Thank you to the member for the question. First the member says the parking is for Therme; then the member says the parking is for the science centre. Do you know who the parking is for? It is for everyone. It is for all Ontarians—for the moms who have three kids from Scarborough and Brampton, for the people of northern Ontario who visit Toronto and want a wonderful place to go. That is who the parking is for.

I want to thank the member opposite for the question. As we conclude the session, we can reflect back on this past year as one of progress when it comes to affordability.

Putting party interests aside, this Parliament enacted a bill and a budget that has allowed us to cut child care fees by 50% for the families we represent—$8,000 to $10,000 in savings per year—and we will go further.

Of course, we need qualified ECEs. We need to recruit them and to retain the ones who work with our kids. It’s why in the program we signed with the federal government an additional dollar per hour has been committed per year—a commitment to install a wage floor for the first time and a clear commitment by the government to go even further.

Mr. Speaker, in addition to increasing access to the ECEs, increasing affordable child care options, we’re building 86,000 spaces. This is a monumental step forward for financial relief for the people of Ontario.

We’ll continue to work with the sector, with our workforce and our operators to make life more affordable for families across—

We’ve also committed to expand access to 86,000 spaces by announcing a $213-million start-up grant, where we literally help incentivize the marketplace—more spaces and therefore more workers in the communities that have a disproportionately under-represented amount of child care spaces to their population.

We’re going to get this right. We’re going to work together. We are going to make life affordable for moms and dads across this province.

Again to the Premier: This government not only gave Therme a last-minute deadline extension, it’s also giving Therme a $450-million, give or take, parking facility that was not offered to the other Ontario Place bidders. Yesterday, we learned that the government wants to build the relocated Ontario Science Centre on top of this new parking facility. The minister told the CBC she had a business case showing that building a new science centre would be cheaper than making repairs. But yesterday, the minister said she has no idea how much the new parking facility would cost. So, Speaker, it stands to reason she has no idea how much it would cost with a new science centre as the cherry on top.

Will the minister release the business case to the public or admit that she doesn’t have one?

I want to thank our all-star member from Brantford–Brant. You’re doing an incredible job. Thank you.

Friends, our government just took a simple approach when we came into office, when the previous government had the largest sub-sovereign debt in the world, the highest hydro rates, and companies were leaving. We remember those days, Mr. Speaker: high unemployment.

We believe in giving back to the people, putting money back in their pockets, no matter if it was getting rid of the tolls on the 412 or 418 or getting rid of the licence sticker fee or dropping the gas tax by 10 cents. Just imagine if there were 10 cents on top of the buck sixty that everyone is paying already. We believe in putting money back into people’s pockets until they can stir the economy. They can go out there and buy a piece of furniture, maybe go out for dinner, maybe go on a trip somewhere in Ontario.

Other than doing what they did for 15 years—taking money out of people’s pockets, chasing companies out of this province. We have cut the burden of businesses by $8 billion to attract more companies to come here, to create more jobs—

We have more cranes than LA, Chicago, New York, Washington, Boston combined. There’s a reason why people are investing in Ontario; there are reasons why pension funds are investing here—because they know they have a business-friendly government that they haven’t seen in 15 years.

As much as the world is large when it comes to sectors across the world, it’s very small. We’re leading the tech industry in North America. We’re employing—

Thank you to the member for the question. When our government took office, we committed to the people of this province that we would rebuild Ontario. Unlike the previous Liberal government, who left southwestern Ontario behind, our government is investing in this region. Why, Speaker? It’s because we know that when southwestern Ontario is strong, the entire province is strong.

I was proud to have recently joined the Premier and my colleagues to announce our government is moving forward with the widening of Highway 3. We have awarded the contract to design, build and finance the widening of Highway 3 between Essex and Leamington. This investment will improve road safety and will keep people and goods moving.

Speaker, our government is making historic investments in roads and in highways to tackle gridlock, connect communities and build our economy.

Speaker, not only are we moving forward with the widening of Highway 3; our government will also support the city of Windsor to build a new interchange connecting Highway 401 to the Lauzon Parkway. This critical investment will not only support economic development, but it will also help increase trade opportunities across Ontario’s borders.

Mr. Speaker, we’re moving forward with the largest transit expansion plan anywhere in North America, and while we’re building subways and LRTs, we’re also building a strong regional network that is going to bring two-way, all-day service across our entire network, and that is despite the opposition voting against it.

Kitchener-Waterloo is a growing area. That’s why Metrolinx is constantly monitoring service and ridership levels, and that is why, just recently, we announced an increased bus service. While the demand was greater than we even thought, the next day, we added double-decker buses to meet the demand in Kitchener-Waterloo.

Mr. Speaker, we are there to meet the demands of Ontarians. The greater Golden Horseshoe is growing, and we will make sure that our transportation network keeps up and meets that demand.

And with respect to two-way, all-day GO and more frequent service on weekends, we are building towards that. We are working closely with our rail partner CN to make sure that we can deliver the service that we have told Ontarians we will deliver.

Mr. Speaker, we put forward a great plan to get Ontarians home and get Ontarians to work in an easier, more frequent way. But when we do so, the NDP vote against it. The member opposite stands in this House and says she speaks for her constituents. Well, do her constituents know that when we put forward a plan that will actually deliver on the promise of two-way, all-day GO, she votes against it?

I will say that not only are we stepping up, but we have stepped up. We had a top-up of funding directly to Ottawa of $2.6 million through the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program. The member opposite knows that I’ve spoken about this program many times because it is something that paramedics and the hospital clinicians see as a real game-changer, ensuring that paramedics can get back out into community and make sure that they have appropriate care within the emergency department.

We’ve done that work. I met with the mayor of Ottawa on Monday, spoke to him again yesterday. I meet regularly and talk regularly to the Ottawa hospitals. We know that they are using effectively the 911 model of care, where paramedics, with the patient’s approval, can take individuals somewhere else other than the emergency department. These are real changes on the ground that are making a difference in the lives of the people of Ontario.

My question is to the Premier. The people of Kitchener and Waterloo are getting left behind by this government. I don’t mean figuratively; I mean literally. There is so much demand for GO service on weekends, when GO trains don’t run, that buses are completely packed with people, especially students, and they are being left behind in Brampton. On Tuesday of this week, Waterloo regional council voted to send a letter to the government urging it to address exactly this.

The people of Waterloo region need and deserve two-way, all-day GO service, including on weekends. When can Kitchener expect a weekend train to get to Kitchener on the Kitchener line?

The level of frustration has reached a tipping point. I was speaking with Justin Fan, a University of Waterloo student, who told the CBC “he wants to use GO Transit regularly, but he gets frustrated when he can’t get on a bus.”

Ian McLean, president and CEO of the KW chamber of commerce, has said that more trains will “deliver, by some estimates, up to 170,000 new jobs, billions in new investment from the private sector.”

Trains are good for business, good for people and good for the environment. Why doesn’t Kitchener-Waterloo deserve a train on the weekend? This is a direct question to the minister: When can they expect it? Because the buses are not getting the people where they need to go.

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier. Last year, paramedics in Ottawa set a new record, but it’s not a good one: 1,806 times the Ottawa paramedics hit level zero. There were no paramedics available to respond to calls for more than 73,000 minutes. Paramedics spent 93,000 hours at emergency rooms in off-load delay.

The city is requesting provincial funding to help alleviate the off-load delay problem at Ottawa’s backlogged emergency rooms in our hospitals. Will the government step up and provide the funding Ottawa needs to keep more ambulances on the road?

The off-load delay at the Ottawa Hospital means that paramedics are waiting two and a half hours at the emergency room to get back on the road. For two consecutive years now, the Ottawa Paramedic Service has failed to meet the legislated response time of six minutes for sudden cardiac arrest. Last year, they only hit their legislated requirement 48% of the time.

Mr. Speaker, imagine watching your loved one die of a heart attack right in front of you because there’s no ambulance available to come.

Will the government do the right thing and get Ottawa the resources it needs to keep paramedics on the road responding to 911 calls?

The supplementary question.

Minister of Transportation.

My question is for the Solicitor General. Tomorrow, I will be joining parents, faith leaders, elected officials and community members at a community rally on Broadview Avenue in Ottawa Centre. We are, sadly, having to oppose an anti-transgender, anti-queer hate rally that’s happening at the foot of the street.

This same group of people were on Broadview Avenue 17 months ago. One of them, if you can believe it, Speaker, travelled all the way from British Columbia to display homophobic and transphobic placards outside three public schools. But on that day, hundreds of people came to block the visibility of his placards and tomorrow we are going to do it again.

Speaker, I want to know, will my friends in government join us and call out this hate?

As we just heard, this is Pride Month. But sadly, and I’m sure many of us are hearing it, incidents of hate against queer and trans people are on the rise, and some people are fanning the flames. So at home, we’re gathering peacefully but determinedly to show queer and trans youth we are on their side. I’ve heard members from across this House say the same thing.

Speaker, through you, does the government have a public safety message, a guarantee to queer and trans youth in Ottawa Centre and everywhere in this province, that everyone in this House sees them, loves them, values them, and we will not let them be threatened by hate or bigotry ever in the province of Ontario?

It’s without question that Ontario is home to a strong and vibrant 2SLGBTQIA community who helped shape our province and made it into the success it is today. With Pride Month well under way, as my colleague stated, I want to take this opportunity to honour their strength, courage and resilience, as well as to celebrate the important contributions they make to our province each and every day.

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, I’ve been working with our 2SLGBTQI community and will continue to work with them and all allies and partners to build a stronger, safer, more inclusive Ontario, where people from all walks of life and all backgrounds can call Ontario home.

I want to thank my friend for the question. Let me be clear: Yes, we condemn all forms of hate. We have zero tolerance for hate-based crime. Everyone should feel safe in their own homes and communities.

But, Mr. Speaker, let me say this: For those who do not wish us well, for those who feel we don’t have a right to live in our communities, to raise our children, to pray, to work, and to love who we want and to live how we choose, we will call them out.

The member for Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston and parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Long-Term Care.

My question is to the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility. June is Seniors Month in Ontario and I was honoured to have the minister and his parliamentary assistant in my community last Friday to kick off Seniors Month at my seniors’ Community Connections Expo held in Newmarket.

Seniors’ Month is a time to recognize the contribution of seniors in our province and to respect and celebrate the work that seniors have done and what they are doing in our communities. The theme for 2023 is “Working for Seniors.” Our government is making great progress in helping seniors to stay independent, active and socially connected. However, it is vital to the health and well-being of Ontario’s seniors that our government continues to support initiatives that will help to keep our older adults engaged in their communities.

Speaker, can the minister please explain the importance of Seniors Month and how it helps to properly recognize the contributions of seniors in our communities?

Thank you to the member for Cambridge for the question. The expansion of the Village of Winston Park is a game-changing project for the Waterloo and Cambridge area. This state-of-the-art facility now provides 224 safe, modern long-term-care beds along with top-quality care and resources for residents.

Our government is also supporting another 12 projects in Waterloo region, including homes in Cambridge, Wilmot, Woolwich and Kitchener. These are beautiful homes. Together, these projects will provide over 2,400 new and upgraded long-term-care beds built to modern design standards. These investments will also bring many new jobs in the form of construction and health care staff.

This government is investing up to $5 billion for an additional 27,000 new long-term-care staff; that’s something that the Leader of the Opposition might want to put in her review.

That is why our government has provided an increase to the construction funding subsidy designed to encourage long-term-care homes across the province to begin building by August 31, this summer. This will and has enabled the continued development of new long-term-care projects. By building new beds, more seniors will be placed in modern, safe and comfortable new homes. This initiative and commitment by this government will result in shovels in the ground for 11,000 long-term-care beds by August 31. This is all part of our government’s historic $6.4-billion plan to develop over 58,000 new and upgraded long-term-care beds so we can meet the needs of our aging population.

The member opposite speaks of the report that’s going to the city next week. I’ve read it, and it talks about the benefits that they have seen as a result of using the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program.

In terms of land ambulance support, of course, we partner, 50-50, with our municipal partners, so every time they add a new ambulance, every time they add a new paramedic, the Ministry of Health and the province of Ontario are there to support with 50% funding, and we will continue to do that because we want to make sure that 911 models of care, Dedicated Offload Nursing Programs, a Learn and Stay program that is available in northern Ontario for paramedics who train—we are covering their tuition and education costs so that they can continue to serve in underserved communities. We’re doing all of this work to ensure that the people of Ottawa and all of Ontario have appropriate care in their community.

My question is for the Minister of Long-Term Care. This spring, the minister announced that the Village of Winston Park, a long-term-care home in Kitchener, had opened a new, recently constructed building that will provide more beds for seniors.

Nevertheless, while this is good news for the local community, Ontario’s broader long-term-care sector is being impacted by a rapidly aging population. Despite numerous calls from experts and advocates, the previous Liberal government failed to acknowledge the critical importance of investing in long-term-care facilities and services. This is why it’s so vital that our government continues to plan ahead to address the care needs for our seniors across our province.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how construction projects like this one will support our seniors in Waterloo and the neighbouring area of Cambridge?

In considering the current and future needs for seniors, it is clear that we need to build more long-term-care homes in communities across the province.

Speaker, can the parliamentary assistant please provide an update on measures our government is taking to add more beds to Ontario’s long-term-care system?

There is no doubt that there are unique challenges for patients who are looking to access health care in northern Ontario or having to travel great distances to get those treatments, which is why we’ve invested $48.2 million in the Northern Health Travel Grant, which paid out nearly 150 individuals for those reimbursements.

I will say that I am particularly proud of some changes that we have been able to make recently on the grant, and that ensures that individuals can now apply electronically and get those reimbursements directly into their bank accounts. It means that there is not the unnecessary delay and red tape. It has been very helpful, particularly for individuals who have multiple trips and multiple treatments. That is one example of how we are improving this grant to make sure that people get their money back faster.

Supplementary question.