I thank my colleagues from Ottawa Centre as well as St. Catharines for their question and for bringing this important point and question to the Minister of Transportation.

I want to thank the Minister of Transportation for meeting with me earlier to hear my suggestion on this.

To the member for St. Catharines, as the Premier said, I want to thank you very much, to you and Jonathan. Please convey our gratitude for the service that he’s providing to us.

Mr. Speaker, every man and woman in uniform to date, past and present, has sacrificed and continues to sacrifice for us. We will not forget them, which is why we expanded the Soldiers’ Aid Commission by 600% to put $1.55 million to include, past and present, those who served and continue to serve our country, which is why we removed the property tax for all Legion halls. Those who have served us, under the leadership of Premier Ford and our government will not be forgotten, and we will continue to have their back today and in the future.

I want to thank my honourable colleague for this very important question and for all the great work she does in her community.

Speaker, I want to point out that Ontario, under this government, is the primary funder of all homelessness programs, with 86% of the funding coming directly from the province. Earlier this year, we developed a new Homelessness Prevention Program to simplify and streamline operations to allow service managers to help more people find a home and spend less time on paperwork. We also increased this program by $25 million this year, bringing the total close to half a billion dollars annually.

Speaker, I recently visited Scott Mission here in Toronto and the Ottawa Mission before heading north to visit Urban Abbey and Grace Place in Thunder Bay to see first-hand the great work that’s being done to support those who are facing housing challenges.

Mr. Speaker, I’ll say it again: We will continue to be there and we will work with all partners to make sure we don’t leave any Ontarian behind.

Speaker, I would like to point out that a few municipalities across our province have opened up warming centres for those who are looking for a place to stay, and we need to continue to work together to be there for all those in need of support. I encourage Ontarians who need more information, or assistance, to dial 311.

Speaker, this government will simply not leave anyone behind. We’ll continue to work with our partners, like the Salvation Army, amongst others, to ensure that every Ontarian has a warm and safe place this winter season.

I want to thank my honourable colleague from Carleton for the question and also for her strong advocacy when it comes to housing on behalf of her constituents.

I was in the member’s city last week, alongside my federal and municipal counterparts, to announce a $90-million housing investment across the city of Ottawa to support the construction of more than 270 units. These units will meet a variety of accessibility and affordability needs, ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments.

I look forward to continuing our partnership with all levels of government, as well as the non-profit and private sectors, to ensure that all Ontarians, including the most vulnerable in our communities, have a safe place to call home.

To add to my previous answer: The funding will support five projects across the city of Ottawa, including the project that our government is supporting which is located at 159 Forward Avenue. This will be a four-storey building with a total of 49 units, 30 of which will be designated as affordable, and the remaining 19 will have rents that are on par or below average market rent. As I’ve said from day one, we’ll continue to do everything we can to support projects like this one, because they prioritize and support the most vulnerable.

With lack of supply and housing prices out of control for many Ontarians, we’ll continue to work, again, with all partners, all levels of government, to increase supply and support housing in every corner of our province.

Again, I thank the member for the question.

One third of Ontario’s population in the next 10 years is going to be in Ottawa and in Toronto—so you absolutely are correct.

We are going to do everything we can to make sure that we increase the supply, because there’s a challenge here that some of my colleagues in the chamber don’t seem to understand—that we don’t have the supply to meet the demand. We haven’t—because they failed the people of Ontario. We’re not going to continue on that path.

We told Ontarians; I told Ontarians; every single person in this caucus, when we were campaigning, told the people of this province, “We’re not going to let you down.” We’re going to make sure we build homes. We’ll work with municipal partners, we’ll work with all our community partners to make sure that we not only build homes, but we build all types of homes for all Ontarians.

Mr. Speaker, 15 million people are depending on us. The next generation is looking at us to not let them down—and unlike them, we’re not going to do it.