I’m so pleased to rise today to debate the More Homes Built Faster Act, a bill that would, if passed, help tackle Ontario’s housing crisis and build more housing that meets the needs of people in every part of Ontario. I’ll be splitting my time with the member for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke.

But before I begin the bill that we’re discussing today, I want to acknowledge and thank all the stakeholders. I want to thank all the stakeholders and I want to thank all the staff, especially Minister Clark, Minister Parsa and PA Holland for all the work they did. I know they consulted all across Ontario, in every corner, to try to find solutions to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years—the contributions that people made, the practical insights. In every town, every city, every community in Ontario, people are looking for the same thing: They’re looking for affordable and attainable housing that meets the needs and goals of their budgets. Whether it’s a young person starting out in the market, a family that needs space, a senior couple that wants to move to different accommodations that opens up housing markets—we need more homes. It’s as simple as that.

We have to do something in this crisis that’s developed for demographics in our province. And the house prices in Ontario, they’ve tripled in the past 10 years. They’ve tripled in the past 10 years. We all have family and friends and children who would like to be in the housing market that are finding it very difficult. The answer is simple. We’re hearing it across the board, and the members opposite agree with us. We’re not hearing anybody say that the problem isn’t supply. The problem is supply, so we agree on the premise. We need to do something to build those 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years.

Cities are getting larger. Towns are getting spread out. It’s small towns, it’s rural areas, it’s cities, it’s everywhere. We have to do something, and we are doing something. It’s getting more difficult to find housing. It’s getting more expensive. Our government is going to bring a solution.

We’re committed to creating and growing strong and safe communities. To do so, we need to build the housing that fits the needs of people and families in every community across our great province. Ontarians deserve the opportunity to find the right home in the right place at the right price, and get away from government bureaucracy that is standing in the way. That’s why, as part of the More Homes Built Faster Act, we’re investing $2.5 million in the Ontario Land Tribunal to ensure disputes holding up housing growth are resolved faster.

When I think of the Ontario Land Tribunal, I think about the great work that we’ve done to date—that our government has done to date—to move things forward. I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge Marie Hubbard, who was the chair of the Ontario Land Tribunal. She was a force. Unfortunately, she has passed. She was a visionary. She had deep experience and she amassed a team of professionals who heard matters over the last several years, ably assisted by Greg Bishop, the associate chair. Together, they built a system that is working very well, but the need is even greater. So further investment in the resources for the Ontario Land Tribunal were needed, and I can tell you that Marie would be very proud of the work that we’re doing.

I just want, if I can, to mention a little bit about Marie’s background. She was such a force. I remember meeting her for the first time. I went into her office and she had a great command of how many files were lined up, what kinds of files, the kind of work that needed to be done, what the time frames looked like, and she helped shepherd when we brought five different land tribunals together into one land tribunal. It was phenomenal. I left that meeting with her and I thought to myself—I didn’t just think to myself, I actually said to my assistant, “I want to be Marie Hubbard when I grow up. She is in such command of what she does, and she has such a handle on what needs to happen.”

I just want to read a little bit from a piece in Clarington that was posted when she passed and part of her bio: “Marie Hubbard was appointed to the Ontario Municipal Tribunal ... in 1997. Six years later, in 2003, Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant appointed” her “as the interim chair of the OMB. When the OMB transitioned to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal in 2019, Marie Hubbard became the interim associate chairperson.”

Then she went on to accept an appointment from our government, and as I mentioned, led the way in cutting the path to clear out the backlog. And we’re doing more of that good work now. We got $2.5 million to the Ontario Land Tribunal to ensure the disputes that are holding up growth are being dealt with. That comes in addition to the investment that we made in last year’s budget that provided an extra $14.7 million in resources to the Ontario Land Tribunal.

I know numbers are hard to follow, but what I can tell you is, these are sizable investments but in such a critical part of what we’re trying to do as a government. We have targets; we’re going to meet the targets. But we have to have the infrastructure in place, and under Minister Clark’s leadership, who often sets the rules for some tribunals and then I run the tribunals—they’re actually independent, but I oversee the tribunals—it’s been a really great partnership in terms of moving things forward, creating housing stock and getting us there.

Now I just want to talk a little bit about why the Ontario Land Tribunal fits into this bill and into this equation. It plays a pivotal role in the housing strategy in our action plans. It’s an impartial, independent adjudicator. It helps create more housing by resolving proposed development disputes to help break the cycle of delays caused by appeals.

Madam Speaker, people don’t always agree on how their community should develop or change, and that’s okay. Disputes often arise over land use planning issues, such as where industry should be located, where roads should be, where transit should be, where housing should be. When community members can’t resolve their planning issues or they’re having disputes with their municipal councils, if they can’t settle them independently, they can go to the Ontario Land Tribunal and they help them resolve them, either through mediation or through hearings, and it’s exactly that that we need to deal with.

Our government is working hard to ensure that the Ontario Land Tribunal has what it needs in terms of resources and technological capabilities. The investments we’re making that I referenced, the $2.5 million and the $14.7 million, are going to the back office, they’re going to adjudicators, they’re going to processes. Putting the five into one has made that possible, to make it seamless.

But there’s more to be done, Madam Speaker, which is why at every step the government has taken, we’re moving to making housing that’s affordable and attainable, more accessible in the province, for it to be built and for it to be expanded. We have to give it the tools it needs, and we’re doing that; we’re doing exactly that.

We need to improve, enhance and modernize the way the tribunal functions so that it’s geared to solving disputes faster, more efficiently and fairly to meet the supply needs that we have today. It’s a critical player in creating more housing, Madam Speaker.

I just want to say that in terms of efficiency—as a practising lawyer I practised real estate law and development law for 20 years. I had an OMB file that lasted 10 years, and do you know what the issue hung on? Whether a horse is a pet or livestock. Ten years, Madam Speaker—shocking. Well, that is no more because we’ve taken steps to make sure that the tribunal that hears these important matters allows projects with merit to move forward, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.

The message we want to send is very clear: The Ontario Land Tribunal is there to help resolve disputes constructively and efficiently. It is not to be used as a delay tactic. We’re also seeking to clarify the OLT’s powers to order an unsuccessful party to pay a successful party’s costs. That is not unheard of in any other forum. It’s an important part of making sure that those that oppose come to the table and stay at the table—or they don’t come to the table at all. This approach would help discourage parties from bringing appeals to the OLT that don’t have merit. This is supposed to be a merit-based process, Madam Speaker, and I can tell you the changes we’re making are going to make a difference. It will give us the ability to consult and talk about how we prioritize what’s heard before the Ontario Land Tribunal, to make sure that the things that matter to Ontarians the most—to allow us to achieve our goal of 1.5 million homes in 10 years.

As the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Minister Parsa and MPP Holland have all talked about, we have to do this because the opposition will not do this. They have not done this. And the only way we are going to get there is to create the systems that allow everybody to achieve the goals of homeownership, attainable housing, to make sure that we are creating safe and wonderful communities for all of our constituents in Ontario.

Madam Speaker, I’m watching the clock. I’m going to cede the balance of my time to my friend MPP Yakabuski.

Thank you for the question. I know you listen to your constituents, just as municipal politicians listen to their constituents. So it’s important that we have a full conversation around how we move forward, but that’s no reason to have red tape and bureaucracy in the middle holding things up and having a results-driven—a process-driven result instead of an intentional result.

Part of how we’re going to do it is to make sure there are forums for conversations, that they’re the appropriate forums and the appropriate conversations, but we will not have projects delayed simply because people are using the tools of government to delay them with no merit.

So we have to do things differently. We have to do them faster. We have to be more efficient. We’re going to create safe and affordable homes for people in Ontario. Again, it goes back to creating the supply and incentivizing the people who are going to build the homes across Ontario.

In fact, I do. In fact, the rules of the Ontario Land Tribunal will apply to everybody in front of the land tribunal. The movement to create 1.5 million homes is going to be an effort pushing on both sides to make sure that things are getting done, to make sure that they’re actually getting built. And so if we find ourselves in a situation where developers are sitting on housing stock and not building it, then you will see a response from the government, Madam Speaker. We have to make sure these homes are built.

The Premier has been crystal clear. This should be no surprise to everybody. Pre-election, during the election and post-election, this has been a top priority, and the people of Ontario sent us here to solve this problem.

Report continues in volume B.