My question is to the Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development. Constituents in my riding of Niagara West face a shortage of skilled trades, frankly, like we have never seen before. Families depend on these trades to maintain their homes, their vehicles and their businesses. Entrepreneurs and workers alike need these trades to build the products that we know will make us the envy of the world.

Education investments and skills development are crucial to keeping our local economies competitive and building up our skilled trades, so could the minister please tell this House what the government is doing to invest in and develop talent in the skilled trades?

What is our government doing to ensure that there is training for people in Lincoln, West Lincoln, Grimsby and across the Niagara region to make these projects a reality?

Speaker, to the Premier: During the provincial election, 11 people died in a climate pump storm system that charged through Ontario and Quebec. The climate crisis is deadly and yet the Premier has no credible climate plan. When will the Premier present a serious and funded plan to address the climate crisis?

I appreciate the minister’s response, but quite frankly, this government seems to still be stuck on step one. We need to stop only doing assessments and really begin to implement measures. “Get it done,” as you say.

The report says, “There is little evidence of adaptation being mainstreamed into decision-making.” Last week, at AMO, I attended session after session after session that highlighted the need for climate action to be tied to infrastructure. Municipalities are asking for this government to step up and actually start implementing climate strategies to create resilient communities.

Mr. Speaker, instead of forcing cities, municipalities, Indigenous communities and climate leaders to take action themselves in an attempt to safeguard their towns and homes, Queen’s Park needs to step up and create a climate framework for this province.

Will this government finally agree to add the lens of climate adaptation to their policies and decisions in order to help our municipal counterparts thrive and create truly resilient communities, and allow Ontario to adapt to the climate consequences that we have created?

I want to thank the member for Niagara West for that question and for his promotion of the well-paying careers in the skilled trades in the Niagara region. You’ve done heroic work down there—to the member. So I want to thank him for that.

Mr. Speaker, since day one, our government has been on a mission to get more people into the skilled trades. These careers are exciting, in-demand, come with good pay and benefits, often with a defined pension, and you can be damn proud of what you build. The skilled trade system, however, suffered massive neglect thanks to the former Liberal government.

Today, nearly one in three journeypersons are over the age 55 and will soon retire. That is why our government is making truly historic investments—in fact, over $1.5 billion over four years—to fix the problems that we inherited. Mr. Speaker, it’s all hands on deck, and we’re working with employers and unions every day to prepare more people for these lifelong careers.

Through our Skills Development Fund, we’re giving people right across Ontario the skills they need to fill in-demand jobs and earn bigger paycheques for themselves, but, most importantly, for their families.

Mr. Speaker, our government has an ambitious plan to build Ontario and we’re leaving nobody behind.

I appreciate the question from the member opposite.

The government is working diligently on building adaptation and resiliency. That’s why we were the first government to launch a climate change impact assessment, something that could have been done under the decade-plus rule of the previous government but wasn’t. We have launched that impact assessment to work with municipalities at a regional level to identify areas of vulnerability and act. That’s why our Minister of Infrastructure has invested historic dollars into rural municipalities, northern municipalities, and is working around the clock with her federal counterparts at making these historic investments.

Also, that member would know very well, coming from the Beaches, the record investment in stormwater and waste water investments under this Premier. In fact, I’ll quote the mayor, who said this was a “significant investment” to benefit and improve the lives of Toronto residents. That member knows that because, in her community, under the previous Liberal government, sewage was discharged in record amounts into Lake Ontario. This Premier is cleaning it up.

Step one is the platitudes that we heard from the previous government. Step two is meaningful action, making investments into municipalities, something this government has done. Thanks to the leadership of this Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, we have record partnerships, historic investments into the municipalities. Thanks to this Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, we’re creating clean, green jobs of the future, making record investments into the electrification of the automobile that’s breathing new life. We’re taking two million cars off the road thanks to partnering with Algoma and Dofasco, and those workers are staying right here in Ontario. You know where they would have gone? Step one for them was leaving the province, under the previous government.

Our government is taking meaningful action, attracting jobs and talent into this province, and we’re building a greener future—

Speaker, all they offer is doom and gloom, driving jobs out of this province. This Premier is building a cleaner, greener future.

They offer doom, gloom and misery. This Premier offers green jobs, opportunities for young boys or girls in the trades, and we’re proud of it.

This government will continue to make the historic investments into health care that we have since being elected. This starts with ensuring that we have health care workers across this province, and that is why we have put forward programs that will, as in the fall economic statement, invest over $342 million to add over 5,000 new and upskilled registered nurses and registered practical nurses, as well as an additional 8,000 personal support workers.

Mr. Speaker, this is on top of the investments we made to ensure that our health human resources across the province are appreciated by investing another $763 million to give up to $5,000 per person, which is almost equivalent to a 6% increase on the average salary to those health care workers in Ontario.

We will continue to make the necessary investments in health care and health human resources across the province.

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to make sure that health human resources and health care workers across this province are supported, and we will continue to make those investments by working with our stakeholders in the industry.

I want to thank the member from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston for a great question, and I want to assure him and everyone in the province that we’re going to have the power that we need for families and businesses when they need it.

Our government has a plan in place. We’ve extended the Pickering nuclear facility to 2025. We have a plan in place for when the Pickering facility is no longer operating, and we have a plan to power this province when it comes to electrification. Because of the unprecedented success that we’ve experienced with the leadership of our Premier and our Minister of Economic Development, we have electric vehicle platforms coming to Ontario now to build the cars of the future here. Those EV batteries that are going to power those cars are going to be constructed here in our province. World-leading green steel is going to be made right here in Ontario.

These successes are great news, and we know there are going to be more of them to come. We have a plan to power our province, including the world’s first grid-scale small modular reactor at Darlington.

I rise today for the first time in the House to address a question, and I’d like to raise it to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

While former Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty mused about implementing a strong-mayor system, it is strange to see why current Liberal members now question its value. At the time, Premier McGuinty and the then Liberal cabinet were dismayed at what they saw at Toronto city council. They were concerned about the lack of action taken by city council to cut through red tape on behalf of their constituency.

We must act now and empower mayors so there is no further delay on priority projects. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing inform the House how the strong-mayor legislation will ensure the mayors of the city of Toronto and Ottawa have the tools they need to support Ontario and deliver the results that their communities need?

Strong mayoral powers are needed now more than ever to cut through the red tape and move priority projects forward. Year after year, new studies, reports and commission findings say the same thing: We are falling behind on building homes, and immediate action needs to happen.

My constituents want more home options, from empty nesters looking to downsize to young couples looking to find a home to raise their family. We must build more homes of all kinds. To do that, we must streamline.

Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing doing to get more housing built across the 444 municipalities in the province?

I want to thank the member for Scarborough Centre for that question and congratulate him on taking his place in the Legislative Assembly.

He is absolutely right: We’re giving mayors the tools they need to get it done because we know that municipal governments play a crucial role in determining housing supply.

The reality is, Speaker, over one third of the growth expected in the next decade will take place in the cities of Toronto and Ottawa. These changes will help drive increased housing supply in growing municipalities by speeding up local planning approvals and helping the councils with their discussions to be effective on provincial priorities. We need to empower local leaders with the tools they need to get shovels in the ground. We’re counting on them to cut red tape and get housing built faster so families can realize the dream of home ownership.

We know that there’s no silver bullet that’s going to solve the housing supply crisis. The province remains a strong partner in getting more homes built faster and making sure our promise to Ontarians that we’re going to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years.

Our housing supply action plan implementation team will draw on the work of the Housing Affordability Task Force to advise on the policies and the tools that we need to put in place to get housing built faster. The team is going to work with experts, including municipal leaders and industry members, on how to best implement the recommendations from the housing supply task force. We stand ready to support municipalities to get shovels in the ground that are committed to growth and to cutting red tape.

Supplementary question.

Through you, Mr. Speaker, to the Minister of Energy: Ontario has one of the cleanest electricity systems in the world, with over 90% of generation creating zero emissions. This clean grid is the envy of nations around the world, and should be a point of pride for Ontarians.

We heard earlier this week from the Minister of Energy on how nuclear power will continue to be the backbone of this clean grid. I’ve heard from my constituents, who are looking for certainty that our province will have the power we need, particularly as we continue to secure new investments and as we prepare for the Pickering nuclear generating station to go off-line.

Through you to the minister: What is our government doing to ensure we have our clean, affordable and reliable power we need to support our growing economy?

We all know that under the former Liberal government, jobs and investment were fleeing the province every single day as electricity prices were increasing by 8% a year.

We know that to support electrification and economic growth, we need to continue our track record of keeping prices low. With an increasing population, growing economy, widespread adoption of electric vehicles and the electrification of public transit systems and major industrial processes, demand for electricity will continue to increase.

Speaker, what is the minister doing to ensure we have an affordable electricity supply that will support new companies, new investments and new jobs coming to Ontario?

I appreciate the question from the honourable gentleman because it helps give me an opportunity to highlight the really great work that this caucus has done, being the actual first government to reduce auto insurance rates across the province of Ontario by $1.3 billion. Now, we went a bit further than that. We didn’t just stop at reducing insurance rates, we then lowered the gas tax. Colleagues, you will remember who voted against that gas tax deduction. It was them.

Then, Mr. Speaker, when we took the tolls off of the 412 and 418. You remember the tolls that the Liberals put on, supported by the NDP? They actually were against that. And then when we took the extra step of refunding and eliminating those stickers on the backs of cars—you know, those little stickers that you had to get, it was $120. They were against it and voted against putting more money back in the pockets of the people of the province of Ontario.

So it’s not just about insurance that we reduced by $1.3 billion; it is about all of the other ways that we’ve made life more affordable for the people of the province of Ontario. Unfortunately, they voted against it. But we’ll continue on doing that job.

My question is to the Premier. I was recently written a letter from one of my constituents. They actually provided, quite honestly, some very sad news. They received some communication from their medical health care provider, their primary doctor, who is actually asking them to find a new doctor after 17 years of being their primary physician. What the doctor said to the patient was that his workload is untenable, it’s unmanageable, and that he has to reduce the workload. So out of a randomized system that’s set out by the College of Physicians and Surgeons, they’ve selected 262 patients—anonymized—and they sent out the same letter to those patients telling them to find a new doctor in their neighbourhood. That represents a reduction of 40% of patients in that clinic now.

My constituent went about asking community members for referrals and none of them were able to help them. The medical care professionals said to them, “We’re not taking new patients.”

What will this government do, what will the Premier do, to stop this dumping of patients by medical professionals because they can’t manage the workload? What can you do for my constituent and the—

What is the government going to do to address the current health care crisis? What do I say—what do we all say—to this particular constituent or to an Ontarian who is looking for a family doctor? What do we say to the other families that are looking for primary care professionals? We are in a health care crisis, and I don’t think this government is taking it seriously. We need help; our constituents need help. What can you do to help them today?

My question is for the Premier. GTA drivers in my community and many others are still being gouged on their auto insurance—drivers like Yavuz Selim who cannot afford auto insurance, impacting job opportunities and his quality of life; drivers like Deepak who pays $9,000 a year for two cars despite a 20-year clean driving record.

Just before the election, I co-sponsored an NDP bill to end postal code discrimination in the GTA and it received unanimous support, but this government did not pass it into law. I will be tabling the bill again this afternoon. Will the Premier pass it into law so we can finally end auto insurance postal code discrimination in the GTA?

Amendments require the chief executive officer of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario to refuse to approve a risk classification system used in determining the rates for each coverage and category of automobile insurance if the system considers the geographic region as a determinant and fails to consider the greater Toronto area as a single geographic area. The amendment also prohibits insurers from entering into contracts of insurance that provide for insurance rates that were determined based on such a risk classification system.

M. Mantha propose la première lecture du projet de loi suivant :

Bill 13, An Act to enact the Northern Health Travel Grant Advisory Committee Act, 2022 / Projet de loi 13, Loi édictant la Loi de 2022 sur le Comité consultatif des subventions aux résidents du Nord de l’Ontario pour frais de transport à des fins médicales.

Thank you.

The next question?

Minister of Health.

Opposition come to order.

The next question.

The House recessed from 1142 to 1300.

First reading agreed to.

Mr. Rakocevic moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 12, An Act to amend the Insurance Act to prevent discrimination with respect to automobile insurance rates in the Greater Toronto Area / Projet de loi 12, Loi modifiant la Loi sur les assurances pour empêcher la discrimination en ce qui concerne les taux d’assurance-automobile dans le Grand Toronto.

First reading agreed to.

First reading agreed to.

The member for Barrie–Innisfil has moved government notice of motion number 4.

I recognize the member for Barrie–Innisfil.

My question is to the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. With inflation rates at nearly 10%—it costs more for groceries, more at the pumps, more for everything—across the province Ontarians are feeling the pinch. As the cost of life’s essentials increases, the hardest hit are those on fixed incomes, including those on the Ontario Disability Support Program. I heard it frequently at the door from my constituents in Windsor–Tecumseh. I’m sure there isn’t a member of this House who hasn’t seen it first-hand in their own ridings.

My question is simple: Can the minister tell us what the government is doing to support ODSP recipients as the cost of living goes up?

Speaker, can the minister explain more about this government’s investment to improve our system and what it will mean for ODSP recipients?

Ms. McMahon moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill Pr2, An Act to revive 405456 Ontario Limited.

It is, of course, very disturbing when medical doctors, for workload or for retirement, have to make that difficult decision and share with their patients that they are decreasing or retiring in the practice.

However, as a government, we have been investing. We have an additional 400 doctors practising in the province of Ontario now that we did not have. We have worked with the College of Physicians and Surgeons to say, “If there are internationally trained doctors who want to practise in the province of Ontario, let’s expedite those licences.” We’re doing the work here to make sure that individuals have access to the appropriate care where they need it.

I hope the member opposite would have ensured that their constituent is aware of Health Care Connect, to make sure that the matching between patients and doctors has already occurred. But there are opportunities through community health clinics, through family health clinics, that they make sure that those assets and resources are in their constituents’ hands.

Again, I want to thank the member for a great question. He’s absolutely right: Demand is going to continue to grow as we continue to see these tremendous, unprecedented investments made in our province.

That’s why we have the SMR project, enough to power 300,000 homes with one small modular reactor. It’s why we’ve gone through this competitive procurement process for new electricity generation.

The member is absolutely right: Under the Liberal government, the price of electricity went up and up and up. But under these competitive procurements that we’ve been able to secure electricity for the future, we’ve seen the price go down, down, down, saving ratepayers in our province 30% under these new contracts.

We also have 55 companies from around the world that have submitted to provide energy to our province, many in the battery storage area.

We’re working with the Independent Electricity System Operator to ensure we have the power that we need, when we need it. Like the previous Liberal government did—they helped out their friends; we’re providing on the experts to give us the advice we need to—

Thank you to the member for the question. We are taking it very seriously. This government wants to ensure that everyone in this province has access to a family physician, whether you are living in northern Ontario, rural Ontario or underserved areas within the GTA. That’s why we are taking measures to ensure that we are training more and more doctors by opening the new Brampton medical school, the Scarborough integrated medical school, as well as expanding the Queen’s Lakeridge Health centre. These are all measures we are taking to ensure we have more doctors for the future.

We’re also expanding the medical seats in this province. This is the first time this has been done in over a decade. There will be 160 undergraduate seats and 295 postgraduate seats.

This government takes this very seriously. We want to ensure every Ontarian has access to doctors and proper health care resources across this province. We will continue to work together with this and ensure that everyone has access to these resources.