I want to thank the member for Hastings–Lennox and Addington for this very important question. Our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, is working every day to save lives. That’s why we are actively expanding the availability of naloxone kits throughout Ontario. Naloxone is a vital medication that can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. As of last week, employers are now required to have a life-saving naloxone kit on hand and workers trained on how to use these naloxone kits.

Through our Ontario Workplace Naloxone Program, we have now distributed more than 1,000 free naloxone kits to workplaces across the province. This initiative enhances public awareness of opioid addiction, combats the stigma and, ultimately, saves lives.

Speaker, I encourage everyone to visit ontario.ca/workplacenaloxone to learn more.

My question is to the Premier. The Conservatives want to open up an area of land as big as the size of Toronto on greenbelt land and farmland, even though experts have been telling you loud and clear—even your own experts have been telling you—that there is more than enough land already available in areas zoned for development.

Well, get this: Land speculators are reading the tea leaves and they are buying up protected farmland. Farm prices have gone up by 20% in the last year alone. New farmers and young farmers can’t compete with these land speculators, and they’re worried they’re never going to get into the housing sector and the farming sector.

To strengthen our farming sector, can the Conservatives commit to not opening up any more greenbelt land to needless development?

The government is increasing investments by $590 million more for the coming September. Our Special Education Grant is up across the board—over $3.2 billion. It is dramatically higher than when the former Liberals were in place. We’ve hired over 3,200 EAs. I appreciate the inconvenient truth associated with funding, staffing and support for school boards, but we are increasing the supports across the board in Lambton–Kent–Middlesex and in every single region of Ontario. To suggest otherwise is frankly preposterous.

No one believes the NDP. This is the default. Every year, there’s a narrative from the opposition of the sky is falling.

We are increasing supports to help kids get back on track. Look at the numbers, look at the investments: $590 million more and roughly 8,000 additional staff even though we don’t have additional kids in our schools. We will continue to be there for Ontario kids.

Thank you, Speaker, and good morning. I’d like to thank the member opposite for the question.

Speaker, we all know that Ontario is expected to grow by more than two million people by 2031, with approximately 1.5 million living just in the greater Golden Horseshoe alone. The federal government has also announced that Canada will increase immigration by another 500,000 newcomers by 2025. We know Ontario is expected to get a significant portion of new Canadians, and so we have to start planning now so the next generation of Ontarians have a place to live. The decision we made will result in the construction of at least 50,000 new homes and will expand the greenbelt by approximately 2,000 acres.

Speaker, Ontario’s population reached a historic 15 million people last year, and it’s expected that this growth is going to continue. We are going to get 1.5 million homes built by 2031 because we desperately need it, Speaker.

Speaker, I am so proud to be part of a government that’s taking a responsible, targeted approach to deliver on its plan to build a million and a half homes by 2031. This plan is just part of our larger commitment to make life easier and much more affordable for the people of Ontario.

Speaker, under this Premier and this infrastructure minister, we’re investing more than $159 billion over the next decade to support infrastructure projects including transit, highways, schools, hospitals, long-term-care projects. This transportation minister is building more municipalities while improving local transit. This labour minister—we’re doubling our economic immigrants. And under this economic development minister, we’re attracting $7 billion in St. Thomas.

Speaker, our province is growing. We’re welcoming newcomers. We need to build housing, and we’re going to get it done.

My question this morning is to the Premier. Another expert report has just been released, this time using advanced mapping technology, that shows yet again this government does not need to build on the greenbelt to achieve our housing goals. Yes, we are in a housing crisis. We need housing; we need affordable housing. But this study shows that Ontario could deliver the next 30 years of housing in the greater Toronto-Hamilton area using a portion of land already zoned for development.

My question: Given the mounting evidence that we already have the necessary land to build housing, why are you putting the greenbelt, our farms, our forests and our wetlands at risk?

It’s amazing how the minister’s record-breaking spending keeps translating into cuts on the ground. It’s like the opposite of magic.

The Lambton Kent District School Board isn’t just losing Indigenous funding. They’re facing a cut of $8 million, or 2.5% of their total budget. This is on top of the fact that the government is only funding one quarter of the actual cost of special education for Lambton Kent. In all parts of the province, kids need more support, not less.

Why is this government forcing school boards like Lambton Kent to implement cuts and take supports away?

Supplementary question: the member for Ottawa West–Nepean.

To reply, the Associate Minister of Housing.

The Associate Minister of Housing.

My question is for the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. The sad reality, Speaker, is that everyone in our province, unfortunately, knows someone who has been negatively impacted by the ongoing opioid epidemic. It’s a distressing fact that over 2,000 individuals died last year from opioid-related causes and about one third of those individuals worked in the vital construction sector.

That’s why our government must take action and ensure that Ontario workers have access to life-saving equipment, like naloxone kits, when and where they need them. Our government must do more to protect Ontarians who are struggling with addictions in order to reduce preventable workplace deaths.

Speaker, will the minister please explain what actions our government is taking to protect our workers here in Ontario?

For the Ontario Workplace Naloxone Program to be effective, naloxone kits must be available in workplaces where there’s a risk of opioid overdose. Additionally, people must be trained to know how to administer naloxone properly. That’s why our government must implement requirements and directives for employers so that they can provide a safe workplace for their employees.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is supporting worker safety and protection through the workplace naloxone program?

My question is for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Back in 2019, this government did a good thing by creating provincially significant employment zones and identifying areas of high economic output The Nanticoke industrial park in my riding of Haldimand–Norfolk includes both Stelco and Imperial Oil, and was included in this initiative—rightfully so.

Fast-forward to last spring in Haldimand, when the mayor at the time dropped news on the county that he supported a proposed 15,000-home community on 4,200 acres surrounding the industrial park. Stelco maintains a provincial rezoning of the lands could imperil the future of the company’s Lake Erie works, and Imperial Oil has the same opinion.

Haldimand county needs these good-paying jobs, and an industrial park is where they should remain. Speaker, will the minister assure Haldimand county and the tenants of the industrial park that this government will protect the jobs at the steel mill and the refinery, as they said they would do in 2019?

My question is to the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. In August 2021, my constituents in Wheatley experienced a terrifying and life-changing event when a gas explosion occurred at the site of an old, abandoned well. This explosion had a devastating impact on our people, our businesses and our community.

Thankfully there was no loss of life, but lasting economic damage remains, as well as legitimate concerns about the potential for similar occurrences throughout other communities.

No community in Ontario should ever have to experience such an event. That is why our government must take urgent action to address this serious issue. Speaker, can the minister please explain what actions our government is taking to address the environmental impact that legacy oil and gas wells have in our province?

The potential for the release of dangerous gases presents a number of genuine safety risks and concerns. This is why it’s essential our government gains a deeper understanding of the extent of the challenges associated with legacy oil and gas wells throughout southwestern Ontario. Speaker, could the minister please elaborate on the scope and design of the strategy to address these risks posed by legacy oil and gas wells?

The idea of putting 40,000 people in Ontario’s largest industrial park was supported by the former Haldimand county mayor, who unexpectedly ended up on the ballot for the party of this government last June. It appears something interesting developed between 2019 and last spring, because now we see this government doing away with the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Surely we’re not so desperate to build houses that we would subject newcomers to life in Ontario’s largest industrial park.

Chaos across the Highway 6 corridor and the inability to meet the health care needs of the current population have many people concerned about adding 40,000 people to the area. Two elections have been fought on this issue, and voters feel an industrial park is not the place for a city.

As the MPP for Haldimand–Norfolk, it is my duty to bring forward the public’s opinion, not form it for them. Speaker, if the consultation on the provincial planning statement concludes that the people of Ontario want to see these employment lands protected, will this government uphold that protection, including the employment lands at Nanticoke?

As I have said many times, when hospital leaderships make decisions about how to best serve their communities, it is not in our interest, as local members or government members, to second-guess those locally decided upon decisions.

Having said that, the investments that we are making to ensure that we have, as an example, last August, directed the College of Nurses of Ontario to quickly assess, review and expedite licences for internationally educated nurses, mean that in last year alone we had over 12,000 new nurses licensed in the province of Ontario; over half were internationally trained nurses. We’ve done the same with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

We will continue to make sure that pathways for licensing in the province of Ontario—the red tape is removed so that we can have as many people—

We will continue to invest. We have done that through surgical recovery programs. Hospitals have been able to expand and widen the number of surgeries that they can do with funds from the province of Ontario. We’ve done it to make sure that we have options, in the province of Ontario, including 24/7 health services provided with registered nurses, so individuals can have that conversation and make sure that they are going to the most appropriate level of care in the province of Ontario.

I do want to thank the member opposite for her question. Speaker, yes, it’s very, very important that we have high-employment zones. We have many of them right across this province. But what we also heard from many of these employers is the desperately needed housing in and around those employment zones, so that their employees could get to work much faster, rather than sitting in commutes for hours.

And so, we’re listening and we’re making sure that the people of this province can get to work in a timely manner by still protecting those high-employment zones and getting that building, bringing in this investment, and everybody has a great place to live, to work and to raise their family.

That is also why we’re taking the provincial policy statement, putting it together with A Place to Grow and making it one provincial policy statement, to make the wording so much easier, more easy to understand and easier to follow for all municipalities.

I just want to say to the good people of Wheatley that you’re never far from our thoughts, and what happened in 2021 continues to shape our actions today.

I was pleased to be joined by the member from Chatham-Kent–Leamington—thank you for the question—and the member from Essex on Friday to make an announcement that’s very important to southwest Ontario. Over the course of the next three years, our government will provide over $26 million to develop a plan to address legacy oil and gas wells in the province. To start, eligible municipalities will be able to apply for funding for specific projects aimed at keeping their communities safe. In addition, this funding will help municipalities address risks and challenges of oil and gas wells, invest in plugging more abandoned oil and gas wells and conduct more science and research.

Speaker, this is the first step in a commitment to the people of southwest Ontario. We’ve heard their concerns, and we’ll continue to provide resources to protect and build a stronger province.

As I mentioned on June 2, in addition to the funding, our government has also announced an action plan that will have three main principles: increasing our understanding of the risks of plugging oil and gas wells, taking actions to reduce and mitigate these risks, and implementing measures that are focused on preventing petroleum-related emergencies and enhancing our emergency preparedness.

We understand our job is not done, which is why we’ll be holding additional consultations as we look toward the next steps. Speaker, we’re just getting started. This side of the House will not rest until we have delivered on our commitment to the great people of southwest Ontario.

Speaker, through you to the Minister of Health: Last week, we learned that the urgent cares in Port Colborne and Fort Erie are having their hours reduced by half, permanently. This follows the recent closure of after-hours emergency surgeries at Welland hospital. Welland is where Port Colborne patients go if they cannot access service in Port Colborne.

Does the minister understand that real people don’t plan to need emergency surgery prior to 10 p.m.? That’s why it’s called an emergency. Will the minister stop blaming volunteers on hospital boards for this crisis and finally take responsibility?

Through you, Speaker, what is the alternative to emergency care when you need life-saving emergency surgery and there is no emergency care available at the urgent care or the emergency department? Will this minister act before one of my constituents dies because they cannot get emergency service?

To reply, the Associate Minister of Housing.

The supplementary question.

I want to thank the member from Cambridge for the important question. The people of Ontario gave our government a historic mandate to continue the work that we started in 2018 to reduce red tape, improve access to government and make it easier to invest and build in Ontario. With the passage of our latest red tape bill, that’s exactly what we are doing. It builds on our government’s strong record of ending the frustrations and delays from unnecessary red tape.

The results speak for themselves. We’ve eliminated 16,000 different kinds of pieces of red tape, which has now helped Ontario businesses save over $800 million in annual costs. It has also helped create over 600,000 new jobs. Last year alone, there were 85,000 new businesses that—

My question is for the President of the Treasury Board. Since being re-elected, our government must remain focused on growing the economy and unlocking new opportunities for businesses in every corner of our province. Our government needs to understand that Ontario’s economic prosperity relies on the success of our local businesses and the strength of our local communities.

The President of the Treasury Board recently announced changes to our government’s procurement directives in order to leverage Ontario’s purchasing power and to strengthen our province’s immense economic potential.

Our government must continue to take the necessary actions in order to ensure that businesses in Ontario can remain competitive.

Speaker, through you: Can the president please explain how these changes to our government’s procurement directives will support Ontario businesses?

However, the Building Ontario Business initiative is just one measure our government must take in order to support Ontario businesses and leverage Ontario’s purchasing power. There is more work that needs to be done to reduce the administrative burden of the procurement process and more ways to support the adoption of Ontario-made innovations.

Speaker, through you: Can the minister please elaborate on what additional steps our government is taking to modernize the procurement system and make it easier to buy from Ontario businesses?

My question is for the Minister of Red Tape Reduction. Under the leadership of our government and the Premier, Ontario is once again a destination for opportunity, investment and growth. In this competitive economic climate, it is important that we continue to take bold action to continuously drive productivity and innovation. This means eliminating burdensome red tape on people and businesses across our province. While our government has brought forward 11 red tape reduction packages, the people of Ontario are looking to our government to continue to focus on solutions that will make life easier for people and businesses.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is strengthening our economy by reducing red tape?

Thank you to the member from Carleton for her question.

For far too long, the previous Liberal government drove up the cost of doing business in this province and drove out good-paying jobs. We are taking a better approach. Through the Building Ontario Business initiative, our government is leveraging Ontario’s buying power to drive demand for made-in-Ontario goods and services.

The recently announced updates to Ontario’s procurement directives will provide Ontario businesses with greater access to public procurement opportunities. For example, a business in Carleton that invests in Ontario and that uses local supply chains and creates good-paying jobs right here in our province will no longer be put at a disadvantage when bidding for government contracts.

Speaker, our government is proud to buy Ontario.

Through Supply Ontario, our government is taking meaningful steps to reduce red tape faced by small businesses in the procurement process by centralizing our government’s supply chain and delivering better value for taxpayers by harmonizing contracts across the Ontario public sector.

Additionally, our government is developing an innovation pathway that, in collaboration with Supply Ontario, will make it easier for health services providers to procure from Ontario’s medtech innovators and will remove barriers to the adoption of promised technologies that improve outcomes for Ontarians.

We will continue to move forward with our plan that buys—