I appreciate the opportunity to rise and to speak on behalf of the great people of Toronto Centre.

As I was listening to the Minister of Education’s debate remarks, I couldn’t help but feel that if this chamber was actually filled with parents and students, what a tragedy it would be for them to come out to this House and to have the Minister of Education essentially vilify them. If you were a family, parents and students living in urban centres, that would hurt double as much, because he did take aim specifically at families and students living in urban centres, and specifically downtown Toronto.

As a parent from downtown Toronto, I can tell you that my worries are the same as every other parent in Ontario. I want to make sure that my kid and all children in Ontario have access to a high-quality public education. It’s absolutely critical for us to invest in education because that’s a great equalizer for every student, every child in this province.

It really goes to the heart of the values that this government believes in. Will you be investing in education to support our students? Will you be investing in the education system to ensure that teachers and administrators have the resources that they need in order for them to deliver the high-quality education that every student deserves?

The motion is actually very simple, Speaker. The motion is simply asking the government of Ontario to substantially increase the funding for public education in Ontario so that every child receives the high-quality education they deserve, regardless of their family’s income. What could be more Canadian in Ontario than that?

But the government is doing exactly the opposite. For six years they’ve had a chance to increase funding to ensure that education receives the resources to allow success in Ontario, and they’ve done exactly the opposite. They have been defunding education, less and less every single year. They’re leaning right in to shrinkflation, which means that your money is buying you less every year in households across Ontario, and the same thing is now happening in the government’s coffers. Classrooms are oversized—30, 31, 32, 34, 38 students in a classroom. Now put in five or six students with developmental delays, global delays, autism and you’ve got a recipe for disaster, which is why we are hearing from educators, principals, parents and students themselves that the rise of violence is across Ontario.

These are choices being made by the government, choices that can be reversed if the government prioritizes student education as they say they do. But we know they don’t, because if they did they would put their money where their mouths are. Otherwise, they’ll stand up and they will insult the opposition, they will vilify unions and teachers, as they have done so on and on again, because they’re scapegoating them for their failed government policies.

Speaker, I’m just going to end by sharing a story very quickly from Chelsea, who is a teacher of grade 8 students in my community. She wants the government to understand that teachers are drowning. They are not successful at this moment because they’ve been underfunded, and the burnout is high. As much as they love their job—and they do, Speaker—they can’t hold on forever. They’ll be forced to walk away if this government doesn’t reverse its course. The stakes are too high. I hope they consider.

It’s always an honour to rise to speak on behalf of the good people of Toronto Centre.

I want to invite all the members of this House to go for a 20-minute walk with me. If you go for a 20-minute walk, you’re actually going to land right in the middle of St. James Town. It’s one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in all of Canada. Its density is 18 times that of any neighbourhood in Toronto. There are over 14,000 people who call St. James Town home, and the average household income is just $20,000. What we don’t have over there is a lot of money, but we have a lot of heart. Over 64% of people who live in St. James Town are newcomers. Neighbours know each other, kids play across the hallway with other children, and seniors will often take care of each other to break social isolation. This is a true neighbourhood.

It’s also an amazing place to live because of—make no mistake about it—rent control. Most of those buildings in St. James Town—the majority of them, until recently—have been under rent control.

The Conservative ideological opposition to real rent control and their slavish devotion to serving big landlords has actually created a condition now in St. James Town that is leading to much further harm. We’re seeing older buildings that are rent-controlled being demolished and replaced with new buildings without rent control, and what we’re now seeing is a lot of residents who are calling my office because they’re scared.

Most recently, a constituent whose name is Angela called my office to tell me that her rent under this government is going up 20%—20%. She’s getting a rent hike of $400. She and her fiancée are now struggling with the decision of whether or not they stay or they go. This is an untenable situation that is about to hit all the residents in that same building, and they are literally scared. They have no place to go without help from this government, which includes the implementation and the support of this motion of real rent control.

Paving over the greenbelt is not going to increase affordability of housing in Ontario, and neither is the government’s housing plan. They have failed to be able to address the housing crisis in Ontario. Things are getting more expensive and much worse for all Ontarians. Speaker, $3,000 for a one-bedroom apartment is untenable. I’ve lived in Toronto for all of my life in Canada. It is the worst that it has ever been, and this government is in charge of all of that.

This is a party, on this side of the House, where we are putting forward some real solutions; we’ve asked the government to come forward with their own. Their policies have failed; we have others. You can say yes to ending exclusionary zoning. You can say yes to investing in affordable housing, such as public, co-op and supportive housing. You can say yes to clamping down on greedy speculators. And yes, you can say yes to rent control—rent control that is desperately needed right now, right here for your tenants, for your constituents, and for mine.

I rise with great pride to speak on behalf of the people of Toronto Centre.

Last summer, the Big City Mayors’ Caucus asked the Premier for an emergency meeting. They wanted to meet with him to develop an emergency plan to address homelessness, mental health and addictions. The Premier has denied the mayors of the largest cities in Canada that meeting.

To this very day, the Auditor General of Ontario has specified that there is no credible plan and no coordinated strategy in the government’s plan to address homelessness. Why I talk about homelessness is because the Conservative government has also chronically underfunded mental health and addictions services, which are intricately tied to homelessness.

Many of my colleagues have already spoken so eloquently and passionately about the need to increase funding for mental health. They have spoken about it from a human lens, about the human impact. What I’d like to do is to actually share with you the impact from a financial lens.

Speaker, what I wanted to raise with you is that the economic development concerns from my community, which is the largest cultural corridor in the city and the province, as well as the largest financial district in the province—are saying that they need to see this government invest in mental health and addictions services. They have been very clear that if the funding is not there, they will continue to see a decline of the urban core—not just in Toronto Centre, but right across cities across Ontario.

Take, for example, the Downtown Yonge BIA. They have been meeting with government leaders, and at every single meeting they have said that their number one issue is around safety. They want to make sure that their community and visitors to the area—that their perception is that it’s safe, it is clean, it is viable.

We’re already seeing a worsening mental health crisis in Ontario, and largely because of the lack of mental health and addictions support, as well as funding for supportive housing to end chronic homelessness.

Cadillac Fairview, which is one of the largest real estate companies in Canada, recently announced that Nordstrom is leaving. They are closing 13 locations—including 2,500 people who will be laid off. This is going to have a detrimental impact to our neighbourhood. This is going to impact the vitality of our main streets.

Finally, Madam Speaker, the Downtown Yonge BIA has said that, according to their safe-streets strategy, mental health and drug use are both health concerns, and that they require clinical and social interventions. Police enforcement will only result in a revolving-door approach; it is not going to be enough. It is failing, and people need to have their backs—they need to know that this government is willing to invest in them and the mental health supports that they are desperately needing.