My question is for the Attorney General. The number of people who face urgent housing situations in my riding has reached new peaks. I have both landlords and tenants reaching out for help to resolve their issues. However, the only help I am able to provide is to refer these constituents to the Landlord and Tenant Board. The problem is that these housing disputes are, by nature, urgent and pressing, which makes the long delays at the board a crisis for families in Ottawa–Vanier. People have to wait months for a hearing, and when they do get one, it is a short, summary affair with little time to find a just outcome. It is clear that the experiment of completely virtual hearings is not working for landlords, and it’s not working for tenants either.

My question is, will the Attorney General commit to reopening in-person hearing sites across the province so that we can have a hybrid system that provides landlords and tenants with access to justice in a timely manner?

Monsieur le Président, une propriétaire m’a récemment contactée pour me dire qu’elle n’avait pas reçu de loyer pendant six mois de la part des locataires, qui avaient barricadé la porte et refusé de quitter la propriété. À cause de ce non-paiement, la propriétaire n’a pas pu payer son loyer de sa propre maison, et elle et sa fille handicapée sont en train de se faire expulser. L’angoisse vécue par cette mère et sa fille et tant d’autres est due à la façon défaillante dont la Commission de la location immobilière planifie les audiences.

Le Centre ontarien de défense des droits des locataires et d’autres parties prenantes souhaitent un retour à la tenue d’audiences par région. Le procureur général a-t-il un plan pour mieux organiser les audiences afin de réduire les retards de la commission?

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.