Next, we have oral questions. I recognize the Leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Good morning, Speaker. This question is for the Premier. After the previous Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing resigned in the midst of a scandal, and of course this ongoing RCMP criminal investigation, there was a real opportunity for a new Minister to actually take the housing crisis seriously. But last week's bill was weak, it was unambitious, and it lacked the vision that we need to actually get housing built. Among other shortcomings, the bill doesn't legalize fourplexes. And as of right, which means they're going to remain illegal in many, many parts of this province. A single detached home is out of reach for about 80% of Ontarians, but a fourplex apartment could be an affordable option. So why is the Premier ruling this out? And to reply, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Well, Speaker, just the opposite. We're not ruling anything out. There is no law against that right now in the province of Ontario, Speaker, so we encourage municipalities to make the decisions that are in the best interest of their taxpayers, Speaker. At the same time, well over 7 million people in the province of Ontario already live in communities where, as of right for, is the law. What we are running into, though, Mr. Speaker, is that this is not something that is solving the crisis in any way, shape, or form. My understanding is that although it's legal in the city of Toronto, less than 70 of these units have been built. I know in other communities like Vaughn, Richmond Hill, zero have been built. We also know that as of right three has not been as successful as we had hoped it to be. Less than 20,000 units have been built on that program, Mr. Speaker. We are removing the obstacles so that we can get the as of right three right across the province of Ontario, and we will allow our Mr. Speaker to continue to make decisions on their behalf. Thank you. Supplementary question? Speaker, that sounds like a lot of excuses. I should not have to remind this Premier or this Minister that legalizing four-plexes was a top recommendation of the government's own Housing Affordability Task Force. There are a lot of folks right now that are disappointed that this government has not implemented this recommendation, including the Ontario Real Estate Association. But it's just another example of how this government refuses to treat the housing crisis with the urgency that it deserves. What's the government's solution, Speaker? Well, according to the Minister of Environment, Conservation, and Parks, it's telling people to go to a for-profit homeless encampment instead. Can the Premier explain why his government continues to fight the legalization of four-plexes? Again, Speaker, I don't know how much more clear I can be to the Leader of the Opposition. There is no law that says you can't build a four-plex in the province of Ontario. So it is hard for me to legalize something that is currently not illegal in the province of Ontario. What we're focusing on, Mr. Speaker, is ensuring that there is infrastructure in the ground so that as opposed to building, let's say, 74-plexes in the City of Toronto, we can build 1.5 million homes across the province, Mr. Speaker. What the Leader of the Opposition fails to understand is that in order to build homes across the province of Ontario, our municipal partners need sewer and water capacity. And that is why the Minister of Infrastructure is bringing forward the largest infrastructure program for sewer and water and roads in the province's history. We're doing this in the absence of the federal government, Mr. Speaker. We're going to continue to do all that we can to put the infrastructure in the ground so that we can build not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of homes in every part of this province. Final supplementary. Speaker, $5 billion of federal money for housing is on the line because this Premier doesn't like a certain type of housing. Government's new housing bill does nothing to get housing built. It spends as much time reversing this government's mistakes as it does putting forward any real solutions. And believe me, what it does put forward is very piecemeal. In contrast, British Columbia's NDP government has moved swiftly and they are seeing results, Speaker. While housing starts are down here in Ontario, they're up 11% in British Columbia. There are new investments in non-market housing, new protections for tenants. So why won't this Premier implement the NDP solutions that have been proven to work in British Columbia? Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. We lived NDP solutions in the province of Ontario from 1990 to 1995. And if it wasn't for that Premier sitting in the gallery today, we would still be suffering under the rules of the 1990... Stop the clock. Members will take their seats. Order. Order. Restart the clock.  Under the policies of this government, under the policies that were brought forward by the former Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, you know what we have? The highest starts in purpose-built rental housing, not over the last couple of years, but ever, Mr. Speaker. Under the policies of this government, we have the highest number of new home starts in decades. Under this government, Mr. Speaker, we're removing red tape so homes can get built faster, Mr. Speaker. We're building more university campuses by making it as a bright source. Students can have homes in the face of unilateral federal cuts. And Mr. Speaker, we're listening to our municipal partners because the Minister of Infrastructure is bringing forward the largest unilateral infrastructure sewer and water program in history, and the Minister of Education is building schools and all of these new communities, roads. Everything, Mr. Speaker, we're getting it back. Thank you very much. Thank you. The next question. Back to the Leader of the Opposition. I will remind the Minister that it was in 1995 that this province stopped building truly affordable housing in this province and units right now because of that decision. Last week, the Premier doubled down on preventing new homes from having EV charging infrastructure. Now the government knows the cost of installing an EV charger during construction is so much cheaper than putting one in later. Drivers say the lack of charging infrastructure is a huge barrier for those who would otherwise own an electric vehicle. So why has this Premier refused to make it easier for people to buy and charge an electric vehicle in their home? Mr. Secretary, we have done no such thing. In fact, we're making massive investments so that people have jobs and can buy electric vehicles. See, what the opposition would rather do is they'd rather keep people unemployed and then subsidize them to buy vehicles. Mr. Speaker, what we'd want is to give people the ability to work in the province of Ontario. $28 billion worth of investments. But as I said last Thursday, Mr. Speaker, as I said last Thursday, it is not up to the government of Ontario to fund a decision that you make, Mr. Speaker. She talks about British Columbia, the highest price for gas in British Columbia, the highest expenses, the place that is most expensive to live in the country, British Columbia, Mr. Speaker. We are bringing jobs back, opportunity back. That is the record of this government. 700,000 jobs, cutting taxes, cutting red tape, bringing back employment to the province of Ontario in the same way that the 22nd Premier of the province of Ontario did, each and every day focused on the people of the province of Ontario. Mr. Speaker, I'll go back to the Premier. I don't think the minister has been following what's happening in the sector, but EV sales are down here in the province of Ontario, and the Premier isn't doing anything about it. Not only is he jeopardizing the so-called province's making Ontario electric vehicle program, he's risking the tens of thousands of good jobs that go with it, like the workers in Oakville. The workers in Oakville who feel let down by the Premier's lack of action or the delay of EV production by Ford Motor Company. So back to the Premier. Workers in Oakville are worried. Will you show some leadership, or will you leave them behind like you did with the GM workers in Oshawa? Minister of Economic Development. The previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP, chased 300,000 manufacturing jobs out of our province and brought our auto sector to the brink of collapse. In 2019, Reuters reported that companies planned to spend $300 billion on EVs, and none of it was coming to Canada. Since then, over the last three years, Ontario has attracted $28 billion in new EV investments, creating thousands of good-paying jobs across the province. Unfortunately, the NDP and the Liberals voted against every single item that brought this unprecedented success to Ontario. By creating the conditions for businesses to succeed, our province is now a global auto manufacturing powerhouse, Speaker. Stop the clock. Member for Ottawa South will come to order. The Member for Brampton North will come to order. Minister of Education will come to order. I heard you. Start the clock, final supplementary. Speaker, Ontario has the workers. We have the expertise and we have the energy to power a strong EV sector here. It used to be a signature policy of this government, but now they're throwing it in reverse, with a weak commitment to electrical vehicles and sustainable infrastructure. In the process, this Premier is jeopardizing sales and production by not making our new homes EV ready. This is so short-sighted. The people of Ontario want to know, and I'll go back to the Premier again, is the government backing away from plans for a sustainable auto sector in Ontario? Please take your seats and to reply the Minister of Energy. Speaker, it's quite clear that our plan is working. 300,000 manufacturing jobs left our province for other jurisdictions. At a time when those who were running the auto plants were saying that Ontario is the most uncompetitive jurisdiction in North America to build cars. To now six years later, investing $28 billion into EV platforms, EV battery manufacturing facilities, and the world is moving to EVs in Ontario because we have the energy, and we're committed to building the energy infrastructure to support the implementation of electric vehicles. Now, the NDP energy critic is against all of the investments that we're making in our nuclear sector, including building small modular reactors at Darlington, leading the world on that front, putting an extra 4.8 gigawatts at Bruce Power, refurbishing the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. That's how we're going to power Ontario well into the future for Oshawa. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Premier. This government has boasted about their electric vehicle investment, but like so much they do, they aren't plugged into what is really needed. Folks are excited about electric vehicles, but they won't buy them if they know they can't charge them. When this Premier was elected in 2018, one of his first moves was to rip out EV charging stations, cancel EV rebates, and end the building code requirement to make sure homes were wired and ready. Without the infrastructure, automakers are signaling a slowdown on EV production. This Premier is putting good auto jobs at risk. When will this Premier switch gears and support the future of electric vehicles by committing to the charging infrastructure that they will require? Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Let's wrap it up and see what we've done. The Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade has encouraged $28 billion worth of EV manufacturing to the province of Ontario. The Minister of Mines and Northern Development is unlocking the resources of the north so that we can power the investments in the south. The Minister of Energy is investing in small modular reactors, so the opposition knows these are the reactors that will power the EV revolution of tomorrow, Mr. Speaker, while refurbishing our nuclear fleet, and later today we will be voting on an NDP bill that will kill what the Minister of Energy is doing, put in jeopardy what the Minister of Natural Resources is doing, and put in jeopardy the $28 billion worth of investments. So this is what I tell you. We will vote against that, Mr. Speaker. We continue our program of investing in the people of the province of Ontario so that they have the resources to invest in themselves. They have the resources to invest in their communities. It's about giving people the tools they need to succeed. Thank you and again my question is for the Premier. The future is electric, on the road, across communities, and at home. Building EV-ready homes is future-proof, but that's not what we're building today. Aftermarket charging infrastructure is expensive, and when compared to the minimal cost of wires and the rough-in in a new build, planning ahead is the way to go. EV-ready homes are more affordable for homeowners and drivers. This Premier has said he's picking the side of developers, but we hope he will switch to be on the side of auto manufacturers, auto workers, drivers, and homeowners. Building houses already roughed in for charging is an easy and practical fix that we could do today to save people a lot of money. So my question is, will the Premier put charging rough-ins back in the building code so we can have EV-ready homes? Mr. Nussbaum, Affairs and Housing. No, Mr. Speaker. What we will do is we will allow homeowners to make those decisions on their own, Mr. Speaker, because that is what we do. We allow homeowners to make that decision on their own. As I said on Thursday, I come from an Italian family. Many of my relatives, even ourselves, we had a stove in the garage. It was a 220-volt stove because a lot of us like to cook in the garage. I didn't ask the people of the province of Ontario to cover the cost of that stove in the garage. You know what my dad did? He called an electrician who put the stove plug in the garage and he paid for it, Mr. Speaker. I think the people of the province of Ontario can make that decision on their own. They don't need big daddy government coming on their behalf. My goal is to keep the price of home-building low so that more Ontarians can afford to build it, not higher. Oshawa will come to order. The member for Renfrew Nipissing-Pembroke will come to order. The Minister of Energy will come to order. Order. The next question, the member for Chatham Kent-Leamington. Good morning, Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Energy. On April 1st, the Federal Liberals, supported by the Queen of the Carbon Tax, Bonnie Cromby, increased the carbon tax by 23%. This costly tax is raising the price of everything, from both energy costs to food prices. It's forcing Ontario drivers to pay over $0.17 per liter more at the gas pumps. Speaker, it's so disappointing to see the Liberal and NDP members of this legislature turning a blind eye to the hardships people everywhere are experiencing. They should be joining us and calling on the Federal Government to scrap the carbon tax now. Speaker, can the Minister please explain why the carbon tax is causing damage to all aspects of life for the people of Ontario? To reply, the Minister of Energy. Thanks very much. Thanks to the great member from Southwestern Ontario, who's always standing up for residents in his part of Ontario and ensuring that they can afford to live in our province as we continue to reduce taxes and reduce fees and reduce the cost of living the Federal Government continues to jack it up. On April 1st, just a couple of weeks ago, the Federal Government did it again. A whopping increase of 23% to the Federal Carbon Tax, which is impacting the price at the pumps. It's impacting the price of home heating for natural gas furnaces. It's introducing the price of the grocery store, Mr Speaker. It's impacting the cost of living in Ontario. And last week we saw something interesting at the Federal Parliament. We actually saw the Federal NDP with Jugmeat and we saw the Party Québécois, or actually the separatist party supporting a conservative motion to encourage the Prime Minister, Prime Minister Trudeau, who increased the carbon tax to meet with premiers right across the country. All of them are opposed to the carbon tax, Mr Speaker. We have that discussion and also scrap the tax. Supplementary question. Thank you, Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that response. It's reassuring to hear that our Government continues to stand up to the Federal Government and fight for the people of this province. Speaker, people in my riding of Chatham-Kent Leamington are concerned about the impact of a whopping 23% carbon tax hike will have on their home energy bills. They feel it's unfair to them and communities across Ontario that the Federal Liberals have burdened us with this unnecessary cost. Our Government will not give up, Speaker. We'll continue to fight this tax, deliver affordability for Ontario, and put more money back in people's pockets. Speaker, can the Minister please explain how the carbon tax is punishing people in Chatham-Kent Leamington and throughout Ontario who rely on natural gas to keep their homes Minister of Energy. Speaker, it's pretty simple. The Federal Carbon Tax is right there on the bill clearly marked for anybody who's an Enbridge customer or has natural gas coming into their home. It's the Federal Carbon Tax right there on the bill that sometimes actually is more expensive than delivery costs. The people of Ontario are feeling the pinch, but it's not just the people of Ontario. It's the people across the country that are getting hammered by this Federal Carbon Tax. Just look at Newfoundland where the Liberal Premier Andrew Fury has actually pleaded with Prime Minister Trudeau to put the pause on back on April 1st but since he hasn't done that he's now joined the chorus of premiers of all stripes from right across the country to sit down and have an adult discussion something the Prime Minister hasn't done and we believe that Prime Minister should be sitting down with those premiers and I just wish that the Queen of the Carbon Tax here in Ontario, the Liberal leader would support us in sitting down and having that mature discussion about axing the tax in Ontario. Thank you, Speaker. My question to the Minister of Housing. A new report shows Ontario rents have risen three times higher than guidelines due to rent control loopholes with an average increase of 54.5% over the last decade. Thousands of tenants in Parkdale High Park and across Ontario are experiencing massive increase to cost of housing and there is no end in sight. My question is, will you close rent control loopholes so Ontarians can find and maintain housing? The Attorney General. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm very proud of the number of purpose-built rentals that we have increased. As the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing mentioned not too long ago, just moments ago, Mr. Speaker, we have historic records of rental, of purpose-built buildings, Mr. Speaker, and that is something that is important to the people of the province of Ontario who need a place to live. We are working nonstop at achieving our goal of 1.5 million housing units, Mr. Speaker and we will get there. Thank you for your help with the opposition, Mr. Speaker, who would vote against every single initiative that we do when we achieve these records. Mr. Speaker, I'll have more to say in the supplementary. Supplementary, the Member for Toronto's Senate. Thank you, Speaker and back to the Premier. Today my constituent Lindsay is receiving an N13. This is a demiviction notice. She tells me, and I quote, as a tenant who is now dealing with finding a home on top of dealing with the immediate aftermath of a complete loss. All of the homes being built are not made for people like me and my two young children. I started looking for housing options so that I can continue to live and work in Toronto once demivicted. But there is nowhere safe that I can afford to raise my family. Speaker, there is no affordable rental housing in Ontario because of the rent-controlled loopholes that have been introduced by the Conservative Government. Will this Government admit that they have the power to help Lindsay and her two young children and by introducing real rent control today? And this will take their seats. Journey General. Thank you, Mr Speaker. And the reason that we have a housing challenge isn't because of a particular policy that we put in place, Mr Speaker.  Now when this Government came to power, Mr Speaker we recognized the crisis for what it is and we made a public commitment the Premier made a commitment the Minister of the Affairs and Housing Minister made a commitment. We will build 1.5 million spaces, Mr Speaker and we'll do it notwithstanding that we're starting from behind we're starting from behind because investments were made money was put forward the red tape was building up, Mr Speaker but we will persevere we will get the job done we are getting the job done, Mr Speaker and we will not apologize for that. Next question, the member for Brantford Grant. My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Minister. The Federal Liberals think that they know better than they think this province. When people are hurting because of the rising cost of living it seems logical that governments of all political stripes would do their part to reduce costs but instead the Liberals are doing the opposite they are hiking taxes at a time when families are already struggling to get by families are having trouble heating their homes, filling their gas tanks and putting food on the table and the Liberal solution is to make things better. The worst part is Bonnie Cromby and her Liberal colleagues don't even have the guts to stand up and tell the Prime Minister to get rid of this terrible tax Speaker can the Minister please explain what risks the federal carbon tax pose to our economy Thank you. To reply the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Thank you Speaker the Federal Liberals and the previous provincial Liberals did to the province of Ontario they are raising taxes at every opportunity they chased businesses and jobs out of the province our manufacturing sector was on the brink of collapse with 300,000 manufacturing jobs lost now we came in and lowered costs right across the board we restored Ontario's ability to compete at a global stage 700,000 more men and women are working today than before we took office our message to the federal government is clear do not jeopardize the progress that we have made scrap the tax today Supplementary That's the member for Thank you Speaker and thank you Minister for that response Speaker we've heard loud and clear from the people of Ontario the last thing they want is a carbon tax but the Federal Liberals are actively ignoring the concerns of hard working Ontario families just as the previous Liberal provincial government did we don't believe the way to fight climate change is by crushing businesses and workers with tax hikes and neither do the people of Ontario we have an abundance of clean energy right here in our province and we're making sure Ontario has a clean leader in building clean tech for the future like electric vehicles that's how to help lower emissions not by implementing a carbon tax that drives the cost of everything up and up and up Speaker can the Minister explain how the carbon tax will hurt the progress that we've made and reducing costs so that businesses and workers can succeed Thank you Minister of economic development, job creation and trade Speaker the previous Liberal government has made high taxes chased businesses and workers out of the province but when we took office we reversed course we cut 500 pieces of red tape saving businesses $1 billion annually we put an immediate equipment right off in saving businesses nearly a billion dollars every single year we lowered WSIB premiums by 50% saving businesses $2.5 billion annually and as a result those businesses who fled the province under the Liberals they're coming back we have reshored companies who left for cheaper more competing jurisdictions and we've rebuilt our province's manufacturing might with 700,000 new people working again we can't allow the Liberals to crush our momentum scrap the tax today Thank you My question is to the Premier the owner of property in Innisfil has been charging people facing housing insecurity $500 to set up a tent on their property the ad for the property notes that they will have access to a communal washroom and kitchen shockingly instead of working to resolve this province's homelessness crisis the member for Innisfil has started referring people to this for profit and for employment my question to the Premier is this is he going to start counting tents as part of their affordable housing numbers housing it really highlights just how irrelevant the NDP have come in pretty much every single policy issue facing the province of Ontario the reality is this we have increased funding to the homeless prevention program to record levels the member will know this because she voted against that we have actually increased homeless prevention funding in every part of the province including in the member's own writing by 34% she will recall that she voted against that as well what we are doing across the province of Ontario restoring, rehabilitating and renovating our affordable housing stock you know why because we were left with an infrastructure deficit by the previous Liberal government supported by the NDP what have we done we have found in 23,000 affordable housing units in the province of Ontario that is an unmatched record in the history of this province we will continue to support those who want help as the minister of children community services said we will leave no one behind that is our goal each and every day supplementary thank you speaker it is clear to the minister that you are going to help people not help by referring them to for-profit encampments that is what your government is doing unfortunately this is shocking but not surprising this for-profit encampment is targeted toward people who are on OW or ODSP because the programs don't even cover the cost of rent this conservative government has fueled a housing and affordability crisis and now they seem to be endorsing its exploitation speaker will the premier tell Ontarians whether for-profit encampments are part of his affordable housing strategy Minister Mr. Ferris in housing again speaker a truly a question from the NDP that really just highlights how just irrelevant they are in the discourse in the province of Ontario speaker it is no wonder nobody pays attention to them no wonder that members leave their caucus and droves Mr. Speaker here's what we're doing we're putting infrastructure in the ground you know why we're putting infrastructure in the ground college so that we can build millions of homes across the province of Ontario you know why we have to do this work speaker because for 15 long long arduous years the former liberal government did absolutely nothing and you know who supported them in that the NDP the most irrelevant party that this province has ever seen now to go a step further there is irrelevant in Ottawa as they are in Queens Park ignoring what the people of the province need ignoring what the people of Canada need you have an opportunity later today vote for our budget because it has historic levels of question the member for Don Valley East thank you Mr. Speaker I never thought I'd see the day when having a family doctor in Ontario made you lucky when people paid hundreds if not thousands of dollars just to access primary care when riding the subway meant being bombarded with advertisements for healthcare services that should be insured but aren't looking back at the last six years a lot has changed now we have nurse practitioner led clinics charging subscription fees to desperate patients while executive health clinics make a fortune in a primary care marketplace of this government's making by 2026 4.4 million people won't have access to a family doctor and we can't even say that our emergency departments are always open anymore Mr. Speaker with so little to show under his watch why is it that the premier only increased healthcare funding by 0.59% but has more than doubled the amount that he pays the staff in his own office the deputy premier minister of health oh speaker it continues to amaze me that members of the liberal party who actually cut the number of residency spots available for Ontario students wishing to practice and learn medicine in the province of Ontario can stand up and talk about our record our record clearly shows that we are investing in a healthcare system whether that is including a base increasing new medical schools in York region in Brampton in Scarborough ensuring that we have new clinicians able to train practice learn and ultimately be licensed in the province of Ontario we are making those investments because we know that people need to have access to primary care practitioners you know I look at the announcement that we made in February the expansion of primary care including nurse practitioner led clinics in his own community and across Ontario and I see those investments already bearing fruit because we already have additional clinicians hired taking on new patients thank you the supplementary question Mr. Speaker it's unfortunate to hear the minister of health talk about her record because she admits omits the fact that is of the worst healthcare system performance in our province's history this government is so busy rewarding its friends and enriching insiders that they have forgotten their duty to uphold the Canada health act but perhaps forgetting is too generous because every time the government neglects another feature public healthcare to its knees there's always a private for profit model there to save the day whether it is exorbitant prescription fees to nurse practitioners or executive health clinics whether it's pricey pap smears or costly cataract lenses whether it's staffing agencies gouging our hospitals and long-term care homes this government rolls out the red carpet for anyone praying to the almighty dollar Mr. Speaker what should patients who can't afford this premier's private healthcare agenda do once his gravy train has left our public healthcare system and the Minister of Health Thank you Mr. Speaker the Liberal member opposite can throw around all the quips he wants the truth is that we are making investments in our publicly funded healthcare system in Ontario Canada in the lowest wait times for surgeries across Canada Ontario leads Canada in the number of individuals who are matched with a primary care practitioner we will continue to make those investments because we see how they are changing lives in the province of Ontario in Minto, Ontario a February announcement led to a nurse practitioner being hired and already taking on new practitioners new patients Kingston, Ontario we have clinicians who are bringing on new patients rostering new patients in their communities that will continue across 78 new facilities and expanded practitioner led clinics because we know it's making an impact and we know we are changing lives Thank you The next question is for Thorn Hill Thank you Mr. Speaker My question is for the Minister of Energy the Liberal carbon tax is punishing Ontario families last year the federal government decided to exempt one form of home heating fuel mainly used in Atlantic Canada but they are hiking the carbon tax on lower emission natural gas here in Ontario where the majority of residents now have to pay more to heat their homes that's just not right residents in my riding of Thorn Hill tell me they already feel the impact of the carbon tax on their energy bills Speaker can the people of Ontario they deserve to be treated fairly the federal Liberals need to get rid of this carbon tax now Speaker can the Minister please explain how they are making home heating and more things expensive and impacting Ontarians To apply the Minister of Energy We are doing our best to make life more affordable for the people of Ontario here under the leadership of Premier Ford while Prime Minister Trudeau and the federal Liberals seem content to make life more expensive for the people of Ontario and the people of Canada and that goes for the Queen of the Carbon Tax Bonnie Cromby as well who seems happy to have the federal carbon tax in place so that she doesn't have to take a position on it we have taken a position on it we are making life more affordable and that's why we are seeing new investments in our province particularly in the EV and EV auto space companies are flocking back to Ontario and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in our province again we are under the leadership of the previous Liberal government for 15 years we saw 300,000 jobs leaving for other jurisdictions over 700,000 jobs are coming back Mr Speaker and that's all because of our sound energy policy that ensures we are competitive with other jurists Thank you Supplementary question thank you to the minister for his solid work within his portfolio this is exactly what our government spoke up about the carbon tax what we fought tooth and nail it's ludicrous that the Liberals think it's a good idea to raise the carbon tax by a staggering 23% when Ontario families are already struggling with the increased cost of living but Speaker this is most concerning this gets so much worse the federal government and opposition parties want to nearly triple the tax by 2030 that's simply not acceptable Speaker can the minister please explain why Ontarians cannot afford the continued tax increase on groceries transportation and everything else in between Minister of Energy Speaker thanks again to the member from Thornhill for the question it's pretty obvious when you drive by a gasoline station now and you see the price of the pumps is over $1.60 in parts of northern Ontario more than that the carbon tax has gone up a staggering 23% two weeks ago on April the 1st under the leadership of Prime Minister Trudeau and the federal Liberal government supported by the Queen of the Carbon Tax Bonnie Cromby and her Ontario Liberals who still continue to say that the people of Ontario and the people of Canada are better off with this horrible carbon tax than they would be without it Mr Speaker while some of them have supported us in the House Jagmeet on the weekend was trying to walk back his demands to have a carbon tax or not he's supportive of the carbon tax again but that's typical of NDP policy Mr Speaker they don't know which way to go we're with the people of Ontario the opposition parties are against them particularly on energy the next question the member from Niagara Falls to the Premier we learned a lot about the impact of Bill 7 hundreds of families forced from their communities cancer survivors find $400 a day unless they follow the Premier's orders to leave their families we didn't learn a Bill 7 impacts because of the transparency of this government we learned it from the hard work of the reporters now the government is refusing to tell the public how much they're finding seniors will the minister stand up today and tell the public how much money they have find seniors for the crime of wanting to stay close to their families Minister of Health what Bill 7 has allowed hospitals to do is to actually ensure that they have beds available for people who need them in an acute way the treatments the ongoing rehabilitation of patients outside of a hospital setting is made available because of the ability for hospitals to ensure that alternative level of care patients are being looked after in different places whether it is in community whether it is in our long-term care homes and I'm proud of the fact that we've had over 2,000 individuals have a home in their community because we've taken the time with our hospital partners to make sure that they have the appropriate care in the appropriate place a home speaker back to the premier as expected there's no transparent answer from the minister whatever one decides to answer look at the action of this government first they say they're not aware of anyone being fined under Bill 7 then when shown the actual bills said to the patients they complain until seven patients have been charged now after daily request the government refuses to tell the media how much they find seniors sounds like the conservatives are really proud of their legislation if the premier thinks Bill 7 is such great legislation helping seniors get into long-term care why won't you tell the public how much you're finding seniors and again the minister of health figures the member opposite just clearly showed it is such a small number of individuals who've been billed by the hospitals that we've actually been told we have a legal agreement that says putting out those numbers would put at risk individuals individual identity to be identified we're protecting patients to ensure that that doesn't happen and we have we have ensured that such a small number have been had to be billed by their local hospitals that we want to make sure that the work is at the hospital and the community working with the most appropriate placement and we will continue to do that member for Ottawa South will come to order member for Entronypsing Pembroke will come to order member for Niagara Falls will come to order member for Ottawa center will come to order start the clock the next question member for Guelph my question is for the premier the housing crisis is getting worse it's like a forest fighter raging out of control but the government's new housing bill is like bringing a garden hose to put out the fire after wasting six years putting wealthy well connected insiders ahead of building homes that people can actually afford it feels like the government is emitting defeat begging municipalities to bail them out when the premier says no to building homes that people can afford in the communities they know and love so speaker will the premier stop saying no to an entire generation of young people who just want a home they can afford and say yes to legalizing gentle density and mid-rides housing across the province as of right so we can start building homes people can afford now I love the passion from the member but when it comes to building his own community an as of right for community some total of zero have been built you know why that is because the city of Guelph needs infrastructure they need sewer and water capacity I hear it from the mayor constantly I had a wonderful conversation with the mayor when we were providing a building faster fund check who identified the fact that his additional assistance to the building faster fund would go to building more sewer and water capacity so that he could build even more homes Mr. Speaker so the opposition can focus on policies that do nothing because it makes them feel better we saw that from the liberals for 15 years right announced all kinds of things but don't accomplish anything that's all that they care about we'll build the sewer and water capacity so that we can build not hundreds not tens not 74 flexes in Toronto zero in Guelph but millions of homes in every part of this province Mr. Speaker because that's how we will tackle the affordability crisis the supplementary question Speaker this government has been in power for six years and the housing crisis gets worse they've spent more time in the last year reversing their housing policies than actually putting forward bold solutions to the housing crisis as a matter of fact it was this government that took infrastructure money away from municipalities in the first place the government's failure to fix the housing crisis is making life in Ontario unaffordable and the premier says no to general density no to mid-rises, no to missing middle no to rent protection no to federal funding for homes it's time to say yes to housing in this province the government has the power to say yes to six to eleven storey buildings along major transit corridors to say yes to multi flexes we can get building homes in this province in fact in the provincial policy statement which was released at the same time it does just that but you can't do any of that unless you have infrastructure that allows that to happen it allows it to happen this is the fallacy of what you hear from the Greens the Liberals and the NDP they get up in their place and they fight for policies that they know won't build homes Mr. Speaker what we're doing is putting in the infrastructure that is needed to build a home but you know what else we're hearing Mr. Speaker we're hearing that the high inflation policies of the federal government the federal liberal government a carbon tax which has led to high interest rates are stopping people from getting shovels in the ground and more importantly Speaker it is stopping from people from being able to afford those homes so why don't the members opposite work with us to get the federal government to eliminate the carbon tax reduced to cost Mr. Speaker bring down red tape bring down all cost bring down interest rates and we will meet our challenges next question order member for Ottawa South come to order next question the member for Essex thank you Mr. Speaker my question is for the small business service delivery ministry since for a few years rather this sector has been able to secure funds but this promise was made five years ago we have a federal liberal government that admitted that they owe 1.3 billion dollars back to small businesses but no plan has been made the liberal federal government has 1.3 billion dollars that they should give back to small businesses does the associate minister can explain what are the impacts of this situation on small businesses thank you Mr. Speaker I would like to thank my colleague the member for Essex for mentioning this problem that so many small businesses in Ontario are facing since the beginning our government rather stated how much we support our small businesses by scrapping the carbon tax after five years the liberal government hasn't filed fields its promise to reimburse 1.3 billion dollars that were promised to small businesses in our province this is a money a sum of money that could have been invested in their businesses we have staff and communities that could benefit from these funds people were burdened by financial measures and we can see that everything is affected the cost of life is affected we are listening small businesses in Ontario and we will continue to ask the federal government to scrap this tax thank you speaker and thank you to the parliamentary associate for that answer the federal government has just abandoned Ontario small businesses when it comes to refunding the carbon tax speaker this is an issue that goes well beyond the simple question of refunds the Canadian federation of independent business has told us that more than half of businesses will be forced to increase their prices and that's the last thing and the last thing they need is another increase in this liberal tax speaker can the parliamentary associate tell us how our provincial government is supporting small businesses at a time when the federal liberal tax is threatening their very survival thank you to the wonderful member from Essex my colleague is quite right to talk about the devastating effects that the carbon tax has on Ontario small businesses and families the cost can the cost is making budget balancing the budget for businesses almost impossible whether it's a matter of the increased cost for producers for farmers or for more expensive transportation of goods across the province and country consequences are undeniable except for the federal liberal government and the provincial liberals who are just obsessed with wanting to increase taxes our government is on the side of businesses and is working hard to reduce their cost contrary to the head of the provincial liberals Bonnie Crombie who wants an even higher carbon tax he will continue to struggle thank you very much thank you speaker my question is for the minister of francophone affairs almost 500 letters for temporary permission to teach in french were issued last year the right to have to have an equivalent level of education has been violated for francophone students what are you planning to do to correct the state of affairs for french language students madam minister thank you to the member for the question he knows full well speaker that our government has been working hard on a strategy to hire and retrain french language teachers for example we have doubled the number of spaces for teachers at the university of the university of francophone since that time given the growing interest of parents in french language education for their children and for francophone students who have a constitutional right to this education since 2018 we have invested more than 240 million dollars speakers in french language school boards to build 18 new schools and to make institution enlarging and expanding six of these calls we have a lot more to do and that's why I'm working closely with the minister of education to ensure that ontarios francophones have access to teachers and schools in the french language well it's not working out very well for many french language school boards to the same minister almost half of french language citizens seek ask for services in english when they are looking for family doctor hoping to speed up the process madam minister why is there nothing in the budget to settle the problem of doctors offering their services in the french language in ontario thank you speaker our government was the first government in three decades to modernize the law on french services in ontario that's how much we realize how important is to expand service to french language services we've provided an all round strategy to hire and train french language skilled workers to provide french language services to francophones across ontaria including in the healthcare sector doctors, nurses we're working with the Montfort hospital and the University of Ottawa and colleges and universities across the province to ensure that we have enough healthcare workers in the french language we've also been working with the federal government to demand that they have a special category of french language immigrants for the healthcare sector we don't have any announcements to make right now but we've been working on this problem for many years thank you speaker member four Scarborough agent thank you speaker my question is for the minister of long term care the federal liberal government raised the carbon tax by 23% on april the first member four has warned since day one this tax is raising the cost of everything it increases building costs and makes it more expensive to construct long term care homes that's not fair speaker the liberals laid by queen of the carbon tax continue to remain silent on this topic unlike the liberals the government will continue to speak up continue to fight for our seniors and continue to deliver real affordability speaker can the minister tell the house what our government is doing to build more homes and support seniors in our problems thank you minister of long term care speaker this government has a plan and let's contrast that plan that the liberals are lack thereof had since 2003 21 years ago and they have that power until 2018 and in that time when they exited government 611 new beds to show for their efforts that's not enough for an Asian population this government knows that that's why since assuming office we introduced the largest capital expansion plan in this country's history to build and redevelop 58,000 spaces for our great seniors speaker up to date 18,000 spaces have been built or are under construction however we are facing challenges indeed speaker thanks to this carbon tax and the 23% increase on April 1st and the fact speaker that's why this budget introduces over $155 million to help our government continue to build Ontario's long term care sector an additional $200 million that homes response towards capital development now speaker 2 minutes and 25 seconds until we vote on that budget is it too late to do the right thing I hope the liberals vote in favor and the supplementary question thank you to the minister speaker my constituents will be pleased to hear how our government is building new long term care homes and the standing up for Ontario citizens speaker our seniors deserve to receive the care that they need and enjoy the high quality of life that they deserve in a long term care home but the carbon tax is increasing the price of everything from the cost of building material and transport to the day to day operations of the long term care homes our government will always support Ontario families and ensure seniors stay in the communities they help build close to their loved ones speaker can the minister please tell the house what our government is doing to protect Ontario's families especially our seniors from the negative impact of the carbon tax thank you minister of long term care government is doing a lot but you know what would help our efforts is if the liberals standing just sitting to the left of that fine member and all their buddies in Ottawa and tell them get rid of this tax I mean there's federal MPs doing the same for the liberal party why can't the MPPs in this legislature do the same to the members point 40.5% increase in construction costs in that member's riding that is a severe challenge to getting these spaces online and speaker we know that we need it I know that member's riding I visited that member's riding it is a diverse riding and what we all have in common is that somewhere in our lives we have a senior who built our lives as we know it who gave us the opportunities that we have in this great country of ours stand with us to the liberal party over there stand against the queen of the carbon tax and say to ask this tax let's get shovels in the ground let's take care of our seniors in this great country question to member for Kiwetnaugh the ministry transportation operates 27 airports and Nishnabewski Nation territory the first nations rely on these airports for critical goods and services speaker the waiting areas are substandard unsafe facilities for passengers and pilots alike the airports in Kiwetnaugh still need runway extensions and modern navigational aids to improve the flight access speaker when will the waiting areas and these airports be held up to standard and make sure that these runways are extended and when will these standards be expected to be brought up to standard just like any other airport in Ontario the minister of transportation thank you very much Mr. Speaker our teams have been working with many of the airports in those northern communities and I can assure the member that we'll continue to work with them as the province has provided a commitment to 100% of the remote funding on the operational side $14.5 million every single year but we'll continue to ensure those issues that have been raised by that member with respect to some of the flooding are taken care of and we work together to ensure that those have a piece of infrastructure in our north so I look forward to working with a member on that specifically thank you very much that concludes our question period for this morning


Hello, my name is Darnell Jamal. I'm a fashion historian, as well as an education-coordinated here at Cooper Hewitt. I also served as the project curatorial assistant on the Willie Smith Street Couture exhibition that's open now that you can come to Cooper Hewitt if you're in New York and come see it now that Cooper Hewitt's Smithsonian Design Museum is open. And then also in accordance, I have a more, I don't know if I have a chiseled face, but I have a Caesar haircut, brown dark skin, as well as I'm wearing a snake skin blazer and a leather with a leather lapel, just to be even more specific, it a black shirt. But that's it. Thank you all so much out here for tuning in to Fashion Culture Futures and before we begin, I kind of want to take a moment just to thank everyone who has been a part of this and who has helped us get this together. A shout out to Alexandra, who I will be forever grateful for allowing me to join her on the Willie Smith Street Couture project in the online archive that I also welcome you all to visit to learn more about Willie Smith just in case you can't come out to Cooper Hewitt to see the exhibition. And shout out also to Julie Pasteur, who is also marvelous in helping to create, to tell Willie Smith's obscure story and his impact and design. I also want to thank the communications team, also the education team, Vaso and Kim and everyone who's behind the scenes, putting all of this together and making this come to life. Thank you all so much. I really appreciate this and we all just are just so elated to be here. With that said, as you noticed, the title of this program, Aesthetics of Freedom, Hypervisibility of Modest and Queer Fashions, these communities are the focus, but I want to use this moment to highlight how much in a broad sense, some commonality, there are some commonalities between the worlds, these worlds, while celebrating our differences. For this program, I plan to explore a variety of themes as it pertains to these two communities and their intersections within fashion from an industry and historical and contemporary perspective. Modest fashion and style birth from queer experiences have been historically excluded by social and political codes and misappropriated by the broader fashion system. Within this conversation, exploring ways these systemic pitfalls have been creatively combated, the themes of the discussion will move from spirituality, policing and censoring, misappropriation and tokenism, and liberation. And before we begin into the conversation, I'd like to introduce my two guests that you can see here, one of which is Shani. During her career as a photographer and creative director, Shani founded UMA Models after realizing the lack of diversity in modest clothing and representation in the fashion, in the fashion industry and media, despite the vast consumer market, the need for nakedness isolated many communities. Shani works in her career to make a safe space for women within the fashion industry, allowing them to pursue a career in fashion modeling without compromising personal or religious beliefs. And thank you so much, Shani, for joining us. Thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to this today. I'm excited to be here. Thank you. Of course. And my other guest, I have the incredible artist, Brendan Fernandez, who worked with us also in the Willie Smith Street Quartet Project. He wrote a piece called Future Crossings for the Book. And also, we decided to integrate that also on the Willie Smith Community Online Archive, that again, that you can find online. Brendan Fernandez is an international artist, international recognized Canadian artist currently based in Chicago, working at the intersection of dance and visual arts. His projects address issues of race, queer culture, migration, protests and other forms of collective movement, and are rooted in collaboration and foster solidarity. Brendan is a graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Program and a recipient of a Robert Roschenberg Fellowship. In 2010, he was shortlisted for the SOBE Art Award. And is the recipient of a prestigious 2017 Canada Council New Chapters Grant. He's also recipient of the Artadia Award, a Smithsonian Artists Research Fellowship, and a Lewis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant. His projects have shown at the 2019 Whitney Biennial, the Guggenheim Museum, MoMA, Getty Museum, the National Gallery Canada, among others. He's currently an artist and resident and assistant professor at Northwestern University, and is represented by the Monique Meloque Gallery. Hi, Brendan. Hello. Thank you so much. Super generous, and I'm so grateful for this conversation to be had. Thank you. Thank you both so much. This has been definitely a labor of love, but here we are. And I really want to kind of kick it off and going into spirituality. Here I want to guide the conversation to illuminate the role of spirituality and religious codes that inform dress. And I also want to dispel the misnomers about elements of style in each community, because I think that it's out there with queer experiences and particularly modesty, especially when you're talking about the Muslim experience. There's a lot of misnomers and misguided perspectives about both and what they bring to the table. And for you, Shani, unequivocally, when we're looking at modest fashion, particularly as it pertains to the Muslim experience of which you can speak towards, what do you find are those misnomers about fashion and this intersection, especially as it ties with spiritual faith? Yeah, so I think the biggest issue we have at the moment, within the media, within the industry, is the label that we have for these women that decide to model, calling them Muslim models, so that's the biggest problem. As we have a lot of other women of different faiths that model and their faiths are not put forward as the title of what they do. Instead, I've been trying to push, like my company has been trying to push for the last three years, the term modest model, rather than having a Muslim model, because modesty, there's obviously different levels to it. And one of those levels does encompass the Muslim fashion side of it. However, the models themselves shouldn't kind of be labelled as Muslim models in the industry. They should be able to have that faith as private, as well as it being recognised through dress, and that's how we do spiritually through our dress, recognise our faith, especially when it comes to wearing a head scarf. And also, I think one thing is, I think a lot of Muslims make this mistake, as well as non-Muslims, is that we own the head scarf and we own that item of fashion, which we don't. So we get a bit offended, I think. A lot of Muslims get offended when they see fashion shows or art calls or editorials where there's a model that's covering their hair and feels like that's some sort of appropriation on the kind of Muslim fashion.  So I think there's a lot of issues there that are not understood. I don't think the conversation's really been had. I feel a few people tried to have it, but the ones that matter, unfortunately, when it comes to having those displayed, that conversation never had about the religious levels of fashion and the differentiation between head coverings and, say, Islamic fashion. And that's interesting because you brought up the point that there is this kind of, like, people visually melt the two together when they're very different. And I'm curious to know what does respect look like for you in the fashion industry and for those who are similar experiences from a practical business standpoint as well as from a personal standpoint? I think asking questions is respectable. I think that's the best thing you can do. If you haven't done your research yourself as an artist, a designer, a director of a set, if you've not done the research yourself, then ask in the questions, ask in the, so when it comes to my clients, they come to me first of all, I'm the first point of call, and I often tell them what the models can and can't do. But that's not that they've asked more and more time more than I've told them what it is. So I think asking questions is really important and having genuine want to understand, you know, like what modest fashion is and the different levels of modest fashion. Because at the moment I'm talking just obviously from the Muslim point of view, but it's such a broad, it's such a broad, I'm so sorry, my words are just a bit skewed today. It's so broad, like modesty is really subjective to the individual. And we've not really defined what modest fashion is. I think that's the biggest issue that the mainstream industry has, because there's no definition. And they haven't asked what the definition is, they've kind of just run with a little bit of this, a little bit of that, when the people that are modest, they recognize the limits of modest fashion, and there is limits on it, even though it's quite broad, we've got, you know, certain ways of dressing that come under the bracket of being modest. And I think also within that space, like, you know, Islam modesty is seen as being oppressive. And that's a fear that we've built around, you know, a culture. And that is not, I think, and it's, you know, you have, her job is something that is a choice. It's not an oppression. And so that's one thing that's really important. But also the idea of it being fashion is also different. And in that space, this exhibition that was at the Cooper Hewitt gave a space to show that it cannot just be oppression. It shows it as something different. And there's a choice there. And I think that's a really important thing. Because in our greater culture, we create fears against each other.  So I don't know you. So I'm fearful of you. And it's like, don't fear me, know me, learn about me, learn about my culture. And that's exactly what you're saying, Shani. And so I'm so grateful for that.  Back in 2018, I think it was we had like a big issue with Vogue reposting one of our models from a modest fashion show that we had in London. Reposting one of our models who actually wasn't in the show, she was just outside, absolutely stunning girl. And she had a headscarf on. And the comments were in the thousands of thousands of people asking Vogue, why have you got this woman on here? The statement of oppression. And yeah, so it was really like a lack of understanding from people.  So I think it's up to the people that are in the mainstream industry to kind of, if you're going to put it out there, then represent it correctly, as well as, as well as explain what it is instead of hiding it, you know, of course, yeah. I definitely think yeah, so. And again, grateful for what you're doing in your, in your world, because fashion is, is not easy.  And that's really important. So thank you. And also, for all of you out there, the exhibition that they're mentioning is Contemporary Muslim Fashion, which is also here on view at Cooper Hewitt. On the third floor. And I don't, on the top of my head, I do not know when it is closing, but it is closing soon. But if you're again in New York, within the next month, I encourage you to see it and actually travel from the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts entity out west. And it's interesting point that you brought up, Brendan, about, you know, the idea of fear that was instilled historically instilled to kind of create the perceptions around how we see these different intersections.  And so I, I'm, there was a piece, there was a section of your chapter that talks a little bit about him using spirituality as a way to kind of create his identity, create his aesthetic to almost kind of not necessarily assimilate, but also, but really to connect to people in a way that allowed him to stand out. You wrote, subverting the cliche of cross-border experience with humor may have been exactly what my mother had in mind with her own stylized border crossing. What we can take from these images is that self presentation changes our claim to space. Smith's spectacular Willie wear runway shows created space for individual expression, taking street fashions in church tailoring from Harlem to international runway. Smith's ethos created new spaces for the people who wore his collections.  Definitely. So I think, you know, first and foremost, like Willie Smith for me is someone who made work in his vein of supporting hybridity, being many things, which I also identify with. But when you know, I think about fashion and what he did with fashion, I think about, you know, if you want to talk about narratives, my family, you know, we're fifth generation Kenyan-born Indians. So mix hybrid or very intersectional there. But like the idea of clothing was something that we didn't have privilege to have. And so my grandmother made us clothes. And in that space of making us clothes, we felt empowered. We felt like we were taking over the space of oppression. You know, we were living in a space of a I grew up in post colonial space. They and the game, whatever that means.  So like clothing gave them power. And so maybe it looked like West, it was Westernized clothing. But within that, we were like, and I think I said this to like, in the essay that we were like the Von Trapp family, where like our, my grandmother made us dress the same, like we all looked like in a uniform. And a uniform is also a very political thing. And you know, like, I love wearing certain kinds of like clothing that makes me feel like I'm in a uniform because I can make it my making my own. But I can still be part of a community. And a community is really important to build a space of community, to build a space of inclusivity. And so when we talk about queerness, that's it. It's not about a gendered space. It's not about a sexual space for me. Queerness is about community. If you fit into my community, we break fractures. We break those ideas of what is not, we all have our struggles, like, you know, we all have our struggles, we're dealing with them. But if we can all be together and deal with them together, that's an important space. And so I think within fashion and what really did, I think a lot about those ideas of like being inclusive and making it like grow within ourselves. It's incredible. And I think that we'll get to the point of liberation towards the end. And I feel like for both of you, through fashion, that reclamation and liberation can is really kind of achieved in your own ways. But next, I really want to kind of move into policing and censoring and dig a bit into both of your knowledge in various ways. The broader fashion industry systemically limited the respective communities you all hail from, and also not only in an abstract way, but also regarding creative output and how they obviously are forms of discrimination and whatnot. And Shanie, you know, linking to the original conversation of, you know, what respect of Muslim bodies look like and not even Muslim bodies but modest, those who identify with the modest fashion category and realm. You know, how have you seen style or physical bodies policed in your work, you know, as an owner of a model management company? Yeah, so the policing is crazy. I think, you know what it is, it's because it's so new. I think the label of modest fashion is really new. And we have the, we had like the leading model being Halima Arden, who had nobody. So funny enough, one of the first models we ever have, it was a British girl, a girl from London actually called Maria Dressie. She was the first ever Muslim woman to wear a hijab to be featured in a campaign. So she was the first and then Halima Arden was American leads with fashion really. So because she was American in America, this blew up massively, more so than Maria Dresses.  And because the industry, the modest fashion industry itself, and even if you look at just the Muslim part of that, the Muslim expenditure there is in the billions, we have the mainstream industry just want to be a part of it. So they just want to be a part of it meant that they just want to grab and do everything very quickly, rather than doing any research about what modest fashion is, or even trying to have a definition of what modest fashion is. And the mainstream industry could have actually done that. They could have actually defined what modest fashion is and then went off there, but they hadn't done that. And because they haven't done that, what they end up doing is it becomes policing what they think is modest fashion, and it goes completely against what modest fashion is. So for instance, there's a lot of women that don't want to, and the thing is modest fashion isn't exclusive for women. So we did use to represent men within the agency of the models, but we no longer do because that was overly policed, unfortunately, and men are deemed to be more modest than women anyway, so there wasn't really a platform for that. There wasn't people wanting to, excuse me, there wasn't really clients coming forward to hire male models through us, as they didn't see modesty linked with men. So that was one thing with like the men missing out, but we had a lot of men and we still do have a lot of men applying for the agency, because they want to be in the fashion industry, but they don't want to be over sexualized within that industry. And that's unfortunately something that happens to men. So they saw us as an option to go down the modest route, to be able to just model without being over sexualized on catwalks and so on and so forth. So unfortunately, I'm a former ballet dancer and within that space, body types, gender types, we get classified as well. So again, gracious that you're making these roles for us in this industry, but also I think about also the ideas of what does modesty mean, I remember crossing a US border and with all my papers and being told and asked by a person of color, what is the purpose of your beard? And I was like, there's no purpose, but the purpose was asking me if I was Muslim, again, the idea of fear. And I knew what the question was asking me and I said, there's no purpose, like I have a beard. The person ahead of me had a beard, but no one asked me, no one asked them what that purpose was. So it's this thing again, it's like, modesty is an important definition and word we're empowering, but also in that empowerment, why are we giving that space to the other, the one that will call us out? And that's something that I really think about.  And so again, I'm grateful for what we do in our spaces, but it's complicated. Definitely. That's why we had to kind of let go of that, unfortunately, that kind of realm within the industry, the agency, the male modest fashion is just because it's just not recognized yet. It will be, I mean, God willing, it's going to come and it will be definitely and you're doing the work. They're not, they're not allowing that space. And that's the mainstream that's not allowing that space. We have the Muslim community that have lots of male modest fashion clothing that needs modeled. But because it's such a small community, they end up like kind of just using themselves or their friends and families and stuff like that. They don't actually tend to go to the agencies to kind of get models for that. So it's growing for the male side of things. But there's definitely like the police in there of that, you know, of saying, well, actually, men don't practice modesty or they're just modest anyway. So we don't really need them in the mainstream. And we really do it because we got things like we have the modest community, we can go over and look at the Sikhis, for instance, so the Sikh people, they practice modesty as well. And then we have Gucci in 2018, you know, having no runway where they've got non Sikh people wearing the turban. And this is a religious garment. It comes back to, you know, the misappropriation, the lack of understanding, the lack of care, the lack of care. They don't care about these people. Well, fashion is always appropriated. Well, it doesn't belong to anybody, right? But the thing is, when they do these things, they're directing it to these people. So they want their audience to be. So if you're going to have, if you're going to have a man in a turban, more than likely you're looking to aim your clothing at the community that wears turban, right? But then at the same time, you're not representing that community at at all in any way, shape, or form. You've not actually wore the turban properly.  It just, it's like, what are you trying to do? What is it that's happening? You know, why? And I also, I wish to be thinking about Prada, that Prada did not have, you know, a person of color on their runway for like, how many years?  People are not, it was like, you know, a certain kind of aesthetic. And again, when I say ballet, you know, I was not the perfect ballet dancer because I was not white enough, like, for lack of better words, you know, like, I had the physicality.  We need to challenge that and say that as queers, we are making spaces for each other.  Like, that's what it's about. For me, that's what it is, you know. I don't want to, like, say, I'm calling out my fellow, like, you know, other dancers or models or people, but I'm trying to make a space where we break down the binaries and we think about, like, solidarity. Because if we don't have solidarity, like, what are we doing? Like, it's like, then we all just are still fighting against each other. Like, it's not a post-colonial space or a colonial space. It's the same space. I think a lot of people are too scared to speak up about it as well.  Whereas what you're trying to do is just have your identity and own that and be allowed to be you in the space that you want to work in. And one thing that the fashion industry lacks are people of colour and diversity. Obviously, this is reason for this conversation. And it lacks, it doesn't lack the people of diversity as models and maybe designers or something like that. But no, designers definitely, as models. But what it does lack is the diversity, the people on the top, you know, the people that are actually calling the shots, the ones that are making the actual decisions, they have no clue. And then they don't have any, it's not diverse enough, basically. Yeah. And I was going to say, then it goes back to aesthetics and beauty and how we've decided what is beautiful and what is not beautiful. And for me, you know, there are moments where I've been told all the time that I'm not beautiful. And I'm not the aesthetics that they want. And that's something that is a big part of the conversation that we need to challenge. And that's a Western ideal of what is beauty and what you're doing by bringing people into this agency is challenging that. And again, for all of us, this is why we're here. It's a thing. And to say you're being told you're not beautiful is a vulnerable thing to say. And to be honest about that, it's difficult, you know, like it's complicated. So something that like kind of gets back to Donna's question about the police and what you're saying, Brendan, right now is that the idea of the traditional hijab, that was something that was obviously not seen as beautiful.  Okay. And so this is a Muslim model. By doing that, what you're saying is you want all the other Muslims to know that you can buy from our brand, we cater to you. However, the way that you wear your headscarf religiously doesn't fit what we find beautiful. And then that's when you get the turbines, you get the no longer covering of the necks, but no longer covering of the bosom. And these are things that we have to do religiously when wearing a headscarf. So religiously wearing a headscarf, we have, it's in the Quran and told to us how we are supposed to wear our coverings.  This is no longer something that, this is something that the mainstream doesn't understand or the fashion industry, the fashion houses don't understand, haven't really looked into, but they don't find it beautiful. So they've changed it to fit their clothing. So then what you do there is you isolate the actual people that you really want to be a part of. And also you've got now this Muslim model, who you call Muslim, who's wearing your clothing that you've now labeled as modest clothing, posing in provocative positions, or having a headscarf on with perhaps inappropriate length of clothing as well, to go with that headscarf. So you're not catering to the audience that you're pretending to cater to. And I think there's a point that we're missing as well with class. Class also changes the way that you can dress, what you can afford, and how you'll dress. And part of the show is that there's a lot of Willie Smith made clothing, streetwear clothes, that I could just buy a pair of jeans and then rock it out. But also the exhibition with the Islamic show, it was glamorous. It was like it was couture. And that's not everyone's way of being. And I think that that's a big part to think about is like, what is our class? Because within this westernized space of neo-capitalism, we are thinking about things, but we also need to think about our class and our space. And how we make our spaces. And I'm privileged. I'm definitely privileged. I'm being brought into it. I've made myself privileged, and I will own that privilege. But I think we also need to still be self-reflexive. And I think for sure, that's a big space for sure. Exactly. We had Dr. Gavanna in, what was it, 2016, 2017, bring out a collection for the Muslim community, being at the headscarfs and the buyers. And like you said, class-wise, the average Muslim couldn't afford that. And we even had the campaign just recently with Nike. I'm here name-dropping and putting everyone under the bus. No, I love it. I love the name-dropping, more names. But also they're going to those spaces because they want to make money. They want to make money. And we think about the Emirates, we think about, I'll go to the Emirates and I'm also like Vogue in the Emirates, it's called Vogue. Arabia. And I'm like, who says Arabia? But that's inappropriate. But it's Vogue Arabia. To me, that seems like a space of creation that I'm like, we're still following these systems of power and hegemony that are trying to create how we understand the way we look, the way we move through spaces, like I mean physically moving, but we need to break those down. Like it's definitely, you know, and then again, the fear, the fear and the oppression. Yeah. And I think the oppression definitely comes from the fashion industry when it comes to the modest, the modest people. Just again, to touch on Dainel's point of the policing. So for instance, like I was saying, Nike 2019, we did a campaign with them. Obviously very excited to work with Nike at that point, you know, like, oh, we're working with Nike, we're doing it. And they were doing a swimsuit for modest women. But they banned it for hijab wearing women, right? So it was with their head covering. They could have done both.  And that's perfectly fine. So now you're, you're just, you targeted the Muslim community by saying, we're going to make you a swimwear that you can wear. And this is at the time where we've got countries banning burqas and burqinis and all this kind of stuff like banning religious dress. So we're kind of excited as the Muslim community. And then we see the campaign, it comes out, where we're really excited. And I'm talking for the community. And then we see the price. And Nike decided to put the price of this swimsuit at, I think it was 600 US dollars for a swimsuit. And it was about, yeah, 500 pounds. And that's not affordable for it. It's not affordable for me. And I'm a grown woman. I'm a grown woman with a job. It just wasn't affordable. I mean, as good as it is, and I've heard the reviews on it, it's just like, where's the modesty in that? That's not modesty to us. Modesty needs to be throughout fashion. It's beyond clothing. And that's our, sorry, what's it called? The slogan for the agency is our model's modesty beyond fashion. Sorry, modesty beyond clothing. And that's what it is. It's beyond the clothing. It's the physical, the internal, the way we spend our money. It has to be modest for it to be part of that realm.  The thing for me is, again, that's kind of my grandmother, how she dressed us, but it was an empowerment, you know, and, you know, gender for me is also part of the diversity, its queerness.  I want to wear a dress. I don't care about what people call me out. In the beginning, it was difficult. I felt like people would say, Brendan, you're sissy. You're like, and I'm like, at this point, when I wear a skirt, I feel so valued. I feel so strong. I will walk differently. And that's part of it. You know, and I think that's something as well, like, you know, why do we have these gendered clothing styles? Like, you know, or colors or things, you know, we have built binaries. And for me, I don't follow them. Like, you know, I'm not into it. Like, I will, you know, I'm very like who I am.  But like, it doesn't matter to me, but why is that part of my culture? You know, so I just think about also the fractures that fashion can create through gender. I think that's quite interesting because we have my husband, for instance, wearing Islamic clothing, and that would be a phobe that he would wear. For people that are not aware what a phobe is, is a one piece garment for a male. And yeah, it's like literally goes over the head. You can have ones that zip up, but to look at it, you might say that was a dress that he was wearing. But it's a cultural coven. It's a religious garment. And there's not really a gender to it. So I kind of get that. It's quite strange, whereas a woman wouldn't wear a phobe. A Muslim wouldn't wear a phobe because we are within our religion kind of told that there are certain genders where this and certain genders where that. So where do we differ there? However, when we actually look at the coven, the West may call what the male coving is feminine coving, you know, like I said, the phobe, they might be like, why is that man wearing a dress? Or we have the Somali community and they have, oh, I'm going to butcher the word, but I'm sorry for anyone that Somali that's listening. They have a male type of skirt that they wear traditionally, religiously. I can't pronounce the word. So I'm really sorry, but people are going to be screaming at the screen and everything. But that again, the West will look at that as, you know, a skirt, but it's not as a cultural coven for where they wear in the world and how the fashion is sustainable for their lifestyle that they lived, the arid weather and so on and so forth. So yeah, like you wearing a skirt, Brendan, if that makes you feel liberated then why not? Of course. And yeah, I think also through like, you know, my cultural like heritage of being Indian, Kenyan, you know, like we have different kinds of clothing, but then it's also about the idea like, why does, you know, a Western kilt get given an allowance? But then why am I wearing something as a POC queer? And then I'm called a sissy or something else, you know, there's there those things that, you know, so I think there's a difference allowance in certain spaces. And also like, you know, how did certain like patterns or like, you know, in Scottish culture, like the paisley is an African Indian hybrid design. And how did that become called paisley? Because it's taken from some from our cultures, and then made into, you know, a culture that is Westernized paisley is a space in, in, you know, Scotland, you know, and so again, it's like, the idea of like, looking down on, on queerness on POCs and like, the idea of understanding what we are trying to do. And I think this is why again, it's important that we're in the space right now.  I appreciate that for the bottom of my heart and moving into the last, which started to get one or two Q&As I have one here. And I think this kind of settles in a little bit with, with my question also about how wanting to know how both of you are using your spaces to reclaim, reclaim really your power, reclaim power that you've, that, that, that was systemically kind of oppressed for obviously many generations. I'm curious, and I'm sure the audience would love to know a little bit more about both of your roles, you know, as an artist, as an owner of the agency, as well as here we have a question, you know, asking, well, I mean, where can I educate myself about modest fashion and what's acceptable? But I don't believe that that I don't, I don't feel like that should be put on you specifically. I feel also to answer that person's question, Google. I mean, like we have to start, you know, educating yourself is also to call, also doing the work, you know, but, but also in a way answering that question, I think that answering that question with my question, how are both of you using your work to reclaim that power, and reclaim power for others who are from your community in order to educate people about who you are? Yeah. I thought I could do that by starting a modest fashion agency. I'm not the first agency to be around for Muslim women. There was one that started in 2014 by a lady in New York. Unfortunately, I don't know what happened there with her continuing that. So perhaps she hit the hurdles that I have hit as well.  But when you're a small company or a small entity within this huge mainstream fashion industry, they often just take what you're doing and run with it. So I've had a lot of, you know, poaching of models, a lot of, you know, just copying of things that we're doing. And that's fine, you know, like originality is not really around anymore. So that's perfectly fine. But what is the problem is when it's going too fast for, for what it actually is without the definition, as I mentioned earlier on. So one thing that I have decided that I'm going to be doing, God willing, is actually changing the space that I'm working within. I no longer really want to have an agency, even though I feel my agency is very important in protecting women within this space. I feel like that's no longer really needed. It's more about having the definition of the space. And with the experience that I have, I would say in the modest fashion industry, one of the leaders who had the most experience being that we started the agency in 2017. And obviously, I've been running it and trying to work with everything, tweak things here and there and see, and downfalls, ups and downs of this kind of stuff. So I feel now it's really important to try and make a space, make a definition of what modest fashion is. And that's the broader modest fashion, because we do encompass Christian women within our agency, women with no religion, or don't really assign to religion, just women that do not want to be over sexualized when it comes to modeling, that do not want to take their clothes off, that want to be able to, you know, just have their personal beliefs and be safe in the space of modeling. So I think the best way that we can do that is to change what we're doing. We have to change and evolve with the times. We have to. The mainstream has to as well. And I would like to say they're slowly getting there, but they're really not. So I just feel like this needs to be the focus now. Instead of having the agency that I have be more around about trying to create a platform for modest fashion and define it. So yeah. Great. And even to that point, you know, creating spectrums, you know, and understanding the spectrums of what is, you know, and I think for both of the respective, you know, the queer in the modest fashion communities, like understanding there's a spectrum and researching it and really kind of taking purposeful action to understand those nuances to create those spaces for them so that people can feel seen and heard and not feel that sense of feel oppressed or be oppressed, not even feel, but actually be oppressed. And Brendan, I pose the same question to you as well. Yeah. And for me, you know, fashion, again, is empowerment. It's a space of understanding one's sense of body in a sense of like, you know, like, how do I give myself empowerment to walk a certain way, to believe a certain way? And I think that's why Willie Smith for me was like, he gave our community, he gave our community of people of color, the space to see ourselves in another place. And there's a weird moment when I was watching Pose and the kids on Pose were like, I'm going to mop Willie Smith from like, and that was something I remember, oh, okay, you're bringing it back because again, we needed to be there. We want to be there. And in that space, we, you know, Willie did it. He went there. He went there. We didn't need to mop the stores. Like, you know, we needed to like have a sense of being like, we are valuable. And so fashion for me gives me empowerment.  But I also think that the industry needs to change, of course.  But my biggest thing is I want to feel invisible. I don't want someone to say like, Brendan, you are this person because of this. And that's why you're in this show or why you're doing this. I don't want people to say that about me. I want to be invisible. You know, right now I want to be heard or be seen. But my goal is to be invisible. Because I don't need to be doing this work all the time. Our work is not done. We're still working. And that's for me is how fashion can also change it. You know, like, so in my new pieces, I'm using camouflage within different textiles to change the way that we see people that or not see somebody. Because I'm really thinking about the space of empowerment. Incredible. And that's all the time we have for today. Thank you both so much. I really do appreciate you both just opening your hearts out and being just honest and raw and real and true and in this what I've what I hoped for. So I really appreciate you both of you just putting it out there on the table as it is and as it should be so that people can hear and listen and have this as a repository that they can always look back and always have that so that they always see that it's been said, you know, that it wasn't pushed under the rug. So I want to thank you both Brendan and Shandy. Shandy, I thank you. Thank you all so much and thank you all out there for tuning in. And next up, we will be in over there and the keynote with LaRouche. So stay tuned. Thank you. Thank you.


From only winning two games a couple of seasons ago to now having a chance at the conference title, the Brainerd volleyball team has sure turned things around. Sports reporter Anthony Scott has the story on what changed in Brainerd. Two years ago, the Brainerd volleyball team only had two victories. Now with only a month left in the season, they're 12 and four. So what has changed? Well, for starters, the coach. Try to change the mentality. They all have good athletic ability. They didn't necessarily have the volleyball skills that we're looking for. Athletically, they were every bit as good as 19 in the city. And they have proved their athletic ability as they only have one loss in the conference this year. Our defense has been a lot better this year than past years. Our serve receive has gone up a ton. And we're still just working on consistency with our hits. Brainerd's one loss in conference was to Wilmer, but the Warriors will have a chance to knock off the undefeated Cardinals on Tuesday. Our first time we played them, we just played super timidly and we just need to play more aggressive. We're really looking forward to Wilmer as we do every year. And what we're really looking forward to is that our defense has come along so much since our first Wilmer game. So we're excited to show them that we have improved. And the student body at Brainerd has also taken notice of the team's turnaround and have shown immense support for this year's squad. There used to never be that many fans that came, but I think once we started getting our winning season, then it's like kind of amped us up a little bit more for our games and stuff. And so I think it's helped us feel energized on the court. For my three years on bursty, I've never seen a fan section like that. I was talking to our athlete director Charlie Campbell last night and he said that it's been a long time since the gyms have this much excitement in on a Tuesday or Thursday night. And they have great reason to be excited as Brainerd is exceeding expectations and have many young players that can carry their success into next season. Reporting from Brainerd, Anthony Scott, Lakeland News. A lot of excitement surrounding the volleyball team in Brainerd. The Warriors are on the road tomorrow as they take on sock Rapids Rice. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.


My name is Captain John Cuell and I'm here for Baltops 2016. This morning we landed at Huto Island about 0600. We landed as part of a combined landing force. When we came ashore, our primary objective was to secure a beach landing site so that we could bring additional supplies ashore, so we could bring the elk acts ashore, some of our rolling stock, humvees and some other enablers that were coming ashore. We also conducted a link-up with the British Royal Marines. We landed onto the beach on the other side. Had come ashore yesterday in support of our landing operations. Couldn't ask for more from the Marines that I have with me out here and it's been fun to watch them in action relate to not only our partners during the exercise but to perform at an extremely high level professionally.


What's going on everyone Sam here with late in sports car driven one box of 22 panini luminance for This is Brett W. It's a good luck here Brett. What's right? See what we got buddy? Kyle we got you right after buddy. You like the box lumens comes in. It's kind of fire scorching up DJ more Facebook Tyler B. Jake Ferguson Perry and Winfrey. It's gonna be James Cook 7 out of 249 bills We've got Dallas Goddard That is on the intensified Jersey card Don't really be going all in on this one player worn luminance Eagles guard Gotta be going nuts and vestige is George Kittle Box, I don't know dude. I hope so Here's strong junior Drake London Trayvon Walker Savage is gonna be Jonathan Taylor. No Darius learned that is 70 out of 100 You can understand why I said Jonathan Taylor because he's stiff arming with the ball on offense That is Alvin Kamara 46 out of 50. We've got auto jack cone for the Colts That's 136 out of 349 and sheesh is Dianthe Johnson She shan't a Johnson That works Kyle Phillips Calvin Austin Kyle Pitts, that's 117 out of 149 We've got oops points There you go and cam acres on the fusion. Nice. There you go. Nice fusion Short print there and last pack. Good luck here. That's Desmond Ritter rookie triple-quan brisker Jamison Williams right yep TJ Hawkinson 50 out of 249 We've got day one auto is gonna be Brian Robinson jr. Green, Inc. Nice one there or year one I should say I think it's a day one year one auto nice one there congrats on the green, Inc. And And dynamic is Aidan Hutchinson that'll do it for your break there Brett congrats on the hits buddy. We'll get them right out to you