School funding 
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath tied together two top issues — the government's lowering of gathering limits, and class sizes — to ask Premier Doug Ford whether the new 10-person indoor limit also applies to classrooms.
Ford ignored the question, saying the government's "number one priority"' is to protect people, and that it would follow the advice of medical experts.
Horwath made her point even clearer in her supplementary: "Why is it OK to have 70 kids on a bus and 30 kids in a classroom, when he's saying that it's unsafe to have 10 people in an indoor space?" she said of Ford.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce took the followup, listing numbers of teachers who have been hired under the government's COVID-19 spending on schools.
"Well speaker, none of this makes much sense at all," Horwath said, pointing to experts who have raised concerns about the ability to physically distance in classrooms, and the new gathering limits, clashing with class sizes of 20 to 30 students.
She called on the government to put a hard cap on the number of kids in classrooms at 15.
Lecce noted that the government's plan was influenced by experts and signed off on by the chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams.
"In every realm, we lead the nation, but we recognize we have to be responsive to the risk. Moms and dads are depending on us to do that and we will be there for our schools and for our parents," he said.
Later, NDP education critic Marit Stiles pointed out that there are now at least 41 COVID-19 cases in Ontario schools, as well as the first school closure. She called on the government to support a cap on class sizes at 15.
Lecce again pointed to the extra COVID-19 funding for schools and said the government listened to public health advice "every step of the way" when creating its plan.
Thunder Bay NDP MPP Judith Monteith-Farrell later added that her local school board wrote to the minister asking for money for ventilation updates, health and safety equipment and physical distancing in classrooms and on buses.
Lecce said the board was provided an additional $4.7 million. "There are also eight more public health nurses. We’ve doubled that capacity," he said.
Second wave plan
Amid rising COVID-19 cases and long lineups at testing centres, Horwath pressed Ford on the fact that his government has not yet released a plan to deal with the second wave of the virus, pointing out that they promised "a detailed contingency plan" some time ago.
"They promised that detailed contingency plan again this week. My question is: where the heck is it?" she said.
There is a "comprehensive" fall plan which will be released "imminently," Health Minister Christine Elliott promised.
"We are preparing for the worst, and we are ready for it."
It was all too easy for the leader of the opposition to hammer the Tories on their lack of a public plan.
"Well speaker, maybe the government didn't realize that fall comes after summer," Horwath said, calling it "ridiculous" to claim the PCs are prepared when lineups stretch for kilometres at many testing centres.
The government didn't take too kindly to Horwath's remarks, and Speaker Ted Arnott had to step in.
"I’m going to ask the minister of natural resources and forestry to come to order, the minister of colleges and universities to come to order and the minister of the environment, conservation and parks to come to order. Notwithstanding you’re wearing the masks, I can hear your voices and recognize them," he said.
Elliott said there's been a 30 per cent increase in demand for testing in the past three weeks, and the government has "reacted immediately" to it by increasing capacity in testing centres and adding pop-up sites.
Horwath said that response "identified the biggest problem with this Ford government. They are, once again, reacting to a crisis instead of preparing and ensuring that things are in place before the crisis is upon us."
She also mentioned a CBC <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-ontario-cases-data-1.5726687" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> that found public health units can't trace where people caught COVID-19 in 54 per cent of cases, "so that means that contact tracing is also not up to snuff for the people of Ontario."
Ford had apparently had enough, and stood to reply. He accused the NDP of being "armchair quarterbacks" and that Horwath was "missing in action for five months, nowhere to be found, nowhere to be heard." (Until recently, Horwath was touring the province holding daily press conferences calling on the government to lower class sizes.)
"When the leader of the Opposition criticizes, it’s not just criticizing us—" he said, though he was cut off as Arnott had to call the Opposition to order.
"—it’s criticizing the front-line health care workers, criticizing the doctors who helped put the plan together, the people in the grocery lines who were checking people out, as you were in hiding in your basement for the last five months," Ford finished.
Later, NDP MPP Bhutila Karpoche admonished the government to get a handle on testing lineups before the weather turns colder, pointing to a senior in her riding who stood for hours to get a test and "said that she has felt the chill and cold ever since."
Elliott again noted increased hours at testing centres and pop-up sites and promised that the government is preparing for winter, to "make sure that people can be inside" at assessment centres.
Long-term care
Liberal MPP John Fraser noted that the virus is spreading once again in long-term care homes.
"In Ottawa’s West End Villa, 55 residents and staff have tested positive for COVID-19. Six residents have died. It’s not the only home. Residents, families, staff and home operators are very concerned there’s no plan for a second wave in Ontario’s long-term-care homes," he said, noting that pandemic pay has also ended and personal support worker wages remain low, despite Ford saying they should be paid more.
Out of the 22 homes with current outbreaks, 15 have no resident cases, Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton said, adding that hospitals will support facilities with staffing issues.
Fraser called the situation "déjà vu," and said the premier has "failed to prepare Ontario’s long-term-care homes for a second wave."
Fullerton said the government has been working to fix "long-standing issues neglected by the previous government and supported by the opposition."

Your question period briefing: ‘Déjà vu’

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