 It is now time for oral questions that I recognize the leader of Her Majesty's loyal opposition. Thanks very much, Speaker. Thanks very much, Speaker. My first question this morning is for the Premier. Why has this Premier and his government failed beyond belief to prepare for the second wave of COVID-19, even though everybody knew it was coming? And why are they now doing so little to mitigate its impacts? The Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. Thank you, Speaker, and thank you to the leader of the opposition for the question. In fact, we have done a significant amount to prepare for a second wave. We've been working on this throughout the summer months, knowing that a second wave would be coming, more complicated to deal with than the first wave, because we also have flu season approaching. We also have several hundred thousand cases of procedures and surgeries that were postponed during the first wave that now must be addressed. And we have diminished capacity in some of our hospitals because of the necessary decanting of patients from long-term care homes into hospitals for infection prevention and control. But we do have a six-prong plan that is to dealing with all of these issues, which is building on the initiatives that we started since the beginning of COVID-19, but ramping up our capacity significantly in dealing with all of the issues that I've just mentioned. We are ready for wave two and we are dealing with it. The supplementary question. Well, Speaker, unfortunately the Premier and his ministers are about the only ones that believe they are actually stepping up to the plate in dealing with the second wave appropriately. Public health experts around Ontario, doctors, people who work in long-term care, those frontline workers, long-term care home operators, sick kids' hospitals, hospitals all around the province, everybody is saying that this government needs to do much, much more than it's been doing. When was the Premier going to start listening to experts that are outside his inner circle and stop cutting corners and trying to save a buck at the expense of public health and take real action to fight COVID-19? Minister of Health. Thank you, Speaker. Well, in fact, the fall preparedness plan wasn't formed by significant consultations with outside people, including 45 consultations with over 300 experts in health. It's also been formed by our Chief Medical Officer of Health and all of the public health experts that are around the public health table that have been giving advice to us on what we need to do. We've done that. We have prepared for all of those issues in our plan and we have put significant money into amping up our resources including over a billion dollars into enhancing our testing, tracing, and isolating capabilities. So we have both the experts' advice and we have put the money into the plan and the plan is being worked on and being implemented as we speak to deal with COVID-19 in the second wave. The final supplementary. Well, Speaker, stronger measures to mitigate and fight back against the COVID-19 in a second wave are happening across Canada. Is the Premier prepared today to invest the money necessary to provide direct financial assistance, direct financial support to businesses and individuals that will allow Ontario to fight the virus while at the same time providing Ontarians the economic security that they need and that they deserve? The Parliamentary Assistant, the Minister of Finance. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And our government certainly recognises the challenging times that are COVID-19 in this time of global uncertainty, Mr. Speaker. And that's why we announced on March 25 a total of $17 billion in direct supports for our healthcare system and people and small businesses throughout this great province. But, Mr. Speaker, as the pandemic progressed, we realised that that wasn't enough and that's why in August, Mr. Speaker, our government committed a total of $30 billion. That's an increase of $7.3 billion for individuals and small businesses and job creators throughout this province. Mr. Speaker, these are uncertain times, but we know that the people of Ontario are strong and we will weather this storm together. Thank you. The next question, the Leader of the Opposition. Speaker, the next question is for the Premier. The government's failure and this Premier's failure to properly prepare for a second wave is going to have the most devastating consequences in long-term care. Yesterday, two more residents died at the West End Villa in Ottawa, bringing that death toll to 15 residents in that one long-term care home since August. Now, new outbreaks in long-term care are up to 44. The Premier says he's listening to his experts. In a letter last week, long-term care operators, doctors, residents all warned that they were not ready, that long-term care was not ready, not prepared for the second wave of COVID-19. Who are the experts, Speaker, that are telling the Premier that long-term care homes are prepared for a second wave? Premier. Through you, Mr. Speaker, I'll tell you who isn't an expert. The Leader of the Opposition isn't an expert because she's nowhere to be found for the last six months. As each and every one of us have been working 180 days every single day, 24-7. But I'll just inform the Leader of the Opposition what we've done on the second plan. We're hiring 3,700 more people in the healthcare sector. Mr. Speaker, we're putting a billion dollars towards tracing and testing throughout the entire province. We're putting 283.7 million dollars for the backlog surgeries. And we're going to continue rolling out the support that the people of Ontario need. But, Mr. Speaker, anytime the Leader of the Opposition wants me to inform her on what's really going on in the province, I'd be more than happy to sit down with her. Thank you. A supplementary question. Well, again, Speaker, the Premier seems to be the only one that thinks his plan is working. In transcripts that were published yesterday from the Government's own long-term care commission, the long-term care ministry makes it clear that proactive inspections of long-term care were not happening before the first wave of COVID-19 hit those long-term care facilities, even as the Ford government insisted that there was an iron ring around long-term care. Now, once again, the ministry is insisting that they're ready for a second wave, even as home operators, frontline workers and residents and their families insist that they are not. The Premier says he listens to the experts. Who are the experts that are telling him that the second wave of COVID-19 is not going to be a problem in long-term care because they're ready for it? Mr. Long-term Care. Thank you, Speaker, and thank you to the member opposite for the question. We have never stopped working since the planning began in February to make sure that our homes had every available resource for them during the first wave. This was a globally evolving pandemic in the first wave, but we know a lot more now. And if we look at the science, we understand about asymptomatic spread. We have the testing available. That was globally competed for in the first wave. The PPE supply is robust, and thank you to the Premier for all his efforts to revamp the procurement process. We are in a very different situation, and I remind people that an outbreak in long-term care can mean one staff member self-isolating at home, and that is the majority of our situation right now in outbreaks. It is one staff member, so we are holding. Our homes are holding. They are at the front lines. We will continue to pour every resource that we have into them to shore them up, supply them with the resources that they need all day, all night. Thank you very much. The final supplement. Well, Speaker, when it comes to long-term care, it really is not clear at all who this government is listening to. The people who run the homes, the people who maintain those homes, the people who are families of residents who live in those homes are all saying the same thing. We are not yet ready for a second wave of COVID-19. That's what they are saying. They're pleading with this government, Speaker, to get them some more capacity for things like infection control. Infection specialist is what they're looking for. They're looking for more funding to hire more physicians so that they'll be able to be on site to deal with outbreaks when they occur. They are being ignored by this government even as outbreaks spread to residents, and that residents actually are losing their lives again. So if the Premier is actually listening to experts who are the experts, they are the folks that are telling this Premier that everything is kosher in long-term care in terms of a second wave. Minister of long-term care. Thank you, Speaker, and thank you again for the question. There are lessons learned from the first wave. There is no doubt about that, and we have been listening to the sector on an urgent basis, understanding what their needs are. And again, some of these areas of concern were long-standing. The staffing issue, the capacity issues, and long-term care, but also in hospitals. And we have an integrated approach now with hospitals, with the IPAC teams there. And this is an incredibly important aspect to understand how we work together to create a more robust support for our long-term care homes as we have more understanding of the virus, how it spreads, what measures and tools are evolving and emerging across the world. We've learned from other countries as well. Hundreds of them. We are listening to them, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, our Medical Officer of Health, Public Health Ontario. We will continue to listen to our sector hear their concerns and respond in an active way, which is exactly what we've been doing and will continue to do. Thank you. Families in Ottawa have lined up since before dawn to try to get a COVID test, which has been hard already. But to make matters worse, the province said there needs to be a cap on testing and cut tests by 1200 per day. And a memo sent by officials it says the provincial lab system is not able to keep up with the significant volumes over the past few weeks. The memo goes on to say, the province has made it clear that until the lab system is able to adequately increase capacity there needs to be a pause on any additional capacity added to testing with temporary reductions needed for some areas. Speaker to the Premier, which 1200 parents should go home without a test to meet this new cap you're imposing about who gets and doesn't get health care in Ottawa. Deputy Premier and Minister Bell. Thank you, Speaker. I want to be clear that the memo referred to in the media and by the member here was not reviewed or approved by me and I've been unequivocal since the beginning that there are no caps or limits on testing that is to be allowed. This is something with clarification that is going to be issued by Ontario Health after it has been reviewed by my office. But we've said from the outset of this pandemic that everyone who needs a test must be able to have access to a test and that has not changed. But we have indicated last week that because of the vast number of people that are coming forward for testing, despite the fact that we've included and increased our lab processing capabilities to over 40,000 tests per day we still need to make sure that those people who must be tested who need to go back to work who need to wear asymptomatic but are working with long-term care for example, must be given priority. But the fact of the matter is that anyone who needs a test will still get a test. That's an excellent question. Thank you, Speaker. The minister just told us that there are no caps but that's not addressing the filtration in Ottawa at the actual labs that have been backlogged for days. Melissa Conrad is a laboratory technician at the Medical Laboratory Eastern Esla site. She says her lab has been backlogged by thousands of tests. It's no wonder that local officials are now saying that because of the lab backlogs there needs to be caps on testing. The premier and his minister should stop blaming the labs and the frontline healthcare workers like Melissa doing their utmost to test everything they can. The testing hours at Moody Drive assessment centre has been put on hold and a second pop-up testing centre in Orleans was scrapped because of concerns about capacity. Why has this government speaker bungled testing and lab capacity so poorly that memos like this are even being sent out in the first place? Minister of Health. Well, in actual fact what is happening is we are boosting both the testing capacity and the lab capacity significantly. We had our fall preparedness plan because we knew that there would be more people coming in to be tested because of concerns with flu season coming up as well as people knowing that there's an increase in COVID-19 testing and they want to be tested too. So we are boosting both of those. We are putting a billion dollars into increasing our ability to test, to conduct the lab analysis and to do the case management afterwards. So all three of those have been boosted by the fact that we started at the beginning with 5,000 tests being able to be done per day. We're now at 40,000 tests being done today and we're working to increase that to over 50,000 tests per day. That is part of our fall plan, that is what we have planned for, that is what we've allocated money for and that's what we're implementing. Thank you. The next question, the member for Markham. My question is to the Premier. Premier, as you and the Minister of Health were deeply concerning, as our health officials have been telling us Ontario is now in the second wave of COVID-19. We know that this wave will be more complicated, more complex. It will be worse than the first wave we faced earlier this year. As you indicated, there are two steps that everyone should take, download the COVID Alert app and get a through sort this fall. But our government is taking additional measures to help strengthening our health system. It means adding more resources, adding more testing capacity and the most importantly, adding more boots on the ground. As we enter the second wave, getting more health care workers, more nurses, more personal support workers. Premier, what's our government's doing to bring additional resources as part of our four preparedness plan? Thank you, Mr. The Premier to reply. I thank the great member from Markham Unionville. Second highest votes in the entire province, so congratulations. Together our collective actions will decide whether, Mr. Speaker, if this is a wave or a tsunami, as I mentioned yesterday, we've already taken countless steps to reduce the gatherings, restrict gatherings, address hotspots across the province and that's why as I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, we're investing $283.7 million on the backlog of surgeries. We're put $1 billion into testing and tracing. We have the largest flu immunization program ever seen in the entire country. That's 5.1 million flu shots, which I encourage each and every one of us to go out there and get. Mr. Speaker, we're adding 800 more nurses, in total 3700 more health care workers, adding 600 more acute care nurses and hospitals and long-term care homes, over 2,000 more PSWs, which I love the PSWs, great news coming in on Thursday for them. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My supplemental question is to the Premier again. Premier, I want to echo your comments about the amazing work that our personal support workers do in the province. I want to take this opportunity to thank my constituents who are PSWs who have stepped up and sacrificed during this time. I'm particularly proud of our government's announcements of additional funding of 14 million to the personal support working training fund to continue training more PSWs for long-term care home and community care. These significant investments will allow us to recruit, retain and quickly deploy our essential health workers to care they are needed most and ensure that our health care system is prepared to deal with any outbreaks or surges in cases. Speaker, can the Premier please share with this legislature what other measures we have announced to get more boots on the ground prepared for the fall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Premier. Thank you. Again, I want to thank the MPP for marketing union role. We're sending out a call to the entire province for people to join the Plyton team. Out of the 3,700 people, Mr. Speaker, we need people. No matter if you're going to college or university, think about a career choice. A career choice would be great to step up to the plight and help our province out when we need you most. And, Mr. Speaker, as part of our 52 million dollar investment, $26 million is earmarked for personal support workers and supportive care workers and $26 million support the nurses. We're asking the people of Ontario please step up. I got to give a shout out to all the great volunteers that go into long-term care homes to see their loved ones that not only do they take care of their loved ones to take the load off the PSWs, but they take care of other patients within long-term care. So I just want to give a shout out to all the great family members that go into long-term care to help out the PSW. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning. This question is for the Premier. Every day in this chamber, we've been asking the government to reduce class sizes so our children and staff can be properly distanced in our schools. I want to save the Premier some time here. We know what the minister and the Premier have said over and over again and it's the same plan that isn't working and that they've been talking about since the summer. The point is, Mr. Speaker, that plan again is not working. Ontario parents have lost confidence. Our cases are rising, so it's not good enough. The Premier says they're listening to the voices of experts, but public health officials, hospitals including sick kids, epidemiologists and experts have all said that smaller classes with more distance must be a priority. Why that, Mr. Speaker, are most classes in most boards, just as crowded as they were before COVID-19. Who told this government not to adopt the advice of those experts? Minister of Education. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. We are following the advice of the chief medical officer of this province, the foremost medical expert of the province, who's given us advice on how to mitigate the spread and ultimately improve the safety of all schools. It's why, Speaker, we unveiled a plan that is funded with $1.3 billion in allocation, the largest investment in this country to ensure our schools are safe. It's the basis for why school boards are well over 2,000 educators. It's the basis for why we have an additional 1,100 custodians and, Speaker, that excludes some of the largest school boards as that data gets to the ministry. What we have seen is actions, layers of prevention being taken place in local school boards to reduce the risk. And, Mr. Speaker, we are grateful for the work of our educators, for the work of our public health, the work of our nurses and doctors in every school and every community that will continue to be there for our schools. The supplementary question. Speaker, the Premier and the minister just keep returning to those same speaking points over and over, but the truth is that the dollars are not flowing. The government says they have a rainy day fund. Well, the rainy day is here. It's now. 30 grade 5s in a portable is not acceptable to anyone else in this province. I want to remind the government and others watching that this is the same government and the same cabinet that tried to increase class sizes to an average of 28 kids per class just months ago. This is the same government that wanted to cut 10,000 teachers and other education workers. And despite overwhelming evidence, despite surging cases, they still cannot bring themselves to do what needs to be done. So again, Mr. Speaker, the government deliver the one layer of protection that matters most safely distanced, smaller classes. Thank you, Speaker. We accept that it is an unprecedented challenge, a rainy day if you will, as used by the member ops. It is curious, Speaker, that just weeks ago when a proposal came from school boards to unlock 496 million dollars of reserves, those members philosophically and fundamentally oppose it again. Just like, Speaker, just like they opposed online learning during the negotiations, just like they opposed online learning in the fall. Speaker, consistency is a strength, but parents want us to know that their parliament is working very hard to ensure the quality of learning is consistent, proven-wide, and it is safe. And that is exactly what this Premier is doing in every reach of this province, reducing classroom size, improving safety, and ensuring quality of learning online and in class. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Speaker, I think we all understand the economic imperatives that have governed the reopening of our communities, and we all understand that people are longing to get back to the activities that they love with their friends and their families. But, Mr. Speaker, at this moment, as we see the weaknesses in the reopening plan, as we hear health officials advising us to pull back and introduce new restrictions in restaurants and bars, as we hear the Ontario Hospital Association advising that in some regions we would best to return to stage two in order to possibly continue to keep schools open, why is it that the government considers it necessary to allow casinos to open? Premier, to reply. Through you, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from the former Premier. We do listen to the chief medical officer of health. That's who I listen to. That's who the team listens to. And it's not just about the chief medical officer of health. They have health experts that are sitting around the health table and not only advise us but advise the chief medical officer. So I'll continue to listen to the chief medical officer of health. They seem to do one heck of a great job getting us to the point we are as looking at the map the other day. Mr. Speaker, next to Illinois, any region our size in all of North America, we're testing more people than any of them. We're actually hammering it over 40,000. So we're going to still be vigilant and we won't take our eye off the ball for a second, but I do appreciate the question from the former Premier. Thank you. And this supplementary question. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the complexity of what the Premier is up against right now, Mr. Speaker. And I was actually thinking last night what I would do if I were in his shoes. And Mr. Speaker, it does occur to me that comparisons with the United States is not the comparison that I would look to. I would actually look at other countries in other parts of the world. I would look to Scandinavian countries. I would look to what is happening in other parts of the world to inform what we're doing. And I would listen as he says he is to all of the health officials in Ontario. It's interesting, Mr. Speaker, that the Minister of Education doesn't seem to listen to frontline teachers, doesn't seem to listen to educators. And now, Mr. Speaker, we've got the Ontario Hospital Association putting out advice that doesn't seem to listen to educators. And what the OHA is saying, Mr. Speaker, is they're warning that if the government does not move back to stage two in the regions of the province with the highest case counts, namely the GTA and Ottawa, hospitals could become overwhelmed with patients. Was the government aware that the OHA was going to make this recommendation? And if not, why not? Now that the recommendation has been made, will the government follow the advice of these health officials? Mr. Speaker, again, I did speak to Anthony Dale. He was yesterday, I believe, and got his advice. But again, I appreciate the advice and I take their advice a lot of times, but I pass that on to the Chief Medical Officer, that who I'm going to listen to. I'm going to listen to the Chief Medical Officer, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer and the health team. That's what I'm going to have to do and I know the Premier would do exactly the same with the former Premier, I should say, would do the exact same thing. And she understands the pressures of this job and you know something, I could never get upset with the former Premier because she's walked the mile in my shoes. She understands it. Next question, corridor. Member for Niagara West. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This question is for the Minister of Francophone Affairs. Last week was the day of Franco-Ontarian and this was an opportunity for us to talk about the needs of this community. What are the measures that were taken to continue to support the Franco-Ontarian community? Minister of Francophone Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my co-worker for his question and for all his work and his support for all the important stakes for the Franco-Ontarian community. Last week, Mr. Speaker, we celebrated the day of the Franco-Ontarians and the week started very well with the adoption of the 182 bill that recognized the Franco-Ontarian flag as an official emblem of the province of Ontario. Then we moved forward with $500 million investment for a promotion campaign for Franco-Ontarian companies. At the end of the week I raised the flag for the FAO and I made it possible to have French accent on ID card of Ontario. We continue to work. I would like to thank the French accent consultation with the members of the Franco-Ontarian community to ensure that the government respond to their needs. Complementary question. Thank you, Mrs. Minister for your answer. As you mentioned we have adopted the French accent in the photo ID and driver license. Can you talk about the importance of this measure to our co-workers who are present here? Thank you to my co-worker for this question. Since we have been elected we have heard the Franco-Ontarian community asking for this amendment. Between November 2019 and September 2020 20 petitions about it and the Franco-Ontarian community was asking for it and I'm very happy that this measure was applied when the previous government was not able to do it in 15 years of their term and I was very happy to describe how important this measure was. The FAO said that this was a request that dated from the 1980s. Franco-Ontarians had been asking for this change. The Cote the gelina of this province will finally have their name written correctly on their photo ID. The Member for Waterloo. Thank you very much. My question is to the Premier. The Riverside Bloor Court and Queen Street West BIAs wrote an urgent letter asking for clarity around directives financial support and relief from predatory insurance rates. When the Premier suddenly announced on Friday that they must reduce their hours of operation they were blindsided. As the Premier lurches from one crisis to another why would he not at the very least demonstrate some kind of respect for businesses who have been complying with public health directives instead of penalizing them for just trying to stay in business. The Cote the gelina of this province and Queen Street West BIAs will this government try to help them survive with direct financial supports to ensure that they remain solvent. After all, it's not their fault that this Premier did not plan for the COVID-19. Premier. Mr. Speaker, we've been there every step of the way and something breaks for the restaurant owners to close down everything and listen to OHA on their hospital association and then the next question is why did you close down the bars in the restaurants an hour early? You can't have it both ways. But again, through the advice of the Chief Medical Officer Mr. Speaker yes, we reduced the restaurant and the bars to close at 11 o'clock I'm sorry 12 o'clock but they can have their last call at 11 o'clock I think it was very modest that we asked the bars to close down and not stay open until 3 o'clock in the morning we also closed the strip joints too as well because the transmission was 500 people versus 130 people at a restaurant. I support the restaurant folks there and we're going to come up with a plan with the federal government to support all the restaurants right across the province. Thank you very much. The Prime Minister has been inconsistent on the business file he just banned lap dances in strip joints last Friday Mr. Speaker the Prime Minister says he understands how hard it is for our business community but if he really did he would be transparent with business owners about policies that will directly affect their bottom lines business owners need to know what is coming so that they can plan the Toronto BIAs ask a good question does this government really know that it has compromised confidence in our economy? They have one last request which we also call for in our Save Main Street plan will this government take immediate action to work with the insurance industry to support SMEs by preventing and these are their words astronomical increases to business insurance policies and premiums if you want to be on the side of small businesses you should have their back on this file Premier Well Mr. Speaker I'll tell you I just find it so ironic every single item that we've put forward over the last two years to reduce taxes by 8.75% in small businesses reducing WSIB premiums close to $2 billion and I could go on and on and on Mr. Speaker the last speaker voted against every single item that we put forward to support small businesses and I just find they flip back and forth I've never put one motion forward for small businesses that they haven't disagreed with so they're anti-business and make no mistake about it they're anti-business they believe in taxing the pants off small businesses we don't we believe in supporting small businesses small family run businesses and our policies have shown that we're going to continue supporting them but you can't have it both ways Mr. Speaker Ottawa Thank you very much Mr. Speaker my question is for the Premier after weeks of hearing that the government has a plan for a second wave of COVID-19 after weeks of promises to improve and increase testing capacity in Ottawa after weeks of seeing those lines for tests in Ottawa get bigger and bigger and bigger Mr. Speaker the residents of the nation's capital awoke this morning to the news that the Ontario government has directed testing centres to reduce the number of tests they perform and to stop the expansion of testing centres like the one on Moody Drive in Napaian according to the reports there isn't enough lab capacity to process the tests Mr. Speaker and the government has asked for fewer tests to be done how can Ottawa residents trust the government that promises an increase in tests one day while their officials are issuing secret directives to scale them back the next Minister of Health Thank you Speaker and with your indulgence I will repeat that we did not know about this memo that was sent out this was not approved by my office and that this is something that Ontario Health is going to be clarifying with a further memo after they've had discussions with our office but we have been clear from the very beginning that everyone who needs a test will be given a test that has not changed and will not substantially increase our testing volumes that over several days last week we were doing over 40,000 tests per day across the province of Ontario that is a significant increase from what we started from and we've at the same time been boosting our lab capacity to do the same thing we are well on track to reach the level of 50,000 tests that we can do within the next very short period of time but what we also indicated last week was if you are asymptomatic you can be tested if you need to be, if you're working from care patients or you need it to go back to work you can be tested at pharmacies or at assessment centres but that level of testing is going to continue in anyone who needs it thank you very much the supplementary question it's heard for families waiting or unable to get a test to understand how we find ourselves here when the government had the time and the money and we knew that a second wave was imminent so we went back to school and yet we find ourselves in this situation where we can't build up testing capacity fast enough to meet demand and there's serious testing backlogs and confusing messaging around who can get a test it seems to me the government's priority this summer was the Premier's tour instead of preparing for a safe return to school or expanding testing and contact tracing or at the very least better management of the lab capacity that we have it is a flat footed response so through you to the Premier why is it that we find ourselves so globally unprepared for the second wave of Covid-19 Minister of Health thank you in fact quite the opposite is the case we have been prepared for a long period of time for a second wave of Covid-19 we started working on this this summer and been working on it consistently ever since the result is our plan that we have been indicating to the people of Ontario and as well to the members on the opposite side which takes into account all of the relevant factors in dealing with the second wave the numbers increasing the flu coming on at the same time as a potential second wave the increasing and the number of test volumes that we need to do dealing with the fact that so many patients are recanted or residents from long-term care homes into hospitals for infection prevention and control and working on the backlogs of surgeries and procedures that were postponed during wave one all of these things have been taken into consideration have been planned for and are being implemented not only with the plan but with a significant infusion of cash including a billion dollars to supplement and implement our testing tracing and isolation policy thank you very much the next question the member for Grantford Grant thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the Minister of Energy Northern Development and Mines this Covid period has been such a challenge for all of us but especially for our small business and particularly northern small businesses that have been hit hard during the Covid-19 pandemic and while we commend those businesses that have been able to adapt and overcome in these unprecedented challenges of the past seven months can the Minister please tell us what our government is doing to support our northern small businesses Energy Northern Development and Mines Mr. Speaker and I want to thank the member from Grantford Grant for his important question yesterday I stood shoulder to shoulder with my progressive conservative northern colleagues Mr. Speaker to announce the Northern Ontario Recovery Program this is a targeted investment an allocation of 20 million dollars up to 25,000 dollars in grants for small businesses across Northern Ontario to adapt to the changing circumstances that Covid has from its outset presented small businesses Mr. Speaker we're very proud of this announcement and we thank the Chambers of Commerce we thank businesses for extent during the extensive stakeholder engagement that we made over the course of summer that we're pleased to offer this program effective October 1st Mr. Speaker backdating to March 24th with the real changes and adaptations that businesses made and will continue to make in the face of Covid Charlie Robinson Chamber of Commerce greatly appreciated the support offered by the program especially for those businesses in retail tourism and restaurants Mr. Speaker we're proud to support Northern Ontario businesses Thank you Thank you Mr. Speaker and thank you Minister for that response and back to you it's clear that our government is listening to the people of Northern Ontario and responding to their unique needs can the Minister please share more details of the program and the type of projects that it aims to support Thank you Thank you Mr. Speaker this is a comprehensive plan that we received feedback from businesses across Northern Ontario some of the things that we were thinking about were building renovations to support physical distancing proposing municipalities a better shopping and services we tried that out in Canora and we found out that small businesses needed new furniture and new appliances to make that work tourist camp operators are going to need larger docks Mr. Speaker in an effort to keep tourist parties separate there's equipment purchases including PPE and marketing and technology platforms Mr. Speaker especially for retail potentially meeting a new market these fixes and these adjustments that have been done and will continue to be done we're certainly related to COVID Mr. Speaker but at the end it's a business enhancement a better technology platform our marketing initiative is good for Northern Ontario business that's what we heard from over 400 people who attended the zoom announcement yesterday The next question the member for Nicobel Thank you Mr. Speaker My question is for the Minister for long-term care Speaker last week in response to my question about personal protective equipment the minister stated and I quote we need to deal with the facts and the fact is that our long-term care home in Ontario are receiving the PPE they need they have the PPE they require including N95 Minister you've seen the letter dated September 22 from the chair of Saint Joseph Villa and La Villa Saint Gabriel they wrote since the onset of the pandemic both of our 128 bed long-term care homes have been desperately trying to acquire N95 masks for a facility with no success we have contacted the ministry of health the ministry of long-term care pleading for the assistance to secure these masks for our facility and the quote Minister how can you explain the disconnect between your statement in this house and the fact that long-term care homes still cannot access the PPE they need to keep their staff and residents safe Mr. Long-term care Thank you speaker and thank you for the question it is a very important question because our government has been committed to the safety and well-being of residents and staff during wave 1 and as we continue to plan into wave 2 PPE is an absolute essential and our homes are receiving PPE supplies including N95s but there is a difference between the homes that are in outbreak needing N95s versus homes that are not in outbreak and we want to make sure that the homes that are in outbreak are receiving the N95s they need we are endeavoring to make sure that every home in Ontario every long-term care home has the supply the PPE supply that it needs whether it's N95s whether it's gloves, gowns we are making sure that they have what is needed and there will be more more this week on that Thank you Speaker we are currently in the second wave six months since the declaration of the pandemic and our long-term care home still cannot get the PPE they need from this government the government policies to wait until a home is in outbreak to release N95 completely ignores the basic principle of infection control long-term care home require an inventory of PPE on hand to ensure they are ready long-term care home cannot wait until they are in outbreak to be rationed N95 from Ontario Health or the Lins or the Norton supply chain or the back of the Premier's truck they need to be ready and that means they need an inventory on site can the minister please advise the House when she expect every Ontario long-term care including St. Joseph Villa and Villa St. Gabriel in my writing will have the needed inventory of PPE including N95 and P100 on hands Mr. Long-term Care Thank you Speaker and thank you again I refute the assertion that the homes do not have the PPE supply that they need it is absolutely accurate to state that the homes have the PPE that they need at this time given the previous procurement problems the global competition and the problems associated with that we were making sure that PPE supplies got to the homes and so that homes were not left without because more PPE supply went to another we had to be fair and distribute the PPE that we had much better Ontario has its ability to be independent on its supply of masks of N95s and other aspects so that is a significant change and I am going to tell you that imminently you will hear about the advanced supply that our homes across Ontario will have I thank you for raising the question The next question the member for Willowdale Thank you very much Mr. Speaker my question is to the minister of heritage tourism and culture industries Rowan Stringer was a 17 year old varsity rugby player in Ottawa she passed away after sustaining multiple concussions resulting in catastrophic brain injury through you speaker minister the legacy of Rowan Stringer lives on through Rowan's law something you fought alongside Rowan's parents Kathleen and Gordon Stringer for during your time in opposition Rowan's law speaker ensures that Ontario's athletes are protected and treated as soon as there is a suspicion of a concussion a measure that will undoubtedly save lives however it is the country's first and only concussion legislation through you speaker minister concussions are a concern for almost all sports what is the ministry doing to spread the word on the importance of concussion legislation so other regions across the country can do their part and protect their athletes Mr. Heritage for tourism and culture industries Thank you very much speaker and I'd like to say thank you to the member from Willowdale for his question and also for his advocacy it was a year ago when he and the member from Barry Ennisville and the member from Durham all helped me kick off Rowan's law day as my first as the minister here I'd also be remiss if I did not say thank you to the members from Waterloo and Ottawa south for their unwavering support and commitment to Rowan's law we truly I think made a really formidable team in the true sense of the word and I couldn't be more pleased to be here today as the minister responsible but also the originator of this legislation so last Friday we were at Rowan's pitch to announce that Ontario will lead a national discussion at the next federal provincial territorial meeting of sports ministers and we'll continue to have that conversation today minister Walker is in his constituency announcing $25,000 to help with world concussions with the Bering Resource Centre in his community and we're working with the Rowan's law working group the Amateur Sport Panel to bring everyone together to have a broader discussion on concussion and the effects on mental health with the minister tomorrow we're going to have a great announcement we're looking for and the supplementary question thank you very much speaker and through you minister thank you for everything that you've done to have Rowan's legacy live on not only in Ontario but in our entire country speaker concussions can happen to anyone taking part in sport and recreation and sometimes they can have very serious consequences the highest rates of concussion in Ontario in fact speaker are found among children and youth under the age of 18 that's why it's so important to ensure that concussions are diagnosed and treated correctly speaker through you minister can you speak to some of Ontario's activities to date that have helped bring awareness to Canada's first concussion safety legislation for that supplemental obviously it's important that we look in a COVID-19 environment what a safe return to play looks like it's important to learn the lessons that we did from our discussions in this province with respect to concussion awareness and we are going to continue to build on that as I said with the minister of associate minister of mental health later tomorrow since the Rowan's law was committed to by this legislature and through the previous ministries we have invested $130,000 into the Canadian concussion legacy foundation and we have invested $1,000 to coaches Ontario over $600,000 into the development of concussion awareness resources and templates and over $25,000 to support special Olympians speaker this is a very important issue a young brain cannot be covered with a cast it does have long standing effects long after life and as we saw with little row after sustaining multiple concussions she fatally met a circumstance that her parents will probably never get over that next question thank you Mr. Speaker my question is to the premier small and medium-sized businesses are relying on the government to keep them afloat during the pandemic this is especially true in the arts and culture sector where women face historic barriers and a disproportionate negative impact from the required shutdowns in our communities Tammy Lawrence a successful business owner in Kitchener centre lost her live performance venue at a retail bar during the pandemic Tammy explained that she couldn't afford any more debt and four months of rent relief just wasn't enough to save her business like many business owners COVID-19 took her business out she lost her livelihood musicians that grace the Rhapsody stage lost their income and the community at large has now lost a cultural gem with the second wave upon us businesses like hers are still struggling and so my question is to the premier will this government help businesses like Rhapsody avoid closure through tangible supports like emergency commercial rent subsidies freezing utility bills and banning all evictions during the entire duration of this pandemic the minister of heritage for tourism and culture industries thank you very much I want to say thank you to the member opposite for that question it's a very important question so many people within the sectors that I represent are women and they have been hit first of course in this pandemic as my colleagues I think are probably tired of hearing me say we will be the longest to recover which is why in our sectors I created immediately 14 ministerial advisory committees in order to address the various parts of this ministry and what the economic impact would be we believe we've lost about $20 billion in the first phase of this pandemic and that's why it's extremely important to act on these recommendations I've been pleased to work with the cultural sector in addition to investing $7 million into the music investment fund in the province of Ontario yesterday we had another additional investment of $1.3 million to support the cultural sectors we're going to continue to roll out this funding we believe that these cultural sectors are going to be incredibly important for the economic recovery the social recovery of this province in the next 18 months thank you supplementary question thank you Mr. Speaker and back to the premier we are in the midst of a sea of a she-session more women than men are losing jobs in my riding of Kitchener centre we are seeing successful businesses owned and operated by women closing because of the pressures of COVID-19 another successful live performance venue the Cossery run by Stephanie Rozak and CJ Perez female business owners in my riding also had to close their doors and this is no coincidence three strong women running cultural hubs in Waterloo Region have been forced to close their doors women have a long history of glass ceilings and financial barriers when it comes to succeeding in the business world and Stephanie told my office that she took out extensive personal debt to underwrite the business and was at the point of just being able to start her repayments when the space was forced to close because of COVID-19 question with the right support this could have been prevented so again I asked the premier if he can guarantee that as the second wave is upon us business owners who are faced with historic barriers will have the proper support that they need to keep their doors open thanks another excellent question speaker we're all seeing it to one of our communities which is why I think it's really important that we look at the cultural fabric that these institutions bring to our communities including the businesses as well as the importance that they have in terms of our economy and I think we're seeing that fragility now I want to assure the member opposite with the associate minister of women's issues to see how we can best address this within the sectors that I represent in particular I want to talk about music venues which you talked about cultural venues we know it's going to be very difficult not only that if we open them getting people back and comfortable getting back into that circumstance and the consumer behaviors and habits it's what keeps me up at night but I assure you it gets me up in the morning working with these sectors I would invite the member opposite to the minister and myself as we can talk through and navigate these tough waters together but I'm very grateful that she brought this important issue to the floor of the assembly because we are dealing with a triple threat a healthcare threat thank you very much the next question thank you speaker my question is for the minister of natural resources and forestry with the role load of our government's forestry forest sector strategy with the passage of the 100th anniversary of forestry people are keen to hear what concrete steps our government is taking to support forestry in this province I know that the strategy is comprehensive and has built around four pillars promoting stewardship and sustainability putting more wood to work improving cost competitiveness and fostering innovations, markets and talents minister for many years the previous government paid only lip service to rural and northern industries like forestry the way conservatives are different we deliver could the minister please tell us how we are acting on the principles laid out in the strategy Mr natural resources and forestry thank you very much speaker and thanks to the member from storm out Dundas south in garry for that great question our government is all about improving the conditions on the ground so that Ontarians can create jobs and innovate last week along with my colleagues my friend Fidelian my parliamentary assistant Mike Harris I was proud to announce that we are providing two million dollars of investment in the wood products company oxford pallet with this funding they'll be able to expand their operations introduce innovative robotic and vision equipment to boost productivity and create local jobs investments like these are absolutely critical to support the provinces vital forestry sector and start us down the road to a strong economic recovery more to say in the supplementary speaker but what a great business oxford pallet is unbelievable people talk to you more in the supplementary the supplementary question thank you speaker thank you minister for that response it's so good to see that only a few weeks ago after the rollout of the strategy we are taking concrete action to implement it and create jobs and prosperity in this province I understand that oxford pallet is the first company to be approved for funding and the forest sector investment and innovative program innovation program a program designed to help Ontario forestry companies develop and implement innovative technology and it's important to be innovative from the perspective of business competitiveness and job creation but equally important is the role of innovation on sustainability minister do investments like these just improve the bottom line or do they improve the sustainability of the forest industry as well thank you speaker thank you to the member for that follow up question as I said at oxford pallet this investment will create 20 new jobs continue to provide the 60 jobs that they currently have and double their production as well as it will they'll increase the amount of Ontario lumber used by 30% as a result of this investment but I want to tell you a little more about the people Hank Vructavine and his family our salt of the earth and I'm going to tell you we had a tour of that plant he knew every one of those employees by name and you could understand and see the commitment they had to that job and that company it's like one big family affair those are the kinds of businesses in this province that our government wants to support they'll be around for a long time they care about their employees they care about this province and they want to help us put Ontario back on that road to recovery thank you speaker to the premier on Sunday the French language school La Moseille in my writing sent a letter to parents saying that one whole class was going to be shut down until October 5th because of COVID of course they're not the only parents to get a letter from their school saying that their kids had to stay away yesterday my colleague the member for Davenport noted many other cases your education minister told this house that all was being looked after he told reporters yesterday that he would do whatever it takes to keep our children safe and our schools open and he said the same on August 26th September 9th September 21st etc and yet he won't cap class sizes at 15 a key step to reducing risk in our schools so premier how many schools have to shut down before you do whatever it takes and cap class sizes at 15 to protect our children and our families from COVID well mr. Speaker we've been clear as the chief medical officer of health that the risk within our communities will create challenges within our schools it's the basis for why the minister of health the deputy premier the premier of this problems has unveiled a significant investment in public health to reduce transmission to increase immunization to more students 700,000 more people being able to access the flu expanding testing expanding contact tracing within our school speaker specifically we've ensured every layer of prevention is in place additional teachers are hired to increase distancing additional custodians to enhance cleaning more public health nurses to minister of screening and symptom relief in fact more than double public health nurses in schools and in every school board we're seeing net reductions in classroom size and we're seeing that the minister of education speaker that our investments are reaching our front lines and we are grateful for everyone working with us in this unprecedented challenge to reduce the risk and keep our kids safe the supplementary question Speaker again to the premier you know it's not working right it's just not working it's not just that the students that have to stay home and deal with the virus it's not just that their parents have to stay home look after them and lose work they have to stay home from their work it's also the case that the children should be tested and the parents and the children have to go through the ordeal of waiting to get a test our local testing facility is at Michael Garan hospital and testing can take hours and hours of waiting to get as one parent wrote to me who had been in the line with her child for five hours quote do you know what it's like to wait in a line like that with young kids I saw so many parents in tears in that line stressed to the max overwhelmed by all of this I ask again premier how many schools have to shut down before you actually do whatever it takes to protect parents and children and again the ministry of education thank you very much Mr. Speaker we have committed ourselves to follow a health and safety protocol that's been informed and endorsed by the chief medical officer of health we've put in place a variety of layers of prevention to mitigate risk and what I can tell you is that the chief medical officer is in constant contact with our public health just this morning we had another call with leaders in Windsor Essex to talk to our school boards our public health leaders ahead of nursing to ensure that the protocol is being benchmarked that is being improved over time and that our public health is working what I can tell you overwhelmingly is that on the ground the outbreak protocols are being well managed public health nurses are on site testing is being, in fact mobile testing is being sent to some schools in this province according to the public health units and Speaker we're ensuring that the training is in place for our educators that they know how to respond when these challenges arise Speaker we are fully committed very much that concludes our question period for this morning there being no further business this house stands in recess until 3pm