I’ll continue if there are no objections.

I’d like to welcome a good friend and school trustee for Willowdale, Dr. Pei, to the Legislature this morning.

I too would like to welcome Mr. Alan Lam and Angela Chan from the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto. Welcome.

I’m not sure if he’s here yet, but I would like to welcome Tim Peterson, the former MPP for Mississauga South from 2003 to 2007, as well as his colleagues from Probus Canada. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Here is another thing that this government is trying to convince Ontarians of: They’ve put a lot of effort into trying to convince Ontarians that building luxury mansions on expensive sprawl is the solution to our housing crisis. They’re even ordering municipalities to create more sprawl on prime farmland. They’re risking regions’ drinking water.

The truth is that no one out there is buying it. No one thinks that bulldozing species at risk or adding to municipal servicing costs and driving up property taxes is going to get a single affordable home built.

Speaker, my question is to the Premier. How will lower density and more sprawl make housing more affordable to Ontarians?

As rents are reaching all-time highs and corporate landlords are turning record profits, you know who aren’t affected? Those who live in co-operative housing. Co-op residents don’t have to worry about excessive rent increases because co-ops are non-profit. Co-ops are a key solution to solving the affordability crisis for low- and moderate-income households in this province, the people who are feeling the very real effects of this government’s housing crisis. Yet this government’s budget offers absolutely nothing to create more affordable co-op homes.

To the Premier, will he reverse course on his failing housing plan and start investing in co-operative housing to bring some relief to Ontarians who are truly struggling?

Interjections.

They do not seem to even understand history, Speaker. The last time a government made investments in co-op housing in this province, it was an NDP government. We helped build 14,000 co-op homes. And do you know what, Speaker? We readied 17,000 additional homes for construction, and, guess what, the Conservatives came in and they cancelled them all—17,000 affordable places to live, all gone.

But let’s look at the here and the now. If this government still refuses to build more co-op housing, the least they could do is to bring back real rent control for the people of this province.

Speaker, back to the Premier: People need homes they can actually afford to live in. So will he take action by supporting the NDP’s motion today to bring back real rent control?

Interjections.

Again, the leader of the opposition provides a real head-scratching argument on housing. Every time the government brings forward a housing supply action plan, we know exactly what that leader and the NDP are going to do: They’re going to vote against it. Then, they’re going to rail against that there’s not enough housing supply.

Again, when they use the word “sprawl,” what does that mean? That means that a young couple who want to live in the community that they grew up in, that they work in, that they want to raise their family in can’t have that opportunity.

They also believe that a farm family who wants to have an opportunity to maybe build a site for their workers on their property or maybe—and this is tough for the NDP to understand—sever a lot for their son or daughter to live on the family farm—that’s the crux of what the NDP stands up against.

What do they also stand up against? They stand up to a $700-million investment in homelessness—

Interjection.

Interjections.

Interjections.

So what have our policies done? They protected tenants who are under existing rent control, just like we promised in the 2018 budget.

But what’s happened to new rental construction? We need more affordable rental supply. What’s happened, Speaker? In 2021, a 30-year high in purpose-built rental construction; in 2022, the most rental construction starts in our province’s history. And in 2023, our province is staying on track with over 5,000 purpose-built rental starts already this year, which is double last year’s total. We want to build upon that success. We don’t want to go back to the failed policies that that member and her party continue to talk about.

To reply, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Supplementary question.

Start the clock. Final supplementary?

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Thank you to the member of the official opposition. Mr. Speaker, I’d love to share what I hear from constituents across this great province, including constituents in Etobicoke, Scarborough and in Toronto. What they tell me is that they do not like the fact that this site is sitting there empty and not enjoyed by families like it was back in the 1970s and 1980s. They want to bring their families there. They want to bring people who are visiting the city there. They want it to be a place of economic development, a wonderful place for families.

Mr. Speaker, beyond the 43 acres of free public realm space, we are also making sure that we have a modern marina for people to enjoy. We are making sure that there are boardwalks, food and beverage, piers and beaches. This site now, with the plans that we showed last week, will have something for everyone to enjoy.

My question is to the Premier. Nikki has lived in a rental home for two years. She pays $1,995 for a 600-square-foot basement apartment. Earlier this month, her landlord slapped her with a $200 rent increase, and now Nikki can no longer afford to pay the rent. This unaffordable rent increase is allowed because this government scrapped rent control on new units.

As more and more people in Ontario are struggling to pay the rent, what is this government’s plan to make rent affordable now?

To reply, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

To respond, the Associate Minister of Housing.

Supplementary question.

I’m going to again talk about the statistics that the NDP want to roll back: 2021, 30-year high rental construction; 2022, most rental starts in the history of our province; 2023, already we’ve seen 5,000 rental starts, double what they were last year. These are the stats that our government and our party are going to move forward.

The NIMBYism-defence parties are always going to stand against increasing housing supply.

But, Speaker, I have to take the opportunity with this member, because he and his party continue to vote against our measures which would incentivize the development community to get shovels in the ground faster. Exactly what our government has put forward would do what this member wants and he votes against it, so I’m not sure how he rationalizes that back home—

Interjections.

The NDP will always—and I mean this—stand up for more fees, more charges, more taxes on non-profit housing, co-op housing, affordable housing, attainable housing. Every single time, you guys haven’t seen a tax that you don’t like.

Back to the Premier: It is alarming to learn that Toronto’s average rent price has passed the $3,000-a-month barrier for the first time ever, approximately 13.8% up from the previous year. This is shocking. This massive rent spike is a clear distress signal that our housing affordability crisis is getting worse and the Conservatives’ plan is not working.

The NDP is bringing forward a motion this afternoon to bring in real rent control on all homes to provide immediate financial relief to Ontarians, 1.5 million renter households. My question is to the Premier: Will this government support our motion?

Interjections.

Through you, Speaker, to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing: There’s a housing development in Port Colborne, a city in my riding, that was approved in the 1980s and they still haven’t broken ground. As a matter of fact, the Regional Planning Commissioners of Ontario, AMO and Ontario’s Big City Mayors have all pointed out that there are 1.25 million homes in the approval pipeline that are not being built. Planners say if the province could incentivize developers to build what is already approved, they’d be 85% of the way to their goal. Will the minister agree to implement a reasonable time limit on developers and builders whose developments have already been approved, yes or no?

Will this minister stop blaming municipalities, do what is fair and implement a sunset clause on approvals so that developers and builders must build housing in a reasonable period of time after they’ve been approved, yes or no?

I want to thank the great work of the MPP from Elgin–Middlesex–London. I always say he’s one of the smartest business minds down at Queen’s Park. Thank you.

It took about 16 ministries; it took a big chunk of the province right across the board to get this deal done, to make sure that we’re competitive with the rest of the world, no matter if it’s our US friends down south of the border, or Asia, or Europe, or South America. We’re in a competitive market, but we made sure we rolled out the red carpet, creating 3,000 jobs.

The real amazing story about this is the spin-off jobs, 30,000 extra jobs. No matter if it’s an additional school or hospital or roads or bridges or a Walmart or a Costco, these are the reciprocal jobs that are coming to St. Thomas. St. Thomas has seen some very tough times, when they lost 5,000 jobs. Now their town is going to be absolutely booming. That will have spin-off jobs in London and Elgin and the whole region.

Let’s remind everyone of four and a half years ago, when the Liberals and the NDP chased 300,000 jobs out of the province. They were gone. GM was closing. Ford was leaving. Stellantis was leaving.

Guess what, Mr. Speaker? We’re an economic powerhouse. We’re leading the EV revolution everywhere in the world right here in Ontario.

My question, through you, sir, is to the Premier, but first I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Premier, the Minister of Economic Development, the Minister of Labour and the Minister of Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs for coming to St. Thomas and making an historic announcement to better Ontario.

Under the previous Liberal government, Ontario’s auto manufacturing sector was all but destroyed because of the reckless economic policies they implemented. As far back as 2015, the CEO of Fiat Chrysler warned everyone that the short-sighted and destructive policies of the Liberals and the NDP were hurting our auto industry, causing good-paying jobs to flee our province. Companies like Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford were raising concerns, so they opted to build assembly plants in the US and Mexico instead of Windsor and Essex.

With so much that Ontario has to offer businesses, we cannot miss opportunities that will create great jobs and contribute to our province’s economic prosperity. Speaker, can the Premier please explain how our government is ensuring that Ontario is an auto manufacturing leader once again?

This investment made by Volkswagen is truly historic, and it sends a clear and definitive message that we are back in business in southwestern Ontario. I want to make the point that sustainable jobs matter to the people of Ontario, and it is the leadership and actions of government that make a difference by creating the environment for business to create jobs and succeed.

Speaker, can the Premier please elaborate on how our government is continuing to support our auto manufacturing sector in our great province?

I want to thank the member opposite for her question. It’s this government that stands shoulder to shoulder with our tenants across Ontario. We’re the only government that has taken decisive measures to strengthen protections for renters, whilst also putting in place measures for more rental housing. We’ve heard about the record purpose-built rentals.

But I want to take us back a little bit, to the dark days of the early 1990s, when we remember when the people of Ontario entrusted the NDP for one term to run this government. They had a majority, and what did they do? Let’s talk about rentals. The rental guideline in 1990 was 4.6%—

Interjections.

Interjections.

My question is to the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. I want to start by thanking him for his tireless and dogged determination for getting the Volkswagen deal across the line. Well done, sir.

As we have heard many times in this House, before this government got elected, our auto and manufacturing sectors were in deep, deep trouble. Hundreds of thousands of auto and manufacturing jobs fled the province thanks to the previous government, leaving Ontario unprepared to lead the charge on the future of electric vehicles. That is why we are laser-focused on rebuilding the province’s auto and manufacturing sectors by attracting investments, all the while creating good, long-term, sustainable jobs.

Last Friday, our government announced further details of the historic Volkswagen investment in my riding of Elgin–Middlesex–London. Will the minister provide an update on the Volkswagen deal?

These investments are building our strong economy and bolstering competitiveness, which is vital to our success. But beyond that, these investments demonstrate that our government continues to create good-paying, sustainable jobs now and in the future.

Speaker, will the minister please elaborate on what the Volkswagen investment means not only to the people of my riding of Elgin–Middlesex–London, but to all the people of this great province?

It was a thrill to hear Volkswagen announce their $7-billion investment for their first overseas EV battery manufacturing plant right here in Ontario. From our very first meeting in Toronto a year ago this month to the four meetings they had in Queen’s Park with Premier Ford, we knew that Ontario had everything VW was looking for.

As we talked about our EV ecosystem, from critical minerals in the north to the manufacturing might in the south, you could see VW being drawn into the Ontario story: clean, green electricity; coal-free, green steel; one of the largest automakers in North America; the only jurisdiction with five auto plants; 700 parts companies; 300 connected-and-autonomous-vehicle companies; 500 tool-and-die and mould makers. But what they really saw was that we already have the talent to turn out world-class, award-winning production.

We felt encouraged about where we were with the deal when Volkswagen effectively moved into our offices last January. And winning it, Speaker? There’s just no better feeling than that, so thank you, Premier Ford. It was the culmination of a lot of work, a lot of shoe leather, and a lot of sweat equity by a lot of partners.

Ontario now has $25 billion in new auto investment in two and a half years.

Thank you to the member for the question. I appreciate the member’s question very much, because it was this government that led the way in terms of tying housing with transit construction. We are expanding the subway system by 50% in the city of Toronto and York region. We want to bring housing opportunities with it, which led to the creation of the Transit-Oriented Communities Program, which we are now very much focusing on the transit stations on the Ontario Line, on Yonge North. We will be providing housing opportunities but also affordable and attainable housing models as well, and we are working with local communities to learn from them what other community needs exist within that particular area.

We are working very well with the city of Toronto. We are progressing on all of our stations and we will continue to work in partnership with Metrolinx.

By no means. We’re actually increasing the greenbelt. The greenbelt has grown under our administration.

Let me just talk about the economic development. Mr. Speaker, we have 445,000 people who landed in Ontario, the fastest-growing region anywhere in North America. We’re seeing unprecedented growth. The reason we’re seeing unprecedented growth: We’ve created that environment, the climate for companies to invest. Every single day, my Minister of Economic Development gives me a list three pages long of these massive companies coming here.

Guess what, Mr. Speaker? We need homes for them to live in. It’s very simple economics, folks, that the NDP don’t understand. It’s business sense. It’s called supply and demand. When there’s a greater demand and not the supply, prices go up.

We’re going to create the supply. We’re going to make sure we build the 1.5 million homes for newcomers and people who are here who need a home. That’s what we’re going to do.