Good morning. I want to thank the Attorney General and the Solicitor General for their remarks this morning and for giving me the opportunity to speak to the Enhancing Access to Justice Act as the parliamentary assistant to the Ministry of the Attorney General.

Speaker, our government believes in putting victims of crime first, protecting our children and ensuring that our neighbourhoods remain safe havens for all. Our Solicitor General spoke about the need to keep our communities safe and the rights of our individual citizens to expect that, and the hard work that the Solicitor General’s office is doing in enforcement and the Attorney General’s office is doing in making sure that we have the legislative tools for our courts to enforce those.

In order to do this, we are proposing comprehensive legislative updates that address the evolving challenges faced by victims, children and families across our great province. Our initiatives aim to strengthen the legal framework, ensuring justice, supports and protection for those who need it most.

First and foremost, we’re proposing significant updates to the Victims’ Bill of Rights, 1995, and its regulations. It is imperative that our legal system evolves to meet the changing landscapes of crime, methods of crime and the scope of crime. We seek to expand the list of crimes for which victims can seek redress for emotional distress and related bodily harm. This expansion will include such heinous and personal crimes as terrorism, vehicle theft and human trafficking. The expansion will also include hate-related crimes that are targeting our places of worship.

Speaker, Simcoe–Grey is a rapidly changing riding, with many new demographics moving into the beautiful towns of Collingwood, Alliston, Angus, Thornton, Thornbury and many more points in between. We are seeing the arrivals of different faiths and different belief systems.

I was down this past spring in Alliston, at an opening for a local mosque for our Muslim population, and this coming weekend, I will be attending a lighting of the menorah in the town of the Blue Mountains, which will be hosting its first synagogue in the coming months.

With geopolitical changes, recently, in the world, and particularly the Middle East, we’ve seen how tensions amongst some of our faiths have been exacerbated. We need methods to control that and to prevent those types of crime from proliferating.

We see many different faiths, cultures and religions are now being immersed in our communities, and we need to ensure the safety of places of worship and to prevent hate-related crimes. By doing so, we send a clear message that those who perpetuate such acts will be held accountable for the immeasurable pain they inflict on their victims.

We have talked before in this House about the importance of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and how section 1 provides for the balancing of individual rights. We have freedom of expression. We have freedom of religion. We need to protect those rights, and we need to protect them from the other end of the spectrum, which is hate-related crimes, distortion and misinformation.

Madam Speaker, our commitment to protecting the most vulnerable members of our society is unwavering. To that end, we are proposing a ban on the growth of recreational cannabis in homes that offer child care services. As the Attorney General mentioned, it is surprising that we need to legislate this. This is following the lead of the government in BC, which has successfully combatted this by providing similar prohibitions. This measure is essential to ensure that our children and youth in my riding and across the province of Ontario are shielded from the potential risks associated with the cultivation of cannabis in environments where their well-being is entrusted to others.

We have also seen, during this session of Parliament, the proliferation of human trafficking. And as part of the justice standing committee, I can say that we heard on an all-members’ bill that was brought before the House looking at expunging debts related to human trafficking—we heard, over the course of two days, very concerning and disturbing testimony from our stakeholders indicating that the age of recruitment for young girls into the sex trade has gone from 15 to 14 and is still trending downwards.

We need to make sure that we are protecting the most vulnerable in our communities from such heinous crimes as human trafficking. I can speak from experience, because in the riding of Simcoe–Grey, just prior to the pandemic, a human trafficking ring was broken up. The members of that ring were being housed in a resort in the town of the Blue Mountains, unbeknownst to the resort owner. Larry Law, the owner of Living Waters, turned around and took those victims—he hired them, and he housed them. I can say, with great pride, that those victims are now living as residents of Simcoe–Grey, working at Living Waters and other jobs that have been successfully integrated into our population. It is another reminder of the proximity and the closeness of this type of crime right under our nose. We need to make sure that we’re giving the victims of those crimes the ability to seek redress against their offenders, those oppressors, regardless of whether they’re convicted under the Criminal Code.

Madam Speaker, by taking these steps to increase avenues of redress for victims of crime, we aim to create a safer and healthier environment for our future generations and make sure that they have the full scope of remedies available to them.

Additionally, we recognize the sacrifices that are made by the hard-working individuals in our construction industry, and the Solicitor General spoke of this in his comments. These individuals go to work each day to build our economy, to build our infrastructure, and to build the much-needed housing that we need, as we move forward with our commitment to build 1.5 million new homes by 2031. We need to make sure that those individuals are protected and that any injury or death is properly investigated, to make sure that we are making provisions to prevent that type of needless accident moving forward. Nobody should go to work not knowing whether they’ll return home safely from their shift.

Through these amendments to the Coroners Act, we are determined to bring justice and closure to the families of construction workers who have tragically lost their lives on the job. This initiative is a testament to the ongoing commitment of this government to stand by those who build the foundations of our communities, ensuring they receive the recognition and support that they deserve.

Madam Speaker, one other way that we are expanding the redress for victims of crime is in the auto theft sector. We know that this is a crime that is growing in scope and magnitude across our province. Just last week at the Port of Montreal, through random screening, they found a shipping container bound for overseas that contained 20 automobiles stolen from Ontario. We know from our discussions with the insurance industry that these crimes are increasing in frequency. We know after the pandemic with the restriction on computer chip production that replacing stolen automobiles is becoming more difficult and they are becoming more in demand. So we are expanding that through the Victims’ Bill of Rights, 1995, to ensure that those who have had their automobile stolen can bring action against those who stole their cars for redress for that crime.

The current legislation represents a significant stride towards building safer communities, supporting victims of crime, holding offenders accountable and protecting the most vulnerable among us, our youth and our children.

This piece of legislation builds on our government’s advocacy and commitment to bail reform. We have seen—and the Attorney General mentioned it in his comments today—that through this government and over the past year, with the loss of life we’ve had of front-line officers in our law enforcement, that important steps are necessary to combat that small segment of our criminal population that will re-offend regardless of the circumstances.

We have broadened the scope for reverse onus provisions under the Criminal Code for those seeking bail to prove that they do not pose a threat, and we are moving forward through the creation of special bail teams to make sure that those that should remain behind bars pending trial will remain behind bars. This government is making significant investments in law enforcement, auto theft prevention and the digitization of court processes, and this is another important step along the way.

In conclusion, as members of the provincial Parliament, we have a duty to prioritize the safety and well-being of our constituents, and through these legislative proposals, we aim to create a society where justice is served, victims are empowered and our communities thrive. This legislation, if passed, will do just that, and it is part of this government’s commitment to putting in place the levers for our justice system, for our law enforcement officers to make sure that we build a future where everyone feels secure, protected and confident in the strength of our legal system.

Questions?

Thank you to the government for their presentation on the new justice bill. I was actually very excited to see a bill that was entitled “accelerating access to justice,” the short title of the bill, be tabled, because we’ve all heard about the extraordinary delays that we’ve seen in the courts, about certain charges being dropped. Whether it’s criminal charges affecting sexual assaults of minors, rapists walking out the door, we’ve heard them all, oftentimes because it took too long.

What I’m very interested in knowing from the government is, why are we not seeing the investments come in through the bill specifically to address the shortage that we are seeing in the courts? We do not have enough law clerks. We do not have enough court reporters. We do not have enough trial coordinators, as well as judicial assistants. So why are the solutions for funding the courts not there?

I do have questions for the Attorney General. This is quite a substantive bill with a lot of good things in it, but one of the issues that was brought to my attention right after it was introduced was about schedule 1 and the new concept of limited licences that seems to be duplicating a licence process that already exists for the Association of Architectural Technologists of Ontario to license these architectural technologists.

Could you explain why we have this duplication that now seems to create more red tape and create confusion for the profession?

I’ll just go back to where the investments have been made. We’ve put a lot of resources into hiring full-time and full-time-equivalent individuals, making court clerks permanent and full-time employees, not just part-time, making sure that they have the tools that they need—about 340 full-time staff, whether it be crowns, reporters, clerks within the system. So we have made investments to scale up. We’ve reclassified staff so that they are in a better position and will stay in the job and keep the experience on the job, so we’ve made a lot of those investments.

But this bill, Madam Speaker, is really about fixing process, because things like vexatious litigants are eating up a lot of resources and we have to make sure that we’re making capacity in the system for those employees that we did hire to help bring those cases forward.

I’m happy to give more information. It’s really hard to give it in one minute, but I’ll give more information to you. We’re trying to get these people back on the job, quite frankly.

With something like human trafficking, if somebody has been human trafficked and the perpetrator is convicted criminally, I think everybody would agree that the victim shouldn’t have to go through the trauma of explaining the impact on themselves. It’s, quite frankly, patently obvious. That’s what the Victims’ Bill of Rights, as expanded under this bill, will allow us to do, is to not retraumatize those individual victims and allow them to get restitution.

Thank you very much, Minister, for this presentation. It’s good to bring some legislation which can help victims to get the justice they need to. But if that bill does allow victims to sue their offenders—even if there are no convictions, can they sue their offenders?

In 2018, the Broken Trust report, written by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, identified the importance of having a coroner’s office in Thunder Bay. However, in 2023, that service is gone and the acting police chief at the time said the move will create further delays that will have significant adverse affects on their investigations, and potentially traumatize families who are waiting for the remains of their loved ones, while creating an indignity to the deceased. What’s happening is that all bodies are being sent to Toronto.

Interjection.

So my question is: Will the government amend Bill 157 in order to establish a forensic pathology unit in Thunder Bay, as recommended in the 2018 Broken Trust report?

The next question.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

In 2020, the Conservative government decided to stop renewing an annual million-dollar funding boost to rape crisis and sexual assault support centres. Some of these centres have seen the longest wait-lists they’ve ever experienced. Centre workers warn that wait times act as a deterrent for victims because victims will stop trying to access services when they are told they have to wait. Obviously—we know people—the trauma is just intensified with the waiting.

Will you consider amending Bill 157 to increase funding to rape crisis and sexual assault support centres?

I had a particular interest in the Architects Act, which might not be immediately obvious, but the Architects Act, obviously, governs architects in the province of Ontario, and under the current piece of proposed legislation, it proposes to create new categories within the Architects Act. I think that’s very useful and particularly important in getting us towards our goal of building 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years, and I’m wondering if any of the speakers can comment on the changes to the Architects Act and what those changes might entail.

This weekend was CTV Lions Children’s Christmas Telethon’s 75th anniversary. That is 75 years of people giving back to the community. It’s actually become a northern tradition when people kick off their Christmas decorating period or they do their baking or, as a tradition, they volunteer or they perform and, most importantly, they donate.

This year, they raised $337,615, which is a mouthful, but it’s a reflection of how much the community in northern Ontario loves to give back. The slogan is, “Putting a Christmas Smile on Children’s Faces Since 1949,” and you think about how many kids have a special Christmas because of it.

Last year, when I was volunteering, I answered the phone and a lady who was donating told me that when she was growing up, the only gift she got as a child came from the CTV Lions Children’s Christmas Telethon, Speaker. Just imagine what that meant to her and the fact that for more than 20 years, she’s been donating and giving back, making sure that other kids have a special Christmas.

I know it’s a special time of year. It’s something to be very proud as a northern tradition. I want to thank CTV, I want to thank the Lions Club, but most of all I want to thank the volunteers, the performers and everyone who comes together to ensure that these kids have a smile at Christmastime.

Selflessness is service without thought of reward or recompense. This is the heart of kindness. As we enter the holiday season, we as legislators should reflect on kindness, goodness and what it means to be in this role and how we can best serve our communities.

I’m reminded of the famous quotation, “The measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members.”

Seniors raised us, built our communities, but this government has done scarce little to support those in their golden years and treat them with the utmost respect. CPP and OAS have not kept up with the cost of living, and the meagre increases under this government are nowhere near enough.

Vacancy decontrol puts people at risk. In 2003, Premier Dalton McGuinty promised tenants, “We will get rid of vacancy decontrol which allows unlimited rent increases....” Since then, we see more of the same wilful neglect.

Why is there ideological opposition to rent control and protecting tenants? Who does this blind adherence serve? Seniors, people living with disabilities, new Canadians, young people and those on a modest income are all at risk. Why won’t this government help and serve them?

Why privatize health care? There’s tough talk about price gouging and HVAC scams, but there’s no action. Social assistance rates are below the poverty line, and food banks are at the risk of collapse from demand.

Rather than writing letters, I hope this government will look inside this Christmas and reflect on who they truly serve.

At the end of this month, it will conclude my first year here in the Ontario Legislature. It’s an honour and privilege to represent the community of Brampton East, and I’m pleased to be part of a government that’s finally delivering for the people of Brampton.

Under Premier’s Ford’s leadership, we’re building a new second hospital for Brampton. We’re building a new medical university, led by the Toronto Metropolitan University. We’re creating new jobs in Brampton, such as the new Magna plant that’s being built on Mayfield Road in my riding of Brampton East. We’re supporting drivers with the gas tax credit, giving them 5.7 cents per litre. We’re supporting our economy and we’re continuing to build the largest transit expansion in Ontario’s history.

By supporting Brampton Transit and developing the Queen Street rapid bus transit route in my riding, our government shows its commitment to build the infrastructure that Brampton so desperately needs. We’re building infrastructure, we’re expanding existing highways such as the 401 and 410, and we’re going to build Highway 413 to unlock all that gridlock that people are stuck in. We’re the government that’s going to get it done. And this list is going to go on. Under this government, Brampton will never again feel left behind.

I’d like to take a moment to thank my caucus colleagues for their support, as well as my staff, Anthony, Mumpree, Pinar, Harpinder, Jasmeen and Navi, for their hard work. Most importantly, I’d like to thank the people of Brampton East for their tremendous support and trust. I’m honoured to represent them here in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

With that, this being my last member’s statement of the year, I’d like to wish everybody a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah and happy holidays. I hope you enjoy this holiday season with your loved ones and friends. Have a great time.

We have put several supports and increased funding to not just support centres but to victim witness programs and into every sector of our expansion for the justice system. So it wouldn’t be the tool, quite frankly, of this bill to do a funding increase per se.

I’m happy to chat more about where you think the system needs more supports, but we are supporting the system and we are supporting the victims of everything from serious sexual assaults to human trafficking all the way through the system, Madam Speaker. As they need the supports, we’re providing them and, of course, we’ll continue to provide more in the future.

Look, the architects serve a very critical part of our housing strategy. Without the architects, we wouldn’t be able to build the 1.5 million homes that we are going to.

The architectural technologist category does exist already, but as was mentioned to my friend from Ottawa–Vanier, there is a glitch in the system. The glitch is that they exist as an entity, as a part of the puzzle for moving us forward, but there was an issue around the architects association being able to provide regulatory oversight. So, Madam Speaker, we’re taking the opportunity to fix that glitch and get them back to work.

Madam Speaker, Lynn Roy, who lives in the village of Greely in my riding of Carleton was living in the Philippines 10 years ago while her husband was working there on a contract. She was shown the San Pedro, Laguna garbage dump site, an enormous dump site with more than 1,000 families living in the dump with no water, no electricity and no opportunity. They are, as Lynn describes, the poorest of the poor.

In 2014, Lynn co-founded the Home for Alternative Learning and Motivational Strategies school, which provides an opportunity for impoverished children living in the San Pedro garbage dump site to go to school, and to also have breakfast and lunch every day.

Since moving back to the Carleton riding several years ago, Lynn has been working part time at the Manotick LCBO. Every single dollar she has ever made at the LCBO has been donated to the Home for Alternative Learning and Motivational Strategies school, and she continues to run the school from her home. She also takes a month’s leave of absence without pay each year to go to the Philippines and to work at the school as a volunteer.

Lynn, thank you for being an inspiration.

Madam Speaker, Lynn is proof that there really are angels among us.

Oxford has a long and proud history of baseball and softball. In fact, Beachville is home to the first documented game of baseball in North America, taking place on June 4, 1838. It was not in Cooperstown, New York, as is commonly believed; it was in Oxford.

One of Canada’s best professional baseball players, Tip O’Neill, started his career playing in Woodstock as well. Called Canada’s Babe Ruth, O’Neill was one of the star players during the early years of the sport. The baseball diamond in Woodstock’s Southside Park is now named after him.

Earlier this month, another chapter of this history was written when Woodstonian Brian Paton was inducted into the Softball Canada Hall of Fame. This honour only adds to his long list of accomplishments, including being a member of the International Softball Congress Hall of Fame and Woodstock Sports Wall of Fame.

Brian started his softball career as a catcher, later becoming an outfielder for the Woodstock Twins and Tornadoes. In 1987, Brian made the jump to Team Canada’s softball team, helping them to win gold four times at the Pan Am Games and three World Cup medals. He remained a member of the team for 17 years, eight of them as team captain. He also played for the Toronto Gators, where he was MVP and the top hitter for the team.

Congratulations, Brian, for being named to the Softball Canada Hall of Fame, and thank you for your contributions to softball in Oxford and Ontario.

Good morning, Speaker. I am honoured to rise to recognize a group of remarkable students from the Brantford–Brant community. This month, the North Park Collegiate Student Anti-Racism Coalition was awarded a peace medal by the YMCA in the youth category.

The group began as a safe place that provided students a secure platform to report instances of racism around the school. However, the anti-racism coalition has evolved into a distinct group that includes students from many different backgrounds and grades who strive to educate their peers on different cultures.

The coalition also places an important emphasis on the celebration of unique cultures, and it has organized fashion shows, international food days, anti-racism assemblies, educational campaigns and food drives. Despite having 20 core members, the coalition has interfaced with a multitude of students through its weekly meetings and has fostered a strong sense of community and inclusion at their school.

When speaking about the importance of the coalition, Bhumi Shah, one of the students who visited us here last week, said, “Something as simple as acknowledging Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, as a celebration as meaningful to some as Christmas and Hanukkah, can help students feel less isolated.”

Speaker, I am proud to represent a riding that is home to such bright and talented youth. I’d like to say a big thank you to the members of the North Park anti-racism coalition. You are making Brantford–Brant proud.

In September, I attended on a ride-along out of 51 Division with Toronto Police Service with officer Jeff Gough. Very shortly into that ride-along, we ended up responding to what ultimately became a death, the death of a very frail and elderly but much-beloved patriarch of a family. I was off in the corner while events were unfolding, but what I witnessed was one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen. It was managed by the firefighters, the paramedics and the police.

As I watched these individuals manage the scene and work on this elderly gentleman and work with his family, I saw something that I think will probably stick with me forever. What I noticed was, this is something that, for these first responders, may have been the first call in their night, but for me it was something absolutely incredible. The respect, the honour, the diligence with which they worked was absolutely breathtaking. It struck me that this is just part of their job. This is the job that they do as first responders. For me, it was epic, and for them it was business as usual.

It was absolutely my honour to invite them here today. They’re sitting over there. We have officer Jeff Gough, officer Chris Atwood, officer Julia Grant, paramedic Christian Vantellingen, paramedic David Rundle, paramedic superintendent Michael Larsen, and not present but involved, firefighter Joseph Luongo and firefighter Zachary Miller. Again, thank you so much for all of your service to Toronto and to our community at large.

I am honoured today to announce to this House that the Ontario Liberal Party has a new leader, Bonnie Crombie. I had the privilege of being one of five contestants in the leadership race, during which we all travelled across the province and listened to people telling us about their struggles. During a year-long contest, we proposed solutions, we challenged each other, refined our ideas. Now, the Liberal team is more prepared than ever to tackle the cost of living, housing, health care shortages, the climate crisis and hold the Conservative government to account on these and many other issues.

Ontario Liberals have elected Bonnie Crombie who, as mayor, understands the struggles that mayors and their municipalities face, and has the experience of fighting the negligence, interference and shady dealings of this Conservative government.

I and my Liberal caucus colleagues look forward to working hard in support of Bonnie Crombie as she leads the Liberal Party and fights for the people of Ontario.