We’re going to move to questions.

Thank you to the members opposite for your comments on the budget.

I was genuinely heartened to hear the member from Peterborough–Kawartha spend so much time talking about the importance of people in crisis; I truly agree that that should be a priority for this government. But I was really surprised to hear him say that the budget supports every single person in this province—to begin with, because I can list many people in this province that the budget does not support, but mainly because the budget does not support some of the people who are the most in crisis in our province, which is people who live with disabilities, people who are living on Ontario Works, who are living in such incredibly deep poverty that they are going hungry every day, who are using food banks in record numbers, who are unable to afford rent because the benefits that they are receiving are significantly lower than the rate of rent in the province.

Does the member not agree that, if we genuinely want to help people in crisis, we should start with the 900,000 Ontarians who are living in very deep poverty, and double the rates of Ontario Works and ODSP?

Ontario has reached a population of somewhere around 15.4 million people.

I’d like the member for Essex, for example, to explain how those capital investments are going to make improvements both to Ontario as a whole and to Essex in particular.

I thank the member from Sarnia–Lambton for his question.

It’s no secret that the delivery of health care has been a struggle in our community. We actually compete with the city of Detroit for our nursing staff. In fact, my next door neighbour, Sandra, a phenomenal nurse, was cut back by a previous government in her career, so she was scooped up by an HMO in Michigan.

We need to provide modern facilities. This government has brought that hope and optimism back by finally approving the Windsor-Essex regional acute-care hospital, giving practitioners the dignity of a sound place to work, with proper equipment that’s not left over from 40 years ago. This is a tremendous investment. This is the only government to get behind it. I’m so happy that it made this investment prior to my arrival and that we’re going to get the job done in delivering this much-needed facility for the people of Windsor and Essex county.

Obviously, the member didn’t actually listen to everything I said, because I did talk about all the things that we were doing to support everyone in Ontario.

The reduction in cost for electricity of $6.5 billion affects every single person, whether they are on Ontario Works, ODSP, or whether they are working someplace, whether they are retired. It makes no difference; it affects every single person in this province in a positive way.

We’ve increased funding to ODSP by 5% and tied it now to inflation so that they’ll never find themselves in a position where they’re falling further behind. This is the first time any government in Ontario has done this—tied it to inflation to make sure that they do not fall behind.

Madam Speaker, this is a fantastic budget, and the opposition needs to stand up and vote in favour of it, because it helps everyone in this province.

Wow. That is really all I have to say on that.

Thank you so much for voting against bills that would reduce the cost of building things in Ontario.

We are cutting the development charges for not-for-profit housing. Is that not what your question was about? Then you asked, how are we doing that? We’re cutting the development charge in the GTA. In some portions of the GTA, it’s $167,000 for a development charge. Not-for-profits will not have to pay that. That is a significant reduction in the cost per unit—$167,000. What is that in terms of mortgage payments right now, with the interest rates that we have? That is hundreds of dollars per month—close to $500 per month—that is not going to have to be paid for not-for-profit housing builds. That helps.

There is more to the province of Ontario than the city of Toronto, and if you come to any riding outside of the 25 that are in Toronto, they would say that they should also get the same level of respect and that they should get the same benefits as what the Toronto members of the NDP are trying to advocate for Toronto.

In my riding, I know that people are happy about the idea of housing being built; I know that people are happy about the idea of jobs being brought back to the province.

I could go across any single riding of the PC government members, and they would all say the same thing: Ontario is on the right track, because we’re attracting businesses.

VW would not be here if it was not for the work of this government, the leadership of Premier Ford and the leadership of Vic Fedeli—sorry, the member from Nipissing, the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade—

Next question?

We don’t have time for another question, so we’ll have to move to further debate.

Meegwetch, Speaker. It’s always an honour to be able to get up in this place, to speak on behalf of the people of Kiiwetinoong. You have to understand that the Kiiwetinoong riding is 294,000 square kilometres, and we are one of the richest ridings in Ontario—rich in resources such as water, such as the land, and also the lakes that we have, the animals and the fish that live in those waters.

Remarks in Anishininiimowin.

At this time, I will speak your language, which is English. You all know that Anishininiimowin, my language, is not allowed to be spoken in this place. I think we have to understand, as well, that this place, Queen’s Park, the Ontario Legislature, was never built for people like me—First Nations [Remarks in Anishininiimowin]. I always acknowledge that this is a place that is very colonial. English is my second language. I have to speak your language.

It’s an honour to be able to speak on this bill, Bill 85, Building a Strong Ontario Act. I speak on behalf of the people of Kiiwetinoong.

Yesterday, just down the road, I attended a gathering hosted by the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools. This was their third National Gathering on Unmarked Burials. There may be a lot of you who do not know: The office of the special interlocutor works closely and collaboratively with Indigenous leaders, communities, nations, survivors, families and experts to identify needed measures to ensure the respectful and culturally appropriate treatment and protection of unmarked graves, but also the burial sites of children at former Indian residential schools. In Ontario, we are still looking for children who never came home from those—I don’t know if I should call them schools. They were not schools. I talk about that because it’s very important work that is being done at these gatherings, and it’s an honour to be there. I won’t be taking part in today’s sessions, question period, because I’m going to be with all the survivors who are here, just down the road, from across the country.

We honour the survivors, the Indigenous families and the communities across Turtle Island who are leading the work of recovering the unmarked burials and the missing children.

We also honour and acknowledge those who lead the search and recovery efforts, often reliving their trauma as they work to bring honour and dignity to the spirits, to the bodies, to honour the remains of our children who never came home.

I know we speak about prosperity and a vision forward, but there are things that are happening—like the fact that there are still unmarked graves, unmarked burials of children, on former Indian residential school sites and other associated sites across Canada due to the inaction and the decisions of Canadian governments, provincial governments, and especially the churches who administered these institutions.

We also cannot forget that our children were often sent to other places, like the federal Indian hospitals, sanatoriums, provincial hospitals and provincial reformatories.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission identified that further work is needed to be done to locate all the unmarked burials, including at associated sites, to locate the missing children.

Today, the survivors, the families of these survivors, Indigenous families and communities carry the burden of leading the search and recovery efforts. It is a burden that they should not have to carry. But that’s the reality. That’s a dark history.

That’s the real history that all Canadians, all Ontarians never knew, which brings me to the budget—$25.1 million in additional funds to identify remains at former residential school sites over 2023-24. Without this being itemized, it just appears to be an additional $5 million over $20 million over three years committed to date. When I see those numbers—how do you put a price on finding our children? How do you put a price on the children who never came home? This is what Ontario has decided—that it’s worth this much.

In relation to Indigenous people, this budget mainly talks about two things: (1) the searches for Indian residential schools and (2) the Ring of Fire.

It’s certainly interesting how important mining is to this province, to this government.

Before we even had treaties in Ontario, there were people coming into the territories of Indigenous people and mining without agreements. It was in the 1840s—a very important piece of history that took place in Mica Bay at Pointe aux Mines, north of Sault Ste. Marie. This was just before the creation of the Robinson Treaties.

A few years after the discovery of minerals on the shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior in 1841, the Canada West company generated $60,000 from mining leases and patents, and stood to earn $400,000 once the patents were paid in full. We have to understand that this was a lot of money at the time. Government officials of the day continued to ignore the concerns of local Indigenous leaders, whose homes and sources of food were now threatened by this activity. Also, the chiefs of the area were aware of the value of the minerals and questioned the legality of surveying unceded territory.

On November 1, 1849, a group of several hundred Anishinaabe and Métis warriors, led by Chiefs Oshawano, Shingwaukonse and Nebenaigoching, travelled to Mica Bay by boat. They took a small cannon from the lawn of the crown lands agent Joseph Wilson, and other weapons supplied by local merchants who supported their cause. At that time, they secured a lawyer, Allan Macdonell, who joined them with an artist. When they arrived at the mines, the chiefs met with management and gave them an ultimatum of shared profits or a complete shutdown of the operation. The company closed the mines, and his workers began to disperse with their equipment in the following days. Rumours began to spread that there had been an “Indian massacre” with hundreds of casualties. Other mine owners became uneasy after hearing the sensationalized reports, though there had been no deaths at Mica Bay, and pressured Canada West to act. The lawyer and the artist were arrested, alongside two Métis and two Anishinaabe chiefs. The group was sent to Toronto for trial, where they were eventually released and returned to help with the negotiations for the Robinson treaty.

Premiers like to make promises. The current one likes to talk about bulldozers a lot.

George Ross was the fifth Premier of Ontario, from 1899 to 1905, and he talked a lot about railroads. He needed a way to build the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway, renamed Ontario Northland in 1946. The way he did it was through treaty. He sent survey parties to examine possible routes for a new railroad going as far as James Bay. The initial survey area was covered by the 1850 Robinson-Huron Treaty between the crown and the Anishinaabe people. By 1905, both Queen’s Park and Ottawa were pushing for Treaty 9 to be signed to ensure clear title for all the land up to Hudson Bay. The land would be needed for mining, timber and the railroad.

George Ross’s 1902 budget stated that resource development was the central government priority. Ross explained later to the House that a modern government “has to be the pioneer ... of manufacturing and commerce.” Sounds familiar, right?

Shiri Pasternak, a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, recently wrote an article about critical minerals and settler colonialism. She said, “The transformation of industries like automotive manufacturing with the rise of electric vehicles, the energy sector with solar and wind infrastructure, and medical innovations in cancer treatment all rely on extracting ‘critical minerals’ in mostly traditional ways.”

But we have to ask ourselves: How is this new extraction different from the old practices of colonization? When we listen to the government talk about critical minerals, it gets framed as clean energy and responsibly sourced materials. The government says that they need critical minerals for national security and to be more important globally. But you have to think more about the land that these minerals come from. Those minerals lie under the treaty lands of the people who have cared for the lands and the waters since the Creator put us there.

What is the trade-off needed for a green economy? Whose lives will these companies be changing forever to make their shareholders richer? How much does it cost to change the ways of life for the people in Treaty 9 forever? And how is it fair to go in and push these projects through in First Nations that don’t even have access to clean drinking water, in these reserves? I don’t see a $1-billion commitment to that in the budget—just a road that will mostly make money for a company that can’t possibly understand the importance of the lands and the waters, that can’t possibly understand the ways of life of the people in Treaty 9. How can I believe that, when every day I look at the mace over here? There’s a diamond in there that came from Victor mine, that came from Attawapiskat. During its operation, the Victor mine yielded about 1.1 million carats of diamonds. It’s hard to imagine how much that is worth to an average person.

I was in Attawapiskat before, and they have to haul their water in jugs. Their community reserve line is so maxed up, they can’t build any more homes. It is important that we acknowledge that.

The government talks about prosperity. I was in the community about two months ago. This community is a signatory to one of the mines nearby. There is literally needless death and unnecessary suffering. I see children who are four years old suffering with skin conditions. The government talks about mines and prosperity to me, to First Nations. We’ve had that mine for 30-plus years, and there is no prosperity in there. I think it’s important to be able to try to acknowledge that.

I come from a different Ontario. I come from a different Canada.

Thank you for listening. Meegwetch.

This gives me a great opportunity to talk about some of the things that are in the budget that are going to help not just large businesses but small businesses.

I’ll start on the small business side. We have changed the employer health tax exemption now. It’s going from $490,000 to $1 million. How many of your small mom-and-pop shops have $1 million worth of payroll? Very few. This is putting money right back into their pockets so that they can reinvest that in people.

We have a small business tax cut, down to 3.2%. That is something that will help every single small business in this province.

But probably the greatest thing in this is how we are attracting industries to come back to Ontario. The Liberals pushed out 350,000 manufacturing jobs. If you want to know if our plan is actually working, all you have to do is look at St. Thomas and Elgin, with 2,000 new jobs coming in from VW, moving to Ontario—something that would never have happened under the previous Liberal government.

This is real results for the people of this province. This is real leadership by Premier Ford.

My question is for the member from Peterborough–Kawartha.

You spoke about the need to attract more jobs.

I recall, as a reporter, reporting on the number of jobs that fled Ontario under the previous Liberal government due to what I believe were some of the worst pieces of legislation ever introduced in the province of Ontario, including the Green Energy Act. For so many years, business owners—women and men who played by the rules, worked hard and simply wanted to take care of their families, and who created jobs for others to take care of families—felt like they were under attack. Every possible barrier that could be brought forward to stifle them from growing their business was introduced.

But our government has turned the corner, and we have done so much to create more jobs.

Could the member please expand on the initiatives in this budget that attract more jobs and encourage more people to get into the manufacturing sector in Ontario?

My question is to the member for Peterborough–Kawartha.

When I looked at the budget, one of the things I noticed is that when you look at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing’s budget, you see a $124-million cut. That’s on top of the $5-billion loss in infrastructure spending that is occurring across Ontario because of this government’s Bill 23.

What is this government’s plan to properly fund affordable housing projects so that they can actually get built?

Everything I’m seeing in this budget is looking like a cut.

I thank the member for his heartfelt comments on behalf of his riding and community. It’s very important that we listen and learn.

I want to ask, specific to the bill that we are debating, Bill 85, budget 2023: Will he and his colleagues in His Majesty’s official opposition support the increase in the investment in homelessness prevention and the Indigenous Supportive Housing Program, which is proposed to be over $200 million annually, to give more people a safe place to call home?

Meegwetch. Reserves were created to get us off the lands where the resources are. Where I grew up, it became a reserve in 1976, and they moved there in 1966. We never had welfare. We were never homeless. In the context of homelessness, I think you can talk about the four walls, but the land is our home. We’re not homeless. The land is our home, and people are going back to the lands. That’s where our home is. Meegwetch.

We’re going to move to questions.

It’s always an honour to rise in this House after remarks from our friend from Kiiwetinoong.

In 2019, we saw the second hunger strike of the former Attiwapiskat chief, Theresa Spence. I had the honour of meeting her briefly during the Idle No More movement, when the chief came to our community and told us about the living conditions of her community versus the diamond mine that was being created, which had fresh water, which had food.

When you talk about the juxtaposition of the four-year-old children who have rashes on their skin, when you’re talking to the people in Neskantaga and other places, is this what you’re hearing from community members—that they fear this constant pattern of discrimination is going to be repeated? What’s talked about is prosperity, as you said, but what gets delivered to people in the communities is just a repeat of this continuing. I was wondering if you could elaborate for our benefit.

Tragically, we have lost an amazing young woman in our community, Melinda Moote. Friends and family described her as “the best humanity has to offer.”

Melinda suffered from a rare disorder which was in remission, but symptoms recurred and she went to emergency in medical distress. There were only three triage nurses working, with 34 people waiting in front of her. Despite her life-threatening condition, she waited for hours. Finally, a nurse found her vomiting blood in a garbage can and barely conscious. Everything that could go wrong did—the long wait; important blood tests and plasma treatments missed. The family left wondering if this could have saved her life.

Melinda used her last days to write about our health care crisis from her hospital bed. True to her kind nature, she began by thanking the overwhelmed nurses and strangers who came to her aid. But she warned that our health care system is a broken system. Melinda said, “I’m hoping to add my voice so people know how bad it is. People aren’t dying from mysterious illnesses, it’s from lack of accessible preventable care.” She herself died a few days later.

This government’s cuts are literally letting people die needlessly—good people, our loved ones.

So for anyone hearing our pleas or the pleas of Melinda’s family, if your loved one has struggled with the health care system, join us in demanding urgent action. It’s going to take all of us to speak up, just like Melinda did in her dying days.

First of all, thank you for the question.

As the first peoples of these lands, as a First Nations person from these lands, I know that’s one of the first things that happened—governments took our land, and they took our children.

When you ask about Neskantaga First Nation, a community of 300 people—they have had a boil-water advisory for over 28 years, starting on February 1, 1995. There is no way this would be allowed in any other place in Ontario, anyplace in Canada. But it happens. That’s how colonialism works. That’s how oppression works. That’s how racism works. That’s how discrimination works. We live it on a daily basis. It has become a way of life, and it has detrimental impacts on the wellness and the health of children who live in these communities. Meegwetch.

We are at a time when we are again talking about trying to find our children. I know that incremental funding and incremental change further perpetuate the oppression, the colonialism, the crisis in our communities. I think it would be better if you started looking at the 94 calls to action and started investing resources behind those calls to action. I have lived it. I have seen the incremental funding. I have seen the incremental help that governments do, but it perpetuates the crisis in our communities. We’ve got to do it, full stop, where we will provide the full resources. Yes, I welcome that $25.1 million, but what’s the number on finding our children on former Indian residential school sites?

We have to understand that in the numbered treaties from 1 to 11, Treaty 9, where I come from, is the only treaty with the province’s signature on it. That’s Ontario. We are your treaty partners, not your stakeholders. Meegwetch.

I do thank the member opposite for his very heartfelt remarks this morning. We heard them all.

I want to raise two things—first of all, a comment about the incremental support in this budget for the RAISE program, racialized and Indigenous supports for entrepreneurs, at $15 million. In particular, I want to comment and confirm the additional $25.1 million in the budget to support identification, investigation, protection and commemoration of residential school burial sites. I respectfully ask whether that additional investment is sufficient to allow the member to support the budget as tabled.

On April 2, we celebrate Education and Sharing Day to honour the work and teachings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Established in 1978, it pays tribute to his endless commitment for better education for the children of North America.

The seventh leader in the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty, Rabbi Schneerson was born in Ukraine in 1902 and moved to New York to escape the Holocaust.

If the Holocaust showed the world the evil of which human beings are capable, the Rebbe reminds us of what good people we can be.

He was devoted to teaching the infinite value of every human life and the practice of loving your neighbour. The Rebbe inspired millions, not only with his wise words, but with his actions.

He created a global network of Chabad emissaries in over 100 countries, offering social service programs and humanitarian aid all around the world.

A tireless advocate for youth, he promoted education as a cornerstone of humanity, and in an era when a woman’s education was not valued the same as a man’s, the Rebbe staunchly created more educational opportunities for girls. He was even known to write, “There must be a girl!” on educational materials that only depicted boys.

April 2 will mark the Rebbe’s 121st birthday. In Hebrew, we say, “Ad meah v’esrim,” which means “until 120.”

The Rebbe may not have reached 120, but his legacy certainly lives on.