Ontario has the workers, we have the expertise and we have the energy to power a strong EV sector here. It used to be a signature policy of this government, but now they’re throwing it in reverse, with a weak commitment to electric vehicles and sustainable infrastructure. In the process, this Premier is jeopardizing sales and production by not making our new homes EV-ready. It is so short-sighted.

The people of Ontario want to know—and I’ll go back to the Premier again—is the government backing away from plans for a sustainable auto sector in Ontario?

Interjections.

It’s quite clear that our plan is working: 300,000 manufacturing jobs left our province for other jurisdictions at a time when those who are running the auto plants were saying that Ontario was the most uncompetitive jurisdiction in North America to build cars, to now, six years later, investing $28 billion into EV platforms, EV battery manufacturing facilities. The world is moving to EVs in Ontario because we have the energy and we’re committed to building the energy infrastructure to support the implementation of electric vehicles.

Now, the NDP energy critic is against all of the investments that we’re making in our nuclear sector, including building small modular reactors at Darlington, leading the world on that front; putting an extra 4.8 gigawatts at Bruce Power; refurbishing the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. That’s how we’re going to power Ontario well into the future.

As we continue to reduce taxes and reduce fees and reduce the cost of living, the federal government continues to jack it up. On April 1—just a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Speaker—the federal government did it again: a whopping increase of 23% to the federal carbon tax, which is impacting the price at the pumps. It’s impacting the price of home heating for natural gas furnaces, the price at the grocery store. It’s impacting the cost of living in Ontario.

Last week we saw something interesting at the federal Parliament. We actually saw the federal NDP, with Jagmeet, and we saw the Parti Québécois—or, actually, the separatist party—supporting a Conservative motion to encourage Prime Minister Trudeau, who increased the carbon tax, to meet with Premiers right across the country. All of them are opposed to the carbon tax. It’s time to sit down, have that discussion and also scrap the tax.

The people of Ontario are feeling the pinch, but it’s not just the people of Ontario; it’s people right across the country that are getting hammered by this federal carbon tax. Just look at Newfoundland, where the Liberal premier, Andrew Furey, actually pleaded with Prime Minister Trudeau to put the pause on, back on April 1. But since he hasn’t done that, he’s now joined the chorus of Premiers of all stripes, from right across the country, to sit down and have an adult discussion—something the Prime Minister hasn’t done since 2016—with the Premiers, Speaker.

We believe that the Prime Minister should be sitting down with those Premiers. I just wish that the queen of the carbon tax here in Ontario, the Liberal leader, would support us in sitting down and having that mature discussion about axing the tax in Ontario.

My question is to the Premier. This government has boasted about their electric vehicle investment, but like so much they do, they aren’t plugged into what is really needed. Folks are excited about electric vehicles, but they won’t buy them if they know they can’t charge them. When this Premier was elected in 2018, one of his first moves was to rip out EV charging stations, cancel EV rebates and end the building code requirement to make sure homes were wired and ready. Without the infrastructure, automakers are signalling a slowdown on EV production. This Premier is putting good auto jobs at risk.

When will this Premier switch gears and support the future of electric vehicles by committing to the charging infrastructure that they will require?

This Premier has said he’s picking the side of developers, but we hope he will switch to be on the side of auto manufacturers, autoworkers, drivers and homeowners. Building houses already roughed in for charging is an easy and practical fix that we could do today to save people a lot of money.

So my question is, will the Premier put charging rough-ins back in the building code so we can have EV-ready homes?

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.

I beg leave to present a report from the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy and move its adoption.

Thank you to the member opposite for their presentation. Our Minister of Housing often talks about the process, the driving forces of housing prices based on infrastructure and also—it’s a process. In my previous life as a municipal councillor, I’ve seen through my eyes that processes took so long to put the shovel in the ground.

I ask the member, I was with the municipal stakeholders at the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy. We heard from numerous local governments, including municipal councillors, that across the province a use-it-or-lose-it policy would help build homes in their communities. Does the member opposite agree with these locally elected officials?

Thank you to the member from Niagara West for his debate here today. I know, like me, he shares the frustration of seeing red tape that slows down the building of housing, and in particular, infrastructure.

I know the member from Perth–Wellington touched on it a little bit, but I wanted to give the member a chance to maybe talk about some projects in his riding that have just taken so long to come to fruition because of the lack of infrastructure and the lack of availability from the municipalities to be able to participate in this. So maybe I’ll give him an opportunity to touch on some great projects in his riding that he’s looking forward to seeing move forward.

Yes, one word, and it’s infrastructure. We had the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing visit my riding recently, coming to St. Catharines and speaking with the mayor of St. Catharines through the Building Faster Fund, and also had the opportunity to meet with officials from the town of Lincoln, who have a remarkable project just shy of 100 acres where there will be 15,000 people able to live on just shy of 100 acres—a really remarkable mixed-use community of density, mixed-use and then also single-family homes. And they spoke about the need to get water infrastructure, waste water infrastructure and how so many of their housing targets have been held back by the need to make sure that those investments happen.

They spoke glowingly about the investments that this government is making in infrastructure, that we’re not just listening to our partners across the way in the NDP but really listening to municipal partners, who are actually working day in and day out to get those homes built, working with the partners in the building industry. They said that the game-changing investments that this government is making in our budget are going to supplement many of the actions we’ve taken and ensure that homes get built.

This is the legislation we have in front of the House, and this is legislation that is going to be bringing forward one of the pieces that I’ve heard about from my municipality partners, as well, which is the use-it-or-lose-it component. They want to be able to have some tools to push and prod some of those builders who maybe need a little bit of pushing and prodding in order to get going.

I think, in my riding of Niagara West, when I look at some of the projects that are under way in Smithville, where they’re going to be doubling their population over the next 10 to 15 years; in Grimsby on the Lake, where they are expanding a massive number of new projects, intensification around a major urban transit area, I see that these partners speak about the tools that are in this legislation, and I’ve had a lot of messages, texts and emails from elected officials and those who work with them saying, “This legislation is going to help get that job done and we thank you for it.”

Interjections.

He’s going to have to talk to his grandkids, he’s going to have to talk to his great grandkids about how their opportunities were throttled by that government when they were in office, and how it’s only under the PCs and Doug Ford that we’re able to ensure that opportunities, again, exist for this generation, here in the province of Ontario.

I thank the speaker for his remarks on this bill. He covered a lot of topics, but there are two words that I heard and I want to draw out some thoughts, if I can. One is “infrastructure,” the second is “intensification.” These words are related. I noted the speaker’s comments about, in the city of Ottawa, the need for water and waste water infrastructure to get housing built. While not in this bill, in the budget bill, there is $1.8 billion to support that effort, a really fundamental, massive injection of capital available to municipalities, small and large, to get that infrastructure built.

I guess my question is, doesn’t the member see the measures in this bill consistent with that broad effort to get housing built in the municipal boundaries to intensify housing?