My colleague from Niagara Centre and myself would like to welcome Teena Kindt and her special team of colleagues from the Alzheimer Society of Niagara. Welcome to Queen’s Park. We’re looking forward to a meeting with you after question period.

Speaker, it is an absolute pleasure of mine to welcome WoodGreen community services, who serve close to 40,000 people each year across 40 different locations, with over 75 programs and services that tackle the social determinants of health. We have here with us today Ansley Dawson, Qazi Hasan, Sarah Ibrahim, Eric Mariglia, Alexandra Goth, Sonya Goldman, Naureen Choudhry, Talia Fine, Amenah Abusara, Amanda Hadida and Danielle Maillet. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

We have three guests from the Sudbury real estate association: Tanya Vanden Berg, Tyler Peroni and Ashley Sauvé. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

We also have a member of the Sudbury Alzheimer Society, Stephanie Leclair, who is here with us, and Dr. Sharon Cohen from the Toronto Memory Program. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’m going to recognize the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility, who, I understand, has a point of order.

Members will please rise.

The House observed a moment’s silence.

I also want to welcome our Lebanese friends who are here today. Ottawa Centre is home to a proud Lebanese community. It’s great to see you here today. I’ll see you at the flag-raising.

I want to recognize Jordan Berger, a good friend of mine, who is here today.

I also want to say thank you to the people from the Good Roads group who will be meeting with many of us today and have a reception later tonight. I look forward to seeing colleagues there.

If you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to allow members to wear forget-me-not pins in support of Alzheimer’s awareness.

Speaker, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for a moment of silence so we may recognize the five members of the Colorado 2SLGBTQIA+ community and allies who were killed last Saturday night, hours before the Transgender Day of Remembrance on Sunday, by a hate-filled shooter inside a nightclub described as a safe haven for LGTBQ community members in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Their names are Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh and Derrick Rump.

Seventeen others were also wounded in this attack against queer, trans and non-binary communities and their families.

We must all remember that violence against any 2SLGBTQIA+ community member is felt across borders. May we stand today in a moment of silence for all victims of transphobia, homophobia and biphobia everywhere, always.

My question is to the Premier. Five former mayors of Toronto have joined the chorus of people speaking out against Bill 39 and this government’s latest attack on a fundamental democratic principle: majority rule. Majority rule is a core value in council chambers and legislative assemblies, not just across this country but around the world. But instead of respecting the voice of voters in Ontario, this government is doing an end run around democracy, shifting power away from people and into the hands of wealthy developers.

Speaker, why does the Premier think our democratic institutions can be swept aside whenever they’re just inconvenient for him?

But I’ll tell you, if Ontarians thought that we were dealing with a changed Premier, they were mistaken. This government was willing to use the “notwithstanding” clause to suppress the wages of the very lowest-paid workers in our province. They’re willing to change the law to carve up the greenbelt for sprawling development. And now, they’re willing to undermine democracy again, letting just eight people of 26 pass laws that affect over three million people in Toronto.

Does the Premier recognize how dangerous and how reckless this government’s actions are to our democracy?

My question is to the Premier. This week, elderly and frail patients in alternate-level-of-care beds will start being charged $400 per day to remain in hospital. Advocates told this government yesterday that the $400 fee is a “bludgeon” and used “to coerce [seniors’] consent.”

To make matters even worse, this government is willing to move frail, elderly patients into homes that could actively be in COVID-19 outbreak or that had a large number of deaths during the pandemic.

Speaker, does the Premier think it’s acceptable to move elderly patients into homes with poor pandemic track records or homes with active COVID-19 outbreaks?

Again, to the Minister of Long-Term Care: This government should have the health and safety of every Ontarian on their mind each time they put forward new policies. But with Bill 7, the government is asking frail, elderly Ontarians to shoulder the burden of an underfunded and understaffed health care system. That’s simply not fair.

The government should be investing in the health care system, in our nurses, and in our health care workers. That’s where they should be putting dollars. Ontario seniors and their families deserve to know that when they choose to go to a home, their needs will be met.

To the minister: What criteria are hospitals directed to follow to determine if a long-term-care home has suitable staffing levels, equipment and care protocols for a patient to be moved there without compromising the quality of their care?

In fact, Mr. Speaker, what we’re doing is helping seniors who are on the long-term-care waiting list, who are in hospitals and want to be in long-term care, move into that long-term-care home.

I was just in a long-term-care home on Friday. The daughter and a resident came up to me and said that, after four months of being in a hospital, moving into the long-term-care home was a game-changer for them. It has meant the world. The mother and daughter are now able to visit easier. They’re able to get more social activities. They are making friends. She said that it has been a game-changer and she wished that she had done it sooner.

This is a testament not to the bill that we brought in that allows this to happen, this is a testament to the hard work of the people who are working in long-term care across the province of Ontario. It is made possible because of the investments that we have made in long-term care, over $13 billion worth of investments, to improve long-term care, to turn a patient into a resident of a home.

We’re building 60,000 new and upgraded beds in every part of the province. We’re bringing long-term care into small communities across the province because our seniors—you know what they have said to us? They have said that they want to be in communities that they have helped build, closer to their family and friends. That’s what they said, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. We are investing in long-term care—four hours of care per day for residents, a North-American-leading standard, Mr. Speaker. Those are the investments we’re making, and we’re doing it with our residents in long-term care, with the professionals who are working in our long-term-care homes, and we will get the job done because—

Another hallmark of the Fixing Long-Term Care Act is four hours of care—27,000 additional health care workers. We increased the food allocation. We’re building 60,000 new and upgraded beds. In his own riding—in his own riding—he voted against $50 million of additional support for health care workers in homes with over 450 new and upgraded beds in his own riding—voted against it, voted against the staffing.

We’ll get the job done, because they have never, ever cared about the sector. We care about the people who are in those—

My question is to the Premier. I want to say it again: 5,000 seniors have died under this government’s watch in long-term-care facilities. Bill 7 was rammed through the House with no public comment period and no consultation. There was no opportunity for workers, family members or stakeholders to raise their concerns with this government effectively forcing elderly patients into long-term-care homes they didn’t choose.

We know that care varies across the sector, and we know that workers are burned out and leaving the sector. Families should never have to worry that their family member will be moved to a home where they don’t have enough staff—big issue. Will the minister guarantee that patients will not be forced into homes whose staffing levels are lower than their own provincial standards?

Today, November 22, is National Housing Day. It’s a day to reflect on our government’s action to get shovels in the ground faster, and one of those commitments that we made to Ontarians during the election—we also made it to big city mayors and regional chairs in January when the Premier and I hosted a summit—was that we were going to give those mayors the tools to be able to get shovels in the ground faster, and we did it. Immediately after our election, we tabled the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, which was passed by the Legislature, again without the support of the party of no, the New Democratic Party. Then Premier made it crystal clear that we were going to continue to extend those strong-mayor powers to other communities because we need mayors in those six regions, along with the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa, to be able to have the tools to get shovels in the ground faster. That’s why we tabled Bill 39, and that’s why we’ll continue to table a housing supply action plan every year in our mandate.

Cornwall isn’t just a great place to live and work and raise a family, it’s one of the most competitive places to invest as well. In the last two years, $100 million has been invested there with help from our regional development programs. Biscuits Leclerc has an $80-million project creating 76 jobs with $1.5 million of our support. This is a sweet deal for Cornwall, for Hawkesbury and for Brockville. They’ll all see upgrades to their plants as they enter new markets.

We also supported Cornwall’s auto sector through an O-AMP investment for Morbern’s $429,000 project to implement Industry 4.0 technologies.

Speaker, this is how we’re supporting businesses in Cornwall.

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Last week, the outgoing Waterloo council asked the province to defer Bill 23 until the incoming council has had a chance to review it. Councillors have expressed legitimate concerns that the bill was introduced the day after municipal elections and “seems aimed at limiting comment from incoming duly elected officials.” Councillor Bodaly also called the legislation environmentally problematic, citing flooding concerns and protections for wetlands.

Waterloo is not alone in their request to defer Bill 23. Councillors in York, Niagara, St. Catharines, Collingwood and Burlington have all passed motions requesting deferment of Bill 23 and more fulsome municipal consultations. This is a reasonable request. Understanding the full impact of this legislation is important.

Will the minister respect the request of municipalities and defer Bill 23 until newly elected municipal councils have a chance to review the legislation?

Will the minister respect the voices of the citizens of Waterloo and across this province and provide these democratically elected councils time to review the legislation that impacts their environment, their communities and budgets? It is a reasonable request on behalf of municipalities, and this minister, who has that responsibility, should at very least listen to them.

Interjections.

My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. In my riding of Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry, the city of Cornwall continues to be a hub for economic investment opportunities. Today, Cornwall is proudly home to one of our country’s largest and most advanced logistics and manufacturing operations. Many of our companies have succeeded in Canada and worldwide, but in order to remain competitive, our manufacturers and businesses need a government that works with them.

Will the minister please explain how our government supports manufacturers and businesses who are creating jobs in Cornwall and across our province?

Order. Opposition, come to order.

Member for Davenport, supplementary.

Start the clock. Next question.

Start the clock. The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to reply.

Well, Speaker, I’m not going to take any lessons from the New Democrats in terms of housing policy. Nobody is interested in their leadership race. Nobody is interested in their policies. Again, they presented these same policies during the election; they were rejected.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Interjection.

Interjections.

Interjections.

We are a prosperous, growing province. It’s the best place to live in Canada, and we want to make sure that our municipal partners do their part. We’ve given them a housing pledge. We want them to buy into our 1.5 million homes plan over the next 10 years, and each and every one of them ran on a platform of building housing.

Now is not the time to defer; now is the time to get shovels in the ground faster and create opportunity across Ontario.

We need to get to our goal. Especially now that there are so many new Canadians coming because of the federal government’s decision, we need to make sure that transformation happens at the municipal level. Transformation isn’t easy. We need all of our municipal partners to do their part. They need to work with us and they need to work with the federal government on ensuring that we get shovels in the ground faster.

We’re in a housing crisis and we need everyone to be working collaboratively moving forward. Now is not the time to delay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s like a bunch of little kids realizing that they’re losing a game, and in the middle of it, they try to change the rules. You know, it’s really embarrassing.

Interjections.

People, whether they live in Toronto or Peel or Niagara or York, deserve to have their voices heard and their concerns represented by their locally elected representatives. Will the Premier do the right thing and just withdraw Bill 39 today?

Speaker, the government’s own Housing Affordability Task Force outlined that “a shortage of land isn’t the cause of the” housing crisis. “Land is available, both inside the existing built-up areas and on undeveloped land outside greenbelts.”

At our emergency town hall on Bill 23 last week, we heard from community members and experts—including a member of the original task force that drew up the greenbelt plan—who shared how dismayed they are by the government’s undermining of the purpose of the greenbelt and its permanence. In fact, there is a designated whitebelt specifically for development and growth, Speaker, but this government still continues to target the greenbelt.

Despite all the evidence, and the fact that the Premier actually promised this province in 2018 that he wouldn’t do that, and the vehement opposition from experts, from housing advocates, from community leaders and much more, why is this government opening up the greenbelt for development?

But this minister wants to talk about housing? Let’s talk about housing. Popi, a young woman in my riding who escaped unimaginable domestic violence—almost died—has been waiting, has been struggling, actually, to breathe because she lives in a basement apartment where it’s hard for her to breathe. The doctors have said that she might actually need another surgery—she’s had multiple surgeries—because she lives in a basement apartment. She has been waiting for years for affordable housing. This is just one of the many stories of those who are waiting for affordable housing.

If this bill is actually about affordability, why isn’t there anything in this bill that specifically calls for building affordable housing for people like Popi and those who are waiting for affordable housing?