My question is for the Premier. In 2019, your government made sweeping changes to our public health system without consulting public health. Fast-forward to 2023, and the Auditor General’s value-for-money audit shows clearly a lack of funding—a lack of funding which has serious risks to our communities.

Our Hamilton lab completes over 300,000 tests a year—and now Hamilton as well as five other public health labs will be closing their doors.

Premier, your government is once again putting our community at risk. When are you going to respect our local public health units and fund them appropriately?

Speaker, 300,000 tests a year—tests like RSV, C. difficile, HIV; and free testing for people with private drinking water systems like wells and cisterns; tests for water that might be contaminated with bacteria, West Nile virus, E. coli. Do I need to remind this government of Walkerton? All of these tests are on the chopping block for Hamilton.

Premier, once again, your government is putting our communities at risk. When will you put people’s health and safety first and reverse these cuts and closures?

I have a petition in front of me: “Time Ontario Provides Relief to Families From Federal Carbon Tax.” It reads:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas beginning November 8, 2023, the federal government announced a three-year exemption on the carbon tax on home heating oil, which is the main heat source in the Maritime provinces;

“Whereas beginning January 1, 2024, the government of Saskatchewan removed the federal carbon tax from home heating (natural gas and electricity), which will result in savings for the majority of Saskatchewan families unfairly left out of the federal government’s three-year pause of carbon tax on home heating oil;

“Whereas the federal government has unfairly discriminated against a host of other provinces like Ontario where the main heat source is natural gas, which is cleaner than heating oil; and

“Whereas carbon tax on natural gas is adding to the cost of living for Ontario families, businesses and farm operations;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to follow Saskatchewan’s lead, and remove the carbon tax from natural gas, propane and electric heat for the next three years.”

I fully support this petition and will send it to the table with Pharoah.

I’m honoured to rise to present this petition on behalf of thousands of students from the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario. I also would like to thank Sydney Black from University of Guelph.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas since 1980, whilst accounting for inflation, the average domestic undergraduate tuition has increased by 215%, and the average domestic graduate tuition by 247%; and

“Whereas upon graduation, 50% of students will have a median debt of around $17,500, which takes an average of 9.5 years to repay; and

“Whereas the average undergraduate tuition for international students has increased by 192% between 2011 and 2021, and in colleges, they pay an average of $14,306 annually compared to the average domestic fee of $3,228; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario made changes to OSAP and student financial assistance in 2018-19, resulting in over a $1-billion cut in assistance to students; and

“Whereas the so-called Student Choice Initiative was defeated in the courts, students need legislation to protect their right to organize and funding for students’ groups;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, support the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario’s call and petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to commit to (1) free and accessible education for all, (2) grants, not loans, and (3) legislate students’ right to organize.”

I’m going to affix my name to this and full-heartedly support the 1,000 students that are on these petitions, and I’m going to hand it to page Skye.

I have a petition from Kingston and the Islands from Julie Mallette.

“Whereas the shortage and unaffordability of accessible apartments (elevator and barrier-free entrance) in Ontario has resulted in an excess of applicants to housing assistance programs. The only priority group for subsidized rent programs and portable housing benefit programs are those fleeing domestic abuse and sex trafficking, therefore physically disabled residents, living in inaccessible buildings must remain on the same lengthy wait-list as able-bodied individuals. Furthermore, as offers for housing are based on the date of application approval, able-bodied individuals are being offered units in accessible buildings and/or funding before those not physically able to safely access their home. The resulting physical and mental deterioration translates to increased health care costs and social services costs. Secondly, disabled residents wait-listed for subsidized modified apartment units, who accept the portable housing benefit to, at minimum, live with in a building with an elevator, become ineligible for a modified subsidized apartment, and remain unsafe;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“(1) Make physically disabled residents currently residing in inaccessible buildings a priority group for housing assistance programs;

“(2) Allow those who accept the portable housing benefit to move to an accessible entry building, but require a modified apartment, to remain eligible for subsidized rent programs for the modified unit;

“(3) Increase funding to the portable housing benefit program so that low-income, physically disabled residents can have choice in where they live, and reduce the years of wait time;” and finally,

“(4) Increase the number of modified units being built for the physically disabled.”

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontario’s social assistance rates are well below Canada’s official Market Basket Measure poverty line and far from adequate to cover the rising costs of food and rent: $733 for individuals on OW and $1,308 for ODSP;

“Whereas an open letter to the Premier and two cabinet ministers, signed by over 230 organizations, recommends that social assistance rates be doubled for both Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP);

“Whereas small increases to ODSP have still left these citizens below the poverty line. Both they and those receiving the frozen OW rates are struggling to survive at this time of alarming inflation;

“Whereas the government of Canada recognized in its CERB program that a ‘basic income’ of $2,000 per month was the standard support required by individuals who lost their employment during the pandemic;

“We, the undersigned citizens of Ontario, petition the Legislative Assembly to double social assistance rates for OW and ODSP.”

It’s my honour to present the following petition on behalf of the thousands of students who have signed this for the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario. It’s entitled, “Fight the Fees.” It reads:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas since 1980, whilst accounting for inflation, the average domestic undergraduate tuition has increased by 215%, and the average domestic graduate tuition by 247%; and

“Whereas upon graduation, 50% of students will have a median debt of around $17,500, which takes an average of 9.5 years to repay; and

“Whereas the average undergraduate tuition for international students has increased by 192% between 2011 and 2021, and in colleges, they pay an average of $14,306 annually compared to the average domestic fee of $3,228; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario made changes to OSAP and student financial assistance in 2018-19, resulting in over a $1-billion cut in assistance to students; and

“Whereas the so-called Student Choice Initiative was defeated in the courts, and students need legislation to protect their right to organize and funding for students’ groups;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, support the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario’s call and petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to commit to (1) free and accessible education for all, (2) grants, not loans, and (3) legislate students’ right to organize.”

I fully support this petition, will affix my signature and deliver it with page Sarah to the clerks.

I want to thank Elizabeth Carswell for collecting these signatures for this petition. It is titled “Transform Ontario’s Energy Sector.

“Whereas residents are struggling with energy bill increases and need relief; and

“Whereas natural gas is no longer the cheapest way to heat homes because electric heat pumps are now much more efficient, can provide all heating needs even in cold climates, and result in far lower energy bills compared to gas heating; and

“Whereas natural gas is methane gas, which is a fossil fuel that causes approximately one third of Ontario’s GHG emissions and must be phased out because it is inconsistent with all climate targets, while heat pumps result in the lowest GHG emissions and are consistent with a zero-carbon future; and

“Whereas the natural gas expansion program provides subsidies to bring natural gas to communities across Ontario but currently cannot be redirected by municipalities toward the best option for their residents—heat pumps; and

“Whereas far more residents could achieve far lower energy bills if municipalities were allowed to redirect those subsidies toward heat pumps for their residents, which would also benefit existing natural gas customers by reducing the financial risks they bear in relation to the gas expansion projects; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario is considering requests from Enbridge Gas Inc. to reduce oversight by the Ontario Energy Board over gas expansion and other pipeline projects at a time when the Ontario Energy Board’s technical and financial expertise is critical as the energy transition takes place;

“We, the undersigned, call upon the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to:

“(1) Amend the natural gas expansion program to allow municipalities to redirect funds toward heat pumps, including for ongoing phase 2 projects; and

“(2) Ask the Ontario Energy Board to determine in gas expansion leave-to-construct applications which option would result in the lowest energy bills—directing the subsidy to gas expansion or to heat pump subsidies.”

I support this petition, I’ll affix my signature and provide it to page Mesapé.

Mr. Todd Smith moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 165, An Act to amend the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 respecting certain Board proceedings and related matters / Projet de loi 165, Loi modifiant la Loi de 1998 sur la Commission de l’énergie de l’Ontario en ce qui concerne certaines instances dont la Commission est saisie et des questions connexes.

Good afternoon to all my colleagues in the Legislature here today. It’s been a while since I have spoken for an hour in the Legislature. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show for the next 60 minutes.

Second reading of Bill 165, the Keeping Energy Costs Down Act, 2024: If you get one thing today, Madam Speaker, I think it will be how critical this bill is to keeping housing and energy costs down for families. At a time where global and countrywide pressures like inflation and increasing building costs are forcing housing prices up, I think this bill should be a no-brainer for all of the parties in the Legislature who are looking to provide some relief to their constituents.

This new legislation is going to build housing faster, it’s going to save money and it’s going to protect customer choice, something that we are focused on doing here in the PC government. The way that we’re going to protect customer choice is by providing the government with time-limited authority to reverse this OEB decision on natural gas connection costs that would have significantly increased the price of new homes and businesses across our province. We’re introducing new requirements as well for the Ontario Energy Board to engage broadly with stakeholders on major energy decisions that impact our constituents, and modernizing the Ontario Energy Board’s leave-to-construct process for the first time in more than 20 years.

Each of these changes would cut red tape and ensure new homebuyers and businesses continue to have access to reliable and affordable energy from the source of their choice, and removing red tape, as I mentioned earlier.

Back when I was the red tape minister, we were focused on ensuring that we were cutting red tape across the province by 25% and therefore making it a more efficient jurisdiction to do business in. As a result of the work that was done by me back in 2018-19, by my predecessor, Minister Fedeli, and by Minister Gill, we have reduced a significant amount of red tape—about $9 billion each and every year on the cost of doing business in Ontario.

The proposals in Bill 165 also represent this government’s ongoing commitment to creating an energy system that meets Ontario’s growing demand while driving innovation and moving our economy forward. While cutting that red tape, getting our electricity prices under control and creating a jurisdiction for investment, we are seeing energy demand grow. Since day one, we have worked to prioritize the ratepayer, keep those costs down, make the policy environment around energy predictable and the system stable, and give consumers more choice in how they track and control their energy use and their costs.

While that may like seem a common-sense approach to doing business, I can tell you that common sense hasn’t always prevailed in Ontario’s energy planning space. In fact, it’s really easy to remember when the previous Liberal government presided over the fastest-rising hydro prices in North America, when the hydro average bill tripled—tripled, Madam Speaker—between 2003 and 2018, and families saw their bills increase by more than a thousand dollars per year. I can tell you, at my home in Quinte West, my average bill went from $220 a month to $660 a month when the Liberals were in charge of our electricity system.

And there are some members who were over there on the NDP bench right now—none of the Liberals are there because they were all voted out; they have been voted out since. But there are some members of the NDP caucus who were here during that time, and they know how inundated our constituency offices were from people who were absolutely fearful about the costs of electricity in their homes. That’s not the case anymore. Those sky-high electricity costs that we were experiencing in Ontario chased 300,000 manufacturing jobs out of our province.

This legislation that has been introduced is just another way that we’re delivering on all the work that we’ve been doing since day one to make energy and housing in this province affordable again. Just think: We have cut the gas tax, again, through June of this year. We’re saving families $312 a year through the Ontario Electricity Rebate. We’re investing an additional $50 million in the Ontario Electricity Support Program, which is delivered by the Ontario Energy Board, to help those who need it most. We have launched the Clean Home Heating Initiative, with incentives of up to $4,500 per household to roll out electric air-source heat pumps paired with an existing natural gas furnace.

We’ve scrapped the previous Liberal government’s cap-and-trade carbon tax that punished people and businesses. And unlike the current crop of Liberals, the ones that are still here, and their new leader, Bonnie Crombie—who has refused for the past week to come out against the tax, even though we all know that she supports a carbon tax—we have introduced legislation to protect the people of Ontario from any future carbon tax.

We’ve heard the same old song and dance from the few Liberals who are here. The member from Kanata–Carleton, who is a new member to the Legislature, stood up in this House just before Christmas saying that the people of Ontario were better off because of the crippling federal Liberal carbon tax. Now, she’s a former federal Liberal MP, so I guess you can understand why she would say that. But is she bringing that same kind of thinking here to the Ontario Legislature again?

The Liberal energy critic from Kingston, who is here with us today, wants us to go back to the failed Liberal energy policies of the Green Energy Act. He posted in a tweet about three weeks ago that if we had not cancelled all of those Green Energy Act contracts—those 800 contracts that would have driven up the cost of electricity in our province by a billion dollars on top of what we’re already experiencing—we’d be better off.

So I think we know what this current crop of Liberals and their brand new leader are thinking when it comes to a carbon tax and the kind of chaos that they would bring to energy costs in the province of Ontario. Again, we can’t go back there, Madam Speaker. We have to move forward with prices that are reliable and affordable, and have a system that’s clean and safe.

All of the work that we have done since 2018 has paved the way for us to move boldly forward as a leader in economic growth and reliable, affordable and clean energy. For example, Ontario is quickly becoming a leader in electric vehicles and battery development, with historic investments at Stellantis down in Windsor, to Volkswagen in the St. Thomas-London area, and in eastern Ontario at the brand new Umicore plant, which is going to be opening in Loyalist township.

We’re also seeing major investments in green steelmaking in two communities: Sault Ste. Marie in the north and also Hamilton. And while the traditional steelmaking process of using coal and coke is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the province, we’re working with the federal government and the steel industry to end the use of coal and electrify their operations to support the production of green steel that’s going to fuel our growing automotive sector that we are seeing here in the province.

Imagine, Madam Speaker, just what a difference those electric arc furnaces are going to make. I want you to picture driving from Burlington over that Skyway bridge into Hamilton and looking off to the right at the Hamilton waterfront and seeing those massive piles of coal that are sitting there on the waterfront. Once these electric arc furnaces are up and running, there won’t be any piles of coal there, and we can look forward to developing a brand new waterfront that has lots of restaurants and bars and economic development and good things happening there.

Interjections.

I have a petition in front of me:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Haldimand county has requested a minister’s zoning order (MZO) to accelerate the development of a proposed city of 40,000 people on industrially zoned buffer land in the Nanticoke industrial park; and

“Whereas the housing development will grow the population of the Port Dover-Nanticoke area from approximately 7,000 to 47,000 people; and

“Whereas this development will have a significant impact on infrastructure such as roadways; and

“Whereas 40,000 people living in the Nanticoke industrial park buffer zone is a threat to area jobs in steelmaking, oil refining and the related trades;

“We, the undersigned, ask the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to not grant the Haldimand county request for an MZO.”

I fully support this petition, will affix my signature and send it to the table with page Sarah.

I turn it back to the minister.

I want to thank the amazing students from Wilfrid Laurier University for collecting these signatures. This is entitled “Fight the Fees.”

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas since 1980, whilst accounting for inflation, the average domestic undergraduate tuition has increased by 215%, and the average domestic graduate tuition by 247%; and

“Whereas upon graduation, 50% of students will have a median debt of around $17,500, which takes an average of 9.5 years to repay; and

“Whereas the average undergraduate tuition for international students has increased by 192% between 2011 and 2021, and in colleges, they pay an average of $14,306 annually compared to the average domestic fee of $3,228; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario made changes to OSAP and student financial assistance in 2018-19, resulting in over a $1-billion cut in assistance to students; and

“Whereas the so-called Student Choice Initiative was defeated in the courts, students need legislation to protect their right to organize and funding for students’ groups;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, support the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario’s call and petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to commit to (1) free and accessible education for all, (2) grants, not loans, and (3) legislate students’ right to organize.”

It’s my pleasure to affix my signature, and I will be giving this to page Charles.

I’m pleased to present a petition from the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario. Thousands of students have put their name on this petition to the government and it is:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas since 1980, whilst accounting for inflation, the average domestic undergraduate tuition has increased by 215%, and the average domestic graduate tuition by 247%; and

“Whereas upon graduation, 50% of students will have a median debt of around $17,500, which takes an average of 9.5 years to repay; and

“Whereas the average undergraduate tuition for international students has increased by 192% between 2011 and 2021, and in colleges, they pay an average of $14,306 annually compared to the average domestic fee of $3,228; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario made changes to OSAP and student financial assistance in 2018-19, resulting in over a $1-billion cut in assistance to students; and

“Whereas the so-called Student Choice Initiative was defeated in the courts. Students need legislation to protect their right to organize and funding for students’ groups;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, support the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario’s call and petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to commit to (1) free and accessible education for all, (2) grants, not loans, and (3) legislate students’ right to organize.”

I stand alongside thousands of students and will affix my signature to this and send it to the table with page Charles.

Yes. We’re exploring innovative new solutions in our world-class nuclear sector as well, with cutting-edge advancements in medical life-saving isotopes and small modular reactors, or SMRs. In fact, we’re making progress on developing the country’s first grid-scale SMR at the Darlington new nuclear site. This isn’t only a first for Canada, but it’s a first for the Western world and G7 countries. As a result, we’re attracting major interest from around the world, helping us open new export opportunities for our province in countries like Poland and Estonia and the Czech Republic, and the list goes on and on.

This incredible economic growth, alongside a population that’s forecast to increase by millions of people by the end of this decade, means that we need a lot more energy. One of the biggest drivers of that demand is our government’s plan to build one and a half million new homes for Ontario’s growing population by 2031. Bill 165, if passed, would make the legislative changes needed to help ensure that these homes get built faster and that the families who buy them have affordable choices for home heating.

But before we get too far into that discussion, I think we really need to set the playing field and consider where we are today. If you look broadly at our province’s entire energy demand, natural gas currently meets 39% while electricity only meets 21%. If you look at home heating, natural gas plays an even bigger role. It’s the primary heating source for approximately 70% of the people in this province, or about 3.8 million homes. While our government is supporting new options through the Clean Home Heating Initiative that I mentioned earlier, we still need to ensure that we have broad access to all forms of heating, and that includes natural gas.

That’s why I was extremely disappointed in an Ontario Energy Board decision that was made just before Christmas in late December that would effectively increase the cost of new homes. In an unusual two-to-one split decision, and this is very unusual at the OEB, the Ontario Energy Board reduced the revenue horizon—that’s the period of time that natural gas utilities use to calculate the upfront costs of new gas connections—for new residential and small commercial gas connections from 40 years, which has been in existence for almost 30 years—amortizing the cost from 40 years down to zero years by January 1 of next year.

What this means is that natural gas connection costs, which are normally paid over those five years, would be owed in full upfront, and that would lead to thousands of dollars added to the cost of building new homes. To be frank, the OEB simply strayed out of its jurisdiction, out of its lane when making this decision. It’s not only a huge departure from the realities of our energy system, but it’s also a huge departure from the historical practice which, as I say, has been in place for nearly 30 years—since 1998.

In fact, according to the OEB’s own decision, the cost of a new home would increase by about $4,400 on average across the province. Yes, that’s bad enough, adding $4,400 to the cost of a new home. But it would cost significantly more, in the tens of thousands of dollars, for farms and residences in rural and northern Ontario that have access to these natural gas pipelines. Think what happens when a residence in rural or northern Ontario can’t connect to natural gas. I’m sure there are some members of the NDP and maybe a few in the Liberals who would just tell them to go buy an electric heat pump and hope for the best. As a matter of fact, we just heard the member from Sudbury supporting a petition in the Legislature telling them to do exactly that. But in Ontario, especially in the harsh winters that you can experience here in Canada, in northern Ontario in particular, that may not be a realistic option.

Madam Speaker, I installed a heat pump at my house a number of years ago. I really like it. I don’t have access to natural gas where I live because I live out in the boonies in Quinte West. But even during a southern Ontario winter, even during a winter like this one that’s been pretty mild compared to other winter seasons, my furnace—my electric furnace—still kicks on on the coldest days of the year to keep my house warm, meaning that the electric open air heat pump can’t always heat my home.

So what do you do, Madam Speaker, if the NDP or the Liberals or the Greens had their way? They would have everybody on open air heat pumps, and there would be times during the year where people actually would be freezing in their home because they can’t keep their house warm. If folks in northern and rural Ontario don’t have access to natural gas like those in the big cities do, they’re often forced to rely on home heating oil or propane, which are more emitting than natural gas is and they’re also more expensive.

Now, one argument I’ve already heard from the opposition is that this additional cost of connecting to natural gas is carried by the developer and it’s not—

Through the Chair. Comments through the Chair, please.

And passed on to the homeowner.

—carried by the homebuyer.

So now you are saying it’s passed on to the homebuyer, okay. Because previously, you weren’t saying that. But then again, we just had the critic responsible for energy in question period actually concerned about the cost of natural gas for people in Ontario and the critic for labour from northern Ontario just saying that everybody should basically rip out their natural gas and go with an electric heat pump. So they’ve been spinning over there, and they don’t know exactly what their position is.

Speaker, I think it’s important that we take a moment before we get into the broader debate to be clear about how ridiculous the argument is that the home builder or the developer is going to carry the upfront cost of this and it’s not going to be passed on to the consumer. Let me give you just a few real-world examples of much it could cost to connect a new home, business or development to the natural gas system if you had to pay up front.

In the GTA, connecting a new recreation and wellness centre could see an upfront connection charge of about $128,000. On a new 39-home subdivision—actually in your riding, the Minister of Labour’s riding, in Campbellford—it would cost about $357,000 up front. That’s more than $9,000 a home. A recent restaurant project in southwestern Ontario would see an upfront charge of about $18,000. There’s even one other example here that I’ve got: A recent three-building condominium here in the GTA would see an upfront connection charge of approximately $1,065,000.

This bill, Bill 165, would keep costs down by allowing those costs to be paid off over 40 years, amortized over 40 years, instead of all up front. That’s a big win for the taxpayer. It’s a big win for the business owner. And, more importantly, it’s a real win for the homebuyer—that new homebuyer that’s trying to enter the market.

There’s only one party in the Legislature that actually cares about keeping the cost of new homes down and that’s the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Because at a time when Ontario, like the rest of Canada, is already grappling with high interest rates and inflationary pressures along with the impact of terrible federal policies like the carbon tax, we can’t in good conscience take any action that would raise prices on the backs of those first-time homebuyers and moms and dads, like me, who want to get their kids out of the house and into their own home and start building their own equity, or those younger moms and dads, unlike me, who are looking for more space for their growing families. Speaker, we definitely can’t let it stand in the way when we had well over 200 requests from Ontario municipalities to expand access to natural gas in their communities.

Now, I go to the ROMA, the Rural Ontario Municipal Association, conference every year, and AMO, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, every year. And my very, very capable parliamentary assistant here, Mr. Sarrazin, from eastern Ontario, sits and listens to municipal delegations where they’re begging us for natural gas expansion projects in their communities because they want to have this low-cost, reliable, affordable energy in their communities for their constituents and for new homeowners. As a government elected with a mandate to rebuild Ontario’s economy and keep costs down for people and businesses and build the homes our growing province needs, we simply can’t stand for that cost being borne by those new homeowners. That’s why Bill 165 will allow us to reverse the specific part of the OEB decision, protect future homebuyers and keep shovels in the ground at a time where we’ve got a goal to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.

Speaker, reversing the decision alone isn’t enough if we don’t address the issues that got us to this place. While the Ontario Energy Board makes hundreds of decisions every year—the OEB is making all kinds of decisions on rate applications every day and, to their credit, almost all of them have been without issue. This one particular issue, though, did raise some concerns about public engagement in the decision-making process. In fact, in the decision itself, one of the commissioners—the dissenting commissioner—noted that the decision on natural gas connection costs was reached without input from key stakeholders, like the people that build homes, like construction companies, like the contractors, like the farmers that were going to be able to access natural gas in their communities, the people and the businesses who actually build the homes, the farmers in this province.

The same commissioner—Commissioner Duff is her name—also noted that this decision, which could have significant impacts on electricity demand, was reached without any input at all from the Independent Electricity System Operator, the IESO. To quote from that dissenting commissioner, “Is the scenario of no-new-gas-connections, replaced by construction of all-electric developments, feasible? For example, would electricity generators, transmitters, distributors and the IESO be able to meet Ontario’s energy demands in 2025?” She answers her own question. “I don’t know,” she says. The commissioner said, “I don’t know,” Madam Speaker.

Let me tell you, as Ontario’s Minister of Energy, that was quite a concerning quote to read in the dissenting opinion, especially when our government is focused on a pragmatic approach to supporting the electrification of home heating and transportation and manufacturing, with a focus on keeping energy costs down and energy reliable. The other three parties in the Legislature don’t care about keeping the costs of energy down. They’re very ideological in their approach to the energy sector and electricity. We’re not. We’re relying on organizations like the Independent Electricity System Operator to give us the pragmatic advice that comes from operating the electricity system in Ontario. Every decision that we’ve made has been a very pragmatic decision. The Clean Home—

Interjection.

That makes a lot of sense, Madam Speaker, this Clean Home Heating Initiative using hybrid heat pumps for customers that are natural gas customers. Because what it’s going to do is have that hybrid heat pump that is operating on electricity most of the time, but when the temperature does hit minus 15 or minus 18, or minus 20 sometimes overnight—or even colder up in Kiiwetinoong; it gets very cold up there in northwestern Ontario—then your backup will kick in. In this case, the natural gas furnace will kick in.

This is a very, very pragmatic approach, and the CHHI, our Clean Home Heating Initiative, is operating in a number of municipalities across the province: in Durham, in Barrie, in St. Catharines, in Sault Ste. Marie. It’s a program that we’ve been expanding, and taking a very pragmatic approach. Maintaining access to natural gas also ensures reliable access to heat, as I mentioned, on those coldest days of the year.

Another part of that pragmatic approach was the establishment of the Electrification and Energy Transition Panel. This panel is advising me. It’s advising our government on the highest-value short-, medium- and long-term opportunities for the energy sector to help Ontario’s economy prepare for electrification and the energy transition. While the OEB was aware that the Electrification and Energy Transition Panel’s report was to be released around the time of their decision, the OEB decided to go beyond their role as an energy regulator and make major energy policy decisions without waiting for the government’s response stemming from the panel’s final report. That’s unfortunate, because the panel’s recommendations and our government’s response will have a significant impact on the sector and Ontario’s planning decisions.

We brought in experts for a reason. The panel was chaired by David Collie, the past president and CEO of the Electrical Safety Authority of Ontario. Other panel members were Chief Emerita Emily Whetung of Curve Lake First Nation and Professor Monica Gattinger, director of the Institute for Science, Society and Policy, a full professor at the school of political studies and founding chair of Positive Energy at the University of Ottawa. David, Monica and Emily conducted extensive engagements with key energy stakeholders and Indigenous partners across four streams from March to July 2023. In the end, more than 200 stakeholders, Indigenous partners and communities, government departments and agencies, and members of the public provided input to that panel.

In the end, all that work resulted in serious and well-thought-out recommendations. For example, a key recommendation of the electricity panel—Ontario’s Clean Energy Opportunity is the name of that report—was for the government to issue a natural gas policy statement providing clear direction for the long-term role of natural gas in Ontario, something that we intend to do, because, as laid out in their report, natural gas will continue to play a critical role as a source of energy in the province for at least the short and medium term. That recognizes the fact that any major shift away from this fuel source—which supports more than 70%, as I mentioned, of our home heating needs—would require a significant buildout of our grid that couldn’t be accomplished quickly.

Just take Quebec: Quebec uses mostly electric heating. Over the past few years, Ontario has had to step in to supply electricity from our natural gas generating stations on the coldest days of the year to keep the heat on at homes in Quebec and businesses in Quebec. We don’t want us to be in the same position, where families have to worry about if the heat will turn on or not. Under our government, we won’t be.

Given these important observations, there’s no doubt that the OEB decision is out of touch. No one could think that going from a 40-year period to zero years and adding thousands of dollars to the price of a home during a housing crisis is a pragmatic or responsible approach. As a matter of fact, it’s a completely irrational approach to go from 40 years to zero. Even one of the OEB commissioners in the decision, in a rare dissenting opinion, recommended only reducing the horizon to 20 years.

Given these concerns, our government saw an opportunity to continue our work, originally started back in our first mandate, to modernize the Ontario Energy Board. In 2019, my predecessor, the member for Kenora–Rainy River, Minister Rickford, took steps to enhance trust and transparency in Ontario’s energy sector by restructuring the OEB’s governance and operational framework. That was part of the work under the Fixing the Hydro Mess Act.

Today, we’re continuing that work and responding to the concerns raised in the December 2023 decision by proposing legislative changes that would ensure major OEB decisions with far-reaching implications on our constituents—like on natural gas connection costs—don’t happen again without adequate stakeholder consultation and without all the facts about government policy priorities.

Specifically, the Keeping Energy Costs Down Act requires the Ontario Energy Board to conduct broader engagement when conducting both natural gas and electricity hearings. If passed, it also gives the government the authority to reintroduce regulations to require the OEB to notify and invite participation or testimony from specific stakeholders or economic sectors. For example, if we know a decision is going to have a major impact on a particular sector—like transit operators, low-income service providers, the construction industry or a particular government agency like the IESO, the Independent Electricity System Operator—we could require the OEB to notify them and invite their participation.

These changes would also provide the government, through the Minister of Energy, with the authority to require a separate hearing, more formally known as a generic hearing, on any matter of public interest that could arise during an OEB proceeding. This would further ensure that Ontarians’ voices are heard on matters that will affect their families, businesses and communities.

To further protect customers, we’re also proposing to make regulatory changes that would prohibit customers from being required to financially contribute to the construction of certain gas transmission projects. These proposed changes would preserve the historical treatment of natural gas transmission projects under OEB jurisdiction when those projects are specified by government direction. Access to reliable and affordable energy has been critical to landing historic international investments over the past six years, and maintaining the current approach where customers are not required to make upfront payments will ensure Ontario continues to attract critical investments in sectors like the greenhouse sector and the automotive industries in southwestern Ontario.

It wasn’t that long ago when I was the energy critic, Madam Speaker—from 2015 to 2018—and I would talk to the folks from the auto sector all the time. As a matter of fact, Sergio Marchionne, who used to be the CEO of Chrysler, said famously that, under Premier Wynne and the previous Liberal government, Ontario was the least competitive jurisdiction, not in Canada—the least competitive jurisdiction in North America and the world to build cars.

I was the Minister of Economic Development in 2018-19 when we were setting about making sure that Ontario was a competitive place and open for business again when I took the call, in the first four months in that role in government, from the CEO of General Motors Global telling us—the Premier was on the call with me—that after 100 years of building cars and trucks in Oshawa, they were going to be shuttering that plant. I remember specifically the words from the CEO at GM. He said, “This is nothing that your government has done. You’ve inherited an absolute mess. We have full confidence that you’re going to fix the situation, make Ontario a competitive place to do business again, and we’ll be back.” I’m happy to say that we’ve done exactly that and the trucks are rolling off the line in Oshawa, Ontario, again at that General Motors plant.

All of the amendments that we brought forward would enshrine the good principles that have guided sound decision-making for these last number of years and protect against uncertainty. They’re also going to provide reassurance to communities and to businesses that they can rely on the energy system in Ontario, something they previously couldn’t do. Access to reliable, affordable energy is critical to our province’s growth, and these changes are going to help ensure that Ontario remains that attractive place for businesses to invest and families to call home.

Bill 165, the Keeping Energy Costs Down Act, doesn’t stop there. We also proposed to streamline the leave-to-construct process for small energy projects, making reliable and affordable energy options available to communities, homes and businesses in a more cost-effective and timely manner.

Today, anyone looking to connect a new home to Ontario’s natural gas system with a pipeline must obtain a leave-to-construct approval from the OEB if the expected cost of the project will be $2 million or greater. The OEB reviews the application and grants leave to carry out the project if it’s deemed to be in the public interest to do so.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve heard concerns from mayors, councils and agricultural organizations across the province on this issue. I know my colleague the parliamentary assistant has heard these as well at places like ROMA and AMO. They’re concerned that even the smallest projects to connect something like a new home no longer receive the exemption as originally intended.

The changes we’re proposing would allow the government to prescribe conditions in regulation to exempt small projects from leave-to-construct while maintaining the crown’s obligation related to rights-based consultation with Indigenous communities, ensuring that opportunities remain for their input into proposed new projects.

Specifically, if the bill is passed, the government intends to introduce regulations to streamline the leave-to-construct process by exempting small pipeline projects that cost between $2 million and $10 million, provided the crown’s duty-to-consult obligations with Indigenous communities, as I mentioned, have been met. These changes would improve the timelines for pipeline construction and expansion by cutting red tape and expediting the installation of natural gas to rural, remote and underserved communities, helping to support a reliable and cost-effective provincial energy supply.

Speaker, I want to stress that both the government of Ontario and the OEB are committed to ensuring that Indigenous communities have a continued opportunity to bring their views forward and inform any decision that may impact their rights or interests. But these are small projects, for the most part. It’s like relocating gas lines to support transit projects, or connecting a single home or small business or a new condo building, moving a gas line for municipal waterworks and those types of projects.

Project applicants would continue to contact the Ministry of Energy early in the planning process and provide the ministry with a description of the proposed project, including the need for the project, its terminal points, characteristics such as the length and diameter of the pipeline and the proposed route. Along with any additional information requested, the Ministry of Energy will assess whether the proposed project triggers the duty to consult. Where it is triggered, the OEB would then determine whether the crown has adequately discharged its duty to consult prior to granting such applications.

I also want to be clear that for all projects, whether there’s a leave-to-construct proceeding or not, proponents will continue to require authorizations from Ontario ministries and municipalities, including permits and other approvals relating to technical, safety and environmental requirements needed to support the construction of the pipeline.

To ensure the board meaningfully implements the changes outlined in the legislation, I intend to appoint a new chair for the Ontario Energy Board later this winter or early this spring. They will fill the role formerly held by Mr. Richard Dicerni, who passed away last year, just a few weeks after he stepped down from the position of chair.

Before I continue, I just want to take a moment to recognize the late Mr. Dicerni. Richard was a very, very distinguished public servant, who had served provincially and federally under all political stripes—including here in Ontario as Deputy Minister of Energy—before becoming president of Ontario Power Generation back in 1993. Richard had served Ontario and Canada very well during his 25-year career in public service and most recently as chair of the Ontario Energy Board, supporting them in their transition to the new governance structure, focusing on recruitment and organizational governance. He sadly passed away last summer, August 11, 2023.

On behalf of all of us, I want to express our deepest condolences to his wife, Carole Swan, and his family, including his son Patrick, who continues in his father’s footsteps. Patrick serves as an assistant deputy minister and executive officer at Ontario’s Ministry of Health.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank our acting chair, Glenn O’Farrell, who stepped up to fulfill this role on an interim basis following the sudden passing of his colleague. Glenn’s leadership has been appreciated as well, especially as he continues this work until a new permanent chair is appointed.

When the new chair is appointed, I will expect them to continue the hard work of their predecessors and ensure that the board conducts appropriate consultation in line with the proposed legislative requirements before reaching decisions, and to reinforce the government’s priority of supporting affordable, reliable and clean energy for all Ontarians.

Should this legislation be passed, and our new board chair is appointed, the government intends to introduce a natural gas policy statement, as I mentioned earlier, a recommendation of the Electrification and Energy Transition Panel to provide further direction to the Ontario Energy Board. At that point, we would return the issue of natural gas connection costs to the energy board for a new hearing.

I’m pleased to share that our approach has already resulted in early support from across the province. Catherine Swift, president of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada, said, “This decision would have the effect of discouraging badly needed new home construction, especially regarding affordable housing. The decision would also discourage developers from using natural gas, one of the most efficient and cost-effective energy sources, in new housing developments.” The government’s approach “demonstrates a practicality that is sorely needed in many of our energy policy discussions today.”

The Ontario Greenhouse Alliance, which represents Canada Flowers and Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, said, “This legislation will ensure that Ontario’s energy transition is practical and inclusive of a broader range of economic and social impact considerations....

“In the legislation is equally important direction to ensure that future Ontario Energy Board decisions provide opportunity for a broader range of engagement and testimony from sectors and stakeholders that will be impacted by OEB decisions.

“The challenges of agriculture and food production around the world—providing safe, affordable, sustainable and secure agriculture products—means providing more of Ontario’s greenhouse products to consumers here at home and around the world.

“I’d like to thank the Ontario government for this legislation and ensuring a fair and managed approach to Ontario’s energy transition.”

The CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association, Tim Hudak, said, “The OEB’s bad move to upend Ontario’s long-standing approach to finance infrastructure like natural gas over time puts new neighbourhoods and desperately needed new homes in jeopardy.

“Ontario’s ambitious housing supply goals necessitate new utility connections and infrastructure, including natural gas, to address the rising affordability crisis.

“OREA is in full support of the Ontario government overturning the OEB decision by whatever means necessary, including via legislation, to ensure Ontario can build the homes we need to house our population, both today and in the future.”

These are just a few of the examples that you’ll hear throughout the debate. But as you hear more, I think you’ll hear one central theme emerge, that being that our government is taking a pragmatic approach to the issue of home heating and the role of natural gas in our system more broadly, an approach that advances a reliable system, that advances an affordable system, one that is maintaining and building on Ontario’s clean energy advantage. That approach also reflects the work that we’re doing as a government to ensure a reliable supply of electricity and that it continues to be available for all Ontarians as demand continues to grow across Ontario.

At the start I mentioned how the incredible economic growth we’re experiencing as a province, alongside an ever-increasing move toward electrification for our homes and businesses and vehicles, and the fact that our population is expected to increase by millions of people by the end of this decade, is impacting our demand for electricity. In fact, for the very first time since 2005—20 years ago—Ontario’s electricity demand is rising. That’s right: For the first time in 20 years we’re experiencing increased electricity demand growth. It’s because of all of the reasons that I talked about earlier: the massive investments that are being made in our province and all of the new homes that we’re building.

In fact, expert analysis from Ontario’s IESO—the Independent Electricity System Operator—shows that electricity demand could more than double by 2050. Think about that for a minute: could double by 2050. That means our entire current supply, which includes all of the nuclear and hydroelectric capacity that we currently have, would need to double to meet the anticipated demand. That represents the biggest build-out of our grid since Sir Adam Beck created our hydroelectric system over a century ago.

That’s why we’re taking action now, and have been for the last couple of years: to ensure that we have the energy. And we know that we’re going to need that energy down the road, so we put these principles in place.

And while we’re already building new projects like the energy storage systems, government and those in the energy sector need to start planning for other major projects immediately so we have new, clean, zero-emissions projects ready to go when we need them.

That’s why, last summer, I released Powering Ontario’s Growth, laying out our plan to provide families and industries with the reliable, low-cost and clean power that we need to power Ontario’s future. It sets out the key steps that we’re taking to provide reliable, low-cost, clean power as our economy grows, as we electrify transportation and industry and we build those new homes. Powering Ontario’s Growth builds on the key strengths of our system in Ontario: our diverse supply mix, made up of nuclear, hydro, natural gas, and intermittent renewables, and soon, the battery storage facilities that will make our system that much more efficient. It also builds on the significant action that we’ve already taken to meet demand through the end of the decade with major projects and procurements, and that includes a $342-million expansion of energy efficiency programs and the largest energy storage procurement in Canada’s history. And it builds on Ontario’s international leadership in nuclear power and SMRs, on our legacy as the birthplace of the Candu reactor—still the safest, most reliable reactors in the world today—and on our reputation as a world-leading source of life-saving, cancer-fighting medical isotopes.

Nuclear power makes up more than half of our current electricity supply. And as a source of affordable and clean power, nuclear energy is why Ontario is able to maintain one of the cleanest electricity grids not just in Canada or North America, but in the entire world. That’s why expanding our province’s nuclear fleet is a key component of our plan to meet future demand. Through Powering Ontario’s Growth, we’ve begun the planning and licensing for three additional small modular reactors at the Darlington new nuclear site to round out the SMR fleet there to four units in all, increasing our supply of clean, non-emitting, reliable baseload power—1.2 gigawatts of new power. That’s enough to power 1.2 million new homes.

A Conference Board of Canada study estimates that construction and operation of four SMRs would increase Canada’s GDP by almost $14 billion and sustain, on average, approximately 2,000 jobs per year. And building four units provides more opportunities for Ontario companies to make investments to expand their operations to serve the growing SMR market both domestically and abroad. These companies are in all of our ridings. There are over 220 companies in our nuclear supply chain, all doing amazing world-class work.

By being North America’s leader in SMRs, we have the potential to grow the 65,000-person-strong nuclear sector that we have here in Ontario as well as drive economic growth and export opportunities that would allow us to be a potential supplier of products, services and expertise across a global market.

We have had visitors from around the world coming to Darlington, to tour the site. I always say, when I have an opportunity to speak about the SMR program, that the world is watching what’s happening at OPG in Darlington. And I could tell you, we’ve had visitors from all around the world: from Poland, from Estonia, from the Czech Republic, to the United Arab Emirates, to Australia. They’re coming from everywhere because we are in the pole position.

We had the governor of Indiana come up, as well, and I told him we were in the pole position. He’s looking forward to the Indy 500 that’s coming up a little bit later on this spring.

In addition to our SMR expansion, we’re working with Bruce Power to begin pre-development work for the province’s first large-scale nuclear station build in more than 30 years. As part of that project, Bruce Power will start community consultations and conduct the environmental assessment for federal approval to determine the feasibility of siting up to 4.8 gigawatts—that’s 4,800 megawatts—of new nuclear generation on its current site of Bruce C. That’s enough generation to power almost five million homes.

Recently, I was at Bruce for the launch of its request-for-information process to evaluate new nuclear technologies that could demonstrate value for ratepayers, stimulate the Ontario economy and be constructed within a timeline that meets Ontario’s clean electricity demands. Initiating this early planning will ensure that the province has a reliable, low-cost and clean option ready to power the next major international investment, all the new homes that we’re building in the province and those industries and sectors across the province as they grow and electrify.

This new supply will complement the extensive work already going on in the sector, and that includes the significant progress that has been made on refurbishment projects at Darlington and the major component replacements at Bruce. The refurbishments of these Candu reactors at Darlington and Bruce, which have been on time—actually, ahead of schedule—and on budget, represent the largest clean energy projects in Ontario, securing a steady supply of emissions-free baseload power.

Just last month, I announced that our government is supporting Ontario Power Generation’s plan to proceed with the next steps toward refurbishing Pickering Nuclear Generating Station’s B units, securing another 2,000-plus megawatts at that site.

Madam Speaker, the world is watching. They’re looking to Ontario to leverage our expertise as they make decisions on their own nuclear projects, including their own SMR deployment, to help them achieve energy independence, clean the air and meet their climate goals. That was apparent during my recent nuclear trade mission to France and the United Kingdom, and COP 28 in Dubai. Through meetings and events, I caught up with many of the jurisdictions who are looking to Ontario to inform the development of their own SMR programs, like Estonia, Poland, the UK and many others. In fact, Estonia’s Fermi Energia has chosen GE Hitachi’s SMR technology, the BWRX-300, for deployment in Estonia, specifically citing the Darlington SMR project as a factor in their selection decision.

It’s clear that there is recognition globally that nuclear power is essential to achieving net-zero goals and long-term energy security, particularly in the face of Russian aggression and the unprovoked attack of Ukraine. In Dubai, we saw 22 countries, including Canada, sign an international resolution to triple global nuclear capacity by the year 2050, and I also signed a partnership agreement, along with my colleague the Minister of the Environment, while in Dubai, making Ontario the first subnational jurisdiction in the world to join the Net Zero Nuclear initiative to help the world deploy reliable, affordable, clean nuclear energy, to provide energy security for countries around the world.

With Ontario already well ahead of the curve, with decades of experience with our Candu reactors and years ahead of the world on SMRs, we have an incredible opportunity to export our expertise, our experience and materials from our world-class nuclear supply chain, helping to create even more jobs here at home. And while I know not every party in this Legislature supports our nuclear workers—just a week ago, the energy critic from the NDP and the MPP for University–Rosedale said in a flyer for a town hall meeting that “nuclear is harmful to the environment and human health”—our government will always stand with our nuclear workers, who do so much for our province.

Beyond nuclear energy, Powering Ontario’s Growth is also committed to continuing our competitive approach to procuring a diverse set of resources to meet our growing capacity and energy needs, an approach that has already delivered early successes. The IESO’s first medium-term request for proposal re-contracted five facilities, representing more than 700 megawatts of capacity, at about a 30% savings compared to the previous government’s contracts.

We’ve also achieved impressive results with the province’s recent expedited long-term request for proposals, which kicked off the largest clean energy storage procurement in Canada’s history, an achievement for which I was very proud to receive the Friend of Energy Storage Award from the team at Energy Storage Canada. Through this procurement, the IESO has already secured contracts with 15 energy storage facilities, acquiring a total of 880 megawatts of capacity. And Indigenous participation in this procurement was significant, nine of the 15 contracts having at least 50% Indigenous ownership. I’m looking forward to seeing similar success stories with the first long-term RFP, the LT1 procurement, which is currently under way.

Just to keep in mind: This competitive approach is drastically different than the Liberals’ Green Energy Act, which awarded handsome, lucrative, way-over-market-price feed-in tariff contracts. You will all recall the 80-cent-per-kilowatt-hour solar contracts that were awarded during the Green Energy Act. Those contracts continued to be signed year after year, after the price of electricity was tripling in Ontario under the Liberals’ watch.

On top of all of these things that we’re doing, including bringing a competitive approach to procuring the energy that we need, we’re also investing in low-carbon hydrogen projects that will promote sustainability in the sector and contribute to our clean energy economy. We’re proceeding, again, with the competitive procurement of non-emitting energy resources to meet demand and support the operation of our grid. We’re building out our transmission system to distribute electricity to new areas of the province, all over the province, so that everybody can participate in our growing energy sector. We’re increasing energy efficiency programs in the electricity and natural gas sectors.

Just like with home heating, natural gas generation is part of our pragmatic approach to keeping the lights on, an approach reinforced by the Independent Electricity System Operator, whose natural gas phase-out study that I asked them for said, “Natural gas generation plays a crucial role in the reliability of the electricity grid. It provides a range of services that no other resource today can provide on its own, including producing large amounts of power to meet high demand and running for extended periods when other resources are not available.”

In short, while most of the time Ontario can meet its electricity generation needs with nuclear and hydroelectric and biomass and renewables, we need to face reality. Sometimes the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow, which is why natural gas is needed to meet those peaks and to keep the lights on when demand surges and ensure we don’t have to resort to emergency actions like rotating blackouts.

I was in Edmonton about a month ago now, stepped off the plane, and it was minus 42 degrees Celsius. I don’t know if you remember how cold it was in Alberta during that weekend. Their system operator, the AESO, was sending out bulletins to the residents of Alberta—kind of like we do our Amber Alerts here in Ontario—advising the residents in Alberta to conserve their electricity immediately or they were going to experience brownouts and blackouts.

Why did they have to do that? Because the wind fleet that they have did not show up. It was so cold, the wind turbines couldn’t turn, so they needed Saskatchewan’s natural gas and British Columbia’s natural gas to keep the lights on in Alberta and keep their residents warm. Natural gas comes back to save the day again in Alberta.

Ontario’s existing natural gas plants are doing the exact same thing right now. They’re the insurance policy to keep the lights on. I think, as a matter of fact, down at the Portlands generating station right here on the waterfront in Toronto, when it was built, it was strategically placed there to keep the lights on in downtown Toronto on the hottest and coldest days of the year. We know all too well what can happen if those plants are removed too quickly.

It was last summer when a large crane—not the bird, the piece of mechanical equipment—came into contact with a high-voltage transmission line, disconnecting the Portlands plant down there. The disconnection caused an extensive, hours-long power outage in downtown Toronto that disrupted the lives of millions of families and businesses that work here every day. Imagine if you live on the 50th floor of one of these condo buildings here and the elevators are out, which they were for hours.

The fact is, there is currently in the province no like-for-like replacement for natural gas. That’s why the IESO has concluded that natural gas generation is needed to maintain system reliability. In the end, thanks to our early planning, Ontario is well positioned with enough electricity to power growth in the near term. And, as our panel report has pointed out, we’ve got to be careful to pace the rate of increase in electricity demand with the rate at which new supply can come on stream. That’s why our government has done so much to prepare for the latter part of this decade and beyond.

Madam Speaker, as Ontario plans for a prosperous future and an energy system that continues to deliver power that is clean, reliable and affordable for all of its citizens, Bill 165, Keeping Energy Costs Down Act, is critical to our success. It recognizes that we’re working in a complex landscape with distinct regions. We are a massive, massive province. We have unique communities and organizations across this massive province that are facing unique challenges, but they’re also facing unique opportunities. And the legislative changes that this bill proposes are going to enable us to cut red tape. It’s going to enable us to get transit and homes built faster and without additional financial burden on customers. These changes will improve Ontario Energy Board processes, ensuring that the public has more input into OEB decisions, and will ensure those decisions are made with clarity on future government policy priorities to protect ratepayers.

Again, just imagine hearing this case without getting feedback from the Independent Electricity System Operator as to whether or not there’s enough electricity planned or in the system to ensure that we would have the electricity and the energy that we need to keep our residents warm each and every winter, and allow for our air conditioning to turn on in the summer.

Finally, Bill 165 is going to preserve customer energy choices by ensuring that natural gas remains an available and affordable option for all consumers.

Madam Speaker, when our government took office, we made a promise to put people first and make life easier and more affordable for families and businesses while sending a clear message that Ontario is open for business. We’ve seen the results of the work that we’ve done. Ontario is open for business. It is a powerhouse in North America. It is the economic engine in our country, once again, after years of Liberal policies that drove hundreds of thousands of jobs to other jurisdictions in North America and elsewhere in the world. The Keeping Energy Costs Down Act is going to allow us to continue to build on that promise, Madam Speaker, and ensure that Ontario is that economic powerhouse.

It’s interesting listening to the energy minister talk about the past and the history. I will say that when the Liberals were in power, the PCs used to criticize their politicization of the electricity planning and their disregard for evidence and professional independent analysis. And yet here we are, 2024, the first time ever overruling an Ontario Energy Board decision designed to protect homeowners and ratepayers in order to benefit a fossil fuel giant.

Kent Elson, a lawyer from Environmental Defence says that this legislation, and the choice of the title of this bill, is “Orwellian.

“It should be called the keeping Enbridge profits and energy bills high act....

“The OEB decision would have cut capital costs covered by gas customers by approximately $600 per customer.... Reversing the decision will certainly raise energy bills.”

Why did you not title this bill the pushing energy costs up act in Ontario?

Questions?

Thank you to the minister for his lovely remarks to kick off debate this afternoon. I just want to highlight to my colleagues in this place here that the NDP is again not standing up for young people who don’t have a home. They’re arguing for the current homeowners. They are not fighting for those who live in their parents’ basements or those who may have a child on the way who are looking to move into a bigger place—a townhouse, for example.

I know the minister alluded to it a bit in his remarks, but, obviously, I represent rural Ontario, and I was wondering if he could elaborate—I know Minister Calandra and myself and the associate minister are looking to keep costs down on homes. How much would this decision by the OEB cost rural Ontario?

Once again, we see the NDP trying to find any way possible they can to oppose a piece of legislation, even one that makes as much sense as this one does, Madam Speaker.

This is necessary in a housing crisis to assuring that we can keep shovels in the ground and build the homes that we’re talking about building.

A recent condominium development here in the GTA would see an upfront connection charge of approximately $290,000. I don’t know who the opposite member thinks is going to pay that, but it’s going to be the person who buys that condo or lives in that condo—$290,000. A three-building condo development in Toronto would see an upfront connection charge of approximately $1,065,000. Who does the NDP think is going to bear the cost of that? It’s going to be that homeowner, the new homeowner, and we have to step in to ensure that we’re protecting the homeowners of the province.

Speaker, just to be totally clear, Premier Ford wants to raise your gas bill. That’s what this is about. Premier Ford wants you to pay more month after month, year after year. That’s what this is about. He has decided to protect higher profits for Enbridge by taking more money out of your pocket and the pockets of millions of others across this province. He’s protecting his buddies at Enbridge, and he’s sticking you and all the other customers of Enbridge with the bill, and that bill is going to be about $300 per customer over the next four years.

So if you think you should pay more on your gas bill, you should support the minister. And if you think you shouldn’t be stuck with that bill, if you think Enbridge should be the body that actually coughs up the few billion dollars that are going to be necessary, then you should oppose this bill that’s been brought forward.

I don’t know how to make it any plainer. I don’t know how to make it any plainer: He wants to raise your gas bill; he wants you to pay more so that Enbridge makes more money. That is what this is about. He wants to reverse the decision the Ontario Energy Board made in December to protect you from higher gas bills.

Now, it’s the job of the Ontario Energy Board, the regulator, to look out for consumer interests when energy companies apply to raise their rates. That’s their job. That’s their mandate. They are told, “Look out for consumers. Look out for the public. Make sure they aren’t gouged, they aren’t ripped off, they aren’t pillaged, they aren’t silently stolen from. Look after those customers. Whether they’re electrical utilities or gas utilities, protect the customers.” And that’s what they did. They did their job.

And now, the government is horrified that people are going to be protected from higher gas bills. They’re horrified that Enbridge will not continue to make the crushingly huge profits that they have been making, and they want to reverse that.

Enbridge is a multi-billion-dollar company. And frankly, there’s a bigger Enbridge that runs gas transmission lines across North America and there’s the smaller multi-billion-dollar corporation here in Ontario—not exactly on the edge of poverty; companies that have a few bucks available if they wanted to actually help customers. That isn’t what we’re dealing with here. What we’re dealing with here is a company that wants to squeeze every last penny out of you.

This bill will strip you of protection from Enbridge’s attempts to gouge customers across this province. The minister doesn’t have to do that. The Premier doesn’t have to do that. The Premier could protect you, could protect your family and protect families across this province. He knows that people are having a tough time. We have those debates, those discussions, here in the Legislature all the time. People are pushed hard. They’ve got rising rents. This government won’t protect them from rising rents. They’re having a tough time with mortgages. They’re having a tough time with grocery bills. You’ve got major retailers that have been engaged in squeezing people, squeezing their suppliers, squeezing the customers. He knows that people are having a tough time staying afloat, and yet—and yet—today what we’re doing is debating a bill that would protect the profits of Enbridge and raise the gas bills that people have to pay. It will take money out of people’s pockets. That’s the reality.

I have to say this: I’m saying that I’m impressed, and not in a good way, that the minister kept a straight face while he made that speech. That was extraordinary. I am impressed—not in a good way, but I am impressed.

Let’s go back a little bit. Just before Christmas, the Ontario Energy Board announced a decision that would make Enbridge Gas responsible for the cost of expanding its gas system and protect almost four million customers from hundreds of millions of dollars in higher heating bills. This is a very important point. Enbridge has investors; it has cash flow. If it wanted to put the money into those new connections and collect from those customers over 40 years, they could do that. They don’t have to take the money out of your pocket or your pocket or my pocket. They could do it out of their own cash—no sweat. But, instead, they wanted it to come from the existing gas customers. The Ontario Energy Board, whose job is to protect customers from gouging, whose job is to protect customers from being taken advantage of, said, “No, we’re not going to support this increase that’s going to cost $300 per customer over the next four years. We’re going to say, ‘Enbridge, it’s yours. It’s yours.’” And the very next day, the minister announced that they—this government—would be taking steps to reverse the decision of the Ontario Energy Board, the regulator that they put in place.

Now, I have to say, for those who are around for a while, I used to refer to the Ontario Energy Board under the Liberals as the glove puppets. You had the Minister of Energy’s hand there stuck up an energy board regulator and saying whatever the minister needed to have said. I was astounded that this regulator, this board, actually stood up for customers, stood up for consumers—astounding. They actually did their job. They read their mandate. They listened to the evidence and they said, “Damn, we gotta protect people.” Of course, this party that used to attack the OEB for not standing up for customers realizes that, “Boy, if they stand up for customers there are going to be some pretty heavy-duty private interests that are going to be really cranky.” So that’s why we have this bill before us today.

Now I want to go back a bit further. There’s a subsidy that gas customers do not even know they’re funding. If you talk to most people, they look at their gas bill and they see “gas” and then they see “distribution,” the cost of getting it through the pipes to their house. They don’t know that part of those rates is paying the cost of expanding the system. They think, “No, I just want to pay for the pipe that comes to my house. Why do I have to pay for these investments that you’re making that you’re going to make money off of?” That isn’t where their heads are at. I tried this out on my nephew at Christmastime. I said, “Do you know you’re subsidizing these new expansions?” He was outraged. He said, “Why? I just want to pay for my gas bill. I just want heat, that’s all. They want to expand, they can pay for it.”

I have to say, the independent energy regulator decided to put a stop to this subsidy because it raises energy bills for existing gas customers and for new homebuyers. This is not a wonderful gift for them. It sets them up for higher costs in the years to come and it also increases financial risks for the whole of the gas system.

Ending the subsidy would save gas customers over a billion dollars over the next four years in avoided pipeline subsidy costs. That comes to about $300 per customer. There are about four million customers on the system. Of course, that billion dollars doesn’t include the interest and the profit payments that go to Enbridge. So I’m talking the bare minimum, right? I’m just talking the minimum number that was cited by the Ontario Energy Board.

What ending the subsidy would do, aside from protecting existing customers from being gouged, is that it would encourage developers to install electric heat pumps in new homes instead of gas, which would provide cheaper heating and cooling for new homebuyers. And that is based on a variety of studies showing the reality of comparing the cost of capital and operating for gas-centred systems with capital and operating for heat pump systems.

So ending that subsidy would be a win, a win, a win and a win. It would lower energy bills for existing customers—wildly popular—and lower energy bills for new homeowners because they would be getting a less expensive system. It would lower carbon emissions—and actually, I think that matters. And it would avoid even more costs down the road to convert away from fossil fuel heating in the houses that were built with heat pumps from the start.

But there is a loser in all this. I have to be clear. There is a loser: Enbridge Gas. They would lose a lot of money. Frankly, they can afford it. They’re not exactly on the ropes. They’re doing well. I would say that if they are not making super gazillions of profits, but just billions in profits, they can probably survive, but many, many tenants and homeowners are having a tough time surviving. So our task, I believe, is to protect those tenants, those homeowners and not protect these multi-billion-dollar, multinational corporations.

Now, Enbridge is lobbying hard to stop that decision, to overturn that decision, and it has launched two challenges. Its court challenge boldly complains that the decision will mean “Enbridge Gas has no right or ability to invest and earn a return on capital for new customer connections.” In other words, it’s going to reduce their profits. Actually, I don’t think the OEB said you couldn’t invest; you just couldn’t invest with money provided by your existing customers. If their investors wanted to put money in, hey, there’s no barrier to doing that. They could go ahead. Now, there are questions they would ask, and frankly, the consultants who they quote in their submissions to the Ontario Energy Board raised big red flags about the potential for a lack of return in the future on those investments.

Minister Smith is trying to pass this legislation, the bill before us, to overturn that decision. The government of Ontario has decided to stand with Enbridge and its lobbyists, using the argument that change will reduce housing supply and affordability. But developers can just forgo gas and install heat pumps instead. If they have a customer who really wants gas, they can do that, but everyone gets an electrical connection in any event. So why wouldn’t you take the opportunity to install an electric heat pump and forgo that extra cost of putting in gas? And even if you didn’t want to go there, why do people around this province have to subsidize this? Why do people in Kingston or Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Windsor have to pony up an extra 300 bucks over the next four years to subsidize this multi-billion-dollar corporation?

You don’t have to take my word about the fact that this is not going to affect the cost of housing. I’m glad I went to public school in Ontario. It gave me at least one skill: I can read; sometimes I can do math—although people challenge me.

Ian Mondrow is a partner at the law firm Gowling WLG, practising in the area of energy regulation policy, and he wrote an op-ed that was published in the Globe and Mail. He can see that leaving the regulator’s decision in place would protect current gas customers and new home owners. Now, this is not the NDP research department—and, frankly, you should know that that is an excellent department. I’m just saying that they’re not ideologically ours; Gowling is not known as an NDP firm. But I’m going to quote the op-ed from this lawyer who specializes in energy regulation policy:

“While including gas connection costs to developers up front would marginally increase the cost of a new house, an offsetting rate credit recognizing the upfront payment would lower ongoing gas rates, resulting in a wash for homebuyers. The other choice would be to forego gas servicing in favour of electric heat pumps, thus lowering the operating costs of the house—a win for homebuyers.” The member from Perth–Wellington was talking about new home buyers. Well, you’ve got someone who specializes in energy policy saying this would be better for new home buyers. “Either choice would reduce Enbridge capital costs, and potential stranded assets, in the range of $1 billion over the proposed five-year gas rate plan period, significantly reducing delivery rates and customer risk.”

Two associate professors, Brandon Schaufele and Adam Fremeth of the Ivey Business School, wrote a post about this as well: “The government’s decision to override the OEB should have virtually no effect on affordable housing in the province.”

So if this bill passes, this ain’t going to make housing any cheaper. It is not going to be to the advantage of homebuyers. In other words, the government’s action will make you pay more and will not help new homebuyers, but it will mean higher rates for your gas bills. The Premier wants you to pay more. The Premier wants to raise your gas bill. Don’t get confused. Be very clear and plain about this. The Premier wants you to pay more.

Now, gas is no longer the cheapest heating source. Investing in gas pipelines for heating is financially foolish because they will become obsolete and a massive cost to all current and future customers as we stop burning gas to heat our homes and other buildings. Even the minister was talking about electrification of home heating. He knows it’s coming. What that means, over the next few decades, is that fewer and fewer people will be burning gas, and the people who leave the system will not have to carry the burden of the cost of those pipes that are in the ground, but the ones who stay will be stuck with it. There are cheaper alternatives to what’s been before us.

The OEB recognized that, like rotary dial phones, like Blockbuster Video, natural gas furnaces are coming to the end of their time—not tomorrow, not in 2025, but over the next 20 years, cheaper alternatives such as home heat pumps are undermining Enbridge’s market for home heating. The minister said exactly that. We’re going to be electrifying our homes. So the OEB ruled that Enbridge can’t spread the cost of hooking up new homes over decades or charge it to current gas customers like you, like the people who are watching this, like the people in this room who actually are still Enbridge customers. They’re going to be stuck with this cost. That’s what the Premier wants to do. He wants to increase your gas bill. The OEB said that Enbridge or new home developers have to take the risk, not new home buyers or current Enbridge customers. It recognizes that this would likely mean many more people installing the cheaper heat pumps to provide heating.

It was interesting to me that, again, the minister said he’s got a heat pump. He said when it gets really cold, the electric furnace backup in the installation comes on. Fair enough. I’ve got a heat pump at home. I’ve never been cold; I’m assuming the backup comes on when it gets really cold. But he didn’t say he was freezing in the dark. He said the system worked. If he had been freezing in the dark, believe me, all of you would have heard it. You would have heard the descriptions of the frozen bowl of water for the cat in the kitchen. You would have heard about the need to bundle up the kids and whisk them off to a hotel somewhere. No, he’s totally comfortable at home because he’s got the backup right there. Most of the time, the heat pump—probably all the time because the newer heat pumps are good down to minus 30—they’re totally fine in our climate.

I’m going to go back to Ian Mondrow about the question of how we can actually deal with the issues before us. Because passing legislation to reinstate a subsidy that’s completely out of step and risks financial disaster down the road doesn’t make sense.

The minister, in his statement, in his speech, said that the decision of the OEB would increase the cost of energy, increase the cost of a new home, and the facts do not support that claim. When you look for those facts, when you round them up, when you put them together and you compare them to the minister’s statement, they are not related; they’re not distant cousins. There is no blood relation between the facts and the minister’s statement. It’s just not there.

I’m going to go back to the energy-regulator lawyer from Gowling, Ian Mondrow, who had this to say about the claim by the minister. He writes in a more formal style than me but I think he’s quite good: “Early the following day after the release of the OEB decision, Ontario’s Minister of Energy released a statement expressing that he was ‘extremely disappointed’ with the OEB’s decision.... The minister asserted that the OEB’s determination on this point ... ‘could lead to tens of thousands of dollars added to the cost of building new homes, and ... would slow or halt the construction of new homes, including affordable housing.’” Well, good God. That’s a scary thought.

The lawyer, Ian Mondrow, goes on: “If those facts were true”—and I like the “if”—“then the minister could well have a legitimate and immediate housing policy concern. The facts as determined in the OEB’s decision do not, however, support a ‘tens of thousands of dollars’ increase in home costs, and it does not appear that the decision will in fact ‘slow or halt the construction of new homes.’ The conclusions expressed in the minister’s statement”—and, frankly, his speech today—“are inconsistent with the facts relied on, and determinations made, by the OEB’s three-member expert panel of commissioners as a result of the comprehensive hearing process undertaken.”

I want to say a few other things about the area of charges. I’m speaking to you gas customers who are going to get stuck with a higher bill if this legislation passes. One is that claim that gas heating is the cheapest option. Numerous studies now show that, when you compare the combined costs of equipment and energy, heat pumps provide cheaper heating than gas heating. Just look at putting in a heat pump or putting in a furnace or an air conditioner—those capital costs and then the cost over the lifetime, it’s cheaper to go with a heat pump.

In fact—and the minister referenced this in his speech—Enbridge, which keeps spreading the claim about gas being cheaper, is now facing an investigation and hearing at the Competition Bureau for false advertising.