 It is now time for oral questions, and I recognize the member for Brampton Senate. Thank you, and good morning, Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Brampton continues to struggle with COVID outbreak after outbreak, but for some reason the government decided not to include Brampton in its Pharmacy's Vaccine Rollout Pilot Program. We've seen schools and workplaces shut down. We've seen sky-high cases and concerns about spreading variants in our community. But what we haven't seen is an equitable vaccine strategy that includes a plan to provide hot spots like Brampton the vital vaccines that they need. Speaker, through you to the Premier, when will pharmacies in Brampton finally begin vaccinating folks in our city, and how much longer are we going to have to wait until you provide those much-needed vaccines? Minister Vell. Thank you very much, Speaker. And through you, Speaker, I can advise the member opposite that we have an equitable vaccine rollout plan. We have, from the beginning, this was devised with the vaccine task force that was set up with a bioethicist involved in it, with a keen eye on how to distribute these vaccines equitably. They are being done so across all 34 public health units, primarily based on population, but also based on specific factors such as whether there are hot spots in certain areas, whether specific areas that we need to pay more attention to, whether there are more shelters or other places where we know that there's going to be more breakouts. That has been developed in a plan for each and every public health unit by the local medical officers of health who know their areas best, working with Dr. Williams and the vaccine task force overall. The supplementary question. Speaker, well, I can assure the minister that folks in Brampton definitely don't feel like this is an equitable vaccine strategy, as we continue to be neglected and left behind by this government. The Conservatives promise to take action to help us tackle the wildfire of COVID cases spreading across our region. The Premier said he'd bring in a fire hose to help us put out the fire in Brampton. But he conveniently forgot to mention that it would actually take weeks for that fire truck to show up, and it may or may not even have water in it. Speaker, so my question to the Premier is simple. Brampton is really a priority for this government. Why are they making us wait? And what is taking so long to get us the vaccines we need to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Brampton? Thank you very much, Speaker. No part of Ontario is being left behind, including Peele. Peele is receiving the vaccines as we have them. As the member will know, we had a significant reduction in supply of the Pfizer vaccine during the months of February and early March. Those supplies are starting to come in. But as they are coming in, they are being distributed equitably among all the public health unit regions. So I ask you and I ask all of the members across on the other side to please join our call to ask the federal government to do whatever they can to expedite the the shipping of those vaccines to us so that we can get those needles in arms as quickly as possible. Peele requires them. Every other part of Ontario requires them as well. And we are booking them as quickly as we receive those vaccines. They are going into people's arms straight away. And the final supplement, please. Speaker, we have a prioritization issue here in the province of Ontario where communities like Peele and cities like Brampton are being left out. And it is concerning to many people in our community. Brampton families and workers have been on the front lines of this crisis every single day for the last year. They put their lives and their livelihoods at risk in hospitals, care homes, grocery stores and in schools. They faced risk in public transit and transportation speaker in warehouses and in our main street businesses across the city. Speaker, every single day that this government denies our community access to vaccines is another day that families in Brampton are put at risk and workers are also put at risk. Through you to the premier speaker, you say that Brampton is a priority. Then why do you keep making us wait for vaccines in our community? Mr. Bell, the simple answer is supply. We don't have the vast quantities of vaccines yet in order to be able to provide millions of vaccines to different parts of Ontario. The member has been here, has heard from several speakers, including in her own party, that also feel that their communities aren't receiving the same level of vaccines that they should receive. We are certainly aware of the fact that we have not got those vast numbers of supplies yet, but as soon as we receive them and we did receive a large supply from Pfizer several days ago, four hundred and sixty six thousand in change, we are getting those shipped out to communities as quickly as we can to the people of Brampton, to the people of Peel and to the rest of the people of Ontario. This is something that is an absolute priority for us to protect and care for the safety and well being of all Ontarians, including all of the constituents in your writing. The next question, the member for Tomiskaming Cochran. Thank you, Speaker. My question is also to the Premier. It's not just Brampton that can't get the help and needs from the government, it's communities across Ontario. Yesterday, I asked the Premier why his office hadn't responded to repeated pleas from the mayor of Sarnia and why at the same time, the member from that area seemed to be confusing people by applauding anti lockdown protesters. Speaker, my question through you to the Premier. Why is it so hard? Why are communities having to struggle so hard to get the attention and to get the help they need from the province of Ontario? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to briefly just the member raises comments from the member for Sarnia Lampton and the member fully knows that his comments are are are ingenuous at best. The member for Sarnia Lampton. Please withdraw the unparametric comment. Member for Sarnia Lampton, specifically, Mr. Speaker, was advocating for patio's restaurants to be open, patio restaurants to be open in his community as this province made made happen on Friday. At the same time, he in fact advocated and said to the people in this community that they should wear masks in the exact same article that the member opposite reference, the member for Sarnia Lampton was talking about the public health measures that made the people of the province of Ontario safe and that they should continue to follow those measures. While he appreciated the fact that people have the right in this province to protest, he was very clear that people should wear their their their masks and follow public health measures. Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows full well how hard the member for Sarnia Lampton has worked. And I hope that he will reflect on that line of questioning because he knows the member for Sarnia Lampton quite well. A couple of extra questions. Thank you, Speaker. It's not just Sarnia. As covid and variants of covid cases surge in the north, Thunder Bay can hardly keep up to the outbreaks of their faces. And the Premier in effect told the people of Thunder Bay that had to wait till he got the rest of the province under control. And as we've heard, the rest of the province is having their own problems. So if the province, if the provincial government is treating other areas that should be priorities, they're being so slow. How long can Thunder Bay expect to wait until they get the attention they deserve to control? What is a crisis situation? Mr. Teller, we're certainly aware that Thunder Bay has been having significant difficulties and assistance has been provided by the province. I can advise that there have been 30 assigned provincial case and contact managers assigned to assist with finding people and making sure that they have the supports that they need to be quarantined for the necessary period of time to prevent the transmission, further transmission in the community. The we have now a situation where the number of cases with reported that are returned within 24 hours. It was 90 percent. It's now 94.3 percent of COVID tests are returned within 48 hours. Seventy one point one percent of tests returned within 24 hours also a significant increase. But we know we also have granted two point seven million dollars to the Thunder Bay hospital to add 30 more beds and more assistance is going to be required. Dr. Williams is in contact with a local medical officer of health on a daily basis and if further assistance is required, further assistance will be given to in order to assist Thunder Bay in getting this transmission under control and allowing them to move into another level of the framework. And the final supplement. Thank you, Speaker. Sarnia, Thunder Bay, Peel, Toronto, families across the province. And the municipalities in which they live are having a hard time getting the attention of the government. Quite frankly, they're confused. Because it doesn't seem that everyone is having a hard time getting attention from the government. The government had time to get embroiled in an MZO controversy to help a specific developer. They had time to. Allow big box stores to open while Main Street closes. They had time for those things. Why does it seem that they don't have time to help the ordinary people who are struggling through COVID in many areas of this province? Minister of Health. Thank you, Speaker. And for you, Speaker, let me assure the member that are the health and safety of all Ontarians is our primary concern. Certainly are my primary concern and all of my colleagues. That is what we are focused on. That is what we need to deal with from testing, from making sure that people are quarantined or receive if they have to be in hospital, making sure there's capacity in the hospital for them to be able to be admitted, but also in terms of making sure that people receive their vaccinations. This is a very good news story, actually, Speaker, not the doom and gloom that is being projected by the other side. We have over 90 percent of long term care residents and caregivers and staff that have been vaccinated. Now, we have also been able to book 513,000 appointments on our system since our booking system and our call center opened just less than two weeks ago. We are moving forward very quickly. We over yesterday we vaccinated 72,452 people and we can double that in very short order with the clinics that are going to be opening up in pharmacies and mass vaccination clinics. So we are moving forward. We are treating everyone in Ontario the same. Everyone is a priority for us. We are not forgetting any single ward. Thank you very much. The next question, the member for Hamilton. Thank you, Speaker. My question is for the Premier. This week, thousands of Hamiltonians went online to try and book their vaccine only to find that appointments were not available thanks to a broken system. They found that times weren't listed. Clinic locations were missing or no second dose appointments were available to make things worse. Speaker, provincial officials had no idea that seniors weren't able to book their lifesaving vaccine appointments. The Premier's only response was we'll look into it. Speaker, problems like this should have been solved weeks ago. It's well past time to be looking into it. We need action now. We are months into the vaccine rollout. Why are we still not able to get people the vaccines that they need? Minister of Health. Well, thank you, Speaker. In fact, we are getting people the vaccines that they need. This is a problem that has arisen quite recently. But I think it's also important to remember that we have book appointments for over five hundred and thirteen thousand people. The system has not crashed as it has in other areas. This is a problem I understand for Hamilton and we are working on it. But we are we are committed to ensuring that every person who wants to receive a vaccine in Ontario will get one. We know that people are very anxious about this. We're asking for a very short period of time for us to get this under control and get this dealt with. We have dealt with several other situations. There have been several short term problems along the way, but we have been able to resolve them very quickly as we will for the residents of Hamilton. Back to the Premier, Speaker. Hamiltonians are worried that with all the problems with the vaccine rollout, it will only be a matter of time before we have more outbreaks and more deaths in our city. Hamilton needs vaccines, but we're just not getting them from this government. We have fewer mass vaccine clinics than other cities. We have no pharmacies giving out vaccines. Our family doctors and mobile clinics are being shortchanged. Speaker, my question is to the Premier. When will this government finally stop treating Hamilton like it is a second class city and give our vaccine rollout the attention it needs and that Hamiltonians deserve? Every part of Ontario is a priority for us. Brampton is Hamilton is all of the writings that we all represent our priorities for us. What we're talking about in Hamilton right now is a short term temporary problem that is going to be resolved very soon. That people will be able to make their appointments. We have made over five hundred and thirteen thousand appointments since we started up just two weeks ago with our booking system. So the system clearly is working. Will there be a few problems along the way? Yes, there will. But we have a team that's working on that to get it resolved as quickly as possible. As for the vaccine rollout in your particular area, that has been developed by your local medical officer of health for Hamilton in conjunction working with Dr. Williams. So there will be that mass vaccination clinics. There will be more vaccines granted to primary care offices and it will be rolled across pharmacies as well. There will be many avenues for people to receive their vaccines and the system will be dealt with very shortly. But we have to remember the success that we've seen and the hundreds of thousands of vaccines. Thank you very much. I remind members to make your comments through the chair. The next question, the member for Atobico Lake Shore. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Long-Term Care. And first of all, I want to thank the Minister for her announcement last week of 256 long-term care beds for my riding to be built in Atobico Lake Shore. Speaker, it is clear that the neglect of Ontario's long-term care sector left the most vulnerable Ontarians at risk into this pandemic. Homes with wardrobes, some of them built to design standards from the 1970s saw the virus spread because residents could not be co-ordered. Even before the pandemic, long-term care homes had long wait lists because of previous governments did not keep up with the growing senior population. Between 2011 and 2018, the Liberals only increased Ontario's long-term care spaces by 0.8 percent, while the population over 75 grew by over 20 percent. That capacity gap and those outdated homes have caused serious problems during this pandemic, and the need for long-term care is growing. Can the Minister tell us what she is doing to fix these problems? Minister of Long-Term Care. Thank you, Speaker. And thank you to the member from Atobico Lake Shore for the question and for her excellent work on behalf of her constituents. The member is right when she identifies the neglect of building new capacity and upgrading older spaces to modern design standards as a major problem we face. Last week, I was pleased to announce 80 new long-term care projects across the province, which will lead to an additional $7,510 new and $4,197 upgraded long-term care spaces. Our government is investing $933 million in these projects on top of the $1.75 billion already dedicated to the delivery of 30,000 new spaces over 10 years. Combined with previous allocations, this brings us up to 20,161 new and 15,918 upgraded spaces in progress. This is monumental. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Minister. This is amazing news for all our seniors across our province. More than 40,000 people across this province were on the wait list for long-term care as of December 2020. And the GTA experience is some of the longest wait lists in the province. With the modernizing funding model announced last year, our government broke down historic barriers to development, tailoring funding to the type of municipalities, for example, large urban centers like Toronto. I know our government has been making progress towards our aggressive modernization agenda as we address long-standing issues with staffing, capacity and crowding, and with the wait list. Can the minister tell the House what is the progress, what has that done for the constituents in my writing of Etobicoke Lakeshore? Mr. Blanford, Karen. Thank you, Speaker. And again, thank you to the member from Etobicoke Lakeshore for the question. In Etobicoke Lakeshore, the Chartwell White Eagle Home is being allocated 200 new spaces and 56 upgraded spaces. This project will build a 256-bed home with a new building in Etobicoke. Across the City of Toronto, these projects announced last week will lead to 1,233 new and 971 upgraded long-term care spaces. In this tranche of allocations alone, our government will create more long-term care spaces than the previous government did in seven years. After decades of neglect, it's a conservative government that will repair and rebuild long-term care. Our government is addressing staffing. Our government is addressing older spaces to modern standards. And our government is building new spaces that have been needed for many, many years. Next, we have the member for Sudbury. Thank you, Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Premier Sudbury is getting hit hard in the third wave of COVID-19. And as you can imagine, when the Premier announced last Friday that Ontario was lowering the age threshold for COVID-19 vaccines to 75 and that Ontario was expanding the pharmacy rollout, a lot of people in my city became very hopeful. People like Michelle. When Michelle Frost heard the Premier's announcement, she got really excited and tried booking an appointment for her mom and dad. Instead of an appointment, Michelle learned there are no announced pharmacy vaccine locations anywhere in Northern Ontario. And instead of 75-year-olds getting vaccines, there are still 90-year-olds waiting for the vaccine. Speaker, on March 19th, the Premier promised vaccines that he didn't deliver. My question, Speaker, is through you to the Premier. It's the same question that Michelle and hundreds of people are calling my office to ask every single day. Where are the vaccines that the Premier promised? To respond, the Minister of Health. Thank you to the member for the question. Well, the vaccines are coming into us through the federal government, as the member will know. We had a reduction in the number of Pfizer vaccines that we were going to be receiving in the month of February. We have received some AstraZeneca, but we don't know when the next shipment is going to be coming in. It is all dependent on what we receive through the federal government. So we are working with the supplies that we have. But I think it's also important to note that we have one vaccine rollout plan for the entire province, but that is being rolled out by each of the 34 public health units that are involved. Some of those units have been able to move quickly through the over 90-year-olds and are now able to work on the 75-year-olds, sorry, over 80-year-olds, and now are able to work on over 75-year-olds. But that is really dependent on the supplies we receive and the pace of which they're ready to move forward. So some of the smaller units are now able to work with younger age groups. Others are still dealing with the over 80-year-olds, but that's something that people will be advised by the local public health unit about when their turn is coming, based on supply and based on where they are in the final rollout of Phase 1. Thank you. The supplementary question. The member for Nickel Belt. Thank you. Also to the Premier. Monique Weaver is 60 years old. She just got diagnosed with lung cancer. Her surgeon told her she should get vaccinated before her surgery, but contrary to the Premier's statement, there is no one vaccinating 60-year-old people in Northern Ontario. The Premier has had many opportunities to clarify his statement, but he chose not to. His actions cause extreme confusion, stress, anxiety, and anger to the people of my riding in Sudbury. The multiple challenges and multiple challenges to everybody working so hard on the front line to make this work may be clear. Sudbury District, we've been in a grey zone since March 12th. We have outbreaks in our hospital or homeless shelter or long-term care homes or mines or schools or apartment building. It is everywhere, and 48 percent of this is the variance of concern. Will the Premier today declare Sudbury and District Public Health Area a hotspot so that we can get the resources we need to make it through this pandemic? Thank you. Well, I can certainly advise the member that we are watching the situation in Sudbury very carefully. We know that in having a lot of difficulty with the variance of concern, as is the rest of the province, the variance of concern are now at the stage where they are the dominant strain. And that is what we have to deal with. So the race is really one against time to prevent the variance of concern from continuing to soar while getting as many needles into people's arms as possible. So the situation that you're describing is one that we are dealing with where we know that we need to have more outlets for people to receive vaccinations. We have pharmacies distributing vaccines right now AstraZeneca to people 60 and older because of the changes that they've made and we recognize there are many areas that don't have pharmacies yet that are distributing those vaccines. We are expecting to double the number of pharmacies across the entire province within the next few weeks and then doubling that again within the next month so that people across Ontario in all parts of the province will be able to receive the vaccines either through pharmacies, mass vaccination clinics, primary care hospitals, specialty clinics and mobile clinics. We know that we need to continue to advance that and as soon as we receive the supplies we will be advancing them in quantities across the province. Very much. The next question, the member for Orland. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, this week over 3,000 seniors in Ottawa had their vaccination appointments fouled up because of an error in the provincial booking system. I'd like to share Carol's experience. Carol booked an appointment for her 82-year-old husband who suffers from congestive heart failure. She had heard that the province had triple booked appointments this week but she had not herself received any correspondence or request to rebook. When she and her husband arrived at the YMCA the lineup was around the building. After waiting a very long time they finally got to the front and were told they couldn't be helped unless they wanted to wait even longer, up to an hour. She and her husband were offered the opportunity to be herded onto a city bus to be transported across the city to wait even more at another location. At this point her elderly husband didn't have the strength to continue Mr. Speaker. We were told that Ontarians waited longer for their online booking system because the government wanted to ensure it was problem-free. It is not problem-free. Mr. Speaker, what does the Premier have to say to Carol? The Minister of Health. I thank the member very much for the question. We are certainly very well aware of the situation that happened in Ottawa where there were due to a human error and inputting into the system there were a number of people who were double booked. Over a period of one week. That is something that is not acceptable. The system has since been fixed. But I would also advise the member that rather than just sending people a note saying get back online on the system again to rebook your appointment in another time, every one of those people that we were able to reach well over 2,300 people and messages were left for many, many more were personally called by someone from the call centre and arrangements were made for their appointments to be rebooked at a time that was very close in time to their original dates. So while I'm very sorry that this was not the experience that your constituent had, I can't advise that this was a matter that was dealt with in the best possible way that we could with those personal calls being made and recognizing that people needed to have the response made as soon as possible. And a supplementary question, the member for Ottawa. Thank you Speaker. And as if that wasn't enough for the last two days seniors in Ottawa South and actually in Ottawa Centre Ottawa Bannier Orleans Nepean Kanata have been unable to book their vaccine appointments. Our phones have been ringing off the hook with anxious frustrated seniors. Now the government knew there was a problem but did absolutely nothing to communicate to people that there was one through the website through social media through the daily back padding news conferences and it wasn't until yesterday after a question that the head of the task force says, yeah, there's a minor glitch and we'll get it fixed tonight. Well, it wasn't a minor glitch for hundreds and hundreds of seniors and it's unclear as to whether it's fixed yet. You know, if the Premier ran his business that way he wouldn't have any customers and in fact he wouldn't have a business. So Speaker, through you to the Premier would the Premier apologize to these seniors for not letting them know there was a problem and causing them unnecessary grief and anxiety about this issue. Thank you Speaker. Mr. Hill. Well, in fact, we know that people are anxious to obtain their appointments. They want to be able to reconnect with their families to be able to go out. I know that many people have been at home for long periods of time many of our seniors and they're anxious to receive their vaccine and we're anxious to get it to them. However, I would say that our booking system has had its issues recently with two areas in Hamilton and Ottawa. This is not something that we knew of well in advance. This is something that has arisen in the course of booking these appointments. But it is important to keep it in mind that this is a temporary problem. It is being fixed. It will be fixed in very short order. But the reality is that this system has been remarkably robust especially given the number of people who are now 75 years and older trying to call the book vaccines. There are many more 75-year-olds and there are 80-year-olds. Our system has held up. It has not broken down. Will there be some glitches along the way? Yes, there will. But our team is on it. They are doing great work. They've booked over 513,000 appointments so it must be working well in many areas. But I regret the situation that's happened in Hamilton and Ottawa. Thank you. Thank you very much. The next question. The member for Etobicole, Lake Shore. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Small Business, Red Tape Reduction. Mr. Speaker, since the pandemic began, small businesses in my riding of Etobicole, Lake Shore, have been doing their best to continue serving the community under the most challenging circumstances. And I'm pleased to say last night, my husband and I finally made it to a restaurant patio to have dinner at Mama Martino's last night and it was so great to sit on that patio. These businesses are the backbone of our province and have been some of the most significantly impacted by the public health measures. I know the Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction has been working diligently to help these businesses. Can the Minister please tell this House what the government has been doing to support small businesses across Ontario and what they are those businesses who have been required to temporarily close or restrict their services based on the advice of medical advisers. Can you share what we've been doing? The Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I want to thank the member from Etobicole, Lake Shore for all of her advocacy and standing up and finding ways to support small businesses in her writing. Mr. Speaker, we know the challenges that small businesses have been going through during the past year. And it's why we introduced the Small Business Support Grant which provided a minimum of $10,000 up to $20,000 for eligible small businesses that have been forced to close or significantly restrict their services. To be clear, this is the largest ever investment for small businesses anywhere in Canada. It also provides businesses with the flexibility to use the funds as they see fit, whether it's to top up wages, whether it's to pay for inventory. To date, we have processed over 97,000 applications and paid out over $1.3 billion to small businesses across the province. This is just one part of the plan to support small businesses and this government will continue to listen to our small businesses and provide them with a much needed support they need to get through these very challenging times. Thank you, Speaker and thank you to the Minister for taking such strong action to support our small businesses. Small businesses in Toronto like in my writing have circulation solutions and are famous people players which are located right in Etobicoke Lakeshore. They are thankful to receive the support and they thank our government. These businesses have often taken advantage of other supports that are available to assist them. Can the Minister please expand on what additional supports the government has made available to help small businesses regardless of where they are and what stage of the framework they're in as we all are in different stage across this province. The Associate Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker and thank you to the member again for their question. Our government remains committed to helping small businesses of all sizes from all sectors to recover, rehire and rebuild stronger than ever. We introduced the largest investment to help businesses go digital. 57 million dollars. This was going to help them create an online presence and help them utilize digital marketing tools. We helped and introduced the Main Street Recovery Act which provided over 60 million dollars to support businesses with their costs of PPE with eligible businesses allowed to expense a thousand dollars. We put forward the property tax and energy rebates of up to 100 percent for businesses that have been impacted by the restrictions and in lockdown areas. Mr. Speaker, we understand that there are significant supports that still need to come to help these businesses that we are committed to working with our businesses across the province to ensure that they can rebuild, rehire and emerge stronger than ever before. Thank you. The next question the member for Key White and All. Good morning, my question is to the Premier. Earlier this month your government announced the abrupt closure of 26 youth justice centres. 10 of these were in Northern Ontario mostly with First Nation clients. Children were torn from their sense of security and culturally appropriate services which were working. Now children are being taken even farther from their homes. From their families and support workers. Fiscal responsibility is important but what this decision has done is put a price tag on health and the well-being of children. How are you going to how are you going to right this wrong and reinstate these youth services? I respond. The government hosts later. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the question from the honourable member. As he knows and as he's rightly pointed out on a number of occasions Indigenous youth are over-represented in Ontario's youth justice system and that's why we are continuing to work directly with Indigenous communities and other partners to address this issue. We currently fund a range of culturally responsive programs including prevention and 45 community-based programs for Indigenous youth in or at risk of conflict with the law. We have also dedicated annualized funding for Indigenous organizations to deliver mental health and wellness services to justice involved Indigenous youth services that will begin later this year. And we will continue to engage with our Indigenous partners to find best practice in culturally appropriate programming. Mr. Speaker, thank you. Supplementary question. Speaker, as you know Northern Ontario is a very large geographic area. We need appropriate and equal access to services especially for our children. Third, we need services closer to home. It is unacceptable that Indigenous girls are now being sent to youth justice centers in cities known for human trafficking far from family and social supports. This leaves these young Indigenous girls more alone and vulnerable to the human trafficking and these urban centers. This is fate. None of us should be comfortable accepting. How is Ontario going to resolve this and stop failing young people? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Look, the Honourable Members is quite correct that this government inherited a number of programs and services that just were not that just were not meeting the needs of the people that they were supposed to service. The member opposite has raised in a number of occasions the historic whether it was underfunding whether it was programs that didn't work for the community. The Minister has been working very closely with Aboriginal leaders in particular to ensure that the programs and services that we offer work for the community. But I do agree with them. I do agree with them. For many years, for 15 long years these programs and services were underfunded by the previous Liberal Government. We have started to change that by working closely with community leaders. Is there more work to do? Absolutely there is, Mr. Speaker. You don't change 15 years of neglect overnight and you don't do it without involving those who are most impacted by it. So we will continue to work closely not only with this member but with the community to ensure the program service the people who need it most. The next question the member for Orleans. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transportation. Highway 413 is a redundant and unnecessary highway that will cost taxpayers across Ontario billions of dollars while it paves over wetlands forests and farms. You'll make it harder for us to adapt to climate change and it will impact the quality of life all Ontarians benefit from. Can you imagine an Ontario government willing to invest billions of dollars to make it harder for our children to enjoy the same quality of life we have today? The money the government wants to invest in Highway 413 could be redirected into education it could be used to modernize our schools expand connectivity and technology within the classroom and it could be used to build the best schools in the country Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, why won't the government pull the plug on Highway 413 now? Recognize what's in the best interest for our children's future and redirect all of that money into schools. Order. Minister of Transportation to respond. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Well as I inform the House there is a very clear case for the GTA West Corridor. By 2051 the population of the Greater Toronto Area will be almost 15 million people. Major highways in York and in Peel Region are all forecasted to be at operating capacity over operating capacity by 2031 even with significant investments in transit which our government is committed to doing. MTO's traffic modeling data shows that by the year 2041 in 20 years the level of congestion in the greater Golden Horseshoe will be about double what it is today. Mr. Speaker our government is taking the time to get this right. We are collecting the data the facts the evidence to determine if this is the right project to go ahead with. Mr. Speaker the Liberals cancelled the GTA West Corridor environmental assessment. They didn't they didn't they didn't release the land Mr. Speaker. We are committed to getting this right and doing what's right for the people of York Halton and Peel Region. Supplementary question. Thank you Mr. Speaker my supplementary is also for the minister. Mr. Speaker conservatives in this country used to show leadership in education and in the environment. Bill Davis with the expansion of publicly funded education Brian Mulroney with the fight against acid rain. Today we see a conservative party that denies climate change is real and another that's willing to invest billions of dollars to pave under farmlands wetlands and precious greenbelt Mr. Speaker a conservative movement that bends over backwards for bigots like Charles McVady. It's a conservative movement that freely attacks teachers one that holds our capital investments and now an entire cohort of children don't benefit from the new schools they could have been Mr. Speaker Highway 413 is a billion dollar environmental boondoggle this government knows is about to happen why won't it cancel Highway 413 and invest every single dollar in publicly funded education in this province. Minister of transportation thank you Mr. Speaker well we're listening to local counselors who know more than anyone about the pressures of growth counselors and mayors in Peel and in York region have told us that this highway is needed to address growth but they're not the only counselors who've talked to Mr. Speaker about the importance of new infrastructure to address congestion. The member for Orleans only a few years ago told the CBC that without an expansion of Brian Coburg boulevard east end gridlock and the Ottawa area would stymie growth. The member for Orleans said that without this expansion the people of Orleans are and I will quote going to be stuck with the congestion that they've got Mr. Speaker why won't he show the same considerations that people living in the GTA that he does for those living in his riding. Mr. Speaker the member opposite was so eager to address this growth so much so that he wanted a strong arm the National Capital Commission to pave over ecologically sensitive lands around the Ottawa green belt. Mr. Speaker I won't take any lessons from the Liberals on highway construction and the environment and nor should anyone else. The next question order. The next question the member for Topical Lake Shore. Thank you Mr. Speaker and my question is for the Minister of Environment Conservation and Parks. Mr. Speaker this pandemic has taught us the importance of being able to quickly innovate and adapt to challenging circumstances across our communities, business sectors and government. Recently we've seen how municipalities and academics institutions have been able to embrace innovation using wastewater surveillance to help identify and stop the spread of COVID-19 in our communities. Scientists are finding that early detection of the virus in wastewater may prove public health authorities the ability to access trends and identify asymptomatic cases typically not caught in clinical testing. Mr. Speaker as communities and businesses continue to deal with the wide-ranging impacts of COVID-19 they need to know that their government is prepared to respond to these new conditions and challenges as they arrive. Can the Minister of Environment Conservation and Parks assure me and ensure that this government is exploring innovative ways to help respond to COVID-19 in Ontario communities. Parliamentary Assistant Member for Barrie Innesville. Thank you Speaker and you know it's all hands on deck on this government. We are acting on behalf of the people who elected us to really combat COVID-19 whether it's the Solicitor General whether it's the Minister of Health we are all acting together as a team and the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks is doing its part as well. We've invested 12 million dollars to support water surveillance initiatives across our communities. This will actually help us detect COVID-19 proteins within the wastewater. It's us embracing more science in order to help many communities stop the outbreak well ahead of time in communities. And we've seen how this has been possible science that we've relied on for example public health units like Ottawa have also looked at a wastewater surveillance to help them combat the COVID-19 virus in their communities and Speaker we're doing so much more and I'll have more to say my supplementary. Supplementary question. And thank you to the Parliamentary Assistant for that answer. Mr Speaker historical applications of wastewater-based epitoneology also known as WBE have been wide-ranging across the globe. In Sweden in 2014 WBE showed peak norovirus levels detected two to three weeks before most patients were diagnosed with infection of outbreaks in Gothenburg, Sweden. This is proof that the method may be a tool to detect incipient outbreaks of viruses and provide early warnings before the causative pathogens have been recognized in healthcare. Mr Speaker we can continue to battle against this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic but this is great news for the constituents all across Ontario and across the province who are eager to see that light at the end of the tunnel. So can the Parliamentary Assistant please share with the House what are further benefits of using wastewater based epitoneology in this province. Member for Barry Ennisville. Thank you Speaker. Well the member clearly recognizes that wastewater surveillance is sort of like a smoke detector in your home. It's an early detector for us to help combat this virus across our communities and of course it has so much more potential Speaker. This infrastructure that we're embracing across our communities is monitoring that we can use not just for COVID-19 but as we deploy more of this infrastructure in wastewater monitoring techniques we are now able to also use it for future ways to make sure that our communities stay vibrant and are resilient and are healthy. And of course wastewater monitoring techniques and they've historically been used in many areas for example in the European unions and of course in in many parts of the US as well. And Speaker I know we are very confident our side of the House that we're going to be working with scientists on this untapped resource to give it its full potential so that we can continue to keep our communities healthy and vibrant not just now but in future future years. Thank you. Member for University Rosedale. Speaker my question is to the Premier. The Toronto Outdoor Picture Show brings outdoor film festivals to neighbourhoods across Toronto. And the Christie Pitts Film Festival in my writing is a local favourite. Thousands of people attend. But COVID-19 has devastated this small arts organisation's ability to operate and raise revenue. And despite this year's massive losses the Toronto Outdoor Picture Show is not eligible for the small business support grant. And as a traveling film festival they're also not eligible for property tax and energy cost rebates. That means they're receiving no provincial support at all. This is my question. Can the Premier expand the eligibility criteria of the small business support program so arts organisations like the Toronto Outdoor Picture Show can get the support they need? Minister of Heritage, support, tourism and culture industries. Thank you. I'm happy to work with the member opposite about that incredible organization she's talking about. As you know our ministry has a $60 million fund at the Ontario Arts Council. We increased that last year by $25 million to support core cultural institutions across Ontario. We'll have more to say obviously today in the budget but I can tell you I am very optimistic that festivals and events will be back bigger and better post COVID-19 once we get the appropriate framework we're looking to work and continue to work with the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services as well as the Ministry of Economic Development Trade and Job Creation to see how we can best support the cultural institutions across the province but I can assure you today is going to be a great day for culture and arts in the province of Ontario. Thank you so back to the back to the premier that is true recently the cultural heritage minister said that she was committed to ensuring Ontario's arts sector gets more financial help but as a small arts organization with annual revenue under $1 million the Toronto Outdoor Picture Show is not eligible for the one-time Arts Recovery Fund I agree with the Minister arts organizations need help to survive this pandemic they create jobs they entertain us they tell our stories and they play a vital role in the well-being of Ontarians which is exactly why I'm alarmed that arts organizations small ones are not getting the support they need from this government Premier the staff at Toronto's outdoor picture show want to know can this government increased support to smaller arts organizations so that they can survive this pandemic Thank you Thank you Minister I'm more proud in Ontario to talk about our culture and our arts than this minister here and I'm proud to be working alongside with my colleagues to offer to the arts and culture industry as well as our tourism and our heritage sectors as well as our sports organization unprecedented funding in the last six weeks the Ministry of Heritage Sport and Tourism and Culture Industries has released $150 million for a tourism tax credit $105 million for the Ontario Trillium Foundation above and beyond it's existing $103 million operating grants $25 million on top of the $60 million for the Ontario Arts Council $2.5 million dedicated toward live music $2 million to our museums $15 million for our sports organizations and $62 million to iconic institutions across Ontario making sure that our budget grew in the last six weeks by $361 million and stay tuned for four o'clock Thank you The next question a member for Ottawa Thank you very much Mr. Speaker my question is for the Premier Speaker this government is just bad for the environment you know the first thing they did when they got to this place was to tear down a plan for climate change and put nothing in its place then they asked the independent environmental commissioner got conservation authorities they're going to give themselves the power to allow building anything anywhere retroactively no right of appeal now their latest assault is to build on the environment is to build a highway they're hell bent on paving over green space to build a highway that no one wants so Speaker through you can the Premier explain why spending billions of dollars on highway 413 through green space is actually good for the environment thank you Thank you Minister of Transportation thank you Mr. Speaker and with all due respect to the member opposite I would ask the Liberals why when they were in government they decided to pave over 330 hectares of green belt by pay by building the 407 east Mr. Speaker on the west side they cancel environmental assessment processes which are very important which is a very important process for governments to make decisions it allows us to collect data evidence and facts so that we can make the right kind of transportation planning decisions that we're required to make for population growth to manage congestion to improve the quality of life of Ontarians on the west side they cancel EAs but on the east side of of the GTA they're paving over hectares 300 330 hectares of green belt wetland and forest Mr. Speaker so it's very hard to take them seriously Mr. Speaker when they're not consistent and you supplement your question thank you Speaker and I'm so glad the minister raised the 407 I think that's the highway that government sold that we're all still paying for that they can't actually use the capacity on because they tied their hands so I'm glad the minister brought that up so who's really benefiting here right it's the people who own the land and who are they well they're the government's friends that's a problem so Speaker impacted municipalities don't want it Member to withdraw to leave the imputed motive uh affected municipalities don't want it so why is the government so hell-bent on building it there are better ways to be spending eight billion dollars like on building schools like on repairing schools like building spaces for our children that are great places to learn so Speaker it would create thousands of jobs in the skilled trades it would ensure our children question got the best education system in the world so speakers through you can the minister explain why he and his government think that's spending eight billion dollars on a highway that nobody wants is a good thing again the minister of transportation thank you Mr Speaker well I'm referring to 407 East through Durham Mr Speaker that the Liberals built Mr Speaker there are a number of stakeholders who are calling on us to study the impact of the 407 of the of the 413 and whether it is the right project for Peele Halton in York Region and that is exactly what we're doing we are doing the work that is necessary so that we can conduct the proper transportation planning process that that Ontarians expect us to do the member opposite talks about jobs building the 413 will create 350 million dollars in impact to the GDP of this province Mr Speaker it will create 4300 jobs each year during construction of the project and there are numerous stakeholders including local councillors and mayors who are asking us to do this work as in addition to the Ontario Livestock Transporters Alliance the Peele Federation of Agriculture the Ontario Home Builders Association Leona the Brampton Board of Trade the Toronto Board of Trade and the Mississauga Board of Trade so Mr Speaker we are doing the work that we're being asked to do which is study the merits of the highway and we will that will determine whether we proceed with it or thank you next question the member from the CEO team says bonjour merci monsieur le Président question is the premier Speaker Miss LaRabie Amariette LaRabie is a lovely 72 year old resident of Capscasing where she lives with her husband Luc LaRabie Mr and Mrs LaRabie are both coping with health important health condition Mr LaRabie has heart conditions while Miss LaRabie is fighting a cancer has only one function in lung and also has heart condition still Miss LaRabie will have to wait until April to receive our first dose of COVID-19 vaccine does the premier think senior resident of which Kegwok James Bay like Miss LaRabie need to wait even more despite the fact she's certainly at risk Mr Hill thank you well I thank the member very much for the question and we know that people across the entire province are waiting to receive their their vaccines we are waiting for the AstraZeneca's vaccines to come in to be able to put them into pharmacies but there are mass vaccination clinics or other ways that people can receive the vaccines but it is really all dependent upon supply we would like to be able to give everyone on Ontario a shot tomorrow but the reality is we don't have the supply of vaccines as soon as we get them we ship them out but each public health medical director is making plans for the vaccination of all the residents within their geographic area and they will they have developed a plan that's relevant to your area as the others have for their areas to make sure that we could get the vaccines to people as quickly as possible once we get them it takes no time at all to get them into people's arms but we have to receive them through the federal government first again to the premier Speaker Madame Larrabi can't wait another month as she told me the other day guy if I get this virus I'll be dead it's certain and because Madame Larrabi and her husband are sufficiently independent they don't live in a care home they don't receive any home care they still have to wait Speaker will the premier tell Madame Larrabi that in spite of her cancer in spite of her one lung that she will still have to wait for her vaccine Minister of Health Thank you very much well from what you're describing Monsieur Madame Larrabi they probably would be best to receive their vaccines through their primary care providers since they have pre-existing health conditions and so that is going to be distributed as well as the AstraZeneca vaccines are received they're going into both primary care offices as well as into pharmacies and the Moderna and Pfizer are being distributed through the mass vaccination clinics if there are any in your area because they all vary they all vary so as soon as the AstraZeneca are received they will be going into primary care offices where Monsieur Madame Larrabi will be able to receive their vaccines but in the event that we don't receive them in the near future we are looking at ways that we can get vaccines perhaps the Moderna vaccine that doesn't have the same kind of cold storage requirements as the Pfizer vaccine into areas into pharmacies as well as into primary care offices so that people can receive those vaccines as quickly as possible so we are looking at every single option possible thank you the next question member for yours thank you speaker my question is to the Premier the beauty industry is beautiful Ontario's beauty and personal care industry employs about 200,000 people it's over 81% female owned and operated according to beauty united more than 20% of the industry already shut down and many more will not survive the lockdown the Premier likes to say that it's about health and science but there's no data to suggest that beauty and personal care are putting anyone at risk according to stats can the personal care industry is responsible for about 44 out of 9,000 outbreaks recorded in Canada since the pandemic it's responsible for zero deaths out of approximately 13,000 deaths attributed to outbreaks in Canada they book appointments have strict silence capacity control and ability to contact trace they're training an infection protocol and control and are the only industry that's trained in ipad that remains shut down targeting them makes absolutely no sense my question then is why is the Premier ruining hundreds of thousands of lives and livelihoods by keeping the beauty and personal care industry closed speak to the member opposite I would say to keep people healthy and safe that's the reason why there is absolute sense to that this is an issue that has been discussed with the chief medical officer of health and the public health measure table as the member will be aware the variants of concern are now the dominant strain in Ontario they are it's a more deadly strain it cause it's trans much more transmissible it results in more hospitalizations more intensive care units being occupied by people with variants of concern and unfortunately more deaths now with respect to the beauty industry personal care industry that is an area where people are in very close proximity because of these variants of concern that are so transmissible it's really important at this stage as we are trying to get vaccines into people's arms and keep the transmission of those variants of concern low that we have to move very carefully and very cautiously that is the reason why beauty products and personal care salons have not been opened yet in many parts of the province that is something we're going to continue to watch and when the time is right of course then they will be able to very much from the supplementary question thank you speaker my question is to the premier the province's restaurants are asking for safe indoor dining across Ontario between march and november 2020 alone almost 15,000 restaurants have closed in Ontario the CFIB says that the hospitality business was at most risk with one in three at risk of closure the premier likes to say that it's about health and science but there's no data to suggest that the dining industry is putting anyone at risk according to stats can food and drink industry is responding to the risk of closing the risk of closing food and drink industry is responsible for just about 2,000 cases out of 125,000 cases traced back to outbreaks it's responsible for three deaths out of approximately 13,000 deaths attributed to outbreaks in Canada they have sign-ins capacity control and ability to contact trace their training and cleaning protocol hundreds of thousands of employees suppliers and families are destitute targeting restaurants makes up for no sense my question then is why is the premier ruining thousands hundreds of thousands of lives and livelihoods by preventing Ontario's restaurants from safely reopening indoor dining Minister of Health the answer is to save lives that's the reason why that is why this that needs to be done in order to make sure that people are going to be safe if the indoor dining rules have been brought forward in some parts of the province but not in other parts but even in the gray lockdown area the rules have been changed to allow for outdoor dining that is something there is with the weather getting better is going to help those industries but indoor dining again because of the close proximity of people in the gray lockdown areas in particular that is an area where the transmission can happen very easily particularly with the variants of concern we want to make sure that we can keep people safe and healthy we want to keep people alive that is our goal that is our primary member for York Centre come door health and safety of the people of Ontario and that is what we are committed to do the next question the member for Windsor to come see Speaker my question is to the health minister good morning minister Speaker as you know this pandemic has clearly proven the value of our 34 public health units these units are supervised by boards made up of municipal and provincial appointees but in Windsor's case since 2019 none of the provincial appointees have been reappointed or replaced it's a mystery speaker perhaps there's a secret plan to eliminate or replace most of the 34 public health units in Ontario at a time of turbulence amidst a global pandemic these boards have been a stabilizing influence instilling confidence in an effective public health system for all of our residents why speaker what's the secret plan what's the mystery why is this government not replacing its provincial appointees to the boards of directors of Ontario's public health units and the minister how speaker and thank you to the member for the question I certainly would agree with you that our 34 public health units have done an enormous service to the people of Ontario since day one of this pandemic for increasing their testing capacity making sure they have a case in contact contact tracers in order to follow up on cases however I would advise that we have been replacing for the public health units I do not understand why that has not happened in Windsor I will certainly look into that but I can certainly advise you and the members of this house speaker that I have signed many applicants applications to become members of the public health boards that has been happening on a continuous basis since the pandemic began what's happening in Windsor is something that I will respond look into and I will advise you accordingly of what I've been able to find out thank you thank you very much that concludes our question period for this morning there being no further business this morning this house stands in recess until 1 p.m. and we're my members 1 p.m.