I'm your host Steve Zerger. This is our twice monthly program called Looking to the East. Thank you very much for tuning in. We have a very special show on tap for you all today. Since we are coming to the end of the year, I decided to assemble our usual cast of characters, although we do have a new guest today, to take a look at what has gone on in Japan over the last year. So this is a roundup show, taking a look at political economic trends that we think are interesting to talk about in Japan, and then also talking about Japan's continuing relationships with its neighbors, China, and then also the very important relationship between Japan and the United States. So we have Paul Scott with us. Paul, thank you so much for attending. Paul's former professor at Kansai Gai Dai, and now as a professor at the Catholic School of Lille. I think, did I say that correctly, Paul? Catholic University of Lille, that's correct. Very good. So thank you for attending. And we have a Jiri Masteki, who also has a Kansai Gai Dai connection in that he is a graduate of the Asian Studies Program, currently a partner at Kitahama Law in Osaka. So thank you, Jiri, for attending. Appreciate it. Hello, thank you. You're welcome. And our new guest today is Taro Tsuda. Taro is a professor, history professor, assistant professor at Kansai Gai Dai University. So I thought it'd be interesting to have his perspective since he studies modern history of Japan and also is following pain attention to the current political trends in Japan and so forth. So let's get started. Let's talk about what we consider to be the major factors, major events that occurred in Japan over the last year in 2022. Obviously COVID is something, not just Japan, but worldwide countries have been struggling with. It's interesting to me that Japan continues unfortunately to be the leading country in terms of the infection rate I checked before the show started and Japan over the last few days had over 100,000 infections. Looks like it's gone down a little bit maybe today in the reports that are coming in so far down in the 60,000 range. So it considers to be a factor here but not one that seems to be materially influencing or changing behavior. Everything seems to be running as per normal even though these numbers are so high compared to the early days of COVID. You guys all remember when we just had 3,000 infections the country was shutting down. Any comments or observations about how Japan is handling COVID? I might say one thing which is that I agree with you that Steve that we're coming out of COVID or trying to come out of COVID here in Japan just like the rest of the world but Japan's baseline is a little bit different than other countries as far as COVID protection. So I was just in Europe and Europe no one wears masks. Very little social distancing. It's almost as if COVID hasn't really happened. Japan however, it's a completely different reality. People here still wear masks. There's still social distancing policies. You have to be careful in restaurants. There's still plexiglass partitions and wherever you go. I think the measures here are very different but despite that, I think that we're having tourism is coming back. At least in the Osaka area or the Kansai area it's 90% of pre-COVID. So that's some good economic news. So look, I think Japan is dealing with it but there haven't been a lot of changes as far as people's behavior that that behavior has been much more careful than in other countries where pretty much the precautions have been disregarded in a lot of sense. If I had more hair to pull out of my head, I would but what's always annoyed me is the media and NHK does this all the time and Japanese news does this all the time. It's almost the first news story, it's the infection rate but the real story should be the death rate and the death rate and the mortality rate is extremely low and that's why here in Europe with the death rate of 0.01% people are basically juries completely right. People aren't even taking the fourth vaccination. The government is not saying COVID is over but psychologically and behaviorally people are tired of it. And if I can make one more point Steven you may be interested that Hewlett Packard bought a company called Polly for 3.3 billion dollars just a couple of months ago and Polly focuses in on distance on working at home audio and visual and that is really interesting that has Japan changed its work habits are people still having to go to the office or obligated to go to the office and that certainly has changed in the United States I think fundamentally but in Japan I'd let the people living in Japan answer that I would say no or not yet. Paro do you have any perspective on this? We're teaching now in person at Kansai Gaidae and even though the numbers are high there's no chance of interruption of that there's no possibility of us going to online education again but all the students wear masks in the classroom all the professors wear masks in the classroom my sports club just changed their policy this is Konami guys the Japanese famous one and they no longer require masks in the gym now and guess what 100% of the Japanese people in the gym are still wearing masks it doesn't make any difference the company has said no more it's not necessary everyone is still wearing masks I was quite surprised to see that I just had a class yesterday that focused on the pandemic and East Asia and then at the end of the class I asked the students what do you think of Japan's how Japan has been handling it they said that they think people have been behaving responsibly but maybe a little bit too cautious they wish they could take off their masks like people in Europe and in the US so I found that interesting but I thought people are following all the precautions but they're not necessarily doing so completely out of their own what they would do otherwise so it's maybe social pressure mostly that's what I would conclude as well very interesting aspect of Japanese culture alright guys let's move on to what I think to be one of the major stories and I've done a couple of shows on this already and that has to do with the obvious assassination of course that was a huge shock to the country that alone but then there was a subsequent scandal as to the motivation of the person who killed Abe having to do with Abe's connection to the unification church and then it kind of spun out from that to the incredible number of connections between the ruling party the LDP and other parties in Japan between their organizations and the unification church I think the initial strategy on the part of the LDP was to just hope this story would go away but it hasn't it's been a remarkably powerful story so what are your observations or comments about that maybe I can start with you Jiri on this time you've been watching this it's really interesting isn't it I thought this would go away like so many scandals do in this country but this one is not no it hasn't but the issue of the unification church and politics in Japan generally is not really a new issue here in Japan right I mean the unification church has been around you know for decades and the issue of the unification church has been around for decades and people giving their money to the unification church has been around for decades this is you know it hasn't been as much in the forefront until the the assassination really sort of brought it you know back into people's consciousness so I think it just reflects an ongoing well issue of government interaction and you know it's not that much and like at least knows it from the American perspective it's not unlike you know people talk about for example the involvement of evangelicals or the evangelical church influencing politics and you know that vein nonetheless the assassination really really brought it brought this issue to the fore again at the same time what I would say look I as an American again we tend to put things in our own cultural context you know when I was here I thought okay well this assassination is going to be like a JFK moment of deep reflection and you know shock to the you know the Japanese psyche really hasn't been I mean it hasn't been it hasn't been this huge sort of you know a reckoning of what's wrong with our society you know where where have we got it hasn't resulted in that so that for me was a little bit you know I thought it would actually have more impact but it hasn't and those are just my thoughts yeah I agree with you that story now I mean obviously Abe is remembered and the Jiminto party will have like memorial type of activity but the bigger story for the last what at least three or four months now has been this connection with the unification church that's what's on the daily television programs I don't know how many times I've seen Jiminto politicians in the diet kind of confessing it was like they're admitting that they met on these days and they've received this money it's been almost like a ritual yeah one other point I mean that I also found a little bit surprising was that when they had the they decided to do a state funeral for former prime minister Abe and there were actually people who were saying well he doesn't deserve one you know why are we there was sort of a controversy as to whether or not the state funeral was even warranted for Abe which again was an interesting debate to observe what is your perspective on this what is an interesting phenomenon for us foreigners to look at on the unification church issue I found it very interesting in the political and the Japan times which talked about how the unique structure of the electoral system and how campaigns work makes it susceptible for this kind of involvement so it's not something really that new and as we discussed and I don't think it would be a decisive factor in any big political change but it might fuel lower approval ratings and more discontent with the political system so I don't think it would be decisive but it might contribute to thank you thank you for providing a bridge for me to the next topic and that is Kishida's who is Japan's prime minister continuing low popularity in part because of this unification issue among other challenges that he's faced economic as well the weakening of the end though Paul I know you watch this very carefully is Kishida going to last he seems to be under criticism now by his own party those that are more in the Abe camp are the more conservative part of the LDP Well elections are in schedule until 2025 and so I think I imagine he will last unless there's another scandal or another shock which is not you know impossible the problem of course is a problem for most economies all economies that were affected by COVID is money was borrowed and countries are in debt and is 266% of GDP in debt the highest of any developed country or developing country and how are you going to pay it and this is a tax problem and I know from the 2022 budget that let me remember that Japan that Kishida had to supplement 660 billion yen to prop up social security taxes and they're not going to raise the consumption tax now but I think they're going to raise the corporate tax they're not going to I don't think they're going to raise income tax because that affects everyone but how same in France the same in Britain the same United States more and more in debt this is this is the most type of policy within within any political party who do you tax and how much and what's fair right in the news in the last week or so the prospect of increased taxes in order to fund the dramatic increase in defense spending that's right that maybe it's a legacy of the obvious leadership and so forth because he was very supportive of growing the military and the budgets now are proposed budgets for the defense spending on the part of the government are being doubled and the question to your point Paul is who's going to pay for that how is that going to be paid for is it going to be corporate taxes or personal taxes and all this uncertainty and the prospect of taxes I think is helping to keep Kishida's ratings and the ratings of his cabinet quite low but as I recall there they're somewhere in the 30% range now very very low I think there's a minister of economic security in Japanese politics and he has come out against a tax increase so that's a very public thing to say inside the government by the way have you been following this issue as well um yeah I think that's maybe the most recent development that the this proposal to increase the defense budget and the debate about how to how to pay for it as you said so yeah I think that will be a very difficult choice for the government to make and but I think there are other so there's the influence of former Prime Minister Abe and his faction but they're also the recent international events in East Asia that have fueled so China you once again have provided a segue for me so you're really turning out to be a wonderful guest helping me to move from topic to topic so obviously the increase in defense spending is as a result of the tensions in East Asia primarily with China and the rest of the region so there does seem to be some reaching out on the part of the Kishida government to have a rapprochement between Japan and China but the fact that Japan is raising its defense spending of course is not going to make China very happy and I don't know I haven't seen anything specifically from China on that but I'm sure they're going to be quite critical and bring back the the specter of World War two and all of those those days but I know you're interested in this topic quite a bit you had suggested that we talk about it do you have any insights as to how Japan-China relationship will evolve now that Japan is taking a much more aggressive position when it comes to spending on military right well you know the issue for China is that first of all China because of covid because of the increased militarism because of their perceived support for Russia vis-a-vis the Ukraine war China's image right now among at least the sort of democratic world is at a low and you've also had developments within China again sort of the reshuffling the consolidation by Premier Xi of his power it and you know the lingering issues that were going on before covid including the you know the artificial islands you know the claims about the South China Sea those really haven't subsided and you know the fear is if you don't have efforts by the Japanese government by the US government by other Asian countries we're going to be entering into a cold war here in East Asia which will be very unfortunate I think for everybody here and I think a good thing in Asia is that most of the players here realize that and so hopefully there will be efforts you know again which will also you know include the United States to try to I don't know dial back or again I get I guess the word Rappelsmois is probably the best word to try to less intentions so that we don't you know slide back into a you know a cold war mentality at least you know vis-a-vis China Russia is a completely different animal I think I don't the relationship that the world is going to have with Russia after the Ukraine war is going to be very different possibly even much worse than with the Soviet Union during the cold war so we'll see those are my thoughts you know Stephen if I could add that you know maybe over the top 10 stories of 2022 it's of course number one is Ukraine I would imagine but it would be the fragility of the supplies of the supply chain and who could possibly survive a Chinese attack invasion of Taiwan what would that do to supply chains and who China is more fragile I think in that regard I don't want to you know maybe then Japan but even in 2022 look at the inflation and the cost of food in Japan that's I think that's on the top of our list. Yeah I agree with you Paul I think it's more dramatic in the states because the numbers are in the 7 to 8% range but it's as a consumer you know someone who goes to the grocery store or Costco or wherever I go I've noticed that the prices have significantly increased and incomes are not increasing in Japan so that's true also in the United States I was reading the prices are going up and incomes are stable or actually trending down so that could create more political tension and then lead to greater criticism or unpopularity of the Kashida government at this point Taro do you have you notice the prices in the local stores in Hidakata going up as well I certainly see that in Kobe Yeah definitely things like vegetables and cheese I think cheese especially seems to have been going up a lot and in terms of China I think there are two like contradictory influences one is the Ukraine as we discussed the Ukraine Russia war is increasing tensions in East Asia and between the US Japan side and the China side but on the other hand it seems like domestic influences of both China and Japan seem to encourage a better economic relationship between China and Japan so it's hard to tell which way it will actually go Yeah Japan is always caught between their economic interests and their number one trading partner which is China has been for many years and the political realities that occur and Japan's strong alliance with the United States and kind of being most of the time locked step with the United States on its political positions and so forth so it found it interesting how the most recent meeting between Kishida and Shi was so positive amid all this other stuff that's going on so maybe that's because of the economic interests between the two countries but Alright we're running out of time we just have a few more minutes left but the last thing I wanted to talk about is Japan's relationship with the United States which of course continues to be quite strong I'm wondering if any of you have a perspective on the recent midterm elections and the fact that the Democrats were able to exceed expectations and hold the Senate barely and unfortunately lost the house so that does seem to provide the context for consistency between Japan and the United States in terms of foreign policy and Biden is still he's not considered a prime duck because he's I don't know if he's responsible but he is being attributed as being part of the reason why the Democrats did well in the midterms so I think that adds a sense of stability perhaps do you guys agree with that perspective that the midterms are actually helpful in terms of maintaining a positive Japan-U.S. relationship going forward at least for the next couple of years or so I'm not sure either the Democrats will have learned either both sides will have learned something from this election neither side will learn something from this election or it will be one and the other and I think there's a lot to be learned when we go to 2024 and I read a poll that now Democrats think 71% of Democrats think that Biden will win in 2024 I'm not sure if that's the correct message from this midterm the country I think from what I've read wants neither Trump or Biden to run in 2024 but that's not in the hands of the American that's in the hands of of other forces I would say the political machinery and so forth and party the contrast would be Biden against Trump we've talked about this before and I think the general perspective is that under Trump although there was a strong relationship between Abe and Trump during his period there was a lot of instability and to kind of chaos and now Biden although maybe not quite as inspiring as you'd like him to be at least it seems stable one factor is our ambassador Rahm Emanuel so I'm hearing through this too they love him I have people telling me that he's been the best ambassador over the last 30 years or so as a former Chicagoan Master Emanuel is the former mayor of Chicago he has a reputation for getting things done he's not an ideal and he is he's very practical and he focuses on the task at hand as opposed to again all these ideological arguments that Democrats and Republicans like to focus on yeah any observations on the US-Japan relationship given the election results in United States and also the fact that his popularity perhaps is so low yeah I think for now the status quo is maintained and I think even though Prime Minister Kishida's approval ratings is declining I think it's still not in the danger zone so especially in terms of foreign policy the status quo will be maintained for the foreseeable future as I can see it alright well we're out of time but I have to you know I remember the McLaughlin report right he always ended with predictions so we don't have time to go into any detail predictions but do you feel that 2023 will be on balance a positive year do I get a thumbs up or a thumbs down in terms of your sense of what's going to happen over the next year so Paul why don't I start with you it has to be a resolution of Ukraine of course and then other dominoes fall from that and whether or not Xi genius is knowing when to stop and China has to understand its limitations it's mismanaging its economy mismanage COVID 20% people are predicting that the Chinese GDP will go down in 2023 wow that'll be shocking that's man-made because of poor policies poor policies in Europe as well so it may get better very very diplomatic response Paul as I would expect how about you Jerry can you be more definitive you're out in the law firm I think on the COVID front I think on the COVID front things will get better I think countries will start to open up I think travel will start to come back to what we think of as normal so on the COVID front yes I do see a positive outlook on the economic and political I would have to agree with Professor Scott that it's going to really depend on what happens both with the Ukraine war as well as with China and that is to be determined all right I'm turning you to you as my last hope for a strong positive response what's your view on next year I think that I think the current trends will generally continue so neither huge improvements nor huge backsliding but I agree that what's going on in China is one of the most important one of the most interesting things all the tough decisions that she has to make about COVID policy as well as the Ukraine situation so and relations with Japan so I'm really looking at that and also if there are any big developments in the war between Russia and Ukraine so but I hope things will continue stably all right okay we'll need to leave it at that thank you very much guys for participating this has been fun really appreciate your perspective your opinions about this so I'll leave it at that thank you very much for our viewers for tuning in really appreciate it and look forward to another episode of looking to the east in the future alright that's a wrap thank you very much guys bye bye everyone thank you so much for watching think tech Hawaii if you like what we do please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo you can also follow us on Facebook Instagram and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktecawaii.com Mahalo


Sphinx cat vs. Maine Coon Cat. What are the differences between these two cat breeds?  His unusual body shape and the physiological and emotional warmth he emits are what attract people to him. Much like an apricot, the hard, muscular body of the Sphinx can be smooth or covered with a fine, soft down. The nose, toes, ears, and tail may also have a light covering of fur. To hug him is to melt into the warmth of his suede-like coat. A Sphinx does not have a higher body temperature than other cats, but it seems like it because there is no fur to serve as insulation. A Maine Coon is a big, rugged cat with a smooth, shaggy coat who looks as if they could put in a full-day mousing on a farm in all-weather conditions. Indeed, they were built for just such work in the harsh Maine climate, and their breed standard reflects their heritage, calling for a medium-sized to large cat with a well-proportioned body that is muscular and broad-chested. A Maine Coon has substantial, medium-length legs and large, round paws, well-tufted with fur to serve as snowshoes during winter. A heavy coat is shorter on the shoulders, longer on the stomach, and britches, the long fur on the upper hind legs, with a rough in front and a long, furry tail waving a greeting. A medium-width head is slightly longer than it is wide and has a squarish muzzle. Large, well-tufted ears are wide at the base, tapering to a point, and large, expressive eyes are green, gold, greenish gold, or copper. White or bi-colored Maine Coons may have blue or odd eyes. It's a good thing that the Sphinx loves attention because he draws it wherever he goes. He is demanding human attention and will do anything for a laugh. Look at me. It's his catchphrase. That makes him easy to handle by veterinarians or anyone else, and it's not unusual for a Sphinx to be a therapy cat since he is so fond of meeting people. When he is not receiving the attention of his adoring fans, the curious and energetic Sphinx is exploring his surroundings, climbing his cat tree or otherwise seeking high places, chasing a bug, or just generally getting into mischief. He is extremely fond of teaser toys and puzzles toys that challenge his athleticism and brains. This is a highly social cat. If you are gone during the day, the Sphinx will enjoy having a friend in the form of another Sphinx, another cat, or even a dog. He likes the company and, equally important, he likes having someone to snuggle with so that he stays warm. He loves to be held, and you can expect him to sleep with you, most likely under the covers? Think of it as having a living hot water bottle. The good-natured and affable Maine Coon adapts well to many lifestyles and personalities. They like being with people and have the habit of following them around, but they aren't needy. They're happy to receive attention when you direct it their way, but if you're busy, they're satisfied to just supervise your doings. Close a door on them and they will wait patiently for you to realize the error of your ways and let them in. They're not typically a lap cat, but they do like to be near you. They also retain their skill as a mouser. No rodents will be safe in a home where a Maine Coon resides. Even if you don't have any mice for them to chase, they'll keep their skills sharp by chasing toys and grabbing them with their big paws.  They can climb as well as any cat but usually prefer to stay on the ground level. That's where their work is, after all. They're also very smart and will happily learn tricks or play with puzzle toys that challenge their brain. Maine Coons usually enjoy a kittenish love of play well into adulthood. Males, especially, are prone to silly behavior. Females are more dignified, but they aren't above a good game of chase. Not especially vocal, they make any requests in a soft chirp or trill. Hello. This video is sponsored by Beemix Pets. Are you looking for high-quality cat collars at an affordable cost? Check out, BeemixPets.com. Use coupon code KittenLife, to get 20% off. Both pedigreed cats and mixed breed cats have varying incidences of health problems that may be genetic in nature. Sphinx and Maine Coons are generally healthy, although the following diseases have been seen in Sphinx. Articaria pigmentosa, a skin disease that causes crusty sores on the body. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease that is inherited in some cat breeds such as the Maine Coon. Heritability has not been proven in the Sphinx. Problems that may affect the Maine Coon include the following. Hip dysplasia, which in severe cases can cause lameness. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease that is inherited in Maine Coons. A DNA-based test is available to identify cats that carry one of the mutations that cause the disease. Polycystic kidney disease, a slowly progressive heritable kidney disease that can result in renal failure. Spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic disorder that affects skeletal muscles of the trunk and limbs. A test is available to identify carriers and affected kittens. Despite his bald body, a Sphinx requires at least as much grooming as cats with fur and maybe even more. Their skin must be kept moisturized with a gentle, scent-free lotion or oil, and they need weekly baths so as not to leave greasy spots on their furniture and clothing. Use a gentle baby shampoo or moisturizing shampoo and rinse thoroughly, especially between the folds of the wrinkles. If you begin bathing your Sphinx kitten while he is young, he will learn to accept and sometimes even enjoy baths. Baby wipes will help to keep him clean between baths. Although the Sphinx feels warm to the touch, he doesn't have a fur coat to keep him warm. If you're cold, he probably is too. Buy him a nice sweater or two to help him retain heat. Despite the length of the Maine Coons coat, it has a silky texture that doesn't mat easily, if you groom it regularly. It is easily cared for with twice-weekly combing to remove dead hair and distribute skin oils. Useful grooming tools include a stainless steel comb for removing tangles, and what's called a grooming rake to pull out the dead undercoat, which is what causes tangles when it's not removed. Use it gently, especially in the stomach area and on the tail. Maine Coons are patient, but they don't like having their hair pulled any more than you do. Check the tail for bits of poop stuck to the fur and clean it off with a baby wipe. Bay the Maine Coon is needed, which can range from every few weeks to every few months. If their coat feels greasy or their fur looks stringy, they need a bath. Brush the teeth to prevent periodonal disease. Daily dental hygiene is best, but weekly brushing is better than nothing. Trim the nails every couple of weeks. Wipe the corners of the eyes with a soft, damp cloth to remove any discharge. Use a separate area of the cloth for each eye so you don't run the risk of spreading any infection. Check the ears weekly. If they look dirty, wipe them out with a cotton ball or soft, damp cloth moistened with a 50-50 mixture of cider vinegar and warm water. Avoid using cotton swabs, which can damage the interior of the ear. Keep their litter box spotlessly clean. Cats are very particular about bathroom hygiene, and a clean litter box will help to keep the coat clean as well. It's a good idea to keep Sphinx and Maine Coon as an indoor-only cat to protect them from diseases spread by other cats, attacks by dogs or coyotes, and the other dangers that face cats who go outdoors, such as being hit by a car. Cats who go outdoors also run the risk of being stolen by someone who would like to have such a beautiful cat without paying for it. The active and social Sphinx and the friendly, laid-back Maine Coon are a perfect choice for families with children and cat-friendly dogs. They learn tricks easily and loves the attention they receive from children who treat them politely and with respect, and they don't mind playing dress up or going for a ride in a baby buggy. They live peacefully with dogs and other cats. Always introduce pets slowly and in controlled circumstances to ensure that they learn to get along together. If you enjoyed this video, kindly press the like button. Also don't forget to subscribe with notifications on, so that you don't miss out on videos like this. Thank you for watching.


It is now time for oral questions. I recognize for Brampton Center. Good morning. My question is to the Premier. Quite rightly, yesterday the Premier sang the praises of the Auditor General for her due diligence and persistence in reviewing the province's books. Yet the Ministry of Finance says they're only adopting the auditor's findings on a, quote, provisional basis. Which is it, Premier? Is the auditor right or is she wrong? Premier. Through you, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member from Brampton Center for such a law ball question. That was very nice. What we're focused on, we're focused on the $15 billion, the $15 billion deficit that the Liberals created in the NDP propped them up, supported them 97% of the time. We're going to have tough decisions, Mr. Speaker, over the next couple of years to get our province back on track, to make sure that every single person is prosperous and has an opportunity for growth. That's what we're going to focus on for the next few years and we look forward to the NDP's support. As they supported the Liberals building up the $15 billion deficit, we'd love their ideas and their support and we're willing to work with them to reduce that $15 billion. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Premier said, I believe what the auditor general was saying. But when we look at the fine print in Gordon Campbell's report, we see the Premier may believe it or he may believe the opposite. It's provisional. As the Premier noted yesterday, the auditor general's views are not new and there has been endless analysis and expert study. What is it that the Premier doesn't understand about the positions taken in the analysis and the positions that they're getting now from the Department of Finance? Through you, Mr. Speaker, unlike the Liberals, we respect the auditor general. We respect working with the auditor general. For the first time in recent memory, everyone's numbers line up, the commission's numbers line up, the auditor general's numbers line up, the finance minister's numbers line up, the Treasury Board numbers line up. And again, I'm asking for the support of the NDP to start being responsible. We are willing to work with the NDP to find efficiencies to put money back into the taxpayer's pocket to make sure we create good-paying jobs and make Ontario the engine of Canada once again. Mr. Speaker, it looks like we're seeing a pattern here. The Premier is surprised by a deficit that no one else finds surprising. Then he agrees wholeheartedly with the auditor, but only provisionally. And then he reserves the right to lower the deficit with the same methods that the Liberals used. When will we know whether the government will actually agree with the auditor before the new select committee, before the fall update, or before the budget, perhaps before the end of their term? I know. Mr. Speaker, I just find it so ironic and so rich coming from the NDP that stood side by side, shoulder to shoulder, propped up the Liberals, and similar to the leader of the NDP yesterday saying, this is not a surprise. My question to the NDP is, what were you doing for the last four years to speak out against this reckless spending? Next question. The member for Tamiskaming Cochrane. Speaker, my question is to the Premier. Yesterday, the Premier was asked if he would stand up in this House and denounce the extreme views of Faith Goldie. Candidate for Mayor of Toronto and Neo-Nazi sympathizer, who the Premier posed for photos with over the weekend. The Premier refused two opportunities to condemn Ms. Goldie's views yesterday, so I'll ask again, will the Premier unequivocally denounce Faith Goldie and apologize for appearing in a photo that is now being used as a de facto endorsement of her campaign by the Premier of our province? Premier.  I totally denounce. I repeat, denounce, denounce, denounce. Anyone who wants to talk hate speech, and you know what I find ironic? I didn't hear the leader of the opposition during the election denounce her members, but you know something? We denounce it. We have zero tolerance for any hate speech. We won't put up with it. The opposition wants to play politics. They want to change the channel. They want to change the channel about the $15 billion deficit. How they propped up the NDP, wasted billions of dollars, voted with them 97% of the time. They don't want to be held accountable. But guess what? You aren't walking away scot-free. I'll tell you that. Thank you. Supplementary. This shouldn't be that hard. This is the woman who appeared on a white supremacist podcast and said she saluted the neo-Nazi hosts for showing up in hordes to a rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina. That would be the same Unite the Right rally where white supremacists drove his car into the crowd, murdering one woman and injuring 19 others. I will ask again, Speaker, will the Premier unequivocally denounce Faith Goldie and apologize? Through you, Mr. Speaker. Again, again. I don't know how much clearer I can be here. I denounce every single comment from anyone, including your party during the election, which was disgusting. And I find it pretty rich they're throwing stones in the glass house, boulders in the glass house, that some of the members are over there. It's actually disgusting comments. I denounce all hate speech. It's zero tolerance. I think it's disgusting anyone who wants to talk that way. I know you have three questions. Just keep them coming. No supplementary. People are looking to you for leadership. I know things get heated in this place and we like to score points.  You need to say her name, Premier, that you do not endorse her. Premier, can you do that? Well, after saying it five times, Mr. Speaker, they want to play politics. They want to change the channel. They want to keep this going, but I'll tell you what's not going to change the channel is a $15 billion deficit. The $15 billion that they squandered, they turned their back as the Liberals were out of control. The worst political corruption I've ever seen in my life and the NDP stood by them. Stood by them while they were making backroom deals. Stood by them while they were wasting the taxpayers' money without any concern whatsoever. That is terrible. That is disrespectful to the taxpayers and we won't tolerate that whatsoever. Next question. Member for Hamilton West and Custer Dundas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning. Families are hearing a lot of talk about doing things differently at Queen's Park, but they're seeing a lot of questions. Oh, pardon me. To the Premier. Question period. Thank you. Looking for an answer. Looking for an answer, I guess. But first the Premier claimed to be shocked by a deficit that wasn't surprising to anyone. Then he said he agreed with the auditor for now, but reserved the right to disagree with her later. Now they're striking a committee to look into the province's financial decision making, but if only it involves the last government. If the government is truly interested in transparency, will the new select committee be able to look into decisions since the election, since this government has been elected, as well as before them? Mr. Speaker, Treasury Board. President of the Treasury Board. Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the member opposite for the question. You know, we've worked really hard to restore trust and accountability to government's finances and put an end to more than a decade of liberal mismanagement. You know, we've first started to hear how sobering the situation is through the Commission of Inquire, through our public accounts and through our now released line-by-line audit. But what we have heard, and it's from the auditor general and from the financial accountability officer, that there were things done that this government has to hold people accountable for. And not my words, Mr. Speaker, but the auditors and the other third parties have said that we need to get answers. And we are going to move forward to get those answers through the select committee that the Premier has launched in with the full support of this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Premier again, so here's what families are afraid of. The Premier is setting the stage for deep and painful cuts to our schools, to our hospitals and the service that we all rely on. And he's going to complain that the deficit made him do it. If the Premier is really interested in transparency, he'd be interested in getting all of the facts, not just the facts that help his party. Why should families believe the Premier when he refuses to do that? Mr. Speaker, again, we promise to restore accountability and transparency to government finances and put an end to more than a decade of liberal mismanagement propped up by the opposition. And I'm pleased to announce that the line-by-line audit today was completed on time and on budget. The truth is, Mr. Speaker, the Liberals left the people of Ontario with a legacy of debt that has put at risk the prosperity of future generations. The line-by-line revealed that total expenditures have grown over 50% since 2003. Growth in expenditures has outstripped the growth in population. Mr. Speaker, I stand here today to tell this House that fiscal mismanagement and obfuscation are things of the past and that today is a new day for Ontario. Next question, the Member for Carleton. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. According to an Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences report, suicide rates in Northern Ontario were six times higher than the provincial average, whereas Southern Ontario was comparable to the provincial average. Furthermore, suicide rates in Canada are five to seven times higher for First Nations youth than for non-Indigenous youth. Today, the Chief Coroner of Ontario's expert panel report on residential housing deaths was released. The safety and security of children is of the utmost important to us all. Could the Minister tell this House what steps are being taken to ensure incidents like this are never repeated? Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Member for Carleton for her advocacy on suicide prevention and for her compassion here today. I'd like to thank the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario and the expert panel for putting up this report and the recommendations. The experience of the children outlined in this report are heartbreaking. The death of a child, particularly in care, is unacceptable. My heart goes out to the families, the loved ones and communities affected by these tragedies. The deaths are unacceptable and I'm going to take immediate action. We need to do more to make sure children are safe and cared for. If a child dies, someone is responsible. We must improve coordination among service providers as well as throughout our ministries. I'm currently engaging with the Ontario Child Advocate, the Coroner, Indigenous community leaders as well as the LGBTQ leaders. From the CASs to group homes to my ministry, we all bear some responsibility. And I want to ensure the House that as the new Minister, the buck stops with me and I will take action. Thank you. Through you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister. I understand that mental health services available to children in care are often limited or ineffective. Through you, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please clarify what steps are being taken to give our most vulnerable more support when they need it the most? Minister. Thank you. Thank you very much. The experiences of the young people described in this report were very difficult for me to read and it was a very difficult briefing from the Coroner last week. Our government will take action to bring systemic changes to the residential services system. Together with partners from the child welfare sector, Indigenous communities, LGBTQ2S partners and the Ministers of Health, Education and Indigenous Affairs, we will take a collective approach to help residential placements and coordination between government agencies. So let me be perfectly clear. I'm going to take immediate action to put in place better screening protocols for youth who are at risk and who need help. I'll issue a directive to the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, CAS and group homes to put the child first. It's not about checklists. It's about taking responsibilities for a child's well-being. And we're going to continue to improve inspections to lay out clear lines of responsibility and ensure supports are in place. And finally, we'll support youth and their workers to access mental health services and resources when and where they are needed. But let me be perfectly clear. This government for the people will put children in care first. Thank you. Next question, the member for Nickel Belt. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Health and Long-term Care. Mr. Finance, all Ontarians, that we will have to make sacrifices. But we have seniors living in long-term care homes whose safety may be at risk because of chronic underfunding. Does the Minister believe that the frail elderly people living in our long-term care homes should be making sacrifices? Mr. Health and Long-term Care. I thank the member opposite to the question. Of course, we value the contributions that have been made by our seniors. And we know that they deserve to live out their lives in peace and comfort and with the best possible care. Now, we know that there is an inquiry ongoing with respect to what has happened in some long-term care home with Ms. Wettlaufer. And we are awaiting the final report. I know that the families gave some testimony in the last few days, which was heart-wrenching and tragic. And we know that there are going to be recommendations forthcoming. We await those recommendations and we'll take them very seriously when they come forward. Supplementary. The Conservative Party seems to have coffee some of the NDP commitment, promising to end hallway medicine, promising to add thousands of long-term care beds. But to date, all we've seen is a wait and see. That means sweeping the problems that we have in our long-term care homes under the rug. The tragedy being uncovered by the Wettlaufer Inquiry shows that we cannot continue to ignore what's going on. We need to expand the Wettlaufer Inquiry to examine the systemic issues in our long-term care homes. Will the government commit today to expanding the Wettlaufer Inquiry so that everybody understand the challenges in our long-term care system before taking any more services that our frail elderly long-term care residents need? The Wettlaufer Inquiry is well underway and, in fact, is nearing the end of its hearings. There is more work that they are going to have to do to come forward with their recommendations. But that doesn't mean that we aren't doing anything in the Ministry of Health. Of course we are. We're looking at the situation. First of all, it was one of our campaign promises that we were going to increase the number of long-term care beds because we know there are over 30,000 people right now waiting for spaces. So we are actively working on creating 15,000 beds in the first five years. That is something that I deal with almost on a daily basis in the Ministry of Health. But there are other issues that we have to consider too, which is the staffing in those long-term care homes. We know that there's a shortage of personal support workers right now. There's a lot of personal support workers that are being asked to do jobs that they weren't initially trained for. So we're looking at what the issues are there, trying to fix them to make sure that when those beds are opened, there will be people that are able to work there as well. Thank you. Next question, the member from Mrs. Auguste Center. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Attorney General and Minister of Francophone Affairs. This day we celebrate the day of Franco-Otteria men and women. There was a lunch this morning and with the raising of the flag at Queensborough with Francophones and students representing two Francophone school boards. I ask the Minister what the government will do to have better access to French services. The Minister is responsible for the Francophone Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to thank my colleague of Mrs. Saga Center. For our question in French, we celebrate the Francophone history today. We will do all the efforts possible to target our measures to increase services in Ontario. I work with my colleagues within the Ministry to increase services in French, in health, education, and also in immigration to support all the people in this province, big French, services to elders, also a priority. And following the pilot project in Ottawa who provides services in French, we will try to reproduce this project throughout the court system in Ontario. Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Speaker, Francophonie is vibrant in Ontario and the number of Francophones increases. I was very proud to welcome members of the Francophonie Association and their presentation. While we celebrate Francophonie in Ontario, the Minister informed the Chamber to support Francophonie in Ontario. Minister, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our government will reduce and increase French services in Ontario. We will consult with entrepreneurs and businesses who do business in France together and will identify the obstacles to businesses and doesn't help in creating jobs for Francophones. We will develop a strategy on our bilingual workforce. It is clear that the past policies didn't work. We will find solutions. We will study how we can modernize the law on French services to make sure it is the reality of today. We will review EGAL, also the designation process to make it more. There is a new dawn in Ontario for the Francophone community in Ontario. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Education. Ontario's parents and students are already struggling with the consequences of decades of cuts and underfunding to our education system under both liberal and conservative governments. With the government setting the stage for even deeper cuts, they are right to be concerned. Will the Minister of Education tell us exactly what sacrifices, using the government's own words, parents, students and educators will be asked to make next? Thank you very much, Speaker. I think it is really rich the narrative that this party across the way is trying to create, because we campaigned on a mandate that we have been successful in pursuing, and that is doing everything we can to support our front lines. That includes our teachers in the classroom. That includes our education assistants, and that includes our students and parents. We are absolutely committed to respecting parents and delivering on our promise to ensure that our students are on the best course to success. And the narrative that this party opposite is trying to create just needs to stop. People through the weeks have been defining the acronym NDP in many different ways. Well, today I would like to suggest, Speaker, that it is the new democratic propaganda. It just needs to stop. Start the clock. Next question. Mr. Speaker, we will not stop. We will not stop. I can guarantee you that. Because you are, Mr. Speaker, while children wear winter coats in class because the heat doesn't work and wait months and years for special education and mental health support, this government can only offer one solution, and we know what's coming, more cuts. Will the Minister of Education be upfront with parents and let them know exactly what cuts they can expect? Will it be school closures? Will it be firing teachers? Educational assistance? Cuts to support for special needs students? We will not stop asking these questions. People deserve to know. Educators deserve to know. Parents deserve to know. Students deserve to know. Thank you. Minister, she's angry than angry. Thank you very much, Speaker. You know, what I suggested was the propaganda stop, not the questions because the reality is the new Democratic Party, the opposition party here is trying to scare people into believing the sky is falling. For instance, the GGGRF funds, the funds that were earmarked to replace light bulbs and to renew schools. The fact of the matter is that money was already out. Out of the $100 million through the GGGRF fund, $95.4 million was already subscribed to, and they were trying to describe the sky as well. They are a propaganda party. This obligation to provide the best learning environment possible for teachers, students, and respecting our parents every step of the way. Order. Start the clock. Next question, the member for Orléans. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Francophone Affairs Minister. We said earlier this is the day of Francophone Italian men and women and in many cities or communities like Orléans, Francophone organizations celebrate their Francophonie. And I wish to thank ACFO and all other organizations who were present at the raising of the flag and at the breakfast as well. Often they are organizations who don't have inadequate budgets and recognizing that these organizations are very important. And will the Minister commit to maintain support programs through Francophone Italians for activities and events with all Francophones throughout the province? Minister of Francophone Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I wish to thank the deputy, the member for his question on a very important day and very proud that our government will support Franco-Ontarians men and women. It's very important, first of all, that Francophones and Francophon have access to services in French. It's a priority. I will work with all ministers in education and health and immigration, all my colleagues to make sure to improve access to Francophone and Francophone services in Ontario complementary. The question was not really answered, but I'm very proud that the government will support Francophonie. We recognize the importance and the strength of Francophone Italians, men and women, throughout the province. And it's not always, it doesn't stop here. The support and representation have increased over the year. That's why I want to know what is the position of the Minister of all membership of the Ontario to International Francophonie Association. Will she maintain this? The province membership. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The priority of this government is to support Franco-Ontarian men and women in Ontario. The membership to international organization, we are an observer member. We want results. Taking into account the fiscal situation of Ontario, we will first of all support services to Francophone and Francophones in Ontario. Our government is represented by the federal government and we will ask the federal government to present us in Armenia. We have a lot of work to do to support Franco-Ontarian men and women. This is what I'm committing to do. Mr. Speaker, our government promised that the people of Ontario that we would restore trust and accountability to government. Under the previous Liberal government, spending spiral out of control as they mismanaged the public finances, made up their own accounting rules and created non-transparent accounting schemes. In fact, Mr. Speaker, it was because of the hard work and decisive action of this government that a clean audit opinion to the public accounts for the first time in three years. That was one part of the promise kept. Promises made. And another promise that this government made was to conduct a line-by-line audit of public sector spending. Mr. Speaker, can the President of the Treasury Board please update this House as to the status of the line-by-line audit? Thank you. The President of the Treasury Board. Thank you for the question. Mr. Speaker, we promise to restore trust and accountability and transparency to government finances and put an end to more than a decade of Liberal mismanagement. As I said earlier, I'm pleased to announce today that the high quality line-by-line audit was completed on budget and on time, and is now public. Promise made. The truth is, Mr. Speaker, the Liberals left the people of Ontario with a legacy of debt that has put at risk the prosperity of current and future generations. This is the sobering truth. We need to restore trust and accountability, which includes transparency. That's why we made the documents public. And we are moving forward with the line-by-line plan where we are going to modernise and transform government. Mr. Speaker, I stand here to tell you that this House is going to move forward and that the things of the past are out, and help is on its way. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank the President of the Treasury Board for this answer as my question was directed to him earlier. Mr. Speaker, under the Liberals, Ontario accumulated the highest sub-national debt of any jurisdiction in the world at $338 billion. On the current path, our shared prosperity is not assured. Action must be taken. Mr. Speaker, can the President of the Treasury Board please inform this House how the line-by-line audit will help us transform government into a modern institution that serves the people and by so doing, create a more sustainable Ontario for this and future generations? President of the Treasury Board. I thank the member from Mississaugas, Cooksville, for that very moving question. Mr. Speaker, and I'm glad to hear the member opposite from the opposition agree that we can agree on one thing, which is that the debt at $338 billion is unsustainable, so thank you for supporting us on that. Mr. Speaker, the intent of the audit was to provide advice that Ontario needs to end the culture of waste and mismanagement and provide the government with a way forward. The line-by-line review will help us change government for the better and change it for the people. Who, by the way, submitted more than 26,000 ideas. 26,000 ideas. And I'm still sure that a couple came in from the other side. We're going to modernize this government through four ways, through modernizing services. Two, secondly, through finding more cost-efficient ways of administering government. Three, by ensuring government funding is directed to those who need it most. And finally, by maximizing the value of government assets. Mr. Speaker. Thank you. The member for Brampton North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. Sadly, Mr. Speaker, yesterday marked Toronto's 80th homicide which now mirrors 2005's Year of the Gun. What this underscores is the urgent need for this government to address gun violence in Toronto. This government needs to invest in the root causes of violence so that we can all enjoy freedom from the fear of crime and violence. So my question, Mr. Speaker, will this government commit to making community safety a priority? For Community Safety and Correctional Services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker and thank you for that question. Our government is taking action to help combat guns and gang violence and restore public confidence and ensure our streets and communities are safe. Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign we promised to restore the $12 million in funding that the previous government cut from the fight against guns and gangs. Additionally, we committed $25 million a promise that was made, a promise that was kept. In fact, our government doubled its commitment. This investment is vital as a first step in combating violence. Disrupting gag activity and cracking down on the trafficking of illegal guns in this province. Unlike the members from the official opposition, we have continually who have continually insulted our police services. We are standing behind them and going to provide the tools to them to be able to do their jobs effectively in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, just to let you know, our government, we stand behind the police and we definitely will not insult the police. Mr. Speaker, in light of the line by line audit, police are looming with this government, especially as we still don't know how the $47 million promise to support Black Youth Action Plan has gone. Cuts to much needed community services and programs in communities will only make matters worse. Report after report reveal that the key to addressing gun violence is better community supports. Mr. Speaker, will the government not eliminate these essential programs to counter gun violence? Mr. Speaker, once again our commitment is to ensure that the police have the tools to be able to do their jobs. In addition to that and in fact the Minister of Community Services has invested half a million dollars in Ottawa to assist with racialized communities. In addition to that we are working on a government approach, a total government approach to look into the issues that underlie the issues of gangs and gun violence. We've discussed this before in the House and we are working together with the Ministry of Health with the Attorney General with the Minister of Housing with the Minister of Youth and Community Services to provide a solution that reaches out into all aspects of the community because we all know on this side that the right to do is to invest in all the ministries and unlike the other government that blew 15 billion dollars and left Thank you. Thank you Mr. Speaker to the Minister of Finance from an intergenerational perspective the last 15 budgets in this province have been the most unfair in our history. Unfair to rack up the largest in the world. Unfair to spend a billion dollars per month on servicing the debt rather than investing in jobs training and post-secondary education. Mr. Speaker it is unfair that every single child born in this province today automatically carries with them a debt load of $24,000. Mr. Speaker my nieces deserve better and so does every child in this province. On this side of the House we believe saddling the next generation with billions and billions is not compassionate nor is it morally defensible. It is wrong and under the leadership of this Premier it will end. Mr. Speaker can the Minister of Finance reaffirm that he will restore accountability for our young people and end the intergenerational theft once and for all. Thank you Mr. Speaker and thank you to the member from King Vaughn under the cover of empty promises the previous Liberal government mortgaged the future of our children our grandchildren and their children and the worst part the previous government is taking no responsibility for the accounting schemes they created this is more than about the numbers this is about accountability and trust the Auditor General was very clear in talking about the Liberal Government she said and I quote it is clear that the Government's intention creating the accounting financing scheme design was to avoid affecting it's a fiscal plan Speaker the Liberals knew what they were doing and the select committee will make sure we all knew what they were doing we're doing so with the full trust and confidence of the public and it's about time this happened Mr. Speaker we start the call supplementary Through you Speaker back to the Minister of Finance committed to ensuring that every child can achieve their full God-given potential thank you Minister under the former Liberal government our young people paid the price while taxes rose income stagnated while the size of government expanded youth employment contracted while household debt grew provincial debt skyrocketed Mr. Speaker the Liberal legacy in a word can be summarized as unfair unfair to those who long for income and social mobility to our young people who aspire to succeed in this country Mr. Speaker let us be clear the intergenerational unfairness by the former Liberal government undermines the prosperity future generations and our children all of our children and grandchildren deserve better Mr. Speaker can the Minister align how our government is changing the trajectory for the better and bringing back a spirit of hope into our young people Thank you Speaker I'll tell you exactly what we're doing to make this right with our intention to form a select committee of financial transparency this morning the disastrous record of failed policy decisions of the previous Liberal government was laid bare for all to hear not only did the Liberal government avoid showing us the true numbers Speaker they knew their accounting scheme would cost the taxpayers a further $4 billion in interest just to keep their numbers secret $4 billion in more money and the Liberals knew about it now the select committee will ensure that everyone knows about it Speaker that's the first step in restoring accountability and trust in this government for today and for generations to come only then Speaker can we move on Member for Don Valley East come to order Mr. Transportation come to order Start the clock Member for St. Catharines Thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the Minister of Environment Port Weller is a wonderful community in St. Catharines I want to speak about the concerns about the people of Port Weller they are having regarding a substance called clinker dust there are documents of health risk when exposed to this dust it has been piled in Port Weller Marina Terminal for well over a year now while this toxic dust is piled up the winds carried across the neighborhoods coding people's homes and green spaces will the Minister commit to ensuring the safety of the Port Weller residents by ordering the dust to be contained while being transported removed and being removed from the site immediately for the environment conservation parks Mr. Speaker thank you for the question the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks takes all of these concerns very seriously part of our commitment is to clean air, clean water and clean land and that's a challenge we face every day I'm familiar with the situation I'd be happy to speak to the members specifically about it and to make sure that I'm apprised of all the details but I can assure you the Ministry is aware of the situation and we'll be taking the appropriate actions Thank you Thank you Mr. Speaker it goes without saying that the most essential issue at hand is ensuring the health of the people this clinker dust is certainly a health and safety issue it is also a matter of citizens of the Port Weller area losing their quality of life property values are decreasing and the people can't sell their homes in this area residents have expressed that because the clinker dust they can no longer enjoy the community within St. Catherine's will the Minister commit to engaging with the residents local government of St. Catherine's and the relevant authorities to put a stop to the clinker dust plaguing the Port Weller community within St. Catherine's Minister Mr. Speaker and through to the member and I appreciate her advocacy on behalf of our community the Ministry is engaged will stay engaged again I'd be happy to get from you directly the ways that you think that we can be helpful and that I can be helpful but this is true you're right about the health and safety concerns obviously we on this side as well are very concerned about anything that affects the health and safety of Ontario residents but thank you Thank you next question Thank you very much Mr. Speaker and the Minister of Energy last week 15 years of bad energy decisions came to an end as our government repealed the Green Energy Act Mr. Speaker I know that the mismanagement of the former government created this mess and I am happy that we are taking steps to clean it up the Green Energy Act is one of those bad decisions and I know repealing is the right decision for the people Can the Minister of Energy please explain to the members of this House why it is so important to repeal the Green Energy Act Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker he sure can and I want to thank the member for Chatham Kent Leamington for his important question Mr. Speaker the government has made it clear that we take our duty to consult very seriously what has occurred with the Green Energy Act that allowed the previous Liberal government to ram wasteful green energy projects into communities who didn't want them for a province that didn't need them Mr. Speaker sadly Mr. Speaker we've learned a few more things in the past couple of days about this act and actions that we've taken in the past to deal with a $15 billion sinkhole sadly colleagues through you Mr. Speaker this is in large part due to poor policy decision making of the previous Liberal government when it came to energy we're going to take action Mr. Speaker that reduces the energy bills of families, small businesses and large employers in this province on our plan to prosperity thank you Mr. Speaker I'd like to thank Minister Rickford for championing the important bill and standing up for the people of Ontario Mr. Speaker I am pleased to know that municipalities especially in my writing won't be forced to house green energy contracts for energy our system simply does not need giving power back to the people is one of our government's most important promises Mr. Speaker I am delighted to know that our government is making good on that promise could the minister please tell the members again of this house how repealing the green energy act is going to help rural communities thank you Mr. Speaker and it's clear that the official opposition party are madder than a bunch of stomped on pole cats because in the race to June 7 the people of Ontario weren't buying into the invitation to jump into the spendy p-mobile Mr. Speaker I am delighted to know that we have a lot of people who are struggling with tackling big issues it had no plan it couldn't see a clear path to the finish line the plan for prosperity Mr. Speaker big governments big spending expensive fuel the largest carbon tax in the world and a track record Mr. Speaker of propping up the liberals 97% of the time they choose they chose team Ford Mr. Speaker the previous liberal party included now $15 billion worth of debt is no ordinary speed bump Mr. Speaker but they have the confidence in our team to take it across the finish line and put Ontario back on the podium Mr. Speaker as Canada's as Ontario is getting to the panel restart the clock next question the member for us thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the minister of transport transportation Mr. Speaker made a promise to my community and that of the member of Chatham Ken Leamington that he would begin the twinning of highway 3 the third and final phase he said that he would do this quote not a year down the road but immediately accidents and road closures are continuing and help is not coming meanwhile the premier has found the time to immediately meddle in the elections at Toronto City Hall he's immediately cut school repair funding and he's immediately appointed friends and insiders to patronage positions Mr. Speaker can the minister tell the people of Essex County why he's broken his promise to immediately begin the construction of the third and final phase of the widening of highway 3 the minister of transportation Mr. Speaker and I want to thank the member for his question and I recognize that he has been an advocate for this forlaning for some time and the premier made it clear that this is a project that our government considers to be a priority there are highway projects all across this province highway safety is always and will always be the number one priority in my ministry of transportation so I would ask the member to be patient this government has been just a few short months ago and we are currently in the process of determining our next ten-year highway capital projects highway capital plan and I would ask the member to look forward to talking to him more about this but we have projects all across this province that we are committed to and we are absolutely highway 3 is one of those projects that my premier and I consider to be a priority project and the safety of people who drive on that highway every day that is not something we have forgotten about and it is still very much on top of mind thank you supplementary Speaker the minister of transportation asks my community and that of Chatham Kent Leamington to be patient we have waited for 16 years people are dying on this roadway there is no more time for patients we need this project done and completed now speaker the premier and the minister of transportation we have a unique understanding of the word immediately speaker promises made promises broken obviously speaker my community wants to know exactly when exactly when we can expect this government to begin the twinning of highway 3 give us a date right now we have run out of patients Minister take your seats the minister well for the benefit of the member of am I good to go speaker for the benefit well it wasn't for the benefit of the member from Windsor to come see let me make this crystal clear the widening of the highway 3 is a priority for our government unlike the previous government that has saddled us with a $340 billion debt and a hidden $50 billion deficit the widening of highway 3 for this government is a priority I recognize you waited 16 years under the previous government you won't be waiting 16 years under this government let me repeat myself the safety of every resident and every member of the motoring public in this province is our highest priority widening highway 3 remains as one of those priorities and I look forward to chatting with the member on a personal basis on this matter next question the member for Northumberland Peterborough south thank you Mr. Speaker my question today is for the minister of community safety and correctional services yesterday the London free press reported that Terry Lynn the woman convicted of the kidnapping, rape and murder of 8 year old Tory Stafford a young girl from Woodstock to a healing lodge in Saskatchewan as a member of this government I am shocked and outraged that such a decision could come under the federal government to release this dangerous individual from prison it is simply wrong and morally reprehensible to the minister what actions will you take to ensure that the decision can be corrected minister of community safety I would like to thank the member from Northumberland Peterborough south this matter came to my attention this morning Mr. Speaker and as a member of this government we take community safety and correctional systems seriously I am also shocked and disappointed that such a decision could be made by our federal government our government has remained committed to improving our community safety and correctional services decisions like this made by our federal government can seriously impact the public's confidence in our correctional systems rest assured Mr. Speaker that I will make sure that we remain in contact with our federal government and also discuss this issue with our Attorney General to ensure that closure can be brought to the family of Tory Stafford and to ensure that justice can be delivered my ministry will continue to monitor this matter as it unfolds to see what we can do in this unfortunate situation that was created by the federal government and try to correct what has been done thank you supplementary thank you to the minister for that answer after such a tragic shocking event that shook those in the community of Woodstock Ontario the family of Tory Stafford deserves closure on how justice will now be served for the horrendous crime committed after originally serving in a multi-level security prison Terry Lynn McClintock is now being transferred to a minimum medium security healing lodge with more relaxed and independent quarters what is the minister going to do Mr. Speaker to ensure that sentencing for heinous criminals is carried out in full as is intended Minister Mr. Speaker I refer this to the minister of agriculture thank you I'd like to thank the member for the question to the minister for the correctional services I'm shocked and saddened to hear about the unfortunate news and the change of direction by the federal government I would like to express my thoughts first and foremost rest with the family of Tory Stafford and the community of Woodstock in my riding as the member from Oxford I want to let the member know that I will be writing a letter to the federal government immediately asking why such a decision could possibly be made that the minister of community and safety and correctional services will do everything in his power to encourage the federal government to reverse this decision and bring justice to the family of Tory Stafford thank you next question the member for Algoma Manitoulas thank you speaker my question is to the premier premier here on Central Railway is in need of funding before the end of December to ensure its survival during the campaign the premier passed his support for here on Central Railway and said the money could come from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund New Democrats and progressive concerted were on the board to save the railway so if the issue is a priority for this government and not a partisan issue why is it so difficult for the member of Suisse Marie to arrange a meeting between the ministers and representatives of here on Central Railway Task Force premier minister of energy minister of energy and I thank the member for his question and I thank the member from Suisse Marie for his hard work on behalf not just of Suisse Marie but across Northern Ontario he's doing a great job he like myself and all of our colleagues here understand the priorities for Northern Ontario moving forward we need a dynamic transportation network we have training matters on the table we have train opportunities and challenges frankly on the horizon we're going to make good decisions that benefit all of Northern Ontario in its vastness and I can assure the member opposite that not too distant future we'll be rolling out a series of decisions and announcements with respect to how Northern Ontario can contribute to an economy for Ontario that will help break down this $15 billion deficit this same response created by the Liberal Party of Ontario in their previous status as a government thank you Clemente again to the premier he and his team recognize that during the campaign that ensuring the survival of the railroad was crucial to the economy and well-being of Northern will the Conservative government follow through with their promise will they accept or will they let thousands thousands of jobs to be lost in Northern Ontario Minister well thank you Mr. Speaker I find it rich for somebody from the NDP to talk about the loss of jobs just think of what would have happened if the NDP had won the last election how many people from the nuclear sector would have been cut loose I'll make no apologies in this place Minister to stand up for mining jobs to stand up for forestry jobs to stand up for agriculture to ensure that we have the right transportation networks that meets the needs of our communities and that contributes to an economy in Northern Ontario that will help break down this $15 billion sinkhole of debt that was created by the previous Liberal government and propped up by the new democratic proppers Mr. Speaker Member for Bruce Greyhill and Sound thank you very much Mr. Speaker I'd like to direct my question to the government house leader it's my understanding that the Liberal government is actually putting in some reason amendments and I'd like the minister to ask why they're actually delaying the natural gas expansion that the province has been waiting for for 15 years under their leadership that's a very good question that's a really good question to the member from Bruce Greyhill and Sound you know I can't understand why the current Liberal independent members would try and hold up something that they promised before the 2014 election that would be to expand natural gas into rural Ontario now for four years they got nothing done on that promise Mr. Speaker and I'd like to give full credit to the minister of infrastructure the minister of energy the minister of agriculture and of course our premier and entire team here things done thank you Mr. Speaker from their communities which would bring down the cost of energy for them and their businesses their agribusinesses the agriculture sector which is driving our economy here and on this question period to an end I beg to inform the house that pursuant to standing order 98c a change has been made to the order of precedence on the ballot list for private members public business such that Mr. Sakaria assumes ballot item number 99 I understand the minister of training colleges and universities has a point of order thank you I am thank you Mr. Speaker I am rising in the chamber today on a turn from Canada Carlton where we had a devastating tornado and multiple tornadoes now on Friday and I want to give thanks to everyone who's been helping our communities repair and deal with those people affected and I want to first thank the first responders who've done an amazing job being on site and continuing to help us and support our communities I want to acknowledge the volunteers the people who have donated the people who have supported our community in their time of need and to help get us back on our feet and I want to thank minister Clark and the premier for being so swift in their response with the disaster recovery activation program thank you thank you and I hope that all of you will keep the people of my community in your thoughts and prayers as we move forward with courage and resiliency thank you thank you very much there being no deferred votes this house stands in recess until 3pm this afternoon


When I first started making websites, actually getting it on the internet was just such a pain.  Of course, unless you're using like GeoCities or something, but it's a whole other topic for another day. But also you had to use like an FTP client. And then the first few times you're in there, it was always a bit of a nightmare. And even just like keeping up to date with stuff, even if you had like version control going and stuff, you're updating there, but then you're getting your files and having to update them through the FTP client. It was just a mess. It sucked.  It's so amazing. It's so awesome. And that's what we're gonna be looking at in this video. Hi there, my friend and friends. And welcome back to the channel. I'm so glad that you've come to join me once again. And if you're new to my channel, my name is Kevin. And here at my channel, we learn how to make the web and how to make it look good with weekly tips, tricks and tutorials. Normally I'm focusing on the wonderful world that is CSS, but today we're breaking away from that a little bit to take a look at how we can get our projects online for the world to see. And in this case, we're gonna be looking at how we can do it for free. To do that, I'm gonna be looking at a workflow we can have with GitHub and Netlify. Now these days there are also other options out there, but this is what I use for my own personal site as well as a lot of my projects. So I wanna share with you how it works, why I love it so much and just how easy it is to do. Now before we get into it, I just do wanna mention a couple of important notes. The first thing is with Netlify or a lot of these other free options that are out there, it is for static sites only, but that doesn't mean that it's just a regular HTML CSS JavaScript file. That's what we'll look at in this example. But my own personal site as well as other ones that I built are running with CMSs. They're built with static site generators which can end up with a really powerful site that can do a lot of things that you'd think you'd need something more robust for. Works wonderfully. It's all static at the end of the day, which means it's very fast for the user, which is very good for everybody. The other thing is I'd mentioned it before, but for this video, I'm gonna be using Netlify and GitHub. There are other options out there. And as we're gonna see in this video, you don't only have to be using GitHub to use it with Netlify. The other really important thing here, because I know I'm gonna get asked about it, the hosting side of things is free, but you still need to pay for your domain name. Now you can get a .netlify.app one for free. You can even customize that as we're gonna see. But if you want a www.yourname.com, then you will have to purchase that. You can purchase it either directly through Netlify or through a third party, which is what I've done and just set it up through them. It's really easy to do. All right, with all of those caveats out of the way, let's jump in. All right, so the very first thing you're going to have to do for the workflow that I'm gonna use in this video is to have your project up on GitHub. Now, if you don't wanna take that step and you wanna just have like a local file on your computer that you're throwing in there, I have covered that in a previous video. There's a card popping up for it now and I've linked to it in the description as well. It's just easy peasy to do it that way, but the advantage with this is you can take advantage of, you're probably using GitHub for version control on your project anyway and it doesn't have to be GitHub. It can be a site like Bitbucket or there's other ones too. I can't think of them all off the top of my head right now because I use GitHub for it. So you can see I have this project here in GitHub and the next thing I'm gonna do is jump on over to Netlify. So I already have an account on Netlify, so I can log in if you don't have one. You can sign up, obviously. Their site's really changed since the last time I was there and you can log in with GitHub. You don't have to make an account directly with them, which is what I have done. So that also makes it easier because you'll be integrated with GitHub right away. And you can see I'm hosting my own personal site and my core sites and a whole bunch of other stuff through this. So it's useful for a whole bunch of things. I actually have a custom CMS running on my own personal site but it's all done for the static site generator 11e. So it just works super well. There is pricing plans within Netlify. I've never had to use one. I've never even come close to hitting any of the things where I'd have to pay for something. So you can host your stuff for free for sure. I'm gonna go here to new site from Git and I'm gonna click on that and here you can see GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket. So you can choose any of those and it's continuous deployment which is just absolutely amazing. So let's go and open our select GitHub because that's where I'm gonna be working from and for me it was already authorized. You might not be so you might just have to take the extra step there to authorize yourself. And then you can see a list of the different sites here that it can see. Now I took the choice when I authorized it to get into my GitHub to only be able to see select repositories. You can also just tell it that it's allowed to see all of them. I don't know why I made that choice but it seemed like a good choice at the time. But as you can see, it can see private and public ones. So that's obviously really nice. So you don't have to have like public repos for this to work or anything like that. And because I can't see and even see can't see your repo here can figure your Netlify app on GitHub. So I'm gonna click on that. And then once you put your password in you can go through and you'll get in and what this is gonna do you just scroll down a bit and then you can select your repositories that it's allowed to see. So you can see I can choose all repositories or I can go through here and in this case, I want force, carb calculator. I'll click on that, I'll hit save and it brings me back to my page here. And then I can click on the one that I want which is right here. Once I get there, you can see the owner. So that's my team. You can choose your branch to deploy. So you don't have to deploy off of the main branch. You can deploy other branches. In this case, I have just a really basic site. So I don't have to worry about any of this. But if you have a different directory that is your base directory or a build command that you wanna run on a published directory you'll wanna set that all up here. And there are more options in show advanced. We're just doing a really simple site in this stage. So I'm just gonna click deploy. And just like that, it's amazing. It's going to work. So site deploy is in progress and it's done. My goodness, that was fast. I can click on that URL that gave me and I can see that my site and my thing that I created is here and it's working and it's live on the internet. And that's really exciting right there. You can see how easy that was. You can see that I get the option now to set up a custom domain and I can also secure the site with HTTPS. So right now on this domain that it's on it's already HTTPS. But you can see it's sad, Hamilton a whole bunch of numbers. One thing you can actually do if you go to your domain settings right here under options, you can edit the site name. So you can change this so I could make this force carb carb calculeator if you want to have it with a netlify.app address. And as long as it hasn't been taking it would work. So now I've changed that. So at least it looks a little bit better than what it did before. Or if you have it in your own custom domain there's two options there. So let's go back to the site overview and you can go set up with custom domain. And in this case, I have www.force carb calculeator I can't spell .com and I'm gonna hit verify. And it's already registered. If you registered this through a different register click add domain. I have already done this through another registrar. If it's a name that hasn't been picked and you haven't purchased it yet you can also purchase it directly through netlify. This is a cost. This is not free domain names except for a few specific, I don't remember where they are. Is it like .tk or something like that can be free. The next thing is you're gonna wanna, if once you've said that this is the domain that you have you'll wanna check your DNS configuration. If you click this it's gonna give you the DNS information you need from netlify. Or it might even have like a configure thing that you'll have to click on first and then you'll just run through a couple of steps and it's gonna give you the DNS numbers you need. I'm not gonna run through that part of it because it depends on the third party that you're using where you bought the domain from. So everyone's gonna be a little bit different. They're all generally very easy to set up. And if you get lost a little bit your provider should give you like they all have documentation on how to do it. It's really not hard to do. They just give you four things you copy and paste into whatever company you're using in your dashboard and it should work pretty fast. It does take a little while to propagate so it might not immediately work but it should go really quickly. And that's gonna be done. Now also you don't need to buy an SSL certificate because if you go down further you can see here that you can get your own certificate from here. This will only work once the DNS configuration has propagated so you'll wanna check back a day later or something like that, refresh the page and then you can verify your DNS configuration and they're gonna set it up on an SSL automatically for free. So as you can see that didn't take a lot of setup. It was pretty quick. Our site is online and functioning and where the real beauty of that is is now over here, if ever you have some changes so this is the GitHub app, you can also do it if you're doing it another way but I just wanna open VS Code here really quickly. What I wanna do is set it up so we have, I'm just gonna make a really small change here so you can see force carb calculator, our first carbonation calculator is the name of it. Let's just change it to force carb calculator instead and we can push those to GitHub so you can see the change is coming through right there. I'm gonna say updated my H1 and I'm gonna commit that to my main and I'm gonna push it so it's pushed over to GitHub. We'll get rid of that. And I'm not gonna click on this one just because I haven't finished setting that side of things up but if I did, it would work but what I will do is come on over to this one because I know that's where it's working and you can see that it's force carb calculator now. It's already made that change and you can actually see that if you go back to here and I go to site overview you can see that this was the original one and then this is the one that got published and if you want to, you can go through and you can actually publish one of your previous deploys as well. So it might be like holy crap, the site just went down I made a change that broke everything. I'm gonna roll back to one of my previous deploys in one click, fix whatever the problem was and then we'll go from there. So that's not an issue. Now, as I said before, this is coming off of the production so off my main branch here. So this is like the production code that everybody can see. You can also see there's an auto preview your PR or branch. So this is really, really cool. If there's a pull request or branch you can deploy previews. So just for fun, let's go through and we'll open up this. We'll make a small little change here. Let's create a new branch. So we're gonna make a new branch here and we're just gonna call it demo branch and we're just gonna call it new title. We're gonna hit create branch. And so now I'm working on that branch. We'll hit publish. Let's open this back up in visual studio code and now I wanna change this carbonation, carbonation, carbonation, carbon, carbonation. I don't even know if I spelled that right. There we go, whatever we'll find out in a second but we wanna switch over to that. So I hit save, I'm going to and maybe people are yelling at me for not using the command line for this but updated title. That's so, if I have a GUI I'm gonna use a GUI to do something. And so now you will notice that it's still grayed out but we've made that branch. So what you need to do now is if you go over to the deploys tab right here and you go to deploy settings and maybe there's other ways to get here but we want to be here where if we go down a little bit you'll see branches and right now branch deploys by default they're set to deploy only the production branch. So we can go to edit settings and then we can say that we wanna do deploy all branches pushed to the repo or you can let me add individual ones if you wanna only focus on certain ones but maybe you have like a staging one. So you wanna use, you wanna have your main branch and your staging ones are the only ones that are actually being built. So you could set something like that up. So I've saved that, deploy all branches just for simplicity sake because we made something so simple. So go back to my site overview and let's see. Now it's still not showing up here. So I'm gonna try one more thing. I made a small little update there updated title again just to see if by pushing it now that we've enabled those I'm hoping that it pushes that and that things get cleared up and it finds it. So let's go to the site overview again and let's see. And if that doesn't work then who knows what's actually going on but I've definitely used this in the past. There we go. We can see I have my new I just needed to push that branch again and now it found that branch. So I can go, it has the main which is my production branch and we have the new title right here. So if I click on new title I can see that branch deploy and it was already built and I can preview that deploy. And as you can see it's at like a completely random string here for the name of it. So it's not like someone's gonna accidentally fall across one of these. Someone needs the exact URL to be able to find one of these. So it could be a nice way to build things out. It's still gonna be working. You can see the title has been updated and then I can choose if I wanna pull that into my main or not. So I think that's really, really cool as well. And now if actually you'd wanna see a little bit more I've also done another video where I looked at building out a blog site using 11T which is the static site generator and getting it all set up on Netlify and integrating their CMS with it. If you'd like to watch that video and see how it's all done that video is right here for your viewing pleasure. And with that a really big thank you to Zach Randy and Stuart who are my supporters of awesome over on Patreon as well as all my other patrons for the monthly support. And of course, until next time don't forget to make your corner the internet just a little bit more awesome.