Questions? The member from Toronto–Danforth.

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

Good morning, Mr. Speaker. I would like to warmly welcome members of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, located in my riding: chairman Alan Lam, president Angela Chan, and staff Simon Ip and Alice Qiao.

I have two more important people. Mr. Speaker, I’m very happy to introduce Ganapathy Raveendran and his spouse, Ruby, from Yugam Radio. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

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.

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.

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.

I would like to ask the member opposite, who sat on city council for many years, why the city didn’t lead the way in building a TOC program. It was this government that led the way in terms of tying housing to transit development opportunities across the city of Toronto and Yonge North.

Mr. Speaker, we are making great progress. We are building more housing, including attainable and affordable housing opportunities along our subway line, but we’re not stopping there. We are doing a very thorough analysis of all of our GO stations within the greater Toronto and Hamilton area to see where other opportunities exist.

We announced East Harbour, for example, as well as Mimico. Mimico, actually, was a station that the former previous government spoke about but never got done.

Mr. Speaker, this was a government in action, and we will build housing and community benefits that come along with it.

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?

My question is for the President of the Treasury Board and emergency management. I want to talk a little bit about a community he knows well, the community of Brampton, Ontario. Now, we know that Brampton is a community that is simply tired of waiting. We’re tired of waiting, whether it’s in the hospital waiting room after 15 years of neglect where they closed hospitals under the previous Liberal government. We’re tired of waiting in traffic where progressive politicians have continually voted against bypass highways for our city in favour of downtown Toronto environmental interests. But when this government got elected, the residents of Brampton have a reason to wait no longer. We have help on the way.

Can the President of the Treasury Board please tell the residents what we’re doing to get it done for Brampton families?

Mr. Saunderson moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill Pr21, An Act to revive 1105954 Ontario Limited.

I move that, whereas there is a cost-of-living crisis in Ontario; and

Whereas the cost of rent has increased to more than 50% of the take-home income for many Ontario households; and

Whereas the removal of all rent control from homes first occupied after 2018 has exposed tenants to unaffordable double-digit rent increases; and

Whereas the ability to increase rent between tenancies accelerates the rising cost of rent and incentivizes illegal evictions; and

Whereas housing is a human right;

Therefore, the Legislative Assembly calls on the government to implement rent control on all units, including between tenancies.

I have been travelling around the province, and here’s what I can tell you: In big cities, small towns, rural and urban communities all across this province, Ontarians are hurting from a historic cost-of-living increase.

En début de semaine, le Toronto Star a rapporté que les loyers dans la région du grand Toronto ont atteint 3 000 $ pour la première fois au cours du premier trimestre de cette année. Il s’agit du sixième trimestre consécutif au cours duquel les loyers de la région de Toronto ont connu des augmentations à deux chiffres d’une année sur l’autre. Trois mille par mois, c’est plus qu’inabordable; c’est alarmant et anormal.

This is not just about Toronto or the GTA; it’s happening all across this province. Pour de nombreux Ontariens, le loyer représente 50 % ou plus de leur revenu mensuel net—50% or more of their rent, and I can tell you in many cases it’s far more. Telle est la réalité de la crise du logement de l’Ontario.

Young working professionals, families and seniors are being pushed out of their communities—communities that have their support networks, their friends and families—and forced into smaller and smaller units, simply to be able to put a roof over their heads.

De plus en plus de personnes se retrouvent sans logement. La vérité est que la crise du logement en Ontario et la réalité à laquelle les Ontariens sont confrontés sont complètement ignorées par ce gouvernement. Ils sont déconnectés et n’ont aucune idée de ce à quoi la population de l’Ontario est confrontée.

The truth is that Ontario’s housing crisis and the reality that regular Ontarians are facing is completely being ignored by this government. They are out of touch, and they have no idea what the people of this province are facing. When the Ford government took over in 2018, they made it easier to increase rent between tenancies, further incentivizing illegal evictions and accelerating the already rising cost of housing. They actually took away rent control for newer units.

The Ontario NDP has put forward and continues to put forward practical, proven solutions that will help Ontarians as the province faces this housing crisis. We’ve called for ending exclusionary zoning—it’s an obvious one—investing in construction of affordable homes, and putting an end to speculation from rich or greedy developers taking advantage of the crisis that we are facing and that is making it impossible for Ontarians to find a safe place to live.

Nicole, a tenant in my community, pays almost two grand for a basement apartment, but it’s in a community that she loves, close to her family and friends. But because of Ontario’s lax rules when it comes to rent control, she and many of her fellow community members are seeing $200-to-$300 increases—an almost 10% increase. People are being forced out of their communities because of skyrocketing, out-of-control rent hikes.

Cette situation n’est pas viable. Ce gouvernement parle constamment de la croissance de la province et de la nécessité d’augmenter le nombre de logements. Pourtant, il ne s’attaque pas à certains des problèmes fondamentaux qui sont au coeur de cette crise de l’accessibilité au logement.

Instead, their failing housing policies only seek to line the pockets of wealthy developers and insiders. We see it again and again and again.

We are calling for a practical and achievable solution to start addressing the housing crisis in this province. Implement rent control on all units, including between tenancies. It’s one simple and practical but ultimately important solution to help make sure that no one else in Ontario is rendered homeless or in poverty as they struggle to afford a place to live. It’s really not too much to ask. People in this province are struggling. This is a solution that would help so many out there.

We don’t introduce these motions lightly. We know that what we are putting forward is doable. That’s why we bring it forward. We expected—we hoped—the government would come forward in their budget with something like this, that would actually help people at a time when they’re really struggling.

I can tell you, Speaker, everywhere I go in this province, as I said at the beginning, in every corner of this province, this is a crisis. I mentioned it before: I go to one small community and they say, “You think the housing crisis is bad over there? No, no, no, it’s worse right here.” I go to another community and they say, “They think they’ve got it bad? You should see what it’s like here.” From North Bay to Barrie, from Timmins to Welland to Brampton to Ottawa and everywhere in between, people in this province are struggling.

This is something tangible that this government could do right now to help so many people who are falling behind. Ontario does deserve a government that supports them when times get tough. They deserve for everyone in this chamber to be supporting this motion.

With that, I urge the government to support this motion and help so many Ontarians who are falling behind.

Yes—as we take decisive measures to strengthen tenant protections and remedies. That’s why Ontario’s rental housing starts so far this year are more than double the amount the same time last year.

That’s why Ontario is becoming the number one jurisdiction for businesses, for jobs, and for newcomers, with more active cranes in the skies of Toronto right now than there are in New York, Chicago, LA, Washington, DC, Seattle, and San Francisco combined.

But the NDP and Liberals would rather drag us back to the past. They would rather table legislation adding more red tape to delay, obstruct and oppose our progress.

In closing, our government is committed to ensuring the well-being of the people of Ontario and making sure that tenants and landlords are treated fairly. We’ll continue to look for ways to make homes more attainable for hard-working Ontarians, while making it easier to build more houses and rental units to address the ongoing supply crisis. This work is critical because we know that when communities and residents thrive, Ontario thrives.

I just want to say something really quick about our leader, who brought this forward. This issue isn’t just about the GTA; let’s be clear about that. It’s happening in Niagara.

To the member over there who stood up and talked about rents—through the Speaker: Nobody in the province of Ontario should be charged $3,003 to rent a place in Toronto. It’s not affordable.

To this member over here—wherever he’s from; I have no idea who he is or where he’s from—he talked about closing hospitals. Let’s be clear: It was a PC government, under Mike Harris, that closed 26 hospitals and laid off 6,000 nurses. I just want to clarify that because he brought up closing hospitals.

I want to talk about Niagara. In Niagara—and this should bring tears to our eyes—we have seniors who are being renovicted. They end up living in hotel rooms on Lundy’s Lane, one-bedroom apartments, when they’ve given their entire life to this province—their entire life. The reason I have the quality of life I have is because of my parents and their parents and their grandparents. Yet what are we doing? We’re forcing them to live in one-bedroom apartments on Lundy’s Lane because they can’t afford rent in the province of Ontario. They can’t afford their groceries in the province of Ontario. They’re choosing whether to pay rent or to have groceries, or to skip breakfast or skip lunch. We’re supposed to be proud of that. Well, I’m not proud of that—I absolutely am not.

I’m not proud of the guy who runs most of the grocery stores, who’s making record profits instead of taking that and putting it back in to reduce the price of groceries.

Our country—whether it be Canada or the United States—was built on sharing the wealth, so when the rich got rich, they shared it in the form of better benefits and better wages so people can live and pay their rent.

I guarantee you, there aren’t people in Toronto who can afford $3,003 for an apartment.

In Niagara Falls, it’s a 20-year wait-list for a one-bedroom apartment—20 years. In Fort Erie, which is part of my riding, do you know how long it is? It’s 13 years for a one-bedroom apartment.

I said to you guys that it should bring tears to your eyes. We have my critic for veterans right beside me. You know that we have veterans in Niagara Falls today—although our Legions are doing an incredible job trying to take care of them, to make sure they’re taken care of, they’re dying in the streets of Niagara Falls because they’re homeless and they can’t afford their rents.

We talk about rent and rent control. It’s what we need in the province of Ontario to take care of our seniors, our veterans, our young families, our new Canadians.

I have a question to the member opposite that was similar to a question my colleague from Ottawa Centre had posed to my colleague from Oshawa, and it was around P3s. So we’re talking about reducing red tape or eliminating red tape, but what we have consistently seen with this Conservative government is transit projects, especially those here in Toronto, are way over schedule and way, way, way over budget. So I’m wondering where in this bill and where in government policy is the accountability? Where is the accountability to the taxpayers to ensure that when you hand over a P3 project—no surprise, we don’t support those over here, and for good reason, because they go over time and over budget with absolutely no recourse and no accountability.

So I’m wondering where in this bill does it bring back that accountability to the people of the province of Ontario who are actually paying for these contracts that are costing them even more through their taxes. Where is that accountability in this bill, or when will you be bringing a bill forward that does that?