I appreciate the question from the member opposite this morning. There is no question that road safety is a priority for this government. And that, of course, includes the great people of northern Ontario, who, frankly, face many different driving conditions than we may here in the south.

That’s why, Speaker, we have introduced a series of measures to keep our roads safe. Training is one of them, but also a firm commitment to clear snow as quickly as possible. In fact, we just introduced on Highways 11 and 17, after a detailed technical review, a change in the standard of clearing snow from 16 hours after a heavy winter snowstorm to 12 hours, Speaker. This is going to make sure that our roads remain safe. We’re widening Highway 69, which was a priority of this government since 2018.

We’re always listening. There is always more work that could be done, Speaker, but this government is committed to keeping our roads safe. That includes the great people of the north. This government is going to get the job done.

I stand up to wish my seatmate a happy birthday today.

Deferred vote on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 14, An Act to enact the Climate Crisis Health Action Plan Act, 2022, the Ontario Climate Crisis Strategy for the Public Sector Act, 2022 and the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Act, 2022 / Projet de loi 14, Loi édictant la Loi de 2022 sur le Plan d’action sur la crise climatique et la santé, la Loi de 2022 sur la Stratégie du secteur public de l’Ontario relative à la crise climatique et la Loi de 2022 sur le Comité spécial de l’action relative à la crise climatique.

Sorry, I actually had a point of order, Speaker.

In accordance with standing order 7(e), I just wish to inform the House that tonight’s evening meeting is cancelled.

I forgot to mention earlier that today’s page captain, Havana—her father has joined us for today’s legislative question period: Mr. Richard Thibodeau, from a place so nice we named it twice, Wawa.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Support Gender-Affirming Health Care.

“Whereas two-spirit, transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex communities face significant challenges to accessing health care services that are friendly, competent, and affirming in Ontario;

“Whereas everyone deserves access to health care, and they shouldn’t have to fight for it, shouldn’t have to wait for it, and should never receive less care or support because of who they are;

“Whereas gender-affirming care is life-saving care;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the reintroduction of a private member’s bill to create an inclusive and representative committee to advise the Ministry of Health on how to realize accessible and equitable access to and coverage for gender-affirming health care in Ontario.”

I would like to bring the petition forward to the table, and I would provide this to our page Camilla.

This is to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Support Gender-Affirming Health Care.

“Whereas two-spirit, transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex communities face significant challenges to accessing health care services that are friendly, competent, and affirming in Ontario;

“Whereas everyone deserves access to health care, and they shouldn’t have to fight for it, shouldn’t have to wait for it, and should never receive less care or support because of who they are;

“Whereas gender-affirming care is life-saving care;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the reintroduction of a private member’s bill to create an inclusive and representative committee to advise the Ministry of Health on how to realize accessible and equitable access to and coverage for gender-affirming health care in Ontario.”

I absolutely support this. I affix my signature and I’ll hand it to Alex to bring to the Clerks’ table.

I have a whack of petitions here. I was pleased to join people at the #HandsOffTheGreenbelt rally in Pickering this past weekend—people like Mike Borie, Jeff O’Donnell and Wayne Ellis—who said the following:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Bills 23 and 39 are the Ford government’s latest attempt to remove protected lands from the greenbelt, allowing developers to bulldoze and pave over 7,000 acres of farmland in the greenbelt;

“Whereas Ontario is already losing 319.6 acres of farmland and green space daily to development;

“Whereas the government’s Housing Affordability Task Force found there are plenty of places to build homes without destroying the greenbelt;

“Whereas Ford’s repeated moves to tear up farmland and bulldoze wetlands have never been about housing, but are about rewarding PC donors and making the rich richer;

“Whereas green spaces and farmland are what we rely on to grow our food, support natural habitats and prevent flooding;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately stop all plans to remove what has long been protected land from the greenbelt, pass the NDP’s Protecting Agricultural Land Act, and protect irreplaceable farmland in the province of Ontario.”

I’m happy to present this petition from Ontarians who are being served by Hamilton Health Sciences, and it reads as follows:

“Petition to Protect Patient Care in Operating Rooms at Hamilton Health Sciences....

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas patients requiring surgery have complex care needs, some of which are urgent or life-threatening diseases and under anesthetic can become unstable, unpredictable, quickly change or deteriorate; and

“Whereas a scrub nurse is a member of the surgical team who provides a surgeon with instruments while maintaining a sterile environment, acts on and anticipates their requests, prepares medications, assists with retraction of tissue, communicates to circulating registered nurses (RNs) patient care needs, and responds in emergencies; and

“Whereas more health care providers are needed to address the surgical backlog, but surgical patients need a regulated nurse in a scrub nurse role who has the education, training and qualifications of a diploma or degree and a specialized credential in surgical nursing that makes them knowledgeable, expertly skilled and experienced, and anything less puts patient safety at risk; and

“Whereas Hamilton Health Sciences’s new surgical model of care is to replace nurses who perform the scrub nurse role in operating rooms, with unregulated operating room assistants (ORAs); and

“Whereas Hamilton Health Sciences’s actions to replace nurses with unregulated health care providers erodes the standard of care that patients will receive because ORAs cannot respond to patient care needs and they are not accountable to the public for the care they provide; and

“Whereas the Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada (ORNAC) recommends that the scrub nurse role be performed only by nurses; and

“Whereas cutting nursing care in operating rooms means patients can suffer from unnecessary complications or death because of unrecognized care needs, delayed care, miscommunication, or errors;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“Immediately stop operating room assistants from performing the scrub nurse role at Hamilton Health Sciences;

“Stop any further plans to cut and replace registered nurses within the operation rooms at Hamilton Health Sciences;

“Cease the new surgical model of care that replaces scrub nurses with operating room assistants because it does not adhere to Hamilton Health Sciences’s mission to provide excellent health care to the community it serves.”

I am very happy to present this petition. There are 802 signatures on it, with 90% of them residents from Hamilton and the surrounding communities. I want to thank the registered nurses for advocating for patient safety. I’m proud to affix my name to this petition, and I’m going to send it to the table with page Mabel.

The petition I have is titled “Petition to Save Eye Care in Ontario.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the Ontario government has underfunded optometric eye care for 30 years; and

“Whereas the government only pays on average $44.65 for an OHIP-insured visit—the lowest rate in Canada; and

“Whereas optometrists are being forced to pay substantially out of their own pocket to provide over four million services each year to Ontarians under OHIP; and

“Whereas optometrists have never been given a formal negotiation process with the government; and

“Whereas the government’s continued neglect resulted in 96% of Ontario optometrists voting to withdraw OHIP services beginning September 1, 2021;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To instruct the Ontario government to immediately commit to legally binding, formal negotiations to ensure any future OHIP-insured optometry services are, at a minimum, funded at the cost of delivery.”

It’s my pleasure to present this on behalf of Mary-Louise Hitchon from Wharncliffe Optometry, FYidoctors.

I move that, whereas all Ontarians have the right to adequate housing; and

Whereas to ensure an adequate supply of housing, Ontario must build 1.5 million new market and non-market homes over the next decade; and

Whereas the for-profit private market by itself will not, and cannot, deliver enough homes that are affordable and meet the needs of Ontarians of all incomes, ages, family sizes, abilities and cultures; and

Whereas the housing policies of successive PC and Liberal provincial governments have relied almost entirely on the for-profit private market to deliver new housing; and

Whereas these housing policies have focused on delivering profits for investors, rather than homes for people, and thus have failed to ensure that newly built homes are actually affordable and meet the needs of all Ontarians; and

Whereas these housing policies have failed to end exclusionary zoning, and have blocked access to affordable and adequate housing options in the neighbourhoods where people want to live; and

Whereas these policies have encouraged more speculative and market bubbles, and have driven up the costs of housing beyond the reach of ordinary Ontarians; and

Whereas these failed housing policies have put tenants at increased risk of rent gouging, eviction and displacement, and have threatened the inclusivity and vibrancy of growing neighbourhoods; and

Whereas these failed housing policies will sacrifice more irreplaceable farmland, natural heritage and greenbelt lands to costly and unsustainable urban sprawl, putting Ontario’s food security at risk;

Therefore, the Legislative Assembly calls on the Ontario government to implement a comprehensive housing plan that ensures the right of all Ontarians to adequate housing, including ending exclusionary zoning and enabling access to affordable and adequate housing options in all neighbourhoods; stabilizing housing markets and stopping harmful speculation; establishing a strong public role in the funding, delivery, acquisition and protection of an adequate supply of affordable and non-market homes; protecting tenants from rent gouging and displacement, and ensuring the inclusivity of growing neighbourhoods; and focusing growth efficiently and sustainably within existing urban boundaries, while protecting irreplaceable farmland, wetlands, the greenbelt and other natural heritage from costly and unsustainable urban sprawl.

Ms. Bell has moved opposition day number 3.

The member for University–Rosedale.

I’m proud to rise today to speak to our opposition day motion to ensure that every Ontarian has a safe and affordable home that they can afford, that is their own.

In Ontario today, we have a housing affordability crisis. In Toronto, we have over 10,000 people who are homeless; they’ve got no homes. They’re sleeping on couches. They are living in parks, in encampments. They are trying to access overcrowded shelters that are full most nights, and they have nowhere else to go.

When it comes to the rental market, we are seeing rents that are at record levels. That might be very good for investors, but it is horrible for Ontarians who cannot afford to pay the rent and pay for their bills and pay for food, especially at a time when we have an inflationary crisis that is, in particular, affecting our housing sector and our food sector. It is scary.

We also have a situation where the dream of home ownership has gone up in smoke.

This government has been in power for four years and a bit now. They’ve had four and a half years to address the housing affordability crisis. Have home prices gone up or down? They’ve gone up. Have rental prices gone up or down? They’ve gone up.

There is the classic saying—the Canadian dream—that if you work hard, you will be able to afford a home that you will one day own. In Ontario today, if you work hard, you will be lucky to find an apartment that you can afford to rent. That is how bad it has gotten.

We now have Alberta putting advertisements in the Toronto subway system, encouraging Ontarians to move to a cheaper province and to take their skill set with them. These are teachers, nurses, paramedics, librarians, tradespeople, baggage handlers. They’re leaving. We now have a net exodus of people moving away from Ontario to other provinces, and it is mostly because this province has become too unaffordable. The reason why it has become so unaffordable is because it is too expensive to find a home to rent and it is too expensive to find a home to own. Why would you stay in a city where you can no longer afford or ever afford a down payment? Why would you stay in a city where you now pay more in rent than someone pays in a mortgage if they bought a home 10 or more years ago; today, people who are renting pay more. Why would you stay in a city where you spend 50% of your paycheque paying off an investor’s mortgage and the chance of you having your own mortgage to pay off has gone up in smoke?

That is this government’s legacy and the Liberal government’s legacy. It is not just the federal government’s responsibility. It is the provincial government’s responsibility as well.

What I find so challenging is that this government says, “Yes, we have a housing crisis”—they have a hard time saying the word “affordable,” but they acknowledge that there is a housing crisis, and then they introduce a bill like Bill 23, which outlines their myth of a road map to get us out of this housing affordability crisis. When I look at Bill 23, I am honestly shocked at its impact on renters, on municipal budgets, on affordable housing, on the greenbelt, on the farmland, and I want to go through this with the time that I have.

This government, with Bill 23, is cutting funding to affordable housing. You’re going to make it so that developers do not have to pay their housing services fee of $1,000 per unit, which goes to affordable housing programs and shelters. That’s what Bill 23 does.

This government, with Bill 23, is cutting the definition of affordable housing. So if a developer builds a home that is quasi-affordable, at 80% of market rent or 80% of the sale price, then they get to have their development fees eliminated. But when we look at the definition of affordable, we see that a one-bedroom condo in downtown Toronto for $440,000 is affordable, according to this government. That is not affordable. You need to earn over $130,000 a year for that to be affordable. That is a shame.

This government is doing nothing in Bill 23 to lower rent—nothing. This government is doing nothing to bring in real rent control so renters are protected from eviction and can build their lives because they’re protected from eviction in a community. They’re doing nothing about it. In fact, what they’re doing is making it worse.

With Bill 23, this government is going to make it easier for developers to set their sights on purpose-built rentals and say, “Well, that area is already zoned for height, so we are going to demolish that purpose-built rental and build a luxury condo.” Those renters who used to have the right to return to that building once construction is complete will no longer be able to do that, which means that all these affordable private market rentals that exist in the city of Toronto, in my riding—health care workers live in these buildings; seniors live in these buildings—are gone. And luxury condos that retail for $3,000 a month in rent, if the owner chooses to rent them out, won’t even be protected with rent control.

That’s your idea of achieving housing affordability in Ontario today. Well, it’s not going to achieve its goal. It’s that simple.

We are calling for a better vision, and I’m going to summarize it now.

Yes, we have a housing supply crisis. We need to build 1.5 million homes to meet demand for current Ontarians who are living in their parents’ basements or are living two families to a purpose-built rental because they can’t afford to branch out on their own. Yes, we need to build homes for future Ontarians as well—no question. But we shouldn’t be building 600-square-foot condos and 3,000-square-foot McMansion monster homes, because they’re not affordable or too small. We need to build homes that meet the needs of Ontarians. We need to build homes for the people who intend to buy them and then live in them, so that they can raise children in them, have pets in them, retire in them, but we’re not doing that. This government is more interested in helping developers and speculators than it is in helping everyday Ontarians find the home that they need. That is a shame.

We are calling for measures to bring forward zoning reform.

We are calling for measures to increase the number of people who are working in the trades, through increased immigration and recruiting people from high schools, so we can ramp up construction.

We are calling for government investment in the housing sector by establishing an entity called “Housing Ontario” to build housing at cost—250,000 homes over 10 years. This isn’t pie in the sky. The city of Toronto is already doing it. They have the Housing Now program where they’re building non-market and for-profit homes on public land at cost in order to provide homes for people. Some of them are affordable. Some of them are rentals. Some of them are condos. They’re doing it. Why aren’t we? We have over 6,000 properties available to access where we can build housing. Why aren’t we doing that? We’re not, but we should be.

We need to augment that—because it’s not just about supply; it’s also about affordability—with real rent control on all units, new and old. We need to bring in vacancy control so there’s a cap on how much the rent can be raised once a tenant leaves, because that will provide protection and stability for renters.

We need to build supportive housing and affordable housing, because there are so many people in Ontario who will never be served by the private market. They need the helping hand of government to provide them with a supportive home and an affordable home so they can rebuild their lives and live good lives.

That’s what we are calling for.

I urge you to support this motion, because this is the true path towards addressing our housing affordability crisis so everyone in Ontario can have a safe and affordable home.

I appreciate the opportunity to give some brief words on this motion.

Madam Speaker, as you know, of course, housing affordability has been something that the government has been seized with since day one of its mandate. In fact, it was one of the principal things that the Premier and this government brought forward back in 2018. It didn’t just start with this piece of legislation. It started with a number of pieces of legislation. It started with the Transit-Oriented Communities Act, which was to build upon the amazing work that is being done with respect to transit and transportation across Ontario.

I know we like to focus, a lot of the time, on the GTA and the great work that is happening in Toronto with the subways that could never be built that are now being built. But building up along those transit corridors—it’s also GO trains, which are being extended across the province of Ontario, and the Ontario Northland, which is being brought back. So we’re rebuilding those transit corridors and ensuring that there is proper housing in those corridors so that people have more options to find affordable accommodation. That has been one of the driving forces of what this government has been doing.

The member talks about affordability, but the reality is, of course, that we have also been seized with affordability, because we knew that when we took office back in 2018 there was no such thing as affordability. We all remember the high cost of energy in the province of Ontario. It was scheduled to go up, colleagues, about 18%. We put a stop to that. We said that was inappropriate. We remember the high cost of doing business in the province of Ontario. We removed some $7 billion in fees and taxes on our small, medium and large job creators so that they could bring business back to the province of Ontario. Do you what that means? That means more people working in the province of Ontario—thousands of jobs coming back, manufacturers coming back—and that means more people wanting to have the dream of their first home.

When you put it together, colleagues, with the bills that we have before the House, when you put it together with the work that the Minister of Finance has been doing to make sure that people can grow businesses in the province of Ontario, can afford to live in the province of Ontario; the work that the Minister of Education has been doing to ensure that our students succeed like never before; the work that the Minister of Labour has been doing to ensure that we have the jobs and the skills so that we can fill those jobs—when you put it all together, you have a province that is on the move, a province that is optimistic, people who feel good about the opportunities to succeed in the province of Ontario like they have never done before. When they look at everywhere else, when they look at other provinces, when they look at other jurisdictions, it is Ontario that they emulate, and it is Ontario that they want to be like.

When I look at the work that the Minister of Mines is doing to ensure that the vast resources of the north, which were stalled, which you could not get at because of the policies of the NDP and the Liberals—that is now something that is happening in the province of Ontario. And it’s not just for the people of Ontario; it is for the entire world. That means jobs and opportunity, again, like we have never seen before in the province of Ontario.

Just last week, we had a bill, an opportunity, and there was some dissatisfaction that two bills were being debated at the same time and we couldn’t do committee work. So we did bring the motion to this House—put forth, of course, in good faith, because the opposition asked us to—to allow those committee hearings to continue. We wanted to do that again today, but the opposition, as they so often do, changed their mind. One day they’re for it; one day they’re against further debate. They talked about this bill: “Wow, people didn’t get a chance to talk to the bill.” Well, we did what they asked, didn’t we? They wanted us to travel the bill. We hear this all the time: “The House no longer travels bills.” Well, we did; we went to the communities that would be impacted. We went to Markham. We went to Brampton. The odd thing is, we couldn’t fill those days—there were not enough people who were against the bill that we could fill those two days. In fact—

That is why we have a bill before the Legislature right now—we have a bill that is in committee that deals with the exact thing that is in the motion. The exact issues that the member has raised are actually being debated at committee right now—well, they’re supposed to be, but they don’t want to do their job.

We have put down real policies that will positively impact people across this province, and we have said from the beginning that we will not delay. We have to do this work. We have to continue to keep the province moving. We have to build these homes. We have to provide opportunity in all parts of the province of Ontario, but especially for the people in the ridings where NDP members are. It is up to us on the Conservative side to do the work that the NDP won’t do in their own ridings. So it is for those people, it is for the people who are so disappointed—now, fortunately, there are fewer ridings that actually have this problem, because so many more Conservatives have been elected.

For those people who want housing; for those people who want to continue the prosperity that we’ve seen in the province of Ontario; for those people who think that Ontario can continue to grow and prosper; for those who are thinking to themselves, “I want a new home, I want a rental property, I want the opportunity that my families have had”; and for all of those people sitting and wondering why a bill that is before the House right now can’t get back to the House, Madam Speaker, I move the adjournment of this debate.

Further debate?

All those in favour of the motion, say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion, say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Call in the members. This is a 30-minute bell.

The division bells rang from 1338 to 1408.

All those in favour of the motion, please rise and remain standing to be counted by the Clerk.

All those opposed to the motion, please rise and remain standing to be counted by the Clerk.

Debate adjourned.

The House adjourned at 1410.

You gave so little time.

The ayes are 70; the nays are 24.