Supplementary?

No personal attacks in the House.

Conclude your question.

Member for Waterloo, conclude the question.

Interjections.

The member for Kitchener–Conestoga will come to order. The member for Waterloo will come to order. The Minister of Municipal Affairs will come to order.

Start the clock.

Next question.

I want to thank the member for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke for that very challenging question this morning.

Our government, from day one, has been on a mission to train more workers, so they can build better lives for themselves and fill the jobs that families and businesses across Ontario rely on.

That is why we are reinventing our programs so that welfare and disability support recipients are no longer left on their own. Instead, the changes we’re making are providing tailored solutions—like workboots to get them started, and a transit pass to get them to their first shift.

Mr. Speaker, our message is clear: For anyone looking to find well-paying and meaningful work, our government will give you a hand up.

Mr. Speaker, under the previous government, only 1% of people on social assistance were finding employment each year. That might be good enough for those across the aisle, but it’s not good enough for us.

In the parts of Ontario where we’ve started our new approach, the results are outstanding: 79% of job seekers are working at least 20 hours per week, and 55,700 people are now on a path to finding employment.

This is how we lift people up, and this is how we’re going to achieve our ambitious plan to build Ontario.

My question is for the Premier.

Municipalities are reeling from the alarming passage of Bill 23 on Monday. The lack of consultation and the absence of respect and facts have resulted in a deeply flawed piece of legislation that will undermine housing affordability, increase homelessness, and compromise the integrity of the greenbelt ecosystem.

Last week, the member for Kitchener–Conestoga claimed that seven Waterloo region municipalities were “sitting on over $200 million ... of reserve funds from development charges that have already been collected.” Specifically, he went on to say that the township of Woolwich was sitting on $6.5 million of DC charges that they didn’t know about. In fact, all of the DC reserve funds are allocated and are in the municipal five-year economic forecast. You just have to learn how to read, I guess.

The drastic reduction in development charges will—

Interjections.

The drastic reduction—

Interjection.

Why is the government implying that these funds are not being used and that municipalities are negligent in their duties?

Woolwich Mayor Shantz set the record straight:

“Based on the pace of our growth ... we will actually require additional funding to be able to do all of the forecasted work. We are staying with the best practice approach that, as much as possible, growth should pay for itself.

“We do not want existing taxpayers to pay that heavy burden. That’s neither fair or appropriate.”

Mayor Crombie herself said that Mississauga will lose $885 million over 10 years in development charges because of Bill 23. She said that it’s equal to losing 20% of their capital budget.

Why is this government undermining municipalities and their ability to facilitate affordable housing?

Picture this grim scene 2,300 years ago in Asculum: The Macedonian general Pyrrhus surveys the battlefield. Roman legions, Greek phalanxes, elephants, archers and cavalry lie wounded and dying—a battle so costly that historical accounts disagree on whether any side won. Pyrrhus himself said, “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.”

Today, picture this: paramedics lined up in overcrowded emergency rooms, overwhelmed ICU nurses, cancers going undetected, tent communities across Ontario, educators in physical danger because of understaffing, even idled ferries.

Why won’t the Premier accept the Ontario Superior Court ruling against Bill 124 and realize that any appeal would be at most a Pyrrhic victory? Don’t start another battle. Renegotiate a fair deal, and get to work on our real problems.

Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

Like many provinces, Ontario is facing our most significant labour shortage in a generation. This labour shortage greatly impacts our economy and communities, particularly in the skilled trades sector.

As our province plans to build for the future, we must ensure that we have enough workers with the right skills to help us meet this challenge. Every skilled trades job that remains unfilled represents unmet economic opportunities for our great province.

I ask the minister: What is our government doing to address the ongoing skilled trades labour shortage?

Helping people gain the skills employers need means they can support themselves, their families and our entire province.

For far too long, people eager to work hard and contribute to our economy faced difficulties navigating bureaucratic processes, leaving them discouraged.

Nothing gives a person a greater sense of pride and worth than the ability to contribute through their work.

Our government should act to remove burdens and lift barriers to help people find work opportunities

My question to the minister: How has our government helped more individuals find meaningful employment in this great province?

No.

Speaker, I’m going to be assisting the integrity commissioner in his investigation. I look forward to being vindicated, and I look forward to the apology from the official opposition.

Clearly, there were councils in every council chamber, in every corner of the province, that campaigned in advance of the October 24 election that said they wanted to prioritize affordable housing.

Bill 23 provides the opportunity to incent having more affordable housing, having more attainable housing, having more inclusionary zoning units. It’s doing the exact opposite of what the member for Waterloo is suggesting.

We’ve got young people here. I want to make sure that there is a generation of potential homeowners who have a home that meets their needs and their budget.

Any mayor—like Mayor Crombie, who the member opposite is quoting—who doesn’t think that a $132,000 development charge on a semi-detached home in Mississauga isn’t going to get turned over to the buyer is living in a dream world.

Those mayors who speak against our bill have one message: They’re saying to that young family, “Stay in your parents’ basement. You’re never going to have a home that meets your needs.”

On the government side, we will realize the dream of home ownership—

Interjections.

Well Mr. Speaker, you could either try to learn from history or try to rewrite it, like this side does.

What does the Premier hope to gain for the people? He should be sitting down with unions. He should stop fighting the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, negotiate a fair deal, and focus on real problems of working families. What do the Conservatives hope to gain from appealing the Ontario Superior Court’s ruling against Bill 124?

My question is for the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

I recently learned of a wonderful grant to a local theatre group called the Tweed and Company Theatre, a fine organization that has benefited from support provided by the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The support they received likely won’t make headlines in the news, but that funding will have an immense impact on ensuring the sustainability and the expansion of this fine organization’s productions.

I’m always impressed by how much can be accomplished when non-profit organizations receive the funding they greatly deserve.

Can the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport please tell us more about the resources available, so that other community organizations across the province can realize the same benefit?

According to the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, the province will need at least 65,000 new child care staff over the coming years to meet the expected demand for $10-a-day child care. Sixty-five thousand child care staff is an enormous number. To get anywhere close to that will require a long-term strategy to retain and recruit child care workers. Without a strategy, parents and families will lose access to $10-a-day child care.

My question to the Premier is, where is that strategy?

I want to remind the minister that in section 4.2 of the child care agreement that he refers to, Ontario committed to consulting on a comprehensive recruitment and retention plan for child care workers this past summer.

I have tabled a bill to start addressing the child care workforce crisis by ensuring that the solutions put forward by workers and advocates are listened to.

My question to you, Minister: Will you listen to child care workers?

As the member opposite knows, we are reviewing the decision that is before us. As the Attorney General said, we have the intention to appeal that.

Let’s compare our record of investments into this province against 15 years of the previous Liberal government. Let’s look at health care. They left this health care system on life support. They cut residency spots. This government is building two new medical schools—a new medical school in Brampton, a new medical school in Scarborough; increasing the amount of doctors in the north. That is in stark contrast to the members opposite.

We will continue to make these historic investments supporting health care, health human resources across this province, and we will take no lessons from the members opposite on how to make those health care investments.

Interjections.

We will stand on our record of investments that we have made—which is, again, in stark contrast to the members opposite.

Let’s look at health human resources. Since March 2020, we have added over 12,000 health care professionals into the system—just this year alone, over 12,800 registered nurses at the Ontario college of nurses.

The members opposite oversaw firing of nurses across this province. They cut hospital budgets. They closed hospitals. They stopped building hospitals in Brampton, in communities like mine that were neglected for 15 years.

We’re building hospitals in Brampton; we’re building hospitals in Windsor, in Niagara, in Mississauga, because the previous government failed to make those investments. We will take no lessons from the members opposite on how to make those investments.

Mr. Speaker, because of our Premier’s leadership, we have been able to deliver a better deal, with $3 billion on the table more, and an additional year of funding guarantees that will ensure child care remains more affordable and accessible for all Ontario families.

It’s fundamental that we remind the people of Ontario that had the New Democrats and Liberals had their way, we would have omitted literally 30% of operators in all of our communities that are depending on government to come up with a sustainable, inclusive program that reduced costs.

On average, by Christmas of this year, we’re looking at $12,000 per child. This is a monumental step forward.

The member opposite is right; we will need more ECEs to fulfill the 86,000 spaces this government is working to create. It’s why we have a plan. We’ve launched a specific advisory group that has been established over the fall of non-profit, for-profit and technical experts coming together to ensure we’ve got the requisite staff. We continue to increase wages, and we continue to roll out a program that has 92% of operators enrolling, because they believe in this program.

The people of Ontario are depending on this government to get the job done.

Mr. Speaker, we’re going to hire thousands of additional ECEs in our province because we will need more people to staff the 86,000 more spaces this government will create—more access, in addition to more affordable child care. It rose by 400% under the former Liberal government—an indefensible record.

This government and our Premier know we can make child care affordable for families for future generations, and we’re going to get the job done.

Thank you to the member from Thunder Bay–Atikokan for the great question.

Under Premier Ford’s leadership, our government is taking concrete steps to make roads in northern Ontario safer.

Just a few weeks ago, I was pleased to announce that our government took another step forward to deliver the first ever “2+1” highway pilot in North America. This model is used in jurisdictions around the world, and it has been shown to improve road safety and enhance traffic flow. By issuing the request for proposals for the new pilot on Highway 11 north of North Bay, our government is demonstrating real progress to get shovels in the ground on this critical project making roads in the north that much safer.

A “2+1” highway pilot is part of our government’s plan to build Ontario, and we’re getting it done.

Speaker, we have received resounding support on the “2+1” highway from local stakeholders, including Mark Wilson from Going the Extra Mile for Safety, as well as members of our government’s Northern Transportation Task Force. The “2+1” highway pilot will support northern development and boost economic growth in the region, after decades of neglect by the previous Liberal governments. And this builds on other initiatives championed by our government to support and grow the north.

Just recently, we created a new highway level of service that requires Highways 11 and 17 in northern Ontario to be cleared within 12 hours after a winter storm, four hours faster than the previous standard.

Speaker, this is not a one-and-done deal for northern drivers. We will continue to look for even more ways to support safer and more prosperous communities in the north.

To respond, the President of the Treasury Board.

Supplementary question.

Thank you. Supplementary?

Ensuring police services in Ontario have the resources they need to keep the communities in Simcoe–Grey and across our province safe is of the utmost importance. Having up-to-date technology means that our officers will have the best information available to carry out their work effectively.

Recently, the Solicitor General spoke about our government’s investment of $61 million in new technology to fight auto theft across this province.

Investing in new crime-fighting technology is crucial to helping our police services solve outstanding cases and bring closure to the victims and their families.

Can the Solicitor General please tell us how investments our government is making in new technology will assist our law enforcement partners in delivering justice to our residents?

As reported by the media, because of our government’s investments, police services across our province will be able to advance unsolved cases for DNA technology investigation in the coming years.

Can the Solicitor General please provide more details on how Ontario’s police services can use investigative genetic genealogy as an investigative tool?

I’d just like to add that we don’t look for headlines; we look for results.

I’d like to thank the member for his question and for his strong leadership representing the residents of Hastings–Lennox and Addington. He will be interested to know that our government agency, created 40 years ago under the great leadership of PC Premier Bill Davis, continues to build healthy and vibrant communities across Ontario. Since the voters in Ontario entrusted Premier Ford to lead the PC government in 2018, $2.4 million has been invested through the Ontario Trillium Foundation in the non-profit sector of Hastings–Lennox and Addington.

I’ll go to the numbers a little later, because I’m running out of time, but I’ll go back to the point: We get results. We’re not worried what people talk about; we’re—

I joined representatives from all parties in this House for a breakfast celebrating the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s 40th anniversary just over a week ago. Recognition of the OTF’s value is universal, and I’m happy to promote the foundation, whenever possible, because it’s important to all of us.

The OTF’s Resilient Communities Fund is making positive contributions in communities across Ontario working towards economic recovery, with grants of up to $150,000 to help non-profits rebuild and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. In fact, the deadline is coming up. It’s time to get it done. That deadline is December 7, 2022. So I encourage organizations to get it done.

Our government invested $105 million through the Community Building Fund to support non-profit tourism, culture, sport and recreation organizations that create great experiences and great events across this province.

I’ll continue to work with OTF and help them do what they do best: help us in our province.

I want to thank my friend from Simcoe–Grey for the question.

In Ontario, we are investing in the latest technology and using cutting-edge techniques to keep Ontario safe. We are a province of innovation and progress, and we’re proud of this.

Just last week, the Ontario Provincial Police, with the help of state-of-the-art genetic-based technology, were able to close the 1980 murder case of Micheline St. Amour. This science is transformational. I want to recognize retired Detective Superintendent Dave Truax and retired Detective Constable Mike Hickey for their work in solving this homicide. Now Micheline’s family can finally have some peace.

Monsieur le Président, rien pour moi, en tant que solliciteur général, n’est plus important que la sécurité de notre province. Pour le premier ministre de l’Ontario et pour moi, c’est personnel.

My question is to the Minister of Agriculture.

Ontario loses 319 acres of farmland every day to development—319 acres that will never ever grow food again. Now the government is trying to pave over the greenbelt as well, and farmers are concerned. The three farm organizations that represent almost every farmer in this province have written an open letter to the Premier expressing that fact. I’d like to quote from that letter: “These losses are not sustainable and will become increasingly worse with the overreaching effects of Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022.”

My question to the minister is, does she agree with the farmers of Ontario that farmland loss at this rate is unsustainable?

I have asked this question several times and have yet to hear the minister say the word “farmland.” Does she actually represent farmers at the cabinet table—to say the word “farmland”?

Thank you to the minister for that response.

Speaker, $2.4 million for my riding is absolutely wonderful.

In my previous role as a municipal mayor, I was fortunate to witness the many impressive achievements made possible through support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Whether it’s replacing benches and bleachers in three of our sports facilities in Tweed, or support for the Royal Canadian Legion in Bancroft, or providing assistance to the Heart of Hastings Hospice—all of these programs have greatly benefited.

Once again, can the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport please provide additional details on how the Ontario Trillium Foundation can help non-profit organizations across the province?