The House met at 3 p.m.
Tuesday, October 28, 1975, being the first day of the first session of the 30th Parliament of the Province of Ontario for the despatch of business pursuant to a proclamation of the Honourable P. M. McGibbon, Lieutenant Governor of the province.
The Honourable the Lieutenant Governor, having entered the House, took her seat upon the throne.
Hon. P. M. McGibbon (Lieutenant Governor): Pray be seated.
Hon. Mr. Welch: I am commanded by the Honourable the Lieutenant Governor to state that she does not see fit to declare the causes of the summoning of the present Legislature of this province until a Speaker of this House shall have been chosen according to law; but today, at a subsequent hour, Her Honour will declare the causes of the calling to this Legislature.
Her Honour was then pleased to retire.
Clerk of the House: Members of the legislative assembly, it is my duty to call upon you to select one of your number to preside over your deliberations as Speaker.
Hon. Mr. Davis moves, seconded by Mr. Lewis, that the hon. member for the electoral district of Northumberland (Mr. Rowe) be Speaker of this assembly.
Are there any further nominations?
I then declare the nominations closed, and declare the Hon. Russell D. Rowe Speaker of this assembly.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. Speaker in the chair.
Mr. Speaker: Hon. members, please accept my humble thanks for the high honour and the privilege that you have given me today. I am grateful to the Premier (Mr. Davis) and to the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Lewis) for moving and seconding my nomination, and to all hon. members for the confidence that they have expressed in me by allowing me to continue to serve this House as Speaker.
I am mindful of my responsibility to protect the rights and privileges of each one of you. In a few moments I will, on your behalf, address Her Honour, the Lieutenant Governor, using the traditional words which have been used in this House and in other parliaments for centuries. Those words are all the more meaningful to me today, because I am aware that difficult days may lie ahead. I ask for your co-operation and for your prayers that I may be given the wisdom to serve you well, with fairness and impartiality. Without your support, there is little that I, as Speaker, can do. With your support, I am confident that together we can serve the people of this province.
I feel the Speakership is a trust which must be exercised not for the benefit of any party or group, but for the benefit of each and all of you. I am not Solomon, and although my middle name is Daniel I cannot lay claim to divine judgement. I do promise you, however, that I will serve you to the very best of my human capacities. Therefore, mindful of the responsibilities that you have placed before me, and hopeful of your assistance and co-operation, I accept the office of Speaker of this honourable House, which you have been pleased to confer on me.
This House will now adjourn during pleasure.
The Honourable the Lieutenant Governor then re-entered the House, and took her seat upon the throne.
Hon. Mrs. McGibbon: Pray be seated.
Mr. Speaker: May it please Your Honour, the legislative assembly has elected me as their Speaker, although I am but little able to fulfill the important duties thus assigned to me. If, in the performance of those duties I should, at any time, fall into error, I pray that the fault may be imputed to me and not to the assembly, whose servant I am and who, through me, the better to enable them to discharge their duty to their Queen and country, hereby claim all their undoubted rights and privileges, especially that they may have freedom of speech in their debates, access to your person at all seasonable times and that their proceedings may receive from you the most favourable consideration.
Hon. Mr. Welch: Mr. Speaker, I am commanded by the Honourable the Lieutenant Governor, to declare to you that she freely confides in the duty and attachment of the assembly to Her Majesty’s person and government; and not doubting that the proceedings will be conducted with wisdom, temperance and prudence, she grants, and upon all occasions will recognize and allow, the constitutional privileges. I am commanded also to assure you that the assembly shall have ready access to Her Honour upon all suitable occasions and that their proceedings, as well as your words and actions, will constantly receive from her the most favourable construction.
The Honourable the Lieutenant Governor, was pleased to open the session with the following gracious speech.
SPEECH FROM THE THRONE
Hon. Mrs. McGibbon: Mr. Speaker and members of the legislative assembly of Ontario:
I am pleased to welcome you to the opening of the first session of the 30th Parliament of Ontario, and especially so to those hon. members whose first term of office is now beginning.
In this brief session, my government will deal primarily with the following critical issues: Inflation, rents, mortgage interest rates and tenant security.
Our province faces times which will require a demonstration of co-operation in placing the common good above other interests. The government, in its concern over the economic health of the province and the problems of inflation and unemployment, supports the decision of the government of Canada to launch a nation-wide attack on these problems.
Notre province se trouve à une époque où la coopération sera indispensable et où il faudra placer le bien commun avant tout autre intérêt. Se préoccupant du bien-être économique de la province, ainsi que les problèmes de l’inflation et du chômage, l’Ontario appuie la décision du gouvernement du Canada, qui vient de prendre des mesures à l’échelle nationale pour lutter contre l’inflation.
The government appeals to the people of Ontario to be resolute in this fight against inflation and to make the programme work.
Ontario firmly believes that to be most effective, the programme should be applied as uniformly as possible throughout Canada. The government has therefore decided that the national programme should apply directly to the public sector in Ontario in the same way as with other sectors in the economy.
Ontario has made representations to Ottawa to improve the anti-inflation programme. These include the need for a firmer approach to price controls, tighter expenditure restraints by the federal government in its own operations and a re-evaluation of the $600 limit on pay increases at the lower end of the scale.
The Ontario government has led the way during the past year in restraining its own expenditures and reducing the growth of its civil service. These measures will be continued in reinforcement of the national programme.
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Ontario’s economy is making a good recovery after the setback experienced in the first part of this year. Unemployment, which rose to 7.3 per cent in Canada this summer, reached a high in Ontario of 6.4 per cent in June and has since fallen to 5.8 per cent. So far this year 102,000 new jobs have been created in this province.
You will be asked to proceed with amendments to the Development Corporations Act and the Municipal Act to establish an industrial parks programme which will offer financial aid to municipalities to acquire and service facilities for this purpose.
The province recognizes its responsibilities to senior citizens in a weaker economic position in our community and will introduce a new rent supplement programme retroactive to April 1, 1975.
The government intends to introduce a programme retroactive to July 30, 1975, to protect tenants against unjustified rent increases. In addition, new legislation will be brought forward to provide security of tenure for residential tenants.
Several appeals have been made to the federal government to insulate residential mortgage rates from the direct influence of monetary policy decisions and so relieve the burden of increased mortgage interest rates on owner-occupied residences. In the absence of federal action, Ontario is prepared to proceed on its own.
Legislation will be introduced to treat the assessment of condominiums in the same way as single-family dwellings.
You will be asked to approve legislation to regulate retail sales activities on Sundays as well as on certain public holidays. The proposed legislation seeks to reaffirm Sundays and holidays as days of restricted commercial activity, to protect workers and in the interests of preserving and enhancing family life.
The government is convinced that the acquisition of all firearms must be strictly controlled as a means of combatting increasing and tragic incidences of violence in our society. The government has urged repeatedly that this can best be dealt with through amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada. The federal government now appears to agree with this position and has indicated that it will be taking early action on the national level along the lines which Ontario has proposed. In the event that there is any undue delay in this matter, the Ontario government is prepared to introduce legislation to cover this province until such time as a national programme is in place.
It is my government’s aim to provide the people of Ontario with assured energy supplies at competitive prices and with minimum harm to the environment. Because of the very high capital costs of developing new energy production facilities, the government has directed Ontario Hydro to pursue the possibility of increased interprovincial exchanges of electricity by the development of regional transmission grids with the aim of providing electricity to Ontario at the lowest cost consistent with adequate systems security.
You will be asked to approve legislation for orderly allocation of natural gas supplies, in the event of possible shortages before additional supplies become available.
Above all, my government urges the people of Ontario, whether as individuals or as corporate consumers, to co-operate in saving energy to help reduce overall consumption and waste of resources.
The measures outlined in this address and others that will be presented in the course of this session face up to the economic and social problems of Ontario and offer a challenge to this Legislature to work responsibly in the interests of the people of our province. My government is aware that agreement on the serious nature of present problems does not necessarily mean a consensus on appropriate solutions. At the same time, the government is confident of the capacity of this assembly to do the job at hand and to do it effectively.
In our Sovereign’s name, I thank you.
God bless the Queen and Canada.
The Honourable the Lieutenant Governor was then pleased to retire from the chamber.
Prayers.
ESTIMATES
Hon. Mr. Welch: Mr. Speaker, I have a message from the Honourable the Lieutenant Governor, signed by her own hand.
Mr. Speaker: By her own hand, Hon. P. M. McGibbon, the Lieutenant Governor, transmits estimates of certain sums required for the service of the province for the year ending March 31, 1976, and recommends them to the legislative assembly, Toronto, Oct. 28, 1975.
I beg to inform the House that to prevent mistakes, I have obtained a copy of Her Honour’s speech, which I will now read.
(Reading dispensed with.)
JUDICATURE AMENDMENT ACT
Hon. Mr. McMurtry moved first reading of bill intituled, An Act to amend the Judicature Act.
Motion agreed to; first reading of the bill.
Mr. Speaker: I beg to inform the House that Mr. Lewis, the member for Scarborough West, is recognized as Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.
I beg to inform the House that the fourth and fifth reports of the Ontario Commission on the Legislature have been presented to the Clerk of the House during the interval between parliaments.
Hon. Mr. Welch moves that the speech of the Honourable the Lieutenant Governor to this House be taken into consideration on Thursday next.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Mr. Welch moves that private bills will not be considered at this session, such bills to be taken up at the beginning of the next regular session of this Parliament.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Mr. Welch moves that in consideration of the estimates for the fiscal year 1975-1976, only those votes consideration of which was not completed by the previous assembly be considered at the present session and as follows:
By committee of supply, in the total of 33 hours, 30 minutes, the estimates of the following ministries: Treasury, Economics and Intergovernmental Affairs, Health, Social Development, Natural Resources, Resources Development, Education, Office of the Premier, Cabinet Office, Office of the Lieutenant Governor;
By a standing committee on estimates, in a total of 14 sitting days commencing tomorrow; such committee to have authority to sit concurrently with the House and to permit substitutions on the customary notice to the chairman; such committee to be composed as follows: Mr. Edighoffer, chairman; Messrs. Angus, Bounsall, Cassidy, Drea, Eakins, Eaton, Kennedy, Leluk, Lupusella, McCague, McEwen, Norton, O’Neil, Samis, Sargent, Villeneuve, Wildman and Williams; the estimates of the following ministries: Industry and Tourism, Labour, Energy and Housing.
Mr. Singer: Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak to that motion if no one else would.
I find great difficulty in letting this motion pass without saying a few words expressing my unhappiness with it being put at all. We are beginning a session of the 30th Legislature and the government is asking for a review of something that happened at the 29th Legislature. The people of Ontario spoke on Sept. 18 last and that Legislature, the 29th Legislature, has gone into the history of the political annals of this province. I find it much more than strange that we pick up a piece of a budget which was the budget of the 29th Legislature and not the budget of the 30th Legislature. I find it unreasonable that a new Legislature should be expected to deal only with certain selected estimates and not with all of the estimates.
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It is my opinion -- and I think I am correct in this -- that if this motion was not put the affairs of the province could be carried on without any difficulty. The 29th Legislature passed a motion of interim supply; the spending of the $11 billion-odd is legal and is proper. It is unfair, particularly to those new members who are here, to say these estimates and no others can now be debated.
I fail completely to understand why this is being done. Perhaps it is my devious mind that leads me to conclude that the government has introduced this type of motion to stall.
The government is here to govern; the Premier (Mr. Davis) has seen fit to advise Her Honour to call a session at this time. He has indicated it is going to be a short session; but what he wants, I believe, is to be able to withdraw from the sittings of this House for a substantial period while the sittings go on, with his cabinet, to go through the motions apparently of dealing with public business but in the meantime not to deal immediately, properly and quickly with the public business at hand.
I am not going to debate this any longer nor am I going to suggest to anyone that this be an issue which forces a division at this point, but --
Interjections.
Mr. Lewis: Why not?
Mr. Singer: All right. If the hon. Leader of the Opposition wants to stand, let him do so.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please.
Mr. Singer: I just want to say that I, as one member, object --
Mr. Lewis: Enough postulating.
Hon. Mr. Henderson: Why doesn’t the member see if he can get any support?
Mr. Speaker: Order please. The hon. member for Wilson Heights may continue.
Mr. Singer: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to say that as one member I feel this kind of objection should be voiced and should be voiced loudly and firmly; I want to say for myself that I object to being used in this manner by the Premier. If he wants to get about the business of the province let him do it, but let him not introduce this kind of peculiar posturing, this kind of selective dealing with a part of the money expenditure, depriving the members of the 30th Legislature of the full opportunity to debate public expenditures.
If he wants to talk about expenditures let him bring in the new budget. That’s what the issue is.
Hon. Mr. Welch: Mr. Speaker, perhaps one or two comments should be made at this time, very briefly.
The hon. member has asked to be heard loudly and clearly and he has accomplished that particular part of his presentation.
Secondly, and with greatest respect, the member for Wilson Heights has overlooked the fact that the last Parliament, the 29th Parliament, in its last session did, in fact, formally concur in a number of estimates and in order to expedite the business of this House and to get on with the legislation, meetings were held. It comes as no surprise to members of this House or to various caucuses that an understanding was arrived at with respect to those estimates considered by the last session of the 29th Parliament -- many of which have already been formally concurred in. All of them, of course, will have to come together in the general vote for supply which still follow upon the completion of the estimates as set out in the motion. To impute that type of cheap motive to my leader is just completely irresponsible.
Mr. Lewis: The minister’s motivations have always been expensive.
Interjections.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Shall this motion carry?
Motion agreed to.
Mr. Bullbrook: There is certainly nothing cheap about the Tory leader at all.
Hon. Mr. Rhodes: We have one anyway. We have a leader.
Mr. Speaker: The hon. House leader.
Interjections.
Mr. Lewis: I would give it about 10 days.
Hon. Mr. Welch: Is that a prediction?
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Mr. Welch moves, seconded by Mr. Deans, that the hon. member for the electoral district of Lake Nipigon (Mr. Stokes) be appointed Deputy Speaker and chairman of committees of the whole House; and that the hon. member for the electoral district of Simcoe East (Mr. G. E. Smith) be appointed deputy chairman of committees of the whole House for this assembly.
Motion agreed to.
Mr. Speaker: The clerk has received from the chief election officer and laid upon the table the roll of the members elected at the general election of 1975.
Hon. Mr. Welch: Mr. Speaker, before moving the adjournment of the House, perhaps I could share with members our timetable for the next couple of days. Tomorrow, following the usual formalities, we will consider the estimates of the Treasurer (Mr. McKeough) in committee of supply in the House. Tomorrow morning at 10 o clock, the standing committee on estimates will meet and will start with the estimates of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism. On Thursday, of course, we will have the address in reply to the Speech from the Throne, the mover and the seconder, following which we will resume estimates. On Friday of this week we will continue with estimates, both in committee of supply and in the standing committee on estimates.
Hon. Mr. Welch moved the adjournment of the House.
Motion agreed to.
The House adjourned at 3:37 p.m.