It’s my pleasure to welcome, from the Ontario Stone, Sand and Gravel Association, John MacLellan, who is from Rankin Construction in the great riding of Waterloo. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

It’s my pleasure to present a petition on behalf of the people of Wilmot, who are very upset, for good reason, that their prime agricultural land is being expropriated without transparency or without due process.

It reads, “Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately pause all plans to expropriate and rezone lands in Wilmot—

People in Wilmot are very angry for good reason. They are expropriating their land without good cause, without good rationale. I support the people of Wilmot and sustainable farming practices in the province of Ontario.

It is my distinct pleasure to present a petition that I’m not allowed read but focuses on the crisis in mental health across this province, in particular the experience of the Roth family, where they were denied access and timely care and their daughter Kaitlyn died by suicide. We can do better in the province of Ontario. I fully support the alternative destination locations for care instead of emergency rooms.

With that, I’ll be affixing my signature to the petition that I cannot read.

Resuming the debate adjourned on April 11, 2024, on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 185, An Act to amend various Acts / Projet de loi 185, Loi modifiant diverses lois.

We’ll support you. We’ve got your back.

Not as hopeful.

The member from University–Rosedale gave a very balanced, I felt, and fair critique of Bill 185. She touched on some of the many changes, the flip-flops, the concerning proposals which will likely create even more confusion and chaos and may even worsen the housing crisis, because this is a government that is lurching from bad policy decision to bad policy decision, removing planning authority from regional levels of government, creating even more chaos at the local municipal level, especially when it comes to infrastructure—because this government just woke up to the fact that you can’t build housing unless you have the infrastructure.

I just wanted to give you an opportunity to sort of drive home the point to this government that clarity of policy and consistency are what’s needed right now in Ontario, that actually puts Ontarians at the centre of that discussion, not developers.

Schedule 7, of course, is the repeal of the Hazel McCallion Act (Peel Dissolution). Now, it’s going to be referred to as “restructuring.” An interesting part that the member did not address is that this schedule 7 broadens the act’s existing immunity provisions to block lawsuits related to any amendment or repeal of the act. Some of these acts include misfeasance, bad faith, breach of trust, or breach of fiduciary obligations. These new provisions apply retroactively.

What we heard from Peel was the complete disaster and chaos that this government imposed on that region at great cost. They lost 500 staff members because people didn’t know if they would have jobs. They didn’t know where the future of Peel would be happening. There was a lot of pomp and pageantry around the Hazel McCallion Act, but at the end of the day, the government had to withdraw. But you’ve still put these provisions in to protect yourselves.

Even when the Liberals tried this, when you were the official opposition, you acknowledged that your actions have consequences.

Why have you walked back your obligation and your responsibility, as a government, to Peel?