I have several individuals here today to celebrate National Housing Day: Shulan Tien, Jennifer Stone, Gracie Robbin, Rachel Seaward, Marlene Ham, Frederick Cox, Glen Hutzul, Chanel St. Pierre, Reihona Abduli, Shannon Hirsch, Silvia Samsa, Andrea Hatala, Victor Willis, Kevin Thomas, Karen Mitton, Bailee, Melissa Bosman, and Hayley Wine. Welcome to your House.

There are a number of advocates for housing here on National Housing Day today. I’d like to welcome to the House Fabio Faveri, Merve Degerli, Jason Dwyer, Matt McDonald, Diana Yoon, Amber Bramer, Sarah Boesveld, Martha Beach, Olivia Thomas and Alexandra Shannan. Welcome to your House.

I also would like to invite some folks who are here today for National Housing Day: Savhanna Wilson, Peter Martin, Daniella Leacock, Tracy Murdoch, Leslie R. Gash, Steve Lurie, Dicle Han, Harmy Mendoza, Eric Mariglia and Floret Williams. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Good morning, Speaker. I’m also very proud to rise in the House today to welcome a number of housing advocates. They’ve travelled from across Ontario. I’d like to welcome Genna Ross, Jenna Yuill, Brian Harris, Beth Edwards, Bobbie Gunn, Cynthia Meshorer, Laura Paley, Sameer Butt, Shannan Humphreys and Dr. Siu Mee Cheng from Street Haven.

It’s my pleasure to also welcome housing advocates: Kenneth Duru, Mary Ziraba, Shenikah Solomon, Marlene Coffey, Kizito Musabimana and Tabitha Gachoka. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

It’s my honour to welcome housing advocates from across the province for our National Housing Day: Bradley Palmer, Mariana Cortes, Aishatu Ahmed, Ibrahim Elnaghi, Godfrey Benjamin, Keneisha Brown, Colleen Lamond, Soraya Naim and Gautam Mukherjee. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Today is National Housing Day, and we are very happy that we’re being joined by a number of advocates, including some very important organizations: Street Haven, Ontario Coalition of Women Shelter and Supportive Housing Providers, Elizabeth Fry Society of Northeastern Ontario, Rwandan Canadian Healing Centre, United Way Greater Toronto, and Evangel Hall among them.

I’m looking forward to speaking at your reception later today.

I’d like to welcome housing advocates Mina Mawani, Zefanie Smith, Lori-Dale Palmer, Cory Roslyn, Laverne Blake, Anna Morgan, Britney Bempong, Ainsley Chapman, Farrah Al-Mutawa and Don Young. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

For National Housing Day, we have many people here—it’s great to have you here—including Narmatha Vannarajah, Krishni Ganesan, Janet Bennett-Cox, David Turnbull, Roslyn Shields, Sean Kidd, Josephine Flores, Sheila Lacroix and Althea Santos. It’s great to have you here.

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.

As we consider our options with Indigenous leadership for on-reserve housing, particularly in areas where there’s incredible growth opportunities, economic and resource opportunities, we do recognize the urgent need for adequate housing to meet the basic needs for many First Nations. That’s why, in the last budget, we invested an additional $202 million annually in the province’s Homelessness Prevention Program and, importantly, to the member’s question, the Indigenous Supportive Housing Program. It brings Ontario’s total yearly investment in these programs to close to $700 million.

This additional funding, Mr. Speaker, will help those experiencing or at risk for homelessness as they migrate into cities across northern Ontario, for example, and support community organizations that will deliver supportive housing in our communities for Indigenous peoples and their families.