2022-03-28 Question Period

it is now time for oral questions i recognize the member for essex thank you very much uh speaker before i begin uh i just want to uh send our condolences on behalf of the ontario ndp and i'm sure all of our colleagues in the house from every party to the victims and the family and friends of a tragic house fire in brampton over the weekend where five people died three of them children so come to the house fire our hearts and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims speaker my question is to the premier speaker the sunshine list shows that the high flyers of this government have made big raises while the frontline heroes of the pandemic have gotten gimmicks frontline healthcare workers are stuck with the premier's low wage policies while his buddies have raked in huge raises the top 10 earners on the list got a raise of combined raise of 1.9 million dollars just this year speaker frontline workers in healthcare are neglected thanks to this premier's bill 124 but the premier ceo of ontario health got a 186 thousand dollar raise just this year speaker that's three times the average ontario workers salary speaker why does the premier have a huge salary increase for the ceo of ontario health but have nothing but gimmicks for nurses healthcare workers and front-line heroes who are getting us through this pandemic government house leader he is correct the sunshine list was was released last last friday mr speakers it is every year but let me just tell the member this uh look we have provided significant amount of resources for frontline healthcare workers i know in the ministry of long-term care we've been working to for the addition of 27 000 psw's of course we've made we've provided additional additional funding a salary bump mr speaker for our frontline workers uh you know how important that was mr speaker is something that we knew that we had to do the moment that we came into office we're making significant investments in in long-term care because we want to not it's not just about adding staff as well but it's we've heard from the people who are working in the front lines that the facilities that they work in have to be top-notch facilities they have to be facilities that they're proud to work in that give people the best quality of care that's why we're building a brand hospital in brampton that's why peel is getting at the largest hospital uh in the in the in the country that's why we're building schools universities and colleges mr speaker a lot is happening in the province of ontario and it's leading to the most economically prosperous jurisdiction in north america the supplementary as i guess uh speaker the the government house leader fails to justify those enormous raises in the midst of the pandemic speaker the premier promised to reduce hydro prices but he's raised them every year and those higher prices are paying for over five million dollars for the top salaries at ontario power generation at opg the top four officials get this made 1.1 million dollars on top of their already enormous salary speaker while ontarians watch their monthly bills skyrocket the premier's top opg officials took in between 160 thousand and 399 thousand dollars in one year raises alone speaker why does this premier refuse to rein in these outlandish salaries at the top of opg leaving ontarians to literally foot the bill with higher prices for their hydro rates government high speed again thank you mr speaker as you said the sunshine list was was released last thursday of course this was an initiative that was brought in by a conservative government uh uh back in in the 90s mr speaker and it does highlight i think very effectively for the people of the province of ontario who is making what having said that mr speaker when he talks about hydro prices we knew that the only way we were going to bring back the economy in the province of ontario is if we made hydro prices stable and that's something the premier said right from the beginning we had to stabilize the the hydroelectricity uh system in the province we've done that the premier also said we had to eliminate that 19 hydro increase that was planned by the previous liberal government we have done that mr speaker that has led to uh to investments in growth the minister of economic development job creation and trade of course made the largest investment in the auto sector he was able to close a deal a five billion dollar deal for we could see thousands of jobs brought to the province of ontario which will literally save the auto industry for generations to come mr speaker and you get that because of a strong stable progressive conservative government mr speaker and we will continue to do that for a long time the final thank you very much speaker that's strike two for the government house leader in justifying these enormous rates we'll give them one more shot at bats here speaker even as ridership and fares plummeted at metro links due to the pandemic the premier rewarded the ceo with a raise of ninety six thousand dollars his total salary is over eight hundred and thirty eight hundred and thirty six thousand thousand dollars that's a type this is a typo is this a typo 836 that's incredible speaker to put that into perspective just to pay for metrolinx's ceo salary the agency would have to collect fares from ontarians for five full days speaker that raise alone is more than one and a half times the annual salary of the average ontarian worker speaker why when our transit agencies need to increase affordable and accessible transit across ontario has this premier handed the metrolink ceo a 96 000 a year raise just this year alone again mr speaker what we've done is handed a mandate to our partners to deliver the largest increase uh the largest build in transit history in the province of ontario speaker now we didn't just stop i know yesterday the the the minister of transportation joined the premier and a number of our colleagues to uh the official groundbreaking of the ontario line something that they said couldn't be done we actually are doing it now the ontario line will of course will lead it's a it's a part of a 29 billion dollar investment in transit in in toronto and in the gta which will see york region i know the member for oak ridge's aurora has been working very hard as the member for richmond hill to get a train a subway to york region we're getting that done the people in scarborough mr speaker have been waiting for a very long time for a subway i note that the members were for scarborough rouge park member for scarborough agincourt center and the member for the minister in scarborough north have been fighting they delivered a three sub three-stop subway as well as a medical school at the university of toronto mr speaker as well as long-term care a lot of good things are happening across the province the next question once again the member for essex thank you very much speaker the the government house leader cannot in any good conscience justify the enormous wages and the uh raises to these people so we'll move on that's strike three we'll move to the minister of tourism and support speaker uh tourism operators have had some of the most difficult years of their business thanks to the pandemic that's exactly why the province should have had their backs with financial support to keep these businesses afloat but that is not what happened the premier has abandoned tourism operators because the cbc reports this morning that not a cent not one cent of the 100 million dollars that this premier has promised has gone out the door speaker why has the premier and his minister of tourism sport abandoned the tourism sector when they needed it the most heritage tourism and culture industries well as minister of sport i always uh enjoy a good gutter ball over there by the ndp and i can tell you that member opposite has not stood in this place and asked a tourism-related question for the hardest-hit sectors who were hit first hardest and would take the longest to recover in the past two years of this pandemic why because all they are focused on on the other side is complaining all they're focused on on the other side is trying to draw out potential scandals that never really exist speaker i have stood up for the tourism sector this entire time i have held over three dozen webinars and and round tables i've invested four hundred thousand dollars in the tourism windsor essex pele island in order to help restore the branding issues after the ambassador bridge the member opposite says something in his place but when it comes time to vote he has voted against a billion dollars worth of tourism support speaker the opposition will come to order speaker uh it's been supplementary since this minister promised support to tourism operators six months six months since she promised the uh support for them and they've filled in their paperwork months ago they were well ahead of the game yet five months later this government is still delaying while hundreds of businesses are waiting for support speaker the ceo of the tourism industry association of ontario said quote every day that is lost is opportunity loss for ontarians to be hired and for businesses to get the revenue that they've simply not had for the last two years speaker businesses like fishing lodges bed breakfasts need support speaker not further delays why is this premier failing to help the tourism sector while with the support that they desperately need to stay open mr heritage speaker the member opposite has limited if not zero credibility on these issues i'm glad that somebody wrote him a question but i guess he could answer a few things for me why when it came time to invest 270 million dollars into an ontario staycation tax credit did he vote against it why when it came time to invest 25 million dollars to sustain iconic institutions across the province including in windsor essex did he stand there and vote against it why when this government brought forward a hundred million dollars in small business supports for tourism sectors did he vote against it and i'll ask another question speaker why when we doubled the reconnect festival and event program every dollar in yields 21 back in return why did that member vote against events like the windsor international film festival i want to know speaker why i have been the only person in this assembly standing up here for two years speaking about heroin opposition because they have not respond [Applause] final supplementary question period we get to ask the questions there they have to answer the questions if spin and deflection were worth 10 cents the tourism sector would be overflowing with cash from this minister but unfortunately they are not speaker one business told the cbc that they need they need a lifeline to stay open but when that operator tried to find out what's happening uh with the funding he was met with radio silence that's business uh that business an excursion company on manitoulin island said quote but what we do know is the tourism industry generally is hanging on by a thread these days speaker these small businesses have cleaned out their savings they've maxed out their credit cards just to keep the doors open why has this government and that minister failed to get the funds out the door for a tourism sector that is desperate to stay alive in ontario minister i i believe i must have touched a nerve with the member office that he clearly doesn't really understand the file he hasn't he hasn't traveled tens of thousands of kilometers across this great province meeting directly with tourism operators as i did last week when i was in manitoulin in um investing and sixty thousand dollars into indigenous tourism at what comic-con first nation why does a member vote against those initiatives an additional 105 million dollars to the ontario trillium foundation in order to support heritage support tourism and culture industries you know who voted for that progressive conservatives you know who voted against it new democrats that's all they do they're the party of no we're the party of yes i am the minister responsible of a sector that has been heard hurt it doesn't order politics it 10 [Applause] [Music] my question is to the minister of health red lake uh margaret kushner memorial hospital like many hospitals in northwestern ontario has many challenges to ensure full time emergency department physician coverage many physicians find it daunting to work in small hospitals where obtaining basic diagnostic services such as ct scans have to be done off-site they also must practice with a very broad scope of expertise with minimal specialist support this government must address the inequitable access to basic emergency medical care for northerners in red lake and in all of northwestern ontario how will this be the question the minister of health thank you very much speaker and i thank the member opposite for the question it is quite an important one and i can advise that the municipality of red light did declare an emergency on march 25th of this year and the declaration was due to a service disruption in the emergency department at the red lake margaret kuchner memorial hospital from 8 o'clock on march 26 through to 8 o'clock on march 27 as a result of a physician shortage that particular day but the provincial emergency operations center and the ministry of health coordinated patients to be redirected to dryden and air support was available for ems transfers as required fortunately no air transfers were required but two ambulances did drive to dryden with patients however the situation has been rectified for the present and ontario health will continue its efforts to find coverage and build up resiliency through the province's locum program and i'll speak to other efforts that we're making in the supplementary question dr the minister of health red lake physicians are regularly work 24-hour shifts every three days or even every two days over half of the physicians are locums who need extra time to travel to red lake mainly from southern ontario scheduling is precarious mr speaker and one missed flight or a sick day for physicians forces one small con forces the small complement of physicians to cover these shifts or risk closing the hospital's emergency department on march 26 at our overstrained system cracked over six thousand ontarians were left without their emergency department in red lake what is this government doing to ensure that it doesn't happen again well speaker i think it's really important to look back in history to see and understand how the situation became this way the physician shortage was the direct result of the previous liberal government supported by the ndp eliminating then capping medical school seats in ontario the del duca win liberals froze hospital spending for years and eliminated 50 medical residency positions from ontario however our government is dealing with that that's why we're adding 160 undergraduate seats and 295 postgraduate seats over the next five years which is the largest expansion in medical schools in the last 10 years and this expansion will support all six medical schools across ontario but i think especially important to your question is that the northern ontario school of medicine will receive 41 undergraduate positions of medical school and 30 postgraduate positions this will help eliminate the situation thank you very much the next question the member for perry sound muskoka thank you mr speaker my question is to the minister of labor training and skills development in my riding of parry sound muskoka and from businesses across the province we hear the same issues being raised everywhere they are desperate to hire but they cannot find the workers they need there are hundreds of thousands of good paying positions going unfilled across ontario businesses in my riding from contractors and manufacturers to resorts and restaurants are all having trouble finding workers mr speaker will the minister please tell us what actions the government has taken to address this historic labor shortage that's a good question mr labor training and skills development thank you uh mr speaker and i want to thank my colleague from parry sound muskoka and before i answer his question i just want to say on behalf of all the people in his writing on behalf of the province thank you so much for your service to ontario mr speaker the member is absolutely right every paycheck uncollected means a family going another day without that is why i was pleased to join labor leaders participants apprentices a tradespeople in london at the masonry training center to announce our government's investment of 28 million dollars in pre-apprenticeships mr speaker with our increased funding there will be nearly 100 pre-op projects in every corner of ontario to help people learn the skills they need to fill these in demand jobs from stone cutting and masonry work to hospitality and manufacturing these programs are open to anyone who wants to learn thank you mr speaker and i look forward to the supplementary questions thank you minister thank you for your kind comments it's comforting to know our government is talking this generational labor shortage head on one of the many tools our government is using to accomplish this goal is the ministry of labor's pre-apprenticeship program pre-apprenticeships are excellent ways to open new doors for people they offer ontarians the opportunity to try new trade that they might not have considered can the minister please explain more about his recent london announcement and how our government is determined to help workers upskill and connect with better careers mr labor well again thank you to the member through you mr speaker i'm a big advocate for pre-apprenticeships and encourage anyone interested in trying a trade to check them out these programs are short less than one year long at most and provide a stepping stone to a better career and most importantly they provide an opportunity to learn while working and earning a paycheck through investments like these the premier and our government are saying yes to a stronger ontario we're bringing together business and labor leaders to make our future brighter for average people who are working hard to get ahead speaker we're working for workers on this side of the house we're getting it done next question the member for waterloo thank you very much speaker my questions to the premier the interior university athletics took the remarkable step of releasing an open letter condemning this government's choice of failing to address the gender imbalance in sport the government has allocated three million to men only hockey scholarships the oua says and i quote the government of ontario should be equally concerned about providing fair opportunities to all genders with public funds we agree instead of acknowledging this unfairness the minister of sport called the open letter and i quote quibbling and misleading women in sports including hockey deserve equality and the chance to reach their athletic potential they do not deserve attacks why would the minister downplay these legitimate concerns of ontario's university athletics sports community heritage sport tourism and culture industries obviously as a former female athlete myself a hockey mother and a coach i have dedicated my career into making sure even when i was minister of women's issues that women and girls have an opportunity to succeed and equal opportunity to young men and of course and of course male sports what the member opposite is talking about is a letter after myself and the minister of finance announced that there will be an additional brand new money of 30 million dollars that will go out to a number of different different sport entities including to the ohl for their scholarship program that said and what the member office is not talking about is the additional 300 000 that the ontario university athletics association has received through my ministry not through the ministry of colleges and universities whereby they can spend every single cent if they like on that to support female and athletes i'd also like to point out that 52 percent of our quest for gold funding which is a six million dollar fund went to high performance female athletes we continue to work on a strategy within the ministry and will not will not apologize for the great work we're doing to support women in sport please supplement thank you speaker you will never address a problem if you don't acknowledge that it exists and instead of acknowledging the inequity in scholarships the minister attacked the leadership of the ontario university athletics and rejected their concerns as she just did right now she accused the accusation last week of trying and i quote to confuse the argument she said that they're quibbling about a scholarship program for a male dominated sport speaker leaders in ontario university athletics just want the simple principle of equity in scholarships funding choices speak volumes about values but it is never too late to do the right thing and they put that in their letter equally allocating university athletic scholarships would help launch future sports careers and make huge contributions to their society as a former varsity athletic water polo player even i get that concept will the minister do the right thing stand up for the women in sport and invest in women athletes like the ontario university athletics open letter calls for mr uh thank you mr speaker my ministry and our government is committed to supporting community-based uh athletics and recreation uh across ontario which is why we invested 30 million dollars into new money to support all of our provincial sport organizations multi-sport organizations and actually have for the first time ever opened up to female dominated sports skip rope cheer and a dance which has never been done before but we've got a line of sighting of that during the pandemic i also wanted to point out that through the ontario trillium foundation we've invested 105 million dollars as i've mentioned to her colleague in order to support community-based sport but let me read something that the ontario university athletics association sent me after we made the announcement just a quick thank you for the additional mhstci funding to oua much appreciated and helpful i would encourage the university athletics association to use the existing funds and the new money as a result of this in order to distribute it to female athletes if they so choose order the next question the member for ottawa south speaker my question is for the minister of health this weekend we learned from ctv and w5 about the extent of political pressure this premier and this government are putting on our hospitals and health care system specifically premiers forwards inappropriate political interference by calling dr navid muhammad the ceo of william osler to complain about the social media of dr brooks follis the sequence of events was clear a tweet a phone call a firing so speaker we know the premier called dr muhammad and we know that dr mohammed felt that his hospital's funding was being threatened and put a risk so can the minister tell us what threats were made and whether anyone in her office or ministry participated in these intimidation tactics minister of health none at all in fact there were no intimidation tactics in fact with respect to dr brooks wallace we've never heard of this individual and the allegations that he is making are categorically false we have listened to a variety of people including our chief medical officer of health to make decisions to make decisions that with respect to covet were based on clinical evidence and science so we will continue to listen to dr the chief medical officer of health and to make sure that the decisions that we make continue to be based in fact but as i said before we have never heard of dr phallus and anything any allegations he's making are false supplementary questions well we'll send you the clip so you can watch it minister but look we all know if you stand up and criticize this premier he can be vindictive or he will be vindictive and you know that's why the seats behind me they keep filling up or they keep filling up [Music] so i'm not surprised the minister does not i'm not surprised i'm not surprised stop the clock government side will come to order start the clock member for ottawa south pacific they're laughing but they were your friends and colleagues at one point remember that so i'm not surprised that minister zai denied this and denied the interference intimidation by the premier but ontario's deserve real answers that is why we're asking the government to call the standing committee on social policy to be convened to investigate exactly what happened including calling dr navid muhammad and the premier and anyone else to speak about this matter under oath we can't have a health care system that's on the whim of the premier's vindictiveness so speaker will the minister agree to convene the standing committee on social policy so we can get to the bottom of this and get to the real truth about what happened minister of health the short answer is no because i can advise that the premier has always made decisions based on the recommendations of dr moore and his advisors he has always made his decisions based on the clinical evidence and science that is what ontarians have known from the beginning and so there's no need to refer it anywhere next else the member for mississauga aaron mills thank you mr speaker my question is to the minister of citizenship and multiculturalism speaker as we all know small businesses are the backbone of ontario economy and i have seen the support of small businesses firsthand in my riding of errand mills during this pandemic while our government has taken strong unpresident actions to support them we know there is more we need to do especially among businesses owned by black indigenous and other racialized entrepreneurs now that ontario is on the road to economic recovery we need every small business in every community across the province to succeed can the minister of citizenship and multiculturalism please inform the house what our government is doing to ensure no one is left behind reply the minister of citizenship and multiculturalism thank you very much thank you mr speaker i want to thank my colleague from mississauga-era mills for the question and also the tremendous work he does on behalf of his constituents not just here at queen's park but also in his riding mr speaker as the the member pointed out of course we know during pandemic all small businesses were hit hard and faced lots of challenges and those owned by indigenous black and racialized communities were the hardest hit mr speaker that's why our government was proud to announce five million dollar announcement mr speaker investment that we're providing to support businesses owned by indigenous black and racialized entrepreneurs eligibility recipients mr speaker can qualify for up to ten thousand dollars in funding to grow their business mr speaker create innovation as well as provide culturally relevant training and business coaching coaching as a former business owner small business owner myself mr speaker i understand some of those challenges firsthand and i know this investment will be really really well received by every single business out there thank you supplementary question [Applause] thanks for the minister for this answer i know small business owners in my community of mississauga and mills will be very happy to hear about the grant and the billion billions of dollars in business support from our government small businesses need to know that their government is creating the right environment for their businesses to grow and flourish that has been never that has never been more important than now now more than ever we need targeted support to help deliver culturally related programming and remove disparities in all communities while building new pathways to economic success speaker through you can the minister tell us how the race grant will help create more opportunities for everyone across ontario [Applause] thank you very much mr speaker and thank my calling for that important question again mr speaker our government is ensuring that racial equity is included within our covet 19 recovery plan for a long-term economic growth of our province with this raise grant we are saying yes to supporting new opportunities for economic success that's because encouraging equal opportunities for everyone is that right thing to do mr speaker it's good for jobs it's good for businesses by improving access to economic opportunities we're supporting local communities and we're building stronger more inclusive ontario for everyone on this side of the house mr speaker we remain committed to turning possibilities into prosperity mr speaker across our great province thank you next question member for york southwestern good morning speaker my question is to the premier in my riding of york southwestern hardworking people are facing an affordability crisis housing renting and purchasing is continue to be unaffordable and people are being forced to leave the community they were raised in the toronto star recently did a story that highlighted 33 king street building in my riding and shared the struggles tenants are facing and almost 20 years ago charlene henry moved into 33 king street building and would be a bigger and would like a bigger space but fields stuck as ransom have soared charlene stated we have outgrown our space but the market has outgrown us the reality is that the people have to hold unto units even when it does not make sense for the household question to live there what is this government doing to address the housing crisis we are in unreasonable above guideline rent increases and holding tenants a hostage because they cannot afford to move and to respond on behalf of the government member for aurora oak ridge's richmond hill well thank you very much speaker and i thank my honourable colleague for the question he's absolutely right life had become incredibly unaffordable because of the decisions made by the previous government and of course often supported by the uh by the ndp uh mr speaker which is why we wanted we we wanted to turn things around we want to make sure that life is more affordable uh for ontarians mr speaker part of that includes making sure that ontarians the jobs that were lost because of the previous government mr speaker three hundred thousand manufacturing jobs were lost because of the decision from the previous government as you heard last week the minister of economic development job creation and trade announced a five billion dollar investment that's bringing more jobs good paying jobs back in this province again mr speaker in that what we're going to do we're going to make sure that the housing supply that was neglected by the previous government we are increasing housing in all areas mr speaker last year more housing starts were built in here in ontario we're going to make sure housing is built for everyone across ontario affordable for everyone thank you the supplementary question back back to the premier 33 king street building in new york southwestern serves as good example of what is wrong with this government's approach to housing when tenants who had lived in the same apartment for more than a decade their average rent increase was 28 percent if the apartment changed hands that average rise to an astonishing 30 73 percent above guideline rent increases for work done in improvements is another tool to make tenants vacate and raise rent substantially i will end with uh speaker with the word of 33 king street tenant sandy baithy who fills and i code i cannot afford to move and i cannot afford to stay will this government ban and eliminate above guidelines rent increases and support real rent control today mr speaker richmond hill thank you very much speaker and again i thank the member for raising an important issue here which is affordability in the province of ontario and he's absolutely right which is why the minister of housing uh mr speaker took the initiative under the leadership of premier ford to make sure that we work to ensure that housing supply is increased in this province mr speaker for anyone that's looking to have whether it's affordable housing whether it's that dream of owning a home in this province mr speaker and as i mentioned earlier housing starts in this province increased for the first time since the 90s mr speaker that's not by accident that's our policies of this government on the dealership of this premier i encourage the opposition to work with us so that we can build more houses for all ontarians whether they want to look to rent whether they want to buy again we need to make sure these homes are affordable for the for all ontarians we'll make sure we'll deliver for them i hope the opposition supports us along the way mr speaker the member for chatham kent leamington uh thank you very much thank you very much speaker my question through you is to the minister of health the objectives of directive six were to set out a provincially consistent approach to cover 19 immunization policies in covered organizations a directive 6 was issued by dr moore under the health protection and promotion act 2004 section 77.7 on august 17th of last year and it was implemented 21 days later on september 6th now the first stated objective of directive 6 is to optimize cover 19 immunization rates well emergent emerging evidence now demonstrates natural immunity to be superior and longer lasting to vaccine inducement immunity it is a breach of medical ethics to ignore natural immunity and to force employees to undergo vaccination unnecessarily that could expose them to an adverse reaction compelling employees to submit to a medical procedure that has little or no benefit may put many ad potential risks my question to the minister of health is why was natural immunity of to cover 19 disregarded minister of health thank you very much natural immunity was never disregarded it was regarded by the experts but wasn't considered to be sufficient enough to prevent a person from contracting a covet what is important is to be vaccinated not once but twice and three times actually we have actually exceeded over 32 million vaccinations in in ontario right now this is the best protection for people natural immunity helps but isn't going to be the salvation for someone if they contract aids even with the third inoculation people can still get covet but are unlikely to be hospitalized because they have that natural protection it's more likely to appear as a case of flu or for the cold but that isn't because of natural immunity that's because of vaccination supplementary [Applause] thank you speaker back to the minister of health through you speaker directive six allowed for unvaccinated employees to continue to work and undergo antigen testing at intervals to be determined by the covered organization it was immoral that employers decided on their own and were allowed to further jeopardize patients and staff when they implemented an unnecessary policy of vaccinate or terminate forcing employees to be vaccinated with a non-sterilizing vaccine still in clinical trials with no long-term safety data was unethical the vaccine did not shield patients or staff from transmission it was the employers who took away the right to inform consent not directive six sadly other government levels stood idly by as employers explicitly violated some of the most valued ethical principles of medicine your government allowed employers to move far beyond directive sex into a heavy-handed authoritarian approach of vaccinate or terminate so minister why didn't you step in and stop these non-medical employers from forcing an invasive medical procedure on employees it was coercive and illegal can i caution the member on the use of some of the language that he used in this question minister of health to reply thank you speaker and frankly speaker it's hard to know where to start with an answer here but ultimately the best protection against covet is vaccination that has been demonstrated by experts across the world millions and millions of people have been vaccinated without ill effects in fact it saved hundreds of thousands of lives i won't apologize for that because that is what the science is that is what the clinical evidence says and employers were allowed to develop their own vaccine policies most required vaccines particularly where there are vulnerable people in our long-term care homes in other places but the the way that we're getting out of this pandemic right now and able to start opening up our economy is because so many ontarians went out and were vaccinated and i think thank them very much for that that's giving ontario back excuse me the next question is the member for flambero glenbrook good morning speaker my question is for the minister of economic development job creation and trade after 15 years of liberal mismanagement generations of workers were forgotten 300 000 manufacturing jobs left ontario and there was absolutely no plan for economic growth the lack of investments had our auto and manufacturing sectors running scared but recently we have seen billions that's billions with a b of dollars worth of investment back into this province could the minister outline what historic investments have been announced recently and how they will support our auto and manufacturing development sectors creation and training speaker since day one our government has worked to reduce the cost of doing business by seven billion dollars a year giving business the confidence to invest here in ontario over the past 18 months we've seen an historic 13 billion dollars invested in our steel ev and ev battery ford 1.8 billion stalantis 1.5 billion general motors 2.3 billion honda 1.4 billion defasco 1.8 billion and of

course last week the single biggest auto investment in the history of the country lg and stalantis billion dollars in windsor but speaker we're just getting started stay tuned as auto companies announce more and more and more investments as we leash unleash ontario's economy supplementary question mr speaker we know that ontarians are so relieved and so happy that ontario is back and is reversing the damage that the previous liberal government supported time and time and time again by the ndp did to our economy it's clear our government has been focused on restoring this critical sector in ontario's economy but reviving ontario's otter sector was no easy task one that took many years can the minister please outline how our government's automotive plan has helped drive automotive investment back into ontario economic development from flamborough glenbrook is absolutely correct under the previous government ontario saw 300 thousand jobs flee the province the liberal government simply gave up on manufacturing jobs here's a direct quote from the liberals final economic report quote the structure of the ontario economy will continue to shift from goods producing to service producing sectors how sad but we knew it did not have to be that way and we immediately put in steps to stop that loss of jobs driving prosperity speaker was the name of our plan that restored ontario's auto sector and the 13 billion dollars of investment shows that that plan is working ontario has gained 500 000 jobs since we took office as we unleash ontario's economic potential to secure a future speaker for generations next question the member for london north centre speaker my question is to the premier affordability is a huge concern for most people today housing costs ballooned under the last government and have only accelerated under this one constituents at one rich monroe reached out to tell me they're facing rank increases of seven to ten percent simply because they're in a building built after 2018. this government canceled rent control in new buildings forcing these tenants to pay hundreds more dollars in additional rent seniors living on fixed incomes and young families trying to start their lives are afraid they're going to end up on the street marny told me i'm very frustrated as to why it will be such a large increase when it should be 1.2 percent like other renters as a new renter i had no idea this would happen to me it has been very stressful for several of us as our rent is at top dollar already it's a simple question will this government do the right thing return rent control to buildings built after 2018 and stand up for ontario's renters yes or no and to reply member for stormont dundas southland gary thank you speaker for that question and thank the member opposite you know since taking government we have taken all the measures possible to make sure that housing was affordable the people of ontario and this this province was in terrible shape we had the lowest number of housing units per capita in this country and the in this country was the worst in the g7 and that's after decades of the previous government stifling and red tape and we took managers so when he came to power he says our government immediately put in measures to get rid of the red tape and allow builders to build developers to develop and it was a key factor in keeping rental units as low as possible we've had the highest number of rent or rental it's the highest number of housing units built since the 1990s and this province and that goes that most of the measures can be put in place and the ndp and the liberal said no to requiring landlords efforts to negotiate repayment for agreement so we've done things to make rental issues affordable especially during covert we've we stopped evictions during the covert time frame to give the people that are having trouble with employment a time to make repayments and a time to get their payments in order do you suffer questions my questions back to the premier you know scrapping rent control makes things unaffordable i'd like this government to get that through its head the worst part about this is that people like marnie thought the ontario government was on their side and that there were rules to protect renters speaker the member's answer shows that this is not the case this government voted against my bill 23 which would protect renters with a stroke of a pen this government could stand up for renters bring back rent control but instead they'd rather help wealthy developers for decades conservative and liberal governments have made the housing crisis worse and worse they've allowed the greediest developers and corporate landlords to gouge tenants and throw people out of their homes to make a buck my constituent chris said this is an outrageous attempt to essentially evict tenants because they feel they can get more money it is simply unaffordable the cost of moving and the horrible burden of finding a new home will be very imposing on the residents in my building what does this government have to say to marnie chris and the other families living at one rich monroe who might get evicted because they can't afford the massive unfair jump in rent that this government has rubber the stamps for warren westbridge's richmond hill thank you very much speaker and i thank my honourable colleague for uh for the question and uh my message to all ontarians and those uh who are looking for an answer from government is this we've had your back and we'll continue to have your back mr speaker through policies we have always put in place mr speaker but let me just point out the fact that members oppose members opposite never want to bring up and that is the question of supply mr speaker because of bad decisions by by the previous government and remember who supported them along the way whenever they needed them we did not we ontario lack supply that we need for house ontarians of all mr speaker which is why the policies and the decisions that were made by the minister alluded to by the parliamentary assistant helped to make sure that we have more units available so that it does help with the prices for ontarians it's a simple supply and demand i understand sometimes it's difficult for for others to to to fathom that but it is a fact mr speaker which is why when you reduce rate tape when you increase inventory through proper decisions it will make housing more affordable for ontarians but we'll make sure that the every single decision that we make reflects the best for the people development the next question the member for orleans much mr speaker my questions for the premiere mr speaker the highest ranking public servant in the city of ottawa has told auto council that the legal occupation is going to cost taxpayers 36 million dollars 36 million is a lot of money and it's going to translate into hundreds of dollars of additional property tax pay property taxes for the residents of ottawa that's on top of hydro rates that are going up and gas prices that are out of control mr speaker for months ontario liberals have been calling on the government to support residents of ottawa and ensure that they're made whole as a result of this occupation that was spurred on by conservative politicians across the country mr speaker now the government's offered 10 million dollars which is half of what the federal government's offered to support businesses but they've still not offered any support to ottawa taxpayers who are going to be faced with the bill for this occupation so mr speaker will the premiere commit to ensuring that ottawa taxpayers are made whole and that he doesn't force a property tax increase upon them government thank you very much mr speaker i think we addressed this last week but i know again that the minister of tourism has been working working alongside ottawa officials to ensure that ottawa continues to get the support that it's been getting at the same time mr speaker we're also looking also beyond what happened the events of of uh february we're looking toward towards building a better stronger uh ottawa mr speaker one that is uh again continues to be the center of culture for the for the province of ontario uh look this was uh ottawa was the second largest city in in the province of ontario it is the the center of our of our national government but it is also a hub for tourism it is also a hub for culture and we know how important ottawa is to the economic growth of the province of ontario that is why we are making so many important investments in the city of ottawa uh speaker and look the people of ottawa know that a strong state progressive conservative majority of government will continue to deliver for them uh not only over the next number of months but well into the future supplementary well thank you mr speaker the residents of ottawa in particular the downtown were traumatized by the occupation small businesses were forced to close right as they were supposed to start reopening because of covid employees were losing shifts shifts that they couldn't afford to lose mr speaker now the occupation's been over for almost a month the government still hasn't announced any funding to support ottawa taxpayers and the premier still hasn't come to ottawa to speak to residents who are affected to speak to small business owners who are affected he had time to go to washington dc mr speaker to lobby the americans but he hasn't had time to come to ottawa and speak to residents who are affected by the occupation residents of ottawa are starting to think that this premier doesn't care about them because their issues are continually ignored he's failed to show leadership once again and the residents of ottawa have noticed will the government will the premier commit to making the city of ottawa whole and ensure that ottawa property taxpayers don't get a tax increase because of this occupation that was spurred on by conservative politicians of heritage sport tourism and culture industries the member opposite knows that i spent a great deal of time including with one of his colleagues from ottawa vanier working with business owners working with ottawa police working with transportation and transit officials working with small businesses i also reject the premise myself and the minister responsible for children community and social services the minister of transportation we're actually with the premier in ottawa in downtown ottawa on elgin street on friday right after we announced 29 million dollars for the second largest hospital project in ontario's history you know the member opposite talks about on uh the orleans health hub they talked about at barnsdale exit on the 416. they

talked a lot about the the expansion of the ottawa hospital but you know what for 15 years in office they delivered zip zero zilch to the people of ottawa but guess what doug ford he's getting it done [Applause] colored in the lines [Music] please start the clock the next question the member for parkdale high park my questions to the premiere tenants at 12 lansdowne avenue in my riding are being renovated by a landlord who was famously fined 135 000 for dishonest renovations at 795 college street back in 2019 repeat offenders like this landlord know that a hundred thousand dollars is a drop in the ocean because renovations allow bad landlords to sidestep ontario's rent control laws and rake in enormous profits successive governments both liberal and conservatives have done nothing in two decades to fix it we know that allowing landlords to hike rent in between tenants incentivizes landlords to throw tenants out and leads to skyrocketing rents speaker i proposed legislation to fix this the rent stabilization act and the ford government voted it down so i ask does the premier have a plan to protect tenants from rent evictions and if so what is the premier's plan [Applause] that's so clean gary thank you speaker i want to thank the member option and it will say she was half right the liberal government did nothing for 10 years and coming into power our protecting attendance and strengthening community housing act protected tenants from renovation renovations as they call them they put in fines we put in no tenant in this province can be evicted without an order from the landlord tenant part and this is the landlord chamber must also agree or have the ability to review all other previous cases where a landlord's been involved with renovations something that was not there before and we see now the landlord tenant board has now got the teeth it needs to protect the tenants as we've increased the housing you know the rental units in this province something that by getting rid of red tape we protected the tenants last year we we had a zero increase in rent uh in this province something that has not been seen in 30 years we have the backs attendance and we will continue to protect them thank you be supplementary thank you my questions back to the premier speaker in my riding two buildings 103 and 105 west lodge now have over 200 vacant units combined while shelters are overcrowded and encampments are bulldozed landlords are evicting tenants and then sitting on hundreds of empty units corporate landlords are sitting on hundreds of empty units in the midst of an of a housing crisis does the conservative government think this is acceptable and if not why won't the government do something to fix it [Applause] thank you speaker and thank the member opposite for that question as i said our government has put in place the rules that the landlord tenant board now has the ability to review all cases and actually they must review all cases they must go through before a tenant is asked to leave they they there is a requirement for our eviction order from the tribunal as far as the the renovations go they have the ability to review the cases and decide whether they should be phased landlords must pay up to three months rent if for any any tenant that uh is requested to move out because of renovations and also the tenant has the first rate of refusal to move back in at the same rate so these are protections we put in this government and you know you look back at this this other party opposite voted against these changes these were changes that were needed to protect renters in this province because there was a shortage of rental units and that goes back to the the previous coalition of the ndp and the liberal government who did nothing for 10 years to look at the address of supply thank you the next question the member for don valley west thank you very much mr speaker my question is for the premier since 1996 people for education has been advocating for a strong publicly funded education system in ontario led by annie kidder and her team people for education has surveyed schools across the province each year to determine the issues gaps in progress in our schools in terms of funding staffing and program adequacy people for education formed in response to the neglect and underfunding of a previous conservative government in ontario the covid crisis has made this annual sounding even more critical than it has been in the past what the report found this year mr speaker and i quote in last year's survey principles pointed to the lack of communication between the ministry of education and schools as an ongoing challenge one year later no progress appears to have been made on this front can the premier explain why this government has consistently ignored repeated recommendations to include the people on the front line of our education system in decision making peer reply the member for niagara west speaker i appreciate the member opposite and of course recognize the pr the minister the member opposites uh importance in raising these issues and i want to also acknowledge that the member opposite had the opportunity for many years to serve in this legislature also as the minister of education unfortunately speaker what we saw over the course of those years of education uh when the member opposite with both premier and the minister of education was a failure to invest in some of the crucial areas that we've heard from our stakeholders we've heard from partners in in the education sector that we need to invest in and so in response to that under the leadership of premium forward and minister leche we're responding to the concerns that have been raised over the past uh years due to the lack of investment from the former liberal uh wendell duke of government and we're ensuring that we're building up our education system what that means in practice speaker is that we're investing 304 million dollars in time limited support to the kovan 19 learning recovery fund for temporary additional staffing supports to address learning recovery the implementation of a fully de-streamed grade nine supports and more i'll speak about supplements a supplementary question well mr speaker the reality is that there has been funding removed from schools per pupil funding has gone down there were fewer staff in schools there are for example speaker fewer sections of courses being offered to high school students because of cuts that were made by this government before the pandemic hit mr speaker but my question was about conversations with people in order education system mr speaker i've spoken to school trustees teachers support staff parents that this lack of inclusion in decision making is how this government has functioned throughout the pandemic the most recent example of this lack of respect and outright dismissal of the expertise of the very people who have responsibility for the two million ontario children in our publicly funded schools is the refusal of this government to allow school boards to have the option to continue to enforce a mass mandate in their schools if they choose to there has been no consultation there has been no respect for the front line mr speaker every mpp in this house should know this already from their conversations in their constituencies what is being put in place right now as the government presumably prepares to release the grants for student needs that will allow school boards and their schools to provide the staffing mental health and curriculum support necessary to allow schools to support students what is the plan parliamentary system that's it but i have to push back on that assertion which is uh factually inaccurate speaker we have raised uh funding for the sector of education historically uh since this government came to office what we've seen as a result of those investments is this year alone 683 million dollars increase in our publicly funded education system to ensure that we're reaching 26.6 billion dollars for the grant for student needs this is an increase by over 3.25 billion dollars speaker that we've seen since the increase through the gsn over the past years a nine percent increase since our government came to office in 2018. that's a substantial investment to ensure that our students are receiving uh all the skills that they need to

2022-04-02 00:23

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