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May 27, 2025

44th Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

vol. A

Hansard Transcripts

vol. B

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2025-May-27 vol. A (PDF)

L017A - Tue 27 May 2025 / Mar 27 mai 2025

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Tuesday 27 May 2025 Mardi 27 mai 2025

Orders of the Day

Plan to Protect Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2025 / Loi de 2025 sur le plan pour protéger l’Ontario (mesures budgétaires)

Members’ Statements

Grand River Rhinos

Events in London West

Impaired driving

Markham Food Bank

Landfill

Malala Yousafzai Public School

Government accountability

Seniors’ services

Solve for Tomorrow

Wearing of ribbons

Introduction of Visitors

Legislative pages

Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

Question Period

Government accountability

Government advertising

Government accountability

First Nations consultation

Economic development

Ontario budget

Economic development

Affordable housing

Homelessness

Small business

Child and family services

Landfill

Agri-food industry

Services for the developmentally disabled

Government’s record

Introduction of Visitors

Introduction of Government Bills

Resource Management and Safety Act, 2025 / Loi de 2025 sur la gestion des ressources et la sécurité

Introduction of Bills

Homelessness Ends with Housing Act, 2025 / Loi de 2025 visant à mettre fin à l’itinérance grâce au logement

Turn Down the Heat Act (Extreme Heat Awareness), 2025 / Loi de 2025 sur la sensibilisation aux risques posés par les chaleurs extrêmes

Petitions

Ferry service

Endangered species

Environmental protection

Social assistance

Cost of living

University funding

Pharmacare

Social assistance

Endangered species

Assistive devices

University funding

Garde d’enfants

Cancer treatment

Highway safety

Orders of the Day

Municipal Accountability Act, 2025 / Loi de 2025 sur la responsabilité au niveau municipal

The House met at 0900.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Good morning, everyone.

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Plan to Protect Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2025 / Loi de 2025 sur le plan pour protéger l’Ontario (mesures budgétaires)

Resuming the debate adjourned on May 26, 2025, on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 24,

An Act to implement Budget measures and to enact and amend various statutes / Projet de loi 24, Loi visant à mettre en oeuvre les mesures budgétaires et à édicter et à modifier diverses lois.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Resuming debate, I recognize the member for Etobicoke–Lakeshore.

Ms. Lee Fairclough: I’ll resume where I left off yesterday in this debate. In my opening, I recognized that the purpose of Bill 24 is to provide legislative changes that are needed to implement the budget that was announced last week. For my comments, I’m going to speak to three things: (1) priorities, (2) power grab and control and (3) investment, outcomes and accountability.

Though I have some concerns about what is contained in this budget and what it will enable for other legislation, such as Bill 5, there are actually a few positive areas, some light that I see in this budget, that I will also take the time to highlight.

First of all, the first theme is priorities. My colleague the MPP for Don Valley West, Stephanie Bowman, has said a number of times, “Never has a government spent so much to achieve so little.”

The budget lays out a plan to spend a record $232.6 billion with a planned deficit of $14.6 billion. For line items like post-secondary education, the common phrase is, “We’re spending more.” Of course we are. The population is growing. There’s inflation. But accounting for these things overall, there is less for each child’s education.

Yet we see a new $5-billion fund that is meant to help us weather the storms and threats of instability south of our border to protect Ontarians. However, experts and economists have said that in the current design it will do little to protect employers or employees.

We know that a large portion of that fund is to assist with the implementation of Bill 5 and the special economic zones—they could be called the “special lawless zones,” which is what they will allow—but there is little detail on exactly how the funds will be used. They’ve been siphoned away from other programs that are central to this government’s purview to make that happen.

If this threat becomes reality—and we’re starting to see less jobs, businesses more hesitant to invest, a slowing of the housing markets—the other reality will be that we need to support people with alternative jobs by keeping them healthy and ensuring young people continue to receive their education and opportunities that will set them up for the long term, not just to weather the immediate storm. Unemployment—among young people is the lowest it’s been, and these are the very people we need to be lifting up in other ways to help them prepare for the future.

We also need ways to protect against further exacerbating increasing homelessness. We know that it has increased by 25%, and people are losing their homes due to affordability as rental and housing costs require larger portions of people’s income. One in 10 in Toronto rely on food banks for their food. When you look at the statistics provided by the food bank, the people that are relying increasingly are people that—60% have post-secondary education. It’s just that life is becoming less and less affordable.

As I read various critiques of the budget, I found this paragraph from the Maytree Foundation really resonated for me. They said:

“The government may not be interested in funding supportive housing, but it is certainly not opposed to paying for new beds in other places. To advance its agenda of putting more people in jail and keeping them there longer, the budget includes funding for 942 beds in correctional facilities across the province, revealing where the government’s priorities lie.”

Imagine if we put those same funds towards supportive housing or even more affordable housing. However, Bill 17 is quite silent on new commitments in both of these areas. Or imagine if we used that to increase ODSP so that people living on disability weren’t living so far below the poverty line. Or adjusting the rules so that if someone temporarily loses their home, they don’t automatically lose the shelter component of that benefit.

The new Bill 17 is an attempt to increase housing starts and make home ownership more of a reality, but it doesn’t make these commitments to more affordable rentals or trying to solve some of the skyrocketing rents that people have been experiencing. So it’s time to get upstream on these issues through pragmatic actions, and it’s about prioritizing that.

Education and post-secondary education are other examples. Really, what we see in the budget is a three-year holding pattern—it’s actually a decrease, given inflation—and when we look at the slight increase next year, it is primarily coverage for the large wage settlements after Bill 124 was vetted in the court of law and found unconstitutional. The same is true for health care, where there’s a slight bump for one year, but again, a projected flat line for the remaining three years.

Finally, there’s also a real lack of relief for families, with no planned income tax relief or HST rebate on electricity or hydro supports. The goal was to deliver promised savings for families or small businesses, but instead, savings are targeted at gas and alcohol prices that really don’t apply to everyone—which is really the job of government to make sure we can see these benefits for everyone—with the added effect of reducing government revenues.

The second theme is the power grab and control. It’s quite amazing, the number of emails and calls I’ve received from constituents recently, many of them on this theme. In fact, they include that in the title, “power grab” and “control.” All of these bills are being funded through this budget and enacted. So there’s this bill, Bill 24, which I’ve heard about, and Bill 5, Bill 6, Bill 17. But on Bill 5 alone, I have personally received 514 emails into my inbox.

Mr. Anthony Leardi: That’s all.

Ms. Lee Fairclough: That’s all, exactly. I was just going to say, I can only imagine how many the government must have if, as the MPP of Etobicoke–Lakeshore, I’ve been receiving that many from my own constituents.

Constituents see this as an egregious example of the power grab, narrowing the centre of power on all issues and creating conditions to be above the law on the environment, treaties and land use for areas defined by the minister, with little detail. That’s left for regulation.

Unfortunately—and this is what came through in those messages from constituents—there is just not trust in the government after what we’ve seen on the greenbelt or the way MZOs have been used. Now, we will have these zones that can be designated at the whim of the government.

Again, I’ll use an example. The Auditor General reported in 2024 that there was a 17-fold increase from the previous two decades in the use of MZOs. To quote the report, from 2019 to 2023, 114 were made in Ontario, with an average of 23 per year—the highest year being 2022 at 38.

Now, I actually feel that there is a need to ensure that projects do move ahead. We need housing, we need to be able to build and we need to acknowledge that we need to do this when things are financially viable. So I want to see more housing builds, including a portion that would be more affordable. However, I feel like this is an example where we’ve swung so far the other way—limiting community involvement and consultation and ultimately creating an avenue to just override any municipal planning processes.

In this new $5-billion plan and the special economic zones of Bill 5, the minister will have the sole discretion, and now we’re setting up many other parts of government to do the same. That is what is prioritized in this bill, as well.

In Bill 24 we certainly see this for municipalities: more control on municipalities, many areas that could easily be left to local governments to manage with their residents. But it’s like this government can’t resist the temptation to be mayor and Premier at the same time. It’s all about the local issues and not enough about the vision and implementation needed to create jobs, have an excellent health care or education system—truly provincial issues.

I look at some of the schedules of this bill:

schedule 2, the City of Toronto Act, 2006;

schedule 9, the Highway Traffic Act;

schedule 13, the Municipal Act, 2001—all these schedules are about power and control over decisions that could be taken at the municipal level.

Schedule 9 is squarely focused on Toronto versus the province, as close to $50 million is planned to be wasted to extract bike lanes that were just implemented. It’s probably higher; it sounds like the government might be planning to do more. Regardless of how you feel about them, how can this be justified to taxpayers purely from a financial perspective? This is about the budget, and this is about priorities—especially now, when all we’ve been hearing is the need to protect people and protect the economy, which is true.

And control: laws on automated cameras, locations for speed enforcement—I’ve said throughout, as I earned this seat in this Legislature, I wish the Premier and his team would bring the same kind of laser-like focus to health care that they do to these issues. It does actually represent 40% of the budget that you’re managing.

World-class cities use more creative policies. They allow municipalities the freedom to try them, working with their citizens to represent them rather than tightening control, taking us backward and wasting our taxpayer funds.

The last theme is really around investment, outcomes and accountability. I mentioned at the beginning I was going to highlight a few things that I like in this budget, and so I’ll comment on those now. One is the $303-million planned investment over three years in base funding for community mental health services so that they can hold on to the expertise and staff that they need to provide basic operations and services. With the growing needs of mental health care this is essential. It was a good decision, and it’s been long overdue, since we’ve seen no increase for the last seven years.

In this Bill 24, I also appreciated the recognition of the role that small businesses play, such as microbreweries. If the government insists on a strong focus on beer, then let’s do it in a way that acknowledges the role that microbreweries play in creating jobs and supporting the local economy. The relative ratio of job creation in the industry to product production is far higher for these microbreweries than the large manufacturers, and it’s good to see the adjustment in this bill to ensure the industry is competitive with other provinces. While this will have impact on revenues for government, it at least provides more jobs locally.

The third is on health care. I believe part of the reason I’m in this seat today, representing Etobicoke–Lakeshore, is because access to health care is getting more and more difficult, and they’re looking to see it improve. There’s 22,000 in our community that are without access to a regular family physician or a primary care team. The government announced the day before the election that they would do something concrete about this, and I’m happy to see that happen.

The budget reflects that $1.8 billion plus an additional $300 million for academic teams to really take a population approach and increase access to team-based care, with a target of 100% of people attached to primary care in four years.

We had already announced this would be our commitment prior to the announcement in February, so for me now the proof will really be in implementation and accountability.

Bill 13 is missing that strength in accountability to be sure this happens, particularly in the team approach. I’ll also say I don’t believe the investment will be quite sufficient to reach the target, and certainly I would prefer more public funds be used for that than investing in the spa and a parking lot at Ontario Place. But for the time being, I will acknowledge that this is a good investment.

However, for health care more generally, I still remain troubled. The increase next year really only accounts for a portion of the large settlement in labour—again for Bill 124—after suppressing wages for so many years. Inflation on medical supplies has also risen far higher than what is in this budget, and so the pressures on hospitals, on ED wait times and in-patient stays will stay high.

As I mentioned in my response to the supply bill last week, these are the facts for hospitals in Ontario. Ontario hospital budgets reflect the lowest hospital expenditure per capita by any provincial government in Canada. In fact, if Ontario were to fund hospitals at the average rate per capita—just the average—it would cost the province about $3.7 billion.

In addition, Ontario hospitals have the lowest cost of an in-patient stay in Canada. So they’re given less, and they use it really efficiently. I’ve seen the trade-offs that need to be made: what it means for patient experience, what it means for care, for our nurses, doctors, pharmacists, people cooking meals for our patients—but you can’t say that they’re not putting that far less money to good use. So I hope that that will be acknowledged. And when I look at the projected growth in the health sector as a whole—it’s not hospital-specific—I’m not sure that we’ve planned at a necessary rate.

Mental health and ensuring access to cutting-edge treatment and the research in Ontario and making sure that that’s available is also something that needs to continue to happen. There needs to be accountability built into ensuring we see more services, not just the funding of deficits given the chronic underfunding of the public sector. I would like to see more about the government’s plans to ensure that these investments in mental health and health care continue to transform the system in ways that make it easier for people to access the care they need.

I’d like to turn my attention now to the multi-year outlook for education. Whenever we talk about budgets, it always seems like these really large numbers to the general population—we talk in billions. But when we translate that down to a single child, the picture looks different. And in education, the per capita spending for a child is already down $1,500 per child. I have teenagers in the public school system, and I’ve witnessed the difference that that is making to their class sizes, to teachers, to the education supports and, particularly, the increasing strains on mental health in these environments.

The multi-year outlook for education is as follows: 2025-26, $41 billion; 2026-27, $41.1 billion; 2027-28, $41.3 billion. It’s essentially flatlined—completely flatlined. So how, then, is that possible, when we know that labour settlements alone will have, at minimum, inflation included? Help me understand how we’ll continue to provide high-quality education to our kids when we’re actually projecting to decrease what is available to support them.

And post-secondary education, already deeply challenged with daily stories of programs closing, is not a flatline. In fact, it’s a projected decrease: 2025-26, $13 million; 2026-27, $13.1 million; and in 2027-28, $12.8 million. Really, is this the answer that we’re looking to see in Ontario right now—cancelled classes, laying off teaching staff and increasing challenges for our children to access post-secondary education? I think it’s best practice that, in times of economic downturn, we’re helping to support people with their education in those times.

Finally, I just want to mention transit. Again, I was pleased to see that we will continue to make investments in transit infrastructure. This is a very good thing, there’s no question. Particularly with the young people in my riding of Etobicoke–Lakeshore, I heard over and over again that we need to enhance transit, get cars off the road and improve the environment at the same time.

But again, this is the theme of accountability. We’ve seen long delays in projects like the Eglinton Crosstown, two-way GO to Kitchener-Waterloo, increased service on the Lakeshore line. We need to find ways to help to decrease congestion, and this is really our solution.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Laurie Scott): Questions?

Mr. Lorne Coe: You’ll know that Ontario is leading the G7 with the development of four new small modular nuclear reactors at the Darlington site in the region of Durham, delivering 1,200 megawatts of clean electricity—enough to power 1.2 million homes—while creating and sustaining up to 2,000 good-paying jobs.

In addition to this, our government is also refurbishing existing units at Darlington, Bruce and Pickering, ensuring we extend the life of our current nuclear fleet and continue delivering reliable, affordable power to thousands of people across the province.

Can the member opposite stand in her place and say that she will support this aspect of the Ontario budget?

Ms. Lee Fairclough: Thank you to the member for the question. I do have a great appreciation, actually, for nuclear energy. My father worked at Bruce when I was a child and actually led the construction of the Darlington nuclear site. So I do think it’s the right decision to be making sure that we’re investing in energy production in this province.

Again, I’ve highlighted certain aspects of this budget that I think—there are some good things in this budget. What I’ve tried to highlight is that the 68% of the budget, which is the core responsibility of the government, I feel is unfortunately lacking. From that perspective, it’s going to be very difficult for me to support the budget overall.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Laurie Scott): Questions?

MPP Lise Vaugeois: Thank you to the member for your comments. We have seen the government spending billions on a fantasy tunnel, $2 billion of public money for Ontario Place’s boondoggle, $40 million on pre-election partisan ads, $280 million over two years for private health clinics and yet $1.2 billion in cuts to colleges and universities. We know that Ontario has by far the lowest funding per student for colleges and universities. What are your thoughts on the consequences of these enormous cuts to post-secondary education?

Ms. Lee Fairclough: Thank you to the member for your question. I highlighted that in my remarks today, because I do think it’s absolutely critical. We’ve got two things going on: We’ve got this reduction in access and funding to post-secondary education, and we’ve got the lowest unemployment rate in the exact age group that needs to be accessing that education. So from my perspective, this is about our future. They are the future for our economy. Our kids need this development.

I think that we’re already seeing it, right? We’re already seeing the reduction in classes, and I think that it’s going to be far more difficult for our kids to get the education that they need with this current budget.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Laurie Scott): Questions?

M me Lucille Collard: Thank you to my colleague for giving really good remarks and criticizing the parts of the budget that we find problematic.

There’s one of the measures in the budget that is to build more jails. Now, we know that our province and society, in fact, is going through several crises: an affordability crisis, an addiction crisis, a mental health crisis, a housing crisis. Do you believe that the solution to resolve those crises is through more prison beds? And do you think it’s possible that the many people who are going through these crises might actually find themselves in breach of the law and end up unfairly in jail, giving the false impression that we need more jails?

Ms. Lee Fairclough: I go back to the comments from the Maytree Foundation—that there’s this appetite to invest in beds in correctional facilities, but can we actually be investing in housing to the same degree? Can we be investing in care to the same degree?

I think that we need to be really thinking about these solutions. In my comments on Bill 6, I made the point that 80% of the Canadian public are actually looking for those to be the solutions that we tackle, rather than further incarceration of people. As we think about this budget and we—over the next few years, if there can be adjustments to that forecast and outlook, let’s think about how we address some of these other issues more head-on.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Laurie Scott): Questions?

Hon. Stan Cho: I enjoyed the part of the debate that I caught. It was just interesting to hear the NDP talk about a fantasy tunnel under the 401. Speaker, I don’t know if you remember this, in 2018, when they called the Ontario Line a back-of-a-napkin plan.

In fact, the now Leader of the Opposition in 2019, right before the pandemic, said, and I’m paraphrasing, that this government is focused on Alabama-style online learning. Now, what would we have done during the pandemic without online learning?

The point I’m making here, Speaker, is that the NDP continues to say and criticize everything this government invests in, including future infrastructure. Now, they talk about cuts. Can the member point to anywhere on pages 185, 186, 187 and 188, inclusive, and tell me where the cut is? Because I see ministry line increases and investments in the province of Ontario.

Ms. Lee Fairclough: Thank you very much for your question. Earlier in my remarks, I made a few comments on some of those forecasts that you’re describing, particularly calling out the numbers on education. At the end of the day, we know that numbers will increase every year because of the basics of inflation. The problem is that what we’re seeing in front of us is that there isn’t a planned increase even at the rate of inflation in these areas. So, in fact, isn’t that a cut unto itself? That’s how the math works for me and when I look at what we’re seeing in this budget overall.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Laurie Scott): Questions?

Mr. Chris Glover: Thank you for your comments today.

One of the games that’s played in the Legislature—and it happens a lot in question period—is the government, the Conservatives, will say, “Oh, the opposition voted against this; they voted against this,” and they’ll list some things in the budget that are actually pretty good things. But overall, it’s very difficult to support this budget when they’re making a $1.2-billion cut to our post-secondary education system when it’s already on the verge of bankruptcy. Half of our universities are all running deficits.

Our schools—this budget includes cuts to health care, to education—almost every school board in this province is facing a round of cuts and trustees are deciding what programs they’re going to have to cut because they can’t afford to continue the programs for this year.

So when the government is going to say to you that you’re voting against something in the budget, how will you respond?

Ms. Lee Fairclough: Thank you very much to the member for the question.

As I’ve tried to lay out here, there are some things in this budget that I actually think are good things—there are. And then there are a whole bunch of other things that I think deserve some more attention and a finer look, and I think they’re going to have lasting impacts. I think post-secondary and education, more generally, are two really good examples of that. The examples of bringing hospitals to the average in Canada on a per capita basis—that to me seems like we should be shooting maybe for more, but I understand trying to shoot for the average. Even if we spent $3.7 billion to just do that, it would make a difference to our health care system.

I tried to point out these things that I liked and I tried to point out these very tangible things that I think could be better, so when I do vote against this budget, I will always be able to look people in the eyes and say, “This is how I feel about the budget. I was clear about it from the beginning.”

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Laurie Scott): Questions?

M me Lucille Collard: A quick question for my colleague: We look at the budget and what I generally tell people is that I feel the government has misplaced priorities. A lot of money is poured down in investing in infrastructure and very little to take care of people—literally people, like our kids and vulnerable people.

I’d like to hear from you what you hear in your riding. What would be the priorities that they would have liked to see in the budget?

Ms. Lee Fairclough: Thank you for the question.

I think that some of the priorities I’ve highlighted here would be very consistent with what the constituents are looking for from us—most certainly, around health care and education.

As I mentioned, I received 514 emails just on Bill 5 alone because people have big concerns around how $5 billion will be used and to what purpose and to what level of accountability.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Laurie Scott): Further debate?

Mr. Deepak Anand: Madam Speaker, I am rising today to speak on the 2025 budget and Bill 24, the Plan to Protect Ontario Act.

As always, before I start my remarks, I want to say thank you, God, for giving me the physical health and the mental health so that I can stand here and represent the riding of Mississauga–Malton.

Thank you to the residents of Mississauga–Malton, my family, my staff and my extended family for all your support.

On behalf of over 524,000 university students, over 350,000 publicly assisted college students, over 107,000 private career college students—and there are 76,000 STEM graduates annually—on behalf of the 23 publicly assisted universities, on behalf of 24 publicly assisted colleges and over 605 private career colleges, it is my honour to speak on the progress the province is championing. The very foundation of that progress is research, higher education and the vibrant institutions that fuel both: our colleges and universities.

Madam Speaker, before I go ahead, I want to take a moment to thank our Minister of Colleges and Universities for his hard work, and my colleague from Whitby.

Interjections.

Mr. Deepak Anand: A great guy, yes. You can even clap if you want.

Interjections.

Mr. Deepak Anand: Madam Speaker, it’s not just them, but at the same time, the member from Nepean and the member from London West, who are also working as critics on this file: Thank you for your service as well, because we can only grow if we work collaboratively.

When we talk about this bill, I will be focusing on colleges and universities—particularly about research.

I want to start by giving an example of how colleges and universities have impacted my life.

I remember when I started my post-secondary at DAV College, where I got my education in science to graduate and get admission to Panjab University, where I did my chemical engineering undergrad—so I started with college and I followed up with university.

In 2000, when I came to Canada on January 15, I joined a company called Novaquest—and thank God; give a long life to Paul Kuzmenko. Paul said, “If you want to grow in life, you need to be educated; you need to skill up.” I went back to Sheridan College—and thank you to Sheridan College. I used to make $11.75 per hour; after I took my course, I actually got $16.25. That’s a great jump. Again, this is the impact. It’s not just the money; it is the ability to give back to the community, to serve and do the work.

In 2005, when my daughter was born, I took parental leave, prepared for my GMAT, and I went back to the Schulich School of Business. When I joined the Schulich School of Business, my salary was about $54,000, and when I came out and got my first job, that was at $71,000. Again, it’s not only about the money but, at the same time, the ability to contribute.

This is how our universities and colleges are contributing. They give you the tools required to progress in life, and they compensate you to live your life well. That’s what I’ll be talking about.

This is why our government is making a landmark investment of $750 million in Ontario’s post-secondary institutions, especially in STEM fields—science, technology, engineering and math. These funds will directly support 20,500 new student seats, providing thousands of young people access to skills that modern jobs demand. This is about more than increasing capacity, it is about matching opportunity with preparation. It is about ensuring that a student with a dream is able to innovate, build or explore, and doesn’t see their dream being cut short because of the limited access to a lab, lecture hall or research mentor.

Madam Speaker, when we talk about Ontario’s future, we’re talking about the students walking the corridors of the universities and colleges and making sure that they are able to build their career. Our institutions are not just places of learning, they are incubators of progress. They are the places where ideas are born, refined, tested and scaled.

I’ll give you an example of that, Madam Speaker. Let’s look at some of the key facts: Ontario is Canada’s most patent-intensive province, with Ontario universities playing a significant role in generating this intellectual data. According to AUTM, between 2021 and 2023, 12 Ontario universities reported 2,300 inventions. According to the Vector Institute, 8,359 AI jobs were created, wherein creating a wealth of $1.44 billion in venture capital investment. Ontario universities are leading the development of AI talent, with 1,101 AI master graduates.

And Madam Speaker, let’s look at the data in another way. There are about 5,000 universities in the world, and we should be proud that we have many of our universities in the top 100. For example, University of Toronto is ranked 21st of all 5,000 universities. And when it comes to health, it is ranked between seventh and eighth, depending on the year. This is the strength of our province. This is not just the students; these are the young people who are contributing to their society, to making society bigger and better and stronger. Look at McMaster for example, Madam Speaker.

We have the McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute, which is providing its operation to design and prototype essential personal protective equipment.

I’ll give you an example: ImaginAble, one of the businesses that came out of McMaster. I had an opportunity to meet this young 23-year-old girl. She talked to me and told me about how she saw somebody not able to move their hand, not able to write. It may sound like something small, Madam Speaker, but think about those people who want to create something and are not able to do it. She came up with a brilliant idea wherein she created a tool where these people can put their hand, and because they cannot move their fingers, they can use the elbow to create.

Think about when they created, when they wrote the first time, when they created their art that first time, the pleasure they received. Thank you to our universities and colleges for giving our children the breeding ground to support that innovation.

Another example: Trexo. Madam Speaker, do you know what is the best thing for any parent? When they see their child walking for the first time. Unfortunately, when God takes, sometimes, tests and there are kids who cannot walk—think about the situation. What do they feel? How do they go through that? Thank you to Trexo Robotics from Mississauga. They came up with this idea. They actually built a structure where those kids who cannot walk can take this tool and are able to walk. One of them is the Roberts’ son, who has done over 250,000 steps.

He said, “The biggest and the best moment of my life was when my son was born, and the second-best moment was when I saw him walking, and I could not stop crying.” This is the strength. This is how the universities and colleges of Ontario are helping, supporting and giving life to not just the people of Ontario, but the rest of the world as well, and that is our strength.

And the examples are so many, but considering that I don’t have much time, Madam Speaker, I will be focusing more on commitment to research and innovation.

Ontario has always been a leader in research, from breakthrough health care studies to advancements in clean energy, artificial intelligence, agriculture and life sciences. But it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It requires stable funding, collaboration and long-term vision, and that is exactly what this budget is doing. Our colleges and universities are partners in building a stronger economy.

My colleague from Burlington knows, when she was working in the education sector at Sheridan College—when we give the tools to our students and they come up with these brilliant ideas, it not only gives happiness to them and their families but to the educators as well. These are the partnerships and the expertise that we are going to develop through translating their classroom knowledge into real-world examples, helping companies stay competitive while launching careers that matter.

That is why we are proud to say that this government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, is investing an additional $5 billion in the Building Ontario Fund, prioritizing infrastructure, housing and Indigenous partnerships. We talked about—many, many times—that not everybody can go to college and university, but that’s not the only career. We have the Skills Development Fund, which is now totalling $2.5 billion and is able to provide support so they’re job-ready, competitive and equipped to lead industries from high-tech manufacturing to biotechnology.

We are also working to ensure that all Ontarians, especially those in northern, rural and Indigenous communities, have access to the training and education they need. Through expanded broadband, regional rail and transportation infrastructure, we are connecting communities, not just physically but economically and academically as well.

Colleges are more than career launchpads. They are economic catalysts in their communities. In cities like Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie, colleges play an important role. We are making sure that this government is expanding the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit, and the creation of special economic zones will pair directly with our college system, ensuring workers have access to the training and retraining they need as Ontario reshapes its industrial landscape.

The next thing we are doing is championing equity in education. When we talk about removing barriers, when we talk about financial, geographical and systemic barriers that prevent capable, passionate students from pursuing post-secondary education—this budget supports the Indigenous Participation Fund and the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program, increasing the maximum available support from $1 billion to $3 billion. We are also introducing $10 million in new scholarships for First Nations students pursuing careers in resource development and other high-demand sectors.

Another vital component of our strategy is enhancing collaboration between universities and job creators. With a $600-million addition to the Invest Ontario Fund, we are fostering partnerships that not only commercialize research but ensure Ontario leads in advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, health sciences and more. This fund has already attracted over $7.5 billion in investment, creating over 9,500 new jobs. These are not just jobs—they are high-quality, research-informed, future-focused careers that ensure Ontario remains an economic leader on the global stage.

Let’s look at some of the other highlights, Madam Speaker. We are making sure that we are providing relief and support for workers and businesses by deferring provincial taxes for 80,000 businesses; unlocking $9 billion in liquidity to keep workers employed; $2 billion in employment rebates through WSIB; helping safe employers retain staff; and launching a $40-million trade-impacted community program to support local communities. These are some of the investments we are doing—

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Laurie Scott): I’m sorry to interrupt the member, but pursuant to standing order 50(c), I’m now required to interrupt the proceedings and announce that there have been six and a half hours of debate on the motion for second reading of this bill. This debate will therefore be deemed adjourned unless the government House leader directs the debate to continue.

I recognize the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming.

Hon. Stan Cho: Speaker, 50(

c) has to be my favourite standing order. I move adjournment of the debate.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Laurie Scott): The debate was deemed adjourned.

Hon. Stan Cho: Oh, that’s it.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Laurie Scott): Orders of the day?

Hon. Stan Cho: No further business.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Laurie Scott): The House is now recessed until 10:15.

The House recessed from 0945 to 1015.

Members’ Statements

Grand River Rhinos

Ms. Jess Dixon: I’ve spoken before in the House about one of the groups from my area, the Grand River Malayalee Association, who have really welcomed me into their hearts. When I was at their spring show, they called me one of their honorary Malayalee. But they also have—not completely connected to the association but many of the same members—their cricket team, the Grand River Rhinos. So the Grand River Rhinos are now the reigning 2024 Southern Ontario Cricket Association champs from last year.

They gave me the great honour of presenting their newly custom-designed cricket jerseys from their sponsor, realtor Sudhip Joseph. I, of course, said yes. They have their men’s team, and then this year they have a women’s team as well.

What I was really especially delighted by, not just to have the honour to present the jerseys to, as I said, the champion team, but they made me my own jersey. So I have my own jersey with Jess Dixon on the back, and they made me number 1, which I thought was very, very sweet of them. As I’ve talked about before, this community has been so welcoming. The work they do to keep their culture alive but also to give back to the community is incredibly impressive.

So I wanted to say thank you again to the Grand River Rhinos; to Sudhip Joseph for sponsoring them; and to Rajeev, Shyam and Anjali for supporting me and again for welcoming me in and making me part of the team. I’m a terrible, terrible cricket player. I’m not a cricket player, but I will do my best to learn how to—

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Members’ statements?

Events in London West

Ms. Peggy Sattler: In just a few days, London’s glorious festival season will be in full swing. On the first Saturday in June, Londoners can experience the sights, sounds, music and one-of-a-kind artisans of the annual Gathering on the Green, organized by the Old South Community Association for the past 43 years. With London’s designation as Canada’s first and only UNESCO City of Music, the gathering is also on the lineup for Forest City London Music Week from June 1 to 8.

Musical talent is also showcased at PondFest at the Hyde Park Village Green on June 14. Thanks to the efforts of the Hyde Park BIA, PondFest features street performers, unique vendors, great bands, food trucks and more. It also marks the exciting unveiling of the community piano, a public art project painted by student artists from Oakridge Secondary School, which will remain in place for Londoners to enjoy all summer.

The Old South Village Green will come alive once more on June 14 with Wortley Pride, a joyous, family-friendly celebration of love and diversity, and again on June 20 with the 29th annual Indigenous Solidarity Day to celebrate and honour Indigenous, Métis and Inuit communities and cultures.

Big shout-out to the amazing organizers, volunteers, vendors and performers who bring our city such joy. My team and I can’t wait to connect with Londoners at each of these terrific summer festivals.

Impaired driving

Mr. Stephen Blais: Ontario is grieving. Last week, a senseless act of impaired driving shattered a family and devastated a community. Three young children were killed when an allegedly impaired driver collided with their vehicle. Their lives were stolen in an instant, and no words can capture the weight of that loss. But this tragedy is not isolated. Impaired driving is on the rise across the province. The OPP laid over 11,500 impaired driving charges just last year. Over two years, that’s a 35% increase. These are not just statistics, they are shattered lives, grieving parents and empty classrooms.

Now, as grad season begins across Ontario, the stakes are even higher. For many students, this is a milestone moment, a celebration of achievement, of friendship, of growing up but one bad decision can turn that celebration into a tragedy. We all have a role to play as parents, as teachers, as neighbours, as friends, in reminding young people that there are always options. Call a parent, order an Uber, stay the night—there is always a safer way home.

As legislators, we must ask, are we doing enough? Are the penalties strong enough? Are we reaching young drivers before it’s too late? I know I’ll be spending part of my summer pondering those questions to see if there’s something we can do in this place to make a difference.

We need a culture where getting behind the wheel impaired isn’t just illegal, it’s unthinkable. We must do better.

Markham Food Bank

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: I rise today to recognize a generous act of community spirit and compassion that took place in my riding of Markham–Thornhill.

On behalf of the Kuo Hua Taiwan food trading company, president Lisa Chung donated 100 boxes of Taiwanese noodles valued at approximately $3,600 to the Markham Food Bank, providing vital support to individuals and families in need. This heartfelt donation is a shining example of how local businesses can play a meaningful role in lifting our community.

I would also like to thank the many other organizations and citizens who came together in the spirit of giving, including Gifted People Services, Canada One Family Network, Logan Health Clinic, Ficus Education Inc. and dedicated community members John Wong and his wife Boby Yeung.

The Markham Food Bank graciously accepted the donations and highlighted that hundreds of meals will be provided to families in Markham. Speaker, this is what community looks like: people helping people.

On behalf of all the residents of Markham–Thornhill, I thank Ms. Lisa Chung and all those involved for showing us how generosity and coming together can make a real difference in people’s lives, especially marginalized and vulnerable people in our community. I am happy to coordinate this food drive—

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Members’ statements?

Landfill

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Yesterday, the Ford government in question period tried to defend Bill 5, and it’s breaking its promise to require a full environmental assessment for the expansion of the Dresden landfill.

We were told a 1,000% increase in fees for waste was going to be imposed by Michigan, which receives an awful lot of waste from Ontario. And yes, it’s true, the tipping fee will go from 36 cents a ton to $5 a ton—not quite the apocalypse that one might have thought when you heard about such a big increase. In Ontario, the average tipping fee is between $100 and $400 a ton.

Speaker, the government has been in power since 2018. It has neglected taking action on waste diversion, particularly industrial-commercial. If we have a waste crisis, it is in the hands of this government. It is because of their inaction.

I want to say to everyone who is concerned about the environment and the reopening and expansion of the Dresden landfill to keep in mind any assurances of environmental protection should be checked as closely as the claim that Michigan was going to make the price of tipping outrageously high for those in Ontario.

Malala Yousafzai Public School

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: On May 14, I had the honour of attending the official grand opening of Malala Yousafzai Public School in Brampton West, a proud and long-awaited moment for our community. This school has been years in the making, and I want to recognize the many families, educators and advocates who worked tirelessly to help bring it to life.

Malala Yousafzai Public School opened its doors in September 2024 for the 2024-25 school year. Located in a fast-growing part of Brampton, it delivers 850 new elementary student spaces and 73 licensed child care spaces, helping to meet the needs of our growing population in Brampton West. Madam Speaker, I am proud that the province of Ontario invested $29.6 million through the Peel District School Board to support this important project—a part of our government’s commitment to build modern, accessible learning environments.

Named after Malala Yousafzai, a public advocate for girls’ education and human rights, this school reflects the value of courage, learning and leadership. Having visited the same school site with then-Minister of Education Stephen Lecce in June 2023, it’s inspiring to see how far we have come.

I know this school will be a pillar of our community for generations to come.

Government accountability

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: It is an honour to rise today on behalf of the residents of St. Catharines and communities all across Ontario who are deeply concerned about the Ford government’s reckless, short-sighted Bill 5. This bill does more than just fast-track industrial and resource projects, it tramples Indigenous rights, guts environmental protections and cuts the public out of decisions that will shape our health, our land and our future.

In St. Catharines, we know first-hand the cost of getting these decisions wrong. We are still dealing with the toxic legacy of the old GM site, a former industrial property approved before the environmental protections that Bill 5 now seeks to repeal. It’s a prime example of what happens when environmental protections are not in place.

Bill 5 would allow the government to create special economic zones where basic rules do not apply, like the rules that protect endangered species, archaeological sites and treaty rights. And worst of all, it hands sweeping power to a single minister, removing accountability and meaningful consultation with communities and municipalities.

At a time when climate risks are only rising, Ontario needs strong protections, not weaker ones. Bill 5 doesn’t build a cleaner future, it builds more risk, more harm and more cleanups, like the one we are still facing in St. Catharines decades later.

Speaker, this bill must be withdrawn.

Seniors’ services

Ms. Laurie Scott: As we approach June, Seniors’ Month, I rise to recognize the many contributions of seniors in the riding of Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock that strengthen our communities.

These programs are vital and provide our seniors with programming and spaces to stay engaged, active and connected. I’m especially pleased that funding supports important community hubs, such as local Legions in Haliburton county that host these seniors’ programs, the Fenelon Falls Senior Centre and the Lindsay Seniors Association in the Victoria Park Armoury—they offer these social opportunities and events.

I’m excited to share that this June, I will be hosting my annual seniors’ seminars in the communities of Beaverton, Haliburton and Lindsay. There’s lots to learn and see. I encourage the seniors in those areas to come out, and I thank all those that do presentations so that they are made aware of what services are offered in our communities.

Solve for Tomorrow

Ms. Natalie Pierre: Good morning. I rise today to recognize an outstanding student achievement in my riding of Burlington. I’m incredibly proud to share that a student from Aldershot School has been named as a finalist in Samsung’s nationwide Solve for Tomorrow competition. This STEM-focused initiative challenges students to develop innovative solutions to real-world problems. It’s a shining example of how we can inspire and empower the next generation of change-makers.

Aldershot’s project, led by their grade 12 student Keerthana, stood out on the national stage for its creativity and technical excellence. Her proposal aims to promote renewable energy efficiency in the agricultural sector through a quantum Monte Carlo method—an innovative approach to better identify faults in photovoltaic farms. What an incredible honour for Keerthana, for Aldershot high school and our entire Burlington community.

This achievement reflects the importance of our government’s commitment to back-to-basics education, restoring the focus on academic achievement and excellence in STEM disciplines. I’m very proud of Keerthana and Aldershot School for their outstanding efforts and look forward to the announcement of the winner on May 28.

Wearing of ribbons

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services on a point of order.

Hon. Michael Parsa: Speaker, if you seek it, you’ll find unanimous consent to wear the green-and-blue ribbons in recognition of Community Living Day here at Queen’s Park.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): The Minister of Children, Community and Social Services is seeking unanimous consent to wear the blue-and-green ribbon. Agreed? Agreed.

Introduction of Visitors

Hon. Michael Parsa: I’d like to welcome some of my friends from Community Living who are here joining us today: Chris Beesley, Brad Saunders, Shawn Pegg, Jennie Chanda, Jo-Anne Demick, Jonathan Bradshaw, Claudine Cousins, Teresa Kruze, Michelle Lucas and my friends Judy and William—I know there are a lot of my friends here, so I won’t name them all—also, Dr. Robert Walsh from OASIS. Welcome to Queen’s Park, and I look forward to seeing you at the reception this afternoon between 5 and 7.

Mr. Rob Cerjanec: I’d like to recognize a friend and former colleague today who is in the gallery: Ahmad Khawaja. He’s now here today with the Ontario College of Teachers for committee hearings on Bill 2. Welcome.

Hon. Stephen Crawford: I’d like to welcome two constituents from my riding: Scott Shedden and his son Spencer Shedden. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Neil Lumsden: It’s a great opportunity for me today to wish my wife Donna a very happy birthday. I’ll get the cake in the oven late on Thursday night; it’ll be ready Friday.

M me France Gélinas: I’d like to recognize the Platelet Disorder Support Association: Mrs. Kristin Hunt, Dale Paynter and his wife Susan Paynter, Isil Arac, Stefanie Hass, Ryon Dalir and Andrew Retflavi. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Graydon Smith: I want to welcome to Queen’s Park Mayor Fred Mota from Red Lake—good to see you. With him are Henry Wall and Sarah Stevenson of the Kenora District Services Board. Pleasure having you here—I look forward to our meeting today.

Ms. Natalie Pierre: I’d like to welcome my summer intern from my constit office who is joining us today in the gallery. Welcome, Lachlan.

Hon. Rob Flack: I’d like to introduce Community Living Elgin to Queen’s Park: Richard Sitzes, Blair Lyons, Denise Pinch, Rita Silverthorn and Rhonda Vanderven. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Stephanie Bowman: I would like to introduce Tasneem Bandukwala, who is the executive director of the UPtown Yonge BIA in my riding, and her husband Hutaib, and especially their daughter Lyanah, who is serving as page captain today. Welcome to the Legislature.

MPP Alexa Gilmour: It’s my pleasure to welcome to the House today John and Maria and their son Peter Armando Meligrana. Armando is a former legislative page and a current youth advocate who has done lots of fantastic work in Parkdale–High Park. It happens to be his 15th birthday today, so happy birthday, Armando. Welcome back to your House.

Mrs. Michelle Cooper: I’d like to introduce and welcome today’s page captain, page Lyanah. She is from the riding of Eglinton–Lawrence. She and her family are here today at Queen’s Park, and I want to welcome you to Queen’s Park. We’re happy to have you and your family join us. Thank you.

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: It’s a pleasure today to welcome Elaine Terpstra. She is here cheering on her daughter Allie who is serving as a page, representing Huron–Bruce.

MPP Stephanie Smyth: I’d like to recognize today my constituent Gail Strachan of the Platelet Disorder Support Association, who are joining us in the Legislature today. I look forward to meeting with them later today to learn more about their important advocacy and support for those living with platelet disorders. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Michael S. Kerzner: I’m excited to welcome Daniel Zafrani, a great Ontarian and member of our synagogue, Magen David Sephardic Congregation. Welcome to the Ontario Legislature.

Mr. Hardeep Singh Grewal: I’d like to welcome two exemplary individuals from my riding of Brampton East, people who have served the community well. They’ll be receiving a King’s medal today, and they are Priti Lamba, who has served our community with APDIO and countless community charities, as well as somebody who has served our community through thick and thin: Navdeep Chhinzer, who is a sergeant with Peel police—28 years of experience, an exemplary officer serving his community with passion. He’s always there, serving with pride and demonstrating a great work ethic, serving our community, so thank you.

Ms. Aislinn Clancy: I’d like to introduce Juan Marquez, a student doing his PhD, and a bunch of housing advocates: David Alton, Diana Myers, Nadine Green, Kelly Welch, Peter Martin and Alan Mills, who’s here with lots of friends from Community Living Ontario and Extend-A-Family Waterloo Region. Welcome to your House.

Hon. Todd J. McCarthy: I’d like to welcome to the House today two Jesuit priests of the Roman Catholic church who are with us in the gallery: Father Michael Knox, rector of Regis College, the Jesuit community at the University of Toronto and Father John O’Brien, the director of the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ontario, which is approaching its centennial anniversary.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): That is all our time for introduction of guests. There will be time at 1 o’clock again—a reminder.

Legislative pages

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I’d now like to call the pages to gather on the floor.

Over the next two weeks, you’ll be joining us, and I’d like to introduce the young men and women who will be working with us.

From Sarnia–Lambton, Aastha Aastha; from Eglinton–Lawrence, Lyanah Bandukwala; from University–Rosedale, Soraya Bayat; from Mississauga Centre, Julia Bressmann-Gill; from Toronto Centre, Abd-Ur-Rehman Chaudhry; from London North Centre, Taylor Doyle; from Mississauga–Streetsville, Shreyas Goyal; from Parkdale–High Park, Emma Hurtado Dagnino; from Simcoe–Grey, Calvin Huynh; from Sudbury, Leif Keresztesi; from Niagara Falls, Sarang Kim; from Ajax, Mayukh Manohar; from Spadina–Fort York, Vishantak Rai; from York South–Weston, Isabela Ramos Gaertner; from Scarborough–Guildwood, Jessica Reynolds; from Oakville North–Burlington, Ibrahim Siddiqi; from Toronto–Danforth, Adrianna Silva; from Don Valley East, Nathan Sojobi; from Huron–Bruce, Allie Terpstra; from Carleton, Emilie Trainor; from Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill, David Turcan; and from Mississauga–Lakeshore, Noah Tin Kin Wang.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Applause.

Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

Mr. Steve Clark: Point of order, Madam Speaker: I seek unanimous consent for the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs to continue its work from the 43rd Parliament respecting Indigenous representation as part of the Legislative Building rehabilitation.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): The government House leader is seeking unanimous consent for the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs to continue its work from the 43rd Parliament respecting Indigenous representation as part of the Legislative Building rehabilitation. Agreed? Agreed.

Question Period

Government accountability

Ms. Marit Stiles: Good morning, Speaker. This question is going to be for the Premier.

Bill 5 creates these “special economic zones,” and that’s just a cheat code for the government getting to do whatever they want. A cabinet minister can pick an area or a group or a zone—a project—and decide that no laws apply here. Scrap labour laws. Trample over Indigenous rights. Trash any existing laws and even protect the government from lawsuits.

Speaker, this isn’t about our economy. This is a reckless and shameless power grab by this government. Why is the Premier using Trump’s trade war as an excuse to push for an unchecked, unlimited power grab?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Speaker, the NDP and the Liberals continue to oppose every single measure that cuts red tape, lowers costs and makes it easier for companies to create jobs here in Ontario.

The situation we are in could not be clearer. We are facing a once-in-a-generation crisis. Coming out of this, the competition to land investments is going to be unlike anything we have ever seen. So we face two distinct choices: Act boldly to ensure investments are going to land here and create jobs, or do as they suggest and sit on our hands, do nothing and watch as our economy gets crushed. The Liberals and the NDP want us to do the latter, but we refuse.

We are going to do everything to ensure Ontario is the place to invest, to grow and to create more jobs for our families.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the Leader of the Opposition for the supplementary.

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, do you know what’s unprecedented? It’s the outpouring of opposition to this bill. It’s unprecedented.

The Premier may like to claim that anyone who opposes him is a “left-wing, radical environmentalist”—I think those were his words yesterday—but the only people playing politics here are him and his government.

There are scientists; there are engineers; yes, there are environmentalists; yes, there are businesses and First Nations—everyone thinks this bill is a bad idea, and for good reason.

I want to quote the Anishinabek Nation grand chief, who said yesterday, “Should this bill proceed in its current form, we will be idle no more.”

This government needs to take this opposition seriously.

Will the Premier listen to Ontarians and withdraw Bill 5?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Speaker, the Ontario Association of Architects came out with a new report showing that delays in site plan applications are costing Ontario’s economy $3.5 billion every single year. In the coming years, the competition to land job-creating investments is going to be unlike anything we have ever seen. We can’t have site applications that are supposed to be processed in 60 days take 23 months—that’s according to that association. If we continue down this path, we’ll see jobs and investments go out of our province, and we won’t even make the short list for companies to invest and expand here in Ontario.

We need to move faster. That is what our government is doing with Bill 5.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Supplementary?

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, do you know what else is delaying things? The courts—this government being taken to court every five minutes and losing in the courts. And that is what’s going to happen here again.

No consent, no consultations, no laws—this is the playbook that this government is selling.

Experts like engineers and scientists have said that the government’s approach to this will actually result in more delays. How long have we been telling them this?

First Nations chiefs are saying that this is an irresponsible attempt to trample over the duty to consult, and that will inevitably delay projects.

These projects are, yes, critical to northern Ontario’s future, to our province—so get it right the first time.

Will the Premier withdraw Bill 5, go back to the drawing board, and do it right?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Premier.

Hon. Doug Ford: Madam Speaker, last time I checked, there was the election a couple of months back—and I was so clear. Every single day, I went out there and told the people of Ontario our plan. I was crystal clear about getting rid of red tape, getting rid of regulations, making sure that we attract investments and create the climate and the conditions for companies to come from around the world to invest.

But they aren’t going to invest when it takes 15 years to do a four-and-a-half-inch-diameter drilling hole to check what critical minerals there are—when investments go to Australia, they go to the US, they go everywhere in the world because it takes 15 years to put a drill in the ground. I was very, very clear.

The people of this province gave us a huge mandate to move forward, to compete against President Trump. He has called an economic war. He wants to take our jobs. He wants to close our businesses. But we aren’t going to let it happen because Canada is not for sale—

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Question?

Government advertising

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, you’ve got to wonder if the government has learned absolutely nothing from the greenbelt scandal.

But, anyways, this next question is actually for the Deputy Premier. In 2017, the previous Liberal government of the day rolled back oversight on government ad spending. It opened up the floodgates for government to put out partisan ads at the taxpayers’ expense.

At the time the Deputy Premier said, and I want to quote her here, “It is shameful that this government refuses to respect taxpayer dollars and restore the Auditor General’s authority to review and approve government advertising.” That was a quote from our now Deputy Premier, and here we are today spending $40 million—government taxpayer dollars—on purely partisan advertising. So I want to ask the Deputy Premier today, why the change of heart?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Minister of Finance.

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Madam Speaker, I don’t know what news the Leader of the Opposition is following, but Donald Trump is engaged in a tariff war with Ontario, as the Premier said, to take our jobs, to take our businesses, to challenge this economy and we won’t stand for that.

And with regard to promoting Ontario, we are never going to apologize for promoting Ontario. One million new jobs, an economy that now is over $1.2 trillion—we’re very proud of everything that we do in Ontario, everything that we’ve built in this great province, and we are going to continue doing that because the world has changed and Ontario must change with it.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the Leader of the Opposition.

Ms. Marit Stiles: Well, let me tell you, Speaker, what changed since the Deputy Premier wouldn’t help us out there: They got into power, and they said, “Hey, why don’t we abuse this? Now we’ve got the power to spend all those millions of dollars on advertising. Let’s go all in.” Their own campaign director for the last election has called it opening the firehose, clearly admitting that they intentionally spent those $40 million on ads that did nothing to advertise a government service. No, simply to sell the Conservative Party—a deep abuse of power, very clearly.

So, I want to ask the Deputy Premier again: Will you make the Conservative Party pay this back to the taxpayers of Ontario?

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Madam Speaker, the answer is very clear. We are promoting Ontario, and why are we promoting Ontario? Because we want to protect Ontario, we want to protect the good jobs. Some 300,000 jobs left this province under the watch of the NDP and the Liberals, 300,000 tail lights heading to the US. Now a million have come back to Ontario. That’s what I call the economic engine of Canada.

Madam Speaker, let’s take a look at some of the things that we’re doing to promote Ontario. First of all, we are building $200-billion worth of infrastructure. You know what that means for communities? That means for communities like in Durham—a new hospital in Durham. What it means is shovels in the ground for the Niagara Health system. What it means is a new hospital for Scarborough, for their Scarborough Health Network and a renovated and expanded hospital in Ottawa and Cambridge Memorial and much, much more.

That’s what building Ontario looks like, that’s what protecting Ontario looks like and we’ll never apologize—

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the Leader of the Opposition.

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, this was never about promoting Ontario, it was only ever about promoting themselves. That’s what this was about.

Speaking of firehoses, $40 million could go a long way to restoring the cuts to wildland firefighting that this minister made just two weeks ago. You could put that back right now. You could fund the maintenance of 383 addiction treatment beds and three mobile crisis teams. You could do that with those $40 million. And $40 million—it may not seem like a lot to you these days, but it’s a lot to a lot of people and it could pay for a lot of things in this province. It could start reopening shuttered emergency rooms in rural communities. It could do a lot of things.

I want to go back to the Premier since he’s gracing us with his presence today.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I will ask the member to withdraw.

Ms. Marit Stiles: I said he’s here. I can say he’s here. I just can’t say if he’s not here, but he’s here.

Interjections.

Ms. Marit Stiles: Withdrawn, Speaker.

Back to the Premier: When will this Premier and this government direct the Conservative Party to do the right thing and pay this $40 million back to the taxpayers of Ontario?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Minister of Education.

Hon. Paul Calandra: I’m mindful of the fact that two Fathers have joined us in the galleries today, so I will be extra, extra good.

But let me just say this—you know what happened? I’ll tell you what happened. Back in January, when the NDP-Liberal government in Ottawa began to collapse and there was no leadership when they were throwing out a Prime Minister, they couldn’t decide what to do at a time when a new President was coming into office threatening our economic viability—not only the province of Ontario, but the nation. Who stepped in to fill that void? It was the Premier of the province of Ontario who stepped in to fill that void. And do you know what we decided to do?

We decided, as a caucus, as a government, that we were going to do everything that we needed to do to fight back on behalf not only of Ontario but of Canadians. We advertised everywhere. We’re proud of it. And you said you supported it—how things change.

Government accountability

Mr. John Fraser: My question is for the Premier. Bill 5 is so problematic, and so many people are telling us this. Even the member from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex is speaking out against the backroom deal for the Dresden dump that’s included in Bill 5. He knows it stinks. The Premier knows it stinks. We all know it stinks. And even though there hasn’t been garbage there for some 30 years, we can smell it all the way from here.

Speaker, will the Premier do the right thing and put the people of Dresden first and not his donors?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Minister of the Environment.

Hon. Todd J. McCarthy: Let me be clear: When it comes to the Dresden landfill expansion and any landfill expansion and any project, strict environmental oversight will be the rule. This particular project, I can assure you, will be subject to the environmental compliance approval process and will only proceed after going through such a process.

It is about balance. It’s about being self-reliant as a province within Canada. It’s about making sure that we are not reliant upon continuing to send 40% of our waste outside of Ontario to Michigan and New York. That status quo cannot stand. And the old, tired Liberal narrative, supported by the NDP, doesn’t work anymore. We’re in this crisis—

Interjection.

Hon. Todd J. McCarthy: —in part because of inaction by the Liberals propped up by the NDP. But we have the mandate from the people. We will act with balance, with strong environmental oversight.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I apologize to the member. I’d ask the member from Beaches–East York to withdraw.

Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon: I withdraw.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the leader of the third party.

Mr. John Fraser: Even the member from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex isn’t buying that hogwash. Out of some 800 sites in Ontario for a dump, the Premier singled out one. That one dump was owned by a group of people who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Premier’s party and, as well, a close political ally of the Premier’s pension fund. What’s really interesting here in Ontario right now is just what money can buy.

Speaker, through you, will the Premier do the right thing, put the people of Dresden first, listen to his MPP from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex and put a pause on Bill 5?

Hon. Todd J. McCarthy: The expansion of the existing landfill at Dresden is part of a series of expansions. That included one in North Stormont in the last few years. We are expanding because we have to expand, but we will never proceed without strong environmental oversight. That is the balance we must achieve.

We will continue to be self-reliant. We will continue to look toward expanding our landfill capacity and diverting our waste responsibly. That includes recycling and composting and using modern technology for waste to energy. We will look at all options so that we achieve the balance, manage our own landfill capacity and have strong environmental oversight.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the leader of the third party.

Mr. John Fraser: Speaker, some 800 sites—the Premier picks one. There’s an advantage to his party because of the people who own that site. As I said, it’s interesting what money can buy in this province.

Even the Premier’s own ministers are saying Bill 5 needs to be amended because they know that the Dresden dump is actually kind of a microcosm or a really clear explanation of this bill, which is: Go against the will of the people, favours for the Premier’s friends and zero accountability.

Speaker, through you: Will the Premier finally do the right thing and put the people of Dresden first, and his member from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex, and put a pause on Bill 5?

Hon. Todd J. McCarthy: Madam Speaker, Bill 5 is an essential piece of legislation that helps us, as its name indicates, protect Ontario while unleashing our economy. It is a bill with 10 schedules that is all about balance. Yes, it’s about building the Ontario of tomorrow. Yes, it’s about being self-reliant. And yes, it’s about strong environmental oversight.

When it comes to Bill 5, some of the members opposite—I would encourage them to actually read the bill. For example,

section 32 of

schedule 10 improves and increases the investigative authority of environmental compliance officers to identify and detect harm to species before it happens and then to enforce the law with strict penalties including jail time and up to $2-million fines for corporations. So it is about the rule of law. It’s about getting it right, but it is about balance, and we applaud balance.

First Nations consultation

Mr. John Fraser: I maintain it’s really interesting what money buys in this province now.

Back to the Premier: First Nations leaders have sounded the alarm on Bill 5, and they are right to do so. Bill 5 allows the Premier to do whatever he wants with whoever he wants whenever he wants, and to hell with the rules. It’s a recipe for disaster. For First Nations, it’s a fundamental breaking of what little trust they have in this government.

So back to the Premier: Does the Premier think it’s acceptable to show so much disrespect for First Nations partners?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Minister of Indigenous Affairs and First Nations Economic Reconciliation.

Hon. Greg Rickford: I want to thank the member for the question. In no way does Bill 5 abrogate from the duty to consult nor does it derogate from the treaty rights across the province as they’re set out. In fact, what we’re building here is an opportunity to work in full partnership with First Nations communities.

Never before have I seen a Premier—or a Prime Minister, for that matter—articulate a vision for shared prosperity across this province, and especially in the Far North, where those deficits are on full display.

Our goal, our objective, is to have a working partnership with First Nations communities and businesses who have increasingly said loud and clear, whether it’s the London Stock Exchange or Indigenous business gatherings across this country, “We want to be part of building Canada. We want to be part of building Ontario, and we want a brighter future for young Indigenous people.” I think that’s a policy option we should continue to pursue.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): The leader of the third party.

Mr. John Fraser: Back to the Premier: The constitutional duty is to consult, not insult, and First Nations leaders are warning us. Yesterday we heard some words that we haven’t heard in a really long time, and that’s “Idle no more.” That’s a sign of the deep concern and fundamental opposition First Nations have to Bill 5. Legislation to let the Premier do whatever he wants with whoever he wants whenever he wants is something that First Nations have seen before, and they’re telling us this. So will the Premier finally listen to First Nations and pull Bill 5?

Hon. Greg Rickford: We’re doing just that. In fact, we’ve endeavoured to enter into community partnership agreements with First Nations communities across this province to ensure that they are an essential part of building the legacy infrastructure that’s required to support many of these resource projects because they reflect the common interests and goals of those regions.

I’m thinking of Pikangikum First Nation, Sandy Lake First Nation—10,000 First Nations communities in the far northwest who are going to be involved in building a bridge across the mighty Berens River so that those folks can get in and out of their communities all year round, that they can unleash the potential for a fibre basket to enter into commercial forestry enterprise and create an opportunity for a critical mineral mine.

Example after example, clarion calls from Indigenous business leaders saying, “We want in; we want to be involved in building Ontario.” It’s attracting attention around the world, and we think, Madam Speaker, as I said earlier, that is an excellent policy goal to achieve.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Final supplementary?

Mr. John Fraser: Speaker, the clarion call we’re hearing from First Nations is, “Put a stop to Bill 5.” That’s what we’re hearing. That’s what we heard yesterday. That’s what we’ve heard inside this chamber. And it’s very clear that that’s what they want.

I see the government has offered an amendment to Bill 5 in the

preamble. So if there’s anything that First Nations have heard, it’s a lot of words. They were looking for action, not more words in a

preamble.

Will the Premier actually take some action, listen to First Nations and pull Bill 5?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Premier.

Hon. Doug Ford: Let me just inform our relationship with First Nations. Since we’ve taken office six years ago, they have told me over and over and over again, from national chiefs to regional chiefs—by the way, I had the regional chief down to my house breaking bread the other day. I’ve said in every single speech: I want collaboration and co-operation with the First Nations. I treat them with the utmost respect. We have done more for the First Nations than any government in the history of this province, including the Liberals and NDP that sat there and did nothing for the First Nations.

I always say to the chiefs when I meet them and I go visit them or I have them in my house—they tell me, “Never, ever in the history would we be able to call the Premier on his cellphone and get a call back the same day.” There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not speaking to the chiefs of the First Nations, not to mention the $3 billion we’re offering First Nations to be a partner, the $70 million—

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Question?

Economic development

Ms. Jessica Bell: My question is to the Premier. I’d like to talk about the buy local policies in the budget. The Conservatives are bringing in a Buy Canadian Day on June 1. Now, on this side of the House, we think every single day should be Buy Canadian Day.

Can this government commit to made-in-Canada labelling to make it easier for Ontarians to go to the supermarket or the store and support Canadian businesses by buying Canadian products?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement.

Hon. Stephen Crawford: To the member opposite, we’ve been very, very clear with our Buy Ontario, Buy Canadian Day. This is something we’ve consulted on with stakeholders, with businesses, organizations, individuals across the board in Ontario. They’re thrilled that we’re able to do this. We hope you will support this, and support Buy Ontario, Buy Canadian Day.

But to mandate this is something that businesses have told us they are not comfortable with. It’s going to put too much red tape. Our government is about reducing red tape, making life more easy and more affordable for the people and the businesses of Ontario, and if you believe that, you should be supporting us with this bill.

Buy Ontario, buy Canadian.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the member for University–Rosedale.

Ms. Jessica Bell: Canadian businesses want Ontarians and Canadians to buy their products, period.

In the budget, the government is investing in the Ontario grape program to increase the percentage of Ontario grapes in Ontario wines—good. But why stop there?

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is calling for a comprehensive buy-Ontario-grown plan so our public institutions—our school boards, our hospitals—can prioritize Ontario-grown food, from fruit and vegetables to meat and dairy.

In the threat of Trump’s tariff war, can this government get serious about supporting the entire agricultural sector and support a serious made-in-Ontario program?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): The Minister of Rural Affairs.

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: I’m pleased to stand on behalf of Minister Jones and the entire Ontario agricultural sector. There is no better, committed group of individuals and commodity organizations across this province who are dedicated to making sure that Ontario is considered first.

Tomorrow, I anticipate we’ll see you at the beef farmers’ barbecue. That’s a demonstration of how beef farmers across this province are coming together to increase awareness, not only for the public, but for all of you who maybe don’t have the opportunity to be on a farm day in and day out like some of us. So I encourage you to attend the luncheon tomorrow hosted by the beef farmers. It’s just one example of so many—and I’m sure, with the TOGA reception just a week ago, you were there to benefit from visiting with the greenhouse producers as well. You will see first-hand a continued commitment to making sure—

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Question?

Ontario budget

Ms. Stephanie Bowman: Speaker, the budget document shows Ontario will reach a record half-trillion dollars of debt in the next two years. Never in Ontario history has a government spent so much to deliver so little.

This year’s deficit was forecast to be $6.6 billion just seven months ago, in the fall economic statement; now the budget document shows it will be $6 billion, so on the surface, that looks pretty close. But dig a little deeper into the numbers, and you find that the deficit would have been $9.9 billion if the government had not recorded a $3.9-billion payment related to the tobacco company health care costs lawsuit settlement. So their fall forecast was really about 60% off.

Through you, Speaker, to the Minister of Finance: How did he get his fall forecast so wrong?

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Oh, boy. Let’s think about the Liberal record for a second—

Interjections.

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: I know, I know. It really hurts.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): The House will come to order.

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: When they were in power, they grew the debt. And guess what? They taxed everything, and they built absolutely nothing.

Look what we’ve done. With the increase in debt by about $100 billion, our economy has increased by $850 billion, to $1.2 trillion—an economy they could only dream about.

Madam Speaker, they had a record of increasing taxes, and they got credit rating downgrades. How does that work?

We’ve been cutting taxes, cutting fees, and we got two credit rating upgrades. In this environment, that is responsible government.

Madam Speaker, we’re going to continue to attract jobs, build the economy, put more money back in the pockets of people. That’s what a good Conservative government—

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the member for Don Valley West.

Ms. Stephanie Bowman: This government talks about being transparent, but we know they don’t walk the walk.

Speaker, $3.9 billion—that’s big. It’s 60% as big as their original deficit. The government recorded that payment, and that gets their deficit close to their forecast. That may be a coincidence or it may not be, but we don’t know because there are no details in the budget document about this payment to help us understand it clearly. In fact, when contacted by the CBC and asked about this payment—the CBC said on May 13, “Ontario—which tables its budget later this week—did not respond to CBC/Radio-Canada inquiries.”

Through you, Speaker, back to the Minister of Finance: Will he come clean and tell us what’s going on with this tobacco settlement payment?

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Well, I’m happy to get into deep accounting. Who wants me to go into deep standards of accounting? Anybody? No. It’s all there in the budget.

Madam Speaker, let’s think about this for a second. While they accumulated the biggest debt load in the history of the province since 1867—they accumulated so much debt—what did we get? Did we get more subways?

Interjections: No.

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Did we get more hospitals?

Interjections: No.

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Did we get more schools?

Interjections: No.

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Did we get credit upgrades?

Interjections: No.

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Did we get lower taxes?

Interjections: No.

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Well, let me tell you, with this government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, do you know what you’re getting? You’re getting Canadian free trade. Instead of talking about it for two decades, we’re actually delivering free trade in Canada.

Economic development

Ms. Jess Dixon: My question is to the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Economic uncertainty is growing globally and Ontario isn’t immune. We’ve always been proud of our long-standing trade relationship with the States and the mutual benefits that it’s brought both of our countries, but it’s clear that that relationship has been seriously undermined—a once bright future darkened by the long shadow cast by tariffs.

We are, of course, going to keep pushing to see those tariff walls come down and for our neighbours to the south to see sense. But it’s clear that we also need to look further afield and grow trade with countries that are stable, reliable and open to doing business.

Speaker, Ontario has the talent, the resources and the innovation that the world is looking for. We just need to make sure that that message is landing. Can the minister please outline how Ontario plans to grow trade with global partners beyond the US?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: We’ve just returned from a trade mission in Germany where, incidentally, our two-way trade is now up by more than $2 billion since we took office. But Germany just announced the release of their debt break, putting $500 billion in new defence spending out there, and our mission is paving the way for Ontario to get a big piece of that business.

We were also in Eastern Europe where we were forging new relationships with companies in Latvia, Romania, Czechia and Poland. These are countries that will make great platforms for Ontario companies to help Ukraine once the war is over and we can help them rebuild. This is all part of our government’s plan to begin east-west trade around the globe as opposed to north-south trade.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the member for Kitchener South–Hespeler.

Ms. Jess Dixon: It’s incredibly clear that the world is watching and evermore interested in what Ontario has to offer, but it’s also obvious that we can’t take that interest for granted. We’ve seen how quickly things can shift and the risks inherent in overreliance in one market. That’s why building stronger trade relationships in Eastern Europe and Asia and in other growing non-US economies isn’t just smart and forward-looking, it’s clearly necessary.

Ontario has an even greater opportunity now to position itself as a jurisdiction of choice for international companies looking to invest and to expand. Speaker, can the minister please expand on what we’ve actually been doing on the ground to turn this opportunity that we’re seeing into real investment into Ontario and jobs for Ontarians?

Hon. Victor Fedeli: Over the last two years, Ontario has seen 184 companies from around the world land here. They have invested $30 billion and they have put 18,000 people to work here in Ontario.

This is the success that happens when we share Ontario’s value proposition with companies around the world: They locate here. We’ve reduced the cost of doing business by $8 billion a year. We have clean, green energy from a reliable electricity grid. We have industrial sites ready for them to land here today.

With all the turmoil that’s happening around the world, we’ve shown these companies that Ontario is the reliable partner they have been looking for.

Affordable housing

MPP Catherine McKenney: This is to the Premier: Last year the city of Toronto proposed changes to development rules to build more affordable housing in the city. That change would ensure that a certain percentage of new units were guaranteed to be affordable, but those changes were rejected by this government despite the growing housing crisis facing the city’s residents.

Today the Toronto Star reported that the proposal was rejected by this government after facing pressure from real estate investment trusts. City hall has warned that diluting their proposal would jeopardize at least 5,000 new affordable units.

Did the government really put thousands of affordable housing units at risk and let real estate investment trusts rewrite rules to maximize their profits?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Rob Flack: To the member opposite: absolutely not. Just take a look: The Association of Municipalities of Ontario has supported Bill 17.

That’s really what we need to be talking about: getting shovels in the ground faster. It takes too long and it costs too much to get housing built. Think about that when it comes to affordable housing. It is the best bill we’ve put forward yet.

Understand this: The Association of Municipalities of Ontario support it totally, as do Ontario’s Big City Mayors. We stand behind this bill. We ask you to support it as well because we’ll get shovels in the ground faster.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the member for Ottawa Centre.

MPP Catherine McKenney: It’s clear that the minister didn’t listen to the question. But we do know who this government is listening to when it comes to housing, and it is not people all over the province who are facing this housing crisis. They’re not even listening to their own experts on the Housing Affordability Task Force. They’re just listening to speculators and corporations, putting profits over people.

This government needs to get serious about building accessible and permanently affordable housing. That’s why we continue to call for the government to get back in the business of building housing, to work with non-profits and co-ops to get people housed and stop greedy speculation.

Will the government support a dedicated public agency to build and finance new, permanently affordable housing here in Ontario?

Hon. Rob Flack: Again, let’s point out some of the benefits of Bill 17 that are going to do exactly what the member wants: eliminating DCs on long-term care; postponing DCs until occupancy; standardizing the building code so we can cut costs; cut red tape and get shovels in the ground faster.

What we are proposing in this bill does exactly what the member is asking. It’s going to get done. I ask them across to support this important bill. Why? Because it will get results.

We’re creating the conditions to get it. Governments don’t build houses. I know that’s what you’d like to do. We don’t build them; we create the conditions for our home builders to do what they do best, and that’s building homes. That’s exactly what we’re going to do.

Homelessness

Ms. Lee Fairclough: Later today, together with the MPP for Kitchener Centre, we will be tabling legislation aimed to end homelessness in the next 10 years. It would require annual reporting on homelessness because we can’t solve what we refuse to measure.

Through the Speaker to the Premier, why has this government failed to implement even the most basic public transparency on this issue, and will they adopt the accountability called for in this bill?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Rob Flack: Let us be clear what this bill is about. Public safety is non-negotiable. When public spaces are not safe, I think we can all agree they are no longer public spaces.

This act is returning these parks and amenities to those who they are for, and that is the families of Ontario. We are listening to the people of Ontario who live next to these encampments, to our municipal leaders and to the stakeholders in all these communities. They don’t want encampments in their neighbourhoods.

Very importantly, I want to make sure this point is made clearly: We are here to support everyone. That is why this bill is important. This is not a bipartisan approach, it is the Ontario approach because the people know we need to address it. We are taking action because we were asked to do it in the last election. We’re doing it because it’s the right action. It’s what the people want, and you know it.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the member from Etobicoke–Lakeshore.

Ms. Lee Fairclough: It’s interesting, actually, because 80% of the public, when asked what they’d like us to do to address homelessness actually wanted us to look at housing, health care and other solutions.

The issue has only worsened under this government. Homelessness has increased by 25% in the last two years, and 80,000 Ontarians are unhoused. We’re seeing people in every corner of the province sleeping in encampments, in hospitals or not waking up at all.

Will the Premier commit today to ending chronic homelessness in Ontario within the next 10 years, or is his government content to keep people on wait-lists, in shelters or worse?

Hon. Rob Flack: Well, Speaker, we’re acting: $1.2 billion for the Toronto act, $700 million for homelessness prevention funding, $1.2 billion in the Building Faster Fund. We’re creating the conditions to get that done. We understand, absolutely, that we have challenges with homelessness. We understand that. That being said, we are acting, and through Bill 17, again, and Bill 9, we will get shovels in the ground faster.

Speaker, I ask the member opposite seriously to get behind this bill and support it because it is doing exactly what you want to get done: creating the conditions to get more homes built, all types of homes—affordable, market housing and, most importantly, purpose-built rentals. All types of housing will get done. Let’s talk about your bill.

Small business

Mr. John Jordan: My question is for the Associate Minister of Small Business. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, especially in rural ridings like Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston. They create jobs, drive growth and build strong communities. But now they face new threats from outside our borders, including tariffs from the United States. That’s why our government must continue to act. We need to keep protecting Ontario’s economy and stand up for our small businesses. We need to make sure they have the tools to grow, to trade and to succeed even in uncertain times.

Speaker, can the associate minister share how our government is helping small businesses stay strong and continue to drive Ontario’s economy forward?

Hon. Nina Tangri: Thank you to the great, hard-working member from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston for this question and for his strong advocacy for small businesses.

We are taking decisive action to ensure small businesses remain resilient and competitive. Through the 2025 budget, we introduced the $5-billion Protecting Ontario Account to provide emergency financial relief to businesses impacted by trade disruptions, including those from the US tariffs. We’re investing $7.5 million in the Digitalization Competence Centre this year to help more small and medium-sized businesses help adopt digital tools, boost productivity and compete globally. We’re also investing $2 million over three years to establish business succession planning services through Ontario’s network of small business enterprise centres.

Together, these investments reflect our dedication to protecting Ontario and empowering entrepreneurs to succeed today and into the future.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the member from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston.

Mr. John Jordan: I thank the associate minister for that response. Let’s look long-term: Ontario’s small businesses don’t just need help today, they need a strong plan for tomorrow. They need support to grow, to modernize and to keep up with the rest of the world. They need help adopting new tools, reaching new markets and training the next generation of workers—and they need our government to continue to have their back.

From the shop floor to the start-up, small business owners want to know Ontario is a place where they can take risks. They want to know they can hire workers and plan for the future with confidence.

Can the minister share how our government is helping entrepreneurs, rural businesses and manufacturers build for the long term and stay strong?

Hon. Nina Tangri: Thank you again to the member for the question.

Beyond immediate relief, we’re investing in long-term growth for Ontario small businesses. For example, last year, Futurpreneur Canada supported nearly 300 businesses in Ontario, including many in northern, rural and remote communities. That’s why we’ve renewed our support to Futurpreneur for another $2-million investment for the next year. This will help young entrepreneurs aged 18 to 39 with mentorship, in-person programming and loan capital worth up to $75,000.

We’ve also enhanced the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit, increasing the refundable rate from 10% to 15%, providing an additional $1.3 billion over three years to help small and medium-sized manufacturers modernize and compete globally.

These initiatives are part of our broader strategy to build a stronger Ontario, creating opportunity, supporting innovation and ensuring our small businesses remain a vital engine of—

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Question?

Child and family services

MPP Alexa Gilmour: My question is to the Premier. Speaker, I’m going to try not to cry as I ask it.

Global News reports that 134 children died under Ontario’s care network, including protective services like CAS, in 2023. This is the highest number of children’s deaths since the provincial government began tracking this data. In the previous years, one child died every three days. Let that number sink in.

To the Premier: Why are hundreds of Ontario’s children dying under your care?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Response? I recognize the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

Hon. Michael Parsa: Thank you to my honourable colleague for the question. The death of any child or youth is heartbreaking and deeply tragic. In fact, it’s heartbreaking for us as a government and all of us as legislators to hear that, which is why we have introduced measures since we formed government, because we were never happy and we will never be happy until every child and every youth in this province is protected and supported, which is why we have increased our investments to more than $1.7 billion annually in the child welfare system so that every child and youth is supported.

We introduced the quality standards framework, which brought in measures that never existed before. We introduced fines to make sure that we hold societies, out-of-home care providers accountable—measures that weren’t included. We hired new staff, we hired inspectors, we increased inspections, we increased unannounced inspections, all to make sure every child, every youth in this province is supported and protected and lives—

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the member for the supplementary.

MPP Alexa Gilmour: I know that my colleague’s heart is good—and that the measures are not working. I am the proud parent of four children adopted through the children’s aid society. There are kids today who are being put into hotels, motels, Airbnbs and office spaces. There are staffing shortages, and burnout is rampant. There is a problem.

These 134 children aren’t just numbers on a ledger. They were young people who were abused, neglected and abandoned. They were in the government’s care, and they died.

To the Premier: Why aren’t you keeping these children safe?

Hon. Michael Parsa: Again, to my honourable colleague and to everyone in this chamber, let me make it crystal clear: We will hold anyone accountable, whether it’s societies or out-of-home care. If you are taking care of a youth in this province, we will hold you to account, which is why we have introduced measures—unprecedented, that never existed—to hold societies accountable. It’s why we are reviewing the child welfare system. It’s why we have a review of all 50 children’s aid societies to make sure every child and every youth in this province, regardless of their circumstances, is supported and protected.

It’s why we are investing record-breaking investments in this sector to make sure they succeed and thrive. As I mentioned, we’ve introduced administrative monetary penalties to hold operators accountable.

We will leave no stone unturned to protect every child and every youth in this province because every single one of them should succeed and thrive in their communities. We will make sure that happens.

Landfill

Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon: Good morning, everyone. The Premier is pushing to enact and justify all sorts of violations through the proposal of Bill 5. In the legislation’s

schedule 3, the government moves to exempt the Dresden landfill from a complete and proper environmental assessment. Can you believe this?

So the Premier promised an EA to the residents of Dresden during the by-election, and the MPP of Lambton–Kent–Middlesex did the same as town councillor, as candidate and as MPP. What an about-face. Actually, what a slap in the face to the members of the community.

It is puzzling and peculiar that the Premier would choose this site out of all the other thousands of closed landfill sites in Ontario.

My question to the Premier: Why did you fib to the people of Lambton–Kent–Middlesex about—

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Please withdraw. I’m asking the member to withdraw.

Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon: Sorry. Withdraw.

Why did you mislead the people of Lambton–Kent–Middlesex—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Next question.

Agri-food industry

MPP Billy Denault: My question is on an issue very important to my riding of Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke, and it is for the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness.

Ontario farmers grow the food that feeds our province and drives a $51-billion agri-food sector. But with rising global instability and the threat of new US tariffs, we must act to protect them. That means standing up for Ontario-grown food and making sure people know the value of buying local. It’s why our government continues to invest in Foodland Ontario and the buy local campaign. When families choose local, they support jobs, farms and food security.

Next week is Local Food Week, a chance to celebrate the hard work of Ontario’s farmers and highlight the quality of the food they grow.

Speaker, can the minister please share how our government is protecting Ontario’s farmers and food producers by supporting our homegrown agricultural communities?

Hon. Trevor Jones: Thank you for the question.

Our government is standing up. We’re committed to protecting Ontario and protecting Ontario agriculture. We’re designing and have been informed by our farmers, our food producers—to design programs to protect agriculture, to invest in it—in business risk management programs, to preserve what we have and what we cherish.

Madam Speaker, 54% of the food we eat is locally grown. The Grow Ontario Strategy aims to improve that to 30% higher by 2032.

When I say all good things are grown in Ontario—85% of us know that’s the jingle for Foodland Ontario. We believe in that brand. We believe in things grown locally. Next week is Ontario Local Food Week. We’re going to amplify that message and increase our efforts to protect the $51-billion sector that is all good things grown in Ontario.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the member for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke.

MPP Billy Denault: Thank you to the minister for his response.

Backing Ontario’s farmers goes beyond what’s grown in the field. It means growing markets, building demand and getting more local products into local hands. That’s why our government is making smart investments in targeted marketing. We are helping our producers grow their businesses and connect with more customers. We’ve supported initiatives like the Ontario Craft Cider Marketing Fund and backed the Ontario Tender Fruit Growers to promote their crops during peak season. These efforts boost demand for Ontario-grown food, strengthen local businesses and support the long-term success of our agri-food sector.

They are also helping protect Ontario’s agriculture industry from global uncertainty and threats, like foreign tariffs.

Speaker, can the minister share how these investments are helping our farmers thrive and grow here at home?

Hon. Trevor Jones: Thank you again to my colleague.

By investing in targeted marketing, we’re connecting world-class local products with consumers across Ontario and around the world. Our Grow Ontario Strategy seeks to do even more to allow products to expand their reach. We are investing $6 million into the Ontario Craft Cider Marketing Fund and $1.6 million to the Ontario Tender Fruit Growers, supporting world-class products during peak seasons and building brand recognition throughout the year.

Earlier this spring, Foodland Ontario hosted 400 sampling events enjoyed by 52,000 customers across Ontario. Another round is coming this weekend. So it’s my hope that all MPPs in this House bring your families and friends to a local grocery store or a farmers’ market and celebrate all the good things grown in Ontario.

Together, we can protect and grow Ontario.

Services for the developmentally disabled

MPP Lise Vaugeois: My question is to the Premier. Developmental service organizations in Ontario have received base funding increases of less than 7% over the last 30 years, despite the cost of living skyrocketing by 70% over the same period. These agencies, which are critical to the health and well-being of people with developmental disabilities, are being forced to reduce service levels, lay off staff and even close programs. Why is the province starving developmental service agencies?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

Hon. Michael Parsa: I thank my honourable colleague for the important question. First and foremost, I want to thank all the people that are here from Community Living, all our partners who do amazing work in every community across this province. As I’ve made it very clear to all our partners, we have your back. We believe in the work that you’re doing.

This collaboration that we have with the sector, with our partners, didn’t exist before. It wasn’t long ago when service providers, family members, were languishing on wait-lists, waiting for supports. It’s why we’ve increased our investments in the sector to more than $3.5 billion annually. Just to put that in perspective, that’s more than $1.2 billion more than when we formed government. We’re investing more than $798 million in supportive housing for the developmental services sector. That’s an increase of $798 million since we formed government on just housing alone.

Madam Speaker, I’ll have more to say in the supplemental.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the member for Thunder Bay–Superior North.

MPP Lise Vaugeois: Amazing work needs to be matched with appropriate pay. Staff retention is an enormous challenge, especially in the north, where we are geographically isolated, and Bill 124 has made things so much worse.

Developmental service workers are some of the lowest-paid workers in the public sector with many of the staff working two to three jobs just to get by. Will the government finally show these workers and their clients the respect they deserve by substantially increasing funding to the developmental services sector?

Hon. Michael Parsa: Again, I thank my honourable colleague for the question.

Madam Speaker, we’ve been very clear: We can’t thank our partners enough. They are doing amazing work across the province, which is why, as I mentioned to my honourable colleague, we have increased investments in the sector by more than $1.2 billion since we formed government.

In last year’s budget, through our $310-million investment to our community partners, the developmental services sector saw the largest increase in decades. Why? Because we believe in the work that they’re doing.

We have a vision for this sector: Along with families and our partners, we want to make sure we provide the support so that every single person in this province succeeds and thrives and is able. That’s our vision, Journey to Belonging—that’s a long-term vision, but we have made investments with immediate impact in the sector, and again, I can’t thank our partners enough.

Government’s record

Mr. Stephen Blais: Despite promises, this budget has no middle-class tax cut. Hydro rates are higher than ever. Business confidence is at the lowest it’s ever been. After seven years of this Conservative government, life is more expensive, jobs are leaving the province and millions don’t have a family doctor.

Now, at the same time, the government has collected the most tax ever, they have borrowed the most money ever and they have spent the most money ever. Madam Speaker, through you to the Premier: Where is all the money going?

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): I recognize the Minister of Finance.

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: Thank you for the question.

Let’s just go back a little bit in time. Who raised taxes and who raised fees on drivers’ licences and tolls and employer health taxes? It was those folks.

Now let’s fast-forward to today. Who has been cutting taxes and cutting fees? It’s this government. It’s this majority government on this side, putting money into people’s pockets. Let’s just go back—I know it’s a long time ago—a week and a half ago, to the budget. I know it was a long time ago, who cut the gas tax permanently, putting more money back in the pockets of consumers and businesses?

I’m sure the member opposite is going to read the budget because that’s the last page, right at the back: $5.5 billion of tax cuts over the next three years. Read the budget and vote for it.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): There being no further business, this House stands in recess until 3 p.m.

The House recessed from 1140 to 1500.

Introduction of Visitors

Mr. Mike Schreiner: I believe Judy Noonan is on her way into the chamber. I didn’t have an opportunity to introduce her this morning, but she’s here with Community Living Guelph Wellington. Welcome to your House, Judy.

Introduction of Government Bills

Resource Management and Safety Act, 2025 / Loi de 2025 sur la gestion des ressources et la sécurité

Mr. Harris moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 27,

An Act to enact the Geologic Carbon Storage Act, 2025 and to amend various Acts with respect to wildfires, resource safety and surveyors / Projet de loi 27, Loi édictant la Loi de 2025 sur le stockage géologique de carbone et modifiant diverses lois concernant les incendies de végétation, la sécurité des ressources et les arpenteurs-géomètres.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

First reading agreed to.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Does the member wish to briefly explain the bill?

Hon. Mike Harris: This Resource Management and Safety Act proposes amendments to the Surveyors Act, the Forest Fires Prevention Act, and the Oil, Gas and Salt Resources Act with respect to various matters to enable the use of modern technology and to increase community safety. The act also enacts the Geologic Carbon Storage Act, 2025, to allow the ministry to regulate geologic carbon storage.

If you’ll indulge me for one more second, Madam Speaker, I wanted to thank the previous natural resources minister Graydon Smith for a lot of hard work on this bill and also the Associate Minister of Forestry and my parliamentary assistant as well. They’ve done a lot of heavy lifting. We’ve got some staff here from the ministry, so just a big thank you to everybody that’s helped to put this bill together. It’s going to be a game-changer here in the province of Ontario.

Introduction of Bills

Homelessness Ends with Housing Act, 2025 / Loi de 2025 visant à mettre fin à l’itinérance grâce au logement

Ms. Clancy moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 28,

An Act establishing a homelessness elimination strategy / Projet de loi 28, Loi établissant une stratégie visant à mettre fin à l’itinérance.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

First reading agreed to.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Does the member wish to briefly explain the bill?

Ms. Aislinn Clancy: I’m happy to co-sponsor this bill with the MPP for Etobicoke–Lakeshore. This is a bill that aims to design a strategy to eliminate chronic homelessness using a housing-first approach. It would call on the government to establish an advisory committee full of experts, people with lived experience—government appointees. It would set goals on targets that we have for supportive housing, for housing benefit levels to meet the needs of the community, and it would ensure that our housing goals and our housing targets also include affordability targets.

This is a strategy that’s been used in Manitoba and other jurisdictions, and we think this is the best effort that this province could use to effectively eliminate chronic homelessness in the next 10 years.

Turn Down the Heat Act (Extreme Heat Awareness), 2025 / Loi de 2025 sur la sensibilisation aux risques posés par les chaleurs extrêmes

Ms. McMahon moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 29,

An Act to proclaim Extreme Heat Awareness Week and to promote public awareness of extreme heat issues / Projet de loi 29, Loi proclamant la Semaine de la sensibilisation aux risques posés par les chaleurs extrêmes et visant à sensibiliser le public aux enjeux qui leur sont liés.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

First reading agreed to.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Does the member wish to briefly explain the bill?

Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon: I would love to. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Since you all have great memories, you would remember me introducing this bill last Parliament, and so I am just reviving it and resuscitating it this time. It basically proclaims the first week in June of each year to be extreme heat awareness week and also asks the Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks, whom I have a good relationship with, to publish information on a government website about extreme heat issues.

As we all know, we’re in a climate emergency. It has not gone away. We want to keep our residents safe. With extreme heat issues, there can often be many fatalities. We do not want that to happen. This is a way to mitigate that, and I would be honoured to have your support.

Petitions

Ferry service

Mr. John Vanthof: I have a petition titled “Save the Gardiner Ferry.” Some 32 kilometres north of Cochrane, on Highway 579, is one of Ontario’s only surviving cable ferries, and it serves the municipality of Gardiner. It was put in in 1966 and not maintained very well since then. It was closed a couple of times last summer. They put it in the water, they took a little girl to school on that ferry and then they closed it again. Then the OPP had to force it to open.

These people are serviced on Highway 579 in northern Ontario, and they’re in danger of losing their connection. The replacement was going to be a very poorly maintained logging road—maybe. That’s the story in northern Ontario: When there are resources to be taken out, oh, everybody says, “the strength of the north,” but when the sawmill closes, they try to close the road. That shouldn’t happen.

Everyone should see the Gardiner Ferry. It’s a great place. I’ve got a lot of names in this petition, and I fully, wholeheartedly support it. Save the Gardiner Ferry.

Endangered species

Mr. Ted Hsu: This is a petition from many parts of the province regarding Bill 5. It is calling on the government to withdraw Bill 5, to preserve the Endangered Species Act and to not, for example, put excessive, discretionary, unchecked decision-making power into the hands of government ministers.

I’m very happy to sign this petition and submit it on behalf of constituents from across the province.

Environmental protection

Mr. Mike Schreiner: This is a petition with over 1,000 signatures that were collected by people in Guelph over the weekend at a rally. The petition raises serious concerns about Bill 5, especially concerns about overriding Indigenous rights, environmental protections, labour laws and democratic oversight. The thousand people who signed this petition are calling on the government to withdraw Bill 5 and protect our rights.

I’m happy to sign this petition and ask one of the pages to bring it to the table, Speaker.

Social assistance

MPP Catherine McKenney: I bring this petition today to raise social assistance rates. As we all know, our social assistance rates are well below the poverty line here in Ontario. This is calling for a doubling of both Ontario Works and ODSP so that people have the income that they need to survive.

I fully support this, gladly sign it and send it down with page David.

Cost of living

Ms. Chandra Pasma: I’m happy to rise today to table this petition with signatures that were collected by Ms. Barbara MacKenzie of Ottawa West–Nepean. This is a petition about making life more affordable because many of my constituents are struggling with the very high cost of rent, skyrocketing home prices, the difficulty of affording groceries and other necessities. My constituents are asking that the government take urgent action to address the affordability crisis by tackling the housing crisis, building new homes, raising wages for workers, taking on price-gouging gas and grocery corporations and investing in public health care rather than selling it off.

I sincerely thank my constituents for their activism on this issue. I wholeheartedly endorse the petition. I will sign it and sent it to the table with page Calvin.

University funding

Mr. Ted Hsu: This petition comes from my constituents in Kingston and the Islands. It is regarding universities. One thing that the signers of the petition point out is that universities drive economic growth and future prosperity. It