I am super excited today to welcome my niece Emma Welsh-Huggins to Queen’s Park. She’s sitting in the members’ gallery over here. She doesn’t want me to say this, but I’m going to brag about her. She was the digital director for Elizabeth Warren’s Iowa caucus campaign during the last presidential election.

As we are watching the news from the United States, we’re seeing the painful reversal of years of advances in civil rights. We can be thankful that that’s not the case here in Ontario, but we can never take for granted that basic human rights will not be trampled. We all must remain diligent.

I want to share with this House a poem that was written just after World War II—you may have heard it—by Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Speaker, earlier this week I had the pleasure of hosting a group of people from the Greater Napanee Pride committee. These are dedicated members or allies of the LGBT community, and they came here to show that, like everyone else, this is their House.

I’m forever grateful that in this House and in this government, all of our constituents are represented.

Yesterday was International Women’s Day, and March 31 will be international trans recognition day. I ask all of the members of this House to celebrate our differences, to celebrate our diversity, with respect and humility.

I would like to congratulate Nolan Wu, who has served in the House as a page. I didn’t get a chance to meet him until today. I wish him well in the experience that he has at the Legislature, and I hope to see him at noon today.

I would like to welcome several members of my staff in the constituency office, as well as a number of women who are leaders in the community in Don Valley West: Julie, Sheila, Lita, Shakhlo, Barb, Jennifer, Najia, Marilynn, Ombobola, Judie, Kamrana, Shazia, Fatma, as well as my mom, Barb, and my daughter, Maddi—here today for a very special gathering to talk about the stories of these women. Some of them are just new from Nigeria. They’re studying at Seneca College, volunteering in my constituency office. They’re lawyers in their home country, and we want them to do well here. I want everyone to welcome them warmly.

There’s a birthday visiting today, and that birthday landed on the shoulder of my fabulous parliamentary assistant and the member for Hastings–Lennox and Addington.

Happy birthday.

We’re proud of our efforts to build consensus around a number of resource projects across northern Ontario. Take, for example, the Côté Gold project, where Mattagami and Flying Post First Nations play a substantial role in the development of that area, including very much the mine itself. In Greenstone, we see an extraordinary opportunity with the Kenogamisis development corporation, comprised of four Indigenous communities that have come to us and asked to play a vital role in the development of Greenstone and the surrounding area and the mining project. Similarly, the corridor to prosperity is an opportunity for all Indigenous communities in that area to unleash new health and social and economic benefits, to bring in better forms of energy, stronger broadband, better critical infrastructure.

This is a massive northern development opportunity. We’ll build consensus with those communities, and we’ll look forward to an opportunity to build the critical mineral mine of a world-class scale.

As somebody who has lived in a couple of those communities and worked closely with the leadership of some of those communities over the years—there is growing consensus that we can do these projects, that we can strike a fair balance, that we can build consensus and meet the demands of the single biggest environmental policy ever advanced by a subsovereign government, and that is to bring critical minerals from that region and other parts of northern Ontario into a fully integrated supply chain for electric vehicles and battery capacity. I’ve heard it from Indigenous communities. I’ve heard it from Indigenous businesses. The Minister of Mines has been working very hard to ensure that we do this the right way, and we’re going to get it done.

Speaker, the people of Neskantaga have not given Ontario consent to build a mining road on its traditional and Treaty land. Chief Wayne Moonias said nothing will go through the territory without the free, prior, informed consent of the people. He said a couple of days ago, “You’re not going to cross our river system without our free and prior informed consent, you’re going to have to kill us....” Those were his words.

To the Premier: What is the government doing to uphold the law, follow its Treaty 9 obligations and obtain consent of all First Nations impacted by the northern road link?

This government is fast-tracking mining approval processes by removing environmental safeguards like requiring completed mine closure plans in Bill 71.

My question to the Premier: How will taking away requirements to approve mining closure plans protect Indigenous and treaty rights in the Ring of Fire?

Speaker, what—

This is a textbook play right out of the colonial playbook, where governments divide and conquer First Nations. We live it every day.

How will you ensure all First Nations are on board?

Interjections.

Thank you very much for the question.

The members opposite in the opposition are trying to sow fear—fearmongering, really—about things like this.

This government’s record speaks for itself. We’ve invested an additional $14 billion in our health care system since 2018. That is almost a 30% increase, since 2018, in our health care funding. We’ve added more beds in four years than the previous Liberal government, supported by the opposition, did in 14. We’ve launched the largest health care recruitment initiative in Ontario’s history. And we’ll continue to make necessary improvements to make sure that Ontarians get the care they expect and deserve.

My question is to the Premier.

Yesterday, the Financial Accountability Office made it abundantly clear: This government has not allocated sufficient funds to support health care programs to get Ontarians the care that they need.

We are already seeing the worst emergency room wait times in over a decade. Without additional investment, Ontarians can expect those wait times to get even longer. We had 145 unplanned emergency room closures just last year.

This Premier promised to end hallway medicine. There are people in this province who would be happy to get into a hallway just to access some medicine.

To the Premier: Will the government commit to covering this $21.3-billion shortfall in health care? Your plan is designed to fail. You can course-correct.

The Financial Accountability Officer—who is independent, who is non-partisan and who is following the money—projects that Ontario will have less hospital capacity, less long-term-care capacity in 2028 than it did in 2018, and basically the status quo in home care capacity. This is an important report that the government should be paying attention to.

So my question is to the Premier: Will the upcoming budget fully fund your own health care plans? Put the money in your own plan.

Minister of Northern Development, Minister of Indigenous Affairs.

Response, the Minister of Mines.

Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Ontario’s world-class manufacturing sector employs over 660,000 workers and is the lifeline of our province’s regional economies, including in my riding of Essex.

When the previous Liberal government announced that Ontario’s economy would shift away from goods-producing to service-producing sectors, they were unprepared for the exodus of jobs that would ensue. They were a government without a plan. The 300,000 manufacturing jobs that they sent running from Ontario came as a surprise to no one, but it left communities, including communities in southwestern Ontario, economically damaged.

Will the minister please explain how our government is once again supporting the manufacturing sector and bringing back jobs to southwestern Ontario?

My question is for the Premier.

Amanda, a mother from the Niagara region, shared with me her heartbreaking experience trying to get an autism assessment for her child. She reached out to her MPP’s office—the member from Niagara West—asking when her child would be able to get an assessment, only to be given OAP talking points by his staff. Amanda responded, “OAP services do absolutely no good without a written diagnosis, and the wait-list for a diagnosis in Ontario under his government is years long. We don’t have years to waste waiting for an appointment, and we can’t afford to pay thousands out of pocket.” The MPP personally responded with the same talking points.

I want to make it crystal clear to the MPP: Children cannot access the OAP without an assessment and a diagnosis.

Why does the Premier and his government believe it’s okay to ignore mothers looking for answers?

Amanda contacted her MPP for information on the assessment backlog and instead was left feeling disrespected and unheard. All this MPP could do was spew OAP talking points and suggest she look at different provinces in the country. She asked him several times to answer her question about what this government is doing to tackle the wait-list for assessments, and he couldn’t do that.

How can families believe this government when their own MPPs are unwilling to listen and have no suggestion other than maybe leaving the province?

So my question is clear: How can families access the OAP in a timely manner when it is taking years for them to get an assessment?

That’s a straight-up lie.

Interjections.

I’ll remind the members to make their comments through the Chair.

To reply, the member for Eglinton–Lawrence.

Start the clock.

The member for Eglinton–Lawrence has the floor.

The House will come to order.

Start the clock.

The next question.

I welcome the opportunity to give the member opposite the facts.

We have doubled the funding to $600 million. Shortly after we formed government in 2018, there were 31,500 people registered with the Ontario Autism Program, of whom only 8,500 were receiving support. That means barely a quarter of people enrolled in the program were receiving any support, and that support was limited to one type of therapy. The other three quarters—that’s 23,000 children—had no prospect of ever receiving supports from the Liberal government. Today, recognizing that there are different needs to be met, over 40,000 children and youth with autism have received support through multiple streams in the program. That’s almost five times more than at any point since we formed government.

Our government knows that wait times for surgeries and diagnostic tests have been increasing year after year, and we’ve said we’re not okay with the status quo. We know that more work needs to be done, and we’re doing it. That is why we announced our innovative plan for expansion of community diagnostic and surgical clinics, which the opposition is opposing at every step.

In fact, in the opposition, the member from Nickel Belt has been asking that we use hospital ORs more, if they have availability.

The hospital OR in Ottawa Centre is being used through a joint partnership. But every weekend, the member from Ottawa Centre, who is a member of the opposition, is out there, harassing patients who are trying to get hospital surgery—

Interjections.

Interjections.

The real crisis is within our health care workforce, which this government continues to disrespect with Bill 124, appealing the decision which found this legislation to be unconstitutional and a violation of charter rights. The workers who are in the health care system right now are overworked and they are underpaid. The government can talk about their so-called recruitment strategy, but you can’t recruit people into a broken system. You should be focusing on retaining those workers.

The Financial Accountability Officer expects the province will need 33,000 more nurses and PSWs to keep up with the needs of our growing and aging population.

Back to the Premier: How does this government expect to recruit thousands more nurses and PSWs when, last year, wages for Ontario nurses were among the lowest in the country?

Thank you to the member for that question.

We are seeing a record number of students coming into the health human resources field. Under the leadership of this Premier and this Minister of Health, our government has launched the largest health care recruiting and training initiative in this province’s history, and the results are there. I can tell you, the enrolment in universities alone this past fall, September 2022—over 109,000 students are entering into the nursing field; that’s nursing alone. We are attracting more registered practical nurses, more PSWs, and creating pathways for these students to upskill from a PSW to an RPN, and from an RPN to a registered nurse. The opportunities are there, and students are seeing that.

Our new Learn and Stay program alone—the day we announced it saw over 14,000 students check the website, because students are interested in getting into the nursing field, and there are opportunities there to ensure that we have more health human resources in the underserved and northern areas.

To be very clear, what the member across is saying is that because she doesn’t agree with the policies of this government, the right thing to do is to attack the people who work in the constituency office of one of the hardest-working members of provincial Parliament. I’ve seen a lot of things in this place that have diminished the role of all of us, but I have never seen another member attack the constituency office of a member of provincial Parliament because they don’t agree with the policy. You can disagree with the policy—fine, disagree with the policy, take it to the floor of the House like she has done. But don’t attack the people who work in constituency offices.

I will remind the member opposite that it was this member for Niagara who brought new hospitals to his community after years of failure by that side of the House. It was that member of provincial Parliament who brought new long-term care. It was that member of Parliament who brought in a new autism program. It was that member of Parliament who brought in thousands of new nurses. It was that member of Parliament who—

Interjections.