My question is about hydro access to farmers. When I was at ROMA this year, a lot of farmers complained that they don’t have access to phase 3 electricity and that for a lot of farmers, it’s hard for them to decarbonize. It’s hard for them to turn their farming enterprise into bigger business, to scale bigger business, because of their access to this kind of infrastructure. I wonder if you could speak to what that really means to your agricultural sector.

The money spent on transit has gone a long way to help those who are most struggling with affordability, because we know that affordability isn’t just for people who own cars, but it’s also for people who use transit. And so this expansion of transit is the best way to use our dollars and to reach more people.

The infrastructure money helps us build more housing. We know that this is a gap that cities are struggling with. Not only is there a big price tag on the inflation on construction, but also the cuts to municipalities have led to our municipalities facing massive financial strains and possible cuts.

But while I’m glad we’re building hospitals, I’m glad we’re building schools, I’m glad we’re building infrastructure, we can’t just spend money on ribbon-cuttings. Just like all of us who maybe have bought a home, you don’t just buy a home and then stop paying the bills. We need to fill in the gaps and make sure we fund properly the operating costs of running this province.

Things that I don’t appreciate are the $10 billion spent on Highway 413. We know that this will save a mere 30 to 60 seconds for people in their daily commutes, and we know that it’s cheaper and more cost-effective and will serve more people to expand GO, like creating a Bolton line. That way, we could preserve 2,000 acres of prime farmland and we could preserve 400 acres of the greenbelt.

There are five pages on auto insurance and a mere two paragraphs on the climate crisis. Again, the climate crisis is real, and it has devastating consequences for my kids and all future generations. I hope to see more than a mere 0.01% of the budget spent to discuss the climate crisis that is barrelling toward us.

While I’m glad to see the 2.7% increase in funding for education, that is essentially a cut, because that is below the rate of inflation. We need to ensure that we have progress in retaining and recruiting more education staff, and that we address the violence that staff and I, as a school social worker, see in schools and the mental health crisis facing young people, often due to many things—consequences from the COVID crisis.

When it comes to health care, there is nothing to address our drug toxicity and to improve operation costs for our ER departments. So while we do see money—

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. In fact, last week, we joined farmers, truckers, small businesses owners and workers in urging the federal government to scrap the 23% increase to our carbon tax.

We know it makes life harder for businesses and families across this province. While those businesses and families are struggling, the federal Liberals continue to pursue an increase to the federal carbon tax, and we know there are going to be more of these. But what’s most surprising is that Bonnie Crombie and the provincial Liberals refuse to add their voice in asking the federal government to scrap the carbon tax.

We will always be supporting small business owners, truckers, and farmers in our fight to stand united against this carbon tax.

But let’s listen to the Ontario Trucking Association that says that the carbon tax raises the cost of deliveries by 6%. That doesn’t even take into consideration the cost to truckers as they deliver these goods: $15,000 to $20,000 is what the carbon tax costs a long-haul truck driver in this province. That is $15,000 to $20,000 that could be going towards their families. That’s $15,000 to $20,000 that could be going to them to make life more affordable and easier for themselves.

We continue to call on the federal government and our provincial Liberals to condemn this 23% hike because we need to support the drivers and the people of this province.

Thank you to the Minister of Agriculture. You talked about farmers being handcuffed, so I’m sure you’ll be sympathetic to the farmers of Wilmot. Those farmers, who are now facing forced expropriation of their farms—770 acres of class 1 farmland. So we met—the official opposition NDP—with these farmers who were here at Queen’s Park yesterday, looking for answers from you, Minister.

They still don’t know why they are being threatened with expropriation. Some of these people have been farming these lands since 1880. The Christian farmers’ federation said, “It is shameful that our farmers, stewards of our land, are left vulnerable to such injustice. Our government should protect them....”

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture has called for a pause. Your Get It Done bill, schedule 1, fast-tracks expropriation of farmland without an environment assessment, and certainly, the question is: Are you using this bill to fast-track this expropriation?

Finally, Minister, my question to you is: why is there such secrecy and why are you allowing farmers to be left in the dark when they are being forced to sell their land?

Thank you to the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane. I always learn a lot about farming and agriculture when you speak. I wonder if you can talk about how the frequent closures of Highways 11 and 17 affect farmers and their products.