My question is for the Premier.

Judy, who resides in a long-term-care residence in Hamilton, has reached out to my office, and her concerns are alarming. Judy tells me that the staff are overworked, beyond exhausted, and most are working double shifts due to staffing shortages. A few nights ago, there was one PSW on her floor, and she was left to work alone until 4 a.m., when an RN from a private agency was brought in. Thankfully, none of the 27 residents, including Judy, had a medical emergency, fall, or worse.

What is the Premier doing to ensure these homes are staffed to a level of safety and to a level that caregivers were promised for their loved ones?

Speaker, I think that the member opposite is forgetting that the health care system, as a whole, needs to co-operatively work together for the patient. That is our goal, as a government.

I point to Anthony Dale from the Ontario Hospital Association, in reference, specifically, to alternate-level-of-care patients. Health care providers in Ontario are committed to working collaboratively with patients, with substitute decision-makers, families and caregivers during any transition into patient care.

We are transitioning people into their homes with sufficient community care support. We are transitioning patients into long-term-care homes with sufficient support. We’re getting it done because we understand, at the end of the day, alternate-level-of-care patients deserve better than sitting in a hospital waiting for their next transition.

My question is back to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

I want to quote the Ontario Human Rights Commission:

“Access to cooling during extreme heat waves is a human rights issue....

“At most risk are people with disabilities, older people and low-income, Indigenous, Black and other racialized communities....

“This vulnerability is also compounded by social isolation and poverty....

“The Ontario Human Rights Commission calls on the government of Ontario to include air conditioning as a vital service, like the provision of heat, under RTA regulations....”

Over 500 people died in BC during their last heat wave, and the vast majority of them were elderly people who lived alone in un-air-conditioned apartments.

Will this government listen to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, make AC a vital service, and set a maximum temperature for homes?

I know the member opposite will vote against improvements in long-term care, because the member voted against the increases in long-term-care capacity in her own riding. Additional beds? The member voted against that.

What this legislation does specifically is ensure that, for somebody who is a patient in a hospital and about to be discharged, we’re able to match up an appropriate home. So exactly what the member is talking about is what the whole point of this bill is. Looking at the services a person needs if they’re going to be discharged from a hospital—does the long-term-care home have the services that patient needs to care for them properly, to care for them better? It also includes $5 million of support this year, right now, for behavioural services of Ontario. It includes $2.6 million of support for a partnership with Baycrest to have leading-edge behavioural services, and a $20-million local priorities fund to ensure that every home, frankly, has what the senior needs before they get there.

Ontario has more than 370,000 unfilled jobs, and there’s a rising need to replace retiring skilled tradespeople. A report from the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum suggests that Ontario needs to recruit 300,000 new skilled trades apprentices over the next decade just to keep up with the retirements.

Training new skilled trades workers must be a priority, and it’s crucial for us to promote the skilled trades among young people.

What is the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development doing to help more young people start careers in the skilled trades?

My constituents in Essex are very happy that this government and this minister are providing free training for 500 people from under-represented groups in the trades, especially women. How is this investment going to remove barriers specifically for women, and also remove barriers for other under-represented groups in the skilled trades, and get people into those well-paying jobs and those rewarding careers in the skilled trades?

I assure this minister that I will vote against his bad bills each and every time—as I will Bill 7.

Not repealing Bill 124 and the push to move residents from ALC to long-term care are not going to solve the issue. PSWs are nervous and they’re fearful that they’re not able to provide the care necessary.

Judy goes on to tell me that she’s worried for her neighbours, other seniors, and their caregivers who visit daily to fill in the gaps. Her request was clear.

Premier, when will you admit the reality of long-term care and support and protect health care workers whom residents like Judy depend on?

Interjections.

The supplementary question?

The member for Kitchener–Conestoga, come to order. The member for Niagara West, come to order.

Restart the clock.

Minister of Long-Term Care.

My question is to the Premier.

My constituent Summer has contacted my office to express concern about the high temperature in her apartment. A candle in her apartment even melted of its own accord. The temperature must have hit at least 46 degrees Celsius or higher to melt a paraffin candle. Speaker, people will pass out from heat exhaustion or even die from heatstroke in this temperature.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission recently ruled, “Access to cooling during extreme heat waves is a human rights issue.”

Will the Premier today obey the human rights commission of this province, make air conditioning a vital service, and establish a maximum temperature in apartments? If not, why not?

I want to thank the member from Essex for being such a strong voice for better jobs and bigger paycheques for the people of Essex.

Speaker, unlike those in other parties who want to “phase out” well-paying and in-demand careers, our government knows that our skilled trades workers are heroes and we need more of them. That is why we are leading the way with a historic investment of more than a billion dollars over the next three years. With this unprecedented funding increase, we’re working with employers and our labour partners to reduce the stigma around these meaningful careers and expand training opportunities.

Mr. Speaker, when you have a job in the trades, you really do have a job for life, and you can be damn proud of what you built.

Our government is working every day to spread opportunity more widely and fairly to every corner of this province.

Pre-apprenticeships, like the member mentioned, really do lift people up and help them move off of social assistance and into a meaningful career—people like Nattisha, a single mom who got to buy the tools she needed and try different trades in the construction industry through the Hammer Heads program. She’s now making $44.08 an hour, with a defined pension and benefits. It’s truly a life-changing career for Nattisha. She has been able to buy a car. I remember talking to her, and she told me that for the first time in her life, her two daughters look up to her.

Mr. Speaker, we need more life-changing stories like Nattisha’s. That’s why we’re working every day. We’re on a mission to get more people into these amazing careers.

Ma question est pour la ministre des Affaires francophones.

Monsieur le Président, la pandémie a eu des répercussions importantes sur les petites entreprises de toute la province, dont plusieurs dans les communautés francophones. Pour beaucoup, ils sont encore confrontés aujourd’hui à des défis dans le cadre des problèmes de chaîne d’approvisionnement économique mondiale. J’ai entendu des histoires d’électeurs de ma circonscription de Windsor–Tecumseh et de nombreuses entreprises et groupes communautaires francophones qui ont eu du mal à joindre les deux bouts pendant cette période et comptaient sur le soutien de notre gouvernement pour rester à flot. Nous devons nous assurer de donner des outils aux Ontariens, y compris les Franco-Ontariens, qui souhaitent contribuer à l’économie de notre province.

La ministre des Affaires francophones peut-elle expliquer ce que fait notre gouvernement pour soutenir les entreprises francophones alors que nous sortons de cette période d’incertitude économique?

En plus de la création du fonds de secours COVID-19, qui a soutenu les organismes francophones sans but lucratif pendant la pandémie, notre gouvernement a aussi bonifié le Programme d’appui à la francophonie ontarienne, le PAFO, en le doublant. Nous avons aussi mis sur pied la Stratégie de développement économique francophone, avec maintenant 38 programmes permettant de mieux appuyer les entrepreneurs francophones.

Le Programme d’appui à la francophonie ontarienne vise à soutenir le développement à long terme des communautés francophones de l’Ontario. Monsieur le Président, grâce à une enveloppe budgétaire maintenant de deux millions de dollars, ce programme appuie le dynamisme des communautés francophones au niveau local et au niveau régional.

De plus, l’accès à une main-d’oeuvre bilingue qualifiée est un défi réel pour nos entreprises, et c’est pour cette raison que notre gouvernement demande au gouvernement fédéral plus de contrôle sur l’immigration, pour qu’on puisse appuyer leur opération et leur croissance.

Mr. Speaker, since the 1990s, the involvement of women in the skilled trades has been less than 5% of the total workforce. A recent news article detailed the challenges many women in the trades face. Poor retention was identified as a contributing factor for the low number of women in the field. That’s why we must increase female representation in the skilled trades.

Ontario has a massive skilled jobs crisis, and we need all hands on deck to help us build a stronger province.

Through you, Mr. Speaker, can the Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity please inform the House of the progress made by our government in encouraging young women to enter the skilled trades?

Speaker, a career in skilled trades has countless benefits. Jobs in this field are in high demand, pay well, and will comprise 20% of jobs by 2025.

I recall travelling in Ottawa with the Minister of Labour in the previous legislative session. It was very inspiring to see so many young women in the trades when we visited IBEW as well as when I visited the steelworkers.

Mr. Speaker, can the minister please share details on the programs put in place by our government to raise awareness and encourage young women to consider a career in the skilled trades?

Thank you to the member from Carleton for the question.

Mr. Speaker, I recently spoke to a young woman named Sophie, who shared with me a time when she had left her partner and was left with no job, no home and no financial stability. When she was in a shelter, she was able to access their back-to-work program, which enabled her to enter the carpentry trade. Now she is a successful journeyperson and is on the job site. Her credo has been, “If you can see me, you can be me,” and she is inspiring other young women to enter the trades so that they can experience the same rewards and financial stability that she has.

Women like Sophie show us the progress that our investments and programs are making. And they need us to accelerate their efforts so that more women can follow in their footsteps and see further progress in changing the landscape of the trades.

I’ve said it before on this floor: Women belong in all places, in all spaces, and at every table. That includes a construction site.

Mr. Speaker, our government invested record amounts into the skilled trades strategy: $288 million in the 2021 budget; and $90 million in the 2021 fall economic statement; and not only that, but we have proposed an additional $114 million over the next three years through the 2022 budget. Within that, we’ve invested $22 million this year to enhance the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program. These investments will help women and girls to explore the skilled trades and set them on a path towards financial stability. As part of this funding, school boards can request additional funding to promote 14 trades in which women have been historically under-represented. That is why it is imperative that all members support the 2022 budget and help deliver the resources they need to not just get by in our economy but to get ahead in our economy.

Supplementary question?

Again, the member’s question gives me an opportunity to highlight the five-point plan that we have put in place and are driving towards efficiencies in innovation within our health care system—things like easing pressure on emergency departments by actually investing and launching new provincial emergency department peer-to-peer programs, investing over $300 million as part of the province’s surgical recovery.

We are encouraging innovation in our health care sector. Those ideas are coming forward for review and assessment, and we are making the investments to ensure people get the health care they need, when they need it, where they want it, which is in their community.

We have, through our actions, invested to ensure that today, right now, in the province of Ontario, there are 400 doctors practising in rural and northern Ontario who weren’t there three years ago.

We’ve invested to make sure that when internationally educated health care professionals want to practise in the province of Ontario and have submitted their application to the College of Nurses or the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario—we are acting to make sure that those are being assessed and given appropriate review quickly so that they can practise.

We know that there are people across Ontario who want to practise in health care in Ontario, and we’re expediting that process to ensure that we have those people in place where we need them.

My question is to the Premier.

Speaker, many of my constituents have reached out, horrified about creeping privatization and the overt destruction of our treasured public health care system under the Ford government.

Ryan wrote to me about how the care he received for his aortic stenosis would have cost at least $250,000. Without it, he would not be alive. He remains deeply thankful, but he worries about the deteriorating quality of health care and this government’s obvious movement towards profit-making in health care.

Will this government continue to destroy health care with their privatization agenda or finally fund health care and health care workers properly?

Underfunding health care by $1.8 billion last year was a destructive act, and so is Bill 124, and now the government claims the system they’ve been strangling is barely breathing. This government manufactured this crisis in order to promote privatization.

Heather wrote to me about her stepfather being pushed out of hospital into a for-profit long-term-care home, where they would then squeeze an additional $4,000 per month for his care.

Is this government morally and ethically comfortable padding the pockets of the private long-term-care industry and private, for-profit hospitals rather than fixing our public system and paying health care heroes what they deserve?

The supplementary question.

The division bells rang from 1144 to 1149.

All those in favour of the motion will please rise one at a time and be counted by the Clerk.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass as entitled in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

The House recessed from 1154 to 1500.

Report adopted.

I have a petition entitled “Stop Ford’s Health Care Privatization Plan.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontarians should get health care based on need—not the size of your wallet;

“Whereas Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones say they’re planning to privatize parts of health care;

“Whereas privatization will bleed nurses, doctors and PSWs out of our public hospitals, making the health care crisis worse;

“Whereas privatization always ends with patients getting a bill;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately stop all plans to further privatize Ontario’s health care system, and fix the crisis in health care by:

“—repealing Bill 124 and recruiting, retaining and respecting doctors, nurses and PSWs with better pay and better working conditions;

“—licensing tens of thousands of internationally educated nurses and other health care professionals already in Ontario, who wait years and pay thousands to have their credentials certified;

“—making education and training free or low-cost for nurses, doctors and other health care professionals;

“—incentivizing doctors and nurses to choose to live and work in northern Ontario;

“—funding hospitals to have enough nurses on every shift, on every ward.”

I fully support this petition and will add my name to my constituents who understand there is a crisis in health care in Ontario, and I will pass it to Evan to go to the table.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas our government was elected on commitment on keeping costs down and putting more money back in Ontarians’ pockets by increasing housing supply, making it less expensive to drive or take transit, and by providing relief on everything from child care to taxes; and

“Whereas the government is delivering on that commitment by:

“—reducing 5.7 cents per litre on the gas tax for six months starting July 1;

“—$120 each year in savings in southern Ontario and $60 per year savings in northern Ontario by eliminating licence plate renewal fees for passenger and light commercial vehicles;

“—$300 in additional tax relief in 2022, on average, for 1.1 million lower-income workers through the proposed low-income individuals and families tax credit enhancement;

“—scrapping tolls on Highways 412 and 418;

“—cutting child care costs by 50% on average by December of this year; and

“Whereas the government is reducing the cost of housing by:

“—increasing the non-resident speculation tax rate from 15% to 20% and expanding the tax beyond the greater Golden Horseshoe region to apply province-wide and closing loopholes to fight tax avoidance;

“—implementing reforms that reduce red tape associated with new housing builds, making it easier to build community housing, and speeding up the approval process; and

“Whereas this plan is working—last year, over 100,000 new homes began construction, the highest in more than 30 years in the province of Ontario;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the housing action plan of the Ontario PC government.”

I fully endorse this petition, will sign my name to it and give it to page Quaid.

“Whereas our government was elected with a plan to stay open by investing in hospitals, long-term-care homes and home care and Ontario’s health care workforce; and

“Whereas to accomplish this our government is:

“—investing $40 billion in capital over” the next “10 years for hospitals and other health” care “infrastructure to meet the challenges that ... lie ahead;

“—spending $764 million over two years to provide nurses with up to $5,000 retention bonuses;

“—investing $42.5 million over two years, beginning in 2023-24, to support the expansion of 160 undergraduate and 295 post-graduate positions, including at the new medical schools in Brampton and Scarborough;

“—investing an additional $1 billion in home care over three years;

“—shoring up domestic production of critical supplies and ensuring Ontario is prepared for future emergencies by committing, as of April 2022, more than $77 million of the Ontario Together Fund to leverage almost $230 million in investments to support manufacturing of Ontario-made personal protective equipment;

“—investing $3.5 billion over three years to support the continuation of over 3,000 hospital beds put in place during the pandemic, and $1.1 billion over three years to support the continuation of hundreds of new adult, pediatric and neonatal critical care beds added during COVID-19;

“—a new refundable Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit to help seniors aged 70 and older with eligible home care medical expenses to help people stay in their homes longer; and

“—a province-wide expansion to the community paramedicine program, enabling community paramedics to provide key non-emergent health care services within homes for eligible seniors;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to continue to make strategic investments in support of A Plan to Stay Open.”

I thoroughly endorse this petition, will sign my name to it and give it to page Juliet.

I beg leave to present a report from the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy and move its adoption.