I’ve also looked at the budget and read the budget. One of the other things that I looked at was, during the pre-consultation, what people talked about, and after the budget was released, during the committee hearings. You know what? I agree with the member: When we talk about housing, we do need to build housing. We need to do it ASAP, and we’re so behind. I mentioned the fact that we have 85,000 people waiting for housing. But we also need to make sure that we address the type of housing that we’re building, that we address the way we’re doing that. First of all, we cannot be building it on the greenbelt.

If they’re not affordable, people are moving from this province. That’s what we’re seeing right now. We have health care workers who move away from the province because they don’t earn enough, first, and then they can’t keep up with their rent or they can’t keep up with their mortgage. Some don’t even have a mortgage because they can’t even imagine buying a home.

I actually had a few students who came to Queen’s Park to visit me, and they brought me a report. They brought me an actual report that they’d compiled about the gun violence, about the stabbings that we’re seeing. Guess what was one of the conversations that we talked about? We talked about the fact that kids are facing loneliness. They have felt isolated. They have mental health needs. A lot of people are facing poverty. Some don’t even have breakfast before they come to school. All of these things have an impact on the way they come to learn in their institutions. That impacts that as well.

The other thing is, we have to make sure that we have enough educators in our spaces, that we have enough staff in our schools to be able to be there. The fact that Birchmount Park Collegiate did not even have enough hall monitors is a problem. These are the people who can actually address what’s going on in our schools and make that environment safe and accessible—

My question is to the Premier. This government announced that the earning exemption for ODSP recipients will be raised to $1,000. While this was a step in the right direction, it still does not address the issues of clawbacks from other benefits, such as CPP disability.

After hearing about the government’s announcement about how it’s going to help his ODSP amount, a constituent, Shah Hamidi, reached out to our office with confusion. Our government is clawing back his CPP disability income to continue to keep him in poverty. My question to the Premier: Premier, you know the harsh reality that those with disabilities face. They’re barely surviving. Why is your government continuing to means-test ODSP and forcing people to live in legislated poverty?

The earning exemption does nothing for spousal income either.

Another constituent of mine, Thomas Robinson, receives lower monthly income payments because of the program’s cuts to his ODSP due to his wife’s income—who, by the way, works precarious hours—leaving him with just $300 to $400 per month. So instead of barely surviving with the insufficient disability benefits and his wife’s income, Thomas is punished because of his wife, who works precarious hours, and he’s trying to pay the bills.

Speaker, my question again to the Premier is why has this government done nothing for people like Thomas and Hamidi who are unable to survive on a program designed to fail people with disabilities and their families?

If the minister thinks that the licence plate sticker rebate helps those people in those food bank lineups, he needs to come to Scarborough and I will take him to the Bluffs Food Bank, and I will take him to the Feed Scarborough Food Bank and show him what’s happening there, because those rebates do not support the people.

Yes, that lineup has seniors. It has children. It has people who are on ODSP. You know, ODSP recipients are among the top demographic being forced to rely on food banks because we have legislated poverty. Government after government—not just this government; I know it’s the previous government as well—has legislated poverty policies. From children to seniors to BIPOC communities and communities in my riding of Scarborough Southwest, people are relying on food banks. Poverty costs, and the minister knows that. It costs our health care system, it costs our labour force and it’s costing our province.

The report also highlighted that guaranteed income security and the elimination of systemic poverty is a solution. My question is simple. Will the government—and I know the fiscal update does not address it. It does not address the crisis that we’re facing in our province. It does not address the crisis that we’re facing with the wage suppression—