Speaker, through to you the member: The city of Ottawa staff contacted our municipal service office yesterday regarding the spring flooding and requested that a Provincial Disaster Assessment Team be deployed to assess the impact. City staff noted to our ministry that the damage is localized, but it’s significant in some of the neighbourhoods around the Ottawa River. According to municipal staff, they’ve requested that the PDAT team come up. A meeting is scheduled with the city tomorrow.

As all members know, in the spring, there are going to be situations like we’re experiencing in Whitewater, in the member for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke’s riding. My ministry office is available in all regions of the province to reach out when a provincial disaster team is required.

According to the member’s own municipal staff, the majority of the permanent homes located in the flood plains appear to have insurance that would cover any losses they receive.

I want to remind all members that the Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians program is not to replace insurance; it’s a program that provides the minimum basic requirements as part of it. The member knows that.

As I said, a meeting is scheduled with the ministry and the municipality tomorrow.

Media reports to date suggest that it’s approximately 130 properties that may be impacted, largely in the West Carleton-March ward, which includes the Constance Bay area. This is something we’re going to continue to monitor. I want to assure the member that ministry officials have boots on the ground.

I can’t believe some of the lines of questioning we get from the New Democratic Party, given the fact that we’ve increased our Homelessness Prevention Program by $202 million—and in the city of Toronto, by an additional $48 million. We continue to work with our service managers, and we continue to work with the federal government.

It’s interesting that this member asks a question about a cost-shared program under the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit, as part of the National Housing Strategy. This member and his party refused to stand up for tenants and citizens in asking for our fair share of federal dollars. We’re being shortchanged $490 million by the federal government, and the NDP continue to sit on their hands.

Again, we put a plan in place that has seen, in the last two years, a record amount of purpose-built rental construction in our province, something that every community, no matter what corner of the province you’re in—we need more purpose-built rentals. What have we seen? Last year, 15,000 new purpose-built rental starts, and the year before, over 13,000—the highest we’ve seen since the mid-1980s. Again, we continue to work with our municipal partners, we continue to put a plan in place.

I want to remind this member—the NDP have sort of amnesia when they come to the House. Here’s a party that continues to vote against all of the housing support that we give. They want high fees, high taxes on our non-profits and our affordable housing—