Good morning, Mr. Speaker. We’ve got a white sheet of snow outside that makes everything look like nice and clean. It’s a beautiful morning.

I’m glad that the Minister of Energy is here with us this morning, because he actually confirmed something that I’m going to be talking about a little bit later. It’s all good stuff—well, some of it, anyway.

The page who was here, Havana, is from Algoma–Manitoulin. She disappeared. Where did she go? I warned her I was going to be talking about her this morning. She’s going to be here with us and helping us, and I hope that everybody welcomes her. She’s going to follow in the footsteps of her sister Demily, who was a page here, as well, about five, six years ago.

It’s a wonderful experience that the pages have—to be here in the middle of the discussion that we’re going to be having on the fall economic statement, because some of it covers them. It’s always nice to have the hallway chats with the pages. In the beginning, they come in and look around, and it’s a big building and they’re all excited, but then they start listening to the debate, and you can engage discussions with them in the hallway. Let’s not kid ourselves; they are listening. I would encourage everybody to engage with your pages.

Every time that I rise in the House, I always try to bring a perspective from northern Ontario, particularly from the good people of Algoma–Manitoulin, to the floor of the Legislature. No different than I’ve always done, that’s where I’m going to start off with—the shortfalls.

I look at the fall economic statement as an opportunity for this government to indicate to the province as to where they’re going, what their priorities are, what’s important to them—and have they been listening to Ontarians, have they been listening to the concerns of their constituents? I’m sure they’re hearing the same issues that I’m hearing from the good people of Algoma–Manitoulin—such things as, what’s going on in our schools, what’s going on with the economy, what’s going on with our energy prices. That white sheet we see outside that makes everything clean—well, that white sheet is not taking off any of the pressures that people are feeling on their electricity bills or their home heating oil bills.

That’s where I want to start off today. This was an opportunity to help those who are really in need.

The 5% this government has indicated as a historical increase in ODSP really is a pittance when you’re looking at individuals who are paying their rent—anywhere between $1,500 to $2,200—and with the price of food that has gone up.

Let me give you an example, Speaker. I met up with Chief Manitowabi of Wiikwemkoong First Nation, along with many of their councillors. The oil companies are also feeling the impacts of delivery, because when you’re delivering small amounts of oil, it means you’re going to households more often. When we look at the cost of heating—let’s go to last year: the average cost of oil was approximately $1.718. That was just last year, and that was tough—for people to meet the costs and pay their bills. Two years ago, it was half of that cost; 75 cents per litre is what they were paying. Because the higher costs have come in, that means the cost for an average minimum delivery to a home has gone from $500 to $800. When I met up with Chief Manitowabi—actually, I should say Ogimaa Manitowabi—along with many of the community members, we were trying to look at how seniors are going to be able to afford this, how single-income homeowners are going to be able to afford it, how individuals on Ontario Works—and support systems aren’t going to be able to help.

Here are the numbers: In First Nations communities, for a household of one, their monthly income is $390; a household of two is $642; three, $697; four, $756; five, $815; six and above is $844.

As I said earlier, the oil companies are now not delivering less than a minimum of $800 to fill up a little bit more than half of their tank. So the discussions that we had with the oil companies were, “Well, if we reduce the price, that means we reduce the oil,” which means they’re going to have to come more times. The volume is not there; it’s just the cost has gone up.

I wanted to go through that exercise just to explain that these are some of the actual—how are these people going to make ends meet? Seniors have two small pensions coming in—whether they’re on CPP, a little bit of OAS and a little bit of a pension. You’re looking at the cost of food having gone up, prescriptions have gone up, electricity—I want to touch on electricity.

I’m glad that a couple of days ago—actually, I’ve been on the Minister of Energy for quite some time now. This particular file in regard to—

Interruption.

There’s a small sawmill on Manitoulin Island. It’s owned by the Taylor family. Roslyn Taylor is a person I’ve been talking to for a very long time. This issue started with the previous government, so this goes back a long time. I have been talking with numerous Ministers of Energy from this government to try to solve this issue. I want to take you back to looking at some of her energy bills. She has her on-peak, mid-peak, off-peak times for a total of—this particular bill is for the month of June; this is in the summertime. Her actual usage is $2,050.85. Her delivery charges are $3,900. She’s paying $1,900 more in delivery charges than she’s actually paying in usage. This is a small business, and she has about—well, she had about 20 to 25 employees in the sawmill. Here’s another bill; this one was for May, I believe. Her usage was $1,626.09. The delivery cost was $3,666.43—$2,000 more than her actual usage. And there have been more of these. We’re talking about small businesses that are the backbone of many communities across northern Ontario.

In this fall economic statement, this was an opportunity for this government to show this as a priority, because there are a lot of Ontarians—whether you’re in northern Ontario, eastern Ontario or western Ontario, we’re all feeling the pinch. Every community has seniors. Every community has people who are on the verge of living paycheque to paycheque. Some are leaving their cupboards empty in order to pay their rent.

Again, I wanted to highlight those two particular issues that the government failed to address in their fall economic statement.

Doctor recruitment: Again, this is something that is a very big priority for northern Ontario—across this province. This was another opportunity for this government. I’m sure they’ve heard, because I know I’ve walked plenty of times across the way and suggested many ideas—as an opposition, that’s what we’re supposed to do. We’re very effective at our job, being the opposition—to look at the holes, to look at the shortfalls that the government has in their legislation. It’s also our job to propose good ideas, and we have proposed ideas—particularly some of the suggestions that have come out from the Huron Shores family network, where they have proposed how they could address some of their shortfalls by changing the fee model that is there for how they’re paying doctors. Under the RNPGA model that they’re utilizing now, it’s pushing away doctors from coming to the area. Many of the doctors who are being trained out of NOSM are being trained and prepared to come and work under an umbrella of a team, a network, where you have allies you can work with. The RNPGA model doesn’t provide that umbrella, so many of the doctors are forced to go into other areas. There are some doctors who are waiting to see if there’s going to be movement from this government to provide those different models of care that will address—it won’t fix it tomorrow morning, but it will definitely lay the path for many of the northern communities to go down a better path to recruiting and retaining doctors. So we’re still waiting for that to come forward.

I want to give a big shout-out to the Wawa hospital, particularly Ann Fenlon and the community there. They have been amazing at making sure that their emergency room—and so have many of the other hospitals: Thessalon, Sault Ste. Marie, Blind River, Elliot Lake. They have gone over and above doing what they need to do to recruit, making sure they have the doctors in place, and making sure their emergency rooms are not closed. Have they come close? Many times, they have.

I want to give some particular attention to the hospital in Wawa. In order to provide the services they need for their hospital, they have had 27 different locums provide care to that community. Why do they need it?

Well, let’s look at what’s happening in the community of Wawa, in that region. There’s a good problem, actually, that’s happening there—I boasted about having the three latest mines that have opened in Ontario. One of them was Silver Lake—originally, it was Harte Gold, but they’ve been bought out by Silver Lake. Then you have Alamos mine, the Magino mine, the Argonaut mine that has opened up; you also have Wesdome that is part of that region. When you look at that entire area and the amount of employees who are there from the mining sector, it has actually increased the emergency calls by 30%. That’s an important number. You’re looking at an influx of additional patients of roughly about—including if you’re looking at the summertime, because you’ve got people who come for tourism, who go to the parks, who enjoy the fisheries. Believe it or not, people do not wear the proper footwear when they go on the trails. They wear sandals when they should be wearing proper hiking shoes. People have slips and falls. People end up in emergency rooms. You’re looking at an influx of 6,600 additional people who are needing access to the hospital. I say that because the hospital in Wawa used to get funding for six doctors who are there; they’re down to four, soon to be down to three. I put a question to this government last week: Why has this government unilaterally cut their funding, taking away their opportunity to attract more doctors? They’ve increased their need for the emergency room, but they have actually removed the funding that they need in order to attract more doctors. Again, it’s a question that I put to this government, because when you’re looking at the numbers, it doesn’t justify the action.

It’s another shortfall that this government missed in this fall economic statement, to really look at a strong program, because the utilization of locums—Speaker, I don’t know if you know, but they are much more expensive than an actual doctor who provides primary care. Something I just found out is that there are lucrative incentives that, depending on the hospital—because now the hospital is forced to use their hospital budgets to attract locums to cover the needs of their emergency rooms. There’s no additional funding, but to make sure that they can attract them, certain hospitals are paying higher fees for locums than others.

So if I’m a young doctor—because this is the white elephant in the room—coming out of NOSM and looking at paying off my debt, not being provided with the umbrella of networks that I need to provide care, I’m going to look at becoming a locum, because I don’t have to worry about the shifts being imposed on me or covering the hospital. I can basically say, “I’m going to work in Elliot Lake for about 10 days, and then I’m going to take four days off, and then I’m going to go do some coverage in Wawa, and then I’ll take two days off, and then I’m going to take maybe six shifts in Thessalon, and then I’m going to take five days off.” You can do this and get paid very lucrative amounts of fees. Is that the answer we want? Coverage in the emergency room is one thing, but we’ve totally lost primary care.

It was great; this morning, we met with the registered nurses, who are looking for more nurse practitioner-led clinics, which will actually generate that primary care we need in many of these communities.

Why are we continuing to pay more for services that we know if we make the investments in them will actually save us money in the long run? Again, that’s a missed opportunity in this fall economic statement—and it’s not because this government doesn’t have the money. You do have the money. You just need to make it a priority to make the investments that are needed, whether it’s in education, whether it’s—oh, jeez, and I’m going to get to the winter roads as well, because that white sheet of snow needs to be cleared—in health care. But we’re not doing that.

Again, talking about that white sheet of snow: Northern Ontario is going to have plenty of it, and I see you have some here this morning. Road closures are a fact of life in northern Ontario. Unfortunately, in northern Ontario we do not have other modes of transportation. All I have is my car or my truck or my Jeep, and that’s how I get to work; it’s how I get my mom to her appointments; it’s how I get my children to recreation; it’s how the kids get on the bus to go to school. And when those roads are closed, it really doesn’t help our economy either.

Like I said, in a community north of Wawa, there are many mines that are there, and if the parts aren’t getting to the mine, if the products aren’t getting out of the mine, it’s a loss, and people are losing opportunities for working hours and are losing a lot of opportunity with their families.

Again, getting to and from the hospital—because we know we have to travel further for our services, keeping those roads open matters.

I’m glad—I think it’s this evening—that we’re going to be talking about a private member’s bill looking at enhancing the times that are allowed to have those roads cleared. I’m glad that one of the backbenchers from the Conservative government is bringing it forward—because the member from Mushkegowuk–James Bay had this particular bill, which was a lot better than what is being proposed tonight—and we’re going to be having that debate. It’s going to be interesting having the discussion. Finally, a light has lit up with the government side—that there are problems with northern highways, something we’ve known for a very long time, as northern members. But again, there’s nothing in this fall economic statement on that.

Those are just some of the issues I wanted to talk about this morning—and there’s the opioid crisis; we didn’t see that. We didn’t even see the word—not one word in this entire thing on autism.

Speaker, again, it’s a missed opportunity for this government. They have failed to really listen to what the priorities are for individuals in this province.

I look at this government and say, “Take heed of some of the criticism that is coming from this side of the House. You’ve got to do better.”

Good morning. Let us pray.

Prayers.

Resuming the debate adjourned on November 15, 2022, on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 36, An Act to implement Budget measures and to enact and amend various statutes / Projet de loi 36, Loi visant à mettre en oeuvre les mesures budgétaires et à édicter et à modifier diverses lois.

Thanks to the member.

There’s our world, the bubble that we live in here, and then there’s the real world of people and what they feel out there.

I just finished explaining that when a senior or an individual on OW gets notified that to heat their home this month is going to cost them a minimum of $800—and that will only fill up my heating tank a little bit over half. My income is less than $600. Where am I going to cut? What am I going to do? I won’t be able to pay for the entire cost of the fuel. I’m going to fall behind. I’m going to put it on the credit card, if I have a credit card. How am I going to fill my cupboards? How am I going to light up my house? People are living in poverty.

Again, it comes down to what I talked about. It’s a missed opportunity to really address some of the priorities. It’s not like this government does not have reserves or the money in order to address those shortfalls, whether it’s for seniors and people on OW or ODSP, or people in education, or investments in health care. You need to make it a priority.

When you’re talking about the petroleum tax, that the government has removed 5.7 cents and 5.4 cents on home heating and the gas—really? Do you not think for a moment that petroleum companies will take this as an opportunity and bump their prices so that they are not going to lose on the petroleum prices and the profits that are there? Really? You think that is going to help people? I don’t think it has helped anybody in northern Ontario, when we look at the dramatic prices and how fast they can go up in northern Ontario and how the heck long it takes them to come down. You see price increases in northern Ontario that happen the morning of, and it takes about three months for them to come back down. The 5.7 cents really is not a heck of a lot.

Questions?

Thank you to the member for his remarks this morning—like me, in a rural riding. I was particularly interested in the issues he talked about regarding transportation, both for individuals and for businesses. I do note, in the fall economic statement, the commitment by the government to extend the reduction of fuel tax and gas tax to the end of 2023. I hope the member sees that as good news.

On the health care front: Again, the rural hospital network, whether it’s Wawa, Elliot Lake, or, in my riding, Wiarton, Lion’s Head, Markdale—these places need to work hard and do work hard. The member talked about funding reductions, but I point out—on page 8 of the fall economic statement—that the health care funding will rise from $69.6 billion this year to $75.2 billion this fiscal year, an increase of $5.6 billion. I hope the member sees that as a positive step and will support the government in this legislation.

Thank you to the member opposite for sharing.

This fall economic statement is really to serve those who are vulnerable—if you go through what we have presented. I am from the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility. Look at what we are doing for those with a disability. We are raising the earnings exemption from $200 to $1,000 per month. And for the seniors who have the GAINS program, we are increasing that.

Do you think we should have direct relief measures for seniors in Ontario?

Ma question est pour mon collègue—belle présentation. Je suis content que le député ait amené la question des routes hivernales. Pendant des années, j’ai déposé un projet de loi pour mettre la 11 et la 17 dans « classe 1 ». Finalement, le côté du gouvernement a réalisé que peut-être ce qu’on disait est vrai. Mais ils ont amené une motion qui va créer une nouvelle classification, une classification qui n’existe même pas. On a des contrôles qui ont été donnés : le déblayage, soit huit heures ou 16 heures après une tempête de neige.

Écoute, je pense que le monde du nord de l’Ontario sont tannés d’être traités de deuxième classe. On entend ce gouvernement-là constamment dire qu’ils sont là pour le monde du nord, qu’ils sont là pour nous aider, et puis on voit qu’ils bâtissent toutes sortes de chemins, mais nous, on a juste deux artères principales : la 11 et la 17. Puis on voit qu’il y a un surplus; on voit qu’il n’y a pas plus d’investissements pour nos routes.

J’aimerais t’entendre là-dessus, mon collègue, pour expliquer la situation, parce qu’il y a eu deux tempêtes dans mon comté; deux fois les chemins ont été fermés. C’est inacceptable. Ça va être le même, tout le restant de l’hiver : une tempête de neige, une fermeture de route; une tempête de neige, une autre fermeture de route, qui va coincer ces deux artères principales. C’est vital pour nous. J’aimerais t’entendre sur ce point-là.

Aussi, ils ont identifié une nouvelle classification. Le gros problème qu’on a dans le nord, c’est le renforcement. Je veux être très clair, monsieur le Président : les gens qui se mettent derrière la roue pour chauffer nos camions sont des gens qui sont experts et qui ont une grosse conscience pour essayer de garder nos chemins déblayés dans le nord de l’Ontario.

I want to thank the member from Niagara.

It’s about priorities. I started my speech this morning exactly on where their priorities are—and this being an opportunity for this government to tell Ontarians, in their fall economic statement, that this is their priority. Right now, from where I sit—and the member just hit it right on the head of the nail—this government’s priorities are a lot of window dressing. They’re saying the right things to have the bare minimum of impact on individuals, just enough to hit the headlines in the media, but no substance that is going to trickle down to those who are most in need—enough pixie dust to put on a little bit of shine, but really, no substance, no meat to put on the table.

When you look at what’s happening in the greenbelt, we see where the priorities of this government are—it’s for their friends, for the developers. Those are the individuals who are going to benefit from this fall economic statement. Very little do I see that is meeting the needs and the priorities of those—

It’s an honour to rise today to speak to the fall economic statement bill. It’s clear that everywhere you look in Ontario, there seems to be a crisis—our emergency rooms, our pediatric ICUs, the level of homelessness we’re seeing along our main streets in our downtowns, the affordability challenges that so many people are facing, the loss of the farmland that feeds us. Yet, if you read the fall economic statement, you would get the sense that there’s no crisis in Ontario; none of these issues are really pressing. I would beg to differ.

I don’t understand how you can put forward a fall economic statement without substantial increases in funding to our health care system to shore up our pediatric ICUs, to address the labour shortages, to withdraw Bill 124, which has driven away so many nurses and other front-line health care providers. Nothing in the bill says, “We recognize there’s a crisis, and we’re going to invest in shoring up the system that so many people in this province depend on.”

Speaker, when you look at the fall economic statement, you wouldn’t know that we’re facing an affordability crisis that is disproportionally hitting the most vulnerable in this province.

I’ve been asking, demanding, pushing this government to double ODSP rates for well over a year now. The situation for people living on Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program only gets worse and worse, especially with the inflation and cost-of-living crisis that we’re facing. How can anyone survive on $1,200 a month in this province, or $731 a month? It’s impossible, especially when the average rents in many places, like my home city of Guelph—$1,800 a month; more than that in places like Toronto. It’s wrong that we’re forcing people to live in legislated poverty, especially when we know poverty costs the province $33 billion and investments would help us actually save money in the long term.

There’s nothing in this bill about addressing food inflation and the excess profits we’re seeing in the concentrated retail markets.

There’s nothing in the bill talking about how we make the province climate-ready. There’s a lot in the bill about how we’ll pave over the farmland that feeds us, the wetlands that protect us, the green space that’s so vital to our quality of life, but there’s nothing in the bill that says, “How do we get this province climate-ready? How do we get this province ready to succeed in the new climate economy?”

Speaker, I believe this bill fails to meet the moment.

I know budgets are about priorities. Right now, I believe the priority is shoring up our health care system.

With all due respect, to the comments around ODSP—I agree with the member that raising the earnings threshold from $200 to $1,000 is a good thing, something I’ve been calling for for a long time now. So we’ll agree on that. But to only raise ODSP rates from $1,100 to $1,200 a month and forcing people to live in legislated poverty, forcing them to live at about 40% of the poverty line—

I’m going to focus on food, because the biggest source of inflation right now is rising food prices. There are some things that I believe the government could do to address that, and I want to give two of them.

I’m a farm kid. I spent my whole life working in the food and farming sector.

Eighty-five per cent of food retail is controlled by three corporations in this province. All three of them are earning excess profits. All three of them have demonstrated, in the past, issues around collusion. We need more competition in our food retail sector.

At the very least, the province could be looking at an excess-profits tax and a grocery code of conduct that would not only protect consumers but would also protect local farmers and food processors.

The bottom line is, one of the biggest drivers of inflation around food is international global events, which, to me, highlights why we need to protect our local food supply. That is exactly why we have to put a stop to losing 319 acres of farmland each and every day in this province. This bill will make that worse.

I want to talk real quick about what’s not in the bill. There’s nothing in the bill to repeal Bill 124. There’s nothing in this bill to protect the greenbelt. There’s nothing in this bill that’s going to double ODSP and OW. There’s no plan to reach four hours of care per day for residents in long-term care. There is no apology from this government that 5,000 seniors have died in long-term care—our parents, our grandparents, our brothers, our sisters. There is nothing to stop the gouging by oil companies that my colleague just talked about, nothing to stop the gouging with the cost of food at grocery stores by families who are billionaires.

My question to you is, why do you think none of these important issues for the province of Ontario are in the fall economic statement?

There’s nothing in this bill that talks about the gouging at the grocery stores. There’s nothing in it talking about the gouging by the oil companies. Our food banks are at record levels, as you already said. There’s nothing in here to repeal Bill 124, an attack against workers, mostly women. ODSP and OW are poverty rates, without a doubt.

But I think the main question that I think we all should be concerned about is about our food supply, our water, our air.

Why do you think there is nothing in here to protect the greenbelt?

I thank the member for his comments this morning. I respect his views on a whole range of subjects, but I would offer the consideration—and you said that we all know there are substantial issues in many areas, but I would say, with respect, that this bill does look to address many of them. On the funding side, in health care, we’re increasing it by $5.6 billion; education, up $3.6 billion—major numbers. On ODSP, a very major change—to increase the monthly income threshold from $200 to $1,000. That’s a very big change and may allow up to 25,000 people who can work, to work. That’s a big structural change to the program. And infrastructure investing—I say there are all of these positive items in the bill that I hope the member will consider.

Further questions?

The member from Guelph.

It’s always an honour and a pleasure any time I have an opportunity, obviously, to rise in this House and represent my constituents of Milton—and the opportunity, this morning, to speak to Bill 36, Progress on the Plan to Build Act.

Just before I get started, I want to mention that I will be sharing my time with the honourable member from Carleton.

The Progress on the Plan to Build Act was recently introduced by our great Minister of Finance. I want to thank him for the tremendous work he has done, and his two PAs, who have put a lot of time and effort into this—the member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound and the member from Oakville—in collaboration with all of our colleagues here in the chamber. It’s a bill that has been introduced during, I would say, some of the most challenging times. We understand the economic uncertainty that’s going through the global world. The work done by this government over the last four and a half years—we had an election recently, and we took this very plan to the voters, to Ontarians, to let them have their say in terms of what they think, and I think we can all agree that it was a resounding success. They gave our government an even stronger mandate to continue to implement the plan that we have been working on over the last four years, and they want us to continue to build.

Interjection.

Madam Speaker, over the last four and a half years—let me just talk about some of the things that we have been able to do in my community. Milton has been able to benefit from the investments we have been making not just in Milton but right across this province. As most would know, Milton is one of the fastest-growing communities in the province. We’ve got lots of young families; we’ve got lots of young kids, so with that, of course, there come challenges, and the government of the day is expected to help residents with those challenges and work with our municipal partners and others to make sure the residents’ needs are being met and are being addressed. I am proud to say that we have been delivering on that.

Let me share some examples with you, Madam Speaker. In my previous term of four years, 2018 to 2022, our government invested in nine new schools—where the previous Liberal government was busy shutting schools down right across our province. Just in my riding of Milton, we introduced nine brand new schools and five expansions. You might ask what something like that would cost. That was over $250 million in investments into education—just the capital infrastructure to build new schools and expand. That, of course, included public; that included Catholic; that included French. Those nine new schools and five expansions would accommodate over 7,000 new student spaces just in my riding of Milton alone. That was obviously much needed; we recognized that after we formed the government. The mandate was given to us to get it done. I worked with my colleagues, the Minister of Education, our government to make sure those investments were delivered to my great riding of Milton.

Let me speak about another topic. Anybody who drives the 401 corridor along Milton understands the impact of gridlock and traffic congestion every single day. One of the asks was, of course, the expansion of Highway 401 right from Mississauga up to Milton. We delivered on that. Those new lanes are now in the process of being opened, and some of the residents and, obviously, the commuters who are driving through that stretch of the highway are realizing the benefits of the investment we made—and why we also ran as a party in the election, in terms of wanting to build more highways, like Highway 413, which is also going to connect our residents, our town of Milton, with the other municipalities.

These are the investments that are very, very much needed. That investment that I talked about—the expansion of Highway 401 that stretched from Mississauga to Milton was worth over half a billion dollars. These are all necessary. Parents, workers understand that if they need to get from point A to point B, they need to be able to—not every person living in downtown Toronto who has the luxury of a great public transit system—and might I add, we’ve also been investing billions of dollars in that. But in smaller towns, especially in the rural parts of Ontario, not everyone has that luxury. Not as a luxury but as a necessity in life—they are dependent on cars. They don’t have any other option but to drive their kids to school, drive themselves to work, to meet the needs of their day-to-day lives.

Another issue relevant to my riding that I’m proud to say our government has delivered on is rural broadband. Not a lot of people know, but my riding of Milton does encompass a large part of rural folks who don’t have access to the Internet—and especially during COVID-19, we saw that when students had to stay home and had to study online. Businesses and farmers, obviously, had to operate from home, and without having reliable access to Internet—it makes life very challenging.

I also happen to live in a rural part of my riding where we don’t have reliable high-speed Internet and we are dependent on satellite in some cases. Obviously, the speed is next to nil. But the investment that our government has been making over the last four years is proving to be very, very fruitful. Residents in my riding, in the rural parts, are now, finally, for the first time, getting access to high-speed Internet, reliable Internet, so they can run their businesses online and their kids can study online, if need be. We know the importance of high-speed Internet in this day and age, how it affects our lives, and how much we are dependent on that—small things.

I heard the members opposite talk about our reduction in the gas tax by 5.7 cents a litre, which was introduced initially for few a months, and now we’re extending it for another year. As I mentioned earlier, for residents in a riding like mine, where people are dependent on cars—they have to drive. You should talk to somebody in my riding and ask them what that 5.7-cents-a-litre reduction in the gas tax means to them. It may not mean a whole lot to the members opposite.

I understand the opposition has a role to play and their main job is to oppose everything that the government is putting forward. At the same time, they also need to learn to be reasonable. When the government is putting forward a good piece of legislation with good policies that benefit all Ontarians, they need to get behind it. They need to work with the government. They need to support some of the measures. They can’t sit on the other side and criticize the government all day long and continue to vote against some of the important measures that are in every piece of legislation, and then stand up and say, “Why isn’t the government doing anything? Why isn’t the government delivering on priority A, B or C?” Yes, we absolutely are—but if they fail to see it, if they fail to support the government in our progress and what we’re trying to do, then that’s really unfortunate.

I know I’m close to my 10 minutes, Madam Speaker, so, with that, I want to thank everyone for the opportunity. I’ll turn it over to my colleague for the rest of the 10 minutes.

We have two seconds—so GAINS is good, but other parts of this bill make it unacceptable.

The legislation proposes doubling the Guaranteed Annual Income System payment for all recipients for 12 months. Will the member opposite support this direct relief measure for seniors in Ontario?

Questions?

I’d like to thank the minister for sharing his time with me and for his very excellent speech. I’d like to continue on what the minister was speaking about.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of Bill 36, the government’s proposed Progress on the Plan to Build Act (Budget Measures), 2022.

Le document comprend le tout premier rapport d’étape du gouvernement sur son plan pour bâtir l’Ontario, ainsi que de nouvelles mesures ciblées pour faire avancer son programme visant à bâtir l’économie, à s’attaquer à la pénurie de main-d’oeuvre dans la province, ainsi qu’à aider les familles et les entreprises à garder les coûts bas.

Faits saillants relatifs aux mesures ciblées qui font progresser le plan du gouvernement :

—lancer un registre de crédits pour l’énergie propre, volontaire, pour stimuler la compétitivité, attirer des emplois et offrir aux entreprises plus de choix quant aux moyens d’atteindre leurs objectifs en matière d’environnement et de développement durable, grâce aux mesures législatives proposées;

—accorder aux petites entreprises de l’Ontario un allégement de l’impôt sur le revenu de 185 millions de dollars au cours des trois prochaines années, dont profiteront environ 5 500 petites entreprises grâce à l’élargissement proposé de la fourchette d’élimination progressive du taux de l’impôt applicable aux petites entreprises.

Amid uncertainty due to global geopolitical conflict, elevated inflation, rising interest rates and ongoing supply chain issues, Ontario’s economy has proven resilient. Through its flexible and responsible plan, the government is working to support a long-term plan that will ensure the province is in a strong position to maintain risks in a challenging global economy, while investing to build a stronger Ontario. By preserving flexibility, the government is prepared to provide targeted supports to people and businesses, while maintaining a responsible plan to eliminate Ontario’s structural deficit.

Our government’s priority is to ensure long-term economic growth, while addressing the labour shortages and keeping costs down for families and businesses. We will continue to help grow the economy by getting boots to shovels in the ground to build key infrastructure projects and investing in skills training for Ontario workers and newcomers.

We’re also providing an update on our economic and fiscal outlook, highlighting how its flexible and responsible plan is positioning the province to be ready to manage any hurdles that come our way. In fact, the government is now projecting a $12.9-billion deficit in 2022-23, nearly $7 billion lower than the outlook published in the 2022 budget. The road ahead will not be easy, which is why now is the time for governments to show restraint. Whatever the economic uncertainty may bring, our government has a plan, and I am confident in the resilience of Ontario’s economy, its workers and its people.

Our government is helping to manage rising costs for low-income people with disabilities by planning to adjust core allowances under the Ontario Disability Support Program. The changes made under this plan would allow a person already on ODSP to keep more of the money they earn, by increasing the monthly earnings exemptions from $200 per month to $1,000 per month. This would allow the approximately 25,000 Ontarians currently in the workforce to keep more of their earnings, and it could encourage as many as 25,000 more Ontarians to participate in the workforce.

In the spirit of boosting our economy and giving businesses and consumers more choice to be environmentally conscious, our government is launching a voluntary clean energy credit registry, which will boost competitiveness and create more jobs.

For small businesses in Carleton and across Ontario, we’re providing $185 million in income tax relief over the next three years, benefiting about 5,500 small businesses through the proposed extension of the phase-out of the small business tax rate. And we’re automatically matching property tax reductions for small businesses in all municipalities that adopt the small business property subclass.

As already announced over the weekend, we’re proposing to extend the cuts to the gas tax and fuel tax rates so that the rate on gasoline and fuel would remain at 9% per litre until December 31, 2023.

By eliminating the licence plate renewal fees for passengers and light commercial vehicles, drivers in southern Ontario will save up to $120 per year and northern Ontario drivers will save up to $60 per year.

Our Ontario seniors, who have worked hard all their lives, deserve to retire in dignity. That’s why we’re helping to manage costs for about 200,000 of Ontario’s lowest-income seniors by proposing to double the Guaranteed Annual Income System payment for all recipients for 12 months, starting in January. That’s a maximum increase of almost $1,000 per person in 2023.

Since the announcement of the 2022 budget, the government is enhancing its plan to catch up by increasing direct payments to parents by $140 million, bringing total investments this year alone to over $365 million. This funding will help make life more affordable for parents and ensure students receive the support they need.

Building upon the government’s plan-to-catch-up investments, Ontario is providing further supports with these recently announced initiatives:

—math action teams deployed to underperforming school boards;

—early reading enhancements that further the government’s response to the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Right to Read report;

—new digital resources to support parents, students and educators; and

—new universal screening for reading for Ontario’s youngest learners.

Ontario will soon be approaching that time of year when we all have to file our income tax. Our government will continue to support families by offering the following tax credits:

—the Low-income Individuals and Families Tax Credit, also known as the LIFT tax credit;

—the Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit;

—the Ontario Staycation Tax Credit;

—the Ontario Jobs Training Tax Credit;

—the Ontario Childcare Access and Relief from Expenses tax credit; and

—the Seniors’ Home Safety Tax Credit.

This government is unleashing the economic potential of critical minerals, including those in the Ring of Fire, with Ontario’s first-ever Critical Minerals Strategy and a commitment of close to $1 billion to support critical legacy infrastructure such as all-season roads to the Ring of Fire. To show how serious we are about this and our commitment and dedication to this, our government even has a Minister of Mines. When was the last time that Ontario even had a Minister of Mines? That goes to show the dedication and commitment of this government.

While our province experienced strong economic growth throughout 2021 and in the first half of 2022, we are now in uncertain times, and these are factors that are beyond our government’s control. That’s why the Ministry of Finance has developed faster-growth and slower-growth scenarios that the economy could take over the next several years to provide more transparency about how any of the scenarios could impact Ontario’s finances.

Our government is committed to eliminating the province’s structural deficit and is redoubling its efforts to bring Ontario’s finances back to balance. Our fall economic statement clearly shows that our government has a responsible plan with targeted new measures to help navigate these economic challenges.

Madam Speaker, the people of Ontario re-elected us with a super majority because they believed in our plan; they believed in the budget that we had put forward. They have seen in the past four years how much we were able to accomplish after 15 years of Liberal waste and mismanagement that was propped up by the current opposition; it’s for that fact that the Liberal Party still doesn’t even have party status. After four years, the people of Ontario could not forget, did not forget. And yet, there are so many members of the government that we don’t even all fit on one side of the House. I think that goes to show the commitment and the dedication that this government has shown in the past four years and will continue to show in the next four years.

It is my hope that all parties in this House will join with the government and vote in favour of this bill.

Whatever the economic uncertainty may bring, the people of Carleton and Ontario can rest assured that our government will always be prepared and will always have their backs.

The member from Carleton.

Questions?

Thank you, member, for sharing with us.

We know that we have done extra work for GAINS, for ODSP, for gas tax. These proposed measures in the legislation that we propose now—how would that fit into the larger plan for the affordability issues that people are facing? You say that we have a bigger plan. I would like to know how this will help the people of Ontario.