The federal budget came out yesterday, and I’m worried Ontario is going to miss out because the Conservatives are failing to be bold on housing. There is federal housing infrastructure funding available for provinces that say yes to fourplexes and legalizing gentle density, which means this government has two choices: You can either continue saying no to more housing, or you can say yes to fourplexes, to ensure Ontario gets its fair share of infrastructure funding. What is this government going to choose?

Ontario wants you to show leadership on the housing file, and for that to happen you need to make a deal. Is this government going to make a deal with the federal government? Yes or no?

My question is to the Premier. Yesterday, the government introduced a housing bill that is both unambitious and underwhelming. The government has chosen to ignore the top recommendations from its own Housing Affordability Task Force, including legalizing fourplexes in towns and cities.

What is stopping this government from showing leadership and doing more to build homes in neighbourhoods people want to live in?

When I read this bill, I’ve got to say, I think this government is a sucker for punishment, because the Conservatives are once again looking at making it easier to build sprawl on farmland. The last time the government did this—they launched a criminal RCMP investigation into your own activities.

My question is this: Why do you keep trying to find new ways to pave over farmland?

The worst thing about yesterday’s bill is what is not in it. There is nothing in this bill for renters. There is nothing to lower rent. There is nothing to stop illegal evictions. There is nothing to fix the Landlord and Tenant Board.

My question is to the Premier. Why does this government keep leaving renters behind?

My question is to the Premier. The Conservatives want to open up an area of land as big as the size of Toronto on greenbelt land and farmland, even though experts have been telling you loud and clear—even your own experts have been telling you—that there is more than enough land already available in areas zoned for development.

Well, get this: Land speculators are reading the tea leaves and they are buying up protected farmland. Farm prices have gone up by 20% in the last year alone. New farmers and young farmers can’t compete with these land speculators, and they’re worried they’re never going to get into the housing sector and the farming sector.

To strengthen our farming sector, can the Conservatives commit to not opening up any more greenbelt land to needless development?

I’m proud to rise today to speak to our opposition day motion to ensure that every Ontarian has a safe and affordable home that they can afford, that is their own.

In Ontario today, we have a housing affordability crisis. In Toronto, we have over 10,000 people who are homeless; they’ve got no homes. They’re sleeping on couches. They are living in parks, in encampments. They are trying to access overcrowded shelters that are full most nights, and they have nowhere else to go.

When it comes to the rental market, we are seeing rents that are at record levels. That might be very good for investors, but it is horrible for Ontarians who cannot afford to pay the rent and pay for their bills and pay for food, especially at a time when we have an inflationary crisis that is, in particular, affecting our housing sector and our food sector. It is scary.

We also have a situation where the dream of home ownership has gone up in smoke.

This government has been in power for four years and a bit now. They’ve had four and a half years to address the housing affordability crisis. Have home prices gone up or down? They’ve gone up. Have rental prices gone up or down? They’ve gone up.

There is the classic saying—the Canadian dream—that if you work hard, you will be able to afford a home that you will one day own. In Ontario today, if you work hard, you will be lucky to find an apartment that you can afford to rent. That is how bad it has gotten.

We now have Alberta putting advertisements in the Toronto subway system, encouraging Ontarians to move to a cheaper province and to take their skill set with them. These are teachers, nurses, paramedics, librarians, tradespeople, baggage handlers. They’re leaving. We now have a net exodus of people moving away from Ontario to other provinces, and it is mostly because this province has become too unaffordable. The reason why it has become so unaffordable is because it is too expensive to find a home to rent and it is too expensive to find a home to own. Why would you stay in a city where you can no longer afford or ever afford a down payment? Why would you stay in a city where you now pay more in rent than someone pays in a mortgage if they bought a home 10 or more years ago; today, people who are renting pay more. Why would you stay in a city where you spend 50% of your paycheque paying off an investor’s mortgage and the chance of you having your own mortgage to pay off has gone up in smoke?

That is this government’s legacy and the Liberal government’s legacy. It is not just the federal government’s responsibility. It is the provincial government’s responsibility as well.

What I find so challenging is that this government says, “Yes, we have a housing crisis”—they have a hard time saying the word “affordable,” but they acknowledge that there is a housing crisis, and then they introduce a bill like Bill 23, which outlines their myth of a road map to get us out of this housing affordability crisis. When I look at Bill 23, I am honestly shocked at its impact on renters, on municipal budgets, on affordable housing, on the greenbelt, on the farmland, and I want to go through this with the time that I have.

This government, with Bill 23, is cutting funding to affordable housing. You’re going to make it so that developers do not have to pay their housing services fee of $1,000 per unit, which goes to affordable housing programs and shelters. That’s what Bill 23 does.

This government, with Bill 23, is cutting the definition of affordable housing. So if a developer builds a home that is quasi-affordable, at 80% of market rent or 80% of the sale price, then they get to have their development fees eliminated. But when we look at the definition of affordable, we see that a one-bedroom condo in downtown Toronto for $440,000 is affordable, according to this government. That is not affordable. You need to earn over $130,000 a year for that to be affordable. That is a shame.

This government is doing nothing in Bill 23 to lower rent—nothing. This government is doing nothing to bring in real rent control so renters are protected from eviction and can build their lives because they’re protected from eviction in a community. They’re doing nothing about it. In fact, what they’re doing is making it worse.

With Bill 23, this government is going to make it easier for developers to set their sights on purpose-built rentals and say, “Well, that area is already zoned for height, so we are going to demolish that purpose-built rental and build a luxury condo.” Those renters who used to have the right to return to that building once construction is complete will no longer be able to do that, which means that all these affordable private market rentals that exist in the city of Toronto, in my riding—health care workers live in these buildings; seniors live in these buildings—are gone. And luxury condos that retail for $3,000 a month in rent, if the owner chooses to rent them out, won’t even be protected with rent control.

That’s your idea of achieving housing affordability in Ontario today. Well, it’s not going to achieve its goal. It’s that simple.

We are calling for a better vision, and I’m going to summarize it now.

Yes, we have a housing supply crisis. We need to build 1.5 million homes to meet demand for current Ontarians who are living in their parents’ basements or are living two families to a purpose-built rental because they can’t afford to branch out on their own. Yes, we need to build homes for future Ontarians as well—no question. But we shouldn’t be building 600-square-foot condos and 3,000-square-foot McMansion monster homes, because they’re not affordable or too small. We need to build homes that meet the needs of Ontarians. We need to build homes for the people who intend to buy them and then live in them, so that they can raise children in them, have pets in them, retire in them, but we’re not doing that. This government is more interested in helping developers and speculators than it is in helping everyday Ontarians find the home that they need. That is a shame.

We are calling for measures to bring forward zoning reform.

We are calling for measures to increase the number of people who are working in the trades, through increased immigration and recruiting people from high schools, so we can ramp up construction.

We are calling for government investment in the housing sector by establishing an entity called “Housing Ontario” to build housing at cost—250,000 homes over 10 years. This isn’t pie in the sky. The city of Toronto is already doing it. They have the Housing Now program where they’re building non-market and for-profit homes on public land at cost in order to provide homes for people. Some of them are affordable. Some of them are rentals. Some of them are condos. They’re doing it. Why aren’t we? We have over 6,000 properties available to access where we can build housing. Why aren’t we doing that? We’re not, but we should be.

We need to augment that—because it’s not just about supply; it’s also about affordability—with real rent control on all units, new and old. We need to bring in vacancy control so there’s a cap on how much the rent can be raised once a tenant leaves, because that will provide protection and stability for renters.

We need to build supportive housing and affordable housing, because there are so many people in Ontario who will never be served by the private market. They need the helping hand of government to provide them with a supportive home and an affordable home so they can rebuild their lives and live good lives.

That’s what we are calling for.

I urge you to support this motion, because this is the true path towards addressing our housing affordability crisis so everyone in Ontario can have a safe and affordable home.

I move that, whereas all Ontarians have the right to adequate housing; and

Whereas to ensure an adequate supply of housing, Ontario must build 1.5 million new market and non-market homes over the next decade; and

Whereas the for-profit private market by itself will not, and cannot, deliver enough homes that are affordable and meet the needs of Ontarians of all incomes, ages, family sizes, abilities and cultures; and

Whereas the housing policies of successive PC and Liberal provincial governments have relied almost entirely on the for-profit private market to deliver new housing; and

Whereas these housing policies have focused on delivering profits for investors, rather than homes for people, and thus have failed to ensure that newly built homes are actually affordable and meet the needs of all Ontarians; and

Whereas these housing policies have failed to end exclusionary zoning, and have blocked access to affordable and adequate housing options in the neighbourhoods where people want to live; and

Whereas these policies have encouraged more speculative and market bubbles, and have driven up the costs of housing beyond the reach of ordinary Ontarians; and

Whereas these failed housing policies have put tenants at increased risk of rent gouging, eviction and displacement, and have threatened the inclusivity and vibrancy of growing neighbourhoods; and

Whereas these failed housing policies will sacrifice more irreplaceable farmland, natural heritage and greenbelt lands to costly and unsustainable urban sprawl, putting Ontario’s food security at risk;

Therefore, the Legislative Assembly calls on the Ontario government to implement a comprehensive housing plan that ensures the right of all Ontarians to adequate housing, including ending exclusionary zoning and enabling access to affordable and adequate housing options in all neighbourhoods; stabilizing housing markets and stopping harmful speculation; establishing a strong public role in the funding, delivery, acquisition and protection of an adequate supply of affordable and non-market homes; protecting tenants from rent gouging and displacement, and ensuring the inclusivity of growing neighbourhoods; and focusing growth efficiently and sustainably within existing urban boundaries, while protecting irreplaceable farmland, wetlands, the greenbelt and other natural heritage from costly and unsustainable urban sprawl.

Minister, this government has been in power for four years, and during that time, rent prices have gone up and housing prices have gone up, and nothing has become more affordable. That is your record.

The city of Toronto is very alarmed about Bill 23. In their submission, they say the city is on track to lose $230 million in fees at a time when they’re facing an $815-million budget shortfall. They will have no choice to postpone or cancel capital projects.

Minister, can you at least press pause on Bill 23 so the true consequences of this bill can be known?

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

I was shocked to learn, Minister, that nine of the developers that own land being removed from the greenbelt donated more than $572,000 to the Conservative Party. These developers bought the protected land at a very cheap price, and now, with a stroke of your pen, they can develop that land for incredible profit.

Minister, how did you decide which land owned by which donor should be removed from the greenbelt?

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario is not happy with Bill 23. Since this government refused to extend the hearings and let them speak, I’ll read from their written submission: “The bill transfers up to $1 billion a year in costs from private sector developers to property taxpayers without any likelihood of improving affordability.” In other words, “Developers stand to gain. We all stand to lose. Housing will remain unaffordable.”

Minister, why proceed with the developer fee cuts if experts are telling you it won’t make housing affordable?

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Toronto has a homelessness crisis. The wait-list for supportive housing is 21,000 people long, and we only housed 185 people last year. Our shelters are full.

The Premier has set a goal of building new homes for Ontarians. But if the Premier is so concerned about building new housing, why is he cutting over $100 million from the province’s housing program to build affordable housing?

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The BC government just completed a report that looked at the effectiveness of its speculation and vacant homes tax, designed to make housing more affordable for people who intend to live in the homes they rent or buy. The tax has raised over $231 million in affordable housing and has added over 20,000 long-term rental units to the Vancouver area—20,000 units, all with the stroke of a pen.

Just like BC, Ontario has an issue with vacant homes as well. Minister, to quickly increase housing supply, can you bring in an effective provincial speculation and vacant homes tax?

My question is back to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing again: The city of Toronto passed Ontario’s first inclusionary zoning law back in 2021. Inclusionary zoning requires developers to set aside some affordable housing units in each development located near transit stops. It’s a very good way to build affordable housing in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Here’s the challenge: Toronto has approved 104 areas in the city where inclusionary zoning should apply, and has submitted these 104 requests to the ministry to approve. How many inclusionary zoning requests have you approved, Minister? Zero.

Minister, when are you going to allow the city to proceed with inclusionary zoning, so developers build more affordable housing?