No.

It is my pleasure to put a few words on the record about the Supply Act, which basically looks at how the government spent the money that they had. I will focus on the $82 billion that the government had to spend on our health care system.

The first thing I want to talk to you about is primary care. Primary care is basically the key that opens the door to the rest of the health care system. You need to have a primary care provider to be referred to a specialist. You need a primary care provider to be referred to a surgeon, to be referred to other parts of the health care system. But for 2.3 million Ontarians now, they do not have access.

And yet, we have here in Ontario interdisciplinary primary health care organizations that are willing to help, that are ready to help, that would love nothing more than to take the thousands and thousands of Ontarians on their wait-list and give them access to primary care so that those people get the health promotion they need to stay healthy, get the disease prevention they need to control their disease, get the chronic disease management that they need, get the mental health services that they need right here, right now, in Ontario.

We have 111 members of the Alliance for Healthier Communities. Those members are community health centres. They are nurse practitioner-led clinics. They are Indigenous primary health care organizations. They are community-governed family health teams. They all have something in common: Their family physicians work with a team of other people. Usually the team will have nurse practitioners, nurses and RPNs. They would have somebody dealing with mental health, either a social worker or a psychologist. They would have people dealing with health issues, usually a nutritionist or dietitian. They would have a health promoter. They would have a team—a medical secretary etc.—that works to provide primary care.

Right now in Ontario, the Ontario College of Family Physicians has gone all over the province to sound the alarm bells. We cannot continue the way we are going. We were at 2.2 million when they came—we’re now at 2.3 million Ontarians without access, and by the end of next year, we will double those amounts, with close to five million Ontarians. A million Ontarians right here in Toronto won’t have access to primary care, and yet you have sitting on the desk of the Minister of Health a list of nurse practitioner-led clinics that want—all they need is a little bit more money to hire one more nurse practitioner, to hire one more nurse, to hire a dietitian, and they would be able to take on more patients.

I can speak for the nurse practitioner-led clinic in Capreol. Capreol is part of my riding in Nickel Belt, where 40,000 people do not have access to primary care. I live in northern rural Ontario, and do you know what, Speaker? We have underemployed nurse practitioners who would love nothing more than to get a job at a nurse practitioner-led clinic in a community health centre and take on hundreds of people who need their help. It is so bad that—the specific nurse practitioner-led clinic I’m talking about in Capreol had a maternity leave. During the maternity leave, a nurse practitioner came and did the maternity leave. They were able to keep her a little bit longer because they used money that was left over from COVID to keep her, and they were hoping that—they’ve been asking for more funding for nurse practitioners for years and years. I should have counted how many letters and how many requests for funding I have hand-delivered to the Minister of Health for this one particular nurse practitioner-led clinic. And yet, it is radio silence. We have solutions right there.

Do you know what’s happening now, Speaker? Lise has opened a private clinic for nurse practitioners. She bills people who come to see her. She doesn’t want to do this; she wants her job. She was excellent, actually. She worked at the nurse practitioner-led clinic in Capreol until they did not have enough money to keep her. Now there are hundreds of patients who are paying to see her, because this is the only way that they can gain access. This is wrong. It doesn’t have to be like this. We’re not talking about billions of dollars—we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars more to nurse practitioner-led clinics, to community health centres, to Indigenous primary health care teams, and thousands and thousands of people would gain access to primary care.

We know what happens when people don’t have access to primary care. None of us wants to sit in an emergency room for hours and hours on end. So we wait, so we wait, so we wait, until we are so sick that we haven’t got a choice anymore.

And then, rather than being diagnosed with stage 1 cancer, you’re diagnosed with stage 3 or 4, which—for a lot of cancers, we have the treatment for you, we will treat you, we will try to gain you your life back, but it will cost the health care system hundreds of thousands of dollars for that treatment. All of this could have been avoided—and we’re talking for one person. The treatment for stage 4 cancer, the treatments for stage 3 and stage 4 breast cancers are in the hundreds of thousands—you’re talking half a million dollars per client. Are they worth it? Yes, absolutely. We have the technology. We have the knowledge. We know how to help people. But all of this could have been prevented had people had access to primary care. All of this could have been prevented if the hundreds of requests for funding that sit on the Minister of Health’s desk would have been answered. For the money we spend on treating people once they’re sick, we could have saved money and given access to all of those people. But they did not do this.

The Supply Act made it clear that the minister had announced that there would be $30 million to improve interdisciplinary care. Once they finally signed the $3.1-billion agreement with the federal government, they took the federal money and invested up to $100 million in 78 projects. But there are hundreds of other projects sitting on that desk that will open the door to people who need primary care. What are we waiting for? Why are we letting people suffer, gambling with their health and with their lives when we have the knowledge, we have the skills, we have the money? We have a government that chooses not to do that. They choose to—what is it—increase by four times the amount of money that we spend to the few private hospitals that we have. They chose to increase it by 230%, I think—I’m going by memory—the amount of money that we give to the 10 private surgical suites that exist in Ontario right now.

They have no problem increasing the funding for the private, for-profit delivery of our health care system, but when it comes to funding primary care—let me read some of the requests that the Alliance for Healthier Communities put forward. They are the ones who represent the 111 community health centres, nurse practitioner-led clinics, Indigenous primary health care teams, community-based family health teams.

They said that health human resources at comprehensive primary care organizations across Ontario has been underfunded for over 11 years. For years, health care providers and administrative staff in community-based non-profit primary, community, mental health and addiction, and long-term care have faced lower pay grades than other parts of the health care sector, including newly created government health care agencies. Funding is inadequate and does not keep up with inflation or cost of living, which makes recruiting and retaining staff a challenge. Primary health care staff have been paid at or under 2017 salary rates. Community health organizations provide care for populations that are 68% more complex, on average, compared to the average Ontarian. Despite this complexity, clients served go to emergency departments less, resulting in $27 million saved every year. On average, patients with access to team-based care have improved health outcomes, fewer emergency visits, better discharge experiences, and cost savings ranging from $10 to $90 per patient, per month.

They went on and on. And yet, they did not get a pay increase. They did not get the funding they need to hire more staff so that we don’t look at 2.2 million Ontarians without primary care—making 2.3 million.

I also want to put on the record a letter that the township of St. Joseph put forward. This one has to do with the closure of the public health lab in Sault Ste. Marie. The corporation basically went on to ask—“At their March 6, 2024, council meeting, the township of St. Joseph passed resolution 2024-61 regarding the planned closure of six Public Health Ontario (PHO) labs, including the laboratory in Sault Ste. Marie.” They attached a resolution outlining their objection. And they wished to advise the Ontario Minister of Health that it is opposed to the closure of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Health Ontario lab and requested that Public Health Ontario be directed to review past decisions to remove the Sault Ste. Marie public health lab’s ability to test samples.

Their recommendation is in writing. It has been sent to the Minister of Health. They basically made it clear that the public health lab in Sault Ste. Marie is an important part of their health care capacity. Plus, many people they serve do not have water from the city, so they need to rely on the free water testing at public health to make sure that the water that comes from different wells and also water in the pools etc. is safe. None of this will be available.

They went on to say:

“Whereas the closure of the Sault Ste. Marie” public health “lab would mean longer wait times in getting results from beach water, hotel and recreation centre spas/pools and provincial park water sampling for the region, or even the cessation of sampling altogether due to time sensitivity, and

“Whereas Sault Ste. Marie and area is currently faced” with “an acute shortage of doctors and the availability of clinical/diagnostic testing supports the attraction and retention of more doctors, and

“Whereas a strong local health care system requires a critical mass of skilled health care professionals and health care services, which include reliable and timely lab testing....”

I hope the minister will answer to the township of St. Joseph, who do not want the lab to close in Sault Ste. Marie.

I have something very similar coming from the Timmins area, where, again, we’re looking at closure.

In this Supply Act, we don’t see anywhere in there that we will bolster the public health lab in areas of the north to make sure that it continues to be available. We all know what happened in Walkerton. We all know what happens when people don’t have $135 to pay a private lab to see if their well water is safe: People get sick; people get hurt; people die. All of this is prevented right now because we have public health labs throughout the north. If those are not available anymore, many people won’t drive all the way from Hearst to Sudbury to have their water tested for free. They will either have to pay 135 bucks or go without. We all know that many will choose to go without.

The next thing I wanted to talk to you about is the supervised consumption services site. There was a letter that was written to the Minister of Health as well as the minister of mental health, about the supervised consumption sites. It was signed by 51 health care executives; 51 health care executives signed the letter to the Minister of Health and the minister for mental health, asking them to keep the sites open. Some of the letter says:

“Unregulated drugs of unknown contents and potencies are driving increased deaths, hospitalizations, injuries and trauma across Ontario, with an estimated 3,644 drug-related deaths in 2023. Several communities in Ontario have declared a state of emergency due to drug toxicity deaths. Supervised consumption sites, and particularly low-barrier overdose-prevention sites, are a necessary emergency response to this crisis and must be immediately scaled up. In 2018,” this government “arbitrarily capped funding to only 21” consumption sites. “Six years later, the government still has not delivered on funding 21.... Despite overwhelming need and local support, the Ontario government has approved and funded only 17 consumption site locations across the province. Only one of these is located in northern Ontario,” located in Thunder Bay, which is way too far for the people of Timmins, Sudbury or elsewhere. “Meanwhile, the toxic unregulated drug crisis has taken far too many lives since 2018.”

We’re talking 20,000 people who have died, many more family and friends left grieving.

“In the context of this preventable public health emergency, urgent action is required. There are at least five submitted applications for” consumption sites “that have been ... delayed by the Ontario government.” That includes in Sudbury, who sent their application 30 months ago; Barrie, 28 months ago; Windsor, 19 months ago; Timmins, 13 months ago; and Hamilton, where they had to withdraw their application in October after two years of waiting.

“The tragedy of an isolated instance of gun violence in Toronto must not prevent people in diverse locations across the province from accessing vital health services any longer. The Ontario government’s decision to stop processing applications altogether for more than seven months is punitive and irresponsible.”

They go on to talk about what is happening in Timmins, Windsor and Sudbury, with the very high opioid mortality rate, which is on average three times the provincial average. They come with a clear ask. We’re not talking, again, billions of dollars; the site in Sudbury needs $1.2 million. For $1.2 million, you will save on average two to three lives in Sudbury every single week. Every single week, two to three people’s lives could be saved with an investment of $1.2 million in the supervised consumption site. Why is this so hard to fund? But you’re not going to find this funding in the Supply Act of 2023; they did not spend a penny on this.

Another one that is rather interesting is Birth Mark. Birth Mark is a charity dedicated to providing essential reproductive health care support in southern Ontario. They are a charity that has been providing these services for free for the last six years. Their programs “offer preventive care and early intervention, leading to significant cost savings by addressing health and social issues before they escalate into more severe and costly problems. By providing adequate support, we effectively reduce emergency room visits related to mental health crises, childbirth complications and postpartum issues, thereby alleviating strain on our health care system and reducing associated costs.”

They basically work with mainly pregnant homeless women and help them through their pregnancy, help them through their delivery and help them, post-partum, to look after their newborn. They have been doing this for free through donations. They’ve been having a tough time with the pandemic and everything else to raise money through donations and are asking the ministry for a very small amount of money so that they can continue to do this.

We all know what happens to homeless pregnant women once they give birth, if they are homeless, the CAS comes in, take their baby away and nothing good comes of that. Through the program, through Birth Mark, all of this changes. They support these women. They support them through their pregnancy, through their delivery, through their post-partum, through how to care for a child so that even when CAS comes and does their assessment, they are deemed to be fit mothers and get to keep their babies. It’s good for the baby; it’s good for the mother; it’s good for our health care system, for our social system. It’s very low money, but you won’t see a penny that has been spent so far by this government for this very worthy program. This is a cost-saving program. This is the right thing to do for newborns, for mothers, yet this government leaves them high and dry.

The next one I wanted to talk to you about is home care. Our home care system is broken. It fails more people than it helps every single day, and this has dire consequences on so many people. One of my constituents came to see me. Her husband has been discharged from the hospital. He was alternate level of care, so he was admitted into the hospital, had a stroke and had multiple problems. He’s waiting for a long-term-care bed. She has agreed to take him home and keep him at home until a bed becomes available in one of the long-term-care homes in Sudbury.

The home care system fails her pretty much every single day. She needs help early in the morning to care for her husband, to help transfer, to help bathe, go to the bathroom, feed etc., but the worker is never there. They gave her a call and said, “Oh, we will be there soon. We should be there by 3 o’clock in the afternoon.” Nobody gets out of bed at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Nobody can wait till 3 o’clock in the afternoon to have breakfast. She needs help to get him out of bed, to get him fed, to get him to go to the bathroom and all of this, but home care never came. I had a little meeting. Bayshore, that has most of the contracts in my riding, came. Her daughter was there and her daughter mentioned that as soon as she’s finished work, she comes and helps her mom. So around 3:30, 4 o’clock in the afternoon, she’s with her mom. They don’t need a PSW anymore; all is good.

You know what, Speaker? Since Bayshore found out that at 3 o’clock in the afternoon they don’t want a PSW anymore, every day the PSW is only available after 3. Then, when she says, “Well, I don’t need you at 3; I needed you at 9 o’clock this morning,” they say, “Oh, you’re refusing care.” We all know what that means. That means Bayshore takes the 56 bucks for that visit, the PSW never gets to come and hundreds of millions of dollars in profit just keep growing and growing for Bayshore while an 84-year-old woman who is trying to look after her 87-year-old spouse while he waits for a spot in long-term care has to go at it on her own. This is wrong.

We had the same thing with a lady from Azilda who has a kidney issue and has qualified for home care that is supposed to come to her house every day. They know that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, she goes to dialysis at the hospital and she’s not there. Those are the only times where Bayshore will say, “Oh, we have a PSW that can come for you at 12:30 on Wednesday.” They already know that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, she goes for dialysis in the afternoon. You figure that they would send the PSW on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday to help her—no, no, no. They know that she will turn it down on Monday, Wednesday and Friday because she’s at the hospital receiving dialysis, so that’s when they make it available.

I want to talk to you about Tina Senior, who has a very disabled child, a beautiful little boy, big blue eyes—anyway, a beautiful, beautiful child, six years old, goes to school, and he needs to be fed through a G-tube. So a nurse is assigned an hour and a half every day that he’s at school to feed him through a G-tube tube. So he connects it, puts in the food, and often the machine goes “beep, beep, beep” and the nurse handles it and goes. That’s not what happens at all.

Bayshore gets paid for an hour and a half for that call, but they only assign the nurse to go for 15 minutes. So the nurse goes in, connects the G-tube, gets the food, and then takes off. But at least twice, sometimes three times a week, the machine will go “beep, beep, beep,” and then they don’t know what to do. They call the mom.

The mom is an intensive care nurse at Health Sciences North. She has had to leave the hospital to go care for her son so many times that she has now quit her job as an intensive care nurse at Health Sciences North in order to be there every time the nurse, who is supposed to be there to look after her son for an hour and a half, is not there. Again, we sit with Bayshore, we try to straighten that out, and it never works. Bayshore gets paid for an hour and a half to look after this kid, sends the nurse for 15 minutes, and then depends on the mother to back this up.

This is causing a ton of stress. Think about it: You’ve lost your income as a nurse. You’ve lost your opportunity to continue to provide care to your community, a profession that she loves doing, because the home care system is failing her.

She also received direct funding for respite. Trying to recruit, train, book all of that on her own, submit the receipt in time at the right place, at the right time is a full-time job. It shouldn’t be like this.

This is not what home care is about. Home care is supposed to be there when you need it. Home care is supposed to be there. If you qualify for an hour and a half, they’re supposed to be there for an hour and a half. But given that you don’t get paid in between clients, they will come in 10 minutes late and then leave 10 minutes early because they have to drive.

In my riding, they showed me 750 kilometres. How long do you figure it takes, Speaker, to drive 750 kilometres in the middle of the winter in rural northern Ontario? And they don’t get paid for that time. It shouldn’t be like this. We know better than that.

I also want to put on the record a little request from Gilles Proulx, who is a constituent in my riding who basically said, “I am writing to express my concerns regarding the financial challenges faced by parents participating in the Model Parliament program. My son, Yanick Proulx, is a dedicated participant in this valuable program, and while I’m immensely proud of his involvement, the associated costs pose a significant burden on our family, particularly due to our residence in northern Ontario, specifically the Sudbury region.”

I’m just putting it out there that this is something that the government could look at. We want all the kids to participate in the Model Parliament. It is a beautiful, beautiful program that helps a lot of kids experience things that they would have never been able to experience before. Helping with transportation, helping with accommodation for those kids that come from more than 50 kilometres away would really help. There are very few kids from my riding who have participated, mainly due to the fact that their parents did not have the money to do so.

I had the list of other things to talk about, certainly the private, for-profit long-term-care homes and the way that they pay their staff. We have the Elizabeth Centre in Sudbury right now that refuses to negotiate. It has been two years now where PSWs and RPNs have not seen an increase. None of that is in the Supply Act.

Further debate?

Oh, my gosh.

Further debate?

It’s a pleasure to stand in the Legislature and pick up where the members from the NDP finished off and also thank my colleague the member from Mississauga–Lakeshore, the parliamentary assistant, who spoke for almost an hour this afternoon about the Supply Act motion and all of the investments that our government is making—$82 billion in health care.

And I thank the two members from the Sudbury area, as well, from the NDP, who talked for an hour and talked about what they saw or didn’t see in the Supply Act. They weren’t very well coordinated in their remarks today though, I’ve got to say. The member from Sudbury talked about the fact that no nurses want to work in the province, and the member from Nickel Belt talked about the fact that nurses want to work but they can’t get jobs. So they were not coordinated in their messaging, which is pretty typical for the NDP these days. They kind of spin around all over the place. But anyway, I digress.

And I do want to welcome the folks who are here for the Orthodox Christian private member’s bill that Mr. Rakocevic is going to be debating along with some of my colleagues. Stay tuned; the main event is about five minutes away. That’s it. We’ll get to that.

I do want to just take issue with a couple of things that were mentioned. I know the labour critic for the NDP was talking about Bill 124, and that horse has left the barn. We’re not debating that anymore. But what I can tell you: In some of the remarks that he made, he forgets the fact—and I moved to Ontario in the 1990s; in 1992, as a matter of fact. That was about 30-some years ago now. I was a new resident to Ontario, and Premier Bob Rae introduced the social contract. It was the only time the NDP have ever been the government of Ontario, and those in the labour movement call that legacy that Bob Rae and the NDP left a legacy of betrayal. That is what that was, and it was one of the largest wage rollbacks in Ontario’s history. But I digress.

I’m going to move to what we’re doing to make sure we have the funding that we need to invest in important participants in our province’s economy and our health care system. We have more nurses working in Ontario now than at any time in our history, and we have more nurses being trained in our province than at any time in our history—30,000 nurses are being trained, hundreds of new doctors are being trained in our province. When the Liberals and the NDP were teaming up, for a long period of time, they had a cap on the number of doctor spaces available. That’s why we’re in the position that we’re in today.

I just want to go back to one more thing: When the NDP were the government of Ontario, the budget for the province was $53 billion or so, in that area. Since we have formed government, since Doug Ford and the PCs have formed government in Ontario, we have increased revenues in the province by $52 billion. And how did we do that, Madam Speaker? Well, we didn’t do it by raising taxes. As a matter of fact, we have lowered taxes in the province: lowered income taxes, cut carbon taxes, cut the gasoline tax. The gasoline tax cut is one of the largest tax cuts in our province’s history. We have cut red tape, saving businesses $8 billion to $9 billion a year in the cost of doing business. As a result of cutting taxes and cutting fees, we have seen revenues jump from about $152 billion a year to $204 billion, which has allowed us to ensure that we have the services that we need in our province going forward.

Now, what did the Liberals and NDP do? Well, they took a different route. They raised taxes every opportunity that they had.

Madam Speaker, we have brought stability to our energy sector after 15 dark years under the previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP. As a result, we now have—now, keep in mind, when these guys were in charge, 300,000 jobs left our province—800,000 manufacturing jobs in our province today that weren’t here when we formed government six years ago.

Interjection.

Pursuant to standing order 67, I am now required to put the question.

Mr. Thanigasalam has moved second reading of Bill 174, An Act to authorize the expenditure of certain amounts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry?

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Second reading agreed to.

Ms. Dunlop, on behalf of Ms. Mulroney, moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill 174, An Act to authorize the expenditure of certain amounts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024 / Projet de loi 174, Loi autorisant l’utilisation de certaines sommes pour l’exercice se terminant le 31 mars 2024.

Ms. Dunlop has moved third reading of Bill 174, An Act to authorize the expenditure of certain amounts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry?

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

Mr. Rakocevic moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 167, An Act to proclaim Orthodox Christian Week / Projet de loi 167, Loi proclamant la Semaine des chrétiens orthodoxes.

I really appreciate this opportunity.

At 11:06 p.m. tonight, Madam Speaker, Persians here in Ontario, in Canada and around the world will be celebrating Nowruz, which is the Persian new year. On behalf of all my colleagues—certainly everybody in the Legislature—I would like to wish them all a happy Nowruz. Nowruzetan Pirouz.

On a point of order: Speaker, if you seek it, you’ll find unanimous consent to now see the clock at 6.

I am proud and honoured to table my bill to recognize Orthodox Christian Week in Ontario each year, commencing with Orthodox Christian Easter as observed on the Julian calendar. Passing this bill would recognize the long-standing history, presence and contributions of Orthodox Christians in our great province.

I am humbled by the many who have joined us today to support this important recognition, including Orthodox Christian clergy and community members. I thank you. As well, Speaker, countless more have helped spread the word, signed petitions and advocated for the passing of this bill. I thank you all very much. Your help has been instrumental in reaching this important moment.

Speaker, there is a rich and diverse tapestry of people who make up our great province of Ontario. They come from many backgrounds, cultures and nations. They practise different faiths. They have many different histories and tell their own unique stories. And they were all drawn here to make Ontario their home, to live in our multicultural and multi-faith society where diversity is celebrated and welcomed. Here, they can remain true to their different faiths, cultures and ancestries while being proud Canadians.

Within this diverse mosaic here in Ontario are many cultures within the Orthodox Christian faith. Although a minority faith here in Ontario, Orthodox Christianity is, collectively, the second-largest body of Christians in the world, with a history that goes back nearly 2,000 years and whose faith is shared by people of many different nations and languages. Often, when people think about Christianity in Canada, it is not uncommon for them to consider only the Roman Catholic church and various Protestant denominations, but for more than a century, Orthodox Christians have been arriving on these shores, not only bringing distinctive forms of Christian faith and practice but also making a tremendous contribution here and adding to our cultural mosaic.

Orthodox Christianity emerged in the Middle East, where Christianity has its roots. Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity, in AD 301, 12 years before the Roman Empire adopted Christianity through Emperor Constantine’s edict of Milan in AD 313. Traditionally, there are two distinct families of Orthodox Christians: those belonging to the Eastern Orthodox family and those belonging to the Oriental Orthodox family. These two families of Orthodox Christians share many close similarities in faith, rituals and life, though they took different paths in the fifth century over certain dogmatic interpretation.

The Eastern Orthodox churches include four ancient patriarchates of early Christianity, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, as well as a majority or significant populations of Orthodox believers in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine and others. The Oriental Orthodox family includes the Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Syrian and Indian Malankara churches and others. There are also sizable Orthodox Christian communities in countries throughout the world.

Now, Speaker, I must take a moment to state that Orthodox Christians have faced persecution in different places and at different times in history, ranging from the repression and erasure of their faith to forced migration, ethnic cleansing and even genocide. Unfortunately, this is not just the history of long ago, as Orthodox Christians in certain part of the world still face threats and persecution to this very day. And so, over the years, many Orthodox Christians travelled to Canada and Ontario to seek safety and freedom, like so many other newcomers to our great country and province.

Of course, many Orthodox Christians came here simply in search of new beginnings and new opportunities, bringing their diverse cultures, traditions, languages and faith, which they cherished as their identity and as their links with their homeland hearths, families and ancestral heritage. They are an important part of our diverse multicultural mosaic and, over the generations, they have proudly contributed greatly here in our province and across our country.

Speaker, it is believed that the earliest Orthodox Christians who set foot on this land were three Orthodox sailors who accompanied Champlain in early 17th century as he explored the St. Lawrence River valley. It would take until the late 1800s, however, for the Orthodox Christian faith to take root in this country with the arrival of missionaries, monks and priests to support Orthodox Christians emigrating here, particularly in western Canada, where they played a major role in developing farming and railroads across the prairies.

The conditions for spreading the faith were challenging. Clergy travelled on foot, by horse and carriage, and by rail to reach small pastoral communities and to establish places of worship. The first Orthodox Divine Liturgy was celebrated on Canadian soil in June 1897 on a farm in the village of Wostok, northeast of Edmonton.

At the turn of the 20th century, Canada was still a young country. Although the federal government had invited European immigrants to come to work the land, there was resistance to these foreign arrivals in many segments of society at the time. When the prominent Orthodox Bishop Tikhon from the US had made a proposal to the Canadian government in 1902 for federal support to have an Orthodox bishop in this country, some honourable members in Parliament resisted, possibly out of apprehension or unfamiliarity. The bill did not pass.

But Speaker, times began to change. By 1909, St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church was established on Bond Street in Toronto. And by 1916, in the middle of World War I, there were more than 60 Orthodox churches across Canada. Often recognized by traditional domes and their distinctive multiple crosses, Orthodox church architecture varies in the Canadian setting. Today, there are approximately 700 or more Orthodox parishes across Canada and some 225 in Ontario, including several monasteries, and the number is growing. In fact, most Canadian Orthodox parishes are found in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

It is difficult to state with precision the total number of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christians in Canada, but one can estimate that the total number of persons with an Orthodox Christian heritage, and those who actively practise the faith of their ancestors in Canada, exceeds a million. These people share a feeling of gratitude to Canada, where they have been able to practise their faith in freedom without fear of persecution, and to contribute to the development of our multicultural country and our provinces.

For believers, faith is central to one’s identity and culture. To this day, Orthodox churches across Ontario and Canada not only serve as a place of faith and worship, but also as vibrant community centres where language and heritage are preserved and passed on to future generations of proud Canadians.

Over the years, the Ontario Legislature has rightfully honoured numerous faith groups, cultures and ethnic communities by acknowledging a heritage month, week, day or historical events of significance to those respective groups. These formal annual recognitions by our government celebrate our diversity and commemorate our history. Speaker, the distinct faith and cultures of Orthodox Christians are an important part of our diverse cultural mosaic. Given that they have been here for more than 120 years, their collective contributions to our province and country are immense, and their recognition is long overdue. They are part of our history, our present and our future.

And so, the time is now. Let us all unanimously recognize the important presence of Orthodox Christians in Ontario and their contributions to our great province. Let us acknowledge and celebrate their distinct faith and cultures. Let us learn their histories and hear their stories. And with your collective support, each year, let us proclaim Orthodox Christian Week in Ontario, beginning every Orthodox Easter Sunday. The time is now.

Further debate?

I want to thank my colleague from Humber River–Black Creek for bringing this bill forward. I know my colleague has Serbian roots, so this bill is very dobra—and I hope I said that all right.

It’s an honour and privilege to rise as one of the governing PC caucus members. Other members that will be speaking from our side, I believe, are the member for Mississauga–Erin Mills, the member for Scarborough–Agincourt and the member for Oakville North–Burlington.

Ontario is a place where it doesn’t matter where you come from, who you love, how you choose to worship God—everybody belongs in Ontario, and it’s the responsibility of members of this House to make sure that we are standing up for that right.

When we speak about a lot of the communities, many people who came to Ontario or to Canada for a better life, they come from places where practising their faith isn’t something we can take for granted. We’re used to the right to worship and the right to worship freely, and it’s easy to forget sometimes that if we don’t defend that right, if we don’t fight for that right every single day as lawmakers, as citizens, that right may no longer exist. It does here in Canada, and bills like this brought forward by my colleague help to defend that right and ensure that right.

We know that in Ontario we’re home to over half a million Orthodox Christians. I think my colleague said a million, we estimate, in Canada. The Orthodox Christian community is one that’s been coming to Canada for over a hundred years. I’m very lucky in my own riding, in Brampton North, we have the Archangel Michael and St. Tekla church, a Coptic Orthodox church that the member for Mississauga–Erin Mills introduced me to once upon a time a few years ago, and I have the pleasure of going every Christmas and most of the Easters; I’ll make sure I don’t miss Easter this year. I did miss it last year, but I made it for Christmas. It’s such a vibrant, wonderful community. Dare I say, just a gorgeous, beautiful church. If you guys ever have a chance to get out to Mayfield and Highway 10 in Brampton North, I’ll bring you by Archangel Michael and St. Tekla. It’s a gorgeous church.

We have a lot to be thankful for to our Orthodox Christian community. One member that I know the sponsoring member cares deeply about being Nikola Tesla, who is, of course, the man who brought electricity to the world. Many of us would have seen the statue at Niagara Falls. Nikola also left his mark on Canada with a strong contribution, developing the first hydroelectric power plant in the world, at Niagara Falls.

Now, we know Ontario is a diverse place, home to many. I think by voting in favour of this legislation, colleagues—I certainly intend to—we’re sending a strong message to our Orthodox Christian community that we see them, they matter, they have friends here at Queen’s Park. So let’s all do it together.

First, I want to thank my colleague the member for Humber River–Black Creek for bringing us together on this bill. You deserve a lot of credit, sir.

And I want to thank everyone who has come down today to support this bill. You’ve been generous with your time, with your support, and I think it’s very clear, even from the opening remarks here, that your emotion, your commitment is going to carry the day. I think I can say comfortably there’s a pretty good chance the government will vote in favour.

Interjection.

It is timely. It’s the right moment to recognize the contribution of the Orthodox Church to the culture of this country.

I will, of course, surprise no one when I say that my focus will be on the Greek Orthodox church. My riding, Toronto–Danforth, is home to Greektown, still a very large Greek population, and also home to a number of Orthodox churches, the largest Greek ones being St. Irene Chrysovalantou—

Interruption.

I want to say to those of you who have perhaps visited the Danforth from time to time, you’ve seen restaurants, but there’s a whole culture that’s anchored in the Greek Orthodox church that goes on behind the scenes. The actual Greek businesses reflect that, but there’s a deeper root. And the rhythms of that community, of our community, are reflected in the baptisms and the weddings and the funerals that take place at those Greek Orthodox and other Orthodox churches.

On Christmas, on Good Friday, on Orthodox Easter, you can see the impact of the church on the day-to-day life.

For those who have not had the experience, on the evening of Good Friday, of going for a procession through the streets with the Epitaphios and the profound impact it has on those who are in the procession and those who are watching—very, very impressive and very, very moving.

As you are all aware—but I want to get it on the record—the Orthodox church traces its lineage back to the Apostolic community. Early followers embarked on a mission to spread the teachings of Christ across the world. Their efforts were tireless and led to the establishment of churches in the Balkans and the Middle East during the first century AD. These ancient churches formed the bedrock of the Orthodox tradition.

During the first eight centuries of Christian history, the Byzantine Empire played a pivotal role. The capital, Constantinople, emerged as a vital centre for Christianity. The Greek language flourished, becoming the medium for theological writings, liturgical practices and doctrinal development. The Byzantine legacy profoundly shaped the Greek Orthodox church, providing the foundational patterns that endure to this day.

The Greek Orthodox church is rooted in Greek culture, and it’s fair to say that Greek culture is rooted in the church. The Greek Orthodox church, because of that interaction, played a pivotal role in the preservation of national identity, the development of Greek society and the resurgence of Greek nationalism.

For those who were here on the declaration of independence, the start of the war of independence for Greeks, people know that the Greeks lived under the very oppressive dark rule of the Ottomans for 400 years—heavy taxation, forced religious conversions, controlled movements and, heaviest of all, the seizure of children for the Ottoman military, the Janissary.

Saint Cosmas of Aetolia, while preaching throughout mainland Greece, comforted the Greek people and encouraged the opening of churches and schools because education was valued by the Orthodox faith, and because people knew if you were going to keep the spirit of the Hellenes alive, the Greek Orthodox church alive, you had to have those schools. Secret or open, they had to exist. The church was vital to keeping Hellenism alive through those four dark centuries, and then it was vital to ending that darkness.

On March 25, 1821, Bishop Paleon Patron Germanos raised the flag of the Greek revolution at the Monastery of Agia Lavra. The day of the Annunciation had been chosen as the day of the official start of the Greek revolution by the leader of the Filiki Eteria, Alexander Ypsilantis. The importance of the religious holiday and the blessing of Bishop Germanos emboldened the Greek people to fight for their freedom. The intertwining between Greek culture and the Greek Orthodox church was profound.

Greek Orthodoxy extends beyond religious practice. It is a guardian of Greek identity. The Greek Orthodox church stands as a testament to unwavering faith, cultural continuity and the enduring legacy of the Apostles.

Let us honour this rich heritage with the passage of this bill and appreciate the profound impact it has had on our world.

Further debate?

I would like to thank the member for Humber River–Black Creek for sponsoring Bill 167, and thank the member from Brampton North for leading our discussion on Bill 167, Orthodox Christian Week Act.

As a government, we take pride in demonstrating our commitment to celebrating these important initiatives by passing a number of bills similar to this one for the other communities that have also done so much for our province. As Ontario is home to Canada’s largest Orthodox Christian community, it seems only fitting that we now move to designate a time to reflect and celebrate all the ways in which Orthodox Christians have helped shape our province.

It is my honour to stand up and support a bill which has a profound impact on a large number of Ontarians. I personally have a great affinity to the Orthodox Church. I am proud that my family roots are in two segments of the Orthodox Church: Armenian Orthodox as well as Greek Orthodox. My maternal grandmother is Greek Orthodox, and my grandfather is Armenian Orthodox. They are survivors of two genocides: the Armenian and the Greek genocides. My ancestors paid the ultimate price to preserve their Orthodox faith and then pass it to my generation.

My riding of Scarborough–Agincourt has the vibrant churches of St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. The two Armenian Orthodox churches are not far away from my riding. In addition, a large number of the congregation of the above-mentioned three churches reside in Scarborough–Agincourt. It is always spiritually fulfilling to attend Christmas, Easter and other masses in all three churches.

Madam Speaker, the Armenian Orthodox Church is part of the Oriental Orthodox Church. It is one of the most ancient Christian institutions. In 301 AD, the kingdom of Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion. According to tradition, the church originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus of Edessa in the first century. St. Gregory the Illuminator is the patron saint of the church.

The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem was established in the seventh century. The presence of Armenians in the Holy Land extends back to the earliest period of the church. According to historians, the Armenian Orthodox Church was the first Christian church to initiate the tradition of pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

It’s a pleasure to speak to this bill creating Orthodox Christian Week. I want to congratulate the member from Humber River–Black Creek for putting this bill forward.

These bills are very important. They’re very important because we need to recognize and acknowledge the diversity that’s amongst us. I’m a Roman Catholic. I went to Catholic schools. I didn’t really begin to understand Orthodox Christianity until I became a politician—that shouldn’t be. We live in communities. In my community, there are people from 125 different countries. They speak 90 languages, and there are dozens of faiths. And our children are together—they play together; they go to school together. We all live together. So understanding and knowing the rich traditions and beliefs of the other are really important.

I want to thank everyone who is here today for coming here to support the member from Humber River–Black Creek, but most importantly for giving your children the gift of faith. That’s something that’s really very important in this world. To uphold that, to celebrate that, and to be proud of your heritage and your faith is something very special, and I want to congratulate you for that.

I’m from Ottawa South, and I only have one Orthodox cathedral in my riding: St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral. It’s a place that I’ve been going to for years for a whole bunch of different reasons, but the one that really sticks out is—and it happens at many Orthodox communities and Orthodox churches—they have a festival every year, the Lebanese festival in Ottawa. It’s a massive festival. Actually, I put forward a bill very similar to celebrate Lebanese heritage month, because I believed that was important. I always say, with these festivals, they combine the five Fs, and I hope I can remember them: Faith, food, friends, family, and fun—not necessarily in that order, but faith always comes first. I’d just like to give them a shout-out right now, because it’s in my riding.

Father Nektarios and the Very Reverend Ghattas Hajal, thank you for the work that you’ve done in our community to support things like the children’s hospital and the heart institute, and having a festival every year that brings people together.

My mom passed away last year. She would go to every festival. She would go to the Ukrainian Orthodox festival. she would go to the Greek Orthodox festival. We’d have to take her out all the time, and then when she couldn’t get out of the house, we had to get the food and then bring it back. It was something really central to her. She was a person of deep faith.

Again, we’re Catholics; I was going to say we prefer bingo—but not as much anymore.

So here’s the thing, and this is why it’s important for us to celebrate and recognize Orthodox churches and all religions: We live in a country—and when I say 125 countries, 90 languages, dozens of faiths, we just accept that; we embrace it. We don’t always know as much as we should know. But people can practise their faith. There are a lot of places in the world where people have to hide their faith because they fear for their lives. I think it’s important that our children know and understand that, because they don’t know anything different. Go into our schools, and everybody is there. That just doesn’t happen everywhere.

So creating an Orthodox Christian Week, recognizing the rich traditions and the role that these faith communities play in our community, and the struggles that they have and had that made them come here, that made them immigrate here—I think that’s why it’s important, too. I don’t think we can forget the struggle that happened, or the struggles that are happening right now in too many places in the world.

I want to thank you for your time, Speaker.

Again, thank you so much for being here and for supporting the member from Humber River–Black Creek.

Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill 167, the Orthodox Christian Week Act, and I would like to recognize and thank the sponsoring member from Humber River–Black Creek for introducing it.

I also want to thank my colleagues from Brampton North and Scarborough–Agincourt for their great remarks.

As a member of the Greek Orthodox faith, this bill is important to me, as it means this Legislature is recognizing the important place of Orthodox Ontarians in our province and its history. Orthodox Christians have lived in our province since before Confederation, coming from countries such as Ukraine, Armenia, Serbia, Russia, Egypt and, of course, my own home country of Greece, along with many others.

Orthodoxy dates back to the earliest times of Christianity in the Roman Empire, clearly separating from the Roman Catholic Christianity of western Europe in the Great Schism of 1054. Who knows about the Great Schism of 1054? You would have to be a history buff. It was centred at that time in the Greek world, in Constantinople, but has spread throughout the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe. Four of the five great episcopal sees of the early church joined the Orthodox faith, including Alexandria, founded by St. Mark.

Today, the Orthodox Christian Church worldwide has 220 million followers. Many have immigrated to countries around the world. And the 2021 census reported about 623,000 members of Orthodox churches in Canada.

Here in Toronto, the oldest Greek Orthodox church is St. George’s, known as the mother church of the Greek diaspora in Canada. The church stands today at 115 Bond Street. Founded in 1909, it remained the only Greek Orthodox church in the city until 1961, providing a place of faith and comfort for the many early Greek immigrants to Ontario, including my own family.

Throughout their history, Orthodox churches have provided their parishioners a place to share their faith, often in times of great threat, persecution and oppression. This was true for Greece under the Ottoman rule, for the people of eastern Europe under Nazi and Soviet rule, and t's true for Ukrainians under attack today.

We are truly blessed to live, work and raise a family in a province and country that safeguards our religious freedoms.

I am proud to support this bill and to recognize the struggles and accomplishments of Orthodox Christians to our communities, and how their contributions have made Ontario a stronger, safer and more prosperous place.

Further debate?

Speaker, I want to begin by thanking my colleague the MPP for Humber River–Black Creek, as everyone else has, for bringing forth this bill to recognize Orthodox Christian Week in Ontario. This bill serves to recognize the meaningful contributions that the Orthodox Church and Orthodox Christians have made to the province of Ontario, and it’s wonderful to look across and see so many members of the Orthodox Christian clergy and community joining us here this evening.

Both the member from Brampton North and the member from Ottawa South said that we’re fortunate in this country to be able to practise our faith. It made an impression on me, because while they were saying that, I was looking at the members in the gallery and thinking about what it would be like in other countries to be able to know that not only could you practise your faith, but you could come to the assembly where politicians speak, and they’d speak about having Orthodox Christian Week in the province where you live, and what that means.

I want to thank, as well—unable to come here in person—the Orthodox Christians who come from my riding of Sudbury and call Sudbury home. I want to take the opportunity to thank Orthodox churches that strengthen, support and contribute meaningfully to my riding: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, St. Mary and St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church, and St. Volodymyr Orthodox Church, which is now 85 years young—that was a church I used to walk past on the way to school.

This bill is a wonderful opportunity to formally provide an annual recognition of the distinct faiths and cultures of Orthodox Christians. This bill means a time to learn about and recognize the history of Orthodox Christians, both around the world and here in Ontario; a time to acknowledge that Orthodox Christians in certain parts of the world still face threats and persecution today; a time to celebrate and recognize the contributions that have been made over the past century; a time to hear the stories, to share the stories. It’s a time to engage with members of the Orthodox Christian community.

Here in Ontario, as well as all of Canada, our diversity is our strength, and our province rightfully honours many diverse cultures and faiths, ethnicities and languages. Orthodox Christians are an important part of this wonderful diversity. It’s time to formally acknowledge the distinct faith and culture of Orthodox Christians, this year and every year.

I’d like, again, to thank the MPP for Humber River–Black Creek for his outreach and for his passion in bringing this bill forward. I think most of us saw his son running through the building. I think it’s a proud moment for both the son and the father in this, in seeing it.

Most especially, I want to thank the many members here with us today in the chamber, and the thousands of Orthodox Christians across Ontario.

I spoke with the member earlier about the bill and why he brought it forward, and he was humble about it. He said, “It’s not about me; it’s about the people we represent, the people we see here.” All of us on the floor are public servants, and I think that’s a good reflection of who he is. This bill isn’t about him or any of us who are speaking today. The bill is about you—your history, your stories and your faith.

So we hope—or in a room like this, we have faith—that with the collective support of all of our members, Orthodox Christian Week can be proclaimed here in Ontario.