We have heard the pleas of our seniors and our vulnerable citizens on this. We have taken action through section 60 of the recently passed Consumer Protection Act. We have consulted widely across the spectrum, and we are taking action. Doing nothing is not an option. We will stand up with our seniors.

What started out as a legitimate registration for HVAC equipment has become a tool for fraudsters and organized criminal activity. We will take action, Mr. Speaker. Doing nothing is not an option. The door-to-door sale solicitation has to stop. We are looking at everything, including an outright retroactive ban. Stay tuned.

I do have a point of order. I probably should know this one by heart by now. But I am seeking unanimous consent that, notwithstanding standing order 100(a)(4), five minutes be allotted to the independent members as a group to speak during private members’ public business today.

I now seek unanimous consent that, notwithstanding standing order 66(d), the time for debate on the orders for concurrence be allotted as follows: 56 minutes to each recognized party and eight minutes to the independent members as a group.

I would like to thank Melissa Anderson from Val Therese in my riding for this petition.

“911 Everywhere in Ontario....

“Whereas when we face an emergency we all know to dial 911...; and

“Whereas access to emergency services through 911 is not available in all regions of Ontario but most Ontarians believe that it is; and

“Whereas many Ontarians have discovered that 911 was not available while they faced an emergency; and

“Whereas all Ontarians expect and deserve access to 911 service, throughout our province;”

They petition the Legislative Assembly as follows:

“To provide 911 emergency response everywhere in Ontario by land line or cellphone.”

I support this petition. I will affix my name to it and ask my good page Isaac to bring it to the Clerk.

“Health Care: Not for Sale

“Whereas Ontarians get health care based on their need, not on their ability to pay;

“Whereas the Ford government wants to privatize our health care system;

“Whereas privatization will bleed nurses, doctors and PSWs out of our public hospitals and will download costs to patients;”

They petition the Legislative Assembly as follows:

“To immediately stop all plans to privatize Ontario’s health care system, and fix the crisis in health care by ...

“—licensing tens of thousands of internationally educated nurses and other health care professionals already in Ontario;

“—incentivizing health care professionals to choose to live and work in northern Ontario.”

I fully support this petition. I will affix my name to it and ask page Winifred to bring it to the Clerk.

I have a petition here sent by the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario—thousands of students. In this case, I have folks from Trent University who have said:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas since 1980, whilst accounting for inflation, the average domestic undergraduate tuition has increased by 215%, and the average domestic graduate tuition by 247%; and

“Whereas upon graduation, 50% of students will have a median debt of around $17,500, which takes an average of 9.5 years to repay; and

“Whereas the average undergraduate tuition for international students has increased by 192% between 2011 and 2021, and in colleges, they pay an average of $14,306 annually compared to the average domestic fee of $3,228; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario made changes to OSAP and student financial assistance in 2018-19, resulting in over a $1-billion cut in assistance to students; and

“Whereas the so-called Student Choice Initiative was defeated in the courts, students need legislation to protect their right to organize and funding for students’ groups;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, support the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario’s call and petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to commit to (1) free and accessible education for all, (2) grants, not loans, and (3) legislate students’ right to organize.”

Of course, I will affix my signature to this and will send it to the table with Mesapé.

My question is to the Premier. For years, the government has ignored the crisis of predatory HVAC scams which target seniors, newcomers and those living with disabilities. Scam artists trick people into signing contracts where the devices get more expensive every year, the contract lasts longer than the lifespan of the machine, and the buyout is tens of thousands of dollars when the machine itself only cost hundreds. Sounds like a scam to me, Speaker.

When will the government stop talking about a problem everyone knows about and finally act to protect seniors and others who are being scammed to this day?

When these scam companies register a notice of security interest, or NOSI, it becomes a lien on a homeowner’s property. The scam artists target the vulnerable and give everyone else in the industry a bad name. According to the government’s own numbers, 38,000 NOSIs were registered in 2022. So I look forward today, when the NDP tables its legislation to look after NOSIs going into the future and those that have been registered historically, that this government will support it.

The government recently held a consultation where they learned 38,000 NOSIs had been registered in 2022 alone. My bill would stop this predatory practice in its tracks by allowing the registrar to remove a notice of security interest upon writing from a consumer, as well as stop those moving forward. It would make sure that we stop the scam economy in Ontario.

I’ll just read the explanatory note: Section 54 of the Personal Property and Security Act is amended to provide that a notice of security interest where the collateral is a prescribed consumer good or an extension of any such notice shall not be registered and that any such existing registrations shall be discharged by the registrar.

I look forward to this bill passing.

I want to thank the citizens of Grimsby for sending this petition to raise social assistance rates.

“Whereas Ontario’s social assistance rates are well below Canada’s official Market Basket Measure poverty line and far from adequate to cover the rising costs of food and rent: $733 for individuals on OW and $1,308 for ODSP;

“Whereas an open letter to the Premier and two cabinet ministers, signed by over 230 organizations, recommends that social assistance rates be doubled for both Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP);

“Whereas small increases to ODSP have still left these citizens below the poverty line. Both they and those receiving the frozen OW rates are struggling to survive at this time of alarming inflation;

“Whereas the government of Canada recognized in its CERB program that a ‘basic income’ of $2,000 per month was the standard support required by individuals who lost their employment during the pandemic;

“We, the undersigned citizens of Ontario, petition the Legislative Assembly to double social assistance rates for OW and ODSP.”

Speaker, I support this petition. I will sign it and ask page Skye to bring it to the table.

Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery.

I recognize the member for Ottawa–Vanier.

The House recessed from 1146 to 1500.

Mr. Kernaghan moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 169, An Act to amend the Personal Property Security Act to prevent notices of security interests from being registered against homeowners where the collateral is a prescribed consumer good / Projet de loi 169, Loi modifiant la Loi sur les sûretés mobilières pour empêcher l’enregistrement d’avis de sûreté à l’égard d’un propriétaire si le bien grevé est un bien de consommation prescrit.

First reading agreed to.

I would like Jeannie Salvalaggio from Skead in my riding for these petitions.

It reads as follows:

“Let’s Fix the Northern Health Travel Grant....

“Whereas people in the north are not getting the same access to health care because of the high cost of travel and accommodations;

“Whereas by refusing to raise the Northern Health Travel Grant (NHTG) rates, the Ford government is putting a massive burden on northern Ontarians who are sick;

“Whereas gas prices cost more in northern Ontario;”

They petition the Legislative Assembly as follows:

“To establish a committee with a mandate to fix and improve the NHTG;

“This NHTG advisory committee would bring together health care providers in” northern Ontario, “as well as recipients of the NHTG to make recommendations to the Minister of Health that would improve access to health care in northern Ontario through adequate reimbursement of travel costs.”

I fully support this petition. I will affix my name to it and ask my good page Sarah to bring it to the Clerk.

« Soutenez le système d’éducation francophone en Ontario...

« Attendu que les enfants francophones ont un droit constitutionnel à une éducation de haute qualité, financée par les fonds publics, dans leur propre langue;

« Attendu que l’augmentation des inscriptions dans le système d’éducation en langue française signifie que plus de 1 000 nouveaux enseignants et enseignantes de langue française sont nécessaires chaque année pour les cinq prochaines années;

« Attendu que les changements apportés au modèle de financement du gouvernement provincial pour la formation des enseignantes et des enseignants de langue française signifient que l’Ontario n’en forme que 500 par an;

« Attendu que le nombre de personnes qui enseignent sans certification complète dans le système d’éducation en langue française a augmenté de plus de 450 % au cours de la dernière décennie; »

Ils et elles demandent à l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario « de fournir immédiatement le financement demandé par le rapport du groupe de travail sur la pénurie des enseignantes et des enseignants dans le système d’éducation en langue française de l’Ontario et de travailler avec des partenaires pour mettre pleinement en oeuvre les recommandations. »

J’appuie cette pétition, monsieur le Président. Je vais la signer et je demande à Skye de l’amener à la table des greffiers.

“Whereas Ontario residents should have the ability to make their own choices about their health and family planning;

“Whereas cost is the greatest barrier to access to contraceptives in Ontario;

“Whereas free prescription birth control is only available to Ontario residents under the age of 25 and without insurance coverage;

“Whereas the provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba already provide free prescription contraceptives to everyone under their health care plan; this helps thousands of people” gain “access to prescription birth control without spending” money;

They “petition the Legislative Assembly ... as follows:

“To immediately cover universal access to all prescription contraceptives.”

I support this petition. I will affix my name to it and ask my good page Max to bring it to the Clerk.

“Save ‘the Spot’ Supervised Consumption Site....

“Whereas Sudbury’s overdose death rate is three times the rate of the rest of Ontario;

“Whereas an application was submitted to the government in 2021 for funding of a supervised consumption site in Sudbury called the Spot;

“Whereas the Spot is operated by Réseau Access Network with municipal funding that” ended “on December 31, 2023, the province must approve funding very soon, or the Spot will close putting many people at risk of death;

“Whereas in 2023 alone, the Spot had 1,000 visits, reversed all 17 on-site overdoses, provided drug-checking services and prevented many deaths;”

They petition the Legislative Assembly as follows:

“Immediately approve funding for the supervised consumption site in Sudbury to save lives.”

I agree with this petition. I will affix my name to it and ask my good page Mesapé to bring it to the Clerk.

“Enact Anti-Scab Labour Law....

“Whereas strikes and lockouts are rare: on average, 97% of collective agreements are negotiated without work disruption; and

“Whereas anti-replacement workers laws have existed in Quebec since 1978, in British Columbia since 1993, and in Ontario under the NDP government, it was repealed by the Harris Conservative government;

“Whereas anti-scab legislation has reduced the length and divisiveness of labour disputes; and

“Whereas the use of scab labour during a strike or lockout is damaging to the social fabric of a community in the short and long term, as well as the well-being of its residents;”

They petition the Legislative Assembly as follows:

“To pass the anti-scab labour bill to ban the use of replacement workers during a strike or lockout.”

I fully support this petition. I will affix my name to it and ask James to bring it to the Clerk.

“Improve Winter Road Maintenance....

“Whereas highways play a critical role in northern Ontario;

“Whereas winter road maintenance has been privatized in Ontario and contract standards are not being enforced;

“Whereas per capita, fatalities are twice as likely to occur on a northern highway than on a highway in southern Ontario;

“Whereas current MTO classification negatively impacts the safety of northern highways;”

They petition the Legislative Assembly as follows:

“To classify Highways 11, 17, 69, 101 and 144 as class 1 highways; require that the pavement be bare within eight hours of the end of a snowfall and bring the management of winter road maintenance back into the public sector, if contract standards are not met.”

I fully support this petition. I will affix my name to it and ask my good page Charles to bring it to the Clerk.

Resuming the debate adjourned on March 5, 2024, on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 157, An Act to amend various Acts in relation to the courts and other justice matters / Projet de loi 157, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui concerne les tribunaux et d’autres questions relatives à la justice.

I’m going to remind the members that when we refer to each other in the Legislature, we refer to each other not by our given names or our surnames but our riding names or ministerial responsibility, as applicable. Even when we’re presenting petitions, that would be the best policy to pursue.

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:

“—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 share the concern of all my constituents who have signed their name to this. I will add my name, and I will give it to Abigail to take to the table.

When we last debated Bill 157, the member for Hamilton Mountain had the floor. She still has time on the clock.

I recognize the member for Hamilton Mountain.

Good afternoon, everyone. Yes, I definitely had the floor when we last debated Bill 157 this morning.

I want to start with a quick update. Bill 157 is titled the Enhancing Access to Justice Act. New Democrats have worked hard throughout the committee process to encourage the government to see a way forward to actually answer the calls of our community partners as well as our constituents.

We have definitely seen so many cuts across the province, in pretty much every ministry, that hurt our public sector and hurt the people of our province. It has put people in precarious positions. We see a housing crisis that is completely out of control, something none of us have ever seen in our lifetime, as well as our parents or grandparents—have ever seen the state of our communities.

We have an opioid crisis that is compounding those issues. Unfortunately, a lot of those same individuals are the ones who are ending up in our court system—no fault of their own. They are now addicted to opioids or any other street drugs. If you’ve taken the time in your community to visit some of these encampments and talk to some people, you will definitely see very clearly the effects that these drugs are having on their person; it’s very visible. And we know that many of these people who are entering our court system are some of these same folks.

So that leads me—

Interjections.

It encompasses so many issues that we see, right?

Today’s paper—we’re talking about plasma. People can donate plasma and get paid for it in the lowest economic riding in the entire province, in Hamilton Centre. These same folks tried it 10 years ago, and now they’re back at it again, and they’ve literally pinpointed it down to the postal codes of where they want to put this shop to have people sell their plasma—

We’ve seen the way that access to naloxone, a life-saving drug, in our community has changed. We have community partners that are begging the government to please see what they’ve done. At the slip of a pen, they’ve changed the exact way that people can access Narcan in our communities. There was zero consultation. There was zero notice. It was literally done and gone. And now our community is struggling to be able to get these life-saving drugs.

I bring these things up, Speaker, because like I said, these are the same people who are entering our system.

I visited our city hall on the weekend, and there was a protest—homeless site set up. They were protesting the fact of—it’s a city issue with the parking lot and housing. The woman who was actually leading this protest—her son died by an overdose. He was homeless. He died of an overdose. Her sister, her little brother also died by overdose—and he did this so in the jail.

So when we’re talking about access to justice, we need to make sure that there is justice for all individuals in our system. And these are the same people who need to access the legal aid system, which this government has underfunded and cut for years and has put in a precarious position. These are the same people who are sitting in jail cells—or they’re getting let out on bail because the jail cells are full, because our court systems cannot take the load any longer. This is years of underfunding. This is years of lack of capital input to ensure that the buildings are safe from mould, and other things that we have heard for reasons that courtrooms have been shut down. We have heard of staff retention and people not wanting to stay within the court system, which is causing major delays and a complete breakdown of our justice system.

Caught in the middle of that broken justice system are victims—victims who are not seeing their day in court for their perpetrator because time has ran out. When we have time running out on sexual assaults, on break-ins, on some pretty severe crimes in our community, that is putting those same perpetrators back out on the street.

So whether the Premier wants to think that it’s about the judicial system and the judges who make this decision—he’s so wrong. It’s not the judges’ decisions that are crashing our court system; it’s the lack of funding and the people’s ability to be able to keep our court system running.

So we have a major problem. That’s why, as I’m reading through—first of all, a great title: Enhancing Access to Justice Act. And yet, really, where is the enhancement in this bill that people are asking for? They’re asking for funding for our women’s shelters. They’re asking for intimate partner violence to be called femicide. It’s the number one recommendation from the Renfrew inquest—

There were 86 recommendations made there. They were to provide a road map—and this is right from the site—to preventing intimate partner violence from escalating to femicide. The verdict shone a light on the systemic underfunding of front-line supports and glaring gaps in our justice system.

The number one recommendation—they can’t even do it—

When we’re doing bills that have titles like Enhancing Access to Justice Act, the least they could have done was ensure that language was built into this legislation to save women’s lives. We know that if 62 people had died in any form or fashion, it would be the biggest cry ever—but women die, and they’re silent. It’s sad.

I have a motion from December 21, 2023, from the office of the mayor of the city of Hamilton. The member from Flamborough–Glanbrook would have received this—her name is on this; as well as the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, as he’s from Hamilton East–Stoney Creek. The member from Flamborough–Glanbrook, of course, is part of the city. MPP Sarah Jama; Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas, my seatmate Ms. Sandy Shaw—

To prey on them.

Let’s not name the people, please.

We’re going to move to questions.

Sorry. Of course.

It reads:

“Dear members of provincial Parliament for Hamilton-based ridings:

“At its meeting on August 18, 2023, Hamilton city council passed a motion respecting the ‘Declaration of Gender-Based Violence and Intimate-Partner Violence as an epidemic in the city of Hamilton.’ By way of this email, I would like to forward the contents of that motion for your awareness.

“The motion is as follows”—I might have to actually read a couple and then get to the whereases because it’s quite long, and I only have six minutes on the clock left. Time goes fast around here.

“Whereas gender-based violence is defined as violence or abuse perpetrated against a woman, girl or gender-diverse individual because of their gender, gender expression, gender identity or perceived gender;

“Whereas according to the official 2023 UN Women statistics, globally, an estimated one in three women have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner, non-partner violence or both at least once in their life (30% of women aged 15 and older);

“Whereas, globally, according to the same report, there is a woman or girl being killed every 11 minutes in their home;

“Whereas femicide is a result of gender-based violence and 22 countries specifically reference it in their criminal legislation;

“Whereas Canada does not currently include the term femicide in their criminal legislation;

“Whereas Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people experience higher rates of gender-based violence;

“Whereas Indigenous women are more likely than non-Indigenous women to experience sexual assault at a younger age;

“Whereas transgender and gender-diverse people are significantly more likely to have experienced physical or sexual assault at least once since 15 years of age;

“Whereas the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability ... found that in Canada between 2018 and 2022 one woman was killed every 48 hours”—come on, Speaker, to not have this included in legislation that’s called the Enhancing Access to Justice Act is an absolute crime on its own. That would just add to the criminal investigations happening on the other side. It’s actually quite interesting that they’re bringing a bill forward such as this when the RCMP are investigating the government at the exact same time. It’s kind of like smoke and mirrors in the Ontario Legislature once again.

I’m going to jump quickly to the “Therefore, be it resolved” part because I’m sure everybody has the picture here of how awful of an epidemic this truly is—“(a) That council declare gender-based violence and intimate partner violence an epidemic in Hamilton;

“(b) That staff meet with the Women Abuse Working Group ... to develop recommendations that will further address gender-based violence and intimate partner violence in Hamilton;

“(c) That staff be authorized to provide one-time funding in the amount of $30,129.00 from the City Enrichment Fund ... to support the Women Abuse Working Group”—because the city has to pay for it, because the provincial government refuses. It’s not in here; that was my adding—“to further identify and help address service gaps;

“(d) That staff continue to actively engage with the Hamilton just recovery coalition and their recommendations to identify further actions;

“(e) That staff continue to work closely with the community safety and well-being system leadership table to increase awareness of gender-based violence and intimate partner violence and explore opportunities for further action;

“(f) That council, by way of a letter from the mayor, and staff continue to actively engage with the province of Ontario to advocate for sustainable investments that meaningfully address gender-based violence and intimate partner”—that was the part that really does affect us here.

I’m going to leave the rest because I am running out of time and there are other things that I really want to be able to say—and that is: We can do better as a province. When we are turning a blind eye to our most vulnerable citizens—when a woman is in an abusive situation, it is so hard for her to be able to leave that situation. She has children. She has bills. How is she going to pay the rent? How is she going to be able to afford to do this? Many men can be very manipulating, so she has no credit. How is she possibly going to do this? Who’s going to pay for everything? It compounds. To have the guts to actually stand up and say, “I’m out,” and then leave with her kids, drive to the nearest shelter and realize that the doors are locked because there are no beds—what is she supposed to do then?

Visiting one of our shelters—they tell us they makeshift beds on the floor in some of the rooms just to make space. I see members shaking their heads over there. If you’re shaking your head, tell your Premier to do the right thing: Fund our women’s shelters. Ensure that they have safety, that there is somewhere for them to go—somewhere. Funding from the 1990s is the funding base level that they’re at—imagine, the 1990s. You talk about inflation, you talk about the cost of everything, but you don’t fund our services to ensure that they can take care of our communities and that we can have healthy communities. Start with the basics. Make sure we’re proactive, that we’re actively looking into ways to help our community instead of trying to figure out a way to stack the deck against them.

We can do better as a province. This bill could have done so much better to ensure that we had a real, truly safe ability to enhance access to justice in the province of Ontario, and not just more smoke and mirrors and great titles. No great title is going to save one person. Real action is going save people. It’s your turn to do that.

Yes, we should all be passionate when we talk in this House—and sex trafficking is no different.

I’ve seen recent articles about big cases being brought down and the work of specialized teams in our police forces who are really doing that hard work. I need to say thank you to them for doing that work. It’s not easy to go home to your own family and children at the end of the day after seeing some of the most horrific things that people with minds that we can’t explain do to our children, and how they can exploit women. We need better legislation to ensure that we’re protecting them and that there are more tools to be able to conquer this and to challenge it so that no one—male, female—is put up for sale in the province of Ontario.

I want to congratulate the member. I thought that was a wonderful speech, coming from her heart and very passionate.

Obviously, women in shelters is a passion of mine. I had the opportunity to be the minister responsible for women’s issues and community and social services, and one of the first things that I did was make some investments into that area.

I’ve really heard a lot about violence against women and the resettlement, and I agree with her 100% that if a woman is prepared to leave, we need to make sure that there are supports.

I didn’t hear a lot about sex trafficking, and that’s one area that I’ve been very concerned about. There is a very specialized group of people who have to support them outside of the existing shelter system. I think that’s an area where I want to continue to focus. Again, I wouldn’t mind hearing a little bit more from her about human trafficking, or as I call it, “sex trafficking: Ontario’s dirty little secret.”

I again congratulate her for passion. We need more of that on the floor of this assembly.

Stack the courts.

I’m going to ask you: There are 19 schedules here in this bill that’s purporting to enhance justice, and we proposed 11 amendments. The government turned them all down. Two of the amendments were very specifically speaking to what you’ve been talking about.

One is that the legal aid funding should be increased so that people have access to legal aid, particularly when it comes to the women that you’ve talked about, that when they do get to court, they’re already struggling. And the second thing is, the government members voted down an amendment that would have improved funding to rape crisis and sexual assault support centres.

Do you want to speak a little more about how this bill is a failure when it comes to actually enhancing justice for women in this province?

Next question?

We’re going to move to further debate. I recognize the member for Carleton.