Question Period: Thursday, May 20
Get your heckling in before constituency week
Premier DOUG FORD skipped out on the morning debate, as he’s done all week. He’ll soon get a break from being called out for it in this space because the House isn’t sitting next week. Naturally, MPPs got in their heckling while they could.
THE HIGHLIGHTS: Reopen based on science — The human cost of pandemic-postponed surgeries — CCPA report backs end to for-profit LTC — Salvaging the school year — Science-backed reopening plan — “Step up and do the right thing and properly pay PSWs” — Make the curriculum more equitable — Transparency for revamped autism program — Vaccines for teens — Commit to funding back-to-school in the fall — Lift the lockdown.
Scientific backup for reopening
TRANSCRIPT — Ms. Andrea Horwath: My first question is for the Premier. Earlier this week the Premier and his MPPs, against all science and health advice, voted against our motion to reopen outdoor amenities safely. Can the Premier confirm that he is now going to go back on his decision and lift the restrictions that he imposed on outdoor activities, notwithstanding the fact that every credible expert begged him not to do so?
Interjections.
The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order. To reply, the Minister of Health.
Hon. Christine Elliott: I would say to the leader of the official opposition that we have encouraged people to be outdoors. The weather is great now. We encourage people to be outdoors, to go to the parks—the parks are all open—to go for a walk, go for a bike ride, go for a run, to get outside and get some exercise. We know that’s important for people’s physical and mental well-being. We have not strayed from that. We have always encouraged people to be outdoors this time of the year.
Horwath: Back to the Premier: This government has a terrible record on reopening. We’ll remember back in the fall they brought forward their colour-coded framework, in which the metrics that they utilized were four times higher than what the experts recommended. Back in February the science table predicted that if the government rushed the reopening and didn’t put in place extra public health precautions, we would be in a very terrible situation. They predicted disaster and lo and behold, the Premier ignored their advice and walked us right into this brutal third wave.
In April the Premier decided to close playgrounds and bring a police state into Ontario instead of giving us paid sick days for our essential workers. That’s not what the science table recommended.
Now, apparently, there’s been another marathon cabinet battle under way. Will this Premier commit this time to not rely on buddies and lobbyists and stakeholders in his decision-making but actually listen to the science?
Interjections.
The Speaker: Order. Minister of Health to reply.
Elliott: Since the beginning of this pandemic our government’s top priority has been the health and well-being of the people of Ontario. Since the arrival of the more transmissible variants to the province—which was, actually, what did lead to the third wave—we’ve continued to take the necessary actions to control the spread.
But we continue to rely on the advice and recommendations of our Chief Medical Officer of Health, our public health measures table and many other medical experts to review the science and the data and the clinical evidence to provide us with advice and recommendations on when we can safely start to reopen the province, when the time is right.
Because there are many factors that need to be considered, including the numbers of the cases that we’re seeing in the province, what’s happening with hospitalizations—new hospitalizations as well as ICU rates—the R rate, public health system capacity and, of course, the rate of vaccinations, which are going extremely well. We’ve now vaccinated over 7.5 million people in the province of Ontario. That’s very good news.
Horwath: The problem is they don’t take the experts’ advice. They don’t take the advice. We cannot get this wrong again. It is important to get it right. Parents want their kids back in schools. Working people want to be safely back on the job. Front-line health-care workers need relief, not a fourth wave to deal with. Businesses need certainty so that they can reopen for good and start hiring people again. Everybody wants to see public health ahead of politics.
The Premier has messed it up three times, costing us jobs, costing lives, costing businesses. We don’t trust them. Nobody trusts this government to get it right. Will he commit today to base his plan on the expert advice and make sure that he makes that advice public? Because nobody trusts this Premier. Nobody has confidence that he’ll get it right this time.
Elliott: I would say, of course we are relying on the medical advice and the scientific advice that we’re receiving from the experts. They will be the ones that will advise us when it will be safe to start gradually reopening things. We know that has to be done on a very gradual basis because of the variants of concern in particular. More information will be coming forward on that very, very soon.
The human cost of pandemic-postponed surgeries
Horwath: My next question is also to the Premier. I have to say that people are relieved that the announcement came that the surgeries are going to start being booked again. That is really great. It can’t happen soon enough, as we all know. In fact, in the National Post there was a report that said this: “Soon-to-be-published data indicates that twice as many Ontarians with heart ailments passed away waiting for surgery during the pandemic than before COVID-19 hit.”
My question to the Premier is, can he tell us how long he expects people to have to wait, and how many Ontarians have already passed away while waiting for their surgeries?
Elliott: Our government is certainly well aware that many people are very anxious, wanting to have their surgeries that have been postponed done as soon as possible and to have their diagnostic procedures done as well. We know that there are many people who have had their lives put on hold for a period of time because of the variants, because of the surge in cases that we’ve seen that have required hospitalization of many, many people with the COVID variants. However, we have already put significant amounts of money into dealing with the backlog: $500 million from last fall to the most recent budget. Five hundred million dollars will certainly help.
But I think it’s also important to note that in 2020-21 the average Ontario hospital completed 88% of their total surgical allocation and that, since the beginning of this pandemic, there have been already over 430,000 scheduled surgeries done, and more to be done now with the reissuance of the amendment to directive number 2.
Horwath: With all due respect, people haven’t only had to put their lives on hold; people have lost their lives while they’ve been on hold. The FAO estimates, as everybody knows, that there will be 419,000 surgeries and procedures backlogged by September, and it will take three and a half years to clear that backlog. It didn’t have to be this way.
In British Columbia, they started last summer to try to reduce the backlog and get those surgeries and procedures dealt with and they entered the third wave of this pandemic with 95% of their backlog cleared. That didn’t happen in Ontario. Ontario did nothing in that regard, and now we’re further behind than ever. Even worse, this government tabled a budget that had less than half of the necessary funding to clear the backlog.
My question is, when will we see a plan that has clear benchmarks and the appropriate funding to clear the surgical and procedural backlog?
Elliott: The situation in BC can’t be compared to the situation in Ontario, because it’s important to point out that the percentage of procedures completed in BC represents the patients who were on surgical wait-lists when the ramp-down in March 2020 began and had their surgeries delayed. It does not account for patients that would have been added to wait-lists in that time period if there had not been a ramp-down. So that is not even applicable to Ontario.
But with respect to what is happening in Ontario, we have invested over $283 million to support additional priority surgeries, including cardiac, cancer, orthopedic and cataract surgeries. We’ve extended diagnostic imaging hours at health care facilities for MRI, CT scans and other tests. We’ve invested more than $351 million for more than 2,250 new beds at 57 hospitals. We’ve also initiated a surgical wait-list and surgical smoothing program to make sure that we can help people as quickly as possible, and we have invested the money in order to be able to do that.
Horwath: People are suffering, and they can’t wait indefinitely for this government to put a plan together. Dr. Harindra Wijeysundera, a Sunnybrook cardiologist says this: “I have lost a lot of patients on the wait-list.... Those patients and their families deserve recognition that they are victims of this pandemic, too.” Patients are literally losing their lives while waiting for delayed surgeries.
Speaker, my question to the Premier is this: Without significant investment and a serious plan to eliminate the backlog, patients desperate for surgery are going to be left suffering and at increasing risk. When will we see the plan and the funding?
Elliott: There is a plan and there is the funding, as I’ve just indicated to you: $500 million to start, in order to be able to move forward with the diagnostic procedures as well as the surgeries. This has been organized for some time. We’ve been working through it. We were able to do many of the surgeries and procedures before the third wave hit us, and we are looking to do that as much as we can now. Dr. Williams and the medical experts as well as people in our government have been looking at the lists on a daily basis to see when we can amend directive number 2.
You’re right. It’s great that it’s happened. We’ll be able to start with the ambulatory procedures and day procedures, as soon as now, in some hospitals, as long as they’re able to follow the guidelines and rules set out by Ontario Health. That is very good news and we know that people are anxious to have their surgeries done or procedures done, and we are going to move through them as quickly as possible.
CCPA report backs end to for-profit LTC
Ms. Sara Singh: My question is for the Premier. This morning, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a new report that calls on this government to commit to ending private, for-profit long-term care in Ontario. The report notes that the main focus for private long-term-care operators is making a profit for themselves and their shareholders, and they’re willing to cut corners if that means bigger profits for them. We’ve seen this clearly throughout the pandemic with many homes withholding PPE and not paying their PSWs and front-line workers a livable wage.
The main focus of anyone in seniors care should be making sure seniors are safe and healthy, but that’s not what’s happening here in Ontario. That’s why the COVID-19 death rate in for-profit homes was twice the rate of non-profit homes and five times the rate of publicly owned homes, Speaker.
My question, through you, to the Premier: Will the Conservatives let this report and recommendations sit on the shelf yet again like all the other advice they’ve been given, or will they take responsibility, take action and take the profit out of long-term care?
The Speaker: To reply, the government House leader.
Hon. Paul Calandra: Of course, we started taking action from day one when we were elected, Mr. Speaker. We didn’t need reports to tell us that we needed to make some significant investments into long-term care. That is why, of course, we started immediately, back in 2018, to build long-term-care beds. Look, I’ve said it on a number of occasions: The fact that the previous Liberal administration only built some 600 beds over the time that they were in office is completely unacceptable. There were four previous Liberal administrations that did nothing to build out long-term care, did nothing refurbish some of the older homes, did nothing for a staffing strategy.
What we’re doing is putting 2,000 new nurses in the stream, 27,000 new PSWs, 30,000 additional spaces. This is an incredible step on our way to ensuring that every resident of long-term care gets four hours of care; a North American-leading level of care. We’re well on our way to the best system in North America and I hope that the members opposite will support us on that.
Singh: Speaker, it’s not just New Democrats and everyday Ontarians who are calling for an end to for-profit, big-corporate long-term care, a clear legacy of the Liberal government—and Conservative government, as well. It’s senators, lawyers, public health and policy experts, economists, just to name a few. They all agree that phasing out for-profit long-term care isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s essential to the well-being of our seniors and the health of our long-term-care system here in Ontario.
Again, to the Premier: Will you take the advice of these experts, listen to them and the data, and commit to taking for-profit out of long-term care?
Calandra: Certainly, Mr. Speaker, I’m not going take the advice of the members opposite who are suggesting that we remove thousands of beds from the system. That’s just simply not going to happen. I’m not certain what the members opposite don’t understand. We are not going to reduce the amount of long-term care available to the people of the province of Ontario like the member is suggesting. We’re going to increase it by 30,000 spaces because we know we need to.
We’re not going to reduce the amount of care in long-term-care homes. We’re going to increase it—four hours of care, which is why we’re hiring some 27,000 additional PSWs. That’s why we’re bringing on 2,000 additional nurses.
Very clearly, to the member opposite: No, I am not going to listen to you. I am not going to reduce the amount of long-term-care beds. I am not going to reduce the amount of nurses. I am not going to reduce the amount of PSWs. I am not going to reduce the amount of care. I’m going to do just the opposite, as all of the members on this side of the House are committed to doing. We’re going to get this right, Mr. Speaker, because it’s been too long and it’s been ignored—
Interjections.
The Speaker: The official opposition will come to order.
[AFTER A FRIENDLY QUESTION ABOUT THE RATE OF INOCULATIONS…]
Salvaging the school year
Ms. Marit Stiles: This question is for the Premier. Students and their families are worn down after another five weeks, and in some cases even longer, of emergency remote learning. They are missing their friends, their teachers and they are watching very anxiously as the end of the year approaches and there is a possibility that they’re going to have another Zoom chat replace their graduations.
Speaker, this government refused to do what was necessary to keep schools safely open because they just didn’t want to spend the money. They refused to listen to the experts when they closed the playgrounds and the soccer fields. We don’t even know at this moment how many education workers have been vaccinated, which is a key part of reopening schools.
Is the Premier going to come forward with any kind of plan to salvage this school year, or is the real plan to keep kids in online learning permanently?
The Speaker: Minister of Education to respond.
Hon. Stephen Lecce: We’re going continue to follow the best expert advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, as we have done throughout the pandemic. I know the members opposite did not vote for his continuation and give confidence to our lead medical officer, but on this side of the House we believe in following his advice, and that’s why we have done so since the beginning; it’s why Ontario has one of the lowest case rates for children under the age of 20 in the nation, because we invested $1.6 million, put every intervention possible within our schools, from improving air ventilation to the supplying of three-quality mask PPE to cohorting students to increase screening, asymptomatic testing—the only province that has that type of capacity within all regions of the province. We’ve done that following the advice; we’re going to continue to do that. Obviously we know how important it is to keep schools open. While we have done so throughout the year, our aim is follow the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, because we do not want to put at risk the recovery that we now finally see on the horizon.
Stiles: Speaker, what’s clear, I think, from a response like that is that this government is wiping its hands of this school year and of our students across this province. This Premier isn’t serious about safely reopening schools because he’s too focused on saving money by keeping our kids permanently online. That is their plan. They’ve made it very clear.
Teachers, education workers, school boards, pediatricians, parents, mental health advocates, they are all saying the same thing: online learning is harming our kids. We should be investing now in reopening our schools. The Public School Boards’ Association says the government’s plan “may be promoting the online learning option to the detriment of student well-being and the overall integrity of our education system.”
Why? With the mounting evidence and growing backlash, why won’t this government drop this terrible plan?
Lecce: It is ironic coming from members opposite who’ve stood with the teacher unions to keep the schools closed throughout 2021. In fact, it was the members opposite who said schools should remain closed so long as the stay-at-home order remains in place. They would have kept schools closed, they would have taken away choice from parents and they would have undermined the learning quality kids in this province deserve.
The Premier provided $1.6 billion—more than any province; more than the New Democrats in British Columbia—more funding for mental health than any province, a 400% increase than when the former Liberals were in power. We have followed the advice. We have put in place cohorting, asymptomatic testing, stricter screening of kids We have ensured busing transportation has been improved. We have ensured cleaning is enhanced within our schools. We did all that, leading us to one of the lowest rates of cases for youth—
Ms. Marit Stiles: Nothing. You failed.
The Speaker: Let the minister complete his answer.
Lecce: We have put those dollars in place that has led us to one of the lowest case rates of youth under 20 in Canada, because we followed the advice. We want to keep schools open and we want kids in school; it must be safe. We are following the best advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, as we have done throughout this pandemic and will continue to do so in the interest of students in Ontario.
Science-backed reopening plan
Mr. Mike Schreiner: My question is for the Premier. On November 3 of last year, the Premier released a colour-coded reopening plan that was immediately rejected by scientists and public health experts. On February 11, the Premier was advised that if he reopened too early, we would have a disaster. Well, the Premier reopened too early and we had a catastrophic third wave.
On April 16, the Premier brought in carding and closed playgrounds. Scientists immediately said, this is not what we are recommending. Speaker, will the Premier commit today to a reopening plan, supported by the science advisory table with clear and transparent, key indicators for when it is safe to reopen schools, communities and businesses for outdoor and indoor service?
Elliott: First, let me be clear. It’s the arrival of the more transmissible variants that actually led to the third wave that we’re dealing with the higher rates, and that is why we’ve been calling on the federal government to do something about that, because that is how the variants came in. However, since we have implemented the stay-at-home order. we’re also looking at how we may safely exit it when the time is right.
You’re absolutely right. We need to do this slowly and carefully, and there needs to be a plan, which is being developed, which is based on the scientific advice and the medical advice that we received from the Chief Medical Officer of Health, the public health table, as well as other medical experts, and it is safe on looking at outdoor activities first, indoor activity later, but there will more information that will be coming forward with respect to this imminently.
Schreiner: Speaker, with all due respect to the minister, and I have the utmost respect for this minister, the government has not followed the advice of the science advisory table time and time again. Speaker, this is a matter of public confidence and trust. The only way we are going to combat COVID and get this pandemic behind us is—
Interjection.
The Speaker: Minister of the Environment, come to order.
Schreiner: —if the public is onside. So I am pleading with the government today: Follow the advice of the science advisory table, have clear indicators, be transparent with the people of Ontario what the science advisory table is telling them and give businesses time to plan; no more flip-flopping. Will the government commit to doing that today, Speaker?
The Speaker: Minister of Health.
Elliott: I appreciate the question from the member, and I can advise the member opposite that we are relying on the medical advice that we’re receiving from the science advisory table—that’s one group—the public health measures table, the chief medical officer’s advice and other medical experts. They are certainly providing us with guidance on when and how things can be opened when the time is right, because there are many factors of course, that need to be considered: the rates of vaccination, which are going very well, with over 7.5 million vaccines already administered, but it’s also dealing with the numbers of new hospitalizations, the numbers of people who are in intensive care units, the R rate, the public health system capacity.
There is a variety of factors that must be considered, but I can certainly assure the member, through you, Mr. Speaker, that we are listening to the medical experts; we are following their clinical advice and recommendations that there will be a plan, which will be released imminently.
[AFTER A FRIENDLY QUESTION ABOUT SMALL BUSINESS GRANTS…]
“Step up and do the right thing and properly pay PSWs”
Ms. Suze Morrison: The hardworking personal support workers in the province are exploited, underpaid and overworked. Many of these workers are immigrant and racialized women. For over a year, they have worked on the front lines of this pandemic, putting their lives at risk to care for the seniors of the province.
I recently spoke with Connie, a PSW in my riding in Toronto Centre. She’s worked throughout the pandemic, caring for seniors in their homes. Her hours fluctuate significantly and she doesn’t have benefits. And while she receives pandemic pay, it only applies for the time she’s scheduled to care for residents, which sometimes can be as little as three hours a day.
PSW pandemic pay wage enhancements are set to expire at the end of June. Connie and other PSWs across the province are demanding a permanent pay raise. Will this government listen and give personal support workers the pay increase and full-time jobs that they deserve?
Elliott: Thank you very much to the member for the question. We certainly also value the incredible work that personal support workers have done throughout the pandemic. They have been there in our long-term-care homes, in our hospitals, in home and community care. We know that there are issues relating to their wages. That’s why we have provided this temporary support that’s running to the end of June.
But during that time, we’re also looking at some of the other issues that personal support workers are concerned about: not having full-time jobs; in some situations, not having benefits; not being paid for some of the additional work they do; the travelling time; all the other issues that we’re concerned about. We want the PSWs to stay in the system. We know that many leave after their first year because it’s not the job that they expected it to be, so we want to work that into their training and education as well.
So, in short, there are many issues that need to be dealt with to keep our personal support workers and retain them in our system, and we were working on just that, in addition to the pay requirements.
Morrison: Respectfully, back to the minister, if you want to keep the PSWs in our system and keep them in your jobs, the answer is simple: You need to just pay them more and get them permanent, full-time work.
PSWs are essential and they deserve to be treated with respect. Connie, the PSW working in my riding, told me that the seniors that she visits depend on her. She is paid for only one hour each visit to provide the most basic of care, like helping them go to the washroom, bathing them, preparing food. It is impossible to rush this kind of care in an hour. Ultimately, she ends up volunteering her time because she can’t stand to leave these seniors without the help that they need.
Our seniors deserve the highest-quality care and the workers who care for them deserve a decent, liveable wage and full-time careers. When is this government going to step up and do the right thing and properly pay PSWs in the province of Ontario?
Elliott: Speaker, through you to the member: The member indicated that there are other issues in addition to the pay issue. There’s the timing issue. There’s the travelling issue. There’s the trying to put groups of people together so that there’s not huge travel time involved in it, and making sure that people are paid for the work that they do and that they don’t have to volunteer.
But we also know that there are other issues. We are looking at the bill that’s just been put forward in the Legislature to regulate personal health workers to make sure that they have certain standards that they need to conform to. They want that. We are doing that because we also recognize that’s important for them, but it’s also important for the very vulnerable people that personal support workers care for: children, seniors, people with disabilities. We are looking at all of these issues to make sure that when someone goes through and is trained as a personal support worker they want to stay, they want to continue to do this work.
They are really the linchpins in home care, I certainly would agree with the member. They are the ones that know the family. They know all the issues related to what’s going on. We want to encourage them. We want them to stay—
Make the curriculum more equitable
Mme Lucille Collard: My question is to the Minister of Education. Last night we had an incredibly important conversation in this House on making the education system more equitable through Bill 287. Few members were here. I want to thank my colleagues in the opposition who shared their important and moving personal stories, as well as for their constructive feedback.
It was extremely disappointing that the government came to the debate with their minds made up, believing that they are already doing enough to fight racism in the education system. It is unacceptable to refer to any action on systemic discrimination as “counterproductive.” There can never be enough done as long as systemic barriers still exist.
To the minister: Why won’t the government work with all members of this House to implement Bill 287 when it has the potential to improve the education system even further?
Lecce: We are very much committed to breaking down barriers that impede the success of students, particularly racialized, Indigenous and underrepresented young people in the province of Ontario.
Respectfully, the former Liberal government had 15 years to advance equity in education and they did not, and today they bring forth a private member’s bill. Whereas this government since day one has brought forth transformation. We are the government—unlike the former Liberals, respectfully—that is destreaming the grade 9 math curriculum. We are following the best advice by limiting discretionary suspensions of young kids that are disproportionately impacting Black, racialized and special education children.
We are the government that mandated professional development on all elected trustees—public and Catholic, English and French—and all school board administrators when it comes to human rights training.
We’re the government that ensured that students see themselves reflected in their educators by abolishing a regulation that removed the ability of principals to hire based on equity, on diversity and on merit in Ontario.
The Speaker: The supplementary question? The member for Orléans.
Mr. Stephen Blais: Growing up in Orléans my community wasn’t the most diverse place. In a high school of 1,600 students I can count on maybe two hands the families of children who come from non-white backgrounds. But we didn’t talk about it. It wasn’t something that was discussed in school and we didn’t talk about it as friends. As a result, that lack of understanding, that lack of vocabulary to talk about these issues, remains with me to this day.
We need to ensure that our children are exposed to more understanding of where we are as a society today and how we got here. Sometimes understanding that history is going to be difficult, it’s going to be hard and it’s going to be uncomfortable, but it is important to do. If we don’t do it we’re leading our children to a great disservice.
I’ll ask the Minister of Education again: Why won’t his government support Bill 287 and ensure that our children get the understanding, education and conversation they need and they deserve?
Lecce: If the member opposite’s thesis to the House is that we need to better reflect society and diversity, then how could the member opposite be associated with a political party that allowed hiring of educators in Ontario solely on their seniority, not based on their ethno-cultural backgrounds, so that we could have, for example, Peel region, where for the first time in Canadian history the government called in a supervisor for the purpose of addressing racism?
Interjection.
The Speaker: Member for Ottawa South, come to order.
Lecce: That did not happen under your watch, respectfully, and you had the chance to take action in Peel and you failed them. We acted because we believe we have to fight discrimination in all of its forms. If we believe in the principle of making sure that the people who inspire our kids reflect the communities that our schools are in. Then we should be supporting efforts like the elimination of regulation 274 that ensures the best candidate, diverse candidates are the ones who lead instruction in our classrooms. That is just good government policy to follow.
The Speaker: The next question. The member for Northumberland–Peterborough South.
Interjection.
The Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition will come to order.
[AFTER A SOFTBALL ABOUT THE BORDER…]
Transparency for autism program revamp
Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: My question is to the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. On behalf of my constituents, I’ve put forward a series of questions to the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, and we asked specific questions about whether there would be an appeals process, what are the success markers of a pilot program, whether clinicians would get the final say or whether it would be a care coordinator who has no clinical expertise, what criteria the ministry used to determine invitations to the pilot OAP program—very specific questions, you see, Speaker. So, of course, these families feel like it was a slap in the face when the ministry essentially copy and pasted the same non-answer in response.
Will this government commit to transparency to these families and finally answer these questions?
Hon. Todd Smith: I’m really proud of the job that our government has been doing on the new Ontario Autism Program and all the work that’s been put into it by our volunteer clinicians and researchers and community advocates and those with lived experience over the last year. The work on that Ontario Autism Program is well under way, and I’m really pleased to say that the first 600 children have been accepted into the new needs-based program. We’ll be working with those children and their families over the next month or so before expanding to a far greater number of children across the province
I think it’s really important to add that when we made this announcement earlier this spring or back in the winter, we talked about the fact that we’ve invested twice the amount of money that was in the previous program from the Liberal government, $300 million more, to a grand total of $600 million. We’ll be spending that, and every child in the province is continuing to receive funding from the government that’s far more than the pitiful numbers from the previous Liberal government when they were in charge.
Armstrong: Speaker, while I appreciate the response, that hasn’t really answered the questions that the families are actually looking answers to. So I’ll ask again.
For over two years, these kids have been waiting for service. For over two years, these families have been given no information, no stable funding, no program—in fact, under this government, capacity has decreased. Kids have been denied much-needed therapies and families have been forced to go further into debt to support their kids. Families tell me that the lack of transparency and the blind disregard for the information that they need is unconscionable.
Will the minister finally answer these parents’ valid questions and confirm whether clinicians have the final say, that there will be an appeals process, what criteria was used to invite families into the OAP pilot program, and what are the success markers for the program? Minister, please be clear and give the parents the respect they deserve and answer the questions that I asked your ministry.
Smith: Thank you for the opportunity to answer some of these questions. I can confirm that more than 34,000 families are receiving support through their existing behaviour plans, childhood budgets and interim one-time funding, as we continue to implement the new needs-based program. For those families, they have been assessed by a care coordinator, and clinicians are going to be working with those families all the way through the process. That’s why we’ve started with 600 families in this Ontario Autism Program—needs-based program—to ensure that we get this right before expanding the program.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t have to tell anyone in this Legislature that mistakes have been made on this file dating back to the early 2000s. We’ve taken the time to work with clinicians, researchers, experts, family members and those with lived experience to get this right once and for all. We’re on our way. We are going to have the best program in the entire country.
Vaccines for teens (en francais)
Mme Lucille Collard: Ma question est pour la ministre de la Santé. Les travailleurs essentiels du commerce du détail sont maintenant éligible à la vaccination pour les 18 ans et plus. Cependant, des personnes importantes ont été exclues de ce groupe.
Une grande proportion des travailleurs et travailleuses dans nos épiceries sont des adolescents, âgés de 16 et 17 ans. Ma fille de 16 ans travaille dans une épicerie, dans un quartier à haut risque, depuis plusieurs mois. Elle me dit que tous les autres caissiers et caissières sont de son âge.
Jean-François, un parent de cinq enfants à Toronto, m’a contacté pour me dire que toute la famille a été atteinte de la COVID. Sa fille de 16 ans travaille aussi dans une épicerie. Monsieur le Président, ces jeunes sont des travailleurs essentiels au même titre que les autres, mais ils ne sont toujours pas une priorité pour la vaccination. Ma question est : qu’est-ce que je dis à tous ces adolescents qui doivent trop souvent supporter la frustration des clients épuisés par la situation mais qui continuent de travailler pour nous servir?
Elliott: Thank you very much, Speaker, and thank you for the question. We do have a vaccine rollout plan that is divided into three phases. We are into phase 2 right now. We are looking at the first essential workers—for people who are not able work from home, and there are many people who fall into this category. We are now getting into the category of people who are doing work like grocery store clerks, front-line clerks and people who are doing customer service. All of those issues are being taken into consideration. We want to make sure that we can continue with this rollout. We now can vaccinate 12-year-olds to 17-year-olds. as you’re aware. This is starting via our booking agency as of May 31, but people can still go and make appointments to be vaccinated otherwise.
This is something that we want to make sure that everyone in Ontario who wants to receive a vaccine will be able to receive a vaccine, and we are working with the list of essential workers now.
Blais: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My supplemental’s for the Minister of Health. There’s been a lot of talk about front-line workers this past year, how important they are, how undervalued and underappreciated they are, and the pandemic has opened our eyes to the valuable and essential role they play in our communities. What seems to have gone unnoticed is the critical role that teenagers play in this workforce. Students who pour the Premier’s coffee in the morning and make his real egg sandwich at Tim Hortons need and deserve to be vaccinated, and yet the coffee and the sandwich have received more of the Premier’s attention than these critical workers.
The students in Orléans who are stocking shelves at the grocery store, who are pouring coffee at Tim Hortons or working at a pharmacy deserve and need to be prioritized for vaccinations, Mr. Speaker. You would have thought the government would have done it when vaccines were authorized for children most recently, but that hasn’t happened.
My question to the minister is, when are teenagers who work on the front lines, who are pouring coffee, stocking shelves and working in grocery stores, going to be prioritized for vaccines?
Elliott: They have been prioritized for vaccines. We’ve already made the vaccines available. The Pfizer vaccines will be available for 12-year-olds to 17-year-olds, including the teenagers you’re speaking about. They are not able to work from home obviously. They will be able to book their appointments online via our booking tool as of May 31, and they can still receive those vaccines if they book through a pharmacy.
We are prioritizing them. We know they are not able to work from home so we’re prioritizing both that group of workers, as well as those young people.
Commit to funding back-to-school in the fall
Ms. Laura Mae Lindo: My question is to the Premier. The government’s plan to use COVID-19 as a cover to make remote learning permanent in Ontario has communities reeling. The Waterloo Region District School Board wrote to the Minister of Education regarding the proposed changes, and I quote, “The letter requests that he halt the implementation of this TVO/TFO-based independent learning proposal until further research is completed and all key stakeholders are consulted.”
School boards aren’t alone. Andrea Brown, a Waterloo region parent of two wrote to the MPP for Waterloo, and I quote, “We still don’t understand the full impacts of the pandemic on our kids.” After a year of uncertainty and disrupted learning, the last thing our kids need is a backdoor move to permanently cut funding for in-person learning.” Mr. Speaker, my question is simple: Can the Premier guarantee that funding for in-person learning will not be affected for September?
Lecce: What the government can guarantee is that every parent in Ontario will have a choice of in-class and online learning, a choice that would be denied if the members opposite had their way. It’s important that we appreciate that this pandemic, while we all look forward to a world with vaccines that will reduce risk, we believe parents are best positioned to make the decision for their child, recognizing that, overwhelmingly, most kids will be in school, and that is good thing for their development and their mental health.
We put a plan in place, $1.6 billion of an investment to protect in-class learning, to protect public education in this province—more than any province in this country. Following the best advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, an additional $200 million for remote learning to strengthen that capacity.
Anti-lockdown
Mr. Roman Baber: …Enough with this COVID political theatre already. All life is life and all life is precious. These ministers, they know their policy is resulting in more harm and more lives lost than saved. They ran to serve the people, not harm them.
The delayed surgeries and the million cancelled cancer screenings alone will render the human toll of their fearmongering and lockdown multiple times deadlier than COVID could ever be. This goes for the NDP and the Liberals as well: Why do you keep pretending when the evidence is in front of you?
Speaker, I’m asking the minister, as a colleague, a mother, a human being, will she please end this human catastrophe?
Elliott: Any life lost is a tragedy, and we know that over 4,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Ontario. There have been losses due to the opioid crisis as well. That’s why we have been working on it.
That’s why we have, since before this pandemic even started, we started with consumption and treatment services sites. There are 16 that have already been approved and we’re still receiving applications from communities.
We’re also working through our Roadmap to Wellness, our mental health and addictions plan, that came out just before this pandemic struck to make sure that we’re going to invest $3.8 billion over 10 years in our mental health and addictions system. We put $175 million extra into the system last year and $176 million this year. We’ll continue to do that to protect people from the opioid crisis, but also to help them with their mental health issues.
This is something that is going to last longer than the pandemic will last, and we are prepared to help the people of Ontario through all of their crises with these issues.
Interjection.
The Speaker: The member for York Centre, come to order. That concludes Question Period for today.