I’d like to first of all thank the member from Mississauga–Malton for his wonderful speech and for the kind words.

I’m pleased to rise to speak about our government’s 2023 Ontario Budget: Building a Strong Ontario. Let me just say, Madam Speaker, it’s such an honour being part of this government with Premier Ford and representing my friends, neighbours and constituents as their member of provincial Parliament for the riding of Carleton.

First of all, let me congratulate our Minister of Finance, the Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy, and our dedicated parliamentary assistants to the minister, PAs Rick Byers and Stephen Crawford. Your hard work in consulting with Ontarians and working diligently to prepare this budget is commendable. Thank you for all of your hard work.

Madam Speaker, it was such a pleasure to take part in pre-budget consultations across this great province. From Ottawa to Timmins to Kenora, I heard the same things: Ontarians wanted a budget to build a strong economy, now and for the future. They wanted a budget that would build more roads, highways, transit and broadband. They wanted a budget that would build new long-term-care homes, hospitals, schools and child care spaces. They wanted a budget to build a strong health care system that connects people to the right care. Madam Speaker, our budget will do just that, while at the same time returning Ontario to a balanced budget.

In 2022-23 fiscal year, the deficit is projected to shrink to just $2.2 billion. And in 2023-24, our government plans to further reduce the deficit to $1.3 billion. Starting next year, our government will ensure a modest surplus of $200 million in the budget. Let me be clear: Under the reckless spending of the Liberals and NDP, this would have never been possible.

I’m excited to share what we’re doing for Ontarians under this budget. From Uxbridge to Kitchener-Waterloo and Fort Frances to Cornwall, we are building and redeveloping hospitals and ensuring that Ontarians get the health care that they need. In fact, Ronald McDonald House, which is in Ottawa and is such an important place for hospice care, is receiving over $3 million in funding in this budget.

Madam Speaker, as part of our plan to build a more connected and convenient health care system, we’re implementing the most ambitious plan for hospital expansion in Ontario’s history, investing over $48 billion over the next 10 years in hospital infrastructure, including over $32 billion in hospital capital grants. Recent milestones have included the Queensway Carleton Hospital mental health redevelopment project. In December 2022, construction of this project was completed. It adds two new acute mental health beds and expands space for mental health and addictions programs and services. The remaining renovations are scheduled to be complete by November 2023, and this will benefit my constituents in Carleton and indeed all of the Ottawa and eastern Ontario region.

Moreover, our budget adds more than $48 billion over the next 10 years in hospital infrastructure, including over $32 billion in hospital capital grants. This will support more than 50 hospital projects that will add 3,000 new beds over 10 years to increase access to reliable, quality care.

Investments are also being made to support hospital projects, including support for redevelopment of the existing hospital and regional trauma centre on a new site for the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus to expand access to programs and services, as well as meet bed capacity needs.

Under our health care plan in this budget, we know that every child in Ontario should be able to get the care they need, when they need it. Our government has committed more than $200 million to connect children and youth to care in hospitals and close to home in their communities, including new funding for surgical and diagnostic wait times, pediatric hospitals and rehabilitation programs, as well as mental health and other community-based supports. The government is also increasing access to high-quality care for patients across Ontario, including care at children’s hospitals.

The best experts for certain conditions may not be based in a family’s local community, and families sometimes travel long distances for specialized care. And as I mentioned earlier in my speech, Madam Speaker, Ronald McDonald House Charities provides families with accommodation, meals, activities, peer support, respite, support for siblings, laundry, school and many other services to take care of the entire family while their child is being treated at a nearby hospital. I had the pleasure of visiting Ronald McDonald charity house in Ottawa to get a tour of this amazing facility and to learn more and see first-hand how they are supporting not just children, but their families and caregivers.

That’s why, Madam Speaker, I am so pleased that our government is investing $3.1 million in 2023-24 for an expansion of the Ronald McDonald charity Ottawa house. This expansion will more than double the capacity of RMHC Ottawa house from 55,000 to 115,000 overnight stays per year for families with children being treated at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

Madam Speaker, our government is getting it done for health care, and let me be clear: It will always be paid for with an OHIP card.

I’m delighted to speak about our province’s investment in our transportation system. Our government is investing $27.9 billion over the next 10 years to connect communities, fight gridlock and keep goods and people moving across the province. The Ontario highways program includes more than 600 expansion and rehabilitation projects that are either under way or planned over the next four years. The Ontario highways program also includes widening existing corridors to increase capacity and enhance road safety for travellers. In particular, I am excited about the projects that have been and will be completed that will benefit the people of Carleton. Recently, construction was completed on Highway 417 in Ottawa, which saw bridge rehabilitation and replacement at Innes Road and Ramsayville Road. We will also get it done for Ottawa and eastern Ontario by completing the widening of Highway 17 from two to four lanes for 22.5 kilometres between Arnprior and Renfrew.

Madam Speaker, the Liberals and NDP never spared much thought to highways or the people stuck on them. Last election, voters noticed that our government does not take drivers for granted. We will get these highway projects done for Ontario drivers—

Under this budget, a new English public elementary school will be constructed in Ottawa that will serve 628 students and include 39 licensed child care spaces.

Under this budget, a new French public elementary school will be constructed in Ottawa that will serve 475 students and include 49 licensed child care spaces.

Madam Speaker, we are getting it done for the students of Ottawa and Ontario.

Finally, we know that small businesses and entrepreneurs keep our province moving, and that is why our government is supporting regional innovation centre hubs. Regional innovation centre hubs play an important role in supporting entrepreneurship by collaborating with other regional innovation centres and innovation organizers to ensure entrepreneurs have access to the tools they need to start and fuel their businesses. Our government will always stand behind small business owners and entrepreneurs, and this budget does just that.

In conclusion, our plan for a strong Ontario is a truly comprehensive plan. We have the right plan. We have the right Premier. We have the right team to build an Ontario that will continue to have a resilient economy, an Ontario that has the best infrastructure in place, an Ontario that connects you to the care you need and an Ontario that has a bright future for you, your family and generations to come.

I am pleased to support our government’s budget and urge all members to join me in getting it done for the people of Ontario.

Thank you to the member for the question. You know, our government doesn’t focus on hypotheticals; our government focuses on facts. And the reality is that our government continues to support the environmental assessments for the Marten Falls community access road project, the Webequie supply road project and the northern road link project, which is led by the Marten Falls First Nation and Webequie First Nation.

The terms of reference for the provincial environmental assessments for the Marten Falls community access road and the Webequie supply roads were approved in 2021. The terms of reference for the northern road link were approved in March 2023. I hope this answers the member’s question.

Madam Speaker, our government is committed to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and communities by focusing on initiatives that promote economic prosperity and create a better future for everyone across the province. And that’s why we have terms of reference for the provincial environmental assessments for the Marten Falls community access road and the Webequie supply road, which were approved in 2021, and the terms of reference for the northern road link was approved in March of 2023.

We’ll now move to questions.

I want to thank the two members from Carleton and Mississauga–Malton for their great debate today.

With the ambitious plan that we have to build 1.5 million homes in the province of Ontario, Ontario needs the workforce to build the infrastructure and homes of the future. How will this budget help to build that with the workforce that we need?

I thank both members for their submission and I was very interested in the member from Mississauga–Malton’s discussion on a targeted approach. He mentioned immigration. He mentioned different places to support people and businesses to grow. Could he emphasize on those points and explain how that’s part of a plan to build?

I was listening to my colleague from Mississauga-Milton who thanked the First Nations for taking care of the lands. We’ve seen in this budget—we’ve talked a lot of the Ring of Fire, the investments of building the road and everything that is tied to the Ring of Fire and the minerals up north. We heard also some communities are saying no to the road to the Ring of Fire, because of what’s happening in Neskantaga. And even the Chief was pretty adamant when it came to the Ring of Fire road. Don’t forget, Neskantaga has 28 years of boil-water advisories.

I ask you, the First Nations—because even in my riding, there are two communities who made a moratorium on their traditional territories. So I ask you, if First Nations say no, what will your government do?

So I ask again: If you don’t get consent from the communities of the James Bay coast that are affected by the Ring of Fire road construction, what will your government do? Because most of the budget—there’s a lot of investment related to these materials that’s going to happen. So I ask you, what will your government do if you don’t get the consent from these First Nations communities?

Je vais répondre à la députée : non, ça ne répond pas à ma question. C’est parce qu’on a des communautés qui sont directement affectées, soit qu’elles sont à l’amont—puis je sais qu’elle comprend bien le français, ce qui fait que je vais lui parler en français—de la rivière. Parce qu’on sait tous que l’eau coule vers le nord.

Marten Falls est dans ma communauté. Je ne suis pas après de dire que les communautés autochtones sont contre le développement économique; au contraire, elles ne le sont pas. Mais ça revient à ce que ton collègue a dit : il faut protéger leurs territoires ancestraux, qui sont très fragiles. On a une communauté, comme Neskantaga, qui dit non. On a des communautés, comme Grassy Narrows, où ils ont mis des moratoires. On a Kashechewan, qui a mis un moratoire, et Fort Albany, qui a mis des moratoires. Tu as des territoires ancestraux qui viennent tous dans la même région. C’est beau, le chemin, mais le problème, ils disent, c’est que l’environnement—que l’étude environnementale était trop étroite. Ils veulent que ce soit beaucoup plus agrandi pour répondre aux questions des Premières Nations.

Si vous n’avez pas le consentement de ces communautés-là, allez-vous poursuivre pareil, oui ou non? Une simple question.

Let’s hear about it.

We have time for a last question.

Interjection.

For a quick answer, the member for Mississauga–Malton.

We’re going to move to further debate.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

Report continues in volume B.

I’m going to be splitting my time with the MPP from University–Rosedale.

Last Thursday, the government dropped the budget. I was there. The delivery of this finance minister was powerful. It was incredible salesmanship. I’ve heard him speak like that. When I’ve heard him speak like that, it was usually about auto insurance companies and the PR he does for them. Because usually, when I ask questions about it, he still had that level of love and salesmanship when he sold that budget.

I was so inspired that on Friday of last week, I flew all the way up to Thunder Bay, and I thought I would take a trip of my Ontario, our Ontario, and experience that Ontario myself.

I visited my good friend in Thunder Bay, and the first thing that I saw—and this is not something that I can speak happily or brag about, but I saw a 60% increase in food bank usage. And it was very difficult.

From there, I went and visited my friend in Mushkegowuk–James Bay. I took Highway 11. I had to wait; there was a 48-hour road closure. I wanted an EV car, actually. I forgot to mention that, because the first thing I did when I arrived was try to purchase an EV car. But I couldn’t, because you know the credit the government got rid of was for EV vehicles some years back. I couldn’t afford it. There was no talk about increased charging stations. I’m not sure how I would have got there in the first place. But I went along. It was dangerous. I was white-knuckling as I drove two-lane highways.

And then, I went to visit my good friend in Sudbury, where the first-ever tent city is happening since the establishment and the founding of Sudbury itself. That’s what happened.

From there, I got on the 400, eventually made my way through Toronto and went all the way out to Hamilton, where services for people facing mental health challenges—multiple service providers were cut, doors closed because they didn’t have the funding that they needed.

From Hamilton, I came all the way back to downtown Toronto. I visited people living in a condominium where this new family had just got the keys for their brand new condominium unit. As the critic for consumer protection, this is something of big interest to myself and all of us here on the NDP side. After making that first purchase of a home and a condominium, they faced a 50% increase in condominium fees. In this time and age, they’re struggling.

Meanwhile, their neighbour, a friend in another building actually, is fighting down their condominium board over an issue, and they can’t afford it. The court costs are through the roof. They’re hoping that this government will actually expand the Condominium Authority Tribunal, so that they can get fair and quick justice, but they’re still waiting.

In fact, the Auditor General has a series of recommendations going back from a bill tabled in 2015 that could fix condominiums here in this province and what some of the condominium owners are facing. We’re still waiting for those to be proclaimed.

From downtown Toronto, we came up to my community, Humber River–Black Creek. I spoke to an ODSP recipient—and at this point I do want to pause and I want to recognize and congratulate the new minister for children and social services. I know that he speaks powerfully and I know that he has got a very tough role to fill. But I want to tell the minister and I want to tell everybody here about an ODSP recipient in my community. Imagine he’s listening to the budget. He wasn’t inspired like I was, because he heard he was getting maybe a 5% increase—5% in this difficult time; imagine that.

As I mentioned earlier, and this is very terrible to hear, there are people facing disabilities and challenges who are considering medically assisted suicide. That is how difficult it is. That is how terrible it is right now, and so it is a tough file, and I hope that he will be able to talk to the Premier and to all the people on his side about the fact that 5% doesn’t go far enough. It really doesn’t go far enough. We need to double those rates, so I’m hoping that he will be able to work through and make that happen.

From my community, I decide I’m going to go visit my good friend over there in Brampton. To get there, I would consider taking the 407, but I can’t afford it—the 407, maybe not just the most expensive highway in Ontario, maybe not just the most expensive highway in Canada, maybe not even in North America or the world, but in the entire visible universe. That’s what we’re dealing with. And it’s a highway, may I remind this government, that last year owed this government a billion dollars, and the government said, “Do you know what, 407?”—because it was part of the contract, and we should respect those contracts—“We don’t need your money. We don’t need that money. Keep the money. A billion dollars? Don’t worry about it.” Did they actually say, “Hey, do you know what? We won’t ask for that billion—maybe let’s go revisit and modify some of those contracts, because drivers are getting gouged”? They didn’t do that. They said, “Keep the money.” I get it; it’s their friends.

And so, where did I end up? I came to visit my dear friend in Brampton, where, under this government we are seeing in this province of Ontario, with some of the safest drivers in all of Canada—literally, when you look at the drivers, they are the safest; our roads, relative to all of Canada, some of the safest—that we are paying the highest rates. And so I go to visit my friend in Brampton, under this government, that is absolutely refusing to stand up to these auto insurance companies that, during the end of the pandemic, made 27% in profits.

And yet, imagine: It’s always the same story when they reach out to the government. They sit around, probably in boardrooms, and they work backwards: “What are we going to charge people? Come up with ideas. What are we going to say?” It’s happening. It’s literally happening: 27%. And then, when they go to their shareholders, they say, “Invest with us. We’re making so much money, hand over fist.” But when they talk to FSRA and they talk to the government, they say, “Oh, no, do you know what? We can’t afford this. It is really tough for us.” It is the same story.

In the little bit of time that I have left: This budget, delivered with the gusto that this finance minister delivered it with, seems to be completely out of touch. It is not understanding a moment in time where each and every one of us—on a serious note, the members of our community, everyday regular families—are struggling under this affordability crisis. And what we saw in that budget, whether by design or perhaps simply forgotten, was that the people in our communities—

This question is for our great member from Mississauga–Malton on building Ontario’s economy. Launching the new Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit would provide a 10% refundable corporate income tax credit to help local manufacturers lower their costs, invest in workers, innovate and become more competitive; and also advance Ontario’s Critical Minerals Strategy, which supports better supply chain connections between industries, resources and workers in northern Ontario and manufacturing in south Ontario; and also improve competitiveness by planning to enable an estimated $8 billion in cost saving and support for some Ontario employers in 2023; and also talk about attracting over $16 billion in investment by global automakers and suppliers of EV batteries and battery materials to position Ontario as a global leader on the EV supply chain.

The list can go on and on. Can the member explain more about—

A quick answer is: Each one of you, support this budget. That’s how we’re going to build a stronger Ontario.