Back to the Premier: Today, my constituent Lindsay is receiving an N13, a demoviction notice. She tells me, “As a tenant who is now dealing with finding a home on top of dealing with the immediate aftermath of experiencing domestic violence, I’m at a complete loss. All of the homes being built are not made for people like me and my two young children. I’ve started looking for housing options so I can continue to live and work in Toronto once demovicted, but there is nowhere safe that I can afford to raise my family.”

Speaker, there is no affordable rental housing in Ontario because of the rent control loopholes that have been introduced by the Conservative government.

Will this government admit that they have the power to help Lindsay and her two young children by introducing real rent control today?

Interjections.

Earlier this year, the Ontario Ombudsman stated in a scathing report that the Landlord and Tenant Board was fundamentally failing in its mandate because of insurmountable challenges, especially for Ontarians trying to access quality, well-functioning, online hearings. In addition to the Ombudsman, we have also heard from anti-poverty organizations, tenant and shelter organizations—many who are here today for the national day of housing—advocating to bring back in-person hearings. After all, it has been three years since the COVID pandemic first appeared. The situation is so bad that not even counter service is available for any low-income or elderly tenants who don’t have computers.

When will this government listen to Ontarians and restore in-person hearings and services for Ontarians who actually need them?

Back in my neighbourhood, Neighbourhood Legal Services is a legal aid clinic which represented 584 matters as of last year. This included the prevention of evictions, protection of affordable housing and a very important, precedent-setting case that involved 200 families at 280 Wellesley Street who took their landlord to the board, seeking a rent reduction for the loss of facilities, compensation for multi-day power outages and water and heat outages, as well as frequent elevator breakdowns and utility blackouts. This was important, and without the legal aid support they would not have been able to get there. This is absolutely critical, Mr. Speaker. Legal aid clinics actually help low-income tenants in Ontario.

Speaker, there was no mention of new legal aid funding in the provincial fall economic statement. My question to the Premier is, will he stand up for low-income tenants by reinstating the 2019 cut of $133 million from legal aid?

The residents watching from the gallery today are from No Demovictions Toronto. They represent tens of thousands of tenants whose lives will be thrown into chaos when their homes are demolished to make way for new luxury condominiums. One tenant told my office how they’re considering applying for MAID, medical assistance in dying, because of the hopelessness that they feel about losing their home, which has been enabled by the Premier’s housing legislation.

Will the Premier give the tenants hope today and commit to a moratorium on demovictions in large rent-controlled buildings?

Terry lives in a 250-unit building in my riding which is slated for demolition. She’s 92 years old. She’s in the gallery today. She shared with me, “I want to die here. I live here alone. I am widowed. I am not even looking for another place.”

Terry’s story is not singular. Thousands of families are facing eviction from large but good rent-controlled buildings.

This question is from Terry to the Premier: Will he use his extraordinary powers today to help Terry and hundreds of her neighbours by stopping the demolition of their home?

The petition is to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

“Whereas the Ford government cancelled rent control on units built after November 2018; and

“Whereas the cost to rent a home has never been higher; and

“Whereas people are being forced to leave their communities because decent, affordable homes are increasingly out of reach;

“Whereas the rent control for all units act, 2022, will ensure tenants are not gouged on rent each year;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to protect tenants from predatory rent increases and pass the NDP’s Rent Control for All Tenants Act today to ensure renters can live in safe and affordable homes.”

I will proudly sign this petition and return it to the table with page Michael.

To the Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism: There’s a rent strike in his riding, with thousands of tenants coming together to form a tenants’ union. They are fighting expensive, above-guideline rent increases by their corporate landlords. His tenants are feeling unprotected, and they are desperate and angry because the rents have become so unaffordable over the past six years in Ontario. They know that this Conservative government voted against real rent control and took away their final tenant protections.

To the minister, on behalf of your struggling tenants and those across Ontario: Will you bring back real rent control for all homes, including those built after 2018?

People are struggling. They are frustrated with surging rents, broken elevators, mouldy walls, leaky faucets, and many other maintenance issues that are plaguing their buildings, that are not being fixed by greedy corporate landlords. This is leading to hundreds of demoviction applications in the city of Toronto alone. This is going to displace tens of thousands of people from their rent-controlled homes—the cheapest, most affordable apartments in Ontario.

To the minister: What will you do to stop the housing affordability crisis in Ontario? And will you protect everyday Ontarians from greedy corporate landlords?

My constituent Angela recently received a 20% rent hike, totalling over $400 a month, which is something that she and her fiancé did not budget for and simply cannot afford.

Yesterday, this government voted down a motion from the NDP to bring real rent control to all buildings.

What is the Premier going to do to protect Angela and her neighbours from this unaffordable, yet legal, rent hike?

A one-bedroom apartment in the city of Toronto now costs over $3,000 a month, a historic high, under this government.

If not real rent control, what exactly is the Premier going to do to stop rent gouging in Ontario?

In 2019, Nicole’s landlord filed for a personal-use eviction. She later learned that this was misrepresentation. Today, Nicole is still waiting for an LTB hearing after moving into a new apartment that costs her now twice as much. LTB’s own data shows that landlords are being fast-tracked for hearings over tenants.

Can the Premier explain why he is making tenants wait so long for access to justice?

Why is it agreeable to this Premier that tenants have to wait so long for access to justice?

I would like to present this petition.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas there is an affordable” housing “rental crisis in Ontario;

“Whereas massive loopholes in the current rent control laws have led to unaffordable rental prices;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to:

“(1) Stop massive rent increases by re-implementing rent control for all units in Ontario, regardless of when they were built;

“(2) End the system that gives landlords incentive to drive people out of their units and homes so they can rent at new, much higher rents by implementing vacancy control;

“(3) Provide real financial consequences for landlords who fail to maintain their buildings, and ban the use of mandatory above-guideline rent increases to pay for standard maintenance and repairs.”

I will affix my signature and hand this petition to our page Wyatt.

My question is to the Premier.

My constituent Summer has contacted my office to express concern about the high temperature in her apartment. A candle in her apartment even melted of its own accord. The temperature must have hit at least 46 degrees Celsius or higher to melt a paraffin candle. Speaker, people will pass out from heat exhaustion or even die from heatstroke in this temperature.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission recently ruled, “Access to cooling during extreme heat waves is a human rights issue.”

Will the Premier today obey the human rights commission of this province, make air conditioning a vital service, and establish a maximum temperature in apartments? If not, why not?