What a petition. Wow.

This petition is to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas from electric and hybrid vehicles to barbecues, the government is supporting the development of homegrown supply chains, creating the next generation of products and returning Ontario to its rightful place as the workshop of Canada; and

“Whereas low-carbon steel production has become critical for jurisdictions to compete for manufacturing investments as businesses look to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their supply chain. These investments support the creation of new jobs and economic growth as steel producers, automakers and other industries transform their operations; and

“Whereas critical minerals in the north will drive electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing in the south, where Ontario’s automotive sector is poised for resurgence as the industry continues its large-scale transformation; and

“Whereas the government’s plan will help Ontario become a North American leader in building the vehicles of the future and will build the next generation of vehicles in Ontario by securing auto production mandates to build electric and hybrid vehicles; and

“Whereas Ontario invested $1.5 million through the Regional Development Program to support an $18.5-million investment by auto parts manufacturer Ventra Group to create the Flex-Ion Battery Innovation Centre in Windsor and invested $250,000 to support the development of two new battery production lines at the Electra Battery Materials Corp.’s future Battery Materials Park near Cobalt;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to continue to invest in the manufacturing sector that will contribute to the economic success of the province.”

This petition comes from Rolando, and I will affix my signature to it, grateful that this petition came forward, given its—

I have a petition here to raise social assistance rates.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontario’s social assistance rates are well below Canada’s official Market Basket Measure poverty line and woefully inadequate to cover the basic costs of food and rent;

“Whereas individuals on the Ontario Works program receive just $733 per month and individuals on the Ontario Disability Support Program receive just $1,169 per month, only 41% and 65% of the poverty line;

“Whereas the Ontario government has not increased social assistance rates since 2018, and Canada’s inflation rate in January 2022 was 5.1%, the highest rate in 30 years;

“Whereas the government of Canada recognized through the CERB program that a ‘basic income’ of $2,000 per month was the standard support required by individuals who lost their employment during the pandemic;

“We, the undersigned citizens of Ontario, petition the Legislative Assembly to increase social assistance rates to a base of $2,000 per month for those on Ontario Works, and to increase other programs accordingly.”

Speaker, I fully support this petition. I will affix my signature to it and give it to page Juliet to take to the table.

I have a petition to raise social assistance rates.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontario’s social assistance rates are well below Canada’s official Market Basket Measure poverty line and woefully inadequate to cover the basic costs of food and rent;

“Whereas individuals on the Ontario Works program receive just $733 per month and individuals on the Ontario Disability Support Program receive just $1,169 per month, only 41% and 65% of the poverty line;

“Whereas the Ontario government has not increased social assistance rates since 2018, and Canada’s inflation rate in January 2022 was 5.1%, the highest rate in 30 years;

“Whereas the government of Canada recognized through the CERB program that a ‘basic income’ of $2,000 per month was the standard support required by individuals who lost their employment during the pandemic;

“We, the undersigned citizens of Ontario, petition the Legislative Assembly to increase social assistance rates to a base of $2,000 per month for those on Ontario Works, and to increase other programs accordingly.”

I fully support this petition, thank Dr. Sally Palmer for sending them to my office, and will give them to Arushi to bring to the Clerk.

I’d like to read this petition.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas everyone in Ontario deserves to find housing that is right for them, and our government is taking action to increase housing supply and make sure that everyone in Ontario can find a home that meets their needs and their budget; and

“Whereas throughout our consultation with the public, municipalities and the Housing Affordability Task Force, the message is clear: Red tape and bureaucratic inefficiencies are holding back Ontarians from buying homes and driving up the cost of homes; and

“Whereas our government has committed to implementing the task force report with the housing supply action plan every year over four years, starting in 2022-23; and

“Whereas delivering bold changes that can last requires a strong partnership between all levels of government to ensure the policies the province introduces will actually be implemented on the ground; and

“Whereas since our government introduced the More Homes, More Choice Act in 2019, we have seen significant progress:

“—the year 2020 saw the highest level of housing starts in the decade with the highest level of rental starts since 1992;

“—the year 2021 broke even more records with the highest level of housing since 1987 and the highest level of rental starts in 30 years; and

“Whereas our plan is working, but we are just getting started—under the leadership of Premier Ford, we will continue to get it done for the people of Ontario by building 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years;”—

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the PC government’s housing supply action plan and efforts to build 1.5 million homes across Ontario.”

I fully support this petition, Mr. Speaker, and I’ll give it to page Apollo.

I’m pleased to bring forward a petition to raise social assistance rates in Ontario, and I want to express my thanks to Dr. Sally Palmer from McMaster University.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontario’s social assistance rates are well below Canada’s official Market Basket Measure poverty line and woefully inadequate to cover the basic costs of food and rent;

“Whereas individuals on the Ontario Works program receive just $733 per month and individuals on the Ontario Disability Support Program receive just $1,169 per month, only 41% and 65% of the poverty line;

“Whereas the Ontario government has not increased social assistance rates since 2018, and Canada’s inflation rate” is “the highest rate in 30 years;

“Whereas the government of Canada recognized through the CERB program that a ‘basic income’ of $2,000 per month was the standard support required by individuals who lost their employment during the pandemic;

“We, the undersigned citizens of Ontario, petition the Legislative Assembly to increase social assistance rates to a base of $2,000 per month for those on Ontario Works and to increase other programs accordingly.”

I’m pleased to affix my signature and will send it to the table with page Sharmin.

I’m proud to rise on behalf of our entire government to speak about our Plan to Build Act.

Je suis fier de me lever au nom de tout notre gouvernement pour parler de la Loi de 2022 pour favoriser le développement.

This legislation supports our 2022 budget, which is entitled Ontario’s Plan to Build. Mr. Speaker, as you know, our government’s budget was first released earlier this year, in April. It is a budget to make life more affordable for families by keeping costs down, and a budget that helps Ontario’s talented workers get the skills and support they need to succeed. It will get shovels into the ground to build highways, to build roads and to build public transit. It invests in hospitals, long-term care and home care so that people across the province can get access to the quality health care system they deserve. In short, this is a plan for a stronger Ontario.

To begin, I will go over some key areas of our budget as well as provide highlights for the next steps in our Plan to Build Act.

The first pillar of our plan is rebuilding Ontario’s economy. Our government has a plan to rebuild Ontario’s economy so that it gets stronger each day, building prosperity everywhere, for everyone. Part of our plan to build includes taking advantage of the province’s critical minerals opportunity.

Canada is the only country in the western hemisphere that possesses all the critical minerals needed for an electric vehicle battery. The Ring of Fire has the potential to fuel a provincial supply chain for battery technology, electronics and electric and hybrid vehicles. This brings multi-generational prosperity to northern and First Nations communities. That’s why the government’s plan includes close to $1 billion for vital legacy infrastructure, such as all-season roads to the Ring of Fire, accessing potential mining sites, building the corridor to prosperity. Critical minerals will be transported via these roads to manufacturing hubs in the south and help deliver prosperity to Ontario’s north. Likewise, it will help improve access for First Nations communities to health care, goods and services, education, housing and economic opportunities.

The plan is supported by a Critical Minerals Strategy and $2 million in 2022-23 and $3 million in 2023-24 to create a Critical Minerals Innovation Fund.

Ce plan s’appuie sur la Stratégie relative aux minéraux critiques et sur deux millions de dollars en 2022-2023 et trois millions de dollars en 2023-2024, constituant le Fonds pour l’innovation relative aux minéraux critiques.

During the past two years, Ontario has secured a string of historic investments of nearly $16 billion that will make the province a leader in automotive manufacturing. But I will leave it to the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade to speak to how our government is transforming this province into the economic engine of Canada once again, as it was at the beginning of Confederation.

As part of our plan to bring prosperity everywhere, we are proposing to extend the temporary enhancement to the Regional Opportunities Investment Tax Credit. It helps lower costs for businesses that expand and grow in areas of the province where employment growth in the past has lagged the provincial average. To provide additional support to businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, we temporarily doubled the tax credit in the 2021 budget from 10% to 20%, until the end of 2022. Our government is proposing to extend the temporary enhancement to the Regional Opportunities Investment Tax Credit to the end of 2023. This financial support will stimulate real growth and create jobs in regions that need it the most.

Madam Speaker, the shortage of housing supply impacts all Ontarians, regardless of background or budget. The Ontario government introduced legislation that would give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa more responsibility to deliver on shared provincial-municipal priorities, including building 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years.

Le gouvernement de l’Ontario a déposé un projet de loi qui donnerait aux maires de Toronto et d’Ottawa une plus grande responsabilité pour mettre en oeuvre les priorités provinciales-municipales, dont la construction de 1,5 million de nouveaux logements au cours des 10 prochaines années.

If passed, the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act would give the mayor of Toronto and the mayor of Ottawa the ability to move priority projects forward and get more homes built faster. This legislation is an important tool to increase the housing supply, and is one of a number of initiatives being taken by the Ontario government to address the housing shortage.

Additionally, to help communities across Ontario build more attainable homes, Ontario is also launching the housing supply action plan implementation team. This will provide advice on market housing initiatives, including building on the vision from the Housing Affordability Task Force, More Homes for Everyone and other governmental conversations.

Our plan also includes keeping costs down for Ontario families. Our government has recently released the 2022-23 first-quarter finances, which provide updated information on the movement of Ontario’s economic and fiscal outlook since the 2022 budget. The numbers reflect that people and businesses are experiencing the effects of inflation in a very real way in their daily lives. While this global economic trend is happening, we’re taking action to help every Ontarian with the cost of living. We are doing our part to help keep a few extra dollars in people’s pockets and to help keep costs down.

The Plan to Build Act proposes amendments that would provide relief to families and workers by helping with the cost of everyday essentials. Beginning with the 2022 tax year, our government is proposing an enhancement to the low-income individuals and families tax credit, also known as the LIFT credit. The proposed enhancement would mean roughly 700,000 more people would benefit from this tax credit for the 2022 tax year.

À compter de l’année d’imposition 2022, notre gouvernement propose une amélioration au crédit d’impôt pour les personnes et les familles à faible revenu. Cette amélioration signifierait qu’environ 700 000 personnes de plus profiteraient de ce crédit d’impôt pour l’année d’imposition 2022.

It will increase and expand this tax benefit, providing $320 million in additional tax relief to even more of Ontario’s workers. And with the general minimum wage rising to $15.50 per hour as of October 1, 2022—by my calendar, that’s a little over 30 days from today, this will help ensure eligible minimum wage workers continue to receive additional relief.

Let me take a few minutes to explain how the LIFT credit works. Introduced in 2018, this non-refundable tax credit has provided up to $850 in Ontario personal income tax relief each year to lower-income workers. Under the current LIFT credit, the benefit is phased out at a rate of 10% for individual income above $30,000 and family income above $60,000. So, combined with other tax relief, the introduction of the LIFT credit means that about 90%—90%—of all Ontario taxpayers with taxable incomes below $30,000 will pay no Ontario personal income tax. And under our proposed enhancement, the maximum benefit will also increase from $850 to $875, helping to keep more money in the pockets of many eligible beneficiaries.

Our plan for keeping costs down also includes cutting fees. Our government is helping people who are feeling the pinch at the gas pumps, as the cost of gas has never been higher—although it’s lowering, it’s still very high. As of July 1, we cut the gas tax by 5.7 cents per litre and the fuel tax by 5.3 cents per litre for six months.

Notre gouvernement aide les gens qui subissent les effets de la hausse des prix de l’essence. Le 1^er juillet, nous avons diminué la taxe sur l’essence de 5,7 cents le litre et la taxe sur le mazout de 5,3 cents le litre pour six mois.

In addition to these cuts, we are making it less expensive to drive, because we know that driving is necessary for many families. By eliminating and refunding licence plate renewal fees for passenger vehicles, light duty trucks, motorcycles and mopeds, drivers in southern Ontario will be saving $120 per year, per vehicle, and about $60 per vehicle in northern Ontario. Further, Madam Speaker, we have also removed the tolls on Highways 412 and 418, bringing relief particularly to people in the Durham region, and a benefit to every single person who uses these highways.

The next pillar that I would like to speak about is working for workers. Our economy needs skilled workers, and our workers need our support. That is why our government is working for workers and reducing the harmful stigma around trades, especially for women and young people. Building on the success of the Skills Development Fund announced in the 2020 budget, Ontario is providing an additional $15.8 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year to support the development and expansion of brick-and-mortar training facilities, which could include union training halls, to help more workers get the skills they need to find good, well-paying jobs and to ensure employers can find the talent they need to build and grow their businesses.

The next part of our plan I will cover is building highways and our infrastructure. Ontario is growing, and as Ontario grows, we will need roads, highways, transit and other infrastructure. That’s why we have a plan to keep moving Ontario. At the heart of our plan is a capital investment of $158 billion over the next 10 years, with planned investments of over $20 billion in 2022 and 2023. Our plan fights gridlock, with improvements to trains, to subways and highways. We’re investing an historic $86.6 billion—let me repeat that: We are investing an historic $86.6 billion over 10 years to build and expand roads, highways and transit infrastructure right across the province, including Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass. Highway 413 will save drivers up to 30 minutes each way during rush hour on their commute, while supporting thousands of jobs each year.

Nous faisons un investissement historique de 86,6 milliards de dollars sur 10 ans dans des projets d’expansion et de réhabilitation de routes à l’échelle de la province, dont l’autoroute 413 et le contournement de Bradford. L’autoroute 413 permettra aux conducteurs d’économiser jusqu’à 30 minutes à l’heure de pointe, dans les deux sens, tout en soutenant des milliers d’emplois chaque année. D’accord?

And construction of Highway 413 is expected to support up to 3,500 jobs each year and generate up to $350 million in annual real GDP—I thought the associate minister would like that.

The Bradford Bypass is a new four-lane freeway connecting Highway 400 in Simcoe county and Highway 404 in York region. The Bradford Bypass will relieve pressure off of Highway 400 and existing local roads.

Interjection.

Yes, we have many supporters on all sides.

Drivers in the region will experience relief from endless gridlock, saving them up to 35 minutes. And during construction, the Bradford Bypass is expected to support about 2,640 jobs per year on average and generate an estimated $274 million in annual gross domestic product.

Interjections.

Further to building new highways, our government’s plan also includes widening or improving highways in Peterborough, in Belleville, in Brockville, in Leamington, in Cochrane and many more. Our capital plan will invest more than $61 billion over the next 10 years and a huge expansion in new subways, GO rail and other vital transit infrastructure.

And in the north—we have a number of people from the north here—we have a plan to improve road safety, create jobs and make life easier for people in the north. In 2022-23, the government plans to spend $492.7 million on critical infrastructure projects in northern Ontario.

The final pillar of our budget is our plan to stay open. Our plan includes unprecedented investments and measures to keep our economy open and to invest in our health care and long-term-care system.

Notre plan comprend des investissements et des mesures sans précédent pour garder notre économie ouverte et investir dans notre système de santé et de soins de longue durée.

Our government’s 10-year, $40-billion capital plan includes building or renovating hospitals, supporting more than 50 major hospital projects and adding 3,000 new beds over 10 years.

Now, we know that people would prefer to recover at home where they are comfortable, in comfortable surroundings, along with their loved ones. That is why our government is planning to invest an additional $1 billion over the next three years to expand home care. We’re also going to support aging at home. Our government is proposing to create a new seniors care at home tax credit. This refundable personal income tax credit would assist seniors who have a low-to-moderate income and help cover the cost of eligible medical expenses such as grab bars and grip rails, vision and dental care and walking aids. Starting with this tax year, 2022, eligible recipients would receive up to a maximum credit of $1,500. This new tax credit, should this legislation pass, is expected to provide $110 million in support to about 200,000 low-to-moderate-income senior families, or on average about $550.

To make it easier to claim the new Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit, it would be based on the medical expenses claimed for the existing Ontario medical expenses tax credit. Furthermore, the proposed credit would be refundable, supporting low- to moderate-income senior families even if they do not owe any personal income tax. This would fill a gap for those seniors who cannot fully benefit from the existing non-refundable medical expense tax credits because they owe little to no personal income tax. So the new seniors care at home tax credit means seniors could more easily and comfortably age in their own homes, within their community, surrounded by their loved ones.

Our plan to stay open also takes immediate action to support our health care workforce, investing $142 million to recruit and retain health care workers in underserved communities. In order to keep health care strong so it can deliver care across the province, the government is also investing $42.5 million over two years, beginning in 2023-24, which would support the expansion of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education and training in Ontario, with an expected increase of 160 undergraduate seats and 295 postgraduate positions over the next five years. And we are investing more than $1.3 billion in making the wage enhancement permanent for more than 158,000 personal support workers and direct support workers.

Now, in a time of inflation and economic uncertainty, the opposition has had every opportunity to help us put more money back into the pockets of the people of Ontario, but let me ask you this: Did they vote for the Tax Relief at the Pumps Act?

Further debate?

It’s an honour for me to rise today on behalf of the great residents of London North Centre to discuss Bill 2, the Plan to Build Act, for its third reading in this House.

Last time, I discussed some items that were good in the budget—I’m very much in support of moving WSIB to London—but today I would like to discuss some of the elements that are missing. It’s often been said that if we do the same thing again and again and expect different results, it’s the definition of madness. But also, in nature, the tree that is unyielding will eventually break, whereas the one that will move with the wind is the one that will thrive and persevere. This budget is an example of unyielding, of unchanging, of not learning the lessons over the past number of months.

You see, Speaker, we have a budget that was tabled in April that has not undergone significant modifications. We’ve seen the affordability crisis explode—inflation at 8.1%. We’ve seen ERs closing across the province. We’ve seen nurses walking away from their jobs, retiring in droves. And this government has not done enough to address that in this budget.

The budget, as well, is a statement of priorities. We discuss values often in financial terms, but a budget also includes a government’s values in terms of principles. In short, the budget is a statement of values as guiding principles; it is both an ethical and a moral document.

In this Legislature, we ought to enforce equity to ensure those who are pushed to the margins are heard, respected and strengthened. We have to affirm as a Legislature that those at the beginning of their lives and at the end of their lives, with some exceptions, need more support than the rest of us in between. We ought to ensure as well that every single dollar that is spent by this government achieves its intended result. If expenditures are ineffective or compromised by outside forces, we should similarly adjust our approach.

We have this opportunity to learn the lessons from COVID, and we have the benefit of retrospection and clarity to see what worked and see what did not. Seniors, children, those living with disabilities, social services and small businesses were all pushed to the brink. At the same time, we saw others profiting from these disastrous conditions. We have yet to see this government stand up to pandemic profiteering and do the right thing, do the honourable thing.

As I mentioned, inflation has hit a staggering 8.1%. In this budget, the government has 2.5%. It’s less than half the current level of inflation. It’s even been called wishful thinking by some. It’s delusional. It’s unresponsive. It’s unrealistic to our current fiscal climate.

Additionally, the budget’s $1-billion rainy day provision is far, far too low. That amount is just one half of 1% of the total spending. If there are going to be spending hiccups, overruns or any other difficult or problematic decisions, this government is going to be in grave difficulty. And I worry that it’s going to be an excuse for further privatization and further cuts to our public spending if this government doesn’t do the right thing.

Furthermore, we hear a lot about this ridiculous and unnecessary highway, Highway 413, which is going to benefit many wealthy developer friends of this government, but in this budget there is no detailed costing for it and other highway spending. It’s not itemized. That’s disturbing, Speaker.

As well, with inflation being as high as it is and not being addressed thoroughly by this government, it means working people and families have lost almost one tenth of their buying power. It could mean taking on more household debt to put food on the table. People are having to make difficult decisions. To actively combat this affordability crisis, the government could raise minimum wage. They could focus on ensuring good jobs have equally good pay.

In health care, we’ve seen that Ontario has 5,400 fewer nurses than one year ago. They could repeal Bill 124 and show some respect for our front-line heroes, who have worked tirelessly, made tremendous personal sacrifices, put their families at risk. Instead, we see them plowing forward with this cut to nurses’ wages, because 1% is a cut with inflation being at 8.1%.

We also do not have wage parity across sectors. The Victorian Order of Nurses cannot respond to the number of requests that they have for service, and part of that is a direct result of wage parity, because in the community care setting, PSWs earn $3.57 per hour less, whereas nurses earn $11 less per hour. That’s a gap that needs to be addressed by this government.

I also am deeply surprised that, in terms of seniors’ care, this government has not yet learned that—having profit off of someone’s ill health or someone’s old age is something that they’re content with. When we saw that the army came in and saw the conditions that they did, this government should have been incentivized to act to make sure seniors were treated with respect and dignity, but instead we see rewards going to the worst of the worst, multi-million-dollar contracts, 30-year contracts going to homes that do not deserve to care for yet more seniors. It is a moral horror and one that is on this government’s conscience. I wish they would listen to their conscience.

As well, when we look at young people, students do not have enough supports. We see that this government has frozen tuition, but they’ve cut from the university sector. We also need to see greater further mental health supports for students, as referenced by OUSA and Eunice Oladejo. Unfortunately, we don’t see enough investments in mental health, either for the province or for children. The two-and-a-half-year wait time for children for mental health supports is unconscionable and something that needs to be acted upon.

There’s so much to discuss in this budget. Ontarians with disabilities are hardly even mentioned. We take a look at this government and their investments in hospital infrastructure, but not in the people who support that infrastructure. There’s no mention of the AODA whatsoever. It doesn’t mention the goal or the fact that they’re not going to achieve it by 2025 as promised.

I see that I’m running rather low on time, Speaker, but I also wanted to mention something that the last Liberal government let southwestern Ontario down on for a number of years, and that would be rail connections to southwestern Ontario. It’s something that was promised, and we still have yet to see shovels in the ground.

This crisis that we have in health care and long-term care and privatization should be a wake-up call for us all that privatization steals money from the public purse. It siphons tax dollars into the pockets of insiders, and how Conservative governments can justify not spending the entire health care dollar on front-line care is beyond me. It goes against the fiscally prudent values which they claim to espouse. No one should profit off of someone’s ill health or old age.

I cannot accept this budget as written. It needs to be improved.

Let me ask you this: Did they vote to raise minimum wage, which we introduced in our fall economic statement in 2021, Build Ontario?

La Loi de 2022 pour favoriser le développement est une loi importante qui nous permettrait de mettre en oeuvre ce plan.

Madam Speaker, I urge all members to vote for this plan. Together, let’s build Ontario.

No.

Further debate?

We ran on the budget.

It’s a pleasure to be able to stand here today and take part in debate on a very important bill that was originally introduced back in, I guess it was, April of this year, before we rose for an election. This bill is important to that measure because it really was our election platform, and I want to congratulate the 83 members of the Progressive Conservative caucus that were elected here to this House—83 members—including the member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke; I know he’s happy to be back—one of the largest majority governments in this province’s history, Madam Speaker, all based off of what we’ve been talking about with—

There are a few things I want to talk about here today. Obviously we’re here to speak about Ontario’s Plan to Build. The five key pillars of that are: rebuilding Ontario’s economy, working for workers, building highways and key infrastructure, keeping costs down—which is very important, given a lot of the uncertainty we’re seeing in the world right now—and, of course, our plan to stay open.

It was great to hear the minister speak a little bit earlier about the broader pieces of this, but I wanted to bring it a little bit closer to home for the people of Waterloo region, Kitchener–Conestoga and a little bit more for southwestern Ontario. I want to take us back to, realistically, I guess, almost 2018, when we released our first budget as a government here in the province.

One of the things that I heard at the door during the 2018 election that was really great to see in subsequent budgets past that was GO train expansion. This has been a huge, huge deal for Waterloo region over the last four to five years. Quite frankly, Madam Speaker, we had really next to no service in Waterloo region. We have, as a Progressive Conservative government, increased that service by almost 100%, and it’s great to see in the 2022 budget and what we’re debating here today that we’re actually expanding that service beyond Waterloo region to London. I know there are some members from London on the other side of the House here, and I’m sure that the people of London probably never dreamed—never in their wildest dreams—that they would have GO train service come to their city.

Now, mind you, yes, it is in its infancy and it is a bit of a trek right now to get from London to, let’s say, downtown Toronto, to Union Station, on the GO train, but there are constant upgrades being done consistently on the Kitchener line—as we like to call it, of course, being from Kitchener—to really speed up that trip. We’ve really built a much better relationship with CN rail, which controls a roughly 30-kilometre stretch of those tracks, and we’re now seeing more passenger service being allowed on those lines. There’s obviously a lot of work being done with level crossings through Guelph, making sure that underpasses and overpasses are being built out safely and that we’re able to get that time cut down.

I know there was a very recent announcement where the Premier and the member from Niagara West—it might have even been this week—officially announced better service to Niagara region, which is phenomenal to see. And of course, service is being extended out into Durham, which obviously, Madam Speaker, you would be well aware of.

Just keeping in the vein of a little bit more about what’s happening in this transit infrastructure piece, I want to talk a little bit—we were sort of joking about it earlier when the minister was speaking—about Highway 7. Highway 7, between Kitchener and Guelph, is obviously a two-lane highway, one lane each way. There are interchanges, stoplights, stop signs. It’s become quite unsafe over the last few years with the growth that we’ve seen through our communities, whether that be Waterloo region, which is now—I think we’re approaching 630,000 people in the region of Waterloo. Guelph has got to be somewhere up around 200,000 people themselves. It’s a key corridor. There’s a lot of advanced manufacturing, a lot of auto parts that are brought back across that highway every day.

Back in—gosh, it would be the late 1990s, early 2000s, I think, maybe even before that, this highway was going to be expanded and extended. It’s gone through successive governments for years upon years upon years, with very little being done. I just want to read a quick quote here. This is from 2007, Madam Speaker. This is from the former Minister of Transportation, a Liberal Minister of Transportation, Donna Cansfield. She says, “Times have changed; now it’s time to change Highway 7.” This was in 2007 when that quote came out, and I am very proud to be able to stand here and say that our government is actually getting it done when it comes to building Highway 7. We’ve completed the first phase of what is a three-phase project. We’re now into the end of phase two. Next to be built is the new bridge that will be spanning the Grand River. After that, it’s four lanes all the way to Guelph: no more stoplights, no more stop signs; there will be complete expressway interchanges. I know the people of Waterloo region are really excited to be able to see that actually come to fruition.

I want to talk a little bit more about our Plan to Stay Open. This is something that I’m very proud of. We’ve been working on this in the region for a long time now, and that is the planning of a new hospital. I was very proud to announce, back in April, a $5-million planning grant that is included in this budget. That $5-million planning grant is to start the process of a new joint hospital between Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s hospital and to really explore what it’s going to look like to build a state-of-the-art, new 1,200-bed facility that, like I said, is going to serve the growing region of Waterloo. Our hospitals right now—we have three hospitals: Grand River Hospital, St. Mary’s hospital and, of course, Cambridge Memorial Hospital. Those three hospitals serve over a million people—the catchment area, when you really break it down into where we pull from in Waterloo region. St. Mary’s hospital, in particular, is very interesting. It’s actually the second-highest rated heart health hospital in Canada. But it’s in a building that’s 100 years old, and they’re doing façade work right now where bricks are actually falling off the building. Never mind going there to get your heart fixed; it’s dangerous just to walk around the outside. So it’s really great to be able to see those types of things put forward in this budget.

There’s obviously lots we can talk about. One of the other things that I want to highlight that the minister was talking about is skilled trades and working for workers. There are a few things that I think are very important in this budget that pertain to Conestoga College, which is the largest trade school in Ontario. Based on the resurgence of the trades and what this government has been able to do, they are now building a brand new trades campus that will centralize all of their trades training under one roof. It’s fantastic to see. We’re talking about state-of-the-art machinery, the best learning environment possible. Not only that, but I was at Conestoga College with the Minister of Colleges and Universities not too long ago to announce the extension of three-year degrees in colleges, which is fantastic. We’re going to be able to shrink down the time that people need to be in school, not necessarily having to go to university to get a four-year degree, if you will, but being able to extend that to your diploma, that you might at a college. So it’s really great to see these things in the budget.

Madam Speaker, I know that we have some other people who are going to want to speak this afternoon, so I just wanted to say thank you very much for the time, and it’s great to see you in the chair. Congratulations.

Meegwetch, Speaker. Remarks in Oji-Cree. It’s a good day.

Thank you for the opportunity to be able speak on the government’s proposed budget. I know that this budget is disappointing but not surprising. Over the past four years we have seen this government make significant funding cuts in certain areas, and I know that although the government may call this budget the “corridor to prosperity,” we must ask ourselves: prosperity for whom? To me, this is a corridor to oppression. This is a corridor to colonialism. I say that because there’s such a focus on the Ring of Fire. I know that this government is not an ally to First Nations people. I know this government does not understand us. This government does not know our ways of life.

When the government speaks of reconciliation, the only type it wants to engage in is economic reconciliation. That’s the easy part—jobs. We must look at the government’s intentions critically and ask, is it economic reconciliation the government is after, or is it the exploitation of our lands and the resources that are in our traditional territories?

We see the government using the divide-and-conquer approach, the divide-and-conquer strategy, to develop the Ring of Fire. It has been done time and time again, over and over. That’s what colonialism does. That’s what colonizers do. They do this rather than seek the consent of all First Nations that are affected. They are working selectively, with only those who support the mandate.

When we talk about the Ring of Fire and projects like it, we have to remember that there’s always more than one perspective on it. If you listen to the questions the government asks itself in question period about this development, you only hear one of those perspectives. There are so many voices to be heard. One of them is Grand Chief Reg Niganobe, who reached out to me to further elaborate on comments which the member of Chatham-Kent–Leamington quoted yet neglected to add the full context to.

This is what he said: “Thank you for quoting Anishinabek Nation’s Grand Council Chief Reg Niganobe on Monday, August 28, 2022, in the Legislature.”

The Grand Chief “expressed that mining and large-scale projects could move more swiftly, and I stress, with the full implementation of UNDRIP, as well as veto power for First Nations impacted by projects on their territories.

“This will ensure proper consultation, accommodation, inclusion, and equity in projects which impact First Nations territories.

“So will this government take into account his full statements and pledge veto power to Anishinabek Nation communities when projects are being proposed, considered, or staked in their territories?”

These are his words.

But also, I’d like to thank the government. I’d like to thank the government for reminding me that colonialism, oppression, still exists. I’d like to thank the government for letting us know as First Nations that you will divide and conquer—to whatever you guys want to reach, whatever prosperity that you’re looking for.

One of the things that I’ve learned, though: As people, we’ve always been here, for thousands of years. We are here today. We will continue to be here. But the more oppression you bring, the stronger we become as nations. So bring it on.

Further debate?

Madame la Présidente, les Ontariens sont frustrés. Ils sont frustrés parce que les salles d’urgence ont été fermées. Ils sont frustrés parce que de plus en plus d’entre eux n’ont pas accès à leur médecin de famille.

Ontarians are frustrated because they know nurses and front-line health care professionals are overworked, underpaid and burnt-out as a result of this government’s crushing Bill 124. They’re frustrated because when they call 911, they are less and less likely to have an ambulance available to reach them quickly.

Ils sont frustrés parce qu’ils voient toutes ces choses et qu’ils voient leur gouvernement parler et parler et parler et ne prendre aucune mesure pour y remédier.

They’re frustrated because they hear their government talk and talk and take no action to address these issues.

Now, I’d like to take a moment to address the growing challenge of level zero here in Ontario. Level zero, for those of you who don’t know, is the complete unavailability of ambulances to respond to a 911 call. In 2021, Ottawa paramedics spent more than 49,000 hours in off-load delay at area hospitals. This resulted in 750 incidents of level zero—49,000 hours of off-load delay at hospitals, Madam Speaker.

The 90th percentile off-load delay was 97 minutes, far exceeding the 30-minute benchmark. That means that paramedics are waiting over an hour and a half to transfer their patients to hospital.

Plus que 90 minutes en retard à l’hôpital, madame la Présidente.

Now, that’s two paramedics and an ambulance stuck at a hospital because the hospitals are too backlogged to take them. That’s two paramedics and an ambulance not on the road responding to emergency 911 calls to save someone’s life.

In the first seven months of this year, Ottawa paramedics have experienced 1,125 level-zero events. In some cases, Ottawa has had 11 hours of continuous level zero—11 hours without an emergency ambulance available to respond. Imagine an ambulance not being available to respond to a 911 call when your spouse is having a heart attack or a stroke. Imagine it’s your child who has just fallen off the deck and is unconscious and unresponsive. Imagine that for a moment, Madam Speaker.

One in 10 people survive cardiac arrests that happen outside of hospital. One in 10—that’s it. With cardiac arrest, the odds of survival go down by 10% for every minute until a person is resuscitated. After 10 minutes, the risk of permanent brain injury is very, very high.

When my heart stopped, I was fortunate. The fire service was already outside dealing with a minor car accident, and they just walked into the gym. The paramedics were already on their way to respond to that car accident. I’m here today because of that fast emergency response, and I’m here today because the doctors and nurses at the Montfort Hospital had the time to spend with me.

The Montfort emergency room is one of the rooms that was recently closed. For a weekend, the emergency room closed. Why were they closed? Because of the health care crisis this government has created.

Now, it’s no mystery what would have happened to me had there been no ambulance to respond. It’s no mystery what would have happened had the emergency room been overcrowded or closed. It’s no mystery what would have happened: I would have died. That’s what would have happened, and that’s what will happen in Ontario if we do not address this problem.

Level zero isn’t just a problem in Ottawa; it’s a problem right across the province. It’s in Hamilton. It’s in the valley. It’s in the GTA. In fact, Madam Speaker, when there’s a level-zero incident in Ottawa, guess who we call? We call the paramedic service in the valley to come to Ottawa, leaving your residents without ambulances too. That’s how it works. We call the ambulances in Embrun and Russell as well. That’s your government. That’s your government not providing the funding. The province and municipalities pay for paramedics to be there for us. They don’t pay for them to be conducting hallway medicine in our hospitals—hallway medicine caused by the chronic underfunding of health care by this government, hallway medicine created and amplified by Bill 124, leaving health care professionals underpaid, overworked, burnt-out, and leaving emergency rooms in Ontario in a crisis. It’s time to make the health care investments that we need for our families, and to repeal Bill 124 and pay front-line heroes what they’re worth.

I don’t come just with criticisms of this government, because I could be here the entire 20 minutes. I come with a solution. The city of Ottawa is seeking $5 million in base funding to hire 42 new paramedics. These paramedics will be strategically deployed to emergency rooms at area hospitals so that the paramedics who arrive with patients can transfer them to these paramedics, who will be permanently stationed at the hospitals. They’ve requested $5 million in base funding from this government, and I hope that this government says yes. I hope the government chooses to get this done, because it’s imperative for families in Ottawa, it’s imperative for families across Ontario that ambulances can respond to 911, that they can get people to hospitals quickly, that those hospitals are open and have the capacity to take them and save their lives.

When we’re talking about the budget, it’s a very large document that has a whole lot of stuff in it, and usually the government focuses on some of the key things that they want to talk about in it—and there’s a lot of good things in this one. We talk about eliminating the licence plate renewal fee. We talk about electric vehicles and our Critical Minerals Strategy. We talk about seniors’ tax credits so that they can stay at home. We talk about child care costs and reducing that for parents. We talk about some of the gaps that there are in education as a result of what’s happening with COVID—and there’s a lot of really good things in it. The Ontario Staycation Tax Credit—up to 20% for people who want to vacation here in Ontario; spend your money in Ontario, get the economy going. Those are all great things that we talk about in the budget, and the opposition focus on things that they want that may not be in it.

But, Speaker, there’s something that we don’t often talk about and it’s one of the tools that we, as MPPs, have. As members, all of us have the ability to introduce a private member’s bill. We can all craft some legislation that we would put forward, but you can’t have anything that commits government money in it. That’s not possible. But sometimes there are things that we, as members, are passionate about, that really got us here at Queen’s Park: things we’ve decided that we want to do, that we want to make better, and bills like the budget and the fall economic statement are ways that we, as members, can actually have influence on what the government does because we have the ability to go and lobby a minister.

I’m going to touch on a couple of things. Specifically for me, in my first year I was really active in our community with the special-needs community, involved with hockey, involved with baseball. A lot of the people I worked with helped me, and I said to them, “I’m going to do some things that are going to raise awareness, that are going to make a difference in your lives—small differences, but they make a difference.”

One of the things I was able to get in the first fall economic statement was Special Hockey International day. For those who don’t know, Special Hockey International is a hockey league designed specifically for those who have special needs. Ontario has hosted that tournament—it’s an international tournament—a number of times. And 2019 was the last time we hosted it in Ontario. Prior to that, it was 2016 and it was in Peterborough, and I was involved in it. I was able to convince the Minister of Finance at the time—again, I’m not allowed to say his actual name—that this was something good. It was something I was able to accomplish, just a small thing. It became part of the budget—actually, the fall economic statement.

I was appointed as special adviser to Ontario Parks at one point, and I did a great deal of work on a parks report. What came from that was two budget cycles later—just about everything that I had recommended was something that was implemented in our budget. It’s a way that we, as private members here representing our communities, can make that difference without having to be a minister, and it doesn’t have to be partisan. In fact, it’s not partisan in a lot of cases.

A story was relayed to me today by my good friend Jeremy Roberts, the former member from Ottawa West–Nepean. He talked about his time when he was working for the federal government, and how Jack Layton had this great idea and he went to Prime Minister Harper about it. He went to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty about it and pitched it, and they worked together across partisan lines.

Jack Layton’s idea was something that truly was not partisan: It was a way to help veterans turn their helmet into a hard hat. How could we get veterans who were leaving the armed forces into the skilled trades? How could we do something that would make it easier? That ended up being part of the budget; I believe it was 2011. A federal budget: a private member—opposition leader, actually—Jack Layton working with the finance minister to get something put in the budget that was completely non-partisan, that was in the best interests of not only the people Jack represented but the people every MP represented.

That’s a tool that we have in the tool box. We have that ability, then, to lobby the minister, to lobby the Premier, to work with the ministry to flesh out things that are going to make a positive difference.

We heard Jeremy’s story of why he got involved in politics, why he wanted to make a difference: Jeremy’s younger brother is on the autism spectrum, and there were some significant challenges that his family had gone through navigating the system and getting things done.

One story in particular—and I’m going to apologize to Jeremy, because I’m going to plagiarize a number of things that he has said and done. When his brother was 10—Jeremy was 14 at the time—they had gone into CHEO hospital, and there were some issues around behavioural outbursts with his brother. That’s not uncommon when you’re on the spectrum. When you’re far on the spectrum, it’s not uncommon for something like that to occur. They were working with the children’s hospital and, as Jeremy has relayed the story, they were talking to the doctor about it. He wanted to change the medicine, but they needed to speak to a neurologist, as well, to find out how that would affect Jeremy’s brother and whether or not this was actually something that was going to be good and have the desired effect. But they couldn’t talk to the neurologist right at that point, because that’s not how the system worked. At 14, Jeremy was dumbfounded by this and said, “He’s only three floors above. Why can’t we get together in the same room? Why can’t we have the same meeting?” The answer was, “Because that’s not how the system works.”

He was a very strong advocate for the autism community. The reason he got involved in politics was because of that: to try to make life better.

On page 128 of the budget—I just have to bring my laptop back up here so that I get the quote appropriately. On page 128 of the budget, there’s a line in there. It reads, “An example of a children’s health investment is $97 million over three years to improve the experiences and lifelong outcomes for more than 1,100 children and youth with complex special needs at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario”—CHEO—“Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and McMaster Children’s Hospital. Funding will support a pilot project for an integrated model to provide key health and social services, including hospital‐based assessments, access to interdisciplinary clinical teams, medical care and behaviour therapy.”

What it is, is a long way of saying, “We’re going to make it easier for those families.” We recognize that when there’s a child with a special need, that there are multiple diagnoses, there are multiple people you need to be working with. The way the system is right now, you are going to be working with multiple different divisions within the hospital.

I’m going to pivot a little bit to a personal experience. It’s been well documented that my daughter had cancer when she was four. We saw the nephrologist. We saw the oncologist. We saw a psychologist. We saw a urologist. And after treatment was over, we still had to see all of those individuals. It was about once a month that we saw them—four different departments in the hospital—and it meant we were coming up once a week, because there was no coordination of it. There was no way that we could get all of those different departments together.

You go through a traumatic experience, and the way our system was set up—fantastic medical support, absolutely the best. My daughter is alive today because of our health care system. There’s no question in my mind about that. We have, by far, the best medical professionals in the entire world, but the system is not designed to be focused around the patient, to be focused around the child or the family.

If you have a child with a special need, it’s not uncommon to have multiple different diagnoses, and everything is based on that diagnosis. The supports that are there are based on this diagnosis or that diagnosis, but there isn’t a system in place where they’re put together, where they work together for the needs of the child, the needs of the parents, the needs of the family.

This small paragraph—I’ll read it again, because I think it’s so important: “An example of children’s health investment is $97 million over three years to improve the experiences and lifelong outcomes for more than 1,100 children and youth with complex special needs at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and McMaster’s Children’s Hospital. Funding will support a pilot project for an integrated model to provide key health and social services, including hospital-based assessments, access to interdisciplinary clinical teams, medical care and behaviour therapy.”

For many parents across the province whose children are diagnosed with special needs, they’re shocked to learn that clinical therapies for the children are often not fully funded and, unlike other medical issues, special needs treatments are often funded through a web of social services and health care. It’s a challenge to navigate and access it.

This is a pilot project to show that we need to be focusing on the needs of those families and those kids. What we have said all throughout government, for the last four years that we were elected, is that we need to break down those silos. We need to make sure that things that are inter-ministerial are actually breaking down those silos. This is one of those prime examples, because you have the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, who looks after most of the funding for special needs, but there are health care components to it. What this pilot is doing is putting the Ministry of Health together with the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, and they’re working closely together and they’re jointly funding a project that, in the grand scheme of things—and I never, ever thought in my life I would ever say this: $97 million isn’t really a whole lot of money for a government. I never thought I would ever say $97 million isn’t a whole lot of money. It’s a $190-billion budget; $97 million is not a whole lot when you look at it from that perspective. But it’s going to make such a positive difference for so many different families.

The only reason it’s in the budget is because a former member decided to put his name forward, because of his personal experiences with how the system worked. That member had the tenacity to not accept “no.” He knew what the problem was. He had the lived experience with it. He saw how the system wasn’t working properly.

All of us, as members, find times where we feel like we’re beating our head against the wall talking to the bureaucrats on different things, because a government of this size with a budget of that much money doesn’t turn on a dime. It’s a massive, massive shift, and the way things are done. We hear that a lot when we introduce things.

I’m going to use one of our catch phrases, and the NDP is going to boo me for it and harass me and heckle me on it: Status quo doesn’t work anymore. You can’t just accept status quo. Jeremy Roberts didn’t accept status quo. He had an idea. It was the right idea. The idea was, focus on what the needs are of the families; focus on what the needs are of the kids.

How do we make it easier to get a better outcome? The system is the system. We’re not changing families. We’re not changing what’s happening that creates the environment of whatever it is. We can’t do that. But what we can do is, we can change the system. We can make it easier for families to navigate. Because when you find yourself in those positions—whether it is a special need, whether it’s a family illness, whether it’s some diagnosis that you don’t know anything about—your focus is on, “How do I deal with this? How do I help my child? How do I help my brother or sister?” That’s where your focus is.

This is one of those times where a private member has been able to get into a budget a pilot project that says, “How do we focus on the needs of that family? How do we focus on what is going to give the best outcomes for that child?”

In the grand scheme of things, it’s $97 million of a $190-billion budget. It’s a small victory. It’s not a victory for us. It’s that small victory for all of those families who have had to navigate the system, for all of those families who have found themselves in the position where their child, at two or three years old, was diagnosed with something that was outside of the norm of 80% of the rest of the population. It’s a change to the system for the better. It’s a small change, but the expression is, how do you eat an elephant at a barbecue? You do it one bite at a time. Government systems are a massive, massive thing. It’s very difficult to change the direction. It’s very difficult to make an adjustment. The system wants to continue with status quo.

But a private member, a member elected by his community who wasn’t a minister, said, “Status quo is not acceptable. This needs to change. We need to focus instead on the needs of the families, the needs of the children, the needs of everybody who is coming through the system.” We can make that change. It’s a small change, but it’s a change that is going to make a difference for every one of them.

By doing it as a pilot, it makes it small enough and nimble enough that we can try different things. We can see what’s going to work. We can see that maybe there’s going to be some challenges with it; maybe there are some things that aren’t going to work perfectly. By rolling it out by a pilot this way, we can do things to get it right. Because that’s why all of us have been elected, to make that positive difference for so many families.

I want to make sure that it is on record that my friend Jeremy Roberts stepped up and made a positive difference for all of these families. He made a change to the system that will benefit everybody, and deserves the credit for it.