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March 28, 2024

43rd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

vol. A

Hansard Transcripts

vol. B

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2024-Mar-28 vol. A (PDF)

L140A - Thu 28 Mar 2024 / Jeu 28 mar 2024

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Thursday 28 March 2024 Jeudi 28 mars 2024

Orders of the Day

2024 Ontario budget

Members’ Statements

Black History Month

Justice system

Taxation

University and college funding

Bancroft Fitness

Addiction services

Medical isotopes

Climate change

Taxation

Ontario budget

Introduction of Visitors

Kraft Hockeyville 2024

Correction of record

House sittings

Question Period

Ontario budget

Northern health care

Government accountability

Taxation

Affordable housing

Taxation

Justice system

Forest firefighting

Taxation

Arts and cultural funding

Taxation

Taxation

Aggregate extraction

Taxation

Health care funding

Business of the House

Visitors

Deferred Votes

Taxation

Legislative pages

Introduction of Visitors

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on Government Agencies

Introduction of Bills

Chinese Heritage Month Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 sur le Mois du patrimoine chinois

Petitions

Renewable energy

Agri-food industry

School safety

Mental health services

Taxation

Sexual violence and harassment

Alzheimer’s disease

Social assistance

Alzheimer’s disease

Health care

Sexual abuse

Social assistance

Health care

Orders of the Day

2024 Ontario budget

The House met at 0900.

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

Prières / Prayers.

Orders of the Day

2024 Ontario budget

Resuming the debate adjourned on March 26, 2024, on the motion that this House approves in general the budgetary policy of the government.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Further debate?

Ms. Catherine Fife: It’s always a pleasure to stand in my place and represent the needs of the people of Waterloo, and now, Waterloo region, lately.

It was an interesting budget for this government to bring forward earlier this week, on Tuesday. There was a lot of fanfare, as there always is.

I will say that as the official opposition for the province of Ontario, we were looking for some tangible affordability measures that would meet Ontarians where they are right now. And counter to the commercials that we see constantly in Ontario, funded by the taxpayers of the province of Ontario—the partisan advertising that this government said that they would stop doing, and not follow in the footsteps of the Liberals. They’ve actually doubled down on these commercials, and I feel like it’s a very good metaphor for how insulting this government is to the people of the province that we are elected to serve.

Speaker, you just said a prayer as we started our day here at Queen’s Park. We actually take an oath in this House, when we are first elected, to put the needs of the people of this province first, to dedicate ourselves to public service, which is indeed a calling, I would say, because not a lot of rational people look to come into this space and have 16 hours of nonsense on many, many days.

It’s safe to say that we are disappointed with the budget that was presented, especially given what we heard at pre-budget consultations.

The pre-budget consultation process is actually a really interesting process. It’s a long-standing tradition here in Ontario that the finance committee, of which I’m Vice-Chair, will travel around the province and listen to people, give them time to share their experience, and then we in turn take that information back and we learn from it, we adapt to it, we honour it, I would say, and then, we adapt policies and legislation to address some of those problems.

For many people who came forward—I’m thinking of nurses, I’m thinking of teachers, I’m thinking of people who are committed to building affordable housing, who are in the not-for-profit sector, who are on the front lines of how people are struggling in Ontario. They came to committee in the north and the south, east, west, and they shared their experiences with us. Sometimes, from the government members, they got rhetoric like “Aren’t you happy that we gave you a penny when you asked for a dollar?”

On the whole, the people who came before us actually came to us with solutions. They came to us with solutions because they are at the tipping point on affordability.

I’m going to honour some of those voices today, and I’m going to honour the women of this province, specifically.

Our colleague from Toronto–St. Paul’s often asks us to look at the budget through a gender lens, and so we have. We’ve done some analysis of how this government, since being elected, has treated women. I would say there have been tangible reversals on progress that women were making in Ontario.

I was thinking about this as I was talking to my concierge at the apartment building that I live in here in Toronto. His name is Mohammad, and he’s actually a doctor from Pakistan. He is working security in a building here in Toronto. I’ve been trying to help navigate some concerns that he has on health care and on immigration, ironically. One of the first conversations I had with him, in 2018, was when this government froze the minimum wage.

This government talks a lot about your pockets and getting their hands out of your pockets. When you froze the minimum wage, Mohammad, who has five children—that hurt Mohammad, but it hurt women in this province even more, because we have not made that progress; we are still 78 cents on the dollar to every dollar that a man makes in Ontario, in 2024. Did this government think about how it would negatively impact people like Mohammad, but also racialized and marginalized women across this province? No, they did not.

They went right into the pockets of the most vulnerable people in Ontario, and they essentially removed money right out of their pockets. If you are a full-time worker—over a two-year period, that cost Ontarians $7,000. It’s truly shocking.

I raise the minimum wage because even though the government has promised—in October of this upcoming year—to increase the minimum wage, there is no funding in the budget for that.

What we have here is more commercials, essentially. Commercials don’t pay the rent. Those “It’s Happening Here” in Ontario commercials actually cause people some stress, especially if they are a parent waiting in an emergency room for close to 12 to 24 hours. One of my constituents was in the emergency room for almost 30 hours with a mental health concern. That is not the right place—

M me France Gélinas: The average is 21 hours.

Ms. Catherine Fife: The average is 21 hours in the emergency room, if you go to the hospital.

Ontarians are not seeing themselves reflected in this budget, and that is a serious problem. It’s a serious problem, obviously, for Ontarians who are looking for some leadership, but it’s also a problem for all of us, as legislators, because if you care about the people in your riding—in Sudbury and Hamilton, in Nickel Belt—you fully understand those challenges, if you are truly connected to your community.

The health care system in Ontario has never been this painful. It is literally painful for people. People are waiting in pain in emergency rooms—if they have an emergency room that’s open. This past year, 203 emergency room closures—this has never happened in Ontario before. This is a record. This government likes to use the word “historic.” Well, I’ve never heard a government use the word “historic” so many historic times. They overuse “historic.” These are not records that you should be proud of—203 emergency room closures in Ontario.

We’ve done some analysis, as has the FAO, an independent officer of the Legislature. He has concluded that the direct connection between Bill 124, which was the unconstitutional piece of legislation that this government brought in—it was ruled unconstitutional. It capped workers at 1%—the very workers this government were calling heroes—and for those three years, this pushed health care workers and education workers and public service workers out of the field because they just couldn’t afford it. And so what did the government do, even when the court ruled the legislation to be unconstitutional? They appealed the decision, wasting more money.

MPP Jamie West: They appealed it twice.

Ms. Catherine Fife: Yes, they appealed it twice.

Honestly, the negative impact of Bill 124 on this province will be felt for years. And there’s no concerted effort even to rebuild that workforce.

I have to say, there are many of us on this side and many of us who are think tanks and academics and politicals who think that this is very intentional—very intentional that you have abandoned your respect for the public service workers.

I’m just going to connect this. When the finance minister got up in his place, he also mentioned the former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. This was a day here in the Legislature—I really want to say, everybody spoke so well, very emotional. I did congratulate MPP Mulroney on her eulogy to her father. In fact, her whole family, really, I have to say, showed such strength and character during this grieving process.

When the finance minister referenced Brian Mulroney, he was indicating that this budget had some sort of quality and some sort of shiny motion that had dignity, that recognized what public service used to be like.

I actually have in my office a framed thank-you note to my former father-in-law, Walter Fife, and it’s signed by Brian Mulroney, for his 41 years of service to the national service. That is how leadership shows respect for the people who work for us. And we are—yes, you guys can clap.

Interjections.

Ms. Catherine Fife: That used to be a pillar, an anchor of public service. People used to want to come into public service, because it is a calling, to help people. It feels good to help people.

I’m happy to be helping Mohammad, the concierge at my building. I have not given up on his getting his medical qualifications. Do you know why? Because he’s a talented renal specialist, which Ontario needs.

I want to thank our deputy leader, who has really taken this call up, this charge to ensure that the people who come to this great country and this great province, who have talents—that we honour the talents. It’s not just to honour them and their dedication, but also because we need their services. What a missed opportunity.

The Bill 124 piece was still a common theme in pre-budget consultations. This government has had to make amendments—make amends, I would say. The Financial Accountability Officer said that over the next three years, the price tag for your imposing unconstitutional, one would say, illegal legislation on the workers of this province—the final bill will come to $13.7 billion. So you pushed that can down the road, causing great damage to health care.

When I talk to nurses—and I’m going to be quoting the Ontario Nurses’ Association—they describe their experiences right now in hospitals as essentially like a war zone. There’s not enough time. There are not enough resources. There’s not enough expertise, because we’ve lost some of those dedicated nurses who were looking to mentor future nurses.

The connection to the health care system, for me, is very personal. I did mention last time that the wedding is coming for my son, in August. His future fiancée—because she did say yes. She also said yes to the dress, I just want to say. It was a good moment. You have to find the joy in this world. She’s a nurse who can’t get full-time work in Ontario even though she’s top of the class—specialized in NICU, working with babies. I’m so concerned that they’re going to leave Ontario, as a parent. I want them to settle in Ontario. I want them to be able to afford a home. I want them to have some quality of life. I want them to have a doctor.

Speaker, 2.3 million Ontarians do not have a doctor, and in four years, that number is going to go to 4.4 million Ontarians.

Our entire health care system is designed so that in order to enter the health care system and access appropriate care, you need a doctor. That’s how the system is designed. So when people don’t have a doctor, where do they go? They go to the urgent cares.

The wait time at urgent cares in Waterloo region, last Saturday, was 10 hours—so 10 hours for an urgent care, or 21 hours at the emergency room. These are the choices that the government is proud of?

This is the problem that the government made a choice not to solve in this budget, and for the life of me, I can’t understand it.

Our leader and our entire caucus fully understand that if you want a strong economy, if you want to draw investors into the province of Ontario, if you want people to reach their potential, then you make sure that you have the social infrastructure, you make sure that you have the acute care, but you also have that full spectrum of care, and that includes mental health, and that includes good schools.

Waterloo region is drawing talent from around the world. But now what’s at risk for that investment and that drawing of that talent into our region is the fact that people can’t find a doctor.

That’s why the chambers of commerce from across this province also have been on this campaign to recruit. The government should also be focused on retaining the talent. This is the missing piece—that we cannot afford to lose more doctors and lose more nurses. We certainly can’t afford to lose more teachers. So that’s the retaining piece. But recruiting into that system—that system has to be greatly improved, because you cannot recruit into a broken system. It actually goes against everything that we value.

This budget bill can be amended. It can be fixed. We want to fix it. We want to make sure that the needs of Ontarians are reflected in this budget. We haven’t given up. We want people to have hope.

I just want to say to the members across the way, when we ask questions about the wait times, about the 600,000 women who are waiting for mammograms in Ontario, about the 2.3 million Ontarians who don’t have a doctor, and then you come back at us with the carbon tax, that also is incredibly insulting to the people we’re elected to serve. It does feel like a Monty Python skit sometimes here in question period. It’s astounding to me that these serious problems do not warrant serious attention and a serious response. We need a serious government in 2024, in Ontario, because people are hurting.

I did want to go through some of, as I mentioned, the gender lens for budget 2024.

We heard from Victim Services of Durham Region, and they said the government should deem intimate partner violence as an epidemic. I asked them, “Do you think the government of Ontario should recognize that intimate partner violence is an epidemic?” They said, “Absolutely. The numbers speak for itself. It is recognizing the issue for what it is, absolutely an epidemic, crisis, human rights crisis” in Ontario.

The government is stubbornly stuck and refuses to acknowledge the problem. If you don’t acknowledge a problem, if you don’t identify a problem, how will you ever solve that problem? And this problem impacts all of us. All of us have personal experiences where we have friends or family who have experienced violence or fear of violence or harassment. I personally do not know one woman in my life who has not experienced some form of violence or harassment because of her gender.

So they were actually asking for the government to treat this issue seriously, and they specifically required consideration for the creation of an inter-ministerial task force. This was a really good solution because it would incorporate the women’s issues and the economic impact, which is a good combination to have because women are often coerced and controlled away from their financial independence. It’s well-documented; the research is very clear. And then, it also would include the justice system.

To say that the justice system in Ontario is broken would be being kind to this government. For all the bluster of this government on tough-on-crime—right now, it is bluster, because rapists and people who assault women are going free in Ontario.

I talked about Emily at the fall economic statement—what courage she had to come forward and talk about her experience of being sexually assaulted, and then her experience in the court system and the lack of independent legal advice that she was supposed to have access to.

Legal aid is not even mentioned in the budget.

These are choices that this government has made.

Right now, in the media studio, the member from Toronto Centre has a panel of women and legal advisers. These two women are talking about how hostile the court system is to women when they have the courage to come forward; how they’ve been denied justice.

But they’ve got money for helicopters—four helicopters to monitor auto thefts. There are cheaper options to address auto theft, I have to say. This is the great irony for me: Even if those helicopters catch the bad guys as they’re trying to steal your car, once those people get into the court system, they will not get access to justice in a reasonable time.

The Auditor General said eight months was the threshold. Emily’s rapist went free after 18 months. The court case was dismissed; it was stayed. Justice was denied to Emily, but one could also say her accused never got their day in court, as well. The system and the backlog is preventing justice, and we all know that justice delayed is justice denied.

So I applaud our member from Toronto Centre for bringing these voices right here into the House. This is seriously what we have to do, because the stats on the court system are not so transparent, and that’s also very intentional, I would say.

The fact that bail reform was not funded in this budget, even though we hear the tough talk from the Premier; the independent legal advice, which was piloted in Thunder Bay, Toronto and Ottawa during the pandemic—then it was extended to the whole province, but the funding allocation was not? This is a do-more-with-less sort of initiative.

Those women who have come to Queen’s Park to share their experience—this is an opportunity to learn. And this is what the pre-budget consultation was also about—an opportunity for us, as legislators, to learn and to apply solutions.

So I want to applaud Victim Services of Durham Region for making this recommendation.

We also heard from Bethesda House and Laura Burch from Sault Ste. Marie. She was talking about domestic violence in the Soo and Whitby, and she cited the 62 femicides that happened in 52 weeks—62 women were murdered by their partners in 52 weeks. She talked about the fact that they served 123 clients over the course of the year. They received 3,000 calls. They have funding for only one staff member, 18 beds. They had to turn away 1,063 women and children.

When you turn away women who are fleeing violence because you’re not resourced to take care of that situation, that’s a sign for that woman and for the children—often, women who are fleeing violence have children—that the system as a whole does not care. It needs to be prioritized in the budget. It was not prioritized in this budget.

They also made a really good case that prevention is the path for eradicating violence against women. I have to tell you, there is a lot of truth in that statement.

Speaker, 15 years ago, I was a researcher at Camino, and we did a course for high school students around what a healthy relationship looks like. I remember a young man saying to me, “I didn’t know that when I called her such-and-such a name”—he said, “I’ve heard that all my life from my parents, from my home. I didn’t know that it was even demeaning.”

Education is the key to eradicating violence, and this can be incorporated into the education curriculum. There needs to be political will to incorporate what healthy relationships look like. It should start really early. Now that we’re going back to math and science in kindergarten, why not throw some healthy relationships in there too?

YWCA Toronto really made a case, because the YWCA here in Toronto and, actually, across the province—I’m thinking of what is happening in Kitchener right now. They said they must not just provide shelters but must give more supports to those fleeing violence, including wraparound, culturally sensitive, trauma-informed supports. This is really hard work—when you are on the front line and you’re working in a shelter and you’re dealing with a lot of issues. In fact, we now know from the brain injury society of Ontario how many women have concussions, and that impacts decision-making. There’s a research project going on right now—also another good opportunity to learn. I like learning. It’s fun.

The YWCA said, “Our ability to provide support is directly tied to our funding.” They also said that intimate partner violence must be declared an epidemic. Why the resistance to this from the Ford government? What is the harm? What would you lose from identifying and naming a problem?

Moving on to health care: The Charles H. Best Diabetes Centre—Lorrie Hagen is the executive director—made a compelling case around community care. I’m going to quote some of their submission. They said that their care, as a diabetes organization, keeps people out of the hospital. Do we want to alleviate the pressure on the acute-care system? Of course we do. They are asking for $3.5 million to do so, and they made a financial case to do so. They said, “The acute-care system that currently sends type 1 patients to us would be forced to take on this care in a very expensive and inefficient way.

The cost of patient care in hospitals is up to $1,800 a day,” versus “our interdisciplinary community-based preventive care that provides exceptional value at $3.50 a day.” This is a good solution. It is a smart solution. It’s not going to get any of the private health care corporations that go to your events any additional funding, but it is community-based, not-for-profit, where every single dollar goes into the care of the clients. That is the system—

Interjections.

Ms. Catherine Fife: Yes, you guys can clap.

I also want to talk about wage parity in the community. I want to thank our labour critic for really talking about the discrepancy between workers who work in the caring sector—health care workers, mental health, social workers—versus what’s happening in some of our institutions.

The Ontario Community Support Association was asking for $533 million for the home and community care sector, to keep pace with inflation and to eliminate the wage gap between home and community care. The wage gap in their sector poses a challenge in recruiting and retaining—“Sector struggles to recruit a robust workforce.” The pre-pandemic vacancy rates were 7%; they have now risen to 20%. We are losing the talent in community because the nature of the work is so emotionally laborious. It is hard, hard work, with fewer people and an increased workload, and then the wage has not kept pace.

Keeping on health care, I just want to say that the Ontario Nurses’ Association—Erin Ariss presented. ONA has been so strong on the health care file, not just because they’re defending their members; they’re actually defending public health care.

Interjections.

Ms. Catherine Fife: For sure.

This is what they said today—and they quoted the Financial Accountability Officer, as well.

I just want to say, every time the FAO comes out with a report that is critical of the government or has looked at the expenditure, has revealed the Expenditure Monitor—the Expenditure Monitor actually keeps, in real time, what the government has spent or is planning to invest. We fought for the Financial Accountability Officer back in 2013. It was worth the fight, I would say, because now we have an independent, non-partisan research office that can track where the money is going, or where the money is not going.

So they quoted the FAO, and the FAO is still predicting a shortage of 30,000 nurses by 2028.

They also cited the 203 emergency room closures in Ontario.

Where are these emergency room closures happening? Primarily in rural, northern, smaller communities.

I’m thinking particularly of Minden, who lost their emergency room suddenly. It happened so quickly—right, France?—in two or three months. All of a sudden, there was a financial crisis that was completely predictable, based on Bill 124 and underfunded funding models for hospitals and acute care, and the government just decided to close it. They did leave a little phone in the ER. I don’t know if you saw that. There was a phone on the wall; if you needed help, you could call somebody. That phone is even gone right now.

And Minden, who are still fighting for their hospital, they’re still fighting for their emergency room, they’re still tracking all the finances and the deficits—they see a very clear and intentional path towards their forced closure of their emergency room and hospital.

The impact of a lost hospital or a lack of access to an emergency room on a community is profound. It impacts job creation. It impacts housing. It impacts education. Health care resourcing, when you do it wrong, impacts the entire community and the health and well-being of the people we’re elected to serve.

Minden is still fighting, and God love them. When I was there in the summer, I know some of our other members—the member from Oshawa was also there. Those people voted Conservative.

Ms. Jennifer K. French: Their whole lives.

Ms. Catherine Fife: Their whole lives. And when we went up there—because we’re going into territory which we may win one day or we may not win, but we go there for the people, to have conversations with the people and to bring their voices to this place. What Minden appreciated is that we’ll look at the numbers and the cost analysis of bringing a hospital or an emergency room back to Minden, and look at the positives of how that would generate additional revenue for us.

And the case is there for community-based hospitals. They may not be huge institutions, but they’ll have a nurse practitioner, a doctor and a nurse, and when your child falls down or gets into an accident, there’s a place for them to go. We think that is worth fighting for—don’t you think? Why this government is letting these emergency room closures become normalized is beyond me.

As I said at the beginning of these comments, to be in the emergency room and to watch these fancy commercials saying how great Ontario is, time and time again, at a minimum cost of $8 million—well, there are a lot of places where $8 million could go.

And when we brought forward the motion, which, ironically, was first introduced by the Conservatives, and in fact, the Minister of Health, today, to reverse the Liberals’ partisan advertising policy, where they watered down the Auditor General’s powers, to allow this partisan advertising to continue—when we brought forward the very same motion, word for word—and we supported the Conservatives when they brought forward that motion against the Liberals.

Then we brought it forward and quoted the members who had talked about how egregious this advertising policy was, how it was a breach of trust, how the people of Ontario are not buying it—quoted them back to themselves. It was kind of an awkward moment, I have to tell you. But at the end of the day, they voted to maintain this partisan advertising policy. It really defies logic. It really compromises trust in politicians and public servants. It hurts everybody.

When people see politicians doubling back on their own principles, doubling down on a policy that doesn’t meet any service to Ontario—these commercials are not serving the people of Ontario; they’re making them angry.

I guess on some level we should be thanking them. But at the end of the day, those dollars should be going into public service, not partisan advertising.

The Ontario Nurses’ Association and the registered nurses’ association have countered the Minister of Health’s numbers. And I have to focus on health care, because it really does underpin our values as a society. When people have equal access to health care, it is actually our strength—or it used to be our strength. But if you’ve seen the advertising on the subway and the lack of doctors—you’ll know that you can now buy access to a doctor for $450 a year. This is a slippery slope, something that we are so committed to fighting against.

Our caucus did a town hall on the budget last night, and one fellow from, I think, Pelham said, “I don’t have $450 to buy access to a doctor. That’s not what I paid taxes for my entire life. I’ve invested in this province. I expect access to health care, and I should not have to buy it.”

The registered nurses’ association have countered this nursing movie that plays in the head of the Minister of Health—that all of these nurses are coming into Ontario. The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario says that 10,000 nursing vacancies in the province—this is real. They said that 75% of nurses are burnt-out, 69% are considering leaving the profession, and 73% are over capacity.

So I ask you: All of these nursing vacancies in Ontario—why are hospitals not hiring full-time nurses? Why, last year, did this province condone and permit $1 billion to be spent on agency nurses—$1 billion on agency nurses? Remember, with those agency nurses—I have got nothing against the nurses themselves—they’ve actually fled the system because the system was so broken. I don’t hold anything against those nurses. I do hold something, though, against the nursing agencies that are skimming 30% of the money for profit, for shareholders. That’s 30% on $1 billion. That money could be going to Minden.

It could be going to those emergency rooms to keep them open. It could be going to retraining and retaining. It should be a priority in this government.

So they asked to invest in mandated nurse-patient ratios as it will assist in nurse retention. Our health critic from Nickel Belt has been talking about nurse-to-patient ratios for years now; I would say, higher than a decade.

This is an important thing that the government could legislate. I’m going to say that it’s actually happening in BC right now, under an NDP government. Now our Ontario nurses are going to BC, because do you know what’s really important to nurses? Being able to nurse, being able to provide that care that they’re trained to do, to share their expertise with their colleagues in a team environment. And you can’t do that when you have 26 patients on one floor per one nurse.

I met with RPNs, who are probably one of the most disrespected qualifications in Ontario. These are experienced—primarily women. Their stories ended in tears almost every single day because nobody wants to go to work and feel like they’re failing the people they are supposed to be helping. So that is pushing more and more nurses into the agencies.

Now, those agency nurses, they drop into an open shift, and what nurses tell me is that that nurse doesn’t have the continuity of care of the team, is not connected to what has already happened to the patient, and is being dropped in, really, as a temp nurse. To add insult to injury, he or she—primarily she—is making three times as much as the nurse who came every single day prior to work on that patient. On a quality-of-care perspective, how does that make sense? But also, how is it is fiscally responsible?

I said this to the finance minister in committee one day: “Why are you voluntarily actually advocating to pay 30% more for health care services? How can Ontario afford that? You are out-Liberaling the Liberals on debt.”

There is a parody going around, I must say, and it is kind of funny, about all of the rhetoric that we heard from government members on deficits: “Deficits, basically, are stealing from future citizens. Debt is putting those costs on future credit cards of your children.” Ironically, that’s exactly what this government is doing. This government projected a $200-million surplus last year. Last year’s budget predicted a $200-million surplus. We have a $9.8-billion deficit in this year.

Ms. Sandy Shaw: How did they manage that?

Ms. Catherine Fife: Yes. How did you manage that? I’ll tell you: You are spending more to get less, and you are intentionally doing that on the health care file.

I have to say, I view budgets as moral documents. I totally buy into it. Budgets should reflect the priorities of the people we’re elected to serve. I totally believe, 100%, in servant leadership—that you come to the table and put the problem and the person in the centre, and then you build resources around that and you find solutions. I totally, 100%, buy into that.

What this government has been doing is almost worse than what the Liberals used to do. The Liberals did have a pay-for-access policy, and after the Auditor General identified it, the Integrity Commissioner investigated some of the cash-for-access—if you have cash, you can buy legislation. That was the problem that the PC Party, at the time, countered very strongly. We were also aligned with them. So we brought in this policy around the per-vote subsidy, so that would sort of get this cash-for-access and union donations and corporate donations off the books.

This government has steadfastly reversed those policies one by one, so we’re in a whole heap of trouble around ethics in politics in Ontario right now.

We have an RCMP investigation into the greenbelt scandal, which was never about housing. Thank goodness we have the Auditor General, who did a thorough investigation into the insider trading of land. It’s true there were no bags of money, but the money was the land. It was worth $8.3 billion.

At the end of the day, we have a party that is really blurring the lines between the partisan party and the government, and this has been identified by several media experts.

Registered nurses wanted to make this really clear to the government: You can build a bed, but you will never be able to open it without human resources. The direct quote is, “I am emphasizing investment in human resources, not just infrastructure.” The bricks and mortar obviously matter, but the bricks and mortar were open in Minden—but without the people, it’s a closed hospital. So we really are going to try to push the government on this.

The Ontario Nurses’ Association—I’m going to go through their recommendations really quickly, because I want to move on to another issue: Legislate safe staffing ratios—absolutely, fully support this; drop the appeal of Bill 124—this was before you guys got caught with unconstitutional legislation, but the fact that you were appealing Bill 124 was incredibly insulting; close the wage gap—this is a huge issue for retention of nurses and health care workers; close private clinics, which undermine public health care—absolutely, 150%, shut it down. We can’t afford it. It’s not delivering service.

Interjection.

Ms. Catherine Fife: Thank you very much to my colleague from Kitchener Centre.

And then: Make all nursing placements paid. This is an interesting idea. There’s a cost to going through the health care system. You’ve made training and education for police officers free. Why are you not valuing nurses in the same way? Why are you not making sure that they have a clear pathway to becoming a registered nurse? Oh, I know you’re shaking your head. Is it because they’re women?

I can tell you, when I go through my list of everything that you’ve done to women in the province of Ontario, many of you will leave.

“Since 2018, 35,000 nurses have left the profession.” This is true. And once again, they say that ratios are the only way to address retention. We totally agree.

The other piece, around the doctors: The Ontario Medical Association has been coming to these budget consultations for a number of years. I know there’s a little bit of a complicated relationship, and it’s not just with the OMA; it’s with other organizations as well.

There is a new culture here at Queen’s Park, I’d like to say, and I want to put it on the record: If you speak out against the government, if you criticize the government, if you’re not thankful enough or grateful enough, there’s punishment. It’s a punitive culture here at Queen’s Park, and we’ve seen it on several files.

The not-for-profit sector right now—even the Alzheimer Society. They were promised $1 million in 2020, 2021, 2022. The money never flowed.

That’s how you got the $5.1-billion contingency fund. You created a slush fund on promising money and then not delivering it, which is completely unethical, I have to say.

As I said on The Agenda on Tuesday night, one good thing is that the contingency fund is down to half a billion dollars. I like to think that we shamed you into doing your job and investing.

I really hope that the Alzheimer Society gets the money that you promised for three budget cycles. I hope that money gets into the community, because what we learned at budget committee is that, on the Alzheimer’s and dementia file, the tsunami is already here. What we heard last year and what we heard again this year is that, in the space of five years, every hospital room down University Avenue will be occupied by someone who is suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s. You can’t pretend, in five years’ time, to be surprised by this. That’s the value of learning from the organizations that actually do the real work in our province.

The Ontario Medical Association came to us with a solution last year. They tell us that they spend 19.1 hours on administrative tasks every week. That is time that they could be seeing patients, and this is time that they want to be spending with patients. We heard from a small-town doctor—and God love him, he’s 74 years old. He said, “It is daunting to be the only physician in a community”—because he feels that he cannot retire.

Interjection.

Ms. Catherine Fife: Right? Do you remember that story?

The mental health piece: Phil Klassen from Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences said the challenge is mounting—also not news. Mental health and addictions visits to the Lakeridge Health emergency room have gone up. Mental health apprehensions have increased over the same period of time. Emergency departments struggle to triage these cases. It is not uncommon for these emergency departments to have numerous patients strapped in gurneys. This is a health human resources challenge. They presented last year, and they asked for $1 million. They have not received the funding. These are choices.

Budgets are about choices. So you are choosing to not address a problem for $1 million in a $214-billion budget, the biggest budget in the history of the province of Ontario. Budgets are about choices.

On the mental health front: What’s happening to children right now, how they suffered through the pandemic, has to be addressed. Children are waiting 2.5 years for treatment—this is from Children’s Mental Health Ontario, CMHO. In the life of a child, two and a half years is a lifetime—some receiving no treatment at all. They said, “For the first time, we are facing a health human resources crisis, especially in northern regions.”

I have to say, this budget almost ignores the north altogether. It’s like the north doesn’t even exist. There was a reannouncement of $1 billion for the Ring of Fire. This announcement was made in 2014—it’s the same money every single year for the last 10 years. We should just call it the ring of smoke and call it a day.

The wage parity, also in mental health—huge issue for retention. Wait-lists for kids were already lengthy before the pandemic, and now the situation is even more dire. They asked for $140 million over four years to “stabilize, sustain and system build.” This year’s price tag would be $35 million for community-based child and youth mental health services.

Again, these are choices that are being made by this government.

This government also talks a lot about infrastructure, like Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass—and now, because we have a by-election in Milton, a $3-billion dedicated GO train service. That’s almost as good as the Liberals’ bullet train that we were promised by the former Minister of Transportation. That’s actually a really good example of how this government is making decisions—to be kind, on the back of a napkin. Because there’s a by-election in Milton, now we have a promised GO train, with no business plan, no costing—a random $3 billion.

I have to say, when you drop a GO train into a transportation plan that has never been costed, never been talked about—no environmental assessment—we don’t even know if it’s possible.

I would say there are some real challenges in a dedicated line from Milton down to Union, based on our experience in Kitchener-Waterloo, where, for 10 years, we’ve been waiting for the long-awaited 15-minute service—we’re still at an hour and 47 for the GO train, every couple of hours, if you’re lucky. Brampton is getting some increased service, so we’re happy for Brampton to get increased services. But it’s called the Kitchener line for a reason. Kitchener should also benefit from GO service—never mind that our station was built in World War I and nothing has been changed to it.

Because there’s a by-election in Milton—a dedicated GO train, at $3 billion, which will bump down other transportation projects. And that’s actually what has happened with Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, for people who are waiting for Highway 7—those plans get bumped down the list. There’s only so much that can actually happen.

So you drop in these little pet projects that just happen to benefit some developers along the course, to the tune of billions and billions of dollars, which—they just happened to buy the land, and now we have a highway.

That’s how things are proceeding right here in the province of Ontario. And that’s why the RCMP is investigating this government—a criminal investigation.

That’s why justice matters. That’s why the law matters.

That’s why legal aid should be mentioned in this budget. Legal aid should be funded. Legal aid is an important part of ensuring people have access to justice.

That’s also a good reason to ensure that criminals who hurt people in Ontario, or even steal cars—because now carjackings are a serious issue. I’m sure the helicopters are going to solve it. I’m sure that will happen. Once they get into the justice system, if they don’t get access to a judge within that 18 months, then they walk. And let me tell you, those numbers are pretty alarming—who is walking. And I thought this government was the tough-on-crime kind of government.

Going back to the infrastructure piece: Good Roads. God love Good Roads, Scott Butler. They’ve made the case for safe infrastructure investment as a cost-saving measure for health care. This is what they said: 50% of the fatalities occurred on rural and northern roads. This is good information for the government to have. Good Roads wants to leverage the lessons learned in other jurisdictions to address this risk—cost-effective solutions like guardrails, paint and lights. He described this as really simple, low-hanging fruit. This is a good solution—to the members who are still here in the Legislature.

He said, “Right now road safety in northern Ontario is ‘thoughts and prayers’—we hope for the best.” I know our northern members have experienced this as they commute back and forth to Queen’s Park. Sometimes they’re stuck there for hours.

He made a really important point on health care costs. Those accidents that are happening on poorly designed infrastructure in Ontario—listen to this—resulted in 43,000 days of hospital stays, due to accidents on these roads. They are looking for a program for five years where they will look into what is actually happening on the roads. This has been tried in other jurisdictions. It has impacted where investments happen. I’m sure it would benefit Ontarians across the entire province. So that’s something that we were looking for. Also, as Good Roads points out, this is low-hanging fruit.

This is stuff that is not super-costly, but it has benefits. It also improves the lives of Ontarians who are travelling on these northern roads. This makes sense on many levels.

We heard from so many other folks around the dismantling of the social safety net in Ontario. Ontario used to have a very strong social safety net, if you were experiencing poverty, if you had health issues, if there were mental health challenges, if there were addictions.

All of us know somebody who is struggling with addictions. This government has solutions around safe consumption sites. They have made choices not to grant those licences for those safe consumption sites. You are basically saying that this is not a priority—keeping people healthy. These are sons, daughters, uncles, fathers. It’s a really important piece to catching the people who are faltering, who are struggling. I think it’s a very callous move, in my estimation, to not grant those licences, even though the health care sector and your own ministry have said that this would save lives and would save health care costs. Fewer people would be in emergency rooms.

I’m going to circle back right now to how this budget really is a lost opportunity to reflect on what people in Ontario said to us.

Going right back to that gender lens—taking action to ensure women and children are better able to access culturally responsive care to strengthen the health of their families, with investments. Even the Healthy Babies Healthy Children Program—these are programs that people care about.

Preventing gender-based violence—the $13.5 million over three years to enhance initiatives that support women and youth. This is one part where it looks like new money, but we have to actually dig down and pull back the layers on that.

The Independent Legal Advice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Program, which the government expanded without expanding the budget—there’s a small increase in there. We’re going to be looking at evaluating that. I think that if someone has the courage to come forward after being assaulted, that justice system should be there, and that legal advice and guidance should be proactive. They shouldn’t have to go looking for it.

I do want to say, just to end on education—because education actually pulled me into politics. When you have kids, you see that the system is being broken. I used to sit over there, as an audience member, when former Premier Harris and Snobelen—I think it was Snobelen who was the Minister of Education—created a crisis. It was such an effective policy that it’s still in place today. They created a crisis so that they could create their own made-in-Ontario solutions, and those impacts on our education system are still being felt today.

If you don’t get education right, a lot of other things don’t fall into place. When I was here protesting, 25 years ago, the cuts to education—a serious government views education as a solution, as, really, an equity policy, because when you get education right, a lot of good things can happen.

I hope the Minister of Education was listening carefully to the voices of informed people, because the word “teachers” is not even mentioned in this budget. I think we should be listening to and learning from the front-line people who have the experience to share with us, as a province.

It is 10:02, and I will end my one-hour lead. Thank you very much.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): Further debate?

Mr. Rick Byers: It’s my pleasure to speak this morning on the notice of motion regarding budgetary policy for our government. It is my pleasure to do that. And I’m very pleased to be part of the government now—but budgetary policy going back to 2018, and now to 2024, in the budget released on Tuesday by the minister.

I’ll be going through a number of different areas in this budget because I think there are so many important elements to it, whether it’s the infrastructure plan—a record investment, over a 10-year period, of $190 billion; the economic development initiatives that we’ve been undertaking in so many areas, as a government; and the fiscal environment that we find ourselves in, the economic environment, which has been more challenging than was the case last year. It’s certainly a pleasure to work with the Minister of Finance and the Ministry of Finance budget team on this. The minister has been terrific.

It has been a pleasure being his PA for the last while. And I look forward to ongoing work with the government.

Touching on a couple of those themes, and starting with the fiscal environment—over the past six years, as our economy and population have grown, our government has been delivering on our plan to build Ontario. But like the rest of the world, Ontario continues to face economic uncertainty due to high interest rates and global instability. These challenges are putting pressure on Ontario families as well as public finances. High inflation, high Bank of Canada interest rates and the high cost of the federal carbon tax have pushed costs up. Households are struggling.

Faced with the challenges, our government might have chosen to raise taxes, reduce investments and services, or download costs on municipalities. Our government is taking a different approach. We are continuing to invest in Ontario’s people and communities. We are doing what’s needed to get it done.

Looking more closely at the fiscal situation—like the rest of the world, Ontario continues to face these economic challenges that I mentioned. The outcomes of persistently high interest rates and inflation continue to be unclear. However, Ontario’s economy has demonstrated continued resiliency in light of ongoing economic pressure. By taking a responsible approach to fiscal management while creating stronger communities for future generations, the government is continuing to make progress on its plan to build Ontario together.

Ontario’s economy performed stronger than expected in 2023, despite continued economic headwinds prompted by elevated consumer price inflation and interest rates. Nearly all private sector forecasters expect continued, but slower, growth in 2024 compared to the projection in the 2023 budget.

Ontario also experienced above-average employment growth in 2023, adding 183,000 net new jobs, a 2.4% increase. Ontario’s unemployment rate rose modestly to 5.7% in 2023 but remained low compared to historic averages.

The government plan retains the path to balance despite these fiscal deterioration pressures relative to the 2023 budget and the outlook in the fall 2023 economic outlook and fiscal review. While slower projected growth in 2024 and other factors beyond the province’s control are key drivers of the deterioration, the government is continuing to invest in key public services and not raising taxes or fees to increase revenues, at a time when it’s important to keep costs down for people and for businesses.

In 2023-24, Ontario is projecting a deficit of $3.0 billion, this year. Over the medium term, the deficit will increase to $9.8 billion in 2024-25 and $4.6 billion in 2025-26, before a surplus of half a billion dollars in 2026-27.

The government will continue to support people and businesses in Ontario and make prudent and targeted investments, as I noted.

Looking at some of the economic assumptions: GDP grew by 1.2% in 2023—stronger than projected in the last year’s budget. Nominal GDP growth is expected at 4.1%, higher than the 2.8% projected in the last year’s budget. The outlook has been revised compared to the projections in the 2023 budget. Key changes since then include stronger estimated real and nominal GDP growth in 2023, but slower real and nominal GDP growth in 2024 and 2026, with most of the deterioration this year.

I say all these things because at the end of the day, budgets are about choices. As I noted and as the minister noted in his remarks, faced with these challenges that are evident all over the world, the government could have reduced spending to keep its budget in check, or increased taxes, and we did not do those things. In fact, we kept our spending profile very, very strong and infrastructure spending, which I’ll talk about in a short time, very, very strong. So those are the choices that we have made. It’s the right, balanced choice. And we will get to balance in the years ahead, so we’re looking forward to that.

Some of the measures that are used to determine what makes a prudent plan for governments are measures like, “How big is the debt-to-GDP ratio?” The goal is to treat it below 40%. Well, we’re doing that. Right through this piece, it never goes above 40%—38.4% this year, 2023-24; 38.0% in 2023-24 in the final number; and in 2024-25, 39.2%, so below that 40% threshold. That’s very important.

The other thing that’s important is, the government has done a very good job in its borrowing program. Even though interest rates have gone up, they’ve done more long-term borrowing, and so interest costs are actually down compared to what was expected in the last year’s budget. We’re going to pay $12.8 billion in interest costs in 2023-24; $13.9 billion in 2024-25; and $14.7 billion in 2025-26. Those are down from the forecasts of $14.1 billion, $14.4 billion and $15.1 billion. So I give the government full credit for having the forecast and the propensity to extend its borrowing program so that there is less volatility in the borrowing program—very, very prudent and very, very well done.

The overall fiscal plan: I mentioned the deficit numbers. The other thing that I find is very strong about this budget and the government’s approach is that we’re showing the benefits of the economic development that’s happening in Ontario. Overall revenues, which were $192 billion in 2022-23, are rising to over $200 billion this year—$205 billion—without any new taxes. Government revenue will go up, and there’s always a tension there—“Hey, you’re taking too much from my pocket”—but it’s so important. That shows the underlying strength of the Ontario economy. That’s what it’s based on.

It’s the underlying economic strength that’s generating these revenues—whether it’s for corporations, personal taxes or other elements that are behind it—not tax increases. That’s very, very important.

At the same time, our program spending has continued its very substantial and solid growth. Let’s look at some of the sectors. Health care: $75.1 billion in 2022-23; up to $85 billion this year, 2024-25—a $10-billion increase in health care funding. That is so fundamental to what we’re doing. I’ll talk about the infrastructure shortly and all the other measures. But that’s a great measure of the priorities that our government is placing on health care.

Education: $33.6 billion to $37.6 billion in that same period—a substantial increase in spending. Post-secondary, children, community and social services—on and on and on. This government is treating these areas—continues to treat them—as a key priority and is able to accommodate those very substantial spending increases in our economic plan. It ultimately leads to a balanced budget in the out years.

These are the choices that we have made—maintain our support for these key programs; maintain the priorities for the people of Ontario; have a balanced and prudent approach in, frankly, a difficult economic environment. That’s the basis on which this budget has been done, and I’m very pleased with the approach that has been taken.

I want to now talk about infrastructure and our government’s plan to build. This is an area where, again, I am very, very encouraged by the approach we’ve taken. Normally, governments will make decisions as far as they can see towards the next election—“Hey, let’s just do what we need to do to get re-elected.” Well, that’s not the approach we’ve taken. We were going a full decade out, 10 years out, with $190 billion of investment in infrastructure over the next 10 years—a huge, huge number.

More importantly, this year, it’s $26.2 billion in the next 12 months; that’s over $2 billion per month in infrastructure spending in the province of Ontario—massive numbers. These are also investments that aren’t going to be there just for tomorrow, next year and when they’re built. These are legacy, generational investments that are needed. And whether it’s in health care or transportation or transit, they’re so, so important to the economy and to our province.

Let’s look first at transit: over the next 10 years, $67.5 billion in transit—just massive, massive numbers.

With GO Transit, we’re transforming the GO rail network to improve access and convenience across the greater Golden Horseshoe by increasing two-way service; making investments to extend GO Transit rail service to Bowmanville; extending the Hazel McCallion light rail transit line; expanding service to the Milton GO line by adding train trips there; increasing frequency between Union and Niagara; more express service between Hamilton, Burlington, Toronto—on and on and on. These are fundamental and such important investments in our transit community.

Let’s look at subways. One of the great things that this government did early in its mandate was upload construction of subways. I was on the board of—

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly): I apologize to the member, but unfortunately—or fortunately—it’s time for members’ statements.

Debate deemed adjourned.

Members’ Statements

Black History Month

Mr. Aris Babikian: I was delighted to participate in a number of events to celebrate Black History Month and pay tribute to the contribution of the Black community in Canada, and to applaud their impressive achievements. This year’s theme was “Black Excellence: A Heritage to Celebrate; a Future to Build.”

We are proud of the Black community and their essential role in raising Canada’s global status to such high standards. The impacts of Canada’s Black community in education, medicine, art, culture, public service, economic development, politics, human rights and so many other fields are too immense to mention here. Their sacrifices made Canada a beacon of democracy and human rights and paved the way for other persecuted people from all over the world to find refuge in Canada and get a new lease on life.

We are grateful for your inspiring vision and influence.

In addition to joining my Scarborough colleagues and organizing our own celebration in Scarborough, I attended the plumbers and pipefitters union and International Union of Painters and Allied Trades’ celebrations at Queen’s Park. I also attended events at the TAIBU Community Health Centre, Tropicana Community Services, and Afroglobal Television.

Justice system

MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam: Under this Conservative government, Ontario’s justice system is in shambles—everywhere, access to justice is denied routinely. Ontario courts rank dead last in case backlogs and wait times nationwide. The Conservatives play politics with justice, appointing unqualified cronies, including a gun lobbyist, to select their next round of judges.

Delays and denials of justice ruin lives. Criminals walk free, and the innocent suffer behind bars.

This isn’t just about funding; it’s about setting priorities.

The government’s budget ignores the crisis in our courts. This government released its budget two days ago. I scoured the budget. I was looking for funding in our courts, and it was not there. Not once did it mention bail, pretrial detention or court backlogs.

It’s easy for Ontario survivors to give up when their own government has given up on them.

Today in the chamber sit two extraordinary women, Cait Alexander and Emily Ager, who have individually endured violent crimes against them, only to have their cases tossed out because of court delays. Devastated, they watched their accused walk free and back into the community.

Cait and Emily are here to demand tangible solutions, starting with the budget; not hollow assurances from the Premier and the Attorney General.

We must thank Cait and Emily for their incredible strength, for coming here today, and for sharing their painful stories once again in hopes that this government will actually come up with solutions and fix our broken courts.

Taxation

Mr. Deepak Anand: The number one issue that I hear from the residents of Mississauga–Malton is affordability. With the increase in inflation, mortgage interest rates and economic uncertainty, it is resulting in stress to the residents.

And then, on April 1, the upcoming 23% increase in the carbon tax by the federal Liberals intensifies this burden, creating a vicious cycle of rising costs that affects every aspect of daily life. Increased gas prices lead to higher costs for everything from groceries to borrowing, resulting in inflation that further strains household budgets.

While Ontario is diligently working towards its 2030 greenhouse gas reduction targets, with emissions already declining 26.1% since 2005, initiatives like the green steel project exemplify our commitment to sustainable practices. This project alone will mitigate millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, equivalent to removing almost over one million cars from the roads.

Therefore, it is imperative that all MPPs send a clear message to their MPs asking them to stand with their residents. Let’s prioritize affordability and sustainability without further burdening hard-working families. Tell the federal government to reconsider its approach and scrap the burdensome carbon tax now.

University and college funding

MPP Lise Vaugeois: Universities and colleges are incredibly important institutions. They are primary sites of research, and they are where the young and not-so-young go to learn critical thinking and specific subject and occupational knowledge.

Tragically, post-secondary education in Ontario has been underfunded for the last 20 years, at 43% less than the national average. Even with the injection of $1.3 billion divided over three years amongst our 60 public post-secondary institutions, Ontario will still be dead last.

To be clear, no one wants to see tuition increased. Domestic tuition is far too high, and making up the difference by charging international students exorbitant fees has been, frankly, shameful. Far too many students—domestic and international—have to take on part-time jobs just to survive when they should be able to focus their time and energy on learning.

On the faculty side, class sizes keep going up, as do the number of faculty on short-term, low-wage contracts, who do not have the time to support students outside the classroom.

Students and faculty are being squeezed on all sides, and the effects are showing up in mental health crises.

The Ford Conservatives are undermining all our futures.

Research cannot flourish and students cannot reach their full potential when our colleges and universities are collapsing.

We can and must do better.

Bancroft Fitness

Mr. Ric Bresee: A few weeks ago, I had the chance to attend a funding announcement at Bancroft Fitness. This $71,700 capital grant from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport through the Trillium fund allowed them to upgrade their HVAC system to ensure a safe exercise environment and allow more comfortable exercise temperatures for their brand new hydrotherapy pool.

Bancroft Fitness is a unique environment. It operates as a not-for-profit, small-town-style gym. Residents of Bancroft and the surrounding area can join the gym for a minimal membership fee which includes typical group classes like yoga, meditation, high- and low-impact fitness, and more.

Speaker, what’s truly unique about this facility is the connection between health and fitness championed by Dr. Carolyn Brown over 20 years ago. She had a patient who was suffering from soft tissue pain after a car accident, and she realized that she couldn’t use medicine to help that patient, so she partnered with a kinesiologist, Angela Carrera, to create a new fitness centre.

Bancroft Fitness promotes healthy fitness habits for individuals of all needs and all activity levels in direct partnership with the Bancroft Community Family Health Team. This is the first fitness facility in Ontario that partners directly with an Ontario family health team. They provide programs like cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation, where they provide exercise, education and counselling. This is health care innovation.

I want to express my congratulations to Bancroft Fitness on the improvements to your facility, and my thanks to the ministry and the Ontario Trillium fund for their support.

Addiction services

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Medical isotopes

Mr. Rick Byers: Colleagues, I want to update you this morning on the ongoing, exciting developments in the world of medical isotopes. As members know, for over half a century, Canada has been a world leader in the development, production and use of life-saving medical isotopes in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, while also tackling some of the greatest health science challenges, including equipment and PPE sterilization, fighting the Zika virus, and pharmaceutical advancements.

In 2023, the Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council launched Isotopes for Hope: Canadian Leadership Needed Now More Than Ever, with the goal of doubling Canadian production of isotopes by 2030. “The world needs more Canada” is core to the CNIC’s message, as they have unique capabilities, people and infrastructure for our Canadian isotope ecosystem. They recently launched the first Isotopes for Hope podcast series to share perspectives from Canadians who are inspiring leaders, turning this vision into a reality and delivering important progress to people around the world who are counting on Canada as a global isotope superpower.

Last week, this important message was brought directly to Queen’s Park at an excellent medical isotopes reception. The members from Kitchener South–Hespeler and Mississauga Centre have been very active in this exciting work and were there to share their message.

This ongoing work is absolutely excellent for Ontario, and we look forward to ongoing leadership and collaboration right here in Ontario to promote medical isotopes.

Climate change

Mrs. Karen McCrimmon: Based on the overwhelming scientific consensus and lived experience, I know that climate change is real, and I believe it is our responsibility to act. Otherwise, it will be our children and our grandchildren who will be dealing with disaster after disaster.

It is a shame to see another budget that does nothing about the climate. This government loves to point fingers but refuses to lift a finger to do something themselves. The only climate measure they’ve taken, the cancelling of cap and trade, has been a disaster. It cost the government $3 billion in penalties, and it shifted the cost of carbon from corporate polluters to the people of Ontario—an extra $300 a year.

This government doesn’t care about the climate, and they don’t care about affordability. What will it take to have this government take the threat to the health, safety and security of Ontarians seriously?

This recent budget has done nothing to help Ontario families with mounting crises in affordability, health care, housing or the climate.

This government does nothing but point fingers, write letters and blame others so they can continue to reward wealthy, connected corporate insiders at the expense of everyone else.

Taxation

Mr. Stephen Crawford: April 1, as we all know, is April Fool’s Day. But do you know what is not funny? On April 1, the residents of Oakville, along with the rest of the province, will wake up to life being more expensive and more unaffordable.

My constituents in Oakville have reached out to me, concerned with the rising cost of living—especially the rising federal carbon tax. Just last week, I had residents come up to me at a local grocery store and mention how much the carbon tax hurts them. They are feeling the extra costs for basic activities, such as driving their kids to soccer practice.

At the Oakville Meals on Wheels grant recognition program event I was at a week ago, residents were really appreciative of the funding they received, but they were very upset and worried by the rising tax hike coming on April 1. For those volunteers, the hike for gas makes each delivery to vulnerable people that much more expensive.

I am proud that our government, under the leadership of our finance minister and Premier Ford, is supporting families and businesses by proposing to extend the gas and fuel tax cuts until December 31, 2024. We know every dollar helps, and this gas tax cut is another way to help keep the costs for Ontarians down.

But that’s not all. Licence plate renewal fees and stickers—saved vehicle owners $3.3 billion. And we launched the One Fare program, which will save commuters in Oakville $1,600 per year.

As April 1 is around the corner, we continue to call on the federal government to scrap the tax.

Ontario budget

Mr. Andrew Dowie: I was truly proud to see that Windsor and Tecumseh were once again front and centre in our government’s affordability-focused budget.

As this House is aware, in 2017 the then Liberal government announced that planning funding for our new regional acute-care hospital would be stopped in its tracks with the 2018 budget.

The contrast couldn’t be clearer: Premier Ford committed to seeing the Windsor-Essex regional acute-care hospital, and this budget sets out the hospital procurement for 2025.

This budget also builds the new Banwell Road and E.C. Row interchange, right at the boundary of Windsor and Tecumseh—a project that successive governments of all stripes outright ignored for 40 years, until this government.

This budget also develops the future Lauzon Parkway and 401 interchange, supports thousands of new jobs at NextStar and Bobaek, invests in local broadband, grows access to primary health care and long-term care, and says yes to our new local schools, including the Beacon Heights Public School and Eastview Horizon Public School.

These investments make our region stronger than ever.

I want to say thank you to Premier Ford and the Ontario government for doing the heavy lifting for Windsor-Essex that just never happened under NDP representation and Liberal governments.

I encourage all of my Windsor colleagues to support these great investments in the budget.

Introduction of Visitors

Hon. Michael S. Kerzner: None of us can take our place here in the Ontario Legislature without the support of our family.

I’m delighted to welcome my son Seth Harrison Kerzner to the Legislature today.

MPP Jill Andrew: I’m proud to welcome OPSEU Local 535 AGO workers to Queen’s Park today: Paul Ayers, local president; Ruth Jones, who works in facilities: Teya Vitko, bargaining team member; Charles Audu, local vice-president; and Mark Thornberry, bargaining team member. Welcome to your House, for the love of the arts.

Ms. Christine Hogarth: I’m really proud to announce our page Justin. His mom, Estelle Chapin-Ker, is here today with her husband, Jeff Ker, and Onikay Neil, who is the godmother of our page Justin.

Welcome to the House today.

Ms. Jessica Bell: I’d like to welcome members of our University–Rosedale team today: Doga Koroglu, Matthew Cooke, Molly Tarsey, Leah Wahl, Madeleine Vogelaar, and Kirsten Snider. It’s wonderful working with you. Thanks for being here.

M me Natalia Kusendova-Bashta: Au nom de la ministre des Affaires francophones, j’aimerais bien souhaiter la bienvenue à une délégation du Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir. Avec nous aujourd’hui, nous avons des élèves des écoles secondaires catholiques Saint-Charles-Garnier à Whitby, Académie catholique Mère-Teresa à Hamilton, Saint-Frère-André à Toronto, Monseigneur-de-Charbonnel, Renaissance à Aurora et Maple; ainsi que M me Geneviève Grenier, présidente du conseil; M me Nathalie Dufour-Séguin, vice-présidente du conseil; et M me Nicole Mollot, directrice de l’éducation. Je souhaite la bienvenue à vous tous.

Ms. Sandy Shaw: It gives me great pleasure to welcome folks who have travelled from Milton here this morning and who are part of the group called Action Milton. We have George Minakakis, the board chair; Sharon Barkley; Heather Murch; Cindy Lunau; Gary Williams; Monica Minakakis; Scott Travers; and Noah Zatzman.

Thank you for coming today, and welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Stephen Crawford: I have the parents of page Owen from Oakville here today. We have Ji Li and Frank Zeng. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam: We are joined in this House by some extraordinary individuals—survivors and advocates to end gender-based violence: Emily Ager and her husband, Brandon Quint, as well as Cait Alexander and her mother, Carolyn Alexander, and Tom Alexander.

Welcome to your House.

Mrs. Robin Martin: I want to introduce visitors from my riding in the gallery: Andrey Golubovsky and his daughter Maria.

Thank you for coming.

MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam: I want to introduce Samantha Dangubic, who is an intern and a former staff person, as of today. Today is her last day.

On a lighter note, Samantha has recently designed a most wonderful design on a tote bag for me, and it features Toronto’s beloved streetcars and raccoons.

Kraft Hockeyville 2024

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Algoma–Manitoulin has a point of order he wants to raise.

Mr. Michael Mantha: As I look upon all of us in here, I look at you as being part of my family, and also team Ontario. And I want to wish you all a happy Easter weekend.

We have an opportunity to vote for Elliot Lake to become Kraft Hockeyville 2024. Elliot Lake is one of four who are reaching the finals—the only Ontario finalist. You are team Ontario. Voting starts in less than 24 hours. So I’m asking you, on March 29 and March 30, vote for Elliot Lake to become Kraft Hockeyville 2024.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you very much. It’s technically not a point of order, but it’s important information nonetheless.

Correction of record

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Etobicoke–Lakeshore.

Ms. Christine Hogarth: I just have to apologize to page Julian. I said his name wrong. It’s Julian, not Justin. I apologize to his family. I just have a lot in my head right now.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): It is in order to correct your record. Thank you very much.

That concludes our introduction of visitors.

House sittings

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I beg to inform the House that, pursuant to standing order 9(h), the Clerk has received written notice from the government House leader indicating that a temporary change in the weekly meeting

schedule of the House is required, and therefore, the House shall commence at 9 a.m. on Monday, April 8, 2024, for the proceeding orders of the day.

Question Period

Ontario budget

Ms. Catherine Fife: My question is for the Premier.

As I continue to review this Conservative government’s budget, I’m left with very serious questions.

Does this budget make rent affordable for renters?

Interjection: No.

Ms. Catherine Fife: Does it make groceries cheaper?

Interjection: No.

Ms. Catherine Fife: Does it effectively address the unethical backlog in our court system?

Interjection: No.

Ms. Catherine Fife: To the Premier: This budget wasn’t made for the people of Ontario. So who exactly does this out-of-touch budget serve?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance and member for Oakville.

Mr. Stephen Crawford: I’m not sure if the member opposite actually read the budget and read what people are saying about budget 2024, because what you’re saying is the complete opposite of what we’re hearing and what the people of Ontario are saying.

This is a budget that puts the people of Ontario first. The people of Ontario, like the rest of the world, continue to face economic challenges. Costs are up. People are struggling. And at this point in time, at this juncture, we could either slow down or we could continue to build—build an economy, build infrastructure, build housing, build health care—and put money back in the pockets of the people of Ontario.

This is a budget that’s getting it done for the province of Ontario.

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

Ms. Catherine Fife: Speaker, bragging about doubling down on failed policies is definitely not leadership.

I know who this budget is not made for. This budget wasn’t made for post-secondary students or educators. This budget wasn’t made for teachers or nurses or 1.7 million renters.

Funding in this budget is not going towards making life more affordable. It won’t improve wages for workers. It won’t keep post-secondary institutions afloat. It won’t make $10-a-day child care a reality for so many struggling families in this province.

Since this budget was not made for struggling Ontarians, Premier, tell us which corporations and private companies are set to benefit from this government’s budget. That’s your priority.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’ll remind the members to make their comments through the Chair.

The member for Oakville.

Mr. Stephen Crawford: Again, the member opposite is way off base.

This is a budget that is focused on affordability for the people of Ontario. This is a government that is getting it done for the people of Ontario.

We have the great Associate Minister of Transportation bringing in the One Fare program—$1,600 in savings for commuters across the GTA, whether they’re in Oakville, in York region, in Burlington. Wherever they are, that is an enormous savings for people who are travelling. Many of the staff who work at Queen’s Park actually take transit. They’re going to save a lot of money. You go and tell them that you don’t support that.

We’ve also indexed ODSP to inflation; we’ve had the largest increase in the history of Ontario.

We’re helping 100,000 additional seniors through the GAINS program.

We’ve cut the renewal fees for licence stickers and licence plates.

And, of course, we are lowering the gas tax here in Ontario, which is going to help everybody.

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

Ms. Catherine Fife: Speaker, I certainly wouldn’t be bragging about legislated poverty in Ontario.

I do want to say that this government says that this budget is fiscally responsible. In reality, the government projected a $200-million surplus and instead delivered a $10-billion deficit. They have slashed post-secondary education by $425 million while almost half of Ontario’s universities are running deficits. The justice system is broken in Ontario—just ask Cait and Emily—and there’s no mention of legal aid anywhere in this budget.

Speaker, to the Premier: What will it take for this Conservative government to listen to the people of Ontario and fund the services that they rely on?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats.

The member for Oakville.

Mr. Stephen Crawford: Again, I would like to highlight some of the initiatives the government of Ontario is taking in budget 2024, because perhaps the member didn’t read it in her notes.

We are continuing to build Ontario, and we’re doing it in a fiscally responsible way. We have a path to balance, unlike every other government pretty much in Canada and the federal government.

We are investing $1 billion in municipal housing funding infrastructure—municipalities asked for this; we are delivering.

We are quadrupling the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund.

Of course, as I mentioned, we are extending the gas tax cut. Go ask the residents in your riding if they are against that tax savings.

We’re also adding an additional $100 million to the Skills Development Fund so we can continue to build Ontario.

Northern health care

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Last month in northwestern Ontario, Nishnawbe Aski Nation declared a health state of emergency.

There continues to be unnecessary suffering and needless deaths across Kiiwetinoong.

Speaker, what page in the 2024 budget addresses this crisis?

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

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak about some of the investments that we have been able to make in northern Ontario.

We’re investing more in northern Ontario health than any other previous government.

Our plan is investing in infrastructure, in boosting health human resources and adding educational supports for the future. We have, of course, expanded the Northern Ontario School of Medicine—over a hundred additional seats available, and 60% of those, of course, are set aside for primary care, the family doctors we so desperately need across Ontario, and particularly, acutely, in northern Ontario.

We’ll continue to make those investments because we know that when people have access to primary care multi-disciplinary teams in their communities, it makes an impact, and it ensures that people have the care they need closer to home.

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

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: The answer does not answer the question about the health crisis.

Speaker, hospitals across northwestern Ontario are struggling to retain surgeons.

Patients in Sioux Lookout will be sent further away from home for surgeries that they need.

Again, what page in the 2024 budget addresses the crisis?

Hon. Sylvia Jones: Specifically, as it relates to this week’s budget, which was an incredible endorsement of the investments that we have already made and will continue to make, we have, specifically to Indigenous and northern communities, supports of $94 million over the next three years. What does that actually translate to? That’s maintaining mental health and addiction services. That’s ongoing Indigenous First Nations public health programs. That’s early detection for foot complications—like diabetes. We are making the investments.

I hope the member opposite will continue to advocate, but I also hope that they will acknowledge the investments that we are making in northern Ontario and across Ontario.

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

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: In northwestern Ontario, Highway 17 was closed this morning between Dryden and Kenora. Yesterday, it was closed between Ignace and Thunder Bay.

Speaker, what page in the 2024 budget addresses highway standards in the north?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Associate Minister of Transportation.

Hon. Vijay Thanigasalam: Road safety is a paramount focus for this government and with this transportation minister—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The final supplementary was unrelated to the first question and the supplementary—and they have to be. They have to flow, and they have to be related.

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: In northwestern Ontario—do you want me to ask again, or—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): No, I think we have to move forward.

The next question.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

Government accountability

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: The courts have confirmed that the Ford government owes the public answers about why they skipped an environmental assessment for the mega spa planned at Ontario Place. The judge said the matter was of significant public law interest, despite government lawyers arguing that the challenge should be thrown out.

My question to the Premier is, will you halt all redevelopment activities on the Therme site and conduct an environmental assessment?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The parliamentary assistant and member for Brampton West.

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: This particular matter is before the courts, so it would be inappropriate for me to comment on this at this time.

Mr. Speaker, let me remind this House and the public that it was the previous Liberal government, always supported by that NDP, that left this historic place, Ontario Place, in a state of neglect and disrepair.

What this government is doing is bringing Ontario Place back on the map—and will bring a remarkable, world-class destination for families to enjoy, and a brand new amphitheatre, a wellness centre, a water park facility, and a brand new science centre. Not only that; it will create thousands of new jobs and will attract four million to six million visitors annually. We are bringing an Ontario Place and a science centre that the people of Ontario will be proud of. We will bring it back on the world map.

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

Mr. Chris Glover: Mr. Speaker, I really have to disagree with the member opposite. This government is not bringing back Ontario Place. They’re giving it away in a 95-year lease to a private, for-profit spa company. And in order to do that, they passed Bill 154, which attempted to give the ministers and government officials the power to commit acts of malfeasance, misrepresentation, breach of trust and bad faith with immunity.

So my question is, what is in this dirty deal with Therme that Ontario Place for All is having to take this government to court to make them obey Ontario’s laws?

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu: If the opposition were ever to form a government and actually function effectively, they would understand how this process works. The process was competitive and fair, as it should be. But do you know what, Mr. Speaker? I highly doubt that the opposition will ever be able to form a government with this kind of approach, which is anti-infrastructure, which is anti-building, which is anti making life affordable for the people of this province.

The legacy of the opposition is leaving our historic places, like Ontario Place and the science centre, in a state of neglect and disrepair—voting against transit, voting against hospitals, opposing highways like Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass.

Mr. Speaker, the legacy of this Premier and this government is to bring our iconic destinations back to life, making them remarkable, world-class destinations for people of all—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Stop the clock.

Members will please take their seats.

Interjections.

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

Start the clock. The next question.

Taxation

Mr. Billy Pang: My question is for the Minister of Energy. The carbon tax does nothing to reduce emissions. It only punishes the hard-working people of the province.

While the opposition NDP and the independent Liberals continue to support this harmful tax and vote against measures that provide Ontarians with affordable and reliable energy, our government is taking action and getting it done for the people of our province.

Last summer, the minister released Powering Ontario’s Growth and outlined our plan to continue building our province’s clean-energy advantage. I know there are major projects and procurements that are already under way.

Can the minister please tell the House how our government is providing Ontarians with clean energy as we fight against the disastrous carbon tax?

Hon. Todd Smith: Thanks to the member for Markham for that great question this morning. We are powering’s Ontario growth at the Ministry of Energy. Last summer, I unveiled our plan, named Powering Ontario’s Growth, which is investing in more emissions-free, baseload, reliable nuclear power at places like Bruce Power, Pickering and Darlington. Small modular reactors are going into the ground right now, as we speak, in Darlington—the largest procurement for energy storage in Canada’s history. New, non-emitting generation is part of competitive procurements.

One thing that I couldn’t help but notice this morning was that the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, was in the media studio having a press conference that was really like a Saturday Night Live skit. Actually, it was more like a Seinfeld episode; it was a press conference about nothing.

Here I am answering question number 273 in this House about the carbon tax, something that 80% of Canadians are opposed to, but these Liberals and the federal Liberals are going to increase the carbon tax by a whopping 23% on—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Order.

The supplementary question.

Mr. Billy Pang: Thank you to the minister for his response.

It is sad to see both the NDP and the Liberals, who are yelling in this House, demonstrate no willingness to support initiatives that provide Ontarians with affordable and clean energy. The reality is that they don’t have a plan to improve affordability and the cost of living in Ontario. All they care about is pushing their agenda of raising our taxes.

Life is already expensive for the hard-working people of our province. They need more support and more financial relief from our governments, not more punitive tax hikes. That’s why the federal government must scrap the carbon tax, and they must do it as soon as possible.

Can the minister please explain what our government is doing to protect Ontarians from the costly carbon tax?

Hon. Todd Smith: Mr. Speaker, the member from Markham is right; we’re not raising the carbon tax. As a matter of fact, in our budget delivered on Tuesday, we’re eliminating taxes. We’re eliminating fees.

The members of the Liberal caucus—there are some smart people over there, but I just can’t understand how they don’t realize that what is happening on Monday—Easter Monday, April Fool’s Day, carbon tax day in Ontario. Their counterparts, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, supported by the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, are going to be increasing the carbon tax on Canadians by a whopping 23% on Monday.

Mr. Speaker, 80% of Canadians are opposed to an increase in the carbon tax because they understand what it’s going to mean for the prices at the pumps, at the grocery stores and on their home heating bills.

The member from Ottawa South and the queen of the carbon tax have to understand that this is a losing proposition. We’re driving the cost of living down in Ontario, making life more affordable. They should—

Interjections.

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

Affordable housing

Ms. Jessica Bell: My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The Conservatives have until tomorrow to submit a better affordable housing action plan or miss out on $357 million in federal funding. The minister likes to say this is unfair, but the facts speak for themselves. This government is on track to build just 8% of the homes they said they would build by 2025.

My question is this: Is this government going to submit a better affordable housing action plan tomorrow, or are Ontarians going to miss out?

Hon. Paul Calandra: To be clear, Ontario has hit 60% of the target. It is, of course, a 10-year target; we are entering year 6. The federal government changed the goalposts on this one and decided that the 60% is actually 28%. We’ve also hit 170% of our rehabilitation/renovation progress.

As the member knows, housing of this type is done through our service managers and our municipal partners. Our municipal partners have also written to the federal government to come firmly onside with our position that not only are we meeting our targets and not only can we meet our targets over the next four and a half years, but we have exceeded our targets in other areas.

So I would ask the member opposite if she would—instead of standing with the federal Liberals, who are going to reduce funding by $357 million—stand with us and with 444 municipalities across the province who are saying they have met their targets and will—

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

Ms. Jessica Bell: Minister, municipalities and housing providers in Ontario want this government to stop playing the blame game and start taking action.

Ontario has the worst housing crisis and homelessness crisis we’ve had in decades. It has never been more expensive to rent or buy a home; even your own budget says that.

My question is this: Is this government going to fix up and resubmit a credible affordable housing action plan, or are we all going to miss out?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will take their seats.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Just to add a little more colour to this, the money that the Liberals, supported by the NDP, are not transferring to us is $357 million of the approved plan. We did a plan. The federal government approved that plan. We have paid for the plan. We have done what we said in the plan, and the federal government has decided that they’re no longer going to live up to their end of the bargain. This isn’t about future money. This is about money that has already been approved, committed under a plan that they approved. That is the difference.

What the member is suggesting that we do is go back in time, change the plan that was approved by this House, that was approved by the federal government, that we have paid for.

We are asking the federal government to live up to the commitment that they made to the people of the province of Ontario.

The plan, going forward, will meet our targets.

She should stand with us and with 444 municipalities that want—

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

Taxation

M me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: My question is for the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. The federal carbon tax is making everything more expensive for everyone in this province. People in my riding of Newmarket–Aurora and across Ontario are paying more for groceries, for services and for fuel since the implementation of this disastrous tax.

To make matters worse, the federal Liberals are increasing costs at the pump, from about 14.31 cents per litre to about 37.43 cents per litre in 2030. This is punishing drivers across the province, especially in rural areas, where they rely more heavily on their vehicles. No one should have to choose between filling up their gas tanks or filling up their pantries.

Can the minister please tell this House how our government is supporting Ontario’s rural communities through this challenging time?

Hon. Graydon Smith: Thank you to the member from Newmarket–Aurora for the question. She’s a great, great member.

We know that this carbon tax is about to go up a staggering 23% on April 1. That’s just next week, just a few days away. We know the provincial Liberals support this hike.

The Ontario Liberals, ruled by the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, refuse to call on the federal Liberals to get rid of the punitive carbon tax. In fact, if Bonnie Crombie is the queen, that makes the independent Liberals the princes and the princesses of the carbon tax. We’ve got carbon tax nobility in our midst.

To the great communities in rural Ontario: Don’t worry. Our government is saying yes to rural Ontario, keeping energy costs down. We’re cutting the gas tax, investing in northern Ontario through our biomass program—$60 million going to strengthen the forestry sector and create jobs in the north. Our government will continue to build and support rural communities across Ontario.

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

M me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: Thank you to the minister for that response.

The previous Liberal government neglected rural communities for 15 years. Their disrespect for rural Ontarians continues to this day.

Individuals and families are greatly concerned about what the future will hold as the federal government continues to impose further tax hikes.

It is impossible to understand how the federal Liberals and their provincial counterparts are content to pass additional costs on to people who are already stretching their incomes.

The carbon tax effects are widespread, including negative impacts to industries in the natural resources sector.

Can the minister please explain why our province is better off without the federal carbon tax?

Hon. Graydon Smith: Again, thanks to the member for the question.

It’s clear from the carbon tax that the Liberals across the way just don’t want anything to be built in Ontario. It just shocks me how completely out of touch the members opposite are to think that a 23% increase in the carbon tax is acceptable and a way to build Ontario.

But it’s no surprise that the Liberals and the NDP aren’t listening to the people. Why expect them to start now? The people have been talking about the carbon tax for years, and the members opposite have done absolutely nothing about it.

But we’re doing something about it. We’re extending the removal of the gas tax—14 cents on every litre, ensuring that resources can move across Ontario to get houses, roads, transit lines built for Ontarians.

We’re building the province at a rate the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, and her Liberals could never imagine. We’ll continue to do that and continue to support Ontarians and the building of this great province every step of the way, despite the carbon tax.

Justice system

MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam: My question is to the Premier.

Today, we are joined by two courageous women, Emily Ager and Cait Alexander. Both of them experienced horrific gender-based violence. The police investigated, evidence was collected, charges were laid, and they took their accused to court, only to have their cases then thrown out due to unconstitutional delays. Cait frequently contacted the courts to remind them of the looming deadline and ask for a hearing date, only for her case to be then scheduled after 18 months, after the Jordan deadline had passed. When she pointed this out, they said that nothing could be done.

Violent abusers and rapists walk free in our communities today. The government’s underfunding of the court system has led to that.

Will the Premier commit today, in front of Cait and Emily and their families, to fund the courts, to clear the backlogs, so survivors can have their actual day in court?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats.

The Attorney General.

Hon. Doug Downey: I don’t have the luxury of being able to address individual cases, so I will talk in broader terms.

We are doing everything we can. We’re investing in the courts. I can tell you, the opposition tells the stories, but we’re taking the action. We have hired over 340 individuals in the court system, be it crown prosecutors, victim-witness assistants, court employees, court staff and bail vettors. It is incredible, the amount of resources this government is putting into the system to deal with the lack of progress that happened under the Liberals, previous to us.

Mr. Speaker, here’s the real challenge: Will the member opposite, in front of these individuals, stand up and tell them that they will support the budget that says we are investing $6 million over three years for the children at risk of exploitation; $4.5 million over three years for the victim quick response team; $2.5 million over three years to increase the outreach to children and youth; $27 million over three years to enhance sexual assault and domestic violence services; and $6.5 million over three years to support—

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

MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam: Speaker, it’s clear that this government says that they’re sticking to their plan with their budget, but their plan is actually failing survivors like Emily and Cait. This government released its budget only two days ago. Court backlogs, bail and pretrial detention were never mentioned—not once.

Emily’s rape trial began, but it could not finish because the timeline ran out. Yesterday, Emily told me that her legal and court part of her story is now over. She’s now fighting for all survivors after her so that they can have a chance to have their day in court.

How many other survivors have to come forward to tell their painful stories again and again before this Premier and government is willing to admit that they’ve let them down, that the courts are in shambles and they refuse to do anything about it?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats.

The Attorney General.

Hon. Doug Downey: That’s more indignation without action. I didn’t hear a yes to supporting this budget.

We are supporting all parts of the system. We recently put $18.7 million into 400 gender-based service providers. You voted against it. We put additional money into emergency shelters, to counselling and to 24-hour services. You did nothing; you voted against it. Indignation does not pay the bills.

We are supporting the victims in this system. We’re adding resources, we’re adding capital, we’re adding the staff and the people who need to make the system run. It was left in shambles by the previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP. And now they vote against every single improvement to protect the vulnerable in our society.

Forest firefighting

Mrs. Karen McCrimmon: Last year, from April to October, 441,000 hectares of forest burned in Ontario. We all remember the orange skies, the unbreathable air and the community evacuations of last summer, which is why it’s such a disappointment to see that climate change is ignored in this do-nothing budget.

Do you know what this budget has done to firefighting? Since 2022, $100 million of funding has been slashed. Quebec is hiring more firefighters. Alberta has declared their wildfire season open in February. Ontario? We cut $100 million from the firefighting budget.

I have a question for the Premier. Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned around him. What instrument will the Premier choose?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To respond, the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry.

Hon. Graydon Smith: What astounds me is, we’re talking about the budget in this House, and the member opposite can’t even accurately read the budget—can’t tell the difference between budgeted amounts and actuals.

Here’s the story: In 2018, the budget was $69.8 million; in 2024, it’s $135 million. And that’s just to start.

We bring more resources to bear than any government in the history of this province to fight forest fires, continually making investments to improve the situation in this province for communities, for infrastructure, for individuals. And we will continue to do that.

I’ll take absolutely no lessons from the member opposite on how to either (

a) read a budget or (

b) fight forest fires in Ontario.

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

Mrs. Karen McCrimmon: The insults won’t change my mind.

But I’ll tell you what I’ll give the minister: I will give the minister a chance.

A lack of snow this winter and a dry spring spells disaster for our wildfire season. Ontario has historically hired 800 firefighters; this year, we’re projected to hire 440—that’s half of our firefighting teams.

The government is fully aware of this crisis. They commissioned a $100,000 third-party audit on firefighter retention, and then they didn’t publish it. They know what it will take to fix the problem, but they want to hide it because they’re not doing what needs to be done.

Will the Premier commit to publishing the final report of that audit?

Hon. Graydon Smith: I’m sure the member is absolutely thrilled to know and to hear again that we have invested in our fire rangers here in Ontario with a $5,000 recruitment and retention bonus for both staff to come and staff who are already with us. In fact, all throughout AFFES, we are making sure that people are recognized in 2024 for the incredible work that they do.

We’ve also made other investments—$20.5 million—to improve how we fight wildland forest fires, investing in new aerial fire suppression technologies; investing in science and risk assessment, including into collaborative research with universities; building capacity to support Indigenous wildland fire management.

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals can ignore what we’ve done all they want, but I’ll tell you, we are right up on top of it for the people of Ontario, and that’s what counts.

Taxation

Mr. John Yakabuski: My question is for the Associate Minister of Transportation.

The carbon tax is punishing the hard-working people of Ontario. Residents in my riding of Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke tell me every day that this regressive tax is adding further strain to their household budgets. It’s raising the price of everything, from groceries and services to the cost of fuel. And with next week’s 23% hike, drivers across the province will be paying even more at the pumps.

The dire effects of the carbon tax are felt by our trucking industry, which serves a critical role in transporting the goods that we need in our daily lives.

Can the minister explain the impact of the federal carbon tax on Ontario’s trucking industry?

Hon. Vijay Thanigasalam: Thank you to the member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke for that question.

Mr. Speaker, truck drivers are the backbone in keeping our economy moving. My uncle is a truck driver. I know truck drivers navigate the long, quiet roads throughout the night to deliver the goods that we often take for granted each morning.

It is very clear that by increasing the carbon tax, the federal Liberal government does not support the hard-working truck drivers. The carbon tax increases the cost of diesel. Every kilometre costs truck drivers more not just in fuel, but the precious moments they spend away from their families cost more than ever.

Truck drivers are not asking for a free ride, but asking for a fair one—a road where their commitment to our economy is not answered with a penalty.

Under the leadership of Premier Ford, this government and this transportation minister have always stood with truck drivers, and together, we will fight the carbon tax.

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

Mr. John Yakabuski: Thank you to the minister for his response.

It is clear that the federal carbon tax is affecting the everyday lives of truckers across Ontario.

Up until this point, the federal government has increased the carbon tax on fuel not once, not twice, but five times. To make matters even worse, they plan on increasing it another seven times by 2030.

The opposition NDP and independent Liberals continue to ignore the harmful effects the carbon tax is having on our industries. Rather than standing up for their constituents, they’re choosing to support the federal government’s unjust tax. Our government will continue to advocate for Ontarians and call for the elimination of this tax once and for all.

Can the minister please further explain the lasting impact that this punitive tax will have on Ontario’s truckers?

Hon. Vijay Thanigasalam: The member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke is right; the number one issue people are facing is an affordability crisis. The cost of living is rising.

The federal Liberals, supported by the Ontario Liberals and NDP, fail to understand that the increase in the carbon tax has a significant impact on the budget of every household in Ontario. The carbon tax is in fact an unwanted guest at the table of every single hard-working Canadian.

Imagine a single mother juggling multiple jobs, struggling to pay for groceries because the carbon tax increases her expenses. Think about a small business owner trying to keep their doors open, or a truck driver who’s trying to get their goods moved across our province, or a farmer who is trying to feed our nation.

We must push back against this tax hike on April 1—which is increasing 23%.

Our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, will always fight for the hard-working—

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

Arts and cultural funding

MPP Jill Andrew: To the Premier: Over 400 Art Gallery of Ontario workers are on strike, and many of these cultural workers are artists themselves. They’re here today. These are the people who welcome us into the AGO. They set up and they dismount art installations. They hang the art. They provide educational enrichment through tours. They helped raise funds for the AGO’s new building. They clean the gallery. But they are struggling to pay rent and buy food. Because of their hard work, the AGO has become a world-class destination, and yet this government hasn’t increased the AGO’s budget in over 10 years.

My question is to the Premier: Will this Conservative government properly fund arts institutions so their deficits aren’t being balanced on the backs of the least-paid workers? Will the Premier show them the “Monet”?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

Hon. Neil Lumsden: With respect to what the AGO is going through right now regarding negotiations and into agreements, we will leave that up to the leadership of the AGO. I’m hopeful, as many are, that the AGO and OPSEU will reach a negotiated agreement very soon.

With respect to the work and the impact they make in this community and our province, and frankly, across the country, it’s at a level that most people don’t understand. Their impact on tourism, the opportunities that they create and the great job that they do, not only within and outside the AGO, is outstanding. We thank them for their work. That’s why I remain optimistic that a deal will be agreed to relatively soon.

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

MPP Jill Andrew: Back to the Premier: Over 60% of AGO workers are precarious part-time workers, and they’re kept that way—they are contract. They can’t make enough hours to meet the full-time threshold, because, they told me yesterday, the AGO puts up roadblocks. All this, while the AGO contracts out, while AGO execs have recently received salary bonuses of up to 59.6%. While there’s “no more money for wages,” we’ve got the AGO CEO making over $400,000 a year, with bonuses of $250,000 annually.

My question is back to the Premier: Does this government think this is fair? How are they prepared to work with the AGO and get the employer to the table to have these workers get what they deserve: fair wages, full-time opportunities, protection against contracting out and livable hours of work?

Hon. Neil Lumsden: I won’t repeat what I just said, because of the importance of the AGO and the workers there that we see when we go over every day and the great work that they do.

I did mention at the outset, on the previous question, that they are in the midst of negotiations. I believe they’ve been to the table. I’m not sure if this means—I’m not sure what’s going on, but I will leave it in the hands of the experts and those who run the AGO and OPSEU to come to an agreement that will help the workers and those people get back to where they want to be.

The AGO is an important part of what we do in our community. It drives tourism, in spite of what is often talked about in this Legislature, which makes me really quite sad at times—when we don’t look at tourism as a driving force of this economy.

I’m confident that a deal will be reached, and I’m positive it will be good for both the AGO and the workers.

Taxation

Mr. Vincent Ke: My question is to the Minister of Finance. I hear from my constituents who feel stressed and frustrated with the rising cost of living in my riding of Don Valley North, which is echoed throughout Ontario. From families with children to young individuals to seniors, people in Ontario are feeling the pinch at home, at grocery stores and gas stations. With the looming further carbon tax hike, these expenses are only expected to soar. With so many people struggling to make ends meet, they are undoubtedly looking for relief.

Can the minister please tell this House what this government is doing to protect the people of Ontario and to combat the rising cost of living?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance, the member for Oakville.

Mr. Stephen Crawford: Thank you to the member opposite. I really appreciate that question, because you did bring up some points about the rising cost of living in Ontario.

Ontario is not an island and immune to the global inflation and rising costs we’re seeing around the world.

But the government of Ontario is taking action. We’re taking action right now in this budget. The Ontario government is currently lowering the cost of gas, cutting the gas tax and extending it until December 2024. This is something that I heard the Minister of Energy just say that Bonnie Crombie and the Liberals and the carbon tax queen would not be doing. In fact, on April 1, it is not only April Fool’s Day; it’s the day the carbon tax is going to go up, penalizing truckers, workers and commuters across Ontario.

We’re taking action to make life more affordable for residents across the province and your riding.

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

Mr. Vincent Ke: Thank you to the parliamentary assistant for his response.

My follow-up question is also to the Minister of Finance.

Speaker, Ontarians are experiencing economic challenges due to the current high cost of living, and yet the federal government is adding more burdens that will cost an average Ontario family $1,674 in taxes, starting next Monday.

The 2024 budget has been presented already, on Tuesday. Can the minister further elaborate to highlight how this government is helping Ontarians weather these difficult times as it continues to work to bring about more economic stability, optimism and prosperity?

Mr. Stephen Crawford: I’m glad there are at least one or two independents over there who are against the carbon tax and the rising costs in the province of Ontario. Thank you for your advocacy in working for the people in your ridings.

The government of Ontario is committed to making life more affordable, and we’re going to stand, as we’ve continued to, to fight the federal carbon tax.

I just hope the other independents might take a lesson from that independent and stand with us against the carbon tax.

Taxation

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: My question is for the Associate Minister of Small Business.

The federal carbon tax is disproportionately affecting small businesses in our province. It is hindering investment, expansion and job creation.

To make matters worse, entrepreneurs in my riding of Markham–Thornhill tell me the federal government’s promised rebates are simply not offsetting increasing costs.

Mr. Speaker, unlike the opposition, our government has always known that the carbon tax only serves to punish hard-working entrepreneurs. That is why we have spoken out against this harmful tax from day one.

I know the associate minister has been busy meeting with small business owners across the province and listening to their concerns.

Could the associate minister tell us what the response has been to the carbon tax?

Hon. Nina Tangri: Thank you to the member for Markham–Thornhill for raising such an important question and his hard work for his constituents.

Speaker, I’ve heard a resounding response regarding the impact of the carbon tax. Business owners have expressed their frustrations with the increased costs associated with the tax, emphasizing how it affects their day-to-day operations and overall competitiveness. They’re saying it’s unfair that they pay the most and they get the least. In fact, they’re still waiting on the dedicated 10% of carbon tax revenues that small businesses and Indigenous groups were promised.

Speaker, the Liberals across the floor would like Ontario businesses to believe that they’re better off without the $1.3 billion that they’re owed. The Liberals and the NDP need a reality check. But unlike them, we won’t stop calling on Ottawa to do what’s right for our small businesses: Pay them back—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you. Supplementary question?

Mr. Logan Kanapathi: Thank you to the associate minister for that great response. Our government will always support the small businesses in Ontario that contribute significantly to our economy.

Speaker, general contractors, tradespeople, suppliers and site prep companies all have a critical role in building our province. Sadly, the carbon tax has been a nightmare for their industry. It is driving up the cost on the material and the fuel they need to create more housing. This is ridiculous. The federal government must cut the carbon tax so that small businesses can continue to do their important work and build Ontario.

Can the associate minister tell the House what impact the carbon tax has on small businesses in the construction industry?

Hon. Nina Tangri: Thank you again to the very hard-working member from Markham–Thornhill.

I also hear the serious concerns expressed by small businesses in the construction industry regarding the impacts of the carbon tax. The business owners who are in charge of building homes in this province and getting shovels in the ground while creating job opportunities say that thanks to the federal carbon tax, they’re paying more for the gas they need to get to the site and to move their materials.

Small businesses like Groupa Construction in Durham are saying, “This heavy tax will be on the backs of hard-working Canadians and our clients in residential and civil sectors.” That extra cost could mean a business must lay someone off to balance their books, or charge more to build homes, further driving up prices.

Speaker, the carbon tax is detrimental to every business in every sector. We will stand up for all Ontarians. Scrap the tax now.

Aggregate extraction

Ms. Sandy Shaw: This gove