To the member opposite: When the incident was brought to my attention, I made it clear that it was not acceptable and not direction that I support. Why not? Because it’s actually not consistent with the way Metrolinx has engaged with communities and consulted with people on its transit projects since the beginning. The member opposite himself has had 17 total engagements with Metrolinx, 11 engagements specifically on the joint corridor in the past year, in 2022, 37 email correspondences with his office regarding questions about the Ontario Line in his ward.

Building large public transit infrastructure projects in the country’s most densely populated city is disruptive, and that is why we believed so firmly, from the beginning, in the need to make sure that we were working closely with our partners, including our municipal partners, on how we get transit built in the city. That is why we sought the support of Toronto council, which we received.

The reality is, failure to move forward with this transit is not what the city needs. What the city needs is to make sure we build the—

To date, the member opposite has participated in over 30 engagements with Metrolinx in the last two years, at least eight of which were specific to the work at Moss Park. Since 2020, there have been 17 meetings between Metrolinx and the law society, and over 100 engagements with the city of Toronto, that Metrolinx continues to meet with on an ongoing basis.

Mr. Speaker, it’s no secret that the member opposite voted against our current plan for new transit in the city of Toronto when the member was a city councillor. The member is against building generational transit for the people of Ontario. Every time the NDP say no to the Ontario Line, they’re saying no to taking 28,000 cars off the road each day. The opposition can continue to try to disrupt and delay our plans, but we are moving ahead with the hard work of making sure that Toronto gets the transit that it needs and deserves.

Thank you.

The supplementary question.

The supplementary question: The member for Toronto Centre.

As I mentioned earlier, the report highlights, of course, the incredible work that was being done by the Ontario Provincial Police in providing information to the Ottawa Police Service. As I said, if there are lessons to be learned in how we coordinate with the Parliamentary Protective Service, the OPP, the RCMP and the Ottawa Police Service or other forces, we will take a look at that.

We are continuing to make enormous investments across this province because what we want to do, coming out of COVID, is to build an Ontario economy that is stronger than the one that went into it. We are hearing the results of all of this hard work—and that includes the people of Ottawa. We are seeing thousands of jobs being created across the province of Ontario, whether it is in the automotive sector, which is being rejuvenated in this province, in all parts—and to be clear, when we succeed in the auto sector, it is not only good for the GTA; it’s good for all of Ontario, it’s good for all of Canada.

We have the backs of the people of this province, because we are building a stronger, safer, more prosperous Ontario.

I’d remind the member as well that the province of Ontario, and this Legislature, of course, had a select committee which was reviewing the state of emergency here in the province of Ontario throughout the time that the convoy was in Ottawa. That also included the independent members.

But we are looking forward to building a better economy. The world economy has suffered because of COVID, but we know that there are opportunities. That’s why we’re building not only just transit corridors, but we are building roads and highways across the province of Ontario, because as the Minister of Economic Developments brings more jobs and economic opportunity to Ontario, that means we’ve got to get our product to market faster. That’s why we’re building roads, Mr. Speaker. And all the people of the province of Ontario want to participate in a better, stronger, more prosperous Ontario, and we will continue to be focused on doing that as we move forward and—

Thanks to the towering member from Brantford–Brant.

Our population is growing. As we heard from the Minister of Economic Development earlier, our economy is continuing to grow, with huge investments in our province. That means our demand for clean, reliable and affordable electricity is continuing to grow too. When the Oneida battery storage project goes online in 2025, it’s going to more than double the amount of energy storage that is currently on Ontario’s grid, from 225 megawatts to 475 megawatts.

The announcement is another milestone in our plan to build and strengthen our electricity grid. We’re going to continue to support innovative and bold technologies like the small modular nuclear reactor program, where construction has started over the holidays, as well. This also includes Canada’s largest procurement of clean energy storage that is in the field right now and of course Canada’s largest energy storage project, the Oneida project, which we announced a couple of weeks ago with the Premier in this member’s region. We’re making our grid more efficient. I must say, when it comes to energy, Ontario is leading the way.

My question is to the Premier. Mr. Speaker, it has been a year since the freedom convoy descended on Ottawa to protest—a protest that turned into an occupation that lasted three long weeks, during which the residents of Ottawa lost their right to live peacefully and without fear. Truly, it was nothing but a nightmare.

People turned to their governments, asking for help, because clearly the local police were overwhelmed by the massive trucks and growing number of protesters encouraged by the lack of law enforcement. The Rouleau report, just released following the federal inquiry, clearly indicates that it didn’t have to be this way. If the provincial government had put the same energy into coming to the rescue of the people in Ottawa as it did defending economic interests when the Ambassador Bridge was blocked, the peace could have been restored much sooner.

How can the government justify its inaction, turning its back on the people of Ottawa? I’m asking about people—people who can’t trust this government anymore that they have their back.

However, there was one political entity missing in action, and that was our provincial government. Our government was missing in action during the occupation, despite numerous calls from myself and several colleagues here on this side of the House. And our government remained missing in action during the inquiry, refusing to appear to provide useful evidence in order to avoid another disaster of the sort. Our government invoked parliamentary privilege to shield itself from transparency. But Ontarians and the people in Ottawa deserve a response.

Why did the government refuse to participate in the inquiry? How are the people supposed to trust a government that is hiding from its duty and responsibilities?

To the Minister of Transportation: Two winters ago, this government sent bulldozers into Toronto Centre to try and tear down the foundry buildings. Thankfully, my community organized and we fought to save them. Now, my colleague and I are being intentionally left off notification lists regarding transit projects right in our community.

The minister has an obligation to explain why Metrolinx was instructed to hide that information and what else is being hidden from our communities or members of this House. Will she apologize for this omission, and when will we expect that? When can we get that?

To the Minister of Transportation: Recently, the Toronto Star revealed that the minister’s office overruled Metrolinx in their effort to inform the member for Toronto Centre and myself about tree removals in our ridings. Even though we were blocked on instructions from her office, local MPs and city councillors were informed. Why does the minister think it’s legitimate to block MPPs from carrying out their duties as elected officials?

Dedicated parents in my riding of Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry are working harder and longer to keep up with the rising cost of living. One cost in particular that has risen over many years in this province is the cost of child care. The previous Liberal government did nothing for nearly 15 years as child care fees, on average, rose over 400% across Ontario—that’s inexcusable. Affordable and accessible child care is needed to support families and maintain consistent economic growth. Nearly a year ago, our province signed an agreement with the federal government to bring urgently needed financial relief.

Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Education: Are parents in my riding and across Ontario achieving actual cost savings that will make a difference in their lives?

Speaker, back to the Minister of Education: What is our government’s plan to increase access to affordable child care for parents in Ontario?

I absolutely agree: Primary care is the foundation of our health care system here in Ontario. I want to remind the member opposite that since 2018, we have in fact added 1,800 family doctors to the province of Ontario.

Now, we are not done, of course, because if we were done, we wouldn’t be building two new medical schools in the province of Ontario: one in Scarborough and one in Brampton. That is a historic investment, and an acknowledgement, frankly, that we need to build a health care system that is going to be there for an expanded population, for an aging population, to make sure that they get that foundation of a primary care physician. That will ultimately add to all of the clinical pieces we are building to make sure we have sufficient surgical units, that we have sufficient diagnostic units, that we have sufficient nurses and personal support workers.

We get it. We are making the investments, and you see that as recently as last month, when—

I do want to thank the member for Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry for his advocacy as a father and a fighter for affordable child care in this province.

We recognize that, under the former Liberals for over 15 years, child care became totally inaccessible and unattainable. It increased by 400% for an average family in the province. We knew when we came to power, under our Premier’s leadership, that we had to act to make life more affordable for working parents. We signed a deal—a better deal—with the federal government, and I’m proud, Speaker, to confirm that, as of January 1 of this year, child care fees have been reduced by 50%, on average, saving anywhere between $6,000 to $12,000 a year per child. That is a massive step forward to the affordability program and agenda our government has undertaken for the coming year. We know there’s more to do; it’s why we continue to provide relief.

Mr. Speaker, we’re going to increase spaces while we decrease costs and help families across this province.

Our government undertook a plan, which we’ve implemented, to make fees much more affordable—a 50% reduction to date as of January 1—with a commitment to build spaces. We’ve announced, together with the Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity, a plan to build 53,000 net new spaces. That’s going to mean, in Peel, 7,000 more spaces; in Simcoe, 3,000 more spaces; in the member’s riding, another 465 for Cornwall; another 827 for Hastings; and 715 for Brantford. We are making this a reality by building spaces and reducing fees, helping families across this province.

Back to the Premier—I really hope the Premier himself will answer the question that my colleague just posed.

Look, I think one of the biggest things we can do in politics sometimes—and it’s not easy—is to admit when we’re wrong, and we now have a federal commission that said a few embarrassing things about this government. It said that the Solicitor General said, in response to the public safety minister requesting a meeting, “You’re not my effing boss.” That was act number one.

The mayor of Ottawa asked the Premier, “Will you please come to these meetings with your political colleagues?”, and the Premier said, “It’s not worth my time.”

And then, to add insult to injury, when Justice Rouleau asked this government, asked the Premier, asked then-Solicitor General Jones to come to Ottawa to appear before the commission, they invoked parliamentary privilege and ran and hid.

Now is your opportunity to turn the page. It’s our first day back. Acknowledge you made a mistake. Apologize to the people of Ottawa.

Thank you very much.

The next question.

The supplementary question: The member for Ottawa Centre.

The next question.

Last week, the Public Order Emergency Commission confirmed what Ottawa residents already knew: that in the midst of the crisis last year, the Premier and his ministers abandoned us. One section of the report says it all, Speaker: “Ontario’s Absence.”

Justice Rouleau noted that the situation could have been resolved earlier, but the Premier refused to engage and repeatedly tried to shift his responsibility to others. Will the Premier finally take responsibility now, a year later, and apologize to the people of Ottawa?

As I’ve said on a number of occasions, the report is quite clear that the OPP were on the ground and were prepared to assist, and, in fact, were providing information to the Ottawa Police Service. But I think there are some lessons to be learned with respect to how we communicate with each other, be it the OPP, the Parliamentary Protective Service, the RCMP and the Ottawa Police Service, in the future.

Again, we are looking forward. We have not stopped doing that, really. We’re building a bigger, better, stronger Ontario for all of the people of the province of Ontario. I look at the investments, in particular, that we are making in Ottawa, the health care investments that the Minister of Health has brought to Ottawa: the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario; the Civic. These are billions of dollars of investments to bring Ottawa’s health care system up to date.

Add on to that the investments that we’re making in long-term care in Ottawa. Go further than that, Mr. Speaker: the investments that the minister of colleges is making, and the fact that we have brought back thousands of jobs in the automotive sector, which means that the high-tech sector of Ottawa can participate in building the cars and vehicles of tomorrow. Good news for Ottawa—

I know many of the opposition members seem to be suggesting that there should be greater debate with respect to who directs the police in times of emergencies, whether it should be politicians or it should be the police themselves. That is a debate that the opposition is welcome to bring forward.

But we are moving forward in building a better Ontario. Many of the people of this province suffered during COVID, and we want to make sure that, as we put COVID behind us, we build a strong economy, where all Ontarians can participate. Whether that is building thousands of new houses so that people can afford to buy their first home, whether it is the work that is being done by economic development—the agriculture minister who, for the first time, is putting agriculture to the top of the list, because we understand—

It’s nice to finally be back. My question is for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, perhaps the most important priority any government should have is the health of the citizens that it represents, and a critical element of maintaining good health is regular access to your family doctor or other primary care professionals. Right now, here in Ontario, there are 2.2 million Ontarians without access to a family doctor. That’s almost 15% of the population, and it’s up from 1.8 million just a few years ago. Too many of our neighbours, parents and grandparents, fathers and mothers, don’t have access to primary care. Too many children don’t have access.

We’re hearing a lot of talk about big plans to reform the health system. What we haven’t heard is how this is going to help Ontarians access primary care. So what is the Premier’s government going to do to ensure that these 2.2 million Ontarians can access the important and often life-saving care from family doctors, nurse practitioners and other front-line health practitioners?

I look forward to the proposal being brought forward for a community health centre. There is no doubt that we have seen a very successful model where clinicians—whether they are dietitians, mental health workers, nurses, nurse practitioners or physicians—coming together in those multidisciplinary clinics actually works very well, so I look forward to that proposal.

But I have to ask, with the greatest of respect: Did the member opposite vote for or against building two new medical schools in the province of Ontario? Did the member opposite vote for or against capital investments of over 50 new or expanded hospitals? Did the member opposite vote for or against when we actually have expanded primary care clinics and nurse practitioner-led clinics? Did the member opposite vote for or against? I know the answer.

My supplementary is also for the Premier. Since 2018, more Ontarians are lacking access to a family doctor, not fewer Ontarians. Like every other part of the province, the shortage of family doctors is having a profound impact on my own hometown, in Ottawa. Ottawa Public Health estimates that some 150,000 Ottawa residents don’t have access to primary care, and OPH admits that this number could be wildly underestimated.

The problem is only getting worse. In the first six months of the pandemic, twice as many family physicians stopped work completely compared to trends from the previous decade. In Orléans, several family doctors have announced that they are closing their practices later this spring. Some of these are very young doctors, Mr. Speaker. They’re not closing due to retirement; they’re closing because of the challenges within the health care system and the lack of support from this government. This is leaving potentially thousands more residents in the lurch without primary care.

A group of community leaders and not-for-profit groups are coming together to explore the creation of a community health centre for Orléans and for east Ottawa. Will the government support the creation of a new community health centre in east Ottawa to provide primary care to these residents?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and we pay our respects to the community and the event there. Similarly, Shoal Lake 40, a First Nations community in my riding, had an experience, a fire that occurred in the community on February 11.

There is no question, Mr. Speaker, to the member’s point, that fire preparedness and readiness has been a long-standing issue on reserve. I have notified the Chief in Shoal Lake 40 of our preparedness to support them moving forward and to take a look at options that the province can do to support efforts by the federal government to ensure that fire safety and the equipment necessary to enforce that or to bring that to a community is put in place. It’s time.

Thank you very much.

The supplementary question.