Hello, everyone.

Madam Speaker, I feel very honoured to rise today in support of Ontario’s budget known as Building a Better Ontario. I will split my time with the member for Mississauga Centre.

The 2024 budget demonstrates how Premier Ford and our entire government are delivering on the plan to build a better Ontario by investing in infrastructure to get more homes built faster, attracting better jobs with a bigger paycheque, keeping costs down for families and businesses and working on a path to balance.

Another thing this budget is doing is continuing to build a better Ontario for our seniors. Our seniors are the most important people. They are the ones who raised the families. Our seniors are the ones who built the best province in the world, Ontario. Our seniors are the ones who have built the best country in the world, Canada. This budget shows how our government remains committed to stable, predictable funding for programs and services to build a better Ontario for our seniors. As I travel around the province, I see how we are providing great programs and building on our services for our seniors.

I was in Havelock not too long ago celebrating the opening of a new senior active living centre with the MPP for Peterborough–Kawartha. The seniors I met there were so happy that our government was investing in this new centre. They see first-hand the benefits of what our government is doing, as we continue to increase our investments for our seniors.

I was in Amherstburg just last week to open another new senior active living centre. The seniors there were so happy that they will now have a place where they can come and meet old friends and be together with new friends. It’s amazing to see just how active our seniors are when they come together. I was also in Kingsville, in Essex county, with the MPPs for Essex and Windsor–Tecumseh. The energy we received from all of the seniors was amazing.

One of the highlights was meeting up with the senior achievement award winner while I was in Essex County. She travelled to join in the celebration. It was so great to see her again. I was able to meet with her and present the senior achievement award here at Queen’s Park in February.

I was in Innisfil just this past Friday, with the MPP for Innisfil, celebrating another new senior active living centre. This new mobile senior activity centre is travelling around the region, bringing programs and services to seniors in their communities. This is so important because it allows seniors to stay connected.

Staying connected is so important because it fights social isolation. Social isolation is public enemy number one for our seniors, and building a better Ontario for our seniors means we are building a better network, bringing programs and services to our seniors at the local and community level.

When I was in Bryanston, just last month, outside of London, I joined a line dancing class as we celebrated the opening of another new senior active living centre. We had so much fun. It was an honour and pleasure to meet with all the seniors in that part of Ontario.

I could tell that the new senior active living centre meant a great deal. Thanks to the leadership of Premier Ford and the hard work of the Minister of Finance, our entire government is laser-focused on getting the programs and services seniors need at the local level. We now have 316 senior active living centres. We are investing a record amount into those centres and those communities because our seniors deserve our dignity and respect. But that’s not all we are doing for our seniors.

This year, Madam Speaker, we will see a [inaudible] amount invested in bringing a greater, better Ontario for our seniors with our senior community grants. Since 2018, we have invested close to $30 million on 1,500 projects all across Ontario. Everywhere I travel to and meet our seniors who are benefiting from these investments, I see first-hand how our seniors stay fit, active, healthy, socially connected and close to their home in their communities.

We are anticipating that we will announce over 250 seniors community grants during Seniors’ Month in June. All across Ontario, we’ll show with this investment that we are building a better Ontario for our seniors.

One area where we are also supporting our seniors is the Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit. This is something I know that the Minister of Finance is passionate about. The Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit is designed to help seniors live in their homes for as long as they want. And when we talk about building a better Ontario, we also look to strengthen our villages, towns, neighbourhoods and cities by having people who chose to live in those communities all across Ontario have the ability stay and continue to build a better town, village or city they live in. The Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit is doing just that. It is helping seniors access the right care they need. It is helping seniors bring the right care to them in their own homes.

You see, Madam Speaker, building a better Ontario includes building a better Ontario for our seniors, those who are young and young at heart, because one day all of us will become seniors. That is why, thanks to the leadership of Premier Ford and the hard work of the Minister of Finance, we are building a better Ontario for our seniors for today, tomorrow and well into the future.