It’s an honour today to recognize page Frederick Funk—he’s from Guelph—and to welcome his parents, Elisha and Justin Funk, who are in the west members’ gallery, to Queen’s Park.

Thank you for your service. Thank you for being such great parents to a wonderful page.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome a good friend of mine who’s here visiting Queen’s Park for the first time: Jennifer McGill from Port Hope.

And I send a special welcome to Tim from Colborne.

In recognition of Sikh Heritage Month, the Ontario Sikh and Gurudwara Council is celebrating Sikh Heritage Month at Queen’s Park today in room 228, sponsored by myself and supported by MPPs Tangri, Gill, Sandhu and Sarkaria. We’d like everybody in the House to join. It’s happening from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. today.

Mr. Speaker, I’d ask that everybody in the House give a warm welcome to Evelyn Murialdo and the Scadding Court Community Centre Latin seniors’ group, who are attending question period this morning and then meeting with you, the Speaker, for lunch and going on a tour of Queen’s Park.

Would you all please join me in giving a round of applause to the Scadding Court group?

I’d like to welcome my friend from North Bay, Gordan Rennie.

As you know, the OHL playoffs are well on their way, and last night, my Peterborough Petes defeated the Ottawa 67’s. I have bets with three members here in the House.

I would seek unanimous consent for the member for Ottawa South to wear my white-and-maroon away jersey, the member for Ottawa Centre to wear my maroon-and-white home jersey, and the member for Carleton to wear my black-and-maroon third jersey in question period today.

I beg to inform the House that, pursuant to standing order 9(g), 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. Therefore, the afternoon routine on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, shall commence at 1 p.m.

The member for Peterborough–Kawartha, I believe, has a point of order.

Laughter.

Introduction of visitors.

I’d like to welcome the team, the students and the teachers from Prestige private school. They are now having a tour, and they will be joining us in question period.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

It is an honour to recognize some students who are here with us today from Ontario Tech University’s humanities society. Welcome to Alexandra Sanita, Tamara Talhouk, Kyli Jenkins, and Dryden Arseneau. The future is bright with these young people here with us today.

I’m proud to welcome members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Canada to Queen’s Park, whose motto is “Love for All, Hatred for None,” and who are hosting a special Eid celebration here today at 5 p.m., in room 230. Thank you to their president, Lal Khan Malik, director Asif Khan, Ashfaq Ahmed, Naseem Shad, Nadeem Mahmood, and other friends for organizing this event. I encourage everyone to join.

Our government is saving the science centre. We are giving it a new home at the Ontario Place redevelopment. It will be a new tenant there. It will be an attraction for families, for tourists, for everyone to enjoy.

The Premier was very clear this morning, when he was questioned by the media, that we will continue to work with the city of Toronto on both the Ontario Place redevelopment as well as the lands where the science centre sits, and we will do that.

Thanks for the question from the Leader for the Opposition.

I’d also—I don’t know if he’s here—like to thank Mr. Aliu, chairman of Hockey Diversity Alliance, for the work that he has done in building and supporting communities that haven’t had an opportunity to participate in hockey, by funding. We, as a ministry, are thankful and happy to support what he is doing.

I will also tell you, specifically, as a guy who has been involved in sport for a long time—I coached rep hockey and rep football—I take these allegations very seriously.

As a result, at this time, these allegations are being investigated by the GTHL. The GTHL executives have actioned an independent investigation with respect to ethical issues of influence and governance. And yes, they’re taking it seriously, and I know they’re taking it seriously because they have hired a retired justice from the Ontario Court of Appeal and a retired police detective to do the investigation.

You asked about action. There is action being taken—and I use the word “independently” of the GTHL, which means that it is separate from the GTHL executives. Once that information comes back—you’re right; if there is information that we need to follow up with the Ontario Hockey Federation on, we will do exactly that.

The members opposite might want to shake their heads at what we’re doing, but there is a process that we will go through, and, if necessary, we will act based on the information we get from the investigation.

I will tell you, no one is more passionate about creating opportunity for young people in sport, because of what it does and how it helps young people through the process.

When we find this out, if in fact there is something to find out—you can shake your heads all you want. I know a little bit more about this space than you might, and I will tell you that we will act if necessary.

That answer simply isn’t good enough.

Taxpayers are already on the hook for millions of dollars for an elite, private spa that absolutely nobody asked for. The government is committing the province to a 95-year lease, and they’re moving a cherished public institution and all of its jobs from its home community into a much smaller space.

Through you, Speaker: Couldn’t the Premier at least reveal the business case for these decisions?

We heard from the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority on this. The TRCA was not consulted, of course, so they’ve been forced to explain that these lands are not safe to build on. It’s on a ravine.

The government is piling one bad idea onto another bad idea here in a half-baked scheme that is losing credibility by the day. Why would any reasonable person take their word for it that this plan is in the public interest?

Speaker, my question is to the Premier: Will this government investigate these very serious allegations and do its part to put an end to cash-for-access culture in amateur hockey?

Akim Aliu, who the minister just mentioned, is with us here today in the members’ gallery. He’s a former NHL player with the Calgary Flames and chair of the Hockey Diversity Alliance. He came to this government, to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, months ago. Months ago, Akim showed the minister documents that formed the basis for these allegations, but nothing happened on the provincial end. He is hoping and he is demanding that this cash-for-access culture end and that kids are able to play based on their ability and their talent, not if their parents are able to buy them a spot on a team.

Back to the Premier: Will this government launch a public investigation into these allegations and close any loopholes that may allow numbered shell companies to buy and sell kids’ hockey teams?

Do you know what’s not good enough, in our opinion? To leave this site in disrepair—to leave it the way it is. It is crumbling. It is eroding. I’m speaking about Ontario Place. It is flooded. It is not enjoyed by the general public.

Our government has been clear, since 2019, that we have a vision for this site and that we want to bring it back to life. We want it to be a place that families can enjoy 365 days a year, that families can enjoy throughout the whole, entire day. And we will have that with the science centre, with Therme, with Live Nation, with a 43-acre public realm space that will be accessible by the Ontario Line, accessible to the public through all modes of transit.

Mr. Speaker, that is not good enough—leaving the site to deteriorate. We will bring it back to life.

I really want to thank the leader of the official opposition for her question.

I think everyone agrees in this House that we are in a housing supply crisis. It is this Premier, this minister and this caucus who recognize that and want to make sure that we get housing built in Ontario. After decades of disrespect and disarray by that government, it is finally this government who is making sure that we’re seeing absolute housing starts—100,000 almost two years ago, and 96,000 last year. More than that, what’s so important is, we’re getting purpose-built rentals built—that’s what is more important. We want to make sure everybody in this province has a roof over their head.

The final supplementary.

The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

Hockey is important to me, as it’s important to countless Ontarians across the province. It is part of our identity. I was the first female to play on my elementary hockey team. My daughter was the only female to play on the local boys’ hockey team at a competitive level. And now I’m a hockey grandma. Just as hockey is part of our identity, so are our values of fairness, inclusion and accessibility. We know it is not right when even the most talented children cannot play because their parents cannot buy off a spot on the team.

To the Premier: Will you do what is right and make sure children are able to play based on their abilities and their talent?

Interjections.

Je remercie ma collègue pour cette excellente question.

Contrairement au gouvernement fédéral, qui stagne avec son projet de modernisation, notre gouvernement, sous le leadership du premier ministre Ford, a su moderniser notre cadre législatif incluant la Loi sur les services en français.

C’est en novembre de 2021 que nous avons mis de l’avant la Stratégie ontarienne pour les services en français, une stratégie qui englobe :

—la modernisation de la Loi sur les services en français, ce que nous avons fait;

—l’accroissement de la main-d’oeuvre bilingue et francophone; et

—l’adoption de modèles de services intégrés et aussi efficaces.

C’est en travaillant en collaboration avec les ministères pertinents et aussi leurs agences que nous continuons d’identifier les besoins et aussi les possibilités d’expansion de points de service en français dans la province. Contrairement au gouvernement libéral précédent, qui n’a fait que parler, notre gouvernement agit pour la communauté francophone de l’Ontario.

Les organisations qui choisissent d’obtenir une désignation en vertu de la Loi sur les services en français s’engagent à protéger et à promouvoir des services en français de qualité. Nous savons que la désignation est un outil important pour la vitalité de la communauté francophone, et c’est pour ça que notre gouvernement continue à moderniser le processus.

Global News just broke this story: Ontario Place for All has submitted seven freedom-of-information requests to the Ministry of Infrastructure. For each of these seven requests, this government has withheld the requested information. One request was for the lease agreement between the Ontario government and the private Austrian spa at Ontario Place. This agreement handcuffs this generation and future generations of Ontarians into spending an estimated 650 million taxpayer dollars and cost-sharing operational costs for the next 95 years.

Why won’t this government release the lease agreement so that the people of Ontario can judge for ourselves whether this is a good deal?