This question is for the Premier. After five years of Conservative rule, life is more expensive then ever for ordinary people. From big cities to small towns, more and more people are depending on food banks to get by, even while they work full-time. This week, we learned that food bank use has increased by 36% in Ontario over the last year alone. That’s about 5.9 million visits. In the Niagara region alone, food bank use has increased by a staggering 56% driven mostly by people visiting for the first time.

Speaker, while people struggle under the weight of this cost-of-living crisis, why is the Premier’s top priority the construction of a luxury spa in downtown Toronto?

So, Speaker, I’d like to hear from the Premier: What is so special about this luxury spa that the government is literally changing the law to make it happen?

Rents are skyrocketing and we are nowhere near the one and a half million homes that we’re going to need. We’ve got a minister of housing who brought together stakeholders and municipalities this week only to refuse their request for help.

Speaker, it’s time for the Premier to get real. Why is he dragging his feet on building the housing that people need while fast-tracking a luxury spa that no one wants?

Let’s go through what’s really in Bill 154. The Conservatives are giving themselves unprecedented powers to bypass laws to force through this luxury spa development on behalf of a private company. This bill would also block lawsuits against the government for misrepresentations or misconduct and would block legal remedies for—and I’m going to quote here, Speaker—“misfeasance, bad faith, trust or fiduciary obligation.”

Why is the Premier giving his government the power to commit misfeasance and breach of trust with this Ontario Place scheme?

Interjections.

The appearance of abuse of power is so bad under this government that the current minister of housing is reviewing more than half of the MZO decisions made by his predecessor, and the Auditor General is investigating. And now the Conservatives are giving the Minister of Infrastructure the power to issue ministers’ zoning orders.

Back to the Premier,: When this government is already under multiple investigations for its abuse of planning authority, including a criminal investigation by the RCMP, why would the Premier give MZO powers to the Minister of Infrastructure?

Interjections.

Speaker, thank you. It’s a government with the wrong priorities; it’s a government that’s become far too comfortable on the government gravy train.

Ontarians across the province are writing, they’re calling, they’re rallying because they see a government that’s out of touch. So I’d like to ask the Premier some more questions about his priorities, because after five years of this government’s transit policies, the Eglinton Crosstown project is completely off the rails, years behind schedule, way over budget—not so unlike the Ottawa LRT fiasco—all while people are waiting and businesses are shutting down.

Speaker, to the Premier: Will he prioritize getting the Eglinton Crosstown back on track so Ontarians aren’t left waiting any longer?

I want to talk again about the government’s priorities—

Interjections.

Speaker, the Conservatives like to say that they’ve prioritized workers, but when push comes to shove, they let workers down every time. Exhibit A: They took away the three measly paid sick days that people fought for at the start of the pandemic. Exhibit B: They took away the constitutional rights of education workers. Exhibit C: The Conservative members from Windsor won’t lift a finger to help the striking workers at the Windsor Salt mine, out of work now for 111 days, where the company is bringing in scab labour. The list goes on and on, Speaker.

Back to the Premier: Will he prioritize workers and pass the NDP’s anti-scab legislation?

Interjections.

To wrap up: This is the state of Ontario now after five long years under this government’s watch. We’ve got a non-existent climate plan while communities are dealing with the most severe forest fire season we’ve ever experienced. We have emergency rooms closing while this government takes health care workers to court, a broken transit system held hostage by private contractors, and it’s harder than ever before to afford a safe place to live.

Ontario is a place that we are all proud to call home, but this Premier’s wrong priorities are hurting people now and, yes, they are threatening the economic prosperity and future of this province.

Speaker, back to the Premier: When will he change course? Will he change course today?

Interjections.

Speaker, it looks as though this will be the last question period for a while, and so I’d like to do a bit of a review of this government’s priorities.

This government has really delivered, if you’re a wealthy developer with insider connections. We saw this government prioritize carving up protected greenbelt lands for the benefit of deep-pocketed friends of the Premier and his party, lands that help Ontario mitigate the effects of climate change, lands of ecological significance and crucial farmland.

Speaker, to the Premier: Will he prioritize our environment and stop carving up the greenbelt for his insider friends?

The NDP proposed a solution to turn the lights back on in the public operating rooms that we already have and get Ontarians the surgeries they’ve been waiting for. The Conservatives voted no.

Speaker, back to the Premier: Will he finally prioritize patients over insiders and make health care public once again?

Speaker, investing in health care or education or housing—instead of doing those things, the government is prioritizing giving $650 million to an Austrian corporate conglomerate to build a luxury spa on top of a public park. While small-town emergency rooms are being shuttered, the company behind this elite luxury spa is being given hundreds of millions of dollars and a 95-year lease.

Speaker, back to the Premier: Will he cancel his $650-million private spa and instead invest that money in communities that desperately need it?

Interjections.

Interjections.