SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
May 14, 2024 09:00AM
  • May/14/24 10:50:00 a.m.

Facts matter. The records matter, Speaker. In the NDP government, when they were in power for those short five years, and hopefully never again—and the Leader of the Opposition was a staffer at that time—they cut medical school enrolment by 10%. In 2015, the Liberal Premier cut 50 resident spots, which amounts to hundreds of fewer doctors serving in our province today.

We expanded the Learn and Stay grant—which, again, the opposition voted against—which provides tuition, books, supplies for nurses and other health care workers who work in underserved areas in our province. We’re also funding the largest expansion of the medical school spots in over 15 years, adding 1,212 undergraduate and 1,637 postgraduate seats across Ontario; 60% of these seats will be dedicated to family medicine.

What I do recommend is that the Leader of the Opposition gets her party to support our budget, Speaker.

Interjections.

Since 2018, we’ve registered over 80,000 new nurses in Ontario, as well as 12,500 new physicians, with 10% of those being family physicians. Last year alone, we registered 2,400 new doctors to practise in Ontario. That was a record-breaking year for nurses in Ontario, but we’re not stopping there. We will continue to ensure that the people of Ontario have what they need for health care.

We have 17,500 new nurses registered last year, which was a historic number, over 33,000 over the last two years. We’ll continue.

We’re investing significantly into our health human resources. In this year’s budget, we have over $740 million to address immediate staffing needs, supporting the expansion of over 3,000 new nursing seats across Ontario.

We’ll continue to do what needs to be done to ensure that we have the best publicly funded health care system.

Speaker, we understand that more needs to be done. That’s why we’ve invested $110 million into interprofessional primary care teams, and then in this year’s budget, we actually added another $546 million. Over 600,000 Ontarians are going to receive the care they need.

We’ll continue to ensure that the health care system in Ontario is the best publicly funded system across all of Canada.

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  • May/14/24 10:50:00 a.m.

Speaker, I’m going to ask the member there, the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health, to really think about this: people being diagnosed with cancer, not in the comfort and the safety of their family doctor’s office, but in an overcrowded emergency room, how did they get there? Because they don’t have a family doctor. So by the time they get there—just imagine for a moment, to the member opposite, being the emergency room physician who then has to tell that patient that not only do they have cancer, but it has metastasized, because they couldn’t get to see their family doctor. They couldn’t get screening. This is not a major concern?

So I want to ask the member opposite: They’re having you answer all the questions today. Is this not a major concern for you?

It is unimaginable, Speaker, that this minister doesn’t see this as a concern; that this Premier and this member don’t see this as a concern. We are losing doctors and nurses and health care workers faster than we can recruit them.

I want the members opposite for just a moment to imagine being the mother of a newborn. You have so many questions; you have nowhere to go for answers. Imagine you’re the parent of a sick child and you live in the Soo and you find out now you have no family doctor. Where are you going to go?

Take some responsibility, own up to it.

Will this government admit that they have a problem on their hands and that it is unimaginable that their minister, who was supposed to be responsible for this, refused to live up to her responsibility?

Interjections.

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  • May/14/24 10:50:00 a.m.

The parliamentary assistant, the member for Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry.

Supplementary question?

The parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health.

The member from Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry to reply.

Supplementary?

Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

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  • May/14/24 11:00:00 a.m.

Since Minister Jones was sworn in as Minister of Health, our government has registered a record number of new nurses two years in a row, registering a total number of 32,000 nurses in Ontario. We achieved this by directing the College of Nurses of Ontario and the college of physicians of Ontario to break down barriers for internationally trained and educated health care workers, and expanding programs like the Learn and Stay grant, which, I will remind the House, the opposition voted against.

Our government has invested nearly $1 billion into the home and community care sector. This funding has not only added thousands of PSWs—in fact, we’ve added nearly 25,000 since 2021—but it has also increased compensation for the PSWs, nurses and other front-line health care providers to further stabilize the workforce.

We know that more needs to be done, and that’s why as part of our 2024 budget, our government is investing another $743 million to continue to grow our health care workforce.

We will continue to do what needs to be done to ensure that we have the best publicly funded health care system.

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  • May/14/24 11:00:00 a.m.

Order.

Stop the clock.

Interjections.

The next question.

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  • May/14/24 11:00:00 a.m.

Merci au député de Perth–Wellington. C’est vrai que, ce matin, nous avons un ami du Québec. C’est tellement agréable d’avoir des gens qui partagent les mêmes idées ici. Le membre du Québec qui est ici en Ontario partage la même position en matière de ce qui concerne la taxe carbone.

C’est une taxe inutile. Ce n’est pas un plan d’environnement; c’est un plan budgétaire. Et notre voisin a le même message que notre gouvernement. C’est clair. En anglais, c’est « scrap the tax ». En français, c’est « restez à l’écart de nos affaires ». Le message est clair : il faut qu’on « scrap the tax ».

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  • May/14/24 11:00:00 a.m.

Ma question est pour la ministre de la Santé. According to ministry data, Ontario is presently short 13,000 nurses; in a few short years, this number will rise to 33,000 nurses. The number one reason for this shortage is the workload that nurses face on each and every shift. What is this government doing to improve the workload of our nurses?

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  • May/14/24 11:00:00 a.m.

As incredible as it sounds, Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I introduced a new actor to the very complicated carbon tax royal love story. We talked about the king of the carbon tax, Prime Minister Trudeau, and his failure to rein in his friends and folks in the Liberal family and, of course, Prince Carney—a very smart man in his own right; just ask him—read the tea leaves. He said this is not a very good tax for Canadians right now. That’s interesting. I’m not sure whether it’s driven from his intellect or from polls, but here’s what’s clear: This introduced increased costs on every conceivable thing that the people of Ontario and the people of Quebec buy. From fuel to food, from appliances to planting their gardens this spring, there’s only one thing that’s going to pop up every single time, and that’s the carbon tax. That’s why we take the position to just scrap this tax.

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  • May/14/24 11:00:00 a.m.

Ma question est pour le ministre du Développement du Nord et le ministre des Affaires autochtones.

The Prime Minister has a new flashy video, but he’s not fooling anyone. Ontarians are paying more for food, gas and home heating. And at a time when we are facing a 40-year-high inflation rate the Prime Minster and the federal Liberals decided to hike the carbon tax by an additional 23%. You can hear the groans already from the independent Liberals. It’s clear that the Liberals in this place do not care about affordability and addressing that. Under their leader, carbon tax queen Bonnie Crombie, they are content with seeing the tax continue to rise and eventually triple by 2030. This is unfair to Ontarians that are paying for the expense of failed Liberal policies. The Liberal carbon tax must come to an end.

Speaker, with the summer quickly approaching, can the minister please explain how the carbon tax continues to burden every Ontarian?

While the members opposite have no regard for fiscal discipline, as the people in Ontario truly understand after 15 years under the previous Liberal government, our government will continue to put Ontarians first, protect their hard-earned paycheques and savings.

Can the minister please share with our House today how our government remains steadfast in investing in the priorities that resonate with the people of Ontario while the NDP and Liberals across the aisle continue to support the carbon tax?

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  • May/14/24 11:00:00 a.m.

Thank you to the member for that question.

On this side of the House, we know that Ontario’s prosperity hinges on our ability to address the pressing issue of our province’s labour shortage, particularly in the skilled trades. Sadly, the carbon tax is only increasing these issues.

Ontarians are deeply concerned about the cost-of-living crisis that the carbon tax has created. While the Crombie Liberals would like to separate this issue, we, on this side of the House, know that the cost of workers don’t just end at the workplace. Whether it’s being able to cover the cost of one’s commute or the ability to invest in the tools and skills that you need, we know that it’s just essential for workers’ success.

We see the Liberals at every turn working hard to make it harder for Ontarians to survive. In stark contrast, our government has adopted a wholly different approach. We’re committed to empowering our workforce by launching a comprehensive skilled trades strategy, supporting nearly $1.5 billion in funding over the next four years.

Together, we are unified in our effort to build a future our province deserves.

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  • May/14/24 11:00:00 a.m.

My question is for Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. The Liberal carbon tax raises the price of absolutely everything in our province and is hurting our economy and our workers. It drives up the costs of everyday essentials like food, heating and transportation.

With a rapidly growing population, we need all hands on deck to start building right across Ontario, but the costly carbon tax is hurting our workers’ ability to invest in their skills and development to build a better future for Ontario. The federal government needs to finally listen to what our government has been asking from day one and eliminate this job-killing tax.

Speaker, can the minister outline the steps that our government is taking to fight the carbon tax and to ensure Ontario has the workforce that we need to start building for the future?

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  • May/14/24 11:00:00 a.m.

You know what we are doing? Training more PSWs, more nurses, initiatives like the Ontario Learn and Stay program. We have 3,500 graduates coming through the program that are nurses, lab techs and paramedics in underserved regions of the province. These students have their educational costs covered by the government in order to fill those spaces. In fact, there are actually six students for every nursing space in Ontario. This is a growing profession, and we have students across the province who are looking to become nurses.

We are going to continue to work with our post-secondary partners to ensure that we have nurses, paramedics, lab techs and PSWs across Ontario.

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  • May/14/24 11:10:00 a.m.

My question it to the Minister of Natural Resources. We know we are 200 firefighters short. Last week, the minister said our crews were so ready that we will be able to send them to other provinces. Minister, if this government is that ready to face wildfires, how many firefighters are we going to share with other provinces when we are short 200 firefighters today?

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  • May/14/24 11:10:00 a.m.

Back to the parliamentary assistant: The Liberal carbon tax is hurting the household budgets for individuals and families right across Ontario. Ontarians should not be subjected to a tax that does nothing but burden them with unnecessary costs. To make matters worse, the Liberals in this Legislature, under the leadership of a woman who loves the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, ignore the hard-working women and men of our province who oppose this punitive tax.

But, Speaker, it’s not surprising, considering for 15 years, the previous Liberal government failed all Ontarians and drove 300,000 manufacturing jobs right out of Ontario. Now they want to make it harder for young people to get the skills and the tools they need to enter the skilled trades by supporting the federal Liberal carbon tax. That’s unacceptable.

Speaker, can the parliamentary assistant tell the House what our government is doing to get more people into the skilled trades, despite the Liberals advancing their anti-worker carbon tax agenda?

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  • May/14/24 11:10:00 a.m.

Monsieur le Président, les conservateurs de l’Alberta ont fait la même chose que l’Ontario fait depuis 2018 : coupé sans cesse dans la prévention des feux de forêt. Aujourd’hui, on voit des conséquences désastreuses du choix politique de l’Alberta.

Monsieur le Ministre, allez-vous répéter les mêmes erreurs que vos homologues albertains et nous rendre vulnérables et dépendants des autres provinces?

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  • May/14/24 11:10:00 a.m.

The supplementary question?

And the supplementary question?

Government House leader may reply.

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  • May/14/24 11:10:00 a.m.

We learned recently that this government is once again hiding information from the people of Ontario. This time, it’s about how many health care workers they will be short because of their damaging, unconstitutional Bill 124.

But, Speaker, this behaviour is not a surprise from this government. They are experts at pulling down the blinds on the press’s right to light and transparency. Whether it’s ministerial mandate letters, the details of the shameful 95-year lease with a foreign-owned spa, the real reason they’re closing the Ontario Science Centre and building a parking lot for their spa friends, the criminal investigation into the greenbelt scandal or how they’ve doubled the number of staff riding the gravy train in the Premier’s office, this government has no qualms about hiding their flaws.

My question to the Premier: Why does he like hiding information from the people of Ontario?

Speaker, this government forgets that the privilege of governing comes with the responsibility of transparency, so their disdain for transparency is at odds with their endless crowing about their record. If their crowing is justified, then there should be nothing to hide. But the press had to go to court again to get the information about the shortage of health care workers. The documents pried out of the government’s hands by the Canadian Press show the information was hidden because—wait for it—the government thinks that it would help nurses to get fair wages.

To the Premier: If the state of our health care system is not a concern, why did the government try to hide this information?

Interjections.

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  • May/14/24 11:10:00 a.m.

Speaker, do you know what? These guys get—I think they get one question every 11 days. Now, that’s not a rule that I put in place; that is something that the people of the province have put in place, because for not one but two elections, they have punished the Liberal Party of Ontario. And now they just punished them again in a by-election, right?

And did they ask about the economy? No, because when they were in office, they destroyed the economy. Do they ask about health care? No, because when they were in office, they closed hospitals, fired nurses and didn’t hire doctors, so they don’t want to ask about that. They don’t ask about infrastructure, because when they were in charge of infrastructure, you remember, they built bridges upside down. So what else? Not long-term care, because they didn’t build any long-term-care homes; not about taxes, because they actually increased taxes; not about red tape, because they made us the most overly regulated province in the country. So they’re asking about—

You want to talk about accountability? The chief of staff to the Premier, under the Liberals, went to jail, Mr. Speaker. That is what we inherited in 2018.

Since 2018, we have been executing a plan across the province of Ontario. That plan includes making sure we are a fiscally responsible government, ensuring that we unleash the power of northern Ontario to protect the prosperity of all Ontarians. They called the north a wasteland. We’re opening up the Ring of Fire—

Interjections.

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  • May/14/24 11:10:00 a.m.

I must say that one of the hallmarks of our firefighting service here in Ontario is that we do help out other jurisdictions at their time of need. So we know that the forest fires right now in BC, Alberta and Manitoba are significant. We hope and pray that the situations there go well, but we stand at the ready to help. Because that’s what Ontario does. That’s what firefighters throughout all the jurisdictions in Canada do: They help one another when they have the resources to help.

Here in Ontario, where we had a firefighting budget of $69 million when we took over, it was disrespected and neglected by the previous government, supported by the NDP. We upped that budget to $135 million a year to build capacity to be able to help, to be able to be there for others in this country when they need that assistance. We’re here for Ontarians every single day. We’re here for Canadians every single day.

We’re the ones that had to make the investments, and it’s not only in the base budget that we made those investments. Last fall, an additional $20 million to look at alternative ways to fight fires in Ontario. How can we bring new aerial technologies in? How can we work with universities on collaborative research agreements about the changing dynamics of wildfires? How can we continue to support our great wildfire rangers that are out there doing the work every day? The Ministry of Labour stepped up with presumptive coverage. We’ve stepped up with more things for them to make sure that they can do the job the best they can every single day, including a recruitment and retention bonus, including supports for training. So we’re there every day, Mr. Speaker.

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  • May/14/24 11:10:00 a.m.

Thank you to the member for that question. For years, the previous Liberal government has neglected the skilled trades. Their failure to prioritize these crucial sectors resulted in a significant decline in apprenticeship applications, leaving thousands of well-paying jobs unfilled and undermining Ontario’s economy. If this wasn’t bad enough, for a decade and a half of complete neglect, their federal Liberal friends are discouraging more Ontarians from entering the trades.

Yet our government is resolute in its commitment to rectifying this Liberal mess and ensuring that Ontario’s economy works for everyone. We’re accomplishing this by investing in our workforce. We have launched our over $1.5-billion Skills Development Fund aimed at training Ontario’s next generation of workers.

And Mr. Speaker, we’ve seen the results. To date, over half a million workers have benefited and 597 training and workforce development projects have received funding.

We continue to be steadfast in our determination to clean this mess.

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