My question is to the Premier.

Speaker, I’m sure all of us in this House enjoy the opportunities we get to take a vacation.

Unfortunately, last week, over 500 staff at GO Transit learned that they were not allowed to have vacation for the rest of this year, and why? Because, sadly, the government has not invested in staff appropriately to pay, to finance and to work with the 15% schedule increase they proposed for the GO train that will go through Milton—coincidentally, the place I’m sure this Premier wants to win a by-election.

Metrolinx has a million-dollar CEO. Meanwhile, they have 82 vice-presidents at Metrolinx, and they have a marketing department of over 400 staff. But we aren’t hiring enough workers for GO trains, to make sure people can take vacations.

Can the Premier explain to this House if this makes any sense?

Meanwhile, while this government is building the paycheques of 82 Metrolinx vice-presidents, 400 marketing staff, this government has nothing to say—not a word—about the fact that people can’t take a vacation for the rest of this year.

So I want to ask my friend opposite, seriously: Can he commit to this House that he personally will look into this matter? Will he flow the funds necessary from the treasury to make sure GO Transit workers can take the vacation they earned—and Metrolinx executives can finally be called to heel on their incredible greed and compensation at the taxpayers’ expense?

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier.

Last week, the Premier finally admitted that oil and gas greed was raising gas prices in Ontario. He said, “It’s disgusting what the oil companies are doing. They’re gouging people.” Yes, they are.

In 2022 alone, the carbon tax went up two cents a litre, but fossil fuel giants raised their profit alone, per litre, by 18 cents. The same year they made record profits, and the same year their executives gave themselves a 20% pay raise. Unlike the carbon tax, you don’t get any of that money back; they get it.

My question: If the Premier really wants to get big oil out of our pockets, will he commit to a credible clean energy plan that benefits all Ontarians, not just the CEO of Enbridge and his million-dollar friends?

How could they have used their time? They could have come up with a credible climate plan that cuts pollution and puts money back in people’s pockets to save on household energy, transportation and food. Instead, they play politics to distract from the fact that they don’t have a plan.

Speaker, to the minister: If he’s so concerned about cutting costs for Ontarians, what will he do to get Ontario off the greed-powered roller coaster ride of fossil fuel prices?

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.

Mr. Speaker, what doesn’t make sense is the NDP’s consistent objection to building public transit. Every step of the way—whether it’s the Liberals or the NDP—when we invest in GO Transit, when we invest in GO trains, when we invest in building new lines, what do both the opposition leader and the Liberal Party do? They vote against every single one of them, whether it’s building the Hazel McCallion line in Mississauga and Brampton, whether it’s building the Ontario Line or the Scarborough subway extension.

We’re increasing service on the GO line by over 15%—the largest in over a decade. What do these members do? They stand against that growth in public transit.

We’re going to continue to build for this province. We’re going to continue to build for the next generations, because we saw what happened for 15 years under the previous Liberal government. They did absolutely nothing. We’ll continue to build.

Could you imagine, whether it be the NDP or whether it be the Liberals, what Ontario would look like if they had their say? We have seen their record on public transit. Every single time we bring a new line or a new investment into this province, what do they say? “Absolutely not.” They’re not going to build it.

The Scarborough subway extension—the people of Scarborough were ignored for 15 years under that previous government. We’re making those investments.

GO rail transit—a 15% increase in service, 300 new weekly trips on that service line. And we have members in this House getting up to object to that investment.

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to build public transit.

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—

Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

I understand the member opposite’s confusion. After all, it was our government that invested $200 million to help municipalities repair, rehabilitate and expand critical drinking water, waste water, and really prepare for climate change action. But the Liberals, who she sits next to, voted no. Kathleen Wynne even said that her biggest regret as leader was not supporting housing in Ontario—something that our government is doing in a responsible manner.

When it comes to supporting wetlands, we invested $30 million in the wetlands conservation program, but her Liberal seatmates there beside her voted no.

And when it came to protecting critical waterways, this government is investing good, critical dollars. But again, we have a Liberal Party who voted no and are not getting us the support we need from their federal counterparts.

We expanded parks. We’re protecting lands. We’re reducing emissions. In fact, in Ontario alone, we reduced emissions by 86%.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. The Liberal carbon tax is driving up the cost of everything in our province. It’s punishing Ontario families with higher grocery costs, higher fuel costs, higher heating bills and more. The carbon tax queen, Bonnie Crombie, and her minivan caucus haven’t seen a tax that they don’t like. That’s why they keep voting against every cost-saving measure our government has implemented to bring affordability for Ontarians.

Speaker, we know the Liberals will stop at nothing to try to reach into the pockets of workers and families.

Unlike the Liberals, our government will always advocate on behalf of Ontarians and ensure that we are putting more money back into their pockets.

Through you, Speaker: Can the minister please share what our government is doing to make life more affordable for people in Ontario?

There’s nothing worse for people and businesses in Ontario than the Liberal carbon tax. It drives up the cost of food. It drives up the cost of filling up gas. It drives up the cost of everything. It drives up the cost of everything.

Under the leadership of the carbon tax queen, Bonnie Crombie, the Liberals in this House would rather have Ontarians pay more in taxes and earn smaller paycheques to feed their families, instead of joining our government in calling for an end to the carbon tax. That’s not what their constituents elected them to do.

Can the parliamentary assistant to the minister tell the House how our government is standing up for Ontarians and fighting the Liberal carbon tax?

Thank you to the great member from Markham–Unionville. The time to scrap the tax is now. We hear it from Ontarians, and we hear it from people all across Canada.

Whether federally or provincially, the Liberal Party continues to be the party of higher taxes. Bonnie Crombie and the Liberals are on a mission to raise taxes and make life more expensive for the people of Ontario, but I can tell you with certainty, Speaker, that this government is not going to let that happen. The Premier and this team are going to keep costs down, create more good-paying jobs and build more infrastructure that keeps our economy growing, and we’re going to do that without implementing any new taxes on the people or businesses of Ontario.

Speaker, just the other week, the federal Liberals released their annual budget, and what struck me the most was that the Prime Minister once again proved to Ontarians—and, indeed, all Canadians—that he has no intention of scrapping the carbon tax. This was a missed opportunity to join Ontario—and, I might add, other provinces and Premiers from all political stripes—in our fight to keep costs down and make life more affordable for people and businesses right here in Ontario.

But do you know something, Speaker? Here in Ontario, we are not going to stop fighting. We are not going to stop calling on the federal Liberals to eliminate the carbon tax. And we are not going to stop putting money back in the pockets of the people of Ontario.

Alavida Lifestyles is charging seniors in my riding of Ottawa West–Nepean thousands of dollars in rent and fee increases to retain their housing. A resident at Park Place retirement home has been served a $27,000 increase for this year. Another resident at the Ravines is being charged $24,000 more. Seniors on fixed incomes can’t pay these kinds of increases, so they are facing the prospect of losing their homes. And yet, the government’s response to these seniors so far has been a shrug.

What is the government’s plan to protect these seniors against price gouging and eviction?

Seniors in these retirement homes are feeling scared and isolated by Alavida’s high-pressure tactics. Some of them are even having trouble eating and sleeping.

And yet, the Minister of Housing told me in a letter that there are no limits on how much a retirement home can charge or how often they can increase the price. In other words, these seniors are being extorted on this government’s watch, and it’s all perfectly legal. So my question to the government is, why is it still legal?

My question is for the Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development. The Liberal carbon tax is negatively impacting Ontario businesses and our economy. It’s driving up the cost for groceries and fuel across the province, particularly in the north.

Speaker, we know that communities in northern Ontario already pay more at the gas pumps. They should not be forced to deal with more tax hikes.

The independent Liberals and opposition NDP need to listen to northerners and join our government in calling on the federal government to scrap this disastrous carbon tax.

Can the minister please tell the House how the Liberal carbon tax impacts communities in northern—

Thank you to the member.

It’s good news that our water infrastructure program, the $825 million which was announced in FES and the budget—the intake process closed last Friday at midnight. I encouraged municipalities across the province to apply.

For two years, I have been asking the federal government to partner with us so we can support municipalities. They didn’t see that as important as we have.

Nonetheless, we would be happy to continue to work with Niagara region. I know that there are probably several applications within the intake, and we will let the MOI staff and officials do their jobs. I certainly hope that we will be working together in the future.

I’d like to move the following:

Whereas everyone has the right to an affordable home; and

Whereas any solution to the housing affordability crisis must include public, non-profit and co-op housing options; and

Whereas successive Liberal and Conservative provincial governments have failed to adequately invest in non-market housing; and

Whereas the government has failed to legalize fourplexes as-of-right, restore rent control, and implement vacancy decontrol to make housing more affordable; and

Whereas the Ontario government is at risk of losing billions of dollars in federal funding due to its failure to deliver an adequate supply of new affordable homes;

Therefore, in the opinion of this House, the Ontario government should get back to building by swiftly and substantially increasing the supply of affordable non-market homes in Ontario.

After six years in government, members across the aisle have failed to present the people of this province with a solid action plan on housing. They have failed to inject confidence in people that they are moving in the right direction to get more housing built. But the fact is that this government isn’t moving at all. If anything, they only seem to be moving backwards.

The government’s housing plan can be summed up with one word: greenbelt. Remember that scheme? Or should we say plan? The plan that the Conservatives had put together to make their insider land speculator friends ultra rich? That plan. The so-called plan that they’re under an RCMP criminal investigation for. Ever since then, this government has been flip-flopping and scrambling to come up with yet another so-called plan. They’ve reversed every single housing policy they’ve proposed in the past year. That’s what happens when you try to ram through policy without proper industry and community consultation. And who’s left waiting and frustrated because of this government’s failures? The people of Ontario, that’s who.

Their housing plan is off to a laughable start. They’ve built only 1,100 affordable units since 2018, and that’s less than 6% of the province’s housing target under the National Housing Strategy. With this—I’m going to say it—abysmal record, the Premier has the audacity to present municipalities with even more roadblocks by saying, “No, no. You can’t build fourplexes.” At a time when we need all solutions and we need all hands on deck, why is this government saying no to options like that? The province also stands to lose—and we’ve pointed it out so many times on this side of the aisle—billions in federal housing money because of this Premier’s unthoughtful comments. Can you trust this government to do the right thing anymore? I know that I can’t.

So, yes, while we all agree there’s an urgent housing crisis in front of us, Mr. Speaker, let me be clear that the Ontario NDP is the only party here with a unique and ambitious plan to solve this issue. I’m proud of the housing plan that we have developed: a plan that’s going to help young people move out of their parents’ home and basement; a plan that will help newcomers put down roots as they start a new life; a plan that will help seniors to downsize; a plan that will help people trying to leave a violent relationship; a plan that will help people living with disabilities and people living with addictions too.

Homes Ontario is the Ontario NDP’s plan to get government back to building affordable homes for the people. We’ve done it in the past, and we need to get back to it again. We’re calling for a massive expansion of non-market housing with the aim of at least doubling the current proportion. This would include public, non-market, co-op and transitional homes. To do this, we will offer public land at low-cost financing. To do this right, we’re going to do something that this government dislikes to do: We’re going to partner with the municipalities every step of the way. And I want to be clear, Speaker, because we are listening. Our plan isn’t just to build new homes, but to also look at existing housing and implement a strategy of repair that extends the life of what we already have.

We’re also calling for real rent control, an end to exclusionary zoning, and implementing vacancy decontrol. And on this side of the House, we understand that getting access to housing is the very first step to getting so many other problems that are growing in our communities under control. Transitional and supportive housing is absolutely imperative if we want to support people living with addiction. And we also need it to address—guess what? We also need it to address intimate partner violence that is equally an epidemic.

Don’t we all remember, when just a few weeks ago at Queen’s Park, we were flooded with survivors here asking the government to take them and their concerns seriously? People fleeing harm and violence need to know that supports like transitional housing exist on the other side.

I ask you, Mr. Speaker, is asking for housing asking for too much? The people of this province are tired. They are deflated and they are frustrated at this government’s lack of vision. I hear it every single day everywhere I go across this province. As our municipalities are doing the best they can with the roadblocks that the Premier and the housing minister keep throwing at them, they know this is the time to work with municipalities as partners, not complain to the feds about overstepping their bounds and talking to municipalities directly. Honestly, if this government won’t do it, I mean, maybe the feds will have to.

With a housing crisis of this scale, we have to find big solutions that can help people find a home they love in the community they want to live in. And while this government wastes time and moves in reverse, we in the Ontario NDP are leading the charge in building the affordable homes that this province needs and deserves. If this government understands how deep the housing crisis is, if they see how stuck and frustrated the people feel, then they will vote yes to our motion today to get government back in the business of building truly affordable homes in the province of Ontario.

It gives me great pleasure to read this petition on behalf of the MPP for Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas and a grassroots—

In under a week, Speaker, there are more than 1,600 petitions which have been signed. People in Milton understand that this government could deny a licence today to extract aggregate and operate an asphalt-concrete processing facility at the Reid quarry in Campbellville.

People in Milton have been waiting for four years for the Premier to keep his promise to make sure the proposed Reid Road Reservoir Quarry doesn’t happen. With the town of Milton and the region of Halton confirming by resolution that they are opposed, it is time to permanently protect the subject’s lands.

Premier Ford, keep your promise.

I support this petition, will affix my name to it and give it to page Aislyn to bring to the Clerk.

So this is another tool in the tool box for police to be able to use when a vulnerable person goes missing and we hope for them to come home safely.

I wholeheartedly support this petition, will affix my name to it and give it to page Audrey to bring to the Clerk.

I actually have a few petitions here that I will briefly summarize and then pass on to the Clerks’ table, if that’s appropriate.

One is on funding public transit, which is a major priority across Ontario. I want to thank the citizens of the province who signed this and I want to thank them for their support. The other comes from Sally Palmer, professor at McMaster University, around raising social assistance rates. And the last, Speaker, concerns the issue of health care privatization that a number of residents are concerned with.

I want to thank all the citizens for raising this with me and I’ll be sending it to the Clerks’ table with page Armaan.

I’m glad to present a petition that was sent to me by the Bikers Rights Organization. Gerry Rhodes, the provincial chair, reminded members of the House that they have sent in no fewer than 6,956 signatures in total, but for this particular petition, 985 signatures.

This is in support of the Fairness for Road Users Act. Speaker, you’ll remember that’s my bill. But this is an important issue for road users and fairness.

And so, since I’m not allowed to read any part of it, I’m happy to say that, of course, I support this petition, will affix my signature and send it to the table with page Shiara.

The supplementary question.

The response, the Minister of Infrastructure.

The House recessed from 1155 to 1500.

Thank you to the minister for that response.

Unlike the NDP and Liberals in this Legislature, our government understands the burden the Liberal carbon tax is placing on families and businesses in our province. This costly tax is making everything more expensive for all Ontarians. Rural, remote and northern communities are even more affected by the higher cost of goods and travel.

That’s why it is shocking to hear the opposition support the carbon tax. But we won’t let their actions stop us from continuing to call on the federal Liberals to eliminate this regressive and punitive tax.

Can the minister share with the House the detrimental effects of the carbon tax on northern businesses?

Last week, I reported to this place that there were calmer winds in carbon tax paradise as Jagmeet had reaffirmed and, in fact, embraced the carbon tax. Well, in his second perfidious act in as many weeks, he’s now not sure he would bring forward further increases. He said, “I recognize the hardship that it brings to families and businesses.” And, of course, mum’s the word from the queen of the carbon tax.

These inveterate vacillators aren’t fooling any of us.

From Kiiwetinoong to Cochrane, from Sault Ste. Marie to Fort Severn, the message is clear from northern Ontarians: We can’t afford this carbon tax. Scrap the tax.

My friend Pascal Fraser from Kapuskasing owns Buma Apartments. This guy talks about every aspect of this business costing more. He relies on fleets of vehicles for various operational needs—increased costs for gas, maintenance, repair, tenant services.

This is embedded in every supply chain imaginable, and in a region of Canada that’s more expensive than just about any, we’re feeling it the most.

The message is clear: The people of northern Ontario are saying, “Mr. Trudeau, Mr. Singh and Mrs. Crombie: Scrap the carbon tax.”

My question is to the Premier.

Last year, representatives from Niagara region came to Queen’s Park with several straightforward asks, one of them being a commitment to funding for the South Niagara Falls Wastewater Solutions project. Although members in the region were able to get that commitment, funding was only guaranteed if the federal government introduced an infrastructure program that would support the cost-sharing structure. The provincial and federal government must each do their part, but the region stated that they must move forward with this critical project now.

This government says they want municipalities to build thousands of more homes and they’ve given targets, yet we all know when we continue to build, we must ensure municipalities’ infrastructure keeps pace. When we build more homes, we have more water waste. Ensuring we have appropriate waste water treatment infrastructure in place in Niagara as it continues to grow is vitally important to our community—