As the member opposite knows, we are currently refurbishing our nuclear fleet across Ontario. That includes at Bruce and OPG and eventually Pickering as well. That is emissions-free, reliable baseload power that is going to continue to power the growth of our province going forward as the Hondas and the Volkswagens and the Stellantis plants and the Umicore plants come online.

What the member opposite is proposing in his question is to try to replace all of those megawatts with wind and solar. I just took a look at the independent electricity system’s grid watch, and it shows that right now, on a very, very sunny day in May, we’re getting about 300 megawatts from our entire solar installation across the grid, and we’re getting about 400 megawatts from our wind power. The capacity just isn’t there. That’s why we’re investing in large baseload nuclear power: so the kids in the gallery can be able to get the electricity when they flip the switch. We’ll continue to—

But I’ll remind the member opposite of what it was like here in Ontario in January, where we actually saw about 26 hours of sunshine in the whole month of January. Can you imagine what would have happened to those people who live on the 40th, 50th floors of condo buildings in downtown Toronto when they want to put solar panels over at Portlands Energy Centre in Toronto, which is currently the insurance policy—our natural gas facility—that keeps the lights on, that keeps the elevators going, that keeps business happening in our province?

I will give the member credit. He believes wholeheartedly in what he’s saying. He’s just wrong, Mr. Speaker.

What they said yes to was our plan for powering Ontario’s growth: investing in refurbishments at our Candu facilities across the province, building new nuclear at Bruce Power, building new small modular reactors at Darlington, investing in a competitive procurement for new non-emitting generation, building out the transmission that we need and investing in green steelmaking facilities with electric arc furnaces.

None of that involves the carbon tax, and the people of Ontario believe in what we’re doing.

What is the key? It’s reliable, affordable power, something that they didn’t get under the previous government, where they saw electricity prices triple, skyrocketing, and business left because of that. Now, the federal government in Ottawa has imposed this punishing federal carbon tax.

In spite of all that, with the work that we’re doing here in Ontario, led by Premier Ford and our team, those investments are happening at a rapid pace. The people of Ontario, the new investors in Ontario can count on this Ontario government.

Thanks to the member for Markham for that great question this morning. We are powering’s Ontario growth at the Ministry of Energy. Last summer, I unveiled our plan, named Powering Ontario’s Growth, which is investing in more emissions-free, baseload, reliable nuclear power at places like Bruce Power, Pickering and Darlington. Small modular reactors are going into the ground right now, as we speak, in Darlington—the largest procurement for energy storage in Canada’s history. New, non-emitting generation is part of competitive procurements.

One thing that I couldn’t help but notice this morning was that the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, was in the media studio having a press conference that was really like a Saturday Night Live skit. Actually, it was more like a Seinfeld episode; it was a press conference about nothing.

Here I am answering question number 273 in this House about the carbon tax, something that 80% of Canadians are opposed to, but these Liberals and the federal Liberals are going to increase the carbon tax by a whopping 23% on—

Interjections.

The members of the Liberal caucus—there are some smart people over there, but I just can’t understand how they don’t realize that what is happening on Monday—Easter Monday, April Fool’s Day, carbon tax day in Ontario. Their counterparts, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, supported by the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, are going to be increasing the carbon tax on Canadians by a whopping 23% on Monday.

Mr. Speaker, 80% of Canadians are opposed to an increase in the carbon tax because they understand what it’s going to mean for the prices at the pumps, at the grocery stores and on their home heating bills.

The member from Ottawa South and the queen of the carbon tax have to understand that this is a losing proposition. We’re driving the cost of living down in Ontario, making life more affordable. They should—

Interjections.

All right, so this one is for Ron this morning, down in Prince Edward county. Listen, I’m pleased to talk about all of the initiatives that our government has undertaken, not only to make life more affordable, but also to drive down emissions across our province. You don’t have to do what the Liberals did and are doing, in making life more affordable, to drive down emissions.

We’ve introduced the Clean Home Heating Initiative, which makes hybrid heat pumps available to natural gas customers in various locations across the province, something we think the federal Liberals should support us on as well. We’ve introduced the ultra-low overnight rate for those who have and are considering buying an electric vehicle, so they can charge at off-peak times in the overnight period, saving themselves money. We’ve introduced the Green Button standard right across the province at local distribution companies, giving customers the opportunity to reduce their bills, by having the data they need, by up to 18%.

What else have we done? We’ve reduced the electricity rate through the Ontario Electricity Rebate for customers, between 15% and 17%, and of course taken 10 cents off a litre at the gas pumps, too—

Interjection.

I think it’s important for the opposition to know exactly how clean and green and reliable our electricity system is in the Ontario jurisdiction. That’s one that’s going to allow us to remove megatons of emissions from our system in the future. By ensuring that we have a clean, reliable system in Ontario, one that only emits about 3% of our total emissions in the province, and by keeping the price reliable and affordable, we are going to see emissions reduced in other parts of our sectors, more emitting parts of our sectors, like our transportation sector.

It’s why we’ve seen multi-billion-dollar investments in our EV manufacturing facilities. It’s why we’re seeing manufacturers now moving to electrifying their processes in Ontario, which is going to remove emissions from our system. It’s why we’re seeing our steelmakers moving to green steelmaking with electric arc furnaces. It’s ensuring that the price of electricity in our province is affordable. That will move more people to electrify their processes, making our environment here in Ontario even cleaner and greener than it is today at 90%.

Thanks to the member opposite from Brantford–Brant for that great question this morning.

Ontario has a world-class electricity system. It’s 90% emissions-free. We get over 60% of our power from our nuclear fleet emissions-free. We get about 25% from our hydro fleet emissions-free. There are about 33,000 other generators across the province: wind and solar and biomass facilities. Many of those facilities are still producing power at night, though, when demand is low, at off-peak times. Under the former Liberal government, what we had happen was this surplus power was sold to neighbouring jurisdictions at a loss.

We’re bringing that to an end, thanks to our government’s work on the Oneida battery storage project, one of the largest battery storage projects in the world. We’re partnering with the Six Nations of the Grand River to build this. We’re making full use of Ontario’s clean grid by drawing and storing the energy at off-peak times and then dispatching it at times when we’re on-peak, when we need that power. Making our—

Thanks for the thoughtful question.

The experts at Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator have been clear: Generation from natural gas plays a key role as a flexible, adaptable source of electricity that can respond quickly to periods of heightened demand.

The member is correct that we can’t move backwards—and we’re moving forward on the days that we’re bringing manufacturing jobs that were once fleeing our province back to our jurisdiction and sent electricity prices skyrocketing.

That’s why we’re looking at every option to ensure that Ontario doesn’t experience blackouts and brownouts. By maintaining our reliable and affordable grid, we’re also enabling electrification in other sectors, like transportation, resulting in a net reduction in emissions in Ontario.

Just one example is green steelmaking. As he mentioned in his previous question, Algoma and Dofasco switching to electric arc furnaces is going to mean emissions reductions equivalent to taking two million cars off the road.

We’re going to ensure that we have the reliable, affordable, clean and safe power that Ontario needs to keep our economy moving forward.