 There are no further introductions now. Time for a question period. The Leader of Her Majesty is more in opposition. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the acting Premier. The Premier has said she has answered a hundred times questions regarding the corruption and alleged bribery in the Sudbury by-election. The reality, Mr. Speaker, the Premier has failed to give a direct answer to any of those hundred questions. Mr. Speaker, we will stop asking those questions when we get an answer, a direct answer. Did the Premier give permission to Pat Sabara or Jerry Lahi to offer Andrew Olivier a job or appointment in exchange to stepping down as the candidate, yes or no? Thank you, Speaker, and I'm sure the member opposite would like to correct his record. The Premier has actually answered a hundred and seven questions on this topic. So, Speaker, the Premier has been open with the legislature, open with the media, open with the public, related to the Sudbury by-election, Speaker. She has addressed questions dozens of times in interactions with the media. We have faith in the process. Member from Renfrew, second time. We have cooperated fully. We will continue to do that. And as this is a matter before the courts, we will have no further comment. Thank you, supplementary. Mr. Speaker, that was just one more spin and one more no real answer. Jerry Lahi Jr. said he took part in conversations with Pat Sabara and the Premier when they discussed who the Liberal candidate in Sudbury would be. Jerry Lahi told Andrew Olivier that Pat Sabara was going to talk to him about appointments in exchange for stepping down. Jerry Lahi Jr. told Andrew Olivier that the Premier wanted to talk to him. Mr. Speaker, did the Premier give her Deputy Chief of Staff permission to offer Mr. Olivier options if he stepped down, yes or no? No more spin. Well, Speaker, I must say I'm shocked that the members opposite continue to disagree. Member from Hamilton East Stony Creek, carry on. Speaker, I'm shocked that the members opposite continue to disregard the law and the conventions of this House. Speaker, the Supreme Court, academics and even our own standing order rules make it very clear that ongoing court proceedings cannot be discussed in this House. That's no spin, Speaker. What the members opposite are doing is that they are playing politics with an important issue that is before the courts and they are disregarding the constitutional convention, in fact, of this House. I tell the Leader of the Opposition to perhaps listen to his own deputy leader when he said stop. Final supplementary. Mr. Speaker, again to the acting Premier. The Premier has said that she will cooperate fully. You would have to assume that cooperate fully would mean that if subpoenaed to testify that the Premier will testify, yet again and again when I've asked that question, there has not been an answer. You may not want to talk about the upcoming trial, but will the Premier testify? It's hypocritical to say you're going to cooperate but not testify. Member will withdraw. Withdraw. Are you finished? Will the Premier testify if subpoenaed? House Leader. Speaker, so let me just stop because I think the Leader of the Opposition should listen to one of his deputy leaders, the member from Lee's Granville. And I actually agree with him and I agree with him on a lot of things. When in February he said that to the government, I am assuming, Speaker, stop interfering in an ongoing investigation and let it run its course. Well, you know, Speaker, the member from Lee's Granville is right. And I would suggest. Member from Lee's Granville, second time. Member from Renfrew, Nipissing, Pembroke are warned. Carry on. I will suggest that the Leader of the Opposition to listen to his colleagues. Second time interfering in a course proceeding. Speaker, the Premier has been open and clear and transparent to this House, to the media, to the people of this province. She has cooperated in this matter fully and she will continue to cooperate. Thank you. New question, the Leader of the Opposition. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Premier. Sadly, today is becoming all too common. Today, the wind liberals slash funding to physicians yet again. The government cut funding in February and again in April. Today the liberals have slashed another $235 million from patient care. That's over $800 million cut this year alone. Mr. Speaker, that means longer wait times and less access to care in Ontario. Mr. Speaker, how does the Premier explain to the single working mother forced to sit in ER for longer, all night, because she can't get a doctor for her child? How can they justify that? The member opposite clearly doesn't understand what this is all about. Because in fact, by constraining compensation to physicians, that is allowing us to provide more care to patients across the province. The member opposite is saying physicians should be paid more. We are saying our physicians are already the best paid in the country. And if we have more money to spend in health care, it should be spent on things like home care that people rely on. We've heard from your own caucus requests for more and better home care. That's exactly what we're doing. We cannot pay physicians more and make the investments that are necessary in other parts of the health care system. Mr. Speaker, again to the acting Premier, the culture of cuts to doctors is not sustainable. With a growing and aging population, Ontario's health care system is put under immense pressure. The decisions the Liberals make today will impact patients. That's what this is about. It's about patients. Access to quality, patient-focused care in Ontario. The patients deserve the type of care that they have spent their life putting into the system. Hard-earned tax dollars. Mr. Speaker, can the acting Premier explain why her government is making these cuts at a time that we absolutely can't afford it? Mr. Speaker, this is an outrageous accusation that the member opposite is making. He simply does not part of the health care system. We are improving care, Speaker, and we must constrain physician compensation in order to make those investments. There are no cuts to patient care. We have excellent doctors. We have excellent doctors. Finish, please. Paying doctors more does not solve the problems in our health care system. We have the highest-paid physicians in the country. Many would argue in the world, if you are arguing that physicians should be paid more, then I think you have your priorities wrong. Thank you. Final supplementary. Mr. Speaker, in this round of cuts, the Liberal government is slashing funding to addiction services. We are seeing a 50% cut to addiction monitoring and testing funding. Because of these cuts, there are six addiction clinics in the city of Toronto alone on the chopping block. The next closest clinic is an hour away. The people battling addiction need these services. The risk falling back into addiction is serious if you don't have access to these doctors. Mr. Speaker, where is this government's compassion? Does the Premier, does this government not recognise the need for these clinics? These are real cuts. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, again, if the member opposite thinks the solution is to pay doctors more, I think he is absolutely wrong. We have a very strong record on health care since 2003. The number of physicians has increased from 5,600 people. We have reversed the brain drain. More doctors are now moving to Ontario than leaving Ontario. 94% of us have a family doctor. We have got 24,000 more nurses working. The Leader of the Opposition stood with Stephen Harper when he slashed health care grandchildren. That's costing Ontario patients 8... New question, the Leader of the Third Party. Thank you very much, Speaker. My question is to the Acting Premier. Yesterday, in her response to my question, the Premier said that it was always obvious that her government was going to sell off Hydro-1. In fact, she pointed to the fact that New Democrats were asking questions about a possible sale as far back as 2014. Well, she's right, Speaker. New Democrats were asking questions about the sell-off of Hydro-1 in 2014 and again in the spring of 2015, just as we are now, Speaker. On October 21st, 2014, I asked the Premier a direct question about the possibility of the sell-off of Hydro-1. Does the Acting Premier remember what the Premier's response was to that question, Speaker? Throughout this process, we have been very transparent. We are committed to building the infrastructure that this province sorely needs, Speaker. That is a commitment. In order to meet that commitment, we do have to look at the assets that this province already holds so we can reinvest in the kind of assets Ontario needs today, Speaker. On April 11th, 2014, we talked about the creation of the advisory council and their work to maximize the value of Hydro-1. On April 11th, 2014, our own news release, we put Hydro-1 in the headline. The headline read, the Ontario government has appointed a council to recommend ways to improve the efficiency and optimize the full value of Hydro-1. It was in our 2014 budget, which, by the way, was introduced twice, Speaker, and in our platform. The NDP used the same financial estimates that we used. They ran on it, too. Allow me to jog the Acting Premier's memory. In response to a direct question on October 21, 2014, on whether the Premier should sell off Hydro-1 assets, the Premier said, and I quote, The leader of the third party knows that we're not selling off the assets. She knows that we are keeping these assets in public hands. That's in the hands, Speaker. The Premier said exactly those words. Even after the last election, the Premier was refusing to be straight up with the people of this province about her true intentions when it comes to Hydro-1. Will the Acting Premier admit that this government has never been up front with Ontarians and commit to a full public review before the sell-off of Hydro-1 proceeds? So, Speaker, we have been very up front, and I think it – I understand it furthers their argument. The fact that it's not true is a bit of a problem, Speaker. The plan was in our 2014 budget. We introduced that budget twice. It was in our platform. Let me read from our 2014 OLP platform on page 4. Our Moving Forward Ontario plan includes a balanced and responsible approach to paying for these investments. The funds will be from dedicated sources of revenue, asset optimization. We paid at 3.15 billion or 10.9% of the Moving Ontario forward plan. Hydro-1 was mentioned three times in our budget. In the budget forward, Speaker, we said that our government will look at maximizing and unlocking value from assets at currently cold holds, including Hydro-1. Thank you. Final supplementary. Speaker, more than 170 municipalities across this province have expressed their opposition to the sell-off of Hydro-1. Now Toronto City Councillors are joining the chorus of voices against this sale, Speaker. Municipalities are concerned because they were never consulted on the largest privatization in Ontario's history, and because there was no advance warning whatsoever that the sell-off was coming. No matter how much she may say it, the Premier did not campaign on this. Will the acting Premier admit that the Liberals have no mandate to sell off Hydro-1? Well, Speaker, I think it's clear, and I think the member opposite knows. As I've said before, it was in our 2014 budget twice. It was in our platform, Speaker. We've been upfront with keeping the public informed about the work of the Assets Council. But let's remember why we're doing this, and we have heard from municipal leaders right across this province that they need more investments in infrastructure. And that is why... Finish, please. The number one request for municipalities is funding for infrastructure, whether it's natural gas expansion, whether it's light rail, whether it's a rapid transit speaker, rural and non-norther natural gas expansion, connecting links. Speaker, the Actuary Community Investment Fund has been a great advantage for municipalities. They want the investments. We have to pay for them somehow. Thank you. The question is also for the acting Premier. Jerry Lahi Jr. is a loyal Liberal soldier. Mr. Olivier referred to him as a Liberal Kingmaker in Sudbury Speaker. He's raised thousands upon hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Premier and Mr. Trudeau. When you talk to people in Sudbury Speaker, they know that Mr. Lahi did the bidding of the Premier and the Liberal Party, and the taped conversations in the bribery scandal reinforce that fact. When will the Premier of this province accept responsibility for her role and the role of people in her office in this scandal? Or is it possible that she will be able to do that? Will the Premier of this province accept responsibility for her role and the role of people in her office in this scandal? Or is the plan now to sit and throw Mr. Lahi under the bus? Thank you. Speaker, you know what the people in Sudbury are talking about, and I have to say the new member from Sudbury is in very close touch with the citizens of Sudbury. They are actually looking at North Ontario. North Ontario Heritage Fund Speaker. We've invested toward 954 projects in Sudbury. Throughout that process, almost 3,000 jobs were created or retained. We've spent more than $70 million expanding Highway 69 from Perry Sound to Sudbury. We're committed to four-landing the 152-kilometer stretch of Highway 69 south of Sudbury and the Maly Drive extension. Speaker, we have invested in a new hospital, the Sudbury Regional Hospital. Councillor? The country's largest north will receive $275 million this year, Speaker. That's an increase of 54%. Thank you. Speaker, Sudbury is doing well. Supplementary. The Premier needed somebody to push Mr. Olivier aside so that the member for Sudbury could run unopposed. That somebody was Jerry Lahi Jr., the well-known liberal soldier. Now that Mr. Lahi has been criminally charged, the Liberal Party seems to distance themselves from him fast enough. The Sudbury Star wrote yesterday that, quote, ultimately responsibility for this farce lies with the Premier. We agree, Speaker. When will the Premier of this province accept the responsibility of her role in this scandal as well as the role of people from her office, Speaker? I kind of find the questioning quite ironic because I'm sure the NDP sent thank you letters to Mr. Lahi when he gave $500 in 2014 election to the former MPP Joe Cimino. I'm sure the member from Nickel Belt also sent him a thank you letter when he donated to her campaign another $500 in the same campaign in 2014. Not to mention, I'm sure Ontario NDP sent him thank you letters and continued to invite him to events when in 2008 he gave them about $600 and the list goes on and on, Mr. Speaker. So I think the member's opposite and the Liberal Party Party should be very careful in disparaging members of communities and when they have accepted donations from the same individual in question. Speaker, this matter is before the course. Let us respect that process. Thank you. Final supplementary. Speaker, the responsibility for the Sudbury bribery scandals falls squarely on the shoulders of the Premier of this province. The recording of the conversation of Mr. Lahi and the Premier's Deputy Chief of Staff show that everything was being done at the bidding of the Premier of this province. The people of Sudbury know that Mr. Lahi is just a good Liberal soldier who does what he's told by the Premier or Mr. Trudeau. The Premier accepts no responsibility and her Chief of Staff continues to operate out of the Premier's office. My question again, Speaker, is when will the Premier of this province accept responsibility for her role and the role of the people in her office in the Sudbury bribery scandal? Thank you. I'm sure they were not saying no to Mr. Lahi when he was sending coming to NDP's event in Sudbury and Nickel Belt and giving them donations for to Joe Cimino and to the member of Nickel Belt and to the Parity Association year after year and all of a sudden now they're shocked and awed that somehow he was helping various political parties exercising his democratic right in that process by making sure that his community served well. Speaker, we are very proud of the kind of investments that we have made in Sudbury under this government from healthcare to education. Millions and millions of dollars are being invested in that community so the people of Sudbury can enjoy the quality of life they deserve so much, Speaker. I respectfully ask the members of our opposite to the Deputy House Leader second time and there is a very old ancient trick of using somebody else's mic and I would ask him not to do that. Wrap up, please. I think he invented that trick, Speaker. I respectfully ask the members opposite to respect the law and the convention of this House and not intervene in a court proceeding. Thank you, Speaker. New question, the members from Elgin, Middlestex, London. Thank you, Speaker. My question to the Acting Premier. Acting Premier, Ontarians with chronic diseases should be concerned about this government's actions today. Every day Ontario's 28,000 doctors go to work and put patients first, many of them with chronic diseases. For doctors it's simple. There's no job more important than the health of their patients. But this government is attacking those very doctors and their patients with heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes as they are seeing their healthcare cut in order to pay for liberal scandals. Whether it be the gas plants, e-health, orange or their failed diabetes registry, these scandals cost Ontarians billions. You've cut over $800 million from patients to fund your scandals this year alone. In fact, this past spring you secretly shifted $54 million from the federal health transfer to non-health programs. Mr. Speaker, why is the government cutting healthcare services to the sickest in the province to pay for their scandals? Well, thank you, Speaker. And the member opposite knows better than to ask that question. He knows full well that government has to make choices about where their dollars go. And when we see, for example, when we saw that Ontarians were paying for our drugs, as a pharmacist, the member opposite thought we should not cut the prices of those drugs. I guess my question to him would be, do you still believe that we should now increase the price of drugs and increase the compensation to pharmacists? I don't think so. We have to make tough decisions. One of the tough decisions that we're making is that physician compensation has an envelope. We must live within that envelope. That does not cut patient care. All it does is cut compensation to physician, Speaker, so we can expand care in other parts of our system. Speaker, I think the people at home should remember that everything this minister says equates to, she still claims that the cashback scandal only costs $40 million. It's all pure bung. Back to the fact in Premier. Your cuts to chronic disease management are not small. In fact, they don't even make sense. Studies show early detection and treatment of complications is key to reducing costs and having healthier outcomes. However, the cuts to doctors will negatively affect treatment for diabetes and heart patients. Rural in Northern Ontario will especially be hit hard because specialists are scarce. This government has cut 35% to doctors who treat heart failure, 33% to doctors who treat diabetes. Weightless will grow, the sick will get sicker, access to doctors will shrink, and healthcare costs will skyrocket due to the government's imposed cuts to doctors. Why are you trying to create a crisis in healthcare, and why won't you return to the table with doctors and seek a solution that achieves cost? Thank you. Deputy Premier. You know, Speaker, Ontarians are blessed. We have the finest doctors anywhere. We are enormously proud of the work that they do. I'm just with that. The report yesterday from Kaihai demonstrated that on average, a physician is billing $368,000 a year. The best in the country. Your argument that we should increase compensation to physicians means we must take that money from somewhere else. I am not prepared. It would be irresponsible to take money out of home care, to take money out of drugs, to take money out of devices like hearing aids. That would be irresponsible. We had a process in place that was mutually agreed upon between the OMA and government. We followed that process. We brought in a mutually agreed upon mediator. Then an mutually agreed upon conciliator. The OMA didn't like the answer. Thank you. Speaker, we had the... We have a question from Nicol Belch. Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Vice Premier. We want to help people. But right now this government is bound and determined to pay every single physician in this province as money, hungry, opportunistic. And this is wrong. The action of this Liberal government are damaging our healthcare system. They are creating... Stop, stop. Finish, please. The action of this government is damaging our healthcare system. It is creating... If I could identify the person that did that, that said that, I will... When I stand, you get quiet. Even when I sit down. Daigle, thank you, Speaker. The action of this Liberal government are damaging our healthcare system. They are creating barriers to care for people who need it the most. The government can see the damage they're doing to our system, but yet they continue plowing right ahead. The government needs to recognize that physician needs to be compensated for the work they do, the care they provide. But by that, by working out a deal that doesn't cause further damage to our healthcare system, my question is very simple, Speaker. Why won't this government treat physician with respect and negotiate? Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Well, Speaker, today is a very special day in this legislature. I've heard the member opposite stand up and fight for better home care, for nurse practitioners, for midwives, for PSWs, and today, she's standing up and arguing we should increase compensation for a group of people who do fantastic work, but who are already the highest paid in the country and, arguably, the world, Speaker. Kaihai has recently come out with a report that shows that Ontario doctors are paid the highest in the country, Speaker, earning $368,000 a year on average. There are many demands in our healthcare system. I will be the first to admit that, Speaker, but the compensation to our physicians is not in the top 10. Thank you. Supplementary? Speaker, today, more than 1.2 million Ontarians from across this province are speaking out against the damage the government is doing to patient care and to healthcare system. Will the government listen? They've been having some problem with listening to Ontarians lately. When the government makes unilateral decision, it never works. They should know that by now. Negotiation is the key to progress. It's not always easy, but it's the way you get things done. Speaker, most practices are like a small business, but like every small business, they need to follow the rules, but when the rules keep changing, they need to keep up. In this case, physician may close their practice, putting more of us without access to care. Question is simple. Will the government agree to go back to the table and negotiate? Good. Speaker, we put a very high premium on having a strong relationship with the OMA because it is through that work that we can really drive this province speaker. That's a very important relationship. In the 2012 agreement we set out a plan on how we would get to an agreement if in fact we couldn't reach it at the table. We negotiated for over a year, Speaker. The OMA unfortunately rejected the offer. That was fair to physicians and Ontarians who need a sustainable healthcare system. There was an offer that a jointly chose conciliator, Mrs. Warren Winkler, looked very closely at the issue. His report is public. He recommended that the OMA come back, accept the deal. He recommended that government continue to keep that offer on the table. That is what we have done. The OMA rejected it, Speaker. So we will continue to work with the OMA. I do believe that we will have a stronger healthcare system. Thank you. Thank you, Speaker. And my question is for the Minister of Children and Youth Services. Speaker, I've read a number of articles recently about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder which is caused by the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy. Statistics show that fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is one of the leading causes of developmental disability in children across the province including my own riding of Davenport. In fact, it's estimated that fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in Canada affects 1 in 1,100 5 birds or 1% of the population. It can also lead to secondary and tertiary disabilities that require additional care throughout one's life. Care that can end up costing $1.8 billion in Canada across the healthcare, mental health and justice systems annually. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please update the House on the initiatives her ministry is taking to support the fetal alcohol spectrum disorder? Thank you. Minister of Children and Youth Services. Thank you, Speaker. I want to thank the member from Davenport for asking a very important and timely question. I want to assure the members for you, Speaker, that of course I'm very committed to providing the best possible start in life for our children and youth and their development plays a very important part of that. Through screening, assessment and support services, our parent and child development programs help children achieve their maximum potential, including those children suffering from FASD. We have a number of government-wide programs in place to assist. For example, Speaker, my ministry provides 4.4 million to 20 Aboriginal service providers and First Nations communities to deliver FASD programming to those communities and I'm looking forward to providing more details in the supplementary. Thank you. Thank you, Speaker. I'd like to thank the minister for her answer, but we know that fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is not a development to disability that affects just one community. It crosses all socioeconomic and ethnic lines and while we know that there are many reasons why people drink alcohol, we also know that fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is preventable. Mr. Speaker, through you to the minister, has the government taken any steps to better understand the social and economic impact of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder on Ontarians? Thank you. I want to thank the member for the question and my ministry has been working on this tirelessly, but I'm very pleased to share with the house that my parliamentary assistant, the MPP from Durham had held 25 roundtable sessions across the province to engage our service providers, advocates, families, caregivers and especially those people affected directly by FASD. He listened to the challenges what the priorities are and our ministry is also working with an expert group of FASD researchers and clinicians. We've conducted a number of interviews with key informants from across Canada to seek evidence to build our first ever FASD strategy in Ontario and of course we're working with other ministries including health and education. And of course we're here to provide the best possible care to kids experiencing FASD and I want to thank the member from Durham for a great job. Attorney General, last week we all heard of the heartbreaking tragedy that struck the Ottawa Valley where three women were senselessly and brutally murdered. Basil Borutski now faces three counts of first-degree murder. Sadly it was known that the accused has a history of assault and harassment convictions. In December 2014 Mr. Borutski refused to sign an order to stay away from one of his victims. This should have raised a red flag about his pattern of violence and his unwillingness to cooperate with the authorities who set those very parameters. Can the minister tell the house just how many offenders she has released in spite of their refusal to sign probation orders? Mr. Speaker, I cannot answer that question. First of all, let me offer my deepest sympathy to the victim families and domestic violence Mr. Speaker, it's something that we take very, very seriously. The Premier asked us to all get together all the ministries responsible was an input in this very unfortunate situation to get together and to develop a program that will help to address this situation. And we have a program the PAR program is one of them that try to address this situation and it's ordered by the court and it's they have to to follow the program and we are in a process of re-evaluating is it the program serving the cause that they need to serve so thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you, supplementary. Thank you Mr. Speaker. The Liberal Government always assures Ontarians that their safety would never be jeopardized. Last year the Liberal Government cut the budget to the victims crisis assistance and referral service and now the partner assault which the minister just referred to. In Renfrew County there's actually only one single probation officer who visits the area once a week. He is very overworked. The Liberal Government seems far too comfortable with leaving survivors of assault in precarious and violent conditions. Shameful. Mr. Speaker this Government needs to take a real hard look at what happened to those women. How can the Attorney General assure Ontarians offenders especially those with a history of violence will be more closely monitored. I'll redirect the question to the minister of women issue. Thank you. Minister responsible for women's issues. Thank you Speaker. I'm glad that this question has been raised. Unfortunately it was a terrible tragedy and both the Premier's office and myself did reach out to the Executive Director of the Sexual Center in Renfrew County and we thank her for her presentation recently at our permanent round table on violence against women. And as I mentioned in yesterday's question period the women's directorate has provided a number of significant investments to raise awareness of domestic violence and support victims. I'll also mention today that the Ministry of Health is over 1.1 million a year for the next three years in hospital based sexual assault and domestic violence treatment centers very focused on counseling and this year we're making legislative changes to allow women to break residential leases when fleeing domestic violence. Thank you. And there are other investments to follow. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. My question is to the acting Premier. Despite the talking points from the Government House Leader the Premier could deny involvement in the Sudbury scandal if she feels so strongly about it. Instead the Premier is letting Mr. Lahid take the fall for not only her but for her Deputy Chief of Staff and for the Member for Sudbury. People in Sudbury know that Mr. Lahid did the Liberal Party's bidding. The acting Premier knows this as well because she was a Liberal campaign co-chair. Will the Premier and the people in her office accept the responsibility for their roles in this scandal or will she just let the loyal soldier take the blame? Well, Speaker, I'm surprised to hear from the Member, the Deputy Leader of the NDP mentioning Supreme Court reasoning as talking points. I'm sure the justices of the Supreme Court will really appreciate the characterizations of their reasoning in the Tobias case from 1997 as talking points. Let me restate what the Supreme Court said in that case-speaker night quote, a well-known rule of Parliamentary practice holds that no member of the House of Commons should comment upon any matter that is pending before the courts. Speaker, with all due respect to Member Opposite that's not a talking point that is a principle of law that has been affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada and I urge the Members opposite to respect that convention. Thank you. Supplementary. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Jerry Law had raised thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Premier and for Justin Trudeau. He met with Members of the Member for Sudbury to entice principles and run for the Liberal Party. Mr. Law he was asked to make those tough calls on behalf of the Premier and as a result he's now facing criminal charges. But it was clear that he was just doing what he was told. The Premier was the one who was prepared to do anything to win the responsibility for this entire mess rests on her. Will the Premier finally accept responsibility for the actions of the people under her command? Well, the Member opposite is bitter because he didn't get a check from Mr. Lahid because Mr. Cimino got a check from Mr. Lahid and the Member from Nickelback got a check from Mr. Lahid and the Sudbury NDP has got multiple checks from Mr. Lahid and the Federal NDP writing in Sudbury and the Federal NDP MP has continued to receive Mr. Lahid so I guess that's why he's asking this question how come he didn't get a donation from Mr. Lahid. Speaker, these questions are politically motivated they are interfering in a court proceeding they should respect the convention of this house and not intervene in a matter that is before the courts. Thank you. My question is for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs to come to order. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs last month Premier Nguyen and Minister Zimmer met with the Aboriginal leaders here at Queens Park for the signing of the historic political accord. The accord provides a platform for First Nations and the province of Ontario to work together on common priorities. I'm proud to be part of the government that is committed to working with Aboriginal partners to achieve real progress towards developing improved outcomes for the First Nations people and creating prosperous, healthy and strong communities. The political accord marks a momentous moment for our government and its commitment towards mutual cooperation. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister tell us about what the signing of this political accord means for all of Ontario? I apologize, the member. I inadvertently incorrectly identified the member from Barrie. Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. Thank you, Speaker. I'd like to thank the member for Barrie for that question. Speaker, on August 24th, I had the privilege of joining our Premier and newly elected Regional Chief Isidore Day for the signing of the political accord. The signing of this accord allows us an opportunity for several things. A further reconciliation between First Nations and Ontario. A strengthened political relationship with First Nations. A commitment to discussions on topics of common priority such as resource benefit sharing and the treaty relationship. And lastly, the creation of a foundation for self-government initiatives for First Nations. Speaker, this accord presents a significant milestone for both parties and I am honoured to have been a part of the process. I would like to thank the Minister for his hard work to negotiate this accord with our First Nations partners. I offer my congratulations to the Minister and Premier Wynne for working so hard to continue our government's work with First Nations leadership to continue to cement our relationship. Thank you. It's wonderful to hear that our Government is doing such great work to build ties between the Government and First Nations peoples in Ontario. And Premier Wynne for working so hard to Finish, please. I'd like to thank the Minister and the Premier for working so hard to ensure the accord came into fruition. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please tell this House what the next steps for our Government are in working with the First Nations peoples to build a stronger, more prosperous social real? Thank you. Speaker, the signing of the political accord is but the first step in a new, renewed cooperation between the Government of Ontario and our First Nations. There are many further steps to come. The signing of the accord will help us work with First Nations to implement the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission including education and commercial boundaries, history and culture. It will help us develop a new treaty strategy to facilitate constructive engagement between treaties, to revitalize existing treaty relationships and promote improved social and economic outcomes for our Aboriginal peoples. Negotiating this accord has been a positive experience. It has fostered a positive dialogue that I hope and I know will continue into our future dealings with the Aboriginal leadership. I am proud of my ministry's role in this historic agreement and the Premier's leadership Thank you. Thank you, Speaker. My question to the acting Premier. Apparently our Premier missed the integrity commissioners warning to all MPPs about participation in the federal election and partisan use of government resources. Being Premier is a full-time job. Yet since the election she's ignored the commissioner posing for more pictures with Justin than working on the priorities of Ontario. Well, 800,000 elementary school students are not able to take action. She's dancing with Justin. While they're suspending peal breakfast programs she's breaking bread with Bill Blair. While other Premier's keep their distance this Premier blurs lines on partisan promotion. One thing to have a horse in the race it's another to spend our resources to push it over to the finish line. Can the acting Premier tell us why the part-time Premier continues to flaunt the integrity of the state elected? Let me say that our Premier is the hardest working person I have ever had the opportunity to say, Speaker, she is a phenom. I don't know how she does it, Speaker. So yes, it's quite clear that Superwoman, I agree, she is a Superwoman. This election is a very important election for Ontario and the current government has made it very clear that they are not interested in working with this province. It took the Premier over a year to get a meeting with the Prime Minister. One would think that the Prime Minister of Canada would be happy to talk to the Premier of Ontario any time she wanted to do so. Speaker, the federal government has tried to continue to do so. I would like to bring the temperature down a little bit and try to stay focused on government business. Thank you. Back to the acting Premier. The Premier's bad habits are rubbing off on her caucus colleagues. Her members now think they can parade around promoting their federal liberal buddies at Ontario taxpayer funding announcements while the Premier is on just stage. There is the Kitchener Centre MPP and the Minister of Agriculture handing Ontario government checks in my riding as they pose for pictures shoulder to shoulder with a local federal liberal candidate. Provincial government announcements utilizing provincial taxpayer resources to arrange and execute and there is the federal candidate toasting with the MPP's and grant recipients. We will investigate the actions of the Kitchener Centre MPP and the Minister. Will they do the right thing? Rain in partisan politics and get the government back to working for the people of Ontario. I believe it is our job to stand up for Ontarians and that is exactly what we are doing. We need a new government speaker, we need a new partner, we need a new find of leadership in Ottawa We need a partner that works with us to build more opportunity and more security for Ontarians. We ran in the last election on our Ontario retirement pension plan speaker. The Prime Minister and the second time the federal finance minister speaker have done everything they can to prevent us from building that kind of retirement security. We want to move forward on building a better future for Ontarians. We want to make sure that Ontarians can retire knowing that they have nothing. Thank you Speaker, my question is to the acting premier and it is all the way back from 2010 and Ontarians are still looking for an answer. In 2012 your government, the Liberals committed to a cap of executive salaries but earlier this weeks Ontarians learned that the executive salaries of the Pan Am Games were to receive performance bonuses that would double their salaries for simply doing their jobs. Speaker, the vast majority of Ontarians find this offensive. My question is this, when will the Liberal government stop the bonanza to cap public CEO salaries? Thank you. Speaker, this is a bit rich coming from a man who is in a party and that voted against the broader public sector compensation accountability and transparency act Speaker. They voted against it and now they are not happy that they are not happy with our progress on it Speaker. We would have been further ahead if they had not triggered that election. Remember that election Speaker. We had introduced the bill. We would have had that bill passed before that election. We are moving forward Speaker. It has been proclaimed. We are doing that work now Speaker to develop those caps and those compensation frameworks within the broader public sector. That work is happening. We are doing it in a thoughtful way Speaker. Further along this exercise had you supported it in the first place. Thank you. There is a whole bunch of people getting rich under your watch. For example, do you remember the guy who used to run Hydro 1? He used to get paid $750,000. You are now, we find out because we got the FOI, this new CEO that is being hired is going to get 4 million bucks. Talk about that. Our party is putting forward again a bill for today under private... that you are talking to the chair. Third person please. Thank you Speaker. Again, I say we as a party, new Democrats today are putting forward at private members a bill that would cap CEO salaries at two and a half times the price of what the premier has got. That is only fair. I want to know are you guys prepared to do the right thing and move on capping CEO salaries so that we can get some justice in this world and we don't have people getting rich on liberal lands. There is no question that Ontarians deserve a very clear rationale as to what people are getting paid and why they are getting paid that. We believe in that that's why we introduced legislation that accomplishes exactly that. I look forward to speaking to the members bill this afternoon Speaker but I can tell you that I'm happy to report on the progress that we've made since that bill received Royal Assets since bill eight received Royal Assets. So we are collecting that full compensation information from organizations right across the broader public sector. We are covering everything from sabbatical pay Speaker to bonuses to health benefits. We are capturing all compensation. We are doing our homework. We are doing this in an evidence based thoughtful way Speaker so that we can create reasonable compensation caps so that we manage those public dollars. I look forward to the debate this afternoon. Thank you Speaker my question is to the minister of government and consumer services. Last week the minister last week they updated the house and actions our government has taken to strengthen the real estate sector. This is an important priority but buying and selling only makes a part of a homeowner's responsibility. The houses in Durham have a lot of character and very greatly from place to place from suburban in northern North Bowmanville to cottages and the water in Caesarea to all the farm homes and lots of land up near Zephyr. So many Durham residents are getting creative and resourceful and looking to renovate their homes through work with our many quality independent contractors. Ensuring a level of accountability in this sector is extremely important during the year. Can the minister please speak to a government record in protecting consumers and home renovation projects. Thank you. Minister of government and consumer services I could probably turn around and give the answer. I want everybody to hear it so here it is. I want to first thank the member from Durham for asking about an important consumer protection issue. Our government is committed to protecting Ontario homeowners through a track record through the consumer protection act to ensure a number of things take place that Ontarians have a 10 day cooling off period for any contracts that they enter that the contractors must provide consumers with estimates on the services and stay within 10% of that initial estimate. Ontarians have a right to cancel a contract if services are not commenced within 30 days of the promised date and that consumer agreements disclose all of the details and all mandatory provisions clearly. We have enforced these protections consistently and several home renovation companies have been prosecuted for violating the act. We also created the consumer framework list to allow Ontarians to access the histories of these organizations with unscrupulous practices. We continue to work to strengthen consumer protection measures in the province and look forward to providing more information in the supplementary. Thank you. Thank you minister for updating the house on his ministry's work in this area. Ensuring Ontarians are able to maintain and improve their homes without subjecting themselves to unscrupulous behavior is important and my constituents will be glad to hear that there are protections in place. Many of the problems that necessitate renovations however stem from long term issues with homes that people buy. A home in Zephyr for instance may be much older and have drainage concerns or slightly newer homes in Curtis who get a crock in the foundation so I always advise home buyers in Durham to protect their investments by hiring a home inspector before purchasing however valid concerns have been raised to me about rebuilding in home inspector in home inspector's profession can the minister please inform this house and how our government is adding accountability to this sector. Thank you minister. Thank you speaker and again to the member from Durham presently we are working with the home inspectors as an important profession and certainly the need for educational and financial legal standards are important to put in place that's why our ministry established a panel of experts to review that particular profession last year the panel submitted its report a closer look qualifying Ontario's home inspectors containing 35 recommendations some of those included mandatory licensing for home inspectors professional competencies and education technical standards a code of ethics mandatory insurance coverage for errors and omissions and standards regarding content and the quality of home inspector reports, contracts and disclosures all to be improved from that report. Public feedback was very supportive of these recommendations and my ministry is committed to moving forward to develop a framework to help regulate this profession. I'm pleased with our government's record to listen to consumers on this issue and we look forward to updating the house on more progress in the future. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Speaker my question is to the acting premier this government is trying to squeeze millions of dollars out of the City of Toronto by appealing the property tax assessments on several provincial properties and what the Globe and Mail called a bizarre manoeuvre. Mr. Speaker it's certainly bizarre that this government is fighting its own property tax assessment system whether it's Queens Park, Osgoode Hall or even Ontario Place this government seems to be saying their own system is wrong all across the city. Mr. Speaker how does this government explain fighting its own system and if impact is so completely wrong in their judgment how does the premier then expect every other property owner to make their own property tax assessments. Thank you. Minister of Finance Thank you Mr. Speaker let's be clear impact is not a provincial Crown Agency and they've received no provincial funding they're an offer profit corporation funded entirely by Ontario's municipalities and as an independent corporation any decisions on operational matters are made by the management and board of directors of the corporation. Throughout Ontario property owner can appeal an impact assessment to the assessment review board. The process is in place to protect businesses to protect consumers, to protect municipalities as well and infrastructure Ontario is following through for the benefit of the taxpayers of Ontario. Thank you Mr. Speaker Thank you supplementary. Again to the acting premier Mr. Speaker Ontario taxpayers deserve an organized government where the right hand knows what the left hand is doing this government is known for its money wasting scandals and incompetence now they are so desperate to pay for their scandals they're trying to take millions away from the City of Toronto from payments as far back as 17 years. Mr. Speaker is the premier trying to balance your budget at the expense of the City of Toronto by claiming mistakes and mismanagement of a property tax assessment system which is this government's responsibility. Thank you Mr. Speaker Thank you Mr. Speaker I think we all recognize that infrastructure Ontario manages thousands of Ontario government owned properties on behalf of the people of Ontario we recognize that we must be prudent and responsible in managing those properties for the benefit of the people of Ontario and tax payers. Municipalities have requested the province to facilitate review of MPAC which by the way my then Parliamentary Assistant to the Outstanding Mr. Del Duca did that review to the benefit of the people of Ontario in order to ensure that the process is in place to protect those interests and in an effort to be prudent and physically responsible manager of these properties they conducted an ongoing due diligence and that's the way it should be Mr. Speaker Thank you so much Member from Timmons James B on a point of order I just want to correct my record I said that the salary cap would be two and a half times it's actually two I should. All members are allowed to correct the record and that's a point of order. Thank you. Member from Bruce Grey Owens Allen on a point of order Thank you very much Mr. Speaker I'd like to welcome Patrick Jillson President of Bruce County Federation of Agriculture and now newly elected Director at large with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and Thea Strassen visiting Canada as a student from Germany fulfilling her required international work experience for her degree in Agricultural Science Welcome to Point of Park Thank you Mr. Speaker I'd like to welcome today Briginder Kaur who's here all the way from India joining us She represents a charitable organization in India called Prabhavastra Trust and joining her are Sunny Gill Sandy Graywell and Sequinda Rahman from Sahidha Organization Thank you for joining us today Member from Burlington on a point of order Thank you Speaker I'd like to introduce Dr. James Ellison a psychiatrist from Nottingham, England and the cousin of my executive assistant Steve Shavka he's joining us at Queens Park today Welcome Thank you There are no deferred votes This House stands adjourned until 1pm this afternoon