After a week off, the house came back with a fiery spirit as masks were off for most of the government’s MPPs, while both NDP and Liberal members kept wearing theirs.
<h3>Home and long-term care</h3>
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath’s first few questions were about the underfunding of home and long-term care
“Things were bad under the Liberal government, there’s no doubt about it. But it’s become worse under this government, Speaker,” began Horwath, going on to reference a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/home-care-support-private-companies-1.6387911">CBC Marketplace investigation</a> that found private home-care providers have little transparency in their use of public funds.
“(Patients) can wait and wait and wait, and nobody shows up because a PSW has been double-booked by her company,“ said Horwath.
Parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health Robin Martin touted the government’s integration of home and community care as part of the province’s integrated health-care system in response to Horwath’s criticisms.
Horwath said the premier was supporting his “profiteering home-care buddies” rather than Ontarians “who actually deserve the kind of quality and accessibility of home care that we could be able to give.”
“By building long-term care while investing in home care as well, we are ensuring that the entire continuum of care is in place for people who need it. The opposition resorts to speculation and innuendo about privatization when no such thing is happening,” Martin responded.
<h3>Transit funding</h3>
NDP MPP Jessica Bell questioned the government on <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2022/03/15/how-this-russian-oligarch-sanctioned-by-canada-stands-to-benefit-from-the-scarborough-subway-expansion.html">a Toronto Star investigation</a> revealing a sanctioned Russian oligarch’s ties to a company contracted to dig the Scarborough subway extension.
Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma took the first response and said that Infrastructure Ontario as well as Metrolinx “require all companies working with them to abide by sanctions that are imposed by the government of Canada.”
“Since those sanctions have been in place, Infrastructure Ontario is conducting due diligence and reviewing all contractors and all teams that intend on bidding on future projects,” Surma said, adding that Strabag, the contracted company referenced in the investigation, said it would be severing ties with the Russian oligarch.
Bell then switched topics to one of the NDP's favourites from last month, which was a move by the government to lower Canadian content requirements for the Ontario Line. Bell asked why the government was willing to support more “Russian oligarch content” than “Ontario worker content.”
Associate Minister of Transit Stan Cho, typically one of the more fervent speakers in the house, criticized the New Democrats for “supporting the Liberals when they didn’t build transit, when they didn’t bring those jobs to Canada,” and for not supporting the Ontario Line.
“We will not take lessons from the NDP on creating Canadian jobs in this province,” Cho boldly proclaimed.
<h3>Electric vehicles</h3>
In an exchange that resulted in Speaker Ted Arnott to call out the “cacophony” coming from the government’s side, Liberal MPP and former premier Kathleen Wynne called out the government for cutting electric vehicle rebates and charging stations, saying the premier “did his best to kill the electric vehicle market” when he came into power in 2018.
Government House Leader Paul Calandra responded, “Let’s get it straight — what the Liberals are asking us to do is to give a certain small sector of people money so that they can afford to buy electric vehicles. And we said no.”
Wynne contested the idea that the Liberals' policy had favoured any particular group and that the “opening of the electric vehicle market was for all of Ontario.”
Calandra again derided the previous Liberal government under Wynne, claiming that the president of Chrysler called Ontario “the least favourable jurisdiction in which to invest."
"If the policies didn’t change, Chrysler would have left the province of Ontario," Calandra added.
<h3>Baber's leadership run</h3>
Independent MPP Roman Baber rose to ask the government his first questions since <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2022/03/09/anti-mandate-mpp-roman-baber-promises-to-disrupt-politics-in-cpc-leadership-bid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcing his bid for the federal Conservative leadership</a> last week.
Baber, one of the legislature's most vocal <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2021/01/15/roman-baber-booted-out-of-pc-caucus-following-public-opposition-to-lockdown/">opponents of lockdowns</a>, questioned the government’s decision to lift most of its public health guidelines despite modelling from the COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, whose models Baber criticized for “alarmist modelling practices” and containing “basic flaws.”
Calandra responded for the government and said that the science table provided projections, but that final recommendations fell to the Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore.
“I know that the honourable gentleman is busy. He’s running for the leadership of the federal Conservative party, so I’m actually surprised to see him in this house today. But as a presumptive national leader, one would assume that he wants Ontario to be the economic engine of Confederation, and that’s what we’re making sure that we have,” Calandra chided.
Tourism Minister Lisa MacLeod was a consistent heckler during Baber’s questions, announcing Baber to the chamber as “dear leader, everybody” and asking, “is it Dr. Baber or leader Baber?”
Baber responded by asking the government to “stop making it personal.”

Your question period briefing: ‘Dear leader, everybody’

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