Akshitha Puttur is the page captain today from Waterloo, and she is joined here today by her mother and her sister Aishwarya, who just participated in the federal-provincial government model.

Congratulations, and welcome to your House.

I’d like to welcome some guests from the township of Stirling-Rawdon. On behalf of myself and MPP Bresee, we’d like to welcome: Dean Graff, one of the councillors there; Caroline Smith, also a councillor; and their guest, Karen West.

Caroline Smith ran the Stirling theatre for years, and it’s great that she has the opportunity to see some political theatre here this morning.

I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to welcome not one but two constituents from Ottawa West–Nepean today. We have with us Melodie Gondek, who is with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ District 25 and does great work on behalf of students in Ottawa, and Maria Sardelis, who is an advocate for seniors and people with disabilities. Welcome.

They’re not here in the House, but I know they’re watching this morning. I welcome them to Toronto—my grandson Greyson Uhryn as well as Chase Uhryn.

Thanks for the cookies and milk this morning.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome, from the Access to Seniors and Disabled advocacy group, Maria Sardelis from Ottawa and Cherie Vandevenne from Chatham. Thank you for coming.

I would also like to welcome, from Congress of Union Retirees of Canada, Lance Livingstone and Ron Vanderwalker.

Thank you so much for your advocacy.

The supplementary question.

If I were the opposition, this is probably not a path I would walk down, and the reason is, because you have voted against every single measure we have taken to help the people of Ontario.

Let’s take a look at what the government of Ontario has done to help the people of Ontario. We have reduced energy costs so families can afford reliable energy. We have kept transit affordable by removing doubling fares and extending fare integration. We are supporting parents with 46,000 new child care spaces since we took office, saving parents, on average, $8,500. We are also helping post-secondary students with a 10% tuition freeze, which the opposition has opposed. Importantly, we’ve also brought in the most important tax credit in the history of Ontario: the LIFT tax credit, lowering taxes for lower-income individuals.

Where was the opposition when we brought these proposals forward?

However, we have made initiatives to help the people of Ontario. We put through a gas tax cut just last year and extended it through this year, for 5.7 cents a litre. Again, if I recall, the opposition voted against that. That is helping every single family in this province, every single business lower costs—bring inflation down, and help people to be able to feed their families, and help those businesses.

We’ve also, in this most recent budget, helped low-income seniors by expanding the GAINS program.

We’ve also increased ODSP payments by 5%—as well as expanding the number of people who are eligible for this program.

We will continue supporting the people of Ontario.

We’re seeing record employment growth, record business investment, and the people of Ontario are on a good trajectory right now.

Back to the minister: Let’s be crystal clear—here are the numbers from the border to Beamsville: 16 schools have closed their nutrition program, 30 more are projected to close, and 49 have been affected. We are facing a $400,000 shortfall.

We all know food prices are going up and affordability is down, but this is not an excuse to let children go hungry.

I need a response from the minister that puts these children first. I need to hear these words: “This is not okay. I am going to look into it.”

To the minister: Will you commit to assessing this program, and will you commit to emergency funding so children in Niagara do not go hungry?

My question is to the Premier.

Children in Niagara are going hungry at school under this government’s watch. Niagara Nutrition Partners, which provides breakfast, snacks and lunches to students, have been forced to close nutrition programs at 16 schools, with nearly 50 more being affected. They face a significant funding gap from the province as food prices soar. Students can’t learn and thrive when hungry. They have gone from feeding 17,000 kids to 24,000 kids a day. It’s shameful that this government will allow such a reality for children in the province.

Will the Premier follow the lead of other provinces across the country and provide the necessary emergency funding so that children in Niagara don’t go hungry?

I also should have highlighted yesterday—and the member from Sudbury would know this—that earlier this year, we actually gave that particular hospice over $2 million. Why? Because we saw the need. We saw the excellent work that they were doing. We saw the pressures that they were under as a result of ongoing commitments that they have within their community to ensure that that hospice can continue to provide excellent service.

Speaker, in our health document, we actually talk about expansions to hospice and palliative care. We, as a government, have made that commitment and will continue to make that commitment, because we understand and appreciate how important palliative and hospice are in our province, and continue to be.

Another fable by the New Democratic Party is being told in the Legislature this morning.

Through you, Speaker: She talks about public commitment for housing. Well, Minister Bethlenfalvy, under the leadership of Premier Ford, tabled a wonderful budget—

We added $202 million to our Homelessness Prevention Program. And I want to thank members from both sides of the House for doing some great announcements last week—in fact, one of the ones was the member for Niagara West, who made a fantastic announcement that the member for Niagara Falls was pleased to attend. So some of her own members are celebrating the public commitment this government has made to ending homelessness by adding that additional $202 million. I don’t know about the Leader of the Opposition, but some of her members have got with the program.

Members will please take their seats.

To reply, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

To reply, the parliamentary assistant and member for Oakville.

And I’ll remind the members to make their comments through the Chair.

The response?

Yesterday, my colleague the member for Sudbury stood in this House and told us that a hospice in his riding is having to rely on a food bank and fundraisers in order to feed its residents. This government responded by bragging about generous individual donations. It’s almost as though this government wants Ontarians to think that it’s perfectly normal for a hospice, where people go for end-of-life care, to have to rely on a food bank so its residents don’t go hungry in their final days. Speaker, my question is to the Premier, and it’s a simple one: Does this government think that is acceptable?

I’ve been travelling around this province listening to ordinary Ontarians, and what I’ve been seeing is shocking—people working full-time jobs who can’t get by, people visiting food banks for the first time. One in 14 families in the Waterloo region—in Vaughan–Woodbridge, 36% of food bank visitors were children; in Kawartha Lakes, it’s 50%. In Mississauga, food bank use is up 400% over the last eight years.

Speaker, food banks have asked this government to tackle the root causes of food insecurity, yet the most recent budget provides almost nothing.

Will this government bring in measures like real rent control to make life more affordable for ordinary Ontarians?

Interjections.

I wish this government would spend less time in the backrooms and more time talking to real people in this province who are really struggling right now.

I was recently in Northumberland county, where a single person on Ontario Works has to spend as much as 50% of their very limited income on food, at a time when housing costs there and across this province are going through the roof.

Food banks were created as a temporary measure. They’re supposed to be a band-aid solution, and now we have way too many people relying on them just to be able to survive.

To the Premier: Will this government immediately double OW and ODSP rates to get people the relief they need, so people do not go hungry in the province of Ontario?

Interjections.

I regret to inform the minister that she really should have consulted some of her senior officials, because Meals on Wheels Ottawa, Meals on Wheels elsewhere aren’t reporting any increases in their budget—are there?

Interjection: Nope.

You have to ask the question: Why is this government defunding Meals on Wheels? Why is this government wanting to push people into the arms of the grocery store chains that are ripping people off with price gouging on bread, milk and other essentials? Could it be because this Premier is personal friends with the Weston family? Could it be because this Premier once said, “God bless the Weston family”? Is that why—

Interjections.

I just want to ask the Premier, why is he favouring profits for Loblaws over funding for Meals on Wheels?

I want to thank the member from Oakville North–Burlington. She’s a school building machine—five schools in four years. Amazing. She’s a strong advocate for the people of Oakville North–Burlington.

Mr. Speaker, while in Halton region we have wonderful municipal partners to work with us to get schools built in anywhere between one to three years, in many of our communities it takes upwards of a decade to build a school. That’s going to come to an end.

The Premier is committed to getting on with streamlining and overhauling our capital approval process so we build where the growth is.

We have 300,000 people, according to federal immigration targets, coming next year and every year.

We have to work harder and smarter to build better for our kids.

This plan in the legislation allows us to streamline approvals, enables joint-use projects with community, allows school boards to work together and collaborate to share their assets for educational purposes. It enables us to build through a $14-billion capital plan to renew schools and build new schools for the future.

Ukrainians are fleeing a war zone due to Vladimir Putin’s genocidal war—an illegal war that has created so much impact on so many people around the world.

Canada has opened our arms, Ontario has opened our arms, and in our education system, through the most recent funding announcement, we have reaffirmed to school boards that we will fund every Ukrainian child who comes through our country to have free, publicly funded education. We are extending subsidies and daycare for their mothers, their parents and guardians. We are ensuring mental health supports in their language through a partnership with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. We are working together to make sure that those children who have faced so much trauma and affliction have the supports and the confidence that they can succeed in this country.

My question is for the Minister of Education.

Over the past decade, Ontario’s population has grown rapidly. This means that more families now call Ontario home, and more children have enrolled into our publicly funded education system.

The previous Liberal government failed to plan for the future and shamefully closed 600 schools at a time when they should have addressed the growth in our province.

I am hearing concerns from parents about the importance of their children being able to attend a school near them. Families are counting on our government to take action when it comes to providing top-quality schools for their children.

Can the minister please explain how our government is ensuring that new and existing schools will address future growth needs?

Strong public education and a sustainable school infrastructure system are fundamental in meeting the needs of growing communities like mine in Oakville North–Burlington and across Ontario.

Across our province, many communities continue to welcome and embrace Ukrainian refugees who are fleeing persecution and war in their home country. In our local schools, Ukrainian children have been welcomed into classrooms, where they are receiving a top-quality education in communities that they now call home.

Can the minister please explain how our government is supporting our schools to provide a safe and welcoming environment for Ukrainian children and their families?

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member that not a single child or youth will ever be forgotten under this government—that’s why.

I’ll be very clear: Under the previous government, the Student Nutrition Program was just receiving support and investment of over $8 million; today, that amount is $27.9 million.

The member is asking for action. I told her from day one that I will work night and day to make sure that every single program that’s being offered to the people of this province is at its best, and every day we’ll make sure that it’s improved. I ask the honourable member to join us.

The cost of living is rising. Why are they supporting a carbon tax that adds a cost to every single thing in this province?

Interjections.

Once again, I remind members to make their comments through the Chair.

There’s a great deal of enthusiasm in the House this morning on both sides. We have 45 minutes to go.

Restart the clock.

Next question.

I’m going to caution the member on his use of language, first of all, because of the reactions it caused in the House, and remind members that it is in the standing orders that we should not impute motives.

I will allow the member to conclude his question.

With food inflation at 10%, this government has given Meals on Wheels in Ottawa just a 2% increase and taken away their emergency subsidies. As a result, on April 1, Meals on Wheels had to increase prices. For their lowest-income clients, prices increased over 300%. Seniors, people with disabilities, and patients just released from the hospital depend on these meals for nutritious food. But since the price increase, some of Ottawa’s most vulnerable residents have had to cancel their meals.

Why is this government making vulnerable people go without food instead of providing community organizations like Meals on Wheels with decent support?