My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. New government documents obtained by Global News reveal that this government continues to underfund affordable housing. The Conservatives have cut funding to community housing programs even though the wait-list for an affordable home has ballooned to well over 65,000 people.

My question to the minister: Why is this government cutting funding to affordable housing at a time when the homelessness and housing crisis has never been worse?

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Supplementary question. The member for Toronto Centre.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

My question is for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The Liberal carbon tax continues to make life more unaffordable for the people of Ontario. It’s driving up prices and making life more expensive on everything from grocery bills to the cost of filling up our cars. But it goes well beyond that. The carbon tax scheme is negatively impacting the very people who have a critical role in building our province. The carbon tax is increasing the costs for building materials and the transportation of these materials, adding significant burden for the home builders of Ontario. It’s not right.

The people in Chatham-Kent–Leamington and across Ontario who dream of home ownership should not be punished by the federal carbon tax scheme.

Can the minister please explain how the Liberal carbon tax is making it more expensive to build housing in Ontario?

It’s encouraging to see how our government, unlike the NDP and Liberal members in this House, is supporting families and individuals across Ontario and fighting back against the Liberal carbon tax.

In the middle of a housing crisis, this tax grab is impacting every person looking to buy a home. Home builders in Chatham-Kent–Leamington and Essex county have told me personally that this carbon tax is dramatically increasing the price to transport building materials. This is truly devastating to young families hoping to enter the housing market and seeing prices go well above what they can afford.

The federal Liberals need to do the right thing and scrap this tax today.

Can the parliamentary assistant please share how this Liberal carbon tax scheme is increasing the prices of new homes across Ontario?

I want to thank the member opposite for that question. Let’s look at the facts here. We work with local municipal leaders and leadership across this province to come to decisions that are reflected here, but what’s most important is we’re building 1.5 million houses over the next 10 years.

But what does this act also do? It helps us accelerate public transit and the building of the Hazel McCallion line across this province, where we’re building houses and making sure we can build for generations to come. We’re also looking at ways to speed up the building of public transit: $70 billion over the next 10 years.

We’re also looking at ways to speed up how we can build highways in this province. We know how important they are. It doesn’t matter where you live in this province. We’re going to build Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass, and Highways 11, 17, 69. We’re building all across Ontario because that’s what the future generations of this province deserve.