SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
March 20, 2023 10:15AM
  • Mar/20/23 10:50:00 a.m.

The Premier has been working with the commissioner on this, and the commissioner will continue his review of that. At the same time, we are going to continue to focus on the things that Ontarians have asked us to focus on, and that includes ensuring that we build more homes across the province of Ontario, ensuring that we continue to make important investments, like the investment that we saw with Volkswagen.

I want to take a moment to congratulate the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade and the Premier, who have brought yet another important investment to the province of Ontario which will see thousands of jobs coming to the province of Ontario. This is a province that is moving in the right direction. We are one of the leading jurisdictions when it comes to the automotive manufacturing of tomorrow and when it comes to batteries. It is a whole-of-government approach, which includes the Minister of Mines, the Minister of Energy, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the finance minister, the labour minister, the education minister and the Solicitor General, and all of government working—

This is the same, of course, Liberal and NDP coalition that ripped thousands of acres away from farmers in the Rouge National Urban Park, Mr. Speaker. When we were bringing the Rouge National Urban Park federally, they wanted to take farmers off the land—kick them off—and they wanted to reforest that entire area. In fact, the previous Liberal government evicted a generational farmer so they could create a park that, 15 years later, only recently opened. That is the record of the opposition.

We are going to continue to ensure that the people of the province of Ontario have access to homes, Mr. Speaker. Generations have come to this province with the dream of home ownership, and, because of the work we’re doing, thousands and millions more are coming because they know they have the hope of a job. Mr. Speaker, with us they’re going to have their first home.

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  • Mar/20/23 11:10:00 a.m.

Thank you very much for the question.

I would certainly be happy to meet with the member’s constituent.

It is for Sarah and for others across the province that we are working so hard to ensure that we can bring jobs and opportunity to the province of Ontario. It is why the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has been working so hard to bring more housing to Ontario. That includes affordable housing, and if you look across the government, what the Minister of Education did to ensure that we had the best child care deal in the country, because we want Sarah and we want people in communities across this province to not only have hope today but hope for tomorrow, so that they can have a job, they can have opportunity, they can live in a safe province of Ontario—one that is booming. That is exactly what we’re doing, whether it’s the broadband infrastructure investments we’re making, investments that we’re making in housing across the province of Ontario, and why we are working so hard with our partners in the municipal government to ensure that, especially, purpose-based rentals and—

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  • Mar/20/23 11:30:00 a.m.

Mr. Speaker, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by that question because the member opposite has voted against every single initiative that we’ve put in place to improve long-term care across the province of Ontario.

Just Friday, colleagues, I was at the Rekai Centre in Toronto, a wonderful not-for-profit, announcing an additional $1.2 billion to increase the level of care to three hours and 43 minutes across the province of Ontario. Ironically, that member and that party voted against that investment, Mr. Speaker.

Now, we’ve also brought in, through the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, the toughest—the toughest—regulations across the province and across this country. We’ve also doubled the amount of inspectors to have the highest inspector-to-home ratio not just in Canada, but in North America. All that time, that member and that party voted against it, Mr. Speaker.

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  • Mar/20/23 11:40:00 a.m.

Again, Mr. Speaker, let’s look at what the opposition want us to do. They want us to nationalize long-term care. They want us to spend billions of dollars buying real estate. Instead, what we’re going to do is put the toughest regulations in North America, which we’ve done; back that up with the highest inspector-to-home ratio in North America, which we’ve done; and increase the level of care to four hours, which we are doing—this year an additional $1.2 billion, next year an additional $1.8 billion, which we are doing.

We’re going to hire 27,000 additional health care workers for long-term care alone and we’re making sure that we’re getting the homes built, because the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing is giving me MZOs so that I can get those homes built.

The Minister of Colleges and Universities is training PSWs and nurses to ensure that we can get it done.

The Minister of Labour is training the people who are building these homes across Ontario.

We’re building homes and staffing them, we’re giving them the highest level of care—something that they have voted against every single time.

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