I just welcome everyone from OPSBA and a special welcome to two constituents of mine, Jaine Klassen Jeninga, who is up in the gallery, and Cathy Abraham. I’m looking forward to meeting with you after question period.

I’d like to welcome a couple of good friends of mine from Belleville—very good friends: Mitch and Lisa Panciuk. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

To reply, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

We’ve been very clear on this side of the House. While we embrace innovation, while we want to see those exciting opportunities that will ensure our surgery backlogs and our individuals have access to critical health care in their community—we’re doing that. We have also been very clear that it will continue to be an OHIP-funded system in the province of Ontario.

This government has taken a hatchet to farmland over the past few weeks, removing thousands of acres from the greenbelt and destroying existing urban boundaries. Frankly, it is no surprise to find out that these changes will benefit powerful landowners, like Silvio De Gasperis and Michael Rice, who have donor and political ties to the Ontario PC Party.

Given how suspicious this looks, the least the government can do is be transparent about what has been happening behind closed doors. So I ask the Premier, how did the government choose which lands were going to be removed from the greenbelt?

It’s all a bit curious, so I will give the government another chance to set the record straight. Prior to the public announcement of changes to the greenbelt, did the Premier or the minister or any of their current or former staff share any information about changes to the greenbelt with owners and developers that was not already available to the public?

I appreciate the honourable member’s question. Look, we have an opportunity here, and that is to build more houses for more families. We’ve heard it from more than just municipalities, frankly. We’ve heard it from Indigenous communities. They see an opportunity to invest in real estate properties. They see an opportunity to create better and more homes in their own communities.

This pan-provincial plan that we have to build more homes is for all Ontarians. We continue to honour the duty to consult, Mr. Speaker; there is no question about that. We began in earnest on this bill and we will not back down from the opportunity to share an opportunity between Indigenous communities and municipalities, and for the greater good of this province, to build more homes for more families.

I’ll ask the House to come to order so that I can hear the member who has the floor or the minister who has the floor.

The next question.

To reply, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Speaker, there is not a shred of evidence that this is going to build a single affordable home, but there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that these wealthy PC donors made a very careful bet against our greenbelt despite the Premier’s promises never to touch it.

I have written to the Auditor General to ask for an investigation, but the government could clear the air right now. Will the minister and the Premier launch an independent investigation into suspicious sales of greenbelt lands and make the findings public?

Thank you to the member from Kitchener–Conestoga for the question.

Mr. Speaker, last week I was in Timmins to launch the Critical Minerals Innovation Fund. This is a very exciting time for Ontario as we decarbonize our economy. What we’re doing is critical to the future of not only Ontario, but to the globe. This is a two-year, $5-million fund which will support research, development, and commercialization of innovative technologies, techniques, processes, analytical solutions for critical minerals.

These projects will help increase exploration, mining, development, production and processing capacity of critical minerals in Ontario. Our investment will leverage Ontario’s expertise to tap into new and growing markets and to ensure we capitalize on the demand for critical minerals.

Mr. Speaker, I know there are industries that will leverage this fund to partner with Indigenous communities, non-profits or colleges—academics—to ensure Ontario remains a leader in innovation in the mining sector. This will strengthen our Critical Minerals Strategy and help us achieve our goal by creating a supply chain for clean technologies right here in Ontario.

As the member opposite would have heard me say numerous times in the last week, there is no room in our system for providers who are not in compliance with the requirements that are set out. I have said this repeatedly. The time for more reports is over. It’s our government that is taking action on this.

This is a child welfare redesign that has been discussed and consulted across the sector. It is about improving the inspections. We’ve increased the number of inspectors. We’ve increased the number of unannounced inspections. We’ve addressed the medication—the chemical restraints.

Again, the consent for medical treatment, including youth in care, is enshrined in law. That means it’s not achieved through coercion. It means that the homes have to abide by the law. That’s why we have the inspections. It’s why we have improved accountability. It’s why we’ve improved oversight. It’s why we are doing this after decades of neglect by the previous government, supported by the NDP.

Good morning, Speaker. Remarks in Oji-Cree.

My question is to the Premier. First Nations across Ontario have stated their opposition to Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, due to the clear violation of First Nations’ constitutionally protected, inherent and treaty rights. Chiefs of Ontario, representing 134 First Nations in Ontario, have said, “First Nations are not stakeholders; we are sovereign nations and are entitled to proper consultation.”

Speaker, it’s 2022. It is very colonial for Ontario to abuse their power by making these bills without consultation or engagement with First Nations.

Are you going to consult First Nations affected by this bill?

People from across Ontario have contacted my office because they oppose Bill 23. Municipalities are speaking out against Bill 23, and now all First Nations across the province have said they don’t want this bill. That is a lot of people to listen to. Will this government start listening to people who are protecting the lands and the waters, instead of their developer friends?

My question is to the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

Last week I told the minister about the unacceptable conditions for children and youth in the child welfare system. I told her about how kids in for-profit group home Hatts Off are being overmedicated, chemically restrained; how kids are regularly being prescribed psychotropic medication after only five- to 10-minute-long doctor appointments, medication that sometimes made them feel “heavily suicidal” or “like zombies.” I told her about how vulnerable kids receive punitive punishments. I asked her to investigate these serious allegations of neglect and mistreatment. She dodged the question.

Speaker, I’ll ask again: Will the ministry acknowledge how bad the system is for kids in their care and commit to a full investigation into Hatts Off?

Ongoing supply chain disruptions continue to adversely affect the global economy. This geopolitical instability has only reinforced the importance that our government should place on ensuring the security of our critical minerals and natural resources.

Northern Ontario can be a worldwide supplier of critical minerals, such as nickel, cobalt and lithium, all essential minerals required to construct new electric and green technology. Speaker, can the Minister of Mines please expand on our government’s most recent announcement about the new investments in the critical mineral sector?

This is why our government must show leadership by partnering in good faith with companies that are at the forefront of critical mineral innovation. Speaker, can the minister please tell us how the mining and business community has responded to our government’s new critical innovation fund?

I want to thank the member, my neighbour, for that important question. In my welcoming remarks at the Northern Ontario Tourism Summit, there was a palpable excitement around the idea not only that we could be live at the forum but that we could share and celebrate in the incredible opportunities emerging from a post-COVID world—no doubt that the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund was there, to the Northern Ontario Recovery Program. We used words like “planning,” “renovating,” “enhancing,” “repairing,” “refurbishing” and “reopening, Mr. Speaker: an expanded partnership with Indigenous Tourism Ontario and a commitment to tourist operators that, at every step of the way in a post-COVID world, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, the Ministry of Northern Development and this government would stand with tourist operators in northern Ontario.

These are all small, in some respects, but very important announcements for those communities as they open their doors back up to all the people who want to come and celebrate what we already know what’s great about northern Ontario.

Speaker, that’s exactly why we want to have some consistency and work with a great chair like Jim Bradley in Niagara to ensure that the extension of strong-mayor powers is smoothly done at the regional level and, as well, that we ensure that all of those regional governments that we’ll be dealing with have the opportunity to meet our provincial priorities and get shovels in the ground. At the end of the day, this is all about building 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years and having that consistency at the regional level while we’re working through the strong-mayor powers is so very important.

Again, Speaker, it’s a bit rich from this member who served municipally to be calling into question our motive in ensuring that Jim Bradley works with us. Shame on you.

We need to ensure that we give those mayors the tools they need to be able to ensure that our provincial priorities are met. We’ve had great conversations with Mayor Tory. Unlike the NDP, we support our great mayor here in the city of Toronto, Mayor Tory. We want to work with him, and we’re glad that he wants to help meet those provincial priorities for building more housing.

I think the biggest question is why the member opposite and her party and her group did nothing and sat on this for decades. Our government is taking action. We want every child and youth to have a safe and loving home. That’s why we’re redesigning the child welfare system. That’s why we’ve boosted the number of inspections at licensed group homes since January 2022. It’s why we’ve added 20 new staff to support enhanced inspections of children’s residential services. It’s why we released the children and young persons’ rights resource in youth-friendly language to help children, youth and young persons understand their rights and use their voices. And we’ve backed up this important work with significant investments.

Our government is fixing a long-standing issue that the previous government, supported by the NDP, never bothered to.

Supplementary question.

The one concrete action that this minister could take today is to launch an investigation into Hatts Off.

The problems aren’t limited to Hatts Off; it’s an issue across the entire for-profit group-home system. For-profit homes make up a quarter of all operators, over half of all serious occurrence reports and 83% of all instances of the use of physical restraints. Companies looking to make a profit off vulnerable children have no place in our province’s child welfare system.

The minister keeps touting the government’s welfare redesign. So I’ll ask the minister this question right now. It’s a yes or no answer: Will the minister commit to abolishing the for-profit child welfare system model and putting the care of children above corporate profit?

My question is to the Minister of Northern Development. With continuing global economic challenges, concerns persist among our tourism operators, especially those in the north. Last week, the Northern Ontario Tourism Summit took place in my home of Thunder Bay. This critical summit was an opportunity for tourism operators to gather together, strategize and examine ways to address ongoing economic challenges.

Can the Minister of Northern Development please elaborate further on what our government and his ministry in particular are doing to help support this sector as they move forward?

While these investments and the summit meeting are vital for northern Ontario’s economic success, we must ensure that our government continues to advocate for this sector and region year-round. What further actions is our government taking to support economic development for communities across the north?