The Associate Minister of Housing.

Thank you to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and our great associate minister, as well, for their remarks this morning. I’m pleased to speak on our government’s proposed Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act and its corresponding plan.

Specifically, Speaker, I’ll be speaking on our proposed changes regarding the future of land use planning in our province. They would support our government’s initiatives to produce a single land use planning document for the province. This would be a great improvement over the current situation we have with the provincial planning statement and A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

This layer upon layer of planning rules is inefficient, Speaker. It causes great delays, which many government colleagues have heard through a variety of stakeholders: municipalities, builders and everyone else in Ontario. It’s not helping us get more homes, which Ontarians desperately need built. That is why our government launched consultations on April 6 seeking opinions, advice and ideas on how key elements of these two sets of planning rules should be combined into one overall land use planning document for all of Ontario.

I want to emphasize that we are paying close attention to the consultations that we are hearing and we appreciate the interest of the public so far. This is crucial to our government’s efforts to get the housing built that Ontarians desperately need. That’s why we’ve made great headway in tackling Ontario’s housing crisis. But, as the minister and associate minister have said, more needs to be done. A streamlined set of land use planning rules will go a long way in helping our partners in the municipal sector and the building industry to reach approval on new housing projects in a much more rapid manner.

What I also want to emphasize is that a single set of planning rules will benefit all of Ontario, not just the greater Golden Horseshoe. When proponents of a new housing project have one set of rules to follow, no matter where they are in Ontario, that translates into a simpler, quicker and less costly housing project. But right now, that is not the case. All of Ontario is subject to a set of planning rules detailed in the provincial policy statement, often referred to as the PPS. However, in the greater Golden Horseshoe, there is an additional set of rules contained in A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

The greater Toronto area, which is just one area of the greater Golden Horseshoe, is expected to grow by 2.9 million people by 2046. And I want to say that again: We need more housing to accommodate the additional 2.9 million people in the next—Speaker, this is not just a housing issue; it’s an economic problem that can affect the entire country. The greater Golden Horseshoe generates more than 25% of Canada’s gross domestic product. It is literally the economic engine of Ontario and the country. But this economic engine needs workers who in turn have a place to live.

It is crucial that we get land use planning right so that new housing can be built quickly and without unnecessary costs and delays. Compound those demands with the current situation we have in planning rules on top of planning rules which builders must navigate on their own, and it’s easy to see how delays and costs end up adding up. A streamlined set of planning rules will help us meet all of those challenges more quickly with less cost. That’s why we plan to integrate the provincial policy statement and A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe into a new province-wide streamlined and housing-focused land use planning policy instrument. This new simplified and streamlined planning policy document would be called the provincial planning statement—still PPS, Speaker. It would give direction to all of Ontario and give specific direction tailored to the needs of Ontario’s 29 fastest-growing communities.

Our proposed new provincial planning statement would be based on five pillars.

The first pillar is generating an appropriate housing supply. For this, our new PPS would give specific direction to 29 of Ontario’s largest and fastest-growing municipalities with regard to planning for major transit station areas and greenfield lands. This will help us ensure an adequate supply of housing. Simpler and more flexible policies would apply to all other municipalities to accommodate more local conditions but would still encourage growth, Speaker. For example, our proposed policies would promote more rural housing by allowing greater flexibility in smaller communities. Smaller and rural municipalities would also engage with the private sector to provide the infrastructure needed for new housing. As well, municipalities would be encouraged to establish density targets for undeveloped land.

The second pillar, Speaker, on which our new PPS is based is making land available for new homes. This is part of our plan to build homes for Ontarians in urban and suburban areas, as well as rural parts of the province, while still maintaining strong environmental protections across Ontario. We would require municipalities to have enough land with water and sewer access ready to meet their communities’ forecasted housing needs for three years into the future. We would also require municipalities to adhere to an at least 25-year planning horizon, and we would continue to encourage municipalities to build where it makes sense, such as locating office, institutional and residential development near transit, and mix retail and commercial areas with housing, schools and other community uses to create complete communities, Speaker. At the same time, we recognize that housing needs must be balanced against other necessities. That’s why we would require that large parcels of land be preserved for agriculture and heavy industry that are best separated from residential areas to lessen the effects of noise and odours that may result from their operations.

The third pillar, Speaker, is focused on the need for infrastructure to support residential development. This means, for example, that school boards and municipalities should work together—I know, Speaker, in your role, you are very well aware of that need—and be innovative in finding new ways to integrate schools into new developments.

Infrastructure corridors are an important consideration that must be protected for hydro, transit and transportation to build the housing we need for the future and the industries that we continue to attract to our province. However, we recognize the growth demands being placed on large and fast-growing municipalities, so our proposed PPS would give special direction to them to offer some flexibility.

The fourth pillar is balancing housing with the need to protect resources. For example, we would require municipalities to designate prime agricultural areas to support our province’s productive and valuable agri-food network. We would also maintain all greenbelt protections, including policies on environmental and agricultural lands. Water resources must be protected, so municipalities would be encouraged to adopt watershed planning approaches, rather than requiring watershed plans. Similarly, aggregate resources must be protected to ensure we have the supplies we need to continue to build Ontario. If we’re to make it easier and less costly to build housing, we must protect these aggregate resources, such as the sand and gravel that goes into making cement. We must also allow access to these deposits in more cost-efficient locations and streamline the approval process needed to extract these deposits.

Lastly, but certainly not least, our proposed PPS would encourage municipalities to focus on improving air quality and consider the impacts of climate change.

I now want to speak about the legislative measures in our bill that will support our aim to create housing-focused, land use planning systems. Our proposal is to enable the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to require landlords to enter into agreements for projects assigned to the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator. I know we hear this a lot from the opposition members on requiring landlords to enter these agreements for these projects, and so we are putting that in this bill right now. Our goal is to help ensure that commitments made by property owners are fulfilled, and they honour those commitments. A good example is in cases where a ministerial zoning order may be contemplated.

We’re also proposing two changes to the City of Toronto Act and the Planning Act regarding site plan control. The first change would delay the date on which municipalities must begin to refund at least a portion of zoning bylaw and site plan application fees if they don’t make a decision within a specific period of time. This process was set to begin on January 1 this year, as set out in the More Homes for Everyone housing supply action plan. However, we propose to move that date to July 1 of this year to better align with municipal processes and it’s also, as the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing mentioned, something we heard from our municipal colleagues at AMO and ROMA around these changes in Bill 23, and so we continue to listen to our municipal partners and work with them in adjusting these timelines to ensure, really, Speaker, that we get more housing built quicker.

Our second proposed change would enable municipalities to use site plan control for residential developments of 10 units or less in specific circumstances. More Homes Built Faster, our housing supply action plan released last fall includes changes to the Planning Act and the City of Toronto Act to limit municipalities’ ability to use site plan control for residential developments with 10 units or less. We now propose further changes to the Planning Act and the City of Toronto Act that would give the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing the authority to make regulations to permit municipalities to use site plan control for residential developments of 10 or fewer units on a single lot in specific circumstances. If our bill is passed—and the minister did make regulations—those regulations would outline specific conditions where site plan control could be used for residential development of 10 units or less. These conditions are proposed to be circumstances where the site is near a shoreline or near a railway.

Speaker, I know the minister has mentioned—we’ve heard a lot mentioned around our proposed provincial planning statement, and it’s great to hear that feedback and those important proposals we are making to get more housing built in Ontario in all communities: rural Ontario, suburban Ontario and downtown Toronto, and we’ll continue to work with our municipal colleagues and our industry and home-building colleagues and all stakeholders to get more housing built. Our policies and proposed legislation changes are necessary if Ontario is to solve its housing supply crisis and also meet future demand for even more housing.

Speaker, before I conclude, I want to again mention our government’s proposed consultation on our proposed planning statement. That consultation began on April 6 and has been extended—again, hearing from stakeholders across Ontario, extending that consultation period by another 60 days. August 4 now, I believe, is the deadline for submissions. I encourage anyone who is watching this morning and I encouraged all those who reached out to my office to submit feedback through the Environmental Registry of Ontario, and that feedback is very well regarded and read.

The plan, as I’ve outlined in my remarks, is—and of this legislation is to support our ambitious goal to build 1.5 million homes by 2031. I know our government has an all-of-government approach to get those homes built in Ontario—again, communities across Ontario. As I mentioned in my remarks, the economic value is also something that is overlooked sometimes.

Many, many employers in my riding of Perth–Wellington are looking for workers. They’ve been looking for workers since the pandemic has subsided, whether that’s in advanced manufacturing, in our growing agribusinesses, in home construction, in skilled trades, even in health care.

But the number one need is housing. The nurses and the doctors need a place to live, as well; the accountants need a place to live—and ensuring that we have the mixed range of housing in communities across Ontario to meet those growing needs.

The Minister of Economic Development and the Premier continue to attract many, many businesses to Ontario, and I know one of the second questions they most likely get in their deliberations is, “Where are we going to find the employees?” So our government is proposing ambitious proposals to meet that and build more homes to ensure that Ontario continues to grow and continues to be a great place to live, work and raise a family, to ensure that our economy continues to grow. As I mentioned in my remarks, it is the economic engine of Canada. And ensuring that the many, many new Canadians coming to our shores are welcomed and have a place to grow and have a place to—if they choose to own a place, to rent a place, but a place to call their own and to raise their family and to contribute, as so many before them have contributed to our society and our communities across Ontario.

In conclusion, again, I encourage everyone to submit a comment through the provincial planning statement, PPS, by August 4; we’ve extended it by 60 days based on the feedback we’ve heard from stakeholders across Ontario.

Our government continues to listen to Ontarians on a variety of issues, especially our ambitious goal to build 1.5 million new homes by 2031.

Now, Speaker, it’s my pleasure to turn it over to the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery, or the minister of peanut butter sandwiches, as I like to call him.

The member from Perth–Wellington.

Thank you to my honourable colleague for reminding everyone of the acronym for my ministry—peanut butter sandwich delivery.

Good morning, and thank you, Speaker, for this great opportunity to speak on such a wonderful bill, and it’s all about housing.

I’m pleased to speak in the House today in support of the third reading of our government’s Bill 97, Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023.

Together with my esteemed colleagues the Honourable Steve Clark, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing; Associate Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Nina Tangri; and their parliamentary assistant, PA Rae, we have been working relentlessly to address Ontario’s housing supply challenges.

Our great province is filled with hard-working Ontarians seeking the perfect place to call home and one that fits both their needs and their budget. We are dedicated to helping them achieve their dream of home ownership and ensuring they can confidently spend their hard-earned money. Using every tool at our disposal, we support Ontarians in making informed choices when it comes to finding a forever home in our province.

Speaker, we are all aware of the housing crisis in Ontario, and we recognize the immense economic impact of home building. Our goal is to construct 1.5 million homes by 2031, effectively addressing the housing supply crisis.

A strong residential construction industry is crucial for the prosperity of our province.

Under our Premier’s leadership, we have focused on cutting red tape and modernizing processes to accelerate home construction. That’s why our government introduced Ontario’s first-ever housing supply action plan in 2019, and look how far we have come since 2019. I believe this is our housing supply action plan 4.0. Speaker, I want to acknowledge my colleague the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for his hard work on these initiatives. It seems like a movie or one of those dramas: season 1, season 2, season 3. So I will say this is season number 4, and I’m sure the minister will say soon there will be season 5, season 6, season 7 of the housing supply action plan—not that I’m saying anything, but just wanted to mention: hint, hint.

Speaker, housing supply action plan 4.0, recently announced by Minister Clark, includes our plan to strengthen protections for buyers and enhance their confidence in purchasing a new home. As the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery, we oversee Ontario’s legislation for new homes, including the New Home Construction Licensing Act, and the builder regulator, the Home Construction Regulatory Authority, or the HCRA.

We are committed to innovating and strengthening our protections for homebuyers, and here’s how we plan to do it: In the coming weeks, we will consult with the public, consumer groups and the homebuilding sector. Through the Ontario Regulatory Registry, we aim to explore the possibility of a cooling-off period for buyers of new freehold homes and whether to create new requirements that buyers of all new homes receive legal advice on their purchase agreements. Speaker, we will explore whether a purchaser of a new freehold home should be able to cancel their purchase agreement within a specific time frame and how builders could be required to disclose a cooling-off period to purchasers. Additionally, we intend to consult on issues related to price escalation in the new home construction sector. These proposed changes would enhance consumers’ understanding of their rights and obligations, and empower all new home buyers to make confident decisions in the most significant purchase of their lives.

Our government is committed to strengthening consumer confidence in the new home sector and protecting Ontarians from unethical practices in the home-building marketplace. Speaker, just in 2021, we established the Home Construction Regulatory Authority, the HCRA, an independent not-for-profit corporation that administers and enforces the New Home Construction Licensing Act, 2017, and licensing act regulations. The HCRA’s mandate includes upholding professional standards for new home builders, protecting the public interest and educating consumers to make informed decisions. It is also to regulate builders of new homes and ensure compliance with a mandatory code of ethics. The HCRA has the authority to enforce compliance through education, warnings, placing conditions on a builder’s licence or by suspending or revoking a builder’s licence, and the HCRA has taken such steps to better protect consumers.

Speaker, just last fall, in fact, I believe our government passed changes to the licensing act that crack down on predatory actions by builders of new homes in Ontario. These changes increase the existing maximum financial penalties against unethical builders who unfairly cancel a contract. Those bad actors now face the risk of permanently losing their licence.

Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, through the housing supply action plan 4.0, our government is taking bold actions to tackle Ontario’s housing supply crisis. We have introduced various measures to increase the supply of housing, accelerate construction and strengthen consumer protection. We will continue to execute housing supply action plans every year of our current mandate, as we promised, to reach our goal of building 1.5 million new homes by 2031.

In 2021, we witnessed the highest number of new housing starts in Ontario in over three decades, and the credit goes to Premier Ford as well as the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Steve Clark, and our entire government, all government members, for making sure that Ontarians can have their dream homes. I’m sure all of us are working to make sure that we continue to make that dream a reality. As a government, Speaker, we are proud of this achievement, but we also know that it is just the beginning.

I must also address the rapidly growing condominium sector in Ontario and our ongoing efforts to enhance protections for condo owners and residents. I want to start with something that affects more than a million of our fellow Ontarians’ condo living. Condos are not just homes. They play a major role as a housing option for millions of individuals and families, and are a testament to the strength and growth of our province, accounting for half of all new homes being built.

This robust expansion of the condo sector, which is valued at nearly $45 billion and provides jobs for over 300,000 Ontarians, is something we can all be proud of, but it means we must constantly re-evaluate our laws and consumer protections. While most condos are well run and satisfy their owners and residents, we are aware that there are challenges. Therefore, we will continue to assess the potential future expansion of the Condominium Authority Tribunal’s jurisdiction to support Ontario’s valued condo communities.

Speaker, it is no secret that buying or selling a home is a significant milestone. As such, Ontarians should feel confident in the professionals who guide them through this process. That is why we are doubling down on protections for Ontarians navigating the real estate market.

The Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2020, or as we say, TRESA 2020, makes important changes to how real estate professionals interact with the public, ensuring their practices reflects the changing realities of the industry. In the first phase of TRESA 2020, changes were made to allow registrants and brokers to incorporate and be paid through a personal real estate corporation. This first phase has also allowed registrants to use more recognizable terms, such as real estate agent and realtor, to describe brokers and salespersons in their advertisements.

The second phase of legislative and associated regulation changes, once in force, will also encourage transparency and ethical practices by introducing a new code of ethics regulation, strengthening disclosure requirements and other registrants’ obligations, to better protect the public. In addition, the changes will allow a registrant to conduct an open offer process and disclose the details of competing offers, of course without divulging personal or identifying information contained in the offers at the seller’s direction. These changes, backed by the stakeholders and the Real Estate Council of Ontario, are all part of our commitment to Ontarians.

Speaker, we also want to speed up residential home construction. Our partnership with Ontario One Call is crucial in achieving this. It aims to increase the efficiency, timeliness and coordination of digging activities by excavators and promote safe digging practices. Their role in coordinating excavation work and promoting safe digging practices is a cornerstone of our construction projects.

We are actively improving the locate delivery system to ensure businesses can start their projects quicker, avoiding unnecessary delays. In particular, we are looking at innovative models for locate delivery through a dedicated-locator model, which is currently in place for all broadband projects. This means a faster rollout of critical infrastructure commitments like new homes, improved public transit and expanded broadband services in underserved areas. These changes will help businesses get shovels in the ground faster and reduce delays in obtaining necessary information about the location of underground infrastructure, such as telecommunications, gas, electrical and water lines, helping the province deliver on the many infrastructure projects that are, in turn, helping Ontarians and fuelling our economic growth.

Speaker, our efforts don’t stop here. We are also creating new data standards that support e-permitting for planning and development applications. Working with municipalities and home builders, the new data standard will provide clear, uniform rules and guidance about how data should be captured, shared and used.

I know I only have 50 seconds, but, Speaker, let’s make our shared vision of a bright and prosperous future for all Ontarians a reality. The quicker we get shovels in the ground, the faster we can help Ontarians realize their dream of home ownership, or as my grandfather says, the Canadian dream.

I know you all will have valuable feedback on the proposed amendments. We definitely encourage everyone to give us your feedback, and I look forward to a productive debate conversation.

But in the end, I just want to say thank you to the minister, Premier, associate minister, PA and everyone—all my colleagues—for all the great work they are doing in making sure that Ontarians can have a home they all can enjoy with their families.

The Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery.

Questions?

I truly appreciated listening to everyone contribute to this conversation this morning. I really tuned in to the member from Perth–Wellington. He talked about partnerships with municipalities who will create homes for Ontarians that need these homes today, tomorrow and the next day.

I used to sit on school council, and we were constantly dealing with matters: There were too many kids in the school, or there were fewer than we needed, just because of a fluctuation in the developments and what was being developed in my neighbourhood.

My question is, we’ve always said that transformational change is necessary. Can the member—either the minister or the member from Perth–Wellington—please outline how this plan aligns with the commitments we made for the people of Ontario?

My question is to the member for Mississauga East–Cooksville. We have been contacted by many prospective homeowners—people in Durham region, in the Ottawa West–Nepean area, in the area of Stayner—who bought homes at pre-construction, put up hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases in deposit money, and years later, they’re waiting for their home to be built. The developer isn’t building it unless they turn around and pay a whole lot more. They have contacted the Home Construction Regulatory Authority again and again and again, and they’re not getting the answers that they want. They’re stressed. They’re worried they’re going to lose their life savings. They want this government to take action. What is this government going to do to ensure these people get the homes they purchased at the price they agreed to?

In committee, ACTO, the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, summarized how broken our illegal-eviction protection laws are. They did a review of how many tenants get back into their home after a bad-faith eviction: essentially none. And then they did a review of what the average fine is that a bad landlord gets if they illegally evict a tenant: It’s between $500 and $3,000. How do you expect Bill 97 to be effective if the Landlord and Tenant Board is not issuing significant fines to landlords that illegally evict?

Thank you to my great colleague from Kitchener–Conestoga for his question. Yes, I’m happy to talk about Bill 97. Obviously, we have a lot of renters in our riding, so it’s protecting the renters there as well in rural Ontario but also, as I alluded to in my remarks—the proposed PPS—giving the flexibility. As the member from Kitchener–Conestoga knows, what works in downtown Toronto—no offence to my colleagues in downtown Toronto—will not work in Elmira or Milverton or Listowel, in our respective areas. Giving those municipalities the flexibility to decide settlement areas and settlement boundaries, again—and reducing duplication, Speaker, because what I hear and I’m sure all of my colleagues in government hear from our builders and others, even from municipalities, is the amount of duplication in the planning process and the site-control planning process, for example. We’re ensuring we reduce that so we get more homes built faster in all parts of Ontario.

My question is to the member from Perth–Wellington. We are riding neighbours, and I was just wondering if he would be able to elaborate a little bit more on what this bill will do for our connected and shared communities, and especially how this can help in rural Ontario.

Thank you to my honourable colleague for the question. As my colleague mentioned, Speaker, we are actually taking actions. That’s why, as mentioned in my remarks about the Home Construction Regulatory Authority, fines are being implemented right now as I speak. HCRA has already fined a few construction companies and developers. Again, we encourage individuals, if they come across a situation, to please reach out to HCRA. As a ministry, we have given the tools to HCRA to use those tools to make sure that bad actors are accountable for their actions.

But what I would appreciate is that my honourable colleagues would, I hope, vote for this bill to make sure, when we talk about a cooling-off period, that they support the cooling-off period by voting in favour of this bill and make sure—

I’d like to talk about having the honour of attending Girls Inc. of York Region Spirit of the Girl breakfast last Friday in my riding in Newmarket. Girls Inc. of York Region focuses on supporting the resilience of young girls and women and has served my community for over 40 years. Their research-based programs encourage girls to thrive socially, academically and emotionally in an affirming environment, providing gender-specific support to girls of all backgrounds.

It was my privilege to announce at the breakfast on Friday that our government has funded this meaningful work with two grants totalling over $400,000 through the Ontario Trillium Foundation. This will help expand their innovative after-school programs to three new schools as well as help increase capacity to support girls and young women in York region. Specifically, this funding will enable them to expand staff training, provide a social worker for counselling and wellness checks and expand fundraising efforts.

I am so happy to see Girls Inc. of York Region empowering girls and young women to meet emotional and academic challenges with resilience, especially those who face various barriers. I am proud that our government will help them expand this crucial work. Thank you to Girls Inc. for making sure no girl is left behind.

[Inaudible] by Jon, and Jon is an owner of farmland. He is struggling to find housing for his family members, and he asked, what is this government doing to support his family? I just wanted to ask the minister—he’s probably had many such emails—what he would say to Jon about creating more housing in Ontario.

Last week, I had the opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of two amazing organizations in my riding of Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock. In Bobcaygeon, the Boyd Heritage Museum celebrated their 25th anniversary. They’ve spent over two decades working to preserve the economic, social and political legacy of Mossom Boyd, who arrived in Upper Canada in 1833 and became known as the lumber king of the Trent Valley. The history of he and his family are catalogued in artifacts from all significant points in his life, from humble beginnings to national and international success, from tools and log shanties to gorgeous 19th century gowns and dresses. The collections are so exquisite, the exhibit is known as the Downton Abbey of Bobcaygeon. Barb has been at the helm of this fantastic museum which has allowed the community of Bobcaygeon in the Kawartha Lakes region to remain connected to their history.

In the town of Lindsay, the Lindsay Lions Club celebrated their 70th anniversary. The Lions are made up of dedicated men and women who commit their time to help those less fortunate by working with local organizations such as the Ross Memorial Hospital, the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Salvation Army food banks, Five Counties Children’s Centre and more to deliver help to those in need.

It was heartwarming to see so many volunteers of the community passionate about their service. With their youngest Lioness, Ellie, the future of this wonderful program is in good and capable hands. I’d like to wish them 70 more years of success.

Well, the government has been clear, Speaker. Despite the mischaracterizations by the NDP about our consultation on rental replacement, we’ve listened to our municipal partners, and we’ve also been straight-up with Ontarians. At the end of the day, when the process is completed, the tenant should still be allowed to move back into an apartment at the same rental rate, with the similar features to the unit they had vacated.

It’s a process we’ll continue to collaborate on with municipalities. They’ve been very helpful throughout this process. They’ve given us some great suggestions and great advice, and it’s been some of that advice, through consultation, that’s helped inform the government on the path moving forward.

Again, the opposition is always going to see a ghost around every corner when it comes to government policy. We’re going to continue to stand up with our municipal partners and listen to them.

On the day before Pride Month, my message is simple: The Pride flag should fly in every school board in Ontario tomorrow. We’re hearing from queer organizers and communities that they are braced for the possibility of violent protests and demonstrations linked to the rising hate targeting the 2SLGBTQ+ community across Canada. In Ontario, we don’t have to look far to find examples of this, as the York Catholic board decided this week to not fly the Pride flag this June.

And this backlash is not just about Pride and queer rights. School boards across the province, including in Waterloo, are facing pushback as they work to accomplish equity work—work, I might add, that is not only important in terms of student success, but is also mandated by the ministry. Every student in Ontario deserves to feel safe and welcome, and they deserve access to visibility and support.

Yesterday, the Premier offered a no comment on this issue. The minister himself—the Minister of Education—expressed his disappointment. I want to tell the minister; your disappointment does not help queer kids feel safer at school.

I’ll reiterate: The Pride flag should fly in every school board in Ontario tomorrow. In fact, with the rising tide of hate directed at the queer community by a vocal minority, displays of visibility like flying the Pride flag are particularly important this year. The Ontario NDP is proud to stand with the 2SLGBTQ+ community in solidarity.

Thank you to my colleague from Thornhill. As we made very clear almost a year—Friday’s a year. In the election last year, we made a very clear commitment to build 1.5 million homes, and I’d also like to highlight the two other major parties in this place also committed to doing that.

We’re actually taking action on that, Speaker, which this housing supply action plan bill does in Bill 97 through our protections for tenants and homebuyers, but also, again, the proposed provincial planning statement and those aspects, even in the city of Thornhill, reducing duplication and ensuring that there’s one planning document. Right now, there are two, and that causes confusion and extra red tape for housing construction. So working with—whether that’s mixed use, whether that’s condos, whether that’s semi-detached housing, ensuring those houses get built in all communities across Ontario.

Response? The member from Perth–Wellington.

Third reading debate deemed adjourned.

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. We are working with tenants across the city of Toronto whose purpose-built rentals are slated to be demolished. They’re terrified because they’re worried they’re never going to be able to get back into their homes once the construction of the new, bigger building is complete.

This government is looking at creating new rental replacement laws, and this is my question: When I look at the Residential Tenancies Act, there’s no guaranteed right of return for a tenant who’s evicted because of demolition. There’s no guaranteed right of return. In this government’s new rental replacement bylaw, are you going to allow cities to guarantee a tenant’s right to return to their home?