Further debate?

Oh, are you sharing your time? I apologize. I didn’t hear that.

The Leader of the Opposition.

Speaker, before I begin, I want to say congratulations to you. Welcome back. It’s good to have you in this chair.

I also want to congratulate all the new members. We’ve got some incredible members on our side here, who I’m so proud of.

To the rest of us coming back—it’s an honour.

Regardless of political stripes—I listened this morning to the member from Ajax’s stories about her parents. It reminds me of myself and the campaigns that we ran, which are sometimes filled with your parents, your family members, your friends, and new friends and allies that you make over the weeks and months and years. It’s really incredible for us to be here, because a lot of people put their heart and soul in the work that they do to bring us here. A lot of people in our ridings put their faith in us to come back here and serve them, to serve our communities, to serve the ridings that we represent and to serve this amazing province that has given us the opportunities.

When I was listening to the throne speech—first, I want to say that I appreciated the way it started, because it talked about the people of this land, the Indigenous people, and the work that we need to do to reconcile. I am so privileged and honoured to sit next to my colleague from Kiiwetinoong, who teaches all of us and teaches me about not just the history but the realities that people continue to face in some of the regions in Ontario, in our province, in many of the communities; we don’t have to go far.

I have a healing lodge that’s going to be built in my riding of Scarborough Southwest, so I understand a little bit, working with the community, in terms of the work that we need to do to really look at truth and reconciliation. I don’t think the word “reconciliation” itself has been defined in the way that a lot of Indigenous leaders and community members want it to be defined, to see the action that’s necessary.

I was impressed to see that there was a good start, because it understood or at least reflected on the realities and acknowledged the hurt and pain that have been felt by many of the parents and grandparents of the Indigenous community members. However, when I talked to my colleague and we listened to the rest of the throne speech, we were, I think, shocked—maybe not fully shocked, fully surprised. Because when we heard about the Ring of Fire and the way that we need to talk to, we need to consult with, we need to take the leadership of Indigenous community members—that still needs to be done by this government. There is a lot of work that’s missing when we do any sort of work.

Something that we have fought for and we continuously fight for is the work that needs to be done to provide clean drinking water, to provide housing, to provide mental health support. I could not find a lot of those words that were necessary in the throne speech. That is so urgent, that is so critical, to make sure that—talking about reconciliation, talking about truth. You have to have that. You have to make sure that you are providing the day-to-day things that are the basic human rights. I mean, clean drinking water—come on.

Those are the commitments that we should have made not just in the previous terms, but before that. So I expect some of that in this government, and I hope that we can work together to make sure that we take the leadership from those who are in those spaces and do the necessary work that everyone across this province has entrusted us to do, has sent us here to do.

In the throne speech, there are also quite a few other topics that I think sometimes have a really good—it’s sort of buttered, in a way. It sounds beautiful. This government is really good at that. We saw this in the previous government as well, where you see the name of a bill and you think, “Well, there might be something that’s working for workers.” But then you look at the real meat of that and—surprise, surprise—it does the exact opposite of what the title even says to do.

I hope I have enough time to talk about this, because I have to begin with the health care system. It’s the crisis that we’re facing right now. Some time ago, I was reading a book about the health care systems across the world and some of the countries that see Canada as to be envied. They envy the system, this pride that we have. Just this afternoon, I believe, or after question period, one of the things the health minister said was that all options are on the table when she was asked about privatization, when she was asked about what kind of options are available in terms of what you would do to address the health care crisis. I have to say it is very concerning to hear the Minister of Health even hint towards privatization, because what we really need right now—we have the solutions available to us. We have the ideas. We have the leaders in our health care system telling us exactly what we need to do. And here we are. We have a Minister of Health and we have a government that’s looking at—I don’t know why.

I don’t want to anticipate anything, but in the way it’s going, the way that this government looks at this crisis, or denies that there is a crisis, and then hints towards privatization—there is something inherently wrong with the way of our thinking, our psyche. There is something really wrong about that, because so many people across the world see our health care system as a model, and here we are with ER closures. We had, I think, 24 or 25 hospitals that had closures over the long weekend—we had SickKids hospital, a kids’ hospital. The fact that children have to not just wait for hours—we were already bad. And trust me, I know someone is going to heckle and say, “Well, it was the Liberals’ fault.” We had an emergency that was already in long wait times, but the fact that right now we’re facing ER closures is problematic. We’re talking about children.

My colleague from Waterloo talked about the fact that there was someone on the phone trying to figure out whether they were going to provide support to someone giving birth, or CPR for a choking baby. Those are the choices you’re asking a health care worker to make, and those are the options that you’re giving the people of this province, who have entrusted you to represent them. When you look at that and you think that there isn’t a crisis, there is something inherently wrong about that.

I was at the OFL rally just the other day—and I know that CUPE Ontario has given over, I believe, 30,000 letters. There were so many workers from across the health care sector and other sectors. Every single one I have talked to has asked for a few things, and one of them is to repeal Bill 124. It is fundamentally wrong to call these people essential workers—health care workers who have been working day and night, who have sacrificed their lives to protect us—and here we have a government that’s telling them, “Even though we call you heroes, you’re not good enough to have a raise. You’re not good enough to benefit from the basic things that you need: health care benefits, good benefits so that you can have a good life and a good wage for your family. You’re not good enough. You’re heroes when it comes to providing the care, but we’re not going to pay you enough.” That is fundamentally what this government is telling them.

When we talk about paid sick days, I have heard from members opposite who talk about solutions. We are giving you solutions right here. These are specific things this government can do right now. They can do them today. Repeal Bill 124. Give them paid sick days. We’ve been calling for it over and over. I believe the member from London West has now proposed it a third time. Many of us on this side proposed it in the last term, and I know there are so many people across this province who have called for it. So many health care workers, so many doctors and nurses, on national media, have called for it. And here we are—“Nope, you can’t have paid sick days.”

Another solution I can give you is making sure that you actually give them good working conditions. It’s just mind-boggling; I can’t even believe that’s actually something I have in my notes, because it should be common sense.

I have proposed a bill in this House—Bill 98, which this government passed on second reading and then just stalled—to recognize internationally trained workers who have come here with a dream and hope, who have been given that hope by the federal government and been recognized by the federal government through the point system, but then when they come to the province, the province tells them no. “That recognition that you got from the federal government—those points? They don’t count. Your skills and your credentials are not good enough.” Not only that, but they have many barriers that they have to go through in order to be recognized, in order to get the credentials necessary. Some of those barriers include the fact that they have a huge financial cost. You’re telling a new immigrant who is trying to survive on a wage, trying to put food on the table, trying to pay rent, trying to provide for their family—on top of that, you’re telling them to get re-educated and get the certificates, and the experience, by the way, in order to get a job in a field that they have worked in for, let’s say, five, 10, 15 years. That is the cycle that we go through. We tell these people that they have to get experience, but then when they try to get that experience, they’re told to get experience.

Do you see, Speaker, where this doesn’t make any sense? I know many of the members opposite will also hear from community members who go through this. I know you’re sitting on the chair right now, Speaker. You have community members who have gone through this, who come with the hopes and dreams of practising.

There are a lot of health care workers who are nurses, who are doctors, who have the skills that we need right now. We have a shortage in our communities right now.

In 2020, this government promised that they were going to recognize internationally educated nurses. Let me tell you, Speaker, what happened. Of these IENs who were promised that they would go through it, only 2,000 actually became registered nurses, from the 14,633 who tried. That is the gap we face when we give these people this hope.And the continuous announcements, by the way—this government is great for radio commercials. They’re great for propping themselves up. But when it comes to the reality, this is what actually happens. These are the real numbers of people who actually get through the actual roadblocks. You’re not recognizing them fast enough.

The other day, the Minister of Health decided, “Do you know what? I’m going to just leave it on the colleges and say, ‘Well, recognize them’”—how do you say this word?

Further debate?

“‘Expeditiously.’” Pardon my English.

You’re telling them, “You have two weeks to come up with a plan,” when we on this side—I know that the member from Nickel Belt and I have worked together on this. We have worked together with stakeholders. We have worked together with nurses, with the internationally trained professionals’ network, with so many different stakeholders and colleges, and have asked them, “What do you need? How do we do this together?”

That’s exactly what Bill 98 asked for, as well, Speaker. It said, “Here are the types of people who are included, who are involved in this. Let’s come up with a solution and make sure that we can provide the exact steps that they need. Let’s give them practice-ready assessments. Let’s make sure that they’re able to get some real training and experience that they need in order to work. Let’s make sure that we get rid of the financial barriers they have.”

Instead of providing any of those, here you are, making announcements and telling the colleges to come up with something overnight, when again and again you’re hearing about ER closures across this province. In Toronto, there’s Michael Garron Hospital and SickKids hospital. We have heard from the University Health Network. We have heard from other parts of the province who have gone through this. We heard it in Ottawa. It is just continuously happening, and here we are, not even recognizing that it’s a crisis, let alone coming up with the solutions or implementing any of the solutions we have proposed.

Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time, but I wanted to talk more about the fact that this throne speech didn’t even touch on the climate crisis, the fact that it didn’t even have the words “climate crisis,” and the reality that we’re facing across this province. There are countries that have flooded, there are provinces that have flooded, and the reality that we are facing—

Expeditiously.

Further debate?

Speaker, I am honoured to rise today in this historic building, in this extraordinary chamber—this chamber that serves the great people of Ontario—to deliver my inaugural speech. There are many people to thank and many to congratulate today. My sincere congratulations to you, Speaker, on your re-election to this distinct role.

To my colleagues, newly elected and returning members on both sides of the aisle: Congratulations to you all. Putting your name forward on a ballot, going through the election process and receiving the support of your family, friends and volunteers is truly a unique experience, one I believe is a test of our dedication and commitment to our communities. Bravo to all of you for your strength, both mentally and physically. Well done.

I recall being a young girl and always having the desire to help others. As I reflect on those early years, I realize the impact my father had on me. He was an Anglican priest, and I recall listening to his sermons every Sunday and watching him care for his parishioners and his most vulnerable community members: the sick, the suffering, the hungry, the homeless. I was always in awe of the profound, positive impact he had on the lives of others.

I believe that at my core, I knew I wanted to make a positive impact on others, albeit from a different perspective. For me, it was how I could help others achieve their goals, to be the best possible person they could be while making our community stronger.

Speaker, the community I am proud and honoured to represent in this chamber is the riding of Newmarket–Aurora. I have called this community my home for over 13 years. It is where my husband and I have raised our son. It is where our son learned how to ice skate and swim at the local community centre, the Aurora Family Leisure Complex. This is where our son met his best friend when he was three years old and our families became fast friends.

My riding has a population of more than 115,000 and is located in central York region. It has an urban feel with an amazing small-town charm which propelled my husband and I to settle in this great community. On a historical note, during the 1820s, the village was transformed into an extensive market centre for the settled region, thus the name, “new market.” Newmarket’s historic downtown Main Street was named the people’s choice best street in Canada in 2016. It is identified as one of the Golden Horseshoe’s 25 urban growth centres in Ontario’s A Place to Grow growth plan. Main Street is a great attraction for shopping, dining, for great parades and festivals, like the Santa Claus parade, York Pride parade and the Canada Day Kanata festival.

There are many features that I love in my community. I will raise two of my favourite features. Firstly, the historical significance of my riding, from the notable architecture and heritage sites, like the Newmarket’s Old Town Hall that serves as a community gathering location today, to the Canadian National Railway building and former station that serves as the office of the Newmarket Chamber of Commerce today, to the Elman. W. Campbell Museum, formerly the North York Registry Office, and to the Hillary House built in 1862 and is a national historic site known as one of Canada’s best remaining examples of Gothic revival architecture. Please come and visit the Hillary House as you will have the opportunity to see original instruments and equipment used in medical practice from the era of leeches and bloodletting to the development of antibiotics by the Canadian physicians who inhabited this home over a century ago.

The second great feature is the love of sports. Aurora is the home of its very own sports hall of fame. They have 42 honoured members, including four new inductees in 2022. Some of our local famers include Mike Murphy, who played on the Canadian hockey team, the New York Rangers and the LA Kings; to Dan Thompson, a butterfly specialist who has won many swim medals, including gold in the 1978 Commonwealth Games, silver in the 1979 Pan Am Games and was the team captain of the 1980 Canadian Olympic team.

Yes, I am very proud of my community, from our local history, culture and diversity with a visible minority population of more than 28%. I am also so happy to share that we have the very first Black community centre in all of York region. This is the result of the successes of NACCA, Newmarket African Caribbean Canadian Association; and to an association that celebrates sport in all its forms, including age, gender and ability, thank you, Sport Aurora for recognizing and promoting sport in our community.

Our local hospital, Southlake Regional Health Centre, has advanced regional programs in cancer care and cardiac care.

And to our local businesses: Restaurants like Wicked Eats in Aurora, who opened in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Owner Robert Stewart was that brave entrepreneur who had a vision. He included in his business plan a catering food truck service to compliment his restaurant services.

Cachet Supper Club: Great restaurant in the heart of Newmarket, at the bottom of Main Street. Owner Jenn McLachlan pivoted during COVID to provide online cooking classes and developed an application to support the “deliver eh” business model.

Our great retailers and our manufacturing businesses: One of many great examples is Wolfpack Packaging Inc., who has been in Newmarket for 20 years producing corrugated box manufacturing while inspiring eco-consciousness by working with moulded fibre to make their products fully recyclable and biodegradable. Happy to say, this business is growing as they recently acquired another business positioning itself as a top leader in Canada’s packaging industry.

This is just a very small sampling of the innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship and investments in a sustainable future that are happening in my riding—businesses providing jobs and helping our local economy grow.

Yes, this community has given me and my family so much, especially a sense of belonging. I thank my great community for their support and for entrusting me with this phenomenal honour to be their voice at the provincial table. I would like to thank Ivan, my husband, and Robert, our son, for their support over these years, especially during the election campaign. They are, and will always be, my rock.

There are many people from my campaign who stayed here today all this time—thank you very much—who helped me achieve this honour: Ryan Puviraj, Blake Koehler, Sandra Manherz, Paul de Roos, Marisa Patricelli, Angelica Cruz, Daniel Goutovets, Bruce Yu, Sharada Sunil, Daniel Zhang, Mary Rice, Novelette Hart, Matthew Hart, Richard Wells, Katie Gilligan, Mike Vasiliou, Joanne Beatty, Darryl Wolk, Adam Mobbs, Karen Hall, Rachel Song, Aamir Khan, Toni Akalu and Ava and Mahta Gharai. And, to my amazing girlfriend support: Teresa Kruze, Marcia Mowatt and Kim Madore, as well as many others.

I must also give a shout-out to my sister Kerry Lubrick for her support. We do not see eye to eye when it comes to politics; however, she set party politics aside and helped my team get out the vote. That is true sisterly love.

Speaker, today I would like to provide a distinctive thanks and special appreciation to my predecessor, Christine Elliott. I know this house is very familiar with Christine. She served the people of this province for 14 years and earned many accolades. For the past four years, she represented our riding of Newmarket–Aurora. I met Christine in 2018 and got to know her during the 2018 election. She is truly kind, intelligent and the most humane person I have ever met. She always thinks of others and worked hard to advocate for persons with special abilities. Over the past four years, I had the honour of working alongside MPP Christine Elliott. There were many great opportunities to connect and support local residents and non-profits.

I think about the priorities our government made in February 2021 to combat human trafficking, protect victims and potential victims, and provide supports for survivors. As part of this strategy, the province invested more than $3.8 million over five years to create two new community-based programs in Newmarket–Aurora. These programs are being delivered by BridgeNorth and Cedar Centre and will provide specialized supports to help children and youth heal and rebuild their lives.

In June 2021, I supported MPP Elliott as she announced our government’s plan to build a modern, connected mental health and addiction system that serves Ontarians. We expanded mental health services for children and youth in Newmarket–Aurora by providing more than $668,000 to five support centres in our community to add counselling and therapy staff to support high-needs therapy, prevention work and crisis counselling. In addition, Southlake Regional Health Centre received an investment of $6.5 million to support the expansion of the adult in-patient mental health unit, which added 12 new beds that will better address the demand for mental health supports and services for patients and families in my community.

Other great occasions included the Ontario Trillium Foundation Resilient Communities Fund grant announcements, some of which went to helping our local York Curling Club, our local arts organization Shadowpath, and the John Howard Society of York Region, as well as the Newmarket Food Pantry, who used the funds to install a community kitchen. All these organizations were supported with this special funding, as they provide important services to our community members.

Just this past April, our government announced how we are working for workers locally, by investing a total of $3.9 million in two Newmarket organizations offering innovative projects to train and upskill workers in our community. The Newmarket Chamber of Commerce developed a program to support new and existing entrepreneurs to ensure acceleration and growth. Fair Chance Learning developed an online learning program platform enabling participants to earn in-demand, industry-recognized micro-credentials. These types of resilient programs support individuals to be more employable, with future-ready skills that respond to labour market demands.

I commit to building on the strong foundation Christine left us, and I will work with community members, not-for-profits and local businesses to make sure that Newmarket–Aurora is the best place to live, work and raise a family.

Monsieur le Président, il y a quelques semaines, j’ai eu une conversation avec une résidente locale au sujet du bilinguisme. Depuis que j’étais jeune, j’ai bien aimé la langue française. Dans ma 11^e année, à l’école secondaire, j’ai visité Montréal avec ma classe de géographie. C’était une visite géniale. À ce moment-là, j’ai décidé que je voulais devenir bilingue pour bien communiquer avec les francophones. J’avais complété quelques programmes d’immersion au Québec, j’ai étudié le français à l’école et puis j’ai passé un an à Paris afin de bien améliorer mes compétences en français. Franchement, c’était la meilleure année de ma vie—bien entendu, avant ma vie avec mon mari et notre fils.

Dans ma circonscription électorale de Newmarket–Aurora, nous avons un taux de bilinguisme qui est de plus de 8 %. Cela veut dire qu’il y a plus de 10 000 personnes qui sont bilingues dans ma communauté. Un très bon exemple, c’est un organisme incorporé sans but lucratif qui s’appelle Communauté du Trille blanc. Ils ont commencé en 2019 avec le but d’offrir un environnement et une qualité de vie en langue française aux personnes âgées de la grande région de York.

Je voudrais remercier notre ministre des Affaires francophones pour tout le support donné à notre communauté francophone.

En décembre 2021, la Loi sur les services en français modernisée reçoit la sanction royale. Nous avons voulu améliorer l’accès aux services de qualité en français pour la communauté francophone de l’Ontario, qui est en pleine croissance.

En mars 2021, j’étais tellement heureuse que notre gouvernement ait investi plus de 2 millions de dollars pour soutenir le tourisme francophone, aidant ainsi la communauté franco-ontarienne à continuer de contribuer au secteur touristique diversifié de la province. Il y a plus de 620 000 francophones vivant en Ontario. Il s’agit de la plus importante population de francophones au Canada à l’extérieur du Québec. L’Ontario continue d’être une destination de choix pour les voyageurs francophones nationaux et internationaux. Selon les données les plus récentes de 2019, l’Ontario a enregistré 232 000 visites touristiques en provenance de la France et 4,5 millions de visites touristiques en provenance du Québec.

Alors, voilà la raison pour laquelle je crois que le bilinguisme est important et fort en Ontario, même dans ma circonscription de Newmarket–Aurora.

Speaker, I believe that my education and life experiences, coupled with my 25-plus-year private sector career and the past four years working alongside my predecessor, have afforded me and led me to this great opportunity to be standing here in this awesome chamber today.

To the residents of Newmarket–Aurora, I think back to that young girl who wanted to help others achieve their goals. I am honoured and privileged to realize my dream of serving you and ensuring our community grows stronger.

I would like to close my inaugural speech today by quoting a great role model in my life, Ruth Gallagher, my mother, who was always full of life and radiated positive energy, “Count your many blessings. Count them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” Speaker, I have more than 115,000 blessings that I can count who are dwelling in my great community of Newmarket–Aurora. Thank you. Merci.

First, I want to start off by congratulating everyone back in the chamber but especially the new members who are here with their inaugural speeches. The member for Newmarket–Aurora, I did listen intently to your inaugural speech. You had mentioned that you had 25 years of experience in the private sector. As a question, what was that career and how does that experience inform you in the work that you’ll be doing in the Legislature?

Questions and responses?

Thank you very much, Speaker. First, I want to congratulate the new member from Newmarket–Aurora. Not only was the member from Barrie–Springwater–Oro-Medonte born there, but on July 1 of last year, our youngest granddaughter was born at Southlake. Ruby Alice Yakabuski was born there, as our son and his fiancée live in Newmarket as well.

You and I really hadn’t met at all until you became a candidate. I remember asking the former MPP and our deputy leader and health minister, Christine Elliott, “Are you happy with the candidate?” A big smile came across her face. And now, when you talk about the long-term relationship and the friendship that you’ve had, I understand it perfectly. I’m just glad to have you here, and if you would like to expand a little bit more on your relationship with Christine Elliott, I’d love to hear that as well.

I just want to welcome the member for Newmarket–Aurora into this House, this very special place. I was in Newmarket–Aurora just a couple of months ago for a Pride parade, a Pride march. I was invited by the Newmarket–Aurora NDP. It was lovely, a great event. It’s also a really great, beautiful community. It was fun to see that.

I wanted to ask the member if she might comment. I know she was the office manager for the former MPP. I wonder if she might give us advice, particularly for some of the newer folks here as well—her number one piece of advice for serving the constituents in the community.

Thank you for your question. I’m happy to hear about your lovely experience of being born at our Southlake hospital. In fact, I’d love to make a comment about one of the great things our government just announced in April: a $5-million planning grant for Southlake hospital, to plan towards a two-site location. Our community has been growing immensely, and I’m sure my colleague is aware of that. Our community has grown immensely, and the hospital has not grown with it. Our government has put the funding in place to help Southlake regional hospital realize the next step of where we need to go to support our growing community.

J’ai étudié le français à l’école depuis que j’étais jeune, mais je suis allée à Western, à London, Ontario. Avec les deux programmes d’immersion que j’avais faits au Québec, j’ai toujours senti que mon français n’était pas assez bien. Donc, je me suis dit : « Comment est-ce que tu vas apprendre le français très, très bien? Ah, je vais aller à Paris. » Mes parents n’étaient pas trop contents avec cette idée-là. Cependant, moi, j’ai pensé que c’était génial de le faire. Donc, je suis allée à Paris. J’étais une fille au pair pour m’aider à payer les dépenses. Donc, voilà. J’ai passé une très bonne année là.

Christine and I met in 2018. We didn’t know one another, but we had so much in common. We became, how shall I say, fast friends. I would put it that way. She asked me to work for her, to support her in the community, and right away, I said yes. What a great way to get to know my community but through the constituency office. It afforded me the great opportunity to be at her side throughout our community: these funding announcements I’ve mentioned, to also meeting George Markow, a gentleman who was turning 100 years old. He made a decision that he wanted to raise $100,000 by the time he turned 100. Well, sure enough, Christine and I went there. We heard his stories of how he came to Canada. It was back in the 1940s. He got away from Russia and the German camp. I’ll tell you, it was an amazing story. Christine and I were just in awe.

Report continues in volume B.

I recognize the member from Barrie–Springwater–Oro-Medonte.

What a lovely speech. I listened intently, and it was wonderful. As somebody who was born at the Newmarket hospital, I would like to say that I really appreciate your representation there. I spent a lot of time in the Newmarket area when Green Lane was a dirt road and went down to one lane there. Those who are from there will remember that; it’s not anymore.

I went to high school in Bradford, but spent some time at Huron Heights hanging out with friends. We won’t speak of what we did in particular; it’s probably not fit for public consumption. But I would like to hear from you some of the wonderful things from your riding that you really appreciate in the Newmarket–Aurora area.

Premièrement, c’était un grand plaisir de vous entendre cet après-midi. Félicitations d’avoir été gagnante ici. Vous m’avez donné le courage d’essayer de parler en français. J’aime la langue, comme vous. C’est quelque chose que tous les députés doivent pratiquer, même si leur niveau n’est pas aussi haut que le vôtre.

Aussi, c’était une grande surprise d’apprendre que votre soeur est Kerry Lubrick, parce que nous avons travaillé un peu ensemble à Hamilton. C’est une famille que je voudrais travailler avec parce que je sais que vous avez le coeur pour les gens et aussi le courage de suivre vos convictions—

Questions and responses?