is therefore an out-time for question period, the leader of Her Majesty's Royal Opposition. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Premier. In 2014, taxpayer-funded research and polling leaked to the media had this to say, most on tarones would not support the provincial government sowing a controlling interest in any of the five Crown corporations tested. Three years later, most people don't support the liberal, short-sighted Hydro-1 fire sale. Mr. Speaker, it is not too late to do the right thing.  Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Well, I would just say to the member opposite that we made a very conscious decision not to do what that party had done with the 407, Mr. Speaker, because of Ontario by that fire sale, Mr. Speaker. And in fact, the decision that we made about building transit and transportation infrastructure in this province was premised on the understanding that Ontario's economic well-being is at least in part dependent on having the right infrastructure for people to be able to move around, for goods to be able to move, Mr. Speaker, and there had been decades of neglect in terms of building infrastructure in this province. We're catching up, Mr. Speaker. We're doing it in a responsible way, and we're seeing the fruits of those investments as Ontario leads economic growth in this country. Do you see it, please? Do you see it, please? Supplementary. Mr. Speaker, back to the Premier. The government asked the people of Ontario, do you support selling Hydro-1, and the answer was a resounding no.  Do hundreds of thousands of dollars, do millions of dollars, taxpayers, precious funds, or nothing to this government? Why spend that money? Why help your friends in liberal research firms if you're just going to ignore it? It's not right. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, there are many issues that government has to make decisions on, Mr. Speaker, and it was fundamental to our understanding of the economic needs of this province that we invest in infrastructure. And by infrastructure, Mr. Speaker, that means transit. It means roads. It means bridges. It means hospitals. It means schools, Mr. Speaker. It means infrastructure across this province. $160 billion over 12 years is being invested in this province, Mr. Speaker. The fruits of those investments are being seen, Mr. Speaker. We have in Ontario created 702,000 new jobs for the recession. That job creation, Mr. Speaker, is connected to the investments that we have made and the economic growth that we have seen. Mr. Speaker, again to the Premier, I ask a serious question about liberal research being ignored, liberals patting the backs of their friends. Okay, both sides, that's enough. The member from Leeds Granville is not helpful. And also I'll make mention of the fact that while someone's putting a question, I'm hearing heckling on the same side. And when someone's putting the answer, I'm hearing the heckling on the same side. Please finish. Mr. Speaker, to the Premier, the fact that this liberal polling is being leaked to the media in itself is interesting. That means at least one liberal wants to do the right thing. At least one liberal recognizes the fire sale of Hydro One is short-sighted. Mr. Speaker, what I'd like to know, and hopefully the Premier can tell us, which liberal leadership candidate is the one that leaked this to the media? Because the official opposition, Mr. Speaker, would like to thank that liberal for doing the right thing. To the Premier, who leaked this to the media. Mr. Speaker, you know, there are huge challenges facing governments in 2017, Mr. Speaker. There are issues that have importance for the future economic well-being of this province, Mr. Speaker. And if the leader of the opposition is saying to me, Premier, why don't you just govern according to the polls? I think that gives us an insight into his... Member from Leeds Granville. ...the alternatives, Mr. Speaker. We take input, of course, from polling, but we take input from business. We take input from economists. We take input from people, Mr. Speaker. And then we make a decision that is going to be in the best interest of this province. That's what we've done. Consider, please. Before I move to the new question, the member from Leeds Granville, I indicated to you that I acknowledged you just to make sure that you heard it. And you were working on the second one when I stood up, but you didn't get it. And that goes for anybody else. If you want to elevate this, I will lower it. New question, the leader of the opposition. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Premier. We know this liberal government has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, nearly a million dollars, advertising their hydro Hail Mary that is very partisan. Mr. Speaker, how much have they spent advertising the damaging effects of the fentanyl crisis in Ontario? Mr. Speaker, you know, the member opposite has raised a couple of issues, Mr. Speaker. In terms of the opioid crisis that we are seeing in Ontario, Mr. Speaker, and quite frankly across the country, we take it extremely seriously. We understand that there is much that needs to be done. We have in fact put in place an opioid strategy, Mr. Speaker. But as I said a number of weeks ago, we know we need to work with municipalities to make sure that municipalities have the tools that they need and that those supports are in place. So we will continue to work, Mr. Speaker, to enhance the strategy that we already have in place working with other jurisdictions and learning from the work that they have done. Mr. Speaker, back to the Premier. I have to confess, I already knew the answer. The answer is the government spending nearly a million on partisan hydrads and almost nothing when it comes to the crisis workings. We have spent barely anything to warn on taros about the dangers of fentanyl. Mr. Speaker, why are these vanity ads? Why are these partisan liberal hydrads more important than letting the people of Ontario know about the dangers of the fentanyl crisis? Thank you. Premier. Mr. Speaker, I know the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care wants to speak to the investments that we are making, but I really need to comment on the juxtaposition of these two issues. I understand that the leader of the opposition feels that this kind of political rhetoric is helpful in terms of, I don't know what, maybe his political future. But Mr. Speaker, the fentanyl crisis in this country, the fentanyl crisis, the opioid crisis in this country is extremely serious. And all of us should rise above the pettiness of this kind of juxtaposition of issues to focus on what is real. Now moving to warnings, final supplementary. Mr. Speaker, again to the Premier. A 14-year-old just died because of this crisis. The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, the OPP, the Ottawa Public Health have all launched some form of an awareness campaign, but crickets from this government. Minister of Municipal Affairs is warned. A lethal dose of pure fentanyl is as little as two milligrams, the weight of 32 grains of table salt or even 37 poppy seeds. Preventable deaths are happening across this province tragically. Mr. Speaker, there is a limited advertising budget the government has. Right now it's being spent, according to the Auditor General, on self-congratulatory ads, the government, partisan liberal hydrads. My question is very direct and clear to the Premier. Will you stop the hydrads and put every cent into this fentanyl crisis? Premier? Health and long-term care. Excuse me. Excuse me. Mr. Speaker, the opioid crisis in this country is something that I think all of us here in the legislature appreciate the seriousness of and that we need to take those important steps to save lives and provide the supports that are particularly our community partners need to be able to address this crisis right across the country, Mr. Speaker. And that's why it's so important that in this province last October we addressed this in a multifaceted way. In fact, I had a meeting just a few days ago with the Chief Medical Officer of Health beginning in April 1st of this year, Mr. Speaker. On a weekly basis, all our hospitals or public health units, the Ministry of Health will have real-time data in terms of the scope of this problem of the deaths and the overhensures that take place. We're expanding the pain clinics in this province to 17. We made naloxone available free of charge through pharmacies and through public health units, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Some individuals are tiptoeing very close. New question. The leader of the third party. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Since the Liberals got elected, hydro rates have gone up over 300 percent. And since this Premier took office, they've gone up by 50 percent alone, Speaker. It's a startling fact, but more startling is what this actually means to Ontario families. It means more people than ever are being forced to choose whether to pay their hydro bills or to put food on the table. When will the Premier do more than buy radio ads and issue press releases as her response to this crisis that her government has created? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Well, you know, we recognize that electricity prices, that hydro prices have been a burden for people in all corners of the province, Mr. Speaker, which is exactly why on top of the 8 percent that we already have cut people's bills by another 17 percent, so a total of 25 percent people will see that reduction, Mr. Speaker, on their summer bills. But, Mr. Speaker, we started in 2013 recognizing that we needed to take costs out of the system. We've taken a number of actions, Mr. Speaker, but we realized that even with the accumulation of actions that we had taken in 2013 and 2014 and 2015, that more needed to be done. That's why our plan will take 25 percent off the bills of everyone who in their home pays their electricity bills, Mr. Speaker. And on top of that, people who live in more remote and rural areas will see another reduction, Mr. Speaker, that could take them up to 40 or 50 percent reduction. Thank you. Supplementary. Mr. Speaker, does the Premier realize that time of use billing is a big problem for many Ontarians? For a parent who's raising kids, it means you can't cook dinner at dinner time. It means you have to stay up really late at night to do the laundry. And that's just not right, Speaker. Can the Premier tell us, since she refuses to release the details of her Band-Aid hydrofix, will it include ending punitive time of use pricing, Speaker? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very pleased to rise and talk about Ontario's Fair Hydro Plan, Mr. Speaker. Today I have in front of me the technical briefing that was provided to all of the critics of all of our opposition parties in the media, Mr. Speaker, and it talks specifically about many of the actions that we're taking as a government to reduce the bills of all families, small businesses and farms across the province, Mr. Speaker. Up to 25 percent for all families, Mr. Speaker. They're going to see that reduction come summer. Also, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to time of use, we're also having pilot projects that are being looked at right now, Mr. Speaker, by our system operator, by the OEB, that are talking about ways of ensuring that we can continue to find ways to help families and businesses, Mr. Speaker. Our plan is a substantial plan that is bringing relief to families, Mr. Speaker, unlike the opposition party, Mr. Speaker, that has a bumper sticker plan that does absolutely nothing to help families and low-income individuals right away, Mr. Speaker. Speaker, people need information from this government, not a slide deck that's provided to media and opposition critics.  Ontarians need to know that, Speaker, so that they have some certainty around the future. The Premier needs to release the details of her plan in this legislature so that it's available for open and transparent debate.  Enough with the PR, Speaker. When will Ontarians see the Premier's actual plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it's been well said. The details of our plan, 25% reduction for all families in the province of Ontario, Mr. Speaker. And for those families, Mr. Speaker, for those families that are in Northern Ontario and rural parts of our province, Mr. Speaker, they're going to see more than just 25%, Mr. Speaker. We've actually reduced the distribution rate, Mr. Speaker, for Hydro One customers and seven other LDCs. They will see reductions, Mr. Speaker, between 40 and 50%, Mr. Speaker. And that's thanks to the action of this government, Mr. Speaker. We've made sure, we've made sure, Mr. Speaker, as well that we are looking after low-income individuals, our most vulnerable, Mr. Speaker, and our First Nations, something that they didn't even include in their plan, Mr. Speaker. We've made sure that we've enhanced the Ontario electricity support program. And for our First Nations on reserve, Mr. Speaker, they will see their delivery line reduced as well and eliminated. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Do you have a question? The leader of the third party. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My next question is for a Premier. Unfortunately, the people won't see a plan from the Liberals anytime soon by the looks of things. Look, the privatisation of our hydro system began under the progressive Conservatives and clearly the torch has been successfully passed to this Liberal government. But overwhelmingly, the people of this province and an overwhelming majority of Ontarians have made it clear that they want a public hydro system. When will the Premier finally listen and stop the sell-off of Hydro One? So, Mr. Speaker, again, I completely understand why the leader of the third party would want to talk about this because she actually has a plan that would increase or do nothing to reduce people's electricity bills. Her proposal would either keep electricity bills at the same cost or increase them, Mr. Speaker. And the issue that she raises today, the broadening of the ownership of Hydro One, would not take one cent of one person's electricity bill in this province. Remember from Hamilton, East Stony Creek is warned. So, we made a very difficult decision around the broadening of the ownership of Hydro One in order to build the infrastructure that this province needs, Mr. Speaker. In every corner of the province, infrastructure that will allow people to move themselves, their families, their goods more quickly, Mr. Speaker, and will allow this economy to thrive. That's the decision that we made and we're seeing the fruits of that, Mr. Speaker. Having said that, we know electricity bills have to come down and we've got the plan that's going to do that, Mr. Speaker. Supplementary. Well, Speaker, for such a studious Premier, it's quite shocking and surprising that she has not obviously read the NDP plan that's apparent through her response. But I can tell you this, a quick shot in the arm for a political party... Please finish. But I can tell you this, a quick shot in the arm for a political party and a leader that's struggling with low popularity should not be the driving force behind the creation of public policy to make themselves regularly on their evidence-based approach to policymaking. Can the Premier tell us where is the evidence that continuing the wrong-handed sell-off of Hydro-1 will be good for families or businesses? Our fair hydro plan is based on reducing people's electricity costs, Mr. Speaker. That's what it's about. And as I said earlier, we began in 2013 to take costs out of the system, Mr. Speaker, to renegotiate contracts because we knew that there was a need to reduce those costs so that electricity bills would not go up as quickly and as high. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, we recognize that there needed to be more done and that's why we made the decisions that we've made. In fact, I have read the NDP proposal, Mr. Speaker. And I know that what the NDP proposal will do is make people wait for any change, will not reduce people's electricity bills and in some cases, Mr. Speaker, will actually increase their bills. That's not a proposal that we would adopt, Mr. Speaker. We're going to see electricity prices come down in this province, come the summer, all across the province. Well, Mr. Speaker, the reality is nobody trusts this Liberal government and you can see why. You just have to go to the NDP plan to lower hydro cost by up to 30% is being debated in this House this afternoon. Unlike this Premier and her party, we're not afraid to give Ontarians detailed plans or take bold action, like doing what people want and bringing Hydro One back into full public ownership. Will the Premier stop her wrong-headed sell-off of Hydro One, agree to start fixing the systemic problems in the system that started with them as in continuing with them and actually support our plan, which is the only plan that addresses systemic problems, gives people relief on their bills and is, in fact, the only plan on the table. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So let me just say back to the Leader of the Third Party. I think it would be very helpful if she would explain to the people of Ontario how one cent would come off one electricity bill if we made the changes she suggested about Hydro One. I'd like the Leader of the Third... Leader of the Third Party is warned. Premier. Let me ask the Leader of the Third Party why in her proposal there is no mention of First Nations, whereas in our plan, Mr. Speaker, we're actually removing distribution costs, delivery charges, users of electricity in the province. Wait, Mr. Speaker, why she doesn't have a plan that would be immediate for low-income users, Mr. Speaker. The reality is that we did a lot of work to come up with proposals that actually would lower people's electricity prices, Mr. Speaker. That is not what the NDP has done. I understand why they want to talk about Hydro One and why they want to talk about their proposal, Mr. Speaker, but the fact is that what they're proposing will not reduce people's electricity bills. Ours will, Mr. Speaker. We're going to go... You have a question to the member from Kitchener Conestoga. Thank you, Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Transportation. Speaker, yesterday we learned of the approval of a $100 million go-transitation in the Minister's riding of Vaughn. This, despite government's own expert analysis indicating that the station would mean longer travel times for current go-passengers back onto the road and result in a $143 million loss. Mr. Speaker, was the station approved because the Minister put his interest to see a Premier Del Ducca nameplate ahead of the interests of Ontario and go-riders in the province? Minister of Transportation. Thanks very much, Speaker. I thank the member for the question. I'm always delighted to have the opportunity to stand in my place in this House and talk about the incredible plan that our Premier and our government have to invest in and expand public transit in every community, not only in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area, but right across the province of Ontario. Speaker, I also want to take this opportunity to thank local individuals who've been working hard, including my Mayor, Maurizio Bevilakwa, John McKenzie, our Commissioner of Planning, City of Vaughn, Ward 1 Councillor Marilyn Iafredi, who have been working very hard for a number of months with the folks at Metrolinx to make sure it's clearly understood that over the next 10 years, approximately 35,000 people will be moving into the area immediately adjacent to where this proposed GO station will be built, Speaker. This is a clear indication that our government understands the importance of building public transit not only to meet the demands of today, but for the demands of tomorrow, Speaker, and we're going to continue with that job. Speaker, the station is right in the Minister's backyard. In fact, the government's own business case stated, quote, the benefits which could be realised by a Kirby Vaughn station are not large enough to outweigh the anticipated negative impacts to go transit and the economy. So I ask again, why does the Minister seem more interested in his backyard station to boost his own political fortunes than in the best interest of transit riders here in the province of Ontario? Yes, Speaker, look, I want to follow up by saying I'm extraordinarily proud to represent the community of Vaughn here and the Central Central Speaker. And I look forward to making it very clear to the people of Maple and to the people of Kleinberg and to the people of Southern King over the next 15 months that that leader and that party are opposed to building more transit infrastructure in that community, Speaker. But I will also note notwithstanding our ambitious plans to continue to build transit in every corner of this province which that party consistently opposes, I didn't actually hear that member from Kitchener Conestoga ever say a bad word about our decision to build a station at Bresla in his riding, Speaker. Thanks very much. No question. The member from Nicobelt. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our hospitals are facing an overcrowding crisis that keeps getting worse. Last week, 94-year-old Margaret Otto was brought by ambulance to an overcrowded hospital. Margaret had to lie on a stretcher in the busy emergency room for many long hours. It was noisy. She couldn't rest. As her daughter Patricia says, it's pretty sad that a woman of her age in her condition cannot get a hospital room. When will the Premier stop forcing seniors like Margaret to be treated in hallways and do something to solve the overcrowding crisis that they have created? Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care? Ministry of Health, Long-Term Care. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And we have a strategy to address the occupancy rates that we see in our hospitals. And it includes increasing our investments in the operating budgets as well as making unprecedented capital investments across this province, Mr. Speaker. Over $10 billion over the next decade in the hospital investments. We've increased the operating budgets of hospitals last year alone or this fiscal year, Mr. Speaker, by nearly half a billion dollars. And it's important that Ontarians understand that the vast majority of the hospitals in this province routinely and regularly operate within the less than 100% occupancy rate, Mr. Speaker. But we know that there's work to be done. We're proud of the fact that year over year we're seeing from third parties, from Kaihai, from the Wait Times Alliance, from the Fraser Institute, have found year after year that Ontarians are receiving timely access to care. We are seeing improvements in ER wait times as well. We know there's more work to be done. Those are the reasons for the investments we're making. Thank you. Supplementary. Speaker, patient in Ottawa, like Margaret Otto, are being treated in hallways. Overcrowding has forced the Queensway Colton Hospital to cancel 36 plan surgery in recent months alone. And it is not just the people of Ottawa who are suffering from overcrowding created by this Liberal government. The Ontario Hospital Association says that emergency room wait time in Ontario are the longest on record. Speaker, this is our Premier's legacy. Overcrowded hospital, seniors on stretcher, cancel surgery, long wait time for our families across the province. As Margaret's daughter Patricia says, it is a sad state of affair. Nobody can deny it. And a quote. When will the Premier stop squeezing our hospitals and put an end to hallway medicine in this province? Mr. Speaker, I think it's important that we acknowledge that we have one of the best healthcare systems in this country, Mr. Speaker. And obviously in the world and in fact, Mr. Obviously, the member opposite hasn't read today's Kai Hyatt report, a third party report that offers independent third party proof that our government has made tremendous and it continues to make tremendous progress since 2003 in improving wait times. 85% of hip replacements in Ontario are completed within the medical benchmark. 6% higher, better than the national average. 81% of knee replacement within the medical benchmark. 12% better than the national average. 99% of radiation therapy beginning within the medical benchmark. We also beat the national average on this metric. It's consistent with the Fraser report in the last fall, Mr. Speaker, that showed that our wait times in ERs are improving despite more patients we're seeing reductions in wait times across the board, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Yeah. Good question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the minister of health and long-term care. Yesterday in this house during debate on the Protecting Patients Act, a member from the official oppositions said something extremely concerning. The conservative member from Carleton, Mississippi, Mills made comments critical of a zero tolerance policy for the sexual abuse of patients. The member said zero tolerance, he finds that dangerous. The member went on to say that he believes and I quote consideration of leniency of understanding and of tolerance. I found these statements not only shot stop. Usually in purie ambles we set the tone for the policy question and the member has not done that yet. I'm waiting for that and it better be fast. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I found that statement shocking. Mr. Speaker, can the minister of health and long-term care please explain to this house what exactly a zero tolerance question is and how it will protect patients from sexual abuse. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the member for giving me the opportunity to respond to this very important question. Let me be as clear as possible. Our government has a zero tolerance policy for sexual abuse.  Regardless of position, title or occupation, our government is committed to protecting the safety and well-being of all Ontarians. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Health, my priority is protecting patients. This is exactly why our government has introduced Bill 87, the Protecting Patients Act. Sexual assault, Mr. Speaker, and all other forms of sexual abuse by anyone, including health professionals, is absolutely and unequivocally unacceptable. Mr. Speaker, zero tolerance means just that. Zero tolerance for any form of sexual abuse of any kind by anyone. Seen it, please. Seen it, please. Order supplementary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I want to thank the Minister of Health and Long-term Care for the answer. I remember watching in awe of the Who Will You Help media campaign and understanding that if you're not speaking out, if you're not helping the victim, the survivor, then you're helping the perpetrator. I'm proud to be part of the government that is standing up for survivors. I'm proud that on this side of the house, we recognize the need for zero tolerance when it comes to sexual abuse and assault. Mr. Speaker, it's for you to the Minister. Can you please update the house on what we are doing to support survivors of sexual abuse? Thank you. Mr. Speaker, to the Minister of the Status of Women. Mr. Status of Women. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as you've heard, it's vital that we make it clear. We have a zero tolerance for sexual abuse and assault in our society. In fact, there's no room for leniency. Speaker, all Ontarians deserve to feel safe, safe from sexual violence and harassment in their communities, workplaces, homes, and schools. But the reality is one in three women will experience some form of violence in their lifetime. And that's unacceptable. That's why we launched. It's never okay an action plan to stop sexual violence and harassment. Our who will help and our it's never okay campaigns challenge existing attitudes and spark discussions in Ontario and around the world. But clearly, more conversations need to be had in this house. That's why we are investing $1.7 million in training for frontline workers in health education and the community. Speaker, we are supporting people who have experienced sexual assault through programs that build partnerships between community and send. Thank you. New posture. Member from the team, Carlton. Thank you very much, speaker. My question is to the Attorney General. The government has failed Ontario in suffering from mental health issues in recent months. I just want to point out to our own city of Ottawa three suicides within 10 months at the Ottawa Detention Centre.  Attorney General. Well, thank you very much speaker for the opportunity to answer this very important question. Speaker, I can I can tell the member opposite and all the members of this House that our government is very much focused on making sure that we've got the right kind of support for individuals with mental health and addiction services. I know the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services is very much focused in ensuring that we have appropriate training for our Correctional officers around mental health that we have specialized nurses in our Correctional facilities that have training around mental health so that those services can be provided. And the work that has been done speaker through Mr. Howard Sapers who's the former Correctional's investigator from the federal government is very much focused around ensuring that we when it comes to dealing with issues around segregation that there are appropriate services available. That work is ongoing in consultation with the Ministry of Health so that we have robust services for mental health in our Correctional facilities. Supplementary. What concerns me is that clearly the supports and the services aren't there. One individual and I quote was only in the detention centre because there was no bed available at the Ottawa Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre which is where he was supposed to be undergoing the assessment. The government cuts neglect of mental health is heartbreaking. I just want to ask the Minister how many more deaths will it take before the government shows real concrete action with clear supports and clear services for those suffering. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker our government continues to make investments in making sure that we've got appropriate supports available not only in our Correctional facilities when it comes to supports for mental health but also at the community level the work that my ministry is doing through our bail action plan is very much focused on ensuring that we've got appropriate mental health supports available in the community by working with organizations like in Ottawa with John Howard Society we are making sure speaker that we've got more mental health workers at a community level so those individuals who are low risk are vulnerable are now being remanded to the Ottawa Caught in Detention Center but in fact they've been released under supervision in the community so that they can get appropriate support. We have also speaker have launched a groundbreaking bail BADDS program and Ottawa is one of the sites with 20 BADDS both for men and women that will ensure that those accused with complex needs get the appropriate mental health care in the community. Thank you. Thanks. Question. Member from Waller. Thank you speaker my questions to the premier cafeteria staff at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus have been on strike for more than six weeks they want fairness they want better schedules they want better benefits and they want wages that they can actually live on. Cafeteria workers at York University were able to win a raise bringing them to fifteen dollars an hour. They achieved the speaker with no help from the government. Hardworking Ontarians and businesses have waited long enough for change. You've received the submissions for the changing workplaces review. The report's done. Where is it? Speaker what is this government prepared to do to transform the lives of these cafeteria workers and all hardworking Ontarians and when? Eric. Thank you. Minister of Labor. Minister of Labor. Thank you speaker and thank you to the member for that important question. Speaker when does it when does a labor dispute speaker the government focuses and the ministry of labor focuses on assisting both of that part those parties that want to reach an agreement speaker. They assist them with the process. It's assured responsibility speaker. We've got some of the best mediators. We've got some of the best conciliators speaker in the country right here with the ministry of labor and they've got a tremendous record speaker of drawing parties together bringing them in and eventually reaching agreement speaker. So we actively encourage the employer in this case and the union in this case speaker to make every effort they possibly can to resolve those issues where they should be resolved speaker. And that's to the bargaining table speaker. We're confident of those people bring their best to that table speaker that these parties can reach a settlement that's in the best interest of the institution and the people who work there speaker. Thank you. Well I would then say speaker to the Labor Minister why are these people who are making just over minimum wage still on strike. Speaker do Democrats believe that $15 an hour should be the minimum that Ontarians receive for the hard work that they do. And they shouldn't have to strike to get it. We believe that people should be able to plan their lives with better schedules with better wages and without being able to take time off for sick leave without breaking the bank. Speaker again what is the government prepared to do for these cafeteria workers and for all hard working Ontarians and when. Speaker thank you I don't think this government needs to take any lessons from the third party on how to resolve Labor to speak with people. We've got the changing workplaces underway. We've been doing it for two years Speaker. The report is almost ready. It's going to reach this House Speaker. The examination that's been done of these issues as simply as not being done in the province of Ontario before Speaker. Ninety eight percent of Labor disputes in this province Speaker are resolved without a strike without a lockout. When the NDP we're in power Speaker. When the NDP we're in power almost a million days a year lost Speaker. So does anybody is going to give anybody lessons on how the collective bargaining process should work Speaker. It would not be that party. I look forward to the to the input from the third party when the changing workplaces review is made public which will be in a very short time. They'll have an opportunity to speak out then like they should have when we had the minimum wage debate here. Mr Speaker my question is for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Minister Ontario depends on the good will of volunteers to deliver vital services and build strong inclusive communities. In my writing of Barry a number of constituents have received recognition through your ministry for the outstanding work that they do. Mr Speaker the function of the Honours and Awards Secretariat is integral to the recognizing Ontario across the province for contributing their time to local organizations such as the stroke recovery Association of Barry and assisting local community initiatives like season centre for grieving children which provides peer to peer support for children that are grieving the death of an immediate family member. Mr Speaker can the Minister please tell us more about how the Government of Ontario recognizes the outstanding accomplishments and achievements of our volunteers. Thank you Speaker I would like first of all to thank the member from Barry for championing volunteers in her community. Each year more than 12,500 volunteers are celebrated in Ontario through five honours and 12 recognition programs administered by the Honours and Awards Secretariat. One of the province's highest honour is the Order of Ontario. Last December 26 individuals were appointed to the Order of Ontario by the Honourable Elizabeth Doudswell the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Recipients include outstanding individuals such as Sprinter Donovan Bailey who won two gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics and Lisa LaFlamme as the Banker of Canada's CTV National News. Mr Speaker honours and awards are essential in reflecting the commitment in conviction of volunteers and what a vision for a stronger Ontario. Mr Speaker I thank the Minister for her answer. Minister each year Ontarians benefit from the efforts of approximately 4.9 million volunteers. In my writing of Barry a large number of my constituents rely on volunteers to deliver vital services such as providing support to patients recovering from a stroke. Mr Speaker I know that in the past Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre Auxiliary of Barry with over 800 volunteers led by Janice Williams had accessed a program through the ministry to acknowledge volunteers for their enhancement of patient care. I'm sure the minister would agree that it is important to recognize and thank these organizations and individuals that represent the best of our province. That's a good idea. Mr Speaker can the minister inform this House about the programs that recognize the outstanding contributions of volunteers in our communities. Thank you Minister. Mr Speaker I again want to thank the member from Barry the member is correct through our volunteer service awards both adults and youth are recognized for the length of time that they volunteered for an organization. Last year 2,200 organizations including the Barry Art Club accessed our program. More than 11,000 volunteers were recognized at 54 different ceremonies across the province. Mr Speaker this year from March to June more than 50 ceremonies are being held throughout Ontario in communities that to celebrate the contributions of our volunteers. I have written to every member of this House with the detailed information about the local ceremonies here and I encourage them to get engaged. It is through these programs that we are able to recognize volunteers across our province for their contribution. Thank you Mr Speaker. Thank you. Good question the member from Farnhill. Thank you very much to the minister of health and long-term care. Mr Speaker the area around Branson Hospital has a high concentration of elderly residents so it's clear that the Branson site should focus on senior care and include specialty clinics outpatient mental health services medical walk-in assessment services day programs for elderly people and multi-disciplinary health promotion and health maintenance programs for local communities. Shockingly and sadly the urgent care center of Branson is scheduled to close this June. Mr Speaker how can this government turn its back on these seniors? Well Mr Speaker I think it was a Branson it wasn't Brampton thank you I just required that clarification I'm not familiar with this specific situation Mr Speaker but on the one hand I'm happy to talk to the member opposite to get informed to have a closer understanding I'll be doing the same with my staff and the ministry over the course of the day clearly Mr Speaker we provide the opportunity for our local communities to and our local hospitals and those that govern them to make decisions based on the priorities and the needs of the local community it's critically important that as they make those decisions they are able to provide that confidence and those assurances to the community that those services that they rely on are going to be provided again I'm not familiar with this specific situation perhaps I'll get more information in supplementary even better Mr Speaker answer I'd suggest a conversation so perhaps we could work together to resolve this in a satisfactory way thank you supplementary thank you very much and I'm happy to discuss it further I understand that Councillor James Pasternak is going to be speaking to Toronto City Council about the issue so I thought the minister would be aware there are concerns that North York General Hospital does not have room to absorb all the services presently provided to the community at Branson Hospital even if the elderly could make the trip Mr Speaker the Ontario government actually promised medical services to be provided specifically to seniors in this area just south of my riding of Thornhill in addition to seniors the Branson neighbourhood has a high concentration of new Canadians who value the health care provided at the Branson site will the minister promise today to look into the matter and to ensure that the seniors new Canadians and the rest of the residents of the Branson area in northern Toronto will not be losing their cherished medical services thank you thank you Mr Speaker so as the member knows this is this is part of North York General Hospital my understanding from my staff is that the lease on this particular facility for Branson ambulatory is due to expire in 2019 but I'm also told by my staff just now Mr Speaker that there's a confidence that there will be no service loss expected as a result of these changes thank you your question member from the Obama mandatory thank you Speaker my question is to the Premier this Liberal government has claimed for years to be lobbying Ottawa to match its one billion dollar province promise to invest in a transportation corridor to the Ring of Fire Development yet Liberal Nickel Belt MP Mark Surrey is quoted this week as saying the feds can't do anything until the province has a road plan saying and I quote as of today I haven't seen a road plan it's hard to invest on a blank piece of paper we need a plan well Speaker who's right and where's the plan Minister of Municipal Affairs the Speaker thank you very much appreciate the question from the member the member is right when he recognizes that on this side of the house our government has consistently put a significant allocation on the table related to infrastructure build out in the Ring of Fire the number is one billion dollar Speaker it's a significant commitment to moving forward with development in the Ring of Fire area and I would mention to the member that I remember very well in the election of 2014 where the Ring of Fire was not even mentioned in the NDP platform that first came out when they were rushing forward to take us to the polls Speaker we continue to work on the file in a very significant way I understand the member may be trying to link this back to the federal budget that we had come out last week that in his mind I suppose that not directly reference investment in the Ring of Fire but absolutely Speaker we believe at some point there will be an opportunity here for the federal government to play a role in Ring of Fire development we're counting on it and we would expect that some way that they will come forward with support thank you supplementary thank you Speaker when you invest money to develop natural resources in the north the entire the province benefits from this investment this liberal government has been talking about the Ring of Fire for years but nothing nothing you have to show for it when this government when is this government going to stop announcing development in the Ring of Fire and actually start developing the Ring of Fire Speaker one of the pieces that has seen some progress I would reference is that there was a corridor study completed not that long ago and while there was not a definitive link or route established through that corridor study it's my understanding that that work did yield significant information that will position us well as we move forward on this particular file in terms of finally defining a particular route there is some action considered and progress further required where they want to see a secondary study completed it's my understanding that the first study was very informative in terms of what it yielded and as well speaker will help us as we move forward with providing community access roads to four or five of the First Nations communities that will ultimately be able to tie in to an east west corridor if that is ultimately the route that has chosen on the Ring of Fire work is ongoing speaker progress is being made and we look forward to the work to continue thank you new question the member from D2D2 well thank you speaker my question is to the minister of research research innovation and science now speaker members in this house know full well how important it is that we embrace manufacturing processes that are less harmful for the environment and I don't think it's any secret that many consumers in Ontario are switching to products products that are low carbon and we must support the companies that are investing and innovating these new products embracing clean tech has multiple benefits for our society it lessens the damage it's done to the environment by harmful manufacturing processes and a healthier habitat reduces health related issues as well as new technologies will increase the size of the sector create new companies and jobs adding to our already stellar GDP growth it's obvious that this sector is important to Ontario's future and all of our children's futures so speaker I ask will the minister question let the members of this house know about his plans to grow Ontario's clean tech sector minister research innovation and science thank you Mr Speaker I want to thank the member from beaches is here for that very good question Mr Speaker the member is right on all accounts clean tech is a sector in Ontario that is capable of enormous growth Mr Speaker to support that sector our 2016 budget announced a 55 million dollar investments to establish the clean tech equity fund which will be funded through our business growth initiative Mr Speaker this investment will help develop emerging clean tech companies by ensuring innovative firms have the access to capital they need to scale up hire talent and export globally I'm glad to see the federal government following provincial lead Mr Speaker announced a 380 million dollar clean tech equity fund in their 2017 budget thank you Mr Speaker thank you supplementary speaker I want to thank the minister the work that he is doing to advance innovation on Ontario is absolutely outstanding worthy of a doctor of physics now the news is fantastic speaker because it is more important than ever in Ontario to foster foster the right investment climate to turn local innovation into scaled up companies and high quality jobs and I know that clean tech north which is chaired by Brian Watson the beaches east shore constituent appreciates our vision and it's great to see that the government is investing in a business sector that can have a direct impact on all Ontarians day to day lives the growth of this sector will allow people to make more environmentally conscious decisions decisions that consumers can feel good about so will the minister please tell the house more about the clean tech sector in Ontario and more about what the government is doing to support the sector thank you minister thank you Mr Speaker again I want to thank the member from beaches york for that question once again Mr Speaker the member is correct Ontario is home to the largest and the fastest growing clean tech sector in our country Canada Ontario's clean tech sector Mr Speaker is responsible for eight billion dollars in revenue and employs over sixty four thousand people in three thousand companies across our province clean tech in Ontario is a sector of great strategic importance it has the capacity to generate revenue and the help mitigate environmental damages Mr Speaker Ontario's highly skilled workforce vibrant innovation and text clusters and geographic position gives us a great competitive age over our other jurisdictions Mr Speaker we will continue to invest in our clean tech sector as one of the leaders in our innovative economy thank you sir thank you new question the member from the agri-west member Mr Speaker my question is to the minister of education tonight the Niagara district school board will be voting on whether or not to close down Beansville district secondary school south Lincoln high school and Grimsby secondary school closing these schools will leave enormous holes in the communities of Lincoln Grimsby and west Lincoln but there's still time to do the right thing and listen to the parents teachers and children in Niagara my question to the minister of education is this will her ministry put a moratorium on the closure of small and rural schools across Ontario until the accommodation review is fixed and the funding formula is amended good question thank you speaker and I want to thank the member opposite for this question Mr Speaker as I've said in this house as recently as yesterday an arbitrary moratorium is not the approach Mr Speaker there is no one size fits all solution when it comes to our local schools and Mr Speaker we believe in our locally elected school boards because Mr Speaker they understand the needs in their local communities we put in place an accommodation review processes that requires school boards to consult with the school community Mr Speaker and that includes with their local municipalities with their coterminous boards with students with parents so that they get these locally made decisions right Mr Speaker this is about ensuring that locally elected school boards do what is in the best interest of their local schools supplementary Speaker my question is back to the minister of education perhaps the minister won't listen to the constituents in my writing but if she's not going to do the right thing in my writing perhaps she will listen to the students and parents from the rest of Ontario small and rural schools are the backbones of local communities and economies students and parents across the province are rightly anxious about the radical ongoing closures this liberal government seems to be doing everything it can to balance their books on the backs of rural schools and their students so my my question is back to the minister of education when will this government stop trying to balance the budget on the backs of rural students good question Mr Speaker we know that schools play a vital role in the social fabric that ties our great communities together and Mr Speaker I want to say to the member opposite that we are continuing to invest in our schools and our local schools are really the the center of our communities we have increased the funding to schools by 59% since 2003 Mr Speaker I want to also point out in the member's own writing we have invested in 12 new and improved schools since 2003 so let me bring to the member's attention that 8.9 million dollars was spent to build the new 20 valley public school 11.3 million dollars to build a new binbrook school and 1.5 million dollars for new child care spaces and Mr Speaker I can go on answer the list of 12 new schools in that member's own writing because we believe in investing in public education can you see it please can you see it please new question member from london west thank you speaker my question is to the premier last week in london I met with four families of adults living with severe physical disability who are in dire need of residential care after suffering stroke or traumatic brain injury two of these men are living in hospital one is living in a retirement home and one is living at home with his aging and unwell mother with long-term care his next and only option speaker these families are desperate and exhausted they have written to the minister of health they have written to the deputy premier they have met with the southwest linn and with the patient ombudsman but the wait list for assisted living are so long their loved ones are more likely to die and make it to the top of the list what does the premier want me to tell these families community and social services well thank you very much mr. Speaker and the types of cases that the member opposite is describing are some of the most challenging I think we can acknowledge this there are complex medical issues in a number of these cases occasionally there's mental health overlay dual diagnosis and so on and for the safety of all concerned on some occasions individuals do need the type of support that they will receive in a long-term care facility or other type of environment we know that sometimes there are aging parents involved in these situations and we know that they need the kind of support that is appropriate for their loved ones in terms of specify or talking about these specific cases obviously I cannot do that but we are certainly aware that we need more supports in appropriate settings thank you mr. Speaker thank you supplementary thank you speaker in the London area there are about 500 adults on the waiting list for Cheshire homes 50 on the Dale Brain Injury Services wait list for housing supports and as many as 90 on the housing wait list at participation house they are waiting for Lynn funded dollars to support their medical needs the lack of assisted living options is creating a crisis for families it is forcing the permanent hospitalization of people who want to live in their communities it is trapping people who are in the prime of their lives inappropriately in nursing homes will the premier commit today to increasing the number of assisted living placements in the southwest Lynn so that these adults and others like them with complex medical needs can live with dignity in the kind of housing they deserve thank you you see it please you see it please thank you minister health long-term care so these individual cases remind us of just how important it is that we harness all the resources possible to provide them with the respect and dignity and the supports that they require to live as full and independent and beneficial lives to themselves and being part of their communities so we know that there's more work to be done there has I think the member opposite would acknowledge and she referenced to organizations as well participation house and Cheshire homes that have made extraordinary impacts and in that process in association with other community organizations there is a role to be played by multiple partners when we talk about assisted living as well and the supportive housing that's required I'm certainly I will take this these examples and I know that there is a role in our lens as well to see how we might be able to make a difference in these particular instances but also more generally Mr. Speaker thank you new question the member from Kitchener Center thank you Speaker my question is for the minister of community and social services Speaker for many people who are living on low incomes learning financial literacy skills is a very important step in becoming more secure and independent organizations like the working center in my writing of Kitchener Center are playing a crucial role in teaching financial education and they're providing support services for some of Ontario's most vulnerable people I joined the minister recently in my writing as she announced a further four years of funding to organizations like the working center through the financial empowerment and problem-solving program Speaker could the minister please give us an update on how this investment is helping build financial literacy among low income Ontarians thank you Minister of Community and Social Services thank you Mr. Speaker and to the member from Kitchener Center for her question my ministry and this government know that for many people living on low incomes financial literacy is an important step in becoming more financially secure and that is why last year our government made an initial investment of 1.5 million dollars in Prosper Canada and why I recently announced an additional 8 million dollars over the next five years to continue providing programs that promote financial literacy investment will make it possible for agencies to continue the already successful financial empowerment and problem-solving program Speaker this program has already assisted almost 16,000 individuals in just two years individuals have benefited from services such as tax clinics that help people prepare and maximize their tax returns thereby increasing access to tax benefits for low-income individuals thank you Mr. Speaker the time for question period has ended therefore there are no deferred votes therefore the cell stands recess until 3 p.m. this afternoon


Welcome back to Drinks Made Easy because cocktails don't have to be difficult. Today we're taking a look at a really fantastic, simple, alcohol-forward cocktail, the Monte Carlo, invented in 1948 by David Embry. Now this is very similar to the Manhattan, the Improved Whisky cocktail, and really the old-fashioned in terms of just having a spirit, a sugar, a bitters, and a bit of water from ice. So if you enjoy cocktails that are flavored forward and aren't really mucking about, this is a cocktail for you. And this is usually when I would show you what this cocktail looks like, but Mike has developed a bit of an affinity for this one, so he keeps walking around drinking it like an absolute weirdo. And if that hasn't turned you off already, please go ahead and click on the subscribe button and the bell icon so you'll be notified every time we release a new video. Let's make a cocktail. To build the Monte Carlo, we'll start with two dashes of Angostura bitters. I didn't really get a dash on that first one. You also can go with only one dash of Angostura if you don't really like the play of a bit of cinnamon. Up to you. Next, we'll add two ounces of rye, half an ounce of Benedictine, and this is where we're getting the sweetness. If this were a Manhattan, we would be getting that from the Sweet Vermouth. If it was an Improved Whisky cocktail, that would then be the Maraschino Le Cure or with an old-fashioned sugar. Make sense? And next, we're going to add our large block of ice. Give it a quick stir, garnish with a peel of lemon, or you can optionally garnish it with a Maraschino Cherry. And there you have the Monte Carlo. Now you may see people sometimes stir it a lot with this idea of quote-unquote getting the cocktail down to temperature. I disagree with that. Now obviously it will start to chill, but it will also start to dilute it because you're creating friction by having all of that movement from the ice. This might also be coming from the technique of a Monte Carlo is quite often also served up because this is a Manhattan variation. So you can have it on the rocks or you can have it up, but especially when you have a large format cube, this alcohol and this drink is going to get cold pretty darn fast because you have a large block of ice. So you really don't need to work all that hard. It's delicious. A very simple cocktail with the aspects of the sweetness from the Benedictine, a bit of cinnamon from the bitters, and just a really good rye. If you really like cocktails that aren't overly complex but just kind of round out your favorite rye, this is a perfect cocktail for you. Cheers from Drinks Made Easy.


And we now move on to our second panel discussion for the evening. The topic is creating out-of-home formats across regional markets that attract brands and engage consumers. And our moderator for the panel is Mr. Sanjay Tripathi, founder and CEO of Agilio. I also request Mr. Tripathi to please welcome the other panelists who should be joining us. Over to you, sir. I will not spend too much time in introducing the panelists, like let me call on stage Dipankar Sanyal, CEO of Platinum Communication, Neel Pandya, Head of Media L'Oreal, Nisith Mandarkar and CEO Agilist Advertising. By the way, he's got the best possible card I have seen ever. So please ask for his card. Next on stage I would like to invite Soni Jayan, CEO Outreach Advertising. Our last panelist today is Survi Kulcestra, MD, Unicorps Solutions, Private Limited and Fist Look OH. So let me start the question with Dipankar. Dipankar, out-of-home media is really growing year on year and the growth rate is around 6% to 7% as per different reports. And the market size is anything between 3,000 crore to 3,500 crores as per again different reports, whether you follow a pitch, obviously you will be following a pitch, but as per Fikir report, it says that next five year the industry will probably grow at a 11.8% cumulative growth. So can you for the audience, can you explain what is regional markets we are talking about and what is non-regional market for this context? To my mind, the regional markets what we are talking about is basically the tier 2, tier 3 cities we are talking about or even lower down in the pop-up strata. What we are actually talking about is the metros and the state capital we are moving beyond that, that is the market that we are actually talking about. So that's the definition of the regional markets. Nisit, can you just tell us what will be the size of that market, like if we are talking about 3,000 to 3,500 crore is the overall OH market. So what will be the size of regional market which is beyond metros and you know state capitals? I think there is immense opportunity what the Pankar was talking about. These are the only not the market. Other than there is a growing and emerging markets are also there in India. We have actually the OH has not reached to very small towns, even tier 3 and tier 4 towns which is emerging now. I mean specifically when we talk about the smart cities, though they are also constitute a large number of your regional flavor, they are also growing. I don't have the exact number what is the potential of this market, but this is really expanding and there is a lot of opportunity over the course of discussion we will go through and we will unveil those opportunity which is coming for. Sunit, any idea like you know how big is that market size that we are talking about? To my understanding, you know markets have been traditionally divided amongst metros and regions. So you know northern market, eastern market, southern market and if you give me a minute I would like to give my understanding of regional market. Regions are you know every region, every market is actually a regional market even a metro is a region market because regions are made up of cultures and communities and even if metro is a large market, if you are looking at regional market as an understanding of smaller market, so they form different forms of regional market. But in terms of advertising space coming to your questions, what I get to understand is more than 50 percent is being today spent on large markets and the remaining 40 to 50 percent is being spent on smaller markets which can be termed as regional markets. Okay, come to sort of be like operating out of Bhopal market and you know, so what is have you seen the what have you seen as a trend is the market spend of the market years at the spend of the spend has grown in your market in the sense like you know in the last three year trend what you have seen like you know whether you have you have more market years have come like a more number of market year more in terms of spend. So what is your experience? Like we have come up in the regional market from the last one and a half year. Okay. What we have seen that if you give quality and if you give them services like the way they want, they we get like a higher market spends for rather if you compare indoor to Bhopal we are getting higher spend when Bhopal compared to indoor. So this is what services you offer and the way you offer and the quality offer is I think the regional markets are picking up very fast and they are going to like rule the rules because most of the brands are going towards the regional markets. Okay. So then that brings me to the brand market here in the group. Sunil you are heading media and you are there in Bhodapun before you know you can tell from your experience across category in the sense do you think market is spending more in regional media regional markets currently or do you think there is any significant changes which has happened in the last couple of years like Surbhi has said like now if you provide very very good quality that like the spend is really going to increase do you think that change happening? Before going on to the spend what you picked up I think firstly I would say I want to say that all of us should give justice to autofo. I think from a client angle print even if the money is saved we should go away from that and we should definitely we should definitely plan for autofoom to quote an example when my my agency for autofoom when I joined logical some eight months back I called them for a brief for annual media strategy most of them in the room were shocked and surprised they're like autofoom ka bhi annual media strategy hot hai I said yes we need to plan for autofoom so we need to budget autofoom from the day one we did not need to move away out from and coming to your point on talking about spends in regional market I would suggest that if you are lying on the other side where you're saying that budgets are limited I would suggest that regional markets autofoom in regional markets will do a tremendous job in terms of spreading the awareness it's cost efficient I think outside digital OH is the only medium which is cost efficient print is really expensive television regional channels we all know how it is expensive so it plays an efficient role there and I think market years which I have worked with and I which I've heard in the industry have started becoming smart and they started moving on to a market disruption kind of activity and this market disruption kind of activity are afforded only into regional market I cannot paste Mumbai or Delhi into the entire city in case I budget I can do it but I think on a long run if you choose wisely in regional market in investments I have seen mind measures and sales both moving on throughout of them itself you are the right clan for the right audience like you know I come from agency so I definitely I think all agency will want you on board in terms of like you know going and talking to that client so coming out of the bunker but Neil said does it make sense like you know have you seen that as you are an agency partner when you go to the clients do you really suggest in that manner because in the outside discussion what I heard most of the media owners says that you know the agency is the place the spoil spot they don't really position us well in terms of they said no measurement nothing and I don't really spend money there so do you believe it is true not really very frankly I'll just I'll say that there are two parts to this question in fact one the best part is every category today is looking inside okay beat FMC GB telecom beat whatever you talk about it and that going beyond this beyond the known markets so that's the best part so there is money one so there's no way that an agency would go and say kid don't spend money there so agency will definitely be part of it yeah the challenges challenges are real challenges are we most most of the time we compare I would say a metro kind of situation to to those markets where in the problem starts coming in yeah because the formats the way the way the media owners operate that's very different the aesthetics of the sites are very different that's where the challenges and that's why we as an agency we try to be more cautious because at the end of the day we are we are looking after that brand so we would not like that brand to be affected going into that market and getting affected so we are very picky about the market that we're going into and how that should be presented so this is the debunker has mentioned couple of challenges in terms of formats in terms of like you know they're more cautious so what are the other set of challenges you face in when you're actually taking an original market when you are trying to do a planning for the original market I think most of our clients what they feel as Neela has mentioned this it's never been a part of the main plan of the media they've been saying it's just a 20 second of the media why should we spend so even if the money is left then probably they would but we strongly believe and as a creative plus media agency we always try to make a balance between what kind of communication should go and obviously we are looking at and we have been in talk with a lot of government authorities to create a PPP model where we don't have to actually beat for it but get a property owner and take care of the long-term so it's not just not going to be advertising advertising but definitely is going to be more or CSR or maybe a long-term investment in terms of that so the challenge is always in the terms of not the size not the location but it's all about the the way the client and the brand behave towards the OH that's the what we feel about okay the brand market is saying that you know he looks at regional market positively but agency guy is thinking that the lot of challenges like Sunit can you just tell me like you know what you have seen from your experience what are the real challenges in the regional market space is it the like Dipangar mentioned about like you know it is about the asset qualities this is mentioned about like you know it is about like you know understanding whether this are right like you know getting more detail data about the site kind of things what are the challenges you have faced see I have two perspectives on this one is from the asset point of view there have been massive improvisation I could say over the last couple of years six to seven years particularly outreach advertising the company that I represent we particularly operate in the northeast region of India and ever since we have started operating in that market that there is a lot of you know kind of professional delivery systems that we have put in place which was missing earlier could be said there were transparency issues there were hygiene issues what Neel and Nishita mentioning more particularly but we are now executing campaigns which are pan India and with the same level of deliveries which has been expected from us and I'm sure Dipangar would vouch for it because we have worked on various campaigns to be campaigns together in the northeast market so one is that so second is so that is not a challenge so that is a perception which is the perception is the challenge second part is I think there is the challenges that of lack of insights also Sanjay I think a lot of brand marketers brand managers media agencies agency representatives have also to go down deep in the market now because most of them actually you know sit in the comfort zone I'm just generalizing I'm not saying anybody particular in the comforts of their headquarters mentioning about you so they you know sit in Delhi Bombay Bangalore headquarters and you know they sit with the agency and then the agency passes on to their regional offices and there are a lot of opportunities in regional markets in terms of new formats that they can offer which a metro market would struggle basically because there are penetration issues there are clutter issues there are other challenges of a metro market or a large market which is an opportunity for a regional market which I see Sanjay I would mention one of the challenge from my end from a brand's angle I think the biggest challenge which we feel from a brand angle is that we pick up a print creative and put it on outdoor at the end of the day we don't think of outdoor campaign when the when the first type of order from first of the campaigns actually utilized we don't shoot for outdoor we shoot for digital campaign we shoot for TV campaign we shoot for key visuals into print but we do not shoot for creators made for outdoor so that you think who's really responsible for that is a brand owner responsible for that the creative agencies responsible for that not the media agencies responsible for that or outdoor owner is responsible for that because someone in the ecosystem would have told the brand guy this is not going to work in outdoor why in the ecosystem nobody complains and it goes through all the way and people see a very bad creative they don't even interested him out of home so as all of us are responsible for the success I think all of us are responsible for the downfall of creative also I'll tell you if we if we start involving so there is a concept which I work in my past previous company which is called one team one brief if we start involving the outer firm guys into the briefing of the campaign in its first stage they are the one who will give you inputs while making the brand creative I think if you start doing that as a step one I think there are experts in this industry which are not utilized as of now we need to involve them well in advance and once that is covered and we know we don't know out of home campaign I think this solution is we can't creep the brand name and I I think it's together we are responsible for it okay this my question to the audience all the out of home agency guys sitting here how many of you really come go back to the client saying that this not a good creative it's not really going to work sure okay so my question to is yeah see this is what all about the perception when we say where the challenge the perception and secondly when a media plan happens you get the call if you want to do some activity north is there's a regional manager who said oh no this plan is not want to work I know the vendor I'll get you so people think the way the scientifically television radio or the print has been planned it is not my regional manager area manager even sales executive also plan it because they know the location very well they know the traffic very well you don't know you guys sitting in a Mumbai Delhi and Calcutta you don't know about the market so probably this is a last priority for them they don't really care about it I'll come to survey you are actually the the asset owner over there so all the challenges people talked about one is like you know aesthetics perception insight then you know creative so how you actually like you know you discuss outside like you know even technology so what are the things when one and a half years back you decide your company decide to come into this space how you tackle that you know and how you got a number one perception in your market it's a Bhopal market first of all I would like to say that when we came into this field we came up with very good media that is like the first LED in outdoors so whenever we go for wave we ask the person to come for reiki for all this it for all the locations and when they saw in actual they need to come and you might all your side LED black all the all our sides are LED backlit in outdoor so and we are the we have whenever we improve the asset quality that's the first point for the asset quality what is the structure of the of the media such it doesn't look it doesn't look tattered it looks like a piece of the advertisement as such so that they become the part of the brand the second improved the structure yes yes it doesn't because we have got the structural stability report for report for that so that whenever the media owners come to us we just tell them we you are going for the best media in town so always we get most of the ad campaigns will go ever lands in Bhopal whoever sees our media who they get they get to us and we give book them so this is easier for us to because we get to give them quality so what about measurement had you added anything on measurement to yes we are working out we are working out we are working out on that we have come up with a plan which measures the actual traffic on road where you can measure the number of vehicles on road then then we can give you like a handle for which you can have we are creating an app for that also you can count the traffic on the road you can count all the cars or the even bikes even trucks with the sizes so that will be like a real real-time data which you which anybody traffic pound of the site yes anybody can access and it also gives you data in packets whichever you choose like like 15 minutes 30 minutes one day or one month so that you can choose your campaign time at that time period it will be easier for the campaigners to go ahead for that time or for those locations okay so up to you like you know you change you change the perception having better quality assets in place so like you know you said people saw that you know then come to you but really are you charging higher higher rate from the agency has still not given you higher rate we are not charging any higher but we are charging at par to the whatever is whatever is there whatever we're actually you know the market rates you are actually charging we are not charging any much higher than that so you're not making you're making not not making losses in that so you're saying at the same rate asset quality can be improved but nobody can be improved because they because there has been I think no almost no investment on the on the media owners part to change the perception of the media as such which I think has become very shabby in regional markets but have you added other assets because most of the smaller markets are like you know the markets we are talking about is mostly hoardings are bosselters have you added other like you know assets classes over there in Bhopal or like you know you're still operating on these two asset classes this one also because we are we will be foreign into other assets very soon like within six months and there also will be having more better quality like we are whatever we portray will be the best in industry okay so Dipanga coming back to you like do you think asset classes availability of better asset classes or digital OH will make a difference in the perception of client and major ability and other indices which were talked about towards regional like clients perception towards regional market because whenever we go we say very bad quality our memory is very bad quality and memory of no other advertiser of my category you know I'll maximum I'll see some sorry owner sorry shop owner or agility sub is advertising I think okay this is not the market for me to really come back when I was in the client side to come back and really advertise in there do you think asset classes availability of asset classes will make a difference definitely it's going to make a difference see the important thing is as I said client is ready to spend but you know the times have changed I mean when you were there and what are the difference when ITC if I recall the ITC good old days of ITC to back was spent the client used to invest a lot of money in this medium today the table has turned and today the the advertiser wants the media owner to spend and make a call out that yes I have this media so probably what she is doing or their company is doing that is something that that advertiser is looking at yes I have already made media yes I've created a world-class stuff come to me and the advertisers ready to spend so I think yes that is going to make a lot of difference me what do you think what are the other asset classes potential in smaller town original markets like as a brand marketer which are the other asset classes you'd like to see because most of the places in a smaller town we only see hoardings in the bus shelter there's the only two things which are available so with the smart cities coming in another other things coming in what do you think what is really available in metro and top number one cities if that gets available in the smaller towns probably like marketers will change their views and you know I think more or less outside the billboards in the bus shelters which are doing justice in the regional market I think in metros we have done good amount of investment into creating assets at railway stations and a lot of bus stops and other things I think in regional market it becomes really important to create a 360 medium communication to the consumer either while installing into a train and you can do announcements into train which would be out of home plus XYZ announcement together I think that's that's what is missing I think digitization in regional market is also important from a perspective because if you do a simple digital out-of-home kind of a campaign into a metro no one is bothered to even look at it but if you do the same thing into a regional market at a tier two and tier three at the same cost I think you create a lot of eyeballs you create a lot of talk to talkability around it I think that's where I think you need to invest more into assets and we need to move out from billboards and how do you solve the electricity challenge in the smaller towns because once you do digital that requires more electricity that backlit things is doing unless you have got a permanent like you know contract or a separate deal with the electricity board you'll not get the electricity I don't think so from Vodafone or a L'Oreal perspective I experience of mine I've gone into those level of the tier three, tier four areas where electricity issues have been really not but backlits have been really worked from a Vodafone perspective I think out of home for at the POS is really important from that particular I don't think so I'm the right guy to answer from the electricity issue I think there are experts here who would definitely answer. I'll come to Suneet because you are operating in North East which is really really a classical case where we get little of government support so what are the other things like you know per digital OH I think you know government rules also need to change a lot in terms of making DOH available in the thing so what are the things you think government should do differently to support this sector at least in smaller towns. See I think DWH is still a far cry nationally and metro markets as well so regional markets we can still talk about it in possibly the next session of this conference but in terms of you know the other initiatives that the government has already taken and even the private players like us have initiated over the past couple of years in markets like North East is we have undertaken a lot of BOT projects a lot of PPP projects with the government wherein we have been setting up modern traffic signal systems we have been setting up now photo bridges so there are escalator photo bridges which are happening in Guwahati so I mean that that is again a matter of perception that you know people do not know or people send to tend to assume that you know markets like North East possibly or other smaller regional markets would have typical 2010s and hoardings and bus shelters only but we have escalator foot bridges we have mall facades we have airport which is you know amongst the top 12 in the country today we have almost all formats I mean Unipoles and everything yeah so that this is that brings me to the next question I think airport is a very good example we have got 300 airports and if you look at most of the airport creative except about like top five or six airport if you go there you know the quality really drops drastically the quality of assets are poor the quality of advertising is poor quality of clients available over there is poor but there are poor so again if you look at traffic count traffic count has increased drastically as you're saying in Guwahati or like you know taken any small city any time you go the airport is completely full both outside and inside so why is not change happening in airport which is the control medium which is like you know you can improve the quality why the change is not happening in the airport space I think the airport scenario which we're talking about is now two years old now if you look at the way the government and the department is taking care of all the refurbishing all the airports are happening there's a new bidding is also going to happen there are going to be premiums going to be charged from the bidder and also of course it will impact on the advertisers as well so I believe the things are changing even I have been traveling to the small towns maybe cities maybe in Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa look at the airport is as equal as Mumbai and Delhi so looking at their standard may not be a huge footfalls and traffic are going on but things are really changing so airport I don't see the problem the challenge is always the small town where the shabby nature of the property which is available and there's no fixed rate card so anybody can go buy pick up and your media plan can be always questioned by the guy who doesn't know anything about the media plan it's a demand and supply issue I think a lot of a lot of client and people do not demand airport branding at across the regional markets and hence I think the government and the media set owners are not investing much around it I think the demand increases the supply should improve and I think assets should change around that I think the bunker is the right stays like you know you're a right-size me like you know out of form agency to say so how many clients really actually asked for a OH planning for regional market or like you know how many you have to push what is the percentage of clients very difficult question in fact we are planning for this for all our almost all our clients are going into this region market I mean if I just give you an example of idea being one of our clients in MPCG circle then 210 tons so it's one brand Telecom is a category it is there you know FMCG as a category understand but there are multiple categories which probably are not going so when you when I segregate the market as per the categories there are some categories which is definitely are prone to like you know from a childhood we are seeing that those brands are there like you know FMCG obviously has to be there so what are the new categories which can go but they have not really gone from your experience that's what I was asking not really I mean e-commerce is taking its own beating so automobile probably yeah I think automobile could be okay otherwise most of the clients that you work it are going to I want to add to that I think you know the sheer pause that debunker took to us respond to this justifies the question and the answer that not many clients are actually going to regional market regional specific campaigns there are no clients trust me on this yeah very very few cases that you know industry members would hear would you know actually cite examples that you know we did this I would cite one for reference here so this was around 2014 you know there is a large FMCG major who has a personal Caroline so we did a fantastic regional campaign for them with Rajeev being present here we did a fantastic campaign with them in a Sam so that was a regional campaign for a national brand so I think if Sanjay you are looking at a answer like this that you know there are pan India campaign see where you know regional markets are also part of the panic so you know if L'Oreal is doing a campaign and you know so there are you know eight metros and 20 towns and 30 villages and all that so that's a pan India campaign there's no regional right but then like I said regional markets are made up of region which are made up of communities and culture right so unless as brand managers brand owners media agencies we understand the culture of that region we cannot reach out and engage with those customers and we need to understand that and that's how I mean that's the insight through which we can create regional campaigns and there's another example that I would give in fact last pujo in Calcutta Durga puja is big in Calcutta and Bengal so pantaloons did this alpana on on the road yeah and that was a campaign that the entire country was talking about it went viral on the social everybody was talking about so there was a you know great cultural context in which the campaign was built Calcutta although being a metro market but there was a regional flavor to it so that's I think the understanding of regional market and creating regional campaigns that's what we need to look into I strongly that's a very good point I think you are giving that example of Samsung like you know where they have to pull out the campaign because they have no can you just give that example to the audience like not so that you know what he said and you're putting me a jail you're putting me in jail tomorrow if I had to pitch those guys will throw me out from there the door so that's what Twitter trending there's a campaign again I will not name the brand you have already spelled out so the brand has a candidate did the campaign all India and is specifically talking about thank you for taking our business to x y crore thousand crores number one or something like that and Western India contributes to maximum number of their venue to their business and it was found there's nobody and there was a there was a icons from each of the regions if the Bengalis of the the Bengali man and women it is south so the south has been in wife or so and so forth but when it comes to the western western India there is no representation from a for a Maharashtra culture there's no lady in Navaris Ari which they via all the gentlemen who is of the topi and whatever so there was a there was a tweet which is going on I'm talking the last year and say that we are the biggest contributor to your business but you have not represent my representation was not there and that was a huge trending and after that they had to pull it out from the newspaper television and I think that's that's something that we have learned long back which is one size cannot fit all and we have to look at regional markets in in pocket no I want him to say my worries when that reaches the bill board that means it has gone through four levels it has gone through client get us gone through the creative agency it has gone through the media agency it has gone through the out-of-home owner so why four of them they need like you know for a Samsung brand I'm I'm I'm understanding they will have all good agencies throughout you know including the brand team so that's my bigger worry I think somewhere my my my perception or like you know my like belief is that somewhere you know we just think okay creative has come we have to execute we don't put our mind or we don't raise our hands saying that okay something can be changed or something can be made different because if you are all intelligent people if you have put our mind I don't think that will ever reach the billboard level and you know people not noticing it so nil it brings me to my last question and so what do you think can be done for the regional market to really taken in the plan for the most of the brand market here beat is it technology will make a difference is it like major ability will make a difference it'll really having the better quality signages will make a difference or it's a perception change from the client side will make a difference I think multiple things outside whatever you said I think one thing which we as a brand have realized that you need to start treating regional creatives in regional languages I mean I you don't put the English creative into a newspaper in the newspaper you don't put the English ad on a regional TV channel in fact there's a learning enough case studies that regional creatives on digital are going best performance I think we need to start picking up languages also into regional and being more relatable to the audience who are we talking to secondly I think I mentioned earlier also about is that market disruption activity we need to start focusing on I think if you're limited budgets be present for three months change your creative after the month or month or so and ensure always on kind of a out-of-home approach from a media planning perspective which definitely moves mind measures and even sales to that extent sir we want to add anything I would like to say that reliability is another big factor because most of the media owners from regional sectors are not reliable as such including including us because I have what I have observed that they are not giving that kind of quality and they're not giving that kind of you know reliability factor is a big factor because most of the whatever campaigners think that okay I have put up this ad next it won't be there most of the perception is like that we need to change the perception we need to be stand is standing stiff out there yes we are there and we'll be there for you we don't need to move out from that place so I think with reliability is another big factor so that we most of the regional market is like that like it's not very focused it's not in a single manner so we need to put up more like that the pangreni last word from agency side in terms of how to build reliability or how to really bring that language creative and that combination one thing that comes to your mind is that this being so fragmented the ownership being so fragmented because of which is learning of the metro doesn't go down so much below in the lower down the popster so if they're there are media owners who are in the metros and they are expanding and they they're putting that kind of money in those kind of towns I think a lot of learning would flow on because there's a huge disconnect between the media owners there and the media owners in the metro so that learning is somewhere not flowing in okay so we've got few minutes there any any question to the plan panel at the moment so this any question to the panel this is for everyone I mean more of the metric side so this debate about having the right metric in OH has not settled what is the next phase I mean where do we see that equation coming to on the metric side I mean how would you say a couple of years down the line I mean where would we be any one of you who's want to take them shall I make an attempt yeah I don't know I mean we have always spoken about metrics and measurement across all conferences that I've personally been part 2 and all the discussions that we ever get into this but I like we discussed a little while back you know we are actually some of us are waiting for a third party of an outsider or maybe somebody from inside who create an independent you know measurement system like like the way we have to embark ABC IRS all of those so something you know an independent unit has to be created an independent body and that should start getting into measurement of sites and metrics I think that is something that will possibly solve the problem but I don't what we are possibly waiting for so we thought we'll not discuss and measurement because that itself is a big topic so thank you for bringing that up any other question okay this is generally for the panel and for the anchor pardon if I sound a little outdated having moved from the industry to the academics I may be I find the platform that we are discussing for outdoor or OH was let's say airports railway stations maybe bus shelters I want to know the relevance of couple things that we have done in the industry like in a World Cup we had taken a car out you know for the during the drinks break and all that I have even what about the balloon part now having we have tried that putting up in the Haji early during a launch we found that that was very impactful and it's sort of a valid is what the previous speaker had said about the visual impact but what about boards behind autos and buses I have found that very useful what about stepney covers and scooters they are very informative and very relevant what about Peter booking putting stickers in the cars using radio taxes as a source of your information are these relevant today or wall paintings are rule marketing areas or the rule areas you know painting boards in the rivers it could you Varanasi Calcutta and all that are these relevant today or do you tend to use it in your marketing and branding Sunit can you answer this because you are not this is like no microcosm of all the states I mean see I get your question very well I think you know these are some of these are relevant today most of these are relevant today except for the scooter tire stepney branding because not is there no scooters that's right yeah exactly so we have moved to scooters now and I think others are still relevant today for local or regional players we do not see large national brands advertising through these mediums because one is lack of awareness second is you know they do not want to get into the hassles of the execution what will happen and nobody wants to take a chance basically I think execution quality is a question mark in most of the things are genius who is there yes that's why these are not being used permissionals another issue so local brands are engaging with these mediums still yeah that's how it should be because it was regional markets I thought correct it should have that like your puja example was a very good example yeah that matter thank you any any other question thank you so much thanks the thanks all the panelists for your time and discussions I request you to please stay on stage I thank all the panel members for this interesting session and I request you to please stay back I now invite Mr. Atul Srivastav executive director and CEO Lakshya media group to please come on stage and give the token of appreciation to all our lovely panelists and let's have a huge round of applause everybody I'm sure we agree that it was very insightful and I think it's going to get even more interesting as the day progresses thank you so much ladies and gentlemen