Mr. Speaker, I rise here to address a crucial issue for the people of Ontario: Living here is more expensive than ever. People can’t afford to pay the rent or make their mortgage payments. Families can’t put food on the table, and more people in Scarborough are just living at the food banks. Homelessness is up, and there’s less good-paying jobs than ever before.

At the same time, business confidence is at an all-time low. There is a shortage of child care workers, who this government drove away by paying them pennies. For-profit nursing agencies are nickel-and-diming the taxpayers, and our universities and colleges are underfunded and slashing programs our children rely on.

Ontario is supposed to be a land of promise—this is why I migrated here—where anyone can succeed and live a prosperous life, but this government is spending millions on ads during the Super Bowl, on a parking lot for a spa and on lawyers as the RCMP investigates them because of the greenbelt scandal.

We deserve a government that will provide solutions. They deserve a government that will stand up for the people in Ontario.

The bill amends the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, to provide for a residential rent freeze for the calendar year 2025, subject to specified exceptions, and to provide that no landlord shall terminate the tenancy under sections 48 or 49 of the act during the same period, subject to specified exceptions.