From the Provincial Office of OSSTF

NEW BILLS INTRODUCED
BILL 200, EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS AMENDMENT ACT (SICK NOTES)

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner’s (Guelph) private member’s bill would eliminate the need for a doctor’s note for employees who call in sick to their employer.

BILL 201, MAGNA CARTA DAY ACT (IN MEMORY OF JULIA MUNRO, MPP)

PC MPP Jane McKenna’s (Burlington) private member’s bill would proclaim June 15 in each year as Magna Carta Day. The bill was introduced in honour of the late Julia Munro, the longest serving female MPP in Ontario’s history. Munro, a former high school teacher with the York Region District School Board, was a MPP from 1995 to 2017. Munro had introduced this bill prior to her resignation as MPP. The bill has been fast-tracked by the government and has passed 2nd Reading and has been referred to Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills.

BILL 202, SOLDIERS’ AID COMMISSION ACT, 2020

Todd Smith (Bay of Quinte), The Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, introduced this bill that would administer a financial assistance program for eligible veterans and eligible family members of veterans who are resident in Ontario. The bill would also set out rules respecting the appointment of members of the Commission’s board of directors, the meetings of the board and annual reporting requirements.

BILL 203, MORE THAN A VISITOR ACT (CAREGIVING IN CONGREGATE CARE SETTINGS)

NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky (Windsor West) introduced this private member’s bill that would enshrine the right to access essential caregivers for people in congregate care settings.

BILL 204, HELPING TENANTS AND SMALL BUSINESSES ACT

Steve Clark (Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes), The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, introduced this bill that would extend the freeze on residential rents until the end of 2021.

BILLS REFERRED TO COMMITTEE
BILL 201, MAGNA CARTA DAY ACT (IN MEMORY OF JULIA MUNRO, MPP)

PC MPP Jane McKenna’s (Burlington) private member’s bill would proclaim June 15 in each year as Magna Carta Day. The bill was introduced in honour of the late Julia Munro, the longest serving female MPP in Ontario’s history. Munro, a former high school teacher with the York Region District School Board, was a MPP from 1995 to 2017. Munro had introduced this bill prior to her resignation as MPP. The bill has been fast-tracked by the government and has passed 2nd Reading and has been referred to Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills.

BILLS PASSED
BILL 154, STOP CYBERBULLYING IN ONTARIO DAY ACT

PC MPP Kaleed Rasheed’s (Mississauga East—Cooksville) private member’s bill passed 3rd Reading. The bill proclaims the third Friday of June in each year as Stop Cyberbullying in Ontario Day.

IN OTHER NEWS
PCS DEFEAT HORWATH’S MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE MOTION

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath (Hamilton Centre) moved a non-binding motion urging the Ford government to cap classrooms at a maxium of fifteen students. The motion read:

That in the opinion of this House, the Ford government should provide the funding necessary to establish the safest classroom environment possible and work with school boards, parents and educators to reduce class sizes to a maximum of fifteen students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The motion was defeated by the Ford government by a vote of 54–29.

In moving her motion, that was supported by all three opposition parties, Horwath said, “We literally have classrooms where there are 25, 28, 30, 32 kids in the classroom, on top of the teachers and other educators. I mean, really. Yesterday and today, our members here on the opposition bench have been bringing real-life stories of what parents are seeing in the schools as they bring their kids to school. Many parents are actually showing up, becoming completely shocked, taking their kids home and saying, “We can’t put at risk our kids or our family,” or the extended family. That is not a situation that parents should be in at the last minute as they take their kids to school.”

In response, Education Minister’s Stephen Lecce Parliamentary Secretary, Sam Oosterhoff (Niagara West) led the government response by saying, “Speaker, I want to end with a quote from Dr. David Williams, who said, ‘with the steps that were put in place at the schools, again in alignment with the public health measures, the masks, the hand hygiene, the surveillance, the observation, the testing, the case contact management, the idea of cohorting and distancing, all these things that have been so successful that moved Ontario collectively to where we are today.’”

Education Minister Stephen Lecce did not speak on the motion.