New Bills
First new Bill was Bill 28 – Keeping Students in School Act. This Bill would use The Notwithstanding Clause to override the Charter Right for unions to strike to force a new contract on CUPE and prevent them from striking or taking any legal action against the government.
Michael Parsa proposed a Motion that, when Bill 28 next comes up it go directly to its second reading vote. The Motion would also see Bill 28 skip the committee phase, go to its third reading debate, then immediately go to its final vote.
The Motion passed 78 in favour and 33 against, with the PCs voting in favour and everyone else voting against.
Bill 28 then went for its second and third reading votes and passed both, PCs voting in favour and everyone else voting against.
Next we have Bill 29 – Think Twice Before You Choose Natural Gas Act (Ontario Energy Board Amendment). This Bill changes the Ontario Energy Board Act to ensure that the obligation of gas distributors to provide gas to residential homes doesn’t restrict the ability for municipalities from passing by-laws that would impose conditions on connections to new homes. The objective is to allow municipalities to pass by-laws that would let them limit greenhouse gas emissions from residential consumers. This is Bill 29’s first reading, the next time we see it it’ll go up for its second reading vote.
Bill 30 – Menstrual Health Day Act was introduced. Bill 30 would declare May 28th Menstrual Health Day, with the goal of raising awareness of the need for access to menstrual products and the normalization of menstruation.
Bill 31 – Murray Whetung Community Service Award Act was introduced, which would create the Murray Whetung Community Service Award. This award would be given each year to a member of each local Air, Army, and Sea Cadet corps to a cadet that’s demonstrated exceptional citizenship and volunteerism.
Bill 32 – Black Mental Health Day Act was introduced. This Bill would make the first Monday in March Black Mental Health Day, require healthcare providers to take all reasonable steps to ensure information relating to the race of patients is collected, and require the Minister ensure that health services are provided “in a culturally appropriate manner”.
Bill 33 – Maternal Mental Health Day Act would make the first Wednesday of May each year Maternal Mental Health Day, the objective being to raise awareness for mental illnesses caused by pregnancies with an emphasis on marginalized groups such as LGBTQ2S+ and Indigenous communities where existing issues cause these illnesses to happen at a higher rate.
Finally we saw the introduction of Bill 34 – Pandemic Preparedness Act. Bill 34 would set cost-shared public health unit programs to be funded at least 75% by the province and no more than 25% by municipalities, and would create a Pandemic Preparedness Review Committee to review the Province’s pandemic response plan every five years.
Old Bills
First up here we’ve got Bill 23 – More Homes, Built Faster Act. Bill 23 went up for its second reading vote and passed, 75 in favour and 34 against. It’s now going to the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure, and Cultural Policy.
Motions
Paul Calandra proposed a Motion that would see the normal hour of adjournment for legislature pushed back to midnight for the remainder of the days before the holiday break.
The Motion passed, 63 in favour and 9 against. The PCs voted for it while everyone else voted against.
And that’s it for last week! Legislature doesn’t sit this week, so I’ll see you all next week!
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