My question is back to the Premier.

It is unacceptable that they will stand here and say to the women who worked on Lydia’s Law, the women who travelled to Queen’s Park yesterday, and to Lydia herself, that it wasn’t their turn to speak.

The government says they need to know more before they can address the crisis in the courts. Well, yesterday they had a chance to learn, but they refused to listen.

Survivors of sexual violence are being told to wait until the government gives them permission to come to committee. They feel betrayed. Lydia feels betrayed.

Premier, how can the intimate partner violence study succeed when you have lost the trust of this community in this province of Ontario?

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier.

Survivors of sexual violence travelled from all across this province to hear this House discuss the crisis in our justice system yesterday, and their government betrayed them. They didn’t just kill the debate on an important bill; they wouldn’t even allow a discussion about the thousands of sexual assault cases that are being dismissed right now in our broken court system.

Will the Premier stand in his place and explain to survivors of sexual assault why they are not only losing their day in court, but also losing their day in this Legislature?

Interjections.

We are asking, actually, about accountability, and we are asking about clearing the backlog for sexual assault cases. Our courts are so overwhelmed that in one year alone, over 1,300 survivors had their cases dismissed, thrown out. There is no justice in that. And you don’t need to study it. It is a fact.

But once again, the government is playing procedural games on a very important issue.

So I want to ask the Premier—you are in government. You have the power. How about you be decisive for once and do the right thing?

Interjections.

Speaker, 10,000 patients are going to lose their primary care in Sault Ste. Marie by the end of this month, in just a couple of weeks, including retired steelworkers. Do you know why that matters? It’s because those retirees founded the Group Health Centre, and they took a pay cut; they took their hard-earned dollars to build themselves a world-class, world-renowned clinic in their hometown. In exchange, they were promised health care at that clinic for the rest of their lives. But now that’s being taken away, and this government has no plan to help them.

I’m going to ask the Premier: Is he going to make sure that his health minister finally acts here, or is the loss of primary care in the Soo not a major concern either?

Interjections.

Interjections.

I just want them to answer the question. They know perfectly well that they’re not addressing the current issue.

Access to primary care shouldn’t depend on where you live.

If these patients in Sault Ste. Marie lose access to their primary care doctor, do you know where they’re going to end up? They’re going to end up in emergency rooms that are already overcrowded. And there’s only one emergency room in the Soo. The next closest one is Sudbury. That’s four hours away.

So what is this government’s plan to address the urgent crisis in primary care in Sault Ste. Marie before the end of the month?

My question is to the Premier.

In 2016, Soleiman Faqiri suffered from schizoaffective disorder. He was temporarily housed in a correctional facility. He was denied mental health resources. Pleas from his family were ignored even though he was clearly in crisis. Soleiman Faqiri died in jail 11 days later. He was restrained with his hands behind his back. He was restrained on his ankles. He was restrained in many other places, pepper-sprayed, and his face was covered with a spit hood.

His death was deemed a homicide by Ontario’s coroners in an inquest that put forward 57 recommendations directly to this government. The first recommendation called on the government to recognize that correctional facilities are not an appropriate place for people experiencing a mental health crisis. The government was expected to respond within 60 days; it has now been six months.

Yesterday, because of government inaction, I tabled the Justice for Soli Act. I and the Faqiri family, who are here today, call on this government to support the act. And they want to know, how many more people have to die in jails because they are living with a mental health crisis, before they act?

Interjections.

According to the coroner’s report, at the time of death, Soleiman Faqiri had over 50 bruises on his body, despite the fact that he was in segregation during his entire time in jail. There were over 60 policy breaches leading up to Soleiman’s homicide while he was in government custody.

The family here is asking for an apology, recognition of their pain and suffering.

Yes or no, Premier, will you give the Faqiri family the apology they deserve for Soleiman’s tragic and preventable death?

My question is for the Premier.

Speaker, in Sudbury, multiple tenants have been targeted by their landlord. He’s trying to force them to move out of his apartment. Marie is one of these tenants—and that’s not her real name; she’s afraid to use her real name. Marie told me the entire building had no heat all winter. She said the landlord was literally trying to freeze them out. When that didn’t work, the landlord sent Marie a text. I’m going to read it verbatim: “Hi, this is the owner. Can we talk tomorrow? I want to discuss incentivizing you to give me the apartment unit back.”

Tenants like Marie have been living in this building for years without any issues, then the building was purchased by an out-of-town landlord, and these tenants are being forced out of their own homes.

We’re in a housing crisis, and unscrupulous landlords are doing everything they can to kick people out of their homes so they can double the rent.

Why isn’t the Premier protecting people like Marie?

The next tenant—I’ve got to call him Ray because he can’t use his name, because he’s so terrified about losing his home. Ray is a tenant in the exact same building. Ray’s rent is supposed to include hydro, like all the tenants in there, but I guess shutting off the heat and bribing the tenants wasn’t working, so the landlord stopped paying for hydro. The problem is, Ray has medical equipment he needs to stay alive, and it needs hydro. So, Ray has to decide: Does he give up groceries, or does he risk dying? That’s the situation the Premier has put us in.

These stories aren’t uncommon. They’re happening all around the province. And pretending they have blinders on—they’re out to lunch.

When will the Premier implement rent controls and other safeguards to protect tenants from bad landlords like this one?

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier.

We’re working on a new downtown community safety plan in Ottawa to respond to a request from this government that we use funds to enhance people’s safety downtown and on our transit system. We now have 120 days to respond to the government. We’re meeting actively with local officials to help us come up with the best plan.

My question, which is a straightforward one, which is part of our preparations, is, is the government prepared to fund, in our community safety plan, an unarmed crisis response unit that could help our neighbours who are suffering with mental health issues and addictions?