My question is to the Premier.

Speaker, this government claims that Ontarians are accessing the health care they need when they need it. But a constituent of mine reached out after their partner waited eight hours in an ER after having a stroke—waiting alone, without family, with only the paramedics who brought them in; eight hours.

Is it acceptable to the Premier that anyone should have to suffer like this after having a stroke?

Without nurses available, paramedics had to stay with my constituent even over a shift change. Only by sheer luck, the second massive stroke happened after my constituent was in a bed, and it was caught just in time.

Wait times continue to grow, so the next patient might not be so lucky.

Will this government invest the 1.8-billion health care dollars they hoarded last year and respect health care workers by repealing Bill 124, or will they keep strangling our public system?

The supplementary question?

The member opposite highlights exactly why we have been investing and will continue to invest in our health care system.

To be clear, nine out of 10 high-urgency patients finish their emergency visits within target times, and surgeries are happening at 88% of their pre-pandemic rate.

We’ve already added 3,500 hospital beds. We’ve already added 10,900 new hospital HHR—nurses, PSWs, doctors. We’ll continue to do this work, because we understand that we want to make sure that we have a robust health care system in the province of Ontario—and, most importantly, where people want to be, whether that is needed hospital and acute care during an acute-care crisis, whether that is recovering in their own home, whether that is in a rehab bed in a facility or, indeed, a long-term-care bed. We are doing this work. We are making these investments because we understand it is needed in the province of Ontario to deal with our aging population.

I’ve often spoken about 49 pilot projects that are currently happening in communities across Ontario—911-models-of-care pilot projects, which have borne amazing proof. Indeed, in London-Middlesex we have a success rate of 84% and a satisfaction rate of over 80% where individuals who are able to be cared for by their community paramedics in their community appreciated and understood that this was the most important and the most valuable role they could play.

We’re going to continue to do that work. We’re going to expand those models of care that are working in our community to make sure that every community has an opportunity to fully utilize their paramedics, because, frankly, sir, they have been making a huge difference in our communities.

Thank you again to the member for that very important question.

As a government, we are determined to continue to open doors for young people and help them get the training and financial supports that they need. It’s our mission to give more people a hand up to better jobs and bigger paycheques. That’s why our government is investing billions in innovative training programs that connect workers to these bigger paycheques. Working together with our labour unions, government and business, we’re making Ontario a place where hard work pays off and big dreams come to life.

Thank you, Minister, for that reassuring response.

Speaker, about one in five new jobs in Ontario over the next five years will be related to skilled trades. To tackle the labour shortage, we must address the skills gap and continue promoting the skilled trades. The skilled trades can provide young people access to these incredible, meaningful careers that will keep many of our local industries thriving.

Once again to the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development: What is our government doing to promote the skilled trades in Ontario?

Through you, Mr. Speaker, the Toronto Region Board of Trade estimates that the gridlock adds $400 million to the cost of goods in the region every year. This morning, for example, it took me one hour and 20 minutes to drive 40 kilometres to come to Queen’s Park. This gridlock is resulting in lost productivity and adds strain on physical and mental health. Commuters are losing over three million hours a year sitting in traffic, time that Ontarians should be engaged in what they love to do, working hard to grow and spending quality time with loved ones.

Mr. Speaker, we see first-hand how decades of inaction and underinvestment in transportation infrastructure have hurt Ontarians. In my community, I hear from constituents repeatedly how fed up they are sitting in gridlock.

To the Minister of Transportation: Can you please tell us what this government is doing to tackle the gridlock crisis plaguing Ontario?

Speaker, when the Liberals were in power, they talked a lot about building infrastructure, but at the end of the day, that’s all it was—talk. The fact is, especially when it comes to transportation, Ontario has an infrastructure deficit that the Liberals caused. With the greater Golden Horseshoe attracting two million people every 10 years, we are going to reach 15 million by 2051—more than the people we have in Ontario today. Unless we do something now, the problem we face today will only get worse. When it comes to fighting gridlock, we have heard no solutions from the opposition, except to pretend that all growth can be solved by transit, but we know that we need all hands on deck to address this issue.

Through you, Mr. Speaker, to the Minister of Transportation, can she share with the members of this House and my residents the government’s plan to keep Ontarians moving?

Thank you to the member from Mississauga–Malton for the great question. We cannot afford to delay much-needed infrastructure investments. More delays equal more gridlock.

Our Premier is leading an ambitious plan to deliver the right balance of public transit and road infrastructure projects to keep pace with the demands of today and the future. Over the next 10 years, we’re investing more than $25.1 billion to support the planning and construction of highway expansion and rehabilitation projects across the province. As part of these efforts, we’re getting on with the building of new highways, like Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, and we’re finishing long overdue projects like the expansion of Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph and the Highway 3 widening between Windsor and Leamington.

Speaker, it’s not enough just to talk about building a better future. Under our PC government, we are getting it done.

Our government is building both. For every dollar that we are spending on highways, our government is spending three more to build transit. Over the next 10 years, we’re investing more than $61 billion to expand and build new transit alone. This includes the largest plan for subways built in Canadian history and delivering on our government’s mandate on two-way, all-day 15-minute service across core segments of the GO network. Expanding our highway and transit networks together will allow us to pave the way for a future that offers more transportation options and less gridlock for commuters, all while creating thousands of good-paying jobs in communities right here at home.

Speaker, the wheels are in motion. The government is getting it done.

Thank you to the member opposite. I have spent decades as a physician assisting people on ODSP, assisting people to get the services that they need, so I probably have a better understanding than most of what people are going through.

I am very proud of our government’s efforts to make sure that our vulnerable are served. That’s including the historic investment in ODSP that has never been done before in the history of this program, making sure it’s aligned with inflation, working across governments to make sure that we have programs that are available to people when they need it. That’s including working with the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development to get people back into the workforce when they’re able, and looking to support people when they’re not through the many programs we offer that I listed yesterday, as the member would know and would be aware of.

We are working on the transformation with our municipal partners, to put more services into the front, where people can benefit from that when they need expertise in their local communities. This is on top of the historic investment that we’re making in ODSP, and this is an all-of-government approach. This is requiring the labour pool to be addressed, getting people back in the workforce as quickly as possible, understanding the mechanisms that we have to allow people to live in dignity and with respect, purposeful and with meaning.

This is something where we’re working with the Minister of Finance, the Treasury Board and the Ministers of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, Education and Health. This is across the board. It’s something that the previous government never did, that was—

Mr. Speaker, we’re in a rush to procure enough electricity to replace the Pickering nuclear plant closing in 2025. How do we know it’s a rush? Well, this government has an expedited procurement for power starting in 2027, with a big bonus for starting earlier. For example, if you produce electricity on business days between May and August 2025, they’ll pay you 50% more.

In July 2018, this government cancelled renewable energy projects, letting hundreds of millions of dollars of investments go down the drain and losing four precious years. The Premier said then that he was “so proud” to have done that. Now we realize that we need that clean electricity.

You have to dig a little, but the list of qualified applicants for the next round of long-term procurement is full of renewable energy. Can we just admit that this government is quietly getting back into renewable energy, something it should never have abandoned?

La clôture de la centrale Pickering constitue une menace—peu de temps; contraintes liées au changement climatique. On ne peut pas attendre jusqu’à la prochaine élection. Et alors je voudrais influencer le programme du gouvernement maintenant.

I would like the government to think about the following question for the good of Ontario: We’ll need to produce lots of renewable energy quickly. Developers are already approaching landowners quietly in anticipation. Could the energy and the municipal affairs ministers talk and then start now to help municipalities prepare for deciding how they will or will not be part of this critical project? For example, could they help municipalities decide whether or not to zone areas for wind and solar projects now, so that developers could know beforehand where they could build clean energy projects with the speed we need?

Back to the minister: Minister, 900,000 people in Ontario are living on social assistance, and they’re living in poverty. Their biggest expense is housing. Upwards of 60% of a person’s social assistance income is going to housing. You cannot afford to live on $733 a month if you’re on Ontario Works or $1,227 a month if you’re on disability payments.

Minister, I am asking you to join us on this social-assistance diet to have a better understanding of what it is like to be on social assistance, and I am calling on this government to double social assistance rates to help people get out of poverty. Can you do that?

The Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

The Minister of Children, Community and Social Services may reply.

The next question.

Order. The House will come to order so we can resume question period.

Start the clock. The member for Ajax.

My question is to the Premier. For two weeks, along with several of my colleagues, I am living on a social-assistance grocery budget of $47.60 a week. Many people who have to rely on social assistance have contacted us since this action went public to tell us that the meagre amount we have allowed ourselves for food is almost double what a single person living on social assistance has available for food after paying rent.

Indeed, it is abundantly clear that the government needs to double the rates of ODSP and Ontario Works. Will the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services join us for this two-week advocacy effort so that she might better understand, even briefly, the hardship that ODSP and OW recipients have to endure in their daily lives?

We know that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a shortage of doctors in Ontario. Many Ontarians have had challenges accessing a family doctor for years, which has significantly impacted their health and well-being. The rapid growth in areas like my riding of Ajax and other areas in the GTA has only increased this problem of doctor retention and recruitment. The previous Liberal government did not take the necessary leadership and make the critical health care investments when they had the opportunity.

Can the Minister of Colleges and Universities please inform the House what our government is doing to address the doctor shortages across Ontario?

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Solicitor General. My constituents in the riding of Carleton are concerned by the increasing gun and gang violence faced by the people of Ottawa. Just last week, there was another shooting in Ottawa’s ByWard Market. This brings the total number of shootings this year in Ottawa to 41. The people of my riding don’t deserve to live in fear because of the actions of criminals. The city of Ottawa is home to a culturally diverse population, good neighbours and friendly people. It’s not a home for gangs engaging in criminal activity.

Speaker, through you, could the Solicitor General please explain to this House our government’s approach to dealing with this troubling issue faced by the good people of Ottawa?

Thank you to the member from Ajax for that question. We need to increase the number of doctors and health care workers across the province, and that includes rural and remote communities and communities like hers in the GTA. That is why our government has taken historic action by building new medical schools in Ontario.

The new Toronto Metropolitan University medical school in Brampton: This is the first new medical school in the GTA since University of Toronto opened in 1843. We’re also creating the University of Toronto academy of medicine and integrated health in Scarborough and expanding the Queen’s Lakeridge Health campus in Oshawa.

But we recognize that more action needs to be done across the province. That is why we also created the first stand-alone medical school in the north through the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. We’ve also invested in post-secondary health care programs like Learn and Stay, and we continue to work with the Ministry of Long-Term Care to increase the number of PSWs and nurses in Ontario.

We are working to fill the gaps across the health care system and across the province after 15 years of Liberal mismanagement. By making these investments in post-secondary education today, our expansions will help to serve a growing and aging population in the years and decades to come.

Our government is making record investments in innovative approaches across the health care system—investments that the NDP and Liberals did not make. That’s why earlier this year we announced that we are making historic expansions increasing the number of seats for doctors and health care students. Over the next five years, we are adding 160 undergraduate and 295 post-graduate seats to six medical schools: medical and education expansions at Western, McMaster, the University of Ottawa and others. This will ensure that Ontarians will always be able to have the health care resources they need here when they need them.

Our government is creating concrete ways in which we can increase the number of health care professionals in our province, but as we know, the NDP and Liberals always say no. Speaker, I am proud to say our government is keeping Ontarians safe with a high-quality health care system, supported by high-quality post-secondary education.

Speaker, through you to the member for St. Catharines: I’d like to know more information about this eviction issue. Obviously, we have a process in place. We have a rental housing enforcement unit as part of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and in addition there are means with the Landlord and Tenant Board. I’m very concerned about the case that the member opposite has placed on the floor. Rest assured that we will get the Rental Housing Enforcement Unit involved in this case and do further investigation.

The urgency for training new doctors in our province is critical. The people of my riding in Ajax, especially our seniors, experienced first-hand the devastating and negative impacts that medical education cuts by the previous Liberal government had on the quality of their health care. If the previous government had made the badly needed investments in human health resources and medical residency years ago, my constituents and all Ontarians would not be in the position we currently face.

I was really shocked to hear that no other government had invested in creating a new medical school in Ontario, in the GTA, in Canada, for over a hundred years. Speaker, can the Minister of Colleges and Universities please tell the House what our government’s plan is for training more doctors, so that Ontarians can have access to the health resources that they need?

My question is to the Premier. I bring to the floor the heartbreaking experience of ODSP recipients being faced with housing questions and suspect evictions. Too often, I hear about the suspect trend of ODSP recipient evictions because the landlord is moving in family members—by the way, a claim that is nearly impossible to prove wrong until after the fact.

I spoke with St. Catharines resident Brenda LaCrew, who experienced this eviction. She was thrown into a housing market where she now has to borrow money from her friends to pay her new rent rate. Brenda spends 125% of her income on rent right now, forget the food and forget the other costs. That’s the reality for ODSP recipients.

My question is, when will the Premier commit to doubling ODSP rates and support the most vulnerable people in Ontario?

However, we have heard all week about this government’s talking point that the increase to ODSP at 5% is historic. The only thing historic about the increase is how long it took to make any increase. Freezing the rates for as long as you did throughout the pandemic is something we have not seen in decades. So, sorry, Premier, 5% is not historic; it’s actually a slap in the face.

But don’t take it from me; take it from members in my community of St. Catharines and Niagara. Tabitha Thomas is also facing a “family moving in” eviction and has called your increase “proof Ford doesn’t care about vulnerable people.”

Brenda LaCrew said, “Millionaires like Ford don’t care about regular people like me.”

Premier, will you change course and double ODSP rates in the face of your historic freeze to those rates from last term?

I’d like to thank my colleague for her question. Our hearts go out to the victims of senseless violence.

Community safety remains a top priority for this government. Since the member was elected in 2018, our government has invested over $57 million in the Ottawa Police Service.

I recently met with Chief Bell in Ottawa, and I know that we both share a strong commit to keeping our communities safe. But we know that illegal guns continue to cross our international borders and into communities like Ottawa. And that’s why, in my conversations with my federal counterpart, Minister Mendicino, I have stressed that the federal government needs to tighten up enforcement at the border. This is something that we will work on.

Notre gouvernement prend la sécurité de notre province très au sérieux et fera toujours de notre sécurité une priorité absolue.