I thank the honourable leader of the official opposition for the question.

Mr. Speaker, I am truly humbled and honoured to be entrusted with this position by the Premier, and I thank him for the opportunity.

I also want to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Merrilee Fullerton for all the great work and her leadership on the file.

As an individual who immigrated here to Canada for a better opportunity for my family and friends, I will make this very clear to the House and to my honourable colleagues, to every single person here: We live in the best province in the greatest country in the world—one that can only remain that way if we leave no one behind. I will promise to every single member here and everyone in this province that I will work night and day to make sure every individual, every child, every youth in this province is cared for, is looked after. I’ll give you my promise.

It’s, in fact, under the leadership of this Premier that we have brought in supports for the people of this province like never before, and we’re not going to stop there.

Again, I’ll reassure this House and every single member of this House that I will give everything I’ve got every single day, and I will come back the next day and try even harder for the people this province—that means the record investments that we have made.

If you look at the programs under the previous government, we’ve doubled funding under the autism program thanks to—before, there were only 8,500 children and youth receiving support, but now there are more than 40,000 children and youth receiving support.

One of the things that we are doing as a government, and that I will continue to do, is making sure that the well-being of every single individual is a top priority for our government. That’s why I thank the Minister of Health for the great work they’re doing, I thank the member from Brampton Centre for her leadership when it comes to—

This was the largest increase to ODSP support in decades. It doesn’t end there. It’s also tied to inflation. Beginning this July, it will continue to increase. But it will go beyond that. Those who can, are willing—we have the jobs in this province for those who are able to. Thanks to the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, there are 300,000-plus jobs that are going unfilled.

This is going to be my question to the leader of the official opposition and all my honourable colleagues across—I want them to come with us, to work with me to make sure that we help people in this province so that we don’t leave anyone behind—

Interjections.

My question is for the Associate Minister of Transportation.

Many individuals and families in Scarborough count on the GO train so they can get to work and attend appointments in the downtown core or travel outside of the city.

The previous Liberal government left the public transit sector in a mess and ignored the urgent needs for necessary improvements.

Union Station is a major transit hub in the city of Toronto. Under the leadership of the Premier and the ministry, we know that work is already under way at Union Station.

Can the associate minister please provide an update about the Union Station enhancement project?

The Union Station improvements are great news for my constituents and for all who take the GO train in and out of Union Station.

However, it will take more than station upgrades to significantly improve fast and reliable transit service. Our government must continue to invest in building transit infrastructure projects that will benefit our communities now and for future generations.

Can the associate minister please explain how our government is further expanding transit service in our province?

My question is to the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

Speaker, the budget tabled on Thursday is over 200 pages, and it did not even mention the Ontario Autism Program. I have stood in this House time after time, sounding the alarms for the OAP, because it is not working for families—and we hear in all of our offices that it is not working for children. This government continues to use the same talking points and does nothing to address it.

Through you, Speaker, to the new minister: How are you going to set a new tone for your ministry and support families looking to access the OAP if there is no extra money in the budget?

Interjections.

Interjections.

Interjections.

The minister talks about doubling the budget. You also doubled the wait-list for children’s services. You talk about 40,000 children actually getting services. They’re not getting core services—what these families need and deserve.

I think the minister needs to really look at his speaking notes again and fight his government to ensure that there are real dollars available to families to actually do something to clear the wait-list.

Will this minister actually work hard within his own government to ensure that there’s money in the budget to support families in need?

Interjections.

Order.

Restart the clock.

The next question.

The Minister of Children, Community and Social Services to reply.

I’d ask the member to take her seat.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Restart the clock.

The member for Hamilton Mountain has the floor.

Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

I thank my honourable colleague for the question.

Here’s what I’ll tell my colleague across: I’m asking you for your help and support. Come by and actually support us so that we can help the people of this province, instead of continuously objecting and opposing—

Interjections.

I thank the honourable member and ask her once again to come help me, to work with us to make sure that we support every single youth and child in this province—

Mr. Speaker, here’s the difference. Once again, I’ll go back and I’ll just remind the members that the NDP had the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives. The NDP had the balance of power. They failed the people. They weren’t able to deliver. When the previous government didn’t do enough, they continuously supported them. It’s not going to continue that way.

As I said before, we not only doubled the funding; we made sure that more people are receiving support—better support. This is a program that was developed by the community for the community.

When it comes to this side of the House and the majority middle over there, we will continue to fight for every single child, youth—every single person in this province—with or without the help of the opposition.

When our government took office, it is important to note that we saw that adults with developmental disabilities and service providers across the province were continuing to face many of the same challenges that they were facing 10 to 15 years ago. We’re changing that.

We’re ensuring people with developmental disabilities can fully participate in their communities, and we’re doing that with our 10-year developmental services reform strategy, Journey to Belonging.

Thank you to the member from Scarborough Centre for his question and his non-stop work on behalf of everyone in his constituency.

Speaker, last week the Minister of Transportation and I toured Union Station to see the fantastic improvements that our government is delivering. Some of the terrific enhancements to Union Station include creating two new, wider GO train platforms with canopies; building two new south tracks; and establishing a new south passenger concourse spanning between Bay Street and York Street, so that when the Raptors win the championship or the Leafs win the cup, you can get in and out of the arena a lot easier. In short, these improvements will make travel easier, safer and faster for thousands of riders who rely on the GO Transit network through Union Station each and every single day.

Unlike the NDP, who supported the Liberals when they did nothing to build transit, this government is getting it done for commuters.

Whether you’re coming from Barrie or Hamilton, Bowmanville or from my fine friend from York Mills Collegiate—go Titans—you should be able to get from point A to point B seamlessly.

We have a transit gap that was left by the opposition after decades of building zero transit. This government is filling that gap.

The Ontario Line alone will have trains picking up passengers every 90 seconds.

The Scarborough subway extension will make 34,000 jobs accessible within a 10-minute walk from transit.

The Eglinton West extension, which will finally connect us to Pearson International, will reduce travel times from Yonge and Eglinton to Square One by nearly 15 minutes.

What’s more, Union Station improvements will enable two-way, all-day rail service every 15 minutes or better along the GO rail network.

Unlike the opposition, we believe in building the biggest transit expansion in Canadian history. This government is going to get it done.

Seven years ago, the Ontario Ombudsman published a disturbing report entitled Nowhere to Turn. His report highlighted systemic issues faced by hundreds of adults with developmental disabilities, including many in hospital because no other placements were available.

Yesterday, the Ombudsman announced a new investigation because so many adults with developmental disabilities are still being forced to live in hospitals because there’s no appropriate housing for them in the community.

The government can ensure adults with developmental disabilities have the quality of life they deserve and can free up much-needed hospital space by investing in assisted living.

Can the minister explain why they didn’t include any new funding in the budget?

I thank my honourable colleague for the question again.

I wanted to mention that we’re also backing that strategy up with real investments, with funding over $2.9 billion in developmental services, including more than $1.8 billion for residential supports.

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the great work of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and thanks to the Minister of Finance, you saw that, in the budget, $2.2 million will be invested for supportive housing. The minister has said many, many, many times that we are in a housing supply crisis in the province of Ontario—one that affects every single person, one that we’re trying to address, one that the opposition continuously votes against, doesn’t seem to understand. So in order to get housing right for everybody, we need to address the supply crisis that we’re in, and I thank the minister for his leadership on that.

The supplementary.

Minister of Health.

The minister should know how disrespectful her answer was to the people I represent, who live four hours away from the nearest community health centre.

Yesterday I and the minister and received thousands of emails calling on the provincial government to ensure continued access to medically necessary services for people living in Ontario. These people are Ontarians like you and I, Speaker. They are not able to get an OHIP card because of systemic barriers.

How is a homeless person supposed to go to ServiceOntario with a proof of address? They are homeless, but they deserve care.

What is the minister going to do in the next three days to ensure that she removes barriers so that every Ontarian who qualifies for a health card gets one?

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier.

The financial cost of sprawl is huge. One study determined that it costs 2.5 times more to service sprawl than to service a new built home in existing developed areas. Another study showed that when you factor in both tax revenue and servicing costs, homes constructed in built-up areas pay for themselves, while sprawl represents an ongoing cost for property taxpayers.

Speaker, people are struggling with a cost-of-living crisis and a housing affordability crisis.

So why is the Premier pursuing a sprawl agenda, that paves over the greenbelt and makes housing and life less affordable for people and communities?

I remind the minister and the government that they have been in power for five years, and nothing has been done to remediate the situation.

One family has been waiting nine years to place their son in a group home. Like the other families caring for their developmentally disabled adult children, they’re terrified of what will happen to their children as they themselves become too old to look after them.

Speaker, things are far worse than they were seven years ago, distressingly, and yet there’s no additional funding for assisted living services in the new budget. The government tabled a bill that doesn’t seem to recognize the urgency of this situation.

When will they start prioritizing people with developmental disabilities by making meaningful investments in assisted living?

I want to be as clear as I can possibly be, because it is deeply disturbing that the NDP continue to put a false narrative out there. We—

We are returning to a funding model that existed pre-pandemic, that ensured that individuals who do not have an up-to-date OHIP card have access—that ensured 75 community health clinics that have funding models that ensure individuals without OHIP coverage get access.

Individuals who appear at emergency departments in our Ontario hospitals get health coverage.

It is deeply disturbing that we continue this narrative with the NDP opposition to suggest that there is a change that is not happening.

We are returning to what we had in March 2020. It was there under the Liberals. It was there because it assists people.

Health811 is another program that is available all across Ontario to ensure that individuals can speak to a registered nurse to find out about their health condition and see what the next steps are.

To suggest, as they have, that Ukrainian refugees are suddenly going to be without health care coverage is completely and utterly false, and if the member opposite really wants to have credibility in this field, she needs to stand up and say that in the province of Ontario, Ukrainian refugees, individuals without a health card, will have it as they had it in March 2020.

My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure.

All Ontarians need reliable and affordable high-speed Internet, no matter where they live. I hear from the business community, including the agricultural industry across northern Ontario, that access to high-speed Internet services is essential to successfully managing and operating their businesses. Individuals and families living in rural, remote and Indigenous communities all need Internet access for their day-to-day lives, to improve access to health care, and to keep connected with family and friends.

Can the minister please explain how our government is connecting Ontarians in rural, remote and northern regions of our province to fast, reliable, high-speed Internet?

Ensuring that individuals and families across our province have access to reliable, high-speed Internet is a necessity, not a luxury.

The previous Liberal government failed to invest in priorities that are important to Ontarians living in rural, remote and Indigenous communities.

Under the leadership of the Premier and this minister, we know that the plan for accessing high-speed Internet is currently being implemented, but the people in the north are seeking assurances that they can be confident in our government’s ability to deliver on the promise to bring access to unserved and underserved communities.

Can the minister elaborate on how our government is building high-speed Internet infrastructure and connecting the communities in the north?

Thank you to the member for the question.

We are making incredible progress in terms of connecting every single premise in the province of Ontario by the end of 2025. To date, we have committed $2.2 billion to nearly 200 high-speed Internet and cellular projects across the province.

This month, the member from Brampton West, in partnership with the federal government, was able to announce $13 million for high-speed Internet projects in eastern Ontario and $48 million in York region. This will connect 10,000 premises in 40 different communities. And I just want to thank my parliamentary assistant for his help in making sure that no one is left behind.

This month, we again joined the federal government in terms of announcing $61 million to bring high-speed Internet to 16,000 homes in 47 different communities, including three First Nation communities. Communities such as Pickle Lake, Iroquois Falls and O’Connor will now be connected.

I want to thank my northern members, but in particular the Minister of Northern Development for his help, working with my ministry to address challenges in the north and to make sure that we got it right.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

My question is for the Minister of Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs.

Under the previous Liberal government, so many opportunities for fostering economic growth across northern Ontario were missed. They were ignored—quite frankly, they were squandered.

Unlike the previous Liberal government, our government must recognize the value and the potential that is present in rural, remote and Indigenous communities. The people of my riding and all the other communities across the north are counting on our government to deliver on the commitments that we made to invest in meaningful priorities that strengthen our local economies.

Can the minister please explain how our government is building a stronger and a more inclusive Ontario?

It is evident that under our leadership—the leadership of our Premier and this minister—investments made by our government through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. are resulting in positive, tangible outcomes for the people of the north.

Our government’s respect for the people of the north and our well-thought-out plans are a sharp contrast to the pattern of neglect that was evident under the previous Liberal government.

Speaker, I’ve knocked on thousands of doors throughout Sault Ste. Marie and other northern communities, and when you just speak to the average person in northern Ontario, the message is always the same: They felt ignored by the former Liberal government. They felt like they didn’t matter. And now, they’re seeing a government that’s putting them first and putting a lot of attention on the north.

In order to remain current and competitive, our government must continue to focus on addressing the needs and the opportunities that will advance prosperity.

Can the minister please elaborate on how this funding will contribute to economic prosperity for communities in the north?

Mr. Speaker, let’s be clear. I’ve said this in the House before and I’ll say it again: Ontario municipalities are still able to collect development charges on most market housing, provided that these are increased at a reasonable and predictable rate.

At the end of the day, more homes and growing communities make sense for taxpayers. They increase the tax base. They allow municipalities to be able to provide services to their local communities at a lower cost. That’s something that our government subscribes to, but municipalities need to do the same.

I want to thank the member for his question.

I rise in this place often to talk about the modernization of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and the help it has given to businesses and leveraging. It’s time we started to chat about the incredible opportunities it provides for job creation and job protection, and how internship programs support that.

When we modernized the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, we committed to trying to understand better how our youth and young people could access jobs in their own communities—in Timiskaming–Cochrane, to the tune of almost a million dollars, a medical recruiter to plan and implement a physician recruitment strategy, saving them money, allowing them to go out with somebody and recruit physicians; an economic development assistant; the Northwood Recovery clinic’s registered practical nurse intern; and the Northern Policy Institute, to hire a data and analytics intern.

Mr. Speaker, more than 80% of these people retain their jobs when they’re in internship. I’m sure the member opposite supports this kind of—

Let’s move a little farther northwest, Mr. Speaker, where we’re into Kiiwetinoong and Mushkegowuk–James Bay. More than $500,000 helped us create 14 jobs and/or intern positions.

And listen to the diversity of these opportunities for young people: The municipality of Red Lake hired an infrastructure intern and recreation and activities programmer—we have a similar one in Vermilion Bay, and it works great—the Institut de recherche InnovaNor to hire a psychometrics and administrative assistant; Smooth Rock Falls Hospital in Cochrane district hired a detox centre program worker.

Mr. Speaker, those are just a few examples. What’s really exciting is the Indigenous Internship Program. The Obishikokaang Resources Corp. hired an Indigenous business service coordinator intern.

These folks are keeping their jobs when they’re finished their internship, staying in their communities, and providing a better opportunity for their community.