I have a question for the Premier.

The arts industry plays an important role in our everyday life, whether we realize it or not. All those moments we’re not working, we’re somehow consuming art, and it improves our well-being and the economy.

We know that the arts industry has suffered incredibly during the pandemic, and it’s still struggling to recover. Just because we are in a post-pandemic economy doesn’t mean our artists don’t need our support anymore. The current high inflation makes it particularly difficult for artists to continue their work, let alone expand.

With the new budget coming out, people have been reaching out to express their concerns about proposed cuts. They’ve been writing to the Minister of Finance and also to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, so they know about it.

How is it reasonable to encourage our youth to get educated and follow their dreams while cutting funding in venues they could earn a living with?

Will this government ensure the survival of creative industries and support the artists who drive them?

L’Association des auteures et auteurs de l’Ontario français et le Conseil des arts de l’Ontario travaillent sans relâche pour promouvoir et enrichir les oeuvres culturelles, y compris la littérature, les spectacles et les expositions d’art visuel de l’Ontario. Leur travail est crucial pour la croissance et la vitalité d’un secteur qui contribue à notre divertissement et notre économie.

Les coupures envisagées—ou le même budget, qui ne sera pas suffisant—aux individus et associations impliqués dans le secteur des arts, seraient particulièrement inquiétantes pour les communautés francophones de l’Ontario, qui dépendent du financement des arts pour promouvoir et préserver notre langue et culture.

Nous avons fait des progrès dans la francophonie. Nous devons continuer de protéger et d’étendre notre culture francophone. Sans le financement nécessaire, nous allons faire face à un recul.

Est-ce que le gouvernement s’engage à assurer la vitalité de la culture francophone et la viabilité du milieu culturel en maintenant le financement dans le domaine des arts de l’Ontario?

Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

My question this morning is for the Premier.

Today is World Water Day.

The UN just released a frightening warning that without urgent climate action, we risk leaving our children with a world that faces extreme weather events and regular flooding. But instead of urgent action, your government is making things much, much worse by unilaterally steamrolling the greenbelt and destroying important wetlands that prevent flooding.

My question, Premier: We already know that your government is working to protect developers, but why won’t you honour treaty obligations and future generations of Ontarians by protecting our water?

This government has no credible climate plan—none whatsoever—and obviously no clear provincial water strategy. This is the government that fired scientists, muzzled the Greenbelt Council, and kneecapped conservation authorities in their important work to protect our watersheds—watersheds that clean our water, protect endangered species and allow bodies of water to remain in the earth and not in our basements.

Back to the Premier: In the spirit of World Water Day, what will you do today to protect the greenbelt and its watershed for our future generations of young people?

I appreciate the question from the member opposite.

It’s important that Ontarians know that we’re very blessed to live in this province that has such robust standards for water—the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, the Health Protection and Promotion Act.

It’s unfortunate that the member opposite is choosing to politicize water rather than work with this government to make investments that protect water.

That’s why, as a government, as I mentioned in the previous answer, we’ve worked at no charge to train water operators—dealing with systemic challenges in training for water operators—in Indigenous communities. That’s why we’re working with rural municipalities, the Ontario Clean Water Agency, and dealing with staff and retention challenges there. That’s why we’re investing in the modern and critical infrastructure.

That member said “urgent action”—that’s why we’ve required updated monitoring and reporting in her own community, to ensure that we’re protecting water for generations to come and investing in the modern infrastructure to support those growing communities.

Thanks to the minister for that response.

Since day one, our government has been working for workers, and it is continuing to lead the country with groundbreaking protections.

It is a fact that the way people work has changed. The dynamic has shifted from in-office work to other formats. In 2022, 1.4 million people in Ontario were working remotely, and 800,000 were working hybrid jobs.

Workers also need greater certainty, when starting a new job, that they have been given information about the nature of their job before they start their first shift.

It is vital that regulations and employment standards keep up with the new reality.

Can the minister please explain how our government is ensuring that our labour laws reflect the changing world of work?

My question is to the Premier.

While families across the province are waiting for $10-a-day child care, this government’s low-wage policies threaten the program. Already, child care centres across Ontario are having to close rooms and limit enrolment due to staffing challenges. Families are on wait-lists that are growing.

Experts have said that Ontario needs another 65,000 ECEs and child care staff by 2026.

The Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario has urged this government to implement a province-wide salary scale for registered ECEs and child care staff to address staffing issues. Why is the government refusing to do so?

The average ECE in Ontario spends just three years working in the sector. Ontario will not be able to offer $10-a-day child care without child care workers.

The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care says that none of the strategies the government has put on the table will work until we deal with the low wages.

Will the minister listen to the experts and take action to address the staffing shortage by paying child care workers fair wages?

My question is for the Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity.

Over the next six years, Ontario’s construction sector will need to hire 72,000 additional workers due to retirements and expected job growth. However, the reality is that women remain under-represented in this growing sector. Unfortunately, as in so many areas, barriers are preventing women from achieving their full potential in the skilled trades. Some of these obstacles include PPE and other equipment that is not tailored to women. For women to safely and effectively perform their jobs, they must be properly outfitted in uniforms, boots and safety harnesses.

Can the associate minister please explain how our government is making workplaces safer for women?

In Ontario, there are 500,000 construction workers; just a small percentage of those are women. Unfortunately, for women who work in the skilled trades, they’re frequently exposed to a lack of or poorly maintained washroom facilities at their work sites. This is unacceptable, and it is a deterrent for women wanting to take up careers in the skilled trades. It’s very important that women are provided with the supports they need to work safely and comfortably. In this instance, it’s ensuring that washrooms for female workers on job sites are adhering to equitable workplace health and safety standards.

Can the associate minister please elaborate on what measures our government is implementing that will ensure safety and equity for female workers?

Thank you again, Minister, for that wonderful response. It is welcome news to hear that our government is focused on supporting the north and investing in communities like mine, in Sault St. Marie.

Mr. Speaker, let me say, through you to this House: Our government has been so incredibly committed to communities like mine across the north. Just in my own community—I can say the minister has been in my riding I can’t even count how many times; the Premier has been to the riding I can’t even count how many times. It’s such a welcome thing for our community to see these investments and the real attention that this government is putting in our community and throughout northern Ontario—unlike the previous Liberal government—because our government is optimistic and it does recognize that funding is very, very critical to contributing to building our local and regional economies.

Can the minister please explain how investments by our government will continue to help businesses in my riding to prosper?

Thank you to the PA of education, especially for their work on seeing high school students take courses in technological classes. It’s such an important advancement, especially for the young girls who are going to be leaders in the trades.

Mr. Speaker, I’m proud to be a part of a government that believes that women become economically empowered when they have the resources they need to be successful.

Part of women’s safety and productivity in the workforce is ensuring that they have proper personal protective equipment. Currently, the standard for PPE excludes women’s body types, which can compromise the effectiveness of the protective equipment and have unsafe consequences.

Last week, the Minister of Labour and I announced systemic changes that will protect women in the trades. The Working for Workers legislation makes clear the requirement that PPE and clothing be properly fitted to workers with diverse body types. Workplaces that are safer and more equitable help increase women’s participation in the workforce, and these changes are going to—

The supplementary question.

I want to thank the member from Sault St. Marie. He does a fantastic job in that city, making sure that industry in Sault St. Marie is on the cutting edge—that’s exactly what these kinds of announcements are focused on.

The computer numerical control lathe is like no other. Its accuracy and timing consumption factor—it sounds kind of technical, but basically it allows them to do more work on larger-scale projects, including building much-needed locomotive trains, putting northern Ontario into a sector more actively than it has ever been. This is the kind of technology that isn’t just protecting jobs; it’s creating new, high-tech jobs in the manufacturing sector in northern Ontario—that walked out the door under the previous government.

We’re back. We’ve got a great member from Sault St. Marie who is protecting and creating jobs in his city, and we couldn’t be more pleased to support him.

We also supported a company called Apex Cranes. Apex Cranes was able to leverage our investment to purchase an Alliance 38M concrete pumper truck. This will provide new vertical and horizontal reach for larger-scale construction projects. That’s twice I’ve said that about Sault St. Marie—larger-scale construction projects.

As it repositions itself to be a world-class steel manufacturer and centre of mining processing, we’re making sure Sault St. Marie is in the best position possible to realize its optimal value.

Thank you, Speaker. Through you to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing: AMO, representing Ontario’s 444 municipalities, recently released an op-ed that stated: “The homelessness crisis in Ontario is not just an unfortunate situation. It is the outcome of decades of policy decisions and poor choices made by successive Ontario governments....

“The homelessness crisis is a made-in-Ontario crisis that calls out for intelligent and coordinated action on the part of the province.”

This Ontario government ranks dead last of all provinces in per capita spending on services.

Will this government change course, acknowledge Ontario’s homelessness crisis, and accept AMO’s offer to work with the province and municipal governments to end homelessness?

I thank my honourable colleague for the very important question.

What we did is, we brought three older legacy programs and combined them into a new program, the Homelessness Prevention Program, to streamline the process so that service managers spend less time on paperwork and more on helping the people of Ontario who need support. We also increased the funding of this program by $25 million annually across the province.

Mr. Speaker, on our side, we’ve been very clear: We’ve said that we are in a housing supply crisis in our province and it hurts our most vulnerable. It hurts everyone across the board. We’re working towards solutions to make sure that we increase the supply across the province.

It’s only the opposition that continuously opposes housing in this province—well, it depends on what time at question period. They’re for housing at some points during question period and—

Thank you for the question from my colleague who works non-stop for his riding.

Mr. Speaker, we are building a supply chain from critical minerals to manufacturing electric vehicles that will create jobs and economic opportunities across the province, but it all starts with mining. We launched the Critical Minerals Strategy that attacks challenges in our sector through investing and cutting red tape. Our strategic investments in exploration and innovation help the brilliant people in our workforce find the mines of the future and solve mining challenges.

We won’t stop there. That’s why I introduced the Building More Mines Act that, if passed, would reduce regulatory burdens to save companies time and money. This would create business certainty and draw in more investment to the sector. We were happy to see the opposition support this bill at second reading, and we encourage them to continue to do so, to do what is right for this province by continuing—

I recently visited Glencore’s world-class Kidd Creek Mine with my colleague the Associate Minister of Transportation. This critical minerals mine is a world-class operation. It is over 10,000 feet deep and is the closest you can get to the earth’s core anywhere in the world, right in Timmins. I spoke to management at Glencore, and they told us how much they appreciated having a government that solves problems to keep this sector competitive.

Listen to what Peter Xavier, a vice-president at Glencore, had to say about our bill: “The improvement of processes within the Ministry of Mines will strengthen our Ontario operations and facilitate their expansion.” That means more jobs in ridings across the north, including those being represented by the members opposite.

We encourage all members of this House to support our bill, because it cannot take 15 years to build a mine if we are going to secure the supply chain for critical minerals.

Thank you again to the member from Ajax for the question.

I’ve travelled across Ontario listening to women’s stories, and I have learned of women’s washrooms being inaccessible for female staff. This is unacceptable, especially because only one in 10 construction workers in Ontario are women. If we want to attract more women to these well-paying and rewarding careers, we need to make sure our job sites are safer and equipped with appropriate resources.

Ontario is proposing to require women-only washrooms on construction sites. We’re also improving washrooms by requiring them to be completely enclosed, and to have adequate lighting, and to have hand sanitizer where running water is not accessible or possible. And we’re doubling the number of toilets on job sites to reduce the distance between washroom facilities.

These proposed regulatory amendments will meet labour demands and bring better jobs and bigger paycheques for women on these job sites in Ontario.

When women succeed, Ontario succeeds.

To reply, the government House leader.

Interjection.

The next question.

My question is to the Minister of Mines.

Ontario is incredibly fortunate to be home to tremendous mineral wealth. The mining industry in Ontario generates more than $10 billion in annual mineral production and supports 75,000 direct and indirect jobs in our province. We know how vital this industry is and how much more important it will become as the world transitions to electric vehicles and other clean technologies.

However, in order to maintain and increase our competitive advantage in all phases of the mining processes, regulatory requirements must keep pace with industry needs in order to secure minerals safely and effectively.

Can the minister please explain what our government is doing to secure Ontario’s position as a global leader of responsibly sourced critical minerals?

Under the leadership of our Premier and this minister, the mining sector is strong and innovative. In large part, this success is due to our government’s ability to collaborate with industry and local partners to promote economic development opportunities.

During the second reading debate of this bill, we heard the opposition raise questions about the overall effectiveness of these amendments and how these would be received by the mining industry and its leaders.

Can the minister please provide information about how the mining industry is responding to the proposed amendments in our Building More Mines Act?

My question is to the Premier.

In the last year, 50,000 more people left Ontario than have arrived, which is out-migration at a level we have never seen before in this province. Most are young adults aged 25 to 35 who can’t afford to save for a home on the salaries they are making—and that includes demoralized, disrespected London West nurses Nicole Forster and Lindsay Smale.

Instead of standing by as nurses like Nicole and Lindsay leave Ontario for good, will the Premier stop fighting nurses in court over the unconstitutional Bill 124 wage cap and start actually fixing the housing affordability crisis?

There’s a lot in that question.

On the housing side, we have a housing supply action plan which we brought in, starting in 2018, and the opposition is, of course, not in favour of that. We’ve spent weeks talking about how we want to build more homes across the province of Ontario, and then the NDP asks one question at the beginning of question period to suggest we should stop building homes, and then towards the end of question period asks another one if we can build more homes. So I’m not sure what it is that they actually want at this point.

Here’s the thing that we are doing: We are going to build more homes for all of the people of the province of Ontario.

The second part of the question was with respect to health care and health care resources. I can tell you that, because of the extraordinary work of the Minister of Colleges and Universities, we have more people entering the health care field than at any time in our province’s history, and it’s so needed because of the massive amount of investments that we’re making in health care. In long-term care, I need 27,000 additional health care workers. And thanks to the Minister of Colleges and Universities, we’re getting it done.