Thank you to the member for that question. I know in Sudbury they have a great group of workers. Louise, who is a nurse at the hospital in Sudbury—I say hello to you and thank you for your work.

I will give you an example of how that is not accurate. I had a breast screening. My doctor said I needed a breast screening. It was five weeks I waited. I went in—it was 8:30 in the morning.

I also want to thank the Minister of Health for the infrastructure investments in St. Joseph’s hospital. They’ve opened up their new breast-screening rooms, which are on the third floor. It was seamless. It was easy to park. I had my test and I went home. I was in and out within an hour—I only had to pay $5 for parking. That’s why I know.

So we are investing in our hospitals. Hospitals are getting the money. They’re getting the funding to open up these sessions. If you want to look at the one at St. Joseph’s hospital, please do. It’s a beautiful site, and I—

This is for everybody, these highways. So I just want to congratulate the government on this bill.

I’m happy to talk a little bit about my excitement about Ontario Place, because I am actually really excited. There’s going to be a wellness centre, yes, as we’ve all discussed, and there will be more things. There will be bike lanes. There will be beautiful bike paths. They have these fire pits. Ontario Place is going to be amazing.

We are going to be building some parking because people need to drive because they come from your riding. They’re not going to ride a bike from the Windsor area; they’re going to have to drive a car.

So, wherever we come from around the province, we have to actually drive. We also like to be environmentally friendly but it is actually impossible for you to put four kids on the back of a bicycle, so you need a place for that car to go.

Our plan for Ontario Place is phenomenal, and if you have some other ideas, please share them.

I know the minister has been working hard. There is a map if you want to see all the things that you can share with your constituents of what Ontario Place will offer.

You can go to the aquarium, which is down by the CN Tower. You can go to the CN Tower. You’ll be able to take—because the new Ontario Line will connect everything. You can actually walk it. It’s not that far if you have the energy, and we all know that young kids have the energy to go take a walk through. Or you can rent bikes. We have bike rentals everywhere, so you can grab a bike and you can bike through the biking paths through Ontario Place and have a great day. You can stop and have a coffee; you can stop and have lunch. It’s going to be a destination for everybody.

I understand that the Liberals had an RFP and chose the same, Therme, when they were in power. So there was an RFP that was put out, and they were the winning bid. But you know what I didn’t mention? I didn’t mention the uploading of the Gardiner and the DVP. That’s part of this whole plan. This will help get people to Ontario Place. They can take the Gardiner. The city of Toronto can no longer dangle that in front of our face, saying, “We’re going to get rid of that”—because we need that infrastructure so people can get to and from work on time, people can get to and from the places. This is a major artery. I’m really happy to see that the government is going to be taking over the Gardiner.

When it comes to the carbon tax, one thing that I can look at in my riding of Etobicoke–Lakeshore, which is the home of the food terminal, is, how does that food get from the farms to the food terminal in Etobicoke? Well, they drive. They have to fill up their trucks with gas. Each time they fill up their cars with gas, it costs more. Then they come to the food terminal and the trucks ship it out again, and how much—what is that? More tax, and it’s the carbon tax. Then you look at the circle—so that means your prices of your food are going up, everything is going up. So the carbon tax, there is nothing positive about it. It is a tax. It is money that’s coming directly out of our pockets. We’re in an affordability crisis. I think it’s time to axe the tax.

Good morning. What an honour it is to talk about the city of Toronto: the city that I call home, the city that my family calls home. It is a privilege to be here at second reading of the government’s proposed legislation the New Deal for Toronto Act, 2023. I first want to thank the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Infrastructure and the Premier for their work in delivering Bill 154, the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act, and bringing about this new deal for Toronto.

Speaker, as a proud representative of Toronto I’d like to talk about the importance of the city of Toronto to Ontario’s economic prosperity. Our government knows what people across this province also know, that when Toronto succeeds, Ontario succeeds. Toronto is a vibrant economic and financial hub and driver of not just this province but also our whole country. People across the country would flock to Toronto to see the many amazing attractions it provides. As these visitors come to Toronto, they boost the economy and have fun while doing it. For example, my cousin, her husband and my cousin’s kids—one is my goddaughter—are here this weekend to see a play, and we’re going to have some brunch on Sunday and they’re going to do some Christmas shopping.

People come from everywhere just to come to Toronto to see the sites, maybe go see the Maple Leafs, the Marlies, maybe the Raptors, the Blue Jays, the Toronto Argonauts, the Rock or maybe even Toronto FC play. We have so much to offer.

When we talk about tourism, I also want to give a shout-out to an amazing organization in my riding of Etobicoke–Lakeshore, and I hope that many of you have heard of it. It’s called Famous People Players. It’s run by a wonderful woman, Diane Dupuy, and her daughter. It’s a glow-in-the-dark dine-and-dream dinner theatre. It attracts people and their families from all around. I know as a small child, I remember watching a movie on TV with Liberace. It featured these puppets, and I could not believe that this little puppet theatre was actually located in my riding. So if you haven’t had the opportunity to visit Famous People Players in Etobicoke–Lakeshore, I highly recommend going, having an evening out and just enjoying the scenery and helping those who have different abilities who are learning how to cook, hang coats and how to serve. It’s just an amazing, awe-inspiring opportunity. I want to thank Diane for all her work over the years in making this truly a success in our province.

When people come to Toronto, they also visit the CN Tower. I know many of you here have visited the CN Tower and our major entertainment attractions. You may go to the theatre. You may try out our amazing restaurants and cafés—doesn’t matter your price point; you can get a high-end restaurant, a medium restaurant or you can just go and grab a hot dog on the street. Toronto has everything and something for everyone.

Do you know what? Whatever you desire is whatever you desire, and you never know who you’re going to see. I’ll tell you, you never know who you’re going to see on the street. Always, when I’m walking around, sometimes I’ll see someone and I’ll go, “I recognize that person.” It might have been somebody I grew up with back in Thunder Bay and they’re walking the streets shopping in our amazing city.

Having the opportunity and the privilege of serving in Toronto, I can confidently tell this House that Toronto is world-class in every way. But, you know, this also has some issues. They do need the support, and they do need a new deal for the province, because—let’s be honest—we can’t afford a property tax hike in our city.

For decades the city has serviced and facilitated vast networks of both domestic and international trade. The city boasts representation in every business sector. You name it; it’s here: financial services, tech, education, life sciences, digital media and gaming, fashion, design, food and beverage, the film and television industry—a lot of that actually takes place right in Etobicoke–Lakeshore. We are the home of major movie studios, which is an economic engine for the city of Toronto. I’m just a really big fan of the city.

Toronto is the financial capital of this country, a recognized financial hub in North America and top 10 among the global financial centres. It is an engine of economic growth. In fact, Toronto alone drives a significant portion of this country’s GDP growth, outpacing the national average. Unfortunately, we cannot let these facts mislead us. Not everything is perfect. Without our government’s support, that upward trajectory would be at risk.

Our government has the proven experience with righting the financial course of major jurisdictions. That’s why we ensured the work was undertaken by a new-deal working group to secure a historic deal between the province of Ontario and the city of Toronto, and out of this working group has become a deal that will help achieve long-term financial stability and sustainability for our city.

When Toronto came to our government asking for assistance and worried about the viability of their finances, not only did we listen, the government took action. It was clear that addressing the city’s deep financial troubles would require significant collaboration from all levels of government. The city’s deep financial challenges are no longer sustainable. The financial pressures are unique, decades in the making, and growing. Our government’s response was rapid and comprehensive. We worked with the city right away to create the new-deal working group.

I want to reinforce that federal assistance is essential for our city to achieve long-term financial stability. Along with our city, we continue to call on the federal government to step up as a full partner with funding in critical areas of need such as shelter support, funding in critical areas such as asylum claimants—you know, the weather is turning a little cooler these days, although today is actually quite a nice day, but we know it’s inevitable. Winter is going to be here.

We need more money for transit. We also need transit that is safe, dependable and reliable. I should note that the federal government eventually did come to the table—late and following our lead, but they came and offered their expertise, as well.

Our government is not a government to sit on our hands. We are a government that gets things done, and we will fix the problems.

The goals set out in the working group were ambitious. The working group was tasked with delivering recommendations before the end of November 2023. For the last two to three months, Ontario has been working closely and alongside the city of Toronto, through a new-deal working group, to find real solutions to help our city achieve long-term financial stability and sustainability.

The group focused on the government-shared goals, including supporting transit, infrastructure, shelters, housing, as well as getting Toronto’s finances back on a stable and sustainable path. As you have already heard, they put forward a set of concrete, actionable recommendations that would protect services, avoid new taxes—I’m going to repeat that, avoid new taxes—and put the city on a path forward for long-term financial stability and ensure it remains an economic engine for Canada—and once again, no new taxes.

But as a government, we know that funding alone cannot solve some of these structural problems. While the opposition may want us to spend recklessly with no concern for the future—and we know there are no taxes the Liberals don’t like—we want to ensure that Toronto remains an economic engine, and this must be met with a series of measures that, together, are a realistic, proportional and good response.

Speaker, there are those who might call me slightly biased as I believe that Toronto is unique among our nation’s cities. It sure is. And it’s uncapable in its long-standing and unparalleled contributions to Ontario’s shared success. It is, in many ways, unique in terms of the scope and scale of the challenges it faces. In addition to its fiscal obstacles, the city is facing a housing crisis—although you wouldn’t know that in Etobicoke because we are growing like crazy. We have cranes everywhere but, obviously, we are still in need of housing.

This is a challenge exasperated by the record numbers of new residents looking for affordable places to live. These new residents include record numbers of immigrants, refugees and asylum claimants, all drawn to the promise that Toronto offers. The nice thing about Toronto is that people come move here because it’s so culturally diverse. We have so many amazing communities, food, culture—it’s just all there right at your fingertips, so I understand why people want to move here to the city. I chose to move to the city from northern Ontario because it just had something different to offer.

Our city is also struggling with tremendous pressure on social supports that are being stretched to capacity. That’s why, with this new deal, we are providing new supports to improve transit across the city. This offer includes $300 million in one-time funding for subways and transit safety, recovery and sustainability. This includes commitments on the part of the city to establish a new transit rider safety commitment. This commitment must include increased police and/or safety officers present on and near transit vehicles and in station areas. It’s going to have continued expansion of cellular and data services for transit riders across the TTC network and enhanced emergency reporting options and response timelines for riders to signal incidents, threats or concerns to the attention of authorities.

You know, people need to feel safe on the TTC. I take the TTC. I take the GO train. Anytime I go to a concert or a soccer game or a football game or basketball game, I’ll hop on at the Mimico GO station and it takes me seven minutes to get downtown, and I just sit there and it’s at ease. But you have to feel safe. We do hear often from our constituents that maybe they haven’t been feeling safe lately so they haven’t been taking the TTC. They haven’t been jumping on the Bloor line or the Yonge line or whatever line they want to get on. We want to make sure that you do feel safe.

And we’ve been doing other things to make sure transit is actually easier to take, because if you want to take transit, please take transit because that takes one other car off the road, which helps with congestion. One thing I like is that one day I was taking transit—I think I was actually going to a volunteer event that Minister Ford’s office put on. I forgot my Presto card, but I was able to tap my Visa on the train and I was able to get on, and it was just seamless. We’ve done a lot of work to make sure that it’s easier to ride the TTC, so I just encourage people to go back on the TTC. It is a great way of getting downtown. You don’t have to park, you don’t have to drive and you can just sit back and relax. We’re going to make it safer for everybody.

This province and this government have always been guided by the goal of supporting Toronto on a path towards long-term financial stability and sustainability. The new-deal working group operated with a set of guiding principles. At the core of each is a deep love and pride for our great city. But while making this deal, we also laid out some serious and non-negotiable priorities. For Ontario to lend its support, the terms of the deal had to maintain investment and supports for critical services and programs that residents depend on. To put it plainly, there could be no deep cuts to front-line services or workers. And Speaker, did I mention that we would not entertain any new taxes on people or businesses in Toronto, who are already facing enough uncertainty?

Now, as our great Minister of Finance reported in the recent fall economic statement, we are a province that continues to face heightened economic and geopolitical uncertainties. Many times over the past year, he has said that Ontario is not immune to the risks of an economic slowdown, and that’s what he has highlighted in the 2023 fall economic statement. Our government has a prudent and responsible fiscal plan that shows we can deliver a path to balance as we also continue to deliver on priorities that the people and businesses of this province have come to expect and deserve.

I just want to highlight some of the items that the Minister of Finance mentioned in his fall economic statement. We have to look at affordability and what’s affordable in our communities, and one thing I would like to talk about—I actually had the privilege of attending this announcement with the Premier, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Infrastructure and the Minister of Transportation, and it was the cut to the gas tax. It’s the extension of that nine cents. Now, that makes a really big difference to families who have to drive.

I know that, if my councillor is listening, she likes the bike lanes on Bloor Street, but on Bloor Street is not the right place for bike lanes. There are other streets that you can put those bike lanes on, because not everyone can buy a barbecue and put it on the back of a bike. I’m sure our Speaker may have heard of that from some of her constituents, because it’s just maybe the wrong section of that. I am not against bike lanes, but just on that one section of our businesses, it’s really hurting. So, if Ms. Morley is listening, please, let’s look at those bike lanes on Bloor.

But when we talk about gas tax, people are driving their kids to hockey practice. It’s cold. It’s cold right now, so they’re driving their kids to hockey. They’re driving their kids to skating, once those skating rinks open. These are things you can’t usually take transit to; you have to usually drive, so that nine cents makes a difference.

Interestingly enough, my uncle Robert always likes to watch when I’m on TV. He lives in Thunder Bay, and he said, “Well, we didn’t get that discount of the nine cents,” and I said, “Yes, you did. You would be paying nine cents more.” So it is across the board. Everybody is getting that nine-cent reduction, but you have to think, if we didn’t cut it by the nine cents, you would be paying nine cents more. So, Uncle Robert, if you’re listening, you did get that cut.

Now, where was I? We were talking about gas tax. Oh, we were talking about the fall economic statement and some of the good things he said. Tomorrow, I’m actually touring two schools that are almost finished, so I thank the Minister of Education. We were able to get four new schools in the area of Etobicoke South, which is a growing community. Tomorrow, with our local trustee, Teresa Lubinski, I am going to be visiting St. Leo, which is in the middle of construction, and it’s great. It’s a growing school, a growing area, with lots of immigrants coming down there who are attending school there.

And we’re going to add some child care spaces, so that was an extra announcement. I want to thank the Minister of Education for adding that money, so we can have child care spaces right in the school, because it’s so important for parents to be able to have one stop: child care, and then school. It’s one drive versus hopping around and driving all around town, because we all know that it’s not the easiest to drive in Toronto.

The other school I’m visiting is Holy Angels, which is almost completed. I drive by it on my way to work. It looks fantastic. So, you know, we are building infrastructure, and it’s so exciting that we’re building more spaces for our students. We have two more schools on the books that have not put shovels in the ground yet, and that’s a high school, Bishop Allen, which is getting more spaces, and St. Elizabeth, which is not only getting a new school, they’re getting new child care spaces—once again, an important element to parents, families, people who want to make a one-stop drive and drop off your kids at child care and at school. It’s just convenience for parents, but we want to make sure that we get more women in the workforce, so they can have their child care at $10 a day, which is great—and again, to our Minister of Education, for the work he did to make sure that happened. We want to be there for our parents and our families.

What else are we doing? This is an important one, really near and dear to my heart: the breast screening for 40 years and older. I had a cousin; her name was Jan Lockwood. She passed away at 42 of breast cancer—42 years of age. I was a lot younger then, and at that point, I probably thought 42 years of age was old. Well, it certainly is not old. So I am really pleased to see this in our legislation and, to all those ladies out there: Please go and get your screening. Go get it done. It’s a little uncomfortable, but just do it. Book those appointments and make sure you get your screening done. I applaud the Minister of Health for making sure that our women can remain safe and healthy, because some things are curable, so let’s get that done and have a healthy population.

Now, back to the new deal for Toronto. I wanted to talk—I don’t have a lot of time, so I actually want to spend my last minutes talking about Ontario Place. On my way here, I actually drove down Lake Shore and took a look at Ontario Place. There are boards up, and the sun was shining and it shone on this derelict old amusement park area that’s falling down, that’s all full of vandalism. So I really applaud the Premier for his initiative and his sight to improve Ontario Place.

You know, I was here in the late 1970s. I grew up in northern Ontario and I used to come down here for allergy testing because I had allergies. I think I was allergic to absolutely everything. My dad took me down—I guess they probably felt bad that I was sick, so my dad took me to Ontario Place. It was the late 1970s. When we were there, we went in. I remember being really itchy because when you do allergy tests—well, that’s what it is: you find out what you’re allergic to. We went there and I remember there was this gigantic jungle gym and I just remember having fun. That stuff doesn’t exist there anymore.

It has such potential, and right now, I love going to the concerts there at night at the amphitheatre. It is one of my favourite venues for concerts. Any time in the summer, you see the parking lot jammed full of cars. You see the Ubers dropping off people. You see people on these little caravans making their way there. It is such a great venue, and I’m so looking forward to having a brand new Ontario Place for the future for children, adults and young adults.

You know, we have to always look forward. We’re here for this time but I believe long-term goals are really important. We have to look: What do people want to see in the future?

You’re going to come down and have an experience. You’re coming from other places. You might be coming from northern Ontario. You might be coming from western Ontario. You might be coming from eastern Ontario. Who knows where you’re coming from? You might not even be coming from Ontario. We want an Ontario Place for everybody and all through the season.

You might want to go to a water park. You might want to go to the beach. You might be a boater. You might have a friend who has a boat and you can raft up outside and swim onto the beach or go get a hamburger or a hot dog or a coffee. Right now you can’t do any of those things, so I am so excited about the future of Ontario Place.

And I love the idea that the science centre is going to be moved down there because it gives you something else to do. It gives an educational purpose for our kids. If it’s wintertime or if it’s raining—you’re not sitting on the beach—what are you going to do? This is your day outing. Well, you’ll go to the science centre and check out what it has to offer.

So I think this is a really important element. I just want to thank the minister, and I thank you for your time this morning.