My question is to the Premier. Yesterday, the many Torontonians who walk, run, cycle and enjoy Ontario Place every day were stopped in their tracks. Between West Island and Trillium Park, a fence blocking public access has been erected suddenly and with no notice. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. In February, marina tenants were forced out with no notice.

Speaker, the Conservative government keeps acting like Ontario Place is a done deal, but the redevelopment plans haven’t been approved. The government doesn’t even have a permit yet.

Why is this Conservative government blocking people’s access to the waterfront, a public space?

Yesterday, I had a question for Minister Smith; today I have a question for another Minister Smith. Speaker, there’s almost as many Smiths as there are Liberals here.

My question is for the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. The forest sector is critical to Ontario’s economic strength and to the communities it supports throughout the province. This sector alone provides more than 149,000 jobs and helps to generate billions in revenue for our province.

Unfortunately, the previous Liberal government all but ignored the valuable contribution of the forest sector, much to the detriment of rural, remote and northern Ontario communities. That’s why our government must act now to create the conditions where forest businesses in the north can operate efficiently and be competitive in the global market.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what actions our government is taking to strengthen the forest sector?

With an abundant supply of forest biomass products in Ontario, that’s why it’s so vital that we support this emerging industry and its innovators. With so many possibilities, it’s essential that our government explore all options to create opportunities to address the untapped economic growth in northern communities.

Speaker, can the minister please expand on how the forest biomass program will drive innovation in the forest industry?

Mr. Speaker, we’ve been clear and consistent in our expectations and our hope. We believe the Pride flag is something we can rally behind. It represents a welcome inclusive message for every child. We know that those kids face disproportionate impacts and challenges in schools, which is why the government, the Premier and our entire party will continue to be at Pride visibly, actively celebrating with the LGBTQ community. We will continue to stand with those kids. We will continue to encourage school boards to do their part to make sure every child in Ontario feels safe, affirmed and respected.

The minister is more than happy to dictate rules and practices to school boards when it involves funding that he’s not providing, like on mental health and reading and math. That’s what Bill 98 is all about. But suddenly, here’s something that the minister could do that would actually protect kids, that doesn’t require any resources, and suddenly he’s powerless to act.

Why doesn’t the minister just simply direct all schools in Ontario to fly the Pride flag?

The supplementary? The member for Ottawa West–Nepean.

Start the clock. The next question.

Last week, I visited Minden and joined the rally with residents who are fighting to save their ER. Here’s what I heard. People are losing faith in this province’s health care system and they’re worried. They’re scared for their community and angry that they’re being left behind. In less than 48 hours, residents will be at least 20 minutes further from emergency care. Closing an ER is more than just inconvenience; it can be the difference between life and death.

The people of Minden, Haliburton and Kawartha Lakes are about to experience the very real consequences of this government’s Bill 124 and other irresponsible decisions regarding our health care system. My question to the Premier: Minden hospital is publicly funded. Instead of simply letting Haliburton health services take the heat for this decision, will this Conservative government take accountability and admit what Minden and the rest of us know, that the Minden ER is closing under their watch?

Yesterday, in response to a question from my Don Valley East colleague, the Minister of Health offered up Bill 60. My question to the Minister of Health: Why is she not demanding answers from HHS and intervening in their decision to close the Minden ER?

I do want to thank the great member for asking that very, very important question. Our government recognizes the urgent need for affordable housing right across our province, and that’s why last week, together with the federal government, we announced a joint investment of over $46 million to support the creation of 267 new affordable housing units across Ontario.

Through the Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative, funding will be used for new construction, repairs and maintenance to sustain and expand community housing options. For example, Indwell’s St. Peter’s supportive housing project in Kitchener will receive $5.5 million to develop 41 affordable and supportive apartments for those on the region’s housing wait-list. This investment demonstrates our government’s commitment to tackling the housing supply crisis and improving the lives of vulnerable Ontarians.

The $46 million announced can also be used to support community housing providers whose original program arrangements are expiring and help them to become more sustainable. We also consulted with local housing providers and municipalities to understand where support is most urgently needed and strategically targeted groups like those Indwell will serve through tailored support and unit design.

Speaker, I’m confident that these 267 units will make a very big difference for those who need an affordable place to live close to home, because when community thrives, Ontario thrives.

Well, again, I will remind the member opposite that while this decision I’m sure was very challenging for Haliburton Highlands’ leadership, it was a local decision based on consolidating those two emergency departments to make sure that the services were provided.

And I have to talk about the investments that we are doing in the province of Ontario in health care. From the beginning, we’ve talked about short-term, long-term, medium-term goals that get us to a place where we have sufficient health human resources. And frankly, Speaker, this is not just a health issue. We have a Minister of Colleges and Universities and we have a Minister of Labour who have worked very, very hard to ensure that we have sufficient capacity within our system, whether it is training young people in our schools with trades, whether it is new residency spots that are available now in the province of Ontario. Frankly, under the Liberal and NDP governments previously, they were cutting residencies—

Interjections.

Interjections.

Interjections.

We’re doing the work; you’re assigning blame.

Interjections.

My question is for the Associate Minister of Housing. Throughout Ontario, individuals and families are encountering challenges relating to housing availability and affordability. Recently, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing announced additional funding by our government that will help to support community housing providers across the province. This funding has the potential to make meaningful impact by providing much-needed housing for vulnerable individuals and families in my local community of Cambridge and the region of Waterloo.

Can the associate minister please provide further details on how our government is helping to increase the availability of affordable housing options for those most in need?

Can the associate minister please expand on how this additional funding will help support housing providers in addressing the needs of vulnerable individuals and families?

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. My office has been overrun with emails from farmers from across Ontario who are very concerned with Bill 97 and the provincial planning statement.

Speaker, members opposite must be getting the same message, because yesterday, in this House, the Premier seemed to be backing down. I guess the question remains: How do we go from zero severances to three per farm? This government’s preoccupation with building houses is clouding judgment as this proposed policy puts over 510,000 acres of Ontario farmland in jeopardy, and in Oxford county, they’ve concluded in a recent report that 10% of its prime agricultural land could be lost forever. Farmers don’t want to hear how important it is to build these houses. They see the value in one succession planning lot, but three?

Speaker, through you to the minister: What was the significance of the three lots to begin with, and how will this government proceed on this policy?

In the past few days, we hear this government backing down on the original proposal, but where will we land? A government in touch with rural Ontario would have known this was not a good idea to float in the first place. So with all due respect, farmers and the people of Ontario don’t need more time. They don’t need until August 6 to tell this government how they feel about this policy.

Speaker, through you to the minister: Will this government announce today that their trial balloon has been popped and will they back down on this policy?

Interjections.

To reply, the parliamentary assistant and member for Kitchener South–Hespeler.

Restart the clock. Supplementary question?

The member for Kitchener South–Hespeler can reply.

To reply, the Premier.

Speaker, again to the Minister of Energy: This is a really simple question. Energy efficiency and conservation are cheaper than burning gas, right? They put people to work. They reduce the cost of electricity, less air pollution, less pressure on the climate. It’s really cost-effective to do this. The IESO says it’s cost-effective to do it. The IESO says it’s reliable to invest in efficiency and conservation.

The city has rejected the gas-burning approach. Your ministry has said, “We will respect municipalities.” You have the power to reject this, to take the course of action that’s less expensive and better for environment. Will you do so?

I want to thank the member for the question. You know, we came out all in good intentions talking to farmers. As I mentioned yesterday, the number one concern is that the kids are leaving the farm and they have no place to live. There’s many jurisdictions that won’t even allow the farming families to build a home for their kids.

The other big concern, and I mentioned it yesterday in the House—I talked to a farmer yesterday, and he has 100 temporary foreign workers that have no place to live. So we’re listening to the farmers, and as I mentioned yesterday, again, we sat down with the farmers, all the associations, and they thanked us. They thanked us for always having their back. They said that there’s never been a government that supported the farmers more than we did. We’re going to listen to the farmers, Mr. Speaker.

My question is to the Minister of Infrastructure. All seniors in Ontario deserve to be treated with dignity and to receive the quality of care that they need and deserve. Under the previous Liberal government, many issues in long-term-care infrastructure were not properly addressed. After the people of Ontario elected our government in 2018, there has been a renewed focus on addressing our health care infrastructure.

While we have seen many improvements, there is still a need to increase the capacity in our long-term-care homes. Our government must continue to expand on the critical investments made because of the Premier’s leadership.

Mr. Speaker, can the minister please provide an update on our government’s plans to build long-term-care infrastructure in our province?

Mr. Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is building more long-term-care infrastructure faster for the people of our province?

Interjections.

Every day in the paper we see more excellent news about the jobs that are coming to Ontario, the manufacturing that is coming to Ontario. This province was a ghost town when it comes to jobs, when it comes to manufacturing, and it’s alive again. It’s alive largely because of our work on the energy file. We directed the OEB to procure 4,000 megawatts of new generation, including 1,500 megawatts of natural gas.

The member opposite talks about driving up electricity prices for consumers. When asked about phasing out natural gas by 2030, the estimation was it would add approximately $100 to the average consumer’s electricity bill, making cost of living unbearable for Ontarians and also driving business out of this province—and frankly, that is not something that is ever going to be acceptable to this government. We foster jobs; we foster innovation; we foster clean energy.

Interjections.

I think the issue here is the opposition continuing to fail to understand the complex interplay when it comes to a greener planet and greener energy. We are producing clean green steel here in Ontario to keep our manufacturing industry on board. What the opposition doesn’t understand is that these products will come from elsewhere. Under our monitoring, these products come from Ontario, made to the highest environmental standards possible.

Understanding a greener economy is looking at the whole picture, not just one ideological, unfounded perspective.

I’m pleased to rise in this House today to share that the purpose of moving Ontario forward is that we’re excelling on all cylinders, and that includes our agri-food sector. It means making sure that we have employees and family members who want to work on the farm close to home so they have access to that farm. But the most important part in all of this conversation today is to recognize that our government put forward a consultation on the provincial policy statement. The whole concept behind a consultation is that you position; you put out ideas so that you can hear people’s perspectives and bring them back and understand where priorities lie. And in that spirit, I am so pleased to share with you, as the Premier shared yesterday, that the livestock commodity organizations and other organizations, as well, came forward, exercised their respectful voice—

Thank you very much to the member. The government is currently making an unprecedented amount of investment in long-term-care facilities across the province. Last Thursday, I joined the Premier and the Minister of Long-Term Care to open the doors of a new long-term-care home in Toronto. Humber Meadows will bring 320 new beds to the residents of Toronto and has opened next to Humber River Hospital. The location of the home itself is so critically important because this long-term-care home now will be integrated into the broader health care system in the province of Ontario, and it will allow the long-term-care home to have additional services within the home, such as dialysis, to make sure that the seniors are taken care of and have the best service possible.

Thank you very much to the member. Mr. Speaker, this long-term-care home was part of Ontario’s accelerated build pilot program, which was part of our government’s $6.4-billion commitment to build 30,000 new beds and, of course, upgrade 28,000 long-term-care beds in the province of Ontario. Now, the whole concept of the accelerated build program was to leverage hospital-owned land, which is always a challenge in urban settings, to use provincial tools and resources in order to make sure that we can get the approvals necessary and use accelerated construction techniques.

We built a long-term-care home in 13 months in Ajax. We built a long-term-care home in Toronto, Humber Meadows, within 28 months. We have two more long-term-care homes which will open very, very soon. But the most important point of this, Mr. Speaker, is we can’t take eight years to build a long-term-care home in the province of Ontario. We need to do better.

My question is to the Premier. Maria, her husband and their four-year-old daughter have been living at the Christie refugee centre, a shelter, since February. The family found a rental home, applied for funding to help cover the cost of rent and were getting ready to move in when they were told that funding to this rent supplement program had been cut by the Conservative government and the program is no longer available to them.

Premier, what is your plan to help families like Maria’s move out of the shelter system into rental homes so they can build their lives here in Canada?

The city is asking for $20 million in funding from the Ontario Conservative government to help shelter residents move into permanent rental homes so they can rebuild their lives. Can this government say yes to the city of Toronto’s request?