My question is to the Premier. The owner of property in Innisfil has been charging people facing housing insecurity $500 to set up a tent on their property. The ad for the property notes that they will have access to a communal washroom and kitchen. Shockingly, instead of working to resolve this province’s homelessness crisis, the member for Innisfil has started referring people to this for-profit encampment.

My question to the Premier is this: Is he going to start counting tents as part of their affordable housing numbers?

Unfortunately—and this is shocking but not surprising—this for-profit encampment is targeted toward people who are on OW or ODSP because the programs don’t even cover the cost of rent.

This Conservative government has fuelled a housing and affordability crisis, and now they seem to be endorsing its exploitation.

Speaker, will the Premier tell Ontarians whether for-profit encampments are part of his affordable housing strategy?

Back to the Premier: Today, my constituent Lindsay is receiving an N13, a demoviction notice. She tells me, “As a tenant who is now dealing with finding a home on top of dealing with the immediate aftermath of experiencing domestic violence, I’m at a complete loss. All of the homes being built are not made for people like me and my two young children. I’ve started looking for housing options so I can continue to live and work in Toronto once demovicted, but there is nowhere safe that I can afford to raise my family.”

Speaker, there is no affordable rental housing in Ontario because of the rent control loopholes that have been introduced by the Conservative government.

Will this government admit that they have the power to help Lindsay and her two young children by introducing real rent control today?

Interjections.

The Attorney General.

The Attorney General.

My question is to the Minister of Housing. A new report shows that Ontario rents have risen three times higher than guidelines due to rent control loopholes, with an average increase of 54.5% over the last decade.

Thousands of tenants in Parkdale–High Park and across Ontario are experiencing massive increases to the cost of housing, and there is no end in sight.

My question is, will you close rent control loopholes so Ontarians can find and maintain housing?

I’m very proud of the number of purpose-built rentals that we have increased. As the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing mentioned just moments ago, we have historic records of purpose-built buildings, and that is something that is important to the people of the province of Ontario who need a place to live.

We are working non-stop at achieving our goal of 1.5 million housing units, and we will get there with or without the help of the opposition, who would vote against every single initiative that we do when we achieve these records.

Mr. Speaker, I’ll have more to say in the supplementary.

When this government came to power, we recognized the crisis for what it is, and we made a public commitment. The Premier made a commitment. The municipal affairs and housing minister made a commitment. We will build 1.5 million spaces, and we’ll do it, notwithstanding that we’re starting from behind. We’re starting from behind because no investments were made; no money was put forward; the red tape was building up. But we will persevere. We will get the job done.

We are getting the job done, and we will not apologize for that.

For the Premier: I never thought I’d see the day when having a family doctor in Ontario made you lucky; when people paid hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars just to access primary care; when riding the subway meant being bombarded with advertisements for health care services that should be insured but aren’t.

Looking back at the last six years, a lot has changed. Now we have nurse practitioner-led clinics charging subscription fees to desperate patients while executive health clinics make a fortune in a primary care marketplace of this government’s making.

By 2026, 4.4 million people won’t have access to a family doctor, and we can’t even say that our emergency departments are always open anymore.

Mr. Speaker, with so little to show under his watch, why is it that the Premier only increased health care sector funding by 0.59%, but has more than doubled the amount that he pays the staff in his own office?

But perhaps “forgetting” is too generous because every time this government’s neglect brings another feature of public health care to its knees, there is always a private, for-profit model there to save the day. Whether it is exorbitant subscription fees to nurse practitioners or executive health clinics, whether it’s pricey Pap smears or costly cataract lenses, whether it’s staffing agencies gouging our hospitals and long-term-care homes, this government rolls out the red carpet for anyone praying to the almighty dollar.

Mr. Speaker, what should patients who can’t afford this Premier’s private health care agenda do once his gravy train has left our public health care system behind in the dust?

My question is for the Minister of Energy. The Liberal carbon tax is punishing Ontario families. Last year, the federal government decided to exempt one form of home heating fuel, mainly used in Atlantic Canada, from the carbon tax. But they’re hiking the carbon tax on lower-emission natural gas here in Ontario, where the majority of residents now have to pay more to heat their homes. That’s just not right. Residents in my riding of Thornhill tell me they already feel the impact of the carbon tax on their energy bills.

The people of Ontario deserve to be treated fairly. The federal Liberals need to get rid of this carbon tax right now.

Can the minister please explain how they are making home heating and more things expensive and impacting Ontarians?

This is exactly what our government spoke up about—the carbon tax—what we fought tooth and nail. It’s ludicrous that the Liberals think it’s a good idea to raise the carbon tax by a staggering 23% when Ontario families are already struggling with the increased cost of living.

But this is most concerning. This gets so much worse. The federal government and opposition parties want to nearly triple the tax by 2030. That’s simply not acceptable. Can the minister please explain why Ontarians cannot afford the continued tax increase on groceries, transportation and everything else in between?

Thanks to the member for Thornhill. We’re doing everything we can to make life more affordable for the people of Ontario here under the leadership of Premier Ford, while Prime Minister Trudeau and the federal Liberals seem content to make life more expensive for the people of Ontario and the people of Canada. That goes for the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, as well, who seems happy to have the federal carbon tax in place so that she doesn’t have to take a position on it.

We have taken a position on it. We’re making life more affordable. That’s why we’re seeing new investments in our province, particularly in the EV and EV auto space, where companies are flocking back to Ontario and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in our province, where, again, under the leadership of the previous Liberal government for 15 years, we saw 300,000 jobs leaving for other jurisdictions. Over 700,000 jobs are coming back. That’s all because of our sound energy policy that ensures we’re competitive with other—

The NDP: While some of them have supported us in the House, Jagmeet on the weekend was trying to walk back his demands to have a carbon tax or not. He is supportive of the carbon tax again, but that’s typical of NDP policy. They don’t know which way to go.

We’re with the people of Ontario. The opposition parties are against them, particularly on energy costs.

Again, Speaker, truly a question from the NDP that really highlights just how irrelevant they are in the discourse in the province of Ontario. It is no wonder nobody pays attention to them. It is no wonder that members leave their caucus in droves, Mr. Speaker.

Here’s what we’re doing: We’re putting infrastructure in the ground. Do you know why we’re putting infrastructure in the ground, colleagues? So that we can build millions of homes across the province of Ontario. You know why we have to do this work, Speaker? Because for 15 long—long—arduous years, the former Liberal government did absolutely nothing. And do you know who supported them in that? The NDP: the most irrelevant party that this province has ever seen.

Now, to go a step further, they are as irrelevant in Ottawa as they are at Queen’s Park—ignoring what the people of the province need, ignoring what the people of Canada need. You have an opportunity later today. Vote for our budget because it has historic levels of—

The next question.

The next question.

Supplementary question.

Oh, Speaker, it continues to amaze me that members of the Liberal Party who actually cut the number of residency spots available for Ontario students wishing to practise and learn medicine in the province of Ontario can stand up and talk about our record. Our record clearly shows that we are investing in a health care system, whether that is including a base increase; new medical schools in York region, in Brampton, in Scarborough; ensuring that we have new clinicians able to train, practise, learn and ultimately be licensed in the province of Ontario. We are making those investments because we know that people need to have access to primary care practitioners.

I look at the announcement that we made in February—the expansion of primary care, including nurse practitioner-led clinics in his own community and across Ontario—and I see those investments already bearing fruit, because we already have additional clinicians hired taking on new patients.

Ontario leads Canada in the lowest wait times for surgeries across Canada. Ontario leads Canada in the number of individuals who are matched with a primary care practitioner.

We will continue to make those investments because we see how they are changing lives in the province of Ontario. In Minto, Ontario, a February announcement led to a nurse practitioner being hired and already taking on new patients. In Kingston, Ontario, we have clinicians who are bringing on new patients, rostering new patients in their communities.

That work will continue across 78 new facilities and expanded practitioner-led clinics because we know it’s making an impact, and we know we are changing—

My question is to the Premier. We’ve learned a lot about the impacts of Bill 7—hundreds of families forced from their communities, cancer survivors fined $400 a day unless they follow the Premier’s orders to leave their families. We didn’t learn of Bill 7’s impact because of transparency from this government; we learned of it from the hard work of reporters.

Now the government is refusing to tell the public how much they’re fining seniors. Will the minister stand up today and tell the public how much money they have fined seniors for the crime of wanting to stay close to their families?

Look at the actions of this government. First, they say they’re not aware of anyone being fined under Bill 7. Then, when shown the actual bills sent to the patients, they come clean and tell us that seven patients have been charged. Now, after daily requests, the government refuses to tell the media how much they’ve fined seniors. It sounds like the Conservatives are really proud of their legislation.

If the Premier thinks Bill 7 is such great legislation helping seniors get into long-term care, why won’t you tell the public how much you’re fining seniors?

Minister of Health.

The next question.

What Bill 7 has allowed hospitals to do is to actually ensure that they have beds available for people who need them in an acute way. The treatments, the ongoing rehabilitation that happens outside of a hospital setting is made available because of the ability for hospitals to ensure that alternative-level-of-care patients are being looked after in different places, whether it is in community, whether it is in our long-term-care homes.

I’m proud of the fact that we’ve had over 2,000 individuals have a home in their community because we’ve taken the time, working with our long-term-care partners, with our hospital partners, to make sure that they have the appropriate care in the appropriate place—a home.

We have a legal opinion that says putting out those numbers would put at risk individuals’ identity—to be identified. We’re protecting patients to ensure that doesn’t happen.

We have ensured that such a small number had to be billed by their local hospitals. We want to make sure that the work is at the hospital and the community, working with the most appropriate placement, and we will continue to do that.

Ma question s’adresse à la ministre associée déléguée aux Petites Entreprises. Depuis sa mise en place par le gouvernement fédéral libéral en 2019, la taxe sur le carbone génère des revenus provenant des petites entreprises. Les libéraux avaient promis qu’elles pourraient recevoir des remboursements. Cette promesse a été formulée il y a cinq ans.

Le gouvernement fédéral libéral admet qu’il doit 1,3 milliard de dollars en remboursements aux petites entreprises, mais il n’y a aucun plan de remboursement à l’horizon. Le gouvernement fédéral libéral retient donc 1,3 milliard de dollars de remboursements.

Monsieur le Président, est-ce que la ministre associée peut nous expliquer quels sont les impacts de cette situation sur les entreprises ontariennes?

Monsieur le Président, depuis le début, le premier ministre Ford et notre gouvernement se sont tenus fermement aux côtés des petites entreprises ontariennes qui travaillent fort contre le gouvernement fédéral pour abolir la taxe sur le carbone.

Il est inacceptable qu’après cinq ans, le gouvernement libéral n’ait pas tenu sa promesse d’offrir des remboursements, retenant des sommes colossales de 1,3 milliard de dollars dues aux petites entreprises de notre province. Il s’agit d’argent qui aurait pu être réinvesti dans leurs entreprises, leurs personnels et nos communautés locales partout à travers l’Ontario.

Par conséquent, nos entreprises—qui sont ceux qui créent des emplois—ont été forcées de supporter le fardeau financier d’une taxe inefficace qui augmente les coûts, sans aucune alternative viable.

Monsieur le Président, contrairement aux libéraux et au NPD de l’opposition, nous sommes à l’écoute des entreprises ontariennes et nous continuerons de demander à Ottawa d’abolir cette taxe.

My question is for the Premier. The housing crisis is getting worse. It’s like a forest fire raging out of control. But the government’s new housing bill is like bringing a garden hose to put out the fire.

After wasting six years putting wealthy, well-connected insiders ahead of building homes that people can actually afford, it feels like the government is admitting defeat, begging municipalities to bail them out, when the Premier says no to building homes that people can afford in the communities they know and love.

Will the Premier stop saying no to an entire generation of young people who just want a home they can afford, and say yes to legalizing gentle density and mid-rise housing across the province, as-of-right, so we can start building homes people can afford now?

The government’s failure to fix the housing crisis is making life in Ontario unaffordable. The Premier says no to gentle density, no to mid-rises, no to missing middle, no to rent protection, no to federal funding for homes. It’s time to say yes to housing in this province.

The government has the power to say yes to six- to 11-storey buildings along major transit corridors, to say yes to multiplexes. Will they do it now so we can get building homes in this province?

I love the passion from the member, but when it comes to building in his own community, an as-of-right four community, a sum total of zero have been built, Mr. Speaker. Do you know why that is? Because the city of Guelph needs infrastructure. They need sewer and water capacity. I hear it from the mayor constantly. I had a wonderful conversation with the mayor, when we were providing a Building Faster Fund cheque, who identified the fact that his additional assistance through the Building Faster Fund would go to building more sewer and water capacity so that he could build even more homes.

The opposition can focus on policies that do nothing because it makes them feel better. We saw that from the Liberals for 15 years: announce all kinds of things, but don’t accomplish anything. That’s all that they care about.

We’ll build the sewer and water capacity so that we can build, not hundreds, not tens, not 70 fourplexes in Toronto, zero in Guelph, but millions of homes in every part of this province, Mr. Speaker, because that’s how we will tackle the affordability crisis.

This is the fallacy of what you hear from the Greens, the Liberals and the NDP: They get up in their place and they fight for policies that they know won’t build homes. What we’re doing is putting in the infrastructure that is needed to build a home.

But you know what else we’re hearing, Mr. Speaker? We’re hearing that the high-inflation policies of the federal Liberal government—a carbon tax, which has led to high interest rates—are stopping people from getting shovels in the ground. More importantly, it is stopping people from being able to afford those homes. So why don’t the members opposite work with us to get the federal government to eliminate the carbon tax, reduce costs, bring down red tape, bring down all costs, bring down interest rates and we will meet our challenges—

Interjections.

Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Long-Term Care. The federal Liberal government raised the carbon tax by 23% on April 1. As Premier Ford has warned since day one, this tax is raising the cost of everything. It increases building costs and makes it more expensive to construct long-term-care homes. That’s not fair.

The Liberals, led by Bonnie Crombie queen of the carbon tax, continue to remain silent on this topic. Unlike the Liberals, our government will to continue to speak up, continue to fight for our seniors and continue to deliver real affordability.

Speaker, can the minister tell the House what our government is doing to build more homes and support seniors in our province?

Our seniors deserve to receive the care that they need and enjoy the high quality of life that they deserve in a long-term-care home. But the carbon tax is increasing the price of everything, from the costs of building material and transport to the day-to-day operations of the long-term-care homes.

Our government will always support Ontario families and ensure seniors can stay in the communities they helped build, close to their loved ones.

Speaker, can the minister please tell the House what our government is doing to protect Ontario’s families, especially our seniors, from the negative impact of the carbon tax?

Our teams have been working with many of the airports in those northern communities, and I can assure the member that we’ll continue to work with them, as the province has provided a commitment to 100% of the remote funding on an operational side: $14.5 million every single year.

We’ll continue to ensure those issues that have been raised by that member with respect to some of the flooding are taken care of and that we work together to ensure that those are fixed so we can continue to support that vital piece of infrastructure in our north. I look forward to working with the member on that specifically.

The Ministry of Transportation operates 27 airports in Nishnawbe Aski Nation territory. The First Nations rely on these airports for critical goods and services. The waiting areas are substandard; unsafe facilities for passengers and pilots alike. The airports in Kiiwetinoong still need runway extensions and modern navigational aids to improve the flight access.

Speaker, when will the waiting areas in these airports be held up to standard and make sure that these runways are extended? When will these standards be brought up to standard, just like any other airport in Ontario?