 Now it's time for question period the member from Lampton Kent Middlesex Well, thank you very much speaker and my question this morning is to the Premier Premier on November 18th in this house Mr. Vagra that your government had established a process to consult with parents on proposed changes to the liberal sex education curriculum But premier over the past three months I've heard from thousands of parents from across Ontario who have told me that no such Consultation took place and premier that the period for consultation is now over Premier, why did you suggest to this house that you expected the chairs of each school? Council to consult with parents on the sex ed curriculum when this was by the order of your minister of education Never going to happen Let me just be clear We were we were and the minister of education was very clear that all of the schools in the province all 5,000 schools the school council chairs were being asked to take part in a consultation That means that every region of the province mr. Speaker every school every school council chair had access to the consultation process Mr. Speaker and that is exactly what happened and we have we have completed that process mr. Speaker the fact is that the health and physical education Curriculum is out of date. In fact, it's dangerously out of date. Mr. Speaker children in our society need the information that is contained in an up-to-date Health and physical education curriculum mr. Speaker the fact is they are going to get information somewhere mr. We want to make sure they get the right information and that they get information that is Supplementary well speaker back to the Premier Premier you clearly stated and a quote that the role of a school Council chair is to talk to the people in his or her school and to get that input and then feed that input into a Process yet premier the survey itself says in a quote to support the quality and integrity of the data collected from parent representatives We strongly encourage parent representatives to complete the survey independently that is premier without consulting parents Premier when you stood here and said you expected school council chairs to conduct consultations Consultations a liberal party promised back in 2010 Were you aware that your minister of education was working against a proper consultative process? Question. Thank you Well, mr. Speaker, let me just say that I think 5,000 parents who are informed parents who are connected to their school communities And I don't know if the member opposite has ever been a school council chair I have mr. Speaker and I know that when you're a school council chair you're in touch with your community You hear from your community. You know what your community is about and you have conversations with your community So five thousand parents from around this province from every region of this province mr. Speaker every school had access to this process But I I guess that for me the real issue is that this health and physical education Curriculum that is in place in Ontario right now dates back to 1998 mr. Speaker. We need to have We need to have this curriculum updated. We engaged in a consultation. We're behind We're behind jurisdictions like British Columbia Saskatchewan and Alberta mr. Speaker and the update has Thank you Essex will come to order Final supplementary well back to the premier speaker Premier I can only conclude that when you stood up in this house and defended this so-called process that you simply had no idea What the actual process was Education had established perhaps premier much in the same way that Dalton McGinty had no idea about the new sex ed Agenda his ministry of education and her officials had planned back in 2010 enough of the secrecy premier enough of defending a process that doesn't even exist When are you going to start respecting the role of all parents in the education of their children? Premier when do you plan on releasing the proposed new curriculum to all Ontario parents so that the real consultation process can begin? Curriculum will be posted on the Ministry of Education website for all to see Within weeks later this winter it will be posted mr. Speaker and it will be rolled out in classrooms in September 2015 mr. Speaker the fact is that the curriculum that we have in place in Ontario is out of date We need to have it updated mr. Speaker. I'm not sure what the real agenda of the member opposite is If the fear mongering has more to do with his leadership campaign mr. Speaker or whether it has to do with A very small group of people mr. Speaker who want to stir up fear about the reality that kids need information They need to understand how human beings relate to each other mr. Speaker and they need to get that information Based on science that's what the curriculum will do mr. Speaker and it will be available very shortly on the website My second set of questions is also for the premier regarding an ongoing criminal investigation In the conduct of her officials Premier the Sudbury by-election was quickly called for midwinter You ignored what your own local party members had to say and appointed your candidate Premier as you know the OPP have noted their belief that the Liberals broke the law by attempting to lure a potential candidate With a government or a political job Premier something stinks here Ontario residents deserve to know what inducements were offered to keep mr. Olivier out of the Sudbury by-election race Mr. Speaker as I have said repeatedly in this house and elsewhere any suggestion that anything was offered in exchange for Any action is simply false mr. Speaker the reality is that I had made a decision I had made a decision to appoint a candidate to appoint Glen T. Bo as our candidate in Sudbury mr. Speaker There were conversations with the former candidate The past candidate to try to keep him involved in the in the party mr. Speaker That was that was the initiative because I believe as I have said I believe that it is important to keep people involved when they have taken part in election when they have been part of a party process So we reached out to him to try to keep him involved The fact is mr. Speaker that the decision answer was made to appoint a candidate And the initiative was to keep him involved in the party Premier you can continue to dance around this issue Or you can use the time to come clean with the people of Ontario There can be no doubt that your deputy chief of staff went to Sudbury with the intent of influencing mr. Olivier And inducing him not to join the race In fact the OPP have investigated and they're of the belief that the law was broken when a government or a political job was offered Deputy Speaker come to us. What exactly did you or your staff or the Ontario Liberal Party offer to mr. Olivier to step aside Well, thank you speaker, and you know, I think this is an interesting issue and I think it is A knowledge speaker that all parties Do work to keep former candidates Order If I was absolutely sure of what somebody said I would ask them to withdraw But I'm not a hundred percent sure And I think he gets my message Thank you I think ontarians actually expect more of their elected leader speaker than the politics of personal destruction speaker Both the Come to order Candidates in elections both the Tories and the NDP have sought to keep past candidates involved And I guess I have a question back if you think back to january 2009 Think of that january 2009 The member from haliburton co arfa lake answer Actually, and it might just be a coincidence speaker. It might be a coincidence, but on the very same day As she aligned her seat Thank you The member from renfrew nipissing pembroke will come to order Final supplementary. Well speaker back to the premier Premier OPP investigator detective erin thomas says and I quote I believe the words spoken by both laude and serbera to olivia assist me in my belief their criminal code Offense has been committed Unquote Premier in fact your government and your party is under three different OPP police investigations Premier are you saying that you had personally No conversations with miss serbera or mr. Lawheed about andrew olivia and the sudbury by-election Speaker as I was saying on the very same day in january 2009 The member for haliburton co arfa lakesbrock Resigned her seat so the new leader could win and was given a paid job the very same day The sudbury star says scott trains job seat for head office job The sudbury star january 10th 2009 progressive conservative laury scott was given the job friday Of getting the opposition party ready for the next election in exchange for giving up her seat in the ontario legislature Actually ready in this chair woman for the party speaker The record speaks of that Question the member from kitschner conestoga To the premier premier when we asked you yesterday, but that was a wrong rotation The leader of the third party Thank you speaker my questions for the premier the premier promised that she was going to clean up Corruption and cover-ups after 10 years of liberal scandal when she came into office She claimed that she was going to lead the most open and the most transparent government in canada But the report from the glass gas plants committee speaker shows that not a lot has changed The gas plant scandal started with a cover-up and the report is an attempt to cover up the cover-up But let's be honest Covering up. Is it the same thing as cleaning up speaker? So my question to the premier is will she stop trying to cover up her scandals and start I was Quite lenient up to that point. The member is accusing another member. Please withdraw Withdraw speaker Premier Mr. Speaker. Well, you know, I'm I'm very glad that the justice committee has completed its report And and mr. Speaker the report is clear on a number of points The report is clear that the large-scale siting and energy siting process The member from leeds grenville will come to order second time The member from renfrew nipissing pembrock come to order second time And if you continue it'll be a third time And last The deputy is not helping There were a number of findings mr. Speaker that I think Make it clear that the work of the committee really did Unveil some of the challenges that that we're we were confronting the large-scale energy siting process failed The costs were unacceptably high record keeping was inadequate and new rules were needed for the minister Stop the clock The member will withdraw Withdraw speaker Carry on New rules were needed for the minister's office staff. So the fact is that there are 16 recommendations that are designed to improve the siting process Improve record retention. Those recommendations are very important and i'm glad that we've got them as a result of the committee's work There is something seriously wrong When the premier's office is trying to distract people from a criminal investigation into a bribery scandal In Sudbury with a billion dollar gas plant scandal and its criminal investigation Politicians owe it to the people of this province to do much better speaker Using one scandal with a criminal investigation to distract from another scandal and criminal investigation is pretty darn cynical speaker When will this premier take the responsibility seriously clean up her government clean up her office and clean up her party So we can start getting into the issues that really matter to the people of this province thank you Mr. Speaker the fact is Two and a half years of work this committee did there were over 400 000 pages of documentation that were looked at mr Speaker there were 93 witnesses that came forward as the process rolled out mr Speaker we worked to change some of the rules that we knew needed to be changed to change the siting process To change the rules around document retention and now mr. Speaker We have the recommendations of the committee and there are those further recommendation there that we can follow The fact is there were 16 recommendations that came out of the committee's work the ndp to their credit Actually put some recommendations in their minority report strangely the opposition the Conservatives had no recommendations except to continue to meet so the fact is we have those recommendations We will follow them mr. Speaker and we appreciate the work that all the committee members get The fact is named peter feist speaker That's what the fact is that these liberals will not let come into this house This premier though peter insists and in fact she kept insisting that she was going to be so different And she was going to clean things up around here Yesterday she stood up in this house to protect her deputy chief of staff whose actions are part of a criminal Investigation by the opp in the Sudbury by-election the gas plant report shows that the premier protected Dalton McGuinty's Deputy chief of staff whose actions are part of a breach of trust Investigation by the opp speaker the premier said she was going to be different So why is the premier doing the same things all over again speaker? I said clearly that we would open up the process around the committee we did that mr. Speaker That's why the committee met for two and a half years That's why there were 93 witnesses and 400 000 documents mr. Speaker that were read I said mr. Speaker that we would Get back to get to report writing once the election was over mr. Speaker the ndp decided on the timing of the election They decided when the election was going to be mr. Speaker. We went through the election We were clear that we were going to have report writing that report writing has happened We have new question leader of the third party Which is also for the premier The liberal gas plant report claims that the blowing of 1.1 billion dollars came down to quote In adequacies of record keeping and document retention policies and training Now as my friend peter carmos would have said bull spit liberals deleted emails and they got caught and of Yes, typical specific offer made to mr. Olivier I call bull spit again on that speaker the liberals told Olivier quote name your price and they got caught The premier tried to cover up the gas plant cover-up speaker Will she come clean with the subory by election scandal or will we just see more cover-ups? I'm trying my best to ensure that i'm listening very carefully to all questions and all answers I'm going to ask temperance when it comes to language and to try to Bring it to a decorum here that allows us to go without having to be called to order I'm not doing that right now, but all i'm asking for is a little temperance when we deliver our questions and answers Please very much mr. Speaker On the second part of the leader's question in terms of the the Sudbury by-elect And i've been very clear i've answered that question a number of times in terms of having made a decision to appoint a candidate And to and then working to keep a past candidate involved Let me go to the first part of the question which was about the uh the report of the justice committee So regarding the cost of the relocations the opening of the report says and i quote It is clear that the cost was unacceptably high I agree with that regarding local input the report says it's clear that communities have not been sufficiently engaged in the large scale Energy siting process. I agree with that mr. Speaker the report and the information privacy commissioner said that not enough was done to ensure that the Ministers and premier's office staff were aware of their record retention responsibilities. I agree mr. Speaker the fact is Those recommendations that flow out of those and those uh insights mr. Speaker are very important We have taken action answer on many of them mr. Speaker and we will take all of them very seriously There is an old saying that you're entitled to your own opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts Ontarians deserve the facts or economic development come to order second time who made the decision to offer a job Any job to andro andro Olivier so that he would stop seeking the liberal nomination in Sudbury Mr. Speaker the characterization That was just Expressed of what happened in Sudbury is simply not the case. That is not what happened. Mr. Speaker. Here's what happened I made a decision as the leader of the liberal party It is my prerogative and I made a decision to appoint a candidate in Sudbury and that candidate was lentibo mr. Speaker Having made that decision mr. Speaker there were attempts to keep a young man who had run for us in the previous election To keep that young man involved mr. Speaker. There were no specific commitments There were no specific offers there were Offers and suggestions about what we might consider in order to stay involved mr. Speaker And I would expect any leader in this house to work to keep someone involved who had run for them in a previous election The premier keeps insisting that there was no offer made to andro Olivier There was speaker pats or barra offered him quote a full-time or part-time job at a constituency office Or quote appointments to boards or commissions The premier keeps insisting that she'd already made up her mind to appoint her candidate But pats or barra told andro Olivier that the premier was in fact weighing her options Mr. Speaker we are confronted with two versions of the truth pats or barra and jerry lawheed's version And the premier's version. So my question is it's apparent that somebody here is not being quite truthful And through you mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask the premier who is it The conversation to which the leader of the third party refers is a conversation that took place After I had already had a conversation with the former candidate About the fact that I was going to appoint a candidate and that candidate was not going to be him mr. Speaker So the attempts to keep him involved were just that they were suggestions about things that he might apply for That he might consider in order to stay involved mr. Speaker Just as I expect that the leader of the third party had conversations with jonah shine and paul ferrara about keeping them involved Mr. Speaker when they failed to win their seats back mr. Speaker I expect that she had similar conversations that was the conversation that I had with andro Olivier mr. Speaker That was the conversation that pats or barra had mr. Speaker And I expect New question member from kitschere constable. Yeah, okay My question to the premier premiere when we asked you yesterday about allegations you and specifically your deputy chief of staff Offered taxpayer funded positions in return for political favor You told us you were only working to keep the candidate involved in the party eight separate times Premier, isn't this just code for getting andro to step aside endorse glenn shut up and obey Premier, can you tell on terrians? Whether it was the full-time job in the constituency office the part-time job in the constituency office Or the government appointment supports or commissions that you and your deputy were offering to keep mr. Olivier involved with liberal party Mr. Speaker as I have said a number of times the uh the Conversations that took place about keeping the former candidate involved were Conversations in the context of a decision having been made about an appointment The fact is that the authority as the Leader of the liberal party that I have is an authority that comes from the party mr. Speaker We have a constitution the constitution allows me to So the fact is I had made that decision that I was going to appoint a candidate that candidate was going to be glenn t-bow Mr. Speaker so there was no question of who the candidate was going to be the only question was whether the past candidate Wanted to stay involved in the party in any way. That's what the conversations were about mr. Speaker Speaker the premier can bs us all she wants in this house With drop please drop Buck, um, I have now made this decision in my mind I will not accept that term because what you cannot say indirectly you will not say directly and it impunes that Please fill it sitting across on the opi speaker. She better start telling the truth Premier you said you'd be different you said you were committed to accountability committed to transparency Today you lead a government under the cloud of three separate opi investigations a record premier your deputy chief of staff has clearly heard on tape Clearly understood by people across Ontario to be offering a taxpayer funded job to mr. Olivier Premier you say the duties of the deputy chief of staff are separate from the ongoing investigation But that's just the point premier your deputy crossed that line the moment she offered mr. Olivier a government job Premier Tell your never retreat never explain never apologize deputy chief of staff to resign today You're here And mr. Speaker Let's just go over what happened if that is I appointed I made a decision to appoint a candidate in the Sudbury by-election Having made that decision mr. Speaker There was an attempt to keep a young man who had run for the party involved as I suspect I hope that someone over there is going to be talking to paula peroni and hoping that she might stay involved in the party Or maybe you just cut her reach out to the past new question Remember from timmage james bay my uh question speaker is to the premier When did the premier decide she was going to skip an open nomination process in Sudbury and appoint her candidate from the boardroom here in Toronto? Comments earlier about the fact that is that we have a constitution in the uh, liberal party That gives the authority to the leader to appoint a certain number of candidates mr. Speaker. That's part of the The uh decision of the party and I have that authority and I made that decision that in this case because we uh, we had We had the possibility of having glen t-ball as our candidate I made the decision that I would make that appointment mr. Speaker Thank you supplementary Well again speaker to the premier that's not what the fact show when pat sabera called andre olivia on december the 12th She said to andre olivia the following Forced the premier to move the appointment process is if that's the only option that was the quote. She said See it, please Uh Two things number one the dialogue that's going on between members of the two caucuses at the back will stop I bring order to the house sir And uh, the second thing is is uh, let's try to tie this into uh, government business Again when pat sabera called andrew olivia on december the 12th She said to andre olivia his actions would quote Forced the premier to move the appointment process if that's the only option available She said to andrew you've been asked by the leader and by the premier to make a decision To set aside to allow glen to have an opportunity Uncontested So the question is there are two stories here the premier claims she made up her mind previously But the facts in regard Thank you the uh, the Deputy host leader will come to order Here we are Oh, excuse me. Your time is up. I just premier deputy premier Speaker, you know, I think um, it's time to kind of step back and think about the decision the premier made to appoint A candidate an extremely fine candidate who has served the community of sudbury Very very well over the past six years as an mp The liberal party of ontario has a constitution that gives uh, the leader the right to appoint candidates She exercised that right because glen tebow, although he did represent a different party And I know that's a sore point for the party opposite He didn't represent a party, but he represented his community extremely well We have brought that into our process into our government into this legislature The focus of the party opposite on um, this personal destruction and it's not The house came back the whole campaign they ran was based on destruction of an individual speaker. We're proud of our Thank you new question new question The member from kingston and the aisles Mr. Speaker my question is to the minister responsible for the poverty reduction strategy In september you launched ontario's second poverty reduction strategy Realizing our potential Building on the successes of our government's first strategy breaking the cycle released in 2008 The new strategy contains many measures to fight poverty including Including expanding health benefits and nutrition programs for children in low-income families Creating a local poverty reduction fund to support organizations that achieve outcomes for people and reducing child poverty by 25 Mr. Speaker i'm also pleased to see the new strategy sets the bold long-term goal of ending homelessness in ontario A goal that the minister shares with the minister of municipal affairs and housing Question through you to the minister responsible for housing Poverty reduction strategy. Can you please give this house an update on what our government is doing to reach our goal of ending homelessness? minister responsible for poverty reduction Mr. Speaker and thank you to the honorable member for this very important question speaker As the member mentioned our new poverty reduction strategy says a long-term goal of ending homelessness in ontario Speaker it's the right thing to do and it's the smart thing to do Because having a place to call home gives people a stable foundation from which they can build their lives back up again And rise out of poverty speaker currently there is no consistent definition of homelessness We have no consistent methods for counting the number of people who are homeless in ontario But we do know that we have a problem and we are determined to resolve that problem speaker We need expert advice and that's why we've announced a new expert advisory panel on homelessness chaired jointly between the minister of Municipal Affairs and housing and myself They're going to give us practical actionable advice and expertise to help us define and look forward on this very important commitment Thank you, mr. Speaker and thank you to the minister for her answer in addition to her work on the file I know that the minister of municipal affairs and housing has been instrumental in the fight against homelessness in ontario Commitments in the new poverty reduction strategy such as the 42 million dollar increase to the community homelessness prevention initiative And the 16 million for 1000 new supportive housing spaces for ontarians living with mental health and addiction issues Demonstrate that we are already making strides when it comes to reducing homelessness The expert advisory panel on homelessness is the next logical step in crafting an evidence-based approach to achieving our long-term goal of ending homelessness Mr. Speaker to the minister responsible for the poverty reduction strategy Can you please hear my constituents in this house more of information about the panel? Thank you minister Well, thank you, mr. Speaker Thank you to both the honorable member and the minister responsible for the poverty reduction strategy As the minister mentioned the creation of the new expert advisory Panel on homelessness means our government will in fact have the tools It needs to pursue an evidence-based approach To eliminating homelessness in ontario The panel consists of 13 members who reflect ontario's Geographic diversity and have a wide range of experience and expertise including People with with experience of homelessness People with expertise in Aboriginal and youth homelessness People with technical expertise and homelessness data and measurement People with subject matter knowledge and expertise And people with knowledge of the current ontario practices in measuring homelessness Answer the panel will also engage Additional experts in groups such as youth newcomers seniors Aboriginal people the lgbtq. Thank you minute The member from renfrew nipissing penn brook Thank you very much. My question is for the premier premier yesterday was another sad chapter in the ongoing saga of the gas plan scandal And the liberal parties coordinated efforts to delete emails and wipe hard drives With the tabling of your whitewashed sanitized report by your committee Late last year under the cover of dark of christmas break And darkness It was announced that the liberal party would repay The ten thousand dollars that the government had paid peter feist to destroy hard drives and delete emails in your office Premier peter feist is the boyfriend of the former deputy chief of staff Who is now under a cloud of darkness for giving false testimony to the committee? This is further evidence that taxpayers money was used inappropriately By your liberal government and another question of your lack of leadership Will you commit to restrike the gas plan committee so that we can finish the job of getting to the bottom of your scan? Thank you. Pringer house leader Thank you very much Speaker speaker We are we're glad that the the justice committee has completed its work I want to thank all the members of the justice committee who have have done tremendous work over the last three years In making sure that that we get good information as to As to how decisions were made around around the gas plants Speaker as as you are aware that a gas plan committee listened to about 93 witnesses Some of them are multiple times They received Almost half a million pages of of documents Including about 30 000 pages of documents from the premier's office And as a result of all that work in deliberation speaker They they have provided a critical assessment of government record keeping practices and the way in which large energy projects are cited And we look forward to evaluating and implementing those recommendations provided Premier I could say That was a shiftless response, but I'll say it was a response to the shift You know it was it brings up three words three words. It can be summed up in three words failure of leadership Let's be honest with what this check from the liberal party was all about That your party hate peter feist The boyfriend of laura miller former deputy chief of staff To eliminate evidence in a criminal investigation and destroy property belonging to the people of ontario And to prevent this house and the OPP from getting to the bottom of your gas plan scandal The report submitted yesterday changes nothing This is not over Through the power of your majority you forced the committee to produce an incomplete report Will you commit to restriking the committee and allow us to investigate in question laura miller peter feist And david livingston the key players in this scandalous The member from storm out will come to order The member from uh Renfrew I have to say it will withdraw Withdraw Governor hustler Thank you very much speaker speaker. We should we should let opp do his job Our job is to make sure that we we look at the 16 substantive recommendations that have been provided by the justice committee And make sure that we implement those recommendations speaker. I'm I'm very I'm glad to see that there are some really important recommendations That are provided in this report uh around uh regarding the cost of the real real locations in making sure that we have extensive and substantive Engagement with communities where large infrastructure projects are planned to be cited and better record management Keeping practices and speaker We have been working over the last couple of years under the leadership of of this premier in in making sure that we're making All the necessary changes in terms of better staff training for mandatory record keeping training Passing an accountability act which has differ penalties around deletion of records I'm actually very sad to see speaker that the opposition's party has provided no substantive recommendation after Incredible amount of work that was done in this matter new question the member from essence Thank you speaker. My question is to the premier premier Can you confirm whether you directed pat sorbara to offer andrew olivier? a full-time Or a part-time job at a constituency office or appointments to boards or commissions And are those job offers still on the table for mr. Olivia? Thank you speaker. Um, the premier has uh on several occasions discussed This particular issue. So let's just take a moment and uh, and I did this yesterday And i'm gonna do it again today because I have a feeling not everybody was really paying attention to understand What a fine new colleague we have in this legislature speaker So and and we offer our Congratulations, and it is the tradition of this house that a new npp regardless of whether they're on your side or someone else's side A new npp is given the courtesy of respect and um, and the congratulations. So who is glanty ball? Who is this all about speaker? Well throughout his career he's shown an unwavering commitment to a better Sudbury and I have a feeling that the member of the nipple belt knows better than most of us the contribution That's our new member has made to Sudbury. Thank you. He's fought tireless supplementary Speaker back to the Back to the premier premier when jerry law. He'd spoke to andrew olivier. He began the conversation by saying I come to you on behalf of the premier Premier, can you confirm that you authorized jerry law heat to make offers to andrew olivier on your behalf? Witnessing is the same negativity that voters have rejected voters have rejected the kind of net negativity that we are Seeing expressed in this house today the by-election The campaign that was run by the npp and apparently the the pc is to the extent that they ran a campaign But the the negativity was rejected the people of sudbury made a decision They made a very good decision They made a decision where all of the information was presented to them The public has said they demand more They they reject the negativity of the opposition and they elected someone who will make a positive Contribution to the lives of people in sudbury glantebo the the member from sudbury has a very strong and positive And we welcome him and look forward to the contribution Thank you new question the member from cambridge Thank you, speaker. My question is to the minister of environment and climate change Speaker climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and poses a threat to our infrastructure Food supply drinking water and our account economic competitiveness But climate change is a problem with a solution While the opposition has refused to put forward meaningful solutions to this challenge our governments take an action Closing ontario's coal plants curbing the use of cosmetic pesticides and protecting 1.8 million acres of land with the green belt These initiatives have resulted in fewer smog days and cleaner water for all ontarians I was pleased to see last week that the minister has launched a climate change discussion paper and invited ontarians Businesses and communities to share their thoughts on how we can best calm our climate change while continuing to grow our economy Speaker through year to the minister to the minister of environment and climate change inform this house about the nature of his discussion Thank you and the consultations with ontario the minister of the environment Thank you Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker. It's you know, it's particularly helpful to have people like the member from cambridge Who's a nurse who understands the health implications for our families Lyme disease? And it's great to have such a champion in the house, which is Mr. Speaker the premier and I the minister of natural resources the minister of infrastructure The minister of economic development the minister of health our entire cabinet, mr. Speaker our entire caucus Understands that the biggest most important issue we're facing for our families and our children is climate change mr Speaker We are fast-tracking to a four degree mean temperature change on this planet in the latter half of this century mr Speaker that That is the biggest challenge we as human beings have faced in our entire history We're also seized with the economic opportunity mr. Speaker as john carry the u.s. Secretary of State said We will be we will be seeing a six Trillion dollar expansion of the western economy answer. Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker And that opportunity is also unprecedented. We want on terry to lead in this new economy Thank you minister I'm really pleased to see our government is continuing to build on the progress that we've already made In reducing greenhouse gases and fighting climate change while helping our businesses to increase their productivity and competitiveness To build on our strong economic growth I note that the climate change discussion sets out a bold vision Which would establish ontario as a leader in climate change mitigation and science Redesign and build strong carbon neutral economy communities infrastructure and energy protect ecosystems Including air land water And leave a legacy of a healthy world for our children my children and future generations I know my constituents in cambridge have many great ideas for ontario's upcoming climate change strategy And how they can reduce their carbon footprint while helping to make Ontario's economy stronger and more competitive Speaker could the minister inform the house how ontarians across the province can join the conversation on climate change Thank you minister I certainly certainly can and i'm very happy to uh Madam speaker, I just mr. Speaker we are going to Every corner of the province. Uh, mr. Thunder Bay Ottawa large southwestern ontario we will be In engaged in direct conversations with ontario's with regular folks municipal leaders labor leaders business leaders environmentalists Families moms dad grandma. This is everybody's conversation. Mr. Speaker, and it has to land well This is the second time we've done this mr. Speaker our climate ready strategy Started this same way five years ago, and i'm very happy to report to the house that our 6 percent reduction below 1990 levels Has been achieved for 2014 mr. Speaker, and we know we're going to meet our 2020 But mr. Speaker all members can participate all ontarians can participate by going to www Ontario.ca climate change where all the paper all the data is and we're going to be reading those And really building on the knowledge and expertise and thoughtfulness of ontarians to get this right economically and environmentally Thank you, mr. Speaker Thank you, mr. Speaker my question is to the premier Chief electoral officer greg asenza has repeated his call for limiting advertising by specialist groups during election periods We support his recommendation Mr. Asenza is an officer of this legislature, and i respectfully suggest all members of this house should be My will have his advice premier. Will you accept and implement the advice of the chief electoral officer? Thank you The attorney general We uh, we are always open to conversation on ways to improve ontario's democratic process Ontario has rules in place to ensure that there is both transparency and free speech in our election campaigns Third party advertising rules were introduced in ontario for the first time In its 2007 reforms to election legislation So under current rule third party that spend five hundred Dollar or more on election advertising are required to register with the chief electoral officer So registered third parties must also report to the chief electoral officer on election advertising expenses, so mr. Speaker i'll say this When they were in power they did nothing in 2007 the ontario for the first time in its reform Put those rules in place. Thank you, mr. Speaker Thank you, speaker back to the premier in the last election specialist groups spent nine million dollars in political That's more than 19 registered political parties combined and three times more than spent in 2007 Under your watch premier the deep pockets of the well connected specialist groups win While democracy and the citizens of ontario lose This is a direct violation of the principality of equality one person one vote that is fundamental to democratic government Free speech should be free Premier you can't justify buying free speech or allowing it to be bought You know it's time to bring a chair in line with the rest of the country on electoral reform Premier will you cap third party advertising spending? Yes or no Again, mr. Speaker we always welcome the good recommendation from the chief electoral officer And for the first time as I said in 2007 Ontario for the first time in its 2007 reform to it election introduced the rule third party advertising rules So this was done in 2007. We're always looking for good advice from the chief electoral officer and I'll say that this party was very Very quick to do To put some some rule around the advertised election advertising. So We are we are always welcome is good advice and we will take that into To to consideration. Thank you. Thank you new question member from nickel belt Thank you question for the prime minister the premier before offers were made to andrew olivier That's not what pats or barra and jerry law he'd are saying They are saying that offers were on the tables and no decision Order please Please continue so They said that offers were on the table that no decisions had been made This is what the premier is claiming yesterday The premier said I had in my role as the leaders of the liberal party of Ontario made the decision to appoint a candidate in Sudbury I had already made the decision to appoint My question is simple is when did you make your decision to appoint? When the member from my nickel belt got up to ask a question I was sure she was going to ask a question about health care speaker I was sure that there were issues in this province Affecting people in her community and beyond and she wanted to have the opportunity to put that question to the minister I was sad to see she is continuing the theme of negativity personal attack that we've seen from uh from both parties So I want to congratulate the member from Sudbury. I want to congratulate the people of Sudbury for choosing such a fine Demonstrated. That's right. The people of Sudbury made a thoughtful informed and wise choice And we look forward to working with them with the member from Sudbury Thank you. As he works to improve the life Back to the premier speaker. Here are some of the facts Jerry Loughy said to Andrew Olivier on the tape that everybody can listen to The premier up to now has always said to me. She's in favour of a nomination raise So I want to make it clear. She's never said to me. I want to appoint glantebo Pat Sorbera says exactly the same thing to Olivier. She says you've been asked directly by the leaders And the premier to make a decision to step aside You recognize then the decision position you're going to find yourself in right When she the premier is going to have to make a decision around the appointment Versus letting things go ahead the question is simple speaker When did you make the decisions to appoint? Somebody said earlier pot meat kettle Um the ntp's decision to install adam gm brony You might remember as well known the toronto star reporter to gm brony who was parachuted into the run You might remember this Allegedly stacked the nomination meeting speaker And it's obvious that the third party has hired past candidates past mpp's that's been mentioned before So let's go back to the quality of the candidate that was elected by the people of Sudbury speaker glantebo has fought tirelessly for supports for people with developmental disabilities For quality service for family struggling with autism speaker as director of the united way How more grassroots can you get than that speaker? He led many successful campaigns for community development He's a proud volunteer with big brothers big sisters something i share with him And he's coached minor hockey and football which i have not done speaker Thank you new question Thank you, mr. Speaker and my question is for the minister of municipal affairs and housing Minister we all remember the ice storm of december 2013 so well It caused widespread damage and blockouts blackouts across southern western and eastern ontario and at its peak left over 800,000 hydro customers without power Many of the members in this house including yourself minister know this firsthand From the know this firsthand from the storms impact on our own communities In my own riding of Davenport many residents were left without heat and power for several days And a warming center was open at jj p chanini community center on st. Clair avenue In response our government announced that it would offer a one-time ice storm assistance program Your staff has now received all 58 applications from the municipalities and conservation authorities seeking Reversiment through the program last friday your Ministry shared an important and long-awaited update minister. Please tell this house how our government is moving forward in support of these Thank you minister municipal affairs and housing Well, mr. Speaker. I want to thank the honorable member for that question and the question Yes, of course. I remember I remember something else I remember the incredible efforts of all the municipal and ems staff who are out there Building a stronger community by reaching out to their community and want to start by complimenting them Speaker the province has initiated final payments to Three municipalities townships of mapleton center well mcton and puss lynch and here's some more good news the other 52 municipalities and six conservation authorities that have submitted claims have been offered an interim payment And most have availed themselves of that opportunity Which is really good so they can get on with the task of continuing to build that strong carrying Community that on a good day. We all in this house want to see happen. Thank you Thank you, mr. Speaker minister. It's wonderful to hear that municipalities that have been waiting for assistance with republic cost Will be able to benefit from support I know I speak for the municipality municipal leaders in toronto when I say they have been eagerly awaiting these funds Reimbursement will go towards cost incurred to protect public health and safety and to secure access to public roads sidewalks And frequently traveled routes these interim funds will also assist municipalities with their budget planning Mr. Speaker these interim funds will be welcome But can the minister tell us why the ministry isn't flowing the full amounts municipalities have requested yet. Thank you minister Well, mr. Speaker, we Initiated these interim payments now because we didn't want municipalities to wait any longer For at least a partial reimbursement Of those expenses that they have By the way, the interim payment has been very very well received by the municipality It's important that we begin flowing these interim funds So that they can get on with the remainder of their claims. So we can adjudicate those as quickly as you can without Disadvantaging them In any real way. So we're going to flow funds in a responsible way Ensuring that public dollars are spent wisely And as I explained earlier the feds are involved in this too. So we've got two sets of accountability mechanisms here Each claim is going to be reviewed carefully And as soon as we get that adjudicated the full payment will be delivered Two municipalities. Thank you speaker as as they're hoping for My question to minister health and long-term care minister I'm very concerned about the state of ontarius health care system and the availability of doctors in my writing Under your imposed contract with the doctors in ontaria you're prohibiting new doctors who's writing family health teams and well-serviced areas However, your government's model in defining well-serviced areas is extremely flawed My writing has been experienced a shortage of doctors for a number of years the city of st Thomas elmer rodney have lost up to six doctors and in fact this pilly of Dutton dunwich has only had one doctor for a number of years Minister too many people in my writing are without doctors In fact a number of the doctors in my writing We're retiring in the next three to five years and your current model of family health teams will not allow for succession planning Minister, can you share with me your plans to address the doctor shortage that you have created? Thank you, uh, mr. Speaker and thank you for the question opposite actually I have good news Because what we're doing with the changes that resulted from the oma's refusal to uh Walk away from the table after a year and negotiations and not accept the fair offer that was presented to them and the fair offer that was recommended by Frankly the umpire that we brought in retired judge warren winkler who was our conciliator Aiming to actually bring the two parties together He said that the government's offer was a fair offer and actually implored the oma to accept Accept our offer as well feeling that it was fair But what we've done with our family health teams for our important family doctors that are graduating is precisely what you're asking for Is we're directing those resources to those parts of the province that need them both So to the underserved areas the areas where there are doctor shortages where we need to make that sort of effort to make Sure that our family doctors that frankly broad family health team The professionals that that provide that important care go to those areas of the province that needed most Thank you speaker speaker minister What's what's not fair about the system is the fact that your system classifies my area as well-serviced which it's not It's flawed and under this new uh decision you've made with the inter terrio doctors doctors cannot come to my writing minister It's clear that you have no plan for the health care systems You're ignoring the groups like ontario medical association who want to work with you who have plans make the system better Not only is your government stop new doctors from joining family health teams You have now threatened doctors to penalize them who see too many patients minister The baby boom generation is growing. It's a tremendous increase on the usage of our health care system Yet your government cuts services and access to health care in order to balance the budget Minister, why are you cutting health care to make your government's financial budget commitment? Mr. Speaker, I don't quite know where to start We aren't cutting health care the health care budget continues to increase Year over year as it does has it does has it as it has for many many years The physician services budget, which is currently 11 billion dollars 10 percent of every dollar that this government spends in the province That fund for physicians specifically is going up by 1.25 percent next year 1.25 percent the year after that 1.25 percent the year following We are increasing health care We're committed to our family health teams more than 3 million ontarians currently have access to a family health team But I quite frankly, mr. Speaker I'm disappointed at the response at the question because we worked hard and diligently and with good faith Intentions with the OMA for over a year a year and a day to be exact The entire judge warn winkler came forward as a independent umpire. He took our side, mr. Speaker He asked the OMA to extend their offer Yeah The member from here on bruce uh point of order Thank you very much speaker. I'd like to draw to the the house's attention that This morning the minister of environment announced the great lakes protection act outside of the house Ripley's believe it or not aquarium and is it not the Privilege of the house to hear of acts being called forward in the house before anyone else hears it. Thank you I thank the member for her point of order and uh I would all remind all members. I have no authority over when and where those announcements are going to make However, I would also say to the government and to the specific minister That the traditions of the place is always to make those announcements here in the house Further member from chattom kent sx on a point of order. Thank you very much speaker It's my my privilege this morning to to introduce to the gallery Rather to our legislators in the earlier in the public gallery Allison's story a member from chattom kent sx who is here visiting the Queen's park today Thank you, mr. Speaker. I actually like to correct my earlier record of introduction. I'm pleased to Introduce kathryn bows who I had said was the mother of former page Amber bows amber is our new page. Her sister ashley bows was our former page. So pleased to see her back and to congratulate amber on her Record has been corrected the member from cambridge on a point of work Thank you, speaker. It's my privilege to welcome today in the gallery christine reyer president of aco cambridge Who is there with a lot of my friends from aco? And I had seen gene hall boom a former waterloo regional counselor that has left the gallery But I know she was here. So welcome to queen's park There are no deferred votes This house stands adjourned until 3 p.m. This afternoon and that usually means now is the time where everybody stands still