It’s my pleasure to table this petition on behalf of the good people of Minden. It reads:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the Haliburton Highlands Health Services board of directors has, without consultation with the affected stakeholders, announced the permanent closure of the emergency department located in the municipality of Minden Hills, Ontario, effective June 1, 2023;

“We, the undersigned, petition that a moratorium of this decision be implemented by the Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care immediately for a period of a minimum of one year to allow for consultations with all affected stakeholders to occur.”

It’s my pleasure to affix my signature in support of the good people of Minden and give it to page Kate.

This is a petition:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas to address the actions that the government is taking to support youth in the foster care system, the government is investing $170 million over three years to support a new program aimed at improving long-term outcomes for youth leaving the child welfare system; and

“Whereas the government is also expanding eligibility, which currently ends at 21 years old, to include those up to 23 years old. This investment will help youth achieve financial independence through life skills development, supports to pursue post-secondary education, training and pathways to employment; and

“Whereas, under the Ready, Set, Go program, children’s aid societies will be required to help children plan for the future, beginning at age 13. This investment will help Ontario youth become adults who are more likely to achieve financial independence and contribute to their communities;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the passage of the Ontario budget bill, Bill 85, Building a Stronger Ontario.”

This is an excellent petition, and I’m happy to sign it and give it to Dominic.

I have a petition that I will read in.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas to address the budget for seniors, the Ontario government has proposed to make changes to expand the eligibility for Guaranteed Annual Income System (GAINS), starting in July 2024, which would see about 100,000 more low-income seniors receive payments, for a 50% increase in recipients; and proposing to lower the rate at which the benefit is reduced from 50% to 25%, which means a senior can keep more of their benefit as their private income increases; and proposing to adjust the benefit annually to inflation to continually put more money in the pocket of eligible seniors; and

“Whereas investing more than $174 million over two years, starting in 2024-25, to continue the Community Paramedicine for Long-Term Care Program. This program leverages the skills of paramedics to provide additional care for seniors in the comfort of their own homes; and

“Whereas Ontario is continuing to make progress on its plan to build modern, safe and comfortable long-term-care homes for seniors and residents; and through planned investments that total a historic $6.4 billion since 2019, Ontario is on track to build more than 31,000 new and over 28,000 upgraded beds across the province by 2028; and the government is helping to increase long-term-care capacity in communities across the province by providing development loans and loan guarantees to select non-municipal not-for-profit homes;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario support the passage of the Ontario budget bill, Bill 85, Building a Stronger Ontario.”

I wholeheartedly support this petition, will sign it and give it to Liam.

I am pleased to be able to share some of the over 17,000 signatures that were collected to save the Minden ER.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the Haliburton Highlands Health Services board of directors has, without consultation with the affected stakeholders, announced the permanent closure of the emergency department located in the municipality of Minden Hills, Ontario, effective June 1, 2023;

“We, the undersigned, petition that a moratorium of this decision be implemented by the Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care immediately for a period of a minimum of one year to allow for consultations with all affected stakeholders to occur.”

Of course, I support this petition, will affix my signature and send it to the table with page Randall.

I want to thank many of the internationally trained professionals who have been continuing to advocate for their ability to practise in Ontario, have been pushing this issue forward and have signed on this petition. It reads:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontario’s health staffing crisis means people are waiting in pain for surgery and treatment because there aren’t enough doctors and nurses to care for us all;

“Whereas regulated health care professionals face a variety of barriers when entering their fields of practice, including lack of accessible processes to recognize international trainings and credentials;

“Whereas tens of thousands of highly trained internationally educated doctors and nurses are wading through Ontario’s complex, expensive and years-long program to be licensed in Ontario; and

“Whereas there are more than 10,000 internationally educated nurses in Ontario not yet allowed to work in the province and it has been reported that 1,200 internationally trained medical graduates have been unable to clear the hurdles needed to practise; and

“Whereas practice-ready assessment offers the most qualified internationally trained physicians a quicker route to being able to work in Ontario.

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to urgently work with colleges, regulators, and health care workers to implement pathways that allow internationally trained and educated health care workers to support our health care system.”

Speaker, I fully support this petition. I will affix my signature to it and give it to page Sophie to take to the Clerks.

Thank you so much to the minister for this opportunity to speak on the budget. We have a great Minister of Mines. He just recently led legislation this past—recently, as I mentioned. It’s such an example of the great impact that this government has had and is going to have in the communities in the north with the development of the Ring of Fire. I’ll be talking a little bit about that in my remarks this afternoon, because this is a fundamental part of our economic development here and our vision for the province of Ontario, to create jobs in our great province, in all regions—not just here in the GTA or in mid- or southwestern Ontario, but throughout the province, right up north. That’s such an important part of who we are.

Today, it’s my privilege to rise and speak to the third reading of the Building a Strong Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2023. These legislative changes are a part of our plan to navigate the economic uncertainty facing the people of Ontario today, while laying a strong foundation for future generations. This is our plan to build a strong economy now and for the future. It’s our plan to build highways, roads, schools and hospitals for our growing population.

Interjection: Hear, hear.

It is a plan with a better deal for workers, with better jobs and bigger paycheques, to build a strong health care system that connects people to the right care. Our plan focuses on these priorities and includes a path to balance the budget.

I want to outline a little further the long-term vision of this budget and turn to one of my favourite pages in the budget, page 17. It is difficult, because there are many, many pages in the budget that I do like very much, but I’ll begin with page 17, which is an outline of the infrastructure expenditures that our government is planning for the future. It’s outlined by major sector: transportation, including transit and other transportation and highways; health, including hospitals and other health care priorities; education; post-secondary education, which includes colleges and universities; as well as social justice and other sectors. So it outlines the full range of sectors in the Ontario economy.

I started out my career as an accountant, so I find numbers exciting and motivating. Here are some numbers for you. The total infrastructure spending for 2023—in other words, the year that just passed—$17.3 billion; this year, the year that we’re in right now, $20.6 billion for 2023-24, and it will increase; then it’s $25 billion and $26.9 billion in 2025-26. Over 10 years, it’s $184 billion. What a massive expenditure program that is. It’s important from a couple of perspectives, in my opinion. Number one, it does deal with the breadth of the Ontario economy, all of these sectors that are so critical to what matters to our province—health care, transit, transportation. But the other thing related to that is that not many governments have the courage to look that long-term—10 years. Most governments are just looking towards the next election, for that matter. This government has a decade plan, and that matters—a long-term vision to get stuff done.

Mr. Speaker, the people of Ontario are depending on our government to navigate the economic challenges of today. Ontario is not an island. We’re not immune to global forces, including geopolitical tension provoked by the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the reopening of China’s economy, the energy transition, and policies such as the United States Inflation Reduction Act. Families and workers are feeling the squeeze of inflation on their wallets.

But while the seas around us may be stormy, our prudent planning and strong foundations have given Ontario a path forward—a path forward leading to a balanced budget, a return to balance that would have never happened under the NDP or Liberals. As this budget shows, it is possible to balance the budget while investing more in health care, housing, highways, transit, manufacturing, the skilled trades, and in the north, as I mentioned earlier.

Mr. Speaker, I’m pleased to relay that in the 2022-23 fiscal year, the Ontario deficit is projected to shrink to just $2.2 billion. This is thanks to robust revenue growth and our government’s prudent and disciplined planning and clear priorities. Moreover, in fiscal 2023-24, we plan to further reduce the deficit to $1.3 billion. And starting in fiscal 2024-25, we project Ontario’s return to being in the black, with an approximately $200 million surplus. These are very important steps that we’ve taken.

Over the past years, with all the spending that was necessary through COVID, we kind of lost the words “balanced budget,” which slipped to the bottom of the barrel. But this government knows they are a priority, not just for us but for our kids and for the next generation, to make sure they’re not paying our bills. So it’s very exciting news, and we’re anticipating surpluses in the future years past 2024-25. The people of Ontario can have confidence that tomorrow will be better than today. This plan and its fiscal and economic approach is supported by measures in the spring budget bill.

While I am as confident as ever about the future of Ontario, there is still much that we can do to build a strong, resilient, more competitive economy here at home. A key to Ontario’s future growth is found in the opportunities of the province’s northern region, as I mentioned earlier, and particularly the mining sector. Just look at the Ring of Fire. It’s one of the world’s most promising mineral deposits. It contains critical elements that are core to the global economy today—materials essential to batteries, electronics, electric vehicles and other clean technology. The Ring of Fire can help reduce Ontario’s dependency on unstable or unfriendly foreign regimes. These critical minerals are an untapped potential that previous governments have failed to unlock for no other reason than that the work of developing them was too hard. Well, our government is not afraid of hard work. We do it all the time. But it can’t be done alone. We are working hand in hand with partners like the First Nations in northern Ontario—a true partnership to build the road to the Ring of Fire.

Building the road is one thing, but there are other legislative and regulatory and workforce considerations we need to account for, which is why our government is taking a comprehensive approach to accelerating the safe development of the north’s mineral resources. And while Ontario is investing $1 billion to unlock the critical minerals of the north, we continue to call on the federal government to match our commitment. Building the road is only one step in getting the minerals out of the ground.

We are also helping to get mines built. The Ontario government is increasing funding for the Ontario Junior Exploration Program to help more companies find critical minerals, such as nickel and cobalt, which are necessary to support the growing supply chain for electric vehicles and create jobs for northern and Indigenous communities. The funding, announced as part of the 2023 budget, includes an additional $6 million over the next two years for this successful program, bringing the government’s total investment to $35 million. This approach is part of our government’s plan to build Ontario’s economy by attracting investment and creating jobs so we can lay a strong foundation for future generations. That’s what it’s all about. That’s why we’re here. It’s not about us; it’s about those who will follow us to ensure they have the economic foundation that we were lucky enough to have in our lives. This is part of our plan to build a strong Ontario now and in the future. Launched in 2021, the program helps junior mining companies finance early exploration projects by covering eligible costs for critical and precious mineral exploration and development. So far, 48 junior mining companies have received funding and, in turn, they have invested an additional $17.5 million in these projects. That’s important work, and it matters on the ground. Once those minerals are out of the ground, they can be connected to Ontario’s world-class manufacturing sector.

Just look at the recent announcement by Volkswagen of its planned electric vehicle plant in St. Thomas. The German car company is investing $7 billion to make St. Thomas the home of its first overseas EV battery manufacturing plant—the first in the world outside of its own base. As has been observed, this is not only the largest electric vehicle-related investment in Canadian history, but it’s a huge vote of confidence in Ontario’s highly skilled workforce, our strong economic fundamentals and our competitive business environment.

In two and a half years, Ontario has attracted over $25 billion in investments from global automakers and electric vehicle batteries and battery suppliers. We heard today the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade cite these investments—$25 billion, a staggering number. But what really struck me was his additional comment about how Ontario is now number two in the world in this space. What an enormous achievement that is in such a short period of time. It will not only benefit us in the short term, as I said—and I think one of the important themes of what we are doing as a government is a long-term perspective, the next generation. This generation and the next one and the next one after that will benefit from the economic development opportunities that come, but also in the resulting benefits to our environment from electric vehicles. It’s a great long-term vision.

And we aren’t stopping there. Ontario’s manufacturing sector is on a roll. We must keep that momentum going. The capacity is there to do more. For us as a government, we must continue supporting manufacturing and other businesses and the communities that depend on them.

One of the marquee pieces of the 2023 budget and spring budget bill is the proposed new Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit. If passed, this tax credit would provide a 10% refundable corporate income tax credit to help local manufacturers lower their costs, invest in workers, innovate and become more competitive. Why this is so important as a tax credit is that often it’s for companies that are in the development stage. We think about taxes being on income. Oftentimes, these developing companies don’t have income yet. Why? Because they’re growing, they’re investing in the future, so it takes time to build up that revenue stream. This tax credit helps that process along by not having to wait down the road until they have taxable income. So it’s a very important structure and an exciting opportunity for these companies.

When combined with other business measures our government has delivered since 2018, we are helping to improve competitiveness by enabling an estimated $8 billion in cost savings and support in 2023.

Our government is also working with partners to have shovel-ready industrial sites available for new manufacturing projects so we can be ready if and when more companies like Volkswagen choose Ontario for their next investment. As the minister said when he first introduced the budget in this House, “If you are prepared to bet big on Ontario, then Ontario is prepared to bet big on you.” He’s absolutely right.

Supporting this growing world-class manufacturing takes energy—clean, safe, reliable energy. In addition to our support of the continued safe operations of Pickering nuclear generation station and the refurbishments of Darlington and Bruce nuclear power generation, he’s also looking to the future, with small modular reactors.

I want to comment on Bruce Power in particular, because this has great relevance to my riding of Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound and the whole Grey-Bruce community. Ontario is fortunate to have one of the cleanest electricity grids in the world—over 90% emissions-free—and there’s one reason why: Our nuclear sector provides the emissions-free electricity to phase out coal-fired generation in Ontario, one of the largest greenhouse gas reductions ever, and Bruce Power provides 70% of that electricity.

This past March, Bruce began their second refurbishment on unit 3, part of the life-extension program that will allow Bruce Power to continue providing clean, reliable, affordable energy through 2064—over 40 years from now. That is about the future.

But as importantly, Bruce Power supports good jobs—22,000 direct and indirect—employing some of the best-paying, highest-skilled workers in Ontario. And while the head office of Bruce is in our colleague Lisa Thompson’s riding in Huron–Bruce, the Bruce refurbishment has meant suppliers like BWXT and Makwa Cahill are setting up shop in my riding of Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound, supporting the local community. In addition, Bruce Power and its partners, including the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, are commercially producing life-saving medical isotopes like lutetium-177 on a scale never seen before, thanks to their innovative new isotope delivery system opening up new opportunities. So we see that nuclear energy is so important to our baseload power and also so important to our communities, like the one I am fortunate to represent.

The SMRs will be essential to Ontario’s future electricity supply and our energy supply. Our government is seizing Ontario’s clean energy advantage and encouraging companies to invest here to do the same. We have launched a voluntary energy credit registry to boost competitiveness and attract jobs and help businesses meet their environmental and sustainability goals. Proceeds from the sale of these new credits will help keep costs down for electricity taxpayers and fund the construction of clean electricity projects in Ontario through a newly created future clean energy electricity fund. This fund will help build Ontario’s clean energy advantage as the province competes for and attracts new investments in electric vehicle and battery manufacturing, clean steel and other sectors, while continuing to build its clean economy. The clean energy credit registry is part of our government’s clean energy advantage that is boosting competitiveness and attracting investments and jobs here in Ontario.

Along with growing our economy, our plan is also working to improve services that people depend on, starting with health care. This government is investing every single dollar we receive from the federal government’s recent health care funding down payment and a whole lot more into better health care services. While we will receive $4.4 billion in additional funding over the next three years under the recent federal agreement, our government is investing a total of $15.3 billion more in health care over that same period.

And I’ll just add, too, my second favourite page in the budget—as I mentioned, there are so many great pages in this document. Page 139 outlines the major categories of spending, from health to education, post-secondary, and on and on. On the health care front, in 2021-22, total health care spending was $69.6 billion; in 2022-23, $74.9 billion; this year, 2023-24, $81 billion; and up to $84.2 billion and $87.6 billion—huge increases in health care spending that are so needed and are paying off day after day.

Health care should be convenient and easy to access where it is needed most, when it is needed most. The only thing better than care close to home is care at home. We are continuing the 2022 budget commitment to invest $1 billion over three years to get more people connected to care in the comfort of their own home and community. What’s more, the government is now accelerating investments to bring funding in 2023-24 up to $569 million, including nearly $300 million to support contract rate increases to stabilize the home and community care workforce. This funding will also expand home care services, making it easier and faster for people to connect to care.

We are also investing more than $200 million to connect children and youth to care at hospitals and close to home in their communities. And we are investing in independent health facilities to speed up care while ensuring patients will always pay with their OHIP card, not their credit card. To deliver that care, we need more doctors and health care professionals practising here in Ontario. Our plan includes hiring and training thousands of more health care workers, including doctors. We’re helping more Ontario students become doctors by investing an additional $33 million over three years to add 100 undergraduate seats, beginning in 2023, and 154 provincial postgraduate medical training seats are being prioritized for Ontario residents trained at home and abroad, beginning in 2024 and going forward.

Another community impact of this—in fact, the Minister of Colleges and Universities will be in Owen Sound tomorrow at Georgian College, and this is the home of a fantastic nurse training facility where students can get their bachelor of science in nursing. There will be 30 graduates a year from this program in a few years. That’s so important because, in the past, especially in rural Ontario, students had to go away to get their health care education, and then we would hope they would come back, but having this program at Georgian College means that they will have a much higher likelihood—and most of the applications were from the local community.

So this is very, very exciting stuff and will help support a health care system for years and years to come.

Ontario residents will also be prioritized for undergraduate spots at medical schools in the province.

We’re also making it easier for people to get the medication they need for minor ailments. Starting in 2023, we’re allowing more over-the-counter medication to be prescribed by pharmacists for six more common ailments so that people can get the medication needed to treat them without having to book an appointment with their family physician or visit an emergency room.

Madam Speaker, our government is providing an additional $425 million over three years to support mental health and addiction services. Our mental health and addiction strategy is using innovative solutions to improve the quality and access to mental health supports while shortening wait times and removing gaps in service.

As Camille Quenneville, CEO of Canadian Mental Health Association Ontario, said, “The vital structural base funding commitment announced today is the largest by any government for community mental health and addictions care in a decade. It will significantly help community-based mental health and addictions agencies provide high-quality care, retain dedicated and committed staff, and address rising operating costs. The budget is an overwhelmingly positive sign that the government understands the strain our sector is facing as we support Ontarians living with mental health and addictions challenges. It also demonstrates their desire to help those most vulnerable in society”—such an important statement.

We are also improving the services in place to protect our province’s most vulnerable, such as children and youth involved with the child welfare services. Youth who have been involved with the child welfare system are at high risk of being trafficked, experiencing homelessness, and developing mental health issues, and have lower high school graduation rates than their peers. Those leaving the child welfare system deserve every opportunity to reach their full potential.

Our government is helping to improve long-term outcomes for youth leaving the child welfare system through the $170 million-over-three-year investment to support the Ready, Set, Go program. Ready, Set, Go is geared to helping these young people achieve financial independence through life skills development, supports to pursue post-secondary education and job training and pathways to employment. We’re also expanding our program eligibility to include those up to 23 years old.

Ingrid Palmer, chair of the Child Welfare PAC Canada and a former youth in care, has said this about Ready, Set, Go: “By implementing the Ready, Set, Go framework, the Ontario government is beginning to break down the complex barriers faced by youth from care who experience disproportionate risks and challenges throughout their lifetime. The Child Welfare PAC fully endorses this approach, which incorporates a data-driven system and a better resourced, graduated introduction to adulthood. With multiple pathways to brighter futures and improved outcomes, this framework will help us support our most vulnerable youth and provide them with the tools they need to succeed.”

Carly Kalish of Victim Services Toronto called Ready, Set, Go “an important step that the Ontario government is taking to help youth leaving foster care secure safer housing in their communities. We know that youth who don’t have access to stable housing are at a much higher risk of human trafficking, and by helping youth have a safe place to live it will reduce the likelihood that they will become victims of human trafficking or face exploitation.”

Our government is working to protect the people of Ontario and their families, and this approach to safety and well-being includes protecting people as consumers. There are several consumer protection items contained in this bill. These include the proposed legislative amendments to the Financial Professionals Title Protection Act, 2019. You see, the government is making it easier for families to reach their financial goals with the confidence that they are receiving financial advice from someone who has adequate training, expertise and credentials when it comes to planning their financial future. These amendments, if passed, would give the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, or FSRA, the power to make rules governing the use of protected titles by credential holders when a credentialing body’s approval has been revoked or an approved credentialing body ceases to operate. The title protection framework is designed to ensure that individuals who use the “financial planner” or “financial adviser” titles have been approved from a FSRA-approved credentialing body.

As well, this bill includes a continued monitoring of how provincially regulated financial services are delivered. They include proposed amendments to the Insurance Act to support FSRA in ending the use of deferred sales charges and the sale of segregated funds. The proposed change here would help protect consumers by banning deferred sales charges for buyers of segregated funds if they withdraw money early. The proposed ending of deferred sales charges for new funds aligns with changes that came into effect in the Securities Act in 2022 for mutual funds.

We have a plan, a long-term vision for Ontario. We are taking real action to build a strong Ontario. I firmly believe this government can and will do it. We have the discipline to stay true to our planning convictions while maintaining flexibility as we navigate today’s economic uncertainty. We are building a strong economy that has the infrastructure and workers needed to support growing communities and better services, and while returning Ontario to the black three years earlier than projected. We can do it by passing this bill and saying yes to our plan that will support people and businesses while laying a strong foundation for future generations.

I will now hand it over to my fellow parliamentary assistant the member from Oakville.

It is always a pleasure to stand in this House to represent the good people of my riding, Timmins.

I’ll be sharing my time with the two parliamentary assistants to the Minister of Finance: the member for Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound and the member for Oakville. I look forward to hearing more from them about our great budget.

I beg to inform the House that, pursuant to standing order 89(a), the Clerk has received written request that Bill Pr25, An Act to revive Superior Corporate Services Limited, be referred to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. The order for second reading of the bill is therefore discharged, and the bill is deemed referred to the committee.

Mr. Pirie, on behalf of Mr. Bethlenfalvy, moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill 85, An Act to implement Budget measures and to amend various statutes / Projet de loi 85, Loi visant à mettre en oeuvre les mesures budgétaires et à modifier diverses lois.

It’s my honour to present the petition entitled “Develop an Ontario Dementia Strategy.” It reads:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas it currently takes on average 18 months for people in Ontario to get an official dementia diagnosis, with some patients often waiting years to complete diagnostic testing;

“Whereas more than half of patients suspected of having dementia in Ontario never get a full diagnosis; research confirms that early diagnosis saves lives and reduces care-partner stress;

“Whereas a PET scan test approved in Ontario in 2017 which can be key to detecting Alzheimer’s early, is still not covered under OHIP in 2022;

“Whereas the Ontario government must work together with the federal government to prepare for the approval and rollout of future disease-modifying therapies and research;

“Whereas the Alzheimer Society projects that one million Canadians will be caregivers for people with dementia, with families providing approximately 1.4 billion hours of care per year by 2050;

“Whereas research findings show that Ontario will spend $27.8 billion between 2023 and 2043 on alternate-level-of-care (ALC) and long-term-care (LTC) costs associated with people living with dementia;

“Whereas the government must follow through with its commitment to ensure Ontario’s health care system has the capacity to meet the current and future needs of people living with dementia and their care partners;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, call on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to develop, commit and fund a comprehensive Ontario dementia strategy.”

I fully support this petition. I will affix my signature and deliver it with page Maya to the Clerks.

The member from Oakville.

Thank you to the member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound for speaking on the Building a Strong Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2023.

It’s my sincere pleasure to be part of a team at the Ministry of Finance where we’ve been working under the minister’s leadership to get Ontario’s fiscal house in order and build a stronger province for future generations. I would certainly like to thank all of the staff members within the ministry who have worked to put together this budget. I know there’s a lot of work behind the scenes, and it’s a year’s work, really—we’re already preparing ahead now for the next budget a year from now.

Thank you to all the ministry staff for all the great work you do.

Speaker, everyone in this House would agree that Ontario is a great place to live. In fact, I see Ontario as the best place in the world to raise your family, start a business and plant your roots. Thanks to the leadership of our Premier, of our government, we are investing more in health care, in better education, in housing affordability, and in safer streets.

The Building a Strong Ontario Act, 2023, is a plan that takes a responsible and targeted approach to supporting people and businesses while outlining a path to balance the budget in the next year, so that future Ontarians can inherit a stronger Ontario. This plan is our blueprint for building a strong province during a time of global challenge and change, and our work to build Ontario starts now. These are the priorities and initiatives that the people of Ontario want to see their government focus on.

But it bears repeating that Ontario is part of the global economy, and today there are global economic challenges of various stripes. While the road ahead may have some uncertainties, we are ready as a government to take them on with flexibility and prudence.

Speaker, we’ve heard details about our plan to support people and businesses today while laying a strong fiscal foundation for the future. It is a truly comprehensive and connected plan, from harnessing the critical minerals in the north so they can be used in modern EV batteries produced in the manufacturing centres in the south, to new investments and creating more jobs, growing our economy and, in turn, building the modern highways, transit, hospitals, schools, broadband and other infrastructure needed for our growing communities—growth that will allow us to invest in connecting people to convenient care, housing affordability and safer streets, while staying on course for a balanced budget.

Behind all of this growth, all of this investment, are the workers of this province. The single greatest obstacle standing in our way is the shortage of skilled workers and workers in the province of Ontario. Whether it’s construction, the skilled trades or health care, Ontario needs more workers. And while the talent shortage is global, that is no excuse. Ontario must do more—and we are. It’s all hands on deck to build Ontario.

That starts with expanding training opportunities for workers. That is why, in budget 2023, our government is investing an additional $75 million over the next three years in the Skills Development Fund. The Skills Development Fund is a proven success, helping nearly 400,000 workers gain the skills they need for more stable careers. From a new pair of boots for the young construction worker, to the new Ukrainian refugee who now has a chance to start their new career in Ontario, this fund has been a life-changer.

For a career in the skilled trades, accessing training is the first step towards a better job and a bigger paycheque, and who better to provide that training than the boots on the ground, like those in private sector unions? We are also working with private sector unions and other partners to upgrade their training facilities, so that workers get the best possible training from the experts on the ground.

Our $224-million investment in the capital stream of the Skills Development Fund will leverage private sector expertise and expand training centres, including union training halls, so they can provide more accessible, flexible training opportunities for workers. There is no better trainer than someone with hands-on experience. Local 793 of the International Union of Operating Engineers has supported this move, adding that “skilled trades workers are at the front line of our economic recovery, with unions and businesses playing a crucial role in training our next generation of workers through apprenticeship programs. Financially supporting training institutes will help attract more people to the skilled trades and better prepare them.” The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers has said that they “are proud partners of this important skills development program, and we are excited to see the implementation of a stream dedicated for capital projects. Major investment is required to upgrade Ontario’s training capacity to match the needs of the next generation.” And LIUNA has expressed their full support, adding that “the first three rounds of the” Skills Development Fund “were tremendously successful and saw thousands of people receive skills for rewarding careers in industries such as the skilled trades. The newly announced ‘capital’ stream will ensure that training providers in Ontario have the necessary tools and resources to continue their great work.”

We’re not stopping there. We are continuing to prepare students for the jobs of the future by creating stronger links between classroom learning and good-paying careers. Over three years, we are investing $6.2 million in targeted supports for students with disabilities to pursue co-operative educational opportunities.

This is one of the next steps in our government’s plan to catch up, to help students develop skills in math and reading and get ready for their future career.

We want students to be set up for success in their future career, and for some students, that means getting a head start to help students get the training they need for in-demand jobs faster. Speaker, 27,000 students in 2023-24 will have the opportunity to earn credits towards their Ontario secondary school diploma and a post-secondary certificate, diploma, degree or certificate of apprenticeship. And we are now expanding dual credit to include health care courses so that students can get a head start in becoming nurses, personal support workers, paramedics, or medical laboratory technicians.

Speaker, there are lots of ambitious people out there, who are extremely dedicated and hard-working and want to be their own boss instead of working for someone else. That is why we are helping entrepreneurs aged 18 to 39 achieve their business goals by providing an additional $2 million in 2023-24 for Futurpreneur Canada. Entrepreneurs have the ambition and drive it takes to take an idea and build that into a business.

It also takes ambition and drive to move from one country to another. There are people from all around the world looking to move here and realize the Ontario dream—people looking to come to Canada, to Ontario, to get a good-paying job and earn a steady paycheque that puts a roof over their head and supports their family. We want to welcome them here in Ontario. As part of the 2023 budget, we are investing an additional $25 million over three years in Ontario’s flagship immigration program. This investment will support the doubling of the number of skilled immigrants the province can welcome and help tackle the labour shortage and help build Ontario.

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program allows the province to nominate individuals for permanent residence—people who have the skills and experience to contribute to Ontario’s economy in various industries, including the skilled trades and health care. Our government and the federal government have announced a doubling of the number of economic immigrants to the province to a historic high of 18,000 by 2025. The new investment in the 2023 budget will ensure those coming to Ontario can start their professional lives here quickly.

It’s also why we’re expanding the Ontario Bridge Training Program with an additional $3 million in 2023-24 to help internationally trained immigrants find employment in their fields here and get faster access to training and supports towards an Ontario licence or certificate.

Our government is continuing with our responsible, targeted approach that is training workers for the jobs of tomorrow and building an Ontario the people of this province can be proud of, not only today, but for the future.

We are also investing in growing and retaining the health care workforce. Since 2018, over 60,000 new nurses and nearly 8,000 new physicians have begun to work right here in the province of Ontario. But we know we need to build on this momentum. That is why our government is investing $80 million over the next three years to further expand enrolment for nursing programs.

We’re also investing $200 million this year so we can address immediate health care shortages and grow the workforce for years to come. For example, we are, with this budget, expanding the Ontario Learn and Stay Grant program in spring 2023 for eligible post-secondary students who will enrol in priority programs in northern Ontario, including in programs for nursing, paramedic and medical laboratory technologist/medical laboratory sciences for those who agree to work in underserved communities in the region where they studied after graduation. The grant provides full upfront funding for tuition, books and other educational costs to students. We are also expanding the program to include nursing in eastern and southwestern Ontario and for medical laboratory technologists in southwestern Ontario.

Speaker, Ontario is continuing to hire more health care workers to ensure everyone can see a trained professional when they need to.

We’re also addressing labour shortages in our rural and northern communities when it comes to veterinary care. Having easy access to a veterinarian is crucial for farmers and livestock owners.

Speaker, our government is investing more than $15 million to help address veterinary shortages in rural and northern communities. This funding will be used to launch the new collaborative doctor of veterinary medicine program with the University of Guelph and Lakehead University. The new program will enrol an additional 20 veterinary students per year, resulting in up to 80 new doctor of veterinary medicine seats in total by 2023, and focus on recruiting students from northern, rural and Indigenous communities.

Recent veterinary graduates will be encouraged to practise in underserviced and northern communities through the Veterinary Incentive Program. This new $900,000 investment over three years will provide program participants with annual grants totalling up to $50,000. The grants will be conditional on them continuing to practise on large animals in these communities.

Dr. Charlotte Yates, president and vice-chancellor, University of Guelph, said, “The University of Guelph applauds the Ontario government’s leadership role and bold action to address the veterinary crisis in Ontario. As Ontario’s only veterinary college and the top school in Canada, we are thrilled by this unprecedented investment.”

Dr. Moira McPherson, president of Lakehead University, added, “Working with our partners in government and the agri-food industry, we will be able to provide much-needed additional veterinary care to the vital and growing animal farming sector in northern, rural and Indigenous communities throughout Ontario.”

Speaker, we are building a strong Ontario for people, for families, for businesses, for workers, and for seniors. A hallmark of this government is keeping costs down, which is why we didn’t wait to act. We’ve continued to put more money back into the pockets of Ontarians, whether at the gas pumps, on their electricity bills, scrapping licence plate renewal fees, or getting rid of the unfair tolls on Highways 412 and 418 in Durham. We have also recently eliminated double fares for most local transit services in the greater Golden Horseshoe when commuters also use GO Transit, so that when commuters pay for their fare to get on the GO bus or train, they aren’t paying again on most local services. We’re expanding this initiative to include Toronto, so a commuter coming into the city only pays one fare per trip, saving them money each way.

Speaker, Ontario seniors are the people who have built our great province and made it the great province it is today. Rising inflation is hitting those on fixed incomes the hardest, like our vulnerable, low-income seniors. That is why our government is proposing changes to expand the guaranteed annual income program—or GAINS, as it’s known—starting in July 2024, to see 100,000 additional seniors eligible for the program, which would be adjusted annually to inflation. Our government will give a hand up to those that need it the most.

Sadly, many around us don’t have a roof over our head or a place to call home. Our government continues to be there for these neighbours.

Today, we are making a historic investment of an additional $202 million each year in support of housing and homelessness programs to provide not only a hand up, but hope for a better life for those who need it the most. Municipal councillors and municipal mayors throughout Ontario have spoken highly of this component of the budget bill.

Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie of the city of Toronto has thanked the Premier and the Minister of Finance for this investment: “$48 million in this budget for wraparound services for 2,000 vulnerable residents in Toronto supportive homes. Deeply affordable rental housing with wraparound health and social support services is key to addressing the dual homelessness and overdose crises, and is the most effective, dignified and cost-effective solution to chronic homelessness. These investments result in significant cost savings for the provincial government by reducing pressure on emergency shelters, hospitals, prisons and long-term-care homes.”

We also have another quote, from Guelph mayor Cam Guthrie: “Today’s budget speaks directly to the homelessness, mental health and addictions issues our communities are facing. The government has listened to municipalities and stakeholders and responded by providing base funding increases to these programs and by committing $202 million in additional funds on these issues. Budgets are about helping Ontarians, and this budget will help dearly.”

I will remind the members of this House that we are doing all of this while balancing the budget three years earlier than projected. Our plan has a path to balance while growing the economy; building new infrastructure for growing communities; training the workers needed for today and tomorrow; keeping costs down, especially for the most vulnerable; providing better services, including convenient and connected health care; and protecting communities. Passing this bill is moving forward with our plan to build an Ontario the people of the province can be proud of, not only today but, critically, in the future.

When our government took office in June 2018, we inherited a province with the most sub-sovereign debt in the entire world, a massive annual deficit and a huge debt which burdened the people of Ontario, burdened economic growth, burdened future generations. That put pressure on health care, education and other social services that we so need. It is so critical that Ontario as a province be creating wealth and creating prosperity so that we have the financial resources to be able to pay the bills for these social services that we so need and so want and which make our province great.

This budget 2022-23 and going forward will be approximating $200 billion, and yet even with increased spending in health care, in education, skills development and homelessness, we are still able to balance the budget.

It is so critical that governments spend money in the right way, spend in a way to get a return on their investment so that it will continue to generate money for the economy, create jobs, create tax revenues so that we’re able to balance our budget.

As a government, we’ve always wanted to put the horse before the cart, unlike the previous Liberal government, which spent well beyond the means of the province of Ontario, further crippling businesses and individuals. Ontario lost many residents—the highest personal income tax rates in North America. Many business people, entrepreneurs, medical professionals left the province, burdened by high taxes and substandard services. Did the province have great hospitals, great education and great infrastructure after the years of Liberal mismanagement? No, it didn’t. The money was put down a black hole and spent and spent without accountability. Our government is focused on putting the money in the right spot, which will further encourage more investment, creating the right opportunities for businesses to come and flourish in Ontario.

Manufacturing is one of the most obvious examples of an area where the previous government gave up. In fact, they were entirely focused on moving Ontario to a service economy. They thought manufacturing was something of the past: “We don’t need manufacturing here in Ontario. We can focus on the service economy.” Nothing could be further from the truth. After 300,000 manufacturing jobs left the province in 10 years, we are now seeing manufacturing jobs come back to Ontario, in all different sectors, including the automobile sector, which was looking very, very weak and—as the Minister of Minister of Economic Development mentioned today in question period—was a sector that we had very little investment in. In fact, in the Bloomberg survey, in terms of the automobile manufacturing capacity for electric vehicles, Canada was ranked as zero just a year and a half, two years ago; we are now number two in the world.

This is a tremendous opportunity for the people of Ontario. Whether it’s St. Thomas, whether it’s my community in Oakville, Oshawa, Ingersoll, Alliston, we have opportunities across this province to build very high-paid, skilled jobs which will build electric vehicles, automobiles for the future, right here in our province.

I can tell you, as a person who comes from the business world, there are a lot of different places to invest, not only in Canada and North America, but throughout the world. Companies look at friendly environments, where they know they have access to skilled labour; where they know there’s law, order and good government; where they know there’s access to the actual raw materials; where there’s good trade law; where’s there’s access to borders; and where there’s an environment for business to flourish with not excessive taxes, regulation burdens and high energy costs. These are what companies look for, and companies are now looking at Ontario. You can see all of that hard work reflected in the numbers in this budget; you can see it by the expected economic growth in Ontario over the next two, three, four years; you can see it by increasing revenues and increasing spending in health care and education, while at the same time balancing a budget. Some people didn’t think that was possible—that we could spend more on education, health care and other social services, and at the same time balance the budget.

This is not a budget of austerity. This is a budget that is the largest budget in the history of Ontario. We are spending more on social services than we’ve ever seen, but we’re also investing money in the right spots: in transportation, in highways, in infrastructure, in hospitals. Ontario, right now, is on a very, very good path.

Passing this bill is moving forward with our plan to build an Ontario for the people of this province that we can be proud of, not only today, but in the future. This is our plan to build an Ontario that will continue to have a resilient economy; an Ontario that has the best infrastructure in place.

Again, I want to emphasize, when we took office five years ago, we did not have the best infrastructure, the best hospitals, the best schools, the best highways, the best transit. In fact, nothing had been done in transit in any meaningful way in well over a decade.

We are investing, and we have the foresight to understand that there’s not just one way to expand transportation in the province of Ontario—it’s not either highways and roads or subways and GO trains; it’s all of the above. We need to expand all forms of transportation.

We need an Ontario that has skilled workers for the jobs of tomorrow.

We need an Ontario that connects you to the care that you need. And we will continue in our commitment to bring in and hire more nurses and doctors, and expand educational programs, Learn and Stay grant programs, to make sure they’re evenly spread throughout Ontario.

We need an Ontario that has a bright future for you, your family, and generations to come—an Ontario that is strong.

On this side of the House, here in the government benches, we are saying yes to supporting the people of Ontario today, while laying a strong fiscal foundation for future generations. We are saying yes to building an Ontario that is strong. And we welcome all members of the House to join us in supporting this bill and supporting the people of Ontario.

With that, Speaker, I’d like to end my presentation for now. The member for Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound and myself are open to questions.

I’m glad to be able to ask the member a question after his presentation on this year’s budget. The member from Oakville talked about the fact that the government has been listening when it comes to mental health and addictions, and so I wanted to cite a few numbers and get his response.

There were 539 confirmed opioid deaths in Ontario during the fourth quarter of 2022, with another 109 deaths likely linked to opioids. There has not been a community not affected by opioids, by the death and the trauma that’s connected. My question is, why are we not seeing across the province this being declared an epidemic? Why are we not seeing that strategy that would address this, and in the budget why do we not see what is needed in terms of safe consumption sites and the investment communities are begging for? Could he tell me, please, his thoughts on that?

Questions?

To the member opposite: I agree with you that there is a mental health crisis in Ontario, and the drugs and opioids that you touched on are certainly a part of that.

In terms of what we have been doing as a government, we have made major investments, and a major step forward is the investment we’ve put into homelessness: $202 million, which municipalities are absolutely thrilled about. We all know that, unfortunately, one of the side effects of drug addiction, which creates mental health problems, of course, is not being able to have a house and a roof over your head, so that is certainly one stride we are making to helping those people in need.

Thank you to my two colleagues for their remarks on the budget. In my opinion, it’s a great budget for our province.

I know my friend from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound has been answering a lot of questions, but I was wondering if my friend could talk about the important investments that we’re making in skilled trades, especially around Bruce nuclear, which employs a lot of people in my own riding, as well.

Thank you to the two members for your statements today. They were very interesting and very important, and I hope people out there were listening to what our two parliamentary assistants had to say today.

One thing that comes up often is ODSP. Over the years, no government really has done anything about the ODSP rates—you look at vulnerable citizens, and you look at people who just are really not making a lot of money.

ODSP is certainly not a job, but I’m wondering if you can elaborate on some of the work that is in this budget that touches on ODSP rates and the positive for the future.

I’d like to thank the members from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound and Oakville for their presentation. I had the opportunity to travel for the pre-budget consultations with both of them.

Individuals living with disabilities have long been neglected by the Ontario government—and before I hear the speaking notes about a paltry 5% increase, let’s all admit that it’s not enough; indexing legislated poverty is not enough.

Individuals and organizations spoke at committee about the problems with the far-from-adequate housing benefit, as well as the fact that recipients can have benefits clawed back if they live with someone.

Can you imagine, Speaker? If you fall in love and live with someone who earns more money than you, then that person has to pay for you, according to the Ontario government.

So my question: Why does Ontario still police whom ODSP recipients love and live with?

I want to thank the members for their presentation.

Budget 2023 is one of the biggest budgets that we’ve seen in decades; I agree with the members on that. However, it is still one of the cruelest budgets, that fails to reach individuals, people, families or communities. In fact, we heard from so many people who came to present and talk about how this budget will actually increase suffering for so many people. One of those groups includes those who live on reserves.

My question to the members is, why is this government failing to spend or put any money, any investment, on infrastructure on reserves for services like clean drinking water?

It’s a pleasure to join all of you on this beautiful Monday afternoon to discuss Bill 85. I was trying to think of a different angle today, just for my own amusement, mostly. But I wanted to address the revenue that’s coming into the province—so I’m going to save at least 10 or 15 minutes, on where the revenue is coming from and where it’s not coming from and what’s happening with it.

You will know from our first hour on this speech that we found this budget to be an opportunity that was missed by the government. And it is so astounding to me, still, even after 11 years here, how we see the province so differently—perhaps it’s the people we’re listening to; perhaps it’s our communities and what kind of engagement we have with the people in those communities. Certainly, you could tell by the cross-section of questions that we asked today in question period that we have serious concerns around where health care is going, how this province is planning and overriding the planning of our municipal partners.

For us in Kitchener-Waterloo, it’s not necessarily a new issue, but certainly a growing concern is the lack of resources for those who’ve experienced sexual assault and sexual violence. To have a wait-list at the Sexual Assault Support Centre in Kitchener-Waterloo of 240 people, primarily young women, is devastating.

There is an impact from picking and choosing where you’re going to be investing, or who has your ear, or who’s in that backroom or who’s coming to your events, and who you actually, as government members, are listening to.

I can tell you that we share some of the concerns that were raised by the Toronto Star editorial board when they described this budget, Bill 85, as a “complacent mishmash. But if it was uninspired and unimaginative, it was also largely unmemorable.” I think the tone of the editorial here is that it indicated that this government is being safe, that you are parking money in places where—I’m going to actually address—the money is not getting there, which is a transparency and accountability issue which we share with the Financial Accountability Officer.

Also, this is a government that—you have three full years ahead of you. There was a time and a place to be bold. Cost-of-living pressures are being experienced by everybody we serve, from the not-for-profit sector to the education sector to the health care sector, and we heard this loud and clear through our deputations. This finance committee travelled—we spent a lot of time together—and we heard the same thing, but what we heard wasn’t translated into action in this budget.

I think it’s also important to recognize that when the government says, “We are going to balance the budget in two or three years”—that that’s even foreseeable is because of inflation; it’s because goods and services are costing Ontarians so much money, because we’re not doing anything as a province to address the price gouging that is happening, particularly in the food and grocery sector. Those revenues are coming into this place, and there is a moral, ethical responsibility to pass on some of those savings to the people we serve, to acknowledge that they’re hurting. That is the approach that we would take. It is very, very different from the approach of this government. We see those upstream investments saving money for the province—being more compassionate to the people we serve and, actually, assisting in the long term of people finding their potential, which is what we should all want for every Ontarian in this service.

The Star article went on to say that our leader of His Majesty’s official opposition said that this budget fails to meet the moment, and we definitely feel that.

I do want to say, though, that we did try to make it a better budget at committee. Myself and my colleagues introduced several amendments to make this budget more reflective of what we actually heard when we were travelling around the province, and I’m going to get to some of those in a second. The quote that obviously sticks with us—and several of my colleagues have also raised it: “If this budget were a Christmas present, it would be a three-pack of white socks. Not entirely useless. But an exercise in going through the motions.” So I hope that this is not setting the tone for the remainder of this term.

The editorial went on to say, “Overall, there was clanging dissonance between the budget’s palpable self-satisfaction and the economic anxiety, rising interest rates, soaring prices, health care concerns that have hit Ontario residents hard.”

That’s exactly what we heard.

I just want to confirm: We heard from the not-for-profit sector that they’re having a very difficult time keeping staff because of inflationary costs, because their budgets have flatlined and you can’t stretch those dollars any more. We heard from health care professionals, both front-line nurses and doctors, that recruiting into this broken system is difficult.

So, yes, absolutely, focus on attracting new people into the health care sector, but also retain the people who are experienced and went through the storm of this pandemic. We all call them heroes. Why not actually respect them? Thoughts and prayers do not pay the bills.

When the Ontario Medical Association came before us—and the Ontario college of physicians—they said, “We want to spend more time with our patients. These are the solutions. These solutions cost a little bit of money, but they save the system down the line.” So there were opportunities, wide-open doors—the barn door was fully open—on this budget really being more than a pack of three tube socks. This could have been a turning point for so many people in this province.

If you believe that budgets are moral documents, that they speak to the priorities of the government, then the government is intentionally, knowingly leaving so many people behind.

What I said to the finance minister when he came to the committee was, “I don’t understand. You have the money.” The money is there. There’s actually an unallocated surplus now in the province of Ontario of $2.9 billion. The funds are there to do the work, but the choice was made somewhere along the lines not to do that work.

We now have a planned contingency fund of $4 billion, separate from a surplus, and the reason why the contingency fund is concerning—and I believe very strongly that in a Westminster democracy, budgets are supposed to be approved by the Legislature in full. But with the government’s habit of hoarding cash in massive contingency funds and making radical in-year changes to the spending plan, we increasingly, as lawmakers, cannot trust that the budget presented will be what the government actually spends, and the lack of transparency is bad for our democracy.

I have seen from this Premier a complete disregard and even disdain for our democracy. I’ve never seen this before. There are rules that this Premier randomly reveals in press conferences. Friday’s press conference felt like a bit of an SCTV act, actually. There was policy flying all over the place, laws being run over—really just a very disconcerting randomness to the answers that the Premier was giving. Regardless of the constitutional responsibilities that we have as legislators, the Premier is not concerned with the Constitution. He’s not concerned with the charter. He’s not concerned with these human rights. He’s not concerned with the law of the land. And this does not inspire confidence in our democracy—but also confidence in our economy and how these deals are being negotiated, how they’re being met, how they’re paying for them. There are some contractual agreements around here that are a little dicey, I have to say.

If you have nothing to hide, then please reveal the mandate letters that you’ve been fighting in court for your five full years. It has gone to court now four times, and the government has lost four times. These mandate letters need to be revealed to the people of this province because—and I’ll get into where the money is going—there is a creeping privatization into the government of Ontario, and the money is not going to where it should be. And one only has to look at the gambling file in Ontario to actually use that as a full example. I will get into that.

The FAO had some words to say to the finance minister. We were on The Agenda, the Steve Paikin show, and he said we have this expenditure monitor, so we can actually track where the funding is going and where the funding is not going, and it’s there for all of us to use. I will say, in his last report—and it really was his last report, because the FAO, Peter Weltman, is no longer in office. His last day of work was not last Friday but the Friday before. Apparently, based on the interview that he did with Colin D’Mello, there was very little notice from the government; there was not a “Here’s your hat; there’s the door.” He didn’t even get that.

So this government really is a little shy around the transparency and accountability piece. They don’t like to be called out when the expenditure monitor from the office of the FAO actually documents where the money is going and where the money is not going.

Certainly, we were very concerned last quarter when $6.4 billion didn’t get to where it was supposed to go. This does call into question the legitimacy of the budget. The government can announce that they’re going to release $1.1 billion to community services, as they did around nine months ago to huge fanfare, really. Speaker, $1.1 billion is a good chunk of change, and we all have community agencies in our ridings that require that funding. But when we learned through the expenditure monitor that only $300 million got out the door into our communities, this, obviously, is concerning, and it should be concerning for everybody, especially people who are fiscally conservative. This was a moniker of the government: “We want to make sure that the money is being spent appropriately and going to the right places.” Well, we now have a growing body of evidence that that is not happening. So you can’t call us out for questioning this practice, because where the money is going, where the investments are going absolutely matters.

COVID-19—this was an additional part of the budget that I think is really concerning. I do want to thank our health critic for raising the issue of long COVID. COVID is serious. It’s still here. People are still suffering. And the hospitals that have been cobbling together some kind of a support system, gathering research, gathering best practices, have notified the government and this Minister of Health that they don’t have the funds to string these dollars along to provide that support. So if you know somebody who has long COVID, if you’ve seen how unproductive and debilitating long COVID can be, have a plan for it; have a strategy; have the Minister of Health stand in her place and say, “This is what we are going to do for long COVID.” That has not happened. Apparently, everything is fine on that side of the House.

The other lack of transparency which is really concerning to us—because health care and housing definitely dominated in this whole process. Even when the government says, “We’re going to make municipalities whole after Bill 23,” the Minister of Municipal Affairs stood in his place, after really taking these municipalities by surprise by overriding many of their growth plans—years and years of planning and consultation around environmentally responsible housing, intensification within those boundaries—and this minister decided, “You know what? We’re going to overrule, and we’re going to reduce the development charges that municipalities can access through developers.” Because this has been a long-standing relationship between municipalities and those who build houses—because it’s all primarily private sector—that those development charges help with the infrastructure costs. Those infrastructure costs matter, because they actually provide the opportunity to build the houses: the stormwater, the wastewater, the green space, the schools, the libraries, the roads. I mean, it’s kind of important.

So when the Minister of Municipal Affairs said, “You know what? Don’t worry, don’t worry. We still value you and we’ll make you whole”—in the budget, many municipalities, AMO in particular, were looking at making up for that funding gap. And for good reason, because their only other recourse is to raise taxes. So this amounted to downloading this responsibility to municipalities, who need the money. We actually did see a major jump in taxation—property taxes—across this province. Some municipalities were able to hold it to three or four, but in Waterloo region, it was at 8.9, because we’re a growing area and we need that infrastructure.

But when you follow the money, even more importantly, I would have to say—through estimates, our critic found this out—there’s actually a 25% Streamline Development Approval Fund for municipalities and there is a 70% Municipal Modernization Program, which is a reduction, which is a cut. So the Minister of Municipal Affairs says that he values municipalities, but when you follow where the money is going, he’s actually cutting the resources, one, to prove that the assets exist, because there’s a very patriarchal relationship in this House, with the Premier and with the minister and how they view municipalities—which is surprising, given the fact that they were both municipal councillors. And what the Premier said last week is that they just like to spend and spend and spend. Municipalities have the most accountability at any level, more so than federal, provincial. Local municipalities are held to a totally different level of account. So this discourse that the minister has and the Premier has with municipalities is not helpful to building new housing or even renovating new housing. So that’s where we are with that. There is a genuine growing distrust, and when you have that lack of trust, this undermines even good initiatives that the government may have.

When I was pressed to say what is good in this budget, I had to go through it a few times. The $202 million for affordable housing is a good investment. It’s a good step in the right direction. But when you look where that money is going, who’s getting the money and how little it actually adds to the value of housing initiatives in local organizations—I’m thinking of the city of Ottawa, whose top-up, based on this $202 million, is only $845,000. Our members from the Ottawa area said, “Listen, two houses”—this is not bold or ambitious housing development, not at all. There are some great inconsistencies, huge inconsistencies, between the language that the government is using about how great this budget is, and then the actual reality of what is happening in Ontario, the lived experience of Ontarians.

Thank goodness we have the Auditor General’s office as well. Who knows what’s going to happen with the FAO. This is a valuable part of our democracy. I’m hoping that this government will follow through and make sure that we go through the hiring process, but the Auditor General is also up for review, and I want to thank Bonnie Lysyk for the work that she’s done, particularly in the last report that came out. Her work on public-private relationships has been groundbreaking for Ontario and, really, Canada.

This is what she said around the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. and the entire gambling sector. She was particularly critical of the process that was used to select private casino operators for eight gaming regions within Ontario, resulting in 20-year contracts for the winning bidders. But among the criticisms were the facts that contracts were rewarded based on unrealistic financial projections, that the amount of capital investment included in the bid wasn’t included in the evaluation criteria, and that the capital investment which was included in the bids wasn’t included as a commitment in the final contract even when it was used to support revenue projections.

This is the important part: These contracts—because contract law used to be actually a thing in Ontario. These errors in the process have resulted in three of the eight regions needing to renegotiate what was supposed to be guaranteed revenue commitments and other missed opportunities for economic development, with direct losses to the province projected at billions of dollars over the length of the contracts.

So to say that the gambling file in Ontario is going well would be a huge stretch; it is messy right now, even with the regulator for gambling in Ontario going into the gambling business with iGaming. It’s unheard of.

She goes on to say, “Based on updated revenue projections for the eight gaming regions”—and this was as of March 2022—“total casino gaming revenue projections for the first 10 years of operations were reduced by $9.1 billion....”

Now, I’m not a gambler. I’m too Scottish, perhaps, to be gambling. I work very hard, and I don’t like losing money, and I have some charities that I’m very dedicated to, so I’m not a gambler, but gambling is here. The province of Ontario used to have this philosophy that if gambling is here, if people are going to gamble, then let’s make sure it is done in a safe manner, it is regulated, and that the funding that comes into the province goes to our schools, it goes to our hospitals, it goes to agencies that are actually doing really good work and protecting people—sometimes against themselves, because gambling is also very addictive.

The OLG’s share of these projected revenues was reduced by $3.3 billion—I’m sure the Minister of Education could use that money for education—reducing the projected net profit to the province by $320 million annually on average for 2024. So we are losing money. The government is gambling and the government is losing, and it seems intentional because this is actually by design, Madam Speaker. I’d like to know who got the contract to design such a terrible system.

But you know who else it’s hurting? It’s hurting Indigenous communities and nations. This is actually a growing theme here at Queen’s Park, when the government doesn’t take into account their responsibilities to negotiate in good faith with First Nations. This is from a recent article: “A First Nation community says they plan to challenge the Ford government’s decision to move ahead with online gambling, claiming it violates a constitutional right to consultation with Indigenous leaders.

“The Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation ... calls the Ontario government’s iGaming plans ‘deeply flawed’ and a move that will financially devastate their economy while setting back decades of community development efforts.”

It goes on to say that “most internet gambling by Ontarians currently takes place on websites not managed by the province, the new legal market will ensure integrity, fairness and player protections.” This is actually kind of comical right now.

“Kelly LaRocca, chief of MSIFN, called the announcement a ‘slap in the face of First Nations, and reduces their promises of reconciliation to a joke.’

“The First Nation says the provincial government has ignored section 35 of Canada’s Constitution, claiming the Ford government utterly failed to hold formal consultations with Indigenous governments—a violation of its duty to consult and accommodate impacted Indigenous groups.”

This is another quote from the chief: “‘The Ford government has recklessly ignored our concerns and has not offered any strategies to address the impact that their inadequate plan will have on our First Nation, our culture and our ability to provide services to our community.... We intend to challenge the province’s iGaming scheme in court.’”

And that seems like this is now the practice of this government, right? You know what the law is—the Premier, I assume, knows what the laws are. He may not have a respectful relationship, or even an understanding, that these dealings should be nation to nation. They should happen prior to announcements; they should happen prior to plans being rolled out to economies being interfered with. But he also seems very content to go to court. I’ve said this before in this House: The lawyers are doing very well in Ontario. This government has kept them very, very busy. I’ve even had to file an FOI to try to find out how many court cases this government has already engaged in. It’s easy to keep track of the ones you’ve lost because it’s actually almost all of them.

This is everything from stickers on gas tanks to—what’s another one? There are so many of them it’s hard to choose.