Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Report continued from volume A.

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Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 sur le désengorgement du réseau routier et le gain de temps

Continuation of debate on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 212, An Act to enact two Acts and amend various Acts with respect to highways, broadband-related expropriation and other transportation-related matters / Projet de loi 212, Loi visant à édicter deux lois et à modifier diverses lois en ce qui concerne les voies publiques, les expropriations liées aux projets d’Internet à haut débit et d’autres questions relatives au transport.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): We’re going to go to further debate.

Mr. Will Bouma: I’m pleased to rise in the House today to speak about the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act.

Mr. Guy Bourgouin: No plan. No plan.

Mr. Will Bouma: To the member from Mushkegowuk–James Bay: If he would listen for a second, he’d hear about our plan for reducing gridlock across the province.

As we know, gridlock across the province is at an all-time high. Drivers in Ontario are spending more and more time stuck in traffic each and every day.

Speaker, we have the highest commute times in North America. The Highway 401 commute times are worse than commute times in the greater Los Angeles area in California, which has almost double the population of Toronto. Our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, recognizes that this is unacceptable. That is why we are doing everything we can to focus on reducing those commute times for drivers.

Ontario welcomes over 200,000 newcomers every single year. The greater Golden Horseshoe will have a population of almost 15 million people by the year 2051. Our government recognizes that the requisite infrastructure must be in place to support this growth. Change is needed now, not only to alleviate the current gridlock issues, but to prepare the province for the future.

Our government has been listening to countless drivers who have been sending a loud and clear message that they are spending too much time stuck in gridlock, and those drivers are struggling to make ends meet. By taking steps to build highways faster and make driving easier and more affordable, the government can offer relief as soon as possible.

Speaker, this proposed legislation aims to build on the success of the Get It Done Act. That bill received royal assent this past May, and it ushered in a whole host of measures designed to accelerate the construction of key infrastructure and save Ontarians money.

Thanks to the Get It Done Act, our government is continuing to cut red tape and get shovels in the ground sooner on priority projects like Highway 413, which could save drivers at least 30 minutes each way—Speaker, that’s an hour a day to be with their families—during rush hour.

Since our government has taken office, we have made a promise to the people of Ontario to get it done in this great province, again, by proposing new legislation. That’s what the Get It Done Act is accomplishing, and that is what the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, if passed, would build upon. These two acts, in tandem, will deliver incredible results for the people of Ontario.

This act, if passed, would help us build highways faster and make it easier for people and goods to get where they’re going. On that point, our government is spending close to $28 billion over the next 10 years to expand and repair the highways, roads and bridges that connect Ontarians to housing, to jobs and to other opportunities. That includes 593 rehabilitation projects and 42 expansion projects that will help get people moving across this great province. This year alone, we are committing $3.9 billion to repair and expansion projects so drivers can reach their destinations quickly and safely.

The Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act would create a new Building Highways Faster Act. This potential act would allow the province to designate priority highway projects, similar to how the Building Transit Faster Act allows us to designate priority transit projects. This would be a massive help to our efforts, and it would allow our government to accelerate the construction of priority projects such as Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass and the Garden City Skyway bridge.

The Building Highways Faster Act would give the province regulatory authority to facilitate 24/7 construction for these priority highway projects. Furthermore, it would position us to deliver quickly on the projects that matter most to everyday Ontarians, as the province would have the authority to request timely access to infrastructure owners’ asset information so work moves forward without unnecessary delays. Additionally, it would streamline property expropriations and create new penalties for obstructing field investigations and taking possession of land the crown owns.

This potential legislation would ensure that we're doing everything in our power to ramp up construction so we can get Ontarians out of gridlock and keep our economy moving. This isn’t to mention the massive amount of time that it would save Ontarians on their daily commutes, granting them more time to spend with their families and with their friends. We are doing everything possible in our ongoing mission to provide transportation infrastructure that will serve Ontarians for generations to come.

Too many commuters in the greater Toronto-Hamilton area are all too familiar with the frustration of being stuck in traffic. I experience it myself every day, driving from Brantford–Brant to Queen’s Park. Just last week, going home, two days in a row there was an accident on the 403 that cost me an extra 45 minutes away from my family.

If I leave this building any time close to rush hour—and I’m sure the member from Niagara can confirm—if you leave here after 2 o’clock in the afternoon or before 7 o’clock, you’re just going to be sitting parked on the expressway. It’s bumper-to-bumper, Speaker. I’ve taken University down to the Gardiner before and it’s taken an hour to get there.

The people of this province love living here because this province grants them opportunity. It grants them an incredible quality of life. That’s what people enjoy about Ontario. They do not deserve to sit in traffic, wondering if they’ll make it home with time to see their spouse, to play with their children or to care for their loved ones.

Something like the Highway 413 will alleviate this pressure. So to ensure we start construction as soon as possible, the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act would exempt Highway 413 from the Environmental Assessment Act. Instead, this act would create a new accelerated environmental assessment process for the project. Early work for Highway 413 could proceed before the accelerated environmental assessment is completed, ensuring that shovels get in the ground as soon as possible.

With that said, we will continue to apply stringent environmental oversight and fulfil our duty to consult Indigenous communities as we move forward to build Highway 413.

As part of the accelerated environmental assessment for Highway 413, the Ministry of Transportation will prepare an environmental impact assessment report. This report provides a comprehensive summary of baseline environmental studies conducted for the Highway 413 project. The primary objective of these studies is to identify potential environmental impacts associated with the construction and operation of Highway 413.

In addition, the report outlines recommended measures to mitigate, to minimize or to avoid these identified impacts, ensuring that the project aligns with sustainable development practices and environmental protection standards.

The Ministry of Transportation will engage in consultations with municipalities, Indigenous communities and the public to review and discuss the findings of this report. This collaborative approach will allow for a broad range of perspectives and insights to be considered, ensuring that community values and environmental concerns are incorporated into the highway’s planning and design process.

By gathering and carefully assessing this feedback, the ministry aims to develop a project that respects local needs, that prioritizes environmental stewardship and that aligns with the interests of all stakeholders involved.

Furthermore, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks will review this report to confirm we have assessed Highway 413’s potential environmental effects and committed to implementing appropriate protections.

This solution represents the best of both worlds. We will not only accelerate construction of Highway 413, but we will achieve this acceleration while continuing to uphold strong environmental controls and standards. When completed, Highway 413 will provide a vital transportation link connecting the regions of York, Peel and Halton, stretching from Highway 400 in the east to the Highway 401/407 interchange in the west.

Speaker, this new highway will allow drivers to save up to 30 minutes, as I mentioned before, per trip during peak rush hour periods, significantly reducing travel time. Time is an incredible gift that we have. It’s always in short supply and being able to see your family, to spend time with your loved ones for an extra hour a day is priceless. I don’t know how to put a price on that, Speaker.

Imagine gaining back five additional hours every week—time that can be spent with family, with friends and on activities that bring joy and fulfilment. To be able to visit a mother in a nursing home or a grandmother—Speaker, that sounds pretty good to me. This is time that every Ontarian can benefit from, and it’s time that each and every Ontarian deserves. Worry not, Speaker, that dream will soon become a reality as work progresses on this new 52-kilometre 400-series highway.

In addition to helping combat gridlock, Highway 413 will create up to 3,000 jobs during its construction. This includes heavy equipment operators, drilling and coring contractors, concrete and steelworkers, utility contractors, environmental specialists, laboratory technologists and safety inspectors.

Construction of the highway is expected to contribute $400 million to Ontario’s real GDP each and every year of construction. That is why we are committed to taking bold steps to reduce commute times, attract substantial investment to our province and drive sustained economic growth that benefits all Ontarians.

This truly is essential work, and it’s critical to our future prosperity as a province. That is why it must advance without delay to ensure timely realization of these benefits.

Speaker, it is important to note that our highway expansion projects are not limited to southern Ontario. I am pleased to report that we’re well on our way to achieving our goal of widening more than 100 kilometres of the TransCanada Highway from Thunder Bay to Nipigon. To date, we have successfully completed seven sections of this significant project. Last summer, we achieved a major milestone by widening an 8.6-kilometre stretch of the TransCanada Highway from Ouimet to the Dorion East Loop, expanding it from two lanes to four.Additionally, we are making steady progress on widening Highway 17, with work advancing on the section between Kenora and the Manitoba border to enhance capacity and improve travel for all road users.

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Highway 17 is a strategic link in the TransCanada Highway system, with no alternate routes in the event of a collision or road closure. By widening this essential transportation corridor, we are not only cutting down travel times but also strengthening critical trade routes and fostering economic growth and enhanced safety across northern Ontario.

For anyone covering long distances, whether that be a commercial driver or someone on a family road trip, having safe, reliable rest stops along the way is crucial. These stops provide a place to regroup and to recharge, promoting safer travel for everyone on the road. That is why we are carrying out the largest expansion of rest areas in the province’s history.

In 2021, our government introduced a five-year plan to expand the province’s rest area network by building 10 new rest areas, rehabilitating 14 others and adding 165 new truck parking spaces for our ONroute locations.

Speaker, I am so proud to represent a government that prioritizes safety on the road. This demonstrates our commitment to giving the trucking industry and drivers across Ontario a safe place to stop.

We are making great progress to expand our rest area network. To date, our government has finished the construction of three new rest areas and successfully completed major improvements at seven other locations across the province. These upgrades include new parking, renovated washrooms and improvements to other amenities.

Furthermore, during the summer, we started an expansion project at the Batchawana Bay rest area on Highway 17 north of Sault Ste. Marie. We’re adding newly constructed entrance and exit lanes, giving truck drivers all-season access to heated washrooms.

We are also constructing a separate parking area with nine spaces for commercial vehicles. At these rest stops, drivers will benefit from free WiFi and brand new personal device charging stations.

Finally, we’re adding underground infrastructure that will allow for electric vehicle charging stations into the future.

These new and improved rest stops are a tangible commitment to our government’s desire to embrace innovation to improve traffic flow and road safety across all regions in Ontario.

In addition to reducing gridlock and improving road safety through building more highways and rest stops, our government will also be tackling the issue of bike lanes in this act. It is clear that our government is committed to reducing gridlock and helping drivers reach their destinations more quickly in every way that we can. If the recently proposed legislation is passed, municipalities would need provincial approval before installing new bike lanes that reduce existing traffic lanes. Furthermore, municipalities would also be required to demonstrate that any proposed bike lanes would not negatively impact vehicular traffic flow.

With many drivers currently facing significant congestion, our government aims to ensure that all Ontarians have access to a range of transportation options that facilitate efficient travel. The ultimate goal is to create a dependable and effective transportation network that reduces delays and minimizes congestion across the entire province of Ontario.

With that said, under the recently proposed legislation, municipalities would be required to obtain provincial approval before introducing new bike lanes that reduce existing vehicle lanes, as I’ve said. Additionally, municipalities would need to show that these proposed bike lanes will not adversely affect vehicle traffic flow.

The overarching objective is to establish a reliable and efficient transport network that minimizes delays and reduces gridlock across the province. Ontarians have seen a rapid increase of new bike lanes in big cities since the COVID pandemic started. During that time, there were far fewer cars on the road due to lockdowns, and it was unclear how they’d impact traffic. Those cars are all back now, and it is evident that bike lanes are slowing traffic down to a crawl at a time when congestion is already at record levels in the GTHA and other cities across the province.

In short, Speaker, if passed, the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, would reduce congestion and make life easier for drivers. The Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act would also save drivers money by freezing drivers’ testing fees, bring oversight to bike lanes and help the province build highways faster.

Reducing gridlock is going to save drivers across the province of Ontario $72 million in lost productivity.

Our government remains committed to making the life of all Ontarians better in every single way possible. Combatting gridlock is a top priority for countless Ontarians, and I am looking forward to seeing the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act passed to help realize that goal.

We’ve come a long way. We’re accomplishing things that many said were impossible. We are getting them done on time and under budget.

Honestly, Speaker, it’s time that there was a government in Ontario that was willing to dream big, to dream of big projects that could make huge improvements for the province of Ontario—it feels like it has been decades.

I am very, very proud to be part of a government and to work with and for a Premier who has a big vision for what we could be. That’s how we’ve gotten jobs back in this province. That’s how we continue to build highways, to build subways, to build access to opportunity for Ontarians. It’s a legacy that we’re building on.

As I walk down the hallway in this place, I see the pictures of all the people who have passed here before us. They had a big vision for this province. They built this building, and they had no way of filling it at the time, but they knew the future would come when that wouldn’t be enough. And we see other buildings that are still under refurbishment behind us.

We need to plan for the future. We need to have a big dream, and we need to have a big hope for what this province can be. We need to build a future, not for ourselves, but we need to build a future for our children, for our grandchildren and for generations that come behind us so that we leave this place better than we found it.

That’s why I hope all colleagues on both sides of the aisle will help support this legislation so that we can do the right thing for the people we serve in the province of Ontario.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): We’re going to go to questions.

Mr. Tom Rakocevic: I consider the last speaker a friend. His speeches are always interesting, and they do inspire confidence when you listen to him speak. I have every confidence in him. But do I have confidence in this government? Not so much.

Around the world, we have networks of high-speed trains taking people from municipalities to municipalities; we have cycling infrastructure completely separated from traffic. Even in northern Europe, where it’s colder, snowier, darker in the winter, we have dedicated cycling grids that keep drivers and cyclists completely apart.

But the offering we’re hearing is a tunnel, 50-plus kilometres—an offering by a government that can’t even provide an end date on the Eglinton West LRT. So there is a lack of confidence, certainly from myself and many on this side of the aisle, if not the public outside, on their ability to deliver major projects—and for something this big, when the Eglinton West LRT is still not done, leaves a lot to be questioned.

The question is, how do you give us confidence when it comes to this major project?

Mr. Will Bouma: I appreciate my relationship with the member across. It’s odd to have crossed the floor again to be sitting so far away from him, up here now.

The fact of the matter is, we now have six years under our belt, and we have the results to demonstrate.

As I mentioned earlier, when we proposed the Ontario Line, the howls from the opposition were constant and unstoppable about how this was impossible and it would never get done, and yet it’s getting done. We’re doing it. This is possible.

It is possible still, in this time and this date and this age, to dream big for the province of Ontario and to actually get those things done. Those days aren’t behind us. Those days are in front of us. And I am so proud to be part of a government that is getting that done for the people of Ontario.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): Next question? The member for Whitby.

Mr. Lorne Coe: Thank you, Speaker. Through you, to the member for Brantford–Brant: I’d like him to talk a little bit more broadly—because I know that he engages frequently with the people he has the privilege of representing Brantford–Brant—I want to hear him talk a little bit more about what his community residents are saying about the impact of gridlock on their daily lives. I want him to talk about what his small businesses are telling him about the effect of gridlock in that area—and if he could share that with us, please, through you.

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Mr. Will Bouma: I very much appreciate that question. I talk to people every day who stand still on the highways going through Hamilton as my residents try to commute to work. We have more highways to build, quite frankly, and I’ve been advocating fiercely for some form of a Highway 24—that’s a greyed-out sketch on ministry documents at this point—because the reality is that while we have the 403 going through Brantford and the 401 to the north, we don’t have a connector. I have so many, even just getting an on-and-off ramp—a shameless plug, Minister of Transportation—for the Bishopsgate Road interchange, to see that move forward would save so many of the people that live and work in my riding a half an hour to get back and forth from work.

This a serious issue. I know they’re building—very quickly—a new Costco because it takes so long to get to Costco in Ancaster and in Kitchener. So it’s a great question. We hear it every day.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): Next question?

Mr. John Vanthof: I listened intently to the member from Brantford–Brant and gridlock is an issue. I commute once a week to Toronto and I dread it, but I always drive by the 407 and it’s always empty.

Now, the member from Brantford–Brant said it wasn’t going to reach full capacity for seven years, so why doesn’t the government take emergency action now so that people can actually use the 407 now? You have people sitting in gridlock now who are going to wait 20 years for you to build another highway, including parts of the 407 that the province actually owns. Why don’t you let people on the 407 now, to stop gridlock now, not 20 years from now?

Mr. Will Bouma: I find this so amusing, Speaker, that the opposition is so short-sighted. They would clog up the only highway that we have to get truck traffic across the province of Ontario quickly. For a short-sighted solution they would cancel the plans for the Bradford Bypass, they would cancel the plans for the 413 on a solution that will only last—

Interjection.

Mr. Will Bouma: It’s not seven years; 2030 is already only six years away. They’ve seen these studies. They have no plan. They’re completely out of touch with the people of Ontario.

Interjections.

Mr. Will Bouma: They want to condemn all the commuters to spending an eternity stuck on the highways and they have no plan. I hope everyone at home is listening to what the opposition has to say. All they can do is heckle. They can catcall, they can tell us what we’re doing isn’t possible and yet we continue to prove them wrong and do what’s right for the people of Ontario.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): Next question.

Mr. Anthony Leardi: Madam Speaker, I’ll speak to my experience in Essex county. In the town of LaSalle, when they wanted bike lanes, they actually built an additional lane for the bike lane. It’s a dedicated bike lane and it was built as an additional lane. In the town of Amherstburg they did the same thing. When they wanted to have bike lanes, they actually built an additional lane to the road and dedicated that as a bike lane. It was a built bike lane.

As a visitor to this city, I’ve observed that the bike lanes that I’ve seen are not built bike lanes. What they’ve done is they’ve actually deducted a lane from an existing roadway and converted it into a bike lane, thereby depriving the motorists of that lane which formerly existed. So that, in my mind, creates bottlenecks clearly having the same amount of traffic formerly moving in four lanes now moving in two.

I offer those observations to the member, and I ask him to comment.

Mr. Will Bouma: Well, Speaker, I never watched a whole lot of Seinfeld, but I do remember when I was in university seeing one episode where Kramer decided that there was too much traffic and it was too congested on one portion of the highway close to where they lived, and so he blacked out all of the lines separating that and just reduced it by one lane so that the cars would have more room. Do you know what happened? It was a disaster: accidents and gridlock across an entire city.

I fail to understand, to the member’s question, why the opposition thinks that to make it harder to drive a car will solve the problems of gridlock. It’s a great question. I don’t understand the logic and maybe perhaps this evening in one of their speeches they can explain to us how that could work.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): Next question?

MPP Jamie West: A very quick question—and my colleague brought it up earlier today. There’s a lot of gridlock on Highway 401; a lot of conversation in this bill about bike lanes. He has pointed out there are no bike lanes on the 401. We’ve talked about putting cars on the 407. It seems like an immediate solution.

I know you want to look at what’s going to happen in 20, 30 years with the 413, but why so much focus on bike lanes when, really, we could free up gridlock on the 401 by going to the 407?

Mr. Will Bouma: That’s great. This is the third time I’m answering this exact same question, and I’ll answer it in the exact same way: The 407 will be at capacity within six years. If the only plan that the opposition has is to take the gridlock off our other highways and put the gridlock onto the 407, to cancel the Bradford Bypass, to cancel the 413, to cancel all the other projects that we have going—people of Ontario, listen to what they have to say. They have no solutions. They want you to be stuck on the highway for an extra hour or two or three a day. They want you to lose that productivity, they want you to spend that time away from your family, to spend that time away from your loved ones, to not be able to visit your mother or grandmother in the long-term-care home. They want you stuck on the highways. I don’t know why. It makes no sense to me.

Only on this side of the House do we have a plan for how we can solve these problems for the people of Ontario, and I am so proud to have a visionary for a Premier in the province of Ontario who dreams big and actually makes those things happen.

I say again: The opposition said a few years ago that the Ontario Line was never going to happen—

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): Thank you. That’s the time for the reply. We don’t have time for another back-and-forth or question and answer.

We’re going to move to further debate.

Mr. John Vanthof: It’s always a pleasure to rise in the House, and today to talk about G-212, Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time. I’d like to talk about my trip from northern Ontario to Toronto that I make weekly, and talk about the gridlock that we experience in northern Ontario first. I’m going to get to Toronto—Toronto’s important, I get it, but we also drive in northern Ontario.

You want to know what gridlock is? When you have a one-lane highway and an untrained truck driver, who is fully licensed in the province of Ontario, does a three-point turn on a two-lane highway and the highway is blocked for hours. There’s no detour—there’s no detour. That’s northern gridlock.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): I apologize to the member—

Mr. John Vanthof: I think I’m being shut down by the government because they don’t want to hear about northern gridlock.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): I’m interrupting you.

Pursuant to standing order 50(c), I am now required to interrupt the proceedings and announce that there has been six and a half hours of debate on the motion for second reading of this bill. This debate will therefore be deemed adjourned unless the government House leader directs the debate to continue.

The member for Essex.

Mr. Anthony Leardi: Please adjourn the debate.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): The member for Essex.

Interjections.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): Excuse me. Can I listen to the direction of the member? Thank you.

Mr. Anthony Leardi: Madam Speaker, if you seek it, you will find that there is unanimous consent to see the clock at 6.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): Is there unanimous consent to see the clock at 6? Agreed. Now it’s 6 o’clock.

There being no private members’ public business proceeding today, pursuant to standing order 100(e), as no business is designated for consideration, we will now move on to the late show.

Pursuant to standing order 36, the question that this House do now adjourn is deemed to have been made.

Adjournment Debate

Boating safety

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): The member for Carleton has given notice of dissatisfaction with the answer to a question given by the Premier. The member has up to five minutes to debate the matter, and the parliamentary assistant may reply for up to five minutes.

The member for Carleton.

Ms. Goldie Ghamari: Madam Speaker, on April 3, 2023, I introduced Bill 93, which is Joshua’s Law (Lifejackets for Life) Act. This bill enacts Joshua’s Law, which requires parents and guardians to ensure that their children who are 12 years of age or younger wear a personal floatation device or life jacket while on a pleasure boat that is under way, or while being towed behind a pleasure boat using recreational water equipment. If the child is not under the supervision of the parent or guardian, but is under the supervision of a person who is 18 years of age or older at the relevant time, the requirement applies instead to that person. The requirement does not apply if the child is in an enclosed cabin. Definitions of “pleasure boat” and “recreational water equipment” are provided.

If you look at the status of this bill on the Ontario Legislature website, second reading of this bill was debated on April 25, 2023. Afterwards, it was carried unanimously by this House. Then, on July 10, 2023, it went to the Standing Committee on the Interior for consideration. It was reported without amendment on September 25, 2023, and again on September 25, 2023, Joshua’s Law was ordered for third reading. So you can imagine my surprise yesterday when I asked the Premier of Ontario why this Legislature did not pass Joshua’s Law prior to summer of 2024 when I had been promised that this bill would be passed because the safety of Ontario’s children depends on it. The answer that I received did not make any sense to me.

The answer that I received was that, first of all, it’s up to a legislative committee, but as I just indicated, this bill has already gone to legislative committee and has been ordered for third reading, so that answer does not make sense. The second answer I received was that it’s up to me to push this forward. Again, that’s not true because everyone knows that in this Legislature the government House leader sets the agenda and sets the standard, so it’s up to the government to determine whether or not they’re going to move this bill forward.

Finally, again, my question was not answered. I will ask the question again: Why did this government not approve and bring forward Joshua’s Law for third reading prior to the summer of 2024, when they had said they would do so? If not, will the government now commit to bringing forward Joshua’s Law, which mandates life jackets for children 12 and under in Ontario? It is a non-partisan bill, it has unanimous support of this House and I think it is very important, especially since boating season is coming up in six months. We need to make sure that we have enough time that the children of Ontario are taken care of and safe. Thank you.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): To respond, I recognize the parliamentary assistant to the Premier and member for Whitby.

Mr. Lorne Coe: With respect to the filing of this late show, it should be noted that the government House leader did, in fact, answer the question and the supplementary question from the member for Carleton. The government House leader noted in his answer that the overwhelming majority of private members’ bills do not pass into law. This is a well-known fact throughout our parliamentary democracy. Further, the government House leader stated in his answer his willingness to speak with the member for Carleton about this piece of legislation.

I do appreciate, however, the opportunity to speak to the importance of wearing life jackets. As legislators, we should applaud efforts to bring awareness to boating safety, particularly with respect to children. In 2021, Drowning Prevention Research Centre Canada found that 80% of people who died in boating-related accidents between 2008 and 2017 were not wearing a life jacket, and another 5% were not wearing one properly. According to the 2018 Canadian Drowning Report by Drowning Prevention Research Centre Canada, 67% of children age five to 14 who died from drowning were not wearing a personal flotation device. Behind each of these statistics is a life lost that leaves a family and community broken.

Speaker, I thank you again for the opportunity to rise and speak on this matter. I encourage everyone, particularly children and youth, to wear life jackets while boating.

The Acting Speaker (M^me Lucille Collard): There being no further matter to debate, pursuant to standing order 36(c), I deem the motion to adjourn to be carried.

This House stands adjourned until 9 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday October 30.

The House adjourned at 1754.