There’s a person who sits here almost every day in the members’ gallery, and his name is Michau van Speyk. It is his 28th birthday today. I want to wish him a happy birthday.

There is growing public opposition to this land grab, there’s an ongoing ethics inquiry, and there are new federal interventions.

So will the Premier finally stop his attack on our greenbelt?

Back to the Premier: Parks Canada said the government’s greenbelt carve-up is going to cause irreversible harm to wildlife. The federal government says the risks are real. This government muzzled the Greenbelt Council. It’s becoming increasingly clear that consultation did not happen—not at all.

So my question to the Premier is, beyond the guests at his family function, who did he consult on the impacts of his greenbelt carve-up?

Ontarians know that this government’s greenbelt grab has nothing at all to do with housing. They are not convinced by any of this. It has everything to do with a handful of very well-connected insiders making a lot of money.

Speaker, the reality is, this government’s plan won’t build a single new unit of affordable housing.

If this government truly cared about making sure that Ontarians had good places to call home, they’d be ending exclusionary zoning and investing to build non-profit, co-op and supportive housing.

My question to the Premier is, instead of bulldozing the greenbelt, will you invest in truly affordable housing on the land we already have?

Interjections.

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?

World Water Day is today so it gives me a great honour to present a petition entitled “Protect the Greenbelt.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Bill 23 is the Ford government’s latest attempt to remove protected land from the greenbelt, allowing developers to bulldoze and pave over 7,000 acres of farmland in the greenbelt;

“Whereas Ontario is already losing 319.6 acres of farmland and green space daily to development;

“Whereas the government’s Housing Affordability Task Force found there are plenty of places to build homes without destroying the greenbelt;

“Whereas Ford’s repeated moves to tear up farmland and bulldoze wetlands have never been about housing, but are about making the rich richer;

“Whereas green spaces and farmland are what we rely on to grow our food, support natural habitats and prevent flooding;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately amend Bill 23, stop all plans to further remove protected land from the greenbelt and protect existing farmland in the province by passing the NDP’s Protecting Agricultural Land Act.”

I fully agree with this petition. I’m going to sign it and give it to Savannah to take to the table.