Speaker, the Ford Conservatives’ planned service reduction of the Union Pearson Express, which they walked back in less than 48 hours, reminded me that since forming government, Conservatives have been forced to reverse their decisions, multiple times.

The cuts to the greenbelt—the Auditor General reported that a small group of connected developers stood to gain $8.3 billion from increased land values, and that led to an RCMP investigation.

Bill 124, which capped public sector wages to 1%—reversed because they lost in the courts twice.

Who can forget the “notwithstanding” clause suspending charter rights and freedoms, used to strip education workers’ right to fair bargaining? The Conservatives faced a general strike.

Dissolving Peel region without first finding out the cost and the impact on public services—the region didn’t dissolve, but it still cost taxpayers millions.

Massive retroactive cuts to public health, only paused after pushback—it took a pandemic to realize that cuts to public health are a terrible idea and put everyone at risk.

And some just downright foolish—like introducing the blue licence plates that were not visible at night and having to discontinue them.

Speaker, I only list a few, but you see the pattern. The Conservatives have a habit of making obvious bad decisions and reversing them. The Premier says it’s because he’s open-minded and listens to the people. If that’s true, then don’t hand over public lands at Ontario Place in a secret 95-year deal; stop privatization of our health care system; stop interfering with the Ontario Energy Board and independent regulator on behalf of Enbridge. Prove it.

They’re not here yet, but they will be joining us very soon—grade 5 students from Fern Avenue public school, with their teacher, Lisa Nave.

Welcome.

The minister can spin all he wants and deflect blame, but documents reveal that this government is spending less on community housing and is making the homelessness crisis worse. The goal should be to prevent homelessness, which is better for people and costs less in the long run.

Will the minister do the right thing and restore community housing funding?

This petition is titled “Improve Air Quality for Our Children” and it is signed by parents from a local public school in my riding, Runnymede public school.

Speaker, we know that good, clean air reduces not only the spread of infectious diseases, but it also lowers chronic conditions, the rate of chronic conditions. It helps children learn better. Studies have shown that it improves attendance. It improves test scores.

But right now, in Ontario, there’s no requirement to monitor air quality either in our public schools or in child care centres. Other jurisdictions are doing it, in Canada and in the United States, and it has shown to work well in our efforts to get clean air for kids. And so, this petition is urging the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to require the Minister of Education to pass the private member’s bill that I have co-sponsored called Improving Air Quality for Our Children Act, 2024.

Speaker, we all know that for those who are living with the support of the Ontario Disability Support Program and Ontario Works, the rates for both of these programs are below the poverty line. Essentially, it is legislated poverty. The rates for ODSP have increased by very, very little, certainly not keeping up with inflation, since the rates were deeply cut under the previous Conservative Harris government and the rates for Ontario Works have been frozen. In order to be able to live healthy, dignified lives, the rates for both OW and ODSP must be doubled immediately. So this petition is calling on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to ensure that the Ford government does just that: Double social assistance rates immediately.

Speaker, everybody in Ontario should get health care services based on our need, not based on the size of the wallet. And right now, parts of our public health care system is being privatized under this government. We know the consequences of privatization of our public health care system. It will not only worsen and weaken the public health system, it will also worsen the staffing crisis that we have. We have many examples and research to show that privatization of health care usually leads to worse health outcomes for the population.

So this petition is urging the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately stop all privatization of—

This petition is titled “Ontario Needs a Rare Disease Strategy,” because, right now, in Ontario, we do not have a rare disease strategy.

In 2016, the Ministry of Health established a rare disease working group. The working group did their work and presented a report to the Ministry of Health in 2017, and since then, no action has been taken. Meanwhile, those living with rare diseases are left behind without the access to the supports that they need.

So, in this petition, the signatories are calling on the government to pass the Rare Disease Strategy Act. It is a bill that I have tabled and co-sponsored in the House that sets out to implement the recommendations outlined in the rare disease working group report.

There are 2.3 million Ontarians who do not have a family physician, so they’re not connected to any form of primary care. That obviously puts their health at risk. We know that access to primary care keeps people out of emergency rooms. It promotes health and well-being. It prevents conditions from getting worse. And one of the ways in which we can address the family doctor shortage, as recommended by the Ontario Medical Association and the Ontario College of Family Physicians, is to free up the time that doctors are spending on administrative work.

And so, this petition is calling on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to implement a strategy where support staff can be hired to take over the administrative portion of the doctor’s work so that family doctors can spend their time seeing patients instead of doing paperwork.

I support this petition and will affix my signature to it.

My question is to the minister. I’m looking at schedule 3 of this bill as it relates to the official plan, and this schedule restores some of the forced urban boundary expansions that had been opposed by local municipalities. Speaker, it repackages the same decisions that were at the heart of the greenbelt scandal. So my question is, have you learned nothing from the greenbelt scandal?

I’d like to thank my colleague for his excellent presentation. One of the things that this government has talked a lot about in this bill is around highways, how they’re going to stop tolling highways that don’t have tolls and are quiet on highways that do have tolls.

But one of the things that I’ve also noticed is that they are silent when it comes to the northern Ontario highways. And this member has advocated to make sure that the highways are safe, that lives are not lost or that they are properly maintained. So my question to the member is, can you share with the members of this House, particularly the government, on the importance of maintaining the highways for Ontario’s economy?

Questions?

Next question.