 It is now time for oral questions. I recognize the member for Brampton Center. Thank you and good morning Speaker. My first question is for the Premier. Yesterday the Premier insisted that his government should not be criticized for their underfunded inadequate COVID-19 response because other jurisdictions actually have it worse. Yet there are neighbourhoods in Brampton that have a COVID-19 positivity rate of nearly 20%. One doctor describes this and I'll quote, staggering number that suggests that there is a huge problem. There are now 165 patients in the ICU. That is one out of every 10 ICU beds in this province. When is the Premier going to stop justifying his inaction and start supporting people living in these hard-hit communities and the hospitals that serve them? Well in fact we are supporting appeal in the entire area since they have unfortunately needed to go into lockdown as with the city of Toronto. We recognize that they need additional supports in order to deal with the rapidly increasing number of cases that they're seeing. What we have done is sent more case and contact managers into the area to assist with helping to identify people who have COVID-19 and their contacts. We're also expanding the hospital facilities for people that need to be in the hospital and we're making sure that we have received help from some of the other public health units that don't have as high a number of cases in order to help by telephone support with case and contact management. So we recognize that appeal is going through a very difficult time. We want to help appeal get out of the lockdown as soon as possible and we are providing necessary resources in order to help appeal to get there. The supplementary question. Speaker every day the Ford government downplays the impact of this pandemic. Peel public health data shows that essential workers on the front lines in manufacturing, transportation and healthcare have been exponentially more likely to be infected. They are not doing well as the Premier likes to pretend. These people are facing a crisis and facing it without help from this government. When will this government stop trying to protect itself and its bottom line and start taking real action to protect and support the people in this province who need it most? Just to indicate the support that we are providing to appeal we have established three new community-based testing centers. We have implemented mobile testing sites. We are opening limited walk-in availability and assessment centers for those people who are not able to either book online or make telephone appointments and we are implementing up to seven pharmacies or specimen collection centers in the next several weeks. We also have invested $42 million for up to 234 new beds at three hospitals including alternate health facilities in Peel region to support hospital capacity pressures and the continuation of surgeries and procedures. So we are providing both health supports in terms of hospital beds and supports as well as contact managing testing and tracing. Speaker and through you to the minister but help in a few weeks is not going to help us today. Working people in these communities hit hardest by COVID-19 don't need the Premier to continue to tell them that the pandemic could be worse. They need this government to actually step up with dedicated resources for testing and contact tracing through this pandemic. Culturally specific COVID-19 outreach. Urgent and direct support for small businesses and direct support for those people who work with them. Start with a guarantee that they can leave work when sick without losing a day's pay. When will we see any of this? Well the supports have been provided in the healthcare field as well as in the economic field I believe that is what you are also referring to and we are providing we're doubling the amount of emergency management assistance that we're providing from 300 million to 600 million recognizing that there are many economic disadvantages that come from a lockdown in both Peel and Toronto but from the health side we're also supplanting adding to the number of beds. William Osler health system is receiving up to 87 total beds 41 beds at Brampton Civic and 46 beds at Tobacco General Trillium health partners will be receiving up to 141 total new beds and 99 beds at Mississauga hospital 23 acute beds 70 beds is part of the academic response unit and the list goes on so we are dealing with both the economic as well as the health effects recognizing that Peel is in a difficult situation right now and we will be there to assist them. Thank you. The next question once again the member for Brampton Centre. Thank you Speaker and my question again is to the Premier. Yesterday another nine residents died from COVID-19 in Ontario's long-term care homes. For months the Ford government has insisted that the growing spread of COVID-19 in long-term care was not a cause for concern but Dr. Emmett Adia director of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians disagreed yesterday saying and I'll quote we had months in the summer to prepare for this so as cases and mortalities start to accelerate in long-term care it's absolutely devastating and quote why does the Ford government continue to deny the reality of our long-term care homes. Thank you minister of long-term care to reply. Thank you Speaker and thank you for the question. Our government has acted swiftly and decisively since the beginning and I reject the premise of that question regarding the seriousness with which our government has taken the concerns of COVID-19 in long-term care homes. It has been absolutely consistent that our number one concern is the residents and staff safety in long-term care homes. They are our priority and there is no doubt we have taken measures all along the 243 million dollars to put up immediately to support our staffing in our long-term care homes 405 million dollars to support more staffing supports just a few weeks ago 61.4 million to help our homes with repairs and renovations that would better prepare them for COVID and to deal with it 30 million dollars for more infection prevention and control 10 million dollars for training 26.3 million dollars for future support for psw's 14 million for psw training at the list goes on and on speaker we have never stopped and we will continue thank you very much the supplementary question. Speaker the Canadian Association of Retired Persons has joined the course of voices expressing their concern about the government's failure to address the crisis in long-term care. I'll quote we can't afford to wait any longer in protecting vulnerable residents in Ontario's outbreak outbreak stricken long-term care homes. The time for change is now and it starts at the top. Carp goes on to say remove the Ontario minister of long-term care so that we as a province have a fighting chance to fix the system before we suffer another uncontrollable wave of death and quote will the premier listen to the growing concerns of people demanding urgent action and do that. Thank you speaker and you know I I recognize around the world the challenges faced by countries pushing back against COVID-19. Ontario has consistently worked with its experts its medical experts as the science evolved on COVID-19 to add more layers wave one the whole world was affected by that lessons have been learned from wave one and we're using the expertise that through our medical experts our public health tables hundreds of experts that are providing support and information and this has never stopped it's ongoing the rapid testing that will be will be able to get out to our home soon again many reasons why by that has not been able to be more expedient and we work with our federal partners to be able to have access to those rapid tests but the world has been affected by COVID-19 Ontario has not been response and we are continuing to make sure that our homes have all the PPE that is necessary and the staffing and there's no home right now with the staffing a critical shortage of staff or PPE our homes are doing much better 92% of our home very much thank you and the final supplementary after the first wave of the pandemic the Ford government promised residents in long-term care homes and their families that lessons had been learned and change was coming they are now watching in horror as the virus once again spreads through facilities that are understaffed underprepared and unchanged instead of taking action to protect our seniors from COVID-19 this government decided to protect long-term care operators from legal liability why is the premier protecting his minister instead of protecting vulnerable seniors the parliamentary assistant thank you sir let me be absolutely clear individuals and organizations that ignore public health guidance and act with gross negligence or intentional misconduct will not be protected by our legislation the narrow targeted civil liability protection in this legislation has only to do with the inadvertent transmission of COVID-19 and nothing else this legislation does not protect any other type of negligence that we hear from the opposition in this house or that we heard at committee like if a resident is not given proper medication or a long-term care home fails to properly communicate with families or patients ontarians will continue to be able to file claims and seek justice speaker for all these claims including any criminal charges under any circumstance the next question the member for waterloo thank you very much and mr. speaker my question is to the premier with parts of the gta now in lockdown and potentially more regions to follow businesses are sounding the alarm over this government's refusal to provide clear direction over who can and can't stay open ontarians are used to a lack of clarity from this government but even still we are very concerned about the premier's decision that for small mom and pop shops to close down all the while telling folks that it's a okay to still shop till you drop at big box stores like walmart and cosco so speaker we looked a little closer and surprise surprise guess who's currently registered to lobby the premier on walmart's behalf why it's melissa lanceman the premier's former war room director and now this all makes sense why is the premier willing to let small main street businesses go under just because they couldn't afford to hire his friends thank you very much mr. mr. speaker look we are doing everything we possibly can and have been since the onset of this pandemic to make sure that we focus on the health and safety of the people the province of ontario as the minister for small business mentioned just yesterday these are very difficult and challenging decisions that we are making in in cooperation with not only chief medical officer of health but with medical officers of health in the regions across the province of ontario mr. speaker there significant number of resources in place for small businesses to assist them during this very very difficult and and challenging time mr. speaker but as we've said from the beginning as the premier has clearly stated it is our objective our objective to make sure that first and foremost the health and safety the people the province of ontario is is is assured and that will lead to a strong vibrant response thank you very much and the supplementary question thank you very much so the premier has said before no one can influence him or his decision making but it turns out that there actually are a few people who the premier does listen to they just all happen to be former pc party staffers currently registered as lobbyists mr. speaker along with miss lanceman walmart has also hired david torrent the premier's former executive director strategic communications to lobby on their behalf together these two pc party insiders set up a meeting with the premier and the walmart of ceo where the ceo convinced the premier that they had no choice but to stay open even though they're small competitors they're small main street competitors all had to shut down what does the premier have to say to the small businesses that can't afford to hire pc insiders to arrange meetings with the premier of ontario minister of municipal affairs and housing come to order the response government thank you very much mr. speaker didn't hear me government house leader thank you very much mr. speaker i mean truly that it's what a remarkable question to to be asking i need to remind the members of the opposition that these are the same orders that were put in place back in march orders that were unanimously supported by members of this legislature unanimously supported by the members opposite by the independence mr. speaker these are the same orders that were put in place to fight the pandemic in the early stages and these are the orders that have been asked for by not only by the chief medical officer order but by the medical officers of health in the two regions that are unfortunately unlocked down mr. speaker if the members opposite are suggesting that we forget about the health and safety of the people the province of ontario and put our focus somewhere else i can assure the member opposite that on this side of the house that's just not going to happen mr. speaker we know that the sooner we can flatten this curve the sooner we'll have a more robust economic recovery and that's exactly what we're going to do despite the opposition from the mvp the house will come to order the next question the member for nagar west thank you very much speaker my question is for the minister responsible for small business and red tape reduction speaker small businesses have always been at the heart of ontario's economy in nagar west and across the province they represent jobs hope and opportunity for the people of this province due to the pandemic thousands of small businesses across the province have had to close their doors to help contain the spread of covid-19 i know this has been exceptionally difficult unfortunately many small businesses in ontario do not have an online presence which makes it hard for them to deal with the loss of physical sales i'm wondering if the minister could please tell the house what the government's response has been to helping small businesses adapt to the digital marketplace in nagar west and across the province the associate minister of small business and red tape production good morning mr speaker and thank you to the member for nagar west uh for that question mr speaker there's no sugar coating it and as we said yesterday these are difficult times unlike anything we have ever seen before in this province and our government understands that small businesses have been forced to adapt very quickly and that's why we responded through the 57 million dollar commitment to digital main street the largest investment by any government in the history of this country to help businesses go digital growing a business online expanding into e-commerce has become huge priority for many business owners through investment small businesses can now receive grants of up to $2,500 to help launch their business online the program is going to help up to almost 23 000 businesses create and enhance their online presence and generate jobs for more than 1400 students across the program thanks to this program main street businesses will be able to expand their offering and seize opportunities online the supplementary question thank you very much speaker and my thanks to the minister for this response i know that this investment is incredibly important for many small business owners in my community and right across ontario when the pandemic began many small businesses and businesses across the province were preparing to shut down but supports like these have helped to bolster many of these businesses minister could the minister please sorry speaker could the minister please update the house on the results of the digital main street grant program over the last few months social minister thank you to the member for that question i'd be happy to update the house on the progress of the digital main street program over the first five months we received 7900 applications and businesses that signed up for the digital main street shop here program and almost 2500 just in the last month i'm proud to say that approximately 45 percent of these businesses are from outside the gta while 45 percent of the applications identify as female entrepreneurs we have also established 79 digital service squads across ontario to provide support for website setup marketing strategies and point of sale software to more than 13500 businesses 131 municipalities across ontario now have access to a digital main street squad digital main street has been vital to many businesses and this has helped increase consumer confidence and make things easier for business owners well the next member the member for tronel st paul's speaker my question today is for the premier yesterday this legislature passed a motion condemning the extreme and hateful invective of charles mcveedy and to oppose any efforts to make canada christian college into an accredited university the legislature has spoken even the premier's own mpp's can't defend this decision will the government listen to the will of the legislature stop defending the indefensible and pull the bill rewarding charles mcveedy today yes or no thank you to respond minister of colleges and universities thank you very much mr speaker as i spoke about in this house on a number of occasions and i will continue to stand and rise in this house and defend the process that our government has a government process that is important it's accountable uh mr speaker it's transparent and it is what we are called upon as legislators to do so i will continue to speak about the process mr speaker and the process is this there is an independent p-cap process a party can apply directly to an independent body that is p-cap there's absolutely no way to stop that process from occurring mr speaker no way to interfere with that process from happening that independent body will review the particular application they will report back to the ministry and subject to results of that p-cap review the legislation would then be proclaimed into force mr speaker the opposition continues to play politics mr speaker with this response they continue to play politics mr speaker for whatever reason they wish to play politics with mr speaker but we will defend our democracy as we have continued to do thank you and the supplementary question promise of that answer again to the premier speaker with each passing day it gets harder and harder for the government to defend the premier's decision to reward his friend and close ally an unapologetic homophobe and a bigot charles mcveedy with the right to grant university degrees at his canada christian college yesterday sir the vast majority of pc members decided not to but even while the legislature says stop the premier has decided to rush this bill forward with almost no opportunity for public scrutiny how can this government justify plowing ahead with the reward to charles mcveedy the racist the islamophobe the homophobe the transphobe when even their own mpp's are too ashamed to defend it thank you mr college's university sir thank you mr speaker and once again so we have a process we've created as i've referred to you in this house many many many times there is equality in this in this world mr speaker there is equality within our constitution there's not only equality in our constitution there are fundamental freedoms that we must defend and these are about procedural safeguards in our laws that must exist i have spoken about this mr speaker many many times and mr speaker i will continue to speak about it because order procedural safeguards are what make us a free and democratic society they are guaranteed under our charter of rights and freedoms and they must be upheld mr speaker while i agree uh while i would not ask anybody to agree with any views of any party that they do not agree with by no means at all do i accept that no by no means at all would we ever suggest that you should opposition come toward but what you must respect is that there must be process response mr speaker i will end though in with with some basic mathematics there was not a single member on this side of the house i voted in favor of the opposition motion because the opposition motion is not proper order order order the next question the member for don valley west very much mr speaker my questions for the minister of health um speaker the leadership of nishnabi aski nation is working hard to keep the 49 communities in its territory informed of covet progress and to keep them safe they're providing access to covet resources and information in ojikri a jibway and kree and posting case numbers and data on their website so that their member communities can be informed the federal minister of health is in regular conversation with the grand chief of nann as they work to ensure a coherent response on and off reserve but the same is not happening with the provincial minister of health the fight against covet has to be an all-government effort there really is no room for jurisdictional wrangling mr speaker nann grand chief alvin fiddler has been attempting to secure a three-way meeting with the federal and provincial ministers of health and federal minister of health patty hyde who has agreed and is open to setting up a meeting will the minister of health for ontario commit to a meeting with the grand chief and the federal minister to better coordinate the covet response minister of health yes of course i would be of course i would be and i have been in regular contact with uh first nations leaders indigenous leaders throughout this before the pandemic on a regular basis and through the pandemic on a regular basis i've had a number of conversations already and i would be more than happy to be involved in a three meaning of the uh the three groups absolutely that's good news supplementary sorry that's good news mr speaker i spoke with both grand chief um uh fiddler and federal minister hyde yesterday and that's great news that you are now willing to have a meeting because they they need that three way meeting the nature of a government to government relationship between the ontario government and indigenous governments requires respect and open and ongoing communication advancing the process of reconciliation as envisioned by the truth and reconciliation commission requires an ongoing concerted practical effort in all areas of government including child welfare language culture education justice and indeed health it's broader than one ministry one issue and it requires that federal provincial and indigenous governments work together collaboratively the response to covet requires that cooperation consistently so will the minister of health now you've already said minister that the minister has already said that she is having ongoing conversations with first nations mr speaker i just want to make sure the minister will commit to a collaborative problem solving effort with indigenous and federal governments throughout this pandemic because the needs are very different depending on whether you're in a dense thunder bay urban setting or on reserve and the minister of health i absolutely agree with everything that the member has just said that does need to be an open and collaborative relationship i have been involved in teleconferences with the group of chiefs led by regional chief rosen archibald and i remain more than willing to engage in future consultations because i do recognize that there are differences whether people are living in urban areas or if they're living in flying communities and i know that there have been many inequities over the years that we are seeking to address so i would be more than happy to engage in whatever meetings would be requested of me in this respect thank you the next question the member from agro west thank you very much speaker a little over a year ago the government introduced the provincial animal welfare services act my question is to the solicitor general on january 1st of this year the new provincially run model came into force speaker the world has changed significantly since the rollout of this new animal welfare legislation with our collective attention focusing on the many challenges that covet 19 has been presenting however critical front lines public safety services including animal welfare investigation and enforcement must continue to operate it's nothing less than ontarians expect and ontarians deserve so my question is could the government provide an update as to whether ontaria's new provincial animal welfare system is working to ensure the animals are being kept safe thank you mr speaker and i'm very proud to answer this question on behalf of the government since establishing ontario's provincial animal welfare system in january of this year our dedicated team of animal welfare inspectors have been working tirelessly on the front lines while taking appropriate precautions to protect themselves from covet 19 our government set a goal for this year of having 100 animal welfare inspectors across all corners of the province and i'm proud to share that we have made incredible progress on that front and this includes dedicated inspectors with sector specific knowledge in agriculture and equine i'm also pleased to report and i know my friend lin perrier who is a dedicated animal advocate out there will be very pleased to hear that in the first half of the year ontario animal welfare inspectors have conducted over 14 000 investigations and laid over 100 charges speaker that's a record and i know we can all be proud of that response supplementary thank you speaker through you my thanks to the parliamentary assistant for the response on behalf of the government it's reassuring to hear that ontario's animal welfare system has been off to a strong start i understand that the government recently announced a formation of an advisory table to help inform the strengthened animal protection standards of care and other key regulations under the new pause act i know that ontario is full of dedicated and knowledgeable advocates for our animals including the lincoln county humane society in my riding of nag or west as such could the government please explain how exactly they intend to leverage the knowledge and skills as well as the expertise of these on the ground experts that they bring to the table thank you mr speaker and i want to thank the member from niger west for this great question and i completely agree with a member that leveraging extensive knowledge of ontario's animal experts is critical in advancing animal welfare across this province this is a key area that i have been advocating for before my time as in the ministry of the solicitor general this multi-disciplinary table brings together organizations including advocates sheltering agencies veterinarians agriculture and industry partners as well as law enforcement these leading experts will help inform the work as we move forward and strengthening a wide variety of regulations most notably the standards of care for our animals and speaker they've already started working they held their first meeting last week and i once i once again want to remind all ontarians particularly as we start in the colder weather as it approaches us if you see an animal in distress please call one eight three three nine animal thank you the next question the member for nagra center thank you speaker my question through you to the minister of health health care heroes working in hospitals in nagra have been reached out to my office in droves regarding urgent situation under this government supervision as the second wave is upon us the minister ministry of health has issued a directive to hospitals across ontario to stop paying frontline hospital workers who self-report when they're exposed to covet nineteen and are forced to go into isolation this government talks about the hard work done by nurses doctors personal support workers and other frontline health care workers correctly calling them heroes yet the actions of this government put them in an impossible situation having to choose between reporting and exposure and feeding their family speaker we are well into the second wave will this minister investigate reverse this disgraceful directive and ensure that frontline health care workers in ontarios hospitals receive their full pay when they are mandated by the employer to self-isolate due to covet nineteen thank you very much speaker and i can i can agree with the member opposite on one part of his question but not on the second part first we do value the incredible contributions being made by our frontline health care workers who go to work each and every day despite the rising numbers despite some of the the fears that some people have we have supplied them with the ppe i heard that in the background and they are there to serve on some situations though they become ill and they have to or they are exposed to someone with covet and they have to go into quarantine for fourteen days what actually happened there was ontario health issued a recommendation to hospitals that employees in self-isolation for impossible exposure to covet nineteen continue to be paid now that recommendation was made by ontario health only to be implemented if the hospital believed it was necessary i have certainly heard from others including the ontario nurses association that this is happening that this is a concern of theirs because their employees aren't being paid for the time that they're being left away so we are thank you thank you very much the supplementary question speaker they they were paid in the first way if they're not being paid now those are the facts i've heard from employees who had to juggle their finances to cover mortgage payments because this government refuses to pay health care workers during a global pandemic i've heard from other workers that previous sick pay they received was deemed an overpayment must be paid back local union reps tell me they're seeing a surge in retirements and staff shortages health care workers are risking their safety to care for the people of this province and it's absolutely shameful that this government will not even compensate them when they're exposed to covet nineteen cases are rising and the risk is increasing yet with holidays around the corner this government has decided to cut corners on the backs of frontline health care workers i ask again will the minister value health care workers in this province treat them with the respect they deserve and ensure that when they are exposed to covet nineteen in the community or in the line of duty they will continue to be paid we do value the work that's performed by our frontline health care workers and as i indicated this was raised to me quite recently through the ontario nurses association is something that we take very seriously we want people to be paid for the work that they do and if they're not able to work because of an exposure to someone that they're caring for then that's a that's a situation that we need to look into and we are working both with our hospital partners and with our nursing partners to find a solution to this to make sure that people are going to be receiving the pay that they should be receiving uh except for the fact that they've had this accidental exposure to somebody with covet nineteen and have to be away from work for a period of time thank you the next question the member for cambridge thank you mr speaker good morning my question is for the premier 100 it's not fair that is what the premier said when asked why big box stores like walmart are staying open while small independent businesses are forced to close the premier had little to say about health care driving his decision but he told us about business logistics a study just last week from stanford advised that a possible alternative was capacity limits for small businesses not an all or nothing approach instead the premier is driving customers into walmart where everyone can congregate together in one place sounds like a good place to maximize the spread of an airborne virus if you ask me why is the premier not treating small businesses fairly and letting them open as he is the big box stores deputy premier thank you speaker and thank you to the member for the question this is a serious concern and and this was not a decision that was made lightly by any means to put both toronto and pill region into into this lockdown i know that there are going to be many people that are going to be badly hurt by this but that's what covet is doing that is why we have to have these restrictions hopefully for a short period of time to start bending this curve so that they can come back people can go back into business again and be open but this decision had to be made small businesses i know are going to suffer considerably for this that is why we are bringing in we're doubling the amount of economic protection and bringing in for them from 300 million to 600 million but they can still be able to receive online requests telephone requests they can still do business even though their stores are closed but it's necessary in order to prevent the further community transmission of this virus it had to be done supplementary speaker remember when the premier used to say he was against the elites and for the little guy two years later the elites are running the show as the premier makes policy based on special advisors and after holding phone calls with the CEO of walmart who talked him into letting them open full service while small business competitors couldn't even open under reduced capacity conditions the other advantage walmart has over ontario small businesses is they can afford to hire lobbyists like they did in september walmart hiring the premier's former executive director david torrent and a member of the premier's advisory council of lobbyists melissa lansman can the premier tell us if registered lobbying from big box stores had any impact in his decision to allow them to run full service while closing down small businesses deputy premier no it did not and i would like to say to the member through you mr speaker that is entirely unfair and entirely not the situation the situation is this some of those big box stores are staying open because they provide essential services and that is the reason why many of them have pharmacies many of them have food stores grocery stores in them that whatever we want people to be able to receive the essential services and keep the supply chain open those big box stores will be restricted they will be operating at 50 capacity the number of people within those stores is going to be limited there's going to be the distancing outside as necessary but it's absolutely essential that they remain open because they have those essential services that has nothing to do with anything else essential services is what we made those decisions absolutely that is those are the facts and that is how those decisions were made and will continue to be made in the future on the basis of the best health data that we have available thank you very much the next question the member for nagar west thank you very much speaker my question is to the minister of the environment conservation and parks during these during these challenging times it's never been more important to encourage new industries to contribute to ontario's economic recovery recent analysis shows that by using more domestic hydrogen we could import less natural gas from countries such as the united states which would help keep energy dollars in our province and lead to spin-off benefits such as the creation of more jobs i recently brought forward a motion calling for attention for more attention to hydrogen technologies here in the province of ontario it's been two years since the government released its made in ontario environment plan and since then new opportunities and challenges have emerged such as the wide reaching impacts of cobit 19 as well as new innovations and technologies so i'm wondering if the minister of conservation energy and conservation and parks could tell the house if the government is looking at clean technology and hydrogen sectors and if so how this will aid in ontario's economic recovery and address in climate change the member for berry and his fellow parliament resistance thank you speaker and i want to thank the member from nagar west for his advocacy on the hydrogen sector and the motion he introduced hydrogen is an area that we are actively exploring as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality while creating opportunities and industrial growth i spoke just about this very thing at the at the cutrick conference yesterday the first one ever and through of course our ontario jobs recovery committee the minister of environment conservation parks has met with many sectors including the hydrogen sector to support recovery efforts and develop a plan to stimulate our economy and growth our government sees tremendous potential for this new energy source from fueling trucks and ships low carbon hydrogen can also be used for industrial purposes and energy storage and it can be blended with natural gas pipeline to heat and power homes and businesses we recently discussed paper for consultation about the use of hydrogen and the hydrogen strategy across this province to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the private sector when it comes to innovation and clean technologies across this province and the supplementary question thank you speaker my thanks to the parliamentary assistant for that response as we as we strive to fully address the impacts of climate change it is imperative that we look at reducing emissions also in the transportation sector which generates about one third of ontario's greenhouse gas emissions they find it a bit disconcerting speaker that on the one hand the NDP like to talk a lot about the importance of addressing climate change and yet they fail to support any proposal that would put these words into action as we've seen when they demonstratively voted against supporting public transit by posing the building transit faster act we need a government that is committed to supporting innovation and technology while reducing greenhouse gas emissions so could the minister of environment conservation and parks commit today that this government will work to drive innovative solutions such as the exploration of options that use low carbon hydrogen to reduce greenhouse gas emissions thank you to the member for that question although hydrogen is not a new idea it has reemerged as an exciting and potential long-term way to address climate change air quality while creating opportunities for industrial growth our government's our government envisions a hydrogen economy that create can create more local jobs and attract investment while helping us reduce greenhouse gas emissions using low carbon hydrogen especially in the transportation sector the discussion paper we released is the first step to begin a province-wide conversation on what ontario's hydrogen economy could look like and the considerations we need to make to develop a practical and actionable strategy speaker ontario is well positioned to drive economic growth in a low carbon hydrogen economy we look forward to building on existing strengths to reduce greenhouse gas emissions attract investments and create jobs in different sectors and regions of the province thank you next question the member for windsor west thank you speaker my questions to the premier 39 students and staff members at bagley elementary school in windsor have tested positive for covid-19 with an additional two probable cases the school is closed as a result this is the largest school outbreak in ontario it's not a distinction that we want the health and well being of families and education workers is at risk this devastating news has disrupted the education of hundreds of students and the livelihoods of their parents who are now forced to stay home to facilitate their learning local teachers report that they are not aware of a single classroom at bagley from grade four to eight that is capped at 15 students physical distancing is impossible and cohorting is half hazard this conservative government's refusal to listen to experts is causing serious harm in our schools and our community will the premier admit his plan is a failure and finally put measures in place to protect families minister of education speaker to protect our schools to protect our seniors to protect our most vulnerable the minister of health and the premier just days ago announced that the province is taking action moving toronto and peel into lockdown level restrictions limiting social gatherings taking action in other regions moving them to higher levels of restriction why why did we do that we did that to protect what matters most to this province which is our kids which are seniors the most vulnerable and we will not apologize for acting in the public interest to limit community transmission to do everything we possibly can recognizing as I think we all honestly appreciate the risk within our schools is a reflection of the risk within our community it is why we are acting province wide in the context of our plan fully endorsed by the chief medical officer of health fully funded 1.3 billion the highest in Canada it is not a coincidence we have 2,700 more teachers it's not a coincidence we have almost 1,200 new net new custodians but put a plan in place we listen to the science and we will continue to respond to the risk supplementary thank you speakers want to point out to the minister I was talking about Windsor not Toronto appeal there is also an important equity issue here that the government continues to disregard Woodser's medical officer of health dr Ahmed has rightly noted that this outbreak and school closure places a huge burden on families many of whom are low income and can't afford to miss work or are newcomers and may not be able to facilitate learning at home with the health unit reporting that there have been 10 schools in Windsor Essex with confirmed cases I'm extremely worried about the implications of further outbreaks for families in our community will the premier finally do what parents education workers and experts have been pleading for will he cap class sizes and implement the screening testing and tracing needed so that parents can work and children can have a safe learning environment in Windsor and across Ontario thank you speaker and thank you member opposite for the question I think what should be noted is while we see increasing rates of community transmission there's been an incredible resolve and demonstration of collaboration with the public health units in Windsor Essex and the local school boards whom I've personally spoken to both in facilitating dialogue with them to ensure we do everything humanly possible to reduce outbreaks and reduce COVID transmission speaker what I can assure the member office is when you look at the actions being taken the public health unit they have immediately communicate with parents they've sent testing into the school to provide that support for the kids and as per my responsibilities as minister of education those students immediately pivoted to online learning to ensure they continue to learn in a safe environment we are taking action province-wide to reduce the risk given that risk is rising in the community but within our schools a data point that I think should provide some element of confidence is that today 99.8 94 percent of students are COVID free we realize the risk is rising we will continue to be there for schools to keep them safe order the next question member for Scarborough Guildwood thank you speaker my question is for the premier speaker in the first wave of COVID-19 health care workers showed up to protect all of us and speaker they're still doing that each and every day putting their personal risks as they face the front line and this was acknowledged with a four dollar pandemic pay a temporary measure pandemic pay is long gone but health care workers are still working diligently on the front line many are exhausted with the rates of COVID-19 transmission reaching new heights in our province every week especially in hot spots health care workers haven't gone through a first or a second wave they've been working non-stop on the front lines since the pandemic began in this province instead the province has insulted nurses and other provincially regulated health care workers by capping pay increases at 1% by removing their ability to collectively bargain their contracts and speaker to the premier will you show your acknowledgement of the high risk and the value of these exhausted workers that are doing this work in the face of COVID-19 by reintroducing four dollar pandemic pay through the end of the pandemic thank you thank you their response member for well-available parliamentary assistant thank you very much mr speaker and we certainly appreciate the hard work of our front line officials throughout this pandemic and that's why we introduced measures to enhance pay and the member mentions pandemic pay but we also need to continue to support those frontline workers who are hard out there working throughout the second wave and that's why we are providing reasonable wage increases while respecting the taxpayer dollars and investing in frontline services for the people of Ontario mr speaker we're making sure that any future legislation doesn't impede the collective bargaining process to make sure that the fair wages continue for this sector mr speaker and that's why we responded with a 45 billion dollar financial package that provided significant to support to countless Ontario families and businesses mr speaker these supports will continue until COVID-19 is in our rearview mirror supplementary question thank you speaker the member opposite knows very well that this budget did not provide any significant and meaningful increases to our health care system so after the missteps that ontarians have experienced with this year's flu vaccine rollout many will be relieved seeing the planning out the government that is out of the government's hands and is now being overseen by a competent and decorated general however rolling out a vaccine doesn't just pose logistical challenges there are social and economic challenges as well this is particularly true in communities where there is hesitancy to take transit or to take time off work they have no ability to take time off work with pay for fear of losing a paycheck or a job that they can ill afford to lose speaker through you question to the premier does the government have a plan to make sure that vulnerable residents are not prevented from from taking this vaccine because of the hurdles that they face due to COVID-19 and will you fund public health thank you very much thank you minister of health to reply much well I thank the member very much for the question this is an important issue because we we've been dealing with COVID for months and months now this is the light at the end of the tunnel the fact that we do have vaccines coming forward but from both Pfizer Moderna and now AstraZeneca has one that's also about to come on to the market and so we need to make sure that we deal with this dealing with all of the issues that are important here and that is why we have general Hillier we're very proud to have him to lead our COVID vaccine task force but minister Jones and I are going to be the responsible ministers and we are going to be working with all of the local ministers of health working with all of the communities to understand what the barriers are to people being able to receive the vaccine and we are going to work out all of those issues so that when the vaccine hits Ontario we can get into people's arms as quickly as possible and make all of those barriers invisible so that people will be able to have access whether it's transportation whether it's hesitation whatever the issues are we will work through them thank you next question the member for Hamilton West and caster Dundas this morning is for the premier there are over 100 outbreaks in long-term care homes across the province right now in my writing of and caster an outbreak a chart well will grow is continuing to grow the cases have climbed to 79 and 15 people have tragically died we share in the tremendous grief that families are feeling right now in Hamilton we've enormous respect for everyone who has been working around the clock for months but they could only do so much they need help now experts warned for months that without urgent action the second wave of COVID-19 would be disastrous but this government continues to dither with task forces and studies that you don't listen to while the deaths in long-term care are climbing speaker this is a crisis homes have been asking for months for a clear plan from this government so where is the plan when will we see the urgent action that this crisis in long-term care demands thank you speaker and thank you to the member opposite for the question there is no question that there's a sense of urgency and there has been a sense of urgency right from the beginning this is an integrated response by multi ministries multiple experts our scientific and our medical experts and in specific to willow willow grove there are currently 15 resident cases there and it is improving i want to correct my record from earlier when i reference 92 92 of our homes have no resident cases and i just hope to correct that record what we know is that we have a invisible invader called COVID-19 that is ravaging the world Ontario is not unique and we are taking every measure whether it's looking at the ipak the capacity in our homes the staffing the stabilization response staffing the wardrooms all of these measures are ongoing to address and we have not stopped we put dollars behind these over a billion dollars for our long-term care homes and we'll continue to provide the resources that are thank you very much and the supplementary question mr speaker i'd like to remind the minister that those 15 people aren't cases those were 15 deaths deaths of our loved ones not cases and it's been eight months and homes have been asking for months for a plan but still nothing from this government the two hospitals in hamilton managed to plan and act on the transformation of a hotel in hamilton into a satellite facility to treat patients during the second wave of COVID-19 and yet still nothing from this government there's no new money in your recent budget for long-term care no plan and certainly no new money to hire additional staff in long-term care it didn't have to be this way instead of trying to save money you could have been saving lives the premiers iron ring never happened we all know that staff are exhausted families are frightened and our seniors are left vulnerable my question why is this unable or apparently unwilling to urgently do all that it takes to save the lives of our loved ones seniors residents in long-term care mr of long-term care thank you speaker our hearts go out to everyone who's been impacted as as a physician for almost 30 years dealing with life and death and grief i fully understand and our government is putting every measure in place including the 243 million put out to shore up staffing initially the 405 million to shore up infection prevention and control and staffing supports the 61.4 million in capital repairs the 461 million to support our psw's with improved orders the 30 million dollars to train and hire ipak specialists the 14 million dollars for psw training funds the 10.3 million dollars for return of service that the 26.3 futures of port with psw's and the monumental four hours of direct care on average per day per resident our government is the first government to take long-term care seriously and fix a broken system the next question the member for Ottawa venue mr speaker my question is for the minister of colleges and universities even before the pandemic more than two-third of ontario's post-secondary students at experience overwhelming anxiety over half of students are difficulty functioning due to depression and 16 percent of students are seriously considered suicide this pandemic has added to the stress and worry of our students isolating them from their social circles and putting them in difficult financial situations speaker the mental health of our post-secondary students is in a crisis and students often have difficulty accessing mental health services having to wait on average three to four weeks to see a counselor speaker our post-secondary students need our help what is the government doing now to provide post-secondary students with the mental health services that they desperately need minister colleges and universities thank you mr speaker really happy to be able to respond to that question our government obviously recognizes the importance of mental health and we've indicated numerous times that mental health is health we recognize the importance of so many areas within this and i'm so very terribly concerned when we hear about some of the concerns we see on our campuses some of the issues that have arisen over the course of covid have been really difficult for so many students and i really want to take an opportunity to see some real positive reinforcement and tip my hat to all of our professors and our faculty across the sector who have done an incredible job when we first ended up in covid so many of them had to work to personalize course content to try to make that easier for students they had to find ways to connect with students to support mental health and so i want to speak in the supplemental more specifically to some of the initiatives of our government but i really want to take this opportunity to speak about our faculty and our professors who did an amazing job mr response at the outset in order to connect individuals and connect with their students to try to really support them and their mental health throughout the initial stages of covid supplementary question speaker college and university students have also seen their post graduation job opportunity diminished or even vanished as a result of this pandemic the government helped to address this issue earlier this year implementing a six month moratorium on student loan repayments to give student more time to find a job post graduation in this tough economic environment however while the pandemic continues to limit to limit job opportunities for new graduates that moratorium on student loan repayments expired back in september last week i met with students leaders from ontario's post secondary institution and they are asking that the government give graduates more time to find well paying employment before requiring them to repay their student loans as well as with more mental health services can the minister explain why the moratorium on student loan repayments has not been extended to support our graduates as they transition to the workforce minister of colleges and universities thank you mr speaker so uh just to continue on to some of the previous comments i was making um with respect to mental health and our institutions our government is you're well aware of that made a historic investment into mental health uh well 3.8 billion dollars over the next point years sorry 3.8 billion over the next 10 years and with respect to some of those specific funding amounts as they relate to colleges and universities we made some direct supports of 19.25 million dollars this past year which was an increase of 3.25 million over last year a program i'm really excited about mr speakers the good to talk texting support program which is a 5.6 million dollar investment that we provided this year and good to talk mr speakers one of the most exceptional programs i've been able to see especially as we've been relating with covid for so many individuals for so many students out there mr speaker it's so difficult to make that first connection especially when students weren't on campuses and for a lot to be able to text for the first time and then get the supports thereafter and be connected with a mental health provider was so exceptional for students i think what we really have to stress mr speakers we want students to talk more we want everybody to talk more about their mental health so we can learn more mr speaker thank you next question member to york southwest thank you mr speaker as case counts skyrocketed in communities across the province the need for quick and accurate testing is more important than ever unfortunately for the people of ontario the minister has chosen not to deploy their rapid testers instead choosing to sit on them for months communities like mine in york southwestern are desperate for resources like these mr speaker can the minister tell me how many rabbit testers the province has it it is possession now and why they have they have not been deployed minister help well i thank the member very much for the question you're absolutely right the rapid tests are as the premier said a game changer because there's needed in so many different communities and in places like the long-term care homes in some of the more remote communities in ontario and in many other locations but i can advise that we have received 98 000 of the abut id now tests we have 1.2 million of the pan bio tests and they have been deployed to a number of hospitals and long-term care homes and other areas of congregate living they are being deployed now and will be used within the next few days and i will be having more to say about that at 1 p.m this afternoon the supplementary question question back again mr speaker it is not acceptable to sit of these testers while people get sick while communities like mine face devastation families workers and all ontarians deserve better so i ask again mr speaker why has the government spent one long month sitting on these rubber testers not using them to identify cases and keep people safe thank you very much i would say to the member opposite through you mr speaker is that we have not been sitting on the cases we have been actively moving them and deploying them to the places where they are needed the most we know that we are dealing with situations where people want to visit relatives and long-term care homes that the staff need to be tested the minister of long-term care is indicated that in areas of the high-risk zones people are going to be tested weekly these rapid tests are going to be greatly helpful for that as well as for the people that are going to be visiting the homes we also need them in our hospitals that's where they're being deployed right now and as soon as we receive more supplies through the federal government we will be sending them to more hospitals and more long-term care homes the urge the need is urgent we recognize that and we are moving these tests very quickly thank you very much that concludes our question period for this morning the member