Nipissing.

I’d like to welcome, from the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies: Nicole Bonnie, Ashleigh Egerton, Sean McGrady, and Samuel Ashirbekov.

Welcome to the House.

My question is to the Attorney General.

The Ombudsman’s damning report called out the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board’s failure to provide justice to thousands of Ontarians.

The Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario has been sounding the alarm for years that tenants have been struggling to participate in the LTB’s online hearing process.

We read in the Ombudsman’s report about a woman who waited 10 months for a hearing, only to have trouble logging on on the day, and as a result, her case was dismissed and her access to justice was denied.

To ensure everyone gets a fair hearing, experts are calling for in-person hearings to be easily available to people who request them. Can this government implement that recommendation?

This is how out of touch this government is. If they actually got out of the backrooms and talked to the people on the front line—the nurses, the health care workers—they’d know the mess that they have created already in health care staffing.

Ontario’s nurses have been chronically overworked, underpaid and undermined by this Conservative government, and now nurses are currently without a contract. This week, we’re going to be tabling petitions with thousands of signatures calling on this government to present a fair and meaningful offer to their negotiations.

Speaker, to the Premier: Will his government give Ontario’s nurses a contract that shows how much we value them?

Speaker, that response does not give me a lot of hope, because while this government says one thing in this House, they say quite another thing to Ontario’s nurses. And their actions speak louder than their words.

This government continues to take our nurses to court. It’s a fact. They’re fighting with them and with other public sector workers over their unconstitutional wage restraint law.

Speaker, to the Premier: Will he celebrate National Nursing Week by ending his campaign to take Ontario’s nurses to court?

I was in Thunder Bay last week, and like many communities across the north, they’re worried that the local hospitals that they proudly support and rely on are going to be closing their doors as staff are forced out by low wages and private sector competition in the south.

Speaker, to the Premier: Why is this government putting private profits ahead of the needs of patients in the north?

As these for-profit corporate clinics set up shop in more lucrative urban locations, it’s going to be even harder or even impossible for smaller rural hospitals to recruit and retain the staff they need. That is what we are hearing from the front lines. You should listen to them.

Northern and First Nations communities know that this government’s plan to replace community-based care with private, for-profit clinics is going to make their access to health care even worse.

Speaker, to the Premier: Why are you making it even harder for people in the north to get the care they need?

Let me introduce a concept to you: highway health care. Highway health care is what happens when this government forces northerners to travel long distances, sometimes thousands of kilometres, away from their families to receive the health care that they need. The Northern Health Travel Grant Program gives them $100 for a hotel. Well, good luck finding anything for that price anywhere. And worrying about that when you’re sick? Just great.

To the Premier: If he’s focused on destroying our health care system and more northerners are going to have to travel even further to get the care they need, will he at least enhance these supports?

The supplementary question.

There is no doubt that we on this side of the House understand the very valuable, important role that nurses play in our health care system, which is, frankly, exactly why at the beginning of the pandemic we initiated a Learn and Stay program under the leadership of the college of nurses ministry. It allows nurses who want to practise in the province of Ontario and train in the province of Ontario to have their tuition and their books covered if they are willing to practise in an underserviced area for two years after graduation. What did that one program do? It ensured that we had the highest number of students applying for those programs.

There are many, many people who want to practise in their communities in health care, and we’re going to enable that through our legislation.

In our ability to ensure that whether it is new nurses being trained, internationally educated nurses who want to come to Ontario—we are doing the work here.

What are we doing through Bill 60? We are ensuring that your constituents who are waiting in line, who are waiting for scheduled surgeries, have the opportunity to get that faster. We did it at the beginning of the year by announcing three expanded cataract surgeries in Windsor, in Kitchener-Waterloo and in Ottawa. That means that people are back with their families, back on the job, back in community, where they want to be. They don’t want to be on a wait-list. And we’re expanding because we want to make sure that your constituents have the ability to get access to the health care they deserve in community faster.

The other part is actually building out the health human resources so that, as an example, because of the passage of Bill 60, we have as-of-right in the province of Ontario—the first Canadian jurisdiction to do so—which means that a physician practising in British Columbia today can start working in Ontario tomorrow. We want to eliminate the barriers, eliminate the red tape to make sure that individuals who want to come here, who want to practise, who want to be in our world-class medical facilities, have that ability without the many, many red tape barriers that we’ve seen in the past.

That is what Bill 60 is about. It is about challenging the status quo, ensuring we’re engaging in innovation that is happening across Ontario. We’re empowering hospitals to do that.

The supplementary question? The member for Toronto Centre.

I remind members to make their comments through the Chair.

The Attorney General.

My question is for the Minister of Transportation.

Like many communities across Ontario, the city of Brampton is rapidly growing. Every day, new families are calling Brampton home, and along with this rapid growth comes the need to build new transportation networks.

For 15 years, the previous Liberal government stuck with the status quo and ignored Brampton’s growing transportation needs. Rather than making urgently needed investments into large-scale transportation infrastructure, the Liberals were more focused on building bike lanes—it’s true; you did that.

The people of Brampton, the region of Peel and the surrounding communities are counting on our government to make the critical transportation investments and upgrades to keep Ontario moving.

Speaker, could the minister please explain how our government is expanding public transportation networks in my community and beyond?

Speaking from experience—I take the Kitchener line most days; I took it this morning—those trains are packed. What a great investment by this government in the Kitchener line. And it’s great to learn about the upgrades at the Bramalea GO station. These improvements will make travel more convenient for individuals and families who rely on this very busy GO line.

The previous Liberal government failed to plan ahead for the growth in transportation needs of Brampton. Even now, Liberals and NDP are out of touch with reality and they take every opportunity to oppose the transportation solutions that Brampton needs, including Highway 413. I guess they didn’t learn their lesson from the last election. As a result, many residents and commuters are delayed every day with the endless traffic congestion and gridlock, which causes frustration, but it’s also a threat to our province’s economic prosperity.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is addressing the urgent transportation needs in Brampton and—

With the greatest of respect, the member opposite is dismissing the fact that we’ve actually worked with the Ontario Medical Association to make sure that there are appropriate billing codes for our primary care practitioners who are treating and assisting individuals with long COVID. It is an important piece to make sure that individuals with long COVID are not left abandoned by our health care system—which is not going to happen under this government. To suggest that this is a dismissive and not important piece to ensure that individuals who are suffering with long COVID have the support that they need in the province of Ontario, I think, shows a great deal of disrespect to those individuals.

There is excellent work happening, in our research hospital facilities as well as at our universities, to study and assess the impacts of long COVID. As we develop and see how those outcomes continue, we will be there, as we have been through the entire pandemic, to make sure that they have the resources to continue to serve these important long COVID patients.

Ma question est pour la ministre de la Santé.

Last week, the Canadian press received access-to-freedom-of-information documents from the Minister of Health that said Ontario’s lack of a long COVID strategy has led to “fragmented” clinics that offer little to no support to patients. The health ministry’s strategic policy branch wrote: “Ontario does not have a coordinated approach to care for patients with a post-COVID-19 condition.”

My question to the minister: Aside from billing codes—can the Minister of Health tell the 750,000 Ontarians living with long COVID where they can access the care they so desperately need?

Again, I quote from a briefing that the minister received: “While some providers are responding to the immediate demand for post-COVID care, these offerings are insufficient, fragmented and unsustainable without dedicated funding. This model is not sustainable and could result in little to no support for Ontarians with” post-COVID needs, the briefing warned the minister.

These clinics are currently at risk of closure due to the lack of funding. The minister’s briefing documents said, and everybody agrees, that a provincially coordinated approach would be most effective.

Minister, where is the dedicated funding for a provincially coordinated approach to care for the 750,000 Ontarians with long COVID, like BC, Alberta and Quebec are already funding?

There has only been less than 1% of actual hearings that were actually in person.

My question is to the Premier, on the same specific issue.

The Ombudsman’s scathing report included many heartbreaking stories.

A tenant’s home was so unsafe that it made her ill, so in December 2020, she then applied to the LTB. Her case was then heard only 16 months later, after she already made the difficult decision to leave the home that she could afford.

This all happened under this government’s watch—where the caseload blew up from 20,000 and in 2022 to 38,000.

You can’t blame the Liberals for everything. They broke it, but you made it worse. There’s still no relief in sight.

When will the government actually own up to their failures and table a detailed report with timelines to clear the historically high backlog of the LTB?

Interjections.

I appreciate the report from the Ombudsman. One of the things that he did say was that when we took government in 2018, the previous government, supported by the NDP—and I’m paraphrasing what the Ombudsman said, of course. He said that the technology was redundant, that it was broken.

We have invested $28.5 million in cutting-edge systems so that people can access justice.

In terms of in-person hearings, people can request in-person help. They can go to locations in London, Ottawa, Toronto, and other spaces.

We also have a mobile service to help people who don’t have the technology.

So we are doing things to make sure that we’re doing digital-first but not digital-only.

I look forward to the supplementary question, when I’ll talk about some of the other investments that we’ve made.

Let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, what the NDP have done. They’ve said: “Have hearings.” “Don’t have hearings.” “Have them in person.” “Have them quick.” I think I’m going to start calling it the party of turnstile.

Thanks to the member from Peterborough, and congratulations to his Petes on advancing to the OHL final against the London Knights.

Since day one, our government has been working hard to make sure that life is more affordable for the people of Ontario, particularly on the energy file.

That’s why, last fall, I was pleased to announce $4.5 million for the Clean Home Heating Initiative, where members of his community in Peterborough; members in London, home of the Knights; members in St. Catharines, home of the IceDogs; and members in Sault Ste. Marie, home of the Greyhounds, can apply to get a hybrid home heating system. Just last week, I was pleased to join the Attorney General and the member from Barrie–Innisfil in Barrie—home of the Colts—to announce that our government is bringing that investment up to a total of $8.2 million, so that we can offer this additional program to another 500 homes across the city.

This is great news for energy bills, but it’s also great news for the environment.

Our government is excited to provide this opportunity to more communities and more homeowners across the province to lower not just their home energy bills, but also do their part for the environment and reduce emissions. The Clean Home Heating Initiative is going to allow most households to leverage Ontario’s world-class green energy, clean energy grid that we have to both heat and cool their homes with a hybrid heat pump that switches between electricity and natural gas. Switching to hybrid home heating could save them about $300 a year on their energy bills. That’s a significant amount. They would also be cutting their emissions by a third, which is great news for the environment.

We know that people across the province want to have more choice, and we’ve been providing that. People across the province want to have more control over their monthly costs, especially on their energy bills, and I’m proud to say that the Ontario government is delivering on that.

Speaker, through to you the member: The city of Ottawa staff contacted our municipal service office yesterday regarding the spring flooding and requested that a Provincial Disaster Assessment Team be deployed to assess the impact. City staff noted to our ministry that the damage is localized, but it’s significant in some of the neighbourhoods around the Ottawa River. According to municipal staff, they’ve requested that the PDAT team come up. A meeting is scheduled with the city tomorrow.

As all members know, in the spring, there are going to be situations like we’re experiencing in Whitewater, in the member for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke’s riding. My ministry office is available in all regions of the province to reach out when a provincial disaster team is required.

My question is for the Premier.

Climate change is beginning to have a real and measurable impact on how we live our lives.

In 2017, the city of Ottawa and communities along the Ottawa River were hit with flooding events that had not been seen in 50 years. Hundreds of residents were impacted, including in east Ottawa. Many lost their homes. In 2019, record levels of water returned, and this time only worse. Thousands of residents across the region were affected. The city declared a state of emergency, and the army had to be called in to protect critical infrastructure like water treatment facilities, and neighbourhoods.

After a few years of reprieve, generational flooding has returned to Ottawa. If not for the most recent events, this year would also be the worst flooding in 50 years.

Three generational floods in seven years—homeowners are tired, volunteers are burnt out, and this can’t keep on happening.

What actions is this government going to take to understand exactly what is happening, and, more importantly, what are they going to do to stop it and protect residents from its impacts?

My question is to the Premier.

The Conservative government’s Bill 124 was ruled unconstitutional by the court. Health care workers, the unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers and the general public know that Bill 124 is not only unconstitutional, but it is disrespectful and it specifically targets women-led professions like nursing. Nurses in Windsor-Essex are leaving my community and going to work in Detroit, Michigan, where they are better paid and more respected. Bill 124 continues to push more Canadian nurses to leave Ontario for work.

Speaker, it’s National Nursing Week, and nurses want to know why the Premier is targeting them and other women-led professions by suppressing their wages and appealing the Bill 124 court ruling.

The Premier posted a video for National Nursing Week, and he said, “Nurses are the foundation of our health care system, and I encourage everyone to take time this Nursing Week to thank our wonderful nurses for everything they do.”

To celebrate National Nursing Week, will the Premier stop fighting nurses in court and will he prove his proclaimed gratitude for them by repealing Bill 124 today—or is he just full of it?

Supplementary.

I have a question for the Minister of Energy.

I know that individuals and families in my community, along with people across Ontario, are looking for relief on their home energy costs. While natural gas rates are gradually coming down, the costs remain high, and people are still feeling the financial impact that global economic instability is causing to everyone.

When our government was first elected in 2018, we made a commitment to make life more affordable for Ontario’s families. We must make every effort to deliver on our commitment by providing more ways for Ontarians to take control of their energy bills and encourage energy conservation.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what actions our government is taking to make home heating more affordable and cleaner?

It’s encouraging to hear that our government has introduced yet another way for consumers to keep costs down, save money and take control of their energy bills.

While this is positive news, many individuals and families across our province are struggling with energy costs because of ongoing global economic instability. Our government must show respect for the people of Ontario by continuing to implement programs that offer choices and will help reduce the costs.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how the people of Ontario can benefit from the Clean Home Heating Initiative?

Thank you to the member for that question.

I would like to wish all nurses a happy Nursing Week.

I was actually at Centennial College yesterday and met with a class. It was their first day of nursing, so congratulations to all those new students who are entering the profession.

We’re seeing a record number of students entering into the nursing field because of some of the incentives that we’re offering, like the new Learn and Stay program, which the Minister of Health was acknowledging early on. This is 2,500 students who will have the opportunity for free tuition, to enter into the nursing profession, paramedic, lab tech—all their education covered, with a commitment to stay in their communities for two years.

Another interesting incentive we’re offering is the Community Commitment Program for Nurses, which was launched in June 2022 at selected hospitals in Ontario to address nursing shortages. In fact, in about 10 months, Windsor Regional Hospital has signed up over 200 nurses in this program. This program offers qualified nursing staff $25,000 to sign up and then serve at least two years in a designated community.

I have a quote from the CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital: “It has been hugely successful.”

“‘These government programs have really benefited us with recruiting,’ said Karen Riddell, Windsor Regional Hospital’s chief operating officer and chief nursing executive.

“‘We have another 111 graduates starting this summer. That’s a significant number.

“‘As the province expands these HR strategies, these are really important to maintaining our workforce.’”

That was from Karen Riddell of Windsor Regional Hospital in your riding.