My question is for the Premier.

The affordability crisis is hitting Ontario families hard. The price of everything has gone up—groceries have gone up, rents have gone up, interest rates have gone up. The price of hydro, folks, is higher than it has ever been.

Families work hard every day, and they feel like they’re falling further and further behind. They’re looking for something to make their lives just a little bit easier. And when they see this budget, they can’t find anything to make their lives just a little bit easier—in fact, there are things that the government isn’t doing in our schools and in health care that’s actually making life harder for them.

Instead of making people’s lives just a little bit easier, this government is actually making life harder. Just why is that?

If you own lots of land in the greenbelt, guess what, folks? The Premier’s got your back.

Speaker, through you: Why is this government abandoning Ontario’s families in an affordability crisis?

Mr. Speaker, let me just say this: If the member really wants to do something about affordability then he can join us in calling on the federal government, supported by the NDP, to at least pause the 14% increase in the carbon tax hitting the people of the province of Ontario on April 1.

The member for Brampton North should actually apologize to the member for Niagara Falls. That’s the person he was trying to shout down while he was trying to answer the question.

But my colleague talked about how last night he went for a walk and passed—I believe it was 20 people sleeping rough on the streets. That was within just a few short blocks. And I’m going to point out that here in Toronto, you can’t walk a block without seeing people that are experiencing homelessness, and I think it’s important to point out that those people are becoming younger and younger and younger. It’s not uncommon for me to pass kids in their teens, those in their early twenties, because of the affordability crisis created by this government in this province.

But Speaker, I want to ask my colleague about health care, because he talked about that. This government is excluding those people experiencing homelessness from being able to access health care. That’s their policy: They’re excluding them from accessing health care. But I’d like my colleague to talk about the health care system and maybe expand more on the issues we’re seeing as far as the health human resources crisis that is making it more difficult for everyone in this province to access health care.

My question is to the member for Oakville North–Burlington. Last week, we had food banks from across the province gathered here at Queen’s Park to call on the government to make those fundamental public policy changes that would address the root causes of food insecurity in this province.

Food banks told us that they are seeing huge spikes in first-time users. They are seeing dramatic declines in donations because of the affordability pressures that people are facing in this province. We need to see a doubling of ODSP and Ontario Works rates. We need to see rent control in order to lift people out of poverty. Why are those measures not included in the 2023 budget?