Announcing capital funding for four western Mississauga Catholic schools affected by the East Credit Pupil Accommodation Review in 2016 at the Dufferin-Peel Board offices. With me, from left: trustees Bruno Iannicca; Sharon Hobin; Anna da Silva; Bob; Luz Del Rosario and Mario Pascucci.
Four Catholic elementary schools in the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board received Ontario capital funding for school infrastructure to more effectively use elementary school space as the Board consolidates school enrollment. The announcement happened at the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board offices on June 13. The total value of the contracts at all four schools will exceed $3 million.
At St. Valentine School, retrofitting, renewal, site preparation, and four new portables will enable the consolidation of St. Gertrude School. Two regular classrooms will be retrofitted to create two new full-day kindergarten classrooms. The full-day kindergarten playground will be expanded, and other upgrades will include sidewalks, asphalt repairs and lighting;
At St. Gregory School, one new portable, site preparation and such renewal work as new windows, new asphalt, painting and sidewalk repairs will accommodate the consolidation of St. Gertrude at that school;
At St. Bernadette and at St. Herbert Schools, renewal work such as painting, new asphalt, sidewalk repairs and flooring; as well as windows and air conditioning (at St. Bernadette) will enable both schools to accommodate the consolidation of St. Dunstan School.
Work at these four schools are among 120 such school infrastructure projects across Ontario. School buildings are more than bricks and mortar. They are where the future is born in the minds of the children who will see Ontario through the 21st century.
Saturday July 1 is the day Canada turns 150 years young. Ontario was one of the ‘original four’ provinces of Canada, along with Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Prince Edward Island was very close to joining Canada in 1867, but wanted more time to talk about it. Prince Edward Islanders valued dialogue and discussion as much then as Canadians do now. PEI finally joined Canada in 1873. Manitoba had joined Canada in 1870.
British Columbia joined Canada with the promise of a railway to link the east with the Pacific coast. With the Canadian Pacific Railway in service, and settlers populating the prairies (then called “Rupert’s Land”). Saskatchewan and Alberta completed the Atlantic to Pacific provincial lineup in 1905.
Happy Canada Day, Lisgar, Meadowvale and Streetsville!
Here is a construction alert from Metrolinx about . Electricity was cut off from time to time at the Streetsville GO Station during the daytime on Monday June 19, 2017. For most commuters, this work was completed after the morning rush hour traffic has left the station, and before the bulk of us returned to Streetsville after work. Metrolinx was performing electrical upgrades to the station.
Among an MPP’s most pleasant invitations are those to attend the annual reviews of our army, navy and air cadets. Each year, some parents ask for a copy of my remarks. Here is the essence of what I said, on behalf of the Province of Ontario, to our cadet reviews in Canada’s 150th year of Confederation. Click here for my pre-recorded address to the Navy League Cadets.
In 2017, Canada celebrates 150 years of confederation. Our nation stands as a beacon of hope, and a symbol of progress, of what honest people can do together. As Canadians, we speak every language on earth, embrace every culture, worship in every religion.
Before us stand our future, and in our stands, a reflection of the best of our country. Despite the turmoil in the world around Canada 50 years ago, during our Centennial Year, Canada was then a symbol of the best of what humanity could do.
Fifty years before that, during World War One, the volunteer Canadian Corps established itself as an elite force on land, in the air and at sea. And 150 years ago, Canada came into being at confederation in a way unlike most other countries.
Canada did not fight or resist its way out of colonial status. Canada achieved nationhood and independence through dialogue and cooperation.
Today, in a world that sometimes seems to call honesty, integrity, commitment and hard work into question, how do we understand the values instilled by the training and teamwork of the cadet corps?
The discipline to learn what is important, and stay focused on it until we have mastered it remains a measure of maturity. Cadets learn that.
The confidence to believe in yourself, and to see through experience that no one of us is as strong as all of us together defines organization. Cadets embody that.
The leadership and management skills that empower talent, and turn it into success, are qualities that the world has always cried out for. Cadets have that.
That is why, as our nation, its provinces and communities celebrate our very best at 150 years young, we are proud to celebrate the skills in our cadet corps. The future of our families, our workplaces, our institutions, our cities, provinces and country are safe and secure in good hands, your hands.
You have learned well. You are the best of our best. Continue to make us proud today and every day for the rest of your lives.
On behalf of the Province of Ontario, congratulations to our cadet corps, and thank you to your friends and families, as well as to your officers and instructors for helping make you the role models you demonstrated so magnificently today, and every day.
Visiting with our residents in Lisgar, Meadowvale and Streetsville in 2007, after speaking with our doctors, who made a strong case for what we then called an ambulatory surgery centre, I asked for a fresh mandate from our residents to get precisely such a medical facility added to Credit Valley Hospital. The project was announced in 2011. Construction has been under way for about two years, and is now approaching completion.
Credit Valley Hospital is now a part of the three-hospital Trillium Health Partners. The merger was proposed by the boards of the three hospitals at Credit Valley, Queensway and Sherway Gardens, and approved by the Province. The scope of the project expanded between approval and when the project went to tender. It is now known as Phase Three at Credit Valley Hospital. I toured it recently, as it rapidly approaches completion.
The Emergency Department is Phase Three’s most prominent change. It will be more than double its current size, and once again be state-of-the-art. There will also be a new, much larger, and completely enclosed ambulance bay, allowing for patient transfer in an indoor, heated environment during our long, Canadian cold periods. Among other additions and upgrades:
A new, 24-bed recovery room, with increased privacy;
Diagnostic imaging is expanded, with some existing equipment upgraded or replaced;
Co-locating the CT scan and angiography areas for easier access;
Ten new private rooms (for a total of 29), allowing for better privacy and infection control.
See more at the Trillium Health Partners web site. Phase Three is a local community commitment heard, made and delivered. In full, and on-time. Again.
Trillium Health Partners manages and oversees hospital sites at Credit Valley Hospital; Queensway and Hurontario and at Sherway Gardens.
Two major redevelopment and expansion projects at the Trillium Health Partners Mississauga Hospital and Queensway Health Centre are among the highlights of the 2017-18 Ontario Budget. The Province announced the plan to replace an aging section of the hospital at Hurontario and Queensway on May 1. The new and expanded facility will add more than 500 new hospital beds and replace more than 500 existing beds. The redevelopment plan includes a new acute care tower at the Mississauga Hospital, and new post-acute complex at the Queensway Health Centre. The proposed projects will also free up a significant amount of capacity at the Credit Valley Hospital site.
Trillium Health Partners will continue to address capacity challenges due to growing demand for health care services and aging infrastructure. The Mississauga Halton Local Health Integration Network and other health service providers are developing new innovative care models to increase
capacity including; the development of a Seniors’ Health Campus, expanding bundled care programs, and a partnership with Runnymede Health Care.
Trillium Health Partners is among the busiest hospitals in Canada. It has more than 1.6 million patient visits annually. The Emergency Departments and Urgent Care Centre see 273,000 visits per year. The hospital’s campuses perform more than 60,000 surgeries per year, more than any other hospital in Ontario. Each year, some 8,000 babies are delivered at Trillium Health Partners.
Highlights of the Ontario Budget’s 2017-18 capital plans for Trillium Health Partners include:
New Mississauga Hospital
New acute care tower;
New emergency department, surgical operating rooms, diagnostic imaging.
New Queensway Health Centre
New rehabilitation and complex continuing care beds;
Renovation and expansion of Urgent Care Centre and ambulatory services.
Credit Valley Hospital
Relocation of post-acute beds to new Queensway Health Centre site will allow expansion of more acute beds to serve our growing needs.
To download a free copy of the comprehensive 2017-18 Ontario Budget and Fiscal Plan, click here. The Budget is well-written, well-illustrated and an easy and compelling read, and deserves space on your tablet computer.
Said Trillium Health Partners President Michelle DiEmanuele, “Today is an exciting day for Trillium Health Partners and our community. I want to thank the Province for working in partnership with our hospital on this much needed investment in our future. While there is much work ahead, today our community can celebrate this important investment and the government’s acknowledgement of Trillium Health Partners as one of the most efficient, innovative and trusted hospitals in Ontario, as we continue to build on our mission to create a new kind of health care, for a healthier community.”
Think before you sign! Rooftop solar panels are a long-term commitment that you need to research and think through before someone begins to bolt equipment to your roof. Read this article first.
Here we go again! The door-knocking solar energy vendors are back. Some of their e-mail and print promotions are completely misleading. A constituent sent me a copy of a flyer that even has the official logo of the Province of Ontario on it. Figure how a pro sports team or a retail chain would react if someone just knocked off their trademark or logo, and used it as if it were theirs.
Review the things to consider when looking at solar panels on your home roof. Click here. Some things to remember:
None of these vendors represent the provincial government, or your electricity distributor, regardless of what a flyer or someone at your door says. Nobody from your electricity distributor (Enersource) or from the Province ever goes door-to-door with this type, or any other offer.;
The Province of Ontario has no “free solar” programs. No such vendor is representing the Province of Ontario, the Ministry of Energy or any other branch of the government or your electric utility. The only thing you will be “pre-approved” for is to be eligible to allow a vendor to install something on your roof, and to be liable for whatever the vendor’s contract says you are liable for. My suggestion: not just yet. Not this year;
Read what’s here, and use Facebook and Twitter (see below) to forward this post to your friends and personal network. Don’t sign anything before you have:
Read the entire contract;
Done your own research and homework;
Talked with your legal and insurance advisors.
The Province of Ontario does not install solar systems, free or otherwise. That is why you won’t find a description of a product or service, that Ontario does not offer, on the Province’s web site. That type of claim alone ought to raise some alarm bells in whatever sales literature or vendor claims you may have received.
In general, there is no free lunch, and if something sounds too good to be true, it likely is not true.
The installation of solar panels to provide some electricity to both the homeowner and the electricity grid is called microFIT, where the ‘FIT” stands for ‘feed-in tariff,’ which means the electricity grid may, depending on the contract, buy some electricity from you for resale to other electricity consumers. Be sure to read the What you should know section of the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) website before signing an agreement, or spending any money.
What door-to-door vendors are likely to talk about is rooftop solar photovoltaic (“solar PV”) collectors that turn electrons from sunlight into electricity. The price of solar PV equipment has been falling quickly in recent years, with much of the equipment now volume-produced from various places in Asia.
Most of the literature, the sales line, and the vendor web sites make assertions that electricity costs in Ontario are going to soar in the years ahead. Ontario has actually already paid most of the bills that most other jurisdictions have not yet faced up to by cleaning up the Province’s generation sources, and refurbishing and adding to the distribution system. The electricity cost issue does not wash.
Types of complaints
I see solar panels in our neighbourhoods, and I have toured homes that have had them installed. Some people have had a satisfactory installation. Others have complained to the IESO, the Ministry of Energy, the Premier and the Peel Police about solar contracts and installations. It is important to enter the contractual relationship with all the information and advice you will need to make the technology work for you. Some of the complaints have included:
Companies that have disappeared after taking advance money for installations;
Misleading estimates of solar energy revenue generation;
Contract holders not being able to access their account information because the installer has (and will not share) the password;
As noted above, a misleading statement that a homeowner is “pre-approved” for a contract, or that an installer has an affiliation with the IESO, the Province of Ontario, the Ministry of Energy, or Enersource. Unauthorized use of Province of Ontario or electricity distribution company names and trademarks are common. The Government of Ontario does not license, certify or regulate solar photovoltaic installers.
Participants in the microFIT program are not covered by the Consumer Protection Act, 2002. The Ministry of Consumer and Government Services has indicated that transactions related to microFIT programs are considered commercial transactions.
Solar PV, paired with another technology that has not yet arrived, economical electricity storage might be a game-changer in the near future, but not just yet. I too have been approached by various vendors, most of them sporting laminated dubious identity cards designed, it appeared, to look like something close to an electrical utility or a distribution card. No such solar PV vendor is from your electricity distributor, or from any branch of the Provincial Government, and none speaks for either of the preceding. There is no longer any such entity as Ontario Hydro, and has not been in nearly 20 years. Some other things to think about:
If you permit a vendor to put several thousand dollars worth of solar panels and other gear on your roof and on your property, ostensibly for ‘free,’ then who owns the equipment, and who owns the revenue from any electricity it produces? If you read the contract, it is not likely to be you;
Do you know if the roof on your home was designed to support the extra weight of solar panels on it? Look in your attic, and see what’s holding your roof together. The plywood on a lot of our roofs is actually pretty thin. It does what it needs to do, which is to hold roofing tiles in place, but that’s it. Are you comfortable adding a lot of extra weight to that? The vast majority of houses here in western Mississauga were not built like my grandparents’ house, with the intent that the space above the top floor would be an accessible attic;
Who would be responsible if the wind ripped the panels off the roof, or collapsed a portion of the roof? That is a good question to ask of your insurance carrier before allowing a vendor’s contractor to begin bolting things to your roof?;
Who is responsible for removing the solar panels and re-installing them in the event your roof needs replacing, as every roof does after 15 to 20 years? How old is your roof?
What has the vendor told you about the wiring that must run down your wall, and connect to the grid? Any issues you need to know about? Any access on an ongoing basis that the vendor needs? What are your rights and responsibilities?
There are a lot of things to consider before installing solar panels on one’s roof. Effective in June of 2016, applicants must sign a commissioned or notarized declaration form, to help ensure that people understand the program and the microFIT process before signing an agreement, that they have access to their own MymicroFIT online system, and agree to follow the program rules, which are designed to protect the consumer.
From the perspective of a solar vendor, I have a perfect such roof. If the sun is shining at our house, it is shining on our roof. My own stance on solar panels is “Not just yet.” I am not even interested in the contract right now. Before I am ready to look at a serious proposal, there are some additional important pieces of consumer protection and ‘net metering’ legislation that are in process, but not yet in place in Ontario.
April 9, 2017 marks 100 years since the Canadian Corps, fighting as a unit under (largely) Canadian command, succeeded in capturing the commanding heights at Vimy Ridge, overlooking the broad Douai plain near Arras in norther France. The victory in the battle of Vimy Ridge, in Canada’s 50th year as a nation, has come to be seen as one of the country’s defining moments. In April, 2017, I made the Member’s Statement below in the Ontario Legislature.
Canadian children have learned for generations about the contribution and sacrifice of the Canadian Corps in World War One. A century ago, after the Germans had repulsed two French and one British assault on Vimy Ridge, a strategic hill overlooking the Douai plain near Arras, the Canadian Corps won the first major Allied victory of the War. That victory established the Canadian Corps’ reputation as the elite ground force of World War One.
Vimy Ridge was given in perpetuity to Canada by France. Canadian guides offer a special welcome to visitors from the land that 3,598men of the Canadian corps left behind forever.
The respectful silence at Vimy evokes the remembrance of those who,like me, have visited the immaculately-tended Commonwealth War Graves site at Vimy Ridge.
A visitor is drawn to thoughts not so much of battle, but of home.It is as though the collective presence, of the spirits of the Canadians who stayed at Vimy, long to share thoughts of the Canada their contribution helped build.
The commemoration ceremony held in France on Sunday April 9th, the centennial day of the start of the battle, honoured Canada’s World War One contribution, and the soldiers, sailors, aviators and civilians whose contributions made Canada the conflict’s elite force, in a proud and dignified manner. The Prime Minister, Governor General, and President of France all spoke movingly. My own thoughts returned to the headstones of young men in their late teens and early 20s, in whose presence I felt so welcome that cool evening in Vimy when I visited. I could imagine some of them in the hereafter, elbowing a spiritual buddy while looking at the ceremony, and saying to one another, “See, I told you it would all be worth the effort.”
Learning this part of history is important to every Canadian.So is finding the few hours during a lifetime to walkVimy Ridge, and to know what the Royal Canadian Legion means when they say, “We will remember them.”
At Mississauga’s only synagogue, Solel Congregation, members of just about every faith, particularly Muslim, gathered in February 2017 with new Rabbi Audrey Pollack, at left, (herself an immigrant from Illinois) to celebrate the diversity in our city’s neighbourhoods, stand against intolerance in every form and embrace the future together in Mississauga. To the right of me are Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie and Ward 8 Councillor Matt Mahoney.
Who were the group singled out for prejudice just for being ‘others’ a century ago? That would be the Irish. They spoke English with a different and distinctive accent, had a religion (Roman Catholicism) that the ‘mainstream’ of the time didn’t know or trust, and looked distinctive (freckles, red hair, fair skin). Factories hung signs at the door reading No Irish need apply.
Half a century ago, these ‘others’ were Italians, and others from central Europe. A quarter of a century ago, these ‘others’ were Sikhs. In each case, after two or three generations in Canada, these ‘others’ are now part of a vibrant and prosperous mainstream called ‘Canadian.’
Our Muslim neighbours came here for the same reasons as the Irish, Italians, central Europeans, Chinese and Sikhs: to build lives and careers, to raise a family, and contribute to a stronger Canada.
In the wake of the deplorable attacks against Canadian Muslims:
The City of Mississauga discussed and passed a resolution against racism and intolerance;
The Province of Ontario Legislature unanimously passed a motion against racism and intolerance;
The Government of Canada debated and passed a motion by Mississauga-Erin Mills MP Iqra Khalid, whose family is Muslim.
The first two Muslims in Ontario’s Cabinet are my own close friends Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi (born in Karachi, Pakistan), who is an Ottawa lawyer; and Ontario Minister of Research and Innovation Dr. Reza Moridi (born in Teheran, Iran), who has a PhD in physics. As well, Dr. Shafiq Qaadri (born in Chicago, Illinois), is a practicing physician, is also Muslim, and sits in the Ontario Legislature representing Etobicoke North. All three of these are outstanding elected representatives, whose experience and merits would bring them into the Legislature regardless of their ethnic origin.
Our western Mississauga neighbourhoods
Western Mississauga is home to a fast-growing Muslim community. They are a gift of immense value to Ontario. Our Muslim neighbours are the people we buy from and sell to; the ones we ride beside to and from work on transit; the people we hire, and who hire others; the ones the kids on the street play with and attend school beside; and the families who live on our streets.
These are our neighbours. Their homes and mosques are open and welcoming to us all. As your MPP, I am a regular, indeed frequent, visitor in all our western Mississauga mosques. My consistent message is that the Muslim community has nothing to fear or distrust from the community around them, and that the western Mississauga community blessed with our Muslim neighbours has nothing to fear or distrust from Muslims.
A movement to Canada in large numbers from any specific region has three stages:
The generation from the old country, regardless of which old country, and regardless of the era in which they moved, has its culture, values and traditions rooted in the old country. Their agenda after coming to Canada is to re-start their lives and careers, get a home, and raise a family;
The generation born (or largely raised) in Canada, of parents from the old country is the generation that needs to figure out and reconcile the old country’s values and traditions with the new Canadian ones, and which seves to teach the generation of its parents about being Canadian. Most will visit, often re-visit, the old country while growing up, or once they are young adults. A very few will go back to the land of their parents. The very vast majority will conclude that they are firmly and permanently Canadian, and passionately so;
The generation born in Canada, of Canadian parents, and immigrant grandparents are Canadian through and through. The language, culture and traditions of the old country is largely lost, to the chagrin of the generation of the grandparents, and to the often indifferent shrug of the generation of their parents. This generation is in every way part of the Canadian mainstream experience.
It was so for the Scots and Irish of the 19th and early 20th centuries; for the Germans, Italians and central Europeans between the two world wars; for those who sought opportunity or fled oppression and poverty after World War Two. It remains so today.
Those of us born in Canada of Canadian parents are descendants of families who fled famine, impending war, hopelessness, poverty, communism, regressive regimes, or who simply sought opportunity in the new world. And those born in Canada are not that far removed from the generation that came to Canada for a fresh start.
Our education system, especially in Ontario, blends together kids who enter school speaking neither official language. Secondary school graduates are un-hyphenated Canadians, proud of their community, committed to building on the foundation of the past and able to deliver a bright future to their home, family, community, province and country. To teach in Ontario, as I did before my first election, is to see firsthand in what fine hands Ontario leaves our communities, our province and country, our institutions and businesses.
Think before sending an e-mail
As possibly a backlash from the regressive reactions of Britain and the United States, elected representatives at all levels have received some intolerant and abusive letters and e-mails blaming immigrants for just being ‘others.’ They are from people who ought to know better, people whose ancestors were themselves immigrants and ‘others’ once, people who think that intolerance is now somehow permissible. Before you use ‘Muslim,’ substitute ‘Irishman,’ ‘Scot,’ ‘Italian,’ ‘Chinese,’ ‘German,’ or whatever slang people once used for folks who came from where your family once came from. You likely won’t want to send the letter or e-mail. Good.
We’re neighbours in the same community. We’re going to keep building the same community. Together. Everybody take a deep breath, and smile at the other families on the street. They are no different than you are.
By now, people know most of the story about Ontario’s reduction of electricity charges on our monthly bills.
Who and what?Everybody will get a reduction, averaging 25 percent, off their usage and delivery charges for electricity, with costs held to inflation for four years;
Where and when? On your electricity bill. For most of us in western Mississauga, that’s Enersource (soon to be renamed Alectra), and beginning this summer.
That leaves why and how: the most important parts. Why? Because Ontario, almost uniquely in North America, has spent nearly $50 billion improving, expanding, diversifying, refurbishing and upgrading both the way the Province generates electricity, and transmits electricity to utility customers. During a 30-year span between the end of World War II and about the mid-1970s, much of Ontario’s electricity generation and transmission infrastructure was built, or upgraded – much like what was done again during the past 13 years.
And after that? Nothing.
The ‘why’
Nothing new or significant was done to expand or modernize the complex, multi-billion-dollar system of generation stations, transmission wires and distribution substations until the early 2000s. Projects under construction were completed. That’s it.
Like any system of machinery, no matter how well you look after your machines (in this case wires, substations, dams, and power generation stations), they get old. Machinery used all the time wears out, no matter how well you look after it. It gets out-of-date. Electricity systems are used around the clock, every day. In recent years, Ontario has spent $35 billion adding, replacing, and upgrading electricity generation; plus about $15 billion modernizing and expanding electricity transmission. That capital investment is what is showing up, like increased mortgage payments on a new home, on your electricity bills. That’s the ‘why.’
The ‘how’
Ontario has a comprehensive suite of programs to help individuals, families, seniors, low-income households, and businesses of many types manage electricity costs, shift electricity usage to off-peak times, and lower charges. Many of these programs are not electricity generation programs, but like medical, pharmaceutical and educational supports, are social programs. They shouldn’t be on your electricity bill. They were on your electricity bill because they always have been, and for no other reason. In the rest of the world, those costs count as social costs.
As well, many of our electricity generation and transmission assets, such as nuclear reactors, gas-fired power plants, wires and so on were paid for, or ‘amortized’ over a period much shorter than their expected useful life. Why? Because they always had been, and for no other reason.
Like a couple buying a home, you’d like to minimize interest costs, but you have to actually afford to live in the home you buy. They choose a mortgage term based on what they can afford, and which does not leave them cash-poor. Paying for Ontario’s electricity assets during the full term in which they are used is the same principle.
How can electricity costs be held to about the level of inflation? Because Ontario has already incurred the bulk of the system improvement costs, something no neighbouring jurisdiction can say.
The costs have not gone away. There has been no accounting sleight-of-hand. The construction projects that built Ontario’s state-of-the-art electricity system were procured openly and transparently. Ontario has bought tomorrow’s electricity system; paid for it with yesterday’s money; and financed it for its useful lifetime at interest rates of nearly zero. The rest of the world must catch up, buying today’s electricity system, paying at tomorrow’s prices, and financing it at rates that have already begun to climb.
The principles of putting social costs on the tax bill, and paying for things during the complete term of their useful life reflects taking a fair, responsible and accurate look at how electricity costs are managed and paid. It is the way the rest of the world manages those same costs. That’s the ‘how.’
