I think the Premier was abundantly clear in how his views were on that.

I will say to the Leader of the Opposition, it is not in the tradition of the Conservative Party to compel its members to do anything. There was a free vote, and members expressed—members on whatever side of the House expressed their opinions on that. So I can assure the member opposite that we will not be compelling our members to do anything. It’s not what Progressive Conservatives do. We allow them to represent their communities.

Interruption.

We have amongst us the most diverse caucus in the history of this province—

Interruption.

I come from a caucus that is the most diverse caucus in the history of this province.

I don’t take any lessons from the Leader of the Opposition when it comes to how marginalized people feel. I’m an Italian Canadian who, in the 1970s, was spit on for being a “wop.” I don’t need any lessons from her on what it means to stand up for marginalized people. I do it every single day, and so do the rest of my caucus mates. We bring people together; we don’t divide them.

I appreciate the question from the member opposite, because it further highlights just how out of touch the NDP are with the priorities of the people of the province of Ontario.

In fact, the councillors and the regional councillors in the area have been kept well-informed. The mayors, of course, in those areas are very supportive of what we are doing, which includes downloading municipal planning to the lower tiers. But the highlight of what the transition team is doing is helping us inform the work that is being done by the parliamentary assistant on governance reform, which I thought the members opposite were in favour of. What it ultimately wants to accomplish is to ensure that we can do the number one thing that matters to the people of the province of Ontario, and that is build the infrastructure that is needed so that we can build not hundreds of homes, not thousands of homes, but millions of homes across the province of Ontario. I know the member opposite is opposed to that, because in his own area, when they had the opportunity to approve housing, a council stood in the way of it, said no to affordable housing, and he stood quiet and said nothing. But I’ll provide an MZO and make sure it happens.

Do you know who never delivered any of that, Mr. Speaker? The Liberals and the NDP, who stood in the way of everything to help improve Mississauga, Caledon and Brampton.

So what are we doing? Millions of dollars in infrastructure—we’re repairing the infrastructure that was so damaged by the previous government. We’re building roads, highways, universities—I forgot about the university campus, the medical school that we’re building.

I think we’re delivering for Peel. And do you know who’s doing it? The members of this caucus from Peel region.

Speaker, I remind the member opposite that this House and this government turned down that application. But what you’re seeing again today is a continued effort by the NDP to divide people.

What we’re going to continue to do, on this side of the House, is focus on the things that matter to the people of the province of Ontario: job creation, economic growth, giving people the homes and the housing that they need so that they can prosper, and bringing people together, because that is what we have done since day one.

In 2018, when we assumed office, Ontarians were more divided than ever before. We inherited a province where people were choosing to eat or heat their homes; 300,000 people had lost their jobs. Our budget was out of control. We were the most indebted sub-sovereign government in the history of the entire planet.

We are bringing people together, making investments to create jobs—700,000 people have the dignity of a job who didn’t have that before. We’ll continue to focus on bringing Ontarians together, leading the country in economic growth so everybody can prosper.

I do appreciate the question from the member opposite, but Ontario is actually not putting the federal funding at risk. What has happened is, the federal government has unilaterally changed its mind on what we should fund.

As the member opposite will know, the National Housing Strategy was a 10-year strategy which was guided by a couple of principles: building additional units and renovating old units. Ontario had a target of 19,000 new units over 10 years. We’ve hit 11,000 of those 19,000 units. We had a target of 23,000 renovations. Because of the horrific record of the previous Liberal government, we have had to spend an exorbitant amount of money renovating and rehabilitating stock that would otherwise have been taken out of commission. We’ve done that in co-operation with the service managers, including many of the service managers in the north, and what we have done is renovate, rehabilitate and put back into circulation 123,000 units; that’s 426% of our target.

What we won’t do, though, is what the federal government is asking us to do right now—unless members agree, of course: to remove the power from our municipal partners and the service managers and direct what should happen in the north and in other parts of the province. We’re not there—

Let’s unpack that for a minute, Mr. Speaker. What the member is doing is defending a massive increase in the carbon tax. Let’s put it all together. The Greens, the NDP and the Liberals want you to pick a carbon tax, which is hurting every single person, not only in the province, but the entire country. The NDP and the Liberals want to end gas to people’s homes, which would cause people—

Interjections.

And then they doubled down by suggesting that we should put millions of people out of work; billions of dollars of economic activity should go away.

Let’s be clear: The oil and gas sector in this country gives us billions of dollars of economic activity. It puts thousands of people to work.

The manufacturing might of Ontario is what powers our oil and gas sector. It is what has given us an advantage. It is what has given us low energy prices. It is what has made our homes affordable.

They can stand up for all of that. We’ll stand up for the people of the province.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As you know, of course, we’ve been working very closely with the minister of seniors. But ultimately, what we’re doing across the province of Ontario is ensuring that we rebuild the capacity that was so sorely missing for over a generation, under the Liberals and the NDP.

We have one of the—if not the most successful Minister of Long-Term Care in the history of the province, who is bringing forward thousands of units in every part of the province. Every single time that we have done that, the ironic thing is that they vote against the very same seniors they get up in the House today and say they support. They vote against them.

When the Minister of Long-Term Care brings forward billions of dollars for new homes, they vote against it. When he brings billions of dollars forward for additional care in those homes, they vote against it. When he has brought forward initiatives to increase the food budgets so that—

Interjection.

So I say to the member opposite, if you support seniors, vote in favour of the initiatives that we bring forward.

I said we had a question earlier today about the National Housing Strategy. Do you know who could help us ensure that we get the billions of dollars that are owed to the province of Ontario? The federal NDP. Do you know how they could do that? By voting against the federal budget or—because I know how important it is that they continue to support their friends, the Liberals in Ottawa—they could insist that the federal government honour its agreement of 2018 with respect to the National Housing Strategy, which will allow us to continue to build thousands of homes for the people of the province of Ontario, in co-operation with our municipal partners, so that we can continue those investments in long-term care, affordable housing, attainable housing. Do the right thing—