My question is to the Premier. Not only is the city of St. Catharines concerned with Bill 23, so is the Niagara regional council. Niagara regional council sent the minister a letter outlining how problematic Bill 23 is. They say it will have significant financial impacts and will result in fewer affordable housing units. The government plans to pave over the greenbelt, as well as put municipalities under serious financial strain, just to help their developer friends make millions of dollars.

Under Bill 23, we will lose 7,000 acres of prime farmland. Some of it is the best in the world. We must protect our food security. My question is clear. To the Premier: Has the Premier consulted with the municipalities affected by this bill? And will you meaningfully address the concerns of Niagara?

I’m pleased to address some of the investments we’ve made in the Landlord and Tenant Board. I can tell you, after no investments by the previous government, after no effort, we are picking up the pieces. They were supported by the NDP before that, and they did nothing but watch the system crumble.

But our government has invested. We have invested $28 million in a state-of-the-art system that is up and running and receiving applications in the tens of thousands. I am proud to stand on the fact that we’ve appointed more adjudicators than in the history of the board. We put $4.5 million into speeding up the process.

It’s unfortunate that what they left to go fallow has resulted in us having to pick up the pieces, but we will do it. We will get the job done.

We’re also putting resources into making sure that the system helps people navigate. There’s a new navigation tool that is being accessed in the tens of thousands. The online system that we adopted and changed for Ontario’s use was created by the NDP government of BC. We are working collaboratively with all partners to make sure that we’re getting the hearings done, that they’re independent, and that fair and just results are the outcome.

When I listen to that question, it just again rings true, the desire by some municipalities to delay the reason for change. There’s a generation in St. Catharines that don’t realize the dream of home ownership. Delaying the decision is going to make things worse. We need to be sure that we get shovels in the ground faster.

It’s quite interesting that the member talks about development charges when I see that the region of Niagara has $206 million in their DC reserve fund. We know there’s a severe problem. We know we have to build 1.5 million homes over the next years. In fact, as the Premier said this morning, with the amount of new Canadians we’re going to be welcoming to Ontario, we need to step that up even more.

Interjection.

We consulted mayors. The Premier and I had a meeting in January with big city mayors and regional chairs.

The NDP can deny this all they want, but clearly there are factual studies that show that municipal fees add an average of $116,900 to the cost of a home in the greater Golden Horseshoe. If the NDP want to stand up for high fees and high housing costs, they can do it. They can do it all they want. We’re going to stand up for building more supply and providing affordable opportunities. We want to make sure that that young family can realize the dream of home ownership.

My question is for the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. Ontario is at a critical juncture. We must welcome more immigrants into our province to meet our ongoing and future economic needs. We have seen reports from all sectors of the economy warning about the low number of immigrants welcomed into Ontario and its adverse impact on our economy. For example, nearly 75% of businesses in the farming industry say they are suffering because of the current labour shortage.

With the release of the federal government’s fall economic statement, can the minister please tell us what effect this will have on how Ontario addresses our immigration and skilled trades deficit?

I remind members to make their comments through the Chair, not directly across the floor of the House.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to reply.

Supplementary question? The member for Niagara Falls.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

My question is to the Premier. Niagara is in a unique position because our city councils are still meeting. Your housing bill has been met with considerable concern. St. Catharines city council voted unanimously, stating that there is nothing in this bill that advances more homes to be built faster or more affordable.

There are some big questions around slashing development charges, like who is paying for them? It appears to be a transfer of profits to the development industries at the expense of the community.

Premier, have you read the report from St. Catharines? And will you guarantee that municipal taxpayers will not be left on the hook for downloaded costs when you slash municipal revenue like development charges?

Thank you to the member for Markham–Thornhill for this very important question. Welcoming more immigrants is critical to Ontario and Canada’s economic success, and we need the federal government to make a real commitment to working with us. For our province and for our country to succeed, Ottawa must dramatically increase the number of skilled newcomers who come to Ontario, and give us more of a say.

Our government is leading the way in Canada in recognizing foreign credentials and breaking down other barriers that newcomers face. We need the federal government to join us at the table today.

My question is for the Premier. McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton has reached a crisis point where occupancy has reached over 140%. I’m not confident that the Premier or his minister understand the severity of this situation. Children are critically ill. Parents are terrified. Health care professionals are calling for action. McMaster is ringing the alarm bells.

What is the Premier going to do to ensure hospitals have the resources and the capacities to provide hospital care to our children?

I have to ask, because the member opposite has been in this chamber for many, many years: Where were you when the Auditor General talked about the fact that northern Ontario was facing a physician shortage in their Auditor General’s report when the Liberal Party was in power? Where were you?

Are you willing to stand and agree that increasing the number of physician positions available in northern Ontario in rural and remote communities across Canada is the appropriate thing for us to do?

Where were you when the Liberal government was cutting those spots in northern Ontario?

We have made the investments. We will continue to make the investments. We have a northern medical school that is expanding the number of residency positions. We are expanding—

We are making those investments now. We will continue to make those investments. We are doing it with investments in peer-to-peer programs. We are making it with investments in Ornge air ambulance to ensure that northern and remote hospitals make sure that they have coverage in their emergency department.

We will continue to make those changes. We will continue to work with our hospital corporations, and we will make sure that, in the future, we do not deal with health human resources that were as a result of governments ignoring a pending surge in population and a need to make those investments.

Thanks to the member for Durham for the great question this morning. I want to start off by recognizing the amazing job that Ontario’s nuclear workers are doing every day to keep the lights on in Pickering, at Darlington and also at Bruce Power. Pickering provides Ontario with a source of low-cost and reliable zero-emissions electricity every day to meet the province’s baseload energy needs, not like the intermittent wind and solar projects that were brought on—33,000 of them—by the previous government.

Our nuclear fleet, our world-class facilities—they’re providing power that’s available when we need it every day of the week. And at the same time, by supporting the safe continued operation of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, we are standing shoulder to shoulder with those workers in the Durham region—those good-paying jobs, those hard-working people that are providing the clean power that Ontario needs for the future.

Earlier this morning, in estimates, we heard from the member from Kingston, who seems to be opposed to nuclear energy, Mr. Speaker. We heard from the member opposite who is now the leader of the NDP, who seems to be opposed to nuclear energy. That source of electricity provides 60% of our electricity every day. It’s a zero-emission source of electricity, one that is the only pathway to get us to net zero in our province. The leader of the NDP in this House, Mr. Speaker, on dozens of occasions has spoken about the lack of support for nuclear in our province.

We’re standing firmly with the people of Pickering, the people in Darlington, the people in Bruce, who are providing low-cost, reliable and affordable electricity—

Thank you, Minister, for that answer.

Mr. Speaker, the number of job vacancies in our province continues to increase monthly. Many view Ontario as a favourable jurisdiction because of our untold economic opportunity and potential. As Ontario and Canada face economic challenges driven by global uncertainty, all governments must work together to address this issue.

I understand that in Ontario, we can process immigration nominee applications in as little as 90 days, while the federal government requires up to 46 months for the approval process. Because of this unnecessary extended time frame, Ontario and Canada continue to lose billions in economic productivity.

Mr. Speaker, can the minister explain what action our government is taking to address this important issue?

I want to thank the member again for that question.

Speaker, Ontario continues to urge the federal government to work with its provincial partners to expand programs that help fill labour gaps through immigration. I speak regularly with Minister Sean Fraser, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, and I’m hopeful we’ll be able to find common ground and make tangible progress on these issues. At minimum, we expect the federal government to double the number of immigrants Ontario can select, and we are ready to offer them our processing capacity.

It is critical that Ottawa address the ongoing application backlogs and approve applications more quickly so workers who want to come to Ontario can arrive and enter the labour market without unnecessary delays. My message to the federal government is simple: Let’s work together and build a stronger Ontario and a stronger Canada.

And the supplementary question.

The supplementary question.

The next question.

The physician shortage in northern Ontario small town hospitals is facing a crisis. With three of six physician positions soon to be vacant in Wawa, the hospital there is desperate for assistance from this government to help to prevent closures and staff burnout.

We’ve already seen ERs and primary care affected across the region in the north. What is this government doing to ensure that small northern hospitals will not have to close their doors to patients?

When concerns about keeping the doors open were expressed to the Ministry of Health officials, the ministry suggested, “Well, why don’t you just divert your primary care support to your emergency support?”

Speaker, this is a recipe for disaster. Without primary care, you’re setting up the system for failure. Will this government work with northern health care providers to recruit and retain doctors in the north?

The Minister of Health.

The supplementary question.

Investing in post-secondary students is critical to building a highly skilled workforce here in Ontario. For our economy to grow and become an economic leader once again, we must support our students in obtaining the relevant experience they need to get good jobs after graduation. When I talk to the good people in Etobicoke–Lakeshore, all those employers said, “We need people.” With the tens of thousands of well-paying highly skilled jobs going unfilled in our province, we must act now to connect students and businesses to these new skills and opportunities for advancement.

Could the Minister of Colleges and Universities update this House on how our government supports students in practical work-integrated learning?

While I’m encouraged to hear that our government is supporting our next generation of workers in this new economy, we need to be confident that all Ontario students will be able to participate. Many students require more selection in learning opportunities to accommodate their unique circumstances and needs.

Speaker, can the minister elaborate on what our government is doing to support these innovative partnerships and increase flexibility for student learning opportunities across Ontario’s post-secondary landscape?

I will reiterate what Dr. Kieran Moore mentioned earlier today, which was that our most vulnerable—our youngest population, people with underlying health conditions—need to be protected. Which is why, earlier today, Dr. Kieran Moore made the recommendation strongly to mask while in public indoor settings. We are taking these actions because we understand there is a percentage of the population who cannot have a vaccine.

Having said that, we have done incredibly well in the province of Ontario to have access and make sure that people who have the ability to have that vaccine get their flu shot, keep up to date on their vaccines and their boosters, because we know that it does make a difference. We know that it keeps our youngest and most vulnerable out of our emergency departments. We know that, by doing the right thing—testing, staying home when we’re sick—we can make a difference and we can take the pressure off those most vulnerable people in our population. I would hope that the member—

We will continue to work with our funding partners to make sure that they have the investments, but we also have a collective responsibility to make sure, individually, we do the right thing and keep our youngest people safe.

We are offering and expanding the number of ambulance paramedics that are training in the province of Ontario through investments in colleges and universities. We are building a health human resources that will be second to none in Canada. We will do that. We are doing it through the College of Nurses and the College of Physicians and Surgeons. We are doing it through our health system, through retention pay. We are doing it through an expansion of our human resources training in colleges with the assistance of our partners. And we will continue to do that work, because we understand that as Ontario’s population grows, we need to make sure that we have the jobs and the resources available for those people who need it when they need it.

Thank you to the member from Etobicoke–Lakeshore for that important and timely question. I say “timely” because, just last week, I was excited to announce that our government is providing over $10 million to help Mitacs, an organization that builds research partnerships between post-secondary institutions and industry, to create 2,700 paid internships for post-secondary students. We are so pleased to be supporting post-secondary students and partners through experiential learning programs like Mitacs that prepare students with skills and training needed for jobs in an innovative economy. They will not only help prepare students for the workforce through on-the-job learning but will also help to remove the stress of worrying about financial compensation.

Even further, Speaker, these internships allow employers to connect with emerging leaders in their fields, nurture talent and develop their industry.

Investing in skills training opportunities for students and recent graduates is part of our government’s plan to work for workers—supporting Ontario’s economic growth for positioning students and businesses for success.

We have made tremendous strides towards connecting students to work online or in person, part-time and full-time, across disciplines, across Ontario. In the last five years, Ontario has spent over $57 million to support Mitacs to create over 14,000 research internships, and over the next 10 years, we will be investing $500 million to support research opportunities across Ontario.

We will continue to invest in training our post-secondary students to prepare for the jobs of tomorrow, because when students succeed, Ontario succeeds.

Speaker, what the minister is talking about is what the community needs to do to support the hospital. I’m asking what the government is going to do to support the hospital. Empty words and gestures are not good enough. The Premier has offered no aid to McMaster, even though wait times have spiked to 12-plus hours just over this past weekend. His government is sitting on $2.1 billion of budget surplus dollars and they’re not spending it.

Will the Premier commit today to spending surplus dollars to support McMaster’s hospital and our pediatric care crisis?