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April 17, 2023

43rd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2023-Apr-17 (PDF)

L065 - Mon 17 Apr 2023 / Lun 17 avr 2023

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Monday 17 April 2023 Lundi 17 avril 2023

Tabling of sessional papers

Members’ Statements

Events in Etobicoke–Lakeshore

Federal Leader of the Opposition

Logan Staats

Iqbal Hasan

Automotive industry

Events in Hamilton Centre

Arthur Vipers hockey team

Cambridge Memorial Hospital Foundation

Automotive industry

Wearing of jersey

Introduction of Visitors

Question Period

Government accountability

Ontario Place

Municipal planning

Literacy and basic skills

Municipal planning

Energy rates

Indigenous housing / Mental health and addiction services

Land use planning

Tenant protection

Tarifs du gaz naturel / Natural gas rates

Workplace safety

Health care workers

Northern Ontario development

Children’s health services

Public transit

Shelter services

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy

Standing Committee on Government Agencies

Introduction of Government Bills

Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 sur l’amélioration des écoles et du rendement des élèves

Introduction of Bills

Garrett’s Legacy Act (Requirements for Movable Soccer Goals), 2023 / Loi de 2023 sur le legs de Garrett (exigences relatives aux buts de soccer mobiles)

Strengthening Members’ Integrity Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 visant à renforcer l’intégrité des députés

Petitions

Land use planning

Taxation

Land use planning

Long-term care

Labour legislation

OPP detachment

Alzheimer’s disease

Land use planning

Health care

Don d’organes

Housing

Orders of the Day

Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 visant à aider les acheteurs et à protéger les locataires

The House met at 1015.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Good morning. Let us pray.

Prayers.

Tabling of sessional papers

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I beg to inform the House that during the adjournment, the following documents were tabled:

—the letter of resignation from Todd Decker, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, effective June 30, 2023; and

—a report titled Missing in Inaction: Misty’s Story, from the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario.

Members’ Statements

Events in Etobicoke–Lakeshore

Ms. Christine Hogarth: Good morning, everyone. The hard-working people of Etobicoke–Lakeshore are always optimistic. Now, with the warmer weather, the tulips are popping up—allergy season is in full bloom—and the upbeat spirit I have encountered over the past several months has absolutely been phenomenal.

In March, it was national Pharmacy Appreciation Month, and I had the opportunity to visit numerous pharmacists in our community to express my appreciation.

At the end of March, I also met with the Earth Rangers, who were visiting Norseman middle school, a group of young individuals dedicated to preserving area species and habitats.

That same day, I was able to drop by our 15th annual Seniors’ Health and Wellness Fair at the amazing Franklin Horner Community Centre. This year’s theme was “Boosting Brain Health and Memory.”

During this past week, my colleague the Minister of Education stopped by St. Josaphat Cathedral Catholic School to meet with staff and students and welcome over 250 Ukrainian students who have enrolled since June 2022, and I am pleased to welcome them to Etobicoke.

I also had the opportunity this week to visit a Women’s Habitat outreach centre with my friend the Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity. The Habitat does such wonderful work to serve and protect vulnerable women in our community.

On April 13, I was honoured to attend the Haven on the Queensway ribbon cutting, to cut the ribbon for the new walk-in freezer to better serve those in need. I just want to thank everybody in our community for the work they do every day. Thank you.

Federal Leader of the Opposition

Mr. Joel Harden: Normally I’m not compelled to discuss federal politics in this place. We’ve got enough to do in Ontario. But I rise this morning, Speaker, to register my serious concerns with Mr. Pierre Poilievre, the federal Leader of the Opposition.

In recent months, he has been putting a maple glaze on Trumpism. He has used his platform to attack journalists attempting to hold him accountable. As Bruce Arthur from the Toronto Star has said, Mr. Poilievre is not just working the refs; he’s trying to replace them.

Speaker, there is always a tension between members of the media and elected officials. We interact with each other while doing very different jobs. Journalists work hard to report stories they believe are in the public interest, and we work hard as elected officials with the media to advocate for our constituents and broadcast messages we believe are important.

We may not like how our words are reported sometimes, Speaker, and journalists may not appreciate how their questions are deflected or spun, but still, we both try to do our jobs and the tension between us is critical for Canadian democracy.

But the moment you employ disinformation to question somebody else’s integrity, that is the moment you cross a big red line. It is the moment I believe you insult the democratic traditions built by our grandmothers and grandfathers in this place.

Speaker, through you, I call to Mr. Poilievre, I call to all members of this House and all elected officials everywhere, to do better, to respect each other as we do the work that we need to do for Canadians and to never cross that red line.

Logan Staats

Mr. Will Bouma: Good morning. I am pleased to rise in the House today to recognize and celebrate Logan Staats, an outstanding singer-songwriter and musician. Born in Ohsweken, on the territory of the Six Nations of the Grand River, Logan started to write songs and perform music in his teens in and around the Brantford–Brant community.

In 2018, the Mohawk Nation artist was chosen from 10,000 hopeful contestants vying for a spot on the musical competition show The Launch. Before 1.4 million viewers, Staats won, and that ushered the breakthrough that would lead him to Nashville and Los Angeles with his single—and it’s amazing, Speaker—“The Lucky Ones.” His song would hit number one in Canada on iTunes.

Staats was also part of a documentary series and uses his talent to bring awareness on Indigenous issues across Canada. In the years from 2018 to today, Staats has come home, making the intentional decision to re-root at Six Nations of the Grand River.

Last month, Speaker, Logan Staats won the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada’s prestigious TD Indigenous Songwriter Award, all this using borrowed equipment at Staats’s apartment and a recording studio on the Six Nations territory.

I quote: “My nation and my community are in every chord I play, and every note I sing. They’ve saved me.” With those words, Logan, we celebrate your accomplishments, and we thank you. Congratulations.

Interruption.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order. You can’t do this. You can’t interrupt the proceedings of the House.

We will resume members’ statements.

Iqbal Hasan

Ms. Doly Begum: Last week, our community mourned the loss of a wonderful, award-winning poet, author and journalist, Iqbal Hasan. A creative writer, a storyteller, Iqbal Hasan loved writing poetry. His literary works explored the complexities of the human experience and often dealt with themes of love, loss, displacement and identity. Through his words, he talked about his roots within his motherland as well as the struggles of day-to-day life as an immigrant.

In one of his interviews, he described the loneliness after leaving one’s birthplace saying, [Remarks in Bengali]. Speaker, he really had a way with his words.

Iqbal Hasan’s contribution to Bengali literature, both in Canada, Bangladesh and around the globe, has been significant, with over 50 published works to his name. It is a testament to his talent that he was recognized with the prestigious Syed Waliullah award by the Bangla Academy in 2014.

I had the opportunity to get to know him over the past years. In fact, he sat right here in the members’ gallery just a few years ago when we passed then-MPP Percy Hatfield’s bill to establish the Poet Laureate of Ontario. He was filled with joy seeing such admiration for poetry by our province.

The passing of poet Iqbal Hasan has left a void in the literary world. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and loved ones. He will remain an integral part of the Bengali literary community and his legacy will continue to inspire future generations of writers.

Automotive industry

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: Speaker, as you know, Ontario is one of the largest automotive producers in North America, home to world-leading vehicle assembly plants, parts manufacturers and research centres that have been meeting the needs of international customers for more than 100 years. Ontario is the only place in North America where five major automakers build their vehicles, including Honda, Toyota, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis and, soon to be added, Volkswagen’s first overseas battery manufacturing plant.

Canada’s auto sector supports nearly 500,000 workers, contributes $16 billion annually to Canada’s GDP, and is one of the country’s largest exporters. Ontario’s auto supply chain is comprised of over 700 parts firms, over 500 tool, die and mould makers, and over 300 connecting and autonomous companies. This is why, with a bright future ahead for our provincial automotive sector, thanks to the leadership of Premier Ford, I am pleased to make a members’ statement celebrating Ontario’s automotive heritage.

One of my constituents, William Armstrong, is the Ontario director of the National Association of Automobile Clubs of Canada. He’s championing an effort to declare the month of July as automotive heritage month in Ontario, and July 14 as collector car appreciation day.

Whether we’re looking back to Ontario’s rich automotive industry or ahead to new investments today, including the recent announcement that GM will build the next generation of EV motors in St. Catharines, let’s celebrate our important automotive sector and recognize July as automotive heritage month.

Events in Hamilton Centre

Ms. Sarah Jama: It’s been about four weeks since I had the honour of being elected in Hamilton Centre as the MPP, but we’re not taking anything for granted. We’re getting our constituency office set up as of May 1, and we had our first office drop-in at a local business named Rooney’s just last week.

We’ve also been working really hard on constituency work, and I’ve been learning about constituency work all last week.

We also had the opportunity, a couple of weeks ago, to attend a Nisa Homes fundraiser, knowing that there are about five days left of the holy religious time of Ramadan, supporting local Muslims who are protecting women who are facing domestic violence. We had the opportunity to connect there and to talk to them about their concerns around funding.

We’re taking the time to get to know people in the riding, and I’m super, super excited to announce that we will be set up in May.

Arthur Vipers hockey team

Mr. Matthew Rae: It’s my pleasure to rise here today to recognize the Arthur Vipers hockey team on their WOAA U18LL Elite Division championship victory. It was a hard-fought, best-out-of-three series against the Mount Forest Rams.

The first game saw Arthur taking it with a 4-3 win in overtime, with goals from Parker Coffey, Adam Krul, and Conner Schmidt who scored the game winner. Mount Forest bounced back in the second game, winning 2-0 and forcing a game 3. Arthur came out strong and fast in the final game, making for a hard-fought but resounding 5-0 victory to close out the series. Goals were scored by Simon Livingston, Parker Coffey and Aidan Hope. Conner Schimdt, Nate Howse, Wyatt Schill and Owen McDougall all provided assists. Wyatt Smith and Braeden van Dongen stood their grounds as goalies, keeping the puck out of the net.

This capped off a fantastic season for the Vipers, winning 27 games with one loss and bringing them to a record 50 wins, one loss, 248 goals and only 76 goals against in their last two seasons.

I want to personally congratulate the entire team on winning the Elite Division championship in the past two years. As their coaches said, all three lines focused on doing the small things, fast and with intention. Congratulations, Arthur Vipers.

Cambridge Memorial Hospital Foundation

Mr. Brian Riddell: This morning I want to speak about the tremendous success of the Cambridge Memorial Hospital Foundation. Established back in 1982, the foundation has transferred almost $90 million to the Cambridge Memorial Hospital for capital equipment and education. This hard work and success of the foundation has allowed the hospital to provide the best quality of care to the people of my riding.

Recently, supporters of the hospital foundation gathered for a “Springtime in Paris” gala, where they raised an incredible $380,000. These funds will be put toward a Spotlight MRI, a $5-million campaign to purchase this new machine. To date, a total of $1.6 million has been raised. The generosity of the foundation donors allowed the Cambridge Memorial Hospital to purchase its first MRI back in 2012. It was a game-changer. Not only could MRIs be accessed at home, but wait times were also reduced. Over the last five years, the hospital has averaged 9,000 scans a year, which is amazing.

As our community continues to grow, a new MRI is required to meet the demand. The Spotlight MRI campaign will feature many more public funding events coming up in the future months. I encourage people of my riding to support the good work of the hospital foundation.

To the staff and volunteers at the hospital foundation, both past and present, I thank you for your hard work and dedication.

Automotive industry

Mr. Rudy Cuzzetto: Last week, Ford Motor Co. announced details of its $1.8-billion investment to transform the Oakville assembly complex, where I worked for 31 years, into a North American hub for manufacturing electric vehicles, beginning in the second quarter next year. By retooling the existing assembly building, three body shops and the paint facility, Ford will be ready to produce electric vehicles beginning in 2025, two years faster than a completely new facility.

The new Oakville electric-vehicle complex will also include a new 407,000-square-foot battery plant to manufacture battery packs that will be installed in electric vehicles right here in Ontario. This will support thousands of well-paying jobs in a more sustainable plant. That’s great news for my friends at Unifor Local 707. I’m looking forward to seeing them next month to celebrate their 70th anniversary.

As the Minister of Economic Development said, four years ago economists expected investments of $300 billion across the global electric-vehicle industry, but nothing in Ontario. Today, we are attracting over $17 billion. I want to thank the minister and the Premier for everything they’re doing to ensure that the cars and the batteries of the future are built right here in Ontario, using Ontario minerals, by Ontario workers, at the Ford plant in Oakville and across the province of Ontario.

Wearing of jersey

Mr. Dave Smith: Point of order.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Point of order, the member for Peterborough-Kawartha.

Mr. Dave Smith: As you know, the OHL playoffs have begun. There was a gentlemen’s bet between myself and the member from Sudbury. The Peterborough Petes defeated the Sudbury Wolves in four games. So, to honour the bet, I am asking for unanimous consent for the member from Sudbury to wear the Peterborough Petes jersey during question period.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Peterborough–Kawartha is seeking to humiliate the member for Sudbury by forcing him to wear a hockey sweater for a team he doesn’t support. Agreed? Agreed.

That concludes our members’ statements for this morning.

Introduction of Visitors

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): We have with us in the Speaker’s gallery today Aaron Roth, who is a committee clerk from the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Aaron is on attachment this week with our assembly. Please join me in warmly welcoming our guest to the Legislature today.

Hon. Steve Clark: I want to introduce to you, and through you to members of the Legislative Assembly, members of the township of Augusta council who are here for Good Roads. I’d like to introduce Mayor Jeff Shaver, Deputy Mayor Adrian Wynands and Councillors Tanya Henry, Michele Bowman and Hendrik Pape. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Joel Harden: It’s great to once again welcome Michau Van Speyk from the Ontario Autism Coalition. Good to see you, Michau.

Mr. Stéphane Sarrazin: I would like to introduce you to some of the best mayors in the province; of course, they are from the Glengarry–Prescott–Russell riding. You’ve got Mr. Normand Riopel, who is the warden of the united counties and mayor of Champlain; Geneviève Lajoie from Casselman; Mr. Mario Zanth from Clarence-Rockland; Pierre Leroux from the township of Russell; Yves Laviolette from the Alfred and Plantagenet township; and of course, Mr. Robert Kirby from East Hawkesbury.

I would also like to welcome to the chamber today the Rwandan Community Abroad organization here in Toronto. In this House with us today is the High Commissioner of Rwanda to Canada, HE Prosper Higiro, along with important members Rose Kangabe—I’m sorry if I don’t pronounce that right—and, of course, Wilfred Rusibira and Rwandan Community Abroad Toronto president, Theophile Rwigimba—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you very much.

Introduction of visitors?

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: I’m so very happy to introduce visitors in the gallery today: Nagamany Logendralingam, who is the editor-in-chief for Uthayan Tamil media; Srikajan Santhiralingam, editor-of-chief of Virakesari in Sri Lanka; Mrs. Sooriyapraba Srikajan; Nallathamby Balamurugan; and Bavan Logasundaram. Thank you and welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Stan Cho: I love touring the north, and one of the best parts of doing that is you get to meet great new friends, like Councillor Melanie Breton, visiting us from Kapuskasing. Welcome to the Legislature.

Hon. Monte McNaughton: I’d like to welcome to Queen’s Park today Computek College, who’s joining us for question period. Welcome.

M. Guy Bourgouin: Je voudrais aussi remercier Melanie Breton, conseillère de Kapuskasing. Bienvenue à Queen’s Park.

Hon. Michael Parsa: I’d like to introduce today’s page captain, Lazo Kasekas, and his parents, Konstantinos Kasekas and Kate Kasekas, to the Legislature this morning.

I’d also like to welcome George back to the assembly.

I look forward to catching up with the family after question period. Welcome to the Legislature.

Ms. Doly Begum: I would also like to take the opportunity to introduce a wonderful contributor to Canadian Tamil media, Logan Logendralingam, chief editor and president of Uthayan Canada.

Mr. Dave Smith: I’d like to welcome Rebecca Schillemat. She won lunch with her MPP and a tour of Queen’s Park as part of a fundraiser.

Mr. John Vanthof: I would like to introduce Wyatt Sharpe as our newest member of the press gallery.

Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho: I’d also like to warmly welcome Mr. Logendralingam, the president of Uthayan—the best Tamil newspaper. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Question Period

Government accountability

Ms. Marit Stiles: Good morning, Speaker. This question is for the Premier. The Members’ Integrity Act obliges MPPs to “arrange their private affairs in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity of each member.”

Earlier this year, it was reported that developers and lobbyists were sent requests for donations to a stag and doe from people connected to the Premier and who previously worked for him. People who received these donation requests told Global News they felt “browbeaten” into buying those tickets.

Does the Premier believe such behaviour promotes public confidence in his integrity?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the government House leader.

Hon. Paul Calandra: I think the Premier has answered that question on a number of occasions, Mr. Speaker. But I’ll tell you what the Premier does believe in and what, in fact, all Progressive Conservatives on both sides of the House believe in, and that is making sure that this current generation of Ontarians, who are working hard to build a bigger, better, stronger Ontario, have all of the same advantages that the previous generations of Ontarians had, including most members who sit in this House, Mr. Speaker.

That is, if they contribute, if they help us build a bigger, better, stronger Ontario, they will also have the dream of home ownership. It is the same dream that generations of individuals from across the world came to this country hoping for, Mr. Speaker, and that is what we’re building every single day in this House.

The Leader of the Opposition can stand in the way of that. We saw them do it over 15 years with their Liberal partners, and we will continue to remove every single one of the obstacles that they put in place that made Ontario one of the most difficult places to own a home, Mr. Speaker. We won’t stand for that, and we’ll make sure—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, the Premier is very clearly offside with what real Ontarians are feeling and experiencing right now. Just a couple of days ago, I was at an event in York Centre, and somebody told me, “You know, it feels like a return to that old-school who-you-know politics.”

The rules are very clear. A member—or a Premier—may not accept a gift connected to their duties. Does the Premier agree with this basic ethical principle?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Mr. Speaker, again, this government is singularly focused on improving the lives of the people of the province of Ontario. As I just said, for generations, one of the bargains that was made here in the province of Ontario was that if you came to Ontario to help us build a bigger, better, stronger province in the best country in the world, there would be a home option available to you. That was what we built this province on.

For 15 years, the Liberals and the NDP put obstacle after obstacle after obstacle in the way of building new homes for the people of the province of Ontario. And what are we doing? This Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, this government is removing every one of those obstacles, because we know how important it is, not only for the young generation of this province, to be able to have the same dreams that all of us had, that our parents and our grandparents had, and that is the dream of home ownership, Mr. Speaker.

The Leader of the Opposition can say anything she wants. She can continue to try and frustrate those dreams. She can continue to try and put obstacles in the way. We will continue to remove every single one of those obstacles.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): And the final supplementary.

Ms. Marit Stiles: It seemed like a pretty straightforward question. I’m a little shocked that they couldn’t answer that one.

Speaker, public confidence in the integrity of MPPs and cabinet ministers and Premiers is not just about avoiding actual conflict of interest but also avoiding the appearance of conflict of interest, just like in every other sector. These are very simple rules, but clearly, some in this House are having a hard time understanding them.

So to make this even clearer, I’m going to table legislation later today to bring Ontario in line with the federal Conflict of Interest Act. Does the Premier support a prohibition on gifts that a reasonable person might believe were given in order to influence an MPP or even a Premier?

Hon. Paul Calandra: Again, Mr. Speaker, here’s the NDP that could have stopped the destruction that was the former Liberal government when they held the balance of power. Did they vote in a non-confidence motion to remove them when we were dealing with cash for access? No, they propped them up and kept them in power, and continued to put obstacle after obstacle after obstacle in the way of people owning their first home.

In over 150 years, the NDP and parties like them have governed this province once—once, Mr. Speaker. In the last election, more than 833,000 people turned their back on the NDP, removed 10 of their members and put them on this side of the House and on that side of the House as Progressive Conservatives. When will the NDP learn, Mr. Speaker, that it doesn’t matter how often you change the messenger, it’s the message that the people of Ontario aren’t interested in? They’re interested in a strong Progressive Conservative Ontario and all of the benefits that come with it.

Ontario Place

Ms. Marit Stiles: This isn’t just about maintaining trust in government; it’s about accountability. And when it comes to the planned redevelopment of Ontario Place, the lack of accountability and transparency is glaring. The government’s plan to hand over extremely valuable public lands on Toronto’s waterfront to a private European developer to build a luxury spa and a giant parking lot are not going over very well. And now the Premier is making back-of-the-napkin musings about moving the Ontario Science Centre to the location.

Speaker, is this an attempt to distract from the real and growing opposition to the plan to turn Ontario Place into an elite spa?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply for the government, the Minister of Infrastructure.

Hon. Kinga Surma: Thank you to the leader of the official opposition. We have been fully transparent with the public in terms of what our intentions are for the site since 2019. We are leasing the lands. We have a tenant in place. We have a development application with the city of Toronto. We are proceeding with environmental assessment work that is underway. We have made tremendous progress on the site.

But what’s most important is the sentiment of the public. People drive by the site and think, “What a waste that we let the site deteriorate to the point of it no longer being safe for people and pedestrians to be able to go there.” We are bringing the site back to life. We will make sure it is there for everyone in Ontario to enjoy.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, it sure seems like they’re making it up as they go along, right? There is so much potential to make Ontario Place a truly vibrant public space again.

Speaker, the Ontario Science Centre is a treasured public institution. It’s one that sees thousands of visitors every year in a part of the city that really benefits from its presence. It employs hundreds of people—good union jobs—and is an anchor to Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park, some of Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods. To the Premier, has this government consulted with local communities about the plan to relocate the science centre, its attractions and its jobs?

Hon. Kinga Surma: I will agree with the member opposite on one thing: The science centre is a public treasure, which is why our government for the last number of years has been looking at whether or not the option of relocation to preserve the science centre should take place. The structure itself has deteriorated as well, as has Ontario Place.

Our government is making the financial investments necessary to preserve these two treasures, to bring them back to life, to make them a place that everyone can go and enjoy with their families. I 100% think the public is behind us on this one.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): And the final supplementary.

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, the circumstances around this government’s paving-over and carve-up of the greenbelt and this continued lack of transparency by the Premier means that every land use decision by this government is tainted by suspicion. That’s the fact. When the Premier muses about massive changes to provincial institutions with no evidence at all, not even pretending to have community involvement, it raises questions.

So I have to ask, Speaker—to the Premier, again—are any developers with ties to the Conservatives pushing to move the Ontario Science Centre?

Hon. Kinga Surma: Mr. Speaker, perhaps I was not clear in my previous answer. The science centre has been in existence since 1979. Very little over the past number of years has been given to the science centre in order to rehabilitate it and keep it alive. It is falling apart. During COVID, in fact, we had to close a bridge to make sure that those attending the science centre could be safe and the workers could be safe.

You said it yourself: It is a treasure. We are doing everything we can to preserve it, such as looking for a new opportunity, a new home, so that many children in the future could enjoy this wonderful treasure that we have.

Municipal planning

Ms. Jessica Bell: My question is to the Premier. This month, the government doubled down on expensive sprawl. They’ve forced municipalities to open thousands of more hectares of farmland to development. They’ve eliminated density requirements in new subdivisions. And they’ve eliminated targets to build more housing in areas already zoned for development.

My question is this: Why is this minister doubling down on sprawl when there are better ways to build more housing?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Steve Clark: This allows us to talk about how we have a plan and how our plan is working for Ontarians. The latest data shows that Ontario has seen an 11% increase in 2023 on new housing starts, up nearly 1,200 from last year. Rental starts so far are double what they were at the same time last year. Ontario is the number one jurisdiction for business, jobs and newcomers. There are more active cranes right now in the city of Toronto than there are in New York; Chicago; LA; Washington, DC; Seattle; and San Francisco combined.

We’re going to continue to move forward with our aggressive plan to build 1.5 million homes by 2031. Let’s face it, Speaker, it already sounds like the opposition is looking for a reason to, for the fifth time, vote against more housing in our province.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

Ms. Jessica Bell: The Conservatives’ track record on making housing affordable is abysmal. Housing has never been more expensive to rent or buy—and that’s your legacy.

Across Ontario, homeowners are seeing their property taxes go up and their services get cut. These tax hikes are going to continue if this government continues to build spawl, because sprawl is much more expensive for municipalities to service than building more homes in existing neighbourhoods.

My question is to the Premier: Why double down on sprawl when there are cheaper and more affordable ways to build the housing that we need?

Hon. Steve Clark: Again, Speaker, we’re always going to stand up to reduce the baseline costs of housing to make it cheaper and faster for affordable homes to be built. The opposition will always stand up for higher taxes and higher housing costs, every single time.

But again, now we’re hearing from the opposition; here it is, after our announcement for Bill 97. Now, we’re starting to hear some of the real NDP coming forward. They’re standing up against farmers having the opportunity to sever a lot for their son or daughter. That’s where the NDP is moving. They’re going to stand against hard-working farmers and giving those sons and daughters the opportunity to create lots, or the opportunity to create housing for workers, something that our government believes is something that we need to move forward on. This is where the NDP are standing. They’re standing against farmers. They’re standing in favour of NIMBYism. That’s—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you very much.

The next question.

Literacy and basic skills

Mr. Billy Pang: My question is for the Minister of Education. Ontario’s education system must prioritize teaching students the skills they need to succeed. The most fundamental of skills that students must learn are reading and writing. Without a comprehensive understanding of these two subjects, we know that students cannot progress with their learning in a meaningful way. This situation has been made all the more serious as an outcome of disruption to in-person learning.

This is why it is imperative to help our students gain or regain proficiency in these subjects, so they are able to excel in their classrooms and in their lives. Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is supporting reading and writing skills development for our students?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: I want to thank the member for Markham–Unionville and all members of the House for their support on the work we’re doing to boost literacy in this province, by lifting standards, by demanding better and by investing in a plan that goes back to the basics so that our young people can master the skills that matter most—reading, writing and math.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I was proud to join the parliamentary assistant to announce $180 million of investment to lift standards and outcomes for young people in the province, to hire a thousand front-line reading specialist educators and math educators, to double the amount of math coaches.

Specific to reading: Supporting the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Right to Read report, we are introducing the largest reading screening in the country. Every child from senior kindergarten to grade 2 will be screened this coming September. A new, overhauled language curriculum that follows the science of reading—again, recommended by the Ontario Human Rights Commission—and more staff in place to help those kids who need support to get up to the provincial standard: This is supported by the Canadian Children’s Literacy Foundation, by Dyslexia Canada, by Community Literacy of Ontario and many others who are urging us to move forward with—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you.

The supplementary question.

Mr. Billy Pang: Thank you to the minister for that exciting response. It is encouraging to hear of the actions that our government is taking with respect to reading and writing skills development.

However, there are other fundamental skills our students need to learn, as many of the jobs of the future require an understanding in math and other STEM subjects. Students’ math scores across North America and in Ontario have seen an alarming decline over the past several years. With the return to in-person learning this school year, our government must have a comprehensive plan to help our students develop their math skills.

Speaker, can the minister please describe how our government is supporting math learning recovery, as well as plans to continue improved mathematics understanding for Ontarian students?

Hon. Stephen Lecce: It starts with a modern curriculum that mandates financial literacy and coding. That’s aligning with the labour market. It also starts with a plan, a $71-million investment, to lift standards in mathematics, to provide accountability with more front-line resources.

We’re going to double the amount of math coaches in our schools. We’re going to ensure every school board in Ontario has one senior lead whose singular mission is improvement in their board. We have a math improvement action team in the ministry for the first time. We’re going to deploy it to school boards who have historically been underperforming. That lower 20% of schools that still need to do better—we now have the means, the investment and the resources to raise those standards.

Mr. Speaker, in addition to mandating new curriculum that is relevant to young people, like life and job skills, we’re investing, with over 381 new math educators in the classroom. This is all designed to lift standards for better schools, better outcomes and better jobs for the young people of this province.

Municipal planning

Ms. Catherine Fife: My question is to the Premier. Last week, this government overruled years of work and consultation by local representatives in Waterloo region by unilaterally rewriting the local official plan, moving urban boundaries and violating the countryside line to open previously protected lands to development. The Premier went so far as to call this a “no-brainer,” insulting both the people who worked on the original plan and the people of Waterloo, who know it is neither necessary nor wanted. And there was zero consultation.

My question to the Premier: Why does he think he’s so smart? Why does he think he’s smarter than the people of Waterloo region and the people who serve in that community that he’s dictating this plan to?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Steve Clark: Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government has a plan to build 1.5 million homes by 2031. We’re pleased to work with councils on their official plans, as those in this chamber who served at the municipal level, and just like our guests that are here for Good Roads, know that official plans are the most important playbooks for development in their community. We want to ensure that all of the official plans that are before us reflect our government’s policies.

But don’t take my word for it. Let’s hear from Waterloo regional chair Karen Redman:

“The regional official plan is not a one-and-done.... We always acknowledged that when you’re looking at the kind of rapid growth that we’re experiencing, we would have to revisit the regional official plan over time....

“We know that we’re going to grow, so what we need to do is ensure that it’s well thought out planning, that there’s a variety of housing, that we have townhomes, that we have stacked townhomes, that we have rental accommodation for people who are going to come to the community.”

We agree with Chair Redman, and that’s exactly how we moved forward, Speaker.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

Ms. Catherine Fife: The minister will know that Waterloo region relies mostly on an aquifer for drinking water, yet no analysis has been done to determine the threshold for servicing water or waste systems. This government has gutted the Grand River Conservation Authority, allowing development on wetlands. This government has approved a property in this plan called Big Springs for development that the region has opposed for decades due to hydrological sensitivity.

This approval runs counter to groundwater sources protection. It’s almost like you’ve forgotten all about Walkerton. Source water protection is key to our health, and key to our economy and viability.

Can this minister, then, if he’s so proud of this plan, produce the hydrological studies that will reassure our citizens? Or are you just so willing to gamble the health and well-being and economy of the people of Waterloo region?

Hon. Steve Clark: I want to table words from Kitchener mayor Berry Vrbanovic today:

“I think the main parts of the regional official plan have been adopted and that includes things like protecting the Countryside Line, things like protecting things like the major transit areas in the city of Kitchener.”

“It also recognizes that there were some areas that we felt, for example in southwest Kitchener, that those lands should be, in fact, included....

“I think the decision of the minister recognizes there were lots of strong arguments about why those lands needed to be included.”

We’re going to continue to stand with Mayor Vrbanovic and Chair Redman as we move forward to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.

Energy rates

Mr. John Yakabuski: My question is for the Minister of Energy. Since our government was first elected in 2018, we have been laser-focused on making life more affordable for all Ontarians. Under the previous Liberal government, energy costs skyrocketed, forcing individuals and families to make difficult financial decisions. That is why it is essential that our government address energy costs by placing a strong emphasis on choice for consumers and providing all Ontarians with options to reduce their energy expenses. Our government must continue to respect the people of Ontario by implementing affordable energy policies.

I understand that last week, our government announced a new program that will give families and small businesses more ways to save on their energy bills. Speaker, can the minister please explain how this new electricity price plan will help Ontarians going forward?

Hon. Todd Smith: Thanks to the member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke. I appreciate it.

Speaker, he is quite correct: We’ve been hard at work putting families back in charge of their energy bills since we formed the government back in 2018. We started by introducing customer choice on electricity plans, allowing Ontarians to choose a price plan that makes sense for them—either a time-of-use or tiered rate. We also introduced the Green Button program, which is being rolled out right across Ontario as we speak, and will be in full implementation in November.

Now we’ve taken the next step. Last week, down at Toronto Hydro, I had the opportunity to inform the public about our ultra-low overnight electricity rate, which, starting on May 1, customers in the member’s own riding in Renfrew and in Toronto and London and Centre Wellington and Wasaga—I’m sure it was a great weekend at the beach up there, Mr. Speaker. They can opt in on this new plan, the ultra-low overnight rate, that’s going to be available province-wide in the coming months.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

Mr. John Yakabuski: Thank you to the minister for that response. It is encouraging news to hear that our government has introduced yet another way for consumers to keep costs down, save money, and take control of their energy bills.

I know that my constituents, along with people all across Ontario, are looking for financial relief on their electricity bills and will want to know if this new price program will work best for them. As with any new initiative, it is necessary that our government provides information to the people of Ontario about how to opt in to this program, and how this will help them to save money on their electricity bills.

Speaker, can the minister please explain the benefits that this program will bring to the consumers and to Ontario’s energy system?

Hon. Todd Smith: Thanks again to the great member. This new rate plan is going to help families. It’s going to help small businesses that use more electricity during the overnight period with an ultra-low, off-peak rate of 2.4 cents a kilowatt hour. Shift workers or those who heat their homes using electricity or people charging an electric vehicle—and we know there are going to be more of them as we continue to build up to 400,000 here by the end of the decade, in Ontario—they’ll be able to save up to $90 a year on their bills using this rate.

Unlike the former Liberal government, which sold clean, night-time power to neighbouring jurisdictions, many times at a loss, our government is coming up with innovative ways to use that power and shift demand in the province in the overnight period, which will make our grid more efficient, saving our electricity grid up to $5.7 million which, at the end of the day, isn’t just going to save those folks who adopt the ultra-low overnight rate, it’s going to save every electricity customer in the province money on their bill.

Indigenous housing / Mental health and addiction services

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Meegwetch, Speaker. My question is to the Premier.

In the north, we have a crisis of people without homes in Kenora and across northwestern Ontario. Without 24-7 support, there will be more needless deaths of First Nations people living outside.

What is this government doing to give municipalities and advocates the resources they need to help people without homes?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Minister of Indigenous Affairs.

Hon. Greg Rickford: I want to thank the honourable member for his question. In fact, in this last budget, under the leadership of our Premier, we recognized the urgent need for adequate housing to meet the basic needs of many First Nations who are moving from their communities into towns and cities like Kenora, Dryden and Sioux Lookout.

That’s why we invested significant resources to ensure that the Homelessness Prevention Program, moving forward, provides those additional houses. It’s sensitive to the nuances of housing requirements for Indigenous peoples displaced from their home communities and are at risk of homelessness, and require wraparound services from community support organizations. It’s a fully integrated model, Mr. Speaker, and we’re endeavouring to address those matters—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you very much.

The supplementary question.

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: When we move off the north or First Nation communities and reserves, that’s a marker of how colonialism works: to get people off our traditional territories.

Homelessness is a marker of a bigger issue, and I’m talking about addictions. I know there is a need for healing and there is a need for treatment in the north that is not being met. Again, we have to send out people to urban centres to get treatment.

Speaker, today First Nations people are dying. What is this government doing to address the addictions crisis?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

Hon. Michael A. Tibollo: Thank you to the member opposite for that question. It’s a very important question, and our government is taking the issue very, very seriously in terms of the investments that are being made in northern communities, remote communities and, of course, Indigenous communities. There is no exception. We are following through and making investments.

In October 2021, we announced $36 million for community-led Indigenous mental health and addictions service organizations, including supports for students, victim services and an Indigenous-driven anti-opioid strategy.

Our Addictions Recovery Fund was designed to boost capacity in communities of the greatest need: 400 beds, 7,000 spaces, 56% of them in northern and Indigenous communities, in addition to $7 million for land-based care—because we know that culturally safe services need to be delivered to the people where they are.

Land use planning

Ms. Stephanie Bowman: The housing crisis is making life unaffordable in Ontario and driving young workers out of the province. This government claims to understand the issue, but their actions say otherwise. They commissioned an expert task force to address the problem, yet they’ve ignored the experts and one of their most important recommendations: to build density in our towns and cities, not to expand their boundaries outward. The province last week ordered cities to do just that and destroy neighbouring farmland.

This attack on farmers will reduce the supply of local food, raising food prices, and create more sprawl, which undermines our carbon reduction goals. Farmers are against this decision, cities and regions are against it and the government’s own experts are against it.

My question to the Premier: Who is telling the Premier that he should pave over our farmland, and are they the same people who will benefit from this decision?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Steve Clark: Well, it’s pretty rich coming from the Liberals, who basically did nothing on housing for 15 years, to now try to be the champion for farmers. For almost every budget that I sat in opposition on, the word “agriculture” never appeared in a Liberal budget—never.

So now we have a policy that actually recognizes that a farm can now have the opportunity to sever a lot for a son or a daughter—a farm that, if they decided that they wanted to provide quality housing for workers on the site, they could sever a lot.

Now we know again where the Liberals are at, just like where they were at for 15 years when they were in government: They stand against agriculture, they stand against farmers and they stand against housing in rural areas. That’s the Liberal Party.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question?

Ms. Stephanie Bowman: Speaker, this government says they represent farmers, and the minister across the road seems to feel that as well. In fact, the Premier said he loves our farmers and told them in 2018 that “help is on the way,” but farmers are not feeling the love as the Premier paves over more and more of their farmland. We know this because the great riding of Haldimand–Norfolk, in the heart of farm country, elected an independent over a pro-developer candidate supported by this government.

The member for Haldimand–Norfolk introduced a bill to protect our farmland from development. It was supported by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and all MPPs except those on the government side. This government is being very clear: They want to pave over farmland.

Speaker, my question to the Premier: Can the Premier please explain how paving over their farmland helps farmers?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Government side, come to order.

To reply, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Hon. Lisa M. Thompson: The member opposite is clearly out of touch, because for the last number of weeks we’ve been making historic announcements. We’re investing over $2 billion in Ontario’s agri-food industry, from the laneway through to processing.

Farmers are buoyed; they’re energized. They know they have a government in Premier Ford and all of us in caucus who actually understand the business of producing food. For instance, we have introduced a soil health study that RBC noted as a hidden gem in the budget. It’s $9.5 million that is going to look at the health of soil.

I was just at the Earlton Farm Show this past weekend, and people are applauding the fact that we actually get it and are demonstrating that we are moving on priorities that truly matter to farmers, who are working so hard to produce good-quality food in Ontario.

Tenant protection

Ms. Patrice Barnes: My question is for the Attorney General. I’ve heard from many of my constituents, both tenants and landlords, concerning the delays they are experiencing when they engage with the Landlord and Tenant Board. There are many reports of the long delays when it comes to hearings to resolve tenancy disputes, causing uncertainty and confusion to both tenants and landlords. The consensus is that the time frames are way too long, the caseloads are too heavy, and service standards need to be strengthened. As the government, we must put forward resolutions that make wait times shorter and results much faster for those involved.

Speaker, can the Attorney General please explain how our government is taking action to address and resolve disputes at the Landlord and Tenant Board?

Hon. Doug Downey: I appreciate the question from the member from Ajax. It’s no secret that our government has been making historical progress when it comes to solving the housing crisis right here in Ontario. Our efforts, though, are more than just building homes. That’s why I was really proud to stand with my colleague Minister Clark, in London earlier this month, to announce that we’re doubling the number of adjudicators. That’s going to help, Mr. Speaker.

We know that delays around the Landlord and Tenant Board have been frustrating for people across this province, both for landlords and for tenants, but it has been our government that has been the one getting it done when it comes to improving services here in Ontario. That includes the Landlord and Tenant Board. By doubling the number of adjudicators, more Ontarians will have their cases heard in an efficient manner.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

Ms. Patrice Barnes: Thank you to the Attorney General for that response. My constituents will be encouraged to hear that the Landlord and Tenant Board’s capacity has—is holding more hearings and seeing more improvements. Increasing the number of adjudicators is a positive step toward speeding up decisions.

The Landlord and Tenant Board is part of our province’s tribunal system, which plays an important role in providing accessible dispute resolution to thousands of Ontarians. It is essential that our government continues to make investments that will modernize services so that the people of our province can have confidence in our tribunal.

Speaker, can the Attorney General please explain further how our government is making investments to improve access?

Hon. Doug Downey: Mr. Speaker, she’s correct. We have been making necessary investments at the Landlord and Tenant Board over time. As I mentioned previously, we’re doubling the number of full-time adjudicators by adding 40 full-time members, plus additional support staff, for a total of $6.5 million. That’s part of our historic housing strategy.

With this announcement, the board will have 80 full-time adjudicators. To help Ontarians appear before them, we’re also making the processes easier. That’s why, in this budget, an investment of over $24 million over three years was made. Of course, the NDP voted against it. As well, we made an investment of $6 million for additional recruitment at the Landlord and Tenant Board, and the NDP voted against that.

These investments follow a $28.5-million funding arrangement, under the justice accelerated strategy, to improve processes in the digital case management process. Mr. Speaker, the NDP voted against that. Unfortunately, they keep saying no. But fortunately, we keep passing it and we keep moving forward, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to continuously improving the process, making the wait times shorter and making the process more efficient.

Tarifs du gaz naturel / Natural gas rates

M. Guy Bourgouin: Ma question est pour le premier ministre. Le coût du gaz naturel dans le nord de l’Ontario est insupportable. Les résidents n’ont aucun surplus dans leur budget. Les entreprises et les organismes à but non lucratif sont tous au bord de la fermeture.

Dans le Nord, on surpasse le taux de mètre cube « standard » dans une période de neuf mois. Notre utilisation est beaucoup plus élevée due à nos hivers plus longs et notre climat plus froid. Alors le calcul pour nous ne reflète pas nos besoins. C’est complètement injuste. La Maison Verte, un organisme, a payé 80 000 $ de gaz naturel dans deux mois, même après avoir investi 300 000 $ dans des nouvelles bouilloires intelligentes.

Alors, ma question pour le premier ministre : qu’est-ce que votre gouvernement va faire pour venir en aide aux gens du Nord et pour les organismes comme la Maison Verte pour assurer que la facturation reflète bien leurs besoins?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the Minister of Energy.

L’hon. Todd Smith: Merci pour la question. C’est difficile de comprendre la question par le député d’à côté parce que—it just doesn’t make any sense, Mr. Speaker.

The member opposite is saying he wants more affordable energy for people in the north. That’s exactly what we’ve been providing since we took government, back in 2018. But the member opposite and his party were all about supporting the Liberals’ Green Energy Act when they were in power, Mr. Speaker. During the Green Energy Act, we saw hydro bills rising by 10%, 12% each year. In 2018, that came to an end. We ended the madness, Mr. Speaker.

But you know what the NDP wanted to do while the Liberals were doing that? They wanted them to go faster. They wanted them to put more over-market renewable contracts on the grid. Since we’ve come into power, we’ve flattened those increases in the electricity sector, and I’ll have more to say about natural gas in my supplementary.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question. The member for Hamilton Mountain.

Miss Monique Taylor: I’m just going to go back to the Premier because the words that I would have to say to that are terribly unparliamentary.

Seniors on fixed incomes are struggling the most when it comes to the cost of utilities and natural gas. A senior from Hamilton Mountain shared with me that her utility bills are so high, she had to wear coats and use two to three blankets overnight just to be able to keep warm in her own home.

Interjection.

Miss Monique Taylor: Speaker, this is absolutely disgraceful. Maybe the member from Niagara West–Glanbrook doesn’t have these problems—or Niagara West; I’m not quite sure. But the government needs to be ashamed. I’m not sure any of these members across the aisle were using coats and blankets in their homes to stay warm.

Can the Premier explain why seniors like my constituent are supposed to survive this affordability crisis when they are being priced out of basic necessities?

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The government House leader will come to order.

To reply, the Minister of Energy.

Hon. Todd Smith: Mr. Speaker, it’s impossible to take this member seriously when she talks about affordability because it was this party, in 2018, that ended the Liberals’ cap-and-trade and fought the carbon tax all the way to the Supreme Court. That was the Premier that led that charge.

The NDP want a bigger carbon tax, Mr. Speaker. The Premier and our Minister of Energy at the time warned the people of Ontario that the carbon tax wasn’t just going to just drive up the cost of utilities higher; it was going to drive up the cost of everything, including groceries in our grocery stores. And you know what? That is exactly what has happened. Life in Ontario is more unaffordable today because of the federal carbon tax which that member and her party supports. Stand with us and fight—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock. Order. The member for Ottawa South, come to order. The member for Waterloo, come to order. The member for Nepean, come to order.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Ottawa South, come to order. The member for Kitchener–Conestoga, come to order.

Start the clock. The member for Peterborough–Kawartha, next question.

Workplace safety

Mr. Dave Smith: This morning, I have a question for the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. The important work that our miners do is vital to building a strong Ontario, not just the mining industry, but other industries as well. As just one example, mineral resources are needed for our manufacturing sector in making electric vehicles, and over the next decade, critical minerals will be needed in many more areas for our expanding economic markets.

Speaker, workplace safety in this sector is also a condition for success in developing the critical minerals industry for the future of our province. Miners have been the backbone of Ontario’s economy for generations, and we owe it to them and to their families to do more to keep them safe.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what our government is doing to protect the miners of Ontario?

Hon. Monte McNaughton: Thank you to the member for Peterborough–Kawartha for that important question.

On Monday of last week, I had the pleasure to join my good friend the Minister of Mines in Sudbury with the president of the United Steelworkers Local 6500 to announce new measures our government is taking to keep Ontario’s more than 29,000 miners safe. Lowering exposure limits to diesel exhaust is something that miners and their unions have been calling for for years, and we’re listening. Working closely with the United Steelworkers, we have acted quickly on their concerns—concerns the previous Liberal government left unanswered.

Our government, under the leadership of our Premier, is proposing new regulations that bring Ontario’s exposure limits from the highest in Canada down to the most protective in all of North America.

Speaker, we know there’s more work to be done, and working together with our labour partners and employers, we will keep the men and women in Ontario’s mines safe.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

Mr. Dave Smith: I’d like to thank the minister for that response, but I’m going to pivot a little bit.

My supplemental question is to the Minister of Mines. As the minister is well aware, through his long and extensive career in the mining industry, there are many occupational risks that workers face every time they start a shift underground. This announcement by the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development is another milestone for workplace safety for miners that our province can be proud of. However, there’s always more work to be done when it comes to ensuring workplace safety in this sector.

Speaker, can the Minister of Mines please describe the importance of this announcement in the context of our government’s goal to strengthen Ontario’s critical mineral supply chain?

Hon. George Pirie: Thank you to the member for the question and the minister for a great announcement last week.

Speaker, I come from a very proud mining family that’s been in the industry for over 100 years. I lived and worked in the mining communities. Safety continues to be our top priority, but we can always do better. That is why this announcement is so important, because we are improving workplace safety for miners.

As our government works to build more mines to supply the EV revolution, we need the world’s best and brightest to join our industry. This announcement sends a strong message that you can find safe, rewarding careers in Ontario’s mining industry. I am proud to be a part of a government that puts people first and sets them up for exciting jobs that will make them part of a growing supply chain for electric vehicles in this province.

Health care workers

M me France Gélinas: Ma question est pour le premier ministre. Speaker, it has been three long years since this government introduced Bill 124. Does the Premier think freezing the wages of health care workers during a pandemic helped with the recruitment, helps with the retention? In hindsight, does the Premier think it was a good idea?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The President of the Treasury Board to respond.

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: This government has launched the largest health care recruitment strategy in the history of this province, and that member and the members opposite on the opposition side have voted against that. In fact, this year alone, over 12,000 nurses were registered; that is the largest number of registered nurses in the history of this province.

We put over $342 million in last year’s fall economic statement to support the upskilling of certain nurses and health care professionals across this province. And every single time that we have put forward measures, investments, billions of dollars into health care and recruitment, the members opposite have voted against it every single time.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

M me France Gélinas: Although the Premier does not think that our health care heroes deserve a raise, it turns out that both employers and employees agree on retroactive pay for work done during the pandemic, with nurses and paramedics being awarded back pay as we speak.

The time has come for this Premier to start working for workers, to treat our health care workers as heroes. Will the Premier withdraw his appeal of Bill 124?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply for the government, the Premier.

Hon. Doug Ford: I’ll tell you what we did for the health care workers: We gave the nurses a $5,000 bonus, which was equivalent to a 7.6% increase—the highest in the entire country. And guess what? The NDP and the Liberals voted against it. Mr. Speaker, we gave the PSWs the largest increase they’ve ever seen at $3 per hour. But guess what, Mr. Speaker? The NDP and Liberals voted against it. We made sure we paid for the tuition for the nurses, all expenses, if they worked in a rural community; the NDP voted against it. We have the highest minimum wage in the entire country. Mr. Speaker, the NDP and Liberals voted against it.

We’re making sure we put money back into people’s pockets. Some 60,000 new nurses have been registered since we took office. As the President of the Treasury Board said, 12,000 new nurses came on the job. That is a record. We have 30,000 in the queue at the colleges and universities. That’s what we’re doing for our front-line workers.

Northern Ontario development

Mr. John Yakabuski: My question is for the Minister of Northern Development. Our province, like the rest of the world, is experiencing the impacts of global economic uncertainty, high interest rates and inflation. This current economic climate is creating additional barriers and burdens that are disproportionately affecting communities in remote, rural and northern regions more profoundly. These barriers are hindering opportunities for job creation, education and business development in the north.

Because the previous Liberal government ignored the needs of northern Ontario, it is vitally important that our government takes action to keep the north competitive and improve the quality of life for all northerners. Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is supporting opportunities and prosperity in the north?

Hon. Greg Rickford: There are a number of ways. Under the leadership of this Premier, we’ve made it very clear that we’re building Ontario, and that means building northern Ontario.

Maybe I’ll start with an ode to the Good Roads conference this week and mention that we started out with a couple of key announcements from the Manitoba border. Niiwin Wendaanimok highway twinning: Not only has it been extended, but we work co-operatively with an Indigenous-owned-and-operated business that plays a substantial—in fact, a majority—role in the construction of that twinned highway.

As well, we were in Dryden to announce the Grand Trunk Avenue—which is also the Trans-Canada Highway; it leads right into Dryden—under major reconstruction, and planning and design resources for Fort Frances’ 3rd Street West, which is also Trans-Canada. These highways are important connections for our vast region, but they get goods and people across northern Ontario, and we’re committed to making sure that northern Ontario roads are safe and efficient.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): And the supplementary question.

Mr. John Yakabuski: Thank you to the minister for that response. It is encouraging news that our government is making meaningful investments to support economic development and growth in the north.

We know that the strength of Ontario’s economy is built on the knowledge, skills and expertise of our workers. Education is the key in preparing workers to take on the jobs of the future, especially in view of increasing labour shortages and the urgent need to fill job vacancies across many sectors.

Our government must continue to do all that we can to work with our northern partners to foster innovation, in order to build strong and prosperous businesses and communities. Speaker, can the minister please expand on how our government is investing in the north and creating opportunities for future generations?

Hon. Greg Rickford: Just a great opportunity, Mr. Speaker, in the week prior to last and last week, to travel from Sudbury to Pikangikum and spend some time in Kenora and Dryden—making the kinds of investments that transform the lives of people in our northern communities.

Whether we’re upgrading the facilities at the Dryden Public Library, investing in a recreational facilitator program in Vermilion Bay, or investing in a youth wellness hub in Pikangikum First Nation and seeing, for the first time in more than 30 years of being a part of that community, a sawmill, these are exciting opportunities that range from skills development to quality of life in our small northern towns and cities. We’re looking forward to a dynamic, vibrant northern Ontario which can join southern Ontario in one of the most exciting economic periods in its history. Northern Ontario, Mr. Speaker, is ready.

Children’s health services

Ms. Sandy Shaw: My question this morning is to the Premier of Ontario. As reported in the Hamilton Spectator, 2,100 kids are waiting for surgery at McMaster Children’s Hospital. It’s the worst wait in the province for pediatric surgery. No child should have to live in pain—pain that is entirely preventable. Imagine being a parent, watching your child live with pain and knowing that if they miss important surgeries, it can have life-altering consequences.

McMaster is doing everything they can, and the federal government has stepped in to help as well. When will your government step up and do your part to help these children?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

Hon. Sylvia Jones: The member opposite is absolutely right. McMaster is doing incredible work. In fact, it is because of the work and innovation that’s happening there that we were able to, in the fall, add an additional six-bed ICU capacity, because we know that parents’ children should not have to wait for these needed surgeries. It speaks to the investments that we continue to make in working with those partners.

Recently, last month, I was at the Ron Joyce centre and seeing the incredible work that they are able to do when they get a government and a partner. It just speaks to how we can improve the system if we work together. That’s exactly what we’re doing with McMaster.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question.

Ms. Sandy Shaw: Premier, things aren’t getting better under your government; they’re getting worse. This is an emergency all across Ontario. There are 12,000 Ontario children waiting for surgery right now. Bruce Squires, the president of McMaster Children’s Hospital, shared his deep concern that 1,400 children have already missed the optimal window for surgery, and they now risk life-altering consequences—lifelong consequences—because they’re missing surgeries. Our children urgently need your help, Premier. Your government has the power. You can fix this today. Premier, will you help these children?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Perhaps the member opposite didn’t hear me clearly: We have been making investments. We have been working in particular with our children’s hospital partnerships. In fact, we’ve made permanent investments, increasing the number of critical beds in Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario; McMaster Children’s Hospital, of course, in Hamilton; London Health Sciences; the Hospital for Sick Children; and of course, Kingston Health Sciences. We’ve made those investments permanent, because as we saw the need—we increase and we ensure that those capacities are improving.

It continues to amaze me that the member opposite is not actually encouraging and working and talking to the hospitals’ CEOs to see the kind of innovation that is happening in their community hospitals, because it truly is world-renowned and working.

Public transit

Mr. Todd J. McCarthy: My question, Mr. Speaker, is for the Associate Minister of Transportation. The people in my great riding of Durham and across the GTHA have public transit as their primary form of transportation. But many riders within Durham and across the GTHA, using a host of different agencies, can get confused by the various fare systems and payment methods under different municipal transit services. My constituents have been asking for simpler ways to pay the fare, especially first-time transit users who may not always carry cash.

Mr. Speaker, therefore, can the minister please share with this House how our government is making it easier and more convenient to take transit in my riding and across the greater Toronto and Hamilton area?

Hon. Stan Cho: The member is right. It should be easier to tap and get down to watch the Leafs win the cup this year when you’re taking public transit, Speaker. That’s what we’re doing. Through last summer and this winter, we introduced credit card tap on the Presto across GO and the 905. Speaker, I’m glad to say that across participating agencies, riders have now tapped with their credit cards one million times.

It doesn’t stop there, though. Metrolinx is now also working to implement debit card tap very soon in the 905 and across the GO network. What’s more, Metrolinx, on behalf of our government, has done great work with the TTC to update Presto devices so both credit card and debit tap payment features can be brought to the hard-working people of the Six later this year.

Speaker, it’s not enough just to build record transit, which we’re doing under the leadership of this Premier. We’re bringing game-changing initiatives, making it easier for connecting to the grid and getting down to watch our boys in blue.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary?

Mr. Todd J. McCarthy: Thank you to the associate minister for his response. It is great to see our government provide transit riders with more choices that make it easier for them to travel.

Mr. Speaker, Ontarians have seen a rise in their cost of living, and this is due to global inflation and economic instability, of course. For many of them, transit fares add to the financial burden they are already bearing.

Our government must continue to remove barriers to ridership and make life more affordable for the hard-working individuals and families in my riding of Durham and across Ontario.

Therefore, can the associate minister explain how our government is offering Ontarians cost-effective ways to travel, particularly on public transit?

Hon. Stan Cho: Speaker, the member is absolutely right; as we get back to normal times and navigate economic uncertainty, we have to make sure that we are putting money back into people’s pockets, and that includes our transit riders.

In contrast to the previous Liberal government, with its transit hikes over six straight years when they were in power, Metrolinx, under our government, has not increased transit fares for the past four years.

What’s more, our GO affordability pilot provided a 50% reimbursement for applicable GO riders in Peel region.

We’re also delivering for the hard-working youth and students of this province, because no matter where you’re enrolled, if you’re between the ages of 13 and 19, we nearly doubled the youth and post-secondary discount—up to 40% off the standard fare on GO and UP Express.

Let’s not forget that we eliminated double fares for riders connecting to GO Transit and major 905 transit agencies, saving up to $1,800 a year, making it more affordable to get down to watch our Jays in action this summer or wherever you need to go.

Shelter services

Mr. Terence Kernaghan: My question is to the Premier.

In the middle of the night, outside a local shelter, Olivia’s makeshift tent went up in flames. The shelter beds inside weren’t available because provincial funding had run out. Olivia suffered severe burns to nearly half of her body. She’s now fighting for her life. I want to send strength to Olivia’s parents, Sean and Stephanie, as well as her friends and the service providers who knew her so well.

The city of London has double the number of unhoused people compared to two years ago—double—with 1,868 lives hanging in the balance, and the province is ignoring it.

Will this government do the right thing: invest in affordable and supportive housing and wraparound supports, expand rent supplement programs, and fund municipalities properly to ensure that shelters don’t have to close when the need is so high?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Hon. Steve Clark: I’m not sure where that question is coming from. We made a historic investment, under the leadership of Premier Ford and Minister Bethlenfalvy: $202 million, additional, for the Homelessness Prevention Program. Members were in their ridings last week for a break week, and some of the announcements that have come out of our municipal partners have been amazing. With this extra $202 million, our Homelessness Prevention Program now provides funding of almost $700 million to provide service managers—like the one that the member opposite just talked about—additional funds to keep shelters open, to build capacity.

Definitely, we’ll be reaching out on what the city of London will be doing with the extra dollars that the government just gave them and that the member opposite voted against.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): That concludes our question period for this morning.

There being no further business this morning, this House stands in recess until 1 p.m.

The House recessed from 1144 to 1300.

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy

Mr. Vijay Thanigasalam: I beg leave to present a report from the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy and move its adoption.

The Clerk-at-the-Table (Mr. Wai Lam (William) Wong): Your committee begs to report the following bill without amendment:

Bill 69,

An Act to amend various Acts with respect to infrastructure / Projet de loi 69, Loi modifiant diverses lois sur les infrastructures.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Shall the report be received and adopted? Agreed? Agreed.

Report adopted.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The bill is therefore ordered for third reading.

Standing Committee on Government Agencies

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I beg to inform the House that during the adjournment, the Clerk received a report on intended appointments dated April 13, 2023, of the Standing Committee on Government Agencies.

Pursuant to standing order 110(f)(9), the report is deemed to be adopted by the House.

Report deemed adopted.

Introduction of Government Bills

Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 sur l’amélioration des écoles et du rendement des élèves

Mr. Lecce moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 98,

An Act to amend various Acts relating to education and child care / Projet de loi 98, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui concerne l’éducation et la garde d’enfants.

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

First reading agreed to.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’ll invite the minister to briefly explain his bill if he wishes to do so.

Hon. Stephen Lecce: The government is introducing the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act. Our new legislative changes would, if passed, improve transparency for parents and ensure Ontario’s publicly funded education system is unified in its focus on a back-to-basics approach for math, STEM and literacy, which will enhance the outcomes of all students. Our proposed changes would build on the work currently under way to ensure that our students have the supports they need to achieve their goals and succeed in all endeavours.

Introduction of Bills

Garrett’s Legacy Act (Requirements for Movable Soccer Goals), 2023 / Loi de 2023 sur le legs de Garrett (exigences relatives aux buts de soccer mobiles)

Mr. Bresee moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 99,

An Act to provide for safety measures respecting movable soccer goals / Projet de loi 99, Loi prévoyant des mesures de sécurité pour les buts de soccer mobiles.

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

First reading agreed to.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’ll invite the member to briefly explain his bill if he wishes to do so.

Mr. Ric Bresee: This bill enacts Garrett’s Legacy Act (Requirements for Movable Soccer Goals), 2023. It responds to the tragic loss of a young man in my riding by the name of Garrett Mills. Unfortunately, there have been many other such fatalities.

The act establishes requirements for organizations and entities respecting the secure application of movable soccer goals that they make available for use by members of the public. The act provides for inspections and requires the minister to establish a mechanism to report complaints of alleged non-compliance with the act.

Strengthening Members’ Integrity Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 visant à renforcer l’intégrité des députés

Ms. Stiles moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 100,

An Act to amend the Members’ Integrity Act, 1994 with respect to fees, gifts and personal benefits / Projet de loi 100, Loi modifiant la Loi de 1994 sur l’intégrité des députés en ce qui concerne les honoraires, les dons et les avantages personnels.

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

First reading agreed to.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Would the Leader of the Opposition like to briefly explain her bill?

Ms. Marit Stiles: Currently, subsection 6(1) of the Members’ Integrity Act, 1994, provides that a member of the assembly shall not accept a fee, gift or personal benefit that is connected directly or indirectly with the performance of the member’s duties of office.

This bill repeals and re-enacts subsection 6(1) to provide that a member of the assembly shall not accept a fee, gift or personal benefit that might reasonably be seen to have been given in connection, directly or indirectly, with the performance of the member’s duties of office.

Petitions

Land use planning

Mr. John Vanthof: “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario” from the good people of the Kenogami area:

“Whereas the purpose of this petition is to ensure the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing promptly and consistently enforces the rules in their bulletin (Information bulletin regarding off-grid development in unincorporated areas—dated November 30, 2022) when it comes to current and future off-grid developments in northern Ontario;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“That the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing put a cease and desist on current development of off-grid developments in unincorporated townships until environmental compliance and prerequisite consultation with First Nations is completed.”

I agree with it and will add my signature to the other thousands of names.

Taxation

Ms. Andrea Khanjin: “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario”—this is a petition really well supported by the residents of Barrie–Innisfil.

“Whereas to address the federal government plans for an” accelerated “tax of over 14% on the carbon tax on April 1, 2023;

“Whereas it will raise the cost of everything;

“Whereas we call on the provincial government to continue to call on the federal government to stop the tax hike on the carbon tax as Ontarians and Canadians can’t afford it;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the passage of” our “Building a Stronger Ontario Act” and to fight the carbon tax.

Land use planning

Mr. Terence Kernaghan: I’d like to read the petition entitled “Protect the Greenbelt and Repeal Bills 23 and 39.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Bills 23 and 39 are the Ford government’s latest attempt to remove protected land from the greenbelt, allowing wealthy developers to profit over bulldozing over 7,000 acres of farmland;

“Whereas green spaces and farmland are what we rely on to grow our food, support natural habitats, prevent flooding, and mitigate from future climate disasters with Ontario losing 319.6 acres of farmland daily to development;

“Whereas the government’s Housing Affordability Task Force found there are plenty of places to build homes without destroying the greenbelt, showcasing that Bill 23 was never about housing but about making the rich richer;

“Whereas the power of conservation authorities will be taken away, weakening environmental protections, and preventing future development;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately repeal Bills 23 and 39, stop all plans to further remove protected land from the greenbelt and protect existing farmland in the province....”

I fully support this petition, will affix my signature and give it to page Senna.

Long-term care

Ms. Christine Hogarth: “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas to address the new funding that has been provided to support Ontario’s long-term-care homes, the government is investing $5.5 million in 2023-24 to build new behavioural specialized units in long-term-care homes, including approximately 70 new specialized beds, to expand care for individuals with complex needs; and

“Whereas Ontario is providing $1.2 million to the Ontario Personal Support Workers Association to help with recruitment efforts by promoting the personal support worker profession in the long-term-care sector; and

“Whereas Ontario continues to make progress on its plan to build modern, safe and comfortable long-term-care homes for senior residents:

“—through planned investments that total a historic $6.4 billion since 2019;

“—Ontario is on track to build more than 31,000 new and over 28,000 upgraded beds across the province by 2028; and

“Whereas the government is helping to increase long-term-care capacity in communities across the province by providing development loans and loan guarantees to select non-municipal not-for-profit homes;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the passage of the Ontario budget bill, Bill 85, Building a Strong Ontario Act.”

I can’t think of a better place to sign my name. Thank you very much.

Labour legislation

Ms. Jennifer K. French: I am pleased to be able to read this petition entitled “Pass Anti-Scab Labour Legislation.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the use of replacement workers undermines workers’ collective power, unnecessarily prolongs labour disputes, and removes the essential power that the withdrawal of labour is supposed to give workers to help end a dispute, that is, the ability to apply economic pressure;

“Whereas the use of scab labour contributes to higher-conflict picket lines, jeopardizes workplace safety, destabilizes normalized labour relations between workers and their employers and removes the employer incentive to negotiate and settle fair contracts; and

“Whereas strong and fair anti-scab legislation will help lead to shorter labour disputes, safer workplaces, and less hostile picket lines;

“Whereas similar legislation has been introduced in British Columbia and Quebec with no increases to the number of strike or lockout days;

“Whereas Ontario had anti-scab legislation under an NDP government, that was unfortunately ripped away from workers by the Harris Conservatives;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To prohibit employers from using replacement labour for the duration of any legal strike or lockout, except for very limited use to undertake essential maintenance work to protect the safety and integrity of the workplace;

“To prohibit employers from using both external and internal replacement workers;

“To include significant financial penalties for employers who defy the anti-scab legislation; and

“To support Ontario’s workers and pass anti-scab labour legislation, like the Ontario NDP Bill 90, the Anti-Scab Labour Act, 2023.”

Of course I support this petition, will affix my signature and send it to the table with page Sophie.

OPP detachment

M me France Gélinas: I would like to thank Frances Solomon from Killarney as well as the municipality of Killarney for this petition. It reads as follows:

“Keep the Noëlville OPP Detachment Open.

“Whereas insufficient communication and consultations have taken place with communities and relevant stakeholders concerning the OPP Noëlville detachment’s continuing operations, and;

“Whereas the residents and visitors in the municipalities of French River, Markstay-Warren, St. Charles, Killarney and Britt-Byng Inlet as well as the First Nations of Dokis and Henvey Inlet deserve equitable access to a reliable, timely and efficient police response;

They “petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to direct the Ministry of the Solicitor General and the Ontario Provincial Police to continue having Ontario Provincial Police officers reporting to an operational detachment location in Noëlville.”

I support this petition. I will affix my name to it and ask my good page Senna to bring it to the Clerk.

Alzheimer’s disease

Ms. Catherine Fife: This petition is entitled “Develop an Ontario Dementia Strategy.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas it currently takes on average 18 months for people in Ontario to get an official dementia diagnosis, with some patients often waiting years to complete diagnostic testing;

“Whereas more than half of patients suspected of having dementia in Ontario never get a full diagnosis; research confirms that early diagnosis saves lives and reduces care-partner” issues;

“Whereas a PET scan test approved in Ontario in 2017 which can be key to detecting Alzheimer’s early, is still not covered under OHIP in” 2023;

“Whereas the Ontario government must work together with the federal government to prepare for the approval and rollout of future disease-modifying therapies and research;

“Whereas the Alzheimer Society projects that one million Canadians will be caregivers for people with dementia, with families providing approximately 1.4 billion hours of care per year by 2050;

“Whereas research findings show that Ontario will spend $27.8 billion between 2023 and 2043 on alternate-level-of-care (ALC) and long-term-care (LTC) costs associated with people living with dementia; and

“Whereas the government must follow through with its commitment to ensure Ontario’s health care system has the capacity to meet the current and future needs of people living with dementia and their care partners;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, call on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to develop, commit and fund a comprehensive Ontario dementia strategy.”

I fully support this petition and will pass it along to page Randall.

Land use planning

Ms. Jennifer K. French: I am pleased to read this petition entitled “Stop the Bradford Bypass.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the proposed Bradford Bypass is a $2.2-billion, taxpayer-funded, 16.2-km, four-to-six-lane highway through the greenbelt between Highways 400 and the 404;

“Whereas according to a Toronto Star/National Observer investigation, the main beneficiaries of this project are land speculators with political and donor ties to the Premier and the PC Party of Ontario, and together own nearly 3,000 acres of land along the proposed highway corridor;

“Whereas the highway would threaten the Holland Marsh and the Lake Simcoe watershed, cutting through 27 waterways, damaging prime farmland, wetlands, woodlands, and significant wildlife habitat;

“Whereas the most recent EA for the project is nearly 25 years old, and this PC government has exempted it from the Environmental Assessment Act;

“Whereas due to this exemption, the government is now free to ignore impacts on agriculture, fish and fish habitat, property, human health, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and other impacts that would have otherwise required an updated assessment under the act;

“Whereas the highway will also destroy one of Canada’s most significant archaeological/historical sites, the Lower Landing;

“Whereas this highway was conceived in the last century, before the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan, the Greenbelt Plan, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the growth plan were enacted, and prior to global agreements to fight climate change;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To cancel the politically driven, wasteful, and destructive plan for the Bradford Bypass, and redirect all funding for the Bradford Bypass into investments that better serve the regional transportation and mobility needs, including evidence-based plans for transit and regional road improvements, and other investments in the public interest.”

That’s a good one. I wholeheartedly support it. I will affix my signature and send it to the table with page Christopher.

Health care

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: I’m very glad today to be able to stand in the Legislature and present a petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario which reads as follows:

“Whereas to address the current staffing shortages in the health care sector, the Ontario government has proposed an investment of $200 million in 2023-24 to address immediate staffing shortages; and

“Whereas to grow the workforce for years to come, this includes:

“—offering up to 6,000 health care students training opportunities to work in hospitals providing care and gaining practical experience as they continue their education through the Enhanced Extern Program. This program has offered these opportunities to over 5,000 health care students; and

“—supporting up to 3,150 internationally educated nurses to become accredited nurses in Ontario through the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership Program; and

“Whereas more than 2,000 internationally educated nurses have enrolled in this program and over 1,300 of them are already fully registered and practising in Ontario; and

“Whereas Ontario is continuing to hire more health care workers to ensure everyone can see a trained professional when they need to; and

“Whereas key new investments in 2023-24 to build the health care workforce include:

“—$22 million to hire up to 200 hospital preceptors to provide mentorship;

“—$15 million to keep 100 mid-to-late career nurses in the workforce; and

“—$4.3 million to help at least 50 internationally trained physicians get licensed in Ontario;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the passage of the Ontario budget bill, Bill 85, Building a Stronger Ontario.”

Speaker, I do indeed also support this petition today. I’m going to be affixing my signature to it and passing it to page Liam, who will be providing it to the table for our record.

Don d’organes

M me France Gélinas: J’aimerais remercier Sylvie Brûlé de Blezard Valley dans mon comté.

« Sauver des organes pour sauver des vies...

« Alors qu’il y a » plus de 1 367 « personnes en attente d’une greffe d’organe en Ontario;

« Alors que tous les trois jours, une personne en Ontario meurt parce qu’elle ne peut pas obtenir une greffe à temps;

« Alors que le don d’organes et de tissus peut sauver jusqu’à huit vies et améliorer la vie de jusqu’à 75 personnes;

« Alors que » 93 % « des Ontarien(ne)s appuient le don d’organes, mais seulement 36 % » d’entre nous « sont enregistrés;

« Alors que la Nouvelle-Écosse a connu une augmentation du nombre d’organes et de tissus destinés à la transplantation après la mise en oeuvre d’une

loi sur le consentement présumé », et ce, « en janvier 2020; »

Ils et elles demandent à l’Assemblée législative « de changer la loi pour permettre un système de don basé sur le consentement présumé tel qu’énoncé dans le projet de loi...commémorant » M. « Peter Kormos (Sauver des organes pour sauver des vies) de la députée Gélinas », moi-même.

Merci, et je remercie Frederick pour l’amener à la table des greffiers.

Housing

Ms. Doly Begum: I have a petition here from some community members who actually got together to get a lot of signatures. I have pages of signatures here, as well, on an issue that they’re very concerned about.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the Bank of Canada has rapidly increased the interest rate from 0.25% in March 2022 to 4.5% in January 2023;

“Whereas Ontarians are facing skyrocketing cost of living, yet another household expense has doubled for families across Ontario with the increase in mortgage payments while their household income remains the same;

“Whereas families across Ontario have exhausted their savings and took on intolerable debts to keep up with monthly mortgage payments;

“Whereas the rising interest rates have diminished people’s buying power and threatened the livelihood of many families and homeowners who are on the verge of losing everything they worked for their entire lives;

“Whereas high interest rates and rising mortgage payments has forced many tenants to pay a higher rent or face the risk of losing their homes;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to take the concerns of Ontarians impacted by rapidly increasing mortgage rates and cost of living into consideration and ensure that Ontarians are not forced to lose their homes.”

Speaker, I fully support this petition. I will affix my signature to it and give it to page Sophie to take it to the Clerks.

Orders of the Day

Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023 / Loi de 2023 visant à aider les acheteurs et à protéger les locataires

Mr. Clark moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 97,

An Act to amend various statutes with respect to housing and development / Projet de loi 97, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui concerne le logement et l’aménagement.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bhutila Karpoche): The minister.

Hon. Steve Clark: Today it’s both a pleasure and a privilege to rise for second reading of our government’s proposed Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act. At the very start, I’ll indicate that I’ll be sharing the government’s leadoff time today with the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery, the newly minted Associate Minister of Housing, and my new parliamentary assistant for municipal affairs and housing, who’s being engaged with the Speaker right now in a wonderful conversation—it’s always great to have two Speakers in the House to try to keep me in line.

Those other speakers will be touching on some of the finer points of some of the items in our proposed legislation and our corresponding housing supply action plan. Both support our government’s goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.

The proposed changes that the government has put forward for debate here today are a reaction to market conditions that have been in place for far too long. In fact, a recent Statistics Canada study reveals that, over a 10-year period, beginning in 2011, Ontario has had the fourth-largest decline in home ownership rates amongst provinces and territories in Canada. This is something that is unprecedented. This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard this sort of thing, but it’s something that the government continually pledges—that we value home ownership, and we want to continue to have a climate where we can build quality, affordable housing that meets people’s needs and their budgets.

Our government is fighting back. Decades of inaction, burdensome red tape and NIMBYism have created Ontario’s housing supply crisis, and we’re seeing its effects, but we are, as I said, fighting back because too many Ontarians have been priced out of the market through no fault of their own; parce que trop d’Ontariennes et d’Ontariens qui n’ont rien à se reprocher ont été exclus du marché du logement à cause des prix. And those who rent their homes want some relief, as well.

That’s why what we’ve proposed today for debate will support our government’s fourth housing supply action plan—the plan, as I’ve said many times, to build 1.5 million homes, which is our goal, because we need to make life easier and more affordable for people across this province.

If passed, the proposed changes and our plan would further support renters. They would strengthen homebuyer protections. They’d reduce the cost of building a new home—something that I know our government feels very strongly about—and they’d streamline the rules around land use planning and encourage the development of more housing.

As I said, this is our fourth housing supply action plan. It builds upon the bold actions that the government has already put in place.

Our government released its first housing supply action plan, More Homes, More Choice, in 2019. That plan cut red tape and made it easier to build the right type of housing in the right places. Its aim was to make housing more affordable and to enable taxpayers to keep more of their hard-earned money.

In the spring of 2022, we released our second housing supply action plan, More Homes for Everyone. Our work leading up to that action plan included extensive consultations across the province, including Ontario’s first Ontario-municipal housing summit. We received further feedback from the rural housing round table, something we had at the 2022 ROMA conference—the Rural Ontario Municipal Association conference—and at meetings that we had with every municipal association in our province.

In addition, the Housing Affordability Task Force that we appointed consulted with municipalities, they consulted with experts, they consulted with the industry. As a result of the work with those stakeholders, More Homes for Everyone introduced targeted policies in the immediate term to make housing fairer for hard-working Ontarians and to make it faster to build homes that Ontarians need and, we believe, they deserve. That plan sped up approvals even further, and it took steps to gradually refund fees if municipal decisions weren’t made under legislative time frames.

Again, we recognized that more needed to be done, and again the government acted.

Later in the year, we came out with our third housing supply action plan, More Homes Built Faster. It built on the concrete actions that we took from our previous action plans, and it took even more direct action to ensure that Ontarians across the province could access a home that truly met their needs.

This, of course, is all while the government passed legislation to give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa more powers to work effectively with the province to cut red tape, to reduce timelines for developments, and to address local barriers that prevent more homes being built.

These are all the steps that we’re taking to ensure that we can continue to move in the right direction as we build more homes across our province.

That’s why we created the Housing Supply Action Plan Implementation Team—a very important decision by the government to appoint this team to work on our housing supply action plans and to make sure that things get done. It has municipal leaders, and it has industry experts. The mayor of Windsor, Drew Dilkens, is acting as chair; Cheryl Fort, the mayor of the town of Hornepayne, is vice-chair. The team that they’re chairing is made up of experts across the housing and non-profit sectors. There is a wide range of experience and perspective that really reflects the diversity of housing needs across Ontario.

I think that was very important for us to hit the right note. The team will evaluate progress, and they’ll provide advice to our government on implementing the housing supply action plans so that we can continue to tackle Ontario’s housing supply crisis.

The range of measures that the government has taken to increase housing supply—and I’m going to be the first to admit it: They’re bold and they’re transformative, and even though we know that their impact will take time to be fully felt throughout the housing sector, we continue to see the growing and positive impact across Ontario that those measures have had today.

In the last two years, housing starts in Ontario have reached levels that we have not seen in our province in over 30 years—

Interjections.

Hon. Steve Clark: Thank you. That’s very important. That member knows, in Barrie–Innisfil, the impact that our housing supply action plan is making.

Last year, rental housing, something that many members have spoken about—rental housing starts in the province reached and all-time high, something we should all be very proud of—

Interjections.

Hon. Steve Clark: And in Mississauga too, my friend.

These trends have continued in 2023. I talked about it this morning in question period. I’ll repeat some of the statistics that I quoted in my answer this morning. Compared to last year, Ontario has already seen an increase of nearly 1,200 housing starts, which is an 11% rise—very positive numbers, so far, in 2023. Purpose-built rental starts are currently more than double compared to the same period last year—again, very positive steps. Whether you look at the housing starts or the rental—again, very good numbers, so far, this year.

Let’s take a look the city of Toronto, where Ontario’s housing supply has been felt pretty acutely. There have been more than 4,600 housing starts in the first two months of this year alone. What’s that number? It’s 50% higher than compared to the same numbers just a year ago—very good numbers. Even better is that more than 1,500 of these units were rental starts, which is five times the amount from last year—again, wonderful numbers.

These positive trends are a really good sign for the government that our policies that we’ve championed—that is why we’re continuing to move forward with new proposals to increase housing supply. It’s very, very good news.

Let’s talk about the bill that I’ve entitled Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act. The government’s proposed changes are really the basis of a number of strong measures that I speak about when I use the term “helping homebuyers and protecting tenants.” The proposed changes would obviously make life easier for renters in the province.

It would clarify and enhance a tenant’s right to install air conditioning in their own unit. These changes would really stress the importance of ensuring that an air conditioner is installed safely and securely. And if the landlord supplies the electricity, they would be allowed to charge tenants a fee for any additional electricity costs.

The proposed changes would, if passed, also further strengthen tenant protections against evictions due to renovations, as well as those for the landlord’s own use.

The other measure that I think is very important, even though the opposition voted against similar measures when we put it in Bill 124—we’re proposing to double the maximum fines for offences under the Residential Tenancies Act to $100,000 for individuals and $500,000 for corporations. Folks, these would be the highest maximum fines in Canada for these types of events. We’re serious about putting these measures forward. We were serious in our previous bill, in the middle of the pandemic.

We have looked at other ways to increase housing supply. We’ve made a number of changes in More Homes Built Faster. The plan that we’ve identified changes the opportunity for home builders to replace older, mid-size rental apartments with more modern rental buildings, something that we’ve heard, as part of our consultations, that people wanted us to consider—

Interjections.

Hon. Steve Clark: And I hear some comments across that I’m sure we’ll hear more about moving forward.

We’re also proposing to create a new regulation-making authority to enable a balanced regulatory framework governing municipal rental replacement bylaws. It really will do a couple of things: It will create consistency across and between municipalities—something we felt needed to take place in this space when they establish these types of bylaws—and it really could help streamline the construction and revitalization of rental housing, while at the same point protecting tenants, which is something that we heard as part of our More Homes Built Faster consultation.

An example: Where municipalities are requiring landowners to build replacement units, we’re considering regulations that could require that these units retain the same core features. I’ll get to that in a moment. We’re also looking at measures to give existing tenants the right to move back into the unit at a similar rent. This would help keep rental housing affordable in those communities, while at the same point encouraging revitalization of older, deteriorating buildings and, at the end of the day, increasing rental housing supply.

In other words, we’d be taking steps to help Ontarians who rent units that are no longer in satisfactory condition so that they can access more modern and appropriate housing, but at the same time, if they leave a two-bedroom apartment, they can return to a two-bedroom apartment, at the same level of rent as before.

We’re also—and the Attorney General talked about this this morning—making a huge investment in the Landlord and Tenant Board. As I said when we made the announcement a week and a half ago in London, this is the largest investment in the Landlord and Tenant Board since its inception—a very, very good decision. It’s $6.5 million to appoint 40 new adjudicators and hire five more additional staff in hopes of tackling the backlog. It’s very, very important right now. Minister Downey was asked a question at that announcement.

You’re essentially doubling the amount of adjudicators—you’re at 39 right now; you’re going to add another 40. You’re going to add another five administrative staff—something that we were responsive to. That $6.5-million investment is a game-changer in the management of that tribunal. I think everyone in this House can agree, no matter what political stripe, that we need to have an adjudicative tribunal—the Landlord and Tenant Board—that works in a fair system both for landlords and tenants.

I want to thank Minister Downey for accompanying this bill with this very, very strong policy that has been celebrated from both landlords and tenants across the province.

Our plan will also better protect homebuyers and their financial investments. I was pleased to join Minister Rasheed in Toronto three weeks ago, along with Associate Minister Tangri, to announce that our government is expanding deposit insurance for credit union members saving for the purchase of their first home. The first-home savings account which was introduced by the federal government—credit union members can now use them to save for the purchase of their first home. In the event that the credit union fails, the credit union member’s money in a first-home savings account would be protected.

We’re also exploring, through Minister Rasheed’s ministry, a cooling-off period on purchases of newly built freehold homes.

We’re also exploring the requirement that purchasers of all new homes receive legal advice on their purchase agreements—something I think that, again, is responsive to many of the things that we’ve heard as part of our consultation.

These changes that are in this bill would continue to support a number of very important measures—things like intensification—while making sure that there is sufficient land to accommodate new homes and jobs that our province needs.

So to increase housing supply and speed up planning approvals, this bill and our consultations—we’re proposing to update the provincial policy statement and integrate it with A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. This would create a single province-wide, housing-focused land use planning document for Ontario. This proposed merged document would simplify existing policies. It would also refocus them on achieving housing outcomes while giving large and fast-growing municipalities the tools that they need to deliver more housing.

As I’ve said many, many times, all of Ontario, not just the greater Golden Horseshoe, is a place to grow. And that’s what our policies in this bill are reflecting.

More Homes for Everyone required municipalities to gradually refund zoning bylaw and site plan application fees if they fail to make a decision in a specified time period. We’ve listened to municipal feedback: We’re proposing to postpone the start date from January 1 to July 1 of this year to give them time to adjust. I want to thank municipalities for their engagement on this.

Municipalities also told us, as part of More Homes for Everyone, that some of the smaller projects need to be able to address concerns stemming from a site plan review. So we’re proposing, based on feedback, to allow municipalities to use site plan control for residential projects with 10 or fewer units in very certain circumstances—very specific recommendations that, again, responded to the feedback we received from our municipal partners.

This bill also—it was part of the announcement: We’re reducing the cost of building housing. We’re planning to freeze 74 provincial fees at current levels. This includes several fees related to Tribunals Ontario, the Ontario Land Tribunal, the building code. One of the things we heard when we had the consultation with municipalities and we talked about fees and charges—municipalities said, “What about the provincial fees?” So this decision by the government to freeze 74 provincial fees is a direct result of municipal feedback that we heard as part of consultation. We’re consulting on implementation of the fee freezes via Ontario’s Regulatory Registry, so there’s more to come on that.

In conclusion, our proposed Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, as I said at the outset of the speech, really builds on our previous actions that I detailed in the House. These are actions that support homeowners, renters and landlords, not-for-profit and private sector builders, and our municipal partners, so that, together, we can realize our goal of helping to build those 1.5 million homes by 2031.

This is a very bold and transformative plan, but under the leadership of Premier Ford, we said to the people last summer that we would put a plan in place to do this so that we can realize that goal of building 1.5 million new homes by 2031; pour que nous puissions réaliser ensemble notre but de contribuer à la construction de 1,5 million d’habitations d’ici 2031.

Thank you, Speaker, for giving me the chance to kick off debate. I’m now going to turn it over to my fantastic Associate Minister of Housing, the Honourable Nina Tangri.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bhutila Karpoche): The Associate Minister of Housing.

Hon. Nina Tangri: Thank you, Minister.

It really is an honour to be speaking today about the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act in my new capacity as the Associate Minister of Housing.

Interjections.

Hon. Nina Tangri: Thank you.

I look forward to supporting our government’s initiatives to help deliver on our commitment of 1.5 million homes in Ontario by 2031.

In my own riding of Mississauga–Streetsville, housing is a challenge for many of my constituents.

The Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act is proposed legislation that is crucial to our government’s work to get more housing built in the province—housing that Ontarians across the province so desperately need.

Our housing supply action plans have made great progress in addressing our province’s housing crisis. We are now building on the bold actions we have already put forward.

As the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing said, more needs to be done. That is because Ontario’s housing crisis is affecting not just homebuyers. Renters, too, are struggling. This is significant, given that Statistics Canada data reveal the growth in the number of renter households has outpaced the growth of homeowner households from 2011 to 2021 in each of Canada’s 41 large urban centres. Ontario municipalities, like Barrie, Kitchener-Waterloo and Oshawa, saw some of the largest renter increases across the country.

That’s why I’m pleased to have this opportunity to highlight how the proposed Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act would better protect tenants in Ontario and make their lives easier.

Speaker, I would like to start by explaining a feature of our proposed legislation that will be welcomed by many renters. This concerns clarifying and enhancing the rules regarding air conditioning in rental units.

As we have seen for decades in summers past, the sun and humidity can take its toll on people if they don’t have access to cool space. We propose to amend the Residential Tenancies Act so that when a landlord does not provide air conditioning, tenants would be permitted to install a window-mounted or portable air conditioning unit. This would be subject to, of course, some rules. First, a tenant must give written notice to the landlord of their intention to install an air conditioning unit prior to installation.

Second, the air conditioning unit must be installed safely and securely, and the installation must not cause damage to the rental unit or the rental complex. Renters would also have to ensure that the installation and maintenance of the air conditioning unit complies with any applicable laws, including municipal bylaws and any prescribed rules. Finally, tenants who do not pay for electricity—that is, it is included in their rent—could be charged a seasonal fee. This would be based on the actual electricity cost to the landlord, or a reasonable estimate based on the information provided by the tenant.

Of course, we’re not stopping there. Speaker, you can pick up a newspaper just about anywhere in Ontario and read about renters, some of them long-term renters, who are facing an uncertain future about where they and their family are going to live because their rental unit is being renovated. We know this is an issue in the rental system and we’re trying to help. That is why our proposed legislation and future regulations would, if passed, increase tenant protections, specifically against evictions due to renovations as well as those for a landlord’s own use.

What our government is proposing to do is to give tenants greater access to remedies and also increase the reporting requirements that landlord must follow.

Our proposed changes state that a landlord, where they are ending a tenancy to do renovations, would be required to provide a report stating that the rental unit needs to be vacant for the renovations. A regulation would outline what details must be included in the report. Regulations would also set out the type of person who can provide this report, such as a professional engineer or an architect, for example. Once these regulations are made, if this document is not provided for the tenant along with an eviction notice, then the eviction notice would not be considered valid.

Our changes would also require landlords to provide tenants who indicated that they wanted to return to the unit with written notification of the estimated date of when the unit will be ready for occupancy after the renovations are completed. Written notification would also be required for any change in when renovations are expected to wrap up—that includes a new estimated completion date.

When the unit is ready for occupancy, the landlord would have to give the tenant a 60-day grace period to occupy that unit again. This will enable the t