I thank the member from Thornhill. First, I want to say if we truly all agreed on wanting the best outcomes, then it would be reflected in this budget. The Conservatives say that they want the best outcome. Then how come we are cutting education funding and we are continuing down the path of privatization of health care—among the many, many examples that are contained in this budget?

Yes, with regard to, very specifically, the family doctor shortage, we need to create more spaces. We need to train more medical doctors. We need to encourage family medicine as a practice. There are a number of measures that can be taken. A lot of this is down the road, but this problem is urgent and there needs to be an immediate solution, as well.

One of the things that we have proposed in the NDP is to reduce the administrative burden that family doctors are experiencing so that they can spend more of their time seeing patients—a recommendation that has been put forward by family physicians themselves. And yet this government voted it down.

I’d like to thank the member from Kiiwetinoong for his presentation. The analysis and reaction to the budget are coming through. One of the stakeholders, Children’s Mental Health Ontario, has said that the budget is not meeting the need for urgent and sustained funding in mental health care and they also noted the long wait times for services in the community for children and youth in mental health care.

The member talked about the suicide crisis in his community. Can you please share with members of the House, particularly the government side, what should have been in the budget, what action does the government need to take in order to address the growing mental health care and addiction crisis we’re seeing among children and youth?

I rise today with great concern over the inaction and provincial defunding of urgently needed supervised consumption services in Ontario. This will result in increased overdose deaths and undue burden on emergency response services, and will deny the rights of access to essential health care interventions and wrap-around supports for people dealing with addictions.

In 2018, when this Conservative government came to power, they arbitrarily capped funding to only 21 sites. Six years later, despite overwhelming need and local support, only 17 sites have been approved and funded. Now, even this handful of sites are under imminent threat of closure due to lack of funding.

Communities across this province are declaring states of emergency over this crisis. Sites are operating through the sacrifices of burnt-out front-line workers, keeping doors open through piecemeal donations. This is for basic life-saving services.

There were an estimated 3,644 drug-related deaths just last year in Ontario and over 20,000 deaths under this government’s watch.

The Conservative government is literally abandoning the most vulnerable and marginalized people in our province.

The overdose crisis is impacting many in my community of Parkdale–High Park and people across Toronto. But do you know what, Speaker? It’s worse in northern Ontario and in southwestern Ontario. It’s smaller cities that are hardest hit by this crisis—many communities that Conservative MPPs represent.

These are preventable deaths. The government must stop ignoring this crisis. It’s not going to go away unless you do something about it.

I thank the member for his question. I’ll say two things: One, I think your time would be better spent worrying if you’re actually doing something to help students. Again, as I shared reaction and thoughts from stakeholders, I have not heard a single stakeholder call this bill, as the member called it, a massive win—no. In fact, we’re hearing the opposite, that the government has finally decided after, again, decades of inaction—not just under you, the Liberals and you, but it has gotten worse under the Conservatives for sure. This is a small step. Even the funding is a drop in the bucket. There’s a lot more that needs to be done.

In this day and age, you need a master’s. It’s the minimum you need—a bachelor’s for sure. Certainly, I don’t want to—I’m not talking about the trades. There is obviously that pathway as well. But I’m saying, in terms of—

But when it comes to—

I thank the member for his question. As I stated in my remarks, there are certainly steps that have been taken in this bill that are addressing concerns that have been raised by stakeholders, especially students; however, so much more needs to be done. At the end of the day, we can have amazing, strong policies in place that are posted on the website and that everybody is aware of, but it doesn’t mean that in reality anything is changing, because the funding is lacking.

If we don’t increase the funding, what is essentially going to happen is that more supports and services, even the existing ones, are under threat and at risk for cutting.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly) Further questions?

My question is to the Premier. Small businesses have not fully recovered from the pandemic. They are still struggling with inflation and economic uncertainty. The government’s website encourages small businesses to sign up for the Digital Main Street grant program, but this Conservative government told the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas members that the funding for the program will be cancelled in three weeks.

Why is the government abandoning small businesses yet again?

The general operating funding to child care programs, which is a provincial responsibility, is lower this year than it was in 2018, even before adjusting for record-high inflation.

Without dependable operating funding that increases with the cost of living, and without immediate action, more families like the ones with us today will be without affordable child care.

Families from Ola Daycare have been left scrambling. Their choice is to pay hundreds of dollars more each month or lose their child care spots.

Will the minister commit to, at the very least, increased funding to keep pace with inflation so operators don’t leave the program?

Families from Ola Daycare in my riding are in the House today. They are facing a $800-to-$900-per-child increase in the cost of their child care, because the operator had to withdraw from the $10-a-day child care program due to this Conservative government’s poor implementation. It has been two years since the agreement was signed with the federal government, and Ontario still does not have a funding formula in place. Child care centres simply cannot operate with this kind of unpredictability.

Where is the funding formula you promised?

Before I respond, I just want to clarify for the record that the member from Essex was using a prop, and the House leader simply referred to that because, as per the standing orders, you’re not allowed to use a prop. It has nothing to do with being embarrassed about the document.

In fact, on this side of the House we have repeatedly said that in order to address violence, we need to get to the root of the violence. If the member listened to me, I spoke about Gabriel’s mother, Andrea, who just lost her son to a violent attack, a stabbing. What is she calling for? More mental health supports, more investment in housing. She is calling on all of us to address the social determinants of health.

My response to the member is that we all want to address violence. Let’s get to the root of it.

If we had more supportive housing, greater investments in community-based mental health care—the mental health associations are asking for an 8% increase to their baseline funding. They only received 5%. Mind you, Speaker, they have not had an increase in 11 years—

But again, there is so much more that needs to happen, and that’s what I was trying to get at with my budget presentation—that it failed to meet the moment. This is the largest budget ever in Ontario’s history, and yet it is a budget without vision.

Speaker, again, I want to go back to what I said during my presentation. Report after report is pointing out that the government does not need to develop on the greenbelt land. In fact, the government’s own Housing Affordability Task Force has said that in order to meet the goal of 1.5 million homes, you don’t need to develop beyond the existing boundaries of urban boundaries that we have.

Simply, the government is not listening to expert advice. The government is not doing the logical thing. The government is basically putting in place a policy, implementing an action that is benefitting a handful of developers at the cost of the future of this province.

Speaker, I have met with the leadership at St. Joe’s. Aside from the redevelopment, one of the greatest pressures that St. Joe’s is experiencing is human resources. They need the staff. They need the nurses to be able to provide services to the people in the west end of Toronto. So I ask this member to please urge his side, his caucus and his government to repeal Bill 124, which would address the staffing pressures.

It’s always an honour to rise on behalf of the residents of Parkdale–High Park to speak in this House, and today I speak to the 2023-24 budget motion that is before this House. This budget has failed to meet the needs of Ontarians and to address the current problems that the people of Ontario face. This budget has failed to meet the moment, and it is our duty as legislators, as elected officials, to stand up and fight for the needs of our people.

Speaker, don’t take it from me; take it from the Toronto Star editorial that was written last week. The title is, “An Ontario Budget without Vision.” That’s the title, and there is a quote in that editorial that says, “If this budget were a Christmas present, it would be a three-pack of white socks. Not entirely useless. But an exercise in going through the motions.” This is the feedback from people across the province, that this budget has failed to meet the moment. There’s so much more we could do, that this government could do, but did not in this budget.

This is the biggest budget ever, at $204.7 billion. There’s so much we could do, particularly to help Ontarians who are struggling. Conservatives want Ontarians to think that this is the new normal, that this is as good as it gets, but things are not normal in Ontario right now. People are struggling to find an affordable place to live. They’re being forced to go to work sick just to put food on the table. Cancer patients are waiting months for treatment. They’re showing up at emergency rooms with a sick child, only to find it closed. In fact, in Ontario, more than any other province at any other point in history, we have had more emergency room closures than ever. The Ford government promised to deliver on these issues, but once again, with this budget they have failed to do so.

The NDP has a vision of an Ontario with more opportunity and prosperity, not just for the well-connected, but for everybody, for the everyday Ontarian. People are feeling squeezed with the rising cost of living, and this government is doing nothing meaningful to offer relief to everyday Ontarians. In fact, it’s going to cost Ontarians more.

The Ford government is diverting public money into private health care facilities. What does that mean for Ontarians? Longer wait times, more ER closures, more nurses being driven out of our health care sector. They’re shortchanging municipalities through massive cuts, meaning families will pay higher property taxes for poorer services. It also means that Ontarians who are going to work using transit will be waiting longer for the bus, and that it is going to be even harder to find an affordable place to live.

This budget shows that the province is moving in the wrong direction on housing. They’re dismantling the greenbelt, and even that isn’t delivering on what they’re promising. This budget predicts fewer housing starts next year than this year, and they are nowhere near on track to meet the stated goal of 1.5 million homes in 10 years.

We in the Ontario NDP will fight to make sure we’re investing in strong and caring communities that will attract workers, that will attract new businesses to our province and keep them here. We want to see communities with excellent health care, mental health supports, education workers who are able to help our children learn and work in safe spaces, more affordable places to live that have reliable public transit.

Speaking of public transit, I want to take a moment to say that on behalf of the leader of the official opposition and our entire NDP caucus, our hearts go out to Gabriel Magalhaes’s family, friends and community members. Gabriel is the 16-year-old who died just last week from a stabbing attack at Keele station, which is located in my riding. Only a few months ago, there was another knife attack on two people at the adjacent High Park station, and another constituent, Vanessa Kurpiewska, passed away from that attack.

Gabriel attended Keele Street Public School. His classmates will be hosting a community candlelight vigil this evening, starting at 8 p.m. from the High Park gates and ending at Keele station. I will be joining alongside my colleagues from the ATU—transit workers who are also ringing the alarm bells in terms of not just public transit, but the increase of violence that we’re seeing.

Speaker, I want to take a moment here, because Gabriel’s mom, Andrea, has demonstrated incredible courage and grace and has been shining a light on the issue, on the struggles that people are facing. I’m going to quote her directly. This is what she said: “We need more social services. We need more investment into physical and mental health. We need more support for housing. I feel like if things keep going the way they are going right now, so many people are going to be suffering the horrible pain that I’m going through right now.”

Speaker, as a mom of two little kids, I can’t imagine the pain, and so it is incumbent on all of us to address the root causes of violence—as Andrea herself has said—to address the social determinants of health. We have a choice as legislators. The budget is that choice. The investments we choose to make or not make are reflected in the budget, and this budget is not delivering. It’s not delivering on mental health supports that are needed. It’s not delivering on the housing that is needed. It’s not delivering on the homelessness crisis that municipalities across the province are experiencing.

It’s very important that we not only express our condolences, but that we take action. With this budget, again, this Conservative government is choosing to benefit a select few at the expense of everybody else. This budget is a failure of leadership. True leaders meet the moment. This one is out of touch with reality and out of touch with the experiences of people.

There’s obviously a lot to cover in a budget, so I will only have time to go over a few key problems with this budget. I want to touch on housing first. It is getting increasingly unaffordable. In my riding of Parkdale–High Park, almost 60% of residents are tenants, and rents in this city are out of control—absolutely out of control.

Earlier this week, I joined tenants from 55 High Park and 58 Quebec Avenue in delivering a letter to Great West Life Realty Advisors asking for the dramatic increases to their rents to be stopped. These are buildings that are not covered under the Rent Control Act, and so their rents can increase by whatever amount the company decides. Even though it’s a new building, there are no major repairs. There are no new services or anything like that; it’s simply increasing because it’s not illegal, but just because it’s not illegal doesn’t mean it’s right. We know that tenants are suffering.

As well, with this budget, the government talks about creating a supply of housing. Yes, we need to increase the supply of housing—the official opposition agrees with that—but we also need to ensure that it is (1) affordable and (2) that the government follow through on the recommendations of their own housing task force and build within existing boundaries. Report after report is showing that there is absolutely no need to build on the greenbelt.

Speaker, the government passed Bill 23 and that is hurting municipalities a lot—municipalities like the city of Toronto, who are already with a $1-billion shortfall. This government promised that they would make municipalities whole because Bill 23 cut development charges, and development charges are very important for municipalities. It is through development charges that the city is actually able to invest in the infrastructure that the people who are going to be living in these new homes are going to receive, infrastructure like green spaces, parks, child care. We can’t just live in homes; we have to live in communities. We have to be able to access all of the services and we want to be able to do that. But if development charges are going to be cut, if the government is going to prevent the city of Toronto from collecting development charges, and if the government is not going to make any investments to replace that loss of revenue, then the city’s services that we rely on are not going to be there. And cities need these services to function.

I don’t have too much time, so I want to go over very quickly and touch a little bit on education. Earlier this week, again, I asked the government if they would repay the TDSB the pandemic costs because the TDSB was forced to tap into their reserves during the pandemic in order to meet the direction that was set by this government and by public health. They wanted to make sure that the health and safety needs of students, teachers and all education workers, everybody in the school community, were met and that they continued to provide academic excellence and supports during the pandemic.

Speaker, what I find particularly troubling is that the Financial Accountability Office has repeatedly come out with reports showing that this government is underspending. There is money that is being allocated to education, to health and to different areas, but that allocated funding is not being spent. And that’s the same for education. While this government was underspending on education, they were forcing the TDSB to tap into reserves, and the TDSB has now reached a point where there are no more reserves. So for the upcoming school budget year, the board will be forced to make support staff layoffs, will be forced to cut programs, and we’re already seeing that. Through a school newsletter at Humberside, parents and students were informed that their math drop-in program was going to be discontinued. In fact, it’s going to be discontinued as of today.

At a time when the needs of students are still very high, at a time when we need more caring adults in our schools, when violence is up in not just high schools but in elementary as well, we cannot afford to lose any more staff. We cannot afford to lose programs in our schools.

Speaker, as I mentioned, budgets are about choices, and I want to let the government members know that we can choose to invest in strong and caring communities. We can choose to have excellent public health care, mental health supports and invest in education workers. One of the things that increasingly I’m hearing about from my constituents is that it’s no longer low- to middle-income families who are struggling. Most people are feeling the pinch. Not only are rents up, mortgages are up; the cost of buying a home is up. The dream of being able to have your own home, especially for young families, is feeling like it’s slipping. It’s further and further away—to the point, in fact, that people have to make very, very hard decisions about where the money goes, because wages are not increasing at the same rate as costs are going up. This is impacting people in a very deep way.

And I think about, particularly, the front-line health care workers. I think about public sector workers. Speaker. For them, not only are costs increasing, but this government, through legislation, Bill 124, is keeping their wages low. Inflation is through the roof, but public sector worker wages cannot increase more than the 1%. The court decision was that this bill, Bill 124, was unconstitutional. And instead of repealing Bill 124, instead of giving cost-of-living increases to public sector workers, particularly to our front-line health care workers, what is this government doing? Spending more public dollars in appealing this decision.

Speaker, we cannot have a great health care system without health care staff, and we cannot have enough health care staff—we are not able to recruit and retain the health care staff—if we’re not paying decent wages, if we’re not ensuring that every worker—including health care workers; many health care workers don’t have paid sick days. With this budget, the government is bringing an end to the paid-sick days program. Paid sick days are good for the economy, because when workers are sick and they stay at home to take care of themselves or their child or their family member—perhaps a parent or a grandparent—it stops the spread. They won’t be infecting and spreading the virus or the illness to their co-workers. Paid sick days are good and sound economic policy.

Speaking of workplaces, one of the other things that I’m also hearing increasingly is from our small businesses, through our BIAs, who are saying that one of the top priorities for the small businesses is actually greater mental health supports, because they are increasingly interacting with people who are struggling. That’s making it hard for them to feel safe themselves, but also to make sure that the clients are safe, that the community spaces are safe. And so they really want to see greater mental health supports as a policy to support small businesses, Speaker.

In the last minute that I have, I just want to conclude by saying, again, this budget is a failure of the leadership. It’s a failure on the part of this government because it fails to prioritize the needs of Ontarians and to invest in a better future for our province. Speaker, we don’t have to accept this as the new normal. We can choose a different path, one that puts people first, one that creates a brighter future for all of us. Unfortunately, once again, the Conservatives have failed.

My question is to the member from Don Valley East. In his remarks, when he was talking about education funding, he talked about how this government is not investing enough in the supports that are needed in our schools and for our students, but also mentioned that the government was instead—I believe the word he used was “instead”—investing in infrastructure.

I believe that we need to invest both in infrastructure and in supports. As you know, the school repair backlog is at over $16 billion; under the Liberals, it was at $15 billion.

I’d like to ask the member if he could clarify his comments, and also if he believes that we should be investing in addressing the repair backlog.

I would like to thank the families of the following public schools in my riding for this petition: Runnymede, Garden, Warren Park, Annette, Lucy McCormick, King George, Swansea, Humbercrest, Howard, Parkdale, Fern Avenue and Indian Road. These petitions were collected by the Elementary Teachers of Toronto. It reads:

“Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from the Elementary Teachers of Toronto to Stop the Cuts and Invest in the Schools our Students Deserve.

“Whereas the Ford government cut funding to our schools by $800 per student during the pandemic period, and plans to cut an additional $6 billion to our schools over the next six years;

“Whereas these massive cuts have resulted in larger class sizes, reduced special education and mental health supports and resources for our students, and neglected and unsafe buildings;

“Whereas the Financial Accountability Office reported a $2.1-billion surplus in 2021-22, and surpluses growing to $8.5 billion in 2027-28, demonstrating there is more than enough money to fund a robust public education system;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to:

“—immediately reverse the cuts to our schools;

“—fix the inadequate education funding formula;

“—provide schools the funding to ensure the supports necessary to address the impacts of the pandemic on our students;

“—make the needed investments to provide smaller class sizes, increased levels of staffing to support our students’ special education, mental health, English language learner and wraparound supports needs, and safe and healthy buildings and classrooms.”

I fully support this petition. I will affix my signature to it and thank all the parents and family members who have signed this petition.

My question is to the Premier.

The Toronto District School Board was forced to tap into their reserves during the pandemic. This was to fulfill actions identified by the province for the health and safety of school communities and the academic success of students.

In a letter to the minister last week, the chair and director of the TDSB wrote, “We have depleted any working reserves and used reserves put away for other purposes.”

The Financial Accountability Office reported that this Conservative government did not spend $432 million of allocated funding for education in this fiscal year. At the same time, the TDSB was being forced to tap into their reserves.

Will the Premier repay the pandemic costs, as requested by the TDSB?

We cannot afford to lose staff when violence in schools is up.

We cannot afford to lose programs when student needs are high.

Why is the government leaving our students and schools without the supports they need?

Millions of Ontarians rely on local libraries in their daily lives. Libraries are far more than books and computers; they are also a critical lifeline for Ontario’s most vulnerable people. Libraries confront many difficult challenges facing Ontarians: mental health, homelessness, equity for Indigenous and racialized communities, newcomer integration, and child and youth poverty.

I want to highlight three priorities that the Toronto Public Library, the Ontario Library Association and the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries are calling on the government to act on:

(1) Implementation of a sustainable funding model for public libraries on First Nations reserves, to ensure that these important local hubs are fully funded and viable.

(2) Increased investments in mental health and addiction crisis intervention services available to the community. Public libraries recognize that they are places of refuge for the homeless, and staff need training so they can provide support in an empathetic and equitable way.

(3) The creation of an Ontario digital public library. By leveraging the province’s significant purchasing power, libraries will be able to provide all Ontarians access to a common core set of high-quality e-learning and online resources.

Speaker, I know first-hand the value of public libraries. When I came to Canada, my local public library, the Parkdale library, was my go-to place. I borrowed books, but I also worked on my university applications and accessed many resources that helped a new immigrant like me get settled. This helped me get to where I am today.

Investing in public libraries means giving everyone a chance to succeed.