I want to acknowledge that we have a number of members from the Association of Major Power Consumers in Ontario. They are present today for their annual advocacy day. I also want to extend an invitation to join us this evening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the legislative dining room. Welcome to Queen’s Park, and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

My guests are not here yet but I’m going to introduce them anyways because they are on their way. I want to welcome Chief Mary Duckworth of Caldwell First Nation, Larry Sault and Ian Duckworth and Doug Heil, who are councillors with Caldwell First Nation. When they come, welcome to Queen’s Park.

I think the member opposite would agree that this is certainly a policing matter and not a political matter. This is a federal commission which is looking into the federal government’s invocation of the federal Emergencies Act. We are providing assistance to the commission by submitting key cabinet documents and of course ensuring that witnesses are available to the commission.

Thank you to the member opposite for the question. As I said before, nothing is more important than protecting the health and well-being of all Ontarians, especially our children. That’s why, as part of our significant investment to address the province’s surgical backlog of $880 million, we also dedicated $6.5 million to pediatric hospitals to support them in the ramp-up of surgeries. We’ve also provided $4.6 million more in funding to hospitals to add nine additional acute-care beds at CHEO and 10 acute-care beds, as well as three ICU beds, at Sick Children’s Hospital.

This government will spare no expense to make sure the people of this province, especially our children, continue to have access to the high-quality care that they need and expect.

And I just want to quote from a Toronto Star article by Megan Ogilvie. Dr. Ronald Cohn, the CEO of Sick Children’s Hospital said that the “hospital will always have capacity for the most critically ill children in the province who need the specialized care” that only Sick Children’s Hospital can offer.

So, according to Dr. Cohn, the resources are there. We’re going to make sure the resources are there because we want to make sure that our children in Ontario and all other Ontarians have the support they need.

My question is to the Minister of Health. In August, I asked your government to help SickKids hospital address their staffing shortages, their $45-million funding shortfall and their growing surgery wait-list. SickKids has a surgery wait-list that has over 3,400 children waiting beyond the clinically acceptable time for their necessary surgery, putting their long-term health at risk.

Minister, three months later, the crisis is getting worse. On Thanksgiving weekend, SickKids ICUs were at full capacity. My question is, why is your government failing to help SickKids meet the demand for care?

Minister, this is my question: What is your government going to do—concretely do—to ensure that all departments, including the ER and the ICUs, have the funding to fully staff their departments so that the health care needs of children can be met?

This mission was an opportunity to re-engage with trusted partners in South Korea and Japan. It was great to meet with LG Energy Solution in Korea to personally thank them for their $5-billion investment in Windsor. In fact, we were in Windsor last week and saw the massive site, as their 4.5-million-square-foot building is under way. Thousands are working there during construction, and 2,500 men and women will go to work there for the very first time at that plant.

We also used the opportunity to engage with a number of other Korean suppliers for the historic LG investment in Japan. We met with Toyota and Honda where we personally thanked Honda for their $1.4-billion investment in Alliston.

We’re continuing to build on the $16 billion of Ontario auto investments in the last 20 months, and now even more companies know that if they’re in the EV business, they need to be in Ontario.

To reply, the government House leader.

Government House leader.

Government House leader.

The parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health to reply.

The member for Eglinton–Lawrence to reply.

My question is for the Premier. Good morning, Premier.

On September 19, the federal Public Order Emergency Commission requested an interview with the Premier and Minister Jones on the use of the federal Emergencies Act this past winter. But the Premier and minister have refused this request, and all subsequent requests, to be interviewed or testify before the commission. Speaker, why did the Premier and minister refuse the commission’s request?

That’s not leadership. We had a crisis in our community, the federal Emergencies Act was declared, and this government is content to shunt this as a policing matter or put forward its senior public officials to testify. The Premier and the minister responsible—then-Solicitor General—are absent.

So, left with no other choice, yesterday the commission issued the Premier and the health minister an official summons to testify. I’m going to quote from the summons: The commission believes that “Premier Ford and Minister Jones would have evidence, particularly within their knowledge, that would be relevant to the commission’s mandate.” That’s the end of the quote, Speaker. But this Premier and that minister are intent instead on refusing to testify before the commission, calling instead for a judicial review of their summons. I have a simple question, through you: What are you trying to hide?

I want to remind this House that this House is responsible, and they need to be aware of what happened to people in our community in Ottawa—

So it is in the public interest for this Premier and that minister to appear before the commission. We have a lot of healing to do as a country to make sure we can prevent anything like this from ever happening again. But accountability starts at the top. Will the Premier and minister stop hiding, come to Ottawa, and testify before the commission?

Interjections.

Here’s what we heard from the EV sector in Japan and South Korea: They told us that in this world filled with turmoil, they view Ontario as a sea of calm—a stable, a reliable, a trusted jurisdiction. They also said Ontario is viewed as a safe place—safe for their employees, safe for their families. They know that Ontario has everything they need for success: a full EV value chain. That includes critical minerals and refining, resources traditionally they rely on from China and Russia; 94% clean energy, very different from making a battery in Kentucky, where there is 6% clean energy. We have skilled trades, 65,000 STEM grads, AI and quantum computing, and public health—end to end, everything an EV company needs to be successful. That’s the reputation Ontario now has around the world.

I want to thank the member opposite and welcome her as the new education critic for the official opposition.

Mr. Speaker, our government will not waver from keeping kids in class. We believe that is the most consequential action we can take to support the very children the member opposite speaks of today. How we do that, Speaker, is through Ontario’s Plan to Catch Up, a $600-million net investment this year, compared to last year, of increased spending to support publicly funded schools; the largest tutoring expansion of its kind, which our government just extended into the next year of $175 million, benefiting over 170,000 students in this province as we speak.

We recognize, as every parent knows, that there has been real learning loss, a phenomenon that has been seen in every region of the western world. That’s why we feel so strongly that we need to increase investments in public education, part of that with the hiring of 5,000 more staff this year, in addition to helping parents through this economic difficulty. Our Premier and our government will do both: invest in families and invest in our publicly funded education system.

I appreciate the question from the member. The member will know, in particular with respect to Bill 7, we had had acute-care facilities across this country for many, many, many years asking that in particular long-term care become a partner in helping to address ALC issues. For many years we could not do that because the investments were not made in long-term care. But that changed in 2018 when the government made significant investments—over $13 billion—in long-term care. We’re doing them across the province, in urban, rural and remote communities.

I was up in Kenora with the Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development. We were reviewing the potential allocation of a new long-term-care home there.

But at the same time, Bill 7 helps ensure better care for people closer to home. I think that the honourable member would agree that it is in our best interest to work to ensure that people who are in hospital get the best quality of care possible—

Thank you to the member from Flamborough–Glanbrook for the question. Under Premier Ford’s leadership, our government is getting shovels in the ground to build more transit in Hamilton and across the province.

Just a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of joining the Premier and my colleagues from Hamilton to announce that we are moving ahead with building the new Confederation GO station. The new station will connect Hamilton with the GO train network, eventually offering two-way, all-day GO service along the Lakeshore West line to Toronto and Niagara Falls. It will also provide better connections to existing transit and GO bus services in these communities.

Speaker, with projects like the Confederation GO station and the Hamilton LRT already under way, our PC government has a plan to get the people of Hamilton connected, and we are getting it done.

Speaker, this government is focused on an agenda of prosperity, and we are moving full steam ahead with our historic plans to build and expand public transit, because now is not the time for inaction. Our unprecedented investments to get critical infrastructure projects like the Confederation GO station built will stimulate future growth and job creation. By 2041, over 100,000 people and 63,000 jobs will be located within five kilometres of this new station. Under Premier Ford’s leadership, we are connecting more people to jobs, housing and transit in one of the fastest-growing regions of the province. This will unlock access to Ontario’s full potential and set the foundation for long-term economic growth in our province.

Thank you to the member opposite. We remain committed to working collaboratively with Indigenous partners and communities to co-develop programs that will improve access to safe and effective health services. We acknowledge that programs and services must be designed, delivered and evaluated in collaboration with Indigenous partners to effectively meet the needs of Indigenous peoples, families and communities.

For example, All Nations Health Partners is an Ontario health team with Indigenous leadership that serves people living in and around Kenora and Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls in northwestern Ontario, including Indigenous and First Nations peoples. Similarly, the Rainy River District Ontario Health Team has Indigenous leadership that will serve people living in and around that area and, most recently, the Maamwesying Ontario Health Team has Indigenous leadership that will serve Indigenous peoples living in 11 nearby First Nations.

We’re also providing $41 million in base funding to Indigenous organizations and communities to support culturally safe mental health and wellness services. We’ll continue to work with Indigenous partners and communities to make sure we have the right services.

Good morning, Speaker. People in my riding of Flamborough–Glanbrook rely on transit to get where they need to go every single day, and it’s not uncommon for me to hear about their frustrations with the lack of reliable transit options available in our community. The members opposite had over a decade to address the transit gap that exists in Hamilton, and while they talked a lot about building, they never got it done.

Speaker, can the Minister of Transportation please tell this House what our government is doing to build the transit connections the people of Hamilton deserve?

Hamilton has seen significant growth as a destination to live, work and play. By 2046, the city of Hamilton could see its population grow by up to 35%. If you consider this growth, the need to invest in and build public transit is clear. But it’s not just about accommodating this growth; it’s also about protecting our economy.

Speaker, could the Minister of Transportation please speak about the economic significance of this project?

Ontario’s students are struggling, but this government’s cuts to public education mean they aren’t getting the support they need: classrooms with more than 30 kids, EAs trying to support six kids at once, not enough mental health supports or public health nurses. And, now, instead of investing in our schools, this government is abdicating its responsibilities, telling parents it’s up to them to try to track down an hour or two of tutoring.

Why is this government refusing to invest in public education so that our kids get the support they deserve in the classroom?

My question is to the Premier. We learned on September 30 that the council of the municipality of Sioux Lookout unanimously passed a resolution to support the petitioning of this government to suspend Bill 7 within Sioux Lookout’s catchment boundaries. This was done because the reality is that this bill does not work for the people served by the health care system in the Sioux Lookout area.

Will this government undertake a meaningful consultation on this bill with health care providers in Sioux Lookout?

Last week I attended a gathering of Indian residential school survivors from the north, and they shared their worries about Bill 7. They say that Bill 7 traumatizes residential institution survivors again. Survivors will again be moved forcefully because of the lack of long-term-care facilities in our communities. They do not want to be forced to leave, to spend their last years far away from home. They are asking for more home care and long-term care closer to home. When will this government finally get around to honouring this request from Kiiwetinoong?

To reply, the Minister of Long-Term Care.

The supplementary question.

Parents are stressed, Speaker. They’re already having to leave work to pick up their kids because of bus shortages. They don’t want to also have to hunt for an hour or two of support outside the classroom. They want those supports in schools.

With $365 million, the government could have added one more EA to every single school in Ontario. They could have put public health nurses and social workers in every school to address mental health challenges. They could have paid education workers a living wage so they can stop using food banks, and we could fill worker shortages.

Why is this government pushing ahead with its poorly designed voucher system, instead of giving our schools the resources they need to help our kids?

The supplementary question.

To reply, the Minister of Finance.

The supplementary question.