Point of order: the Minister of Labour.

Point of order.

Today, people are marking this holiday in Ukraine, across Ontario and around the world, still under the cloud of Putin’s war of aggression. This year, we celebrate not only the many contributions that Ukrainians here in Canada have made to our province and our country but also that Ukrainian culture remains strong despite all attempts to destroy it.

Speaker, this Vyshyvanka Day, Putin continues his efforts to destroy Ukraine. He means not merely to conquer but to wipe out their identity and erase their history. He will succeed in neither. Ukraine is resisting his illegal invasion with unflagging courage and tireless endurance.

As Ukraine bravely re-establishes control of their land, we are learning the full extent of Russian atrocities: the torture facilities, the mass graves and the atrocities of Putin’s war. We can’t look away. This is the face of the Russian occupation: towns and cities turned into mass graves. There must be justice. As President Zelenskyy said, “Putin seeks to destroy our future, to destroy our nation, our character.” This is why Ukraine must fight and why we must stand with them.

Many of us were surprised and all of us are impressed by the astounding bravery of Ukraine’s resistance. The Ukrainian military and the Ukrainian people rallied behind President Zelenskyy. They defended their capital and drove the Russian army back from Kyiv and continue to push them back on multiple fronts. The struggle to free their homeland continues.

Canada and our friends and allies around the world have rallied to support Ukraine and to impose strong sanctions on Russia, Russian companies and Russian officials responsible for the illegal invasion. Ukrainians have been provided with weapons, ammunition and other much-needed support.

Vehicles proudly manufactured here in Ontario are on the front lines. We’ve seen Ontario-based businesses stepping up with plans to deliver 1,000 armoured vehicles to Ukraine this year alone. Our province’s manufacturing might and expertise is supporting Ukraine’s defence, but it’s the Ukrainians who fight, and they are defending freedom and democracy for all of us.

Speaker, many Ukrainians have had to flee Putin’s war of aggression, which has now displaced over eight million refugees. Ontario has become the refuge for more of those fleeing the invasion than any other province in the country. We have now welcomed over 56,000 displaced Ukrainians with open arms, and Ontario will continue to work in partnership with the federal government, across our government, businesses, unions, faith organizations, municipalities and other community groups, to ensure those coming here to Ontario have access to the supports they need to start a new life and a safe life here.

Under the leadership of our Premier, we’re doing everything we can to help those fleeing the war and arriving at our door, whether temporarily or to make Ontario their new home. Last spring, we announced supports including a dedicated job search hotline, access to health care, emergency income assistance, free kindergarten-to-grade 12 education, child care and more.

Our ministry has also provided $4.4 million to help new arrivals with language services, housing supports, employment services and mental health supports. These supports are helping to make sure Ukrainians arriving here in Ontario have access to the programs and services they need to start a new life here. Not only our government, but community organizations, employers, labour partners and people right across Ontario have come together to support those fleeing the invasion.

Ontario stands proudly with the people of Ukraine, and we’ll continue to stand with the people of Ukraine. Canada is home to over 1.3 million Ukrainians, the third-largest Ukrainian population in the entire world. Our countries are bound by the ties of friendship and family, bonds that unify all of us. We will help those who come to our shores to find sanctuary and rebuild their lives, and we stand by those who fight to free Ukraine from Putin’s illegal invasion, to restore their freedom and sovereignty. If he thinks he can erase an independent Ukrainian nation and a free Ukrainian people, we have seen that they will never, ever permit that to happen.

Ukraine must and will prevail. Glory to Ukraine. Slava Ukraini.

On behalf of the official opposition, I would like to respond to the minister’s statement regarding the act that was just introduced regarding the dissolution of the regional municipality of Peel. On behalf of the official opposition, as always, we will carefully study the act and vote on behalf of the residents of Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga. Our main focus will be on the shared infrastructure that they now share and the tax burdens of the various municipalities.

We look forward to studying the bill. I’m looking forward to working with the residents of that area to further their interests and the interests of Ontario.

I present a petition similarly related to the closure of the Chesley hospital.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Chesley and District Memorial Hospital, originally donated to the town with funds provided by the local Kinsmen Club, was dedicated as a tribute to those local residents injured or killed during the Second World War. This hospital has served the needs of the community of Arran-Elderslie for 79 years with strong support at all times from the residents of the town and other communities in the area as well as from the county and local municipal government;

“Whereas three times—in 1976, 1978 and 1992—provincial governments have attempted to close the doors of this hospital. In each case, local residents protested these moves and each time through their efforts the government backed down and the hospital was saved. Now, with the current cancellation and/or reduction of ER services, there is yet another threat to the continued existence of our hospital;

“Whereas the ER in Chesley hospital serves an area with a total population of 6,900 people. It delivers emergency medical care for the whole constituency of Arran-Elderslie township including the towns of Chesley, Tara, Paisley and Dobbinton. It also provides services for those living in the nearby villages of Desboro and Elmwood and in the former townships of Brant, Sullivan and Bentinck. A large number of the residents are seniors and the area also includes a large population of Amish and Mennonite families. Many of these residents do not have access to a private automobile and are disadvantaged in the effort to reach health centres in large communities by the long distance and lack of a public transportation system. They require close proximity to ER and hospital services and that proximity is best served by the Chesley hospital;

“Whereas the physician recruitment committee has advised that without a fully functioning ER, it is difficult to recruit and retain doctors and nurses who are interested in maintaining and increasing their skills and who are dependent upon ER duties to support or supplement their income;

“Whereas Arran-Elderslie council sent a letter addressed to the Premier and the Minister of Health dated October 31, 2022, requesting action to address this situation, and that letter remains unacknowledged and unanswered at this time;

“Therefore we, the undersigned citizens of Arran-Elderslie and surrounding community, call on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to keep our emergency department at the Chesley hospital open 24/7 by ensuring sufficient funding and fair compensation for nurses and physicians and to address the ongoing operational and labour issues that are impacting our vital emergency department service.”

I agree with this petition, affix my signature and hand it to page Sophie.

This is a petition regarding the Chesley and District Memorial Hospital, and there are 1,262 signatures.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Chesley and District Memorial Hospital, originally donated to the town with funds provided by the local Kinsmen Club, was dedicated as a tribute to those local residents injured or killed during the Second World War. This hospital has served the needs of the community of Arran-Elderslie for 79 years with strong support at all times from the residents of the town and other communities in the area as well as from the county and local municipal government; and

“Whereas three times—in 1976, 1978 and 1992—provincial governments have attempted to close the doors of this hospital. In each case local residents protested these moves and each time through their efforts the government backed down and the hospital was saved. Now with the current cancellation and/or reduction of ER services, there is yet another threat to the continued existence of our hospital; and

“Whereas the ER in Chesley hospital serves an area with a total population of 6,900 people. It delivers emergency medical care for the whole constituency of Arran-Elderslie township including the towns of Chesley, Tara, Paisley, and Dobbinton. It also provides services for those living in the nearby villages of Desboro and Elmwood and in the former townships of Brant, Sullivan and Bentinck. A large number of the residents are seniors and the area also includes a large population of Amish and Mennonite families. Many of these residents do not have access to a private automobile and are disadvantaged in the effort to reach health centres in larger communities by the long distance and lack of a public transportation system. They require close proximity to ER and hospital services and that proximity is best provided by the Chesley hospital; and

“Whereas the physician recruitment committee has advised that without a fully functioning ER, it is difficult to recruit and retain doctors and nurses who are interested in maintaining and increasing their skills and who are dependent upon ER duties to support or supplement their income; and

“Whereas Arran-Elderslie council sent a letter addressed to” the “Premier ... and the Minister of Health dated October 31, 2022, requesting action to address this situation and that letter remains unacknowledged and unanswered at this time;

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

“To keep our emergency department at the Chesley hospital open 24/7, by ensuring sufficient funding and fair compensation for nurses and physicians and to address the ongoing operational and labour issues that are impacting our vital emergency department service.”

I fully support this petition, Speaker, and will affix my signature and give it to page Kate.

You affix your signature.

I would like to submit a petition that was submitted to me by Dr. Sally Palmer from the School of Social Work at McMaster University, titled “To Raise Social Assistance Rates.” It reads as follows:

“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:” which is “$733 for individuals on OW and $1,227 for” people on “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 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.”

And I forgot the next step of this submission—

I’d like to present the following petition:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the basics of reading, writing, and mathematics are fundamental for student achievement; and too many school boards are jeopardizing student achievement by straying away from teaching the basics of reading, writing, and mathematics; and parents are being bullied and denied representation at school board meetings, and trustees are being bullied by other trustees;

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

“That the Legislative Assembly of Ontario authorize the Minister of Education to set provincial priorities in education in the area of student achievement, and authorize the Minister of Education to issue policies and guidelines setting out the training to be completed by board members, directors of education, supervisory officers and superintendents, and require boards to adopt codes of conduct that apply to members of the board.”

I fully support this petition, will affix my signature and provide it to page Leonard to bring.

My petition is to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

“Whereas the Haliburton Highlands Health Services corp. board of directors has, without consultation with the affected stakeholders, announced the permanent closure of the emergency department located in the municipality of Minden Hills, Ontario, effective June 1, 2023; and

“Whereas on April 21, 2023, Global News reported and quoted the mayor of Minden Hills township, that ‘there was absolutely no prior consultation with the county or township staff or elected officials’ relating to the closure announcement and that ‘this critical issue was decided by a virtually unelected board acting on its own and shrouded by secrecy’”; and

“Whereas Haliburton Highlands Health Services Corp. amended and restated bylaws, as amended July 16, 2020, under the heading ‘preamble’ in the recitals states that ’it is the intent of the Haliburton Highlands Health Services corp. to serve the population within the catchment area’; and

“Whereas the catchment area is defined within the HHHS bylaws to mean ‘the geographic area served by the corporation including the county of Haliburton and bordering townships,’ which, for greater certainty, includes Minden Hills township; and

“Whereas article 6 of the HHHS bylaws sets out the responsibilities of directors, article 7 sets out standards of care for every director and officer of the corporation in exercising his or her powers and discharging his or her duties and article 9 defines conflict of interest and outlines areas that may give rise to a conflict of interest, including pecuniary or financial interests, undue influence or adverse interest; and

“Whereas HHHS is subject to the Public Hospitals Act and the long-term-care act and other applicable legislation; and

“Whereas HHHS is guided by the strategic plan as approved by the board of directors, as may be extended from time to time and as posted on the HHHS website and that the operational plan is posted on the HHHS website is to be the means through which the strategic plan is implemented; and

“Whereas the permanent closure of the Minden ED was not contemplated in the public disclosure of the strategic plan nor any HHHS board minutes as posted and published on the website up to and including the date of the closure announcement; and

“Whereas the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has oversight responsibility, including the express authority granted under the Public Hospitals Act, to investigate hospital board financial and governance issues and, in cases where steps need to be taken in order to restore necessary public confidence in the local hospital or in its ability to meet local area needs, recommend that the government appoint a supervisor when it is in the public interest and for greater certainty; precedents for such actions exist by former governments in the province of Ontario for such actions; and

“Whereas numerous letters of complaint have been delivered to the Minister of Health of Ontario residents to provide a reasonable basis for the minister to investigate allegations including that the HHHS board of directors in the process of making the closure decision exceeded its mandate, violated the intention of its mandate and breached its bylaws under articles 6, 7 and 9, resulting in the closure decision that is not in the public interest;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to immediately launch a public investigation into the allegations against the HHHS board of directors and to direct the HHHS board of directors to halt the closure of the Minden emergency department pending the results of that investigation.”

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

Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

Second reading agreed to.

Mr. Saunderson moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill Pr17, An Act to revive J2M Collingwood Holdings Inc.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

Mr. Saunderson moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill Pr20, An Act to revive 414087 Ontario Limited.

Second reading agreed to.

Mr. Saunderson moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill Pr20, An Act to revive 414087 Ontario Limited.

Be it resolved the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

Pursuant to standing order 100(e), there is no further business. This House stands adjourned until Monday, May 29, 2023, at 9 a.m.

The House adjourned at 1341.

This petition is to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

“Whereas the federal government is increasing the escalated carbon tax by 14%, on April 1, 2023;

“Whereas carbon tax cost increase will put more pressure on consumers who are already struggling with inflation;

“Whereas we call on the federal government to stop the carbon tax, which is a tax hike that Ontarians and Canadians cannot afford;

“Whereas the government of Ontario is helping to reduce the cost of living by keeping taxes low, freezing and eliminating licence plate renewal fees and scrapping the requirement to have licence plate stickers for passenger vehicles, light-duty trucks, motorcycles and mopeds and building on these measures in Bill 85, Building a Strong Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2023, the government continues to help Ontarians with the cost of living;

“Whereas we call on the Ontario government to urge the federal government to halt the carbon tax increase, that will raise the cost of everything;

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

“To support the passage of Bill 85, Building a Strong Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2023.”

I will affix my signature and send it with page Kate.

Mr. Saunderson moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill Pr17, An Act to revive J2M Collingwood Holdings Inc.