 It is now time for oral questions, and I recognize the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Thank you, Speaker. Speaker, we know that the Long-Term Care Commission has been hearing testimony, and in fact we've had testimony from the Minister of Health. We've had testimony from the Minister of Long-Term Care, and it's really apparent from that testimony and others that the government, that the Premier actually was ignoring advice that ended up costing lives. So my question is, when is the Premier going to start answering questions? When is he going to go to the Commission? To respond, Government House Leader. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As you know, and as we've said on a number of occasions, both the Minister of Health and Minister of Long-Term Care have appeared before the Commission, and we're very grateful for the work that the Commission has been doing. I know also that Dr. Williams appeared. There have been a number of recommendations that we have already enacted, and we are very much looking forward for a final report from the Commission. It's really to help build upon the things that we started when we took government. As I said in an earlier answer to this question, look, we inherited a system that was woefully inadequate. We immediately set out to improve the system. We've learned a lot through the pandemic and are in a much better place. The recommendations that come out of this will help not only improve the system should there be another pandemic, but also help building on the really great work that both Ministers of Health and Long-Term Care have done to rebuild a system that was so woefully underfunded for many years. The supplementary question. Thanks very much, Speaker. The Minister of Health's testimony made it pretty clear that the Premier was ignoring expert advice when he decided to open the province up back in May to asymptomatic testing. And as we know, that caused some significant problems with our antiquated lab system. It caused a backup in testing results coming into long-term care, which cost lives. It's really troubling when, at the Commission, the Minister of Health in response to some of these queries in terms of the Premier's decisions would only say you'd really need to speak to him about that, meaning the Premier. Why is the Premier refusing to attend the Commission and take responsibilities for the decisions that he made? Again, the Government knows. Actually, Mr. Speaker, the Premier has been very clear right from the beginning of this pandemic that he accepts responsibility for all the decisions that have flown out of the pandemic. He has said that both in his daily news conferences and in the House, Mr. Speaker. But one of the principles, one of the reasons why we sped up this commission, and we started it earlier, in fact earlier than any other jurisdiction in the country, was we wanted to help build on some of the things that we started in a pre-pandemic, Mr. Speaker. As you know, we inherited a system that was woefully underfunded. There were not enough spaces. The Minister of Long-Term Care immediately set out to help build capacity in the system. The Minister of Health, with the onset of Ontario health teams, started to create an umbrella of care that included our long-term care system, Mr. Speaker. We are using the evidence that was brought to report and the suggestions that we've gotten in the first series of recommendations to help build on that, Mr. Speaker. But the Premier has been very clear and will continue to be clear. He accepts all responsibility. Thank you. The final supplementary. Well, Speaker, what's really clear is that the Premier said that he would leave no stone unturned in trying to get answers for families who were losing their loved ones in long-term care. But apparently, there are lots of stones that are being hidden here, Speaker. There's a problem when the Premier is hiding the issues around, or when the issues around, for example, PPE and staffing and lack of infection control, all of these things led to the problems when it came to long-term care and COVID-19. There was no iron ring at all around long-term care, as the Premier was suggesting. And now the Premier is not showing any accountability whatsoever. In fact, he exempted his government from any accountability with legislation. He's exempted himself from the commission. He's not even answering questions in the House. When will the Premier stand up and take responsibility and be accountable for the actions and the decisions that he made? Mr. Speaker, as I just said, the Premier has said right from the beginning in this House on a number of occasions that the buck stops with him. We have all been working on both sides of this House to help deal with this pandemic. In long-term care, we inherited a system that was woefully inadequate. 600 beds was the legacy of the previous Liberal government, Mr. Speaker. We knew right away in this Premier campaign on a promise to expand long-term care, and we have done that, building more beds, moving roadblocks to building capacity in the system. This Premier is the one who brought in a long-term commission to take a look at what had happened in the initial phases of this pandemic before any other province or jurisdiction had done that. We acted on the recommendations that we saw coming out of the commission. And need I remind you, Mr. Speaker, it was this member, the leader of the opposition, who so fought against the commission said that it would be waste of time and it would provide no results for the people of the province of Ontario. The opposite has happened, Mr. Speaker. They've done good work, and the better part of it is is that we're acting on the work that they have done. Thank you. The next question, once again, the leader of the opposition. Thank you, Speaker. My next question is for the Premier, but I think the government House leaders should correct his record. In fact, what we said is the government would control the commission and, of course, they're shutting the commission down and not giving them the time to do their work. So we were right, in fact. But the question I'm asking is about those frontline workers and COVID heroes that have been there for us all the way through. Folks in Brampton, folks in Scarborough, folks in Weston, folks in Jane and Finch. These folks are the ones that actually did all the heavy lifting during COVID-19. The science table that the Premier has advising on vaccinations suggested, recommended that these very folks be prioritized when it comes to the get the vaccines. Not only because it's the right thing to do, but because it will stop the spread of COVID-19. In fact, suggesting that 3,767 COVID-19 cases would be prevented and an estimated 168 lives would be saved. It's been on for the week. When is the government going to commit to vaccinating these workers and these neighborhoods? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As we have said right from the beginning that as more vaccines became available, of course, we were going to be expanding the vaccine rollout. And we have seen that, Mr. Speaker. I'm actually proud to say if I can, my father-in-law was one of the first people to receive a vaccination in New York Region yesterday after getting on, and I hear a comment from the opposition. He went online, booked his test all on his own, drove there and got his vaccination, Mr. Speaker. So we are starting to see as vaccines come in ramping up of vaccinations and getting them into the people's arms quicker, Mr. Speaker. And the results have been very, very, very encouraging, Mr. Speaker. So as more vaccines come in, as the minister has said, as the Premier has said, we will get them into people's arms, Mr. Speaker, including all of those people, as we said in the framework, first in long-term care, congregate care settings, and then working our way down from 80 and up, Mr. Speaker. I'm very confident in the work of the vaccine team and I encourage that. Thank you. And the supplementary. Well, Mr. Speaker, this is about the COVID heroes in specific neighborhoods like Scarborough, like Weston, like Jane and Finch, like Brampton. These are the folks that the government's own science table has recommended get prioritized. These are the folks whose neighborhoods have death rates 27 times higher than the rest of the province. Dr. Unie said this, and I quote, we need to avoid the scenario where those who suffered the burden are not amongst those who get the vaccine. That's what we need to do. That's the right thing to do. The recommendation is almost a week old. Will the government commit to these COVID heroes and ensure that they get vaccinations as soon as possible and are prioritized in the government's plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The member opposite is highlighting exactly why we are making sure that local public health units can make decisions based on their local circumstances. The City of Toronto has already done that by ensuring that high-risk neighborhoods and communities that have congregate settings like homeless shelters have access to the vaccine quickly. So many of these challenges go away as we get more vaccines from the federal government. Last week's news about the approval of AstraZeneca is wonderful for the people of Ontario and Canada. We will make sure that as those vaccines supplies come into Ontario we will get them to the public health units and they will do the job that they have done historically, which is vaccinate the people of Ontario who want to do it. And they're doing an excellent job. And all we need to do is make sure they have sufficient supply. Thank you. Final supplementary. I think how this Premier has not taken advice from the experts. We don't want that to happen again, Speaker. The hardest-hit workers, the essential workers in these neighborhoods are the ones that deserve to get those vaccines as quickly as possible. They're the ones that worked every single day to, you know, to work in hospitals, in long-term care settings, in manufacturing, taxi drivers. I mean, these workers were working well. The rest of us could stay home and stay safe. They should not be left behind. And we know the science table has clearly indicated that this kind of commitment will mean lives saved and the spread stopped. So when will this government listen to their science table and make the commitment to get vaccines prioritized for those very neighborhoods and those COVID heroes? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the solicitor general just mentioned, there's a flexibility within the 34 health units. The focus on the area is that they feel most important going by the guidelines that the Chief Medical Officer and the health table has laid out. And that's exactly what's happening here in Toronto, for example, with Chief Pegg doing a great job taking care of the homeless people, making sure there's a priority. Because the priorities of Toronto aren't the same priorities up in Canora. But the good news is, rather than the opposition party of doom and gloom and the world's coming to an end, the facts are we've vaccinated more people than anyone in the entire country. We have 754,000 vaccines. We set another countrywide record yesterday at 27,398 and totally 266,000 have been fully vaccinated. Do you know there's one problem here, Mr. Speaker? We need more vaccines. We have the infrastructure. We need the vaccines from the federal government. That's what's holding everything up. Thank you. The next question, the member for Brampton Centre. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Long Term Care. Yesterday the Minister of Health was crystal clear in her testimony to the Long Term Care Commission that only the Premier can answer for this government's biggest failures. But, Speaker, the Premier still won't show up and testify at the commission. He won't even extend their deadline so that they can carry out their work. Speaker, through you to the Minister of Long Term Care, do you agree with the Minister of Health that the Premier needs to appear before the commission and provide these answers to grieving families and seniors, or are you okay with taking the blame for him? I'm going to remind the members to make the comments through the chair, not directly across the floor. Mr. Long Term Care to respond. Thank you, Speaker. And I reject the premise of that question. I'm just astonished how the members opposite go on. Let me be clear. The government that is addressing the systemic issues that have faced long-term care for decades is this conservative government. We have a government that has been committed to long-term care since day one, addressing the staffing issues, addressing the capacity issues that had been left to languish, which set the stage for the damage that we saw from COVID-19 in our long-term care homes. The foundational pieces that should have been done were not done. We are spending $1.9 billion to train 27,000 people for this sector. And from the pandemic pay alone, we were able to achieve over 8,600 people to address a massive gap. It is our government that will repair, rebuild, and advance long-term care, so sorely neglected. Thank you. And the supplementary question. Speaker, the Premier has said that the buck stops with him, yet he refuses to answer any questions, take any responsibility, or literally do anything meaningful to help ensure that these tragedies in long-term care never happen again. Speaker, it's clear that the Minister didn't agree with the decisions of Dr. Williams. It's clear that she didn't agree with some of the decisions made by the Premier and her colleagues around the Cabinet table. Then why, Speaker, why won't the Minister of Long-term Care do the right thing and call on this Premier to appear before the Long-term Care Commission? Through you, through you. Order. Through you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I just tell you the facts here. There's no elected official in the entire country that has answered more questions about this pandemic than myself. No one. No, no. That's the Premier to take a seat. Order. Allow the Premier to respond. Premier? The opposition has been hiding out, and I don't know where, but anyways, as the Minister of Long-term Care mentioned, our government approved 1.38 billion in surge funding for the sector because of the failures of the NDP and Liberals for 15 years just to dismantle and destroy long-term care. We're in there. We're fixing it. Our government put forward 1.9 billion in staffing plan. Again, the higher 27,000 new staff. And this all happened under the leadership of the Minister of Long-term Care that's fixing the problems. We're hired 8,200 PSWs. We're the first jurisdiction of Canada to focus on four hours of care, Mr. Speaker. We're fixing the problems that were destroyed by the two previous governments. The NDP and Liberals have been in bed for 15 years destroying long-term care. The next question, Member for Carlton. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, Mr. Speaker. There are thousands of youth on track to age out of the supports of the child welfare system across Ontario in the next year. In my writing of Carlton, constituents have raised concerns about how our government is prepared to support children aging out of care during these unprecedented times. During normal circumstances, the transition for young people leaving care has proven difficult. There are many obstacles and factors that can create barriers for their success. With the added stressors caused by COVID-19, our youth require additional supports in order to thrive. They're aging out of care into an ever-changing society that has been greatly impacted by the pandemic. Our youth deserve stability and support. Speaker, I know our government has made a commitment to help keep our young people safe and secure. Can the Minister of Children and Women's Issues explain to the members of the legislature how the government is prepared to support youth in Ontario aging out of care during these difficult times? Thank you. Worship Minister of Children and Women's Issues. Thank you, Speaker, and thank you to the member from Carlton for that question. Speaker, COVID-19 has put immense pressure on all Ontarians, and youth in care are no different. As soon as we saw the impacts of COVID-19 last year, we started working with our partners and officials to ensure youth that were expected to age out of service got the supports they needed. I am proud to say we have further extended the moratorium so no youth will age out of care until September 30th, 2022. We wanted to provide more certainty and believe that 18 months will help with that. Our hope is that additional time will allow these youth to have supports post-pandemic and then move into a system that provides them opportunities to thrive. This decision will benefit thousands of young people previously on track to age out of care by providing them the additional time they require to flourish in our communities. Speaker, the pandemic has created many uncertainties, but one thing our youth can be certain of is they will not lose supports and services they have right now. We want to make sure all youth leaving care feel prepared and confident for the next chapter in their lives. Thank you, and the supplementary questions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the minister for that great news. Mr. Speaker, it's reassuring to know that these youth will not be left behind or left on their own. There have been countless stories of youth not having proper support around them. Data shows that many former youths in care don't graduate high school, and some end up homeless and struggle when they leave care. Speaker, we cannot let that continue. There needs to be a better option for them. The minister also mentioned that our government took swift action last year and put the moratorium in place for youth in care. But the extensions were all short-term. Today, she is saying that the extension is for a full 18 months. The minister has spoken about redesigning our broken child welfare system, and I couldn't agree more. And I believe that helping children and youth throughout their entire time in care is essential. Speaker, through you, can the minister tell this House how the government, how the decision to extend the moratorium is made, and whether more is going to be done to help youth as a transition out of care? You, the associate minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the member for the question. Speaker, the decision to extend the moratorium is made based on consultations with our incredible front-line workers, sector partners, and youth advocates from across the province who tirelessly work for our youth. Speaker, as the member mentioned right now, young people leaving care are not set up for success. As a mother with daughters right in this age range, I cannot imagine leaving them to support themselves and become adults. Our government wants all children and youth, no matter whether they are in care or not, to have positive experiences growing up. That means ensuring they are hitting milestones, such as graduating high school, having a safe place to stay, and having friends and mentors. We want to work with those who have lived experience to create a better model so all youth leaving care feel supported as a transition to adulthood. And I thank Cheyenne and Connor for all the work that they've been doing. I believe this extension gives us time to have constructive conversations and develop a new model that is responsive to the needs of young people currently in care, and those who are preparing to leave. Thank you. The next question, the member for Davenport. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Education. Speaker, yesterday I asked the Minister of Education why so few asymptomatic tests have been conducted to date, and he suggested, you know, check the ministry website. So we did that again, went back to the ministry website, and as of February 26, only 6,659 tests have been completed since the minister's announcement way back when that the government would test 50,000 students, school staff, and their families per week. Speaker, experts have made it clear that we don't just want to wait for symptomatic cases to appear in schools like the 160 new cases we have today. We need to identify asymptomatic cases early so we can prevent their spread. It is absolutely essential to keeping schools open. So, Speaker, I'm looking for a clear answer today from the minister. Why aren't you testing more students and education workers? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I should note that last week in the province of Ontario, working under the leadership of the Minister of Health, there has been 17,000 tests provided for children under the age of 18 in Ontario, much more than the member opposite suggested. But in addition to the Ontario Health capacity deployed in every region of the province, yes, we have a surge testing capacity in the Ministry of Education alone, deployed where it is needed, working in conjunction with public health units and school boards. And of course, as the member would understand and appreciate, it is a voluntary test. Unlike perhaps the members opposite and the Democrats and Liberals that would impose a requirement on testing on parents, we believe in that choice being critical to our program. We want to encourage participation. We have more capacity than demand. That's why I've spent the past weeks, as with other members of caucus, encouraging parents to take advantage of the easy, local, seamless testing capacity we've deployed. Another long prevention to keep students safe and to keep schools open to the province of Ontario. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government has gone out of its way to make testing inconvenient. And now they're blaming parents and kids. I mean, there are 24 schools closed right now in the province. 672 schools in this province have cases. Hundreds more kids are getting sick with COVID-19 every single day, including some that are catching and then spreading the variant. But I'm hearing from parents who can't find information about where to get this testing. And we know education workers are being turned away from pharmacies, being told they're ineligible. Speaker, this is not the time to let our guard down or hold back on actions that could keep our kids and our families safe, just to save a few bucks. Why isn't this government testing the tens of thousands of kids, teachers, and education workers per week that it promised? Minister of Education. I think the member opposite has gone out of her way to instill fear in the people of Ontario because honestly, when you have 99.5% of schools in the province that are open, let's just reverse the facts. So she mentioned 24 schools of roughly 5,000. 99.5% are open. As I understand, 11 million tests in the nation and testing in the province of Ontario in this country, 99.9% of students have no active case. 86% of schools have no case at all. What we have done when it comes to deploying testing, there's 18 schools identified in York for this coming week. 31 in Hamilton, 75 in Toronto, 24 in Ottawa, 11 in Waterloo, and 15 in Durham, and of course the list continues. Member for Davenport, come order. Our plan has been fully supported by the Chief Medical Officer of Health. We are working hard to keep schools open and schools safe. That is our number one priority and we'll continue to follow public health advice to achieve that speaker. Next question, the member for Ottawa South. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Last week, the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health testified in front of the long-term care commission. Specifically, she said that the Premier overruled the Chief Medical Officer and expanded COVID-19 testing criteria to everyone. And then she suggested that the commission speak to the Premier as to why. That decision had consequences in long-term care. It inhibited our ability to do testing quickly in long-term care because of a rapid expansion of the group that could be tested. And it had serious consequences for residents and their families. The Premier is always saying that he's taking the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health. So through you, Mr. Speaker, can the Premier explain why he overruled the Chief Medical Officer of Health and expanded COVID-19 testing to everyone in Ontario? Thank you. The Minister of Health. Thank you very much, Speaker. And I thank the member very much for the question. When I did appear before the long-term care commission, I did indicate that the Premier was concerned about the transmission of the community and that asymptomatic testing was necessary in order to prevent a community spread and prevent the transmission of COVID-19 into our long-term care homes. It was done in order to protect the residents of long-term care homes from the COVID-19 coming into them. So it was necessary to do it. It did not overwhelm our lab system. We had already built our lab system up so that we were able to handle that capacity. We created, as you may remember, a lab system from Public Health Ontario to create an interconnected lab system that was able to handle increasing volumes of tests. And that's what we did. We increased our testing, but at the same time, we increased the lab capacity so that it could manage the level and the number of tests coming in. Thank you. And the supplementary question. But respectfully, the commission asked you the question specifically because it affected long-term care. So that's not a good answer. And I would have preferred to hear it from the horse's mouth. So throughout this pandemic, there's a... I'm going to ask the member to withdraw. I'm going to ask the member to withdraw. Throughout this pandemic, there's a clear record of delayed decision-making and failure to act in long-term care. The vaccine's rollout in long-term care is just the latest example of that. We know that the government has held critical documents from the commission. And then, weeks before it's to report, dump 217,000 on them. And then, actually, the minister of long-term care gave her notes at 11 o'clock the night before the testimony, the night before. And the government, the premier, has denied this commission, commission's reasonable request for an extension. So all that says to me is they want it to go away. Question. They want their own commission to go away. They're not interested in what it has to say. So will the premier grant the commission the extension that they have asked for so that families can get some answers and some justice? Thank you, Speaker. Thank you, Government House Leader to respond. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As we've said right from the beginning, it is certainly strange now hearing the opposition, both the NDP and the Liberals, supportive of a commission that they both neither one wanted to do, Mr. Speaker. And now they're very supportive of it, as are we, Mr. Speaker. The commission has done some good work. That's why we started it earlier, Speaker, so that we could get some of the recommendations, valuable recommendations. But let's be clear, Speaker, many of the problems that we're seeing in long-term care today stem from the inadequacy of the previous Liberal Administration, to which this member was a parliamentary assistant, Mr. Speaker, during that period of time. They underfunded long-term care. They did not build it. They did not have capacity. And it was this Premier, this Minister of Long-term Care and this Minister of Health, who started to rebuild the system, Mr. Speaker, in every step of the way, whether it was more capacity, whether it was better care, Mr. Speaker, whether it was the blanket of care that the Ontario health teams were bringing in, that side of the House has voted against it, Mr. Speaker. We'll get the job done that those two parties were unable to do over 15 years of sharing power together. Thank you. The next question, the member for Carlton. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. Speaker, as we enter the month of March, we will hopefully begin to see some relief from winter with some warmer temperatures. Of course, those warmer temperatures bring melting snow, which can result in flooding risks for communities across the province. As a Minister, and I can attest to as representatives from the Ottawa Valley, flooding is a major concern to our constituents. I recall joining Premier Ford in April 2019, as he visited and met with Ottawa first responders during the state of emergency caused by the Constance Bay floods. These flooding events across the province lead the government to take action by commissioning a flooding strategy lead by Special Advisor Doug McNeil. Speaker, we are now in 2021 and on the verge of another potential season of flooding across the province. Can the Minister please tell this House to respond to questions from the government he has implemented from the 2019 Ontario flooding strategy? Thank you. Respond, the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. Thank you, Speaker. I want to thank the Member for Carlton for that question. Absolutely, we are now at that time of year that every year comes along. It's called spring. Spring is coming and with it comes the spring melt and the spring fichette. It was very involved in. I was involved myself as the Minister and I know the Member for Carlton was very involved in her area as well. It was massive flooding across the province in many areas and we did something that has never been done before hired a Special Advisor from outside a third party from outside to evaluate the system here in Ontario and what could be done to mitigate the effects of flooding and just a flooding report in general and Mr. McNeil came up with the most comprehensive report that we've ever seen in the province of Ontario or anywhere else. Out of the report came 66 recommendations and my gosh, time goes by quickly, I'll have more to say in the supplementary. Thank you. Supplementary question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker and thank you to the Minister for that response. It will come as good news to people in my riding of Carlton that the government can avoid some of the most devastating effects that flooding can bring. However, each year is different when it comes to flooding. Right now, we are only a few weeks away from the start of a potential flooding season. I know that this government has taken steps to implement best practices when it comes to flooding preparedness and prevention. Speaker, can the Minister please tell this house how this government is preparing for the spring fall and ensuring that the province is prepared for flooding events such as the flooding of Carlton but also in Ottawa and across the province. Thank you. Thank you again to the member for the question and as a result of that report, we brought out Ontario's first ever flooding strategy last year about this time so that we had a plan to deal with the spring for shet, the spring flooding. And what happens, Speaker, is that we have significantly increased our ability potential for flooding across the province. We work with our municipal partners. We work with conservation authorities so that we have a better understanding of what could be the potential for flooding down the road, as they say. Municipalities right now are working with them to look at this year's potential. And we're going to make sure that we're able to deal with that. In the past, we've had through other ministries as well, substantial support programs to deal with the effects of flooding if and when it happens. We're going to continue to have those. We have a plan to deal with flooding in the province of Ontario. It is a matter of nature but we're prepared to deal with it. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. The next question, the member for Hamilton West and Caster Dundas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question this morning is for the Premier. Yesterday, Vaughan Council Committee of the Whole voted to withdraw its previous support of the Highway, also known as Highway 413. This follows votes by the councils of Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon to oppose or reconsider this unneeded $6 billion highway through valuable agricultural lands and the Green Belt. Will the Premier cancel this wasteful and environmentally destructive highway? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I think we've had a number of questions on this in the Green Party and as I said, the Green Belt, of course, always envisioned and does allow for important provincial infrastructure to be built through it. This is, of course, a highway that still requires a number of consultations to be carried out both with local officials in the area. It requires environmental assessment but there obviously can be no denying the fact that this is a region of the province that has had tremendous population growth. It is continued to be forecasted that there will be tremendous population growth so it's obviously something that we need to look into if we're to get people moving around. But having said that, we will continue our consultations within the community. We will continue the environmental assessment if it makes sense to build this piece of infrastructure. And the supplementary. Mr. Speaker, almost every municipality that would be impacted by the Green Belt, has now voted against the Premier's plan to fast track this unneeded highway through the Green Belt. The special interests who still support the highway are well connected donors and land speculators who own property along the highway corridor and stand to make big, big profits. And it is a matter of fact that many of these developers and speculators are friends and donors to the Premier and the PC Party. Will the Premier bulldoze ahead with an additional dollar gift for his friends and donors? Or will he put the public and the environment first and cancel this wasteful and destructive highway scheme? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As I said, there is an environmental assessment that needs to be done. There is a consultation that still needs to be done before any construction is even contemplated on this. She mentions the Green Belt. The Green Belt obviously does allow more important infrastructure to be brought in through it. Look, this is a project if it does go ahead that would bring significant economic benefits to the area, a very fast growing area. Obviously, when you have population growth in an area such as we've seen in that part of the province, a government is going to look at how we get people moving around. We have done that right from the beginning. Again, woefully inadequate by the previous government in terms of transit and transportation. We are starting to fix those problems, whether it's subways in the province of Ontario, expanding our loans in other parts of the province. But as I said, we will take a look at this. We will do all of the work that's needed to be done. If it makes sense, we will continue. If it doesn't, we won't. Order. The next question, the member for Ottawa, Vanny. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Health. Mr. Speaker, there are workers across the province who have been going out to provide essential services when we were all required to stay home. I'm thinking of grocery store workers, bus operators and Ottawa community housing workers that need to move between crowded units in my writing to provide services to tenants and of course teachers and education workers. Everyone that had to continue working outside the home right during the lockdown has been essential to our community. The people who continue to work in the community, all the people that had to continue working when we were in lockdown continue to provide essential services. Who will be considered an essential worker when the province begins vaccinating this group of people? Minister of Health. Thank you, Speaker, and I thank the member very much for the question. We do have a plan for vaccinations. We have a three-phase rollout. We're finishing phase one as a result. We've successfully vaccinated everyone in long-term care homes with at least the first dose who wants to receive one. We will be moving into phase two very shortly. The biggest issue here that we need to deal with is age. That is the biggest contributor unfortunately to hospitalizations and deaths in the province of Ontario. So we need to make sure that we vaccinate people in the order of harm to them and to make sure that we protect them as much as possible. So we will be proceeding. First of all, vaccinations based on age with people 80 plus and moving down in five-year intervals. But it's also based on risk. So we need to make sure that we also make sure that we continue to vaccinate all of our frontline health care workers, home care workers and others, and then we move down thereafter. So I will be able to speak more to this in my supplemental. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and again to the staff of the supplementary. Anyone who has to continue to work as we move in and out of the various levels of lockdown, put themselves at risk to help us. And they should be considered essential workers, not just the categories currently identified in second phase of the plan. And I understand age is an issue, but you've got the AstraZeneca that you said you won't be administering to 65 over. So maybe there's an opportunity there. So the government's plan is to carry out vaccination from April to July of this year. This is a very long window of time. It does not provide much clarity. These workers have been working in high risk environments since the beginning of the pandemic last year, working under stress and having to work in uncomfortable and challenging settings. And they deserve to be prioritized for the vaccine when it becomes available still three with three vaccines now approved in Canada and a steady stream of vaccines becoming available to the province. We still don't have the last vaccination role. Question. Can she tell those essential workers what is the plan for them to obtain the vaccines? There's what the plan is for them to get vaccinated. Thank you. Well, the member is absolutely right. There are many people who are involved in providing essential services to us as Ontarians. Food supply of course is going to be one of the major areas. People who are working with the government are going to be able to provide a variety of essential services to us, including grocery stores, pharmacies, the places that people have been going to for the last year. Of course they are going to be considered. But the essential issue right now is the number of vaccines that are coming in. We can only vaccinate so many people right now. We have the ability to vaccinate many more people than we have supply. The news about AstraZeneca coming forward is that that will allow us hopefully to be able to start vaccinating at a higher rate as these vaccines come in. We are expecting a shipment. We don't know how many right now of AstraZeneca vaccines next week. And as soon as we receive them, we will be distributing them to the public health units so that they can put the needles into arms. That's the goal to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible in Ontario. And the next question, the member for Carl. Mr. Speaker, this question is for the Minister of Finance. It has been almost a year since this pandemic began. And we are finally beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. However, we know that the difficult but necessary decisions our government has taken to protect the health and safety of all of our constituents has had an incredible toll on job creators and businesses in our communities. Mr. Speaker, small businesses in my community of Carlton have stepped up. They've provided essential goods and services under difficult circumstances. They've retooled to produce much needed PPE. They've put food on our tables, taken every step to keep us safe. And they've been good neighbors supporting my community long before the pandemic took hold. I can only think of the Osgood Care Center, Mr. Speaker, as an example. Can the Minister explain what we're doing to support these businesses? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, Speaker. Thank you to the member from Carlton. I know she's a tireless champion for her constituents and business community in the Ottawa region. Small businesses are the backbone of Ontario's economy, but they're also the beating heart of our communities. We've asked a lot of them this past year and we've done whatever we can to support them. In the first days of the pandemic, we moved quickly to inject cash in the form of a small business support grant, which as of yesterday has provided over $1.1 billion to over 78,000 businesses in Ontario. Speaker, there is more to be done, but this government will continue to be there for job creators and entrepreneurs and businesses in Ontario. We've asked a lot of them this past year and we've done everything we can to support these businesses. We will continue to be there for job creators and entrepreneurs as we have been since day one. Thank you. Supplementary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the parliamentary assistant for his answer. I know that he along with the minister have been listening to businesses and communities across Ontario to ensure that our government is being responsive and taking steps that will help our businesses. We heard first hand about how businesses are struggling and how our supports are helping them to survive. We heard first hand from people like Earl Stanley of Stanley's old Maple Lane farms and Nicole of the Osgood Youth Association. Mr. Speaker, I know the minister of finance will table a budget in this house in the weeks ahead. Could the minister please share the work that's been done to consult businesses and communities? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the member is absolutely right. Premier Ford and our entire government has always put the highest importance on listening to the people of Ontario. Since January, the minister and I have travelled this province virtually to listen and learn from Ontarians from Canora and Hamilton to Windsor and Ottawa. We have met with frontline healthcare workers, farmers, restaurants, grocery store clerks, and other businesses that are working to support the Ontario community. Our businesses, our unions, our natural resources sector and main street businesses. Their ideas, their experiences will directly inform our government's next budget as we continue to work tirelessly to protect the lives and livelihoods of every Ontario. In the last few months, the members opposite have attempted to paint themselves as supporters of small businesses, but this government will continue listening to Ontarians and fighting for our main streets. We are listening and we are here to help. The next question, the member for Essex. Thank you very much, Speaker. My question is to the Premier, Speaker, you would think in the midst of a pandemic, we would see a government that is laser focused on the needs of its people. A pandemic that has claimed thousands of lives. A pandemic that has disrupted almost every aspect of Ontarians lives. Yet today, we see a government that is focused on its own electoral fortunes and patting its own coffers to the extent that they are now, we will be debating a bill later on this afternoon that will double the donation contribution limit by big donors to the Conservative Party. Speaker, that is reprehensible in a time of need. This government should be focused on paid sick days, on support for students, on support for long-term care. Instead, they're patting their own pockets through changes to the elections act. Speaker, it's clear that ... I would draw. Speaker, it is clear that the changes that have been made are a continuation of the Liberal Party's pay-to-play politics. My question is simple, Speaker. If this is now a government ... I think I'm going to ask the member to withdraw that one too as well, Speaker. My question is clear. For essential workers who are demanding paid sick days, who does this government expect they should make their checks out to? The Attorney General, first point. Mr. Speaker, I'll start with the last question first and say people looking for paid sick days, as the Minister of Labor has said so many times, should be accessing the federal program that still has $800 million in there. But the other part of this question, he was all over his heart. I'm going to focus on this part. What are we doing? We're focusing on Ontarians and making sure that they are at the center of everything that we do. We've gone through the experience with Newfoundland Labrador, with BC, with New Brunswick, and adopting best practices to make sure that the chief elections officer has all the tools that he needs to make sure that he can do things in making sure that the Ontarians are at the very center of elections and protecting the democratic institutions of our country. Thank you very much, Speaker. It's very clear. The legislation that we will be debating later on this afternoon increases the donation limit to over $3,000 per person. Go into any community in Ontario. Ask any of the essential workers that they have an extra $3,000 laying around to donate to the Conservative Party. I don't think that's a priority of the people in our communities today, although we see that this party, the Conservative Party is putting forward. Speaker, again, to the Premier. Did Conservative insiders have to pay up front for these changes, or is this a pay-to-play kind of thing as you go? Thank you. I don't need any resistance on this matter. I'm going to ask the member to withdraw. We'll draw. And the response? The Attorney General. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's not the member's fault that he's been not paying attention to the rest of the country and what happens with donations. We're in fact moving to the middle, the largest province in the country is moving to the middle of the back in terms of donations. There's no magic to the 1,600 number. We're moving to the 3,300 number, which puts us right in the middle. Some jurisdictions have no limits at all. Some jurisdictions like Nova Scotia have $5,000. Some jurisdictions have very similar systems. But there are amounts, Mr. Speaker. It's not, Mr. Speaker, we're just letting Ontario's participate in the way that they choose to participate. Whether it be knocking on doors or donating or voting or putting us on their lawn, Mr. Speaker, we're just making sure that we're in the middle of the pack even though we're the largest province in the country, Mr. Speaker. For Essex, come to order. Next question, the member for Cambridge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning. I'm going to talk about the social media reports. The recent reports that Peel Region and a few other regions in Ontario have implemented or advocated for cruel isolation policies for children even if the child doesn't have COVID. What someone in their class does. The governments of Ministry of Health call this policy I quote, very sensible, without, of course, providing any science or data to justify the comment, Mr. Speaker. children in solitary confinement as very sensible. Minister of Health to respond. Thank you Speaker and thank you to the member for the question. No one would suggest that putting a child in solitary confinement is a good idea. No one would. We don't agree with that with the Ministry of Health and in fact Dr. Low has clarified his remarks to indicate that he didn't recommend that either. That is not something that is good for children. What is important for children is for them to be at school. They need that for their both mental and physical help. That is something that has been our top priority since the beginning is to make sure that children can be returned to school as soon as it's safe and that is exactly what we have done and then 99.5% of the cases all schools are remaining open. The supplementary question. Thank you Speaker. Let me be clear. Any isolation of children is cruel and inhumane. There is nothing sensible about it. While children are less likely to spread COVID government continues to implement praise or avoid condemning such harmful policies like this one and mandatory mask wearing and others all of which negatively affect the long term health of our children by traumatizing them with fear. My question is when will this PC government stop negatively affecting the health and mental well being of our children by putting an end to ineffective policies such as forced isolation, forced distancing and mandatory masks on children. Minister of Health. Thank you Speaker. Well as I indicated previously no one is suggesting the isolation of children for 14 days. No one is suggesting that. No policies are directing that. What we are suggesting and we are recommending and this has been recommended by all of the 34 public health unit region medical officers of health as well as Dr. Williams that it is really important for children to return to school whenever it is safe and we've had some interruptions in that when we had a magnitude of transmission in the community but at this point schools are open. This is important for children. It is important for them to be in school to learn for their physical activity for their mental activity and their mental wellness. This is what we are recommending and this is what we are putting forward within the province of Ontario as the best course of action for children. Thank you. The next question member for Ottawa Centre. Thank you Speaker. Tomorrow we will be debating Vula's law. It's a question for the Premier. A motion that calls upon my friends and government to clarify that the operators of retirement homes, long-term care homes and group homes cannot issue trespass orders that ban family caregivers when they complain about the living conditions of their loved ones. The motions named after Vula Sardellas who was separated from her daughter Mary for 316 days when she complained about the banning of a personal external care worker she had hired for her mom. Mary missed Christmas with her mom, missed her birthday, missed Thanksgiving Speaker. This is wrong. But unfortunately it's happened to too many other families. My question for the Premier, very simple. Will you help us clarify the law? So what happened to Mary? What happened to Vula? Never happens again. Will you support Vula's law tomorrow? Mr. Children, we are the Info Service. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member opposite from Ottawa for the question today and we look forward to the debate on this issue tomorrow afternoon. But I can assure you that the health and safety and the health and well-being of our retirement home residents and their families continues to be at the forefront of all of our policies. Our Minister of Seniors and Accessibility Raymond Cho has been doing an outstanding job in ensuring that we're shining that lens on that sector so that we are keeping those in that sector as safe as possible. We do have a visitor policy that we've been working across government ministries on to ensure the safety of all individuals in congregate care setting including long term care, retirement homes and the developmental services sector, Mr. Speaker and others. And we want to ensure that those seniors and individuals that are living in those congregate care settings and their families are being kept as safe as they possibly can be. Mr. Speaker, under the Retirement Homes Act, the RHRA has a comprehensive complaints process which we encourage residents and their families to utilize as we stay on top of issues like the one that the member opposite has mentioned. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn't hear a yes or no there. So I would love to know, we've approached the government several times over the last two years as we've been advocating this. I've talked to the Minister who is sympathetic to what we're attempting to accomplish here but I want to know from the government what can we expect, what can voters expect tomorrow at 6pm. Will the government stand up for people like Mary Sardelis and Joyce Sagan who's the mum of a 34 year old son Andre who lives with a developmental disability speaker who was evicted from his group home, unceremoniously dumped on his family's front step his possessions in a garbage bag because they dared to complain about Andre's living conditions. Speaker, I think we can agree this is wrong but we need leadership from this government to clarify the law. Should we allow a cruel practice by a minority of home operators or will this government stand by families and make sure trespass orders are not unlawfully used ever again? Mr. Children, Community and Social Services. Well thanks again Mr. Speaker and thanks again to the member opposite for the follow-up question and we can all in this house agree that the circumstances that the individual has outlined here are not acceptable for anyone who occupies a seat in this legislature. As part of our comprehensive review of the Retirement Homes Act we'll be considering all relevant regulations and legislation ensuring that the needs of residents and their families are being best served. Unlike the motion that's introduced by my colleague opposite any changes that we make as part of our review will be binding on the retirement home sector unlike a motion in the legislature but I do appreciate the fact that the member from Ottawa has brought this motion forward. We look forward to engaging with the public and our broad stakeholder community to help build a stronger retirement home system and once again I want to remind anyone out there that we do have a comprehensive response process that exists with the RHRA and we encourage any residents that have these concerns or their family members to utilize that system that's currently in place Mr. Speaker and we look forward to the debate tomorrow. Thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the Minister of Health. Mr. Speaker as of this morning Ontario remains seventh in Canada for the first time in the world per capita vaccinations. Furthermore despite knowing for months that vaccines would ramp up in the spring the government has still not made some basic decisions about COVID prioritizations public. Phase two begins in less than a month and the government claims that individuals with high-risk chronic conditions and their caregivers will be part of that group but Mr. Speaker amongst other things the government hasn't disclosed which high-risk chronic conditions will be included how will those individuals be informed and what kind of documentation will they need when they get vaccinated and of course Mr. Speaker the government has still not rolled out their online booking system Mr. Speaker after months of work and planning why has the government still not decided which high-risk chronic conditions will qualify for vaccinations in phase two. Thank you very much Speaker what we do actually have a very comprehensive plan for vaccinations one plan across the entire province but of course it's being modified by the 34 public health units that are involved because they know their local conditions they are experts in vaccinations having done the flu vaccines for many many years very successfully particularly this year with over six million Ontarians receiving the flu shot so this is something that is being worked on that we have already with a number of the public health units in fact 20 now are operating their own system that is going to merge with the public system when it becomes available on March 15th we are testing the system so that's not going to collapse as it has in other jurisdictions we have a robust plan we have developed categories based on age of course but also people that are at risk and this plan is going to be made available very shortly as well as to members of the public thank you supplementary thank you Mr. Speaker so their plan for high-risk chronic conditions is that they have a plan and they will talk about a plan and they'll release a plan very shortly after months and months of talking about making a plan Mr. Speaker advocates for the for disabled adults living in group homes are very concerned that this government has forgotten about them when it comes to COVID-19 there is evidence that people with intellectual disabilities and developmental disorders are three times more likely to die of COVID-19 compared to patients without these conditions and despite this Mr. Speaker we've seen hospital executives and administrators staff and administrative staff get vaccinated before these high-risk Ontarians while congregate settings are supposed to be included as part of phase two of the vaccination program this phase lasts for nearly one-third of the year and there's no clarity where on the prioritization members who live in these congregate settings will fall when will the government provide clarity to these residents on where exactly in phase two vaccinations they fall well there is a planet it is rolling forward successfully we have already administered 754,000 vaccines in very short order what we lack are vaccines themselves we have the ability to triple quadruple the the number of vaccines we can administer in mass vaccination clinics which is what we're going to do but we need the vaccines to come in we do have more regular shipments of Pfizer and Moderna coming in right now we will start receiving AstraZeneca next week and hopefully J&J is going to be approved in Canada as it has been in the US but we are certainly basing the priority on age that is the primary risk to people for hospitalizations and unfortunately deaths but it's also based on people at risk and you're absolutely right that there are many people with response disabilities with a physical or mental disabilities that are at higher risk and that I can assure you has been taken into consideration when developing priorities for people to receive the vaccine and this is thank you very much the next question the member for London North Centre speaker my question is to the Premier this government can no longer deny that Ontario's vaccine rollout has been sluggish and ineffective at getting to our most vulnerable Ontarians Ontario is seventh in the country per capita vaccinated it's now March and the majority of my constituents still have no idea when they'll be able to access their vaccine shot it's a tremendous concern for those battling cancer a tremendous concern for parents who have spent the last year in isolation and they're very much anxious waiting this news mothers like Deb whose son has a dual diagnosis with being developmentally handicapped as well as living with a degenerative disease are tired of being kept in the dark she wrote to me I've been literally holding my breath for an entire year I'm really frightened for my son as a common cold and flu can end in death for my son so he has no chance at surviving COVID should he be infected 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca arriving today 444,000 doses of Pfizer will arrive in Canada this week many of them will we need shots and arms 24 hours a day seven days a week when will this government give peace of mind to immune compromise Ontarians and their families stop ignoring them and provide concrete details on when and how they'll be vaccinated and I would say to the member through you Mr. Speaker that we absolutely know that people are anxious to receive the vaccines and we're anxious to give them the vaccines but we have to receive them we are receiving fires in Moderna AstraZeneca is arriving in Canada we don't know exactly when it's going to be arriving in Ontario or how many vaccines that we are likely to receive probably it will be within the 38 to 40% because that's a population of Ontario but we don't know that yet we would like to know as much as the people of Ontario would because we have the ability to give those vaccines we have the setup established for that with mass vaccination clinics we're going to make sure that they're in the hands of primary care providers pharmacies will be able to deliver some of the vaccines but we need to get the vaccine for most but in terms of the plan the plan is based primarily on age but also at risk populations including people with disabilities including people with special health conditions all of that has been taken into account by the vaccine course and is going to be distributed to the public very shortly very much there being no further business this morning this house stands in recess until 3 p.m.