My question to my colleague: In my rural area of Simcoe–Grey, we know that Internet connectivity is a huge issue. For our local farmers that rely on connectivity for monitoring their herds, for the dairy farmers, and their broods, for the chicken farmers, it’s an essential connectivity. We also see it locally through the pandemic with school and education going online. Many families did not have adequate access to Internet.

I’m wondering if the member could speak to the issue of promoting and supporting a drive to get Internet to all Ontarians so that my residents in Simcoe–Grey have an idea of what’s coming forward.

My question is for the Associate Minister of Housing.

We know we have a housing crisis across the province. Certainly, in my riding of Simcoe–Grey, we’re seeing, with two growth nodes, both in Alliston and Collingwood, that there are incredible pressures there for housing.

But there’s also incredible population growth in our province. For the first time in our history, we exceeded 15 million people last year, and we know we’re going to be growing substantially. We grew by 400,000 new residents in Ontario last year. The federal government is planning to bring in 500,000 immigrants per year.

I’m wondering if the associate minister could please explain how this legislation, if passed, will help us to continue to grow to prepare for future growth and welcome new Ontarians looking to lay down roots in our province.

Thank you to the member opposite. I enjoyed listening to his comments. I know he focused to a great extent on democracy, representation and consultation. When Minister Clark stood up in the House to announce this bill, we had all three mayors as well as the regional chair present, and this is all something that they support. So I’m wondering if the member opposite will also support this if he’s prepared to listen to the duly elected mayors from each of the municipalities, the regional chair as well as the will of this House. Will he support this bill to help our lower-tier municipalities take control of their destiny and forge ahead to help us meet our housing supply crisis?

I want to thank my colleague for his thoughtful comments on this important legislation.

Coming from the municipal sector, I certainly know that, as communities grow and morph, governance changes are also required to evolve and grow with the municipalities.

As you indicated, when Minister Clark made the announcement, we had the three individual mayors, as well as the regional chair.

The conversation about making Peel region separate single-tier municipalities has been ongoing for a long time. I’m wondering if you could speak to why we chose Peel region first and what that might mean for successive regional examinations.