Mr. Speaker, maybe I’ll take the member opposite out for lunch.

I do appreciate the question. It’s a very serious question.

Let me read from page 103—sorry—from the budget, which I’m sure the learned member read: “The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario is implementing a new strategy for reforming the regulation of automobile insurance rates and underwriting. As part of the new strategy, FSRA will be developing a new framework for ensuring fairness in rates that would replace outdated guidance, including existing guidance on territorial rating”—also known as postal codes.

So I’d ask the member opposite: Do you support that in the budget, and why did you vote no?

Interjections.

I come back to the pandemic—$1.3 billion of relief; zero increases for two years, because we’ve been focused on keeping costs down for the people of Ontario.

But it just doesn’t end with territorial ratings—that we’re looking to provide value for auto insurance premiums and the people of Ontario. We’re also looking at choice. That’s also on page 103. We’re looking at more choice for auto drivers who want more choice in the industry. We’re also looking at fraud and abuse. We’ve directed FSRA to collect the data so that we can tackle fraud and abuse in the system.

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows well that this government’s priority is to provide relief to the hard-working people of Ontario. That’s what we ran on, and that’s what we’ll—

My question is to the Minister of Infrastructure.

In the coming decades, Ontario’s population is expected to grow by more than six million people. As our population grows, investing in infrastructure is now more important than ever. Clogged roads and gridlocked highways hurt our hard-working families, as they’re stuck in traffic longer than needed. Outdated and antiquated infrastructure drags down our economy and makes us less competitive as a province. Ontario cannot afford to hold this economy back. Now is the time to build.

Can the Minister of Infrastructure please share with the House what our government is doing to build effective and resilient infrastructure for all Ontarians?

Together, let’s build health care networks that better serve our patients and keep our province moving ahead.

Infrastructure investments ensure a stronger economy, better jobs and bigger paycheques for all Ontarians.

Communities like Brampton, Windsor and my region of Durham are all places that have long advocated for infrastructure investments, but, sadly, the previous Liberal government ignored our needs.

Now is the time for our government to act. Now is the time to get shovels in the ground.

Can the Minister of Infrastructure tell the House what critical projects our government is undertaking as we, together, rebuild Ontario?

Thank you very much to the member for the question.

Certainly, we’re grateful to the commission, but it’s because of the P3 projects we have that we are able to build subways in the city of Toronto and in York region. It’s the reason we’re building highways—like Highway 3, the Highway 427 extension, the Highway 401 widening, and the Garden City Skyway. It’s the reason why we’ve made such great progress on building hospitals in the province of Ontario—like Niagara, Cortellucci Vaughan, West Lincoln Memorial Hospital, Niagara south, Trillium, Ottawa.

I’ve always said—I’ve been very transparent—we will use the right model for the right project and we will proceed in that way.

Our P3 history in the province of Ontario is a wonderful one. We have brought to life 74 projects since the inception of Infrastructure Ontario. Since our government was elected, we’ve brought 24 projects to market, 15 of which are currently in construction.

We were elected on a strong mandate to build this province, and that’s what we will do.

Again, we were elected on a very strong mandate to invest in infrastructure, which is why we are investing $159 billion over the next 10 years. Last week, we announced our updated P3 project pipeline, which included 39 projects.

During COVID-19, under Premier Ford’s leadership, we developed the rapid build program to build long-term-care homes as quickly as possible, which resulted in 320 additional beds at Lakeridge in a construction period of 13 months. We are taking those learnings through the rapid delivery program, and we’ve announced our first rapid delivery program to build schools in the province of Ontario. This includes five new schools, creating 15,700 student spaces and 1,500 child care spaces.

Supplementary?

Interjections.

Interjections.

Final supplementary?

The same P3 contractors and private consultants responsible for the Ottawa LRT are also responsible for the Eglinton Crosstown P3. The Auditor General warned of deficient designs and missed deadlines. There are already signs that the problems experienced with the Ottawa LRT could happen with the Eglinton Crosstown P3. Metrolinx keeps announcing more delays and keeps paying more money to the P3 contractor. They recently announced yet another one-year delay, which both the minister and Metrolinx have refused to explain.

Clearly, something has once again gone wrong with the Eglinton Crosstown P3.

What is the ministry and Metrolinx hiding?

Speaker, it’s only 10:30 a.m., and it seems the minister is already out to lunch on this issue, so I’m going to help him.

The answer is, yes, Ontario drivers are being gouged on their auto insurance. We pay the highest auto insurance rates in Canada despite having some of the lowest per capita accidents. In fact, accidents have been down since the start of the pandemic, and yet insurance rates are climbing at double the rate of inflation. While Ontarians are struggling, insurer profits hit 27%, and drivers are overpaying in the hundreds of millions.

Will this government do the right thing and bring auto insurance premiums down to the level they should be? Yes or no?

Speaker, the proof is in the premiums; I’ve said it before. The Auditor General has confirmed what New Democrats have been saying here for years: Auto insurance postal code discrimination is real, and it has to stop. Drivers with clean driving records in Brampton, Scarborough, northwest Toronto and many other GTA neighbourhoods are paying double the rates of others.

Two months ago, I tabled a bill to end auto insurance postal code discrimination in the GTA. The government supported this very same bill before the election; the Premier said it was a priority. So will they pass this bill into law immediately? Yes or no?

Yesterday’s Ottawa LRT inquiry report revealed a cascade of problems due to the decision to build the LRT as a public-private partnership. The report said, “In many ways, the P3 model caused or contributed to several of the ongoing difficulties on the project.” These difficulties included a lack of transparency, misleading information from the P3 contractor, and the city’s inability to hold the P3 partner accountable for deficiencies.

Will the government learn the lessons of the Ottawa LRT fiasco and stop signing risky P3 contracts?

My question is to the Minister of Energy.

Speaker, concerns about the issues of access to electricity in our province exist. Communities in rural, remote and northern Ontario deserve access to a reliable source of electricity. Sadly, for many, that’s just not the case.

In many Indigenous and northern communities, the continued reliance on diesel generators is an ongoing challenge that needs to be addressed. Diesel-generated electricity is expensive, it’s polluting, and it doesn’t meet the needs of growing communities.

Indigenous communities across Ontario serve as important partners in our energy sector.

Can the Minister of Energy please elaborate on what our government is doing to ensure northern, remote and Indigenous communities have access to the electricity they need?

It’s encouraging to see our government’s leadership, working alongside First Nation communities, to partner on connecting to our electricity grids to northern Ontario. Being connected to our electricity grid unlocks future economic and social development in northern communities, including new schools, housing, and economic opportunity.

Can the Minister of Energy elaborate on the Watay Power project and tell this House how this First Nation-led project will bring energy certainty and new opportunities to northwestern Ontario?

Minister of Finance.

My question is to the Premier.

Yesterday’s Auditor General report showed that Ontario Lottery and Gaming signed private casino contracts based on unrealistic bids, but instead of holding those contractors to their contracts, they agreed to let them pay $3.3 billion less to the government. These are billions of dollars that should have gone to supporting our schools, our hospitals.

Why is this government letting the OLG undermine its own credibility by signing and renegotiating bad contracts?

The auditor also showed that the OLG and its private casino operators do not have adequate processes to prevent money laundering: “At two casinos, mystery shoppers were able to obtain four casino cheques for between $4,900 and $10,750 with limited play and no casino winnings,” despite OLG’s money-laundering policy that play must be verified before issuing any cheques above $3,000.

Money laundering is happening in Ontario’s casinos. British Columbia has stronger money laundering provisions in place today, which the government should bring in. So my question is really simple: Will the Minister of Finance commit to making those changes today so that money laundering does not happen in Ontario casinos?

My question is to the Premier.

Yesterday’s Auditor General report revealed that the government is failing to make adequate use of its renewable energy resources.

Another report yesterday showed that this government is about to waste the money of Ontario ratepayers by procuring more gas plants. The report by Power Advisory said it would be cheaper to invest in efficiency, conservation, renewable energy and storage, instead of spending billions on new gas plants.

Hydro bills are already too high. Why is the Premier wasting money on new gas plants when there are cheaper options that don’t use fossil fuels?

Thanks to the member opposite for the question.

As Minister of Energy, my top priority is to ensure that we have a reliable and clean electricity grid that meets the needs of everyone across Ontario, especially in remote communities.

The member is right that there are still some remote fly-in communities that are operating on diesel generators. That’s expensive, it’s not good for the environment, and it doesn’t allow for growth in new homes and an expansion to be built in these communities.

That’s why it was really important last week that I joined my friend and colleague the MPP from Kiiwetinoong in Kingfisher Lake, his home community, with many of his family members. It was a tremendous day, as we lit up that community to the provincial grid, thanks to the Wataynikaneyap power project, which is a tremendous project—it’s known as the line that brings light. I would add that it’s the line that brings hope as well.

It’s pretty rich coming from the member opposite—to talk about affordability in the energy sector, when his own party believes that we should get rid of natural gas, a base-load power supply. And that member, in particular, is not supportive of nuclear, which provides 60% of our base load power in the province every day. Each and every day, my job as the Minister of Energy is to ensure that we have an affordable and reliable supply of electricity in the province. The Independent Electricity System Operator has advised us that if we were to remove natural gas from the system, we would have blackouts and brownouts. Is that what this member wants? It’s certainly not what this government wants or what the people of Ontario need.

We’re seeing record investments in our province because we now have a reliable and affordable electricity grid in Ontario—one that is competitive with other jurisdictions—and we’re seeing the results with multi-billion dollar investments here in Ontario.

Thank you to the member opposite for that question.

Mr. Speaker, those contracts, which were signed about a decade ago, in 2012—between 2011 and 2014, I think there was a minority government. And who supported the minority Liberals?

Interjection: Catherine Fife.

Over the last decade, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. has been good for taxpayers—in fact, the most recent year returned $1.5 billion to the taxpayers of this great province. Not only that—provided significant growth to the economy through good jobs, good-paying jobs, bigger paycheques.

Finally, the citizens of this province have a great entertainment industry, through the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., that provides entertainment value to the citizens at all the casinos and all the great—

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. has a very rigorous process, has policies and procedures in place—and they’ve increased their enforcement over the years and are doing a terrific job.

We will always go after bad actors.

But let me tell you this: I have to question the scope and the mission creep of the Auditor General using taxpayer dollars to do a sting operation in an area where we have plenty of enforcement in this province.

We are going to go after the bad actors. We are going to make sure that we have the high standards in this province. We take it seriously, the OLG takes it seriously, and this government takes it seriously.

Thank you to the member for Mississauga Centre for her question.

Since 2019, we’ve invested $570 million into child and youth mental health supports across the province of Ontario.

In June 2021, we dedicated another $31 million to reducing wait times and improving access to mental health services.

Expanded alongside these services are our youth wellness hubs. These are one-stop shops for mental health and addictions treatment, primary care services and early intervention programming for youth aged 12 to 25. Available on a walk-in basis, they offer a safe space for youth and a warm hand-off to other community-based care providers, assuring children who are in need of help that there is no wrong door. We now have 22 of them in the province of Ontario, and we’ve green-lit another eight.

I’m looking forward, in my supplemental, to talking a little bit about the work of Joanna Henderson at CAMH and the great work, when we collaborate, that we can do as a province and—

Speaker, studies reveal that approximately one in five children in Ontario are encountering mental health challenges. The past few years have been especially difficult for our youth as they face unique challenges augmented by the isolation brought on by the pandemic. It is therefore crucial for our government to expand access to innovative solutions in order to support the mental health and well-being of Ontario’s children and youth.

Can the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions please share with this House how our government is ensuring high-quality care for children and young people through integrated services such as the youth wellness hubs?

I am proud that one of the 22 youth wellness hubs that the minister spoke of is actually located in Malton, in my city of Mississauga. The Malton Youth Wellness Hub provides vital services to youth in my riding, such as mental health counselling; substance use support; employment, housing and education support; as well as recreation.

These services are being delivered through partnerships with organizations like Catholic Family Services Peel-Dufferin, CMHA Peel Dufferin, Our Place Peel, and many, many others.

In 2010, the previous Liberal government was provided a report prepared by an all-party committee, which included 23 recommendations to improve mental health services. Not a single one of those recommendations was implemented.

Unlike the Liberals, our government is committed to working with our mental health partners to support and address our children and youth’s mental health and well-being needs.

Can the associate minister please elaborate on how our government is building a comprehensive and connected mental health and addictions system?

Well, that was an interesting dodge.

Let’s try it again. The Premier has promised private gas plant companies that Ontario ratepayers will keep paying for the new gas plants even after they are shut down. The gas plant contracts will run to 2040, but those plants will be shut down long before then under federal law.

We already had one gas plant scandal under the Liberals. And it looks like the PC government is determined to do exactly the same thing.

How much will Ontario ratepayers be forced to pay for new gas plant contracts after these plants have been shut down?

The member opposite wants to shut down gas plants now. That would result in brownouts in our province—completely unacceptable. The Independent Electricity System Operator has also told us that it would increase electricity bills by $100 a month. That is unacceptable to our government, and it’s unacceptable to the people of the province of Ontario.

We saw a glimpse of their energy policy a couple of weeks ago, when the member from Ottawa Centre ran extension cords across the bridge from Ottawa to Gatineau. That’s a look at what we could expect—God forbid—if an NDP government was ever in charge of our energy supply. We simply can’t have that unpredictability. We have to have a reliable and affordable system.

Every single day, I’m working to ensure that our system is clean and safe, that it offers choice, and that it is reliable and affordable, so we can see the growth we need in our province.

My question is for the Premier.

In 2018, the Premier was caught on video telling a room full of developers, “We will open up the greenbelt, a big chunk of it.” Then in May of that year, he swore to all Ontarians that he unequivocally wouldn’t touch the greenbelt. And in April 2021, he said, “We’re not going to touch the greenbelt.”

So here we are, December 2022. It’s Christmas, and the Premier is proud to say “promise made, promise kept” to his rich developer friends. The problem is, he broke his promise to the people of Ontario. He is giving away the people’s greenbelt—huge chunks of it; it’s not his to give.

Speaker, through you to the Premier: Can the Premier stand here today and tell us why anyone would believe anything that he says?

Interjections.

There is a clear pattern of people gaining inside knowledge. Why would someone take out a $100-million loan at 21% interest to buy land that you could literally do nothing on—and weeks later, magically, you could.

It took more than a day for this government to say “no” when they were asked whether developers got a heads-up—a whole day.

It’s not the developers’ greenbelt. It’s not the government’s greenbelt. It’s not the Premier’s greenbelt to give away. It’s the people’s greenbelt.

Speaker, through you: Will the Premier stand in this House and tell the people of Ontario that his rich developer friends did not get a heads-up?

I could say the same thing about the honourable member. He stood here in this House and, as a member of the governing Liberal Party, carved up the greenbelt 17 times—no apology, no answers for the people of Ontario.

We were open. We were clear. We were transparent. We’re in the middle of a housing crisis, and we posted on the environmental registry a plan that would provide a minimum of 50,000 homes.

Many of these sites have received municipal support. The one in Pickering, Mayor Ashe—I have a letter that I’ll read in the supplemental, clearly indicating that they wanted this property in the DRAP to be available for home construction.

All of these sites are adjacent to existing urban areas. They’re all able to be serviced.

At the end of the day, our plan, unlike the Liberals’, will add over 2,000 acres to the greenbelt.

I’m going to read a letter from the mayor of Pickering, His Worship Mayor Kevin Ashe. The first paragraph says it all: “You recently received a letter from Mayor Ryan requesting the repeal of the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve Act, 2005, in the city of Pickering. As the newly elected mayor of the city, I would like to support this request. As noted by Mayor Ryan, these lands were part of the regional and municipal growth plans for settlement area expansion prior to the greenbelt—20 years ago.”

We’re moving forward on this request from municipalities, other requests from municipalities.

At the end of the day, the plan proposed will have a minimum of 50,000 homes provided for us and over—