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?

To the member across, thank you so much for your presentation. I wholeheartedly agree with you that we have to be able to force and move and compel businesses to innovate, especially in the new digital economy. I’m a huge believer around modernization, especially around making it more efficient and reducing any type of red tape, as we like to call it in this House.

But the conversations I’ve had with small business owners and small-to-medium enterprise, including with the representatives with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, are that the biggest concerns right now with small business owners and business owners in particular is the debt that they’re carrying because of the COVID pandemic. That’s probably their number one concern that’s not being addressed in this bill. They’re carrying about $139 billion of debt. Over 76% of those businesses are going to have to take a lot of their one year to pay that debt. How does the government plan to address that specific business concern that’s coming so prominently from the community?