Tomorrow, this government will table their budget. It has been said many times in this House that a budget is a moral document. Theology teaches us that those with political power and economic wealth are to use their position to benefit those who society has marginalized. At a time when so many Ontarians are struggling to find housing, to feed themselves, we are looking for this government to provide relief.

We are also witnessing a large increase in femicides in this province. Gender-based violence is an epidemic. Despite our pleas, this government has continued to refuse to name it as an epidemic. This government has failed to introduce any new initiatives or investments to protect and ensure that women and children are safe in Ontario. Women in my riding are waiting over six months for services from sexual assault centres and 18 months for supervised access programs. Organizations across Ontario that help victims of gender-based violence have not had an increase in 15 years.

But, unfortunately, what we are seeing is a government that is increasing our tax dollars going to campaign-style ads that are nothing but self-congratulatory. This government refuses to tell us how they are spending our money, so through a freedom-of-information request, we have discovered that the government has spent about $8 million so far—that doesn’t include the $38 million on ads this government has placed since 2019. That’s a lot of tax money that could have gone into investments in health care, in housing and preventing gender-based violence.

Ontarians will be watching and hoping to see a budget that shows that this government understands that it is their moral responsibility to help the people of Ontario.

Good morning, Speaker. My question is for the Premier. The government’s own Housing Affordability Task Force strongly recommended the legalization of fourplexes across the province over two years ago, but now the Premier is saying not in his backyard.

So my question is, why is the Premier blocking people who can’t afford a single-family detached home from the communities they want to live in and work in?

Interjections.

Even the housing minister doesn’t seem to understand the difference between a fourplex and four-storey—it’s mind-boggling.

Look, every housing expert in this province, in this country is saying we need more housing options, not less. That is what Ontarians want too. They want leadership from their government to provide more options so that we can actually find homes for our children, for the next generation, for the people that right now are at risk of losing their homes.

It is unbelievable that the Premier and this housing minister would rule out some straightforward options like legalizing fourplexes. And do you know what? They’re playing into the same kind of fears that have held back density for generations.

So I’m going to ask one more time: Why does the Premier think that people who can’t afford a single-family detached home don’t deserve options like fourplexes?

Interjections.

My question to the Premier is, does the Premier still agree that we need to end government funding of partisan advertising?

Interjections.

I want to ask the Premier, does he still agree, again, that we need to end government funding of this government’s partisan advertising?

We are giving this government a chance to show Ontarians who they truly are. Enough is enough. We need to close the loopholes and stop spending Ontarians’ hard-earned dollars on these purely partisan ads.

So my question, again, to the Premier is: This afternoon, when we retable the bill that Deputy Premier herself tabled under the previous Liberal government, is this government going to support that bill?

Interjections.

Again, Mr. Speaker, there is no law that forbids municipalities from having this type of development. But what we have said quite clearly is that we will continue to work with our municipal partners to ensure that we meet the goals that we’ve set with respect to housing, but overwhelmingly, Speaker, what we have heard from our stakeholders, from municipal partners and from those people who actually build homes, is that the real problem is the infrastructure deficit that was left behind by the previous Liberal government.

We have looked at that and we have said that although we have been asking—every single provincial Premier across this country has been asking the federal government to redirect funds into infrastructure. Because they have refused, we are going to go it alone, Mr. Speaker, because we’re not interested in building hundreds of homes, we’re interested in building millions of homes for the people of the province of Ontario, and the only way you will do that is if you put infrastructure on the ground to unleash the building of millions of homes in every part of the province, and that’s what we’re doing.

Surely the member knows that affordable housing in the province of Ontario is done by our municipal partners through service managers. In fact, the province of Ontario—through its partnership with municipalities, which is the law of the province—has constructed over 11,000 units of affordable housing, which the federal minister has rejected and said, “No, it doesn’t count.” The federal minister has said, “No, long-term-care homes that are subsidized don’t count. No, student housing doesn’t count.”

At every turn, the people of the province of Ontario had been making investments and the federal government has unilaterally decided to cut funding to the province of Ontario. They are treating Ontario differently than any other province, and that is a hallmark of this federal government—they pit one region against another.

So, I say to the member this: If you want the $350 million, if you want the $400 million, then get off your backside and have those members do something: call their partners in Ottawa and—

Interjections.

In fact, the mayor of Guelph, who I met with just last week, said the number one obstacle to building homes in his community is the lack of sewer and water in that community. In Niagara region, the lack of sewer and water is holding up the development of thousands of homes across the spectrum, Mr. Speaker.

When I go to every community across this province, they say, “You can choose to build hundreds of homes, or you can choose to build millions of homes.” Millions of homes come with sewer and water, and that is why we are doubling down on the things that actually get homes built.

I will let them talk about pie-in-the-sky discussions on how you get things done. We’ll get it done because we’ll put the investments in place to get it—

Let’s be very clear what the opposition is talking about: They are talking about building four-storey buildings in communities that were not built to handle that, in communities that don’t have schools, in communities that don’t have parking. What we’re saying is that we trust our municipal partners to understand where it is best to meet the housing challenges and targets that we have set.

In Guelph, in his own community, they said the number one obstacle is sewer and water capacity. So when the members opposite talk, what they’re really saying is that they don’t actually want to meet the targets. They’re the ones who want to stop homes from being built. They are terrorized by the fact we’re going to put billions of dollars of infrastructure in the ground that will help us build 1.5 million homes across the province. We’ll get it done, and we won’t allow—

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier. People are sick and tired of this government’s failure to address the housing crisis, which is the primary driver of the affordability crisis. Rents are sky-high and young people are wondering if they’ll ever be able to afford to own a home. And now the Premier says no to legalizing missing middle homes, no to the fastest way of increasing housing supply where infrastructure already exists, no to homes that ordinary people can afford in the communities they love.

So I say to the Premier: Build homes people can afford. Legalize missing middle homes province-wide. The Premier has a choice. He can either choose to be Premier NIMBY, or he can choose to say yes to removing the barriers to housing. Which one will he choose today?

But here’s the bottom line: This government took $5.1 billion for infrastructure away from municipalities. They’ve given half back. That will not get the job done, especially when the Premier says no to building homes where the infrastructure already exists.

We know that the cheapest and fastest way to increase housing supply is to build missing middle homes where we already have infrastructure. As a matter of fact, if only 18% of single-family homes became a fourplex, that would be two million homes where we already have infrastructure. So the government needs to say yes to more homes that people can afford, yes to more choices, yes to vibrant communities.

So the question is, will they say yes to removing the barriers to missing middle homes province-wide?