 It is therefore time for question period. The member from the Shoe Saint Marie. Thank you Mr. Speaker. To the Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. Recently I traveled to the Matawa First Nations of Nibinibik, Webekwe, Nishkantiga and Yabba Matang to see the living conditions there. Nibinibik fears a community evacuation because their power system may not survive the winter. They along with Nishkantiga have been on a boil water advisory for decades. Imagine an entire generation of youth not knowing something as simple as turning on the tap for a glass of water. These and many other poor conditions are causing an even greater tragedy. There is a suicide epidemic that is claiming the lives of too many young children. Can you even fathom the state of hopelessness when kids as young as 12 are taking their own lives? These conditions exist in Ontario, Mr. Speaker, and they are unacceptable. So to the Minister, what will you do to bring immediate relief to these First Nations? Will you end the power in the water crisis now? Will you take action to end the tragic suicide epidemic that is killing Ontario's youth? Thank you for that important question. The water issue, cleaning water issue is utmost paramount to this government, indeed the First Nations, and I should add to the federal government. And that's why this government is working closely with the federal government to resolve this cleaning water issue. The federal government has responsibility for on-reserve matters, clean drinking water. But the provincial government plays an important role in working with the federal government in working with First Nations in providing provincial expertise in water treatment. Speaker, I have been to 119 or 120 First Nations, especially in the remote Northern communities. A part of my visit always includes a treatment to the water treatment facility if there is one. And in some First Nations there is not a water treatment facility. And I can tell you when you see the difficulties with the water treatment facilities and then you go to other First Nations and you see that they don't even have a water treatment facility. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, again to the Minister. The socio-economic and infrastructure challenges within these communities are similar to those we would see in third world countries. Following the discovery of the Ring of Fire, the Liberal government signed a regional framework agreement, the RFA, with all the Metawa First Nation communities so that these living conditions could be addressed in the consultation process. The Liberals then hired high-priced consultants to negotiate the Ring of Fire road development. It's been 11 years now and there has been no progress on the road beyond liberal announcements filled with empty election promises. To date these failed negotiations have wasted taxpayers in excess of $30 million. Mr. Speaker, after all this wasted money, these communities continue to live in third world conditions and are in desperate need of help. So to the Minister, wouldn't you think all this money would have been better spent on solutions to the living conditions in these communities as opposed to patting the pockets of high-priced liberal consultants? Mr. Speaker, thank you for that question. Look, a necessary component to relieving the conditions, the difficult conditions we find in the far north, is economic development, resource development, and finding a way for First Nations to share responsibly and fairly in the benefits of resource development. I know the member opposite was on a tour of the Ring of Fire recently. I too, about two weeks ago, was at the Ring of Fire with Minister Moro, with Minister Gravel and myself, executives from Noron and chiefs from the Metawa Tribal Council. We had an on-site meeting. We sat in a ring in the outdoors at the Ring of Fire. We received a thorough briefing from the chiefs from Noron and from the political people that attended that meeting. I can tell you that there is a willingness from the First Nations, from Noron and from government to develop the Ring of Fire so that we can provide the economic opportunity which will go a long, long way to improving conditions. I remind the minister and all members, when I stand you sit, it's a final supplementary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, to the minister, the road that was initially proposed to unlock the economic opportunity in the Ring of Fire runs through Metawa First Nations lands and as such requires their consent. To obtain that consent, the Liberal government signed an RFA with these communities, promising to negotiate in good faith. Yabba Matong and Nishantaga have not agreed to this development, fearing the road alone will not address or improve their community living conditions. The Premier's answer to this roadblock was to change the rules of the RFA. Now she plans to reroute the road to avoid their lands so that they won't have a say. However, Yabba Matong and Nishantaga hold historical land claims in the Ring of Fire. This is a slap in the face to those negotiations. To the minister, is this your government's idea of good faith negotiations? Thank you. Minister of Municipal Affairs will come to order. So the reason that Minister Gravel and I and Minister Moro, norond executives and the Ring of Fire chiefs went to the Ring of Fire about two weeks ago, we spent the day there in extensive briefings, extensive consultations, to find out how best to deal with the transportation corridor issue. Obviously, if we're going to extract minerals with the involvement and the participation of First Nations, there has to be a transportation corridor to remove those minerals, those assets to smelters and other places. That was the purpose of the meeting. That's why this government has invested a bill set aside a billion dollars for a transportation corridor. And we are presently in negotiations with our sort of counterparts. We are in negotiations with the private sector to execute a plan that is satisfactory, that is satisfactory to the nine metallic trees. The meeting's so long. The member from Nipissing. Thank you. And good morning, Speaker. My question is for the Acting Premier. Under the Fiscal Transparency and Accountability Act, the Finance Minister is required to provide a fall economic statement. Over the last 30 days, we've all heard the warnings made about this government's documents. The Legislature's Financial Accountability Office says the budget will not balance because the numbers are based on, quote, unlikely assumptions. Last month, the Auditor General said this government has, quote, significantly misstated the numbers for two years running. Last week, the AG said, quote, the government is making up its own accounting rules. Speaker to the Acting Premier, is there even a remote chance we're going to see any numbers we can believe? Thank you. Acting Premier. Mr. Finance. Mr. Speaker, I reject the premise of this question and the notion of which the individual is trying to also reflect the fact that Ontario, by all accounts, is leading Canada. We have the lowest unemployment in 17 years, over 800,000, almost 800,000 net new jobs in the depth of the recession. And Mr. Speaker, we've been very open and transparent and we've beaten our targets consistently year over year as a test set by public accounts, which the Auditor General does confirm. So, Mr. Speaker, the member opposite may, they talk about expectations and exaggerations. We deal with the facts here, Mr. Speaker, and we are exceeding and delivering for the people of Ontario. Thank you. Supplementary. Thank you back to the Acting Premier. Well, that's certainly not what the Auditor General told us last week. The Transparency Act also requires the Finance Minister to release August and February reports every year. But sadly, this Minister has missed issuing almost all of them since his appointment. Considering the lack of trust in this government's numbers, we can see why they choose to snub their nose at our laws. The Minister is also required to publish a pre-election finance report to be reviewed by the Auditor General. The government must provide detailed accounts the very numbers that the Financial Accountability Officer says would be, quote, not be achieved. The very numbers the Auditor General says, quote, we cannot rely on. Speaker, will the government produce a pre-election report? And will there be any numbers in it we can actually believe? Thank you. Mr. Speaker, this is a good question, and I'll tell you why. That party, when they were in power, they gave us a bogus budget that would contain a five and a half bill. Come to order. This is in the past, Mr. Speaker. We passed the law, requiring that all governments going forward must be open and transparent and deliver the entire province to see before the next election. We are doing that, Mr. Speaker. The fall economic statement is going to be delivered very shortly, as will the future reports that is being questioned here, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Before I turn to the member, I would ask him to listen. Final supplementary. Again, to the acting Premier. The two reports aren't the only documents the members of the House are waiting for, Speaker. The government has withheld thousands of emails from the Auditor General and spent $500,000 on hired lawyers to stall their release. The Auditor General and this legislature are entitled to those documents, not some of them, Speaker, all of them, and we want them now. Not only that, but the media were told in a response to freedom of information request that no documents on consultants exist, when clearly they do. Speaker to the acting Premier, the last liberals that said there were no documents are now in a courtroom down the street. Is that where this one is heading to? Thank you. Minister of Energy, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our government remains committed to being open and transparent and continues to cooperate. Your member from Leeds General will draw. Here we are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And we continue to cooperate with the Office of the Auditor General. For example, the independent electricity system operator has so far provided 1,200 records to the Auditor General, OPG has provided hundreds of records, the Ontario financing authority has provided 3,242, Treasury Board has provided thousands of records, we've provided 13,212, and in this process, Mr. Speaker, and throughout every day of operations, we're adhering to all document retention standards. Additionally, Mr. Speaker, the ministry has informed me that we're continuing to release additional information to the Auditor General, and we're doing this because we understand the importance of providing the auditor with everything that she's asked for, Mr. Speaker. The ministry has been regularly providing the auditor general with additional responsive documents each week, and we'll continue to adhere to this process. Thank you. No question, the leader of the third party. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the acting Premier. Thanks to the Auditor General, we now know that the Premier and her Liberal government are forcing Ontario families to pay $4 billion just to hide the damage that her hydro-borrowing scheme will do in the long run. We know that she was warned about the cost, we know she was given other options, and we know she went ahead, anyways. Can the acting Premier tell us who made the decision to ignore staff warnings and push ahead with a $4 billion scheme? Mr. Speaker, again, the premise of the question is erroneous. The estimation by the Financial Accountability Officer made reference to what he felt were estimated numbers based on estimated borrowings, which were reminding everyone that that is not actually what has taken place. And so, Mr. Speaker, the premise of the question is erroneous. There is a plan before us which reduces hydro rates, electricity rates for Ontarians across the province by 25%, enabling us to do so in a responsible manner which the opposition have now declined. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Supplementary. Trust the estimations of the FAO and the Auditor General much more than I would expect to trust that dollar, Speaker. So I'm not going to take their estimations, definitely not. In addition to the $4 billion, Speaker, that this Premier spent to hide the real cost of her $40 billion borrowing scheme, they also forked over another $2 million to consultants to help design said scheme. Since they won't tell us about the $4 billion, will the Liberal government at least make these consultants contracts public so Ontarians know who exactly it is that's advising the Premier and what direction she was given? Yes, thank you very much, Speaker. And first of all, I think it's important to understand that the numbers that the leader of the third party is throwing around were estimates of something or other projections that came from the FAO. They were not documents that were ever presented to Cabinet on which to base a decision. They were projections that came after the fact. They were not Cabinet decision-making documents. The decision that Cabinet did make was an important policy decision to say that things that actually have to do with electricity production belong on the right base from an accounting and from a real perspective, financial, fiscal plan perspective. Things which have social policy impacts belong on the tax base. And that's exactly what the accounting is based on, is that policy decision to put electricity on the right base. Supplementary. I know I have not been gobsmacked in this place for a long time, but for a minister to get up and talk about estimations of something or others is pretty worrisome. For a governing party to do that is pretty worrisome. I knew how much it was going to cost to hide the disastrous effect of their borrowing scheme from the public. We know that they knew it was going to cost Ontario families $4 billion to do. And clearly, they just didn't care that they were going to spend $4 billion to cook up this scheme. We also know that the people of this province have paid an additional $2 million for consultants to tell them how to pull it off. Why is the Liberal government putting themselves and their party ahead of families once again? They're looking after their political interests, the interests of the Liberals and this Premier, instead of putting the interests of the families of this province who are struggling just to make ends meet and pay their skyrocketing hydro bills. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to our policy decision, we actually made a decision that helps every single family in this province, Mr. Speaker, by reducing their electricity bills by 25%. But then we went even further, Mr. Speaker. We brought forward our social programs, the OESP program, the Triple-RP program. For those folks that live in the rural or northern parts of our province, they're going to see a 40 to 50% reduction on their bill, Mr. Speaker. That's the policy decision that we made as a government. We made sure that we kept electricity generating assets on the electricity side, Mr. Speaker. And those social programs that I talked about, we pulled those off the rate base to lower the rates even more, and we put that on the tax base, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to putting families first, it's this government that does so, Mr. Speaker. It's this government that brought forward the reduction. It's this government that continues to bring forward plans and policies that will continue to help the families. Member from Renfrew, Nipissing, Pembroke, second time. Wrap up, please, one second. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is this government, not the opposition, that is making a difference in the lives of families in this province each and every day. Final supplementary. Thank you, Speaker. My next question is also for the acting Premier. Hydro bills in Ontario have gone up 300% under this Liberal government. They've gone up 50% just under the Premier's reign alone. But instead of reversing her wrong-headed decision to sell off Hydro 1, the Premier paid consultants $2 million to design a $4 billion financial scheme designed to hide the fact that she's costing Ontario families $40 billion more than necessary. Instead of remortgaging the cost of Hydro on the backs of Ontarians, why didn't this Liberal government come up with a real solution to address the skyrocketing Hydro prices in this province? Thank you. Minister of Energy, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The solution that we brought forward is a 25% reduction for all homes in this province, for all families, and for 500,000 small businesses and farms, Mr. Speaker. Their plan doesn't do anything to even address taking one cent off anyone's bills, Mr. Speaker. They didn't even include First Nations or even contemplate what we can do for low-income individuals where we did, Mr. Speaker. We brought forward the Ontario Electricity Support Program. We have an on-reserve First Nations delivery credit removal, and we've also created the Triple RP. That's great. We've made sure, Mr. Speaker, that we've looked after the individuals in our province and we know we've got more work to do. We'll continue to have consultations to talk about small businesses, Mr. Speaker. We'll continue to work with our large industries, Mr. Speaker, unlike the opposition party that has no plan and one that has a plan that won't work. This plan on this side of the House, Mr. Speaker, is saving all families in this province money. New question? The Leader of the Third Party. Well, Speaker, sadly, sadly, sadly—this is my second, Speaker's second from—sadly, sadly, sadly, the people of Ontario have seen all too closely the Liberal plan. That's why the hydro-weights are going up in this province because of Liberal plans, because of what the Liberals have done to our electricity system over 14 years. Look, the Premier has taken responsibility already for the high cost of hydro in Ontario. She actually said it was her own fault. When will the Liberal government take responsibility for using billions of public dollars to try to deceive Ontario families into believing that she actually fixed the problem that she caused? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that was awful. I'm going to ask the member to withdraw. Thank you. I didn't like to clap. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to helping families in this province, 25% reduction means that rates are going down, Mr. Speaker. They're going down for every single household, they're going down for 500,000 small businesses and farms, and we're continuing to work to reduce our rates even more. But you know what, Mr. Speaker? We did have to make sure that we invested in a system, $70 billion in a system to make sure that we can have a clean system and a reliable system. And I know today, Mr. Speaker, that system that we have is over 90% GHG free. We're making sure that there is no coal in our electricity supply mix. We are the tip of the spear when it comes to North America, Mr. Speaker. And I know the other opposition parties will talk about it, but this is action that we've done. We've lowered our emissions. We've made sure we're helping on the health care system because these are saving dollars to our health care side, Mr. Speaker. These were the right things to do. At the end of the day, we'll continue to help families in this province. Thank you. Final supplementary. Mr. Speaker, the running tab for the cost of the Premier's hydro-boring scheme is this, $40 billion for the plan itself, $4 billion to hide the long-term cost of the plan, $2 million on consultants to design the $4 billion financial scheme, and $500,000 for a lawyer to screen emails going to the Auditor General as she attempts to tell the people of Ontario just how bad this hydro-scheme is for them. Does the government plan to spend any more public money on that desperate attempt to convince voters that their hydro bills haven't gone up over 300% on their government's watch? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, 25% reduction, all households in this province. That means rates are going down in this province, Mr. Speaker. But let's talk about the savings that this government has made by investing in a clean, green, reliable electricity system. When it comes to the health care system, Mr. Speaker, $4.3 billion in health care cost savings thanks to this government closing coal plants. That's $70 billion that we're going to see, Mr. Speaker, by 2055. That is something we need to ensure that we keep doing, Mr. Speaker, unlike the opposition parties that have no plan or no idea on actually how to do this, Mr. Speaker. 43%, sorry, 41% reductions in health care costs, 23% in health care deaths thanks to the investments that we have made in this system. We're going to continue to be leaders in this country, in North America when it comes to our electricity grid and making sure that it's clean, it's green, it's reliable and affordable, Mr. Speaker. Thanks, Speaker. My question this morning is for the acting Premier. We learned last week in court that former Cabinet Secretary Peter Wallace told a Premier's Chief of Staff, quote, the only organization that didn't keep any records was a criminal organization, end quote. So I'm sure that it's only a coincidence that the government layered up this time when the Auditor General asked for what turned out to be 2 million emails from the Energy Ministry. Speaker, why has the government only turned over 1%, actually less than 1% of the documents that the Auditor General has asked for from the government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So when it comes to the documents that are asked by the Auditor General, we are in full compliance, Mr. Speaker. Since October 13th, we've provided over 13,000 documents, Mr. Speaker. And how did we get to that number on top of all the other documents that all the other associations are getting to? We actually took the phrases that the Auditor General had asked for and recognized that there were 80 custodians of those phrases, and that were 40 phrases. That produced 2 million documents. Those 2 million documents were then reviewed to make sure which ones applied specifically to this ask and what was close. And that provided 145,000 documents. Then the Ministry of Energy, Mr. Speaker, is working hard to go through all of those documents to provide all of them that relate to the Fair Hydro Plan to the Auditor General. I know the opposition member knows this, and that's something that we're going to continue to talk about, Mr. Speaker, because at the end of the day, we are doing everything that we're supposed to do as a government to provide these documents to the Auditor General. Mr. Speaker, the Minister just talked about a lot of numbers. And one thing we learned last week in the Auditor General's report is we can't believe a single number that this government brings forward any longer. All of their numbers are in a crowded controversy. Mr. Speaker, the last time the government stalled and stalled and stalled on handing over the documents, do you remember how much that cost the taxpayers of Ontario? Over a billion dollars. And we also got to learn about all kinds of neat things, like the secret code names they were using, like Project Vapor and Project Fruit Salad and Peaks Project that was going on and the infamous Double Delete. How many secret codes are we going to find about this time? But we know that the lawyers are in there deciding which documents that they're going to turn over to the Auditor General. This latest electricity scheme is going to cost electricity customers in Ontario four billion dollars, Speaker. This time the government lawyered up first. What are they trying to hide from Ontario now? Thank you. Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It begs the question as to what are they trying to hide, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the fact that they keep talking about an idea that they may have had somewhere close to maybe a year ago that they might launch and talk about a plan that they might have. I know the only number that we know is we're getting closer and closer to 365 days before they would even talk about having doing something for the people of Ontario. We, on the other hand, this government, Mr. Speaker, has provided another number that everyone knows, a 25% reduction on everyone's bills from one side of our province to the other. For those that live in rural or northern parts of the province, they will even see Mr. Moore, Mr. Moore. Moore, Mr. Speaker, but at the end of the day, we're making sure that we're acting, Mr. Speaker. We're acting for the people of Ontario with a clean system, an affordable system, and a reliable system. That's a plan that you can count on, Mr. Speaker, not like the opposition. New question. The member from Toronto, Danforth. Thank you, Speaker. Speaker, my question to the acting Premier. Two years ago, the Premier insisted that a privatized Hydro-1 would not drive up Hydro rates because the Ontario Energy Board would keep it in check. We now know that Hydro-1 refuses to be regulated by the OEB. Even after the OEB gave it nearly everything it asked for, including 71% of a $2.6 billion tax gift from that government, Hydro-1 is taking the OEB to court to demand 100% of that gift. According to OEB precedent, this tax benefit should be going to ratepayers, not to shareholders. Why does the Premier think it's acceptable for Hydro-1 to demand 100% of this $2.6 billion gift on behalf of investors while leaving nothing for ratepayers? Thank you. To the birthday boy, the Minister of Energy, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Honourable Member for the question, and I know we had this discussion last week as well. But really, when you're looking on Hydro-1's draft rate order, what we're talking about now, Mr. Speaker, is an estimated bill impact for 2017. That would be an increase of 0.1% and 0.2% for 2018. But that being said, our fair Hydro plan has lowered bills, like 25% on average for households, and as many as a half million small businesses and farms this summer, Mr. Speaker. I know our rural customers have also seen even a greater decrease from this somewhere between 40% and 50%. These are truly substantial savings. And so we're going to continue to monitor this, Mr. Speaker, but at the end of the day, we'll continue to work with all of our utilities to ensure that we continue to provide real relief, immediate relief for the families and businesses that are in our province. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, supplementary. Speaker, again, to the Acting Premier. Last week, the government said the system was working just fine because the OEB had told Hydro-1 to reduce its revenue demands. It turns out Hydro-1 basically ignored the OEB decision. The privatized Hydro-1 came back with new revenue demand that was nearly as high as the first demand. And then it took the OEB to court. Will the Premier finally admit that Hydro-1 will not accept regulation by the Ontario Energy Board and that the only way to stop private profits from driving up Hydro bills is to return Hydro-1 to public hands? Thank you. Can you see it, please? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the OEB's decision is a great example of the strong record they have of denying Hydro companies all that they asked for in reviewing rate applications with the consumer in mind first and foremost. And over the past 10 years, the OEB has denied or reduced the outcome of rate applications many times. In 2010, in 2012, in 2011, in 2014, again in 2011, even for example, with Toronto Hydro. They made a request to the OEB and received a 10.8% less than requested reduction. The OEB's mandate, Mr. Speaker, is to protect the interest of ratepayers and to set just and reasonable rates. When it comes to the tax deferral piece, Mr. Speaker, as the Independent Arm Likes Regulator of the province, the OEB continues to balance the interests of consumers with those of the utilities. Part of the OEB's decision and order included the deferral tax issue. And the OEB has indicated that some of the value of the tax increase or that tax asset should be given to ratepayers. Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, the member of the public called North. Thank you, Speaker. My question is for the minister responsible for accessibility, the Honourable Tracey McCharles. Speaker, Ontarians appreciate our government's work towards making Ontario more accessible. People of all abilities deserve to reach their social and economic potential by contributing their diverse skills and talents in the Ontario's workplace. Unfortunately, Speaker, as you'll appreciate, many Ontario employers are still reluctant to hire people with disabilities. And yet nearly a third of Ontario's small and medium-sized businesses report having difficulty filling job vacancies. Despite this, studies show that workers with disabilities are more loyal, better have better attendance, and in fact perform better than average on the job. As well, most workers with disabilities only require minor accommodations to work. A more diverse workforce, including people with disabilities, helps Ontario businesses with productivity, innovation, and exports. Speaker, my question is this. Will the minister please explain what steps our government is doing to shift attitudes about accessibility and increase the participation of persons with disabilities in Ontario's workforce? Thank you, minister responsible for accessibility. Thank you, and I want to thank the member from Etobicoke North for this very important question. This summer, I was very pleased, Speaker, to launch Access Talent. This is Ontario's employment strategy for people with disabilities, and I was joined by many colleague ministers on this very important initiative. So Access Talent outlines our vision for the future, a province where everyone has a chance to reach their full potential and make a meaningful contribution to our economic prosperity and social growth. We're calling on employers to join us to take action and hire at least one more person with a disability and give people the opportunity to help further build their businesses and grow our economy. Our plan involves drawing from the knowledge and lived experiences from people across all sectors, including Francophone communities and First Nations and Indigenous people to reflect the diversity of people with disabilities. I'll be pleased to answer more in supplementary. Thank you. Thank you, minister. I thank all of us. I appreciate your engagement on this portfolio. Speaker, one of the frustrations that I hear about as an MPP is how particular constituents are yet unable to find work because of the barriers they may face because of their own personal disabilities. The employment rate for people with disabilities is less than 50%, and a quarter of those employed feel they are working in a role that does not really reflect the breadth of their qualifications. When we limit people's ability as individuals, we limit our strength as a province. Speaker, last month as part of Access Talent, the minister responsible for accessibility announced the establishment of a new employer's partnership table to advise the government on innovative ways to connect people with disabilities to jobs and businesses to talent. Speaker, will the minister please explain to the House how the new employer's table is going to advance employment for people with disabilities in the province of Ontario? Question. Thank you. Minister. Speaker, our employer's partnership table is a major step forward for Ontario's groundbreaking strategy to increase jobs for persons with disabilities as business leaders and entrepreneurs are partners in the importance of expanding their customer base to include persons with disabilities while creating a workforce that reflects the diverse nature of their customers. I want to thank the members who joined this partnership table. I was just telling my colleague to the left of me. These folks are not only meeting at scheduled times. They're exchanging emails. They really want to move the artistic forward on this. They're going to advocate for hiring people with disabilities within their business circles and communities, influencing businesses, dispelling myths and misconceptions about employing people with disabilities. They have lots of professional expertise, Speaker, that they're bringing to the table, best practices. And it's initiatives like this, Speaker, that show our government is creating meaningful and positive change, both socially and economically in Ontario. Thank you. Thank you. Your question, member, from the Elgin Millsexe London. Thank you very much, Speaker. My question is to the minister of health. Every day we read about the opioid crisis in Ontario and the many deaths resulting from overdose. Police officers who are often first to find those who have overdosed or run the risk of inadvertently ingesting the illicit drugs during their duty that place their lives on the risk. Back in October, the government announced the expansion of the supply of naloxone. Unfortunately, these first responders were ignored in the announcement. This has left many police services struggling to find the money to equip their officers with this life-saving treatment. It's created a two-tier system in the province where some officers have access to naloxones and others do not. Mr. Speaker, the opioid crisis has overtaken Ontario. We need leadership and support for our police officers throughout the province. Will the minister ensure a portion of the funds his government committed to the crisis helps police services purchase naloxone for their officers? Thank you. The minister of health. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I know the minister of community safety and correctional services will want to speak to this issue in the supplementary. But I wanted to take the opportunity since the member referenced appropriately the opioid crisis, the public health emergency that we're facing in this province, as well as across the country. I was at last Thursday and Friday, the federal provincial and territorial health ministers meeting where we had opportunity on both days, Mr. Speaker, to work together on the crisis and what more we could do collectively and nationally, looking particularly to the federal leadership at ways that they could work with us to make sure that those supports that are so badly needed by our harm reduction workers and at the front line, including the safe injection services, including the providing support to those, quite frankly, who are dying in incredible numbers and are extremely vulnerable and marginalized that we can provide that support that's needed. It includes the provision of naloxone. I think we're distributing in the order of 8,000 kits every single month through a whole myriad of opportunities. And again, the minister of community safety correctional services will want to address this specific supplementary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back to the minister. Speaker, police services have informed me that they have had to shift money in their budgets to try and provide naloxone to their officers. Unfortunately, this comes at a cost of other police services that keep our public safe. This government has been too slow to act on this crisis, which has placed a heavy burden on police service budgets. Due to their lack of support, some regions of the province may not have access to naloxone for the police officers, putting the safety of both the public and the officers at risk. Speaker, will the minister commit to expanding the availability of naloxone to include our frontline police officers throughout this process? Mr. Speaker. Minister? Again, to the minister of community services and community safety and correctional services. Minister of community safety and correctional services. Well, thank you very much. And I want to say thanks to the member opposite for the questions. And I know that he and I would say everyone in this house is committed to ending the opioid crisis. Several police services have outfitted their frontline officers with naloxone kits, and that includes a few in the member opposite's own writing, such as the Elmer Police Services and the OPP, who have equipped all their frontline officers with life-saving naloxone, Mr. Speaker. Municipalities are in the end responsible for insurances and effective police services that meets their needs. And as part of our strategy for safer Ontario, we are moving forward towards an outcome-based funding model. Moving forward with this modernisation, police services will have more funding for local priorities, like naloxone for police. And when the bill is introduced, I strongly encourage the member to support it. Thank you. Thank you very much. APPLAUSE New question. The member from London, West. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the acting Premier. Speaker, on Friday, October 20th, student leaders at eight Ontario colleges urged the government to get college administrators and striking faculty back to the bargaining table so that a negotiated settlement can be reached and 500,000 college students can return to their classrooms. My colleagues, Cindy Forster and I, the member for Welland, reinforced their call in an open letter to the Premier. Speaker, students feel that they are caught in the middle. They worry whether they will be able to complete their program requirements. Many are paying both tuition and rent and are understandably anxious about the financial burden they are carrying when their semester might be lost. Speaker, what is this Liberal government going to do to bring the parties back to the table so that a fair resolution can be achieved? APPLAUSE Thank you. Minister of Economic Development and Growth. Minister of Economic Development and Growth. Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. We share the member's concern, obviously, about the length of time that this strike has been ongoing. And I perhaps have an interest here. Maybe I have a conflict of interest. I have two sons, Mr. Speaker, one at George Brown taking construction engineering, another at Centennial College taking HVAC. Both graduate this spring. So they too are anxious about what the potential impacts this may have on their year. So we on this, there's no monopoly here on caring about the interests of these students. I think we all care equally. I think the best thing we can do at this stage is to urge both sides to stay at that bargaining table and get to a deal as soon as possible because there's no question the time being taken impacts our students. And so, Mr. Speaker, I guess it may be in the supplementary question the member can tell me, is her party suggesting that now's the time for us to legislate them back? Is that what they're suggesting? Because that's the only tool we have. Supplementary. And to the acting premier, Speaker, provincial underfunding of Ontario colleges has resulted in tuition fees increased to the maximum, ballooning class sizes, and an explosion in the use of temporary contract and part-time instructors, all of which puts quality of education at risk. College student enrollment is at record highs, but full-time faculty have all but disappeared. 80% of faculty are precarious part-time workers with no job security and no benefits who must reapply for their jobs every four months. This is not fair to students and it is not fair to faculty. Speaker, what is this Liberal government prepared to do to ensure a fair negotiated agreement that includes the resources necessary to implement equal pay for equal work in the college sector? Mr. Speaker? No, Mr. Speaker. Can you see the please? Thank you. Mr. Speaker? And asking questions on a daily basis on this, and I understand the concern that we both have and we all have for our students. But Mr. Speaker, what are they suggesting we do? I mean, the alternative is, Mr. Speaker? Mr. Speaker? Mr. Speaker, we're strongly urging both sides to get to an agreement as soon as possible. That's in the interest of our students, Mr. Speaker. But it's the members suggesting that now's the time for us to legislate them back. If that's what you're suggesting, then come out and say it and stop hiding behind the rhetoric because, Mr. Speaker, there's been no government that's been demoralized for the college system than ours. Do you have a question for the members of the government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Energy. In my right, and I often hear from constituents on the work of this government and the energy file. The constituents of Durham know how critical a clean, reliable energy system is to Ontario being a great place to live and work, Speaker. And that's why the refurbishment of our nuclear fleet is so important to them. But recently... Thank you. Finish, please. Thank you, Speaker. A new story that focused on the refurbishment sub-project cited cost overruns as a concern. Now my constituents are worried that the project might go over the set budget or will be delayed. They are worried because they know that the nuclear industry is not only a source of clean and safe energy, but it also brings substantial economic benefit to the region of Durham. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister please update the House and my constituents on how the refurbishment project is going? Minister of Energy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also want to thank the member for that question and for all of the hard work he puts in every day for all of his constituents. As I've said before, the refurbishment of the Darlington generating station remains on time and on budget. The new story mentioned by the member from Durham focuses on only one of about 500 small sub-projects that make up the entire Darlington refurbishment program. There is adequate contingency within the overall refurbishment project to fund any risks related to this sub-project. As Ontario Power Generation states in their Q2 refurbishment update, which you can now find on their website, they are now at the quarter-way point and remain on time and on budget. The Darlington refurbishment project is a Made in Canada initiative with 96% of related expenditures happening in Ontario. This means more investment into our already booming economy. Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the member from Durham and this house that the Darlington refurbishment remains on time and on budget. Thank you, supplementary. Thank you, Minister, for your answer. Since the Darlington nuclear generating station is in the great riding of Durham, the economic and job creation benefits are well celebrated by my constituents. We're also very proud of the work that has been done on the Darlington generating station, which provides about 20% of the province's electricity needs enough to serve a city of over 2 million people. After six years of detailed planning and preparations, Ontario Power Generation has safely shut down the Unit 2 reactor at the Darlington nuclear station. On October 15, 2016, initiating the refurbishment of the first of four units at the power plant. The refurbishment of Darlington will ensure we have safe, reliable, emission-free energy where it's needed. Minister, it's my understanding that you'll be releasing a government long-term energy plan later this week. Can you provide us with an update specifically regarding the nuclear plant? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The member is correct in pointing out that refurbishment of Darlington and other nuclear generating stations in our province will generate economic benefits. Refurbishing Ontario's nuclear capacity will create almost 25,000 jobs and generate annual economic activity of 5 billion. 60 companies from across Ontario are contributing to the project. As told, it is estimated that the 10-year project, together with Darlington's an additional 30 years of operation, will boost Ontario's GDP by almost 90 billion and create an average of 14,200 new jobs each and every year over that same period. This week, Mr. Speaker, our government will release the 2017 long-term energy plan and I'm pleased to say that it will take major steps towards delivering on the mandate letter objective by the Premier to me, namely refurbish being the 10 nuclear units in Ontario, both at Darlington and at Bruce. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. New question. Member from here on, Bruce. Very much, Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. On September 7th, the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph published their Planning for Tomorrow 2.0 report. This report found that the labour gap in the food sector has grown from three jobs for every graduate to four in just two short years. In fact, financial institutions have estimated that that gap is even higher in their sector. Clearly, Speaker, under this Minister's watch, this situation has eroded and is only getting worse. Speaker, does the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs not know about this report? But if he does, then why has he not taken action on my motion, growing agriculture careers? Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for a question this morning. I think what it reflects is the agriculture and agriculture sector of Ontario's economies, one of the fastest growing sectors in Ontario today. $37 billion, 800,000 people employed in there, and of course the Premier's target of 120,000 new jobs by the year 2020 were on track to make that happen. 59,000 new jobs created to date, which is putting demands, of course, on our labour supply. We continue to work with all educational institutions across the province of Ontario to make sure that we have adequate human resources to drive this sector forward. Thank you. Thank you, Speaker, back to the Minister. Unfortunately, I do not agree with what he just said. The Premier was Minister of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs. Yes, she challenged the industry to create 120,000 new jobs. They are nowhere near close to matching that number. They're not even close. My growing agriculture careers motion is a good step in helping the sector meet that challenge. But over the last couple of years, we have not seen any action taken on this motion, which I might add received support from all parties. Speaker, I've been meeting with a wide number of people, including industry representatives, Eggscape, OAC alumni, and they all share my concern that this motion has yet to be implemented. So, Speaker, on behalf of our young people and the industry stakeholders and Eggscape and OAC and their alumni, will the Minister of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs do the right thing and get this motion implemented immediately? Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for a supplementary question. I just wanted to provide this House with some information. That's why our government is partnering with the University of Guelph investing more than $7.5 million in graduate scholarships over the past decade through our highly qualified personal scholarship program. And again, Mr. Speaker, working with my colleague, the Minister of Education, we're now at part upon a curriculum review, and I know the Minister wants to enshrine agriculture and agriculture education into the curriculum to make sure we have adequate people for the fastest growing sector in Iterus economy today. Thank you. Question to the member from Timmins, James Bay. Health Minister, last week in Timmins, a 16-year-old boy with mental health needs had to be treated in the emergency ward because there were no beds in that hospital to be able to treat them. This morning, we hear that there's eight new beds being announced in the city of Timmins, and that's cold comfort to patients who are continually having to be treated in the same way getting hallway medicine rather than getting the bed that they need to be treated. Minister, talk of how much money your government claims to have spent as cold comfort to patients and their families across Iterus that still don't have access to the health care they need despite your claims to the contrary. No one, especially not a 16-year-old with so much life ahead of them should suffer in today's Iterus because of the lack of access to proper health care. When will this government admit that they're not doing enough to deal with this problem? Thank you. Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the question. I'm not sure whether the member is appreciating the fact that eight new beds are being opened probably within the next two to four weeks in Timmins hospital. I'm not sure if he's supportive of that or if he's not supportive of that, Mr. Speaker, but... I made an important announcement just over an hour ago, Mr. Speaker, where we announced $140 million available immediately to open up over 2,000 new hospital beds and spaces across this province. Mr. Speaker, if there's anything that's going to deal with the challenge that the member opposite has expressed, it's that. 1,200 new hospital beds are opening many, if not most, in the next two to four weeks, Mr. Speaker. Approximately 600 transitional care spaces for specialized care, including the Humber River Finch site, 150 beds that that party appears to be opposing, Mr. Speaker, and 200 new supportive housing units specifically for seniors. If that's not good news, I don't understand the nature of the context. Thank you. Tell you what is not good news. Minister, I will tell you what is not good news is when a government refuses to do something and only reacts when there's a crisis, only when our leader lands in this house and asks question after question members of this caucus, people across Ontario, hospital CEOs and others who have been saying for years you have underfunded the hospital system, you froze the budget for how many years? So now because there's an election coming this spring, you're finally doing something and announcing beds and tenants, of course we're going to take them. But minister, you know it falls short of what needs to be done. So will you please now admit that there is a problem in our health care? The question is standard. Address your questions and your answers to the chair, please. Minister. With this announcement, we are opening the equivalent of six new medium-sized hospitals in this province, in this calendar year, Mr. Speaker. And I wonder if the member from Welland where we're opening 20 beds at Windsor, sorry, where we're opening 20 beds at Windsor Regional Hospital or London Health Sciences if the members from London where we're opening 24 new acute beds and 24 acute mental health beds effective immediately, Mr. Speaker or Hamilton Health Sciences where we're opening 30 new beds. Niagara at the Welland site for the Welland member, Mr. Speaker 26 new beds for St. Joe's Downtown Hamilton 24 new beds at Lake Ridge at Oshawa I wonder if the member from Oshawa as opposed to the 22 new beds there. I know the member from Peterborough on our side is very happy that we're opening 20 new beds in Peterborough and the member from Quinty the fact that we're opening 15 beds there or in Ottawa the 45 new beds in Ottawa or the 36 new beds in Berry, Mr. Speaker at the Royal Vic. On this side, I don't know why they're at thank you you see it please you see it please start the clock thank you no question member from Berry thank you Mr. Speaker my question is to the Minister of Economic Development and Growth on this side of the house we know how important it is to have a plan for the future one that ensures Ontario can grow in this fast changing economy Mr. Speaker the Minister has been telling us for some time now about how important the information and communication technology sector is to Ontario and if you look at the numbers Ontario truly has become a global leading innovation hub Ontario is now the first in Canada and second in North America in the number of ICT establishment behind only California Ontario is now home to two of the start-up ecosystems in the world Toronto and Waterloo we know that we've seen investment in the past from major companies like Google, Apple, IBM and Thompson Rooters can the Minister please tell us about some of the more interesting and exciting developments for Ontario's ICT sector thank you Minister of Economic Development and Growth thank you very much Mr. Speaker the member is absolutely right this government recognized quite early and we needed to be at the forefront of that change we entirely restructured our Ministry of Economic Development and our Economic Development Strategy we needed to focus on investments that allow our start-ups to become scale-ups and our scale-ups to become globally competitive just this week we've seen two new exciting investments in Ontario's booming ICT sector one example of that growth Mr. Speaker is Shopify e-commerce giant located in Ottawa and a company changing the face of retail last week they announced a further expansion here in Ontario of 500 new jobs in Waterloo another example is Sidewalk Labs a subsidiary of global company and Mr. Speaker after a global search they decided the best place in the world for them to locate was here in Ontario I'm very proud of that Mr. Speaker and of course the supplementary thank you to the Minister for answering my question we know that Ontario's information and communication technology sector already directly employs about 280,000 people all across this province most of that employment is a result of our highly skilled talent that has been created right here in Ontario and in Barrie at Georgian College on Ontario's leading 44 universities which graduate thousands of STEM students per year these are great numbers and allow us to compete right now but we know things are changing rapidly across the world and in this competitive global environment jurisdictions across the world are pulling out of spots to attract investment and lure talent can the Minister please tell us about how we plan to ensure that Ontario continues to be a leader in job creation and grow a strong, diverse community Mr. Speaker no question the members absolutely right Ontario is in a position of strength we've added 800,000 net new jobs since the global recession our unemployment rate is at the lowest level we've seen in 17 years being in that position of strength gives us the ability to focus our attention on growing an innovative economy Mr. Speaker last week we took another step in that direction because the members also right our talent is the key to our future so last week we announced Mr. Speaker that we're going to expand that talent pipeline we're going to grow the number of STEM students in this province from 40,000 to 50,000 graduates every year and over the next five years Mr. Speaker we're going to increase the annual graduations for 1,000 applied master students in AI Mr. Speaker we're going to make it stronger we're going to keep growing and we're very proud of those investments Mr. Speaker thank you the member from NEPISING point of order point of order Speaker in addition to my mother my aunt, my niece and my in-laws being here I've got 40 members and friends from family and friends from North Bay here today next next on point of order thank you Speaker I'd be remiss to welcome Neil Roberts who is here with us the Executive Director of the Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs this evening is the Emergency Medical Exemplary Services Award Ceremony where the Lieutenant Governor will be presenting awards to 39 Ontario Paramedics who have provided distinguished pre-hospital care to Ontarians for 30 years and for 40 years Mr. Speaker I'd also be remiss if I didn't welcome Neil Roberts who is here with us for 30 years and for 40 years Mr. Speaker welcome thank you point of order the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services I want to say that today we have my seat made to celebrating a very important day it's his birthday and I would like us to say happy birthday to Glancy Boas doing a fantastic job for a people of discovery thank you