Merci aussi à mon collègue. Il travaille très fort pour les membres de notre communauté. Mon collègue, il parle de ODSP, le Programme ontarien de soutien aux personnes handicapées. J’ai des lettres de citoyens d’Ontario. Cette personne qui habite à Niagara—elle parle en anglais. Je vais le lire en anglais :

“I’m 61. There is not enough for food.... Why does” the Premier—she says the Premier’s name—“hate the disabled? Five per cent was nothing, and 58 bucks, that covers nothing. I don’t drive, smoke or drink. I can’t afford food. I can’t work. I’m permanently disabled. I’m also diabetic and can’t afford the food that keeps me healthy.” So this is from Diana.

Diana a une question pour toi et pour le premier ministre. Pourquoi le premier ministre déteste-t-il les handicapés?

Over the next decade, we will need approximately 100,000 workers in construction alone. So will the member opposite support this proposed legislation, which would invest $224 million to expand training centres, including union training halls, and leverage private sector union expertise to train more workers in the skilled trades?

Merci. On va passer aux questions. We’re going to move to questions.

We’re going to move to further debate.

Je voudrais remercier le député de Mushkegowuk–Baie James. Merci pour vos paroles ici. Je suis vraiment d’accord que ce gouvernement a vraiment manqué le moment avec ce budget. Vous avez parlé du Nord pour nous. Il y a une pénurie de logements; il y a des sans-abris. Vous avez parlé souvent, dans la législature, des routes dans le Nord. Et vous avez dit que plus qu’on voyage au Nord, plus ça coûte, plus c’est cher.

Comme vous, nous ici dans l’opposition sommes vraiment déçus avec ce budget. Est-ce que c’est possible pour vous de décider quelle est la chose la plus décevante de ce budget?

Je vais partager mon temps avec mon collègue le membre d’Orléans.

It’s great to be up here to get a chance to debate the budget. What I’ve heard from the government consistently since last week is that they’re on a path to balance. I don’t agree, and here’s why.

Ontario’s families are not feeling the balance. Gas prices are going up. Rents are going up. Groceries are going up. Utility prices have doubled. Interest rates have gone up. For Ontario’s families, simply getting by has gotten harder. They work hard and still they feel like they’re falling further and further behind. What they’re looking for is for their government to make their lives just a little bit easier. That’s not here in this budget, and it’s not in the long-term plan.

Ce que les familles souhaitent, c’est que leur gouvernement leur rend la vie un peu plus facile.

Ontario’s families, looking for something to make their lives just a little bit easier, can’t find it in this budget. The government is sending them a different message. If you have a child in school who has exceptional needs and they’re not being met, the message is, you’re on your own. If your child is struggling with their mental health or is just simply falling behind at school, the message is, you’re on your own. If you’re looking for child care so that you can return to the workforce, the message from this government is, you’re on your own. If you’re too sick to go to work, the Premier’s message is, you’re on your own. If you’re one of two million Ontarians who can’t find a family physician or a nurse practitioner, the message is, you’re on your own. If you’re a senior and you need an eye exam, what’s the message? You’re on your own. If your mom needs home care but she only gets it half the time, what’s the message, folks? You’re on your own. If you’re a low-income family and you’re struggling with the cost of food, rent and all those other things that are going up, what’s this government’s message? You’re on your own.

Instead of making lives just a little bit easier, the government and this Premier are making people’s lives harder.

Interjections.

Folks, if you listen up, you might hear this. If you listen to the people of Ontario, this is what you might hear. They want you to make their lives just a little bit easier by doing things like increasing the Ontario Child Benefit to help those struggling low-income families, or maybe a tax credit to help kids get into recreation or sports at school, or maybe a transit tax credit—something small. But no, it’s not there.

Ontario’s families ain’t feeling the balance, folks over there. All they want is for you, for their government, to make their lives just a little bit easier. And by not addressing those things in this budget that families depend on, like their schools, like their hospitals, like getting a family doctor, the cost of rent, the cost of food, getting your mom home care or simply support for families that are struggling, this budget isn’t making families’ lives easier; it’s making it harder—because making their lives just a little bit easier means a whole lot to those people out there who are struggling.

The member for Orléans.

What’s clear is that middle-class families are feeling the pinch. Under this government, their hydro rates have gone up, not gone down. Their grocery prices are higher. Rent and housing is more expensive. In the last five years under this government, the costs for families are higher, and in this budget, there was an opportunity for the government to present targeted measures to help families, to help individuals deal with the rising costs that they’re facing, and the government chose not to do those things.

We’re seeing a government in Ottawa that’s choosing to make targeted tax measures in their budget, Madam Speaker. I’m not sure why this government here in Toronto chose not to do the same thing.

It’s clear that, as you said, this budget doesn’t meet the moment. It does nothing to make life a little bit easier for middle-class and suburban families that are struggling every day to pay the basic costs of utility bills and groceries and all the other costs in their lives that have gone up.

When we talk about rent, we have a government that removed rent controls on new builds after 2018. That’s something that’s affected me. My rent for my condo here in Toronto went from $2,100 to $2,600. That’s outrageous. And I’m fortunate: We have an allowance that pays for that, and I’m a person of means and can afford to absorb that. Most families couldn’t absorb a 20% or 25% rent increase.

Imagine if you’re, then, amongst the lowest-income earners in the province, those who are on ODSP and other social supports. How are they supposed to get by? This budget does nothing to make life a little bit easier for those individuals and others who are struggling with high costs as inflation is running rampant.

I listened to the member opposite, respectfully, make his submissions, but it’s clear that this government is trying to improve the lives of Ontarians. Why won’t the opposition support these measures to keep costs down for those who need it and build the skilled labour force that the province needs with a responsible and flexible plan?

Because you’re not actually taking care of those things that matter most to families. You’re cutting education when we know we need more. What I said about children struggling in schools and your message being, “You’re on your own”—that’s it right there.

If your mom is trying to get home care, you’ve done nothing to really address the health care human resource crisis. As a matter of fact, your government supported Bill 124, which just made it worse, and now you want to set up a parallel for-profit system to compete for the staff that hospitals can’t get right now. That’s why I can’t support this budget.

Your message to Ontarians—to Ontario families—is, “You’re on your own. On health care, on education, on the environment, you’re on your own, folks. We’re not doing anything to help you.” Even the Ontario Child Benefit that you could have increased—as a matter of fact, the government on this side did—you guys can’t even see fit to increase that by $50 a child a month while families are struggling to put food on the table. That’s why I can’t vote for this budget. I won’t—

No, I don’t see that. This government had an opportunity to create something called the Ontario housing corporation so that we could actually build affordable housing for people. But this government’s solution to the housing crisis is to actually give away the greenbelt to people who are already doing quite well so they can do even better, and they won’t be able to build affordable housing out there. What we need is housing inside our urban areas, inside our small towns, rurally—everywhere.

It’s a crisis. Bring back real rent control on those new-build units. There are bidding wars. People are couch-surfing. Families can’t get a place to live. It’s not in this budget. The message is, “You’re on your own, folks.”

We’ve been saying here that this government has absolutely failed to meet the moment, and I think you would agree.

One of the biggest issues is homelessness in all of our communities. AMO, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, said that “homelessness is the return on provincial underinvestment.” They also went on to say, “The homelessness crisis in your community”—and all of our communities—“is a made-in-Ontario crisis that results from underinvestment and other disastrous policy choices made by the government of Ontario.” That’s from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

I know that in the city of Hamilton, we’re facing a huge budget increase because of the lack of revenues that are coming to our municipalities—it’s happening all over our province. AMO estimates that given this government’s decisions, it will cost the municipalities $1 billion. And who’s going to pay for that? Municipal taxpayers and ratepayers that are already burdened.

So can you say further how this lack of investment for municipalities is going to further make life difficult for the people in your community?

As you know, I’ve been sharing voices from across the province.

Anna talks about ODSP. She says, “I am on ODSP and can’t afford rent, groceries and anything in basic needs. We need help. We are drowning and” the Premier—it says the Premier’s name—“is doing nothing with the crazy rent rates across Ontario.”

Julie from Barrie–Innisfil also says, “I’m not surviving. I can’t afford groceries, prescriptions, rent. It’s horrible living in poverty.”

Would the member like to comment about the bill and how it addresses people who are on ODSP and living in poverty?

Look, the member talked in the speech about how he wanted to see more measures to make Ontarians’ lives a little bit easier. Now, I want to put this a little bit against the member’s own voting record. When we did the LIFT tax credit, exempting the lowest-income workers from paying income tax, the member voted against that. When we brought in the gas tax cut to make gas a little bit cheaper for people, the member voted against that. And I know I heard in the speech that gas prices are record high right now, and I feel the pinch coming from Brampton, so I guess my question for the members from the Liberal Party is: How much higher do we have to make our gas tax cut for them to consider supporting our budget?

The member opposite had a chance to support this government’s affordability measures when the costs were going up last year. And now the inflation has slowed but still remains high, and we are still continuing to support those who are in need the most. Will the member opposite fix their mistake and support this legislation?

My question is for the member from Ottawa South.

We’re going to move to questions.

We don’t have time for another question and answer, so we’re going to move to further debate. The member for Mississauga–Malton.

Madam Speaker, before I start, I want to say this: that I will be sharing time with our wonderful member from Carleton, my colleague.

Today I rise in the House to talk about a budget to build a stronger Ontario, an inclusive Ontario. Colleagues, I want to share with you that this morning I had an opportunity to go with the Premier to Pearson airport. I was actually standing in terminal 3 arrivals, exactly the point where, on January 15, 2000, I landed. Those memories came back.

When I landed on January 15, 2000, at terminal 3 of Pearson airport and I came out of those doors, I saw my brother’s friends Puneet Sharma and Chetna Sharma, with a sign in their hands—because they had never seen me, and back then there was no WhatsApp and no Facebook, so they had no idea how I looked, so they were holding a sign with my name.

As I was coming out of those doors, I was excited for a better future, but at the same time, I was concerned. I had no idea where to start. There was a concern about the decision and how it would pan out, especially when you have a young family. My son was five months old. My decision—or maybe I’d rather say “our decision;” my wife and I took that decision. How will it impact him, his life? There were no ready answers available. Twenty-three years later, I just want to say two words, and those words are “Thank you.” Thank you, Canada, for helping us to build a life here in Canada.

I want to add more thank-yous to the list, Madam Speaker. I want to start by thanking the Indigenous community for taking care of this land for thousands of years. Thank you for allowing us to come and meet here.

We see we have infrastructure here—we have such a beautiful building—but it didn’t happen overnight. It didn’t happen by itself. Thank you to all the immigrants who came to Canada 300 years, 500 years back and worked hard to build this country. Many of their descendants are the MPPs, my colleagues here, so I want to say thank you to the ancestors of all of you for building such a wonderful, strong Ontario; an Ontario which allows everyone to realize your dreams. We have infrastructure, we have health care, we have services and we are going to build homes in the future. But it’s not going to happen by itself, Madam Speaker. To build, we need skilled workers.

I had the opportunity to criss-cross the province as part of the finance and economic affairs committee, and we heard from the stakeholders. I want to say, in addition to the thanks, thank you to Felix, Jeri and Beth, the members from the staff who were there before us and stayed after us, so that we had a smooth consultation, so that we could hear from our stakeholders. A big thank you to all of you.

Through this budget, we’re making a promise to ensure Ontario remains competitive on the global stage, and it’s not going to happen by itself. To achieve this goal, we are providing an additional $75 million for the Skills Development Fund for the next three years. As you know, since 2020, the government has invested $700 million to support people facing barriers to employment. We’ve been able to help 400,000 people directly through 388 projects. We’re providing $224 million for the Skills Development Fund’s new capital stream, a stream for brick-and-mortar projects which will help build training centres. Through those centres, we’ll be able to help Ontarians to upskill their skills and build a stronger Ontario.

We’re investing an additional $50 million for Better Jobs Ontario. Madam Speaker, it’s not been easy. Sometimes it’s not under your control. I’ll give you an example. There were a lot of people who were working as taxi drivers, helping people to commute at the greater Toronto airport when the number of visitors was 50 million. But the number came down, due to COVID, to 10 million, 15 million, 12 million. Obviously there was less need for the jobs, less need for that service, and those taxi drivers who were helping for decades had no place to do. What should they do now? Investments like Better Jobs Ontario helps Ontarians like them. It helps with up to $28,000 to cover expenses like child care, tuition and transportation for 52 weeks, so that you can enrol in a training program. It will help you or somebody looking for a skill to succeed and give back to the community.

Speaker, the Ontario government is working for our women. As our associate minister talks about, when women grow, Ontario grows. We are expanding our support for the Investing in Women’s Futures Program, adding 10 new sites, bringing the number of locations to 33. I’m happy that two of those locations, Achēv in Mississauga and Roots Community Services Inc. in Mississauga, will benefit residents from our riding. This program has helped 1,300 women in Ontario secure employment, start their own business or pursue further training or education.

Another big announcement we’re going to see through this budget is providing an additional $25 million for three years to support the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program to fight the labour shortage. The allocation for the ONIP program will increase from $9,000 to $18,361 in 2025. I want to give a shout-out to Minister Monte McNaughton for being a champion for Ontario to build this number.

We’re providing an additional $3 million through the Ontario bridge training program. When we talk about it, we want to say that we have a place for you in Ontario where you can come and grow. But of course, it’s kind of saying that when you take a plant and move it from one place to the other, it may take time to adjust to the soil. It may take time for you to get your leaves back. Remember, your government is here to welcome you. Through the Ontario bridge training program you can get the training to get back into the workforce when you’re a new immigrant.

This program, in 2021, helped almost 6,000 newcomers secure a bright future and stable employment, and this additional investment will help our government support newcomers with more opportunities. We’re investing $32.4 million over the next three years to support 6,500 quality research internships, and of course, health care is our key focus as well.

We’re making investments. Through this budget, we are spending, over 10 years, $100 billion in transit, $57 billion in health and $22 billion in education. We’re making sure that we’re building Ontario’s economy for today and tomorrow. To do that, we are giving a 10% refundable corporate income tax credit for qualifying investments. We’re building the skilled workforce of today and tomorrow.

Madam Speaker, this is a budget which is building a strong Ontario. Let me get straight to the point. The message through this budget is loud and clear to everyone watching across the globe: If you are looking to invest, Ontario is the place. If you’re looking to come and join, Ontario is the place.

As I stood at the airport today, looking back at my life, I could also look forward and talk about the wonderful future we have. But I want to take a pause here and hand over the mike to my wonderful colleague from Carleton.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Debate to continue, please.