Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Petitions relating to Quinte Healthcare Corporation (Sessional Paper No. P-9) Mr. Galt and Mr. Parsons.

Petition relating to Protecting minors from exposure to sexually explicit materials (Sessional Paper No. P-10) Mr. Wood.

Petition relating to the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario (Sessional Paper No. P-13) Mr. Cleary.

Petition relating to Horse Riding Safety Act (Sessional Paper No. P-18) Mrs. Molinari.

Petition relating to the Link between cancer and occupation (Sessional Paper No. P-19) Mr. Christopherson.

Petition relating to the Employment Standards Act (Sessional Paper No. P-21) Mr. Christopherson.

Petition relating to Paper Sludge within Oak Ridges (Sessional Paper No. P-23) Mr. O'Toole.

Petition relating to The McKendry Commission (Sessional Paper No. P-29) Mr. Marchese.

Petition relating to Amending the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act to allow compensation for family members who develop occupational illness as a result of workplace toxins (Sessional Paper No. P-32) Mr. Christopherson.

Petition relating to Value added white birch plant in Temagami (Sessional Paper No. P-33) Mr. Ramsay.

Petition relating to Reclassification of jobs for probation and parole officers (Sessional Paper No. P-34) Mr. Levac.

Petition relating to Conducting a social audit of the Ontario Works Program (Sessional Paper No. P-35) Mr. Gravelle.

That the motion be amended by adding the following thereto:-

"That the Address in Reply to the Speech of Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor at the Opening of the Session be amended by striking out all the words after "We, Her Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, now assembled ...", and substituting the following:-

"deplore the Tory government's intention to sell Ontario's secure public electricity provider to the highest bidder, while it squanders the education of our children and bankrupts our health care system; and

Whereas this government caters to its big business friends in the corporate, for-profit energy sector shields polluters from public scrutiny and inflicts sky-high rate hikes on vulnerable electricity consumers; and

Whereas this government has ignored its own report, abandoning school-aged children by failing to provide extra-curricular activities; and

Whereas this government allows special interest groups like the Ontario Medical Association to dictate health care policy that favours pay raises for doctors instead of ensuring province-wide access to publicly-funded health care services provided by salaried medical teams; and

Whereas this government continues to recklessly endanger the environment by slashing the Environment Ministry's staff and budget, risking the security of Ontario's water supply; and

Whereas the Conservatives condemn low-income families to living in unsafe, unhealthy over-priced housing by failing to build affordable housing and removing rent controls; and

Whereas this government forces people to work 60-hour weeks in order to keep their jobs;

Therefore this House rejects the Tories' `accountability' agenda and demands that the government apologize to Ontarians who have suffered chaos in their schools and hospitals, inequality at their workplaces, and unsafe water and air. The House demands that the government maintain a publicly-owned electricity supply and abandon its agenda to privatize water and sewage systems. It demands that the government reform primary care, end competitive bidding practices and restore quality, publicly-funded home care services in Ontario. This government must cease its attack on the poor by ending the 60-hour work week, by raising the minimum wage immediately to $7.50 an hour, by ending the claw back of the federal child tax benefit, and by investing in safe, affordable, licensed child care services for working families."