Back to the Minister of Energy: The Oneida Energy Storage Project is a milestone for Ontario’s energy storage sector. It will make our province’s electricity grid more efficient, stable and reliable. This project will help to generate employment opportunities and significant revenue for the people of my riding and our First Nations partner at Six Nations. Battery storage projects like these are instrumental for our economy, our environment and helping to promote reconciliation with Indigenous communities.

Can the minister please elaborate on how this project will help advance plans for improving the entire electricity grid system?

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?

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.

Thank you to the member from Ajax for the question and for her endless work on behalf of her constituents.

I’m glad to inform the member that unlike the Liberals, our government is delivering for riders by bringing Presto into the modern era. Our government introduced the credit card tap payment feature on Presto for GO, Brampton, MiWay and Oakville transit riders in August of last year, and it was met with terrific success.

I’m pleased to inform the House that just last month, on January 23, we extended this credit card tap payment feature for riders in York, Burlington, Hamilton and in the member’s own riding of Durham. The credit card tap system is fantastic news for transit riders, because Presto is simply a game-changer when you modernize it. The fact is that eight participating agencies means that 700,000 taps have been used with credit cards on these transit agencies, and achieving this milestone so quickly, Speaker, demonstrates that our government is delivering transit improvements that riders want and enjoy. By improving this Presto system, we’re getting it done for riders.

Our government is now building on our introduction of credit card tap features across the rest of the 905. In fact, Speaker, we are working to implement debit tap card payment capabilities at each of these 905 transit agencies that currently accept the credit card payment feature.

What’s more, Speaker, Metrolinx, on behalf of our government, is working with the TTC to update Presto devices so that both credit and debit payments can be brought to the largest transit agency in our country for Toronto riders.

We’re not going to stop until we connect the whole grid with these payment options so that commuters can conveniently get to work, to school, wherever they need to be. Unlike the opposition, Speaker, our government is turning Presto around and providing a modern fare system that works today and for generations to come.

Ma question est pour le premier ministre. On January 28, the community of Weenusk tragically lost its fourth resident due to a house fire. Sadly, this time it was a 10-year-old child. My sincere condolences go out to the family and the community.

This tragedy occurred because the community does not have proper firefighting equipment and no fire department. How is this even possible? This is a fundamental necessity to protect and save lives.

The community is asking the government for help. They have a fire truck waiting in Winnipeg. They need infrastructure. Monsieur le Premier Ministre, what will your government do to help this community to ensure history does not repeat itself?

In Kiiwetinoong, the house was at the corner where the fire station would be. We have a sitting fire truck in Winnipeg. And we say we talked to the federal—well I think we have a responsibility as a province to make sure that we protect the First Nations community. So I ask again: What will your government do to protect these communities?

For far too long, Ontario’s transportation network was neglected under the previous Liberal government. Ongoing failures under their leadership led to increased costs for riders and less service in accessing communities in our province. This is unacceptable. Our government needs to take urgent action to make public transit easier and more convenient for the people in my riding.

As a government, we need to ensure that we are helping individuals and families get to work, school and appointments easily, more safely and more reliably. Can the Associate Minister of Transportation please share with the House what our government is doing to make it more convenient to take transit?

The people of my riding were left behind under the previous Liberal government when it came to transit investments. Making public transit more accessible for the people of Ajax and all residents of Durham region and beyond needs to be a priority for our government. As a government, we need to ensure that transit is easier to take, more flexible and convenient for everyone. Reducing barriers to getting on the bus, especially for new users, means greater transit use, less emissions and a greener province.

Speaker, can the Associate Minister of Transportation elaborate further on what our government is doing to deliver on transit?

The member opposite is right: One death is too many. That’s why I’m proud that our government recently endorsed the release of Canada’s first National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. Ontario led the approach in forwarding the national action plan to the FPT forum of justice ministers with a written request that they commit to taking further action to improve justice system responses, including holding perpetrators and offenders accountable.

In addition, our government has recently invested up to $3.6 million this year to support survivors of human trafficking and gender-based violence in rural and remote communities. On February 10, the government provided part 1 of Ontario’s response to the Office of the Chief Coroner, and this response reflects the progress made so far.

We will continue to work across government to provide an update and comprehensive response in the future.

Speaker, I would like to welcome three Western students to the House this afternoon: Chanel Parikh, Basma Mustafa and Opeyemi Dinah, who are participating in the Women in House initiative and are shadowing me this afternoon, along with Karissa Singh, an OLIP intern in my office and an integral part of my office for the past few months.

Welcome to the people’s House.

Thank you, Speaker—and I might be jumping ahead a little bit, but I do want to welcome the family of former MPP Mike Ray to the House. I know you’ll be identifying them later on.

I would like to welcome Lara Suleiman and Sofia Ouslis from Western University, my alma mater, who are joining me today from the University Students’ Council’s Women in House initiative that sends students to shadow a female MPP. Welcome to Queen’s Park.