Last week, I had the great pleasure to announce that our government is investing $47.2 million to build two new elementary schools in my riding of Thornhill.

These schools are going to be built in an area known as the VMC, also known as the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. This is the fastest-growing community, the VMC: Two new schools—Catholic, public—one roof, creating 1,134 new student spaces and 49 new child care spaces. This new emerging area is a transit community linked with easy access to the GTA, a vibrant area that’s already home to a beautiful YMCA, a library and so many local businesses. This school will be a much-needed and strong addition for the families in the VMC, no doubt.

As a mother who has also sat on school council for so many years, I know first-hand how important it is to have a solid education, including back-to-basics, hands-on learning, including STEM and after-school opportunities—all of this closer to home. This is part of our government’s plan to support the new school construction and expansion to existing schools, including child care spaces. Our new school strategy involves prioritizing shovel-ready projects, working with school boards to speed up construction through design standardization.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Minister of Education for his leadership on this project, and I will continue to work alongside my community partners and government to support these critical investments for our children’s future.

I’m going to change the dial as well. I think I heard the member from Sudbury say that they support the bill. We’ve heard the Leader of the Opposition as well as the housing critic say that they share our goal of increasing supply and building the homes that we need by 2031. So I’m going to dial back to a time when the member from St. Paul’s said building more homes may not necessarily be the answer. Now, the member from her party is saying that building more homes is the right answer but that the taxpayers should pay a minimum of $150 billion to build a maximum of 25,000 homes a year. So my question to the opposition is, what’s their plan to build 1.5 million new homes by 2031, and how much will it cost the taxpayers?

I want to thank the member from the other side for providing their information. I am concerned, though—they’ve expressed their issues with what is trying to be put forth, but I would turn this and ask, what is their proposal to build 1.5 million homes?