Supplementary.

The patients from three of the closed emergency departments were diverted to the Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa. The Queensway Carleton is already short-staffed and already experiencing incredibly long wait times, so these closures resulted in serious strain for the Queensway Carleton this weekend, including almost as many patients in the ER admitted and waiting for a bed as there are stretchers in the ER.

Will the Premier address the crisis in emergency care before someone dies because of it?

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?

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.

Mr. Speaker, there is no substitute for in-person learning, and this week thousands and thousands of students across Ontario are going back to school happy, because they’re going back to normal.

Over a decade of Liberal government ignored rural Ontario. They closed over 600 schools, including schools in Essex county—and I can name a few, including Harrow High School and Western Secondary School.

School infrastructure should be updated continuously so that our students have top-quality facilities and an experience that prepares them for the jobs of tomorrow. Parents in Essex county want good, modern schools for their children.

So my question to the Minister of Education is this: What is the minister doing to make sure that kids in Essex county and across Ontario get good, modern schools?

But schools also need staff. They need teachers and assistants and custodians. And after two difficult years with COVID-19, more mental health supports are needed by our students. They need it the most. Some test scores are down. Various topics have suffered, especially math, due to the disruptions.

I know this minister is on the side of students and parents.

Specifically, what investments is the government making to make sure that the students in Essex county and across Ontario have a successful academic year?

Mr. Speaker, we certainly appreciate the work that is being done by the federal government after the use of a federal emergency power. We were very clear right from the onset, when the Premier instituted an emergency in the province of Ontario, that we wanted to see order restored in both Ottawa and in Windsor. We certainly trust the federal government and federal representatives to undertake a review of a federal authority that was brought into use for the first time by the federal cabinet.

Of course, what he is talking about is the federal government’s enacting of a federal emergency. It is the federal Parliament and the House of Commons that are undertaking a review of the federal act, and it is incumbent—and I certainly trust that the federal government and our federal representatives across all three parties will undertake a thorough review on behalf of the people of Canada.

I thank the member from Brampton North for the question and also congratulate him on his excellent remarks last night in support of his private member’s motion.

As the member rightfully points out, drivers have waited long enough for relief from gridlock, and our government is delivering.

This highway will cut commute times in the GTA by up to 30 minutes each way—not 30 seconds, as the opposition incorrectly claims. This could be the difference between sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic or sitting down for dinner at home with your family.

But, Speaker, this highway offers so much more than just relief from gridlock. It will also support more than 3,500 jobs each year of construction, and it will generate up to $350 million in real annual GDP.

It is a pivotal time to build the infrastructure for Ontarians that will cut gridlock, create good jobs and provide opportunity for Ontarians.

Our government is paving the way toward a brighter and more prosperous future for Ontario by building Highway 413.

Later today, members of this House will be voting on my private member’s motion that calls on this government to accelerate the development of Highway 413.

It’s no secret that previous Liberal governments delayed, dithered and abdicated responsibility instead of building critical infrastructure when they had the chance.

I speak with people in my riding of Brampton North daily, and one of the top concerns I hear is that gridlock is becoming unbearable for drivers.

Speaker, through you to the Minister of Transportation: Can she please reassure the members of this House that this government will get it done and build Highway 413?

Again, I thank the member for the question.

One third of Ontario’s population in the next 10 years is going to be in Ottawa and in Toronto—so you absolutely are correct.

We are going to do everything we can to make sure that we increase the supply, because there’s a challenge here that some of my colleagues in the chamber don’t seem to understand—that we don’t have the supply to meet the demand. We haven’t—because they failed the people of Ontario. We’re not going to continue on that path.

We told Ontarians; I told Ontarians; every single person in this caucus, when we were campaigning, told the people of this province, “We’re not going to let you down.” We’re going to make sure we build homes. We’ll work with municipal partners, we’ll work with all our community partners to make sure that we not only build homes, but we build all types of homes for all Ontarians.

Mr. Speaker, 15 million people are depending on us. The next generation is looking at us to not let them down—and unlike them, we’re not going to do it.

Thank you very much. The member for Essex.

The government House leader.