Mr. Speaker, we’re not an island here. Maybe the NDP lives on an island called “their world,” but in our world, we’re dealing with the economic environment that we’re in globally. We’re dealing with higher interest rates and inflation. In that environment, Mr. Speaker, you have two choices: You could cut spending and put on the brakes or you could keep going. Well, this government chooses to keep going.

We are choosing to invest in workers and the people of this province by increasing the Skills Development Fund so we can train our workers to build those hospitals that this Minister of Health is building. This Minister of Transportation is building highways right across the province, public transit—that’s what a government does when it has options in front of them.

Mr. Speaker, this government has a plan. It’s got a vision. It’s executing against that plan, and we will continue working on behalf of all 16 million Ontarians.

This is about all types of housing, working with our municipal partners, working provincially for affordable housing, for student housing, for seniors’ housing, for front door and back door, for condos etc.

I can tell you this: One thing we learned, when we work together, when municipalities and provinces lock arms, we can do a lot. But do you know who else has to lock arms with us? The federal government. We are hitting all the targets they put in that commitment, and it is this Minister of Housing, along with the head of the association of municipalities, who wrote a letter to the minister saying, “We’re hitting the targets. We need you to step up. Join us to build housing right across the province.”

I was listening to the head of the Green Party over there. He said, “You know, I want to see the priorities in the budget be housing, housing and housing.” And do you know what the priorities in the budget are? Housing, housing and housing. Come on over to our side.

We are putting in place so many measures. Let’s talk about the Building Faster Fund: $1.2 billion to help reward and incent municipalities who hit their housing targets.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier was in Hamilton just recently, handing out a cheque. The Premier and his colleagues were in Pickering—and that colleague happened to be me—to hand the cheque to the mayor of Pickering. We are working with municipalities.

With the Building Faster Fund, we’re building infrastructure, putting that in place. We’re even helping on purpose-built rentals and getting the federal government to join us on rebating the HST for purpose-built rentals, Mr. Speaker. This government is focused on housing, housing and housing.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, we are not only getting affordable housing built, but we’re also investing more in supportive housing. Again, through the leadership of the Minister of Health, we’re investing another $150 million in supportive housing. But it doesn’t stop there: student housing, senior care housing, long-term-care housing. It’s this Minister of Long-Term Care who made a great announcement in the budget yesterday to support more building of long-term-care housing.

I’ll come back to it again, Mr. Speaker: It’s this government that’s getting things done. It’s getting shovels in the ground, working with our municipal partners, working as a team. I would ask the members opposite to join us in building all of Ontario and helping us get municipalities, the federal government and the province aligned so we can all build those 1.5 million homes.

This is a budget that decides to invest in Ontarians, invest in infrastructure, invest in the economy, invest in the people—the health care workers, the teachers, the skilled trades—right across this province. Because through not spending money and not investing, this is the situation we have. We’re investing.

These deficits will pass. You know the revenues are down because of the global economy. But those long-term investments will last a—

Thank you to the member opposite for that question.

I don’t know—you look at the budget. Look at the numbers. I’m a numbers guy. The increase in the budget to $204.7 billion includes a $6-billion increase to health care spending next year. That’s an 8.1% increase. That’s an increase. I don’t know.

Secondly, education, which includes child care funding, it includes funding for catch-up, it includes funding for mental health, it includes funding for literacy and a whole range of things—more funding per pupil, as the Minister of Education highlighted. It’s going up $2.3 billion; that’s 7.1%. I’m looking at numbers.

Maybe their world looks at numbers very differently, but I’m looking at the facts.

In fact, you mentioned homelessness. Thank you for raising that very important point.

What did we do last week? We increased funding for homelessness by $202 million—a record increase for people who need a hand up.

We’re not going to let down the people coming to this province, nor are we going to let down the people in this province.

I’m happy to address the question from the Leader of the Opposition. When I think about why I got into government: For 15 years, we saw a record amount of spending, supported for three years by the NDP, I submit—from 2011 to 2014—as I have mentioned many times, in the history of Confederation up to 2003, $130 billion of debt; the next 15 years, almost $200 billion in debt.

Did those spending dollars go into health care? Did they go into building highways so people could move goods and people to market? Did the spending go into building more subways to connect the hundreds of thousands of people that move to Ontario every single year? Where are those people going to live? Where are they going to live? They have to live in housing. That’s what this government is accelerating to make sure we get it done.

That being said, let me also think about almost a year ago, when we tabled our budget for the people of Ontario and we took that budget to the people of Ontario. It included gas tax relief, because the cost of gas and the cost of everything was going up. It included a doubling of the low-income individuals and families tax credit so that the lowest-income workers in this province got a break. It helped seniors with the seniors’ home affordability tax credit.

But did we stop there? No. In the fall economic statement, what did we do? We increased ODSP funding by 5%. We indexed it to inflation for the first time ever. And we didn’t stop there. We increased the earnings exemption. We provided the GAINS, the doubling of support for seniors and the guaranteed annual income. Also, we continued the gas tax relief for another year.

Enough transit?

Ontario’s projected deficit in 2022-23 is $12.9 billion. This is an improvement of $6.9 billion from the 2022 budget. Eliminating Ontario’s deficit while delivering on Ontario’s Plan to Build is a critical part of our government’s long-term vision for this province. After unprecedented spending in response to the pandemic, now is the time for governments to show restraint, to act cautiously and responsibly. Irresponsible spending today will only make inflation more painful and drag out the economic downturn.

The economic road ahead will not be easy, and Ontario is not an island, and we will not be immune to it. But there is nothing we cannot do together, no challenge that we cannot meet, no obstacle we cannot overcome. Whatever the economic uncertainty may bring, our government has a plan. Just like Bill Davis did so many years ago, under the leadership of Premier Ford we are building a stronger province. And no matter the obstacles we may face, we are steadfast—because one thing I am sure of is the strength and resilience of the people of this great province.

Together, let’s get it done. Let’s build Ontario.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You look a little different, but congratulations.

Thank you to the member opposite for that question.

I don’t think the parents of the two million students in this province consider catching up their children’s education as a gimmick.

Let me set the record straight for the people of Ontario.

I’m sure the member opposite has looked at the amount of spending in the last full year of the previous Liberal government versus the amount of spending that we’re putting—investments into education. It’s a massive increase. Why? Because we are investing in our children’s future and we’re investing today.

Let’s take a look at the budget, the 241 pages: a $3-billion increased investment in our children’s education; investments in child care; investments in COVID containment and HEPA filters for our schools; investment in the curriculum; investments in mental health and investments in tutorials—most parents would see that as an important investment in their children’s future.

We have 2.6 million people now in the province of Ontario over the age of 65, and over the next 20 years another two million people will join them. Then we’ll have 4.6 million people over the age of 65. What’s so important is that they have choice as to where they can age. Part of that choice is aging at home.

So what are we doing today to invest in our seniors for tomorrow?

The member mentioned the home safety tax credit, so they can have their homes retrofitted, who need it—guardrails and so on.

The member mentioned the care at home tax credit so that attentive care can come to the home.

I would add also that through the home and vehicle program, which is administered by the March of Dimes, we increased funding so that lower-income people—people who couldn’t even afford to get the tax credit because they didn’t have money—could afford to put infrastructure in their homes.

That’s what we’re doing.

We have so much more to do as a society to support all people in Ontario, including our Indigenous populations. I take the question with great interest and seriousness, because it is so important that we build Ontario for everyone.

That is why we have put more funding in place for economic development, in consultation with First Nations, so that, for example, they can share in the prosperity in the Plan to Build Ontario. That’s why, with regard to the Ring of Fire and opening up the prosperity for the north, it is inclusive, that it is in consultation with the people of the north and our First Nations.

This is the way we’re going to move Ontario forward together. We’re going to do it with everybody, including our Indigenous populations, so that we can have an Ontario that benefits everyone.