Her Honour Elizabeth Dowdeswell, the Lieutenant Governor, will bestow the province’s highest honour to the new Order of Ontario appointees on November 21, 2022. One of those appointees is Dr. Angela Brathwaite from Whitby. Over nearly five decades as a nurse, Dr. Brathwaite has launched initiatives to promote nursing education, improve women and children’s health, and address racism in the nursing profession.

In announcing the appointees, Her Honour said this: “Their service to our province is a reminder to all of us fortunate enough to call Ontario home, that the fabric of society is knit together by good deeds and the dedication of individuals. May their accomplishments be an inspiration and example for many to follow.”

Congratulations to Dr. Brathwaite. Your dedication, drive and lifetime of service is an inspiration to everyone in Whitby and other parts of the region of Durham who aspire to build better communities and a stronger Ontario.

Today’s page captain, Camilla Moscato, is from my riding of Niagara West, and I wish to welcome her to the Legislature, as well as her parents and her brother, who are here today: Melanie, Maddox and Chris Moscato. Welcome to Queen’s Park. It’s good to have you here.

I would like to thank my incredibly talented assistant from my riding of Nickel Belt, Adele Fawcett, who is here to witness question period this morning. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I would like to say a few words in tribute to Dr. Barry Adams, a pediatrician from Ottawa who was my pediatrician and my children’s pediatrician and, in fact, the pediatrician for thousands and thousands of families over his long career.

Barry was an incredible, gentle, warm, kind person. He was always available. He was a big proponent of our Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. I wanted to spend all this time talking about his accolades, but his accolades are actually the thousands and thousands and thousands of families whose lives he touched and improved by his work.

I was thinking about what Barry would have had to say today, if he were alive, about what’s happening at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and with our children in this province.

Barry could be very kind and very gentle, but he could also be very stern. And what he would be asking us is, “Why is there this indifference to what’s happening to our children? Why are we not masking? Why are we not making sure we’re all vaccinated and our kids are vaccinated?”

You know, Barry was a physician who was old enough to know when measles outbreaks occurred, and he was always astonished at the efficacy of the vaccine, and how it was almost non-existent.

So, Speaker, I think we should learn from Dr. Barry Adams’s example that our children are important and that right now there are some things that we need to do to protect our children. We should be doing them: masking, vaccination, washing our hands and staying home when we’re sick.

I beg to inform the House that the following document has been tabled: a report entitled Ministry of Education: Spending Plan Review, 2022, from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario.

I’d like to welcome to the Legislature Dora Mehany, Pixie George-Benjamin and Nathan Zhu, who are members of CUPE 4400, which was a union I was recently a member of at Central Tech when I was teaching woodworking.

Mr. Speaker, last Tuesday I was pleased to join the honourable Solicitor General at Peel Regional Police headquarters in Mississauga. Alongside Chief Nishan Duraiappah—who I commend for being recently appointed to the Order of Ontario—we kicked off Crime Prevention Week, an opportunity for all Ontarians to recognize the important men and women in uniform who sacrifice so much to protect our communities.

Organizations present included the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, Safe City Mississauga, Empowering Against Exploitation, Vision Zero and Peel Crime Stoppers.

Additionally, on November 4, myself and many of our colleagues welcomed Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich and Sergeant Earl Scott here in Queen’s Park to recognize them for a $25-million drug seizure, one of the largest in Peel police history.

Mr. Speaker, one of the foremost priorities for people and businesses in Ontario is to feel safe and comfortable in their city. I want to recognize the important role that law enforcement officials play in keeping our province safe and protecting our most vulnerable. Crucial to this process is a strong relationship between law enforcement and local communities, working hand in hand to ensure a safe and prosperous society.

While Mississauga is one of the safest cities in Canada, we are nevertheless seeing a rise in car theft and pharmacy holdups. We will continue to work with Peel police to support them and allow them the resources to prevent crime. This partnership between police, community, and government is a relationship we cannot afford to forsake.

I’d like to welcome Michau van Speyk here today, from the Ontario Autism Coalition. Thank you so much. Nice to see you.

Today I am joined by my executive assistant, Suhas Vij. He’s here for the first time. Welcome to the Legislature.

I would like to introduce executives from the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine: Duncan Stewart, the president and scientific director, and Sandra Donaldson, the vice-president and chief operating officer. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Today is my wife’s birthday. I can think of no better birthday present for my wife, Madame Pam, who is a kindergarten teacher, than to welcome Ema, as a page, and her father, Kevin MacAulay, to the Legislature today.

Mr. Speaker, she’s not here yet, but I would like to welcome my niece, Zahara Israr, who will be here this morning as part of the West Glen Junior School tour. Thank you.

I am informed that the member for Ottawa–Vanier has a point of order.

It is now time for oral questions.

To reply for the government, the Minister of Education.

At the very young age of 54 years old, my brother had to reinvent himself. His name is Gordon Mantha. I want to congratulate him. He has just graduated and become a fully licensed RPN.

Yes, I am seeking the unanimous consent of the House that, notwithstanding standing order 40(e), five minutes be allotted to the independents as a group to respond to the ministerial statement by the Minister of Finance on the fall economic statement.

With the greatest of respect, we haven’t been ignoring it. In fact, our government has made unprecedented investments to ensure that our hospital partners have the resources they need to make sure that they can deal with what is undoubtedly a bit of a triple threat of RSV, influenza and COVID-19. In particular, with emergency departments, we have invested $90 million in EDs to pay for result programs that provide funding incentives for 74 high-volume emergency departments to make improvements in areas such as length of stay. We’ve implemented 49 models of care for select 911 patients where patients can receive timely and appropriate care in a setting outside of an emergency department.

We’ve funded Ornge’s virtual medical doctor trial for northern hospitals at risk of closure. The emergency department locum program and the COVID-19 temporary summer locum program’s expansion have provided supports for eligible hospitals in rural and northern Ontario to maintain—

Thank you to the member opposite for the question. All along, we have advocated for children to be in stable classrooms. We know that the threat of strikes and pandemics have a great deal of impact on children’s mental, physical, social and emotional health, and their academic success, Speaker. That’s why we are at the table today, and we will remain at the table—designed to get a deal that is fair for our workers, that preserves the in-person learning experience that our children deserve.

The plan to catch up, as announced, was premised on a belief that kids have to be in school. Six hundred and fifty million more dollars are allocated this year, compared to last year. Nearly 7,000 more staff were hired since we came to power, almost a thousand more front-line teachers, a 420% increase in mental health—all of this is because we are committed to publicly funded schools. We’re committed to getting a deal and keeping these kids in school.

We are committed to ensuring stability for children. I would urge the members opposite to consider the very real impacts of union-driven strikes on children. They are real. They have learning loss and mental and physical health impacts that we can quantify. These are not abstractions; these are the children of our province. They have an obligation to them.

We have an obligation to them, which is why we are increasing funding in publicly funded schools; increasing staffing, with over $3 billion more than when the Liberals were in power in 2017-18; 7,000 more staff when you compare it to when we started; and 1,000 more front-line teachers. We are committed to our children and we’re committed to keeping kids in school.

It has been an extraordinary time in this province. This is not a normative period. Kids have—

Interjection.

But we have a plan in this province designed to help these kids get back on track: 650 million more dollars; a specific tutoring program, the first and only of its kind in the country; and $175 million helping 100,000 kids today get ahead. That’s how we help support them and get them back on track, but it all starts with keeping them in the classroom in the first place.

To the Premier: For months, health care professionals have raised concerns about hospitals’ capacity to respond to the early respiratory illness season that we are seeing this year. Despite the alarm bells, this government sat on their hands and did nothing. Today, ER wait times at children’s hospitals are unseasonably high, pediatric ICUs are over capacity and children are being transferred to adult hospitals. Why has the government ignored the growing crisis in Ontario’s children’s hospitals?

We all have a role to play in protecting children from severe illness, especially the government. Why hasn’t this government responded effectively to the acute pressures on our children’s hospitals and increasing demand for pediatric ICU beds?

Good morning, Mr. Speaker. To the Premier: On this side of the House, we know there’s power in a union. Last week the government belatedly learned that too when they were forced to make a major retreat on the use of the “notwithstanding” clause in a bill that not only banned strikes but outrageously imposed a contract on our very lowest-paid education workers.

My question this morning is very simple: Will the Premier vow today to never again use the “notwithstanding” clause in a labour dispute?

A few weeks ago, the Premier’s campaign manager, Kory Teneycke, said this about possible future labour disruptions at our schools. He said: “You’re going to get legislated back, including the use of the ‘notwithstanding’ clause,” and “You can take that to the bank because it’s going to happen.”

After last week’s debacle, I think we all hope that this Premier has learned a thing or two. I ask again: Will the Premier stand here today and vow never again to use the “notwithstanding” clause to shut down the charter rights of Ontario workers?

Speaker, the Premier’s use of the “notwithstanding” clause to take away bargaining rights did not just target CUPE education workers, it put the bargaining rights of all workers at risk. Whether you are a union member in a school, in a factory or on a construction site, the Premier’s actions sent a clear message: Your rights end when he no longer feels like recognizing them.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Labour this time: What did he do to stand up for the rights of workers that he claims to work for? And will he, at least, commit to never voting for this again?