 It is now time for Question Period, the leader of Her Majesty's Royal Opposition. My question is for the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change. Minister, when I asked the Premier whether you were intending, whether your government was intending on introducing a carbon tax like they have in Quebec, I really didn't get an answer last Thursday. She skated all over the place, she was as slippery as the ice outside. Let me just tell you what's going on in Quebec. Starting in January 1st, 2015, a little over a month from now, drivers in Quebec will pay an extra 1.9 cents on each liter of gasoline for their carbon tax, brand new tax. That's with carbon currently priced at $11.39 per ton. Drivers will pay 2.5 cents more per liter of gas if carbon goes up to $15. 6 cents of carbon goes up to $30 per ton, and 10 cents more per liter of carbon goes up to $50 per ton, which would very well could. Question? Carbon tax will also apply to natural gas and oil as well. Wow. Minister, are you planning on doing the same thing to hardworking Ontarians? The Minister of the Environment and Climate Change. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I think the first thing we have to understand, Mr. Speaker, is our planet right now is heading for a 4 degrees Celsius mean temperature change in the last half of this century. Mr. Speaker, what that means for my 4 year old grandson, the chances of him growing up and getting to my age and having a functional economy or having a secure food supply is remote. We're in three years of drought in California that is going to drive food prices through the roof for working Ontario families. And as you may know as a result of climate change, Tim Hortons just raised its coffee prices 10 cents a cup. Climate change is making the world a more dangerous and expensive place, and we are still waiting for the opposition to explain what their policy on climate change is, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, I suspect this is more of a tax grab than it is a move to save the environment, to save the climate, Mr. Speaker. In fact, in Quebec, the carbon tax that will come in in just over a month will bring in $500 million in the first year alone, 2015, and by 2020 it's expected to bring in $3.5 billion in extra taxes. The $500 million is exactly what we found out you were short in this year's fall economic statement. Everything points to including the meetings and the deals that were signed on Friday between Premier Coulard and Premier Nguyen. Everything points to the fact that you're going after a tax grab. Do you really think that two cents a liter of gasoline is going to save the climate? I think what it's going to do is drive jobs out of the economy. It's going to, once again, overtax the people of Ontario and it's penalizing hard work on Ontario families. That's what it's going to do. Thank you, Minister. So what's your question, Mr. Speaker? First of all, the only carbon tax in Canada is in British Columbia. Second of all, Alberta, the Conservative Party, introduced a credit similar to the cap and trade system to what Quebec and many other jurisdictions have. I would suggest that the honourable member start to understand the difference between a market mechanism that helps companies pool capital and get rewarded for reducing their carbon emissions and improving their productivity and that of a tax. It's very clear to me that the literacy level about fiscal policy and the environment is about zero. So I spent two days with resolute forestry products going from where they cut down the tree to talking about them, how they're operating in the Quebec system. Some companies like it, some don't, but it's very clear, Mr. Speaker. The opposition has not even a nodding acquaintance with either climate change or the market mechanisms available in some jurisdictions. Final supplementary? You know, Mr. Speaker, back to the minister. I'd say to the minister rather than lecturing us, why don't you look in the mirror and test yourself for honesty? You didn't run on the carbon tax. I'm going to ask the member to withdraw, please. withdraw, Mr. Speaker. Member from Timmons James Bay to resist the temptation. Minister, there was no mention of the carbon tax or a cap and trade system in your last election or the liberal platform. There was none in the throne speech nor the budget nor the fall economic statement. This thing's come clearly out of left field. First of all, I apologize to people of Ontario for even thinking of this and secondly, tell us today that you're not going to do it. So, Mr. Speaker, when the government announces policy, we do it through budgets, through fall economic statements and through legislation in this house. Considering that there is no legislation, as the member described, tells you this isn't coming out of left field, this is craziness coming out of right field. Mr. Speaker, again, I have suggested in a few cases. Member from Chatham, come to order. Seven hundred million dollars in one hour was the cost to go of a washout in Burlington of eight metres of track. Do you know how many hundreds of millions of dollars it's cost us to replace the operating rooms, not once, but twice in the last 24 months at Burlington Hospital? Do you want to talk to Mayor Goldring about the impacts of climate change on his stormwater system? Would you like to go to Buffalo and try to explain unprecedented water change? Maybe you would like to talk to the people in Toledo. Mr. Speaker, in Toledo, four hundred thousand... Thank you. The member from Renfrew and Nipissing Penbook will come to order. New question, the leader of the opposition. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Education. Minister, by now everyone knows you tried to sneak a half a billion dollars in cuts to the education system past Ontarians. But what we don't know is which schools you will close to make those cuts. There are over a hundred and fifty accommodations under way. You repeatedly mentioned six hundred schools that are close to empty across the province, most of them in rural and small town Ontario. You have said, quote, it's not prudent to keep turning on lights and heating for schools that are not operating at capacity. So well, Minister, are you going to turn the lights off and the heating off in those six hundred schools? Thank you, Minister of Education. Yes, thank you very much. I caught a whiff of trying to hide things there. First, in his response, I want to read you what the auditor general said, Speaker. The member from Stormat, come to order. Please finish. What the auditor general said last week was that they had a request at the signing committee. The member from Renfrew, get to see Pembroke, come to order second time. To look at whether the government's communication of a two billion dollar savings associated with the negotiations with school board employees, collective agreements was reasonable. I'm quoting the auditor. As you saw in our press release and from our report, we have concluded that the estimate was reasonable. Quite frankly, everything we did during those negotiations was accurate, what we reported to the public, and totally transparent. Thank you, supplementary. Well, Mr. Speaker, I'm not really calling into question the work of the auditor. I'm calling into the question the sneakiness of this government by cutting half a billion dollars from school boards saying in the past that it was always up to school boards to make decisions whether schools would stay open or closed, but you are basically closing up to 600 schools across this province and you won't be forthright and open about it. You talk about open government. Now, you know the 600 schools. We want to see the list and we want to know the sake of our small towns, our rural Ontario and our cities. Which schools are you going to close? Which schools are you going to force school boards to close by depriving them of $500 million because of your fiscal mismanagement for the last 11 years? Yes, thank you, Speaker. And I'm really not sure where it is that you decide something is sneaky when you send a consultation document to every of all of 72 school boards in the province. That's not sneaky. That's open and transparent. But to respond to the question, Speaker, we have provided $22.5 billion in operating funding to school board this year. That's up 56.5% since 2003. That's an increase of over $4,200 for each and every student in the province of Ontario. We have dramatically increased funding, but it is also true that enrollment is declining and boards need to manage their assets. Thank you. Final supplementary. Well, let me get this straight. You're still saying that boards need to manage their assets but you're taking $500 million, half a billion dollars away from those very school boards and you're talking in this house and you talk outside about low birth rates, close to 600 schools, not at full capacity. They're less than 66%. You've basically, you've talked about a secret list that you have that you won't show us. I would think that school boards are getting the hint, pretty loud and clear that they have to close schools. Now, why don't you fess up to the fact and take the responsibility. You're forcing these schools to close. Many of these schools- Member from Glengar, I come to order. Community. I thought you would at least say something about hubs because you have talked about community hubs, but it sounds like you've even moved away from that. So what schools are you going to close, Minister? Thank you. Minister? Actually, I have significant funding in my budget to address community hubs and we're currently working with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to figure out just exactly what we need to do with school hubs and a number of other issues. But to go back to- Member from Simcoe North, come to order. To go back to the question at hand. Of course we need to talk to boards about appropriate savings. This isn't about cuts. This is making sure that in a context of having a lot of underutilized capacity that boards actually review carefully their assets. But I think it's also important to note, Speaker, that we have actually provided additional funding this year for rural and remote schools. So in those cases where you've got a rural or remote northern school that clearly has to remain open, we've actually provided additional funding. Thank you. Thank you so much. Another question? Member from Welland. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Acting Premier. On November 24th, 1989, the leader of the Federal NDP rose in the House of Commons to propose that child poverty be eliminated within 10 years. Today, 25 years later, since that historic NDP motion, a staggering number of children, over a half a million are living in poverty in Ontario. That's more than the population of Hamilton. It's enough to fill the Rogers Centre 10 times over to the Acting Premier. After a decade of Liberal government, why are a half a million children living in poverty in Ontario right here, right now? Thank you. Acting Premier. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Child poverty is of concern for us all. Mind you, we've made investments. We recognize how important it is. That's why since we've invested over a billion dollars, we recognize that more needs to be done. And it will be critical for us to do so. But I do want to comment on the question from the third party, no less. The NDP's platform didn't even mention it once in their platform. Poverty was non-existent. They voted against the very measures that was progressive in this budget that dealt with dealing with poverty. They voted against the increase for families. They voted against investments in housing and benefits for low income. They voted against higher minimum wage, Mr. Speaker. And now they have the audacity to stand here and ask us questions about something that they didn't even support. I'll leave this supplementary to my colleague who will address the very nature of what we're putting forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2008, the Liberal government promised to reduce child poverty by 25%. The Deputy Premier called it achievable. But the Liberals failed to keep that promise to the most vulnerable kids in our province. Instead of reducing child poverty, it's actually on the rise. 10,000 more children fell into poverty in just the last two years alone in Toronto. If the Liberals promised to break the cycle of child poverty, why is it getting worse? I serve children and youth services, Mr. Speaker. Minister of Children and Youth Services. Thank you, Speaker. So first I want to thank Campaign 2000 for their thoughtful report that was recently released. And I think we all agree, Speaker, that to address poverty and help everybody reach their full potential, we need to make sure the right supports are in place. So we have recommitted to reducing poverty among children and youth through targeted investments and supports and reducing child poverty by 25%. So everyone can get the best start in life and reach success. We will be investing $15 billion funding for children's social services and more than $1 billion in the intero child benefit. I may add by no help from the NDP in indexing that to inflation, which happened with their budget, as said by the acting Premier. There is nothing in the NDP platform about poverty. But we are committed to the poverty reduction strategy focusing on the welfare of children, housing and other important measures. Thank you. Supplementary. In her maiden speech to this House, the Premier said, I've never known poverty. Speaker, every child in this province, in this country, should be able to say the exact same thing. But today, one in five kids in our province, half a million are living in poverty. The Liberal government has failed to meet its poverty reduction target. And child poverty is actually increasing right here in Toronto. After a decade of Liberal government, why do a half a million kids in Ontario still know all too well the pain and suffering of poverty and what it means to live in poverty here in Ontario? Thank you, Minister. So Speaker, there's no doubt there's much more work to do on this file. But we need to keep working and investing to break the cycle of poverty. We have increased the benefit for the Ontario child benefit and index that to inflation, as I mentioned. This benefit speaker has more than doubled. The child benefit has doubled since 2008. That's fantastic. We have other program speakers such as our student nutrition program, the Minister of Education and I, the supporting initiatives on that to help school-aged children get a good breakfast and start their day successfully. And we've invested many more millions of dollars and we'll continue to do that as part of our five-year plan to do nutrition and other programs. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. New question? Thank you, Speaker. Well, you can't spend the lived experience of children in the province. To more than a half a million children living in poverty, the liberal promises aren't worth much. The liberals promised to reduce child poverty by 25% in five years. Those five years came and went. That promise was broken. Now the liberals said they'll keep their word, but there's no target, no time limit. The liberals have come up with a plastic promise they can't break and which they will never keep. To the acting premier, why does the liberal government have no deadline for reducing child poverty and no urgency to get this job done? Acting premier? Minister of Children and Youth Services. Minister of Children and Youth Services? So I just want to make it perfectly clear this is a very serious important issue to our government. There's no doubt about that. So let's focus on the facts. And our poverty reduction strategy has many components, Speaker. I mentioned about the homelessness focus. We are committing to our original goal to reduce poverty by 25% using 2008 as a base year. Increasing the funding to the community homeless prevention initiative by 42 million. Allocating 16 million over three years to create a thousand new supportive housing spaces. Committing to this is very important. Providing health benefits for children and youth and low income families such as prescription drugs, vision care and mental health services. Investing 50 million over five years and the strategy is very important. And you know that the Deputy Premier has spoken before about the challenges we've faced in moving this strategy forward including the lack of cooperation from the federal government and the rallies of a recession we've lived in. Thank you. Supplementary. Thank you Speaker. Well campaign 2000 says austerity has eroded the living conditions of children's and their families. But the Liberals are moving steam ahead with an austerity plan that will only make life harder. It will slash 6% from most ministries in which Bloomberg calls the biggest cuts since Harris. It means a half a million dollars will be cut from our schools hurting the most vulnerable kids the most. How can the Liberals say they're committed to addressing child poverty when their cuts are already making the problems worse? Thank you Minister. Well Speaker quite frankly this is outrageous. The NDP did not even mention the word poverty in their platform. Not even mentioned it. They voted against the most progressive budget in Ontario's history. This is what they said no to Speaker. They said no to families who depend on the child benefit. They said no to investments in housing and benefits for low income children. They said no to a higher minimum wage and much much more. BCs didn't help either. They wanted services so there's no doubt that this government has moved on poverty reduction in Ontario. We've made investments Speaker. There's more to do. We are deeply committed. It's a very serious issue. I'm very disappointed to hear the language being used by the party. We should be working together to reduce child poverty. Thank you. Thank you Speaker. Well there are more that more children living in poverty than there are people living in Hamilton or Diagra. And that is a shameful record from a government that has made so many promises. It's a human deficit that will only hurt the province. And worst of all the deep cut backs will put more kids in poverty make life harder for families already struggling to make ends meet. Well the acting Premier admit that the Liberals have no targets, no timeline for reducing child poverty because they know that their cuts will only make the problems worse. I'm not sure what part of my answer wasn't heard. We are recommitting to our original target to reduce child poverty by 25%. We're increasing funding and community homeless initiative by 42 million for nearly a total of 294 million per year. We're allocating 16 million over three years to create a thousand new supportive housing spaces and we're very much focusing on supporting Ontarians living with mental health and addiction issues. So Speaker, I don't know what else I can say except we want to keep going. We want to continue to lift children out of poverty. We will stand behind children and their families to help them reach their full potential. And we'll keep making investments we need. I surely hope the opposition will be with us and reach that goal with us together. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Speaker to the acting premier. Minister, your government has released a new poverty reduction strategy after missing most of the targets in your last one. You keep putting obstacles in front of Ontarians struggling to do better by depriving working parents of affordable, local, trusted childcare by making it more difficult to get training and to enter a trade and by driving up hydrovilles pushing more Ontarians into poverty. According to campaign 2000's latest report card the income supports that are directly intended for children continue to be deducted from social assistance incomes leading families no further ahead. Minister, when will your cabinet stop giving them one hand and taking away on the other? Thank you. Acting Premier. I'll take the first question Mr Speaker. I do appreciate and thank campaign 2000 for their very thoughtful and constructive report. We all agree that child poverty is an issue we need to address it. We are recommitting our efforts in doing so. We've put it in the budget. We reinforce an awful economic statement and Mr Speaker to have this question now come from the PCs is bizarre. They promote and they are working and they campaign on slashing social services to the most vulnerable people in our society. They voted against the Ontario Charter they voted against minimum wage increase they voted for tax cuts for low income Mr Speaker and then the member from Dufford Caledon come to order the member from Prince Edward Hastings come to order the member from Leeds Grenville come to order and I have a few other in my head. Thank you. We all want to break that cycle of poverty. We want to ensure that we invest in social housing which they also have voted against. Thank you Mr Speaker. Thank you. Back to the acting premier many agencies and community groups who assist needy interians reached out to me recently highlighting how their funding had not seen any increases for over five years and that their clients were struggling to access services in rural Ontario pay their hydro... The member from beaches east shore come to order and get training. More interians would be in full-time work and businesses weren't being driven away. Housing would be more affordable if interians could afford winter heat and more families would boost their incomes if they could access affordable local child care. Why does this government insist on making the poorer poorer and feeding them with empty promises? Mr. Chairman do you have services Mr Speaker? So I hope the PCs agree Speaker that poverty is a complex issue we have a course limited courses so that's where our reduction strategy is all about getting the best possible results for people who are in poverty you want to lift people out of poverty but you know I guess I'm glad the PCs have asked this question because you know after the election this year I stood and announced the increased student tarot child benefit but guess what Speaker the indexing to inflation was tied to the budget and they were nowhere to be found they were nowhere to be found and let's look at past record the PCs social assistance payments by 22% when they were in power throws ODSP payments for the minimum wage for 9 years and ending construction Thank you New question Thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the minister of health and long-term care an end to the cuts and privatization schemes that are eroding our public healthcare system under this liberal government just today earlier Health Quality Ontario revealed that when it comes to seeing a physician when we get sick Ontario has the worst performance of all 10 countries they compared to including Britain and the US two thirds of patients with mental illness never get their one week follow-up after hospitalization and the most frail seniors in our province wait an average of 111 days for the long-term care they need How can the minister of health defend his government cuts and privatization of healthcare when Ontarians deserve so much better Thank you Thank you Mr. Speaker and I'm not exactly sure which question you're asking the member from the third party there's it was a pretty broad statement that was made but I'm going to start with the demonstration on the front lawn of the legislature on Friday and organized primarily by the Ontario Health Coalition while I was in the cabinet join cabinet meeting with the Quebec cabinet I had actually looked forward to meeting with the individuals on the front lawn unfortunately when I returned from that cabinet meeting they were no longer present but I want to reassure Ontarians that in fact as we continue this process of moving certain low-risk procedures into the community closer to home where people want them we do that in a manner safe and accountable and transparent Mr. Speaker we only do it into organizations that are not for profit entities Mr. Speaker Thank you supplementary Thank you well speaker at the heart of our public healthcare system is the belief that high quality care will be there for us when we need it but too many Ontarians are waiting for months on end for the care they need and sometimes not getting it at all and this government's prescription is a freeze on hospital funding privatizations of our healthcare services and massive cuts to home care in areas like Windsor the minister tries to deny the reality but patients are feeling the pain my question is simple when will the minister get the message stop the cuts and the privatizations that are undermining patient care in Ontario Thank you minister well Mr. Speaker what the member opposite is saying is just not true we've for our hospitals in this province we have approximately doubled the funding to our hospitals across this province in the last 10 years the member opposite talked about cuts in Windsor that's simply not true in fact we've nearly doubled the funding to our CCAC for home care in Windsor Essex in fact we increased their funding by 3 million dollars this year compared to last year so it's important Mr. Speaker that we all of us for what we say and we speak to the facts that we don't make things up as we go along and it's you know the important thing I'd like to leave with Ontarians is that we are investing in healthcare we have one of the best healthcare systems in the world Mr. Speaker there is more work done we're making that work carefully in a calculated manner with our stakeholders in a way which is going to continue to improve the quality Thank you Thank you Mr. Speaker Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Mr. Speaker climate change is one of the most important issues of our time and governments, industry communities and individuals must work together to solve this serious problem I know that this is a significant issue for my constituents in Halton in fact a survey of Halton region shows that close to 83% of residents are concerned about climate change Halton residents want our government to take the necessary steps to ensure that Ontario reduces its greenhouse gas emissions I'm pleased to see that our government continues to take decisive action to address this serious challenge to our environment it will help fight the severe weather that we've been facing recently and taking these steps will also ensure that future generations will be able to breathe more easily healthy lives tomorrow Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change please update the House on what our government is doing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions Thank you Minister from the Environment and Climate Change Mr. Speaker we've done quite a lot I've often given credit to my friend from St. Catharines if you think about Ontario today we have a blue box recycling program as a result of this government in his work and we have no more yellow hazy fogs over Toronto anymore because our coal plants are closed so folks opposite produce that these kind of environmental measures would cost people money and would produce doom and gloom and economic downturn what we actually know is that Ontarians are very proud and we are party with the courage to make tough decisions but we're not alone Mr. Speaker we're working very closely with Quebec who have taken some very important initiatives to capture the green economy and lower GHG emissions and I'll look forward on the supplementary thank you Mr. Speaker again my question is for the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change I'm pleased to hear that our government is working with other provinces to provide leadership on climate change where the federal government is actually failing to take meaningful action it's important that Ontarians come together to act on climate change now it's vital that we recognize the unique opportunity our province has to become a global leader on this issue the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange already include more clean technology renewable companies than any other exchange in the world Mr. Speaker I'm proud to say that a number of these forward-thinking environment companies are actually in my own writing I'm sure my constituents will be happy to know that we're working with partners in other jurisdictions to combat climate change Mr. Speaker through you could the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change please share with the House of Action Ontario and Quebec will be taking under the memorandum of understanding Thanks Mr. Speaker so what we're doing with Quebec with California with New York with the Reggie States which the opposition reads as taxes is actually quite the opposite Mr. Speaker what we're actually looking at is this will we buy electric carbon neutral cars made in Ontario and made in North America or are we going to buy them solely from China if we do not have the partnerships with Quebec, California New York, Michigan to create that green supply chain to put the market mechanisms in place to change our fiscal policies that companies like those in your constituency that want to innovate and go from a high carbon low productivity economy to a high productivity economy that is a low carbon economy we need to change the way we manage trade and we manage fiscal policy and those kinds of outcomes John Kerry the Secretary of the States identified that while the tech boom was a $1,000,000 expansion of our economy the low carbon economy over the next 20 years will be a $6,000,000 expansion of the economy and we in Ontario are committed to lead that transformation Thank you Mr. Speaker my questions to the Minister of Transportation Minister last week motorists along the QEW got a glimpse of your vision for winter maintenance they attempted to maneuver through snow covered slippery roads and multi vehicle accidents I'm sure many of them wondered where their government was to ensure road safety and how it was that the Minister of Transportation was unprepared for a snow storm everyone else saw coming I don't know if you get briefed on the weather Minister but given the direct relationship between foul weather and poor driving conditions you may want to check into the new weather app at the Blackberry store Minister, given that you were caught flat footed last week will you commit to the house today to keeping yourself apprised of the 5 day weather forecast going forward Good question Well thank you very much Mr. Speaker I want to thank the member for that question of course as I've said many many times in this legislature road safety and highway safety is one of the most important responsibilities that I have and with respect specifically to winter maintenance the fact that the road safety is such a priority for us is one of the reasons that we have dedicated more resources this year to make sure that right across the province of Ontario we are in a position to respond to the weather as it occurs in fact Speaker not that many weeks ago as we've discussed here in the house I was in position to announce that we have added 50 new pieces of machinery to southern Ontario which speaker of course compliment the additional 55 pieces of equipment that we put on the roads mostly in northern Ontario last year we will continue to work very hard over the course of the rest of this winter season speaker to make sure that we are equipped to deal and that we do deal with winter maintenance conditions and I look forward to the supplementary so that I can respond Thanks very much Thank you Speaker back to the minister Minister we've heard all about this review as to what happened last week from you last week and I don't know if that review is in yet but I can tell you what it might look like three things minister we live in Ontario Canada where it snows two it's snowed and three you fail to ensure you are prepared to clear that snow a couple weeks ago you boasted about 15 million dollars for winter maintenance thing is only just over half of that went to the actual equipment the rest to bureaucrats and communication campaigns typical if last week approved anything it's that we need plows and sultras on our roads not more bureaucracy of the 8 million that was spent on equipment minister can you tell us if those plows are actually operational today Good question Thanks very much Speaker I want to thank the member for the follow up question and I said in my initial response speaker that the road safety is so important for us it is why we have brought more resources to bear to make sure that we are equipped to deal with winter condition speaker there's one thing that I can suggest the people of Ontario certainly the people in the water region don't want I would suggest speaker is that that member use sarcasm to try and make the plan in this legislature when we're dealing with an issue that's so important speaker it's so important to make sure that we are in a position to deal with winter conditions it's why we're investing more resources I do have a right to hear the answer Please finish It's one of the reasons that we provided additional briefings for members of all three caucuses to make sure that everyone is very well aware of what we're doing this year to deal with the conditions it's why we've added more equipment it's why we've added more inspector speaker and I know that over the coming weeks and months we'll continue to do from the ministry's perspective the best start we can to make sure that our roads and highways remain as they've been for the last 13 years amongst the safest in North America Thanks very much Mr Speaker Mr Speaker my question is to the minister of labour a report to release this afternoon shows that the WSIB is handing out huge safety rebates to companies that have been convicted of health and safety violations some of these violations have even resulted in workplace deaths in many cases the companies were fined for their violations but the fines were nothing compared to the generous WSIB rebates the government has known about this problem with this program for many years yet millions of dollars millions of dollars are still being sent to employers guilty of serious violations will the government scrap the destructive experiments rating program now Thank you Mr Speaker I do want to thank the member for this important question and it is a very important question I want to start by saying this is a conversation that is included in this report at the basis the foundation of this report is that people were killed on the job we can't lose sight of that I want to thank Mr Ryan I want to thank Ms Hardwick of the OFL for the courtesy of some advanced knowledge on this report it is something I take very seriously all three parties have used experience rating it was bought in since the 1980's but what is important Speaker is that we do right by the families by the survivors of people who have died on the job there obviously are some existing problems with the current system and that includes the experience rating system the WSIB has been acting already to improve the system it made one change in 2008 that was implemented in 2009 we are in a period of consultation speaker on this issue and I urge the member to make sure he is involved in that consultation Mr Speaker with due respect there is nothing more to study the respected Arthur report which was delivered to the government in early 2012 said the government should scrap said the government should scrap the program unless it could be proven that it was doing more good than harm this is a program where a company like triple M metals where a worker was killed in 2009 after he was trapped inside a metal shredder was given more than $926,000 in safety rebates in 2011-2012 it's time to stop studying and start acting with this government commit to ending this outrageous this outrageous program now thank you thank you speaker thank the member for the supplementary as I said this is a very important issue and we take it very seriously the policy that is in place now if a company is responsible for a traumatic workplace fatality it can't get a rebate in the year that fatality occurred since 2009 we got $11 million in rebates to employees that are being cancelled as a result of that the WSIB knows that there is more work to do it's in the process of making changes earlier this year we released a report on the framework for the cost as we move ahead speaker it's focused on potential reforms to employer classifications to rate setting and speaker to experience rating we've completed one round of consultation of the WSIB has we'll be taking further proposals out for change I look forward to seeing the results of that consultation I want to hear from the ORBL I want to hear from employers I want to hear from the opposition good question the member from Barrie good morning speaker my question is for the minister of community and social services minister in my constituency of Barrie there is a great representation from the members of the aboriginal community the ministry of community and social services is responsible for providing culturally appropriate programs and services to the aboriginal peoples as you know first nations and Métis people seek services according to the needs of their community and delivered in their own communities minister can you tell us what support the government and your ministry are providing to aboriginal peoples in need thank you thank you very much and thank you to the member from Barrie supporting first nations and Métis people in their communities is a very important priority for our government and for my ministry last week I was in the great city of Thunder Bay celebrating the 20th anniversary of the aboriginal health and wellness strategy known as ORBL in the early 1990s we came together government, first nations Métis and aboriginal leaders to recognize and work together to address the concerns of aboriginal communities with the partnership of the ORBL strategy in 1994 we began funding organizations to address high levels of family violence and poor health among Ontario's aboriginal peoples and communities partnership and collaboration has led to the wide network of culturally appropriate programs and services that exist today it has also created 650 jobs to deliver healing, health and wellness programs in 250 aboriginal communities and established 460 community based projects across Ontario thank you minister this government has made building supports for aboriginal peoples a priority however as we all know there are many examples of first nation communities facing crisis of mental illness, addiction and suicide also aboriginal women and girls are disappropriately victims of violence and poverty in Canada this very important issue has been compounded by the fact that the federal government has been neglecting its responsibility to support this vulnerable population last week we received disappointing news from Ottawa it was reported that the status of women in Canada the federal agency that is supposed to promote the equality and advancement of women has funded 210 projects since the fall of 2011 and only 31 of them have had focus on aboriginal groups that's just 14.8% of the agency's entire programming targeting this hugely vulnerable group minister what is our government doing to assist these women and girls thank you Mr Speaker and certainly aboriginal peoples and communities do face unique challenges there are high rates of violence against aboriginal women, substance abuse and youth suicides that is why our government as announced last week is investing more than 10 million dollars family violence and violence against aboriginal women and children and improve healing, health and wellness in aboriginal communities across Ontario a large part of the money some 8.6 million dollars will expand the reach of ores services to the growing aboriginal population and to hard to reach communities specifically this will fund talk for healing a phone help line for aboriginal women and girls in the north who have limited access to services I had the privilege of seeing the work being done there first hand last week while in Thunder Bay these investments affirm Ontario's ongoing commitment and support to the work of the aboriginal healing and wellness strategy thank you thank you very much my question this morning is for the minister of education minister your party's policy on student transportation is failing it's failing to lower costs for school boards student transportation alliance was whacked with a 17% increase in transportation costs this year by one of the consortiums approved by your RFP process independent operators received only a 2% increase minister the courts have ruled in favour of small independent operators like Montgomery and Richmond's and Poli's and Boldrick's in my riding six times already but you continue to drag out this process minister will you commit to suspending an RFP process that's only accomplishing two things driving small businesses out of business and driving up costs for the local school boards minister of education yes thank you very much and I think first of all we do need to understand that the funding for transportation has increased quite significantly since 2003 we've actually increased the transportation funding speaker by 40% by over 880 million we do make allowances for things like increases in the cost of gasoline on a regular basis that's part of my annual funding adjustment so the idea that somehow we have not increased the funding for transportation is just simply not accurate so we will continue doing that it is a requirement it is a requirement that every board in procuring any service whether it be busing or any other service follow the broader public sector procuring guidelines supplementary minister you missed the premise of the entire question you need to spend more on transportation because you're ending competition in the school bus sector that's why you have to increase spending on transportation we have small businesses that are going out of business in the province of Ontario because of your flawed RFP process and the courts have proven this 6 times yet you continue to drag them through the mud and they continue to surround your office and any time you appear with big yellow school buses for too long the RFP process has been costing jobs you can have it with the school boards as well school boards that were part of the pilot RFP in 2010 in northern Ontario are now experiencing deficits and labour problems as they drive up the transportation cost there small operators who have been in business as family generations are out of business so minister the process has proven to be a disaster will you commit to suspending the RFP while an independent third party review is done and one that's not stacked the school bus sector yes and in fact we did make a commitment during the campaign that we would conduct an independent an independent review of competitive procurement we have in fact we have in fact set up the panel to do that it is led by Mr. Justice Colin Campbell who I think any of you who know Mr. Campbell's as an Ontario judge would agree that that is a third party independent review when it's being led by Mr. Justice Colin Campbell he has begun his work he will be reporting back to me after consulting with the various stakeholders the various bus operators there's more than one association the school boards the consortiums so I look forward to receiving Mr. Justice Colin Campbell's report thank you Mr. Campbell my question is for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister the most recent Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report on housing trends lists my community of London as the second hardest community for immigrants to find security in the housing security in the country second only to Toronto even though Toronto's population trend is due to the lack of affordability however we know the real issue at play is access for newcomers newly arrived newly arrived individuals and families are finding it difficult to secure housing because of these restrictions Speaker immigrants are vital to the economic well being and growth of our communities especially in my riding of London Speaker what is this government doing to ensure that newcomers in my community have the housing security they need thank you Minister Mr. Speaker I appreciate the question there's no doubt at all that those immigrating to this province and this country have built this great province and this great country into what it is today and that we need to do everything we can to assist everybody in Ontario to be adequately housed as a member may be interested in learning I'm doing a building bridges tour I'm touring and speaking to a number of groups concerned about housing options we are up to Ottawa last week to talk to the Ontario non-profit housing corporation we have a couple of housing groups coming in today I'm meeting with groups concerned about immigrant housing and other housing and we hope to renew answer answer we hope to renew our long term housing strategy in ways that will more effectively deal with the very kinds of concerns thank you Mr. Speaker in western Ontario we need a diverse workforce in order to kick start the economic engine but it's not just in my community of London immigrants in Toronto have it worse over 36% are unable to secure affordable housing and right across the province it's the same in Windsor and Hamilton we want assurances will this government give we want assurances that this government will give us the people of Ontario and not just take this study that identifies a problem and it just won't be ignored and what is this government going to do to find solutions for the housing security that are faced by the immigrants in Ontario thank you Minister well we're going to do anything and everything we can to address the housing challenges that we have in the province Mr. Speaker and we have actually we have been meeting with groups we're looking particularly at partnering with the private sector who we think brings a lot of expertise to the table we need to find some creative entrepreneurial ways of doing that the investment in affordable housing program which we're jointly engaged in with the feds we have a $300 million allocation there that's handled through municipal service partners by the way so that local municipalities can determine for themselves the best approach we've also reinvested in the CHIPI program which again is managed by municipalities so as to reflect the local needs thank you thank you speaker my question is for the minister of health and long-term care for the first five months in Canada the Canadian Diabetes Association is a remarkable advocate for people with diabetes I know we have many representatives here today in the gallery thank you to the volunteers and staff for all that you do as a nurse I know that diabetes is a chronic disease that can cause serious complications if not managed properly I provided care in and out of the hospital for many diabetics over my career it's estimated there's nearly 10 people in Ontario who have been diagnosed with diabetes that's nearly 10% of the population by 2020 it's estimated that the number of people living with diabetes will reach almost $2 million with an estimated cost of $7 billion to the health care system speaker it concerns many of my former patients in Cambridge what is our government doing to help these with diabetes minister thank you minister of health and long-term care thank you Mr. Speaker and I'd like to thank the member for Cambridge for raising this very important question Mr. Speaker we've come a long way in diabetes prevention treatment and management I remember when my sister was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was in her teens more than 40 years ago and just the changes that have taken place in this province and around the world it's something we can all be proud of and Mr. Speaker our government is committed to providing Ontarians supports that they need to manage their health effectively and I'm proud that in fact under our government every single Ontarian with diabetes who wants a family doctor has one and Mr. Speaker the best way to fight diabetes is to prevent it and that's why our government is moving forward to put in place recommendations from our healthy kids panel to help us undertake this challenge of reducing childhood obesity which contributes to chronic diseases like diabetes Mr. Speaker thank you Mr. Speaker there are no known ways to prevent type 1 diabetes but research shows that type 2 diabetes can be delayed or prevented through healthy eating, weight management and exercise both types of diabetes can be managed to result in better health outcomes one way is through the use of insulin pumps a nursing colleague of mine was pleased that Ontario was the first province to fully fund insulin pumps for children and adults for type 1 diabetes this saved her up to 18,300 dollars in the first five years as her son was an insulin dependent diabetic so far the programs provided more than 15,000 Ontarians and many of my constituents including seniors with funding for the purchase of insulin pumps and related supplies Minister what is Ontario doing to help those with complex needs thank you minister thank you Mr. Speaker we know that the health needs of Ontarians with diabetes are often very complex and require multidisciplinary care which is why we've established six different centres for complex diabetes care and these centres have provided care to more than 6,000 new patients but we've also increased the number of diabetes education teams to more than 300 around the province to help people manage their diabetes and their related complications we've also invested in self management providing workshops to more than 14,000 individuals and on the insulin pump which is now provided I'm proud to say that the member who just reminded me from Thunder Bay Superior introduced not one but two private members specifically speaking to that issue of the importance of providing those insulin pumps it's a beautiful example of how technology has evolved in the government as a part of our responsibility to manage these treatment we've responded as well thank you my question is for the minister of training colleges and universities minister in July I gave you a personal invitation to tour Kempel college and although you didn't have the courtesy to include me in your tour recently at least you showed up and saw the facilities at that college the facilities that I think are state of the art for our agriculture students and also provide a wonderful venue to host a number of community events these events bring in critical revenue and let everyone know that Kempel college is open for business so you can appreciate my surprise when I found out last week that the University of Guelph has stopped allowing private bookings at the campus effective November 30 minister so many people including your provincial facility are working on a sustainable future for the college why are you allowing the University of Guelph to undermine those efforts thank you thank you Mr. Speaker I would like to begin by thanking the member for that question I had the pleasure of meeting the officials of the Kempel college and also the leaders of the community along with my colleague minister Jeff Lee and we extended actually invitation to the member to join us but unfortunately the schedule didn't allow Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker it's very important for our government to make sure that our young people in eastern Ontario they have access to agriculture education quality agriculture education Mr. Speaker in this wonderful facility we are working with the community leaders Mr. Speaker and as well as the institution itself to make sure that Kempel college will continue to provide educational services to young people in the eastern part of the province of Ontario thank you Mr. Speaker Minister it's obvious if you don't know what's going on that campus I tried to send a booking for a meeting at that campus and I know there's other groups that have tried to book meetings, events on that campus and the college, the university has said no it's a pattern that began with the University of Guelph when they announced the closure in March they timed it to ensure that we wouldn't get a new intake of students Minister I believe Kempel college has a bright future and if you agree you can on the farm and tell the university to stop blocking the community from providing revenue at that facility Guelph has done enough damage to this community will you join me in stepping in and stopping this right now Thank you Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker as I said earlier it's very important for this government to make sure that our young people in eastern Ontario they have access to the quality education agriculture actually when this issue came up Mr. Speaker our government through the Ministry of Agriculture we committed to two million dollars investments to maintain the program and continuing in Kempel college and as I said earlier again Mr. Speaker we had the honour and pleasure of meeting the officials of the college and also the leaders of the community to make sure that the college and also the community finds a solution to the issue which the college is facing in the local community and they're working very hard Mr. Speaker to make sure that this college will continue its operation with the assistance of the community leaders on the site Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker since we came to the office we have invested heavily in public in post secondary education actually we have increased funding by our young people to be able to study in our university No question the member from Bramley Mr. Speaker my question is to the acting premier any real plan to address child poverty must address the problem of precarious work when the federal government pledged to eradicate child poverty in 1989 13% of the country had precarious employment by 2007 the figure had ballooned to almost 21% now currently in the GTA precarious work has increased by almost 50% over the past two decades most of that growth has occurred under this government this government must take precarious employment and particularly temporary work through temporary health agencies seriously families are struggling to make ends meet children are living in poverty as a result of precarious employment will this government commit to address precarious employment will this government address this issue so that children will not live in poverty Thank you Minister of Labor Thank you Speaker I appreciate the question I think it's something that concerns us all in the province of Ontario I think we all know that the world of work has changed in this province and the ministry of labor works really hard to ensure that Ontarians are treated with the dignity and the respect they deserve at work we've just passed bill 18 which speaks to an awful lot of the issues that the members raised the Employment Standards Act sets out payment of wages, minimum wage, overtime pay, all those things that treat employees that the way that we like to be treated as employees ourselves if the member has any issues or if he has any specific examples of where he feels the Employment Standards Act is being a bridge please call our office, urge his constituents to call the office and we will act as soon as we can Thank you The member from storm on Dundas and south clungary on a point of order Thank you Speaker Joining my question today the member from B2C to our comment they should have elected a liberal Will you be seated please Thank you The member from Welland on a point of order Correct my record from my second question I said half a million in cuts That's a point of order and any member can correct their record at any time There are no deferred votes this house stands recess until 1pm this afternoon