Yesterday, this government announced free tuition at the Ontario Police College. That’s great, but what about all the other jobs in the economy where we lack skilled workers? Why isn’t there a plan?

The collapse of Laurentian University warned us about the fragile finances of colleges and universities. Now, Guelph is suddenly pausing 16 programs. A student who was expecting to study medical physics in the fall cannot—medical physics, the people who run the big machines in hospitals.

Why isn’t there a plan for education? Is there no plan even in the secret mandate letters? Look at our electricity system: years lost because this government cut conservation, renewable energy and delayed investing in storage, all while we knew since 2017 that demand was going to increase. Their natural gas plant idea will collide with the federal government’s plan to fight climate change with clean electricity incentives and regulations. Why isn’t there a real climate plan?

Mr. Speaker, we’re going to revitalize Ontario Place. We’re going to have a world-class destination. We’re going to have the science centre, state of the art, worldwide.

The students up there have never experienced Ontario Place because the Liberals and the NDP—you closed it for what, 12 years now? There’s weeds growing up; it’s decrepit. We’re going to build a great Live Nation amphitheatre. We’re going to make sure that the science centre is there—world-class, 300,000 square feet with exhibits. We’re going make sure that Therme—wouldn’t you love to go to a water park at Ontario Place, have fun? There’s going to be public space; there’s going to be green space all throughout there. We’re a government that gets it done. You guys talk; we make it happen. That’s the difference.

Interjections.

I’ve already cited a few examples of some economic development corporations acting on behalf of the collective interests of partner First Nations, Mr. Speaker, but it’s, in fact, not limited to northern Ontario. My colleague the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade last week, with the Premier and the Prime Minister of Canada, highlighted a world-scale, world-class announcement that’s going to involve the participation of a treaty council in that corridor that’s excited about the opportunity to participate, whether it’s developing energy infrastructure or corridor infrastructure in general—other businesses in the supply chain.

My colleague the Minister of Energy and I had participated in an exercise with the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corp. on battery storage. These are all examples of large-scale infrastructure projects that go to the heart and soul of Ontario’s capacity for economic development, and they’re partly or wholly owned—

Last week, coming closer to home, out in Kenora–Rainy River, the Niiwin Wendaanimok corporation, largely responsible for most of the work that’s going on to twin the Trans-Canada Highway, had the full support of this government as we move forward on training 50 more young people to build our highways.

The same opportunity exists into the corridor to prosperity: An opportunity in the central part of northern Ontario to ensure that they have road access to better programming and services, good-paying jobs for Indigenous young people. That’s what we hear on the ground, and that’s what we’re responding to in consensus and full partnership with Indigenous business leaders and political leaders.

My question is for the Minister of Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs. The previous Liberal government drove jobs out of our province and failed to unlock Ontario’s full economic potential. The negative results of their destructive economic policies left many behind, including those particularly in rural, remote and Indigenous communities across northern Ontario.

In contrast, our government must be focused on solutions so that Ontarians have an opportunity to participate in our growing economy. Many Indigenous businesses are already operating across the north, and there are many more opportunities to create and expand businesses. It’s vital that our government continues to work with Indigenous partners to make targeted investments that will help Indigenous entrepreneurs and businesses to thrive. Speaker, can the minister please explain what actions our government is taking to increase economic prosperity in partnership with Indigenous communities?

Businesses are only one part of a vibrant economy, though. There are many other ways to amplify prosperity and build a stronger Ontario. Individuals, families, businesses and communities can all succeed when they have the tools, training and supports they need. Investments that help build capacity will go a long way in promoting long-term economic growth. Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is supporting growth and prosperity for Indigenous communities?

I’m glad the member opposite’s best friend and his family members had excellent service. It is a story, frankly, that I hear regularly when people have to access health care services in the province of Ontario.

Ontario Health has been—we have been in discussions with them and I have been assured that the Haliburton Highlands Health Services board has approached this decision in the best interests of community. This is a decision made by the hospital with the support of the hospital board. It is independent of any decisions we make at the ministry level.

But I want to remind the member opposite that these are decisions made by a volunteer community member board that lives in the community and is looking out for the best interests of those communities. For the member opposite to suggest that he knows better than the volunteer-based board, than the CEO, than the individuals who work in that facility, is patently false.

I want to remind the member that the actual member from Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock has been in close contact with the board and the CEO through this entire process, and I remind the member that this is a local decision they have made in the best interests to serve their community in the long term.

My question is to the Minister of Education. The classroom must always be a safe place for students to focus on the necessary life, job and critical thinking skills that they need to succeed. Students and staff in Ontario’s schools need to know that when they go to school, they will be free from physical harm. Students and staff should never be afraid to go to school, and parents much be assured that their children are safe and secure in our schools. In order to do this, our province needs to invest in schools and partner closely with community organizations that will support our young people in their everyday lives.

Can the minister please explain what actions our government is taking to protect the safety and well-being of both our students and our staff?

Can the minister please explain what our government is doing to ensure the safety of students inside the classroom and beyond it?

Ma question est pour le premier ministre. We heard what happened at Minden hospital. Now let’s go to Carleton Place hospital, where the local hospital was forced to close its emergency department overnight because there weren’t enough staff to keep it open. A week before, it was its sister hospital that was closed overnight due to staff shortages—its third closure in as many months.

Ontario had exactly one—one—unplanned emergency room closure in the last 15 years, but in the last year alone we’ve now had 160—160—emergency room closures in a single year. This isn’t normal, Speaker, and we should not pretend that it is. What new measure will the Premier take today to stop the closure of emergency rooms across our province?

To reply, the government House leader.

The government House leader has the floor.

Restart the clock. The member for Kingston and the Islands has the floor.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Interjections.

I think there’s a point that needs to be clarified. For a supplementary question to be valid, it has to have some relationship to the original question—the same subject—and follow and flow from the original question and the original response from the government. But the Speaker has to be able to hear the member who is asking the question to ascertain whether or not it does follow and flow. So I would ask the indulgence of the House to assist me in this regard.

Interjections.

We’ll start the clock. The member for Chatham-Kent–Leamington.

Speaker, does this government really plan? Last night, the Norwich township council passed motions having the effect of banning Progress Pride flags on municipal property and rejecting Pride Month. Is it discrimination? Well, this government has allowed a backlog of two years to accumulate at the Human Rights Tribunal.

It waited for a crisis and waited for thousands of small landlords and tenants to be hurt before putting—

Interjections.

The government has said it was triple-checking the business case for tearing down and moving the Science Centre. Then it said there was no business case to release. Then it said the site could be used for other purposes.

This government is shooting from the hip. With the help of a developer, they have a plan for Ontario Place, but there’s no plan for Ontario. Who’s in charge?

I actually appreciate the question from the honourable member because it was literally a calling card for every single failed policy that brought this province to its knees under the previous Liberal government. Every single thing he talked about, actually, we had to reverse so that we could bring back thousands of jobs. The policies of the previous Liberal government created an energy crisis in the province that cost manufacturers hundreds of millions of dollars and cost homeowners. They had to make a decision between heating and eating. We saw students fleeing the province of Ontario; we saw opportunity fleeing the province of Ontario. They did literally nothing to combat our—

Interjections.

You remember. You tried to build transit but couldn’t get it done. This Premier was in office for a couple of months and built the biggest transit infrastructure program in the history of the country.

You also remember, you tried to build long-term care and you didn’t get it done, but it was this Premier who said, “We have to end hallway health care; we’re going to build 60,000 new and upgraded long-term-care beds.”

You also remember that manufacturers were leaving in droves. It was this Premier, with this economic development minister, who brought back $25 billion worth of investments in the auto sector when you were saying we had to transition to a service economy.

It was this Premier who brought back the energy sector—

Interjections.

My question is to the Minister of Health. People across Algoma–Manitoulin are struggling to access health care. My office is often hearing from individuals and families who are having to wait two, three, four or more years to be matched with a family doctor through Health Care Connect. The Ontario college of physicians reported in February that 2.2-million Ontarians are currently without a family doctor. Rural and northern communities are especially struggling to ensure residents have access to a physician and primary care.

In pre-budget consultations this year, Dr. Stephen Cooper from Manitoulin Island told this government that northern Ontario is facing a shortfall of 350 family doctors and specialists. Dr. Cooper said in his submission, “It is hard to overstate the consequences for access to care if this trend continues.”

Speaker, what is this government’s plan to stop the growing shortage of health care professionals in the north?

Dr. Chantelle Wilson from Manitoulin Island reached out to my office recently about the struggles she is facing practising in small communities on western Manitoulin. She said, “My area has not had access to a home care nurse for two weeks. Dressing changes, etc., are coming to my office, adding to my already overflowing plate. I feel that providing care to western Manitoulin, including 45 in-patients at the local nursing home, will not be sustainable in the not-so-distant future.”

Speaker, physicians are trying their best to service their communities, but without help from this government, they are burning out and are being left no choice but to close their practices.

Will this minister and this government immediately introduce measures to recruit and retain health care professionals in northern Ontario before more physicians are forced to leave?

A hundred and sixty emergency room closures in one year under this minister’s watch.

Let’s go to Chesley. In Chesley right now, if a child requires care on a Saturday, they are out of luck. Their local emergency room is now closed evenings and weekends due to staff shortages. People there are worried that this is a sign that the end is near for this hospital. The member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound said that he wants Chesley hospital to return to full service. But after 10 years on the job, it does not look good, Speaker. Would the Premier agree the people of Chesley deserve a full-time emergency room? What will the government do to keep the emergency rooms open in our province?

My question is for the Solicitor General.

People in my riding and in the province are very concerned about the safety and welfare of animals. Through media reports, we hear about situations of neglect and cruelty, such as inhumane conditions where animals are kept in cramped enclosures, and animals that are in distress because they don’t have the basics like food and water. Other circumstances where animals can be abused include the mistreatment of wildlife, and animals that are used for entertainment purposes.

Abuse, neglect and cruelty towards any animal cannot be tolerated. The people of our province expect our government to ensure that Ontario animals are protected and treated in a humane manner.

Can the Solicitor General please explain how our government is keeping animals safe in our province?

The Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

I want to thank my great friend, our colleague from Cambridge.

Many of us here in this chamber and in the galleries have pets that are part of our families. In our family, we have Hal the rabbit, who’s 10.

After years of neglect from the previous government, our government passed the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, or the PAWS Act. I want to give a special shout-out to our great member from Etobicoke–Lakeshore, who is a great champion and advocate for this. A first of its kind, the PAWS Act has established a robust, transparent and accountable organization staffed by over 100 qualified and passionate inspectors. Our animal welfare legislation has one of the most severe punishments in the country.

Mr. Speaker, over the years, our inspectors have rescued thousands of animals and levied thousands of orders and charges against abusers because people in Ontario care. With your help, we will always make Ontario a better place for our pets.

One of the really important measures that is embedded in Bill 60 and the Your Health document, which I hope the member will seriously consider supporting, because it is an as-of-right program that ensures individual clinicians who are practising in any other Canadian jurisdiction can come to Ontario and immediately start working here in Ontario, in communities. That is one very specific example where we have been able to work with the College of Nurses of Ontario to make sure that people who have trained in other jurisdictions are able to quickly get their qualifications assessed and approved if appropriate.

Another important initiative: The Minister of Colleges and Universities has really been a true leader in the learn-and-stay program, where we are able to provide tuition and cover books for students who want to practise as nurses and other critical care health care providers. We’ve had a historic number of students apply for those programs, because they want to participate.

We are making the investments, whether it is in education, whether it is in capital builds, whether it is ensuring that we have as many people as possible who wish to practise in the province of Ontario with have right and ability to do so.

I was so pleased earlier this year, through the investments of the Ministry of Finance, to be able to announce the Blind River Huron Shores Family Health Team in the northeast—of an additional $1.1 million. This will ensure that they have the ability to hire two new full-time nurse practitioners, two service workers, two new registered nurses, one RPN, one full-time physiotherapist, a system navigator—all that will support over 5,000 orphaned, unattached patients along the North Shore corridor.

These are the investments that our government is making to ensure that communities across Ontario have access to health care close to home.

Sometimes you have to take things into your own hands. On behalf of my entire corner, I’d like to wish the good member of Algoma–Manitoulin a happy 55th birthday.

It’s my pleasure to introduce this petition for the first time in Ontario’s Legislature. It’s entitled “Say No to Urban Sprawl in Waterloo Region.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario,

“Whereas the government is overriding and rewriting local official plans to move urban boundaries and violate the countryside line by opening up previously protected lands to development;

“Whereas green spaces and farmland are what we rely on to grow our food, support natural habitats, prevent flooding, and mitigate future climate incidents;

“Whereas the government’s Housing Affordability Task Force found there are plenty of places to build homes without destroying the greenbelt, and a recent report from the Alliance for a Liveable Ontario says Waterloo region has the capacity to build 230,000 new housing units within the current area boundary;

“Whereas there is a lack of comprehensive research or analysis on the aquifer in Waterloo region and how unanticipated” growth and “sprawl will affect source water protection;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately stop all plans to force sprawl in Waterloo region by reversing the recently announced changes to the regional official plan amendment.”

It is my pleasure to present this petition. I fully support it, will affix my signature and give it to page Maya.

This petition is submitted by the Ryerson Community School, the school where I first taught as a teacher back in 1989.

“Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from the Elementary Teachers of Toronto to Stop the Cuts and Invest in the Schools our Students Deserve.

“Whereas the Ford government cut funding to our schools by $800 per student during the pandemic period, and plans to cut an additional $6 billion to our schools over the next six years;

“Whereas these massive cuts have resulted in larger class sizes, reduced special education and mental health supports and resources for our students, and neglected and unsafe buildings;

“Whereas the Financial Accountability Office reported a $2.1-billion surplus in 2021-22, and surpluses growing to $8.5 billion in 2027-28, demonstrating there is more than enough money to fund a robust public education system;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to:

“—immediately reverse the cuts to our schools;

“—fix the inadequate education funding formula;

“—provide schools the funding to ensure the supports necessary to address the impacts of the pandemic on our students;

“—make the needed investments to provide smaller class sizes, increased levels of staffing to support our students’ special education, mental health, English language learner and wraparound supports needs, and safe and healthy buildings and classrooms.”

I fully support this petition, will affix my signature and pass it to page Dominic to take to the table.