Assemblée législative de l'Ontario

The committee met at 0900 in committee room 1 and by video conference.

Election of Chair

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. Isaiah Thorning): Good morning, honourable members. It is my duty to call upon you to elect a Chair. Are there any nominations? Mr. Smith.

Mr. Dave Smith: If it is the wish of the committee, I do wish to put forward a motion with respect to selecting a Chair. I wish to put forward the name of MPP Logan Kanapathi.

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. Isaiah Thorning): Does the member accept?

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: Yes.

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. Isaiah Thorning): Are there any further nominations? There being no further nominations, I declare the nominations closed and Mr. Kanapathi elected as Chair of the committee. Would you please assume the Chair?

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): Thank you, and good morning, everyone. I hope you are well and that everyone is staying safe and healthy. This is a pre-meeting for the Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills. I will do an attendance check and review the guidelines for our hybrid format of committee meetings, which includes remote participation and physical distancing.

I’ll start with the attendance check, and I will ask for attendance again at the end of our pre-meeting in case anyone else has joined. So that everyone is aware, the following members are present in the room: MPP Dave Smith and MPP John Fraser.

MPP Jamie West?

Mr. Jamie West: Thank you, Chair, and congratulations on your appointment, or acclamation. I’m MPP Jamie West. I’m in Sudbury, Ontario.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): MPP Daisy Wai?

Mrs. Daisy Wai: Good morning. Congratulations, Chair. I am Daisy Wai from Toronto.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): MPP Jeremy Roberts?

Mr. Jeremy Roberts: Good morning, Chair. MPP Roberts here, in Toronto.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): MPP Mike Harris?

Mr. Mike Harris: I’m MPP Mike Harris, and I am here in Toronto.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): MPP Billy Pang?

Mr. Billy Pang: Good morning, Mr. Chair. Congratulations. I am MPP Billy Pang in Markham.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): MPP Vincent Ke?

Mr. Vincent Ke: Good morning, Chair. I am MPP Vincent Ke, and I’m at home in North York.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): MPP Sam Oosterhoff?

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: Good morning, Chair. It’s MPP Sam Oosterhoff here, and I’m in Niagara.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): That’s great. Any other members? No?

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 in 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 the older version of Zoom may still get the request to unmute your microphone before you are able to speak. Please wait for the unmute notification before you try to unmute.

If you get accidentally disconnected, please try to rejoin the meeting with the information you used to join initially. If you are unable to rejoin, please contact Andrew Kleiman from technical services at akleiman@ola.org. If you have to leave the call at any time, please advise the Clerk and the Chair.

For a clause-by-clause meeting, I will go over the voting process for clarity. If we have to call the vote during today’s meeting, it will be through a show of your hands. I’ll start by asking, “Are the members ready to vote?” I will ask, “All those in favour, please raise your hand.” I will then ask, “All those opposed, please raise your hand.” The Clerk will count you as you raise your hand. 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 won’t show up in Hansard.

Are there any questions from the members?

Have any other members joined us since I did an attendance check at the beginning of the pre-meeting? None.

We’ll move on to the main business. There are two private bills on the agenda today which we will consider.

Apollo Shawarma and Grill Inc. Act, 2021

Consideration of the following bill:

Bill Pr34, An Act to revive Apollo Shawarma and Grill Inc.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): Bill Pr34, An Act to revive Apollo Shawarma and Grill Inc. Act, sponsored by MPP Mike Harris: I will ask Mike Harris to introduce the bill, please.

Mr. Mike Harris: Thank you very much, Chair. I certainly support reviving this company. Actually, when I introduced the bill into the Legislature, I think it was probably one of the only private bills that has ever almost gotten a standing ovation. I was very moved by what was done.

I fully support this. Thank you very much, Chair.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): Thank you.

I will ask the applicant to introduce himself, please.

Mr. Tim Adams: Hi. My name is Tim Adams. I’m a partner at a regional accounting firm in Waterloo. I’ve been the accountant for Mirna Stas and her company, Apollo Shawarma, and her other companies for approximately 15 years.

My client at the time was looking to wind down their location in Mississauga and continue their restaurant business in another location closer to home in Waterloo here. They came in to see me. We had a conversation, and from there is kind of where a miscommunication occurred in our office. I made a note in my file that they were dissolving that location. That was true, but their business was continuing on, and they operated as normal from there. My staff in my office took that note, did their job, went through the process and dissolved the corporation. Unfortunately, the step of obtaining partner approval was not done. It was a new person and a mistake happened.

When I found out in early February 2020, that’s when we started going through this process of reviving a corporation. I reached out to Isaiah Thorning and we talked through how to do this and began this process. MPP Harris gladly accepted going through this little bit of an embarrassing situation that I find myself in. But we’re hopefully near the end of this process. Thank you.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): Thank you. I’ll ask if MPP Mike Harris has any comments?

Mr. Mike Harris: No, Chair. Thank you.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): I’ll ask, any comments from the government? None?

I ask, any comments from the opposition? Okay. Thank you. There are no comments.

0910

I will call for questions and comments from the committee members to the applicant or parliamentary assistant. There are none.

I’ll ask, are the members ready to vote? Yes.

Shall section 1 carry? All those in favour? Is anyone opposed? It is carried.

Shall section 2 carry? All those in favour? Is anyone opposed? It’s carried. Thank you.

Shall section 3 carry? All those in favour? I can see the hands. Is anyone opposed? It’s carried. Thank you.

Shall the preamble carry? All those in favour? Is anyone opposed? It’s carried.

Shall the title carry? All those in favour? Is anyone opposed? It’s carried.

Shall the bill carry? All those in favour? I can see the hands. Is anyone opposed? It’s carried.

Shall I report the bill to the House? All those in favour? I can see the hands. Is anyone opposed? It’s carried. Thank you.

Parya Trillium Foundation Act (Tax Relief), 2021

Consideration of the following bill:

Bill Pr37, An Act respecting the Parya Trillium Foundation

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): Bill Pr37, An Act respecting the Parya Trillium Foundation: I’ll ask one of the members to move that bill. I think it’s MPP Billy Pang.

Mr. Billy Pang: Yes, Mr. Chair.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): Thank you. Would you like to move, MPP Billy Pang?

Mr. Billy Pang: Yes, I move the motion. Thank you.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): Thank you.

Interjection.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): Can I have a motion to move Bill Pr37, An Act respecting the Parya Trillium Foundation? MPP Billy Pang.

Mr. Billy Pang: Yes, I move the motion. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Dave Smith: I move Bill Pr37, An Act respecting the Parya Trillium Foundation.

Mr. Billy Pang: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): I will ask the applicant to introduce himself. He’s Ahmad Tabrizi. He’s from the Parya Trillium Foundation. Good morning, Ahmad.

Mr. Ahmad Tabrizi: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to introduce our charitable organization. The Parya Trillium Foundation is a registered charity federally since 2001.

“Parya” in Farsi or Persian means “angels.” The name is because our parents who moved to Canada mostly were very isolated. Therefore, I use this name to support the parents who brought us as their children to Canada.

By education, I’m a chemical engineer. I studied in Iran and Japan. I landed in Canada in 1984. I’m the founder and president of Parya and have worked as a volunteer and major donor for the last 19 years. My main motivation at Parya was the last few years of the life of my father, who was very depressed and isolated.

We’ve provided our services to the community since 2004 in a rental space on Yonge Street in North York. In 2010, we were successful in raising money to buy the existing building at 344 John Street in Thornhill. After a one-year renovation, we started our activities in 2011 in the existing facility. During this period of time, we have paid $214,000 in property taxes, all raised through donations from the community.

At this moment, Parya is the most active community centre in the York region. We serve not only the Iranian community but also the Chinese, Russian and Afghani communities.

Apart from our usual services—such as ESL classes; computer and social media classes in four languages, English, Farsi, Chinese and Russian; housing; job finding; settlement services; and senior and youth programs—since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have added the service of providing groceries to the community, first by the financial support of our community and later from the different provincial and federal governments and organizations such as the York region food bank and the United Way. At this moment, we are providing delivery to 1,070 individuals, from Newmarket to Hamilton and from Oshawa to Mississauga, at 489 addresses. All our services are free to our community.

Today we are very thankful to Mr. Keith Irish, our councillor in ward 1 of Markham, who initiated this issue; Markham mayor Frank Scarpitti; and a good friend of ours, MPP Logan Kanapathi, MPP for Thornhill, who made it possible to hopefully get this exemption from the property tax. Last but not least, our thanks to the government of Ontario, who supported us getting this exemption after so many years. Thank you, everybody.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): Thank you. Since MPP Dave Smith moved the motion, I’ll ask him, do you have any comment?

Mr. Dave Smith: No comment at this time, Chair. Thank you.

The Chair (Mr. Logan Kanapathi): I’ll ask if there is any other comment from the opposition? No. From government? No. Since there is none, are the members ready to vote?

Shall section 1 carry? All those in favour, please raise your hand. Anyone opposed? It’s carried.

Shall section 2 carry? All those in favour? Anyone opposed? It’s carried.

Shall section 3 carry? All those in favour? Anyone opposed? It’s carried.

Shall section 4 carry? All those in favour? Anyone opposed? It’s carried.

Shall section 5 carry? All those in favour? Anyone opposed? It’s carried.

Shall the preamble carry? All those in favour? Anyone opposed? It’s carried.

Shall the title carry? All those in favour? Anyone opposed? It’s carried.

Shall the bill carry? All those in favour? Anyone opposed? It’s carried.

Shall I report the bill to the House? All those in favour? Anyone opposed? It’s carried.

The committee will now go into closed session to consider the draft report on regulations filed in 2019.

The committee continued in closed session at 0920.

STANDING COMMITTEE ON REGULATIONS AND PRIVATE BILLS

Chair / Président

Mr. Logan Kanapathi (Markham–Thornhill PC)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Président

Mr. John Fraser (Ottawa South / Ottawa-Sud L)

Mr. Will Bouma (Brantford–Brant PC)

Mr. John Fraser (Ottawa South / Ottawa-Sud L)

Mr. Logan Kanapathi (Markham–Thornhill PC)

Mr. Vincent Ke (Don Valley North / Don Valley-Nord PC)

Ms. Laura Mae Lindo (Kitchener Centre / Kitchener-Centre ND)

Mr. Paul Miller (Hamilton East–Stoney Creek / Hamilton-Est–Stoney Creek ND)

Mr. Billy Pang (Markham–Unionville PC)

Mr. Jeremy Roberts (Ottawa West–Nepean / Ottawa-Ouest–Nepean PC)

Mr. Dave Smith (Peterborough–Kawartha PC)

Mrs. Daisy Wai (Richmond Hill PC)

Mr. Jamie West (Sudbury ND)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff (Niagara West / Niagara-Ouest PC)

Also taking part / Autres participants et participantes

Mr. Mike Harris (Kitchener–Conestoga PC)

Clerk / Greffier

Mr. Isaiah Thorning

Staff / Personnel

Ms. Catherine Oh, legislative counsel