My question is to the Premier, Mr. Speaker.

Over 1,300 university students in Hamilton have signed a petition to “demand that elected provincial and municipal politicians repeal the unwanted urban boundary expansion in Hamilton and protect greenbelt lands.”

This government broke the greenbelt promise and also overrode the municipal decision in Hamilton to save, not pave, farmland.

Students who wrote this petition would really like to know: When will you repeal this unwanted boundary expansion and return our greenbelt lands?

Again to the Premier: Abiola is a grade 4 student from my riding. She wrote to me with some important questions about this government’s plans to build housing on the greenbelt. She asked: Does the government know that they will ruin that piece of protected land? Why is the government harming the natural resources of the province? When there is plenty of available land outside the greenbelt, why do they choose to build houses on a more important piece of land?

Speaker, why does a grade 4 student understand the environmental harm of this government’s greenbelt carve-up but this Premier does not?

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontario’s social assistance rates are well below Canada’s official Market Basket Measure poverty line and far from adequate to cover the rising costs of food and rent: $733 for individuals on OW and $1,227 for ODSP;

“Whereas an open letter to the Premier and two cabinet ministers, signed by over 230 organizations, recommends that social assistance rates be doubled for both Ontario Works (OW) and ... (ODSP);

“Whereas the recent small budget increase of 5% for ODSP still leaves these citizens well below the poverty line, both they and those receiving the frozen OW rates are struggling to live in this time of alarming inflation;

“Whereas the government of Canada recognized in its CERB program that a ‘basic income’ of $2,000 per month was the standard support required by individuals who lost their employment during the pandemic;

“We, the undersigned citizens of Ontario, petition the Legislative Assembly to double social assistance rates for OW and ODSP.”

I couldn’t agree more with this petition, affix my signature and will send it to the table with page Leonard.

My question is for the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility. Seniors and people with disabilities often face additional barriers in most aspects of their daily lives. This includes using public transit, finding employment, and accessing buildings.

Under the leadership of the Premier and this minister, Ontario needs to remain committed to helping seniors and people with disabilities stay active and socially connected. Our government must continue to lead in providing a more accessible environment for living, working, and learning.

Can the minister please explain how our government is taking further action to make Ontario more inclusive for everyone?

Last month, I had the pleasure of joining the minister in my riding for the Inclusive Community Grant announcement. These much-needed funds will bring portable beach mats to Burlington and showcase our riding as an inclusive and accessible community. Can the minister please elaborate on this initiative and how it will bring greater accessibility to Burlington?

Thank you to my good friend the MPP from Burlington for that question. She is a tireless advocate and strong representative working so hard in her community.

Through our Inclusive Community Grants, we are making communities across Ontario more accessible. Since 2018, this government has funded over 60 community-based projects. These include accessible benches in London, accessible beaches in Kenora, refresher driving courses for seniors in Chatham-Kent, and an inclusive waterfront in Collingwood. These grants are an excellent way for local communities, big and small, to become more accessible. We are building a more accessible Ontario together.

I was proud to award $30,000 toward the Inclusive Community Grant project in the city of Burlington. Through this project, Burlington will be able to purchase and install portable beach mats to provide a barrier-free path of travel to the edge of Lake Ontario at Beachway Park. This will help older adults and people with disabilities enjoy Lake Ontario.

Projects like this strengthen local communities to promote healthy, active lifestyles for people of all ages and abilities. This is just one of the ways this government is working for all Ontarians.

Speaker, I’d like to thank Lynn Mayhew and Paul Embury for this very important petition to the Legislative Assembly to “Extend Access to Post-Adoption Birth Information....

“Whereas current legislation does not provide access to post-adoption birth information ... to next of kin if an adult adopted person or a natural/birth parent is deceased;

“Whereas this barrier to accessing post-adoption ... information separates immediate family members and prohibits the children of deceased adopted” parents “from gaining knowledge of their identity and possible Indigenous heritage;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to extend ... post-adoption birth information (identifying information) to next of kin, and/or extended next of kin, if an adult adopted person or a natural/birth parent is deceased.”

I fully support this petition, sign it and pass it to page Senna to deliver to the table.

I’m very proud to stand to present this petition.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

““Whereas two-spirit, transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex communities face significant challenges to accessing health care services that are friendly, competent, and affirming in Ontario;

“Whereas everyone deserves access to health care, and they shouldn’t have to fight for it, shouldn’t have to wait for it, and should never receive less care or support because of who they are;

“Whereas gender-affirming care is life-saving care;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the reintroduction of a private member’s bill to create an inclusive and representative committee to advise the Ministry of Health on how to realize accessible and equitable access to and coverage for gender-affirming health care in Ontario.”

I will proudly affix my signature to this petition and send it to the centre table with page Nicholas.

The petition that I’m reading is entitled, “Demand Fair Funding for Provincial Schools,” and it reads, “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the provincial schools for the deaf and blind provide high-quality education in an accessible, supportive and affirming environment; but

“Whereas under successive Liberal and Conservative governments, these schools have been faced with deep cuts and are under constant threat of closure; and

“Whereas these cuts have led to fewer teachers, support staff and less specialized support and resources for students with disabilities; and

“Whereas provincial schools for the deaf and blind have seen programs, resources, staff and services cut and downsized to a skeleton staff while key infrastructure like pools and heating systems are left in disrepair; and

“Whereas deaf and blind children are being denied access to services and programs, or forced onto growing wait-lists for services from the resource department, including painful waits for psychological and psychoeducational assessments; and

“Whereas parents of students at the schools have been forced to advocate in the media and at public rallies because the ministry has not addressed their concerns;

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

“Call on the Ontario government to immediately increase funding for services, staffing, infrastructure and resources at the provincial schools, and act to improve transparency and accountability while improving the working and learning conditions at the provincial schools.”

I fully support this petition, will affix my signature and deliver it with page Kundanika to the Clerks.

The Associate Minister of Housing.

The House recessed from 1143 to 1300.

Report deemed adopted.

My question is to the Minister of Agriculture. Proposed changes in Bill 97 and the PPS allow for increased residential lots on agricultural land. Ontario also has specific minimum distance separation standards that determine setback distances between residential lots and livestock barns, manure storages, and anaerobic digesters—and for good reason.

Planners are raising concerns that there is a conflict developing—particularly Wayne Caldwell, professor of rural planning and development at the University of Guelph: “On a typical concession block the proposed new PPS will allow at least 30 residential lots. With minimum distance separation, there will be virtually no space left for growth in the livestock sector. Indeed we should ask the question, is this the beginning of the end for animal agriculture in Ontario?”

That question needs to be asked. When someone decides that they’re going to build a new dairy barn, hog barn, and there’s a residential lot within the minimum separation distance, what’s going to happen?

Mr. Speaker, I’m pleased to share, through you to the member opposite, that we have taken very thoughtful approaches to how we look to increase housing opportunities—not only in intensifying in urban areas, but also along our rural roadways.

Earlier, this winter, the Premier and I met with dairy farmers from Elgin county, and we talked specifically about the importance of minimum distance separation. We also very much appreciate and respect the ag impact.

That’s why I’m pleased that our ministry worked so incredibly well, not only with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, but with the Premier’s office, to make sure that when we look to increase housing opportunities—primarily to address farmers’ requests, in terms of having an extra lot for their son or daughter or an employee to live close to the farm—we’re taking that into consideration. We’re going to be okay, because again, we’re thoughtful, and we’re respecting the MDS as well as ag impact.

I’d like to table the following petition:

“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 Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023.”

I’ll affix my signature and pass it to page Dominic.

This petition is titled “National Chronic Pain Society petition,” and it reads, “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas one in four Ontarians over the age of 15 suffer from chronic pain, with 73% reporting that the pain interferes with their daily lives and more than half reporting issues with depression and suicidal thoughts; and

“Whereas pain is the most common reason to seek health care, with chronic pain making up approximately 16% of emergency room visits and 38% of frequent visits, adding to the already lengthy wait times and delaying treatment;

“Whereas the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) is proposing to limit the number of nerve block injections a pain sufferer can receive to 16 per year, regardless of the severity of the patient’s condition or the number of injections needed, and seemingly without any consultations with patients or health care workers; and

“Whereas the most common treatment for pain provided by family doctors and hospitals is opioids, despite the current national crisis leading to an estimated 20 opioid-related deaths in Canada every day during the COVID-19 pandemic;

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

“Prevent OHIP from applying a one-size-fits-all solution to the issue of chronic pain, and allow for consultations with health care workers ... to determine the best way” forward “to treat chronic pain....”

I support this petition. I will affix my signature to it.

I really want to thank the member for the question.

Speaker, Ontario is expected to grow by more than two million people by 2031, with approximately a million and a half living in the greater Golden Horseshoe region, including Hamilton.

The federal government has also announced that Canada will increase immigration to about a half a million newcomers by 2025. Ontario takes the brunt and most of the immigrants, because Ontario is a great place to live, to work, to raise a family, and to open a business.

Ontario’s population reached a historic 50 million last year, and it’s our expectation that construction will begin on all of our lands, because we desperately need housing, we desperately need people to come here to work.

We’re getting it done. We’re building the infrastructure. We’re building the hospitals. We’re getting health care in the communities that need it. We will build the housing for all Ontarians.

Do you know what’s great to hear right now? It’s that we are reaching all-time highs in history for purpose-built rentals, something that has never happened before. Why? Because the Liberals, when they were in government for 15 years, chose to ignore the sector. We did not have enough housing for people who needed to rent. We did not have enough housing for people who moved here. But do you know what, Speaker? This government will get it done, under this Premier and this municipal affairs and housing minister.

I have a petition here called “Stop Ford’s Health Care Privatization Plan.”

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontarians should get health care based on need—not the size of your wallet;

“Whereas Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones are trying to privatize parts of health care;

“Whereas privatization will bleed nurses, doctors and PSWs out of our public hospitals, making the health care crisis worse;

“Whereas privatization always ends with patients getting a bill;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately stop all plans to further privatize Ontario’s health care system, and fix the crisis in health care by:

“—repealing Bill 124 and recruiting, retaining and respecting doctors, nurses and PSWs with better pay and better working conditions;

“—licensing tens of thousands of internationally educated nurses and other health care professionals already in Ontario, who wait years and pay thousands to have their credentials certified;

“—making education and training free or low-cost for nurses, doctors and other health care professionals;

“—incentivizing doctors and nurses to choose to live and work in northern Ontario;

“—funding hospitals to have enough nurses on every shift, on every ward.”

I fully support this petition, will sign it and send it to the table with one of the pages.

The petition I’m about to read is entitled “Protect the Greenbelt and Repeal Bills 23 and 39.” It reads, “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Bills 23 and 39 are the Ford government’s latest attempt to remove protected land from the greenbelt, allowing wealthy developers to profit over bulldozing over 7,000 acres of farmland;

“Whereas green spaces and farmland are what we rely on to grow our food, support natural habitats, prevent flooding, and mitigate from future climate disasters with Ontario losing 319.6 acres of farmland daily to development;

“Whereas the government’s Housing Affordability Task Force found there are plenty of places to build homes without destroying the greenbelt, showcasing that Bill 23 was never about housing but about making the rich richer;

“Whereas the power of conservation authorities will be taken away, weakening environmental protections, and preventing future development;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately repeal Bills 23 and 39, stop all plans to further remove protected land from the greenbelt and protect existing farmland in the province by passing the NDP’s Protecting Agricultural Land Act.”

I fully support this petition. I will affix my signature and deliver it with page Kundanika to the Clerks.

Further debate?

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontarians should get health care based on need—not the size of your wallet;

“Whereas Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones say they’re planning to privatize parts of health care;

“Whereas privatization will bleed nurses, doctors and PSWs out of” public health, “making the health care crisis worse;

“Whereas privatization always ends with patients getting a bill;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately stop all plans to further privatize Ontario’s health care system, and fix the crisis in health care by:

“—repealing Bill 124 and recruiting, retaining and respecting doctors, nurses and PSWs with better pay and better working conditions;

“—licensing tens of thousands of internationally educated nurses and other health care professionals already in Ontario, who wait years and pay thousands to have their credentials certified;

“—making education and training free or low-cost for nurses, doctors and other health care professionals;

“—incentivizing doctors and nurses to choose to live and work in northern Ontario;

“—funding hospitals to have enough nurses on every shift, on every ward.”

I support this. I’ll give this to our page and sign it.

I have a petition entitled “Stop the 413 GTA West Highway.” It reads, “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the Ontario government is pushing ahead with plans to build Highway 413, a redundant and wasteful 400-series highway through the greenbelt that would cost taxpayers an estimated $10 billion or more; and

“Whereas according to a TorStar/National Observer investigation entitled ‘Friends with Benefits?’ powerful developers and land speculators with political and donor ties to the Premier and the PC Party of Ontario own thousands of acres along the proposed highway corridor and would” benefit “from its construction, suggesting that this $10-billion taxpayer-funded highway is about serving the private interests of the Premier’s friends and donors, not the public interest; and

“Whereas the Ontario government’s expert panel concluded in 2017 that Highway 413 would be a waste of taxpayer money that would only save drivers 30 to 60 seconds on their commutes; and

“Whereas that expert panel identified less costly and less destructive alternatives to new highway construction, such as making better use of the underused Highway 407, just 15 kilometres away; and

“Whereas Highway 413 would pave over 400 acres of greenbelt and 2,000 acres of farmland, destroy the habitats of at-risk and endangered species, and pollute rivers and streams; and

“Whereas building more highways encourages more vehicle use and increases traffic and congestion; and

“Whereas the highway would cause significant harm to historic Indigenous sites;

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

“Stop the plans for building Highway 413.”

I support this petition, affix my signature and will send it to the table with page Leonard.

Resuming the debate adjourned on April 20, 2023, on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 98, An Act to amend various Acts relating to education and child care / Projet de loi 98, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui concerne l’éducation et la garde d’enfants.

I’d like to thank Dr. Sally Palmer for sending me this petition. It’s titled “To Raise Social Assistance Rates” and it reads, “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontario’s social assistance rates are well below Canada’s official Market Basket Measure poverty line and far from adequate to cover the rising costs of food and rent: $733 for individuals on OW and soon $1,227 for ODSP;

“Whereas an open letter to the Premier and two cabinet ministers, signed by over 230 organizations, recommends that social assistance rates be doubled for both Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP);

“Whereas the recent small budget increase of 5% for ODSP still leaves” many “well below the poverty line, both they and those receiving the frozen OW rates are struggling to live in this time of alarming inflation;

“Whereas the government of Canada recognized in its CERB program that a ‘basic income’ of $2,000 per month was the standard support required by individuals who lost their employment during the pandemic;

“We, the undersigned citizens of Ontario, petition the Legislative Assembly” of Ontario “to double social assistance rates for OW and ODSP.”

I fully support this petition. I will affix my signature to it.

First, I want to talk about the title of this bill, Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act. The president of OECTA thought that maybe the title of the bill should be “the failed Conservative government keeps on failing students act.” The official opposition critic, the MPP for Ottawa West–Nepean, suggested a different title: “the micromanaging school boards as a distraction from the underfunding of schools act.” I think both of these names are better suited for this legislation than Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act.

Now, members of this House know that yesterday I had a group of students, participants in the Girls Government program, here at Queen’s Park. They attended question period. They met with you, Speaker. They met with the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions—thank you very much for your time—and they watched question period. Through their learnings and from their day at Queen’s Park, they had a number of questions from what they observed. One of the questions that a student had was, why is it that the government was claiming that the opposition voted against certain measures that sound good? That was the question.

I explained to all of the students that oftentimes there are a number of tactics that the government side, in particular—the Conservatives—employ to make it seem like they’re actually doing something about an issue that needs to be addressed, but not really. A good example is naming pieces of legislation, naming bills, with titles that make it look like they’re doing something really meaningful and bringing in change, but the content of that bill, or the actions that the government is taking through the legislation, may not be what is required, may be a plan or an approach that doesn’t work, or falls far short of what needs to be done.

So I think that this bill, with this title—Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act—is actually a very clear example of what the student was asking and the example that I gave, which is the legislation, the content of the bill, doesn’t match the title. The title should be instead what I suggested earlier from our education critic and the OECTA president’s suggestions.

Now, this bill: Does this legislation really lead to better schools and student outcomes? No, not really. Because what do we need for better schools and student outcomes? We need better funding. We need proper funding of our schools. We need proper funding of students. This bill not only doesn’t do that; this bill doesn’t fix a systemic issue, a root issue, which is that the funding formula that doesn’t work.

The government recently brought in the 2023 budget, and in the government’s budget, the funding for education doesn’t even keep up with the inflation. Everybody knows the cost of everything is up, and when budgets don’t keep up with inflation, it amounts to a cut. With this government, we have seen education budgets be cut year after year.

Now, on the government side, particularly through the Ministry of Education, the spin is that this is the largest education budget ever in the province’s history, forgetting to mention that a good percentage of that funding is for child care for the national child care program that is being funded by the federal government. So the largest budget that the government is claiming includes federal dollars, because child care falls under the Ministry of Education.

As well, we all know that the impact of the pandemic continues and that means higher needs in terms of learning for students and other supports, such as mental health. Now, during the pandemic, many school boards, including right here in Toronto, the Toronto District School Board, had to spend money from their reserves to pay for costs that were associated in order to follow the directives given by this province. The government forced our school boards, the TDSB, to tap into their reserves. And so, what has that led to? That has led to the complete depletion of reserves of the TDSB.

I’m going to quote from a letter that was sent by the chair of the TDSB and the director to the Minister of Education. It reads, “TDSB now faces a deficit of approximately $61 million for the 2023-24 school year according to the broad’s preliminary operating financial position. We have depleted any working reserves and used reserves put away for other purposes. If the pandemic costs incurred by the board were reimbursed by the ministry, the TDSB would have additional funding to support its current financial shortfall without having to reduce programs and services for students.”

Did the government reimburse the TDSB? No. Instead, the government’s response was that they were not going to bail out school boards—Speaker, “bail out.” That term is so inappropriate because it’s as if to say that the boards were mismanaging funds when we know not only was there not enough funding provided by the province but that the province is quite prescriptive when it comes to how boards need to spend the funding that they receive. The minister and the government know very clearly that boards are not allowed to run deficits. So now, without this reimbursement, with a deficit of $61 million and the government’s refusal to fund properly our schools and students, it is going to result in more cuts to staff, more cuts to programs, larger class sizes, unable to address the violence that we’re seeing increase in our schools, no support for students with special needs, no mental health supports—in fact, the Girls’ Government group yesterday came here to Queen’s Park asking for more mental health supports in our schools—and so on.

This bill, inappropriately titled Better Schools and Student Outcomes, does really nothing meaningful in order to support our students, in order to support the teachers, the education workers, the school community and families.

I hope that I get an opportunity—I don’t have much time left—to present our solutions and also talk about the direction that this government is heading in with this bill, because, really, in a nutshell, it is a power grab. It’s a power grab that allows the province to override local democratically elected school boards.

I can see where the government is heading with this, and it raises serious questions. I want to ask the government: Is your intention to appoint people to run our school boards? Is that where this is ultimately leading?

Speaker, I cannot stress enough in the remaining seconds that I have, if we want better schools and student outcomes, fund our schools and students properly.