My question is to the Premier. Last month, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing was asked about ministerial zoning orders. He said, “What I’m concerned with are those MZOs that have led to no action being taken. The MZOs that I’m pleased with, of course, are the ones that the Minister of Long-Term Care has asked for....”

Well, it turns out that the Toronto Star looked at several MZOs issued for long-term-care homes and found that, in most cases, there was no action being taken with them either. This includes MZOs issued for long-term-care homes on government-owned land.

My question is this: Why is this minister so pleased that his MZOs are not getting long-term-care homes built?

My question is to the Premier. According to FOI documents, at a meeting on October 13, 2022, staff discussed the removal of Gormley lands from the greenbelt. In a meeting note, Ryan Amato said the decision on the Gormley greenbelt lands was with the Premier’s office. I quote Amato: “Premier doesn’t understand it’s in the Oak Ridges moraine.”

My question is to the Premier: Did you make the decision to remove these Gormley lands from the greenbelt? Yes or no?

Back to the minister: Last week, the CBC reported that a group of land speculators purchased 37 hectares of farmland outside Ottawa’s urban boundary last year, and then, earlier this month, the minister overrode the city’s official plan and put these lands within the urban boundary, making these very lucky speculators instantly richer. Coincidentally, these speculators, together, donated more than $12,000 to the PC Party last year and this year.

My question is to the minister. Did the minister or any other government or PC Party official share with any landowner information about the government’s plan to add lands to Ottawa’s urban boundary before it became public?

Interjection.

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. On November 16, the minister said he spoke with developers prior to announcing that lands would be removed from the greenbelt. The minister needs to clarify his remarks. Did the minister or any other government or PC Party official share with any landowner information about the government’s plan to remove lands from the greenbelt before it became public?

Democracy is important. Humanity struggled for hundreds and hundreds of years to secure democracy. People went to war to uphold democracy. People have lost their lives to secure the right to vote.

Bill 39 is an affront to representative democracy. It is not democratic to have eight out of 25 councillors decide matters that affect 2.9 million people. It is not democratic to have the Premier do away with an election and hand-pick regional chairs.

This has nothing to do with solving the housing affordability crisis, and this has everything to do with taking power away from citizens and concentrating power in the hands of the Premier and the mayor of Toronto.

True leadership means governing for everyone, not just the few. True leadership means listening and collaborating with all Ontarians, not just the ones that donated to your election campaign.

This government has political power—it’s true—but Ontarians have people power. We have people power. And people power always wins, provided that we exercise it. Thank you to the many of you who have written letters, made phone calls, attended protests, joined advocacy groups, spoke out in the media, are going to court and who are persuading and encouraging your friends and neighbours to speak up and get active.

In the face of a government that does not respect democratic norms, our involvement has never been more important.