The parliamentary assistant.

My question is to the Premier. We’re facing some extremely challenging times for the people of this province. Today’s budget is an opportunity to address these challenges and provide the support Ontarians need.

My question is very simple, Speaker: Will this government take this opportunity that the budget provides and chart a new, hopeful course, one where the needs of everybody in this province—every single person—are met?

Speaker, budgets are about priorities. Time and time again, this government has shown that it doesn’t share the priorities of folks who aren’t the insider friends of this government. A recent FAO report found that the Premier’s plan for health care falls $21.3 billion short of the funding needed for hospitals, home care and long-term care. We have seen underinvestment in social services, education and infrastructure.

My question is, will budget 2023 reverse course and make up for the shortfalls this government has manufactured?

Groceries, gas and rent are through the roof. The people of this province deserve better. They deserve a government they can trust to follow through with their actual funding commitments. So this time my question is, will this government actually invest the money that they budget for in 2023?

Thank you to the member opposite. Listen, we’re excited by the budget today. We’re excited that Minister Bethlenfalvy is going to announce, at 4 o’clock, what initiatives this government is going to undertake.

What I can tell you is in the past—that will give you a sense as to what our direction is going forward—what we’ve done is put the right critical investments in place to support those in need, whether it’s those on ODSP or low-income seniors with GAINS support or the low-income tax credit, which was the largest tax credit in the history of Ontario for low-income families. More importantly, we need workers to work. We’re going make the right investments and create the right environment for business to flourish.

We had an announcement just in this past week. The Minister of Economic Development was down in London with the largest investment in Canadian history in electric vehicle manufacturing. This is the beginning of a manufacturing renaissance in Ontario, and we’re going to continue on that path.

Remarks in Anishininiimowin. Good morning. My question is to the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. Last month, Chief Donny Morris of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug wrote a letter to the minister about the ongoing historical trauma of his people due to the enforcement of provincial laws and policies on KI members. This includes the desecration of graves and the interference to our ways of life, such as confiscation of fishing nets and disturbing traplines.

Simple question: Has the minister responded to the chief’s letter?

Speaker, will the minister visit Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug to start addressing Ontario’s historical harm to the people of KI?

My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. When our government was elected in 2018, Ontario was in no position to build the cars of the future. Jobs were fleeing the province to go south of the border. And in just a few short years, we’ve used all the tools in our tool box to rebuild our auto sector and establish a best-in-class auto and EV ecosystem.

Last week’s announcement of Volkswagen’s historic—and I would add generational—investment in my riding of Elgin–Middlesex–London reaffirms that our efforts have indeed paid off, which is why it’s no surprise that this announcement has been celebrated far and wide.

Speaker, will the minister please share an overview of the reception and feedback our government has received over the last 10 days?

In 2019, Reuters revealed that car companies planned to spend $300 billion globally, but none of that money was planned for Canada or Ontario. So we put our Driving Prosperity plan in place. It started with lowering the cost of doing business by $7 billion each and every year. We met worldwide with companies looking to be part of the EV revolution and told them about Ontario’s skilled workforce, our clean energy, our EV ecosystem, our critical minerals. Within 24 months, we attracted $17 billion in EV auto investments in Ontario, and that’s before the Volkswagen announcement.

This year, Bloomberg ranked Canada as second in their annual global battery supply chain, first in North America, ahead of the US. We went from zero investments to the global leader.

My question is to the Premier. Speaker, we now know that this government’s flawed paid sick days program will end on March 31 with nothing to replace it. Instead of fixing the flaws in the program, instead of increasing the days from three to 10, instead of making them annual and permanent and employer-paid, instead of making them available for all illnesses, not just COVID, this government is abandoning sick workers.

Why does this government believe that workers without paid sick days should be forced to give up their pay if they have to stay home when they are sick?

Speaker, BC understands this; 15 US states with paid sick days understand this. Why doesn’t this government?

I’m proud that our government was the first in the country to bring in paid sick days during the pandemic. I’m also proud of the fact that we’ve been able to help 558,000 workers across the province. Many provinces, as the member opposite knows, didn’t bring in paid sick days.

But the other thing we should all be proud of is that we have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, and that’s because of our paid sick day program during COVID that supported workers to allow them to go out, take time off work and to get vaccinated.

Mr. Speaker, I’m now looking forward to being the first in all of North America, under the leadership of Premier Ford, to start working on our plan to bring in portable benefits, health and dental benefits, for millions of workers who don’t have those benefits today.

Mr. Speaker, we’ve taken a balanced approach to help 558,000 workers get through COVID, to have those paid sick days in place. We’ve increased the minimum wage; there’s another increase coming soon. We’re going to be the first place in all of North America to have portable benefits for millions of workers that don’t have them today. We’ll continue everyday working for the workers of this province, helping them get better jobs and bigger paycheques.

Speaker, since day one, our government has taken action to address the years of neglect by previous governments. Under the leadership of Premier Ford, we’re on a mission to help people who are unemployed or on social assistance find long-term, meaningful work in their own communities.

Our new customer service approach is helping more people find the dignity of a purpose-driven career. With the changes we’ve made so far, we have helped over 63,000 people find gainful employment, including more than 23,000 people that were on social assistance.

Speaker, my message is clear to anyone on social assistance: If you’re able to work, we need you, and we’re here to help.

Speaker, earlier this month I was pleased to announce that our new one-window approach is coming to Durham region, and by the end of 2023, we’ll have this new framework province-wide.

Our new employment services are opening doors. We’re providing free training, support for rent and child care while you learn, basics like work boots, tools, uniforms, bus passes to help people get to their first shift and help with interviews and resumé-writing. For anyone looking for work, I encourage them to visit ontario.ca/employment.

Speaker, our government is supporting job seekers, and how we will continue to help people find better jobs and earn bigger paycheques is through this new approach.

My question is to the Premier. On Monday, March 26, Toronto transit services will be cut across the city, and transit riders will be left waiting longer for the bus, streetcar and subway. This is unsafe, will cause more crowding and will make trips on transit take even longer. It doesn’t make sense to cut transit services at a time when more and more people are returning to the TTC. Cutting services will only drive people away from the TTC and increase traffic and congestion.

Toronto cannot thrive without proper TTC services. Will the Premier commit to play his part and fund the economic engine that moves our city?

The supplementary question.

Thank you to the minister for his answer. It has indeed been an exciting week in my riding with the news that Volkswagen is coming to Elgin county. We’ve heard from lots of constituents, and this investment will have long-lasting benefits for generations—I repeat, generations—to come, with lots of new, good-paying, sustainable jobs to replace the hundreds of thousands of auto and manufacturing jobs that were chased out of this province by the previous government.

Speaker, will the minister please elaborate on how the turnaround of the auto sector occurred in Ontario?

I thank the member opposite for her question.

During the pandemic, our government recognized how essential public transit is for Ontarians across the province, and so we were there to support municipal transit agencies to the tune of over $2 billion, and the Toronto Transit Commission was the largest beneficiary of that.

We are committed to supporting public transit. We know that the city of Toronto has been underserved by public transit for so long, and that’s why our government put forward the largest transit expansion plan in Canadian history—anywhere in North America.

But if the member opposite thinks that public transit is so essential, what she should have done is voted in favour of our subway plan instead of voting against, as did her entire party.

My question is for the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. For 15 years, under the previous NDP-supported Liberal governments, Ontario’s employment services failed people across our province. The Auditor General’s report revealed that only 1% of people on social assistance were leaving for a job every month. While this has been enough for the Liberals and the NDP, it’s proof that the status quo is letting down those who need our help the most. Most people who are unemployed or receiving social assistance want to work. What they need and want is practical help to secure a fulfilling career to support themselves and their families.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what changes our government is making to employment services to support Ontarians in securing gainful work?

Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is expanding and improving employment services in Ontario?

Back to the transportation minister: As my colleague from Toronto just said, transit riders and transit workers are at their wits’ end in this province. In Ottawa, too, we are facing service cuts, and the folks who are driving those buses and trains are exhausted because there’s not enough support for them.

We just heard the minister talk about future transit plans, but what I know about the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is that this is a plan right now that’s a $1 billion over budget and two years past due.

So I’m asking the minister plaintively: Their transit sector allies are telling us they need $500 million in emergency funding for the operating system. Will the government come through on that today?

My question is for the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. I recently had the privilege of hosting the minister in my riding of Thunder Bay–Atikokan for an announcement that is important to northern Ontario and the Indigenous communities. Across Canada and here in northern Ontario, boreal caribou are an essential part of our forest ecosystems. This announcement is welcome news because of the urgent need to safeguard boreal caribou populations and support recovery efforts of this important species.

Under the previous Liberal government, northern Ontario was all but forgotten when it came to understanding the unique needs of northern and Indigenous communities. In fact, a member of the previous government referred to northern Ontario as a “no man’s land.” Their words were empty, and they were not backed up with action when it came to protecting endangered and threatened species and their habitat.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is protecting boreal caribou?

Speaker, can the minister please elaborate on the significance of this announcement in order to protect boreal caribou and their habitat?

Thank you to the member for Thunder Bay–Atikokan for that question.

Speaker, it was actually just after that announcement, having thin pancakes, that I really realized what a strong voice we have in Thunder Bay in that member. I could barely get a mouthful in while the people came and engaged our member on the great work that he’s doing there.

One of those key elements is about how we protect the north, both for people and the species that call the north home. As minister I understand the importance of doing everything that we can do to protect the north. That’s why I was proud to announce with that member an investment of almost $30 million to protect boreal caribou habitat in the place that they call home. This builds on the existing work that we’ve done to protect 11.2-million acres of caribou habitat that Ontario already protects with our parks and conservation reserves—

I appreciate the minister’s endorsement of the great work MIFO does and I look forward to having the Minister of Finance provide funding in the budget later this afternoon.

Mr. Speaker, as it relates to the budget, middle-class families have been struggling with higher food prices, higher hydro rates, higher transit passes and higher property taxes. In virtually every aspect of life, costs are up. Some might say costs are through the roof. Even the Premier’s $15 haircut cost him 26 bucks, Mr. Speaker. Rising costs are adding up. Summer is just around the corner. That means gas prices are about to go up. Families will soon be facing summer camp and sports registration, increased hydro bills—

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, why are so many middle-class families falling further and further behind under this government?

Thank you to the member opposite. It’s interesting you bring up this question, because the carbon tax actually is going up in a matter of days. This is the largest, most penalizing tax in Canadian history on middle-class consumers. It’s driving the price of everything up—everything: groceries, products. It’s hurting businesses. It’s hurting individuals. So we would encourage you to stand with us and stand up to the federal government to try to bring these costs under control. That would be a great first step.

But what we are doing is we are supporting middle-class families across the province. We brought about a gas tax of 5.7 cents per litre earlier this year, and if I recall, I don’t believe the opposition supported us on that. That was a case in point where they should have stood with us in a non-partisan fashion and helped lower the cost for Canadian consumers.

We’ve also helped support lower-income individuals, with ODSP increases. So—

Supplementary question: the member for Ottawa Centre.

The next question.

The next question.

The supplementary question?

As I indicated in my previous answer, our government has provided over $2 billion of support for public transit systems. We have been there. We do it through the Safe Restart Agreement, but also through our gas tax funding, which we continue to give every year to public transit systems for operating budgets.

With respect to the Crosstown LRT, our government has been waiting for this system, just as everyone has, to open in a way that is safe and reliable. That is what is essential.

We have been supporting public transit since the beginning. We’re building more public transit to make sure that people can get where they need to go, and we’re doing it in a way that’s more efficient. We brought forward the Building Transit Faster Act to make sure that the delays that occur because of permitting and municipal service work can be coordinated with our construction work.

The member opposite and his party voted against the Building Transit Faster Act. They voted against our subway plan for the greater Toronto area, our support for GO expansion. They talk about supporting public transit, but, really, Mr. Speaker, they’re—