Last week, our community mourned the loss of a wonderful, award-winning poet, author and journalist, Iqbal Hasan. A creative writer, a storyteller, Iqbal Hasan loved writing poetry. His literary works explored the complexities of the human experience and often dealt with themes of love, loss, displacement and identity. Through his words, he talked about his roots within his motherland as well as the struggles of day-to-day life as an immigrant.

In one of his interviews, he described the loneliness after leaving one’s birthplace saying, [Remarks in Bengali]. Speaker, he really had a way with his words.

Iqbal Hasan’s contribution to Bengali literature, both in Canada, Bangladesh and around the globe, has been significant, with over 50 published works to his name. It is a testament to his talent that he was recognized with the prestigious Syed Waliullah award by the Bangla Academy in 2014.

I had the opportunity to get to know him over the past years. In fact, he sat right here in the members’ gallery just a few years ago when we passed then-MPP Percy Hatfield’s bill to establish the Poet Laureate of Ontario. He was filled with joy seeing such admiration for poetry by our province.

The passing of poet Iqbal Hasan has left a void in the literary world. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and loved ones. He will remain an integral part of the Bengali literary community and his legacy will continue to inspire future generations of writers.

I love touring the north, and one of the best parts of doing that is you get to meet great new friends, like Councillor Melanie Breton, visiting us from Kapuskasing. Welcome to the Legislature.

This morning I want to speak about the tremendous success of the Cambridge Memorial Hospital Foundation. Established back in 1982, the foundation has transferred almost $90 million to the Cambridge Memorial Hospital for capital equipment and education. This hard work and success of the foundation has allowed the hospital to provide the best quality of care to the people of my riding.

Recently, supporters of the hospital foundation gathered for a “Springtime in Paris” gala, where they raised an incredible $380,000. These funds will be put toward a Spotlight MRI, a $5-million campaign to purchase this new machine. To date, a total of $1.6 million has been raised. The generosity of the foundation donors allowed the Cambridge Memorial Hospital to purchase its first MRI back in 2012. It was a game-changer. Not only could MRIs be accessed at home, but wait times were also reduced. Over the last five years, the hospital has averaged 9,000 scans a year, which is amazing.

As our community continues to grow, a new MRI is required to meet the demand. The Spotlight MRI campaign will feature many more public funding events coming up in the future months. I encourage people of my riding to support the good work of the hospital foundation.

To the staff and volunteers at the hospital foundation, both past and present, I thank you for your hard work and dedication.

I’m so very happy to introduce visitors in the gallery today: Nagamany Logendralingam, who is the editor-in-chief for Uthayan Tamil media; Srikajan Santhiralingam, editor-of-chief of Virakesari in Sri Lanka; Mrs. Sooriyapraba Srikajan; Nallathamby Balamurugan; and Bavan Logasundaram. Thank you and welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’d like to welcome to Queen’s Park today Computek College, who’s joining us for question period. Welcome.

I want to introduce to you, and through you to members of the Legislative Assembly, members of the township of Augusta council who are here for Good Roads. I’d like to introduce Mayor Jeff Shaver, Deputy Mayor Adrian Wynands and Councillors Tanya Henry, Michele Bowman and Hendrik Pape. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’d like to introduce today’s page captain, Lazo Kasekas, and his parents, Konstantinos Kasekas and Kate Kasekas, to the Legislature this morning.

I’d also like to welcome George back to the assembly.

I look forward to catching up with the family after question period. Welcome to the Legislature.

It’s great to once again welcome Michau Van Speyk from the Ontario Autism Coalition. Good to see you, Michau.

Point of order.

Last week, Ford Motor Co. announced details of its $1.8-billion investment to transform the Oakville assembly complex, where I worked for 31 years, into a North American hub for manufacturing electric vehicles, beginning in the second quarter next year. By retooling the existing assembly building, three body shops and the paint facility, Ford will be ready to produce electric vehicles beginning in 2025, two years faster than a completely new facility.

The new Oakville electric-vehicle complex will also include a new 407,000-square-foot battery plant to manufacture battery packs that will be installed in electric vehicles right here in Ontario. This will support thousands of well-paying jobs in a more sustainable plant. That’s great news for my friends at Unifor Local 707. I’m looking forward to seeing them next month to celebrate their 70th anniversary.

As the Minister of Economic Development said, four years ago economists expected investments of $300 billion across the global electric-vehicle industry, but nothing in Ontario. Today, we are attracting over $17 billion. I want to thank the minister and the Premier for everything they’re doing to ensure that the cars and the batteries of the future are built right here in Ontario, using Ontario minerals, by Ontario workers, at the Ford plant in Oakville and across the province of Ontario.

Point of order, the member for Peterborough-Kawartha.

That concludes our members’ statements for this morning.

Introduction of visitors?

I would like to introduce Wyatt Sharpe as our newest member of the press gallery.

To reply, the government House leader.

I’d like to welcome Rebecca Schillemat. She won lunch with her MPP and a tour of Queen’s Park as part of a fundraiser.

I think the Premier has answered that question on a number of occasions, Mr. Speaker. But I’ll tell you what the Premier does believe in and what, in fact, all Progressive Conservatives on both sides of the House believe in, and that is making sure that this current generation of Ontarians, who are working hard to build a bigger, better, stronger Ontario, have all of the same advantages that the previous generations of Ontarians had, including most members who sit in this House, Mr. Speaker. That is, if they contribute, if they help us build a bigger, better, stronger Ontario, they will also have the dream of home ownership. It is the same dream that generations of individuals from across the world came to this country hoping for, Mr. Speaker, and that is what we’re building every single day in this House.

The Leader of the Opposition can stand in the way of that. We saw them do it over 15 years with their Liberal partners, and we will continue to remove every single one of the obstacles that they put in place that made Ontario one of the most difficult places to own a home, Mr. Speaker. We won’t stand for that, and we’ll make sure—

For 15 years, the Liberals and the NDP put obstacle after obstacle after obstacle in the way of building new homes for the people of the province of Ontario. And what are we doing? This Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, this government is removing every one of those obstacles, because we know how important it is, not only for the young generation of this province, to be able to have the same dreams that all of us had, that our parents and our grandparents had, and that is the dream of home ownership, Mr. Speaker.

The Leader of the Opposition can say anything she wants. She can continue to try and frustrate those dreams. She can continue to try and put obstacles in the way. We will continue to remove every single one of those obstacles.

In over 150 years, the NDP and parties like them have governed this province once—once, Mr. Speaker. In the last election, more than 833,000 people turned their back on the NDP, removed 10 of their members and put them on this side of the House and on that side of the House as Progressive Conservatives. When will the NDP learn, Mr. Speaker, that it doesn’t matter how often you change the messenger, it’s the message that the people of Ontario aren’t interested in? They’re interested in a strong Progressive Conservative Ontario and all of the benefits that come with it.

I’d also like to warmly welcome Mr. Logendralingam, the president of Uthayan—the best Tamil newspaper. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Good morning, Speaker. This question is for the Premier. The Members’ Integrity Act obliges MPPs to “arrange their private affairs in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity of each member.”

Earlier this year, it was reported that developers and lobbyists were sent requests for donations to a stag and doe from people connected to the Premier and who previously worked for him. People who received these donation requests told Global News they felt “browbeaten” into buying those tickets.

Does the Premier believe such behaviour promotes public confidence in his integrity?

The rules are very clear. A member—or a Premier—may not accept a gift connected to their duties. Does the Premier agree with this basic ethical principle?

Speaker, public confidence in the integrity of MPPs and cabinet ministers and Premiers is not just about avoiding actual conflict of interest but also avoiding the appearance of conflict of interest, just like in every other sector. These are very simple rules, but clearly, some in this House are having a hard time understanding them.

So to make this even clearer, I’m going to table legislation later today to bring Ontario in line with the federal Conflict of Interest Act. Does the Premier support a prohibition on gifts that a reasonable person might believe were given in order to influence an MPP or even a Premier?

Speaker, is this an attempt to distract from the real and growing opposition to the plan to turn Ontario Place into an elite spa?

Speaker, the Ontario Science Centre is a treasured public institution. It’s one that sees thousands of visitors every year in a part of the city that really benefits from its presence. It employs hundreds of people—good union jobs—and is an anchor to Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park, some of Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods. To the Premier, has this government consulted with local communities about the plan to relocate the science centre, its attractions and its jobs?

Thank you to the leader of the official opposition. We have been fully transparent with the public in terms of what our intentions are for the site since 2019. We are leasing the lands. We have a tenant in place. We have a development application with the city of Toronto. We are proceeding with environmental assessment work that is underway. We have made tremendous progress on the site.

But what’s most important is the sentiment of the public. People drive by the site and think, “What a waste that we let the site deteriorate to the point of it no longer being safe for people and pedestrians to be able to go there.” We are bringing the site back to life. We will make sure it is there for everyone in Ontario to enjoy.

Our government is making the financial investments necessary to preserve these two treasures, to bring them back to life, to make them a place that everyone can go and enjoy with their families. I 100% think the public is behind us on this one.

I would also like to take the opportunity to introduce a wonderful contributor to Canadian Tamil media, Logan Logendralingam, chief editor and president of Uthayan Canada.