My question is for the Associate Minister of Housing. For too many Ontarians, including young people, newcomers and seniors, finding the right home is still too challenging. The housing shortage is affecting all Ontarians, including rural, urban and suburban communities across our province, and it has unfortunately reached crisis levels.

Our government has been working on behalf of the people of Ontario to address the shortage of housing in our province and has passed several pieces of legislation to significantly increase the supply of housing. However, our government must do more to find solutions to address the housing crisis and to speed up the pace of housing construction.

Speaker, can the associate minister please explain how our government is removing barriers to getting more homes built in Ontario?

It is positive to see that several municipalities have committed to achieving our province’s housing targets, and their support is vital to accomplish this goal. The commitment by municipalities to work collaboratively with our government in developing strategies that will provide real and long-term housing solutions is important and essential.

Speaker, can the associate minister please explain how our government is supporting municipalities across our province so they can deliver on their housing commitments?

It’s so encouraging to hear the Ontario Learn and Stay Grant program has been so well received by students looking to pursue meaningful careers in health care. We know that some regions in our province face urgent staffing shortages. This uptake in applications will greatly assist in filling these local health care staffing needs.

While the Learn and Stay grant program is a positive step in addressing staffing shortages across Ontario, our government must continue to be proactive by implementing programs to produce results. People in communities like Chatham-Kent–Leamington and across the province are looking for assurance that when they need access to health care, the professionals will be there to care for them.

Speaker, can the minister please provide an update on how local communities will benefit from students enrolled in programs through the Learn and Stay Grant program?

Thank you very much.

The supplementary question.

One more time, I’ll remind the members to make their comments through the Chair, not directly across the House at each other.

Start the clock. The next question.

Mr. Speaker, we have increased funding for school boards by 14% when compared to the former Liberals. We have increased funding by $78 million for the Toronto District School Board, even though, to the member opposite—we can disagree often on opinions but not on facts—there are literally 8,000 fewer students, yet they have $78 million more than they did when we started.

As the member opposite will know, as a parent and a parliamentarian, the per-pupil funding—when student enrolment rises, funding rises. When enrolment declines, as does the funding; it’s commensurate with the amount of kids in the system. Yet even with fewer kids, funding is up. That’s such an important point for people in Toronto to know. We are stepping up with investments in Toronto. We’re building modern schools in Toronto. We’re expediting the delivery of schools in the city of Toronto. We’re building in all of your communities, because we appreciate there’s more to do.

The best way we can help Toronto is to vote for our budget, vote for our plan, vote for a responsible course of action that lifts standards, elevates the expectations of the system and stands up for—

The member opposite has the gall to speak about transparency. We are the only jurisdiction in the nation that required every school, 4,800 schools, to publicly report on the state of ventilation at the school level—the rate of ventilation, the use of filtration. We require every school to have a MERV 13 for the schools that have mechanical ventilation. We have a standard that no province has. If a school does not have mechanical ventilation, we require a HEPA filter in every single learning space: the classes, the gyms, the libraries, the learning commons. That is the gold standard when it comes to elevating expectations on ventilation.

If the member opposite was so concerned about this, then you should explain to the parents here why you voted against the measures that improved the air quality in Ontario’s publicly funded schools.

Interjections.

My question is to the Minister of Education. The Ford Conservative government is refusing to reimburse the $61 million the TDSB was forced to spend from their reserves during the pandemic. The government knows that school boards cannot run deficits, which means the TDSB is being forced to make cuts. Now, across Toronto, schools are learning that staff positions will be cut: teachers, education assistants, counsellors, vice-principals—522 staff positions cut. This government is starving the public education system.

Speaker, we know Conservatives don’t like public health care. Are they now after our public education system too?

Thank you again to the member for that question. Yes, I’d love to provide more specific details on this grant.

In northern Ontario, for the member for Thunder Bay–Atikokan, 237 students have applied to programs at Lakehead University and Confederation College. These are students who will go on to work at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph’s Care Group and more within the region.

In the east, the member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke: 106 students are eager to attend programs offered at Algonquin College that will support health care needs for Pembroke Regional Hospital and Deep River and District Hospital.

In the southwest, the member for Windsor–Tecumseh: 387 students will go on to support the local health care needs across the entire region, including at the Windsor Regional Hospital.

Speaker, that is obviously only a handful of the ridings represented. The number of applicants increases every day. When our Premier promises to get it done for the people of Ontario, we get it done.

The only record here is how often the minister can repeat the same talking points while per-student funding is down $1,200.

Our kids deserve the caring adults they need in classrooms, and they also deserve safe, healthy learning environments. We know that clean air improves health, reduces absences and results in better learning outcomes and test scores, yet this government isn’t bothering to monitor, report on and improve indoor air quality in schools. For a government that talks a lot about accountability, they sure have problems showing it.

Ontario School Safety is here today calling for action. Will the minister meet with them and will the government fund an expert air quality committee to oversee air quality in schools?

The Associate Minister of Housing.

Call in the members. This is a five-minute bell.

The division bells rang from 1159 to 1204.

Ms. Hogarth has moved private member’s notice of motion number 50.

All those in favour, please rise and remain standing until recognized by the Clerk.

Motion agreed to.

The House recessed from 1208 to 1500.

Afternoon meeting reported in volume B.

Once again, thank you to the great member for the question. Municipalities across Ontario are getting on board, helping to deliver on their housing pledges and to increase supply. But once again, the opposition continues to vote against the best interests of the people across this province. They acknowledged we were in a housing supply crisis, although they can’t seem to agree if it’s real or not, but then voted against our latest housing supply action plan to get more housing supply built. They take to the streets with signs saying they support tenants’ rights, but then they voted no to the single largest renter protection legislation we’ve introduced so far.

It’s our government that’s reducing red tape, we’re freezing costs, we’re giving municipalities the tools needed to build the communities of tomorrow, because we know the NDP—that, once again, no development party—are against getting anything done.

We’re going to continue to work closely with municipalities to address their unique challenges, but we’re going to maintain our laser focus on supporting families and job creators across this province. And I’ll have more to say in supplementary.

Our “helping tenants” package is going to double penalties for unlawfully hiking rents. We’re strengthening those protections against renovictions and we’re giving tenants more rights, including the ability to have air conditioners in their units.

However, if it was up to the NDP, we would have no housing supply, no rental property. It’s this government that’s getting housing built, with the highest yet purpose-built rentals this year. We’re going to continue to do that for the people of Ontario so that we can all benefit.

My question is for the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery. Ontario is welcoming a record number of newcomers from around the world, including to my riding of Brantford–Brant. It is important that these individuals and families have access to the services they need as they settle into communities across our province.

I hear about concerns from individuals who are arriving, particularly those from Ukraine, as they have difficulty navigating the registration process for critical government programs. The challenges that they are experiencing are due to the limited services that certain local centres can provide.

Everyone deserves to have convenient and seamless access to government services. Can the minister please explain how our government is ensuring access to government services for all Ontarians?

Across our province, the demand for different types of services varies according to each community’s needs and population. Whether it’s long wait times or having the necessary requirements to obtain a service, we know that this can lead to frustration and delays.

Ontarians should be able to resolve their issues and concerns at their first point of interaction with the government. The people of Ontario expect that our government will find solutions to fix the problems and challenges that they encounter.

Can the minister please elaborate on the specific actions that our government is taking to improve the delivery of government services for the people of Ontario?

My question is to the Premier. Tenants at 1276 Webster Street and 1280 Webster Street, many of whom are elderly and on a fixed income, need provincial intervention immediately. Members of London city council wrote a letter urging Minister Clark to take immediate action to prevent the owners from renovicting vulnerable tenants and pushing them into precarious situations and homelessness. Talking points about ineffective, reactive Conservative legislation about fines won’t keep these good people housed.

It’s simple: You have proactive legislation—rent control and tenant protection legislation—on the table that we could pass today. Will this government stand up for seniors and others on Webster Street and pass NDP legislation to reinstate rent control immediately?

Will this government pass legislation to re-establish rent control and plug the hole of vacancy decontrol? Yes or no?

I thank the member from Brantford–Brant for his question. I’m pleased to share with him that on June 14 we are launching the new health card transaction harmonization pilot project to enhance the Ontario experience by better aligning public and private service centres.

Speaker, ServiceOntario is focusing on delivering essential government services for not only refugees and newcomers from Ukraine, but also residents returning to the province and the homeless population, who currently cannot be registered at our local private service provider locations.

This ServiceOntario pilot project launching in our great member’s riding of Brantford–Brant will provide, through appointments, outreach services that meet the demands of new OHIP registrants and ensure that residents are able to access the services they need conveniently and accessibly.

In addition to the harmonization of services at existing service centres, my ministry is establishing ServiceOntario express locations to provide accessible core services and build a more sustainable in-person presence, with streamlined processing and minimized wait times. The health card transaction harmonization project is already supporting approximately 26,000 people through seven private service centres for health card services for international agri-food workers.

With the help of great members like the one from Brantford–Brant, who advocate for their communities, we are not stopping the work to make a trip to ServiceOntario easy, accessible and, of course, quick.

The ayes are 97; the nays are 0.