With NDP Leader Andrea Horwath away on Monday, MPP Catherine Fife led the party's questioning of government policies, focusing on the province's plan for a COVID-19 second wave.
Just as question period was about to get underway, the province reported 700 new cases of COVID-19 — the highest daily increase recorded in Ontario since the start of the pandemic.
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Ontario is reporting 700 cases of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> with more than 41,100 tests completed. Locally, there are 344 new cases in Toronto with 104 in Peel, 89 in Ottawa and 56 in York Region. 60% of today’s cases are in people under the age of 40.
&mdash; Christine Elliott (@celliottability) <a href="https://twitter.com/celliottability/status/1310587111838490625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 28, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Fife criticized the timing and the rollout of the province's plan, which the government has decided to do in instalments.
"With more people being affected by COVID-19, this government’s actions are weeks late, incomplete and contradictory. They are scrambling. They are chasing the second wave instead of being in front of it with a clear and cohesive plan," Fife said.
She noted confusion over the province's new testing guidelines and said the new restrictions on bars and restaurants came "four months late."
"When COVID-19 is moving so rapidly, why is the Ford government moving so slowly?" she asked.
Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Christine Elliott said the increase in COVID-19 cases is "very unfortunate" but "not unexpected," insisting that the government prepared for this surge in the summer.
"We knew that we were going to see an increase in cases," she said, adding that the province has a "comprehensive plan" in place to address flu season, outbreaks and an increase in cases, the health services backlog and the need for health-care workers. In response to another question, Elliott said the province is bringing in more than 500 contact tracers from Statistics Canada, meaning the province would have 3,750 people to track down contacts of COVID-19 cases.
Fife also touched on schools, accusing the government of "hoping to save a buck" in classrooms and repeating the party's call for a class size cap of 15 students.
"How long will parents have to wait before the government takes the measures we know are needed now?" she asked.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce responded by listing new investments and staff hired including 2,044 teachers, 92 mental health workers, 100 custodians, 372 early childhood educators, 162 education assistants and 551 nurses.
Long-term care
The NDP's health care critic, France Gélinas, turned to long-term care, citing another resident death at Extendicare's <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/news/another-staffer-positive-at-champlain-care-home-outbreak-over-at-peter-d-clark" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">West End Villa</a> in Ottawa and new cases at the Norwood nursing home in Toronto.
"For weeks, the Ford government has insisted these outbreaks were under control, even when staff were pleading for access to PPE and infection control," she said. "After all of the horrors that we saw in long-term care just this spring, why are these homes and this government still unprepared?"
Minister of Long-Term Care Merrilee Fullerton said the government is working to ensure "everyone understands that PPE is necessary in our long-term care homes," that PPE gets to the homes and that homes are connected to infection prevention and control specialists.
Gélinas then cited a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/long-term-care-inspections-violations-1.5737081" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CBC Marketplace investigation</a> comparing proactive "resident quality inspections" (RQI), which it said the Progressive Conservative government reduced significantly in 2019, and inspections triggered by critical incidents or complaints.
According to the CBC, a 2015 government-commissioned analysis of inspection reports noted that an RQI "probes a home's compliance standing three times more thoroughly than a Complaint Inspection and five times more thoroughly than a Critical Incident Inspection." The analysis also showed that RQIs were the best type of inspections for finding problems with infection prevention and control including the proper use of personal protective equipment — issues that surfaced during COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care homes.
"How can the government claim to know what is happening in these facilities when they cut funding and cancelled the inspections that would have told them so much?" asked Gélinas, pointing to the West End Villa and Norwood homes.
Fullerton said there is "a lot of misinformation circulating" about inspections in long-term care homes, saying every home is inspected at least once a year. She said the ministry had done 1,339 inspections so far this year and 2,800 were done last year.
"We also respond immediately to any reported information where there is serious harm or risk of serious harm to a resident by making inquiries and conducting inspections, processing thousands of intakes last year," she continued.
But Gélinas noted there is "a difference between a full resident quality inspection and the inspection the minister’s talking about."
COVID-19 in schools
NDP education critic Marit Stiles picked up on Fife's education question, noting the 36 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Ontario schools on Monday.
"Because the government has failed to keep class sizes under 15, it means that more of our children are exposed; more of their parents are left scrambling to take time off work or to stand in long testing lines; more of those grandparents are cut off from seeing their grandchildren. When will the premier bring in a second-wave plan to ensure schools can safely remain open?" she asked.
Lecce again defended the government's actions to date, saying that in addition to funding for school boards to hire new staff and improve ventilation, the government is also trying to address community transmission through funding for the flu vaccine program and boosting testing capacity.
Rent relief
NDP MPP Peggy Sattler spoke of a London business owner who runs three local businesses and whose landlord "unilaterally decided to withdraw" from the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program. The joint federal-provincial program was extended <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/stay-tuned-says-ng-on-feds-commercial-rent-relief-plans-following-expiration-of-cecra-1.5096903" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">until the end of this month</a>.
"Instead of relying on the goodwill of landlords, will the premier implement a stand-alone emergency commercial rent subsidy to help struggling businesses like Mustang Sally’s make it through the pandemic?" Sattler asked.
Stan Cho, the parliamentary assistant to the finance minister, acknowledged that "this has been a challenging time" for small businesses and said the province is continuing to work with the federal government "to improve the program."
"But as the member opposite will recognize, this is a federally administered program, so we need to continue to work with our partners at the (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) to advocate to make sure that we do fill those gaps, and our heart goes out to Sally in these difficult times," he said.
Election questions
Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter said the province is "at a turning point" with the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The government’s actions will determine whether we come out of this pandemic for the better or for the worse," she said, adding that the province will face further challenges without the proper investments. She then pivoted to the next provincial election.
"Speaker, will the premier commit today in this house to keep the legislated election date that is fixed for 2022? Yes, or no?" she asked, causing an audible uproar from the PC benches.
The premier insisted last week that the government wouldn't call an early election, saying "we aren’t going to be calling it in the spring, we’ll be calling it the regular time."
"I don't even know what to say to that question," responded House Leader Paul Calandra. "We’re in the midst of a global health and economic emergency, the member prefaced that in her question; and the leader of the Liberal Party has a former minister of education get up in this house and ask the date of the next election. What it says to me is that the Liberals have learned absolutely nothing since being reduced to a party of seven people in the last election." The party currently holds eight seats in the legislature, after a former PC MPP joined the party.
He then went on to blast the former Liberal government's actions, saying "It has become even more challenging to fight COVID because of the disaster that was the previous government," criticizing Hunter for her question.
"What makes it even more ironic is that they fixed the date of the next election before they were thrown out," he said.
The next election is currently scheduled for June 2, 2022. The province's Election Act states that "general elections shall be held on the first Thursday in June in the fourth calendar year following polling day in the most recent general election."

Your question period briefing: ‘A turning point’

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