Every measure we put in place, the opposition votes against it—doom and gloom every single day.

But what we’re seeing is a record number of applications to be nurses in colleges and universities across Ontario—25,000 applications right here, post-secondary education in Ontario. And why is that? That’s because of the investments we’re making in long-term care and the Ministry of Health—58,000 new and upgraded beds in long-term care; $40-billion capital investments over 52 projects that will add 3,000 new beds over the next 10 years; new hospitals in Brampton, in Windsor, in Niagara Falls.

Students want to become nurses, and the post-secondary education opportunities right here in Ontario are driving those students to those opportunities.

The private, for-profit home care providers cannot retain and recruit a stable workforce. They cannot do the work right now.

Patients are already feeling this pressure from hospitals. Vulnerable people are being told their best option is to move into an expensive retirement home or a long-term-care home that they don’t want to go to.

The government should be supporting people in their own homes. That’s what they want. They should be fixing our home care system, which was privatized by the previous Conservative government, by strengthening the home and community care system.

Why is the government pushing frail, elderly people into long-term-care homes against their will and without their consent?

The crisis in the health care system will not be solved by pushing our elderly away from their families into for-profit, long-term-care homes that nobody wants to live in.

The health care system needs permanent solutions to recruit and retain valued health care workers, like permanent paid sick days, like repealing Bill 124, like giving nurses a chance to negotiate a fair wage after two and a half years of hell.

Will the government stop pushing risky plans that are opposed by the majority of Ontarians and commit to solutions that actually address the crisis in our health care system?

Thank you, Speaker. Through you, I have to say—and I’m going to quote Anthony Dale, the CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association: “Ontario’s hospitals are rapidly becoming the health care provider of last resort for thousands of people who actually need access to home care, long-term care and other services.”

In our budget that we just passed, a billion dollars was set aside for community home care services in the province of Ontario. We are building the capacity to ensure that people are able to be in their homes in community, whether that is in their own homes with appropriate home care support or, in fact, with long-term-care-home facilities. We have invested so much, as a province, to make sure that the capacity is there, the staffing is there, the oversight is there. We’ve done that work.

Now we have to make sure that those individuals who are languishing in alternate-level-of-care beds in our hospitals are actually in community, where they deserve to be.

I have to remind the member opposite that in March 2019 you said, “One out of every seven hospital beds is used by somebody that we call ALC, alternate level of care. It’s a fancy word that means that you really would like to be supported at home, you really would like to be supported someplace else....” What has changed, respectfully, from March 2019 to today? We have built the capacity in our long-term-care homes. We’ve built the capacity within community. So why does the member now change her tune and suggest that alternate-level-of-care patients need to be in hospitals when where they really want to be is in community?

My question is to the Premier. Yesterday, the Minister of Education claimed that he wanted to avoid disruptions this school year. Does the Premier understand that his government has responsibility for avoiding disruptions?

Will the Premier commit today to working respectfully with education workers and not causing the disruption we all want to avoid?

Will the Premier—and I ask again, please—commit to recognizing the incredibly important job our educators do and work with them, not against them, to improve our schools?

The supplementary question.

The Minister of Colleges and Universities.

Interjections.

Restart the clock.

Final supplementary.

Mr. Speaker, what we accept is matter of fact: that over 30 years in this province, irrespective of the Premier and the party in this chair, unions in this province—teacher unions and education unions—have striked and withdrawn services throughout those 30 years. That is the truth in the constant of a life of a child in this province, and parents are sick of this experience, tired of this experience every three years. It’s about time someone stood up for them and gave them a voice in this discussion.

Parents know that this government and our Premier will stand up for kids so they have stability, normalcy, and the enjoyable experience that they deserve in this province.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, since 2002, we have literally 40,000 more workers in the province—and there are not more students in the province over that period of time. There are literally 10,000 more early childhood educators. There are 19,000 more education workers. There are 17,000 more teachers and 440 more principals and VPs. All this could only be achieved by increasing investment.

This September, for this school year, kids are going back to a more normal, stable and enjoyable school year, with 650 million more dollars of publicly funded investment to ensure education quality is retained for these children. We want it to be positive, and we want them to be safe. That’s why we put in place an investment that is historic—another 5,000 more staff, additional investments for custodians and cleaning and ventilation, to help make sure these kids are safe and get back on track in the province of Ontario.

Supplementary.

Many young people in my riding are asking themselves if they will ever be able to afford a home. The high cost of housing is too far out of reach for what they can afford.

For decades, the housing supply has not kept up with the ever-increasing demand. Even for fast-growing major urban centres like Toronto, there appear to be very limited options available.

Under the leadership of this government, housing starts have started to increase, but they’re still not where they need to be.

Speaker, through you to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing: What is our government doing to help increase housing supply across the province?

The people of my riding are worried that housing prices will rise and affordability will worsen without an increase in housing supply to match this demand.

With threats of economic slowdown and rising interest rates, home prices have started to cool off. This could make it even more challenging for builders to bring new housing supply options online.

Speaker, what additional measures is the government taking to ensure that we build on our progress and bring more housing options online for the people of my riding and for all Ontarians?

I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the investments that we have done specifically related to emergency departments.

Speaker, $90 million in the emergency department Pay-for-Results Program provides funding incentives for 74 high-volume emergency departments to make improvements in areas such as length of stay.

We have, in the province of Ontario, 49 municipalities using a 911 model of care pilot, which allows for palliative and mental health and addictions patients to be treated or referred to or cared for in community, instead of immediately—and only having the option of taking them to an emergency department.

These innovative solutions—we’re working with partners to make sure that the pilots we are doing are working, and are expanding them. That was why we were able to—during the Association of Municipalities of Ontario—announce that we’re going to continue expanding these successful models that communities want, patients expect. It is making a difference in reducing wait times and delays in our emergency departments.

I would love for the member opposite to have some conversations with paramedics, with the organizations that are doing these innovative pieces—and saying, “Do you see value in expanding them beyond the current 49 pilots?” I see the value. We have made those changes and we’re expanding those programs, because we see it making a difference in the lives of patients.

We’re not going to keep doing the status quo and expect a different result. We’re having this innovation, we’re seeing results, and we’re continuing to expand it across Ontario.

My question is to the Solicitor General.

My constituents in Don Valley North are concerned about the increase in auto theft and carjacking in our local community. We have all heard the news about Mitch Marner, star hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs, being the victim of a carjacking back in May, but it is happening to people all over Ontario, no matter who they may be. Over 5,300 vehicles have been stolen in Toronto so far this year. This figure represents an increase of 50% from last year.

My constituents know our government is fighting crime and supporting our front-line police officers.

Could the Solicitor General please explain to this House how our government is taking action on carjackings and auto theft?

I want to thank the member for Eglinton–Lawrence for that fantastic question.

I’m proud of what our government has been able to accomplish over the last four years, under the leadership of Premier Ford. Together, we’ve introduced the province’s first-ever housing supply action plan, which really laid the foundation for the high housing starts we’re seeing over the past year.

As the member knows, last year, we had the highest number of housing starts—over 100,000—that we’ve seen in over 30 years. But we recognize and I think we can all agree that that’s not enough in terms of meeting our goal that we promised Ontarians during the election that just passed—that we would build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years.

Together, with our all-hands-on-deck approach, we want to ensure that home ownership is in reach of more Ontarians.

As I said, this past election, we committed to introducing a housing supply action plan every year during our mandate. We’ve been clear that these plans will be based on the province’s Housing Affordability Task Force, which made recommendations around increasing density and bringing more missing middle housing online.

We also know that the availability of labour and skilled trades is critical to increasing housing supply. That’s why our Minister of Labour is investing in skilled trades and is out there every single day encouraging more Ontarians to consider being involved in the building trades.

We’re also having an ongoing conversation with the federal government. We need them to work with us to deal with this ongoing labour shortage.

Our government—and I want to stress this—is committed to our plan to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years. We’re going to get it done.

My question is to the Premier.

Amanda Molnar’s 20-year-old son is blind and non-verbal and has complex medical needs. He has had serious pneumonia three times since June. About a week ago, Amanda had to call an ambulance for him and was told that a backlog at the ER would mean at least a 15-hour wait at the hospital.

Does the Premier believe that a 15-hour wait for emergency health care is acceptable?

Does the Premier believe that his government’s failure to deal with ER wait times is risking the health of patients like Amanda’s son?

My question is to the Premier.

When Michal Kaliszan, a resident of Waterloo region, was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, doctors told him he had the life expectancy of 16 years, but he’s now 39 years old. Michal has beaten the odds, thanks to round-the-clock care from his parents. But with no family left to care for him and the lightning-fast passage of Bill 7, Michal says, without funding for a comprehensive home care program, the province will likely place him in a long-term-care home, which he says will be his “death sentence.” He is desperately trying to preserve his autonomy and his self-determination. This is a serious gap in our health care system.

Can the government explain why they think it’s appropriate for a 39-year-old man to be forced to live in a facility that primarily serves seniors?

Michal’s mother is now in palliative care, and he says the GoFundMe program to raise money for his home care is “the only way that I can help my mom find peace as she’s more worried about me than her own death.”

Michal is semi-independent. He can work and has a life that is not defined by his disability. The care he receives should be reflective of that. But with no serious investment in a comprehensive home care program—because the gap is there, and the minister knows that—institutional care is looking more and more like the warehousing of vulnerable people like Michal. That is the system that you are overseeing, Minister.

Does this minister believe that this is the right care at the right time at the right place, like the long-term-care minister said yesterday—because Michal doesn’t, and neither do we.

Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to say again, our hearts go out to the families in the James Smith Cree Nation whose lives were changed tragically in a flash. We mourn with those who mourn.

Public safety remains our inherent right—to live in our community safely, and to walk our streets and to play in our parks and to go to school and to work safely together.

To the member’s question—and I thank him for it: Having your vehicle stolen at gunpoint is a traumatic event.

To be clear, many of these thefts are, in fact, related to gun and gang crimes. That’s why our government, together with our federal partners, has invested over $200 million to fight gang violence fuelled by smuggled guns.

Mr. Speaker, we also provided additional funding to the Toronto Police Service for more than $72 million through the Community Safety and Policing Grant program.

Monsieur le Président, je suis fier de soutenir nos policiers, agents correctionnels et pompiers tous les jours, et tous ceux qui assurent la sécurité de l’Ontario.

Our government is ensuring that our front-line officers have the technology they need to fight crime in our modern environment. We’re investing over $60 million for police services across the province to purchase the latest technology needed to identify stolen vehicles, outstanding warrants, and to track down Amber Alert targets faster. This technology will allow police officers to be alerted to stolen vehicles within their view faster than they could run the plates themselves.

Monsieur le Président, je suis fier de soutenir nos policiers et agents correctionnels et pompiers tous les jours, et tous ceux qui assurent la sécurité de l’Ontario.

I thank the honourable member for the question.

Speaker, 34 out of 35—that’s where Canada ranks when it comes to getting approvals to build more homes. The opposition might be okay with that. They were okay with it for 15 years. They let the people of this province down—we’re not. We campaigned on building 1.5 million homes so that we don’t let down the people of this province. They have continuously said no to housing. They have supported them.

We have said to every single Ontarian that we will do whatever it takes—we will use every tool and work with our municipal partners and our federal partners to make sure that we do not carry on the tradition of the previous government to let Ontarians down. We will build 1.5 million homes. We will work with every partner to make sure that happens, with or without their support.

Back to the Solicitor General: Our government campaigned on a promise to improve public safety in this province.

Toronto police officers have stated that when it comes to auto thefts, “there’s definitely greater sophistication, and it leads us to believe organized crime is involved. We can attribute a big chunk of these robberies to the same persons or groups of people.”

Speaker, as a member of this government, I am proud to stand here today and know that our government is getting it done by tackling gun and gang violence across Ontario and kicking criminals off the streets.

Could the Solicitor General please share more about our government’s strategy to tackle the problem of car thefts?

My question is to Minister Clark.

I would first like to correct the record from yesterday. The claim that my amendments to Bill 3 were five hours late is completely false. The minister, as a seasoned veteran at Queen’s Park, should know that there is no hard deadline at committee. Please correct accordingly.

Mr. Speaker, on to my question: For a bill entitled Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, I find it unusual that the text of the bill fails to mention housing even once. The aforementioned proposed amendments I provided that focused on housing were deemed out of scope and principle at committee, yet the government continues to insist this bill is going to aid our housing crisis.

Can the minister please provide a concrete example of how this bill will be putting shovels in the ground and be specific about what types of housing will be built as a result?

My first amendment asked that the amount of new housing built within each city every year is proportionally sufficient to meet the goal of building 1.5 million new units of housing in Ontario by 2031. It also included the need for a progress report by the head of council to assess how well they have met that goal, including reasoning for why they have or have not met it and a plan for subsequent years. This amendment was deemed out of scope and principle.

Will the government be tracking and regularly reporting back about the building of new home units in these cities, in alignment with the 1.5 million homes? And if so, what system will you use?

Supplementary?

Supplementary question?

The Associate Minister of Housing.

I have to say, well done to Michal and his family for beating the odds. It is an amazing story of resiliency.

But I have to ask, have you told Michal that you voted against a billion-dollar investment in home care—a billion dollars that we’re putting into community care?

We’re making sure that individuals like Michal who want to live in their home with support have that option available to them.

With the greatest of respect, when you vote against those kinds of investments, it sends a very different message to your constituents—that you do not believe in community care, that you do not believe that we need, as a province, to expand home care services in the province of Ontario. Clearly, we do.

Our government has made that commitment. We’ve made that investment.

Why isn’t the member opposite lauding that and talking about how that is going to make a difference in the lives of her constituents, including—

This is how we are going to get a health care system that ensures that no matter where you are—in hospital, in long-term care, in your own home, in palliative care—we will have the supports available to support you through that journey.