The committee met at 0900 in committee room 2 and by video conference.

Election of Chair

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Tanzima Khan): Good morning, honourable members. I have received a letter from MPP Natalia Kusendova indicating her resignation as Chair, effective February 28, 2021. It is my duty to call upon you to elect a Chair. Are there any nominations? MPP Harris.

Mr. Mike Harris: I nominate Deepak Anand for the Chair position.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Tanzima Khan): Does the member accept the nomination?

Mr. Deepak Anand: Thank you so much. Yes, I do.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Tanzima Khan): Are there any further nominations? There being no further nominations, I declare the nominations closed and MPP Anand elected Chair of the committee. Would you please assume the chair?

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): Good morning. It’s good to see everybody again. I hope you are doing well and everyone is staying safe and healthy. This is a pre-meeting for the Standing Committee on Social Policy. By the way, it’s good to be back at social policy. I started my first journey with committee meetings with social policy, so thank you for nominating me and selecting me.

I’ll start the attendance check, and we’ll ask all the attendance again at the end of our pre-meeting in case anyone else has joined us. So that everyone is aware, the following members are present in the room: MPP Joel Harden, MPP France Gélinas and MPP Mike Harris.

We’ll begin with Zoom participants. I see MPP Randy Pettapiece, MPP Robin Martin, MPP Belinda Karahalios and MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos.

Interjection.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): I just came to know that MPP Kusendova is also on the call.

Can the honourable members please confirm your name and that you’re currently in Ontario, starting with MPP Randy Pettapiece?

Mr. Randy Pettapiece: MPP Pettapiece. I’m in Ontario.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): MPP Martin?

Mrs. Robin Martin: MPP Martin. I am in Ontario.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): MPP Karahalios?

Mrs. Belinda C. Karahalios: MPP Karahalios, in Ontario.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): MPP Triantafilopoulos?

Ms. Effie J. Triantafilopoulos: MPP Triantafilopoulos, in Ontario.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): MPP Kusendova, if you do hear us, can you please confirm that you’re in Ontario?

Ms. Natalia Kusendova: Good morning, Chair. Congratulations.

This is MPP Kusendova, and I am indeed in Ontario this morning.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): I’ll quickly go over the participation guidelines.

For the Zoom participants, please be aware that broadcast and recording will be controlling your microphone, as they usually would do in the committee. Depending on the version of Zoom you are using, you may have been asked to grant permission to unmute when you joined. If you accepted, the broadcast operator will be able to activate your microphone once I recognize you. Participants using an older version of Zoom may still get a request to unmute your microphone before you’re able to speak. Please wait for the unmute notification before trying to unmute. In order to ensure optimal sound quality, members participating via Zoom are encouraged to use headphones and/or microphones if possible—it’s kind of like going through the airplane every time you fly.

For members who are calling in with audio only, to indicate to the Clerk that you would like to speak, please press *9. To mute and unmute yourself, please use the mute button on your device. If you get accidentally disconnected, please try to rejoin the meeting with the information you needed to join initially. If you are unable to rejoin, please contact Andrew Kleiman from technical services at akleiman@ola.org or 416-804-6536. If you have to leave the call at any time, please advise the Clerk in the chat.

Additionally, for any members present in person, I would like to ask that you stay two seats apart—and I do see that—from your colleagues in order to maintain a safe distance between everyone.

As a reminder, when we do vote during today’s meeting, it will be through a show of hands. I’ll start by asking, “Are the members ready to vote?” I’ll ask, “All those in favour, please raise your hands.” Our Clerk will count the raised hands. I’ll then ask, “All those opposed? Please raise your hands.” The Clerk will count the raised hands again. I will then declare the vote. Unless someone specifically asks for a recorded vote after I have asked whether the members are ready to vote, the breakdown of the vote will not show up in Hansard.

At this point, are there any questions?

Seeing none, have any other members joined?

Interjections.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): Perfect.

Election of Vice-Chair

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): On March 1, 2021, I have received a letter from MPP Aris Babikian stating:

“Standing Committee on Social Policy:

“Dear Clerk,

“I would like to submit my resignation from the role of the Vice-Chair of the committee. Your kind understanding is appreciated.

“Sincerely,

“MPP Aris Babikian”

As you know, honourable MPP Babikian has informed us of his resignation as Vice-Chair of this committee, effective immediately. It is my duty to entertain a motion for Vice-Chair. Are there any motions? MPP Harris.

Mr. Mike Harris: I move that Ms. Bhutila Karpoche be appointed Vice-Chair of the committee.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): Any debate? Seeing none, are the members ready to vote? All those in favour, please raise your hands. Anyone opposed? None. Thank you so much. I declare the motion carried.

Thank you for that vote. I declare MPP Bhutila Karpoche is duly appointed as Vice-Chair in absentia. Congratulations, MPP Bhutila Karpoche. Okay.

Interjections.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): Good morning, everyone. I call this meeting to order. As you know, we are meeting today to consider the matter of proceeding with respect to Bill 157, An Act to proclaim COPD Awareness Day.

We have the following members in the room: MPP Joel Harden, MPP France Gélinas, MPP Mike Harris.

The following members are participating remotely: MPP Randy Pettapiece, MPP Robin Martin, MPP Belinda Karahalios, MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos, MPP Aris Babikian and MPP Natalia Kusendova.

MPP Aris Babikian, please confirm your name and please confirm you’re in Ontario, sir.

Mr. Aris Babikian: Aris Babikian, joining from the constituency office in Scarborough–Agincourt.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): Which is in Ontario. Thank you so much.

As you know, staff from Hansard, broadcasting and recording, and legislative research join us remotely today.

To make sure that everyone can understand what is going on, it is important that all participants speak slowly and clearly. Please wait until I recognize you before starting to speak. Since it could take a little time for your audio and video to come up after I recognize you, please take a brief pause before beginning. As always, all comments should go through the Chair. Are there any questions before we begin? No? Okay.

Are there any motions? MPP Harris.

Mr. Mike Harris: I move that the committee enter closed session for the purpose of organizing committee business and that the broadcasting staff be permitted to remain in the closed-session meeting for the purpose of operating the electronic meeting technology.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): MPP Harris has moved that the committee enter closed session for the purpose of organizing committee business and that the broadcasting staff be permitted to remain in the closed-session meeting for the purpose of operating the electronic meeting technology.

Any debate? MPP France Gélinas.

M^me France Gélinas: We do not have to go into closed session to organize meetings. It is non-partisan. It is pretty straightforward. I’ve sat on many, many committees where we’ve organized meetings and we did not go into closed session. So I don’t know why we’re going into closed session—I’m just curious to see.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): Any debate from anyone? Okay.

Interjection.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): Thanks for that clarification.

My understanding is that we’ve had such committee meetings in closed session in the past, as well. So I guess this is the time when we can decide based on the vote.

Are the members ready to vote? Okay.

All those in favour, please raise your hand. I’m not too sure about MPP Kusendova. We can’t see her.

MPP Kusendova, would you like to advise us about your vote?

Interjection.

The Chair (Mr. Deepak Anand): Okay. I appreciate it.

All those opposed, please raise your hand.

Okay. So based on the number of votes, I would say the motion is carried. We would like to move into closed session.

I’d like to recess the committee meeting for five minutes to allow broadcast and recording to move into closed session. Thank you so much.

The committee continued in closed session at 0913.

STANDING COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL POLICY

Chair / Présidente

Mr. Deepak Anand (Mississauga–Malton PC)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Présidente

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche (Parkdale–High Park ND)

Mr. Deepak Anand (Mississauga–Malton PC)

Mr. Aris Babikian (Scarborough–Agincourt PC)

Mr. Jeff Burch (Niagara Centre / Niagara-Centre ND)

Ms. Amy Fee (Kitchener South–Hespeler / Kitchener-Sud–Hespeler PC)

Mr. Michael Gravelle (Thunder Bay–Superior North / Thunder Bay–Supérieur-Nord L)

Mr. Joel Harden (Ottawa Centre / Ottawa-Centre ND)

Mr. Mike Harris (Kitchener–Conestoga PC)

Ms. Christine Hogarth (Etobicoke–Lakeshore PC)

Mrs. Belinda C. Karahalios (Cambridge NBP)

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche (Parkdale–High Park ND)

Ms. Natalia Kusendova (Mississauga Centre / Mississauga-Centre PC)

Mrs. Robin Martin (Eglinton–Lawrence PC)

Ms. Effie J. Triantafilopoulos (Oakville North–Burlington / Oakville-Nord–Burlington PC)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

M^me France Gélinas (Nickel Belt ND)

Mr. Randy Pettapiece (Perth–Wellington PC)

Clerk / Greffière

Ms. Tanzima Khan

Staff / Personnel

Mr. Jason Apostolopoulos, research officer,
Research Services

Ms. Sandra Lopes, research officer,
Research Services