The member opposite raises an important issue. There is no doubt that our temporary locum programs have been a very effective tool that we have been able to use, working with Ontario Health, to make sure that emergency departments in northern Ontario, but frankly across many communities in Ontario, have emergency department coverage physicians. I will say, as a result of that program, we have seen no closures in northern Ontario EDs in the last year. Without a doubt, it has been a program that has had value.

We are in active conversations with the Ontario Hospital Association and the Ontario Medical Association to see how we can come forward with a more permanent solution. But I will keep the member updated because it is an important issue.

When we made additions and expansions in the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, when we ensured that we had 60% of those seats set aside for family medicine, that’s 100 additional seats where people are training in northern Ontario. The statistics show that where you train, where you ultimately practise and where you continue to practise are close to where you learn. We know that making those investments in primary care health care teams in northern Ontario at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine is going to make an impact in your communities in northern Ontario and indeed across Ontario.

In terms of wait times and ensuring that ambulances and paramedics can very quickly and effectively get back out onto the road into our communities, we have a number of programs that the member opposite, I hope, is aware of, which of course is the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program, a program that is funded 100% by our government and that ensures that we have a dedicated staff member, whether it is a nurse, a respiratory technologist or a paramedic, who stays with that patient until they can get service in their ED department. That program alone has made significant increases in decreasing the number of wait times.

Supplementary question?

I’m going to caution the member on his use of language. “Baloney” is pretty close to the line—especially before lunch.

Start the clock.

The Minister of Health.

The next question.

Supplementary?

Speaker, I can tell you that those workers don’t feel that this government has been there for them. Joey Durocher reached out to my office in Welland. In January, his knee pain became so unbearable that he had to go on modified duties at work. X-rays showed he had severe arthritis. When he was referred to a clinic, he was told the process would take well over a year. He said, “I don’t understand how people can be expected to suffer through something like this.”

Yesterday, this government had a chance to free up thousands of doctors to see more patients and chose not to. What specifically will this minister do to ensure people like Joey can get timely access to a doctor and the care they desperately need?

For the Minister of Health, Mr. Speaker: I’m tired of the people of Ontario getting ripped off by this government’s health care privatization agenda. When the Minister of Health welcomes private for-profit clinics with open arms, that’s not actually a surprise anymore. But when the Minister chooses to ignore blatant violations of the Canada Health Act, that is another thing entirely.

In October of 2023, it came to light that a nurse practitioner walk-in clinic in Ottawa was charging a $400 annual subscription fee to access fee-for-service care. And at the time, the minister told us that she would investigate. That was almost half a year ago, and in that time, many more clinics have popped up across Ontario, like the one in Ancaster that was announced just last month.

Mr. Speaker, her inaction is literally creating a market for health care profiteering in Canada and in Ontario. We must make good on the promise of primary care. How can anyone trust this government to manage our health care system, if it cannot even enforce the basic tenets of the Canada Health Act?

Even if we overlook the fact that it took six months for her to come up with that response, the fact of the matter is that closing the loophole, either through provincial or federal legislation, should be easy. Instead of taking the many measures at her disposal to make family medicine more attractive and accessible, to credential more foreign doctors, all the minister can do is brag about the conversations that she is supposedly having with the OMA and CPSO, with literally nothing to show for it. This government is more than happy to make patients pay while they appease private interest.

Mr. Speaker, will the minister stop placing the financial burden of primary care on patients and commit to funding it for everyone so that no one ever faces a fee, regardless of whether they’re seen by a family doctor or a nurse practitioner?

Interjections.

At the risk of stating the obvious, expanding primary care multidisciplinary teams by 78 teams in the province of Ontario—three times the amount that we initially committed, because we know that there is need.

We now have, because of investments that our government has made with the Minister of Colleges and Universities, 300 new student paramedics training in the province of Ontario, including in northern Ontario where there is a Learn and Stay program available for them to get their training for free in exchange for staying in communities that are underserved.

We will continue to make these investments while the member opposite, their party, continue to oppose them every time we vote on these investments. But we’re getting the job done, Speaker.

We have had conversations with the federal Minister of Health saying if there is an opportunity, if there is a wedge that is allowing these clinics to happen, then perhaps the member opposite could pick up the phone and call their federal counterparts, because that’s what I’ve been doing. And I’m making the case that if the Canada Health Act allows these for-profits, then we will be shutting them down with the changes to the Canada Health Act and federal government involvement.

When I sent a directive to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in August of 2022, less than two months after starting my role as Minister of Health, the CPSO was able to assess, review and ultimately license—when appropriate—the historic highest number of internationally educated primary care physicians in the province of Ontario. So actions do make a difference. We did the same thing with the minister’s directive for the College of Nurses of Ontario. Again, two years running, Speaker, we have had historic high numbers of internationally educated nurses wanting to live, practise in the province of Ontario. Those are concrete changes that we are making to impact people’s lives and increase access to publicly funded health care.

Just for the record, I’m a roast beef guy, so I’ll thank you for that.

My question is to the Minister of Energy. Speaker, the federal carbon tax—

Interjections.

The federal carbon tax makes life more expensive for the people of Ontario. After years of punishing energy costs that are sky high, the Prime Minister announced that he was pausing the carbon tax but only on home heating oil and only for three years.

Families and businesses in my riding of Perth–Wellington that grow the food, that build our province every single month are being punished by this carbon tax. They can’t afford the high taxes of the opposition and the NDP members. Our government understands this, that the carbon tax only takes money out of hard-working people’s pockets. That’s why we fought this ludicrous tax all the way to the Supreme Court, and we will continue to fight it, keep going forward.

Speaker, can the minister please tell this House why the federal government’s selective carbon tax exemption hurts Ontarians?

As families across Ontario continue to struggle with the rising cost of living, our government continues to do everything we can to make life more affordable. But the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, and the independent Liberals don’t seem to care about the harmful impacts the carbon tax has on the lives of our constituents. We need members on the opposite to work with us. In fact, the member from Kanata–Carleton is the caucus liaison to the Liberal Party of Canada and the federal Liberal caucus, but she refuses to call her federal Liberal colleagues to halt the carbon tax.

Thankfully, our government will continue to act to keep costs down for families in Ontario. Can the minister please share with this House what we are doing?

Sadly, Speaker, I can’t; I can’t answer the question. It’s mind-boggling that the federal government hasn’t realized that they’re hurting the people of Ontario and they’re hurting the people of Canada with this failed policy, the carbon tax.

Sadly as well, we can’t get an answer out of the Ontario Liberal leader as to whether or not she supports the increase to the federal carbon tax in 13 days’ time by a whopping 23%.

Or hold on, Mr. Speaker; maybe I can answer the question as to why Bonnie Crombie, the queen of the carbon tax, is still supporting a federal carbon tax. Every member of her climate change panel is on the record supporting the federal carbon tax, every member—

Interjection.

I know I’m running out of time here, Mr. Speaker, but wait for my—

Minister of Health.

Minister of Health.

The Premier promised the people of Ontario that they would never need to use their credit card to access health care in Ontario, yet Eileen Murphy was charged $110 to get a routine Pap test done by an Appletree clinic in Ottawa. Then, the clinic told Eileen that if she wanted test results, she would have to pay another $110.

Why is the Premier allowing health practitioners in Ontario to hold people’s test results hostage for money?

How can the Premier justify this exploitation when we have the solutions we need to provide primary care for everyone within the public health care system?

Interjections.

As I’ve said many times, if individuals believe that they have been inappropriately charged for an OHIP-covered service, they should be accessing protectpublichealthcare.ca. We have a process within the ministry to ensure that OHIP-covered services are insured and that patients cannot be charged for that.

Again, I will remind the member opposite that there is a Canada Health Act issue that needs to be resolved with the federal government, and we are in conversations with them to ensure that that practice does not and cannot continue.

But I’m also going to ask the member opposite, as we expand primary care multidisciplinary teams: Is the member opposite going to support those changes? We have a number of Ottawa-specific organizations that have received primary care expansion announcements: in Ottawa, a nurse practitioner-led clinic people can access, and we are going to have further expansion in Cornwall, in Kingston, in Perth. We have a number of these primary care expansion multidisciplinary teams that will allow people to be connected with primary care multidisciplinary teams, which is what patients and clinicians want.

My question is for the Premier. Recently, a large group of seniors came to my office—they’re from my riding—and they were upset and worried. Their rents keep going up while the living conditions in their building keep getting worse. Their corporate landlord continues to put off regular maintenance until major repairs are unavoidable, allowing them to apply for above-guideline increases every single time. These tenants were one increase away from losing their homes.

Mr. Speaker, the number of LTB applications for above-guideline increases went up 50% between 2020 and 2021 alone. My bill, the Keeping People Housed Act, would create a task force to investigate this predatory practice. Will the Premier vote yes to stopping these bad actors who are costing seniors their homes?

Mr. Speaker, we can’t kick this issue further down the road. Last year, our province saw an unprecedented exodus of young people, people between the ages of 25 and 35. Fifty thousand people left the province last year. This is our skilled labour. Our children, our siblings, our friends are leaving the province in search of something better. The harm isn’t just to communities and families; the harm is to our economy. We are hemorrhaging skilled labour as quickly as we are hemorrhaging affordable units.

Speaker, this government’s failure to protect renters is hurting every single one of us. Again, will the Premier say yes to keeping people housed and no to tenants being gouged by supporting my bill?

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the AGIs, the above-guideline increases. There have been a number of applications. There is a process for that. The landlord-tenant tribunal, as an independent tribunal, processes those. We have doubled the number of full-time adjudicators so that people can have their hearings. If they have issues with their residents, if they have maintenance issues and that sort of thing, there is a process. There’s the Rental Housing Enforcement Unit. There are avenues where they can have some of their issues addressed, Mr. Speaker. I’ll have more to say in the supplementary.

Now, what is causing grief for tenants is the cost of everything, and the cost of everything is tied to the carbon tax. In 13 days, it’s going up 23%. If they’re worried about people being housed and fed, they need to look at the costs and the things that go into those costs. We would ask that they stand with us to ask the federal government to axe the tax.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. The carbon tax is making life more difficult for Ontarians. The Bank of Canada’s governor has said that the impact of the carbon tax is actually four times greater than his previous estimates. People in my riding of Peterborough–Kawartha tell me that this regressive tax is causing unnecessary harm to their household budgets. It’s raising the price of everything, from filling up their cars to heating their homes.

Speaker, the people of Ontario have had enough of this carbon tax. Our government must continue to stand with them and call on the federal Liberals to eliminate the tax. Can the minister please speak to the damage this carbon tax has and why the federal government must end this regressive measure?

Thank you to the member for that question. Now is not the time for a punitive, costly tax that is making life more unaffordable for the people here and across the country. We saw provincial Liberal members refuse to support a motion to eliminate the carbon tax and make goods more affordable across the province. We heard the Liberal member for Kanata–Carleton say that the vast majority of Ontario households are better off with a carbon price, in spite of all the evidence shown to the contrary.

In fact, the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, was just interviewed again on CTV; eight times she couldn’t deny the federal carbon tax. She couldn’t deny whether she would support it or not and she doubled down again in her press conference, propping up the federal Liberal government, Mr. Speaker.

The queen of the carbon tax and her members need to pick a side. It’s time for all parties to join us and agree that this federal carbon tax needs to be eliminated.

To respond, once again, the Minister of Finance.

There being no further business this morning, this House stands in recess until 3 p.m.

The House recessed from 1142 to 1500.

Mr. Shamji moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 175, An Act to amend the Planning Act with respect to official plans and by-laws / Projet de loi 175, Loi visant à modifier la Loi sur l’aménagement du territoire à l’égard des plans officiels et des règlements municipaux.

First reading agreed to.

The official opposition House leader, the member for Timiskaming–Cochrane.

It has been a long-standing practice of this House to allow members to summarize their petitions or read them in full, but not both. My predecessors in this chair have affirmed this on many occasions. For example, on December 7, 2010, at page 4024 of the debates, the Speaker stated as follows:

“When presenting petitions, it is in order to either read the petition or give a brief synopsis of the content. Members may want to give the latter option some consideration if their petition is particularly lengthy or if it contains language that might otherwise not be permitted in debate.”

I return to the member for Nickel Belt to read her petition—or summarize it, if she wishes to do so.

In respect of the matter of certification, members are indeed required by standing order 42(c) to have their petitions certified prior to presenting them in the House, and I would remind all members to please submit their petitions to the table in advance of their preparation.

Has the member certified his petition or not?

Petitions? I recognize the member for Nickel Belt.

Thank you to the minister for that answer. The carbon tax is hurting the economy and driving up prices in Ontario and across the entire country. Not only is it hiking our energy and gas bills, but also the cost of food, housing and more. Speaker, in my riding, in Apsley, they haven’t had a grocery store for almost two years because it burnt. They have to travel 40 kilometres just to get groceries. That’s not optional. The carbon tax makes life harder for them.

Unlike the NDP and the independent Liberals, our government will continue to stand up for Ontarians and ensure they can keep more money in their pockets where it belongs. The federal government needs to step up and do the right thing. It’s time to eliminate the carbon tax. Speaker, can the Minister of Finance please explain what our government is doing to keep costs low for the people of Ontario?

The question is to the Premier. Speaker, last week the Premier said that the LCBO would distribute alcohol, but it’s the more than 7,000 Beer Store workers that distribute beer in the province. These workers are in the middle of deciding whether or not to accept the latest collective agreement, and they’re voting with the understanding from the Conservative government that beer will continue to be distributed by UFCW members. Before they vote, these workers should know if there’s something the Premier isn’t saying.

My question, Speaker: Will the Premier commit today to include these workers in any future discussion on alcohol distribution and sales in the province?

Thank you again to the hard-working member for that question. We know that now is not the time to sit back and wait, and that’s why our government has taken real action. For the millions of Ontario drivers, we have extended the gas tax cut to June 2024. In fact, Mr. Speaker, since we have put the gas tax cut in place, we have saved Ontario taxpayers $2.1 billion. Mr. Speaker, that’s the largest tax cut Ontarians have seen this century. Let that sink in: the largest tax cut this century in Ontario.

So while the opposition huddles over there, they can continue to vote against making life affordable. Our government will not stop the work to put more money back into the hard-working people of this province.

And of course, that means that the hard-working people at the Beer Store, the hard-working people at the LCBO, people right across this province, the workers who produce the beer, the people who distribute the beer, the people who retail the beer, are going to have a role in the modernization of the alcohol system in Ontario, because we’re going to get it done.

But let me also remind the member opposite, it was this government that froze the beer tax again for the sixth year in a row. And may I remind the member opposite that it was the federal government that increased the beer tax again this year.

Mr. Speaker, it’s this government that is moving forward, along with the hard-working people at the LCBO and the hard-working workers at the Beer Store, to provide convenience and choice for Ontarians right across this province.

On December 14, the Premier and I made a big announcement on behalf of all Ontarians that we were going to open up beer and wine and ready-to-drink distribution to convenience stores right across this province—the hard-working convenience store operators who’ve been asking for decades for this opportunity—so that people can have more convenience, so that people can have more choice, so that we can introduce some competition.

Does the member opposite really want to live in 1929, or does she want to live in 2024 and modernize the alcohol system?

In the words of OPSEU president JP Hornick, “LCBO workers are organized like never before, and they’re ready to fight for the future of the LCBO.” On March 12, the workers delivered petitions signed by nearly 7,000 LCBO employees demanding “a stop to the sell-off of the LCBO by the” Conservative “government and to protect good jobs across the province.” Colleen MacLeod, also of OPSEU, says, “We’re proud that LCBO” workers deliver revenues and “contribute $2.5 billion every year into the public services we all rely on.... We’re not going to stand by while” the Conservative government “puts that money into the pockets of big box grocery store CEOs. We’re going to fight him every step of the way.”

My question now to the finance minister: Will he affirm here today in this House that the alcohol that the LCBO sells will continue to be sold by Ontario public sector workers?