Thank you to the member for Brampton West for his remarks. Certainly there are good things in every budget; it would be nice if we could hear some of that from the Conservatives from time to time about previous Liberal budgets, but I digress.

Could you talk a little bit more about GAINS? You talked about that the program. It’s ending on December 31—the doubling. Can you tell us why it’s ending at that time?

Thank you to the member for the question. Certainly we hear the phrase “previous Liberal government” so many times that we play bingo on it over here. I think it’s time to end that game of bingo. I think it’s time for this government to acknowledge that five years is actually a long time. They’ve been in power long enough to realize that there are problems in our health care, problems on the streets with our opioid crisis, and those are problems that they could be spending money on now to fix.

Another example would be on supportive housing in industries like the not-for-profit agencies, who are asking for money to help build more homes. They will run those homes. They will build them; they will run them. But they need some money to do it. That’s another example.

So again, a spa instead of homes, to me, is not the right priority.

People were not suffering from an ER closure in Minden during the Liberal government. That is the kind of crisis we’re feeling now. And so when I talk about a laissez-faire attitude, I’m talking about saying, “Oh, that’s Haliburton Highlands services’ problem,” instead of saying that this Ministry of Health needs to take accountability and make sure that those hospitals stay open to serve the people of Ontario.

I’m very proud of the record of the Ontario Liberal government, as I said, in helping fix our graduation rates, building the greenbelt, building highways and making sure that our education system was supported.

You’re right; we did hear, when we were in northern Ontario, about the increased needs for police services because of the drug crisis. Again, this is small-town Ontario, who are seeing criminals from across the province, from across the borders, come to their communities because it’s near the Trans-Canada Highway and it’s a shipping line to deliver drugs across the country.

So, absolutely, we need to make sure that police have the resources they need to fight crime—and that isn’t just in our big cities, but in our small towns too.

I think I’ve given a lot of reasons here today why this budget is not supportable by me or my constituents, whether it’s a lack of transparency on what the government is spending, spending money on parking lots instead of housing or not fixing our opioid crisis. We see the problems in front of us, Speaker, and this government knows that those problems are not being addressed by this budget.

I rise today to debate Bill 85, the budget measures act.

The people of Ontario really want one thing from their government: to do the right thing for the people of Ontario, the people they are elected to serve. Today, we are debating a budget that this government’s Minister of Finance says is about investing in people and the economy of Ontario to support our collective well-being and prosperity. I have to say, I beg to differ. Let me give you some context.

Before this government came to power, the Liberal government invested in health care, reducing the shortage of family doctors and significantly reducing emergency wait times.

The Liberal government built transportation, including the Union Pearson Express, GO train expansion service, the Yonge subway expansion as well as the resurrection of the Eglinton line following the irresponsible and short-sighted cancellation by Conservative Premier Harris. And we resurrected the Finch subway line. We started the Eglinton Crosstown and built Highways 412 and 418.

We created the greenbelt to protect our environment, to protect our agricultural lands, to protect our water.

We ended the burning of coal, turning Ontario into one of the most environmentally friendly jurisdictions in the world, with clean energy at 96% in 2017, which has indeed attracted manufacturing jobs the Conservatives brag about. What will happen to those jobs under this Conservative budget, which sees Ontario’s clean energy shrink to under 90%? That remains to be seen.

While jobs were lost during the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, the Liberal government steered the province through that crisis. In fact, from 2004 to 2018, during the Liberal government, the number of jobs in the province increased from 10.3 million to 12.5 million.

Most significantly, our Liberal government introduced all-day kindergarten and brought up high school graduate rates from 67% to 87%.

Fiscal responsibility is making good decisions for the people of Ontario, investing in our greatest resource: the people of our province. Yet that is not what the people of Ontario see when they read this budget bill.

In 2018, this government came to office promising to fix hallway medicine and the cost of housing, heralding a new era of fiscal responsibility. And this government continues to brag about their record on that, so let’s do a reality check. Five years into a Conservative government, and the Conservatives brag about record investments in health care in this budget—but spending record amounts of money and seeing our health care system fall apart at the same time is nothing to brag about. With ERs closing and the number of patients receiving hallway health care 20% higher than it was in the last year of the Liberal government, I think it’s fair to say that this money is not being spent responsibly. One example I’ve spoken of before is spending three times as much for a nurse through a private agency instead of paying that nurse what she deserves in our public system.

Let’s talk about housing and the government’s disappointing results on that. In 2019, the median rent for an apartment in Ontario was $1,200; now it’s $1,400. The crisis is worse in our major cities—and those numbers include apartments still protected by rent control. The average list for a one-bedroom is $2,523 a month, in Toronto, and $3,347 for a two-bedroom.

Let’s talk about spending and provincial debt. We have record spending and debt in this province right now under this government. In fact, we have the biggest spending spree in Ontario history, a budget of $204 billion and a record $406 billion in debt, with priorities given to a twin highway, the 413, for the 407 because they sold it off at a bargain basement price.

So while this government likes to deflect from their own record of broken promises and propensity to do backroom deals that benefit their friends more than Ontarians, the numbers tell the real story.

Spending on the people of Ontario is a good investment. It’s investing in the health and education of our people, in the infrastructure that supports life and commerce in this province. And spending has indeed ballooned under this Conservative government, to over $200 billion, as I said, and $406 billion in debt—the highest it’s ever been.

That’s right. The Conservatives—not the Liberals, not the NDP—take the prize for the biggest budget in Ontario history. And what indeed is there to show for it? Plans for new highways at the expense of our health care, housing and social programs that support the people of Ontario. While there are some positive investments in jobs and retraining, is life for the people of Ontario better after five years of a Conservative government?

As I mentioned, health care and housing are worse. The opioid crisis rages through our communities, with a 56% increase in emergency department visits and a 52% increase in deaths from opioid overdoses—not one new cent allocated to that in this budget. Farmland is disappearing at a record rate of 319 acres per day, threatening our food supply and worsening affordability.

In regards to people experiencing homelessness, we can’t easily find the total number because the government cancelled their own recordkeeping on that matter, but our eyes don’t deceive us. It is clear in cities large and small that the homeless population has skyrocketed, with tent cities and people sleeping in transit stations. The $202 million announced in the budget for supportive housing and homelessness programs is a start, but underfunding agencies like CMHA is not supporting those who offer support to the homeless and others suffering from mental health issues and addictions. To end homelessness, we need to end the housing crisis and ensure that every person in the province can have a roof over their heads.

But the budget shows that housing starts have slowed and that the province is behind on its housing goal. This is because inflation and labour shortages are making it too expensive to keep building, especially affordable homes. That means it’s time for this government to step up and build homes instead of highways, to put meaningful taxpayer money into the construction of housing, supporting not-for-profits that are asking to do just that instead of asking the federal government to pick up the whole tab. Just today, in my meeting with CIJA, their housing not-for-profit executive director said, “I have been in housing for 35 years and I have never seen things so bad.”

Similarly, high office vacancy rates, particularly in downtowns, could be converted into housing for cheaper than new builds. This would create new housing in areas served by existing infrastructure. The Alberta government is doing just that, and this budget was a missed opportunity to do so here in Ontario.

Let’s talk about health care in rural areas. The announcement of the emergency department closure in Minden is a punch to the gut for that community and a canary in the coal mine for other rural towns. The government’s laissez-faire attitude in regard to this is equally disturbing. Rural hospital departments will continue to close as they lack staff and funds, and this government needs to take serious action to ensure this does not happen.

Let’s contrast that with what the government is going to spend taxpayer money on: half a billion to build an underwater parking lot for the mega-spa project, more than double the new investment in housing supports. That is not a good trade-off for the people of Ontario.

This budget invests $27.9 billion in highway projects over the next 10 years. While this government stands in the House and spreads misinformation about the Liberals being opposed to highways, let me remind the government that a Liberal government built Highways 412 and 418. What I and the people of Ontario are concerned about is the process in which these highway projects were selected, as the Auditor General found that political staffers cancelled highway projects approved by the Liberal government in favour of projects deemed low priority by non-partisan public servants. This includes Highway 413, which the Auditor General estimates will cost more than other high-priority projects, including highway-widening projects in the north. This is not a transparent way to decide how to spend billions in infrastructure, and it’s the opposite of fiscal responsibility.

Perhaps most concerning of all is the lack of transparency in the budget, like with contingency funds and legal fees. The government refuses to tell the people of Ontario how much they’re spending on legal fees to continue their fight to appeal decisions like the one that found Bill 124 unconstitutional, and their refusal to disclose cabinet mandate letters.

Similarly, the budget provides for almost $4 billion in contingencies, a completely un-transparent form of accounting that flouts all the best practices of fiscal responsibility. The budget does include a placeholder, though it’s not specified, for the Therme spa and new parking lot underwater at Ontario Place. While the government provides no details themselves, there are reports the province has given this company a 95-year lease of our public lands, yet the details have not been disclosed—more non-transparency.

While the government says this is a typical lease, I would say it’s more of a bargain for Therme. Even if they spend $500 million, that is less than $5 million in amortized expense per year. With a facility of, I think, 236,000 square feet, that’s a cost of $21 per square foot. Speaker, given the market price for space in downtown Toronto is $42 a square foot—half of what Therme is paying—I would say Therme is getting a pretty good deal on the backs of Ontario taxpayers. And let me just add: Therme’s owners are also not known to the Ontario public. We know it is their CEO and a company called A-Heat, but we do not know who owns A-Heat, so we do not know who stands to profit from this deal.

The government budget shows spending of over $200 billion, a record sum, yet the people of Ontario are being left behind: left behind in hallways of hospitals, left behind with dismal options for housing, left relying on food banks even though they have full-time jobs, left on the streets to face—

Thank you for the question.

I think the member has nailed it on the head here when he says that people are on their own.

Again, that money is basically being stored away for a rainy day and potential risks that the government talks about. Well, again, those risks are here. As you’ve mentioned, children are suffering from the pandemic. Their mental health is suffering, and they’re being told, “Here’s a couple of hundred dollars to go get some tutoring help.” That will not advance their learning. Seniors are being told, “Wait for your eye care appointments.” People are being told to keep waiting for their surgeries.

That money could be invested in our economy, invested in our health care system, invested in helping the homeless, whom we know are struggling, and that’s affecting all of us more broadly in our economy.

The member is quite accurate in saying that that money could be better spent under many different programs, instead of squirrelling it away for a rainy day.

Certainly, investing in new immigrants to Ontario and to Canada is important.

I know the government likes to point out that if we vote against the budget, we’re voting against the whole thing. I certainly don’t think that’s the case.

I think the focus really needs to be on keeping the workers we do have. The government is focused on finding new workers. That’s because they’re driving away workers. They’ve driven away workers in the health care sector. They’ve driven away education workers. And they’re driving away daycare workers, so that’s actually preventing us from achieving the full potential we can around the federal government’s program for daycare.

While I support supporting new immigrants to Ontario, we need to also make sure that we’re fighting for the workers we have today.

It was really heartbreaking to hear the interview with the mother of the 16-year-old boy who died. She was very brave and spoke up about the need not only for investment in our transit systems but for investments in the people who are vulnerable—the homeless man who allegedly killed her son.

So I think that, on two fronts, this budget lets us down. It is not investing in our transit systems. There are broken promises related to new lines that the previous budgets have laid out that are not here.

We know that the TTC is having to cut service, and that only leads to more unsafe conditions on our transit systems, because with fewer people around and longer wait times, we know that that can lead to more issues.

Absolutely, the member is correct that we should be investing in public transit and the surrounding supports to make sure the homeless are supported.

We need to be making sure that if we build transit, we actually can run it. We can’t run it without sufficient operating budgets. We know that the TTC is one of the most underfunded transit systems in North America, and I expect that’s probably the case for others, like in Ottawa.

Again, having government support for that transit system will provide safety, but we also need to talk about how many people are homeless, what kind of supports they need, what kind of housing they need. Let’s look at things like small homes that can be affordable, that can be done quickly, to put a roof over their heads so that they can then get the help that they need.

Continuing where I left off yesterday—we need a government that invests in young, high-potential companies. An innovation hub told me that a government contract is more valuable than a grant because it gives them credibility when they go to sell in other markets. We need a government that sees that opportunity and does what it can to support these companies. But we’re not seeing that kind of creativity with this government.

Canada’s productivity is lagging far behind other major economies, with the OECD ranking us last for future economic GDP per capita growth amongst advanced economies. Ontario plays a role in that. It has been an economic engine for Canada, and we are not keeping up. We must keep firing on all cylinders to make sure that Ontario does its job to be the roaring engine of the Canadian economy. That could include continuing to drive work to remove barriers in freer interprovincial trade. Ontario should be leading these conversations, yet there was no mention of this opportunity in this latest budget document. As Stephen Poloz, former governor of the Bank of Canada, said at an initiative led by the Minister of Economic Development in 2021, “Politics is the art of the possible. I see no reason why this isn’t possible.” Unlocking this potential would create thousands of dollars per person in GDP in this province.

Speaker, let’s talk about the $4 billion this government has once again put in contingency funds. This government has a predilection for squirreling more away for a rainy day than any other government before it. Clearly, they have no plan to use that money to invest back into our economy and the people of Ontario. Maybe that’s why the Premier said, last year, “The worst place you can ever give your money to is the government.” That $4 billion would go a long way in making a difference in people’s lives. If the government repeals their unconstitutional Bill 124, they could use this money and the millions they are spending to fight it on paying our health care and other public workers more than a 1% raise. It could go toward the construction of new affordable housing, so that we can provide safe housing to the thousands of homeless people struggling across this province. It could go towards restoring the universal basic income pilot. It could help address the school repair backlog and the surgical backlog. It could go towards addressing the shortfall in municipal budgets and helping municipalities large and small to meaningfully address the opioid crisis. It could go towards key transit projects like the Eglinton East LRT in Scarborough or the waterfront LRT. It could go towards restoring OSAP funding to the more inclusionary levels under the previous Liberal government, and to supporting arts and culture to enrich our lives. It could go towards advancing employee ownership trusts, digital health innovation, and helping drive climate resilience and the energy transition.

There’s a long list of unmet needs under this government, and spending our money wisely to support the people of Ontario and drive growth in our economy would help lift everyone up.

Instead, individuals, families, health care and education systems, Ontario productivity and our future economy will continue to struggle under this government’s latest budget. If people can no longer afford to live in Ontario, and this government is not investing in people and real solutions to make Ontario the roaring engine of our economy, why would people choose to stay?

Unfortunately, for a lot of Ontarians, this budget means more housing unaffordability, more suffering from the increased cost of living, and more long wait times for care—more unmet needs.

The families of Ontario will not feel any balance from the budget, and that is nothing to celebrate.

As I mentioned, I do believe that those things drive productivity but that those aren’t the only sectors in our economy that we need to pay attention to. As I also mentioned, those companies in the manufacturing sector will only benefit from that credit if they actually decide to invest, and investing takes confidence. Business confidence is at an all-time low right now under this government.

I think what we need to be doing is focusing on the things that can build up investor confidence, business confidence. That includes making sure that we do have a strong health care system, a strong education system; that we’re investing in our post-secondary education institutions and driving advancement towards a clean economy, a green economy, so that those businesses are here and willing to stay.

I think the member has made a very good point—that, of course, it’s not fiscally prudent. The government is very likely to lose this court battle; it has been deemed unconstitutional. In addition to that, we know that it’s driving workers out of this province. We heard that in the pre-budget consultations. We heard how it’s forcing people who have full-time jobs to seek support in food banks. So we know that it’s not only unconstitutional, but that it’s damaging our economy, and spending probably in the tens of millions of dollars, if it’s consistent with what they’ve spent on other appeals, is really throwing good money after bad.