 It is now time for oral questions. I recognize the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Thank you, Speaker. Speaker, my first question this morning is to the Premier. When we got back to the legislature after our winter break, about February, middle of February, the Premier basically dismissed concerns of the third wave, saying that the numbers were, in fact, going down. Today, Speaker, the Globe and Mail reports that hospitals are literally making triage plans, including the use of an online calculator to determine which Ontarians are going to get treatment and which ones are not. Speaker, the government hasn't listened to the experts, hasn't listened to the warnings from hospitals, and now they're dragging us into what looks to be a very serious possibility of a devastating third wave. I guess my question is, after a year, why does the government continue to not listen to the health experts, to the hospital professionals in terms of advice around how to curb this virus? The parliamentary assistant and member for Eglinton Lawrence. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you for the question. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, our government has taken prudent, progressive, and focused action to protect the health and well-being of Ontarians as we've responded to this unprecedented public health crisis. And from the outset of the outbreak, our government has been guided by our world-class healthcare experts who have continually advised us on our response and the appropriate steps in taking to battle this virus. And this collaborative effort has allowed our province and our health system to successfully respond to COVID-19 in a number of ways, such as developing a robust testing strategy, regularly testing over 60,000 Ontarians a day with more than 12 million people tested to date. And our government has also opened 185 assessment centres, 120 community-based testing sites, expanded testing to over 210 pharmacies to ensure everyone has access to testing. And now we're rolling out a comprehensive mass vaccination campaign. We're working and all the time listening to our public health experts. Thank you. Thank you. Any supplementary questions? Well, Speaker, I want to share with the government just three things that were extremely problematic and continue to be so. One is that the government has ignored advice from all kinds of different places, experts suggesting that they are going too quickly when it comes to taking away the health measures that will stop the spread. They have failed to support everyday people when it comes to COVID-19. We don't see paid sick days for essential workers, paid sick days for anyone, nor do we see paid time off for people to be able to go get their vaccines. We don't see extra measures in schools that we should have seen. The disastrous rollout of this government's vaccine plan has been very unfair and very confusing. Speaker, the numbers are climbing. I mean, every day the numbers are climbing in terms of COVID-19, but it is not too late for this government to curb the third wave. And they can do so by implementing some of the things I've just mentioned. Will they do the right thing and implement them? Mr. President, can you ask? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our government's top priority is ensuring the health and wellbeing of all Ontarians. And it's important to remember that everyone is still strongly urged to continue to follow all the public health and workplace safety measures and limit trips outside their household and only congregate with groups of people living in their household. Since the start of the pandemic, our government has been guided by science and data and our team of expert public health professionals who've continually advised us, which is why after consultations our government is allowing for the safe resumption of certain activities with public health measures strengthened. It's important to point out that these services and activities still have to adhere to public health guidelines. We have paid sick days through the federal program, as we've said many times, and the first one million vaccines took 86 days to administer. Since then, in 17 days, we've administered a second one million vaccine. So we're ramping up our vaccine rollout and we'll get them to everyone. And the final supplementary. Speaker, the Premier has ignored calls for paid sick days in this province for months and months and months. Everybody knows it. And yet, emergency room doctors are actually identifying that a majority of their patients in the ICU units are essential workers. Essential workers who couldn't take time off when they were sick because they couldn't afford to and couldn't take time off to book a vaccination. Dr. Williams, the government's own Chief Medical Officer of Health that the Premier says he always listens to, supports, paid sick days. Saskatchewan, a conservative province in Ontario has actually implemented paid time off to get vaccines. So why does this government refuse to undertake these very measures? Why do they continue to not understand how important these things are to stopping the spread and taking away the likelihood of a major third wave? The government has to do this. My Mr. Speaker, as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health just highlighted, of course there are 26 days available to the people of the province of Ontario. What we simply will not do is take the advice of the leader of the opposition on this and reduce the sick days to 14 days like she and her party would like us to do. We think 26 days is what is important to the people of the province of Ontario. That's why we've worked very closely with our partners at the federal level to ensure that the restart agreement that was in place and the over a billion dollars that was a part of that restart agreement were available. And as I said, 26 days are a part of that and we just simply will not do what the leader of the opposition wants and reduce that to 14 sick days. It's just not sufficient. Thank you. Question? Once again, the leader of the opposition. Thank you so much, Speaker. My next question is also for the Premier. I think it's clear that the Premier's or the government's rollout of their vaccination plan has been pretty disastrous. I mean, it's really been problematic. It's been unfair. It has been confusing. And it's making things worse, frankly. Dr. Amit Arya says this about where we are right now, and I quote, over 400,000 doses are sitting in freezers. Many family doctors are still unable to vaccinate. Hot zones are being neglected. The third wave is here. Dr. Arya says, why have we dropped the ball? My question to the government and to the Premier is exactly Dr. Arya's question. Why has the government dropped the ball on the vaccine rollout? Thank you, Speaker, and thank you for the question. In fact, our government has done a great vaccine rollout. We've got the vaccine booking system, the provincial vaccine booking system launched on March 15th, and now we have administered in Ontario over 2 million vaccines and over 300,000 second doses. And as I said before, that was one million doses within the first 86 days and 17 days later, we'd administered another million doses. It's important that the member opposite realize that any vaccines in freezers, and I think we've administered already 87% of the vaccines that we have, but any vaccines in freezers are actually already allocated to individuals. They are for appointments that have been booked, and we don't want people to have to show up for an appointment and find there is no vaccine. When we have more vaccines from the federal government, more vaccines will be going out quickly. We can easily ramp up to 150,000 and more daily, and we want to do that. We want all Ontarians to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Supplementary. Well, Speaker, the premier and his government like to play the blame game, pointing to Ottawa, but Ontario is fifth when it comes to the per capita vaccination rate in our province, and we know that the rollout has been disastrous, no matter what the member opposite tries to claim. Pharmacies in the GTA were forgotten. They were left off the list in those neighbourhoods that were the hardest hit by COVID-19. It's shameful. In fact, even to this day, when communities identify that they're going into crisis, they can't get an answer from the Ford government. The mayor of Sarnia is ignored. Not only do they not get an answer, but they certainly don't get any vaccines. So this is not an indicator of a good rollout, Speaker. When will the government finally admit that they have a problem here and fix their disastrous vaccine rollout? Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. The campaign for a vaccine rollout has been wildly successful, as I indicated. To this point, 80% of people over the age of 80 already have a vaccine or have booked for an appointment. And the group of 70 to 79-year-olds, one-third of all Ontarians in that age group, have a vaccine. So we're making great strides. And all of this is, of course, dependent on receiving vaccines. The AstraZeneca vaccine that we received was 194,500 doses received from India, which was to expire on April 3. Those vaccines were given out and allocated to various pharmacies, 325, I believe, and also to some doctors' offices. When we have more vaccines, those vaccines will get out to all of the pharmacies. I believe we have now signed up 700 pharmacies, and we're ready to double that as soon as we have the vaccines to put in the pharmacies. We want to get them out there, and we want to vaccinate all Ontarians as quickly as possible. The final supplementary. All the vaccine rollout has been wild, all right? It's been wildly disastrous, Speaker, wildly disastrous. You know, it didn't have to be this way. We didn't have to be in a situation where we're headed to more lockdowns, where we're headed to a third wave that could be quite horrifying. We could have had paid sick days in our province. We could have had paid time off for people to go get their vaccines. We could have had smaller class sizes and better protections in schools. We could have had a vaccine rollout that actually targeted those who were most at risk. We didn't do any of those things in Ontario. Our Premier didn't want to do any of those things in Ontario, but it can still be fixed. So will he? Will he fix it? Thank you, Speaker, and thank you for the question. Our government has run a very successful vaccine rollout campaign, as I have said. We've launched our online booking system. We've signed out hundreds of thousands of people for appointments. We are getting the vaccines rolled out. 87% of the ones we have have already been administered. And we're doing that by priority group. The member opposite will know that we managed to vaccinate 90% of all long-term care residents fully. And the numbers in long-term care have shown the results of that. The death rate has declined significantly and almost to a complete stop, which is the vulnerable group that needed the priority vaccinations and got them. And that is how our plan is working. We've moved on to the elderly, which are the most at risk because of age. And we now move on to other groups at risk because of age and because of transmission risk. And we will get those vaccines out to those people quickly. As soon as we have them, they will go out. Thank you. The next question, the member for Toronto, Dan Ford. Thank you, Speaker. My question to the minister of the environment. Last week, the Supreme Court made it clear climate change is real. It's a threat to our humanity if governments don't act. This government wasted 30 million dollars going to court that should have been spent on building a real plan to fight the climate crisis. And we've learned they also hired a climate change denier to provide quote-unquote expert testimony and defend the Premier's gas pump stickers that, as you know, Speaker, didn't even stick. After losing two court battles and millions of dollars wasted, can the minister tell us how much public money went into the pocket of this climate-denying Trump supporter? The question is to the minister of the environment, conservation and parks. Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank the member opposite for that question. You know, since day one of being elected as government in 2018, we've worked hard to make life more affordable for families and businesses at the same time ensuring that measures are taken to protect the environment, which produced our main Ontario environment plan, Mr. Speaker, that not only protects land, air and water, it also focuses in on reducing greenhouse gases to achieve our Paris climate target of 30% emissions below 2005 targets. And we're well on our way, Mr. Speaker. We have a number of initiatives that the member opposite knows that we put forward to reduce emissions, such as our heavy-duty missions testing to get the heavy-duty trucks emissions down. Our missions performance standards, which we're in the middle of implementing and approved by the federal government, which will ensure the big polluters are held accountable for the pollution they're making, but it's a fair and tough policy moving forward, Mr. Speaker. And I look forward to telling the member opposite more about our plan for the environment and the supplemental. And a couple of mentioned questions. Thank you, Speaker. Well, the government certainly made life better for climate deniers, no question. This government hired Benjamin Zicker for $111,000. I want to note some of this man's opinions, racist personal attacks on Michelle Obama, Islamophobic hatred against Muslims, going to bat for Donald Trump to deny climate change. He's so discredited that he attacked the Republicans in Congress for quietly acknowledging climate change. The government's only actions to date on climate change include millions on wasteful court battles that can only be defended by climate change deniers. Why has this government aligned themselves with climate change deniers time and again, and when will they bring in a green new deal to actually deal with a climate crisis in this province? Mr. Greenbarman, conservation parts. Well, thanks again for that question, Mr. Speaker, in that the person the member mentioned is probably going to come on against our government as well. I mean, we know climate change is real and we know it's a threat to the people of this province and the country. But what we don't agree with the member opposite is we have a different way and a plan of dealing with reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, which not only keeps life affordable for families, not only allows businesses small and medium-sized to stay open and compete, it also balances out with strong environmental protection, Mr. Speaker, and I've already mentioned our emissions reduction standards for industry across this province. We're also coming out with Ontario's first low-carbon hydrogen strategy. I know member opposite may not be supportive of that, but this is going to be moving forward another alternative to lower greenhouse gases in our communities, whether it's mixing with natural gas, a new source of low-carbon or zero-carbon emission vehicles, trains and buses, Mr. Speaker. I'm pretty excited about our hydrogen strategy coming out. This is in addition to the $20 million we've put towards conserving more land throughout this province and $30 million we've put towards the wetland restoration in this province, Mr. Speaker. The next question, the member for Richmond Hill. Mr. Speaker, if you consider the population growth in GTA, we will experience in the coming years this little doubt on the need to invest in public transit. We need to get building, but it is not just accommodating this growth. Speaker, it's also about protecting the economy. This government has critical subways, projects underway, all of which will stimulate future growth and job creation. Residents in Richmond Hill are so excited, they just cannot wait, especially when this month the initial business case for the Young North Subways extension was released. Could the Minister of Transportation speak about the significance of this news? Thank you. Minister of Transportation to reply. Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the member for Richmond Hill for her question. We are full steam ahead on all of our priority transit projects, because now is not the time for an action. Last week, the Minister of Finance spoke about setting the foundations for long-term economic growth, and I couldn't agree more. It has been estimated that every $100 million invested in public infrastructure supports $114 million in real GDP. Infrastructure creates jobs. Consider the Young North Subway extension, the equivalent of 4,300 full-time jobs will be created each year of construction. The IBC shows that almost 50,000 people will be within a 10-minute walk of a station by 2041, unlocking access to employment and housing opportunities. This extension will connect Go and Viva, making it easier and faster for people to get around. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is very exciting, Minister. We just cannot wait. This certainly is a compelling case for moving forward with these priority transit projects. I understand that the federal government has a role to play here, too, eh? In the 2019 federal election, the Prime Minister committed to supporting these projects, yet we haven't seen any money. Economic recovery is a priority that is national in scope, and we need our federal partners at the table with us. Could the Minister please provide an update on the status of her discussions with the federal government on the funding of these subway projects? Mr. Transportation. Thank you again. Thank you again to the member from Richmond Hill for a question. Our four subway lines are nationally significant, and they mark the most ambitious transit expansion plan in Canadian history. These are critical stimulus projects for our economy, and I know that the federal government shares this same view. So I am taking the Prime Minister at his word. We are asking for at least 40% of these subway projects and a contribution towards an updated Hamilton LRT. This is a continued call, not only from Ontario Speaker, but our municipal partners as well. We have provided business cases for all five priority projects, and we have nominated each of them under the Investing in Canada infrastructure program. Speaker, all three levels of government agree on the importance of investing in subway projects. The federal government is the last piece of the puzzle, and we need them to make good on their commitment made in the last federal election. Thank you. The next question, the member for Kiwetnau. Good morning, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the PMIR. The Abumatung First Nation has one of the Ontario's longest boiled water advisories, and it also has a severe impact on the health of the country. There are multiple generations live in overcrowded homes without adequate heat and plumbing. Currently, Mr. Speaker, there are 17 people living in tents and shacks in the winter weather. You cannot isolate from COVID-19 in tents. The Abumatung has so far been able to stop the spread of the virus, but they need to address the severe housing shortage and the Abumatung with the real plan to address the crisis. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Look, I accept the member's criticism, and I understand his knowledge of that area, and I wouldn't even begin to pretend that I have the knowledge that he has on that. Mr. Speaker, it is about the need to actually work together, not only with the federal government on an issue like this, but also with the affected First Nations. We have seen whether it is through housing or through the COVID action plan, frankly, there has been a lot of work that has been done, that has been accomplished by working together, and look, this is something, an issue that we inherited, and it's not just something that we inherited from a previous government, it's something that has been an issue for many governments dating back many, many years, but I am with the gentleman in suggesting that we have to do a better job working together on this, and it is unacceptable this day and age. But I say very sincerely to him, we can't not work with our federal partners and with our First Nations on this. The only way we'll solve this is by working across party lines and with all partners on this. Supplementary question. Back to the premier. Speaker Philip Waboos and his wife lived in one of the tents I just told you about. She was in poor health and on dialysis while living and attend with no proper heat, no running water, no kitchen, no bathroom or toilet. She passed away this winter in these conditions, Mr Speaker. Why is this acceptable for people and First Nations? Speaker Ontario is a treaty partner with the Admiralty, with treaty number nine. How is it possible to not have a proper place to live in Diane? Where is the decency? What will Ontario do to alleviate the housing crisis immediately? To reply, again, the government hosting. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Again, I agree with the Honourable gentlemen. These are issues that have to be tackled in the province of Ontario in cooperation with our First Nations partners and in cooperation with the federal government. We can't simply work in isolation on these issues. I think the Honourable gentlemen would agree with us on that. He has spoken often and eloquently about the need for governments to work with First Nations and not dictate to First Nations. But he is absolutely correct. It is unacceptable in this day and age that we should have bottled water advisory or boil water advisories in the province of Ontario. I note that the federal government had promised that that would be a thing of the past. They've made some progress, yes, but it's not the way to go. It is, of course, an issue that we imparted when we took government. But it is not just the fault of the previous Liberal governments, the fault of many governments. We will continue to work very closely with our partners. We will get the job done. We have to. And I know that the Honourable General will hold us accountable to getting that done. Thank you. The next question, the member for Orléans. Mr. Speaker, the Premier's thrown millions of dollars away on lawyers trying to defend his fringe climate change views. While the majority of world leaders align on the need to take immediate action, he and his government are holding Ontario back from tackling the greatest challenge of our generation. And his government is dangerously out of touch with their new reality. With a global pandemic underway and worsening effects of climate change, Ontarians need and deserve a government that prioritizes our children's future and realizes the connection between economic prosperity, health and the environment. Not a Premier who fights science and environmental protections to help his friends. So Mr. Speaker, I have to ask, through you, does the Premier even believe in man-made climate change? Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. Thanks very much Mr. Speaker and the member opposite. As I mentioned in the last response to the opposition, this is a government that believes in climate change, we know it's a threat to the prosperity of Ontarians into our future and that's why we took measures once we were elected to come up with a plan that not only fights climate change and deals with having a clean, strong environmental protections, we've also taken the measures to balance that out with affordability and economic strength in our province as well. The member can note in our main Ontario Environment Plan projects that we've moved forward on to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, I mentioned earlier about the new emissions performance standards for heavy-duty vehicles with our federally approved emissions output pricing that is coming forward. We're working with industry in a main Ontario solution that is going to lower emissions from the big heavy polluters of this province but also keep them competitive, keep jobs in Ontario while we work towards our goal of 30% reduction of GHGs by 2030. Mr. Speaker. Any supplementary question? Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. My supplement is also for the Premier. The money the government has spent on lawyers to fight science and environmental progress could have been put to much better use helping Ontarians, Mr. Speaker. The Premier's wasted millions pandering to conservative climate change deniers by cancelling the cap and trade program, axing Ontario's environmental commissioner, $30 million to fight climate change with the federal government, spending $231 million to cancel green energy projects and kill jobs. They're selling off the green belt and, Mr. Speaker, the bypassing environmental protections through ministerial fiat. The Premier has fined business owners tens of thousands of dollars for refusing to display the government's partisan anti-climate propaganda stickers and the Court has struck it down as being unconstitutional and a misuse of the governing party's legislative power. So, Mr. Speaker, I'll ask again, does the Premier actually believe that climate change is real? And if he does, why does he tolerate members of his own caucus like the member for Oakville, North Burlington and other climate change skeptics in his party? He ministered the environment. Thanks very much for the question from the member opposite. And, you know, I'll repeat this government believes in climate change. We know it's a threat to the prosperity and the safety of Ontarians. Mr. Speaker, I do have to comment on the member that he made mention of. This is a government that is in current consultations now to expand the green belt. One of the largest expansions will be undergoing in decades. That member opposite is part of a party that cut up the green belt, shrunk up the green belt over its term in 15 years in government, Mr. Speaker. We aren't going to do that, Mr. Speaker. We're going to protect and conserve the green belt and invest $30 million to protect and restore wetlands to the province. Something that government and opposite member didn't do when they were in office, Mr. Speaker. And we also have our $20 million Greenlands partnership program with Nature Conservancy of Canada, Mr. Speaker. We are conserving quality productive land in this province for future generations to love and enjoy, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. The next question, once again, the member for Richmond Hill. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, COVID-19 has hit many Ontarians hard, including our children and youth. Our young ones have been facing additional stress throughout the pandemic, whether with school or mental health or more. Mr. Speaker, we must ensure that these kids are supported throughout the pandemic and beyond. And we must work together to help these children and youth. Mr. Speaker, can the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services please explain to the House what our government is doing for the children across Ontario throughout this pandemic? The Parliamentary Assistant Member for Ottawa, West Appian. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the member for Richmond Hill. We know that the member from Richmond Hill is a fierce advocate for seniors at the Parliamentary Assistant, but we here on this side of the House also know that she is a fierce advocate for children as well. Speaker, the member is absolutely right. Children and youth in Ontario need to be supported throughout this pandemic and beyond. That's why, thanks to our Minister for Mental Health and Addictions, our government is making historic investments into mental health across the province, including for children and youth. This includes mobile mental health clinics and remote communities like youth who live in Northern Ontario. And through the work of the Minister of Education, we have been working hard to keep schools safe as well as making the necessary investments to build and upgrade schools. Speaker, we are also supporting children and youth in residential settings by providing funding for infection and prevention control. This is a cross-government effort and we will continue working to keep our kids safe today and into the future. Thank you. And the supplementary question. Thank you very much, PA. Youth and children are the future of Ontario. Yes, we have to take care of them. And, Mr. Speaker, I thank you for what we are suggesting. However, I also want to touch on the other area that the children are particularly vulnerable. They are the part of our child welfare system. Statistics have shown that the high school graduation rate for kids in care is only 46 percent versus 83 percent of all youth in the same year. With the changes the pandemic have created, their health and well-being is all the more critical. Speaker, can the Minister of Children and Women's issue share on our government is doing regarding child welfare system? Questions. To that children and youth who have been hit and left by the Liberals and NDP will now have a chance at success. And the response from the Member for Ottawa, Westminster. Thank you to the Member again for raising that important question. Speaker, all children and youth in Ontario deserve the same level of care and support no matter their circumstances. We are part of our child welfare system. The Minister of Children and Women's issues has been hard at work redesigning Ontario's child welfare system in partnership with First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban indigenous partners with the black and other racialized communities, those with lived experiences, sector leaders and more. And Speaker, the Minister earlier this month announced that our government was extending the moratorium so no youth would age out of care until September 30th, 2022. She also stated that our government would be developing a new model for youth leaving care. So that they feel more prepared as they leave. This model is being developed with those who have lived experience with the system. We're committed to getting this done right. We're committed to our youth and we're going to keep moving forward on this important priority. Thank you. Next question. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Brampton is suffering from a health care crisis, but instead of acting now to fix this crisis, last week the Premier made an empty promise to build another hospital in Brampton for a single dollar in the budget or any plan who's actually called out for the slack of plan and money and came to Brampton last Friday to clarify his position where he doubled down and admitted that there's no money in this year's budget made an empty election promise to do some work on Peel Memorial in 2023. That's after the next election. People in Brampton need investment now to fix our health care crisis not in two years after the next election. That means building another hospital in Brampton. That means investing now to convert Peel Memorial from a health centre into a hospital and properly funding Peel Memorial. Why is the Premier using Brampton's health care crisis to make empty election promises? Thank you Speaker and thank you for the question. Speaker, our government is supporting the transformation of the Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness in Brampton from a day facility into a new hospital with a 24-7 emergency department. I don't know why the member opposite is using this for political grandstanding but I'm delighted that we're proceeding with this. Peel Memorial will provide a range of services. Currently it provides outpatient services but this will support the transformation of Peel Memorial into a new hospital and we're funding the construction of over 250 new beds at the site. We're also providing 18 million in the 2021-22 budget to expand the urgent care centre to 24-7 operations paving the way for the emergency department to come as Peel Memorial expands into an inpatient hospital. This added investment is part of our government's additional funding of $3 billion in healthcare infrastructure which was part of the 2021 budget. We're delighted about this new urgent care centre and emergency coming to Brampton and I wish the member opposite would join us and celebrate. Thank you Speaker, back to the Premier. Brampton is a city of over 600,000 people with only one hospital that is chronically overcrowded and underfunded but instead of working to fix this crisis the Premier came to Brampton a year before the election to campaign. What was supposed to be an announcement for a new hospital in Brampton looked far more like a pre-election campaign stop full with fake empty promises for a new hospital and in addition numerous partisan attacks against the NDP Bramptonians don't need the Premier to come to Brampton to come to our city and to campaign a year before the election we need him to get to work today to fix our healthcare crisis will the Premier commit today to investing to fix our healthcare crisis in this year's budget that means investing to convert the memorial of a healthcare centre into a hospital properly funding Brampton Civic and building another hospital in Brampton. Thank you thank you I watched the press conference and I thought it was a great announcement and certainly the local members the Mayor and everybody else in Brampton embraced this new announcement of Peel Memorial Hospital becoming an emergency department and a hospital with inpatient facilities and as I said this is part of our 3 billion dollars in healthcare infrastructure that was part of the 21 budget and these investments will help to ensure that the people of Brampton have access to 24-7 hospital services including urgent care, complex continuing care enhanced mental health and rehabilitation for patients and their families the people of Brampton deserve this and this government is going to deliver it to them and it's not politicking it is what we have planned and we are delivering it to Brampton thank you the next question thank you very much Mr. Speaker my question is for the Premier Ontario's ICU admissions are on the rise and hospitals are once again dangerously close to being overwhelmed and we are on the verge of enacting a triage protocol that for most of us is unthinkable and the Premier's priority today is another campaign style announcement in Niagara it's as if Friday's shameless political plug on the public dime wasn't enough for too long the Premier has been too focused on too many other things other than the most important ones like the vaccine roll out today seniors in Ottawa trying to book their appointment if they can get through are getting one in August it's the same problems we had last week so up until this point we haven't been able to get vaccines into the right arms or to the right places fast enough so speakers through you with case counts rising the third wave ready to slam us why is the Premier continuing to focus on campaigns the response the member for Eglinton Lawrence thank you Speaker since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic our government has been working with our hospital partners to create unprecedented capacity and be ready to respond to on any scenario and to ensure that anyone who requires care in a hospital can receive it we have put an additional $8 billion in the hospital sector for 2021-2022 bringing the total additional investments in hospitals since the start of the pandemic to over $5.1 billion those are a lot of investments but we've also started running the most successful frankly and largest mass vaccination campaign in the provinces history and we've been getting the vaccinations out there as I said earlier in answer to a question the first 86 days it took us one million doses took the second 17 days one million doses so we've now got two million doses out into arms and we've got 80% of people over the age of 80 have an appointment or have a vaccine already and over the 75 to 79 one third have been vaccinated I call that thank you and the supplementary question it took you half a million doses and 60 days to get to the 70,000 patients in long-term care and we've had a lot of success I don't think anybody else here does either so the premier's own advisors the science table have continually advised him on the risk of the third wave the premier has ignored much of that advice and now loosening public health restrictions and now we find ourselves back where we were again except this time worse the head of the Ontario Hospital Association says Ontario is on track to surpass 420 in our ICU units it's like we learned nothing from the first wave or the second wave and there continues to be no sense of urgency from this government the vaccine rollout and public health measures require the premier's fullest attention so speaker through you when will the premier stop campaigning and start focusing on the things that are most important to Ontario families Member Fragleton Lawrence thank you speaker thank you to the member opposite for the question the premier is focused on what matters most to Ontarians he has been throughout the entire pandemic he has been in front of Ontarians every day and dealing with the issues at hand and the vaccine rollout is certainly a very high priority for the premier as is ensuring that our health care system continues to provide the care that Ontarians expect and know and our government's top priority as we have said all along is ensuring the health and well-being so the member opposite should know that we're still encouraging everyone to follow public health measures and workplace safety measures and limit trips outside their household and not to gather with individuals outside of their household in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 we have been working with our public health experts to allow some easing where it makes sense but we're providing standards to make sure the public health measures are still in place and people are following them so we think it's very important to help Ontarians to get through these few months before the vaccines hopefully get to everybody and we're working hard to make it a livable experience for all of us so we can get to the end the next question the member for Milton thank you very much my question is for the minister of infrastructure last week the minister of finance delivered a strong budget that will protect the health of people of our province and also our economy there's been a historic $1 billion investment into broadband and now this budget commits an additional $3 billion to help connect more communities to reliable internet service of course I represent Milton and a lot of people may not know but part of my writing there's a significant rural component also a rural component of Burlington that I represent and one of the concerns that I hear each and every day it's from families it's from students it's from small businesses and it's from farmers so I'm wondering if the minister of infrastructure can please elaborate what this commitment means to everyone in Ontario the member for Oakville and parliamentary assistant thank you Mr. Speaker and thank you to the member from Milton my Hilton colleague for the question Mr. Speaker our government's primary focus is to protect every life and every job we possibly can from COVID-19 without healthy people we can't have a healthy economy Ontario's action plan protecting people's health and our economy is the next phase of our response to COVID-19 with our 2021 budget our action plan now totals some $51 billion part of this investment goes directly to getting more Ontarians connected to the digital economy to ensure that nobody gets left behind we know that there are some serious barriers faced by people across this province as they learn and work from home that's why we've stepped up to the plate to do what the federal government has neglected to do for decade upon decade we're taking the steps to ensure 100% connectivity no matter where you live in this great province from Barrie to Bankcroft Halliburton to Halton Manitoulin to Mississauga no one will be left out of today's 21st century digital economy thank you for that answer Mr. Speaker this pandemic has shown us exactly why broadband is so important to the people of Ontario Mr. Speaker we've heard stories of Ontarians who try to go online to do simple things like book a vaccine appointment because of the poor internet connection they're forced to book an appointment through a telephone this is an important government service Ontario needs and deserve to be able to access barrier free Mr. Speaker that's why I'm thrilled to learn that our government's 4 billion dollar investment will help connect my community of Milton and the rest of the province can the minister please tell the house what other steps are being taken to ensure that all Ontarians have reliable internet access regardless where they live thank you again for the question Mr. Speaker and to the member like the member mentioned earlier we've all heard the stories and we can count on our fingers a number of times we've experienced drop calls spinning wheels as documents download and abrupt video call interruptions because there simply isn't enough bandwidth these challenges are very real and of course been magnified by the pandemic that's why we introduced the supporting broadband and infrastructure expansion act 2021 if past this legislation would help connect communities to reliable high-speed internet sooner by accelerating the deployment of provincially significant broadband infrastructure across Ontario did you know that 700,000 households across Ontario lack reliable high-speed broadband on this side of the house we know that's why we're taking action right now we simply cannot wait for the federal government to step up we need the support of every member in this house to connect Ontario and urge all members opposite to support this bill thank you next question the member for Davenport thank you good morning Mr. Speaker this weekend like all weekends I've heard from hundreds of frontline educators parents students talking again about how the shift to emergency remote learning during the pandemic has been a really rough one for students for education workers for their families I mean surely what we've learned from this experience is that kids need to be in school face to face with teachers and education workers for their mental and emotional health and frankly for their academic success as well it came as a real surprise Mr. Speaker last week when parents and students across Ontario found out that this government is quietly moving forward with a scheme to move more students out of classrooms and online permanently Mr. Speaker why after such a difficult year when so many of our children youth are struggling is the premier so set on undermining the quality of their education thank you Mr. Speaker on this side of the house we believe parents deserve a choice they benefited in September from having an in-class option which the vast majority of parents exercise and an online option which roughly 25% of our collective constituents chose for their own personal circumstance be it health in their family or the choice of their child learning online doing well in that forum we believe in choice we believe in allowing parents to make that choice when it comes to next September I think we appreciate that pandemic is not going anywhere and I think a lesson learned is to be ready and prepared and to think ahead while preserving the choice for the vast majority of parents I don't expect them to enroll their child online they continue to benefit from the development of learning in class and that makes a lot of sense to me but for that minority of parents that prefer for the 40% of high school students that maybe want to access a physics class that they cannot access in their small school today this is an opportunity to diversify course offerings, preserve choice and make sure educational quality is provided online and in class in this province I supplement your question Thank you Mr. Speaker and back to the Premier Families in this province want their kids learning safely in school but instead of investing to make our schools safer and protect students and staff from illness this government has been winding down COVID-19 supports they are laying off education workers and they're trying to find a cheaper way to educate our students this plan makes online learning out of the hands of school boards and siphons it off precious public dollars going into the hands of for-profits and let me tell you Mr. Speaker when this government talks about choice we know what that means that is code for privatization and education and we all know it will the Premier listen to the chorus of parents educators and school boards who have come out against this plan and scrap it Mr. Speaker so that parents understand where the opposition parties are at on this they oppose the choice online learning was provided to them in September meaning under their plan and new democrats and liberals they would not have had the choice this past September to opt in online or to provide their students learning in class they also would have kept schools closed in 2021 they have consistently been on the wrong side of parent and public opinion and they have always been on the wrong side of parent and public education our Premier believes in giving parents the choice of publicly funded in class learning or publicly funded online learning provided by Ontario certified teachers we believe when it comes to strengthening the ability of families to learn in their own circumstance respecting the choice parents made investing 40 million dollars more in the budget as we did to improve the infrastructure to improve connectivity the types of investments we will ensure never again will students have to learn at home alone they will be provided with excellence in learning online and in class the next question is for the Premier during the 2018 campaign the Premier said this Government was the only fiscally responsible option for voters he would fix our fiscal mess and put money back in the pockets of taxpayers last week this progressive government released a budget in a row offering no tax relief for individuals or businesses and no plan to balance the budget instead sustained deficits of over 20 billion dollars until 2023-2024 deficits until 2029 and with our provinces debt to gross domestic product ratio finally eclipsing 50% can the minister please explain what part of running deficits over 20 billion dollars in 2023-2024 after a pandemic related spending has ended will he consider fiscally responsible Member for Willevale and Parliamentary Systems Thank you very much and I appreciate the member highlighting an important issue and obviously this level of spending is not sustainable moving forward but this government will not make apologies when it comes to the health and safety of the people we serve and our Premier has been very clear from the outset of this pandemic that he would spare no expense to that end and this budget is another example of a billion dollar action plan to get us through COVID-19 and measured response 16.3 billion dollars into the health care system because there is no economy without healthy people and we will not relent on those investments into health care we know that these are investments to fix a fragmented and disjointed health care system and oftentimes out of crisis can come opportunity and this revolutionizing modernizing the health care system is an example of that speaker we will continue to prioritize the health and safety of all Ontarians through the pandemic and beyond any supplementary questions well it remains that the most recent budget is evidence of yet more promises made and more promises broken by this progressive government another promise recently made add to a long list of others came on March 17th the Premier posted on social media once the pandemic is over quote we are going to ramp up this economy we are going to create more jobs more opportunities get businesses going so they can thrive and prosper and grow and quote yet in the government's budget they predict that in 2023 and 2024 the two fiscal years following the pandemic government revenues will only grow by 2% can the minister explain why if this government will be implementing pro-growth strategies they expect such a paltry growth of Ontario's economy after the pandemic Member for Willowdale thank you very much speaker and I know that when you're protecting the health and safety of Ontarians there's no price tag you can put on accomplishing that goal of course speaker and there are some that believe that the path back to balance involves austerity measures and cuts to programs and services and there are others that believe that you need to increase taxes on individuals and small businesses but this government speaker believes that does a false choice there is a third path that we can invest we know the growth will return to Ontario we saw that in our first two and a half years in government when we saw record job growth leading not just the country but North America in terms of increasing those revenues to the province we're modernizing government improving the programs and services that we offer speaker I'm very optimistic about the future that we have and we will continue to be transparent with the people of this province that's why we are tabling this budget hot off the heels of the last one in November and we will continue to hit our fiscal reporting targets until we are out of government speaker the people of this province that is a very long time from now thank you next question remember for London North Central my question is for the premier teachers have done an outstanding job in the face of this year's challenges and students have shown such resilience yet last week the government announced their cuts to education laying off thousands of people and we are now in the third wave Kim an educator in my writing told me that all her classes are currently above the cap packed with so many students she can't even walk between the desks she said just the other day 96 jobs were left unfilled across the board in London the 1.5 extra educators that the minister claims are clearly not enough yet this government is plowing ahead regressing to earlier merciless cuts Ryan tells me educators have done everything they can to make education work for kids yet are being lambasted by our own minister no respect no appreciation promising students better days ahead and that things will get better but getting education making online learning permanent devastates children and parents mental health why does this government keep trying to balance the budget on the backs of students Mr. Education thank you speaker for precisely 12 months during the pandemic the one constant has been the refrain from the members opposite suggesting that this government has not invested or hired a solitary new person teacher to support safe schools today or for the past week given the political opportunism now there's 1.6 billion dollars of critical supports that must be renewed I guess I asked the question which one is it for a year we didn't invest today these investments were so consequential the safety of class they have to be renewed what we've done in our budget is provided a 700 million dollar net year over year increase a 40 million dollar enhancement to our internet as well as our remote learning connectivity a 100 million dollars the largest summer learning program to mitigate learning loss in Ontario history and we have a grant for student needs the upcoming principal vehicle funding to school boards will be released in the month of April that will continue to demonstrate a focus on mental health on special education on mathematics and STEM learning so that all students could succeed next year supplementary question back to the premier through you speaker earlier the minister talked about how parents want choice but e-learning has always been a choice I would have really appreciated hearing the minister show some recognition for the work of educators and show them some respect speaker these cuts could not have come at a worse time students in London need a government that looks forward and invests in their education instead of handing down merciless cuts despite best efforts many children have fallen behind maintaining an investment in education would help kids catch up alia another educator in my writing tells me that the so called training for online learning was here's your login go make it work tomorrow alia said many teachers even had to supply their own technology so here we are families and teachers propping up the education system because the government's neglect to this day I haven't spoken with any student or educator who has seen a public health nurse in school despite the minister's promises speaker the liberals underfunded our education system for years question why during a pandemic is this conservative government doing more of the same Mr. Speaker as one parent said in a recent media story kids different kids have different needs they have different ways of learning I think definitely online school caters to a lot of them another parent said I do think there needs to be change our education system and this could be one of the ways it could be better Mr. Speaker at the end of the day we are ensuring students have a choice when it comes to learning online in class now we are still consulting on the matter as has been noted clearly I think we believe as a default that giving parents to Ontario moms and dads the option to opt into online learning or simply to never opt in if they oppose it outright it doesn't work for their kids father speaker this choice in September uniquely positioned Ontario to lead the nation by providing safe learning when we had to close schools as a consequence of advice by the chief medical officer of health and public health environment we had a backstop that kept our kids learning that was that was essential and will continue to improve it to strengthen and provide the choice of parents going forward very much the next question my question is for the premier Ontario's affordability housing affordability crisis has worsened during COVID lack of affordable housing affects everyone but it affects the most vulnerable the hardest increasing homelessness in 10 cities many people experiencing homelessness are also facing mental health and addictions challenges they need investments in supportive housing that include wraparound mental health and addiction services the federal government is supporting housing projects but we need the province to step up with the funding for mental health supports speaker it seems like the affordable housing chapter of the budget was forgotten at the printer so since supportive housing is essential to ending homelessness in a vital part of any mental health and addiction strategy will the premier commit today to provide immediate funding for supportive housing the response to member for Milton and parliamentary assistant thank you very much thank you mr. Speaker mr. Speaker our government believes everyone deserves a place to call home supportive housing is a key to helping address homelessness mr. Speaker that's why we are investing over $2.2 billion in supportive housing every year in 2021 alone our government has allocated just the city of Toronto mr. Speaker with $489 million in various housing and homelessness funding however under the national housing strategy Ontario currently receives 33% of available funding despite having 44% of the Canadian household in core housing needs representing a funding shortfall of $490 million we will continue to work with all levels of government to create and sustain much needed affordable housing units but Ontario needs its fair share of the national housing strategy funding thank you mr. Speaker thank you that concludes our time for question period this morning