neighbor in Quebec, if they look at their bill, remember from Eglinton-Lorence. They also have a fully-owned system. They would see a rate of just 5.71 cents per kilowatt hour. 5.71 cents. Now, if an Ontario family looked at their bill and they did something as wild as trying to cook dinner for their children before the off-peak hour set in at 7 p.m., they could see rates as high as 18 cents per kilowatt hour. 18 cents. Now, how can the government deny the connection when the facts state very clearly that public hydro systems are more affordable and more cost-beneficial than the private systems that we've seen so far? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's obvious to me now, Mr. Speaker, that the NDP has no idea on how our energy system in this province works, Mr. Speaker. We actually need to generate power. We don't have the benefit of geography like they do in Quebec and like they do in Manitoba, Mr. Speaker. We need to build our generation. We do have some hydroelectric power, Mr. Speaker, but there is a cost to nuclear. There is a cost to wind. There is a cost to solar. And we built that, Mr. Speaker. We've done it making sure that we can be clean and glean, clean and green and reliable, Mr. Speaker. So the one thing that is very important for us, Mr. Speaker, as a government, is that when we rebuilt this system, ones that governments of all stripes forgot about, Mr. Speaker, and never invested in, we actually made sure that we can now rely on this system and it cost us significant money, Mr. Speaker, but we're going to make it as affordable as possible for people. Final second, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, lower hydro bills start with public ownership and public control of our electricity system. It's a fact. But the problem is here's a problem for the Liberal government. The problem for the Liberal government is that public ownership and infrastructure come to order. It benefits everyday Ontarians and it benefits all of us, but all the evidence, all the facts point to this government and this Premier wanting to only help well-connected insiders. And their policies have only benefited a small group of insiders on Bay Street, not the rest of Ontarians. The Premier has purposely ignored people on Main Street to the benefit of the people on Bay Street time and time again. Why doesn't the government understand that when people pay for electricity, they don't expect to pay for the profits of private companies? Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The system that we have built in Ontario, the system that we've invested in, Mr. Speaker, $50 billion in terms of generation and rebuilding transmission, Mr. Speaker, benefits every single Ontarian, Mr. Speaker. When we're saving $4.3 billion in healthcare costs, Mr. Speaker, that benefits everyone in this province. When our healthcare and our air pollution deaths, Mr. Speaker, have dropped 23%, Mr. Speaker, that is significant that benefits everybody in this province, Mr. Speaker. When we have our air pollution hospitalizations dropped by 41%, Mr. Speaker, 41%, that benefits every single Ontarian, Mr. Speaker. So we'll take no lessons from the party that has no idea about putting forward a plan that makes sure that all they're talking about, Mr. Speaker, is pushing ideas, Mr. Speaker, to the future. We're gonna bring forward immediate relief. Can you say it, please? Can you say it, please? Start the clock. New question. A member for Brambley-Gormaldon. Mr. Speaker, my question again is to the Acting Premier. Yesterday, the Premier said that she didn't believe that Ontario could have an affordable public hydro system and at the same time build infrastructure. She said that it was an either-or, that she couldn't stop her decision to sell off Hydro-1. I'm sorry to bring facts into this argument, but we've been doing that for a long time, actually. We've been building infrastructure and at the same time maintaining a public, affordable hydro system. When the young subway line was built in Toronto, the government didn't have to sell off Hydro. When the university subway line was built, we also had public, affordable hydro system. When the Bloor-Danforth line was built, there was no sell-off. Even Mike Harris built the Shepherd line before trying to sell off Hydro-1. It's not a surprise. In this province, we have built public infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, and maintain a public, affordable hydro system. So why should the government think that it can't be done when it's been done so many times before? To the Minister of Transportation. Thanks very much, Speaker. I am delighted to have the chance to speak about the incredibly ambitious and unprecedented transit projects that our government is investing in currently. No other government in Ontario has invested as much and is consistently in public transit right across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area in Waterloo, in Ottawa, Speaker. And in the 99 communities across this province that have public transit systems, Speaker, those are communities that, by example, are benefiting from the doubling of the gas tax program that the Premier recently announced just a couple of weeks ago, which is great news for all of those community, Speaker. Just before in this legislature, just for once, I would be delighted to hear a member of the NDP caucus stand up and provide people in this chamber and those watching at home with any sense of a plan to build public transit in the GTHA or beyond, Speaker. They would never present that plan. Perhaps in the follow-up question, that member from Brampton will provide some semblance of a plan. Supplementary. Mr. Speaker, the first step of that plan will be to win the election and to remove the Liberals from power. For 100 years, Ontario has had public, affordable... Minister of Municipal Affairs come to order. Although he hides behind other members, I can still hear him. Speaker, people in Ontario don't buy the Liberals' false choices that we can't have a public hydro system and still build infrastructure. For 100 years, we've had affordable public hydro. We built highways. We built bridges. We've connected Canora to Ottawa and Timmins to Windsor. We can build infrastructure and then maintain a public, affordable hydro system. So how can the Premier continually state that Ontario can't do this when we've done it so many times before? Thank you. Minister of Transportation. Yeah, thanks very much, Speaker. You know, I think everybody in this province knows that in the last election campaign, the people of Ontario had a chance to review that very thin platform from that party. They rejected it, Speaker. Nothing on transit, nothing on transportation. Two and a half years later, we see they still present nothing, Speaker. Every single project we've brought forward, Eglinton Crosstown, support for the Scarborough Subway, building the Finch West LRT, the Huron Terri LRT, the Hamilton LRT, support for Waterloo Zion LRT, support for the LRT and Hamilton, support for doubling of the gas tax, Speaker, and so much more that we are doing in every corner of Ontario, including in Bramley-Gormulton, Speaker, and that party consistently rejects our plan to move the province forward to build more transit, to put more transit into service, providing a stronger economy and a more positive quality of life for the people that we on this side of the House are damn proud to represent. I'm going to ask the member to withdraw. Thank you. Final supplementary. The member from the PN Carlton, please come to order. I want to make sure she heard me. Final supplementary. Mr. Speaker, all across Ontario, we built schools, hospitals, we built libraries, we built public pools, courthouses, waterworks. I did have plans to make some kind of remark on this side, but when the other side starts to dive into it, it makes it hard for me to throw that out. But I always try to be unique in one side or the other. I might decide one side needs to be on warnings and the other side not. If that would help, please finish. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. So we built schools, we built hospitals, we built all this infrastructure all without selling public, without selling our affordable public hydro system. We've done it all. Now, so when the Premier states that Ontario can't build public infrastructure, can't build transportation infrastructure, can't build public transit without selling off public affordable hydro, how does she expect the people of this province to believe that? Thank you. Thanks very much, Speaker. I have to say on behalf of everyone on this side of the house, I want to thank the member from the NDP caucus for belatedly recognizing what everybody in Ontario knows. Premier Kathleen, when in our government, are consistently building the province up, investing in infrastructure, Speaker. And hopefully with their support, we'll continue to be able to do that, Speaker. Thank you. Thank you so much. Greatly appreciated, Speaker. You know, at the end of the day, Speaker, what the people of Ontario expect is they expect a government that's able to do more things than one thing at a time, Speaker, and to do it well. That member referenced healthcare infrastructure. He mentioned education infrastructure. I'm very proud as Minister of Transportation to be working with my colleagues to invest more in transit and transportation. We're going to keep doing it, Speaker. I hope this new spirit of openness and honesty and forthrightness in this Chamber, Speaker, from that caucus will continue in the months ahead, Speaker. And perhaps working together, and maybe even working with the Tory, Speaker, I'm more done for the people of Ontario. Any questions? A member from Prince Edward Heston. Thank you, Speaker, and good morning, my questions for the Minister of Energy this morning. Speaker, Ontarians are tired of these vague cabinet leaks and shell games with their hydro bills. If you believe the leaked story this morning in the Star, the Liberal government is about to make all Ontarians pay for the colossal failures of this government over the last eight years and the electricity crisis that they've created. Is the government extending the payout period for electricity companies that donated $1.3 million to the Liberals? We want to know yes or no. Is that going to happen in their plan? Why don't you deal with the actual crisis in electricity, which is the skyrocketing costs that go along with these fixed contracts that you've signed with renewable energy contracts. Is this government committed to no longer signing expensive fixed rate contracts? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know on this side of the house we're actually very proud, Mr. Speaker, of the work that we've done with our renewable energy sector and I know, Ken, we are here today, Mr. Speaker. We've actually ensured that we've built a system with a supply mix, Mr. Speaker, that relies on renewable, that relies on nuclear, Mr. Speaker, relies on gas and water. We have a system, Mr. Speaker, that is the envy of North America, Mr. Speaker. We have the states, we have many sub-nationals and we have many of our partner provinces calling us up and asking us to help them with the system that we've built, Mr. Speaker. We're going to continue, though, Mr. Speaker, to find ways to reduce rates for people and families and businesses that are having a hard time making those payments, Mr. Speaker. We will continue to work hard, but right now we're going to make sure that we bring forward this plan. We'll make sure that we have immediate relief for Ontarians in the very near future, but no decisions have been made at this time, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one day the minister is saying what a great job we did. The next day he's apologizing for the crisis they've created in electricity and the next day he's saying he did a great job again. He's saying he's going to get back to the record. That's what you're going to get from this liberal minister. Speaker, if it was easier, if it was as easy as this morning's vague cabinet leak to fix this problem, then why didn't you do it years ago? Why didn't you do it? Why didn't you fix the problem when Extrata left Timmins to go to Quebec? Why didn't you do it when the greenhouses in southwestern Ontario went to Michigan? The greenhouses were telling you that their electricity prices were going up by double digits year after year after year. Why did you wait until a year out from an election to announce that you suddenly have a plan to solve the crisis that you created in electricity? Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, I'm very pleased to rise and answer the question because, you know, Mr. Speaker, the one thing that the opposition member forgets about is it's actually this government system that actually had businesses shut down, Mr. Speaker. They forget about that so quickly, Mr. Speaker. I know the Minister of Economic Development and Growth will want to talk about the constant growth we're seeing in this province, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the efforts that we're making, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that we can keep jobs, high-paying jobs in this province, Mr. Speaker. The one thing that the opposition member also forgets, and there's a lot of things, Mr. Speaker, that they forget to talk about, is that 42,000 42,000 high-paying clean sector jobs, Mr. Speaker, are now in this province. Thank you to the investments that we have made which they voted against every single time, Mr. Speaker. So I know the member forgets a lot of the things, Mr. Speaker, that we do as a government, but I know the people of Ontario won't and I know our industry players, Mr. Speaker, they don't forget that we are the party that's invested in this province. Can you see it, please? Can you see it, please? Thank you. New question. Member from London, Fanshawe. Speaker, my question is the acting Premier. I've been meeting with seniors in my riding who lived on fixed incomes. They tell me they are forced to make tough choices while they're at home during the day. They are being forced to turn off the heat. They can't cook their meals. Speaker, they can't stay up all night to shift their hydro usage to off-peak hours. For seniors, hydro is not a luxury the way it is for the Premier. Will the Liberal government scrap their ineffective time-of-use hydro pricing policies as the NDP has proposed and reduce hydro bills for seniors? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, I'm pleased to rise and Mr. Speaker, that's the whole reason why we're actually bringing forward a plan, Mr. Speaker, is to make sure that those families, those seniors who are struggling, Mr. Speaker, who aren't seeing the benefit of our economic green-bound, Mr. Speaker, who don't necessarily see the benefit of us rebuilding the system, that we can actually find ways to help them even more, Mr. Speaker. We've done that with the 8% reduction, but we know we can do more, Mr. Speaker. The Ontario Electricity Support Program is something that seniors can use, that many other families can use, those that use electric heat, those that need medical devices, Mr. Speaker, but that's why we recognize that we can find a way, Mr. Speaker, to do more. And that's why we're actively working right now, Mr. Speaker, to find immediate relief. I know the opposite member talked about the NDP proposal, Mr. Speaker. There was nothing, Mr. Speaker, nothing in that proposal that had immediate relief. We're working on, Mr. Speaker, finding a relief package that will be immediate, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, at the Liberals, the Liberal government's own report show that time of use pricing does not encourage conservation or shift the demand away from, shift away the demand the government has hoped for. All he's done is punish ratepayers who can't use hydro during off-peak hours like seniors, like stay-at-home parents and businesses. The Premier can reduce the bills of these ratepayers immediately by scrapping the time of use pricing as the NDP has proposed. Will the Liberal government scrap their ineffective time of use pricing policies now? Mr. Speaker, absolutely not because what the NDP doesn't seem by scrapping time of use, the rates for every single rate payer in this province, Mr. Speaker, will go up. And Mr. Speaker, we're making sure that that's not going to happen. That's why, Mr. Speaker, we recognize that there are some families that actually could benefit from a different type of plan rather than time of use. And so we've worked, Mr. Speaker, for the last six months with our system operator on having them looking at Mr. Speaker coming up with some alternatives for that type of program. Mr. Speaker, that type of change won't be immediate. And that's what we're working on, Mr. Speaker, immediate relief for families. They're talking about maybe some things that possibly might add up, Mr. Speaker, in the very, very far distant future. We're working right now, Mr. Speaker, for immediate relief. New question? Member from the Topical Lake Shore. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Infrastructure. On this side of the house we know infrastructure is more about more than just bricks and mortar. It's about creating and sustaining jobs, growing the economy and enhancing quality of life for all. And that's why I'm proud that our government is making the largest investment in critical public infrastructure in this province's history. Building the schools, the hospitals, the roads, the bridges, the public transit that Ontarians need to thrive in the 21st century in communities all across Ontario, including my own of the Topical Lake Shore. And this is not just putting shovels in the ground, it's putting people to work. But Mr. Speaker, the opposition has been claiming that we just pay lip service to this. This is simply not the case. And the leader of the opposition, repeating it in speech after speech, is hoping, he's hoping nobody's paying attention to the facts. Facts still matter in this province. So my question is to the Minister, could he share the facts about her infrastructure investments? Minister of Infrastructure Thank you to the member for the question. Speaker, there are over $14 billion in major projects underway in this province as we speak. And Infrastructure Ontario was in the process of procuring $11.8 billion more, Speaker. And we have delivered 29 brand new schools. New courthouses in Durham, St. Thomas and Thunder Bay, the Herb Gray Parkway, the Union Pearson Express and Highway 407 East. We have finished 100 major hospital projects including a $474 million mental health facility and the leader of the opposition's own writing. Now he has been telling everyone who will listen that this government can't get shovels in the ground. In the last three years of the Harris government, the member for Essex come to order. Now they have the gall to lecture us when we're spending six times that amount. Mr. Speaker, our investments in infrastructure are at historic levels. Unfathomable to me that anyone paying attention could claim this government isn't getting shovels in the ground when there's over $14 billion of projects under construction as we speak. But perhaps the opposition isn't paying attention. If they were they'd know that in their leader's writing the government is providing more than $10 million in formula funding this year alone. And it's of great importance to the Premier and to the Minister to ensure that we are building up communities in every region of the province from small towns to big cities. And I know there's many funding programs such as the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund and Clean Water and Wastewater Fund for municipalities of all sizes. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister of Infrastructure please explain what our government is doing to ensure that communities everywhere including the leader's writing are benefitting from this historic infrastructure investment? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The member mentioned OSIF and water programs we are very proud of and that have been warmly welcomed by our municipal leaders. We are investing $100 million in expanding natural gas access to underserved areas in the province, something that party has never done. We are tripling our Community Infrastructure Fund to $300 million and we negotiated with the federal government to ensure that Clean Water and Wastewater funding flows to every municipality in Ontario. That means every member in this house including every member opposite will see investments in their writing. Everywhere you look in our great province there is evidence of a major investment that is getting shovels in the ground and putting Ontarians at work. Mr. Speaker, the leader of the opposition should look in the mirror and vote for Kathleen Nguyen. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of the Environment. On Monday in this house the minister refused to accept responsibility for the Ontario Tire stewardship program, suggesting that it was the fault of the previous government. That statement was false. The Ontario Tire stewardship was established in 2009 six years after the Liberal government was first elected. Last February the minister told this house that he'd have the Ontario Tire stewardship wound up within a year. Today is the first day of March the year has now passed. Will the minister explain to this house why he missed his deadline for winding up Ontario Tire stewardship and is now planning to extend it by another 22 months? I'm glad we're doing fact-checking because the entire legislation that turned out to be problematic, which the member opposite agreed was not working was passed by the Conservative Government in 2002. That laid out a system that led to a series of market failures. You're quite correct about the Tire Stewardship Organization, but I think a little humility on both sides would be helpful here because the system didn't work. We had bill 91, bill 93, both which we couldn't get through this house and was stalled by the opposition, which would have fixed this years ago, Mr. Speaker. We had not a single question for 18 months on any of the IFOs or stewardship programs by the party opposite until the Government last year passed bill 151 and there was a Toronto Star story, we got our first question. We'd already fixed the problem, Mr. Speaker before they even wanted... Thank you. Thank you, Speaker, back to the Minister. Speaker, I find it strange that this Minister was not doing his own job casting oversight on his own EcoTax program and now he's missing his own deadlines. Speaker, beyond the alleged theft of half a million dollars under his nose, there's another issue the Minister needs to own. OTS has a surplus of 50 million dollars. That's right, OTS an agency of this Government gouged Ontarians for an extra 50 million dollars. When Ontarians buy new tyres this spring, Speaker, we're still going to pay that tax. Will the Minister tell us where this extra money is going and what is it being used for? Again, Mr. Speaker this is passing precious and strange. The decision to turn the entire operation over to for-profit companies and pull the public sector out of this was a decision of the Government opposite. We inherited that when it was all deployed and tried to fix it on three separate occasions. A millisecond away from being finished, please. And it was this Premier that two years ago, Mr. Speaker said, I'm not happy with the system and ordered this Minister to invest. We then proposed radical restructuring the elimination of the IFOs in consideration that there were these risks. Then we ordered an investigation which is currently going a certain way without any prompting from the opposition. Look at the owl. Look at the eagle. We've done our job. When are you going to do yours? Thank you. Any questions? Thank you, Speaker. Questions to the acting Premier. A constituent of mine from Anasberg, Mrs. Linda Eaton shared her Hydro bill with me. Last year her bill was $372 for January. The Premier promised that her bills would go down for rural ratepayers like Mrs. Eaton but that's obviously not what happened. This year, her January bill was over $500 for roughly the same amount of energy used and her Hydro delivery charge has doubled in two years. Will the Premier provide real relief for ratepayers like Mrs. Eaton and reduce her rural delivery rates to what urban ratepayers pay for their delivery? Thank you. Very pleased to rise and respond because Mr. Speaker, for those Hydro 1 are two customers which are 330,000 households Mr. Speaker, they have seen a $60 reduction off of their delivery line Mr. Speaker and that's because we acted when we heard that many in rural and remote and northern parts of our province are paying a higher amount Mr. Speaker but we do need to do more and that's why we're looking and working on a plan right now Mr. Speaker to provide more relief to specifically like the person that the Honourable Member mentioned Mr. Speaker because our two only provides that relief to 330,000 households Mr. Speaker. They do get that 8% and we do recognise Mr. Speaker that those folks that do live in rural, remote or northern parts of our province do pay a higher proportion on their bill so Mr. Speaker that's why we're continuing to act. They're seeing a reliable system and a green system we're now going to make sure Mr. Speaker that we can make it as affordable as possible. Speaker, forgive me but it sounds like another liberal stretch goal like the 15% off auto insurance that we never saw. We won't hold our breath. Mr. Speaker and Mrs. Eaton are seniors living on fixed incomes. They don't have access to natural gas and they don't have a choice but to heat with Hydro and they've done everything that the Premier has told them to do to lower their bills. They do their laundry and their dishes during off peak hours. They keep their living room temperature at 18° they even keep their kitchen temperature at 13° but their Hydro bills keep going up even though the Premier has promised that they would go down. Will the Premier get rid of unfair rural delivery rates and reduce the bills for families like the Eatons? Thank you Mr. Speaker. There's two parts within that question. The first one is to respond to when it relates to natural gas Mr. Speaker. I think it's important to also highlight that our government is investing $100 million in a grant program Mr. Speaker to make sure that we can get natural gas out to as many communities as possible and I know the Minister of Infrastructure has been spearheading that and doing a great job with that Mr. Speaker. When it comes to Mr. Speaker doing more for families like the Honourable Member mentioned, we do agree Mr. Speaker that more needs to be done and we're working very hard right now Mr. Speaker on a plan that will provide immediate relief and Mr. Speaker we will make sure that we work on this plan and roll it out as quickly as possible because we do understand that while we've invested in the system and while we've made it clean it needs to be as affordable as possible and that's why Mr. Speaker we're working very very hard to ensure that we can get this done as quickly as possible to do just that. Thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the Minister of Seniors Affairs the minister is now leading a new full-fledged ministry that's dedicated to the well-being of Ontario seniors and it's reshaping how we view aging in Ontario. This decision shows commitment that both the Premier and all our members are making to support older adults. In my writing of Kitchener Centre the head of a local retirement home told me recently that today seniors want to be active and need a life of purpose regardless of their age. We have long-term care facilities, community centres and educational programs designed especially with today's seniors in mind. Minister we know that you've been very busy working to transition to your new role and you have some very interesting ideas on shaping this ministry. Speaker could the Minister of Seniors Affairs share with us some of her aspirations in this new important role she has. Minister Thank you speaker and I want to begin by thanking the member from Kitchener Centre for the question. I have to say that I'm truly honoured to be the minister of seniors and I can't think of a better time than the year 2017 to create this standalone ministry and that's because as we all know 2017 is that watershed year. This is the year when in Ontario there's more people over the age of 65 than children under the age of 15. There's 2.2 million seniors in Ontario Mr Speaker and I say that's 2.2 million very good reasons to create the standalone ministry of seniors. We have a vision that we want to make Ontario the best place in the world to grow up and grow old in and I commit to giving life to that vision. Thank you Mr Speaker. Thank you. Thank you speaker and I want to thank the Minister for her answer. It's very encouraging to hear that we are addressing the changing needs of seniors and to see the transition to a full ministry. The minister has been documenting her activities on social media. This is a really good way for all of us to stay informed of her activities. You've been out almost every day meeting with seniors and stakeholders hearing their concerns and offering them support. This is a very important undertaking listening and it's no doubt by the people with whom you have visited it's important for all members to get out and to hear feedback from people that we are working to support. So Speaker could the Minister of seniors affairs please tell us about her recent tour she's been crisscrossing Ontario chatting with people listening to them I for one would like to hear what happened on this tour. Thank you Minister senior affairs. Thank you speaker I want to again thank the member for the question and I'm really posting my tour on social media. This winter I travelled across the province to meet with seniors face to face because I wanted to hear from them first hand what their concerns are and that's why I visited elderly prison centres in Ancastle and Hamilton met with seniors in Coburg not once but twice and spoke with university students about tackling the challenges of an ageing population and I met with a different university with minister leal and listened to a diverse group of advocates in a new market with MPP Milchian and MPP Baker and I was in northern Ontario with minister Zimmer and met with first nations the night cash went in and met with midtown jamming and I visited sandy lake to announce funding for a new elders hub but I'm not done yet. Thank you Mr. Speaker. My question is to the minister of energy. Last month the leader of the opposition and I visited cedar villa farms in Selwyn township in the riding of Peterborough where we heard from local dairy farmer Randy bullock that his hydro bill has tripled over the past 10 years. He still has the same number of cows that he did a decade ago. He's been improving the efficiency of his business but still those costs have skyrocketed and the government's 8% rebate is nothing but a drop in the bucket. The hard working farmers across rural Ontario are tough and proud but as Randy puts it, it is just too much. So my question to the minister of energy is when will the liberal government stop forcing agriculture one of our main economic drivers out of the province with their economy? Minister of agriculture? Minister of agriculture from for a question this morning. Just to give you a little insight particularly the dairy industry of the province of Ontario over the last two years the dairy industry province of Ontario the quotas increased by 6% each and every year. So what does that tell you Mr. Speaker? That tells you that the dairy sector is growing significantly in the province of Ontario. Agriculture and agri-food processing Mr. Speaker contributes $36 billion to Ontario's GDP each and every year it's a growing sector. You know Mr. Speaker this morning at 5.30 am to the end well Mr. Speaker at 5.30 am this morning 800,000 historians woke up to pursue their careers in agriculture the audible lady says the quotas increase has nothing to do with us absolutely everything to us we work with the dairy farmers I'd like to remind the minister that when I stand you sit supplementary. Well thank you Mr. Speaker the cost to agriculture because of the rising cost of energy is real you can't ignore that the government's response to the ongoing hydro crisis has been something to behold for years they denied there was a problem then they blamed the problem on anyone else but themselves finally they admitted that they are responsible for the hydro mess but offered Ontarians a weak and tone-deaf response Ontarians saw through the government's actions and told them that they were doing far too little far too late to respond to the growing energy poverty in the province and to try to buy back Ontarians trust but how can Ontarians trust this government to do anything to solve the mess that they themselves created over 14 years of mismanagement Thank you Minister I just want to reply to the supplementary the Honourable should know of course that dairy quoted Ontario is worth about $6 billion that's growing each and every year the party office said proposed a risk management program for everybody else outside of the supply banded sector they didn't support it but Mr. Speaker on the back concessions in Ontario we're hearing now that the Leader of the Opposition we're hearing in the back concessions in Ontario Mr. Speaker that the Leader of the Opposition may be endorsing Maxine Bergier as the next Federal Conservative Leader and Mr. Speaker you know what Max wants to do is to get rid of the supply banded the member from Prince Edward Hastings come to order second time the member from Oxford will withdraw withdraw thank you everybody just tone it down no comments your question the member from Algoma Manitou thank you Mr. Speaker and good morning to you my question is to the acting Premier on February 13th your government released a statement that said you are completely committed to cleaning up the English Wabagoon River of the mercury that has been poisoning the grassy and Wabasinong First Nations for two generations will the acting Premier tell this legislature and the people of this province exactly what promises the Premier made to the Chief Foreign Minister in a meeting held with him on February 10th to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change thank you Mr. Speaker I want to thank the honourable member for a question on something that we both agree is a critical issue it is incredibly shocking to me that from the 1960s on this problem festered to the degradation of the environment but more importantly in this case people's health we have invested over $300,000 now with the First Nations to do studies we have now identified both an approach of remediation of the river we are now moving to have Dr. Rudd we have identified the second source we now have to figure out the nature of the source whether it is groundwater or sediment and then we have to start the engineering work we are going to be advancing additional funding and I want to thank Dr. Rudd and his team because after a lifetime almost as long as I have been alive on this planet this problem has interacted and I think all of them in this house wish we had behaved differently over the last 50 years I don't think anyone has clean hands here Mr. Speaker again to the acting premier a report released yesterday funded by this government says that there is strong evidence of an ongoing source of mercury contamination at the old mill site down the river of grassy narrows yet this government has said repeatedly that the mill site is not an ongoing source of mercury why has this government never bothered to test the river next to the Dryden Mill Mr. Speaker thank you very much Mr. Speaker in fact we tested the mill we tested all the sites that Mr. Glowacky pointed out Domtar has been required to monitor the wells and sites and no one could find this and it was we also invested we're funding Dr. Rudd's work and finally on the fourth try Dr. Rudd found it it is very difficult to find these things the reason we know where the second source is is because this government has put hundreds of thousands of dollars into crack science team to locate it I wish someone else when all of us were in power during those periods of time and not one party prior to this government when in power took action on that so maybe we could all have a little humility and hopefully we'll get the engineering work, the water treatment facilities and we'll get this fixed and restore some respect for the people who live there which they are owed Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker my question is for the minister of government and consumer services I hear time and again from constituents in Davenport about commission dependent sales people aggressively pressuring residents into signing contracts for appliances such as air conditioning units, water heaters and furnaces the sales pitch you often uses unclear contracts or misrepresentations by sales people to convince residents to enter into contracts with exorbitant fees this aggressive door-to-door marketing tactic has been a long-standing consumer protection issue as it is often the most vulnerable consumers who are targeted unfortunately it is often the socially isolated unless well informed consumers who are particularly successful to this type of marketing and this is especially true in my writing of Davenport which is home to a large number of seniors a large number of immigrants who do not have English as their first language it cannot communicate, read or write well in English Mr. Speaker could the minister explain what measures our government has in place to protect our most vulnerable for being taken advantage of by these unfair marketing tactics Mr. Speaker I want to thank the member from Davenport for her important question and her strong work on behalf of her community it's just incredible dedication and as the minister of government I am committed to protecting consumers in their home from overly aggressive and deceptive business practices currently our consumer protection act gives consumers special rights when entering contracts in their home consumers have the right to cancel contracts for any reason within a cooling off period as well as specific requirements for contracts to provide specific information otherwise consumers can cancel them within a year of signing however we know Speaker that there is more to be done to protect consumers and our most vulnerable members of society from being misled or taking advantage of and that's why we introduce Bill 59 happy to talk more about that as a supplementary Thank you Mr. Speaker and I want to thank the minister for updating the House on what protections and rights consumers have when faced with door-to-door sales people I know Maria who came into my office is going to be very pleased to hear about the proposed legislation that would if passed offer even greater protections for consumers and new rules for sellers I am proud of our government for its long-standing history of putting consumers first this government puts great efforts into developing new and effective ways of protecting vulnerable residents and I am pleased to know that the proposed additional legislation would create greater protections for consumers Mr. Speaker through you to the minister could you provide more information about how this proposed legislation aims to strengthen consumer protection Thank you minister Thank you and again thank you to the member but I also want to give a shout out to the MPP from Etobicoke Lakeshore because he did fantastic work on this in terms of door-to-door sales and has helped made this Bill very strong and the putting consumer first would amend our consumer protection act any contracts in violation of the act would be considered void and the goods and services provided under these void contracts would be considered unsolicited allowing the consumer to keep them without obligation the legislation would also create consistent cooling off periods as well as develop new rules about how these changes would be enforced it's important to protect consumers without penalizing organizations that do comply with consumer protection act which is why we'll continue to monitor consumer complaints to consider other potential sectors affected by our legislation again I thank everyone who's worked tirelessly on this bill Thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the minister of energy Speaker we know that the effects of hydro prices on our rural communities are placing a strain on families and businesses unfortunately this new reality of living in Ontario is now threatening our arenas and curling rinks as they become increasingly expensive to run in Bala the arena has been the staple of the community has seen generations of figure skaters, hockey and ringette players learn on its ice the hydro bill for the facility has continued to rise and now comes in at about $50,000 per year combined with other maintenance costs the municipality is seriously considering the arena Speaker will the minister explain how he expects communities to keep their arenas open in Ontario with Ontario's outrageous electricity cost Thank you Mr. Speaker and again I'll reiterate many of the things I've been saying today and for the last eight months since I've been minister Mr. Speaker is we are continuing to find ways to put rates in a position of being lower rates for those institutions Mr. Speaker I used my example yesterday of the curling club in greater Sudbury Mr. Speaker but of course free municipalities and for arenas yesterday I know the MPP from Tamiskaming Cochran talked about his curling rink many of us have these facilities in our ridings and it's very very important for us especially as this government as we continue the curling club in greater Sudbury Mr. Speaker that was able to save thousands of dollars Mr. Speaker by actually utilizing the programs that we put in place Mr. Speaker to actually help them Mr. Speaker to help them reduce their rates and bring the rates down Mr. Speaker in which that something that's which thank you Mr. Speaker in which that they're able to lower their rates Mr. Speaker Supplementary Again to the minister of energy about how to save recreational facilities in our small communities like the Ball Arena the Huntsville Curling Club is a community stable the club recently hosted their annual family day open house to allow young curlers to get introduced to new sport it's sad to say however that even if they really enjoyed it the increasing cost to play has brought fears that this will be a barrier to new members one third of a current membership fee already goes to keeping the lights on the fact is curving clubs don't have many tools to offset rapidly increasing hydro costs as costs to play rise organizers fear that membership numbers will continue to decline over time so Speaker with the minister please explain how hydro prices were allowed to get this out of control under his government's question watch Thank you Mr. Speaker I know in most parts of the province the great work that our minister of tourism and sport is doing to encourage people to play sport and curling is one of those sports Mr. Speaker we're seeing more and more people actually engaging in this sport Mr. Speaker and that's a great thing but when it comes to making sure Mr. Speaker that we have this conversation the one conversation that they overlook Mr. Speaker is they actually left our system in shambles we actually had to build the system back up 50 billion dollars to spend Mr. Speaker to invest in transmission to invest in generation Mr. Speaker and now what do they want to do Mr. Speaker they want to rip up all of our renewable contracts stop renewable energy in this province Mr. Speaker and that is not something that we on this side of the house agree with Mr. Speaker that brought in billions of investment created tens of thousands of jobs Mr. Speaker we'll continue to invest in the province and in our recreation facilities Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker I'd just like to correct my record what I was answering the supplementary I get inadvertently referred to as Madam Speaker what I should have said Mr. Speaker I apologize Mr. Park great 10 students from St. Marcelin II school which is located in the great riding of Miss Saga I look forward to meeting them after question Thank you Mr. Speaker I just really wanted to welcome school from my riding the grade 5 class from Elizabeth Simpico junior public school I want to welcome them to Queens Park Thank you I'd like to correct my record I inadvertently said it was a member from Etobicoke Lakeshore that worked on door to door sales of course we all know is the MPP from Etobicoke Center who did this too late too late there being no deferred votes this house recess until 3pm this afternoon