Thank you to the member from University–Rosedale for her thorough debate on housing. One thing that is certainly getting a lot of attention in the media these days is that housing starts are down under this government. They’re actually back to the same level as 2018.

The government talks about the number of housing bills and red tape reduction bills that it has introduced, and it seems to me that that’s just adding to the paper and the collection of documents that say they’re doing something when, in fact, nothing is getting done. Really, we’ve got a man with no plan in charge here. So could you talk a little bit about what you would do if you were in government to get housing starts actually back up?

I have a petition with over a hundred signatures from residents in my riding of Don Valley West who are against the government’s plan to undermine, downsize and relocate the Ontario Science Centre to Ontario Place. The petitioners indicate that this plan, initiated without public consultation, environmental assessment or a sound business rationale, will cause irreparable harm to our community. They’re concerned about the $500 million of public funds the government will spend on the parking lot. They are worried about our priority neighbourhoods that the OSC serves, and that this move risks the livelihoods of local residents.

They are asking the government to reconsider this decision and to reconsider moving the OSC from its current location—to leave it where it is; respect its cultural, educational and architectural value.

I fully support this petition. I will sign my name to it and give it to page Victoria.

I rise today with a heavy heart to pay tribute to a remarkable woman, an amazing public servant and a long-time neighbour and friend, Councillor Jaye Robinson, who represented ward 15, Don Valley West, at Toronto city council for almost 14 years. Jaye exemplified spirited leadership and served with distinction in roles such as chair of the Toronto Transit Commission. Prior to being elected, she served as director of events for the city of Toronto, where her spirit for fun and community service shone through as she led efforts to create beloved traditions like Nuit Blanche and Summerlicious.

Jaye’s resilience and commitment to public service were truly inspirational, especially as she courageously battled breast cancer during recent years while continuing to serve our community with the utmost dedication. When she could not be physically present at events, she made sure her presence and support were there virtually or through her amazing staff. She was a great municipal partner to me since I was elected as MPP, and while she was non-partisan, she gave me good advice when I sought her counsel before deciding to run.

We remember Jaye for her profound dedication to public service, her ability to inspire those around her and her fierce and fun spirit. As we honour her legacy, we extend our deepest sympathies to her family: her beloved husband, Billy; her sons, Jake, Sam and Will; mother Shirley; siblings Elizabeth “Brandy,” Robin, Kelly and John; and daughter-in-law Brooke; her colleagues, friends, church family and all who will miss her.

Jaye’s legacy is a lifetime of public service, ongoing, enriching and fun events for the city of Toronto, and community dedication that will continue to inspire all who were privileged to know her.

I’d like to thank the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane for a very entertaining debate session this afternoon. It makes all of us smile a little more often. That’s welcome.

I actually want to talk about a serious question about an email that I’ve had recently from a constituent who is concerned about the pricing of medicine for their pets. Talking about the increases in the last few years, their speculation is that it’s largely due to the presence of the private equity industry or sector in taking over veterinary practices. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about what more the government could do to make sure that pricing for medications for pets is affordable and fair for Ontarians.

I have a petition from residents in my riding of Don Valley West who are concerned about government changes to the Ontario Heritage Act, which will strip heritage protections from 36,000 buildings across the province on January 1, 2025, unless new protections are legislated.

The undersigned are petitioning that this plan, which provides municipalities and interested stakeholders limited time to appeal, will cause lasting harm to Ontario’s architectural heritage.

The petitioners request that the Legislative Assembly amend the Ontario Heritage Act to grant municipalities an additional five years to renew protections for affected heritage buildings so that the serious consequences will not be forthcoming. I wholeheartedly endorse this petition, will affix my name to it and ask page Victoria to bring it to the table.

Thank you, Speaker. A point of order: I am seeking unanimous consent to observe a moment of silence in remembrance of Toronto city councillor Jaye Robinson, who sadly passed away on Thursday, May 16, 2024.

Jaye served Toronto and ward 15, our community of Don Valley West, with such dedication. Throughout her 14 years on Toronto city council, she was a tireless public servant and champion for public transit, arts and community engagement. She enhanced our city through visionary city-building projects like Summerlicious, Nuit Blanche and her famous Moose in the City project. She will be deeply missed by friends like me and many across Don Valley West, her colleagues and, of course, her family and her colleagues at Toronto city council.

I’m pleased to rise today to debate Bill 178, the Promoting Leisure Activities for Youth Act, the PLAY Act, especially since I was not given the opportunity yesterday to debate Bill 180, the budget act. Thank you to my colleague from Orléans for his excellent debate and presentation on this very important bill.

Speaker, this government promised during the 2018 election to give middle-income families a tax break, a promise that remains broken six long years later. Bill 178 is an opportunity to help fulfill that promise by supporting children and their families to make extracurricular activities for kids more affordable.

This government has shirked their responsibilities and spent much of the last six months talking about what more the federal government should do to make life more affordable, because this Conservative government cancelled cap-and-trade. By the way, under this government’s non-existent plan to protect the environment, the amount of green energy in our grid had decreased from 92% under the Liberal government to 86% under this one—and oh, by the way, the Liberal government eliminated smog days, which still benefits the health of all Ontarians, including the kids we’re talking about today in Bill 178.

What this government does not talk about are all the things the federal government has done to make life more affordable, like introducing $10-a-day child care, the rollout of which has been completely bungled by this government; or the Canada child benefit, which has lifted over 400,000 children, many of them here in Ontario, out of poverty; or the Housing Accelerator Fund, which granted Ontario municipalities hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to expedite the development of affordable housing. So today we’re here to talk about something this government could do that was not done in their budget, which I was not allowed to debate yesterday, that would help them keep their broken promise to give middle-income families a tax break right here at home in Ontario.

Speaker, we know that extracurricular activities are important for children’s development. We know that children suffered during the COVID pandemic from a lack of in-person learning, and also a lack of access to friends and learning opportunities at their extracurricular activities. So supporting kids by helping more families access extracurricular activities is even more important now, as more and more kids are struggling with mental health challenges. This bill is a fantastic opportunity for this government to support Ontario families by making their kids’ activities more affordable. Whether it’s a sport, music, arts or STEM programs, Bill 178 will help make those activities more accessible to kids and families by making them more affordable. That will help kids develop and grow, and it will support their mental health.

Bill 178 would encourage extracurricular activities and the well-being of children at a time when so many children are struggling with mental health, in an environment where digital fatigue and social media burnout are becoming increasingly common, because phone usage is up post-pandemic, impacting their ability to engage meaningfully with the world and their peers.

Regardless of party, I believe all members want the children of Ontario to thrive and be healthy, mentally and physically. Research has found that engaging in extracurricular activities helps reduce stress, improve mood and provide a sense of purpose and fulfillment for students. It develops students’ cultural and social capital, says the People for Education of Ontario.

With the affordability challenges our province is facing post-COVID, we must not neglect extracurriculars for children. This bill will provide an incentive for families and allow children to participate in the activities they want to participate in. Giving up to $1,000 back to families would help offset the fees that may prevent them from being entered into sports, arts or outside opportunities.

The education minister proposed measures relating to restrictions on cellphone use and vaping. Bill 178 complements these efforts to reduce distraction in classrooms by giving kids more opportunity for positive activities to engage in. I encourage all members to support Bill 178, to support our kids and families by making extracurricular activities more affordable. Where the budget failed to support kids with after-school programs, this bill steps up to do just that.

I am pleased to rise today to introduce the Cutting Taxes on Small Businesses Act. This bill would provide essential tax relief for Ontario’s small businesses by cutting the effective small business tax rate in half, from 3.2% to 1.6%, and by increasing the income threshold for this deduction from $500,000 to $600,000. If passed, this bill will be deemed to have come into effect on January 1, 2024, and will save small businesses up to $17,900 annually.

Some 450,000 Ontario small businesses employ over three million people—two thirds of workers in the private sector—and are vital to our economy and communities.

This bill will give small business owners more opportunity to thrive and grow, fostering economic prosperity and innovation across our province.

The other three parties have all talked about lowering taxes on small business; I am doing that today.

I hope all members will show their support to small businesses in their communities and across the province by supporting the Cutting Taxes on Small Businesses Act.

We learned recently that this government is once again hiding information from the people of Ontario. This time, it’s about how many health care workers they will be short because of their damaging, unconstitutional Bill 124.

But, Speaker, this behaviour is not a surprise from this government. They are experts at pulling down the blinds on the press’s right to light and transparency. Whether it’s ministerial mandate letters, the details of the shameful 95-year lease with a foreign-owned spa, the real reason they’re closing the Ontario Science Centre and building a parking lot for their spa friends, the criminal investigation into the greenbelt scandal or how they’ve doubled the number of staff riding the gravy train in the Premier’s office, this government has no qualms about hiding their flaws.

My question to the Premier: Why does he like hiding information from the people of Ontario?

Speaker, this government forgets that the privilege of governing comes with the responsibility of transparency, so their disdain for transparency is at odds with their endless crowing about their record. If their crowing is justified, then there should be nothing to hide. But the press had to go to court again to get the information about the shortage of health care workers. The documents pried out of the government’s hands by the Canadian Press show the information was hidden because—wait for it—the government thinks that it would help nurses to get fair wages.

To the Premier: If the state of our health care system is not a concern, why did the government try to hide this information?

Interjections.

I’m pleased to present today a petition from constituents in my riding outlining concerns that this government is undermining the five principles of the Canada Health Act, 1984, by promoting and funding for-profit health care services at the expense of our public system, and asking this Legislative Assembly to stop plans to further privatize our health care and to make sure that public health services are for the people of Ontario; that they prevent the erosion of our public health system by funding our hospitals, because quality of care for Ontarians is the bottom line.

I’m happy to affix my signature to this petition and give it to page Diya to take to the table.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Gigi Juriansz, who is my summer intern. She’s in the commerce program at Queen’s University, and I’m very happy to have her here for the summer.

I’d like to welcome Chris Markham from my riding. He was here to attend the Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance breakfast this morning. I thank him for his good work as well with the Ontario Autism Coalition.

The spring budget plans spending $214 billion of taxpayer money, more than any government in Ontario history. Never has a government spent so much to deliver so little. And why is that? Because this Premier and his government are conducting a gravy train deluxe that delivers taxpayer money to their friends and insiders at the expense of the people of Ontario.

Speaker, who benefits from this budget? It’s not our public education system. Teachers spoke about that yesterday at the finance committee, during budget hearings. It’s not our public health care system. Doctors spoke about that too, yesterday. In fact, the OMA is so fed up with not being heard by this government about the crisis in family medicine that they are trying to get the government’s attention by saying they need to “prepare for the coming apocalypse,” all while this Premier spends money hand over fist in the Premier’s office on expensive staffers.

My question to the Premier: When will he take control of his own office and stop the gravy train?

While the Premier has spent $4 million on expensive staff in his office for at least the last three years—$6.9 million this year—the budget does not show that. The budget has been exactly the same—$2,432,661. The math just doesn’t add up.

My question to the Premier: Where is he hiding the money?

Interjections.

I’d like to introduce and acknowledge Audrey Lo, a page from my riding, as well as her mom, Nicole, who is visiting today, as well as the grade 5 classes from Maurice Cody public school in my riding.

I have a petition with over [inaudible] signatures from residents in my riding of Don Valley West who are against the government’s plan to undermine, downsize and relocate the Ontario Science Centre to Ontario Place. The petitioners indicate that this plan, which the government initiated without public consultation, environmental assessment or a sound business rationale, will cause irreparable harm to their community.

The petitioners request that the Legislative Assembly reconsider the decision to relocate the science centre and prioritize renewing the Ontario Science Centre at its current site in Don Mills and ensure thorough public and environmental evaluations of any future proposed changes.

I wholeheartedly endorse this petition and will affix my name to it and ask page Erwin to bring it to the Clerk.

Tenants and landlords in my riding of Don Valley West are concerned about the unreasonable delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board caused by this government’s bad decision to fire qualified, experienced adjudicators and appoint their friends. Just like with the $8.3-billion greenbelt giveaway and the gravy train in the Premier’s office, this government takes care of their friends at the expense of Ontarians. According to Tribunal Watch Ontario, the backlog of cases is over 53,000—almost four times worse than when they took office. The average wait for a landlord needing an arrears eviction hearing has risen to 342 days—10 times worse.

Speaker, the delay for tenants is even worse. Their average wait is 427 days, versus 70 days in 2018. Tenants are waiting over a year for their day in court about a problematic above-guideline rent increase or unlawful eviction—just one more way that life is worse for tenants under this Conservative government.

Today, my colleague from Kingston and the Islands will be debating his Bill 179, the Fewer Backlogs and Less Partisan Tribunals Act. The government has a chance to fix the LTB mess of their own making by voting for this bill. Voting against it is one more sign that this Premier is happy to be the conductor of his very own gravy train.

Certainly this government does have the biggest Premier’s office in history. Once again, the standards this government holds itself to just don’t apply to them.

This Premier has a long history of railing against governments wasting money, the so-called “gravy train.” Torontonians remember him railing against it as a city councillor, and Ontarians heard him do it during provincial campaigns. Yet during his six years in office, the Premier has not hesitated to create new executive positions for his friends, giving every member of the Conservative caucus except one a pay raise and doubling the number of staff in the Premier’s office making $100,000 or more a year. I guess it’s hard for the Premier to rail against the gravy train when he’s up to his own waist in gravy.

Speaker, back to the Premier: How exactly is his gravy train deluxe different from everything he has railed against in the past, and how will he stop the gravy train deluxe this time around, when he has only himself to blame?

In 2018, the Premier ran a tough-talking campaign aimed at convincing Ontarians the previous government was wasting taxpayer money. He spoke about the growing sunshine list of public sector employees earning over $100,000. One would think he was some kind of Robin Hood figure who was going to take from the rich and give to the poor. His record in office proves otherwise.

Speaker, this government has made many mistakes: Bill 124, axing workers’ rights, the greenbelt scandal, to name just a few. But now, the government has a mistake right in the Premier’s office. The Premier has added so many new sunshine-list employees to his staff that it’s costing taxpayers more than double what it did under any previous government.

My question to the Premier: Is he ready to admit that he is running a government that is full of friends, insiders and fat cats, to use his own words, and to clean up the bloated mess in his office?

Thank you to the member for the very good question. The answer is no, Speaker. In fact, I provided some suggestions to this government about things that would do exactly that—for example, Digital Main Street, and extending that program beyond the current fiscal year. That would help Ontario small businesses grow and expand. Instead of spending money on highways and long-term-care homes through their $3-billion bank that they’re now calling a fund, they could have taken that money, as I suggested, as my caucus suggested, to spend it on things that do help us transition to the green economy; things that will advance our work in innovation in health care, in genomes and in lots of areas where we have the opportunity to create new jobs in the new industries of the future and drive productivity growth for our province.

When I talk to people in the business world, they talk about the concerns that people have in our province, the concerns that capital owners have for our province, when they say people don’t have a place to live, and how can we hire skilled workers here and retain our workers when they don’t have an affordable place to live?

Those are the kinds of things that do not drive economic growth. We need to make sure our institutions are well-funded, that our post-secondary institutions get the money they need to provide the education they need to advance our productivity growth into the future.

Well, I stand in favour of building things that benefit Ontarians. The highway in the member’s riding I’m not familiar with; it may benefit Ontarians, and certainly I would encourage that. Highway 413, we know from this government’s own ministry, does not benefit Ontarians, Speaker. It saves 30 seconds. It will certainly, though, benefit the rich developers who own land around that area. That is not the kind of thing we should be prioritizing. We need to be prioritizing spending money on investing in things like our post-secondary institutions, who are feeling the pain right now, who have deficits. That will only cause the future of Ontario to grow dimmer, just like our solar eclipse today.

Certainly, public transportation has been proven to be a driver of economic growth, so I’m absolutely in support of public transit. We cannot allow the death spiral that is happening, as the member referenced, in Ottawa happen here in Toronto. When ridership goes down, revenues go down, service goes down—it’s a death spiral.

In Ontario, we have one of the lowest-funded public transportation systems in the world and we need to make sure that we get that back as a priority for not just Toronto—for Ottawa and for other cities that are growing and need to have public transit to make sure that workers across the province can get to work in an energy-efficient way. And that helps our environment too, so absolutely, we need more public transit.

Speaker, again, it really does just show the priorities of this government. They didn’t take out an ad talking about the increases in the Premier’s staff budget. I wonder why. It’s because it’s nothing to be proud of—doubling the budget is not a good use of taxpayer money and it’s not a good use of this government’s resources.

When you think about adding people to the sunshine list when families are suffering, when we’ve got families who are, in record numbers, going to food banks—we’ve got people with full-time jobs going to food banks because they can’t afford the cost of living in this province. We have a Premier who took away rent control so that rent is now an even bigger portion of people’s take-home income.

So, Speaker, I think this government has its priorities all mixed up and this is a perfect example of that.

Speaker, certainly, there are programs that we’re spending on that do benefit workers. But this budget did not brag about the billions of dollars that came out of the public purse to fix a wrong done by this government to workers who really do matter, our health care workers. Bill 124—this government has had to pay $6 billion so far for reparations on that. There’s probably another $7 billion more to come, so while I appreciate the $100 million spent on skilled trades, this government certainly has not prioritized workers across our province.