 It is now time for oral questions and I recognize the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Well thank you speaker my question is for the Premier. Last week the Government of Alberta announced that they would be asking a third party to conduct a review of how that province responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. So my question to the Premier is has he discussed this review with his friend the Premier of Alberta and if so is the Premier willing to consider conducting a similar independent review here in Ontario. Minister of Long-Term Care to reply. Thank you Speaker and thank you for the question. Our government has been clear that we are committed to an independent commission. It will have public hearings, public report and the transparency involved in this process is our commitment. Thank you. Speaker last week the Premier said the government was prepared for a second wave of COVID but was unwilling or unable to share any details of that. Families have heard assurances from this government before. This is the same Premier that insisted that there was an iron ring around long-term care while COVID-19 was spreading through long-term care homes and killing over 1800 seniors. An independent preparedness review could look at what worked and what didn't and ensure that we are actually prepared for a second wave. Will the Premier launch such a process today? Thank you Speaker and thank you for the question. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak our government has taken progressive and prudent measures to protect the health and well-being of Ontarians including our residents in long-term care. We are carefully and gradually reopening the province and the people of Ontario will remain at the centre of those decisions and those decisions are being advised upon by worldwide experts our chief medical officer of health the experts in science and evidence on COVID-19. We are moving forward to make sure that all our residents in long-term care and Ontarians have the utmost of our commitment to their safety and well-being. And the final supplementary. My final supplementary is to the Premier Speaker as the Premier knows there's a lot at stake if a second wave of COVID-19 hits our communities. Our ability to work the health of our kids in schools the safety of our seniors in long-term care are all at risk if we aren't fully prepared for a second wave of COVID-19. The Premier is once again insisting that he's fully prepared that wasn't true last time speaker and it's no wonder that people don't believe it's true this time either. So why is this Premier afraid of having an independent review of what he's done so far and what he needs to do better. Minister of long-term care. Thank you Speaker and thank you once again for the interest in this matter. We have been clear and transparent about having an independent commission that will get to the bottom of the issues in long-term care. It was clear even with the Justice Ghalise report back in the summer of 2019 that our system was strained under COVID-19 which affected the the global long-term care homes and our most vulnerable people worldwide that our system was strained and we are going to find out what happened. We will be having that commission and announcements will be coming. We are very pleased that that we are getting to the bottom of this. Ontarians deserve answers to their questions. This will be independent. There will be public hearings and there will be a public report. We will get to the bottom of it and we will fix long-term care. Thank you. The next question once again the leader of the opposition. Well Speaker with all due respect Justice Ghalise's report apparently was not taken into consideration and now we have over 1,830 seniors who've lost their lives in long-term care. It's a tragedy that should have been avoided but my question is to the Premier Speaker. He might think that the government has nothing to learn from an independent review but families across Ontario have real concerns about the province's readiness for a second wave. Last week the Premier ruled through Essex for a series of photo ops but local mayors were pretty frustrated when the Premier didn't take time to hear their concerns about the desperate need for a coordinated response to ongoing outbreaks amongst migrant workers. Unlike other provinces Ontario has failed to protect these workers and the communities they live in from COVID-19. Why is the Premier opposed to an independent review that would point out what he could be doing better in preparation for the second wave? The Premier to reply? Through you Mr. Speaker we had a great visit to Essex and I talked to Mayor Santos and Mayor McDonald, followed up with phone calls, made sure they were in touch with Knight Anderson if they had any concerns at all. So I thought it turned out extremely well visiting the people out there and seeing firsthand and talking to the farmers and not only the Essex area but up in the Chatham Kent area as well and there's nothing better than getting out there and meeting the people. I'm first to admit do we all have challenges right at the beginning yes but I don't know if you saw the article or the newscast on CNN you want to crush the curve do what Ontario is doing. The rest of the world, the rest of the world Mr. Speaker is watching what we're doing and we have a long ways to go by no means is this fight over and we aren't even close for this fight to be over but maybe the rest of the world can pay attention to some of the things that we're doing working collaboratively with municipalities and with the federal government. Thank you. The supplementary question. Mr. Speaker I find it really quite unbelievable that the Premier thinks that 1,838 lives lost in long-term care is a victory. Last May the Premier claimed that he had actually established an iron ring around long-term care. We know that even as he was saying those word speaker residents were enduring conditions that were so bad in some cases police had to be notified and over as I said 1,800 long-term care residents have died from COVID-19. This matter desperately needs an independent public inquiry. The Premier blocked that and has promised his commission which is still nowhere to be seen months after it was promised. In the immediate term though families really do need to know that their loved ones will be protected. So will the Premier put in place an independent review before the second wave hits? And the Premier. Premier Mr. Speaker I guess the leader of the opposition is putting words in my mouth I never declared victory on this. This is an ongoing battle continuously and the only people that deserve any kudos are the people of Ontario. Not even the government not me but the people of Ontario. I'm actually working so hard again with the municipalities working with stakeholders right across this province and working with the federal government and we're very fortunate because of the great work that everyone has done. Now we have additional support over a tune of seven billion dollars thanks to the federal government we appreciate their their support and their financial support as well it's going to go a long way for for transit and large urban areas along with municipalities all 444 of them are going to benefit response from from the funding here so thank you. The final supplement. Well Speaker whether it's parents who still don't know when school is going to be resuming for their kids or frontline staff in our hospitals and long-term care people need to know that Ontario has the equipment and the resources that we need and the right plan in place should a second wave occur. They also want to know where their government went wrong and how they can do better. The Premier's top priority may be staging photo ops with the Conservative Party donors throughout Southwestern Ontario but there's still much much more that needs to be done so my question is pretty basic why won't the Premier agree to an independent interim review in preparedness for the second wave as his friend from Alberta is doing as we speak. For you here we're reviewing this every single day I get questioned every single day at one o'clock and they aren't softball questions by any means we're going through review every single day and correcting the issues because by no means Mr. Speaker is anyone perfect when we're dealing with COVID is something that the world you know just attack the world basically and we're dealing with it and I think overall overall everyone in Ontario has done an incredible job and following the protocols and the guidelines and that's the only way we're going to get through this if we continue listening to the health and science that are health tables giving us and the rest of the people are following the proper protocols social distancing and so on so forth that's how we're going to get through this thank you. The next question once again the Leader of the Opposition. Thanks Speaker my next question is also to the Premier but I really don't understand why the Premier is avoiding you know having a hard look and taking some accountability around what happened with COVID-19's first wave so that we're ready for the second wave I just don't understand. Anyways my question to the Premier is that last week the Government was forced to admit that they're not going to keep their promise of funding or building rather 15,000 new long-term care beds which isn't surprising because in two years they've only built 34 beds literally 99.99% short of their goal. Premier announced new funding scheme as we all know last week to construct homes and install air conditioning but no new money was announced speaker so my question to the Premier is will private for-profit homes be accessing the existing pot of money under the new funding scheme at the expense of municipal and not-for-profit homes. Thank you Speaker and thank you again for the question. It's been clear that over the decades leading up to this date and the beginning of COVID-19 and it's havoc that it's wreaked all across the globe and in Ontario equally that there was neglect of the long-term care system. Our announcement our modernizing funding model is a start and we've been absolutely clear about that the neglect that we are catching up on as a government that's committed to long-term care is unprecedented in Ontario's history. I will repeat unprecedented the funding that is being put behind our plan unprecedented and this is a jump start we will create an environment with which long-term care can be built it was not built under the previous government allocations were made they didn't go forward they never got built this government is putting dollars behind its commitment it will make it happen we will rebuild advance and repair long-term care. Supplementary question. Well Speaker you know I've watched the Premier talk real tough about those greedy for-profit operators at some of his press conferences that he's so proud of but it looks like his plan is to put even more public money into private pocket Speaker. Months ago when the Premier first promised a commission he ordered all issues would be on the table well if that's the case why is the Premier already moving ahead with policies that will entrench the role of for-profit companies in the long-term care system and shovel millions of dollars out of health care out of the health care system and into the pockets of their shareholders the the private profits of their shareholders. Mr. Speaker see that's the difference between ourselves and leader of the opposition I don't look at non-profit profit and so on so forth I look at the individual that's sweating their back off when it's 28 degrees because you guys did absolutely nothing for 15 years we're going to make sure we get air conditioning in every single room. I don't care about profit or non-profit and the families don't care as long as their elderly the elderly mother or father or grandparent is being taken care of that's what they care about. Thank you the next question the member for Willowdale. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker my question is to the Premier. Premier during this time of uncertainty many municipalities have stepped up to continue to provide vital services for many of our constituents and as we continue to work towards economic recovery all levels of government know we have to keep working together to keep people safe. Speaker as Willowdale has returned to work they need to make sure that they get there safely and no one should have to turn down a job because they don't want to risk their health during a crowded commute. We must also continue to help people enterprises and communities adapt to that new normal we hear so much about. Investments in municipalities and transit systems require a shared level of responsibility between all levels of government particularly the federal and provincial governments. Speaker can the Premier please tell us about the negotiations with the federal government regarding additional financial and health supports. I want to thank a great member from Willowdale and last week the government in coordination with the Premier's reached a historic agreement for all people of Canada right across the board and it was 19 billion dollars and it was a tough negotiation and again I give all the credit to the Premier's I want to give a shout out to Scott Moe did an incredible job and I want to give out a shout out to Deputy Prime Minister Kristia Freeland that negotiated hard but fairly and it's going to be beneficial for every person in Canada every single province we're covering everything from testing and tracing to mental health to health to supplies of PPE making sure everyone has enough PPE right across the board it was it was great there's eight different categories Mr. Speaker and I think people of this province in this country everyone's going to benefit for that so thank you for the question and the supplementary question thank you Speaker and not a new deal Premier through you Speaker is an incredible incredible news for for the people of this province and it's important that we continue to work towards better outcomes here for the people of Ontario because this new agreement will mean additional support for all 444 municipalities throughout our great province help for their transit systems it'll mean that we can strengthen our health and long-term care systems Speaker it'll mean that we can provide more efficient effective system for expanding COVID-19 testing contact tracing and stockpiling our PPE it'll mean new funds to help get our economy going again Mr. Speaker Premier your leadership has made Ontario stronger which means Canada just got better and this Speaker is progress that we can all be proud of Speaker through you can the Premier please share with my constituents in all Ontarians about the significance of this agreement well through again thank thank the member from Willowdale through the action plan for restarting the economy 3.3 billion in additional health care investments including 2.1 billion in new initiatives to respond to COVID-19 outbreaks and the province is increasing the capacity in Ontario's hospitals to attune a 935 million dollars in the hospital sector comprising a 594 million to accelerate the progress of addressing hospital capacity issues and 341 million for additional acute care critical care beds and more assessment centers this is about again working together with municipalities I want to give a shout out to all 444 municipalities that that helped us and we all stuck together the province is stuck together and again the federal government stepped up again I want to thank the Prime Minister Deputy Prime Minister for supporting the entire country this is great for everyone thank you member for Kingston the Islands thank you Speaker all the way back in April the Federation of Canadian municipalities released their report with the estimates that municipalities were going to be facing enormous budget shortfalls anywhere between 10 and 15 billion and while I'm glad to hear about the agreement with the federal government where they're feeding federal money through the provinces we have had no clarity on the details of where that money is going to go and leadership is not fighting against some of that money being used for paid sick days for workers who are going to have to stay home that is not leadership from this Premier so since the days that downloading began on municipalities their budgets have been incredibly tight they have struggled to maintain in property tax increases in line with inflation and this government has yet to provide details of what funding they're providing to these municipalities that are facing these tremendous shortfalls will the Premier tell us today what that money is being spent on and if the province is going to add increased funding to that money for municipalities across Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing thanks Speaker through you to the member opposite I think when the Premier answered this question earlier today he sold himself short and as I have said and Minister Phillips and many others have said at that table with the other Premiers and the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister there was one person that led the way in terms of not just speaking on behalf of Ontario municipalities but speaking on behalf of all Canadian municipalities wanting a fair share and that's our own Premier our government continues to work with our municipal partners with AMO as the member opposite notes we very early on the Premier and I and our government supported the Canadian Federation of Municipalities asked of the federal government we all knew that given the scale and the magnitude of the hole that our municipal partners were in that we needed a federal contribution and again I want to commend the Premier for this tremendous 19 billion dollar COVID-19 recovery package that includes clearly the dollars that our municipal partners have been asking for supplementary question thank you Speaker and I didn't actually hear an answer to whether the province was going to add any additional funding or they're going to just entirely lean on the Fed speaker for that money the budget shortfalls are tremendous and the amount of money that the feds are giving us are is not going to be enough to balance those budgets it's just not they're not allowed to run deficits so we are faced with either dramatic service cuts or the province stepping up and supplementing the federal package with actual dollars that go to actual programs so because of the lack of an answer that I was given just now I will ask again will the province be adding will the province be adding to the federal package will they provide the funding that municipalities need simply to get through this year thank you Speaker I think it's very important to note that that the 19 billion dollar COVID-19 deal with all of our provinces and territories really was that significant because of our premier's work we acted immediately right at the very start to work closely with our municipal partners we were there for them right from the start we put a package in place that all parties agreed to order to allow councils to operate in the early days of the pandemic early on we provided 200 million dollars to help our most vulnerable I followed that up as part of our commitment to the safe restart package with an additional 150 million dollars for even prior to this deal being arranged so you know it with all due respect we've been there we've put money up we'll continue to work with our partners and we're going to make sure that and I've said this in the house many times speaker that municipalities are going to respond recovery not just in Ontario but right across Canada thank you the next question the member for Ottawa Vane thank you mr. speaker for the minister of education we're in the middle of the summer which means that back to school is around the corner and this is normally the time when parents starts planning for the return to school parents in my writing are worried anyone who is a parent understands the need to prepare their children we need to prepare them mentally and we need to make logistic arrangements for return to school but they don't know what to prepare for and this is creating an additional stress to the already unstable situation education is the anchor of a society and we need some confidence that we are moving forward with a concrete plan that can be effectively implemented when will the minister provide the needed guidance to parents so that they can stop worrying and prepare for full time return to school minister of education thank you speaker and thank you to the member officer for the question indeed I think we all appreciate that many parents of this province have faced a difficulty as a consequence of COVID-19 as well in the context of wanting certainty about the way forward and what we can confirm to parents the students and of course our education staff the province is that we will be prepared to respond to local challenges and the transmission risk that may arise as a consequence of COVID-19 we will be ready for three scenarios and boards will have those due to the province by the fourth of august to provide that certainty to families across the province but our commitment our solemn responsibility to the people of this province is to do whatever it takes to keep families safe that is precisely what we will do with more funding more trained to keep all students and all staff safe for the province of Ontario speaker and the supplementary question thank you mr president again to the minister of education school boards are being asked to prepare for three different scenarios unfortunately they were not consultant on the feasibility of these scenarios and we are seeing all sorts of different propositions from different school boards that raise concerns such as a plan to remove french lessons from the school year school boards and school staff are waiting impatiently for distance decisions from the minister to ensure that all students can receive quality education they need the minister to let them know how you will ensure that all students will have an equal opportunity to learn this fall the minister is running out of time we don't only have a few weeks left to get ready will the minister provide the necessary resources to school boards to bring every students back to school with an equal opportunity to learn for each of them minister of education thank you very much mr speaker mr speaker indeed we are ensuring that the funding and resources are in place to our school board so far speaker in the context of the member opposite in Ottawa Carlton their funding is up 25 million dollars in the areas of Ottawa Catholic their funding is up just shy of 25 million dollars because these are incremental enhancements to students into those school boards but we recognize speaker that there's more to do and we are working closely with the chief medical officer of health with the command table with our boards and our union partners to ensure that all of our students all of our staff remain safe it is our commitment and by having three plans we can with conference respond to any challenge that arises this fall the next question member for eglinton lorenz thank you speaker my question is to the minister of transportation with the reopening and the economic restart funding in infrastructure has never been so important this investment has always been a priority for our government and it is still the case despite all the uncertainty investing in highway project speaker but we're looking to streamline their construction can the minister share more about the work she is doing to build and repair Ontario's highway networks very nice minister of transportation thank you speaker and thank you to the member from eglinton lorenz for the question as a minister of transport to ensure the security on our roads is my priority now that we know the consequences of COVID-19 we know that we have to improve our infrastructure and create millions of jobs by doing so that's why we're investing 2.6 million dollars in extending the highway network expand and repair ontario's roads highways and bridges and last week we launched an online tool that provides all ontarians and businesses with information about highway projects that are planned or underway in for construction and so speaker i encourage all ontarians to use the new highways program it's on the online tool it's searchable and interactive it has a map for all ontarians to see to learn more about the important projects that we're undertaking in their communities right across the province and the supplementary question thank you and thank you to the minister for her response ontario's highway network is the backbone of our province highways are critical links connecting people to cities and towns across the province and it's so important that they remain both reliable and safe getting down to work on planning and construction will not only achieve this goal but will also help create thousands of good ontario jobs and that's because highway construction is such an important part of ontario's economic engine can the minister tell us about the work underway on the highway's file minister transportation so remember the question it's time to get our economy back on track and our province get people in ontario back to work transportation related construction drives economic activity it puts people to work it increases money spent in nearby communities and it provides ontario with infrastructure that keeps people and goods moving last week we announced our government's commitment to fund highway seven between kitschner and gulf this project will include 18 kilometers of a four-lane freeway and a brand new crossing over the grand river we also announced our government's commitment to move forward with the expansion and the improvement of highway six and 401 from hamilton to highway 401 which will cut congestion in morriston and improve traffic flow between hamilton and gulf speaker these are just two examples of the projects that will improve our network and get people moving and kick start our economy thank you very very much the next question the member for key wet and on good morning mr speaker my question is for the premier during the pandemic children and youth and care have needed more protection than ever before yet the government has made made it more dangerous for them by loosening the safety rules meant to keep them safe ontario has also been stalling on providing the number of deaths of children in youth and care during this pandemic to the public will the minister do the right thing and share the and share with the public how many children in youth have died while while in care during this pandemic associate minister of children and women's issues thank you mr speaker and thank you the member for your question i am aware of the recent article published by the aboriginal people's television network and the concerns that it raises the death of any child in youth and care is a tragedy and we take our commitment to public sector transparency and accountability very seriously the length of time and fee for the disclosure of a freedom of information request may vary based upon the work needed to collect those records as minister it would be inappropriate to interfere with the ongoing process but i can say what we are doing to improve the child welfare system our vision for ontario is where every child in youth has the supports and services they need to succeed and to thrive and we are committed to making this goal a reality redesign the current child welfare system won't happen overnight but we are committed to a long-term work that is needed to achieve success and promote positive outcomes for children youth and families in this province we will have more to come in the following weeks and the supplementary question mr speaker i think the least you could do is uh you know through you uh is at least with the fee the government has refused to complete a freedom of information act that requests to disclose the number of children that have died and been seriously injured in the child welfare system since COVID-19 began in in in march this information should be readily available to the public mr speaker the fact that the government makes it so difficult to access these numbers doesn't create any trust why does the why does ontario not want us to know how our children child welfare system not protected children in youth during this pandemic the associate minister to apply once again thank you mr speaker and thank you to the member for your question our top priority remains the health and safety of well-being of children youth and families in ontario including those who are supported in the child welfare system throughout the COVID-19 outbreak children's aid services continue to operate and provide services to children youth and families societies have been encouraged to find alternative methods for providing services while observing public health recommendations and using technology where appropriate as part of this government's commitment and efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 we have invested up to 40 million dollars to support organizations that provide residential services including residential services and settings for children and youth our government is further committed to better protecting vulnerable populations by delivering a new COVID-19 action plan for vulnerable people this action plan focuses on three specific areas enhanced screening and reduced exposure to prevent the spread infection control such as managing outbreaks and limiting spread and sustaining staffing and managing responses as a situation with COVID-19 evolves we will continue to communicate with children's aid services and partners and understand the challenges that they may be facing thank you the next question the member for Guelph thank you speaker my question is for the minister of the environment conservation and parks a few months ago the ontario superior court overturned the minister's decision to cancel the nation rise wind farm it ruled that the minister's decision did not meet the requirements of transparency justification and intelligibility now the government wants to hand the minister even more power to pick and choose which projects get a full environmental assessment fired environment commissioner diane sacks said the changes in bill 197 would create an enormous risk of corruption and undue influence speaker can the minister explain why he should be trusted with even more scientific power given that the minister has already been caught by the courts ignoring scientific evidence minister the environment conservation and parks thanks very much uh speaker and thank you member for that question opposite and i do know the member opposite uh sat through a technical briefing and uh what he's asking doesn't correlate with what uh he has learned at that session uh we are modernizing the environmental assessment act which has been modernizing over 50 years mr speaker that's when pure ellie trudeau is still a prime minister and some of the caucus here weren't even born yet mr speaker so what we're doing if this legislation is passed we'll begin consultation to create a list of projects which will need environmental assessment much like canada has already done a majority of other provinces mr speaker and that's what we're going to do going forward once that regulation is is ready to go after consultation with community members municipalities other stakeholders indigenous communities once that comes to cabinet like every other regulation that's made in this province cabinets improves it there's not going to be one-off decisions made at the cabinet table that is utterly and completely not true mr speaker the supplementary question to speaker i find it interesting that the minister's defense of bill 197 is modernization of the environmental assessment i guess that means hollowing it out and getting rid of the transparency around it the government could if it wanted to modernize the ea process it could make all large private sector projects subject to an environmental assessment the auditor general pointed this out when analyzing the huge financial risk of such projects to taxpayers her 2016 report showed that there are over 5000 abandoned mines in ontario with a cleanup cost peg at 3.1 billion dollars so speaker will the minister modernize the environmental assessment act to protect taxpayers by making large-scale private sector projects subject to an automatic environmental assessment before being approved minister the environment conservation parks thanks thanks again for that question member opposite mr speaker and through the modernization of this environmental assessment act and and if this legislation is passed what changes immediately is we'll be exempting environmental assessments for land claim settlements and other projects with indigenous communities projects in provincial parks and conservation areas and for the first time in the history of the province we're going to give municipalities a say in whether or not they want to landfill site it in their their municipality or not what will also happen mr speaker if this legislation is passed it will enable the government to start consultations on the project list that the member opposite has mentioned and that is going to have a detailed consultation about the entire province will take our time and make sure we get it right so that we align ourselves with the federal government and other provinces and I implore the member opposite during that consultation time to be part of that bring forth those ideas so we can have our here we have to say reason behind that as we create that list much like I worked with you over the permission to take water with his own area with with the Guelph region and your own mr speaker we're a government that wants to work with you we're going to have that consultation process we'll discuss what you want to add to that as we're going to talk to all Ontarians what would they like on that project list whether it's going to be what the indigenous community response stakeholders want what municipalities want we're going to have a clear and concise list brought forward which will be approved through the cabinet and put in force just like the rest of the country thank you mr speaker my questions from minister of natural resources and forestry here in Ontario we have a world renowned resource based tourism industry and often have people lined up from all around the world to tune in to an experience of the great outdoors in the northern parts of our province hunters and anglers spend more than 560 million and 1.6 billion respectively each year in Ontario supporting jobs and many in our rural and northern communities like very in a spell COVID-19 has hit the resource-based tourism industry especially hard could the minister please share what our government is doing to help outfit and tourism operators through this difficult period minister of natural resources and forestry well thank you very much speaker and I'd like to thank the great member for bear from Barry Innisfil for that question you are our government is committed to supporting the resource-based tourism sector one that was hit particularly hard by COVID-19 where most of their clientele particularly out in northern Ontario comes from outside of Canada and with border closures it was dried up completely so we immediately have reappointed ministry advisory committee which helped us in advising us what we could do to help this sector I had conversations with my colleagues from northern Ontario including members of the opposition and we have done something that the northern the nature and outdoor tourism Ontario is very thankful for we have come forward with we are not charging them for certain fees and licenses as well as refunding order that has already been paid for 2020 this will help to support those local businesses it means so much as my colleague has said 560 million and 1.6 billion dollars respectively in this province resource-based tourism is something that particularly hard yet our government recognizes and we're doing what we can to help thank you minister for your actions to bait more people into the great outdoors after 15 years of neglect under the Liberals we are fortunate to have a government and a minister that understands and cares about the issues facing the north and rural Ontario the resource-based tourism industry involves the use and enjoyment of all environmental natural resources on crown lands and waters including hunting fishing visiting provincial parks and conservation reserves camping canoeing hiking snowmobiling and wildlife viewing of the over 600 operators in the province many are small and medium-sized family owned businesses these businesses provide stable local jobs that sustain communities over generations now that everyone is perched up and listening could the minister please share what initiatives our government has undertaken to support fishing hunting and the resource-based tourism industry again minister not to go to the forestry thank you again speaker and thanks again to the member and as she's pointed out these are small businesses that when they're when they lose 80 percent of their revenue it's a big blow we recognize that I had a great conversation with Laurie Marceal the executive director of noto last week and they are over the moon that our government allowed by consulting with people that are in the business boots on the ground and also members of the opposition as well we recognize that this is a big deal for this sector so waiving the fees and refunding those fees that have already been paid is important we also last year appointed the big game advisory committee which is also brought forth new regulations and new numbers and surveys for hunting which is going to help to ensure that this business that is a cultural right for people across the province of Ontario will be around for generations to come and I want to say to the people out there too remember we're not having the Americans come up this year because of border closures if you have a plan to do some travel on Ontario get out to one of those northern Ontario tourism outfitters support our people in Ontario they could use the business their backbones of our economy the next question the member for Sudbury thank you speaker questions for the premier speaker meredith is an elementary school teacher and a solo parent from writing a Sudbury and what you heard from this government will return to school this fall ignores the fundamental needs of children and ignores the pressures on working parents speaker many meredith students are not equipped to continue distance learning and their parents will be unable to return to work if there's enough full safe reopening of school in many cases women are being forced to step out of the workforce or they're being forced to reduce their hours in order to care for their children speaker meredith wants to know why the government continues to leave education workers and parents in the dark minister of education well thank you speaker mr. speaker our government announced when it comes to expanding child care capacity for parents and we'll be doing so by moving to a cohort of from 10 to 15 providing upwards of 91 percent of pre-covid capacity available to working moms and dads the province that we know need to have that assurance need to have that commitment by government that their child could be cared for safely we have done so in this province with great success we're grateful to the ecs and our operators for adhering to the very strict health and safety protocols we put in place speaker the members riding for example in the catholic district school board they're receiving additional three million dollars to ensure that that's community is better prepared to respond to the challenges of covid we're ensuring that they have three plans in place more funding for technology every high school in the province and the members riding will have access to internet we're doing that speaker to get ahead to make sure that we're prepared to keep all students safe in ontario and the supplementary question all right thank you speaker back to the premier back to the education minister parents and educational workers across this province are calling on the government to finally recognize that we need a comprehensive plan that considers the needs of communities families and workers meredith told me and i'm quoting her for many young kids school is a safe place and i worry every day about some of my students that have been home for so long the stress of their needs compounded by the stress of their parents is making some of their little lives very volatile speaker meredith deserves answers she wants to know why the government is taking a wait-and-see approach while parents education workers and students continue to suffer mr education thank you thank you the member opposite obviously meredith has noted a variety of concerns which are shared particularly the context of the children being out of school for such a prolonged period of almost half a year by the time september rolls around speaker and it's why when it comes to the mental health and the wellness of our children we're putting in place an additional 10 million dollars in net investment in mental health to hire more psychologists and psychotherapists of the province reduce wait times and improve care for those very kids it's why speaker we put in place more access for technology to make sure that we universalize access to the online learning should that be required in those communities speaker we recognize the difficulty particularly remote parts of our problems that's why we're putting more funding in place in remote northern boards of this province to give them every tool and resources succeed in september thank you the next question the member from nagar west thank you very much speaker my question is to the minister of long-term care we all know the neglect the long-term care system endured for decades and we all saw the effects this had both before and during the pandemic we saw wait lists grow for years and years before the pandemic and during the pandemic we've seen the spread of COVID-19 amplified in old rooms with in old homes with wardrooms so the need for new beds and the renovation of old beds is critical and that critical need is being underscored today the minister has frequently spoken in this house about the ongoing work since before the COVID-19 pandemic that has gone into repairing and rebuilding the cracks in the system so last week the minister did make a very important announcement regarding a modernized funding model for long-term care development in Ontario and I'm wondering if the minister could speak to this house and tell the house what the modern funding model will do to help fix our long-term care system Mr. Long-term care thank you speaker and I'd like to thank the member from Niagara west for his good work with his constituents and for his concern about long-term care the modernized funding model is a new approach that will break down barriers to building much needed long-term care spaces and accelerate the creation of new and redeveloped beds over the next five years the government is investing 1.75 billion dollars in long-term care homes and by recognizing the differences between regions in our province creating four new regional categories and tailoring an increased construction fund subsidy to each of these categories we are enabling the government to address the barriers and needs of different communities we are providing development grants between 10 percent and 17 percent for upfront costs like development charges land costs and other construction expenses and we are helping small operators in rural communities navigate the high cost of development while ensuring larger urban centres can secure the loans and real estate that they need and together all of this will get shovels in the ground faster and get residents into their new homes more quickly the supplementary question thank you speaker and thank you to the minister for explaining the modern funding model I know shovels in the ground faster as music to the ears of people across this province you're right when you speak also she's right also what she speaks about and acknowledges the differences between regions and communities and that each faces unique challenges in development I know in Niagara the region I'm proud to represent in this house we have communities that range from rural to urban and mid-size each of these communities requires slightly different approaches and I'm glad that the minister has put flexibility into this policy I'm also glad that fact flexibility is being accompanied by new funding dollars and new supports for the development of long-term care homes so my question to the minister in looking at the Niagara region is if she'll tell this house what this new funding mechanism will do for the Niagara region thank you speaker and thanks again to the member for the question in St. Catharines there are three projects in various stages of this development model with 109 new beds and 464 being redeveloped in Welland there are two projects with 130 new beds and 62 redeveloped beds in Niagara Falls in Virgil there are two projects with 81 new beds and 340 redeveloped beds these are in various stages of development with two projects already under construction and with all of them expected to be complete by the spring of 2025 like Niagara regions across the province need more capacity and shorter wait lists older beds need to be upgraded to modern design standards we have all seen the harm done during the COVID-19 pandemic associated with wardrooms which need to be replaced the modernized funding model represents a significant step toward repairing rebuilding and advancing long-term care in Ontario there are more steps to be taken and they will be taken soon thank you member for Humber River Black Creek thank you speaker Ontario drivers have been taken for a ride during this pandemic during the lockdown accidents were down by over 70 percent throughout Ontario meaning insurers have been paying out less claims and pocketing even more money but instead of taking a strong approach to protect Ontario drivers this government's opt-in rebate plan has left Ontario drivers haggling with their insurance companies with predictable results insurance hotline dot com reports that only 30 percent of drivers have received some relief and in most cases it was next to nothing for instance jim kenzie wrote in the Toronto Star this weekend that he only received a discount of seven dollars a month during the pandemic and by the way forcing drivers to park their cars and switch their policy to comprehensive coverage is not relief whether you drove or not the accident the risk of accident was way down will this government do the right thing and make these companies give an immediate three month 50 percent rebate on all premiums retroactive to the start of the lockdown mr finance mr speaker i appreciate the question and frankly the opposition has been uh been able on this issue they talked about it at the outset mr speaker but but then this government took action mr speaker the insurance industry talked about 600 million dollars of savings across canada because of the actions the specific actions that this government has taken the uh the independent board fissure which reports on on and oversees the insurance industry reported that 650 million dollars of savings had been put forward to Ontario drivers alone mr speaker but mr speaker that wasn't enough mr speaker we asked the industry and they said that there were regulations that were impeding them being able to give rebates so mr speaker this government acted on that and mr speaker we will continue to act so that drivers get a fair deal from their insurers we agree there's been less driving and less accidents that's why we've taken real action and got real savings for ontario drivers and this thank you speaker the proof is in the premiums and we've seen this minister and we've seen the premier being frustrated out of their minds and press conferences now he's doing pr for the insurance companies even worse even worse premier i'm hearing from many drivers that they are getting massive rate increases when they are renewing their policies now berry from oakville reached out to my office and said that his premiums are set to go up by 28 percent and he's not alone of course nobody knows what's going on because this government has taken the unprecedented step of hiding this year's auto insurance quarterly rate approvals if in fact the rates have gone up it will have been the tenth straight auto insurance rate hike in a row so minister has your government approved yet another increased auto insurance rates during this pandemic because if so you've been a wall mr speaker of the 14 insurance companies that make up 95 percent of the insurance entry mr speaker 12 of those have now provided rebates as a result of mr speaker but but that is not enough i agree with the member more needs to be done and that's why we are we are pleased to know that that fissure again the independent oversight regulator is going to be as i've said in the past producing a transparent report on what insurance companies have done and mr speaker we all look forward to seeing that we know that we've been seeing less driving we know we've been seeing less accidents and we know that ontarians are under severe pressure in terms of cost for auto insurance so mr speaker we will look forward to that report we expect to see it later this month and then mr speaker we will all look to see what insurance companies have been doing and i'll look forward to making further comments at that next question the member for oakville thank you very much mr speaker my question is to the minister of heritage sport tourism and culture industries mr speaker as the province moves into phase three many ontarians are still adjusting to the new normal as a community nothing brings people together more than festivals do they play a pivotal role in community building bringing people together from different religious economic and social backgrounds we are about halfway through our regular summer festival season as you know many festivals across this great province have had to cancel their events due to COVID-19 at the standing committee on finance and economic affairs we have heard testimonies from many festivals across Ontario including tiff pride Toronto and the Shaw festival some of these organizations have had some great innovative ideas on how to bring us together during these unprecedented times minister can you please tell us how ontario's festival and events are continuing to innovate and bring us together thank you mr heritage sport tourism and culture industries thank you very much speaker and i'd like to say thank you to the member from oakville who recently took me on a tour of his community as they entered into phase two and of course we still have more exciting news across the province as we begin to slowly and gradually reopen our economy into stage three in the early days of COVID-19 we recognized that our artists and the festival sector would be hard hit and would take likely the longest to recover so we invested along with the music industry 150 000 into something called music together so that musicians across the province would be able to perform from the safety of their own home i've been still flowing funding for festivals because we want to make sure that next year they'll come back bigger and better than ever so we will be funding tiff we will be funding the mark of jazz festival the furgus scottish festival speaker the hamilton supercrawl blues fest in ottawa and a number of other festivals across the great province of ontario we're also working with a number of different organizations on drive-through and drive-in experiences and i'll have more to say about that later today in addition we're working with canadian live music and festival events of ontario to see how we can have a safe return to festivals when it is safe to do so but speaker i make make no response we still are dealing with a social crisis in the province of ontario where people are very reticent to get back to their old habits and therefore it will take some time for us to get back to the festivals that we used to know and love but we will be there and we remain committed to them thank you mr speaker thank you to the minister for your insights there minister we're starting to see some innovative ideas when it comes to drive in drive-through experiences here in ontario we have seen you recently visit the immersive vincent van go exhibit and most recently the african lion safari one of the latest examples of an innovative drive-in experience is a la vaza drive-in festival which is set to launch today through july 31st this festival will be a celebration of canada's diversity featuring an incredible lineup of international films representing country's hardest hit by the covid-19 pandemic this event will be hosted at one of ontario's most prestigious venues ontario place as a citizen of ontario it makes me proud to know our government is investing in this premier entertainment venue through you mr speaker can the minister elaborate on what government supports are into ontario place thank you we're very excited that tonight the la vaza film festival the largest film festival of its kind currently in the in the country is taking place starting this evening at our wonderful ontario place many members across ontario will recognize that we have three parts to ontario place we have the the current board which is winding up its old its old business we have the current redevelopment ongoing which is for proposal for criteria that we're looking at which is alignment to the government's vision concept viability delivery certainty and cost benefit to the province and finally we're continuing to program at ontario place and i encourage all ontarians to check out some of that live programming this summer whether that is the toronto shines festival which is run by by canada's walk of fame jeffrey latimer and canada canadian idol farley flex obviously tonight the cuban a proud production of ontario will by sergio novrada is going to be playing on the opening night tonight at la vaza film festival and we will be ensuring that tiff goes on this year a little bit different than in previous years but we'll be joining today with Cameron Bailey as well as joanna vincente of the toronto international film as we continue to support that prestigious organization and make sure that they are well positioned after covet 19 to become the premier of the festival internationally thank you very much speaker the next question the member for kitchens center thank you mr speaker my question is to the premier speaker last week the premier kicked off his summer election tour and by friday he was in my riding of kitchens center we've seen the premier use this tour to speak to pc party donors and friends of the premier's office but unfortunately for business owners like danny fetter superficial tours of my city won't save his business danny owns a small fitness studio and kitchener his business has been closed for four months he wrote to my office pleading for help because he lost 100% of his revenue due to the pandemic he told me and i quote my landlord has given me a few options but all they would do is defer payment which really does me no good danny looked to us for help but this government continues to ignore the fact that landlords like danny's are still refusing to apply for the government's broken rent relief program through you mr speaker can the premier tell danny why forcing him to take on more debt is all that this government is willing to do for small and medium-sized enterprises like his minister finance mr speaker i thank the member for for the question and small businesses medium businesses like like danny's are are an important priority for us that's why starting with the 17 billion dollar program which had seven billion dollars of direct support and 10 billion dollars of indirect support tax deferrals and other matters working with our federal partners as the premier did with the 19 billion dollars that will support communities support municipalities we continue to support those those small businesses mr speaker most important for these businesses is getting them reopened and that's why we are so pleased and look forward even today's further announcement about the reopening of the Ontario economy we have taken a safe and gradual approach to make sure that we don't see the sorts of challenges that we've seen in other jurisdictions to make sure that businesses like danny's can stay open once they're open and to make sure that they're able to get their feet under them we've worked with our federal colleagues in fact there was the further announcement last week about a further extension of the wage subsidy program again something this government has lobbied for steadily and mr speaker i believe one of my colleagues may want to speak further to the rent program in the supplement supplementary question thank you mr speaker and back to the premier danny is a sole proprietor when he lost 100 percent of his revenue he lost 100 percent of his income and when he reached out to us for help he deserved more from this government instead the premier's only solution was for him to accrue more debt if we want to stimulate the economy we can't leave people like danny behind sms are vital to our economic health business after business have presented at the standing committee of finance and economic affairs and they have told this government what they need they need direct financial supports grants instead of loans direct rent subsidies and we need to have these in place for as long as it takes to get our main street businesses back on their feet so again to the premier when can every day ontarians like danny expect this government to step up with the supports that they need or do they have to take out a pc party membership before this government will do anything to help them and the response the minister of these full fairs and how thanks speaker our government has been working hand in hand with ontario's business community from day one ontario has not seen such a business friendly government in over 20 years and we know that covet 19 has had significant impact on small business that make up our strong ontario economy these small businesses are essential if our province is going to have the economic recovery that we're working so hard to to have and as minister philip said that's one of the reasons why we paused the commercial evictions so that landlords who have commercial tenants eligible for the rent assistance program through the canada ontario emergency commercial rent assistance program so that they can use that and i'm very very proud to say speaker through you to the member that just under 20 000 tenants representing 120 000 employees have already thank you thank you for this program there is much more to do but we will continue to stand up for small businesses in the province and the premier will continue to stand up for them as well at the close of time we have available for question period today