This morning, I’d like to welcome Kevin Eccles, the mayor of the municipality of West Grey; Dawn McNab; Kris Kennedy; Dennis Graham; Lucretia Schafer; and the over 60 people who are here and belong to the coalition to save Durham hospital.

I would like to welcome, from my riding of Waterloo, Sara Casselman, who’s the executive director of the sexual assault support centre. Welcome to your House, Sara, and thank you for participating in the press conference.

If there are no objections, I’d like to continue with introduction of visitors. I heard a no.

I recognize the Leader of the Opposition on a point of order.

Government House leader.

I see my buddy Jonny Stathakos in the visitors’ gallery, but I’ve got a special guest here in the Speaker’s gallery. I think he’s here to apologize to the opposition for the son he’s unleashed on the Legislature. But please join me in welcoming my father, Duncan McGregor.

I seek unanimous consent that, notwithstanding standing order 100(e), the member for Waterloo be permitted to designate private members’ notice of motion number 110 as ballot item number 13 to be debated today.

Hundreds of survivors and advocates and crisis support workers were expecting a chance to get answers on why this government has allowed so many sexual assault cases to be dismissed before trial. More than 1,300 cases of sexual assault in 2022 alone never saw a trial because the court system is so deeply underfunded and overwhelmed. Those are not just numbers, Speaker, these are survivors—survivors who are not going to get a shot at justice.

So to the Premier: Why are you silencing survivors of sexual assault who deserve justice from our legal system?

Interjections.

In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. As the Leader of the Opposition would know, what we voted on yesterday was, in principle, sending the bill directly to a committee of the Legislature. In fact, all Progressive Conservatives, and I would suggest that probably all members of this House, wanted to see that bill sent directly to committee so that it could be part of the study that the justice committee is doing on intimate partner violence.

I remind the Legislature that this Legislature agreed that we should study that and come back with comprehensive recommendations on how we can provide better services to victims of intimate partner violence. As you know, a former crown prosecutor is leading those efforts on behalf of the government side at committee. It is certainly my expectation that that committee will continue to do really good work and bring back recommendations here, and that we can provide real solutions for those—

I’ll tell you, Speaker, no one is buying that. No one is buying what they’re selling, I’ll tell you. I cannot tell you how disappointing this is for everybody here.

Let’s talk about another disappointing issue. While the Minister of Health dismisses and minimizes the doctor shortage in this province, the CEO and president of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, CHEO, says that their hospital has lost dozens of pediatric physicians since this government took office. CHEO is struggling to provide the early intervention that our kids need, and we know that it makes a world of difference for our children.

Does the Premier agree with his minister who thinks vacancies at children’s hospitals are not a major concern?

Interjections.

Wait times for MRIs and ultrasounds at CHEO are now the longest in Ontario. We have sick little kids transported out of the region, even out of the province, to get care; parents taking time off work; brothers and sisters taking time off school; little kids separated from their families and their friends while they’re getting treatment. Why? Because of the doctor shortage that this government and that minister refuse to even acknowledge, let alone fix.

So back to the Premier: Is this a major enough concern for his minister yet?

Interjections.

All you need to do is look at their own numbers: 3,000 physician vacancies right now across the province; a growing population; more physicians leaving the province every single day.

Here’s the problem: A child is sick. They can’t get treated because there aren’t enough doctors. Listen to the CEO and president of CHEO, for goodness’ sake.

What I and parents across the entire province are hearing from this Minister of Health is that this is not a major concern—not a major concern. If the people of Ontario cannot trust this minister to acknowledge the extent of the crisis in our primary care system, how can the Premier trust her to solve it?

Thank you.

The supplementary question? The member for Waterloo.

I remind members to make their comments through the Chair.

Government House leader.

Again, I remind members to make their comments through the Chair.

Government House leader.

The parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health and the member for Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry.

The member for Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry.

The final supplementary?

Ontario has some of the shortest wait times across the country, but we know there’s more to be done.

That’s why, this last summer, we announced that our government is investing an additional $330 million each year for over 100 high-priority pediatric-care initiatives across the province. I was at that announcement at CHEO, because that is my local hospital, and I will quote the CEO of CHEO—“the biggest children’s health funding announcement in provincial history.” This would help “unleash creative forces of children’s and youth organizations across the province.”

This investment includes hiring more pediatric surgical staff to increase the amount of day surgeries and increase access to diagnostic procedures for children.

Speaker, we’re ensuring children and youth in every corner of this province can connect to the care they need when they need it.

Our increase in pediatric surgeries has been supported by our government doubling pediatric ICU capacity at both McMaster and CHEO.

We’re taking the bold and innovative action to ensure Ontarians can connect to the care they need when and where they need it.

It took Ontario years of neglect by previous governments that were supported by the NDP unfortunately—and we’re fixing those mistakes that they’ve taken.

The Leader of the Opposition actually voted against our historic $330-million investment, but she doesn’t mention that in the House.

Screening and overall surgical wait-lists have declined to below pre-pandemic levels, with nearly 80% of all Ontarians receiving their surgery within the target time.

The number of pediatric surgeries taking place is up by over 30% of what surgeries were last year, with three of the five Ontario pediatric hospitals operating close to or near 100%.

With our Your Health plan, we’re growing our health care workforce to ensure Ontarians can access the care they need now and for years to come.

Speaker, I will remind the House that for a decade, the NDP propped up the Liberals, and that’s why—

Again, in her opening comments, the member opposite frankly identifies that the bill would go to the exact same committee that we expedited the bill to yesterday. We were very clear that we thought that there are very important elements in the private member’s bill that the member brought forward.

But we’re undertaking right now a very comprehensive study into the challenges facing victims of intimate partner violence. The justice committee, which is, on our part, being led by a former crown prosecutor, is to provide recommendations to this Legislature, to the government, on how we can make the system better, how we can make those who provide services for victims of intimate partner violence better, how we can improve the justice system. We want to also ensure that the federal government understands how important this issue is to the people of the province of Ontario.

We’re not silencing anyone, Mr. Speaker. In fact, what we’re doing is showing how important it is and expediting that work, and the committee will continue to do that work.

What we want to see is, what are the obstacles that are being faced? We know that there are obstacles in the courts because the federal government seems somehow unable to appoint judges to the bench, which is causing delays, but there’s more to it than that, Mr. Speaker. We want to talk to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. We want to talk to the minister of family and children’s services, to the Minister of Housing—across government, to see what obstacles can we remove? How can we work better together? Are there provinces that are doing things better than we are doing? And how can we make changes that will provide victims of intimate partner violence real, real change so that they can move forward?

To reply? The parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health, the member for Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry.

What’s the plan?

My question is for the Minister of Energy. The inflation affordability concerns Ontarians are facing right now are a direct result of the federal carbon tax. They are paying higher taxes and higher costs for the necessities of life, like food, gas and housing, and it is only getting worse from here. Families need a break.

However, the carbon tax queen Bonnie Crombie and her Liberal caucus are supporting their federal buddies who want to keep punishing Ontarians. That’s unacceptable.

Speaker, can the minister please tell the House how our government is working for the people while the Liberals are punishing them with higher taxes?

Since the introduction of this regressive tax, the cost of people’s everyday essentials has reached a new high. Businesses are raising prices to keep up with costs, families are cutting back on groceries and seniors are worried about being able to afford heating fuel.

Contrary to what the Liberal members in this House believe, the carbon tax is not in the best interests of Ontarians.

People are looking to our government to keep costs low and deliver real energy solutions. Last week, we concluded the largest battery storage procurement in Canada’s history to meet growing electricity demand. Speaker, can the minister please explain why initiatives like this procurement deliver better results than a costly carbon tax?

To make sure that we understand, we’re talking about the town of Durham, not the region. Those good people are here today.

We’ve seen this all before with the closure of Minden hospital last June. This government starved rural hospitals and emergency rooms with chronic underfunding. They blamed the workers. They blamed the community. They blamed everything but themselves. After being ignored and dismissed by this government when the community of Minden asked for help, their local hospital officially closed their doors last June.

The good people of Durham are here today. They are living the same nightmare that Minden lived last year. Will the Premier assure the good people of Durham that their hospital will stay open?

Scraping the bottom of the barrel there.

Since this government won’t do anything for CHEO and their physician shortage, let’s talk about Grey county. Local residents are here today in the hope of finally getting some answers from this government. They are losing all of their in-patient beds at Durham hospital, meaning that patients can’t be kept overnight. Not only that, their emergency room is going to be permanently shut after 5 p.m.

We’ve been raising this with the government for years now. The community has experienced rolling closures in Chesley, in Kincardine, in Walkerton and Durham hospitals. For a month, their local councils have been asking the Minister of Health for a meeting—I mean, a call; frankly, any explanation for any of this. But what they got? Silence.

My question is to the Premier: Will the Premier do what the minister will not and commit to meeting with the people of Grey county today?

Health care workers across the province have not forgotten about Rae Days. I know the Leader of the Opposition really doesn’t like me to bring it up, but she was a staffer in the Rae government, as well as some of their other caucus members.

It does take time to reverse the poor Liberal policies. Unfortunately, the NDP cut the amount of residency seats by 10%. The Liberals cut 50 seats. We are going to continue making those investments that are needed to ensure that our health care system functions properly after 15 years of a Liberal-NDP coalition that put us into this mess in the first place.

The South Bruce Grey Health Centre is governed by a local board of directors to best serve their local community needs. When reviewing their community needs, they’ve decided to refocus the resources at Durham hospital to primary care and urgent care. This will result in expansion of care beds at Walkerton and Kincardine hospitals as Durham shifts to primary care and urgent care. With many patients in the Durham region community without a family physician, this focus will be imperative.

The South Bruce Grey Health Centre changes will have no impact on the level of care, while retaining the existing staff. These changes will ensure a stable and sustainable health care system that will better serve the local needs. The Ministry of Health, Ontario Health and South Bruce Grey Health Centre will continue to work together for longer-term solutions to health care in South Bruce Grey.

Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government has made record investments into the health care system. Since 2018, we’ve increased the health care budget by over $18 billion, investing over $85 billion into the system this year alone.

Speaker, we will continue to ensure that we have the best publicly funded health care system all across Canada with our investments into our system.

Thank you to the member opposite for the question this morning.

The federal government has imposed this torturous federal carbon tax on the people of Ontario and the people across Canada, and we know that the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, is happy to have this carbon tax in place. Her counterpart federally, Minister Guilbeault, her buddy on Parliament Hill, has said that the queen of the carbon tax is happy to have that federal carbon tax in place. We know that the caucus here supports that increased tax and what it’s doing to drive up the cost of everything. The NDP supports that tax, and the Green Party leadership here supports that, as well.

I want them to hear this: Last night, I was speaking at the net-zero forum put on by the Transition Accelerator. They applaud our plan, which is reducing emissions and growing our province’s economy.

We are doing a lot. She referenced the massive energy procurement last week for storage. The largest storage facility is actually going to be in the riding of our good member from the riding that’s way too long to mention—the Brockville region. That’s going to ensure that there is secure, reliable electricity in eastern Ontario for future growth, the kind of growth that we saw yesterday, with Asahi Kasei—I said that wrong, but the Minister of Economic Development is going to support me on this. It was an almost $2-billion announcement down in the Niagara region yesterday, building on the $43 billion of new investment that we’ve seen across the province.

Our Powering Ontario’s Growth plan is working. Even the environmental organizations that I met with last night at the Transition Accelerator are endorsing the Powering Ontario’s Growth plan because we’re reducing emissions, providing reliable clean power for our province and watching our economy grow at the same time.

Speaker, any tax hikes are misguided.

Look at what our government is doing. Yesterday, we welcomed a $1.6-billion investment from Asahi Kasei to build an EV separator plant in Port Colborne. We’ve now landed $43 billion in new EV investments in the last four years; that is more than any US state. These investments are creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs right across our province. How? Because we’ve reduced taxes right across the province. We’ve lowered the cost of doing business by $8 billion each and every year.

Speaker, we’ve shown the Liberals the way: Lowering taxes is how you bring wealth to an economy.

Axe the tax.

We took the opposite approach. We have lowered taxes in Ontario. We have cut red tape. We have lowered electricity rates. That’s why 700,000 more men and women are working today and manufacturing employment is now at the highest level in 15 years.

The Liberal agenda of high taxes does not work.

Our message is very clear: Scrap the carbon tax today.

Minister of Education.

The supplementary question?

I’ll remind the members to make their comments through the Chair.

The next question.

Supplementary question?