Aamjiwnaang First Nation closed its band office and sent employees home on April 16 after people became sick with symptoms associated with high levels of benzene.

The First Nation reported last week that they were not consulted on what the Ministry of the Environment considers acceptable levels of benzene. Speaker, will the minister ensure Aamjiwnaang is at all decision-making tables on benzene emissions in Sarnia?

Thank you to the member opposite for the question. Our government’s dedication to protecting human health and the environment is clear. That’s why last week a decision was made to suspend INEOS Styrolution’s environmental compliance approval. Despite several provincial orders requiring the company to reduce benzene emissions, recent readings at the site continued to be above acceptable levels. This action will ensure that the facility, currently shut down for maintenance, fully addresses the causes and sources of emissions before resuming operations.

The ECA has been amended to require the facility to suspend production and operations at the facility, remove all benzene storage from the site and submit a comprehensive monitoring and community notification plan. We have made it clear that our government expects that swift action is taken to reduce these emissions.

We’ll continue to take any additional steps and compliance actions that may be required to protect people’s health and the environment. Make no mistake, when it comes to protecting health and safety, we will not hesitate to use the various tools and enforcement actions we have at our disposal to hold emitters to account.

My question is for the Solicitor General. The Liberal carbon tax is raising the cost of living and burdening families and businesses across Ontario, especially in rural ridings like mine, Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston, where people are worried about the impact of this tax on emergency services in our province. They want to ensure that our police and other emergency response teams have the tools and resources they need to keep their communities safe.

The public safety of Ontarians is of critical importance. The federal Liberals need to finally recognize the consequences of this tax and scrap it today.

Speaker, could the Solicitor General tell the House how the federal carbon tax is impacting the operations of police and first responders across Ontario?

With media reports detailing a surge in criminal activity throughout our province, Ontarians want to ensure that first responders are well-equipped and have the support that they need.

But, Speaker, people are concerned about the negative impacts of the Liberal carbon tax on police budgets. With the carbon tax increasing the operating costs of these critical services, it is essential for our government to continue to support the hard-working men and women that keep our communities safe.

Speaker, could the Solicitor General please explain how our government is enhancing Ontario’s public safety framework as police and first responders face additional challenges due to the carbon tax?

Speaker, on Friday, Aamjiwnaang issued a notice of violation to both INEOS Styrosolution and the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, seeking immediate remediation of benzene emissions. Aamjiwnaang is asking again for the human right of having clean air to breathe.

Ontario has failed to protect air quality at Aamjiwnaang for generations. Will this government finally listen to their air pollution control recommendations?

I beg leave to present a report from the Standing Committee on the Interior and move its adoption.

I beg leave to present a report from the Standing Committee on Social Policy on the estimates selected by the standing committee for consideration.

I’d like to welcome to the Legislature—whether they’re specifically in this room or not; I know they’re in the building—the entire ministry team at the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, who have worked tirelessly around the clock, with many late nights and many late messages from me, to deliver on the bill we’ll be introducing today.

Thank you for your hard work, and welcome to your House.

I would like to give a shout-out to the MLITSD MO team, who are now here and who have worked incredible long hours to deliver on this bill.

Ms. Hogarth moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill Pr47, An Act to revive 1147946 Ontario Inc.

I wanted to rise to acknowledge that we are starting Nursing Week in the province of Ontario. This year’s theme is “Changing Lives. Shaping Tomorrow.” So on behalf of our government, I would like to wish all the registered nurses, registered practical nurses, nurse practitioners and nursing students in Ontario a very happy Nursing Week.

Parents want accessible, affordable child care. Providing child care workers with the supports they need will go a long way to solving our critical retention and recruitment problem.

This legislation would create an advisory committee solely dedicated to supporting workers in the child care sector and would help make child care workers’ concerns and voices heard. The legislation will allow the advisory committee to immediately get to work on addressing some of the biggest challenges facing workers in the sector, including: increased wages; minimum work standards; career advancement opportunities; recruitment strategies; immigration considerations; enhanced collective bargaining.

We need a real plan and a real strategy to ensure families have child care that they can rely on, because a chronically underfunded child care sector is simply inexcusable.

Passing this bill will be an important step towards a better future for the hard-working ECEs and RECEs in this province who are caring for our generation.

I also want to thank my co-sponsors, MPP Bell, MPP Karpoche and MPP Pasma, for supporting me in this bill.

The parliamentary assistant and member for Windsor–Tecumseh.

The House recessed from 1159 to 1300.

Report adopted.

Mr. Piccini moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 190, An Act to amend various statutes with respect to employment and labour and other matters / Projet de loi 190, Loi modifiant diverses lois relatives à l’emploi et au travail et à d’autres questions.

First reading agreed to.

First reading agreed to.

Ms. Armstrong moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 191, An Act respecting the establishment of a Childcare and Early Years Workforce Strategy Advisory Committee / Projet de loi 191, Loi concernant la création du comité consultatif de la stratégie relative aux préposés aux services pour la petite enfance et la garde d’enfants.

First reading agreed to.

I thank the member for that question. This is exactly what we predicted was going to happen when the federal government made a unilateral decision to cut the number of seats for our colleges and universities—no discussions with the colleges and universities sector and none with the provinces at all.

Mr. Speaker, that’s why this government has stepped up in providing $1.3 billion in funding. The historic investment—the largest investment that’s been made in over 10 years. We’re going to ensure that our schools remain sustainable for years to come.

My question is to the Premier. Speaker, last month, Fleming College abruptly announced the closure of 29 programs in Peterborough and Lindsay, following the loss of $40 million in international student tuition and years of provincial underfunding. With the college sector facing a projected $3-billion revenue loss over the next three years, Fleming is likely the first of many colleges to slash programs and possibly close campuses, which will be a huge blow to the communities and local economies that rely on graduates of college programs and the jobs that colleges provide.

Speaker, will this government act now to pause the program closures at Fleming and commit to a permanent increase in post-secondary base funding before it’s too late?

I want to thank our great, hard-working MPP from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston for the question and for his advocacy of public safety in his own constituency.

It’s completely undeniable. Last week, I went up to OPP headquarters to see for myself, to understand just how many boats we have that keep the waterways of Ontario safe, thanks to the OPP. I saw our aerial fleet that goes every day to northern Ontario to fly-in communities, and I understood how important it is to have that aviation support. And of course, Mr. Speaker—and I’ve said this in the Legislature—how important it is to have hundreds and thousands of cars on the roads that keep Ontario safe and how vital those cars are.

Mr. Speaker, it’s undeniable: The carbon tax, now 21 cents for a litre of diesel, is affecting our public safety. And you know who knows about it? Bonnie Crombie. Let her come clean with the people of Ontario to say, when she was on the police service board, she knew it—and now she’s saying nothing.

Just last week, I attended the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs. I want to give a special shout-out to Rob Grimwood, who leads that organization. He reminded me that an average fire truck of 200 litres that fills up almost every single day is now paying 21 cents a litre for diesel. It’s not right.

It’s not only affecting the public safety side of our communities, our policing side; it’s affecting the firefighter side. It’s not right and that’s why our government, led by Premier Ford, will stand up for the people of Ontario every single day and say, “This carbon tax is bad.”

Bonnie Crombie knew it as mayor of Mississauga. Let her come clean with Ontarians.

Mr. Clark from the Standing Committee on Social Policy presents the committee’s report as follows:

Pursuant to standing order 63, your committee has selected the 2024-25 estimates of the following ministries for consideration: Ministry of Health; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services; Ministry of Long-Term Care; Ministry of Colleges and Universities; Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility.

Report presented.

Bill 171, An Act to enact the Veterinarian Professionals Act, 2024 and amend or repeal various acts / Projet de loi 171, Loi visant à édicter la Loi de 2024 sur les professionnels vétérinaires et à modifier ou à abroger diverses lois.

I have a petition entitled “Stop Bill 166.” I would like to thank the hundreds of Londoners who signed this petition just in this past week. In front of me, I have the signatures of university faculty, staff and community members across the city.

The petition talks about how the government has dramatically underfunded mental health and anti-racism work on post-secondary campuses and is now planning to impose unilateral directives as to how that work should be put in place, without any accountability to the public or to experts.

The petition urges the Legislature to respect the institutional autonomy of universities and the academic freedom that is a cornerstone of our democracy and that has historically been celebrated in Ontario but which is under threat because of the bill. It calls for the Legislature not to allow the overreaching powers that the bill would give to the minister and instead to adequately fund post-secondary education so that institutions can invest in culturally responsive mental health supports and in fully staffed and funded equity offices. It also calls for the re-establishment of community-based subcommittees under the Anti-Racism Directorate, to take an intersectional approach to equity and anti-racism.

I couldn’t agree more with this petition. I will affix my signature and send it to the table with page Glynnis.

Thank you, Speaker. I move that leave be given to introduce a bill entitled An Act to amend the Health Protection and Promotion Act and that it now be read for the first time.

—1 to 1 for critical patients on ventilators;

—2 to 1 for critical patients not on ventilators—or needing very high mental health care;

—3 to 1 for specialized care;

—4 to 1 for palliative care;

—5 to 1 for rehab, except 7-to-1 on night shifts.

I hope you can all agree that’s a good idea.

The petition is quite simple. It basically shows that hospital staff play a very important role in the quality of our health care system, but many of them have to pay parking fees to get to work. That affects their job satisfaction. There are many hospitals in Canada where the hospital makes parking free for their employees. Adding parking fees to our hard-working health care professionals is a financial burden for some of them. They feel that if parking was free it would be one more step in trying to attract and retain health care workers to our understaffed hospitals. So they ask the government to fund our hospitals in a way that they are not forced to charge parking fees to their staff just to balance their budget. I think this is a good idea—an idea of which time has come.

I will be happy to sign this petition and send it to the table with page Raisa.

I’m very pleased to be able to rise and present this petition that is signed by many residents of Ottawa, including Kimberly Byars of Ottawa West–Nepean. These constituents raise concerns about the privatization of our health care system and the fact that people across Ottawa and across Ontario are being charged fees for services that should by covered by OHIP, despite the fact that the Premier and the Minister of Health promised that nobody in the province would be required to pay for health care with their credit card.

They are also concerned about the fact that allowing privatized health care bleeds health care workers out of our public system. We don’t have an unlimited source of health care workers to provide nurses and doctors for both a public system and a private system.

So these petitioners are calling on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to protect our health care system against sale by this government, to actually properly fund our hospitals, to recognize the foreign credentials of nurses and doctors who have been trained outside of Ontario, and also to ensure that everybody in Ontario has 10 paid sick days.

I wholeheartedly support this petition. I will add my name to it and send it to the table with page Liam.

Introduction of bills? The member for Nickel Belt.

Would the member like to briefly explain her bill?

I’ve met with constituents in the London–Fanshawe area with respect to the decision that has been made in this Legislature not to allow members or guests to wear a cultural piece of clothing that actually identifies their heritage and their culture. They’ve given us a petition, and they’re asking the Legislature to allow guests and members who work in this legislative chamber to be allowed to wear the kaffiyeh. The kaffiyeh, to them, is a symbol of their culture and their heritage. The netting of the kaffiyeh is about the fishermen and how they survive for food. Then there is the part of the kaffiyeh that looks like olive plants—and then the roads are the roads travelled.

This is not a political piece of clothing. This is a cultural and heritage piece of clothing that identifies the Palestinian people, and they want to be able to visit this House and be in the galleries.

Members who work here who are of Palestinian heritage should be allowed to wear the kaffiyeh.

I support this petition—and we ask the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to please allow that kaffiyeh to be entered into the chambers.