Wait times for breast cancer surgeries in Ottawa have stretched so long that women have been driving to Quebec and paying out of pocket just to get surgery. And now, last week, we learned from the Ottawa Citizen that one of the Ottawa Hospital’s breast cancer surgeons was getting only two hours of operating time a month.

Why is this government pushing ahead with its privatization agenda when publicly funded operating rooms have been sitting unused while surgeons and patients have desperately needed access?

Interjections.

Members will please take their seats.

Member for Eglinton–Lawrence.

The Premier.

My question is to the Attorney General. The Ombudsman’s investigation into delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board was a damning indictment of this government’s failure to provide justice to tenants and landlords. The Conservatives have had five years to fix the Landlord and Tenant Board, yet this report shows that the government has made the problem worse. Delays at the LTB have increased, and the number of people waiting for hearings has doubled to 38,000 people.

This government has accepted all the Ombudsman’s 61 recommendations to fix the LTB. When do you plan to implement those recommendations?

The Landlord and Tenant Board is a mess. Tenants are waiting up to two years to get their landlords to do basic repairs, stop harassing them, to deal with vermin. Landlords are waiting for months—if not years—just for a hearing while they lose on rent or lose their homes because they cannot keep up with their mortgages. This system isn’t working for anybody, and they have had five years to fix that.

Speaker, my question is, can this government actually commit to making those changes that the Ombudsman has recommended? Because Ontarians deserve a Landlord and Tenant Board that actually is working right now for Ontarians.

I appreciate the opportunity to address the Ombudsman’s report, which is well received.

I’ll remind the member opposite that the Landlord and Tenant Board—the data that he is using was from a previous moment in time. But let me tell you this, and I’m going to quote the Ombudsman, where he says that a factor was the transition of government in 2018. The Landlord and Tenant Board should not have been in that precarious a situation before the 2018 election. So it was a mess when we got it.

What he’s recommending is that we add more adjudicators. Well, we’re doubling the number of adjudicators. That is done. The NDP did not support us.

The Ombudsman says we should add more resources to the back office staff. Well, when we brought that forward, the NDP opposed it. We did it anyway.

We are fixing the Landlord and Tenant Board for all Ontarians, and I wish the NDP would support us on one of the many things that the Ombudsman has highlighted that we’re already doing.

But let me be clear, Mr. Speaker: The member is asking, will we do the things the Ombudsman is saying we should do? Well, we’ve already done most of the things that he’s told us to do. We’ve doubled the number of adjudicators. We’ve supported back office staff. He said technology was failing when this government came to power. Well, this government spent $28.5 million on a new state-of-the-art system. It’s working very well, and they opposed it.

I want to thank the member from Newmarket–Aurora for her exceptional work in promoting health in the classroom. I’d be remiss to also give a message of gratitude, I think on behalf of all parliamentarians, to the member from Burlington for her leadership in this House, in this province and country, advancing mental health literacy for the next generation. We are inspired through her work, and because of her motion, we’re standing today proudly to advance the cause of mental health literacy, mandating it across the curriculum, including strengthening it in grades 7 and 8 for our teachers and for our students, as well as mandatory learning in grade 10. Connecting it with the real-life skills, young people can now use part of this curriculum in grade 10 careers as they start to give thought to higher learning post-secondary, skilled trades learning and to come up with a useful tool kit of ways by which they can manage stress and angst in their life.

Speaker, I also want to affirm that part of this announcement is the expansion of funding. Under our Premier’s leadership, we’ve increased funding by 550%, a positive step forward as we help to ensure the success and the health of children—

When you compare the former Liberal government peak of spending in mental health in schools, we were around $18 million per year. Today, under our government’s leadership, we’ve increased funding to $114 million, a 550% increase in mental health. I accept fully that we have to keep going, keep investing, keep lifting standards and keep supporting these kids, because demands are rising—the member is absolutely right.

As part of the announcement we made last week, and thanks to the leadership of the member from Burlington, we are going to be funding summer learning to create an annualized experience, access 12 months a year. The system wasn’t designed for kids. Kids would have access to a psychologist, a psychotherapist till June and then have to pivot to community in the summer. We’re going to expand capacity this year, add $14 million next year and $16 million the year after to ensure kids have dependable access to mental health in every community across Ontario.

For the Premier: Bill 60 is reckless, incomplete and poorly conceived. It ignores the root causes of the problems in our health care system and fails to prioritize patient health over private wealth. Bill 60 could have been salvaged, but of 45 amendments I proposed, all were thrown out. When the government was asked to ensure that the bill allow Indigenous consultation, they said no. When they were asked to establish conflict-of-interest rules for directors who issue licences, they said no. They said no to protections against upselling, up-charging, profiteering and cycling of health workers out of the public hospitals.

Ontarians are outraged. I know this. I know government members are hearing it from their constituents, because when their constituents don’t hear back from them, they reach out to me instead.

So to every government member: Who will have the courage to listen to the people of Ontario and vote against Bill 60?

And to the Premier: Since this government isn’t serving the interests of Ontarians, whose interest is it actually serving?

Thank you. Supplementary question?

Thank you to the member opposite for the question. Although, I have to say, I get back to all my constituents—I know my colleagues do the same thing—and I haven’t really heard what you’re suggesting.

In fact, Bill 60 actually expands oversight and patient protections, when it comes to Your Health. As you know, we’ve had 800 community clinics operating in Ontario for many, many years. Bill 60 brings them into the health care system and integrates them with all of the other parts of the health care system, which will enable more of that oversight.

But lots of things in there also protect people from the kinds of things you’re suggesting, like upselling. You now have to post any uninsured charges both online and in person. Every surgical and diagnostic centre must have a process for receiving and responding to patient complaints. Patients cannot be denied access to treatment if they don’t purchase uninsured services. We’re expanding the oversight of the Patient Ombudsman to include integrated community health services.

These safeguards are in place to ensure that no one has to pay—

Thank you. And the supplementary question.

I’d like to thank the member from Carleton for her question. This government has been given a strong mandate to ensure that Ontarians have access to safe and secure housing. We’re taking action to deliver on our mandate by encouraging innovative approaches to home ownership and housing supply, including tiny homes, second units and laneway suites.

We regularly update our building code to take advantage of technological advances, innovative new solutions and expert research, all while reducing red tape and making it easier and faster to build new homes. Through our Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, we are also proposing to continue streamlining developments and approvals while making it easier to train and recruit building inspectors.

Our government is committed to keeping Ontarians safe while also laying a solid foundation to address Ontario’s housing supply crisis over the long term.

My question is to the Premier. Speaker, on her 83rd birthday, Christel received a misleading, intimidating letter from her building management, claiming she’s being evicted. Another resident, Julie, a 72-year-old widow, fears becoming homeless by renoviction.

Conservative and Liberal governments ignored renters for years and instead bow to greedy corporate landlords, changing laws to let them pad their pockets while people become homeless. Will this government stand up for seniors, stand up for renters and stand up for people at risk of homelessness by ending vacancy decontrol, yes or no?

Speaker, last week I received an influx of emails and calls from residents at 1270 and 1280 Webster Street, many of them vulnerable seniors and people on social assistance. After a recent purchase, one third of tenants of the building were receiving N13 notices and facing evictions. Many others are waiting to hear when their necks are on the chopping block.

It is clear that the paltry protections in Bill 97 offer very little improvement to a very big problem. The Ombudsman report’s message was clear: The Landlord and Tenant Board isn’t working for anyone.

Can the Premier please tell me and all the tenants at Webster Apartments when he will take real action to protect tenants from renovictions? And will he commit to passing our NDP Bill 58, Protecting Renters from Illegal Evictions and Bill 25, Rent Stabilization Act? Will he do that and give a darn?

Speaker, through you to the member for Carleton: She just does such a fantastic job advocating for her constituents. It’s great that she was able to recognize some of her staff here today.

We’re proud, as a government, that we’ve declared May as Building Safety Month. I really want members to take the opportunity to recognize the critical role that Ontario’s building officials play in public health and safety, while at the same time tackling our housing supply problem.

I’d also like to again thank and acknowledge the members of the Ontario Building Officials Association who are joining us today in the Legislature. I want to thank you for your incredible work in Ontario’s 444 municipalities and I want to encourage everyone to reach out to their building departments and promote Building Safety Month. It’s so important.

I want to thank the member for Carleton again for the question and bringing it up.

We responded directly from the Ombudsman report—

Interjections.

Under their government, they created 800 diagnostic centres, which I agree with. Just imagine if we took the diagnostic centres out of Ontario—you talk about a backlog. We need to add to that. And I find it very ironic, coming from the member from Don Valley East. His own colleagues at the Ontario Medical Association endorsed it. The Ontario Hospital Association endorsed it. So I think you’re way off on this.

We need more opportunities, convenient care closer to home so that you can actually walk in the clinic down the street and actually get an MRI, rather than waiting God knows how long—months and months. We’re going to shorten the list; we’re going to give people the care they need in a rapid fashion.

That’s not what stakeholder after stakeholder after stakeholder said during public hearings. What this bill actually allows is the simplest surgeries to be done for the highest price. They will be funded by our tax dollars—and it is the shareholders who will be laughing all the way to the bank. Meanwhile, patients will be left with lighter wallets since this government refused to put protections against upselling and up-charging in place. They refused. I find that strange, when the Premier insists patients will never pay with their credit card even though they already are.

So the bottom line is, this government isn’t about protecting patients; they aren’t about protecting our public health care system. All they are doing is protecting shareholders. They’re letting private for-profit companies have unfettered access to the demand that exists in our health care system.

So, Mr. Speaker, why won’t the Premier recognize the need to clear the surgical backlog and protect patients, as well as our public health care system, at the same time?

My question is for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The lack of housing supply in Ontario has reached alarming levels, with home prices and rents in many areas being among the highest in Canada, including in my riding of Carleton and across Ottawa. Our government was given a strong mandate by the people of Ontario to address the housing shortage and our government must meet our goal of building more homes by 2031 so that people across our province can find housing that meets their needs and budget. As we work towards delivering on our commitment, the people of Ontario expect that these homes and buildings are safe and accessible.

So, Mr. Speaker, through you, can the minister please explain what measures our government is taking to ensure the quality of construction so that Ontarians can access safe and secure homes they deserve?

Changes introduced by our government to Ontario’s building code are crucial in addressing the important issues of safety, reducing barriers and helping to speed up construction. At a time when so many hard-working Ontarians are priced out of the housing market, our government must be responsible to ensure that we are doing everything we can to address our province’s critically low housing supply and to ensure that Ontarians are kept safe.

So through you, Mr. Speaker, can the associate minister please expand on what actions our government is taking to address the housing supply crisis?

My question is to the Premier. Premier, Grace is 13 years old. She was told last March that the only treatment option for her severe scoliosis is surgery. After 14 months of waiting, she still hasn’t even received a surgery date. Grace has 76% curvature to her spine and it’s getting worse. Her father, Andrew, is in the gallery today. After being told by the surgical board at SickKids that he should contact the Ministry of Health, the ministry told Andrew to contact me.

When is this Conservative government going to take responsibility for the suffering that children like Grace are enduring because of surgical backlogs?

Interjections.

What will the Premier do to make sure that young people like Grace, for whom this age is so formative, do not have to wait indefinitely to live their lives free of pain, stress and isolation?

Thank you so much to the member for the question. It was such a pleasure to visit Thunder Bay with my colleagues last week. While we were in Thunder Bay, we announced the Internet service providers that will be building 14 high-speed Internet projects, an investment of $8.4 million through the province of Ontario’s ICON program, which was actually the very first application-based program created by my colleague the MPP from Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock. This $8.4 million will go a long way, as it will connect 11,000 businesses and homes in northern Ontario to high-speed Internet.

It was such a pleasure to speak with municipalities as well as residents in Thunder Bay about the importance of getting that work done as quickly as possible and making sure that no one is left behind.

Why this is so important is, we’re investing in over 200 projects currently today—$2.3 billion. We want every single resident to be able to access that information online and see when the project starts, how much funding is being committed to it and which technology will be used. Again, we will not leave anyone behind.

Thank you to the member opposite for the question. As I said the last time she raised an issue like this on the floor of the House, I would be happy to meet with her afterward and with Andrew to discuss the situation and see what we can do to help.

But this government has invested almost $1 billion in the surgical backlog and recovering from the surgical backlog—we are now back to pre-pandemic levels, so the number of people waiting now is about the same as what existed pre-pandemic. The issue is it isn’t good enough, and this government knows that. That is why we have brought forward Bill 60 to make sure that hospitals can focus on the care. Hospitals are the only ones that can do this kind of care. The simple procedures can be done in community clinics, where they can be done more quickly in a timely and convenient way for everybody. Vote for Bill 60 so that we can help people.

If you would support Bill 60, we might see some progress here in Ontario on reducing the backlog, so please vote with us today to support Bill 60 to make sure that care is timely and convenient for all Ontarians.