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Legislative Assemblée Assembly législative of Ontario de l’Ontario Official Report Journal of Debates des débats (Hansard) (Hansard) o No. 212B N 212B 1st Session 1re session 42nd Parliament 42e législature Tuesday Mardi 24 November 2020 24 novembre 2020 Speaker: Honourable Ted Arnott Président : L’honorable Ted Arnott Clerk: Todd Decker Greffier : Todd Decker Hansard on the Internet Le Journal des débats sur Internet Hansard and other documents of the Legislative Assembly L’adresse pour faire paraître sur votre ordinateur personnel can be on your personal computer within hours after each le Journal et d’autres documents de l’Assemblée législative sitting. 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House Publications and Language Services Service linguistique et des publications parlementaires Room 500, West Wing, Legislative Building Salle 500, aile ouest, Édifice du Parlement 111 Wellesley Street West, Queen’s Park 111, rue Wellesley ouest, Queen’s Park Toronto ON M7A 1A2 Toronto ON M7A 1A2 Telephone 416-325-7400; fax 416-325-7430 Téléphone, 416-325-7400; télécopieur, 416-325-7430 Published by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Publié par l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario ISSN 1180-2987 CONTENTS / TABLE DES MATIÈRES Tuesday 24 November 2020 / Mardi 24 novembre 2020 PRIVATE MEMBERS’ PUBLIC BUSINESS / AFFAIRES D’INTÉRÊT PUBLIC ÉMANANT DES DÉPUTÉES ET DÉPUTÉS Fairness for Residential Superintendents, Janitors and Caretakers Act, 2020, Bill 210, Mr. Bisson / Loi de 2020 sur l’équité pour les concierges, les employés d’immeuble ou les préposés à l’entretien d’un immeuble d’habitation, projet de loi 210, M. Bisson Mr. Gilles Bisson ................................................ 10713 Ms. Jane McKenna ............................................. 10714 Ms. Peggy Sattler ................................................ 10715 Ms. Andrea Khanjin ........................................... 10715 Mr. Jamie West ................................................... 10716 Mr. Wayne Gates ................................................ 10717 Mr. Gilles Bisson ................................................ 10717 Second reading agreed to .................................... 10718 ORDERS OF THE DAY / ORDRE DU JOUR Reappointment of Chief Medical Officer of Health / Renouvellement de mandat du médecin hygiéniste en chef Hon. Paul Calandra ............................................. 10718 Mme France Gélinas ........................................... 10721 Hon. Paul Calandra ............................................. 10728 Hon. Christine Elliott .......................................... 10731 M. Gilles Bisson ................................................. 10733 Mr. John Fraser ................................................... 10736 Mrs. Robin Martin .............................................. 10738 Ms. Doly Begum ................................................. 10740 Mr. Mike Schreiner ............................................. 10743 Mr. Jeremy Roberts ............................................ 10743 Mr. Kevin Yarde ................................................. 10746 Mr. Lorne Coe .................................................... 10748 Mr. Wayne Gates ................................................ 10751 Ms. Jane McKenna ............................................. 10753 Mr. Jamie West ................................................... 10755 Mrs. Daisy Wai ................................................... 10758 Debate deemed adjourned................................... 10759 10713 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE OF ONTARIO DE L’ONTARIO Tuesday 24 November 2020 Mardi 24 novembre 2020 Report continued from volume A. everybody in regard to how are things doing, what’s going 1800 on, etc. One of the groups that I called at the beginning— well, not at the beginning, probably sometime around April, May sometime. I started calling landlords, both PRIVATE MEMBERS’ small and large, and calling some of these building PUBLIC BUSINESS superintendents, because like you, guess what, we go knocking at doors in those buildings. We know most of these superintendents and janitors by name because we’ve FAIRNESS FOR RESIDENTIAL been dealing with them, and some of them have been there SUPERINTENDENTS, JANITORS a long time. Lo and behold, what I was being told was, AND CARETAKERS ACT, 2020 first of all, most tenants in the city of Timmins were paying LOI DE 2020 SUR L’ÉQUITÉ POUR the rent and doing what they had to do. There was the odd LES CONCIERGES, LES EMPLOYÉS person who had difficulty and the odd person who was the regular sort of person that sometimes has difficulty paying D’IMMEUBLE OU LES PRÉPOSÉS rent. But by and large, a large percentage of people—90%- À L’ENTRETIEN D’UN IMMEUBLE plus—were paying their rent, so that was good. D’HABITATION But when I was talking to the building superintend- Mr. Bisson moved second reading of the following bill: ents—and I called pretty well every building that I know Bill 210, An Act to amend the Employment Standards where they have superintendents, both in private and not- Act, 2000 with respect to the minimum wage for for-profit housing complexes—what they were telling me residential superintendents, janitors and caretakers / Projet is that the increased workload as a result of COVID is de loi 210, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2000 sur les normes making it that they were being asked to do far more than d’emploi en ce qui concerne le salaire minimum des they normally have to do when it comes to their work concierges, employés d’immeuble ou préposés à inside those buildings—and fair enough. They accepted l’entretien d’un immeuble d’habitation. that because they understood, like everybody else in The Acting Speaker (Mr. Percy Hatfield): We return society, they had a responsibility in order to clean the to Mr. Bisson, the member from Timmins. building, make sure reception is clean, clean the hand rails, Mr. Gilles Bisson: It’s quite an honour for members of do all the things that have to be done, monitor people this assembly on all sides to be able to have an opportunity coming in and out of the building to make sure that they to bring forward legislation to the House and actually have were following whatever the rules were that were it debated and possibly have it passed. I look at my good established at the time when it comes to limiting the spread friend across the way who has a bill that has gone through of COVID-19. second reading and that we know eventually is going to What they were telling me was, “We’re doing all of this get passed at third reading, maybe sooner rather than later, work, and we’re lucky if we’re getting five bucks an in regard to the Magna Carta. I just want to start off by hour.” I said, “You’re kidding me.” They said, “Yeah, saying it’s a real honour to be able to do these things, yeah, by the time you add up all of the hours”—and because every now and then you can do something that including the rent, because, as you know, not everybody, fixes a quirk in the law that, quite frankly, needs fixing. but some of them have their rent paid by the owner of the This is one of those, and I’m hoping that the government building, the big large apartment building, and they get a will see its way to supporting it. wage on top of that. But when you added it all it up, it Currently, under the Employment Standards Act and didn’t come up to five or six bucks an hour. I thought, other legislation, there is a little quirk in the law that says “Come on—BS. That doesn’t make any sense.” I knew a if you’re a janitor or a superintendent working for one of couple of these people, so I went over and had a couple of those large apartment buildings and it’s your job to conversations with them, by phone initially, and had them maintain that particular building, your employer doesn’t send me some paperwork, and lo and behold, there’s a have to pay you a minimum wage. I knew that, but I whole bunch of people who are employed by large always assumed that they get close to it by the time you buildings to maintain those buildings—be it the super- count everything up and it wouldn’t be all that bad. intendents, be it the janitor, the caretaker, whatever—and But at the beginning of this pandemic, like all of you in they were not being paid a minimum wage. I just thought, this House—you call your various businesses. You call “You know, in this day and age, that’s not fair.” 10714 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO 24 NOVEMBER 2020 We talk about the heroes of COVID-19, and rightfully these workers in our province, who are, quite frankly, not so; we talk about PSWs, and we talk about health care getting what it is that they should get when it comes to workers, and we talk about all of those people in retail minimum wage. stores who are out there selling us groceries and getting us I also just want to say in this debate, what impressed me what we need in order to survive—especially last spring, in talking to all of these superintendents and others— when we were in lockdown. Well, here we were in lock- sometimes it’s a very tough job. They’re having to deal down, and these individuals were being asked to do above with people who may not be happy—not that we ever have and beyond what they normally do, which they gladly took that situation, as MPPs. Everybody who comes and sees on. They weren’t mad about that but were not very happy us is always very, very happy. They’re sometimes having when they looked at their paycheques and they were to deal with tenants who are having difficulty—something averaging far less than what the minimum wage was. They is not working in the apartment and they’re trying to get it were getting, on average, not even half of what the fixed.