My question is for the Premier. Speaker, the budget dropped, and once again, it’s Groundhog Day for Ontario drivers, who still pay the highest auto insurance premiums in the country. Every year, the government promises action, and like clockwork, the rates go up higher than inflation. They even went up during the pandemic when cars were parked and accidents were way down.

Now, the minister’s newest gimmick is to get drivers to slash their own coverage to save a penny, but in the media, he couldn’t even promise this would actually reduce premiums. Man, the insurance companies are smiling. They’re so proud of him. And if he pulls this off, he’ll make it to the auto insurance company hall of fame. Good luck, Minister.

So will the minister finally come clean and admit that the insurance companies themselves are writing his own policies on auto insurance?

Interjections.

Let’s talk about postal code discrimination in auto insurance. Right after the last election, the Premier himself said he’d fix it. But here we are, two years later, and they just can’t get it done. In this budget—get this—they’re going to buy more time and study it for another two years. You just can’t make this stuff up. It’s like they’re driving in reverse.

Will the minister tell the drivers in Brampton, Scarborough, Vaughan and my community why they just can’t get it done for them on auto insurance?

Interjections.

I thank the member for his speech. Aside from all the things the member spoke of that were part of the budget speech, I don’t think there was really a true focus or an understanding of the fact that we are truly in the midst of an affordability crisis. I think we all agree on the need to create more jobs, that’s for sure. But there are countless thousands of people unable to work for a number of different reasons—people on OW and ODSP—and the government’s response was a below-inflation increase. In Toronto and other places, the cost of rent is at $3,000 a month. Do you truly believe that with a 5% increase to ODSP, to the most vulnerable among us, that this is enough? They are barely treading water, and they’re sinking. Don’t you think more needs to be done?

I thank the member for his very passionate speech outlining what we should be focusing on. I heard a government member, during their line of questioning, proudly proclaim that this government was looking to increase ODSP by 5%. In the midst of an affordability crisis, do you believe that this is enough money—below inflation—for some of the most vulnerable among us?

I want to thank both presenters. I know they work hard, and they speak passionately here in the House.

There has been conversation about increases to ODSP in both of these presentations. The ODSP that’s being increased, that’s being looked at, is in fact less than the cost of inflation. I think we’re all struggling and shocked when we hear people reach out to our communities, to our offices, to us and tell us that people on ODSP are contemplating medically assisted suicide because of the challenges they’re facing with health and with the expenses that they’re facing. Considering that the government is considering a 5%, below-inflation increase, do you believe that in this time this is simply enough for people like them and others to get by?