Speaker, that’s actually incorrect. We’ve been moving on the recommendations of the task force; the Leader of the Opposition knows that full well.

We’ve also reached out to our municipal partners to ask them to identify which of the task force recommendations we can move on very quickly, Mr. Speaker. We are having a housing forum next week in Toronto with many of our partners so that we can identify, again, further actions that were identified in the task force recommendations. It is our intention to ensure that we move very aggressively. We’ve also told our municipal partners if growth is not going to be out and if it’s going to be within existing boundaries, then they should all expect to do their part and we will accept nothing less.

I will say this, Speaker: The NDP have brought forward a plan that is uncosted, that literally cannot happen. We saw yesterday the very disappointing federal economic statement when it comes to building housing across the country. But we are going to continue to double down, work with our municipal partners, work with home builders, work with advocates that across the system to build a full range of housing—market housing, affordable housing, attainable housing—because that is what is needed to build a bigger, better, stronger province of Ontario.

But at the same time, what we saw in the province of Ontario is that there was a supply problem, particularly on the rental side. People just were not getting back into the rental construction business. Thanks to the policies of this government, we have seen record-high purpose-built rental starts.

At the same time, Speaker, we started advocating more than a year ago, and the Minister of Finance put in one of his budgets, that we wanted to remove the HST from purpose-built rentals. Unfortunately, it took the federal government a little over a year to confirm our ability to do that. But the results have been spectacular. Partners are getting back into it, and we’re very encouraged by what we’re seeing across the province.

She talks about tuition, yet she voted against reducing tuition by 10%. She voted against the freeze. Yesterday, they were asking questions, asking us to increase tuition fees for students. We’re not going to do that. We’re going to make sure that we have a vibrant post-secondary education. They voted against removing tolls. They voted against removing the licence plate stickers. When the Minister of Finance brought in a tax credit for the lowest-income-earning Ontarians, virtually eliminating them from the income tax rolls, the NDP voted against that. They voted against the Minister of Education’s groundbreaking daycare reforms that saw rates halved—

We’ve recognized that, and that’s why we boosted funding significantly in the last budget. The member opposite will recall that she voted against that increased funding.

I will say this: It is very true that, coming off the heels of 15 years of Liberal government, we saw underfunding in a number of very important, priority areas. It is why we have been working so hard to reverse the damage of 15 years, which was literally supported by the NDP more often than not. Whether it is on shelters, whether it’s on building more homes, transit and transportation, that is all that we have been focused on—first reversing the damage and then secondly making the investments.

As I said, when it comes to homelessness and the programs that support it, we’ve increased funding to historic levels in the province of Ontario. Admittedly, we are burdened right now by a federal government that has removed itself from funding its responsibilities and we will work with our municipal partners to try and get the federal government to live up to its responsibilities as well.

I was just in the member’s own region not long ago opening up, cutting the ribbon for the very first social housing project in over 30 years in the province of Ontario—over 30 years.

Now, that is the type of progress that has to be made across the province of Ontario but it’s more than just that. When we stood up in this place to talk about bail reform, they were absent. When we stand up in this place to put more resources behind all of the programs that will help women and children, they vote against it.

What we need to do across the province of Ontario and what we have been focusing on is rebuilding all of the infrastructure that was left by the Liberals and NDP to decay over 15 years. They have nothing to show for it. We’ve been in office, yes, for five years trying to rebuild a province that they so destroyed, that they left bankrupt; and we will not stop, we will get the job done for women, children and for all Ontarians.

Interjections.

Look, the NDP have a candidate, of course, in that area who actually supports—what did she say? She wants to see the current encampments remain until further housing arrangements can be made. But then she went on to vote against 2,000 units of housing in the very area where the encampments actually are, and then voted against thousands of dollars that were set aside for affordable housing in the very same area.

So I would ask the member opposite, when this particular NDP candidate loses the by-election and she returns to council, if she might actually vote in favour of the thousands of housing projects that she is currently voting against, which includes affordable housing, to the tune of thousands of dollars?

That is the problem of the NDP. They want to talk, but when it comes to doing something about anything, they sit on their hands and do nothing. This government has put record levels of support, record levels of infrastructure. We’re going to continue to do that, untangling the mess that they left behind.

I’m not sure where the member has been. We are actually focused on that—since 2018. We have brought forward a number of bills in this House to do just that.

Now, it is very true that we had to untangle much of the mess that was left behind by the previous Liberal-NDP coalition government in this province which stopped construction in many different areas of the province, in particular the north, Mr. Speaker. I was shocked when the Liberal government at the time said that the north was a wasteland and that nobody should invest in it. You would have thought that the NDP would have used that as an opportunity to bring down the Liberal government, because there could have been no other indication of how little the Liberals cared about the north than that, but the NDP continued to prop them up for an additional number of years, Mr. Speaker.

Having said that, we are opening up the Ring of Fire because we understand how important the north is to Ontario. We’re doing more than that. We’re building long-term care in northern Ontario. We’re building new roads in northern Ontario. The Northland is coming back to northern Ontario because we know that the north is key to the prosperity of all of Ontario.

I think we’ve been pretty clear that we will not support the NDP plan. We actually voted against that plan, Mr. Speaker. It was a plan that severely underestimated the costs, Speaker. Advocates across the sector said it would be unaffordable and would lead to the bankruptcy of the province.

So, what we’re doing instead, Speaker, is we’ve updated the definition of “affordability,” which received unanimous support from all parties in this House, which has been very well received by our municipal partners. One would wonder why, again, a Progressive Conservative government had to come to the table to improve housing in the province of Ontario. It should have been done a long time ago, but we’ve started to untangle the mess and the burdens that were put in place by the Liberals and the NDP—the NDP, who just like to talk about housing. They don’t actually like to accomplish anything, Mr. Speaker, but the policies that we have brought in have seen purpose-built rentals to their highest level in over 15 years. That is such good news for people who are looking for rental housing, and I’m proud to say that it continues on that trajectory.

We actually stepped in when the federal government wouldn’t step in. If you ask municipal partners across the GTA what the biggest challenge is that they have right now, it is asylum seekers who have come to this province and do not have the space, and the fact that the federal government has literally abandoned them.

Now, this Premier and this government stepped up to the plate and provided additional funding for all of our partners in the GTA. In fact, in yesterday’s FES, if I’m not mistaken, the federal Liberal government decided to provide more to support the media than they did to support asylum seekers and shelters in Toronto. That is the priority of the federal Liberal government.

So I say to the member opposite, if you’re really concerned about this issue, you have an opportunity. You didn’t do it here. Call your friends in Ottawa who hold the balance of power and say the status quo in Ottawa is not working. Tell them to vote against the FES and take down this federal Liberal government so that we can get a government that actually cares about the people of the province of Ontario.