We’ll move to the questions.

Thank you, Speaker. It’s good to see you in the chair.

I really appreciate the conversation today, and I really appreciate the suggestions made by the opposition also in what could be in a red tape bill. I was just wondering if I could ask one of the members who spoke from the government side what it means to be a part of a government that has committed to having two red tape bills come out every year, because change is incremental. If there’s one thing I think we can all admit is when a government chooses to do massive changes very quickly, it often leads to unforeseen consequences that can have to be fixed later.

By making small, continuous, ongoing changes to reduce red tape in the province of Ontario in so many different areas, I just have to ask, because I find it very, very gratifying that we just keep making changes—nothing huge, nothing massive, but keep moving the ball forward so that we can continue to follow up and see what’s going on. I was just wondering if I could ask the member from Simcoe–Grey what it means to be part of a government that’s willing to do that.

I want to thank the two members for their presentations, and I’m posing this question to either of them: Can either member tell us how the elimination of the requirement that the WSIB file a strategic plan with its minister actually will make Ontario better? WSIB is not a small business; it’s an entity that I think would serve this province well by actually reporting regularly on its strategic plans. It needs to be held accountable. If you don’t know what they’re planning, you don’t know how to hold them accountable. Why do you want to make it less accountable?

A question for my colleague from York Centre who mentioned firefighters and presumptive timelines when he spoke—I don’t believe this bill actually addresses that. I do have a firefighter in my riding who has been a firefighter for 23 years, has esophageal cancer and cannot get WSIB because the cut-off is 25 years. Those are the kinds of red tape that we would like to see improved, the things that actually improve the lives of injured workers. Deeming is another thing that this government could improve on. Tinkering around the edges doesn’t help people like Captain Craig from Welland, who has been a firefighter for 23 years, has cancer and can’t get WSIB because the cut-off is 25 years. Why would we not take the opportunity to fix those kinds of issues?

I want to thank the member for Simcoe–Grey and the Solicitor General for their comments during debate this morning. I have a specific question for the member for Simcoe–Grey: Would this bill, if passed, impact Aboriginal treaty rights under section 35 of the charter, and specifically the duty to consult Indigenous communities? And how, if passed, would this bill help Indigenous entrepreneurs and businesses?

I want to thank you for the question. Firefighters are true heroes in Ontario. One of the things I have learned through my travels is the amazing work that they do, but also the volunteer firefighters. What I spoke of in my remarks is taking acknowledgement of the pancreatic cancer as an example of a presumptive illness. We’re going to continue to look at that, but you’re absolutely correct. The firefighters are amazing heroes in Ontario and we have to treat them with respect. The announcement that the Minister of Labour made with me not that long ago is starting to look at this in a practical way, and it’s part of reducing the burdensome red tape.

Thank you to the member opposite for that question. The WSIB has an important role to play in our workplace system. It protects employers and it protects their workers. If the workers are injured, they can get compensation.

The proposed changes that are contained in Bill 46 would exclude WSIB lease transactions from the requirement for the Lieutenant Governor in Council’s approval of acquisitions and dispositions of real property, to help streamline that process. It would ensure injured or ill apprentices receive loss-of-earning benefits in the same amount as journeypersons of their trade would receive, as pointed out by my colleague. It would provide flexibility as to when the WSIB board of directors must meet; ensure that requirements for governance documents are consistent with, and not duplicative of, government directives; and, finally, it would ensure the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997, does not reference repealed statutes. That would clean it up. It would help with the efficiency and it would remove duplication.

Certainly, the intent of Bill 46 would be to remove barriers that are faced by Indigenous businesses and entrepreneurs in assessing business support programs and procurement opportunities. It would be heard directly from Indigenous businesses and economic advisors that information about these supports and processes is not widely known and difficult to obtain as sources of information are disparate and complex. The intent here is to streamline the process so that we will work with our Indigenous stakeholders to streamline the consultation process.

In that way, we are working very hard to support all Indigenous stakeholders and businesses to make sure we’re competitive across the province.

We’ve seen our economy come back in terms of jobs and job demand, despite the pandemic. We continue to hear almost weekly from our Minister of Economic Development about the new projects that are coming to Ontario. We have big plans for the Ring of Fire.

We are working across the province, across the ministries, on a whole-of-government approach to increase the efficiency of our government, to remove barriers for our residents and for our businesses, and to make us competitive as the largest provincial economy in Canada and probably one of the five biggest economies in North America, and we continue to do that.

My question is to the member for Simcoe–Grey. As a representative of the city of London, I note that Bill 46 includes provisions to allow the government to move the WSIB headquarters to our city, to London, which is certainly a welcome opportunity. Hopefully we’ll see those jobs materialize.

However, I am troubled at the same time by the other provisions in this bill related to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act that removes the requirement for WSIB to table a strategic plan to the minister. Injured worker groups have taken that opportunity to provide input. Why is the government removing that accountability?

Meegwetch, Speaker. It’s always a privilege to be able to stand up and speak on behalf of Kiiwetinoong. This morning, I’m going to speak your language, English. English is my second language. As you know, my language, Anishininiimowin, is not allowed to be spoken in this place. I have to remind you that this place as well—as a First Nations person, as First Peoples of these lands, this system, this building was never built for me. It was never built for First Nations people to be able to speak in this place.

One of the things I want to say about this Bill 46, the Less Red Tape, Stronger Ontario Act—I want to thank the government for this bill. I want to thank you because—over the last four and a half years, I’ve been bringing up issues with boil-water advisories. I have one First Nation in Ontario that has 28 years of boil-water advisories, since February 1, 1995, and the government does nothing, just looks away and says, “That’s not our responsibility.” They use jurisdictions as an excuse not to do anything. That’s what colonizers do.

I want to thank you for this bill, because it’s a reminder. It’s a reminder that this oppression still exists in this place. It is a reminder that colonialism is alive and well. Thank you for reminding me of that, of how you treat First Nations, the First Peoples of these lands, as if we do not exist, as if we do not matter. Yes, you care about business, but you do not care about the basic human rights of the people in Kiiwetinoong. So I wanted to share that.

I know it is also important to note where these suggestions, these changes come from and who the government actually listens to, but I know one thing: They do not listen to First Nations. They say they do, but not to everyone; just select people. They do listen to select First Nations. It might be two, it might be three, but not everyone. “Divide and conquer” is a colonial approach. Divide and conquer First Nations is from the colonial playbook that has been played for hundreds of years. It continues to happen because we live it on a daily basis.

I’m using that as an example within schedule 5, and it’s based on the government seeking feedback from the oil and gas industries. It talks about carbon sequestration changes that are legislated, subject to consultation that ended in January.

I know that within this change, the environmental policy change, which will be permitted on crown lands, has not been subject to free, prior and informed consent with First Nations—zero. To me, “crown lands,” as you call them, are stolen lands. Everyone who’s here are settlers. We’ve been here for thousands of years. We welcomed everyone. We welcomed settlers, and the first thing they did when the settlers arrived is they took our lands. The next thing they did was, they took our children. They took our children to send them to Indian residential schools. We are still trying to locate our children in those former Indian residential school sites even today.

I heard a comment from this morning from the government side when questions were going back and forth. They called First Nations “stakeholders.” We are not stakeholders. Up where I come from, there were treaties that were signed. We were supposed to share the benefits of that treaty. We are not stakeholders.

There was a lot of discussion too, about the environmental policy changes on crown lands. What is crown land? Crown land in Ontario represents 87% of the province, and this government describes it as opportunities for economic development, tourism and reconciliation.

Crown land also includes surface and subsurface rights to the minerals, energy and water resources that may be leased to private enterprise, a very important source of government income. Indigenous, First Nation, Anishinaabe understanding of crown land is not this.

What is the balance we need to be able to strike between economic consumption versus economy as people?

In Treaty 9—we’re supposed to share the benefits of those treaties, and we do not. From the numbered treaties 1 to 11, Treaty 9 is the only numbered treaty out of those, 1 to 11, that has Ontario’s signature on it. You are our treaty partners, but you do not treat us as partners; you treat us as stakeholders. We are not stakeholders.

We have to understand, when we talk about Less Red Tape, Stronger Ontario—it depends where you live. I live in a different Ontario. I come from a different Ontario, because you will not invest in water sewer systems to get clean drinking water for the residents of Kiiwetinoong. That’s a different Ontario. That’s a different Canada. That’s how colonialism, that’s how oppression, that’s how racism, that’s how discrimination works. And the system right here, where we sit, the 124 of us who sit here—that’s how it treats people, especially First Nations. I have 31 First Nations in my riding, and I have four municipalities. There’s nothing “stronger” about this bill—there’s nothing “stronger Ontario” on these reserves, in this bill. But it removes the free, prior, informed consent of the people.

We were put on reserves. I remember my reserve in Kingfisher Lake. They moved there in 1966. Do you know where everybody lived? It was on the lands. Do you know why they removed us, to move into a reserve? It was to get us off those lands, because we knew, you knew, the settlers knew that they wanted our resources. And you see it happening today.

The changes in the Mining Act, the changes that are happening to remove the red tape—you are the red tape for a better life for First Nations people on-reserve, because you use jurisdiction as—not to do anything. You are the red tape. This government is the red tape to access to clean drinking water.

Just imagine, every day of your life, for 28 years, that you use, you buy—you bathe using bottled water. That’s the reality of the other Ontario, where I come from.

I’m not sure if you’ve ever experienced living—

Next question.

We’ll have to move to further debate. The member for Kiiwetinoong.

On behalf of the residents of Barrie–Innisfil, I would like to extend our warmest wishes to everyone celebrating Nowruz. May this new year bring you and your loved ones happiness, health and prosperity.

As we welcome the spring season and the start of the Persian new year, I want to take a moment to remember all those who lost their lives fighting for freedom in Iran. I stand in solidarity with those who continue to fight for basic human rights for all Iranians.

As the Persian community celebrates Nowruz around the world, they continue to remember Mahsa Amini. As life and the new year go on, so does the struggle of the Iranian people to bring freedom and justice to Iran.

I look forward to gathering with the Barrie Persian Association—not only with the Barrie Persian Association, but we also gather at the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library this weekend with our Minister of Transportation to celebrate Nowruz and, of course, Persian Heritage Month.

I also want to thank our Associate Minister of Housing, who is one of the first elected Conservative Persian MPPs in this Legislature, and, of course, the member from Carleton, also the first Persian elected member of this Legislature, for everything they stand for to bring freedom to this province.

Later today, I will have the honour of welcoming the Minister of Health of the Republic of Poland to our wonderful city of Mississauga alongside my colleagues the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and his parliamentary assistant the member for Mississauga–Erin Mills. We have the distinct honour of hosting the minister, Dr. Adam Niedzielski, accompanied by Witold Dzielski, Poland’s ambassador to Canada, at our state-of-the-art Trillium Health Partners Credit Valley Hospital.

With our government making historic investments into health care infrastructure, operations and human resources, it is important we continue to build our system by working with and sharing best practices with other jurisdictions. We will continue to collaborate and build bilateral relations, with the common goal of enhancing the level of health care received by our constituents.

We are actively doing this, as our government released the Your Health plan last month, which focuses on providing people with a better health care experience by connecting them to more convenient care closer to home while shortening wait times for key services across the province and growing the health care workforce.

As a registered nurse and a proud Polish Canadian, I am very excited to be welcoming Minister Niedzielski to Mississauga, and it brings me great pride to be a part of a government that understands the challenges in our health care system and is taking bold and innovative steps to address them.

Folks around the world are seeing that hate is not only on the rise but getting closer to home. There are hate groups and people who are spreading hate and fear, that are targeting our neighbours and friends in the trans community and the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.

Just last week, there was an awful demonstration of intolerance and hate that was planned in Oshawa, but thankfully, the church where they were scheduled chose not to host it. Instead, folks from across our community came out in force and allyship with the 2SLGBTQIA+ and trans communities and gathered at Brew Wizards Board Game Cafe for a brilliant and bright evening of love and art and community. We came together to show love and support for our trans family, friends and neighbours. They created a space of love and support and raised donations for PFLAG Durham while giving people a way to stand up against the ugly hate that is crawling across our province.

Last night at the DDSB board meeting, groups who have been attacking the 2SLGBTQIA+ and, in particular, the trans community for months now descended on our Durham community. These hate groups set up their ugly protests but were met with a loud rally of support and love for students and community members, who have the right to live authentically and free from harassment and harm. There was an awesome show of unity, Pride flags, symbols and strength at the board office that sent a clear message that there is no room for hate and transphobia in our community or anywhere. We are here, and we support each other.

I am proud to stand in solidarity with the trans and the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and with allies and friends who won’t back down or go away. Discrimination and hate will not be tolerated in our community.

I do apologize to the member. I need to interrupt you, as we need to move to members’ statements.

Third reading debate deemed adjourned.

We are at a climate crossroads. Do we choose the highway to hell or a livable future? Yesterday’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is so terrifying that, collectively, it seems like we’re burying it under all the other challenges we face.

Speaker, I say to my colleagues in this House, to the people of Ontario and people all across the world, everything is literally at stake. The IPCC report is clear: Any new fossil fuel developments are utterly incompatible with the net-zero emissions required for a safe and livable future. We simply can’t waste money on things that are going to make the crisis worse: super-sprawl, highways in the greenbelt, ramping up expensive fossil gas plants.

We’re in a crisis now, and we need to act now. We must protect the nature and the farmland that protects us and feeds us. We have affordable solutions, such as low-cost renewable energy, building retrofits and heat pumps.

Speaker, in the interest of non-partisanship, I say to everyone in this House that we all face the catastrophic risks. Let’s all work together to solve those risks, before it is too late.

We have an affordability crisis in Niagara. Seniors and families are struggling. In Fort Erie, there is a 13-year wait-list to get an affordable one-bedroom housing unit if you’re a senior—13 years. Seniors are cutting pills in half or skipping a dose. They can’t afford their medication and groceries.

I get calls every week from seniors concerned with the cost of home heating. Under this government, Enbridge rates have doubled in the last two years. Grocery prices have skyrocketed. Last year, food prices rose at the fastest pace in 40 years. Loblaws, owned by the Weston family, earned more than $500 million in fourth-quarter profits. They earned a million dollars a day last year in profit. That’s price gouging. One in five children live in poverty in the province of Ontario. Conservatives have done nothing to combat corporate greed.

This crisis is putting enormous pressure on our front-line social services in Niagara. Non-profits in my community have seen drastic increases in the need for housing supports. Demand for food banks has never been higher.

We need investment in affordable housing and public, not-for-profit health care. I proposed solutions to this crisis, but the Conservatives say no. It has become unaffordable to live in Doug Ford’s Ontario, but I’ll keep fighting for affordable housing to protect our families and our seniors, and fight grocery price gouging by the Weston family.

It gives me great pleasure today to recognize an outstanding company within my riding of Durham. St. Marys Cement has called Bowmanville home for more than 50 years and has been a vital job creator in the province of Ontario for more than 110 years. St. Marys Cement, now part of Votorantim Cimentos, has manufactured cement for more than 110 years in Ontario. Originally located in St. Marys, home to the honourable member for Perth–Wellington, St. Marys Cement is a worldwide provider of cement, concrete and aggregates, and these products are used in a wide range of construction and infrastructure improvement projects.

Most recently, I’m proud to announce that St. Marys implemented its leading-edge alternative low carbon fuel, ALCF, program at the Bowmanville plant, and this eliminates coals from fuels which are non-hazardous and come from industrial and post-consumer sources. Much of this fuel is wood-waste material that has been diverted from landfill.

St. Marys Cement is responsible for over 54,000 direct and indirect jobs across Ontario and generates over $25 billion in economic activity while supporting small and medium-sized businesses throughout Ontario’s supply chain.

Welcome, in particular, today to St. Marys executives, Resha Watkins, David Hanratty and John Fahey.

I would like to share with members my recent engagement with students from Markham–Unionville. Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of having Bianca Caracoglia from Markham–Unionville serve as a page. Bianca was selected from among hundreds of applications to serve in the House and learn about our Parliament and legislative process. I would like to extend my gratitude to Bianca, who demonstrated her responsibility, commitment and leadership during her service.

Just last week, I also had a meeting with JC, a grade 7 student in Markham–Unionville who is interested in becoming a page. We talked about the work of a page and how she can prepare herself for the application.

During the March break, I also hosted two tours of our Legislative Building. Over 60 residents in Markham–Unionville visited us. Many of the participants were students who are interested in the work of the Legislature. I was delighted to see students engaging in the tour and asking different questions, from the operation of the Parliament to the architecture of the Legislative Building to how I became an MPP.

Our children are the future. I am encouraged by the passion and enthusiasm of the children in the community and public affairs, and I am confident in the future of Ontario thanks to them.

I’ll remind the members once again that we refer to other members by their ministerial title or by their riding title, not by their personal name.

The next member’s statement.