Speaker, may it please the House, Her Honour the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, by and with the advice and concurrence of the Executive Council of Ontario and in the name of His Majesty the King, has made orders pursuant to section 77.4 of the Legislative Assembly Act. These orders grant Mr. Claude L. DesRosiers and Ms. Deborah Deller, presently before the House, the right to use the honorific title “The Honourable” as former Clerks of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. I am pleased to lay copies of these orders upon the table.

I’m delighted to welcome leaders in our Filipino community in York Centre: Teresa Torralba and her husband Ramon Torralba; retired Toronto police sergeant Philip Mendoza and his wife Maritonne; and a special welcome to Nathan Cortes, son of the Philippine undersecretary of foreign affairs Paul Cortes, who is a student right here at Toronto Metropolitan University. Welcome to the Ontario Legislature.

I’m pleased to welcome to Queen’s Park today, on behalf of the member from Sarnia–Lambton, former legislative page Annabelle Rayson who is here with her parents.

And I, too, want to welcome former Ontario Speaker David Warner to the Legislature. He was the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly when I was a legislative page back in 1991. Welcome back to Queen’s Park.

I will now invite the Honourable Claude DesRosiers and the Honourable Deb Deller to take their seats once again at the table.

It is now time for oral questions.

The Premier can reply.

This question is for the Premier. Speaker, I think I speak for all of us here when I say that our thoughts, again, are with the people and communities that are directly impacted by the forest fires that are blazing across this province, and also with, of course, the courageous firefighters, pilots and local teams working to get them under control.

While that work is under way, millions of people across Ontario are experiencing the impacts to air quality. We are in for probably the most severe fire season our province has ever experienced, and people are quite rightly worried for their immediate future and whether this is the new reality. Does the Premier acknowledge that the climate emergency is making this fire season significantly worse?

Yesterday the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry refused to acknowledge a connection between the climate crisis and these forest fires, all while this government is doubling down on costly and carbon-intensive gas-fired power. They’re doubling down on sprawl, they failed to deliver badly needed transit, and the Conservatives also, let’s not forget, weakened their own climate targets.

I want to ask the Premier: Will the Premier show some leadership today and act on the climate emergency?

Speaker, with the very real impacts of climate change being felt by millions of Ontarians today, will the Premier reverse course on his plans to pave over the province’s largest carbon sink, the greenbelt?

Interjections.

I want to thank the Leader of the Opposition for the question. Mr. Speaker, I want to start off by thanking all the firefighters and crews working around the clock to keep our community safe. They’re literally the best in the world. Again, I want them to know that I’m sure all of us, of all political stripes, have their backs 100%.

I know that many towns and cities across our province are being impacted by smoke, not just Ontario but smoke coming from other provinces. We’re seeing this right across the country, unfortunately. This is having a major impact on many residents in these areas, particularly in the Ottawa area and in northern Ontario. It’s hurting those who are already at risk, like our young people and our seniors.

While it’s taking place right now, I want them to know that our own fire ranger crews, helicopters and water bombers are responding in full force to manage the fires.

We’re taking steps to make sure we’re prepared. Since 2017, we’ve increased spending on emergency fire preparedness by more than 37%. We have 142 fire ranger crews, which are the best in the world, ready to go right across our province, and we have a fleet of 28 aircraft that fight these fires, including nine heavy water bombers.

My number one goal is to make sure the communities and the people are safe here in Ontario. We will spare no expense to make sure that we support our firefighters and our communities.

Let me tell you the report that I’ve heard. The report that I have heard: Approximately 50% of the fires are started by lightning strikes; the other 50% are people starting campfires and not putting out the campfires properly.

So I’m asking every Ontarian: Please do not light any campfires.

All the firefighters are out there fighting against these wildfires. And yes, they happen every single year. Similar to the floods, the wildfires start every single year.

We will throw every resource we can to make sure we put these fires out.

Interjections.

Ma question est pour le premier ministre. Last week, health coalitions from all over the province brought 400,000 Ontarian voices opposed to private health care to this Legislature. Today, Brock University students are here to show their opposition to Bill 60, the government health privatization agenda. People representing Minden, Mount Forest, Palmerston, Listowel, Wingham, Seaforth, Clinton, Grey Bruce, Chesley—the list goes on—are here, asking the Premier to either re-open their ER or keep them open.

We live in a democracy, Speaker. All those people are coming to Queen’s Park because they are scared. They’re anxious. They’re worried. They want to be heard. Why won’t the Premier listen to them?

Back to the Premier: In my discussions with Brock University Students’ Union executives, they voiced serious, serious apprehensions about your government’s health care privatization direction, especially concerning accessibility. Reduced health care impacts are evident in Niagara, where two urgent care centres confront diminishing access. When asked, 85% of Brock University students are concerned over Bill 60, a sentiment shared by 400,000 referendum Ontario voters. Health care in Niagara is bearing the staff crisis magnified by Bill 124 and your privatization agenda.

Premier, when will your government stop shrugging responsibility and commit to enhancing health care accessibility in Niagara through public investment?

I’m hoping for a little leadership here. Maybe take a little responsibility? You’re facing one of the—

Interjections.

To the Premier: Will the government prioritize sick Ontarians over their insider friends looking to make a buck?

Speaker, there are new reports about a growing number of registered private health care lobbyists with ties to the Conservative Party—more insiders lobbying their friends and their former colleagues. Case in point: A former staffer for the Premier is now lobbying for “publicly funded, privately delivered” care, only he registered as a lobbyist before this government announced they were starting to issue private surgical contracts. How convenient.

To the Premier: Were these insiders given a heads-up about the expansion of private surgery delivery in Ontario?

Speaker, the Office of the Integrity Commissioner reports that there are nearly 1,200 lobbyists registered to influence this government on health policy; that’s more than on nearly every other issue combined. Many are lobbyists for for-profit, private health care companies that offer nearly identical services to those covered by OHIP, only they let the richest pay out of pocket to cut the line and access services faster. They’re swirling like vultures over what’s left of our health care system, and they’re looking to cash in on Ontarians’ health.

I’m going to ask again: When will this government prioritize sick Ontarians over their insider friends looking to make a buck?

Interjections.

Order.

The next question. The Leader of the Opposition.

Interjections.

Restart the clock.

The Leader of the Opposition.

Supplementary question?

The Minister of Health.

I’ve stopped the clock as our honoured guests have to prepare for a reception and some official photographs, and they may have had enough already. They now need to leave the proceedings at this time. Congratulations and thank you again to Mr. DesRosiers and Ms. Deller for your service to the assembly and the people of Ontario.

We’ll restart the clock. The next question.

The supplementary question.

Supplementary question? The member for Scarborough Southwest.

Premier?

A few reminders: We make our comments through the Chair, not directly across the floor of the House. Secondly, once the Speaker stands, you sit. Your microphone goes off. When I can’t hear whoever has the floor because of a loud ovation, we stop the clock because there’s no point in carrying on.

So, we’ll start the clock. Next question.

I want to thank you for your question. Do the Scarborough residents know you voted against that subway line? Do the Scarborough residents know that you had no interest in delivering the first subway in the history of Scarborough? When I was at city hall, we were fighting for the residents of Scarborough, where you never even existed. You weren’t up there cheering for Scarborough. You didn’t vote against your party. You should have voted against your party.

Do you know something? I’ll tell you, the reason we have the majority of the seats in Scarborough—

Interjections.

Interjections.

Speaker, Ontario is now the innovation and manufacturing gateway to North America, and that is the result of reducing the cost of doing business by $8 billion every year.

Hydrogen Optimized recently announced a $4.6-million investment in Owen Sound. They specialize in the production of green hydrogen through an exciting new manufacturing technology. This will replace fossil fuels in energy-intensive industries like cement and fertilizer production. They’re doing this cutting-edge work while creating new jobs and acquiring state-of-the-art equipment for Ontario. With a $500,000 investment from our government, Speaker, this is how we’re supporting our innovation and manufacturing sectors.

Well, that all changed under Premier Ford. Ontario is now one of the world’s leaders in EVs, with an unprecedented $25 billion in new business, $3 billion in new life sciences, $100 billion in tech, over 660,000 new jobs created. Speaker, that’s the difference when you put in a government that gets it done.

I thank the member for his question. It’s an important question, because the Finch West LRT will give people in the northwest part of the city of Toronto what they’ve been waiting for for a long time, which is a transit system that will offer more choices to travel on their own schedule.

Mr. Speaker, the Finch West LRT will connect the new Finch West subway station, on the Toronto-York Spadina subway extension, to Humber College. We’re talking about 11 kilometres of new, dedicated LRT, with 16 new surface stops, a below-grade stop at Humber College north campus and an underground interchange station at the TTC’s Finch West subway station. This also includes a brand new maintenance and storage facility for light rail transit vehicles.

This system will transform the community. Shovels went in the ground in 2018. The constructors are working diligently to deliver the system, and we look forward to having—

Back to the Premier: Residents in my community have contacted my office to express their frustration, their distress over the incessant overnight construction carried out by Metrolinx. The disruptive noise has become so unbearable that constituents are complaining—just imagine someone drilling in your backyard all night long, for a whole year. The disruptive noise has become so unbearable that constituents are complaining that children and pets are abruptly awakened from their sleep all throughout the night. However, Metrolinx has informed the residents that they possess a permit allowing them to continue these overnight operations until the end of the year because it’s related to the transit system. Whether it’s the Eglinton LRT, Scarborough RT or the Lakeshore East line, Scarborough residents are the ones, always, to suffer.

Speaker, while critical transit work is being done, what will this government do to protect local residents and mitigate the ongoing disruptions to their lives and their well-being?

Interjections.

I hope when you were speaking to those Brock students that you talked about the investments that we are making, increasing the number of student seats for both post-secondary and residency physicians. This means that there are more opportunities for young people who wish to practise medicine in the province of Ontario. They have that opportunity as a result of our government’s investment.

I hope you also highlighted the fact that in the region of Niagara, we are investing and building with that hospital corporation a brand new hospital in the amount of $4.1 billion in your community.

My question is for the Associate Minister of Transportation.

When it comes to communities around the greater Golden Horseshoe, investment is critical. Transportation infrastructure needs to happen now. I’m fortunate to have the GO train station in my riding, but more GO rail services are needed across the region. Unfortunately, the previous Liberal government did not plan ahead to address the future transit needs for people in Ontario. Our government must continue to take action and to do more to provide GO train expansion.

Can the associate minister please explain how our government is expanding GO rail services?

My question is for the Premier. Members of my community are anxiously awaiting the completion and opening of the Finch West LRT line. The construction phase hasn’t been easy, with massive traffic disruptions, vehicular and pedestrian accidents, property damage complaints, a collapsed underground garage of a high-rise condo, a day care flooded with sewage, displacing over 100 children for months, and more. My community has been patient but understandably frustrated.

In light of all of the issues on the Eglinton LRT, what assurances can you provide my community that the Finch West LRT will be completed on budget and on time at this year’s end?

My question is to the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. With our government’s policies, Ontario’s reputation as a hub for cutting-edge innovation continues to grow. With its robust manufacturing sector, it’s crucial that our government attract investments to take advantage of this fact as it drives towards creating an end-to-end economy and ending our reliance on other jurisdictions for critical goods.

Speaker, can the minister please highlight a recent investment that showcases the province’s commitment to fostering innovation and simultaneously supporting our manufacturing industry?

Speaker, with this recent announcement from Hydrogen Optimized, can the minister elaborate on why companies like them are increasingly looking to invest in Ontario and grow in Ontario?