For International Women's Day, opposition questions had a focus on women-dominated issues like nursing and child care — and flared up at the end over a QP Briefing revelation.
<h3>The backlog</h3>
New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath said women are bearing the brunt of Ontario's backlog of surgeries and other medical procedures, which has been made much worse by the pandemic. She asked how the government planned to clear it.
Health Minister Christine Elliott listed the government's spending to create more health-care spaces.
Horwath said staffing issues are also contributing to the backlog. Health-care workers are burning out at staggering rates, despite government incentives to keep them on the job and train more. The Opposition leader called on the Progressive Conservatives to repeal Bill 124, which restricts public sector wage increases to one per cent per year.
Treasury Board President Prabmeet Sarkaria again listed hundreds of millions of dollars in health spending, which Horwath called "empty words."
<h3>Home care and long-term care</h3>
NDP women's issues critic Jill Andrew noted a Canadian Medical Association Journal study that found female health workers are experiencing the brunt of harassment. She called on the government to support an NDP bill to protect whistleblowers speaking out about the issue.
She didn't have much luck with Elliott, who said the government "will not tolerate any kind of racial overtones or sexist overtones to our frontline health-care workers."
Andrew didn't take kindly to Elliott's phrasing.
"Racism and sexism, just so everyone knows, they are not overtones. These are systemic violences," she said to NDP applause.
Andrew then called on the government to make mental health care part of the public health system.
Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Michael Tibollo pivoted to the government's spending on his file.
<h3>Child care</h3>
Bhutila Karpoche asked why the government hasn't signed a $10-a-day child-care deal with the feds yet. She got much the <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2022/03/07/your-question-period-briefing-sticking-to-the-obvious/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">same answer</a> from Government House Leader Paul Calandra and Premier Doug Ford as everyone else has for the past few months: they're working on the best deal possible.
<h3>Social assistance rates</h3>
Green Leader Mike Schreiner kept up his push for the government to double Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates — a longtime ask of anti-poverty advocates who point out that no one can realistically survive in cities like Toronto on current rates.
Social Services Minister Merrilee Fullerton said yesterday, when Schreiner asked, "that the government had increased rates in 2018, when in fact the three per cent planned increase was cut in half to 1.5 per cent," he said.
Fullerton said she wanted to clarify what she "actually did say," and then said the same thing.
"...our government did raise the ODSP and (Ontario Works) rate when we came in in our first year, and that was after the Liberals had a chance to raise rates," she said, noting the Liberal government waited until before the 2018 election to announce its planned 3 per cent increase.
She called on the federal government to keep its promise to create a national disability benefit.
Schreiner agreed, and was greeted with applause from the government benches.
"But let's be clear," he said, and the applause stopped. "ODSP is a provincial responsibility. So one-time funds during COVID might help a little bit, but the reality is, you cannot survive in this province on $1,100 a month."
<h3>Ottawa police board</h3>
Liberal Orléans MPP Stephen Blais prodded the government about its appointee to Ottawa's police services board who <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2022/03/02/ford-governments-ottawa-police-board-appointee-protested-with-truckers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">protested with the "Freedom Convoy"</a> in early days, before it was declared an emergency. All three PC appointees <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2022/03/03/ottawa-police-board-resignations-shake-queens-park/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resigned hours after QP Briefing broke the story</a>.
"How did the premier and his government not know the political leanings of this particular individual? Well, perhaps Mr. Speaker, they did. And that's the bigger problem," Blais said.
He went a step further, bringing up the premier's former chief of staff, Dean French, who <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2019/06/21/dean-french-out-of-premiers-office-leaves-for-private-sector/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">left Queen's Park in disgrace</a> after being linked to multiple patronage scandals.
Blais finished with flair: "Other than being a longtime Conservative donor, Mr. Speaker, can the premier explain the actual qualifications one needs to be appointed to the Ottawa Police Services Board?"
Solicitor General Sylvia Jones was heated.
"Speaker, the member opposite can defame people in this house, but do that outside, because it is very clear that this individual has said that he does not support what happened in Ottawa," she said, pointing to the hallway.
Jones said the government will appoint new police board members soon.
Visibly incensed, she continued: "It drives me crazy that you can suggest people have different motives when they have clearly said that they did not support the protest. They attended, and they have now explained what happened in that first weekend, when there was no emergency order by the city, by the province or by the federal government."
The Speaker then had to call a lot of members to order.
Blais accepted that he would not get an answer to his question and used his supplementary to ask the government to help the City of Ottawa with the $30 million in policing costs in incurred due to the protests.
Calandra took over from Jones and — as he is known to do when Blais asks a question — pivoted to Ottawa's decrepit LRT, as Blais chaired the transit commission during much of its construction.
Blais was called to order, then got a warning when he wouldn't stop yelling.

Your question period briefing: International Women’s Day

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