 therefore time for question period. The member from Prince Edward Hastings. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning. My question this morning is for the Deputy Premier. And my question for the Deputy Premier is, should the CEO of Hydro One have been paid four and a half million dollars last year? Good question. Thank you. Deputy Premier. Well, thank you, Speaker, and good morning. I'm happy to have the opportunity to talk about Executive Compensation Speaker. This is something we take very seriously on this side of the House. As the member well knows or should know, compensation disclosure is no longer required at Hydro One because they are now a company that discloses information through the stock exchange requirements, Speaker. So the reason you know is because it is disclosed not through the Sunshine List but through other disclosures to shareholders. Thank you. Supplementary. Well, that's the whole point, Mr. Speaker, is that the Sunshine List doesn't include Hydro One employees anymore. And the only reason we know about the massive increase to the Hydro One CEO salary is because of the salary disclosures for the Securities Commission that are required there. But the disrespect that's been shown when it comes to huge raises for executive salaries is typical of what the Deputy Premier said last night on the radio. She said, so be it. There's no respect for taxpayers' dollars according to the Deputy Premier. So be it. Whatever will be or be. Live and let live was her approach last night on News Talk 1010. But that's the whole point. You can't live and let live in the Liberals, Ontario, because it's too expensive to heat your home. So people are choosing between heating and eating now. So Speaker, can the Deputy Premier justify the outrageous increased salary for the CEO of Hydro One? Thank you. Speaker, we acknowledge that these salaries are far, far higher than other Ontarians. We get that. We also get that electricity prices have become too high for people to afford. And that's exactly why we're bringing down the price of Hydro by an average of 25% speaker and more for people who live in rural remote areas for people in low income. My question though is, Speaker, we have a plan. We're implementing our plan. Where is your plan? Final supplementary. Step one, Mr. Speaker, and we've talked about it over and over again, stop the sale of Hydro One, but stop the exorbitant salary increases that we're seeing with the executive at Hydro One. Six times the salary of the previous CEO. I don't know how the Deputy Premier can justify that when we are seeing tens of thousands of Hydro One customers disconnected last year. Hundreds of thousands are behind on the electricity bills. They're in arrears because of the exorbitant cost of electricity created by the malfeasance and disrespect of this government. Yet the Hydro One CEO made $4.5 million last year. That is an unbelievable amount. So Speaker, my question to the Deputy Minister is will she rein in executive compensation at Hydro One? Good question. Well, Speaker, it has been 29 days since the leader of the opposition told us that his plan to reduce Hydro Prizes was only days away. 29 days, only days away. On March 2nd, the leader said his party would announce their plan in the coming weeks. The next day he told the very examiner his Hydro announced would be coming very shortly. And then on March 9th, Brown told reporters he'd outline his plan in the near future. And yesterday, Speaker, I thought yesterday would be the big reveal. I thought yesterday at the speech at the Cambridge Club Speaker that the leader of the opposition would outline his plan to reduce Hydro Prizes. Minister knows better. Wrap up sentence, please. Speaker, and the member from Prince Edward Hastings I thought would use his... As soon as... Thank you. That'll do. And as soon as I sat down, the member from Leeds Greenville decided to start. He is now told to come to order without the editorial. New question. The member from Prince Edward Hastings. Thank you. Thank you, Speaker. And back to the Deputy Premier. A couple of numbers for you. The CEO of B.C. Hydro has paid $490,000. The CEO of Sask Power made $454,000. Manitoba Hydro's top dog, just shy of $500,000. CEO of Hydro Quebec, $480,000. The CEO of Hydro One here in Ontario, $4.5 million, Mr. Speaker. Why? My question is why? Why is the salary so out of touch compared to the rest of the provinces in Canada? It sounds to me like the opposition has a one-point plan to bring down Hydro Prizes and that is a focus on executive compensation. I think the real issue is, Speaker, that Hydro rates are too high, that we are implementing a plan that responds to the issues that have been brought to this legislature. It has been 29 days. We're waiting for your plan to bring down Hydro Prizes. We're moving forward on ours. Sherwood would like to see yours. The plan of the Liberals is nothing but a shell game and does not address the underlying problems that they've created in the electricity sector. They're the reason why people are falling behind on their electricity bills. They're the reason why businesses are leaving for other low-cost energy jurisdictions. But back to the issue of the day. This just exemplifies the disrespect for the taxpayers of Ontario. 4.5 million dollars is out of control. Look at the people who run life-saving hospitals. The President at Sunnybrook, 700,000, CEO of St. Joe's Health Care, about the same. And this government hands out four and a half million dollars to Hydro I. Speaker, it doesn't make any sense. Will the Liberals slash these out-of-control salary increases at Hydro I? Because the member opposite is making my point. They are really good at criticizing us. They are really... I'm hopeful that today in Milton, the leader of the opposition will be unveiling the PC plan to bring down Hydro. This afternoon, we'll get the answer. Premier, this just shows the flippant attitude, the disrespectful attitude of this government when it comes to executive compensation. They clearly don't get it. When we brought up Hydro I compensation back in 2015, the Minister of Energy at the time had this to say. When we look at comparable Toronto stock exchange companies, the pay will actually be set at the medium to low range with some incentives. Speaker, is 4.5 million dollars medium to low range to this Liberal government that have driven the cost of electricity out of control is 4.5 million dollars for the CEO at Hydro I in the medium to low range? If it is, we've got a bigger problem than we thought. Thank you. So, Speaker, I think slowly but surely the opposition party is revealing their plan to bring down Hydro prices. We have the first point. The first point is executive compensation. That's not going to get us to where we need to go. I hate to break it to you. So, again, Speaker, it's been 29 days. The member from LADAR. There are lots and lots of criticism. We have had now one idea, one idea to bring down compensation and that will, as the opposition knows, have virtually no impact whatsoever on Hydro rates for the people of this province. We are taking real action, Speaker. The member opposite is saying so be it. He knows politics, Speaker. What they don't know is how to bring down Hydro prices. We do and we're doing that. Thank you. New question. The leader of the third party. Speaker, my question is for the acting premier. The current Hydro I CEO is being paid over 500% more than his predecessor. His predecessor ran Hydro I when it was under public control. Not now that it's in private hands, rather. The salary is quite a bit steeper. Can the acting premier tell us, Speaker, is it simply a coincidence that this ridiculous pay increase occurred at the same time as the Liberal government turned Hydro I over to the private sector? Well, Speaker, at least the NDP has released a plan. It's not a very good plan, but at least they have released a plan. Speaker, we are implementing a significant reduction in Hydro prices. We are making it more affordable for businesses, for individuals, for farms. We are making it significantly more affordable for people who live in rural and remote parts of the province. We're making it significantly more affordable for people who are in low income, Speaker. We have $200 million available for people who want to make investments that will reduce their electricity prices. We have a solid, well thought out plan that we are implementing, Speaker, and that's what the people of this province expect us to do. Speaker, the Liberal government has put its stamp of approval on a 500% increase for the Hydro I CEO. Ontarians are understandably frustrated by the fact that the CEO is making almost $4.5 million while entire communities are struggling to pay their Hydro bills. Even worse, though, is the fact that the Premier has allowed a 500% salary increase for the Hydro I CEO at the same time as she and her party have allowed a 300% increase in Hydro rates for the people of this province since they formed government. When will the acting Premier and the Liberal government take the Hydro crisis that they have helped create seriously and stop their wrong-headed sell-off of Hydro I? Well, Speaker, I know that these salaries are unimaginable for virtually everyone in this province. We get that, Speaker. Our focus is on bringing down Hydro rates. The third party has offered a plan, as I have acknowledged, but part of their plan is to spend $4 billion to buy back shares in Hydro I. That's $4 billion that has to come from somewhere, most likely from health and from education, because that's where the bulk of spending is. So we are moving forward, Speaker. We are reducing Hydro rates because we heard loud and clear in this House and in our communities that electricity rates had risen too fast, too high, and that's why we're bringing those rates down. We have a credible plan. We're implementing that, Speaker, and that's what's expected of people in government. Thank you. Final supplementary. Speaker, it is no coincidence that the executive compensation of Hydro I jumped by over 500% while the Liberals started selling it off. This ludicrous pay increase, Speaker, is an insult to the many thousands of Ontario families and businesses who are struggling just to keep up with their Hydro bills. When will the acting premier realize that the people of this province are fed up, they are frustrated and thirsty for some real action on the part of the Liberal government to reduce Hydro rates and do what the people want? 80%, over 80% of the people of this province want you to stop selling off Hydro I. Senator, please. To the chair, please. Deputy Premier. Well, Speaker, we are taking action. We are reducing the price of Hydro in this province. People have already seen an 8% reduction in their bills and come this summer, Speaker, they will see an additional 17% on average. It will be more, Speaker, more for that, significantly more for those who are having the hardest time paying their bills. We have moved forward with a plan that actually is working. We've made fundamental changes to the Hydro pricing, Speaker, so that we can bring down those prices because we know Hydro costs have been too expensive. They have been unaffordable, Speaker. We take that responsibility very seriously and that's why we are acting. Thank you. New question. The leader of the third party. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you for the acting premier as well. The University Health Network in Toronto has seen its Hydro bills increase by $6 million in the past few years. $6 million could have gone to hiring 60 additional nurses instead, Speaker. Does the acting premier think that paying for soaring Hydro bills is a better use of $6 million than hiring 60 more nurses to help people who need care at UHA? Thank you. Minister of Health. Minister of Health, long-term care. Well, Mr. Speaker, I look forward to having this exchange with the leader of the third party for perhaps the third time. Mr. Speaker, with the University Health Network, we've provided them with an increase to their budget, their operating budget last year of just under $10 million, $10 million new dollars in addition to the existing operating funding. But I have to say, and whether it was Sault Ste. Marie or comments about Hamilton Health Sciences or other Windsor Hospital, the St. Joe's in Hamilton, it has come to the point where one by one these hospital administrators, CEOs feel compelled to come out publicly following her declarations to refute them, Mr. Speaker, and to point not only to the fact that they are able to sustain the highest quality of care despite electricity costs being about 100% of that total budget, but they've made incredible innovations to help sustain the electricity costs as well. Thank you. Supplementary. Speaker, no matter what this health minister says, every single person in this province realizes that every extra dollar that's being spent on hydro bills that are soaring at hospitals is a dollar that's not being spent on health care for the people of Ontario. Sciences has gone up nearly $2 million under the Liberal government. Will the acting Premier agree that 20 more nurses would have been a better way for the hospital to use its already shrinking budget than paying skyrocketing hydro bills? Well, I'm happy to report that the London Health Sciences Centre, their budget is doing anything but what the minister, sorry, the member opposite alleges. In fact, their operating budget increased by 2.4% last year by almost $18 million. But Mr. Speaker, the one-by-one, the member opposite continues to make these allegations and one-by-one, and no doubt London Health Sciences will be next, one-by-one these hospital officials, administrators, and CEOs come out as they did in Peterborough, as they did in Sault Ste. Marie to indicate that the member opposite, the leader of the third party, is incorrect, that they are able to sustain the high quality of care, recognizing, and it is an important component, but it's approximately 1% of the overall operating budget of a hospital that goes towards electricity costs. And I spoke about hospitals like Markham Stovill that have done incredible innovations or Health Sciences, North and Sudbury, saving half a million dollars a year on electricity because it... Thank you. Final supplementary. This Liberal government froze hospital budgets for four years and also provided less than inflationary increases after that. They have been starving the hospital system for years. The Liberal government is still planning to continue the sell-off of Hydro One, a disastrous idea, a disastrous plan. They're defending the ludicrously high salary of the new CEO at Hydro One, and they refuse to admit, they refuse to admit what is plainly obvious, Speaker, that hospitals could be using money that they are forced to spend on rising Hydro Bills to improve patient care. When will this acting Premier admit the obvious fact that her party has made a mistake with their Hydro Sell-Off and put an end to it before it's too late? Thank you. Oh, thank you. So, Mr. Speaker, so the President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions just yesterday, which is OCHU, part of QP, Mr. Speaker, said it's unfair of Ontario opposition MPPs to blame significant care and staffing cuts at our hospitals on high Hydro rates, according to the President, to suggest that the root of our community hospitals yearly budget deficits in the staff bed and care cuts that follow as high Hydro costs is to mislead the public, Mr. Speaker. The Minister will withdraw. I withdraw. They continue. So the President went on to say that communities know where the Liberals stand on hospital funding, but where do the PCs and the NDP stand? It would appear from their public comments that hospitals could expect relief in their relatively small Hydro budgets and no relief on their larger underfunding problems, said the President, Mr. Speaker. Wow. New question to members from the team, Carlton. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the President of the Treasury Board. Last night in an interview on News Talk 1010's The Rush, I heard the height... Please. Last night in an interview on News Talk 1010's The Rush, I heard the height of liberal arrogance. When asked if the clearly partisan Hydro ads made the Liberals look good, the Deputy Premier responded, so be it. So be it, Mr. Speaker. That's what the Deputy Premier of this province had to say about using taxpayer dollars to run liberal vanity ads. Mr. Speaker, through you, how can the President of the Treasury Board allow these tax-dollar-funded ads to continue, or does she just think, so be it? Thank you. President of the Treasury Board. And I'd like to remind everyone, Speaker, that Ontario is the only jurisdiction in Canada that actually has a government advertising ad. And the ads in question, just like any other ads we run, comply with that Government Advertising Act, and you yourself have ruled that they're not an offence to the legislature. So we're actually very proud that we're able to tell the people of Ontario that we will have 25% off. And we think that people need to know that, that that is useful information for the public of Ontario to understand. Just like we think it's useful information for the public to know about flu vaccines. Useful information for the public to know about sex education, and what's really in the curriculum, as opposed to a bunch of downed rooms. Thank you. One moment. Supplementary. During a revolution, a Queen once uttered, let them eat cake. And now our modern-day Marie Antoinette, the Deputy Premier of this province, tells the people of Ontario, so be it. Well, Mr. Speaker, you can't just say so be it to those people who are struggling to pay their bills. You can't just say so be it to people, particularly seniors, struggling between eating and eating. Order. Mr. Speaker, will the President of the Treasury Board stand in her place and apologize on behalf of the Deputy Premier? President of the Treasury Board. This afternoon. Do you want to respond? No, you can just say so. Okay. What I was going to say is, what we wanted to say to the people of Ontario was, who will you help? When we ran... Member from the P.N. Carlton will come to order. Our message to the people of Ontario was, who will you help when we ran our advertising campaign about sexual violence and sexual assault and sexual harassment? And not only did people in Ontario see it, 85 million people all over the world looked at that advertising and it changed public opinion in a way that we are very proud of. Within six months, 55% strongly agreed that they had an obligation to intervene when witnessing sexual harassment. 92% agreed that they had an obligation to intervene when witnessing sexual violence. 83% understood that if they witnessed sexual harassment. New question, Member from Hamilton, Melbourne. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the acting premier. Children were removed from their families based on the results of faulty testing done by mother risk going back to 2005. It's not difficult to understand how deeply emotional it is to be taken from your family in the first place. Yet the ministry recently ordered insensitive posters to be distributed widely in schools suggesting to children that the removal from their family may have been unjustified leading to panic and embarrassment for families. The provincial advocate for children and youth has said, quote, on a hundred levels these posters are potentially damaging to vulnerable children. End of quote. Can the acting premier tell us if she thinks that this is appropriate and explain how in the world this was allowed to happen? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. General. Thank you very much, Speaker. And thank the member opposite for asking a very important question. Speaker, our government is very much committed to protecting young people and doing what's best for them. We recently became aware of the mother risk commission's posters. Speaker, we understand the concerns that have been raised by young people in schools and by the provincial advocate for children and youth. As a result, Speaker, my understanding is the Ministry of Education is advising school principals and staff to have the posters and materials removed from schools immediately. Speaker, we understand that some students may have been negatively affected by these posters and may require additional support. And it is also my understanding, Speaker, the Ministry of Education has asked school boards to alert their mental health leads and guidance staff to be available to support students. If any students in our schools have concerns about the mother risk commission's posters, Speaker, we encourage them to speak with their school staff or support. Thank you. Supplementary. Back to the acting Premier, Speaker. The flawed mother risk program has caused unbelievable damage to children and families across Ontario and beyond. These inappropriate posters placed in schools across the province have only served to incite fear and panic and make things worse for vulnerable kids. One mother described the impact on her adopted children as a punch in the stomach. She talked about children being scared that they would be asked questions by their peers and their teachers. The Adoption Council of Ontario is asking where the consultation was with adoptive families before these damaging posters were put up. Will the acting Premier explain why the government distributed these damaging posters and requested them to be put into schools? I'm committed to ensuring the safety and the well-being of all students in this province, and I understand the concerns that were raised by students, by parents, by the community, by the provincial advocate for children. I've been in touch with him, Mr. Speaker, and we have requested that schools remove the materials from schools, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we regret that the distribution of the mother's posters has caused concerns for students and we have provided direction to the school boards to ensure that mental health leads are aware of this situation and that any student that needs additional supports will receive that additional support, Mr. Speaker. It's important that if people have concerns, I want to ensure that they have the support to a place to assist at this time. Thank you. My question is for the Minister responsible for the poverty reduction strategy. Mr. Speaker, our youth is one of our main resources in Ontario. They can become the persons that they want to be and that they should be. Our future depends on ensuring that the talents of all the young people of Ontario are allowed to flourish. However, there's often obstacles to this path of success. One of them is poverty. Mr. President, I'm very proud that we have targets to reduce child poverty. This commitment is to reduce child poverty by 25% in five years. This would make a huge difference in the life of many children. Would the Minister inform the House about Ontario's progress in meeting this target? Thank you. Minister of Housing and Minister responsible for poverty reduction. Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the member from Ottawa Vanier for that question, which is so close to my own heart. Mr. Speaker, last week the province released its annual poverty reduction strategy report highlighting the progress made in 2016. Here are a few highlights. We're increasing the monthly income of almost 19,000 families by fully exempting child support payments from social assistance benefit calculations. We're providing healthy meals and snacks every year to more than 896,000 children and youth during the course of the school year. We're delivering child-centered learning to 260,000 four and five-year-olds through full-day kindergarten. We're helping over 115,000 households that are at risk of homelessness to remain housed. And Mr. Speaker, Ontario has now reduced child poverty by over 20% lifting over 100,000 children out of poverty across the province. Thank you. Thank you, Minister. It is very encouraging to see all the progress that has been made on this file. That concerns me. According to the Children's Hospital Ontario, 38,500 Ottawa residents including 15,000 children visit food banks each month. For these individuals and families, the inability to access sufficient affordable, nutritious food is a core symptom of poverty. In the early years of a children's life and sufficient nutrition can impact their ability to learn and to grow. Through you, Mr. Speaker, today in our Ontario plans to tackle the growing problem of food insecurity. Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Speaker, and thanks again to the member for Ottawa venue for her question. When I was appointed Minister responsible for the poverty reduction strategy, a key item in my mandate was to develop a food security strategy. As a father of three, I certainly know the importance of nutritious food and the role it plays for children. I can only imagine the worry that parents who have a tight food budget to face in making sure their children grow up healthy and strong. It's for these Ontarians that we're working to create Ontario's very first food security strategy building on our work to reduce poverty across the province. Our aim, Speaker, is to ensure every Ontarian has sufficient physical and economic access to nutritious food, including remote First Nation community speaker. This is important work, and I look forward to reporting back to the House on our progress. Thank you. Thank you, and good morning, Speaker. My question is to the Deputy Premier. The last year Hydro One employees appeared on the Sunshine list. There were over 4,200 names. Their compensation had grown by over 14% in the previous year. This year, we only get to see 5 names. And the CEO's salary is up almost 600% from the last Sunshine list appearance. The government is still the majority shareholder. So my question is, why won't the government disclose all eligible Hydro One salaries on the Sunshine list? Well, Speaker, it's a really interesting bobbin weaving deflecting over on the other side, Speaker. They have no plan when it comes to reducing the member from Niagara once Glenbrook will come to order. They have no plan to bring down Hydro Price, Speaker, and that's why they're talking about other elements, but we have no plan 29 days and counting. Speaker, they're diverting using things like they're actually going to order me. I did not say what they said I said in the interview. I just had another review of it, Speaker. They're making it up. They're making it up because they have no plan to bring down Hydro Price. 29 days. We're awaiting, Speaker. The people in Ontario are waiting. If this party pretends to be a government in waiting, they need to step up. Thank you. Back to the Deputy Premier. People in Ontario don't appreciate this kind of dodging of the questions. Only in Liberal Ontario would cutting off 60,000 customers earn you a 600 percent raise. The government is still the majority shareholders. The Liberals get a say in compensation pay. Will the government put Hydro 1 back on the Sunshine List? Or do they think the Hydro 1 Millionaires Club should get a free pass in a year when they cut 60,000 people back who had to go home to a dark house? Deputy Premier. Minister of Finance. Thank you. We all share with the well-being of the Ray Pairs and the people of Ontario. One of the reasons why we took the step to make a more productive, more efficient organization to deliver those services and their outperforming, Mr Speaker. As a result, and it was very clearly stated out in the prospectus, what the executives would be paying and it would be made public. That has been done. Of course, the executives are being paid based on their bonuses and the ability to deliver for the people of Ontario. That is happening. It is why we are doing this by 25% is why we take the extraordinary opportunity to further help those in rural communities. That is helping. It is why the company is being more responsive to consumers to ensure that they don't get cut off, especially when there's alternate means to support them. It is why they are communicating to the people of Ontario and to the Ray Pairs, which the opposition hasn't been doing, Mr Speaker. We'll continue. Thank you. Any questions? Mr Speaker, my question to the acting Premier, during a town hall meeting that I held this week in my writing, I met a couple who told me they were living on a seniors pension of $1,400 a month. Their rent is $1,000 a month. They are terrified that their landlord will seek an above guideline rent increase that will make it impossible for them to live in their unit or make it impossible for them to buy food. We're told they'd have to wait 10 to 15 years for an affordable housing unit. It's not clear they're going to live another 10 to 15 years. So after 14 years of liberal government, why do seniors still live in fear that they may lose their homes because of an unfair, unreasonable, unaffordable rent increase? Thank you. Well, thank you, Speaker. Thank you for that important question, and it certainly is top of mind for many of us living in Ontario. And I can say, Speaker, that it's absolutely unacceptable that so many Ontarians are faced with housing costs that are rising so dramatically, and there is real anxiety within that market. Families on tight budgets such as seniors really are feeling the pinch of a rental market that is struggling to keep up with what we said before in this House. We are developing a number of plans to address both the anxiety in the rental market and housing affordability as well, Mr Speaker. We're working with our municipal partners to make secondary suites more readily available. We've passed inclusionary zoning. We have frozen the municipal property tax. So in short, Mr Speaker, we understand the anxiety. We understand the problem. Thank you, Speaker. Back to the acting premier. The NDP brought in real rent control when it was in government. The PC government killed it, and it has stayed killed under the Liberal government. Before the 2003 election, Liberals described the loss of rent control as quote, a betrayal of tenants. Unquote. They promised real rent protection for tenants. But after winning the election, Liberals decided to keep betraying tenants for another 14 years. Why should struggling tenants in Ontario believe that the premier or this government will protect them from unfair, unreasonable, unaffordable rent increases? Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Speaker. And again, thank you to the member of the third party for the question. I appreciate the focus that the NDP have brought to this issue, and we certainly welcome them joining in the focus. What we have said on this side of the House, Mr Speaker, is that we will be looking at expanding rent controls. We will be bringing in a suite of legislation that addresses more than rent controls. We've been studying this issue. We've been working on this issue. We've been travelling across the province talking about the RTA to a wide variety of stakeholders so that we can get it right, so that we can bring legislation forward that deals with rent control, that deals with expanding rent control, and a whole host of other issues around that fact. Mr Speaker, we get it. We're working on it. New question to the minister about somebody 20 weeks. Well, thank you. Thank you, Speaker. My question to the minister of natural resources and forestry. There's no denying the positive impact that trees have on our province. When more trees are planted, it helps promote clean air in flight and fight climate change. Which explain why I've heard members from my riding in North America and the West asking me what they can do to get more involved in the greening of our province. I understand that the minister of natural resources and forestry has committed to planting 3 million trees across Ontario in 2017 as part of the 50 million trees program. However, my constituent said, my constituent and I believe there's always more work to be done. Speaker, could the minister please explain to me how my community can get more involved with the government initiative to plant 50 million trees. Question? Thank you. Minister of natural resource forestry. Thank you, Speaker, and I'd like to thank the member from Northumberland, Quinty-West for his question. One of our government's priorities is combating climate change and promoting clean air. And the 50 million tree program is part of Ontario's efforts to improve air quality across the province by planting millions of trees each year. These trees will remove approximately 6.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050. The equivalent of taking 1.1 million cars off the road for an entire year. And as part of this initiative, please to announce that earlier this week our government launched the Green Leaf Challenge. Ontario's Green Leaf Challenge calls on the public to get involved in making the province a cleaner greener place to live by planting a tree and recording it on our website. So each year, Ontario plants approximately 3 million trees under its 50 million tree program and my government is now challenging the public to map. Supplementary. Thank you, Speaker. I'm pleased to see that our government's priorities align with my constituents. Minister, in a similar partnership with Forest Ontario and the Highway of Europe Tribute, one tree is being planted along Highway 401 between Trenton and Toronto for every soldier who has fallen serving Canada since confederation a total of 170,000 trees. And they had the opportunity to plant some of those trees. I'm happy to hear that the Green Leaf Challenge will help people to connect with the resources they need to help our environment. Speaker, could the Minister please go into more details about the Green Leaf Challenge work? Thank you, Minister. Thank you very much, Speaker. And thank you to the member for his question his community's leadership and enthusiasm is inspiring. Individuals, organizations and businesses can participate in the Green Leaf Challenge by planting a tree, participating in a community tree planting event or making a donation to have a tree planted on their behalf. Afterwards, people can track their progress at website greenleafchallenge.ca This allows people to register their trees on an interactive map accessing tree planting resources and finding events in their communities. This initiative is supported by Forest Ontario in the province that honours Ontario's 150th anniversary. I'd like to thank Forest Ontario for being a champion of this cause and the member from Wellington Halton for his Green Legacy program. We're proud of our initiatives, our Green initiatives on this side of the house. Now, see? Everything did come out without the heckling it got done. I think you should stop. New question, the member from Duffin Kelly. My question is to the Deputy Premier. In 2015, the Liberal government decided to remove the powers of the Auditor General and instead turned her office into a rubber stamp for partisan government advertising. Since then, this government has spent millions of dollars in partisan ads which the AG would never have approved. It's never too late to do the right thing. Will the Deputy Premier restore Auditor General oversight of government advertising by supporting Bill 112 this afternoon? Thank you very much, Speaker and I stand here as a proud member of this government which introduced one of the most strict and stringent advertisement of legislation on government advertising. Under our legislation, government ad can include the name, voice or image of a member of the Executive Council or a member of the Assembly. Include the name or logo of a party or a member of the Assembly. When it came to voting for that bill in 2004, you would think by listening to the opposition today that they must have wholeheartedly endorsed that bill. But they did not. In fact, in 2004, the official opposition voted against that bill. Members from Simcoe Gray and Renfrew Nipissing Rembroke, York Simpo, Alaskoca, Alderman Norfolk, Oxford, Wright and Alton Hills, who are members today, voted against that bill in 2004. Thank you, supplementary. The minister seems to enjoy history. So let's go back to history when you removed the oversight of the auditor general and we just want to restore the auditor general's oversight and that's what Bill 112 would do. And Tatens expect their government to respect tax dollars not spend millions on partisan ads. There was a time when the Deputy Premier believed this as well. Back in 2004, she said it's just outrageous to me that governments spend money on what are in essence political pieces. What has changed? Why does this government think it's okay to spend tax dollars to prop up Premier's failing polling numbers? Well, Speaker, the opposition loves the 2004 bill so much that they voted against it. They did not support it even then. In fact, they actually, they pined for the whole old Mike Harris style ads where he used to stroll up on the screen and justify cutting closing hospitals where he used to justify closing schools where he actually stood there and flick the lights of Ontario's public services and Ontario's electricity system which we're still rebuilding in this province. And now they stand up and they said that was a great piece of legislation. Speaker, this is nothing but distraction. It has been 29 days since we put forward our plan to cut hydro rates by 25 percent and we still have not heard from the opposition as to what their plan is going to be because they have no plan to help Ontario. Thank you. The minister will come to order. New question to the member from the House. My question is to the acting Premier. This is the third time I have risen in this House to urge this Liberal Government to sign off on a project to address London's ongoing mental health crisis which would allow ambulances to take non-acute mental health patients directly to the crisis centre rather than the hospitals constantly overcrowded ER. On Monday the health minister said he is looking at the project. I'm sorry Speaker, but that's not good enough. This Liberal Government has been looking at the project for almost two years. What my community wants to know is not whether, but when will this project go ahead? Well Mr Speaker, I know that this is the third time that I've had the opportunity to address this. So this is a request coming out of London from a greater organisation, I think all of us know the Canadian Mental Health Association that they have built and are operating a crisis centre that we are funding. We provided $1.2 million of funding for them to operate a crisis centre. It's a great new model Mr Speaker, a crisis centre for youth and adults aged 16 and up, not just for London but for Middlesex County as well. They're doing great work. They're very busy because of the fantastic supports and resources that they provide. They have made a request Mr Speaker for something which does not occur in this province which is to enable ambulances to instead of dropping off patients at hospitals to allow those patients to be taken directly to the crisis centre the type of structure and governance that exists does not allow that in this province but we're looking at this proposal nonetheless. Thank you Speaker. People in London cannot wait any longer. The mental health patients who are lined up in hallway stretchers need action from this Liberal Government not more excuses. This project will not alone solve the crisis but it will help. It is desperately needed and it needs to happen now. The Minister of Health is using the Ambulance Act as an excuse for inaction when it actually has nothing to do with the project. I have another suggestion for the Minister will he use his ministerial authority to immediately recognize London's crisis centre as a designated health facility under Reg 552 of the Health Insurance Act so that the ambulance transfer of patients can be funded. Minister. Well Mr Speaker these are all interesting suggestions. I would suggest that my ministry as I've referenced I'm not prepared to go against the law in Ontario which is the ambulance act that has the requirement that paramedics and EMS that they drop patients off at hospital environments. I'm not sure if she's suggesting that we redesignate the crisis centre as a hospital she knows we've had discussions about this. We are looking at their proposal Mr. Speaker is no other situation in this province similar to that that she is requesting. We have suggested that should that crisis centre come under the auspices of the hospital the London Health Sciences themselves that that would enable that dispatch and drop off to take place. But it's a complicated issue regrettably Mr. Speaker it's not something that I can sign off on a whim notwithstanding how important this is we have to do the work required. Mr. Speaker Thank you my question is for the minister of government services. For many Ontarians as you will know buying a house is the largest single investment they will make in their entire lives and a house of course is more than an investment it's a home sanctuary home base for family children career and community of course your home should be the place where you feel the most secure for some including those in my own riding of Etobicoke north dreams unfortunately have turned into nightmares and I'm concerned when I hear some of those constituents have been left in distress with nowhere really to turn. Terrian provides warranty coverage and other protections to new homes in Ontario but it's all encompassing mandate Speaker and multiple roles create the potential for conflict of interest. Speaker could the minister explain how our government is improving excuse me consumer protection for new home buyers and what our government is doing to change structural challenges created by the conservative government time. Speaker and I want to thank the member from Etobicoke north and for responding to his constituents on this important issue and I'm pleased to speak about the great work our governments doing for buyers of new homes in Ontario as the minister of government consumer services I'm committed to improving the lives of new homes in Ontario. I'm pleased to speak to the minister of government and I'm pleased to speak to Terrian by strengthening consumer protection. I've heard from consumers and industry leaders about the warranty and dispute resolution process in the new home building sector. Well I recognize that the building industry in Ontario produces high quality housing and most are pleased to call their new place their home. I know there are ways that Terrian and our new home warranty legislation this week I publicly release that report and communicate an action plan which I'm happy to expand on in the supplementary. Thank you. Thank you minister of course my constituents and I of Etobicoke north appreciate movement on this file. Speaker the benchmarks for modern governance, transparency, accountability and oversight have of course evolved over the past 40 years and more specifically the size and complexity of the building industry has changed dramatically since Terrian was conceived in 1976. Since its creation Terrian's governing statute has remained virtually unchanged and it's somewhat out of step with the times. But giving Terrian the responsibility to set the terms and administer the new home warranty plans, regulate builders and vendors while also adjudicating disputes between homeowners and builders of course it is impossible potentially to avoid the potential perception of our existence of conflicts of interest. My question therefore speaker is this, again to Minister McCharles, what is our government doing with the reports recommendations and how are we changing Terrian's structure to better protect Ontario consumers? Thank you minister. Thank you speaker. So following the reports recommendation I've asked Terrian to bring in new deposit protection measures to better reflect today's home prices and deposit requirements. Also we're changing the structure of Terrian by giving government responsibility to make rules and set standards to improve accountability and transparency. Further we are giving the new home building sector the stand alone regulator it deserves by separating the provider of the new home warranty program from the new home builders regulator and finally we're making the dispute resolution process easier and fair for homeowners to understand. I also want to stress speaker the actions that we are taking will not increase the price that Terrians pay for a new home. I would like to thank Honourable Justice Cunningham for his report and I look forward to the changes we're making to increase consumer protection. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker my question is for the Deputy Premier. Conre Shell Haas owns the Forest Motel and Woodlawn Retreat outside of Stratford. Conre has a problem his hydro bills are out of control and his costs keep going up and up. Last year he paid over $21,000 for a hydro that's despite investing over $90,000 in energy efficient upgrades including almost $12,000 on the LED light bulb retrofit program. My question to the Deputy Premier is why is the government paying small business to conserve energy only to push their bills even higher? Deputy Premier Well Speaker I'm sure this constituent will be very happy when he learns about the steps we're taking to take down those electricity cost speaker because we do know that people across this province are welcoming the changes that we were making the 25% reduction. So Speaker I think just to recap we reduced bills by 8%. We cut delivery charges to the most rural customers by 20% starting in January 1st. Our new agreement with Quebec will reduce electricity system costs for consumers by about $70 million from previous forecast Speaker. We've introduced programs like the Ontario Electricity Support Program, the Rural and Remote Hydro Rate Protection Program. We've suspended the second round of the large rural procurement process. That saves us up to $3.8 billion in cost speaker. We've reduced feed-in tariff prices for annual price reviews and that's saving rate payers to a minimum of $1.9 billion. Deputy Premier Thank you Speaker. Mr Speaker Conroy isn't alone in paying more for using less hydro. In November I asked the Premier about Mike Carter, owner of He's paying more than double for the hydro delivery charge because he isn't using enough hydro. It's the same story with Conroy whose hydro bill has seen a double-digit increase over the last four years while his energy consumption has dropped 9%. That's a 9% energy savings in a double-digit increase in hydro costs. Speaker while we're waiting for an answer to the question I asked in November how can this government justify something so stupid? No answer. No answer. Speaker if you think a 25% reduction is stupid I simply beg to disagree Speaker. I think we are taking the important steps to reduce those hydro prices. People across this province are benefiting from that Speaker I guess my question to the member opposite is we are still waiting for your plan we are still waiting to hear what you would do what your best advice is we hear lots of criticism but 29 days ago your leader said that the plan was only days away I don't know how many days he was talking about but 29 days you're still counting. New question thank you very much Mr. Speaker skyrocketing high prices hydro prices continue to negatively impact the lives of Ontarians and businesses this is to the acting premier the Peterborough examiner is reporting that a popular restaurant Rollins will close in April after a half century in business closing after 50 years Peter Brueger the owner cited rising hydro costs as part of the reason behind the decision and I quote Bill has more than doubled in the last two to three years even with energy consumption going down monthly bills went from $2,500 a month to $7,000 a month my question is to the acting premier why did your government sit back for four years according to your own polling and watch high hydro costs negatively impact businesses and jobs across this great province and do nothing do nothing thank you thank you speaker and once again we have an example of a business in this province who would benefit from reduced hydro prices businesses across this province farms residential owners speaker people across this province are already benefiting and will benefit even more speaker from our plan to reduce prices our plan provides for fast relief, substantial relief, widespread long lasting relief unfortunately the NDP plan just doesn't pass the test it is riddled with gaps it is riddled with ambiguity speaker the biggest ideas don't do one thing to take one cent off one bill in this province speaker they want to spend $4 billion $4 supplementary now we haven't seen this premier's plan a plan that they haven't had the decency to introduce in legislation and bring to the people of this province this premier's scheme won't save Rollins or any of the other businesses that we heard about when the interior chamber of commerce was here on Monday it's too late your government did nothing for too long the owner of Rollins pointed out that he cooks with natural gas so the high hydro cost were a turning point in his decision to close after 50 years speaker what does this government say to the businesses who can't afford their hydro bills or to the employees who are going to be losing their jobs in this province Mr. Senator please Mr. Senator please thank you we're saying very very clearly the high hydro rates are coming down in Ontario they've already come down by 8% they're coming down to bring the total to an average of 25% more for people in rural and remote areas more for people with low income we are making substantial changes to the electricity pricing system to provide relief for exactly the kind of people we hear about in this legislature but the NDP speaker their biggest idea is to spend $4 billion that's $4 billion taking away from schools and hospitals to buy hydro one shares on the market that would not take 1 cent off anyone's bill speaker the Toronto Star has said on March 1st there's no evidence that keeping it public would make this particular problem any better under the NDP proposal low income Ontarians are being asked to wait and see really pursuant to standing order 38A the member for NDP in Carleton has given notice of her dissatisfaction with the answer to her question given by the President of the Treasury Board concerning government advertising this matter will be debated Tuesday at 6pm I'm standing there are no deferred votes this House stands recess until 1pm this afternoon