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.

I appreciate the question, and I want to thank the member from Essex.

Indeed, the people of Essex are very happy this morning because, under the member’s leadership—a $26-million investment—the North Star High School finally opened, under our government. We’re so excited for the 800 students who are going to benefit from this modern, state-of-the-art school.

What’s happening in Essex is taking place across our province. We have a $14-billion, 10-year commitment to rebuild and renew our schools. after the billions of dollars of deferred maintenance backlog that rose under the former Liberals. Under our Premier’s leadership, we have a hundred new schools that have been built, 88 additions and renovations are complete, $2 billion in active capital projects—working with my friend and colleague the Minister of Infrastructure, as we build modern schools with Internet and ventilation and accessibility, which every student in this province deserves.

Mr. Speaker, there are 200 school construction projects that have been approved since 2018.

We’re getting shovels in the ground. We’re moving mountains to ensure the next generation of kids have modern schools to learn—

With respect to staffing, we join others in celebrating the staff within our schools, and we’re proud that since—

Interjections.

When compared to the former Liberals, we are investing and getting the job done for students right across our province.

My question is for the Premier.

A public inquiry into the use of the federal Emergencies Act during recent convoy protests starts within weeks—the occupation that hit our city last February and March and that also impacted the good people of Windsor.

The deadline has passed to seek standing in this inquiry, and Ontario is not participating. Simple question: Why?

Back to the Premier: Our downtown streets, as the government knows, were choked with diesel fumes and trucks and horns blaring for weeks, and it took three weeks for this government to do anything declared by this federal Emergencies Act.

I know that participating in this inquiry requires disclosure of documents. Is that why the government is a no-show? Three other provinces are participating. Does it have something to hide, and is it prepared to tell the people of Ottawa and Windsor why it is refusing to participate in this disclosure process? Why are you not showing up?

Je remercie la députée de Newmarket–Aurora pour sa question.

En effet, l’accès à des services en français de qualité est au coeur de mes décisions. Plus de 80 % des francophones vivent dans l’une des régions désignées en vertu de la Loi sur les services en français. Grâce au leadership du Centre communautaire francophone de Sarnia-Lambton, Sarnia est en processus de devenir la 27^e région désignée de la province. D’ailleurs, un comité a été formé pour veiller à la mise en oeuvre par novembre 2024.

Monsieur le Président, nous reconnaissons à quel point il est important pour les francophones d’avoir accès à des services en français de qualité afin de contribuer à l’essor social, culturel et économique de l’Ontario.

Afin de réduire le fardeau administratif et de faciliter les nouvelles demandes de désignation, nous avons transitionné d’un processus papier à une plateforme numérique. En plus de simplifier le processus pour les demandeurs, la plateforme permet aussi aux agences et ministère de suivre l’état des demandes en cours. On améliore ainsi, monsieur le Président, le temps de traitement tout en maintenant la rigueur qui assure des services en français de qualité.

Les services en français sont une priorité pour notre gouvernement, et on s’outille pour assurer la vitalité et le bien-être de nos communautés francophones.

Thank you again to the member from Brampton North for the question.

Speaker, drivers are paying the price every day for Liberal inaction. Successive Liberal governments refused to build, and the NDP supported this inaction year after year. All of us in this House can relate to the frustrations of sitting in idling traffic on our major highways, and that’s when you just want to get home or to work faster.

I want to reassure everyone in this House that under our PC government, led by this Premier, things are different. The days of endless studies and debates are over.

I am so proud that our government is answering the calls of countless Ontarians and is moving ahead with infrastructure projects like Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass.

My question is to the Premier.

I was glad to stand with workers on Labour Day, but I was even more glad to stand alongside workers on strike yesterday who are having a pretty tough go right now in their workplaces in Durham region. These Unifor 222 workers are cleaners at the college who work for GDI Services, a private, contracted company. This appears to be anything but a clean fight. When the pandemic hit, these workers rose to the challenge and went to work to protect the safety of everyone on campus. Now that these workers are in bargaining for fair wages, fair workloads and appropriate staffing levels, so they can actually do their jobs properly, GDI Services has rewarded their honest work by bringing in scab labour to take their jobs.

I’ve heard the Minister of Labour say that workers should be respected.

Does the Premier believe that scab labour is an appropriate way for this company to respect its workers?

Cleaners on the picket line told me that the scabs have to use Google Translate to communicate, don’t have their WHMIS training, and don’t have the proper supplies or protections. Does this sound like a good idea or a safe idea for anyone involved?

When the NDP were in government, they brought in anti-scab legislation. The Harris regime got rid of that real quick.

So my question to the Premier is this: Will the Ford PCs support workers and support anti-scab legislation?

Monsieur le Président, ma question s’adresse à la ministre des Affaires francophones.

Il est important que les francophones aient accès à des services de qualité dans la langue de leur choix. Est-ce que la ministre peut expliquer comment notre gouvernement progresse en matière de désignation des régions?

Monsieur le Président, autre que la désignation des régions, il y a aussi la désignation des organismes. Les organismes sont parfois confrontés à d’importants fardeaux administratifs. Est-ce que la ministre des Affaires francophones peut expliquer comment le gouvernement améliore les outils et le processus pour la désignation des organismes?

Thank you to the minister for the answer to that question. It’s a relief for me.

I drove in from Brampton this morning. It took me about an hour and a half. I was going left and right dodging trucks. We need to get this traffic under control.

Speaker, we know the opposition parties are against building new highways. When the Liberals were in power, they even convened a committee to cancel Highway 413. The demand for more transport infrastructure is already here, and gridlock will only worsen if governments don’t act. Instead of solutions from members on the other side, all we continue to hear is “no.”

Back to the Minister of Transportation: Can she please tell the House what our government is doing to right the wrongs of the previous Liberal and NDP governments and build Highway 413?

Supplementary question?

My question is to the Premier.

In St. Paul’s, over 60% of our residents are renters and are struggling with rising rent and no real rent control.

Sandra is a constituent of mine who just received notice of another above-guideline rent increase of 4.2% over the next two years, which they say is to cover the cost of building repairs. Meanwhile, the corporate landlord that owns the building raked in $5.4 million in profit last year.

Why are tenants like Sandra expected to cover the cost of these repairs through an above-guideline rent increase—and not the millions of dollars in profit raked in by these corporate landlords?

Thanks, Speaker. Through you to the honourable member: We made a promise to Ontarians that we would protect existing tenants with rent control. The vast majority of renters, some 1.4 million, fall under the Residential Tenancies Act—and provide that.

During the pandemic, we were very clear. We looked at the formula for 2023, with inflation. We invoked the cap—it would have been 5.3%. We invoked the cap of 2.5%. We followed up with rolling back what could have been a 1.5% increase in the middle of the pandemic in 2021, and we froze rents, which was unprecedented in many of the provinces and territories.

We want to build upon our success. My response to the member for Eglinton–Lawrence talked about the fact that, over the last term of this government, we’ve seen an unprecedented amount of increase in rental construction. We want to build upon that, but at the same time—

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker; I would. This bill amends the Residents’ Bill of Rights, set out in section 3 of the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021, by adding the right of residents not to be separated from their spouse upon admission but to have accommodation made available for both spouses so that they may continue to live together.

I introduce this bill in honour of Jim and Joan MacLeod, who’ve been separated for four and a half years. The third time’s the charm.

Madame Collard moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 22, An Act to amend the Poet Laureate of Ontario Act (In Memory of Gord Downie), 2019 with respect to the establishment of a French-language Poet Laureate / Projet de loi 22, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2019 sur le poète officiel de l’Ontario (à la mémoire de Gord Downie) concernant la création de la charge de poète officiel de langue française.

I bring a question to the floor of the House from Donna Behnke, and the question is to the Premier.

Donna is frustrated with this government, and she’s frustrated with me, as her MPP, as well. She’s frustrated with this government for not helping her.

Donna is on ODSP. Donna felt like it was a slap in her face when she was notified that she would be receiving $58 per month extra on her ODSP payment. That was an absolute insult to her. Donna expressed her frustration to me with passion and anger, because Donna was speaking to me on behalf of many individuals across northern Ontario. She is trying to voice her views and their views.

My question is, will the Premier commit to doubling the ODSP rates?

Here’s a statement from Donna: “If any of them had a single ethical bone in their body or even the slightest hint of common decency, they would do what is right. Does” the Premier “not realize some people on ODSP are fighting mental illness? People with cancer, people that had strokes, people that had multiple sclerosis—the list goes on and on. He needs to stop painting everyone with the same paintbrush. The Premier and prior governments always target the poor. You can’t make healthy people by destroying them. They will never be fit to hold a job. But what it will do is push more people to seek out MAID.”

My question is, do you agree with Donna?

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas our government was elected with a plan to stay open by investing in hospitals, long-term-care homes and home care and Ontario’s health care workforce; and

“Whereas to accomplish this our government is:

“—investing $40 billion in capital over 10 years for hospitals and other health infrastructure to meet the challenges that may lie ahead;

“—spending $764 million over two years to provide nurses with up to $5,000 retention bonuses;

“—investing $42.5 million over two years, beginning in 2023-24, to support the expansion of 160 undergraduate and 295 post-graduate positions, including at the new medical schools in Brampton and Scarborough;

“—investing an additional $1 billion in home care over three years;

“—shoring up domestic production of critical supplies and ensuring Ontario is prepared for future emergencies by committing, as of April 2022, more than $77 million of the Ontario Together Fund to leverage almost $230 million in investments to support manufacturing of Ontario-made personal protective equipment;

“—investing $3.5 billion over three years to support the continuation of over 3,000 hospital beds put in place during the pandemic, and $1.1 billion over three years to support the continuation of hundreds of new adult, pediatric and neonatal critical care beds added during COVID-19;

“—a new refundable Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit to help seniors aged 70 and older with eligible home care medical expenses to help people stay in their homes longer; and

“—a province-wide expansion to the community paramedicine program, enabling community paramedics to provide key non-emergent health care services within homes for eligible seniors;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly”—and I’m happy to affix my signature to this.

I’m reading in more petitions. I think this has over 3,000 signatures now. I want to thank Marlene and Bernie from Merry Dairy ice cream for helping coordinate these. The petition reads:

“I Support Small Ice Cream Shops in Ontario.

“Whereas small ice cream shops offer customers a delicious treat, dairy producers valuable clients, and offer staff jobs;

“Whereas the Milk Act prevents small ice cream shops from local wholesaling, even if the source of their dairy ingredients comes from a certified dairy plant. In fact, the Milk Act currently restricts the wholesale of any products made with dairy ingredients, not just ice cream;

“Whereas small ice cream shops that wholesale without their own certified dairy plants are subject to thousands of dollars in fines...;

“Whereas consumers have the right to choose from a variety of safe dairy products, and not just those made by large suppliers;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to allow small ice cream shops access to local markets for wholesaling, provided all ingredients are fully traceable, and all dairy ingredients come from certified dairy plants in Ontario.”

Once again, I’m happy to sign this petition and send it with page Apollo to the Clerks’ table.

The member from Perth–Wellington is absolutely right: Our farmers across Ontario are the very best responsible stewards of the land. I’m sure that our friends from Beef Farmers of Ontario would also agree—and they confirmed this during their visits with all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle today.

Over the decades, Ontario farmers have been embracing best practices. They have environmental farm plans. They have nutrient management plans. They’re embracing the 4R principle for fertilizer use, using the right fertilizer source—the proper source, and they’re using it at the right rate, and they’re using it at the right time, and in the right place. The former practices of broad application aren’t employed any longer.

Our government has also invested $21 million to assist farmers in completing over 2,000 cost-shared programs and an additional $2.5 million to ensure that the Lake Erie Agriculture Demonstrating Sustainability program succeeds.

Earlier this spring, I hosted a food summit, and again, we listened and valued the input from hundreds of participants. As a result, we are now working on a food security and stable supply chain strategy, in addition to an innovation strategy to propel our entire sector forward. We also have a soil action group that is working on a made-in-Ontario soil strategy.

Over and above that, Speaker, I have to share with you that I’m very proud to say that in the very near future, we will be supporting timely and thoughtful initiatives that will be geared towards fertilizer use and solutions.

Our government is working with farmers like never before and—

Thank you to the member opposite for the question.

Our government has been committed to making sure that people who are experiencing vulnerabilities in their lives are getting the supports they need, whether it’s people who have lost their job and need to be reskilled and retrained, or whether it’s people who cannot work. That’s exactly why we began, when we came into government, with an increase in ODSP, after the previous government failed to do so until right before an election that they knew they would lose.

We also created a historic increase in ODSP—and the numbers do not speak to the entire whole-of-government effort. What we have done is to create an across-government approach, looking at the LIFT credit, the CARE credit, the jobs training credit, the energy and property tax credit, making sure that we provide the supports to people that they need, across government. And we’ve been working across levels of government—

I understand the situation that Donna is in. As a family physician, I was very aware of the difficulties people experienced.

I’m very proud of this government’s track record: increasing ODSP at the beginning; then supporting people during COVID with the social services relief fund of $1 billion; then a historic increase in the ODSP rates aligned to inflation; and all of my colleagues working continuously, across the board, to create programs that help people—the LIFT, the CARE, the Ontario Jobs Training Tax Credit, the Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit, the Roadmap to Wellness, the micro-credentialing strategy, the child care programs, the Ontario Child Benefit, the dental care programs, the minimum wage. This is an across-government approach.

We’ll continue to support those who need it, despite the opposition voting no to every measure we put forward.