My question is for the Minister of Colleges and Universities.

All Ontarians deserve to have access to health care that they need when they need it.

Due to the neglect of the previous Liberal government, Ontario needs more doctors to alleviate the strain on our health care system. Unfortunately, too many Ontario students are going abroad for medical school because they haven’t been able to find residency spots here in their home province.

Our government must take decisive steps to educate and retain doctors locally in order to connect people to care closer to home.

Can the minister please explain what our government is doing to expand Ontario’s medical school system?

Expanding post-secondary education opportunities will make it easier for our homegrown doctors of tomorrow to receive training and provide world-class health care right here in their own communities.

This is one of many important initiatives our government is taking to help build up our health care workforce.

However, I know there are some regions of our province where the need for doctors and other health care professionals is more extreme. It’s up to our government to implement solutions that respond to these local health care needs.

Can the minister please explain how our government will prioritize medical training programs to support communities that have the most need?

My question is to the Premier.

This morning, in the media studio, Maria Sardelis and Cherie Vandevenne spoke about the terrible suffering caused by the illegal use of the trespass act by care homes. Far too often. when caregivers make complaints about poor standards of care, facility operators retaliate by using the Ontario trespass act illegally to permanently ban entrance to family members.

Will this government ensure that care home operators cannot hide from accountability by using the trespass act to punish patients and their loved ones?

In March 2021, this House unanimously passed a motion, presented by my colleague from Ottawa Centre, stating that the government of Ontario would “provide clear direction to operators of retirement, long-term care and group homes that they cannot use the Trespass to Property Act to ban family members who speak out about their loved ones’ living conditions.”

Will this government fulfil this commitment from 2021 by posting clear direction in publicly accessible spaces in every care facility in Ontario and ensure, also, that the police forces no longer misapply the trespass act by blocking families from visiting their loved ones?

Thank you to the member from Eglinton–Lawrence for this important question.

Our government recognizes that in order to build up our health care system, we need to ensure that students pursuing medical studies have access to world-class post-secondary education. As part of that effort, we need to ensure that we have the capacity to train doctors locally—and this government is delivering. In 2022 alone, we added 160 undergraduate spaces and 295 postgraduate medical seats to be implemented over the next five years—the largest expansion of Ontario’s medical school system in over a decade. As outlined in budget 2023, we are building on that expansion by investing $33 million over three years to add another 100 undergraduate seats and 154 postgraduate seats, beginning in 2024, prioritizing Ontario students. This means that by 2028, Ontario will have the capacity to train 1,212 undergraduate medical students and 1,637 postgraduate students annually.

I can assure you that the future of medical education in Ontario is bright.

I appreciate the question from the member.

I can appreciate that the member wasn’t here in the last Parliament, so she was probably unaware of the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, which, of course, enshrined a Residents’ Bill of Rights within the law. We learned during COVID how important it was that family and friends are able to visit their loved ones in long-term-care homes across the province of Ontario. That’s why we enshrined that within the Residents’ Bill of Rights. It might please the—well, I guess it would displease the member to know that of course the NDP voted against that piece of legislation in the last Parliament. Despite that, we made the commitment to ensure that it is within the Fixing Long-Term Care Act. We’ve actually gone a step further. We’ve ensured that every single home across the province of Ontario posts the Residents’ Bill of Rights right within every single long-term-care home across the province.

On top of that, we are still building out 60,000 new and upgraded long-term-care homes while we add 27,000 additional staff.

Again, they voted against that.

But I think we’re on the right—

I found it odd that the NDP, in the last Parliament, actually voted against the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, because here’s what it says as you enter the doorway of a long-term-care home—

Interjection.

Here’s what it says on the Residents’ Bill of Rights in the doorway of every long-term-care home: “Every resident has the right to ... receive visitors of their choice ... without interference”—so job done, as you have asked in your question. It says, “Every resident has a right to ongoing and safe support from their caregivers to support their physical, mental, social and emotional well-being.” This is the wording that appears in every single long-term-care home across the province along with a Residents’ Bill of Rights.

They voted against the Residents’ Bill of Rights. They voted against the Fixing Long-Term Care Act. They voted against 60,000 new and upgraded homes. They voted against 27,000 additional health care workers. They vote against—

Supplementary.

I’d like to thank the member from Brampton North for a number of things: your enthusiasm and your approach and what you do in the community.

Interjections.

I thought you had cloned yourself to 5,000 based on that gold medal game, because the fans in Brampton were unbelievable with their support for Team Canada—outstanding.

This government invested $500,000 in the IIHF Women’s World Championship in Brampton, and it was a massive success—a success on number of fronts, in what it does from a tourism, culture and sport perspective in the community, and how it drives visitorship.

I stepped back at one point because I got there early, as I often do at a sporting event—especially when you’re involved with it emotionally—to try to get rid of some tension, and what I saw when the doors opened were as many children as I saw adults; young girls who played hockey throughout Ontario wearing their jerseys, showing up with their parents and getting engaged. If they’re engaged, that means they’re looking at these women on the ice, especially Team Canada, and using them as a source of motivation and—

I can talk for hours on what sport does, what it delivers to young people, and how it helps them and positively affects their lives, but I won’t bore you, at least at this point.

The Ontario Sport Hosting Program is designed to help communities host national and international events. Again, it goes back to that tourism, culture and sport piece that work awfully well together to drive business to the economy. To that point, since 2018, we’ve supported 155 sporting events. That equates to about $81 million of impact in the communities that were hosting these events. That’s a big deal.

I was just in Ottawa, and we are investing $300,000 in the World Rugby Pac Four international tournament to be held this year in July. The best of the best will compete in Ottawa. One of those four is Canada, which means we’re one of the best of the best, including New Zealand, Australia and the US. Once again, it’s a great example for all people in sport, but especially young women who can be motivated and inspired by watching their heroes on the ice or on the field.

My question is for the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

This past Sunday, my community of Brampton had the pleasure of hosting over 5,000 hockey fans at the CAA Centre for the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Women’s World Championship. The gold medal game was certainly an exciting hockey match. Our Team Canada played so hard right until the end, and we’re all very proud of their efforts. Medals and awards went to numerous athletes, but each and every one of the women is a true champion and an all-star. They are positive role models, providing encouragement for other women to stay active in sport.

However, according to a national study, unfortunately, 50% of girls will drop out of sports by adolescence.

More must be done to raise the profile of women in sports and create opportunities for greater participation.

Can the minister please explain how our government is promoting active involvement in sport for women?

We certainly saw and experienced excitement and fun in Brampton last week.

Sports events like this one in my community not only inspire future generations of athletes and increase physical activity, but they also contribute to the social fabric of our communities.

It’s also encouraging to see the positive effects that a major event like this one had for the businesses in Brampton and across Ontario. Many Brampton hotels, restaurants and shops welcomed the boost in occupancy and sales as people enjoyed themselves in and around our city. It was a true winning experience for everyone.

Can the minister please explain how our government is supporting amateur sporting events and boosting tourism opportunities in local communities like mine?

Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

The House recessed from 1140 to 1300.

Report adopted.

MPP Vaugeois moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 101, An Act to establish the Advocate for Older Adults / Projet de loi 101, Loi créant le poste d’intervenant en faveur des personnes âgées.

First reading agreed to.

I have a petition, and it reads as follows:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas parents have asked the Ministry of Education to find a way to refocus and get students back to the basics; and

“Whereas there is a recognition that there is a need for additional qualified and dedicated educators in Ontario; and

“Whereas, if passed, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act will streamline certification timelines for those with in-demand expertise who have valuable skills to teach our students; and

“Whereas with a rapidly evolving economy, Ontario’s curriculum must be consistently updated to ensure relevant and modern information for students to access good-paying jobs; and

“Whereas students and parents deserve a world-class education system built, on strategic investments and initiatives, that will deliver the highest impact on student success, greater involvement and transparency for parents and respect for Ontario taxpayers;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the passage of Bill 98, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023.”

Speaker, I support this petition. I will affix my name it to and send it to the table with page Frederick.

J’ai une pétition intitulée « Soutenez le système d’éducation francophone en Ontario.

« À l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario :

« Alors que les enfants francophones ont un droit constitutionnel à une éducation de haute qualité, financée par les fonds publics, dans leur propre langue;

« Alors que l’augmentation des inscriptions dans le système d’éducation en langue française signifie que plus de 1 000 nouveaux enseignants et enseignantes de langue française sont nécessaires chaque année pour les cinq prochaines années;

« Alors que les changements apportés au modèle de financement du gouvernement provincial pour la formation des enseignantes et enseignants de langue française signifient que l’Ontario n’en forme que 500 par an;

« Alors que le nombre de personnes qui enseignent sans certification complète dans le système d’éducation en langue française a augmenté de plus de 450 % au cours de la dernière décennie;

« Par conséquent, nous, soussignés, demandons à l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario de fournir immédiatement le financement demandé par le rapport du groupe de travail sur la pénurie des enseignantes et des enseignants dans le système d’éducation en langue française de l’Ontario et de travailler avec des partenaires pour mettre pleinement en oeuvre les recommandations. »

Je suis complètement d’accord. Je vais y ajouter mon nom et la donner à la page Maya pour apporter aux greffiers.

Your committee begs to report the following bill, as amended:

Bill 71, An Act to amend the Mining Act / Projet de loi 71, Loi modifiant la Loi sur les mines.

I beg leave to present a report from the Standing Committee on the Interior and move its adoption.

I’d like to introduce, from the riding of Burlington, today’s page captain, Senna Chan Carusone. Welcome to Queen’s Park, and thank you for your work as a page.

I see that the students are actually finally here today. I hope everyone will join me in welcoming the wonderful students from St. Agatha Catholic School, with trustee Nancy Crawford and their teachers Shannon Murphy, Deirdre Moloney-Sciberras, Hyacinth Fernandes, Kathleen Dillon, and Theresa Moulds. Welcome to the House.

I’m very excited to use this opportunity to talk about some of the innovations that we are doing under the Your Health plan. It, of course, includes expansion of surgical capacity, both within hospital and within community. When we expand our surgical capacity in community, with community-integrated surgical centres, we actually have more space available in our hospitals to do those more complex surgeries that are so critical—and of course, the emergencies that happen every single day in the province of Ontario.

Because of the investments that we’re making in the Your Health commitment, we are ensuring that capacity is expanding in the province of Ontario.

Very specifically, in terms of posting and making people aware, our Your Health partners at Ontario Health are monitoring and publicly posting regularly where our surgical wait times need to be improved.

The reality is that we should be very proud of the fact that we are now back to pre-pandemic levels because of an almost $1-billion investment over three years in the ability for both hospitals and surgical centres to be able to expand their services. We’ve been able to do that during the pandemic and as we see the pandemic wane. It is very, very important that we continue to do that valuable work with hospitals and with integrated community surgical centre. We will do it. We’ve laid it out with Bill 60 and the Your Health plan. We are getting it done.

I’d like to thank Liz for her work on this petition. It’s greatly appreciated.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas parents expect that school board trustees and staff be qualified, accountable and focused on putting forward a plan to boost student achievement; and

“Whereas Ontario’s education system should offer the full accountability, transparency and responsiveness expected by families to prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow; and

“Whereas currently, Ontario’s 72 school boards set their own priorities, creating inconsistencies in student outcomes across the education system; and

“Whereas training for school board officials, including trustees and directors of education, to ensure they are unified in their respective roles to help students build skills they need to succeed; and

“Whereas a trustee dispute mechanism should be put in place, saving precious time and countless taxpayer dollars by building a provincially appointed roster of qualified integrity commissioners to quickly and effectively adjudicate the disputes;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the passage of Bill 98, the Better School and Student Outcomes Act, 2023.”

I agree with this petition, will sign my name to it and give it to page Senna to take to the table.

J’aimerais remercier Colin et Hélène Pick de Capreol dans mon comté pour ces pétitions.

« Soutenez le système d’éducation francophone en Ontario...

« Attendu que les enfants francophones ont un droit constitutionnel à une éducation de haute qualité, financée par les fonds publics, dans leur propre langue;

« Attendu que l’augmentation des inscriptions dans le système d’éducation en langue française signifie que plus de 1 000 nouveaux enseignants et enseignantes de langue française sont nécessaires chaque année pour les cinq prochaines années;

« Attendu que les changements apportés au modèle de financement du gouvernement provincial pour la formation des enseignantes et enseignants de langue française signifient que l’Ontario n’en forme que 500 par » année;

« Attendu que le nombre de personnes qui enseignent sans certification complète dans le système d’éducation en langue française a augmenté de plus de 450 % au cours de la dernière décennie; »

Ils et elles demandent à l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario « de fournir immédiatement le financement demandé par le rapport du groupe de travail sur la pénurie des enseignantes et des enseignants dans le système d’éducation en langue française de l’Ontario et de travailler avec des partenaires pour mettre pleinement en oeuvre les recommandations. »

J’appuie cette pétition. Je vais la signer et je demande à Mridul de l’amener à la table des greffiers.

Thank you, once again, to the member for their interest and their work in building a health care system that delivers for all Ontarians.

Statistics show that doctors generally stay and practise in the area where they complete their medical education. Recognizing this, our government has taken a pragmatic approach to ensure that we are increasing medical school seats in regions across the province, focusing on areas that need it most. Because no matter where you live, everyone deserves access to a world-class health care system.

That is why we also announced the Scarborough Academy of Medicine, under the University of Toronto, and the northern Ontario medical school, as well as the first-ever medical school in Brampton, which will help solidify local health care needs in the region for generations—something the Liberals and NDP promised but never delivered.

This is how we are building Ontario’s health care system to be stronger, more resilient and better than ever. That begins with a solid foundation in education.

The bill enacts the Advocate for Older Adults Act, 2023, which establishes an advocate for older adults who is an independent officer of the Legislative Assembly. The functions of the advocate for older adults include advocating in the interests of older adults and family members of older adults who act as caregivers. In addition, the advocate for older adults is required to advise, in an independent manner, the minister, public officials and persons who fund or deliver services for older adults on systemic challenges faced by older adults, policies and practices to address existing systemic challenges and other matters that may come to the attention of the advocate for older adults.