Once again, I’d like to welcome Michau van Speyk to the House. And up in the gallery, I see the former mayor of Hamilton, Larry Di Ianni. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Bonjour. Good morning, Speaker. Speaker, today we have members from Achēv who are visiting us today for their Queen’s Park advocacy day. Achēv is a not-for-profit that began 30 years ago, and they have grown to become one of the largest providers of employment and newcomer, youth, language and women’s services across the GTA. Joining us today in the gallery are CEO Tonie Chaltas; senior vice-presidents Moya MacKinnon and Karen McNeil; chair of the board Epsit Jajal; and head of government relations Kristen Neagle. They will be hosting a reception this evening in rooms 228 and 230, and I invite all members to join us for this wonderful event. Welcome.

Good morning, everyone. I am very proud to introduce some residents from the wonderful riding of Etobicoke–Lakeshore: Cole, who is our page captain today; his proud parents, Allan Okrainec and Joelene Huber, who are here; his sister Madison and his grandmother Gabrielle; and some friends and neighbours, Alicia Markson and Julia Markson, who was a page in 2022. Welcome to Queen’s Park today.

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.

I’d love the opportunity to be able to speak about the 43 acres of public park space that we will be creating at Ontario Place for families to finally enjoy. The government is entering into a long-term lease, but we cannot ignore the fact that they will be providing $500 million worth of capital investment on the site, including 12 acres of land.

I would love to highlight some of the successes through the negotiations that Infrastructure Ontario has had with our tenants. For the first time, we will have our tenants contributing to the repair and ongoing maintenance of the public realm space so that we don’t make the same mistake that previous governments have made and leave the site in disrepair. We will have wonderful tenants that will be contributing to the annual maintenance of the site to make sure that it is clean, safe and beautiful for families.

But, Mr. Speaker, our tenants will be contributing $500 million of injection to the site to bring it back to life and they will also be contributing to annual maintenance and repair costs, which has not happened before and which has led to the position that we are in today, where the site is in disrepair and in need of love and care.

Our government presented a vision to the people back in 2019 and again just last week. We will have 43 acres of beautiful public realm space. We will have three wonderful tenants, which include the science centre, and we will have lots for families to do on the site.

Thank you to the minister for that great answer and for your work, because I was so excited to see that on Saturday. The creation of the first urban provincial park in Uxbridge is a monumental achievement, particularly for those residing in the greater Toronto area.

With more and more individuals and families attending our provincial parks, it is necessary that our government respond and expand opportunities for access. Not only do Ontario parks serve a vital role in supporting scientific research and protecting our province’s biodiversity, they also provide recreational activities, tourism and so much more.

Speaker, can the minister please elaborate on plans for this proposed park and how it will benefit Ontario?

Speaker, can the minister please explain what actions our government is taking to help businesses remain competitive?

I would like to take the opportunity today to welcome my constituency office manager, Mariana Ghobrial. She has been with us for three years. This is the first time she’s visiting Queen’s Park. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I think everyone in this House can agree that all of us are here because of our amazing volunteers. I’d like to welcome some volunteers from my riding today: Samantha Kesar, David Newbury, Saroj Gandhi, Keith Fleming—two of whom are now constituency staff in my office. Welcome to Queen’s Park.