We know that we are living in uncertain economic times, with higher-than-normal inflation. And so with Bill 85, will the member opposite and his colleagues—given that, in these uncertain economic times, the most vulnerable are the hardest hit, will the opposition support our proposed expansion to the guaranteed annual income support plan starting in July 2024 so that 100,000 more seniors can receive monthly benefits?

We’re going to move to further debate.

We’re going to move to questions.

I thank the member for the question.

What we have a problem with is a government that completely ignores the affordability issue. What’s happening here is that they’re taking money away from municipalities and giving it to developers. They promised to reimburse municipalities, and they’re not doing that.

Money doesn’t just fall from the sky. You have $5 billion of revenue shortfalls created by the government’s housing legislation, and that money has to come from somewhere. It’s going to result in steep property tax increases and cuts to services that people need. That’s the result of the government’s decisions and their priorities in this budget.

I’m glad to have one more chance.

It was interesting listening to the member talk about how awful it was that we are taking off $160,000-a-unit of cost for low-income and attainable housing for the people of Ontario, for purpose-built rentals and low-income development.

I would like to ask the member directly if he fully supports and feels that it’s appropriate that there’s $160,000 of cost per unit built into some of the costs for units for the most vulnerable Ontarians that municipalities charge. I need to have that answer from him here in the House. If he feels that’s appropriate that we took that away—that he supports that that should be charged by municipalities to the most vulnerable Ontarians, that they have to pay later through rent.

We’ve known each other for five or six years now, or even longer, I think, and I know how passionate she is about the agricultural community, especially in her own riding, but indeed across the entire province of Ontario. I didn’t hear whether she would be voting in favour of the budget or not, but I’m hoping she would consider supporting the budget, if for no other reason than just to support agriculture, because of the fact that we’re getting a new veterinarian school in the province of Ontario and that we are actually supporting veterinarians who will be going into the north or to underserved areas. I’m very, very excited about that for the agricultural community in my riding.

I was wondering if she had comment on her support for the new veterinarian school from the budget.

I appreciate being able to speak to this bill this morning. It’s a budget bill that I would describe as mediocre, underwhelming. Overall, I felt there was nothing really dynamic in the bill. I won’t use my time to talk about the numbers that have already been thrown around, but rather what I hear from my constituents.

The past three years have been difficult for the people of Ontario, including in my riding of Haldimand–Norfolk. I hear it, and I see it.

My predecessor taught me that we have government for a reason. It’s government’s job to look after the people and make tough decisions. And in the budget, I see neither tough decisions being made—nor little help for families.

Members on the government side, during debate, have said that Bill 85 is this government’s plan to build Ontario so we can have a strong economy for the future and the infrastructure needed to support growth across the province. It’s allegedly a plan to build the economy, build highways, build infrastructure, work for workers, keep costs down, and serve the public better. It sounds great, but I’m not certain the measures contained will actually help families as they continue to grapple with inflation.

Insurance, for example, is something my constituents are continually calling me about. They simply can’t afford it.

Folks who have never used a food bank are now relying on one to feed their family.

And for the first time in Haldimand–Norfolk, homelessness can be seen in most of our small towns.

I had hoped the budget would offer affordability measures for Ontarians struggling with inflation-related costs. Legislation enacted to counter price gouging, for example, would have been welcome.

Bill 85 fails to address some of the major crises we’re seeing in Ontario, such as the failures of our education system and the weaknesses in our health care, long-term care and home care systems.

I am the orphaned fiscal conservative, but I think there has to be more targeted and sensible spending on key areas. Oversight is badly needed when we continue to spend more while critical services get worse. The government can boast of delivering the biggest budget ever, but if these monies continue to chase after bad money, it becomes a moot point. I am a fiscal conservative, so I don’t really feel that this unprecedented spending is something to be proud of. This isn’t a fiscally conservative budget.

Sometimes, money isn’t the issue. I sat through the budget finance committee pre-budget consultations across this province, where some presenters were asking for a lot of money, and I called them out on that. Money isn’t always the problem. The problem, I believe, can be mismanagement, a lack of accountability. Sometimes the problem is systemic. And I see many issues in this province that can largely be fixed with a better approach or strategy. We simply have to listen.

We know the Ontario government has an ambitious plan to build one and a half million homes in 10 years. Along with the challenge of building those homes, allegedly 72,000 more workers are required. Credit where credit is due—the government continues to invest in skills training, apprenticeship and skilled trades to encourage the trades as a career. For example, the government is enhancing the Skills Development Fund with an additional $75 million over the next three years. That is good news. My overarching concern regarding the aggressive housing target, however, is that I don’t see any oversight to ensure proper housing is being built—and by “proper,” Ontario needs affordable housing and housing that’s affordable. I fear without proper oversight, we will see housing few people can afford.

I’m like a broken record on contraband tobacco, which has become one of the most common illegally traded goods in the world, and this province is ground zero. It’s ruining the social fabric of our communities. During pre-budget consultations, we heard from folks who recognize the damage illegal tobacco is doing to our communities as well as to the Ontario economy. All of us have heard from legitimate businesses, like corner stores, that suffer financially. The government loses out on $750 million in taxes annually. That’s a lot of money, especially when Quebec has proven that they have the recipe to deal with this disaster. I understand that Quebec model was going to be adopted in the 2019 budget, but it was pulled, and I’m very disheartened that it is missing again in 2023. There are some housekeeping items in schedule 10 of Bill 85 with respect to the Tobacco Tax Act, but they only scratch the surface of contraband tobacco. I’ve asked in this House and on finance committee, in the spirit of transparency, who or why the Quebec model and associated policy was pulled and why it is missing again. I still haven’t heard an answer.

Schedule 10 should have also corrected the definition of “unregulated tobacco” back to what it was originally—“contraband,” “illegal” or “illicit”—in the Tobacco Tax Act. When this government came to power, one of the first things that the Ministry of Finance did was change the wording from “contraband” to “unregulated.” Page 184 of the budget makes this reference. Why would the ministry change the definition from “contraband” to “unregulated”? It seems like an ambiguous term, and those enforcing the law tell me it is an ambiguous term and makes it much easier for criminals to work around the law. Once again, it’s a change that could have occurred without money being spent.

To address teacher and nurse shortages, we should be focusing on getting potential professionals through their education much faster than they are today. Implementing additional accelerated courses would get students to the front lines faster.

I represent many farmers. The veterinary training that has been of concern the past few years was addressed in the budget, and I hope that it works. It’s nice to see this government attempting to address this issue. Expanding high-speed Internet across rural Ontario is vital because not being able to connect puts our farmers at a competitive disadvantage.

In closing, when any legislation is introduced in this House, I take great care in determining how it will affect the people of Haldimand–Norfolk. Do I feel this budget will harm my constituents? No. Do I think it will help them? It will help some, but with the current environment—

Yes, I am a huge advocate for my farming community, and I see measures in the budget for our farmers, but I think we could have taken those measures a little bit further.

I will say that the Minister of Agriculture does a great job of supporting our farmers. I hear it every day. I heard it as recently as yesterday. But I think she has a very tough job in supporting our farmers to the best of her ability within this government.

I was heartened to see that there are some measures—veterinary training, agricultural soil health and conservation, and investments in high-speed Internet—because, as I said, we can’t have our farmers competing in a global market if they don’t have access and they’re not connected. It puts them at a competitive disadvantage.

I won’t let you know whether or not I’m voting in favour of the budget. But thanks for the question.

I listened intently to the member from Haldimand–Norfolk. I always enjoy her remarks. She represents her riding very well. Some might be surprised to know that I would also consider myself as a fiscal conservative. One of her remarks touched me. This is the highest-spending budget in Ontario history, yet there are so many people who, quite frankly, aren’t impacted. The homelessness crisis is impacting rural Ontario and my riding as well and many other things, and yet this government seems to be missing the mark—that there’s almost two Ontarios—and the government is forgetting one side of our province.

This week, something happened that we’d never heard of before. It’s seeding time in Timiskaming. There’s lots of farm equipment on the highway. Thank you to our farmers for doing all the work they do. This week, a tractor was on Highway 11, and a transport passed it on the right, on the gravel shoulder. It’s amazing that that didn’t cause a major accident.

I’ve spoken with the minister about this. This isn’t a partisan issue—not at all. We all care, and we want the highways safer. Something needs to be done to make sure that aggressive drivers of all kinds, but especially transports, respect others on the road.

Finally, I would like to express my condolences to the family of someone who lost their life on Highway 11 this week for another reason, another danger in northern Ontario. A vehicle hit a moose, the highway was closed, and someone tragically lost their life. Our condolences to the family.

Please be careful on the roads.

Next question.

Third reading debate deemed adjourned.

Speaker, Bill 85 proposes a plan that is responsible and targeted to help people and businesses, while laying a strong fiscal foundation for future generations. It is reflective of a thoughtful, transparent plan with a path to balance. It contains investments that are attracting and protecting jobs—while investing in hospitals, schools, transit, highways and other infrastructure projects.

Why will the member opposite not commit to supporting Bill 85?

En cette Semaine nationale de la police, j’aimerais prendre cette opportunité ici en Chambre pour remercier les premiers répondants de ma communauté, mais aussi de toute la province.

Comme vous le savez, nous avons vécu une situation tragique dans notre circonscription la semaine dernière dans le village de Bourget, dans la municipalité de Clarence-Rockland. L’embuscade qui a causé le décès d’un de nos sergents et blessé deux autres agents de police est une situation qui est inexplicable et nous laisse sans mots. Nos pensées sont avec les familles, les amis, les collègues du sergent Mueller et avec toutes les personnes qui ont été affectées par cet évènement.

Je tiens à remercier de tout coeur les membres du service de paramédic de Prescott et Russell, tous ces gens qui se sont rendus sur les lieux, ceux qu’on appelle les premiers répondants, qui ont mis leurs vies en danger pour venir au secours de leurs collègues. Nous ne comprendrons jamais comment difficile ça peut être de vivre avec des souvenirs de toutes sortes de situations comme celle de la semaine dernière, parce que la plupart de nous ne seront jamais confrontés à de telles situations.

Lorsque je suis revenu de Toronto jeudi soir dernier, pendant les cinq heures de route, j’ai eu beaucoup de temps à penser—à penser à tous les amis, parents, enfants, à tous ces premiers répondants, policiers, paramédicaux, pompiers et autres intervenants, qui mettent leurs vies en danger chaque jour pour venir en aide à nos citoyens. J’aimerais les remercier. Merci à vous tous pour votre travail incroyable.

Earlier this month, I joined the Minister of Long-Term Care for a tour of the construction site of Wellbrook Place, our new, state-of-the-art long-term-care home on Speakman Drive in Mississauga–Lakeshore. When it is open this fall, it will be the largest long-term-care home in Ontario, giving 632 new residents a modern, safe and comfortable place to call home. It will meet the latest standards for long-term-care design and safety, including private bedrooms and an enhanced HVAC system. Special units will care for people with advanced dementia, and a dialysis program will support residents living with kidney disease. Specialists from Trillium Health Partners will operate these programs, so that residents with complex needs get the care they need right at home, without unnecessary visits to hospitals or emergency rooms.

Future phases of this project will include a new health services building, and the first residential hospice in Mississauga, to be built and operated by Heart House Hospice.

I want to thank Tess Romain and her team at Partners Community Health for all their work on this project.

And I want to thank the minister for our historic investment of $6.4 billion in the largest long-term-care building program in Canadian history, including 1,100 new and upgraded beds in Mississauga–Lakeshore alone, more than any other riding in the province of Ontario.

Thanks for the question.

I’m probably going to take a bit of a different approach than what my friends to my right here are taking. But I’m a fiscal conservative, and I think there’s a better approach to be taken.

The minister said earlier this morning that this government is here for every Ontarian. My constituents don’t feel that way. This is a government that was elected in 2018 to make life more affordable for Ontarians, and my constituents simply don’t see it. They don’t see it with respect to auto insurance rates. They don’t see it with respect to natural gas.

The Premier was once called the emperor who has no clothes when it comes to cutting taxes. When we talk about cutting taxes, we obviously turn right to cutting services—and that’s not always true.

So I think there are missed opportunities, as one of my colleagues said this morning.

I want to talk about the relief needed for rural Ontario. We see tax relief for northern residents who get a break for all the travel that they do, and it’s time those in rural Ontario get that same tax break. With respect to natural gas, the federal government’s energy prices disproportionately target rural residents and people of my riding. That doesn’t make life more affordable for them—

Today, I rise to share a message that my offices and I hear from constituents in our riding and across the province every day. The impact and effects of the rising cost of living, both short-term and long-term, are harmful and hurtful in so many ways. The struggle to make ends meet, to raise a family, to be safe, warm and fed with a place to call home should not be this tough for so many. Affording and maintaining basic needs should never take over the quality of one’s life or health, physically or mentally.

We hear the stories of families, friends, neighbours and community members who have exhausted all options, made every call and find themselves with nowhere to turn. We hear their current situations of unstable living conditions, lack of mental health supports, and long wait-lists due to underfunding. We bear witness to these conditions in our communities, in parks, schools, health care settings, workplaces and homes.

Deplorable government policies and budget constraints that hinder the very programs and people who have the solutions—solutions that can change lives and reverse some outcomes. We feel the effects when we see these programs closed due to funding, wait-lists growing even longer, and social service rates not meeting today’s living expenses, including shelter, food and health care.

I call on this government to listen, learn and fund these critical solutions.

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of visiting with agriculture producers in my riding. Farm families are the backbone of Ontario, and Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry is no exception. I was able to visit a variety of agriculture producers in my riding. The few I was able to visit were Cornerstone Organics, the first organic aquaponics operation in Ontario, helping our local food security with their greenhouse greens—next up, I visited Critesdale Farms and their state-of-the-art dairy facility operated by Calvin and Adam Crites to see how much technology has changed the way we farm. I finished the tour over at the Ferguson family grain merchandising and cash crop farm at Glen Gordon Farms in South Glengarry—with a bit of help understanding the cash crop industry.

This past weekend, I was able to get out and start roto-tilling my garden, getting ready for planting season at my house.

With the May long weekend around the corner, many people will be heading out to local garden centres like Marlin Orchards or Fines Home Hardware to get their flowers, vegetables and other gardening essentials.

With the recent sunny weather after weeks of rain, our farming community is working day and night to get the crops in the ground. I encourage everyone to be vigilant and give farm equipment the space they need to manoeuvre safely on our local roads.

I’ve talked several times about Sudbury and the urban myth of it being the moonscape where they trained NASA scientists. I’m pleased to find out that this year is actually the 50th year of re-greening our city.

My life seems to have charted the course of the re-greening of Sudbury. The Superstack was finished in 1971, the year that I was born. In 1973, VETAC was formed. That was the Vegetation Enhancement and Technical Advisory Committee, which we now just call the re-greening advisory committee. In 1978, that’s when the real work happened. I was seven years old. I remember watching out the window as helicopters—it was the first time I ever saw a helicopter in real life—were bringing lime to the rocks. I’ve talked many times in the past about the rocks in Sudbury being scarred black and growing up thinking that rocks naturally just turn black if they’re exposed to the air, the same way that a pop can would rust if it was exposed to the air. I didn’t know it was because of pollution. I didn’t know it was because of acid rain. So I would watch these workers all around MCTV, the new CTV station, spreading lime on the rocks, planting small shrubs. I have photos of my family and me going out to plant little seedlings that are now taller than I am.

It’s an interesting experience, when you think that when I was trained at Bell Canada to run drop lines, they told me not to worry about running through trees because in Sudbury trees don’t grow fast enough; the line would wear out before the tree grew. But now, 50 years forward, 10 million trees and shrubs have been planted, and we’ve received over 40 awards.

So the re-greening of Sudbury is near and dear to my heart.

This is a nice follow-up to the statement from the member from Barrie–Innisfil.

This morning, I rise to thank three men from Norfolk county who have returned from Holland as part of the Black Watch RHR pipes and drums band. For two weeks, Murray McKnight, Kevin McNeilly and Chris Faulkner joined 37 others leading a tour retracing the steps taken by Canadians in the liberation of the Netherlands. The band, developed solely for this tour, was comprised of current and former Black Watch members, other serving members, police services, and civilians from across Canada. The tour was set to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War but was delayed three years due to the pandemic. For Port Dover resident Murray McKnight, the recent trip was a childhood dream come true. McKnight says the tour surpassed his wildest dreams and is an opportunity he will likely never be afforded again.

While on tour, the band played in ceremonies and parades in small towns, and they visited each and every cemetery where Black Watch soldiers were laid to rest. At Holten cemetery, McKnight, McNeilly and Faulkner were able to pay special tribute to William Stackhouse of St. Williams, George Dayton of Vanessa, William Grahm of Port Dover, and Frank Tredly of Woodhouse—all soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

In Wageningen, the men were astounded as people lined the street for 3.5 kilometres at 12 deep. People hung out their windows—a picture McKnight described as surreal. “It’s clear the Dutch people are still very appreciative and that they have not forgotten.”

This memorial band, solely formed for this event, has now been disbanded.

Thank you to these men, to the band, and all those who made this incredible historical journey a reality.

I would like to pay tribute to an honourable member of the Bowmanville community this morning—an individual who has served our nation as a pilot and a military officer, a parliamentarian and a statesman, but most importantly, a man who has proudly served the riding of Durham and someone I am pleased to call a mentor and a friend. Last month, the member of Parliament for Durham, the Honourable Erin O’Toole, announced that he will be leaving the House of Commons at the conclusion of the spring session. Erin O’Toole is the son of one of my legendary predecessors, John O’Toole, who served as our MPP in this Legislature from 1995 to 2014.

Erin grew up in Port Perry and Bowmanville before enrolling in Kingston’s Royal Military College at the age of 18. Upon graduating from the RMC in 1991, Erin O’Toole was commissioned as an officer in the air command in 1995, serving as an air navigator. While serving at 12 Wing in Shearwater, Nova Scotia, Erin was awarded the Sikorsky helicopter Rescue Award for rescuing an injured fisherman at sea, and was then promoted to the rank of captain.

Following his military service in 2000, Erin went on to practise law after earning his law degree in 2003.

He has championed, as a parliamentarian, after being elected in the by-election in 2012, many great causes. He served as a cabinet minister and, most recently, as leader of Her Majesty’s loyal opposition in Parliament.

It is my pleasure to recognize both the Honourable Erin O’Toole and his father, John, today for their lifetime of selfless service to Canada.

Applause.

This week marks the 78th anniversary of the declaration of victory in Europe. On May 11, 1945, Commonwealth commanders, including Canadians, began their first preparations to begin massive demobilization efforts to return the hundreds of thousands of Canadian warriors and heroes back home following Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower’s public statements that no soldier, sailor or air personnel who fought in Europe or North Africa ought to be sent to the Pacific theatre.

Also, earlier this month was the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands. In the weeks following VE day, Canadian commanders worked alongside Dutch civil authorities and communities to lay to final rest all Canadian soldiers who fell in Germany on allied soil. No Canadian was to be buried in Germany.

This week, we pay tribute to the fallen and all veterans of the Allied forces for securing victory against Nazi Germany. Their courage, devotion and sacrifices will never be forgotten by future generations, and least of all, in this assembly.

God save the King.

I would like to welcome the students of Georges Vanier Catholic School, who will be visiting. They’re from my riding of Brampton Centre.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I would like to welcome a good friend and the president of my riding association, Julian Ciaccia, to Queen’s Park.

Julian, welcome.