Thank you to the member from Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas for her presentation.

During the pandemic, the conservation areas in my region, in Thunder Bay–Superior North, were the mental and physical lifelines that helped people get through the pandemic. They are beloved spaces, and I can’t see anybody wanting to give them up.

Is it your sense that the incredibly beautiful conservation areas in your region—I’m thinking of Webster Falls, for example, a stunning place. Do you believe that people in your region would be happy to see these conservation areas turned into housing developments without any consultation from local organizations?

Again to the Leader of the Opposition: What she’s really saying is, she’s against non-profit housing providers, like Habitat for Humanity, from getting deferred development charges.

Many of the opposition members, when they were on local councils, voted in favour of deferring or eliminating development charges for non-profit housing and other groups like Habitat for Humanity. So when they were municipal councillors, they were in favour of this type of policy, but now that they’re part of the NIMBY party, they’re going to be against it. When it comes to the NDP, their housing policy has no merit.

It’s too easy in Ontario to oppose housing. We know that. Costs are too high. There are parents and grandparents who are worried that their children and their grandchildren are going to never afford a home that meets their needs within their budget.

The government knows, through the Housing Affordability Task Force, other reports by CMHC, and many others know that we need to get shovels in the ground faster. We posted 15 sites that have the potential of having, as a minimum, 50,000 homes to build upon our More Homes, More Choice plan. The Housing Affordability Task Force gave us a fantastic road map. We took it to the people in June, and we’re going to implement it. We’re going to implement a housing supply action plan each and every year of a re-elected government under the leadership of Premier Ford.

We need to have more housing. We need to provide that opportunity for that—

We’re going to continue to work not just with Durham region but with all 444 municipalities. Almost every day, there’s a municipality that’s passing a resolution supporting our housing pledge. We’re building upon the success of the Housing Affordability Task Force. We’re making sure that all municipalities have the tools that they need to get shovels in the ground faster, including looking at those six high-growth regions and ensuring that strong mayor powers are set up for those mayors moving forward.

We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re going to be working collaboratively with all 444 municipalities. Under the leadership of Premier Ford, we’re going—

My question is for the Associate Minister of Housing. For too many Ontarians, finding the right home is all too challenging. Housing affordability is out of reach for many individuals and families. They’re struggling to find attainable homes that meet their needs. In January, the Ontario Real Estate Association reported that the average price of a home was just under $800,000. This price point is out of reach for many Ontarians. Speaker, can the associate minister please share what our government is doing to give back the dream of home ownership to my constituents?

I want to thank my honourable colleague from Burlington for the question and all the great work that she does in her riding.

Mr. Speaker, our legislation was clear: The More Homes Built Faster Act was intended to build on previous housing bills to further cut red tape and remove unnecessary barriers that were preventing the construction of new units in Ontario.

One key approach that we’re taking is by encouraging density around major transit areas, which will make it easier for Ontarians to take a bus, train or streetcar to and from work, and visit family and friends.

We want Ontarians to have the flexibility when it comes to housing: one that they can afford and one that meets their needs and their budgets. The only way that we can do this is by increasing supply in the areas that make sense, like major transit corridors, which is exactly what our government is doing.

I want to thank the member from Burlington for her strong advocacy when it comes to housing on behalf of her constituents.

Study after study is telling us that we are in a housing deficit, but we’re ensuring that more supply is created—of all types—to make sure that home ownership is within reach for more Ontarians; for example, the attainable housing program through the government surplus lands, exploring rent-to-own options and land lease communities.

To make housing more affordable and easier to enter the housing market for Ontarians, our government is increasing the term period for homes located in land lease communities from 21 years to 49 years, which, by extending it over time, will make homes more affordable. In fact, I saw first-hand the life-lease community of Sandycove in the great member’s riding of Barrie-Innisfil.

We know more work is needed, and we’ll continue to explore more options to make it easier for first-time homebuyers, seniors, young families and future generations to find a place to call home in our province.

I thank the member from Oakville for his comments. I listened intently.

We had the opportunity to travel on the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, and we heard from many folks and organizations across the province who underscored the importance of housing as a social determinant of health.

Here on the opposition side, we believe in stretching a dollar as far as it goes. We believe in upstream investments, such as the province creating affordable housing, making sure that there’s robust primary care infrastructure, making sure that we have nurse practitioners and family health teams.

My question is specifically about business. I would say that it is bad business—is it not?—to reward somebody who does not deserve it, somebody who has not earned it, somebody whose track record actually means that they are not doing the correct job. When we look at the example of Infrastructure Ontario, we have heard, in the Auditor General’s report, about how ineffective they are. My question is, why is the government cherry-picking only the things that they like out of the Auditor General’s report and not responding to all the things that need to be done?