 It's now time for question period and I recognize the leader of Her Majesty's Oil Opposition. Thanks very much speaker. My first question this morning is to the Premier. Speaker families are watching in horror as COVID-19 outbreaks rip through another for-profit long-term care facility extended cares West End Villa in Ottawa. Since first declaring an outbreak two weeks ago the virus has infected 46 residents and six residents have died. This is a facility with a history of police investigations and class action lawsuits. The Premier repeatedly talks about lessons that have been learned and that long-term care homes are protected and that for-profit operators would be held to account. Despite all that talk and being warned months ago that this was coming why are families once again watching another deadly outbreak in long-term care. Minister of long-term care to reply. Thank you speaker and thank you for the question. I want to make sure that all of us understand that the long-term care homes in Ontario are often a reflection of the community surrounding them. In fact there was an article in the Canadian Medical Association journal with Dr. Nathan Stahl indicating that it is not that the outbreaks are consistent with the public health unit rate of infection of COVID around those areas and it is not reflective of the ownership of the home. Some of our homes have struggled. There is no doubt about that and COVID is an invisible invader and that's why we have the testing and process testing processes we have. It's why once it's into the home we have to find it and we have to destroy it and that's why we have the infection prevention and control teams coming in. It's why we have a coordinated effort with Ontario Health, Public Health Ontario, the Ottawa Public Health Units and I'm in daily contact with Ottawa Public Health to make sure everything that is it's not it's not fine. So in any case I would suggest that we we look at understanding the area and the communities and this is why everyone needs to thank you. The supplementary question. Well speaker all I can say to that is thank goodness that the rates of death are not the same in the community as they have been in long-term care. That was a horrifying response. The Premier talks about taking action speaker. He talks about all the time two months ago two months ago after hundreds of residents had died in long-term care the government's own report on long-term care staffing made very specific recommendations to address the challenges in long-term care including funding the and I quote urgently address funding rather to I quote urgently address urgently address the staffing crisis in long-term care two months ago why has the government failed now then to provide the additional funding that has long been needed to increase the actual staffing and prevent the further outbreaks and deaths in homes like extended care West End Villa when will it actually happen when will his talk turn into action last members to take their seats minister of long-term care to reply thank you speaker and once again thank you for the question in fact we have been acting as soon as we became a ministry of long-term care in the summer of 2019 the staffing crisis was very evident and we began working on that at that time and all throughout this we are preparing and managing a staffing shortage with every measure possible this is a combined effort with the ministry of health and the ministry of long-term care understanding that more needs to be done informed by our expert panel that did a study on staffing in long-term care to provide us with a map for a long-term care staffing strategy a comprehensive strategy and that's exactly what we've been working on we have been absolutely working round the clock dedicated to this looking at every hour for staffing and working with multiple ministries to address this issue it is ongoing and we will continue to work on this thank you and the final supplement speaker this government's lack of urgency on fixing long-term care has now led to another six deaths in the last couple of days that is unacceptable speaker it should be unacceptable for everyone sitting on the government bench but the government's own report also recommended increased standards in long-term care calling on the government to mandate and i quote four hours of direct care per resident as quickly as possible now that was a couple of months ago that was a couple of months ago speaker where are the four hours of long-term of hands-on care but instead of of establishing that minimum or taking any steps whatsoever to address staffing shortages the government has done nothing and is allowing the horrific cycle of outbreaks infections and deaths to continue in our long-term care system how many more outbreaks need to happen in long-term care before this premier meets the staffing and care standards recommended by their own advisors by their own reports ministered long-term care thank you speaker and thank you the member opposite for the question i am going to push back it is absolute reality that we are actively aggressively working on the staffing strategy and the sense of urgency is absolute not only for the ministry of long-term care but for this entire government and all the good people who are working tirelessly whether it's in the public service the front lines of our long-term care homes or the hard-working MPPs and and the people on your side as well who are working hard to do this all of us all of us must come together and collaborate and make sure that we do everything possible and that is exactly what we're doing and we will continue to work and take every measure and i want to make sure that everyone understands that these homes are our focus uh many of the homes that are outbreak have one staff member self isolating at home there are two homes in the Ottawa area and we are pouring all our resources into those homes to shore them up and make sure that we put the priority of safety and well-being of residents and staff that's again the leader of the opposition thank you speaker my next question is to the premier you know report after report from the front lines confirmed this government did nothing to prevent COVID outbreaks that robbed Ontarians of their loved ones in long-term care and to those families it looks like the premier is doing all that he can do to actually protect a broken system his government refused to hold a transparent public judicial inquiry into long-term care instead trotting out their commission back in july two months later families learned that the commission has only met in secret and will not commit to ever holding public hearings the premier promised in july in his own words quote a transparent independent review of our long-term care system does the premier believe a commission that has so far only met in secret is actually transparent mr long-term care thank you speaker and and thank you for the question i take exception to the term secret as a as a dedicated family doctor for many years who's come to this chamber to advance long-term care and make sure our most vulnerable people get the care that they need i take great exception to that comment and i can tell you that the commissioners are imminent eminent people they are highly skilled highly qualified credible people highly respected and to say that meetings are being taken in secret is is an absolute travesty our the commissioners have the power to conduct hearings and deputations and issue summons to any person to give evidence and produce documents as they conduct their investigation they will uphold transparency and they will get to the bottom of what happened they will provide guidance to our government as to what can be done differently they will hear from residents from families and from staff members they will provide the transparency that is needed and i take great exception thank you thank you the supplementary question well that's great speaker then i expect the transcripts of every interview that has taken so far to be posted on the website yesterday the minister stated on the record and i quote certainly there will be hearings there is a public report only to be contradicted literally within hours by the commission itself families and frontline health workers who have been promised concrete action and a transparent investigation are now dismissing this as a cover-up and as meaningless as the premier's promise of an iron ring around long-term care which we all know never occurred how can this premier claim a transparent process when key interviews have been conducted in secret already families have been left in the dark there is no commitment to holding public hearings and the minister of long-term care can't keep her story straight by the looks of things and thank you for the question the commission has the ability to conduct hearings summons individuals or groups to gather information it is an independent commission and that needs to stay that way we recognize the important part of getting up and getting going and that's what they've done during the last month establish a secretary at establish a group of people to support them so that they can do their good work this is about transparency we need to be informed as to what we can do differently we need that objectivity and that is what we will we will be providing that avenue through the independent commission as a minister i am not in contact with the commissioners because it must be independent and transparent and response it's absolutely critical and i i respect the commissioners that have been appointed they are highly respected in their fields they are going to provide the trust that is needed thank you thank you the final supplementary speaker i wrote to the commission about a week ago to ask about these issues specifically and i got no response no response until this morning after news broke that the commission was conducting key interviews behind closed doors in secret the premier's handpicked commission won't commit to public hearings hasn't reached out to a single family yet won't commit to providing any accountability or transparency will the premier finally do the right thing today and call the fully transparent independent judicial inquiry that should be already in place and at work members please take those seats mr long-term care thank you speaker and thank you once again we know from the just justice scolese the public inquiry uh that she chaired and and recommended uh many recommendations after that it takes a long time for an independent for a public inquiry to be done an independent commission will provide us with the necessary efficient timelines that we need to address any possible additional measures that we can take we cannot wait years we cannot wait years and there are even some groups saying that we already know what happened with wardrooms with the capacity in our long-term care homes the lack of redevelopment over decades of the previous government 15 years with which no essential significant development redevelopment occurred response the neglect of our long-term care system by the previous government occasionally and sometimes frequently propped up by the by the opposition makes a difference to our vulnerable people thank you very much thank you mr speaker this question is for the premier speaker listening to claims made by the premier and the minister of education this week parents and educators could be forgiven for thinking they'd stumbled into some kind of alternate reality why else would the government repeatedly say they have reduced class sizes when what's happening on the ground is so clearly the opposite why would the government take credit for the enormously hard work that boards have done to reduce class sizes in a few very few areas of high need and claim that they've done that across the province in fact what they've done is create utter chaos across this province mr speaker the premier owes parents and educators across this province an apology he is leaving our buses and classrooms in chaos at a time when our children need more support and not more confusion will the premier listen to the chorus of voices including sick kids and bring in class size caps of 15 the minister of education well thank you very much mr speaker and thank you to the member opposite for the question speaker our plan that we've unveiled has been fully endorsed by the chief medical officer of health of this province is evidence informed and it is fully funded it's comprehensive and it leads the nation in in each and every realm speaker in the areas of classroom sizes it is under the premier's leadership that we have dedicated 200 million dollars to enable school boards to yes hire more teachers upwards of 2000 funded by government and funded by reserves an additional up to 5000 teachers could be hired through the unlocking of 496 million dollars the point speaker is in each and every school board in this province urban and rural in every board school boards are taking leadership to reduce those classroom sizes in toronto in the higher risk communities and i've always been specific in those communities we're seeing absolute caps of 15 up to grade three absolute caps of 20 or grade 40 we'll continue to work with our boards to keep these classroom sizes safe and do everything we can to ensure the safety of our province speaker supplementary question mr speaker i mean the minister of education's response is utter fiction the minister needs to go back and do the math on what this funding is covering because it ain't covering that speaker if you talk to any educator custodian principal parent you're going to see classes are not being reduced to ensure physical distancing because this government has not put up the funding to do it this week i heard from more parents i've heard from thousands one parent shocked to find out that their child's class was collapsed into a super-sized 28 person class i've heard about 29 35 30 a grade eight with a class of 35 parents are trying to buy outdoor tents with their own money to help schools keep distanced some classrooms are being left empty it's absurd a bus driver told me yesterday she's been driving a full bus of 60 children to five questions in two different boards since last week had only got her seating recommendations yesterday morning again to the premier will the government commit today to keeping our kids safe by capping class sizes at 15 mr education with that thank you speaker mr speaker in the toronto district school board to date the director of education has informed us that they're on track of hiring over 366 nets new teachers to respond to this unprecedented challenge in that in that in toronto for example where the member opposite represents there's been an additional an additional 102 public health nurses more than doubling the capacity to respond mr speaker what we're seeing on the ground notwithstanding some of the pessimism of the members opposite is a real sense of unity of spirit in our province of educators and principals and administrators and public health units coming together to confront this challenge in the great tradition of our province speaker what we need now more than ever is a collective resolve to do our part and to work together in the public interest that's what our government will continue to do speaker next question the member for milton thank you thank you mr speaker mr speaker my question is to the premier premier not that long ago during the darkest days of covet 19 pandemic every country in the world was left scrambling for critical medical supplies and personal protective equipment there was a worldwide shortage canada was left at the mercy of other countries for the PPE we desperately needed a report by the province's auditor general completed in december 2017 found that more than 80 percent of the stockpile equipment had expired under the previous liberal government's leadership speaker can the premier informed the legislature about what our government has done to ensure that enterians are never left in the same vulnerable position ever again i want i want to thank the our great member from from milton you know i i'll never forget mr speaker the the day that the president decided to cut canned off their number one trading partner number one customer and we called out for help and the great great companies of this province stood up they ramped up they switched over their lines some of the largest company some of the smallest some people in their basement were we're making masks but i'm proud to say since everyone has stood up we have dozens and dozens of companies making feel face shields we have dozens of companies making face masks and hand sanitizer and surgical gowns companies switching over again canada goose what a great company switched over to surgical gowns so i'm proud to say in a short period of time in less than three months we are self-sufficient we will never have to rely on a foreign leader a foreign country ever again for our ppe not only response thank you very much supplementary question thank you thank you mr speaker my question is back to the premier premier thank you for your strong leadership during some of the most difficult times that we're facing i remember in the early days of the pandemic stories about ontario receiving contaminated products and having to fight with other countries for lifesaving medical supplies this demonstrated to everyone why ontario needed to re-secure our supply chain and manufacturing strength once again speaker can the premier please share with the legislature about the partnership announced yesterday between our government and littermark to secure additional medical equipment for my constituents in milton and all ontarians as we continue our fight against COVID-19 thank you very much for our great number i'm going to back up for a second i'm going to talk about our first announcement with 3m in brockville now we have a supply of over 25 million and 95 masks with a great partnership with 3m and the federal government in the province we had a phenomenal meeting at littermark going back months when everyone in the world was scrambling for ventilators mr speaker we were able to partner up with oh two with another great company and littermark littermark is one of the largest and one of the best auto part manufacturers in the entire world employing 9 000 people up in the great city of of guelph we went over there and i'm again i'm proud to say with the cooperation the collaboration of our government in the private sector they're producing 10 000 ventilators will never have to rely on any other country for ventilators again we will have a stockpile of ventilators not just for us but for our great neighbors our provinces across this great country so thank you next question the member for london west uh thank you speaker my question is to the premier speaker london's two coveted assessment centers are completely overwhelmed they are seeing the longest lineups in months with people waiting four hours or more for a test or forced to leave without one one of the centers is within walking distance of three elementary schools creating safety and traffic nightmares for children getting to and from school the western university mobile testing unit is turning students away because it can't meet the demand christine and sue zimmer told me their 87 year old mother who needs a test in order to get her cancer surgery was forced to risk exposure to coveted by waiting in line for hours with people who were symptomatic speaker with the second wave upon us what is this government doing to reduce the risk and make more coveted tests available to londoners premier i want to thank the member for for the question you know mr. speaker i stood up there day after day after day begging people to get tested and people were coming we're leading the country in testing we we have 50 38 percent of the population 52 percent of the test we have well over 3 million 200 thousand order mr. speaker what we're doing it's all hands on deck we've reached out for help again because we aren't shy to ask for help from the great people the 14 half million people and the thousands of businesses and again the thousands of businesses are stepping up some of the top retailers in the entire country that i've called personally are stepping up and they're going to be doing the testing and we look forward to making sure that everyone has an opportunity to get tested i drove by woman's college mr. speaker i'm first to acknowledge there was lineups but there was good news in that lineup the good news is i saw a lot of young people in that lineup because we know the majority of the cases are under 40 years of age and also under 19 years of age so i'm so proud to see everyone getting there and getting tested and we're going to have a very efficient system and the supplementary question speaker an effective and appropriate testing strategy requires more assessment centers longer hours more options for testing ron quintillon and his sisters need tests every two weeks to visit their father in long-term care they worry that lineups for testing mean they won't be able to see their father and are planning to take vacation days in order to wait for the tests brenda desuza told me that her elderly parents are scheduled to move into a retirement home but may have to delay their move because of long waits for a covid test speaker with students back to school with the situation in london is going to get much worse very quickly will the premier commit to providing the resources that london urgently needs to expand our testing capacity and help limit the second wave minister of health much speaker well the good news is that more people are going for tests that's what we ask people to do people that have symptoms and people that believe it may have been in contact with someone with covid-19 order we are very pleased that they're coming forward but they also deserve to have time stop the clock order please restart the clock minister of health to reply thank you speaker but people also deserve to have timely access to tests and we recognize that with people going back to work with people returning to school people needing to have tests to visit family members in long-term care homes or retirement that we need to have greater access for people we have expanded our testing capacity and our lab capacity considerably in a very short order to the point that we are now leading and testing across the country with over three million tests having been conducted but we are looking to expand again we're looking to get to 50 000 tests per day and we have a fall preparedness plan that is calling for that to happen we are actively looking at this moment at ways that we can access to people not just in london but across the province because we know there are long wait lines in other places but we're very grateful first of all to our hospital partners thank you very much the next question the member for cambridge thank you mr speaker it's good to be free my question is for the premier in march the government implemented emergency orders shutting down anterios economy including places of worship initially we were told this would last for two weeks in order not to overwhelm our healthcare system six months later we expect many businesses will close permanently as a result i've heard from many people across our province concerned with the lack of clarity provided with regards to transparent benchmarks and objective criteria being used by the province and local officials in their imposition of emergency powers this week the premier stated that a second shutdown is being considered on specific regions of the province as a result of a week that saw an increase in the number of positive covid cases being reported for the sake of transparency and clarity has or will the government create a general framework that they can share with the people of ontario with objective criteria like the rate of increased cases and the duration the increase needs to persist before a second shutdown is considered or imposed on the province or on specific regions or will such a decision be made on a gut question recognizes mr general thank you very much speaker you know we're going to continue what we have done in since the beginning and that is listen to experts get that information from the command table from medical experts who understand what covid 19 is as those emerging issues come forward as we see that we're learning more about what covid does what the pandemic can do within our community frankly killing people we need to make sure that we listen to those experts and act quickly which is why ontario was the first jurisdiction in all of canada to declare the declaration of emergency because we knew premier ford understood the need to act quickly to protect our communities thank you thank you speaker bill 195 gave this premier the unilateral ability for the next year and possibly two without debate amongst ontario MPPs to impose a second province wide or regional shutdown at any time their premier could hold on to these powers right up until the next ontario election therefore it is important that the government provide consistency and clarity to the people of ontario just this week the premier stated that despite the source of the most recent increases in positive covid cases being social gatherings and not activities related to workplaces he was considering a second shutdown for affected regions yesterday the premier said new measures are on their way earlier this month the premier stated that local officials are free to impose more restrictive limits on gatherings as they deem necessary my question for the premier is is the government considering imposing a second broad shutdown of specific affected regions even where the increases are due to social gatherings or will the government's new measures be more targeted and ensure that any tightening or furthering of restrictions will be done based on a framework with objective criteria again the solicitor general thank you speaker i would have thought the member opposite understood the legislation that in fact it has a one-year time frame unprecedented i cannot think of another piece of legislation that we have tabled in this province that has a timeline of one year if it is deemed necessary to extend that it would be voted on and debated in this chamber as it should be but you know i want to come back to we need to listen to the experts we need to understand how this is impacting our communities our businesses our friends and family and we need to make sure that we do everything possible to keep people safe and sound it is at its core what government must do and i'm proud of how we've been able to do that so far it it's an emerging issue we're learning more as the medical experts continue to share that information and we need to react and respond when they share it thank you next question the member for Etobicoke Lakeshore thank you mr speaker and nice to see you this morning speaker my first question is actually for the minister of education i want to say thank you for all his generous time speaking directly twice to my constituents parents teachers and students mr speaker i know that parents students and teachers in Etobicoke Lakeshore are tracking the daily covid numbers in our province we all are but i also know that we have confidence in our government and our government has created a robust return to school plan backed by 1.3 billion dollars in investments to support a safe reopening a big part of that plan includes a comprehensive outbreak management protocol document speaker can the minister of education please tell the legislature why it is in such an important tool in our fight against covid 19 minister of education well thank you speaker i want to thank the member from Etobicoke Lakeshore for her solid leadership for her community as well as for all students in this province who want to go to school and be able to do so safely and speaker when it comes to our plan to keep school safe we have two aims the first is to prevent the spread and the second is to act decisively when cases arise obviously our focus part of that 1.3 billion dollar allocation investment a one time investment to make sure schools are safe is really premised on minimizing the risk to all children and maximizing their learning experience part of the guidance we provided makes very clear expectations there's that they're constantly implementing these prevention measures they're maintaining accurate records of staff of students and the visitors that they're working with local public health authorities and they're taking appropriate action when staff or students or visitors become ill during the day including isolation the use of pp and obviously for students going back to their homes speaker we launched a website in this province Ontario.ca forward slash reopening schools to provide data to parents on the covid cases we believe in transparency we'll do everything we can in this province to make sure our students are safe thank you and the supplementary question thank you and speaker I'd like to thank the minister for his answer and I want to say how happy I am especially as a parent of a daughter who is in grade 11 to hear our commitments of our government for such a strong plan to keep our children safe as they return back to school I take comfort in the fact that our government has taken a scientific approach to reopening our province to ensure Ontarians remain protected however speaker we all have seen cases and how they have risen across this province over the last couple of days I do feel reassured knowing that we do have a world-class public health care system advising our government and I thank them for their efforts can the minister of health please tell this house how the government plans to continue to protect Ontarians health and well-being as the fall approaches and numbers continue to rise health thank you for your question and for your advocacy on behalf of your constituents due to the hard work of the people of Ontario our province consider continues to be a leader among many jurisdictions in the fight against covid-19 however there is no doubt that the latest trends in numbers have raised some concern especially as we move into the fall months we know that the people of Ontario don't want to see widespread lockdowns or shutdowns again that is why we are taking the pause of four weeks before considering any further loosening of public health measures or opening any further businesses organizations or facilities additionally we will be releasing our comprehensive fall preparedness plan very shortly and this plan will continue to build upon the measures currently in place and introduce new and innovative actions that our province can take to continue to fight covid-19 but the people of Ontario speaker can rest assured that our government will do everything we can to protect their health and well-being thank you very much next question remember to cure it now me go ahead speaker it's good to be back to represent a great people of cure it my question is with the premier mr. speaker first nations have been very clear it is disrespectful to bury legislation that affects our rights and our lands in our new best bills like bill 197 it is very disappointing why first nations have prioritized keeping communities safe during this pandemic Ontario felt it was appropriate time to pass an omnibus bill violating constitutionally protected Aboriginal and treaty rights mr. speaker why does this government conduct itself in a manner that disrespects and dishonors treaty relationships thank you mr. speaker and thank you for the question from the member opposite it is very important that we have our relationships with those in the treaty rights and although i'm not i'm not particularly aware maybe i'll get it in the supplementary about the specific issue that that he's raising i can tell you the the indigenous justice division within within the ministry of the attorney general and of course the minister of indigenous affairs we work closely with our partners whether you know be grand chief archibald we're talking regularly with them about a whole variety of issues we value the relationship we value the input it's it's critical that we move forward in that in that partnership and in the spirit of partnership so i'm happy to chat talk with with the member opposite anytime either in the house or outside of the house about how we can we can foster that relationship and how we can make it even better mr. speaker it's again critical to our government that we work with our partners and i look forward to the supplementary the supplementary question be good name dropping leadership first nation leadership is not partnership speaker the treaty partner this government must learn to respect the treaty relationships before it is damaged beyond repair i bring this up today because economic recovery from the effects of cobit 19 will not happen at the expense of our treaty rights in our lands mr. speaker this is not open season on our lands for our lands the forest in the land is more to us as first nations than the than the source of money speaker most of our communities in my writing are still in lockdown they could not participate fully in any consultation exercises or activities if there if there was any while this pandemic was happening well the government act honorably to ensure that all first nations can participate in your economic recovery activities thank you attorney general thank you mr. speaker and i agree wholeheartedly that just using names and flowery language doesn't actually make a partnership it's what happens on the ground it's the activities that we're doing and just yesterday the minister of northern affairs talked about the mining sector about the things that we're opening up the partnerships that we have with first nations it's proof in fact it's action we're not here to talk about things we're here to do things and we're doing that we're doing that in the justice sector the ways we're reaching out we're partnering with with nann and treaty three and the others mr. speaker i use names because i want to reinforce that there are individuals that we are working with very closely and there are dozens of names that i'm not using because that really isn't the point the point is that we're taking action it's injustice it's an economic affairs it's in social issues it's in every way that we touch with first nations and the challenges they have and i can tell you through through the justice system mr. speaker the activities that we're partnering with to solve long-standing issues are i'm very excited about this government is taking action and the proof is thank you very much member for or they are i thank you very much mr. speaker my question is for the premier for months the premier and his minister of health have been talking about the importance of testing as part of their coven 19 strategy but public health leaders city counselors our mayor members on this side of the aisle have all been pointing to the glaring lack of capacity in our nation's capital capacity is so bad mr. speaker that lines are forming hours before the testing centers open up imagine imagine waiting four to six hours in line with your kids outside without washrooms mr. speaker now imagine doing that in november and december in ottawa yesterday residents in ottawa were turned away from critical coven 19 tests when is the government going to release the billions of dollars in federal safe restart money to ensure that there are equitable and accessible testing capacity in our nation's capital minister of health well thank the member very much for the question and there it is a problem in several locations in ottawa i know in toronto and other locations in across the province where people are having to wait for inordinate lengths of time to have a test we want them to be tested anybody with symptoms anybody who believes they've been in contact with someone with coven 19 needs to have a test but it needs to be done as i said before in a timely manner so we have expanded our testing capacity considerably since march when we were doing five thousand tests per day we've expanded that capacity so that we can now do 25 or 30 thousand tests a day we're going to increase that capacity to 50 thousand tests per day because we want people to be tested and we are actively looking for ways to expand that whether it's by expanding the hours or times that the 148 assessment centers are open or by opening new places for people to be tested we're very confident of this issue and we are dealing with it as we speak the supplementary question supplemental results for the premier mr speaker residents of ottawa's suburban and rural communities have to drive so far to access coven 19 tests that is often uh closer to drive to a neighboring town putting pressure on health systems in places like rockland and campville and arm prior residents of or in orleans have been calling for a local testing center since the spring and i've heard the same calls from residents in canada and bar haven as well mr speaker yesterday on moody drive hundreds of residents were waiting hours on the side of a gravel shoulder road in the peon for hours on a shoulder gravel road next to a very busy road waiting for their coven 19 order why do the residents of ottawa's rural and suburban communities and wait so long to get a critical coven 19 test well thank you again but we have expanded the capacity significantly in a very short order and we are going to significantly expand it again because we know that with people going back to school with people returning to work with people wanting to visit family members in long-term care homes or retirement homes we have boosted the capacity significantly in the last short while and we're boosting it again we are making plans to expand both the testing capacity and the lab facilities because of course you need to have people be tested in in good time but also to receive their results very quickly as well so we want to make sure that people can receive the results within 24 hours so we have plans to do that our fall preparedness plan is dealing with that we are looking for those locations now both in terms of expanding testing facility but also our lab facilities so that anyone in ontario in the ottawa area or wherever else it may be can receive those tests because we want people to be tested we know that we're facing a wave two response while it's flu season so we need to be prepared for that and we will be the next question that member for northumberland peter burrow thank you mr speaker thank you good to see you mr speaker my question is for the minister of finance a minister we recognize that individuals and businesses across ontario have been significantly impacted by covid-19 despite the challenges ahead i've really been inspired to see the collective commitment to working across ontario to overcome these collective challenges locally in my writing of northumberland peter burrow south minister i recently spoke to our local chambers as an example i reached out to brenda whitehead she's doing a phenomenal job with the port hope chamber of commerce she spoke to me about important programs digital main street broadband the recovery activation program and the important work that those programs are doing to support local businesses in fact ronda at primitive design is working actively in those programs as we speak could the minister please share with the house the actions our government continues to take to support individuals and businesses during these difficult times mr finance so thank thank you to the member from northumberland peter burrow thank you as well to yourself and many of the other members of this legislature who have welcomed me to your writing a chance to speak to your businesses to your community you do an excellent job of representing their interests mr speaker our government is proud of the actions it's taken in collaboration with the 14 and a half million ontarians to support people to support businesses to support health care mr speaker since the announcement of our first action plan our 17 billion dollar covid action plan that number has now increased to 30 billion dollars mr speaker 30 billion dollars of direct support and the member mentioned just one of those programs which in partnership with my colleague the minister of small business the digital main street program to talk about that program 57 million dollars in partnership with the federal government to support the digitization of main street businesses to support them as they evolve their businesses and move through this very difficult time mr speaker with the members help with the help of all the members of this legislature will continue to support our businesses with programs like digital mainstream thank you minister it's heartening to know the important work that you're doing that our government's doing to support our businesses during these difficult times and we're continued we will continue to commit to working with businesses as we go forward i'm proud to be part of this government that's doing that in fact mr speaker i'm also a member of the standing committee on finance and economic affairs mr speaker they often say when the going gets tough the tough get going and i'm proud to say that this committee met with over 500 witnesses 800 hours of testimony mr speaker not one person was turned away including the many local constituents of mine that spoke to this committee so minister could you please inform the house what other actions the government are taking to listen to the concerns of ontarians as we move forward on a path to economic recovery mr finance mr speaker again thank you to the member mr speaker as soon as this crisis hit the legislature and in fact this government responded and one of the ways we responded was by making sure we were listening one of the ways that we did that was through the creation of the ontario jobs and recovery cabinet committee mr speaker the members of that committee set up 56 ministerial advisory councils they've had over 600 meetings with groups to talk about specific sectors about specific issues mr mr speaker i would i would want to thank not just the member from northumberland peterman south but all the members of the standing committee on finance and economic affairs we spent a mr speaker the over 500 witnesses who took their time to respond to the opportunity to share with us what it was that is going on in their communities so that we can respond we can continue to respond through the programs we put forward through the budget that we'll bring forward by november 15th making sure that we are listening to the challenges ontarians are facing the job creators are creating the job creators are facing to support ontario through this pandemic the next question the member for ottawa center thank you speaker last night i spoke to robert smiley an ottawa resident whose son roan and partner kimberley must be tested for covet 19 every two weeks given their health conditions and caregiving responsibilities robert was worried about long lineups for testing today so i asked him to tell roan to give me a call i spoke to him this morning roan is standing right now in an eight-hour lineup at moody drive testing facility in the west end the lineup is more than a kilometer long that was not a typo speaker roan and kimberley are currently in an eight-hour lineup the first person for that lineup roan tells me arrived at 4 30 this morning roan and kimberley arrived at 7 a.m. and they might get tested by 3 p.m. this afternoon i'm being told that people are parking kilometers away and walking to the line that they're languishing outside some with children folks are turning away at the site of this massive lineup which means they aren't getting tested it's unacceptable speaker to the premier what is his plan to reduce these lineups and open up testing right now thank you thank you very much for the question we have set up 148 assessment centers across the province in quite short order and are very grateful to our hospitals for doing that in midst of all of the other work that they have to do dealing with covid patients and helping out in long-term care homes but we recognize that the lineups in certain areas as you can tell from the questions that we've heard this morning are getting to be very long in certain areas so we're looking for other community partners to help us with this to be able to take some of those lineups and divide them so that people don't have to travel far and don't have to wait hours in lineups that is what the people of Ontario deserve and expect because we don't want people to be turned away from having a test because of the length of the lineup we are actively working on finding those partners right now and hope to have them in operation within the next few days and the supplementary question thank you speaker that is cold comfort to Rowan and Kimberly five days ago this government heard from the financial accountability officer for this promise who said they are sitting on a six point seven billion dollar surplus of money this government was supposed to spend for the people of Ontario for covid response Ottawa is one of three communities that have seen a worrying rise in covid cases being positive experts have told this government the experts this government does not want to listen to that it's back to school plan is flawed and they are exposing us right now as I speak these words to the likelihood of a second wave we needed months before to massively ramp up our capacity to test in different centres of Ottawa but this government is rather passing the buck talking about community partners and who's suffering Rowan Kimberly and thousands of people and families in this province speaker when are we going to get more than words and platitudes from this government when are we going to get them to release the money the people of Ontario deserve thank you speaker I say through you to the member that we are ramping up considerably our activity on testing we have done that since the beginning we were doing five thousand tests a day when we first started we're regularly doing over 25,000 tests per day we're moving towards 50,000 tests per day but we recognize that we need to have the centres available for people to be tested it's wonderful that people have received that message to go and get tested but there is work that still needs to be done the 148 centres many of them are under strain right now we're looking to relieve that strain we are actively working on that we are speaking with other partners now in the community so that people will be able to go travel a shorter distance to find something in their own communities where a place where they can be safely tested and to make sure that we have the lab facilities again we're only able to do about 5,000 tests only a few short months ago we're able to keep up with that right now and to make sure that we could do 25 or 30 thousand today so we are increasing as the demand is increasing there are lineups right now but we are going to relieve them very shortly thank you next question the member for Ottawa West Nippian thank you very much Mr. Speaker my question today is for my friend the Minister of Economic Development Job Creation and Trade across Ontario businesses continue to show the true meaning of the Ontario spirit by providing PPE and supplies to protect people frontline workers and communities in the fight against COVID-19 through our Ontario Together Fund we have made strategic investments in companies across Ontario including in eastern Ontario to secure PPE and to strengthen our world-class manufacturing sector Mr. Speaker would the Minister please update the House on the government's latest efforts in ensuring we have the PPE we need to combat COVID-19 and to get our economy moving again Minister of Economic Development Job Creation and Trade thank you to the member from Ottawa West Nippian for the question and for your continued advocacy Ontario's world-class manufacturing sector continues to step up and respond with Ontario made solutions in the fight against COVID-19 you heard the Premier a few minutes ago we announced an historic 23 million dollar investment matched by the Feds in a 3M N95 plant in our friend Steve Clark's Minister Clark's hometown great work Steve great work Steve 3M's Brockville plant will see over 100 million masks made each year to meet domestic demand while creating jobs reinforcing PPE supply chain and reducing our independence on overseas suppliers yesterday in Guelph we announced a 2.5 million dollar Ontario Together Fund investment in Linnemar Corporation to help retool their assembly line to make components for over 10,000 e 700 ventilators speaker we repeating close attention to the clock supplementary question thank you very much Minister for that response Mr. Speaker and for that update on the production of life-saving ventilators and N95 masks we continue to rely on our world-class manufacturing sector to retool operations and innovate to produce life-saving PPE our manufacturers continue to step up to that challenge and now it's our turn to do our part as well can the minister please outline to the House how the government is working to help the provinces manufacturing base and economy recover from COVID-19 over the long term Minister economic development over the last three months Ontario's economy has recovered 672,000 jobs 98,000 of which were in the manufacturing sector but speaker there's still much more work to be done so we're pleased to support the Canadian manufacturers and exporters Ontario made program to raise awareness and support for goods that are made right here in Ontario this will give consumers the information they need to support Ontario businesses and to support the Ontario made brand the next time they visit their local grocery store or hardware store speaker manufacturers are lining up to show their Ontario made spirit and we encourage everyone to visit supportontariomade.ca to learn more you heard the speaker we're unleashing our innovators we will never have to rely on another country again next question a member for York South West thank you mr speaker my question is to the is for the premier Toronto Public Health has identified over 80 schools that are high risk for the spread of COVID based on the neighborhoods they live in 2016 census factors like lower income multi-generational homes and racial backgrounds are taken into account these high-risk schools have lower class sizes as a result how is it the data modeling to determine which schools are high risk is so old and faulty that schools in nearby neighborhoods with higher COVID numbers are not on the list and don't have those lower classes government house leader thank you very much mr speaking to thank the honourable member across the aisle for that question as the minister of education is highlighted and supported of course by the minister of health our priority remains across governor and I assume on both sides of the house mr speaker the safety security of the students this fall I too I have two kids who are who are up back at school and in one of those areas in particular where my daughter is at high school it has become a bit of a concern but what has been put in place by the school board supported by the minister of education by this government has given us all a sense of security but that does not mean that at any time we will let down our guard as has been said often by this by this minister and by the premier it is our main concern the safety and security of the students to make sure that they have the highest quality of education that parents can be assured that their kids are safe when they go to school once supplementary question in my writing of york southwestern the 2016 census data and postal code modelling left for schools of the less that should be considered high risk based on actual covered numbers those neighborhoods have while on this side of the house we believe all classes should be smaller it is simply wrong and in fact reckless that families with children living in the same neighborhoods and sharing the same amenities like daycare are treated differently why are all class sizes not smaller and why are why are we not accurately tackling the higher risk neighborhoods that are the realities in york southwestern and in this province minister of education well thank you speaker and thank you to member opposite for the question just to affirm in toronto they the school board has redeployed 400 elementary teachers they have hired 366 net new teachers for the very purpose of spacing and reducing classroom sizes in those communities as noted by the member of higher risk where public health working with the school board the ministry of health and education have identified higher areas of community risk and transmission those schools have caps imposed now remember speaker for high schools right across the city of toronto likewise in durham and york and peel these school caps in high schools is at 15 in the blended model in elementary in those higher risk communities specifically the cap is a 15 between kindergarten and grade three it is 20 for grade four eight and that i think speaker underscores our commitments in the context of mitigating risk we've also hired speaker over 102 public health bonds doubling capacity within our schools it is a proof positive speaker that will continue to invest and do everything possible to keep our school safe this question the member for nagar west thank you very much speaker my question is to the minister of heritage sport tourism and culture industries i want to thank the minister for visiting nagar earlier this week and hearing from key leaders in the tourism hospitality sectors in nagar we know that covid 19 has had an enormous impact on sport in this province entity to cross canada next year nagar in ontario are scheduled to host the canada 2021 games i know the minister has allocated substantial investments in athletes and facilities for these games and wants them to be a great success as do we all however given the importance of protecting the health and safety of athletes organizers volunteers and spectators alike would the minister speak to her commitment to flexibility and support for the canada games in nagar given the covid 19 evolving situation mr perinich sport tourism culture industry thank you very much speaker and i'd like to say thank you to the member from nagar for his thoughtful question as well as for his diligence in supporting the heritage sport tourism and culture industries during this covid period as he will tell you i visited nagar three times over the pandemic over the course of the summer first to make a significant announcement with with respect to nagar parks commission second to make significant announcements with respect to metro links on behalf of my colleague the minister of transportation and and third recently to to meet with the tourism stakeholders who work hard hit and i would be remiss if i didn't say thanks just to the tourism industry association of Ontario for their lobby today and i hope everyone takes the opportunity to meet with them but let's get back to the canada 2021 games speaker due to covid 19 it is anticipated that these are uncertain times and we want to make sure that the safety of our athletes their coaches their parents their fans are first and utmost our priority and therefore i will be supporting the canada games council if they do decide to postpone those games and we will commit as an Ontario government to pursue those games in 2022 if that's required thank you very much speaker and thank you to the minister for her response and her commitment to understanding the flexibility and support for the nagar games it's incredibly important and her advocacy is noticed by many in nagar as well as her many valued visits being an athlete during covid 19 is no easy job ontario is home to some of the greatest athletes in the world that have performed at the highest levels of competition so could the minister please tell us what the ministry is going to do to ensure these proud hardworking athletes receive the support they need in order to compete at the highest levels on the home and international stages mr parody um as you know we did support the nagar games with a 29 million dollar investment we will continue to support those efforts as well early days in the pandemic we brought forward a ministerial advisory panel on amateur and high performance athletes and we were the first in the country actually to allow our athletes to precondition at the canadian sport institute of ontario we actually used to have a in honor of penny alexiac the operation get penny back into the pool and therefore we are committed to making sure that our high performance athletes compete in tokyo in 2021 and that's why last week we made an additional 21 million dollar investment into our high performance athletes and i can confirm that gold medalists like penny alexiac like rosy mclennan and like andre de gas have been supported through this ministry and through this funding so we can see them not only uh go from the pool to the podium but again to unify canadians at a time we're going to need that unification as we come out of covet 19 sport is a unifier and this government supports our athletes the time for question period this morning has expired this house stands in recess until 3 p.m