This question is for the Premier. Speaker, yesterday, the federal government confirmed that Canada is headed into the most severe fire season that our country has ever seen. Here in Ontario, wildfires are raging throughout the province, including in northern and eastern Ontario where the threat to life and property is very real. Centennial Lake, near Calabogie, is the latest area to be evacuated as a fire there grows out of control.

We know that natural resources, staff and local fire crews all around the province are working hard to contain the spread of the fire. Can the Premier update the House on what the government is doing to protect people and communities during this emergency?

Speaker, with the most severe season ever forecasted, does this government recognize the connection between this worsening weather and the climate crisis?

Interjections.

Anyway, my next question is to the Premier. This week, the Toronto Sun reported that Metrolinx has over 30,000 pages of documents that relate “to the issue of whether some rails for the Eglinton Crosstown project were improperly installed and need to be fixed.”

If the Eglinton Crosstown public-private partnership has a defective rail system, that’s about as serious a problem as you get. The minister refuses to take responsibility for the Eglinton Crosstown P3 fiasco, and instead of giving the public the information and the clarity that we deserve, we’ve gotten only finger-pointing and gaslighting. Does the Premier think that’s acceptable?

Speaker, it’s not just Ontarians waiting for the Eglinton Crosstown. People across the GTA are fed up. Once again, last weekend, GO bus riders travelling from Brampton to Waterloo were left behind at Bramalea station because not enough buses were made available to meet demand. The Minister of Transportation has been or should have been aware of this problem for months, but again, the minister refuses to take responsibility for the mess that she has orchestrated.

To the Premier: Why is he allowing this minister to leave dozens of GO riders stranded in Brampton?

My question is to the Premier.

A new report by the National Bank of Canada shows that home affordability in Ontario has reached alarming levels. In Toronto, you need to earn $235,000 to buy a home. In Hamilton, you need to earn $220,000 a year to buy a home.

The Conservatives are not fixing the housing crisis; they’re making it worse. It has never been more expensive to rent or buy a home.

How expensive does housing have to get for the Conservatives to recognize their plan is not working?

Not only has the dream of home ownership gone up in smoke, but Ontarians can’t even find an affordable place to rent. The latest report by rentals.ca has just come out, and rent for available apartments continues to skyrocket. In North York, rent is up 24% year over year; in Scarborough, rent has gone up 30%; in Brampton, it’s up 30%; and in Markham, it’s up 30%. There is nowhere affordable left for people to live.

Once again, this is my question to the Premier: How bad does it have to get for the Conservatives to change course and seriously address the housing affordability crisis that we have in Ontario today?

Interjections.

Stop the clock. The member for Brampton North will come to order. The member for Waterloo will come to order.

Start the clock. Back to the Leader of the Opposition.

The Premier.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Start the clock. The next question.

The Associate Minister of Housing.

Restart the clock.

The supplementary.

My question is to the Premier.

All Ontarians are shocked, angered and deeply disturbed by the recent news that convicted murderer and sex offender Paul Bernardo is being transferred to a medium-security prison. Bernardo is serving a life sentence for the kidnapping, torture and killing of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, as well as admitting to sexually assaulting numerous other women. He truly is the living embodiment of evil.

Justice Patrick LeSage, the judge who convicted Bernardo to life in prison, stated that Bernardo is a dangerous, sexually sadistic psychopath, and should have no right to ever be released. This is why there is something truly troubling in the discovery that Bernardo has been quietly moved from his maximum-security prison to a reported open-campus medium-security prison.

Can the Premier please add his voice and demonstrate strong leadership by standing with all Ontarians and with the families who were victimized by these crimes in raising our concern to the federal government and Correctional Service Canada?

Once again, can the Premier please provide his support and leadership in calling on the federal government and Correctional Service Canada to take the right action, respect the French and Mahaffy families, and hold Bernardo truly accountable for his heinous crimes?

To the Leader of the Opposition: I have total confidence in my minister. I have total confidence that the minister is responsible for building the largest transit project in North America. As you sat on your hands and as the Liberals sat on their hands—spending $30 billion, again, building the largest transit system in North America.

As the minister said, we will take responsibility for the disaster we inherited, but guess what? The Eglinton West is four to six weeks ahead of schedule, on time, on budget. The Yonge North extension is on time, on budget. Scarborough is getting a subway for the first time in the history of this province, and we’re going—

Interjections.

My message to Leslie Mahaffy’s and Kristen French’s families is, our heart breaks for you. Our heart breaks for you that you have to go through this once again, relive an absolute nightmare. And we will always, always have your backs.

As for this scumbag Bernardo, he should rot in hell. He should rot in a maximum-security prison for the rest of his life. This guy doesn’t deserve less restrictions, employment opportunities—believe it or not—or freedom to wander around.

I’m going to quote the correctional services commissioner: “We want Canadians to have confidence in our decisions.”

Well, Commissioner, I’ll tell you, no Canadians have confidence in your decisions. You should step aside, step down or be fired.

Interjections.

Instead of building transit, what this government is building is a legacy of public money wasted on private companies botching a transit system that doesn’t work. If riders don’t have confidence that a bus is going to arrive on schedule to get them to their destination on time, they will not take transit. Confidence in the transit system depends on the Minister of Transportation.

My question is to the Premier, who is sitting right there, and I hope he takes this question. Does the Premier still have confidence in this minister?

Interjections.

I want to thank the member from University–Rosedale for her question. However, the NDP’s fact-free rhetoric does absolutely nothing to help first-time homebuyers actually achieve their dreams. While they complain from the sidelines, it is this government that is taking concrete action. Our government has a bold plan for attacking the housing supply crisis and bringing affordable housing within reach for all Ontarians.

Speaker, our plan is working. We’ve seen record purpose-built rentals in the past two years, and record housing starts. We doubled the adjudicators on the Landlord and Tenant Board.

We’re not going to take any lessons from the NDP, the no-development party, on building houses in this province.

We’re going to continue to work hard for all of the people of Ontario.

The NDP’s sudden concern for housing affordability rings very hollow to us. For years, they did absolutely nothing but talk about these issues from the sidelines. They voted, once again, against the housing supply action plan, which is delivering the highest number of rental units in Ontario’s history. And, surprisingly, they voted against protecting tenants from renovictions and wrongful evictions.

While the NDP proposes more taxes and study after study, our government is going to cut red tape, we’ll build more housing supply, and we’re introducing real solutions that will make a meaningful difference to Ontarians struggling with affordability. We’re not going to be lectured by the party with no credible plan, with a track record of inaction. We’re going to keep working for the people of Ontario. It’s time they stepped up and represented their constituents, as well.

I share the member opposite’s deep distress by those vile comments from that public officeholder.

I think one of the messages that was celebrated by all parliamentarians at Pride is the context of words and actions. I think we must hold ourselves to higher standards, because young people and students at our publicly funded schools are looking up to us—particularly our school board trustees.

When this issue arose, I commented on and condemned it, saying, “To draw a parallel to a universally reviled symbol of hate and fascism is disturbing. We need our members, our trustees, our elected officeholders to do better in standing up for human rights for everyone and that includes, most especially, the LGBTQ community who’s facing some of the highest rates of violence and bullying in our schools.”

I have asked every school board in Ontario—public and private, English and French—to celebrate Pride and the universal message of acceptance and love for all, and I expect them to do so this month.

We just heard these remarks from our friends and colleagues across the way. I assure the member in the clearest terms, we have directed and expect publicly funded schools to celebrate Pride meaningfully and symbolically and to stand in solidarity.

Every child must be safe. It is our expectation that every child will be safe in a school, and I’m prepared to work with all members across party lines to ensure that children feel affirmed, respected and safe in a publicly funded school.

Five days ago, a Niagara Catholic District School Board trustee compared the flying of the rainbow flag to that of flying the Nazi flag. This hateful comment was made one day after the Minister of Education suggested to the school boards to “celebrate Pride in a constructive, positive and meaningful way to affirm 2SLGBTQ students.”

My question to the minister is, since the Niagara Catholic board won’t uphold their responsibilities in the Accepting Schools Act, will he now show the leadership that the clergy here are asking for today, who ask that he issue a ministerial order to direct all publicly funded schools in Ontario to raise the rainbow flag for Pride Month?

Today, we are joined by clergy from many Christian denominations who have come here today to share a message of unity and love for the 2SLGBTI community. Their Pride Month unity message has been signed by over 500 clergy and lay leaders in Ontario, representing 70 municipalities. These Christian leaders are asking us to be loud and clear and to take decisive action to ensure that 2SLGBT people, especially students, are safe in schools.

The Premier has boasted about marching in York Pride, yet he won’t take action to mandate safe school environments for 2SLGBTI students, families and teachers.

Does the Premier not realize that by refusing to raise the rainbow flag at all publicly funded schools, his declaration of support in marching in the York Pride parade rings hollow and performative?

Ontario has attracted $25 billion in auto and EV investments in just two and a half years, and now we need to ensure that our future workforce has the skills needed to fill the jobs of the future.

Colleges, like Canadore College in my hometown of North Bay, are opening zero-emission training centres, because soon, you won’t need a mechanic—you’re going to need an EV technician.

We’re also investing $6 million through our Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network, and that will support 14 innovative education projects connecting kids from K to 12 and post-secondary students to the province’s EV sector.

The Future Workforce Program bridges the gap between students and the EV industry while reducing the stigma of skilled trades.

Speaker, as we continue to grow Ontario’s world-class auto supply chain, we’re now going to need the workers for the jobs of tomorrow.

Our plan to build Ontario is working.

My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Before our government was elected, sadly—Mr. Speaker, very sadly—our auto and manufacturing sectors were in disarray. Hundreds of thousands of auto and manufacturing jobs fled the province, leaving Ontario unprepared to lead the charge on the future of electric vehicles. Thanks to our government’s efforts, Ontario auto is back, and this next generation of the sector will be a catalyst for economic growth. In order to ensure that this prosperity continues, we will need to focus on training people for the jobs of the future, including those in our growing auto sector.

Will the minister please tell us what our government is doing to introduce students to opportunities in the auto sector and beyond?

We know that our government has demonstrated its ability to attract and land a string of landmark auto manufacturing investments in just a few short years.

And it is great to hear that we are setting the stage for the next generation of Ontario autoworkers. But we need to ensure that there are also current opportunities for the province’s autoworkers. Would the minister explain how our government is creating these types of jobs for the autoworkers in Ontario?

Supplementary?

I’d like to thank the member again.

As I mentioned, I don’t even like using his name, Mr. Speaker—and sorry for the language, but he’s nothing but a scumbag. This SOB needs to be in jail 23 hours a day, in maximum-security. The crime was the most heinous crime in Canadian history. He tortured, he raped and then he murdered these two young girls. The pain the families are going through again should never be seen, ever, in the history of Canada. When we sentence someone to a life sentence, that means a life sentence in jail, maximum-security, 23 hours a day. As a matter of fact, I’d go one step further: That one hour he’s out, he should be in the general population. That’s what should happen to this SOB, as I said. Never have Canadians seen a more heinous crime than what he committed.

My question is for the Minister of Transportation.

The people in my riding of Brampton North have been negatively impacted for years by the dithering and delays from the previous Liberal government when it came to supporting critical transportation projects like Highway 413. Supported by the NDP year over year, the Liberals ignored action that should have been taken to build Highway 413 in favour of listening to downtown environmental activists who don’t live in Brampton, never visit Brampton and claim they know what’s best for Brampton.

The reality is, over the coming decade, Ontario is expected to grow by more than two million people, and the fact is that we need to build the necessary infrastructure to keep up with our growing province.

Brampton is a beautiful place, led by its diversity and its people, and no matter how much the opposition disagree, the people of Brampton deserve a new highway.

Can the minister please explain what our government is doing to support the people of Brampton by advancing transportation infrastructure with Highway 413?

Highway 413 is essential not only for the people of Brampton, but it’s essential for the overall prosperity of Ontario. Clogged roads don’t just keep people from getting from place to place; they trap transportation trucks from getting goods to market. They cost Ontario’s economy more than $11 billion every single year. Once completed, Highway 413 would help goods travel faster to and through the greater Toronto area, significantly boosting Ontario and Canada’s economy.

More than $785 million worth of goods per day move on Ontario’s highways, making the transportation system the backbone of our economy.

Can the minister elaborate on what our government is doing on highway infrastructure to support our province’s economy?

Mr. Speaker, what happened in Kanata last week was a distribution-level temporary issue with Ottawa hydro. The utility there, the LDC, has indicated that they’re going to repair the piece of equipment that was faulty that day so that this type of outage doesn’t happen again. But I can assure my ambulance-chasing friend over there that the provincial grid had more than enough power to meet the needs of the province on that very, very hot day. It was a record-setting day in Ottawa, to be sure, but we had a lot of excess energy that day.

I can assure all the members of the Legislature of one thing: If that member were in charge of our power grid, we wouldn’t have our nuclear supply—8,500 megawatts on that day that was there, at almost 100% of its capacity—and we wouldn’t have the natural gas fleet, which is our insurance policy, because not only is he against nuclear, he’s against natural gas as well.

While the member opposite clutches his pearls and pretends that the world is coming to an end, I can assure him that because of our consistent support for our nuclear grid, the refurbishments that are under way, on time and ahead of schedule, on budget—this member would not have those workhorses, those dependable baseload emissions-free power suppliers that we have in our province every single day.

At the same time we’re investing in new technology, a small modular reactor, that isn’t going to just power our grid; this is an SMR that’s going to be adopted by jurisdictions around the world to help them do what we’ve done in Ontario, and that is, reduce emissions and provide baseload power on a daily basis, 24/7, that the world can rely on. This is a great Ontario nuclear—

I thank my honourable colleague for the question. I’d be more than happy to address it. Unfortunately, this member would have to also communicate to her constituents that when their party was in power, they failed the families and people of this province. Under the previous government, 8,500 children and youth were receiving services. Today, 40,000 are receiving services. Why is that? Because while they neglected families, under the leadership of this Premier—he doubled the funding of the Ontario Autism Program. This year, we increased that funding by an additional 10% to make sure more children and youth continue to receive these services. More children and youth are now receiving not just one service, as under the previous government; they have multiple pathways to services.

We will continue to make sure those families are supported so that no one is left behind under the—

I think my colleague would know that since being honoured and appointed to this role, I have met with families, I have met with groups and organizations every single opportunity I have gotten. Why? Because we said from the beginning that we’re not going to leave people behind, which is why we doubled the funding.

The Ontario Autism Program was developed by the community for the community. That’s the program that we’ve implemented. Some 8,500 children were receiving services under the previous government. Now more than 40,000 children are receiving services—and not just one service. Children, as soon as they’re transitioned and they have registered on AccessOAP, have multiple pathways to service immediately, like foundational family services, caregiver-mediated early years support, the entry to school program—

Supplementary question.

The member for Niagara West will come to order. The member for Sault Ste. Marie will come to order. The Member for Brampton North will come to order. I want to hear the response from the Minister of Energy.

Start the clock.

Minister of Energy.

Interjection.

The next question.

I want to go back on this. I listened to the minister last week. I listened to him today. I’ve heard about how wonderful things are, how he has things in hand, and how now no one else can do as well as him.

Well, this year he may get the chance to give exactly that same explanation to frail seniors whose air conditioning cuts out because the grid can’t handle the demand. Maybe he’ll get a chance to talk to corner store owners who lose freezers full of food because the power isn’t there. Maybe he’ll get talk to seniors who are overheating because the grid can’t keep up.

Closing his eyes, pointing fingers in every direction, claiming that he’s in great shape isn’t going to make the problem go away.

Speaker—

Interjections.

Interjections.

My question is for the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

Numerous families, including Sarah and her son Félix Demers, in Ottawa–Vanier are facing unreasonable challenges with the Ontario Autism Program. Sarah started the process to get help for her son three years ago, but she came across multiple barriers and wait-lists. As a result, her son Félix, who is now five years old, has aged out of programs in school. These children are being left behind.

What measures has the minister taken to address the wait-lists, ensuring timely access to essential support services for children with autism spectrum disorder?

Families face significant uncertainty while waiting for support from the autism program. Families are receiving no assistance and no communication as to when they might be able to get help.

Sarah told me, “We have now been waiting years for help, during the most vital years of our son’s developmental stages and just remain on the OAP’s wait-list as a generic number.”

The lack of communication is distressing and unacceptable. The least the government could do to reduce the distress of those waiting families is to establish a user-friendly communications platform through which families could at least track the progress of their applications.

What steps will the minister take to ensure that families, including Félix’s, have transparent and timely access to information regarding the status of their applications?