I want to thank the member for the question. As I’ve said in this House many times, everyone has a right to feel safe in their own homes and their own communities.

Let me give you a few examples as to how Ontario’s police services are stepping up and making a real difference. A joint force investigation by OPP and LaSalle police seized more than two kilograms of cocaine near Windsor, and just a month ago in Fort Frances, four were charged with drug trafficking following the seizure of $100,000 worth of cocaine and a cache of firearms. Earlier this year, Ottawa Police Service was able to take 46 firearms destined for criminals and criminal organizations off the street.

I want to thank the brave men and women of the OPP, LaSalle Police Service and the Ottawa Police Service for taking actions to keep us safe. We will always have your backs.

Monsieur le Président, nous continuerons de faire ce qui est difficile, et nous continuerons de réaliser ce qui est difficile, pour assurer la sécurité de l’Ontario.

We just heard this past Thursday about the great work of the Toronto Police Service, and we’re proud that this investigation was partially funded by the government of Ontario. Toronto Police Service seized an amazing 671 kilograms of illicit drugs with an estimated street value of over $58 million. This is the largest single-day drug bust in the service’s history. I would like to thank and congratulate Chief James Ramer and all the front-line officers who were involved in this historic bust.

Monsieur le Président, grâce au travail de la police, les Ontariens se sentent en sécurité dans leurs communautés, aujourd’hui et tous les jours.

My question is to the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. The Ontario Disability Support Program has required modernization for many years. As parliamentary assistant for the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility, I heard it from many impacted groups as well as from my constituents in Richmond Hill.

After 15 years of inaction and neglect under the previous Liberal government, our most vulnerable were significantly disadvantaged. It was wrong for the previous government to have ignored those in need for all those years, forcing them to work in a system that was outdated and unresponsive.

With the release of the fall economic statement, our government has shown leadership in addressing these long-standing concerns. Can the minister elaborate further on what progress we have made in implementing the most significant overhaul of ODSP?

I would like to take the opportunity to share what the Daily Bread Food Bank had to say in response to our recent actions: “The provincial decision to index ODSP will ensure that future hikes do not deteriorate into a debate over the worthiness of government expenditures. The depoliticization through annual inflationary adjustment of future hikes is laudable.”

While our government appreciates this recognition, we also know that we have had long-standing challenges with ODSP for over a decade. What else is our government doing to support those Ontarians who depend on ODSP?

My question is for the Premier. The Premier and his government recently went against the city of Hamilton’s decision to expand the urban boundary. He did this despite overwhelming public support to hold the boundary, and he made 2,200 acres of farmland available for use to his developer friends and donors. This action will lead to unnecessary sprawl, environmental problems, unaffordable neighbourhoods and further commutes to work.

Why does the Premier think it is okay to ignore the decisions of Hamilton city council and our community?

Will the Premier commit to leaving the greenbelt alone in Hamilton and actually listen to the Hamilton residents and stop Bill 23?

I thank the member from Richmond Hill for that important question. Aligning ODSP rates to inflation is a key priority for government so that vulnerable people get more support to pay for life’s essentials, especially during periods of high inflation. This is a historic transformation for the delivery of ODSP in this province, and I’m proud of the work that’s being done across government, including with my colleagues the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

In the fall economic statement, Ontario’s Plan to Build, our government outlined that the first-ever adjustment of rates to inflation will occur in July 2023. This change will put more money in the pockets of the people who need it most, to spend on the essentials of life.

The fall economic statement also includes a 400% increase to the threshold of the earnings exemption. That change will empower people with disabilities who can and want to work. It will give them a real opportunity to tap into their skills and talents, to contribute to their local economy and support their family without fear of losing their health benefits. That fivefold increase will allow 25,000 people receiving ODSP who are also working to keep more of their earnings and could encourage as many as another 25,000 to enter the workforce.

Our government is continuing to do this important work, helping our most vulnerable people, continuing to create solutions that respond to the needs of individuals to ensure they have the support that they need.

My question is to the Premier. Tenants in two buildings in my riding, 55 Quebec Avenue and 50 High Park Avenue, are facing rent increases of more than 11%. That’s almost five times more than the provincial rent increase guideline for 2023. Speaker, this impacts over 1,000 tenants in High Park alone, including seniors and young families. Many are worried they will be forced to move out.

The Premier made these increases legal when he ended rent control on new buildings in 2018. Will he fix his mistake and extend rent control protections to all units?

The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Speaker, I made my intention crystal clear to the city of Hamilton. I actually wrote an op-ed cautioning the city against the frozen boundary because, at the same time, their own planning staff made recommendations on properties that should be developed, and they ignored them. Over and over again, Hamilton city hall wanted to have it both ways. They didn’t want to intensify within the city, and they didn’t want to extend the boundary.

We’re facing an incredible rising cost of housing because of these delays. Hamilton has some big challenges with housing affordability. We needed to ensure that this official plan set up the community for success so they were able to meet the growth targets we were projecting. Putting your head in the sand and not recognizing that things needed to change is not an option, and we adjusted the official plan accordingly.

Interjections.

It’s expected that the city of Hamilton’s population is going to grow by more than 800,000 people by 2051. Again, according to the city of Hamilton’s own planners, the existing urban boundaries could not keep pace with that projected growth. We cannot deal with the status quo. That is the biggest problem in municipal politics right now when it comes to housing. The status quo doesn’t work. We need to do more. We need to build more, and we need to ensure that we work with the new mayors, like Andrea Horwath in Hamilton, to ensure that she has the tools to be successful.

In addition, the government, in the middle of the pandemic, placed a number of rental protections forward. The Attorney General did a great job in ensuring that evictions were paused during the pandemic. We interceded this year on those properties that were rent-controlled to invoke the cap to provide further protection.

As well, since the pandemic began, we’ve provided municipalities over $1.2 billion to support our most vulnerable, including encouraging them to create robust rent banks to ensure that our most vulnerable are protected.

We’ll continue to work towards it. I just wish that, when we place these measures forward, the member opposite—

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member from Niagara West, who is acutely aware of how vital tourism is for businesses and families. Tourism supports almost 400,000 jobs across our province. Tourism activity has recently reached its highest level since the onset of the pandemic, and our government support is helping Ontario’s tourism and the industry re-emerge as an economic powerhouse. We provided $200 million in targeted funding to address the challenges that affected every segment of tourism.

This year, we’re encouraging everyone to explore Ontario and support local tourism with the Ontario Staycation Tax Credit. All signs point to great growth. Domestic and foreign visitors are travelling to Ontario again, thankfully. Attractions, sporting events, festivals and concerts have welcomed back in-person fans and audiences. Hotels and restaurants are filling up again.

I know the industry continues to face challenges, but I’m very confident they will continue to get better—

Interjection.

We’re investing in Niagara: for example, more than $1.5 million this year to our Reconnect Ontario fund for festivals and events ranging from the Niagara Grape and Wine Festival to Niagara Falls Music Live.

One of the ministry’s strategic priorities in 2022-23 is supporting tourism in the Niagara Falls region by working with the impacted sectors and the region to recover to pre-pandemic tourism levels and beyond. It’s important to get past where we were. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with a number of stakeholders: the Niagara Parks Commission, tourist attraction operators and hoteliers. They are ready to grow and ready to go.

Recent reports have shown that housing starts in Canada have decreased by 11% compared to the previous month.

The ongoing housing supply shortage concerns many hard-working Ontarians in my riding. Individuals and families are worried about their economic futures and the ability to achieve their dream of home ownership.

Mr. Speaker, the other day, my niece, who is a civil engineer, posed a question to me. She said, “Uncle, you and Mom are lucky because you and your generation can buy a house. Our generation cannot buy a house. We are unfortunate.” Imagine, two professionals, my niece and her husband, with good-paying jobs—they cannot afford to buy a house in Ontario.

Our government must take bold and decisive action now to help those who have felt left behind in the housing market. Can the Associate Minister of Housing please share with us what our government is doing to deliver on our mandate of building 1.5 million homes in Ontario?

Having a roof over your head is exactly why the government, in 2018, dealt with this exemption, so that we could have the type of climate that we experienced in 2021.

The fact of the matter is, Speaker, we had the most rental construction in over 30 years, and that’s something that helps all tenants in the province. We’re going to continue to work with our partners to increase the supply of housing. That’s why, in Bill 23, the deepest development charge discounts for purpose-built rental are family and affordable rentals. We want to encourage—we want to keep building upon the success of the rent control exemption by providing further incentive to build that type of rental housing that I think we can all agree we need again right across this province.

Thank you to the member opposite for the question.

Our government has consistently been committed to adapting to the realities that vulnerable people are facing with issues such as high inflation. We are looking at making sure they have the supports they need. That’s why we’ve given the ODSP rates the increase of decades—never been done before by previous governments. The 5% is a historic increase. We’ve aligned it with inflation, understanding that inflation increases create a real hardship for people. And we’ve made the earnings exemption—we’ve quintupled; a 400% increase to that earnings exemption, lifting people up, making sure they’re getting connected to the workforce as needed. And we’re supporting those who can’t work. But we know to have meaningful work, to create an environment in their communities, in their families, working with the Ministry of Labour and also working with the Minister of Health, working with the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, to understand all the other supports we’ve put in there—

The announcement in the fall economic statement is a game-changer. That’s what our colleagues in the community said—that was Mark Wafer.

The advocacy of many over the past few years has resulted in an exciting new future for Ontarians with disabilities, who will now have more money in their pockets while contributing for themselves, their families and the economy at large.

We will continue to do this important work because we know how important it is for people who can work and those who cannot.

Thank you. The supplementary question.

Rent banks are not the answer; rent control is.

My constituent Ben lives at 55 Quebec Avenue and is facing an increase of 11.6%. He’s a single dad who already spends 60% of his take-home pay on rent. Now he will be paying an extra $300 per month on top of that.

Ben lives in a new building that doesn’t need any major repairs or upgrades. He doesn’t understand why this kind of predatory increase is legal. Can the minister explain to Ben why he’s allowing these kinds of predatory rent increases instead of helping Ontarians keep a roof over their head?

Many families in the Niagara region rely on tourism directly and indirectly for their jobs and their livelihoods. From tourist attractions on Lundy’s Lane to the numerous wineries stretching from Grimsby to Niagara-on-the-Lake to the northern shore of Lake Erie, there are world-class destinations that showcase Niagara’s beauty and diversity.

However, while we see that the tourism sector is recovering from the pandemic, some businesses are still struggling, and we know that that’s because they were hit first and hardest. So I’m wondering if the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport could tell the House a little bit more about what the government is doing to ensure the tourism sector is recovering from COVID, now and going forward?

Restaurants, hotels and small businesses all benefit from tourism dollars, and when those tourism dollars drop, we all feel the impact. Not only is it essential to sustain Niagara’s tourism sector, but it’s equally important to build upon its historic strength and its reputation moving forward. Could the minister commit to an aggressive strategy to support Niagara’s tourism sector today and going forward?

I want to thank my honourable colleague for the question and certainly for the advocacy he does in his community when it comes to housing.

My colleague is right. Nationwide housing starts did fall, and our province wasn’t immune to this. There are global factors at play here that go beyond what our government can control, like high interest rates and the rising cost of building materials. And while we would like to see more from our federal counterparts, we never said the road ahead will be easy for Ontarians, and we never said that there won’t be bumps along the way.

But if we continue to work together and make changes for the things that we can control, like approval delays and unnecessary fees, and by introducing legislation every year for the next four years, I am confident that, under the leadership of Premier Ford, we will get the job done and we will deliver on our promise to build 1.5 million homes for Ontarians in the next decade.

Our municipal partners play a huge role when it comes to the number of housing starts. In fact, not only have we sent 29 of the largest and fastest-growing municipalities housing targets, we also have allocated more than $45 million under the Streamline Development Approval Fund to help Ontario’s 39 largest municipalities modernize their approval processes. And we have also introduced strong-mayor legislation to give local municipalities the tools they need to get more shovels in the ground and do them faster. We are serious about solving the housing crisis in our province and we are willing to work with all levels of government to once again give back the dream of home ownership to all Ontarians.

Mr. Speaker, my message to the member’s niece is: We will not give up on you. You will realize the dream of home ownership under this government.

Ma question est pour la ministre des Transports.

As you know, winter road maintenance is an issue for northern Ontario. However, there are many other factors that come into play for road safety. As storms make their way and highways shut down, many of the accidents are caused involving transport trucks.

I know that the minister receives daily reports from the MTO regarding our roads. Drivers are assigned long hauls on our northern highways with little to no experience driving in winter conditions. We have seen how many lives have been lost over the years. Their inexperience is putting our residents’ lives at risk. What will your ministry do to address the lack of training and experience on winter road conditions of these drivers and the training providers?

« À l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario :

« Alors que les Ontariennes et les Ontariens devraient obtenir des soins de santé en fonction de leurs besoins—et non de la taille de leur portefeuille;

« Alors que le premier ministre, Doug Ford, et la ministre de la Santé, Sylvia Jones, ont déclaré qu’ils prévoyaient privatiser certaines parties des soins de santé;

« Alors que la privatisation poussera les infirmières, les médecins et les PSSP hors de nos hôpitaux publics, aggravant ainsi la crise des soins de santé;

« Alors que la privatisation se termine toujours avec une facture pour les patients;

« Par conséquent, nous, soussignés, demandons à l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario d’arrêter immédiatement tous les plans visant à privatiser davantage le système de soins de santé de l’Ontario et de résoudre la crise des soins de santé en :

« —abrogeant la loi 124 et recrutant, retenant et respectant les médecins, les infirmières et les PSSP avec de meilleurs salaires et conditions de travail;

« —certifiant les titres de compétences de dizaines de milliers d’infirmières et d’autres professionnels de la santé formés à l’étranger déjà en Ontario, qui attendent des années et paient des milliers de dollars pour être autorisés à travailler;

« —rendant l’éducation et la formation gratuites ou peu coûteuses pour les infirmières, les médecins et les autres professionnels de la santé;

« —incitant les médecins et les infirmières à choisir de vivre et travailler dans le nord de l’Ontario;

« —finançant les hôpitaux pour qu’ils aient suffisamment d’infirmières à chaque quart de travail, dans chaque département. »

Je supporte cette motion. Je vais la signer et demander à Mabel d’aller porter la pétition en avant au « Clerk ».

Thank you to the associate minister for that answer. Ontario’s population is steadily increasing, but housing construction is not keeping pace. With Ontario families feeling disadvantaged due to the housing supply shortage, it is clear that we must take action now to work with all levels of government to respond to this issue. We must take the initiative to empower our municipalities, as they play a crucial role in supporting Ontario’s housing needs.

Speaker, can the Associate Minister of Housing please share how our government works with our municipal leaders to prioritize housing supply?

I was going to do the same point of order. But I want to say to the tourist minister, I’m glad you did do it, because I know you’re a Hamilton Ti-Cat fan. I’m an Argo fan, so congratulations to the Argos. It was one of the best Grey Cups I’ve watched in a long time, 24-23.

Let’s have a great parade for them. They deserve it.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t congratulate the winners of the 109th Grey Cup game that was played in Saskatchewan, these Toronto Argonauts. Congratulations, boys.

Interjections.